Pulling
Xu Feifei stared blankly at the water glass in front of her, her mind replaying her conversation with Su Huan yesterday and the place she was supposed to return to Zhang Jiayi at noon today for their evening meeting. She was suddenly overwhelmed with worry.
On Thursday, during class, she suddenly remembered a love legend Zeng Hao had told her before. It was said that if two people in love were walking along East Lake and were fortunate enough to see the sky display unusual colors, it would be considered a blessing from heaven for the couple to stay together forever.
After dinner that evening, she went to the library to find Su Huan and tell her the news. Her intuition told her that this news was related to the clues she had found earlier.
After hearing this, Su Huan agreed and jokingly said, "We can give it a try. Zhang Jiayi just confessed to you, so if you say yes, maybe we can go back!"
Xu Feifei immediately retorted, "But I don't have any feelings for him, we're just ordinary friends."
"Even if you don't feel anything, you can still give it a try. The chances of going back are so slim. It's just dating, not a lifetime commitment. Are you going to waste this opportunity and stay here as an NPC?"
Xu Feifei looked troubled, her brows furrowed as she said, "I really want to go back, but...I..."
After a pause, he sighed and said, "This is unfair to him, and there's more than one way to get back."
Seeing her conflicted expression, Su Huan said, "I remember you said that when you fell into West Lake, you returned to the real world. And the person who saved you at that time was Zhang Jiayi. Maybe he's the key to our return? There's no harm in giving it a try. If it doesn't work out, we can break up."
Xu Feifei lowered her head, her lips pressed tightly together, and said hesitantly, "Let me think about it."
"Okay. But I have to warn you, don't stay here too long. If you stay too long, you'll slowly become an NPC. Eventually, you'll lose yourself and forget everything you used to know."
Xu Feifei remained silent for a long time without saying a word.
That night, she returned to her dormitory in a daze, her mind replaying the incident the whole way, unsure of what to do. The more she thought about it, the more frustrated and suffocated she felt.
What started as a firm refusal gradually became blurred, and I began to waver.
"Feifei, what's wrong? You seem restless all day." Lin Yuan had been paying attention to her for a long time, and she could sense it from the time they did their homework together last night.
Xu Feifei's thoughts were pulled back. Seeing her worried expression, she quickly laughed it off and said, "No. I was thinking about something else."
"What's up?"
"Um... well... final exams are coming up soon, right? I'm a little nervous, afraid I'll get last place again."
She really couldn't lie to Lin Yuan. If she tried to lie, she would stammer and it would be easy to tell that she was lying.
Lin Yuan didn't speak, but looked at her calmly.
She knew Lin Yuan was waiting for a reasonable explanation, but how could she explain this situation?
So, she could only guiltily avoid Lin Yuan and turn her head away.
Seeing her like this, Lin Yuan didn't press her further and suggested, "Feifei, let's go out for dinner tonight."
"Oh? Tonight? I'm not free tonight!"
"It won't take long to reject Zhang Jiayi tonight. Just one sentence, and we'll leave after you've said it."
Xu Feifei pursed her lips and said shyly, "I have plans with other people tonight, so I can't have dinner with you."
Before returning to the dorm on Thursday night, Su Huan pulled her aside and said, "When you meet Zhang Jiayi on Friday, you must tell me! I'll follow you. We'll see what happens then, maybe we'll even go back!"
Lin Yuan frowned and asked, "Who?"
"Su Huan, she asked me to have dinner with her yesterday."
"Which one in the library?" Lin Yuan vaguely remembered the name. She had seen her before when she went to the library with Xu Feifei to borrow books, and the two of them seemed to know each other after chatting for a while.
"Yes, it's her. You know her?" Xu Feifei was a little curious, as she hadn't seen Lin Yuan interact with other people much before.
"I don't recognize him, but I noticed him when we went to the library together before."
"Oh, I see. You have a great memory; you remembered everything after just one meeting."
Xu Feifei tried to liven up the atmosphere between the two by praising Lin Yuan whenever she had the chance. Unfortunately, this didn't work well; Lin Yuan's expression didn't change, and the atmosphere remained unchanged.
"So I won't stay with you tonight? Tomorrow? How about we go out for dinner tomorrow? It's on me!"
To avoid disappointing Lin Yuan, Xu Feifei quickly made plans for lunch and dinner the next day.
Lin Yuan stared at the pen in her hand, lost in thought.
Seeing that she hadn't responded for a while, Xu Feifei asked again, "Shall we have dinner together tomorrow?"
Lin Yuan nodded and said, "Yes. Feifei, where are you meeting Zhang Jiayi tonight?"
"Hiss~" Xu Feifei gasped. Zhang Jiayi hadn't asked her, and she hadn't given him a specific location yet.
She hadn't known how to bring it up, so she kept putting it off, and her procrastination kicked in. She hadn't said anything yet, thinking of telling him during her lunch break. She'd already decided on a place: East Lake.
After hesitating for a moment, he said, "It's not decided yet."
Seeing that she had turned her head away, her eyes looking somewhat unsure and uncertain, Lin Yuan asked, "Have you decided on a place yet?"
"Yes, I have, but I haven't told him yet." Xu Feifei kept her head down, nervously tugging at her fingers.
"where?"
East Lake.
Lin Yuan's expression changed, her peach blossom eyes narrowed slightly. East Lake was far from the classroom, with fewer people around, and she recalled what had happened there before. A strong sense of displeasure and dissatisfaction, along with a hint of danger, was suppressed beneath her eyes.
His throat was slightly dry, and his voice was low, "Why at East Lake?"
"Because there are fewer people at East Lake, so the reason for refusing is to choose a less crowded place, isn't it?"
Lin Yuan raised an eyebrow and said, "Can't we use the classroom? After school, the classroom is practically empty."
"But sometimes people are there too, and it's not a good look if you bump into them."
"Has no one seen anything at East Lake? The director and security guards still patrol the area around East Lake."
"Uh..." Xu Feifei was stumped for a moment and didn't know how to answer.
"It's impossible for it to be such a coincidence. What are your plans for tonight?" Xu Feifei abruptly changed the subject. If she was pressed like this, she didn't know what excuse she could come up with.
Lin Yuan looked into her eyes for a long time before saying, "No, then come over to my place tonight to do your homework?"
Seeing that the topic shift had been successfully completed, Xu Feifei happily exclaimed, "Of course!"
Seeing that she agreed, Lin Yuan's agitated mood finally eased a little, and she loosened her clenched hands.
After lunch, Xu Feifei returned to her dorm, constantly thinking about how to send a message to Zhang Jiayi. Her WeChat screen still showed the message from before Zhang Jiayi's confession; he hadn't messaged her since then, and she hadn't considered contacting him.
He tapped his thumb on the screen, frowned in hesitation, and after much deliberation, still hadn't sent the message.
A message from Su Huanfa popped up at the top: "How did it go? Did you talk to him?"
Xu Feifei clicked into her chat box with Su Huan and sent a message: Not yet, I was just about to say.
Su Huan: OK, what time do you want to meet?
Xu Feifei: It's not decided yet...
Su Huan: Okay, let me know when you've decided.
Xu Feifei sighed. She had never been so hesitant in rejecting anyone in her entire life. Things could have been resolved smoothly, but various unexpected events always occurred along the way, making simple matters complicated.
"Sigh." Xu Feifei sighed heavily, clicked back to Zhang Jiayi's chat page, and her finger lingered on the pinyin for a long time.
Send a cute greeting emoji, then quickly type a message: "Let's meet at the pavilion in East Lake after school this afternoon, okay?"
The message was barely sent when Zhang Jiayi replied instantly: Okay, see you after school. He then added a cute, expectant emoji.
Xu Feifei thought that there would be many people and distractions right after school, so she sent him another message: After school, you go first, and I will go ten minutes later, okay?
After a while, Zhang Jiayi replied: Okay, I'll wait for you.
Seeing that everything was settled, he felt a huge sense of relief, as if he had accomplished something major. Lying in bed, holding his phone, he couldn't help but exclaim, "Great! I've finally gotten the first step done!"
Then he quickly sent a message to Su Huan: I've made plans to meet at East Lake after school.
Su Huan: OK. I'll follow you after school.
After chatting with Su Huan, Xu Feifei took a peaceful afternoon nap.
When she woke up, her head was still foggy. She yawned and stepped out of her room, only to see Lin Yuan standing at the door waiting for her.
Seeing Lin Yuan waiting for her, she picked up the water bottle on the table and said, "Why are you here so early today? I can just have a drink of water and put on my shoes before I leave."
"So, have you made plans with Zhang Jiayi yet?"
"Okay. See you at the pavilion by East Lake after school."
Lin Yuan stared at the ground for a few seconds, then looked up at her and said, "Do you want me to go with you?"
"Huh?" Xu Feifei looked at him in confusion, and said somewhat awkwardly, "No, it's too awkward with just the three of us."
"Then forget I said anything, let's go."
As Xu Feifei watched her leave, she quickly put down her water glass and called out to her, "Wait, I haven't put on my shoes yet."
The whole day was strange for Xu Feifei. After agreeing on a meeting place with Zhang Jiayi at noon, she thought she could finally relax.
Little did she know, this was just the beginning. She still hadn't decided what to do—whether to follow Su Huan's advice or stick to her original plan.
The last class was PE. Before class, Lin Yuan was called to the teacher's office. Xu Feifei wasn't in the mood for PE either. After the teacher dismissed the class and announced free time, she secretly slipped back to the classroom and waited for Su Huan to come find her after school.
As school drew closer to its end, Xu Feifei grew increasingly nervous and even panicked. She kept thinking about how to handle the Zhang Jiayi situation. She had been pondering it during afternoon classes, but by the time school was almost over, she still hadn't come up with a solution.
"for you."
A bag of snacks appeared in front of Xu Feifei. Xu Feifei looked at Lin Yuan with surprise, then at the snacks, and asked, "You went to the supermarket? Why didn't you go to PE class?"
"No, it was given to me by my teacher."
Snacks can be therapeutic; seeing snacks can greatly alleviate a person's gloomy mood.
She rummaged through the bag of snacks, took out her favorite peach-flavored candy, and said as she unwrapped it, "Why did the teacher give you so many snacks? And they're all things I love."
"Eat more if you like it."
"Yay! Lin Yuan, do you want some candy? Here's the first one for you." Xu Feifei held out the candy in front of Lin Yuan.
Lin Yuan opened her mouth and put the candy in her hand into her mouth. With a flick of her tongue, the candy settled in her cheek.
"Feifei, you'll reject Zhang Jiayi, right?"
"ah?"
"I told you you would reject Zhang Jiayi, right?" Lin Yuan lowered her head to write on the test paper on the table. When she turned her head to the side, her long eyelashes covered her eyes. Her eyes were not visible, and her tone of voice was not clear.
Why do you ask that?
Lin Yuan kept her head down, her expression unchanged, and said, "Because after you returned to the dormitory last night, I felt that you seemed to be wavering."
Xu Feifei was taken aback, and said hesitantly, "What...what are you saying?"
"Feifei, can you refuse Zhang Jiayi for my sake?"
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