Chapter 173 IF Line: Childhood Sweethearts (06)
Xie Xingchen felt a slight tickle on his heart because of the button that held special meaning.
Of course he knew what it meant. The girl who had just confessed to him had just explained that the second button on a shirt, the one closest to the heart, represents liking someone.
Unsure whether Lin Yao did it intentionally or unintentionally, he simply smiled at the camera and said, "Take a couple more pictures."
After taking the photo, Xie Xingchen withdrew his hand and went over to check the photo.
Lin Yao's gaze followed him, then fell back to Xie Xingchen's left hand, where his fingers were naturally bent, playing with the button he had just given away, looking nonchalant.
Does he even understand what it means to give someone a button as a gift?
Lin Yao's face was tense, and his expression looked both nervous and serious.
“Great shot, I want to take one too.” He Li handed over the camera. “Cheng Boyan, Cheng Boyan, Cheng Boyan, come here.”
Xie Xingchen put the button in his pocket, stood in the spot where the photo had been taken, looked up and reminded Lin Yao, "What are you standing there for?"
Lin Yao moved a little to the side without expression.
Their gazes were so intense they practically burned a hole through Xie Xingchen's pockets.
After he finished taking the photos, he couldn't help but remind him again, "Don't knock my buttons off."
"Are you going to sew it back on?" Xie Xingchen looked at the loose part of his shirt, where a bit of fair skin was faintly visible. "I won't be wearing this school uniform anymore. Give me the buttons as a souvenir."
The sun was very strong, and Lin Yao felt his palms were a little sweaty.
He probed, "What do you need a broken button for?"
Xie Xingchen said meaningfully, "Take a chain and string them together, hang them around your neck. Don't you know that's the trend this year?"
Lin Yao hesitated, feeling both pleased and annoyed that he was such a blockhead: "Then you wear it."
"What are you two whispering about?" He Li leaned closer to observe their expressions. "Looks like you're plotting something bad? Ah, are you planning to get me drunk at the farewell dinner tonight?"
Lin Yao turned to look at him, giving him an expression as if he were an idiot: "Do you know what the outcome is when someone jumps out at a time like this and says things like that?"
"I don't know." He Li shook his head innocently.
"That means you're going to get drunk by them." Cheng Boyan reached out and patted the back of his head, saying with interest, "I've never seen you drunk before, so I've decided to join this army."
He Li patted his chest, full of confidence and unafraid of threats: "I, He Li, have no other skills, but I can drink a thousand cups without getting drunk."
"Really? Friends, do you know who to target tonight?" The class monitor happened to pass by and relayed the message to the crowd with a grin, "Our classmate He Li says he can drink a thousand cups without getting drunk, so... let's take a look."
"Wow, you can drink a ton of liquor and never get drunk. The last person who said that is still throwing up at home." Someone nearby chimed in, "You're finished."
Lin Yao sighed deeply: "I will prepare some hangover medicine."
Xie Xingchen also sighed, "I'll help you choose a seat near the toilet."
Cheng Boyan carefully checked the meeting place: "It's fine, it's right next to Hemu. My dad's on duty tonight."
"You guys really have no faith in me!" He Li cried out in anguish. "I really can't drink a thousand cups of alcohol!!!"
The farewell dinner was held in a large private room where people could sing, drink, and play games; four tables were fully occupied. Lin Yao went back to change his clothes, and when he went back, he found Xie Xingchen dressed in a very flashy way.
It wasn't that the clothes were flashy; it was just a very ordinary black shirt. But with two buttons undone at the collar, the person in that environment suddenly lost their student-like demeanor and looked extremely dissolute.
The white button around her neck was threaded onto a silver chain, swaying slightly with her movements.
Lin Yao paused for a moment, then reached out to unbutton the button, somewhat pleased: "You actually wore it."
Xie Xingchen leaned back lazily in the chair: "It looks pretty good, so I wore it."
But aren't all school uniforms the same? Lin Yao swallowed hard, but didn't say anything.
The girl who confessed to him earlier looked over. The white button stood out against the black shirt, and she looked a little aggrieved: "Didn't you say that this symbolism was too ambiguous and you wouldn't accept it? Whose button is this?"
Xie Xingchen smiled and glanced to the side: "Lin Yao's."
After saying that, she added an even more ambiguous sentence: "But it wasn't him who brought it, I asked for it."
Several people nearby started to jeer and jeer, drawing out their voices: "What's going on with you two?"
Unexpectedly exposed in public, Lin Yao's cheeks flushed red, and he pretended not to know: "What meaning? I don't know."
"I clearly told you..." The girl bit her lip and looked at him, clearly having explained.
Before he could finish speaking, He Li interrupted him with a grin, saying, "Brother Yao and Xie Gou are both straight Alphas, how could they possibly know the meaning of giving a button? It's hilarious. What could possibly happen between those two Alphas?"
For the first time, Lin Yao was relieved to have a rough-around-the-edges person next to him, and breathed a sigh of relief: "That's right, just a decoration, don't make a fuss."
Cheng Boyan said slowly, "What a unique decoration. I want one too."
Xie Xingchen glanced at him, his eyes warning him not to say anything further.
He Li generously raised his hand and forcefully pulled out a button, saying, "It's not a school uniform, but it'll do. You can have it."
"Thank you." Cheng Boyan smiled slightly. "I'll keep it safe."
Watching their interaction, the girl muttered to herself, "They're really straight-up, so casual."
"Stop talking about those buttons, come on, let's not forget our theme today: get He Li drunk." The class monitor struck a pose with his wine glass in hand. "Here's what we'll do: let He Li be the host and go around to each of us."
There were at least thirty or forty people, and Lin Yao was a little worried: "Isn't that too many?"
He Li, without a care in the world, raised his hand and drank it first as a sign of respect: "It's nothing, just forty cups, with this much alcohol, it's like drinking water."
He certainly seemed to have a good tolerance for alcohol, and his face didn't flush easily; after a few drinks, his cheeks only had a very light pink tinge.
Cheng Boyan hadn't expected him to be so reckless, and reached out to hold him down: "That's enough, do you really want to put my dad in the emergency room?"
"Hey, what's up with these two straight Aces? They seem so concerned." The class monitor's gaze fell on them, never one to miss a chance for a good show. "Or, why don't you drink with him?"
Cheng Boyan was genuinely afraid that he would get drunk and grabbed him back, saying, "Okay, I'll take care of the rest."
He Li tilted her head and looked at him with admiration in her eyes: "You're such a nice person, then I'll go with you."
Lin Yao watched as the two of them got up and toasted each of their classmates, muttering under his breath, "It's like they're toasting newcomers. The farewell dinner has become their show."
Xie Xingchen laughed uncontrollably, took a picture, and sent it to the four-person group chat: "You know what, it really captures that feeling."
They were the last to finish up. When Cheng Boyan and He Li arrived, everyone had already finished eating and were playing Truth or Dare by drawing cards.
Lin Yao casually drew a card, and before he could even look at it, he saw that the two of them were obviously slightly drunk. He Li was hanging on Cheng Boyan very brazenly: "Come on, Yao-ge, I'm so happy to have been classmates for six years, let's have a drink."
Lin Yao looked at his unfocused gaze and asked calmly, "What is 2223 plus 7895?"
"Who do you think you are? I'm not drunk." He Li slurred, tilting his head. "Nine thousand... no, ten thousand and eighteen."
“Even if he were sober, he might not be able to answer that question,” Cheng Boyan said with a smile.
Lin Yao nodded, raised his hand to clink glasses with him, and felt it was reasonable: "That's right, I overestimated him."
Xie Xingchen watched him drink it all in one gulp, quite boldly. He recalled that when Lin Yao was a child, he once secretly drank some wine at a party and ended up hugging and acting cute all night. He was only one glass away from being drunk.
Sure enough, after drinking that cup, his face began to flush slightly.
"What is 2223 plus 7895?" Xie Xingchen teased him on purpose.
Lin Yao retorted, "That's like you being a complete idiot."
Xie Xingchen smiled and reached out to pinch his cheek: "Looks like you're not drunk, you still have a sharp tongue."
He Li had just finished pressing the calculator and, upon learning the correct answer, immediately turned to mock him: "Wrong, it's 10118. You're way off. Yao-ge is an idiot."
Lin Yao: ""
"Hey, who got the Queen of Clubs?" the host shouted from the middle of the room. "The Queen of Clubs picks someone to kiss for ten seconds, and nobody claims it? Stop pretending to be dead."
The class monitor chuckled and said, "Oh dear, the Seven of Hearts, you missed your chance to kiss someone."
"I have the King of Diamonds." Xie Xingchen turned his card over first, raising an eyebrow slightly. "You guys are playing this high."
“It wasn’t me.” He Li shook the cards in his hand and said slowly, “I’m the 3 of Clubs.”
Lin Yao stared at the card in front of him that hadn't been turned over yet, and suddenly had a bad feeling: "I've had too much to drink, I'm going home to sleep."
"Brother Yao?" He Li leaned closer, asking curiously, "It's not you, is it? Trying to run away?"
"How could I be so unlucky?" Lin Yao said, flipping the card over in a fit of pique. It was something like Murphy's Law: the more you don't want something, the more likely it is to happen.
Cheng Boyan, always eager for drama, remarked, "Isn't this a case of fate smiling upon us?"
"Hurry up and choose!" The people next to me were already urging us on impatiently. "No gender or AO restrictions."
Lin Yao thought for a moment, then reached out and grabbed He Li, pulling him close: "I'll have to make do with this for a bit."
The latter was so frightened that his curly hair stood on end, and he fluttered around like a landlubber, yelling, "No way! Why am I being punished in this game?! This is unfair!!!"
As soon as the person was chosen, Lin Yao felt countless heavy gazes fall upon him, especially from Xie Xingchen's left.
He seemed to be watching the show, a lingering smile on his face, but it didn't reach his eyes: "You want to kiss He Li?"
"Is that not allowed?" Lin Yao turned to look at him, as if testing his reaction. "It's just a game."
Cheng Boyan frowned slightly and reminded him, "Keep the kiss for ten seconds."
Lin Yao replied with an indifferent expression, "Half a minute is fine too."
"Wow, as expected of the strongest Alpha, he really knows how to have fun!" The students watching the commotion were practically screaming like crazy.
He Li was half-sobered by the fright. Seeing Lin Yao leaning closer, he felt a strange unease, as if his brother was about to do something inappropriate. He turned his head away, pleading, "No, I really can't! Ahhhhhh, Yao-ge, please, find someone else! This is my first kiss!!!"
Lin Yao moved closer, then suddenly stopped when they were still a little distance apart, and laughed, "You're such a coward."
I knew He Li would react this way. This guy always talks about giving his first kiss to the person he loves most, valuing it more than his own life.
He looked at everyone with apparent regret, trying to escape this predicament in this way: "I made my choice, but He Li is unwilling, so you can't blame me."
Cheng Boyan reached out and turned him around to face Xie Xingchen, suggesting, "You two grew up together. He kissed your cheek when you were two or three years old, so you shouldn't mind."
The people around them started screaming and jeering again, making a huge commotion.
Lin Yao looked down at him, and the other person looked up at him as well. In the dim light, they bumped into each other gently, and his heart skipped a beat.
"do you mind?"
Xie Xingchen's gaze fell on his lips, which looked moist and full, probably from drinking alcohol.
He was nonchalant: "I can take it, I don't mind."
"Aaaaaah, He Li, look at her!!!" The jeering crowd immediately changed direction, yelling, "Quick, quick, quick!!! I'm going crazy!!"
Lin Yao had never intended to use He Li as a scapegoat, but now, the die was cast.
He braced his hands on the wooden chair, leaning slightly forward. Because the seat was narrow and it was difficult to find a foothold, his whole body was stiff.
"Brother Chen, lift your head." His voice sounded tense.
Xie Xingchen didn't move, his gaze sweeping over He Li's trembling eyelashes, still pondering what had just happened: "You really intend to kiss He Li?"
"I want to kiss you now." Lin Yao could only lower his neck as much as possible and try to get closer again.
He whispered to the other person, "The lights are dim, so you can raise your hand to block them. I'll just make a light touch to create a false sense of distance, without taking advantage of you."
With a slight slip of her back foot, she fell forward, her lower back instantly grabbed. After a moment of panic, she landed steadily on the other person's lap.
Xie Xingchen loosely put his arm around his lower back, deliberately misinterpreting his meaning: "Oh, you were just trying to cover it up, now you're playing hard to get."
Under the watchful eyes of everyone, screams erupted, and Lin Yao's face felt like it was on fire.
Before he could say anything more outrageous, she lowered her head and abruptly shut his mouth, silencing his rambling.
"Xie Xingchen, if you talk nonsense again, I'll bite you."
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