Chapter 66 Chen Yubai, are you jealous...?
Chen Yubai's expression darkened almost imperceptibly, his jawline tightened slightly, and after a few seconds of silence, he let out a soft scoff: "Oh, you probably don't know her very well."
He glanced coolly at Ke Xingjian, his casual tone tinged with sarcasm: "She's not very good at refusing people she doesn't know well, especially when they're being overly enthusiastic. It's probably just polite talk; don't take it seriously."
Ke Xingjian paused, then turned to look at Peng Chengyi, raising an eyebrow with a questioning smile: "Is that so, junior?"
“Uh…no, no…” Peng Chengyi quickly shook her head and glared at Chen Yubai speechlessly.
But he didn't even look at her. He leaned back in his chair, his eyes drooping, displaying a cold and hard attitude that refused to communicate.
Seeing this, she had no choice but to bite the bullet and try to smooth things over, her voice a little dry: "Well, personally, I'd welcome it... but the band isn't just mine, so maybe... it depends on what everyone else thinks..."
“I understand, it’s okay.” Ke Xingjian smiled, his smile still gentle, but a faint hint of disappointment flashed in his eyes. “A band really needs to be united, otherwise it’s meaningless.”
Seeing that he took the initiative to back down, Peng Chengyi breathed a slight sigh of relief, but the feeling of guilt in her heart lingered.
The meal was finally finished in an awkward atmosphere.
Ke Xingjian said the student council had left first, and Peng Chengyi immediately turned to Chen Yubai, finally unable to contain her anger: "Chen Yubai, what do you mean?! What was that attitude of yours just now? What did I do to offend you?"
"What do I mean?" He repeated slowly, his voice low but each word clear, like ice beads falling to the ground. "Peng Chengyi, use your brain. Why does he want to join at this particular time? Is he really impressed by our band's mediocre skill level, or..."
He stopped abruptly halfway through his sentence, his eyes darting around as if he had inadvertently revealed something. He stared into her eyes, his emotions churning with complex emotions.
"Or?" Peng Chengyi's heart tightened, and she couldn't help but ask.
Chen Yubai didn't say anything more, but simply picked up the tray and turned to leave. His back was cold and hard, like a wall that stood between them.
"Hey! Chen Yubai! Explain yourself!" Peng Chengyi's voice rose, filled with anger.
But he seemed not to hear, and with decisive action, he poured the remaining food into the recycling bin, and without even turning his head, disappeared into the crowd.
Peng Chengyi stared blankly at the door, her lips twitching.
What the hell is going on?! You're insane!
She mentally grumbled, then, still seething with resentment, picked up her bag and headed to her afternoon classes.
As soon as they entered the classroom, Fang Hao leaned over and teased, winking at them, "How about having lunch with your senior?"
"Don't even mention it." Peng Chengyi sighed heavily and placed the book heavily on the table.
"What's wrong?" Fang Kan looked at her sullen face, put away his joke, and asked with concern.
Peng Chengyi recounted what had happened in the cafeteria in a rambling manner, becoming increasingly aggrieved as she spoke: "...Tell me, is Chen Yubai sick? He gets angry for no reason, and only says half of what he means, deliberately trying to make me feel bad!"
As Fang Hao listened, a look of understanding gradually appeared on her face. She smiled gently and said slowly, "I can probably guess what he wants to say."
"What?" Peng Chengyi immediately turned her face.
“What he meant was that Ke Xingjian wanted to join After School not just because he wanted to play in a band with you guys,” Fang Hao paused, looked into her eyes, and said, word by word, “he’s after you.”
Peng Chengyi was stunned: "Attacked on me?"
“Yes, I’ve always felt that Ke Xingjian definitely has feelings for you,” Fang Hao said with certainty.
"What? He never explicitly said anything about having feelings for me..." Peng Chengyi retorted subconsciously.
"No? Then why would he use the student council's name to invite you to a movie alone? How come he always seems to run into you and invite you to lunch? And why would he specifically want to join your fledgling band?"
Fang laughed, looking like a seasoned veteran: "Isn't that how relationships are? At first, it's all about testing the waters and going around in circles. People don't just openly say 'I like you.' Confessing your feelings is usually the final charge after the relationship has naturally progressed."
"..." Peng Chengyi was stunned, her brain unable to process the information.
“Of course,” Fang Hao added, his eyes teasing, “I still think your childhood friend likes you too. Otherwise, why would he react so strongly? He’s obviously jealous.”
“You’re overthinking it! He doesn’t like me at all.” Peng Chengyi immediately scoffed and denied it. “He’s just using my mom’s petty things as an excuse to treat me like a primary school student. It’s so annoying.”
Although she spoke decisively, the memory of Chen Yubai's blunt denial of Ling Baizhou's comment that she was cute made her feel a little uncomfortable in a corner of her heart, as if something had poked at her.
"Okay—" Fang Hao deliberately drew out the word meaningfully, then turned to her, nudged her lightly with his elbow, lowered his voice, and his eyes gleamed with gossip, "Let's not talk about your childhood friend for now. What about Ke Xingjian? What do you think of him? Do you like him?"
"..." Peng Chengyi came back to her senses, thought about it carefully, and told the truth, "I don't know either, I just think he's a nice person."
Actually, after entering college, she still had a vague expectation for love, and she wanted to experience the kind of heart-pounding excitement that girls in shoujo manga experience.
But it seems that when she was facing Ke Xingjian, she didn't feel that nervousness that made her helpless or her heart race.
So she couldn't say for sure whether she liked him or not. She just felt that he was handsome, gentle and considerate, and had excellent qualities in all aspects. He was like the "perfect senior" figure that would appear in a shoujo manga.
"So it seems there's still some basic goodwill towards him?" Fang Hao's smile spread across his face.
"Oh dear, he might not even like me yet, what are we analyzing here for?" Peng Chengyi blushed slightly, hurriedly picked up a book from the table, and pretended to flip through it. "Stop talking, class is about to start."
-
As the first snow fell in the northern part of the city, Huada University also entered its final exam week.
The library and study rooms are always brightly lit, and the air is filled with the tense smell of coffee and paper ink. Naturally, band activities are also suspended.
To Peng Chengyi's dismay, Chen Yubai's presence did not diminish with the review; on the contrary, it seemed to haunt her relentlessly.
It seems that whenever Ke Xingjian appears by her side, whether it's a chance encounter in the library or a meeting in the cafeteria, Chen Yubai always manages to appear without a trace within minutes.
Sometimes they come to ask her about important matters, and sometimes they come to borrow something from her on the way. Their reasons are always plausible and they can't find fault with them.
But perhaps because she really lost her temper in the cafeteria last time, he restrained himself a lot and didn't say anything hurtful to her face again. He just sat silently to the side, flipping through books or doing practice problems with his headphones on, but his presence was so strong that it was impossible to ignore him.
This delicate balance was maintained until the winter break.
Returning to Linbin after a long absence, the dry, familiar air greeted me.
Peng Weiguo had been waiting in his car at the high-speed rail station exit for a while. When he saw Peng Chengyi come out, he immediately greeted her with a smile, took the heavy suitcase from her hand, and looked her up and down: "You seem to have lost some weight? Can't you get used to the food in the university cafeteria?"
"No, it's from studying."
Having not heard Peng Weiguo's nagging for almost half a year, Peng Chengyi felt a sense of peace and happiness upon smelling the faint scent of cigarettes on him mixed with the car air freshener.
“Your mom cooked a big table of your favorite dishes at home, saying she wanted to give you a good boost.” Peng Weiguo said, glancing at Chen Yubai behind her, and reaching out to take his suitcase. “Xiaoyu, give me the suitcase, I’ll put it in the trunk.”
"It's alright, Uncle Peng, I can do it myself, it's not heavy." Chen Yubai smiled and deftly lifted the suitcase and put it into the trunk, his movements skilled and natural.
Once in the car, the heater was on full blast. As Peng Weiguo started the car, he asked, as usual, about university life, whether she was settling in well, and how good her classmates were. Peng Chengyi picked out a few interesting stories to tell, but glossed over the band and Ke Xingjian, who was suspected of pursuing her.
As the car entered the elevated highway, Peng Weiguo seemed to suddenly remember something, glanced at Peng Chengyi in the rearview mirror, and asked casually, "By the way, did you have a boyfriend in college?"
"No!" Peng Chengyi answered quickly and decisively, her voice unconsciously rising by half an octave.
"Oh, that's good." Peng Weiguo seemed relieved. "No rush to talk about it. University students should focus on their studies."
Peng Chengyi couldn't help but laugh and tease him: "Oh, so you won't let me date now, but after graduation, are you going to urge me to go on blind dates?"
Peng Weiguo was momentarily speechless, unsure how to respond, so he simply turned the conversation to Chen Yubai, who had been listening quietly: "Xiaoyu, what about you? Are you dating anyone?"
Chen Yubai was looking at the street scene rushing past the window when he heard this. He paused for a moment, turned his face back, and smiled sweetly at just the right moment: "No. Uncle Peng, I also think that university students should focus on their studies, so I don't plan to talk about it for the time being."
"Look how sensible Xiaoyu is!" Peng Weiguo immediately found an ally, and his tone became much more gratified.
Peng Chengyi's lips twitched, and she suddenly turned her head, glaring at Chen Yubai. She mouthed a silent accusation: You're so good at talking!
Chen Yubai received her glare, but instead of backing down, he shrugged innocently, his eyes clearly saying: Did I say something wrong? Wasn't it the absolute truth?
Peng Cheng was so angry that he wanted to reach out and pinch him, but with Peng Weiguo in front of him, he could only turn around angrily, cross his arms and look out the window.
-
The winter break had only been going on for two days when profile pictures, which had been silent for a long time, started popping up one by one in the class group chat. Ling Baizhou was the most active, enthusiastically organizing the first class reunion since high school graduation.
The gathering was held in a private room at a restaurant near No. 1 Middle School, and it was bustling with noise and steam.
As soon as Peng Chengyi and Chen Yubai walked in together, Zheng Xinyue immediately leaned close to her and whispered, her eyes sparkling with excitement: "So you two finally got together in college?"
"Together my foot..." Peng Chengyi smiled helplessly, her tone carrying a hint of habitual complaint, "When are you going to come up with a new question?"
Zheng Xinyue pouted in disappointment, but her gossip spirit immediately reignited, and she pressed on relentlessly: "So, one of you two must be out of the single life by now, right?"
"No," Peng Chengyi answered crisply, picking up the orange juice on the table and taking a sip.
"Really not?" Zheng Xinyue leaned closer, lowering her voice as if exchanging secret signals, "Then... is anyone pursuing you?"
Peng Chengyi's hand holding the glass paused slightly, her fingertips unconsciously tracing the cool rim. She pursed her lips, her gaze shifting slightly, a hint of hesitation in her voice: "I wouldn't say so..."
"What do you mean 'not really'?" Zheng Xinyue keenly noticed the unease and immediately grabbed her arm as if she had discovered a treasure. "Then there's something going on! Tell me quickly! What kind of person?"
“There’s this senior…” Peng Chengyi felt her cheeks getting hot, and her voice became even softer involuntarily, “He seems to… have a bit of a crush on me? I can’t say for sure, maybe he’s just more caring.”
"You could tell, so it must be true!" Zheng Xinyue was so excited she almost jumped up, but she forced herself to stay upright. "Do you have a photo? Is he handsome? What department is he in?"
“No photos, but we’re in the same department…” Peng Chengyi was caught off guard by her question and subconsciously glanced at Chen Yubai, who was talking to Ling Baizhou next to her, and said softly, “Well, do you remember the Black Sugar Band that I mentioned to you before?”
"I remember! After you mentioned it, I even went to listen to their album."
"He used to be the bassist for Black Sugar."
"Huh?! Really? What a coincidence!" Zheng Xinyue's eyes widened in surprise, her voice involuntarily rising a little, attracting curious glances from the people around her. She quickly covered her mouth, but couldn't help asking, "Is he also from Linbin?"
“Yes.” Peng Chengyi nodded. “He was in No. 4 Middle School before.”
"Wow! Since we're so close, and we're going to karaoke later, why don't you invite him to come along? Bring him to us so we can check him out!" Zheng Xinyue's excited and expectant voice carried clearly to the side.
Chen Yubai, who was picking up food, paused almost imperceptibly, the tip of his chopsticks lingering on the braised pork for a moment.
He turned his head, his gaze sweeping over them with a cold indifference. His voice wasn't loud, but it carried a chilling tone, abruptly interrupting their whispered conversation: "Why did we invite outsiders to our class reunion?"
Zheng Xinyue was startled and subconsciously looked up, only to be met with his dark and indifferent gaze. Her back stiffened as if a cold wind had swept over her.
But she couldn't suppress her curiosity, and after a moment of silence, she tentatively teased him, "Chen Yubai, why are you reacting so strongly?"
"Could it be... that he's jealous of Chengcheng?"
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Author's Note: [Eating popcorn][Eating popcorn][Eating popcorn]
Thank you to Rain Again, Ah Ya Ya, Soleil, Sunshine, XUANER, and Wang Xiaoxiaoxiaoxie for the nutrient solution!
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