Chapter 23: The Sponsor Turns Out to Be My Roommate

Qin Liang looked up.

A beautiful face, yet with a hint of heroic spirit, her features soft and deep, with a touch of delicate exquisiteness. A pair of bright eyes, black and white, clear and distinct, like the brilliant stars in the sky, constantly twinkling.

She was slender but not tall, about one meter sixty, much shorter than Qin Liang. She was wearing a light blue shirt paired with light-colored denim shorts, revealing two fair, slender, and beautiful legs.

The girl’s attire had a certain youthful vibrancy, but she herself seemed nervous and uneasy, her head lowered as she fidgeted with her fingers, her eyes darting around, as if she were nervous, yet also anticipating something.

‘Is it her?’

Qin Liang looked at this girl, whom he had only met once, and thought to himself.

The park by the college lake was always full of wandering boys and girls, either couples showing affection or single people looking for a partner.

To avoid the embarrassment of mistaking someone, Qin Liang didn’t go up to greet her right away, but looked down at his phone to confirm.

He lowered his eyes and lit up his phone, his fingertips swiping quickly across the screen:

GentleAsAGem: –I’m here. Where are you?

It’s Kele, Not Leke: –I’m here too, but there are a lot of people here. If you can’t find me, you can find a place to sit first. What color clothes are you wearing today, big brother? I’ll come find you.

After typing, she put down her phone. Tang Yunle bit her straw and sipped her lemonade, but the icy liquid couldn’t suppress the thin layer of sweat on her palms.

She looked up and around, her almond eyes scanning the bustling crowd. At this time, there were many couples wandering by the lake, as well as even more single boys and girls hoping to find a partner.

‘Where could my sugar daddy be?’

‘Is it that tall and sturdy boy? Or that quiet young man with glasses? Or maybe that otaku fatty with a camera hanging around his neck??’

The girl bit her lower lip, her round, bright, and beautiful eyes scanning the crowd, constantly analyzing.

The bench suddenly trembled slightly. Tang Yunle turned her head to look, and the young man with ice-blue eyes had silently taken a seat, his head lowered as he focused on his phone.

‘Qin Liang?’

‘How did he get here?’

‘Could he be here to find a partner?’

This park by the college lake was known as a sacred place for finding a partner. Who knows how many couples met here each month.

‘Wait!’

Tang Yunle suddenly remembered a rumor she had seen on the college Tieba. If a girl without a male companion sat alone on a bench in the park by the lake, it meant she was looking for a partner. At this time, if a boy was interested, he could sit on the other end of the bench, which meant “we can give it a try.”

‘Could it be…’

Tang Yunle’s gaze towards Qin Liang suddenly became strange.

‘I see you as a roommate, but you want to hit on me.’

Sensing the strange gaze from the other side, Qin Liang looked up and sized her up.

Long black hair, a light blue shirt, denim shorts—it matched the description in the chat box.

‘Could it be her?’

But he had also seen a few other girls dressed like this in other directions, so it was really hard to confirm.

He tentatively moved a little closer to the girl and was about to speak, but was stopped by a fair, white hand.

“Sorry, I’m not interested. I’m waiting for someone.”

The girl’s voice, as crisp as a warbler’s, was laced with defensiveness. She quickly retreated, creating a safe distance.

Although he was also a rich kid, she still had to meet her sugar daddy later, so she couldn’t get involved with other men.

She was still counting on leaving a good impression on him so she could continue to get money.

And…

An unfriendly gaze swept over the ice-blue-eyed young man’s white t-shirt. Tang Yunle snorted and tightened her grip on the lemonade in her arms. The last time, she had lost two thousand five hundred yuan because of a cup of lemonade, and she still felt the sting.

“Kele?”

Suddenly, a tentative male voice sounded, reaching Tang Yunle’s ears.

Tang Yunle immediately turned her head, following the sound. But after scanning her surroundings, her gaze finally settled on a young man with blue eyes.

“Kele,” Qin Liang said again.

This time, it wasn’t a tentative question, but a firm and decisive statement.

In an instant, the unfriendly expression of rejection on the girl’s face suddenly froze.

She looked at Qin Liang, her almond eyes wide with shock and disbelief.

Surprise, confusion, panic, shock, fear, shyness… all twisted together on her face, like an overturned palette of colors.

Thump!

Tang Yunle abruptly stood up and took a step back, her heart constricting violently before expanding again.

She could clearly hear her own frantic heartbeat. In her mind, one by one, small details that she had never paid attention to in her daily life suddenly surfaced:

‘Both are from Wanqing City, both are rich kids, both say they don’t have girlfriends, but as soon as it gets dark, they like to chat on their phones…’ Many small details that she had subconsciously ignored were now frantically attacking her brain, punching one hole after another, leaving her brain as pitted as the surface of the moon.

‘So… my sugar daddy is actually my roommate, with whom I’ve been living for a month, have a good relationship with, and will continue to live with for the next four years?!’

‘The person I’ve been scamming online is my roommate!!!’