Grass.
Xu Lin found Gu Chen's behavior very provocative and thought, "What a joke, laughing at your grandpa."
He had a bad temper and would get into fights with others at school over the slightest disagreement. After Xiang Yu transferred to another school, the reputation of being the school bully unsurprisingly fell on him.
If it weren't for Grandma Hou being there, and this person being Xiang Yu's deskmate, Xu Lin would have punched him right now.
"It's alright, it's only a short walk from Dalinzi's house, just come when it's mealtime." Grandma Hou smiled again, "If you can't come, Grandma will save some food for you separately, otherwise I'm afraid there won't be any leftovers if Yifan is here."
"belch--"
Li Yifan let out a long burp at the opportune moment, finished eating, smacked his lips, looked up, and seeing everyone looking at him, laughed shyly, "Hehe, I couldn't help it."
"Goodness." Gu Chen estimated his haul: "A plate of noodles, four pancakes, and you ate most of this food, right? Wow, you have a bigger appetite than a mouse."
This was just dinner. Xiang Yu frowned at him and said, "Don't eat so much. Take care of yourself."
"It's nothing." Li Yifan got up and stretched. "I've been eating and drinking well these past few days. I won't be able to enjoy myself like this when I get back to X City."
"Sigh, never mind, I'm going back to my room to face my suitcase full of knowledge." Li Yifan couldn't cheer up at the thought of homework, but he figured that writing a little bit every day for seven days wouldn't be too hard.
After one person finished eating, the rest of the people ate quickly. After Grandma Hou finished eating, she said she was going to visit her neighbors and then she went out.
After Xiang Yu finished eating, he was about to take his plate to the sink when Gu Chen stopped him: "Just leave it there, I'll do it later."
Xiang Yu put down his plate without insisting. If he refused, this guy would probably launch into another long-winded speech. So he simply sat down and waited for Gu Chen to finish eating. The other man had been putting food on his plate and was now busy finishing his tomato and noodle soup.
The noodles had gone cold, but Gu Chen ate them with relish. Xiang Yu stared at his profile for a while, then got up and went to the kitchen to pour him a glass of warm water.
Eat slowly.
Xiang Yu sat to one side.
Just then, Xu Lin also put down his chopsticks and saw Gu Chen sitting in the corner opposite him, feeling quite uncomfortable.
Redundant.
Xu Lin felt that these two words were the perfect way to describe himself.
"Yu'er, I'm going back now."
Hearing that the other person was unhappy, Xiang Yu looked at him and pursed his lips.
The fewer people who know about what happened at school, the better. He didn't tell the other party the truth because he was afraid of causing them unnecessary trouble.
Essentially, he didn't want to see the other person sullen either, but whether or not to say anything was still up for discussion.
When Xiang Yu hesitated, he would purse his lips. Xu Lin, who had grown up with him since childhood, was naturally aware of this little habit of his.
Strike while the iron is hot.
Xu Lin got up, intending to take the plate to the sink, but Gu Chen stopped him as well.
"Just leave it there, I'll clean it up later."
"..." Xu Lin put down the plate, glanced at Xiang Yu, and said, "Let's go, Yu'er, let's go back."
"Hmm." Xiang Yu hesitated for a long time before saying, "I'll see you off. Let's go."
[Author's Note: Xiang Yu: Guess whether I'll tell or not?]
Ahem, that's right, Xu Lin had that kind of feeling towards Xiang Yu.
Chapter Twenty-Seven: Xiang Yu didn't want to go, she really didn't want to go.
Chapter Twenty-Seven: A Corner: I Don't Want to Go, I Really Don't Want to Go
The two houses were only a hundred meters apart plus a corner. Xiang Yu went out of his house and remained silent. His lips parted slightly several times but then closed again. He was already at Xu Lin's door but still had no intention of saying anything.
"Damn it!" Xu Lin, who had been waiting for so long, finally couldn't hold back his temper any longer. But because the other party was Xiang Yu, he vented his anger and then lowered his voice, suppressing the resentment in his heart, and asked softly, "Yu'er, why can't you say it? You can't even say it to me?"
Xu Lin was impatient but also knew better than to push the other party. The other party was only responsive to gentle persuasion and not to force. If he really pressed him, the other party might turn around and go home. In that case, he wouldn't even be able to get the truth out of the other party, let alone exchange more than a few words with them.
Xiang Yu actually fell for this trick. After a long silence, he finally spoke up: "Linzi, don't ask now. This is hard to say... Let me think about it some more."
Think about it again?
Well, since he'd already said all that and hadn't explicitly refused, Xu Lin felt there was still hope of getting the information out of him.
But I doubt it will happen tonight.
"I'm going back now, you can go in now." Xiang Yu waved to him.
"Okay." Xu Lin took a few steps up the stairs and then looked back at him: "Yu'er."
"Um?"
Xu Lin's gaze was fixed on the other person's face. He hadn't changed much since the last time they met, except that his hair had grown a bit longer.
The street infrastructure is old and dilapidated. There is only a dim, half-dead street lamp on this street. The old-fashioned yellow light attracts a few moths to the central bulb. If you have good hearing, you can hear the faint sound of them hitting each other. The shadows of the moths on the ground are magnified many times over and flutter. Time seems to have stood still.
He had many playmates, but Xiangyu only had one friend.
When they were young, boys all liked masculinity, but Xiang Yu was fair-skinned and looked frail. If you didn't look closely, you would think she was a girl. Xu Lin was naturally tall and strong and was the king of the kids in the area. He felt sorry for Xiang Yu and also thought she was good-looking, so he took the initiative to go over and play with her.
Compulsory education is divided into school districts based on geographical location. The two of them went to elementary school and junior high school together. He protected the other person's small frame quite a bit. But he kept protecting him until one day he accidentally saw the other person punch a thug who was collecting protection money and knock him to the ground.
I thought you were Consort Yu, but I never imagined you were Xiang Yu, the Hegemon-King of Chu.
The two grew up together slowly, so slowly that Xu Lin didn't even realize when their brotherhood had changed.
It seemed to be on a night like this that he jumped up the steps in a few quick movements and glanced back at the other person.
"Yu'er," Xu Lin called him again.
"Huh?" Xiang Yu was jolted back a few steps by the hug, her mind not quite processing it yet. She patted the other person's strong arm and said, "Let go first."
"Yu'er, what are your plans for the next few days?" Xu Lin asked, releasing him.
Spend more time with Grandma.
"That's true." Xu Lin seemed to have expected this, and then asked, "Your deskmate and you two are quite close."
"He's very good," Xiang Yu said. "He's a very nice person."
"Really? He seems alright to me. Don't be fooled by him." Xu Lin really didn't like Gu Chen. It was as if he thought everyone else had feelings for his childhood friend, especially since they even slept in the same bed.
"It's okay, you can't fool me." A morality index of 80 doesn't lie. Xiang Yu patted the other person on the shoulder: "Go back, I'm leaving."
"Okay, see you tomorrow."
When Xiang Yu returned home, she didn't see Gu Chen in the kitchen or living room. She only saw him at the bedroom door, writing something under a desk lamp. The light reflected on his face, giving him a unique beauty. Gu Chen held the pen with a serious expression and a slight smile on his lips. Xiang Yu didn't disturb him. She tiptoed in, took out gray pajamas from her backpack, and turned to meet Gu Chen's smiling face.
"Hey deskmate, you're back." Gu Chen smiled at him.
The other person really likes to laugh.
"Hmm." Xiang Yu went to the bathroom with her pajamas, and Gu Chen followed her. Xiang Yu glanced at him but didn't say anything. The bathroom was designed with a wet and dry separation, in case Grandma Hou slipped and fell. When Xiang Yu's father had the bathroom renovated, he laid a cement floor, so it looked out of place with the outside.
"Here, take this." Xiang Yu took a packaged towel from a box on the bathroom shelf, then took out a straw wash cup that came with the toothpaste from a box next to it, and also took out a pack of toothbrushes. Grandma Hou had bought them from a vendor at the market, who claimed they were multi-functional nano toothbrushes, five in a pack for fifty yuan. After using one, Xiang Yu felt that they were no different from the three-yuan toothbrushes in the store, but Grandma Hou still said they were effective.
"How did you know I didn't bring toiletries?" Gu Chen became excited again.
"..." Xiang Yu, of course, did not know that he had not brought toiletries. This was just something he gave him on the spur of the moment, and he did not think much of it. But Gu Chen did not think so.
"You're so nice to me, deskmate." Gu Chen leaned closer and smiled at him.
"Mmm." Xiang Yu was already used to it and asked him, "Are you washing up now?"
"No washing."
"I want to take a shower." The implication was clear.
go out.
"Okay, then I'll go out." Gu Chen, acting like a naive and innocent girl, held a wash cup and toothbrush, smiling and turning back every three steps, making Xiang Yu's scalp twitch, wondering what was wrong with him.
"Classmate." Gu Chen suddenly turned around as he reached the bathroom door.
Xiang Yu thought he had something important to say: "What's wrong?"
"Do you need a back rub?" Gu Chen asked quite seriously, his expression suggesting that he felt he only needed to say he needed it to get the other party to come and provide him with a full range of services.
"No need." Xiang Yu couldn't help but push the other person out of the bathroom.
That's outrageous. If you really wanted to help, with his strength, you'd be the one getting skinned alive.
Gu Chen went straight back to his room after leaving, placed the toiletries set on his desk, took a picture, and posted it on his WeChat Moments.
Gu Chen: My deskmate is such a thoughtful person. @Dongyu
Photo of the three-piece toiletries set.jpg
Comments appeared shortly after the post was published.
Yang Shuhuan: I don't know what to say.
-Wang Zehao: Congratulations, Daddy, on unlocking a new achievement with Brother Chen: Attentive. [Fireworks].jpg×3
Yang Shuhuan replied to Wang Zehao: Daddy?
Wang Zehao replied to Yang Shuhuan: Sigh.
Yang Shuhuan replied to Wang Zehao: Just wait, you'll die when you come back.
- Zhang Boyuan: Holy crap, I know this toothbrush well. My grandma was tricked into buying it before. Did our Yu-ge get tricked?
The comments section became lively as Gu Chen kept pressing Zhang Boyuan about being scammed when buying a toothbrush. After a while, they found out that Grandma Hou had also returned from visiting.
"Xiao Chen? What brings you out?" Grandma Hou looked remarkably energetic when she came back from her trip; radiant with health and vitality.
"What's making you so happy, Grandma?" Gu Chen sat on another sofa and poured Grandma Hou a glass of water, handing it to her.
Grandma Shui Hou's smile deepened as she took the water: "Hey, it's just a few of us old ladies and gentlemen who've arranged to go to the square tomorrow morning to practice Tai Chi. We're happy."
"Tomorrow morning?" Gu Chen asked, "What time is it? Does Grandma need me and your classmate to go with you?"
"It's a little after five, almost six o'clock." Grandma Hou waved her hand: "You young people can just stay home and sleep. We'll go to the market to buy groceries after we finish our Tai Chi. I'll have dinner ready by the time you wake up."
"Going to the farmers market?" Gu Chen perked up at the keyword. Zhang Boyuan said that his grandmother had been tricked into buying a toothbrush by a vendor at the farmers market. To prevent Grandma Hou from being fooled again, Gu Chen said, "My classmate and I will definitely go with you. I've never been to the morning market before."
"..." Just as Gu Chen finished speaking, Xiang Yu came out of the bathroom after taking a shower.
Xiang Yu had many things she wanted to do with Grandma Hou, but that certainly didn't include accompanying her to Tai Chi and then to the market.
Thanks for the invitation. Neither of these two situations is suitable for people with social anxiety to live in.