OS - 37

Zhou Yu had to slowly catch up on the studies she missed due to her leave. There were two test papers she hadn’t had time to finish, but the teachers had already discussed them in class.

When Li Zhen held the class meeting, he also gave everyone a heads-up, saying that after the New Year and the start of the next semester, under normal circumstances, there would only be Sunday afternoons off each week, with only two full weekends a month, allowing dorm students to go home.

Every graduating class went through this.

Even Cheng Wanyue, who wasn’t in the same class, noticed that Yanci was different from before, let alone Cheng Yuzhou, who spent most of his day sitting with Yanci. Yanci always followed Zhou Yu, even during the ten-minute breaks between classes. When Zhou Yu went to erase the blackboard or get water, his gaze would follow her until she sat back down. Yet, the two of them didn’t speak.

Cheng Yuzhou watched, his mood very subtle.

He would place a carton of milk on Zhou Yu’s desk, and the next day, Yanci would do the same.

Zhou Yu gave him cold medicine, and Yanci would watch from the side, waiting for her to give herself a cup too.

When Zhou Yu left school alone with Cheng Wanyue, he wouldn’t follow them.

Many small shops had opened near the school. Cheng Wanyue dragged Zhou Yu through all of them, but in the end, she only bought two pairs of gloves, even though she didn’t particularly like them.

Shopping wasn’t the main purpose. They only stayed at Grandma’s house for a while. Less than twenty minutes into the movie, she found an excuse to quietly slip away.

Cheng Yuzhou, who had been sitting on the sofa, closed the door and then moved to sit on the cushion next to Zhou Yu.

The projector worked better in a dark environment, so the curtains were drawn when they chose the movie. The air conditioner in the room was on, and the temperature was getting higher and higher. She initially only unbuttoned her jacket, then took it off when her back started to sweat. She was wearing a sweater underneath, but still felt hot.

Cheng Yuzhou was only wearing a hoodie. He didn’t get up, just reached for the oranges on the table.

When he turned his head, the movie screen was brightly lit, and Zhou Yu saw a very small mole on his neck.

He picked what looked like the sweetest orange, peeled it, and handed it to her. Since he wasn’t wearing a watch, Zhou Yu also noticed a mole on the inside of his left wrist.

Zhou Yu broke off two segments of the orange. As soon as she took the first bite, her eyes squinted, and her small face crumpled.

“Very sour?” Cheng Yuzhou extended one hand under her chin. “Spit it out.”

Zhou Yu shook her head, intending to swallow it without biting, when suddenly a shadow loomed over her.

First, his lips approached hers, pausing for a very brief second, then his tongue tentatively explored between her teeth. This wasn’t the first time, yet it still wasn’t skilled; it was clumsy but filled with an ambition to melt her.

The full pulp was tangled and squeezed by his tongue, bursting with abundant juice. Sourness filled her mouth, wildly stimulating saliva production, yet this couldn’t relieve the dryness of her mouth and tongue.

Tiny bits of pulp were hooked into his mouth and swallowed. Perhaps it wasn’t just pulp, because his swallowing sound was quite noticeable, and there wasn’t much left of the orange pulp after losing its juice.

Perhaps her cold hadn’t fully recovered, or she wasn’t used to this overly fervent kiss. Her breathing grew heavier, feeling a bit hypoxic. The orange rolled to the floor, and her empty hand instinctively clenched his clothes.

He considerately pulled back a little, then kissed her again before she could open her eyes.

Her body was pushed backward until her back hit the edge of the sofa, preventing her from falling onto the carpet. The momentary feeling of weightlessness made a faint, weak sound escape her throat, like exploding sparks, igniting the rational, gentlemanly warning line in Cheng Yuzhou’s mind, leaving only the pure, intense passion unique to youth.

After breaking through the facade of magnanimity, all the jealousy and resentment that had accumulated over the past few days spilled out.

The hand that had been supporting the cushion moved through her clothes to her waist. His other hand covered her neck; the heat of her skin made the clammy sweat in his palm even more apparent.

The sourness of the orange was already very faint, and his tongue felt a bit numb.

Would he scare her?

If he didn’t stop, would she think he was a very perverted person?

Cheng Yuzhou suddenly tightened his arm, and before that drop of sweat fell, he lowered his head and leaned into the hollow of her neck, struggling to suppress those more extreme thoughts in his heart.

“Being watched at school, and Auntie always picking you up at the school gate after class, I haven’t been able to say much to you this whole week.”

Zhou Yu didn’t dare to move. Her legs were numb. The movie hadn’t finished, and a large section was missed in the middle. The later plot was hard to understand, but she didn’t want to get too hung up on the plot; she just wanted to distract herself.

“...Don’t we eat together every day?”

“So many people, it’s not just us.”

The resentment in that sentence was too strong. Cheng Yuzhou realized he had to do something. Her earlobes were rosy. Several times when she arrived at the classroom in the morning, her ears were like this after she took off her hat, and at those times, he wanted to touch them.

His hot, wet tongue licked her earlobe. A strange sensation made her flinch backward. Cheng Yuzhou stiffened for a moment, then unnaturally retreated, hiding his shameful physiological reaction.

He leaned back on the sofa, sighing. “I might be going back to Nanjing for Chinese New Year.”

“What’s Nanjing like?”

“Cities are all pretty similar. As for the unique parts... the city full of plane trees should be Nanjing’s characteristic, but their leaves fall in winter. It’s beautiful in summer. Do you want to go to university in Nanjing?”

Zhou Yu also leaned against the sofa, looking up at the ceiling. “What about you?”

“Whatever.”

His parents were both in Nanjing, and his friends and classmates from childhood were also there. He should want to go back, right?

Later, Zhou Yu secretly checked train tickets under her covers.

There was no direct train from Baicheng to Nanjing. She had to go to the city first. Not counting the waiting and transfer times, it would take nearly twenty hours, and there were only two trains a day.

________________________________________

The last week before the holiday was for exams. Regardless of whether Zhou Yu was early or late, Yanci always stood at the intersection. For the past half month, he always looked half-asleep. The bottled mineral water in his hand had frozen, and he still drank it like that.

“No hot water at home?”

“Didn’t buy a kettle.”

“Are you still taking tranquilizers?”

“No, you told me not to, so I stopped.”

“Then how do you sleep?”

“I just lie down. When I’m too tired, I fall asleep. You said smoking isn’t good, so I stopped that too.”

Those were the words Zhou Yu said a year ago, the first time she saw him smoking, and it was the only time she ever said it.

“I’ve been listening well in class, and I’ve done all my homework. I don’t just eat instant noodles at night anymore,” Yanci saw her frown slightly and suddenly smiled. “Maybe it’s because I dislike you being with him so much. Besides that, I can’t think of any other reason.”

Zhou Yu felt an unidentifiable emotion in her heart and quickly walked past him.

For the final exams, the students were split into different examination rooms. She was assigned to the second-year high school building, and there were few familiar classmates in her examination room.

There were no evening self-study sessions during these two exam days, so they could arrange their evenings as they wished.

Cheng Wanyue was leaving the next day, so after her exam, she went to find Zhou Yu. The two had just sat down at their usual snack shop and hadn’t even ordered anything when Cheng Yanqing and Yanci also arrived.

“Qing Hang has to help Teacher Li organize the test papers.”

Zhou Yu didn’t see Cheng Yuzhou. Since Yanci was there, she didn’t ask.

Cheng Wanyue said, “My brother went back to Nanjing on Wednesday night.”

Zhou Yu went to the exam hall on Thursday morning. Her phone had been accidentally broken by her grandma and hadn’t been repaired for the past two days. Cheng Yuzhou left on Wednesday night, meaning he didn’t take the exam.

“What was so urgent?”

“My second aunt is a journalist, and she had a bit of an accident while working a couple of days ago. Our whole family is going over tomorrow too. Two portions of fried chicken strips, two large fries, four bowls of hot and sour noodles—one without chili, one without cilantro—four cups of cola, and a fried skewer set. Is this enough to eat?”

“That’s enough,” Cheng Yanqing asked Yanci, “Whose place are you spending New Year’s at?”

Yanci looked at the distracted Zhou Yu across from him and said indifferently, “At the home on Changchun Road.”

“The restaurants on the street won’t open until after the fifteenth. You have to eat, right?”

“I came last year too.”

The Cheng family spent New Year’s in Baicheng last year, and Cheng Yanqing visited Yanci every few days. “When have I ever been to your place and you weren’t eating instant noodles?”

Yanci said, “This year, I’ll try cooking myself.”

“Oh, good boy,” Cheng Wanyue patted his head. “You must really be careful, okay? Once, I forgot to turn off the gas while heating pork rib soup at night and almost got poisoned.”

Yanci wasn’t usually lazy about cooking; he simply couldn’t cook.

Cheng Yanqing called Cheng Yuzhou, but he didn’t answer. He called back after more than ten minutes.

Cheng Wanyue wiped her mouth, picked up the phone, and put it on speaker. “Brother, is Second Aunt okay?”

“Nothing serious. Tell Grandma not to worry.”

Zhou Yu listened to his voice; he sounded very tired. She wondered if it was because he hadn’t slept much after rushing back on Wednesday night.

“That’s good. I haven’t been in the mood for exams these past two days. Without you here, our food doesn’t even taste as good.”

“I’ll transfer money to you in a bit,” Cheng Yuzhou walked to a quiet spot. “Where’s Zhou Yu?”

Cheng Wanyue quickly turned off the speaker and secretly glanced at Yanci. “She’s right next to me.”

“Give her the phone.”

“...Just tell me.”

“Is it the same if I tell you? Never mind, the exam should be over, right? Remind her to turn on her phone when she gets home tonight.”

“Okay, the fried skewers are getting cold, gotta go, bye-bye!” Cheng Wanyue hung up the phone. “So long-winded. He’s only been gone for two days, and he asks about everyone.”

Yanci’s expression remained unchanged. “You two can leave first after you’ve finished eating.”

He was referring to the Cheng siblings.