40 If you say it again, I will believe it

On a hot summer afternoon, the classroom was like a giant steamer, with the ceiling fan humming overhead, stirring the sweltering air in vain. The professor of economics and law stood on the podium, his shirt half wet, still passionately speaking about anti-dumping and countervailing measures in Europe and the United States. Liu Yuwei's heart was no longer here. Jin Lang called her in the morning and said he would come to see her after the afternoon meeting and have dinner together in the evening. Although they were still chatting about everything every day, no matter how nutritious it was, as usual after the last "big adventure", they were still separated by a phone and could not see each other's expressions and demeanor. There was always a veil between words and voices, lacking the real feeling of face-to-face communication. Every line of the message was probably carefully written after much thought, for fear of missing something, but also as if testing something. Liu Yuwei couldn't tell what her mood was at the moment, sometimes excited, sometimes nervous. The bell rang, and the sweltering heat made her even more eager to escape the teeming classroom. Too lazy to wait for the elevator, she grabbed her bag and dragged her roommate into the stairwell. Outside the law school gates, directly in front of them, beside the stone code, a group of graduates in their bachelor's gowns, braving the summer heat, held their hats high for photos. "Next year's our turn! Time flies!" Liu Yuwei's roommate sighed, linking her arm with hers. Just as they were about to leave, someone called out, "Yuwei, Momo, come over and take a picture!" Jiang Fan enthusiastically waved his arm and pulled them over. They gathered around, flashing the "scissor sign" to capture the purest and most beautiful moments of their youth. "Liu Yuwei, why are you still here?" A boy from the next class rushed over, sweat dripping down his temples. "Class just ended. What's wrong?" "Come back to the dorm! Someone's waiting for you!" The other man forced himself to calm his expression, which was about to collapse. "Oh, good!" Liu Yuwei thought it was Jin Lang who had arrived. After turning to say goodbye to her senior students, she hurried back. "Yuwei, slow down! Your legs are too long for me!" her roommate called out breathlessly from behind. Near the dormitory building, Liu Yuwei noticed many people smiling at her, glancing sideways, and whispering, making her feel a little uneasy. "She's coming, she's coming!" As soon as she reached the bottom of the plum garden, she was surrounded by people and walked forward. She was confused. It wasn't until a banner between two plum trees caught her eye, with its eye-catching name and confession, that she instantly understood what was going on. Liu Yuwei was pushed into a heart-shaped arrangement of roses. The boy standing opposite her was Zhang Zhe from the next class. They had been in the same group in International Business Law, so they weren't strangers.

On a hot summer afternoon, the classroom was like a huge steamer, and the ceiling fan above was buzzing, stirring the stuffy air in vain.

The professor of economics and law stood on the podium, his shirt half wet, but he still spoke passionately about anti-dumping and anti-subsidy measures in Europe and the United States.

Liu Yuwei's heart is no longer here.

Jin Lang called her in the morning and said he would come to see her after the afternoon meeting and have dinner together in the evening.

Although after the last "big adventure", they still chatted about everything every day as usual, no matter how nutritious it was, but after all, they could not see each other's expressions and demeanor through the phone, and the text and voice were always separated by a layer of gauze, lacking the real feeling of face-to-face communication.

Every line of the message may be written carefully after much thought, for fear of missing something, but also as if testing something.

Liu Yuwei couldn't tell what her mood was at the moment, sometimes excited, sometimes nervous.

The bell rang for the end of get out of class, and the hot air made her more eager to escape from this classroom full of "human smell". Too lazy to wait for the elevator, she picked up her bag and pulled her roommate into the stairwell.

After exiting the law school gate, right in front of the stone code, a group of graduates in bachelor's gowns were holding up their hats and taking pictures, unafraid of the scorching summer heat.

"It will be our turn next year. Time flies so fast!" The roommate sighed secretly while holding Liu Yuwei's arm.

Just as they were about to leave, they heard someone shout, "Yu Wei, Mo Mo, come over here and take a photo together!"

Jiang Fan waved his arms enthusiastically and pulled them over. Everyone gathered around and made scissors hands, recording the purest and most beautiful age.

"Liu Yuwei, why are you still here?" The boy from the next class ran over like a gust of wind, with beads of sweat rolling down his temples.

"Just finished class, what happened?"

"Go back to the dormitory quickly, someone is waiting for you!" The other party tried hard to calm his expression that was about to collapse.

"Oh, okay!"

Liu Yuwei thought it was Jin Lang who had arrived, so she turned around, said goodbye to her senior sisters, and walked back quickly.

"Yuwei, slow down, your legs are too long for me to keep up with you!" The roommate shouted breathlessly from behind.

Near the dormitory building, Liu Yuwei found that many people were smiling at her or looking at her sideways and whispering to each other, which made her feel a little uncomfortable.

"She's coming, she's coming!"

As soon as she arrived at the foot of the Plum Garden, she was surrounded by people and walked forward. She was confused until she saw a banner between two plum trees. The eye-catching name and confession made her understand what was going on.

Liu Yuwei was pushed into a heart-shaped space made of roses. The boy standing opposite her was Zhang Zhe from the next class. They had been in the same group in the International Business Law class, so they were not strangers.

The tall boy's face was red from being exposed to the sun, and beads of sweat were hanging on his forehead.

“You are…”

Liu Yuwei asked subconsciously, and then felt that it was such an obvious scene that there was no need to explain the other party's intentions.

She turned her head to look at her roommates and the crowd. Everyone had a smile on their face, but she felt extremely embarrassed. It was clearly a matter between two people, so why did it have to be known to everyone?

"Yu Wei, I have liked you for a long time..."

Zhang Zhe spoke slowly, and the surroundings suddenly became quiet, with only the chirping of cicadas on the branches.

"During the military training in my freshman year, you were standing at the front of the formation, and I noticed you then. I'm a slow-moving person, so I waited until today to muster up the courage to confess to you."

The boy's eyes were full of sincerity and expectation.

"I've watched every game you've played since you joined the debate team. It's a shame I never had the chance to stand beside you and fight side by side."

Liu Yuwei tightened the strap of her schoolbag on her shoulder. She watched the other person's mouth opening and closing, but it seemed as if she heard nothing.

For some reason, the scene suddenly emerged in my mind where Jin Yanxi, the "top rich young man in the Republic of China", publicly expressed his love for his "cold girlfriend" at school, and then was poured with cold water.

She stared down at her toes, trying hard to suppress her laughter, finding the scene before her a little funny.

"Yu Wei..." Zhang Zhe saw that she seemed to be in a trance, and cut off his words halfway through, with a trace of loss and confusion on his face.

Liu Yuwei forced himself to withdraw his thoughts. Even if he didn't like her, he couldn't be impolite. After all, they were classmates in the same college and would inevitably meet again in the future.

She raised her head and looked straight into the other person's eyes, with a polite and appropriate smile on her lips.

Zhang Zhe received the signal incorrectly and thought that she was shy but then gained courage, so he couldn't help but raise his voice by several decibels.

"Liu Yuwei, I like you. You..."

The words were suddenly interrupted by the ringtone of "Hello Moto".

The crowd looked at each other. Liu Yuwei quickly fished out her phone from the outermost pocket of her schoolbag. Sure enough, it was Jin Lang calling. It didn't seem like a good time to answer the call, so she simply tapped the red button to hang up.

"I'm sorry, please continue..."

"I...I want to ask you, are you willing to be my girlfriend?"

After saying that, Zhang Zhe was about to stuff a large bunch of bright red roses in his hand into Liu Yuwei's arms, and she subconsciously took a step back.

"Zhang Zhe..."

“Dingding, Dongdong, Hello Moto…” The cell phone rang again, as if urging something.

Liu Yuwei looked at the name on the screen, and suddenly a perfect reason to reject Zhang Zhe flashed through her mind.

When the phone died down, she spoke slowly.

"Zhang Zhe, thank you for liking me. But I already have a boyfriend. Look, he keeps calling me!"

The other party saw that she looked natural and didn't seem to be lying at all.

"But... when you had dinner together last week, you said..."

He stammered and in the end was unable to say "Your first kiss is still there" in public.

Liu Yuwei didn't want to make things too awkward, so she tried to explain it in a light-hearted and playful manner.

"We were just together, you're a step too late!"

"He's coming to see me later, so I have to go! Thanks for the surprise, it's expensive."

After saying this, she took a big step out of the circle of roses.

"If I had confessed to you two years earlier, would you have agreed to it?"

The boy's unwilling voice came from behind, with sadness and loneliness that could not be expressed in words.

She turned around, full of apology, "Maybe not, two years earlier still isn't enough!"

…

Liu Yuwei hurried back to the dormitory, still holding the mobile phone in her hand, thinking about calling Jin Lang back.

Just then, the screen lit up and he sent a message.

[I'll be there in half an hour. I'll be waiting for you at the school gate.]

She heaved a long sigh of relief, her tense nerves relaxing a little. She took off her white T-shirt and denim shorts and put on an off-white dress with a lotus leaf collar.

"Are you really going on a date with your boyfriend?"

The roommate pushed the door open and asked in surprise when he saw her changing clothes.

Liu Yuwei turned around and said, "Going to eat is real, but the boyfriend is fake."

She turned her back to her roommate and said, "Help me unzip my fly!"

"Zhang Zhe...is he okay?"

She frowned slightly, and the boy's final look of loss emerged before her eyes. No one understood that feeling better than Liu Yuwei.

"He pulled me over and asked me when you got a boyfriend. Are you lying to him?"

"So what do you say?"

"What else can I say? I'll just repeat what you said, saying that you have a close male friend who just got a permanent job."

Liu Yuwei hugged his roommate like a spoiled cat, "I love you!"

"Okay, let's go, don't keep your boyfriend waiting too long!"

After saying this, the roommate threw a coquettish glance at Liu Yuwei.

When they reached the school gate, Liu Yuwei saw two girls talking to Jin Lang from a distance.

Perhaps he didn't have time to change his clothes after leaving the venue. He was wearing a white shirt with his sleeves rolled up to reveal a part of his forearm. His light grey suit pants outlined the slender and smooth muscle lines of his legs, which was indeed too eye-catching.

She looked at him from a distance. Jin Lang seemed to feel her gaze. He turned around and saw the person coming. Then he waved at her and walked towards her.

"The girls in your school are so enthusiastic!" He touched his nose and smiled.

"Enthusiasm? So you weren't asking for directions just now, you were confessing your love?"

It feels like holding a slice of lemon in your mouth, full of sourness.

"I just asked if there was anything good to eat nearby. How could you associate it with a confession?"

Jin Lang stopped and watched with interest as her face quickly turned red.

Liu Yuwei changed the subject guiltily, "Nothing much, how was the meeting? Did you gain anything?"

"Well... I met a lot of powerful people..."

The afterglow of the setting sun shone on the two of them, stretching their shadows very long. The cicadas that usually annoyed people seemed to be playing a pleasant melody at this moment.

Liu Yuwei invited Jin Lang to a Hunan restaurant near the east gate of the school for dinner. After the meal, both of them were full, and Jin Lang asked to tour the campus again.

Night fell like a giant piece of dark blue silk, gently covering the entire campus. Moonlight, like water, cast a silver veil over everything.

"I heard that there is a Lover's Hill in your school?" Jin Lang asked as they walked.

"You know all this? It's right by the lake, and it's very pleasant to walk in the breeze. But singles need to be prepared for a sweet attack!"

Liu Yuwei gave a friendly reminder, and the smile on her face looked particularly charming in the moonlight.

The so-called Lover's Hill is just a small hill with a stone road winding up it, and insects chirping happily in the grass on the side of the road.

When we reached the "top of the mountain", there was a cool breeze.

"It's so comfortable!" Liu Yuwei opened her arms and hugged the breeze.

She turned her head and found Jin Lang looking at her with a smile, his eyes like gentle lake water.

"Liu Yuwei, let me ask you a question?" He suddenly spoke.

"You say it!" An inexplicable premonition came to my mind.

"The night you called me, did you choose truth or dare?"

Liu Yuwei didn't expect that after several days, he would suddenly bring up that matter again. She felt flustered and the smile on her face became a little stiff.

Her fingertips subconsciously stroked the hem of her skirt, and beads of sweat appeared on the tip of her nose. Lying is actually very simple.

She clenched her hands, a playful smile appeared on the corner of her mouth, and she raised her eyes slightly as she looked directly at the other person.

"What if I really mean it?"

It seems calm and peaceful, but it is actually a mess inside.

Jin Lang lowered his head and met her watery eyes. The tiny rays of light reflected from them made it hard to tell the truth from the false. He was intentionally guiding her.

"Say it again and I'll believe it!"

"Really?" She tilted her head and looked into his deep, dark eyes, then quickly looked away, as if she was avoiding something.

At this moment, a young couple passed by behind them, and the girl said coquettishly, "There are people here, let's not disturb them, let's go!"

After a moment, silence fell around the two again.

Jin Lang moved his lips and was about to speak when he heard her soft and pleasant voice.

"I like you!"

Liu Yuwei stared at the lake below the hill and said this again.

The lake water shimmered in the moonlight, like countless dancing stars.

She didn't dare to look back, let alone look at him. After a long while, she didn't hear any answer, and her heart gradually sank to the bottom.

I just rejected someone in the afternoon, and now it’s my turn to be rejected in the evening.

What a changing world!

"Let's go!"

She turned her back to Jin Lang and was about to lift her foot when her wrist was grabbed by a pair of large hands.

Looking back, he saw the other person pull his arm back with force, stumble and fall into his arms.

By the time Liu Yuwei reacted, her face was already pressed against the other person's chest, and she could clearly feel his strong heartbeat.

Her waist was hugged, and the warmth from his body was transferred to her skin through her shirt and skirt, making her cheeks instantly hot.

Jin Lang lowered his head and leaned close to Liu Yuwei's ear, his warm breath spraying on her fair neck. She subconsciously tried to avoid it, but he held her tighter.

"I trust you!"

The voice was low and gentle.

The brain that I usually pride myself on being flexible has now completely shut down and my mind is blank.

Soon, Jin Lang let go of her.

"Let's go. The scenery is beautiful, but there are too many mosquitoes here!"

He took Liu Yuwei's hand, intertwined their fingers, and slowly walked down the slope along the stone steps.