16. You're not a two-dimensional character.

Lu Siming was loyal enough to keep quiet in front of Mu Jia's parents.

Over the next period of time, Mu Jia probed him several more times, and finally became basically certain that no one in the school seemed to know about the other side of Chu Chiyi that she had seen that night.

Apart from her.

Including good brothers like Lu Siming.

Even though she was the one who had secretly glimpsed the secrets of heaven, their interactions on the surface were still pitifully few.

Occasionally, when they bumped into each other in public places such as the teaching building corridor, the playground, or the school gate, Chu Chiyi would always look straight ahead, treating her as a complete stranger.

Lu Siming was determined not to get involved. Occasionally, because of him, Chu Chiyi had the opportunity to be close to Mu Jia, but he almost completely ignored her smiling and cheerful advances, simply raising his head and nodding casually.

She had never experienced this kind of "warm face offered to a cold stove" treatment before, and after a while, she naturally felt resentful.

A few days later, due to some special reasons, the display board that the very impressive senior in the third year of high school had put up at the school gate was taken down ahead of schedule.

And coincidentally, at that very moment, Chu Chiyi brought home a national first prize for the school from the physics competition not long ago.

As a result, the school leaders quickly "fell in love" with a new "face".

On their way to school in the morning, as they approached the school gate, Lu Siming noticed Mu Jia slowing down and couldn't help but tease her, "What are you looking at? Is it that pretty?"

"Who was looking at him?" The girl retorted, denying it outright. "I was just thinking, why is the school so foolish? Why leave such a beautiful girl out there and insist on putting up such a cold face at the gate?"

Lu Siming also glanced at the photo a few more times. It was indeed a bit cold, but actually it was quite pleasing to the eye.

He was a little confused by Mu Jia's inexplicable change in attitude, and then assumed that she was just like before, with her enthusiasm coming and going quickly.

The next day was the weekend, and Mu Jia's cousin, Yuan Yubing, invited her out for dinner.

Yuan Yubing is the daughter of Yuan Mei's cousin, and she just started working this year. Although she is six or seven years older than Mu Jia, the two get along quite well.

Yuan Yubing chose the restaurant for dinner. She comes from a well-off family and has good taste. She loves to eat and have fun. In addition, since she stayed in the city to work after graduation, she has no financial pressure. Therefore, the restaurants she can find are all high-class, bourgeois establishments.

In this respect, Mu Jia's orientation was similar to hers, so he was happy to hang out with her in his spare time.

Upon arriving at the restaurant, the two were led by a waiter to a table they had reserved in advance.

"Jiajia?" she called again, but the girl didn't respond for a moment, just staring blankly at a certain point behind her.

She was startled. The piano music that had been flowing through the room was so smooth and silky that she had initially thought it was background music playing in the restaurant and never imagined that it was actually being played by a real person.

She couldn't help but stare intently at the boy playing the piano, and was surprised again when she saw him clearly. He was very young, probably younger than her, and upon closer inspection, he was probably only a little older than Mu Jia.

The boy was dressed simply in a hoodie and jeans, yet he somehow managed to draw people's attention.

The other person, however, seemed not to notice her gaze.

She glanced at him a few more times and realized that he wasn't looking at her at all; his gaze wasn't even on the piano keys under his hands or on the sheet music in front of him.

Instead, it lay idly in the air, seemingly resting at a point unknown to anyone but itself.

Yuan Yubing looked around and realized that there seemed to be quite a few people around her with similar gazes to hers.

Suddenly it dawned on me: no wonder he could be so arrogant; it was because he had become accustomed to it.

After a while, she looked away, only to see the girl opposite her still staring blankly in the direction she had just been.

She couldn't help but chuckle and waved her hand in front of the other person's eyes, teasingly saying, "What's wrong? Are you really that attractive? Girls your age all like that kind of thing, don't they?"

"Huh?" Mu Jia finally came to her senses, but unusually stammered, "I, I... um, him..."

"What happened?"

"N-nothing...it's nothing." Mu Jia composed herself and shook her head. "Sister Yubing, let's order."

When the piece ended, someone asked a waiter to bring a delicate cake to the boy who had played the piano.

The waiter put down the cake and leaned down to whisper something in the boy's ear.

A few seconds later, the flowing piano music started again, and Schubert's "Serenade" slowly flowed in the air.

When the serenade ended, the boy stood up from the piano bench, went behind the bar to get his bag, and turned to leave, but was suddenly stopped by a woman who looked like a supervisor.

The young female supervisor whispered a few words in his ear, and the boy nodded and turned to walk back to the table where he had just ordered the song.

Two exquisitely made-up and dressed young women smiled sweetly and offered him some fine wine, asking him to have a drink.

Mu Jia followed the other person's pupils and subconsciously widened. The next second, she saw Chu Chiyi pick up the cup.

She didn't know what kind of wine was in the glass, but she saw the boy's Adam's apple bob as he swallowed the amber-colored liquid in one gulp.

The two girls at the table smiled even sweeter at him.

The boy smiled too, his handsome lips curving slightly.

Mu Jia stared at everything, stunned for two seconds.

So he can smile at girls too!

At the same time, Mu Jia seemed to finally understand why he had ignored her.

It turns out that there were far more girls who showed interest in him than just those from school; he'd seen all sorts of good girls, so naturally he didn't take her seriously...

A sudden, unfamiliar, bittersweet feeling made it hard for her to breathe.

But when she came to her senses, the person who had just been at the table was gone.

She suddenly stood up and, under Yuan Yubing's somewhat surprised gaze, followed the person who had just left out, saying, "Sister Yubing, I'm going to the restroom."

Same people, similar scene. Chu Chiyi raised an eyebrow slightly; this seemed to be the second time in the past month or so.

He was cornered in the restroom by the girl across the street for the second time.

Two seconds later, he turned around, his eyes curving slightly, revealing a roguish air that was not usually seen at school.

"What? You're not calling me 'brother' today?"

"..." Mu Jia was completely taken aback by his reaction and was stunned.

The boy didn't say anything, but just continued to look down at her with a leisurely air.

"You've been following me, do you have something to say to me?"

"What do you mean?" The boy smiled.

After laughing, her beautiful phoenix eyes narrowed slightly. "Threatening me?"

"No!" Mu Jia realized that the other party might have misunderstood her, and quickly explained, "I didn't mean that you're not as good as me!"

As soon as the words left my mouth, I realized they didn't quite sound right. "Of course, it's not that what you're doing is actually more..."

Why did she blurt out the truth when she was in such a hurry!

Instead, the more they try to explain, the worse it gets; the more they try to clarify, the less clear it becomes...

The space remained quiet, and the boy opposite her seemed to still be waiting for her explanation.

After a pause, she finally looked up and met his gaze. "What I mean is, it doesn't matter whether it's this way or that way. You're not a two-dimensional character with only one appearance. As long as you don't bother anyone else, no one has the right to judge you, including me, of course."

These weren't just polite words; that's truly what she believed.

Whether it's the well-known, exemplary top student in the grade, standing as a role model at the school gate, or the unknown "bad boy" who fights, drinks and smokes, and attracts girls, it doesn't matter.

She didn't know what others would think if they knew, but she really didn't want to judge him, from any angle...

As for why he acted this way, was it because the life of a good student was too boring and he needed to seek excitement? Was it because he always ranked first and needed to release the pressure? Or was it because his parents weren't around, leading to his rebellion...?

Whatever the reason, she felt she could understand it.

The boy stared at her for a few more seconds, his Adam's apple bobbing slightly.

Before he could say anything, he suddenly heard her raise her head and ask indignantly, "Is chocolate cake really that delicious?"

Chu Chiyi looked at her, his pupils dilating slightly, seemingly not quite understanding how her thought process could change so rapidly.

Looking forward to an update!

Here it comes!