Chapter 140: Field Battle

After that, Shen Xiyan watched as Song Wan dragged Qin Sheng home by the ear.

At last, today came to an end.

“We should head home too…” Lin Ci gave a soft hum, with a touch of girlish complaint in her tone.

“You two take a cab home. Su Jin’s by herself, so I’ll walk her part of the way…”

Lin Ci: “???”

Su Jin wasn’t having it, and pouted, “Do I need you to walk me?”

“Better to be safe. You’re heading back to your rental tonight, right?”

“That place barely even has streetlights. Even I’d be scared to walk there alone at night, and I’m a grown man. I won’t be at ease unless I see you home safely.”

Su Jin pouted, “So gentle of you~”

Shen Xiyan pretended not to notice the sarcasm in her voice, and saw Lin Ci and Wenwen off into a cab, then hailed another for himself.

Su Jin, feeling a bit listless, pointed at a row of shared bikes on the roadside and suggested, “Let’s ride bikes back. I ate too much just now—I need to work it off.”

“Jie, are you that bored? Do you have any idea how far it is from here to campus?”

Su Jin’s voice dripped with playfulness, “Jie just helped you soothe your hougong…”

“Why do you all keep calling it hougong? Just because there are a lot of girls doesn’t make it a hougong.”

“If it’s two women and one man, that’s called ‘Yilong Erfeng’; if it’s two men and one woman, it’s ‘Shuangguan Qixia’.”

“It’s tiring.”

“We’ll just ride slowly. I never go to bed before midnight anyway!”

Because of her “Leave of Absence”, Su Jin’s nightlife was always full.

She didn’t go to bars or KTV, but she was adept at finding fun in the long hours of the night.

Usually it was a bottle of Happy Water for Otakus, a giant bag of snacks, and then squatting in front of the computer to watch livestreams. The glow from the screen made her pupils shimmer.

Evening was prime time for streaming. She was like an emperor, picking out which concubine in her following list to “favor” for the night.

“But I need to sleep!”

“Then ride faster.”

Shen Xiyan: “…I surrender!”

Su Jin beamed, revealing faint dimples.

She had two little dimples, but she usually only smiled with a seductive charm, rarely like this, with such a gentle smile, so her cute dimples had always gone unnoticed.

The two of them rode their bikes, wandering aimlessly along the sidewalk.

Shen Xiyan slowed his pace deliberately, considering she was a girl.

“Hey! Why did Su Hao look at you so weird earlier?”

Shen Xiyan thought carefully, then asked, “When? His gaze was strange all day.”

“Right when he first saw you.”

“You noticed that?”

“Of course, I was paying the most attention at first meeting! He even seemed a little scared of you.”

“Not really scared.”

Shen Xiyan considered, then chose his words: “Before that, we went to the bathroom together. Maybe it shattered his mentality.”

“???”

Su Jin half-understood, half-didn’t.

Shattered his mentality?

“Isn’t that too much? Did you also eat the Hito Hito no Mi: Mythical Zoan: Nika Form?”

Believe it or not, it’s the truth.

Shen Xiyan squirmed under Su Jin’s stare, “If possible, I’d rather you look at me differently. It’s weird.”

“Truly, people can’t be judged by appearances, nor the sea measured by a bucket.”

Su Jin couldn’t help recalling a joke from Mr. Jia Pingwa’s controversial novel Feidu: After examining a young man together, an old doctor marveled to the young nurse, saying how unbelievable it was that the guy had ‘Yiliu’ tattooed on that part of his body.

The young nurse quickly corrected him, saying, “It’s not two characters, it’s seven—‘Yijiang Chunshui Xiangdong Liu’.”

Shen Xiyan might as well have a whole poem tattooed on himself.

“Don’t you see the waters of the Yellow River coming from the sky, vanishing together with you, all our ancient sorrows.”

Just picturing that scene, Su Jin’s face flushed red.

“Did you finish your daily word count?” Su Jin asked.

“Word count my ass! I didn’t get a break all day! You have no idea how clingy Qin Sheng is.”

Su Jin snorted, “Are you bragging to me?”

“It’s just the truth…”

“You can only get away with that for now. Once your book is published, miss a day and the editor will sentence you to death—forget about dating!”

“I know, that’s why I’m stockpiling drafts before releasing it during summer break.”

Shen Xiyan was no newbie anymore—he knew the basic rules.

Once you’re popular, you can ask for leave, but missing days when the book is new is asking for trouble; every day counts.

“I’ll put in a good word with the editor for you, don’t worry about recommendations.”

“Thanks.”

“I did tutor you, after all. If you can’t even get your book on the shelves, that’d be so embarrassing for me!”

Su Jin chuckled.

Shen Xiyan always let her review his drafts first, and she noticed he was improving fast. Leaving aside story structure, his writing style was already quite mature—not at all like a high schooler’s.

Few new authors manage an explosive debut, but quite a few manage a good start and then lose their way. A wasted good opening.

Shen Xiyan was different; his beginning and character setups were solid, and most importantly, he had Su Jin guiding him, helping him keep the story’s pacing in check.

“Hope your words bring luck…” Shen Xiyan still felt a bit guilty.

Su Jin casually pointed to a Jinbi Huihuang skyscraper: “Once you start earning, treat me to a spa there. Paying for myself is too painful.”

Shen Xiyan considered, “A spa’s not that expensive, is it?”

Actually, Shen Xiyan had been to S City’s top clubs more than once—all at Qin Sheng’s invitation.

No need for a professional—Qin Sheng was a technician herself.

Service was thorough, straight to the stomach.

Su Jin raised an eyebrow, “A top-tier card…would run about ten or twenty thousand, maybe?”

“It’s getting late, let’s hurry home!”

Shen Xiyan complained about the slow pace, even standing up to pedal harder.

“Hey! Could you be any stingier?!”

Su Jin shouted, rolling her eyes, and chased after him on her bike, grinning.

***

An hour later, they reached the entrance of the rental.

Both were drenched in sweat, stopping by the roadside to catch their breath.

“All right, you can leave me here.”

“We’re already here, I’ll walk you the rest of the way. There aren’t even streetlights inside.”

Su Jin wanted to thank him, but hesitated, and in the end didn’t say it.

“That last thing didn’t get exposed, right?”

“No, that brat’s been moping lately, so things are peaceful.”

‘That’s good…’

They walked down the alley. In the distance, someone seemed to be smacking mosquitoes, pa pa pa.

Suddenly Su Jin stopped, her pale, slender fingers pressed to her lips as she made a shushing gesture, then pointed ahead for Shen Xiyan to peek carefully.

Shen Xiyan looked over and saw a blurry couple pressed up against the wall, kissing passionately.

The man’s hands were busy, flipping up the woman’s skirt and slapping again and again, both oblivious to being watched.

“???”

“Impressive!”

Su Jin held her breath, clenched a fist, her eyes brimming with excitement and thrill.

As the kiss deepened, the woman grew breathless and limp, and the man lost all restraint, yanking her T-shirt up. She had no strength to resist, leaning weakly against his shoulder, moaning softly.

Su Jin stared in a daze, her breathing unconsciously growing heavier.

Sugoi!