The lectures in the classroom were conducted at a leisurely pace.
The teaching plan for the professional elective course was spread out on the desk. The old professor leaned on the edge of the desk with both hands. The glasses reflected the white light. A pair of eyes hidden behind the glasses looked in the same direction several times. Finally, he adjusted his glasses and said helplessly, "Liang Sunian."
When everyone turned around curiously, the old professor tapped somewhere on the screen and asked, "Do you know what to choose for this question?"
The person whose name was called woke up from his trance.
He pinched the bridge of his nose, stood up under the attention of the whole class, and quickly read through the question: "Choose A, a person who has violated the criminal law and is currently serving a sentence."
Old professor: “Are you sure?”
Liang Sunian nodded: "Yes, sure."
"Yes, that's right. The answer is a."
The old professor made a downward gesture and said amiably, "Sit down, great scholar, pay attention in class and stop daydreaming."
Liang Sunian whispered an apology.
The phone in the drawer lit up again and again, and the lock screen kept prompting to refresh and there were new messages.
Liang Sunian unlocked the phone and saw that Xiao Chi and Li Tang seemed to have made an appointment and were bombarding the two WeChat groups with messages at the same time.
He first opened the latest message from Li Tang:
Poor ghost Li Xiaotang: I listened to Brother Liang and posted my miserable experience on the confession wall. Do you know what I found? In our school alone, quite a few people have been added as friends by this "Xiao Tu"!
XueHero: Has everyone been deceived like you
Poor ghost Li Xiaotang: No! They all soon found out that "Xiao Tu" was a liar. I'm the only one who got cheated!
Scholar and literary giant: Miserable.
Poor ghost Li Xiaotang: Oh, no, no, not all of it is clever! There is a girl who was deceived just like me! I bought 70 kilograms of jujubes and left them in the dormitory without knowing what to do with them.
Poor ghost Li Xiaotang: As a wanderer in the world, to be honest with you, I feel a little comforted, hehehe!
Scholarly Writer: Hmm... Your expression is unacceptable. Besides, do you mean to say that the girl is stupid
Poor ghost Li Xiaotang: Tsk, I'm stupid too, I was just expressing my feelings, don't over-interpret it, you nitpicker! (Take the slap from me!
Poor ghost Li Xiaotang: Anyway, I have added that girl as my friend, and we scolded the liar together! Oh, by the way, I also promised to help her share 20 kilograms of dates, so remember to go back to the dormitory early in the afternoon to eat the dates.
Scholar: ... ...
Academic writer: I... Why do I feel this routine is familiar? Are you sure that girl is from our school? Don't you want to fall into the same trap twice, brother
Poor ghost Li Xiaotang: I don’t have it!!! The girl has already given me the dates!!! It’s free!!! No money!!! Don’t wear tinted glasses!!!
Liang Sunian made a light sound, but gradually calmed down after realizing that Li Tang and Shen Xuehao were the only two people speaking in the group.
Then I opened Xiao Chi's message:
Your father Xiao: Brother Liang, I have decided where to go this year!
Your father Xiao: Let's go to Huashan again! After thinking about it, Huashan is the only place nearby that is delicious, fun and beautiful.
Chen Wenyao: I agree. I just happen to want to take a hot spring bath, haha.
Maomao: Plus one, Liang Ge's hotel is so comfortable, the room is beautiful, the bed is big and soft, there is scenery everywhere outside the window, and the afternoon tea tastes great/kiss/compliment
Your Dad Xiao: What else can I say? Heroes think alike!
Your father Xiao: Brother Liang definitely won't let you spend money this time. My dad gave me a huge sum of money for my birthday celebration. I'll pay for the whole thing! You guys can have fun!
Your father Xiao: By the way, remember, invite Xie Jiaran and the others as well. We are all old brothers who live in each other’s ears. This is a good opportunity for our two dormitories to get to know each other better. It will be more lively when there are more people.
Liang Sunian replied with a "good"
Looking at the last message sent by Xiao Chi, he tapped his fingertips on the table a few times, and his attention, which had just been distracted for a while, returned to the starting point.
Xie Jiaran had been thinking about it all night and all morning.
Whenever I calm down, I can't help but think of him.
After he came out of the bathroom last night, both of them tacitly did not mention what had just happened. Xie Jiaran painted for a while and then went to bed quietly. He hesitated for several times and finally slept on the sofa.
But the things that he reacted to will not be forgotten as if they never happened just because both of them avoided mentioning them.
At least he wasn't afraid, and was worried that Xie Jiaran would think he was a hooligan.
—Although this behavior is indeed quite rogue.
Tsk.
How did it become like this
It's not the first time we stayed in a hotel together, and it's not the first time we hugged each other like this, so why...
We can't just let this go without being clear.
What he did was not fair, so he should give people an explanation and not leave psychological trauma on others. He is really guilty of a serious crime.
But I can't think of any way to explain it.
Even he himself didn't know why it happened so suddenly, and at that time, when Xie Jiaran approached him, he seemed to have the urge to kiss her... ...
Depend on.
He pressed the heel of his palm against his brow somewhat weakly.
Liang Sunian, are you a potential gangster
After class, he took a screenshot of Xiao Chi's words and sent it to the 305 dormitory group. After delivering the message, he exited the chat box. His eyes stayed on Xie Jiaran's avatar for a long time, his fingertips moved back and forth several times, and finally he put down the phone.
Wait a little longer.
There is always a better opportunity.
Everyone in the classroom had left. He packed up his books, stood up and turned around, but was unexpectedly stopped by someone who suddenly appeared when he was walking towards the door.
Yueyue stood in front of him and looked up at him, her eyes wide open, her eyelashes fluttering violently, her eyes full of nervousness.
"Liang Su Nian, are you in a hurry to go back to the dormitory?"
She clenched her hands, her voice was a little low, and she was still trembling slightly.
Liang Su Nian was stunned for half a second, then quickly shook his head, took a half step back without leaving any trace, and asked, "No hurry, what's the matter?"
Seeing his actions, Yueyue was stunned for a moment, and then she understood the result of her trip.
The hands hanging by his side loosened, and the corners of his mouth were raised, with bitterness in his expression, but more of relief.
"Did I come too suddenly?"
She said in a self-deprecating tone, pretending to be relaxed: "To be honest, I know that too. I just wanted to talk to you about something on impulse. Okay, I'm already here, so just listen for fun, okay?"
"Liang Sunian, I like you, you know that, right?"
After two seconds of silence, Liang Sunian whispered, "Sorry."
Of course.
"Don't apologize. This is my own business. You are not at fault. Why should you apologize?"
Yueyue pursed her lips and said, "To be honest, I know what you hope for, but we have reached the end, and we have to put a period on it."
"I don't need any response, I just want you to know."
"Because you will always have someone you like, and you will be in love with the person you like. But when that time comes, you can't say it out loud even if you like them a lot."
"So I have to tell you before you're in love, I like you, I like you very much, and I've liked you for a long time."
She spoke every word seriously: "Perhaps you haven't noticed, but we are in the same high school and grade. My classroom is just downstairs from yours. Every time I go to your office on your floor, I will deliberately take a detour and pass by your classroom door, just to try to see if I can bump into you."
"Well, I'm not the only one."
She lowered her head and quickly wiped the corners of her eyes, then said lightly, "Many girls are like me, from the lower grades or the higher grades. We would go to the canteen to buy water for a small thought and would go a long way."
"Whether it's high school or college, no matter where you are, as long as you are in a crowd, you are always the most conspicuous one, and it is always so easy for people to like you, because you are very good, and it is easy for people to dislike you."
"You don't have to apologize, because maybe besides liking you, I should also say thank you. If it weren't for you, I probably wouldn't have had the perseverance to study so hard in high school and get into National Tsinghua University in the end."
"We may never have the chance to meet again, and I don't know what to wish you. Since you have such good grades, I'll just wish you a bright future in advance!"
"I hope that my future life will always be safe and smooth."
She was surprised that she could say everything she wanted to say in one breath even without preparing a speech in advance. She was amused by her own strong ability of expression and her eyes turned red.
She took a deep breath and looked up at Liang Sunian: "Okay, I've said everything I wanted to say. I have no regrets."
"Thank you for wasting five minutes of your life listening to all my nonsense. I won't waste your time. I have to go back and prepare for the exchange students' departure. Let's go."
She turned and walked out of the classroom, but stopped after just a few steps.
Thinking about something, the girl turned around and looked at Liang Sunian who was still standing there from a distance. She put her hands behind her back and said in a clear voice, "Right, I've told you so much, is it okay to ask you a question?"
"There are so many people who like you, but you never date. What kind of person do you like?"
This question is actually very easy to get around. Saying that you don't know or that you've only thought about it are both reasonable answers.
Or maybe this is what Liang Sunian has always believed to be the most honest standard answer.
But this was a special time. When Yueyue asked the question, an additional answer came into his subconscious: "Beautiful eyes."
The best time to get up is when the stars fall.
After saying that, he was stunned.
Yueyue, who originally didn't expect to get an answer, was also stunned.
After a while, he suddenly smiled and understood: "Yes, I understand!"
"Although my secret crush failed, I still think it is a very lucky and happy thing to have someone I like. It is more worth being happy about than always having packages to open or new dresses to wear."
"You two should always be well and stay together!"
She waved at him: "Did I tell you my full name? My name is Lin Yue!"
"Liang Su Nian, goodbye!"
The boy who accidentally lit up my world when I was the most ignorant, and passed through my entire youth.
Goodbye.
Liang Sunian stood there, watching Yueyue trotting away, without moving for a long time.
The shock was not only because of Lin Yue's confession.
More importantly, when he was asked what kind of person he liked, the first person that came to his mind was... Xie Jiaran.
They set off for Huashan on Friday afternoon. The seven of them chartered a small and comfortable bus.
Xie Jiaran sat in the front row by the window, and Liang Sunian was naturally sitting next to him.
Compared to others who only carried one bag, Li Tang, who carried two bags, seemed much more cumbersome, because the extra bag was slowly filled with dates.
"Come on, come on, don't be polite! This is only five pounds. There are still five pounds waiting for us in the dormitory. Eat quickly."
It was very hot in Litang and they started distributing dates as soon as they got on the car, which made Xiao Chi and the others confused. Shen Xuehao even called him an idiot, asking who would bring so many dates when traveling.
A group of energetic and lively people gathered together. The process of getting familiar with each other was smoother than magnetic field docking. The ice-breaking session was omitted. After just a few words, they began to become brothers and sisters.
Liang Sunian, a secret agent, would only respond when being cue, and most of the time he would just listen quietly.
He took a bottle of water, unscrewed the cap, and handed it to Xie Jiaran, whispering, "You rough fellow from Litang, I have washed all the dates I brought in advance, so I won't give them to you yet. Leave them here with me. I will wash them after we get to the hotel and give them to you."
Xie Jiaran responded with an "OK", took the water and looked up. Liang Sunian had already looked away, leaving only half of his profile and most of the back of his head.
It's expected, after all, it's not the first time.
After that night, the aura between him and Liang Sunian changed strangely, as if the layer of paper between them was suddenly poked lightly and broke, shocking the person so much that he took two steps back.
Oh, it turns out there is another layer of paper here.
Perhaps it was to find a temporary and appropriate solution. Although Liang Sunian looked as if nothing had happened in the past two days, he had been avoiding eye contact with him.
Occasionally, they would bump into each other because of Xie Jiaran's "not carefulness", and he could still catch a flash of evasion in his eyes.
Xie Jiaran was a little bit tempted.
He took a sip of water to lower the curve of his lips, then took out his cell phone to read the message from Lin Shan.
Your Shanshan: Say whatever you want?!
Your Shanshan: It’s three years old! Tell me the details quickly!!!
Your Shanshan: That night!! How did you know that he liked you too
Your Shanshan: What have you done!!
x,: I didn’t do anything, it was just my intuition.
Your Shanshan: I don't believe it! I don't believe it! Something must have happened to the wrong person! Please satisfy the child's curiosity.
x.: Yes.
Lin Shan spent three days trying to get the person to talk, but he still refused to give up. He had no choice but to give up in tears and switch to another equally important question:
Your Shanshan: What about now? He likes you but he doesn't know it, what are you going to do
x.: He will know.
Your Shanshan: So you plan to just be patient and wait for him to find out
Your Shanshan: Forget it! Although he is my idol, I have to say that a person who can't even realize that he likes someone, how low is his love IQ! Are you sure you won't come up with something weird
Just as Xie Jiaran was about to reply, the bus driver suddenly stepped on the brakes.
"It's raining too hard. There may be falling rocks on the mountain road ahead, and the road surface is slippery. We may not be able to go up tonight."
Xie Jiaran lifted the car window curtain and looked out, and it seemed that it had been raining heavily outside since he hadn't seen it.
"Ah? What should I do then?"
"We can only stay nearby for one night and go up the mountain tomorrow morning when the rain stops."
"Is there any place to live nearby?"
"Yes, take the fork in the road and walk a little further. There are some B&Bs over there."
The driver turned the steering wheel and said, "Oh, wait till I pass by and you'll see it."
The car parked on a spacious bluestone parking lot. They booked a nearby homestay in the car and then got off one after another.
There were not enough umbrellas, so Liang Sunian and Xie Jiaran shared one and walked at the end.
Because the rain was heavy, Liang Sunian held Xie Jiaran's shoulders tightly, half-protecting him in his arms, with the umbrella almost completely tilted towards him.
"Come closer to me and don't get wet."
When they ran away, the owner of the B&B was already waiting at the door.
He handed them the keys, gave them a rough reference map of the town's infrastructure distribution, and left quickly.
Several boys went to the room to take a shower and change clothes one after another. Liang Sunian ordered dinner from a nearby restaurant. It was almost noon when they finished eating and the rain had subsided a little.
"Go to bed now?" Chen Wenyao asked.
Xiao Chi and Li Tang frowned at the same time and said in unison: "So early?"
Liu Maomao: "Then what do you want to do? We don't have the right number of people to play in a five-person team. There are too many of us."
Shen Xuehao lay down on the sofa calmly: "I'm fine, go to sleep or find something to play to kill time, it's up to you to decide."
Xiao Chi thought hard: "How about we play a few rounds of Landlord?"
Li Tang: "But there are no cards here."
"I'll go buy it." Liang Sunian stood up and picked up the simple map: "It says there's a supermarket nearby."
Shen Xuehao: "Brother Liang, are you going alone?"
Liang Sunian said casually: "Why, are you still worried that I will get lost and kidnapped?"
Shen Xuehao: "It's still raining, how about I-"
"Let me go with you." His words were interrupted and Xie Jiaran stood up.
The rain stopped. Liang Sunian originally didn't want Xie Jiaran to go with him on this trip, but Xie Jiaran insisted on following him to the door, so he had no choice but to take him with him.
Walking down the road, luckily the slope was not steep and the road surface was clean. The only problem was that Zhenghai was on a bend in the road, and it was a waste of time to go around half a circle.
"You live in the ancient pear garden, right?"
The cashier at the supermarket kindly pointed them to a new way: "Go up this way. There is a small bluestone path next to the bend that you can climb up directly. You don't have to go around such a big bend."
"Over there by the streetlight, right? Okay, thank you."
"It's just a small matter. You're welcome."
Liang Sunian put the cards in his coat pocket and took a shortcut with Xie Jiaran.
It was indeed much closer, but after walking a little further up, they came across a broken fence, and mud and water flowed across a large area of the road.
Liang Sunian stopped and handed the umbrella to Xie Jiaran. He wanted to say something, but accidentally touched the back of his hand and frowned: "Why is it so cold?"
Without waiting for Xie Jiaran to explain, he took off his coat and put it on his shoulders: "My fault, I forgot to remind you that the temperature on the mountain is lower than that at the foot of the mountain."
He was only wearing two pieces, and after taking off his coat he was left with only the long-sleeved T-shirt underneath. Xie Jiaran wanted to return it to him, but he held his wrist and helped him put it on carefully.
"I just need to cool down a bit, don't worry about me, just don't catch a cold."
After saying that, he walked around to the step below him and squatted down: "Come, the road here is not easy to walk on, I will carry you up."
Xie Jiaran held the umbrella over his head to shield him as much as possible: "No need, I can be smaller and just walk slower."
"But no matter how small it is, it will still dirty your shoes." Liang Sunian turned his head: "Be good, come up quickly."
There was a movement behind him for a long time. Liang Sunian thought he was still being polite to him. Just as he was about to speak, an arm wrapped around his neck and a warm feeling touched his back.
Liang Sunian couldn't help but pursed his lips.
She held his knees and stood up easily with him on her back: "Hold me tight, don't fall."
Xie Jiaran held the umbrella steadily above their heads, hummed obediently when he heard the words, and tightened his arms.
In the dark and silent night, the sound of raindrops hitting the umbrella was heard. The white mist rising from the ground rose slowly at a gentle pace, making the lights of the street lamps on both sides of the road hazy.
There was only one person's footsteps between two people.
Xie Jiaran leaned on Liang Sunian's shoulder, listening to the rain for a while, then secretly rolled up Liang Sunian's collar with his fingertips and then released it, repeating this over and over again, enjoying himself, and thinking that his little action would not be discovered.
The rain hit the soil and grass, and he sniffed, always feeling that the air was filled with a cool, fresh fragrance like watermelon.
This was his favorite night.
Even though he knew he shouldn't, he still silently hoped that the road could be longer and he could walk longer.
Anyway, his master is so powerful that he won't feel tired even if he carries him for a longer distance.
"Xie Jiaran."
Liang Sunian spoke, breaking the silence, his clear voice seemed to blend into the night.
"I'm sorry about what happened that night."
In fact, he still hadn't figured out how to explain it, but time and circumstances eliminated the awkwardness, allowing him to express his apologies calmly.
"Does it scare you?"
Of course Xie Jiaran was frightened by the result he had deliberately created, but he was amused by Liang Sunian's words.
With his lips curled up, he said, "Brother, I'm not a naive child of six years old. I'm also an adult."
Liang Su Nian understood what he meant and followed suit: "That's not what I meant. I'm just afraid that it might cause irreversible damage to your young soul. I'm afraid that you'll think I'm a hooligan and ignore me, what should I do?"
"If you only act like a hooligan to one person, you are not a hooligan."
His whisper was so soft that Liang Sunian could hardly hear it even though it was right next to his ear: "Hmm?"
"No."
Xie Jiaran raised his voice and quietly changed his words: "They are all boys. I know this is normal under occasional circumstances and it can't be a big deal."
"I won't think you're a hooligan, nor will I ignore you."
"Really?" Liang Sunian's voice could be heard rising with pleasure.
Xie Jiaran closed his eyes and hummed, then lowered the umbrella. They were left alone in the small space isolated from the rain.
Liang Sunian finally put down the worry that had been hanging in his heart for several days. He curled his eyes and even his steps became lighter.
Thinking back to what happened during this period, he could not help but think of something, and called Xie Jiaran in a lazy and playful tone: "Hey, Ranran."
Xie Jiaran didn't open his eyes, but the curve of his mouth deepened a little because of his address to him: "Hmm?"
Unexpectedly, the next second, she suddenly opened her eyes because of his words.
The surface solidified.
He said, "Do you think I should find a girlfriend?"