"Wow, there are so many people. If I had known it would be like this, I would have stayed home and kept quiet."
Li Yifan followed Xiang Yu to their seats, and Xiang Yu chose the innermost window seat.
Li Yifan picked up the backpack and put it in the storage compartment. The backpack was light, but the suitcase was surprisingly heavy. Li Yifan had some difficulty lifting it, so Gu Chen took over.
"Come on, cousin, I'll let you out first."
Li Yifan was moved and quickly stepped back into the aisle to give the other party room to maneuver.
He said gratefully, "Thank you, Boss Gu."
"You're welcome." Gu Chen easily put away his suitcase and backpack, and then sat down in the seat next to Xiang Yu, which originally belonged to Li Yifan.
[Author's Note: Gu Chen: With a little trick, I want to sit at the same table as him.]
Like I said before, hurry up and find a relationship!!! [Frantically flipping through the outline]
Chapter Twenty-Two: Gu Chen, I just said, "Grandma, hello!"
Chapter Twenty-Two: Gu Chen: I'll just say "Grandma, hello!"
Li Yifan had probably slept enough before getting on the bus. He sat on the outside seat by the aisle, put on his headphones, and started immersing himself in the canyon. Gu Chen had nothing to do, so he casually scrolled through his phone to see what major domestic and international events had happened that day.
Xiang Yu, on the other hand, kept looking out the window to admire the scenery along the way, and soon his eyelids began to feel heavy.
It takes at least an hour to get from City X to City B, and since I had a companion on this trip, I didn't have to worry about missing my stop, so Xiang Yu leaned against the window and fell asleep without any worries.
After reading the news, Gu Chen opened Tieba (a Chinese online forum). It was during the holiday, and the hot topics had long since passed, so no one was following up with new posts. Therefore, the first post on the homepage was still the one posted before the exam.
- [Voting Post for the Most Handsome Boy at No. 1 High School]
Gu Chen had already read through this post. There were quite a few names on the voting list, including those from the second year of high school, as well as the first and third year. He focused on creating two threads to build a thread, with him and his deskmate as the main characters, and their votes were neck and neck.
Where there is competition, there are disputes, and many people have been arguing in the comments section of posts because of differing opinions.
I said Gu Chen is good at studying, warm-hearted, and handsome. Everyone agrees that he is the school heartthrob, right?
-+1, Xiang Yu is handsome, but being a school bully doesn't make him suitable to be the school heartthrob.
-What's wrong with the person upstairs? Didn't Boss Xiang hit someone to help Gu Chen? So you guys are just hypocritical and taking all the credit?
-Isn't this going too far, trying to have your cake and eat it too? Why use such harsh language?
- Exactly, it's no wonder that people who like him are also like that, given his violent and aggressive nature.
Who said that Boss Xiang beat up Liu Hu because of Gu Chen? Have they all forgotten who the root cause of the incident was?
Holy crap, could things actually be more complicated than we think? Three men fighting over a woman they can't have?
They argued fiercely for a few words, and things started to go awry.
As the person involved, Gu Chen couldn't just stand by and watch them fight like this, so he decided to say a few more words under that post and clarify things. But when he was about to send the message, he felt something was missing. So he looked to the side and, full of interest, before he could even speak, he saw Xiang Yu sleeping soundly by the window.
Very well-behaved.
Gu Chen had already turned on the front camera of his phone. After thinking it over, he quietly leaned over and took the first photo with the other person.
After quickly taking the photo, he immediately sat up straight and continued posting clarifications.
No one noticed what had just happened. Xiang Yu never expected that while he was asleep, this idiot next to him would post their photo together on the forum.
"Holy crap." Tang Yue, a junior moderator of the No. 1 High School's online forum, covered her mouth and barely managed to suppress a scream when she saw the group photo. She then saved and forwarded it to an internal group chat for her class.
Tang Yue: Sisters, we're totally obsessed!!!
Xiang Yu was sleeping soundly when Gu Chen woke her up. When she opened her eyes, she saw the other man's face, which was full of a sunny smile.
"Hey, we're here." Gu Chen looked really happy.
Xiang Yu yawned, unsurprised.
The group got off the train with their luggage and left the station. Under the bright sunshine, Gu Chen took out his phone to search for nearby restaurants, and Xiang Yu made a phone call to his grandmother.
The old lady has a loud voice; she doesn't even need to turn on speakerphone. If you get close enough, everyone around can hear what she's saying.
"Grandma's almost done cooking?" Gu Chen smiled, stopped searching, and casually turned off his phone and put it in his pocket. "Then I'll trouble Grandma."
"..." Xiang Yu hung up the phone and looked at the other party with a complicated expression: "Don't you have any plans to come to City B?"
We've arrived at our destination, why isn't this guy going to take care of his own business yet?
"We still need to eat." Gu Chen skillfully put his arm around the other person's neck and said with a grin, "Let's go, let's hurry up, don't keep Grandma waiting at home."
"You really don't consider yourself an outsider," Xiang Yu sighed. "It's just a meal; he's not going to fuss about it."
Xiang Yu used his phone to call a ride-hailing car and sped off.
This is a residential area in the city, where every household has its own independent gate and courtyard. The festive red gates are open, showing the scenery inside the courtyard. Because the road inside is narrow, the driver did not continue to drive in, but stopped the car at the street corner to let the three people get out.
Li Yifan thought the driver could drive further in, and was about to ask when he felt someone pat him on the shoulder.
There were only a few steps to walk. Xiang Yu simply patted the other person on the shoulder without saying a word, got out of the car, picked up the backpack from the trunk, and led the three of them into the street.
Returning to familiar surroundings, Xiangyu felt a sense of comfort even in the air, and his mind and body relaxed considerably.
X City is more developed than B City. This is the first time Gu Chen has seen such a large residential area that resembles an urban village, and he can't help but stop and look at it on the way.
Around lunchtime, there weren't many people loitering outside. Most people were either eating, sleeping, or traveling as a family. There were fewer people than I had imagined.
Xiang Yu didn't linger, walking straight and turning left and right, before stopping at a house after crossing a fork in the road.
The red gate was wide open, and Xiang Yu led the two into the small courtyard.
The courtyard is small but complete. To the left, along the wall, there is a flower bed made of bricks, in full bloom with seasonal flowers. To the right, a small vegetable garden is enclosed by bricks, where easy-to-grow crops such as scallions, peppers, and garlic sprouts are casually planted. There are hardly any weeds, which shows that the owner takes good care of these plants and vegetables.
Ignoring all that, Xiang Yu strode straight toward the old-fashioned four-door door. The closer she got, the brighter her face became. Unlike Gu Chen's cheerful smile, her expression was quite different from usual.
The aroma of food filled the room as soon as they entered, and Li Yifan, who was following behind Xiang Yu, couldn't help but feel his stomach rumble as he smelled it.
Xiang Yu placed her backpack on the entryway shelf, took three pairs of slippers from the shoe cabinet and put them on the floor. She put on a pair and walked toward the kitchen, saying, "Grandma, I'm back."
Grandma Hou was stirring the stir-fried cabbage in the wok with a spatula when she heard this. Startled, her hand trembled, and a spatula of cabbage was shoveled out of the wok and fell onto the gas stove.
"Xiao Yu is back." Grandma Hou put down the spatula and turned around, even the wrinkles on her face seemed to exude love.
Seeing that his grandmother had been frightened, Xiang Yu felt a little guilty. She quickly grabbed a few kitchen paper towels, picked up the trash can, turned off the gas, and cleaned up the spilled food scraps.
"It's good that you're back." Grandma Hou looked her grandson over carefully, unable to hide her excitement.
There were other noises at the door. Grandma Hou saw two people wearing slippers standing outside the kitchen. At her age, she was happy to see a young man who was about the same age as her grandson. She also heard Xiang Yu say on the phone that he was going back to City B with his classmates and cousin.
She recognized Li Yifan: "Yifan, right? Come over here and let Grandma take a look."
Yifan obediently went over and was pulled over by Grandma Hou for a scrutiny: "You've grown so much. The last time I saw you, you were still wearing open-crotch pants, hahaha."
The old lady's hearty laughter, coupled with the content of her words, made Li Yifan feel quite embarrassed, and he could only grin awkwardly.
"You're a handsome young man, you must be Xiaoyu, right?"
Gu Chen walked in with a smile and went up to Grandma Hou, saying loudly, "Hello, Grandma! My name is Gu Chen, and I'm Xiang Yu's classmate."
He was energetic and handsome, and Grandma Hou liked this enthusiastic and energetic young man. The old lady liked to chat with others, but the food was still in the pot, so she waved for them to go out first: "Take the dishes on the table to the living room. We'll eat after Grandma finishes cooking this dish."
"Okay!" Gu Chen replied enthusiastically.
[Author's note: Xiang Yu: I'm so afraid he'll stay and refuse to leave.]
Gu Chen: I'm sleeping here tonight. Come on, deskmate, move over a bit.
Chapter Twenty-Three: I'm overthinking things.
Chapter Twenty-Three: In the End: I Was Overthinking It
"Holy crap, this is delicious! My mom's cooking never smells this good."
The food was devoured as soon as it was served, and Li Yifan finished two bowls of rice without showing any sign of stopping.
Grandma Hou chuckled as she looked at her: "Look at what you're saying, Xiaona's cooking is quite good."
“No, I’m nowhere near as good as you, Grandma,” Li Yifan replied between chewing. “Besides, my mom is busy and usually doesn’t cook at home, so I eat very little.”
Half-left-behind children are most understood by lonely elderly people. Grandma Hou felt sorry for him and saw that he ate the most braised pork, so she simply pushed a whole plate in front of him.
After pushing the cart away, he picked up a few more pieces of stewed beef brisket and gave them to Xiang Yu and Gu Chen.
"Xiaoyu loves this beef brisket, Xiaochen, you should try some too."
"Just by looking at the color, you can tell it tastes amazing." Gu Chen didn't rush to eat, and only started eating after hearing that Xiang Yu also liked it and gave him a few pieces.
Grandma Hou loved to feed her grandson, and with Gu Chen added to the mix, Xiang Yu's bowl was already overflowing with meat.
Seeing that Grandma Hou was just smiling and watching the three of them eat, while barely touching her own chopsticks, Xiang Yu said with concern, "Grandma, don't pick up any more food, eat some yourself too."
“Yes, Grandma, you should eat too. Eating fish is good for your health.” Gu Chen responded to his family at the table, picked up a piece of fish belly with his chopsticks and handed it to Grandma Hou’s bowl. After that, he began to launch into a long speech, talking about what nutrients fish contains and what benefits it has for the body, without treating himself as an outsider at all.
Grandma Hou didn't mind his talkativeness at all. She listened to him with great pleasure, her smile spreading across her face. "Xiao Chen is such a nice person. He's so talkative. No wonder Xiao Yu brought you back for dinner."
"Has my deskmate never brought classmates over for dinner?" Gu Chen's tone became much lighter upon hearing this, and after receiving a positive answer again, he said confidently, "Of course, my deskmate and I are very close!"
"Xiao Yu is a quiet person, and I'm worried he won't make any friends at his new school." Grandma Hou sighed as she said this: "I'm useless, I can't keep up with Xiao Yu's school life. If his parents were here, Xiao Yu wouldn't have had to transfer schools."
The topic was clearly out of place, so Gu Chen didn't continue the conversation, but instead started over from where he left off: "How could that be? My classmates all like my deskmate. He's a kind and good-hearted person. I remember the first time we met was with him—"
Things were getting out of hand, so Xiang Yu quickly nudged Gu Chen's leg with his own. Gu Chen stopped talking and looked at him sideways, while the latter picked up a mouthful of rice and chewed without changing his expression.
"What's wrong with our first meeting?" Grandma Hou listened attentively, not paying much attention to the little interaction between the two. When he stopped, she asked, "Xiao Chen, please continue."
"The first time I met him was when he was helping someone. A lot of people praised him at the time." Gu Chen felt that the other party probably didn't want the old man to know about subduing the criminal, so he glossed over it and didn't mention it: "He also helped a classmate with his studies at school. After the exam, that classmate praised him to me and said that he was sure to win this time."
"And my deskmate is good-looking. Many people in the school say he's the school heartthrob, and they all like him."
Gu Chen didn't mention anything he shouldn't have, like hitting someone or reading a self-criticism. Xiang Yu breathed a sigh of relief, worried that this guy might not be able to keep his mouth shut. He casually picked up a piece of sweet and sour pork ribs and gave it to Gu Chen: "Eat quickly, don't say anything, the food is going to get cold."
Whether intentional or not, the person at the table puts food on their plate.
Gu Chen got excited and ate several mouthfuls in a row, filling Xiang Yu's bowl again, which was almost empty: "Eat more, classmate. Grandma cooks so well, how come you're still so thin? If you were a mouse, you would have already broken the 200-pound mark."
Grandma Hou could hardly disagree: "Xiao Chen said it to my heart. Xiao Yu just doesn't eat much. I worry about him not eating well at school."
Gu Chen said, "Grandma, don't worry. My classmate eats breakfast and lunch with me during the week, so I'll keep an eye on him for you."
"That's great! Thank you, Grandma. Xiaoyu is so lucky to have a friend like you."
"Having such a deskmate is a blessing for me."