CH 22

The soothing light music sounded for more than ten seconds. Lin Dongyang suddenly woke up from his sleep and reached out to grab the mobile phone under the pillow. The curtain blocked the light from outside so the bright mobile phone screen in the dark room became particularly dazzling. He half opened one eye and could faintly see that the digital display said Qiao Yichen. 

After Lin Dongyang clicked on accept he closed his eyes again, turned over and lay down with the phone under his ear. His voice was full of complaints and sleepiness as he said, “So early in the morning, still not letting me sleep.”

“Come out.” The voice on the other end was simple and cold.

“What time is it now? Let’s go later, hang up and I’ll sleep again.”

“I’ll wait for you for only five minutes. If you don’t come down in five minutes, I’ll kick your dormitory door.” 

“… So short-tempered.” Lin Dongyang mumbled to himself as if he was talking in his sleep.

“If you know that I’m short-tempered, move quickly.”

“Five minutes is not enough time to get dressed, wash my face and brush my teeth.”

“Ten minutes, run there yourself if you exceed the time limit.” Qiao Yichen was obviously a little impatient. His tone changed from cold to urgent, and then he hung up the phone directly.

Lin Dongyang closed his eyes again and took a long time before he barely opened his heavy eyelids, sat up in a daze, and stretched his waist. The phone showed that the time was 6:51 in the morning, and the room was quiet with only slight breathing sounds. His roommates were still floating in their sweet dreams, they didn’t even get up so early for the morning class.

Lin Dongyang climbed down from the upper bunk, put on his slippers and walked into the bathroom. The person in the mirror was carrying a messy bird’s nest on his head. He pulled his hair straight, but after letting go, it stubbornly tilted up. Lin Dongyang caught his own ugly smile in the mirror and couldn’t help thinking: How the hell did he sleep for his hair to form such a strange shape?

Turning on the faucet and patting cold water on his face, he woke up in an instant. After washing quickly, he adjusted the water temperature of the shower and washed his hair. Only then did he go out of the bathroom, otherwise he really couldn’t go out to see people.

The other three people were still sleeping soundly. Of those in their dormitory only Zhu Wenbo and Lin Dongyang, slept a little bit lighter. Li Wei and Fatty Han naturally couldn’t be shaken awake by thunder. The only way to wake them up must be through punching and kicking in order to be effective! Lin Dongyang looked at the roommates who were sleeping soundly with envy and sighed: “Qiao Yichen really committed a sin.” 

He pulled the heavy sunshade curtains open a bit, and the bright sunlight instantly rushed in through the crack, causing a little light to tear through the darkness of the room.

“Nice weather, what to wear…” Lin Dongyang turned on his mobile phone and wanted to see what the temperature was today. As a result, the screen showed 6:58 am.

“F*ck, so fast!” He didn’t have time to think about what to wear. He put on a T-shirt and casual pants at the fastest speed in his life. He put on his shoes, took his mobile phone, took the keys and rushed out of the dormitory door. He didn’t even have time to blow dry his hair, simply wiping it dry with a towel. Fortunately, his hair dried quickly.

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After Lin Dongyang ran out the door of the building, he found he had exceeded the time limit by one minute. After he glanced around there was no one at the door, let alone Qiao Yichen.

“It just so happened that he didn’t wait for me. So, I’m not going.” Lin Dongyang complained that Qiao Yichen, with his bad temper, might not have waited for him, and if he had really left he would be happy to go back and catch up on his sleep.

The window of the car opposite slowly lowered, and Qiao Yichen said impatiently to Lin Dongyang who was standing motionless. “Come on.” 

“Oh!” Lin Dongyang exclaimed, and now he understood what Qiao Yichen’s phrase ‘run by yourself if you exceed the time limit’ meant. He thought they were going to travel by public transport, he didn’t expect Qiao Yichen to drive directly to the door of his dormitory. He opened the door of the passenger seat and got in. He was a little bit embarrassed of his behavior of complaining when he didn’t know the truth just now, he smiled apologetically and said, “I thought you were gone.”

Qiao Yichen gave him an evaluation. “Wasting time!” Then he stepped on the accelerator and drove away. The inertia caused Lin Dongyang to lean back as he awkwardly reminded Qiao Yichen about his rough speed-up method, “You can’t drag race inside the campus!”

In response to him, the pointer on the dashboard continued to rise. Lin Dongyang directly closed his mouth and fastened his seat belt to welcome the breath-taking turn.

Qiao Yichen originally wanted to go straight to the Athena International Building, where everything was available, but the shopping city only officially opened at 8am, so Qiao Yichen drove directly to the Jewelry City instead. 

As the name suggests, most of what was sold in the Jewelry City was jewelry: diamonds, jade, gold and silver. None of which could be bought if one couldn’t afford it. It was essentially similar to the Athena International Building, except that it occupied a relatively small area, but it was still a place of capital flow for luxury goods.

After parking the car, Lin Dongyang reminded, “Can we have breakfast first? I ran here with you in the early morning, and I didn’t even get to drink a sip of water.”

Qiao Yichen locked the car door and said, “So many demands!” But he agreed. In fact, he hadn’t eaten either. He had planned to go back to Rongjing Bay on Saturday, but when he left, he realized that he was supposed to go choose Weiwei’s birthday gift today. So he drove out the car, that had not been touched in the school garage for nearly a week, to see the sun again. An Qi got up earlier than he did and was picked up by Uncle Liu at 6am.

There was a Hundun restaurant nearby. The two men went in and ordered two Hundun. Lin Dongyang asked, “Where are we going later?” 

Qiao Yichen: “You choose, choose until I am satisfied.”

Lin Dongyang: “You’re really asking a lot of me. I also don’t know what to give to girls.”

Qiao Yichen: “If you can’t choose, I’ll pack you as a gift.”

Lin Dongyang: “You can only threaten An Qi with these words. What does she like?” 

Qiao Yichen knitted his brows when he was asked this and it seemed like the two faint lines between his eyebrows became clearer, “Eating, going to look after eating, I don’t have so much time.”

Lin Dongyang curled his lip, and after eating a few hundun in the bowl, he got up and went to pay the bill.

The waiter asked how many people he was paying for, and Lin Dongyang answered, “Two people.”

“Okay, 36 yuan, please scan the QR code here.” 

After Lin Dongyang paid, Qiao Yichen had just finished eating. He looked at Lin Dongyang who had come back, and the question in his eyes was particularly obvious. He didn’t have to open his mouth for Lin Dongyang to know that what he wanted to ask was: have you paid for me?

“Don’t worry, I paid for it. Now that I’ve received your money, I’ll take care of what you eat this semester.”

Qiao Yichen got up and walked out, and Lin Dongyang followed him out of the Hundun Shop. When the two men came to the interior of the Jewelry City, Qiao Yichen stood in front of a counter, looking at the diamond rings in the glass showcase, lost in thought. Lin Dongyang was dazzled by the display of diamonds and jade. Seeing that Qiao Yichen wanted to buy a diamond ring he asked puzzledly “Do you want to give An Qi’s girlfriend this?”

Lin Dongyang didn’t know that An Qi’s girlfriend was actually Qiao Yichen’s sister. He thought that Qiao Yichen wanted to give his brother’s girlfriend a birthday gift as a best friend, but it was definitely not appropriate to choose a diamond ring. Even a bracelet would be a better option than a ring, it was no wonder that An Qi wasn’t at ease. He was too bad at choosing a gift, an amateur among amateurs! 

Qiao Yichen: “She is my younger sister.”

Lin Dongyang: “… It turns out there is still this relationship. Then, you can choose a necklace or bracelet, but don’t choose a ring. A ring should be sent by An Qi instead of you.”

Qiao Yichen: “She doesn’t like jewelry.”

In fact, Qiao Yichen’s idea was very simple. He didn’t know what to give Qiao Weiwei because she didn’t lack anything. He wanted to give a ring because he felt that Qiao Weiwei’s coming-of-age gift was definitely not just a birthday party. It was likely to be an engagement banquet, and the engagement needed a diamond ring. Although his father didn’t disclose much on the phone, he could vaguely guess a little. Why was An Qi suddenly called to Gaoding exhibition? Qiao Yichen laughed at himself. 

The only warmth in his family may soon be pushed to settle down by his biological parents as a business transaction. The only thing that made him thankful was that An Qi really liked Weiwei. If Weiwei accepted it, he would give an elder brother’s blessing.

Lin Dongyang was stunned by Qiao Yichen’s words, and asked suspiciously: “Are you a real brother? She doesn’t like it but you will still gift it?”

“Expensive.” Expensive was memorable, Qiao Yichen thought.

“…” Lin Dongyang now understood the consumption concept of the rich. Expensive was the standard! Expensive was the reason! He lamented that their values had been corrupted by money, and said earnestly, “In fact, it being expensive doesn’t mean it’s necessarily the best. No matter how expensive, if she doesn’t like it, she still doesn’t like it. You should buy what she lacks most and needs most.” 

“She doesn’t lack anything.” Qiao Yichen showed a trace of confusion, as if thinking deeply about Lin Dongyang’s words, or thinking deeply about what Qiao Weiwei would need.

Lin Dongyang expressed that he had nothing to say. At this point, giving expensive gifts seemed meaningless.

At this time, a young couple walked past them. The girl was holding a pink teddy bear and happily holding the boy’s arm, smiling like the spring breeze in March.

Lin Dongyang seemed to have received enlightenment. Looking at the big pink teddy bear, he said, “Girls should like pink. Why don’t you buy a teddy bear to accompany her?” 

Qiao Yichen: “She has a room full of them.”

Lin Dongyang put both hands in his pockets directly. “…I don’t know, just looking around at random.”

The first floor was focused on cosmetics, the second floor was focused on apparel, the two people were now on the third floor—— the jewelry floor, which was also the most important part of Jewelry City. Lin Dongyang circled the third floor twice. He didn’t know if Qiao Yichen saw him or not, but he did take a fancy to something, a very simple men’s ring.

“Hello, which one do you prefer? Would you like to try it on?” Dressed in black and white professional attire, the sales lady showed a standard smile. She was very skilled at her job so when she saw Lin Dongyang’s eyes sweeping over the ring intentionally or unintentionally, she seized the business opportunity to come forward and ask enthusiastically. 

“Sorry, I’m just looking around.” Lin Dongyang smiled back and said that he would not buy it.

“It doesn’t matter. You can try it on if you like.” The sales lady took out the ring and handed it to him with both hands as a sign that he could try it on.

Lin Dongyang hesitated for a moment, but he was still excited. He said thank you and the sales lady handed it to him. Lin Dongyang’s fingers were slender and white, and his nails were trimmed roundly. The simple ring was worn on the ring finger, which made the fingers look even more slender.

“This is the simplest one, and it really suits your clean temperament.” The sales lady wasn’t stingy with her praise. 

Lin Dongyang’s face flushed from the beautiful sales lady’s praise, and even his earlobes went hot. The ring on his ring finger was suddenly hot. He quickly took it off and put it back into the palm of the sales lady’s hand, and said, “Thank you. I might buy it later.”

Qiao Yichen silently watched everything from behind him, without opening his mouth to urge him. After Lin Dongyang walked out of the store, he asked, “Why don’t you buy it if you like it?”

Lin Dongyang: “I will buy it when I get married in the future. Now, if this single dog wears a ring, it will cut off the peach blossom.”

“Tsk, you just don’t have the money to buy it.” Qiao Yichen mocked and stabbed the red heart with a knife. Lin Dongyang could only pull the corners of his mouth, he had nothing to refute. The price tag was more than 20,000 yuan. He was a student and really had no money to buy it.