Chapter 21: A Beautiful Woman Approaches to Flirt (Please Vote and Support)

Chapter 21: A Beautiful Girl Comes Over to Chat (Please Support with Votes)

"Yeah, maybe they're in the same class or dormitory?"

They were still a bit far from the girls at that table, speaking quietly enough so they wouldn't be noticed discussing them.

But Li Jingkun wasn't involved; he was playing on his phone.

Indeed, the second sum of money he had recently received was mainly spent on buying a mobile phone, a Nokia 7610.

Now it was 2006, and this model had been out for almost two years, so the price had dropped significantly, otherwise he wouldn't have been able to afford it.

Li Jingkun originally thought that having been used to keyless smartphones, he wouldn't be interested in this older style. But soon after buying it, he became addicted again.

Using 2G to log into QQ and browse websites, checking out this and that—it was quite a good way to pass the time.

"Jingkun, which one do you think is prettier?" Song Hairong nudged him.

Li Jingkun took a glance; those two girls were indeed quite beautiful, on the same level as Xie Wenmin. But often, when two are equally pretty, it's hard to pick one because everyone's tastes differ.

So Li Jingkun said, "They're both very pretty. I like them both."

Only children make choices; men want them all.

The boys all laughed, and Song Hairong said, "No one asked if you like them, just which one is prettier."

Lin Yunkai joked, "Since Xie Wenmin rejected Jingkun, he's been devoted to studying Confucian classics, he's already sworn off women."

Li Jingkun replied, "Looking for a beating, huh?"

Yes, that rumor had spread far and wide; many knew by now, and probably said plenty behind his back.

But Li Jingkun didn't care much. After all, he wasn't the only one rejected in the class—maybe years from now, this would be one of the few memorable events of their first year of high school.

Besides, rejection was a girl's right and a form of self-protection. No one could blame her.

However, Song Hairong was a bit resentful.

That was one reason he stopped paying much attention to Xie Wenmin afterward.

Actually, he never truly liked her; it was just male nature pulling him to approach pretty girls.

Then, finding out she'd rejected Li Jingkun—what was so great about that? Jingkun was outstanding; she didn't deserve him!

So Song Hairong not only stopped chatting with her but also stopped inviting her to any organized events.

·······

The topic about those girls was only briefly touched upon, perhaps because they didn’t know much and had little to discuss.

They then moved on to other topics—studying, class divisions, games, and so forth. Since summer vacation was approaching, everyone shared their plans. The most interesting was Li Jingkun’s.

He planned to travel alone to the United States.

Traveling abroad wasn’t unusual; many families in City No.1 High School were wealthy, and many went abroad earlier than Li Jingkun. For example, Huang Haotian from the Aurora Band had been abroad several times.

But Li Jingkun was going alone.

"You're not old enough, right? Can you really go alone?"

"Visa issues must be complicated."

"But your spoken English is great, so it should be fine."

"Which city are you going to?"

The serialization of "Whose Youth Walks With Me" was still ongoing, but the publication date for the standalone volume had been set for early September, around the time school resumed.

The first print run was 60,000 copies, meaning he would earn nearly 70,000 yuan from the initial print royalties. After deducting advances and personal income tax, he would soon receive over 50,000 yuan in royalties.

Fifty thousand yuan wasn’t a huge sum but enough for him to do many things for now.

The first priority was to give 5,000 yuan to his parents; 5,000 wasn’t a large amount, but the rest of the money had bigger plans.

Next semester, he intended to bring his younger sister and brother to study in Liuchuan City. Public schools were inaccessible, so they would attend private schools.

In their hometown, public school tuition per semester was 600–700 yuan (tuition was not yet free there), while the better private schools cost at least 3,000–4,000 yuan per semester.

Li Jingkun could afford it and was willing to pay because a good school greatly improved academic performance.

However, since all three children had only average grades, to avoid falling behind too much, they might have to repeat a year.

They would live in Liuchuan City, which was also one reason Li Jingkun planned to move out of the school dormitory—to find a place for his siblings and himself.

All of this would require money, but altogether the cost wouldn’t be too high—around 12,000 to 15,000 yuan would suffice.

The rest would be saved for his overseas trip—over 30,000 yuan.

He planned to buy a laptop costing over 4,000 yuan, a mirrorless camera over 3,000 yuan, and still keep nearly 30,000 yuan left.

He intended to travel in the U.S. for a month. Thirty thousand yuan wasn’t too much nor too little; as long as he wasn’t extravagant, it should be enough.

His roommates were right, though—it would be somewhat difficult to get a visa at fifteen or sixteen. He would have to prepare in advance.

·······

"What are you going to do in the U.S.? Practice your English?" Lin Yunkai asked.

"Have fun, what else?" Song Hairong replied.

"What kind of fun?" another roommate, Wang Honglang, inquired.

Hearing that, Li Jingkun couldn’t help but laugh.

Everyone was a bit stunned. Lin Yunkai asked, "What’s so funny?"

Li Jingkun said, "Well, it’s not about playing with people."

Then everyone understood and burst into teasing laughter.

"Playing with women, right?"

"But you said you’d sworn off women."

Li Jingkun replied, "There are many reasons—gaining experience, practicing English, etc. America is just the first stop. If I have the chance, I’ll visit many countries. Maybe next summer I’ll tour several European countries—if you want to beat others, you have to understand them first."

·······

When they were nearly done eating, Li Jingkun went to pay the bill and then to the restroom. Shortly after coming out, someone stopped him.

"Hi, are you Li Jingkun?"

Li Jingkun was surprised to find it was the two girls they had been discussing earlier—Zhou Jiani and her classmate.

"Yes, do you know me?" Li Jingkun asked.

Both girls smiled, and Zhou Jiani said, "Many people in our class know you. Our English teacher often mentions you. Didn’t you also appear in the Liuchuan Daily? The one with great English skills."

"Yes," Li Jingkun nodded.

Both girls were very pretty, but up close, it seemed Zhou Jiani was wearing light makeup.

It wasn’t that makeup was bad, but around here, at this age, few wore makeup, and being so young, she was already very beautiful without it.

For example, her classmate next to her looked great without makeup too.

Her classmate added, "Aren’t you also in a band? I’ve heard you play guitar and sing. Your band members all seem pretty handsome."

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(End of Chapter)