A Jar of Peppermint Leaves (Part 2)
You have to walk through a long corridor to get from the public library to the tea room.
The corridor was empty, with no windows on any side. It was early spring, and the trees had not yet sprouted, their branches sticking out like claws into the corridor.
Jiang Yichun strode forward, with He Yinxin following behind her, always keeping a meter's distance between them.
There were only two figures in the corridor, one in front of the other.
He Yinxin's gaze fell on the bun on top of her head, which was swaying back and forth. He looked away and continued walking forward.
He looked at the two mint leaves in the cup, which he had put into the thermos before leaving his seat.
He was used to drinking all kinds of tea, and his thermos often had a thin layer of tea stains.
He regularly cleans away the brown grime and keeps the inside of the thermos shiny.
The two mint leaves lay quietly in the cup, swaying slightly from side to side with his footsteps.
In Britain, two mint leaves symbolize eternal love.
The documents he had just browsed came back to mind.
A short sentence made his meticulously structured brain start clanging and banging again. The precision-operating instrument was now constantly radiating heat due to CPU overload.
He Yinxin trembled and raised her hand to lightly pat her face.
A slight pain bloomed on his cheek.
No, I can't think about it anymore.
What love? We're just friends.
"Old He?" Jiang Yichun gripped the glass and turned around.
He Yinxin stopped halfway: "Hmm?"
He was stiff all over, as if he had returned to his childhood where he would be punished by standing for half a day for doing something wrong.
Jiang Yichun frowned, the mint leaves in her cup swaying from side to side: "What's wrong? Why are you walking so slowly... I think I heard a sound, like a snapping sound."
He Yinxin's lips trembled as she gripped her thermos tightly: "Based on my deduction, perhaps someone's book fell to the ground."
"Don't worry, the corridor is safe. Stalkers wouldn't choose a heavily guarded place like a university to cause trouble."
"I know, Lao He, don't be too nervous. We're not in a terrifying infinite flow world."
Jiang Yichun laughed out loud.
She squinted at him for a moment, then turned around and continued walking forward.
"What is the 'Infinite Terror Flow'?" came his voice, tinged with doubt, from behind.
Jiang Yichun casually replied, "The genre of the novel is quite exciting."
Is it like "One Hundred Years of Solitude"?
"No, it's online literature. Mentioning 'One Hundred Years of Solitude' is like trying to piggyback on a moon landing."
"Web novels...do you like reading them?"
"It's alright."
Jiang Yichun pursed his lips, but felt a sense of satisfaction.
The grudge from the previous failed "ice-breaking operation" was being "taken revenge" on in this kind of situation.
The two remained silent the entire way until they reached the entrance to the tea room.
Jiang Yichun stopped in his tracks as he reached the door of the tea room.
He Yinxin was looking down at her thermos, so she naturally didn't notice that she had stopped walking.
"Bang!"
His chest slammed into the back of her head.
Jiang Yichun felt a soft touch on the back of his head, followed by the scent of cotton and laundry detergent.
Warm and refreshing.
She shuddered, stumbled forward, and her hand landed squarely on the door, her head about to smash into it.
A pair of hands grabbed the hem of her clothes, suspending her in mid-air.
With the help of those hands, Jiang Yichun managed to avoid a head-on collision with the wooden door in front of him.
"Are you... alright? I'm sorry." The hands released her abruptly after she regained her balance.
A strange sensation crept up her skin from the hem of her clothes. Jiang Yichun shook her head, not turning to look at him, and took a few steps forward to create some distance between them.
She raised her hand to rub the back of her head, recalling the slightly warm touch of the person behind her on the chest; her ears turned red from that warmth.
The faint scent of kapok also invaded her olfactory center.
"It's good that you're alright." He Yinxin breathed a sigh of relief, her fingertips, which had been gripping the hem of her clothes, rubbing them incessantly. "What happened? Why did you suddenly stop?"
Jiang Yichun raised his hand, touched the door panel, and lowered his voice: "I heard a strange sound."
"What's that sound?" He Yinxin followed her example, lowering her voice and reaching out to touch the wooden door.
“There’s breathing, and…and the sound of water.” Jiang Yichun turned his head, his face pale.
A sticky, gooey monster image popped into her mind.
Those slime-covered, green slimes swallowed the water dispenser whole, took over the entire break room, made gurgling noises, and even kept spitting out slime as they crawled around on the floor.
If such a monster really exists, it might be the vengeful spirit of a senior who failed their final exam or couldn't write their thesis.
She shook her head: No, this isn't an infinite flow novel, this is a campus, a university campus, a university campus under martial law.
Looking at her tightly closed eyes, He Yinxin sighed softly: "Xiaochun, what are you thinking about? I think it's probably just that some students are eating instant noodles in the break room."
"Eating instant noodles in the library violates Article 53 of the library code."
Jiang Yichun opened his eyes: "Old He, you didn't recite the library rules by heart, did you?"
"No. I can't remember, I made it up." He Yinxin chuckled. "But you really can't eat instant noodles in the library, the taste is too strong, and there's a risk of damaging the books."
Jiang Yichun turned her head and met his smiling face.
He can actually joke around?
Noticing that He Yinxin was also looking down at her, she immediately looked away, turned around, and muttered, "You're right, Lao He, let's go in then."
"If I keep agonizing over this, I'll die of thirst."
"Okay." He Yinxin's smile remained unchanged.
The two of them pushed the door in at the same time.
"Hmm..."
"Um……"
"Baby, you smell so good."
"Brother, you..."
What came into view was a man and a woman embracing each other.
They engaged in a fierce verbal battle in the tea room, so intense that they almost came to blows.
Jiang Yichun immediately covered his eyes.
She really felt like she had transmigrated into some kind of R-rated novel.
She kept muttering, "Don't look at what you shouldn't see, don't look at what you shouldn't see... I didn't see anything... Prepare some glutinous rice... Old man's mint leaves will do too."
He Yinxin, quickly use your invincible mechanical brain to think of a solution!
He Yinxin frowned and stared directly at the two people in front of her.
He muttered "disgusting" under his breath, then looked up again, pushed up his glasses, and stared intently at the two people in front of him.
He searched his mind for the library rules, as if using the two men as tools for data analysis, but couldn't find a single charge against them.
His hand honestly grabbed the scarf and pulled it up to conceal his completely exploding CPU.
His sophisticated instrument had long been overloaded by the multiple attacks from those in front of him and those around him, and could only be covered with a scarf and cooled down for a while.
Only after Jiang Yichun withdrew his physical defenses and He Yinxin successfully cooled down did they notice the couple embracing.
"Xiaochun? Director He?"
"What the hell, Lao He?"
"Feifei?"
"Lin Yan?"
Four pairs of familiar eyes met in the slightly chilly early spring air.
Yang Fei's hair fell loose, her cheeks were flushed, and her hands were on the shoulders of the boy next to her.
The boy was tall and strong, with thick eyebrows and big eyes. He had medium-length hair, an earring, and various silver chains hanging from his body.
His hand rested on Yang Fei's waist.
"Ah! Feifei, what are you doing here! You, you, you... what are you doing here..." Jiang Yichun screamed.
Yang Fei quickly composed herself, smoothed her hair, released the boy who was staring at her, and smiled at him: "I thought no one would come at this time."
"This is my new boyfriend, Lin Yan. He's also from the School of Management, and he's in the same year as Director He."
Lin Yan casually put her hand on Yang Fei's waist: "Yes, this is my girlfriend, Lao He. She's also your department head. Lao He and I are not only in the same year, but also roommates in the same suite."
He Yinxin frowned and pushed up her glasses: "We are not your parents, there is no need to introduce each other like meeting the parents."
“What you are doing in the library is a violation of Article 53 of the Library Code.”
Jiang Yichun stood beside him, tiptoeing and lowering her voice to remind him, "Old He, isn't Article 53 against eating instant noodles in the library?"
"I wrote the library rules, and the decision-making power is in my own hands." He knelt down and whispered to her, mimicking Jiang Yichun's manner.
Jiang Yichun smelled the cotton laundry detergent on him again.
Her cheeks flushed, and she turned to look at the two of them, her water glass swaying in her hand. "Yeah, that's right, how can you do something like that in the library?"
"Even in the break room, you should be mindful of your image. We know you, so we won't tell anyone, but what if we run into strangers..."
"Feifei, she'll be roasted to death on the school forum!"
Yang Fei chuckled as she looked at the two people in front of her, their cheeks flushed, and reached out to pinch Jiang Yichun's cheek.
Jiang Yichun frowned and sighed.
"Alright, Xiaochun, don't worry. Didn't I run into you and—ah, Director He this time?" Yang Fei's gaze abruptly shifted away when it met He Yinxin's. "Oh, Lao He, I forgot you were here too."
He Yinxin asked in a serious tone, "Why can't I be here?"
"I'm thirsty, I need to drink water, and I need to go to the break room to drink water. The logical chain is complete."
"It's normal to come to the break room, but why did you come with Xiaochun?"
Yang Fei raised an eyebrow and gave a mischievous smile.
Lin Yan stood beside her, arms crossed, leisurely observing the two of them: "Could it be that you, Lao He, are also going on a date with your junior?"
He Yinxin was about to explain when Jiang Yichun spoke first: "Feifei, didn't I tell you? Lao He and I are just tutors and friends who study together."
She looked away: "At least we're still friends for now."
He Yinxin stood behind her, silently nodding in agreement.
Yang Fei and Lin Yan both burst out laughing at the same time:
"Oh, I see."
Yang Fei reached out and pinched Jiang Yichun's cheek again: "Okay, okay, we won't do it again next time. Xiaochun, I scared you, I apologize."
"Oh, Xiaochun, why don't you have dinner with us tonight? We all know each other anyway."
"It's a sour soup beef hot pot restaurant next to a school, consider it an apology."
Jiang Yichun turned her head and pulled away from Yang Fei's hand. She muttered softly, "Okay, okay, I'm not really that angry."
"With food, they're even less likely to get angry."
Her mouth was already slightly watery.
Yang Fei's smile widened. She intertwined her fingers with Lin Yan's and waved to the two "ducks" who were frozen in place: "Then Lin Yan and I will go first. See you tonight, Xiao Chun, and Director He!"
The two watched helplessly as Yang Fei and Lin Yan swaggered out of the tea room and disappeared at the end of the corridor.
Jiang Yichun's lips trembled as he looked at He Yinxin, who still had the lower half of her face buried in her scarf.
The atmosphere between the two plummeted to freezing point, as if they were the ones who had just been caught, not the couple.
He Yinxin said nothing, strode forward, and turned on the water dispenser.
"Splash—"
Hot water was poured into the thermos, and the previously tightly closed mint leaves completely unfurled.
It is tender green and bright, with a faint fragrance.
"Xiaochun." Perhaps it was the refreshing scent of mint that helped He Yinxin's mind gradually clear, but he asked, "What do you mean by 'at least we're friends now' that you keep saying?"
He didn't look at her; his hand holding the thermos was trembling uncontrollably.
Ever since she said those words, he has been pondering their meaning in his mind, but he has been unable to find a definition.
Jiang Yichun didn't speak. She coughed softly, walked to his side, and pressed another button on the water dispenser.
Hot water was poured into her clear glass, and two mint leaves intertwined in the water.
He Yinxin looked at the two intertwined mint leaves, picked up her thermos, and took a small sip.
The warm water, mixed with the coolness of mint, poured into his throat, but it couldn't quell the itch in his heart.
"Because I don't know what our relationship will be like in the future. Relationships are too easy to change, and I can't be sure about them."
Jiang Yichun took a deep breath, moved a few steps to the side, and distanced himself from him.
The two mint leaves swayed in her glass before finally separating.
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