I Have Two Girlfriends

Men's Dormitory, Room 201.

Under the desk lamp, Liu Rui, who had been grinding through problems, suddenly stopped writing. He glanced at the dorm room door and asked in an indifferent, casual, unconcerned tone, "Why isn't that elbow back yet?"

Huang Guangming, sitting on his bed playing Dota Legends, did not even look up as he replied smugly, "No idea. Why are you so worried about him? You into guys or something? Driver boy, that's disgusting!"

"Get down here! My ass!"

Liu Rui cursed, jumped up, grabbed the ladder, and shook the bed. Huang Guangming was so frightened that he stopped looking at his phone and hurriedly clung to the railing, begging for mercy.

"Brother Liu, Brother Liu, I was wrong, I was wrong! Stop shaking it! Someone's gonna die! Aaaah—"

No one was actually going to die. The beds were connected in two rows, and the cabinets beneath them were packed with books and clothes. Even if Liu Rui hung his full weight from it, he could not possibly tip over such a massive rectangular structure.

These two clowns fooling around had practically become part of daily life in Room 201.

At that moment, Shi Shang, who had been studying English, suddenly looked up and said out of nowhere, "Come to think of it, Elbow hasn't been doing part-time jobs lately. We haven't seen him gaming at night either. He spends all day in the library. Could it be...?"

"Could it be?" Liu Rui perked up his ears.

"Could he have gotten a girlfriend?" Shi Shang asked uncertainly.

Liu Rui: "..."

Huang Guangming: "..."

"Uh... why did you guys stop talking?" Shi Shang asked awkwardly after realizing he had killed the conversation.

Liu Rui and Huang Guangming exchanged a glance, then both looked at Shi Shang.

Liu Rui said solemnly, "Brother Fei."

"Damn it, call me Brother Fei again and I'm getting mad!"

Huang Guangming said with a straight face, "Brother Fei, we're in the math department."

"..."

The logic was too flawless. For a moment, Shi Shang had no response. He was speechless, choked with frustration, just short of shedding two streams of tears down his cheeks.

The percentage of single men in the math department could absolutely top all of Jin University. Other engineering departments could at least pick out a class beauty, but here... if they wanted to choose one, they would probably have to persuade the class monitor to dress as a woman.

As for girls from other departments, the moment they heard "math department," their first thoughts were, "Oh, those single dogs," "Have they ever dated?" and "That can't possibly exist, right?" Generally speaking, girls were not fond of dating men with no sense of romance. Those who managed to escape singlehood were rarer than phoenix feathers and unicorn horns.

Otherwise, how could one explain why a handsome, elegant, basketball-playing heartthrob like me, on the same level as Rukawa Kaede, was still single?

Sigh. Reality was just that cruel.

Shi Shang gazed at the ceiling.

Just then, Lu Zhou happened to return to the dorm. As soon as he pushed open the door, he smiled and said,

"What are you guys making such a fuss about? I could hear Guangming howling like a ghost from the hallway. Go find yourselves girlfriends already. If you drag this out too long, I'm worried something might happen."

Huang Guangming put on a serious expression. "Elbow, I'm going to ask you a very serious question. Answer honestly."

"What...?"

Shi Shang solemnly chimed in, "Do you have a girlfriend?"

Lu Zhou said impatiently, "Yeah, yeah, I've got two of them! Jealous? Want me to lend them to you?"

"Get lost!" all three said in unison.

Lu Zhou froze for a moment, not expecting them to be so synchronized. Then he suddenly realized something and gave an embarrassed laugh. "What... are you guys thinking? I meant Advanced Algebra II and Mathematical Analysis II. I took notes in them. Take them and read them whenever you want—just remember to return them."

"..."

"..."

"..."

Uh.

Looks like the conversation died again.

Early the next morning, Lu Zhou got up as usual, washed up, packed his things, and headed to the cafeteria with his laptop.

The cafeteria had only just opened, and the hall was nearly empty.

Just as Lu Zhou walked in, a fresh batch of steamed buns came out of the oven. Even from far away, he could smell the fragrant scent of dough drifting through the air.

"Auntie, three buns and a cup of soy milk, please. To go!"

"Sure thing! You're here this early again, young man? Auntie will pick some big ones for you."

"Thank you, Auntie!"

Lu Zhou had a sweet mouth, whether he was speaking to classmates, teachers, or strangers.

It was something his father had taught him: be kind to others, and you would never lose out.

Of course, that was not entirely true. His father had worked at a steel mill for so many years and had suffered plenty of losses and indignities. And Lu Zhou himself, though he kept his father's teachings in mind, occasionally could not control his mouth and would make a cutting remark when he should have kept quiet.

Once the buns were packed, Lu Zhou took out his meal card and tapped it against the card reader.

But in the next second, his expression turned awkward.

[Insufficient Balance]

Seeing Lu Zhou's embarrassment, the cafeteria auntie smiled and said casually, "It's fine. You can pay cash too. I can make change."

Lu Zhou patted his pockets, pulled out his wallet, and his expression became even more awkward.

His wallet was empty except for a bank card. As for his Xiaomi phone, he had left it charging back in the dorm, so he could not even scan a QR code to pay.

This cafeteria probably could not accept bank cards, right?

System...

Can we discuss something? Can points be exchanged for money?

Lu Zhou quietly asked in his heart, but unfortunately, the system did not feel like responding to him.

Just then, like heavenly music, the card reader gave a cheerful ding.

Lu Zhou immediately turned around. A girl with wispy bangs stood behind him, smiling at him. Her right hand, holding a meal card, gently waved it.

"Hi. Morning."

"Morning..." Lu Zhou paused, then nodded.

Who...

was she?

"How rude. You really don't recognize me!" Chen Yushan immediately saw that Lu Zhou had not recognized her and pouted in annoyance.

"Uh, sorry... Thank you. How about you add me on WeChat? I'll pay you back when I get back."

"No need. It's only two and a half yuan. I'm not that stingy, and we already added each other on WeChat, okay?" Tossing back her hair, Chen Yushan smiled with pursed lips and held out her right hand. "Let's properly meet again. I'm Chen Yushan, from the Business School. Junior Lu Zhou, you can call me Senior Sister from now on."

Lu Zhou had no idea why she emphasized the words "junior" so heavily, why she had added "little" before it, or how she had found out the truth. But when she mentioned that they had added each other on WeChat, he instantly remembered who she was.

It was just that...

Her image had changed a little too much!

Below her waist were refreshing denim shorts, and beneath them was a pair of long legs that made it hard to know where to look, paired with white sandals. She wore a cool white boat-neck T-shirt, yet somehow she made it look three-dimensional in a geometric sense. She had on light makeup, with fresh yet vivid pale-red lip gloss. Most notably, her round-framed glasses were gone... Perhaps she had switched to contact lenses?

Seeing Lu Zhou standing there in a daze without saying anything, Chen Yushan felt a faint sense of pride. Her roommates had dragged her into spending so much effort dressing up, which had annoyed her at first. But now, she suddenly felt that the time she had wasted was not such a loss after all.

Of course, that was also because she had good features to begin with. She was simply used to not putting much effort into her appearance.

Even if ordinary people went all out dressing up, they would not achieve half her effect.

"What's wrong, Junior?" Chen Yushan tucked her long hair behind her ear and looked at Lu Zhou with a mischievous smile, signaling with her eyes for him to say something.

Lu Zhou fell silent for a moment, looked Chen Yushan over from head to toe, and considered whether he should say it. But in the end, his conscience would not let him stay silent. He quietly said, "The library air conditioning is pretty strong... You'll catch a cold dressed like that."

"..."

Chen Yushan suddenly felt that she had been incredibly stupid to expect anything from what he might say.

After eating one of the three buns, Lu Zhou tightly tied the remaining two in their plastic bag and put them into his backpack. Chen Yushan, slurping noodles, gave him a curious glance but said nothing, merely assuming that he had a good habit of not wasting food.

They finished eating at about the same time and headed toward the library together.

They went to the same old spot. Chen Yushan sat beside Lu Zhou, pulled out her exercise book, and buried herself in problem-solving. Her new look was only meant to brighten her mood and satisfy her roommates' interest; it did not change her study rhythm in the slightest.

Lu Zhou took out his laptop and continued meticulously editing his paper.

The method of calculation Old Tang had shown him yesterday had greatly inspired his paper. While the iron was hot, he planned to select the important parts of that proof and write them into it.

That would leave only three difficult points to figure out. With a little more effort, he could hopefully finish the entire paper before the end of the month!

SCI journals were notoriously slow with peer review. Delays of two or three months were nothing unusual, and even a publication giant full of filler like AMC could not possibly be that fast. He did not want to spend more than half a year completing the system's mission.

And so, time passed without either of them noticing. Before long, it was noon.

After grinding through problems all morning, Chen Yushan stretched. She glanced at Lu Zhou beside her, stood, walked over, and gently poked his arm.

"Junior, Junior, want to go have lunch together?"

She seemed addicted to calling him "Junior." Once was not enough, so she called him that twice in a row.

Lu Zhou hesitated, then shook his head. "No, I'm not that hungry yet. You go ahead."

It was Sunday. The people who topped up meal cards were not working, and his phone was back in the dorm. It would be far too embarrassing to use her meal card again.

"Really not? I'll treat you," Chen Yushan asked.

Lu Zhou swallowed, thinking of the cafeteria's grilled meat rice bowl.

In the end, the temptation of food defeated reason. He nodded awkwardly. "Then... let's go together. I'll treat you next time."

The buns were cold already, anyway. Eating them at noon or at night seemed about the same.

"Ah, I'll remember you said that. Come on, then. If we wait any longer, we'll hit the lunch rush." Chen Yushan stood up. The moment she turned away, the corners of her mouth lifted. She looked full of spirit as she hummed to herself.

So what if his IQ is high? He still has to submit to this fairy's mature, elegant Senior Sister aura.

But Lu Zhou, following beside her as they left the library, did not notice her smug expression at all. At that very moment, he was pondering a very serious question.

Should he get the cumin flavor?

Or black pepper?