Slowly Falling For Changkong

[Chapter 60]

***

Eh? When did Shen Lin become so talkative?

Sure enough, university wasn’t just for learning, but also for developing your pick-up skills.

(T/N: pick up skills as in seducing/picking up girls.)

After donating blood, the two went out and continued to distribute leaflets. At first, there were plenty of students on the street, but some of them started leaving pretty much half-way. In the end, there was only a few of them left.

After all, many students only participated to get the extra credit. Xiang Nuan was actually pretty surprised that Song ZhiXuan had stayed till the end. Song ZhiXuan had stayed next to Shen Lin’s classmates and seemed to have chatted with them the entire time.

Seeing that their shift was almost finished, Shen Lin’s classmates had taken the initiative and invited the girls for lunch. Song ZhiXuan immediately responded: “Great! There’s a good self-service seafood hotpot restaurant nearby. It’s delicious and quite cheap. Let’s go together!”

Shen Lin looked towards Xiang Nuan asked: “What do you think?”

Xiang Nuan thought about it, then said: “I can go.” She grabbed the ready-to-leave Lou SiQi and pulled at her arm. “I’ll go with my roommate.”

“Alright, It’s more fun if there are more people.”

“….” Lou SiQi, who had been suddenly dragged along, silently looked towards Xiang Nuan.

Xiang Nuan smiled at her and asked: “Do you like seafood?”

Lou SiQi pondered, then replied: “It’s alright.”

“Let’s go together. I’ve also eaten in that restaurant and it really is delicious.” Then, Xiang Nuan whispered towards Lou SiQi: “I’ll pay for you.”

After some talk, they established a group of six, with three of them being Xiang Nuan, Lou SiQi and Song ZhiXuan, and the other three Shen Lin and his university friends.

Song ZhiXuan happily talked with the other two boys while Xiang Nuan took Lou SiQi to the back of the group.

Xiang Nuan dazedly watched the Song ZhiXuan’s back. It seems that no matter what, there will always be girls who can play well with boys. The smooth and slick girls who always had good relationships with the rest of the class.

To be honest, Xiang Nuan wasn’t very good at communicating with such people. It was why she dragged Lou SiQi along to this lunch.

Meanwhile, Shen Lin slowed down and gradually arrived at Xiang Nuan’s side. He asked her: “What’s wrong? Do you not want to eat seafood?”

Xiang Nuan shook her head. “No, it’s just that I don’t have anything in common with them.”

Shen Lin thought about it, then said: “Honestly, I don’t know how to idly chat with people.”

“Ha, I’ve known that since high school.” Xiang Nuan may never forget this in her life. After all, he had once sent her a cake that looked like the ‘five-year college entrance examination, three years simulation’ textbook.

(T/N: five-year college entrance examination, three years simulation is a popular exercise book? textbook? that helps you prepare for the college entrance exams. So Shen Lin had sent her a cake that looked like a study guide lel.)

Shen Lin paused, then said: “But it doesn’t matter. Your classmate and Hu Yang are very good at chatting, so you don’t need to feel awkward.”

Then, as if summoned by the mention of his name, Hu Yang turned around and asked: “Shen Lin, why are you dawdling back there, ah. The restaurant is quite popular; if we don’t hurry there won’t be any more tables left.”

At the reminder, Xiang Nuan worriedly asked: “Should we reserve a table first?”

“Alright, I’ll call them now.” Song ZhiXiuan took out her cellphone and reserved a table for six.

When the group arrived, the restaurant was already bustling. The tantalizing scent of seafood hotpot drifted in the air and promptly caught everyone’s bellies. Hu Yang was the first to approach a waiter and said: “Boss, where the table we just reserved?”

“Please give me your last name and mobile number.” The waiter confirmed their reservation, then led them to a window seat.

“You can make your own dip, the seasoning area is over there.”

Hu Yang and the others immediately walk towards the area the waiter pointed, leaving Shen Lin to stay at the table and watch their bags. Xiang Nuan also stayed at the table. Shen Lin sat opposite of her, causing Xiang Nuan to awkwardly cough and look towards the passerbys out the window.

Shen Lin pushed a dish of soybeans towards her and asked: “Do you want to eat some soybeans and pad your stomach first?”

“Nn.” Xiang Nuan grabbed a handful and put them in her mouth.

The waiter arrived and poured tea for them. Shen Lin waited for the waiter to leave, then asked her: “How are your studies? Have you gotten used to the workload?”

Xiang Nuan replied: “It’s ok. The foreign teacher in my oral English class is very handsome and funny. Everyone loves his lectures.”

Of course, she would’ve loved the class even more if he doesn’t ask random students to answer questions at every lecture.

Shen Lin nodded. “Well, when it comes to learning a new language you should pay attention to learning how to speak it too. You were quite good in English during high school, so it should be relatively easy to learn.”

Xiang Nuan curled her lip. “But you can say that to all the students in my English class. I’m not anything particularly attention-grabbing.”

“Don’t worry and just take your time. You can’t be lazy when it comes to language learning. You should listen more and remember to constantly practice speaking.”

Hu Yang, who had just come back with a saucer of dip, looked at Shen Lin and began to make a fuss. “God. Shen Lin, when you told me that you and that upperclassman were just studying together, I didn’t believe you. But now, I totally believe it! Even with such a lovely girl in front of you, you still have the heart to talk about studying!”

“….”

Xiang Nuan saw that Lou SiQi had also come back and started to get up. “I’ll also go and mix a dip.”

Shen Lin gave Hu Yang a withering glance, then stood up and walked towards the seasoning area.

By the time Xiang Nuan and Shen Lin had come back, seafood was already boiling in the pot. Everyone had spent the entire morning handing out leaflets so they were all hungry and tired. They all stared at the pot filled with delicious-looking food.

Hu Yang clutched at his chopsticks, muttering ‘can we eat yet?’ several times. When he finally got Shen Lin’s approval, he quickly grabbed a piece of fish. After he grabbed it, he suddenly remembered that there were girls around him. He placed the fish in Shen Lin’s bowl and tactfully said: “You can try it first.”

Shen Lin: “….”

Shen Lin tasted the fish and under everyone’s expectant eyes, he nodded and solemnly said: “It’s cooked.”

At this signal, everyone moved their chopsticks. Seeing the girls pick up some food, Hu Yang once again stretched out his hand towards the pot. Meanwhile, Song ZhiXuan took a photo of the table and posted it on her social media first. Xiang Nuan couldn’t help but admire her tenacity. Everyone was hungry, but she still remembered to take a photo first.

It seems that Song ZhiXuan’s true love wasn’t eating.

As for her, she might love eating a little too much. So much so that she had carelessly gotten a piece of fishbone stuck in her throat.

“Cough.” Xiang Nuan covered her mouth and coughed a few times, but felt the bone still stuck in her throat. It was beginning to hurt.

Shen Lin was the first to notice her. He put down his chopsticks and asked: “What’s wrong?”

With a depressed expression, Xiang Nuan replied: “There a fishbone stuck in my throat.”

“Stuck?” Song ZhiXuan raised her head. “I had the same thing happen to me once. My mother told me to drink vinegar. Maybe try to eat a lot of rice? How about some vinegar?”

She pushed over a small bottle of vinegar. Shen Lin picked the bottle up and said: “Vinegar has little effect on such things and it may even damage the mucous membrane. Eating a lot of rice will be even worse. It’ll likely push the fishbone deeper and deeper, leading to esophageal stabbing.”

The ignorant Xiang Nuan blinked. “So serious? When I was a kid, wherever I had a fishbone stuck I would just eat some rice.”

“That’s just because you’ve been lucky so far. Please believe in science.”

“….” Xiang Nuan was silent for a moment, then asked Shen Lin: “Then what does science say that I should do?”

Shen Lin replied: “Go to the hospital and have the bone removed.”

“….” Xiang Nuan didn’t want to go to the hospital, ah. She hadn’t eaten enough yet, and it would be very troublesome to go all the way to the hospital just for this. Looking at her expression, Hu Yang said: “Shen Lin is right. It’s better to go to the hospital. If the bone’s not too deep, a general practitioner can take it out with some tweezers. It’s very quick!”

“Hm…” Xiang Nuan thought about it. On their way here, they passed by a clinic. She said: “We passed by a clinic on the way here. I’ll go and ask.”

Shen Lin told her: “I’ll go with you.”

“Alright.” Xiang Nuan picked up her bag, and started to walk off. After a few steps, she turned around and told everyone: “Leave some for us!”

Hu Yang reassured: “Don’t worry, this is self-service hotpot. We’ll eat slowly and wait for you to come back!”

Xiang Nuan nodded, then left the restaurant with Shen Lin. Shen Lin asked: “Is the bone lodged in deep?”

Xiang Nuan studied the sensation of her throat and replied: “I think it’s fine. It should be too deep.”

Shen Lin was silent for a while, then, as if talking with a child, said: “I don’t think you and fish mix well. Next time, you shouldn’t eat fish.”

Xiang Nuan: “…”

It’s not like she gets a bone stuck in her throat every time she eats fish, ah.

After a while, they arrived at the clinic. The doctor shined a light down her throat and saw that the bone wasn’t deep enough that it wasn’t visible. It was apparent that Xiang Nuan wasn’t the first person to visit this clinic with a fishbone lodged in her throat. The doctor skillfully used some tweezers to clip out the fishbone and the entire process only took out a minute or two.

After the bone was extracted, Xiang Nuan felt her throat immediately ease.

Shen Lin asked the doctor: “Did it damage her esophagus?”

The doctor replied: “The damage was shallow. It shouldn’t have reached her esophagus.”

Shen Lin turned to Xiang Nuan. “Is your throat still sore? Do you feel any pain?”

Xiang Nuan shook her head. “No, I feel fine.”

The doctor smiled. “That’s good. Girl, the next time you eat fish, take better care, ah.”

“Nn…”

After paying, Xiang Nuan and Shen Lin began to walk back towards the restaurant. Shen Lin was still feeling a little worried and he asked once more: “Is your throat really alright?”

“Yeah.” Xiang Nuan once again concentrated on the feeling of her throat and established that it was fine. “Say, do you think that the doctor deliberately opened his clinic near the hotpot restaurant just so he could wait for people to get fishbones stuck in their throats?”

Shen Lin was stunned at her words, then started to laugh.

Xiang Nuan idly thought that this seems to be the first time she had ever seen Shen Lin laugh?

Xiang Nuan told him: “You should smile more. Your normal expression makes other people afraid to talk to you, ah.”

Shen Lin asked: “Is my normal expression intimidating?”

“Maybe you don’t do it intentionally, but your normal expression makes you look like a study tyrant.”

(T/N: top student/bookworm)

“…” Shen Lin was quiet, then said: “Since you wish for it, I’ll smile more.”

Xiang Nuan turned and looked at Shen Lin like he was a weirdo. “Shen Lin, be honest. Did you get a girlfriend recently? Why are you so talkative all of a sudden, ah?”

“I haven’t.” Shen Lin looked at her. “How about you? Have you gotten a boyfriend?”

“Oh.” Xiang Nuan hummed. “You think I’d still eat with you if I have a boyfriend?”

Shen Lin smiled. “Well, in that case, why don’t we both try it out?”

“Try? Try what?” Xiang Nuan pretended not to understand.

Shen Lin didn’t mind her attempts of cluelessness and said: “Try out love of course.”

Xiang Nuan looked at him. “Do you even have time to fall in love?”

“There’s nothing wrong with rescheduling things. Moderation is key, whether it be for studying or relationships.”

Xiang Nuan: “…”

Such a top student-like response, ah.

Seeing Shen Lin looked at her expectantly, Xiang Nuan smirked and said: “Then let’s try.”