Don't be So Proud

Chapter 9.1 — Do Not Use Your Pride to Hurt Her (1)

Clack. At a quarter past ten, the electricity to the entire dance practice building was cut off. The sixteen grille lamps inside all of a sudden extinguished together. Shen Xi nudged He Zhi Zhou once more. This time, though, He Zhi Zhou held her firmly and lifted her down.

Alone a second ago, they had been kissing, and now, a second later, they were facing a situation where there were suddenly no lights. The first thing Shen Xi said when she opened her mouth was, “Did you lose two buttons just now?”

“Mm-hmm.” He Zhi Zhou felt his shirt. The second and third buttons from the top were gone.

Shen Xi turned on the flashlight function on her phone. “Let’s search for them.”

He had gotten to kiss her already, so now He Zhi Zhou was very obedient to Shen Xi’s words. If Shen Xi wanted to search, then he would search.

Shen Xi looked for a long time but was only able to find one of them. The pale yellow button lay in her palm, faintly reflecting the glow of the light from the mobile phone.

Shen Xi handed it back to He Zhi Zhou. “I could only find this one.” She was so proactive about finding the buttons mainly because she was the one who ripped them off and she was worried that He Zhi Zhou would make her pay for them.

“It’s okay,” He Zhi Zhou told her. Then he took Shen Xi’s hand in his. A button lay between their two palms, so if their hands were not holding tightly on to each other, the button would fall out onto the ground.

From the third floor down until they stepped out the main doors of the pitch-dark dance building, the button hid perfectly inside. Not only did it not fall out, it did not even have a chance to shift or move around.

Because there was a question in Shen Xi’s heart that she wished to ask He Zhi Zhou, when he accompanied her back to the downstairs of dormitory building no. 6, she walked very slowly. He Zhi Zhou was accommodating and also ambled leisurely with her.

Shen Xi felt torn inside, her hands that she had set in front of her chest twisting together, until they arrived at the main doors of the dormitory building and she halted her steps. With the resignation that things could not be much worse, she opened her mouth. “He Zhi Zhou, why did you kiss me just now?!”

Shen Xi had mustered her courage in order to ask this, so her tone was aggressive and sounded like she was picking a fight.

He Zhi Zhou frowned. The entire way back, he had guessed that Shen Xi had something she wanted to ask him, but he truly had not thought it would be this question. Caught off guard, he twisted his head toward her and asked in return, “There are a lot of reasons for a man to kiss a woman?”

The meaning of his words: Is there really a need to ask this sort of question that only has one answer? Why try to flaunt our lovey-doveyness every minute and second? So annoying!

But the result he got was that Shen Xi really did nod her head. “A lot.”

“For example…?”

Sneaking a peek at He Zhi Zhou, Shen Xi boldly began to state her guesses. “For example, you’re kissing out of politeness. For example, you’ve received some sort of shock or been upset by something. For example, you think I’m pretty. For example, you’re hungry. For example, maybe, do you like me just a little bit? For example, something’s wrong with your brain…”

He Zhi Zhou lifted his head and fixed his eyes in front of him. “5 and 3.”

“Huh? What 5 and 3?” Shen Xi also tilted her face up, not quite able to recall the order she had stated everything in just now. Rather feebly, she asked, “Um… what were the 3 and 5 that I said just now?”

He Zhi Zhou put his arm on Shen Xi’s shoulder, not wanting to say anything anymore.

Worried that if she kept asking, she would expose the shortcomings of her intelligence, Shen Xi ceased her questions. Patting He Zhi Zhou on the arm, she told him, “I know. I was only joking just now.”

He Zhi Zhou threw an impassive glance at Shen Xi. From what he could see, she did not look like she knew at all.

Shen Xi waved her hand at him in farewell. With his hands in his pants pockets, he nodded, ready to watch her walk away.

So insincere. Right as she was about to turn around, someone called her name. Looking to the side, she saw Xia Wei Ye and Chen Han, several shopping bags in hand, walking toward them from the middle of the road.

The one who had greeted her was Chen Han. Xia Wei Ye, on the other hand, was looking at He Zhi Zhou, who had not yet left, with a complex expression on her face, but it was a type of complexity that basically any woman could understand.

The four had ended up with this face-to-face encounter. Shen Xi’s entire body was pressed against the main door of the dormitory building. Chen Han’s smile was just too friendly, so Shen Xi did not even know how she should respond. And then, He Zhi Zhou yanked her back to his side, citing the reason, “Why are you sticking yourself to the door? How are people supposed to walk?”

Shen Xi: “……”

“Hi, A’Xi. You’re back so late, too? Xia Wei Ye and I went out shopping. It was Taizhong Mall’s anniversary celebration today. Buy five thousand, get five thousand free…” Chen Han gushed out a bunch of words in a single breath.

Standing in front of the both of them, Shen Xi honestly could not understand why Chen Han was jabbering on so much. Back when Dou Dou had gone home and they had secretly left her by herself, they had not even tried to explain as much.

When Chen Han was done her talking, she let her gaze land on He Zhi Zhou, and in a joking tone, she asked, “You guys… just came back from doing some PDA [public display of affection]?”

Shen Xi blinked. “… We were just walking around.”

There was obvious sullenness on Xia Wei Ye’s face. She did not want to continue listening to Chen Han’s chitchat, but still, she contained herself and did not let herself burst out.

He Zhi Zhou, who to this point had remained silent, swept his eyes over Xia Wei Ye and Chen Han before opening his mouth to say, “Shen Xi was throwing a little tantrum at me just now. The two of you please help me out and talk to her so she comes round.”

“No problem,” Chen Han promised, her smile warm.

Xia Wei Ye, however, twisted her face away from them.

Smiling as well, He Zhi Zhou carried on, “Shen Xi is kind of simple and dim-witted. Her brain doesn’t really catch on to things. When you talk to her, as much as possible, be direct; otherwise, I’m scared she won’t get it.”

What did this mean? Chen Han did not speak anymore. The corners of her lips that had been turning upward stopped where they were.

He Zhi Zhou threw a look at Shen Xi, then pulled his lips up into another smile. When he opened his mouth again, there was now a nonchalant tone of warning in his voice. “You are all girls around the same age. Even though Shen Xi is my girlfriend, I still do not feel right requesting that you take care of her, nor is it appropriate for me to do so. But, if she accidentally causes you guys trouble, you can just tell me directly. I will carefully explain things to her and remind her.”

Chen Han’s entire face had frozen. Bitterly, she forced out one word: “… Okay.”

When He Zhi Zhou returned to his dorm room, he immediately took off that shirt that was missing two buttons. Monkey asked curiously, “How did you lose your buttons?”

Pulling on a white tank top, He Zhi Zhou answered, “A cat clawed them off.”

“What cat?” Brawny asked simplemindedly.

“Didn’t look closely, but it was pretty cute,” He Zhi Zhou replied perfunctorily to Brawny. He walked up to his desk and pulled open the drawer where his cigarettes were kept, intending on having a smoke. However, remembering something, he shut his eyes and, hardening his heart, shoved the cigarettes back into the drawer.

Lin Yu Tang was walking past He Zhi Zhou, and unemotionally, he opened his mouth and said, “Give me a smoke.”

“Oh.” He pulled open the drawer once more and fished out the pack of cigarettes from inside. Right as he was about to hand it to Lin Yu Tang, he switched from holding it in his left hand to his right, then patted Lin Yu Tang on the shoulder. Tossing the entire package into the trashcan, he stated, “Forget it. Those aren’t anything good. We both won’t smoke.”

Lin Yu Tang gave a laugh, having no complaints about this.

In the end, the one who did have complaints—Brawny—came leaping over like a huge bear, wailing a couple of times. “So heartless! You guys won’t smoke them, so you just toss them away. Are you asking for it? Are you treating Monkey and I like we’re dead, huh? Dead?!” Saying this, he reached into the trashcan, retrieved that entire pack of smokes, and then stormed away indignantly.

……

Late into the night, Shen Xi, who was not the least bit sleepy, was chatting with He Zhi Zhou using text messages. Remembering the scene where the four of them had run into each other downstairs of the dormitory building, she put on a cute tone and sent off a question: Islet in the River, what do you have to explain and remind me about?

He Zhi Zhou was working on his computer while texting with Shen Xi. A cup of coffee sat on his desk. Some of this work should have been completed last month.

When Shen Xi’s latest message came in, he replied to her: Nothing. Rest earlier. Good night.

Over in dorm room 921, since Shen Xi and He Zhi Zhou swapped back, the lights-out time had shifted from ten at night back to two in the morning. Before, once the time reached ten o’clock, Shen Xi would be incessantly asking Monkey and Brawny from where she was sitting on the bed, “Brawn Brawn, are you ready to sleep yet? Don’t forget, sleeping early is good for the skin.” Or sometimes, she would say to Monkey, “Hey, little Monkey Monkey, playing video games is bad for the eyes. Early sleep, early rise makes a strong body.”

Anyway, it was some nice, effective chatter of hurrying them up.

Now, though, without that Leader who was concerned about the issue of their sleep, Monkey and Brawny had once again let themselves go, surfing the internet if they wanted, or “stroking” away if they wanted. Lin Yu Tang was also leaning back against his bed, reading. A small, lightweight lamp hung from the head of the bed. It had been a gift before from Shen Xi.

This dorm 921 was the dorm room 921 in its most original state. Brawny cast a glance at He Zhi Zhou. He was already utterly unable to find that soft, sweetie spirit anywhere on Leader anymore.

Why was this? Could it be, Leader had a split personality?

He really, really missed that adorable spirit that had lived with him for twenty-something days, aaaah… Sprawling on top of his desk with his heart feeling like a knife was twisting into it, Brawny pulled out a handful of tissues and intended on heading out to the balcony to let himself be sick at heart for a while.

Monkey looked at him, unable to stand him like this. “Didn’t you just stroke some out already?”

Who said he was going to do some stroking, aaaah?! Anguished and riled, Brawny roared, “What? I’m not allowed? Is it a crime?!”

Monkey was chortling incessantly as he carried on, “No wonder Leader said that about you last time.”

“Leader? Last time?” Brawny’s eyes lit up. “What did he say about me?”

“He said you’re a Sagittarius [射手座 meaning Sagittarius, but when you do a literal translation of the Chinese characters, they actually mean “archer” or ‘shooting hand’ zodiac]. “ Just thinking about this made Monkey howl with laughter. “He said you’re the cream of the crop out of all Sagittarius. Shooting hand… Ha ha…”

Dammit!

You could insult a Sagittarius like that?! Slapping the table, Brawny grilled He Zhi Zhou, “Leader, you actually insulted me and said I’m a big ‘shooting hand’?!”

He Zhi Zhou had listened to Monkey and Brawny’s dialogue from beginning to end. As he rubbed a hand over his forehead, he felt that he needed to have a talk with Shen Xi. He drew in a deep breath. What kind of girl knew so much?!

Brawny went onto Weibo and checked out “Islet in the River’s” Weibo homepage. The Weibo still carried shadows of the former Leader. As if he had found some solace in this, Brawny read through each Weibo post. Then after reading every post, he went to read all the information on the user profile page—where, under “sexual orientation,” he saw the word “bisexual.”

All of a sudden, Brawn Brawn felt alive again.

Mini Side Story from the Author

Hoju: *cover my eyes*

One day, in the morning, on the bed.

He Zhi Zhou grabbed Shen Xi’s hand and pulled it over onto a certain place.

Shen Xi’s face turned red. “What are you doing?!”

He Zhi Zhou was completely composed. “Before, didn’t you press on it every morning? Press, eh. Press now.”

Scoundrel!

He Zhi Zhou, who now had the status of “married man,” had even thicker skin than his university days. He continued his scoundrel behavior, helping his “undercover brother” get revenge for what happened years ago. “If you can’t press it down, we’ll switch to a different method to get him to ‘yield’ and ‘soften.’”

AAAAAH!

Such a scoundrel! Shen Xi jumped off the bed.

He Zhi Zhou grabbed her. “Where are you going?”

Turning around, Shen Xi snapped, “To get some ice!”