Chapter 7.1: Attracting the Bees & b.u.t.terflies
Nowadays, whenever Li An Ning met an acquaintance, she will be detained and asked, “Meow Meow ah, your boyfriend is really that guy?” Or “An Ning, you are too amazing!” Or “Li An Ning, do you treat me like a sister ? Why conceal such big news from me?” In short, the crime can be forgiven but punishment was inevitable.
An Ning liked a quiet life, but nowadays she has always been disturbed until there was no peace. The culprit Fu Qiang Wei dared to appear proudly and smilingly everywhere saying, “I am the whistle blower”, completely lack of guilt or remorse. Whenever she met someone who did not know ‘Xu Mo Ting’, she’ll mention him enthusiastically to arouse their curiosity. Overall, everyone in the Department of Physics, already knew about this matter, so much so that someone even asked Meow Meow when she’ll be getting married? This really scared her, people were so dogmatic nowadays?
Qiang Wei has just arrived back. Zhao Yang who was delighted at the reversal of fortune, patted her shoulder and said: “Brother, early demise makes a comeback faster.”
“Remember to burn real money to me.”
Zhao Yang smiled: “I’ll even burn myself but I’ll never burn money.”
Qiang Wei walked over to Meow Meow who was reading by the window and said: “Sacrifice yourself for the greater good!”
An Ning looked up from her book and asked softly: “Then?”
“I made a mistake!!”
Zhao Yang gave a look of disdain: “No wind also can turn the wheel.”
“This is considered no wind?”
An Ning sighed, even though she was annoyed at her friend’s big mouth, she was unlikely to go so far as to be really furious.
Qiang Wei tactfully changed the topic: “I’ll invite everyone to eat a big meal? I can spend the five thousand yuans prize money as I wish!”
Mao Mao: “I can’t eat anything now because I’ve ulcer. My mouth is rotting until I can’t even speak loudly.”
Zhao Yang: “Spray some watermelon frost.”
Mao Mao: “The rotting happened to be in the most inside of the mouth so even if I want to spray, I also can’t reach!”
Finally, after changing over and over again, they decided to go to sing K to celebrate Qiang Wei’s third placing.
Mao Mao still have an opinion on this: “Isn’t singing the same, as you need to use the mouth?!”
The outcome on that day for Mao Xia Xu was like this: She has a roast chicken on her left hand and a microphone on her right hand. When the music started to play, she ate a mouthful of roast chicken and sang “The Face That Launched a Thousand Ships ……”
Zhao Yang: “Why do I feel like I am being electrocuted ah?”
An Ning was at the side drinking all along, since she can’t sing well. Qiang Wei also invited a few other cla.s.smates who has a good relationship with her. Thus, more than ten people were making noise inside the karaoke room. The male project team member came to talk to An Ning and his first sentence was: “He is your boyfriend?!”
“14.”
“What?”
An Ning smiled: “You are the 14th person who asked me this question.”
The male team member was obviously upset, “Have I offended the one in front as well as behind the scenes?”
At this moment, someone pushed open the door to come in. The one who arrived was the mastermind Xu Mo Ting ……
There was silence for five seconds, only the sound of “The Face That Launched a Thousand Ships ……” until Zhao Yang shouted: “Who wants to sing the next song?” In a flash, the celebratory atmosphere returned.
Xu Mo Ting sat down beside her. An Ning was sipping her drink slowly and thinking of what to ask: “Do you want to drink this?”
Mo Ting seemed to smile and lifted his hand to touch her head. An Ning subconsciously lifted her hand to tidy her messy hair.
“Did you doze off?”
“Oh.” I washed my hair in the afternoon and felt asleep without drying my hair. Suddenly she felt a little embarra.s.sed: “Very messy ah?”
“Okay.” He replied, his eyes looked sentimental.
Suddenly she felt a few people were looking at them. An Ning immediately thought their actions may lead others to have wild and fanciful thoughts. Thus, she quickly sat up properly.
Mao Mao who held Xu Mo Ting in high esteem, brought over a gla.s.s of red wine, “Please help yourself.”
Mo Ting thanked her. This time, he did not take her juice as subst.i.tute. He held the gla.s.s and took a sip, then asked Li An Ning: “Do you mind that I came?”
He behaved appropriately and his tone was so gentle until can make people blushed. An Ning raised her head to look at Mao Mao, who was running all over the place, and pretended that she didn’t hear anything.
“…… May I ask, how did you know I’m here?”
He thought for a while and said: “You have a roommate with the surname Chen?”
An Ning moaned in her heart, can this be considered continuous defection on her side ah?
Later, someone couldn’t resist the temptation and came to invite Xu Mo Ting to sing. He said: “Okay, but ——” He pressed his throat. Hence, Li An Ning has no choice but to say to that friend: “I’m sorry, next time la because he has just recovered from a cold.” Let her die la ……
On that day, Xu Mo Ting did not stay for long. After receiving two phone calls, he got up and left.
The moment the male lead left, the rest of the people went mad, “Meow Meow, we girls require free lessons!”
One of the girls said emotionally: “Li An Ning, you really amaze the world with a single brilliant feat! This kind of n.o.ble and virtuous role …… Gee, I don’t even dare to think about it.”
As a result, the K song night became “discussion on how to catch elite cla.s.s guys night,” The talker was naturally An Ning, but the problem was …… she did not chase him ah!
Li An Ning’s line of thought has always been very flat and smooth, so there was little external matter which can make her feel ill-at- ease. However this was considered the first time where she was lost in thought intermittently for three consecutive days. Ultimately she nearly said the wrong thing when she was talking to her father on the phone.
Recalling her father’s suggestion of wanting her to go to G city to work, she cannot help but felt somewhat perplexed …… what will happen to mother if she was to go to G City? It was an impossible thing for her to agree, but father was not someone who’ll say something for no reason.
For her, mother was the most important, followed by ……. it seemed n.o.body was second.
“An Ning, I could not open my portable hard disk again!” Chen Zhao Yang’s voice suddenly interrupted An Ning’s train of thought.
“Well …… Run, enter cmd (command prompt), then type chkdsk disk drive number, colon, f.”
Zhao Yang can’t help admiring: “My G.o.ddess ah!”
“Google is the G.o.ddess.” An Ning sighed and laughed, “Can or not?”
Zhao Yang: “…… It said ‘illegal operation’!”
An Ning walked over to take a look: “…… Leave a s.p.a.ce after colon, don’t follow immediately with f.”
Zhao Yang looked at her and suddenly said: “Really not willing to marry you off ah.”
An Ning chuckled: “Then keep me la.”
Qiang Wei walked in with some takeaway: “Xiang He Cafe is even collecting tips. Generally speaking, the service is okay and the payment collection also pretty organise.”
Zhao Yang smelt the appetizing aroma: “I feel really bad for making you spend so much money every day!”
Qiang Wei: “I didn’t pay. I just ran into Meow Meow’s man, hehe, hehe. I went up to greet him, then benefited greatly.”
“……”
Zhao Yang: “How did you greet him?”
Qiang Wei: “Brother-in-law.”
“……” An Ning touched her forehead and walked away.
On that night, she received a text message from Xu Mo Ting: “I’ll probably not be in uni next week, so call me if there is something.”
She did not reply a similar previous text message. This time, An Ning finally replied before switching off the phone and going to bed.
When An Ning was getting off work the next day, the great joy of taking the subway was to see everybody’s electronic equipment. Generally speaking, PSP (a multi-function handheld equipment) was the most popular for all ages and gender. She also regularly came across counterfeits, …… the front resembled N73 but the back looked like stereo speakers, very interesting. An Ning has always admired the boldness and innovative concept of her fellow countrymen in certain aspect.
When she got into the train after working overtime, there were very few people, so she randomly found a seat. She took out her BB (Blackberry) to browse at the news. From the corner of her eyes, she saw a grandpa who was sitting next to her, looking at her BB. He also took out something from his pocket. An Ning believed the subway has a lot of interesting people so she started to speculate – will grandpa also take out a BB, or a PSP, or a MP4 ……
That being the case, the fact always exceeds one’s imagination. An Ning was stupefied when she saw the grandpa took out an —electronic dictionary and started to play Tetris ……
After grandpa lost a game, he turned to An Ning and asked: “Little girl, can you borrow me your mobile phone to make a call?”
“Can.” An Ning closed the webpage and handed him the phone. He smiled and said: “I want to ask my son to pick me up outside the station, so can you please help me to call him?”
After An Ning made the call, grandpa spoke a few words then thanked her and asked: “Little girl, do you want to play Tetris?”
“No, thank you.” An Ning declined.
Then An Ning went to the toilet and when she came out, a car drove up to her side and someone called out: “Little girl, do you want us to give you a lift?”
When An Ning saw clearly the someone in the car was the grandpa, and the one driving was …… Xu Mo Ting’s colleague? They met in the cinema before ……
“Uh, no need, thanks grandpa.”
However, the car has already stopped. A man wearing a suit got out and said: “You are going to X University, right? Come in, it is on my way.”
An Ning has already walked over to the side and kept saying: “Thank you, uh …… I have to go and buy something, bye bye.”
She was not lying because Qiang Wei called her just now to bring back two scarves. Wonder what she wanted that for?
When she turned into a main street and walked past the central public square, she saw a big building with the bright letters “Department of Supervision of XX Province” ……
When An Ning was walking in, she felt that she was reckless and inexplicable because she discovered the people who walked in and out of there were all immaculately dressed staff members. Whereas she was dressed in a T-shirt which looked particularly eye-catching. If she was sensible, she should immediately turn around, but found herself already at the inquiry service desk. The receptionist’s reply was Xu Mo Ting was busy, so if she wanted to see him, she has to wait a moment.
“Wait ah ……” this can be considered fortunate. She thanked the receptionist and was ready to leave.
At this moment, a person who came out of the elevator called her: “An Ning?!” That person was Su Jia Hui who was walking over in quick steps, “It’s you, come to look for Mo Ting?” While saying that, she smiled and looked behind.
An Ning subconsciously turned her body to look at the person who was only a few meters away from her. The instant their eyes met, An Ning felt inexplicably tightness in her heart, probably because she felt a bit stressed.
On Xu Mo Ting’s side, this was really unexpected. He has never thought he’ll see her in this kind of situation. After standing for two seconds, he habitually put both his hands into his pockets and slowly walked over.
“It looks like I’ve to defer my meal to next time.” Jia Hui laughed.
“If you are free, we can eat together.”
Jia Hui has already held up her hand and took a step back, “Thank you for the invitation, but I am sure you are being diplomatic.”
Xu Mo Ting did not insist. He waited until after Su Jia Hui has left, then he only took a serious look at An Ning. By this time, his hand was already holding her left hand: “You purposely come to look for me?”
She didn’t manage to utter “no”, she only stammered: “I am in the vicinity to buy things.”
He glanced at her, and in the end said, “How about treating me dinner?”
When An Ning was following him out of the building, she lamented in her heart, no matter how you looked at it, also seemed like she delivered herself to him.
Xu Mo Ting held her hand when they were pa.s.sing through the crowd, never letting go. When they were crossing the street, he fastened his hand on her waist. When An Ning was about to protest, he gave a faint smile and said: “If you move again, I’ll kiss you now.”
This was the first time she heard this refined man spoke something similar to a threat, so An Ning was stupefied. She turned to look at him. She always felt Xu Mo Ting has an unfathomable and aggressive air in his body …… When she regained her composure, she was already sitting in the restaurant. She inwardly shook her head and tried to cast her chaotic thoughts aside. She swept her eyes over the interior of the restaurant. The environment was quiet, very ideal for dating couples, so she could not help but blurted out: “Do you come here often to eat with your colleagues?”
Mo Ting did not reply, so An Ning seemed to realize something was wrong, quickly waved her hand and said: “Well …… it doesn’t matter if you don’t want to answer.”
“Whatever you want to know, I also can tell you.” He looked at her and said: “It is my first time here.”
When An Ning heard his remark, she did not why she thought of her text message reply on the day before yesterday …… the air that blew on her cheeks seemed to feel warm.
Mo Ting did not seem to sense her “hot condition”, raising his hand to call the waiter to order their meals.
When they were finishing their dinner, Xu Mo Ting received a phone call. The other party spoke for at least five minutes. The moment Mo Ting hung up the phone, An Ning immediately said: “If you are busy, then you go back first.”
He merely looked at her and An Ning failed to understand his reaction. Then, Xu Mo Ting stood up and leaned over, his breath slowly invading her and his lips covered hers. At this time, An Ning only realized what was happening. Her first reaction was to move her head backward, but Mo Ting was one step ahead as he was already holding the back of her head. He nibbled a bit and An Ning felt a bit painful. She cried ‘ah’, then closed her eyes. Her heart was beating like a drum. When he put his tongue into her mouth, An Ning’s whole body froze. When she opened her eyes, she was held captive by a pair of dark and black eyes ……
An Ning has never been in this kind of uncomfortable situation before. If she was not in public, she might immediately put her head into some cold water to cool down. Her heart was still beating violently and she was still short of breath.
Whereas Mo Ting had already recovered his composure and asked the waiter to bring the bill. He seemed to consider what happened just now as something proper and to be expected as a matter of course.
“I’ll send you back?” After finished saying that, Xu Mo Ting paused for a while, then said: “Regarding the text message, action speaks louder than words.”
An Ning expressed her surprise and all sorts of feelings welled up in her heart. In the end, she used her hand to cover her forehead—— why did she reply his text message on the other day with “kiss good night” ah?
When the waiter came, he inevitably glanced at the girl who has drooped her head until reaching the tabletop. Mo Ting took out the money and put it on the tray.
“Sir, do you need a receipt?”
“No need, and also no need to give change.”
The waiter nodded: “Thank you.”
Xu Mo Ting got up and inserted one of his hands into the pants pocket. He walked over to An Ning’s side and can’t help smiling faintly and gently: “Let’s go.”
An Ning followed him from behind. The waiter opened the door: “Please come again!”
Xu Mo Ting nodded his head slightly. When they were walking out of the restaurant, this seemingly calm and composed man was biting his lips. He took out a tissue which was filled with the sweat from his hands, from his pocket and threw it into the rubbish bin beside him.
At seven o’clock, when Xu Mo Ting sent her to the university’s front gate, he said, “Don’t sleep too late”. Then he told the taxi driver to turn around and left.
An Ning returned to the dormitory in a daze. When Zhao Yang saw her, she immediately asked: “Why is your face so red ah?”
“Oh …… the weather is hot.”
“I am also hot.” Mao Mao moaned in a kinky way: “I like SM！
An Ning washed her face in cold water. Then, Qiang Wei came in, smelling like burned charcoal.
Mao Mao and Zhao Yang saw her funny appearance, laughed and walked over to her side.
Qiang Wei looked embarra.s.sed: “What are you laughing at? It is all that guy’s fault. He kept saying, watching the fireworks from a high position is even more nice. Hence, he dragged me to the rooftop. He is right, the view was very clear like it was happening right in front of me. Then the sparks scattered all over my body …… ” It seemed that the overnight famous talent contest runner-up has been indulging in some quite colorful activities for the past two days. “By the way, Meow Meow, did you help me to buy the scarves ah?”
“Oh …… forgot.”
That night, Li An Ning was sent out to buy supper because she did not buy the scarves as requested. When she was walking back, she did not realize someone was following her because her mind was preoccupied. As a result, she was detained at the trail behind the cafeteria.
The two girls looked menacing: “Are you Fu Qiang Wei’s friend?”
An Ning: “Yes.”
A tall girl sneered and was about to lift her hand but she was intercepted. When she turned around, she was slapped on the face.
Chen Zhao Yang walked to An Ning’s side, swung her arm and said: “Your face is so flabby, really uncomfortable to beat.”
The girl who was beaten was not really fat, but girls are always conscious of their weight. Thus, after being teased, she opened fire.
An Ning took a step back, “Show mercy.”
Both of them seemed to speak simultaneously: “Do you think it is possible?!”
An Ning said innocently: “I am talking to Zhao Yang.”
“……”
Later, they found out that two girls were second year students from a specialized training school. Not sure what Qiang Wei did to irritate them, so they came over to start a fight. However they couldn’t get her so they vented their anger on An Ning. Unfortunately they ran into Chen Zhao Yang who has learnt about seven to eight years of wushu, which was more than enough to deal with two delinquent girls.
Originally Zhao Yang just wanted to frighten them to settle the issue but one of them tried to attack An Ning. At that time, An Ning was worried that Zhao Yang will not be able to defend on time, so she suffered a small cut time to her left face. Zhao Yang immediately did not give face and dislocated their arms.