Chapter 22: Record of Moving to the City in the 90s. 22

Wasn’t what Liu Li had done basically asking for death?

Who throws herself at a car that’s already started moving?

Liu Li’s face, already pale to begin with, instantly flushed red with anger and humiliation. Her chest heaved as if she had suffered some enormous grievance.

Very quickly, quite a few students gathered around and started pointing and whispering. Some said a grown man shouldn’t bully a woman, while others said they hadn’t seen what happened, and that the woman had clearly rushed over on her own.

Maybe seeing the crowd gave Liu Li some confidence. Instead of arguing with Yu Zexiu, she looked at Su Huandan.

“Su Huandan, come out. I need to talk to you about something.” Liu Li really did have business with Su Huandan, which was why she had rushed over so frantically.

Su Huandan twitched at the corner of her mouth. So just because you have something to say, I have to go along with you? What kind of logic is that?

But now that she was being blocked in, if she didn’t get out, it would look like she was scared of her.

Su Huandan got out of the car, and before she had even steadied herself, Liu Li charged at her, reaching out to grab at her hair.

Could Yu Zexiu just stand by and watch Su Huandan get bullied? He caught Liu Li by the wrist and flung her to the ground.

“Are you sick in the head? Mentally ill? Then go to the hospital. You come at people swinging the second you show up, what the hell is wrong with you?” Yu Zexiu truly thought there was something wrong with Liu Li’s head, and he immediately moved to shield Su Huandan behind him.

Su Huandan also felt like Liu Li had water in her brain. They weren’t even students in the same department. They didn’t attend classes together, and at night they only occasionally chatted a little before bed. To be honest, they really weren’t familiar with each other.

There were eight girls in their dorm, and every single one of them worked hard. Any spare time they had was spent in the library. All the books they had never had access to before, the kinds that could help them improve themselves, were there. Of course they wanted to camp out there and fill themselves up.

Liu Li suddenly let out a loud wail and started crying.

“You’re bullying me, aren’t you? Haven’t you bullied me enough? Su Huandan, you’re just a little fox spirit¹. With that seductive face of yours, you’ve got my boyfriend thinking about you all day long. Why don’t you just die? Shameless slut, go die, go die!” The words coming out of Liu Li’s mouth were filthy.

Su Huandan was so angry she laughed.

“Liu Li, we’re in the same dorm, but we’ve barely even spoken a few times. I only know that you’re dating someone. I don’t even know who your boyfriend is, and yet you’re accusing me of seducing him? Who is he? He needs to come out and face me today.” Su Huandan was furious.

Someone she hardly ever interacted with could suddenly turn around and bite her like a mad dog today?

What kind of world was this?

Liu Li kept pushing. “What are you trying to do? The two of you don’t even know each other, and he’s already thinking about you. If you actually met and got to know each other, would he and I still be able to stay together?”

“So because you’re shameless enough to cling to a man who doesn’t even like you, and you can’t hold your relationship together, you came here to curse at my girlfriend? If your brain’s broken, go see the psych department. Stop making a fool of yourself here. If you dare spout one more word of nonsense, I’ll slap the hell out of you. I’ve never seen a woman so eager to get hit. My hands are actually itching now.” With that string of insults from Yu Zexiu, Liu Li finally ran off.

The rest of the people who had stayed to watch the commotion also dispersed.

At first, they had thought Liu Li was the one being bullied. Now they understood that she had been the foolish one, and had come to cause trouble for someone else.

Those who had gotten a good look at Su Huandan thought to themselves, if I were a man, I’d like someone like that too. What did Liu Li even amount to?

She wasn’t ugly, exactly, but at most she was just fairly neat-looking. How could she compare to a beauty?

At the restaurant, Yu Zexiu took Su Huandan to eat noodles.

After only a few bites, Yu Zexiu was so annoyed that he put down his chopsticks.

“I’ll figure out a way to get you transferred to another dorm. Your roommate isn’t right in the head, she’s got a screw loose. I was there today, so I could protect you. But what if I’m not there next time? What if that lunatic really hits you? A face this pretty, if it got ruined, it’d really break my heart.” Yu Zexiu had seen plenty of girls like Liu Li before.

Back in the Military Compound², which of the guys he knew didn’t have several girls chasing after him?

Those girls were all pretty much like Liu Li, with no brains to speak of. Obviously it was his brothers who didn’t like them, but they would still fight among themselves, saying things like you got in the way, or you tripped me up, that’s why so-and-so doesn’t like me, and so on.

He had been seeing this kind of thing ever since middle school, and even now that they were all in college, it still hadn’t ended.

There were quite a few girls chasing after him too.

“Am I really that pretty?” Su Huandan raised a hand and touched her face. Everyone in her family was good-looking anyway. Back in Shangsha Village and now in Yuanyi Village, her family’s looks had always been top-tier.

Once she got to high school, there were more than a thousand students in the school, and she had seen a few people who looked nice, but their skin wasn’t as good as hers, and their features weren’t as delicate.

It couldn’t be helped. She had been using Spiritual Spring Water to nourish herself for a long time, and as far as skin condition went, she truly had never seen anyone better than herself.

As for looks?

Su Huandan felt that everyone’s idea of beauty was different.

Yu Zexiu propped up his chin with both hands and smiled as he studied Su Huandan’s face.

“The outer corners of your eyes tilt upward, like phoenix eyes, but your eyes are a little rounder than typical phoenix eyes, so they look more lively. Your eyelashes are like little fans, outlining your eye shape beautifully. Your nose is high and straight, your cherry lips are pretty too, you have an oval face, willow-leaf brows³, and your skin is fair and soft. At one seventy-three, your height makes you stand out from the crowd too.” Her figure was great as well, but that wasn’t something he could say. If he did, it’d sound like he was being a pervert. What would she think of him then?

Su Huandan arched a brow and smiled lightly. So she was exactly the kind of beauty Yu Zexiu liked.

“You’re like Lin Daiyu⁴, except a healthy Lin Daiyu. You don’t have that frail, sickly air at all. Eight or nine men out of ten would like someone like you. When I lived in the dorm during my freshman year, my roommates liked you too. So it’s perfectly normal that Liu Li’s boyfriend likes you. It has nothing to do with you. It’s not your fault. Their relationship is something they failed to handle properly themselves. Dragging you into it was their mistake.” Even if Yu Zexiu hadn’t said all this, Su Huandan wouldn’t have been affected by Liu Li’s words.

After the meal, Yu Zexiu drove Su Huandan back.

When she returned, there was a new person in the dorm, a first-year freshman, and Liu Li was nowhere to be seen.

Zhang Meijuan pulled Su Huandan along to the washroom to get hot water.

On the way, she said that Liu Li had moved to the building behind theirs.

“How could she possibly have the nerve to keep living with us? I really didn’t expect her to be that kind of person. When her own relationship ran into trouble, she started dragging other people into it. You really can’t tell what someone’s like until something happens. Once it does, that’s when you see their true character.” Zhang Meijuan couldn’t help lamenting that even a girl from a big city like Liu Li could be so unreasonable. It really felt like the world’s going downhill.

In the new school year, aside from the matter with Liu Li, there was nothing else that left Su Huandan unhappy.

During winter break, her dad asked whether her boyfriend was coming to visit their home. Su Huandan said no. They weren’t even considering marriage before graduation, so what would be the point of bringing him home?

They could talk about it after things were completely settled.

As summer break drew near, Yu Zexiu grew increasingly restless.

Su Huandan knew something had happened to him, but she had no idea what it was.

She hadn’t asked before, but lately, every time she saw the dark circles under Yu Zexiu’s eyes, her heart ached for him.

“What’s going on, exactly?”

Translator’s Notes