Chapter 55 - Singing Softly

“Lu Weiguang, I don’t like flowers,” said Yang Qingyin with a cold, hostile glare. Then, in a not-so-loud but very clear voice, she told the now awkward Lu Weiguang, “Stop this. Go back to your room.”

Without even waiting for him to react, she turned and left. As she turned, she stole a glance at the spot where Luo Ziling stood. Her eyes remained fixated on him the entire time. Sensing her gaze, a dumb, subtle smile broke across Luo Ziling’s face.

Everyone went silent the moment Yang Qingyin opened her mouth.

There was no need for her to yell out loudly as everyone on the scene was able to pick up her message quite clearly. She had rejected him. She had rejected the man who many girls agreed was the most attractive student on campus.

Some were ecstatic, but a lot more felt disappointed.

What a romantic and beautiful event this was supposed to be. However, due to Yang Qingyin’s unconditional rejection, it turned into a pathetic sob story.

This was the ultimate tragedy, at least in Lu Weiguang’s opinion.

Many pairs of sympathetic eyes looked at him. He was rooted in place, clueless as to what he was supposed to do next. His heart and soul had been utterly crushed tonight.

Even his “reinforcement troops” were dumbfounded. They didn’t know whether they should continue chanting to perhaps persuade Yang Qingyin to change her mind, or to wave the white flag and retreat.

Finally, after his senses had returned, Lu Weiguang looked over to where Luo Ziling was standing just now, only to gasp in shock. “He’s not there?!”

Luo Ziling had, in fact, dragged Cao Jianhui away from the scene moments after Yang Qinying cold-heartedly rejected Lu Weiguang.

“Aren’t we gonna stay and observe the aftermath?” asked Cao Jianhui. “I just wanna see that dude fail, y’know what I mean? God, it feels great to see someone better than me get toyed with like that!”

“Well, we’ve seen what happened. What if he suddenly decides to use us as his punching bag?”

Luo Ziling’s words piqued Cao Jianhui’s interest. Curiously, he asked, “Boss, could it be that you actually have some kind of a secret relationship with Yang Qingyin?”

The realization had finally set in. Yang Qingyin wasn’t smiling at him just now. No, he had made a grave mistake. She was smiling at Luo Ziling for God’s sake! And considering Luo Ziling’s pretty boy looks, as well as his sudden surge in popularity among the girls, it wasn’t too far-fetched to say that Yang Qingyin might’ve fallen for him.

This thought sparked a raging fire that burned within Cao Jianhui’s chest. “Boss, what I’m saying is true, isn’t it?”

His question was only met with a silent smile from Luo Ziling, which further confirmed his suspicion.

“Oh piss off!” said Luo Ziling, kicking Cao Jianhui in the leg. “Stop spouting nonsense like that. I’ll execute you for committing blasphemy!”

Cao Jianhui’s face twisted in pain as he massaged the afflicted area on his leg. “Boss, ain’t that a good thing? If you manage to get with Yang Qingyin, you’ll truly shock the entire university. I’m telling ya, you’ll become the God of the campus! Maybe your popularity will rub off on us too!”

Luo Ziling ignored Cao Jianhui’s nonsense and walked back to his room.

Still, Cao Jianhui wasn’t too bothered by Luo Ziling’s cold reaction. In fact, he started giggling like a fool. “Or maybe you already have someone else that you’re interested in? Ah, I know, its gotta be Ouyang Huihui! Ha ha, I swear to God you guys must be secret lovers or something! C’mon, who are you fooling? I will say, that girl’s pretty hot too! She’s got a pretty nice body and she must come from a wealthy family to be able to afford that car of hers. Hmm, the more I think about it, the more likely she seems to be your girl. Oh right! What were you guys up to earlier today? Tell me the truth! Or you shall be punished severely!”

“Are you here to get your degree or are you here to hook up with girls?” lectured Luo Ziling. “Stop yapping and go to sleep. We have military drills tomorrow, remember? Speak one more word and I’ll punch you in the throat.”

“Aight man. I’ll make you talk sooner or later.”

There were other people around so Cao Jianhui had no choice but to make a tactical retreat for now. He was visibly saddened that he wasn’t able to get a photo of Yang Qingyin from the front. For the first time in forever, he was able to get a close-up look of her face, but he had been so entranced that he had forgotten to take a picture.

Upon returning to his room, Cao Jianhui booted up his laptop and started browsing the school’s official forum to catch up on the latest news. Luo Ziling scanned through the webpage too, but realizing that there weren’t going to be anymore “ground-breaking discoveries”, he lost interest rather quickly.

Luo Ziling was feeling a little excited, but for what, he had no idea. Laying on his bed, he started toying with his phone.

Halfway through his casual gaming session, the notification chime of his phone rang, indicating that a new friend had added him on WeChat. Tapping on the pop-up, it was revealed that this new friend was under the alias of ‘Singing Softly’. After a brief moment of contemplation, he decided to accept the friend request.

Immediately after adding her, he started browsing through her friends list. Much to his disappointment, her friends list was as sparsely populated as the snowy plains of Siberia. Worse still, there wasn’t even a single photo of this “new friend” no matter how hard Luo Ziling scrolled and tapped.

Just as he was about to call it a day in disappointment, Singing Softly sent him a message.

‘Thank you for your help. You really are the descendent of a holy healer.’ The message was followed up with a few cutesy emojis.

Upon reading that, Luo Ziling felt a warmth rise up within him. He was initially unsure whether or not this was Yang Qingyin’s WeChat account, but that doubt had quickly faded away.

Luo Ziling typed his reply at the speed of light, making sure to also add two smiley faces at the end of his message. ‘Didn’t I say that my healing abilities are god-like? Don’t tell me you doubted me at first?’

‘This little girl’s waiting for her prescription,’ sent the other person with yet another pair of cute emojis.

‘No problemo. When the opportunity arises, I’ll come personally to make you healthier than ever.’

‘I sincerely appreciate that.’

Staring at his screen, Luo Ziling now had no idea what to talk about.

Right around then, he noticed a new thread his virtual friend had started. Tapping on it, he saw Yang Qingyin’s comment on a photo of him in a full military uniform.

‘He does look quite stunning. He’s a looker.’ There were two hand over mouth emojis at the end of her comment.

Luo Ziling was thrilled at his discovery. Hastily, he typed out on his phone: ‘Why don’t I see you in your friend’s pictures?’

‘Because I don’t enjoy the attention as much as others do.’ Again, Yang Qingyin included an emoji at the end of her message, this time showing a face of contempt.

‘Then, how about sending me one of your best pictures?’ Luo Ziling thought about deleting this line, but in the end, he decided to hit the send button.

He felt uneasy after sending the message, fearing that she would ghost him or downright reject him. What surprised him however, was that Yang Qingyin did not reject him. After a few seconds, she replied with a photo of her in a traditional dress.

Luo Ziling’s heart started pumping wildly after seeing the girl on his screen.

​ ‘Don’t let anyone else see this.’ This time, Yang Qingyin chose to go with a spying eye emoji.

‘I’ll save it for my own enjoyment then.’

‘I’m tired. Gonna sleep now,’ she replied, with a yawning emoji.

‘Sleep early, wake up early, and you’re set to live a healthy life. Goodnight, gonna hit the sack too.’

In the end, none of them even spoke of the event that happened that night.