Chapter 23: Impossible to be a Couple

He is bathed in a strange radiance as the sun sets. Even his black eyebrows are enough to captivate Wei Wei. After a long time, she begins to experience complex emotions, including a sensation of her heart stopping and an overwhelming sense of fury and despair.

How long have they been together for that type of thing? This is obviously not the way to start a relationship, even though she truly wants to be with him.

However, this was her original reason for going to see the Great Master. Simply put, wouldn't she be in a worse position if she rejected him now that the Great Master has spoken in the upgraded version?

Actually, whether she rejects him or not, she will be at a disadvantage if she embraces him. What is happening?..

Wei Wei's reasoning is starting to make less sense to her. When Wei Wei notices that her thoughts are caught in a cycle, she hurriedly yells to herself,

Give up!

Give up thinking!

The Great Master's words are a dead end, so don't follow them. Act as though you didn't hear him. He didn't sound to you. Just confine it and treat it like a virus.

She ignores the fact that her ears are already searing red as she focuses on hypnotizing herself. Wei Wei says, "Since we don't have much time, let's ride on a bike then," maintaining a cool façade while staring directly into Xiao Nai's eyes.

This isn't caving to his demands. She just so happens to notice that strolling together will attract more people to see them the longer they are together than when they are riding a bike. They might as well just ride a bike as a result. Riding is considerably quicker; before they vanish in a hurry, people could not even be able to recognize her properly.

Since there is a game today, why in the world would he want to meet? They might have gotten together tomorrow. In addition, he stated that they should meet at 6 p.m. even though the game starts at 7 p.m. Did he want to take her straight to the gym for their date?

That is incorrect. This isn't a romantic outing. Meeting one another, that is.

Xiao Nai, his back to the sun, looks at her. She can't stand up to this; should she move forward or back down? Should she go slowly and steadily or push ahead on impulse?

He constantly draws conclusions, one step ahead of her. Calmly, he calls her name "Wei Wei."

"Um?"

"I can ride a bike pretty well."

Oh? Wei Wei gives him a perplexed expression.

Therefore, Xiao Nai responds slowly, "You don't need to look like you're facing death with equanimity."

Wei Wei, "..."

Is that a serious look on her face already?Let's see.

Wei Wei consoles herself by telling herself that "it's just like parading the streets" as she mounts the bike. However, she regrets it as soon as she sits down to ride the bike, before she can even experience any unique emotions. It's because she becomes aware that her skirt is too short presently...

After sitting on the bike, the skirt, which was a few millimeters above the knee, has shortened by at least ten centimeters. Even if it's not so short that she's baring herself, some onlookers are drawn to it. After just a few minutes of riding, a lot of people are already staring at them strangely.

Wei Wei is going to weep and leap off the bike. Unconsciously, her legs tuck back, but it doesn't matter. She is holding a bag that is too small to cover anything.The Great Master is entirely to blame for shocking her so much that she failed to consider this.

As they pass them on their motorcycles, two more guys turn to stare.

Xiao Nai abruptly declares a firm brake.

A little shocked, Wei Wei gets off the bike. Xiao Nai adds, "I'm going to buy some things," with a chilly face.

Wei Wei sees him enter a store with his back straight. He emerges and gives her a large sack of items.

"What's that?"

There was no salt on the food. There are plenty of munchies in addition to beverages, so even if there were, there would still be no need to purchase that much. Wei Wei feels weird as she handles the large luggage. When she gets back on the bike, though, she recognizes the benefit: it neatly conceals her legs.

Wei Wei eventually gets over her shame and stops giving strange looks. Furthermore, because she isn't in direct contact with Xiao Nai, she gets to spend some alone time thinking calmly for the first time today.

However, there isn't much to consider.

A cool night wind of July comes their way. Riding the broad, paved school walkway, the bike soars beneath the setting sun, passing past big canopy trees.

Everything is flawless.

I need to be bold, Wei Wei muses to herself.

What if he is, in fact, Xiao Nai? In the future, he will be known as Xiao Nai, but for now, she just knows him as NaiHe. She also thinks he's cute.

A hill is up ahead. Wei Wei kisses him, puts up her hand, and takes a strong yet gentle hold of his clothing.

The bicycle decelerates.

Wei Wei gives a little smile and grabs firmly onto the large food bag.

Naturally, being bold must come at the appropriate moment and location. Right now, Wei Wei's bravery does not consist of walking into the gymnasium with Xiao Nai in front of everyone.

Thus, as soon as they go outside the gym, Wei Wei tells Xiao Nai, "I'm going to look for my roommates to watch the game," as he locks up his bike. Tonight, I'll see you online. Not long later, she makes off with the snack bag, leaving the Great Master alone.

She tells herself that this is a move, not a runaway, as she takes a step back. Indeed, this is retreating to advance! It appears to be rejecting, yet it's actually accepting!

In any case, this is the fabled combat strategy.

Ah, the strategy of combat. Wei Wei goes via the side doors to enter the gymnasium. The crowd is already fairly animated, and several people are standing. Wei Wei looks around the bleachers, but she doesn't see her housemates. Er Xi is the first to see her; she gets to her feet and gestures for her to come closer.

The mood in the gymnasium gets even brighter and more exciting as other people notice her appearance as well.

Wei Wei quickly runs to her roommates' seats. Since there are no more seats available, Xiao Ling motions for her lover, Da Zhong, to get down. Please give Wei Wei a seat.

Da Zhong gets up meekly from his chair. Wei Wei sits there, feeling a little ashamed.

"Wei Wei, you're also here?" asks Er Xi, who is overjoyed to see her. This day is so vibrant!

"What's happening?"

The adjective vivacious makes Wei Wei a bit nervous.

Er Xi exclaims, "There are many beauties here," naming two before adding, "Meng Yi Ran is also here," with excitement. She is only seated three or four seats behind from us.

"Wei Wei, you remember Meng Yi Ran, right?" Si Si continues. She is the one who challenged you to the top place on the school's beauty list. She ultimately prevailed over you because she appeared more innocent and pure.

Introducing Wei Wei: "Could you not say "fought" instead?

She has obviously been avoiding it like the plague. From Wei Wei's perspective, the top beauty title of University A is equally problematic as the top martial arts title shown in WuXia plays. Wei Wei was terrified for a long time when she realized she had been forced into this kind of ballot; fortunately, she was not selected since she is "not pure and innocent."

"Is this the first time that the two top beauties of our school appear together?" Xiao Ling butts in.

"Well, it appears to be the case!"

Feeling angry, Xiao Ling remarks, "Wei Wei, you ought to have worn that red dress if we had known that this Meng girl would arrive. You would have totally eclipsed her!

"Yes, yes, yes. The Meng girl is not as attractive as Wei Wei.

Actually speaking, our Wei Wei is more attractive than that Meng girl as well. I'm not sure who shot the picture of Wei Wei in secret for the poll last year, Aiya. The shot was poor. It was significantly less advantageous than the close-up picture of Meng Yi Ran.

Indeed. We were also not allowed to upload a superior picture by Wei Wei.

"Cease! Consume some munchies!

In an attempt to stop them from talking about her incoherently, Wei Wei hurries over to deliver them the snack bag. You know she will be embarrassed if other people hear them?

After peeking inside the bag, Er Xi exclaims, "Whoa! Wei Wei, are you now wealthy? You have a huge snack collection. What was the amount you spent?

In what way could she know?

Fortunately, Er Xi and the others aren't really interested in her response. They scramble to get their desired goodies. "Aiya, why did you buy this brand of chips?" asks Xiao Ling. It falls short of Lay's quality.

Er Xi "There is Lay's, but it has a bad flavor."

Wei Wei muses to herself, "You expect the Great Master to pick flavors when he bought this large bag of snacks in three minutes?"

"Wei Wei, did you pass the interview? If so, why did you buy so many snacks to celebrate?" Si Si queries.

"You're free to say that."

Wei Wei begins eating a bag of potato chips without saying anything.

Er Xi remembers to offer her friend some love now that there are goodies available, so she inquires, "You passed the interview? How did you find it?

Wei Wei looks up at the ceiling blankly. How should she respond? "Well, the procedure wasn't successful, but the result was a surprise."

"It doesn't matter if it was unexpected as long as you got past it." The key issue is that Wei Wei and Xiao Nai will undoubtedly be here today, Er Xi says, showing little interest in the topic anymore as she concentrates on eating her potato chips.

Silently, Wei Wei consumes her potato chips. I also know he will be present. He purchased the snacks you are currently consuming.

Si Si laments, "Well, the competition today pits the computer science department against the architecture department. That Meng girl in the music section, is she not? Why is she in this place?

"Si Si, that's not right of you," remarks Er Xi. Attractive men are resources that the entire cosmos shares. Different departments cannot be treated unfairly.

Wei Wei ignores much of their animated conversation. She occasionally looks at the doors and questions why Xiao Nai hasn't entered yet. A dapper figure in a plain white shirt walks up to the doors just as she is finishing her thought process.

Everything around them goes silent all of a sudden. All that Wei Wei can hear is her heart pounding. Her heart is racing faster than it has ever done when she sees him, contrary to her expectation that after seeing him so much today, she wouldn't feel as passionate.

From now on, she and he are no longer the same.

Even though she is observing him, they are bound together by a thousand links and are far away, unable to reach him.

Two males who are around the same height come running towards Xiao Nai as soon as he steps onto the court. One of them even darts outside the doors as they scan the area and glance behind him. Wei Wei watches them and chuckles. It had to be they who were on the phone. MonkeyWine and YuGong could be among them.

Wei Wei doesn't worry about them because they are far away. Xiao Nai abruptly turns his attention from his conversation with his teammates to the bleachers. Feeling guilty over abandoning the Great Master at the parking lot, Wei Wei covered her face with her bag of potato chips. Naturally, she truly doesn't cover her face.

Xiao Nai pauses in her direction and glances around the bleachers. After a few moment of silence, he looks away and enters the changing area.

Wei-Wei goes into a temporary daze. She hears Si Si talking with the others.

"Who was Xiao Nai looking at just now?" Si asked.

"Meng Yi Ran?" asks Er Xi.

Yes, sir Not always. Many attractive females are present today.

Er Xi However, Xiao Nai had her eyes fixed on us. Meng Yi Ran is the only one present, correct? I simply recall. Xiao Nai appears to be familiar to Meng Yi Ran. Xiao Nai's lone performance during the school's festivities. There was also Meng Yi Ran on stage.

She performed with an ethnic group, so perhaps they could talk about music even if they weren't in the same performance.

"Xiao Nai might not have been looking at girls, okay?" remarks Xiao Ling. Why must you guys make fun of him?

Er Xi: "Xiao Ling, please, you're too innocent. When was the last time Xiao Nai looked at the stands? He has never paid attention to anything around him. He had to be focusing on someone.

Wei Wei abruptly takes Xiao Ling's wrist as they become agitated over this and says gravely, "There is only one truth."

Her housemates are looking at her expectantly.

With a more serious tone, Wei Wei says, "He's staring at me."

"Oh," said Xiao Ling.

Yes, sir.

Er Xi stutters, "Wei Wei, do you not know that you and Xiao Nai are publicly known for being impossible to be a couple?" he asks shakily right away.