CH 18

Being watched by several gazes from different directions, Fu Yuanzhou’s heartbeat accelerated a lot in an instant.

He didn’t expect his grandmother to ask him such a question, how would he answer it? Favorite person? Xie Lin was definitely not the one, and Xiao Fei couldn’t be forgotten. Besides, Xie Lin was there. If he dared to say some other name, he might be tossed by Xie Lin. He didn’t want to face it again.

Fu Yuanzhou almost wanted to cry without tears. Where did he encounter this kind of thing in his previous life? There was no ABO gender differentiation at that time. At most, he was asked by his grandmother what he thought of Xiaofei. Not to pick one of them.    

“Grandma!” He held the old woman’s hand a little embarrassingly, “I and the two of them are friends. I’m only a sophomore in high school. I just want to put my mind on my studies and don’t want to think about this aspect.”    

“You’re not too young.” Grandma laughed, “I already knew your grandpa at your age.”    

Seeing that her grandson was really embarrassed, she patted the back of his hand and looked at the other two gently: “Xiao Lin and Xiao Fei? Do you have a favorite?”    

“Yes.” Xie Lin nodded slightly, “It’s just me pursuing him unilaterally.”    

He glanced at Fu Yuanzhou calmly. Fu Yuanzhou’s pressure doubled, and his eyes shifted aside as he pretended not to understand what he was talking about.    

Seeing this scene, Yu Fei’s eyes sank for an instant, but he smiled quickly, his eyebrows curled, while he gave an answer that was neither affirmative nor negative: “Do you think I have it?”    

“I think you have it.” Grandma smiled. Then she said, “Who wouldn’t fall in love with such a good-looking young man? What’s the matter with Xiao Lin, who rejected you? Is anyone willing to reject you?”    

“Grandma, don’t ask so carefully.” Fu Yuanzhou was nervous. He was worried that Xie Lin would say his name directly, and immediately interjected, “Xie Lin didn’t even tell me. This is his privacy. Let’s respect it.”

The old woman nodded and said OK. Xie Lin looked at him for a few seconds then he took out his cell phone and typed a few words out on it, after which Fu Yuanzhou’s cell phone shook twice. He took it out and found that Xie Lin had sent him a WeChat message.

“I didn’t tell you? Do I need to make it clearer?”

“I was wrong, big brother, you keep things in your mouth!”

Fu Yuanzhou panicked, and frantically sent out various emoticons begging for mercy.

For a while, Xie Lin’s mobile phone sounded the prompt for message notifications continuously. He looked at the screen, not knowing what he was thinking, he quickly put the phone away, without refuting what Fu Yuanzhou said.

Fu Yuanzhou breathed a sigh of relief. Suddenly a back was pressed against him, and he smelled the faint fragrance of roses. Yu Fei smiled and put their faces together, then he naturally put his arms around his shoulders and asked: “What are you looking at? You seem very happy to see something. Isn’t it?”

“Nothing.” Fu Yuanzhou hurriedly pressed shut the phone screen, shaking his head and saying, how could he be happy, he was almost scared enough to get a heart attack just now!

“Can’t I see it?”

Yu Fei showed a slightly disappointed look. Fu Yuanzhou couldn’t bear it. He was thinking about finding something interesting on Weibo to make him happy, when his mother suddenly walked in from another room holding several thick photo albums in her hand.

“Come on, Xiaozhou, I have found all the albums. Come and see if there are any photos you want.”

“Are these the albums from when I was a child?”

Yu Fei was very interested and picked up one of them. “Can I take a look?”

“Of course, there is also a group photo of the three of you when you were young.”

Yu Fei opened the album and saw the young Fu Yuanzhou in the photo. His eyes became extremely soft as the tip of his finger glided across the boy’s cheek, and he smiled and said, “Zhou is so cute.”

Fu Yuanzhou’s ears felt a little hot, while Yu Fei looked at each photo very carefully, as if it was not something general: “This is a photo from Zhou’s elementary school.?”

“Yes, on your left is a photograph from the games he participated in while in elementary school, in fact he took first place in the sprint.”

“The other one was taken by Xiao Lin when his school organized a visit to the aquarium. Fortunately, it was for several grades together. The two of them could still accompany each other, or else they won’t have been able to take this photo.”

“The two children really didn’t separate anywhere.” Grandma said cheerfully.

“…”

Yu Fei’s smile faded a little, he put the album down gently, and looked at Fu Yuanzhou. Fu Yuanzhou did not notice that he was looking at him. He had also opened an album, and was flipping through the old photos, when he finally found the photos of him in the Chess Open Tournament.

There were more than one photo clicked at the Open, including the one he saw in Ran Shutang’s notebook before, and the photo of him playing against Ran Shutang. The photo was taken from the side. Neither of them was paying attention to the camera as they were looking at the chessboard in front of them.

It turned out that Ran Shutang was really his opponent.

Seeing this photo, Fu Yuanzhou finally got some impressions. Indeed, a boy who was two years younger than him had become his opponent. He thought that this boy was quite young, but he didn’t care too much, he just wanted to do his best.

If he remembered correctly, it seemed that he won in the end, because it was a group round robin, so the boy also invited him after the game to compete again. At that time, he agreed, but unfortunately, he got a fever and didn’t make it.

Fu Yuanzhou thought about it. Could it be that the reason why Ran Shutang hated him in the first place had something to do with this? Could it? How many years have passed since, could he still remember?

He sent Ran Shutang a WeChat message that day, but in the end, he didn’t receive a reply. For this reason, he went to Class 1 to find Ran Shutang the next day. However, Ran Shutang’s attitude was very cold, even indifferent, and he didn’t seem to want to communicate with him.

The two were rivals at first. Fu Yuanzhou didn’t want to please him. He planned to turn around and leave, but when he turned around, he accidentally saw Ran Shutang’s fingers trembling. Looking closely, his lips were also slightly pursed.

He was nervous.

At that time, Fu Yuanzhou sensed Ran Shutang’s emotions. Maybe it was because he had seen Ran Shutang’s different sides from before several times in his life, that he had become more sensitive, and this time he accurately captured the emotions of the other party.

How much was he right?

Fu Yuanzhou was stunned at that time, and he couldn’t help but recall the information Ran Shutang gave him. It must have cost a lot of effort.

Ran Shutang could be hard-headed, but Fu Yuanzhou’s heart softened. In the end, he apologized nicely. He stopped mentioning the photos and only asked about the tutoring. Unexpectedly, Ran Shutang did not intend to cancel the tutoring, but planned to proceed according to the original plan.

They agreed to do it every weekend, but this week Fu Yuanzhou had to go to his grandma’s house, and Ran Shutang also had something to do, so it would be officially starting next week.

How should he tell Ran Shutang…?

He was looking at the photo in a daze, when his mother also noticed it, and said in a little surprise, “Why do I think that this child looks like Ran Shutang from your class?”

She attended the parent-teacher meeting for Fu Yuanzhou every year. People like Ran Shutang who got the first rank in every exam naturally had to exchange their experiences at the parent-teacher meeting. Every time the parents saw him, so he had left a deep impression on them.

“It’s him.” Fu Yuanzhou said.

“Oh, then next time I see him, I have to say sorry to him.” Mother said.

“Huh?” Fu Yuanzhou was puzzled, why did his mother have to apologize to Ran Shutang?

“Do you remember what happened at that time?” Mother asked, “You had a high fever at the time, and the game didn’t go through. Do you still have an impression?”

Fu Yuanzhou nodded, and his mother continued: “You two met in the game, and you were very fond of each other. At that time, he told you to compare later. You promised him, but you got a fever. So, you didn’t meet him on the day of your game. He waited for you all day in the stadium and waited until it was late, because he believed you would come.”

“Why did you never tell me?” Fu Yuanzhou was stunned.

“I didn’t know he was waiting for you at the time. When registering for the competition, I had left my contact information. The person in charge of the competition called me many times that day, but I was on a business trip abroad and didn’t bring my domestic number. When I contacted the person in charge on his mobile phone, it was only half a month later. By that time, the game was over.”

Mother Fu sighed and said, “I feel ashamed. His family explained to me that it was very unfortunate. The number was down. It was a mistake. But the child must have felt very wronged. He waited until the venue closed before leaving.”

“I didn’t tell you later. I didn’t want you to feel sorry for it. It was not your problem.”

“It’s not your problem …… “

Fu Yuanzhou became more and more ashamed as he listened, and now he could fully understand why Ran Shutang hated him. If he was stood up and made to wait “for no reason”, he would definitely hate him to death.

What’s more, he had forgotten about it a long time ago. Ran Shutang recognized him, but he neither recognized Ran Shutang nor apologized. It was no wonder that Ran Shutang’s attitude towards him was so bad at first.

Ran Shutang was so kind, and he hated him to such an extent, but he still agreed to give him homework tutoring in the name of repaying him…

Fu Yuanzhou felt both guilty and touched, and immediately took out his mobile phone and sent Ran Shutang all kinds of emoticons with tears and hugging thighs.

Ran Shutang didn’t reply to him. He was about to apologize to Ran Shutang after a long talk, when he heard his mother say: “It’s time for me to take medicine. Where’s the others, they don’t seem to be in the house?”

“Maybe they went out?”

Fu Yuanzhou was walking around the house after hearing the words to look for them, but Yu Fei really wasn’t there, nor was he in the bathroom, he didn’t know when he went out, and he didn’t even bring his mobile phone or wallet.

After waiting for more than ten minutes, he still did not come back. His mother said: “Mum will cook for grandma and you tonight. It is not convenient to find him. Xiaolin, Xiaozhou, you can go out and find him for me.”

“Okay.”

Without a reply from Ran Shutang, Fu Yuanzhou planned to go and find Yu Fei first with Xie Lin. Before going out, he specifically said that he and Xie Lin should separate to find him, so as not to be alone with Xie Lin, otherwise he didn’t know what Xie Lin was going to do.

Fu Yuanzhou walked out of the courtyard. His grandma’s house was in the suburbs. There was a large yard around it. It was a two-story small villa with a large green area outside. The distance between the houses was sparse. There were not many people living there.    

He was walking around, when he suddenly saw a figure coming from the other side of the road. At this time, the sun was setting, and the person was against the light so he could not see his face. Fu Yuanzhou tentatively yelled: “Xiao Fei, is that you???” ……

“Fu Yuanzhou,” the person called out his name, Fu Yuanzhou was stunned for a moment, then he recognized the person’s voice: “Ran Shutang?”    

“Yes it is me.”    

Ran Shutang approached him, clearly revealing a handsome clean face, Fu Yuanzhou was very surprised, and he opened his mouth and asked: “Why are you here?”    

“Today is my grandfather’s death anniversary, so I have come to visit his grave.” Ran Shutang glanced at him and seemed to be asking why he was here.    

“Not far from here is my grandma’s house.” Fu Yuanzhou said, “What a coincidence, so we are also neighbors?”    

Ran Shutang shook his head, “My family has not lived here since a long time ago.”    

Although Ran Shutang denied it, Fu Yuanzhou was not disappointed, he was still in that emotional and ashamed mood, and felt that seeing Ran Shutang at this moment was simply fated, and he saw him as if he had met his relatives.    

“Would you like to come to my house for dinner tonight?”    

He put his hand on Ran Shutang’s shoulders in a very friendly manner, hooking his shoulders and back, like they were brothers: “My mother cooks delicious food, eat with us?”    

Being held in this way by him, Ran Shutang’s ears suddenly became red, which could be seen even in the setting sun. It was obvious that he was not used to Fu Yuanzhou’s sudden change of attitude: “No need!”

“Let’s go, there is no need to be polite to me.” Fu Yuanzhou was unprecedentedly enthusiastic, “I still have something to say to you.”

“Really     not— “

“Zhou.” A sudden voice interrupted Ran Shutang. When Fu Yuanzhou looked back, he saw Yu Fei standing behind them, his brows and eyes set off by the afterglow of the setting sun, his lips curled up slightly, but he didn’t seem to be smiling.

He said softly.

“You two… seem to be very close.”