Chapter Sixty-Four: Happy Breakup
In the second semester of my junior year, the addition of major-related courses made the course schedule more intensive. The complex and interconnected knowledge system meant that it was easy to fall behind if one was not careful, and the academic pressure suddenly increased.
Everyone is secretly competing with each other, and some students have even started preparing for postgraduate entrance exams and internships in private, making study room seats scarce.
In this tense atmosphere, Lin Yu also developed the habit of studying on his own every day for the first time.
Since breaking up with the throne, Chen Guang has been inseparable from Lin Yu like a leech. They eat together every day, study together, and he practically follows her back to her dorm.
But these days happen to coincide with the NBA Finals, and he doesn't have many other hobbies besides video games and basketball.
He really didn't want to miss such an important event, so he asked Lin Yu for a few days off and contacted his classmates in the next dormitory to watch the live broadcast of the game at an internet cafe.
That day, Lin Yu was hunched over her seat in the study room, reviewing literature and revising her research outline. Suddenly, a familiar figure sat down beside her. Looking up, she saw Zheng Qi, whom she hadn't seen in a long time.
Ever since learning about his relationship, Lin Yu has deliberately kept her distance from him. Coupled with the change in majors, their opportunities to meet suddenly decreased significantly.
"What a coincidence!" Lin Yu closed the document, picked up his phone, and saw that it was just past six o'clock. "Studying at this hour?"
Zheng Qi forced a smile, and a bead of bright red blood seeped from his chapped lips. "I came here specifically to find you."
"Looking for me?" Lin Yu paused, then touched the tip of his nose. "What's wrong?"
Her first thought was that Zheng Qi had come to ask her for help with her studies, but Lin Yu hadn't taken their major courses, so she was probably asking the wrong person.
Zheng Qi's answer completely surprised her. He asked, "Are you free later? I'd like to invite you to dinner."
His voice was noticeably hoarse, as if he had swallowed a hundred pounds of sand, completely unaware of the blood seeping from the corner of his mouth.
Lin Yu then noticed the dark circles under his eyes, his messy bangs half-covering his dim eyes, and his whole being exuding an indescribable weariness.
"Why are you suddenly inviting me to dinner?" A hint of confusion appeared in her eyes, and she felt a vague unease in her heart, but she didn't know where this unease came from.
"It's nothing." Zheng Qi paused, then asked again, "Are you going or not?"
The two of them used to study together and occasionally eat together. Remembering that Yao Fangfang had plans tonight, and Chen Guang's plans were unsure when they'd finish, she realized she'd be eating alone anyway.
Lin Yu hesitated for a moment, then closed the book. "Let's go!"
She followed Zheng Qi into a newly opened hot pot restaurant in the back alley of the school. Zheng Qi ordered a table full of dishes and then asked for two cases of beer, giving Lin Yu no chance to dissuade him.
The north wind at the end of February still carried a chilly feel, but Zheng Qi was only wearing a thin pink T-shirt close to his body, with his down jacket casually draped over the back of a chair next to him.
Lin Yu had always thought he was one of the few guys who could wear pink without looking out of place. But at this moment, the color clung to him, carrying an indescribable sense of loneliness.
"Today is my birthday," Zheng Qi suddenly said, casually circling her chopsticks in the dipping sauce bowl.
Lin Yu was busy mixing the dipping sauce when he heard this and became puzzled. Just as he was about to ask him if he should be spending this kind of time with his girlfriend, he heard him sneer and drop a torpedo into the calm water.
"It's also our breakup anniversary." Lin Yu's chopsticks, which had been circling in her hand, froze at the bottom of the bowl. She paused, looked up at him, and for a moment didn't know what to say. The atmosphere suddenly became awkward.
She was surprised to find that after hearing the news of Zheng Qi's breakup, she felt no emotion whatsoever; she was neither sad nor secretly pleased.
Those innocent, unrequited loves seemed distant and unreal with Chen Guang's appearance. The scales of her heart had slowly tipped towards him as she spent time with him.
"Happy birthday... uh, please accept my condolences?" Lin Yu said half-jokingly.
She lowered her head to put the meat into the pot, the rising steam blurring her expression and concealing the fleeting sadness in Zheng Qi's eyes.
"I suggested it!" He suddenly raised his voice, his fingers unconsciously rubbing the condensation on the beer bottle, as if emphasizing something, or as if convincing himself.
Lin Yu placed a slice of cooked beef into Zheng Qi's bowl, and gently comforted her as if soothing a stray dog: "Maybe there's some misunderstanding, or...why don't you talk to her properly again?"
Upon hearing this, Zheng Qi simply shook his head weakly, didn't eat a single bite of food, and directly grabbed the wine bottle and tilted his head back to pour it into his mouth.
Lin Yu wanted to reach out and stop him, but when she met his reddened eyes, she froze, unsure whether to go forward or retreat.
"It was quite easy to bring it up, but..." He slammed the bottle down on the table, his cheeks flushing an unnatural red.
"After hanging up the phone, it felt like a knife was constantly twisting inside my heart... I never imagined it would hurt so much, how could it hurt so much..."
Zheng Qi muttered to herself with her head down. Lin Yu had little experience in comforting a heartbroken man, so she silently put the tripe she had picked up back onto the plate.
Seeing that he hadn't ordered any other drinks, she opened a bottle of beer and poured it into her glass. Zheng Qi, however, misunderstood, thinking she was keeping him company while he drank alone, and took another big gulp.
Lin Yu peered through the rising steam and began to examine him, suddenly finding his appearance both unfamiliar and novel.
Who would have thought that a guy who is always well-mannered and calm would turn himself into this for a relationship?
So, she couldn't help but wonder, "Since you were the one who initiated the breakup, why are you the one who's upset?"
Zheng Qi was taken aback by Lin Yu's question, as if it were a profound philosophical one. "Perhaps..." He looked up, a layer of tears welling up in his eyes, his tone full of self-mockery. "She's the one who really wants to leave."
His Adam's apple bobbed as he forced a bleak smile. "I should congratulate her. She'll be going to Hong Kong soon for further studies, and maybe she'll stay there after graduation."
“She has always been outstanding, unlike me, who is mediocre and just wants to be an ordinary person…” His voice trailed off, and his head was almost buried in his bowl. “In her life story, I am probably just a dispensable comma.”
"Since you're so reluctant to leave, why don't you go with him?" Lin Yu, moved by his emotions, sincerely offered her suggestion. "Isn't your family well-off? It's just studying abroad, not going to the moon."
"It's not about the money." Zheng Qi shook his head with a wry smile, his chopsticks unconsciously poking at the vegetables in his bowl.
"The most agonizing thing is that feeling that the other person thinks you are dispensable. It's like no matter what decision I make, she can accept it and doesn't care. Because there are always more important things to put me first."
“If things continue like this…” His voice suddenly choked. “I’m afraid our breakup will be ugly. It’s better to end this relationship at its most beautiful moment.”
At that moment, Lin Yu suddenly recalled Chen Guang's hesitant expression under the streetlights on Christmas Eve.
It turns out that love is never a game of winning or losing. As long as you have truly invested your feelings, you are destined to taste the bitterness of gain and loss, making everyone cautious and suspicious.
Strangely, looking at the broken Zheng Qi in front of her, she suddenly felt a strange sense of relief and comfort.
The meal lasted almost three hours. Lin Yu wanted to finish early and go back to his dorm to rest, but when Zheng Qi downed his fourth bottle of beer, things completely got out of control.
His eyes were unfocused, and his tongue began to tie itself in knots, yet he clung tightly to the bottle.
"Stop drinking!" Lin Yuxu tried to stop her, but the difference in physical strength between men and women meant she didn't dare to force it. She hurriedly took out her phone and called Chen Guang.
The phone rang for a long time without being answered. Lin Yu guessed he might be washing up, so he sent a WeChat message: "I saw Zheng Qi at the hot pot restaurant near the back gate of the school; he's drunk."
As soon as the message was sent, Zheng Qi on the other end suddenly lunged at the trash can and began vomiting violently. Lin Yu quickly went over to pat his back, but noticed traces of blood mixed in with the vomit.
After vomiting, Zheng Qi collapsed onto the booth like a lump of mud, refusing to budge no matter how much Lin Yu pushed him.
As the shop was about to close, the clerk handed the bill to Lin Yu, indicating that she could pay first. She took the bill, quickly checked it, and cursed Zheng Qi eight hundred times in her mind in a second.
But Lin Yu always believed in one principle: spending money on a man is the beginning of bad luck, especially if he's a man who has no interest in her.
After mentally preparing herself for a while, she took a deep breath, leaned close to Zheng Qi who was slumped in the chair, and carefully reached into his pocket with two fingers to take out his wallet.
She opened her wallet, took out four hundred-yuan bills and handed them to the clerk, then carefully stuffed the change and receipt into the inner pocket of her wallet.
In a hidden compartment of Zheng Qi's wallet, there was a photo of him and his girlfriend. The two of them were standing shoulder to shoulder, smiling brightly at her, which made her behavior seem even more indecent.
"What a mess..." Lin Yu muttered to herself as she reached out to put her wallet back. But just then, Zheng Qi, by sheer coincidence, suddenly rolled over and, half-asleep, grabbed her wrist.
Lin Yu tugged hard, but couldn't break free for a moment. Just as he was about to wake the person up, the restaurant door was suddenly pushed open, and the person outside, with dripping wet hair, rushed in.
Chen Guang watched the game and had a quick meal with his friends in the cafeteria. Back in his dorm, he rushed to take a shower. Just as he came out of the bathroom and picked up his phone, he saw an urgent message from Lin Yu sent half an hour earlier.
He didn't even have time to dry his hair before he threw on a coat and rushed out of his dorm. Pushing open the door of the hot pot restaurant, he stumbled upon a scene that made his blood freeze.
Zheng Qi, his face flushed, slumped in the booth, his right hand tightly gripping Lin Yu's wrist as it reached for his crotch. The entangled posture of the two appeared even more ambiguous under the cover of the table.
What are you two doing here?
Chen Guang darted forward, broke free of Zheng Qi's restraints, and pulled Lin Yu behind him.
The waiter was startled by the roar, and the porcelain plate he was holding fell to the ground and shattered into pieces.
......
On the way back, Chen Guang carried the completely drunk Zheng Qi like a sack of potatoes, while his other hand gripped Lin Yu's wrist tightly. He walked forward silently, fuming.
Lin Yu jogged to keep up with him, her backpack bouncing behind her. "Aren't you cold?"
Chen Guang's hair was wet, and the ends of his hair were covered with tiny icicles in the cold wind, like a string of crystal beads.
The few tufts of hair on his forehead were frozen stiff and stood upright, looking like seven or eight transparent antennas sticking out comically on his head.
"I'm not cold." He shook his head, the icicles on his hair remaining perfectly still, but he stubbornly retorted, "I have a lot of energy, unlike some people who are so fragile!"
Lin Yu couldn't help but sigh, took off his own woolen hat and put it on Zheng Qi's head, and patiently explained, "Zheng Qi broke up with his girlfriend, so he might not be in a good mood."
"So you're the one who comes to me to confide in me after the breakup?" A bit of wet bangs peeked out from under the brim of his hat.
His gaze was sharp as a knife as he leaned closer and sniffed Lin Yu's hair. "You were drinking with him? How come I didn't know you two were so close?"
"He might... need advice from a woman's perspective?" Lin Yu speculated uncertainly.
After sensing the vague resentment emanating from Chen Guang, she added, "He said he doesn't have many female friends, but we've known each other for quite a while now..."
Chen Guang sensed a subtle signal in her reply and abruptly stopped, causing the drunken Zheng Qi on his shoulder to groan in discomfort.
"You like him?"
He took two steps forward, closing in on Lin Yu, his damp bangs almost brushing her forehead. His barrage of questions, just four short words, caught Lin Yu completely off guard.
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