Chapter 12 So what kind of boy do you like? ...
Zhou Yu turned his head upon hearing the voice and saw that it was Jiang Muzhou. He smiled helplessly, "So you have an appointment with your beloved."
Jiang Muzhou, with one hand in his pocket, merely raised an eyebrow upon hearing this, "Being close to the source is advantageous."
The four words were spoken slowly and deliberately, yet they were like a pebble thrown into a calm lake, creating ripples.
Zhou Yu shrugged, not wanting to make a fool of himself, and left after saying goodbye to the two.
Looking at the photography equipment in Jiang Muzhou's hand, Su Cheng was a little surprised, "I didn't expect Shen Siqi to ask you to film the proposal scene. I thought you only filmed documentaries."
"Isn't a lens meant to record beautiful moments?" Jiang Muzhou smiled faintly, his tone light. "Aqi is just doing me a favor by knowing I've been wanting to get a new lens lately."
As they spoke, the two had already walked to the car.
Jiang Muzhou pressed the car key lightly, and the black Land Rover emitted a soft "beep" sound, with the headlights flashing in response.
"What do you want to eat tonight?" He opened the passenger door and turned to look at Su Cheng. "How about we stop by the supermarket on the way?"
Memories before the blackout flickered in Su Cheng's mind. She remembered that last night, under the influence of alcohol, she had agreed to team up with Jiang Muzhou.
The heat from the alcohol seemed to rise to his ears again, "I'm fine with anything, it's up to you."
Jiang Muzhou planned to go to the newly opened imported supermarket in the suburbs. Although it was a bit far, the ingredients there were very fresh, and there was a wide variety of imported chocolates and novel flavored potato chips. Perhaps she could find a snack she liked.
After getting into the driver's seat, Jiang Muzhou glanced at the 30-minute drive time displayed on the navigation. Worried that she might get bored on the way, he reached out and pressed the audio switch on the center console, selecting a playlist to play.
"I'm mesmerized by your eyes,"
The Milky Way has traceable patterns.
...
How much further must I go before I can enter your heart?
How much longer until I can get closer to you?
...
How could that be?
Having you. ①
The Land Rover sped along the elevated highway, the skyscrapers outside the window rushing past like a revolving lantern.
The familiar melody filled the carriage, and Su Cheng's thoughts were involuntarily drawn back to the days when she listened to the same song on repeat.
...
Su Cheng first heard this song at the sports meet in her first year of high school.
The school has unusually relaxed its restrictions, allowing students to bring their mobile phones into the venue.
Despite having no athletic ability, she sat quietly in the stands, listening to music and watching the athletes sweat it out on the field.
"The following is the list of finalists for the boys' high jump event in the first year of high school: Jiang Muzhou from Class 8, Shen Siqi from Class 7, and Chang Peng from Class 3. Please proceed to the check-in area."
As soon as Shen Siqi's name was announced over the loudspeaker, Xu Zhisui eagerly grabbed Su Cheng's wrist and rushed to the playground to cheer him on. But when they arrived at the long jump area, they found it was already packed with people.
Xu Zhisui stomped her foot in frustration, reluctantly letting go of Su Cheng's hand, and like a nimble little fish, she darted into the crowd.
Left behind, Su Cheng smiled helplessly. She tiptoed and peered through the gaps in the crowd, just in time to see Jiang Muzhou doing warm-up exercises on the sidelines.
The random playlist in my headphones was playing "Mercury," and the cheers around me almost drowned out the quiet music. The name Jiang Muzhou was exceptionally clear, reaching right to my ears.
The boy's agile figure drew a perfect parabola, and as expected, he won the crown. Surrounded by applause and cheers, he stood in the sunlight, full of youthful vigor.
Su Cheng quietly withdrew from the boisterous crowd. She did not return to the stands, nor did she continue to stake out Jiang Muzhou's next match. Instead, she wandered aimlessly around the edge of the playground.
She turned on the noise cancellation mode, and the music in her headphones blocked out the outside noise. The early autumn wind was already a bit chilly. She rubbed her cold arms, and her figure gradually disappeared into the shadow of the sycamore tree.
"That person who is so close yet so far, yet we can never get close, is also waiting to meet you..."
She bent down and kicked at the pebbles on the roadside, listening to the lyrics with a mixture of understanding and confusion.
But in reality, you're not so lucky. How can the person you can't get close to wait for you to meet them?
He is the radiant sun, attracting all the planets to orbit him, while she is but an insignificant star among billions of stars.
She thought that what separated her from Jiang Muzhou was not just the few layers of onlookers, but a distance as vast as the entire Milky Way.
Several girls brushed past Su Cheng, their gazes lingering briefly on her before casually looking away and continuing to chat and laugh as they walked away.
The next second, someone gently patted her shoulder.
She became that lucky person.
Her sun, traversing the entire Milky Way, descended upon her.
Su Cheng turned her head, and that face, which she could barely see by standing on tiptoe, suddenly came into view without warning.
Jiang Muzhou's forehead was still damp with sweat from his workout, and his lips moved as he spoke, but his voice was muffled by the music in his headphones.
Her heart began to pound violently, and in the noise-reduced environment, she could clearly hear her own increasingly erratic breathing.
She frantically took off her headphones, her fingertips trembling, her gaze unfocused.
"Hey, your pants are covered in mud." Jiang Muzhou unbuttoned his school uniform, revealing a blue and white jacket that gleamed softly in the sunlight.
He gently placed the school uniform into her hands. "My name is Jiang Muzhou, and I'm from Class 8, Grade 11."
His name came on the radio again. He raised the corners of his mouth in a clean smile, then turned and left.
Su Cheng stood there, stunned, the faint scent of mint from her school uniform lingering in her nostrils.
She turned her head and looked at her pants; it wasn't muddy water at all, but a bright red stain.
It turned out that she had already experienced his tenderness.
However, this kind of impartial gentleness is often the most disheartening. Even though one is being treated equally, one still longs to be the exception.
-
Thirty minutes isn't short, but it's actually only the length of five or six songs.
After the car exited the elevated highway, it started encountering traffic lights one after another, moving slowly and gradually slowing down.
Su Cheng turned her head, and the bright sunlight shone through the car window, falling on Jiang Muzhou's well-defined profile.
Perhaps it was because of returning to school, or perhaps it was because the melody of her song, which she had listened to on repeat countless times, rang in her ears again. Those emotions that should not have been exposed to the light of day were like plum wine that had been sealed for a long time, with its cork suddenly pulled out, and the sourness fermented little by little, spreading little by little.
At that time, she didn't even have the courage to look Jiang Muzhou in the eye, let alone return the school uniform to him. He was too popular; just getting close to him would attract countless curious glances and gossip.
She simply folded the washed school uniform neatly and asked Chen Siqi to return it to him, lying that she had found it on the playground.
And the person who was once so hard to even glance at is now so close, just like back then, gentle and steadfast.
The connections between people are truly amazing.
How could she, in her youth, dare to dream that one day they would become neighbors, or even friends who would share meals at the same table?
At this moment, the past and the present overlapped in a strange way, making her momentarily confused as to whether it was nostalgia or a stirring of the heart.
Su Cheng didn't say much the whole way, just sat quietly in the passenger seat.
Jiang Muzhou turned his head and saw that her eyelashes were lowered, and her whole person was shrouded in a faint gloom.
Recalling the scene of her conversation with Zhou Yu just now, his fingertips trembled slightly. Perhaps his sudden appearance had disrupted their original plans.
The light turned green, and he slowly pressed the accelerator. "Are you and Zhou Yu very familiar with each other?"
Su Cheng looked up and saw Jiang Muzhou focused on driving, his gaze calmly fixed on the road ahead, as if he had only casually brought up an ordinary topic to break the silence in the car.
"Not familiar with each other," she answered truthfully. "I haven't seen you since graduating from high school."
"From a guy's perspective, it seems like he's interested in you." He pursed his lips, his voice muffled.
"Maybe." Hearing him be so blunt, Su Cheng shook her head slightly. "But he's not my type."
His gaze narrowed slightly, and his Adam's apple bobbed softly. "So, what kind of guy do you like?"
Su Cheng didn't expect him to ask so many questions.
She had never thought about this question carefully and didn't know how to answer it. She was even more afraid of exposing her past thoughts to him, so she deliberately avoided mentioning traits similar to his and casually replied, "I like humor."
The car slowly drove into the underground parking garage. Jiang Muzhou's profile was hidden in the shadows, making it impossible to see his expression.
He skillfully backed the car into the parking space, got out, and walked around to the passenger side to open the door for Su Cheng, only to find that she had already gotten out of the car nimbly.
He paused, then pointed towards the elevator entrance, "This way."
Su Cheng followed behind him, lowering her head and stepping on his shadow.
It's as if nothing has changed over the years, yet it's also as if everything has changed.
Jiang Muzhou pushed the shopping cart and led Su Cheng to the fresh produce section.
This is a newly opened large warehouse supermarket located in a relatively remote suburb. Su Cheng had heard of it, but this was her first time visiting.
On a weekend afternoon, there weren't many customers; most were families of three with children or young couples holding hands.
It's truly rare to see a neighborly pair like them, maintaining a polite distance from each other.
Jiang Muzhou rolled up his shirt sleeves to his elbows, revealing his well-defined forearms. He expertly rummaged through the beef short ribs and beef ribs in the freezer, occasionally picking up a box to examine the texture under the light.
Su Cheng stood a few steps away, her gaze shifting from the beef she couldn't distinguish at all, and quietly returning to his focused profile.
The light from the freezer illuminated his face, highlighting his sharp jawline. His high, straight nose cast a faint shadow on his cheek, appearing and disappearing as he looked down to select items.
When she came to her senses, she found three boxes of beef neatly arranged in her shopping cart.
Male beauty is a curse!
Thinking of her wallet, Su Cheng asked timidly, "Do I really need to buy this much?"
"The shelf life of chilled meat is exactly three days, so I've prepared one beef dish for each day." Jiang Muzhou organized the ingredients in the shopping cart, then looked up at Su Cheng. "Or would you like something else? We can change it."
us?
Su Cheng blinked, not quite understanding at first.
Throughout their three years of high school, there was a vast, tangible distance between the names Su Cheng and Jiang Muzhou: the distance between the bottom of the class and the top of the grade, the distance between a regular class and an innovation class, the distance between Lin University and Tsinghua or Peking University.
Now, Jiang Muzhou has so easily used "we" to put two completely unrelated names into one title.
She silently repeated the word in her heart, and tasted a slightly unreal sweetness on the tip of her tongue.
A note from the author:
①The lyrics are from Guo Ding's "Mercury".
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