Chapter 384: Chapter 307: The Counselor and the Secret

Xinhang Apartment, Building A, some three-bedroom, one-living room apartment.

Lin Lu was lying flat on her bed, with her phone held high above her face, not afraid of it slipping and hitting her delicate little face.

She had deliberately not told Cheng Zhu that this dinner was her birthday meal.

For this reason, she didn’t discuss with everyone in the group about the dinner and instead chose private messaging.

Because everyone else knew she was born on Christmas Day, it was particularly easy to remember.

“This big dumb pig definitely doesn’t know what date my birthday is,” Lin Lu giggled, her face showcasing two trademark cute dimples.

Little did she know that from the day of the new students’ enrollment, Cheng Zhu had got wind of the information from Shen Qingning’s lips and had silently committed the date to memory.

The girl didn’t want Cheng Zhu to go through the hassle and thought of preparing a gift.

“December 25th, as long as he can spend my birthday with me alone, that’ll be great!”

Of course, she also very smugly complimented herself, “Considerate, considerate!”

She soon received a WeChat reply from Cheng Zhu, “Sure, it’s been a long time since everyone got together for a meal.”

This damn guy, seeing she didn’t mention her birthday, also decided to play along as if he didn’t know.

This would facilitate the next steps.

Some men and women just can’t hold back, they might ask on the spot, “Is it a birthday gathering one day early, and then eat cake and sing the birthday song at midnight?”

Cheng Zhu was not like that; he could hold back, wickedly so.

Of course, Lin Lu was also holding back this month, and holding back a big one at that!

She had made up her mind to express her feelings directly to Cheng Zhu.

For her, a girl with a straightforward and fiery character, not expressing her like clearly was very uncomfortable.

Not clearly expressing it, she already felt so uncomfortable, so upset, that’s why in her everyday interactions with Cheng Zhu, she often couldn’t help it and would covertly express her like to you.

She’d even tell you, if she liked someone, she’d often talk to them, strike up all sorts of conversations, even if it might just be a bunch of nonsense.

And she would answer “Yes” when you asked her “Did you talk to the person you like today?”

Even becoming a bit of a stammerer when you asked her “What did you say?” telling you “I said: I said!”

Little Lu was always sincere.

At this moment, Lin Lu put down her phone and picked up the little pig doll on the bedside table with “Cheng Zhu” inscribed on it, and boom, gave it two punches.

“Hmph! You really don’t know my birthday!”

“Punch you! Punch you!”

Probably this plush doll never imagined from its day of manufacture that it would have to endure so many pounding fists.

The manufacturer probably never thought, we made such good quality dolls, turns out they’re used to take a beating as sandbags.

But after she was done hitting it, she hugged the little pig doll in her arms and rolled on the bed.

Rolled towards the phone she threw to the side.

So there she was, with the doll sandwiched between her arms and her swelling chest, continuing to chat idly with Cheng Zhu on her phone.

Yep, still chatting about trivial nothings, sharing some trivial matters of the night.

Although she had no plans to tell Cheng Zhu about her birthday, she still felt a bit down upon realizing he really didn’t seem to know.

But as the idle chatter progressed, watching Cheng Zhu making jokes and talking about many things that she found interesting, that feeling of loss rapidly disappeared.

For Little Lu, sometimes liking someone is like this: grievances come so easily, but happiness requires only a moment’s time.

…

…

On the other side, Cheng Zhu lay on his dormitory bed, saying goodnight to Lin Lu before setting down his phone.

Of course, he remembered Lin Lu’s birthday, and had even already bought her birthday gift.

Right now their relationship was just normal good friends, but also clearly quite ambiguous, thus, choosing a gift was a matter of skill.

And Cheng Zhu, when giving gifts, liked to give something practical.

It could be quite expensive, but it had to be useful, something that could be used, not some flashy trinket.

Giving birthday gifts is really a mutual thing.

You give me one on my birthday, I’ll give you one on yours.

If both give impractical things, that is just a waste of money.

This also made him ponder for quite a long time what gift to buy.

“Today’s Wednesday, there’s a week left until Lin Lu’s birthday dinner,” Cheng Zhu thought to himself.

Of course, the more difficult part for him was, “Baby Lu’s birthday party, Ning Bao will definitely be there.”

“And Shen Minglang and Jiang Wanzhou, these two headache-inducing guys!”

“And Lin Lu certainly has more friends than just us; there will surely be other friends coming to the birthday, which means more people I don’t know and don’t understand.”

“They’ll also be some unpredictable factors.”

“Plus she has a younger brother at home, oh, in his senior year of high school, definitely won’t come, so that’s a bit of relief.”

“Tsk, it really feels like entering the dragon’s den,” Cheng Zhu thought to himself.

But what big storms hadn’t he weathered before?

Old rules, Baby Lu, Ning Bao, it’s still better to make progress together.

Yep, I have my own pace!

So, after analyzing everything, he quickly fell into a deep sleep, supremely calm.

…

…

The next day, afternoon.

Today’s temperature in Hang City had warmed up a bit. Chen Jieyu put on the camel coat gifted by Cheng Zhu and carried her new bag also from him, ready to go out and buy some gifts to take to her teacher’s house.

Yep, she dared not wear the white sneakers.

“Dean Zhang is a whimsical old kid who might just ask me to call Cheng Zhu over while discussing matters; if he wore the same shoes, it’d be a bit awkward,” Chen Jieyu thought to herself.

Before heading out, the counselor looked at herself in the mirror.

She didn’t consider herself transformed from Cinderella to a true princess after meeting Cheng Zhu.

But evidently, under his influence, she seemed to have gone from “elegantly poor” to “genuinely elegant.”

At least, today’s attire was definitely so.

Take the coat she was wearing, for instance, pricey yet with no obvious logo, unknown to anyone what brand it was, epitomizing understated luxury.

Ordinary people spending so much money would definitely not choose this brand of coat, because they’d much prefer that the logo be as large as possible, ideally visible from down the street, for everyone to know that piece of clothing was damn expensive.

Such a consumer mindset reflects a significant strength gap.

Did Chen Jieyu like this coat?

Of course, she did.

Not just for its cut and comfort, but also because Cheng Zhu had carefully chosen it.

But sometimes, she also felt like it kept reminding her that there was indeed a real class difference between her and Cheng Zhu.

Even though she was a counselor and he was just a student.

Chen Jieyu often thought, “What can I do for Cheng Zhu?”

Besides that thing they did several times a month.

What else could she do?

Today was to be the answer.

During her study days, Chen Jieyu had read a saying online:

“The people you help may not necessarily help you, but those who have helped you are very likely to help you again.”

She didn’t understand this saying very well when she was young, but as her social experiences grew, she gradually came to understand it and thought there was some truth to it.

At first, she thought it meant that those who have helped you are the ones who have invested energy and effort in you, so they are willing to help you again.

Kind of like… a sunk cost?

Later, she gained a deeper understanding of the phrase when she read Eisen Bodmer’s memoirs, where she came across a line:

“Many people believe the best way to win others’ favor is to bestow benefits onto them. However, this is a misunderstanding of human nature. In reality, those who are truly friendly towards you are those who have once given you favors.”

Chen Jieyu understood clearly: “Strictly speaking, both the teacher and her husband, Dean Zhang, fit these two points.”

During Chen Jieyu’s school days, they had offered her help.

Out of pity and appreciation for her.

But even after graduation, she stayed in close contact with them, partly because of the deep teacher-student bond and her sincere gratitude, and also because they could feel that Chen Jieyu was genuinely thankful, with no ulterior motives.

These sophisticated people, at their age, were shrewd.

They could sense who was being kind to them for a reason and who was kind without ulterior motives.

It wasn’t as the outside world speculated, using Dean Zhang’s connections, that she became the Information College counselor.

Over time, they became like half a family.

Chen Jieyu, who had tasted the warmth and coldness of human relations from a young age, was very aware that, due to this connection, if she truly asked the teacher and Dean Zhang for help with personal matters, they would definitely assist if able.

And they wouldn’t feel like they owed her a favor.

But here was the problem.

If she was asking them to help someone else, the nature of the matter changed significantly.

Yet she still chose to help Cheng Zhu.

This time, Chen Jieyu bought some fruit, then a box of cod, and a carton of pure milk.

Arriving at her teacher’s house, she rang the doorbell, it was her teacher who opened the door.

Chen Jieyu’s teacher had an unusual but very nice last name, Jian, her full name was Jian Wanyu.

She was a very elegant and gentle-looking old lady.

But Chen Jieyu knew quite well that Dean Zhang was actually quite afraid of her.

After stepping into the house, she naturally went into the kitchen to help out, just like one of the family’s young ones.

After dinner, the three sat down on the couch, and Chen Jieyu began to bring up Cheng Zhu, steering the conversation towards him.

“Um, Dean, do you remember Cheng Zhu?” she asked somewhat coyly, as it was her first time doing something like this.

Jian Wanyu, hearing a male name and joking, asked, “Cheng Zhu? Sounds like a male name. Jieyu, who is he to you, and how come you’ve never mentioned him before?”

Chen Jieyu was of marriageable age, and with her shy demeanor, it looked almost as if she was embarrassed to bring up his name, so Jian Wanyu purposely teased her, making it seem like some family gossip.

“Who is he to me?” Chen Jieyu was taken aback.

It was a question that couldn’t be truthfully answered.

Yes, Cheng Zhu and she had been in the most intimate of relationships.

He was also among the few in Hang City who knew the details of Chen Jieyu’s family circumstances.

Initially, he had even claimed to be her male confidante, for he knew too many of Chen Jieyu’s secrets.

So now, what?

—-[A person to confide secrets to has become a secret].

…

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