Chapter 28.2 - The First Date (2)
Luo Zhi turned her face and boldly looked at his flushed face and bright eyes. She didn’t know why, but she felt very happy. She lowered her head, walking seriously as if with each step, a flower bloomed beneath her feet.
Once they left the school gate, Sheng Huainan once again raised his hand to hail a taxi. Luo Zhi sighed. They had many small differences, but behind these tiny differences lay a fate that had lasted for decades.
She tried to push all those heavy, dreary thoughts away.
When they got out of the car, the first thing she saw was a towering, imposing city gate. Its grandeur was undeniable, but surrounded by the gray streets and the constant flow of taxis and buses, its imposing height looked somewhat absurd. Luo Zhi glanced at it a bit longer, and Sheng Huainan laughed beside her, "Do you want to take a photo?"
Luo Zhi shot him a glance, "By the way, can I skip this?"
Sheng Huainan thought for a moment, "When we get close, you can just sit on a bench and wait for me. I’ll go talk to someone and be right out."
Luo Zhi sat on the bench and watched him leave. Seeing his handsome figure, she smiled secretly. The early winter wind wasn’t very cold, and the lake behind her appeared plain and uneventful. The bare willow branches lazily swayed in the wind. She laid her upper body on her thighs, arms crossed, her chin resting on her knees. She closed her eyes, unsure of what to think. Recently, her time had felt like a dream, chaotic, with no worries or hesitation. She was walking toward him so naturally, with no obstacles.
But deep down, she felt a vague unease. Like a fleeting illusion, it seemed as though it could shatter with a single touch.
When she opened her eyes, she happened to see his shoes. He was clearly there to remind her that this wasn’t a dream.
"That was fast?"
"I said I came with some... classmates. They said there’s no need for me to go back to find you, and honestly, staying there wasn’t helping anyone. Who goes to a bar for support during the day?"
He had a bottle of Pepsi in each hand. "Pepsi or Coca-Cola?"
"Pepsi, I guess."
He handed her the Pepsi, "Do you girls all prefer Pepsi?"
She looked at him, puzzled. Sheng Huainan turned his head away awkwardly, as if he had said something he shouldn’t have. Luo Zhi remembered when Luo Yang invited her to KFC during their first winter break in college, ordering a strawberry sundae for her, but she didn’t like it.
"Don’t girls usually like strawberry sundaes?"
"Have you become a ‘friend of women’ now that you’re in college? Do you keep track of all these little preferences?"
Luo Yang blushed and said, "No, it’s just that Chen Jing likes them..."
Luo Zhi smiled knowingly. "A girlfriend equals all girls, huh?"
She immediately understood Sheng Huainan’s embarrassment. During their senior year, his relationship with his girlfriend had been under strict supervision, and they hardly saw each other. Back then, the class used to joke that Pepsi would replace red beans as the symbol of longing—Sheng Huainan would send a bottle of Pepsi to Ye Zhanyan every day, and Ye Zhanyan had a net bag hanging on her desk, filled with deep blue bottle caps. The classmates joked that Ye Zhanyan had become a primitive person: primitive people used knots to record things, and she used bottle caps as a calendar.
Luo Zhi didn’t point it out. As she was about to twist the cap off the bottle, Sheng Huainan snatched it from her, opened it, and handed it back to her.
The small gesture of thoughtfulness warmed her heart, and she smiled at him. "Actually, maybe it’s because Pepsi is sweeter than Coca-Cola."
Although, in her days of having a crush, she used to feel bittersweet over those bottle caps, she never held a grudge over any genuine feelings. After all, that was all in the past.
She didn’t mind, as long as he didn’t mind.
They had only walked by the lake for a short while when a tricycle driver started following them. First, he kept nagging about charging 100 yuan for a ride around, but Luo Zhi said it was too expensive and ignored him. He kept singing, staying behind them, riding slowly while singing one song after another.
Luo Zhi felt her face burning. She turned to look, and Sheng Huainan was leisurely staring at her, wearing a smug expression.
"20." She turned around and said seriously to the driver.
"That won’t do, that’s a joke. You should add more, 50 at the least."
The driver grinned, "We only have 20, no more money. Hurry up and leave, don’t waste time on us."
Luo Zhi wasn’t good at bargaining and only hoped he would leave soon.
"Wow, little girl, isn’t that embarrassing for your boyfriend? You came all the way to Houhai with only 20 bucks?"
"He’s not embarrassed!" Luo Zhi blushed deeply as she tugged Sheng Huainan’s sleeve, trying to move forward. Unexpectedly, he pulled her into his arms.
She froze, surprised. Sheng Huainan naturally wrapped his arm tightly around her shoulder and laughed loudly, "Get in, miss, I’m still very embarrassed."
Luo Zhi felt her shoulder burning, unsure of what to say, walking ahead in a daze, as if her tongue had been stolen by a cat.
