Chapter Thirty-Eight
Shen Yue opened his eyes immediately.
He sat up, the mark of his hand still on his forehead, his mind still reeling, but one sentence grew clearer and clearer—
"Did You Congxi buy this for me?"
He subconsciously glanced at the girl in the front row whose head was only visible from behind, then looked down at the water glass on the table and the plastic bag with the school clinic logo, and was momentarily dazed.
Aren't they still in the Cold War?
“Yes,” He Qizheng said helplessly, “Look at your lack of ambition.”
He Qizheng was quite helpless. He wondered what kind of magic potion You Congxi had given him that could make him so irritated by just a packet of medicine.
Shen Yue unscrewed the cup lid, and the steam that escaped indicated that the water temperature was just right for dissolving the medicine.
Is this also connected by You Congxi?
Shen Yue was somewhat flattered.
Before he could even feel touched, He Qizheng said, "I got you some water, how about that? A brother is still the best, right?"
Shen Yue paused for a moment, then hummed in agreement: "Choose another model, and we'll reimburse you for it together."
He Qizheng's joy lasted only a second before his smile vanished.
It feels like I'm being paid for prostitution.
Before he could figure it out, Shen Yue had already gulped down the medicine, wiped his mouth, put the cup back on, put the plastic bag containing the medicine into his backpack, and then took out his phone and chatted with someone under the table.
He Qizheng didn't even need to think about it; who else could it be?
You Congxi's phone vibrated in his pocket.
She looked up at the class monitor, who was acting as a mascot on the podium, then glanced at the empty corridor behind the window out of the corner of her eye. She looked up at the students who were quietly doing their own things, then turned her head to look at Qu Qi, who was engrossed in playing games. After hesitating for a moment, she finally steeled herself and took out her phone.
She could hide for a while, but not forever. Looking at the message Shen Yue had sent her on the screen, she sighed softly.
She didn't know what had gotten into her. Shen Yue was such a grown man; if he felt unwell, couldn't he just buy medicine himself? Why did she have to interfere? Now, her already unclear and ambiguous emotions had become even more tangled and messy, impossible to untangle or let go of, which was incredibly annoying.
You Congxi moved his finger, clicked send in one go, then turned off his phone, threw it into his desk drawer, and decided to avoid seeing it.
Her mind was a mess. The emotions that had been dragged along by Shen Yue since she didn't know when it started kept swirling in her head. This feeling of being out of control was terrible. It was as if You Congxi had returned to a certain point in her childhood. Maybe it was when she sat at the kindergarten gate from day to night, only to receive a phone call from You Yuanming saying that he couldn't come. Or maybe it was when Jing Ling left without saying goodbye on the day the two announced their divorce, and she turned around crying and saw Yu Junya, who was heavily pregnant, acting coquettishly with You Yuanming.
You Congxi unscrewed the bottle cap and took a sip of water.
In short, she loathed this feeling of being out of control, as if she were some kind of derivative that could be manipulated and discarded at any time.
This made her feel disgusted.
He Qi noticed that his brother was acting strangely and turned to ask, "What's wrong?"
Shen Yue turned off his phone, casually put it in his pocket, and said nonchalantly, "It's nothing."
He Qizheng assumed his stomach was still hurting, told him to "drink more hot water," and then turned back to writing his test paper. The math teacher, for some unknown reason, assigned three large sets of tests in one go. Did he really think they had three heads and eight hands?
Shen Yue withdrew his gaze, his rising mood plummeting back to rock bottom. His stomach felt like it had been wrung out like a towel, the pain causing cold sweat to break out on his forehead.
Recalling You Congxi's reply to him, his already furrowed brows deepened.
What exactly happened?
“Hey bro,” He Qi nudged him, “I just remembered, isn’t it your birthday coming up soon?”
Shen Yue didn't answer immediately; his mind was entirely on the seemingly defiant declaration of severance that You Congxi had sent him. He Qizheng called him several more times before he snapped out of his reverie and absentmindedly asked, "What?"
“I’m saying,” He Qizheng took a deep breath, gathering his strength like a Charizard unleashing a powerful attack, “you, are you, having a birthday?”
The sound was a little loud, and even the class monitor on the podium glanced in their direction.
Liang Jing muttered, "It's just a birthday, why announce it to the whole class? That's ridiculous."
Shen Yue: "......"
After enduring a barrage of stares and complaints, Shen Yue calmly glanced at the slightly guilty He Qizheng and said quietly, "Friday."
When bad luck strikes, even drinking cold water can cause problems.
He Qi coughed lightly, his attitude changing in an instant, becoming as warm as the sun: "Hey, I already knew about your brother. I was planning to give you a surprise, but I just wanted to ask what you wanted."
After saying that, he chuckled twice in a simple and honest manner.
Shen Yue: "Brother wants you to become mute."
He Qizheng: "......"
He Qizheng: "Oh!"
You Congxi didn't look up from the test paper until the end of get out of class.
Qu Qi, who had thoroughly enjoyed playing games throughout the class, put down her phone, stretched, glanced at her deskmate who was still immersed in a sea of problems, and said with satisfaction, "I hope my daughter will be half as motivated as you in the future."
You Congxi kept writing, and when she got to the crucial moment of a problem, Qu Qi waited for her for a few seconds, but didn't get an answer, so she simply stood up and packed up.
Unexpectedly, the girl who had been pretending to be deaf and dumb just now spoke up quietly.
"The moment your daughter was born, she cried and wanted to crawl back, saying that her mother was an unambitious fool."
Qu Qi was convinced.
She was both annoyed and amused. You Congxi seemed aloof and quiet, but she was actually full of bad intentions and held grudges. She could bring up things from ten years ago at any time, even though the parties involved had long forgotten about them. She could still find some hidden corner to dredge up the matter and throw it in their faces.
“Alright, you’re my boss,” Qu Qi said. “Have you finished writing, boss? Your little sister is starving.”
You Congxi pressed down on the pen, put the nib back, glanced at her, and said nothing.
Qu Qi surrendered: "I was wrong. I promise I won't play on my phone during the next self-study period. I will definitely turn over a new leaf and start a new life!"
"Don't take a nap at noon, finish your test paper," You Congxi said coldly.
After hastily tidying up the table, she got up and walked out with the dejected Qu Qi. She caught a glimpse of Shen Yue and He Qi with their arms around each other's backs, paused for a moment, and then looked away.
Qu Qi also spotted the two figures, then, remembering something, turned to You Congxi and asked, "Zixuan told me you went to the infirmary after the last class. What happened? Are you feeling unwell?"
You Congxi pursed her lips: "My stomach hurts a little, probably from drinking some cold air this morning, but I feel much better now."
"Oh, okay," Qu Qi nodded, half-pleading and half-complaining, telling her to let her know next time she felt unwell, then added, "I think I forgot something, do you remember?"
You Congxi glanced at her speechlessly: "I don't have mind-reading abilities."
Something in that sentence triggered Qu Qi's memory, and her eyes lit up. "Hey, I remember now! It was... what was it again??"
"Damn it." Qu Qi was exasperated with himself. "I forgot the words right on the tip of my tongue."
She stopped torturing her shaky mind and simply picked up her chopsticks to eat.
"Damn it." Qu Qi was incredibly annoyed during the meal. Suppressing the urge to throw her chopsticks, she said to You Congxi, "Are you all so bored? What are you looking at? If you love watching the show so much, why don't you wait until tonight and eavesdrop on your parents in the master bedroom? If anyone looks at me again, I'll gouge their eyes out!"
She raised her voice deliberately when she said this, making sure that everyone around her could hear her, even in the noisy cafeteria.
As soon as she finished speaking, she scanned the faces of the people around her with a fierce look. Sure enough, the few people who had been staring at You Congxi so openly, like searchlights, all lowered their heads quickly or slowly and continued eating as if nothing had happened.
Qu Qi scoffed lightly: "Coward."
If you're so capable, stand up and fight her.
You Congxi, on the contrary, was not angry: "Why bother with them? They're just irrelevant people."
Speaking of this, Qu Qi was furious: "You're right, the one most to blame is Shen Yue. If it weren't for him..."
What if it weren't for him?
You Congxi didn't ask, but they both knew perfectly well that rumors could be incredibly powerful, especially those circulating within a closed campus. One person tells ten, ten tell a hundred; even the most ordinary sentence could have a hundred different versions. She could easily guess what kind of rumors had been circulating about their relationship.
Qu Qi hesitated for a few seconds, then asked cautiously, "What's going on between you two now?"
"What do you mean, 'whatever'?" You Congxi picked up a piece of carrot and chewed it slowly, saying indifferently, "Just ordinary classmates, what else can I say?"
Clang.
The sound of an iron plate hitting the corner of a table.
"Hey Shen Yue! Where are you going?" He Qizheng's voice came from the side.
Both of them paused for a moment. After a while, Qu Qi turned her head and looked around, but there wasn't a trace of him. She turned back and asked incredulously, "When did Chen Yue arrive??"
You Congxi scooped up a large spoonful of rice, stuffed his mouth full, and mumbled, "I don't know, what does it have to do with me?"
After finishing their meal, the two entered the classroom through the back door. You Congxi glanced at the empty seat subconsciously, but without stopping, went straight back to her own seat.
Qu Qi was still wondering what she had forgotten when she felt a sharp pain in the back of her hand. She subconsciously looked down and saw You Congxi putting away his pen and threatening, "If you don't take your test seriously, don't expect me to write any more punishments for you."
"Okay—" Qu Qi pouted, rubbed the back of her hand, picked up her pen, and continued to struggle with the math problem.
You Congxi looked away. Writing punishment papers didn't require thinking. The pen in her hand was moving, but her mind was filled with the image of Shen Yue turning and leaving in the cafeteria.
I feel a little...sad.
You Congxi didn't know why she used this word; it just appeared in her mind subconsciously and abruptly.
"Hey, have you seen Shen Yue? The Chinese teacher is looking for him."
"No, haven't you come back from dinner yet?"
"No way, Liangzi said he saw him in the cafeteria, but he's already gone."
People were chatting nearby, but You Congxi remained calm on the surface, his ears perked up higher than antennas.
Has Shen Yue not returned yet?
She looked up at the clock on the wall; there were still ten minutes until the first class of the afternoon.
"No need to look anymore," the person who had come to call Shen Yue to the office said breathlessly as he returned from the doorway. "I asked Da Shu, and Shen Yue has taken leave, saying he has a stomachache."
The tip of my pen paused as I wandered along the stream.
Suddenly, Qu Qi's excited voice came from the side: "I remember now!"
Swimming past the stream.
"Before I was called away by the politics teacher, I said that those people in the group who believe everything they hear definitely don't know the truth about your relationship!"
You Congxi remained silent for a few seconds before finally asking, "What's the truth?"
Qu Qi was immersed in the joy of finally remembering, and did not notice You Congxi's unusual emotions.
She said with a grin, "Good friend, really good friend. Shen Yue even has the confidence to compete with me for the position of best friend."
After a while, Qu Qi noticed something was wrong and asked curiously, "What's wrong?"
She thought for a moment: "Or are we just ordinary friends? Did I misunderstand?"
"No," You Congxi said in a rare flustered tone, as she picked up her pen and said in a muffled voice, "Hurry up and start writing the test, or we won't finish."
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