Chapter 44: Set a Goal

Chapter 44: Chapter 44: Set a Goal

[Xia Shuran: Senior, I’m feeling a lot better. Not as sore as this morning. We can still train on the field tomorrow afternoon.]

The message was sent, but there was no reply from Gu Qing for a long time.

He was on his way back to the dorm, his gaze scanning the area, constantly on the lookout for any sign of rats. He was too busy to even look at his phone.

Xia Shuran clutched her phone, waiting for his reply as every second stretched into an eternity.

After waiting for nearly ten minutes, her phone screen finally lit up.

[Gu Qing: Okay. Usual time. See you at the field tomorrow at 4 p.m.]

[Xia Shuran: Senior, there’s something really important I want to tell you...]

[Gu Qing: What is it? Why so mysterious?]

[Xia Shuran: It’s just...]

[Xia Shuran: Um...]

[Xia Shuran: I’m making cookies tomorrow morning. What’s your favorite flavor, Senior? I can make a batch especially for you.]

[Gu Qing: I’m good with anything. Just make whatever flavor you like.]

[Xia Shuran: Oh, okay. In that case, I’ll just make a little of every flavor. Then you can try them all tomorrow, Senior, and see which one is the best.]

After sending the last message, Xia Shuran let out a huge sigh of relief.

Just a moment ago, she had truly worked up the courage to confess her feelings to Gu Qing.

But after much hesitation, in the end, she couldn’t bring herself to say it.

She was afraid that if she confessed, she would become a laughingstock.

Gu Qing was so handsome; he’d surely never lacked for admirers.

If she blurted it out and got rejected, it would be difficult to even remain friends. Things would just be awkward whenever they met.

’We train together almost every day anyway. It’s better to just let nature take its course. Things will happen when the time is right.’

’If we spend time together every day and still can’t become a couple, it just means he was never interested in me in the first place. Confessing would just be humiliating myself.’

’On the other hand, if he really does have feelings for me, then we’ll get together naturally, without me having to make the first move.’

Xia Shuran repeated this to herself over and over, thoroughly suppressing the urge to confess. She didn’t want to risk failure and make their relationship awkward.

...

Meanwhile.

Gu Qing had just returned to his dorm. Looking at the messages in the chat, he couldn’t help but wonder:

’She said she had something important to say, but after all that buildup, it was just about making cookies?’

’Does that seem right?’

’Could it be... she was actually trying to confess to me just now?’

Gu Qing was not dense in the slightest; he immediately considered the possibility.

He was very confident in his judgment.

After all, he’d been handsome his whole life. Ever since kindergarten, the little girls in his class had shown their affection for him.

This continued all the way through elementary, middle, and high school, and into college. Younger students, classmates his own age, older students, and even many mature women had all expressed their feelings for him.

The number of times he’d been pursued by the opposite sex was, if not a thousand, then at least in the high hundreds.

And with that many data points to learn from, he had practically developed an intuition.

Which was—

He could tell with a single glance which women were interested in him.

And just now, he had clearly read that barely-suppressed affection between the lines of Xia Shuran’s texts.

But in the end, she’d forced it back down.

’Good thing she held back and didn’t confess. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have known whether to accept or reject her...’

Gu Qing secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

He did have feelings for Xia Shuran; one could even say he liked her.

But right now, his mind was completely focused on grinding Attributes. All he thought about day in and day out was improving his own power, and he simply didn’t have the energy for romance.

’I hope she understands that the best relationships start with mutual attraction, with both people naturally coming together. You shouldn’t confess just because you get swept up in the moment...’

...

「The next day.」

「Monday.」

Gu Qing began a new week of his daily Attribute grinding.

In the morning, he went to the academic building for class, where he sat with Yang Yuntong, the top student, and worked on practice problems for four hours as she studied for her grad school exams.

[Learning Ability +1] x4

[Total Learning Ability +62]

After class and lunch, he rested for about an hour, then dragged Gao Fei out to play basketball.

They played for two hours.

[Physical Strength +1] ×2

[Total Physical Strength +83]

When they finished playing, it was almost four o’clock. Gu Qing immediately headed over to the sports field to meet Xia Shuran for their martial arts training.

When he arrived at the field right on time, Xia Shuran was already sitting on the steps, waiting for him.

"Didn’t sleep well last night?"

Gu Qing immediately noticed the dark circles under Xia Shuran’s eyes and stepped closer, his voice tinged with concern.

Xia Shuran gave a small yawn.

"A few mosquitos got into my bed netting last night. They kept me up until very late."

In truth, her mind had been in turmoil, and she’d tossed and turned all night, unable to sleep.

One moment, she was thinking about Gu Qing walking that pretty girl back to her dorm last night. The next, she was guessing what their relationship was. Then, she was agonizing over the distance between herself and Gu Qing.

The more she thought, the more tangled her feelings became.

She only managed to fall asleep close to three in the morning.

Gu Qing looked concerned. "You seem exhausted. Are you still up for training?"

Hearing this, Xia Shuran instantly perked up.

She looked at Gu Qing and said:

"Of course I can. I just didn’t sleep well. It’s not like I’m too tired to move. I still have more than enough energy."

"Don’t push yourself. If you start to feel unwell, stop and rest immediately. Don’t force yourself to keep up with me."

"Don’t worry, Senior. I won’t."

With that, Xia Shuran picked up a bag by her feet, took out a pastry box, opened it, and held it out to Gu Qing, her eyes crinkling into a smile.

"Senior, I got up early this morning to make these cookies. There’s BBQ flavor, chocolate, and three fruit flavors: mango, strawberry, and orange. Quick, try them and see which one is the best."

"So many flavors?"

Gu Qing was a little surprised. "This must have taken a lot of time, right?"

"About two hours."

"That long?"

"It was quite a while."

Xia Shuran smiled lightly. "Anyway, I didn’t have class this morning, so it didn’t matter how long it took."

As she spoke, she picked up a chocolate-flavored cookie and handed it to Gu Qing, her voice filled with a hint of expectation.

"Now that you know how long I spent making these, Senior, you have to finish them all. You can’t let all my hard work go to waste, okay?"

"No problem. I promise I’ll eat every last one."

Gu Qing took the cookie from Xia Shuran and put it in his mouth, slowly savoring it.

After finishing the chocolate one, he tried the BBQ, mango, strawberry, and orange flavors in turn.

After tasting them all, he gave his verdict:

"Personally, I think the chocolate one is the best."

"What a coincidence."

Xia Shuran’s eyes lit up as she smiled. "I like the chocolate one the best too. I didn’t expect our tastes to be so similar."

A woman’s mouth, a deceiving ghost.

In reality, she preferred the strawberry flavor.

She only agreed with him on purpose to create another thing they had in common.

Gu Qing was oblivious to his junior’s little stratagem.

He polished off all the cookies in just a few bites.

He brushed the crumbs from his hands and said to Xia Shuran:

"Alright, time to train."

It was Monday afternoon.

His current progress toward acquiring Muscle Knots was:

--[83/100]

He only needed 17 more points of Physical Strength to max it out.

He set a small goal for himself:

By tomorrow, Tuesday, at the latest, he absolutely had to acquire the Muscle Knots, that ultimate beefcake Attribute.

...

P.S. Holding out my bowl and begging for monthly and recommendation tickets!