After leaving the dorm, Gu Yu bought some buns and a cup of porridge at the cafeteria and then headed to the student apartments with them in hand.
Dear Gu, "I've arrived."
Lin Xinyue, who was putting on makeup, glanced at the message on her vanity and smiled slightly.
Gu Yu stood downstairs. He wanted to go up, but the security guard at the door simply wouldn't give him a chance.
As he squatted nearby feeling utterly bored, his WeChat chimed.
Xinyue, "I'm coming down!"
Half a minute later, Lin Xinyue reached the entrance.
Before Gu Yu could even utter a greeting, Lin Xinyue suddenly realized something and exclaimed,
"Oh! Gu Yu, can you hold my bag for a bit? I still need to run up and grab some more stuff!"
Lin Xinyue handed her bag to Gu Yu and then hurried back into the elevator, which hadn't departed yet.
Gu Yu, "..."
Three minutes later, and Lin Xinyue still hadn't come down. Gu Yu's WeChat chimed again.
"Oh right!! Can you check if there's a light red lipstick in my bag? It should be in the second compartment!"
Gu Yu looked at the WeChat message and casually opened the handbag.
He didn't look inside carefully but just reached in and felt around.
Sure enough, he touched a cylindrical object. He initially thought it was the lipstick, but then he realized this thing actually had a long handle!
He pulled it out without thinking much.
The next moment, Gu Yu found himself staring at a twenty-centimeter long Phillips screwdriver and fell into deep thought.
But he didn't forget Lin Xinyue's instructions. Thinking she might have grabbed the wrong item, he set the screwdriver aside and continued to feel through the bag.
This time he touched another cylindrical object, but it was as long as the screwdriver, and the cold, large head felt quite big!
Gu Yu, feeling doubtful, pulled the item out.
Goodness! It was actually a large wrench, heavy enough to weigh nearly half a kilo in his hand!
Meanwhile, Lin Xinyue, seeming to have retrieved what she needed, dashed out of the elevator.
She immediately saw the large wrench in Gu Yu's hand!
"That?!" Holding the wrench, Gu Yu's first reaction was to move a few steps toward the security guard.
His face darkened. What was Lin Xinyue thinking, carrying a wrench for a shopping trip?
"I... I grabbed it by mistake! I was fixing the bathroom plumbing last night!"
Lin Xinyue paused and then explained with an awkward laugh.
"And this is for plumbing, too?"
Gu Yu then produced the Phillips screwdriver he was holding in his other hand.
Lin Xinyue's expression tensed, and she quickly nodded, "Yes!"
Although the wrench and screwdriver made perfect sense, if Gu Yu hadn't touched it wrong, there was also an item similar to a fruit knife sheath inside, which he hadn't managed to pull out yet!
If that was a fruit knife, then obviously, Lin Xinyue was on guard for something!
Today, she was going out shopping and only had one person accompanying her... What was she guarding against? The answer was self-evident!
Gu Yu's face was lined with frustration... but he also doubted it was meant against him.
Otherwise, she wouldn't have asked him out!
Seeing Gu Yu's clouded face, Lin Xinyue knew he was probably misunderstanding something and hurriedly explained,
"Gu Yu, don't overthink it! I'm a girl, after all—weak and unarmed. It makes sense to carry some self-defense tools, right?"
"Indeed!"
Gu Yu thought for a while and generally understood, but deliberately chose not to expose her.
"Weak and unarmed, so why carry two?"
Gu Yu thought about teasing her a little longer.
"Uh... it's just precautionary! If someone grabbed the wrench, I'd still have the screwdriver! Moreover... There's actually also a fruit knife in the bag, um!"
Lin Xinyue counted on her fingers, blurting out everything, worried Gu Yu might misunderstand her.
"Pff, fine! Isn't it heavy to carry all this stuff? Hahaha, I'm confiscating them!"
Gu Yu looked at her anxious face and finally couldn't help but laugh.
As he spoke, he clipped the screwdriver and the waving hand buckle onto his belt.
Seeing him hang up those tools like an electrician, Lin Xinyue couldn't help but laugh as well, and quickly stepped forward to gently punch Gu Yu's chest with her little fist.
"Silly! You didn't really think I was using these things to protect myself from you, did you?"
"It's because I go back to the apartment alone every night. I'm afraid I might encounter some bad people on the way from school to the apartment, so I carry them!"
Even though Gu Yu already knew, Lin Xinyue still explained everything thoroughly.
"I guessed as much! Hahaha!"
Gu Yu also laughed out loud.
"Oh my! Just throw these things away! They look so weird hanging on your waist!"
Then, Lin Xinyue took all the tools from Gu Yu's belt and put them in the security room.
She knew, with Gu Yu by her side, she would never need these things again!
"Alright, let's go! Let's head out!"
Lin Xinyue looped one arm through Gu Yu's, and with the other hand, she ate the breakfast Gu Yu had bought for her, as they walked down the main path from the school entrance toward the West Gate subway station.
"Where did you buy this bun? It's so delicious! It's even filled with sweet beet!"
Lin Xinyue took a bite of the hot vegetable bun, her face full of satisfaction.
Gu Yu looked at her with a playful smile and gently pinched Lin Xinyue's nose, "Isn't this just the cafeteria bun? Why does it taste the same when I eat it?"
Lin Xinyue grinned sheepishly, "Maybe because you bought it for me, the filling tasted sweeter!"
Seeing Lin Xinyue's mischievous expression, Gu Yu was speechless. Was this really the aloof school beauty he remembered?
How could she be so flirtatious when teasing guys!
"Eat slowly; we still have a bit to go to reach the subway station!"
Gu Yu pulled out a tissue and wiped the corner of Lin Xinyue's mouth.
Just as the two were very affectionate and loving,
There suddenly came a loud argument from ahead near the West Gate.
A girl with a flushed face yelled at a tall man in black clothes behind her:
"Yes, I took your seat! But I didn't take your pen! How can you falsely accuse me like this? Can you stop following me!"
The man, not to be outdone, retorted with his neck stiff:
"But I checked the surveillance, and the pen was there at first! You came, sat for a few minutes, and then the pen was gone when you left! If not you, then who?"
"Please just return it to me! It's the Lev Tolstoy pen my dad gave me!"
In his urgency, the man tried to check the girl's canvas bag.
At that moment, what seemed to be the girl's best friend stepped forward to intervene, pushing the man away and standing in front of her friend, shouting, "How could our little fairy possibly steal your lousy pen!?"
"It's ridiculous, a big guy getting so worked up over a lost pen. If a pen is lost, it's lost! Just buy a new one! And yet you keep pestering our fairy, how petty!"
The man steadied himself, his face full of anger, and pulled out his phone, pointing to the video recorded on it, "But I have surveillance evidence! The fact is that she took it!"
Saying this, the man played the surveillance video in front of all the onlookers.
In the video, the pen was initially on the table, then the girl came, sat for two minutes, and left, and the thousand-yuan pen vanished from the table!
Clearly! The girl indeed stole the pen!
The man was actually quite lenient just by saying took!
But just then, the girl suddenly tried to snatch the phone showing the video, but fortunately, the man, being tall and quick, dodged it.
After failing to snatch it, the girl hid behind her best friend, pretending nothing had happened.
the girl's best friend's face turned extremely ugly after the video was played, but seeing so many spectators, she still chose not to compromise and continued,
"Just because you have a video, does it prove it was our Hong who took it? Apart from the facts, we are top students at Haidong University; how could we steal your pen?"
After saying this, she pulled her friend's hand and squeezed out of the crowd.
Just then, Gu Yu suddenly stepped forward, blocking the two girls.
"Wait a minute, classmate, it seems like the pen in your canvas bag is leaking ink?"