Holding it in wasn't good
It was almost ten at night by the time Wen Ce returned to his place carrying a box.
The whole day felt rather surreal. So he had just become good friends with his own student advisor?
He sighed. "What even is all this?"
He walked into the living room and put the box down, first taking out the cookies Luo Lianqing had baked from the top and setting them on the table.
Only then did he open the gift Luo Lianqing had given him.
But when Wen Ce looked at the boxful of adult toys, he fell silent yet again.
He had already forgotten how many times he had fallen silent that evening.
The things inside looked like they had even been opened?
His forehead began to throb. So what exactly did Luo Lianqing mean by this?
As he was thinking, his phone began vibrating repeatedly.
He took out his phone listlessly and glanced at it.
It was Luo Lianqing's familiar kitty avatar.
[I've only opened those things to have a look. I even wore disposable gloves when I touched them. They're very clean.]
[You said about once a week before. Isn't that actually a little infrequent for someone your age? Always holding it in isn't good either.]
[Didn't you go out in the middle of the night to buy one before? I have lots here, so if you need any in the future, you won't have to go out in the middle of the night to buy them~]
[Oh, and I have a few more packages coming. If you want them, I'll bring them over to you once I've had a look.]
She followed that with a cute bear sticker.
Wen Ce completely lost control of his expression.
His hand holding the phone trembled slightly. For a moment, he actually had no idea what to say to her.
Should he say thank you?
Just then, his phone vibrated again.
[No need to say thank you. We're friends~(*^▽^*)]
That one word, "friends," made Wen Ce feel he had endured far too much tonight.
He glanced at the boxful of things and finally let out a heavy sigh.
What mature, rational senior with high emotional intelligence?
It was all a filter. Why did he feel Luo Lianqing was a little dim in some ways?
With a trembling hand, Wen Ce replied, [This is plenty. Besides, these things aren't disposable...]
He looked at the message he had sent and considered it.
Then he typed, [Even though we're friends, giving me something like this is still pretty awkward...]
But before he finished typing, another message came from her.
[It's fine. I can't use these things anyway. I didn't give you the vibrating eggs and things, did I? I took all those out. But next time you take care of yourself, would you mind telling me your size? So I can finish filling out that form, o(*////▽////*)q]
Wen Ce stared at that emoticon.
Bit by bit, he deleted what he had typed. Forget it. There was no point arguing with an idiot.
He sent her, [We'll see. Don't do that questionnaire with anyone else.]
She replied with an OK sticker.
Wen Ce breathed a sigh of relief and collapsed onto the couch.
His mind was a little dazed, his gaze beginning to lose focus. He was exhausted.
He felt even more tired than after several days of overtime.
But there also seemed to be a strange feeling in his heart that he couldn't quite put into words.
The way Luo Lianqing had looked when she explained why she didn't dare make friends with men suddenly flashed before his eyes.
Wen Ce had clearly seen loneliness and a trace of sorrow in her eyes.
Although they had faded quickly, he had noticed.
He sighed softly. Everyone really did have secrets.
Luo Lianqing being willing to tell him that today had already been surprising enough.
Wen Ce glanced at the box, then picked it up and carried it into the bedroom anyway. Forget it. Everything today had been unexpected.
Over the next few days, the two of them hardly saw each other. Wen Ce was already a third-year student and didn't have many classes.
Many of his classmates had already gone off to internships, but Wen Ce really didn't want to be exploited again, so he had insisted on returning to school for classes.
So he had been holed up at home for several days.
These past few days, he basically stayed in whenever he could. Being a homebody really was bliss.
During that time, he only occasionally ran into Luo Lianqing hurrying out to school when he went out in the morning to throw away the trash.
They only had time to say hello before she hurried off.
He had also helped look after her cat twice. They really had become much more natural around each other.
And they chatted often on WeChat. After all, Wen Ce had already seen her clearly: at heart, Luo Lianqing was someone with a very strong urge to share things.
It was no exaggeration to say that if she happened upon ants moving house on the road, she would take a picture and send it to Wen Ce if she had time.
Wen Ce hadn't been used to it at first. He didn't particularly like chatting on WeChat.
That wasn't quite right. He simply didn't like chatting at all.
But after Luo Lianqing sent three messages he didn't reply to, she sent, [Why aren't you replying? Do you not want to be friends with me anymore? Friends are supposed to share things with each other~]
Wen Ce: ...
Then he replied with a sticker.
Luo Lianqing seemed very easy to satisfy and happily started sharing things with him again.
The basketball game was tomorrow. That afternoon, Lin Fan reminded Wen Ce to remember to come and also mentioned Wang Meng. "He actually agreed to be a substitute."
Wen Ce didn't offer an opinion, but he was a little surprised too. Wang Meng had a particularly strong sense of pride, so he really hadn't expected him to agree to be a substitute.
His earlier remarks in the group chat had rather suggested he looked down on substitutes.
Lin Fan was already used to his silence and didn't wait for an answer. "Oh, right, I heard something. Apparently Wang Meng and his girlfriend broke up. Watch yourself."
Wen Ce was rather speechless. "What does their breakup have to do with me? Why do I need to watch myself?"
"Because I heard-no idea if it's true-that everyone's saying his girlfriend dumped Wang Meng because of you." Lin Fan clicked his tongue. "A handsome face brings disaster, Little Wen."
Wen Ce: I was just sitting at home, and blame fell out of the sky.
"I don't even know his girlfriend's name. What does it have to do with me?" A rare note of speechlessness entered Wen Ce's voice.
Lin Fan sighed. "That's exactly what makes it hurt. Anyway, I don't know whether it's true. Wang Meng hasn't been back to the dorm these past few days either. I'm just giving you a heads-up."
Wen Ce sighed, but still thanked Lin Fan.
After hanging up, Wen Ce didn't take it particularly to heart. They were college students, not little kids. Anyone with eyes could tell at a glance that this had nothing to do with him, right?
Wen Ce thought that although Wang Meng was impulsive, surely he wasn't blind.
At that moment, Wen Ce had never considered that sometimes people only believed what they wanted to believe.
Although Wen Ce and Luo Lianqing had never discussed it, they had both consistently maintained the distance between teacher and student at school.
After all, Luo Lianqing was now Wen Ce's student advisor. If they acted too familiar with each other, people would inevitably read into it.
Besides, they didn't have many chances to see each other at school, and student advisors didn't need to come in every day.
At this point, Wen Ce was afraid that acting too familiar with Luo Lianqing would spark gossip, but some people had no such fear.
Lin Fan nudged Wen Ce and lifted his chin. "Look at Zhou Chi, being all attentive."
Wen Ce looked in the direction he indicated. Wearing the number nine jersey, Zhou Chi was standing in front of Luo Lianqing, saying something with a brilliant smile on his face.
Luo Lianqing, meanwhile, had little expression on her face.
To watch today's basketball game, she had put on sportswear in a fairly ordinary style that revealed nothing, with her ponytail tied high.
But because she had good proportions and long legs, she managed to make that ordinary sportswear look very good. Wen Ce even noticed quite a few male students sneaking glances at her.