by Dragon King
“Why are you guys here?” Hao Ren asked them.
“We got bored at the dorm, so we came out for some food,” Zhao Jiayi answered while scratching his head. Zhou Liren kept his eyes averted; he was probably wondering why Zhao Jiayi didn’t allow him to yell just now.
“Ok, then we’ll eat together,” Xie Yujia said frankly. She turned to Hao Ren and suggested, “Then let’s not go to Dexin Restaurant. We can have some barbecue instead.”
Hao Ren didn’t know how to answer, but Zhao Jiayi suddenly stood up, leaving a dozen skewers of barbequed meat on his plate. “No! No! You guys go ahead! We are done now, and we are ready to go back!”
“Ah, really?” staring at the leftover skewers on the plate, Xie Yujia said doubtingly.
“For real! For real! We are planning to bring the rest to the dorm!” grabbing the skewers on the plate quickly with one hand, Zhao Jiayi twisted Zhou Liren’s ear with the other and said, “Let’s go now!”
“Ayyyy!” Zhou Liren yelled and made several glances at Hao Ren. It took him too long to realize why he shouldn’t have called Hao Ren’s name.
Cao Ronghua followed, picking up the unfinished half bottle of beer.
“You can’t drink beer in the dorm!” Xie Yujia reminded him.
Cao Ronghua put down the beer unwillingly, wiped his hand, and got the bill from the owner. Afterward, the three of them left like thieves.
“Ay…” looking at their backs, Xie Yujia sighed helplessly.
“Then….. Let’s go to Dexin Restaurant?” staring at Xie Yujia, Hao Ren asked in a quizzical tone.
He was found with Xie Yujia by Zhao Jiayi and the other guys; he didn’t know what they would think about it and how Zhou Liren, the big mouth, would spread it when he went back.
“Fine, let’s go!” Xie Yujia nodded without avoiding anything.
Dexin Restaurant was quite busy when they walked in. They sat down at a table by the wall, and Hao Ren ordered a half plate of Sanhuang Chicken, two bowls of chicken and duck blood soup, two bowls of chicken congee, and a small plate of duck gizzard. Those were regular midnight snacks.
“Has Zhao Jiayi recovered from the injury?” Xie Yujia asked after sitting down.
“Yes, he is fine now. He has tough skin, so he recovered fast. He was acting lively just now,” Hao Ren said with a smile.
“The punishment from the university was bizarre. I thought he would at least get a verbal warning,” Xie Yujia said.
“Zhao Jiayi had the same thought. Therefore, he felt so refreshed when he learned about the results. He is now in a better condition than he was before the fight,” Hao Ren said in his mind.
“It’s good that you weren’t involved this time,” Xie Yujia continued.
Hao Ren smirked. What Xie Yujia didn’t expect was that Hao Ren had put lots of effort into getting that result. Otherwise, just like she said, no matter how much partiality the university showed, as the party that started the fight, Zhao Jiayi would get a verbal warning at least.
“Speaking of which, you are great at fighting,” after thinking for a while, Xie Yujia said.
Seeing Hao Ren keeping smirking, she continued, “I didn’t know you could be that tough…and mighty.”
Hao Ren guessed that she was about to use the word “violent”, but she switched to the positive word “mighty” instead.
“You are the same, Class President. You used to be so gentle and serious about everything, but during lectures, you were so excited as if you were a teenager girl,” Hao Ren said.
“Huh, was I?” sitting straight, Xie Yujia looked at Hao Ren with her shining eyes.
“Your face is still pink,” Hao Ren smiled and said.
Xie Yujia didn’t believe his words, so she put her hands on her cheeks to check. After that, her face blushed for real. She thought for a bit and tried to explain, but it only made it worse. “Fine, I made a scene today! But Academician Hao and Academician Yue are my most admired scientists; it makes sense that I got too excited when I met them in person,” she concluded.
“Yeah, it makes sense,” Hao Ren nodded helplessly.
Xie Yujia was slightly unhappy about Hao Ren’s insincerity, but she didn’t want to haggle over it. She continued asking her questions, “Do you have any problems with Huang Xujie?”
“Why did you ask that all of a sudden?” Hao Ren raised his head.
“Em, I heard that the fight occurred this time because you and Huang Xujie didn’t get along well,” Xie Yujia said seriously.
“I don’t like him, and he doesn’t like me, that’s it,” picking up a piece of Sanhuang Chicken with his chopsticks, Hao Ren said casually.
“Em… how about I be the arbitrator, and you guys can resolve this matter?” Xie Yujia said after thinking for a few seconds.
“Don’t bother, Class President; you don’t have to get involved in this. Have some chicken,” Hao Ren pushed the plate of Sanhuang Chicken towards Xie Yujia.
Xie Yujia nodded, but she was still worried about Hao Ren. However, it seemed like Hao Ren didn’t care about it, so Xie Yujia thought he probably had some people to rely on.
What happened to Huang Xujie didn’t really concern her. It was her brother, the Captain of the basketball team, that made her worry. She wasn’t sure if her brother would let go of Hao Ren because of the enormous loss the basketball team suffered.
The way the university dealt with the incident was strangely harsh on the basketball team, and nothing happened to Hao Ren and Zhao Jiayi, which seemed unfair to the basketball team. She believed her brother would be resentful about it.
As they continued to eat, they talked about all kinds of things that were happening in class. The topic went back to the lectures today as time went by. Hao Ren felt the enormous admiration Xie Yujia had for Hao Zhonghua while he thought about the hidden secrets deep in his heart. Both of them didn’t even notice that there were fewer and fewer customers in the restaurant.
“Ah, it’s already eleven thirty!” looking up at the clock on the restaurant’s wall, Xie Yujia screamed unexpectedly.
72 The Good Girl
Hao Ren turned around to look at the time. Then, he realized there were only a few people left in the restaurant.
“Sir, bill please!” he took out his wallet and said in a hurry.
The waiter collected the money, and Hao Ren and Xie Yujia hastily walked out of Dexin Restaurant and realized that the outdoor area of the square was already empty.
“What now…” Xie Yujia looked a little worried as she held the purse in her hand.
She had never spent a night outside of her home or dorm! It was the first time for her to have missed the curfew time of the dorm.
“It’s alright. Maybe the dorm manager is not asleep yet,” Hao Ren carried her on the back seat and biked into the dormitory area as he comforted her.
They went to the entrance of the female Dorm Building No.3 in the south region and found the light in the administrative office by the dorm gate was off. That meant the manager had already gone to sleep.
On top of that, all the lights in the dorm building were off as well, which showed that the curfew had begun.
Xie Yujia jumped off the bike in a hurry and called towards the window of the administrative office, “Ma’am! Ma’am!”
Nothing happened. It seemed like the manager had fallen soundly asleep.
Hao Ren knew that the manager of their male Dorm Building No.7 always slept late, and he should be able to wake her up even if she went to bed. That meant he could still go back to his dorm building.
However, since Xie Yujia couldn’t get in now, how could he leave her outside all by herself?
Xie Yujia couldn’t wake the manager up after several shouts. Then, she turned back to Hao Ren and said in worry, “What now?”
The confident Class President looked helpless at that moment. Hao Ren, who had spent nights outside with Zhao Jiayi quite often finally found an opportunity to apply his experience. “We can…spend a night at the In
ternet Cafe?”
“Is it…safe there?” Xie Yujia hesitated while frowning.
The environment and air quality were terrible in the Internet Cafe, and she didn’t play many games. It wouldn’t be appropriate to take her to that kind of place.
Hao Ren thought about it and probed, “Or…the hotels 1 outside of the school?”
“Ah?” Xie Yujia looked at him, startled. She hesitated and asked, “Have you stayed there before?”
“Um…not really. But I heard it doesn’t cost much. About 120 yuan per night. As long as we have our IDs…maybe student cards work too…”
He lowered his voice since he didn’t want Xie Yujia to think that he was “experienced”.
“Is that kind of place safe?” Xie Yujia asked the same question after thinking about it for a bit.
“Yes. It should be safe,” Hao Ren didn’t sound so sure about his answer.
All kinds of people stayed in the hotels close to the school, and he had heard of incidents happening there. It wouldn’t put him at ease to go back to his dorm and leave Xie Yujia at the hotel by herself.
“Then…I can stay with you…if you are worried?” Hao Ren coughed twice pretentiously and asked quietly.
“That’s…not appropriate,” she hesitated for a bit before rejecting it.
Since his ideas didn’t work out, Hao Ren suggested, “Or we can call up Ma Lina and ask her to knock on the manager’s door so that she can open the gate for you?”
“I didn’t bring my cell phone. That is the problem,” Xie Yujia said helplessly. She came out just for the guest lecturers, so she didn’t bother to bring her cell phone. Who would have known that this could happen?
“I don’t have their numbers. And neither would Zhao Jiayi and the guys,” Hao Ren said. Since students could arrange their schedules and courses, the class was pretty loose. The girls would always stick together, so that meant there wasn’t a lot of communication between the girls and the guys.
“There are still a couple of hours left before dawn, and we need to find somewhere to stay,” Xie Yujia gave up after having knocked on the window of the administrative office for a while.
Fortunately, Hao Ren was here with her, so she wasn’t too desperate.
At this time, Hao Ren suddenly thought of something and said, “We can go to a KTV and spend the night there. A room from midnight to 6:00 AM will only cost 80 yuan!”
“Yes! That’s good!” Xie Yujia finally agreed to his suggestion.
It was cold at night, and they couldn’t get into the dorms. After the decision was made, Hao Ren took her back to Hongji Square on her bike.
He thought about the suggestions he just mentioned to her while biking and realized that the one he looked forward to was to spend the night at a hotel room with her.
“Damn it, damn it! What was I thinking?”
Hao Ren blamed himself for having that thought.
On the other hand, Xie Yujia behind him didn’t think that much. She was only touched by Hao Ren’s good intention in keeping her company so late at night.
She knew that the guys usually returned to their dorms late and the manager there was used to them coming back after closing time. Therefore, she was clear that Hao Ren could still go back to his dorm if he wanted to…
“It is all my fault. If I hadn’t gotten too into talking and didn’t forget about the time, Hao Ren could still go back to his dorm instead of wandering around with me so late at night.”
Xie Yujia self-criticized in the back seat as she bit her lip.
They went to “Golden Ages Karaoke” which was located on the second floor of a building on Hongji Square. They asked for a small room for the night.
Seeing only the two of them there at midnight, the male waiter who led them to the room kept staring at them with a suspicious look.
“The room is only for singing, not for other things,” he reminded them after they had arrived in the room.
“Other things…” Xie Yujia suddenly understood the implied meaning before she was about to ask. Her face blushed.
“I mean,” the waiter added after seeing her flush, “You can sing in here, but you can not sleep. As the rules go, at least one of you needs to stay awake.”
“Oh, I see,” Xie Yujia murmured. Her blush became more apparent when she noticed Hao Ren looking at her in a weird way. She hurried into the room and sat down in a corner.
The waiter explained a few more things to Hao Ren, turned on the equipment, and left the room.
Xie Yujia sat awkwardly on the couch as she looked around the room, still blushing.
“Don’t worry. They have strict rules here,” Hao Ren randomly grabbed a microphone and put it beside him, “I came here with Zhao Jiayi and the guys before. But guys like us are at the Internet Cafe a lot more than here.”
“I know. I came with Ma Lina and some other girls before as well. At least it is safer than both the Internet Cafe and the hotel,” Xie Yujia nodded.
Hao Ren knew that Xie Yujia was tired as he noticed the redness in her eyes. He said, “You can go to sleep, Class President. I’ll stay up.”
Xie Yujia pouted her little mouth, “How could I let you…”
“It’s ok! I always stay up with the guys, and I’m used to it!” Hao Ren pushed her down, “Don’t worry, I won’t fall asleep. It’s not a problem for me to guard you!”
Xie Yujia bit her thin lips and stared at him in embarrassment. She wanted to say something but didn’t know where to start.
Hao Ren took off his jacket and put it over her, “You might feel a bit chilly after you fall asleep. Anyways, get some sleep. I’ll listen to some music and sing a few songs. It will keep me awake.”
He stood up and clicked on some popular songs. Then, he sat back beside Xie Yujia.
“Hao Ren is indeed a ‘good person’.” Xie Yujia sighed as she looked at him with her eyes semi-closed, lying on the couch.
Hao Ren picked up the microphone as he listened to the familiar music. He turned on the voiceover and randomly hummed along; he was a little embarrassed to sing in front of the Class President.
Xie Yujia was secretly looking at him through her squinted eyes as she pretended to be asleep. Staying at a hotel in Chinese also means doing adult stuff.
73 Oh Crap…
More than a dozen songs later, Xie Yujia’s eyelids became heavier as she listened to the familiar melodies. She felt like Hao Ren’s humming sounded like a lullaby and fell asleep unconsciously.
When she opened her eyes again, she saw Hao Ren snoozing with both of his hands on the sofa.
She sat up, and her shoes made a squeaking noise on the sofa. Hao Ren heard the sound and woke up immediately. The microphone in his hand fell to the floor.
“You really didn’t sleep last night?” Xie Yujia rubbed her eyes, saw the black circles around Hao Ren’s eyes, and asked guiltily.
“That waiter was patrolling by the door all night. I couldn’t sleep even if I wanted to,” Hao Ren stretched his arm and laughed, “How was your sleep?”
“It was alright. I had a few dreams,” Xie Yujia replied as she returned the jacket to Hao Ren and checked her own clothes.
She wasn’t concerned about Hao Ren doing anything while she was asleep as she trusted him. Instead, she was scared that her clothes might slide and reveal parts of her body that shouldn’t be exposed.
She calmed down when she saw that her clothes were tidy.
“What time is it?” she asked.
“It’s almost six. The time for the room is almost up too,” Hao Ren replied.
“Um,” Xie Yujia nodded, “Thank you so much for yesterday.”
“It’s nothing. These types of things happen sometimes,” Hao Ren stood up and said, “Let’s go find a place for food!”
“You don’t want to sleep for a bit?” Xie Yujia looked at him in confusion.
Hao Ren shook his head, “It’s fine…”
“It’s not even six yet. You should sleep for a bit. There’s
no use going back to the dorm since it’s not opened yet. I’ll be on the watch for you this time!” Xie Yujia said.
She saw Hao Ren’s tired face and suddenly realized that this was the first time she stayed overnight alone with a guy.
“No need, it’ll be six in half an hour,” Hao Ren still shook his head. He couldn’t sleep alone and have a girl keep vigil for him.
“Let’s sing then!” Xie Yujia changed her expression and said.
“Huh?” Hao Ren was a bit surprised.
“There’s still half an hour. We’ll be wasting it anyways and might as well use this time to sing,” Xie Yujia walked up to the karaoke machine and chose a few songs.
The first song “Blessings on the Street Corner” came out on the screen. After half a night of sleep, Xie Yujia was already energetic. She picked up the microphone without being shy, found the key of the melody, and started singing.
“In many autumns and winters, I was almost about to be cured…”
Hao Ren listened to Xie Yujia’s voice and didn’t know that the Class President sang so well.
“I could only pretend that I couldn’t hear from other people about how he was doing…”
After the first song, Xie Yujia continued to sing the second song.
Her voice was melodious and pleasant, and the smile on her face seemed to create a sense of happiness.
Hao Ren sat on the sofa and looked at Xie Yujia quietly. Unexpectedly, the studious Class President was also a pro at karaoke.
“Afterward, I finally learned how to love. It was a pity that you’d left long ago, disappearing into the crowd… Afterward…”
“Is she singing these songs for me?” Hao Ren suddenly thought.
After singing six songs continuously, Xie Yujia abruptly took out another microphone and handed it to Hao Ren. “Come and join me!” she said.
“Ah? No, I can’t!” Hao Ren waved his hands quickly.
“Let’s sing together. There is only the two of us, what are you afraid of?” Xie Yujia put the microphone in Hao Ren’s hands enthusiastically.
The old song “Hiroshima Mon Amour” sounded. Hao Ren had to hold the microphone and sing awkwardly. Not sure if his potential had reached new heights or what had happened, but Hao Ren, who didn’t sleep for the whole night, sang the song perfectly with a husky voice.