Chapter 29: Sweetie's Mom Is Here!

The girls in the dorm all stared at them in puzzlement. Gu Xiaohan laughed so hard she almost toppled over. “Fifth Sister, you’re really something! Hitching a ride back and not even saying thank you, then rolling up your sleeves for a fight!”

“Could you and Tiantian stop calling me Fifth Sister? Either call me ‘Sister,’ or just use my name. Putting ‘little’ in front makes it seem like I’m a child.” Dong Yanyan sat on her bed, hugging her pillow in protest.

“Fine, fine, Yanyan, I’ll go with you. Ren Jiaxuan is so proper, you know? He never gets intimate with his girlfriend at school; all the lovey-dovey stuff happens off campus. Unlike He Jingxuan, who’s out there misbehaving right under the teachers’ noses. Now who knows where he’s taken Tiantian?” Gu Xiaohan complained. Ever since Lu Tian got a boyfriend, Gu Xiaohan felt a bit lonely and was clearly disgruntled.

Dong Yanyan nodded emphatically. “Classmate Ren really sets an example for classmate He. But since Second Sister threw him out of our dorm last time, he hasn’t come back, has he?”

“He doesn’t come to our dorm anymore; now he takes Tiantian to his dorm. But I think a girl hanging out in the boys’ dorm until midnight is even more worrying than bringing a guy into ours,” Fourth Sister Leng Yue fretted.

“I agree, this isn’t good. If a teacher catches them, Tiantian will be the one in trouble. We need to come up with a plan to get them to meet somewhere safer, like our classroom or theirs. It’s better than them being alone together.” Dong Yanyan pondered anxiously.

The three chatted idly, when suddenly there was a knock at the door. Leng Yue climbed out of bed to answer it, and Dong Yanyan suddenly felt a sense of déjà vu—

Oh no! Tiantian’s mother is here!

A pleasant voice sounded from outside: “Excuse me, does Lu Tian live here? I’m her mother!” Then, a petite, exquisitely made-up young woman stepped lightly into the room.

“Auntie, please come in! Tiantian’s in the classroom, I’ll go get her!” Dong Yanyan said hurriedly.

“I’ll go! Yanyan, you chat with Auntie, I’ll be right back!” Gu Xiaohan rushed out the door like a whirlwind.

Yanyan and Leng Yue quickly sprang into action; their only goal was to keep the visitor downstairs, not let her go up.

“Auntie, have some water!” Yanyan eagerly took Tiantian’s cup and poured her a drink.

“Auntie, have some sunflower seeds!” Leng Yue grabbed a handful from Tiantian’s bedside and placed them in her hand.

“No need, no need, you’re all so warm-hearted! With roommates like you, I can rest easy.” Tiantian’s mother beamed.

Dong Yanyan and Leng Yue exchanged complicated glances, thinking: Warm-hearted or not, we’re the ones worrying about your troublesome daughter!

*

Gu Xiaohan couldn’t find Lu Tian in the classroom, so she hurried up to the boys’ dorm on the fifth floor. Panting at the stairwell, she hesitated, seeing all the boys coming and going in the corridor. With so many around, she felt embarrassed to knock.

As she clung to the railing, at a loss, she suddenly spotted a familiar-looking boy emerging from Room 506. Like grabbing a lifeline, she rushed over and called out, “Hey! What’s your name again? Help me out!”

“Isn’t this Gu Xiaohan? I’m Xu Gang! What do you need?” Xu Gang asked, holding a basin and grinning.

“Yes, yes, Xu Gang! Could you knock on Room 510 for me and see if Lu Tian’s inside? If she is, tell her I need her urgently—she should come out right away!” Gu Xiaohan rattled off, then leaned on the stairs, catching her breath.

Seeing her flustered state, Xu Gang quickly turned back and knocked on Room 510. Soon, Lu Tian ran out.

“Tiantian, quick, your mom’s here!” Gu Xiaohan called anxiously.

Lu Tian clutched her chest and let out a long sigh. “Xiaohan, you scared me! I thought something happened. Why so tense over something so nice?” She took Xiaohan’s hand, skipping downstairs.

“You—you—you’re driving me crazy!” Gu Xiaohan complained, following her down.

*

Tiantian’s mother found the pile of clothes Tiantian had accumulated over two weeks and took them to the washroom. The four girls in the dorm happily shared the delicious treats she brought, leaving a token amount for those who weren’t present.

“Tiantian, this won’t do. Washing clothes and cooking are things you need to practice yourself. Otherwise, once you graduate and start your own household, you’ll have to learn from scratch—it won’t be easy then,” Dong Yanyan said gravely, munching on preserved plums.

“Our Tiantian is a busy woman, too busy with romance to spare time for chores, isn’t that right?” Gu Xiaohan laughed, wrapping her arm around Lu Tian’s neck.

“Tiantian, honestly, I think you’re a bit young for romance. You’re not even sixteen yet; you should wait until you’re seventeen or eighteen, like us. That’s more normal,” Leng Yue said seriously.

“Exactly!” Yanyan and Xiaohan chimed in.

Lu Tian chewed on her sunflower seeds, eyeing them curiously. “Wait—are you all hiding something from me? Who’s secretly dating? Fess up!”

“She! Her! That one!” Leng Yue and the others pointed at each other, dissolving into laughter.

As they joked, another knock sounded at the door.

“Xiaohan, go open it—it’s your key!” Dong Yanyan said absentmindedly, then realized she’d slipped. She remembered it vividly; someone would bring Xiaohan’s key at this hour. Xu Gang had once flirted with Xiaohan, though nothing ever came of it.

“Fifth Sister, how did you know it was Xiaohan’s key?” Lu Tian asked with a smile.

“Just a hunch! I’ll bet you two ice creams,” Dong Yanyan replied evasively.

Gu Xiaohan, half believing, ran to open the door. Seeing Xu Gang at the threshold, holding her key, he politely said, “Gu Xiaohan, this is your key, right? I found it at the stairs.”

Gu Xiaohan’s eyes widened in delight, stumbling over her words. “Thank you, thank you! Xu Gang, right?”

“Hey, come in so we can see you!” Leng Yue called out from inside.

“No way! You won’t let my boyfriend in, but you let hers? That’s not fair!” Lu Tian’s voice was honeyed and playful.

“What nonsense? Whose boyfriend? Xu Gang, you’d better go!” Gu Xiaohan blushed, shutting the door quickly.

Dong Yanyan was dumbfounded: This silly girl, clearly her heart is fluttering, yet she’s so muddled she shuts him out.