“How about we have a graduation party for the literature club before we graduate?” Chen Wenwen suggested.
A cheer erupted from the group, and Lu Mingfei was caught up in the excitement. Chen Wenwen’s suggestions were hardly ever opposed in the literature club. Zhao Menghua joked that Chen Wenwen was like Liu Bei of the literature club, possessing an absolute charm that attracted men.
“A dinner? Boring, I’m on a diet,” Su Xiaoqian replied coldly.
Nobody had expected Su Xiaoqian to lower herself to join the literature club. The presidents of the tennis club and billiards club were both admirers of Su Xiaoqian, eagerly inviting her, but she hadn’t given them a second glance and instead joined the club that was their rival. It didn’t look like she was there to join in; it seemed more like she was there to stir up trouble. Su Xiaoqian’s target wasn’t Chen Wenwen, but rather Zhao Menghua, and she was quite open and boisterous about it. When treating the girls to pizza, she suddenly stood up, raised a glass of beer, and declared that she was treating everyone because she liked Zhao Menghua. Anyone who wanted to compete with her should come at her; she wasn’t afraid of a crowd!
How imposing!
“Instead of dinner, let’s book a small cinema hall and watch a movie,” Chen Wenwen suggested.
Lu Mingfei’s heart skipped a beat, and Nono’s words echoed in his ears. A small cinema hall? Wasn’t that too generous? It sounded like a venue perfectly prepared for his confession!
“What should we watch?” someone asked.
“Let’s watch ‘WALL-E’,” Chen Wenwen replied.
“‘WALL-E’? Sure! Let’s sneak in some snacks,” Zhao Menghua said, the English enthusiast who never watched dubbed movies and only referred to blockbusters by their English titles.
“I’ll bring popcorn and cola; I won’t handle anything else!” The little princess chimed in with great enthusiasm.
“Then we’re a perfect match; I’ll handle the popcorn and cola,” Lu Mingfei found himself speaking out again.
“Cut it out! Who’s your perfect match?” The little princess shot him a look of complete disdain.
Everyone began to chatter excitedly, the atmosphere rising. Booking a theater for a heartwarming animated film before graduation sounded like a fantastic memory.
A heartwarming animated film! The key part was “with love!” Lu Mingfei felt as if flowers were blooming in his heart.
As if by some unseen suggestion, Chen Wenwen chose “WALL-E.” The movie’s protagonist is a dusty little robot named WALL-E, a trash-collecting fellow who falls in love with the princess-like, pure white robot girl EVE. Lu Mingfei had watched it several times. He felt shy to admit that he had cried at the last scene, where WALL-E was crushed into scrap by the evil captain robot, and EVE rushed to find parts to save him, hugging WALL-E and breaking through the sound barrier.
That was probably what love was about; even a little garbage-collecting robot had its springtime! Lu Mingfei found it incredibly touching.
“Lu Mingfei, you go buy the tickets with me. Everyone can give their money to you,” Chen Wenwen said.
The group chimed in agreement. As the literature club’s council member, Lu Mingfei’s main task was to collect money and run errands. It was customary for him to handle this job.
However, this time, Chen Wenwen said she wanted to go along.
On the same path, walking with certain people felt absurdly long, while with others, it felt too short to bear.
Lu Mingfei and Chen Wenwen strolled along the cobbled riverside path, taking their time. They walked this path every day after school, but suddenly he felt it was infuriatingly short. Why didn’t the city government spend a little more money to extend this pedestrian street to fifty kilometers long?
“Lu Mingfei, which school do you want to apply to?” Chen Wenwen asked.
They had just booked the theater and then he accompanied Chen Wenwen to buy a bag of bluebells. Lu Mingfei casually checked the price of roses, which didn’t seem too expensive outside of holidays; he could manage to scrape together enough for ninety-nine of them. Now, with Chen Wenwen holding a bag of bluebells, they strolled home together, and for the first time, Lu Mingfei realized that Chen Wenwen’s house was actually not far from his. Chen Wenwen wore that white cotton dress from the start of school, and it had a lovely scent.
“Anywhere, as long as I can get in,” Lu Mingfei said. He felt too shy to mention that the people from Cassell College said he had passed the interview.
“Will you apply locally?”
Lu Mingfei’s heart raced. He thought Chen Wenwen was quietly asking him where he planned to take the exam. There was a chance!
“Anywhere, a school with plenty of classmates would be best.”
Chen Wenwen smiled silently, giving a soft “Mm-hmm.”
They walked quietly, heads down. Lu Mingfei counted his steps, feeling happy as if there was a subtle understanding between him and Chen Wenwen.
“Hey, why do you look so shy?” a voice called out from across the street.
Lu Mingfei looked up in shock. The girl facing him lowered her large sunglasses, rolled her eyes at him, and mimicked deer antlers with her hands, loudly saying, “Hi! Hi!”
Lu Mingfei understood where Nono’s warm familiarity came from; it was all for Chen Wenwen’s benefit. He had experienced this little witch’s antics before.
“Is she your friend?” Chen Wenwen asked, a little embarrassed, feeling overshadowed by Nono’s little princess aura.
“Um, yeah,” Lu Mingfei stammered.
“Hi! What a coincidence!” Nono jumped in front of Chen Wenwen. “This must be Chen Wenwen, right?”
“How do you know my name?” Chen Wenwen was startled.
“I heard him say it; he said…” Nono suddenly stopped, widening her eyes as she looked at Lu Mingfei. “Right! You still owe me ice cream, don’t you?”
Extortion! This was outright extortion!