Guide on How to Fail at Online Dating

Chapter 30 - Beautiful roses all have thorns.

When Jing Huan returned to his table, Gao Zixiang immediately peeked over. “Huanhuan, were you talking to Xiang Huaizhi?”

“Yeah.” Jing Huan handed him the milk tea. “Yours.”

Gao Zixiang poked through the plastic lid with a straw. “When did you get so familiar with him?”

Jing Huan shook his head. “Not familiar with him.”

Gao Zixiang uttered an “oh”. “I thought you guys knew each other.”

Jing Huan yawned. He had played the game until late at night and had an 8am class this morning, so he had been sleepy the entire day. “We usually don’t even bump into each other, how would we even get acquainted?”

It would’ve been okay if they were still in high school, since it was easy to bump into each other when there were classes at fixed times every day. But in college, schedules and locations for classes were all different, and even the basketball courts they used were different. After studying here for more than a year, it was his first time seeing Xiang Huaizhi in the stairwell the other day.

“Acquainted through games bei.” Gao Zixiang swallowed a pearl. “Senior Xiang plays NCH too.”

Jing Huan was a little surprised. “Really?”

“Really, I know his dorm mate, he plays NCH too, and it seems like he’s even a Great God. Met at the last player’s meeting.” Gao Zixiang said.

Jing Huan asked, “Which server are they in?”

“Seems like they’re in… Resplendent Stars? I don’t remember.”

Jing Huan nodded and murmured, “… I couldn’t tell.”

“What couldn’t you tell?”

“That Xiang Huaizhi would actually play games.”

Gao Zixiang laughed. “Do you think you look like a young man with an Internet addiction?”

Jing Huan laughed as well. He looked down and finished eating the remaining braised meatballs.

Xiang Huaizhi returned to his dormitory and picked up the cloth beside the washstand to wipe his shoe with.

The cloth was dry and couldn’t wipe it clean. He gave up and decided to send it for washing when he was free.

“What happened to your shoe?” Lu Hang came out of the bathroom and scrutinised it while wiping his hair with a towel. “Yo, the print’s pretty obvious, did it get stepped on? Who stepped on it so hard?”

Xiang Huaizhi, “A junior.”

“A junior? Which junior? You know juniors??”

Only then did Xiang Huaizhi realise that he didn’t know the junior brother’s name, and only remembered his friends calling him “Huanhuan.”

“Why are you asking so much?” He said, “Finished collecting all the materials?”

“No,” Lu Hang felt frustrated at the mention of that, “I’ve been shouting around in the entire room, and not a single person PM-ed me. Say, why is it so hard for me to make a divine artifact?”

Xiang Huaizhi sneered. “I had to collect materials for half a year before I finished collecting them all.”

Lu Hang, who was already more or less done collecting his materials in just a month instantly felt satisfied.

Xiang Huaizhi sat in front of his laptop. He had afk-ed his character at a corner of Fairyland before leaving, and right now, there was a little fairy fox sitting in front of his character.

The Fairyland was pretty big, yet she could still find him.

Xiang Huaizhi charged his phone. Right after it was turned on, he heard a soft ding from his WeChat.

Xiao Jing ya: [fist][jiayou][cheers]

Xiao Jing ya: Day one of the not liking Gege challenge!

Xiang Huaizhi, “…”

He tapped out a question mark, but before he could send it, his phone vibrated again.

Xiao Jing ya: Challenge failed!

Xiang Huaizhi laughed.

Xiao Jing ya: What’s Gege doing? Is the weather good on Gege’s side? Can Gege bring me along to do instances later?

Three Geges in a row, with several hearts following after all of them as well.

Xiang Huaizhi was used to it. He deleted the question mark.

Xiang: Yes.

Xiang: When?

Xiao Jing ya: I’m afk-ing at Fairyland. I’ll return to my dorm right after I finish lunch.

Xiao Jing ya: [picture]

Xiao Jing ya: Dwinking milk tea. [cute]

Xiang Huaizhi casually glanced at the picture Xiao Tianjing had sent over. A few seconds later, his gaze shifted back to the photo.

The protagonist of the photo was a cup of milk tea. It was only half drunk and was placed on an orange table.

This milk tea shop was a national chain brand, and many places had it, including their school’s canteen.

But this orange table and the window in the corner&#k2026; he seemed to have just passed by them 20 minutes ago, and he even remembered the small advertisement for tutors posted on the window in the photo.

Xiang Huaizhi raised an eyebrow in surprise.

Xiao Tianjing was in the same school as him?

“What photo are you so fascinated by?” Lu Hang glanced at him when he passed by. “Selfie?”

Xiang Huaizhi closed the picture. “No.”

Lu Hang didn’t mind it. “Oh, I have classes in the afternoon, and my character’s afk-ing in Fairyland. If I dc, help me log in.”

“Un.”

Xiang Huaizhi made his character fly away from Fairy Land and began doing his dailies absentmindedly.

If it was just the milk tea and table, then so be it, but that small advertisement… he had even especially paid attention to it today, so he shouldn’t have mistaken it. Also, Xiao Tianjing had said that she was a college student before.

Sheer coincidence, or was it intentional?

A few seconds later, he eliminated the latter. Xiao Tianjing stuck so close to him in the game that if she knew that they were in the same school, then it was impossible for there to be no signs of that at all in reality.

Xiang Huaizhi only considered it for half a minute before making a decision.

If they were really in the same school, then he couldn’t let Xiao Tianjing know about it.

It was one thing for her to follow him around in the game, but if she pestered him in reality as well, then he really wouldn’t know how to deal with her.

Also, if he wanted to hide this fact from Xiao Tianjing, he needed to hide it from Lu Hang as well.

“I’ll buy food on my way back, what do you want to eat?” Lu Hang had no idea at all that he had been moved out of a trust list by his dorm mate.

After not getting a response for a while, he called out again, “Xiangxiang?”

Xiang Huaizhi looked up. “Un? Just get me whatever you’re getting.”

After Lu Hang left, Xiang Huaizhi picked up his coffee and took a sip. He had just put down his cup when he saw his game’s friend icon light up.

[Friend] Qiufeng: God Xiang, parties for snatching the first clear tomorrow have been allocated, go and take a look in the guild interface.

[Friend] Yearning For: Un.

The parties allocated by the guild master would be displayed in the guild interface. Xiang Huaizhi opened it up to take a look. The five-man team had him, Long Road Ahead, Love is For You to Eat, and two other guild members he didn’t know.

Although he didn’t know them, their IDs were very familiar — they were both people on the expert ranking list.

The 20-man team had gathered almost all of the experts in Idle Pavilion; it was a perfect configuration that had no flaws.

Xiang Huaizhi glanced through it before closing the interface. He couldn’t even be bothered to see what sects these players belonged to.

[Friend] Yearning For: I said before entering the guild that Long Road Ahead, Love is For You to Eat, and Xiao Tianjing will be in the same party as me, no splitting.

[Friend] Qiufeng: I know, but we discussed it later on, and Mount Putuos are still more reliable than Fairy Fox Caves… besides, this will just be the formation for taking the first clear tomorrow. After taking the first clear, we’ll switch her back in.

[Friend] Qiufeng: Don’t worry, Xiao Jing will be in my party, I’ll protect her [hugs]. Besides, my team isn’t weak, we may even clear it earlier than you guys do.

[Friend] Yearning For: No room for negotiation.

[Friend] Qiufeng: Don’t be like this, I’m considering the big picture. Also, haven’t you always found Xiao Jingjing too noisy for you?

[Friend] Yearning For: When have I ever thought she’s too noisy?

[Friend] Yearning For: Either switch her back, or the four of us will quit the guild.

[Friend] Qiufeng: …OK, when Chunxiao gets back, I’ll ask her to switch players. You know it, only vice guild masters and guild masters have the authority to do so.

Qiufeng screenshotted their chat record and sent it to Chunxiao on WeChat. Chunxiao replied very quickly.

Chunxiao: Got it. I told you, Yearning For wouldn’t agree to let Xiao Tianjing go to other teams.

Qiufeng: Ai, I usually see him ignoring Xiao Tianjing though.

Chunxiao: He does ignore her, simple and crude, he just goes straight to giving her presents. Did you forget about that ring? Never mind, I’ll go change players now, and don’t tease Xiao Tianjing anymore. Or are you really going at it with that character?

Qiufeng: Of course not. The name and face have changed, so it’s no longer that character in my heart. I really think Xiao Tianjing is a very interesting person.

Chunxiao: Interesting in what way?

Qiufeng: How should I say this… just chatting with her casually and doing a simple instance together feels more interesting than playing with other people. It’s a game ma, don’t we all just play it for fun?

Chunxiao: … then jiayou. I hope you don’t fight it out with Yearning For. We’re all in the same guild, and it won’t be easy for me and Regardless.

Qiufeng: Hahaha, if Yearning For is really interested in Xiao Tianjing, we’ll compete fairly and won’t end up fighting. Don’t worry.

Xiang Huaizhi didn’t want to compete fairly with Qiufeng.

He just thought that the people he pulled into the guild with him were people he had to take care of himself. Besides, Qiufeng’s team had Regardless of Lovesickness, so it was even more impossible for him to let Xiao Tianjing join them.

After this discussion, Xiao Tianjing sent him a cute expression saying that she was back.

He didn’t reply and flew straight to her side, then pulled her into his party.

“Good afternoon Gege.” Jing Huan greeted obediently.

“Un.” Xiang Huaizhi said, “Share your instance list with me.”

[Party] Xiao Tianjing: [Player Xiao Tianjing’s Instance List]

Xiang Huaizhi clicked on it to take a look; the instances that were lit up were all the ones he had done with her, while the rest were all in gray, indicating that the player hadn’t done them this week.

Would this person not go do instances by herself without him?

Jing Huan listened carefully and discovered that although Yearning For and Xiang Huaizhi sounded similar, Yearning For’s voice seemed to be a little deeper.

They were clearly similar voices, but one was a good senior while the other was an absolute scum.

Sigh.

“Long Road Ahead’s afk-ing, and that healer’s not around either.” Xiang Huaizhi pondered for a bit. “I’ll take you to do other quests?”

Jing Huan said, “Whatever Gege says goes.”

Jing Huan originally thought that it would be a trivial quest that didn’t give out much experience, since the quests that the two of them could do together were limited after all. He didn’t expect that Yearning For would take her all the way to the God of War NPC.

“Gege…” He said in a hurry, “Isn’t this quest too expensive?”

God of War quests had no limit on the number of people in a party and gave a lot of experience, but doing the quest cost 1 gold each time. Because of its high cost and how there were a lot of other ways to obtain experience, hardly anyone did it. Even Jing Huan didn’t choose to do the God of War quests back when he used to lack experience.

“I lack experience.” Xiang Huaizhi said.

So Jing Huan could only shut up and quietly be his follower.

Perhaps it was because it cost money, but this quest was particularly simple. Sometimes, the quest they got wouldn’t even require any battling.

After playing it for two hours, Jing Huan drank his last sip of milk tea and asked, “Gege, how long will we be doing this ‘til?”

“Anytime’s fine.” Xiang Huaizhi asked, “You have something on?”

“Un.” Jing Huan told the truth, “I want to fight in the arena today, so I want to enter earlier to look for a teammate.”

Most players going to the arena would bring their friends along. He didn’t have many friends, and Love is For You To Eat wasa healer as well, so the two of them would only lose if they went to the arena together, so he could only form a team with pubs.

Xiang Huaizhi paused. “Why do you suddenly want to play in the arena?”

After getting 2000 points in the arena, the system would give out a random bound equipment as a reward. The worst equipment was a blue one, while the best was an orange one.

“Aren’t we doing the guild instance tomorrow? I want to see if I can get some useful equipment to make do with first…” He whispered, “I can’t always drag you guys down too much.”

Jing Huan had wanted to get equipment from the marketplace, but because he set up his character as a young girl who had left home and was currently working, it made him afraid of spending recklessly in the game, and he even had to pretend to go out and work for several nights.

He had money but nowhere to spend it, it was truly too miserable.

Xiang Huaizhi, “If you form a team with pubs, you’ll only be getting points in the opposite direction.”

Jing Huan, “But I still have to tryyy.”

Xiang Huaizhi said straightforwardly, “You don’t need to try. Most of the people who would team up with Fairy Fox Caves in the arena aren’t very smart.”

Jing Huan, “…”

Although the words were unpleasant, Jing Huan had to admit that he was telling the truth.

There were truly too few players who knew how to play Fairy Fox Caves. Just teaming up with any random player would be more reliable than teaming up with a Fairy Fox Cave.

Jing Huan smiled with a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “…then I’ll think of something else ba.”

Xiang Huaizhi was silent for a while. “You really want to play?”

Jing Huan answered, “Un.”

“Then I’ll take you.”

“Ah?” Jing Huan was stunned. “Then what about Lu Ge?”

“He has a lot of teammates, you don’t need to worry about him.”

Lu Hang came back, and after hearing that his own big thigh was going to take someone else along to earn points, he instantly felt like he just got abandoned by his father.

But after hearing that it was Xiao Tianjing, he didn’t mind it as much. “What? She hasn’t received the reward for getting 2000 points? Then hurry and go, try to get the points for her tonight.”

At 7:20, Jing Huan appeared in the arena on time and joined Yearning For’s party.

Long Road Ahead and the friend he had called along were standing beside them.

[Current] Long Road Ahead: Xiao Jingjing! [fist]

[Current] Xiao Tianjing: I’m here! [fist]

[Current] Long Road Ahead: If you meet me later, remember to go easy on me, otherwise I’ll drop off the ranking list!! [anger]

Jing Huan laughed when he saw that. Long Road Ahead was really shameless to actually say something like that in the current channel.

[Current] Xiao Tianjing: No way! Gege and I will never admit defeat! [cute]

Since he couldn’t get through on this side, Lu Hang decided to take another path. He peeped out and said to his dear dorm mate sitting at the opposite desk, “Xiangxiang, if we get matched up later, just pretend a little ‘kay. Xiao Tianjing won’t be able to tell anyway.”

His dear dorm mate smiled and revealed a helpless expression. “If we meet later, just run yourself ba.”

“?”

“So as not to waste the durability of your weapon.”

“…”

It may have been because Lu Hang’s prayers worked, but both their teams didn’t bump into each other the whole night.

Jing Huan felt really good playing that night. After changing to a new ring, his healing whooshed right up, and for many rounds until the PK ended, Yearning For’s HP bar was always full.

Xiang Huaizhi realised this too. He didn’t know if it was because she had been diligently playing and training recently, but Xiao Tianjing had improved rapidly — especially when it came to the hit rate of her seals, it was so accurate that it was terrifying.

She had a keen sense of awareness when playing.

He even felt like she wasn’t much worse off than Lu Hang, and she also had additional healing skills, so he didn’t need to worry about his own HP at all, and he didn’t need to care about the other party’s seals. All he needed to do was focus on dealing out damage to win.

Another round ended. Xiang Huaizhi took some potions and suddenly asked, “What game did you play before?”

Jing Huan was stunned and reported the name of a game similar to NCH. “Why?”

“Nothing.” Xiang Huaizhi looked at the time. “I’ve taken the potions, there’s still time to play one last round.”

Jing Huan responded with an okay and quickly filled up the potions in his inventory.

Half a minute later, they started their last round of PK for today.

[Current] Qiufeng: [surprise]

[Current] Qiufeng: Xiao Jingjing. [shy]

The one standing opposite them was Qiufeng, and the teammate beside him was one of the top ten DPS in the server.

Qiufeng was still typing as he wanted to chat with Xiao Tianjing a little more when he saw the person opposite draw his sword out without fooling around and rush straight at their faces.

Qiufeng moved his fingers as he wanted to seal Yearning For.

【You have been sealed so you cannot use spells.】

???

Qiufeng was stunned, and only then did he notice his situation. He saw four little spiders crouching at his feet, and they were even circling around him — he had been sealed by Xiao Tianjing.

…when did she seal him? He had only just typed out a few words.

Qiufeng stopped joking. He sat up straight and wanted to play the PK seriously.

Unfortunately, it was too fatal for him to be controlled right at the start of the round. After he broke free of the seal, he could only choose to control Yearning For to protect his DPS, but Yearning For moved well, and he may not even hit once after throwing out three seals, so he turned around to seal Xiao Tianjing.

Then he realised that it was better for him to try and seal Yearning For.

… was the speed of Fairy Fox Caves this horrifying in PK before?

Ten minutes later, he was more or less finished with the potions he had brought along, but he still couldn’t heal himself fast enough, and he couldn’t reverse the situation anymore.

“Fuck, Fairy Fox Caves are too disgusting. If they don’t seal my spells and physical damage, then they’ll imprison me…” The DPS in his team turned on his mic to complain.

He was just like a sandbag as he was imprisoned on the spot, letting Yearning For whale on him at will.

Qiufeng was a bit upset from getting beaten like this as well. He turned on his mic and half jokingly said, “Xiao Jingjing… you’re usually so cute, why are you so cruel in PKs? Could you go easy on me?”

Jing Huan was stunned and immediately expressed her stand in the party channel. “Gege, I’m not familiar with that person at all.”

Yearning For uttered an “un”. “I know.”

He changed the sabre in his hand back to a sword, then efficiently finished off the last bit of HP their opponent DPS had.

Qiufeng gave up struggling and didn’t revive his teammate again. “Xiao Jingjing, can you really bear to abuse me like this?”

A few seconds later, he finally got a response.

The voice in his headphones was both cool and pleasant. It wasn’t as sweet as the previous “Don’t Frown”’s voice, but it was comfortable to hear. “Haven’t you heard of a saying?”

Qiufeng was stunned. “What saying?”

Xiao Tianjing said ruthlessly, “Beautiful roses all have thorns.”

Qiufeng, “…”

Then could your thorns prick Yearning For too?

The author has something to say:

Not only does he not prick him, but he always blooms at him too.

—

Juurensha: Gdi Gao Zixiang, if you had just remembered the name of the server correctly…ah well, XHZ seems to be warming up to Huanhuan regardless. Especially in real life…