Confessing at the wrong time
Happy times always seem so short. After the long holiday, Wenyan had to go back to school, her grandparents went back to their old house, and her parents were too busy with work to even have a moment to spare. The family wouldn't see each other for several days.
Wen Yan really misses the time when the family is happy together during the National Day holiday. However, staying at home all day is also boring. There really is no perfect solution in the world.
Since the cruise ship incident, after returning to school, Mosa and Lin Jiapeng have been extremely attentive to Wen Yan, especially Lin Jiapeng. Every morning, a fresh fruit platter and a different breakfast would appear on Wen Yan's desk, his drawer would be stuffed with snacks, and if the water in his cup got cold, he would immediately run to change it. If Wen Yan grumbled about anything, he would immediately make a phone call to tell someone to buy it. This overly attentive behavior made Wen Yan feel completely overwhelmed—he couldn't take it anymore.
In addition, Wen Yan hasn't made any big moves against Long Chen recently, nor has she spent time alone chatting with Su Jibai. Lin Jiapeng's attentiveness quickly attracted gossip.
The air conditioner was set very low, and the water in the cup had gone cold. Wen Yan quickly grabbed the blanket, leaving Lin Jiapeng empty-handed.
Wenyan said, "You're always running around, take a break."
"You care about me?" Lin Jiapeng smiled brightly. "This little bit of exercise won't tire me out."
Wen Yan sighed, "Let's be blunt. I already said it wasn't your fault, so don't feel guilty."
Lin Jiapeng pouted, "But I feel bad..."
Seeing that she was about to fall into the cycle of "I'm sorry" and "No, you're not sorry," Wenyan quickly changed the subject, "These past few days, people at school have been saying that you're pursuing me. Stop it and don't do these things anymore."
"After a while, those people who were easily swayed by rumors and gossip quickly forgot about it."
Lin Jiapeng smiled slightly, "I think they weren't wrong."
"Huh?" Wen Yan looked up, her eyes widening slightly.
Lin Chia-peng: "I mean you're right."
"Oh." Wen Yan took a sip of cold water to calm her nerves.
The person next to him was flipping through a book with a rustling sound. Long Chen tapped the table with his knuckles. "Did you hear that?"
"What?" Su Jibai loosened his grip, and the book flipped onto the table with a clatter.
Long Chen didn't expose him. "Tell me, why did Lin Jiapeng suddenly come back to China to study when he was doing well abroad?"
"On my birthday, my younger brother and sister said that he kept staring at Wenyan."
After the banquet ended that day, Long Qingluan casually mentioned it while chatting with Long Xiao and Long Chen. Long Chen didn't pay much attention to it, thinking that Lin Jiapeng only noticed Wen Yan because Wen Yan and Su Jibai's actions were too eye-catching.
Now it seems that Lin Chia-peng transferred schools just to ask Yan.
"I don't know, I'm not familiar with him." Su Jibai opened the book again, his pen lingering on the page for too long, leaving glaring ink spots.
Liu Xirou walked over and asked, "Ah Chen, are you going to have lunch?"
Long Chen: "Okay."
Long Chen patted Su Jibai on the shoulder and left with Liu Xirou.
It was too hot at noon, so Wenyan and Mosa didn't plan to go out and ordered takeout. When Lin Jiapeng heard this, he ran downstairs to get the takeout for them, and he couldn't persuade them otherwise.
Watching Lin Jiapeng's departing figure, Sang Nuo asked, "What's going on? He still went to get takeout on such a hot day."
Mosa exclaimed in surprise, "Could it really be as the forum says?"
Wen Yan waved her hand speechlessly, "No! Mo Sha, you should spend less time on the forums."
He took out the playing cards he had bought at the front desk of the escape room that day. "Want to play?"
“Let’s play, let’s play.” Sanno sat down with great interest. “I’m so bored.”
"Let's play Dou Dizhu (a popular Chinese card game)."
There were four of them, but only three people needed to play Dou Dizhu (a popular Chinese card game). To ensure fairness, they decided that the person with the most cards at the end would be eliminated and replaced by the next person.
The newly dismantled deck was slippery. Wenyan tried to shuffle the deck like Si Qingli had done that day, but the deck wouldn't cooperate and scattered all over the floor.
The three people: ...
Lin Pianyue couldn't stand it anymore, "I'll wash it."
The cards behaved remarkably well in her hands, neatly arranged and shuffling up and down with her movements. Her skillful shuffling technique was beyond the reach of even Wen Yan.
Lin Pianyue dealt the cards efficiently. Wen Yan picked up her own cards and looked at them. Good, she wasn't the landlord. Good, her cards were pretty good.
Landlord Lin Pianyue played a straight first, and Mo Sha followed suit. Wen Yan had a higher straight, but if he broke it, he wouldn't have any pairs with higher numbers. After hesitating for a while, he still chose not to play.
Mosa: "Three to three."
Wen Yan: "Five."
Lin Pianyue: "Ten."
Mosa: "Yes, J."
Wenyan: "A pair of Kings." Luckily, no straight came out.
Lin Pianyue: "I won't eat."
Mosa: "A."
The two replied, "We won't eat."
Mosa got off the plane with only a few cards left in her hand. Wen Yan, however, didn't notice. He was looking at his own cards and had only played four, leaving him with thirteen, the most of the three.
Mosa: "Four."
Wen Yan: "Six."
Lin Pianyue: "K".
It seems she's about to make a big move.
Mosa keenly noticed and intercepted Lin Pianyue's card, "Little Joker." She only had four cards left in her hand, all of them pairs.
Wen Yan asked, "Your Majesty."
Mosa stared at Wenyan in disbelief, her eyes screaming, "You actually took my card!" Unfortunately, Wenyan was engrossed in her own hand and completely oblivious to Mosa's murderous glare.
Wen Yan played a long straight, which greatly reduced the number of cards in his hand. He happily played a single card.
At this moment, Mosa was still comforting herself: perhaps Wenyan could turn the tide.
"seven."
Lin Pianyue: "A".
Mosa looked at the pair of fives and the pair of aces in her hand, closed her eyes in anguish, and said, "I won't eat them."
Wen Yan replied, "I won't eat."
Taking advantage of the opportunity, Lin Pianyue played a three-of-a-kind with a pair, instantly emptying her hand of cards.
Mosa threw down her cards and yelled, "Wenyan, why did you take my cards?!"
"We were about to win!"
Wen Yan then remembered that he had a teammate. He had been completely absorbed in his cards. He smiled sheepishly, "I was just thinking about finishing my cards and forgot that you were my teammate."
Mosa stared in shock at the cards in front of him and exclaimed, "Why didn't you play the 2?!"
"Huh, do I have a 2?" Wen Yan flipped through the cards. "It must have been accidentally covered by other cards."
Mosa: "..."
Sanno laughed wildly: "Wen Yan, you're too bad, hahaha."
Mosa's lips twitched as she waited for Lin Pianyue to deal the cards.
“It’s my turn to take charge,” Sanno rubbed her hands together, her eyes gleaming. “I’ll show you what a card master is all about.”
Wen Yan was eliminated, and he sat to the side watching them play. Sangnuo drew bad cards, even terrible ones, but she dared to play them and take risks, and soon only a few cards remained. Wen Yan's admiration for her grew spontaneously.
"Haha!" Sanno laughed happily, "I won!"
Mosa was eliminated, and Wenyan re-entered the battlefield, but unfortunately, this time he was the landlord.
Wenyan stared at her cards, struggling with the decision: should she play a straight pair first or a three-of-a-kind with a pair?
"Play a pair first." A slender, fair hand drew out six cards and threw them out. Su Jibai had appeared behind him without anyone noticing.
"If you play something else first, you might get eaten."
Sure enough, none of them ate it.
In the previous game, they witnessed Wen Yan's terrible card skills and extremely poor teamwork. Now that Su Jibai is leading him, they have no objections. After all, it's not fun to play if the opponent or teammate is too bad.
Wen Yan held the cards crookedly and placed them haphazardly on one side and the other side.
Su Jibai took the cards from his hand, arranged them neatly, and placed them back in his hand, showing him how to spread them out in a fan shape, "That way you won't miss any cards."
With Su Jibai guiding her from behind, Wen Yan's card skills improved by leaps and bounds, and she never lost again.
Lin Jiapeng returned with the takeout, and they put the cards away to eat. Lin Jiapeng saw the cards and exclaimed, "I want to play cards too!"
"Let's eat first, let's eat first." Wen Yan ordered a lot of dishes.
He took four dishes and two bowls of rice, ran over to Su Jibai, and said, "You haven't eaten either, have you? Let's eat together."
"Thanks."
Lin Jiapeng poked at the rice in his bowl with displeasure.
Wenyan asked, "I didn't expect you to be so good at cards. Do you play often?"
Su Jibai: "My mom likes to hit people. Sometimes when she doesn't have enough people, she'll ask me to fill in. I've gotten the hang of it over time."
"I see." Back in high school, there were many skilled card players, but no one invited him to join them, so his card skills remained as bad as ever.
Su Jibai put down his chopsticks. "Are you free after school this afternoon?"
"I'm going to my boxing lesson after school. What do you need me for?" Wenyan asked, looking at him with a puzzled expression.
Su Jibai paused, "It's nothing."
Su Jibai's hesitant manner made Wen Yan feel that something was wrong. "Let's walk together after school. I'll go practice boxing after I finish talking."
After the last class in the afternoon, Wen Yan and Su Jibai went for a walk in the school's small garden. He had already told Lin Jiapeng that they would go to the boxing gym later.
The two walked side by side on the cobblestone path. The school's small garden was well-maintained, with flowers blooming in vibrant colors, their fragrance filling the air with a gentle breeze.
Su Jibai, who was usually calm and composed, seemed to have nothing to trouble him, but now there was a hint of melancholy in his eyes.
Wen Yan asked, "Why are you looking so downcast?"
Su Jibai snapped out of his thoughts. "I was thinking about something. Has the cruise ship incident been investigated thoroughly?" Ever since he was rescued, he had been thinking about why he had taken the spare key to Wen Yan's room and why he had the foresight to prepare the first-aid kit. The more he thought about it, the more his head ached.
Wen Yan: "Not yet, but my brother has been investigating." If a villain could be easily investigated, he wouldn't be a villain; he'd just be a small fry at best.
But judging from Su Jibai's worried look, he probably had been thinking about this all along.
Wen Yan smiled and said, "Don't worry too much, the truth will come out one day." But by that day, he might not be in this world anymore. Thinking about it, it really makes me a little sad.
He touched Su Jibai's hand. "You said I'm one of your best friends...?"
Long Chen is Su Jibai's best friend, and he should be considered the second best, right? They are also sworn brothers who have gone through thick and thin together.
Su Jibai felt a tingling sensation on his fingers after Wen Yan touched them, and they trembled slightly, as if an electric current was striking his heartstrings.
"You are my..."
"What is it?" A surge of indescribable anticipation welled up in Wen Yan's heart, as the afterglow of the setting sun reflected in his eyes.
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