Chapter 72 "I like him."
After entering the door, the whole house was quiet.
When Jiang Yao is relaxing at home alone, it is hard not to make all kinds of noises, such as playing games, watching videos, or listening to music.
Just half an hour ago, Jiang Yao had sent him a message, saying that they would go out for a walk together when he came back, so he specifically turned down his partner's dinner invitation and rushed back as quickly as possible.
Duan Zhuxian put the cake on the table in the living room. He first looked around the place on the first floor where Jiang Yao often stayed, but didn't see anyone, so he went to the second floor.
When I walked to the bedroom door, I saw Jiang Yao leaning against the wardrobe, with his back to the door and his head down operating his mobile phone. The room was filled with a strange silence.
Duan Zhuxian slowed down his pace and knocked lightly on the door frame: "I'm back."
Jiang Yao's stiff back trembled noticeably, as if he was suddenly startled, but all he got in response was silence.
Duan Zhuxian paused and asked, "What are you doing?"
Jiang Yao said: "Buy a plane ticket."
The voice is like a cold spring in February.
Duan Zhuxian was stunned: "Is there something urgent to deal with in Lingbei?"
"Yes, it's a major life event." Jiang Yao turned around slowly. "I checked. The Civil Affairs Bureau will be open on the seventh day of the Lunar New Year, which happens to be tomorrow. It's a very auspicious day."
Meeting Jiang Yao's cold gaze, Duan Zhuxian realized that the bed was covered with clothes taken out of the closet, and there was a suitcase next to the bed that was wide open and half full.
When Duan Zhuxian realized what Jiang Yao was going to do, he felt as if someone was strangling his heart.
He frowned, and the gentle expression on his face faded away. He took a step forward and was about to walk into the bedroom, but Jiang Yao got there first and blocked his way in.
The next second, Jiang Yao ruthlessly slammed him outside the door, followed by the sound of the door being locked.
The moment the door closed, he saw an orange notebook fall from Jiang Yao's arms to the ground.
For a long time, neither of the two people inside or outside the door spoke.
Jiang Yao leaned against the door and was the first to break the silence: "On New Year's Eve, I asked you if you had ever liked anyone before me. You denied it, but your diary said that you spent a week trying not to like someone, and ultimately failed."
From beginning to end, his tone was very calm, even more steady than his usual arrogant and confident way of speaking.
But if you listen carefully, you can hear the slight tremor that is tried hard to conceal, like tiny cracks growing on the surface of ice, which will collapse with the slightest poke.
As if afraid of losing the initiative, Jiang Yao interrupted Duan Zhuxian before he could speak and continued, "Duan Zhuxian, I have a question for you."
"You ask."
Duan Zhuxian's voice sounded outside the door.
The words "neither light nor heavy" were a little hoarse, as if they were squeezed out of the throat after sufficient mental preparation.
It turns out that even someone as calm as Duan Zhuxian would subconsciously panic when caught lying.
Jiang Yao sneered and didn't ask why Duan Zhuxian lied to him. He only asked, "Do you still have feelings for this person?"
This is all he cared about. After all, if it was someone he had disliked for a long time, just like Chen Tang to him, with Duan Zhuxian's personality, there was no need for him to deny the other person's existence over and over again.
A few seconds later, Jiang Yao heard Duan Zhuxian's answer: "Yes."
He sniffed secretly: "Okay, I get it."
Then he looked down at the air ticket interface on his phone, but couldn't press the "Submit Order" button.
He thought that with his violent temper that could not tolerate any grain of sand in his eyes, he would definitely not be able to resist beating Duan Zhuxian up when he saw him.
But he didn't.
He overestimated his own temper.
Even just now, when he heard Duan Zhuxian finally admit that he had Bai Yueguang, his urge to buy a return ticket disappeared.
Isn’t it just an old love from ten years ago?
Since Duan Zhuxian chose to marry him, confessed her love to him, and did so many romantic things with him, it proves that Duan Zhuxian and Bai Yueguang are not destined to be together after all, and what they can't let go of is just their obsession.
Moreover, if things continue to develop in this way, as long as he is a qualified lover and loves Duan Zhuxian more, that lingering affection will sooner or later become a thing of the past.
If they really had to compete, he would have a better chance of winning no matter how you look at it.
There are very few things that Jiang Yao wants that he cannot get.
Thinking of this, Jiang Yao's heart trembled and he clenched his fists suddenly.
This sudden thought really frightened him.
He didn't even know that he actually liked Duan Zhuxian to this extent, liked her so much that he could break his innate pride and compete with Bai Yueguang, a girl no one else knew, for Duan Zhuxian's heart.
He seems a little finished.
At this moment, he heard Duan Zhuxian's voice coming from outside the door: "Yaoyao, take a look at the schedule book later."
Jiang Yao refused: "I won't watch it."
He didn't want to see Duan Zhuxian's past of being deeply in love with someone else.
Duan Zhuxian: "Just take a look, okay?"
Perhaps it was because Duan Zhuxian's coaxing voice was too bewitching, and Jiang Yao could never resist it. He stood there for a long time with his body tense, refusing to give in. Suddenly, he bent down as if deflated, picked up the fallen diary, squatted on the ground and opened the page he had just seen, the summary of the fourth week's schedule.
Then comes the fifth week.
The last sentence of the itinerary was still very inconsistent with the previous stereotyped record.
[I surpassed him in the final exam this time. I love seeing his unyielding expression.]
Jiang Yao was stunned, and a storm suddenly blew up in his mind.
Back then in school, he was the only one who could outperform Duan Zhuxian in exams. Who else was worthy of Duan Zhuxian using the word "surpass"?
He couldn't help but turn another page.
Week 6
[During the winter vacation, I controlled myself and didn't pay attention to his news for a week.]
Week 7
I miss him.
Week 8
【The holiday is finally over. 】
Week 9
[He told me that he liked someone, but he once said that he would never fall in love too early, what a liar.]
After holding his breath all the way to this point, Jiang Yao seemed to have regained his breath. He let out a sudden breath, rubbed the date column in the upper right corner with his fingertips, and confirmed the day again.
Duan Zhuxian's seventeenth birthday is this week.
He remembered that night, he called Duan Zhuxian and wished his best opponent a happy birthday.
Then, he gave the secret of his love for Chen Tang to Duan Zhuxian as a birthday present, to show his trust in Duan Zhuxian and that he treated Duan Zhuxian as his own.
And even earlier, he had indeed expressed to Duan Zhuxian that he was against premature love, when he suspected Duan Zhuxian had a tendency to fall in love too early and tried to stop Duan Zhuxian from going astray.
No wonder Duan Zhuxian called him a liar.
He really did not keep his word. He only allowed himself to set the fire but not Duan Zhuxian to light the lamp.
Continue flipping back.
The same is true for the following recording formats.
Regarding this ever-growing feeling, I only wrote a few words in my weekly summary, which was very restrained, unlike the way I vented my emotions in my diary. It was obvious that I was trying hard to hold back my endless love, but with little success.
Browsing through the pages, it was week 12—
[I received a crystal ball from him, it's very beautiful.]
Crystal ball?
The fingers holding the paper trembled, and Jiang Yao's mind flashed back to the crystal ball placed in the center of the watch cabinet in Duan Zhuxian's cloakroom, and Duan Zhuxian's WeChat avatar with the crystal ball that he had never changed.
Then, a lost memory inadvertently floated back into my heart.
It was a lunar holiday that day, and Jiang Yao played a game of ball with Duan Zhuxian. When the game ended in the evening, he said that he had an appointment with Chen Tang for dinner.
Duan Zhuxian proposed for the first time to join them. He did not refuse, but agreed with Duan Zhuxian that after dinner, he and Shen Tang would be left alone for the two of them. Duan Zhuxian also agreed.
When the two were waiting for Chen Tang at the intersection, Jiang Yao saw a claw machine on the side of the road. He was bored waiting, so he bought a few coins. After failing several times, he finally grabbed a silver snowflake crystal ball.
He asked Duan Zhuxian: "Do you like silver?"
Duan Zhuxian nodded.
He put the crystal ball into Duan Zhuxian's hand and said, "I'll give it to you. I'll also give Chen Tang a purple one. He likes purple."
However, as if his luck had run out, he was never able to pick out the second crystal ball.
Chen Tang also broke the appointment due to some urgent matters, so in the end he and Duan Zhuxian had dinner together.
After confirming her relationship with Duan Zhuxian, Jiang Yao deliberately inquired about Duan Zhuxian's preferences and learned that Duan Zhuxian had no interest in silver...
For a moment, Jiang Yao felt a little difficulty swallowing. The thin notebook seemed to be soaked with time and was so heavy that he could hardly hold it.
These words are too sour and astringent, like unripe green plums. If you accidentally bite them, the juice will flow down your throat and even your chest will feel a faint burning sensation.
He took a deep breath and almost didn't dare to flip back.
Week 13
【Research the information and try to find a way to curb your liking.】
Week 14
【Curb your love for failure.】
Week 15
[I still like him.]
Week 16
【I still like him.】
Week 17
I like him.
…
Every word on the paper was like a dull heartbeat, penetrating countless time and space and hitting his chest.
From beginning to end, no person's name appears once, and "he" is used throughout.
But who this "he" is is self-evident from the moment he appears for the second time.
But all this was too unbelievable for Jiang Yao.
Even though he already knew that Duan Zhuxian had never liked Chen Tang, he never imagined that Duan Zhuxian would have a crush on him since their school days.
In his perspective, Duan Zhuxian, like him, always treated him as an opponent, never gave in to him, and occasionally even confronted him, going head-to-head with him, playing the role of "mortal enemy" flawlessly, and thus controlling his unyielding personality for more than ten years.
Duan Zhuxian hid himself very well.
It's been hidden for too long.
Lost in a dreamlike reality, Jiang Yao unconsciously stroked his diary, and belatedly discovered that the cover on the back was slightly bulging.
He turned to the last page and took out a few sheets of paper from the envelope.
It was a movie ticket. I had traced the key information on it with a pen for fear it would fade.
Jiang Yao was very familiar with these movies, as he had watched them with Chen Tang when he was in high school.
After he had the idea of pursuing Chen Tang, he imitated Chen Yiqi's pursuit method and asked Chen Tang to watch a movie for a while.
Before buying tickets, he would first ask Duan Zhuxian about Chen Tang's preferences, and then choose a suitable movie.
He suddenly thought of something, took out his cell phone, and flipped to his circle of friends from ten years ago.
He has a habit of posting a record of every movie he watches on WeChat Moments.
The movie times on Duan Zhuxian's ticket stubs are almost the same as the times he watched movies that year, but in different cinemas.
In other words, every time he and Shen Tang watched a movie, Duan Zhuxian would watch the same movie with him in a different space at the same time.
It seems that this will allow me to integrate into his life to the greatest extent possible.
This is not at all a string-pulling exercise.
In his impression, the thin and tall boy was aloof, strong, rational and firm, and would not be swayed by anyone's will. He always walked his own way as if no one was around, and would not accommodate anyone, whether they were opponents or friends.
Jiang Yao blinked hard at his blurry eyes, carefully stuffed the ticket stubs back into the envelope, and then closed the diary.
He's already a mess.
As he watched further, he felt that the whole world was going wrong.
The air inside the door was quiet from beginning to end, but the heartbeat outside was noisy and restless.
Duan Zhuxian stood there for a long time.
Like a teenager who musters up the courage to confess his love and then silently waits for a response, he forces himself to keep his composure, his hands sweating.
He didn't know whether Jiang Yao looked back, or if Jiang Yao had already looked back and was so frightened by his strong and suppressed love that she was speechless.
When it comes to the scale of love, Jiang Yao has always had a low tolerance, just like a fox that has just emerged from a hole. On the surface, he holds his head high, appears smart and proud, but the slightest shock can scare him away.
Duan Zhuxian has already had experience in this regard.
He actually had the key to the door in front of him, right in his pocket. He could open it even if it was locked, but he wanted to wait for Jiang Yao to respond.
After an unknown amount of time, Jiang Yao's voice finally came from inside the door.
"So, the person you liked in high school was me."
Make statements, not questions.
Apparently he had the answer.
"Yeah." Duan Zhuxian's Adam's apple moved slightly. "I originally wanted to wait until we watched the sunrise to tell you, but unfortunately it took several days and I still didn't get to see the sunrise."
The person inside breathed heavily upon hearing this: "So if I keep staying in bed, you're not going to tell me?"
Duan Zhuxian said: "No, I will look for another opportunity."
After suppressing his feelings for so many years, he needed a more formal occasion and a more solemn way.
In order to avoid a passive situation like now, where I can’t even think of the right way to hug my loved one, or even be locked outside the door and can’t even touch him/her.
Jiang Yao stopped talking again.
Duan Zhuxian smiled bitterly: "Sorry, I kept it a secret from you."
As soon as he finished speaking, there was a click.
The door opened from the inside.
Jiang Yao stood inside the door, holding an orange diary, and glared at him with gritted teeth.
His eyes were wet and his nose was red.
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