ALL NOVEL
Chapter 54
After eating, Chu Yang was going to teach as a tutor in the afternoon, and Chi Yan sent her there, which happened to be on the way back home. He would wait until Chu Yang finished tutoring and then they would eat dinner together again in the evening. Chi Yan felt this arrangement was great.
In the evening, Chu Yang came back to the dorm with a bunch of food. As soon as she entered, she saw the burning gazes of her three roommates, "What's up?"
Chu Yang put the food down and split it up between the four of them.
Jin Yang asked, "This was sent by Chi Yan, the school's heartthrob, right?"
Chu Yang: "Yeah. He's my boyfriend now."
The three roommates: !!!
"So it's true! When did you get together? How could we not notice?" Although they had guessed, hearing Chu Yang say it outright was still shocking.
"A few days ago," Chu Yang said, feeling a bit embarrassed for going back on her previous denials. "Oh right, next time we're all free I'll treat you to a meal." Treating friends was pretty standard after starting a new relationship.
Her roommates didn't care too much, since Chu Yang had treated them many times before, and they'd gotten more than enough snacks too. There's a saying, "A fed man has a soft heart."
"Oh right, how were the exam papers from today's competition? Were they really super difficult?" Jin Yang asked. She had intended to participate too but gave up as soon as she saw the problems. It wasn't worth wasting that time and money.
Chu Yang thought for a moment. "They were pretty hard. But I wrote down everything I could. We'll just have to see what happens."
Her roommates were confident in her abilities though. "You'll definitely do great! Or can you give a prediction for yourself?"
Chu Yang: "I can, but I don't need to." She generally avoided predicting things related to herself. She would just go with the flow of fate. As long as she tried her best.
The next morning, Chu Yang got up early while her roommates were still lazily lying in bed. It was the weekend after all, so most people would sleep in if they had no other plans.
Chu Yang carefully washed up and got ready. Next to her, a sleepy-eyed Jin Yang murmured, "Chu Chu, are you getting up so early to go line up at the library?"
Chu Yang: "No, I have a date."
That woke Jin Yang right up.
After Chu Yang finished dressing up nicely she headed out. Downstairs, Chi Yan was already waiting by his car. Today he had driven his four-wheeled vehicle.
Once she got in the car, Chi Yan first passed her breakfast. "Have you eaten yet?" Chu Yang asked.
Chi Yan: "Yup."
"We're going to the Forbidden City now?"
"Yup."
About 40 minutes later, they arrived near the Forbidden City. Chi Yan first parked the car, having already bought their tickets yesterday.
Even though it was Sunday, there were still quite a lot of tourists and tour groups visiting the Forbidden City. Chi Yan held Chu Yang's hand as they followed the crowds inside. Today, Chi Yan had also brought a camera. At the entrance, he took a photo of Chu Yang, then asked someone to help them take a couple selfie together.
In the photo, Chi Yan stood next to Chu Yang with his hand on her shoulder. Chu Yang leaned her head slightly as they both smiled at the camera.
After that, they slowly wandered around, looking at some of the famous sights. Chu Yang even went online to search up some history and stories behind things that were mentioned in her exam questions yesterday that she hadn't known how to answer...
The pair would walk for a while, then stop to rest every now and then. There were also shops inside the Forbidden City, and Chu Yang wandered in to browse, while Chi Yan wanted to buy her things - but Chu Yang directly refused. The stuff being sold was too expensive and really not worth it.
Other than a few restricted areas, they covered most of the palace grounds and halls before deciding to go get lunch nearby earlier since it would likely be very crowded at noon.
After they finished eating, Chu Yang went to the bathroom while Chi Yan settled the bill and waited at the table for her. But when Chu Yang came back from the bathroom she immediately spotted another girl with her back turned to Chu Yang, saying something to Chi Yan while holding out her phone to him.
Chu Yang saw Chi Yan shake his head to refuse before the girl reluctantly pulled her phone back. As Chu Yang approached, she overheard the girl say: "If you come with me, sister can easily give you 100k a month!"
Chu Yang suddenly laughed.
The other two probably heard her because Chi Yan instantly got up and came over to wrap his arm around Chu Yang. "I'm not short on money, thanks."
The girl gave Chu Yang a look before seeming to realize how awkward this was and left.
Chi Yan breathed a sigh of relief and told Chu Yang, "I didn't give her my contact details."
Chu Yang squeezed his arm. "I know. Let's get going."
"Okay."
In the afternoon they went to the Summer Palace, doing more or less the same thing as the morning - walking around and stopping to rest periodically. However, they went to dinner later at around 7 PM, eating Peking duck.
At 9 PM Chi Yan sent Chu Yang back to her school dorm, and their full day date came to an end.
The exhausted Chu Yang didn't even want to talk after getting back. They had done way too much walking today.
Her gossipy roommates eagerly asked, "Where'd you go today?"
Chu Yang: "The Forbidden City and Summer Palace. We were walking all day so I'm beat."
Jin Yang and the others had gone last semester too. "It really is tiring, but still fun."
Chu Yang agreed: "Pretty nice overall. I'll go check out some other places next time when I'm free. It definitely gives you an appreciation for historical stuff described in books." While books contained descriptions, seeing the magnificent sights in person was on another level.
After resting for a bit Chu Yang dealt with some customer inquiries on Weibo before noticing Chi Yan had sent her a ton of messages - all photos from their date today.
Meanwhile, the excited Chi Yan had returned to his own dorm room where his roommates were eyeing him gossipingly. Ignoring them, he first transferred the photos from his camera to his computer, then sent them to Chu Yang before picking out a few shots to post on Moments!
The photos he chose to highlight were mostly their couple selfies - like at the Forbidden City entrance, on the city wall, in front of the Hall of Supreme Harmony, on a bridge in the Summer Palace...
Seeing the updates, Wei Feng almost fell out of his bed and quickly double-tapped to like and comment: "Bro is just too handsome, the babe is too gorgeous! Perfect match!"
Soon, Chi Yan's Moments post had dozens of likes.
Many were shocked reactions.
"Whoa, Chi Yan is actually off the market now?!"
"Damn, I thought you'd stay single forever bro!"
"Which girl landed you?"
"Where'd you find this one, Chi Yan?"
"Congrats on leaving the single dog ranks!"
"Treat us to a meal to celebrate!"
In Chi Yan's high school group chat, the news spread instantly once someone shared that Chi Yan had a girlfriend.
Everyone discussed animatedly, "Wow, I thought Chi Yan would end up working for a big company after graduation then have an arranged political marriage or something like that."
"We've only just started sophomore year of college..."
"He always seemed like the type who wouldn't catch feelings for anyone, yet now..."
"I guess I should've tried chasing him. Didn't think I was that bad-looking!"
"So who's the girl anyway?"
Unlike her roommates, Chu Yang rarely checked Moments. She was unaware of Chi Yan's post and simply saved the photos he sent before going to bed, exhausted. On the other hand, Jin Yang and Wei Feng were both still scrolling through Moments when they saw Chi Yan's update and almost fell off their beds. "Whoa!"
Zhou Caicai: "What what?"
Seeing that Chu Yang was already asleep, Jin Yang shushed them and screenshotted the post to send to their dorm group chat instead. With her phone now on silent, the sleepy Chu Yang didn't notice the flurry of messages flying as Zhou Caicai and Qian Xin both had to muffle surprised shouts. The three of them animatedly gestured at each other, taking advantage of Chu Yang being passed out to continue gossiping.