CH 55

“Big brother, didn’t you say before that you wanted to take me to the amusement park?”

“I’ll take you next time.” Shang Jin put down the book on his leg as he sat by the window. Shang Youyou pouted in dissatisfaction. Clearly they’d agreed a few days ago, but in the end, the situation suddenly changed today.

A lot of ripe strawberries hung in the pot on the windowsill, brilliantly red and waiting for people to collect.

After seeing the strawberries, Shang Youyou continued to complain. Clearly they’d agreed before that when the strawberries turned red, they could be eaten. As a result, she’d looked forward to it for so many days, and finally, the first strawberry ripened. But her big brother’s words couldn’t be trusted!

Not only that, some time ago, he’d said that he would take her to the amusement park when it opened. Breaking her fingertips, she waited to this day with great difficult, but her big brother said they wouldn’t go.

Shang Youyou walked before Shang Jin and hmphed. Circling around the table once, when she passed Shang Jin, she gave another hmph.

Shang Jin didn’t lift his eyelids and continued read the book in his hand.

This time, Shang Youyou’s ‘hmph’ was even louder, with both hands crossed over her chest. Constantly sweeping Shang Jin out of the corner of her eye, she saw that Shang Jin didn’t look at her. She flung down her hands and Shang Jin lifted them off. Shang Youyou immediately crossed her arms and pretended to look very angry, but Shang Jin just turned a page in the book.

Seeing Shang Youyou was really angry, both stamping her feet and snorting, Shang Jin put down his book and beckoned at her. “Come here.”

Shang Youyou could see Shang Jin was calling her. She very stubbornly hmphed.

Shang Jin called again, “Youyou, come here.”

Shang Youyou flew toward Shang Jin and mouth still unwilling, said, “What’s the matter…”

“After two days, it’s Brother Ye Zhou’s birthday. Let’s give this to him, okay?” Shang Jin put the book on the table, and held Shang Youyou in his lap to discuss it with her. “Because it’s a gift, so we can’t eat it.”

Shang Youyou nodded, not really understanding. She played with Shang Jin’s finger and asked, “Then what about the amusement park?”

“There’s too many people today, and it’s very hot, so I’ll take you there in the fall.” Shang Jin stretched out his little finger and said, “Let’s pinky swear. This time, I didn’t consider it properly.”

Shang Youyou stretched out her finger and reluctantly agreed.

Hearing that Ye Zhou would go out on a date with Tang Dongdong, Shang Jin did intend to bring Shang Youyou to the amusement park. But on this day, Shang Jin stopped.

The decision to give Ye Zhou time was because he had a basic understanding of and trusted in Ye Zhou.

If he really did go today, whether he met Ye Zhou or not, his trust in Ye Zhou would be greatly compromised.

The amusement park closed at half past five. Su Yin and Tang Dongdong also wanted to go to the night market that evening. Ye Zhou ignored Su Yin’s eye-cramping glances and went straight back to school.

There was no class the next day, and Ye Zhou spent the day reviewing books in the library. For a period of time before, because his heart couldn’t stay still, it’d almost affected his studies.

He’d also been paying a lot less attention to the strawberries these days. Fortunately, he’d taken care of them well early on, and coupled with the good sunshine and temperature, the strawberries had grown to three to four centimeters in size. With each flower brushed by Shang Jin with borrowed powder and moreover, with industrious little bees visiting, there actually weren’t any strangely-shaped strawberries.

“Zhou, if you don’t pick this strawberry, it’ll rot.” Zhou Wendao pointed to two strawberries that had already turned red. “Let me have a taste of your own hand-grown strawberries.”

Ye Zhou smiled insincerely and said, “Fine, one hundred for one.”

“That’s too expensive.”

“There are a lot of people outside who want to buy!”

“That would be when you and Shang Jin are okay, right now…” Zhou Wendao suddenly covered his mouth. How could he speak his true thoughts out? Shang Jin and Ye Zhou had a conflict. Although he didn’t know exactly what happened, but it obviously wasn’t that kind of little fuss that happened last Christmas for Ye Zhou to actually use this kind of tone to talk about something Shang Jin had given him.

Ye Zhou looked at the strawberry without speaking.

Zhou Wendao wailed in his heart: it’s over, it’s over. He’d really misspoken this time.

“Go review. We have a test tomorrow.”

Zhou Wendao breathed a sigh of relief and suddenly stopped after two steps. “Zhou, tomorrow is your birthday, right?”

Ye Zhou heart thumped. “Yeah.”

“After we finish the test tomorrow, let’s go eat together! Let’s celebrate your birthday.”

“No need.” Ye Zhou’s first reaction was to refuse, remembering that the 403 dorm had gotten together to eat at this time last year. If he made it seem special this year, he was afraid that Zhou Wendao would get to the heart of the matter, so he explained further, “Even if the tests tomorrow are finished, there’s still tests on the the day after tomorrow, and reviewing is the most important. After that, we can eat at any time.”

“Isn’t it just the exams,” Zhou Wendao said unconcerned, “Besides, even if there’s the exams, does that mean you won’t eat? Wait for me to call the brothers and comrades. Tomorrow night…”

“Ehー” Ye Zhou held his forehead. Zhou Wendao’s mouth was too fast.

Once Ye Zhou got up on his birthday, many people dropped by to tell him happy birthday. However, even if many people knew Ye Zhou’s birthday, when they met Shang Jin in the exam room, no one dared to tell Shang Jin.

One test down, Ye Zhou was surrounded by people and taken to the canteen. While the people were off guard, Xu Yangjun extracted himself from the crowd. In the canteen, before Ye Zhou could open his mouth, Zhou Wendao called for beer and Ye Zhou passed the menu to them. Sitting to one side, he took out his phone and opened up WeChat to look at the birthday greetings sent by his former friends.

After going through each one, Ye Zhou opened Shang Jin’s chat box.

It’d be a lie to say that he wasn’t disappointed in his heart, but he thought that the other person didn’t necessarily know his birthday and dispelled it.

His fingers tapped on the phone, then he took a deep breath and pressed the Send button.

Ye Zhou: At 8pm, meet at the bamboo grove.

As for which bamboo grove, Ye Zhou believed that Shang Jin must know.

Almost immediately, Shang Jin’s reply came back.

Shang Jin: OK.

Ye Zhou heaved a long sigh of relief. These few days, Shang Jin didn’t know anything about the decisions he’d made on his own. So for that night’s matter, Ye Zhou’s heart also wasn’t certain that it was within his grasp.

After all, Shang Jin had taken the initiative to confess to him, but he’d shunned it like a snake. Now that it was his turn to seek out the other, Shang Jin could have completely ignored him if he was unhappy.

“Zhou, what are you looking at? Everyone is here, so why are you looking at your phone?” Zhou Wendao hooked Ye Zhou’s neck. Before the dishes arrived, he opened the beer first and poured. “Come, come, come, let’s do your birthday toast first.”

“Fine, fine, if I want to drink, then I’ll drink.” Ye Zhou’s heart was hanging on that night’s matter, so where would he be in the mood to play with them. He took a small sip to send Zhou Wendao away.

How would Zhou Wendao let him off so easily? He still thought to urge him again, but was pulled away by Wen Renxu beside him. “You also know that today is Ye Zhou’s birthday, not yours. If you want to drink on your birthday, then everyone will accompany you. Since it’s Ye Zhou’s birthday, we should listen to him today.”

If this was as usual, Ye Zhou would be unwilling to sweep away their excitement, but today wasn’t the same. He raised a glass of wine aloft and pompously declared, “For you guys to do better on tomorrow exams, everyone can only drink one bottle at most today.”

When this was said, half the people at the table hung their heads in dejection.

“What are you doing? One after the other.” Xu Yangjun, who arrived late, put the cake in the middle of the table. “Zhou, this is everyone’s regard: happy birthday!”

“Thank you.”

Since Ye Zhou kept using the next day’s exams as an excuse, the dinner ended at 7:30pm.

Ye Zhou slipped away from the group when everyone wasn’t paying attention to him. In the wildflower field behind the gardens, he picked a bunch of wildflowers of all sizes and variety and tied them together with a ribbon. Holding the bouquet of flowers in one hand and holding the handlebars with the other, he hurried from the crowd toward the bamboo grove.

When the time arrived and there was no one in the bamboo grove, Ye Zhou put the bouquet on the stone stable and sat to one side, tapping his fingers on the table.

After waiting for five minutes, he finally heard the rustling of footsteps.

“You came.” Ye Zhou said as if they’d returned to that night, but with the roles reversed.

In the quiet bamboo grove, one could almost hear his own heartbeat. Ye Zhou thought about whether Shang Jin that day was like he was now: apprehensive.

A person who liked to hold everything in his grasp had handed the right to choose over to someone else for the first time. This required more courage and determination than the average person.

Ye Zhou was the same today.

“Shang Jin, you said you lost last time…” Ye Zhou licked his lip and continued, “That’s wrong. You didn’t lose. I didn’t win either.”

Shang Jin sat on the stone bench, his eyes fixed on Ye Zhou without showing any intention to speak.

Ye Zhou grabbed his hair and for a moment, not knowing where to start.

“Tang Dongdong…”

When this name came out, Shang Jin knitted his brows.

Ye Zhou hurriedly said, “I’ve never liked anyone before. When I first met Tang Dongdong, my heart beat quickly, and I thought this was love at first sight. I started looking for Su Yin to ask for his information, and even used your photos to exchange for Tang Dongdong’s photos… We started in a misunderstanding, and I didn’t want to explain anything.”

“And…I admit that I didn’t like you at first. You were so excellent and always suppressed me. You could always do your best at any time and in everything, unlike me, who always cling to some false title and seem to only be able to prove myself that way. So I despised you and was jealous of you at the same time, jealous that you’re able to easily obtain what I couldn’t even when I strived to my utmost.” This was the explanation for his conversation with Su Yin that day, but looking at Shang Jin’s expression, it didn’t seem to have much effect.

Shang Jin stood up and said, “If this is what you wanted to tell me today, then I don’t think I need to hear this.”

Ye Zhou saw that he wanted to leave and also stood up. He couldn’t help but raise his voice. “Yeah, I’m jealous of you, but…I like you more. If it’s you, I’m willing to be second in this life for you. Even if you’re the mountain I can never cross. Even if…I’d always be ridiculed for being the eternal second…”

Shang Jin was slightly moved.

Knowing Ye Zhou for so long, Shang Jin certainly knew Ye Zhou’s obsession with the first place. Many people thought that first place was similar to second place, but for Ye Zhou, because he’d never gotten it, his craving for first place was something that ordinary people couldn’t comprehend. The second place had followed him like a magic curse. Now, Ye Zhou actually uttered these kind of almost giving up words, giving up the goal he’d been striving for and willingly accepting his fate.

“I’m ashamed to say that I thought I like Tang Dongdong, but rarely thought of him. I said I hated you, but I’m concerned about you in everything. I’m not even clear on my own heart. No wonder Shang Ming said I was stupid.” Ye Zhou took the flowers in his hand, but hesitated. “Shang Jin, are you willing to give this fool a chance?”

Ye Zhou clutched the bouquet, waiting for Shang Jin’s “judgement”.

One step…

Two steps…

Shang Jin stopped in front of Ye Zhou.

Ye Zhou watched him pull two flowers from his own hand and said softly, “Two are enough.”

If the girl is really interested in him, he just needs to take two wildflowers and his confession would be successful.

Ye Zhou suddenly remembered what he had said.

The detail he’d not understood last time became clear.

No wonder Shang  Jin had picked two flowers for him.

So Shang Jin taking two of his flowers, did it mean that he was really interested in him?

Ye Zhou carefully looked at Shang Jin. Shang Jin gently knocked on Ye Zhou’s head with the two flowers in his hand and said, “Where did you pick the flowers? Ugly to death.”

Obviously, these words were asking for a beating, but Ye Zhou heard them and suddenly laughed out loud.