Ying Yunsheng bent down to pick up the pen that had fallen to the ground. When he stood up, he saw the person next to him looking down at his draft paper. He subconsciously raised his hand to cover it.
Ji Li looked at him: "What are you blocking?"
"Uh..." There was nothing shameful on the draft paper; it was just a sketch he drew based on the topic, but it belonged to the abstract style that only he could understand.
Ying Yunsheng moved his hand away: "There's nothing to see."
Ji Li looked at what was on his paper: "You drew a banana?"
“Uh…” Ying Yunsheng said, “This is a cylindrical cross-section.”
This was the first time Ji Li had ever seen a draft that could depict mathematical geometry in an artistic way. After thinking for several seconds, he finally came up with a sentence: "That's pretty good. It can prevent cheating during exams."
“Uh…” Ying Yunsheng didn’t want to talk.
Ji Li poked him with the pen cap: "Are you angry?"
Ying Yunsheng scribbled on the paper without making a sound.
Ji Li: "Are you really angry?"
He remained silent.
Ji Li reached for his draft notebook, quickly made a few strokes, and handed it over.
Ying Yunsheng looked up and saw a string of lifelike bananas on the paper, followed by the words: For you.
After a few seconds of no reaction from him, Ji Li took the draft notebook, added a few strokes, and handed it back.
Next to the banana, there was a pair of apples growing side by side, along with the caption: "What if we add this?"
Before Ying Yunsheng could figure out how the other person had managed to create the light and shadow effects with just a ballpoint pen, the person next to him snatched the notebook back.
The third time it was handed over, an orange was added to the drawing.
The fourth time, there were two more strawberries.
The fifth time took a little longer, and when it was returned, there was an extra bunch of grapes.
...
Ying Yunsheng finally put down his notebook. Since the teacher couldn't speak from the podium, he wrote on the paper: "Why draw this?"
A few seconds later, the notebook was returned.
"To coax you."
Ying Yunsheng felt a slight pang in his heart.
Ji Li continued writing: "Right now, I'm just painting. I'll treat you to fruit salad tonight."
Ying Yunsheng picked up his pen and wrote: "When did you learn to paint?"
While composition might be attributed to talent, the variations in light and shadow are clearly something only someone with an artistic background could create.
"I studied it for a few years in junior high school."
Do you like it?
"It's alright." After all, he couldn't use his phone for long periods of time in the hospital, so he had to find something else to do besides reading and doing exercises to pass the time.
He didn't write those words, but started a new line: "However, after I entered high school, my weekends became one day off a week, so I stopped studying."
Ying Yunsheng asked instinctively, "Can you draw people?"
For those unfamiliar with art, the standard for judging whether someone has studied painting is mostly whether they can draw real people.
"So-so," Ji Li thought for a moment and added, "probably about the same level as your geometry drawing skills."
Ying Yunsheng: "..."
He wasn't sure if it was just his imagination, but he felt like the other person had deliberately added that last sentence.
Ji Li: "Moreover, if I want to see someone all the time, I prefer to take a picture rather than draw it to observe it."
.
The training camp lasted for a week. As the competition approached, the team leader booked tickets for everyone to go to a neighboring province for the final competition.
They took the high-speed train, a journey of more than two hours, and after getting off the train, they had to take a bus for almost the same amount of time to get to the hotel.
After an afternoon of driving, everyone was a little listless.
Ji Li nodded his head, and suddenly, as he passed a speed bump, his body lurched forward with inertia. Just as he was about to hit the seat in front of him, the person next to him reached out and cushioned his head.
Ying Yunsheng pressed his forehead: "Do you want to lean on me and sleep for a while?"
Ji Li did not refuse, rested her head on his shoulder, and soon fell asleep due to exhaustion.
The car kept stopping and starting, but Ying Yunsheng didn't feel tired. He watched the scenery outside the window recede like a reflection until a buzzing vibration suddenly started.
He looked down and called out softly, "Ji Li."
The person on my shoulder was half asleep, and I instinctively nuzzled against his neck a couple of times: "What's wrong?"
"Your phone."
"Could you get this for me?"
The phone was in his coat pocket. Ying Yunsheng reached in, took it out, and glanced at the contact name: "It's Lin Chengshuang."
At this point, Lin Chengshuang should have been at home battling wits with her tutor, and once again trying to "escape," which is why she called and made a scene.
Ji Li dismissed the man with a few words, telling Ying Yunsheng to hang up the phone: "Put your phone on silent."
Ying Yunsheng: "What if someone comes looking for you later?"
“The call will still be displayed even if it’s on silent.” Ji Li didn’t even open his eyes. “Just answer it.”
Ying Yunsheng rarely uses smartphones. After studying how to change the mode and setting it up, he exited the interface and was about to press the screen-off button when his hand suddenly stopped.
He saw the photo set as the background on the screen.
It's a photo of someone shooting a basketball on a court.
It's his photo.
Because of this photo, even after the car arrived at its destination, everyone had dinner at the restaurant, and the hotel rooms were assigned, he stood by the bed in his room, his mind still a complete mess.
What keeps echoing in my mind is what the other person said in class that day: "If I want to see someone all the time, I prefer to take a picture rather than draw it to observe it."
Ji Li finished packing her luggage and turned around to find the other person standing motionless: "Are you free tonight?"
Ying Yunsheng asked blankly, "What?"
"Let me schedule a time with you tonight."
.
Across the intersection from the hotel is a trade plaza.
The teacher accompanying the group gave them a brief talk and reviewed the question types again. By the time they were all gone and allowed to go home to rest, it was almost nine o'clock.
Ying Yunsheng followed Ji Li downstairs, walked out of the revolving door, and only remembered to ask, "Where are we going?" after they had crossed the street.
Ji Li was typing something with someone on the other end of the screen when he heard the question and sighed helplessly: "Don't you remember what day it is today?"
Ying Yunsheng looked completely bewildered.
Ji Li didn't explain much, and pulled him into a chain dessert shop near the supermarket.
The shop is not large, but it is beautifully decorated. The customers are either couples sitting opposite each other or families sitting around a table.
Ji Li pointed to an empty seat and said, "Sit down and wait for me."
After saying that, he went to the front desk alone.
Ying Yunsheng couldn't hear what the other person was saying to the receptionist from where he was sitting; he could only see the other person's slightly bent-over back.
Ji Li didn't keep him waiting long before returning and pulling out the chair opposite him.
The waitress followed him over with a tray, arranging the items on the table one by one, and finally placing a pack of blue candles on the table, smiling as she said, "Please enjoy your meal."
Ying Yunsheng stared at the small paper packet containing the candle, and suddenly realized something.
Ji Li picked out the number candles "ten" and "six" and stuck them on the cake sprinkled with chocolate shavings and cocoa powder, then lit them with a lighter: "I originally wanted to tell you after dinner, although it's delayed until now, but fortunately there's still time."
Ying Yunsheng stared at him blankly: "You suddenly asked me at the bakery that day if I was free the week after next... was it because of this?"
"Um."
"So you joined the training camp because of this?"
Ji Li turned the pattern on the cake around: "Part of the reason is that our math teacher is too talkative when he tries to persuade people."
Ying Yunsheng stared at the candles on the cake, the warm yellow light making his eyes swell.
Ji Li put down the lighter, her eyes and brows bathed in the warm glow of the candlelight, and smiled at him, saying, "Happy birthday."
Ying Yunsheng pursed her lips tightly, and after a long while, she closed her eyes briefly.
My vision suddenly blurred.
Ji Li panicked instantly, frantically wiping away his tears: "Don't cry."
Ying Yunsheng lowered his eyes: "I didn't."
Tears, however, flowed silently down her cheeks and chin like a burst dam, splashing onto the table in a dazzling, shimmering display.
If you didn't see it with your own eyes, you would never imagine that someone sitting so upright in their seat, whose voice didn't even tremble slightly when answering, actually had tears streaming down their face.
This was the first time Ji Li had ever seen him cry. At a loss, all she could do was wipe away his tears again and again and apologize to him, saying, "I'm sorry."
The other person's voice was low and hoarse: "What are you apologizing for?"
Ji Li: "I shouldn't have taken so long to order a cake, I shouldn't have used smoking candles, and I shouldn't have waited so long to wish you a happy birthday."
"Uh..." Ying Yunsheng couldn't help but smile, but he stopped crying.
Ji Li tore off a tissue: "It's all my fault, don't cry."
Ying Yunsheng shook his head, his eyes still red and moist: "It's none of your business."
Ji Li raised her hand to cover his eyes: "Make a wish."
Ying Yunsheng obediently let himself close his eyes.
Aside from his temperament, Ying Yunsheng is like a child in every way. He likes chocolate, likes playing basketball, is unbalanced in his studies, frowns when someone asks him to recite, is a bit slow to warm up to people, and has a slight difficulty in refusing requests for help.