Chapter 41.1
Some things come naturally when done unconsciously, but once done deliberately, they shift from automatic to manual mode, becoming stiff and awkward.
For example, breathing was natural; being tempted by a boyfriend with a plate of sweet and sour fish to call him “brother” was forced and awkward.
Anyway, Yu Le couldn’t bring himself to call it out.
Little Song, the child next door, had once again done something to amuse little Miao Miao, who clapped and cheered, “Wow, Xiaosong is so amazing! Can Xiaosong teach Miao Miao too?”
Lu Yao raised an eyebrow, his eyes clearly expressing: Look, other kids get this, so why can’t I?
Yu Le: “…”
Yu Le pretended to yawn and said, “I’m so tired. I’m going upstairs to take a nap.”
With that, he turned and quickly ran off.
Lu Yao chuckled silently, watching Yu Le’s figure disappear at the top of the stairs, then turned back to the faucet, and asked Teacher Zhao for advice, “What’s so amazing? If it’s convenient, could you teach me too?”
At noon, Lu Yao received a call for help from Lu Qin. They had forgotten their insurance card when they went to the hospital, and there were very few cars going back to the county town. They wondered if Lu Yao could help them deliver it.
In rural areas, neighbors often help each other out. Given that the elderly members of the Lu family deserved more attention and care, almost everyone nearby knew where they usually left their keys, including Lu Yao.
He skillfully retrieved the key from under the small stone statue next to the door, opened it, found the insurance card wrapped in several layers of plastic bags as instructed by Lu Qin, and after leaving, returned the key to its place under the statue.
Yu Le wanted to go with him, but Lu Yao felt the bumpy mountain roads would be too tiring for a round trip, and the county town was only hot with nothing interesting, so he didn’t let Yu Le come along.
“The mountain is cooler, you don’t need to suffer the trip. Call me if you want anything, and if you’re bored, go find Wen Yuan to play. I’ll be back soon.”
Yu Le didn’t insist on going and stood at the inn’s door, intending to see Lu Yao off.
Lu Yao stood by the driver’s door, opened it, tapped the window ledge a few times with his fingers, and turned to see Yu Le still standing there. Not understanding, Yu Le tilted his head and asked, “What’s up?”
Lu Yao: “It’s been three hours since my boyfriend got up.”
Yu Le: “Huh?”
Lu Yao: “When will he remember to give me a hug?”
His slightly sighing tone made Yu Le burst into laughter, like a butterfly just learning to flutter its wings, running down the steps to hug him, “Remembered, boyfriend, be careful on the road.”
Lu Yao was pushed against the car, his lips curling into a smile. “Okay.”
After Lu Yao left, Yu Le had nothing to do, so he wandered around the courtyard, then snuggled up to Shui Cai’s head and played with it for a while. He didn’t want to disturb Wen Yuan who was watching a drama, so he went back to his room, sorted out the designs he’d worked on recently, and after checking them for errors, sent them all to Old Song’s email.
He had decided that even if Old Song wasn’t satisfied with these designs, he would still create them himself. If they couldn’t collaborate, he’d have his own showcase.
He liked these drafts so much that he didn’t need anyone else’s approval; being satisfied himself was enough.
After sending the email, Yu Le yawned and stretched. The summer afternoons really made one so sleepy.
However, before he clicked the shutdown button on his mouse, he suddenly remembered something.
Curiosity quickly defeated drowsiness. He impulsively opened the web page and typed in the name of Lu Yao’s high school that he had revealed before, adding the word “forum” at the end, and hit search:
[Xuan Cheng No. 1 High School, dedicated to cultivating high-quality students, with a focus on comprehensive development in morality, intelligence, physical fitness, aesthetics, and labor. Striving to implement the Eight Honors and Eight Shames in every student’s mind…]
Yu Le: “…”
He tried scrolling through a couple of pages, mostly finding official posts. Each post had a link to the school’s official website, indicating they were managed by professional staff from within the school.
Something was off; it shouldn’t be like this.
After thinking for a while, he went back to the search page and searched for “Xuan Cheng No. 1 High School forum.” The hottest post was about discussing how many handsome senior boys and beautiful senior girls were on the graduation wall this year.
This middle-school atmosphere was right on the mark.
He quickly skipped to the search bar within the forum and typed in “Lu Yao,” then pressed Enter.
He wasn’t expecting much, considering how many years had passed. Even if there were relevant posts, they might have been deleted by the forum moderators long ago, and not necessarily preserved for him to dig up today.
To his surprise, he found plenty of posts, almost two full pages of them, all with titles containing “Lu Yao.” Adding the content, there might even be seven or eight pages easily.
The posts were from over ten years ago, with a mix of old-fashioned teenage enthusiasm in the wording and emoticons.
He carefully selected and focused on a post with nearly 6,000 replies, whose title was quite eye-catching:
[Hey, does anyone know the Lu Yao from first-year? Pass on a message: don’t be too arrogant or you might lose your head!]
This was familiar to Yu Le; it seemed like a challenge for a fight.
But back then, Lu Yao hadn’t yet joined the military or undergone any training. Could he really have been bullied?
Despite his anxiety, Yu Le began to genuinely worry that his boyfriend from ten years ago might have been a victim of school bullying.
He clicked into the post and found the first to the seventh floors full of the original poster named “My love, you can’t afford it” issuing threats. Replies included comments like calling him “Master Yu” and praising him as a real man.
“…”
Yu Le rubbed his arms, wondering if this person still remembered posting such things.
If so, would they get goosebumps like him?
As for whether anyone actually conveyed the message, it was unclear because from the eighth floor onward, the tone of the thread began to shift away from the title.
[Lu Yao, right? I passed by the door of Class 8 this morning with my friend, and that guy is really handsome! Just too aloof, looks unapproachable.]
[I didn’t see him. I went to check during PE class, he was sleeping at his desk, probably a bottom-tier student. His shoes were nice though, quite stylish. I’ll ask him what brand they are.]
[I heard some senior sisters discussing him today, saying they were considering taking him as a little brother.]
[Wow, he’s already associating with seniors right after arriving.]
[Can senior sisters protect him? I saw several tough guys saying they’d teach him a lesson.]
[Sisters can’t, but their boyfriends could. They’ve been through society, not just school.]
[I know those shoes! Very expensive, five or six thousand. This guy must be rich!]
…
Yu Le wasn’t in the mood to read carefully. He just wanted to know if Lu Yao had been beaten, so he quickly scrolled down to the 88th floor:
[Wow! A fight broke out in the alley next to Zhang’s tailor shop! I saw Lu Yao go in, and Shen Yu and his group were all squatting there!]
[They planned to ambush Lu Yao during the day.]
[Didn’t Lu Yao’s sister intervene?]
[Intervened, but those seniors wanted to get to know him. He just slept at his desk and ignored them completely.]
…
They really fought? Or was it a group showdown???
These unkempt punks!
Yu Le’s anger was palpable, his brow furrowed. However, his anger lasted less than two minutes before being replaced by astonishment:
[Does anyone know how the fight in the tailor shop alley went yesterday?]
[Anyway, Lu Yao came to school this morning, and I kept an eye on him. Didn’t notice anything unusual.]
[Didn’t he take on four by himself yesterday? He came to school today?]
[He came. The four he fought didn’t show up. I heard from his class that they all took sick leave, though whether it was genuine illness or they were too beaten to get up is unclear.]
[Wow, is Lu Yao that awesome?! No wonder he’s so arrogant. Damn, he’s so cool!]
[Girls from our class rush to Class 8 after every break. It’s so annoying. I don’t see what’s so special about that Lu Yao, looks like a fool.]
[The one above, shut up and stop looking for trouble. Idiot.]
…
Yu Le was almost stunned.
One against four, complete victory, huh? Is 17-year-old Boss Lu so fierce?
Thanks to the internet, all the legendary figures from school days have been preserved in live-recorded words narrated by others. It allows Yu Le, ten years later, to understand a Lu Yao who is both familiar and unfamiliar to him, to experience the youth he never participated in.
At seventeen or eighteen, during adolescence, the boy was rebellious and full of spirit.
From being described as “cool” to “handsome,” from being curious to receiving confessions, from being collectively punished to reluctantly accepting a group of ambitious underlings, from “that Lu guy” to “Brother Lu”…
With every deepening understanding, each scene that synchronizes in Yu Le’s mind deepens his regret.
If only they could have met earlier, he lamented.
