Wei Zijin held his hand, warm and soft, yet her palm was covered in tiny beads of sweat, just like his.
Strangely, that gave his nerves, stretched to their limit, a small measure of comfort.
She was scared too.
The private dining room on the third floor of Hongbin Tower stood ajar, muffled conversation and laughter drifting out. Wei Zijin took a deep breath, as though making up her mind, and pushed open the heavy wooden door.
The scene inside instantly seized Wang Xiaoliang's full attention.
A fashionably dressed young man was huddled beside a girl, both looking down at a brand-new phone box.
The girl was Chen Xiaoying, whom Wang Xiaoliang had just met outside the dorm building.
Wang Xiaoliang recognized the box at a glance: a minimalist white design, with a bitten apple in the middle.
The latest Apple iPhone.
Hearing the door open, Chen Xiaoying looked up. When she saw Wei Zijin and Wang Xiaoliang behind her, holding her hand, surprise flickered across her face before a warm smile quickly replaced it.
"Zijin, you're here!" She stood and came over naturally to greet them.
Her gaze lingered on their joined hands for a moment, then shifted to the man beside her.
"Let me introduce you. This is my boyfriend, Zhao Shengkai."
She drew the man over, her face brimming with undisguised pride.
"Shengkai, this is my best friend, Wei Zijin, the one I'm always telling you about." There was a pointed undertone to Chen Xiaoying's introduction. "I'm sure you've heard all about her-the campus beauty you guys worship as a goddess."
Zhao Shengkai rose. He was tall and handsome, his designer casual clothes giving him a distinguished air. He extended a hand to Wei Zijin with a perfectly measured smile.
"Hello. I've heard a lot about you."
Wei Zijin released Wang Xiaoliang's hand and lightly shook his, then stepped aside with easy poise, bringing Wang Xiaoliang fully into view.
"This is my boyfriend, Wang Xiaoliang."
Her introduction was simple and direct, without any embellishment.
Then she told Wang Xiaoliang, "This is my roommate, Chen Xiaoying."
Wang Xiaoliang nodded stiffly and greeted Zhao Shengkai. Standing before him, he felt like a high school boy who hadn't finished growing. In height, looks, and clothes, he was completely outclassed.
Everyone sat down, and Chen Xiaoying deliberately pulled Wei Zijin into the seat beside her. Picking up the brand-new Apple iPhone from the table, she leaned toward Wei Zijin's ear and spoke at a volume she apparently thought was quiet, though everyone in the room could hear her clearly.
"My boyfriend gave it to me as a graduation present. It's the newest model. Pretty, isn't it?"
The words gave Wang Xiaoliang's heart a small sting.
Showing off.
Blatant, undisguised showing off.
With his current finances, he couldn't even afford a flagship domestic phone, let alone the latest Apple iPhone. That enormous gulf in their circumstances sent his inferiority surging back.
Before five thirty, the dining room door opened twice more.
Two couples arrived, one after the other.
The first girl wore glasses and looked quiet and delicate. Her name was Wang Fen. Her boyfriend, Ouyang Hai, was ordinary-looking, much the same type as Wang Xiaoliang.
The second couple presented an even sharper contrast. The girl was tall, with lovely features: Li Lanxiang, a key player on the university women's volleyball team. Her boyfriend, Zhou Qiang, was half a head shorter than her and had a rather dopey face-ugly, even. The contrast was almost comical.
With the girls cheerfully and openly introducing everyone, the atmosphere soon grew friendly.
Wang Xiaoliang observed in silence.
He realized that all four girls from Room 303 were very attractive. Even Chen Xiaoying, the most ordinary-looking among them, would certainly count as a beauty in a crowd.
Moreover, apart from Chen Xiaoying, the other three were all well-known figures on campus.
Wei Zijin went without saying. Ever since enrolling, she had been the fixture hosting every sort of evening event, and the perennial number one on the campus beauty rankings.
Li Lanxiang was the university volleyball team's star outside hitter and had led the team to several championships.
Wang Fen was one of the hottest contestants in that year's campus Top Ten Singers competition, with a distinctive voice and enormous popularity.
And their boyfriends?
Apart from Chen Xiaoying's handsome, wealthy Zhao Shengkai, Ouyang Hai, Zhou Qiang, and Wang Xiaoliang himself-the impostor-were all ordinary men who would disappear into a crowd.
Wang Xiaoliang also noticed that Zhao Shengkai and Ouyang Hai knew each other.
This peculiar assortment of people struck Wang Xiaoliang as strangely absurd.
Graduation was an unavoidable topic at this dinner.
"Shengkai and I are both joining the Anyang Group's China headquarters. We'll finally be earning our own money."
Wang Xiaoliang knew that the Anyang Group was a renowned foreign company in the Fortune Global 500.
Chen Xiaoying picked up some food as she spoke, seemingly casually, but she couldn't conceal the subtle superiority in her words.
Wang Xiaoliang's heart sank again. A Fortune Global 500 company was nothing more than a fantasy to him.
Wang Fen adjusted her glasses and chimed in with a smile. "Hai and I have talked it over. We're going to take the civil service exam together. A stable life in the public sector sounds pretty good."
She sounded as though they were already civil servants.
Li Lanxiang took a sip of her drink and said briskly, "I've already been recruited by the State Grid through a special intake, so I'm settled too."
Oddly, she said nothing about Zhou Qiang's future.
Apparently, there was nothing worth showing off.
Chen Xiaoying looked at Wang Xiaoliang. "Zijin's interning at the Provincial TV Station already, isn't she? A permanent position is practically guaranteed."
Wei Zijin merely smiled, neither confirming nor denying it.
So everyone's future was settled.
Apart from Zhou Qiang, only Wang Xiaoliang remained.
He sat there all alone, like an intruder who didn't belong, a wrong answer forgotten in a corner.
His overwhelming inferiority became an invisible net, trapping him tight. He didn't dare join the conversation, afraid that the moment he opened his mouth, his predicament would be exposed.
But sometimes, the harder you tried to hide, the more trouble sought you out.
"What about you, Wang Xiaoliang?"
Chen Xiaoying's clear voice rang out like a needle aimed precisely at his most vulnerable spot.
"What are your plans?"
In an instant, every gaze in the room settled on him.
Wang Xiaoliang's mind went blank.
Should I lie? Make up a respectable job, a bright future?
No.
The icy rules of the [Book of Fate] circled silently through his mind.
Telling the truth was a fundamental rule.
If it could change his fate, then he had to obey it.
His throat felt dry. His lips moved, and he finally forced out a few strained words.
"I... don't really have any plans yet."
"I'll just have to take things as they come."
No one answered, and the atmosphere chilled.
Only after several seconds did someone give an awkward laugh and try to smooth things over.
Inferiority welled up in Wang Xiaoliang's heart.
All the dishes had arrived, and the glasses were filled.
"Oh, why are we talking about such boring stuff? Let's drink!"
Li Lanxiang seemed to have noticed the awkward atmosphere:
"We girls from Room 303 are celebrating today, and this is our last get-together as university students. How about some baijiu? We're drinking Wuliangye today."
As she spoke, Li Lanxiang retrieved a bag from behind her chair. The liquor was presumably inside.
The suggestion caught the guys off guard.
Wang Xiaoliang didn't know how much Wuliangye cost, but he knew it was expensive.
"You girls drink baijiu?" Zhao Shengkai asked, looking at Wei Zijin.
"What, you think we can't handle it?" Chen Xiaoying raised an eyebrow.
In the end, all the girls wanted baijiu. Of the men, only Zhou Qiang declined, saying he was driving. Zhao Shengkai, Ouyang Hai, and Wang Xiaoliang, who had been put on the spot, all reluctantly filled their glasses.
But Wang Xiaoliang picked up another piece of information: even Zhou Qiang had a car. He himself had held a license for four years, yet hadn't touched a car once since passing his driving test.
The fiery liquid slid down his throat, setting his stomach ablaze.
Several rounds of drinks and plenty of food later, the meal was well underway.
Under the influence of alcohol, the atmosphere finally grew livelier again. The girls remained firmly in control of the conversation.
"Hey, did you hear? Xiao Nan and her boyfriend broke up a couple of days ago." Chen Xiaoying suddenly dropped a piece of gossip.
"Seriously? Weren't they famous for being the perfect couple?"
"Oh, what's so surprising about that?" Chen Xiaoying waved dismissively. "Long-distance relationships inevitably end in breakups. Graduation season is breakup season. That's an iron rule for university students."
Then she abruptly changed tack, sweeping a triumphant gaze over her roommates.
"But we in Room 303 are about to break that iron rule!"
Leaning against Zhao Shengkai, she announced happily, "Shengkai and I have talked it over. Once we've been settled in our jobs for a year, we're getting married."
"Ooh!"
"We're thinking along those lines too." Wang Fen linked her arm through Ouyang Hai's. "Once we pass the civil service exam, it'll be about time."
Li Lanxiang topped them with an even more startling revelation.
"That's nothing. Zhou Qiang and I met each other's parents last month."
For a moment, the room seemed filled with bubbles of romance, all three girls' faces glowing with hopes for the future.
Then, without warning, the sharpest spearpoint turned toward Wang Xiaoliang once again.
Chen Xiaoying smiled at him, but her question was even trickier, even more devastating than before.
"What about you, Wang Xiaoliang?"
"What plans do you two have?"
Plans?
What plans could they possibly have? Their whole relationship was fake!
Wang Xiaoliang couldn't lie, but telling the truth was even more out of the question.
If he told the truth, how humiliating would that be for Wei Zijin?
Cold sweat beaded on his forehead.
What should I do?
How should I answer?
Just as the immense pressure was about to crush him, he instinctively turned toward Wei Zijin beside him.
She was looking at him too, still wearing an appropriate smile, but deep in her eyes, Wang Xiaoliang saw a trace of the same nervousness he felt.
"Me..."
He paused, then gave an earnest smile.
"I'll go with whatever my Zijin decides."
With one sentence, he passed every question back to her.
The room fell silent, then erupted in laughter.
"Well, well, well! Who would've guessed? She's already got you wrapped around her finger!"
"Zijin, you've trained him well!"
The girls shook with laughter, and even the guys gave knowing smiles. A crisis aimed at him had been defused with effortless ease.
Wang Xiaoliang breathed a private sigh of relief, realizing his back was soaked.
Just then, he felt a soft little hand gently squeeze the hand resting on his thigh beneath the table.
It was Wei Zijin.
Her grip was neither firm nor light, and carried a peculiar significance.
Wang Xiaoliang's heart leaped. Puzzled, he turned toward her.
Wei Zijin wasn't looking at him. She was raising her glass, smiling as she fielded her roommates' teasing. Under the dining room's warm light, her profile was almost unreal in its beauty.
The ambiguous touch still lingered on his hand, leaving him unable to fathom what she meant.
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