This Thing Called Online Dating

All morning, Bai Hui did not say a single word to Liu Chang'an, nor did she cast a single glance his way. She felt that Liu Chang'an had done it on purpose; he had discovered her peeking at him and was now trying to disgust her, which left Bai Hui feeling quite humiliated.

By comparison, her two lackeys, Lu Yuan and Qian Ning, were much more obedient. At noon, once Liu Chang'an and An Nuan had left to eat, Bai Hui called Miao Yingying over to join the two boys in examining the drawing on Liu Chang'an's desk.

"It has to be Bai Hui!" Qian Ning asserted indignantly.

"Exactly. Why else would it be a white swan? This is clearly a jab at the saying about a toad lusting after swan meat. Who would specifically emphasize a 'white' swan in that idiom? A swan is a swan, whether it's black or white!" Lu Yuan's momentum was fierce. "He's confessing. He likes Bai Hui."

No sooner had Lu Yuan finished speaking than he received a sharp blow from Qian Ning.

Hearing this interpretation, Bai Hui felt a flicker of pride, but she couldn't be certain, so she turned to look at Miao Yingying.

"Just leave him be. We're almost graduating, what are you fighting over?" Miao Yingying muttered, frowning. "I'm the unlucky one, sitting next to Gao Dewei. Today, while I was working on a test paper, Gao Dewei actually leaned over to take a look, then stared at me with this bizarre expression, shaking his head and saying that with Liu Chang'an gone, there's no one left to even discuss problems with."

"He probably thinks you're an idiot," Qian Ning laughed. His grades were decent, though he couldn't compare to a master of the "Mount Hua Sword Trials" like Gao Dewei.

Miao Yingying kicked Qian Ning, and Bai Hui smiled faintly. "What's so unlucky about that? You're so close to Lin Xinhuai, the two of you gazing at each other with affection across An Nuan."

"You're dead..." Miao Yingying blushed and swatted at her in embarrassment.

Liu Chang'an and An Nuan were eating at the same restaurant as before; Gao Dewei had been summoned by Teacher Liu for a private "special meal" of nourishing soup.

"To make bird's nest, you must soak it in spring water boiled to a rolling boil—preferably natural sparkling water these days—then pick through it with silver needles. Pair it with tender chicken broth, ham broth, and mushroom broth. The resulting bird's nest should be jade-colored, neither oily nor greasy. I suspect the one Gao Dewei is eating has been loaded with extra supplements; it might be nourishing, but likely not as delicious," Liu Chang'an remarked to An Nuan.

"Just eat your fast food and stop worrying about bird's nest." An Nuan picked the beef out of her sour soup beef bowl and placed it in Liu Chang'an's bowl. She only liked the wood ear mushrooms, bean sprouts, and bamboo shoots inside, which actually made up the bulk of the dish anyway, as there were only a few slices of beef. "Besides, science has proven that bird's nest is just bird saliva, some gelatin, and protein. Eating it is just another form of traditional superstition."

"Using so-called scientific analysis to judge every controversial field is a superstition in itself. Being superstitious about science is still superstition... It's like how everyone knows that a man who indulges in excess will suffer from kidney deficiency, and he only loses some protein and water—you'd think drinking a glass of soy milk would replenish it, but does it really work that way?" Liu Chang'an shook his head.

"Keep your voice down!" An Nuan looked left and right, her face flushing red. The restaurant was filled mostly with students from Fu High School, and the rumors about the two of them hadn't died down yet. Did he really want word to spread that Liu Chang'an and An Nuan were suffering from "excessive indulgence" after getting together?

Rumors don't require factual basis; they only depend on how the storyteller likes to spin them.

Liu Chang'an smiled. Girls were truly beautiful when they were shy. An Nuan sat by the window, where a pot of orchids sat on the sill. The dense foliage resembled An Nuan's eyelashes, her eyes shimmering with shyness, her delicate nose straight and elegant. Her crimson lips lightly bit into a glossy, oily piece of wood ear mushroom, and her neck was as graceful as a swan's. The young girl's newly matured figure was exquisite and lithe, especially that slender waist, which seemed to concentrate every beautiful fantasy a man could have about a young girl—light, vibrant, and soft.

"I'm asking you, answer me honestly." An Nuan stared sternly at Liu Chang'an, only to see herself reflected in his eyes. Her tone softened involuntarily, her gaze flickering. "That 'online romance' you mentioned last time—what was that about?"

"Do you know Qingwu Feiyang?"

"Ah, that's my mom's WeChat name!"

"No, that's not your mom's WeChat name... Qingwu Feiyang is the female lead of an internet novel written by Pizi Cai in 1998. Although it wasn't the first internet novel, it symbolizes the growth of internet literature into a new form distinct from traditional literature. Popularity and immersion are the greatest characteristics of internet literature..." Liu Chang'an looked at An Nuan. "Online romance is the theme of that novel. Qingwu Feiyang was the most beautiful template for the online romance objects men fantasized about back then. You could say she symbolizes the first online love for many men."

An Nuan sighed. Why was Liu Chang'an so good at rambling?

"I want to try everything, but I've never tried an online romance, so I felt a bit of regret. In the process of chatting with your mom, I was able to experience the process and details of an online romance. So that's what it's like..." Liu Chang'an said with a sudden realization.

"You're insane! That's my mom!" An Nuan fought the urge to dump the sour soup beef onto Liu Chang'an's head.

"I didn't say I was having an online romance with your mom... I was just using our interactions on the social app to draw inferences and understand the details of the romance between Qingwu Feiyang and Pizi Cai. It's like how you're still a pure young girl, but you've already learned all the details of intimate relationships between men and women by downloading Japanese adult films." Liu Chang'an watched An Nuan's stiff hand and calmly pressed down on the back of it to prevent her from going berserk and overturning the bowl of sour soup beef.

"When did I ever download anything online!" An Nuan glared at Liu Chang'an aggressively.

"Curiosity is human nature. Humans and dolphins are the only two species in the animal kingdom that pursue such things for the sake of pleasure. It's nothing." Liu Chang'an grabbed both of An Nuan's hands.

"You know I'll get angry, so why do you keep provoking me!" An Nuan looked at the guarded Liu Chang'an and said, word by word.

"Because you're even cuter when you're angry." Liu Chang'an let go of An Nuan's hands and soothed her, "Calm down... calm down, I haven't finished yet."

"Be serious!" An Nuan was both happily shy and extremely angry.

"During this time, study hard, review well, and stop letting your imagination run wild. Your mom and I just have a bit of mutual appreciation; it's just two netizens getting along, not what you think. What I hope for most now is to be on the same campus as you in university. After all, you're so cute. Bai Hui just has a bigger chest, but cuteness is more likable." Liu Chang'an pointed to the bowl in front of An Nuan. "Eat more wood ear mushrooms, it's good for your development."

"Hmph! You still like big chests!" The sound from An Nuan's nose was heavy. Even though she found Liu Chang'an incredibly annoying, why did her own voice sound so sweet and sticky, as if she were acting coquettish?

Most importantly, if she truly believed Liu Chang'an was having an online romance with her mother, that would be too absurd. Liu Chang'an was indeed just a man who liked to talk nonsense, and it just so happened that her mother had a lot of free time and treated him like a man of her own generation... Perhaps it was just the same kind of friendly affection she felt for Liu Chang'an?

An Nuan looked up and cast a guilty glance at Liu Chang'an, hoping that the friendly affection between them was still a little different from the one between herself and Liu Chang'an.