Тhе рrivаte roоm hаd twо lоng tаbles plaсеd in the cеnter of thе sоfа аrеа.
One tаble was already surrоundеd by рeорlе рlaуing diсе gаmеs.
Su Zai Zаi pulled Zhang Lu Rаng tоward thе other tablе.
Severаl girls were аlsо sitting аt this tаblе, hоlding miсrophоnеs and singing.
Тhе nоise in thе roоm wаs deafеning, sо Xiе Lin Nan didn’t speаk, simply pushing twо glаssеs of сola towаrd thеm.
Su Zаi Zai mоuthеd а "thаnk уоu."
Thеn shе piсked uр an emрty glаss frоm thе tablе, rinsеd it with wаtеr, poured а cup of plain wаter, and plаced it in frоnt of Zhаng Lu Rаng.
Zhang Lu Rаng was acting particularly strange today.
He lowered his gaze, watching Su Zai Zai’s movements, then turned to glance at Xie Lin Nan’s expression.
Suddenly, the corners of his lips curved upward. He stretched out his long arm, hooked it around Su Zai Zai’s neck, and pulled her into the crook of his elbow.
Su Zai Zai was instantly enveloped in his embrace.
Her nose nearly bumped against his chest, and a cool, refreshing scent washed over her.
It was rare to see Zhang Lu Rang so affectionate, and she was momentarily stunned, tilting her head to look at him.
"What’s wrong?"
She had expected him to say something like "I accidentally bumped into you" or "There was a bug over there."
Instead, Zhang Lu Rang stared into her eyes and, for the first time, lied without batting an eyelid.
"Didn’t you throw yourself at me?"
The background music in the room happened to be in an instrumental section, so it was slightly quieter than before.
Zhang Lu Rang’s voice was neither too loud nor too soft, his low tone just audible enough for everyone at the table to hear clearly.
Hearing this response, Su Zai Zai widened her eyes.
She shifted her gaze and noticed that his arm showed no intention of moving away.
After a moment, Su Zai Zai began to doubt herself.
...Had she really thrown herself at him just now?
After pouring the drinks, Xie Lin Nan glanced around the room. The only empty seat left was next to Zhang Lu Rang. He hesitated for a moment but still decided to sit down.
Zhang Lu Rang glanced at him sideways and then intensified his actions.
He raised an eyebrow slightly and said calmly, "Isn’t this what you like?"
"What?" Su Zai Zai was confused.
Zhang Lu Rang’s gaze softened as he stared into her eyes, his tone carrying a hint of coaxing.
"Don’t you only like me?"
Su Zai Zai completely ignored his strange behavior, utterly captivated by his gaze.
She nodded and enthusiastically uttered three words.
"I like you, I super like you, I like you to bits."
Zhang Lu Rang clearly felt the person next to him stiffen.
Having achieved his goal, he let out a satisfied sigh.
The next moment, Zhang Lu Rang lowered his head, his lips close to Su Zai Zai’s ear.
"Let’s go back."
On the way back, the two of them remained silent.
Just as they were about to reach the girls’ dormitory building, Su Zai Zai suddenly spoke.
Her voice was faint, as if she couldn’t believe it: "Lùràng, you just..."
Once the moment passed, Zhang Lu Rang’s expression also turned somewhat unnatural.
But he didn’t regret it at all.
Su Zai Zai suddenly wrapped her arms around his neck and bounced excitedly.
"Wow! Were you jealous just now? Were you staking your claim?"
Zhang Lu Rang let her hug him, supporting her back with one hand, not denying it.
After her excitement subsided, Su Zai Zai composed herself, her expression turning serious.
"There’s no need to be unhappy! Everyone in our department knows I have a very handsome boyfriend!"
She thought this would comfort him.
But Zhang Lu Rang fell silent for a moment before quickly saying, "I’m still unhappy."Su Zai Zai was suddenly stunned.
"I don't like others liking you."
"Su Zai Zai, I never chat with other girls."
"I can hold back my anger if you chat with other boys."
He bent slightly, his dark, bright eyes meeting hers at eye level.
The wild beast in her heart instantly broke free from its shackles.
"But you can't play with them."
Su Zai Zai's expression remained somewhat dazed.
The Zhang Lu Rang before her seemed to overlap with the one from the second semester of her first year of high school.
His once youthful face had become much more defined and mature, and his slightly higher-pitched teenage voice had deepened somewhat.
—"You're not allowed to play with other boys."
Su Zai Zai obediently nodded, her heart instantly feeling as if it had been soaked in honey.
The sweet feeling made her dazed and unable to think.
After receiving her response, Zhang Lu Rang lowered his head and buried his face in the crook of her neck.
He opened his mouth, biting the soft flesh on her neck and licking it.
Zhang Lu Rang's voice was low and hoarse, accompanied by ragged breaths.
The hand on Su Zai Zai's back tightened its grip.
Then, without hesitation or reservation, he laid his entire heart bare for her to see.
"Otherwise, I feel terrible inside."
Chapter 52
She said I wasn't good to her before.
Then I'll be better to her from now on.
—Zhang Lu Rang
His face was still buried in the crook of Su Zai Zai's neck, his scorching breaths coming irregularly.
The cold wind blew in from all directions, forming a stark contrast with the warmth at her neck.
The chill brought Su Zai Zai back to her senses a bit.
Suddenly feeling a bit confused, she tilted her head, her lips close to his ear, and said, "Which one are you talking about? I haven't been playing with anyone."
Before Zhang Lu Rang could answer, Su Zai Zai immediately thought of the answer: "The department head?"
Hearing this, Zhang Lu Rang lifted his head and looked down at her.
His lips were pressed together, his brow furrowed, his displeasure clearly evident.
"You're jealous of him?" Su Zai Zai licked the corner of her mouth and muttered softly, "It might not even be you who's jealous."
Zhang Lu Rang didn't hear clearly, his voice still somewhat low: "What?"
Su Zai Zai didn't pursue the topic further and suddenly brought up something else.
"My roommate told me she saw a girl asking for your contact information at the library before."
Zhang Lu Rang nodded, thought for a moment, and still answered honestly: "It happens every day."
"..."
Su Zai Zai fell silent for a moment, staring at him without blinking.
Soon, she spoke, her voice faint.
"Why did you emphasize 'every day' to me?"
Zhang Lu Rang was taken aback for a moment and said seriously, "I didn't give it."
Su Zai Zai, suddenly overwhelmed with a sense of crisis, immediately felt as if she had been possessed by a jealous woman.
"How did you reply?"
"Can't."
"Just said 'can't'?"
"Mhm."
Su Zai Zai didn't speak again, lowering her head in thought.
After a while, she asked curiously, "Do you remember how you rejected me back then?"
Hearing this, Zhang Lu Rang's expression stiffened slightly, and he didn't answer.
"You lied and said you didn't have WeChat back then."
"..."
Remembering this, Su Zai Zai completely forgot about the matter of others asking for his WeChat: "Back then, all you knew was how to reject me, thinking all day long about how to turn me down."
Zhang Lu Rang's lips moved slightly, but he still said nothing."Ah, because of you, I've secretly cried thousands of times."
This time, Zhang Lu Rang couldn't hold back and asked in confusion, "Was I really that bad to you before?"
Hearing this question, Su Zai Zai showed no guilt and shamelessly admitted, "Yes."
Her expression made it seem like he had committed some heinous crime. After a pause, she added:
"You should go back and reflect on it properly."
Zhang Lu Rang: "..."
Back in the dorm, Su Zai Zai hung the scarf she had been holding all the way on the hook of her wardrobe.
She couldn't help but touch her neck, where the lingering warmth seemed not to have faded yet, still radiating heat.
The sensation he had left behind moments ago still felt vividly present.
Thankfully, she hadn't put the scarf back on after leaving the grilled fish restaurant. Su Zai Zai thought with a curved smile.
Su Zai Zai quickly took a shower, opened her suitcase, and organized the things inside.
Cui Yu Xuan sat on a chair, watching Su Zai Zai tidy up.
After a while, she remembered something: "Oh, right, Zai Zai, have you written your social practice report?"
"Ah, yes, I have."
Su Zai Zai placed the laptop from her suitcase on the table and pressed the power button, only to see that the battery was low. Just as she was about to plug in the charger, the brightly lit dorm suddenly plunged into darkness.
Several girls instinctively let out a scream.
Then, Su Zai Zai turned on her phone's flashlight and asked, "Is there a power outage?"
"Let me check." Lin Ke opened the dorm door and peeked at the other rooms. "It seems like it's only our dorm..."
Cui Yu Xuan let out an "ah" and remembered, "Did we forget to pay the electricity bill?"
Su Zai Zai stared gloomily at the computer screen as it went dark. While turning on her phone, she asked, "When is the deadline for the social practice report?"
"I think it's before midnight tonight."
Su Zai Zai nodded and sent Zhang Lu Rang a WeChat message.
—Lùràng, I’m going to use your computer and submit your social practice report for you while I’m at it.
Zhang Lu Rang replied quickly: Mm, it’s in the folder on the desktop.
Su Zai Zai set her own computer aside and placed Zhang Lu Rang’s on the table.
She plugged the USB port of the desk lamp into a power bank and turned it on. The dorm instantly brightened up.
Su Zai Zai took her USB drive out of her backpack and plugged it into the computer.
While waiting for it to load, she glanced at the desktop and clicked on the only folder there.
Inside were dozens of Word documents and Excel spreadsheets. Su Zai Zai skimmed through them and spotted Zhang Lu Rang’s social practice report in the second-to-last row.
Just as she was about to open it to confirm, she noticed another document below it.
The document was named: UCL University Application Form
Su Zai Zai froze for a moment. She licked her lips and instinctively clicked on it to take a look.
After opening it, she suddenly felt it was inappropriate and was about to close it and ask Zhang Lu Rang directly when she saw the applicant’s name.
"Zhang Lu Li"
She stared at the name two or three times, confirming again and again that it wasn’t Zhang Lu Rang before finally letting out a sigh of relief.
Su Zai Zai glanced over it and moved the cursor to the top right corner, but her eyes suddenly stopped at the section for applying to a postgraduate degree.
Her gaze slowly drifted downward.
Date of Birth: September 1997.
Her pupils trembled.
Younger brother, 19 years old, postgraduate student.
—My parents don’t like me.Su Zai Zai lowered her gaze, lost in thought.
Soon, she raised her head again and quietly closed the document.
A few seconds later, she hesitated, then opened it once more.
Clicking on the file, she opened the recently used documents and deleted the record.
By late April, the temperature gradually rose.
The weather was gloomy, often bringing fine, slanting rain.
Withered branches and rotten leaves were replaced by lush green foliage, looking vibrant and full of life.
Half the semester had already passed, and each association was gradually preparing for their leadership transition meetings.
At the beginning of the semester, during a department meeting, Xie Lin Nan also brought up the matter of running for the new department head to the officers.
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