[Author's Note: Gu Chen: My deskmate and I both want to go.]
Chapter Twenty-Eight: Gu Chen, my deskmate, I was wrong, really wrong.
Chapter Twenty-Eight: Gu Chen: Desk mate, I was wrong, really wrong.
Grandma Hou chatted with Gu Chen, and when they got into a good mood, she started talking about Xiang Yu's childhood. At the end, she found a photo album in the house.
There was no dust on it. Grandma Hou said that she often looked through it when she was home alone, and would wipe the cover whenever she had nothing to do.
Xiang Yu closed the door and went to his bedroom to do practice problems, but the door was pushed open a short while later.
Gu Chen, carrying the photo album, saw Xiang Yu doing her homework and immediately swallowed back all the words she was about to say.
A person sits quietly on the bed, gently flipping through a photo album.
After finishing the questions and checking the answers, Xiang Yu stretched and habitually turned around, only to see Gu Chen still looking at the photo album.
"Hey deskmate, is this your sister?" Gu Chen noticed Xiang Yu turn around after tidying up her papers, and looked up with a smile, "So cute."
"Sister?" Xiang Yu's father was the only son in his family, and he was also the only son in his generation. His mother had no older brothers or sisters except for her aunt. Li Yifan was also an only child.
Xiang Yu couldn't really think of any younger sister for the time being, so he put down the test paper and went over to take a look: "Let me see."
“This is the little girl.” Gu Chen pointed to the child in the white princess dress in the bottom right corner of the photo album.
"..." This is no sister at all. Although they look completely different, Xiang Yu is quite certain of it.
This is himself.
He was very thin and small when he was a child, and because of his fair skin and delicate features, people often said that he looked like a little girl.
So on his fourth birthday, his mother, Sun Xiaoli, took him to a photo studio to have his picture taken in women's clothing.
The 'little girl' in the photo is wearing a silver crown and a snow-white princess dress, holding a white cat plush toy in her arms, biting her lower lip as if she is about to cry.
Looking back now, it really is.
Unbearable memories.
Didn't my father say he couldn't find this photo when he was making the album?
"My deskmate? My deskmate?" Gu Chen noticed Xiang Yu was lost in thought and waved his hand in front of his face. "What's wrong?"
"It's nothing." Xiang Yu came to her senses, turned the photo album to the next page, and, not wanting the other person to know that she had worn women's clothing, said something like, "The girl next door."
Why is the neighbor's younger sister's photo in the family album?
Trusting his deskmate, Gu Chen didn't ask and continued watching with his head down.
Actually, there was more than one photo of her wearing a skirt, but her father is said to have lost them all.
Xiang Yu, fearing that a few more photos might pop up in the album, sat down next to Gu Chen and stared at them together.
I finally breathed a sigh of relief after flipping through a whole photo album.
Fortunately, there was only one such photo.
After looking through the photo album, Gu Chen placed it on his desk and noticed that it was already past ten o'clock.
"Classmate, it's time to sleep. We have to get up early tomorrow to go to Tai Chi with Grandma."
Gu Chen naturally lifted the covers and crawled into bed, closing his eyes and saying, "Goodnight, classmate."
"..." To be honest, this guy moved too fast for Xiang Yu to stop him: "Where's your blanket?"
"Why do we need another blanket?" Gu Chen turned over, opened his eyes, and looked at Xiang Yu. Seeing that the other was staring at him indifferently, he chuckled and said, "This blanket is enough for the two of us."
He grinned like a scoundrel.
"Go to sleep, deskmate, or you won't be able to get up tomorrow morning." Gu Chen yawned, helped the other person lift the blanket on his side, patted the sheets and called him over.
Seeing this scene, Xiangyu suddenly felt no longer sleepy.
Not sleepy, Xiangyu turned off the light and lay down on the bed: "Goodnight."
Xiangyu slept for too long that afternoon.
But it didn't affect his sleep at night at all.
It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that he fell asleep the moment his head hit the bed; in less than three minutes, Gu Chen could hear his even breathing.
Follow the other person's breathing rhythm.
Half an hour has passed, and Gu Chen still hasn't fallen asleep.
Actually, Gu Chen is a light sleeper. He couldn't fall asleep for half a day at noon, and he didn't dare to move for fear of waking up his deskmate. He finally managed to fall asleep, but woke up again when he heard Grandma Hou getting up outside.
In the end, I simply stopped sleeping and went out to keep Grandma Hou company to see if there was anything I could do to help.
Gu Chen opened his eyes, and as his eyes adjusted to the darkness, everything in the room gradually became clear. The curtains were half-drawn, and moonlight shone through the gaps in the window, turning on a small nightlight by the bedside.
Gu Chen gently turned over, facing the corner.
Even in the darkness, I could barely make out the outline of the other person's face. No matter how many times I looked at them, I never got tired of it; the more I looked, the more attractive they became.
Gu Chen couldn't help but move closer, so close that he could smell the shampoo and shower gel on the other person.
Even though they both used the same shampoo and shower gel, Gu Chen just thought the other person smelled better.
The scent was lingering and gentle, constantly seeping into Gu Chen's nose, then sliding down his nasal cavity into his brain, softly caressing that uncooperative part of his brain nerves.
One or two times.
The scent was like a sleeping incense, and Gu Chen drifted off to sleep under its influence.
Xiang Yu was woken up by the alarm clock in the morning. He was so sleepy that he couldn't open his eyes. He groped his way to the source of the sound, but the music didn't stop no matter how much he swiped his fingers across the screen. He couldn't press the side buttons either. In desperation, he could only open his eyes groggily and pick up his phone to look at it.
This is not his phone.
Xiangyu swiped his finger to the right, dragging the little alarm clock that was jumping on the screen, but the alarm turned off by itself before he reached the right spot.
I glanced at the time.
5:01 AM.
"..." Xiang Yu remembered that he was supposed to get up and help his grandmother practice Tai Chi, but this was not something he had agreed to.
He rubbed his temples, pulled his leg out from under Gu Chen's legs, thinking that this person's sleeping posture was really bad. He sat up and pushed the person next to him in an annoyed tone, saying in a hoarse voice, "Get up."
I called out for a while, and at first the other person didn't respond, but finally they answered once.
"Hmm..." Gu Chen responded by burying his face in the pillow and pulling the blanket over his head, but then felt something was missing.
Xiang Yu watched as Gu Chen's hand rummaged around in the blankets, finally placing it on her waist and pulling it towards him.
The other person was too strong, and Xiang Yu felt himself being moved sideways, the sheets and mattress under him were torn and wrinkled.
"……"Grass.
Even if Xiangyu doesn't have a bad temper when he wakes up, he'll be forced to be one by the other person. He stares at the bulge under the covers and clenches his fist.
'Bang!'
"What happened!" Gu Chen felt a loud bang above his head, which startled him so much that he sat up abruptly.
Nothing's wrong; the sky outside the window is even still dim.
Gu Chen saw that Xiang Yu had already sat up and was now looking at him calmly.
The two were very close, and they could feel each other's body temperature even through the fabric of their pajamas.
Gu Chen snapped back to reality, and before he could even smile or speak, he sensed something was wrong.
Looking towards the headboard, the other person's hand, which had slammed down on the bed, was still not retracted, while the other hand...
Clutching his phone.
The phone started vibrating at that moment, playing beautiful music that was just right.
For the first time, Gu Chen found his deskmate's calm gaze terrifying.
Grandma Hou had already tidied up and was sitting in the living room drinking hot water, wearing a Tai Chi robe, when she heard the sound of the bedroom door opening.
"Classmate, I was wrong, I was wrong, does your hand hurt?" Gu Chen followed closely beside Xiang Yu and whispered, "I was wrong, I really know I was wrong."
Xiang Yu ignored him, went into the bathroom without expression or a word, and closed the door.
One was inside the door, and the other was outside; both were incredibly energetic at that moment.
Grandma Hou couldn't hear what Gu Chen was saying, but looking at the two of them holding their water glasses, she sighed, "It's so good to be young."
[Author's Note: Xiang Yu: So sleepy, so angry, so uncomfortable.]
Chapter Twenty-Nine: You were joking first, why are you reacting so strongly?
Chapter Twenty-Nine: You were joking first, why are you reacting so strongly?
The street leads to the main road. Turn right along the roadside and walk straight to the intersection. Turn left and walk 50 meters to reach the square where Grandma Hou often dances and practices Tai Chi. Around 5:30 in the morning, there are quite a few people in the square. Several people are walking on the outer rubber track. There is a musical fountain in the center. The surrounding area is as if it were divided in advance: Tai Chi is practiced on the east side, morning dance is performed on the opposite west side, Tai Chi soft ball is practiced on the south side, and shuttlecock is played on the north side.
When we arrived, there were already five or six elderly men and women practicing, taking a step to the left and a step to the right, like a wild horse parting its mane or a white crane spreading its wings.
Grandma Hou exclaimed "Oh!" upon seeing this, and quickly handed the eco-friendly bag in her hand to Xiang Yu, then followed behind them and started fighting.
At first, he seemed out of place, but after fighting with them for a while, he gradually blended in. He became uniform, and his horse stance, with its wide sleeves billowing in the wind, gave him the air of a master.
Instead of just standing there, the two found a long stone bench nearby and sat down to watch.
"Wow, you're amazing, deskmate! These grandpas and grandmas are even more agile than me." Gu Chen watched intently from the side, glancing at the tai chi practitioners here and then at the soft ball there, before asking in a corner, "Why doesn't that ball fall?"
"I don't know." It was chilly in the morning, so Xiang Yu put on a thin, high-collared jacket over her clothes, zipped it all the way up, and buried half her face inside, intending to take a nap. But this sudden movement almost woke her up. She pulled her arm out of the other man's grasp, glanced at him, and said, "Why don't you go ask him?"
Most people probably wouldn't ask that.
Xiang Yu ignored him, yawned, put his hands in his pockets, closed his eyes, and leaned back on the stone chair, preparing to take a nap.
In my daze, I heard a voice from beside me: "That makes sense, I'll go ask."
Then she felt a sudden emptiness beside her, opened her eyes, and saw Gu Chen running towards the Tai Chi soft ball area.
"?" Xiang Yu didn't understand. He frowned and watched Gu Chen laughing and talking to the grandma at the back of the line, and then the grandma waved her clapper and chatted with him.
They both seemed quite happy.
He could hear his grandmother's laughter clearly.