Fang Hui told Xiao Cheng that girls don’t like boys who are too clingy. Just like how boys have a sense of conquest towards the ones they like, girls also feel that boys who are too easily won are not valuable.
Xiao Cheng felt something was off and asked him what he should do.
[Fang Hui: From now on, you need to reduce the frequency of replying to her messages.]
[Fang Hui: There’s no need for things like reading bedtime stories tonight.]
Xiao Cheng felt even more confused. It was because Nian Nian wanted to hear him read bedtime stories that he did it. Why was that not okay?
Thinking about it, Xiao Cheng honestly asked why this was an issue, making sure to refer to “her” instead of Nian Nian to avoid suspicion.
Fang Hui, irritated, bit down on his bedtime story. Who wouldn’t want to?
Although Xiao Cheng’s voice was soft tonight, Fang Hui could only vaguely hear a few words, but he knew how deep and gentle Xiao Cheng’s voice was.
Ugh.
Fang Hui gritted his teeth and said, [Because the story you read was too silly. I bet she wasn’t even asleep.]
Xiao Cheng was genuinely surprised.
He thought tonight’s story was more suited for young children. It might seem silly, but it shouldn’t be considered idiotic.
Moreover, Nian Nian clearly fell asleep when he ended the video call.
[Xiao Cheng: But she was asleep. I saw it.]
Fang Hui asked, [How could you see if she was asleep?]
[Xiao Cheng: Before she slept, she positioned her phone screen towards her side face, and I saw her sleeping soundly.]
Fang Hui: Damn, what a scheming girl!
Deliberately positioning her phone screen towards her face and pretending to sleep sweetly, Xiao Cheng would definitely think her sleeping face was beautiful.
Isn’t this just a green tea bitch?
[Fang Hui: Brother Cheng, are you sure she’s not doing it on purpose?]
Xiao Cheng’s expression turned serious. He didn’t like Fang Hui’s tone. Nian Nian was a good person, with a simple and innocent personality. How could she possibly be doing this intentionally?
Besides, she wouldn’t gain anything from it.
[Xiao Cheng: You seem to have a strong opinion about her.]
Fang Hui realized that his previous comment was too emotionally charged.
Xiao Cheng was clearly in a phase where he was very fond of Nian Nian. Even if he just pointed out a flaw in Nian Nian, Xiao Cheng would get defensive.
[Fang Hui: Brother Cheng, I didn’t mean it that way.]
[Fang Hui: You’re so nice; the person you like must be great.]
Xiao Cheng frowned and pondered for a moment. He decided to trust Fang Hui for now. He could skip reading bedtime stories, but he still needed to reply to Nian Nian’s messages.
He couldn’t completely follow Fang Hui’s advice.
[Fang Hui: Space creates beauty.]
[Fang Hui: If you keep contacting her, she will eventually get tired of it.]
[Fang Hui: Especially with long phone calls. If you talk too much, there will be nothing new to say. Once the novelty wears off, she might not want to talk to you anymore.]
Is that really the case?
But Xiao Cheng felt that he and Nian Nian always had endless things to talk about. Even when they didn’t speak, the atmosphere was warm and pleasant.
Nian Nian didn’t seem like she was getting bored with him.
Moreover… he looked forward to talking with Nian Nian every day.
Just hearing her voice made him imagine her expressions.
Xiao Cheng thought Fang Hui’s advice was becoming increasingly absurd. He only sought Fang Hui’s help because he thought Nian Nian didn’t like him. Even though their conversations were often ambiguous, what he wanted was to date Nian Nian.
For every point Fang Hui made, Xiao Cheng could find a counter-argument in his mind. The more Fang Hui said, the more Xiao Cheng felt that following his advice would never win over his partner.
Fang Hui had no idea that Xiao Cheng didn’t believe him at all despite his hard work to stir up trouble.
After Fang Hui had painstakingly finished, Xiao Cheng finally replied, [I understand.]
[Xiao Cheng: Thank you, Fang Hui. You’re really a good person.]
Fang Hui’s face turned green.
He wanted to ask Xiao Cheng what exactly he understood but felt he had already said enough. What if continuing to ask made Xiao Cheng suspicious?
[Fang Hui: I’m glad I could help Brother Cheng.]
[Fang Hui: Hehe.]
For some reason, Xiao Cheng felt that this “hehe” had a hidden meaning.
It was already late, and normally, Xiao Cheng would be asleep by now.
He couldn’t help but yawn. As he closed his eyes, his fingers unconsciously tapped on the screen several times.
Xiao Cheng didn’t notice that he had exited the chat with Fang Hui and instead opened the conversation with Luo Jingshu.
Feeling groggy and with a bit of natural tear in his eyes, the screen appears blurry.
He slowly typed: [Do you think she would like me?]
Everyone feels insecure when it comes to someone they like, whether male or female.
Even though Xiao Cheng knew he looked decent and his temperament wasn’t bad, he still wondered.
But Nian Nian was really outstanding—he was beautiful, gentle, and likely very popular at school. Xiao Cheng felt his competitive edge wasn’t very strong.
With this thought in mind, his phone slipped from his fingers as his eyelids grew heavy, and he fell into a deep sleep.
The next morning, with no classes, Xiao Cheng slept until after nine o’clock. It was the latest he had ever woken up, and he felt somewhat disoriented.
Du Yunshen had already left the dorm, leaving only Fang Hui, who was in the bed next to him, and Jiang Zihe, who was across from him.
As Xiao Cheng got up, Fang Hui happened to open the bed curtain.
They exchanged glances, and Fang Hui noticed the dark circles under Xiao Cheng’s eyes and couldn’t help but ask, “Brother Cheng, why didn’t you reply to my message last night?”
Xiao Cheng suddenly went offline in the middle of their chat, and Fang Hui waited at least ten minutes without a response.
Xiao Cheng recalled the last question he had asked and smiled awkwardly. “Sorry, I was too tired.”
Since Jiang Zihe was also in the dorm, Xiao Cheng didn’t directly ask Fang Hui what to do. Instead, he brushed his teeth while opening his phone to check how Fang Hui had responded.
The first message wasn’t from Fang Hui but from Nian Nian. Xiao Cheng glanced at it and nearly choked on the toothpaste foam.
Why did Nian Nian ask if he had someone he liked?!!
Xiao Cheng couldn’t figure out where he had made a mistake. Had Nian Nian somehow found out about his secret crush?
He opened the message and saw his text from last night, which was supposed to be sent to Fang Hui. He had somehow sent it to Nian Nian instead.
He had asked Nian Nian if he thought “she” would like him.
Oh no.
Nian Nian wouldn’t misunderstand that he liked someone else, would he?
After a moment of panic, Xiao Cheng forced himself to calm down. Fortunately, he had been too tired last night to clarify who “she” was.
He replied to Nian Nian, [No, it’s our major course’s female teacher.]
[She’s quite strict. Yesterday, she called on me to answer a question, and I couldn’t, so she didn’t look too pleased.]
Although this incident happened last week, it wasn’t exactly a lie, right?
Xiao Cheng congratulated himself silently for being so clever.
When Luo Jingshu received the message, he pulled up Xiao Cheng’s schedule from his phone. He had only had one class yesterday, and the teacher was a short, chubby man.
Xiao Cheng had mentioned this himself.
Had he forgotten that he had sent him the schedule before?
Luo Jingshu: Hmph, men.
Not a word of truth.
Xiao Cheng couldn’t recall that detail, so when he saw the class schedule Nian Nian sent, he couldn’t help but stifle a laugh, covering his mouth as he coughed for a while.
The scene of his major lie being exposed.
Xiao Cheng quickly typed out an explanation, [We also had a make-up class yesterday.]
Fearing that Nian Nian might ask more questions, he hurriedly typed a bunch of messages to avoid having to cover up one lie with countless others.
[If I really had someone I liked, how could I have so much time to chat with you every day?]
Luo Jingshu smiled slightly, [Oh, Brother Cheng, do you find me annoying?]
Xiao Cheng didn’t know how to respond this time.
That feeling came again—Nian Nian always teased him like this, but his words sounded perfectly normal.
[Xiao Cheng: I never thought that. If I had to say, it’s probably me who annoys you every day.]
[Nian Nian, I really enjoy chatting with you and look forward to our phone calls every day.]
After sending this, Xiao Cheng felt something was off.
Why did it sound so much like a confession?
Let’s consider it a confession for now, he thought, feeling a little thrilled and enjoying the playful exchange.
He kept his eyes glued to the screen, not even noticing the water dripping from his hair, eagerly waiting for Nian Nian’s reply.
“Brother Cheng, what are you so focused on?”
Seeing Xiao Cheng’s expression, Fang Hui understood that Xiao Cheng was likely chatting with that girl.
What could be so interesting that he couldn’t put down his phone even right after waking up?
Seeing Xiao Cheng’s nervous look, Fang Hui wondered what the girl had said to make him so anxious.
Xiao Cheng turned to Fang Hui, a faint smile on his otherwise pale face, “I think I might have upset her.”
Fang Hui’s gaze fell on Xiao Cheng’s face, from the red marks under his eyes to his glistening lips. He felt a pang of bitterness and jealousy.
Who could make Xiao Cheng feel so anxious and unfulfilled?
“If you don’t mind, can I take a look at your chat history?”
Xiao Cheng handed his phone over, and Fang Hui’s first glance fell on the note he had given to this person: Nian Nian.
What a close nickname.
Nian Nian’s profile picture was a white flower, cute and playful, suggesting she was quite something.
Fang Hui composed himself and continued reading.
He pointed at Xiao Cheng’s message from last night and turned to face him, “What does this mean?”
Xiao Cheng blinked, “I meant to send it to you. My hand slipped and sent it to her by mistake.”
Fang Hui felt a pang of sourness. Look at how Xiao Cheng spoke—so humble.
And you asked, “Do you think she’ll like me?”
Pfft, she won’t.
“He seems to have misunderstood. How should I explain it to him?”
Even with his bias towards Xiao Cheng, Fang Hui had to admit that Xiao Cheng didn’t know how to comfort a girl.
Wouldn’t he say a few sweet words to her?
Say something romantic to win her over!!
A few dry explanations don’t show any real affection, no wonder he’s still single despite being so handsome.
“What should I do now?”
Fang Hui, feeling frustrated, looked at Xiao Cheng with disappointment, “You really can’t handle this. Let me do it. Just watch.”
Fang Hui quickly typed out a long message. Xiao Cheng tried to peek, but Fang Hui wouldn’t let him see.
After sending the message, Fang Hui returned the phone to Xiao Cheng, “Look at this. Learn to talk to her like this in the future.”
Xiao Cheng was dumbfounded.
[Xiao Cheng: Nian Nian, you are the most gentle and lovely girl I’ve ever met. Every moment with you makes me feel happy, and if possible, I would even want to be with you forever Σ―(〃°w°〃)?→]
Xiao Cheng set the phone down in shock and looked at Fang Hui with distress, his lips trembling, “At least show me what you sent before you sent it to him.”
What kind of nonsense is this?
Nian Nian won’t think he’s crazy, will he?
Xiao Cheng returned to reality and hurriedly grabbed his phone to try to recall the message.
In his shock, he forgot there was a recall feature.
But when he checked again, a new message had already appeared in Nian Nian’s chat.
[Nian Nian: Girl…]
And another message popped up.
[Nian Nian: Brother Cheng, what are you talking about? :)]
It’s over, this time it’s really over. The death smiley has appeared.
Even with his slow 2G network, Xiao Cheng knew what the death smiley meant.
He looked at Fang Hui painedly, “I’m really done for this time.”
Fang Hui was confused, “What was her reaction?”
It shouldn’t be this bad. Even if the tone of his typing was slightly different from Xiao Cheng’s usual tone, it shouldn’t be this serious, right?
“I’m going to find her!”
Fang Hui: ???
“Brother Cheng…”
Before he could finish, Xiao Cheng had already stood up, striding quickly out the door.
Fang Hui:…
Damn, what did he do wrong?
Helping the person he likes to pursue his rival is one thing, but how did he end up making things worse?
Wait a minute…
After a couple of minutes, Fang Hui realized this was exactly the outcome he wanted. Why was he still worried?
After Xiao Cheng ran out of the dormitory, he remembered that Nian Nian should be in class now.
Wait a minute, if he’s in class, how can he still reply to his messages?
[Xiao Cheng: Are you using your phone during class?]
Luo Jingshu:…
Good job, Xiao Cheng.
First, he called him a girl, then, despite clearly making him angry, he didn’t even apologize and dared to ask if he’s using his phone in class?
You’re finished.
Luo Jingshu put away his phone, deciding to ignore it. He must be out of his mind to reply to Xiao Cheng’s message.
Damn, he’s really mad.
“Jingshu, want one?”
Seeing Luo Jingshu put away his phone with a hint of anger, Jiang Yi took out a pack of cigarettes and offered them to him.
Luo Jingshu glanced at them and reached out to take one.
Meanwhile, Xiao Cheng had taken a taxi to S City No. 1 High School.
It’s better to apologize to Nian Nian in person.
