Chapter Nineteen

Qu Qi watched Shen Yue's skillful claw machine operation from beginning to end and couldn't help but exclaim, "Holy crap! That's awesome, bro!"

You Congxi snapped out of her daze, avoided the boy's gaze, and said coldly, "It's just so-so, I was just lucky."

Yin Zixuan added casually from the side: "Indeed. It's a skill that requires very little skill."

"Sigh," Shen Yue said helplessly, having lost his temper, "Please, everyone, have some decency in your words."

He Qi clicked his tongue, patted Shen Yue's shoulder sympathetically, but his words were a cold, sarcastic remark: "Serves you right, you narcissist, serves you right for being so cocky."

Shen Yue: "......"

I'm impressed.

The plush toy wasn't big, so You Congxi put it in her backpack, slowing down her movements as she zipped it up, afraid of getting her hair caught in it.

Do you really like teddy bears?

You Congxi hummed in agreement, a slight smile playing on her lips, looking quite pleased: "It was my favorite cartoon when I was little, I thought it was so cute."

Yin Zixuan nodded, relieved. As long as she wasn't happy for Shen Yue, that was fine.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the ice cream truck at the entrance of the arcade and asked You Congxi, who was in a daze, "Want some ice cream?"

Before You Congxi could speak, a voice suddenly interrupted from the side: "I'll treat."

The two paused and turned to look.

He Qizheng elbowed him again, and Shen Yue hopped around like a frog when poked, then said, "It's my treat. What kind of flavor would you like?"

"......"

Just now, He Qizheng and Shen Yue had a heart-to-heart talk.

He Qizheng: "Shen Yue, are you an idiot?"

Shen Yue: "Why are you cursing at me? Are you sick??"

He Qizheng: "Is the girl you like from our group?"

Shen Yue: "...What are you doing?"

He Qizheng: "I knew it, nothing can escape Marshal He's discerning eyes."

Shen Yue: "Spit it out if you have something to say."

He Qizheng: "How can you pursue a girl like that? If I were a girl, I would kick you into outer space first, let alone like you."

Shen Yue: "...You know nothing, you talk like you've talked to someone."

He Qizheng: "Even if I haven't eaten pork, I've seen pigs run, haven't I? Anyway, you're still better than a stubborn fool like you. Let Commander He teach you a few tricks..."

"......"

"Yin Zixuan," Shen Yue smiled at her, "what flavor do you want?"

Yin Zixuan was taken aback and subconsciously looked at You Congxi.

You Congxi's expression did not change. When she saw her looking over, she thought she was embarrassed to refuse, so she comforted her, "It's okay. Let Shen Yue spend if he wants to. If he runs out of money, he can just use those five-figure shoes he's wearing as collateral."

He Qi chimed in from the side, "That's right, that's right."

Yin Zixuan's eyes flickered, suppressing her doubts, and she smiled politely at Shen Yue, saying, "Mint flavor is fine, thank you."

Shen Yue gave an OK sign, turned around and walked towards the ice cream truck, secretly pleased.

He Qi was telling her that when pursuing someone, you should treat her friends well, which reminded her of what the strategy guide said about "caring about her family and friends".

When he combined the two, the effect was immediate.

You Congxi not only laughed just now, but also joked with him. What else could this be but intimacy?!

Shen Yue felt that he was a genius at love.

-

You Congxi watched as Shen Yue walked over carrying three bowls of ice cream.

She had a strange feeling that Shen Yue would give her the first bowl of ice cream.

Her hands and feet stiffened for a moment. She looked down at the shoelaces she had tied tightly and an idea popped into her head.

"......Thanks."

Yin Zixuan's hesitant voice came just in time, interrupting You Congxi's attempt to squat down and tie his shoelaces.

She stood up straight, exhaled imperceptibly, and wished she could travel back three seconds to strangle the self-deluded version of herself.

"Thanks, brother!"

He Qizheng took it with a smile and gave him a look that said, "You're a promising young man."

You Congxi forced a smile as she watched Shen Yue pick up the last bowl of orange-flavored ice cream. She wanted to refuse, but when she met his bright eyes, she raised her hand again...

"Here you go, Qu Qi," Shen Yue said, ignoring the girl in front of him and extending his arm to Qu Qi who was coming from behind. "You weren't here just now, so I didn't know what flavor you like. Is orange okay?"

"......"

"Oh dear," Qu Qi exclaimed in surprise, "Where are the people who went to the Congxi River?"

......

The explanation that Shen Yue hadn't had a chance to say remained on his lips.

He stared blankly as You Congxi disappeared as if she had stepped on a whirlwind, and belatedly realized what was going on.

What's wrong with her?

what happens?

Shen Yue was suddenly tapped on the shoulder. He turned his head.

“Excuse me,” the ice cream truck employee called to him, handing him a giant bowl of orange ice cream. “Sorry, we were delayed for a bit and ran out of fresh ice cream, so we had to make some again.”

Shen Yue took the deluxe orange ice cream bowl that he had specially ordered and said it was nothing.

He Qi was frowning as he looked at him, sensing something was wrong.

He had a bad feeling about this...

He swallowed the chocolate in his mouth and asked hesitantly, "Who...did you buy this for?"

“Yin…”

"Travel along the Congxi River".

"?"

"Holy shit!!" He Qi's head buzzed, and he almost dropped the ice cream he was holding. "Who?!"

"Don't you know that??" Seeing his reaction as if he'd just eaten shit, Shen Yue's heart slowly rose in his chest. "What do you mean by that??"

Qu Qi had just finished texting You Congxi when she overheard their encrypted conversation. She nudged Yin Zixuan, who was on the phone with You Congxi, and asked in confusion, "What are they talking about? What do they mean by knowing or not knowing? What bad thing are they doing behind our backs?"

Yin Zixuan's mind was also a bit of a mess. She never expected that He Qizheng would be so foolish as to misunderstand...

Never mind. Finding someone is the priority.

She glanced at the enormous object in Shen Yue's hand, then looked away, annoyed.

That's stupid too.

"I..." At this point, what didn't He Qizheng know?

He swallowed hard, glancing at Shen Yue's narrowed eyes, then at the girl who had suddenly disappeared and reappeared not far away. He had a premonition that if he told the truth, Shen Yue would slap him like a spinning top, sending him to Antarctica.

Shen Yue said calmly, "Don't tell me..."

"What are you saying!" He Qi hurriedly interrupted him, "Of course I know, I'm absolutely certain..."

"I am like that little bird in the forest, struggling to break free and soar into the embrace of the blue sky!"

The energetic DJ music started playing, and all four of them turned to look at the source of the sound.

"......"

After much effort and hardship, You Congxi finally managed to take out his phone and hang up.

She looked up at the four people standing in a row staring at her, and raised an eyebrow: "What's going on, greeters?"

"......"

She had just answered Jing Ling's call, but the arcade was too noisy to hear clearly. Jing Ling kept calling her one after another, so she had no choice but to go out and find a quiet place to call back.

She thought Jingling had something important to say, but it turned out to be just an announcement that her mother was going back to the United States and that she should take good care of herself at home.

"......oh."

You Congxi hung up in frustration and found several missed calls from Yin Zixuan and a message from Qu Qi on WeChat asking where she had gone crazy.

......

She subtly wrinkled her nose as she looked at the enormous orange ice cream bowl in Shen Yue's hand.

stingy person.

All I said was that his claw machine skills were just so-so.

She didn't even get any ice cream.

You Congxi decided to tighten the backpack again to suffocate the little bear with beady eyes inside.

She rehearsed a little scene in her mind, but in reality, only a few seconds passed.

So much so that after she answered Qu Qi's question about where she was going, she noticed the strange silence of the remaining three people.

Suddenly, a possibility popped into her head: "Have the three of you broken up?"

If we had known that an in-person group assignment could tear the group apart, we would have preferred to do the assignment via video.

You Congxi sighed. What a mess.

She was about to intervene when she saw Yin Zixuan's expression change. Before she could speak, a flirtatious voice rang out: "Hey beautiful, wanna add each other on WeChat?"

You Congxi frowned and looked over. A man who was as thin as a stick insect suddenly appeared out of nowhere, his head half red and half green, and he was holding a phone almost to Yin Zixuan's face.

Yin Zixuan took a half step back and politely declined, "Sorry, I don't have WeChat."

"Hey, what are you saying?" the man leaned closer, persisting relentlessly, "But there must be a phone number, right? Add an 'hey hey hey—'"

The man was grabbed by the collar and thrown aside like a chick by Shen Yue.

"Get lost."

Seeing that he was still going to pester him, Shen Yue became completely impatient, and the anger he had been suppressing for a long time suddenly rose up: "If you take another step forward, I will break all your arms and legs and send you to the police station."

He Qi stepped forward to block Yin Zixuan's path, shooing her away like a fly: "Didn't you hear what my brother said? Do you know who my brother is? Say another word and I'll twist your head off! Go away, get lost!"

You Congxi, Yin Zixuan, and Qu Qi: "..."

Once the man was out of sight, You Congxi was no longer worried that her group would fall apart.

She's now more worried about whether her "chuunibyou" (middle school syndrome) is contagious.

-

I didn't get to eat orange-flavored ice cream even though I was touring Congxi.

Fortunately, Shen Yue didn't get to eat either.

The delay was too long, and the giant ice cream had melted into a bowl full of orange-flavored water.

She put the hairdryer away, locked the door again, turned off the living room light, and then went back to her room to put her schoolbag on her desk.

Pinch the backpack zipper and pull it open completely through the specially left gap, and the doll inside the backpack finally sees the light of day again.

You Congxi took out the little bear with green bean eyes, held it up to his eyes, stared at it for a few seconds, and couldn't help but curl the corners of his lips into a smile.

She placed the doll next to her pillow, then took out the crumpled composition paper, laid it flat on the table, and stared at it.

Damn, I forgot about it.

You Congxi remembered that someone had promised to tutor her in her composition today.

fraud.

A petty and cunning swindler.

After staring at the essay paper that looked exactly like it had been picked out of the trash can for several minutes, You Congxi suddenly sighed—

Being delusional is a disease, and it needs to be cured!

When she thought about what happened today, she suddenly felt like ants were crawling all over her body, and her scalp tingled with embarrassment.

She actually found it troublesome that Shen Yue always crossed the boundaries of friendship, but she never expected that he would treat all his friends like that.

madman.

You Congxi was so annoyed that he scribbled on the draft paper with a pen. A glance at the composition paper next to him only made him more annoyed.

Her phone buzzed, but she didn't pay it any mind.

A muffled sound seeped into the room through the glass. You Congxi looked up and saw that the water was indeed gathering in increasingly dense, meandering streams on the window.

It's raining.

She turned off the air conditioner, opened the window, and the icy steam hit her face, chilling her to the bone.

My phone vibrated again.

You Congxi lowered his head and picked up his phone.

[DaiY: Are you home yet?]

[DaiY: I'll explain the composition to you after I take a shower.]

You Congxi moved his fingers, and before he could send the two words "no need," several more messages popped up in the chat box.

All I want to say today is that you're beautiful.

I've drunk all the water you gave me; I want to turn the bottle into a vase for growing flowers.

[I specially caught this teddy bear for you. You seemed unhappy last night, and I wanted to cheer you up.]

I wanted to give you the ice cream first, but the staff said the deluxe version would have to wait. I wanted to give you the best one separately.

You Congxi's finger froze above the send button, and he even forgot to blink.

The next second, the phone in my hand buzzed.

[Little Fish, don't be mad at me, okay?]