Chapter 99: Let's talk about it when we get home
Chapter 99: Let's talk about it when we get home
Generally speaking, they were both busy and relaxed in the days following the exam.
No matter how lively the gathering, it must eventually come to an end; no matter how messy the books and household items are, they will all be properly organized.
The recycling uncle came and went, and senior high school students from the neighboring dormitory dragged their suitcases to say goodbye to the dormitory manager. The school resumed normal classes, but with one grade missing, a large area of Momei Square was empty during the flag-raising ceremony.
Chen Yu left school on a Tuesday. It drizzled a little in the morning, and the ground was wet. His family drove the car to the dormitory entrance, and everyone helped with the moving. He was quite nonchalant, and before leaving, he even disrespectfully touched the dormitory supervisor's belly.
Wang Wei sold all his books and practically disposed of his personal belongings as waste. He was clean and tidy, but he was quite reluctant to part with his two class heartthrobs. He put his arm around one of them and insisted that they take him to the bus stop at the door.
After his two noisy friends left, Li Mingqi also packed up his things and left early, leaving only the three of them.
Meng Xiaoyang couldn't leave school in a hurry. He treasured his books, and it was really inconvenient to keep them at his uncle's house. He needed to move them to his grandmother's house in the countryside, but his grandmother hadn't made room for them yet. Li Peixiang had told him several times to move some of his things to his place first, since there was enough room, but Meng Xiaoyang always said it wasn't necessary.
So the three of them went to the cafeteria for lunch. Fang Yuenian and Cheng Bing had agreed privately to help Meng Xiaoyang move his things before going back, so the three of them were very relaxed and squeezed into a corner of the cafeteria to watch the news on the big TV.
Meng Xiaoyang answered the phone again; this time it was Shu Fen.
Shu Fen had called many times, and Meng Xiaoyang could no longer refuse, so he had no choice but to agree to have dinner at her house.
Fang Yuenian assessed the situation and advised, "Go ahead, it's just a meal. When it's time, just say that the dormitory has a curfew and leave."
Meng Xiaoyang looked slightly distressed, worried that Shu Fen was preparing a Manchu Han Imperial Feast, and also unwilling to see He Linjie.
Cheng Bing asked, "Have you and He Linjie had a proper talk?"
Meng Xiaoyang shook his head.
Fang Yuenian said earnestly, "The exams are all over, and we have plenty of time now. Wouldn't it be better to explain everything clearly?"
Meng Xiaoyang was even more troubled.
After he left in the afternoon, Fang Yuenian and Cheng Bing organized their books in the dormitory.
Some were brand new, some were curled and yellowed, and some were even falling apart and had to be carefully sorted out—most of them had already been packed up, leaving only a few amazing elective textbooks.
For example, a book about carving appreciation and handicrafts inspired Fang Yuenian's childhood passion for craftsmanship, and he became completely absorbed in reading it.
Cheng Bing didn't know what he was doing huddled in that corner, so she walked over, took a look, and then helplessly looked away.
Fang Yuenian: "Don't go! Come here!"
Cheng Bing: "What are you doing?"
“Look at this, it’s made from broken porcelain shards,” Fang Yuenian pointed to a craft item in the book. “My family breaks so many bowls every year. If only we had collected them all, we could probably have made a lot of nice things by now.”
Cheng Bing, who had been smiling, paused slightly after hearing this, then curled her lips and said, "You haven't forgotten to make something for me, have you?"
"How could I forget?" Fang Yuenian quickly said, then shamelessly added, "Do you want to come with me?"
"Didn't you say you were going to give it to me?" Cheng Bing couldn't stand it anymore. "If I was involved, would it be considered that you did it or I did it?"
"What's wrong with you getting involved? Give me some artistic guidance!"
"No need, just do it your way and give it to me when you're done."
Fang Yuenian snorted, flipped through two pages of the book, and then quickly waved, "Brother Cheng! Come and see."
Cheng Bing finally walked over and saw that it was a wooden carved book stand.
"This is very common; many stores sell it."
"I want to do this."
Cheng Bing glanced at him. "Do you want to do this or this?"
“You make this for me, and I’ll make something else for you,” Fang Yuenian said matter-of-factly. “Look, the bookcase we made for Sister Jun before, and the dressing box that Grandpa Cheng made for Sister Jun and Sister Xiaoxiao, were both a bit inconvenient to move and ended up having to stay at home. But this is different. It should be detachable, so I can take it with me, to university, and even in the future. It’s practical and meaningful, isn’t that great?”
Cheng Bing said, "It's possible, but it can't be exactly the same."
“It doesn’t have to be exactly the same,” Fang Yuenian replied. “Do it your way and give it to me when you’re done.”
Cheng Bing chuckled and turned to get the tape.
Fang Yuenian's eyes darted around. He put down his book, stood up, and with fluid and swift movements, jumped onto Cheng Bing's back from behind.
"Don't you dare hum in front of me! All you do these days is hum in front of me!" Fang Yuenian accused him first, wrapping her arms around his neck and waist, and deliberately whispering in his ear, "Brother Cheng, you've changed."
Cheng Bing stopped, remained silent for a moment, and then said, "Get down."
"No!" Not content with words, she tightened her long legs, demonstrating her determination to cling to him with her actions.
Cheng Bing sighed, put her hands behind her back, lifted him up slightly, and only after she had steadied him did she say, "You like to bully me now."
Fang Yuenian's mind wandered to all sorts of inappropriate thoughts once again. After a long while, she weakly whispered in his ear, "I didn't mean to bully you. I just haven't found a chance to talk to you yet."
Cheng Bing, who had already planned to go to work behind this person's back, froze upon hearing this.
It took him a bit of effort to calm himself down, and he said in a low voice, "Are you sure you want to tell me this in the dorm?"
Fang Yue Nian got angry and gritted her teeth: "Then where do you want me to say it? Your carpenter's shop, the old sycamore tree at the village entrance, or behind that tortoise-shaped monument at the school?"
Cheng Bing didn't speak for a moment, and instead rubbed her head on her neck.
Fang Yuenian slid off his back, walked over and locked the dormitory door from the inside. He glanced at the balcony to make sure there was no suspicion of being exposed, then returned to Cheng Bing's side, this time facing him.
Cheng Bing lowered her eyelids slightly, her gaze scrutinizing, "What do you want to do?"
Fang Yuenian raised an eyebrow and chuckled, mimicking his gesture. "What are you afraid of? I won't do anything to you. We'll talk about it when we get home."
That evening, Meng Xiaoyang had not returned home, so Fang Yuenian took Cheng Bing out for a walk.
In a great mood, he swung his arm and said, "Last time Sister Xiaoxiao said on the phone that we could go visit her for a few days when we have time. Do you want to go? Is it convenient for us to come?"
Cheng Xiaoxiao moved to a new place this spring, which is probably more spacious. In the past, only Cheng Junjun was allowed to visit during the summer vacation, but this time she actually invited her two younger brothers.
Cheng Bing asked, "Do you want to go?"
“Yes, I do,” Fang Yuenian said immediately. “Besides, the two of us have never gone on a trip alone. Everyone else has a graduation trip.”
"Would you like to go to another city?" Cheng Bing asked patiently.
Cheng Xiaoxiao's workplace is not far from home; the intercity railway only takes three hours.
Fang Yuenian thought for a moment, "If I'm going to university, I'd like to keep that city a mystery, but if I'm going to travel, I'd rather see Sister Xiaoxiao—how about we wait until the scores come out and fill out our college applications before we go?"
Cheng Bing smiled at him, "Nervous?"
"There is a little, but it should be fine."
They had talked a lot about university and had many ideas, but everything would have to wait until the scores came out. While they were strolling around, their phones rang, startling them. Fang Yuenian took one out and saw it was Li Peixiang.
"Hello?"
"Hey Nian, I have a question for you."
"What?"
"Is Meng Xiaoyang not in the dormitory today?"
Fang Yuenian was a little confused by the question, "Huh? He went to..."
"Where did you go?"
Fang Yuenian looked at Cheng Bing and said, "Well, He Linjie's mother invited him to her house for dinner several times, so he went."
There was silence on the other end of the phone, followed by a long pause before a single "Damn!" came through.
Fang Yuenian was completely baffled. "What is that?"
Li Peixiang gritted his teeth and said in an unusually sharp tone, "Nothing, I just saw the two of them walking on the street. Hey Nian, what's wrong with Meng Xiaoyang? He's already finished his exams, why is he still paying attention to that idiot He Linjie?"
Fang Yuenian realized, "Ah, I know. Today, Brother Cheng and I told him to find an opportunity to have a good talk with He Linjie. I guess they're talking right now. Don't interrupt. Some things should be made clear."
Li Peixiang took a deep breath, sounding extremely frustrated, and said, "Oh, I understand."
"Hmm, I'll ask him again when he gets back."
"Hmm," Li Peixiang grumbled impatiently, "What are you two doing? Have you packed your things?"
"That's about it, let's go explore the school."
"Hmph, fine, you all go your own way, I won't worry about it."
After hanging up the phone, Fang Yuenian still felt confused and turned to Cheng Bing to ask, "What exactly does his current behavior mean?"
Cheng Bing countered, "Does Li Peixiang know that Meng Xiaoyang rejected He Linjie before?"
"I know."
"Then why is he nervous?"
“It is him,” Fang Yuenian thought for a moment and then shook her head. “No, I really need to ask him frankly.”
He edited a text message, typed out a sentence quickly, and sent it directly to Li Peixiang.
Cheng Bing asked what the message was, and Fang Yuenian held up her phone. It read: "Are you gay or not? And do you actually like Meng Xiaoyang?"
Cheng Bing couldn't help but smile.
It wasn't that Fang Yuenian didn't want to ask before, but the two of them seemed incredibly calm, focused only on their studies, as if completely unaware of Li Peixiang's advances, while Li Peixiang seemed to be purely friendly and taking care of his buddy, showing no intention of taking things further. This made the onlookers go from anxious to speechless to numb, almost to the point of believing that there was really nothing between them.
Li Peixiang's reply wasn't too late, but it was irrelevant: "He doesn't like me."
Fang Yuenian rolled his eyes dramatically when he saw it. Cheng Bing reached over his shoulder, put her arm around him, picked up his phone, glanced at it, and sighed helplessly.
However, this was tantamount to an answer, and Fang Yuenian immediately called back.
“What’s the point of me liking him?” Li Peixiang seemed to be struggling with his inner turmoil. “He, he really doesn’t like me.”
How did you know?
"Of course I know," Li Peixiang nearly went crazy. "You haven't seen what Meng Xiaoyang is like when he likes someone. Back then, he was inseparable from He Linjie, always beaming. He'd explain problems to him, help him clean, even help him make bulletin boards. He even mixed He Linjie's watercolors for art class. He only had eyes for him." (Author's note:)
Thank you for reading. This book
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