413. The Return of Li Na【35/99】
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The girl sat on the lawn, her breathing gradually stabilizing. She looked up at the clear sky and then comfortably lay back, snuggling into the boy’s embrace.
The morning’s torrential rain felt like a dream, but by afternoon, the Grand Playground showed no signs of the storm. The lawn, basking under the sun, exuded a faint earthy aroma, while the sunlight illuminated the girl’s face, making her already beautiful skin look as smooth as white jade.
She closed her eyes and let out a soft sigh, her feet overlapping as she shifted her head into a more comfortable position on Chen Yao’s thigh.
Chen Yao looked down at Lin Nan, who was lying in his arms, gently stroking her delicate cheek with one hand while pulling out a cherry wrapped in plastic from his pocket with the other. Without saying a word, he popped a cherry into Lin Nan’s mouth.
“Eat more fruit; it’s good for your health.”
Lin Nan, forcibly fed a cherry, wasn’t very pleased. She frowned, opened her eyes, and glared at Chen Yao. “Are you making me throw up?”
“Just spit it into my hand, and I’ll find a trash can to toss it,” Chen Yao replied nonchalantly. He didn’t mind the mess, or rather, he didn’t see it as messy at all. When Lin Nan spat the cherry pit into his palm, he only smiled more gently.
Lin Nan flipped over, facing the sun in the sky, and became increasingly lazy under its warm rays.
Due to the thunderstorms in the morning, she hadn’t slept well and had spent the afternoon making dumplings, meaning she had missed her nap time. Now, she was starting to feel sleepy.
She rubbed her eyes and muttered, “I want to take a nap here.”
Though the Grand Playground was a bit too noisy, with the loudspeaker constantly announcing the latest competition updates and cheers, Lin Nan was too lazy to get up and go back to her rental apartment for a nap.
“October in the golden autumn, the sporty silhouette of Lin Nan at the sports meet…”
Suddenly, Lin Nan’s name blared over the loudspeaker.
Just as she was about to doze off, she snapped her eyes open, bewildered, and stared at Chen Yao.
“Who wrote that? Can’t even copy cheerleading scripts right—it’s only early May, and they’re talking about October?” Lin Nan grumbled, “And why’s my name in it?”
“Definitely someone from our class wrote it.” Chen Yao turned to look at their class camp under the tree, where five classmates were sprawled over tables, frantically copying cheer scripts from the internet.
Big Dog had somehow blended in with them.
Lin Nan followed his gaze and immediately bit her teeth in annoyance. “That Big Dog! It must be him!”
A normal cheer script would be one thing, but seeing her name pop up in this error-filled mess was embarrassing. Having it broadcasted was even worse—she felt as if she’d been nailed to a shame pole.
“He’s just trying to be funny; don’t mind him.” Chen Yao defended Big Dog, “Next time, we’ll order takeout from his place and burn him with low ratings.”
“Every day! Every single day!” She gritted her teeth.
Lin Nan’s expression was fiercely adorable, making Chen Yao chuckle.
She had initially planned to take a nap on the playground, but now Lin Nan was fully motivated. She quickly got up, grabbed her bag, and yanked Chen Yao along as they headed out.
“What are we eating tonight?” Chen Yao asked helplessly as he was dragged behind, “Should we order takeout or should I cook?”
“You cook; I’ve already eaten through the entire takeout menu nearby and am sick of it.”
Having lived on campus for nearly two years, Lin Nan had tried every available takeout place, and being someone who got bored easily, she quickly lost interest in any that she had previously enjoyed.
Chen Yao thought for a moment and nodded, “How about I cook you beef tonight? It’s high in protein and should help you recover.”
“I’m good with anything.”
She pulled Chen Yao’s hand away from the Grand Playground, glancing around before heading straight towards the back gate of the school.
After walking less than a hundred meters, she suddenly spotted Li Na.
Li Na had been missing for quite some time; she hadn’t left money for Lilith, which led that character to mooch off Lin Nan for a while, until Kang De came back and helped Lilith shake off Lin Nan.
Seeing Li Na again, Lin Nan felt a surge of joy.
“Where have you been?”
Li Na was still clad in her white dress, cradling the long-haired white cat, Sprite, in her arms, a perpetual smile gracing her face. She looked at Lin Nan and gave her a thumbs up. “Your photos have been quite the hit over at my place!”
“Huh?”
“Now a lot of people are asking to find you!”
Lin Nan blinked in confusion.
“They’re all shouting about tying you to a pillar and burning you at the stake.” Li Na’s smile widened, “You’ve become a big star!”
That didn’t sound like a good thing at all.
Chen Yao, standing beside her, looked equally dumbfounded. He had no idea if Li Na was talking about a game or some novel plot, and he hadn’t understood a word.
But Lin Nan grasped quite a bit of what Li Na was saying. Her sudden disappearance must have been to conduct her “fashion liberation movement” in another world; otherwise, she wouldn’t have been gone for so long, nor would she be spouting such nonsense.
“Is Lilith at the playground?” Li Na asked, holding Sprite.
Lin Nan reached out to scratch Sprite’s head and nodded, “She probably went to watch the high jump.”
“You have no idea; while you were gone, Lilith got involved with the neighbor next door to my rental…” Lin Nan didn’t hesitate to spill the beans on Lilith.
Li Na’s face darkened. “With how stunning she is, she really attracts a lot of admirers.”
She still thought of Lilith as pure.
“And she’s been skipping class lately; who knows what she’s doing outside? I heard she’s been bringing a lot of boys…” Realizing Li Na’s expression was getting darker, Lin Nan hurriedly shut her mouth, fearing she had made her gossip too scandalous.
Li Na brushed past Lin Nan with a frown, hastening toward the playground.
Chen Yao, still a bit lost, looked down at Lin Nan and asked, “How did you know Li Lisi was messing around with our neighbor?”
“Just a guess!” Lin Nan responded confidently.
With Lilith’s nightlife antics, and looking at their nerdy neighbor, it was a statistical improbability they hadn’t hooked up at this point.
After all, as a notorious heartthrob, Lilith could easily snag an average guy.
Chen Yao rubbed Lin Nan’s head helplessly. “If Li Lisi finds out you’ve been talking behind her back, it’s going to be trouble.”
“That’s not gossip; it’s a well-informed hypothesis!”
She didn’t care what Lilith thought, just like Lilith hadn’t considered her feelings when she turned her into a girl.
Feeling satisfied with pummeling Lilith for the recent episodes of culinary theft, Lin Nan beamed as she linked arms with Chen Yao, heading back to the rental apartment.
But after a few steps, she suddenly realized she seemed to have forgotten something.
The recent mysterious enrollment in the campus flower competition—had she forgotten to settle the score with Li Na?
She turned around, trying to spot Li Na again, but she was nowhere to be seen.
