Chapter 29
Editor: Princess
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Yu Pei lay dazed on his bed, one hand holding his phone, the other pressed against his chest. Beneath his ribs, a slowly beating heart rhythmically thumped against his palm. It had countless times tried to tell him the answer when seeing that person, but he had always ignored it.
So that’s what those feelings of sourness, shyness, nervousness, and confusion were all about. It was because of love.
Because of love, because of caring, all of one’s emotions could be so easily stirred by another person.
Yu Pei now even felt that his previous feelings for Qi Weijiang weren’t love at all. Those were just the innocent flutterings that all teenagers experienced, a naive appreciation born from an attractive appearance or excellent talents. That was why he could so easily cast aside that insignificant “liking” for Qi Weijiang.
But if the person were replaced with Luo Changzhou, it wouldn’t be possible.
Whether now or in the future, he wanted to be with Luo Changzhou.
But Luo Changzhou was so outstanding, could he possibly be with him?
Thinking about this, he wilted again.
Luo Changzhou was handsome, excellent in studies, and good at basketball. Almost all the beautiful words that could be used to describe a person during school days seemed appropriate for him. For such an outstanding person to become his good friend already felt like a beautiful dream. He couldn’t imagine what it would be like if he could actually be with Luo Changzhou.
If such a day really came, it would probably be the happiest moment of his life.
Suddenly, as if remembering something, he jumped up from the bed and pulled out a card from the drawer beside him. It was the card Yu Qing had given him earlier, saying it contained his share of dividends from Yu Corporation, for buying sports cars or other things.
He had never paid attention to how much money was in the card before, nor had he ever thought about what to do with it. Unlike Gu Zheng, he didn’t like flashy sports cars or luxury watches that could show off wealth. At most, he would use the money to buy paints or drawing materials he wanted. But now he didn’t want to use it for paints or brushes anymore.
Because the person he loved was really outstanding, while he himself wasn’t good enough. So perhaps after the college entrance examination, he wouldn’t be able to attend the same university as him. Even if he started working hard now, it probably wouldn’t be enough.
But if he started saving a good sum of money from now on, perhaps he could use it to buy his way into a school near the university Luo Changzhou would attend. That way, wouldn’t they still be able to be together?
What he dared to hope for now was just to be in the same city as Luo Changzhou in the future, to be able to have dinner together on weekends or holidays. Such a form of being together would be enough to satisfy him.
As for Luo Changzhou liking him back… being together in the true sense… he only dared to fantasize about that in his heart quietly.
He sighed softly and lit up his phone screen, typing in the chat box to Luo Changzhou: [I like you.]
But he didn’t press send.
Outside the window, moonlight like silver gauze slowly flowed into the room. He looked up at the sky—tonight’s moon was a crescent, not full. But his heart was full, completely filled with a person named Luo Changzhou.
However as he looked at the moon, he suddenly remembered an interesting story Teacher Bai had told him when he had been teaching him to paint—another way to say “I love you”—”The moonlight tonight is beautiful.”
Teacher Bai told him that this phrase came from when Natsume Soseki was teaching English at school and gave students a short text to translate. The translation required students to render “I love you”, which the male protagonist impulsively said to the female protagonist in Japanese while walking under the moon.
The students had translated this sentence directly as: I love you.
However Natsume Soseki said that this sentence shouldn’t be translated directly but should be subtle, like translating it to “The moonlight tonight is beautiful”, which was enough.
Because being able to watch the moon together with you makes it beautiful, regardless of whether it’s clear or cloudy, full or crescent.
So he deleted what he had just typed: [I like you.] and retyped: [The moonlight tonight is beautiful. Good night, Changzhou ;D]
After sending this message, he felt like he had accomplished something important, so excited that his breathing became slightly rapid.
A few seconds later, Luo Changzhou’s reply arrived: [It is indeed beautiful. Good night, Ah Pei.]
Yu Pei held his phone, reading this short message countless times, taking every stroke of each character apart and writing it into his heart, as if Luo Changzhou had said to him [I like you too].
After a long while, he finally locked his phone screen, turned off the light, and lay on his pillow ready to sleep.
Before closing his eyes, he looked up once more at the crescent moon outside the window, then the corners of his lips curved up as he whispered, “Tonight I like you too.”
The next morning when Yu Pei woke up, he had a bit of a headache because he had been too excited and slept late, but he was eager to go to school to see Luo Changzhou, so he didn’t pay much attention to his physical discomfort.
He even wanted to urge Zhang Geng to drive faster, so that he could see Luo Changzhou a few minutes or even a few seconds earlier. This way, the time he could see him would increase by a few minutes or even just a few seconds in his lifetime.
When Zhang Geng stopped the car and said goodbye to him, Yu Pei took two deep breaths before getting out of the car and walking toward the bicycle parking area.
The morning light of midsummer was very bright, shining clearly and warmly on everyone’s face. Yu Pei felt that no matter whether he and Luo Changzhou would separate in the future, no matter how poor his memory became under the influence of his medication and illness, he would remember this person for a very, very long time. He would remember this scene of their meeting every morning—
That person’s eyes curved gently, the deep blue color of his eyes seeming to contain the color of sunshine, enveloping him warmly.
He stood in front of that person, and the curve of that person’s lips bent even more. He smiled gently, took out a soft cloud-shaped hot water bottle from his pocket, put it in his hand, and said softly: “Ah Pei, good morning.”
His palm was very warm, but Yu Pei felt that neither the midsummer sunshine nor the heat of the hot water bottle was as warm to him as this person’s smile.
The heart beneath his third rib began to flutter again, because of this person. Yu Pei looked at him and broke into a bright, cheerful smile, saying to Luo Changzhou: “Changzhou, good morning.”
Seeing his smile, Luo Changzhou’s own smile paused slightly, then his eyebrows rose as he asked questioningly: “Why do I feel like your smile is somewhat different today?”
“Is it?” Yu Pei looked at him, his fingers hidden in his sleeve unconsciously curling into his palm—this was his subconscious gesture whenever he was lying. “I think I’m smiling the same as usual.”
“It’s different.” Luo Changzhou said with certainty, then asked him, “Did you not do your homework? I won’t lend you mine to copy.”
Yu Pei nudged him with his elbow when he heard this: “No, I finished it all!”
Luo Changzhou wasn’t angry at being nudged. He instead revealed his snow-white teeth in a smile and said: “It’s okay if you didn’t finish. I won’t let you copy, but I’ll teach you how to do it.”
Yu Pei could only say again helplessly: “I really finished it.”
Luo Changzhou suddenly grabbed his wrist: “Then let’s hurry to the classroom. I’ll check if you have any wrong answers.”
Being held by Luo Changzhou again, Yu Pei was stunned for a moment, but quickly came back to his senses and followed him into the classroom.
Before entering the classroom, Luo Changzhou released his hand.
As soon as they sat down, Tan Qiming from the seat in front frowned, his gaze scanning back and forth between them like radar.
Yu Pei didn’t have the same strong composure as Luo Changzhou, hence after being stared at by Tan Qiming for a while, he became nervous and asked weakly: “What’s wrong?”
“I feel like…” Tan Qiming paused, then frowned even more, “Both of you are smiling strangely today.”
Yu Pei continued to press his palm, pretending to be calm: “No, it’s the same as usual. You’re overthinking.”
“No, something’s definitely different—”
“Here’s the homework for you to look at. Don’t disturb me while I’m teaching Ah Pei.” Before Tan Qiming could continue, Luo Changzhou handed him a test paper.
Tan Qiming looked at the test paper with its simple steps, then at Luo Changzhou who was guiding Yu Pei through the problems step by step patiently, and sighed dejectedly. He wanted one-on-one tutoring from a top student too.
Shaking his head, he was about to turn around with the test paper when suddenly he thought of something and quickly turned back: “Oh, there’s something I want to ask—”
However, his words got stuck halfway.
Yu Pei and Luo Changzhou both looked up at him steadily.
Tan Qiming closed his mouth and said nothing.
Luo Changzhou waited for a while, and seeing that he had no intention of speaking, frowned and asked: “What did you want to say?”
“Nothing, nothing.” Tan Qiming waved his hand and turned his head away. “I won’t disturb you two.”
What he had actually wanted to ask about was the flower Yu Pei posted on his social media yesterday. If he remembered correctly, that flower should belong to Luo Changzhou, so how did it suddenly appear on Yu Pei’s feed?
But on second thought, he felt that his brain had short-circuited. Luo Changzhou and Yu Pei were so close now, going to and from class together every day, what was wrong with giving a flower? But that flower was really beautiful. He wondered what kind it was.
He’d ask when Luo Changzhou finished helping Yu Pei with his homework, he thought to himself.
However, by the long break, he had completely forgotten about it and went to the cafeteria happily with a few friends, arms around each other’s shoulders, to buy snacks.
Yu Pei, having just realized his feelings, was very sensitive to close contact between boys. He stared at Tan Qiming’s retreating figure, thinking about how he had never put his arm around Luo Changzhou’s shoulders. It turns out such close distance could also occur between male friends? Then did that mean that if he held hands with Luo Changzhou or something like that, it would also be okay?
“Do you want to buy snacks too?” Luo Changzhou noticed Yu Pei staring at Tan Qiming and thought he might want to go to the cafeteria, so he asked.
“Huh?” Yu Pei was caught off guard by the question and almost didn’t react.
“If you want to eat, then let’s go buy some.” Luo Changzhou put his pen down, no longer caring about the half-finished exercises on the table, and took Yu Pei’s hand as they headed out.