Chapter 33 Chapter 33
Seeing Ren Li hurriedly walking out of the classroom empty-handed, Lin Jiacheng smiled and said, "Don't worry, you can take your time packing. I'll wait for you."
The moment she saw Lin Jiacheng, Ren Li had made up her mind.
She thought, well, I might as well take this opportunity to make things clear with him.
But as soon as she opened her mouth, she unconsciously brought out that distant air, "Thank you, but you don't have to wait for me. I usually take the school bus back with my friends."
Lin Jiacheng still insisted: "I'd better take you home. I agreed with Auntie before that I must take you home safely. Besides, I have something very important to tell you tonight."
Ren Li didn’t know what the “very important thing” Lin Jiacheng was talking about was, but in her heart, she also had a “very important thing” to do today.
"I'll explain to my mother. I have something else to do today, so I'll go back first."
After she finished speaking, she lowered her head and stopped looking into Lin Jiacheng's eyes, then turned and walked into the classroom.
Before I even sat back down, Zhang Xintong from the next table had already started gossiping: "What's going on, Lili? Who was that handsome guy you were chatting with outside just now?"
Ren Li was packing her books into her schoolbag and didn't hide it: "He's Lin Jiacheng from Class 20 next door."
"Lin Jiacheng... this name sounds familiar." Zhang Xintong thought for a moment, "Why did he come to see you?"
"Come and ask me if I want to go back with you."
“?!!”
Zhang Xintong's gossipy heart began to stir again. "Why would he go back with you? Tell me, what's your relationship like now? How far has it progressed?"
"It's not what you think," Ren Li said. "He currently lives in the same neighborhood as me, and my parents happen to know his parents, so my mom wanted him to take me home today."
Zhang Xintong: "Tsk tsk, they're childhood sweethearts, that's even better."
"Goodbye. I still think it's better to take the school bus, so I turned him down."
Zhang Xintong said seriously, "Yeah, I see. As expected, Wen Shuo has gone one step further."
Ren Li held his forehead with his hands, feeling helpless.
Zhang Xintong: "No more jokes. To be honest, when I saw you and Lin Jiacheng standing together just now, I thought you two were quite a match. Hmm? Lili, I seem to remember who Lin Jiacheng is! Isn't he the boy who gave a speech at the flag-raising ceremony in your freshman year?! Although his popularity is a little lower than Wen Shuo, he is also quite well-known in school. Oh, okay, I forgot that you transferred here in your junior year and didn't know about this. Let me tell you quietly, my radar just went off again. I can guarantee that Lin Jiacheng definitely likes you."
Ren Li had already packed her schoolbag, and she didn't know whether to laugh or cry: "When has your radar ever been accurate? You said before that smell..."
She suddenly stopped and inexplicably remembered the look Wen Shuo gave her behind the school gate this morning.
The back door of the classroom was pushed open. Ren Li subconsciously looked up and saw Wen Shuo.
However, he was not looking for him.
He just glanced at Ren Li, then walked straight to his seat and grabbed his backpack from the table.
At that moment, Ren Li didn't know where she got the courage from, and took the initiative to ask: "Do you want to go back together?"
Wen Shuo paused for a moment, looked up, and his expression was indifferent. At that moment, Ren Li immediately retreated: "It's okay, if you have anything else to do, then you don't have to."
Wen Shuo didn't say anything, but just threw his backpack over his shoulder with a cold face and strode out.
His figure disappeared from sight in an instant. Ren Li didn't know what was wrong, but she felt so sad and indescribable.
She knew that what she did was wrong, but she didn't know what to do right.
It's often easy to make an impulsive decision.
"Xintong, I'm sorry I can't go with you today. I have something important to do now."
Without waiting for Zhang Xintong's answer, she did not hesitate this time and hurriedly walked out of the classroom without even noticing Lin Jiacheng's surprised look outside.
She ran down the stairs almost out of breath, thinking she could catch up with Wen Shuo, but she didn't see the familiar figure until she left the teaching building.
Ren Li shivered when the cold wind outside blew, and finally woke up a little.
She didn't know what she was doing, but she had already wasted too many opportunities given by Wen Shuo today. She glanced at the time and realized it was too late to catch the school bus. Wen Shuo might have already taken a taxi. She felt a little annoyed and decided to try her luck at the basketball court with the last glimmer of hope.
However, it was difficult to see clearly in the dark campus. The teaching buildings all looked almost the same at night. Ren Li was so worried that she didn't even notice that she had gone in the wrong direction.
By the time she came to her senses, she had already walked further and further away.
But now that she had mustered up the courage, she didn't want to give up easily. Encouraged by this thought, Ren Li felt like she had a mission that had to be completed tonight. She took out her cell phone and dialed Wen Shuo's number.
The beeping continued, and Ren Li's heart slowly sank. Just when she was about to lose heart, Wen Shuo finally picked up the phone.
"Hello——" Ren Li's voice was very soft, and she couldn't utter a single word of the prepared remarks.
There was a long silence, and she heard a soft sigh from the other side:
"Where are you? Let's meet up and talk."
Ren Li looked around: "I'm still in school. But I seem to be lost and don't know where I am. If you don't mind, I can give you a location..."
“Describe the buildings you can see.”
"Oh, okay." Ren Li said, "I'm standing under a teaching building, the red one with an arc-shaped structure on top..."
She described it intermittently, and Wen Shuo said, "Okay, I understand. Stand there and wait for me."
Ten minutes later, the two of them stood in the huge shadow of the science and engineering building and were finally able to talk to each other calmly.
Wen Shuo glanced at his watch and spoke first: "My time is limited, you only have one minute."
Ren Li: "Can I first confirm why you are angry today?"
Wen Shuo didn't answer, but asked: "What do you think?"
Ren Li tried to summarize: "I didn't reply to your message on Saturday."
Wen Shuo: "There's more."
"I didn't take the school bus this morning, and I didn't tell you in advance. I asked you to wait."
"What else?"
Ren Li shook her head: "No more."
She didn't get to the point, so Wen Shuo asked directly, "Are you dating someone named Lin?"
The term "falling in love" is simply too ridiculous.
Ren Li felt that she had only met Lin Jiacheng a few times, so how could Wen Shuo use this word to describe her.
She looked up at Wen Shuo in disbelief: "How is this possible?!"
Her expression was serious, not like she was lying. Wen Shuo finally calmed down a lot after a day of anger: "Then why are you so close to him? He was waiting for you at the classroom door at night."
Ren Li didn't want Wen Shuo to misunderstand her, so she explained, "It's a long story. He moved into our neighborhood last week, and my parents happened to know his parents, so we all had dinner together over the weekend."
Wen Shuo: “…”
Ren Li continued, "During dinner, his mother suggested that since we were both in the same school, they could pick me up and drop me off together. I obviously disagreed, but my mother agreed. So... I had no choice but to come to school with him today just to deal with some business."
She looked at Wen Shuo eagerly, waiting for his reaction, thinking that she had explained it clearly.
Wen Shuo raised his eyebrows: "Oh, you mean you will go with him in the future."
"No, I think I still prefer taking the school bus."
Wen Shuo: "Do you want to hear my true thoughts?"
Ren Li nodded.
Wen Shuo: "I'm mad at you today. To be more precise, I've been mad at you since the weekend."
Ren Li:?
"Maybe I'm just mad at myself." Wen Shuo shook his head, his smile bitter. "I just think that if you have a list of people worth treating perfunctorily, you can at least put me on it. That way, if you encounter this situation again next time, if you're willing to take even a minute to treat me perfunctorily, send me a message back, explain the situation, and don't keep me waiting, I won't be as angry as I was today.
To be honest, this morning, when I saw you getting off the car with another boy, I really felt ridiculous. Ren Li, I have never given any privileges to anyone except you. But in your eyes, these are really worthless.
But what does it matter? In the end, I still stand here and listen to your explanation.
Ren Li blinked and seemed to understand.
Wen Shuo once said that all boys have self-esteem. It makes sense. He's such a proud person, and being ignored like this, he must be angry.
She felt that she understood why Wen Shuo was angry.
However, Ren Li didn't dare to jump to conclusions about what the list that Wen Shuo mentioned as "worthy of perfunctory treatment" was.
She wanted to be friends with Wen Shuo, but Wen Shuo said that he already had someone he liked.
Perhaps Wen Shuo will never understand her inner struggle. She has her own principles and she cannot cross the line.
"I'm sorry." Ren Li lowered her eyes and apologized sincerely, "I'll be more careful next time."
Wen Shuo: "Pay attention to what."
Ren Li: "Put you on the list, abide by the rules of friendship, and cannot selectively ignore your news and feelings."
Wen Shuo looked at her with a pouty mouth and a look of grievance, and instantly he was not so angry anymore.
"Okay," he said, "I accept your apology, but I still want to see how you behave in the future."
Ren Li: "You too, as a friend, you have to wait for me after school."
She muttered to herself, and Wen Shuo hummed, "When have I not waited for you?"
Ren Li: "Not today."
Wen Shuo: "Oh, you hold such a grudge."
Ren Li: “Of course.”
…
Facts have proven that as "friends", it is better to have a quarrel than to be angry silently in your heart.
At this point, Ren Li's frustrations had largely dissipated. At least now, she had a clearer understanding of Wen Shuo's place in her heart, and the question that had been bothering her for so long finally had an answer.
She is now "friends" with Wen Shuo.
This is the best and safest distance.
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