Xie Jiaran was taken to Mingde Building by Liang Sunian, and as soon as he entered the classroom, he attracted a crowd of onlookers.
A boy joked with him: "Brother Liang, what's wrong with you? Others take girls to class, but you take your roommate. No matter how straight you are, you can't be so straight."
Liang Sunian casually put his arm on Xie Jiaran's shoulder and smiled nonchalantly: "What's wrong with roommates? I just like to bring my roommates with me. Do you have any objections?"
"Hey, that's the reason~"
Xiao Chi happily ran over to join in the fun: "Besides, this roommate is not an ordinary roommate, he is worth more than ten girls of yours!"
Liang Sunian: "Don't talk nonsense."
"Okay!" Xiao Chi covered his mouth cooperatively.
"Lao Liang, there are two empty seats here." Chen Wenyao waved to them in the front row. Next to him sat Liu Maomao, a tall and strong man in a pink sweatshirt.
Xiao Chi extended an olive branch in a friendly manner: "Xie, come and sit with us!"
Before Xie Jiaran could say anything, Liang Sunian had already spoken up to refuse for him: "No, I took a shower before coming here, and I don't really want to sit with you guys for now. Maybe next time."
"What???"
Xiao Chi opened his eyes wide in disbelief: "Brother Liang, you actually dislike me? You have never disliked me before, don't you love me anymore?"
"Love again next time when you have time. The teacher is here."
"... ... scumbag!"
Xie Jiaran followed Liang Sunian and sat down in the corner by the window in the back row.
The window was half open, and the breeze that swept through the branches and leaves came in and brushed the side of his face, bringing a refreshing and cool feeling.
There were always classmates around him looking at him from time to time, and many of them would even circle back and forth between him and Liang Sunian.
He could barely remember the three former roommates Liang Sunian introduced to him. He felt so uncomfortable being stared at that he simply leaned forward on the table with his head tilted and buried half of his face in his arms.
The slightly childish action made Liang Sunian curl his lips.
"Are you sleepy?" he asked.
Xie Jiaran said no and made an excuse for himself: "I was just bored."
Liang Su Nian smiled, and the pen made a beautiful double image between his fingers. With his other hand, he skillfully pulled Xie Jiaran's right hand under the table and held it.
The corner is hidden and no one can find it.
"If you're bored, go to sleep." He said, "The get out of class will be over when you wake up."
Xie Jiaran suddenly felt that this scene was a little familiar.
This was the case with the two girls sitting in front of him who were in love when he was in high school. They would always hide from the teacher during class and hold hands tightly under the table.
His eyelashes fluttered twice quickly, and he tilted his face further into his arms.
"Wouldn't that be too blatant?" he asked, "and then the teacher would call on me to answer a question?"
"Don't worry, it won't happen."
Liang Su Nian smiled and said, "Our teacher is very humane. He said a long time ago that we can bring our family members to his class."
After that, he paused for two seconds and added the key point: "And you don't have to answer the questions."
Xie Jiaran remained silent.
He barely digested the term "family member" and after a long while he uttered a muffled "oh", closed his eyes and buried his face in his arms.
As a roommate and family member, he slept through two classes in the political science and law classroom with a clear conscience. When the class was over, his head was confused. He didn't respond to anything Liang Sunian asked, and just nodded subconsciously.
It was only when he was taken to the indoor basketball court that he realized what he had agreed to.
"But I don't know how to play basketball." Xie Jiaran looked confused as a brand new, unused basketball was stuffed into his arms.
"Didn't you say you wanted to try shooting?" Liang Sunian gestured to him, "It's not difficult. I'll teach you."
He took a few steps back in the opposite direction of the basket, bent down and made preparatory movements, while giving a brief explanation while dribbling the "ball" forward. After three steps, he jumped high and raised his arms to make a shooting gesture.
Even without the ball, the movements are still smooth and fluent.
Liang Sunian clapped his hands out of habit and looked at him: "This is the three-step layup. How about it? Isn't it simple?"
Xie Jiaran thought about it and nodded.
His eyes told him that it was indeed quite simple.
"Try it?" Liang Sunian made way for him.
Xie Jiaran stepped back to the position where Liang Sunian had just been, looked at the basketball in his hand, then at the basket. He had the momentum, but the moment he started, his whole body froze.
Unable to advance or retreat, they were inexplicably stuck in an unsolvable deadlock.
"?"
Liang Sunian raised his eyebrows: "What's wrong?"
Xie Jiaran frowned and looked at him in confusion: "Should I kick my left foot or my right foot first?"
"... ..."
"... ... ... "
The air was quiet for a few seconds.
Liang Sunian couldn't help laughing, and Xie Jiaran's ears turned completely red.
"Let's just forget it,"
He lowered his head in frustration and walked over to return the ball to Liang Sunian: "I have poor athletic ability, I probably won't be able to learn this."
"It's okay. It might be a little difficult for a novice to learn this."
Liang Sunian received the ball, thought for a moment, and then led him to stand under the basket, with a brisk tone: "Come, Brother Liang will teach you a simple one, and I guarantee you will make the shot on the first try."
"?"
Xie Jiaran was confused.
Watching Liang Sunian spinning the ball and retreating to the shooting distance, he estimated the position between him and the basket, weighed the ball skillfully, suddenly gained momentum, dribbled over with a layup motion, and in three steps, in the blink of an eye, he approached Xie Jiaran with the wind.
The question mark turns into an exclamation mark!
Xie Jiaran was so startled that he didn't even have time to retreat. When Liang Sunian rushed towards him with the ball, he closed his eyes and stretched out his hand to block it.
A light laugh fell into his ears, and the ball was unloaded and slid into his hands.
Xie Jiaran only felt his feet go empty and his body lighten.
By the time he reacted, he found himself being held up by Liang Sunian and sitting steadily on his shoulders.
Facing the basket, holding the basketball that he thought would hit him on the head.
The vision becomes strange and broad, a perspective I have never experienced before.
Liang Sunian's shoulders were broader than he saw.
He was able to easily lift up a 1.8-meter-tall boy and let him sit steadily on it.
"... ..."
Xie Jiaran looked at the basket that was almost within reach, his Adam's apple was dry and slid, his mouth opened and closed several times, and he didn't know what to say for a long time.
My heart was beating ridiculously fast.
"Whether to take the left or right foot first is a bit difficult, so I'll just do it for you."
Liang Sunian held his calf firmly in his arms, looked up and said with a smile: "Come on, Xiao Xie, are you ready to shoot?"
As he raised his hand, the ball fell from the center of the basket and hit the ground with a dull bang.
It seemed to hit him right in the heart.
I felt inexplicably lightheaded when my feet touched the ground again.
When Xiao Chi and the other three and two unfamiliar boys ran in, playing and fighting, Xie Jiaran put his hands behind his back to hide his soft and numb palms.
"I'll wait for you in the audience."
He threw this sentence out, turned around and quickly walked out of the court.
No matter where he is, Liang Sunian seems to be the center of the group, always the brightest and most eye-catching one.
Xie Jiaran took out his sketchbook and placed it on his knees, intending to take this opportunity to practice drawing.
I tried hard to calm down, but my peripheral vision was always unconsciously attracted to the person on the field.
Dribbling, jumping, shooting, high-fiving...
Every frame is clearly reflected in my mind.
When he came to his senses, the boy's jumping and layup posture was already vivid on the paper.
The left hand is hanging on the edge of the basket, and the right hand is frozen at the moment of blocking the ball. There is a random sketch at the base of the thumb, which looks like a strawberry.
"... ..."
Xie Jiaran wrinkled his nose and quickly closed the sketchbook and hid it.
He felt guilty for no apparent reason, as if he was afraid of being discovered.
He obviously didn't intend to draw this.
He grabbed the edge of the notebook and looked at the field again.
Liang Sunian casually pushed back the hair on his forehead, tilted his head and said something to the person next to him. When he raised his eyes and found his gaze, the corners of his mouth raised and he smiled brightly.
Xie Jiaran's eyes flashed.
She silently cast her gaze over his shoulder.
Is it true that he has always sat alone in such a special place
Xie Jiaran did not join them for dinner.
After having dinner in the nearby cafeteria, he returned to the dormitory alone to continue working on the unfinished first draft of the competition.
As usual, I drafted a few alternatives, but none of them were up to a satisfactory standard, so I had to turn to an assignment sketch.
Su Tu finished painting and was about to close the sketchbook, but stopped halfway.
Flipping a few pages forward, he saw the draft he had drawn on the basketball court in the afternoon.
It can only be considered a semi-finished product. The environment, characters and composition have all stopped at the draft stage. The only thing that can be considered detailed is probably Liang Sunian, who is in the center of the picture.
When he saw the drawing, a dynamic picture emerged unconsciously in his mind. That person was still the center, because his eyes were always on him from beginning to end.
Xie Jiaran stared at it for a long time, not knowing what he was thinking.
He picked up the pen several times and put it down again, and finally compromised and started to carefully draw the lines.
The scene was restored and the characters were detailed, but I had difficulty with coloring.
He had clearly watched the scene and had ready-made color processing references, but he just felt it was inappropriate. He couldn't explain why he was hesitating.
He was always the only one in the dormitory.
It was almost ten o'clock when there was finally movement at the door.
There was a quiet conversation. I couldn't hear what was said through the door, but I could tell that one of the parties was the protagonist in his painting.
As Xie Jiaran closed the sketchbook, the door opened.
Liang Sunian took out his key and walked in. Seeing him there, he lazily raised the corners of his lips to greet him, and then looked around the dormitory and asked, "Are you the only one here?"
Just as Xie Jiaran was about to nod, Liang Sunian jingled his keys and said, "I almost forgot. They said in the group chat that they were going to play five-person games with the neighbors tonight."
He spoke a little slower than usual, and his eyes looked a little lazy and distracted, but it was not obvious.
It is as if there is an extra layer of mist in the path of the sunlight, making it no longer so bright and dazzling, but refracting a more colorful light.
Xie Jiaran smelled the smell of alcohol coming from him, which was neither strong nor unpleasant.
"Liang Su Nian."
He looked up at him and whispered, "Are you drunk?"