Chapter 7. Senior, I'm a respectable person. ...
Jiang Luo was stunned.
Gu Shiyue wasn't being sarcastic; his tone was flat, revealing no emotion. Jiang Luo guessed he might have misunderstood, or perhaps he simply didn't quite grasp the concept of a "cosplay commission."
After all, this senior student is quite distant, giving the impression of being aloof and serious, and perhaps with a rather conservative mindset.
Jiang Luo tilted her head and asked softly, "Senior, are you praising me or insulting me?"
He looked directly at Gu Shiyue, his eyes shining.
The face before him was almost unrecognizable from the one Gu Shiyue had seen last time. The makeup was different, and the overall vibe was completely different. The striking pink hair and the wrinkles under the eyes, despite being a rather exaggerated makeup style, exuded a youthful charm.
Gu Shiyue stated frankly, "It's neither praise nor criticism."
“I see…” Jiang Luo paused for a moment, then stared at him and explained earnestly, “Senior, I’m a respectable person.”
This statement made Gu Shiyue puzzled for a second.
Jiang Luo then added, "I don't get along with everyone."
Jiang Luo was only half right; Gu Shiyue did not misunderstand him.
Gu Shiyue realized what he meant and said, "Where did I say you were being indecent?"
Jiang Luo blinked and said in a low voice, "I thought you were overthinking things, senior... I thought you thought I was doing something improper by taking on this commission."
Gu Shiyue asked him, "Who wants more?"
Jiang Luo hummed in agreement, then feigned a thoughtful expression: "...Looks like it's me."
Gu Shiyue nodded: "That's good to know."
Jiang Luo couldn't help but laugh.
If Gu Shiyue hadn't ordered two coffees, Jiang Luo really wouldn't have had time to chat with him.
"What's going on?" Gu Shiyue's roommate, who was standing behind him, finally had a chance to interject. He asked Gu Shiyue, "A-Yue, you two know each other?"
Gu Shiyue didn't even know Jiang Luo's name. The two had only met twice, so strictly speaking, they couldn't be considered acquaintances.
Gu Shiyue said, "We don't really know each other."
Gu Shiyue's coffee was ready, and Jiang Luo packed it up and handed it to him. Gu Shiyue took out his phone to pay, but Jiang Luo said, "I've already paid the bill. The coffee is on me. Thank you for helping me on the subway last time, senior."
Gu Shiyue said, "You don't need to invite me."
"Yes, yes, I've already scanned the code. You can take your coffee."
"It's such a small matter, there's no need for that."
Jiang Luo smiled and said, "I think it's quite necessary."
It wasn't just the subway incident; there was also the video Gu Shiyue filmed for him, from which Jiang Luo genuinely gained a huge amount of traffic. Gu Shiyue's help was substantial.
As they were talking, a man walked up behind Gu Shiyue. It was Xiang Qin; he had been outside on the phone and was just coming in. One of the two coffees Gu Shiyue had ordered was his.
Xiang Qin almost didn't recognize Jiang Luo and laughed, "Junior?"
Jiang Luo greeted him with a smile, "Senior."
Xiang Qin looked him up and down: "I almost didn't recognize you. How come you always attract so much attention every time you appear?"
"I'm usually pretty low-key," Jiang Luo joked. "It just so happens that you happen to catch me being a little high-profile."
Xiang Qin was amused by him. He glanced at Gu Shiyue and said, "So that's why you came to order in person. You ran into someone you know."
Gu Shiyue didn't speak, and Jiang Luo blinked at him.
Jiang Luo was working and so busy that Xiang Qin barely exchanged a few words with him before Gu Shiyue signaled that it was time for them to leave.
Jiang Luo set her alarm for 6 a.m., and it went off as soon as Gu Shiyue and the others left. The other part-time worker the store manager had called was there to cover for Jiang Luo, and Jiang Luo said goodbye to the store manager and left work at the appointed time.
Gu Shiyue and his friends hadn't gone far. The coffee shop was very close to their school, just across the street. Xiang Qin and Gu Shiyue were talking and glanced back. They were discussing Jiang Luo when they looked back towards the coffee shop and saw Jiang Luo walking out of it.
Xiang Qin stopped and waved to Jiang Luo.
The three of them stopped where they were. Xiang Qin wanted to talk to Jiang Luo, so he intentionally stopped to wait for him.
Jiang Luo walked towards them; he still had to rush back to remove his makeup and change his clothes, so he walked very quickly.
"Off work?" Xiang Qin asked him.
"yes."
"Ah Yue said you treated us to coffee today, so we're basking in your kindness for nothing." Xiang Qin smiled. "We'll accept it this time, but I'll treat you next time."
Jiang Luo didn't stand on ceremony with him and said with a smile, "Okay."
Xiang Qin was a little puzzled: "I go to that coffee shop quite often, how come I've never seen you there?"
Jiang Luo smiled and said, "Even if I've seen it, I might not remember it."
"What are you saying? Someone as handsome as you would definitely be familiar to me. You look too unfamiliar. I'm sure I've never seen you before."
“I work part-time there, I don’t go often, and I don’t usually work at the front desk, that’s not my job. Today is a special case.”
"No wonder."
Xiang Qin and his roommates frequented this coffee shop, not counting Gu Shiyue. Gu Shiyue rarely drank coffee from outside shops and had almost never been there. Today, he just happened to be passing by with them and got two cups of coffee from them, which ended up being given to Jiang Luo.
Jiang Luo was in a hurry to get back to her dorm and didn't chat with them much: "Senior, I'm leaving now."
Seeing his flustered state, Xiang Qin asked, "What's wrong? Is something urgent?"
"Oh, I have to go to tutoring in a bit, I need to go back and change my clothes."
"You just got off work and you're already going to tutor? Your part-time schedule is way too full."
"There's no other way," Jiang Luo said, half-seriously and half-jokingly. "It's what life forces me to do."
Gu Shiyue glanced at Jiang Luo upon hearing this.
Jiang Luo hurriedly said goodbye and left, but after walking a short distance, she turned back to wave and said to Gu Shiyue, "Goodbye, senior."
Next Friday is Qi Xueying's birthday, and she's treating everyone to dinner. Jiang Luo and Cheng Jiashu both received invitations. Jiang Luo was supposed to go home next weekend, but after his conversation with Jiang Chen, he took Jiang Chen's words to heart. He'd go home if he had nothing to do, and not go home if he had to, trying to keep his free time for himself.
Jiang Luo wasn't going home for Qi Xueying's birthday party this Friday, having told Jiang Chen beforehand. It was the first time he hadn't gone home on Jiang Chen's day off, and he felt a little uneasy. He called Jiang Chen right around the time Jiang Chen got out of school, asking him all sorts of questions.
"If I'm not home, who will play with you?" Jiang Luo said pitifully.
“Tian Haoyu plays with me,” Jiang Chen said.
"No one can have as much fun as me playing with you."
Tian Haoyu was right next to Jiang Chen, and he grabbed the phone, shouting, "Bro, I'm having fun too, okay?!"
Jiang Luo couldn't stop laughing.
The phone call lasted ten minutes. Jiang Chen is usually very quiet, but he would answer anything Jiang Luo said. Jiang Luo is very talkative, so the call just wouldn't end.
Cheng Jiashu and Jiang Luo were in the same car, heading to Qi Xueying's place. Cheng Jiashu sat next to Jiang Luo and listened to Jiang Luo talking on the phone with his brother the whole way.
"Wow, you two can really chat!" Cheng Jiashu exclaimed. "When did Xiao Chen become so talkative? The kid's grown up."
"Of course, we always have something to talk about."
"That's because you talk too much."
"How dare you say that?" Jiang Luo laughed. "Who talks as much as you?"
Cheng Jiashu hummed twice: "Thank you for your kind offer."
Today is Qi Xueying's birthday, and Gu Shiyue also received a dinner invitation, but he didn't go and had someone send a gift to her instead. That night, around 11 p.m., Gu Shiyue had just finished showering and was reading in the living room when he suddenly received a call from Qi Xueying's mother.
"Ah Yue, are you with Xue'er?" His aunt's voice sounded a little anxious.
"No," Gu Shiyue closed the book. "What's wrong, Auntie?"
"This child said she would be home at eleven o'clock, but I've called her several times and no one has answered. Could something have happened? My heart is pounding."
Gu Shiyue glanced at the clock on the wall. It wasn't even eleven o'clock yet. This time wasn't considered late for young people at all, especially since Qi Xueying was already an adult. Today was her birthday dinner, and so many friends were having fun together. It was normal for her to come home late.
But Qi Xueying's mother is a "daughter-obsessed mom," not only doting on her daughter but also clinging to her. She gets anxious if she can't reach her daughter for more than four hours. When Qi Xueying didn't answer the phone, she was pacing anxiously at home and immediately thought of asking Gu Shiyue for help.
Gu Shiyue reassured his aunt, "Don't worry, I'll call her."
“She said she would be back at eleven o’clock. She always says she will be back at a certain time and she never says she won’t answer my calls.”
While listening to his aunt, Gu Shiyue tried to call Qi Xueying using the landline, but the call didn't go through.
His aunt was even more anxious. This gentle lady, who usually spoke softly, was now so flustered that her voice was trembling. Gu Shiyue stood up and said, "Don't worry, I'll go find her now. Wait for my call."
"Okay, okay! Be careful on the road, Yue."
Gu Shiyue knew where Qi Xueying was having dinner, so he changed his clothes and drove there. On the way, he called Qi Xueying again, but no one answered.
The car drove to a villa with a yard. Colorful lights hung in the yard, and the house was brightly lit. Faint singing could be heard from inside.
Gu Shiyue walked straight in. Two girls were chatting in the living room, their singing coming from upstairs. The two girls glanced at Gu Shiyue; they were Qi Xueying's friends. Gu Shiyue asked them, "Where's Qi Xueying?"
The two girls, who had been staring at him, were stunned by his sudden question and didn't react for a moment. One of the girls came to her senses and stammered, "They're...they should be singing upstairs."
Gu Shiyue politely said, "Thank you."
"Ah." The girl blushed. "...You're welcome."
There's a large private karaoke room on the second floor. A group of people gathered there to sing after having fun. Qi Xueying invited many classmates and friends today, as well as some cosplay buddies. Jiang Luo knows several of them; they're all in the same circle, keep in touch online, and often get together for offline events.
Jiang Luo had just lost a game and drunk two cans of beer, so he was a little dizzy and his mind wasn't quite right when he was chatting with people. While others were having a lively conversation with him, he just blinked and grinned foolishly, unable to join in the conversation. He felt he needed to go to the restroom to clear his head, so he got up and said to the person opposite him, "I'm going to the restroom."
Jiang Luo was sure she hadn't drunk too much, perhaps because there were too many people in the room and the air wasn't circulating properly, but when she stood up, she felt a little dizzy and her legs were wobbly.
He staggered to the door, and someone behind him teased him, "Are you drunk, Lolo? Two cans of beer knocked you out? What kind of baby can you drink?"
Jiang Luo opened the door, turned around and said with a smile, "I haven't fallen yet, don't discriminate against baby."
As Jiang Luo spoke, she turned to leave, not noticing someone outside the door. She bumped into Gu Shiyue's shoulder. Jiang Luo's vision blurred for a moment; her nose brushed against the soft fabric of his clothes, and a faint fragrance wafted into her nostrils.
Caught completely off guard, Jiang Luo's nose hurt from the impact. He winced in pain, opened his eyes, and looked up.
Gu Shiyue lowered his eyes and met his gaze.
The boy's face was inches away, his eyes filled with confusion and surprise. He stared at Gu Shiyue, blinking incessantly, his long eyelashes fluttering.
Jiang Luo opened his mouth: "Senior... Senior."
A note from the author:
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