Chapter 230 - 132: A Date for Three

Chapter 230: Chapter 132: A Date for Three

Aaaah!

Shen Qingning thought it was another NPC trying to scare her, so she screamed and started swinging wildly without looking.

"Stop! Stop hitting me! It’s me, Su Ran!"

"Class President?" Shen Qingning looked up and saw it was Su Ran. The feeling of being abandoned for a second time brought tears to her eyes, and she burst out crying. "Waaah! Didn’t you promise you wouldn’t lose me again? Waaah..."

Su Ran was embarrassed. It was true; he had lost her again.

Ahem...

He gave a couple of awkward coughs and stepped closer. Just then, an NPC appeared, and Shen Qingning cried out, leaping onto Su Ran and wrapping her legs around his waist again.

Su Ran said to the other players, "I’m heading out." Then he turned and, just like that, walked away from the ancient well and toward the exit, supporting Shen Qingning’s hips as he went and completely ignoring the surrounding NPCs.

On the way, Shen Qingning listed all of Su Ran’s ’crimes.’ How he kept abandoning her. How she was a girl who had come to a haunted house with him, yet he kept leaving her behind. The sense of grievance was overwhelming. If he weren’t Su Ran, Shen Qingning would have stormed off long ago, blocked his number, and never spoken to him again.

Su Ran stopped walking and set Shen Qingning down on a cabinet. He pulled his sleeve and used it to wipe away her tears. Shen Qingning wasn’t the type of breathtaking beauty who wowed you at first sight. Instead, she was the kind who grew more beautiful the more you looked at her, exuding a quiet, tranquil aura. Perhaps because of her sad upbringing, she tended to inspire a protective instinct in boys.

"I swear, if I ever lose you again, I’m a puppy."

"I don’t believe you anymore. You made a promise just now and still lost me."

For the first time, Shen Qingning gave in to a girlish instinct, pouting as she complained.

After she spoke, she bit her lip and tried to compose herself. She turned her head and saw Su Ran, his hands braced on the cabinet on either side of her thighs, looking at her intently.

A blush immediately crept up her pretty face.

"Class President, why are you staring at me?"

"...Shen Qingning, you’ve been acting a little strange lately. Do you have a crush on me?"

"I do not have a crush on you! I just think you’re nice to me, Class President. I see you as a friend."

In the end, she denied it. After all, when they were first going in, she had seen Su Ran chatting so happily with that ’beautiful’ friend of his. In her insecurity, she felt she wasn’t good enough for Su Ran. She was only fit to have a secret crush on someone so outstanding; she should just cherish it as a beautiful memory from her youth.

Of course, she was also certain that if she confessed, the Class President wouldn’t like her back. Then, even the relationship they had now would be gone. Ultimately, she valued what they had too much to risk saying anything.

’I’ll just treat today as the best ’date’ of my life.’

So... Shen Qingning made a rather ’bold’ request.

"Class President, can you carry me out of here?"

She opened her arms and said with a smile.

Perhaps because it had already happened twice, she was used to it now and dared to make such a request, fulfilling a girlish, unrealistic fantasy. After this, the school holiday would begin, and they wouldn’t see each other again until spring.

"Still haven’t had enough of being carried?"

"Nope."

Every word she spoke was terrifying for her, as she had never allowed herself to be this ’willful’ before.

"You girls are something else. One after another, you all want to be carried. Didn’t you see me getting mobbed by a group of girls just now?"

"I helped you push them away."

"Fine. Consider this a reward for being so ’helpful’ earlier," he teased.

"You..."

Su Ran chuckled, supported her hips, and with a shrug, lifted her. He began walking step by step through the ’demons and monsters’ toward the distant door, a beacon of hopeful light.

Shen Qingning wasn’t scared at all anymore. She leaned her head on her Class President’s shoulder and called out softly, "Class President."

"’Class President, Class President.’ You’ve been saying that all night. What is it now?"

Su Ran sounded ’annoyed,’ but she knew he wasn’t really, or he wouldn’t be carrying her.

"Class President, will you miss me when I go back home?"

"To Chengdu?"

"Mhm."

"Of course I will. Why are you getting all sentimental? We’ll see each other again after winter break, won’t we?"

"But by the time we meet, another year will have passed."

"Oh."

"Class President."

"Yeah?"

"You’re really nice, Class President."

"Every girl says that. Hiss—"

Shen Qingning bit him on the neck.

"Does every girl do that, too?" she asked.

"Oh yeah? Then I’ll give you the deepest bite, so you’ll have the deepest memory."

"No, no, no, don’t bite!"

"I’m gonna do it! Hehehe."

The two of them played their ’biting’ game all the way to the exit. The NPCs stared, dumbfounded. ’Is this a haunted house or a PDA-fest? *Hiccup...*’ they thought, feeling stuffed.

All dreams must come to an end. Though it was only a distance of ten-odd meters, Shen Qingning felt it was more than enough.

Right before the exit, she slid down from his arms. "Thanks for carrying me out, Class President." She didn’t want his friend to see them and get the wrong idea.

"Let’s go."

"Okay."

Following Su Ran out of the haunted house, Shen Qingning glanced back, reluctant to leave. She suddenly felt that those brief ten minutes had been the happiest moments of her life.

Just then, Su Ran made a call to ask Xiao Wanqing where she was. When he hung up, Shen Qingning smiled. "I’ll head off now, Class President. I don’t want to disturb you and your friend."

She was a girl who was very aware of her own place in the grand scheme of things.

Su Ran checked the time; it was getting late.

"Come on, my friend is downstairs buying bubble tea. Let’s go down together."

"Okay."

The two of them took the escalator down to the first floor. At the entrance, Shen Qingning waved. "Bye-bye! See you tomorrow, Class President."

"Get home safe."

"Okay."

With that, she walked out of the mall. At a bubble tea shop, she brushed past Xiao Wanqing. They exchanged a smile before heading their separate ways.

Shen Qingning caught the last bus. Leaning against the window, her reflection a silent companion, she put on her headphones and listened to music all the way back to school.

Su Ran and Xiao Wanqing strolled down the street, sipping their bubble tea on the way to Chuyuan.

「On the way.」

Xiao Wanqing teased Su Ran, calling him a big idiot for losing his friend three times. Su Ran was at a loss for words, lamenting that he was truly ’hand-blind’.

Xiao Wanqing laughed. "So, are you trying to tell me you’re only ’hand-blind’ because you’ve never held her hand before? And since you and I have held hands countless times, you don’t even need to look—you know it’s me with a single touch?"

Su Ran replied, "It sounds like that’s the case. Biologically, it’s called tactile memory."

Xiao Wanqing cut in, "Stop, stop, stop. Don’t start with the science talk, you’re giving me a headache."

Su Ran asked, "Then what should we talk about?"

"Let’s talk about..." Xiao Wanqing took Su Ran’s hand. "The fact that you grabbed my hand correctly three times. That’s enough for me."

From beginning to end, Xiao Wanqing and Shen Qingning had both assumed it was a four-person ’escape room’ adventure. Meanwhile, Su Ran had assumed Xiao Wanqing and Shen Qingning knew the other was there.

In reality, none of them had the full picture. This was a strange and wondrous date... for three.