Chapter 124 Extra

If line-if nothing happened (Part 3)

Since he liked Shen Yuhuai's post that day, every time Chen Qizhao posted on WeChat Moments, there was always that avatar under the likes. It was normal to get likes on a post to Moments. It wasn't that he paid attention to that avatar on purpose, but he could always see Shen Yuhuai's avatar among a bunch of liked avatars.

There wasn't much to do during the summer vacation. Yan Kailin was busy with the new semester's enrollment, so he never met him when we went out for drinks. Chen Qizhao has also been browsing WeChat Moments recently, and he always sees Yan Kailin posting pictures of food. The other party lives in Shen Yuhuai's apartment, and eats the meals cooked by Shen Yuhuai almost every day, and he posts the same meals on WeChat Moments.

Is Shen Yuhuai's cooking so delicious?

After Chen Qizhao gave Yan Kailin a thumbs up, he switched out and clicked into Shen Yuhuai's circle of friends. This guy cooks so well, why doesn't he post a circle of friends? His bad friends would post a circle of friends to show off whenever they made fried rice, but why was Shen Yuhuai's most recent circle of friends only a month ago?

Soon, it was the first day of university.

Yan Kailin asked someone to use his connections, and originally exchange students like Yan Kailin were supposed to live in a single dormitory, but he didn't go, so the two of them were arranged to live in the same dormitory. It happened to be a four-person dormitory, and there were two students in the same major in Chen Qizhao's dormitory, so Yan Kailin just filled the vacant seat.

On the first day of school, when Chen Qizhao arrived at the dormitory, the other two roommates were already there.

After Chen Qizhao greeted them, he saw Yan Kailin slowly coming over, sweating profusely as he pulled a suitcase. Fortunately, the air conditioner was on in the dormitory, as Yan Kailin collapsed from exhaustion as soon as he came in.

"How can you be so tired carrying a suitcase by yourself?" Chen Qizhao was full of disgust, but he still went down to help Yan Kailin push the suitcase in. However, just as he reached the door, a tall man came in from the other side. He couldn't stop his steps and accidentally bumped into him.

Chen Qizhao took two steps back and looked up to see Shen Yuhuai.

Shen Yuhuai pushed Yan Kailin's remaining suitcase and nodded slightly at Chen Qizhao, "Are you okay?"

Chen Qizhao responded, with a faint minty scent lingering at the tip of his nose. He suddenly remembered that the last time he accidentally entered Chen Yuhuai's bedroom, he smelled the same smell, a faint minty scent.

Shen Yuhuai glanced at him with a little concern, and quickly pushed Yan Kailin’s suitcase to his desk.

Yan Kailin arrived late and sat right at the door.

Yan Kailin greeted his two roommates, and Chen Qizhao returned to his desk and sat down, his eyes involuntarily falling on Shen Yuhuai. After pushing the suitcase, Shen Yuhuai stood near the door. He was wearing light-colored casual clothes today, and his loose T-shirt sleeves revealed his fair arms.

Chen Qizhao's gaze moved slightly upwards and rested on Shen Yuhuai's face. The other person was not wearing glasses, and he had an indescribable feeling.

This look took a bit of time.

Shen Yuhuai noticed the vague gazes coming from the inside of the dormitory. The chairs in the dormitory were small wooden chairs without backrests. The boys sat there properly, with their slightly longer legs bent and one hand resting on the table, looking a bit casual and free.

The slightly longer hair on her forehead covered her eyes a little, and her eyes looked over here from time to time.

The boy still had some baby fat on his face, vaguely looking a bit like a child.

Especially those eyes, which looked straight at people and never restrained their sharpness.

Shen Yuhuai lowered his eyes slightly, put away his phone, and looked in the direction of Chen Qizhao.

The moment Shen Yuhuai looked over, Chen Qizhao suddenly withdrew his gaze.

He lowered his head and blinked slightly, and saw the pair of long legs standing at the door not far away from the corner of his eye. Inexplicably, his mind emerged with the long and straight legs of Shen Yuhuai standing in front of him when he went to see Yan Kailin during the summer vacation.

Shen Yuhuai said: “If everything is fine, I’ll leave first.”

Hearing the voice, Chen Qizhao raised his head.

"Thank you, Brother Huai!" Yan Kailin said, "We're going to have dinner later, are you coming?"

Shen Yuhuai checked the time, and saw Chen Qizhao in the distance looking at him, but he really didn't have much time in the afternoon at this time. "I still have something to do at the institute in the afternoon, so I'll leave first."

"Okay, I'll treat you to dinner some other day." Yan Kailin said.

After Shen Yuhuai left, Chen Qizhao asked, “Isn’t he going to the research institute today? How can he be free to help you?”

Yan Kailin: "I don't know either. Maybe my brother asked him to do it?"

"oh."

After decorating the dormitory, several people went to visit the school.

The new roommate was pretty nice. On the first day of school, Chen Qizhao took a picture of the scenery of S University and posted it. After a while, many people liked the picture. He subconsciously looked at the avatars of those who liked the picture, and there was no avatar of Chen Yuhuai.

"Why are you always looking at your phone?" Yan Kailin asked.

Chen Qizhao came back to his senses and said, "I didn't see anything. I was just browsing my Moments."

Yan Kailin: "Why are you looking so grumpy while scrolling through your Moments?"

Chen Qizhao frowned and put away his phone: "Is there one?"

They are now walking to the playground. S University is close to the suburbs, and they can see buildings in the distance from afar. He remembered that the Ninth Research Institute seemed to be right next to S University... Which direction was it?

In the evening, Chen Qizhao and his roommates returned to the dormitory after dinner. When they were browsing their friends' circle, they suddenly saw that the latest post was posted by Chen Yuhuai. It was a picture of the sunset with some buildings around it.

Chen Qizhao paused after reading it, and when he switched to his own Moments, he found that familiar avatar had appeared under his Moments post in the afternoon.

Is this just after get off work...?

Chen Qizhao left and continued to look down at other friends' circles. Halfway through, he suddenly thought of something and swiped up again, giving a like to the sunset picture that Shen Yuhuai had just posted.

As the number of likes increased, Chen Qizhao always subconsciously paid attention to a certain avatar.

Although there was no communication, he seemed to care a little.

In a blink of an eye, two or three weeks passed. Even when Yan Kailin went to school, he was closely watched by Yan Kaiqi. He was caught drinking wherever he went. Moreover, Yan Kaiqi had also returned from abroad. Now Cheng Rong and others did not dare to drag him out by force, and they could not say a word to Yan Kaiqi and his friends. Therefore, even if they drank, they did not dare to drink after 11 o'clock.

Chen Qizhao did not have a good relationship with his family. He quarreled with his father and brother one out of three times when they met. He was supposed to go home for a meal this weekend at Zhang Yazhi's request, but Chen Shiming ended up talking about the time he drank with Cheng Rong some time ago. It was not the first time that he and Cheng Rong went out drinking. In Chen Shiming's eyes, Cheng Rong, Liu Kai and other rich second-generations who were not doing their jobs properly were the ones who were leading him astray.

As a result, the meal ended in a bad mood. Chen Qizhao didn't want to stay at home, so he simply went out and found a bar.

The bar owner was an acquaintance, and Chen Qizhao was drinking silently at the front desk with a frown on his face.

In the lively atmosphere, he sent a message to Yan Kailin but the other party did not reply. He probably thought that the other party was playing games again.

Chen Qizhao opened Chen Shiming's chat box, took a look, and finally did not send a message.

He was drinking alone, and when he opened his Moments, he found that Shen Yuhuai liked the Moments he posted yesterday.

Chen Qizhao’s mind was confused, he clicked on the avatar, and sent an emoticon package to Shen Yuhuai for the first time.

As soon as the message was sent, he immediately clicked to withdraw it.

It's just that the other party has already seen it.

[-Chen Yuhuai:? ]

[-Zhao: Wrong click. ]

[-Shen Yuhuai: Yeah. ]

Chen Qizhao's glass of wine was empty, so he asked the front desk to get another one.

He swiped up. Apart from the initial voice call, he and Shen Yuhuai had never talked for the second time.

[-Chen Yuhuai: Not in school? ]

Chen Qizhao paused and typed a reply.

[-Zhao: Drinking. ]

[-Zhao: Not with Yan Kailin. ]

[-Shen Yuhuai: I know. ]

Chen Qizhao didn't understand, how did he know? He felt indescribably irritated, perhaps because he had heard too much at home today, or perhaps because he had drunk too much. The initial urge to chat with people was gone.

I didn't reply to Shen Yuhuai's message.

Just five minutes later, Shen Yuhuai’s voice call popped up.

When Chen Qizhao noticed the voice prompt, he was stunned for a moment, and it took him a while to swipe to answer the call.

There was a whirring sound on the phone. Shen Yuhuai seemed to be outside, and his voice was a little low, easily covered by the sound of the wind in the background and the noisy music in the bar, but Chen Qizhao still heard his words clearly.

Shen Yuhuai: “Where?”

Chen Qizhao blurted out: "Bar."

"Which bar?" Shen Yuhuai asked again.

Chen Qizhao reported the name of the bar.

After about ten minutes, a figure came in from outside the bar. Chen Qizhao noticed that the bartender was looking outside, and he glanced over and saw someone sitting down next to him.

The smell in the bar was mixed, and when Shen Yuhuai sat down, it seemed to have brought in a bit of the smell from outside, which was a little different.

Chen Qizhao turned his head to look at him and found that he was wearing glasses today.

The bartender asked him what he wanted, and Shen Yuhuai asked for a glass of juice.

People often approached the bar front desk at this time. After Chen Qizhao sat there for a while, two or three people came over. Shen Yuhuai had just arrived not long ago, and both men and women came over to say hello and wanted to invite Shen Yuhuai to drink.

Chen Qizhao listened to Shen Yuhuai rejecting others, shaking his own wine glass, glancing at the wine glass on the table.

The orange liquid was bubbling, taking on a gradient color under the lights of the bar.

After the person who approached him left, Shen Yuhuai went to get the wine glass.

Chen Qizhao pursed his lips, reached out and held the other person down without thinking.

Shen Yuhuai paused in holding the wine glass, his eyes resting on his warm hands.

When Chen Qizhao pressed his hand, he realized that Shen Yuhuai's hand was a little cold. His fingers were very long, with rounded nails that were trimmed and white with a hint of pink. The distinct joints had a particularly smooth bony feel, and one could almost see the blue blood vessels beneath the skin.

Shen Yuhuai's posture of holding the cup is very beautiful.

Chen Qizhao pulled his hand back and said to the bartender, "Give him a new drink."

Then he said, "The man who just came threw something into your cup."

Shen Yuhuai looked at him, “How do you know?”

Chen Qizhao looked away uncomfortably, "I saw it."

It doesn't have the sticky feeling of a bar atmosphere, but is refreshing and a little cool.

Chen Qizhao rubbed it with two fingers, the feeling on his fingertips lingered, his head and face felt a little hot, he drank a little more, his brain seemed very clear, but his external senses were a little dull.

During this period, Yan Kailin made a phone call, and he couldn't help but complain about Chen Shiming to Yan Kailin.

When he hung up the phone, he realized that Shen Yuhuai was still sitting next to him.

"Is your relationship with your brother not good?" Shen Yuhuai asked.

He didn’t hide anything when he spoke just now, and Shen Yuhuai probably heard it.

Chen Qizhao simply said, "Not good."

Shen Yuhuai: “I remember that you had a very good relationship with him when you were a child, and you liked to stick to him.”

Chen Qizhao frowned slightly, but soon relaxed: "Childhood is childhood. He doesn't understand anything, but he likes to meddle in everything. What's wrong with me drinking with others? First, it didn't affect my studies, and second, I didn't mess around with others. Cheng Rong and the others do have bad personalities, but they didn't..."

Maybe because he was drunk, Chen Qizhao couldn't help but start talking.

Shen Yuhuai just listened quietly beside him. Every time Chen Qizhao said something, he responded. He didn't rush to reject Chen Qizhao's statement, nor did he completely agree with Chen Qizhao's idea.

After Chen Qizhao finished speaking, the energy that had been pent up in his heart seemed to dissipate and he felt much better.

Finally, my mind became confused and I fell asleep on the table.

Shen Yuhuai didn't touch the newly replaced glass of juice until the end. After listening to Chen Qizhao's nagging, he watched the man fall asleep in front of him. Finally, he paid the bill at the front desk and helped the man walk out.

I came here and ordered some juice, but paid and left without drinking it. After I came here, I didn't do anything extra, just sat there quietly and listened to people complain. The bartender glanced outside with concern. He thought the man was really patient.

When he stuffed the person into the car, Chen Qizhao opened his eyes slightly, and his blurry gaze stayed on Shen Yuhuai for a while.

Shen Yuhuai paused, helped him straighten the messy hair on his forehead, and whispered, “It’s time to cut your hair next time.”

The hair is too long and covers the eyes, which doesn't look good.

Chen Qizhao was still looking at him, as if trying to figure out what he was saying. Finally, he suddenly smiled and called out "brother" in an unclear tone.

I don't know who he is calling.

Shen Yuhuai lowered his eyes slightly, stopped fastening his seat belt, and responded, "Yeah."

…

Chen Qizhao had a hangover and did not go to class the next day. When he woke up, he saw the glaring sunlight outside the window.

His phone was full of messages from Yan Kailin, and he realized that today was Monday. He endured the headache and looked around. He couldn't react to the unfamiliar place and thought he was in a hotel.

Until he saw the potted plants on the long table diagonally in front of him and the faint scent of mint in the room.

His confused mind finally came to clarity, he hurriedly got up, grabbed the coat on the chair next to him, and when he walked out of the room he saw the man sitting on the sofa, and his movements stopped instantly.

The man appeared to be working, typing away on a notebook on his lap.

Memories of last night at the bar quickly came back.

Chen Qizhao remembered that he had sent a message to Shen Yuhuai when he was drunk, and Shen Yuhuai had come. He also said a lot of bad things about Chen Shiming to Shen Yuhuai... In the end, Shen Yuhuai brought him back, and then he occupied Shen Yuhuai's bed and slept all night.

The man on the sofa seemed to notice the noise over here and turned his head to look over here.

Chen Qizhao paused, unable to walk back, so he had to bite the bullet and walk to the sofa and sit down, "Brother Chen, thank you for last night. I drank too much and talked too much."

Shen Yuhuai said: “No.”

Chen Qizhao couldn't help but glance at Shen Yuhuai. He used to complain to other people. Whenever he cursed Chen Shiming, Cheng Rong and Liu Kai would agree with him, and then they would turn the topic to something else, and in the end it just turned into drinking.

It was the first time that someone listened to him patiently until the end of his story.

Chen Qizhao held his breath for a long time before saying, "You're a nice person."

Shen Yuhuai smiled when he heard this, “Then can you listen to what I have to say?”

Chen Qizhao nodded.

Chen Yuhuai said: "You and your brother have little interaction in life, he may not know your thoughts, nor your considerations. In a sense, he is only considering the problem from his perspective, which is right and wrong. Next time you quarrel with him, you might as well tell him all your thoughts."

He paused after he finished speaking, "It's not too late to argue after we finish speaking."

Chen Qizhao asked unexpectedly: "I thought you were going to persuade me to stop quarreling."

Shen Yuhuai looked at him, “I can’t persuade him.”

"I only helped you change your outer clothes last night. Go take a shower first and come for lunch later." Shen Yuhuai put the notebook aside and walked towards the kitchen. Halfway there, he asked, "Are there any dietary restrictions?"

"No." Chen Qizhao: "Thank you, Brother Chen."

Shen Yuhuai: "No need to be so distant."

Chen Qizhao changed his words: "Thank you, Brother Huai."

Shen Yuhuai entered the kitchen and stood in front of the stove to prepare lunch.

Chen Qizhao went to the bathroom to take a shower, and when he came out of the shower, Shen Yuhuai was still busy.

The man stood in front of the stove, wearing an apron and standing tall.

Chen Qizhao looked at it a few more times with concern.

Shen Yuhuai looked over and said, “It’s not ready yet, wait a little longer.”

Chen Qizhao retracted his gaze, feeling a little embarrassed at being caught glancing at others. He sat down on the sofa and replied to his friend.

After a while, Shen Yuhuai called him to eat.

There were three meat dishes and one vegetable on the table. Chen Qizhao had no dietary restrictions, but he had preferences.

He noticed that the lunch dishes were all his favorites, and they were not fatty or greasy.

"Is it okay?" Shen Yuhuai asked.

Chen Qizhao bit the meat and said vaguely, "It's delicious."

He thought to himself that Shen Yuhuai was a nice person and his cooking was delicious.

Shen Yuhuai said: “If you like it, I’ll make it for you next time.”

Chen Qizhao paused but didn't say anything.

Next time when I get drunk, I may not come to Chen Yuhuai's house.

Since that day, Chen Qizhao found that his relationship with Shen Yuhuai had improved. Perhaps it was because they had opened up a conversation, he would occasionally say hello to Shen Yuhuai, and Shen Yuhuai would also send him messages, and their relationship was visibly improving.

Chen Qizhao didn't ask Shen Yuhuai why he liked his post. After that day, in addition to liking his post, Shen Yuhuai would occasionally comment on him.

Chen Qizhao rarely comments on other people's posts. He prefers to open the window and chat directly. When he sees Shen Yuhuai's comments, he will occasionally ask, "What are you doing?" '.

Shen Yuhuai didn't reply when he was busy with experiments, and the two of them often chatted with each other.

Sometimes Chen Qizhao felt a little uncomfortable after not talking for a whole day.

He looks quite old-fashioned, but it's not that difficult to start a conversation with him.

People of their age usually speak a little harshly. He occasionally didn't change his habit and his tone was a little harsh, but Shen Yuhuai didn't get angry. Chen Qizhao found it very comfortable to chat with Shen Yuhuai. People did not deliberately agree with what he said, but instead gave opinions or ideas. They didn't say much, but every word was pertinent.

Shen Yuhuai spent a long time at the Ninth Institute and often came to S University for meals. He would occasionally recommend restaurants and shops to Chen Qizhao.

Apart from anything else, the recommended place is quite to Chen Qizhao's taste.

As their relationship got better, Chen Qizhao also liked to recommend things to him, such as good places to eat.

The first time they had dinner together, they ate in the cafeteria of S University.

There were many people at the stall, so Chen Qizhao didn't go with his roommate, but with Shen Yuhuai.

The cafeteria was hot and stuffy in the summer even with air conditioning. He finally finished queuing and was sweating. When he came back from queuing, Shen Yuhuai hadn't arrived yet. He waited for a while, and finally saw two more bottles of Coke and orange juice on Shen Yuhuai's tray.

Shen Yuhuai: “I don’t know what you like, so I bought two.”

Chen Qizhao said thank you and took the Coke.

The Coke that day wasn’t actually very cold, but it was very thirst-quenching.

Once there is the first dinner appointment, there will be a second one.

...and we'll also have a late-night snack.

The lab would often drag on late, and Shen Yuhuai would occasionally be unable to make it in time for dinner, so he would have to eat a midnight snack.

On the night of their first midnight snack date, Chen Qizhao came out of the shower and noticed a message on his phone.

[-Chen Yuhuai: I’m at the gate of your school. Would you like to come out for a midnight snack? ]

Seeing the message, Chen Qizhao stopped.

There were no classes in the evening, so Yan Kailin and his two other roommates were going to play a game. When he saw that Chen Qizhao didn't respond, he glanced at him and said, "Brother, let's play PUBG later."

"Call another one." Chen Qizhao took down his coat, "I'm going out."

Yan Kailin: "Where are you going? You're going to drink without me!"

Chen Qizhao has already left.

When he arrived at the school gate, Chen Qizhao was still panting. He glanced around and didn't see Shen Yuhuai.

“Hasn’t it arrived yet?” Chen Qizhao lowered his head and sent a message to Shen Yuhuai.

After a while, someone suddenly patted his shoulder.

Chen Qizhao turned around and saw Shen Yuhuai and another boy following him.

He put away his phone and glanced at the boy out of the corner of his eye.

So there is someone else?