Luo Lianqing was special

Wen Ce thought of what Zhao Li had just said. The case had been transferred to the Special Concern Institute, so it no longer had anything to do with them.

He clicked his tongue.

After agonizing for all of one second, he shut down his computer. He had never been particularly ambitious anyway.

Besides, he listened to advice. Since Uncle Chou had handed the case over, that meant it was no longer appropriate for them to follow it.

Agonizing over it would do no good.

After shutting down his computer, Wen Ce opened his phone and tapped through his group chats one by one. They all had 99+ unread messages every day. He had no idea what there was to talk about.

But when he reached the class group chat, he noticed someone had tagged him, so he scrolled up to look.

It turned out to be Wang Meng, asking about basketball.

He had not signed up when registration opened, but now, for whatever reason, he had suddenly decided he wanted to play. All the spots were already filled, so he had asked Lin Fan in the group who was playing.

Without thinking much of it, Lin Fan had posted the roster.

Only for Wang Meng to immediately say, [Since when can Wen Ce play basketball? I've never seen him play all these years.]

Lin Fan had replied with a few messages saying that he had seen Wen Ce play and that he was pretty good.

Wang Meng, however, had said outright, [No way. We're roommates, and even I've never played with him. Wen Ce @W, how about giving me your spot? My girlfriend's coming to watch.]

Wen Ce had not been looking at his phone at the time, so he had not replied.

Someone in the group had told Wang Meng that if the roster was full, he could play next time.

For some reason, Wang Meng insisted on playing this time and kept tagging Wen Ce.

[@W Come out and say something. Let me have your spot. You don't usually play anyway, and you don't like group activities.]

Several more messages tagging him followed.

Wen Ce was not particularly fixated on playing, but he really disliked Wang Meng's attitude.

So he replied, [I want to play.]

Wang Meng responded quickly. [Hahaha, you want to play? Will you take responsibility if we lose? I'm on the basketball team! You can be a substitute.]

That was starting to sound wrong.

Lin Fan spoke up. [Can you blame one person for losing? You're on the department basketball team. The way you talk, people would think you were on the national team. I asked you before if you wanted to sign up, and you said no because it was tiring.]

Several girls also spoke up, saying Wang Meng was being ridiculous. Friendship came first in a competition like this.

After all, Wen Ce was much better-looking than Wang Meng. Who didn't like watching a handsome guy play basketball?

Wang Meng probably had not expected so many people to suddenly come to Wen Ce's defense. He simply sent a voice message to the group. "Sure, friendship comes first, but aren't I doing this for our collective honor? Besides, I heard the counselors for the top three classes get bonuses! I'm doing this for everyone's good!"

He made it sound as though the class would definitely win if he played and definitely lose if Wen Ce did.

Wen Ce clicked his tongue and was about to type when he saw a familiar cat avatar appear.

[I'm not particularly attached to the bonus. What matters is that you all have fun. Besides, we won't necessarily lose with Wen Ce playing, and we won't necessarily win with you either. Don't talk too big, Wang Meng.]

A cat head-patting sticker followed, which made the message seem less embarrassing for him.

Qin Yanran also sent a message then. [I've seen Wen Ce play before too. He's pretty good. Wang Meng, you could be a substitute.]

Several people followed up, saying that since their teacher did not mind about the bonus, it did not matter who played.

A few of the boys, however, felt that they still really wanted to win.

For a while, the class group chat became much livelier.

Wen Ce stopped halfway through typing his message and raised an eyebrow at what Luo Lianqing had sent.

It looked like he would also have to thank his senior over dinner tonight for speaking up for him.

Both of them were rather awkward. Although they had arranged to have dinner together and lived across the hall from each other, they had not arranged to leave together.

Only after Wen Ce heard the door opposite close did he get up from the sofa, go wash his face in the bathroom, and finally head out.

When he reached the Cantonese restaurant Luo Lianqing had mentioned, he found quite a few people already seated inside. It was not far from campus, so plenty of students probably came here too.

As soon as Wen Ce entered and looked around, he spotted Luo Lianqing sitting by the window. She was wearing a little skirt outfit today, a white jacket over a short black skirt-a conventional combination that could not go wrong. Even seated, her legs looked long from the side, and her hair was tied in a high ponytail behind her.

At that moment, her face was turned toward the boy beside her.

Two boys stood beside her, talking to her about something. She was smiling, but when one of them took out his phone, she shook her head in refusal.

The boy clearly still did not want to give up and said something else.

But Luo Lianqing was firm as well and shook her head again.

Wen Ce had long since heard from Lin Fan that she was popular. He had not expected her to be this popular.

He hesitated, then walked over anyway. Just as he approached, he heard Luo Lianqing say, "Sorry, my WeChat contact list is full."

"Then could I have your phone number, senior?" the boy asked thick-skinnedly. It was rare for him to run into the goddess he liked off campus, and his roommates were all watching from nearby. He had also just had a couple of sips of beer, so he had come over.

His roommate beside him added, "Senior, this guy's a diehard fan of yours. He drags us into voting for you on the campus forum every day."

The smile on Luo Lianqing's face did not change as she said to them, "Thank you so much for that, but I'm really sorry."

Just then, she spotted Wen Ce approaching and told the two boys, "The person I was waiting for is here. Sorry."

After being rejected three times in a row, the boy knew he had no chance.

Hearing that the person she was waiting for had arrived, he turned to look.

He saw a somewhat familiar-looking boy walking over.

They came back to their senses. "Sorry for bothering you, then."

Wen Ce watched as the two boys glanced at him, then turned and left.

He lowered his eyes to Luo Lianqing. "You're pretty popular, senior."

"I think so too, but you're hardly outdone, junior. Have a seat." Luo Lianqing glanced at him. He was still wearing his usual white T-shirt under a black jacket, with jeans and sneakers.

Tsk. Now it looked as if she had taken this so seriously, carefully choosing her clothes and even putting on light makeup...

She picked up a little box beside her, identical to the one she had given Wen Ce before, and apologized earnestly. "These are some cookies I baked this afternoon. I'm really sorry about what happened before."

Wen Ce reached out and accepted it. He had not expected her to bake another batch of cookies.

He glanced at Luo Lianqing.

He found that she was rather different from most of the girls he had met.

She was beautiful and always greeted people with a smile, seeming very approachable.

But whether from what Lin Fan had told him or what he had seen himself, she was clean and decisive when turning people down, leaving no room for fantasies.

She seemed to keep no distance, but in reality, she maintained her boundaries very well.

The incident with the cookies was just like that too. He had already shown that he did not really mind, but when they met, she still apologized earnestly and had baked another batch.

Wen Ce truly thought she was special. Although he had not had much contact with women, Luo Lianqing was different from all of them.

She was beautiful, but she never seemed to treat her beauty as a privilege.

Qin Yanran had said she liked him before, but sometimes she still accepted help from other boys.

She would also use her popular good looks to gain certain privileges, even if these were only harmless little things.

Or perhaps they were things she did without even noticing.

In fact, it was not just her. Many girls did the same.

But Luo Lianqing never seemed to.

So, in Wen Ce's eyes, she was special.