V3 Chapter 4: What an Awful Name
“You, you really came?”
The woman in front of him was petite and delicate, with delicate features, the typical appearance of a Jiangnan beauty. Her shoulders were narrow, making her look particularly slender, the kind of girl who could easily arouse a man’s protective instincts. In Lu Li’s mind, Chen Jianing was two-faced. She was always timid and hesitant in front of strangers, but boisterous and impulsive with those close to her. She was a bit like An Baili, but even more extreme.
Oh, and her most prominent characteristic was her love for saying the opposite of what she meant.
“Didn’t I say I was coming for you? Orochimaru, you really messed me up.” Lu Li said with a frown. “This is a great place, isn’t it? No one around, no one would know if I did anything to you, right?”
“You followed me?” Chen Jianing suddenly looked behind him. “Professor Wang, you’re here too?”
Lu Li didn’t turn around, just looked at Chen Jianing’s performance with a knowing smile. Chen Jianing swallowed and took two steps back. “Why didn’t you fall for it?”
Seeing Lu Li’s composed demeanor, she simply spread her arms. “Do whatever you want to me, I’ll consider it being bitten by a dog!”
If Lu Li wasn’t familiar with this girl’s temperament, he might have actually believed her words. Chen Jianing had the habit of carrying pepper spray with her. If he let his guard down and got close to her, he would definitely get a face full of pepper spray. She was, after all, a woman who could survive on her own in Mulan City, not a delicate young lady like Chu Jingyi.
Lu Li put on a lecherous expression. “Although you’re not that good-looking, you’re still a woman, hehe.” Chen Jianing’s shoulders slumped, suppressing her fear, and said tremblingly, “Re-really here? At least, at least find a hotel…”
“I can’t hold back anymore.” After saying that, he made a move to hug her. Chen Jianing suddenly pulled out a bottle of pepper spray from her pocket, a triumphant smirk appearing on her face. Just as she was about to press the nozzle, she suddenly felt her wrist tighten. Lu Li’s large hand had grabbed her right hand and snatched the pepper spray away.
“You…”
Lu Li shook his head inwardly. The current Chen Jianing was still a bit naive. If this were his past life, she would have already delivered a groin kick, even harder than Sister Yameng’s. How did he know? Well… it wasn’t convenient to reveal that. “Do you have any other tricks?” Lu Li tossed the pepper spray onto the grass.
Chen Jianing bit her lower lip, stared at Lu Li, and said nothing.
Words were meaningless now. She was just a small girl, with no advantage against a tall and strong man. And this was the most secluded spot by the river. Even if she screamed, it was unlikely that anyone would hear her.
This is terrible… I should have stayed in the dorm… If I hadn’t argued with them, I wouldn’t have encountered this pervert… She regretted it in her heart. The more she thought about it, the more wronged and regretful she felt. Then she thought of her parents who gave birth to her and raised her. The thought of her body being defiled by a pervert made her tears flow uncontrollably.
“Don’t cry.” Lu Li’s heart softened, and he no longer felt like teasing Chen Jianing. The anger in his heart had also vanished. “I was just kidding.”
Chen Jianing wiped her tears. “…Weren’t you here to cause trouble for me?”
“I was going to cause trouble for you. But seeing you in person, I’m not so angry anymore.” That was just mean.
“Who jokes like that?” Her tone was a bit angry.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry.”
“You, you were really joking?” Chen Jianing still couldn’t quite believe it.
“Yes, yes. My name is Lu Li. I’m the developer of ***. We’ve talked on Valve.” Lu Li quickly explained.
Chen Jianing’s tears gradually stopped. She pouted and looked at Lu Li. “My name is Chen Jianing.”
My name is Chen Jianing. These simple words suddenly struck Lu Li’s heart. He felt as if he was back in his past life, meeting Chen Jianing for the first time. His first encounter with Chen Jianing was always accompanied by comical conflicts. The two of them, with completely different ideas, actually became business partners. Fate was truly wonderful.
“Can I go now?” Chen Jianing’s voice was still weak. “I have an appointment with a classmate at school.” An appointment with a classmate? It was clearly just an excuse to slip away.
“I won’t call the police about the doxing. Let’s just call it even, okay?” Chen Jianing asked weakly.
It seemed like he had backfired. Lu Li forced a smile. It seemed like he had made Chen Jianing distrust him. As expected, jokes should only be made between close acquaintances. “I’m sorry, I went too far with the joke.”
Chen Jianing didn’t reply, just snorted and ran away without looking back. Lu Li watched the little tiger flee in panic, feeling a little lost and guilty. Fate was truly a wonderful thing. They were fated in his past life, but in this life, were they fated to have no connection?
Ultimately, it was his habitual thinking at fault. He had been treating the current Chen Jianing as the Chen Jianing from his past life.
Feeling down, Lu Li sat by the river, watching the wind ripple the water’s surface and seeing a wagtail fly by. Before meeting Chen Jianing, he had imagined many conversations in his mind. He thought about bringing Chen Jianing into his development team, and he thought about helping her mediate her interpersonal relationships. But in the end, he suddenly realized that he was taking himself too seriously. He wasn’t a saint, how could everyone like him?
He deserved it.
He picked up a stone and skipped it across the water. He was an expert at skipping stones. He could make a stone bounce twelve times on the water at most. It didn’t seem bad to empty his mind like this and entertain himself by skipping stones. Just as Lu Li was engrossed in skipping stones, he heard rustling footsteps behind him.
“You’re still here?” It was Chen Jianing.
Lu Li’s mentality had changed now, and he was much calmer. “Why are you back?”
“It’s past two in the afternoon now, I’ve already had lunch. You’ve been skipping stones here for four hours?” Chen Jianing was a bit surprised. Lu Li only then noticed that she was dragging a suitcase behind her.
It had already been four hours? No wonder he was a little hungry. Lu Li continued skipping stones while saying, “I was just thinking about something, and I lost track of time.”
I like to think here too. Chen Jianing thought to herself. She scrutinized Lu Li and saw that he was still engrossed in skipping stones. A strange feeling arose in her heart, a mixture of empathy and schadenfreude. “I say, you didn’t come here to skip stones alone because you had a fight with someone, did you?”
“Yeah, someone like you who makes inappropriate jokes without considering the situation must be very unpopular.” Chen Jianing repeated what others had said to her, trying to strike a blow at Lu Li. She wanted to see Lu Li jump up and down, as if looking in a mirror.
However, Lu Li just smiled faintly and nodded. “Maybe.” He didn’t think he was a likable person either. He had always had very few friends. People always liked to associate loneliness with genius, but the truth was, genius was genius, and loneliness was loneliness.
Chen Jianing felt like she had punched cotton. She angrily dropped her suitcase and sat on the grass, lost in thought.
“What? Not afraid of me anymore?”
“If you were really a bad guy, something would have happened to me this morning.” She hugged her knees and stared blankly at the river. “I’m not stupid. After thinking about it carefully, I understood. You were just making a bad joke. Of course, you’re not a good person either. Good people don’t dox others.”
I didn’t dox you. Lu Li defended himself in his mind. I know you too well, why would I need to dox you?
Chen Jianing didn’t know why she came back here. After leaving Lu Li in the morning, she returned to the dorm. During lunch, she had another conflict with her roommates. After a big fight, she finally decided to move out and live alone. But after dragging her suitcase out of the school gate, lacking life experience, she didn’t know where to rent an apartment. After wandering around, she ended up back at the riverside she frequented, dragging her suitcase.
“Hey, what’s your name?” She suddenly called out to Lu Li.
“Didn’t I tell you already?”
“I forgot.”
So annoying.
“My name is Lu Li.” By the river, the stone skipped across the water, making a clear “plop” sound, forming a refreshing picture with the young man’s elegant posture.
“What an awful name.” She suddenly laughed, like an elf.
This was Lu Li and Chen Jianing’s first meeting in Mulan City, and it was also the last moment of peace before the storm arrived.
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