Chapter 70 (Extra 10)
Returning to his room from downstairs, Yu Le received a file from a male classmate in a group chat. The accompanying text read:
“The gentle little girlfriend next door—don’t miss it, or you’ll regret it for ten thousand years!”
—
It wasn’t in the class group chat but in a smaller group that Shen Yu had created. This group consisted of the usual boys who frequently hung out together, including Lu Yao.
As soon as the message was sent, the chat was flooded with “Thanks, boss jpg.” responses.
From the title, it seemed like a youth drama.
Yu Le was more into sci-fi movies, like the “Cat vs. Dog” kind, and wasn’t too interested in such artistic films.
However, the situation tonight was special. He needed something to distract himself, and any pillow handed to him while he was sleepy was a good pillow. He wasn’t picky.
He clicked on the link to download the file, got into bed, put on his headphones, and turned off the lights.
Knowing he wouldn’t be able to stay awake for long while watching such a movie, he prepared himself to fall asleep at any moment.
As expected, the film began with a very cozy home scene. The female lead was in the kitchen washing and chopping vegetables while the male lead sat at the dining table typing on a computer, seemingly working.
The rhythmic sound of the knife hitting the chopping board made Yu Le’s drowsiness start to kick in. After a potato was chopped, the drowsy bugs in his head were ready to take over.
He dimmed the screen, and the female lead came out holding a plate of washed grapes, placing it beside the male lead and feeding him one. They exchanged some sweet talk, but Yu Le couldn’t understand a word and realized that this was actually a foreign film.
And without subtitles.
That was okay. It was actually better for the hypnotic effect.
He yawned, his eyelids starting to droop. In the blink of an eye, the female lead was already sitting on the male lead’s lap. They gazed at each other with gooey eyes, clearly acting like a couple deeply in love.
They started talking again.
Yu Le couldn’t understand, so he simply took off his headphones, turned onto his side, and saw the male lead pointing to the table. The female lead understood and picked up the glasses next to the computer, putting them on him.
The camera zoomed in on the male lead’s eyes. Occasionally switching to the female lead, her expression was a mix of daze and infatuation, as if she was completely captivated by the male lead who was now wearing glasses.
To be honest, Yu Le couldn’t quite understand this and felt no emotional reaction.
So, when the female lead couldn’t resist kissing him, the sleepy bugs in Yu Le’s brain declared victory. He dropped his phone, tilted his head, and fell asleep.
He ended up having a nearly incomprehensible dream for almost half the night.
When he woke up in the morning, Yu Le didn’t remember what exactly he had dreamed about, only that Lu Yao had appeared in every scene.
But what exactly about Lu Yao?
From getting up, changing clothes, washing his face, to brushing his teeth, Yu Le couldn’t recall. He felt uneasy and restless—
“…”
Was it really this loud? Something felt off.
Yu Le wiped his face and opened the door. Cotton immediately stopped scratching at the door, sitting calmly and wagging its tail at him.
“My treasure, it’s you.” Yu Le squatted down and gave Cotton’s head a good rub.
At that moment, the door next door opened, and Lu Yao came out in his school uniform. What he saw was someone squatting at the door, looking up at him with longing, along with a dog.
Their expressions were strikingly similar.
“…What are you doing squatting here? Go downstairs, wash your hands, and get ready for breakfast.”
As he passed by Yu Le at a leisurely pace, he casually ruffled Yu Le’s hair, pressing down the stray tuft of hair. The motion made Yu Le wonder if Lu Yao actually wanted to pet the dog but ended up petting the wrong person.
Holding Cotton and watching Lu Yao’s back disappear at the stairway, Yu Le tilted his head, lost in thought.
So calm, he thought.
As if he hadn’t given the events of last night a second thought.
Last night…
Yu Le wasn’t sure if it was because he had matured after a night of sleep or if he was influenced by Lu Yao’s calmness, but now that he thought about it, it really didn’t seem like a big deal.
It was just a joke, and he had overreacted.
So, nothing was wrong.
Yu Le smacked his lips, no longer fixating on what he had dreamt about, and stood up, calling Cotton: “Let’s go, good boy, time for breakfast.”
He hadn’t slept well the night before, and during the early class, he was so drowsy that as soon as the teacher left after the first half of the lesson, he slumped over his desk and fell asleep, using the noisy reading voices as his pillow.
Until the class bell rang, and thinking about the upcoming class, he woke up restlessly. In his half-dream state, he could still hear the conversation next to him clearly.
“Brother Lu, did you see the good stuff Da Hui shared last night? It’s really pure. It made me embarrassed to even try to take care of myself.”
“Be quiet. No, I haven’t.”
“Oh, why not?”
“Not interested.”
“No way? You’re not interested? I don’t believe it. Brother Lu, you wouldn’t be pretending not to have seen it, right?”
“I can testify that Brother Lu really hasn’t seen it. I have Brother Lu’s cloud drive contact, and he hasn’t opened my share.”
“…So who did open your share?”
“Of course I know. How else would I know you were so quick to click it?”
“Damn, can you be any more of a dog?”
“Get out of here. Stop making noise.”
“Brother Lu, give me a comment—”
“Can’t you see someone’s sleeping?”
“Alright! Da Hui, let’s go out and fight!”
The noise by his ears stopped, but Yu Le couldn’t go back to sleep.
When the front desk passed the test papers back, Yu Le, struggling to lift his head, took two papers and handed the rest back. He also passed one to Lu Yao.
Noticing a set of advanced math papers spread out on Lu Yao’s desk, the jumbled numbers gave Yu Le a headache just from looking. He scratched his head and sighed: “Bro, you—”
He looked up and fell silent.
Lu Yao casually placed his right hand on the desk, twirling the pen between his fingers, “What?”
“Nothing.” Yu Le swallowed, trying to suppress the urge to cover his heart, and asked quietly, “Brother Lu, why are you wearing glasses all of a sudden?”
Lu Yao: “I always have.”
Yu Le: “Huh? Always had? How come I didn’t know?”
Lu Yao: “I wear them occasionally in class.”
Yu Le felt embarrassed, realizing that despite sitting next to him for so long, he had never noticed.
Such a loss!
—
Shortly after the first period began, Yu Le’s old deskmate from Wucheng received a message from Xuan Cheng:
Yu Le: “I suddenly understand what the girls in our class used to mean by ‘handsome enough to make your legs go weak.’”
Old Deskmate: “What does it mean?”
Yu Le: “The concept of my deskmate.”
Yu Le: “New deskmate.”
After sending the message, Yu Le quickly glanced at Lu Yao again.
With his deep, sculpted features, Lu Yao’s face had a typical, even somewhat aggressive appearance that could give anyone a visual shock without warning.
Now, with just a pair of silver-framed glasses added to his nose, his inherent aggressiveness was oddly softened, replaced by a lazy scholarly air. Yet, the hidden boldness in his eyes revealed that the calmness was just a façade.
When they locked eyes for a moment earlier, Yu Le’s heartbeat skipped a beat.
It was killing him.
Deskmate: [Oh.]
Deskmate: [Of course, I know it’s not me! But do you really need to emphasize it?]
Yu Le: [/grins]
He needed to apologize to the female lead from the movie last night.
As he lay on his desk thinking about this, he took another sneaky glance.
On top.
Want to touch.
Deskmate: [Is this your first day with your deskmate?]
Yu Le: [Of course not.]
Deskmate: [So why the sudden realization?]
Yu Le: [Is it not allowed?]
Deskmate: [You’re acting weird.]
Yu Le: [Could you elaborate?]
Deskmate: [Normally, no guy would describe his friend as ‘handsome enough to make your legs go weak.’]
Yu Le: [Well, you’re not normal either.]
Deskmate: [?]
Yu Le: [You used to praise me for being handsome.]
Deskmate: [I said it’s hard for me to find a girlfriend with you around!!! How is that the same?!]
Yu Le: [If you look beyond the surface, what’s the difference?]
Deskmate: […]
Deskmate: [Damn it, it’s confirmed, there’s no saving you. Just wait for your doom.]
When the class bell rang, the “online doctor” diagnosed Yu Le. He stuffed his phone into the drawer and leaned on his desk, watching his deskmate.
Lu Yao finished writing the answer to the last fill-in-the-blank question, glanced up at Yu Le as he turned the page, and asked, “What’s up?”
“Nothing much.” Yu Le, feeling mischievous, folded a corner of Lu Yao’s test paper into a small cone, then let it unfold again.
Lu Yao ignored him.
Yu Le grew bolder, reaching up to take Lu Yao’s glasses, slowly sliding them halfway off, and then putting them back on.
Lu Yao still didn’t pay him any attention, merely lazily lowering his eyes and lightly pressing down on Yu Le’s arm with the tip of his pen, like an indulgent parent.
Yu Le withdrew his hand, the corners of his mouth curving upwards. Despite his feigned indifference, he knew deep down that his old deskmate was right.
He was indeed feeling a bit off.
—
Autumn in Xuan City, like a child’s mood, changes multiple times a day. It could be sunny in the morning and then rain heavily in the afternoon.
The last period on Friday was supposed to be physical education, but Old Liu temporarily took it over for a class meeting.
“Since it’s going to rain soon and you’ll have to come back anyway, I’ll do a good deed and save you the trip.”
His comment was met with a chorus of boos.
Old Liu, who had a good temper, wasn’t upset. He still smiled cheerfully, “Don’t worry, I won’t lecture you or make you do worksheets today. I just want to take this opportunity to have you leave a little memory before you graduate.”
Someone joked, “Graduation is still far off.”
Old Liu held up his thermos cup, “Yes, it’s still early, so while everyone is still in a relaxed mood, let’s talk about it. Let’s leave something behind before you all get teary-eyed. Otherwise, when the time comes, every word will be soaked in tears, and the punctuation will be unreadable.”
Laughter erupted from the class.
Since it was still the first semester of senior year, they felt that graduation was far away. To them, distant events seemed non-existent, and who would be sad over something that doesn’t exist?
Old Liu tapped the podium, “I just need each of you to leave me one practical wish. That way, when you all graduate and work, if you ever come back to visit this old man, you can check if your 18-year-old wishes have come true.”
The students started rustling through sticky notes. In this relaxed atmosphere, most of the boys couldn’t keep their mouths shut, jokingly making remarks:
“I’ll go first. I hope Old Liu is on the top ten teachers list in the province in three years—no, nationwide!”
“I hope every class Old Liu teaches in the future has top university students!”
“I hope Old Liu doesn’t get white hair in the next twenty years!”
“Alright, I’ll say that Old Liu doesn’t get wrinkles for twenty years!”
“Enough, I said practical wishes. Are you going to argue about twenty years from now?”
“How is it not practical? It’s just twenty years. I’ll definitely come back to see! If you have white hair, I’ll dye it black myself, hehe!”
“I will too! Old Liu, I’ll buy you a beauty device, a whole box, and if you don’t use it, I’ll use it to massage my feet!”
“Damn, what kind of nonsense is that…”
As a transfer student, Yu Le felt a bit envious watching everyone’s lively interaction, and he missed his old teachers and classmates from Wucheng.
While sorting through sticky notes, a hand reached over and placed one on his desk, written in elegant calligraphy:
“Remember to accompany Yu Le back to Wuzhong after graduation.”
Yu Le was stunned and immediately turned to Lu Yao, his eyes shining brightly, “Why are you the one accompanying me?”
Lu Yao responded with a question, “Don’t you want to?”
“I do, very much!”
Yu Le smiled, checked the blank space at the bottom of the sticky note, and signed his name, “Request approved. Don’t back out.”
—
By the end of the school day, the rain had intensified, with continuous drizzles and gusts of wind making the droplets cling to people.
With such weather, biking was impossible. With many students waiting for cabs outside, Lu Yao held an umbrella and led Yu Le forward, planning to catch a cab after the crowd thinned out.
The road was wet but not flooded.
Yu Le kept his hands in his pockets, avoiding loose tiles that could become traps. He listened to the rain tapping on the umbrella and thought about some slow-moving emotions.
A cool breeze brushed past his shoulder, and he suddenly spoke: “Old Liu said that after the college entrance exams, everyone will go their separate ways.”
Lu Yao tilted the umbrella towards him and replied calmly, “Hmm.”
Yu Le asked, “So, will we also part ways?”
Lu Yao’s gaze fell on Yu Le’s profile and then met his eyes. The dark depths of his eyes seemed to dissolve in the mist of rain. “Why bring this up suddenly?”
“It’s not sudden. I’ve been thinking about it all the way.”
Yu Le added for precision, “Also, add half a class period.”
Lu Yao quietly looked at him, seeing his reflection in Yu Le’s eyes, “What have you figured out?”
Yu Le: “I’ve realized that even though we’ve barely spent a semester together, we’re already forced to think about parting ways and distant places.”
Feelings that arise in youth are the hardest to express yet the most wonderful.
They’re like a spark that secretly heats up and burns. When unnoticed, it drifts around triumphantly, occasionally making the skin feel its heat, leaving one flustered and disoriented by its unknown source.
Once discovered, it’s like a mountain wind fueling the spark into a flame, spreading quickly, unstoppable, and unquenchable.
Yu Le felt this fire burning steadily in his heart now.
He stopped, withdrew his left hand from his pocket, grabbed Lu Yao’s sleeve, and looked at him with earnest expectation in his eyes, “Brother, let’s go to the same university?”
“I don’t want to part with you.”
