Chapter 11.5: The First Snow
When did they start to establish such good rapport with each other? She put her hand on his knee. He sat quietly and comfortably next to her? It seemed everything had changed from exerting a subtle influence to heaven’s law and earth’s principle (a Chinese idiom meaning perfectly justified).
An Ning thought of the first time meeting him. According to her memory, it was at the university’s library, which was six months ago. She lent him her own library card. At that time, he turned around and said thank you indifferently. Really very indifferent, making her couldn’t help but thought whether all handsome guys are also so cool and pay no attention to other people? It was hard to imagine she has now become the girlfriend of this popular person. She will not say that she was astonished, but she still felt life is unpredictable. She did not know why he was attracted to her? Uh, according to him, he had been attracted to her for several years.
At this moment, Xu Mo Ting spoke softly, “If you continue to stare at me, I might feel embarra.s.sed.”
Taking a deep breath, An Ning turned her head. He looked cool like floating clouds.
“Leader, you don’t accompany us to drink but chatting only with sister-in-law. You are too much ah.” Someone protested.
Leader Xu was in a good mood today, so he smiled and replied: “Why the complaint?”
Of course they complained, because he was the only one to have a girlfriend. All the others were still bachelor, too cruel and too ruthless, “How about letting sister-in-law accompany us to drink a few gla.s.ses?”
Lao San thought he finally has the opportunity to witness what is called a ‘strategic blunder may eventually lead to devastating consequences’?
“Okay.” Sister-in-law replied amiably.
Thus, a year after Lao San called the brilliant and awesome Xu Mo Ting leader, he has another object of worship in sister-in-law—— the first time seeing a girl able to drink so spontaneously and bottomless ability to consume alcohol.
Zhang Qi cannot help but lamented, “Sister-in-law has been hiding her true color ah.”
An Ning also lamented because every time she also wanted to reveal her true color, but the person next to her always called her to drink less. Hence it was rare for Xu Mo Ting to act out of character today, “In that case, has to trouble wifey to drink the wine la.” Afterwards, he really only drank fruit juice at the side.
On that day, Lao San got drunk and sang: “If take a wife, must marry someone who is a master in pen and sword like sister-in-law!”
Every male who was present was also jealous of Xu Mo Ting —— girlfriend was drinking wine (he was drinking fruit juice). Nevertheless, the crucial point was that she is a beautiful woman! Whereas the female decided to give up after considering the strength of the opponent. Moreover, Xu Mo Ting was the cloud at the ends of the earth. You may admire him, but if you really want to get him, it was still considerably difficult. Furthermore he has now made it clear that he was already taken!
Only Xu Cheng Yu heaved a sigh in her heart that her cousin brother was still that high and mighty as before ah.
As for An Ning who enjoys drinking, her mood was actually very joyful. It can be said her drinking ability was a level above Qiang Wei. When she was a child, her parents were busy. Hence she followed her grandfather and hanged out with him in the tavern at the rural–urban fringe. Grandfather also strongly believed that a little girl should be trained to drink from young. There was nothing inappropriate to drink some rice wine. After many years of practice, she naturally acquired an increase capacity for liquor. After her father got promoted and transferred to the big city, she rarely drank. When she was in junior high school, she would go and stayed with her grandfather during the holidays and accompanied him to drink. During her third year in junior middle school, her grandfather pa.s.sed away and the family house in the outskirts was subsequently sold. Afterwards, she really rarely touched wine.
When An Ning was drinking, the more she drank, the more silent she became. Therefore those people who wanted to take the opportunity to talk about a certain topic basically failed to achieve that.
Xu Mo Ting left midway to go and answer a phone call. Because of jealousy, Lao San started to sow seeds of discord, “Sister-in-law cannot protect the leader so blindly ah! I tell you, although the leader looks sanctimonious, he is actually capable of doing anything. I remembered when he had just transferred to X University, normally people unfamiliar with the new environment should be a little more humble —— Aiya, I cannot bear to think of the past! I won’t mention how he treated the guys but he was also very hard-hearted in his treatment of the girls, very heartless ah! For instance, the prettiest girl in the Faculty of Foreign Languages —— Aiya Aiya, I really don’t know how to say it properly.”
An Ning was silent because he basically did not say anything! She was disappointed as she was a little interested. In fact, she was very interested. She looked at Mo Ting and it seemed that he’ll still be on the phone for a while longer. How about seizing the opportunity to quickly ask vaguely? “Lao San senior ——” Before she could finish her sentence, she saw Lao San retched twice, covered his mouth with his hands and madly rushed out the door.
An Ning was stunned for a moment and forced to continue her sentence, “Take care of yourself.”
Cheng Yu came over to chat with An Ning, “Let’s talk about the important things. I will stop when my cousin brother comes back!”
An Ning sweated why he seemed like severe flood and fierce beast (Chinese idiom meaning extremely dangerous or threatening thing)? Appearing like she was prepared to talk about anything, “What do you want to talk about?” This made her felt like she was some kind of hostess in a bar.
“My cousin brother is very difficult to deal with, right?”
An Ning started to think about the so-called ‘important things’ …… “Oh, he is actually okay.”
“Hey, did you have close contact with him?” Cheng Yu saw the other person was clearly shocked by her question. Thus she had no option but to change her wordings, “My cousin brother has been one who is hard to get along with others since young. Even with acquaintances, he also won’t talk much. Hence I am very curious ah!”
An Ning coughed once and said, “No.”
Suddenly she remembered a particular night that was really terrible! That must be an illusion in dreamland. Amen!
At this time, that very difficult person was already walking towards them. The person next to her immediately scattered like birds (fled).
When he walked to her side, An Ning calmly took the lead to start a topic of conversation, “Did you bully your cousin sister since childhood ah?” Look, she was afraid of you until like this.
Mo Ting was not interested to discuss further on this topic, but instead asked, “How much have you drunk? Your face is a little red.” She seemed a little drunk. Xu Mo Ting pondered slightly, then smiled, “Do you want to go back?”
“Don’t want.” An Ning shook her head.
Mo Ting leaned over and murmured, “But I want to go back.”
An Ning still felt a little embarra.s.sed. Xu Mo Ting swooped in on her and said seriously: “If you want to drink some more, you can still drink when you are back home, okay?”
They watched helplessly as the beautiful woman was taken away. Lao San who had come back, shook his head, “Leader was obviously —— not what a gentleman will do ah.”
Some drunken people shouted: “When have the leader ever been a gentleman?”
“……” Xu Mo Ting who had just gone out the door, sighed. Let it be as he will settle the scores at an opportune moment later.
An Ning got into the car and drowsily wanted to take the phone out of her pocket.
“What else now?” He laughed out.
An Ning’s mind was not very fuzzy, but the alcohol was bubbling up to make her feel uncomfortable, “Make a telephone call.”
“Call who?” Someone raised his eyebrows slightly. Then a strong arm held her falling body.
“Roommate.” An Ning rested her head on his shoulder, “I want to sleep.”
Faintly, a soft and warm towel wiped her face and neck, making her feel comfortable briefly. She also felt fingers were stroking lightly at the s.p.a.ce between her eyebrows and lips. An Ning slowly opened her eyes, only to discover she was already lying on the bed. She habitually moved sideways and wrapped herself with the quilt. The mattress next to her sank and she heard some mutterings, making her felt completely relaxed. Subsequently, she felt tired and fell asleep.
At dawn, Xu Mo Ting went to a park nearby to jog and also brought back breakfast. After he returned to his residence, he took a bath and changed his clothes. Soon after, he switched on the computer to work. At eight plus, An Ning’s mobile phone rang. Xu Mo Ting looked askance at the name displayed and answered the call.
“An Ning, sorry to bother you but you should have waken up? I’ve an appointment to have a meal together with Wei Wei today, you—— ”
Mo Ting moved the mouse and unhurriedly said: “She is still asleep.”
“……” Jiang Xu.
An hour later, Xu Mo Ting switched off the computer. To his surprise, he discovered it was snowing outside the window. It seemed the person on the bed meant to sleep until the end of time. He walked over, knelt down on the rug beside the bed and reached out to lightly touch her face, “Li An Ning, it is snowing now.”
“Li An Ning, you arrived late thirteen times in this semester ah—— ” Some of the senior teachers also did not want to further criticize this top student. It was no trivial matter to have marks deducted from grades for being late frequently.
“Well …… teacher, it is snowing today.” A seventeen years old little girl with fair and clear skin. Her voice was gentle and sweet sounding. She also appeared especially well-behaved and sensible.
The teacher will not be able to be ruthless to this kind of student and ultimately said, “It is cold today but other people did not arrive late. Okay, I’ll let you off this time but you must not be late again next time.”
“Okay ……” Followed by the phrase “I’ll try my best” being said softly. Thus the departing teacher naturally did not hear it. However An Ning reckoned with this kind of weather, she will still not be able to get up on time tomorrow.
At this moment, two tall boys pa.s.sed by from behind her. One even turned around and smiled at her. Naturally, An Ning did not know him. Since he came from the east side of the corridor, he should be from the cla.s.s next door. That person who did not turn around was wearing a white coat. His well-built and straight silhouette appeared quite attractive and relaxed.
“An Ning.” A fellow student from her own cla.s.s yelled to her from the window. An Ning reluctantly went in. The college entrance examination ah, to succeed or die trying. There was still half a year more but she had already felt a little unable to breathe easily. It was not pressure from herself, but the atmosphere inside.
She turned around to look at the fluttering snowflake outside the corridor. She really wanted to hibernate ah.
An Ning gradually woke up but her facial expression was somewhat hazy because she still wanted to sleep and her head was a little sore. Moreover it was so nice and warm inside the quilt.
“Hey.” He greeted her languidly. An Ning turned her head and came into contact with the line of sight of the person at the bedside. She cannot help but blinked, “Good morning! (Literal translation is good early)”
Mo Ting smiled and slowly said, “Not early anymore. After you get up, we can go to eat lunch.”
An Ning was fully awake, sat up and was about to offer to treat him lunch but her lips was sealed.
After being taken full advantage of, An Ning looked at the time. Only a little after nine? Who eats lunch so early?!
After washing the face, rinsing the mouth and dressed neatly, she asked in a probing voice. Her tone sounded like she wanted to get a negative response, “Then do you still want to go to eat lunch with me?”
“Of course, since I’ve nothing to do anyway.”
What kind of reason was that? When they were going out, she smiled and hugged his arm, pretending to act intimately. Then she asked: “Well, did I do anything unbecoming yesterday ah?”
The other person looked askance at her, “Well?”
“Meaning did I talk nonsense or ——” Was that clear enough now? However An Ning believed she certainly did not. It is said that she is particularly quiet after getting drunk.
“No.”
An Ning felt relieved. Then the other person added: “Except hugging me tightly and not letting go the whole night.”
“……”
The other person appeared very easy to talk things over with, “An Ning, since it is already like this, when are we getting married?”
“…………”