Baobei, Baobei

The first thing Baobei saw when she opened the door to her dorm was her three roommates huddled in front of Xiaoxi’s desk, smiling contentedly in front of the computer screen. Baobei was in a good mood. She had said her piece, and felt relieved from the incident. She pounced on her roommates.

“What are you doing?!”

“Ouch!”

“I’m squashed!” Someone started groaning.

“Xia Baobei, you are in good spirits! After sulking for so many days, you’re finally back to normal!” Shi Xiaoxi turned and smiled deviously at Baobei, “Love is always the best nourishment for a woman. In just a few hours, you’ve become so full of life!”

Jiahui asked, “Shi Xiaoxi, why do I think that your words are indecent?”

Shi Xiaoxi pouted, “I didn’t even say that she had her fill of protein”.

“Stop being so savage!” Baobei ignored them. “What are you looking at?”

She looked closely at the screen. Was this … an image of her alighting from Lecturer Jiang’s car, barely five minutes ago? How did this appear on the forum so quickly?!

“You might not know, but there were many posts on the forum today with many photos of Lecturer Jiang picking you up earlier! Later, the moderator compiled the photos and reposted them, and by the evening, there were a few hundred pages of replies. Just now, there was news of an update, and within two minutes, the photos were posted. Xia Baobei, you’re famous!” To think that Shi Xiaoxi felt proud over such issues.

“There were people who were lurking around waiting?!” Fang Jie was shocked.

“Is that true? Then we can’t go downstairs to buy tea eggs in our pajamas anymore! Baobei, you have to take responsibility for this! You’ll have to buy it for us in future!” Shi Xiaoxi demanded.

“Go away! You are just making excuses for your laziness”.

“You are the person of the moment, aren’t you at least a bit concerned about what others are saying?” Jiahui asked.

“Be it good or bad, it’s my problem, why should you all be interested?” She asked nonchalantly.

“How is it only your problem?” Shi Xiaoxi disagreed. “You are from our dorm, this means that we are your marital home. How could we not be concerned over whether our daughter has married well? And most importantly, Lecturer Jiang is the god in our hearts! Of course we are concerned about his relationship status!”

“Shi Xiaoxi, go away!”

The conversation in the dorm continued. Initially the topic revolved around Baobei, but seeing that she had no reaction, they also lost their interest in probing further. Fang Jie then talked about her boyfriend, first saying that he had a cheap mouth, then said that she still loved him regardless.

If they weren’t already in their own beds, all of them would have climbed out and given her a lashing.

The main issue was that Fang Jie’s boyfriend thought that her boobs were too small, and not sexy enough. What’s worse, he also criticised women with big boobs, saying that their boobs were most definitely squeezed into their sizes by men. How lowlife was that?

“That’s why it’s difficult to be a woman! If you have short legs, you’ll feel tired wearing heels; if you have longs, a bunch of perverts will try to peep between your legs. If you are ugly, then he will go and find other women; if you are pretty, he’ll say he needs to watch over you; if you are reserved, he’ll say that you’re playing hard to get; if you are passionate, he’ll say you’re a bitch.” Shi Xiaoxi was angsty.

It was Baobei who latched onto Fang Jie’s words. “I’ve gotta ask, your bra is heavily padded, how did he know that you had small boobs…?”

“Pfft!” Shi Xiaoxi burst out laughing.

“Hahaha …” Jiahui’s laughter soon followed.

Fang Jie was embarrassed.

“Speaking of a cheap mouth, no one can be as cheap as my brother-in-law’s sixth brother.” Baobei recounted, “We went as a group to a club the last time. There were many people who flirted with him. One of the girls was quite pretty, and we don’t know how he managed to trick her to wait for him under the lamppost near the corridor outside. He even brought us there, and pointed in her direction saying, “That’s called Pigsy under the light, a luminous pearl”.

“That’s really low”. Jiahui said.

“That’s why I call him the Evil Master, a title that he is proud to own. He even said, if he was given three thousand government officials, he’ll be able to destroy the earth. If he was given three thousand beauties, he could create another world.”

“Does your brother-in-law have other younger brothers?” Shi Xiaoxi was suddenly interested.

“There’s only six of them.”

“Woah! Your brother-in-law is already so dashing, could it be …”

“They’re all dashing. Everytime I enter their house, I feel like I’ve transmigrated to the identity of a queen. Even their father is really handsome!” She clenched her fist and lamented. This family was full of males, and all of them were equally good looking.

“Baobei, you’ve got to bring us to take a look someday!” Fang Jie echoed the words in the roommates’ mind, especially Shi Xiaoxi.

“Fang Jie, you’re still alive?”

Another seckill.

------------------

Coincidentally, two days after the incident on the forum, it was time again for Lecturer Jiang’s elective. Everyone was anticipating the drama that would happen when the male and female leads were in the same room.

The four girls were surprised when they reached the lecture hall. It was so crowded! Fortunately, the vice president of their class left a seat for them in the front row.

“Thank god you’re finally here! I’ve almost become the public enemy!” The vice president wiped the perspiration off his forehead.

The corner of Xiaoxi’s mouth twitched. How could they not incur the fury of the others? He could have just occupied these seats in a low profile manner! Each of the seats had a piece of tissue paper on it. Even worse, a two-ply tissue paper was split into a single ply for each each!

Baobei and her roommates had just taken their seats when the male lead entered the classroom even before the school bells sounded. Everyone checked their watches. There was still a full ten minutes before six!

The lecture hall was in absolute silence. Even the sound of Lecturer Jiang unzipping his bag could be heard.

“Lecturer Jiang, have you checked out the forum?” The men were always braver, though Baobei just found out that men nowadays were equally gossipy.

“Nope, I don’t have an account.” Lecturer Jiang took out something from his bag, and held it in his palm, then left the podium. “Has there been anything interesting recently?”

“There’s some posts relating to you”.

“Wow!” The girls around Baobei started shrieking.

Lecturer Jiang had left a Ferrero Rocher in front of Baobei as he walked past her. A small gesture, but this made the handsome man look thoughtful and romantic. And they were in class, where they were teacher and student!

The girls beside her were green with envy.

“Baobei! Marry him!” Shi Xiaoxi shook Baobei’s arm.

Lecturer Jiang heard Xiaoxi’s words, turned towards her and gave her a smile.

How could Shi Xiaoxi resist that smile! She clutched her heart, as she said, “You are too kind Lecturer Jiang. Just remember to give me a higher score in the final exams.”

Baobei was forced to keep her chocolate, or there would be no end to this.

“Lecturer Jiang, I have a question for you”. A female voice from the back of the hall sounded. Everyone turned to look, and the crowd stirred. It was Su Yutong!

“Please go ahead”. Lecturer Jiang’s hands were in his pockets, as he stood on the same level as the students on the first row, his smile polite but distant. Even his smile at Shi Xiaoxi was friendlier.

“Lecturer Jiang, what do you think happiness is?” The moment the question was posed, some girls rubbed their arms, sensing the sour air.

Lecturer Jiang pondered for a moment, but did not answer the question. “Before I share my answer, I would like to ask another student to help me answer this question.”

Of course, the “another student” was Baobei.

What has this got to do with me? Baobei was glaring at Lecturer Jiang as she stood up, but the man was smiling gleefully.

She stood up slowly, turned towards Su Yutong and said indifferently, “Happiness is when others are hungry but I’m smacking my lips from eating meat”.

Almost at the same moment, Shi Xiaoxi and Jiahui high fived.

Xia Baobei was ruthless!

Lecturer Jiang lowered his head and smiled, his expression fully showing a man in love.

“Lecturer Jiang, what do you think?” Su Yutong appeared unaffected.

“Happiness is …” Lecturer Jiang started, and all the girls held their breath, Xiaoxi clutching tightly onto Baobei’s hand, “Finding the person who’s afraid of losing me”.

“Ahhh”, a small sigh reverberated across the room, as all the girls with romantic fantasies melted.

“Even if that person has many flaws?” The questioning continued.

Many flaws? Xia Baobei frowned. Baobei and Shi Xiaoxi exchanged looks, “Do I have many flaws?”

“Look at this, you’ve already taken this personally! Do you still dare deny that there’s something between Lecturer Jiang and you?” It was one of the rare occasions that Shi Xiaoxi had caught on.

“There’s no issue with a few flaws, this makes her a real person.” Lecturer Jiang’s reply came.

“Does he think that he’s Qiong Yao?” Baobei pouted, but her heart was racing.

Lecturer Jiang stepped back and leaned onto the podium, acting all cool. His next words appeared to be for all the students, and not specifically Su Yutong. But before he said anything, he gave Baobei a deep stare.

“When I returned, I went to S City to visit a senior whom I’ve respected since I was young. He was a successful man, both in his career and in life. I asked him, how is it that he can still have a loving relationship with his wife even after thirty years of marriage. He said, don’t criticise your lover’s flaws, or blame her when she’s done something wrong. You’ve got to understand, it’s precisely because of her imperfections and her mistakes that she wasn’t able to find a more ideal husband”.

Baobei found these words strangely familiar.

“I knew my other half from the moment she was born. To me, if I wished to fly, I’ll find the means to do so. It’s the same for everyone here. Do whatever you like, and ignore the others”.

‘Is this a public confession? Is it? Is it?” Shi Xiaoxi clutched her chest, as if she was the one being confessed to.

[1] Homonym used for “zhu” - “猪” (pig) and “珠” (pearl).