CS - 59

Stay away… from other guys.

Lin Zhexia froze in place.

It wasn’t until other students came down the stairs behind her, making the hallway crowded and someone bumping into her from behind, that she snapped out of it and continued walking down.

Lin Zhexia knew it was wrong, but she couldn’t help the small flicker of hope rising in her heart. As she walked down, she asked him, “Why do you want me to stay away from other guys?”

Chi Yao had already turned around and continued walking forward. In his most indifferent tone, he said something as if coaxing a child: “Because you’re dumb and easy to be tricked by bad people.”

Lin Zhexia, following behind him, muttered softly, “You’re the dumb one.”

“What about you?” After a moment, she asked again, “Do you count as ‘other guys’?”

“Me?”

He slowed his pace. “Of course not.”

When Lin Zhexia caught up, he turned his head to look at her, clicked his tongue, and said, “‘Other guys’ means all the guys except me—got it?”

The three members of the Nanxiang Street squad reunited at a Western restaurant near the university town.

When He Yang arrived, Lin Zhexia was sitting next to Chi Yao, looking over the menu. When she saw He Yang walk in, she couldn’t help but widen her eyes in shock.

Last night, He Yang had gone to a hair salon and dyed his hair a wild gradient red. Now, he appeared confidently at the entrance of the restaurant with fiery energy.

He sat down confidently. “Have you ordered yet? I want my steak cooked to eight-tenths doneness.”

Lin Zhexia and Chi Yao both stayed silent, tacitly not saying a word.

He Yang asked again, “What, are you speechless because I’m so handsome?”

Just like countless times during their childhood, they both spoke at the same time—

Lin Zhexia: “Uh…”

Chi Yao: “Look in the mirror.”

He Yang: “Don’t you think I look cool like this? By the way, don’t tell my mom. I waited until after school started to dye it. If she finds out, she might take a taxi all the way to Lian University just to beat me up.”

Chi Yao didn’t bother commenting further.

In the end, Lin Zhexia simply said, “If you’re happy, then it’s fine.”

He Yang hadn’t seen Chi Yao for over a year, and during that time, he rarely got replies to the messages he sent. In his mind, compared to Lin Zhexia, he might have felt more of a sense of reunion.

Fortunately, the bond between the three of them was strong enough. They had shared so many experiences during their childhood that there wasn’t any real sense of unfamiliarity.

Instead, there was more of a sense of novelty.

After all, they were college students now.

During the meal, while Lin Zhexia was slowly cutting her steak, Chi Yao reached over and swapped his already-cut steak with hers.

Noticing her absent-mindedness, Chi Yao asked, “What’s wrong?”

Lin Zhexia couldn’t help but ask, “Why are you suddenly being so nice to me?”

Chi Yao responded lightly, “Was I ever not nice to you?”

She couldn’t refute that statement.

Because when she thought about it carefully, even though Chi Yao’s words were often harsh, he had always been one of the best people to her outside of family.

But she couldn’t exactly say, “Why aren’t you as sharp-tongued as before?”

That would make her seem like she actually enjoyed being scolded by him every day. It sounded kind of twisted.

While these two were chatting, He Yang, with his fiery red hair, was cutting his steak alone.

He observed the ambiguous situation in front of him and connected it to the unanswered call Chi Yao had given him last night. He roughly understood that this guy was planning to make a move.

He started to regret it.

Sure, this meal was expensive, but he really shouldn’t have come.

He felt like he couldn’t bear to watch.

…

After the meal, everyone returned to their respective schools.

Lin Zhexia and Chi Yao walked side by side toward the Lian University campus.

On the way, she couldn’t help but complain to Chi Yao about He Yang’s new hairstyle: “It’s really ugly, so ugly. Doesn’t he know that red makes him look darker? And he even permed it… How can he still be so confident after dyeing his hair like that?”

“Then don’t look at him. Look at something nice.”

“What’s nice?”

“For example,” Chi Yao said coldly, “me.”

“…”

After Chi Yao said that, Lin Zhexia instinctively looked at him.

This person was undoubtedly very good-looking. Ever since middle school, he had been silently admired by many. Today, the young man in front of her seemed to have deliberately dressed up. Otherwise, why would he wear a jacket on such a hot day? This jacket looked like it was deliberately styled.

In the end, she uncomfortably withdrew her gaze and said, “Do you have any shame?”

Chi Yao didn’t respond.

He had always been an extremely prideful person.

But at this moment, he couldn’t help but think that if losing face could win her over, then maybe it was worth it.

Or rather, when he decided to pursue her after their reunion, he had already cast aside those concerns.

Chi Yao, as usual, escorted her back to her dormitory.

On the way, he reminded her, “Send me a copy of your schedule when you get back.”

Just like in high school, Lin Zhexia exchanged schedules with him. “Then you have to send me yours too.”

“Alright.”

“You should have classes this afternoon, right?” Lin Zhexia asked again. “We’re off this afternoon. Since it’s the start of the semester, there aren’t many classes. Plus, we’ll need to prepare for military training in a couple of days.”

As they spoke, they had already arrived at the entrance of the dormitory building.

The last time Chi Yao had walked her back, it was nighttime, so Lin Zhexia hadn’t noticed how many girls passed by the entrance, and most of them glanced over when they walked past.

Lin Zhexia: “Go ahead, I’ve arrived.”

She added, “You don’t have to walk me to the entrance anymore. I can walk by myself.”

Chi Yao didn’t directly respond to her comment.

Instead, just before leaving, he intentionally said, “Wait a moment. Can you check my ear for me?”

Lin Zhexia: “What’s wrong with your ear?”

With his indifferent yet mischievous face, he tugged at the corner of his mouth and lied without hesitation: “Nothing much, it just hurts a little.”

It hurt.

It must be the side where he wore the earring.

Lin Zhexia was still holding her books. She unconsciously tightened her grip and took a step closer, closing the distance between herself and Chi Yao: “Is... there something wrong with the earring?”

Chi Yao tacitly agreed and bent down slightly to make it easier for her to inspect.

This brought the two of them even closer together.

“I don’t see any issues,” Lin Zhexia examined carefully. “There’s no redness or swelling. Did it start hurting suddenly? Has it hurt before?”

Chi Yao: “Suddenly.”

Lin Zhexia: “But I really can’t see anything…”

Chi Yao interrupted her: “If you can’t see anything, maybe you should touch it.”

“…”

Touch. It.

These three words completely went beyond what Lin Zhexia considered acceptable.

She blinked, unable to process it for a long time.

The silver earring in front of her was all too familiar.

And the reason Chi Yao wore earrings was entirely because of her. She had personally chosen this earring.

The memories of doing things with Chi Yao during high school were still vivid in her mind.

She just never expected that Chi Yao would continue wearing it until now.

Lin Zhexia hesitated for a moment, then nervously raised her hand and quickly touched his earlobe.

The silver earring felt cool, but his earlobe was burning hot.

…

Lin Zhexia’s fingertips felt like they were on fire.

Immediately, her cheeks started to burn as well, and her speech became stuttered: “I… didn’t feel anything. Check it again later. Maybe there’s an issue with the earring. Go clean it when you get back. I’m going inside now.”

After saying that, she ran into the dormitory without looking back.

Her heartbeat was even more intense than the last time.

It took a long time to calm down.

She was completely flustered.

After the lights went out in the dormitory that night.

The other roommates were talking about today’s classes. Unlike last night, now that everyone was getting familiar with each other, the dormitory gradually became lively.

Lin Zhexia lay in bed, unable to sleep. After tossing and turning for a while, she couldn’t help but poke her head out from under the covers and called Lan Xiaoxue’s name.

Lan Xiaoxue was drawing: “What’s up?”

Lin Zhexia hesitated: “I… have been troubled by something recently. If you have time, can I talk to you for a bit?”

Lan Xiaoxue put down her pen: “Sure, go ahead.”

“The friend I grew up with, the one you’ve all met, I feel like he’s been acting strange lately.”

After saying this sentence, Lin Zhexia instinctively felt a sense of familiarity.

She remembered high school when she didn’t realize she had started to like Chi Yao and had asked Chen Lin. At that time, the person who had become strange was her.

Lan Xiaoxue: “Your brother? How is he strange?”

“… He’s not, forget it.” Lin Zhexia skipped over the term. “I can’t quite explain it. Recently, I’ve been feeling overly close to him. Before, we were also very familiar, but that was purely the familiarity between good friends. Lately, it feels like…”

Feels like…

She couldn’t bring herself to say the two words at the end of the sentence, which were uncertain but becoming increasingly clear in her own mind.

“Ambiguous, right?” Lan Xiaoxue cut to the chase.

“He’s being very ambiguous with you,” Lan Xiaoxue found nothing wrong with the term. “Are you just realizing this? I told you on the first day, don’t give me that ‘we grew up together’ nonsense. Good friends don’t act like this.”

“How so?” Lin Zhexia pressed.

“Letting others misunderstand your relationship.”

Lan Xiaoxue made her point clearer: “Which good friend lets people around them misunderstand that they’re in a relationship? Is that what a good friend does? Clearly, he has ulterior motives. Look, you consider him a good friend. Aren’t you always denying it and telling others that you’re just friends and have no other relationship? But he hasn’t done that at all.”

Lin Zhexia’s heartbeat quickened again as Lan Xiaoxue spoke.

Finally, Lan Xiaoxue concluded: “I think he likes you.”

Despite her racing heart, Lin Zhexia blurted out: “Impossible.”

“Why do you think it’s impossible?”

“Because… we’re too familiar with each other. How could he possibly like me?”

From her words, Lan Xiaoxue picked up on something: “So, do you like him?”

“You like him,” Lan Xiaoxue didn’t wait for Lin Zhexia to respond but affirmed it for her. “If you can like him, why can’t he possibly like you? The two of you have that kind of inseparable closeness. You were once friends, but growing up and falling for each other—why is that impossible?”

At this point, someone else called Lan Xiaoxue, and she didn’t continue.

The conversation was interrupted.

Lin Zhexia lay in bed, and for the first time, the thought that she had previously considered completely impossible uncontrollably surfaced.

She began seriously thinking: Is there a one-in-a-million chance that Chi Yao… might also like her?

Something she had never dared to imagine during high school.

Yet, at this moment, it emerged from the deepest part of her heart.

Before sleeping, Lin Zhexia couldn’t resist checking her recent chat history with Chi Yao.

It seemed… every reply from Chi Yao was very ambiguous.

After looking for a while, she sent him two messages.

-Are you asleep?

-Go to sleep early.

Chi Yao replied with two messages.

-Got it.

-Goodnight.

Lin Zhexia typed in the chat box: Are we not calling tonight…

After typing it, she deleted the line before sending it.

It felt like she was desperate to talk to him before sleeping.

Lin Zhexia: Can you sleep?

Chi Yao: Not bad.

Lin Zhexia: Does your ear still hurt?

This time, Chi Yao’s reply was a bit slower.

She held her phone and waited for two minutes. Then her phone vibrated.

Chi Yao: After you touched it, it feels much better.

…

The drowsiness that had been creeping up on Lin Zhexia was instantly driven away by that message.

She panicked and tried to phrase her response: Don’t say things like that. It’s easy to be misunderstood.

But after editing it, she didn’t have the courage to send it.

What if she was overthinking it?

If Chi Yao didn’t mean it that way, sending this message would make both of them feel awkward.

So she could only ask: What are you doing?

-In the dorm.

-Listening to them chat. We might have a gathering on the back street tomorrow night.

After chatting with Chi Yao up to this point, Lin Zhexia put down her phone and fell asleep.

Coincidentally, their dormitory was also eating on the back street that night.

The back street was brightly lit, and many restaurants had set up tables and chairs on both sides of the road. Just as she was wondering if she might run into Chi Yao, Lan Xiaoxue spotted someone across the street: “Your brother.”

Lin Zhexia, with her back to the commercial street, turned around upon hearing this.

Chi Yao and three other guys were walking over from the other end. The back street was crowded, but no matter how many people there were, he was always the most outstanding one in the crowd.

The young man was originally casually following the other three, hands in his pockets, seemingly annoyed by the noise of the street. His eyebrows were slightly lowered, and even from five meters away, the aloofness emanating from him was still palpable.

After a while, he raised his eyes and glanced ahead.

Like Lin Zhexia, he immediately spotted her in the crowd.

In the end, the two groups merged tables.

Lin Zhexia watched as four extra people suddenly joined. She dragged her chair to the side to make space for them.

When Chi Yao sat down next to her, she finally asked, “How did you spot me?”

“Am I blind or something?”

“…”

Everyone briefly introduced themselves. When it was Lin Zhexia’s turn, she had just reported her name when the others from Chi Yao’s dorm chimed in: “We know, we know. Chi Yao’s girlfriend, we’ve heard a lot about you.”

“…???”

Lin Zhexia was utterly baffled and sat back down.

At the dinner table, the others started chatting.

Lin Zhexia gently nudged Chi Yao’s arm and awkwardly questioned him: “Why do they say I’m your, girlfriend?”

Chi Yao leaned back slightly: “Not sure.”

How could you not know…

But before she could press further, Lin Zhexia recalled what Lan Xiaoxue had said last night: Which good friend lets people around them misunderstand that they’re in a relationship?

Lin Zhexia didn’t have the courage to continue this topic. She wanted to know the answer, but she was also afraid of knowing it.

Under this complex mix of emotions, she casually picked up a drink nearby and took a few sips.

It was sweet and sour, with a pleasant taste, but there was also an indescribable flavor beyond the sweetness and sourness.

Lin Zhexia didn’t think much of it and ended up drinking two glasses during the meal.

By the time she realized that this “drink” wasn’t just a regular drink, her head was already spinning, and she was losing control.

“Chi Yao,” she nudged his arm again, clutching his sleeve. “Why has your head gotten bigger?”

Chi Yao glanced at her.

“Don’t move around so much. You’re making my head dizzy.”

“I’m not moving,” he asked, “What did you drink?”

Lin Zhexia: “A drink.”

Chi Yao looked at the cocktail on the table: “How many glasses?”

Lin Zhexia held up four fingers: “Two.”

“…”

Before this day, Lin Zhexia had never imagined that her first drunken experience would be so embarrassing.

After the gathering dispersed, the others returned to the dorm first.

She crouched at the corner of the back street, leaning against the wall and dry-heaving. Chi Yao handed her tissues from the side.

In her hazy state, she tried to reach for them but missed.

In her blurry memory, she saw the silhouette of the boy illuminated by the colorful lights of the back street. He silently squatted down, one hand pressing against the back of her head, the other carefully wiping her with a tissue.

Very gently, meticulously, and cautiously.

As if she were some precious, fragile object.

After finishing, she heard Chi Yao’s voice beside her ear: “Can you stand up?”

She held onto the wall, still a bit wobbly.

The next second, a hand appeared in her field of vision.

The knuckles were distinct, the fingers slender. Even in her current haze, she could muster half a rational thought to appreciate how good-looking it was.

This hand had done so many things with her—it had helped her knit scarves, pressed piano keys…

…

Lin Zhexia wanted to do what she did in high school—grab Chi Yao’s sleeve and pull him along.

But the person reaching out didn’t give her the chance. Chi Yao’s hand moved upward, silently grasping her hand and firmly locking her palm. He pulled her hand and led her toward the other end of the long street.

“Let’s go, lightweight coward.”

Lin Zhexia’s alcohol-addled brain, already out of control, suddenly went haywire.

Popping and crackling, like a power outage.

Or like countless delicate circuits sparking with electricity.

Because of the alcohol, she felt the road beneath her feet was unreal, and she was about to float away. The entire world was unreal, except for the hand intertwined with the boy’s. The fingers he tightly gripped were real, and the warmth transmitted from his hand was real.

…

Lin Zhexia was led by him halfway down the street when she suddenly shook off his hand.

She felt like she was on the verge of losing control. All the things she usually kept hidden deep inside, the words she didn’t dare to say, flowed to the tip of her tongue: “Why did you tell my roommate that you’re my brother?”

Because of the alcohol, the girl’s face was flushed.

Her eyes were hazy but still bright.

“Why did Fang Huai think you’re my boyfriend? Why did even your roommate, when they first saw me, say I’m your girlfriend—”

“Why do you… let them think that?”

As she spoke, she felt a bit wronged.

She thought, if it was just a joke, it would make her current concern seem foolish.

Because he was the person she liked, the person she had secretly liked since high school.

“We’re clearly not.”

She said, word by word, “You’re making it easy for others to misunderstand.”

After saying that, she unexpectedly began to sober up.

Perhaps because she knew deep down that these words shouldn’t be said, at least not so bluntly.

So she felt a bit awakened by her own words.

Anxiously and regretfully, she waited for Chi Yao’s response. She anticipated many possible answers, the most likely being Chi Yao’s explanation.

But there was none.

The person standing in front of her not only offered no explanation but even countered with a question: “What about you? Have you started to misunderstand too?”

Now somewhat sober, Lin Zhexia didn’t speak as directly as before. But since the topic had already been broached, she couldn’t avoid it. She lowered her head, avoiding his gaze, and stuttered, “If you act like this, of course… I’ll misunderstand…”

Her voice grew softer and softer.

Then, Chi Yao’s voice overlapped hers:

“You didn’t misunderstand.”

Lin Zhexia froze. She abruptly raised her head and locked eyes with Chi Yao.

Chi Yao’s gaze was deep as he stood under the streetlamp. His throat moved slightly, and his usually aloof, lazy voice was strained with nervousness: “I did it on purpose. Lin Zhexia, isn’t it obvious that I’m pursuing you?”

“If it’s still not clear enough,” seeing her delayed reaction, he added, “… Tomorrow, I’ll try to make it even more obvious.”