Chapter 109: How About We Have a Secret Romance?

By late summer in Jiangcheng, the weather could turn on a whim.

Lu Qingyue had planned to return in a couple of days, but a typhoon and its violent rain caught her, so she had to delay another three days and didn’t come back until the end of August. She hurriedly packed what she needed for registration, and before she knew it, September 1st had arrived.

It had already been over half a month since she last saw Cheng Xingye, and the next time was already the first day of classes.

Jiang University had expanded admissions in the province by six hundred this year. On registration day the whole campus was crowded and noisy with fresh faces.

For safety, Lu Qingyue ultimately chose Economics at Jiang University.

In the morning she went to school with Lu Yi to check in. After finishing her enrollment, Lu Yi had to report to graduate school, so he carried her suitcase up to her dormitory, and then they parted ways.

When Lu Qingyue arrived, the other three girls were already there.

Besides two other freshmen, there was one second-year student, a senior sister, named Zou Xue. Zou Xue had a tall, bright, easygoing air and looked exactly like a girl from the north, as proved when she spoke.

She saw a girl with a suitcase walk in from outside and immediately got up to help with the luggage.
“You’re one of the new girls, right? I’m Zou Xue.”

Lu Qingyue answered politely with a little too much formality.
“Hello, sister. I’m Lu Qingyue. You can also call me Lu Diandian.”

Zou Xue took her suitcase and pushed it to the bed in front of her and said casually,
“Don’t call me sister just yet—I’m only one year ahead of you.”

Being straightforward and warm, Zou Xue quickly became acquainted with the other three girls.

Next to Lu Qingyue’s opposite bed slept Lin Minner, a southern girl about her height. On the diagonal sat another girl, Fang Yang, also a local from Jiangcheng.
The four girls exchanged a few words, then each got to work arranging their bedding.

By the time registration day’s bustle settled down, it was already past eleven.

Zou Xue put a broom on the balcony and came back inside, about to call the three new girls to the cafeteria, when a burst of noise rose from the corridor outside.

Their corridor faced the entrance gate of the women’s dormitory. For some reason, girls from other rooms began drifting over in twos and threes, faces full of delight and curiosity. Lin Minner rushed out for a peek, then immediately shouted so loudly, like a child who had never seen anything like it, that everyone should come over.

“Come see! There’s a handsome man!”

Lu Qingyue wandered out with her hands in her pockets, not especially interested.
After all, she already had a “handsome man” at home—no one compared with him, even if he refused to let her do anything too easy.

While she was still thinking about her notoriously frugal boyfriend, she hadn’t gone far before Fang Yang exclaimed,
“Who’s downstairs?”

The noon sun struck the plane-tree leaves, scattering flecks of light across their surfaces. Under the broad leaves stood a tall, long-limbed man in a casual white shirt and black trousers.

He had a lean, tall frame. When he lowered his head, his lashes settled in quiet elegance over his eyes. He carried a cool, almost icy composure, yet somehow made one want to challenge him and win him over.

The commotion above was all because of him. At least a dozen girls from the dorms near the gate had come out to look at him. But he seemed not to notice, one hand in his pocket, the other holding a phone as he read messages.

Zou Xue, who was in her second year and knew more people than the three girls, recognized him immediately and explained in a knowing tone.
“It’s Cheng Xingye, Jiang University’s famous ‘storm-bringing’ senior. You’re very lucky to see him on your first day.”

Cheng Xingye was already a well-known name at Jiang University, but seeing him in person was never easy. Zou Xue genuinely thought they’d been extraordinarily lucky to meet this “legend” so soon after entering.

Lin Minner was amazed. “You know him?”
Zou Xue clicked her tongue. “He’s the Medicine School’s legendary senior. The only son of the chairman of Dingli Group. Rich and good-looking—who wouldn’t know him?”

The first-year girls from around the room gathered closer when they heard Jiang University had such a figure on campus.

After introducing his background, Zou Xue suddenly frowned in confusion.
“Still, why is he here?”

This building housed students from the College of Literature and the School of Economics and Management; it had almost no ties to the School of Medicine. You hardly ever saw him around the teaching buildings, so why was he here of all places, almost as if he had come to their very doorstep?

Fang Yang turned her head and asked,
“Does he have a girlfriend?”

If he did, it would make sense that he’d come looking for her.

Zou Xue thought a moment, recalling what people wrote about him on online forums.
“Probably not. But I heard he has this… a first love, maybe. Some say he’s been devoted to her for ten years, crazier than life itself. No one really knows if it’s true.”

Lu Qingyue touched the bridge of her nose. Ten years? That was already an exaggeration. Even “love-dead-and-alive” is too much.

It was her first serious relationship, and she still had no idea how much Cheng Xingye truly liked her.
But she knew one thing: if anything, he liked her enough to stay by her side all through the year they were apart.

Lin Minner and Fang Yang had never seen someone this level of handsome, and they glanced again and again, part envy, part curiosity.

Fang Yang said, “A lot of people must chase him.”
Lin Minner added, “With that body and that face, dating him must feel amazing.”
Zou Xue laughed. “And he’s probably great in bed too…”

The actual current girlfriend finally nodded in agreement with a smug little smile:
“Of course. Look at how straight his nose bridge is.”

The others stared at her in unison.
“What?”

Lu Qingyue felt she’d let something slip and, blushing slightly, rubbed her nose again.
“Don’t look at me like that. I’m not sure. I was just guessing.”

Zou Xue burst into a loud laugh and teased with theatrical cruelty,
“You scared me—I thought you’d already done him!”

Lu Qingyue gave a dry little laugh and sighed to herself inwardly.

Not just sleep with him—this stingy little fellow wouldn’t even let her touch his legs. Their future romance, she thought, would be cleaner than spring water.

The four girls stayed clustered together, still talking about him, while the crowd below finally grew impatient.

Lu Qingyue watched him type a message on his phone. Before long her own phone vibrated.

While everyone else was still gawking, she discreetly checked it.

【Lu Diandian】: Come down. I see you.

A hush of whispering rose around her. Lu Qingyue suddenly felt a strange thrill—as if they were flirting in broad daylight, under everyone’s eyes.

She let out a breath, then answered calmly.

【Lu Diandian】：Do you know how popular you are among the freshmen? I’d say three or four potential rivals are around me right now.

The students below stared at their phones, while everyone above them kept murmuring.

“Is he texting his girlfriend?”
“Definitely! I saw the corner of his mouth turn up.”
“Damn, he looks even better when he smiles. If he smiles, I’m going to get love-struck.”

Lu Qingyue was still half-listening when her phone buzzed again.

【hOShinO】：Even if you’re popular, you’re still mine. Come down.

She glanced to the side—at least ten people had now crowded around. Outwardly they seemed to be chatting idly, but the whole conversation had one focus: the man downstairs.

She sighed again, half amused, half helpless.
How could my boyfriend be this dazzling and so in demand?

【Lu Diandian】：I’m coming down, but then I’ll become famous with you across the whole university.
【hOShinO】：…So what do you want then?
What do you want…

Lu Qingyue could not stop the corner of her mouth from lifting; she could already imagine his expression.
【Lu Diandian】：What if we make it an underground romance? That should be exciting.
【hOShinO】：？？？
You enjoy danger and thrills that much, don’t you?