Chapter 3: Abstract Cat
The group of teenagers returned the same way they came, and the atmosphere was more depressing than when they climbed the mountain.
But after walking for a while, Ban Li suddenly pulled out a bunch of bananas from his backpack, which surprised Lu Xu: "How could someone carry such a large bunch of bananas while climbing a mountain? Is this weight training?"
Ban Li smiled, revealing his two symmetrical canine teeth, and explained, "Eating bananas replenishes fasting carbohydrates. I see all athletes do that."
After saying that, he suddenly turned around to look at Xia Cun who was lagging behind the crowd, and continued, "She also carried a lot, and the apple juice is quite heavy."
So it wasn't just him carrying a heavy load of bananas like a monkey.
This was the first time someone mentioned Xia Cun since the climb.
Xia Cun stared at Banli, his face devoid of any detail that could reveal his emotions, only a bright light in his eyes, as if he didn't understand why he mentioned her. Banli was inexplicably flustered by her stare and lowered his head to break open a banana.
He seemed to have calculated it accurately, and everyone present got a banana, including Xia Cun.
Xia Cun took the banana he handed over and thought for a moment before pulling out a box of apple juice from his bag and handing it over: "Here you go."
On the dark green box, there is a bright red and lovely apple.
Ban Li stared at the juice box for a moment, then looked up and smiled at her: "Thanks."
He returned to the team, squeezing apple juice.
Jiang Song's eyes vaguely swept across the dark green, then he gently tossed the banana in his hand, caught it, and handed it to Lu Xu.
"I don't like bananas."
The sound was light, but loud enough for others to hear.
"Why would you accept it if you don't like it?" Lu Xu took it puzzled, "But it just so happens that I'm hungry——"
He peeled the second banana and thought of something else, "Could it be true that the rumor that Japanese people don't eat is true?"
Jiang Song didn't say a word. He was like a barometer in the group, influencing everyone's emotions. Perhaps they could see that he didn't want to talk. From then on, except for Zhuo Manyi who occasionally said something, everyone else remained silent.
…
Perhaps because of the boring journey, the boys were very listless after returning to the foot of the mountain.
Fortunately, their self-inflicted suffering ended here. The accompanying life assistant arranged everything for the return trip, and they no longer had to worry about the scorching sun and the crowds.
The hotel was arranged in Jinan, and He Shizhao and others stayed there to wait for them. After returning to the hotel, the teenagers were already starving, and they didn't care about being picky about food and went straight to the restaurant for dinner.
After a while, Zhou Yun rushed over after hearing the news. Seeing that Jiang Song was not in the restaurant, he laughed at the rest of the people. Zhuo Manyi, who was already unhappy, started arguing with him, and the atmosphere became more lively than before.
Xia Cun finished the food on his plate without saying a word, yawned, and stood up to leave. As he left, he heard Zhou Yun say, "Come on, tell me what that young master did today?"
She returned to the room, fell on her back on the big bed, her eyes flickering.
So boring.
Maybe things will be different after reaching the top of the mountain. At least I won’t feel exhausted and without a sense of accomplishment.
How do you say "I'm so bored" in Japanese?
つまらない.
But today, when Jiang Song sighed, he said つまんない, and the ending sound was sliding down, which sounded more willful.
Is Jiang Song such a fickle and capricious person? What made him decide to take the apple juice after saying "Yumanai"?
Xia Cun was still unclear. After all, it had only been three days since she officially met Jiang Song.
Thinking of this, Xia Cun sat up, took off the camera hanging around his neck and the cloth bag he was carrying across his body, turned over and lay back at the end of the bed, checking his mobile phone messages.
Her phone was always quiet, but this summer seemed different. It was the first time she'd left Xia Lan's side, and Xia Lan seemed unused to it. She'd been texting her frequently since she'd left home three days earlier.
Of course, it’s only more frequent than before.
"I bought a new pair of scissors, but one of the locks is stuck on the finger clip, so I can't use it."
"What? It turns out the lock can be undone. I just cut it with a kitchen knife."
She hadn't checked her phone while eating, and only now typed a reply: "I've known this since I was ten."
Xia Lan replied quickly and coldly, "Oh."
Xia Cun smiled at the phone.
Xia Cun often wondered how Xia Lan had raised her, but the conclusion she came to was always the same -
Her growth is inseparable from her own efforts.
She yawned again, and out of sleepiness she put down her phone and fell asleep at the end of the bed.
She didn't know how much time had passed when she felt a vibration on her wrist and woke up with a start.
Ren Yi, wearing a new beagle profile picture, asked her, "How was your day?"
6:13 PM. Xia Cun glanced at the time, barely waking up. She got up to brush her teeth, and while thinking, she typed the next line: I seem to have made him angry.
But she thought about it, deleted the content and re-edited it: "It's so hard to figure out anyway."
"Yeah, let's figure it out slowly."
He clearly came to show concern, but his answer seemed perfunctory.
"I gave him a carton of apple juice."
"Not bad, not bad. That's amazing."
It's really perfunctory...
Xia Cun thought that Ren Yi was probably rolling her eyes.
As Xia Cun's only friend, Ren Yi always claimed that she was forced to be friends with Xia Cun because her mother had always told her to be nice to Xia Cun since she was a child, so she was forced to get close to her.
In her opinion, Xia Cun was the weirdest guy in the world, like a strange cat.
An abstract cat, appearing and disappearing, as if blown by the wind or burned by fire. The cat's fur is probably black.
She had never been able to grasp Xia Cun's thoughts. She always had some bizarre and unrealistic ideas. She would insist on taking a strange route home after elementary school because the wind on that road smelled good. She would suddenly and solemnly give her a stone, or ask her what could sense clouds...
It seems that anything illogical will become natural once Xia Cun does it.
Because she is illogical and unpredictable. For her, illogicality is logic and chaos is order.
There is only one thing that defies Ren Yi's paradoxical view.
It was spring, and Jiang Song had enrolled in the International Department, rising to the top of campus gossip with the fastest and most impressive performance. And just a week after his arrival, Xia Cun suddenly announced to her that she loved Jiang Song.
Ren Yi felt dizzy for a moment——
How could Xia Cun have a favorite Earthling?!
Isn't she an abstract cat?
She won't accept it! Not even Jiang Song!
However, it only took Ren Yi a short while to put her worries about this matter to rest, because she found that the "like" that Xia Cun meant and the "like" in the popular sense that she understood were two completely different things.
In other words, she thought Xia Cun was not in love with Jiang Song.
This girl was simply curious, like liking a sunflower facing the wrong direction, or liking a Turkish vase. She was exploring Jiang Song, not liking him.
Ren Yi did not expose Xia Cun, she just fooled her to prevent Xia Cun from really thinking about such a troublesome thing as "liking".
As for now, she was more concerned about another matter, so after fooling Xia Cun about her fantasy of love, she went straight to the point and cared about her real situation:
"How were those people? Did they tease you or ignore you?"
An ordinary girl breaks into the world of a group of young masters and young ladies from privileged families. Even in their student days when the gap can be best covered up, the different luxury brands, the three-digit ice creams, the caring assistants, and even the casual complaints can clearly reveal the gap between them, without any ambiguity.
Will she be ridiculed?
Will you feel inferior?
Although Ren Yi could not imagine Xia Cun having an inferiority complex, she was still worried that this guy would be affected by the huge gap. Ren Yi would never accept that this fantasy worry would actually happen to Xia Cun.
She didn't receive a reply from Xia Cun, so she continued to bombard her with messages:
——I’m asking you a question!
——Where are the people?
…
——If you don’t reply to my message, don’t even think about copying my homework.
——Xia Zuncheng! Are you asleep?
Ren Yi was so angry that she dropped her phone and turned to play games.
-
Xia Cun stood inside the door and winked at the boy in the corridor.
Perhaps because he had just taken a shower, his curly hair was still a little wet. Under the dim light in the corridor, it looked smooth and gentle.
"あ,见つけた." (Ah, I found it.)
He hunched over and looked into the girl's dark eyes. His tone was lazy, with a hint of casual intimacy, like a cat discovering another cat.
Xia Cun saw the small teardrop mole under his left eye for the first time and asked him, "Are you looking for me?"
Jiang Song smiled and nodded, saying, "I'm so bored. Can you take me to buy apple juice?"
Xia Cun tilted his head.
The invitation came out of nowhere like a hot summer breeze.
She was quiet in the hot flashes.
They seemed to have not spoken for a long time, but in fact, five seconds later Xia Cun's voice interrupted the quiet passage of time.
"Okay, wait for me."
Xia Cun returned to the bedside, put the messages that Ren Yi had been knocking on the door into his bag, and slung it over his shoulder.
Jiang Song was waiting for her outside the door, as if they were already familiar friends.
The corridor was long. Xia Cun walked on the thick carpet. His footsteps were so light that they seemed non-existent. He seemed to be floating in the clouds, or walking through a dream, while the lights above his head flickered.
Is he still walking behind?
Was what just happened real?
Xia Cun suddenly stopped, as if she had stopped dreaming, but the boy's ethereal voice sounded behind her, asking softly: "どうしたの?"
It's still possible that she's dreaming, because she would also say this -
What's wrong?
なんでもない. Don't. nothing.
Xia Cun turned around and looked at him with his answer, then asked, "Why do you want me to take you to buy apple juice?"
Isn't there a personal assistant in the hotel? Aren't there other people as well?
"Because you're more interesting."
The boy's eyes curved into crescents, his skin was so thin that even his bones were beautiful. Xia Cun had no way of telling whether what he said was true or not, so he just continued to float towards the elevator shaft.
Leaving the hotel, we walked towards the steaming sunset.
They walked in unison, following the shadows of the buildings. Some eyes were cast upon them along the way, but neither of them seemed to find it strange.
Ten minutes later, Jiang Song took a row of apple juice from the convenience store shelf and paid for it.
He sat down at the high table by the window, took out a box and handed it to Xia Cun, but when she held out her hand, he said, "Ah, I forgot."
Xia Cun stopped, his eyes flashing with confusion.
Forgot something?
Then she heard him ask, "Can you tell me your name again?"
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