Chapter Sixty-Seven: A Man's Reputation
The two were very close. Chen Guang met Lin Yu's wet eyes and was momentarily at a loss. He turned his head away, and his nose accidentally brushed against her warm earlobe.
Like the pulley of a lighter striking a flint, it ignited a small, weak but intense flame.
"What?" Lin Yu raised his hand and grasped Chen Guang's protruding wrist bone, his almond-shaped eyes looking at him with confusion.
"Why do you always have such inappropriate curiosity?" Chen Guang leaned close to Lin Yu's ear, his deep voice coming through her palm like bubbles rising from the bottom of water and bursting in her ears.
Lin Yu blinked and almost instantly understood Chen Guang's intention.
At the same time, she slid her hand up Chen Guang's wrist and covered his ears in the same way, retorting, "You won't let me hear it, but you seem to enjoy listening to it yourself."
"That's just sophistry," Chen Guang said irritably. "I'm a boy, how can it be the same?"
"What's the difference? Is your skin thicker?" Lin Yu felt that Chen Guang's thinking was a bit old-fashioned and unconsciously asked back.
"You really want to know?" Chen Guang narrowed his eyes, a cryptic smirk playing on his lips like a wild beast stalking its prey. His expression seemed different from usual, and his questions always carried a hidden meaning.
Lin Yu was taken aback by his ambiguous expression, and a sudden, inexplicable heat rose within her. She didn't know what he wanted her to know, but she felt it was definitely not something she should be investigating.
So she shook her head in a panic and said with an awkward laugh, "I don't have your strong thirst for knowledge."
Chen Guang chuckled as he looked at her dazed expression, then changed the subject and asked, "Do you know who lives next door?"
"I don't know!" Of course, couples stay in love hotels, and Chen Guang was clearly asking a question he already knew the answer to.
Her mind was a blank, a jumble of gray snowflakes. She was completely disoriented by the indistinct noises from next door and Chen Guang's inexplicable question. She stiffened her neck and answered.
Noticing Lin Yu's tension and evasiveness, he not only didn't let go, but tightened his grip, pressing Lin Yu's cheeks until they pouted playfully like a hamster. "Sounds like Sun Lei from the next class."
This was purely to tease Lin Yu. Chen Guang had no ability to determine someone's name just by the tone of their voice.
But seeing her face turn bright red instantly, he pretended to be even more serious. "Maybe when we check out tomorrow, we'll run into classmates from our school at the front desk."
Chen Guang's voice was low and hoarse, still drowsy, as he leaned closer to Lin Yu, his warm breath brushing lightly against the skin of her neck. "Things might get complicated then."
"What can't be explained?"
Chen Guang didn't respond to her, but instead turned his head appropriately to look at the source of the ambiguous sound. Almost instantly, all sorts of embarrassing images flashed through Lin Yu's mind, and a strong urge to disappear immediately seized her.
"Maybe I should go back first!" she blurted out without thinking, and suddenly broke free from Chen Guang's embrace.
The hand covering Lin Yu's ears loosened, and the sounds from next door instantly amplified, becoming clear once again. Before she could react, Chen Guang suddenly grabbed her wrist, pulling her back down to sit.
Lin Yu lost her balance and braced herself on Chen Guang's lap. She watched as his hand supported her waist and then moved upwards, gripping her shoulder. The force wasn't strong, just enough that she couldn't break free.
He guided the two of them to kneel face-to-face on the carpet at the foot of the bed, instantly closing the distance between them until they could hear each other's breath.
Lin Yu could clearly see that those usually lazy brown eyes were now surprisingly bright, like the setting sun falling into amber, staring straight into her eyes.
Seeing the lingering panic and eagerness to escape in her eyes, Chen Guang felt a surge of anxiety, possessiveness, and resentment stemming from the misunderstanding.
"Why are you running?" His voice was even lower, carrying a hint of barely perceptible hurt and a stubborn, defiant air.
"Perhaps... they were already seen when they came in..."
He stammered as he spoke, but his gaze remained fixed on Lin Yu, his fingers trembling slightly as he gripped her shoulder where she couldn't see.
"...A man's reputation is very valuable. How do you plan to compensate me?"
The only sound in the air was Lin Yu's pounding heartbeat. Her throat was dry and tight, and she was rooted to the spot by the turbulent emotions in his eyes and his extremely ambiguous question.
"...Compensate...compensate for what?" Lin Yu's voice was weak, a feigned question, more like a helpless murmur from someone cornered. "You're the one who should compensate me!"
"Okay!" Chen Guang readily agreed.
"No need!" Lin Yu hurriedly changed his mind.
“But I want to…” Chen Guang persisted.
What do you want?
Chen Guang leaned to one side, one hand propped up on the bed against his temple, the other hand still gripping her shoulder, his fingertips resting on the edge of her slender collarbone.
Seeing the helplessness and a hint of shyness in her eyes, his desperate determination prevailed, and he blurted out in a moment of impulse.
"...How about repaying me with your body?"
His gaze was intense as he threw out the answer that was already on the tip of his tongue, both as a test and as his most genuine desire amidst the turmoil of his mind.
Lin Yu's breath hitched slightly. A surge of heat uncontrollably crept up to her ears. She seemed to finally understand Chen Guang's intentions, and only now did she realize that she, too, had been anticipating his confident answer.
But the situation before them was hardly romantic: an ambiguous love hotel, a former crush still hungover, and the two of them still wearing smelly, worn-out clothes from the previous night.
Moreover, Lin Yu couldn't be 100% sure whether this was Chen Guang's sincere thought after careful consideration or a joke made on a whim.
For the first time, she experienced this subtle feeling of getting closer to each other while occasionally feeling repulsed. She hoped that all of this was out of pure love and understanding, rather than a hasty test under the influence of misunderstandings and circumstances.
She needed a clearer, more serious, and more in line with her expectations for the beginning. She hoped Chen Guang would stand downstairs in the dormitory and confess his love loudly, and that his pursuit would be more passionate and bolder.
They were still young, and youth and loss could not coexist in the same dictionary. She naively believed that sincere feelings could withstand the test of time.
So, Lin Yu subconsciously pulled away and hurriedly stood up. "Ahem..." She cleared her throat, trying to make her voice sound more casual, but her eyes drifted elsewhere.
"Then you should just give him to Zheng Qi, he's richer than me! Ha!"
The laughter was short and sharp, like a pebble thrown into a deep well, quickly swallowed up by the utterly lame joke.
She didn't know that this ambiguous rejection would become the sharpest blade severing their connection. Time, an uncorrectable river, at this moment completely diverted their emotions into different tributaries.
Chen Guang failed to understand Lin Yu's coy and hesitant girlish thoughts. He couldn't see that she wasn't rejecting him as a person, but rather refusing to start the relationship at this time and in this way. He simply interpreted it all as her indifference towards him.
The scene he witnessed in the hot pot restaurant kept flashing back in his mind, and Zheng Qi's intervention deepened all the misunderstandings.
He lowered his arms, and all the passion instantly cooled into an unbearable silence, like a candle flame suddenly extinguished, leaving no time for even ashes to rise.
......
The next morning, the three of them walked out of the hotel looking disheveled, with messy hair and wrinkled clothes.
After sobering up, Zheng Qi returned to his harmless demeanor, rubbing his aching stomach, and insisted on treating them to breakfast at the steamed bun shop near the entrance.
He looked at the two guys across from him with dark circles under their eyes, completely unaware of what they had been through that night, and apologized guiltily, assuming it was his own fault.
"I'll definitely treat you to a big meal another day. I wasn't in a good mood yesterday, so I'm sorry you had to go through all that trouble!"
Chen Guang was seething with anger. He disliked Lin Yu, and he disliked Zheng Qi even more. He banged his spoon against the porcelain bowl, making a clanging sound. He glanced at Zheng Qi and sneered, "So, you're trying to trick a young girl into drinking with you after being dumped? What were you thinking?"
Knowing he was in the wrong, Zheng Qi shrank back and admitted defeat. "Yes, yes, I apologize, I repent."
He hurriedly pushed the peeled tea egg in front of Lin Yu. "Lin Yu, please forgive me for my birthday yesterday, or Chen Guang will never forgive me!"
Before he could finish speaking, Chen Guang poked the egg away with his chopsticks and stuffed it into his mouth, his cheeks bulging as he glared at him. "Stop trying to curry favor."
After finishing breakfast, each with their own hidden agendas, Zheng Qi had to go off-campus and parted ways with them at the school gate. Chen Guang escorted Lin Yu to her dormitory, and before parting, he suddenly grabbed her wrist. "You..."
Lin Yu looked at Chen Guang's hesitant expression, like a large dog soaked in the rain. Her heart softened, and she smiled at him. "Go catch up on your sleep!"
"Let's study together tonight!" It's like giving someone a stick and then offering a date, but who knows if it's sweet or not.
Before he could finish speaking, Chen Guang suddenly looked up, his previously dim eyes instantly brightening, and the embers that had been extinguished in his eyes crackled and reignited.
This invitation was like a lifeline, giving him a glimmer of hope. It made him throw himself back into the emotions that were burning within him without hesitation.
When Lin Yu returned to the dormitory, it was still early. He opened the door a crack and tiptoed inside. As soon as his toes touched the ground, the curtains of the three beds were lifted in unison.
It turned out that her roommates had been awake for a while and were waiting for her to come back so they could seriously question and interrogate her about not returning to the dormitory last night.
Three pairs of eyes gleamed in the dim morning light, surrounding her like spotlights in an interrogation room.
"Our Miss Lin has finally decided to come back?" Zhang Yimeng dragged out the words, and the other two beds immediately erupted in knowing snickers.
Surrounded by his roommates' watchful eyes, Lin Yu looked like a thief caught red-handed and could only blush as he recounted his ordeal from the previous night in detail.
Qian Zan wasn't wearing his glasses, and with sleepy eyes squinting, he leaned halfway out of the upper bunk, his hair sticking up in a messy, disheveled manner. "Tsk tsk tsk, it's like some are dying of thirst while others are drowning in water!"
"You've got some skills, Lin Yu!" Zhang Yimeng joked, sitting cross-legged on the bed. "A double kill! You're a master of silence, but when you do speak, you amaze everyone!"
Surrounded by people, Lin Yu frantically waved his hands. "You can't say things like that! Zheng Qi and I are completely innocent!"
"What are you saying!" Yao Fangfang lay on the bed, yawned, and slowly lifted a corner of the bed curtain, revealing a pair of delicate and pretty eyes. "Is it impure to have anything going on with Chen Guang?"
Lin Yu's thoughts were exposed, and she stammered for a long time, unable to think of a rebuttal. She fled into the bathroom as if escaping, and a burst of mocking laughter erupted behind her.
After washing up, Lin Yu climbed back to the top bunk. Her heart was pounding so hard it felt like it was going to burst her eardrums. She tossed and turned in bed like a pancake, unable to find a comfortable position to fall asleep.
She drifted off to sleep as dawn broke outside the window. In her dream, she could still hear the cheers and jeers of her roommates, and Chen Guang whispering in her ear:
"To repay with one's body."
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