Afterwards, the topic moved on to the girls in their class. Having already met some of them during registration, they described them as best as they could, all filled with anticipation. And following that, the topic expanded to the girls of their entire university as a whole. Conquering female upperclassmen was actually also quite an achievement in their minds.

  “Yanzhou University is full of these female seniors!” Tan Yao said that he had asked some male upperclassmen about this after having arrived here earlier in the day.

  As Tan Yao said, Yanzhou University was a holistic university which focused mainly on the Humanities. While the male to female ratio was not as exaggerated as that in Apple’s school, it was still at least 3:7 on the whole.

  Li Xingming joined his hands together in prayer and thanked the heavens, “There’s hope, there’s hope!”


  As they were chatting, a guy from the neighbouring room knocked on their door, telling them in a hushed, panicked tone, “The school leadership is coming to visit, and there’re still two waves of female seniors behind them! Hurry up and tidy up the place a bit.”


  They hurriedly cleared up the cigarette butts and other miscellaneous items, also spraying a bit of air freshener around the room. Old Wai hid his computer. Afterwards, they began focusing on their hairstyles and clothes. It was fine as long as they did not commit a serious error with the school leadership, and however handsome they looked mattered not with them as well, but……there were still two waves of delectable female upperclassmen who would be arriving after them.

  Tan Yao changed into a stretch vest to many cries of dissatisfaction. He was planning to show off his muscles.

  Having gone around the entire day and still having yet to bathe, Xu Tingsheng was rather dishevelled and dirty. Still, he was instead the least concerned about his appearance. His roommates thought that this made sense. He already had a girlfriend like Apple, what more a female senior?

  The first to arrive were the ones in charge of the university and their faculty. They basically did all that needed officially to be done, welcoming them into the university and asking them how they were finding themselves getting used to the place.

  Jianhai Province was a flourishing province, and Yanzhou City was one of the better ranked cities within it in terms of its economy. With this also being a newly constructed academy city, there was really no fault to be found with the facilities and whatnot here. Therefore, they all sincerely praised the school somewhat to the great satisfaction of the school leadership.

  Xu Tingsheng remained silent, just sitting quietly by the side. However, once they heard that he was Xu Tingsheng, the school leadership went up to him on their own accord, warmly shaking his hand and saying things along the lines of ‘Thank you for choosing Yanzhou University, Xu Tingsheng’ and ‘Welcome to Yanzhou University, Xu Tingsheng’.

  Xu Tingsheng could only randomly answer stuff like ‘It’s my honour to be able to study in Yanzhou University’.

  “You’ll be receiving your admission scholarship money soon.”


  “There’s still money to be had?” Hearing that there would be money, and even ten thousand yuan at that, Xu Tingsheng grew enthusiastic all of a sudden, all smiles as he shook the hands of the school leadership in thanks, “I’d not thought that just attending university alone could net me money.”


  As soon as the school leadership were out of the door, Tan Yao, Lu Xu and the others exploded, “Old Xu, ten thousand, it’s ten thousand……We don’t care, you’ve got to treat us. The location we’ll choose, and the dishes we’ll pick as well.”


  “Fine, just tell me after you’ve chosen the place.”


  “It’s ten thousand, we definitely can’t be too hasty with this. We’ve got to think properly about what to eat. This has got to be a vicious slaughter; we can’t let him off so easily with this one.”


  Amidst their conversation, a clear voice resounded from the doorway, “What ten thousand, vicious slaughter? Is someone treating? Are we female upperclassmen invited as well?”


  A dozen female upperclassmen in their second year of university surged into the room. They hurriedly began moving chairs and wiping bedsheets, inviting these female seniors to sit down.

  Many universities had such a tradition. On matriculation day, the seniors would come to visit their new juniors who had just entered the university. Seeing that it was completely composed of girls over here, there should be many male seniors on the girls’ side right now.

  In Yanzhou University, especially for those studying Chinese, the ‘demand’ for the female students was usually not very high. This was not to say that their quality was low. Instead, it was a situation where supply really far surpassed demand too greatly.

  Actually, these female seniors were anxious as well. Not having entered even a single relationship in university……no one would want that. Therefore, as the male seniors were filled with anticipation at the arrival of their young female juniors, it was not that the female seniors might not harbour such thoughts as well.

  This visit of theirs somewhat contained the purpose of reconnaissance as they would also casually display their womanly charms, attracting these male juniors somewhat.

  The female upperclassmen asked interestedly about the lives of their male juniors. Xu Tingsheng dealt with it noncommittally, and a female senior who was also from Jiannan even gave him her handphone number.

  Xu Tingsheng was currently still using his old number. Having given this number to Xiang Ning, he would never be changing it. Since that was so, he could only buy another handphone, setting up another phone card.

  “I haven’t set up my phone card yet; I’ll do it and send you my number tomorrow,” Xu Tingsheng said apologetically.

  Meanwhile, some female senior was still thinking about the matter of the ten thousand yuan meal that she had overheard over by the doorway. Asked by her, Li Xingming unhesitantly revealed Xu Tingsheng’s university entrance examination results and the admission scholarship money that the school had decided to give to him.

  Immediately, the gazes of the female seniors on Xu Tingsheng all changed.

  First setting that ten thousand yuan aside, one could not make any mistake with such awesome university entrance examination results. Some female seniors who had earlier overlooked Xu Tingsheng, hiding at a corner, now looked at him and immediately realised that other than the flashily charming Tan Yao, there was still another handsome dude hidden within the room. Also, he looked exceptionally calm and mature, his smile genial and composed.

  “This one looks much more reliable,” While Xu Tingsheng was not as dazzling as Tan Yao, as opposed to Tan Yao who flirted with every single one of them who came up to him, he had not yet appeared particularly interested in any one of them. Their hearts having been moved, the feet of the female seniors hereby moved as well.

  Seeing this, Li Xingming immediately regretted his earlier actions. Wasn’t this spoiling his own chances of getting attached?

  Now, he hurriedly continued, “Still, he’ll probably be handing the money over to his wife after getting his hands on it. Xu Tingsheng came with his family.”


  The female upperclassmen who had just arrived before Xu Tingsheng halted, the one also from Jiannan who had already set her eyes on him beforehand asking rather disappointedly, “Your roommate is joking, right?”


  “It’s true! Sister-in-law accompanied Xu Tingsheng here in the afternoon. She’s studying in Shenghai.”


  Before Xu Tingsheng could reply, someone answered the question for him. The one who spoke, unexpectedly, was Zhang Ninglang, having been shy and nervous all this time. This guy seemed to have taken Apple’s earlier words seriously. In saying this, he had been trying to fulfil what Apple had asked of them, helping her to keep a good eye on Xu Tingsheng.

  Still, he had committed an error in saying that final phrase: She’s studying in Shenghai.

  “Long distance relationship-doesn’t this mean that there’s a chance then?” Such thoughts now began surfacing in the minds of some of the female upperclassmen.

  Xu Tingsheng felt very helpless. Just having finished fending off the Year 2 female upperclassmen with quite a bit of difficulty, a wave of Year 3 female upperclassmen then arrived.

  Really feeling spent, Xu Tingsheng made use of the interval after their departure and told his roommates, “I’m heading out to sleep tonight.”


  Having seen Apple in the morning, his roommates all naturally thought that they understood as they let out howling laughter like a wild pack of wolves. Not explaining himself, Xu Tingsheng left the room.

  He waited downstairs for Fu Cheng for a while, after which the two returned to the motel together. Xu Tingsheng knocked on the door to check on Apple. Seeing that she had already sobered up, he reminded her to rest well before heading off to Huang Yaming’s room.

  The three sat down together. Xu Tingsheng spoke about how his female seniors had come to visit earlier, leaving Huang Yaming agitated beyond compare as he wished that his university term could already have begun.

  “Still, there seem to be more boys in your school, and a lot more at that,” Xu Tingsheng dealt him a huge blow.

  Fu Cheng also talked about how it had been for him.

  Now, Apple knocked on the door, asking, “Xu Tingsheng, can you accompany me for a walk?”
……

  Xu Tingsheng and Apple walked the streets of the academy city.

  A couple was arguing by the roadside. Angered, the crying girl flung away her hand and left. The guy also looked to have quite the temper as he just stood there looking in another direction, not trying to go after her.

  Suddenly, Xu Tingsheng’s heart seemed to have been struck by something.

  “Friend,” Xu Tingsheng walked over and said to that guy.

  “Huh?” The guy looked quizzically at him.

  “I’ve just come over from that side,” Xu Tingsheng pointed in the direction in which the crying girl had left, “There’re a few drunk hooligans over there obstructing girls by the roadside……Don’t just stand there, hurry up and go.”


  “Oh……right,” The boy sprinted frantically away after the girl, only leaving behind a yell of thanks.

  There were actually no drunk hooligans over there. It was just that……

  “They should be reconciling very soon,” Xu Tingsheng thought, “What blissful days-you should treasure them well.”


  He thought of that scene back in his previous life, of Xiang Ning crying as she left. Back then, he had not gone after her.

  Never let a crying girl walk away alone.

  Apple watched on from beside him.

  “You have someone you love a lot, right?” Apple asked Xu Tingsheng.

  “Yup, that’s right,” Xu Tingsheng nodded.

  “How much do you love her? ……What I mean is-I want to see if I still have to put in any more effort,” Apple gave a somewhat forced laugh.

  She tried to feign a relaxed manner, but perhaps she had been too enraptured by all that had happened today as she had already unconsciously begun to yearn for this blissfulness.

  “It’s like she’s my lover from my previous life. From my previous life, I’ve already loved her,” Xu Tingsheng spoke the truth, but to others, this might seem like some mushy lovers’ words.

  Apple was silent for a moment before she asked, “Does she love you? The way you were yesterday……was it that she hurt you?”


  Xu Tingsheng was stunned for a while. This was a question that he had actually always avoided considering. In this life, would Xiang Ning still love him? He did not know the answer. As for yesterday’s matter, Xiang Ning’s fear was a completely understandable one. After all, she was still so young, while Xu Tingsheng was just a stranger.

  Even if she had hurt him, there was still no fault on her part. She was still young and insensible, after all. Instead, Xu Tingsheng felt that speaking of hurt, it was he who had hurt Xiang Ning. He had been too impatient and rash, having scared her as a result.

  Xu Tingsheng had not replied, but Apple felt that she already knew the answer.

  She bit her teeth, saying, “How about……I’ll be responsible for loving you. If she doesn’t love you, or if she hurts you due to her insensibility, let me be responsible for loving you. Let me be responsible for protecting you……”


  “You don’t have to give me an answer. If it’s like today, I’ll already be very satisfied.”


  The next afternoon, Xu Tingsheng went to the bus stop and sent off this girl who said that she wanted to protect him.

  Both of them understood that the protection Apple spoke of meant this: Xu Tingsheng, if you’re hurt again in the future, come to me. Where I am, I can help you to recuperate……After you’ve recuperated, you can choose to stay, or you can also choose to leave.

  Originally rational and proficiently calculating, this girl had, this time, blindly……forgotten all about benefits or detriments.