lovenovelstory 043 This is true dimensional reduction attack.
043 This is true dimensional reduction attack.
Amidst the laughter, the girl in the lead finally shifted her gaze from Jiang Di to Wang Zhe, who had remained silent to the side.
She scanned Wang Zhe from head to toe with an extremely critical and contemptuous look.
He wore a plain white T-shirt, ordinary casual pants, and a pair of sneakers of unknown brand. No gold chain, no tattoos, not even pierced ears. He looked clean and tidy, exuding the air of a bookworm who had spent too much time in the library.
"This is the boyfriend you talked about?" The girl in the lead scoffed. "Jiang Di, your taste has really gone downhill. Before, your suitors were either the top guys from the sports school or guys who drove modified motorcycles. How did you end up with someone like this?"
Another girl blew a smoke ring, deliberately aiming it at Wang Zhe's face: "Hey, handsome, which school are you from? You're so honest, what can you possibly show our Miss Jiang around? We'll probably have to split the hotel bill too, right?"
These words were extremely harsh, carrying the self-righteous meanness typical of that age.
Jiang Di was so angry that her face turned red, and the plastic cup in her hand was crushed and deformed. She was about to slam her hand on the table and stand up to curse.
A hand gently pressed on the back of her hand.
Wang Zhe remained seated steadily in the folding chair. His face showed no sign of anger or displeasure; instead, a calm smile graced his lips, like an elder watching a group of mischievous children.
"You're Xiaodi's old friends, right?" Wang Zhe's voice was deep and magnetic. "I'm sorry, I've been a bit too strict with her lately. After all, Xiaodi's foundation is weak, and in order for her to keep up with my pace in the future, we really need to seize the time to catch up. I've neglected all the children."
The girl in charge was stunned for a moment. She had anticipated that the other person would get angry, back down, or even argue with her, but she had never expected the other person to react this way.
The word "little kid" in particular made her inexplicably uncomfortable, but she couldn't bring herself to lash out.
The girl in the lead frowned and said, "Who are you? How dare you talk like that?"
Wang Zhe smiled slightly: "Let me introduce myself. I'm a postgraduate student in the Department of Architecture at the University of Shanghai-Hong Kong. I just came back from Shanghai-Hong Kong for the summer vacation. I hope Jiang Di can study at the University of Shanghai-Hong Kong with me in the future. Even if she can't get into a top university, at least she'll get a bachelor's degree. This way, it will be easier for me to recommend her to a better job in the future."
"Shanghai...Hong Kong University? Postgraduate? Referral?"
These words were like several boulders, instantly crashing into the barren pond of knowledge of this group of delinquent girls.
Wang Zhe then asked, "Judging from your appearance, you must still be in school, right? Do you have any plans for the future?"
"Where we hang out in the future is none of your business." The leading girl's momentum had unconsciously weakened a bit.
Wang Zhe waved his hand and said in a tone of someone who'd been there before, "It's okay, I was just asking casually. Since you're all around eighteen years old, you should have some plans for the future. You must have thought about what kind of job you'll do five or ten years from now, and how you'll make money, right?"
Lies don't hurt, but the truth is the sharpest knife. If they had truly considered their future plans, would they still be acting this way?
The girl with purple highlights said fiercely, "You think you're so great just because you're good at studying!"
Wang Zhe shook his head: "It's nothing special. What job you do, what school you go to, it's all part of life. But my plan for Jiang Di is that in five years, after graduation, she should be on an upward career path, and at least earn 10,000 yuan a month. She can't be too far behind me, right?"
The casually mentioned monthly salary of 10,000 yuan stunned them all.
These days, a monthly salary of over 10,000 yuan is practically a legend for most people outside of first-tier cities, let alone for these young women who even have to pool their money to smoke.
"Speaking of which, you guys said I look honest, right? Well, I'm just here for some barbecue today, not drinking with clients or attending a meeting in Lujiazui, so there's really no need to dress up. But I think your outfits are a bit over the top."
As Wang Zhe spoke, his gaze fell on the exaggerated eyeliner of the leading girl. There was no mockery, only a very calm tone.
"Take this student's makeup for example. This smoky makeup actually originated from punk culture in Europe and America, and it's also a kind of subcultural expression. However, the perspective of your eyeliner is wrong."
"See through...see through relationships?" The girl in the lead was stunned and subconsciously touched the corner of her eye.
Wang Zhe, with a straight face, spouted nonsense: "Your treatment of the outer corners of your eyes is too harsh, disrupting the golden ratio of the face. According to Le Corbusier's modulus theory, the beauty of the human face lies in the harmony of proportions. The way you drew it causes the visual center of gravity to shift downwards, making the cheekbones appear too high and ruining the overall facade structure."
The girl in the lead wanted to argue, but when she tried to speak, she found that all she could say was profanity, and she didn't know what else she could say.
Wang Zhe then pointed to the purple-haired girl's temporary tattoo: "And this design, the composition is too crowded, lacking white space. The truly top-notch tattoo art emphasizes less is more. The core aesthetic of the top designers I've met in Shanghai and Hong Kong is to subtract, so as to highlight the key points. Your color scheme, if I may be so bold, is too saturated, which can easily cause visual fatigue."
Another young delinquent has fallen into this state—"What you're saying is completely unfamiliar to me. What else can you say besides swearing?"
But in situations like this, resorting to profanity makes me feel like I've lost.
Seeing their anxious expressions, Song Zhiyi lowered her head and grinned wildly.
This guy is such a show-off! Wang Zhe knows absolutely nothing about makeup, so this guy is definitely just making things up using professional terms he read in books.
Just then, the owner came over to pick up the menu.
Wang Zhe pointed to the most expensive page on the menu and said:
"Boss, what's your best beer? Craft beer? Bring us a case, we'll drink it with them."
"Okay!" The boss's eyes lit up.
Wang Zhe waved his hand casually and said generously, "Since you're Xiao Di's friend, then you're my friend too. The four of you should definitely drink a lot. Let's have some good drinks today, it's on me. If you ever want to develop your career in Shanghai or Hong Kong, you can come find me; the seafood barbecue there is incredibly fresh."
Considering their close relationship with Jiang Di, completely offending him wouldn't do any good. Wang Zhe figured that by intimidating them and then offering small favors to make them hesitant to cause trouble, they would face fewer problems later.
The group of girls looked at the case of craft beer the boss brought out, saw the price of the beer, and then looked at the smiling "graduate student brother," and suddenly felt a huge sense of disparity.
They accepted the three bottles of beer, but felt embarrassed to sit next to Jiang Di and Wang Zhe's table. Instead, they said "thank you" and ran to the outdoor seating area, keeping a distance from the three people there.
On the table, several bottles of beer sat unopened.
None of the three of them planned to drink.
Wang Zhe pointed to the beer and said, "The craft beer should taste pretty good. I'll bring some back for your dad later; it'll be just right for him."
Jiang Di, sitting beside him, had stars of admiration in her eyes: "We can just take what we need after we finish eating. You were so cool just now! You completely fooled them! Do you really know so much?"
Wang Zhe said in a low voice, "What do you know? I've never studied makeup, that's all made up."
"Huh?" Jiang Di was stunned. "Made up?"
"Yeah, perspective? That's for drawing blueprints. But it's enough to fool them." Wang Zhe grinned mischievously.
Song Zhiyi, sitting opposite, finally couldn't hold back anymore and burst out laughing, her laughter shaking her head.
"How come I never realized you were so naughty before? A graduate student, aren't you afraid of being exposed?"
Wang Zhe: "Don't laugh. If they ask you, just say you're an undergraduate student at Shanghai University of Hong Kong, and a junior who works on the same project as me."
"That's not entirely a lie, is it? Aren't your first choices both universities in Shanghai and Hong Kong? What if..."
Jiang Di stopped mid-sentence.
If both of them get accepted into their first-choice universities, wouldn't that mean they'll be classmates again for the next few years, perhaps even in the same major or class?
Although Song Zhiyi said she wasn't interested in Wang Zhe, saying that being childhood sweethearts made it harder to make a move, what if? What if the two of them got together in an unfamiliar environment, while she was still working hard to prepare for the college entrance exam in Chengdu?
Jiang Di, who had just been overjoyed, suddenly fell silent.
Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.