At the thought, Su Yuan stood up without a change in expression. Under Lan Qiuzhu's surprised gaze, she closed her book, turned, and left.
Watching the little beauty try to slip away right under her nose, Lan Qiuzhu felt thoroughly vexed. She wondered if she'd been too aggressive.
The answer was yes.
She scratched her head in frustration and thought that next time, she'd learn from this and improve her technique. She'd approach those young, naive underclassmen with the gentle, gracious air of a senior.
After some self-reflection, Lan Qiuzhu lowered her head. When she raised it again, she had become calm and gracious, with quite the air of a senior. She sat quietly in her original seat and continued reading her Art Painting Skill. Her target had already slipped away, but she wasn't in a hurry.
She glanced at a pale blue cup on the windowsill and shook her head with a smile. "That underclassman is so forgetful. She left her cup here. What's there to worry about? She'll have to come back for it."
Su Yuan really did need to pee this time. She hadn't noticed before, but the moment she thought of using the bathroom as an excuse to escape, she realized her bladder was quite full.
There were two restrooms on each floor of the library, one for men and one for women. Without a second thought, Su Yuan headed straight for the men's room. Just then, a young man came out. Seeing a short-haired, delicate-looking girl walking toward him with her head down, he nearly collided with her. He hurriedly stopped her and kindly warned, "Student, this is the men's room."
"I know it's the men's room!" Su Yuan replied, confused.
"If you know it's the men's room, why are you barging in?"
"What do you mean, barging in? Why can't I—"
She suddenly stopped, mouth hanging open, and realized what was happening. As blood rushed to her head, her whole face flushed red. "Y-you..." She realized the guy had mistaken her for a girl.
The other person had looked so earnest and well-meaning...
Even someone as bad at reading the room as her could understand: she really had been taken for a girl!
When the semester began, Su Yuan's hair hadn't been especially long, but now her bangs covered one eye. Combined with her build and the feminine air she unintentionally gave off, anyone who didn't know her well would surely think she was a girl.
At the thought that she'd been mistaken for one, Su Yuan couldn't manage the retort she'd been about to make. She stammered "y-you" for a while, then suddenly accepted reality. With her head drooping dejectedly, she turned and walked into the women's room next door.
The young man shook his head in confusion, lamenting that girls these days were so bold! Could they just barge into the men's room whenever they pleased? Fortunately, she'd run into a good man like him, who excelled in virtue, intelligence, and physical fitness. If she'd encountered someone with a dark heart, he might have dragged her into the men's room and had his way with her, and she wouldn't even have had anyone to complain to.
"But then again, this is the school library. Something that wicked probably wouldn't happen here, right?" Muttering to himself, a young man who thought everyone but him was a bad person wandered away, shaking his head.
Inside the women's restroom, Su Yuan felt thoroughly vexed.
It was completely empty; she was the only one there. It was her first time in a women's restroom, and although she felt a little nervous, she was also inexplicably excited.
She looked around. Aside from the lack of urinals, it didn't seem all that different from the men's room!
Looking at the row of stalls, her bladder felt even more urgent, perhaps because of the stress. She hurried into one, latched the door, pulled down her pants, and squatted.
The sound of her peeing soon echoed through the women's restroom. Since it was the women's room, Su Yuan didn't have to deliberately hide the sound for once. The surroundings also gave her a different kind of thrill.
When she was done, she cleaned herself up, pulled up her pants, and stepped out of the stall. Her face was still a little flushed. She wondered if she was a pervert; just peeing in a women's restroom had made her feel inexplicably excited.
I really am abnormal!
After thinking it over, she glanced at the small window at the far end of the restroom and smiled faintly before turning to leave.
"Oh, no! I forgot my cup!" Only then did she realize that she'd originally meant to run away. She smacked herself on the head in frustration and sighed. "Looks like I'll have to go back."
"Brother Su, what are you doing here?"
She had barely stepped a meter out of the women's restroom when a young man washing his hands at the sink greeted her.
Lu Kaiwen, male, twenty years old, a sophomore majoring in Classical Chinese.
Seeing that it was someone she knew, Su Yuan's expression suddenly stiffened. She forced herself to greet him. "Kaiwen, it's you. Are you reading on the tenth floor too?"
As she spoke, she felt a pang of guilt and could only pray that Lu Kaiwen hadn't seen her come out of the women's restroom. Yet she knew that was just wishful thinking. Since he was washing his hands at the sink, how could he not have seen where she'd come from?
"Indeed. Brother Su, you're..."
As he spoke, he glanced at the women's restroom nearby. His meaning was clear.
Lu Kaiwen was a Classical Chinese major, and he was like an old-fashioned scholar himself. He wasn't a pedant, but he was well on his way to becoming one. In everyday conversation, he filled his speech with classical expressions and literary turns of phrase. He and Su Yuan had met by chance. Their majors—Biological Engineering and Classical Chinese—had little in common, but they'd gotten to know each other at an interdepartmental event.
He also liked to call Su Yuan "Brother Su," as though that were the only way to show her respect. Su Yuan wasn't nearly so formal, so she called him Kaiwen rather than "Younger Brother Lu."
At Lu Kaiwen's question, Su Yuan immediately looked embarrassed.
Well, she'd just come out of the women's restroom and he'd caught her. How was she supposed to explain this?
"Uh..." She thought for a moment, trying to piece together a coherent explanation.
Seeing how flustered she was, Lu Kaiwen gave her a knowing look and waved a hand. "Brother Su, don't worry about it. I understand, I understand!"
Su Yuan was baffled. She asked timidly, "What do you understand?"
Lu Kaiwen smiled. "A man of ambition has lofty aspirations. A mere women's restroom is nothing. We men should come and go as freely as idle clouds and wild cranes. What's there to make a fuss about?"
Su Yuan was speechless. Was going into a women's restroom one of a man's lofty aspirations? Perhaps in Lu Kaiwen's eyes, a man ought to act boldly. It was only a women's restroom; going in was no big deal.
But why did it feel so wrong?
"Kaiwen, that's not what happened."
"I understand."
Lu Kaiwen waved his hand. "Brother Su, you're so beautiful. How many men long to stride into a women's restroom but can't? Since you have such a natural advantage, wouldn't it be a terrible waste not to make good use of it?"
"Ahem!"
Now that she knew her actions had some support, Su Yuan asked in surprise, "Could it be that Younger Brother Lu shares this ambition?"
Lu Kaiwen sighed deeply. "I lack the necessary gifts, I lack the necessary gifts!" He looked like his hardware couldn't keep up with his software.
So it wasn't that he didn't want to go in; he just didn't have the right qualifications. Seeing that this was what Lu Kaiwen meant, Su Yuan felt much less nervous. She was a girl now, after all, so going into the women's restroom seemed perfectly natural. It was just that, for various reasons left over from the past, she couldn't exactly do it openly in front of everyone. Meanwhile, Lu Kaiwen really was bold beyond belief. First, she'd have to deeply despise him!
"Um, Kaiwen... could you keep what happened today to yourself?" she asked hopefully.
Lu Kaiwen nodded solemnly, clearly understanding Su Yuan's concerns. "Don't worry. I know where to draw the line. I won't cause Brother Su any trouble."
"Then... I'll be going?"
"Mm. Take care."
After Su Yuan had gone some distance, Lu Kaiwen stared deeply at the women's restroom door, then looked back toward the figure already walking away. He stood there, stunned. Su Yuan really dared to do whatever she pleased—she'd even dared to barge into the women's restroom!
Despite how righteous he'd sounded just now, there was no way he would have dared to march in like Su Yuan had in a public place. Give him ten times the courage, and he still wouldn't do it! He'd also heard the rumors about Su Yuan. Plenty of people slandered her, calling her all sorts of awful things and claiming she was a pervert. Lu Kaiwen had always scoffed at such talk. It was nothing but jealousy because Su Yuan had gotten involved with Xiao Yiyan.
The idea that Su Yuan would seduce an eighty-year-old woman one moment and molest a five-year-old boy the next was ridiculous.
As for people calling her a cross-dresser or a tranny, Lu Kaiwen had his own explanation. Su Yuan did look a little feminine, and with a bit of makeup, she really might outshine many real girls. Especially since the start of this semester, she seemed to be moving even further in a "feminine" direction.
But what did that prove? Only that she had excellent genes.
Yet after seeing Su Yuan come out of the women's restroom just now, Lu Kaiwen knew something was terribly wrong.
Was there really something wrong with Brother Su's mental health?
He'd joked with her just now only because, as her friend, he hadn't wanted to embarrass her. In truth, Lu Kaiwen was already getting nervous.
Just imagine: what if one day, a male friend of yours suddenly became all effeminate and even started using the women's restroom? How terrifying would that be!
The only difference was that Su Yuan had a natural advantage in appearance and looked more like a girl.
Thanks to "Click Here to Pick Up Soap" for donating 1,000 Qidian Coins and becoming this book's first Hall Master!!
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