Chapter 26
Editor: Princess
When they got to the classroom, both of their eyes were a little red, which caught Tan Qiming’s attention. Yu Pei was fine, but even Luo Changzhou, who was always calm no matter what, had red-rimmed eyes. That really surprised Tan Qiming.
“What did you two do?” Tan Qiming turned around and stared at them, looking them up and down. “Why are your eyes all red?”
Yu Pei hadn’t even opened his mouth yet when Luo Changzhou spoke first, “Nothing, the sun was just too bright.”
“Really?” Tan Qiming looked out the window suspiciously. “I think it’s fine though.”
Luo Changzhou lifted his gaze and stared at Tan Qiming for a few seconds before asking, “Are you nearsighted?”
“Uh, a little.” Tan Qiming pulled out his glasses and waved them in front of Luo Changzhou. He was a bit nearsighted, but not too bad. He only wore his glasses during class.
“Exactly.” Luo Changzhou nodded seriously, completely making things up. “Yu Pei and I aren’t nearsighted. You are, so you can’t see how bright the sun is.”
Tan Qiming: “…” If he still didn’t get Luo Changzhou’s dry humor at this point, he would be an idiot.
“Luo Changzhou, you’re…” Tan Qiming opened his mouth, but he didn’t even know what word to use to describe him.
But Luo Changzhou just raised his eyebrows and finished the sentence for him, “Very handsome?”
Yu Pei, who was sitting next to him, couldn’t hold back and burst out laughing.
“Fine, fine, you’re the most handsome.” Tan Qiming was speechless. “Even Zhu Yueming, the school beauty, confessed to you. The way you rejected her that day was legendary. I have to respect that.”
After thinking about it for a while, Tan Qiming finally figured out Luo Changzhou’s personality—he was the classic “cold on the outside, mischievous on the inside” type. On the surface, he looked serious and unapproachable, but deep down, he was full of tricks.
Yu Pei had been feeling a little down earlier, but after listening to Tan Qiming and Luo Changzhou’s banter, all the sadness disappeared, and he couldn’t help but nod slightly in agreement.
Wasn’t that the truth?
Ever since Luo Changzhou rejected Zhu Yueming, he became a hot topic on the school forum. Not everyone could come up with a phrase like “drinking poison to quench thirst” on the spot. Who knew what kind of things were in Luo Changzhou’s brain for him to respond like that?
Thinking about this, he couldn’t help but glance at Luo Changzhou.
Luo Changzhou had his head lowered at this moment, twirling his pen between his fingers. His deep blue eyes were fixed on the exercise book in front of him, looking just like the sketch Yu Pei had drawn before. Yu Pei stared at him, and a thought crossed his mind—what kind of girl would someone like Luo Changzhou like?
He didn’t like Zhu Yueming, so he probably liked someone even prettier and more outstanding than her, right?
He took a deep breath, trying to ease the strange and familiar tightness in his chest. Strange, because he had never felt this way before. Familiar, because he had felt the exact same way the day Zhu Yueming confessed to Luo Changzhou.
It seemed like as long as it involved Luo Changzhou, his emotions would start bubbling up like a shaken bottle of soda—just the slightest twist of the cap, and the sour, fizzy feelings would come pouring out.
He was still in a daze when, in the next moment, his gaze met a pair of deep blue eyes—he had been caught staring again!
He looked away hurriedly, grabbed a notebook, and flipped it open, pretending to be focused on studying.
But Luo Changzhou scooted his chair closer, so close that he was almost leaning against him. He didn’t even bother looking at his book anymore and just propped his chin up with one hand, saying in a confident tone, “You were looking at me.”
“I wasn’t.” Yu Pei denied it immediately, trying to sound as firm as possible, even though he was just lying to himself. “I was reading.”
“Sure, sure, you weren’t looking at me. I was looking at you.” Luo Changzhou chuckled. Yu Pei’s ears turned even redder when he heard the laughter, but he still refused to lift his head.
Luo Changzhou laughed for a while, then suddenly let out a “hmm?” and reached over, plucking a piece of paper from beside Yu Pei’s elbow. “What’s this?”
The moment that paper was revealed, Yu Pei’s heart nearly jumped out of his chest, because it was the sketch he had drawn of Luo Changzhou!
After that time during gym class when he almost got caught, he had wanted to destroy the sketch. But he had forgotten about it after school, and now, Luo Changzhou had found it.
“And you say you weren’t looking at me.” Luo Changzhou smiled, waving the sketch in front of him. “You even drew me.”
Yu Pei’s ears burned red, and even his cheeks were flushed. He stammered, unable to come up with an excuse, and in the end, he just lowered his head and mumbled, “I just… looked for a second…”
What else could he say? He really had been secretly watching Luo Changzhou… and even drew him…
Luo Changzhou asked again, “Just for a second?”
Yu Pei peeked up at him, only to see Luo Changzhou still raising an eyebrow, looking at him with an unreadable expression. He suddenly panicked. He hadn’t forgotten how Luo Changzhou reacted when Zhu Yueming secretly took his photo. Now that he had drawn him without permission, would this count as an invasion of privacy?
The more he thought about it, the more nervous he became, and afraid that Luo Changzhou would be mad, he reached into his pocket without thinking, pulled out a few pieces of candy, grabbed Luo Changzhou’s hand, and placed them in his palm. Stammering, he said, “L-Luo Changzhou, it was wrong of me to stare at you. Please don’t be mad. I’ll buy you milk tea after school.”
These were the last few candies from the batch Gu Zheng had sent him, and they were his favorite. He had been saving them, but now, he gave them all to Luo Changzhou. His heart ached a little as he watched them sit in Luo Changzhou’s palm.
Luo Changzhou was amused by his pitiful expression, and seeing him staring at the candies in his hand with a mix of reluctance and worry, he chuckled to himself. Then, he unwrapped one, picked up the candy between his fingers, and pretended he was about to eat it.
Yu Pei was staring at him too, his eyes glued to the candy between Luo Changzhou’s fingers, his lips slightly parted as if Luo Changzhou was going to put it into his little mouth/ waiting for the candy to drop—straight into his own mouth.
Luo Changzhou couldn’t hold back his laughter anymore. He smirked, and with a slight movement of his fingers, placed the candy right at Yu Pei’s lips. Then, with a gentle push, pushed the candy right into Yu Pei’s mouth.
It wasn’t until the sweet taste spread across his tongue, mixing with the strong fruit flavor, that Yu Pei realized, that Luo Changzhou had just fed him the candy.
The summers in the South always came early. Even though it wasn’t summer yet, the daytime temperatures were already high. Yu Pei had been carrying those candies around for a while, so they had started to melt slightly. When he bit into it, it was soft. His eyes widened as he looked at Luo Changzhou, only to see him smiling at him with amusement in his deep blue eyes. His lips were still curved into a teasing smirk.
Yu Pei instantly felt his cheeks and ears heat up. He mumbled, “Luo Changzhou…”
Luo Changzhou looked at him, raised his hand, and stuck out his tongue to lick the tip of his index finger—the same finger he had used to push the candy into his mouth. He licked off the bit of melted sugar and said with a grin, “It’s really sweet.”
Boom.
Yu Pei felt like a sugar bomb had just exploded in his brain. The sweetness rushed through his nerves, taking over every part of his body. His head spun, and all he could think about was one thing—Luo Changzhou had just licked the same finger that had touched his lips.
The thought made him feel both dizzy and flustered. His heart raced as he scrambled for something—anything—to say. In the end, he blurted out the first thing that came to mind. “Luo Changzhou… you’re not mad anymore?”
Luo Changzhou was never actually mad at Yu Pei. He said, “I was never mad at you. But—” He paused for a second, making Yu Pei’s heart jump. Then, he reached out and took the sketch from Yu Pei’s desk, smiling as he said, “I’m keeping this.”
Yu Pei immediately nodded like a bobblehead. “Mhm mhm, I won’t secretly draw you again.”
But as soon as he said that, Luo Changzhou glanced at him with a smirk and said, “We’re not getting milk tea after school today.”
Yu Pei instantly deflated, thinking that even though Luo Changzhou said he wasn’t mad, maybe he still held a grudge. He quickly asked, “Why not?”
“Drinking milk tea every day will make you gain weight.” Luo Changzhou said casually.
Gain weight?!
Yu Pei immediately thought about his past self, nearly 200 pounds, and got nervous. He had worked so hard to lose weight, he definitely didn’t want to gain it back.
But before he could say anything, Luo Changzhou suddenly asked, “Ah Pei, can you skip dinner at home today? I want to take you somewhere to eat.”
Yu Pei wasn’t sure, so he told him, “Let me check.”
Luo Changzhou: “Hmm.”
Yu Pei glanced around the classroom. Since they were in their last year of high school, most students were buried in their studies, and the room wasn’t too noisy. He didn’t feel like stepping out, so he just pulled out his phone and called Uncle Zhuang.
The phone rang twice before Uncle Zhuang picked up. “Hello, little young master. What’s the matter?”
“Uncle Zhuang, is my big brother coming home for dinner today?” Yu Pei asked.
Uncle Zhuang replied, “No, the eldest young master just called and said he won’t be coming home tonight. Do you need me to contact him for you?”
“No need.” Normally, Yu Pei would feel a little down after hearing that his big brother wouldn’t be coming home for dinner, but today, he was actually a little excited, because it meant he could eat out with Luo Changzhou! He told Uncle Zhuang hurriedly, “Then I won’t come home for dinner either.”
Uncle Zhuang was surprised when he heard this. “You’re eating out too? Then where should Zhang Geng pick you up later?”
“Mmm.” He turned to Luo Changzhou and asked, “Luo Changzhou, where are we eating?”
“We’re going to Orchid Ford Lane.” Luo Changzhou told him. “The place is a little tricky to find, so you can tell Uncle Zhang to wait for you at the entrance of the lane.”
“Got it, got it.” Yu Pei nodded excitedly. Then he told Uncle Zhuang to tell Zhang Geng to pick him up at Orchid Ford Lane. After hanging up, he looked at Luo Changzhou with anticipation. “Luo Changzhou, what are we eating?”
Luo Changzhou smiled but didn’t answer. Instead, he said, “That’s a secret. You’ll find out after school.”