Don't be So Proud

Chapter 5.4 — The Stirring of His and Her Heart

“Ha ha.” He Zhi Zhou was unable to speak anymore, his anger as well as his feelings of “you’ve got to be kidding me” having reached an extreme. No wonder Shen Xi was able to think of three plans in the blink of an eye. How come he didn’t know before that she was so talented?

Shen Xi looked gingerly at He Zhi Zhou and saw his chest heaving, his head looking as if steam was going to rise from it, and his brows creased handsomely. But the corners of his lips were curled upward.

“You think those won’t work?” she asked.

“Ha ha. And just how are you planning on asking them for it? What? Just ‘share some over’?” He Zhi Zhou asked in return, a sneer on his lips. And then, he discovered that his shamelessness had fallen to a whole new level, that even questions like those, he could say them out so easily and casually.

Shen Xi stared at him. “How else then? All I can do is to kindly ask them to stroke a bit more out.”

He Zhi Zhou still ended up losing his control. He gripped his hands into fists, truly worried that he might do something irrational. Inhaling a deep breath, he spat out between clenched teeth, “Stroke?”

Shen Xi thought that He Zhi Zhou felt the word, “stroke,” was uncouth, so after pondering for a moment, she once again opened her mouth to solicit his opinion. “… Squeeze?”

He Zhi Zhou’s face instantly darkened, and his teeth made grinding noises from being clenched together.

Seeing that He Zhi Zhou had a look that seemed as if he was about to beat her, she immediately softened herself to placate him. Since young, she had always been someone who was willing to bend. She patted He Zhi Zhou on the shoulder, and her slender eyes were limpid as she said encouragingly, “Big Brother He, don’t worry. We’ll definitely be able to get through this one. Since we’re in this state already, then you are me and I am you. For some things, we just cannot let ourselves to be bound by those differences between men and women and all the proprieties that go with it, right?”

What a wonderful attitude… He Zhi Zhou’s eyes glinted coolly as he asked in a deadpan voice, “So what are you thinking?”

Shen Xi still blushed with this, radiating the bashfulness of a water lotus that could not withstand even a cool breeze. But after a little while, that water lotus was incited with anger. She was the one who was helping him come up with ideas, yet he was mocking and ridiculing her. What gives? Did he think she really wanted to be a man?

Stinkin’ man! Shen Xi lifted her head and, with a dark expression on her face, told him, “I have a plan four.”

He Zhi Zhou looked at her, then said with seriousness, “You can keep it to yourself.”

Shen Xi grinned rather evilly, with a cheeky fearlessness, like a dead pig that had no fear of being scalded by boiling water. “It’s really simple. I’ll just go and tell the university authorities that I can’t get it up. They won’t make things difficult for me anymore after that. Maybe I can even get a disability certificate, and then my tuition will be cut in half.”

Can’t get it up… Tuition cut in half…. Every man was particular sensitive about anything pertaining to his body, mind, or dignity, regardless of whether he was a Joe Blow nobody or a male god. Even if the issue was as small as a little pea in a pod in early spring, he still would not tolerate even the slightest provocation about it. And let’s not even talk about a man like He Zhi Zhou, who had a rather high opinion of himself in all aspects.

Shen Xi very astutely detected that the atmosphere was not right. Before she had a chance to flinch her head and shirk away, He Zhi Zhou, a cold smile on his face, was already staring straight at her and firing off question after question at her. “I can’t get it up? Haven’t you personally already given it a try? Have you forgotten how you shove it back down every morning?”

“Aaaaaaaah! …” Throwing her hands over her face, Shen Xi bolted a metre away from He Zhi Zhou, thinking, “It turns He Zhi Zhou can act like a ruffian, too.”

He Zhi Zhou’s lips curled upwards. Sure enough, when it came to the law of interaction between men and women, the one who was more thick-skinned and shameless would forever prevail.

Shen Xi rubbed her burning cheeks, then turned back to look at He Zhi Zhou. Seeming to know that she was looking at him, He Zhi Zhou also turned his head to face her. Their eyes met. The morning sunlight passed through the lush, green, interlacing branches and leaves and scattered down onto his head, creating a warm and quietly elegant air about him.

So bizarre. She was plainly looking at her “own” face, and everything that her eyes took in was “herself.” However, what appeared in her mind and heart were He Zhi Zhou’s face and appearance, handsome, with understated elegance, his bearing poised and outstanding.

Shen Xi stiffly turned away, her eyelashes fluttering lightly, as if her eyes had been burned.

Because of her unusual thoughts, Shen Xi began to feel awkward. Hopping quickly down the steps, she waved back at He Zhi Zhou. “I’ll go back and ponder on it. You have breakfast. If I have any questions, I’ll ask you.”

He Zhi Zhou: “……”

By the time Shen Xi finished saying this, she was already far away, her speed so swift he had not even been able to stop her. In the space of a moment, she had already dashed out of the basketball courts.

What did she just say?

… She’d go back and ponder?!

He Zhi Zhou’s hand accidentally gave a slight tremble. He opened up the yogurt Shen Xi had brought him and took a look. The creamy white, viscous matter inside caused him to instantly lose his appetite…

* * * * *

He Zhi Zhou spent the entire day with his nerves on the edge. One moment, his left eye was twitching. The next moment, his right eye was twitching.

It was the weekend today. Xia Wei Ye, Chen Han, and them had all gone out shopping. He had turned down Dou Dou’s invitation to go with them, staying in the dormitory to do some programming. Facing the computer, he would write a bit, then stop, write a bit, then stop. The image of “Shen Xi pondering seriously” flashed across his mind. He was about to drive himself to insanity.

But as things would have it, for the entire morning, not a single phone call came from Shen Xi. He Zhi Zhou could not help making all sorts of blind, baseless speculations, guessing about all the various possibilities and continuously torturing himself.

Could it be, her “pondering” had gone very smoothly? She had learned how to do it herself without needing any teaching? Or she had already “played” until she had broken it and was now too scared to call and tell him?

……

He Zhi Zhou gripped his phone, constantly dialing the number, then hanging up. Finally, setting down his mobile phone, he massaged his forehead. Forget it. What was the point of calling? To ask her how her progress was? Or to give her some coaching? Aaaah!

Just drop it, drop it.

In agony, He Zhi Zhou rapped his own forehead. Unexpectedly, there was the sound of knocking on the door. Leaving his chair, he walked over and opened the door, leaning against the doorframe to look with a frown at the middle-aged man standing outside.

The middle-aged man outside also creased his brows into a frown, unmoving and staring at him.

He Zhi Zhou tried speaking. “You are…?”

But before his words had finished sounding out, the middle-aged man was already shoving his head from the left to the right with a finger. “Shen Little Xi, if you keep putting on this little act in front of me, believe it or not, next month, I’m only going to give you one-third of your living expense allowance!”

He Zhi Zhou truly did pause in shock. Shen Xi’s dad… had come!

Daddy Shen was purposely putting on a stern face, hoping to intimidate this daughter of his who was not sensible or mature, but alas, it had absolutely no effect. He was here in S City today for a meeting and, while he was at it, to attend a friend’s cocktail party. He had thought of his daughter, and, worried that the kid had been wounded psychologically by getting her living expense allowance reduced, he had deliberately brought along her favourite fruits and roast duck to see her.

But the result was… his daughter really did not want her daddy anymore?

Seeing that his baby girl was not giving in to his hardball, Shen Jian Guo had no choice but to take the soft approach. He stretched out a hand and patted his “daughter’s” head, intending on complimenting her that she had gotten cuter and lovelier again, but then he could not bring himself to make those compliments.

“Xi Xi… how come you’ve gotten uglier? …” Shen Jian Guo was having a hard time accepting his daughter’s new hairstyle. He kept having a feeling that it looked like a certain celebrity. What was that guy’s name?

… Gao Xiaosong?

Yes, that was it! Gao Xiaosong!

Stiffly, He Zhi Zhou turned his head away to the other side, but in the end, he could not stifle himself and half-roared, “… That’s enough!”

Shen Jian Guo instantly pulled back his hand. Then, enthusiastically, he carried all the good eats he had brought with him into his daughter’s dormitory room, in passing also checking out this room of his daughter’s. Very satisfied, he said, “Much neater than the last time I visited. There’s improvement. Daddy needs to give you praise for that.”

“Thank you.” He Zhi Zhou washed the cup Shen Xi used to use, walked to the water dispenser, and poured a cup of water for Daddy Shen.

Taking a seat at his daughter’s desk, Daddy Shen took the cup with a very gratified smile. “Your hair’s shorter, but you’ve become more filial…”

He Zhi Zhou: “……”

Daddy Shen once again surveyed the surroundings and once again praised his “daughter,” this time for her quilt folding. “Very good. As good as Daddy’s folding when I was young. Before, you were just deliberately lazy and did not fold your quilt, right?”

He Zhi Zhou: Ha ha ha ha.

Daddy Shen suddenly stood. “Oh right, Xi Xi, Daddy will take you out for a nice dinner tonight, and while we’re at it, you can meet a few uncles.”

A bad feeling rose in He Zhi Zhou’s heart, and hurriedly, he tried to refuse. However, before he could even open his mouth, Daddy Shen had already dragged him out of dorm room 636, then Dormitory Building 6 altogether, all the way out until he was dragged to the front of the school and stuffed into a black sedan.

This was crazy! Was there a single normal person in the Shen family? And plus, why were they all so strong? … He Zhi Zhou resented this female body of his!

This whole day, Shen Xi had been hard at work, studying that, which caused her to not see He Zhi Zhou’s text message right away. Unfortunately, the end result of her studying was still terrible failure.

Half an hour earlier, she had been sprawled on her desk feeling deflated. A scene had floated up in her mind of when she was young and her parents had brought her to a farm. She remembered that at the time, out of all the children, she had been the best at milking. Squirt. White milk had streamed down like flowing water from the dairy cow’s body…

Shen Xi slapped the back of her head lightly. Then, she saw the text message from He Zhi Zhou as well as one missed call on her phone.

—— Shen Jian Guo had come!

* * * * *

Shen Xi had dashed madly out of S University. The sky was already dark, and there were not many taxis in front of the main university gates. She had very anxiously stopped several, but in the end, every single one already had a customer and was not heading in the direction she was heading..

The place she needed to go to was Huijiang Road, which had S City’s most expensive hotel and restaurant. Daddy had brought He Zhi Zhou there to attend a cocktail reception…

After a dozen or so minutes, she finally managed to stop a taxi, and the driver very helpfully stomped on the accelerator the entire way. When they arrived at the destination, Shen Xi gratefully tossed over a 50 RMB note. “Keep the change!”

The driver uncle pulled her back. “Hey, handsome, a person needs to be kind and virtuous. The total is 58 RMB, you know?”

Shen Xi fumingly yanked out another 10 RMB bill and handed it over.”Keep the change!” Saying that, she raced into that luxury hotel not far away.

Little Zhou Zhou, Big Sister is here to bring you warmth and tenderness!

But the end result: before she could experience triumph, a death sentence was proclaimed over her, and heroes forevermore could weep for her. Shen Xi miserably discovered that she could not even take the elevator. In this grand, five-star hotel, a room key card was required in order to enter the elevators. And sadly, the amount of money that was on her was not even enough to get an hourly rate hotel room.

Shen Xi steeled her self and made the decision to take the stairs.

Level 1, Level 2, Level 3, Level 4, Level 5. At Level 7… Shen Xi collapsed on the stairs, out of breath. Holding her mobile phone, she glanced down at the location He Zhi Zhou had sent her: 28th floor, room no. 6, main restaurant.

Sob sob. She didn’t want to climb anymore. Her long legs randomly kicked at the ground and then, she got up again and continued on her way.

Level 20, Level 21, Level 23… Level 28. Finally there! Shen Xi nearly collapsed onto the floor. Sitting down on its marble surface, she called He Zhi Zhou. The moment He Zhi Zhou answered the call, she could not help breaking out into a large grin. “Hi. Guess where I am.”

出身未捷身先死，长使英雄泪满襟. This is taken from a poem written by Tang dynasty poet, Du Fu. This particular line describes how Zhuge Liang, in the time of the Three Kingdoms, had headed out in battle but before he could even experience triumph, he died. As a result, people would forever be weeping for him. Basically, it describes a situation where, before you can even get to what you’re hoping to accomplish, something thwarts you, so that all you can do is feel anguished and mournful.

Author’s additional random side scene (not part of the storyline proper ):

Shen Xi: “Brawny, can you share some of yours with me?”

Brawny held the 10 cc he had just pumped out and swiftly hid it behind his back. “No—“

Shen Xi: “Big Brother Monkey, can you share some with me?” As she spoke, she handed held her test tube over in his direction.

Monkey felt caught in a difficult position. “Leader, that wouldn’t be really good.”

Shen Xi: “Tang Tang, can you share some with me? I’m not in very good form today.”

Lin Yu Tang spun away flusteredly.

Nutjob!