I Fell in Love With My Cold-Hearted, Flirtatious Roommate (GL) - Chapter 23

Rong Ting sometimes couldn’t see through Ran Jiu. She had a lazy and indifferent attitude towards most things.

For example, she didn’t care about the expiration date of fruits and vegetables, sometimes not realizing when the fruit in the fridge had gone bad. For example, she sometimes forgot where she put the various wines she bought, until Rong Ting pulled out colorful wine bottles from under the kitchen cabinet. She didn’t even have a serious manner of speaking. During live streams, she didn’t get annoyed by the various unreasonable requests from fans, coaxing and misleading them to get through it.

But now, she was serious and calculating about this matter, even hinting at a little bit of grievance.

Seeing that Rong Ting didn’t speak, her complaint was mixed with a sense of injury and petulance: “I’m comfortable with you, that’s why I let you touch me. I don’t let anyone else touch me.”

Rong Ting was momentarily dazed, but when she reacted, she focused on a completely baffling point, “What? Who else wants to touch you?”

But she saw that Ran Jiu had already turned her back to her and bent down, her section of snow-white spine prominently visible. She was bent over looking for something and spoke in a muffled voice: “I don’t know what I did to upset you, but it must be my fault. Please don’t be mad at me, okay?”

Her plea for forgiveness was sincere, as if she was genuinely trying to coax her.

Rong Ting was speechless. She opened her mouth but couldn’t say anything. She couldn’t even say the three words “It’s not your fault,” because it wasn’t her fault to begin with.

Unwilling to think about the matter anymore, Rong Ting pursed her lips, and her face turned away in a manner that only highlighted her self-consciousness.

Ran Jiu was still diligently searching for who knows what, not getting up for a long time.

Just as Rong Ting was starting to feel embarrassed and wanted to squat down to see what she was looking for, Ran Jiu suddenly looked up. Her slightly open mouth was only a hair’s breadth away from Rong Ting’s. Rong Ting was so startled she nearly jumped on the spot.

But Ran Jiu seemed completely oblivious to the awkwardness and shook the item in her hand as if presenting a treasure, “I made you mad yesterday. I’ll treat you to a cartoon.”

Looking at the swaying CD of Mole’s Stories, Rong Ting didn’t know what to say.

The emotions of the person in front of her came and went quickly. It wasn’t a bad thing to just follow her lead.

Besides, if she were forced to explain, she couldn’t articulate the reasons.

“Don’t laugh at me. Everything online is pirated, full of buffering and ads. This is much more enjoyable to watch,” Ran Jiu said as she inserted the CD, proudly introducing it as if they were about to watch some high-level feature film.

She climbed up and turned off all the lights. The huge concave computer screen loaded, and the image quality was indeed excellent.

Rong Ting’s back was suddenly touched by something, and she jumped up as if electrocuted.

Looking back, Ran Jiu had only placed a small dolphin-shaped cotton seat next to her leg, looking somewhat confused by her reaction, “Sit on this.”

The dolphin seat felt fluffy. When she sat down, it quickly sank, making it about level with the bed. Ran Jiu also moved a similar lion-shaped stool to sit next to her. The two were very close, their breaths audible.

The mole on the screen was hopping around. Its small body, two big eyes, and pointed red nose created a strangely humorous effect. When winter came, it collected food, pushing fruits of all sizes into its mole hole.

This scene was both adorable and poignant. Rong Ting smiled, feeling that Ran Jiu was a bit like this mole, forced to push unspeakable secrets into a mole hole.

The person next to her suddenly moved. Ran Jiu brought out something unknown, and the lighting in the space suddenly changed dramatically. Beams of purple-patterned light hit the surrounding walls and ceiling. Yet, it wasn’t harsh; instead, it was warm and romantic.

Rong Ting was immediately surprised, “What is this?”

Ran Jiu hummed: “I asked someone to install it when I moved in. I call it the Purple Cosmos! Does it look good?”

Rong Ting held out her hand. The light points, like mist and hail, fell on her hand, “It’s very beautiful. Why did you think of installing this?”

Ran Jiu’s answer was simple, “It looks good and it’s fun.”

Then she thought for a moment and added, “It’s convenient for thinking.”

With the lights off, they watched several episodes of Mole’s Stories. As more and more animals appeared, Rong Ting yawned, her peripheral vision drifting towards the person next to her.

When Ran Jiu sat there obediently, she looked like a pretty little doll. The constantly rotating light sometimes hit her face, revealing her gorgeous and captivating features. Her eyelashes were long and slightly curled, making her look much livelier than usual.

Soon, Rong Ting realized something was wrong.

Because her eyelashes weren’t moving at all.

Rong Ting: “…” She waved her hand in front of Ran Jiu’s face, and as expected, there was no reaction. She sighed, gently stood up from the chair, rubbed her numb calves, and then went to turn on the light.

When she returned, Ran Jiu was still asleep. Her arms were propped on her legs, her hand clenched into a fist supporting her chin, her posture surprisingly stable.

Rong Ting’s lips curved. She leaned in, slowly stretched out a finger, and poked one of her cheeks. Ran Jiu’s small, palm-sized face was only covered by a thin layer of flesh. She wasn’t awake yet, so Rong Ting poked the other side.

Ran Jiu finally stirred a little, grumbling discontentedly, which scared Rong Ting into withdrawing her hand.

But Ran Jiu only blinked her eyes slightly a few times and then went back to sleep like that.

It had started raining outside at some point. There was a faint tapping sound on the uncurtained window, where rain spots bloomed. Ran Jiu’s body was very light. Rong Ting didn’t use much effort to get her onto the bed. She turned back to eject the CD, turn off the computer. When she looked back, the person was already consciously burrowed under the covers, finding a comfortable sleeping position.

Rong Ting turned off all the lights and was about to leave when she heard a slight murmur from the bed.

It sounded like, “Can we have shaomai tomorrow?”

Rong Ting thought for a moment, returned to her room, and placed the piece of chocolate her tutor had given her by Ran Jiu’s pillow, “As for shaomai, we’ll talk about it when I’m happy.”

The next morning, Rong Ting washed up early and went to school for her major class. The atmosphere in the classroom suddenly quieted the moment she walked in.

Putting down her books, she opened her laptop and started writing her mid-term paper, acting as if she hadn’t noticed the overly cautious behaviour of the others at all. Because of her composure and calmness, it made the others seem nosy, and soon people went back to their own things.

After class, Rong Ting felt it was necessary to make a clean break.

Also, last night she calculated three years of rent, and it was within her affordable range.

She did not plan to return to that dorm room.

When she moved out before, she only took some necessities and some books for the current semester. However, there were still supplementary teaching materials and extra professional books in the dorm, so Rong Ting planned to move everything out completely.

Only Wan Sang and Wang Qing were in the dorm. When Rong Ting entered, Wan Sang was gossiping with someone. Her face instantly changed when she saw Rong Ting enter, and she loudly pulled her bed curtain shut.

Rong Ting went to her own bunk, first sweeping aside the things on the desk that didn’t belong to her, and then packing the books one by one into her backpack.

Wan Sang heard the noise and peeked out. She had thought Rong Ting wouldn’t be coming back this semester and had piled many small items on her desk. Now, seeing her power cord hanging down, she was both annoyed and in the wrong, so she could only speak with thinly veiled sarcasm: “Some people don’t come back even once a semester, don’t help with the dorm clean-up for the evaluation, but they certainly hold their ground tightly.”

Hearing the words, Rong Ting turned her head. Wan Sang couldn’t dodge in time and met her gaze directly, startled by her silent and indifferent face.

Rong Ting reasoned with her one last time: “I paid for this bunk, so even if I don’t live here at all, my desk and bed are not your storage area.”

Wan Sang’s face turned pale with anger, but the fight from the previous day still made her fearful. People like her were good at stirring up trouble, but afraid of facing others’ anger when things got real. She used to see Rong Ting as a soft target because she seemed to have no temper. Now, she had to think twice before speaking.

Rong Ting glanced at her indifferently, “Also, you really don’t need to feel like I have the leisure to watch you. If you don’t want the bed curtain, take it down. Pulling it back and forth is quite bothersome.”

Following this exchange, the expressions of the two roommates were a fascinating sight. Rong Ting ignored them, carried her things, and walked downstairs.

She had four consecutive classes starting at 1:30 in the afternoon, so at noon, she sent Ran Jiu a message, saying that the bento box she had made last night was still frozen in the fridge, and if she was home at noon, she could just heat it up in the microwave.

The other person replied with an OK hand gesture.

Rong Ting had just smiled when the other person sent a chu mi (kissing) emoji.

Rong Ting’s smile froze for a moment. Her cheeks flushed slightly, and she turned off the screen.

The afternoon course was a general elective, a course she was quite interested in this semester called Gender and Family. The professor teaching the course was a renowned expert in domestic feminism. The class covered several major works on feminism, and this session was on Simone de Beauvoir’s The Second s3x.

In class, the professor discussed the social differences and connections between the two sexes, and further stated that all sexual orientations were equal. At the end of the class, she concluded with a quote from the monograph:

“Homosexuality is neither a willful perversion nor an inescapable curse. It is an attitude chosen within a situation, both provoked and voluntarily adopted. Like all human behaviours, homosexuality can lead to play-acting, imbalance, failure, and lies; or, on the contrary, it will be a source of rich experience. This depends on the manner in which it is lived out: whether in self-deception, lassitude, inauthenticity, or in lucidness, generosity, and freedom.”

After class, Rong Ting had just finished packing her things and was walking out when she felt someone pat her shoulder from behind.

She turned around and saw Chen Saiyu, her expression immediately indifferent, “What is it?”

At the beginning of the semester, only a few people in their class chose this course, because the professor was notoriously serious in the School of Sociology. Attendance checks were strict and grades were tight. If Rong Ting chose this course purely out of interest, Chen Saiyu followed her to choose it.

But since Rong Ting moved out of the dorm, their relationship had cooled down a lot.

Chen Saiyu looked a little uneasy, her eyes filled with helplessness and sadness: “I heard Wan Sang say you came back at noon.”

“Mhm.” Rong Ting didn’t slow down. She figured Wan Sang wouldn’t have said anything nice, “Went back to pack my things.”

Chen Saiyu was somewhat startled: “You’re not planning to come back?”

“Mhm.”

Chen Saiyu scratched her head: “I really didn’t think it would come to this. Wan Sang is just a very sensitive person. Did you forget, last semester you won the scholarship. She was at the bottom of the second-class prize, but then her comprehensive evaluation was pushed down by someone else, and you won both first places. So, it’s understandable that she feels psychologically unbalanced.”

Rong Ting was noncommittal: “So, she was pushed down just because of my one spot? Or do I need to apologize for that?”

“Of course not,” Chen Saiyu mumbled, “But she probably hoped you would help her. You spend very little time in the dorm. Remember, at first, Wan Sang said you thought the world was huge and the library was your home? She was already a little unhappy then. Your time is always so full, you just… never allocated any to us. Sometimes we could only watch helplessly as the gap between us widened. This puts a lot of pressure on us—”

Rong Ting interrupted her: “Thank you for telling me this frankly. Now you don’t have to feel that pressure.”

Chen Saiyu suddenly grabbed her arm: “Rong Ting, I’ve noticed you’ve really changed a lot recently.”

Rong Ting was stunned for a moment, “What?”

Chen Saiyu hesitated and blinked: “Before, you would never speak so selfishly or sharply.”

Selfishly or sharply?

Rong Ting laughed in exasperation: “Perhaps it’s because I don’t have to be under the same roof as you anymore. After all, now I have nothing to worry about.”

“No, something is wrong,” Chen Saiyu’s expression was serious. “Is it that girl from the other day, the one outside the print shop? I saw your relationship seemed very close.”

Rong Ting took a deep breath, not expecting she would have to use the same excuse as Ran Jiu to fend off others: “She’s just my co-renting roommate.”

“Maybe that’s not it.” Chen Saiyu hesitantly asked: “Rong Ting, are you a la la now?”

Rong Ting understood the meaning of la la thanks to this course. The professor had introduced various LGBT concepts in the first class, and she had specifically noted them down to avoid forgetting them during the exam.

La la, or les, is a shortened term for lesbian.

“I am not.” She answered concisely and sharply, deliberately emphasizing every word, “I remember telling you before not to speculate about others based on your subjective assumptions, and certainly not to trust your own assumptions too much.”

Chen Saiyu instinctively explained, “It’s not my assumption. That day at the print shop, the way you looked at her was very off… Oh, and the way she looked at you was also off.”

“Chen Saiyu!” Rong Ting finally shouted her name in annoyance, trying hard to control her emotions, “At least, I still consider you my best roommate. Please also be mindful of my feelings.”

Chen Saiyu felt guilty, her lips moved, but she couldn’t say a word.

Rong Ting simply stopped walking: “You keep talking about how I am, and how others are. Why don’t you ever think about your own reasons? I ask you, why did you mislead Wan Sang about the exam scope and then shift the blame onto me?”

She leaned closer: “Also, last summer I was organizing the summer sports event and summer teaching program for the student union. You clearly knew that, so why did you tell them I was preparing for a postgraduate recommendation?”

Rong Ting’s voice wasn’t particularly loud, but Chen Saiyu felt a chill run through her.

During the final exam of their freshman year, Wan Sang didn’t listen in class and only asked for materials just before the exam. Chen Saiyu generously gave her materials from the old edition of the book. However, the exam content was all from the new edition, so everything Wan Sang memorized was useless.

Wan Sang, with her fiery temper, naturally couldn’t hold back and sought her out after the exam.

Chen Saiyu was too flustered and casually shifted the blame, saying that the materials were sent to her by Rong Ting, and she was also misled. Afterward, she was afraid Wan Sang would confront Rong Ting, so she deceptively said that Rong Ting didn’t do it on purpose, which only added fuel to Wan Sang’s fire, causing her to go directly to Rong Ting.

Rong Ting was working part-time at the library at the time and only learned about the incident when Wan Sang approached her. She remembered that she had indeed given Chen Saiyu materials, but that copy matched the exam scope. She thought Chen Saiyu had accidentally sent the wrong one to Wan Sang, treating it as an unintentional mistake. She neither exposed her nor cared about the matter.

Later, her relationship with the dorm became increasingly poor, and she was completely clueless, still thinking about how to improve dorm relations.

She was working for the student union during the summer, helping her senior prepare for the teaching program and the summer sports event. She was constantly busy and sometimes couldn’t return to the dorm in time. Fearing misunderstanding, she had only told Chen Saiyu about what she was busy with and asked her to help keep the door open.

But that day, she deliberately took a detour to buy watermelon and returned to the dorm, and what she heard shocked her deeply.

Behind the door, Wan Sang was loudly complaining, blaming her for not returning to the dorm on time and always disturbing her sleep.

Rong Ting had expected Chen Saiyu to explain for her. But she heard her say in a casual tone: “Be understanding, Rong Ting is preparing for postgraduate recommendation these days. It’s not good for us to disturb her.”

Wan Sang immediately flared up: “What! Why do we have to make sacrifices just because she’s ambitious! She gets up so early every morning to go to the library and always disturbs my sleep! And now she’s not coming back. She’s really…”

Chen Saiyu’s voice mixed in: “Bear with it. What’s wrong with someone being ambitious?”

Wan Sang became even angrier: “She’s the one they call a juan wang (overachieving grinder), right! Who prepares for postgraduate recommendation so early? The schemer, she’s probably trying to snatch a professor. I knew why Professor Luo was so good to her. Hmph, so that’s why…”

Rong Ting didn’t hear the rest of the conversation. It was a scorching hot day. She didn’t return to the dorm and stayed in the cafeteria in a daze all afternoon, her heart as cold as the watermelon.

Later, she heard more and more similar words. These words were like the nine hundred and ninety-nine straws before the one that broke the camel’s back. They weren’t terrible crimes, but they suffocated her, leaving her to wait for the final blow.

“Rong Ting, I—”

“Stop talking!” Rong Ting frowned. “You know Wan Sang is sensitive, yet you keep talking about my awards with her. You know she also wants to pursue a postgraduate recommendation, yet you keep using me to put her down. My relationship with the dorm was already bad. Did you try to mediate our relationship? Did you even say one word in my defence?”

She became more and more aggrieved, struggling to control her emotions: “No! You deliberately isolated me, making me feel I could only talk to you, that I had to listen to you, and everything I did had to be linked to you. Even Wan Sang and the others also courted you. So, was the sweetness from both sides that delicious?”

Chen Saiyu was instantly silenced. Faced with these facts, she couldn’t even lift her head. When she did those things, she indeed had a very selfish thought.

Rong Ting was gentle and kind, studied well, and always managed to comfort the emotions of those around her, never begrudging the effort. Chen Saiyu sometimes wished that such a good person would only rely on her and only consider her the best friend in the future.

She used some underhanded little tricks, alienating Rong Ting’s social connections, making her learn to rely on her and only listen to her. However, she didn’t expect that strong medicine might not lead to a good result. Because Rong Ting was forced away by them.

Chen Saiyu’s face alternated between red and pale. She mumbled several times, wanting to explain, but seeing the other person’s cold and indifferent face, she ultimately couldn’t say anything.

Rong Ting waited for her to walk away, exhaled a breath of stale air, her hands trembling, almost soaked with cold sweat.

She returned home, her thoughts in turmoil, remembering Chen Saiyu’s question, and it took her a long time to recover.

The words from the class sounded an alarm in her mind: Homosexual relationships can lead to play-acting, imbalance, failure, lies…

She was afraid of becoming like Chen Saiyu.

And was she like that now?

In the evening, Rong Ting was halfway through her group assignment when she heard a rustling sound from the door lock. Her fingers immediately paused.

She heard Ran Jiu quietly close the door, change her shoes, and walk towards the bathroom as usual, followed by the sound of washing at the sink.

She came out of the bathroom, her footsteps heading towards the bedroom, but instead of returning to her own room, she lightly knocked on Rong Ting’s door.

“Ting Ting, are you in your room?”

Rong Ting rose in a slight panic to open the door, yet feigned composure when she pulled it open: “What is it?”

Ran Jiu had just returned from outside, still carrying some of the evening chill. A faint pink blush spread across her cheeks, and her amber eyes were very bright, “Was the chocolate on my bed yesterday from you?”

Rong Ting nodded: “Mhm, my tutor gave it to me.” She then tried to cover up her motive, “I have some internal heat [shang huo], so I can’t eat chocolate lately, so I gave it to you.”

Ran Jiu didn’t seem to care about the clumsy explanation. Her eyes suddenly curved into crescent moons, “It was delicious, thank you.”

She smiled. It was incredibly beautiful.

Rong Ting blinked uncomfortably, and responded weakly with an “Mhm.”

Ran Jiu pressed further: “What brand of chocolate is it? I want to buy it again if I see it.”

Rong Ting thought for a moment. The chocolate label was a German brand. Even she hadn’t eaten it before, let alone knowing its name in Chinese supermarkets.

She casually spoke a few German words.

Ran Jiu’s eyes widened in confusion, “Hmm?”

“It’s German,” Rong Ting truthfully said, “There’s no Chinese label on the chocolate, so I don’t know its Chinese name. Maybe you can buy it at a bigger supermarket or a specialty store near Sanyuan Bridge.”

Ran Jiu’s eyes grew brighter, “I heard German is very difficult to learn. You are so amazing! Can you teach me?”

Seeing Rong Ting not answering, she pouted, also very proud: “It’s just a name! I’ll learn it, and buy it next time I see it.”

Rong Ting was helpless, so she repeated it again.

Ran Jiu followed along, her pronunciation being passable, just with a little flaw. Because there was a uvular /r/ sound, which she couldn’t pronounce no matter what. She was so anxious she burst into laughter.

Rong Ting comforted her: “It’s already very good.”

Ran Jiu was not convinced: “Why does it sound different from what you said? Don’t just humour me, teach me properly.”

Rong Ting had no choice but to be patient, slowly reciting the word, highlighting the uvular /r/ sound.

Ran Jiu’s language talent was decent. She quickly imitated it quite well, but the uvular /r/ sound was something that couldn’t be forced. Her competitive streak flared up, insisting that Rong Ting teach her that sound again.

Rong Ting: “The uvular /r/ sound can’t be mastered in just one go.”

“How did you practise?”

Rong Ting thought for a moment, “Practising while rinsing my mouth in the morning, and the foreign teacher helped me practise.”

Ran Jiu said stubbornly: “Then teach me the way your foreign teacher taught you.”

Later, the two sat on the sofa, each with a cup of water in front of them. Rong Ting helplessly picked up Ran Jiu’s hand, isolating only the index and middle fingers, and placed them on her own throat. She took a sip of water, made the sound, and then swallowed the water, “Did you feel it?”

Ran Jiu’s eyes flickered away. The hand she had released retracted, and her fingertips subtly curled up, “It seems, it seems like I felt it.”

“Then you try?”

The silent, ambiguous atmosphere slowly lingered, like a sudden gust of wind stirring up ripples.

Ran Jiu seemed not to have heard. She didn’t move for a long time.

Rong Ting frowned: “Is it very difficult? Do you still want to learn?”

Seeing no answer from the other person for a long time, Rong Ting thought she was too embarrassed to pronounce it with water in her mouth and was about to conclude the lesson.

Unexpectedly, Ran Jiu suddenly pulled her hand and placed it on her own throat, carefully humming the sound.

“Then you listen, am I doing it right?”