Chapter 372

Chapter 372 Lin Aoxue Who Has No Friends

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

　　After Lin Aoxue hung up Stadtmayer’s call, she just stood there, staring at Su Rui without blinking.

　　Being stared at like that made Su Rui a little uneasy, and he instinctively pulled the blanket tighter around himself. He had nothing on underneath, so what would he do if Lin Aoxue decided to have her way with him?

　　What a pathetic little picture he made.

　　But Lin Aoxue had no intention of doing anything of the sort. She walked toward Su Rui’s bed one step at a time, her gaze never leaving his eyes. The coldness that usually lived there was gone, replaced by a warmth that put the gentle light of spring to shame — blazing was not too strong a word for it.

　　Having never seen Lin Aoxue look at anyone this way, Su Rui felt something stir inside him. The fingers gripping the edge of the blanket tightened slightly, the knuckles going a little pale — was this guy actually nervous?

　　Lin Aoxue held his gaze for a moment, then turned and picked up the wine glass from the table. It still held more than half a glass of the red wine Su Rui had left.

　　Perhaps because Su Rui had so often drunk from her cup when having flower tea, Lin Aoxue didn’t mind at all this time. Sharing a cup seemed to have become perfectly natural between them. She raised the glass to her lips, tilted back her swan-like neck — white and smooth as snow — and, under Su Rui’s astonished gaze, drained every last drop.

　　”Don’t tell me you’re trying to get drunk enough to lose your inhibitions. I’ll have you know I’m not that kind of man,” Su Rui said, eyeing Lin Aoxue with a mix of suspicion and that insufferably smug expression of his.

　　The next line was certainly not “I just happen to be very easy,” because how could a dashing fellow like Su Rui ever fall into such a tired cliché.

　　He really wasn’t that kind of man — just a little unlucky. That one time he’d nearly managed to push Qin Yueran down right then and there and settle things once and for all, Xia Qing had shown up out of nowhere and ruined everything.

　　”I’m not very good with words.”

　　Lin Aoxue said this out of nowhere, then uncorked the bottle, poured herself another large glass, and knocked it back in one go.

　　A beautiful woman drinking is always the most captivating sight.

　　”You’re not good with words? I don’t mind.”

　　Watching Lin Aoxue’s pale throat bob up and down, Su Rui instinctively swallowed. Not good with words — but there’s still a tongue, isn’t there?

　　”I’m a little confused though — if you’re not good with words, why are you drinking? Does alcohol actually improve your verbal skill index?” Su Rui asked, puzzled.

　　”Verbal skill index? What’s that?” Lin Aoxue looked even more confused than he did.

　　”Uh, never mind. I was overthinking it.” Su Rui said sheepishly, looking at Lin Aoxue’s innocent expression.

　　It seemed the young Miss Lin’s mind simply didn’t operate on the same wavelength as his. Was she too pure, or was he just too perverted?

　　Two large glasses of red wine downed in one go had brought a faint flush to Lin Aoxue’s cheeks, and even her snow-white earlobes had turned a soft pink. She looked breathtakingly beautiful.

　　Su Rui found himself staring. He couldn’t figure out why Lin Aoxue had suddenly started drinking, and drinking so much at that — this was completely unlike her usual self.

　　After she finished speaking, Lin Aoxue took the bottle and the glass and sat down on the edge of Su Rui’s bed.

　　It was late at night. The lamplight was dim and warm, a beautiful woman sat close beside him, and the air was filled with a faint fragrance mingled with the delicate scent of wine. Su Rui felt his composure begin to slip, and something deep inside him started to stir.

　　He had an instinctive sense that Lin Aoxue tonight was somehow different from usual, though he couldn’t quite put his finger on what had changed.

　　Lin Aoxue poured another glass and held it out to Su Rui. “Do you want some?”

　　”Sure, I’ll have a little.” Su Rui looked at the deep red liquid, took the glass, and drank a large mouthful.

　　Liquid courage, as they say.

　　Lin Aoxue took the glass back, filled it to the brim, and once again drained it completely in one go, turning the glass upside down to show not a single drop remained.

　　”I’ve always been bad with words.”

　　Lin Aoxue’s eyes were faintly red, the flush on her cheeks deeper now, like an autumn apple — the kind that makes you want to take a bite.

　　”You really are bad with words.” Su Rui said it plainly, though it had a lot to do with her personality. Someone with such a cool temperament could never really be described as sweet-tongued.

　　”I’ve always been too cold. There are so many things I don’t know how to express.”

　　Perhaps emboldened by the wine, or perhaps forcing herself, Lin Aoxue began to talk — more than she usually would.

　　”For as long as I can remember, all I ever seemed to care about was studying. I topped the whole school in every exam, leaving second place far behind. I don’t know how many boys sent me love letters — I never opened a single one. I don’t know how many girls talked about me behind my back. I knew it was envy and resentment, but I didn’t care. Teachers would often say in class, ‘Look at Lin Aoxue — top grades and beautiful too. You’re not as smart as her, not as pretty as her, and your family isn’t as wealthy as hers. What excuse do you have not to work harder than her?'”

　　Su Rui rubbed his nose and smiled wryly. “Sounds like your teachers were using you as a motivational example, but without realizing it, they were making everyone resent you.”

　　A girl liked by all the boys and all the teachers was bound to have no female friends during her school years.

　　Among all the most devastating forces in this world, a girl’s jealousy ranks near the very top.

　　Not as smart, not as pretty, and not as rich — how was anyone supposed to live with that?

　　”I knew it wasn’t right for the teachers to do that, and it meant not a single girl in the class would talk to me. But I genuinely didn’t care. Their envious, resentful stares held no real significance for me whatsoever.”

　　Lin Aoxue had almost never looked back on her middle school years in front of another person. To Su Rui, watching the young Miss Lin with that reminiscing look in her eyes, she seemed to take on yet another layer of charm.

　　”If they were jealous of me, they could have just studied harder and surpassed me. What was the point of whispering and gossiping behind my back — was that going to make me fall behind, or help them get ahead? As for their so-called friendship, I didn’t care about that either. It had no value to me.”

　　Lin Aoxue truly lived up to her name — proud as a pine, cold as snow. Su Rui could picture the scene perfectly: a strikingly beautiful girl with a ponytail swinging behind her, walking across campus with her head held high, eyes fixed straight ahead, moving at a brisk pace, completely alone. Every girl she passed would shoot her a sideways glance and then put on a look of disdain, probably muttering something like: so what if she’s a bit prettier, a bit richer, and gets slightly better grades? What’s she got to be so arrogant about? Who does she think she is?

　　”What about male friends? I can understand you having no female friends, but with so many people of the opposite gender liking you, didn’t you have any male friends?” Su Rui said with a wry smile. It seemed Lin Aoxue’s school years hadn’t been easy either. Certain things about her were both her greatest strengths and her greatest weaknesses.

　　Some pretty girls might not get along well with other girls, but among boys they’re completely in their element. Lin Aoxue, it seemed, was clearly not that type either.

　　”I’m very beautiful, aren’t I?” Lin Aoxue looked at Su Rui, her soft gaze like a pool of spring water, like sunlight shimmering on the surface of a rippling lake — bright and dazzling, and utterly beautiful.

　　”Yes…” Su Rui was struck by that beauty and nodded mechanically.

　　”That’s exactly why I couldn’t have male friends.” Lin Aoxue proceeded to fire a broadside at every man in existence: “The only reason they ever got close to me was to make me their girlfriend, to give themselves something to show off. I saw through all those little tricks and schemes long ago, so I never gave any of them a second thought.”

　　Su Rui smiled wryly again, wondering whether all the boys who had ever pursued Lin Aoxue — or who still secretly pined for her — would burst into tears on the spot if they could hear what was going on inside their goddess’s head.

　　”But didn’t you ever want that pure, innocent kind of campus romance? Maybe the feelings you have during your school years are the most genuine of all — I’m not dating you because you’re rich or because of your family background, but simply because the sun was shining just right that day and you were wearing a white shirt I happened to like.” Su Rui recited a line that was quite well known online.

　　That kind of pure, uncomplicated campus romance — untainted by any ulterior motive — was something everyone seemed to long for: eating together, studying side by side at the library, whispering to each other in class, then walking hand in hand through every corner of the campus at night. Su Rui hadn’t had much of a formal education, but even he felt a wistful longing when he thought about that kind of relationship. He simply refused to believe that Lin Aoxue could bury herself in her studies and feel nothing.

　　Every girl goes through adolescence. Every girl has someone she secretly admires. If Lin Aoxue was an exception to that, then she simply wasn’t a normal woman.

　　”Not interested. It’s all just playing house. After graduation everyone goes their separate ways, meets someone through an introduction, falls in love, gets married, and moves on to a different life. Relationships that last from beginning to end are rare. What real significance can a campus romance have when it leads nowhere and leaves you with nothing but memories?” Lin Aoxue shook her head. In certain respects, this woman was frighteningly clear-headed.

　　Su Rui still wasn’t ready to give up. “You never felt even the slightest flutter?”

　　”No.” Lin Aoxue’s answer left Su Rui completely floored. “As far as I was concerned, those boys were less appealing to me than course credits.”

　　Su Rui was screaming inside. This was truly a woman with absolutely no sense of romance whatsoever!

　　They say girls are mentally at least three years more mature than boys their age, which is why every little trick a boy tries looks like child’s play to a girl. Su Rui wasn’t sure whether that applied to all girls, but it applied to Lin Aoxue one hundred percent — good lord, her mental age had to be at least ten years ahead of the boys around her.

　　Thinking about it, Su Rui couldn’t help but spare a moment of silent sympathy for Lin Aoxue’s male classmates.

　　”So from childhood to now, I’ve never really had any friends. If anything, I was only slightly closer to Su Chiyan, that senior of mine. In my world, there are colleagues, superiors and subordinates, clients and contractors, people who use others and people who get used, and rivals.” Lin Aoxue’s voice grew quiet. “Every kind of relationship exists — except friendship.”