Chapter Seventy-Two: Who Is the Campus Heartthrob

But in truth, Luo Yixia knew that once school started, it would be impossible for them to spend every day together as they had now. She would be living in the dormitory, while he stayed outside.

Early the next morning, the two began packing their things for school.

Their parents wanted to see them off, but the couple refused.

Luo Yixia felt it was too embarrassing—getting married in sophomore year, surely everyone at school would mock her, and she couldn’t bear it.

Song Chengyi promised he’d make sure Luo Yixia got safely to her dormitory, telling their parents not to worry.

It took some effort to finally get into the car.

Luo Yixia sighed, “There’s a welcome party for freshmen tonight.”

“Mm.”

“Um, Song Chengyi, can I discuss something with you?” Luo Yixia hesitated, glancing at him.

“What is it?”

“It’s just… about us registering our marriage—could we not tell anyone? I don’t want others to know about our relationship.” Luo Yixia liked Song Chengyi, wished the whole world knew, but the marriage certificate… That was different.

Besides, their relationship was still unstable; not to mention the reason they got married, she was only twenty.

“Are you ashamed to be seen with me?” Song Chengyi, for reasons unknown, suddenly threw out this question.

Luo Yixia quickly shook her head and waved her hands. “No, no, how could I? I’m just afraid… I’ll embarrass you.”

Her head lowered, lips bitten, clearly troubled.

Song Chengyi turned, looking at her with an inscrutable gaze.

At last, he replied lightly, “Alright.”

“Mm, mm.” Luo Yixia nodded, finally relieved.

Near the school, Luo Yixia saw many students dragging their luggage towards campus.

She told Song Chengyi to stop the car.

He frowned, “Getting out so early?”

“It’s not far now, I can walk myself. I’ll get to the dorm alone, it’s just a short distance.” Luo Yixia opened the car door, ran to the back, and pulled out her suitcase.

Song Chengyi noticed how eager Luo Yixia was to avoid being seen with him, but he said nothing, simply gave a few reminders before driving ahead to the school.

Watching Song Chengyi’s car disappear, Luo Yixia breathed a sigh of relief. If she arrived at school together with him, wouldn’t everyone know? How could she keep it secret then?

She continued dragging her suitcase forward.

Fortunately, she hadn’t brought much. Since the school provided military training uniforms, private clothes weren’t allowed, so Luo Yixia brought very few.

She dawdled her way to campus, sweating from the effort.

Before her was a dense crowd of students.

Many were fresh-faced freshmen.

This year, with the two schools merged, almost everyone was a stranger to Luo Yixia’s cohort.

The original schools were far apart; though Luo Yixia had visited a few times, she hadn’t made acquaintances.

Squeezing through the crowd, Luo Yixia headed toward the girls’ dormitory.

Pretty girls always got special treatment—she wasn’t jostled much before a senior appeared.

“Hello, are you a freshman? Do you know your dorm number? I can help you,” he said, reaching for her luggage.

“Oh, I’m not a freshman, I’m a sophomore. It’s fine, the girls’ dormitory is right here, I can manage.”

Luo Yixia disliked eager boys—being rejected by Song Chengyi so often, she’d never experienced anyone trying to win her over.

So she found it hard to accept.

The junior who’d approached her was still processing her rejection as she walked off with her suitcase.

“Hey, looks like the senior got turned down by the junior,” joked another boy nearby.

“Get lost,” the senior retorted, elbowing him.

Luo Yixia had no trouble entering the girls’ dormitory.

Inside, her three roommates were already there.

Luo Yixia dropped her suitcase and rushed toward them. “Ah, I missed you all so much!”

Lin Ya spoke first. “Why are you only just arriving? We thought you weren’t coming.”

“Haha, there were so many people this morning—I timed it just right,” Luo Yixia laughed.

“Come on, hand over the things you brought from Japan. You went and didn’t tell us! If Yan Yan hadn’t said something, were you planning to keep all the gifts to yourself?” Xu Jiayu and Gan Yanyan stood together.

“Don’t worry, I brought something for everyone. Lots of delicious snacks!” Luo Yixia said, opening her suitcase.

“But, Xia Xia, why did you only bring one suitcase? There’s barely anything in it,” Gan Yanyan remarked, eyeing the small, light case.

“My family’s close—just over an hour away. If I need anything, I’ll go home and get it. Besides, we’re starting military training soon, so we’ll be out all day. No need to bring so much.” Luo Yixia rummaged through her suitcase.

“I envy you for living so close to home. For us, going home means catching a plane.” Gan Yanyan sighed.

“Haha,” Luo Yixia laughed, pulling out packages of snacks.

“Go ahead and eat—these are what I risked my life to buy!” Luo Yixia exaggerated.

“Why do you say that?” The three were curious.

“You don’t know—I spent a week in Japan, and was cooped up in the hotel for four days!” Luo Yixia pouted, sighing bitterly.

“What happened?”

Of course, Luo Yixia wouldn’t mention Song Chengyi, saying only that she’d taken a bad fall, and exaggerated that she’d nearly broken her leg.

The others looked at her with sympathy, eating the pastries with guilt.

Which only made Luo Yixia laugh harder.

As they ate, someone asked, “Do you know who the campus heartthrob is?”

“Wasn’t it supposed to be that guy Xue Cheng, a junior?” someone said.

“Xue Cheng? He’s nothing. Do you know Song Chengyi? He entered as the top scorer in the province, with the highest marks in the department. Since the schools were separate before, we didn’t know much, but lately everyone’s talking about him. Just days ago, a girl from our year visited him at the school, and he’s so handsome it’s almost criminal.” Lin Ya sprawled on her bed as she spoke.

Luo Yixia wasn’t surprised to hear Song Chengyi’s name; it was expected. She just hadn’t thought everyone would already know, even though the semester had only just begun.

“Don’t exaggerate. I’ve never met someone like that, maybe he’s just average,” Gan Yanyan said skeptically.

“I’m not sure either, but tonight I heard he’s giving a speech at the freshman welcome ceremony, representing the upperclassmen.”

Luo Yixia was stunned—he hadn’t mentioned it to her.

“We’ll see tonight if he’s god or ghost,” Gan Yanyan joked.

Luo Yixia wanted to say, “You’re all hopelessly infatuated—I know you all too well. If you really saw Song Chengyi, you’d all want to throw yourselves at him.”

At noon, they went together to the cafeteria for lunch.

Luo Yixia poked at her food, without much appetite.

“I must have eaten too well at home these past two months—the cafeteria food just doesn’t appeal anymore,” Lin Ya said.

Everyone nodded in agreement.

Gan Yanyan scanned the hall.

“This year’s freshmen aren’t much to look at.”

Luo Yixia didn’t bother to look, her mind occupied with Song Chengyi’s speech tonight—everyone else seemed to know, but not her, which annoyed her.

“The campus belle hasn’t been chosen yet. I think it should be Xia Xia,” Gan Yanyan teased.

Luo Yixia nearly spat out her food, coughing, “What nonsense are you saying?”

“I agree—Xia Xia is so pretty,” Lin Ya said, sitting beside Luo Yixia and twirling her hair.

“Eat, eat—no talking at the table or in the dorm. How old are you? Don’t you know better?” Luo Yixia scolded, worried that joking in the dorm was one thing, but in the crowded cafeteria? Too embarrassing.

“Xia Xia just lacks confidence, otherwise she wouldn’t have lost last year’s department beauty contest. I still get angry thinking about it,” Gan Yanyan grumbled.

“Alright, alright, eat,” Luo Yixia urged, head down.

Just then, a commotion broke out in the cafeteria.

Everyone instinctively looked up.

In the crowd, Luo Yixia immediately spotted Song Chengyi in the center, flanked by two boys.

Lin Ya excitedly patted Luo Yixia’s arm, stammering, “Wow, wow, did you see?”

Luo Yixia stared at Song Chengyi, who calmly queued for food, seemingly indifferent to the numerous gazes fixed on him.

“Such a handsome guy! Who is he?” Gan Yanyan’s eyes practically glued themselves to him.

“Song Chengyi,” Luo Yixia replied with a mouthful of rice.

Suddenly, the other three all looked at her.

Luo Yixia had answered without thinking, not realizing how much attention it drew. Now, with three pairs of scrutinizing eyes on her, she grew nervous.

She quickly explained, “I saw his student file when I went to the old campus to pick up materials.”

“A guy that good-looking, why didn’t you tell us sooner? If you had, I’d have started chasing him already!” Lin Ya said seriously.

“Haha, I thought he looked average in the photo…” she replied, a little sheepishly.

“Nonsense! With looks like that, how can you call him average? Can you find anyone else more handsome? Plus, he’s brilliant—a genius!”

Luo Yixia decided it was better to eat quietly.

“Oh my, how can someone be so good-looking?” Gan Yanyan swooned.

Luo Yixia glanced toward the serving window.

At that moment, Song Chengyi finished getting his food and began searching for something.

Across the crowd, their eyes met.

But only for a moment—Luo Yixia quickly lowered her head, refusing to look again.

“Hey, hey, was he looking at me?” Lin Ya nudged Luo Yixia’s arm.

“He was definitely looking at me,” Gan Yanyan interjected.

“He was looking in my direction,” Xu Jiayu said.

Luo Yixia ate silently, not joining in.

Seeing Luo Yixia lower her head and stop looking at him, Song Chengyi moved his gaze away as well, sitting with his friends at an empty table.

Then, all the girls in the cafeteria lost interest in their meals, glancing constantly at Song Chengyi.

Yu Bin laughed, “Every time I stand next to Song Chengyi, I feel more noticeable.”

A boy beside him joked, “Are the girls really looking at you? Clearly, they’re staring at Song Chengyi.”

“Close enough—rounding up, they’re looking at me,” Yu Bin said shamelessly.