Chapter 55 He also wanted to find Shen Yanzhou
Chapter 55
The weekend coincided with New Year's Day, and the school gave us a three-day holiday.
When Shen Yanzhou returned at the beginning of the month, he had already told Yu Pan that he wouldn't be able to come back for New Year's Day. On this particular day of the holiday, Ling Luo asked him if he wanted to go shopping together, and Yu Pan thought about it and agreed.
That evening, Yu Pan casually mentioned this matter to Shen Yanzhou on the phone. Shen Yanzhou was silent for a moment on the other end of the line, then said, "Going out for a walk is fine, but you absolutely cannot follow him to those unsafe places like last time, understand?"
"Yes, yes, I know, I definitely won't." Yu Pan held the receiver and assured him repeatedly. The injury he suffered last time was something he would remember for a long time. Even if Ling Luo suggested going to some new and interesting place this time, he would never go with her.
Moreover, Yu Pan felt that Ling Luo had changed a lot this semester. Before, he would either sleep in class or secretly read novels. She didn't know if it was because he was in his senior year of high school, but he actually started to listen to lectures and take notes. He even carried a small notebook with him while walking to memorize vocabulary words.
Hearing his perfunctory reply, Shen Yanzhou raised his voice and emphasized again, "Yu Pan, be serious and promise me."
"Okay! I promise I won't go!" Yu Pan immediately straightened up when she heard him call her by her full name. "We really are just going to stroll around the shopping street."
"Okay," Shen Yanzhou's tone softened slightly, "Take your phone with you. Call me if anything happens, understand?"
“Got it—” Yu Pan drawled, playing with the phone cord with her other hand. “Brother, I’ve noticed you’re getting more and more long-winded.”
"Okay." Shen Yanzhou readily agreed, not seeing anything wrong with it at all. "Remember to call me before you leave tomorrow morning."
"I know, I know," Yu Pan replied, while listlessly using her foot to prop the blanket up against the wall at the head of the bed. "Brother, do you celebrate New Year's Day where you are? Is it lively?"
"Nothing different from usual," Shen Yanzhou said.
Upon hearing this, Yu Pan pouted and said, "By the way, brother, remember to bring me some dried squid next time you come back, and bring me a lot!"
Qingyu is located by the sea. Apart from the time Yu Pan was sick, Shen Yanzhou brought back some local specialties when he came back last time. Yu Pan really liked the dried squid there.
Aunt Zhou cut it into small pieces and fried it in oil. Yu Pan would tear off a piece and chew it slowly while doing his homework. He was starting to love doing his homework.
"Okay, I'll bring you more," Shen Yanzhou replied.
The two chatted for a while longer, rambling on about this and that, until Yu Pan couldn't help but yawn. His current routine was very regular, supervised by Shen Yanzhou, and he was always sleepy by 10:30.
He turned around, tilted his head, and lay down with the receiver between his legs. He mumbled something to Shen Yanzhou, but fell silent after a few minutes.
Hearing his steady breathing, Shen Yanzhou on the other end of the phone didn't hang up immediately. He pressed the speakerphone button and continued to handle his work, accompanied by the soft breathing. After another ten minutes or so, he finally hung up the phone after confirming that the man was sound asleep.
Just as the call ended, Tan Ming, who lived next door, strolled in carrying a plastic bag of sunflower seeds. Seeing Shen Yanzhou put down the phone, he casually remarked, "Oh, you finished chatting so early tonight?"
Shen Yanzhou ignored his teasing remark and continued to handle the work at hand.
Tan Ming grabbed a handful of sunflower seeds and started cracking them open, then asked, "If you're not going back for New Year's Day, when do you plan to go back?"
“The end of January,” Shen Yanzhou replied without even looking up.
Tan Ming was somewhat surprised, "The end of January? I thought you would have to go back sometime in the middle of the month."
Shen Yanzhou then looked up at him and said calmly, "The New Year is at the end of the month."
"..." Tan Ming paused in his sunflower seed-eating, unsure of what to say next.
Although he had long witnessed Shen Yanzhou's approach to being an older brother, which was completely different from his own, they were still brothers, and the difference shouldn't be that great.
Tan Ming recalled that at the beginning of the month, he had made a rare trip back to Lanzhou with Shen Yanzhou. He hadn't even stayed at home for two days when Tan Bai complained that he was in the way and would ask him when he was leaving as soon as he saw him.
Then think about how every time Tan Bai called him, all he wanted was money. Unlike Shen Yanzhou and Yu Pan, who could talk on the phone for an hour straight, their monthly phone bills were enough to pay the wages of three workers outside.
Tan Ming clicked his tongue and exclaimed, "I see now. You're not just raising a younger brother, you're practically raising Yu Pan like a son. No, I bet you're even raising a son as carefully as you've done."
After saying that, Tan Ming sighed again, "If it were me, with someone taking such good care of me and providing for me, why would I bother to work so hard?"
Upon hearing this, Shen Yanzhou continued working and replied, "Well, it's a good thing my Panpan isn't like you."
Tan Ming: "..." Well, he's just asking for trouble.
-
On Saturday morning, Yu Pan and Ling Luo met in the square in front of the department store. Ling Luo put one arm around Yu Pan's neck, and the two followed the flow of people into the mall.
Before this, Yu Pan always thought that Shen Yanzhou spent money extravagantly, but after accompanying Ling Luo to visit several stores today, he finally saw the truth.
Ling Luo went straight to the latest seasonal items upon entering the store. After glancing at them, she would ask the sales assistant to pick up any items that caught her eye, acting decisively and efficiently. Then she would move on to the next store.
Yu Pan finally understood why he always ended up wearing the same clothes as Ling Luo.
However, Ling Luo doesn't only look at expensive items. If he comes across a style that has a nice design and a reasonable price, he will also try it on with great interest and buy it.
Yu Pan followed his lead and picked out a few suitable tops. It was the first time he had ever bought clothes on his own.
Although Ling Luo already knew that Yu Pan's clothes were all taken care of by her brother, she was still surprised to hear Yu Pan say that this was the first time she had bought clothes by herself. She raised an eyebrow and said, "Don't tell me that your brother also takes care of your outfits from head to toe?"
“…Yes, that’s right.” Yu Pan nodded honestly.
Ling Luo suddenly realized and patted Yu Pan on the back, "No wonder! I was wondering why you sometimes dress a bit... well, unusually, ever since your brother went to another city."
"Special?" Yu Pan looked down at her clothes: a black jacket and gray pants, very ordinary.
“It just doesn’t quite match,” Ling Luo recalled for a moment and spoke frankly, “Once in the classroom you took off your coat, and underneath you were wearing a brown diamond-patterned vest over a blue turtleneck sweater. The colors and styles together were… quite eye-catching.”
As they were talking, they entered a store that specializes in men's accessories. Ling Luo looked around but didn't find anything that particularly interested her. Just as she was about to pull Yu Pan away, she saw Yu Pan stop in front of a glass counter and not move.
The large and small shopping bags they were carrying were quite eye-catching, and the sales assistant quickly came up to them with a smile and asked what they needed.
Yu Pan pointed to a pair of silver, square cufflinks on the lower shelf of the counter. "Please let me see these."
Ling Luo leaned closer and glanced at it. "Did you buy this for your brother?"
“Hmm,” Yu Pan accepted the cufflinks from the sales assistant. The cufflinks were a little bigger than his thumbnail, with a simple geometric shape as the main body. The most special thing was that there was a pattern in the center that looked like the vertical pupil of a snake. Yu Pan noticed it at a glance.
The sales assistant enthusiastically introduced the design concept and craftsmanship of the cufflinks. Yu Pan didn't understand any of it, but he just liked them more and more as he looked at them. He glanced at the price tag, which was 360 yuan. Luckily, he had enough money with him today, so he bought them directly, thinking of giving them to Chen Yanzhou when he returned.
The sales assistant happily packaged it for him and even gave him a nice indigo tie as a bonus.
After wandering around for a while, they realized there was nothing left to buy. Yu Pan accompanied Ling Luo to take their loot back to the car and put it away. It was already noon, so they decided to find a restaurant to eat at.
Yu Pan hadn't taken more than a few steps after closing the car door when she sensed Ling Luo suddenly stop.
"What's wrong?" Yu Pan looked at him in confusion, then followed his gaze. Not far away, there was a small stall selling boxed lunches, with quite a few people standing in line. "Do you want to eat that?"
Ling Luo shook her head abruptly, grabbed Yu Pan's arm, and dragged him quickly into a nearby restaurant.
After sitting down, Yu Pan looked at Ling Luo, whose expression was clearly off, and asked, "What's wrong with you?"
Ling Luo lowered her eyes, hesitated for a long time, and then, as if she had made up her mind, lowered her voice and said to Yu Pan, "I... didn't I tell you before that I went back to my hometown in the countryside for a while, and that person didn't come looking for me afterward?"
Yu Pan remembered this incident and nodded: "I remember, that person never contacted you again afterward, right?"
"No." Ling Luo pursed her lips, her voice even lower, "Just now... I saw him."
Yu Pan tried hard to recall what she had just seen. "Which one?"
Ling Luo frowned, struggled internally for a while, and finally sighed, saying in a whisper, "I'm telling you, you absolutely, absolutely must not tell anyone else."
"Okay, I promise." Yu Pan's expression immediately turned serious, and she nodded solemnly.
“Actually…” Ling Luo’s voice was softer than a mosquito’s buzz as she blushed and quickly blurted out, “The guy I’m dating… is a guy, like… the owner of that lunchbox stall just now.”
After speaking, Ling Luo stared intently at Yu Pan, holding her breath and waiting for his reaction.
Yu Pan simply blinked and nodded calmly, "Oh, I see. And then?"
"And then?" Ling Luo's eyes widened in surprise, almost pressing her face to the table. She emphasized in a low voice, "Don't you find it strange? I'm a guy, and the person I like is also a guy..."
“What’s so strange about that? As long as you like it, that’s all that matters,” Yu Pan said. In his view, feelings are a very private matter.
Thinking that Ling Luo had shared a secret with her, Yu Pan felt she should be more honest in return, so she whispered, "Actually... my boyfriend is also a guy."
"What!?" Ling Luo stood up in shock, her voice trembling, which drew the attention of several other customers around her.
He quickly waved his hand awkwardly to indicate that it was nothing, then leaned closer to Yu Pan and asked incredulously, "What you said before was true? You really have a boyfriend? And he's a guy?"
Yu Pan was somewhat bewildered by his overreaction. "I already had it."
"My goodness." Ling Luo looked at her usually well-behaved and somewhat old-fashioned deskmate, "I didn't see it at all..."
"So what are you planning to do now?" Yu Pan steered the conversation back on track. "Are you going to go find him?"
"I'm not looking for him!" Ling Luo crossed her arms and turned her head away. "Who does he think he is? Does he deserve my attention?"
Despite her resolute words, Ling Luo ate the meal absentmindedly, finding no flavor in it.
After finishing their meal and paying the bill, when they passed by the lunchbox stall again, the lunch rush had passed, and the stall was much quieter. They were quite far away, and Yu Pan could only see the stall owner's back as he bent down to pack up his things.
Because she had promised Ling Luo to keep it a secret, Yu Pan kept her mouth shut and didn't even tell Shen Yanzhou.
-
After the New Year's Day holiday, I attended classes for a few days and took the final exams before the winter vacation officially began.
On the day she left school for the holidays, Ling Luo packed her bag and said to Yu Pan, "I've decided, I'm going to see him tonight."
"Who are you looking for?" Yu Pan didn't react for a moment.
"Well... who is it?" Ling Luo said somewhat awkwardly, "I already know where he lives."
"..." Yu Pan whispered a reminder, "Didn't you say before that you would never contact him?"
How did you even find out where I live?
Ling Luo was speechless for a moment, and after several seconds, she waved her hand angrily, "Oh, don't worry about these details!"
"Are you going by yourself?" Yu Pan considerately changed the subject.
Ling Luo nodded: "Yes!"
"Then you must be careful," Yu Pan reminded him.
"Don't worry! Don't you know me?" Ling Luo patted his chest and said, "Watch me catch him off guard and get to the bottom of this!"
Yu Pan listened quietly from the side. These days, he had heard Ling Luo talk about their relationship quite a bit. When talking about their sweet daily life when they were in love, Ling Luo's eyes would light up. When talking about waiting for him after they broke up but not seeing him, he would get so angry that he would curse her from time to time, calling her a "big liar who deceived him body and soul".
Seeing Ling Luo's appearance, Yu Pan hesitated for a moment before speaking up, "How about I go with you?"
Ling Luo waved her hand, refusing: "No need, I can handle this little thing. Wait for my good news!"
As Yu Pan got into the car, watching Ling Luo's imposing figure walk away, a thought suddenly popped into her head.
He also wanted to find Shen Yanzhou.
Once the idea came to mind, it was hard to suppress. Just then, Aunt Zhou had to take leave and go home early, so Shen Yanzhou asked someone to find a part-time housekeeper who would come to cook and clean at set times every day.
Yu Pan stayed at home for two days. During that time, Ling Luo called him and said that everything was going smoothly and the problem was being resolved.
After hanging up the phone, Yu Pan looked at the empty house, and the urge to see Shen Yanzhou grew stronger and stronger. Suddenly, a bold plan appeared in Yu Pan's mind.
After lunch, once the cleaning lady left, Yu Pan took a taxi to the airport to pre-purchase a plane ticket for the next day. Fortunately, Shen Yanzhou never restricted his spending, and the family always kept cash on hand; otherwise, Yu Pan wouldn't have been able to carry out this plan.
After successfully buying the plane tickets, Yu Pan called Shen Yanzhou that evening, telling him that she wanted to stay at Ling Luo's house for a few days and do homework together.
Shen Yanzhou had no suspicions, but simply reminded him to be careful and stay in touch over the phone.
After hanging up the phone, Yu Pan breathed a slight sigh of relief. He went back to his room, took out his backpack which he had packed earlier, checked the contents of the bag, and made sure he had everything he needed before going to sleep.
The next morning, Yu Pan carried his backpack, which he had already packed, and took a taxi to the airport.
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Author's Note: Panpan: I'm off! [Cat emoji][Cat emoji][Cat emoji]
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