CH 26

Translator: Csycrus, Editor: Nini, Proofreader: Shigo

After Li Ting entered the password, the private section was successfully accessed. 

The e-books that Fang Huaining recommended to Li Ting were all easily accessible; they were the ones on the top of the page, but… Li Ting looked at the time. How could it have been uploaded only a few hours before? Didn’t he say the books were already there?

Li Ting raised his eyebrows at the strangeness, but still selected them and clicked download. Not only was their house dilapidated, but their internet, which was included in the rental fee, was shared with two other families. So, the internet speed fluctuated from time to time, which was a part of the reasons why Tian Dian died so often while playing online games.

Like now, trying to download the file was enough to keep the progress bar running for half a day.

While waiting for the file, Li Ting went through some other posts boredly. He found that, except for a small portion of the space that stored technical data, the rest was actually records, including some travel notes.

Li Ting chose a random article to read. It seemed that Fang Huaining had written down this blog, when he visited a well-known domestic internet company with a few classmates in his sophomore year.

He took pictures of his work environment, company landscape, various welfare facilities, etc. The sentences in the description were not very rich and colorful, but they were satisfactory.

The content was detailed and carefully arranged, allowing interested colleagues to learn a lot of information, which was not at all like the taciturn and alienated personality of the person writing this.

Scrolling down to the end, Li Ting came across a group photo of the students, including Wang Fuliang and Zhao Pang.

Of course, Fang Huaining was there as well, though he wasn’t in the center and was in the second row at the back, but the external advantage in this case was so obvious that if one glanced over, one’s eyes could only be fixed on his face from beginning to end.

There were a lot of comments under the travel notes, hundreds of them.

While some were comments about the company, most people had shifted their attention to his extraordinary appearance after knowing that the blogger was one of the people in the picture.

There were more than ten pages of direct or indirect praises that seemed to go on forever. However, after Li Ting’s initial scan, he found that most of these comments were concentrated in a specific time period two years ago, and no new comments had been added ever since.

For a moment, Li Ting seemed to be able to imagine the other party spending so much time sharing his experience, only to find that the focus had been diverted by other factors. It would undoubtedly make a person feel speechless and disgusted…

So… who told you to post the picture?

Now reap the consequences.

Li Ting thought, after all this is only the result of your actions.

With a ding, the electronic file was notified that it had been completely downloaded.

Li Ting thought for a while, then marked the lemon tree* website. After that, he closed the browser and found his file. Opening it, he read through it carefully.

[TN: FH was mentioned to have a lemon as his profile, now LT referred to his website as the lemon tree’s website.]

This was much easier to understand than the theoretical materials he borrowed indiscriminately. The explanation was step-by-step, and some chapters with lots of uncommon words were even labeled separately! Which, at a first glance, unexpectedly cleared things for him.

As Li Ting flipped through the pages, he couldn’t help but stop and stare at the screen for a while, a confused expression appearing on his face for a moment. But this information was a little too complete…

Then his eyes fell on the mobile phone on the side.

If you have any questions, you can tell me…

Li Ting seemed to remember the words he heard outside the library.

After hesitating for a few seconds, Li Ting picked up the phone and opened the chat software.

It’s just that before he had time to type in the dialog box, there was a loud noise from outside, and his surroundings went dark.

“Hey? What’s the situation?!”

Tian Dian jumped out of the bathroom only halfway through his bath, staggered to the door with his towel on, and ran out!

Then he rushed in after a while and shouted: “I’ve had it!! The dogmen next door are fighting again, this time the main switch was somehow pulled, I’m going to fuck it!”

After cursing for a while and barely calming his anger, Tian Dian came back to his senses and saw Li Ting who was still sitting in the dark. He asked worriedly, “That… The computer can’t be used right now, Li-zi. You didn’t have anything urgent, right?”

Li Ting silently deleted the words in the chat box, then closed his phone which only had two batteries left, and said, “It’s okay, there’s no rush…”

__________

At night, it was time for Fang Huaining’s little brothers to go and fight monsters again.

Fang Huaining was very skilled in this game and had always been the team’s main attacker, but the reaction of the ace today was not so good.

“Huaining, where are you? Didn’t we make an appointment to go to the main city to brush up and attack the boss at this time?”

Several people turned on their microphones, and Wang Fuliang’s voice asked anxiously from inside the headset. “Did you go to the toilet?”

Fang Huaining hurriedly minimized the lemon tree webpage and gave an absent-minded answer, “Hmm.”

“I’m back now. Let’s go.”

He led the group of people to the designated place. Before it was too late, he bombarded the boss monster indiscriminately. The monster was about to be dispatched when Fang Huaining’s cell phone buzzed.

Quickly, he dropped the mouse and picked up the phone.

There was a new unread message, and Fang Huaining immediately opened it.

——There will be a meeting at ten o’clock tomorrow, please make sure to come at the research institute on time.

It turned out to be sent by a senior brother, Wu Yi. Fang Huaining stared at it for a while, before closing the chat software, and opened the ‘Little Field’ this time. Unlike before, everything was quiet today with no new records or memos.

Fang Huaining was in a daze.

Suddenly, another scream came through the earphones, and this time, it was from Zhao Pang: “——Huaining!!!! Are you lagging?!!!!”

Fang Huaining hurriedly looked at his computer. In the game, he and his teammates had fallen as easily as flower petals.

Wang Fuliang was helpless: “Did you go to the toilet again?”

Zhao Pang: “This is kidney deficiency, Huaining! It’s fatal! Control your body and mind!”

Fang Huaining: “…”

********

There was no class the next morning, so Fang Huaining went to the research institute where he met with Wei Ping after the meeting.

Wei Ping, a student of the Foreign Language Department of University A, occasionally came to help whenever the institute needed a translator. She and Qian Kun were in a relationship; so, she was also on good terms with Fang Huaining.

Wei Ping said: “I probably won’t come here often in the future. If you need anything, you should find Yu Yaoqing.” Yu Yaoqing was the girl who translated German last time.

Fang Huaining was puzzled.

Wei Ping said: “Or the team leader of your group can find her, Yu Yaoqing has a good relationship with her.”

Fang Huaining didn’t care much but still asked, “What about you?”

“I found a new job, and I’m going for an interview today!”

Wei Ping laughed happily as she spoke, “It’s not a big company! It’s a bookstore. Opened by an old senior from the foreign language department, isn’t it so cool to be able to contract such a store near his alma mater in less than ten years? He’s my idol! I want to learn from a close distance.”

Wei Ping already had excellent grades and had even accumulated a lot of internship experience. So when it came to senior year, where everyone else was extremely busy, she planned to take one last breath of freedom before completely leaving campus life.

“Xiaoxinzi Xiaoshe*, here I come!”

[TN: Name of the bookstore, probably.]

Fang Huaining had already turned around, but then stopped when he heard this.

This name… why is it so familiar?

“Where?”

Wei Ping: “Ah?”

Fang Huaining repeated again: “Where is that bookstore…?”

Wei Ping was surprised, but still replied, “It’s right next to the southeast gate of the school. It takes five minutes to walk there.”

_

When Qian Kun arrived to pick up his girlfriend for the interview, he found that his former roommate was there—a person who was rarely in the mood to run around with him.

Qian Kun stared at his girl with suspicion in his eyes, and his girlfriend stared back with even more doubt.

The bookstore was indeed very close. After walking for a few steps, Fang Huaining saw a new store full of purple flower baskets at the door.

Upon entering, he could see that the place was spacious, well-decorated, and with an elegant atmosphere. There were a few computers, many bookshelves, and a counter for refreshments. According to the notice posted on the wall, it had only been open for about two or three days. Although the price of the items were not very affordable for the general public, in a place near University A, one can easily imagine how popular it would be.

Wei Ping also sighed again, strengthening her resolve to work here.

She pulled a passing waiter and asked, “Are there any seats left? Is your boss here? Maybe you can call him for me? I’m here for an interview.”

The waiter, obviously another student, looked fair and friendly. Turning back inside, she raised her head and asked the other waiter in a hushed voice. “I have to deliver these drinks. Can you check and see if there are still three seats available? Please take the guests in.”

Wei Ping quickly followed the waiter. As Fang Huaining searched around, a familiar voice sounded.

“There is a seat, come with me.”

Fang Huaining looked up and saw Li Ting standing in front of him. He was also wearing a waiter’s uniform with a small bow tie on a snow-white shirt, making his face look even more serious than usual—a few years younger, and even more handsome and cute.

Fang Huaining froze for a while and did not follow until Li Ting had already walked a certain distance.

In order to not affect other people’s reading, the food had to be ordered at the counter and then directly taken back to the seat.

Li Ting handed over the menu from behind the bar and talked about the store’s newly introduced special items in a business-like manner without any familiarity sense on his face.

Qian Kun was also surprised for a while before ordering for his girlfriend and himself. When he didn’t heard Fang Huaining’s voice after a while, Qian Kun thought that he was unsure about what to order and suggested: “Don’t you like pudding? Let’s drink this, and place orders for a pudding as well.”

Turning around, he asked Li Ting. “Will you make it fresh?”

Li Ting nodded, “I will.”

“Wow.” Qian Kun was surprised.

Fang Huaining said: “That’s fine then.”

After taking the order, Li Ting began swiftly. Qian Kun and Fang Huaining stood there, watching him intently. Li Ting’s hands were super fast, clean, and professional.

Drowning out Qian Kun’s occasional sighs, Fang Huaining’s eyes gradually drifted away—falling on Li Ting’s tilted face for a while, and then on his slim, dexterous fingers working with various materials, and finally, when Li Ting turned around to fill the cup, Fang Huaining couldn’t help his eyes but noticed the waistline revealed from under the other’s shirt, which was gently tied by the string of the apron.

So thin, so slender…