Chapter 41 (First Update)
During winter break, the school cafeteria offers very few choices, with only two windows open. The few dishes available look like they've been reheated several times, but the prices remain the same.
Luo Yan is not a picky eater, but after looking around, she didn't have much of an appetite and was too lazy to cook anything, so she just ordered the Chinese cabbage that looked fairly fresh.
The cafeteria lady seemed to think it was a waste to leave it uneaten, so she gave her a big spoonful and said, "Child, eat more."
Luo Yan felt embarrassed to refuse, so she sat down, took a deep breath, and encouraged herself: "I can finish it."
Unfortunately, the power of language was too weak to give her a strong appetite. Towards the end, it tasted like cardboard, and she had to force it in bite by bite—she couldn't bring herself to waste a single grain of rice.
Zhou Xiuhe went to the cafeteria and saw her eating. He nodded as a greeting and sat a few meters away.
After he finished eating, he saw that she was still eating. He thought that maybe girls are just more careful with their food. When he passed by, he noticed that she looked uncomfortable, so he asked, "Are you not feeling well?"
Luo Yan told the truth: "I can't eat much."
Eliminating waste is a phrase ingrained in everyone's bones. Zhou Xiuhe immediately understood her dilemma and asked, "Are you afraid of dogs?"
Dogs? Luo Yan shook her head slightly: "We have some in our yard."
Zhou Xiuhe: "There's one in our dormitory building. It usually eats from various households, but it's probably starving since it's on holiday."
Luo Yan thought it was a good idea and closed the lunchbox: "Then I'll give it to it to eat."
Zhou Xiuhe: "Its bowl is in the stairwell, I'll go with you."
It was actually a very logical suggestion; any classmate would have said the same thing. But he was feeling very guilty, and his throat was dry and he wanted to cough.
Luo Yan couldn't get into the boys' dormitory building, so after thinking about it, she said, "Then I'll trouble you."
Zhou Xiuhe: "No trouble at all, I'm just going back to my dorm to get something."
The two walked out together. Luo Yan took a step to the left to keep her distance from him, then belatedly realized that the atmosphere was a bit awkward, and thought about saying a few words.
She asked, "Does the puppy have a name?"
Actually, that wasn't what she originally wanted to ask; she wanted to know why Zhou Xiuhe was still at school.
After all, winter break is right after the most important holiday of the year, Chinese New Year, and especially since this is the first semester of university, students can't wait to go home as soon as they finish their exams. Before New Year's Day, Luo Yan heard her classmates discussing buying train tickets.
However, she always respected other people's privacy to the greatest extent and was afraid of touching on someone's sore spot, so she kept it to herself.
Zhou Xiuhe, unaware of her concerns, replied, "Yes, the dormitory manager calls him Little Gray."
Luo Yan: "That must be a gray dog."
Zhou Xiuhe: "It is said that it was originally white, but when I came it was gray."
Luo Yan laughed: "Was its name Xiaobai when it was little?"
Zhou Xiuhe hadn't really thought about this: "I don't know either, I can ask Grandpa Zhang later."
He further explained, "He is the dormitory manager of our building."
Despite the fact that this sentence was somewhat superfluous, Luo Yan still had an "I see" expression on her face: "Oh, I see."
I thought to myself that I couldn't very well ask Grandpa Zhang how old he was or where he lived.
Fortunately, Zhou Xiu found a new topic to talk about: "Do you guys have a lot of homework?"
Luo Yan: "I think it's alright, what about you guys?"
A question-and-answer session helped pass the time on the way from the cafeteria to the dormitory.
The "Little Gray" that Zhou Xiuhe mentioned was tied to the door by the dormitory manager today, running around in a limited area.
It probably recognized everyone living in the building, and wagged its tail affectionately at Zhou Xiuhe.
It wasn't so friendly to Luo Yan, barking twice.
The sound attracted the dormitory supervisor, who came out and said to the person, "Xiao Zhou, no wonder you haven't gone home for the holidays."
Zhou Xiuhe quickly said, "Don't talk nonsense, we are classmates."
These days, who dares to openly say they're dating? The academic affairs office is out there arresting people every day with flashlights. Grandpa Zhang looked on with a hopeful expression: "If you say you're classmates, then you're classmates."
After saying that, he didn't linger there any longer and went back to the duty room to continue listening to the radio.
Zhou Xiuhe couldn't hear his rebuttal, so he could only turn his head and apologize: "I'm sorry."
There doesn't seem to be anything I need to apologize for; after all, people can say whatever they want.
"It's alright," Luo Yan said, not minding much, and handed him the lunchbox. "You can feed it to it."
Little Grey had its own bowl. It smelled the aroma and seemed to find it quite palatable, so it buried its whole face in it.
Luo Yan found it cute and squatted down at a distance that wasn't too close: "I'll bring you food again next time, but please don't bark at me, okay?"
The puppy couldn't understand being reasoned with; it just ate its fill without even raising its head.
Zhou Xiuhe spoke up for it: "Little Grey barks, but it doesn't bite."
Otherwise, the school wouldn't allow it to live here.
Even if there's only a slight chance, Luo Yan wouldn't dare to take the risk. She tilted her head back and said, "It's okay, we'll get to know each other after a few more tries."
After a pause, he asked, "Are you going back to the library after you get your things?"
The idea of taking something wasn't something Zhou Xiu made up on the spot. He said, "Go back, wait for me a moment."
He climbed three steps at a time and disappeared in a flash.
I don't know which floor he lives on, but it only takes him a few seconds to go back and forth.
Luo Yan noticed his rapid breathing and said, "Don't rush, catch your breath before you go."
Zhou Xiuhe's face was flushed, but he still tried to sound tough: "I'm fine."
She spoke in three parts, saying, "Which floor do you live on?"
The school's dormitories are all old buildings from before the liberation, and the tallest of them is no more than five stories.
Zhou Xiuhe unfortunately lived at the highest point, and raised his left hand to signal.
Luo Yan couldn't pat his back or find water to moisten his throat, so she held her hands blankly in the air and said, "Take your time before you speak."
Zhou Xiuhe bent over slightly, his hands resting on his thighs. After taking a few deep breaths, he straightened up and pulled a handful of candy from his pocket: "Here you go."
Luo Yan blinked, then spread her hands together, realizing what she meant: "You went upstairs to get this?"
Zhou Xiuhe instinctively wanted to lie, but he still said, "I forgot to bring money when I went out, and I'm going to buy something tonight."
Luo Yan didn't know what she was disappointed about. She said "Oh" and slowly peeled open a piece of candy.
Zhou Xiuhe seemed to sense something and glanced at her cautiously: "Shall we go back to the library now?"
Doing her homework was more important. Luo Yan wiped the grease off the lunchbox and put it back in her bag, saying, "Let's go."
The dormitory building was close to the library, and Zhou Xiuhe hadn't thought of anything else to chat with her about before they arrived at their destination.
He kept in mind the proper boundaries between men and women and sat in the same spot as he had in the morning.
Luo Yan didn't move to another spot. She sat down, opened her book, and stayed there until three o'clock when the administrator announced, "It's time to close."
There were only a few people around to begin with. Luo Yan packed her things, slung her bag over her shoulder, met Zhou Xiuhe's eyes, and smiled.
The two walked out one after the other, said "See you tomorrow" at the door, and then parted ways.
There was a rare bit of sunshine outdoors, and the yellowish sky parted a little.
Luo Yan rarely felt like showing off, so she simply pushed her bike and wandered around aimlessly.
I walked quite a distance and ended up passing a bicycle shop.
As luck would have it, Zhou Weifang was sweeping the floor in front of the shop, his eyes wandering aimlessly.
He wasn't sure at first glance, but when he recognized Luo Yan's bicycle, he jogged forward a couple of steps and asked, "Is the bike broken?"
Luo Yan gripped the brakes and blurted out, "That scared me to death!"
Zhou Weifang stepped back: "Sorry, I thought you came here to get your car repaired."
Luo Yancai realized that he had actually come here and said, "I was just taking a stroll."
"You wandered over here?" Zhou Weifang felt a surge of secret joy. He pulled his scarf down a little to make it easier to talk, then swiftly pulled it back up.
Luo Yan, however, noticed something was wrong and asked, "What happened to your face? Did you get into a fight?"
Zhou Weifang said helplessly, "No, I fell."
Luo Yan was skeptical and looked him up and down.
Zhou Weifang was keen to establish a new image with her, saying, "I swear to God, I haven't been in a fight with anyone for at least five years."
He then pulled off his scarf and brought it closer to show her: "Could these scratches have been caused by a punch?"
Luo Yan really looked closely: "It looks like it was scratched by fingernails."
It was even applied right under the corner of the eye.
Zhou Weifang panicked: "I really fell. I just stepped over the threshold and then lunged forward..."
"Just talk, why are you acting?" Luo Yanxu raised her hand: "Okay, okay, I know. Be careful, don't fall again."
Zhou Weifang emphasized: "It really was from a fall."
A grown man like him falling down is nothing to be proud of, so why is he making such a fuss?
Luo Yan: "Don't keep your wound closed, it's easy for it to get infected."
Zhou Weifang was a tough kid, with quite a few scrapes and bruises on his body, so he didn't care about this little thing. But he still agreed and said, "Okay, I'll apply the medicine later."
Would someone who used to laugh even after cutting off a huge chunk of flesh from his finger as a child now apply medicine to such a minor injury? Luo Yancai didn't believe it; her thoughts were clearly written on her face.
Zhou Weifang scratched his forehead and changed the subject: "Are you free now? Your brother hasn't taken today's questions with him yet."
Luo Yan walked for more than an hour, and the sun had almost disappeared from sight. When she stopped, it seemed difficult to move forward.
She said, "I'm free."
Zhou Weifang stretched out his hand: "Please."
"You have a good attitude towards learning and know how to respect your teachers," Luo Yan said proudly. "You're welcome."
Actually, he was so happy that he tapped his fingers to a rhythm by his leg.
Zhou Weifang went even further, opening a bottle of soda after entering the store: "This was specially prepared for you."
Since it's already open, it would be a waste not to drink it. Luo Yan was indeed parched after walking such a long way.
She sipped her drink slowly, glancing at the question out of the corner of her eye. After reading it, she said, "You should deduct more from this profit..."
After a long string of words, Zhou Weifang could barely keep up. After listening, he looked up at the ceiling and sorted it out.
Luo Yan noticed a bruise on his chin and asked, "Do you have safflower oil in your shop?"
Zhou Weifang asked anxiously, "What's wrong?"
Luo Yan glared at him back: "Who do you think it is? What's wrong with it?"
It was an unconscious action; she immediately noticed it was inappropriate and said, "Your chin is bruised."
"It's bruised?" Zhou Weifang reached out and pressed hard. "I don't feel any pain."
Well, if others don't care, why should I rush to do it? Haven't I learned my lesson once?
Luo Yan finished the last sip of her soda: "Any other questions?"
Zhou Weifang: "I was busy today and only saw this much."
Having to work and study at the same time makes time really tough.
Luo Yan suddenly felt that he had a tough time too, and said, "Then you go ahead with your work, I'm going home now, see you next time."
Zhou Weifang immediately set the next time: "Are you free the day after tomorrow? I can come to see you, it's cold."
He can save some time by staying in the store. Luo Yan said, "It's okay, I go to the library every day anyway, I'll come over at 3:30."
Zhou Weifang didn't insist any further. After the person left, he casually scribbled something on the calendar and circled the day.
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Author's note: I made another revision at the last minute.
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