The moment Luo Ziling stepped through the door of his dorm room, his buddies flocked around him like strays dogs hoping to get precious scraps of food.
“Boss, please tell us in all honesty, did you just go on a date with Ouyang Huihui?” asked Cao Jianhui as he tightened his grip on Luo Ziling’s wrist. Then, with an exaggerated expression, he added, “I don’t know if you know this, but everyone we know accepts Ouyang Huihui as the hottest girl in our year. She’s got the looks, and perhaps more importantly, she’s got a damn fine body. For her to invite you out to dinner, are you guys going steady or something? C’mon, don’t leave us hanging like you always do! Speak up, or face being expelled from our holy abode!”
“That’s right! Confess to your sins you heathen! Resistance is futile!” said Li Fuming with a foot triumphantly resting on a stool. As if he was interrogating a terrorist, he glared straight into Luo Ziling’s eyes. “You are too much, I tell you! You leave for a few days, which wasn’t even enough for us to locate a target, and yet you come back with such a glorious kill! This is outrageous! Fess up to what you did, my boy!”
“Did you forget that we, too, participated in the process of getting to know Ouyang Huihui better? If you’re not going to speak, then consider our friendship shattered,” said Wu Longjiang. He produced a pocket knife and scraped it lightly against Luo Ziling’s groin before flashing an evil smile at him. “Or perhaps, we should just slice your little member off? I reckon it’ll make quite the juicy burger.”
Cao Jianhui smacked Wu Longjiang on the head. “Woah there! Aren’t you crossing the line now? How can you possibly stomach such a gross thing? Can you act a little more seriously?”
“I am dead serious in what I’m saying man!” protested Wu Longjiang, massaging his scalp.
Taking advantage of the little “infighting” between Cao Jianhui and Wu Longjiang, Luo Ziling punched his way through their encirclement and plopped onto the edge of his bed. “We didn’t do sh*t, okay? She just needed to tell me something and it just so happened that I wanted to set the record straight with her.”
“Who do you think we are? A bunch of snot-nosed 3-year-olds?” said Cao Jianhui as he sat down grumpily beside Luo Ziling. “We sincerely hoped that you would get the kill. As you know, although she’s still a freshman, her charm is almost equal to the university’s top beauties. In fact, many people think that she’s just inches below Yang Qingyin in terms of looks. If we were to talk about her family background, she drives a bloody luxurious sports car for God’s sake! For such a prime cut to present itself in front of you, I say you better take it, else we’d be jokes as your wingmen.”
“Boss, you must keep striving ahead! No matter what, you’ll take down Ouyang Huihui, right? For the glory of our dorm, no, our class!” Li Fuming too, sat down beside Luo Ziling as he pumped his fist in the air. “This is also for the sake of your own ‘pleasure’ if you know what I mean. How could you look away when such a top-grade girl is standing before you? Rest assured, we will do all we can to assist you in the process. You just need to speak up the next time you need us to be your actors. No matter what sort of play you want to stage in front of her, we’ll do it, no questions asked. Together, we are the five great youths who work for the betterment of society!”
“You guys are overthinking this,” said Luo Ziling, standing up. Struggling out of his two friends’ grasps, he yelled in an unfriendly tone, “Take a shower and hit the sack, we have drills to go through tomorrow. I don’t wanna hear you guys b*tching and moaning about being punished after screwing up.”
Upon hearing Luo Ziling speak about their drill tomorrow, the three stooges suddenly went silent.
Still, Cao Jianhui was a little stubborn about this matter. “Did nothing really happen between you and Ouyang Huihui?”
“I don’t like girls like her,” responded Luo Ziling.
For some reason, the image of Yang Qingyin popped up in his mind as he replied to Cao Jianhui’s question. He wanted to go on about how his preferred “type” of woman was someone gentle and innocent like Yang Qingyin, instead of the unruly and miserable girl that Ouyang Huihui was.
Seeing how disinterested Luo Ziling was in the matter, the three stooges hesitated for a moment before returning to their respective tasks.
Luo Ziling took a shower and changed into a fresh set of clothes. Laying down on his bed after a seemingly never-ending day, something was still bothering him, so he proceeded to go out for a nighttime stroll.
Ouyang Huihui’s words from before had impacted him greatly.
The person who stirred up his emotions like this however, wasn’t Ouyang Huihui. She was instead, the person who Ouyang Huihui referred to as Ling Ruonan, his mother.
After basking in his thoughts for quite a while, he fished out a photograph he had tucked away for so many years from his pocket and gave it a long, hard look.
The Ling Ruonan in the photo appeared to be extremely beautiful as she stared back at him. But, now that he was already 20 years old, would Ling Ruonan, now in her forties, look as beautiful as she did before?
The more he thought about it, the more pain he felt in his heart.
‘Why am I so different from any other child with a family?’
Just what reason drove Ling Ruonan to abandon him when he was just three months old? And why did she avoid him for the past 20 years? Did she do so voluntarily, or was something holding her back? Perhaps someone was threatening her against doing so?
Now that he had finally arrived in Yanjing, why wouldn’t she simply meet him?
Perhaps she didn’t want to meet him? Or perhaps she was unable to? Maybe there was something or someone she was afraid of?
So many questions popped up in Luo Ziling’s mind, but no matter how hard he thought about them, he simply could not come up with any plausible answers. Because of this, he felt more and more miserable by the second.
Just when his mood couldn’t get any lower, the sound of his phone ringing broke the tranquil silence of night. Looking down, he saw that it was a phone call from Ouyang Feifei.
Feelings of frustration started rising within him. After glancing at the screen for a second, he shoved his phone back in his pocket. It continued ringing for a very long time before it finally stopped.
If she called him a second time, he would pick up the phone. However, to his surprise, the second phone call never came.
Shortly after, Ouyang Feifei sent him a text message. ‘I was in a meeting when you called. If you’re free now, please give me a call.’
Luo Ziling did not give her a call. Instead, he stared blankly at the screen. Remaining in that state for a while, he then returned his phone to his pocket.
Without a particular goal in mind, he slowly wandered around the school like a madman, picking spots where there were less students loitering around. He didn’t feel like talking to anyone at the moment and just needed some time to think alone.
After what felt like 30 minutes of aimless wandering, his phone rang for the second time. It was Ouyang Feifei again. Hesitating for a second, he finally accepted her call.
After a customary “hello?”, Ouyang Feifei’s never-changing voice sounded from the earpiece, “If you’re free, how about meeting up for some coffee? I’m conveniently passing by your university, so wait for me at the entrance.”
Luo Ziling did not reject her proposition. “Alright.”
15 minutes later, he arrived at the university’s main entrance. Even before he reached it, he could already make out the line of slick, luxurious cars waiting for him beyond the gates.
It was that car he didn’t recognize. The one with double-stacked Rs on the emblem at the front of its hood. Apart from this odd vehicle, there were two other Mercedes Benz S600s leading and tailing Ouyang Feifei’s car respectively. The entire convoy attracted the attention of quite a number of students as well as ordinary pedestrians. Some even took out their phones to take pictures of the cars.
As Luo Ziling got closer to the cars, he could see Ouyang Feifei’s assistant standing near the car, presumably waiting for him. Upon seeing Luo Ziling, the assistant named Wang Qing marched over to greet him.
“President Ouyang is waiting for you in her car,” she said, bowing lightly before pulling the car door open for Luo Ziling.
As the door slowly swung open, the sight of a woman in an oddly-arousing white collared blouse entered Luo Ziling’s view. She had her hair tied up at the top of her head, revealing the porcelain-like skin of her neck. She was none other than the overwhelmingly beautiful Ouyang Feifei.
As the two made eye contact, Luo Ziling could feel his pulse skyrocketing in a matter of seconds.
Once again, he was awe-struck by this woman.