The Junior Schemer Has Her Eyes on Me, What Should I Do? - Chapter 1

At a table on the left side of the bar’s center, near the main hall, six or seven young women were chatting and laughing in between sips of their drinks. The topic was currently about why they all preferred being single over being in a relationship.

“Chen Mengjing! Chen Mengjing!” A voice, unable to contain its excitement, brought the girls’ lively discussion to a sudden halt.

Chen Mengjing, who was sitting between two other girls and wearing a black shirt, lifted her head in response. Her clear eyes glimmered, and the blurred lights illuminated her fair, beautiful face.

The one who called her was Song Chuyou, sitting opposite her and Chen Mengjing’s best friend, nicknamed Chu Butterfly.

Song Chuyou simply tilted her chin toward the entrance before turning back to Chen Mengjing. Her small tongue peeked out slightly, curling up to gently press against the corner of her smiling mouth.

If an ordinary person did this, it would definitely come across as frivolous, but the beautiful Song Chuyou’s current appearance had a special kind of allure. Her elated expression—the “target has appeared”—stimulated everyone’s curiosity to the maximum.

Chen Mengjing overlooked her best friend’s excitement and turned her head toward the bar’s entrance. A woman with cascading long hair and a graceful figure in a long dress was pausing and looking around on the steps at the edge of the hall. Her hesitating manner made her seem like a young deer who had just arrived in the noisy human world from a pristine forest.

Suddenly, she raised both hands and gently tucked her long hair behind her ears, fully revealing the perfect contour of her profile.

Perhaps because her hands were fairer and slenderer, this common little feminine gesture took on a unique charm when she did it.

Zhou Xiangxu!!

Why would she be in a LES bar?!

Just as Chen Mengjing was in surprise, Song Chuyou abruptly stood up. “Sisters, I’m going in!”

“Wait!” Chen Mengjing quickly called out to Chu Butterfly, who had already taken a couple of steps, her tone unusually flustered.

Noticing the abnormality, the girls’ gazes shifted from the deer-like woman at the entrance and turned back to them.

“What’s wrong?” Song Chuyou turned around, looking down at Chen Mengjing, her tone and expression showing confusion.

Everyone perked up their ears, ready for a show, their eyes flitting back and forth between the two confronting beauties. It wasn’t the first time they had suspected that some unspeakable secret might be hidden between these two equally matched best friends.

“Not this one—” saying this, Chen Mengjing also stood up.

Both she and Song Chuyou were natural beauties, their looks equally stunning, but Chen Mengjing’s height completely overshadowed her friend’s.

“Tsk, is the iron tree finally going to bloom tonight?!”

Everyone understood the meaning of Song Chuyou’s joke.

Chen Mengjing had looks and talent, and her family background was excellent. For years, the people who pursued her were countless, yet she had always been single, and no one had ever seen her get together with anyone.

In everyone’s words, she had been “wasting natural resources and her youth.”

“She is mine—”

Chen Mengjing was interrupted by the collective “Wow” from the group of women. The abnormally excited cheers were loud, attracting the attention of most people in the bar, including the woman in the ivory-white long dress who had just entered.

When the cheering subsided, Song Chuyou controlled the excited smile on her face and countered, “That’s strange. She’s clearly a first-timer here, so how did she become yours so quickly?!”

The women’s eyes were fixed on Chen Mengjing.

She remained composed, her dark eyes, framed by dense, long lashes, calm and unwavering.

She pursed her slightly thin red lips and gently blinked her eyelashes. “Didn’t you notice? She is my—senior.”

Having said that, Chen Mengjing strode away from the table.

Under everyone’s watchful eyes, she walked confidently toward the woman who was still standing by the entrance, looking utterly out of place in a nightclub setting.

“I always thought Little Jing liked our Chu Butterfly, but I was wrong!”

“It feels like Chen Mengjing’s heroine has appeared. This time, it looks promising.”

“A Goddess sees eye-to-eye! That ‘She is mine’ tone really turned me on, wow!”

“Come on, she’s just a senior! But, didn’t Little Jing’s tone toward Chu Butterfly just now have a hint of a warning?!”

“Right, right?! I heard it too: Chu Butterfly—not every woman in this bar is for you to touch.”

“You all shut up!” Song Chuyou scolded, turning her back to them, her eyes fixed on her best friend’s retreating figure.

By this time, Chen Mengjing was nearly in front of the newcomer who had attracted almost every pair of eyes in the bar.

The woman raised her right hand again to tuck her hair behind her ear. This small gesture was incredibly alluring—

A moment earlier, Zhou Xiangxu had finally mustered the courage to walk into the “Spider Silk Cave.”

Before coming, she had done a lot of mental preparation, and she had lingered outside the bar for a long time.

The name of this renowned LES music bar in Ludao, “Spider Silk Cave,” was wildly inconsistent with its rumored good reputation. The three characters, designed in a quite seductive style on the sign, looked utterly inappropriate.

Fortunately, although it was a music bar, she didn’t hear deafening music. Watching girls enter in twos and threes, chatting and laughing, she eventually spotted an empty moment and carefully walked inside.

Contrary to the expected tumultuous scene, the “Spider Silk Cave” wasn’t even loud. The friendly atmosphere didn’t further stimulate her desperately concealed nervousness. The softness unique to a private female space and the faint, sweet scent in the air eased her rapidly pounding heart.

The bar was playing folk music, the melody slow, the singing soft, quite lyrical. The sounds of conversation were diluted by the song, allowing everyone to coexist without much disturbance.

The lighting inside was also just right; not so dim as to make direction hard to discern, nor so bright as to eliminate all privacy.

As far as her eyes could see, it was all women: some in groups of three to five, some at tables of two. Two women on tall stools by the bar were quite far apart, likely also solo attendees…

Zhou Xiangxu looked around helplessly. She finally spotted an empty spot at the edge. Just as she tucked her hair and was about to step down the stairs, a burst of “Wow” from not far away interrupted her movement.

The gazes that she had been deliberately ignoring, which had been fixed on her, had mostly been drawn to that group of women.

She couldn’t help it either.

As she turned her head to look, a very tall woman was walking out from among that group.

Zhou Xiangxu could tell that the tall woman in the black shirt and pure white wide-leg trousers was heading for her.

The woman’s steps toward her were too quick, causing her slightly wavy long hair draped over her shoulder to constantly rise and fall.

The closer the person came, the better Zhou Xiangxu could see her with the bar’s lighting: Chen Mengjing!!

Running into an acquaintance was not in her expectations. Zhou Xiangxu involuntarily tucked her hair again, using the action to conceal her heart, which had started beating fiercely again.

She was usually very calm. Tonight, being her first time stepping into a LES bar and having met an acquaintance, she was uncharacteristically flustered.

“Senior!” In the short time it took to walk over, many possible opening lines for a reunion flashed through Chen Mengjing’s mind. When she stopped, she only managed this brief greeting.

“What a coincidence.” Zhou Xiangxu was so awkward that she was clutching her left hand with her right, yet her voice remained as calm as usual.

Looking into Chen Mengjing’s eyes, she forgot the surrounding stares and the moral burden that had been weighing on her mind.

For someone to come to this place, the person was almost certainly a member of the same community.

—But why hadn’t she sensed at all before that she liked women too?

If the other person’s eyes, which seemed to speak, hadn’t remained exactly the same, Zhou Xiangxu might have failed to connect this woman, whose presence now felt almost aggressive, with the slightly naive junior she used to know.

“Senior, coming here—” Chen Mengjing’s red lips suddenly pressed into a straight line. The smile on her face did not diminish at all, and her clear, beautiful eyes were sparkling. “What are you here to do?”

Her smile concealed her doubt: Senior is clearly straight.

Zhou Xiangxu released her clasped hands and slightly raised her head to look into Chen Mengjing’s eyes.

She knew Chen Mengjing was asking a question she already knew the answer to.

She also knew Chen Mengjing had seen her nervousness.

Appearing alone in a LES bar, the implication was self-evident.

So, Zhou Xiangxu didn’t hide it. “To hang out.”

Today was her twenty-sixth birthday, and she wanted to let loose a little.

Zhou Xiangxu was growing increasingly dissatisfied with her unchanging self and felt a deep hostility toward her life, which lacked any excitement. So, she decided to do something different on this birthday to ease her long-accumulated anxiety about self-identity.

“Is Senior alone?”

Chen Mengjing was still skeptical. After all, it was possible that her friend had invited her to a place like this.

Although her mind was full of doubts, just seeing her Senior in a LES bar was already the happiest thing that had happened to her recently, even if the possibility of her Senior turning into a woman-lover was minimal—

Chen Mengjing could imagine how silly she must look right now.

She couldn’t hide her smile, and every cell in her body seemed to be lit up by Zhou Xiangxu’s appearance.

“Yes.” Zhou Xiangxu was embarrassed by the question; coming to a bar alone always felt a little desperate.

Sigh, why does this junior have to smile so beautifully? After more than two years, looking into her clear, captivating eyes again, Zhou Xiangxu realized her heart would still unconsciously produce a similar throbbing sensation. Is this really okay?

Then Chen Mengjing deliberately paused.

It’s not someone else who invited Senior here.

This means the possibility of her liking women just increased a little!

Looking into her Senior’s touching eyes, Chen Mengjing’s smile grew even more radiant.

Just like before, as long as she saw her Senior, every nerve in her body would become continuously excited.

Zhou Xiangxu’s expression was calm, and her eyes showed no particular emotion, but Chen Mengjing was still uncontrollably happy.

“Would you let me keep you company, Senior?” she said. Fearing rejection, she pursed her lips, puffed up her cheeks, and looked at the other woman like a small, pitiful child. She continued to sell herself. “I know this bar well. Since it’s such a coincidence tonight, let me buy Senior a drink. We should properly catch up.”

Zhou Xiangxu hesitated. “Your friends—”

Meeting an acquaintance carried the risk of coming out, but it was certainly better than being all alone.

“It’s fine, there are a lot of people over there.” Chen Mengjing’s beautiful eyes fluttered.

Zhou Xiangxu didn’t refuse again. Chen Mengjing led her without question toward a less crowded area.

She hadn’t forgotten that her Senior, according to her memory, wasn’t very social and didn’t like noise.

They weren’t particularly close, but their few interactions during that time were all quite memorable.

Although the two had been out of contact for more than two years, their unexpected meeting tonight meant they quickly recognized each other.

Now, walking one after the other, they became the most conspicuous pair in the bar.

Seeing the person walking in front of the “little white flower” was such a formidable competitor, everyone who had been tempted by Zhou Xiangxu moments ago disappointedly restrained their impulse. At least in this bar, no one truly had a chance to compete with Chen Mengjing for a date, including Song Chuyou, who was still murmuring, “I saw her first.”

They sat down at a four-person table, which already had nuts and sunflower seeds prepared.

No sooner had they settled than a waiter brought over two glasses of wine.

After setting the drinks down, the waiter put the tray behind his back and leaned over to Zhou Xiangxu, saying, “They’re compliments from Miss Song opposite us.” It was quite clear who the intended recipient was.

After the waiter left, Chen Mengjing lifted one glass with her right hand and placed it in front of Zhou Xiangxu. “Don’t worry, Senior, she’s my friend.”

Then, she lifted the other glass and raised it, toasting Song Chuyou across the room from afar.

Zhou Xiangxu snapped out of her daze and quickly raised her wine glass in the same direction as Chen Mengjing.

Among the five or six women opposite them, the standing woman who toasted them was the most striking. She must be Miss Song.

Just then, the prelude to “Those Flowers” started playing on the stage.

Zhou Xiangxu drew her gaze back, lowered her head, and gently took a sip. The base was plum wine, the taste very rich; it seemed to be mixed with apple juice, and upon careful tasting, there was the sweetness of lychee. She guessed correctly that lychee honey had been added.

Chen Mengjing also took a sip. Setting down her glass, she met her Senior’s pure eyes and smiled again.

“You smile a lot.” Zhou Xiangxu thought. How many girls can her smile charm?

“Doesn’t Senior like my smile?” Assuming Zhou Xiangxu wasn’t purely straight, Chen Mengjing began to test the waters.

“Should I like your smile?”

A harmless probe, a vague answer, perfectly matching the unexpected nature of tonight’s encounter.

Zhou Xiangxu felt Chen Mengjing’s gaze was too direct, so she lowered her eyes to the glass.

Crushed ice floated in the wine, giving off a vague chill in the light.

Chen Mengjing did not reply.

In the brief silence, their respective thoughts quickly wove a net.

When they spoke again, the topic naturally shifted to the past.

Their true acquaintance began after Chen Mengjing started her graduate studies. Zhou Xiangxu was already in her third year of graduate school then.

The conversation revolved around shared memories. Although they didn’t have many old stories to tell, through familiar past events, catalyzed by alcohol, and being in a bar, the two found plenty to talk about.

Chen Mengjing was good at conversation. Even with Zhou Xiangxu’s brief answers, they rarely hit a dead end.

“I heard my sister mention you a while ago,” Zhou Xiangxu said.

“Zhou Xiangying, right?”

Chen Mengjing was sitting with her back to the light, so Zhou Xiangxu didn’t catch the sly glimmer in her beautiful eyes when she asked that question.

It hadn’t been in vain that she had casually mentioned her past interactions with her Senior to the young girl a few times. It had indeed been passed on.

Although she hadn’t had any expectations then,

For it to become a topic of conversation today was an unexpected gain.

Seeing Zhou Xiangxu nod, Chen Mengjing asked again, “I’m curious, what did the little girl say about me?”

“‘Our internship teacher is super beautiful.'” This was her sister’s original words, which Zhou Xiangxu was merely repeating.

“Then, Senior—” Chen Mengjing leaned her elbow on the table, cupped her chin with her palm, and tilted her head slightly to the right. “Do you think I’m beautiful?” After saying this, she blinked, her eyes full of naked anticipation.

A very faint smile flickered in Zhou Xiangxu’s eyes. “Why ask when you know the answer.”

In this bar, there was no woman more dazzling than Chen Mengjing.

She used to only think Chen Mengjing was tall, very fair, had captivating eyes, and seemed like a younger sister who needed looking after. After more than two years, she had matured rapidly, losing her earlier naivety. Her maturity, which surpassed her age, made her every move exceptionally confident.

“I want Senior to answer my question directly.”

The lazy tone lacked coercion, falling somewhere between a joke and seriousness.

The atmosphere suddenly became ambiguous. Zhou Xiangxu stared into Chen Mengjing’s dark eyes for a moment but couldn’t make anything out.

If “Doesn’t Senior like my smile” was a test,

Then “I want Senior to answer my question directly” could be called an offensive move.

But Zhou Xiangxu didn’t intend to get further entangled with Chen Mengjing, even though she had once been filled with curiosity about her.

She just wanted to find someone to indulge with tonight, and ideally, there would be no further association once morning broke.

Chen Mengjing was clearly not suitable for her.

“Beautiful,” Zhou Xiangxu said.

“I think I’m beautiful too.” Chen Mengjing chuckled. Her laugh was quiet but very pleasant.

“Boastful.” Zhou Xiangxu found Chen Mengjing’s directness kind of cute.

They had never sat together drinking and casually chatting like this while in school.

Meeting again in this place, without even having to spell it out, they had gained another layer of revolutionary friendship on top of being alumni.

Two or three hours passed quickly.

They had had several rounds of drinks, and people in the bar came and went, with groups changing one after another.

Chen Mengjing suddenly shifted the topic to relationships.

Hearing that both of them were still single, they were both briefly surprised.

Zhou Xiangxu thought: So many people pursued her in school, how could she still be single? Chen Mengjing is lying.

Chen Mengjing had the same thought flash through her mind: Senior is lying.

At the time, she hadn’t just heard that her Senior was straight; she had even personally seen her Senior and her boyfriend strolling on campus. The man seemed reliable and looked very well-matched with her Senior, which was why she had suppressed her admiration and hadn’t disturbed them.

Although both believed the other wasn’t telling the truth, neither exposed the lie.

“Cheers to being single!” Chen Mengjing raised her glass, smiling naturally.

Zhou Xiangxu raised her glass and gently clinked it against hers, not saying anything.

She didn’t want to toast being single. After all, she had been single for twenty-six years. Although she had prepared to be single for life,

She was now tired of it, which was why she had bravely ventured into the “Spider Silk Cave” alone tonight. She wanted to use this to forget the reality of always being by herself.

She put down her half-finished drink, checked her phone, and looked up. “I need to go back.”

She had thought Chen Mengjing would leave her after sitting for a while.

But the current situation wasn’t like that. Chen Mengjing constantly found new topics, as if planning to chat with her until the bar closed.

Zhou Xiangxu had arrived late; the hour was already late, past midnight.

Chen Mengjing’s friends hadn’t left yet, so she had no reason to monopolize her all night.

Moreover, with her by her side, she couldn’t let go and do what she had wanted to do tonight.

Having finally mustered the courage to come to the bar, leaving empty-handed made Zhou Xiangxu a little depressed. She had always been the type who strived for perfection in everything she did.

But tonight, the plan to find someone in the bar to indulge with and mark a difference in her twenty-six years of life had been completely disrupted by Chen Mengjing.

“I’ll walk you out, Senior.” Chen Mengjing put down her glass and stood up first.

“No need, your friends are waiting for you.”

“I’ll just walk you to the door to catch a taxi.”

Zhou Xiangxu misunderstood Chen Mengjing’s meaning and couldn’t help but feel awkward.

As they walked past her friends’ table, Chen Mengjing slowed down and pointed to the door, saying, “Going out for a moment.”

The women smiled and waved at them.

Zhou Xiangxu nodded slightly in acknowledgment to them while tucking her hair again, then followed Chen Mengjing.

While waiting for a taxi, the more she thought about it, the more dissatisfied she felt. The vague good feelings she had for Chen Mengjing a long time ago suddenly resurfaced. Then, strange thoughts came flooding in:

It wouldn’t be impossible,

She’s such a good prospect,

I already said I came to hang out, why hold back,

It’s just an ONS, what does it matter if she’s an acquaintance,

The perfectionist desire not to abandon a plan halfway kept urging the unwilling Zhou Xiangxu: She was the one who delayed you tonight, so it’s not too much to ask. The worst that can happen is rejection—

Will being rejected by a junior be socially deadly, socially deadly, socially deadly—

The taxi was slow to arrive.

In the silence, Zhou Xiangxu was on the verge of being driven mad by the messy thoughts in her head. Perhaps it was the effect of the alcohol; her clear rationality was firmly pressed down by impulsive emotions.

Finally, she turned to Chen Mengjing, who was standing to her left, and said, “Today is my birthday.”

She paused, and a sudden, inexplicable wave of sadness surged up. Zhou Xiangxu continued,

“Something worse than not receiving any birthday gifts—is not being able to give yourself what you want.”

After saying this, she felt her throat dry up and her heart beating like a drum. She had to lower her head, repeatedly scuffing her right toe heavily on the ground.

Chen Mengjing’s long silence made her want to disappear into the earth, and yet, not a single taxi was arriving.

In fact, Chen Mengjing had instantly understood Zhou Xiangxu’s meaning. Her heart was pounding with excitement, which was why she had been unable to respond for so long.

Finally, she managed to suppress her inner euphoria and replied, feigning calm, “I am very willing to be—Senior’s birthday gift.”