r18novel Chapter 287 Too Many Tricks
Chapter 287 Too Many Tricks
The fourteen-day military training has finally come to an end.
On the last afternoon, after the performance, the playground was in chaos.
Some people threw their hats into the air, some hugged their instructors and cried, and some took photos with their phones everywhere.
Instructor Chen was lifted up by the boys and tossed into the air several times. When he landed, his hat was askew, and he managed a rare smile.
Zhang Yang hugged Liu Yu's neck, shouting, "Finally free!" Liu Yu was choked and couldn't breathe, his glasses tilting to one side.
Shen Yan stood to the side, watching this group of lunatics, and silently shook his head.
Song Huan stood at the end of the line, took off her hat, and patted off the dust.
The back of the camouflage uniform was soaked, sticking to the skin and feeling sticky.
He just wanted to go back, take a shower, and get some sleep.
……
The next morning, Song Huan was sound asleep when her phone vibrated.
He took it out and saw that it was a QQ message from Xiao Yunqing.
"Cheerful Little Cloud: Is military training over?"
He nestled in his warm bed and typed.
"Song Xiaoshuai: It just ended yesterday."
"Cheerful Little Cloud: Are you tired?"
Song Xiaoshuai: Not bad, how about you?
"Cheerful Little Cloud: I just finished yesterday too, I'm scorched by the sun."
Song Huan thought for a moment, typed a few words, deleted them, and then typed a few more.
"Song Xiaoshuai: Didn't we say we'd go to Jiming Temple after military training? It's the weekend today, want to go?"
There was a moment of silence on the other end.
Song Huan held her phone, waiting.
The message popped up.
"Cheerful Little Cloud: You actually knew to look for me?"
You can see her pouting even through the screen.
Song Huan's lips twitched slightly.
Song Xiaoshuai: I've been too busy with military training these past few days.
"Cheerful Little Cloud: So busy you don't even have time to send a message?"
Song Xiaoshuai: That's why I came to find you.
"Cheerful little cloud: Hmph."
Song Huan turned over, thought for a moment, and typed another line.
"Song Xiaoshuai: I'll pick you up at Dongda University, at Jiming Temple, as promised."
There was silence on the other end again, for several seconds.
"Cheerful Little Cloud: I don't want to go."
Song Huan was stunned for a moment.
Song Xiaoshuai: Why?
"Cheerful Little Cloud: I got tanned during military training, I look so ugly, I don't want to go out."
Looking at those words, Song Huan could almost picture what she looked like now.
Sitting on his dorm bed, holding his phone, pouting, swiping his fingers across the screen, looking unhappy.
Song Xiaoshuai: A little tan looks good too.
"Cheerful Little Cloud: You're lying."
Song Xiaoshuai: Really, you look good no matter what.
"Cheerful Little Cloud: You're lying. I look ugly even when I look in the mirror."
Song Huan leaned against the tree, her finger pausing on the screen for a moment.
Then he typed a line of text.
"Song Xiaoshuai: Do you miss me?"
There was silence on the other end.
"Song Xiaoshuai: Do you want to see me?"
Still, silence.
"Song Xiaoshuai: Do you want to see me? Do you want to hug me?"
Messages are replied to almost instantly.
"Cheerful little cloud: Who wants to hug you?!?"
Three exclamation marks, each one more intense than the last.
Song Huan smiled.
Song Xiaoshuai: Hurry up and go downstairs.
"Cheerful Little Cloud: What?!"
"Cheerful Little Cloud: Are you downstairs at the dormitory?"
Song Xiaoshuai: What else?
There was a silence on the other end for several seconds.
Then messages popped up like a machine gun.
"Cheerful Little Cloud: You've arrived at our school???"
"Cheerful Little Cloud: Why didn't you say so sooner?!"
"Cheerful Little Cloud: Wait for me!!! I'll come down after I put on some makeup and change my clothes!!!"
"Cheerful Little Cloud: Don't rush me!!!"
Song Huan put her phone back in her pocket and smiled.
He certainly hasn't arrived at Tokyo University yet.
It only takes about twenty minutes to walk from Nanjing University to Southeast University.
However, Xiao Yunqing's makeup and clothing change time must have taken more than twenty minutes.
After washing up, while her roommates were still asleep, Song Huan tiptoed out of the dormitory and headed towards the school gate.
He stopped as he passed a cosmetics store.
The glass display case was filled with various bottles and jars, and the lights were shining brightly.
Several female customers were browsing inside, and a saleswoman in a black uniform was helping a girl try on lipstick.
Song Huan pushed open the door and went in.
The saleswoman looked up and saw a young man walk in, and paused for a moment.
She looked her up and down.
He looked like a freshman who had just finished military training; his face still bore the marks of sun exposure. But he was tall, broad-shouldered, and had delicate features, making him quite pleasing to the eye.
"Handsome, buying a gift for your girlfriend?" The saleswoman greeted him with a professional smile.
Song Huan didn't correct her choice of words, just said, "Mm."
After all, he's from Guangdong, and he's used to being called "handsome guy."
"What do you want to buy? Lipstick? Foundation? Or skincare products?"
Song Huan looked at the colorful items in the counter, the lipstick shades lined up in a row—red, pink, orange, and bean paste—and gave up after a couple of seconds.
"Your best-selling item here, the complete set, please get me one."
The saleswoman's eyes lit up.
She turned around, took a gift box from the counter, opened it, and found the contents neatly arranged.
Foundation, loose powder, lipstick, eyeshadow palette, blush, eyebrow pencil, makeup remover, and a few other things he couldn't name.
The packaging is light pink with a ribbon tied to it.
"This is our store's signature product, and many girls love it. The foundation comes in three shades, but I didn't know your girlfriend's skin tone, so I took the natural shade. If it doesn't suit her, she can come back and exchange it."
Song Huan took out her bank card from her pocket and placed it on the counter.
"Swipe your card!"
The saleswoman took the card with both hands and turned to swipe it on the POS machine.
The movements were much faster than before.
Several female customers nearby turned their heads to look over, their eyes darting back and forth between the gift box and his profile.
Someone whispered something, and the person next to them nodded.
Song Huan stood in front of the counter, waiting.
The saleswoman packed the gift box into an elegant paper bag, handed it over with both hands, and smiled, "Handsome, your girlfriend will definitely like this."
Song Huan took the paper bag. "If she doesn't like it, I'll come back and return it."
When he pushed the door open and went out, the saleswoman was still standing behind him, only her lips twitched slightly.
Sunlight streamed in through the glass door and fell on his back.
The paper bag isn't heavy when you carry it in your hand.
Downstairs in the girls' dormitory building at Tunghai University.
Song Huan stood next to the street lamp, holding a light pink paper bag in her hand.
The dormitory supervisor sat at the first-floor window, her gaze sweeping over him like a searchlight, from head to toe, and then from toe to head.
He stood ramrod straight, pretending not to see.
I waited for almost ten minutes.
The dormitory door opened, and a figure ran out.
Xiao Yunqing wore a light blue floral dress today, the hem of which reached her knees, and her waist was cinched.
Her hair was down, draped over her shoulders, with the ends slightly curled and blown a little by the wind.
She had makeup on, her eyebrows were shaped, her mascara was applied, and her lips were covered in a layer of glossy lipstick.
Standing in the sunlight, she looked like she had stepped out of a magazine.
She ran up to Song Huan, stopped, and was slightly out of breath.
Her face was flushed; I couldn't tell if it was from running around or from the sun.
His eyes were bright, and I could see his reflection in them.
He really did come very early this morning! I thought he was lying to me...
[Luckily, I just washed my hair, so it's still fairly smooth.]
[This is the lipstick he bought for me. Is the color too bright? What if he notices?]
He's staring at me, but why isn't he saying anything? Is it because he's not good-looking?
Song Huan looked at her and said, "You look great today."
Xiao Yunqing was stunned for a moment.
Then her face went from slightly flushed to bright red, from her cheeks to the tips of her ears, and she scoffed, "Am I not pretty normally?"
"You look good usually, but you look even better today."
"You know how to talk!"
Xiao Yunqing glared at him, but the corners of her mouth turned up slightly.
Her gaze fell on the paper bag in his hand. "What are you holding?"
Song Huan handed over the paper bag.
Xiao Yunqing took it and glanced at it.
The bag was light pink and had a brand logo she recognized printed on it.
She opened the bag and glanced inside. Then she froze.
Foundation, loose powder, lipstick, eyeshadow palette, blush, eyebrow pencil, makeup remover.
It's all that brand's signature products, a whole set.
She looked up, her mouth agape. "Why did you buy this? It's expensive!"
Song Huan put her hands back in her pockets. "I saw it when I was passing by and bought it."
"You passed by a cosmetics store?" Xiao Yunqing's voice rose a half-octave. "You, a grown man, passed by a cosmetics store?"
"Um."
"you!"
Xiao Yunqing looked at the complete set of cosmetics in her hand, then at him, her lips moved slightly, but she didn't say anything.
She carefully closed the bag, hugged it to her chest, lowered her head, and whispered, "You're wasting money again."
Why would he think of buying me cosmetics? Does he think I look bad because I'm tanned?
[Wait, he just said I was pretty... Does he think I don't look good without makeup?]
[No, that's not right. He's complimented me on how good I look without makeup before. Oh well, I don't want to think about it anymore. Anyway, he bought it, and this brand is so expensive...]
Looking at her expression, which was both happy and distressed, Song Huan said, "The money spent on you wasn't wasted."
Xiao Yunqing raised her head, her eyes slightly red.
She opened her mouth, about to say something.
Song Huan's stomach growled.
The gurgling sound was especially clear downstairs in the quiet dormitory building.
Xiao Yunqing was stunned. She looked at his stomach, then at his face. "You haven't had breakfast yet?"
Song Huan's eyes darted around. "Oh, actually, my roommate told me that this cosmetics store is very popular. I was afraid I wouldn't be able to get any, so I got up early this morning to queue up and buy some for you. That's when I forgot to eat."
Xiao Yunqing's mouth was slightly open.
She lowered her head and looked at the light pink paper bag in her arms.
[He went to queue up early this morning to buy me cosmetics, saying he was just passing by! He didn't even eat breakfast himself. How could he be so silly?]
She looked up, her eyes bright and glistening with tears.
"Then wait here, I'll go upstairs and put my things away. I'll take you to eat outside our school. There's a food street there, they have everything."
Song Huan smiled and said, "Okay."
Xiao Yunqing hugged the paper bag and turned to run back into the dormitory building.
She ran a couple of steps, then stopped, looked back at him, and said, "Don't go, I'll come down right away."
"I'm not leaving."
She ran inside.
Her ponytail swung behind her as she walked briskly.
The dormitory supervisor's gaze swept over again, and Song Huan moved to the side, standing under the shade of a tree, hands in her pockets, waiting.
Sunlight filtered through the leaves and fell on his face.
After a while, Xiao Yunqing ran out of the dormitory building.
The paper bag was gone, replaced by a small crossbody bag, which was slung across her body.
She ran up to him, stopped, and took a breath. "Let's go."
The two walked out of the gate of Dongda University side by side.
Xiao Yunqing walked ahead, her steps light and quick, her skirt swaying at her sides.
Song Huan followed beside him, her hands in her pockets.
She would turn her head to look at him every now and then to make sure he was still there.
Then she continued walking forward, her ponytail swaying gently behind her.
The snack street is located outside the west gate of Southeast University. It's a narrow alley lined with small shops on both sides.
There aren't many people at this time of morning.
Pancake vendors, steamed bun vendors, soy milk and fried dough stick vendors, rice noodle roll vendors—the steam rising from each shop entrance mingled together, creating an irresistible aroma.
Xiao Yunqing walked ahead, looking around like a butterfly entering a garden.
Finally, we stopped in front of a rice noodle roll shop, turned around and looked at him, "This place is delicious. I've eaten here before, and the owner is also from Jiangcheng."
The two went inside and found a seat against the wall.
The shop is small, with a few tables and a menu on the wall, red background with white lettering.
The owner was a chubby middle-aged man wearing a white apron, steaming rice noodle rolls.
Steam rose from the steamer, creating a hazy, white mist.
Xiao Yunqing picked up the menu, glanced at it, and asked, "What would you like to eat?"
"Can you order for me?"
Xiao Yunqing glanced at him, then lowered her head, tapping her fingers on the menu.
"One egg rice noodle roll, one shrimp rice noodle roll, one beef rice noodle roll, and two cups of soy milk."
The boss responded.
The rice noodle rolls were served quickly, with white rice noodle skins wrapped around eggs and meat, drizzled with soy sauce, and steaming hot.
Xiao Yunqing pushed the shrimp and beef dishes in front of him, while keeping the egg dishes for herself.
Song Huan picked up her chopsticks, took a piece of beef rice noodle roll, and put it in her mouth.
Xiao Yunqing watched him eat, and only after he swallowed did she pick up her chopsticks and take her own portion.
She ate in small bites, her cheeks slightly puffed out.
Sunlight streamed in from the doorway and fell on the table between the two people.
There were only two customers in the shop. The owner was steaming new rice noodle rolls next to him, and the rice batter was being poured onto an iron plate, making a sizzling sound.
Song Huan ate half of the shrimp rice noodle roll, then pushed the plate towards her, saying, "You eat too."
Xiao Yunqing shook her head. "That's enough."
"You're too thin."
Xiao Yunqing paused for a moment, then picked up a piece and put it in her mouth.
I chewed it and swallowed it.
She wiped a little soy sauce off her lips with a tissue, her face beaming with a happy smile.