twenty

twenty

Chapter Twenty

"Hey!" Song Moxiao put one hand in his pocket and looked at Ning Yi'en with annoyance. "So you finally decided to come out. If you hadn't come out, our sixteen-year friendship would have been destroyed. I was really going to freeze to death."

"Can't this torch warm you?" Ning Yi'en laughed at him.

"Get lost, we're breaking up." Song Moxiao quickened his pace.

"Drinking iced milk tea in this cold weather."

“One thing at a time,” Song Moxiao took another sip. “You have no idea how much I miss the food from our province. It’s heartbreaking not to be able to eat it.”

"Are you doing idiom rehabilitation training here?"

“?” Song Moxiao rolled his eyes at him again. “I also brought some for you, here.”

"Thank you, but it's too cold for me to drink anything iced."

"I knew it!" Song Moxiao felt the excitement of having guessed the question correctly.

"So you're going to drink it yourself."

"Bingo! You really are my confidante, Ning Yi'en." He laughed so hard he couldn't stand up straight, and put one hand on Ning Yi'en's shoulder to prevent himself from falling.

Lu Yunian hugged the bag tightly to his chest, staring blankly at the two people outside the school gate.

He should actually be happy, but now, mixed with that happiness, a bittersweet feeling he'd never experienced before welled up inside him.

"Lu Yunian, what are you doing?"

After an unknown amount of time, someone suddenly called him, startling Lu Yunian—it must have been a little while, his hands and ears were numb from the cold.

Lu Yunian looked back and saw Fan Cheng sneaking around the railing for five minutes before successfully returning triumphantly with the "smuggled" takeout.

"With that longing look on your face, what's wrong? Did your girlfriend get snatched away by that blond guy?" He tried to elbow Lu Yunian, but Lu Yunian dodged it.

"Don't curse me if I don't have a boyfriend."

“Oh, right.” He hooked his arm around Lu Yunian’s shoulder and walked towards the teaching building together. “But if I were a girl, and my boyfriend was this handsome, I would definitely keep a close eye on him, afraid that he would cheat on me.”

"Get the hell out of here," Lu Yunian kicked him. "Is this the first day you've met me?"

"Wrong, wrong." Lu Yunian's foot stomped hard, causing him to stumble forward two steps. "Hey, judging from your state just now, either you got cheated on, or..."

He kept bringing up the topic, because seeing his friend suffer a setback was a very enjoyable thing—especially when his friend, who was generally considered handsome, suffered a loss in a relationship.

"You got rejected after confessing your feelings, huh?" He glanced at the cake box in the bag. "It's okay, bro, I understand. Try again next time." He patted Lu Yunian on the back. "If you really can't figure it out, just keep pestering her and maybe she'll accept you, right? Don't be discouraged, cheer up."

"Fan Cheng, are you sick in the head?" Lu Yunian looked at him, completely baffled. "What the hell did you see in your eyes that I have emotional problems?"

Although he is feeling a bit down right now, it's definitely not an emotional problem.

"Isn't this cake for confessing your love?"

"It was a gift from a friend for their birthday."

"Boyfriend or girlfriend?"

"Stop being so sex-obsessed, my friend."

"Ugh, this isn't interesting. Why don't you share some with me?"

"You can get lost now, go eat your takeout." Lu Yunian hugged his bag tightly. "Be careful Zhang Zixu catches you, or you'll be punished by cleaning the toilets."

"Even after all this, you still say no." He muttered under his breath, then raised his voice, "Don't jinx it. If I get caught, I promise I'll confess to having a relationship. You won't get away with it." Then he slipped away.

"My spicy hot pot is much better than this cake!" He turned back and shouted after running only a few steps.

"roll!"

"Senior, um..."

When Lu Yunian reached the entrance of the teaching building, he heard a girl next to him quietly rehearsing something. The people next to her were giving her instructions or cheering her on. Perhaps someone was about to confess their feelings, but today he had no interest in joining in the fun. He just wanted to get back to the classroom and eat cake as soon as possible.

"Senior Lu Yunian!"

Lu Yunian had just stepped onto two steps when the girl mustered her strength and shouted again.

He looked back and recognized the girl. She seemed to have been in the student council before, though not in the same department, but they had met a few times during a general meeting.

However, according to Lu Yunian's definition, this cannot even be called "knowing"; it can only be considered "having seen".

The reason he remembered her was because once during a meeting, their department head specifically praised her for her enthusiasm in helping out here. Lu Yunian looked in the direction the department head pointed and made eye contact with her. She even nodded and smiled at him.

Later, he added her on WeChat at some point. Although they never chatted, she would occasionally comment on his Moments, so his impression of her was that she was very outgoing.

"Is there something you need?" He walked down the stairs again and stood at her level.

“I’m from the Publicity Department of the Student Union,” she said, her voice trembling slightly, clearly nervous. “My name is He Zi’an.”

"Hello, I'm no longer working in the student council, so I probably can't help you with anything related to work." Actually, they will be automatically removed from the student council after entering their senior year of high school.

"No, it's not about that." The girl smiled awkwardly, while a friend behind her kept whispering encouragement to her.

"Oh, then please continue." Lu Yunian gestured for him to continue.

“You may not know me, but I like you. I noticed you as soon as I entered the university, and I joined the student council because of you,” she said very quickly, as if she was afraid that Lu Yunian would leave if she took a breath.

"In short, I like you, can we try dating?"

“Wh...what?” Lu Yunian was completely confused.

I just... got confessed to?!

Although he received many love letters, this was his first time confessing his feelings face-to-face—and Lu Yunian always felt that 95% of the love letters and gifts were punishments for someone who lost a dare.

"Thank you for your kind words..." He took a deep breath and politely pushed back the chocolate and letter the girl offered him. "I'm sorry, I don't have any plans to be in a relationship right now."

Then he turned and stepped onto the stairs.

"So, do you have someone you like now?" The girl accompanying her persisted, trying to persuade her, "If you don't, you can spend more time together. You don't even know Zi'an very well, how do you know you definitely don't like her?"

During this time, He Zian kept pulling her hand, trying to stop her from continuing, but the girl still finished speaking.

"Actually, I'm a little curious about your definition of 'like'?"

If this sentence had been said with a slightly different tone, it would have been interpreted as sarcastic or sarcastic, but Lu Yunian was perfectly normal—probably because he was completely clueless about such things.

He Zi'an could tell that he meant no harm, so he answered seriously.

"Well, in my opinion, liking someone means always wanting to see them and being willing to make a lot of effort to get closer, even if some things are not suitable for you. You want to get closer but don't dare, and you feel very unwilling if you don't get closer, so you can only slowly and secretly 'walk towards him'."

She smiled at him and said, "Actually, I think unrequited love is very painful, it's torment and torture, but thinking of him also makes me happy, it's a mix of feelings."

"Thank you for answering my question, and thank you for liking me. It's my honor." Lu Yunian, when serious, was still quite gentlemanly. "Although I don't know you well, I think you..."

"Okay, no need to give me the 'nice guy' card. Actually, I didn't really think I would succeed. I just wanted to try so I wouldn't have any regrets."

"No, I just feel that from what you just said, I hope that you will put yourself first in everything you do in the future."

"Of course, it's also great if there are external motivations that give you more drive to improve."

He Zi'an and her friend's expressions changed, but Lu Yunian was a little confused. "If there's anything preachy about it, please don't mind it; just pretend I'm talking nonsense," he said. "Also, I think a firm refusal is necessary, so please don't take it to heart."

If I'm vague—like saying we can be friends first—it'll seem like I'm stringing you along, which is disrespectful, and in my opinion, that's wrong.

"I know, which probably means I didn't like the wrong person." The girl still managed a smile, took the Polaroid camera from her friend, and held it up. "Can we take a picture together? I still want to keep it as a souvenir."

"certainly."

"Three, two, one, that's it."

The two stood some distance apart. He Zian looked a little awkward, but he still tried his best to smile. Lu Yunian looked like a primary school student who had been punished for misbehaving in class and had to stand at attention. His smile was also a little restrained and stiff. He even had slightly uneven shoulders because he was carrying something in one hand.

"Um... could you write me another sentence?" She held up the photo. "Anything is fine. If you don't want to think about it, writing 'Happy every day' is also fine."

"Okay, give it to me."

Writing against the wall was a bit awkward, but he still wrote very carefully, stroke by stroke, taking almost a minute to write just a few words.

"Thank you," the girl said, taking the money. "I'm sorry to have taken up your time."

"You're welcome, it's alright." However, Lu Yunian was indeed hungry. "I'll be going now, have a happy day, goodbye."

“Sigh,” He Zian’s friend comforted her, “If one doesn’t work out, try the next one. At least there are quite a few handsome guys in Jiannan. If all else fails, just like girls. There are plenty of pretty girls in the school.”

"Go to hell." She looked down at the Polaroid photo, still feeling a bit down. "Do you think I would feel better if his attitude had been any worse? At least I would have been able to tell it wasn't worth it."

"Don't think about it, that will only make you feel worse." She patted her shoulder. "But he wouldn't really have just written 'Happy Every Day,' would he? Although he wasn't obligated to write anything..."

"No...you see."

There wasn't much blank space to begin with, so it was written compactly.

May you be happy every day, may everything go smoothly, and may everything be for yourself.

"Why."

He Zian sighed, "At least I've learned a lot, so it's not a complete loss. As for love, to hell with it."

She took her friend's hand and said, "Let's go, let's move forward."

"What are you doing working so hard?"

When Lu Yunian arrived at his seat, Yan Ting was engrossed in her studies.

—But novels.

"Ugh! Don't even mention it." Yan Ting stood up and stretched. "I was thinking of reading a novel to relax my mind, which was being tortured by math and physics,"

She sat back down, somewhat resentfully stuffing the novel into the storage basket next to the table. "In the end, they get out of school at three o'clock, and every afternoon they either play games or talk about love. In the end, both male leads are still able to become top 2 handsome men."

As she spoke, she found the math problems she hadn't finished in class. "What romance novels? They make you want to jump off a building. I will absolutely, positively never read any more campus romance novels until I finish my senior year of high school."

"What kind of romance theme is it, and it has two male leads?"

"Wow, Lu Yunian, I've noticed that your focus is always different from others. But a dual male lead is a dual male lead, and someone like you... probably wouldn't understand."

"Are you gay?" he asked tentatively.

"Hmm, is it hard to understand?"

"Perhaps." Lu Yunian sorted out the test papers in the bag and put them into the drawer, then began to unpack the cake.

"What does it feel like to like someone?" He didn't know why he suddenly wanted to ask this.

"I just like it, I can't really say for sure, but it's a very special, unique feeling."

Everything becomes more interesting when you're doing math problems, so Yan Ting slowed down her writing and started arguing with Lu Yunian.

"What, do you have someone you like? Or do you like someone but can't make up your mind? How about I analyze it with you?" She simply put down her pen, propped her head up, and looked at Lu Yunian with a gossipy expression.

"No, I was just asking casually."

"I thought I'd find out some little secret," Yan Ting laughed at him.

"Hey, why are we eating cake tonight? Let's not worry about dieting and shaping up."

"It's okay if it happens once in a while." In fact, if Yan Ting hadn't mentioned it, Lu Yunian might not have remembered his flag even after finishing his meal today.

However, his physique is not bad; in fact, it can be said to be outstanding among his peers.

It's just that my schedule has become increasingly tight lately, and the rest time that I used to have for playing ball has been almost completely squeezed out. The food in the cafeteria has become even worse, so I've been spending more money at the convenience store, and I've gained two pounds.

So she made up her mind to eat fewer snacks and told everyone around her to keep an eye on her.

Although he said, "Those who can directly point out my fault for eating junk food, I will reward them or not, depending on my mood."

"Aren't they cracking down on food delivery lately, especially at this time? I'm lucky I didn't get caught."

"I didn't order takeout. Although the food in the school cafeteria is hard to swallow, I wouldn't stoop so low as to break the rules, even though someone took it today and wasn't caught."

Lu Yunian completed a series of dangerous actions, including stuffing his phone into his sleeve, secretly taking it out, and snapping an unflattering photo of the cake as a souvenir, before starting to savor it.

"It was given to me by... Ning Yi'en."

"Oh, it looks pretty delicious."

"It's delicious." Lu Yunian grinned and took another bite. "Mine."

“It’s yours, it’s yours,” Yan Ting said, looking at him with a hint of disdain. “Nobody’s going to take it from you, so eat yours.” Then she went back to studying math.

"Hey, actually, I just remembered something," Yan Ting, who had been lost in the sea of ​​mathematics for what seemed like less than half a minute, looked up again, "Actually, the first time I saw Ning Yi'en, I felt that he..."

"Stop! Don't listen to bad things."

"Not a single word was bad about your idol." She pretended to shake her head and sigh. "Actually, they were all good impressions. If you don't want to hear it, then forget it."

My idol...

When Lu Yunian first heard Ning Yi'en addressed in this way, he felt a little strange, but he accepted the title in less than a second. After all, Ning Yi'en was extremely perfect, and calling her a male god was absolutely correct.

Yes, my idol.

Ning Yi'en, the male god...

"Oh, then go ahead and tell me."

"I really think that his appearance and temperament are very much like the villainous boss in novels or TV series."

Lu Yunian looked at Yan Ting with a "where do you even begin?" expression, listening to her explain in detail.

“Look,” she said, completely giving up on the math problem, and analyzed with Lu Yunian while folding her fingers, “her appearance and height are impeccable.”

"Mmm, excellent," he mumbled after taking a bite of cake.

"He also possesses a very aloof and handsome demeanor, extremely high intelligence, and has suffered some form of trauma..."

The two looked at each other and smiled.

"Is it or isn't it!"

“No.” Lu Yunian disagreed with his point of view. “Why can’t someone so outstanding be the male lead? Why does he have to be the villain?”

"Hmm..." Yan Ting pretended to think deeply for a moment, "Okay, actually it's because I've been reading a lot of melodramatic novels lately. If it's a heartwarming, healing, and redemptive story, Ning Yi'en is still the male lead."

"Why can't it be melodramatic?"

"Because the male protagonists in melodramatic novels are more or less abnormal, either lacking common sense or being mentally challenged, while the villains are completely normal people."

"Yan Ting!" Someone called her from outside the window, ending the conversation. Actually, there was nothing more to explore, but Lu Yunian felt like something was stuck in her chest and she couldn't say it.

"Will he be happy?" After a long pause, he asked himself.

It definitely will, whether it's a villain or not, in a novel or TV series or in real life, it definitely will.

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