Chapter Four Before the Wedding
Since they decided to get married, then they were now acquaintances.
Hm, something about the logic here seemed a bit strange … …
So, in the following two days, Wei Wei spent all her time hanging out with Yi Xiao Nai He and joined his usual team. Nai He’s team was composed entirely of top players. Wei Wei had even PK’d with two of them before, but her knowledge only extended to familiarity with their IDs.
The first time Wei Wei met them happened like this.
Hou Zi Jiu[1]: Hoho, new person.
Yu Gong Pa Shan[2]: Nai He, who is this meimei?[3]
Yi Xiao Nai He: My fiancée.
He said it so naturally that Wei Wei couldn’t help but hexian. She typed out a smiley face: “Hi everybody ^_^”
Mo Zha Ta[4]: Whoa, Sansao[5].
Yu Gong Pa Shan: Kao, the eternal bachelor is getting married.
Everyone started teasing and congratulating until somebody suddenly said: Sansao’s ID is a bit familiar.
“Since you said so, I feel it too. Did Sansao ever place in the rankings?”
The simple-minded and quick-mouthed Hou Zi Jiu said: “I remember now, isn’t Lu Wei Wei Wei Zhen Shui Wu Xiang’s ex-wife?”
The team suddenly quieted and the mood became strange. Wei Wei nearly said that they were getting married for the PK tournament when Yi Xiao Nai He steadily typed out a line of characters: “En. You guys’ sansao married someone terrible in the past, but you should not discriminate against her.”
Wei Wei choked on her chips.
In this moment, Wei Wei had a revelation. When doing quests or fighting monsters together with Nai He, one should never eat or drink, because he might say something so astonishing, if she didn’t choke, she would definitely spray her monitor.
Fighting bosses and doing quests with this group of people was, without any doubt, very relaxing and satisfying. First of all, everybody cooperated harmoniously, and then there was the fact that the success rate was high. Previously, when Wei Wei and players from her sect formed teams to fight bosses, they took a very long time. Now, it only took a short while to get it done. Of course, when it came to fighting, Nai He Da Shen must be mentioned. His occupation was a musician. Musicians, in [Dreams of Jianghu], existed in a bit of a limbo state. While they could do everything, their attacks weren’t as strong as warriors, their support and healing wasn’t as good as the specialized occupations. In conclusion, a musician was a useless jack-of-all-trades.
But Nai He Da Shen was a unique case.
Nai He Da Shen’s healing was just as good as any professional healer. His control was fast and positioning was precise. The team didn’t have to worry about support or having to protect him. Once, when a boss was almost dead, Yi Xiao Nai He, who had for the entire time acted as a medic, pulled a sword out from his zither, released his one and only attack “Sword within the Zither” and pierced the boss’s fatal spot. The boss’s head sprouted gigantic red letters before collapsing to the ground.
“Sword within the Zither” was the only attack technique that musicians could utilize. Wei Wei had seen it multiple times before, but never had she seen such huge damage points. It almost rivalled hers. Wei Wei was so jealous she could cry. It must be because his equipment was too strong –a –a –a!
With the standard established, Wei Wei had no expectations when she finally met Yi Xiao Nai He’s pet.
Nai He’s pet was a small white cat.
Wei Wei’s pet was a strong and powerful tiger.
When a tiger couldn’t win against a cat, Wei Wei couldn’t muster up any opinion at all.
But Nai He, when he saw Wei Wei’s pet and studied it for a very long time, said: “After we get married, our pets should also marry.”
Pet marriage was another one of [Dreams of Jianghu]’s features. After players got married and their pets were of the same species, then their pets could also marry. The marriage would create a small ability, which activated under certain conditions, would allow the pets to procreate.
Wei Wei said: “But their species aren’t the same.”
Yi Xiao Nai He said: “This is a mutated baby tiger.”
So this little cat was a tiger too. No wonder there were tiger stripes on the forehead. Wei Wei managed to gather up a little bit of her self-respect. If a tiger lost to a tiger, then it was not as embarrassing.
“Okay, okay. Let’s get them married.” Wei Wei was very cheerful. That little cat was divine-level. Her tiger was just a normal tiger she captured herself. Any way of thinking about it, her pet was marrying up. Wei Wei asked thoughtlessly: “Your tiger is female?”
“No, male.”
“… … My tiger is also male.”
Wei Wei felt depressed. Obviously, a divine daughter-in-law was not so easily found.
The wedding day was Saturday. On Saturday morning, Wei Wei went to the library as she did normally to self-study. Coming back to the topic, Student Wei Wei still put a lot of effort in her education. It wasn’t possible not to put effort in. At this kind of school, in the kind of faculty that was Computer Science, which student didn’t have a first-rate brain? Getting left behind would result in beatings and humiliation.
Self-study continued until four when Wei Wei could not sit still any longer and kept looking at the clock. At five, she cleaned up and rushed for the cafeteria at lightning speed. After dinner, she went back to her room and logged on, but Yi Xiao Nai He wasn’t there. The other people’s names were also dark so level-up maniac Wei Wei set out alone with her huge blade to stab monsters. Just when she was getting in the rhythm, her roommates came back.
Wei Wei’s dorm room was a quadruple. Other than Wei Wei herself, there also lived Xiao Ling, Si Si, and Er Xi, who also all majored in computer science. The four of them were the only four girls in the year two Computer Science department.
“Wei Wei, stop playing. It’s almost six, our faculty and Biochem are having a basketball game. Let’s go together la~.” Xiao Ling said as she changed her clothes
Wei Wei cut down monsters and shook her head. “You guys go, I have something today.”
“Save it, what things do you have to do, it’s just playing games. Let’s go, Da Zhong said that Xiao Nai is coming today.”
“Ah! Really? Xiao Nai!!” Si Si and Er Xi shouted together.
Wei Wei turned with stars in her eyes.
Even though Xiao Ling had wanted this effect, when she saw her roommates like this, she said, “I can’t stand you guys. You are like rabid fangirls. Look at Wei Wei, so composed.”
Wei Wei hurriedly raised a hand. “Don’t misjudge me, I’m also a fangirl.”
In reality, the four girls in Wei Wei’s dorm were the most un-rabid fangirls, but there were some people in the world, who made others realize that not being infatuated with them, at least for a moment, was not normal.
For example, Xiao Nai.
Xiao Nai of the Computer Science Faculty was one of the movers and shakers of A university. If UA had player rankings like in games, then Xiao Nai would be the absolute and undoubted number 1. Disregarding the fact that he was astonishingly talented at programming, and the glory attained by the university team at the ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest for the three years ever since he led them, he was also multitalented at the plucked zither and go, and represented the university to become the champion at swimming competitions. If that was not enough to make most people feel inferior, he was also in possession of a great and elegant beauty. It was easy for people to admire him, whether they wanted to or not.
But fangirling was fangirling. The girls in the faculty were afraid to go up and connect with him. One factor was that he rarely came to campus, and so while they were in the same faculty, the girls were not familiar with him. Another factor was that his standing was too high, and his manner was so aloof that it made others feel afraid of coming closer
Wei Wei only rarely saw him and only from far away. Once was when he was rejecting a girl from another faculty. That girl had stopped him and given him something similar to an envelope, probably a love letter. But he didn’t even glance at it once, much less take the letter, didn’t stop in his stride, and just walked past.
Strangely, even though he seemed so arrogant, he was still popular with the male half of the population. The males of the CompSci Faculty were all very respectful of him. It was rumoured that he had registered and started a company very early on and many of the genii of the faculty had been lured to work there.
There were many others rumours about Xiao Nai, many of which even came from the professors’ side as his parents were history and archaeology professors. It was said that Xiao Nai’s parents were virtuous, traditional and non-materialistic, and then a mutation occurred when it got to Xiao Nai who in middle school knew to partner-up with relatives to open internet cafes. At that time, computers were not common and it had been the best time to do business as an internet café. There were also whispers of big profits from speculating on real estate and the stock market, but those were much more dubious.
As a little minor presence in the CompSci Faculty, Wei Wei was one of Da Shen’s idolizers. Many of the little pieces of useful software in her computer were Da Shen’s idle compositions from many years ago. Da Shen was in year four this year, and after this year, it would be even harder to see him. Wei Wei looked at the game. Yi Xiao Nai He’s icon was still dark. She looked at the time, five forty. She resolutely closed her computer, and with her roommates, headed towards the basketball gymnasium.
When they got to the gymnasium, it was already noisy and crowded. Xiao Ling’s boyfriend Da Zhong stood at the doorway to greet them, and ushered them towards the reserved seats.
Xiao Ling asked as they walked, “Da Zhong, where’s Xiao Nai? Didn’t you say he would be playing?”
Da Zhong was resentful. “Are you coming to see me play or to see Xiao-ge[6] play?” Da Zhong was one of the starting defense guards for the Compsci basketball team. He would definitely be on the court today.
Xiao Ling didn’t care for him, “Of course we came for Xiao Nai, you don’t have anything to look at.”
The other three girls nodded their heads, Da Zhong nearly died of anger and stewed for a long while before saying, “Xiao-ge is not playing, we don’t know if he’s coming or not. It seemed like he had something unexpected come up.”
The girls were very disappointed. If there had been 100 watts of light in their eyes before, now there were only 10 watts left. But it was still okay, the atmosphere in the gymnasium uplifted their spirits quickly.
While waiting for the game to begin, a tall male wearing a CompSci Basketball team jersey came in front of them. More accurately, he walked in front of Wei Wei. He had his head down, stammered, and couldn’t speak, and his ears were red.
Xiao Ling and the others had three words in their mind, “It’s started again!”
As expected, after squirming awkwardly for a moment, the tall and cheerful-looking boy stammered, “Wei Wei Shijie,[7] if we win, can I invite you to dinner?”
Wei Wei held a cool expression on her face and asked, “Will you lose?”
“Of course not!” The boy excitedly raised his head.
Wei Wei expressed the kind of smile elders gave to those younger and very patronizingly encouraged the young shidi.[8] “Then play hard!”
“En! Shijie! I will definitely win!”
The little junior seemed to have received a boost and went onto the floor to warm up with a basketball.
“… …”
“… …”
“… …”
The above were Xiao Ling, Er Xi, and Si Si’s thoughts.
Er Xi said, “This little shidi is very gullible.”
Si Si wasn’t surprised. “I really hate these kinds of little brats, using winning to threaten people. If Wei Wei refused, he might even blame the loss on Wei Wei.”
Xiao Ling said, “Our Wei Wei’s rejection techniques are getting better and better!”
Wei Wei exulted, and mock-modestly said, “You flatter me. When the numbers add up, there are lots of occasions to practice.”
What followed was a beating. She was really asking for it.
[1]猴子酒 (Hou Zi Jiu): literally meaning “monkey wine”.
[2]愚公爬山 (Yu Gong Pa Shan): literally “Foolish/Stupid man climbing a mountain”;a perversion of a famous Chinese idiom愚公移山 which refers to a famous folk tale of a “Foolish old man moving a mountain,” somewhat similar to Siphysus who also performed what looked to be an unending task.
[3] In the original text, this was mm, which stands for mei mei in internet slang. Mei mei means younger/little sister but in slang is used to refer to any female, who should be younger than the speaker.
[4]莫扎他 (Mo Zha Ta): the name is similar to莫扎特 (Mozart in Chinese – Mo Zha Te). It literally means “Do no prick/poke him”.
[5]三嫂(san sao): literally “third sister-in-law.” In China, when men are good friends, they become “brothers” so they refer to the wives as “___sao” depending on the ranking. Here, Nai He is implied to be third in their group so Wei Wei is “san (third) sao”
[6] Xiao-ge: The surname of Xiao Nai and the suffix “ge” which means older brother. Men refer to each other in an order of seniority using ge (older brother) and di (younger brother)
[7]师姐 (shijie): used to refer to a female older than the speaker, from the same teacher/department/school.
[8]师弟(shidi): younger brother used to refer to a male younger than the speaker from the same teacher/department/school
