As She Wished (GL) - Chapter 1

After her morning class, Fu Jing walked out of the lecture hall, scrolling through a long string of messages from Qin Ziqin on her phone.

The more she read, the tighter her brow furrowed.

She typed a reply, head still down.

Fu Jing: [She still sees me as a love rival?]

Fu Jing: [My family makes keys, ask her if she deserves one.]

She hadn’t even finished typing the last half of the sentence.

Qin Ziqin quickly picked up the joke: [Does she deserve it, hahaha!]

Fu Jing, however, was too annoyed to laugh. She sighed, a little exasperated, and shoved her phone back into her pocket.

She blended into the stream of students leaving class, slowly making her way out.

It had been less than two months since the start of the semester, and she’d already encountered three similar ridiculous incidents.

The first senior student swore that Fu Jing liked him, saying her not looking him in the eye was shyness, and her not talking to him was introversion.

The second junior student inexplicably pursued her, and when he failed, he’d write little articles on the online confession wall every day.

The third classmate was the worst. After his confession to Fu Jing failed, he found a girlfriend named Fang Jing and actually saved her name in his phone as her initials: FJ.

He’d then screenshot their chat logs and post them on his WeChat Moments to show off their affection, successfully making half the physics department believe he was dating Fu Jing.

This person’s behavior made Fu Jing finally unable to resist telling Qin Ziqin to subtly hint at his girlfriend.

It was a kind gesture, but she ended up being aggressively warned by that classmate Fang Jing.

Fang Jing accused Fu Jing of failing to pursue the guy and then trying to cause trouble.

Fu Jing found these kinds of things extremely annoying, but there was nothing she could do.

Forget it.

Just pretend nothing happened.

Fu Jing was walking in the shade when she suddenly noticed a furtive shadow approaching her. At the same time, a hand patted her shoulder, “Hey cutie, wanna exchange contact info?”

A deliberately irritating tone and a self-proclaimed humorous air.

The “cutie” Fu Jing turned her head, mercilessly glaring at her: “Huh?”

“Oh! Why the annoyed face?” Qin Ziqin flinched, withdrawing her hand, and skipped to her side, walking shoulder-to-shoulder with her, “What’s got our young lady so upset?”

Fu Jing shook her phone, “What do you think?”

“Because of those self-important guys? You used to never care, did you? After all, with such a pretty face, it’s not surprising to have a lot of bad luck.”

Qin Ziqin then chuckled, “Can I borrow your office printer? I’m too lazy to go far.”

“Sure,” Fu Jing took out her student ID, “Got my card.”

So, the two turned back to the teaching building.

Fu Jing was the president of the Physics Society. Their club had a separate office in the College of Science’s teaching building—because the club was incredibly boring and had an extremely high barrier to entry, it gradually became Fu Jing’s personal space.

All the office supplies inside were complete and freely available for use, with the setup indistinguishable from a professor’s private office.

Qin Ziqin happily said, “Thanks, babe.”

Fu Jing continued the previous conversation: “Someone once told my fortune when I was little, saying I’d have a ‘romance calamity’ at twenty. Either I’d get through it smoothly and be happy, or I’d be tormented by it and depressed for half my life. So this year, I’m being extra careful.”

“When did you start believing in this stuff?” Qin Ziqin was greatly surprised, “Didn’t you say that only science was your religion?”

They went upstairs and turned, quickly arriving at the office door in the corner of the second floor.

Fu Jing took out her student ID, swiping to unlock the door, and earnestly said, “As someone who wants to do scientific research, of course, I’m a staunch atheist.”

Before she finished speaking, she pushed the door open and entered.

Qin Ziqin was behind her.

In the open space in the middle of the office, a makeshift altar had been set up at some point. On the wall hung four framed pictures: Newton, Einstein, and prominently, two immortals in Taoist robes.

Fu Jing immediately walked over, closed her eyes, put her hands together, and reverently bowed, saying, “I beg all the great immortals to bless my paper to go smoothly.”

Qin Ziqin: “……………”

Qin Ziqin’s lips twitched. Unable to bear the sight, she turned away, spinning around a few times in place to digest the fact that her good friend was openly setting up an altar and engaging in superstition in a prestigious university’s science office.

“Could you perhaps explain the situation a little?”

“Explain what?” Fu Jing casually picked up a bag of original potato chips, offered as an offering to Newton, from the snack-filled table, and called out to her, “Want some?”

Qin Ziqin glanced at them, hesitating, “These are for Newton. Wouldn’t it be bad if I ate them?”

“Why would it be bad?” Fu Jing looked utterly perplexed, shaking the bag, “Newton’s blessed them; eating more might even increase your IQ.”

Qin Ziqin then took them: “That makes so much sense.”

So the offerings on the table were just for ‘blessing’ by the great gods, huh…

As Qin Ziqin tore open the chips, her gaze swept over her down-to-earth little shrine: “Are you religious now, or are you just pulling some dark humor?!!”

Fu Jing helped her open the computer and connect the printer, saying earnestly, “For us researchers, staunch atheists that we are, after several brutal experiences of not finding ideas, not getting results, and not being able to write papers, we usually just find a random deity to worship. Because many times, success is truly just three bows away.”

“Find a random deity…” Qin Ziqin ate her chips, glancing guiltily at the two Taoist immortals in the middle, “I suggest you be careful with your words, or the gods you’re worshipping might get hurt!”

Fu Jing pulled out a chair, “It’s ready. What do you want to print?”

“You print it for me,” Qin Ziqin handed her the USB drive from her pocket, instructing her, “Everything inside, one copy.”

Fu Jing took it and operated the computer.

The machine hummed to life, swallowing a blank sheet of paper and spitting out the required study materials.

Qin Ziqin sat down, lounging comfortably on the sofa, and said, “You don’t have anything else to do, do you? After this, let’s go eat. I’ll treat you to that new Sichuan restaurant.”

“No,” Fu Jing opened a drawer, took out a blank sheet of paper, and seriously wrote a leave request, “My professor comes back tonight, and I need to quickly ask him for leave to go find a date. So I don’t have time to eat with you.”

Qin Ziqin almost choked on her chips: “…You’re asking for what? Looking for what? What do you want to do?”

Fu Jing said, without any change in her tone, “I want to take some leave to find a partner and fall in love.”

Qin Ziqin: “…”

Qin Ziqin eyed her good friend, whose way of thinking had always been different from others since childhood. After a long pause, a thousand words coalesced into a profound sigh, “After all these years, you’re still a mystery to me, the mysterious girl Fu Jing.”

“What do you mean?” Fu Jing finished writing the leave request, her face lined with dark thoughts as she looked up at her, “Can’t I turn passive into active? Can’t I fall in love?”

Qin Ziqin sighed, “Then where do you plan to look? Do you think finding a partner is as simple as learning physics?”

Fu Jing gritted her teeth: “Excuse me, where is physics simple—”

Qin Ziqin: “I mean for you.”

Fu Jing: “How is it simple for me?!!”

Qin Ziqin: “We’re the same age, and I’m still a sophomore while you’re already a second-year graduate student. Isn’t that enough to explain it?”

Fu Jing: “If I were studying your major, I’d have my doctorate by now.”

Qin Ziqin: “Bullshit! With your emotional intelligence, you want to study literature? I don’t think you’d graduate in eight lifetimes!”

“…”

The two began a fierce, childish bickering match. Finally, Qin Ziqin decided to personally take her to find a date. This kid had been naive since she was little; it was truly hard to believe she wouldn’t be easily tricked by bad people.

••••

On his way back to school from a business trip, Jiang Jianhua, Fu Jing’s Ph.D. supervisor in the physics department, received a message from Fu Jing asking for three days of leave. He returned to his office, turned on the light, and saw a handwritten leave request on his desk:

Personal Leave

Going out to find a partner, requesting three days leave. Approval requested!

Fu Jing

A scrap of paper with just three short lines.

Each stroke was firm and pressed hard onto the paper, showing how urgent the writer’s desire for leave was, and how straightforward her attitude.

And it was personal leave…

Jiang Jianhua’s lips twitched. He agreed, it could indeed only be personal leave.

••••

The two discussed and arrived at the entrance of a famous lesbian bar in the city.

Qin Ziqin used to frequent nightclubs in high school. Although she, being straight, had never entered this particular one, she had long heard of its reputation.

Fu Jing tugged at her sleeve, “I’m a little nervous.”

“Nervous my ass,” Qin Ziqin scoffed. Her phone rang in her bag. She glanced at it, her expression subtly changing, “My professor’s calling… definitely nothing good. You go in first and wait for me.”

“But…” Fu Jing opened her mouth, but before she could ask where she should wait inside, Qin Ziqin had already sprinted off to a quiet spot to answer the phone.

Alright…

Going in alone it is.

Fu Jing walked past the two burly bouncers in black suits and pushed the door open.

The light was dim, and a massive volume of sound hit her. A group of people were dancing on the dance floor directly opposite the entrance, and the booths were half full, half empty.

A revolving beam of light swept across Fu Jing’s face. She squinted to avoid it, feeling a bit awkward as she took a few steps forward.

As she looked around, the patrons in the booths more or less looked up at her. Some gazes drifted away, while others remained fixed on Fu Jing.

Fu Jing didn’t know where to sit. She spotted a window-side booth furthest from the stage, quite concealed in the backlit area. She instinctively walked towards it.

Only a few meters away did she realize someone was already sitting there.

A woman was sitting alone, drinking, shrouded in shadow.

The randomly sweeping stage lights suddenly landed there, and colored lights flashed across her face in quick succession, faintly illuminating her features, but not clearly enough.

Fu Jing could only see her profile: a straight nose bridge and perfectly proportioned, beautiful contours. Her dark blue silk shirt shimmered.

Her long hair was black and lustrous, giving off a somewhat cool feeling in the dim light.

Fu Jing’s expression was a little dazed.

She stared intently at the woman, not knowing how long she had stood there dumbfounded.

Finally, the woman looked up.

Her face met the insufficient light source.

Their eyes met for a fleeting moment.

Fu Jing held her breath, feeling as if the scene before her lightly dissolved into a silent void, instantly filled with brilliant stars and boundless cosmos.

As if they had known each other for a long time.

As if they shouldn’t have been strangers until now.

Fu Jing’s thoughts coalesced.

A moment later, her pounding heart jolted her awake.

Fu Jing swallowed, irresistibly drawn to move closer to her. She thought, she absolutely had to get to know this older sister!

Her phone in her pocket suddenly vibrated.

She pulled it out and saw a message from her supervisor, Jiang Jianhua, who had just returned to school.

Professor Jiang: [Fu Jing, aren’t you a bit too arrogant?]

Fu Jing glanced at her phone screen, then at the woman sitting not far away.

Lowering her eyes to type, she typed a few words and then stopped.

Damn it, her mind was now completely consumed with how to approach the woman.

She’d forgotten what she wanted to reply.

Professor Jiang: [Only asking for three days of leave?]

Professor Jiang: [Do you think finding a partner is that simple? Your senior searched for five years and even delayed graduation, and he still hasn’t found one!]

Fu Jing snapped back to reality: [Professor, I’ve already found one!]

She shoved her phone back into her pocket.

After taking a few deep breaths. Fu Jing floated over, step by step, her lips pursed in a sweet smile, “Um…”

She stopped as soon as she spoke.

She realized she needed to raise her voice.

The music in the bar was too loud; normal speaking voices simply dissipated at that distance.

Fu Jing stood for a few seconds, just about to take a deep breath and speak louder.

Suddenly, the woman looked at her.

The woman held her wine glass, as if contemplating whether to drink, her long, slightly upturned phoenix eyes clear and distinct, watching her with a half-smile.

She didn’t speak.

“Hello,” Fu Jing said nervously, “May I ask…”

She wanted to directly ask for contact information. But then she remembered how she had rejected countless strangers who started conversations with that very line. The pick-up line was probably lame.

Fu Jing stopped speaking again.

“…”

She was wearing a clean white shirt, a dark gray jacket, paired with deep blue jeans, and ordinary ginger-yellow canvas shoes. Her face was delicate and youthful, exuding a pure and well-behaved student vibe.

Her gaze was unfocused, making her look out of place. Anyone could tell it was her first time in here.

The woman looked up, her face expressionless.

Her gaze lingered on Fu Jing for a few seconds before she spoke, “The restroom is upstairs.”

Fu Jing: “…?”

She quickly realized she had been mistaken for someone just looking for the restroom. She wanted to explain but didn’t know how. She was already clumsy with words, and being too nervous made her stammer a little, “N-no.”

Are you kidding… she was someone who never got stage fright when giving presentations.

Today, she had even substituted for her supervisor in a large lecture hall, and when a group of school leaders inexplicably came in and sat down to observe, she hadn’t panicked one bit.

Phew, not nervous, not nervous…

Fu Jing’s thoughts were a chaotic mess as she mentally cheered herself on. It’s just a pick-up attempt, what danger could there be?

Her eyes looked at the woman, then slightly lowered, not daring to stare too directly.

Her hesitant expression was too obvious.

Gu Qingci thought she looked like an elementary school student afraid to raise her hand to ask a question to a teacher, so she looked away.

She casually called someone over for her: “An, come here, take this kid to the restroom.”

Tao Xian, who was passing by, paused. She lifted her hand to run through her hair, her gaze falling on Fu Jing, “Need company to the restroom? Are you scared to go alone? How old are you, little sister?”

Her words were crisp, and her several slightly drawn-out questions were laced with a charming tone.

At the same time, she leaned closer.

Being too close all of a sudden, Fu Jing caught the faint fragrance from her hair and couldn’t help but take half a step back, subtly creating a little distance. But Tao Xian hooked her arm and pulled her back.

She chuckled, “Still shy? Alright, big sister will go with you.”

“No…” Fu Jing had only spoken two words before Tao Xian, acting overly familiar, took her arm and pulled her towards the second floor, “Little sister, you must be an adult, right? You look like a high schooler. High schoolers aren’t allowed in our bar…”

Fu Jing was thus led away.

And so, her beautiful pick-up line, which she hadn’t even thought of yet, directly came to an end…