Guide on How to Fail at Online Dating

Chapter 23 - The more scummy a guy is, the more she likes him.

Upon seeing her reply, Qiufeng laughed out loud.

Looks like Chunxiao was right, this account had indeed changed hands. Even her manner of speaking was completely different.

[Friend] Qiufeng: I’m really sorry. My friends only got that exasperated because they felt like it was unfair to me.

[Friend] Qiufeng: How many times did you die, and how much money did you lose? I’ll compensate you.

[Friend] Xiao Tianjing: It’s okayyy, I didn’t die that many times, and I even saved them a lot of hunting fees.

[Friend] Qiufeng: Haha, you’re very interesting. You can still laugh and talk to me like this even though you were hunted down like that.

[Friend] Xiao Tianjing: You’re very interesting too. You’ve been cheated out of everything, and yet you still have the courage to talk to this account.

[Friend] Qiufeng: …all right ba. Indeed, I have been cheated out of a lot of money. The limited edition clothes and point cards for that account were all bought by me all these years.

Jing Huan saw Lu Wenhao in Qiufeng and couldn’t help pitying him a little.

[Friend] Xiao Tianjing: [pats shoulder] It’s okay, just learn from your mistakes. You can treat it as paying the swindler a tuition fee.

Qiufeng was stunned. He didn’t expect that this person would actually comfort him.

[Friend] Qiufeng: Un, I’ve already recovered.

[Friend] Xiao Tianjing: Oh right, since you forked out so much money for this account, I’ll return you some on her behalf ba?

[Friend] Qiufeng: Ah?

[Friend] Xiao Tianjing: She left behind a lot of things in this account, and I can’t store them all. It would be a pity if I threw them all away anyway, so why don’t you take them?

…it probably wasn’t anything good though.

[Friend] Qiufeng: Okay, come to Dark Phoenix Valley.

They had just finished killing a BOSS. After the party disbanded, Jing Huan was about to fly over when he suddenly remembered something.

[Friend] Xiao Tianjing: I can’t, come to the main city ba. That’s not a safe area, I’m afraid you’ll backstab me.

[Friend] Qiufeng: Hahaha, OK.

Qiu Feng’s avatar was a scholar dressed in an elegant white robe with a folding fan in his hand.

When he saw the clothes Xiao Tianjing was wearing, he was even more amused. That account had so many fashionable clothes, so how did she manage to choose the ugliest one?

Before he managed to type, countless yellow characters popped up on his screen.

【Xiao Tianjing has given you high-level Transport Talisman x3】

【Xiao Tianjing has given you Moonstone x1】

【Xiao Tianjing has given you Secret Key x4】

…………

It was all a bunch of small items that were difficult to sell off.

Qiufeng couldn’t help but laugh. Looks like this new owner was pretty honest to value these lousy items so much and even insisted on using them to “comfort” him.

Just as he was thinking about it, a grandiose sfx started flashing at the lower right corner of his game interface.

Qiufeng looked closely at it — it was the light of a divine artifact. The long sword was both pitch dark and eerie as it emitted a grandiose light sfx, and it was being grasped lightly in someone’s hand.

It was Yearning For.

He was just about to shift his gaze when the yellow characters suddenly stopped.

[Current] Xiao Tianjing: Gege! [blows a kiss]

Xiang Huaizhi stopped and tried to recall: did he prohibit her from sending this expression last time?

[Current] Yearning For: Un.

[Current] Xiao Tianjing: Where are you going~? [blinks]

[Current] Yearning For: Getting potions for the arena.

[Current] Xiao Tianjing: Oh, okay, go ba. Gege jiayou. [cheers][pumps fist]

Xiang Huaizhi was just about to leave when he saw Qiufeng, who was standing opposite Xiao Tianjing.

If he remembered correctly, this Qiufeng seemed to be Don’t Frown’s husband.

[Current] Yearning For: What are you doing?

[Current] Xiao Tianjing: Ah, I’m throwing rubbish away. [cute]

[Current] Qiufeng: …

[Current] Yearning For: ?

[Current] Xiao Tianjing: This guy here was deceived by my account’s ex-owner and is particularly pitiful, so I thought of tossing him the items that the ex-owner left behind to warn him not to be deceived again in the future.

[Current] Qiufeng: …thank you.

Xiang Huaizhi raised an eyebrow and chuckled.

This little girl was pretty good at mocking people.

[Current] Xiao Tianjing: Gege take care, Gege baibai [waves hand]

Qiufeng thought that this girl was really interesting. After she was done throwing her items, he tapped on his keyboard a few times as he was planning on saying something.

But before he finished typing, Xiao Tianjing had already patted her butt and flown away.

There was no “take care” or “baibai”, and she didn’t even leave an expression behind for him.

Too realistic.

He stuffed everything on him into his storage then sent Chunxiao a message.

[Friend] Qiufeng: Chunxiao, what’s up with Xiao Tianjing and Yearning For?

[Friend] Chunxiao: …why, have you been blinded by Xiao Tianjing’s dazzle too? (specifically blinded by her dazzling affections lmao, but it’s not as clear cut which is why Qiufeng’s like haha what???)

[Friend] Qiufeng: Haha, what do you mean?

[Friend] Chunxiao: Nothing. Xiao Tianjing seems to be wooing Yearning For.

[Friend] Qiufeng: I could tell, but is she nuts? She could’ve wooed anyone she wanted, but Yearning For? Isn’t he a slag guy?

[Friend] Chunxiao: Un, coincidentally, Xiao Tianjing loves that. The more scummy a guy is, the more she likes him.

[Friend] Qiufeng: …

——

Jing Huan didn’t know that his “special fetish” was already widely known. He got up early in the morning. Gao Zixiang and Lu Wenhao each sat on either side of him as they jabbered on and on nonstop into his ears, and they were even more talkative than the old professor on stage.

“She confiscated our pot and even fined us!” Lu Wenhao said angrily, “If she had just fined us, then so be it, but she even reported our dorm number to the school, and they said that they want to criticise us in our class group chats. But we’re already this old, and yet they’re still doing stuff like this.”

“Isn’t it all your fault!” Gao Zixiang said, “I asked you to eat faster, yet you insisted on eating so slowly, so we were caught by the dorm supervisor when only the hot pot base was left. If they don’t fine you, then who should they fine?”

“You make it sound as if I’m the only one who ate, all you did was eat faster, and yet you want to throw all the blame onto me?”

Jing Huan yawned. “I’m so damn sleepy, could you guys stop nagging each other beside me? Give me some peace, treat it as I’m begging you two brothers.”

“Who’s his brother?! You don’t know this, but the two of us fought three hundred rounds in our dorm yesterday!” Lu Wenhao draped an arm around him and asked, “Hold on, what did you do last night? You’re still sleepy even though it’s just a 9am class?”

He did quests for obtaining forging materials until midnight last night, and after he was up to his neck forging for two hours, he didn’t even manage to make a single damn thing.

In NCH, if one wanted to forge weapons and equipment, the corresponding forging materials were required. Recipes could be bought from players, but there were some small materials that could only be obtained from quests. This damn setting was practically put in place to make life difficult for unlucky guys like him.

He leaned back and closed his eyes. “Nothing much, just watched movies ‘til late.”

Lu Wenhao let out a prolonged “ohhhhhhh”. “So how is it, any seeds you wanna share with your bros?”

“Don’t be so disgusting, I was watching proper movies.”

“Ai, Huanhuan.” Lu Wenhao scrolled through his WeChat groups. “313’s asking us to play basketball with them again, what do you think, do we go or not?”

Jing Huan opened his eyes. “When?”

“Today, at 4pm. We’ll have just finished our classes then, and it’ll be at the basketball court downstairs.”

Jing Huan pondered for a bit. He seemed to have not exercised in quite a while. Especially recently since he was always sitting in front of his computer, so he tended to feel tired easily.

“Okay, let’s play. I’ll go back at noon to get my jersey before coming back.”

In the afternoon, Xiang Huaizhi finished his classes. He had just taken a step out of his classroom when he saw three men scuttling out of the toilet beside the classroom, and they were all wearing jerseys that they had just changed into.

The guy in the middle was yanked out in a hurry by the other two before he was dressed properly, half of his shirt still stuck to his waist, revealing portion of his fair, slim waist. From the back, one could clearly see the distinct grooves on his back.

“Xiangxiang, what are you doing?” Lu Hang came out of the classroom and asked.

Xiang Huaizhi shifted his gaze. “Nothing, I’m going back.”

“Don’t ah, it’s not even 4pm yet, why go back so early?” Lu Hang hugged his ball. “I’m going to the basketball court, what do you think, wanna go? Although you can’t play for now, you can at least soak in the atmosphere.”

Xiang Huaizhi glanced at the time; it was indeed still early. Besides, he hadn’t stepped into a court in a long time.

“Okay.”

The two of them went to the East basketball court, the court closest to the teaching building. They rarely came here. They only came over today because Lu Hang had arranged a match with his junior brothers.

Lu Hang ran in as soon as they arrived at the court. Xiang Huaizhi casually picked a seat and sat down.

His cell phone rang, so he picked it up and took a look.

Xiao Jing ya: Gege>.<, I have yoga class today, so I’ll be back late. If you guys wanna do instances, you don’t need to wait for me~

Xiang: Un, I have something on today too.

After sending that message, Xiang Huaizhi saw the familiar yellow no.8 jersey from the corner of his eye.

It was the boy he had just seen at the entrance of his classroom. Under the sunlight, the boy’s skin appeared even paler, completely unlike the skin colour of someone who often played basketball all year round.

The boy turned around, and Xiang Huaizhi was slightly stunned.

It was the junior brother who threw his pot in the stairwell.

He had seen him at close range before; the boy had standard double eyelids, a high nose bridge, and his hair seemed especially pure black. At this moment, the corners of his mouth were slightly turned up, and no one knew what he was saying to the person beside him.

Xiang Huaizhi’s gaze followed him unconsciously. By the time he snapped out of his daze, his junior brother had already obtained more than 20 points in this small match with his friends.

There was already some sweat dripping down his forehead and onto his eyebrows. He couldn’t help yanking up his shirt to casually wipe his forehead.

Xiang Huaizhi’s line of sight fell upon his waist; the skin there was even paler than the skin revealed outside his clothes. His abdominal muscles were well-shaped in a way that wasn’t exaggerated and seemed just right.

Pretty healthy.

After evaluating him in his mind, Xiang Huaizhi turned around and focused on Lu Hang’s match.

Jing Huan hadn’t played basketball in almost a week, and he was so tired he kept gasping for breath. He went off court after playing for a short while, then took a bottle of mineral water and downed it.

“Huanhuan!” Lu Wenhao didn’t play. He lowered his voice, “Don’t you think there’s a lot of girls at the basketball court today?”

Jing Huan surveyed his surroundings. “There are quite a lot. What, did my popularity rise again?”

“Acting cool again.” Lu Wenhao scoffed at him and pointed to the side. “Didn’t you see the great Buddha sitting there?”

Jing Huan glanced sideways and saw his benefactor’s face.

“I don’t know what wind is blowing today for it to blow Xiang Huaizhi to our basketball court, it’s such a rare sight…ai? Huanhuan, where are you going?”

Jing Huan didn’t even look back. “Saying hello.”

Hearing the sound of footsteps, Xiang Huaizhi was about to turn around when the visitor sat next to him and kept a proper distance from him.

“Senior.” Jing Huan smiled. “We meet again.”

“Un.” Xiang Huaizhi was a bit surprised that he came over. “What’s the matter?”

“Nothing, I just saw you and wanted to say hello.” Jing Huan looked at his leg in secret. “Well, I heard your leg was injured. Sorry ah, I knocked into you so harshly last time…does it hurt anywhere?”

After hearing that Xiang Huaizhi’s leg was injured, Jing Huan had always been concerned about it. He was a big guy who weighed over a hundred pounds after all, so it must have been quite terrible for him to just fall into him like that.

Xiang Huaizhi smiled slightly. “It’s all right, I’ve almost fully recovered. You don’t need to apologise all the time.”

“That’s good then.” Jing Huan breathed a sigh of relief. “Is senior here to play?”

“No, watching my friend play.” Xiang Huaizhi lifted his chin. “He’s over there.”

Jing Huan followed his line of sight; there was a tall guy whose skills were clearly a little better than the people around him, and he seemed unfamiliar too, so he could tell at a glance that he seldom came to this court.

Halfway through, Jing Huan suddenly recalled something and unlocked his phone screen to take a look, then he tapped out a row of words and quickly replied.

At the same time, Xiang Huaizhi’s phone rang. Jing Huan paused and reflexively looked at the source of that sound.

Meanwhile, Xiang Huaizhi grasped his phone and watched the match seriously, not intending to look at the message.

“Huanhuan!” Close by, Gao Zixiang was calling him. “It seems like it’s gonna rain soon, shall we go back earlier?”

Jing Huan looked up. The sky was dark and overcast, and it did seem like it would rain soon. He got up and said, “Then senior, I’ll leave first. It’s going to rain soon, you should go back earlier too.”

“Okay.”

After the boy was quite a distance away, Xiang Huaizhi slowly unlocked his phone to read the message.

Xiao Jing ya: Gege, I didn’t look at my phone just now when I was in yoga class ^0^. That’s great then! We can still do instances together today.

Xiao Jing ya: I’m going back now, I’ll wait for you in the game oh~ [cupid][love]

—

Juurensha: They talked irl!!! They seem to get along???