Chapter 74 Where have you gotten to...?
The phone on the table kept vibrating, its buzzing sound particularly jarring in the quiet dormitory.
Peng Chengyi grabbed her phone somewhat clumsily, her fingertips even trembling slightly as she swiped to answer.
This was the first time she'd ever been so nervous answering Chen Yubai's call. She instinctively gripped her phone tightly, as if to steady her racing heart, before speaking in as natural a voice as possible into the receiver. "Hello?" Chen Yubai's voice on the other end of the line was languid, yet somehow carried a hint of inquiry.
"I've finished reading it." Peng Chengyi pursed her lips.
“Then let’s come to the rehearsal room,” Chen Yubai said matter-of-factly. “Xiao Yan has something come up tomorrow and won’t be able to sing, so everyone’s free tonight.”
"Oh...so we're skipping dinner and starting right away, right?" Peng Chengyi asked him to confirm.
“We’re planning to order takeout from the rehearsal room to tide us over.” Chen Yubai paused, a hint of sourness in his voice. “What, you’re going to have dinner with Ke Xingjian? Didn’t you tell me earlier that you only planned to see a movie?”
Peng Chengyi's heart tightened, and she quickly replied, "...No, I'll pack up and come over now."
"Okay," he replied, and then hung up.
The call ended, leaving only a busy tone on the receiver. Peng Chengyi, however, remained holding the phone, her heart still pounding.
Fang Hao, who was standing nearby, asked her curiously, "Who was it? Why is your face red after making a phone call? Is it Senior Ke coming to 'interrogate' you?"
“It wasn’t him, it was Chen Yubai. He asked me to go to band rehearsal.” Peng Chengyi said, fanning her face with her hand. Her eyes were a little unfocused. She hurriedly made up an excuse, “Maybe it’s because it’s a bit hot in the dorm.”
As she spoke, she almost hastily stood up, picked up the guitar case standing on the table, and slung it over her shoulder with a deft movement: "Um... I'm leaving now!"
Before Fang Hao could speak again, she had already walked quickly to the door, grabbed the doorknob, opened the door, and slipped out as if fleeing.
The corridor outside the dormitory was empty and quiet. The cool evening breeze blew in from the window at the end, brushing against her burning cheeks and ears, gradually calming her racing heart and rising body temperature caused by the phone call.
She bit her lip and slowly regulated her breathing.
She was so nervous just now, probably because of that dog Chen Yubai, who called just when she was lost in thought, barging right into her chaotic mind.
That's why you feel that inexplicable sense of guilt.
Yes, that must be it.
She found a reasonable explanation for herself and tried to suppress that strange feeling.
As for Ke Xingjian... it's probably just that I'm not used to it yet, I'll get used to it after spending more time with him.
Since the band's rehearsal is canceled tomorrow, and I have some free time, I might as well take the initiative to ask him out.
After all, she couldn't help feeling a little guilty for suddenly leaving him like this today.
Thinking of this, she took out her phone from her pocket, opened Ke Xingjian's chat window, and carefully typed: "Our band's duet time has changed. Are you free tomorrow? Want to go to the library together?"
Not long after, the phone screen lit up, and Ke Xingjian's reply was simple, just one word: "Okay".
There were no follow-up questions, no complaints, and not even a hint of emotion.
Peng Chengyi felt even more guilty, thinking that if he held her hand again tomorrow, she must not pull away again.
-
When they arrived at the rehearsal room, Chen Yubai appeared perfectly normal, as if the faint hint of bitterness in his voice on the phone was merely Peng Chengyi's imagination. He focused intently on discussing the arrangement details and adjusting the effects pedals with the band members, without bringing up any further topics about her and Ke Xing's reunion.
Peng Chengyi's heart, which had been hanging in suspense, gradually settled down, and she tried her best to focus her attention on the music. However, when she occasionally caught a glimpse of his lowered profile, a subtle ripple would still pass through her heart.
After rehearsal, Peng Chengyi packed up his guitar and walked out of the art building with the band.
The four of them were traveling together in a relaxed atmosphere. But when they reached a fork in the road, Zhou Haochen suddenly grabbed Xiao Yan's shoulder and exclaimed, "Brother, come with me to the convenience store to buy a can of Coke, I'm so thirsty, I suddenly really want one!"
Xiao Yan rolled his eyes at him with disdain, saying "So much trouble," but his steps still followed and he turned in the opposite direction.
"Then you two go back first, we'll go around!" Zhou Haochen waved to Peng Chengyi and Chen Yubai with a grin, and without saying a word, dragged Xiao Yan in another direction.
Only she and Chen Yubai remained.
All was quiet. A night breeze blew, carrying the warmth unique to early summer, yet also a hint of coolness. The leaves rustled softly, and a few bicycle bells rang out in the distance.
Their eyes met in the darkness, but neither spoke first.
That inexplicable sense of tension, like a flame stirred up by the wind, suddenly returned.
Despite having walked alone with him countless times at night, Peng Chengyi suddenly felt somewhat lost at this moment.
She pursed her slightly dry lips, lowered her eyelids, pretended to adjust the strap of her guitar bag, and said in as calm a voice as possible, "...Let's go."
"Hmm." Chen Yubai responded softly, taking long strides and walking slowly beside her.
They walked a few steps in silence, the streetlights sometimes overlapping their shadows and sometimes separating them.
Chen Yubai suddenly spoke, his voice carried on the evening breeze, sounding somewhat nonchalant: "How's your relationship going? How far has it progressed?"
Peng Chengyi paused, her breath caught in her throat, and her voice became hoarse: "We've only been talking for two days, how far can we possibly go?"
"Holding hands?" he asked directly, his gaze seemingly fixed on the night ahead, yet also seemingly using his peripheral vision to capture every subtle reaction she made.
"..." Her sore spot was hit precisely, and her throat felt like it was blocked by something. A strange feeling of not wanting to show weakness in front of him made her blurt out, with a bit of bluff, "Hands, of course we held hands! It's nothing."
The moment she finished speaking, she seemed to feel Chen Yubai's footsteps pause almost imperceptibly beside her. The lines of his profile appeared somewhat hard in the light and shadow, and his eyes darkened, as if veiled by a thin layer of gloom.
A few seconds of silence fell between them, with only the sound of footsteps clearly audible.
Then, in a deep, emotionless voice, he said, "Girls need to know how to protect themselves. Don't make things progress too quickly."
The complex meaning behind his words made Peng Chengyi's cheeks burn. She turned her face away, somewhat embarrassed and annoyed, avoiding his gaze, and retorted in a hard tone, "...I know! I don't need you to control me like my dad!"
After she finished speaking, there was a brief moment of awkward silence. Her fingers, hanging by her sides, curled slightly, the tips almost digging into her palms, before she managed to pretend to be nonchalant and walk forward.
Chen Yubai moved his lips, but before he could say anything, a slender and tall figure came to greet him in front of the girls' dormitory building.
"Is the band finished rehearsing?" Ke Xingjian's gaze swept between the two of them.
Peng Chengyi was taken aback when she realized he was waiting for her downstairs at the dormitory. She instinctively replied, "Mm..."
Chen Yubai, standing beside her, suddenly darkened his eyes. The atmosphere dropped silently, making her keenly aware of the coldness emanating from him.
Peng Chengyi's heart tightened, and she hurriedly turned to look at him, trying to make her voice sound natural: "Um... my boyfriend is here, you should go back first."
Chen Yubai's gaze lingered on her face for a moment, as if a thousand words were stuck in his throat, but in the end he only managed to utter three words: "I'm leaving."
"Okay, bye-bye." She waved to him, her smile tinged with a hint of awkwardness.
She only breathed a sigh of relief when she saw him turn around and his figure gradually disappear into the distance. Then she looked up and met Ke Xingjian's smile.
"Xue... why are you here?" Her voice softened, and her eyes showed some surprise.
"I heard you only ate takeout tonight, so I brought you some of your favorite desserts." Ke Xingjian raised his hand and shook the bag.
Peng Chengyi felt a surge of warmth in her heart, smiled, and reached out to take it, saying, "Wow, thank you!"
The two chatted for a few minutes at the entrance of the dormitory building. Seeing that it was getting late, Peng Chengyi tilted her head up slightly and smiled with her eyes crinkling: "Then I'll go upstairs first. See you at the library tomorrow."
"Mm." Ke Xingjian nodded, a smile playing on his lips.
She carried her guitar bag and walked briskly into the dormitory building, her steps almost skipping with joy.
But they didn't see Chen Yubai standing silently behind a tall tree not far away, beyond the dim light.
His thin lips were pressed tightly together, his expression was gloomy, and his eyes were fixed on the two of them.
Only after seeing the two separate did he turn away, expressionless, and walk straight towards the boys' dormitory across the street.
-
On a Sunday afternoon, the library was quiet, with most of the sunlight blocked by heavy curtains, leaving only a faint patch of light slanting across the tabletops.
Peng Chengyi stared at the questions in the exercise book, his brows furrowing more and more.
After hesitating for a moment, she gently poked Ke Xingjian beside her with her pen: "This problem... I can't get it right no matter how I calculate it."
Ke Xingjian turned his head and lowered his voice: "Which one?"
She pointed to the location of the question with her pen.
Ke Xingjian gently moved the exercise book in front of him, his eyes calm and serious. His well-defined fingers held the pen, and he wrote down the steps to solve the problem in clean and clear handwriting.
He spoke patiently, his voice low and gentle, like a summer afternoon breeze, soft and unhurried.
Peng Chengyi focused her mind on following his train of thought, instinctively moving closer to him in an attempt to see him clearly, unaware that the distance between them had become excessively close.
The next second, Ke Xingjian raised his hand and pointed to the formula on the paper. His hand inadvertently and gently brushed against her fingertips, which were pressing on the exercise book.
A slight, electric-like sensation sent a jolt through Peng Chengyi's heart. The urge to pull her hand back surged almost instantly, but a warning immediately rang in her mind—she couldn't keep hiding like this.
As a result, her fingertips seemed to be frozen in place, her breathing became shallow and rapid involuntarily, she dared not even blink her eyelashes, and her gaze was fixed on the exercise book as if it contained some unparalleled secret.
Ke Xingjian seemed oblivious, focused solely on the deductions he was writing. Only after explaining the final step did he turn his head, smiling at her: "Do you understand?"
Peng Chengyi nodded vigorously, but her voice was so soft it seemed to melt into the air: "I understand."
Just then, the sound of a chair leg scraping against the floor suddenly broke the moment of peace.
Peng Chengyi was taken aback and turned his head sharply.
Just two tables away, Chen Yubai casually tossed his schoolbag aside and sat down lazily.
His movements were casual and unhurried, his eyelids half-closed, as if he had simply found a seat at random. Yet, in the quiet atmosphere, his presence was exceptionally noticeable.
Peng Chengyi's heart suddenly skipped a beat, as if it had been gripped by some invisible force.
She quickly looked away, staring down at her textbook, silently comforting herself that the library was always crowded, and he just happened to be sitting in the seat closest to her.
Besides, she couldn't stop him from coming to study.
But the tension in my chest lingered. As my pen swept across the workbook, my mind drifted away, and I became increasingly distracted as I worked on the remaining problems.
The light outside the window gradually shifted from bright to warm orange, then settled into a gentle indigo. One by one, the lights in the library came on, casting soft halos across the pages.
Ke Xingjian closed his book and asked her softly, "You've been studying for so long, are you hungry? Let's go to the cafeteria for a meal first?"
"Okay, sure." Peng Chengyi agreed almost immediately, her voice tinged with barely perceptible urgency as she closed the workbook.
As she stood up, she quickly glanced at her rear end out of the corner of her eye—
Chen Yubai remained in the same position, focused on reading, showing no intention of leaving.
She felt a slight sense of relief, as if she had temporarily escaped some suffocating environment.
-
The cafeteria was right next to the library. The two had a quick dinner and then returned to the library.
I thought Chen Yubai must have left by now, but to my surprise, he was still sitting in the same spot, holding half a piece of bread, quietly flipping through his notes, as if time and the surrounding light and shadow had nothing to do with him.
He glanced at her, his eyes flat and expressionless, then lowered them again indifferently, continuing to read his book as if they were just two unrelated strangers.
Peng Chengyi's slightly tense nerves relaxed, and she sat back down and opened the exercise book.
By the time I finished doing the practice problems, it was almost 9 p.m.
Peng Chengyi stretched and prepared to pack her bag to go back to her dormitory. As she stood up, she glanced at Chen Yubai out of the corner of her eye.
He remained seated there as steady as a rock, showing no sign of leaving.
It seems he really just came here to learn.
She herself was overthinking and over-interpreting his inexplicable words over the past two days.
She breathed a sigh of relief, but at the same time, an indescribable, light sense of loss crept into her heart like a night fog.
Before she could discern the source of this complex emotion, Ke Xingjian had already stood up and gently called to her, "Let's go."
"Oh, okay!" Peng Chengyi hurriedly zipped up her backpack, picked up her things, and quickly followed Ke Xingjian.
The evening breeze was slightly cool, gently brushing her cheeks and ruffling the edges of her hair.
Ke Xingjian walked naturally beside her, remained silent for a few steps, then suddenly reached out and gently touched her hand.
Peng Chengyi's heart tightened, as if she had been grabbed by a silent force. She restrained the urge to pull her hand back and lowered her eyes, pretending to be indifferent.
Ke Xingjian paused for a moment, then gently turned his hand over and took her hand in his.
The warmth from her palm suddenly burned her ears, making her steps awkward, as if she were being pulled along by the heat.
Ke Xingjian lowered his head, his voice gentle: "Don't you like it?"
Peng Chengyi froze on the spot, biting her lower lip lightly, and shook her head hesitantly: "No... it's just that I'm not used to it."
"You'll get used to it after a while." He smiled slightly, but then gently tightened his grip.
"Hmm...hmm." Peng Chengyi's fingertips curled slightly in his palm, and a trace of sweat quietly seeped out of his palm.
They walked hand in hand on the campus path, where the lights were sparse and their shadows were stretched long and slanted.
No one noticed that a figure was walking slowly in the shadows not far behind them.
Chen Yubai had his hands in his pockets, walking at a leisurely pace, but his gaze was coldly fixed on their tightly clasped hands, his eyes so deep they were almost imperceptible.
When I arrived at the girls' dormitory, there were quite a few people gathered downstairs. Couples in twos and threes were either whispering or embracing tightly, and an ambiguous atmosphere was quietly flowing.
Peng Chengyi felt increasingly uncomfortable and wanted to escape, so she stopped in her tracks and raised her face.
The soft light from the streetlights shone on her face, outlining her slightly flushed cheeks and her somewhat bewildered yet endearing eyes.
"I'll stop here... I'll head back now." She said softly, trying to pull her hand away from his palm.
Looking at her shy and flustered face, Ke Xingjian felt a surge of emotion, an impulse overriding his reason. Instead of letting go, he leaned down slightly, lowered his head, and his hot breath suddenly drew near.
Peng Chengyi's heart clenched, and her body reacted before her mind could process it. She quickly, almost in a panic, took a step back.
Ke Xingjian froze in mid-air.
The air froze instantly; the previously mild atmosphere vanished, leaving only immense embarrassment and disappointment.
Peng Chengyi's cheeks instantly turned bright red, so embarrassed that she almost wanted to find a crack in the ground to crawl into.
Just as I was at a loss, a familiar voice suddenly came from behind me: "Peng Chengyi".
The call was like a piece of driftwood suddenly thrown to her, and she hurriedly turned around to answer.
Chen Yubai walked through the night, his shirt collar open to the night breeze, his brows furrowed with an unyielding fog.
Those dark eyes, like a long-sealed torrent, stared straight at her, instantly stirring up even more violent waves in her heart.
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Author's note: cyb has begun its dark crawling phase [doge emoji]
Thank you Wang Xiaoxiao Crab, Youxiayu, and Soleil for the nutrient solution!
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