'The quickest way to forget one's ex is to find a new partner.'
These words made sense. Moreover, Lu Ze was not concerned about exes and whatnot. He didn't have any experience in romance or love, but one thing he understood clearly was that everything relied on whether he liked her or not. This was the most important part.
Lu Ze was also not worried about becoming a substitute for her ex either, because if he couldn't make his place in her heart as the true him, then all this talk about affection had no meaning, and Lu Ze would rather not have such affection.
Today, Lu Ze's dressing style finally went through a complete change. He wore a t-shirt, black cargo sports pants, and a pair of classic VANS skating shoes. This was the standard outfit of a college student.
Today, he was no interior designer. He finally picked up his identity that he'd forgotten for a long time—an ordinary college student- and used this identity to meet the girl that he liked. Moreover, once he shaved his beard, his entire being seemed to have become younger by ten years, looking tender and awfully cute.
Looking at the time, which was already 5:56 pm, Lu Ze glanced around the college. He was, in fact, somewhat worried if she would really show up or not. Fortunately, she appeared in his line of sight a few moments after six. Catching the sight of her, he finally let go of his worries and began to think what to have for dinner.
However, it seemed like she didn't discover him. She was clearly standing beside him, but she was looking everywhere but at him.
"Cough, cough…"
"Eh, sorry! I didn't do it on purpose! I didn't think that you'd shave off your beard! Sorry! So sorry!"
Looking at this girl vehemently bowing like a Snap Beetle, Lu Ze's gaze turned somewhat strange. He hadn't gone out of his way to know this girl. In the language of netizens, everything occurred naturally as the Way Of Budha. But.. he was indeed really fond of such a girl!
"It's alright, but your outfit…" Lu Ze glanced her up and down—a pink long skirt and high heels that revealed her toes...cute toes…cough, cough.
She ought to have heated her hair with an electric iron, forming perfect curls at the edges. On her shoulders was a red bag. Her style of dressing was a lot more mature than her usual sports-type clothes.
"Umm...You usually dress quite maturely, so I thought about matching you a bit."
Whiz!!
A gust of cold air blew past and both looked somewhat blank. Lu Ze was the first to recover as he smiled and said, "That's a great beginning. I'm Lu Ze, a second year in architecture."
She might have twisted the meaning of 'beginning', causing her face to turn red. She lowered her head and replied, "I'm Kong Lingzu, second year finance student."
"Then how about we eat something? What do you like?"
"Anything goes...I'm not picky with food."
"Then do you like spicy food? I know a new Szechuan Hot Pot near the college. It's pretty good. Do you want to try?"
"Yeah...sure, I can eat anything."
No matter how mature Lu Ze was much, no matter how busy he was, he was only a twenty-year-old boy. He'd read some Romance Treasury. There was a line in the book, 'During the first date, if there is some awkwardness between the two sides, you can pick a place that the girl is familiar with. The familiar surroundings will reduce the girl's awkwardness.
At the time of dinner, if both sides are shirking the responsibility to pick a restaurant to each other, the boy doesn't have to forcefully decline and just pick a spot by himself. Taking the girl to a place he is familiar with also allows the boy to start a conversation.'
Therefore, Lu Ze took her to that hotplace shop. He'd truly visited there before, but it was for the party to celebrate Old Second finding a girlfriend.
While crossing the road, Lu Ze reached out his left hand and directly grabbed her right hand. His heart was pounding, but he was determined. He knew that he was somewhat impulsive, but he had no intentions of letting go.
She was somewhat timid. She wished to jerk Lu Ze's hand off but was afraid of hurting Lu Ze's pride. So, she could only allow him to lead her. She quietly walked half a step behind Lu Ze with her head lowered.
She could feel Lu Ze's passion. His hands were warm, and his palm was sweating. She had never experienced such a feeling of touch. Lu Ze's hands were somewhat coarse and had calluses, but it indescribably calmed her.
She noticed Lu Ze's positioning changing, leaving the street's inner side for her. Lu Ze was taller and more robust than her previous boyfriend. His body was covering the light from the streetlights; his shadow was completely covering her body, as if trying to protect her. She'd never experienced such a sense of security..
Walking in this manner, time seemed to fly by. In the blink of an eye, she was led inside the shop by Lu Ze. Finding a calm spot, they began to order.
Lu Ze no longer felt the wonder when he saw orders made from ipads for the first time. Sitting before her, he pushed the tablet to her and leaned back in the chair, intently looking at her
She was not a top-class beauty. Her face still carried some baby fat, and her height was also merely about 1.6m. The perfect curls of her hair were somewhat ruined. He wondered how they were made.
"Can you handle spice?"
"What? Uh, Sure."
Lu Ze somewhat blankly stared at her. The current her seemed like a greedy cat as she scrolled through the menu back and forth with a death stare, seeming as if her saliva was on the verge of leaking out. Hearing her ask if he could handle spice, he finally came back to attention and replied. He inwardly noted that she ought to be one of those spice lovers.
She was quite sensible. She didn't order the dishes without looking at the prices just because she was the one being treated. Instead, she first asked what Lu Ze liked to eat here, and then she called the waitress and asked for the quantity per plate. Moreover, after ordering shrimp balls, beef, and pork brain, she handed over the menu to Lu Ze.
She was happy that Lu Ze asked her to order first, but in the end, it was his treat. It was necessary to let the buyer have his own choice. This was the girl's etiquette for the buyer. Lu Ze respected her, and she had to respect him.
But, when she saw Lu Ze go 'click click click', she somewhat nervously advised him to stop, "Too much, it's too much! We won't be able to eat it."
The deep red soup and the fat, hot peppers, and sichuan peppers floating on its surface made Lu Ze's stomach churn. Actually, he couldn't handle spice. When she had asked him, he'd been absent-minded and just responded without thinking properly. But, he was somewhat regretting it now. He sweated and gulped before even eating.
As the dishes were served, she called out Lu Ze to begin, leaving him no choice but to pick up his chopsticks. As he put a piece of beef in his mouth, he felt his throat erupt in flames, and his body began sweating as if he were in a sauna.
He wordlessly put down the chopsticks and took a sip of fruit juice while seeing her eat happily. Although she was also sweating a lot, she was eating with delight.
As they chatted, Lu Ze finally understood how she could eat so much spice. She was actually from the municipality near Sichuan Province .
'Do people from Sichuan have bellies of steel?'
With his stomach on fire, Lu Ze couldn't help but ask himself this question. He picked up a piece of meat and secretly flicked it away before putting the chopsticks in his mouth. But, in the end, everything was useless.
During the less than two hours of the meal, she gradually lost her nervousness, and the two talked a lot. Lu Ze also told her when he began to like her. She had long forgotten the rat who escaped after sneezing during the first year. But, that was fine. Lu Ze felt that meeting now was good too.
…
"Thank you for dinner. I'll surely invite you back someday."
"Don't mention it. It's just a meal. Can I call you tonight?"
"I...I'm going back." She didn't give a direct reply and escaped, hopping to her dormitory in her high-heels like an ostrich.
Lu Ze was feeling quite good, except for his burning stomach. Smoking a cigarette, he went to his dormitory.
Upon returning to her room, she was teased by her roommates until her face turned red, causing her to wash her face, rinse her mouth, and then directly slide inside her quilt. On the other hand, Lu Ze was disdained by his roommates as they repeatedly asked if he'd sealed the deal.
Two hours later, the dormitory's lights went off. She lay inside her quilt with only her tiny head out. The other girls were talking with their boyfriends, and only she was staring at her cellphone, waiting for a certain call. Afterward, he called but only talked for about a dozen minutes before hanging up.
She was somewhat disappointed. Other girls could talk for hours with their boyfriends, but he only talked for fifteen minutes, making her a bit annoyed.
Of course, she didn't know that a certain someone was inside the toilet, spurting lava from his anus with a sinister face.
"..."