Chapter 921
IF116
"You're lying." Zhu Zhixue frowned in displeasure. "You went out during the first evening self-study session and just came back!"
Li Zhuangsheng shrank back, thinking to himself, "With so many people in the class, how did you manage to notice me?"
The screen flickered in the classroom. After a moment of silence, Li Zhuangsheng scratched his face and said, "I felt the movie wasn't very good, so I went for a walk on the playground for a while."
"Are you alone on the playground?"
"I was lying on that platform... It was a bit cold outside, I should have worn my coat."
"It's getting cold now, don't catch a cold..." Zhu Zhixue reminded him, then suddenly leaned close to Li Zhuangsheng and sniffed him.
"What are you doing?" Li Zhuangsheng instinctively shrank back, keeping his distance.
Zhu Zhixue frowned slightly, then smiled and said, "It's nothing. Are you going out again later?"
She thought she smelled a faint fragrance on Li Zhuangsheng, but it must have been her imagination.
"Why go out? It's cold outside."
As Li Zhuangsheng spoke, he took his school uniform jacket out of the desk and quickly put it on, but he didn't zip it up.
"Hey, what are you planning to do during the National Day holiday?" Zhu Zhixue nudged Li Zhuangsheng's arm.
"Do your homework, you only have five days off, and there are dozens of pages of exercises..."
Li Zhuangsheng shook his head and sighed. Doing homework was out of the question; how could he possibly enjoy visual novels if he spent all day doing homework?
It doesn't really matter. If he just grovels before Li Xiuyu, the other party will probably let him copy it.
The last day should have been spent going out with Hu Mengdie, but who knows? Maybe she was just saying it casually, or maybe she just wanted to be friends with Li Xiuyu.
Li Zhuangsheng almost never went out with any girls other than Li Xiuyu... except for Yang Junxiao, that little black girl. But she was too young; nominally his aunt, Li Zhuangsheng always treated her like a younger sister.
Last semester, Yang Junxiao's parents were busy with work, so he went to a parent-teacher meeting for her. After the meeting, he took her out for a walk and treated her to KFC.
At first, he didn't understand why the other party insisted that he go, until the other party proudly told every classmate that he had such a big nephew, and Li Zhuangsheng realized that this guy probably just wanted to show off his "generation".
The reason she wasn't called Li Xiuyu was probably because the other party wouldn't give her that kind of face. However, this little black egg's academic performance was truly impressive; he was first in the class in Chinese, math, and English. Hearing the teacher's praise, Li Zhuangsheng unconsciously straightened his chest, experiencing for the first time the "sense of pride" of a top student's parent. Although he then realized he had never given his parents such an experience, he felt deeply ashamed.
In short, Li Zhuangsheng had almost no experience going out with girls his own age, and he sincerely hoped that Hu Mengdie could forget about it so that he wouldn't be so nervous.
"Besides doing homework?" Zhu Zhixue tilted her head. "Watching cartoons?"
“That’s not cartoons, that’s animation!” Li Zhuangsheng proudly raised his head. “The two are not the same thing!”
"Tch, what's the difference?"
"Cartoons are for children, while animation is for teenagers; it has a deeper meaning!"
Do you have any anime recommendations?
Li Zhuangsheng's expression stiffened. He could rattle off a long list of anime titles, such as Heaven's Lost Property, Kissing Sister, To Love-Ru, and High School Girls… but these didn't seem to have any particularly profound meaning. To be honest, the more anime he watched, the more he felt that Japanese anime really lacked depth. Even works known for their "dark, profound, and brutal" themes often conveyed were simplistic or ridiculously childish, at most just possessing the qualities of "darkness" and "brutality." He liked watching these simply because they were "good," no different from liking Japanese adult films. His gaze unconsciously drifted towards Zhu Zhixue's chest, and the name "Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha" popped into his head, but he didn't dare say it. After thinking for a long time, he coughed lightly:
"Of course it's 'Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day'! It's refreshing, heartwarming, and incredibly good! You'll understand once you watch it!"
What does "Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day" mean?
"Its full name is 'We Still Don't Know the Name of the Flower We Saw That Day'... Never mind, I'll write it down for you!"
Li Zhuangsheng waved his hand and casually tore off a blank page from the notebook, writing down his full name.
Zhu Zhixue smiled at Li Zhuangsheng, and while he was writing the animation's name, she reached out and straightened the collar of his coat.
Li Zhuangsheng was slightly taken aback, thinking that Hu Mengdie would straighten his clothes, but Zhu Zhixue would also straighten his collar. He figured this was a common trait among many girls… it didn't necessarily mean they had feelings for each other; it was just a small favor. "Don't be too self-conscious," Li Zhuangsheng thought to himself.
During the last self-study session, Li Zhuangsheng sat in the classroom, somewhat lost in thought. He recalled Hu Mengdie's words, which seemed rather ambiguous. What did she mean by saying that if he pursued her, she would agree? It was as if she was inviting him to pursue her.
You don't actually think I like you, do you?
Hu Mengdie's melodious voice rang in his mind again, and Li Zhuangsheng suddenly woke up.
Stop daydreaming! You're like a toad dreaming of eating swan's covetousness. How could she possibly like you? Don't embarrass yourself!
That makes sense. The story of the school beauty inexplicably falling in love with you only exists in the world of anime. Surely no one can't distinguish between the two-dimensional world and reality?
Reality is a pile of dog shit; only the world of anime is eternally beautiful!
Thinking of this, Li Zhuangsheng lowered his body, secretly took out his phone, and wrote what he thought was a very cool post.
……
"You watch these pornographic cartoons as soon as you're on vacation?" Li Xiuyu walked into Li Zhuangsheng's room.
"This isn't pornographic animation...this is anime!"
Li Zhuangsheng was annoyed, with the recently concluded anime "Fate/kaleid liner Prisma Illya" playing on his computer, and he didn't even try to hide it from Li Xiuyu.
If others saw this, he might feel embarrassed, but there was absolutely no need for it in front of Li Xiuyu. After all, the other party had wreaked havoc in his "An Lushan Rebellion" quite a bit, and each time he had used the extremely unethical method of "cutting" instead of "copying".
"Is this little girl the female lead? So you're a lolicon? Black Egg said she's coming to our house to play tomorrow, looks like we can't let her come again!"
"I... I was just looking around! What does this have to do with Yang Junxiao!"
Li Zhuangsheng suddenly felt a little guilty. He wasn't a lolicon, but the anime he planned to watch next was "Ro-Kyu-Bu! SS".
Besides, the kind of little girl I like is soft and sweet, always calling me "Onii-chan," and loves having her older brother pat her head, wanting kisses, hugs, and to be lifted up high! Not a proud and self-important brat like Yang Junxiao!
"Hmph, you don't do your homework, all you do is play on the computer. Don't come crying to me later and begging me to copy your homework."
"I won't lend you any! I won't lend you any!" Li Zhuangsheng waved his hand impatiently. "Go away, go away, don't disturb my cartoon."
"If I don't lend it to you, who else can I borrow it from?" Li Zhuangsheng thought to himself, knowing that Li Xiuyu would let him copy it.
Just you wait, you won't be able to copy me so easily later! Li Xiuyu naturally knew what Li Zhuangsheng was thinking, and gave a slight cold laugh. (End of this chapter)