Not Familiar

CH 5

When Li Ting entered the door, Tian Dian was texting while lying on the bed. When he saw Li Ting enter, he jumped up and whirled around him.

Li Ting used his shoulder to hold the phone to his ear and was currently in the middle of a call with Li Han.

Li Han said: “Ge, where are you working recently? Are you still at that fried chicken shop?”

Li Ting chose the corner of the living room that faced north. Then with one hand, he opened the folding table next to the wall and tested its stability before putting the computer on it.

“No, I switched.”

“I just finished exams this afternoon, can I come find you to play~” Li Han’s voice was even softer than Li Ting’s. He can literally melt people’s hearts when acting cute.

Li Ting did not respond.

Li Han was anxious: “Are you still angry with me? I told you the truth last time. If you don’t believe it, I’ll explain it to you again.”

Li Ting said: “No, I work at a dim sum restaurant now, it’s relatively busy there.”

“Oh, really?” Li Han was worried and hesitated on whether to talk a bit about his situation, “Actually, it’s not that I didn’t want to tell you… it’s that it didn’t even happen for that long yet, so I didn’t have the chance to. And I mainly think that it’s not worth mentioning.”

“What’s not worth it?” Li Ting suddenly asked, “Is that person not worth it or is this matter not worth it?

Li Han was stunned: “Both… Both aren’t quite worth it.”

He only realized it didn’t sound right after the words left his mouth and immediately polished it up: “Um, I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with him, he isn’t bad. You also saw him that day, he’s quite handsome and pretty popular at our school. There are many people that like him but he didn’t accept any of them. He solely pursued me. I also only accepted him after some time.” Even though Li Han had controlled his tone, he still couldn’t hide a glimmer of triumph, “He is really good to me.”

“You can date him just because he’s handsome, popular, and is good to you?.” Li Ting asked.

The tone of Li Ting’s voice wasn’t too drastic and was as calm as usual. However, when Li Han heard this, he inexplicably felt some kind of unfriendly sharpness, which made it seem different from the brother that always let him do what he wanted.

Li Han blurted out: “Then ge, what do you know about dating? Did you ever like anyone? Do you even have anyone you like?”

Li Ting remained silent for a while. He slowly turned to look at Tian Dian, who had forced himself over, before directly cutting off the call.

Tian Dian, who got caught for eavesdropping, laughed awkwardly. He scratched his wavy curly bird-nest hair that he was too lazy to take care of being at home and stiffly changed the topic: “Hmm? Where did this computer come from? You bought it?”

“I found it.” Li Ting untied the rope and started installing it.

Even though Li Ting’s competent at packing and bundling, he is not familiar with these kinds of electrical products.

After he successfully turned it on, Tian Dian looked at the sexy and revealing desktop wallpaper and couldn’t help but whistle. He i​​immediately held the mouse and sat down.

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Li Ting looked at Tian Dian’s excited look, then glanced at the cell phone he had thrown aside and said, “Nothing to do.”

“You have nothing to do?”

“It’s you that has nothing to do.”

Sometimes Tian Dian is as dense as a brick, but occasionally, he becomes quite sharp. He jumped up and hugged Li Ting who was about to leave, feeling touched: “You want to give me the computer, right? You knew that I just got my heart broken and have been washing my face with tears. You knew that I’m all bored at home during the day so you brought it here to relieve my boredom, right? I know you treat me the best and love me the most.”

Li Ting disgustedly broke free of his embrace: “Go away.”

Tian Dian suddenly realized: “That’s right, instead of indulging in scumbags, it’s better to indulge in the internet. I don’t believe that although I couldn’t find a tall, rich, handsome guy in the real world, I also can’t find one in the virtual world!”

Li Ting directly gave him a big, unreserved eye roll.

Looking at the time, Li Ting had to rush back to the city to work now. It took him more than two hours to go back and forth. Actually, he totally could’ve brought the computer back after work.

He quickly changed his sweat-drenched t-shirt, washed his face, and was about to leave. However, he was stopped by Tian Dian’s voice when he was about to close the door.

“Li-zi…”

Tian Dian’s voice full of laughter suddenly faded away. It changed into a deep and serious voice that matched his gender.

“What he said was wrong, you will date, and will be loved by someone. Other than me, there will be someone who will understand… how extremely good our Li-zi is.”

Li Ting looked back at the guy with messy hair sitting on a stool playing solitaire in a serious manner. He curled his lips and silently closed the door.

Wang Fuliang did not guess wrong, Li Ting is also a university student.

Li Eryang was also correct, Li Ting’s university is indeed a bit low-leveled. It’s low to the extent that it can’t be put on the table. When compared with the glittering University A, the two are simply worlds apart.

Throughout the year, Li Ting barely attended a few classes. In his father’s words; He, as the eldest son, gave up and abandoned himself because of his inferiority complex. Since knowing that he will not have a bright future, he does not even bother to hope. Every day is a day without motivation. Although he seems to be busy, he’s actually just trying to live through each day.

These words might seem harmful, but it’s not just the opinion of one person. For example, when Li Ting went back to school for the last time before the break, the attitude he got from a schoolmate who hadn’t seen him for a long time was not exactly kind.

“People like him with such a low attendance rate even passed, how come we got deducted points on the exam? Did this prof receive some bribe money?”

Knowing that Li Ting was in front of him, that sarcastic voice didn’t restrain back at all. It was obvious that the other said it for him to hear.

“If they want money, they should at least ask those who actually have money. Unlike those people with poor appearances, what can they even give?”

“Ey? You don’t understand, did you not watch or read the news? Nowadays, there are many things that students can use as transactions, regardless of their gender.”

As soon as this remark came out, there was a series of perverse chuckles aimed directly at the back of Li Ting’s head.

Li Ting halted in his steps and turned around.

There were both boys and girls in that group of people. They were led by a boy that was about the same height as Li Ting. His head is slightly larger and his whole person looks a little stubby.

Noticing Li Ting’s gaze, the other pumped his chest, and said with a bad attitude: “What you looking at?”

As soon as he spoke, he saw Li Ting, who did not avoid nor flee, walking towards him.

The boy was stunned: “What do you want?”

Li Ting stopped in front of him and scanned across the faces of these few people. Even though they leveled eye to eye, Li Ting inexplicably made his counterparts feel they were looked down on.

“Nowadays, there are indeed many things that can make money and used as transactions,” Li Ting said, “Which rely on looks, strength, and intelligence. But relying on acting bitchy is ok too, you guys are probably the best of the bunch.”

Li Ting talked in a very peaceful tone, but that boy’s anger still soared when he heard it. The boy raised his voice and shouted. “The fuck you talking about?! We still haven’t settled our issue from way back!”

“You want to settle it?” Li Ting carried a murderous gaze and asked seriously.

Someone on the side saw the tense atmosphere and decided to back down, he pulled back the boy in the lead and said: “Cheng Peng, even if you want to make trouble, you can’t do it here. Let’s settle it later…”

However, the boy named Cheng Peng did not want to give up so easily, instead, he pointed at Li Ting provokingly: “Say these words to him, I don’t believe this guy dare to take action in school-”

“-boom!”

He heard a loud sound before he finished and dazedly turned to look at the source. He saw that the few centimeters thick stainless trash can beside him was caved inwards at the center. The newly painted surface was peeled off in pieces and the buzzing aftersound of the collision echoed in his ears, unable to dissipate for a long time.

Li Ting calmly and composedly took back the leg he kicked with and revealed a questioning gaze, as if he was saying “And so?”

They are currently at the back of a school building. It is naturally eye-catching if they linger in the small empty garden like this. Realizing that classmates and teachers on the third floor had already come out to take a look, some of the provoking guys felt fearful.

“Li Ting, don’t cross the line. Sooner or later, you will suffer.”

Leaving behind these words, several people pushed and pulled away the obviously unhappy Cheng Peng. They scolded while walking: “I told you not to mess with him, he’s a lunatic! He’s not even afraid of dropping out!”

Li Ting was not in the mood to listen to them talk, he looked at his watch, hopped on his electric scooter, and rode towards Uni A, or more precisely, Library A.

He knows that place like the back of his hand. One reason is that it’s necessary for his part-time job, the other reason is that his own school is too low-leveled, Uni A is the better option when he needed materials or reference books. For this reason, he deliberately spent money to borrow a student ID from a student there, allowing him to go in and out at will.

Under the premise that many students of University A have finished their exam, Library A, which was overcrowded in the past, has finally quieted down. Li Ting wandered freely on the floors of the previous outbreak areas. He patrolled the bookshelves carefully. When he coincidentally found what he was looking for, a gleam of surprise flashed over his gloomy face. It instantly illuminated his whole face but also immediately disappeared, restoring his usual gloom.

Li Ting borrowed some books and walked out with them carefully in his arms. While he was thinking about whether it would be safer to bring it back to the store’s storage or to send it directly to his rented house, he raised his head and was met with a familiar face.

“Ge? How come you’re here?”

It was his younger brother Li Han, and beside Li Han stood the boy who he had run into a few days ago at the Li house’s backyard, Li Han’s current dating partner.

Li Han hasn’t contacted Li Ting again after that awkward phone call. At this moment, he couldn’t help but feel apologetic. However, right now isn’t the best time to explain, he could only carelessly point at the person beside him and introduce: “Mn, ge, his name is Wang Qin, my classmate.”

After speaking, it seemed as if he was afraid of continuing this topic, he immediately asked: “Ge, how come you’re here? Here to deliver something?”

“Hm? Isn’t this the textbook for our major?” The boy named Wang Qin suddenly interrupted.

Only then did Li Han notice what Li Ting was holding in his arms and was also very surprised: “Ge, you’re here to borrow books? Why’re you borrowing the textbook for our major? It’s even the original language version, even I won’t be able to understand it…”

Li Ting made an “oh” sound, flipped the book over, and said: “It’s needed for my part-time job.”

“Part-time jobs need such things? So impressive.” Li Han sighed.

“Why are you here?” It was Li Ting’s turn to ask him.

“I forgot to tell you, I’m doing a project in Uni A’s research institute as a summer break intern. I applied for this internship two years in a row, I finally got in this year!” Li Han was very happy to mention this, “There are so many awesome people here, each and every one of them is amazing, oh, that’s right… I still have to treat the seniors from our group to lunch… hey, where did they go?”

Li Han felt that it was strange and turned around. He saw the seniors from the research institute, who were originally walking together slowly behind him, now half walking and half looking back. Even giggling from time to time, it took a while for them to get near, especially the two girls.

“Xuejie, xuejie, what are you guys looking at?” Li Han leaned forward and asked cutely.

“Looking at hot guys!” Xuejie said with a blushing smile, “Fang Huaining.”

“Ah? Who’s Fang Huaining?” Lu Han asked again.

“You don’t even know Fang Huaining?” Xuejie couldn’t believe it, and then recalled something as soon as she said that. She lightly knocked on Li Han’s head, “I forgot you’re new. However, if you want to mingle well here during the break, you cannot not know him, he’s the Ace of our department.”