CH 26

Shen Wenqiu thought about it and asked, “You didn’t choose Y Town on purpose, did you?”

Lu Yong replied, “No. It’s just a coincidence. This step was originally included in my blueprint plan and you just happened to come back too.”

Shen Wenqiu looked at his face for a moment, then relaxed his mind.

He had no doubt about Lu Yong on the matter of not lying. If Lu Yong was willing to lie, he would not say that he was a bad person nor would he refuse 800 yuan.

Even now as he thought about it, he felt that Lu Yong was too honest to the point of piercing people’s hearts.

The two of them arrived at the car before they realised it.

Shen Wenqiu unconsciously put his hand on the door of the car then stopped suddenly and thought, ‘Getting into the car and going back to City H with Lu Yong this time is different from before. That time, it was Lu Yong who invited him but this time he took the initiative to go with him.’

Lu Yong also followed him, stood still and asked, “What’s wrong?”

Shen Wenqiu shook his head.

Although he was the one who asked Lu Yong to take him in and to keep taking him in and Lu Yong agreed to do so but he also knew that Lu Yong was a good man who would do what he said andthat no one could tell the future.

He inexplicably remembered a famous aphorism that he copied on his notebook when he was young, ‘In addition to useless corporeal suicide and mental evasion, the third attitude of suicide is to persevere, strive and confront the absurdity of life.’

He was not fond of reading chicken soup for the soul 1 stories of encouragement/motivational stories and just thought of it at that moment.

Thinking about this, Shen Wenqiu tentatively said, “You must be too tired to drive every time. You also have been busy for the past two days. Let me drive. Anyway, there is navigation so we won’t get lost… …probably.”

Lu Yong was stunned and he hesitated to tactfully refuse, “It’s very tiring to drive for a few hours.”

“I know, I’m not a kid.” Shen Wenqiu said, “I’ve been doing nothing but sleeping for the past few days and now I’m full of energy.”

“I’ve slept for a long time and now I don’t want to sleep anymore.”

Lu Yong still wanted to refuse. To be honest, he still couldn’t change his habit. He wanted to treat Shen Wenqiu as a spoiled young master and he himself thought that there was no problem with it.

He even secretly rejoiced in the fact that the Young Master Shen was now just his own Young Master.

But he heard Shen Wenqiu say again, “The days are still long in the future. If we want to live together, I can’t let you do everything. I have to do something for you, even if it’s just a small thing. If I can’t even stand this tiredness, how can I work and pay back my debts? If I don’t move at all, won’t I become a guest again?”

Lu Yong’s heart warmed up. Did this mean that Shen Wenqiu was considering him as one of his own? Shen Wenqiu’s words were reasonable and it was rare that Shen Wenqiu wanted to come back again, so he must not dampen his enthusiasm.

Therefore, Lu Yong nodded, “O-okay, that’s fine.”

After buying this car, Lu Yong had never given up his driving seat to others and he was still unaccustomed to changing to the co-pilot seat.

He turned his head to look at Shen Wenqiu, still asking worriedly, “Do you still know how to drive?”

Shen Wenqiu stared at the front and said, “Yes.”

Lu Yong felt that he had become an automobile school coach, one who had the best temper and was nervously watching Shen Wenqiu drive, giving him some advice when he was unfamiliar.

Shen Wenqiu earnestly followed what Lu Yong said. He did everything Lu Yong told him. It was true that he hadn’t driven for many years and was unfamiliar but he gradually got used to it. When the car drove on at high speed, he went forward towards the horizon unimpeded and his mood seemed to be smoothed by the oncoming strong wind.

Shen Wenqiu exhaled and couldn’t help but smile. He then said to Lu Yong, “Thank you.”

Lu Yong replied, “You would have been able to drive by yourself. I just said a few sentences to help you remember. You’ve always been smart. You used to be good at studies, you knew how to solve the question once taught.”

Shen Wenqiu said, “That is also because you teach well.”

…

After the homeroom teacher rearranged the seating in the second semester of high school’s first senior year, Shen Wenqiu was changed to be Lu Yong’s seatmate in the last row. Of course, Shen Wenqiu secretly asked for this.

Usually people wanted to change to a good position but this was the first time someone wanted to sit in the last row.

The number of their class was odd, they sat two by two and one person would definitely be left out. This person was Lu Yong last semester. He was too tall. Even if he sat in the shortest chair, it was easy to block people’s sight and since he had no vision problems it didn’t matter if he sat alone at the end.

Lu Yong felt uneasy about his fiery friendship. He always felt that he didn’t deserve to sit at the same table with the campus beau and be taken care of. He asked Shen Wenqiu privately, “You are at the same table with me and we are in the last row. You are not tall, can you still see?”

Shen Wenqiu was irritated by Lu Yong’s natural cluelessness. If he hadn’t been familiar with Lu Yong, he would definitely think that Lu Yong was mocking him, so he said angrily, “What do you mean I’m not tall? I’m quite tall! I’ve grown two centimetres taller last semester. I am now 1.75 metre tall! Don’t you want to be my seatmate?”

Lu Yong blushed. After holding back for a long time, he still couldn’t lie. On the contrary, he was even more conspicuous, “I want.”

But after the arrangement came out, Lu Yong saw that Shen Wenqiu was pulled away by his previous seatmate and was asked, “Why are you at the same table with Lu Yong?”

Shen Wenqiu replied, “Aren’t you dating Xiaoxiao? Isn’t it good of me to let you guys spend time together without me who’s a third wheel there? Thus I have become alone and a widow, so I’ll go to find other friends to be seatmates with then. There are also inconveniences in Lu Yong’s life, I want to take care of him more.”

The other party said in a strange manner, “You’ve been really good to him lately.”

Shen Wenqiu replied with a straight face, “Yes!”

Lu Yong heard it accidentally and his ears became hot red.

He was determined not to let down Shen Wenqiu’s kindness towards him but this seemed to be different from what Shen Wenqiu thought.

Shen Wenqiu originally thought that Lu Yong would always follow him. And being at the same table with Lu Yong, he could live a good life as he pleased, just as comfortable as he was in the dormitory.

The first two days were okay. One day, the latest book of the novel he had been chasing came out. He asked someone to borrow it and planned to take a peek during class. Just when he took it out, he felt a gaze which had too strong of a presence from beside staring at him.

Shen Wenqiu turned his head to Lu Yong’s disappointed and shocked gaze. Shen Wenqiu’s heart sank… He thought if he continued, his perfect image in Lu Yong’s heart would collapse. He didn’t know where his idol baggage 2 burden of having to maintain one’s image as a pop idol came from. He didn’t have this burden toward others but only towards Lu Yong. So his face reddened as he put the novel away.

They didn’t say a word until the end of class. Although they shouldn’t have spoken in class, the atmosphere was stiff.

Shen Wenqiu’s heart was in a mess. He wanted to explain himself but he couldn’t explain it. He was puzzled. Who among his classmates did not peek at a novel, watch a movie or play a game during class? What’s all the fuss about?

Only then did Shen Wenqiu vaguely discover why he had a different perception of Lu Yong from other friends.

Because Lu Yong treated him differently from others, Lu Yong was even a bit like his believer. Not only did Lu Yong follow him obediently, even if Lu Yong didn’t open his mouth, each and every move of his looked like he placed Shen Wenqiu in his palm preciously. 

He had been the most beautiful child since he was a child. He had a sweet mouth and had always been popular but Lu Yong was special. It seemed that he was perfect in Lu Yong’s eyes.

…But now he appeared to be tainted.

Shen Wenqiu thought.

Lu Yong went to the bathroom, and the class almost started when he came back.

Shen Wenqiu was still struggling with his own disillusionment. Lu Yong sat down and said to him, “Are you afraid? I won’t report you.”

Shen Wenqiu reflected on his acts with a gloomy expression and was about to promise that he would concentrate on class and not read novels.

Lu Yong opened his mouth first and said solemnly, “If you want to read it so much, just read it. I’ll keep an eye for you.”

Lu Yong was telling the truth but Shen Wenqiu felt ridiculed. His face flushed in shame, he stammered and couldn’t speak.

Lu Yong still said softly, “I’ll attend and take the class notes seriously. I’ll make them up for you after class or during the evening self-study session. Don’t worry.”

For a while, Shen Wenqiu was in a complicated mood. He didn’t know whether his own image had changed or not but his perception in Lu Yong’s heart had changed first. He felt that he was guilty and had caused such an upright and kind Lu Yong to change his principles! Shen Wenqiu said, “…I’m not going to read it, I will read it when I go back to the dormitory room at night.”

It’s probably because those who handle cinnabar are stained red, those who work with ink are stained black. 3 You are the product of your environment. 4

Every day, watching Lu Yong listen to the class and write his homework so seriously, Shen Wenqiu naturally slacked off less and less during class.

Not only did Lu Yong concentrate on attending class but he also did homework and exam papers after class. He used to work hard but he worked very hard this semester.

A classmate said to Shen Wenqiu, “…Looking at him like this, it’s not like he wouldn’t do his homework when he got home from school as he said. If he did worksheets then just say it. What’s there to lie about? What a hypocrite. Pretending to be honest.”

Only Shen Wenqiu in the class knew Lu Yong’s secret plan.

Why was Lu Yong working hard this semester and making the best use of his time? Because he wanted to use the evening self-study session which was supposed to be used to write homework, to calculate his invention and design on the draft paper.

Shen Wenqiu watched Lu Yong scribble in his book every day and also wanted to participate. Isn’t it much cooler than playing games and reading novels? It was also good to help Lu Yong.

Lu Yong ruthlessly rejected him, “You write your homework first and I will let you join when you finish writing.”

Shen Wenqiu’s heart was itching and it was hard for him to endure but there was no other way, so he had to concentrate and make good use of his time. He also rarely bragged and chatted with his classmates after class. He just wanted to finish his homework as soon as possible, so that he could “play” with Lu Yong at night.

His results had risen steadily since then.

After returning home, Shen Wenqiu told his father that he did not want to make up for the weekend tutoring because he didn’t need it now! He could go to Lu Yong’s home to do his homework with his small school bag!

That time when he went over, Lu Yong was working for his father. He wiped the sweat and said, “You have to wait a while, I have to collect a carload of scrap as previously agreed.”

As he went there more often, Shen Wenqiu didn’t regard himself as an outsider at all. He got on Lu Yong’s tricycle and said, “I’ll go with you.”

The two passed by, loaded with a cart full of waste paper.

On the return journey, he encountered an ascending slope. Shen Wenqiu saw that Lu Yong was riding hard, the front and back of his clothes were soaked so he asked, “I’ll help you with the cart.”

Lu Yong gritted his teeth and said, “No, you can just sit. I can ride.”

‘What a hardworking guy.’ Shen Wenqiu thought and jumped down directly, “Let’s switch. I haven’t ridden a tricycle, let me ride it.”

Shen Wenqiu got off and gave him a push in the back, the two were sweating profusely, working in unison.

A man on a bicycle passed by and asked in surprise, “Shen Wenqiu?

Lu Yong looked over and he was their classmate.

The boy asked incredulously, “Shen Wenqiu, what are you doing here? You said you don’t want to go to the movies with me. You said you want to attend make-up classes. You lied to me just to pick up trash with Lu Yong??”

T/N: Hi this is Rin, no updates from Jan 30 to Feb 5 as I’m busy preparing for an interview. Thanks for reading!

stories of encouragement/motivational stories

burden of having to maintain one’s image as a pop idol