Genes Decide

Today, An Nuan hadn't ordered any rice. She wasn't training as much these days, so unlike before, she didn't always feel hungry if she skipped rice. As a volleyball beauty, she had to watch her weight, but she wasn't the kind of girl who simply refused to eat.

An Nuan drank porridge and gave all the beef to Liu Chang'an. The wood-ear mushrooms, shredded bamboo shoots, and bean sprouts tasted excellent with it. This restaurant had once specialized in porridge—that was its main business. But since it was near a school and people in Junsha weren't especially keen on porridge, it had started serving affordable dishes instead.

"Seeing you drink porridge reminds me of Yun Niang." Liu Chang'an ate his rice at an unhurried pace. People who had lived a long time often did things that way, calmly and without rushing. "When Shen Fu was visiting Yun Niang's family, he got hungry and couldn't find anything to eat. So Yun Niang quietly tugged on his sleeve and led him to her room, where she gave him the porridge and side dishes she'd hidden away. Then her cousin Yu Heng caught them and teased her: 'You said there was no porridge when I asked for some, but it turns out you hid it away to feed your husband...' Yun Niang and Shen Fu weren't even married yet."

"I'm not giving you any porridge." An Nuan held her bowl in both hands and pulled it a little closer to herself.

"When Shen Fu came down with smallpox, Yun Niang still wasn't married to him. There was nothing she could do, so she ate vegetarian food and prayed for him, right up until their wedding night." Liu Chang'an shook his head with a soft sigh. "In a man's eyes, women in ancient times were more considerate and endearing."

"Sorry, but we're not living in a feudal society anymore. Don't expect us women to stay home, raise your children, and revolve around you men." An Nuan spoke gleefully. She knew Liu Chang'an's thinking hadn't kept up with the times at all; it needed reform. "Six Records of a Floating Life was written by Shen Fu, so of course he'd paint himself in a good light. Yun Niang wasn't all that special. Men in ancient times were hypocrites. They'd act all devoted while taking concubines, drinking, and visiting prostitutes, all under the pretense of being refined. Especially those so-called literary talents—Su Shi, Ouyang Xiu, Yuan Zhen, Fan Zhongyan. They were all like that."

"You're insulting them because you had to memorize too many of their poems and essays, aren't you?" Liu Chang'an laughed. "Fan Zhongyan was actually rather enviable. When he met Zhen Jinlian, she was only eleven or twelve. When she grew up, he married her, even though she was a courtesan. She'd kept herself pure, and Zhen Jinlian called herself his secondary wife... Later courtesans adopted that title, but most of them didn't have Zhen Jinlian's luck. They never met a Fan Zhongyan."

"So you mean men in ancient times were more loyal and affectionate? There isn't a single celebrity or tycoon nowadays who'd dare openly marry a prostitute, but men in ancient times did?"

"You're twisting what I said. How can you say nobody dares nowadays?" Liu Chang'an shook his head. Zhen Jinlian had simply earned a living through her singing, looks, and talent. There were plenty of women like that now, and their social standing was still quite high. If a Fan Zhongyan married one today, though, there wouldn't be the surprise of finding blood on the wedding bed.

"And why are you envious of Fan Zhongyan? When did you become a lolicon? Didn't you like mature women?" An Nuan glanced at the phone Liu Chang'an had set on the table. Her mother's phone had a fingerprint lock, and An Nuan had made an excuse to borrow it and sneak a look at her WeChat messages. She hadn't found Liu Chang'an there. Even after he explained, An Nuan was still curious.

Snooping through chat histories was a woman's nature.

"I like beautiful women, whether they're mature or young." Liu Chang'an slipped his phone back into his pocket.

"Ugh, shameless. Beautiful women don't like you."

"It's enough that I like them. I never said they had to like me back."

"Eat faster. We'll be late."

After eating, the two leaned against the school wall and drank orange juice. The sunlight was intense, the world bustling around them, as they chatted about this and that.

An Nuan finished first. She bit down on her straw and watched Liu Chang'an drink at his leisurely pace, even sipping orange juice as if he were savoring life itself.

Liu Chang'an held out his bottle. Still biting her own straw, An Nuan put it into his bottle, darted her eyes around, then quickly sucked down the rest of his orange juice in one go.

"You've got some lung capacity. I wouldn't have guessed!" Liu Chang'an laughed in surprise.

"Don't think Bai Hui is the only one with a big chest." An Nuan's cheeks puffed as she steadied her breathing, then she snorted dismissively. "I did it so I wouldn't be late. If I waited for you to finish at your own pace, school would be over."

Then An Nuan smacked his shoulder again. He'd actually made fun of her chest for not being as big as Bai Hui's!

Back in the classroom, Huang Shan brought over someone who looked like a reporter, with two assistants beside him. He said to An Nuan, "This reporter is from the Middle School Student magazine. He'd like to interview you."

Huang Shan didn't mention that An Nuan and Liu Chang'an had ignored his warning and were together every day.

An Nuan nodded. She was already used to handling this sort of thing. "Sure, but class is about to start."

"I won't take up much of your time," the reporter said with a smile.

An Nuan winked at Liu Chang'an, pointed to Bai Hui, who was looking over from the classroom, then followed Huang Shan to the homeroom teacher's office.

Bai Hui was the kind of girl who could rest her chest on the desk. The biggest problem for girls like her was that they couldn't put books in front of themselves on the desk. That made the space too cramped, yet they also had to push their books or worksheets as far forward as possible. Otherwise, when they bent their heads, something would block their view, hiding part of the page or the exercises.

Ordinary girls and men couldn't understand that frustration. Looking down at Bai Hui from above, Liu Chang'an glanced at her delicate collarbones. From the perspective of heredity and reproduction, genes irresistibly made men more inclined to pursue girls like her.

That was because genes made males more attracted to females suited to bearing and nurturing offspring, giving them a better chance of passing on their lineage safely and securely.

Liu Chang'an had long been puzzled by one question. Modern research indicated that genes limited human lifespans to create more opportunities for mutation and evolution, thereby driving reproduction and increasing the chances of variation. So why, when his own genes didn't limit his lifespan, did he still have aesthetic preferences rooted in heredity and reproduction?

Simply put, driven by his physical urges, Liu Chang'an really did prefer fuller women.

Perhaps modern science's explanations weren't entirely right either. Liu Chang'an thought as much. In every era, he had remained skeptical of the prevailing ideas. Time would sort out the theories that came closest to the truth.

Since the theory of genetics had emerged, the things it could explain—or the explanations it offered—had never satisfied Liu Chang'an. After all, he was living proof against it.

"What are you looking at?" Bai Hui covered her chest, her cheeks flushed as she glared at Liu Chang'an.

Qian Ning and Lu Yuan rushed over and hurriedly asked what had happened.

Embarrassed, Bai Hui didn't say anything. She just kept covering her collar.

Seeing Bai Hui's gesture and expression, Lu Yuan was the first to understand. He flew into a rage, raised his fist, and swung it at Liu Chang'an.

Qian Ning was a little slower, but he wasn't about to back down. He threw a punch too.

Liu Chang'an dodged, then reached out and pulled and pushed. Their fists collided, and both of them nearly cried out in pain.

"You're reading too much into it. I glanced at Bai Hui's collarbones, then got distracted thinking about something else." Liu Chang'an smiled. "What's going on in your heads?"

"Why did you look at Bai Hui's collarbones?" Lu Yuan asked, momentarily stunned but still unwilling to let it go.

"Then do you want to forbid me from breathing, too? Don't you know that sometimes, when Bai Hui reads, I can smell what's in her mouth?" Liu Chang'an said regretfully. "Too bad I can't exactly stop myself from breathing. Imagine the girl you like sitting beside me every day, her breath mingling with mine. Wouldn't that be even more painful, even harder to accept?"

"What does my breath smell like?" Bai Hui's breathing quickened, but she didn't dare breathe loudly. Of course, a girl would find that sort of remark especially hard to accept. Being told she had bad breath or body odor was more awkward, mortifying, and infuriating than being called ugly.

"Fragrant."

Bai Hui parted her lips. Her cheeks were still flushed, and she didn't know what to say, so she turned away and casually opened a book.

Lu Yuan and Qian Ning both thought Liu Chang'an's remark was nothing to worry about—only a crazy person would care about something like that. Yet they still felt uneasy. Just then, the bell rang, and they had no choice but to return to their seats.

Liu Chang'an chuckled. Little boys were so easy to tease.

"Liu Chang'an, you're so annoying. How can An Nuan stand you?" Bai Hui wrote a line in her notebook and pushed it over.

"Because we're both people you dislike. Birds of a feather flock together," Liu Chang'an wrote back.

Thankfully, the college entrance exams were coming up soon. Bai Hui took a deep breath.

Bai Hui tore off the paper and ripped it to shreds. Girls liked being told they smelled sweet. Bai Hui no longer wanted to keep up the cold war with Liu Chang'an. After all, he was the boy An Nuan liked, and if Bai Hui got along with him, An Nuan would surely be annoyed. But Liu Chang'an seemed truly devoted to An Nuan, and wouldn't accept the olive branch Bai Hui kept offering.