Chapter 39: Dog Lu’s girlish heart.

This was really too sudden and too surprising a scene.

So much so that when Ning Yiyi silently looked at Lu Xu Nan’s face hidden in the dim light, she felt what people called “breathtaking”, and even felt that she had been temporarily bewitched.

The youth standing among fireflies.

The dots of light fell into his eyes, creating another fantasy world, a gaze with whirlpool-like attraction.

Like a painting of many years, still bright and lively after a cleaning.

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She unknowingly held her breath, momentarily unclear whether she was worried about disturbing these small creatures that suddenly appeared or the temporarily fixed scene in front of her.

She also seemed to vaguely hear an unusual sound, lightly tapping her eardrum, vibrating ever so slightly.

However, she couldn’t tell where that sound was coming from.

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Mbwxr, vbwxr, vbwxr.

Rv oyp ayvbla abuvbxkn.

Lkdt Zk pweeldzu vbswtbv y zkvvzl ekpvaynvlezu, nswze kv cl vbyv obyv Nw Dw Lyd easrrle fwpv dso pvkzz bypd’v aszzle yzz vbl oyu esod vbl pvykap ulv?

Jwv bla vbswtbvp olal rwzzle cynj vs vbl ralpldv hlau iwknjzu clnywpl vbl uswvb kd vbl “rykdvkdt yxsdt qkalqzklp” pweeldzu hlau xwnb oalnjle vbl pnldl cu nwapkdt…

“Wwnj.”

Nw Dw Lyd oyvnble okel-lule yp vbl qkalqzklp qzlo swv qasx vbl xswvb sq vbl fya. Ebld bl oldv vs nshla kv okvb bkp bydep, kv oyp yzalyeu vss zyvl. Tl elflnvlezu tayccle bkp byka yde pyke, “Rq R’e jdsod lyazkla, R oswze’hl nywtbv ydsvbla fya.”

Lkdt Zk vkzvle bla blye yde wvvlale kd nsdqwpksd, “Twb?”

Gqvla bla lulp yeyrvle vs vbl ldhkasdxldv, Lkdt Zk nswze pll nzlyazu vbl kaakvyczl lmralppksd sd Nw Dw Lyd’p qynl. Ekvb vbl nsadlap sq bkp xswvb eassrkdt, bl pbssj vbl lxrvu fya kd bkp byde yde pyke, “Xaktkdyzzu, R oydvle vs tkhl kv vs usw obld usw nyxl. R oyp yqayke vblu oswze pwqqsnyvl, ps R oydvle vs zkqv vbl zke qsa psxl yka. Jwv…obld usw pweeldzu srldle vbl essa fwpv dso, R… easrrle vbl nyr…”

Lu Xu Nan originally wanted to say “I was scared and dropped the cap”, but thought again that the word “scared’ would really make him lose face and awkwardly swallowed it.

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Ning Yi heard it and couldn’t help laughing softly. “It’s all the same, I still saw it.”

Lu Xu Nan frowned, “Is it the same? I wanted to give you the jar. Place it by your bed at night and it can glow, it would look pretty good.”

Am I living in the ancient times? There’s still a need to capture fireflies for light to study1, study diligently in the face of hardship2?

Ning Yi had a straight woman’s way of thinking and even thought this suggestion was a little funny. She explained, “Fireflies emit light to seek a mate, it’s better to let them return to their natural habitat.”

Lu Xu Nan originally wanted to ask what kind of idiom fireflies and whatever snow was. However, upon hearing the three words “seek a mate”, his face heated up uncontrollably. Fortunately, the stairwell was dim and he couldn’t be seen clearly.

He lightly coughed, unnaturally changing the subject, “Don’t you girls all hope to be surrounded by a bunch of fireflies and take pictures, videos, and whatever? I saw they were all like that… you didn’t get to take any pictures…”

At the end, his tone was really faintly tainted with regret.

Ning Yi blinked and pointed at her eyes. “The pixels of a human’s eyes go up to 576 million. I’ve already used this ‘super camera’ to record the scene just now. Without accidents, the storage life should be forever.”

After speaking, she shrugged. “So, I shouldn’t have missed out even though I didn’t take pictures, right?”

Clearly, she was speaking seriously, yet Lu Xu Nan felt that he had been inexplicably stirred up by her serious tone.

Especially when Ning Yi said “the storage life is forever”, he felt like something softly poked him in his chest. He couldn’t help covering the left side of his chest as if he was afraid Ning Yi would hear something.

“Forever?” He softly mumbled.

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After about ten minutes, all the fireflies had finally fluttered their wings and flown away in no particular order.

Ning Yi’s gaze followed the last dot of light disappearing around the corner of the stairwell before shifting her gaze back to the person beside her. She thought for a bit, then very seriously expressed her gratitude. “Thank you for creating such an unforgettable ten minutes, it was really very pretty.”

Facing such a situation, Lu Xu Nan was a little at a loss and stuttered a little. He pretended to be calm, cleared his throat, and replied, “A-anyway, your ankle is sprained because of me…”

Before he brought it up, Ning Yi had completely forgotten while watching the fireflies. Now that Lu Xu Nan mentioned it, she belatedly felt her foot hurting from standing too long and softly hissed as she shifted her weight to her right foot.

Lu Xu Nan stuffed the jar into the pocket of his coat. He grabbed Ning Yi’s forearm with his sleeve and said, “Does it still hurt a lot? How about we get the school doctor to take another look?”

Ning Yi shook her head. “No need, I’ll just spray medicine on it again when I go back to my room and it’ll be fine. It’s much better already, I just can’t stand for too long.”

Lu Xu Nan didn’t insist. Using one hand to support her and one hand to push open the door of the stairwell, he made his way out.

Ning Yi didn’t act unreasonably. She slightly shifted some weight over, alleviating some of the pressure on her left foot. As she walked, she asked curiously, “By the way, where did you get those fireflies from? The biology museum?”

Lu Xu Nan’s attention was on her foot and he casually replied, “No, I went to the museum first. I originally wanted to buy some, but the staff said the fireflies were bred to be used as an ecological indicator of the imitation habitat so they aren’t for sale because of their experimental value. Afterward, there was an uncle who I pestered incessantly that told me…”

Halfway through speaking, he suddenly stopped.

His expression changed several times as if he accidentally revealed something in his words, feeling both awkward and upset.

Ning Yi didn’t think so much. She was listening seriously when suddenly, there was no sound. She turned to look at Lu Xu Nan only to see his lips pressed together tightly, looking very unhappy.

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She curiously asked, “And then? What did he tell you?”

Lu Xu Nan frowned as he scratched the back of his head and said simply, “He said there were some in the woods by the south side of the lake so I went and caught some.”

Although Lu Xu Nan made it sound simple, Ning Yi knew this wasn’t so easy.

She quickly recalled the map of the park from this afternoon. There was only one lake on Xiangfeng Mountain and it was over by the wetlands and also near the biology museum. In short, it was very far from the hotel.

Moreover, were fireflies that easy to catch? Even shuttlecocks that were so big are often missed! Let alone, mosquitoes and bugs were also especially bountiful by the water…

Ning Yi’s gaze moved downward and sure enough, she saw several red bumps on his neck and also dirty mud stains on his pants.

Her heart warmed and she wanted to say thank you, but seeing Lu Xu Nan’s stinky face like he thought this matter was rather shameful, she tactfully didn’t mention it and secretly thought about whether her nagging brother had prepared mosquito repellent.

Ning Yi suddenly remembered that she purposely brought an extra sheet of stomach medicine before she left. Lu Xu Nan left in a hurry in the afternoon and she forgot to give it to him. Originally she wanted to give it to him along the way when they met, but ended up forgetting with the fireflies that came up.

She stood at the doorway of her room and handed the medicine to Lu Xu Nan. “Is your stomach better? Remember to take it again at night.”

After he took it, Ning Yi searched in her pocket again for the room card. She came up empty.

Pausing, she recalled that she only remembered to bring the medicine and forgot to bring the room card when she left.

Lu Xu Nan squeezed the medicine. Looking at her, he also reacted. He pointed at the room at the very end of the corridor and asked, “How about you come sit in my room for a bit? Ju Meng and the others should be back in a bit.”

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Because of what happened in the afternoon and the fireflies, Ning Yi felt like the bad-tempered Lu Xu Nan was not that bad and her impression of him had changed greatly so she nodded and agreed to this suggestion.

The layout of the hotel rooms were all the same, but it was messier here compared to Ning Yi’s room. Travel bags were randomly tossed on the bed and there were also some snacks that were probably meant to be eaten on the road…

Lu Xu Nan speedily came forward and tossed his travel bag aside onto Fang Ci’s bed, and pointed at his bed. “Sit there.”

Ning Yi sat down. Lu Xu Nan sat on the end of the bed opposite her. Neither of them spoke. The atmosphere suddenly became a little awkward.

Ning Yi wanted to use her phone to send a message to Ju Meng telling them to hurry up, but discovered that she had left her phone by the bed and forgot to take it when she left so she could only idly look around.

But the hotel wasn’t an exhibition hall, what was there to look at in 20 or 30 square meters of space? Thus, paying attention to the other person’s movements was unavoidable.

It was obvious that the mosquito bites were not limited to Lu Xu Nan’s neck. Since Ning Yi sat down, she saw him scratch his arm from time to time, scratch his calf. He seemed very uncomfortable, but because of her presence, he was embarrassed to move too much.

Ning Yi felt uncomfortable watching him. She thought about it and suggested, “Um… Do you want to take a bath and change? It might be a bit better.”

Lu Xu Nan was scratching his neck when he heard this. The area under his hand reddened obviously. Mosquito bites really were very hard to endure, but due to manners, he was also embarrassed to leave a guest alone. Since Ning Yi spoke, he agreed, but asked, “Then are you okay alone? I can turn on the TV for you? What about water? Do you want any?”

“Of course I’ll be okay, I’m not really disabled. Go, if I want something, I can get it myself.”

She paused, then asked, “But can you lend me your phone? I want to send a message to Ju Meng.”

Lu Xu Nan didn’t hesitate. He took out his phone and gave it to her. “The password is six zeroes.”

Then, he didn’t appear to care much how she used his phone and got water from the food cabinet, then piled the bag of snacks on Fang Ci’s bed beside her, and finally brought the remote over before getting clothes from his bag and rushing into the bathroom.

Isn’t this trusting me too much…

Ning Yi thought so, but didn’t look through other things, tapping on the WeChat app on the homepage. She remembered that their small group had created a chat today.

Unexpectedly, the moment the app opened, what she saw at first glance was her own WeChat profile picture right there at the top of the page. It was just that the name wasn’t her original username, nor was it a remark of her real name, but–

A red strawberry?

Ning Yi couldn’t help raising her eyebrows, thinking, Dog Lu unexpectedly has a girlish heart?

She didn’t think too much of it as she tapped on the group chat underneath. She tagged Ju Meng, and simply relayed her situation, telling her to return to the hotel as soon as possible.

Ning Yi held the phone and waited for a while. Perhaps the signal on the other end was bad or perhaps Ju Meng didn’t check her phone. Either way, there was no reply. She locked the phone and placed it on the bedside in passing. When she took her hand back, she almost knocked over the bottle of mineral water.

Coincidentally, she was feeling a little thirsty. Ning Yi intended to open it and take a sip. Only after picking it up did she discover that this wasn’t the new one that Lu Xu Nan just gave her. Half the bottle had been drunk and there was only a bit remaining, even though the brand was the same as those provided by the hotel.

Ning Yi didn’t mind much as she set it back in its place, turning around to pick up the mineral water placed with the snacks. She unscrewed the cap while unconsciously glancing at the food cabinet and saw that there was another new bottle sitting quietly there.

How many bottles of the hotel’s free mineral water are there?

This irrelevant question suddenly popped into Ning Yi’s head as she raised her head to take a sip of water.

[1]囊萤映雪: lit. a pouch of fireflies shed light on snow; study by the light of fireflies

[2]凿壁偷光: lit. pierce the wall to steal light; study diligently in the face of hardship