1987 My Era

Chapter 633, A Slap in the Face, The Death of the Ginkgo Tree
He was in high spirits today, with a strong desire to express himself. His pen moved like a flowing dragon, and once the nib touched the white paper, he simply couldn't stop.

Starting at 2 p.m., it was already evening before he knew it. As it was getting dark, Li Heng put down his pen and rubbed his sore wrists.

Not bad, you wrote over 5600 words.

Based on the page he crawled, he roughly counted the number of words and was quite satisfied.

Just then, the study door quietly opened a crack, and half a head peeked in.

Li Heng caught a glimpse of this scene out of the corner of his eye. He turned his head, looked at her for two seconds, and asked with a smile, "Are you a mind reader? You knew I had just finished writing, so you came to call me for dinner?"

Mai Sui smiled sweetly, opened the door wide, and walked in, saying, "Shi He just finished cooking, that's why I came to call you."

Li Heng didn't move, staring intently at her.

Maisui felt a little embarrassed by the stares.

After a brief standoff, she quietly came up behind him, placed her hands on his shoulders, and began to massage them.

Li Heng didn't let her go. He grabbed her arm with his right hand, pulled her in front of him with a force, then picked her up in his arms, held her on his knees, and looked down at her.

Caught off guard by the sudden ambiguity, Mai Sui felt flustered when she met his eyes.

Li Heng made no further move, but simply gazed at her quietly.

After a long while, Mai Sui calmed down, wrapped her arms around his waist, pressed her head against his chest, and said softly, "I don't blame you."

These words may seem nonsensical, but both parties knew exactly what they were talking about.

Upon hearing this, Li Heng affectionately kissed her forehead and said, "Let's go eat, don't keep them waiting."

"Okay," Maisui replied.

The two separated, looked at each other again, and then filed out of the study, downstairs, and into the building next door.

Somewhat surprisingly, Wei Xiaozhu was still there.

As soon as Li Heng entered, he asked her, "You haven't been playing cards all this time, have you?"

Wei Xiaozhu nodded with a smile, "If you had come earlier, you could have seen Manning and Ye Ning arguing."

Li Heng turned to Sun Manning and Ye Ning: "Who won?"

Sun Manning said, "Of course I won."

Ye Ning glared at him and said, "I didn't lose."

Seeing that the two idiots were at each other's throats again, Li Heng simply stopped asking questions, walked past them, and sat down at the dining table with an air of superiority.

At that moment, Zhou Shihe came out of the kitchen, brought the last meatball soup to the table, and then sat down at the table to watch the two women bicker.

Mai Sui and Wei Xiaozhu watched the excitement while serving rice and chopsticks, and soon there were 6 more bowls of rice on the table.

The food was ready, and Mai Sui said, "Let's ignore the two of them and start eating."

Li Heng, Zhou Shihe, and Wei Xiaozhu looked at each other, and the next second all three of them made a move, picking up their chopsticks and eating.

Seeing that he wasn't eating much and wasn't picking at his food as frequently as before, Mai Sui immediately noticed and asked with concern, "Are you feeling unwell, or is your appetite poor?"

Zhou Shihe glanced at him, then looked at the seven dishes on the table, and immediately understood: at least five of these dishes were his favorites, so it was impossible for him to have no appetite. He probably ate with Xiao Han at noon and then had another meal with Teacher Yu, so he was too full and couldn't digest it.

Li Heng said, "No, don't worry. I ate four meals today, and I'm very full."

Her guess was confirmed, and Zhou Shihe ate her meal without saying a word throughout the entire dinner.

Sun Manning and Ye Ning brought their argument to the dinner table. When they were in a bad mood, they even fought over the dishes, insisting on eating whichever bowl you wanted.

The dining table erupted into chaos, a truly lively scene.

Seeing that many dishes had fallen onto the table during the scramble, Li Heng couldn't stand it anymore and teased, "Hey, what's all the fuss about? If you have so much energy, you might as well go find a boyfriend."

Unexpectedly, the two women immediately turned their anger towards him.

Ye Ning asked loudly, "Where are you looking? Who are you looking for? Someone who's as persistent and clingy as my cousin, falling for you?"

This girl never misses an opportunity to attack Ye Zhanyan, whom she has envied and resented since childhood.

Sun Manning retorted fiercely, "Why bother finding a boyfriend? I might as well sleep with you and continue being best friends with Mai Sui."

Mai Sui blushed and nudged Sun Manning with her chopsticks.

Zhou Shihe: "..."

Wei Xiaozhu: "..."

Li Heng chuckled and said, "No, no, I'm not made of iron, I only have two kidneys."

The meal was lively and lasted for a full hour before it ended.

Don't be fooled by their carefree and relaxed demeanor at the dinner table. Their lives are actually far from easy.

Because this is Fudan University, and everyone who can study here is a top student. Even if you're a top student in your hometown, you're just an ordinary person here. If you're not careful or relax even a little, you'll be overtaken by those who are working incredibly hard. To avoid falling behind, the girls regularly went to the library and listened attentively in class, never daring to slack off.

After the meal, Sun Manning and Ye Ning went to the student union for their regular meeting.

Li Heng, Mai Sui, Zhou Shihe, and Wei Xiaozhu strolled leisurely along the tree-lined path, chatting as they walked around most of the campus under the guise of digesting their food.

As darkness fell, he returned to Lushan Village, went into his study, and began revising Chapter 34.

The other girls went to the library together to study.

In the days that followed, Li Heng attended classes during the day, and when he didn't, he would stay in his study reading and writing. Every morning without fail, he would go to the playground to run and play basketball.

On weekends, I might visit the New Future branch campus and Anta Shoes, or have dinner and watch a movie with Xiao Han at Shanghai Medical University, or help my cunning wife decorate our new home on Wukang Road.

Teacher Yu has returned from Tokyo, bringing two pieces of good news.

The first piece of news is that the cause of Chen Siya's illness has finally been found. It is said to be a new type of disease. The surgery was successful so far, but she still needs to stay in the hospital for follow-up observation and treatment.

The second piece of good news is that Hengyuan Investment Company's profits in the Tokyo stock market have exceeded $90 million, and it is expected to break $100 million soon.

To celebrate, Li Heng specially cooked a table of delicious dishes and treated everyone to a lively meal.

Hard work pays off. The school approved the student union's application, and Dai Qing became the student union president as she wished. Her popularity soared instantly, and her status in the dormitory, class, and school rose accordingly. Many people envied her, saying that being the student union president was so prestigious, and that awards, postgraduate recommendations, staying on as faculty, and studying abroad would all come easily to her.

Okay, even if Dai Qing doesn't want to pursue a master's degree or study abroad in the future, she will have many more options when it comes to job assignments after graduation than the average student.

To be honest, what are we all working so hard to study for so many years? Isn't it all for a bright future? In this respect, Dai Qing is already far ahead of everyone else.

Li Guoyi has returned to school. After the tragic incident involving Dandan, he has changed a lot. He used to love joking around, telling dirty jokes in the dorm, and talking about pretty girls, but now all of that has disappeared.

Li Guoyi continued attending classes, but after class he no longer set foot in the library. Instead, he preferred to sneak off to the law school. Those unaware of the situation might have assumed he was going to see the beautiful Wei Xiaozhu or the pretty Russell from the law school.

But those in the know understand that this guy is plotting a grand scheme.

At first, the girls in room 325 were unaware of the situation. It was only later, when Zhao Meng and Cai Yuanyuan accidentally discovered that Li Guoyi was frequently seen around the law school, that they started talking about it with their roommates in room 107.

Upon hearing this, Wei Xiaozhu was on edge for a long time, constantly on guard against Li Guoyi causing trouble for Liu An. However, a month passed without any action, and over time, she gradually relaxed her vigilance.

On one occasion, Zhang Bing, Li Guang, and Zhou Zhangming earnestly advised Li Guoyi in the dormitory to think more positively and not to do anything foolish.

Li Guoyi scratched the back of his head with his right hand, chuckling sheepishly. "What silly thing? I'm the only male in my generation, and I'm very protective of my life. Besides, the police haven't even found the suspect, so there's no way I can get revenge. Don't worry about me, guys. Go to class, go pick up girls, go study. Half of university is almost over, so don't waste those precious little lives. We need to find them hosts as soon as possible."

Time flies, March has passed, and April is already here before we know it.

This month was busy and fulfilling for Li Heng. The progress of "Dust Settles Down" is quite good. He has already written 50 chapters and the story is entering its final stage.

He revised the 6000 words he had just written word by word. After sitting for a long time, he felt his right leg go numb, so he stomped his foot hard.

Oh my god, it's even more numb now.

Li Heng bent down and rubbed his calves with both hands. After a while, he stood up and went to the window to stretch his body.

As he moved around, a thought began to cross his mind: Damn it! He had been taking such good care of this sapling this month, so why was the ginkgo tree getting worse every day?

It is springtime, and the outside world is full of birdsong and fragrant flowers, teeming with life, but the leaves of the ginkgo trees are turning yellow and withering.

Li Heng frowned, went downstairs to the courtyard, squatted in front of the ginkgo tree, and looked around, but couldn't figure out the reason for a long time.

Is it because the soil and water here are not good? Is it unsuitable for planting ginkgo trees?
Just as he was racking his brains trying to find the reason, Yu Shuheng, who had just finished class, returned. She stood at the gate of the courtyard and asked, "What are you doing? Why do you look so worried?"

Li Heng pointed to the ginkgo sapling: "Teacher, look, this tree is losing its leaves. How can I not worry? I won't be able to explain this to you."

Her gaze fell on the saplings, Yu Shuheng smiled gracefully, turned and left, returning to Building No. 25.

Li Heng glanced at her, pondered for a moment, then simply locked the door and headed straight for the library.

He didn't go to the study room or look for Mai Sui; instead, he went to the reading room to find materials.

Looking for information about ginkgo trees.

It was quite a coincidence; I didn't expect to run into Fudan University's "King" in the corner by the window on the right.

At this moment, Zhou Shihe was intently browsing through the pages of a book while leaning against the bookshelf.

Li Heng happened to be looking for her from another bookshelf and found her around the corner.

At first, she was completely focused on her book and didn't notice anyone watching her. After a while, she realized what was happening and looked up.

Their eyes met, and Li Heng asked, "Why are you reading here? Why aren't you in the study room?"

Zhou Shihe said gently, "The air here is fresh, so I came here to get some fresh air."

Indeed, as a prestigious university, Fudan students in this era are particularly fond of studying. No matter when, the self-study rooms are always crowded, and the air is inevitably stuffy.

Li Heng then asked, "Where's Mai Sui? Is she in this reading room too?"

Zhou Shihe shook her head slightly: "No, she, Xiaozhu, and Manning are in the study room upstairs."

Li Heng nodded, then lowered his head and continued searching for books.

Zhou Shihe looked at him for a while, then suddenly asked, "Have you finished writing your new book?"

Without even looking up, Li Heng replied, "Not yet. I've written up to chapter 50 so far, about 10 more to go."

Since she refused to tell someone about the ginkgo tree's preferences last time, Zhou Shihe hadn't asked him for his new book for a whole month.

Since she didn't ask for it, Li Heng was so busy that he completely forgot about it and didn't even think about giving the manuscript to his number one reader.

Between chapters 34 and 50, there were 17 chapters left unread. Zhou Shihe's heart, which she had been trying so hard to suppress for so long, was now unconsciously stirring with desire. But she still held back, too embarrassed to voice her thoughts.

A while later, just as he was about to disappear from the bookshelf, Zhou Shihe quietly asked from behind, "Are you looking for information about ginkgo trees?"

Upon hearing this, Li Heng immediately turned his head and looked at her expectantly.

Meeting his intense gaze, Zhou Shihe said, "I come to this reading room often and I'm quite familiar with it. The material you're looking for is two rows away, three bookshelves down, in the middle."

Li Heng happily thanked him, counting 1, 2, 3, and soon found the place Comrade Shihe had mentioned.

Ok?
Sure enough, it's here.

Li Heng thought to himself, "No wonder she's called the 'King of Fudan University.' Not only is she beautiful, but she also loves learning. She knows all the books in the reading room like the back of her hand."

He took the book off the shelf and began searching by the table of contents. Sure enough, he found detailed information about ginkgo trees on page 70.

As he was carefully memorizing each word, Zhou Shihe slowly followed.

She stared at him quietly for a while, then hesitated before saying, "If you want to revive the ginkgo tree with this, I advise you to give up on that idea."

Li Heng was taken aback, his gaze shifting from the book to her. After a long pause, he asked, "What do you mean by this?"

Zhou Shihe smiled cleverly but did not answer.

For a moment, we looked at each other and fell silent.

Li Heng pondered for a moment, opened his mouth, and finally couldn't help but ask, "Are you saying that the ginkgo tree didn't die from a natural disaster, but from human error?"

Seeing that he had finally understood, Zhou Shihe smiled knowingly and turned to leave.

Without a second thought, Li Heng grabbed her wrist and demanded an answer: "Hey, tell me who it is?"

Perhaps because he acted suddenly and didn't control his strength well, Zhou Shihe was pulled so hard that she stumbled and almost fell.

Li Heng hurriedly took a step forward and wrapped his left arm around her waist.

In an instant, the two people facing each other became entangled in an extremely ambiguous way, one looking down at him, the other half-lying in his arms with his head tilted back.

Perhaps it was because of a telepathic connection, or perhaps it was because of mutual affection, but as they smelled each other's breath and felt the softness of each other's bodies, their hearts were inexplicably racing at this moment.

"Bang bang bang...!"

In the quiet environment, Zhou Shihe felt like her heart was about to jump out of her throat.

As time ticked by and his gaze grew increasingly intense, at one point, Zhou Shihe unconsciously tucked a strand of hair behind her ear with her right hand, lowered her eyes, and after a few seconds of calming down, she crouched down, trying to slip out of his arm and escape from there.

But Li Heng instinctively didn't let her go. He grabbed her arm, pressed her against the bookshelf, and gazed at her with deep emotion.

Noticing that something was wrong with his mood, Zhou Shihe looked up and met his strange gaze.

In the instant they met, Zhou Shihe felt as if she had encountered an irresistible disaster, and her head exploded with a loud bang.

Their eyes met, their gazes locked...

Suddenly, Li Heng moved, his head darting down and leaning closer.

Zhou Shihe was so frightened that she shrank back and tried to hide.

However, due to the cramped space, Zhou Shihe, who was still in a daze, didn't have time to dodge before she was kissed solidly.

She was somewhat flustered, her frail body leaning back helplessly against the bookshelf, hoping to squeeze out a little space.

But it was no use; their mouths were still stuck together.

The two bodies were intimately connected.

Being kissed in the bookish environment of the reading room, by the only man who had ever stirred her heart, Zhou Shihe, who had always been hesitant on the edge of love, felt a complex and indescribable feeling welling up inside her.

There was a bright, refreshing fragrance at the point where her mouth met, which made her heart flutter, but more than that, she felt a tightness in her chest.

Two minutes later.

Zhou Shihe, whose consciousness had finally partially returned, didn't think twice and slapped him across the face.

"Snapped!"

A slap, the sound clear and distinct.

The sound immediately reverberated throughout half of the reading room.

As before, she didn't hold back; it was a real slap, landing squarely on his left cheek.

Li Heng, who was lost in the kiss, paused for a moment, then pulled away from her, but his body remained pressed tightly against hers.

At this moment, the distance between their mouths was about 10cm, and their disordered breathing involuntarily merged together. Li Heng could clearly feel that her chest was heaving violently.

Surprisingly, after hitting him, Zhou Shihe did not struggle to leave. Instead, she leaned against the bookshelf, stubbornly raising her head slightly, her pure and bright black and white reflection showing her shadow.

Li Heng didn't move, silently gazing at her.

I look at you, you look at me, our bodies are seamlessly connected, an indescribable feeling lingers in our hearts, and our breaths gradually become more and more suffocating.

Zhou Shihe was beautiful, with fair skin like solidified cream and an outstanding demeanor. Her ultimate comfortable temperament filled Li Heng's entire mind.

After another standoff, facing the beauty he had fallen irrevocably in love with in this lifetime, Li Heng hesitated, hesitated again, but finally couldn't resist. He lowered his head and kissed her once more.

Knowing what he was about to do, Zhou Shihe quickly covered his mouth with her right hand.

Li Heng paused, his lips hovering over his palm, staring blankly at her.

Zhou Shihe took a deep breath, summoning all the courage she had in her life, her eyes seeming to say: "Since you love me so much, can you give them up for me?"

This issue is a continuation of what happened after she returned from her concert in the Netherlands.

It was also the aftermath of not running away immediately after I had just beaten him.

I slapped him just now because I was angry that he had such a messy private life and still bothered me; I didn't leave because I still had a sliver of hope in my heart.

She knew she was hopelessly in love with him, so she was somewhat unwilling to give up and wanted to make one last struggle and one last effort.

She could feel his intense love for her, so she wanted to try again.

Faced with this fatal question, Li Heng had neither the answer nor the possibility of an answer.

A month ago, Teacher Yu asked a similar question: Is there always a priority, and will I always be inferior to Xiao Han?
He remained silent at the time.

Admittedly, Zhou Shihe was different from other women. She was the only woman he truly fell in love with at first sight after he was reborn, besides Song Yu, Zi Jin, and Xiao Han.

Does he have feelings for the wheat?

Of course he is, and he is very dependent on Mai Sui. Otherwise, he wouldn't have openly told his parents: Song Yu is the woman I want to marry, and Mai Sui is the woman I want to keep by my side anytime, anywhere.

But he and Mai Sui developed feelings for each other over time.

Unlike his response to Teacher Yu's silence, Li Heng opened his mouth and managed to squeeze out three words: "I'm sorry."

He only said half of his words.

But anyone with a discerning eye could hear his underlying meaning: I'm sorry, I can't do it.

This answer did not surprise Zhou Shihe.

But her eyes dimmed at a visible speed, and she felt an indescribable sense of loss.

A moment later, Zhou Shihe removed her right hand from his lips, her delicate little mouth pursed tightly, and she turned her head to look at the floor, remaining silent.

I didn't look at him again.

Li Heng reached out his right hand, wanting to stroke her smooth, white swan neck, but halfway through, he withdrew his hand.

Suddenly, the corner of the bookstore fell into a deathly silence; the air seemed to freeze, and the heartache was so intense that it was hard to breathe.

After a long while, he moved away from her body, taking one step back, then two steps back, until he was standing to the side.

Zhou Shihe's tense body suddenly relaxed. She composed herself, bent down to pick up the book that had fallen to the ground because of his kiss, lowered her head, got up, and left.

I left that row of bookshelves.

A few breaths later, the pitiful figure disappeared from his sight.

As the footsteps faded into the distance, a phrase suddenly popped into Li Heng's mind: "Even heroes have found it hard to resist the charms of a beautiful woman."

If Song Yu was his nemesis in his past life, the one he fell for at first sight, then Zhou Shihe was the tribulation he encountered in this life.

When I was with them, it really made me realize the saying: "Old in age, but young at heart."

There's always a youthful heart, always a passion and impulse, always an irresistible emotion, always a desire to try, and always something that can't be controlled.

Regret?
To paraphrase a line from a play: He was never a good man to begin with.

It's not a question of whether I regret it or not.

After exhaling a few breaths of stale air, Li Heng still finished reading the information about ginkgo trees and memorized it all.

As I put the book back on the shelf, I thought: Who wants the ginkgo tree to die?

Teacher Yu?

Zhou Shihe?
Ears of wheat?

Sun Manning? Or Ye Ning?

Or, are all of the above?

He couldn't be sure about Teacher Yu and Zhou Shihe. Although he had known them for two years, they came from wealthy families and had extraordinary abilities since childhood, able to control their emotions freely. He didn't think he fully understood them yet.

After a moment of doubt, he shook his head firmly at Mai Sui.

Mai Sui and Song Yu are the same kind of people; even if they find the ginkgo tree an eyesore, they wouldn't do such a thing.

As for Sun Manning and Ye Ning, he felt that if they didn't want the ginkgo tree to live, they would definitely have a thousand ways to kill it.

But the key question is, I have no grudge against these two idiots, so why should I pick a fight with the ginkgo tree?
P.S.: Updated first, revised later.

(End of this chapter)