Gu Chen clicked on the other person's profile picture, wanting to see their Moments.
—Friends only show posts from the last three days—
"..."
Gu Chen couldn't resist opening his WeChat Moments and posting an update.
Gu Chen: [Frustrated].jpg
I sent a yellow face emoji, but then felt it didn't express the emotion enough, so I immediately sent another one.
Gu Chen: [Disappointed].jpg
Gu Chen: [Pouting].jpg
Gu Chen: [Sad].jpg
Gu Chen: [Almost crying].jpg
After sending this message, a pop-up window appeared on my phone showing that I had received a reply.
-Mouse: ? Brother Chen, something's wrong with you. Your five consecutive expressions are exactly like my cousin who's in the throes of first love.
!
Gu Chen felt guilty, as if his secret had been exposed, and turned off his phone.
Damn, what do you mean by a teenage girl having romantic feelings?
But after a short while, she couldn't resist clicking back, opening the chat window with Wang Zehao, organizing her thoughts in the input field, and lingering for a while before finally sending a message.
Gu Chen: Mouse, tell me about the specific signs that your cousin is experiencing teenage romance.
Wang Zehao, who was in Sanya, was enjoying local cuisine with his parents when he saw the message pop up and choked on his soup, spitting it out.
He quickly grabbed a few napkins to wipe his mouth and the mess on the table in front of him.
His mother, Wang, glared at him and said, "Don't look at your phone while eating."
Wang Zehao quickly explained, "No, I'm replying to Brother Chen's message."
Upon hearing that it was Gu Chen, Wang's mother's expression softened, but she looked at him suspiciously and asked, "Why did Xiao Chen send you a message?"
"Well... something just doesn't seem right." Wang Zehao quickly summarized the situation to his parents, adding at the end, "Chen-ge's reaction is just like my cousin's. Could he be in a relationship?"
Wang Zehao got into gossiping, but his mother ruthlessly extinguished his enthusiasm.
"Forget it." Every girl has had her moments of infatuation; everyone's been through that age. But Wang's mother watched Gu Chen grow up and knows him quite well: "What kind of infatuation is Xiao Chen having? Didn't some girls confess to him back in middle school and end up crying after he lectured them?"
It was Wang Zehao who told her about this. When Wang Zehao thought about it and then thought about Gu Chen's usual behavior, he realized that he had been overthinking it.
"That's right, the chances of my brother Chen dating are about the same as if I were first in my class."
Hearing this, Wang's mother couldn't help but slap him on the back, saying, "Can't you be a little more sensible!"
"Mom, I was wrong, Mom," Wang Zehao replied while grinning to cover up his mistake.
Gu Chen was about to exit WeChat when he saw that Wang Zehao hadn't replied for a long time when he suddenly saw a new message in the chat box.
-Mouse: She either sends pure emojis or pure text. I don't really understand this, but you can tell something's off about her just by looking at her...
While Gu Chen was chatting with Wang Zehao, Xiang Yu was watching TV in the living room, getting bored.
I'm not watching anymore.
Xiang Yu turned off the TV, picked up his phone and browsed around randomly. He opened WeChat and saw five similar posts in a row on his Moments.
"..." Xiang Yu didn't know what was wrong with the other person. Looking at these thoughts, she wondered if he had something on his mind.
He didn't understand.
I then replied to the last post on the other person's social media feed, which featured a picture of someone who was about to cry.
Gu Chen was having a lively conversation with Wang Zehao, who listed out the signs of a young girl in love. He felt that he had basically described all of them, and just as he was feeling guilty, a message popped up on his phone.
-East Corner: ?
The loud 'bang' was quite a commotion.
Gu Chen's hand trembled, and his phone fell straight to the ground.
Are you alright?
As Gu Chen bent down to pick up his phone, he looked up and saw that Xiang Yu had moved from the living room to the bedroom doorway and was now standing there looking at him.
[Author's Note: Xiang Yu: I don't understand, what's wrong with this guy's brain all day?]
Chapter Thirty-One: I feel you look familiar.
Chapter Thirty-One: You Look Familiar
"It's nothing." Gu Chen picked up his phone and put it in his pocket, laughing heartily at the other person's questioning gaze: "I couldn't hold it, hahaha."
"..." That's typical of him.
Xiang Yu, unsuspecting, left behind the words "Call me if you need anything" and disappeared through the bedroom door.
"Phew—" Gu Chen breathed a sigh of relief after he left, and took out his phone again to open the chat window with Wang Zehao.
Gu Chen: Could you elaborate?
-Mouse: More details? It's not like I'm a young girl in love, how am I supposed to explain it to you in detail?
-Mouse: [This is really giving me a headache].jpg
Gu Chen: Sigh, alright then.
Gu Chen was distressed because he had lost his source of reference.
Gu Chen: Then I'll figure it out myself.
-Mouse: ...Brother, if you're really curious, why don't we look it up?
-Mouse: Just search it on Baidu, and you'll know.
"Great idea!" Gu Chen's eyes lit up.
Gu Chen: Okay, I'll go check it out.
Gu Chen: [Thank you, my dear friend].jpg
"..." Wang Zehao's lips twitched as he looked at the outdated emoji that even his grandmother wouldn't use.
That's it? His brother Chen has finally found a girlfriend?
It's more plausible that he suddenly had a breakthrough in his studies and ranked first in his grade.
Grandma Hou worked quickly and efficiently in the kitchen, preparing a porridge and two dishes in just over half an hour, and also making an extra plate of egg pancakes.
"Dinner's ready!" Grandma Hou called out, and the people in the living room and bedrooms immediately stopped what they were doing and sat down at the dining table one after another.
Gu Chen was the last to come out. When he came out after searching on Baidu, Li Yifan had already gotten up and was staring at the bowl of congee with preserved egg and lean pork on the table, sniffing the aroma. Gu Chen walked to the table and was stunned. He couldn't sit down immediately. He had gotten used to it over the past few days. No matter where he was, as long as he was with Xiang Yu, the seat next to her would always be his.
Now, the corner seat at the square dining table is already occupied.
"Xiao Chen? What are you doing? Sit down quickly." Grandma Hou brought over a bowl, chopsticks, and spoon. Seeing Gu Chen standing at the table without sitting down, she urged him with a smile.
"Okay." Gu Chen took a few more steps and sat down next to Li Yifan. Xu Lin, who was playing on his phone, looked up at him and gave him a raised eyebrow and a smile.
Provocation, blatant provocation.
The other party even showed a hint of inexplicable hostility, but Gu Chen didn't react to it. He got up and smiled as he helped Grandma Hou distribute the bowls, chopsticks, and spoons to everyone.
They completely ignored the other party.
This meal felt like a silent battle. Gu Chen served Xiang Yu shredded potatoes, and Xu Lin immediately followed with a chopstick of cabbage. Gu Chen made a pancake for Xiang Yu, and Xu Lin promptly added porridge to Xiang Yu's plate.
Following the principle of not wasting food, Xiang Yu was forced to eat more than half the usual amount during the meal, and at the end, he sat in his seat burping.
"Hiccup." Xiang Yu didn't leave the dining table. He frowned and hiccuped, looking at the two people in the kitchen vying to help Grandma Hou with the chores. At that moment, he had only one thought.
They've gone mad, they've all gone mad.
"Brother." Seeing how uncomfortable he looked, Li Yifan took a box of digestive tablets from his suitcase and handed it to him. These were packed by Ms. Sun when she packed his luggage; she hadn't thought they'd be of much use. "Want some?"
"Thanks~" Xiang Yu tried hard to suppress the urge to hiccup: "Thank you."
After saying that, he popped two pieces into his mouth, chewed them a few times, and swallowed them.
"Brother, is there a movie theater around here?" Li Yifan sat down with his phone, opened a movie showing him during the National Day holiday, and said, "I've been waiting for this martial arts action movie for a long time."
"What martial arts action movie?" Xu Lin, who had good hearing, heard the keyword while busy washing the cutting board in the kitchen and immediately asked loudly, "Is it the one that just started showing today?"
"Yes, yes, yes."
"I'd like to see that too, Yu'er, shall we go together?" Xu Lin quickly hung up the washed cutting board, dried his hands, took out his phone, and came out: "I'll book the tickets, three tickets, right?"
"Why are you buying tickets?" Grandma Hou said hurriedly when she heard that they wanted to see a movie. "Dalinzi, you're not allowed to spend money. Yifan wants to see a movie, how can I let you spend money? Xiaoyu, you buy the tickets for him."
After saying that, he asked Gu Chen, "Xiao Chen, why don't you go too?"
"Oh, I'm fine with anything." Gu Chen smiled again: "Grandma, you should come along too."
Grandma Hou said, "Oh, why should I join in your young people's hobbies? You guys go ahead and do it."
The final tickets were for the 7 PM show, and the four of them left home around 6 PM.
On the way to Zhonghang Commercial Plaza, Xiang Yu was in a daze as he was squeezed between Xu Lin and Gu Chen.
Well, how should I put it?
It's like a fucking dream.
Xiang Yu sighed. He didn't like foreign martial arts movies at all. He would rather spend that time at home leisurely doing two sets of math tests than do this.
Zhonghang Plaza is an integrated entertainment shopping mall that was built last year. However, currently, apart from the rooftop cinema and the restaurants on the first floor, the other floors are under renovation.
If you go to Xiangyu's house, you'll pass an underground parking lot. There's a direct elevator there, which is very convenient to go from the basement to the top floor.
The four entered the parking lot and went to the elevator door. There were already several people waiting for the elevator there. Xiang Yu and his friends lined up behind them. The people in front of them looked young and were probably female students who had come to see a movie together. In addition, there was a student couple.
The people in front of me were behaving strangely, and while waiting for the elevator, they kept glancing in one direction.
"Should we call the police?" the girl in front tugged at her boyfriend's hand and whispered.
"Don't call the police." The couple were both young, around junior or high school age. When the boy looked over there and met the gaze of one of them, his expression changed and he immediately lowered his head, saying, "They're just looking for some money to spend, they won't hurt anyone. It wouldn't be good if they remembered us."