Chapter Twenty-Four: Choice

  Lin Xue'er's emotions at this moment are complicated, and she doesn't even know how to understand or sort them out herself. Her feelings for Li Sansheng are like a tangled mess of sticky rice and chaotic threads.

  As for emotions, Lin Xueer has always believed that as long as she encounters something, she doesn't want to give up. Even if it's possible to regret in the future, at least she won't have any regrets. This is already enough for her. Therefore, when Lin Xueer thought she had met her Prince Charming, Li Sansheng, she made up her mind. No matter how much her family opposed it, she would persist, just like when she came to Xi'an and attended a third-rate university that she had never heard of before, despite everyone's objections.

  Now, the cold war with Li Sansheng is also like letting myself think clearly about what to do next between me and Li Sansheng. Should I continue to be reckless and risk getting hurt or being suppressed by my family? Or should I put it down early and just be friends if we can't be together? If not, then I'll just go back to Jiangsu early. In the future, I might marry a wealthy young master and become a wife and mother, and this life will pass. There will always be a little regret in my heart.

  "Are you going to tonight's dance?" Lin Xue'er said casually, not wanting to continue entangling in this topic.

  "Come on, you're saying something so interesting, if we don't go, won't the party be missing something?" Jiang Xiaoxiao stretched out her snowy white arm, and with her delicate fingers, gently brushed away the hair hanging in front of her chest, coquettishly saying.

  When Jiang Xiaoxiao spoke, the other girls all giggled, making the boys in the cafeteria extremely satisfied while also making the younger brothers feel uncomfortable. They had already lost count of how many times they had fantasized about these four beauties who were a disaster for the country and its people. At night, when they returned home, it was again countless descendants being abandoned and wasted, truly a disaster for the country and its people.

  At a little past eight o'clock in the evening, Li San Sheng had just finished his evening self-study and was summoned by three guys from his dormitory to gather at the school's Open Book Plaza. In order to avoid seeing Lin Xue Er as much as possible, Li San Sheng had basically said goodbye to the classroom for the past few days and spent most of his time soaking in the library, freely and leisurely dog-paddling in the ocean of knowledge.

  The remaining time was spent attending lectures and seminars by famous people at the university below, as well as some interesting courses that Chen Dengke and others had provided intelligence on. Li Sansheng had to admit that saving those three guys in the first place was a relatively wise move, after all, there were some things that he would have to go through great lengths to accomplish, but for these guys, it was easy to do.

  As for Liu Yiran, Li San Sheng naturally made use of all his skills to launch an attack on her in order to achieve his own goals. However, no matter how hard he tried, Liu Yiran remained unresponsive and treated him just like any other ordinary friend. At most, she might have said a few more words to him, but this rejection did not deter Li San Sheng. He continued to follow Liu Yiran shamelessly, even attending her classes without making any obvious moves or actions. Instead, he quietly sat in the back of the classroom by the window on the left side, holding books borrowed from Jiaotong University Library using Liu Yiran's library card.

  "Fourth, don't tell me you're going to the school dance wearing that, how are you going to attract beauties like this? Most people in our school judge by appearance." When they arrived at the Open Book Plaza, Li San Sheng had already seen his three dorm-mates from afar, all dressed up and looking sharp. Lu Guangzhong saw that Li San Sheng was still wearing his usual plain and unsophisticated outfit, and felt sorry for himself for having gone to so much trouble to get four tickets. Although it was a school-internal dance party, in order to limit the number of attendees, expensive ticket prices had been set. Lu Guangzhong had put in a lot of effort to get one ticket for each of his dorm-mates.

  "Your sister, you know what this is called? This has connotation, it has depth. Unlike yours that can only attract mediocre fans." Li San Sheng said disapprovingly.

  "According to the equivalent relationship, connotation is nothing, depth is nothing, everything is just nonsense, so connotation and depth are also nonsense." Qiao Mincheng muttered to himself with a hint of disdain for Li Sansheng.

  "Your sister!" Li Sansheng cursed with a globally recognized gesture.

  The freshman dance held at the Student Activity Center is a special event organized by the student union to welcome new students, but it's only open to those qualified students from well-off families. As for the children from poor families, most of them would refuse to attend such events due to feelings of inferiority or self-respect. However, there are still some who would participate in such activities without hesitation, because they have been told by countless people that this society relies on connections, and the university's social network is an important part of their future.

  Li Sansheng did not despise anyone, because he also came from a humble background. Compared to ordinary people's children, Li Sansheng had a more bitter and laborious life. However, Li Sansheng looked down on those who knew they were poor but acted like rich kids. When their parents were still farmers or workers, facing the earth and working hard in the fields and factories for their education, these children were recklessly squandering the money earned by their parents' tears, sweat, and humiliation, without knowing how many white eyes they had suffered. This was not about being filial or unfilial to one's parents, but rather a sin. A person can be naive and ignorant in their first twenty years, but if they are still like that after the age of twenty, it is no longer ignorance, but a sin.

  The dance party organized by the student union and school seems to be okay, at least many basic facilities are in place, and the number of students who came is also up to the school's expectations. However, it didn't turn out as Li San Sheng had imagined, with men and women all dressed up in formal attire. Li San Sheng could only bitterly laugh at himself for being overly optimistic. This isn't a high-society banquet or a gathering of billionaires, so there wasn't that kind of scene. Although it was said to be a welcome party for freshmen, many sophomores and juniors also came, probably to pick up girls. Since it's summer, the girls were all dressed in cool clothing, either long dresses or short skirts, which made it a feast for the eyes of a large group of guys.

  Li Sansheng arrived at the dance party and, unlike his three roommates who had already plunged into the midst of the revelry, casually found a place to rest, sipping soda while watching the young people indulging in their youth. Sometimes he would lament that heaven is fair to everyone, it's just that too many people have been given different choices, ultimately, which path one takes still depends on oneself.

  When I'm extremely bored, I recall my time at Qinling College. This aristocratic school, known only to a select few with high social status and standing, is truly a noble institution. Every year at Qinling College, there would be numerous evening parties and dance balls. When I first arrived, I didn't know how to dance and mostly avoided such events. However, after meeting Hei Zi Yu and others, under the torture of Yu's enthusiastic yet demonic teaching style, Li San Sheng finally mastered astonishing dance skills. To Li San Sheng, dancing seemed quite simple - as long as one had a flexible body and remembered the footwork, it was just like practicing Tai Chi or Ba Duan Jin.

  I remember that at the time, Yu'er and Xinxin were the absolute stars of every dance party. The two demons who had been practicing yoga and dancing since childhood had already become immortals. Their devilish figures, composed of soft waists and long legs, made the males of Qinling Academy drool one by one. Fortunately, Li Sansheng's self-control was still good, otherwise he would have been tortured to death by these two demons.

  Now seeing such a scene, one can't help but think of the memories from back in the days at Qinling Academy. A group of kids who were still in their youth, yet when it came to playing cards, they were more skilled than many older men. This has an inseparable relationship with the family environment they grew up in.

  Li Sansheng and this group of rascals have also done many despicable things, every time Li Sansheng is in charge of the overall situation, while Heizi and others take specific actions, with clear division of labor and responsibilities.

  Li San Sheng, with a gentle smile at the corner of his mouth, was reminiscing about the scenes of his youthful recklessness. He also saw Lin Xue Er, wearing a fitted dress that accentuated her figure, walking towards him with a very ladylike demeanor. Li San Sheng seemed to be deceiving himself as he turned his head to look around and see if there were others nearby, confirming that Lin Xue Er was indeed coming towards him. With a "die early and ascend to heaven" mentality, Li San Sheng mustered up the courage, like a heroic martyr.

  "Huh, still angry with me?" Since Lin Xue'er, such a proud girl, has taken the first step, if he, a standard Guanzhong guy, waits for the girl to make the first move, it would be too awkward.

  Today, Lin Xueer wearing high heels and Li Sansheng standing together are quite a match, but Li Sansheng's outfit is a big eyesore.

  "No," Lin Xue'er shook her head, seemingly scolding herself for having fallen for Li San Sheng.

  Li Sansheng saw Lin Xueer's attitude and sighed, in order not to let such things continue to entangle the two people, Li Sansheng had already planned to open up the topic today, to clarify things, perhaps the result would be that the two people would become strangers.

  "Xuě ér" Li Sān Shēng called Lín Xuě ér by name for the first time with such intimacy, although Lín Xuě ér had agreed to be called that way before, but Li Sān Shēng had never done so. Today was the day when the two people would face each other directly.

  "I think this is the first time you've called me like that," Lin Xue'er said with a slightly self-mocking smile, having already sensed that Li San Sheng might want to clarify everything with her today, feeling both anticipation and worry and fear.

  "I know you like me, and I'm very clear about why. It's nothing more than the fact that when you were in your most difficult and helpless time, I didn't abandon you. At that moment, your psychological defenses were at their weakest. So, my heroic display at the time pierced through your defenses. To put it plainly, every girl has a fantasy of having a Prince Charming, and that night, when I, who was originally just a useless guy, was forced into a desperate situation and showed explosive power, you thought of me as your Prince Charming." Li San Sheng's voice was soft, shallow, and light as he spoke, word by word revealing the deepest things in Lin Xue Er's heart.

  Lin Xue'er didn't say a word, but her eyes were filled with sadness as she looked at Li San Sheng. Her fingers caressed the Patek Philippe ladies' watch on her right wrist, a gift from her father on her 18th birthday that could drive many women crazy. She neither acknowledged nor denied it.

  "Girl, that's not what they call love, maybe it's just your admiration for me." Li San Sheng shook his head.

  "No!" Lin Xue'er excitedly refuted Li Sansheng's conclusion.

  Predicting Lin Xueer's reaction, Li Sansheng appeared very calm and asked with a smile while looking at the children dancing wildly in the dance pool, "Do you think I'm like them?"

  I didn't understand what Li Sansheng meant by that sentence, but subconsciously shook my head. In this privately-run third-rate university, most students were more interested in eating, drinking and having fun to get their diploma, but Li Sansheng spent most of his time in the library and attending lectures at other universities, enduring two or three hours of unbearable public transportation every day. A guy like him may be unremarkable today, but he will surely have his moment of glory someday. People like him are different from those students because they know what they want.

  "I was born with only one relative, my grandfather, no parents, no other relatives. My life is like a comedy that's even more ridiculous than a third-rate movie. Others laugh, I also laugh." Li San Sheng's eyes were very sad, with a melancholy and tragic air, but such eyes deeply attracted Lin Xue Er. Whenever Li San Sheng spoke, Lin Xue Er could feel the pain in his heart.

  "You, from childhood to adulthood, have always been raised in a superior family environment, and you don't even know what my world is like. Your family background has predetermined that the path you will take in the future will be different from mine. Your parents won't watch you suffer with me. You will eventually find someone who understands you and takes care of you to walk the rest of the way, while I am still like a vagabond without a place to settle or roots, perhaps I will die like autumn leaves, only falling to the ground when my time is up."

  Lin Xue'er clutched her legs tightly, and every word Li Sansheng said pierced her heart.

  "I know that at this moment, letting go will be hard for you to accept, but over time, even the most deeply ingrained memories will fade away, and in the end, you won't even remember them, or if you do, it'll just be a faint smile."

  Lin Xue'er felt as if there was something at the bottom of her heart that was slowly slipping away, and if she didn't grasp it, she would regret it for the rest of her life.

  "May I have the pleasure of this dance?" Just as Lin Xue'er was lost in thought, a voice that sounded refined but also arrogant came into her ears, and Lin Xue'er felt a bit repulsed.

  Li San Sheng looked at the stranger in front of him, who had already regarded himself as a love rival, and could only shake his head and sigh. After all, he was just a child, young and reckless.