Chapter 11 Who is your true friend...?
Peng Chengyi thought about it carefully and realized that it seemed to be true.
So she changed her mind and said, "I'm letting you know now, I'd like to go out to eat with my roommate today."
Chen Yubai: "The notification came too late. My roommates have already left. Who am I going to eat with?"
Peng Chengyi thought for a moment and said, "Then I'll ask my roommate if they mind if you join us temporarily."
Chen Yubai: "If you mind, you're going to abandon me?"
Peng Chengyi: "Uh... after all, I promised them first."
Chen Yubai: "Great, really great."
Peng Chengyi: "Don't be angry yet, they might not mind."
After calming Chen Yubai down, Peng Chengyi quickly asked the two people beside her, "Um, do you two mind if my childhood friend... Chen Yubai, comes to eat with us?"
Upon hearing that a handsome guy was going to join, Zheng Xinyue's eyes immediately lit up and she said, "I don't mind!"
Peng Chengyi glanced at Chen Wei again, who also shook her head slightly.
Seeing this, Peng Chengyi breathed a slight sigh of relief and sent a WeChat message to Chen Yubai: "You can join us now. We're in the first cafeteria."
However, Chen Yubai seemed genuinely angry, as he didn't reply to her messages for a long time.
Forget it, he can take it or leave it.
Anyway, she now has a chance to make new good friends.
Despite trying to comfort herself, Peng Chengyi still seemed somewhat absent-minded while getting her food.
He would glance at the cafeteria entrance every now and then, hoping to see if Chen Yubai was there.
Suddenly, someone ruffled her hair from behind: "Which way are you looking?"
Peng Chengyi was taken aback, turned her face, and met Chen Yubai's nonchalant face.
"Where did you come from? I didn't see you enter the cafeteria."
Chen Yubai: "Silly girl, this cafeteria has more than one entrance. It's more convenient for the boys to come from the south gate."
Peng Chengyi glared at him unhappily: "Don't call me stupid! How would I know on my first day here!"
Chen Yubai shrugged: "Okay, Conggua, I'll go to the back and line up. Please save me a seat at the table later."
Peng Chengyi: "..."
After he walked to the back of the line, Zheng Xinyue, who was behind her, came up to him and said, "Your childhood friend is so funny! I like this type of handsome guy!"
Peng Chengyi's lips twitched slightly: "Humor? You seem to have some misunderstanding about humor..."
Zheng Xinyue: "Really?"
During the discussion about this issue, people quickly found themselves at the food window.
Peng Chengyi, who was the first to get her food, looked around and saw that in addition to the long table in the middle of the cafeteria, there were also many four-person tables on both sides. So she quickly grabbed one and then called Zheng Xinyue and Chen Wei to come over with their trays.
“If you think Chen Yubai is humorous, let him sit next to you,” Peng Chengyi said, sitting down next to Chen Wei.
"Okay, okay." Zheng Xinyue nodded happily.
Five minutes later.
As Chen Yubai carried the tray over, he glanced at the empty seat reserved for him at the table and frowned slightly.
"Sit down," Peng Chengyi said, her mouth full of food, her words muffled.
Zheng Xinyue gripped her chopsticks excitedly and greeted him with a bright smile: "Hello, my name is Zheng Xinyue, and I am Peng Chengyi's roommate."
Chen Yubai paused for two seconds before shifting his gaze from Peng Chengyi's chubby cheeks to Zheng Xinyue. He nodded slightly to her and sat down in the empty seat next to her.
"This is Chen Wei, my bunkmate and deskmate." Seeing that Chen Wei didn't introduce herself, Peng Chengyi swallowed the food in her mouth and spoke for her.
Chen Yubai nodded to Chen Wei across from him with a calm expression.
Seeing that he showed no enthusiasm for her new friend, Peng Chengyi pressed him on the head and recommended, "Chen Wei started learning drums in elementary school, she's amazing."
"Zheng Xinyue can also tell fortunes. Why don't you let her tell you if you were blessed by the God of Exams to get the top score?"
"Let her do your calculations. Are you missing a screw in your head?" Chen Yubai chuckled, picked up his chopsticks, and started eating.
Peng Chengyi: "..."
She assumed that since he had come, it meant he wasn't angry that she had abandoned him.
It seems that he's still angry with her.
But she didn't want to coax him in front of Zheng Xinyue and Chen Wei, after all, she had just boasted that she had been his boss.
She can't contradict herself so quickly.
So she stopped paying attention to him and took the opportunity to ask Chen Wei if she had any plans to form a band.
"What style of band do you want to form?" Chen Wei asked her in return.
“Uh…” Having never thought about this question before, Peng Chengyi paused for a moment before laughing a little embarrassedly, “I don’t actually know either, because at my current level, I can only play songs with very simple chords.”
Chen Wei: "Oh, then come ask me again once you've confirmed the band's style."
"..."
Okay, she's still cool.
It's not something she can handle right now.
"Wow, you want to form a band?" Zheng Xinyue chimed in.
"Hmm." Peng Chengyi nodded and asked her, "Do you know any friends at No. 1 High School who can play musical instruments?"
Zheng Xinyue: "Let me think, what kind of musical instrument do you need?"
“Now we have two guitars, a keyboard, and a drum set too…” Peng Chengyi glanced at Chen Wei, and seeing that she didn’t object, she continued, “We’ve got it, right? We just need a bassist.”
"Bass...it seems like not many people learn it. The only friend I know who learns guitar is..." Zheng Xinyue pondered.
"The guitars are already full," Peng Chengyi said, a little disappointed.
"Is the other guitarist him?" Zheng Xinyue quietly pointed to Chen Yubai, who was eating silently with a cold face next to her.
She now wants to take back what she said about liking his type.
In the morning, watching his interaction with Peng Chengyi in the classroom, she thought he was easy to get along with.
When he actually sat down next to her, she felt like the cold air emanating from him was freezing her side.
She didn't dare say another word to him.
“Yes.” Peng Chengyi nodded, a little puzzled as to why Zheng Xinyue had to ask her for an answer when she had such a good opportunity to talk to Chen Yubai.
Wasn't she very interested in him?
-
After lunch, we had to go to the classroom to pick up our new books.
Zheng Xinyue originally wanted to take Peng Chengyi's arm and walk together, but as soon as her hand touched Peng Chengyi's elbow, she felt a cold gaze sweep over from the side.
Zheng Xinyue was startled and hurriedly took a step forward, taking Chen Wei's arm tethered: "Weiwei, could you come with me to the convenience store to buy a bottle of iced tea? I feel a little thirsty after lunch."
Chen Wei glanced down at the hand that the other woman had taken her arm from, pursed her lips slightly, and nodded, saying, "Okay."
“Then I…” Peng Chengyi, who was following behind, opened her mouth.
"You and Chen Yubai go first, we'll see you in the classroom later." Zheng Xinyue said, and without waiting for Peng Chengyi's reply, she pulled Chen Wei around the corner.
Peng Chengyi watched their hurried departure and uttered two words softly: "...Okay."
It felt like Zheng Xinyue was deliberately making up an excuse not to walk with her.
She was quite enthusiastic towards her before lunch.
Could it be—
Peng Chengyi paused, turning her head to glance at the boy beside her, who still had a blank expression and lazily had his hands in his pockets.
"Why are you looking at me?" Chen Yubai raised an eyebrow.
"Let's see if you've calmed down yet."
"Oh, so you do know how to care about your old friend." Chen Yubai scoffed.
"..." Hearing him still being sarcastic, Peng Chengyi couldn't help but say, "It was my fault for not telling you in advance that I was going to have dinner with other people today, but I did let you come along later, so why are you still holding onto this matter, making it seem like you've never had dinner with other friends before."
"When have I ever taken you out to dinner with friends and then sent you to some remote, frontier place?" Chen Yubai gave her a deep look.
It took Peng Chengyi a moment to realize that the reason he was angry had changed.
He was actually unhappy that she made him sit next to Zheng Xinyue.
But unlike her, he was a bit socially anxious and only felt safe sitting next to familiar people.
Is it necessary to argue with her about this?
While inwardly grumbling, Peng Chengyi explained, "It's because Zheng Xinyue really wants to be friends with you that I arranged for you to sit next to her. It's not that I'm sending you to the frontier."
Chen Yubai sneered: "You help others make friends with me? Who's your friend here?"
"...What's wrong with making another friend? She's my roommate, of course I want to get along with her. I'm not going to be living with you in the future!" Peng Chengyi said, both angry and anxious, not understanding why he was unhappy.
Chen Yubai stared at her flushed face for a moment, then sighed, seemingly both resigned and helpless: "It's nothing, do as you please."
Peng Chengyi was taken aback, not expecting him to move on from the matter so quickly.
Suddenly, I realized that although he had just entered high school, he had become more difficult to understand than before.
Is it because the surrounding environment has changed?
Or is it because they grew up the moment they became high school students?
Unable to come up with an answer even after arriving in the classroom, Peng Chengyi simply gave up trying.
Never mind, as long as he calms down.
This would save her from worrying about whether he would go to the teacher's office again to resign from his position as the literature and art committee member.
Unexpectedly, right after the start of the semester, he had already firmly grasped one of her weaknesses.
In the future, whenever she needs to introduce herself, she will definitely learn from his taciturn and pretentious style.
Not long after the two walked to the classroom, Zheng Xinyue and Chen Wei also returned from the convenience store.
Peng Chengyi was initially worried about how to handle Zheng Xinyue's desire to befriend Chen Yubai, but Chen Yubai was completely unwilling to cooperate. However, as soon as Zheng Xinyue returned, she poked her back and whispered to her, "I think you're right."
"...?" Peng Chengyi tilted her head, puzzled.
“I have a misunderstanding about humor.” Zheng Xinyue paused and said, “You have no idea how much pressure I felt during lunch. Don’t bring him next time.”
Unexpectedly, she gave up on her own initiative. Peng Chengyi breathed a sigh of relief, but at the same time asked with some curiosity, "Didn't you think he was very handsome?"
Zheng Xinyue: "He's handsome, but he's too distant. He's not my type. I'll wait until military training tomorrow and see if there are any handsome guys in other classes. Besides..."
Peng Chengyi: "And what?"
Zheng Xinyue hesitated briefly, then smiled and said, "It's nothing."
She wondered if it was just her imagination, but although Peng Cheng intended to be on friendly terms with Chen Yubai, it seemed that his relationship with her wasn't just a simple brotherly one.
Moreover, his possessiveness towards her was terrifyingly strong.
Now, recalling the murderous look Chen Yubai gave her when she tried to take Peng Chengyi's arm as they walked out of the cafeteria, she still felt a chill run down her spine.
-
The first day of military training.
As a representative of the new students, Chen Yubai, dressed in a crisp camouflage uniform, walked onto the podium on the playground.
Although Peng Chengyi knew he would give this speech the moment he learned that Peng had become the top scorer in the city.
But when she was actually standing in the line below, looking up at him, she felt a strange, indescribable emotion welling up inside her.
The sunlight fell on the boy's head, gilding his entire figure with a golden edge.
This made him seem even more unattainable.
The voice that was once so familiar to her sounded somewhat unfamiliar when amplified by the microphone.
It's as if the dazzling boy on the podium is not the same person as Chen Yubai, who used to lazily loiter in her room and ask her to copy his homework.
However, his speech still reflected his casual and lazy style, and it ended in just a few minutes amidst enthusiastic applause.
Peng Chengyi suddenly came to her senses and clapped twice symbolically with the people around her.
I don't understand how his speech, which barely said anything, could win so much applause.
Perhaps it's because the time was short enough?
After all, the sun was still quite scorching at the end of August, and no one wanted to stand on the unshaded playground for too long.
Peng Chengyi squinted as she watched the tall boy walk towards Class 7, his back to the sunlight.
As he passed her, who was standing at the edge of the second row, he paused slightly and lowered his voice, saying, "What, you're not satisfied with my speech?"
Peng Chengyi smiled to cover up her confusion, not knowing how he had seen through her: "How could that be? You must be imagining things."
"Really?" Chen Yu glanced at her with a cold look, "But I saw it clearly just now, you only clapped twice for me."
A note from the author:
----------------------
Peng Chengyi: ??? What's wrong with me? So many people are nitpicking at me!
Thank you to colorwind916, hahaguai, Sunshine, 〇十七, and Xiaolvjiang (my dear friends) for the nutrient solution! Double updates again tomorrow!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
