Chapter 4

Chapter 4

On the way back to the dorm, my roommate linked arms with me and clicked her tongue in amazement.

“Ranran, do you know what happened before? A junior girl once gave Lu Yan a gift. Guess what he said?”

My roommate imitated Lu Yan’s old-fashioned, solemn expression.

“He straight-up said, ‘Don’t bribe a student official,’ and turned her down without even looking at it.”

“He’s so upright it’s practically evil!”

My roommate suddenly leaned in close and waggled her eyebrows at me.

“But the one you gave him? Not only did he accept it, he even said he liked it!”

I thought my roommate was overthinking it.

“He just likes scarves. That’s all.”

My roommate sighed, utterly speechless.

“Ranran, you’re not just a hardcore J-type. You’re also a hardcore oblivious straight girl.”

“School Heartthrob Lu is so pitiful.”

What was she mumbling about?

I didn’t want to listen. My heart contained only Dingding.

Tomorrow, I could go to Lu Yan’s place and pet Dingding!

It had been so long since I’d seen it. I was going to bury my face in it until I passed out!

I was so excited I couldn’t sleep.

Curled up under my blanket, I suddenly remembered something important.

I messaged Lu Yan:

[Did you shave it?]

[If not, I’ll come over tomorrow and do it.]

Little Dingding was a long-haired tortoiseshell, so the fur around its butt needed regular trimming. Otherwise, poop would definitely get stuck in it.

On the other end, Lu Yan seemed to struggle for a long time. He typed for ages before finally replying:

[Isn’t this… moving a little too fast?]

I stared at the screen with a frown and answered honestly:

[I can hardly wait!]

This time, he typed even longer-so long I thought he’d fallen asleep.

At last, a message popped up:

[I’ve never done it before, but for you… I can try.]

[I’m looking forward to it too.]

I was still wondering what there was to look forward to about trimming fur when Lu Yan sent another message:

[Since I’ve agreed to all this, can I make one small request too?]

I bit my lower lip, my finger hovering over the screen.

After three seconds of hesitation, I gave in.

Fine. I was asking him for a favor, after all.

[Sure.]

He replied almost instantly:

[Can I call you baby?]

I froze.

[Why?]

He replied in all seriousness:

[It seems like people in our kind of relationship call each other that.]

What kind of relationship were we?

I stared at that line until my CPU nearly burned out.

Then inspiration struck-oh, I got it!

We were “cat friends”!

Online, didn’t friends who showed each other their cats often call each other “baby” or “bestie” and stuff like that?

The logic checked out. Enlightened, I agreed readily:

[Sure, go ahead.]

He immediately sent a flower sticker in a middle-aged-auntie style, who knew where he’d saved it from. The text on it read, “May happiness last forever,” radiating a stiff, old-fashioned kind of joy.

Goal achieved, I prepared to end the conversation.

[If there’s nothing else, good night. See you tomorrow.]

I was just about to put down my phone when a voice message popped up.

I tapped it open, and his low, magnetic voice slid into my ears as if he were right beside them.

[Good night, baby.]

[See you tomorrow.]