Never mind

"Why do you keep mentioning him?" Tao Xingye turned his head, one hand resting on the table, his eyes lowered with hesitation. "If I don't tell you about him, will there be a cold war or anger?"

His tone was calm, not as furious as before, and he even looked a little sad.

"Cold war?" Lin Yu was very perceptive. "Who is starting a cold war with you?"

After she asked, she felt that she was talking too much. How could Tao Xingye tell her this? Their relationship was not particularly good.

"Nothing." Tao Xingye's tone became even colder as he thought of what happened at home. "Jiang Shuang is still the same, not much different from before."

Seeing Tao Xingye's face frozen, Lin Yu didn't ask any more questions. It was enough for him to know a little bit of information about Jiang Shuang.

The first two years at the No. 1 Middle School in the city were the few times when Lin Yu could be said to be in her element. Although she was often called upon to demonstrate and her answers were not very fluent, the learning atmosphere and teaching quality in this high school were better than anything Lin Yu had ever experienced.

Tao Xingye was also kinder to her than before and didn't like to order her around as much.

They have been desk mates since the first day of school until now, in their second year of high school. Tao Xingye ignores everyone else in the class and only talks to Lin Yu, so everyone else assumes that they have a good relationship.

Lin Yu didn't know about this at first. Later, when she changed seats and found another girl to sit with, the girl asked her in surprise, "Did you have a conflict with Tao Xingye?"

"I didn't. Why do you say that?" Lin Yu had just piled the books on the table when a pair of slender hands knocked on her notebook. "Hey, where are you going?"

Tao Xingye impatiently took her book back to his side and asked, "Why are you still standing there? Have you finished writing?"

At that time, both of them were preparing for the physics competition. The No. 1 Middle School in the city did not attach much importance to the competition, so competition students like them spent most of their time practicing in their class.

At that time, Tao Xingye not only practiced by himself, but also had to do the questions written by Lin Yu again. Lin Yu was almost annoyed by him before he changed seats.

Tao Xingye's ideas were always different from hers. She couldn't finish the questions she found, so Tao Xingye forced his questions on Lin Yu and forced her to finish them.

They call it equal exchange, "I've read your information, and I'm sharing mine with you, so just be happy."

She just wanted to ask Tao Xingye what was so funny about her. Tao Xingye checked her homework every day like a madman. If she didn't finish her homework after school, Tao Xingye would force her to stay and do it. Even the head teacher was not as annoying as him.

"Can you please stop giving me those questions? I have my own plan and I don't need you to tell me what to do." Lin Yu didn't sit down. She stood beside the desk and glared at him.

She was not tall anymore, and standing at just over 1.6 meters, she was a shoulder taller than Tao Xingye. Her hair was below her waist, and her face was much paler.

Tao Xingye acted as if he didn't hear her words. He pulled her arm and pressed her to his side, staring at her with a smile. "There are a lot of questions today, Lin Xiaomai, keep going."

His voice was gentle, but this was not an ambiguous scene. Coupled with his amber eyes, Lin Yu was frightened and broke out in a cold sweat.

His facial features are more firm than those in junior high school, without any childishness. His long hair that originally reached his eyebrows has been cut off, and now he has very neat short and messy hair.

"You, don't get so close to me." Lin Yu leaned back to distance herself from him, hunched over as if to escape, took out a test paper and started writing.

In that year's competition, the two of them broke the record of Jincheng No. 1 Middle School together. In their second participation in the competition, they actually won the gold medal in the physics competition together.

On the day the results were released, Tao Xingye and Lin Yu were surrounded by many people from all walks of life, and their names appeared together in various occasions, big and small, during that period.

The day before joining the national training team, Lin Yu was stopped by Tao Xingye as soon as he left the school gate.

"Lin Yu." Tao Xingye's expression was very serious. During his high school years, he always called her Lin Xiaomai, and it was rare for him to be so serious.

"What happened?" Lin Yu saw the hesitation in his eyes. Tao Xingye seemed to be struggling with something very important. Lin Yu was confused by him.

After a long time, he said with a stern face, "I really treat you as a friend." He suddenly hugged Lin Yu without saying anything.

Lin Yu could clearly feel the warmth from his body through his school uniform. A boy's hug was always immature and impulsive. It was not a weekend, and they were the only two people in the alley in front of the No. 1 Middle School.

The bamboos by the roadside were blown by the wind, and the green bamboo leaves collided with each other, making a crisp sound like the sound of ringing jewelry.

Lin Yu's heart was in a knot, and her intuition told her that something had happened.

She opened her mouth to ask him a question, but Tao Xingye let him go and waved to her with his back to her. Countless possibilities flashed through Lin Yu's mind. Lin Yu even thought that something might have happened in Tao Xingye's family, but she didn't expect that it was Jiang Shuang who was in trouble.

Jiang Shuang passed away.

The only person who showed kindness to him at Tianya Academy passed away.

"Are you planning to never tell me for the rest of your life?" Lin Yu took the cup of water and splashed it on Tao Xingye's face. The water flowed down his chin and all over his body. The classmates around him saw that something was wrong and quickly went to call the teacher.

"Who did you know this from?" Tao Xingye didn't look at her directly, but lowered his eyes and stared at the fingertips of Lin Yu's hand that were clenched white.

He raised his hand to wipe the water off his face. No one except himself knew what he was feeling at that time.

"Wouldn't it be better if I didn't tell you? Even if Jiang Shuang were still alive, we would never have any contact in this life. If that person hadn't been so talkative, you would have completely forgotten about him in a few years!"

He pursed his lips tightly as if in revenge, and his tone became more and more urgent, as if he could no longer suppress the anger in his heart.

"Why are you looking at me like that? Don't you recognize me?" Tao Xingye pulled up a smile and patted Lin Yu's cheek. A tear fell down the corner of Lin Yu's eye, but Lin Yu had a stubborn look on his face and raised his hand to wipe away the tear almost the moment it flowed out.

Lin Yu's tears were really shed only for Jiang Shuang.

Tao Xingye felt a wave of sadness in his heart. Now that things had come to this, what would Lin Yu think of him? Could he and Lin Yu still be friends?

His hand involuntarily touched the corners of her eyes, wanting to wipe away her tears. He opened his mouth and was about to say something when the leader's rough voice came from behind -

"What are you doing!?"

The team leader angrily ran between the two men and said, "You are both seeded players. Now is the crucial time to finalize the national team roster. Are you trying to ruin your future by causing such a scene?"

The neighbor took the two into the lounge, leaving the students to continue training.

"What's going on, Lin Yu? Tell me." The team leader knew Tao Xingye's temper. He couldn't get anything out of him by asking him, so he had to ask Lin Yu.

However, Lin Yugen also became stubborn and kept a sullen face, refusing to say a word. The team leader questioned her again and again, even threatening her with punishment, but it still didn't make her speak.

As a last resort, the team leader had to notify the province and send them back to the provincial team.

On the highway on the day they returned to Jincheng, teachers from the province and Jincheng No. 1 Middle School were scolding them, but both of them had stiff faces and refused to say a word, as if they had a feud that spanned many generations.

When they passed the service area, the teachers all got off to eat, leaving only the two of them in the car.

Lin Yu was carsick and hadn't eaten anything the whole day. He couldn't vomit anything but acidic water, so he just huddled in a corner, feeling sick.

"Lin Yu, will we still be friends in the future?" That was the first sentence the two had spoken in these days. Tao Xingye sat in the passenger seat, looking at Lin Yu through the rearview mirror, with a rather cautious tone.

He saw Lin Yu frown. Her voice was very soft, but it was amplified infinitely in the silent carriage. "Forget it."

She said it so decisively, without any anger in her voice, and she didn't say "it doesn't count". It was as if she had been waiting for him to ask this question these days so that she could give him the answer she had already thought of.

Forget it, how could it be? They had known each other for so long, and it was all because of Jiang Shuang, who had only known him for a year, that things got so bad?

"Is Jiang Shuang so important to you?" His voice was trembling with rare insecurity.

Lin Yu hugged his waist, and when she looked up at him, a tear suddenly fell into the air, and it flashed by without even leaving a trace on her face.

Tao Xingye turned his head to look at her, just missing the tear. He could only see the rejection and resentment on Lin Yu's face.

She seemed very tired, leaning back in her chair, her eyes filled with many emotions, the most prominent of which was disappointment.

Disappointed? Who was she disappointed in? Jiang Shuang? Tao Xingye wanted to rush over and ask her, what was the friendship he and she had known for four years? Why was he always put second when it came to Jiang Shuang?

"If you consider me a friend, you shouldn't lie to me." Lin Yu turned around, unwilling to look at him again. The carriage was so quiet that even the sound of breathing could be heard clearly.

Her head felt dizzy and her heart was filled with suffocation. She half-lowered the window, and the evening breeze ruffled her black hair hanging on her shoulders. She saw the teachers walking out of the store with smiles on their faces.

"Lin Yu, believe it or not, I like you."

Something exploded in Lin Yu's mind. She turned to look at Tao Xingye. In the darkness, there was a light flashing on his face.

She opened her mouth, wanting to say something, but the car door next to her was opened, and the teachers returned.

She saw Tao Xingye lowering his head, and the teachers' laughter rang in her ears. Lin Yu hugged her arms tightly, her nails digging into her flesh. She couldn't stop shaking all over, and she hurriedly covered her mouth to stop herself from crying out loud.

This was God's will, she thought.

It was God's will that didn't allow her to answer Tao Xingye's question.

Her mind was in a mess and she didn't want to think about anything.

How dare Tao Xingye say that he liked her? He didn't even tell her about Jiang Shuang's death, and he pretended to make up false news to deceive her.

What does he think of himself? This isn't a single-player game he's leading alone; she has a right to know.

But he told her calmly that Jiang Shuang was still the same as usual, so calm, almost cold-blooded.

She bit her lip, her heart filled with resistance to the question. She didn't want to think about the answer, and even wanted to forget the question.

That was their last conversation. After returning to Jincheng, Tao Xingye never showed up at school again.

Lin Yu stayed with the provincial team and continued to prepare for the next year's competition. Looking back on that incident as an adult, it didn't seem like much.

But perhaps they were too young, too serious, too stubborn and too hard-headed at the time.

Once someone makes up their mind, they won't listen to a word the other person says.

Tao Xingye actually hesitated whether to tell Lin Yu that Jiang Shuang passed away just when they won the gold medal.

He did have selfish motives. Jiang Shuang was so important to Lin Yu. If he told Lin Yu that Jiang Shuang had passed away, Lin Yu would probably remember Jiang Shuang for the rest of his life.

In that case, he shouldn't tell Lin Yu, as it would make Lin Yu think that Jiang Shuang is still living an ordinary life in some corner of the world. It won't be long before Lin Yu forgets Jiang Shuang.

But he didn't expect that Lin Yu would know this news. He was wrong, but it was not a big mistake. Why was Lin Yu so cruel to him?

Hadn't Lin Yu been getting along well with him those days? Because his last name was Tao, almost all the well-known newspapers and online media in Jincheng had their names side by side. He and she were made for each other. How could Lin Yu say that they were no longer friends just for Jiang Shuang?

After two years, Tao Xingye finally flew to Switzerland. His suspended card was restored and his life seemed to be back on the right track.

The two-month struggle during the summer vacation of his third year in junior high school in order to stay in Jincheng seemed to have been forgotten by him, and no one remembered it anymore.

No one remembered the Four Schools League. He stood on the podium and stared gloomily at Lin Yu, who only had eyes for Jiang Shuang.

No one remembers that when he was sad, he would subconsciously run to find Lin Yu even if he was soaked.

No one remembered that he rushed to the Lin family before six o'clock during the Spring Festival in order to deliver the New Year's gifts on time.

No one remembered that on the ridge of the field in Linjia Village, he stared at Lin Yu for seven whole days.

He became the original Tao Xingye again, elegant, calm and aloof.