"Huh?"
Cao Yuan looked at the group of jazz dancers walking onto the stage and raised his eyebrows in confusion.
"What's wrong?" Lu Menglei, wearing a lavender dress, asked while holding his arm.
"Strange, this program should be my friend's solo performance... Why did it skip directly and become a jazz dance?"
"Could it be that there's something wrong with the program?"
"Not sure... maybe the order has been changed." Cao Yuan shrugged and withdrew his gaze from the stage.
Lu Menglei blinked and began to actively find a topic:
"By the way, Junior Brother Cao Yuan, do you like jazz dance?"
"Me? I guess so-so."
"I don't really like it either... This dance is too elegant and too weak, not as sharp and exciting as the swordplay." Lu Menglei glanced at Cao Yuan and couldn't help but say, "If this show is replaced with a real group fight with real swords and guns, it will be much more interesting."
"...That kind of show wouldn't pass the review, right?"
"Speaking of which, Junior Brother Cao Yuan, why do you always refuse to use the bamboo sword?" Lu Menglei asked doubtfully, "Even when you practice with me, you only use branches..."
"I don't like using swords, or knives."
"But you certainly couldn't use branches when you were fighting before, right?"
Cao Yuan was speechless.
"I know you might be afraid that I'll feel inferior when I see your true strength... But it's okay, really! I promise not to tell anyone else. Next time, let's find a place where only the two of us are, and you can show me your true swordsmanship with a bamboo sword, okay?"
"This..." Cao Yuan was a little embarrassed.
"As long as you show me your true strength, I... I will agree to one of your requests." Lu Menglei bit her lips lightly, her cheeks flushed a little.
"Requests? What kind of requests?"
"Any request is fine." Lu Menglei added, "but don't be too excessive..."
"How do you judge excessively?"
"Just...just...oh, I have the final say anyway!"
Cao Yuan looked at Lu Menglei's expectant eyes and chuckled, "Okay, I promise you."
Hearing this, Lu Menglei cheered immediately. At this moment, several girls standing in the distance waved at her.
"My friends are also here to watch the party... Junior, wait for me for a moment, I'll go say hello to them."
"good."
Lu Menglei ran to the girls in small steps. They gathered together and talked about something. A few subtle glances fell on Cao Yuan from afar, seeming to be very curious.
The corners of Cao Yuan's mouth twitched slightly. He sighed and walked silently to the front of the crowd.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a figure in a wheelchair patting his shoulder.
"Qingyu, have you seen Li Yifei?"
"I saw him go backstage and then ran out." An Qingyu smiled helplessly, "I guess we won't be able to see his wonderful performance tonight..."
An Qingyu glanced at Cao Yuan, the corners of his mouth slightly raised, "You and that girl are progressing really fast."
"Did you see everything?"
"You guys were standing so close to me, it was hard for me not to see."
Cao Yuan grinned and did not deny it, but said directly, "She is my type and has a good personality. I am not far from perfection."
"…Have you really thought it through?"
Cao Yuan looked at An Qingyu, seemingly puzzled, "What have you thought of?"
"We can't stay here for long. When we return to the world we belong to, you won't be able to see us again."
"No way to see her again? Not really." Cao Yuan shook his head. "Even if we go on a mission to the Mist, we can only be back in a month or two. I can come to see her when I have some free time. Even if the mission is very busy, we can still see each other once a year, right?"
“Isn’t it too little to see each other once a year?”
"So many border guards and anti-drug police officers have not been able to go home to see their families for several years. As long as it is true love, once a year is enough."
"What if you die out there?"
"...Can you expect me to be better?"
"I mean just in case."
"If she dies, I will have someone notify her and won't let her wait for me." Cao Yuan answered and looked at An Qingyu with a complicated expression, "Qingyu, are you too pessimistic?"
"This is not pessimism, it's just that we can't give them a perfect future right now, right?"
"Love is not a war. There is no need to plan so carefully. You just think too much and it bothers you." Cao Yuan patted An Qingyu's shoulder. Lin Qiye said the same thing to him a few days ago.
"Look at Jiang Er, she likes you because she likes you, she has given everything for you, when has she ever considered so much?
Look at you... She has done so much for you, what about you? Have you ever given her something in return? You are either doing dissection or research every day, when have you ever focused on her? Have you ever let her feel how much you love her, even once?
Feelings are mutual, even a straight man like Qiye understands this, why can't you understand it?"
Cao Yuan's series of questions left An Qingyu speechless. He sat in the wheelchair, staring blankly ahead, motionless.
Seeing this, Cao Yuan sighed helplessly. He patted An Qingyu's shoulder heavily and said, "I'm leaving first. Think about it carefully."
Cao Yuan walked through the crowd and returned to his original position. Lu Menglei had already parted with her friends and stood with him again.
"Qingyu, look! I secretly bought you an ice cream!" Just as An Qingyu was lost in thought, a white figure came out of the ground quietly with a three-color ice cream, and a light laugh echoed in his headphones.
"I went to a store and took one away, then left ten dollars for the owner on the shelf. I carried it with me all the way without being discovered. Isn't that amazing?!"
An Qingyu took the ice cream in a daze. He couldn't see Jiang Er hiding underground, but he could hear Jiang Er's innocent smile from the headphones.
"Great..." He nodded slightly with a complicated expression.
"What's wrong with you? Are you worried?"
An Qingyu didn't say anything. He felt mixed emotions at this moment.
Lin Qiye and Cao Yuan's successive revelations finally made him truly realize his own problem. He and Jiang Er had been together for a long time, but during this long period of time, it had almost always been Jiang Er who had been taking care of him.
Whether it was during dissection, research, injury, coma, or the lowest point... Jiang Er always stood by his side, and it seemed that there was only An Qingyu in her world.
But he himself had almost never done anything for Jiang Er... Perhaps, it was because he was too accustomed to Jiang Er's existence.
Once you get used to it, you will ignore it.
An Qingyu looked at the stage that attracted countless attention, his eyes flickering slightly.
"Jiang Er, can you do me a favor?"