As usual, Gu Chen thoughtfully brought milk, soy milk, and bread for everyone's breakfast.
The subway should be nearly empty at this time of day on the weekend, but the seats were packed with people.
The six people were not able to sit together; they were scattered.
Gu Chen pulled Xiang Yu to sit on the edge. There was a girl next to them, but Gu Chen didn't want to get too close to her, so he squeezed towards his deskmate. Their thighs were touching and their knees were together. Gu Chen's body temperature always seemed to be very high. During the National Day holiday, when the two of them slept in the same bed, as long as Gu Chen lay down first, the blankets were always warm.
Now, the other person's body temperature was seeping through the two layers of sweatpants to his legs, and for some reason, Xiangyu felt his face getting hot.
'Buzz—' The phone, which was in my pocket, vibrated and I opened the chat interface.
【Haunted House Adventure Team】
Wang Zehao: Brother Chen, is your birthday coming up soon? What gift do you want? @Gu Chen
Since the seats were some distance apart, Wang Zehao chose to send a message to inquire.
Birthday?
Xiang Yu glanced at Gu Chen, who had been staring at the person next to him ever since he sat down.
Xiang Yu nudged him and handed him his phone.
After reading the message, Gu Chen took out his phone to reply.
Gu Chen: Whatever, I'll keep everything you send me.
Gu Chen: I'll treat you to hot pot then.
Wang Zehao: ...
Yang Shuhuan: ...The usual place?
-Gu Chen: [That's great]. jpg
Xu Youluo: ? What old place?
-Wang Zehao: ...You'll find out when the time comes.
Xiang Yu watched them chat, pondering what gift to give Gu Chen.
He only ever gave Xu Lin a gift: a new pair of basketball shoes every year. The affordable model of the series that Xu Lin liked cost several thousand yuan.
Gu Chen also plays basketball, and Xiang Yu is wondering whether to give him a pair of new basketball shoes.
"Hey, look over here," Gu Chen whispered in Xiang Yu's ear.
Xiang Yu looked to his side and saw a girl skillfully knitting something with two plastic needles; judging from the beginnings, it was probably a hat.
"Hmm..." Xiang Yu looked at him and saw that he was still staring intently at the textile in the other person's hand.
I understand.
Xiangyu had already planned to send the other party a high-quality hat.
Gu Chen, a girl with skillful hands, leaned closer and whispered, "I've always felt that handmade things are better than store-bought ones."
"Uh-huh?"
Xiang Yu frowned, sensing that things weren't so simple.
Gu Chen didn't notice the other person's expression and continued, "I like white and blue color schemes. Actually, it mainly depends on the sentiment. For example, if you knitted something for me, even if it's ugly, I'll wear it all winter."
Despite the obvious hints from the other party, Xiangyu still intended to refuse.
He wouldn't know how to do that.
"I……"
"When he was little, Haozi's mother often knitted gloves, scarves, and hats for him. Some of the sweaters Huanhuan wears now were also hand-knitted by his mother." Gu Chen sighed as he said this.
"Sigh, I'm so envious."
"..." Why do I feel like I can't refuse?
[Author's Note: Xiang Yu: I think people shouldn't, or at least shouldn't.]
Chapter Thirty-Eight: Gu Chen Comes to Desk Mate, We Give Up Our Seats to Others
Chapter Thirty-Eight: Gu Chen: Come sit next to me, let's give up our seats for others.
Xiang Yu stared at the girl's nimble fingers, wondering what else her hands could do besides swinging people.
However, as he looked at the girl, Gu Chen looked at him with eyes practically shooting stars at him.
"We'll see." Xiang Yu couldn't give him an immediate answer, which was a polite way of declining.
Knitting is out of the question; spending nearly ten thousand yuan to buy a pair of sneakers as a gift is better than knitting yarn.
"Okay, deskmate, I'm looking forward to it."
"?"
Xiang Yu felt that this guy definitely knew what he meant, but was just pretending not to understand.
The subway arrived at another station, the university town of X city. As soon as the doors opened, a group of college students, mostly women, rushed in.
-Wang Zehao: Holy crap, what day is it today? Why are there so many people?
The phone vibrated, and the group chat resumed.
Yang Shuhuan: Why don't you ask?
Wang Zehao: No way, there are so many people, I'm socially awkward. [shy]
Yang Shuhuan: [Eye roll].jpg
-Yang Shuhuan: Do you have some misunderstanding about the term "social anxiety"?
"Excuse me, sister." Gu Chen looked at the chat history and struck up a conversation with a girl who had just boarded the subway and was currently leaning against the partition on the side of the subway. Judging from her clothes and the location of the university town, Gu Chen was almost certain to get the girl to go out so early on the weekend. "Why are you out so early on the weekend?"
The female college student who was being talked to looked quite young. She was immediately impressed by the handsome man who had called her and was smiling at her.
"The amusement park in the new urban area is finished. Celebrities are filming variety shows and doing advertisements there, so we all go there."
"I see." Gu Chen smiled and said, "Thank you, sister~"
The girl wanted to continue chatting, but Gu Chen lowered his head and started staring at his phone. She couldn't say anything more even with her mouth open, so she had to give up.
Separated from the two by a seat partition and Xiang Yu, Xiang Yu observed their behavior closely, pursed his lips, and remained silent, continuing to observe their chat in the group.
-Gu Chen: There are celebrities filming variety shows at the amusement park, and these people are all there to see the celebrities.
-Wang Zehao: Goodness, that means there are a huge number of people.
-Yang Shuhuan: I guess it's about being prepared to queue.
-Gu Chen: On the bright side, if everyone goes to see the celebrities, fewer people will probably participate in the activities.
"Look at this, deskmate." Gu Chenchao leaned towards the corner, and seeing the other person's lips curl into a smile, he couldn't help but smile as well, asking, "What are you laughing at?"
"No, I just remembered something happy." Xiang Yu's smile was still there. The two were very close. He looked up at Gu Chen and asked, "What are you looking at?"
"Look at you... no, look at this video." Xiang Yu's smile had a different feel than usual. Gu Chen liked seeing her smile. He was a little distracted for a moment, stammered a couple of times, hurriedly took out his Bluetooth earphones from his pocket, gave one to her, and then opened the video on his phone.
The two shared one earphone, and Xiangyu discovered that this guy not only liked to take photos with his phone but also liked to record videos, one after another, covering a wide range of topics.
"This was recorded when I was helping out at the drama club. I must say, my cousins did a pretty good job, didn't they?"
"This was recorded by Haozi and the others when they were doing a human pyramid in the dorm before you transferred here, hahaha."
"This was taken by a teacher when the orphanage took them to play 'Eagle Catches Chicks'."
"This is an erhu played by an old man at a nursing home. I recorded the whole thing."
Gu Chen's voice was very soft, only Xiang Yu could hear it. Xiang Yu noticed that Gu Chen spoke very gently whenever he lowered his voice.
He likes it very much.
Xiang Yu stared at his phone, not noticing that Gu Chen had switched to several different videos, his mind filled with Gu Chen's voice.
-Xu Youqing: We're almost at the station. Everyone, please stop playing on your phones, wearing headphones, or playing games for a moment.
A group chat window popped up on his phone. Gu Chen glanced at the schedule, turned off his phone after the video ended, and took off his own earphones while also removing the one for Xiang Yu.
"Don't touch it." Gu Chen's fingers accidentally brushed against Xiang Yu's earlobe. Xiang Yu was startled by the touch and reflexively pushed the other's hand away. Gu Chen had just touched the edge of the earphone when Xiang Yu pushed it away, and he lost his grip. The Bluetooth earphone fell into the other's collar.
"Hey." Gu Chen stood up abruptly, grabbing the other person's collar to reach for it. "Let me get it."
*Smack!*
Xiang Yu slapped the other person's hand away, shook his clothes, and his earphones fell out from under his clothes.
"Here you go." Xiang Yu glanced at Gu Chen, placed the earphone in the other's palm, rubbed his red, bleeding earlobe, pursed his lips, and looked to the side, looking uncomfortable.
As the subway pulled into the station, a girl in a JK uniform near the door kept glancing in their direction. Seeing the subway slowly come to a stop, she seemed to have made up her mind. She took out her phone, opened WeChat, and walked over, her cheeks slightly flushed, looking at Xiang Yu with her lips slightly parted, "Um, excuse me, could you…"
Before he could finish speaking, Gu Chen nodded decisively and said, "Okay."
"Huh?" The girl hadn't reacted yet when she saw Gu Chen pull Xiang Yu, who was still sitting there, up.
"Hey, deskmate, hurry up! Let's give her our seats when we get there. It's inconvenient for her wearing a skirt." Xiang Yu was pulled up by Gu Chen with a bewildered look on his face. He smiled at the girl and said, "You can sit down. We've arrived at our stop."
After saying that, he pulled Xiang Yu out of the subway door, where Wang Zehao and the others were already waiting.
"Hey, Yu-ge, something's up." Wang Zehao nudged Xiang Yu with his elbow. "A girl asked for your WeChat?"
"Move aside, that girl is asking for a seat."
Wang Zehao looked at Gu Chenyi's righteous expression speechlessly. "Brother Chen, you've definitely ruined my brother Yu's plans." He then gestured with his chin toward the window, "Look at that girl's resentful little eyes, she's definitely not looking for a seat."
Gu Chen was slightly taken aback. He turned around and saw the girl from before looking at him resentfully through the window. She pouted and then turned away again.
"Sigh." Xu Youqing sighed as she looked at the map on her phone and saw that the boys' minds were still on the subway that had just left.
Gu Chen insisted that Xiang Yu must have come looking for a seat, but the latter seemed unwilling to continue the conversation.
Seeing them like that, Xu Youqing rolled her eyes, thinking to herself that even the most reliable people become unreliable when they're in love.
Huanqing Amusement Park is fully equipped, and you can see a luxurious Ferris wheel standing in the distance from the entrance. In Wang Zehao's words, he had heard about this amusement park since junior high school, but it had never opened despite constant advertising.
The group bought a combined ticket for all the entertainment. As they passed the central open-air performance stage, Wang Zehao looked at the huge crowd and sighed.
"Holy crap, there are so many people! Which celebrities are they? Why aren't they listed on the flyers?"
Yang Shuhuan glanced at him and said, "They're here to record a variety show, not to entertain fans. How can we record a variety show with so many people?"