In late March, Chen Xizhu's two-school debate competition was held as scheduled on Thursday night. Fu Shitian and Shi Yi had elective classes, so they could only attend one class, register, and then skip the next class to watch the competition.
When the two arrived at the auditorium, the two sides on the stage were making heated speeches back and forth. In the audience seats below, there were many people sitting quietly and sparsely. Fu Shitian and Shi Yi searched for a while before they found Yin Fanlu and the two seats reserved for them in the third row in the middle.
"Why is she changing clothes?" Shi Yi laughed.
Fu Shitian also noticed it, no wonder they didn't notice it at a glance. Yin Fanlu was wearing a thin mid-sleeve sweater and a burgundy skirt, with long curly hair, looking up at the stage, looking very different from usual, and very gentle.
Fu Shitian was startled and blinked twice quickly.
The clothes Yin Fanlu was wearing and the bag she was carrying looked so familiar. It seemed like Xizhu had sent her photos when she was complaining. During the New Year, she suggested Yin Fanlu buy those things, but Yin Fanlu refused to buy them
Shi Yi took her little finger and gestured to her softly: "Let's go in now." The stage of rebuttal between the pros and cons had just ended, and the host announced the rules of the next session. The tense atmosphere in the venue eased a little, and it would not seem too abrupt for them to run in.
Fu Shitian followed with his back half crouched, and the two of them quickly moved to sit next to Yin Fanlu.
Yin Fanlu smiled: "You came at the perfect time. Xizhu is the third debater and you haven't spoken yet." She unconsciously stroked the hair by her ears, and the silver earrings on her earlobes sparkled under the light.
Fu Shitian was sure that she had dressed up carefully.
Yin Fanlu rarely wears earrings or makeup on weekdays, but tonight, she even put on eye makeup. Fu Shitian's eyes fell on her profile as she stared intently at the stage, and the corners of his lips couldn't help but curl up.
The free debate on the stage began. The third speaker of the affirmative side chose the third speaker of the negative side to attack and Chen Xizhu stood up as the third speaker of the negative side to respond.
She was holding the microphone, wearing a slim-fitting white shirt. In such a tense atmosphere, she still had a smile on her lips, bright and beautiful. When she was debating, she was graceful, articulate, logical, calm and powerful without being aggressive, which made people like her. She was the most eye-catching star among all the handsome men and beautiful women on the stage.
Yin Fanlu stared at it intently.
Fu Shitian's eyes flashed with cunning, and he whispered to Yin Fanlu: "Xizhu looks very different when he debates, doesn't he?"
Yin Fanlu subconsciously said "hmm". She first realized that she was attracted to Chen Xizhu when she accidentally watched a debate match of Chen Xizhu last year. It turns out that this person who is used to making jokes and seems not serious in private is actually like this when he is serious.
"Charming, isn't it?" Fu Shitian asked.
Hearing this, Shi Yi tilted his head to look at Fu Shitian, his eyes darkened, and his hand holding Fu Shitian tightened slightly. Fu Shitian didn't notice, he just stared at Yin Fanlu's expression, clearly saw Yin Fanlu biting her lip, and heard her soft "hmm".
Fu Shitian's eyes lit up instantly, her dimples became deep, and she looked very happy.
Shi Yi stared at her, glanced at Chen Xizhu on the stage, pursed his lips, and his brows fell.
She admitted that Chen Xizhu's debate style was good. But was she really that charming
Twenty minutes later, the debate ended, and Chen Xizhu was awarded the Outstanding Debater of the Contest. The audience walked out of the auditorium, while Fu Shitian, Yin Fanlu, and Shi Yi stayed in their seats, ready to greet Chen Xizhu after she finished communicating with her fellow debaters.
Chen Xizhu left a WeChat message for the other debater, and when she turned around, she saw them in the audience, and ran down first. "Tiantian, Shiyi..." She returned to her usual playful look.
"Wow, let me see who this beautiful girl is?" She glanced at Yin Fanlu several times exaggeratedly.
There was a hint of joy in Yin Fanlu's eyes. She pretended to be indifferent and sneered. Just as she was about to speak, Chen Xizhu said, "Didn't you say you didn't buy it? Why did you buy it?"
Yin Fanlu said nonchalantly: "Is it not okay if I change my mind?"
Chen Xizhu snorted and laughed: "Okay, okay, okay."
“Does it look good?”
Chen Xizhu nodded and praised sincerely: "It looks good, even better than I thought!" She deliberately took a deep breath, "I mean, the clothes. Oh, I have a good taste."
Yin Fanlu's red lips, which had not yet been raised, were pressed down, and she stared coldly at Chen Xizhu, and said with a fake smile: "Hehe."
"How come a good person has a big mouth?"
Chen Xizhu was not convinced, and the two of them started arguing with each other again.
Fu Shitian covered her face and observed a three-second silence for Chen Xizhu. She found that this guy was usually quite smart, but at this moment, he was not smart at all.
She whispered to Shi Yi: "What do you think they are doing now?"
Shi Yi said absentmindedly: "They are arguing."
Fu Shitian burst out laughing and scolded her: "You are so stupid too."
Shi Yi didn't understand why, but seeing that she was no longer paying attention to Chen Xizhu and only had eyes for him, the smile quietly returned to his face.
The four of them stood and chatted for a few words. The debate team members on the stage called Chen Xizhu to go up and take pictures. Fu Shitian and Yin Fanlu asked her to go ahead and the three of them walked out of the auditorium together.
Yin Fanlu went straight to the college because the club had a regular meeting at 8:30. Fu Shitian and Shi Yi were walking on the campus road. The night was quiet, the spring breeze and the moonlight were just gentle. Fu Shitian became interested and asked Shi Yi: "Shall we go to Bailu Lake to sit for a while?"
Shi Yi's heart was moved, but he still asked, "Not translating tonight?"
Fu Shitian felt guilty. She hadn't been hanging out with Shi Yi for a long time because she was busy with her part-time job. She nodded and lied to Shi Yi: "The manuscript has been submitted, so you can take a break." Put some pressure on it and go to bed later tomorrow. There's still time.
Shi Yi believed it and relaxed. Without saying anything good or bad, he held her hand and headed towards Bailu Lake.
At night, Bailu Lake is worthy of its nickname "Mandarin Duck Lake". The wooden plank road is sparsely populated with couples. Fu Shitian and Shi Yi found a plank road near the end where there were few people. They sat shoulder to shoulder, swatting mosquitoes, admiring the sparkling lake and moonlight, and chatting casually.
They were still discussing whether it would be better to take a plane to southern Jiangsu or take a train to the neighboring province during the May Day holiday when Fu Shitian's cell phone suddenly rang. The caller ID showed it was Chen Xizhu.
Fu Shitian glanced at Shi Yi, who acted as if nothing had happened: "What's wrong? Answer the phone."
Fu Shitian curled his lips and answered the phone.
Chen Xizhu was happy on the other end of the phone: "Ah, the game is finally over, I'm free. I was in a hurry to take pictures just now and didn't have time to say a few words to you. Have you arrived at the dormitory?"
"No, Shi Yi and I are still outside."
They chatted leisurely, and Shi Yi's thin lips gradually pressed into a line. Just then, Fang Ruohua sent her a text message asking her, "What are you doing? Have you returned to the dormitory?" Shi Yi calculated that she hadn't called her for four days, so she said hello to Fu Shitian, got up and went to the end of the plank road not far away to call Fang Ruohua back.
Not long after Shi Yi left, Chen Xizhu finally got to the main purpose of the call in a roundabout way, "Si Tian... I found something..."
"Um?"
"I... think..." She stammered, as if she was particularly embarrassed.
"What?"
"That's right... I just doubt it... I just doubt it, or maybe I'm just imagining it," she emphasized again and again, "I told you not to laugh at me."
After she said that, Fu Shitian wanted to laugh even though she didn't want to laugh. She suppressed her laughter and replied, "Well, I won't. What's wrong?"
Chen Xizhu was silent for several seconds, and finally said with a bold move: "I suspect Fanlu likes me."
Fu Shitian was stunned for two seconds, but still couldn't help but let out bursts of laughter from his nose.
Chen Xizhu was embarrassed and annoyed: "Ah, you said you wouldn't laugh! You are not allowed to laugh." Ah, this kind of speculation really sounds too narcissistic. Is it really one of the three major illusions in life? Ah, I am so embarrassed.
Chen Xizhu got annoyed and said, "I won't talk to you anymore." Then he hung up the phone.
When a "beep" sound was heard, Fu Shitian couldn't help laughing. He tried hard to stop laughing and called back.
Fortunately, Chen Xizhu wasn't really angry. She answered the phone before it hung up automatically, "Have you laughed enough?"
Fu Shitian explained sincerely: "I'm not laughing at you, I'm just happy."
"What are you happy about?"
"I'm glad you finally got it."
Chen Xizhu was stunned for a moment, then reacted: "So it's true? Really? Am I not just overthinking it?!" There was surprise in her voice.
Fu Shitian was pragmatic: "I'm just guessing."
She analyzed her findings to Chen Xizhu, including that Yin Fanlu would often talk to her about Chen Xizhu, the Valentine's Day chocolates, and the special dress up today.
Chen Xizhu said that she had just downloaded a reading app based on the recommendation of her roommate, which allowed her to view the reading updates of her friends on social media accounts. She accidentally clicked on Yin Fanlu's bookshelf and found something was not right.
The books that Yin Fanlu had been reading recently on her bookshelf were all the books she had just bought when she was browsing in a bookstore during the winter vacation. Among them were some professional legal books, which didn't seem like a coincidence.
Thinking of this, she went to look at Yin Fanlu's playlist on NetEase Cloud Music and found that the songs she listened to in the past week were also highly consistent with the songs she listened to in the past week. It couldn't be a coincidence.
Then a guess emerged in her mind, like a pink bubble being blown up, getting bigger and bigger, and the closer it got to bursting, making her heart tremble.
She couldn't help but come to Fu Shitian to confirm.
If it's fake, then give up on it. She didn't have no feelings at all, but she always told herself that she was thinking too much, and that this is how straight girls get along with their best friends. It's just that straight girls know how to flirt, so don't be too self-indulgent and let your imagination run wild. She doesn't want to fall for someone impossible again.
Fu Shitian comforted her: "It's not entirely your illusion." And she remembered, "Oh, last time we got together, she admitted that she had someone she liked recently. I felt that her expression was not very natural when I looked at her."
The melons and candies from good friends made people particularly happy when they ate them. Fu Shitian's eyebrows were curved and he smiled.
When Shi Yi came back from the call, he found that Fu Shitian was still chatting on the phone with Chen Xizhu, and didn't care at all that he had been away for a long time. He suddenly felt very uncomfortable.
Fu Shitian noticed that she was back and looked up at her and smiled. She was going to wait for Chen Xizhu to finish the rest of the sentence and then find a good time to hang up the phone.
Shi Yi sat down beside her, listened to her soft voice, and threw a small stone into the lake. Ripples appeared on the surface of the lake, rippling in circles, just like her restless heart.
Shi Yi couldn't sit still.
She stood up and patted Fu Shitian on the shoulder.
Fu Shitian thought she was asking him to go back with her, so he stood up and let her hold his hand and walk forward.
Unexpectedly, Yi stopped after walking only a few steps.
Only then did Fu Shitian realize that Shi Yi did not take her to the school road, but took her to the end of the plank road where she had just made a phone call.
At the end there are lush trees with branches and leaves stacked one upon another, blocking all views of the plank road ahead.
The light grew dimmer.
Shi Yi took a step closer to her and pushed her against the railing of the plank road. Fu Shitian was forced to press her hands against the railing, leaning her waist against the railing, her head resting on the branches, and she murmured in surprise: "Shi Yi?"
Shi Yi's face was brighter than the moon in the sky, and her eyes were brighter than the stars in the water. She took the phone from Fu Shitian's ear and asked, "Do you know why the street lights here are so dim?"
The heat was alluring, the fragrance of the hair was intoxicating, Fu Shitian's heart was pounding, and his long eyelashes were trembling like butterfly wings.
Shi Yi gently touched Fu Shitian's eyelashes with his lips, and tenderness and imperceptible grievance slowly melted away in his eyes.
"Because it wants you to see me up close."
Her kisses fell on Fu Shitian's nose bridge and nose tip.
And soft lips.
“Feel me.”