Chapter 12

012. Weekend’ Lake Tour

Listening to Tong Xuan talking about the Liaison Department, Guo You suddenly let out an “Ah” sound, and took a stack of tickets from her pocket. It was lake coupons given to her by the people from Liaison Department, and she had planned to go playing there together with her friends on the weekend. Now, she asked Tong Xuan to join her too.

Tong Xuan: “Those people from the Liaison Department… I can’t even get them to let out some money.”

Seeing the change in topic, He Jin hurriedly said back: “The lecture thing, I will prepare for it, but only for this once, if there is a next time I’ll…”

His words hadn’t finished, Guo You already guaranteed repeatedly: “There will certainly be no next time! Senior ~ please! ”

Tong Xuan also said: “It is my fault, I assured them that you will come… This time I owe you a favor. ”

“You owe me a lot of favors, every time the student union has work, you always play the ‘ after graduating you will have a good resume ‘ card.” He Jin turned his body, intending to leave, “next time I really won’t do this ah.”

His tone was careless, as if he’s joking, but what he said was all the truth.

Although it was only the second half of the semester, but where he would work after graduation had all been decided for him, so why should he concern himself with “good resume”?

The University Student Union is actually a microcosm portrayal of society, the bureaucratic ethos, the infighting, the competition of rights and interests, he never liked any of it.

Tong Xuan smiled and pulled at his arm: “Are you blaming me for not giving you anything good in return?” ”

He Jin raised his eyebrow: “What good thing can you give me?”

Tong Xuan robbed the tickets from Guo You’s hand and said: “This weekend we go together to swim at the lake Ah!”

He Jin felt like laughing and crying at the same time: “You… how is this a good thing ah.”

Guo You after listening to their conversation, also warmly invited: Ah, if seniors can go together then it’s good too! ”

He Jin: “You are a group of girls, how is this any fun for me …”

Guo You shook his head: “No Ah, my boyfriend will also come together!” ”

Tong Xuan: “You see, it’s not all girls now… You ah, don’t be stuffy all day, have a little vitality, it’s rare now that the temperature outside is not too low, we have to go out and relax!”

He Jin frowned, if this invitation was given in the past, he would probably be unwilling to go. Tong Xuan was well aware of this. He Jin, this person, always said that it was unpleasant to go out in the cold, said it was troublesome, and he preferred to stay at home- but that sentence “to relax”, really made He Jin’s heart hesitated this time.

Yes, he should go out as a distraction, even if it was only to recover the spirit he lost after playing the game.

“FIne…” he nodded, “then call me.”

Tong Xuan was pleasantly surprised: “Too good! Oh, yes, about the notes. According to the old rules, 30% of the revenue will belong to the owner…”

He Jin waved his hand, indicating that he did not care.

When he left, Tong Xuan moved to Guo You’s side, and winked: “Isn’t your boyfriend on the tennis club? Does he know Qin Yu?”

“Yes!” she answered. “I often watch them play together, Qin Yu really is super handsome!” Guo You, who was suddenly feeling excited, held onto Tong Xuan’s hand, “I have seen him a few times in the stadium, he really can make so many girls go crazy. Just by watching him and seeing his eyes, you will feel blinded, ah how to find a boyfriend like this!”

Tong Xuan: “hahaha …”

Guo You: “Once, when they played a game, Zhao Xibai also told me that my eyes can only be aimed at him, and I’m not allowed to look at Qin Yu…”

Tong Xuan: “May be he is afraid you’ll be unfaithful if you see him ~ haha!”

Guo You laughed: “Yes!”

Tong Xuan pulled at Guo You’s arm, whispered: “The lake tour this weekend, can your boyfriend invite Qin Yu?”

Guo You was surprised, immediately understood. She covered her mouth and giggled: “Xuan jiejie… Do you want to catch the school idol?

Tong Xuan: “Cough, you think too much, I just think it’ll be more pleasing if there are handsome men!”

Guo You: “But I feel the school idol is quite indifferent to other people. Every time he played, there were many girls trying to give him water and towels on the court, but he always refused. Not to mention, even with so many people chasing after him, he is still single. Though Zhao Xibai once told me that Qin Yu is close with their captain Shang, so maybe I’ll ask him to invite Qin Yu.”

Tong Xuan’s eyes brightened: “Good ah!”

***

On Saturday’s morning, HeJin looked out the window and saw the bright blue sky. He thought it must be a good day, so he only wore a flannel plaid shirt and plain sweater vest, and left his room quietly without bringing a coat.

The dormitory building was very quiet. There was no class at eight o’clock on Saturday morning, so most of the students were still sleeping.

He Jin walked downstairs. Soon after, he heard footsteps following behind him, mingled with the sound of conversation between several boys.

“The weekend is supposed to be the time to have a lazy sleep day… That girl is crazy…”

“Who proposed to assemble so early? Your girlfriend?”

“……”

It seemed he wasn’t the only one who went out so early today ah. Out of the dormitory building, He Jin headed leisurely toward the East Gate. Tong Xuan sent him a text message last night at 8:15, saying they would meet up at the east gate near canteen. He put his hands in his pockets, breathing the cold air of autumn mornings. There was still a conversation going on between the few people behind him.

“The weather is fine…”

“This is the best time to play, but to swim at the lake, I am actually not that interested.”

“I feel like I haven’t woken up…”

He Jin was surprised, they ‘re also going to swim at the lake? …… At this time too, is it possible that they actually belong in the same group as me?

He turned back and took a glance. There were actually three boys following behind him, and all of them had really tall statures. As he was trying to look more closely, one of the boys suddenly turned his gaze and met He Jin’s.

The person’s eye socket was deeper than those of average person, and looking at his eyes would arouse some kind of inexplicable feeling in someone. He Jin’s heart skipped a beat, and he hurriedly turned back.

After walking for a short while, He Jin vaguely thought, this person seems to be that guy who knocked down my lunchbox in the dormitory building a few days ago.

He Jin listened to them talking about the game, thus confirmed they were indeed from the tennis club.

They took a few turns, with He Jin walking in front. Those three people did not take another path either, still following behind him closely.

He Jin felt a little uncomfortable, and walked a little faster, until he finally took his first step into the east gate. However, the second half of the road was actually pretty short, so soon enough, the three boys also arrived there.

At the appointment place, they found out that Tong Xian and her friends weren’t there yet. One of the boy scolded: “And they are late! I’ll call them!” A moment later, He Jin could hear that person shouting to his phone: “Guo You! Where are you? Don’t tell me you’re not up yet!”

–Well, it’s true! We really do belong to the same lake tour group!

He Jin moved to the corner, feeling slightly embarrassed, and sent a “I’ve arrived” text message to Tong Xuan. Then, he went into the canteen at his side, selected two bag of pineapple snack and two bottles of water. When he turned around, his eyes collided with the deep-eye-socket boy from before, who had also just come in.

The man was tall, wearing a dark blue hooded coat, unzipped, and was walking straight towards his direction.

He Jin subconsciously took a small step back, the aisle between the shelves was narrow, with only enough space for one person to pass. That boy stopped a half meter away from He Jin’s position, and took a pack of crackers from the shelf, along with a bottle of cold drink from the freezer, then quickly returned to the counter. He Jin hurriedly lined up behind him.

The cashier swept over they boy’s things and was about to say the total, when he suddenly pointed at He Jin’s head, “I’ll pay for his too.”

He Jin:”……”, what?

The boy smiled at him: “The last time, I crashed into you, and you dropped your lunchbox. Sorry about that.”

Ah, so it’s for this.. He Jin said thank you.

When they went out, Tong Xuan had arrived.

“Oh, you’re all here!” Tong Xuan smiled and ran to He Jin’s direction, however, she did not greet He Jin first, and instead went to the other boys around him. With slightly red cheeks, she outstretched her hand: “Hello, I’m Tong Xuan, a junior from the Law Department.”

The lunchbox-boy shook hands with her and whispered: “Qin Yu.”

He Jin was startled, huh, why did this name sound so familiar…

“This is He Jin, also a junior from Law Dept.” Tong Xuan said to Qin Yu.

He Jin kept thinking about it, ‘Qin Yu’ isn’t he the legendary school idol’?  When he was still in the student union last year, He Jin would often hear some people gossiping about a super handsome freshman boy, and later on, he’d also occasionally caught the girls mentioned the boy’s name from time to time.

He looked at the other boy carefully, curious about just how handsome was this face which was said to be able to make so many girls screaming and flocking around him all the time… His nose is just a nose, his eyes are also just regular eyes, and although his facial features do make him looks sharp, it is still quite ordinary.

“Eh, He jin…” Tong Xuan touched He Jin’s arm, softly calling him, which pulled He Jin back from his trance. Qin Yu was stretching his arm out to him, waiting to shake his hand.

“Hello.” He Jin hurriedly stretched out his own hand.

There were two places in He Jin’s body which grew particularly incompatible with the development of the rest of his body: his hands and feet… they were particularly small.

He wasn’t short, height 175, but he only wore 38 sized shoes, which was basically the smallest size for men. Sometimes, he couldn’t even find the right size when shopping, and could only buy them on children’s clothing shop. It was the same with his hands, they were smaller compared to normal boy’s palms. Not really like a girl’s hands,  his hands were just… small.

Few people tend to notice this, but they could easily be seen when he shook hands with others.

At this moment, Qin Yu who was holding He Jin’s hand, somehow felt as if he was holding an underage boy’s hand. He Jin’s smooth skin also did nothing to reduce this feeling.

Although on the surface Qin Yu’s face did not show any particular change, in his heart he was actually a bit startled.

Soon everyone has arrived, and they were introduced to each other. There were another two boys there, the one wearing black frame glasses was Shang Bai Jian, a junior, and the other one with shaved flat head was Zhao Xibai, a sophomore. They, along with Qin Yu, were from the tennis club. Zhao Xibai was also Guo You’s boyfriend. There were also two more girls there, which He Jin recognized. One of them was the Vice President of Department of Foreign Affairs, while the last girl was one of her roommate.

Four men and four women, with a total of two cars. Tong Xuan asked everybody how to decide the seating arrangement. Shang pushed his glasses and said laughingly: “Let’s separate the men and women. Otherwise, if the girls are in the same car as Qin Yu, when we get off their legs will turn soft, how will they play then!”

The crowd laughed: “pffft…”

Li Yao Yao’s face turned red, she shouted: “So exaggerating!”

Shang: “Well fine, then those who want to ride in the same car as Qin Yu, please come out.”

Hearing this, all the girls restrained themselves, their faces red. Only Guo You had a big enough courage to take a small step forward, but she was quickly scolded back by Zhao Xibai, which made the others smiled at them.

After a while, they finally agreed to do as Shang’s proposal: to split the cars among men and women.

He Jin who was originally alone, now had three more people to walk together with.