OS - 26

Cheng Wanyue reached the alley entrance, then suddenly remembered something. She walked back a few steps and turned her head to look down the adjacent street.

It was almost 11 PM, still raining, and the streetlights weren’t very bright.

He shouldn’t still be waiting, right?

Although Cheng Wanyue thought this, she didn’t go to confirm if Qing Hang was still waiting for her. In fact, after turning the corner, it was only less than two hundred meters, just a few minutes’ walk.

At this moment, Cheng Wanyue wasn’t willing to waste even a few minutes.

Cheng Yanqing, who was forced to come out and pick her up, also stopped by a store to buy some BBQ and ice-cold cola. Some third-year high school students even walked around holding books, memorizing knowledge points. Cheng Wanyue, however, went home empty-handed, not even bothering to pretend, and was inevitably nagged by her parents. She covered her ears and squeezed into Cheng Yanqing’s room, sitting cross-legged on the carpet, eating with him.

The more Cheng Wanyue ate, the angrier she got. She crunched on the crispy bone loudly, and she drank the cola with the intensity of beer.

“Cheng Yuzhou inexplicably kicked me out of Grandma’s house. Does he want to split the family? Dad and Second Uncle haven’t talked about splitting the family for decades.”

Cheng Yanqing understood his brother very well. “You really can’t blame him, I want to kick you out ten times a day...”

Before he could finish, Cheng Wanyue pinched his thigh.

He was afraid of waking their parents and didn’t dare to cry out loudly, then choked on his cola, his face turning red.

“You shouldn’t be so superficial and only look at the surface; you need to look through the surface to the essence. Cheng Yuzhou has been very off these past few days, his behavior is very suspicious.”

Cheng Yanqing felt his phone vibrating in his pocket. He immediately pulled it out to reply to messages, casually humoring her, “So, tell me, what essence have you seen?”

“He seems to like Zhou Yu.”

“No way.”

“Why not? Zhou Yu is so beautiful, and her personality is great. I could praise her good qualities for an hour; even I, a girl, like her,” Cheng Wanyue was talking when she suddenly realized she was starting to find excuses for Cheng Yuzhou. She shook her head to clear it. Cheng Yuzhou hadn’t even done anything yet, and she couldn’t let herself be convinced first.

Cheng Yanqing’s attention was on his phone, so he wasn’t really listening. He just casually said, “You’re overthinking it. He doesn’t have many friends since he came back, and you always drag him to see Zhou Yu during summer vacation. Besides us, he’s only a bit familiar with Zhou Yu, it’s normal.”

“Not normal!” Cheng Wanyue trusted her sixth sense. “If you don’t believe me, test him.”

“How do I test him?”

“You tell him Zhou Yu is at our house, invite him to eat skewers, and see if he comes.”

Cheng Yanqing took a picture of the leftover BBQ on the table and sent it to Cheng Yuzhou. Cheng Wanyue only calmed down when there was no reply until almost midnight.

The siblings didn’t know that Cheng Yuzhou had received a message from Zhou Yu before he received the photo.

After Cheng Wanyue went home, Cheng Yuzhou sat at his desk, recalling Zhou Yu’s remark, “I actually knew you much earlier.” He wasn’t someone with a bad memory. That night he returned, he only saw the knitted orange charm on her backpack in the alley; that didn’t count as knowing her. The first time he truly saw her should have been at the supermarket. Before that, he hadn’t seen her.

When did she get to know him?

Had Cheng Wanyue shown her his photos?

Cheng Yuzhou couldn’t figure it out, so he decided to ask directly.

He only had a few text messages with Zhou Yu. The previous one was about meeting by the river. After he asked, he waited for 17 minutes. Before Cheng Yanqing could test him, he received Zhou Yu’s reply: [I just knew, anyway. I’m going to bed, you should rest early too.]

Just a dozen words, Zhou Yu checked it over and over again before sending it.

At that time, she and Cheng Wanyue were already friends, but because Grandpa Cheng had been a soldier, he had many rules and a loud voice, so she didn’t dare to go over much. Yanci lived in the family quarters directly opposite, and every winter and summer vacation, she would often go to Yanci’s house under the guise of studying. The rooftop was where she spent the most time. Yanci would let her have the rocking chair. She would sit there, rocking, and if she leaned out slightly, she could see the large red gate of the Cheng family.

Cheng Yuzhou only came back during winter and summer vacations each year.

Cars couldn’t drive into the alley. Every time the sound of luggage wheels rolling on the ground came from far away at the alley entrance, she couldn’t help but look down. That feeling was like an apricot ripening on a tree—before it was fully ripe, its skin would show a tempting yellow hue, and before eating, one might think it was sweet, but once tasted, it would be tart.

Just wait a bit longer.

So finally, one summer evening, she unexpectedly encountered him walking from the opposite direction. As she passed him indifferently, her hair swayed in the wind stirred by his body, and the exhilaration in her heart felt like it would burst out of her.

He had grown so fast, much taller than when she first saw him.

She must have changed too, so the first thing she did when she got home was look in the mirror. Her face, swollen like a bun from pulling out two wisdom teeth, had long since subsided, but there was still a bit of baby fat. If only she were a little thinner, if only one or two pimples didn’t pop up on her forehead during her period, if only she hadn’t gotten a tan, if only she were a little prettier...

The photo she took at the sports field, holding laundry detergent, captured her homely appearance. Hidden in the blurry figures on the basketball court behind her was that unrestrained boy.

Minutes after the camera shutter clicked, he gave her a red string at a small stall.

She already knew him that day.

________________________________________

Qing Hang had been suffering from a cold for several days, coughing a bit.

After Zhou Yu became his deskmate, she could feel more clearly the maturity about him that far exceeded his peers. He was still the same as before, silent, introverted, and a loner.

“Did you take your medicine?”

Qing Hang nodded. “Yes, I did.”

His cold was caused by getting caught in the rain and wasn’t severe. “Someone’s waiting for you at the school’s back gate.”

“Who?”

“You should know.”

Zhou Yu subconsciously looked back. Cheng Yuzhou’s seat was empty. It was Friday, so there was no evening self-study, and boarding students would go home early. Only the students on duty and a few class representatives were left in the classroom.

Qing Hang organized the books he would read over the weekend and left the classroom. Zhou Yu lingered for a while before going downstairs.

There was a large banyan tree at the school’s back gate, which had been there for many years. It was said that when the new campus was being built, the government even held a special meeting to discuss whether to dig it up, but ultimately decided to keep it.

Half the sky was dyed orange-red by the sunset. Zhou Yu first saw Cheng Yuzhou standing under the tree, backlit. He was wearing his school uniform today. The sunset light passed through the dense branches and leaves, gently falling on him.

When he looked up, Zhou Yu felt inexplicably nervous. Was he going to ask about the question from that text message?

Cheng Yuzhou walked in front of her. “Are you in a hurry to go home?”

Zhou Yu felt the distance was too close and subtly took a step back.

“You tell me what’s going on first, then I’ll decide whether I should be in a hurry or not.”

Cheng Yuzhou didn’t expect her to answer like that and couldn’t help but laugh. “If you’re in a hurry, I’ll just ask a few questions. If not, I’ll take you home after I ask, and we can watch the sunset. You have three seconds to think. I’ll count to three, and if you haven’t decided, I’ll assume you’re not in a hurry.”

He looked down at his watch, then said “Start” and counted “one.”

Zhou Yu seemed to know what he was going to ask. Over the phone, she could carefully choose her words, but when asked face-to-face, she didn’t know if she would expose herself.

She was about to speak, only forming the words with her mouth, before the sound came out, Cheng Yuzhou quickly skipped “two” and said, “Three.”

“Alright, thinking time’s over,” he didn’t give her a chance to point out his foul and directly asked, “My first question is: when did you get to know me?”

Zhou Yu was the one who brought this up, and her repeated evasiveness implied she had something to hide.

“...Second year of junior high,” short phrases wouldn’t betray too obvious emotions.

Cheng Yuzhou indeed didn’t notice anything. “Where?”

“Right in town.”

“Did you and Cheng Wanyue see me together at Grandma’s house?”

She looked away. “Mhm.”

“Why didn’t you call me then?”

Zhou Yu didn’t get to know him at the Cheng family compound. One lie required a second lie to cover the first. Fortunately, he didn’t dwell too much on this question.

The roaring sound of a passing motorcycle was incredibly harsh. She vaguely heard him say, “If you had called me, I could have known you sooner.”

Zhou Yu wanted to say that he should remember her; she was the girl squatting in front of the old lady’s stall.

“Cheng Yuzhou!” Cheng Yanqing suddenly ran out from the back gate, grabbing Cheng Yuzhou and pulling him along. “Let’s go, let’s go! Someone’s causing trouble for Yanci!”

The unspoken words were interrupted. Zhou Yu reacted and quickly followed.

The person blocking Yanci was Tang Qian, who had been looking for him everywhere at 0719 that day. She sat on the back of a motorcycle, heavily made up, with long, pale legs exposed beneath her short skirt. There were also a few vocational high school students nearby.

Cheng Wanyue stood in front of Yanci like a mother hen, constantly wary of the eagle from the opposite side swooping down to snatch her chick.

“What do you want with Yanci?”

Tang Qian smiled and said, “Nothing much, just want to pursue him. What, Miss Cheng, do you meddle in this too?”

“It’s not my place to meddle, but you still have to wait in line, don’t you? I’m still at the front of the line!”

“Then I’ll take a number,” she whistled at Yanci. “Free tonight? Let’s go for a drink, and maybe chat about things only we two know.”

Her gaze was too ambiguous. Zhou Yu approached and quietly asked Yanci, “Should we call the police?”

Yanci didn’t speak.

The man on the motorcycle Tang Qian was sitting on dismounted. Tang Qian patted the spot where he had been sitting, inviting Yanci.

Zhou Yu grabbed Yanci’s arm. “Don’t go with them.”

“Then with whom?” Yanci shook off her hand, which then went to rest on her shoulder. “With you?”

His voice wasn’t loud, but it was enough for everyone to hear.

Tang Qian watched, letting out a sour sigh of admiration.

Cheng Yanqing was pushed by Cheng Yuzhou, colliding with Zhou Yu. Zhou Yu’s foot caught on a stone, causing her to stumble forward. A hand reached out in time to steady her, then pulled her behind him.

It was Cheng Yuzhou.

Zhou Yu stood behind him, her vision completely blocked.

Cheng Wanyue, provoked earlier, was still fuming. “Bro, they’re trying to bully your deskmate. It’s time to show them those Sanda moves you learned.”

Cheng Yuzhou, pushed forward, caught Tang Qian’s attention. “Oh, who’s this handsome guy? Haven’t seen him before.”

“Don’t even think about it,” Cheng Wanyue snorted. “My brother has someone he likes; you can’t break them up.”

Cheng Yuzhou patted her head, then naturally hooked his arm around Yanci’s shoulder. “Let’s go, time to eat.”

Cheng Yanqing caught up in a few steps, slinging his arm over Yanci’s other shoulder. “Starving! Hotpot at Grandma’s house?”

“Sounds good.”

Cheng Wanyue mimicked Cheng Yuzhou, ignoring the colorful-haired ruffians, and pulled Zhou Yu along to catch up. “Ayu, we’re going too.”

Zhou Yu hesitated. “...I have to go home.”

“Oh, come on, it’s Friday today. Go home after eating.”