“I never agreed to any of the blind dates others set up for me, either.”
Ye Jiawen pressed on, “Then how come you agreed when Zhiqiu set you up this time?”
Ling Hang felt awkward and touched the back of his neck. “Xiaowen, if I tell you the truth, don’t get mad, okay? Honestly, I only agreed to it out of consideration for Ming Yuan’s sake, just to go through the motions.”
“My original plan was to find an excuse not to go when it was actually time to meet, or do what I did before and show up really late.”
“Who would have thought you’d be the one to say no? You have no idea how relieved I was.”
“The two girls before were both chosen by my mom. The girls she picks all have that kind of temperament. As for the girls my dad picks… I really can’t praise them.”
“My dad keeps saying you have a similar personality to his. You don’t know how scared I was. His temper is explosive. If someone’s personality matches his… wouldn’t that make her a tigress?”
Ye Jiawen glared. “Who are you calling a tigress?”
“You’re not, you’re not.”
Ling Hang quickly waved his hands, showing a strong will to survive. “Your personality is great. I actually really like your personality.”
“I honestly didn’t know you were this wonderful. If I had known…”
Ling Hang took Ye Jiawen’s hand. Ye Jiawen looked at him. “You would have what?”
“I definitely wouldn’t have waited for you to come find me at the base. I would have gone to find you first, and then pursued you.”
“Hey, tell me, isn’t this what they call fate?”
Ling Hang gently nudged Ye Jiawen’s arm. Ye Jiawen nodded. “I suppose so.”
“By the way, when I go to meet your classmates, should I buy them anything, or should I take them out to eat?”
Ling Hang said, “Last New Year’s, I heard my cousin mention there was some kind of rule about that?”
“No, none of that is necessary. You just need to come find me at my school. That’ll be the perfect chance for me to show you around our campus.”
Ling Hang could tell something was off with Ye Jiawen. He stood up and crouched down in front of her. “Xiaowen, did something happen at school?”
Ye Jiawen gently shook the hand Ling Hang was holding. “I’ll tell you, but you’re not allowed to get mad either.”
Ling Hang nodded. “Okay.”
Ye Jiawen frowned slightly. “Let me think about how to tell you objectively.”
“A female classmate in my dorm really likes a guy, but for some reason, that guy has taken a liking to me.”
Wen Liang was a big shot on campus, a real Prince Charming. He played the guitar beautifully and often published poems in the school magazine. Many girls liked Wen Liang, and Guo Jia was one of them.
Ye Jiawen was only focused on her studies. She never paid attention to that kind of thing. Guo Jia and the others had invited her to go watch Wen Liang sing, but she had never gone once.
That time she was handing out flyers was the first time she met Wen Liang.
Having grown up in the Great Northern Wilderness, she felt absolutely nothing for Wen Liang. He wasn’t her type, neither in looks nor in temperament.
She knew that on a university campus, artistic guys like Wen Liang were very popular, but she didn’t like that type.
She liked men like her father—men who made her feel safe and secure, truly reliable.
Even though Ling Hang was handsome in a delicate way, it was different from Wen Liang’s delicateness.
Wen Liang’s handsomeness felt soft and weak to her. To put it bluntly, she felt like she could knock him out with one punch.
Ling Hang, on the other hand, had a very strong, rugged kind of handsomeness. He was good-looking, but also very much a manly man.
Being around Ling Hang, Ye Jiawen felt very safe. Plus, she felt completely at ease with him.
Both of them were the type to say what they meant, no beating around the bush. She hated Wen Liang’s overly refined, pretentious way of talking.
She was studying law, so she valued being practical and realistic. Call a spade a spade. But he would always speak in vague, ambiguous terms, which annoyed her to no end. Especially since some of the things he said were just unpleasant.
When she found out Wen Liang was with Guo Jia, she was genuinely happy.
Guo Jia, although she sometimes lacked boundaries and had a tendency to put herself down, was otherwise a pretty good person.
Ye Jiawen usually sat with her dormmates in class, but spent most of her other time alone. Still, she got along well with her roommates.
But who would have thought that Wen Liang would then tell her he liked her, and this was after he already knew she had a boyfriend?
Of course, many people didn’t believe she had a boyfriend, even though she did call Ling Hang and they exchanged letters.
Because they hadn’t met Ling Hang in person, Wen Liang thought she had just made someone up to fool him.
“Tell me, is he crazy? As if I’d need to make someone up to fool him!”
The more Ye Jiawen talked, the angrier she got. She picked up two leaves from the ground next to her and handed them to Ling Hang.
Ling Hang knew what Ye Jiawen wanted to do and played along, engaging in a little game of leaf-war with her.
“I’ll go tell Ming Yuan and ask for a few hours off to take you back.”
Ye Jiawen was startled, then felt a sweet warmth from being cared for. “Is that allowed?”
“It should be fine.”
Ling Hang’s gaze turned sharp and cold. “People like that just need to be taught a lesson.”
Trying to steal someone else’s girl right under his nose? If he could tolerate that, he’d be a turtle!
“What else did he say? Did he ever try to put his hands on you?”
As Ling Hang spoke, he applied more force and snapped Ye Jiawen’s leaf stem again.
“No. If he dared to lay a hand on me, I’d knock him flat!”
Ye Jiawen scraped around on the ground for a while and finally found a leaf with an especially tough stem. She held it with both hands to duel with Ling Hang.
Ling Hang lost. Ye Jiawen raised her hands in triumph. “La-lu!”
Ling Hang stood up. Ye Jiawen blinked. “Are you stopping just because you lost once?”
“No.”
Ling Hang pulled Ye Jiawen up from the stone, set the leaf aside so it wouldn’t blow away, and even weighed it down with a small pebble. “I’ll teach you some self-defense moves.”
“I can’t be by your side to protect you all the time. If you run into a creep, you need to be able to protect yourself.”
“Remember, when facing a bad guy, your first thought shouldn’t be how to take him down, but how to create a chance for yourself to run away.”
“You might not like hearing this, but men do have a natural advantage in size and strength.”
“I don’t mind. I know that very well.”
Ye Jiawen said, “Back in our corner of the world, women do get into fights with men. I’ve fought with guys before, and yeah, I couldn’t win.”
That fight was the first time she truly realized the physical gap between men and women.
That little brat was younger and skinnier than her, but he was still stronger. With one shove, he could send her stumbling back several steps.
“For a woman to beat a grown man, you have to be clever. And of course, you can’t be afraid.”
Ling Hang looked at Ye Jiawen with a smile. “I believe you won’t be afraid.”
Ye Jiawen possessed the vibrant, resilient life force of the black soil region. That was something he found particularly attractive.
“Right.” Ye Jiawen’s smile was very bright. She knew Ling Hang was complimenting her.
“A man’s weak points: eyes, nose, ribs, and the groin.”
