Even though he had known that Qi Feng did not remember him, Ling Ke still could not help feeling a bit glum when Qi Feng showed no reaction to his name.

After all, his thoughts had been filled with Qi Feng for days and night, yet this guy did not even show a flicker of recognition…

Ling Ke exchanged a few polite words with Xie Qi Bao’s family before turning away to pack his own luggage.

On the other hand, Qi Feng was actively conversing with Xie Qi Bao’s family. His topic of conversation ranged from “Where are you from?” to “What’s your occupation”.

He aptly led the conversation, managing to appear sufficiently enthusiastic but not intrusive; casual but not impudent. His incredible conversational skills did not go unnoticed by Ling Ke who could not help feeling a mixture of admiration and shame. Admiration for Qi Feng’s skills; Shame for his own lack of it.

Ling Ke had listened to a lot of gossip regarding Qi Feng and naturally he knew about his background and the magnitude of his affluence which could not even be compared to a typical rich person. However, in this aspect, Qi Feng was purposefully vague, only mentioning that his father was a businessman and his mother was also working.

Well, it was kind of true if you put it that way.

Ling Ke felt that the eighteen-year-old Qi Feng was much more tactful and mature than he had antic.i.p.ated.

After a while, Xie Qi Bao no longer felt uncomfortable with Qi Feng and his att.i.tude towards him had gradually became more unreserved.

The main reason was probably because Qi Feng was good-looking yet humble. When Qi Feng took the initiative to find a chair for the elderly to sit, Xie Qi Bao’s favorable impression of him immediately increased by twofold. He even started calling him “Brother Qi”, although it sounded more like “Brother Seven”. (T/N: Seven is p.r.o.nounced as Qi in Chinese)

Xie Qi Bao was from a town in the north. Being able to get into F University was perceived as a great honor by his family and hence they were very excited and had even  driven him all the way to the university despite the long distance. They also took along his grandfather who had rarely gotten the chance to venture to the city.

The sun stood ablaze in the sky as it shone its ray mercilessly down onto the earth. The room was feeling quite stuffy.

Even though the room had an air-conditioner, no one could not find the controller and hence with so many people squeezed in such a small room, the room appeared to be even more humid.

Xie Qi Bao’s mother busied herself between helping her son arrange her bed and his stuff, and treating Qi Feng and Ling Ke to some popular snacks from their town.

“Aunty, you do not need to be so polite with us. There will be plenty of chances to treat us again next time. It is sweltering here, why don’t you all go out and get some fresh air? I am afraid that the grandpa here will get a heat stroke if he continues sitting here,” Qi Feng said.

Everyone turned to look at Grandpa Xie. He was indeed wiping the sweat which was dripping profusely from his forehead. However, Grandpa Xie did not want to ruin the mood and insisted that he was alright.

Xie Qi Bao’s mother knocked her temple lightly and said,  “Xiao Qi is so thoughtful!” (T/N: In Chinese they like to add a “Xiao” which means “small” to people’s name because it shows endearment; usually from an adult to a child)

Seeing that his son’s luggage is almost packed finished and it was already lunchtime, the family prepared to leave. Before leaving, Xie Qi Bao’s mother invited Qi Feng and Ling Ke to join them.

Qi Feng shot a glance at Ling Ke and seeing that he had no intention to join them, took it to himself to reject the invitation for both of them.

Before Xie Qi Bao left, he turned around and said, “Brother Qi, tonight I will be staying with my family at the hotel. I won’t be coming back here for a short while so can you help me look after my stuff?”

Qi Feng nodded. “Sure, since your family took the time to come here, you should spend more time with them.”

“Yeah! Can you give me your handphone number, just in case I need to contact you?”

After both of them had exchanged numbers, Xie Qi Bao then turned to Ling Ke who had barely uttered a single word during the whole discourse. “Umm, Ling…” He could not remember his name, so he paused awkwardly before calling him “Brother Ling” and saying, “Sorry for the interruption!”

Ling Ke: “…no problem.”

Finally, the room regained its peace and quietness.

Qi Feng heaved a sigh of relief as he tugged at the collar of his polo T-shirt which was already half drenched in sweat.

Even though it was now back to only the two of them in the room, the silence this time felt more refreshing rather than awkward

Ling Ke took the initiative to break the ice. “Where’s your luggage?”

He had almost finished packing his luggage, yet Qi Feng’s desk and cupboard were still empty. In fact, here was no sight of any of his belongings.

“Maybe he is not planning to stay in the hostel?” Ling Ke thought to himself.

Ling Ke was actually correct. Qi Feng had not planned to stay in the hostel. His family had an apartment that was located just thirty minutes away from the university and it was pretty convenient to traverse to school from there. He had paid the hostel fees, just in case he needed to stay at the hostel during some rare occasions.

Today, Zhen Yue Ze had insisted on coming with him to see how the hostel of the city’s most famous university looked like. When Qi Feng saw the room, he was stunned.

This environment, was worse than the living quarters for the cleaners in De Yin National School.

Zhen Yue Ze was right: Qi Feng felt that he would not be able to withstand staying in this run-down place for even a week, not to say a month.

If the weather was cooler, then maybe it wouldn’t be so bad, but right now it was around 30 plus degree Celsius and without the air-conditioner working, one could only imagine how tortuous it would be to stay here. Even if there were any emergencies, Qi Feng would rather spend more money and stay in a hotel near the school instead.

However, Qi Feng’s rejection towards the place instantly dissipated the moment Ling Ke appeared.

There was a psychologist who one said, “Love at first sight only needs three seconds.”

“Love at first sight”, Qi Feng had always thought that such a thing was ridiculous. However, the moment Ling Ke stepped into the room and the three seconds after which their eyes had met, Qi Feng felt that he could finally understand this seemingly ludicrous saying.

A wave of familiarity engulfed him…as if he had seen this person somewhere long ago.

And so, Qi Feng changed his mind.

However, to say that his interest in Ling Ke was the reason for him deciding to stay in the hostel was also not completely correct.

Instead, it was more around the line of “Since Ling Ke could tolerate such an environment, why couldn’t I?

Qi Feng looked at Ling Ke and replied, “I haven’t bring my luggage here yet. I just came here to report first; I will be returning home to get my luggage in the afternoon.”

Ling Ke nodded. “Oh okay.”

There were two days of reporting time so there was no need to rush.

“Where do you live?” Qi Feng asked.

“An Ning street, its about two hours of train ride,” Ling Ke replied.

Qi Feng raised his head to look at the blankets on Ling Ke’s bed. “That blanket, where do you buy it?”

“They are distributing them below at the hostel entrance. Show them your new student ID and you can get them for 80 yuan.”

Qi Feng was shocked. A blanket that is 80 yuan… are you sure you can sleep with it?

However, seeing that Ling Ke’s face remained expressionless, he was not so shameless enough to ask. He pointed downwards and said, “Err, I guess I will go down and check it out then.”

Qi Feng went downstairs to the lobby to get the blankets and asked about the air conditioner. He then realized that he needed to show his student ID to get the controller for the air conditioner. He sighed in relief, at least the air conditioner was working.

As he was carrying his blanket up, he saw Ling Ke about to leave the hostel.

“You…” Qi Feng was stunned, “Where are you going?”

“To eat.”

His att.i.tude showed that he was obviously thinking of eating alone.

Qi Feng was speechless. Only the two of them had reported to their shared room today and hence he was technically the first person Ling Ke got to know in this university. Just now, Qi Feng had even specifically told him that he was going down to get his blanket! Yet, to think that Ling Ke had not bothered waiting for him to eat together.

…Is this person a lone wolf?

It was probably because Qi Feng had never experienced such cold treatment before that he was greatly surprised by Ling Ke’s indifferent att.i.tude.

He had both the looks and the money and hence he never had any problems with making friends. In fact, most people were the ones clamoring to be his friends. With just a small encouraging smile and some attention on his part, there were no one who was able to resist him.

Ling Ke’s cold att.i.tude had only succeeded in making Qi Feng more determined to win him over. As long as a socially apt extrovert like Qi Feng meets someone he has an interest in, no matter how cold that person is, he will not be easily deterred.

In Qi Feng’s eyes, there was no single person that could be aloof forever and no single task that was unsolvable.

“Wait for me for awhile. Let’s go down together later.” Qi Feng threw out these words before hurriedly walking into the room to put down his stuff.

Ling Ke: “……”

Ling Ke had finally managed to find a chance to slip out. However, now that Qi Feng had taken the initiative to invite him for lunch, he could not just walk away. Thus, he stood there awkwardly as he waited for Qi Feng to come out.

On their way to the canteen, many students were gawking at them and chattering excitedly. After all, two handsome guys were walking together in the campus.

Especially Qi Feng’s elegant countenance which even the sweat on the side of his forehead could not undermine.

Ling Ke was uncomfortable from all the intense stares and loud whispers.

The canteen was crowded, with people streaming in and out.

When Qi Feng and Ling Ke entered the canteen, many girls were dazed. One of the girls who was walking with her plate of food, had her eyes fixated on Qi Feng. This led to her accidentally knocking into someone. A soft thud was heard as the food spilled onto the floor as she slipped and fell, followed closely by a series of laughter from the surrounding students.

Having fallen so disgracefully just because she was engrossed in looking at the handsome guys, the girl felt abashed. Tears of embarra.s.sment welled in her eyes, threatening to fall.

Upon witnessing this, Qi Feng told Ling Ke to wait for him while he went up to the girl and helped her up. He even took out a bag of tissue from his pocket and gave it to the girl as he asked gently, “Are you alright?”

The girls who were previously laughing in amus.e.m.e.nt were now glaring at the girl in envy, wishing fervently that they were the ones who had fallen instead.

Ling Ke stood there expressionlessly with both of his hands in his pockets as he watched Qi Feng.

Inside he was also, like the girls, smitten by Ling Ke’s gentle actions. Yet, he could not help feeling a tinge of bitterness at the same time. d.a.m.n, straight guys and their smooth moves!

Both of them then bought their meals and chose a corner to sit.

Qi Feng’s hand was slightly stained from helping the girl up just now. In his haste, he had given the girl his whole package of tissue and so now he turned to Ling Ke, “Do you have tissue paper?”

“No…”

Even a gay like him doesn’t bring tissue paper around with him; he could not fathom why a straight guy like Qi Feng would be carrying such a feminine thing.

Qi Feng had no choice but to go to the washroom to wash his hands before returning to eat.

Qi Feng told Ling Ke that he would be returning home to get his luggage after their meal and asked him if he had any plans.

Ling Ke did not really have anything left to do and hence he was planning to explore the school campus by himself and familiarize himself with the buildings. He also planned to go to the nearby supermarket and shops to buy some daily necessities such as shampoo and soap.

Qi Feng upon hearing his plans, immediately took out 500 yuan from his wallet and gave it to Ling Ke. “Help me buy one set of everything too, thanks!”

“…”

“You don’t need so much money to buy these stuff.”

“Nevermind just bring this money along. If you can’t finish it, then just return the remaining money to me. I feel bad enough letting you help me buy my stuff.”

“I don’t know what type you use.”

“Just buy for me everything the same as yours.”

“…

Really, this guy was exactly the same during their first meeting six years ago, acting all familiar even when they had only just met. This fact about him had never changed.

Just as Ling Ke was reminiscing about the past, Qi Feng suddenly took out his handphone. “Hey, lets exchange our WeChat ID.”

Extra:

Qi Feng: “I feel like I have seen you before somewhere.”

Ling Ke: “Hehe.”

Qi Feng: “I think I am thinking too much…