Chapter 17
Seeing Han Shuo's optimistic attitude, Meng Yuxiu fell silent.
Han Shuo saw that Meng Yuxiu had his eyes downcast, his slender, white fingers caressing the orange, and thought to himself that this trick really worked on innocent high school boys. It seemed that for a while, Meng Yuxiu would be so embarrassed by his revelation of his male inferiority complex that he would have the urge to slap himself twice in his dreams.
Just as Han Shuo was feeling smug about his brilliant idea of manipulating Meng Yuxiu, Meng Yuxiu suddenly looked up at him and asked, "You...you used the money for oranges, how are you going to get home on Friday?"
Han Shuo was taken aback when he heard this, and then his mind started working at lightning speed.
Damn! Another chance to flatter Meng Yuxiu.
So he put on what he thought was an incredibly tender voice and said, "I noticed you haven't been talking to me for several days, and there were vendors selling oranges on the playground today, so I didn't think much of it."
Meng Yuxiu's long eyelashes trembled slightly. He avoided Han Shuo's direct gaze and then said awkwardly, "Why are you so nice to me?"
"Because you're good to me," Han Shuo blurted out.
"..." Meng Yuxiu thought of that letter again. Surrounded by Han Shuo's burning gaze, he felt that some things still needed to be clarified with others to avoid unnecessary misunderstandings.
"Han Shuo".
"kindness?"
Meng Yuxiu pondered for two seconds and said, "Our task can't be finished in a short time, so I have to stay here and go to school to take the college entrance examination."
"Huh..." Han Shuo was completely confused. Why was this person suddenly talking to him about his studies?
Meng Yuxiu continued, "There's still one semester left after the New Year. I heard that the college entrance exam here is much stricter than it was back then, and the admission rate is not high. I have to hurry up and review."
"hold head high……"
"Besides, I'm only seventeen, unlike you, who are already in your twenties."
"..." What does that mean? Why are we suddenly talking about age again? Han Shuo raised his voice again, completely confused.
Hearing Han Shuo speaking in a haughty tone, Meng Yuxiu asked, "Did you understand?"
Han Shuo: "Huh?...Oh."
Seeing this, Meng Yuxiu frowned. "So I don't have any other thoughts for the time being."
"No other thoughts?" Han Shuo narrowed his eyes, pondering the words carefully. What did that mean? What did he mean by "no other thoughts"?
Not in the mood to do the task?
Han Shuo felt a sudden chill in his heart. No, he had already belittled himself to this extent, and this kid still couldn't get over that hurdle?
Han Shuo was quite anxious, but now that their relationship had finally improved and they could talk to each other, he knew that this matter couldn't be rushed.
Seeing that his eyes were moving around without him saying anything, Meng Yuxiu hesitated and asked, "What's wrong? Why aren't you saying anything?"
What the hell are you talking about?
Han Shuo was speechless, but he thought better of it. Since that was the case, they would proceed step by step. Anyway, as Meng Yuxiu said, this task couldn't be completed in a short time. As long as the two of them were in this world, they would have plenty of opportunities.
At worst, he can just go to work in whichever city Meng Yuxiu goes to school.
"It's nothing." Han Shuo cursed inwardly, but smiled and said, "Okay, I'll do whatever you want. Do whatever you want."
Meng Yuxiu stared at his face for a while, then frowned and said, "You don't need to do that."
"What?"
Meng Yuxiu really didn't want to be so blunt; he didn't like hurting other people's self-esteem. But seeing that Han Shuo didn't seem very bright, he could only say tactfully, "Let's compromise."
"I'm not upset." Han Shuo patted his shoulder and laughed. "What's there to be upset about? If you're happy, I'm happy. If you're not happy, then I'll feel bored too, right? Besides, this kind of thing is based on mutual consent."
Meng Yuxiu looked at him with a somewhat indescribable expression.
Han Shuo took an orange from his hand, peeled it, and then peeled off the segments and handed them to Meng Yuxiu. "Here, we'll eat in a while. You can have a segment of orange first. I don't know if it'll be sweet or not, but the vendor said to come find him if it's not sweet."
Meng Yuxiu didn't reach out to take it. Han Shuo noticed that he was still staring at him and asked, puzzled, "Why are you staring at me?"
He touched his face. "Is there something dirty on my face?"
Meng Yuxiu looked away and sighed softly, "You really don't need to be so nice to me. I'm not in the mood for that right now."
Damn it! You're still going on and on with that one sentence? Han Shuo really wanted to throw the orange away, then grab Meng Yuxiu by the collar and give him a good scolding: I know you're not in the mood right now, I'm not deaf, do you think I'm some kind of leech that I have to keep bothering you to do the task?
If you don't want to do it now, then don't. There's plenty of time in the future. I'll slowly wear you down until you beg me to do the task. Once I've finished the task and gone back, the first thing I'll do is run to your school and slap you across the face!
You fucking pretend to be something you're not!
You fucking pretentious bastard!
Then he slapped Meng Yuxiu's proud face askew.
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Han Shuo cursed inwardly, but forced a smile. "You're being too polite. If I'm not good to you, who will be? Putting aside your good character, the most important thing is that we're from the same hometown. We're all new to this place, and besides my brother and nephew, you're the closest person to me. We'll definitely be together for a long time to come, so it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say we're each other's only support. Don't you think so?"
Meng Yuxiu opened his mouth, but had nothing to say.
The two stood behind the wall of the canteen building, with fields in front of them. The autumn rice had already been harvested, leaving only short stubble in the fields.
Han Shuo plopped down on the edge of the field. Meng Yuxiu looked down at him as he carefully removed the white fibers from the crevices of the orange segments, then handed them to him cleanly. "Eat it."
After hesitating for a second, Meng Yuxiu also sat down on the edge of the field and accepted the orange segments.
Just as he was slowly putting it in his mouth, he caught a glimpse of Han Shuo smiling at him like a loving father.
Meng Yuxiu paused for a moment, then asked, "Aren't you going to eat?"
Han Shuo smiled at him and raised his chin, "You eat it, I bought it for you."
Han Shuo's behavior made Meng Yuxiu feel awkward, so he coughed lightly and said, "Let's eat together."
"Okay." Han Shuo broke off one half and handed it to him, then stuffed the other half into his mouth.
Seeing that he had eaten, Meng Yuxiu then began to eat the other half in a more refined manner.
"How is it?" Han Shuo asked while chewing. "Is it sweet?"
Meng Yuxiu nodded and hummed in agreement.
Her temper is like a little girl's, and her eating habits are like a little girl's too. Han Shuo couldn't help but chuckle, "You little glutton, still saying you won't eat, won't eat."
Meng Yuxiu almost choked on the orange juice.
Since Han Shuo had spoken so many reasonable words to Meng Yuxiu that day, he could only patiently work on Meng Yuxiu's stubbornness in the days to come. Fortunately, the weather gradually turned cold, and especially in mid-November, this small county town surrounded by mountains seemed to have suddenly entered winter.
Like most students, Han Shuo didn't have a down jacket. He wore a cotton coat over an undershirt and a sweater. However, the sweater Han Shuo was wearing was probably two years old. The yarn wasn't soft enough, and it became stiff and didn't keep him warm after wearing it for a long time. After a rain, even the seventeen-year-old boy's usually energetic body couldn't withstand the cold snap.
So he became less enthusiastic about doing tasks on the playground. Apart from going to eat after school and finding Meng Yuxiu, he no longer ran downstairs during the ten-minute breaks between classes. He preferred to stay in the classroom reading novels or chatting with his classmates.
"I'm freezing!" Pidan rushed back from the toilet and huddled behind the table, rubbing his hands.
Han Shuo glanced at the foggy glass window that let in a blast of cold air, as if looking at it any longer would make his feet inside his shoes feel wet.
"Is it going to snow?" Han Shuo asked Pi Dan, turning his head. "Hey, when does it usually snow?"
Pidan said it snowed earlier in December too.
"Then I'll have to bring a thick blanket when I go back to school next week, otherwise my feet will feel like dead people's feet when I sleep at night."
Doufu said to Han Shuo, "Han Shuo, how about we squeeze in together tonight? You can put your blanket on top of mine, that way it'll be warmer."
Han Shuo stared disdainfully at Doufu's clean, white face. "Come on, sharing a bed with you? I mean, your face looks clean, but your feet smell like they've been pickled?"
Tofu snorted in dissatisfaction and turned to find Century Egg, saying, "Center Egg, I'll squeeze in with you."
"No way, if I squeeze in with you for one night, all the showers I took last week will have been for nothing."
Han Shuo laughed heartily upon hearing this, watching as Tofu and Century Egg argued and made a scene.
Just then, someone nudged his shoulder. He turned around and saw Jiang Xiaowen, who was wearing thick glasses.
Jiang Xiaowen stood there, still acting all coy, whispering to Han Shuo by his desk.
"Han Shuo, can you come out with me for a bit?"
Because it was cold, both the front and back doors of the classroom were closed, so Han Shuo said, "Let's talk here, it's freezing outside."
Jiang Xiaowen looked at him somewhat awkwardly.
"Okay, okay, hurry up." Han Shuo got up and opened the back door, and Jiang Xiaowen quickly followed.
As soon as they stepped into the corridor, the cold wind chilled them to the bone, and Han Shuo shivered as he said, "What is it? Tell me quickly."
Jiang Xiaowen took a letter out of his pocket and handed it to Han Shuo.
"Another apology letter?"
“The last one was, but this one isn’t,” Jiang Xiaowen said shyly. “This time it’s a love letter.”
"Oh wow!" Han Shuo raised an eyebrow, taking the letter while teasing Jiang Xiaowen, "Meng Yuxiu is quite lucky, he even managed to snatch away our class monitor!"
Jiang Xiaowen's face immediately turned red. He stared tremblingly at Han Shuo as he shook the letter.
Seeing his expression, Han Shuo laughed and said, "Don't worry, I don't have a habit of peeping at people's letters."
Jiang Xiaowen breathed a sigh of relief, only to hear Han Shuo ask him, "I'm quite curious, what do you like about Meng Yuxiu?"
Mentioning Meng Yuxiu, Jiang Xiaowen's eyes lit up. He pursed his lips and said, "Meng Yuxiu has good grades and a good personality."
Han Shuo chuckled and clicked his tongue, "Good personality... Well, if you two really get together, Meng Yuxiu's temper will probably give you a hard time. Alright, I'll send it over to you now."
Han Shuo took the letter and ran downstairs. Ever since he ate his oranges, Meng Yuxiu could come out as soon as he was called.
When Han Shuo slapped the love letter into Meng Yuxiu's hand, Meng Yuxiu's expression became indescribable again.
But Han Shuo was completely unaware; he was still standing to the side, arms crossed, head tilted, as if he wanted to peek at his good buddy's love letter.
Meng Yuxiu asked in an unnatural tone, "What are you still doing standing here?"
Han Shuo chuckled and said, "I'll read love letters with you."
"..." Meng Yuxiu was speechless. "You're really shameless."
Han Shuo snorted, "Is this the first day you've discovered this? Hurry up and open it to see."
He urged, staring intently at Meng Yuxiu's face, "I need to stand here and see your reaction after you finish reading the love letter."
Meng Yuxiu glanced at him sideways, "Hurry up, I'm going back to the classroom to check."
"Oh, oh, oh," Han Shuo teased him, "Are you shy now?"
Since Meng Yuxiu was being stingy and wouldn't let him see it, and it was cold in the corridor, Han Shuo said, "Alright, I'll go upstairs then, you can take your time looking at it, hehe."
However, just as he reached the stairwell, the person who had already entered the classroom called out to him from behind.
"Don't you have a thick blanket yet?"
Han Shuo: "Yeah, so what? Are you inviting me to share a bed with you?"
Meng Yuxiu couldn't stand Han Shuo's frivolous smile, so he said, "Come to my dorm after school and get your mattress."
"A mattress?" Han Shuo asked. "If you give me your mattress, what will you use to sleep on?"
Meng Yuxiu said his quilt was so thick that he could fold it in half and use one side as a mat and the other as a cover.
"Damn, what a great bro!" Han Shuo was almost moved to tears. "All that effort of getting you hot water day and night wasn't for nothing! Okay! I'll go to your dorm after school!"
After Han Shuo left, Meng Yuxiu returned to his seat.
He stared at the letter with a troubled expression. He had already politely declined Han Shuo's advances since the last time they met behind the cafeteria, but he found that Han Shuo was not listening at all and was still being overly enthusiastic.
According to his deskmate, Han Shuo and he were like conjoined twins; they could be seen sticking together everywhere.
I've spent quite a bit of time with Han Shuo. Aside from his unreliable way of speaking, Han Shuo is a pretty good person, especially to me.
Looking at the letter folded into a heart shape, Meng Yuxiu felt a heavy burden.
But after hesitating for a moment, he opened it anyway.
The letter contained only two sentences.
It's getting cold, take good care of yourself.
It might snow in a while. If I have the chance, I'd love to go with you to the fields behind the cafeteria to see the snow.
(7) A person in class who quietly cares about you.
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