Chapter Eight
When the first cold wave hit, Lu Nan immediately pulled out her down jacket and put it on.
Cheng Xiangbei watched Lu Nan strut around in her faded, old-fashioned down jacket, and his lips twitched. Okay, they hadn't been together for three winters, and Lu Nan wasn't particularly particular about her clothes. But clothes make the man, and Lu Nan's rosy cheeks were completely obscured by the worn-out garments.
"Nannan, who bought you this outfit?" It must be Lu's mom; this style is too old-fashioned.
Hearing his words, Lu Nan proudly raised her face. "Hehe, isn't this outfit nice! I bought it myself!"
"You...you even buy clothes?" I forced a smile.
"Hey, the down jacket factory in our area had a huge sale for the end of the season, so I squeezed through the crowd and bought one! It was so cheap, you should buy one when you get home!" Lu Nan's eyes lit up. Even he, who was usually oblivious to the cost of living, knew that a down jacket for 50 yuan was very cheap.
Cheng Xiangbei nodded stiffly. The weather wasn't actually that cold; he was only wearing a fleece jacket. However, seeing Lu Nan shivering inside his down jacket, his heart ached slightly. "Nan Nan, are you cold?" He pulled Lu Nan's hand and put it in his pocket to warm it.
"I regret coming here," Lu Nan said, frowning. Haicheng is located in the south, and the weather is completely different from her hometown. It's damp and cold, and the wind makes your bones ache. "When will the heating come on?"
Cheng Xiangbei pursed his lips, unsure how to tell him about the lack of heating in Haicheng during winter. "How about we go home and stay there? We have air conditioning."
Lu Nan shook her head. "Dongdong said we should live at school for a year."
"But you'll get cold."
"A man's word is his bond," Lu Nan declared with pride.
Cheng Xiangbei looked at his face, which was almost buried in his collar, and his lips twitched again.
In the evening, during self-study, the large classroom was crowded and warm. Lu Nan, wearing a down jacket, squeezed together with Cheng Xiangbei.
Sitting in the row in front of them, Li Weide laughed and said, "Lu Nan, do you have to be so cold?"
Lu Nan said, "I regret coming here. I should have just gone to university locally."
Cheng Xiangbei patted his head reassuringly.
Liu Fei came in carrying two jugs of hot water. Seeing them, he walked over with a smile. "Here you go, brothers, the hot water's here!"
Lu Nan beamed and took out a large thermos. As soon as the hot water was poured in, a rich aroma of honey and grapefruit wafted out. Li Weide took a deep breath and exclaimed, "Wow! Where did this wonderful smell come from?"
"Honey grapefruit tea, it's so delicious!" Lu Nan smiled, her eyes crinkling.
"Where can I buy it?" He wanted to buy some to drink too.
"have no idea!"
Li Weide was dumbfounded. "Lu Nan, I didn't ask you for a drink. Why won't you tell me where it's sold?"
Lu Nan stared at him innocently. "I really didn't know, Tiger bought it."
Li Weide nearly fainted. What kind of heavenly answer was this? He sighed helplessly, "Lu Nan, can you even survive without our boss?" He had never seen anything like this before. Their boss was too good to Lu Nan. Although the two had grown up together, their relationship was just too intimate.
"How can I not live? We weren't together in high school, but I'm still doing just fine." It's just that I'm a little upset.
"Ahem!" Those three years of high school weren't exactly pleasant memories for Cheng Xiangbei. He coughed lightly and glared at Li Weide. Seeing his boss's displeased expression, Li Weide touched his nose and went back to reading.
After evening self-study, Li Weide and Liu Fei went home first.
Lu Nan wrapped her coat tighter and pulled Cheng Xiangbei to the bookstore. She had no classes tomorrow morning, so she could stay in bed and read comics.
“Tiger…” As soon as she left the school gate, Lu Nan tugged at Cheng Xiangbei’s sleeve.
"Hmm?" Cheng Xiangbei's steps began to falter at Lu Nan's soft voice.
Lu Nan pointed to the stinky tofu stall across the street. "Today is Wednesday."
Cheng Xiangbei raised an eyebrow and chuckled. Lu Nan loved the fried stinky tofu across from the school gate, but for his health, Cheng Xiangbei had forbidden him from eating it more than once a week, two skewers at a time. Although Lu Nan resented this, he knew Cheng Xiangbei meant well, so the mission of buying the stinky tofu gloriously fell on Cheng Xiangbei's shoulders.
As for Lu Nan, he simply left the school through another gate so he wouldn't drool over the tofu stall.
Looking into Lu Nan's pleading eyes, Cheng Xiangbei couldn't say anything more. He patted Lu Nan's head and said, "You go to the bookstore, I'll go queue up. Wait for me inside after you've picked out your books, it's cold outside."
Lu Nan nodded, a wide smile spreading across his face. Cheng Xiangbei's heart fluttered; he really wanted to kiss him. But with so many people coming and going at the school gate... well, he'd better just go and queue up.
At this time, many students were leaving evening self-study, and the line in front of the tofu stall was quite long. Cheng Xiangbei had his hands in his pockets, single-mindedly counting how many more people were left before it was his turn.
"Head north!" someone called to him.
Cheng turned north and saw Yu Mufeng standing by the roadside. A luxury car had just driven away, clearly dropping Yu Mufeng off. Under the streetlights, Yu Mufeng stood there with a jade-like complexion, attracting the attention of many people.
Cheng Xiangbei smiled at him. "Just got back?"
“Yes, what is this…” The smell wasn’t very pleasant, so Yu Mufeng hesitated before walking over.
"Can't stand the smell, huh? Don't come any closer."
"Why do you like eating this?" Yu Mufeng insisted on taking two more steps.
Cheng Xiangbei just smiled; he felt there was no need to explain his relationship with Lu Nan to others.
After buying two skewers of stinky tofu, Cheng Xiangbei looked at Yu Mufeng, who was still standing with him, and asked, "Uh, aren't you going back to school?"
"Let's go together!" He saw Cheng Xiangbei as soon as he got off the bus. His tall figure was very conspicuous in the crowd, and many of the girls in line behind him were stealing glances at him.
"I'm so sorry, I still have to pick up Lu Nan. You go ahead!" Cheng Xiangbei waved and walked towards the bookstore.
Yu Mufeng stood there, frowning.
Lu Nan had rented the books and was peering out from the door.
Seeing Cheng heading north, he ran out carrying the books.
"Tiger, Tiger, the novel series I'm reading has a new book!" Lu Nan exclaimed excitedly.
"Alright!" Cheng Xiangbei took the book from his hand and handed him the stinky tofu. "Here, it's fresh out of the pot, be careful it's hot!"
"Tiger, I love you to death!" Lu Nan grabbed a stinky tofu and stuffed it into his mouth. "Eat slowly!" Cheng Xiangbei quickly took out a tissue to put under him. "Mmm...mmm...so fragrant!" Lu Nan squinted his eyes comfortably.
Lu Nan finished the two skewers of stinky tofu before even reaching the school gate. She smacked her lips and tugged at her north-facing sleeve. "Tiger..."
"No way!" He knew what Lu Nan was going to do.
"Tiger..." she whined.
"No means no!" He hardened his heart and brought Lu Nan into the campus.
"Two skewers are simply not enough!" protested.
"Then let's wait for next week's order!" Eating too much fried food isn't good, and besides, that stall didn't look very hygienic to him. Seeing that he wouldn't compromise, Lu Nan pouted. "You stinky tiger, hmph!"
Cheng shook his head and pulled Lu Nan inside. When they passed the grove, he pushed Lu Nan inside.
"What are you doing!" Lu Nan protested. It was dark and cold. Wouldn't it be better to go back to the dormitory earlier?
Cheng Xiangbei remained silent, leading him further inside. Lu Nan's eyes weren't adjusted to the darkness; he only knew he was being pushed against a tree. "Old... tiger..." He finally understood what Cheng Xiangbei was going to do, but... "I ate... um..."
"Baby, concentrate." Cheng Xiangbei's breath was on his face. Lu Nan struggled a couple of times, then obediently closed his eyes. *This is your own choice to kiss me. If you run away because of the smell, it's not my fault!* Lu Nan thought hazily, immersed in Cheng Xiangbei's passionate kiss.
After the long kiss ended, Cheng Xiangbei still held Lu Nan tightly.
Lu Nan nudged him and said, "Tiger, let's go. The lights will be out soon if we don't leave."
"Mmm." He cupped Lu Nan's face and kissed her repeatedly before reluctantly pulling her out. Lu Nan looked around guiltily, making sure no one she knew was around before relaxing and following Cheng Xiangbei back to the dormitory.
"Don't you find it smelly?" Lu Nan said reproachfully.
"Didn't you call me a stinky tiger? How come you're stinky if I don't kiss you!" Cheng Xiangbei grinned slyly.
Lu Nan kicked him.
Before going to bed, Lu Nan took a shower, shivering, and crawled into the quilt, wrapping herself up so that only her eyes were showing.
Seeing that he was wrapped up like a bear, Zhong Wei teased, "Lu Nan, your snail shell is too heavy!"
Lu Nan shifted her body, shivering, and said, "It's so cold here! When will the heating come on?"
Zhong Wei and Yang Shaofan exchanged a glance and asked in surprise, "Lu Nan, didn't you know that Haicheng doesn't have central heating?"
"Huh?!" Lu Nan exclaimed. "How can there be no heating in winter!"
Yu Mufeng came out of the bathroom drying his hair, only to hear Lu Nan say "tail" once. He looked at Lu Nan, who was bundled up tightly, with amusement and said, "It's not that cold now, is it?"
"We start getting heating around this time." I miss the cozy warmth of the heating system.
"Lu Nan, there's really no heating in Haicheng, don't even think about it." Zhong Wei pointed to the dormitory and continued, "Look, there are heating pipes over there!"
Lu Nan was completely dumbfounded. He leaned halfway out, looking left and right. "Really not? Really not?"
The crowd looked at him with pity.
Lu Nan cried out, "I want to go home! I want to transfer schools! Ahhh!"
"What's wrong?" Cheng Xiangbei pushed the door open and saw that half of Lu Nan's body was sticking out of the blanket. He quickly went over to cover him up. "What are you doing?"
"Tiger..." Lu Nan looked at Cheng Xiangbei pitifully. Cheng Xiangbei's heart tightened at the sight, and he asked urgently, "Nan Nan? What happened?"
"Tiger, why is there no heating in Haicheng?" I wish I hadn't taken the exam here.
Cheng Xiangbei looked at him helplessly. Wasn't it common knowledge that there was no central heating south of the Yangtze River? But now, he wouldn't dare to tell Lu Nan this common knowledge even if he were beaten to death. He held up what he was holding and comforted her, "I filled a hot water bottle for you, warm yourself up first."
Lu Nan nodded. Cheng Xiangbei reached under his feet, placed the hot water bottle, and then gently rubbed his cold feet a couple of times. "If you can't get through this, just go home!" he whispered in Lu Nan's ear.
Lu Nan shook her head and said softly, "Brother Dongdong said..."
Cheng Xiangbei gritted his teeth. Why was his brother so persistent?
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