Chapter 114: Why Are You Here?

On the tenth day of military training, Li Mu suddenly heard some astonishing news: Hu Zhengdao had actually started dating a cute girl from Han Xiaoxiao’s dormitory.

Li Mu still remembered the girl. Her name was Wang Yanan. She was a little over five feet tall, with large eyes and straight bangs. Her features were fairly ordinary, but there was no denying that she looked adorable.

Li Mu stared at the others in their room in astonishment. “What exactly have I missed? We’ve all been doing military training together every day. How did Zhengdao suddenly end up dating someone?”

Li Yawei knew the most about the situation. With a grin, he said, “Our Zhengdao is something else. Every day, the moment training ended, he’d disappear. Later, my girlfriend told me what was going on. Turns out he’d been asking her out for walks every day, and sometimes he’d even write her love letters and deliver them in person. After enough of that, the two of them naturally got together.”

Sun Jian sighed enviously. “Zhengdao really knows what he’s doing. The girl I’m interested in, Chen Jiao, doesn’t seem very interested in me…”

Chen Jiao was the short-haired girl from Han Xiaoxiao’s dormitory. Her looks and figure were both quite decent. She was not exceptionally beautiful, but she had a pleasant air about her.

Li Yawei chuckled. “Boss, I had my girlfriend ask around for you. Chen Jiao said she sees you as an older brother. After my girlfriend questioned her more closely, she admitted that she actually likes Li Mu’s type.”

Sun Jian looked at Li Mu, rubbed his own face, and said to everyone, “Well, I can’t blame anyone for not liking me when I’m not handsome enough. But don’t you think this whole thing is ridiculous? I like her, she doesn’t like me but likes Li Mu instead, and Li Mu doesn’t like her. In the end, everyone’s effort comes to nothing.”

He then looked at Hu Zhengdao and sighed. “Zhengdao’s the one with real skill. He managed to win her over in just ten days.”

Xue Jianfeng came out of the bathroom with a cigarette between his lips and asked Hu Zhengdao, “Zhengdao, how far have you gotten?”

Hu Zhengdao scratched his head sheepishly. “We’ve only held hands. I tried to kiss her while walking her back to the dormitory, but she wouldn’t let me.”

“You were a little too eager.” Li Yawei tapped Hu Zhengdao with one finger and laughed. “I’ve been with my girlfriend for two or three years, and I’ve only just conquered her upper half. You two have been together for only a few days, and you’re already trying to kiss her. Don’t scare the poor girl away.”

Hu Zhengdao gave an awkward smile. “I suppose I was a little too impatient.”

Li Yawei leaned his head over the edge of the upper bunk and looked at Li Mu, who was lying on the lower bunk. “Li Mu, how are things going with Zhao Ziqiu these days?”

“We haven’t been in touch,” Li Mu replied.

Li Yawei rolled his eyes at him. “My girlfriend told me that Zhao Ziqiu sent you a message, and you brushed her off with a joke. After that, you simply stopped replying. Isn’t that right?”

Li Mu thought about it carefully. That was indeed what had happened, though he had not done it intentionally. At the time, he had been eating late-night snacks and drinking beer with Su Yingxue and Zhao Kang.

Then Li Yawei said, “Zhao Ziqiu’s birthday is on September twenty-second. She said she wants to treat everyone in our room to dinner. Are you going?”

“Are all of you going?” Li Mu asked.

“I’m definitely going, and Zhengdao has to go too. The rest of you, speak up.”

Sun Jian raised his hand. Xue Jianfeng raised his as well. Liu Nian hesitated for a moment before raising his hand too.

Li Mu said, “All right, then. I’ll go with you.”

Li Yawei smiled. “Then it’s settled.”

…

Li Mu had been exercising rather excessively lately. He did military training during the day, went to the gym in the evening, and still went swimming afterward. Such an intense routine had caused him to lose three kilograms in only ten days. Yet Li Mu could feel his muscles becoming increasingly firm, while his stamina had improved considerably. Seeing the initial results of his efforts, he became even more enthusiastic about exercise.

In Xue Jianfeng’s opinion, Li Mu seemed to be overdoing it. He told Li Mu that strength-training equipment did not need to be used every day, because high-intensity workouts could easily damage the muscles and ligaments. His training time needed to be controlled sensibly; three to five hours of weight training per week was sufficient. Too much could actually harm his health.

After hearing that, Li Mu changed his routine. He trained with the equipment every other day, and on the days in between, he ran and used the stationary bike. As for swimming, he had never skipped it, because swimming actually helped him relax after training.

It happened to be Saturday. The swimming pool was considerably more crowded than usual that evening. The school pool had only five lanes, and four of them were packed with people. Judging from their swimsuits, it was obvious that most of them could not really swim. Most wore casual swimwear, and some of the girls were dressed in swimsuits that looked as though they were meant for a day at the beach. Very few people wore swim caps or goggles. It was clear that most had come merely to have fun.

Only the fast lane on the far right was relatively empty. The swimmers there were also moving somewhat faster, leaving enough room to swim comfortably. Li Mu therefore swam back and forth in that lane using freestyle.

Suddenly, whistles rang out throughout the pool. When Li Mu reached the edge and was about to turn around, a fair little foot suddenly extended into view, hanging directly in front of his head and almost colliding with him.

Li Mu hurriedly flipped himself upright. Looking up, he saw a woman in a one-piece Speedo swimsuit sitting at the edge of the pool, swinging one foot back and forth as she watched him with a radiant smile.

“Zhao Ziqiu?”

Although Zhao Ziqiu was wearing a swim cap with her long hair tucked inside, making her look somewhat unfamiliar, Li Mu still recognized her. Her facial features gave him sixty percent of the clues. The remaining forty came from her long, slender, fair legs and the breathtaking curves that her swimsuit could not possibly conceal.

When Zhao Ziqiu saw that Li Mu had recognized her, she giggled. “Long time no see.”

Li Mu nodded and asked curiously, “What brings you to our school’s swimming pool?”

Zhao Ziqiu tilted her head and looked at him. She pressed her lips together in a smile, then rolled her eyes at him smugly without answering. Yet that entire sequence of expressions was utterly captivating. Though she was only nineteen, her charm was in no way inferior to that of a mature woman in her mid-twenties. A single glance from her stirred even the jaded heart of Li Mu.

It was not that he lacked self-control. It was simply difficult to remain composed while he was in the water, looking up at Zhao Ziqiu like that.

Her features were already beautiful and delicate. With her hair hidden beneath a swim cap, there was nothing to obscure or soften them, leaving her flawless face fully exposed. Her fair, unblemished skin made her look even more perfect.

But when a woman wore a swimsuit, her figure mattered most—and Zhao Ziqiu’s figure was even more impressive than her face.

The swimsuit she wore that day was exquisitely designed as well. Its base color was black, with a diagonal dividing line running from her left shoulder to her right waist. The upper section was decorated with purple and blue-green flowers, while the colors faded gradually into one another, creating a rich sense of depth. It was not revealing, yet it made her appear all the more alluring and sensual.