Don't be So Proud-Chapter 3.1 — Like a Pear Blossom Bathed in Springtime Rain

He Zhi Zhou smoked so Shen Xi wanted to eat an ice cream. He smoked and she ate an ice cream, it seemed very fair.

Their bicycle passed by a dessert stand. Shen Xi got off the bike and bought back a double color crispy skin ice cream. Then she started to lick her ice cream contentedly. He Zhi Zhou could not bear to look directly at her, frowned and asked: “Can you not lick it like this?”

Shen Xi changed to biting it.

He Zhi Zhou still looked like he cannot stand it: “No.”

Shen Xi tried to …… nibble.

He Zhi Zhou turned his face to the other side. 𝐟𝓇ℯ𝐞𝚠𝚎𝒃𝑛𝒐ѵe𝚕.co𝚖

“…… How about you teach me how to eat?” Shen Xi started to feel a little annoyed at him for making such a big fuss over eating an ice cream. She also did not say his smoking polluted her lungs.

He Zhi Zhou said in a straightforward manner: “I’ve never eaten ice cream before.”

Really …… So good at being a pompous poser.

Along the way, there were some people passed them by. Each one also stopped and stole a few glances before walking away. Shen Xi can roughly guess what these uninformed passers-by were thinking …… She turned her body with her back facing these curious human beings and continued eating her ice cream.

Shen Xi ate very quickly until the stomach felt icy cold. She sat on the back seat of the bicycle once again. Before He Zhi Zhou set off on his bike, he turned his head to look at her. His temper was really bad, snorting coldly, he said in a frosty voice: “Wipe your mouth clean first.”

Shen Xi took out a piece of fragrant tissue from her pocket, wiped her mouth carefully and in between, her fingers inadvertently turned up gracefully to form an orchid shape (“orchid fingers” are a hand movement often used in traditional Chinese dance in which the thumb usually is pressed against the middle and/or ring fingers while the remaining fingers lift up gracefully; a very effeminate movement). He Zhi Zhou saw and kicked the bicycle hard which almost threw Shen Xi off the bicycle.

Shen Xi simply did not know why He Zhi Zhou was in a bad mood, stuck with him the whole way until they reached the campus roads. Because they cannot let other people suspect something fishy was going on, both of them soon parted ways. She was afraid that He Zhi Zhou will forget about CET-4/6 mock exam, so she reminded him several times before leaving.

He Zhi Zhou sighed impatiently and went away.

The CET-4/6 mock exam was specially organized by the normal college in preparation for the CET exam in this June. Mock exam is not a real exam, but the result will be included in the calculation of the normal results. This was the reason why Shen Xi requested He Zhi Zhou to take the mock exam.

He Zhi Zhou logged in to Shen Xi’s student account to check up on her grades in each of the basic course. When he was looking at her grades, his lips turned upwards.

Heehee, such cute results.

In Shen Xi’s dormitory, the one with the best results should be Chen Han. But probably only a little better because if not, Chen Han will be taking CET-6 this time, not CET-4.

When He Zhi Zhou returned to female dormitory 636, Dou Dou was busy copying and scribbling incessantly at a tremendous speed. A palm-sized white paper was filled with a list of level four exam words packed closely together.

Chen Han was reciting what she had studied. Only Xia Wei Ye was putting on makeup. Xia Wei Ye finished drawing her eyebrows and said to Chen Han: “Han, I’ll depend on you since we are sitting front and back.”

Dou Dou was grinning and kissing up to her: “Queen Chen Han, will you please pass me a copy of the answers for the multiple-choice questions?”

Chen Han was a little unwilling: “There’s not enough time.”

Dou Dou had no choice but to give up. She continued to prepare her cheat sheet. It would be better to rely on yourself rather than ask for help.

Xia Wei Ye wanted to change clothes. She pulled the curtains together and immediately took off her top …… her action was too fast, so He Zhi Zhou was caught unprepared. He quickly got up from his seat and walked into the bathroom. Until Xia Wei Ye finished changing her clothes, only then he came out.

Xia Wei Ye changed into a light beige dress and was wearing a floral headband. She said to Chen Han: “I want to invite He Zhi Zhou to have a meal together tonight.”

Chen Han encouraged her: “Oh! that’s good. I really think He Zhi Zhou will like your type.”

Xia Wei Ye looked very happy and excited: “How do you know?”

“Isn’t it true that most men like your type?” Chen Han asked in reply. The tone of her voice sounded like flattery as well as mockery.

This Xia Wei Ye was being used as a dispensable tool to attack people. He Zhi Zhou pressed his forehead, his mood a little irritable: In these people’s eyes, was he someone who likes a flower vase? (figurative just a pretty face). He opened the drawer and found a pen inside. Then he looked at the time and went directly to the examination hall. After walking a few steps, Dou Dou caught up with him. She held his hand and wanted to go to the examination hall together with him.

He Zhi Zhou removed Dou Dou’s hand without being obvious.

Dou Dou tended to be oblivious, so she held his hand again.

He Zhi Zhou can only quicken his pace a little.

The CET-4/6 mock exam officially began at two o’clock. Shen Xi’s seat was in the front row. When He Zhi Zhou was sitting down, a guy who was sitting next to him came over and was particularly attentive: “Shen Xi, I’ll pass the answers to you afterwards. My English is very good.”

Oh, He Zhi Zhou turned his face and faintly declined that guy’s good intention: “Thank you, but no need.”

The guy who wanted to take the opportunity to be particularly attentive was rebuffed. He gave an embarrassed smile.

The teacher started to distribute the exam papers. From listening ability part to the written examination, He Zhi Zhou did all of them without any problems, especially doing the multiple-choice questions. Because he was too fast, the invigilator thought ‘she’ mucked up and specially came over to issue a warning; “This female student, although this is a mock exam, you also must take it seriously.”

“……”

He Zhi Zhou completed the whole exam paper very quickly. He thought for a while, then conscientiously used the pen to cross out several correct answers. After that, he deliberately changed a few of the correctly selected multiple-choice questions he did at the beginning.

He Zhi Zhou came out an hour early. When he was walking out, in passing, he threw a crumpled piece of paper in front of Dou Dou. She was shocked at first before carefully unfolding it. To her surprise, it was filled with answers to the multiple-choice questions.

Dou Dou was hesitant. After careful consideration, she decided not to use them!

Humph! A Xi did not do as well as herself in the last English exam.~ ~

After coming out from the examination hall, He Zhi Zhou went to the library to write a thesis about digital wireless communication. This was one of the research projects which he had started to do when he was in United States. The thesis will be published in China’s Science and Technology News. However, the data and information which he had sorted out previously were still in the original computer.

He called Shen Xi about this matter.

When Shen Xi received He Zhi Zhou’s phone call, she was shopping online at Taobao in the male dormitory. She looked at women’s clothes for a long time. Then she looked at her more than 1.8 meter height and started to look at men’s clothes. After that, she ordered several items, buying several fashionable brand men’s clothes of yuppie style, Europe, America and British style.

Shen Xi asked He Zhi Zhou: “Do you need me to send the computer over to you?”

He Zhi Zhou declined and told Shen Xi what to do: “No need. Open the F drive now, then find a folder with the name FCT inside ……”

Shen Xi followed He Zhi Zhou’s instructions to compress all the information into one file and send it to him online. After accepting it, He Zhi Zhou replied with a ‘good’.

After a while, he asked her: “What are you doing?”

Shen Xi sent the pictures of three set of men’s clothes that she ordered from Taobao to let him see. Then she asked in a flaunting tone: “Look good?”

He Zhi Zhou quickly sent a message —— “Don’t simply wear.”

Shen Xi no longer paid any attention to He Zhi Zhou. After a while, a text message sent by Xia Wei Ye came in. Shen Xi pretended she did not see it.

It was meal time so Shen Xi walked from the male dormitory to the cafeteria to eat. The weather was getting hotter by the day. In the male dormitory, a lot of men were naked upper body with arms around each other’s shoulders in the hallway.

Truly good and close same-sex friends of a lifetime. Shen Xi was humming a song while going down the stairs. She passed by a basketball court which was in the middle of the dormitory building and the cafeteria. While she was cheerily passing through, a guy who she did not know, waved at her. Then he quickly threw a ball to her: “God He, let’s play one round.”

Shen Xi held the ball, motionless.

The guy wearing a red No. 9 jersey waved at her: “You attack.”

Shen Xi looked at the position of the backboard and thought she can shoot with a three-step lay-up. Since it has been such a long time, let them play one round. She dribbled the ball twice, let the game begin!

Three-step lay-up, one, two, three …… Shen Xi counted her footsteps and stopped under the backboard. Then she gently tossed the ball. Her action was so gentle, like dancing.

The ball rolled around the rim and then fell through the basket.

Oh yeah! A goal has been scored! Shen Xi jumped up excitedly. Then she turned and celebrated the victory by clapping hand with the dumbstruck No. 9 ball game enthusiast: “Give me five!”

“Give me five ……” No. 9 ball game enthusiast was still in extreme shock and weakly held out both of his hands to celebrate ‘God He’ has just tossed a ‘flower-like ribbon ball’. (in traditional Chinese weddings, the bride and groom each hold one end of a bright red, flower-shaped ball. You may have seen in ancient dramas, a girl tossing one of these red, flower-shaped ribbon balls out to potential suitors to choose her future husband)

Shen Xi left the basketball court and headed for the cafeteria. But No. 9 ball game enthusiast’s brain was still stuck on the scene just a moment ago and cannot recover: His male God He Zhi Zhou’s three-step lay-up was like this. He counted to three first, then ‘gently’ tossed the ball. Not only had he travelled on his third step, he had even kicked up one foot backwards in an ‘effeminately proud manner.’…… the movement was actually very graceful.

No, how could that be?! He must have seen wrongly.

After the meal, Shen Xi carried a large watermelon back to dormitory 921. When she arrived at the dormitory building downstairs, she saw the slender and elegant Xia Wei Ye.

Xia Wei Ye smilingly came over: “Hi, Zhi Zhou.”

Shen Xi: “Hi ……”

Xia Wei Ye stood still, tilted her head slightly and smiled with her eyes.

Shen Xi asked politely: “Excuse me please.”

Xia Wei Ye’s cheeks were slightly red: “I purposely come to look for you. Can we chat?”

Shen Xi showed signs of reluctance and gave reason: “But I want to go back to the dorm to eat watermelon.”

Xia Wei Ye: “……”

“Goodbye.” Shen Xi took advantage of Xia Wei Ye’s momentary speechlessness, reacted fast and ran back to the dormitory with the watermelon in one breath.

A man who was like the wind.

Xia Wei Ye looked at the back of the disappearing male God. Suddenly she felt He Zhi Zhou was so cute. Sure enough, the man she liked was distinctive. He possessed the maturity and calmness of a man. As it turned out, he also has a boyish side ……

She recalled a line she came across in a book: There is a child’s spirit in every male’s body, a side of him that will never grow up.

“A man who’ll never grow up” carried the watermelon all the way back to the dormitory. She immediately called Monkey and Brawny to come over to eat. Seeing that Lin Yu Tang was not in the dormitory, she asked Monkey: “Where is Third?”

Monkey shrugged his shoulders: “Probably went to look for Beautiful Maiden Shen.”

Brawny moved closer and expressed his opinion: “I feel there is something wrong between Third and Xi Xi recently.”

Shen Xi smilingly asked: “Don’t talk nonsense. How do you know?”

“It is so obvious. Previously Xi Xi came to S University several times a day. However, in the past two days, we didn’t even see her shadow. Furthermore Third was in a very bad mood in the past two days.”

“Damn it!” Suddenly Monkey swore, “Beautiful Maiden Shen is unlikely to have known about that incident, right?”

“What incident?”

“Which incident?”

Shen Xi and Brawny asked out loud simultaneously.