For a whole week, Mao Silu couldn’t find Lin Shiyu anywhere during lunchtime, and he fell into deep self-doubt.

“Did I do something to upset him?” Mao Silu held his head, trying hard to reflect. “Is it because I always drag him to the bathroom, and he’s annoyed with me? Or is it because I talk too much?”

Ruan Zhikai found him too motherly, and pushed his friend’s head aside, saying impatiently, “Can’t you ask him yourself?”

“He hasn’t talked to anyone these past few days so how dare I ask?”

“Look at you being so timid.”

Lin Shiyu seemed to have returned to his aloof demeanor from when he first started high school overnight, ignoring everyone and becoming impatient with just a few words.

Only Mao Silu persisted in following him, both very puzzled about what had happened to him and annoying Lin Shiyu, asking him if he wanted to have lunch together or play basketball. Even Gao Jie couldn’t bear to watch, afraid that he would touch Lin Shiyu’s sore spot and get beaten up.

Gao Jie pulled Mao Silu aside. “Hey, don’t provoke Brother Lin any more. Be careful or he will get angry and beat you up.”

Mao Silu was puzzled. “Shiyu wouldn’t just hit someone for no reason, and besides, he has a good temper with us.”

The two were talking at the dining table, with Zhong Qi sitting across from them, his chopsticks pausing in the air upon hearing their conversation.

He suddenly felt a bit ironic.

All of them seemed to be surrounding Lin Shiyu, but perhaps only the foolishly persistent Mao Silu truly saw him.

Whether it was Gao Jie, Ruan Zhikai, Zhong Qi, or even Tao Chen and Shen Ziyi, they were all sociable and had a bunch of friends. They simply applied the same socializing template to Lin Shiyu and thought that from then on, Lin Shiyu was one of them.

Despite this, Lin Shiyu was different and couldn’t be standardized according to their templates. He had an extremely violent side, extreme unfriendliness and antisocial behavior, flaws that couldn’t be simply covered up with a superficial layer.

Zhong Qi put down his chopsticks, looking at Mao Silu, who was earnestly explaining that Lin Shiyu didn’t have a violent tendency, and suddenly felt very upset.

Mao Silu noticed Zhong Qi’s gaze. “Zhong Qi? Why are you looking at me like that? It’s creepy.”

“Nothing.” Zhong Qi picked up his tray and stood up. “I’m leaving.”

Beside the water dispenser in the corridor, Shen Ziyi lowered her head to fill her cup with hot water. After filling her own cup, she took Tao Chen’s cup and continued filling it.

Since Valentine’s Day when she confessed to Zhong Qi and was rejected, Tao Chen had been in a bad mood, and cried secretly twice. Shen Ziyi had been comforting her, chatting with her, and sometimes when Tao Chen didn’t feel like eating, she would bring food back for her.

Although Shen Ziyi really wanted to shout out loud, “My goodness, our beautiful girl was rejected? It’s okay, handsome guys come every year, who cares about Zhong Qi!” but Tao Chen was a delicate person and couldn’t withstand her yelling like that. Shen Ziyi felt sorry for Tao Chen. After all, she looked so beautiful, and had been secretly in love with Zhong Qi since the first year of high school. She finally mustered the courage to confess, only to be rejected. Shen Ziyi felt that Zhong Qi had no taste.

Still, she always seemed absent-minded.

Footsteps came from the corridor, and Shen Ziyi casually glanced over, seeing Zhong Qi walking upstairs alone, turning at the staircase, and then seeing her.

The two didn’t have much private communication usually, just nodding and greeting each other when they met.

Today, however, Shen Ziyi stopped Zhong Qi.

“Zhong Qi.” Shen Ziyi turned around with her water bottle. “On Valentine’s Day, Sister Tao went to find you, right?”

Zhong Qi stopped in his tracks, his expression distant. “Yeah.”

Shen Ziyi looked at him and asked, “Did you bump into Brother Lin?”

Zhong Qi hesitated for a moment, then lowered his head to look at her, his eyes showing confusion.

“We did. Why?”

“What did you say to him?”

“Nothing.”

“Oh.” Shen Ziyi nodded thoughtfully. She saw that Zhong Qi didn’t intend to end the conversation and leave, as he was still standing in front of her, seemingly waiting for her to say her next sentence.

Shen Ziyi thought for a moment, then decided to say what was on her mind. “That day, he asked me where you were. I told him you were downstairs talking to Sister Tao, but he didn’t wait to hear the rest of my words and ran to find you. I was afraid he would disturb you and Sister Tao, and I was quite nervous, but he came back very soon.

“I thought something happened between you.” Shen Ziyi looked at Zhong Qi and said, “because when he came back, he looked very sad.”

After Gao Jie and the others returned to the classroom, Mao Silu returned to his seat with bulging pockets, taking out a bunch of snacks like a hamster and pushing them to the middle of his and Lin Shiyu’s desks. “Shiyu, want to eat together?”

Lin Shiyu was busy rewriting the biology notes Li Zhong had asked him to rewrite and didn’t even look up at the invitation. “You eat by yourself.”

“Let’s eat together. I bought this specially for you.” Mao Silu cautiously approached him, like a gentle golden retriever.

Lin Shiyu glanced at him sideways, seemingly intimidated by his pitiful appearance, and his gaze became very complicated. “I don’t want to eat. Give it to Gao Jie.”

Mao Silu could only sigh and put away the snacks on the table. After a while, he couldn’t help but gather courage and say to Lin Shiyu. “Then let’s go play basketball after school. After playing, you’ll feel much better. The few of us together–”

“Don’t bother me.”

Lin Shiyu’s voice was low and cold, like a chill spreading in the darkness, carrying a hint of weariness. Seeing Mao Silu bewildered, he sighed softly and spoke again, his voice slightly slowed down. “I don’t want to talk. I just want to be alone. So leave me alone.”

“Oh… okay.” Mao Silu nodded, carefully collecting the snacks and no longer bothering Lin Shiyu.

During the last PE class in the afternoon, Lin Shiyu couldn’t be bothered to attend. He was just thinking of finding a place to kill time when the phone buried deep in his backpack suddenly vibrated a few times.

He carried his phone with him every day, not like other people who played during breaks to avoid teachers, but simply to stay in touch with his family. Sometimes his mom would ask him to pick up Lin Wanyue after work, or if there were any issues with the educational institute, she would call him directly.

Lin Shiyu took out his phone and opened it. It was a message from his mom, saying she was busy at work and couldn’t make it, so she had asked the school teacher to take care of Lin Wanyue for a while and requested Lin Shiyu to pick up his sister after school.

Since Lin Shiyu was already feeling lazy about going to class, he replied with a simple “okay,” then put away his phone, packed his bag, and left the classroom.

Just as he descended to the first floor, he met Zhong Qi coming from the direction of the playground. Despite the cold weather, Zhong Qi wasn’t wearing a coat, just a sports shirt with sleeves rolled up to his elbows, showing off his muscular arms.

He didn’t know why Zhong Qi had returned before class started. Zhong Qi held a water bottle as he saw Lin Shiyu coming downstairs.

Zhong Qi noticed the backpack on Lin Shiyu’s back and asked, “Where are you going?”

Without stopping, Lin Shiyu replied, “Home.”

They passed each other, but Zhong Qi stopped him. “You’re going home now?”

Suppressing his fluctuating emotions, Lin Shiyu turned back to face Zhong Qi with an expressionless face. “What’s the matter?”

It was like when they had just come out of the infirmary in their first year of high school. Lin Shiyu stood coldly several steps away from him and said, “You don’t need to worry.”

“I can give you a ride home.” Zhong Qi took a step forward, but after seeing Lin Shiyu’s expression, he didn’t take another step and kept a distance from him. “Shall we go?”

“Do you find it fun?” Lin Shiyu suddenly asked.

“Do you think I’m particularly stupid, so it’s especially fun to play tricks on me?” Lin Shiyu stood in front of Zhong Qi. “You couldn’t find anyone more interesting than me as your second choice, and now you feel sorry for it, right?”

The quiet light and shadow fell on the railing of the corridor, and the slightly cold wind of the tail end of winter blew through the hallway, passing through the long distance between the two.

Lin Shiyu’s tone was very cold when he spoke, carrying his unique aggressiveness, always intimidating people.

Yet Zhong Qi saw the anger in his eyes, the reddish tint indicating anger, the alertness and resistance in his eyes. His whole body bristled as if he had just received a serious injury and was protecting himself in this way.

Zhong Qi wasn’t sure what to say next to avoid further angering Lin Shiyu. He never knew that silence could become so unbearable; he used to be silent all the time, but now it had become a barrier.

Lin Shiyu turned and walked away quickly.

 

 

Edited by: Jaisland

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