Chapter 8 Preparations Before the Date

  At noon, I was about to go to the cafeteria for lunch. As soon as I walked out of the classroom door, I almost bumped into someone coming towards me, scaring me into a soft cry. The teacher in front of me, wearing a floral dress, also clutched at her chest and took a sharp breath.

  "Rice, come here, teacher has something to say to you." White Teacher calmed down a bit, pulled me over to lean on the railing, under the teaching building that had just finished school, with people crowded together. "There have been many rumors lately, if there's anything difficult, you can tell the teacher, okay?"

  Looking at Bai Laoshi with a slightly tense expression, she didn't know how to start the conversation for a moment. Had she found out about everything, including what happened at the bar...?

  "By the way, Li Xiaoran has already hired a tutor for herself, so you don't need to help her with her studies anymore." Teacher Bai patted my shoulder lightly and smiled warmly, "Don't worry about it, the final exams are coming up soon, just focus on your own studies. The teacher believes in you! Alright, go eat now!"

  Watching Mr. Bai's back fade into the distance, I clenched my fists and secretly decided that tonight's appointment would be a good opportunity to settle things with Zhang Ze Yu once and for all.

  Yesterday, we agreed that Yuexi would also accompany me, saying it was to give me courage, but in fact she wanted to take the opportunity to see Jidong. I didn't understand this point, and I've been treating her as my best friend for so many years. After being exposed by me, she still said with a face full of disdain: The devilish man might even make you his wife, who needs me to protect you?

  At the entrance of "Tea Enthusiast's Voice and Color", I carefully looked inside for a while, didn't find anything strange, then pushed open the door and went in. At a glance, I saw Ruoxi sitting at the bar, playing with her fingers out of boredom. She was wearing the leopard-print short skirt and high heels from the masquerade ball that day, with light makeup on. Seeing me come in, she immediately stood up, swayed her hips as she walked towards me, stretched out two fingers to lift my chin, and batted her eyelashes at me who was stunned.

  "Hey little girl, give your big sister a smile!" The way he spoke was like someone was choking his neck, it gave me goosebumps.

  I stretched out two paws and beckoned to her rosy face, pinched it, and gently shook: "Dressed up so solemnly, are you going to confess?"

  "This girl is still observing, besides, which girl confesses first!" She slapped down my dishonest hand, slightly pouting her mouth, and scanned me up and down with her eyes, incredulously saying: "How come you're still wearing this school uniform, aren't you tired of it?! Today's not busy either, let's hurry back and change clothes!" As she spoke, she busied herself cleaning up the remaining things and preparing to close the shop.

  "I don't want it! This is for the best!" I shook my head desperately, "There aren't any good clothes in the dorm room either..."

  "You're dressed like that and you don't expect to draw attention? And you don't think about how all those rumors would spread!" She said, busily with her hands, without turning her head.

  I was stunned for a moment, it seems that my brain has been really dull lately, and I can only think about schoolwork. A light punch on the forehead, and I let out a sigh. Ruoxi tidied up the store and pulled me out by the hand, and I cooperated with her as soon as I came to my senses.

  "Go back and change into that evening dress, we'll have a partner then!" She sighed with a look of nostalgia, "It's like going back to that night again, ah~ Ah? But where did you hide, I went out and couldn't find anyone." Leaning in close to me, she smiled slyly and said: "Or perhaps you had a romantic encounter?"

  "Ah, you're really something else!" I turned my head to the other side, my face slightly flushed, clearing my throat, and intentionally said loudly, "If you keep talking nonsense, don't blame me for not helping you!"

  "?? Creek's nerves were quite large, and it seemed that he hadn't noticed my abnormality. Instead, he clasped his hands together and raised them to his forehead in a reverent gesture: "Sorry, my good Mimi! You must help me, I think only you can invite that vegetable."

  "Huh......vegetables?"

  "Didn't you call him Winter Melon?!"

  ??***

  I opened the dormitory door, a small single room that I had tidied up neatly. Yu Xi, who was here for the first time, rushed in ahead of me, her mouth agape as if she had swallowed a fist, and let out an exclamation of admiration. I gave her a glance and walked past her to open the small wardrobe, rummaging through it for suitable clothes.

  "People who are busy studying, living in a messy place is normal..." As she spoke, she lay down on the snow-white bed sheet, "The bed is so comfortable, it smells good!" She said as she rolled over and grabbed a brown teddy bear with faded color from the head of the bed, "Huh... you still have this thing, how long has it been?!"

  Xiao Xi was talking loudly beside me, seeing that I didn't respond to a single sentence, she flipped down from the bed and walked to my side. I happened to dig out a set of gray casual shorts and held them up in front of her.

  "This should be fine, it won't draw too much attention." He said as he was about to go change.

  "Hey, what's wrong with this? We're not going to a sports field! Hurry up and find something else! How about that pink lace dress from last time? It was great! Go, go, go!" She stuffed me into the closet.

  I leaned against the wardrobe door and looked at her with a bit of helplessness: "Sister, where is that piece of clothing at home? Even if I dig three feet here, it's not going to be found!"

  The clothes were actually stuffed in the corner at the very bottom, I'd rather die than wear them again, wouldn't that be like asking for trouble? But seeing Ruoxi's eyes gleaming with a determined look of not giving up until she found what she was satisfied with, I was afraid she would personally help me pick out clothes, so I had no choice but to continue rummaging through the clothes.

  After rummaging for half a day, I finally found a plain white dress with a fitted top and a pleated skirt that fell just above the knee. It was very simple, without even a single flower pattern. This one was still passable. Then I held it up in front of Ruoxi, who supported her chin with her hand, thoughtfully sizing it up for a while, looking serious like a professional.

  "Never mind, this one will do." She glanced at the clock on the wall and saw that the hour and minute hands had overlapped, so she urged me to change, "Time is almost up, hurry up!"

  When I finally dressed and stood in front of her, she still had a slight pout on her face, her eyes darting up and down, her gaze fixed on my lower body. "Shoes, don't you have black leather shoes?" She looked around and finally pulled out a pair of shiny round-toed black leather shoes from under the bed, which I wore to the dance last time. My heart suddenly tightened, and I glanced at Ruoxi, but she didn't react. Fortunately, this shoe doesn't seem to be very eye-catching, and after careful examination, it's just an ordinary pair of leather shoes.

  "It's a bit mismatched, but there isn't anything better, so I'll just have to make do with this." She muttered to herself as she started to crouch down and put it on for me personally.

  She stood up straight with her hands on her hips, then she started sizing me up again. Her gaze circled around a few times before stopping at my face. She clapped her hands together and her slightly furrowed brow relaxed, "I said something didn't feel right, you haven't put on makeup yet, hurry up, there are only a few minutes left!"

  "Ah~ no way!" I looked at her with a bitter face, very innocent, "Sister, it's not like I'm going on a blind date! Besides, I don't even have any makeup." Moreover, I'm going to settle things with that devil, and dressing up like this makes me look happy and serious.

  "Don't be lazy! Without makeup, you won't have any presence, especially in a place like that. People will look down on you and no one will take you seriously!" She said as she started to work on me.

  Forget it, forget it. I've never been able to outtalk her, and her twisted logic always sounds perfectly reasonable to me. It's pointless to resist. So I obediently sit down, willingly becoming a puppet for her to manipulate.

  She took out makeup from her small bag and started dabbing at my face, I slightly narrowed my eyes to look at her, her eyelashes were really long, black and shiny, with a light golden eye shadow around her eyes, her cheeks were pink, and her lips were moist and glossy with deep pink lip gloss, indeed different from usual, more mature and stunning.

  She was studying the makeup on her face, but her eyes curved up and met my curious gaze. Then she straightened up, put her hands on her hips, and smiled triumphantly: "Done!" And then gently pinched my face, "Your skin is great! This light makeup suits you well too!" As she spoke, she took out a small bottle and sprayed two spritzes towards my neck, releasing a faint rose fragrance into the air.

  Wang Xi looked at her masterpiece with satisfaction, then proudly led me out of the door.

  Before long, two beautiful scenery lines walked hand in hand on the wide avenue, one white and one flower, both unscrupulously waving their paws at each other... uh, ran off track...

  It wasn't yet completely dark in the summer evening, and on our way, Yu Xi and I couldn't help but attract a lot of attention. Among the gazes of many passersby, I, wearing a sundress, had to pretend to be a lady, elegantly taking small steps. Turning my head to look at Yu Xi, her head was held high, with a slight smile on her lips, and she didn't glance sideways, a standard beauty, completely different from the playful and smiling face when we were fooling around.

  "Rice is coming soon." Along the way, they didn't say much, and when Yu Xi opened her mouth, her soft voice trembled slightly.

  As I heard this faint and trembling voice, I suddenly felt a chill in my heart, and took a deep breath to calm down the shiver. In the distance, I saw the neon sign of the bar flashing with colorful lights, and at the entrance, there seemed to be several dark shadows leaning against each other, making me feel goosebumps all over my body.

  "Give me your hand..." The voice also trembled uncontrollably, pulling over Ruoxi's hand. Both of their palms were tense and sweaty. Everything was ready, and having come this far, there was no turning back. They could only grit their teeth and slowly move towards that dazzling light.