"Let's call it a day, time to rest, time to rest."
Ye Chen lay on the lawn, panting as he said to Liu Qing.
Time flew by, and soon it was lunchtime. As usual, Liu Qing and the other two went back to their dorm to sleep.
Seeing the three of them leave, Wang Peng pulled out his phone and WeChat-ed the senior:
[The Other Half Duck]: Senior, we've wrapped up here. Let's grab lunch together.
[Half a Roast Duck]: Is Liu Qing with you guys?
[The Other Half Duck]: He and the other roommates went back to the dorm to sleep at noon.
[Half a Roast Duck]: Then let's go to the cafeteria closest to the sports ground.
.........
Inside the cafeteria at Xinzhou University:
"Senior, why are you keeping your relationships a secret from Liu Qing?"
"Whenever I used to date a boyfriend, Liu Qing would find all sorts of excuses to scare them off after just a few days of knowing them."
"If you put it that way, I really should thank Liu Qing. If it weren't for him, I wouldn't have gotten to know you, Senior."
Liu Yiyi gave Wang Peng a sideways glance.
"Junior, would you like to come help out at the Art Club? I'm not only the vice president of the Debate Team, but also the vice president of the Art Club."
"Every semester, the Art Club has to renovate and repaint to attract more freshmen to sign up."
"Sure, I was just looking for a chance to spend some alone time with you, Senior."
At this, Liu Yiyi's face changed visibly, her little face flushing bright red.
.........
At seven in the evening:
Wang Peng and Liu Yiyi met up to go to the lantern exhibition together.
As soon as they stepped out of the school gates, Wang Peng grabbed Liu Yiyi's hand and clutched it in his palm.
It was the first time Liu Yiyi had her hand held by Wang Peng in front of so many people. Her face was flushed red, and her breathing was a little hurried.
At first, Liu Yiyi offered some slight resistance, but as they walked further and further away, she gradually stopped resisting.
The two arrived at the Xinzhou Temple Fair Never Sleeps City. After having their tickets checked, they entered the grounds.
Greeting their eyes was a crawling giant panda lantern.
"Junior, look, that panda actually moves!"
Liu Yiyi had only ever seen lantern exhibitions on her phone before, which fell far short of how breathtaking it was in real life.
Wang Peng pulled Liu Yiyi by the hand.
"Senior, come with me."
Wang Peng led Liu Yiyi to a square, which also marked the starting point of a snack street.
A massive dragon lantern was suspended in the air, its eyes blinking and its tail wagging, as if it were about to take flight.
"Junior, look, this dragon actually looks like it's moving."
Liu Yiyi said happily.
"Senior, look behind you."
Liu Yiyi turned around and saw the endless snack street stretching out before her, filled with an overwhelming variety of mouthwatering delicacies.
"Wow, this street is so long!"
The look in one's eyes when in love cannot be concealed. Wang Peng hugged Liu Yiyi from behind.
With some difficulty, Liu Yiyi turned around inside Wang Peng's embrace. Gazing into his tender eyes, she seemed touched by his gentleness, and immediately didn't dare to look into his eyes any longer.
Wang Peng pulled Liu Yiyi into his arms and said:
"Senior, I like you. I really, really like you."
"Junior, me too. I like you too."
Because the dorms had a curfew, the two of them strolled around until about ten o'clock before leaving.
September 7th, at the Art Club:
In the morning, Wang Peng slept all the way until 9:00 before finally waking up.Yesterday afternoon, Liu Yiyi had already asked for a few days' leave for Wang Peng. As Wang Peng's class assistant was a classmate of Liu Yiyi's and learned that it was for the Art Club, she readily agreed to Liu Yiyi's request.
After washing up, Liu Yiyi went to the cafeteria to buy two cups of porridge and two rice balls, then sent a WeChat message to the senior:
[OtherHalf]: "Senior, I'm already downstairs."
[HalfRoastedDuck]: "I'm just finishing up here. Wait for me a moment."
After Liu Yiyi came downstairs, Wang Peng handed one of the breakfast portions to her.
"Senior, this is your breakfast."
The two of them ate as they walked.
Seeing a grain of rice at the corner of Liu Yiyi's mouth, Wang Peng reached his hand toward her face.
*"What is he doing? He's reaching over,"* Liu Yiyi thought, pressing her lips together.
Wang Peng used his finger to wipe Liu Yiyi's lip, brushed away the grain of rice at the corner of her mouth, and then put his finger into his own mouth and sucked on it.
"Senior's lips are so sweet."
Liu Yiyi's face instantly blushed a brilliant crimson like the evening glow, the blush spreading to the edge of her lips, as bashful as morning dew.
"So gross," she said with bashful coyness.
Liu Yiyi handed the rice ball and porridge to Wang Peng, then took out a tissue and wiped his fingers clean.
The two continued walking toward the Art Club.
The Art Club was located on the fourth floor of Yude Building.
When the two arrived at the club, they found the room in complete disarray. They first tidied the room up a bit.
"Junior, we have to start by scraping off the old wall plaster. Every year, the school sets a custom theme for the Art Club. This year's theme is 'Self-Study'. This room will be used as a showcase room then, and the Photography Department will come here to shoot promotional videos for the school."
"I've roughly sketched out a concept: paint the whole wall white. On the left wall, from right to left, paint five ducks in increasing size, accompanied by the text: 'Wait for me', 'Me too', 'Take me along', 'I'm going too', and 'Off to study'."
"On the back wall, hang a row of hooks dedicated to displaying study-related paintings. There will be a monthly competition, and the top ten works will be displayed on the wall for everyone to study."
"Hang three pieces of calligraphy and traditional paintings on the right."
"Apart from the school shooting promotional videos, this room will also be used for the Art Club's own promotional video. Painting isn't like street dance or beatboxing where you can perform directly on a stage; we can only attract new members through promotional videos."
After listening to Liu Yiyi's concept, Wang Peng simply said "good" and started working—after all, the senior's ideas were already very good.
Liu Yiyi scraped below the waistline, while Wang Peng took charge of the area above the waistline and the ceiling.
After working for a while, Wang Peng said:
"Senior, this is too exhausting. I've only been in a relationship for three days, and already my girlfriend is dragging me here to do coolie work. As a reward, Senior, you have to promise me one condition."
"Ah, what condition?"
"Just promise me first." Wang Peng spoke in a spoiled, teasing tone.
"Fine, fine, I promise you, but it can't be anything too outrageous."
"It's not outrageous. The condition is: how about you give me a kiss, Senior?"
Liu Yiyi froze; she hadn't prepared herself yet.
Yet looking into Wang Peng's expectant eyes, she hesitated and said:
"Alright." Though she agreed out loud, in her heart she muttered, *"I didn't say when I'd kiss you."*
Hearing this, Wang Peng worked with even greater enthusiasm, cooperating with the senior to quickly scrape clean an entire wall.
The two worked all the way until four in the afternoon before they finished scraping off the wall plaster. Aside from eating and drinking water, they had barely stopped the entire time.
"Senior, do you have plans tonight? Would you like to go see a movie together?"