Chapter 5: Zhuo Ling Bin and Ou Yang Mei – translated by Smerian (1/2)

From the time I woke up, cooked breakfast, chased after the bus, all the way until Gui’s class ended, my mind was on only one thing: Should I sneak into the school clinic and take a peek at Wolf-dàgē or not?

Rationally speaking, it would be wiser for me not to go; after all, who knows if Wolf-dàgē will recognize me or not? However, emotionally speaking… Ohhh, I REALLY want to see what Wolf-dàgē actually looks like! There’s just no way he resembles his in-game counterpart, is there!? That’s obvious, since Wolf-dàgē isn’t a werewolf.

Uncertain about what to do, I could only start plucking flower petals… “Go look, don’t go look, go look, don’t go look, go look…”

Suddenly, a deep voice spoke from behind me. “Miss, you can’t pluck flowers here!”

“Sorry, sorry,” I apologized, bowing to the groundskeeper uncle.

I think I’ll go and take look after all! Having made up my mind, I turned around to go to the school clinic, but I suddenly thought, Shouldn’t I get some small injury first before going? Otherwise, what would my excuse for going to the clinic be? But injuries hurt and this isn’t like in the game, where I could just drink health potions to heal my injuries. A real injury will hurt for many days, plus it would also leave a scar! I don’t want to get injured… But I won’t get to see Wolf-dàgē otherwise. What should I do?

“Sis, what are you doing here?” Yang Ming suddenly appeared and gave me a slap on the back.

“AHHH! You scared me, pighead Yang Ming!” I said.

I’m in the midst of agonizing over something!

“What are you being so fierce for? Did that come?” Feng Yang gave me a knowing wink.

That? Ah, right, that! Now I’ve got an excuse.

I gently pushed the clinic’s door open and poked my head in for a look. It seems like there’s no one around?

“Is something the matter, little girl?” said a hearty voice behind me.

I turned around, startled. Is this the human edition of Wolf-dàgē? Wooow! Even though he’s not handsome, he’s very stylish in his own right. How should I put it — he’s like an authoritative, elder brother figure from an action manga, with a loud and commanding voice… Fine! I admit that my analogy is a pathetically poor one.

Wolf-dàgē looked at me as I scratched my head, then gently asked, “Female student, where are you hurt?”

I returned to my senses. “Uh, I— I have cramps…” I said. Even as I rubbed my stomach, pretending to be in pain, I continued to peek at him from the corner of my eye.

Wooow, Wolf-dàgē is really as tall in real life as he is in-game. My neck muscles are starting to feel sore from having to look so far up at him, since I’m only 165 centimeters tall.

“Oh, then quickly lie down on that bed over there. I’ll go and get you a hot water bottle now.”

I lay on the bed obediently, but my eyes continued to follow Wolf-dàgē as he moved around the room. Heehee, is my staring making Wolf-dàgē a bit embarrassed? Somehow I get the impression that his back looks very, very stiff — I never expected Wolf-dàgē to be so shy! Secretly, I was giggling inside.

Holding the hot water bottle, Doctor Li Tian Lang said as gently as possible, “Here, place this on your stomach. It’ll make you feel better.”

I accepted the hot water bottle gratefully. Wolf-dàgē really is as gentle in real life as he is in–game. “Thank you, Wolf-dàgē,” I said sincerely.

Wolf-dàgē and I both froze. My god, I really must be an idiot!

“My class’s Professor Min told everyone about you! I— I heard that you two are good buddies in-game? I’ve also watched your tournament matches before, so I actually went out of my way to catch a glimpse of you… Hahaha, I’m sorry, I’m not really having cramps,” I said, laughing weakly. God, please let Wolf-dàgē believe my story!

“Oh, so Gui told you about me!” Li Tian Lang recovered, laughing. “You gave me a shock, since usually only that fellow – Prince – calls me Wolf-dàgē. Everybody else calls me Wolf-gē, or just Wolf. What class do you play in-game? Are you in a team?”

I charged headlong into the rest of my cock-and-bull story. “Uh, I’m a mage. As for a team… Yes, but it’s not as famous as yours. Wolf-dàgē probably hasn’t heard of it!” Waah, Wolf-dàgē, I didn’t intend to deceive you!

“Oh. Do your best then!” Li Tian Lang reached out and patted me on the head and I giggled as always. “Write your name and student ID number on this patient log-sheet. Even though you were only pretending, it’s still better to fill it out.”

“Okay.” I took the sheet from him and filled in my name.

“Well, there aren’t many people around now, so you can lie here until you want to leave!” Wolf-dàgē said to me with a smile.

“Haha, I’m leaving,” I replied, getting off the bed. Yeah right, continue to lie down? I haven’t even cooked dinner yet; I’m going to be cornered and killed by three people once I get home. “Goodbye, Wolf-dàgē.”

“Good-bye.” Li Tian Lang gazed after me as I pushed the door open and left.

Li Tian Lang raised the log-sheet in his hand and carefully scrutinized it… “Feng Lan? Feng Yang Ming? Hmm…”

The door was pushed open a second time.

“Wolf-gē? Was that my student just now? Is she hurt?” Gui worriedly inquired.

“No, she came to see me. Who asked you to go around blabbing about me!” Li Tian Lang said reproachfully.

Gui was completely perplexed. “Me? Did I ever talk about you?”

Upon hearing that, Li Tian Lang pondered silently for a while before asking, “How is Feng Lan related to Feng Yang Ming?”

“They’re twins — why do you ask?” Gui asked, puzzled.

“No real reason.” However, Li Tian Lang still felt that Feng Lan and Prince’s actions were very similar. When he patted Prince’s head, Prince had also giggled in the same way. Or is this resemblance simply due to the fact that Feng Lan and Feng Yang Min are twins and twins often behave alike? “I’ll go see what Feng Yang Ming looks like some other day.”

“Hmm… But I promised Prince that I wouldn’t pry into his affairs anymore,” Gui said, sounding troubled.

“You may be right. Well, if Prince doesn’t want to tell us, then let’s forget it and let nature take its course! I won’t pry either,” said Li Tian Lang candidly.

At this time I was walking home, unaware that my identity had almost been exposed. I was just thinking about whether to cook spare rib soup or potato soup when Rose walked past me.I looked up, wondering, Should I say hello to her? But the last time we met she said that she would forget about me.I wonder if she’s still willing to be friends with me…

Wait! I glanced down as I tugged my shirt collar wider – I have breasts! I looked around me. It’s a normal residential area. I’m in the real world, so how is it that I’m seeing Rose?

I gathered my focus and looked at her again.Rose was now standing next to the bus stop sign post, waiting for the bus.This is such a weird feeling… Wait a second!The guy standing about three steps away from Rose looks reeeally familiar… Wicked? MY GOD! Worse still, it seems like I’ll be taking the same bus as them!

Ahhh, Buddha! Ahhh, God! Ahhh, Allah! I began chanting a Buddhist scripture as I formed a cross in front of myself with my arms. I beseech you all! This must be a hallucination… Or let it be a daydream! Waaaaaaah…

However, reality remained cruel as ever.I still ended up boarding the bus and standing side-by-side with the two of them… Forget it, after all, they probably won’t— No, they absolutely won’t be able to recognize me!

I stole a look at the hottie and the beauty standing next to me.Rose is indeed very beautiful and Wicked is also very handsome!The two of them really are eye candy – is it possible that they’re a couple? I secretly wondered.

Still, even after many stops, neither of them seemed to have any intention of getting off the bus.My home was at the last stop.

Crap, it can’t be anything as coincidental as them being my next-door neighbors, right?No, that’s impossible. Our next door neighbors are my mom’s older sister’s husband’s uncle and his family, aren’t they?

Besides, if there was a hottie such as Wicked among my distant relatives, my mom would have dragged me to a matchmaking session a long time ago. That way, my mom could get this piece of male eye candy married into our family1 — I mean, get me married into his family, and then have me bring him home for her to feast her eyes upon.

As I speculated wildly, Rose alighted one stop before mine.I breathed a sigh of relief.That’s one less person for me to worry about now.

Finally, the bus reached my house. I stole one last glance at Wicked’s handsome features before tearing my gaze away and stepping down from the bus…

Ehhh, someone seems to be following me!

Cold sweat poured down my neck as I turned my head back to look, only to see Wicked smiling faintly at me. Huh? Just what exactly is going on here?!

Although I was panicking inwardly, I forced myself to appear outwardly calm as I returned Wicked’s smile. I then turned, ready to flee.

“Wait,” Wicked suddenly called out to me.

I briefly considered the situation at hand. With my current height, leg length, physical strength, and stamina, I couldn’t possibly hope to outrun Wicked. Forget it then! I thought, resigning myself to my fate as I turned around to face him. “Is something the matter?”

“Xiao Lan — you are Xiao Lan, right?” Unexpectedly, there was a warm expression on Wicked’s face.

He knows me? He even knows my name? I was astounded.

“You’ve forgotten then… I’m Zhuo Ling Bin – Zhuo-gēge. Remember me?”

Zhuo-gēge? The one who used to live next door when I was a kid and eventually moved away – THAT Zhuo-gēge? I gaped at Wicked, trying to digest this mind-boggling revelation. Is this for real? Such a huge coincidence? Wicked is Zhuo-gēge?!

“Are you really Zhuo-gēge?”