"Hmm?" Yan Shu looked up at the person in front of her. The boy's face superimposed into the mature man he was now, a man who was born to be the protagonist.
"What are you daydreaming about?" Mu Yang pulled a small box from his pocket. "This is for you."
"Thank you." Yan Shu took the box. "I didn't know you were coming back, so I didn't prepare any gift." She smiled apologetically.
"Do we really need to become this estranged?" Mu Yang's smile seemed to have vanished, the smile that was like a mask.
Yan Shu gently turned her face away, ignoring everything: "Why isn't Xiao Wei here yet?"
"She's not coming," Mu Yang said, taking a sip of the green tea he had just ordered. "She called to say she doesn't want to bother us anymore."
He chuckled dryly, "Xiao Wei really loves to joke."
"You're not kidding, are you?" Mu Yang stared at her, as if determined to force her to look him in the eye. "Lover reunited after a long separation shouldn't be disturbed."
"Mu Yang, I...we..." Yan Shu didn't know what to say for a moment. Really, so many years have passed, why am I still so tongue-tied in front of Mu Yang?
Suddenly, the music of "long long ago" came from the bag, and Yan Shu exclaimed: My savior has arrived. "I need to take this call. -- Hello, Asen? ... Okay, I'll be right there..." Before she could finish speaking, Mu Yang took the phone away.
"I'm sorry." Although Mu Yang said this, he didn't actually do anything to apologize. "Hello, is this Asen?"
"Mu Yang!" Yang Sen shouted from the other end of the line. Mu Yang is back!
"Yes, it's me. No need to get so excited," Mu Yang said with a smile.
"You're back. Why didn't you say anything?" Yang Sen found a sofa and sat down. "Were you with that stupid woman, Xiao Shu?"
"Yes," Mu Yang nodded, "In fact, we were having a very engaging conversation."
"I understand. Here, take this silly woman back. Take good care of her! It's okay if she doesn't come back tonight! Goodbye!" He said loudly and slammed the phone down.
Meanwhile, Mu Yang handed the phone back to Yan Shu: "You heard everything? I think we have plenty of time to talk."
How could I not hear that! Ah Sen, he deliberately spoke so loudly, how embarrassing!
"So, Xiao Shu, why did you act so strangely when you saw me just now?"
"Who told you to come back so suddenly?" She twirled the herbal tea in her hand. The shopkeeper said it was something good for the soul. She didn't like coffee, but Xiao Wei and Yang Sen really enjoyed it. However, Xiao Wei preferred the acidity of Blue Mountain coffee, while Yang Sen preferred the rich aroma of Colombian coffee.
"Really?" Mu Yang smiled. "Is it because I suddenly came back, or because you think I won't be coming back?"
She looked up at Mu Yang, but he wasn't smiling; his face was serious. Mu Yang who wouldn't be coming back? Was that it? She turned her gaze to the window, where sunlight made the shop's curtains appear transparent.
Mu Yang will never return? Is that so?
3
It's Friday afternoon again.
Yan Shu walked along the path towards Mu Yang's art studio. She knew this path well and loved the scenery—tall plane trees lined both sides, sunlight filtering through the gaps, not glaring, light and shadow dancing on the ground. She quite liked Mu Yang's school. The school was large and had many trees—unlike her own school, which had plenty of lawns but few trees—this school always seemed serene and grand, and there were few people on this path, allowing her to walk slowly and leisurely, which felt very pleasant.
"Hey, Yan Shu's here." The boy who had just come out of the art studio saw her and led her inside. Actually, if she could, she hoped no one would see her, because—
"Muyang, your sister's here!" Muyang's classmate said, then looked at Yan Shu and gave her a knowing smile. Yan Shu stood awkwardly to the side, feeling very uncomfortable.
Honestly, it's always like this. Mu Yang's classmate is already quite familiar with her. The first time she came to see Mu Yang, he asked her to sit down, and his classmate immediately asked, "Mu Yang, your girlfriend's here?"
She was very embarrassed, and Mu Yang didn't explain, just smiled. She stood there, both anxious and awkward: how could she possibly be Mu Yang's girlfriend?
From then on, every time she visited, Mu Yang's classmates would say, "Mu Yang, your girlfriend's here." Finally, she realized Mu Yang was too lazy to explain, so she had to clarify for herself: "I'm not Mu Yang's girlfriend!"
"Oh." Mu Yang's classmate looked at her. "What's that?"
"I...I'm his neighbor, at most his sister." She blushed and finally managed to explain.
"Oh, it's your little sister." Mu Yang's classmate nodded, and from then on, every time he went over, he would say, "Mu Yang, your little sister is here." Then he would give her the habitual, ambiguous smile.
Sighing helplessly. Is Mu Yang's classmate really that awful, or are all architecture students like that?
"Why are you sighing?" Mu Yang smiled as he watched Yan Shu fidgeting nervously to the side. Why did she seem more and more anxious each time?
"No..." Yan Shu shook her head, and seeing Mu Yang's probing expression, she could only say, "Your classmate always does this..."
"Oh, you're cuter." Seeing Yan Shu's face turn red, Mu Yang said seriously, "Don't pay attention to them, they're the ones who are worse." It seems necessary to "discuss" this with his classmates; if things continue like this, Xiao Shu won't dare to come to him anymore. He had been waiting for Xiao Shu to arrive at the same time.
"Oh." Yan Shu nodded helplessly. Really, the way they were doing this made it seem like she and Mu Yang had some kind of ambiguous relationship.
Pushing open the door of "Suibian" (meaning "whatever"), they were greeted by the boss's warm smile as always.
"Muyang and Xiaoshu." The owner, standing behind the bar, pointed to the reserved seat by the window and said, "You're late today." Xiaowei was sitting there looking at the documents in her hands, her face serious.
"What would you like to drink today?" The owner handed them today's menu.
Mu Yang glanced at it briefly, then told her what she wanted: 101 cups of something.
The boss thought, "What a lack of creativity," and turned to Yan Shu with a smile, asking, "What would you like, Yan Shu?" In truth, she quite liked Yan Shu, the most unassuming of the four, because only Yan Shu always carefully read through the menu she had meticulously written, unlike Mu Yang who, out of politeness, or Yang Sen, who always ordered things on a whim that weren't on the menu. As for Xiao Wei? She came in and immediately ordered a Blue Mountain coffee, not giving her a chance to speak at all.
Yan Shu looked at everything on the menu with a bit of seriousness, and finally said, "I'll just go with whatever."
Although Yan Shu always ordered the same "anything is fine," the boss thought with a wry smile.
"You're here." Xiao Wei looked up from her documents, glanced at the two people in front of her, and continued looking at her own documents.
"Xiao Wei came rather strangely today." Yan Shu sat down next to her. Xiao Wei had a bunch of numbers in her hand that annoyed her.
"Because there's nothing much going on with the student council today," Xiao Wei said, taking a sip of her Blue Mountain coffee. "It's not a good thing to keep you all waiting all the time."
"This is... last year's statistical yearbook?" Mu Yang glanced at the documents in Xiao Wei's hand.
"Yes, I have a report to write." Xiao Wei nodded, putting away the materials. "Mu Yang, the teacher asked me to ask you, are you really not planning to participate in mathematical modeling anymore?"
"I don't have that plan at the moment."
"Really?" Xiao Wei frowned. "What a pity, the teacher was hoping to trick the Americans out of another first prize."
"There are new faces, including you, Xiao Wei. As for me, once is enough, isn't it?" He smiled, then turned to Yan Shu, who was intently drinking her "whatever" and lost in thought, and asked, "Why isn't Yang Sen here yet? Did he say anything to you?"
Yan Shu shook her head: "I'm not entirely sure what he's doing either. I told him to come early."
"Hmph, that spendthrift son." Xiao Wei's voice almost came from her nostrils.
"Who's the spendthrift?" Yang Sen's angry voice interrupted as they were talking.
Everyone turned around, and Yang Sen was staring at them. Now in university, Yang Sen seemed even more unruly than in high school; his messy hair and defiant eyes seemed to constantly say, "I'm annoyed."
He plopped down in his seat: "I'm very busy too." He turned to the boss and shouted, "One 'unsatisfactory' drink."
"What kind of thing is this!" Yan Shu couldn't help but feel indignant for her boss. How could someone be like him, always looking like he was there to cause trouble?
"If I say it exists, it exists." Yang Sen didn't care. "Hmm, a statistical yearbook. What a boring thing."
Xiao Wei rolled her eyes at him and snatched the documents from his hand: "Give them back to me."
"I have some news to announce..." Yang Sen cleared his throat. Xiao Wei ignored him, instead turning to ask Yan Shu, "How have you been these past few days?"
"It's alright." Yan Shu thought for a moment, then said with a smile, "Anyway, we Chinese literature majors are just coasting along, unlike you guys, Xiao Wei. Even Yang Sen is quite elite."
Yes, the college entrance exam finally separated the four of them from the same school, although they were coincidentally in the same city: Mu Yang studied architecture, and Xiao Wei, who studied finance, attended the same prestigious university. Last year, they even participated in mathematical modeling together and won first prize in the United States; Xiao Wei had already become a member of the external relations department of the student union in her freshman year, and this year she became the vice president of the student union, just waiting for the president to step down so that Xiao Wei could take over. In that key university, the two of them still existed as exceptionally outstanding individuals. Although Yang Sen surprised the teachers by not getting into a key university and ended up in the same ordinary university as him, he studied the best major in the entire school, and his flamboyant personality made him the most conspicuous person on campus. Only he was the most unambitious, just getting a degree in the Chinese department, wasting time among various books, seemingly making useful or useless efforts for his dreams.
"He's an elite?" Xiao Wei asked incredulously, pointing at Yang Sen.
"Isn't that right?" Yan Shu thought her understanding was correct.
"I..." Yang Sen stepped between the two, "Hey..." Yang Sen called out impatiently.
"I can't tell." Xiao Wei never thought this show-off was an elite.
"Ha," Yan Shu chuckled wryly. Over the years, Xiao Wei's negative impression of Yang Sen had never changed. Honestly, she didn't know why, but she always felt that Xiao Wei's current attitude towards Yang Sen seemed to be suppressing something. Perhaps she was overthinking it.
"Hey, you guys..." Yang Sen leaned his whole body between Xiao Wei and Yan Shu, "Listen to me."
Xiao Wei and Yan Shu turned to look at him.
He sat up straight: "A band at school asked me to be their lead singer, and I agreed to give it a try."
"Boring," Xiao Wei said, adding, "Last time you said you went to the photography club, and the time before that you were a key player on the school basketball team."
"Flower arranging, flower arranging!" She was startled by the "displeasure" the shopkeeper brought her. The shopkeeper, looking displeased, said, "Here, your 'displeasure.'"
"Thanks," Yang Sen said blankly, then turned and continued, "I'm omnipotent."
Yan Shu nodded. That was true; Yang Sen was quite active at school. Almost every club asked him for help; those who were capable would lend a hand, and those who weren't would just lend a hand. Therefore, Yang Sen was very popular at school.
"Indecisive." Xiao Wei has never had a good opinion of Yang Sen.
"You have no taste, woman."
Yan Shu watched this scene with a slight urge to laugh, though such an expression would be quite inappropriate—it would earn her a beating from both of them. The two of them were always like this, yet the four of them hadn't broken up. Suddenly, she noticed Mu Yang looking at her, and somewhat awkwardly looked away, lowering her head to drink her "Suibian" (a type of Chinese liquor).
She heard Mu Yang seem to chuckle, and then she heard him say, "You two should stop playing around." He said with a smile, "Let's all try to get along peacefully."
"Who played it?" Yang Sen crossed his arms. Had he? Pointing at Xiao Wei, he said, "Wasn't it all this woman's fault for being unreasonable?"
"Who's being unreasonable!" Xiao Wei said, getting increasingly angry. "Weren't you the one who was looking for trouble?"
"Me, looking for trouble?" Yang Sen suddenly raised his voice, then sneered, "I'm the one who's making a fool of myself!"
Now, Xiao Wei remained silent, and neither did Yang Sen. Seeing this, Yan Shu quickly asked, "Xiao Wei, what else would you like to eat? I'll go buy it."
"No need." Xiao Wei finished her Blue Mountain coffee in one gulp, picked up her documents, and said, "I have a paper to write, I'm leaving now."
"Xiao Wei..." Yan Shu had no choice but to watch Xiao Wei hurriedly leave with the documents.
"Yang Sen, why are you bothering her!" Yan Shu turned around and asked Yang Sen, "You know Xiao Wei has a sharp tongue but a soft heart."
"Is that so?" Yang Sen said coldly, "Only towards me are you 'sharp-tongued and ruthless'."
"Yang Sen..." Yan Shu wanted to say something, but Yang Sen scratched his unruly hair and called out, "I'm not saying anything more." He then turned around and asked, "Mu Yang, what about yours?"
Mu Yang chuckled, his eyes sweeping over the two of them: "I'm in a worse situation than you."
"Muyang, what about yours?"
"I'm in a worse situation than you."
Yan Shu couldn't understand these two inexplicable sentences, and this confusion accompanied her all the way upstairs and into her dormitory.
In the dormitory, A-Dai looked up and glanced at her: "You're back." A-Dai was lying on the bed reading a book and biting into an apple, so his speech was a little unclear.
"Hmm." Yan Shu nodded. "Where are the others?" There was no one else in the dormitory.
"Some are studying on their own, some are working part-time, some are in relationships, and I'm the only one left with nothing to do and who's willingly wallowing in self-pity, reading leisurely books and listening to CDs."