Chapter 931
IF126
At noon on the second day, Hu Mengdie appeared at Steam King.
Li Zhuangsheng glanced at her, then put away his phone: "You're here."
Hu Mengdie didn't say anything, but walked straight to the counter: "Please give me a bowl of sausage fried noodles, thank you!"
"Why haven't you eaten yet?" Li Zhuangsheng couldn't help but ask.
"Well..." Hu Mengdie thought for a moment and said seriously, "Actually, I was studying English until just now. I'm going to have a math tutoring session after dinner."
"Oh...you're so hardworking!" Li Zhuangsheng was taken aback for a moment, but couldn't help praising, "Your grades are pretty good, yet you still work so hard!"
"How did you know if my grades were good or bad?" Hu Mengdie smiled. "Could it be that you've been keeping an eye on me?"
"No, you...you, oh dear, can you please stop doing this all the time..." Li Zhuangsheng blushed and scratched his head, both angry and annoyed.
Can you please stop teasing me like this? I'm not your toy! How awful!
What's even more infuriating is that Li Zhuangsheng found himself unable to get angry at all.
"Hehehe..." Hu Mengdie covered her mouth and laughed, like a spring flower in bloom. "Okay, I won't tease you anymore. Actually, my grades have dropped recently, so I need to take extra classes!"
"Oh, I see. You really are a diligent student."
Li Zhuangsheng nodded, agreeing to whatever Hu Mengdie said.
He wondered if he should also take extra classes, but he couldn't bear to give up his precious free time to play on his phone.
"It's alright, it's just that you're not studying hard enough!" Hu Mengdie laughed and tapped Li Zhuangsheng's nose. "You're too lazy. Every time I see you, you're playing on your phone!"
"Well... I was just playing around during breaks..." Li Zhuangsheng looked ashamed.
"Really?"
Hu Mengdie gave a half-smile.
"Uh-huh……"
Li Zhuangsheng's eyes darted around.
What exactly does this feeling feel like? He always felt like he was being seen through, like the other person knew everything!
"I've seen your grades. Your results in the last monthly exam were not very good," Hu Mengdie said with a shake of her head and a sigh.
"Uh, uh... I just didn't perform well for a moment..."
Li Zhuangsheng grew increasingly embarrassed, his voice becoming more and more insecure. Being pointed out by Hu Mengdie made him feel somewhat ashamed.
"Study hard! My goal is Nanjing University of the Arts. I hope you can get into a university in Nanjing too." Hu Mengdie patted Li Zhuangsheng's shoulder with a hint of helplessness. "But even if I say that, it's hard for you to change your mind. I can't keep urging you all the time."
She had heard Li Zhuangsheng talk about his high school life. At that time, he half-jokingly and half-self-deprecatingly said that he was wasting his days in high school by drinking and singing, being arrogant and domineering, and watching anime and light novels day and night, which caused his grades to plummet.
Later, I heard from my mother that Li Zhuangsheng's grades only gradually improved after she changed his deskmate, and in the last six months, he even showed signs of turning over a new leaf.
"Uh, actually I'm trying too..."
Li Zhuangsheng lacked confidence, his eyes darting around.
"I wish we were in the same class..." Hu Mengdie sighed.
She had considered transferring to Li Zhuangsheng's class; at least they were both in the humanities stream. However, she felt that with her current abilities, it would be difficult to keep up with the pace of the "Sunshine Class," and she worried that she might not even be able to get into a university in the future.
Besides, even if you get into a regular university, what good will it do? The future belongs to the mobile internet. Why would you travel back in time if you're just going to earn a fixed salary? It'll be hard to raise your kids in the future.
Of course, Hu Mengdie also had her own ideas about this.
Li Zhuangsheng, being an honest man, should just focus on his studies and go to university, and then be guided to continue writing novels... Hu Mengdie was actually quite satisfied with the future Li Zhuangsheng.
Of course, the premise is that he should ideally have a bachelor's degree to make him look presentable, so that she doesn't end up with her husband doing worse and worse off after her own time travel.
“Actually, I think with your academic performance, you don’t need too much tutoring. You’re good enough for the art exam!” Li Zhuangsheng changed the subject.
Hu Mengdie shook her head, yawned, and couldn't explain to Li Zhuangsheng... Sigh, high school is really tough, it's torture! Can't you be a little kinder to an old lady approaching thirty?
The owner brought over the fried noodles with a smile. Hu Mengdie ate a few bites and was full again.
"I'm full. You can't eat too much of this carb bomb. You can finish the rest for me." Hu Mengdie smiled and pushed the leftover fried noodles in front of Li Zhuangsheng.
"You're treating me like a pig to be fed..."
Li Zhuangsheng feigned displeasure, but his actions betrayed him as he picked up his chopsticks and began eating the remaining noodles. To be honest, the sausage fried noodles at Zheng Da Wang were indeed top-notch… Wait a minute, something's not right, is it? Boss, why does Hu Mengdie's noodles taste so good?
This noodle is not only more chewy, but it also doesn't break easily... Holy crap, you usually use old noodles for me, but you use new noodles for Hu Mengdie, right? And there seem to be more sausages than usual!
Realizing this, Li Zhuangsheng looked up at his boss with a resentful expression, while his boss blinked innocently and met his gaze.
"This noodle tastes good, and there's so much sausage!" Li Zhuangsheng couldn't help but say.
The boss finally turned his face away.
You little rascal, you look so honest and easy to bully, yet you're not studying hard and are having an early romance, and your girlfriend is so beautiful! Next time I'll give you a taste of my own medicine!
“Don’t you always eat this?” Hu Mengdie said.
"Yes, but this is the first time I've had such a good meal..." Li Zhuangsheng said sullenly, thinking to himself that he would never come here again.
Hu Mengdie tilted her head in confusion, watched as Li Zhuangsheng quickly finished eating, and then got up and left with a smile.
Li Zhuangsheng wiped his mouth and continued reading the comic book with a strange feeling in his heart. He really couldn't understand Hu Mengdie's sudden appearance.
The other person seemed to be like one of those anime heroines, appearing without any reason, as if only to meet the male protagonist.
But am I the male lead? She clearly said she didn't like me.
On a weekend afternoon, Hu Mengdie and Li Zhuangsheng met again at Zheng Da Wang.
Li Zhuangsheng was eating fried noodles with sausage when he saw Hu Mengdie and raised his hand to greet her.
"You haven't been at Zhengdawang these past few days, and I thought you didn't actually like their fried noodles that much," Hu Mengdie said with her usual radiant smile.
“I wasn’t planning on coming back,” Li Zhuangsheng said sullenly, “because I found out they were using stale flour to stir-fry it for me.”
"Then why are you here again?"
"Old noodles are fine, even if they're used for stir-frying, the taste is still okay."
Hu Mengdie chuckled upon hearing this, sat down opposite Li Zhuangsheng, and also ordered a plate of fried noodles.
"You're here so early today," Li Zhuangsheng said. "I haven't even finished my noodles yet."
Hu Mengdie chuckled: "Yes, it's the weekend today, so there's no tutoring at noon. Let's go practice our exercises after lunch. Oh, by the way, a friend gave me a book. Are you interested? You can borrow it to take a look."
Li Zhuangsheng looked up and saw a book called "Fireworks".
"Oh, I know that, but I haven't seen it much..." Li Zhuangsheng nodded, not very interested, but not wanting to disappoint Hu Mengdie, he coughed lightly, "But I'd really like to see it too, thanks!"
"Really? I thought you would like this type of magazine..." Hu Mengdie felt a little disappointed.
"It's alright, although they're similar in genre. But I don't buy everything. For example, I'm used to reading 'Xiaoshuo Hui' (a popular Chinese novel magazine), but I've never bought 'Zui Xiao Shuo' (another popular Chinese novel magazine)..." "Are these two similar? Then why don't you buy them?"
"Uh, actually, I initially bought 'Novel Illustrated' to follow Dragon Raja, and didn't read anything else, although I do pick and choose what to read now. Speaking of which, I initially bought 'Zhiyin Comic' just to read 'Stealing the Stars in September'..."
Li Zhuangsheng couldn't help but recount his book-buying history, and before he knew it, he was talking non-stop. When he came to his senses, he saw that Hu Mengdie's face showed no impatience; she was still looking at him and smiling. It seemed like doting, or perhaps something else entirely.
"Why are you looking at me like that?" Li Zhuangsheng asked, somewhat embarrassed.
“Your eyes light up when you talk about topics that interest you,” Hu Mengdie said with a smile.
"No way..."
"Yes, that's right. You were talking about the Three Kingdoms a few days ago, and it was like that too. He was quite handsome!"
"Hey! Stop teasing me like that!"
"Haha, your face is red again!"
Before long, Hu Mengdie's fried noodles were served. Hu Mengdie ate a few bites and then poured all the leftover rice into Li Zhuangsheng's plate.
Li Zhuangsheng smiled wryly: "If you keep doing this, I'm really going to get fat!"
Hu Mengdie patted Li Zhuangsheng on the shoulder with a smile: "It's okay, you're young, your metabolism is super fast! Besides, we're going to exercise this afternoon, this little bit of calories won't matter!"
"What do you mean 'youngster'? You talk like you're so old. Are you some kind of old man?"
"Oh right, I'm actually a thousand-year-old demon!"
Hu Mengdie playfully reached out and grabbed at the air, her expression serious, but her eyes were full of laughter.
Li Zhuangsheng knew that Hu Mengdie was joking with him, so he went along with the joke and asked, "Then what kind of demon are you?"
"you guess?"
Hu Mengdie tilted her head, her smile both sly and adorable, her eyes sparkling like stars.
"I guess you are... cough cough cough, I can't guess!"
Li Zhuangsheng could only think of fox spirits, and only the fox spirit Su Daji could be so beautiful. But thankfully, this time his mind raced before his mouth, and he didn't say it aloud.
After all, no girl likes to be called a vixen.
"Can't you guess?" Hu Mengdie tilted her head.
“You are…the Butterfly Fairy?” Li Zhuangsheng asked.
"Haha, you guessed wrong!" Hu Mengdie said mysteriously. "Actually, I'm a thousand-year-old fox spirit, so be careful not to get caught by me!"
"Haha..." Li Zhuangsheng chuckled dryly, thinking to himself, "Is it because your surname is Hu?"
However, the other party didn't seem to mind the term "fox spirit" and was someone who could take a joke, so he became even bolder.
“I’ve heard that fox spirits generally don’t harm people,” Li Zhuangsheng said.
"Who told you that?" Hu Mengdie asked.
“In Pu Songling’s ‘Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio,’ most of the fox spirits are good!” Li Zhuangsheng raised his head.
He had read Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio, where most of the fox spirits were beautiful women who would have sex with the male protagonist... If Hu Mengdie was a fox spirit... Li Zhuangsheng couldn't help but bend over and lower his head to show his face.
Don't overthink it. There are bad fox spirits too, like in "The Fox Spirit Master"... He's doomed!
The thought of "The Fox Spirit" made Li Zhuangsheng's back ache even more!
Have you read the original "Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio"?
"A plain language version!"
Hu Mengdie nodded: "Oh, that's still quite remarkable. By the way, you..."
She was about to say something more when she noticed Li Zhuangsheng's strange posture and his flushed face, which made him avoid looking at her. She was slightly taken aback, but after studying him for a moment, she understood.
She looked down at herself; her clothes were as usual. She couldn't help but chuckle.
"You, you..." Hu Mengdie's smile grew even more beautiful, "You're not being honest!"
Li Zhuangsheng didn't dare to say anything. He didn't know what Hu Mengdie meant, but because he felt guilty at the moment, he naturally didn't dare to defend himself.
She wouldn't know, would she? No way, but she can't read minds, and she didn't look under the table, so how could she know what I'm thinking?
Hmm, she must be talking about something else, let's eat first... Damn it, why is your mind so filthy!
After finally calming down after dinner, Li Zhuangsheng followed Hu Mengdie into the school.
Since there are no classes on weekend afternoons, the campus is somewhat deserted at this time, with only a few scattered figures.
"Come in, remember to take off your shoes." Hu Mengdie led Li Zhuangsheng into the school's dance studio.
"Me, we're right here?" Li Zhuangsheng was stunned.
"What's wrong? Is there a problem?"
“Uh… this isn’t really appropriate. I’m not in your dance class, so why would I go into the dance studio…” Li Zhuangsheng hesitated.
Of course, the above is more like an excuse. The most important reason is that he instinctively felt that the "dance studio" and the "women's restroom" were both private places where men were not allowed.
"Don't worry, nothing will happen!" Hu Mengdie shook her head with a smile, immediately seeing through Li Zhuangsheng's embarrassment. "Are you shy? It's true, our dance class this year is all girls. Aren't you happy to be here? Do you want me to show you where their socks are?"
Why would I look at socks?
Li Zhuangsheng shook his head vigorously. Although he always pretended to be serious, he was completely justified at this moment.
"Boys would probably be interested, right?" Hu Mengdie teased.
"No, no, no, I'm really not that kind of person, I'm not that perverted... Besides, where is this stench coming from?"
"Oh right, who was on duty yesterday? Why didn't you open the windows for ventilation?" Hu Mengdie couldn't help but frown and quickly opened the window.
"This stench is..."
"Oh, it's from the dance studio." Hu Mengdie shrugged. "Don't mind it, the smell isn't that strong anyway!"
Li Zhuangsheng asked in surprise, "Why does it smell bad here?"
Shouldn't dancers all be sweet and soft-spoken girls? I thought dance studios usually smelled nice!
"It's probably foot odor. Most people sweat so much from dancing every day, they're bound to smell!"
Hu Mengdie was happy to shatter Li Zhuangsheng's fantasies about other women.
"Uh, that makes sense. So you..." As he spoke, Li Zhuangsheng looked at Hu Mengdie's feet with suspicion.
“I’m different!” Hu Mengdie laughed. “I’m a thousand-year-old fox spirit, my feet always smell sweet!”
Li Zhuangsheng nodded vigorously, "Oh, oh, oh!"
He still has that much emotional intelligence; at this point, he has to believe it whether he wants to or not. Even if you say his feet smell nice, or even that they smell sweet, he'll still nod.
"You don't believe me? Hmph, just wait a minute!" (End of Chapter)