Chapter Nine: Paper Ball

  Back in the dormitory, the boys had already left. Zhou Ling came over and pulled Ning Qingming's hand, saying: "I heard from Sun Dangwen that the senior who came to find you is the president of the student union, a legendary figure!"

  "He's incredibly handsome!" Mo Xiao Hong also chimed in: "I'm really envious of Qing Mian, who gets to stay at home and have handsome men fall from the sky."

  "Our little Qingmin has limited digestive power, and I'm afraid she can't handle such a handsome guy." Wu Meimei lowered her head to drink water, put down the cup and said: "I'm not pouring cold water, but Qingmin and this senior are obviously not on the same level, it's better not to look for trouble."

  "What's with what?" Ning Qing heard Wu Mei's words and felt unhappy in her heart. In their eyes, she wasn't even a little bit worthy of Guo Shangliang?

  Several people evaluated Guo Shangliang and then crawled onto their beds ready for sleep.

  It was Saturday evening, and as usual, a lying-down meeting was held, with everyone in high spirits.

  "In our village, there's a folk custom that can supposedly tell you who your future partner is." Mo Xiao Hong explained enthusiastically. "Write down the names of all the boys you know on pieces of paper, twenty in total, crumple them up and put them together with twenty blank pieces of paper. At midnight, light an incense stick, close your eyes, place a pillow on your lap, pat it with your hand, focus your mind, shuffle the papers, and pick one out. If it's got a name on it, that person is your future husband. If it's blank, that means they're someone you haven't taken notice of yet or someone who hasn't appeared in your life yet."

  "Is it true?"

  "Is it accurate?"

  "The method is quite simple, it makes me want to try it out."

  Among the chatter, Zhou Ling glanced at his watch and said: "The hour of Zi is from 11 pm to 1 am. It's almost 11 o'clock now, why not try this method?"

  "There's no fragrance!" Wu Meimei said in a low voice.

  Mo Xiao Hong poked her head out of the mosquito net, suddenly enthusiastic, and shouted: "I still have a box of mosquito coils that can replace that incense!"

  "I'll go first, I'll go first." Zhou Ling smiled mischievously and lifted the mosquito net, climbing down first.

  The dormitory turned off the lights, lit two white candles and ignited mosquito coils.

  Zhou Ling wrote down the names, mixed up the blank paper balls, put them in a paper tray, sat cross-legged on Ning Qingming's bed, solemnly took out the pillow and placed it on her knees, took a deep breath, slowly closed her eyes, patted the pillow to concentrate her mind, under the gaze of the other three girls, reached into the tray to feel around, picked up a handful of paper balls and let them slip through her fingers, leaving only one behind, pinched between her fingers without letting go, after a while, suddenly opened her eyes.

  "Quickly, quickly!" The crowd urged, their voices tense with anxiety.

  Zhou Lingping held his breath and slowly unfolded the paper ball, "Huh?" he said: "Caught a familiar person." While thinking of hiding the paper ball.

  Ning Qingmin, who was standing behind Zhou Ling, quickly snatched the paper ball and read out: "Jiang Mingzhi!" After finishing reading, he was shocked and uncertain. What a coincidence! In the future, Zhou Ling would not always be entangled with Jiang Mingzhi.

  "This can't be true, it must be a coincidence." Zhou Ling's face turned red as he warned everyone: "Whatever you do, don't spread this around. If Jiang Mingzhi finds out, how embarrassing would that be?"

  "It's my turn, it's my turn!" Wu Meimei put the finished note in the dish, sat cross-legged like Zhou Ling, closed her eyes and felt for the note, pinched the note in her hand, opened her eyes and took a quick glance, exclaiming: "It can't be him!"

  "Who is it?"

  Several others were about to rush forward to grab the note and take a look, but Wu Meimei was furious, stuffed the note into her mouth, gritted her teeth and swallowed it, staring with wide eyes saying: "Not allowed!"

  "It hasn't happened yet, how do you know it's not accurate?" The crowd saw her acting so radically and curiously asked: "Who is it after all?"

  "I won't tell you," said Wu Meimei indignantly. "If it were him, I'd rather not get married."

  Everyone looked at each other in dismay, had Wu Meimei found out the name of that enemy?

  "Qīng Mǐn, it's your turn!" Mo Xiao Hong moved the mosquito coil and helped Ning Qing Min put the paper ball on the plate, smiling and saying: "Let's see who our little Qing Min will touch?"

  Ning Qingmin bit her lip, and let out a tiny sigh. Of the twenty paper balls with names on them, ten had Guo Shangliang's name on it, yet she still couldn't find him?

  Her fingers touched the paper ball, grasped a handful, and gently put it down, grasping another handful. She felt the paper ball slipping through her fingers, suddenly pinched one, and poured the remaining ones in her palm into the plate, only then did she open her eyes.

  "Look who's here!" The other three girls gathered around, preventing Ning Qingmian from swallowing the dissatisfied paper ball like Wu Meimei.

  Who could it be? Ning Qing tightly clenched the crumpled paper, even though she felt this method wasn't necessarily reliable, yet still hoped that the name on the paper was the person she had been thinking of.

  Expanded, smoothed out, Ning Qingmin's heart was filled with anxiety as she stared at the paper strip, her eyes wide with shock, loss, and confusion. A quarter of a chance, yet it still slipped away - could he really be that hard to grasp?

  "Ah, a blank sheet of paper. It seems that Qingmian's crush hasn't appeared yet." Everyone saw the piece of paper in Ning Qingmian's hand and let out a sigh of relief, "What a tense moment!"

  "Xiao Hong, you haven't caught any yet, what's the point of having mosquito coils?" Zhou Ling grabbed Mo Xiao Hong's hand and shouted: "We've all caught some, but you, who provided the method, want to avoid it? No way!"

  "You all think it's not accurate, what else can I grasp?" Mo Xiaohong argued.

  "We can't catch it ourselves, maybe you'll get one right away!" Ning Qingming helped Zhou Ling catch Mo Xiaohong and said: "Quickly write a note!"

  Mo Xiao Hong could only sit quietly and pat the pillow for a while, silently took out a paper ball, looked at the eyes of the other three people and said: "Don't worry, even if you are my enemy, I won't swallow something so vicious."

  "Ah!" Mo Xiao Hong unfolded the paper strip and looked at it, shouting in surprise. Conditioned reflexively, she also learned from Wu Mei Mei's behavior and put the paper ball into her mouth. The crowd had been prepared, two held her hands, one snatched the paper ball, and read aloud: "Sun Dang Wen!"

  Hahaha...

  "Not bad, you two look like a pretty good couple."

  Mo Xiaohong's face turned red as she waved her hand and said, "It seems that this one is really inaccurate."

  "What's wrong? Sun Dangwen isn't always making eyes at you, is he? If not for you, what else could it be?" Wu Meimei was overjoyed and couldn't help but laugh. She had just drawn an unsatisfactory person herself and was feeling frustrated, but seeing Mo Xiaohong draw the extremely thin Sun Dangwen made her feel a bit more balanced.

  "Sun Dangwen, that guy, don't even get me started. Just his usual way of speaking is a typical case of 'a dog's mouth can't produce ivory', how could I possibly work with him?" Mo Xiaohong extinguished the mosquito coil and huffed, "Why did I tell you guys this method? Isn't it just looking for trouble?"

  It was noisy, and someone knocked gently on the door. "I'm Lijun from next door dormitory, asking if you've seen Xiaoxiao?"

  "What's wrong, hasn't Xiao Xuan come back yet?" Ning Qingming hastily opened the door and asked: "You call her boyfriend's dormitory to ask."

  "It was just her boyfriend who called, and I found out she hadn't come back yet." Li Jun rubbed his eyes, "The three of us were playing video games in another dorm room, none of us knew she hadn't returned yet."

  Ning Qing's mouth twitched slightly, and a sense of foreboding surged up.