On the first day of school, Lu Liangting, the campus heartthrob of the music academy, was made to cry by a junior student.
This incident was posted on the forum. Gossip comments piled up for pages beneath the post.
"An unspeakable ex?"
"The junior used violence against a senior?"
"The junior was so ugly they made the senior cry?"
"..."
"Not bad" and "The junior is too ugly" became the most popular comments, automatically topping the forum within a single day.
I'm ugly?
I looked in the mirror, smiling to reveal my prominent canine tooth.
Someone once praised me as adorable, like a cactus with thorns.
Screw that comparison.
To prove I wasn't so bad, on the night of the new student welcome party, I put on heavy makeup, wore a short dress, and set out to find Lu Liangting.
Yeah, let's just consider him my ex-boyfriend.
I was looking for him to mend our broken relationship.
2
As expected, Lu Liangting was at the new student welcome party that night.
He only performed two simple pieces, yet the applause lasted as long as a closing act.
Below the stage, the girls' lightsticks were almost hitting my face.
On stage, the girl in the red dress danced, making the atmosphere explode.
She was tall and hot, clinging to Lu Liangting's every move.
I saw indulgence and affection in his eyes.
Weren't you so cold before?
So you can let another girl get this close to you.
He lightly touched the girl's waist.
The audience below went wild.
"I, I want to be that waist."
"Lu Liangting knows how to flirt, huh."
"Oh! He and his dance partner look like a couple."
The audience below chanted in unison: "Date! Date!"
In that moment, I admit I was jealous.
Because...
That hand used to only hold my waist.
3
A cool breeze blew on that September night.
I crossed my arms, waiting by the tree.
In the dim light, he slowly approached.
Leaving behind the enthusiasm of the stage that night, at this moment, he clearly showed his cold demeanor.
I took a step forward: "Lu Liangting."
He instinctively stepped back: "Is there something you need?"
His tone was polite yet distant, as if we were meeting for the first time.
"Yes."
"Tell me."
"I want to be your girlfriend."
When I finished speaking, Lu Liangting burst out laughing, shaking his head and laughing non-stop.
I was seriously confessing, but he thought I was joking?
"Why don't you just say you want to be my wife?"
"I did once, but you weren't old enough." I replied very seriously.
He laughed even louder, bending over with laughter.
Was it that funny?
Laughing like that at night, it was a bit crazy.
Luckily, there was no moon or stars tonight, and not many people around.
Finally, after he had laughed enough, he straightened up and returned to his handsome composure.
The smile in his eyes suddenly vanished, replaced by indifference.
He tried to compose himself, then said cruelly: "Yu Yin, are you worthy now?"
Worthy? If I wasn't worthy, why would I have studied so hard I got a stomach bleed just to get into his school?
Obviously, he thought I wasn't worthy.
Lu Liangting turned and walked away.
I pulled on his shirt hem.
His next sentence made my heart clench.
A few seconds later, he turned around, looked intently into my eyes, and asked me, word for word: "I'm going for a late-night meal with my girlfriend soon. Want to come along?"
Huh, he has a girlfriend?
From what I knew about him, I didn't believe it.
But when his dance partner from tonight, the one in the red dress, appeared at the street corner ahead, I couldn't help but believe it.
Not everyone can just stand still and wait for someone.
As I watched their familiar figures gradually disappear, my eyes blurred with tears.
I gently touched the corner of my eye.
It was really cold on campus tonight.
4
Do you all think that would break my heart?
Not at all.
Once I got a good look at the girl in the red dress, my heart bloomed with joy because a man's Adam's apple protruded from her neck.
Lu Liangting.
I know this very well.
He's straight, he can't be gay.
Oh!
It's perfectly reasonable that Lu Liangting rejected me; who told me to dump him first?
He's going for a late-night meal, so I'll go have a drink.
This is more in line with my "bad girl" style.
Khuynh Xin Xiao Guan is the perfect spot.
I stumbled upon a bar tucked away in a small alley.
The proprietress was a woman with long, Hong Kong-style curly hair.
She wore a unique lemon-yellow dress.
Her face was both youthful and alluring; her true age was impossible to discern.
A long cigarette was held between her slender fingertips. She exhaled a puff of smoke in my direction.
"Girl, would you like to order the Khuynh Xin combo?" That was what she asked me the first time I came here.
A Khuynh Xin combo only consisted of a bottle of 1080 liquor.
What was being sold was the proprietress's listening ear.
Wow! That's easy money.
I didn't need it back then, but I do now.
"Okay, one bottle."
"Girl, there's loneliness in your eyes, a story in your heart, and I just happen to have the liquor."
Her plump red lips took a sip of the yellow liquid.
I ordered the drink, and she drank it.
Not to be outdone, I took a big gulp.
"Tell me, where should we begin?"
"It's up to you. Tonight, I'm all ears for you."
Inside the dimly lit bar, my mind was as fuzzy as cotton wool.
Scene after scene flashed through my mind, finally settling on the year I was sixteen.
At that noodle shop, I met a teenager who seemed cold on the outside but was warm on the inside.
That was Lu Liangting.
That day, I called Mom: "Are Mom and Dad coming to visit me this week?"
What I really wanted to ask was: Will Grandma be able to come?
I hadn't seen her in two months, and of course, I hadn't seen them either—my family.
"You're already in high school; can't you take care of yourself yet? I'm busy, I'll visit you next week when I'm free." My mother listened to the phone indifferently, seemingly packing her things at the same time.
"Mom, today is..." my birthday.
Before I could finish, the impatient voices of my twin brother and sister came from the other end: "Mom, hurry up! I want to go camping right now..."
I immediately understood that no one would be coming this week. They were all going camping; how could they have time to drive four hundred kilometers to visit me?
After I hung up, my stomach began to ache faintly. My period had started again.
I remembered Grandma saying that hot food could ease the pain.
The room was too empty and lonely; I wanted to see someone.
I casually slipped on a pair of white shorts and went out.
It was early summer afternoon, not mealtime. If I wanted something hot to eat, it seemed a bit hard to find, especially in this high-end apartment complex.
By some strange impulse, I found myself walking towards an urban village.
On a street corner, a Fujian egg noodle shop was open.
It was very small and old, but still quite clean.
A tall, slender teenager sat reading a book next to an old fan. His posture was as if he were in a library.
I moved a little closer and saw he was studying sheet music. How novel.
The teenager stared at me for a few seconds, surprised, then quickly folded the sheet music and stood up.
I glared at him: "What are you staring at? Never seen a pretty girl before?"
“What do you want to eat?” The boy’s voice, in the midst of breaking, sounded a little hoarse.
“Fujian egg noodles, make them hot. And quick!”
The teenager replied softly, then went to cook the noodles, his movements quite nimble.
Not long after, a steaming hot bowl of noodles arrived.
The not-so-great thing was that the noodles were sprinkled with spring onions and celery.
“I don’t eat spring onions.”
The teenager paused for a moment, then carefully picked out the spring onions with a clean pair of chopsticks.
“I don’t eat celery either.”
His long, narrow phoenix eyes looked at me. He silently picked out the celery as before.
“The broth smells of spring onions and celery.” I continued.
I admit, I was doing it on purpose. The moment I walked into the shop, I recognized him.
Last Friday, after school at the gate, some short-haired girl stepped on my brand new white GUCCI shoes, getting them dirty.
I just told her to clean them before she left, and she got so upset she burst into tears.
Was that wrong? She stepped on my shoes twice, you know.
Who am I? I’m the problem child in the eyes of the teachers and students at Middle School No. 4.
They say: “Someone gave birth to her, but no one bothered to raise her, that’s why she turned out like this.”
It’s fine, I’ll just keep being a delinquent.
Seeing that an apology was completely impractical, I changed my mind. If I had stepped on her shoes, I would have cleaned them for her too.
That’s just how I am.
The scene back then was quite something. I held her back, not letting her leave, and she cried until her nose was bright red, constantly bowing and apologizing, but she wouldn’t clean them.
“You’re all classmates, she’s already apologized, can’t you just let it go?” A refined-looking teenager walked over.
“She has to clean them before she can leave.” I stuck to my guns.
“You’re forcing a girl to squat in front of you to clean your shoes?” A look of displeasure appeared on his face.
“Yes, because she stepped on them.”
The teenager closed his eyes, suppressing his anger.
“You’re being unreasonable!” With that, he pried my fingers off and pulled the girl away.
Oh, how interesting.
I didn’t expect us to meet again at the noodle shop the next day.
The customer is king, and if the king says the broth smells of spring onions and celery, then that’s how it is.
“Why didn’t you say so earlier?” Anger flashed across the teenager’s face.
“You didn’t ask either.” I secretly chuckled.
The teenager pointed to a sign hanging on the wall: Spring onions, ginger, garlic – if you don’t eat them, say so; if you don’t say anything, it means add everything.
Oh, so it was my fault then.
“Then cook me another bowl.”
The teenager looked at me, then cooked me another bowl.
“You’re being wasteful.” The teenager looked at the two bowls of noodles on the table, his eyes darkening.
Whether it was wasteful or not wasn’t up to him to decide.
That day, I was a bit distracted, burying my face in two large bowls of noodles, which took quite a while.
It took so long that my period started, and it was heavier than usual too.
The white of my pants combined with the red of the blood looked quite disgusting.
When he saw me stand up, the teenager looked very surprised.
His face was slightly red. It took him a while before he managed to blurt out: “Are you hurt?”
Hurt my ass.
“Haven’t you ever seen a girl on her period before?”
“…Never.”
If I went out like this, I’d definitely attract attention.
I scanned the QR code on the wall to pay, handing over a hundred yuan: “Go buy me a pack of sanitary pads… Oh, and a pair of pants too.”
“I’ve never bought those before.” His expression seemed unhappy.
“If you don’t go, I’ll tell everyone I’m bleeding because I ate your noodles. And I won’t go home today.”
He looked at me, then at my pants.
His eyes held something inexpressible.
After a moment of hesitation, he ran out.
Less than five minutes later, he was panting as he threw me a plastic bag.
I used their shop’s restroom to change my pants.
Only a straight guy would buy those long, elastic-waist pants that old ladies wear—utterly unstylish!
Well, I had no choice but to grit my teeth and wear them; it was better than nothing.
The restroom had a gap. Peeking through it, I saw him wiping the chair I had just sat on.
It had quite a few bloodstains on it.
His movements were both serious and meticulous, as if he were polishing a piano.
Lục Lương Đình wore a faded outfit, but it couldn't conceal his striking demeanor.
The sunlight on his face was like an added filter, making him impossibly beautiful.
In that moment, I felt he shouldn't be sitting in this small shop, but by the piano in my house.
In this shabby shop, in such an awkward situation, I found myself falling for a poor boy.
But when he saw me leave the shop, he let out a sigh of relief.
After finishing the bowl of noodles, I felt much better.