Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Gu Nianzhi’s brain went blank for a moment.
She could hear the song “Edelweiss” playing in the bar. The music was scattered and quiet but lingered endlessly in her ears.
That languid and warm melody drifted through the evening winter sky. IT was like someone was gently brushing a feather by her ear.
She had clearly been kissed on her lips, yet she felt its burning heat on her ears.
She groggily opened her eyes and her gaze fell on Huo Shaoheng.
When she looked through the car windows, the street lamps were orange-yellow, shining with the rare warmth of winter.
However, the interior of the car was pitch black. Other people couldn’t see what was happening inside the car. They could only see Huo Shaoheng’s exquisite chin and the tiny swirling movements of him pressing very close to Gu Nianzhi.
The male classmates watching from the front of the bar were flabbergasted. They didn’t know how to react at all, even forgetting to take out their phones to secretly take a photo.
After all, this was a fancy car and a beautiful couple. Add on a passionate kiss from a mysterious, beautiful man donning sunglasses–it would be easy for it to be posted on Weibo and earn thousands of reposts.
Unfortunately, the man’s aura was too powerful to allow it. Even though he had merely sat in the car and casually revealed half his face, he had utterly shocked the group of B University Faculty of Law grad students who typically proclaimed themselves to be the very pillars of society.
…
After experiencing a bout of dizziness, Gu Nianzhi finally composed herself.
She thought that much time had passed, but it had only been a few seconds and Huo Shaoheng had already let go of her hand.
“Go on, have fun.” Huo Shaoheng patted Gu Nianzhi’s cheeks, satisfied to see two patches of blush blooming on her face.
Gu Nianzhi straightened her back and mindlessly wiped her lips. She had applied sheer pink lipgloss before she left, but all of that had probably been “eaten up” by Huo Shaoehng just now.
Huo Shaoehng calmly took out a tissue to wipe his lips. As expected, he saw a dash of pink imprinted on the pure white tissue.
He laughed as he waved at Gu Nianzhi before commanding Fan Jian, “Drive to the military housing complex.”
Fan Jian started the car and headed in the military hall’s direction.
Gu Nianzhi stood on the side of the road and silently watched Huo Shaoheng’s car disappear into the night. She patted her cheeks to find that they were burning hot.
Turning around, she wasn’t surprised to see a row of male classmates looking at her with their jaws hanging open. All their eyes were bulging.
Gu Nianzhi walked over amusedly and waved at them. “What is it? You don’t recognize me anymore?”
Her calm and confident attitude of “nothing happened” made all these classmates too embarrassed to ask her about it.
“How could we? Come over here, Gu Nianzhi. We have a private booking today.”
The Class Rep of Class One was a guy wearing glasses. He always wore a pair of gold-rimmed glasses and was quite good looking. He was handsome and dashing, much better looking than Gu Nianzhi’s Class Rep from her undergraduate studies, Mei Xiawen.
He was typically the one to notify Gu Nianzhi when something happened in class, so he was closer to her than the other people were.
Gu Nianzhi nodded to him, then followed him inside.
The bar wasn’t too big but was decorated cozily. It was also carefully arranged for the Christmas season.
As soon as she walked into the door, she saw a huge Christmas tree. It was rare because it wasn’t a fake plastic tree, but a real fir tree. As she walked closer, she could even smell the fresh, pine scent of the needles.
The tree was laden with all sorts of sparkly little ornaments. On top of the tree was an angel with wings. She had a halo around her head that was rainbow-colored. The lighting in the bar matched the colorful Christmas lights, so everything and everyone looked rainbow-colored.
Gu Nianzhi followed her classmates inside.
The center of the bar had been cleared out and was obviously a dance floor. The dance floor so happened to face the bar directly where there was already a bartender making drinks. Gu Nianzhi watched the bar and suddenly recalled how she had lived in a bar for a few days when she was in Germany…
Pursing her lips, she felt a bit strange as she slowly followed her classmates over to where everyone else was sitting.
The dining area was secluded from the dance floor by a divider. It was not a very large space and was arranged with a few square tables. The food was set out in a buffet.
Gu Nianzhi had already eaten her fill at home before coming here, so she took a cursory look and planned to only have a bit of fruit later. She had no appetite for other food.
“Gu Nianzhi, you came here alone?” Gui Suyao, the class tutor for Class One, stood up with a bright smile. “Where’s Professor He? Didn’t he come with you?”
Gu Nianzhi’s heart dropped. Could Gui Suyao be subtly insulting her again? She immediately put on an even more suprised look than Gui Suyao. “Professor He? He’s coming here too?”
Gui Suyao was stunned speechless at that moment.
Today, He Zhichu had asked her about Class One’s Christmas ball. He had casually remarked that he was free and that he wanted to see how his students spent their Christmas.
Gui Suyao already knew that. She thought to herself how last Christmas had been the first Christmas that He Zhichu had taught on the B University Faculty of Law. She’d never noticed him caring about how “the students spent Christmas,” but for some reason, he’d become interested this year. It had to be because of Gu Nianzhi…
Of course, Gui Suyao didn’t call him out. She’d answered him back with great enthusiasm. “That’s great! Today happens to be Class One’s Christmas ball at Bar Jinling. If you’re free, you can come to join us!”
He Zhichu hadn’t said if he would be attending or not. He’d only said that he still had business to attend that that he would go check it out if he could finish his work early.
If he couldn’t finish, he wouldn’t go. He’d asked them not to wait for him.
At the time, Gui Suyao had assumed that He Zhichu was being polite. When she’d seen Gu Nianzhi arrive just now, she’d subconsciously felt that He Zhichu must be coming with her.
But after she said this, Gu Nianzhi didn’t even get a chance to deny it before a guy from Class One began to snicker. He winked at her and said, “Guess what we saw outside just now?!”
Before everyone else could even ask him, the guy couldn’t wait to tell them. He said, “…We saw Gu Nianzhi’s boyfriend! Hehe, and you guys are still saying it’s Professor He, what nonsense! Gu Nianzhi’s boyfriend is not only rich, but he’s a very handsome guy too! He’s not shabbier than Professor He at all!”
Gu Nianzhi’s face flushed and blanched as she listened to this. She wasn’t feeling too happy, but if she reacted too strongly to this type of gossip, she would be giving them even more material to talk about. They would say that she was only making a clumsy excuse to cover things up.
Pursing her lips, Gu Nianzhi sat down on the couch and gave a half-smile to the guy who had been speaking just now. “Hmm? Professor He is my instructor, so what nonsense are you guys talking about? Be careful with what you say or I might sue you!”
They were all law students, so they knew when to stop. As expected, everyone shut up and didn’t mention the incident again. Someone changed the topic and raised their wine glasses to compete in drinking skills.
Several girls were sitting by the class tutor, Gui Suyao, and studying Gu Nianzhi’s outfit and jewelry with curiosity.
A girl who was very into fashion suddenly remarked, “The dress suit that Gu Nianzhi is wearing is Dior haute couture from next year’s spring collection! You guys can see!”
She took out her phone and searched for Dior’s fashion show for next year’s spring collection.
This was the norm within the fashion industry. Next spring’s fashion show would be released in the winter.
By the time the next summer came around, the winter fashion show would begin. It was always a few months earlier than the actual season.
The girl’s phone indeed found the exact same dress suit that Gu Nianzhi was wearing. It happened to be from Dior’s latest spring haute couture collection.
“Hehe, this is not normal! Even A-list Huaxia celebrities are unable to scoop up haute couture pieces from famous brands like Dior. It’s said that they only allow global VIP clients to preview early.”
“Not only her clothes, but look at that strand of rubies on her neck. Those are standard pigeon’s blood rubies. My uncle is in the jewelry business and is considered a big player, but even my uncle doesn’t have this clarity of rubies at home.”
Several girls sat together, analyzing Gu Naiznhi from head to toe.
They weren’t close to Gu Nianzhi. Because Gu Niaznhi was dressed so lavishly today, they didn’t want to be stupid. They didn’t want to sit next to her and look like village bumpkins by comparison, so they all ended up very far away from her.
There was an occasional jealous remark. “…Although she’s dressed glamorously, it makes her look old. Can’t you see the way she looks just like a young wife? Hehe–!”
A girl who was friends with Ma Qiqi couldn’t stand listening anymore. She frowned at the girl making jealous comments and said, “Come on, speak with some morality. Nianzhi is only 19 and looks like a young wife? You’re already 26, so what do you look like? An old hag?”
“How can you curse me?!” The girl who was making jealous comments got embarrassed and her humiliation turned into anger.
These people were typically like this. They were the only ones allowed to make snide comments at others. But if other people made snide comments about them, then things would end ugly. It was like kicking a hornet’s nest.
The guys overheard and quickly came over to defuse the situation. They immediately pulled apart the girls who were about to argue.
Gu Nianzhi overheard this and nodded at the girl who had defended her with a smile.
The girl seemed a bit embarrassed and was going to go over to talk to her. But now that things had escalated to this point, others would probably say she was trying to curry Gu Nianzhi’s favor if she went over right now. So she only thought about it and merely nodded at her without walking over.
It wasn’t like no one was coming over to chat with Gu Nianzhi though.
The first to come over were two guys who had been interested in her for a long time. Gu Nianzhi was dressed up too prettily today, so the only things in their eyes were her face and figure. Especially her figure, oh my god. This dress suit really accentuated her sexy figure!
Although they’d seen that Gu Nainzhi already had someone, they didn’t want to give up.
In the current day and age, people could get divorced after they got married. So what was a boyfriend even worth? Who knew if they’d break up in the future or not?
It wouldn’t be a mistake to be the first to go over and leave an impression on her.
Also, the young men’s hormones gotten to their heads, so they didn’t have many worries in mind.
They’d all come from good backgrounds and were dressed handsomely today, so they felt that they wouldn’t be dismissed when sitting next to Gu Nianzhi.
Several people took buffet plates and picked several kinds of food to bring over and said, “Classmate Gu, why aren’t you eating? When it’s time to dance later, how will you be able to dance with us if you’re hungry?”
“Classmate Gu, what do you typically like to drink? Juice? Just look at you, you must only drink juice and milk. Is that right?”
“Classmate Gu, what kind of dancing do you like? Do you know Latin dancing? Your legs are so long, they must look so nice when you do Latin dancing.”
When He Zhichu walked in, he saw Gu Nianzhi sitting on the couch. Like stars surrounding the moon, she was being orbited by a group of guys.
