9/Drawing Paper
last night.
When the group arrived at Shen Yu's house, You Huai went straight into the kitchen and opened a bottle of beer in the refrigerator as soon as he opened the door.
Qiao Zhiwan walked at the back of the crowd. Her friend took her arm, gently poked her waist, and whispered in her ear, "Wanwan, I feel like Shen Yu really likes you. I just heard You Huai say that Shen Yu usually doesn't bring people over to his house."
Qiao Zhiwan blushed slightly and retorted softly, "Isn't everyone here?"
"What do you know about sending invitations to everyone just for your sake?"
Qiao Zhiwan was moved by her friend's words and couldn't help but think that perhaps there was some truth to what she said.
She knew Shen Yu since her first year of high school, but the two of them never crossed paths. Even though they had overlapping circles of friends, Shen Yu was just a nodding acquaintance to her, someone she could only greet briefly when they met.
There have always been rumors about Shen Yu in the grade. From the science class to the humanities class, and then to music and media, a number of pretty girls have been around him. However, unlike the romantic stories that are often talked about, Qiao Zhiwan knows that those so-called rumored girlfriends can only be considered Shen Yu's friends at best.
With people coming and going around him, she assumed that Shen Yu was someone who was afraid of being alone.
Until last week, when her friends organized a get-together, she sat down with Shen Yu.
The table was filled with ice-cold beer. She held the glass, feeling awkward and unsure how to refuse. Even her friends didn't notice anything unusual about her. But just as the beer was about to be poured into her glass, Chen Yu, who had been playing on his phone, suddenly spoke up and jokingly said, "What kind of nonsense is it for a minor to drink alcohol?"
The place suddenly became lively, with everyone saying things like, "No way, what are we going to drink if we're not going to drink?"
Her face flushed slightly. Following everyone's gaze, she saw Shen Yu leaning back in his chair, twirling his phone in his hand before finally resting it on the table. With a smile on his lips, he said to the person who had complained to him, "I'll just drink Wahaha."
After that day, Qiao Zhiwan asked Shen Yu for his WeChat. She whispered her thanks to him, and that's when they truly became acquainted.
When Qiao Zhiwan talked about this with her friend, her friend rested her chin on her hands and said, "It's like something out of an idol drama. Out of everyone at the table, he was the only one who noticed you were uncomfortable. What else could it be but that he's interested in you?"
Qiao Zhiwan thought so too at the time.
So after arriving at Shen Yu's home, she couldn't help but stay by his side, sitting near him, her eyes always following him.
Amidst the lively party atmosphere, she was enacting a scene from an idol drama in her mind. The background was bathed in a halo, and pink bubbles swirled around her as Shen Yu occasionally glanced at her. When this feeling of liking reached its peak, she couldn't help but do things that contradicted her shy personality.
She took out her sketchbook from her bag and asked Shen Yu tentatively, "Can you be my model?"
Upon hearing this, Shen Yu, who had just received a beer from a friend, looked at her. The people around him teased him, saying, "Why be a model? Be my boyfriend!"
Qiao Zhiwan was overjoyed, even forgetting that Shen Yu never answered her question in the end.
He sat there, just a few steps away from the other person.
At that time, Qiao Zhiwan thought that her obscure and unspoken feelings had finally been answered.
But even now, as Shen Yu stopped and the two people called out to him, he only looked at Chen Mian standing at the window of the teachers' office.
Qiao Zhiwan then realized that all the events she perceived as responses were simply due to Shen Yu's upbringing.
Chen Mian watched as Qiao Zhiwan, carrying her easel, gradually disappeared into the distance behind the poplar trees.
Shen Yu, however, did not move. He stood there coldly, looking up at her with his eyelids slightly raised. It was clearly an upward gaze from below, but because of his indifferent stare, the roles were reversed.
The two were three floors apart.
When Chen Mian saw Shen Yu laugh, his chest seemed to vibrate.
"Ten thousand."
He repeated Chen Mian's words.
Neither of them felt there was anything wrong with discussing this issue openly at school.
I never thought that someone else might overhear me.
He simply looked at her, his smile almost cold, and said sarcastically, "You really do everything the same price."
The cigarette in his hand burned out, and he folded it up, stubbed it out, put it in a tissue, and threw it into the trash can next to him.
Then Shen Yu turned around and walked into the teaching building.
*
As soon as Chen Mian returned to her class from the office, she was surrounded by people.
Curious, everyone inquired, "Is everything alright? Did you get punished?"
Lin Lin, who was late for half of the morning self-study session and heard about this big incident as soon as she arrived, was also quite angry. "I hope I don't find out who reported it. We're in our senior year of high school, almost adults, and we're still playing those elementary school games. How childish!"
Chen Mian didn't speak. Her gaze swept across the crowd and landed on Chen Ke, who was sitting in the front row and hadn't turned around.
The boy's back was stiff, and he was holding a pen in his hand, seemingly solving a difficult math problem.
She calmly withdrew her gaze and said to the person next to her, "No, the homeroom teacher just told me to write a self-criticism and hand it in."
His tone was flat, as if he were talking about someone else's business.
If people didn't know that Chen Mian had been scolded by the teacher in the office, they would have thought it was a trivial matter.
Curious boys in the class ran to the office door to eavesdrop on the headmaster scolding Chen Mian. The gist of it was: "With a family like yours, you don't study hard and you even bring your cell phone to school like others. Do you think playing games will save you from your fate?"
The words were rather unpleasant, and the late-arriving homeroom teacher interrupted, trying to smooth things over by saying that the punishment was too harsh and that the student should write a self-criticism.
Chen Mian's grades from the first year of high school to the third year were used as an example of her being a good student. Finally, the head of the grade nodded after mentioning that she brought honor to the school by getting into a prestigious university and improving the college entrance examination pass rate.
In a school where even a harsh word can ignite anger, Chen Mian's indifferent reactions almost made her an uninteresting, invulnerable adult.
Mature, rational, indifferent, and almost frighteningly calm.
Zhao Lili leaned against her arm, held up her textbook, and whispered to Chen Mian amidst the teacher's lecturing, "Why did Chen Ke tell the teacher? Doesn't he like you?"
"Maybe it's because he likes me."
Chen Mian knew better than anyone else.
The inherent flaws of men.
It lies in wanting to get something, and not being able to get it.
Her name was next to Chen Ke's on the list of students from impoverished families, and her name was also next to Chen Ke's in the essay competition. Everyone in the class said that Chen Ke liked her, and Chen Ke never refuted it. Only when he was pushed to his limit did he stammer and tell everyone to stop joking.
But it was as if it had already been agreed that Chen Mian should appear one after the other with his name.
Zhao Lili couldn't understand, "Chen Ke was willing to fight with Shen Yu and the others for you, so why would he complain to the teacher? Has he lost his mind?!"
"Fight for me?" Chen Mian asked, puzzled. "What does that have to do with me?"
"Well, I heard that someone in Shen Yu's group said you were Chen Yin's follower, and Chen Ke couldn't stand it, so he took action."
“What does that have to do with him? I’m not even angry, why is he standing up for me?”
That makes sense.
She asked Chen Mian, "So, are you going to settle accounts with him?"
"The school rules do say that you can't bring a cell phone, so there's no point in making a fuss about it."
"Oh—" Zhao Lili was a little upset. She frowned and sulked for a while, then lowered her voice and said to Chen Mian, "I suddenly feel that all boys are so swayed. They're all the same. When they like you, they'll do anything to protect you if someone says anything bad about you. They pretend to be so affectionate, but now it seems they're just doing it for their own face."
"People like the girl I like are just an accessory to me, someone who makes me feel good about my taste. They're worthless. Once they realize there's no hope and they can't have her, they want to destroy her. I think this kind of person will appear in legal news a lot in the future!"
"Mianmian, I guarantee you, Chen Ke—"
The sound was interrupted by a piece of chalk thrown from the podium.
The teacher smiled at her, raised her hand and said, "Zhao Lili, it seems you're better at teaching than I am. Come on, tell your classmates how to solve this problem."
The chivalrous woman who had stood up for justice immediately deflated.
The class burst into laughter.
Chen Mian smiled, and as Zhao Lili whispered how embarrassing it was, she poked her arm with her finger and handed her the answer with her other hand.
*
As Shen Yu exited the school, the driver was waiting at the entrance.
The back door opened, and You Huai wanted to hitch a ride, but Shen Yu stopped him, saying, "Not today."
It's strange that You Huai has to differentiate between today and tomorrow when he's just trying to hitch a ride.
They lived close by, in the same villa area. You Huai's mother was afraid that her son would develop a spoiled personality, so she always let him take the bus to and from school. She never expected that You Huai would hitch a ride with other people all the time.
You Huai asked him, "You're not waiting for some girl, are you?"
Shen Yu found him annoying and simply took money out of his bag and gave it to him, saying, "Take a taxi and get lost."
You Huai gave him the middle finger, and as he took the money and was about to leave, he saw Chen Mian walking out of the school gate.
She was surrounded by girls walking and chatting hand in hand, but she was all alone, carrying a faded backpack. She never looked around when she walked, her gaze always fixed straight ahead. She walked slowly, but her steps exuded elegance.
"She looks like she's studied dance."
Shen Yu didn't leave either. He stood by the car, his phone receiving messages from time to time. He glanced at them, then followed You Huai's words and looked over there. His gaze fell on Chen Mian's straight legs, but he left immediately.
I'm a little irritable.
"You talk a lot?"
You Huai immediately laughed, "Who offended you? Why have you been holding back your anger all afternoon? I'm not going to argue with you anymore. I'm going home. My mom is coming back from abroad today and she asked me to pick a school. I'm off."
After everyone left, the driver asked Shen Yu, "Are we waiting for Chen at the same spot as before?"
Shen Yu got into the back seat of the car. "Let's go straight back."
It took Chen Mian nearly half an hour to walk from the bus stop near Shen Yu's house to his doorstep.
The door was open and she went in. She saw that the gaudy decorations in the photos Zhao Lili had sent her last night had been removed. The decadent atmosphere had vanished overnight, and the big house had returned to its cold and indifferent state.
Second floor, Shenyu's room.
Chen Mian walked to the door but didn't see anyone.
On the desk lay a piece of white paper torn from a notebook. He was engrossed in the drawing paper, holding a beer can, his head slightly tilted back, his Adam's apple protruding, his facial features smooth and delicate, and even the small mole under his eye had been meticulously added.
She poured out all her girlish feelings on paper, but unfortunately, all her affection was wasted.
Chen Mian thought that the fate of this painting was probably to end up in the trash can.
The footsteps grew closer.
Chen Mian turned around and saw Shen Yu standing at the bedroom door, dressed in white clothes and black pants. His hair was wet, with a dry white towel draped over it. Water droplets piled up on his hair and then rushed down.
His shower gel is minty.
How strange, cold-hearted people are so loyal to one thing.
She only likes the scent of mint, and even if she curses her to die, she will still stop for her.
It can easily give people the illusion of deep affection.
Chen Mian put down her schoolbag and walked towards him.
Shen Yu looked at her.
"Sinking Domain".
Hearing her call his name, the two words were spoken slowly, her lips trembling with affection, and her gentle tone was bathed in a soft glow.
Then she pressed herself against him, her soft waist against his body.
At this moment, Shen Yu suddenly remembered what You Huai had said: Chen Mian seemed to have studied dancing.
He lowered his eyes and saw Chen Mian looking up at him.
His image was reflected in the clear blackness.
Chen Mian smiled, her eyes curving like crescent moons, and said to him, "I'll kiss you."
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