Wen Zhaonian's gaze lingered on it for only two seconds before he looked away, his voice slightly hoarse and tinged with laziness: "How did you know about this place?"
Wen Zhaonian would come over to play basketball with Zheng Chuanyi whenever he had free time, which Li Tangyan discovered by chance.
It's just that it hadn't been revealed before.
"Don't worry about the details." She avoided Wen Zhaonian's gaze and instead took a bottle of water from her bag and handed it to him.
Her eyes lit up: "Are you feeling better?"
Li Tangyan's words made Wen Zhaonian pause in his act of getting water, but Li Tangyan, who happened to be looking down, did not notice.
Her long eyelashes fluttered, and her voice, gentle as a melodious tune, continued: "Although I don't know what you were upset about just now, it's never good to keep it inside."
"And another thing, to be honest, stop always wearing that long face. If you weren't good-looking, you would have been beaten up long ago."
Once Li Tangyan started talking, it was like a floodgate had been opened, and she showed no sign of stopping.
However, her words were quickly interrupted by a soft laugh carried by the night wind.
Immediately, Wen Zhaonian's voice came from above: "How do you know I'm unhappy?"
Wen Zhaonian's hand, which had paused, resumed its movement. As his palm covered the bottle, his fingertips inadvertently brushed against hers.
The next second, a slight coolness traveled from my fingertips to my heart, making it hard to tell whether it was the temperature of the person's fingertips or the result of the ice water melting.
He looked at Li Tangyan's slightly lowered head, and a small smile unconsciously appeared on his lips.
The vibrations in his chest deepened, and then the laughter escaped from his throat.
At the same time, Wen Zhaonian bent down more and more, his eyes filled with curiosity, like a cunning fox, looking for an opportunity to peek into the thoughts hidden in her eyes.
"Don't try to deny it, I can tell." Li Tangyan thought Wen Zhaonian didn't believe her, so she twitched her small nose and let out a muffled groan.
Then, raising her index finger and gesturing as if to point it at his nose, she said, "If you lie, your nose will—"
Bang, bang, bang—
The words she was about to say came to an abrupt halt, like a deflated harmonica, when she met those light-colored eyes.
All that remained was the sound of the basketball hitting the ground, one soft thud after another, until the sound stopped and the basketball rolled to its feet, unnoticed.
Li Tangyan's swaying toes stopped abruptly, and the last few words in her sentence were swallowed back down.
She stared at the hand that was easily covered, her breath caught in her throat, and her mind went blank for a moment as if it had crashed.
What followed was a tingling, numb sensation, like electric currents coursing through the body, leaving one feeling weak and exhausted.
"What can you do?" Wen Zhaonian's voice rose at the end, tinged with amusement, like a hook that stirred up a pool of spring water.
She froze, her back straight, the close proximity allowing her to easily see her own reflection in Wen Zhaonian's eyes.
The unusual focus in his gaze made her feel like she could hardly breathe.
"Yes, it will grow longer." At this moment, Li Tangyan's mind was like a lump of paste, and she had lost the ability to think.
He could only stammer in response to Wen Zhaonian's words, following his instincts, but he overlooked the fact that some sentences were not suitable for being broken up.
When she regained consciousness, Li Tangyan carefully considered what she had just said and suddenly remembered a dirty joke that Yao Qing had mentioned not long ago.
The next second, her face flushed red, and even the roots of her ears turned a little pink.
She looked away somewhat guiltily, her eyes darting around in their sockets.
Just as he was thinking about how to defuse the slightly scorching atmosphere, Wen Zhaonian seemed not to have noticed anything unusual and withdrew his hand first.
As I straightened up, the shadows that had been looming over my eyes dissipated, and the smooth ground was once again replaced by the light and shadow cast by the streetlights.
With a twist of the knuckles holding it in place, the bottle cap popped open with a click.
The water that was accidentally spilled ran down the back of his hand, leaving a transparent mark, which Wen Zhaonian did not notice.
He glanced at Li Tangyan's reddened ear tips and said in a very soft voice, as soft as if a gust of wind could blow them away: "Next time, watch out for Dianzhi. If you're too slow to dodge, you'll be blind."
*
For the rest of the time, the two did not delve into why Wen Zhaonian was unhappy.
Since he didn't say anything, Li Tangyan didn't ask either.
The two sat side by side on the bench, watching the people still playing on the field, and the atmosphere was inexplicably harmonious.
The restlessness in her heart finally subsided, and at the same time, Li Tangyan remembered the things she had put in another bag.
That was a hand-pulled pancake she bought at a street stall when she went out to buy water.
Although it's not as hot anymore, it still smells delicious.
She took one out and presented it to Wen Zhaonian as if it were a treasure: "Want some?"
"No--"
Before the last word was even finished, the aroma of the pastry filled the air.
Wen Zhaonian was stunned for a moment, and the brief blankness in his eyes revealed a rare smugness in Li Tangyan: "Is it delicious? I even asked the boss to add an extra egg."
As soon as she finished speaking, she handed the half-eaten scallion pancake to Wen Zhaonian, and then unwrapped the pancake and began to eat the rest herself.
And the dangling foot swayed slightly again, as if indicating the owner's good mood at the moment.
On the other side, Wen Zhaonian rubbed his lips with his fingertip, wiping away the crumbs, and then his gaze fell on Li Tangyan.
Li Tangyan looked quite well-behaved when she ate, holding the food with both hands and biting right in the middle so as not to miss any of the fillings inside.
Because of the chewing motion, his cheeks puffed out slightly, making him look no different from a squirrel hiding to steal food.
He wasn't actually interested in this kind of food, but looking at Li Tangyan, he felt that the lingering sweetness on his lips and teeth was less cloying.
Feeling a gaze fall on her, Li Tangyan paused in her eating, and when she looked up, she met Wen Zhaonian's gaze.
She frowned, pointed at the things in Wen Zhaonian's hand, and pretended to be dissatisfied: "You're not allowed to leave any. I've never been this extravagant myself."
What seems like an uncompromising statement can be interpreted quite differently by others.
Wen Zhaonian felt that Li Tangyan probably didn't even realize that she always habitually added interjections to the end of her sentences when she spoke.
So much so that it not only lacked any intimidating power, but also softened the attitude and even carried a hint of coquetry.
Wen Zhaonian, realizing this, did not point it out. He raised the corners of his eyes, and only when he heard the soft urging in his ear did he take another bite as Li Tangyan wished.
This time, although the sweetness was much milder, it also became somewhat bland.
The dryness in my throat made me crave the bottle of water that had lost all its cooling effect, which sat to the side, even more than the food I needed to fill my stomach.
Thinking of this, Wen Zhaonian felt that the surrounding air seemed even more stuffy and hot.
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