Chapter 16 He spoiled me rotten…
She's still very cute.
Peng Chengyi was stunned when she heard this word.
Because this doesn't sound like something Peng Weiguo would say.
However, it doesn't seem like something Chen Yubai added himself.
After all, he had never said a good word about her since he was a child.
Sometimes, when she needed something from him, she would start praising him.
He rarely asked her for anything, and even when he was sleeping in class and needed her to cover for him, he would just lazily say, "Can you do me a favor?"
Whether she helps or not depends entirely on her conscience.
It was the same when I wanted to copy her homework.
She wouldn't give him any, so he simply left his food empty. When the teacher caught him, he was made to stand outside in the corridor as punishment.
She couldn't stand it anymore and took the initiative to give him her homework.
So, it's probably because Peng Weiguo saw that she was angry that he said something agreeable.
Peng Chengyi's anger subsided, and after Chen Yubai left, she finally agreed to leave the room.
She glanced at Peng Weiguo, who was sitting on the sofa watching TV, and he quickly invited her to have some fruit.
Peng Chengyi picked up an apple from the coffee table, took a couple of bites, and then asked, "What about the half bowl of rice I left? Did my mom let you eat it?"
“I couldn’t eat either, so Xiaoyu ate it for me,” Peng Weiguo said.
"Huh?" Peng Chengyi stopped chewing in disbelief. "My mom made me do it?"
"How could that be? Xiaoyu said he wasn't full, so he just took it."
"..."
Peng Chengyi paused for a moment, then put down the apple, hurriedly went back to her room, and tapped Chen Yubai's profile picture on WeChat.
Chen Yubai: "?"
Peng Chengyi: "Did you eat the leftovers?"
Chen Yubai: "Hmm"
Peng Chengyi pursed her lips, her feelings complicated, and searched for the right words, saying, "You don't need to eat. My dad and mom won't really argue over this. They'll just bicker at most, and it'll be fine in a bit."
She knows Chen Yubai too well.
Before his parents separated, they would have a small argument every two days and a big argument every three days. Caught in the middle, he naturally developed the habit of trying his best to avoid arguing with them, even if it meant sacrificing his own feelings.
So when he was at her house, he would habitually do the same.
The "typing..." indicator on the chat window lit up and then went off repeatedly for quite a while before Chen Yubai finally replied, "I'm just not full."
Who would believe that? They're just being stubborn.
Peng Chengyi silently replied to him in her heart, but on the surface, she still responded considerately, "Then next time when you're full, just leave it there."
Chen Yubai stared at her last message, then turned off his phone without replying and lay back on the bed.
The blinding incandescent light from the ceiling fell down, and he instinctively raised his arm to cover his eyes.
In the darkness, he thought back to when he first started elementary school.
Because Chen Jianye wanted to resign from his job as the school's Party Secretary and go into foreign trade with a friend, his parents had their most intense argument yet.
They not only pointed fingers and cursed at each other, but even smashed all the dishes in the house.
He huddled helplessly in the corner, wanting to escape, but not knowing where he could go in the middle of the night.
Until Peng Chengyi gently knocked on his door, and then, as if she didn't notice the mess in the living room, she said softly, "Aunt Lin, can Xiaoyu come to my house to play?"
Lin Qingying regained her composure slightly and said with a somewhat embarrassed smile, "Chengcheng isn't asleep yet?"
Peng Chengyi nodded, and said in a grown-up manner, "I've been having trouble sleeping these past two days, so I'd like to find someone to play with me."
Lin Qingying: "Do your parents agree?"
Peng Chengyi: "I agree."
Lin Qingying then turned to Chen Yubai, who was huddled in the corner, and said, "Xiaoyu, go play with Chengcheng."
Chen Yubai stood up numbly and walked blankly toward Peng Chengyi, who was waiting outside the door.
She quickly grabbed his cold hand and hurriedly took him home.
Once inside her room, Chen Yubai realized that although the building's soundproofing was decent, it couldn't withstand the intense arguing between Lin Qingying and Chen Jianye.
No wonder she came to see him in the middle of the night saying she had insomnia.
"Do you want to play this?" Peng Chengyi yawned and sleepily pulled a box of Ludo from the bookshelf.
Chen Yubai looked at her sleepy face and said, "If you're sleepy, go to sleep."
Peng Chengyi was stunned for a moment, then immediately widened her eyes and said, "I'm not sleepy, I have insomnia."
Chen Yubai paused for two seconds, then flopped onto her bed and said, "But I'm sleepy and want to sleep."
Peng Chengyi stared at Chen Yubai, who was lying on his side with his back to her, for a moment before slowly putting down the Ludo game in her hand.
"Then let's go to sleep." She kicked off her slippers and climbed into bed.
In kindergarten, the beds for two children were placed one behind the other, so she had long been used to sleeping with him.
Even if we switch to another bed, I won't feel awkward at all.
At most, the blanket on her body wasn't enough to cover her, so she could only get closer to him, clumsily tucking the edge of the blanket under his arm, and then turn off the bedside lamp.
After everything fell silent in the darkness, the arguing next door suddenly became clearer.
Chen Yubai involuntarily tensed up.
But the next second, a pair of warm little hands covered his ears from behind.
They shielded him from all sound.
This also calmed his mind.
-
The day and a half of rest passed in the blink of an eye.
Peng Chengyi, realizing that her skills had become rusty after just 10 days of not playing the guitar, decided to bring it to school.
Fearing that Zhou Lifen would find out and scold her, she didn't dare take her own guitar and asked Chen Yubai via WeChat to help her carry his Gibson.
Chen Yubai: "Do you treat me like a brother, or like a beast of burden?"
Peng Chengyi: "Of course it's my brother! You just need to carry him out of the house. Once he's out of my mom's sight, I'll take over."
Chen Yubai: "Didn't you also carry a schoolbag?"
Peng Chengyi: "The backpack is light, you can carry it."
Peng Chengyi: "Am I very good at being considerate of my brother?"
Chen Yubai: "...Thank you."
Peng Chengyi mimicked his previous feigned ignorance: "You're welcome."
Chen Yubai: "..."
Sensing his reluctance, Peng Chengyi continued to persuade him, saying, "Actually, having you carry the piano isn't just for my sake."
Chen Yubai: "?"
Peng Chengyi: "Aren't you the arts and culture committee member? I'm just doing this to support your work. My band can actively participate in future cultural festivals and such."
Chen Yubai: "...Your band is still in its infancy."
Peng Chengyi: "How can there be no hint of it? Right now, all we're missing is a bassist."
Chen Yubai: "I remember Chen Wei didn't agree to your request, right?"
Peng Chengyi: "But she didn't reject me either."
Peng Chengyi: "And I will try my best to gain her approval."
Chen Yubai: "How do we work hard?"
Peng Chengyi: "Of course, I practiced the piano whenever I could find a spare moment in my dorm room, trying to move her with my passionate spirit."
Chen Yubai: "...Try watching less Japanese anime."
Peng Chengyi: "You insulted me."
Chen Yubai: "What did I say to you?"
Peng Chengyi: "Chuunibyou" (a Japanese term for adolescent delusions of grandeur)
Chen Yubai: "Turns out you have a pretty clear understanding of yourself."
Peng Chengyi: "Smash your dog's head.jpg"
Chen Yubai: "If you smash it, who's going to carry your guitar for you?"
Peng Chengyi was delighted and her fingertips unconsciously moved to the kissing emoji next to her.
After sending it, she remembered his indescribable reaction when she said the kiss had gone viral last time.
He immediately retracted it and changed it to: "Kneeling in gratitude, big brother.jpg"
But Peng Chengyi didn't receive a reply from Chen Yubai for a long time, whether he was busy with something or too lazy to pay attention to her.
-
Since school officially starts tomorrow, and there will be a flag-raising ceremony at 7:30 in the morning, the two of them plan to return to school in the afternoon.
Rarely, Lin Qingying wasn't busy today, so she came back at noon and cooked a meal.
After clearing away the dishes, she glanced at Chen Yubai's packed guitar case and asked him with some surprise, "Are you planning to take this guitar to school to practice?"
In her memory, her son had basically no hobbies and didn't seem to care much about anything.
She thought he bought a guitar because he was bored during the summer vacation and just wanted to play around with it.
I never expected him to take it to school.
"Well, I'm the arts and culture committee member now. If there's no one willing to sign up for a program for the cultural festival later, I'll have to step in," Chen Yubai explained casually.
"You're the arts and culture committee member?!" Lin Qingying exclaimed in growing surprise.
You should know that he often asked her to get sick leave certificates to avoid participating in group activities during his primary and junior high school years.
Did she change her personality after going to high school?
While this change is a good thing, it was too sudden!
Or perhaps it's because she's too busy with work that she hasn't paid attention to his gradually changing personality.
Thinking of this, Lin Qingying's expression shifted from surprise to a sense of guilt.
"Okay." Chen Yubai picked up his violin case, slung it over his shoulder, and said, "I'm leaving now, Mom."
Lin Qingying snapped out of her daze: "Aren't you going to wait for Chengcheng to come find you?"
Chen Yubai: "She said on WeChat that she was going out."
"Oh." Lin Qingying nodded. She almost forgot that they had all bought cell phones in high school, so they no longer needed to knock on each other's doors to ask each other to go to school together like before.
"Then be careful on your way, and send a message to let us know you're safe when you get to school," Lin Qingying added.
"knew."
Chen Yubai changed into his sneakers and opened the door.
They happened to run into Peng Chengyi, who had also opened the door.
When she saw the guitar on his back, a sweet smile immediately appeared on her face.
But since Zhou Lifen was still at the door giving her many instructions as she left, she couldn't show her happiness too obviously, so she quickly suppressed it.
Chen Yubai glanced at her suppressed laughter and couldn't help but smile slightly himself: "I'll wait for you downstairs."
"Okay." Peng Chengyi nodded, then turned to Zhou Lifen, who was still stuffing an umbrella into her schoolbag, and said, "Mom, it's not raining now, so don't bother, I have an umbrella at school."
“Take it with me, the weather forecast says there will be showers this afternoon.” Zhou Lifen refused to give up and stuffed the umbrella into the side pocket of her schoolbag.
After meeting up downstairs, seeing that Chen Yubai didn't mention carrying the guitar for her, Peng Chengyi simply pretended to have forgotten her promise not to make him work like a slave.
It wasn't until she got on the bus and saw there were seats available that she said, as if she had just remembered, "I almost forgot, I'll carry the guitar."
"You've all sat down, what are you still carrying?" Chen Yubai glanced at her with amusement, took off his guitar, and stood beside her.
"It's your fault for not reminding me earlier." She pursed her lips guiltily.
Chen Yubai bluntly exposed her: "Of course, it's to test your self-awareness."
Peng Chengyi choked awkwardly for a moment before finding her words and said, "Human nature cannot withstand the test, so I gave you a special lesson today."
Chen Yubai: "..."
Halfway through the bus journey, the sky outside the window gradually changed from sunny to cloudy, and finally, just as the two arrived at the school, a torrential downpour began.
Although Peng Chengyi brought an umbrella, it was still a bit small to support both her and Chen Yubai.
What's more, Chen Yubai also had a guitar slung over his shoulder.
Worried that the electric guitar would break if it got wet, Peng Chengyi, who was temporarily sheltering from the rain at the bus stop, said to Chen Yubai, "How about this, I'll take the guitar to the dormitory first, and then I'll get an umbrella to pick you up?"
Chen Yubai: "No need, my violin case is waterproof."
Peng Chengyi: "Do you have a link? Is it expensive? I want to buy it too."
Chen Yubai: "Yes, there are, but they might be more expensive than your guitar."
“…Sorry to bother you.” Peng Chengyi chuckled twice, opened the umbrella in her hand, and held it high above her head. “Then let’s go like this.”
Chen Yubai glanced at the umbrella she was struggling to hold high and extended his hand to her: "Let me hold the umbrella for you."
“No, I’ll hold it up,” Peng Chengyi insisted.
Chen Yubai glanced at her with amusement, not understanding what she was insisting on: "At your height, isn't it difficult?"
Peng Chengyi: "But if I give it to you, given our height difference, if you tilt your hand, the water on the umbrella will spill onto my head."
Chen Yubai: "...Which Japanese anime did you watch this time?"
Peng Chengyi: "Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun is quite good, I recommend it to you."
Chen Yubai paused for a moment, then sighed almost inaudibly: "Don't worry, I won't pour the water from the umbrella onto your head. The way you're holding it is more likely that you'll end up pressing the umbrella down on my head."
“…Alright then.” Peng Chengyi, whose hands were indeed starting to ache, compromised and handed him the umbrella.
Chen Yubai, who had opened the umbrella, reached out and tugged at her arm, pulling her to his side: "Come closer to me, or we'll both get wet."
"Oh." Peng Chengyi nodded reluctantly.
Although they slept in the same bed when they were children.
But as they got older, the physical contact between them gradually decreased.
For example, when they were in elementary school, he would use his body to block her attacks, just like he would block other boys.
Later, when she developed and started wearing a tank top underneath...
He stopped using his body to block her, and at most used his legs to stop the ball she was carrying.
When he reached junior high school and grew taller, she stopped tickling him whenever she was unhappy, trying to force him to comply.
At most, I'd pinch him a couple of times through his clothes to vent my anger.
So now, out of the blue, I'm snuggling close to him again, just like when we were kids.
Peng Chengyi felt somewhat awkward.
In particular, he is no longer the little boy who was half a head shorter than her.
The skin pressed against her exposed outer arm was also damp and warm.
So she shifted her body slightly, putting a few inches between his arm and hers.
Noticing her movement, Chen Yubai glanced down at her slightly pursed lips but said nothing more.
His hands, with their distinct knuckles, gripped the umbrella slightly.
The heavy rain pounded against the tops of their umbrellas, cutting off all other sounds.
Whether it's a boy rushing towards the teaching building with his backpack on his head, a girl trapped in the water room, or a companion walking with an umbrella like them.
It's all like a silent play.
After finally reaching the girls' dormitory, Peng Chengyi patted her slightly wet left shoulder and was about to turn around and complain about how Chen Yubai was holding the umbrella, only to find that not only her shoulder, but her entire right side was soaked by the rain.
He couldn't help but shut his mouth, feeling a bit conflicted.
Noticing her opening her mouth, Chen Yubai took off his violin case from his shoulder and asked, "What do you want to say?"
Peng Chengyi: "I want to say that you can be a decent human being sometimes."
Chen Yubai twitched the corner of his lips: "...Just say it if you want to scold me."
Peng Chengyi: "I'm praising you."
Chen Yubai: "I've never seen anyone so good at praising people."
“You’ve seen it now,” Peng Chengyi said, taking the violin case from his hand and holding it in her arms.
"..." Chen Yubai glanced at her speechlessly, then opened the umbrella again. "Let's go. I'll return the umbrella to you in the classroom tomorrow."
Peng Chengyi: "I have another umbrella in my dorm. You can take it for now and bring it home for me this weekend."
Chen Yubai paused, then turned his head slowly and said, "I think you're still treating me like a beast of burden."
Peng Chengyi quickly chuckled and explained, "I didn't mean that. You're already teaching the classroom tomorrow, so it's unnecessary. I'm just trying to lighten your load."
Chen Yubai chuckled and, too lazy to pay her any more attention, strode away.
-
Peng Chengyi felt that her high school life after the official start of the semester was not much different from that of junior high school.
Besides no longer having to go to and from school with Chen Yubai every day, she also gained two new dining partners, Zheng Xinyue and Chen Wei.
In addition, she had already studied some of the first-year high school courses in advance, so she didn't feel much academic pressure.
Life was even more comfortable than when I first entered junior high school.
Moreover, the management of No. 1 Middle School is indeed as easy as rumored.
The main subject teachers never take up the music, art, physical education, or music classes. In fact, there is a 45-minute free activity class every Wednesday afternoon.
Boys usually play basketball at this time, while girls generally have more options.
They would either gather in the classroom to gossip and follow celebrities, or go for a walk on the playground, or watch the boys play basketball.
Of course, there are also some people who, like Peng Chengyi, choose to eat in the cafeteria early.
Because she wasn't allowed to go back to the dorm during free time, she couldn't practice guitar.
I can only eat quickly and then rush back to practice around mealtime.
Chen Wei would also go with her because she didn't want to queue up during the evening rush hour at the cafeteria.
But Zheng Xinyue, who loves to join in the fun, would choose to go to the basketball court to find handsome guys.
At that moment, Peng Chengyi and Chen Wei were having lunch in the cafeteria when she sent a breaking news report to their small group chat.
[Image] [Image] [Image]
"The three most handsome guys in the first year of high school are all here today, playing a game. Do you two want to come watch after you finish eating? It's pretty exciting!"
"Although I think your childhood friend is the most handsome, the other two look like mere extras next to him."
Peng Chengyi chewed her rice and glanced at the photos.
I couldn't see where the other two handsome guys were.
Aren't they all just average-looking?
After she raised this question, Zheng Xinyue replied to her, "Your aesthetic standards have been spoiled by Chen Yubai, so ordinary handsome guys can't catch your eye anymore."
Peng Chengyi paused for a moment, thinking it was a bit far-fetched, and said, "Maybe these two handsome guys just aren't photogenic. I'll go check it out in person later."
Yueyuezi: "Okay! I'll wait for you to come."
The air in September was still a bit muggy.
On the way to the basketball court, Peng Chengyi also bought an ice pop at the convenience store, planning to eat it while watching the game.
As she approached the court, she heard cheers from the crowd, apparently from someone who had made a three-pointer.
She couldn't help but stand on tiptoe and peek inside.
As soon as Chen Yubai landed, he lifted his short-sleeved school uniform and wiped the sweat from his face that was about to drip into his eyes.
Even though it was only for two seconds, the glimpse of his abs that he revealed was enough to make the girls around him go wild again.
"..."
What's with the show-off?
Peng Chengyi mentally scoffed, then followed Chen Wei and found Zheng Xinyue, who was also excitedly screaming.
"Is it really necessary?" she couldn't help but ask.
"You didn't see it just now, Chen Yubai's three-pointer was absolutely gorgeous! He pulled off a stunning comeback at the end of the first half, completely tying the score," Zheng Xinyue exclaimed excitedly. "And he's got such a great body! I think I'm falling in love with him again!"
"..." Peng Chengyi twitched her lips speechlessly, tore open the popsicle wrapper, and looked at Chen Yubai, who was preparing to leave the field to rest.
He had only taken a couple of steps when he was stopped by a girl holding a mineral water bottle.
They were some distance apart, and the court was noisy, so she couldn't hear what the girl was saying to him.
But she guessed she was probably going to bring him water.
That's amazing, someone's even bringing water.
Peng Chengyi squeezed the torn popsicle wrapper, feeling inexplicably unhappy.
But Chen Yubai, with a blank expression, shook his head and looked over the girl's head at her.
The moment their eyes met, Peng Chengyi, for reasons she couldn't explain, quickly looked away, pretending not to see him.
But a moment later, his tall figure loomed over her.
Peng Chengyi pursed her lips slightly, and before she could adjust her mindset, she looked up.
He had already bent down and very naturally took a bite of the popsicle she was holding, his tone casual and teasing.
"Thanks, you even came all the way to bring me popsicles."
-----------------------
Author's Note: The next chapter will still be updated at midnight tonight. Ten lucky commenters will be randomly selected to receive a red envelope. Thank you for your support, my darlings!
Thanks to GF, colorwind915, Sunshine, 起个破名想半宿, 澪炘, 哈哈怪, and 〇十七 for the nutrient solution! [Lop-eared rabbit head][Lop-eared rabbit head][Lop-eared rabbit head]
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