09 - ..........what?

It had been cloudy all day and by the time Luo Tang and Wei Ruxia got home the sky was completely overcast. It was three o'clock, and with the sky covered by thick clouds, black shadows covered the ground. Occasionally there were forks of lightning in the sky, illuminating the clouds, and the view became clear.

After Luo Tang returned to his room and turned on the lights, he took off his T-shirt. On his clean and tight waistline, a purple-red bruise had appeared.

Throwing the t-shirt aside, he sat on the bed, and with his movements the beautiful contours of his muscles appeared. He unscrewed the cap of the safflower oil in his hand, poured a little on his palm, and rubbed it on the bruise.

As soon as the safflower oil touched his skin, it instantly became hot as it neutralised the pain of the bruise. Luo Tang's complexion remained unchanged, but a thin layer of sweat emerged on his skin.

After tightening the cap, Luo Tang took a look at the safflower oil. It had been bought by Wei Ruxia at the pharmacy once they left the subway station.

The hand holding the safflower oil tilted slightly and the liquid inside flowed with the movement. His waist was hot and his dark eyes seemed to ripple. Luo Tang put the safflower oil on the side table, got up and stood by the window.

At some point it had started raining outside. The rain in September wasn’t heavy, but it lingered more than the rain in June. The drizzle fell from the eaves on the roofs, creating a layer of water on the ground.

His bedroom was at the back of the villa and the back of Wei Zishan's house next door could be seen from the window.

In addition to the front courtyard of the single-family villa, there was also a garage and swimming pool built in the back. The swimming pool area could actually be redesigned. For example, at Wei Zishan’s house it had been turned into a lotus pond.

It wasn’t the season for lotuses, the flowers in the lotus pond had long since died off, even the lotus seemed old. On top of the pond, the stalks had become yellow-green due to aging, and at the bottom of the clear water was a thick layer of silt.

At this moment, beside the desolate lotus pond, there was a tall girl standing, watching, with a black umbrella. The falling rain made ripples on the lotus pond and as she tilted the umbrella, the water droplets on the umbrella fell into the lotus pond like large raindrops.

The autumn rain made the originally clear lotus pond a little muddy, and it was difficult to get into the lotus pond on a rainy day. Wei Ruxia's plan to make sweet osmanthus sticky rice stuffed lotus roots could only be abandoned.

The grass on the ground was soggy with the rain and when Wei Ruxia had walked over, some blades of grass stuck to her ankles. She stomped her feet, shaking off the grass clippings, and turned to go back to her room.

Before returning inside, she raised her head and glanced at Luo Tang's house next door. A light was turned on in a room on the second floor, and a figure stood in front of the window.

The rain blocked her sight and Wei Ruxia wasn’t sure if it was Luo Tang, but she smiled at the figure, then turned around and went inside.

This rain shower was very lengthy, and it didn't clear up until the start of school on Monday. Given it had just rained, it wasn't suitable to gather in the gymnasium, so the students were free to exercise between classes.

Just after their first class, Hu Yinyin ran to find Wei Ruxia. Although the two of them weren’t at the same table anymore, they weren’t far away. Hu Yinyin could see her when she turned around and Wei Ruxia could hear her if she called.

During the inter-class exercises, the ground was wet, and students in school uniforms were running around, full of youth and vigour. Hu Yinyin bought a bunch of snacks, put them in a plastic bag and slung them on her arm. She took out a packet of chips and asked Wei Ruxia as she ate, "How does it feel being at the same table as Luo Tang?"

Reaching out and grabbing a handful of the chips that Hu Yinyin was holding, Wei Ruxia watched the class rep who was taking their homework to the teacher's office. After thinking about it, she said, "Nothing much."

Luo Tang was still the same, reading comics in class. There were comic books in the middle of all his textbooks, some of which were even in Japanese, which he could understand. He hardly studied, but he was still able to rank fifteenth in the exams. He could also speak Japanese, he had a lot of talents.

Compared to Luo Tang, she was A'Dou. She'd already chewed through half the math textbook, but she was still dissatisfied. This was the time to envy Luo Tang for having a good mind.

Wei Ruxia's thoughts were focused on studying, but Hu Yinyin's original intention was to gossip. All the girls in the school wanted to share a desk with Luo Tang, but Wei Ruxia and Luo Tang shared their desks and felt 'nothing much.'

It was enough to make Hu Yinyin feel violent.

"Do you get lots of love letters for Luo Tang?" Hu Yinyin changed the direction of the gossip, and said, "Wang Silai said that he used to hand over dozens of love letters to Luo Tang a day. But Luo Tang didn't read them. He burned them all. Han Junsong said that if he made a fire with all of Luo Tang's love letters, he could roast a whole lamb."

Wei Ruxia hadn't noticed it at all, but Hu Yinyin's words were a little bit unbelievable, "Is it just girls chasing boys? Isn't there anyone that Luo Tang likes?"

"No." Hu Yinyin said with certainty, "He doesn't like the class flower, or school flowers, or any school girl, or even older women."

Hearing Hu Yinyin's words, Wei Ruxia nodded, her teeth crunching on the chips and her mouth full of salt.

Well, what was the word people used to describe those without passion and desire?

Asexual, abstinent?

The two of them walked while chatting, eventually they entered the faculty building. As soon as they arrived in the hallway, Hu Yinyin's cell phone rang. Wei Ruxia looked back at her and Hu Yinyin looked around. Seeing that there weren't any teachers around she smirked and said to Wei Ruxia,

"My Xu Xian posted to Weibo~"

Hu Yinyin's nickname for her boyfriend Xu Xian is Xu Xian, and she was the chubby version of Bai Suzhen.

In addition to being a high school student, Xu Xian was also a well-known cosplayer with more than 70,000 Weibo fans. Hu Yinyin was his number one fan.

She had turned on alerts for his page, and every time Xu Xian posted to Weibo, she received a message. After receiving the reminder, and seeing that there weren’t any teachers about, she took out her mobile phone and opened Weibo.

Hu Yinyin was a particularly pure and passionate girl when she was in love. She thought that to fall in love with someone was to take care of that person in every aspect. Wei Ruxia smiled at her cute and happy smile.

The post that Xu Xian made was just an ordinary update. After Hu Yinyin liked the post, she immediately refreshed the comments. Xu Xian had two or three hundred comments on every post, and Hu Yinyin read all of them one at a time.

With yogurt in her mouth, she continued to refresh the page and read. When she was about to reach the door of the classroom, she suddenly screamed.

Wei Ruxia stood at the door and glanced back at her. Hu Yinyin frowned, her face solemn.

"What's wrong?" Wei Ruxia asked with concern.

Hu Yinyin herself wasn't sure, and she refreshed the page again, the comment she just saw disappeared, but she didn't relax. Her brows wrinkled into a lump, and she raised her head and said to Wei Ruxia, "It's nothing."

After the rain stopped in the morning, the sky cleared and by the end of school to sun was out in full force. It had just rained, so the weather was clearer than usual and the blue sky was cloudless, clear and transparent.

Wei Zishan was on a drama tour recently and rarely came home. There was no one at home, so Wei Ruxia changed into light clothes and went to the backyard to resume her plan that she had shelved due to the rain on the weekend.

After the rain, the lotus pond was clear again, the water layer and the mud layer were connected, but distinct.

Wei Ruxia took off her shoes and plunged directly into the water. The mud wrapped her feet and was slippery. Wei Ruxia controlled the balance of her body and began to look for the lotus roots.

As soon as she leaned over, Wei Ruxia heard a familiar dog bark. She raised her head and looked over. Standing by the courtyard wall was A'Mang with his tongue out, by his side, A'Mang was led by Luo Tang.

The sunset behind the clouds on the top of the mountains caused them to glow, and the red light shone on the boy and dog looking like a watercolour painting.

The young man in the painting looked at her, his dark eyes were also covered with a layer of red.

"What are you doing?" Luo Tang asked.

Bending over made it difficult to speak, so Wei Ruxia straightened up, dragging a layer of silt up with her hand, and the mud blended into the water making it cloudy. Wei Ruxia smiled and said to Luo Tang, "I'm digging out lotus roots."

She always seems to be able to do unexpected things.

She had changed from her school uniform, and was wearing a light blue and white cotton shirt and linen shorts. Her tall and slender body stood in the pond weightlessly, as if a gust of wind could blow her into the mud  .

Luo Tang's thick eyelashes blinked slightly. His expression didn't change much, but he pursed his lips slightly and asked, "Do you want help?"

It was difficult to dig around by herself. So after Luo Tang offered to help, Wei Ruxia was surprised but nodded and said, "Okay."

After sending A'Mang home, Luo Tang came back to Wei Ruxia's house. As soon as he entered the door, Wei Ruxia took him to the backyard. When they arrived at the lotus pond, Wei Ruxia briefed Luo Tang on her progress.

"I'm trying to find the location of the lotus root."

He took off his shoes and followed Wei Ruxia into the lotus pond. The silt rose to his ankles, and Luo Tang's brows wrinkled at the smooth touch.  He looked at Wei Ruxia in front of him. The girl's delicate ankles were surrounded by silt, white and tender, like freshly dug lotus roots.

"Did you find it?" Luo Tang asked.

"Not yet." Wei Ruxia said regretfully, while continuing to explore for the location of the lotus root. After confirming that it wasn't where she was, she pulled her feet out of the mud, and stepped to the side. As she walked, Wei Ruxia spoke to Luo Tang, "I'm going to make sweet osmanthus sticky rice-ah!"

Before she could finish her words, her feet slipped and her body suddenly lost her balance. As she fell down, Luo Tang immediately reached out and held her up.

The moment they touched, Luo Tang could smell the sweet fragrance of osmanthus.

It was the kind of sweetness he liked.

Being hugged by Luo Tang, their bodies were pressed closely together, but Wei Ruxia had no intention of getting up. She grabbed Luo Tang's arms with both hands, and used his body as a support. Her reddish ears rubbed the boy's chest, and Wei Ruxia heard the powerful heartbeat inside.

"Ow, it's really hard." Wei Ruxia said.

Holding Wei Ruxia in his arms, the scent of sweet osmanthus confused his feelings. His throat rolled and Luo Tang's quiet eyes made waves.

"……what?"

Wei Ruxia raised her head, with sunlight in her eyes, she replied with a smile, "The lotus."

She'd found the lotus root.

The author has something to say:

Tangtang: I'm not asexual or abstinent, I'm really hard

Pro cosplayers frighten me a little, like the fact that they can look like that is...amazing....but also terrifying. (I mean a lot of it is photoshop, but a scarily large amount of it isn't...) Like this is a real human-being! Crazy: