CH 32

Qin Juran never would’ve thought that, on the day after the forum post was sent, the first person to come waiting outside her dormitory would be Lin Wei.

The boy’s hair was on the longer side, there was faint stubble on his chin, and his dark circles seem to sink all the way down to his navel. In his casual sweatshirt, he looked as if he was just thrown out of his home after a bad breakup.

Qin Juran nearly jumped when she saw Lin Wei storming over, almost throwing the bottle in her hand at him in shock.

“Is it true?” Lin Wei stared wearily at Qin Juran.

“Ruan Nan was the one who uploaded the post – why don’t you ask her?” Qin Juran walked towards her electric bike as she spoke.

“As for me…do you even need to ask?”

Lin Wei wasn’t satisfied. He followed after her and continued, “When did it happen?”

Qin Juran wasn’t sure what “it” was referring to, but she answered thoughtfully, “Tearing the love letter? Bringing her to the hospital? Getting matching tattoos? Or…the beautiful spring night on which the dashing hero rescued the beautiful damsel in the alleyway?”

Tch…..

Lin Wei inhaled a sharp breath. It was understandable that Zhou Ziqing and the others didn’t know about it, but during the love letter incident, Lin Wei himself was there. When they went to the hospital, he tagged along, and when they got tattoos, it was also him who accidentally blew their cover. Even on that spring night, he was the one who called her…

So the whole time, Qin Juran was busy snatching Sister Nan away right from under his nose?

Knowing that it was too late to go back, Lin Wei clenched his teeth, then asked, “Qin Juran, if you and Sister Nan are together…who’s…who’s the…dominant one?”

Despite his somewhat vague words, Qin Juran understood the implicit meaning behind his question. She pushed her bike from the parking spot and sat on the seat, her long legs resting on the ground. She casually tossed her hair back, then, in the spirit of President Qin, she snorted in his direction: “Who do you think?”

Before Qin Juran could drive away, Lin Wei charged towards her and plopped a butt cheek onto the backseat of her bike. Qin Juran frowned: “What are you doing?”

Lin Wei raised his head. “Since I call Sister Nan by ‘Sister,’ that means I’m going to be your brother-in-law from now on. Isn’t it alright to give your brother-in-law a ride to school, then?”

“……”

Qin Juran didn’t protest. She only asked a brief question to make sure of whether he was properly seated, then gripped the handles and drove.

Lin Wei’s feet were so big that his shoes were like two boats. Moreover, the footrests of Qin Juran’s bike were rather small, yet Lin Wei didn’t dare hold onto Qin Juran’s back or clothes. Whenever the bike swayed, he would subconsciously step his feet on the ground as manual brakes. By the time they made it to the campus entrance, the soles of his limited edition Air Jordans had practically scraped off.

Seeing Qin Juran pull out her phone and tap while in the midst of driving, Lin Wei blurted angrily, “Qin Juran, focus on the road! What are you doing on your phone?”

Qin Juran’s voice echoed calmly from in front of him: “Looking for a good haircut place for the first lunar month.” 1

“…..”

Once they arrived at the classroom building, Qin Juran flicked a merciless glance at Lin Wei, who was dripping in a cold sweat, and strode inside the building.

The first two classes this Wednesday morning were both small, specialized courses, as well as two of the hardest courses in the semester. After being nagged by Lin Wei for a period, by the time she entered the classroom, many of the students had already arrived. They all eyed her with observant gazes. Qin Juran glanced at where Ruan Nan sat and saw that all the four seats surrounding her were empty, as if waiting for her to sit in either one.

Sensing the change of energy in the classroom, Ruan Nan raised her head to meet Qin Juran’s eyes. An unabashed smile crossed over Qin Juran’s face, and she turned to walk towards her usual seat.

However, Ruan Nan was unbothered as she continued with what she was doing.

Meanwhile, the few students who were making their way over to those four seats glanced towards Qin Juran, and only after making sure she wasn’t planning on sitting there did they cautiously sit down.

The first lecture was taught by an old professor who didn’t use PowerPoints. His voice was rather hoarse, and he often had to cough strenuously to catch the students’ attention.

Once the break between the two lectures finally came, a large portion of the students immediately raced out of the classroom for a breath of fresh air.

On every floor, there was a water fountain right by the bathrooms. As Qin Juran grabbed her water bottle and went to fill it up, she saw Ruan Nan enter the bathroom at the same time. Meanwhile, a glass bottle with a kitten-printed holder had been placed on the fountain.

After filling her own bottle, Qin Juran also filled Ruan Nan’s. She leaned against the window as she waited for Ruan Nan to come out of the restroom, then raised the bottle in her hand in greeting.

The group of girls who were currently walking towards the bathroom witnessed this exchange. They stifled smiles as they dashed into the bathroom.

Qin Juran was wearing the same casual blazer today; even without the glasses, her outfit gave off a sense of professionalism. Ruan Nan felt that whenever Qin Juran wore this jacket, she instilled in onlookers the desire to obey her.

Qin Juran perched lazily on the windowsill: “I filled it for you.”

Ruan Nan didn’t reply, only reaching for the bottle. When she felt the warmth of the water, she began to walk back towards the fountain.

“Your menstrual cycle is about to begin; you shouldn’t be drinking cold water.” 2

Ruan Nan halted midstep for a second, then continued walking.

“Mixing hot water with cold is also not good for your stomach, you shouldn’t drink that.”

Ruan Nan paused, looking around the vicinity, then walked up beside Qin Juran. She faced the window as if looking at the scenery outside, but she actually inclined her head slightly to the side and spoke in a hushed voice: “Campus Flower Qin, you wouldn’t have made a forum post all on your own, would you?”

Qin Juran laughed, shaking her head: “I wouldn’t dare – of course I remember Miss Ruan’s words that we’re not friends.”

Before Ruan Nan could reply, the group of girls from earlier began coming out from the bathroom. Suddenly, Qin Juran reached a hand to yank on Ruan Nan’s shirt, out of the girls’ sight, causing Ruan Nan to stumble forward.

However, right before she could fall, Qin Juran immediately stretched out her arms and pulled Ruan Nan into an embrace. Her hand gently encircled the waist, and her eyes feigned a look of innocence and vulnerability. In a low voice just loud enough for the group of girls to hear, she said, “I never wanted you only for your money.”

“…..”

The girls let out collective gasps and nearly shrieked as they rushed towards the classroom.

Ruan Nan broke free from Qin Juran, her face flaming. She stared at her for a long while, then finally choked out the words, “Drama queen.”

Qin Juran laughed softly, then lazily replied from behind her: “Little grasshopper.”

Ruan Nan froze in her step, just as the bell signaling the start of class sounded. “What did you say?”

Qin Juran grabbed her water bottle and followed after: “Miss Ruan and I, two grasshoppers tied to the same rope.” 3

Right when they reached the doorway, Qin Juran sidled up closer to Ruan Nan and whispered, “I’m on top, Miss Ruan is on the bottom.”

The two of them walked into the classroom one after another. This second lecture’s material was more difficult, with a middle-aged female professor, and a topic that Qin Juran was unfamiliar with.

She struggled in the beginning, but after a while, she realized that the material wasn’t far off from the “Microeconomics” class she took during her study abroad in her past life. However, the foreign testing systems were indeed different from Chinese ones, so she was unsure of what to expect for the exams.

Throughout the lecture, the entire class was studiously focused. Qin Juran could sense that this female professor was extremely intelligent and seemed to take pity on the mass of confused stares from the students, other than Qin Juran.

Towards the end of class, the professor tossed her chalk to the side and spoke, “Exam period is approaching. Many of you have already come to meet me regarding questions already. This Monday, I will have three slots for help sessions, and two have already been filled. Is there anybody who would like to sign up for the last slot?”

The class immediately erupted in eager chatter. Many of them had already gone, but this close to the exam period, there were both advantages and drawbacks to signing up for this help session.

Qin Juran saw that no one had raised their hand even after a long while, and since she felt that she could use the help herself, she raised her own hand just in time to hear the class let out a collective “Wooow—”

Qin Juran turned her head around to the back left to see Ruan Nan’s own hand raised in the air.

The two of them stared at each other, but neither put down their hands.

The professor pushed up her glasses, taking in the fact that the two most unfathomable students were the ones raising their hands. She smiled somewhat awkwardly at Qin Juran: “Juran, you’ve always maintained good grades, why don’t you leave this time for Ruan Nan? Student Ruan Nan has never attended before.”

Given the professor’s insistence, on top of the two’s prior relationship, the rest of the class expected that Qin Juran would pass up. On the contrary, she only let out a small laugh: “Professor, please allow me anyway.”

“I can help Student Ruan Nan with her questions.”

Meanwhile, the upright and plainspoken professor was unaware of anything regarding the forums. She merely frowned and asked, “Are you sure that’s convenient for you? The exams are coming soon, every minute of you two’s time is precious!”

""

Qin Juran smirked. She flicked a look in Ruan Nan’s direction then proudly announced, “It’s convenient; my time is her time.”

“Wahh—”

The entire class: The ship is sailing!

Throughout the rest of the week, Qin Juran focused all of her efforts on studying. Every class she and Ruan Nan had together, she would glance her way. As expected, her pretty face became increasingly haggard by the day.

The forum post had been trending in the leading spot for three days already, and a bunch of students who hadn’t even heard of these three people before had hopped onto the bandwagon.

The rivals turned lovers trope was a topic worth discussing in any world. Qin Juran was even preparing herself to be called back to Secretary Yan’s office, but being who he was, he must’ve chosen to swallow his anger rather than risk another scheme from the two of them.

However, no one had told her that Secretary Yan had actually taken an entire week off.

On Wednesday, Qin Juran attended the professor’s help session. For the past few days, Huang Ying had eaten and studied together with Qin Juran, and she never even once saw Qin Juran and Ruan Nan speak to each other. She couldn’t help being curious: “Juju, didn’t the professor instruct you to help tutor Ruan Nan last time? The exams are coming up soon, so why didn’t you go yet?”

Before Qin Juran could respond, Huang Ying exclaimed in what seemed like realization: “My gosh, is it because I was eating and studying with you – did I come between you two?”

“…..”

Just then, Qin Juran discovered a profound mystery.

Ruan Nan could never win against her, and she herself could never win against Huang Ying.

She shut her book and turned on her phone, sending her location directly to “Mine” along with a message:

【When would Miss Ruan like to hold the private tutoring session?】

After withholding for twenty minutes, the other party replied curtly: 【No need.】

Before Qin Juran could message back, she received a few-second-long voice message. When she clicked to listen, it turned out to be Lin Wei’s rough voice:

“Qin Juran, come quick and teach us, all the explanations that Sister Nan gave us were wrong.”              4

Ruan Nan was actually teaching Lin Wei right now?

Qin Juran couldn’t help curving her lips: 【At home?】

She didn’t know who sent the next message that arrived a while later: 【Yea.】

【I’m on my way.】