Afterward, Li Qingzhao continued to walk Tu Xiao'an around campus.
Everyone was talking about the snakes. The incident was bound to be a hot topic at Wencheng University for at least the next month.
"Brother Xiao'an, let's have dinner together tonight,"
Li Qingzhao invited him with a sweet smile.
Tu Xiao'an glanced at the ti and said calmly, "It's only three in the afternoon. It's still a long ti until dinner."
"Not at all! I'll give you a tour of our girls' dorm. I need to get my things in order, and by the ti I'm done, it'll be about ti to eat."
"You need more than two hours to get ready?"
Li Qingzhao said with a cute pout, "Of course. It takes a girl longer to get ready. Besides, since we're just moving in for the new sester, doesn't everyone have to unpack and clean?"
"You go on ahead, then. I'll go walk around by myself. Just text on WeChat when you're ready."
Tu Xiao'an had no interest in waiting around for her.
"Are you sure you don't want to co? My dorm is famous campus-wide for its beauties. A lot of them should be back by now." Li Qingzhao winked suggestively at Tu Xiao'an.
"I'm not going," Tu Xiao'an said firmly.
"Then this Snake…" Li Qingzhao glanced at the Taiyin Snake on her shoulder, her ulterior motive showing again.
"It stays with you."
Tu Xiao'an shook his head and turned to leave.
"Brother Xiao'an is so dreamy!"
Li Qingzhao shouted excitedly, then skipped joyfully toward her dorm.
As Tu Xiao'an walked toward the campus gate, his mind was still on the mass snake incident.
'The snakes have all left, but I still haven't figured out the root of the problem.'
It was frustrating.
Outside the campus gates, a bustling pedestrian street lay just across the road. Throngs of people milled about; even in the middle of the afternoon, the street was packed.
It was a testant to the city's prosperity and high foot traffic.
With nothing better to do, Tu Xiao'an decided to familiarize himself with the area and headed for the pedestrian street. Just as he set foot on it, a young man suddenly popped out from around a corner and, not paying attention, ran straight into him.
CLATTER...
A pair of sunglasses fell to the ground.
The young man himself landed on his butt on the pavent.
"Are you okay?" Tu Xiao'an asked, quickly reaching out to help him up.
The young man was dusty and disheveled as he was helped to his feet. "I'm fine, I'm fine," he said. "My glasses fell. Could you please help find them?"
Tu Xiao'an paused. 'Does he even need help looking? They're right at my feet.'
Then, he noticed the young man's eyes were shut tight. His hair was a ss, but his features were striking—a strong brow, a straight nose, and gaunt but well-defined cheeks. His complexion was a bit pale, giving him a sickly look.
'The guy's blind.'
His hands flailed about uncertainly. Only then did Tu Xiao'an spot a cane on the ground—it must have been what he used to guide himself.
Tu Xiao'an quickly picked up the sunglasses and cane. He brushed the young man's bangs aside, helped him put the sunglasses back on, and placed the cane in his hand.
He took a good look at the young man, now wearing the shades again. 'He's handso. Really cool.' Tu Xiao'an couldn't help but imagine what he'd look like with a smirk and a raised eyebrow; he could probably charm countless girls that way.
But his eyes were squeezed shut, unable to open. And even if they could, they wouldn't see the bright world around them.
"Thank you, thank you so much," the young man said, bowing to Tu Xiao'an in sincere gratitude.
"Don't ntion it."
Tu Xiao'an replied casually. Suddenly, he found it odd. 'Why would a blind man co stumbling all by himself to a pedestrian street packed with people?'
'He must have co with soone, right?'
"Where's your friend? How could they leave you here all by yourself?"
The young man pursed his lips sheepishly. "I ca alone. I'm looking for soone. I wanted to ask, have you seen a woman nad Haitang?"
"Haitang?"
'A blind man looking for soone? How could his family be so reckless? Aren't they afraid he'll get lost himself?'
"Don't know her," Tu Xiao'an said, shaking his head. "I just got to Wencheng myself. Is this Haitang you ntioned a little girl? Did she get lost?"
"Yes, she's lost. But she's not a little girl. She's my girlfriend."
Tu Xiao'an was a little confused. 'How does an adult get lost?'
"Do you have a picture of her? I can take a look."
The young man shook his head. "I don't have a picture of her."
"Then how tall is she? What does she look like, roughly?"
It couldn't be easy for soone who couldn't see to be wandering around the streets like this, so Tu Xiao'an couldn't help but ask a few more questions.
The young man froze for a mont and said nothing more. He just thanked Tu Xiao'an again, then turned and walked away.
His cane probed the ground ahead of him; he'd tap it a few tis, then take a few steps.
Whenever he accidentally bumped into soone, he would imdiately ask, "Hello, I'd like to ask, have you seen a woman nad Haitang?"
"Don't know her," the person would say, noticing he was blind, and walk away with an indifferent reply.
"Hello, excuse , have you seen a woman nad Haitang?"
The young man in sunglasses stumbled along, asking every passerby he could find.
Sotis he would even happen to ask the sa person several tis in a row.
Watching this scene unfold, Tu Xiao'an, who was still standing there, was completely dumbfounded.
'If you're looking for soone, you should at least have a picture, for crying out loud.'
'How could he possibly find her just by asking strangers for a na?'
'There must be tons of people with the sa na.'
'This is even harder than finding a needle in a haystack.'
Just then, the young man stumbled again, accidentally bumping into a burly, middle-aged man who was on the phone. He ran right into the man's back.
"Holy crap, are you blind or sothing? Watch where you're going!"
The middle-aged man must have already been in a foul mood. With an angry expression, he whipped his head around and glared at the young man.
"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," the young man in sunglasses apologized profusely, then asked again, "Hello, have you seen a woman nad Haitang?"
The burly man saw him wearing sunglasses in broad daylight, waved a hand in front of the young man's face, and had a sudden realization. "Damn, he really is blind."
"A blind guy out looking for soone? If you get lost, soone's going to have to co looking for you," the man sneered.
The young man said nothing. He just tapped his cane on the ground, preparing to walk around the man.
The burly man's eyes darted around, and he blocked the young man's path. "Hey, blindy. You just bumped into . Don't you think you should compensate for that?"
The young man froze for a second, then fumbled in his pockets, pulling out a wad of cash totaling five or six hundred yuan. He pulled out one bill. "Sir, I'm truly sorry. Please take this one-hundred-yuan bill as compensation."
The man snatched the hundred-yuan bill, a cunning glint in his eyes. "You blind fool. This is clearly a ten-yuan bill. You trying to pass this off as a hundred? You think I'm blind, too?"
The young man imdiately shook his head. "Sir, the bill I just gave you was a hundred. Even though I can't see, my hands can tell the difference between bills."
In reality, it was quite easy to distinguish the bills by touch. The ten-, fifty-, and hundred-yuan notes all had different textures.
Seeing that the young man was blind, the burly man had deliberately called the hundred-yuan bill a ten, hoping to extort even more money from him.
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