CH 43

The third year of high school.

The turning point in life, the most important and critical period.

Teenagers who have just grown up or are on the verge of becoming adults but still hold immaturity, stood at the intersection of high school graduation. Facing countless forks, they must choose a direction and then run to a new life.

When they parted, they always agreed that they would continue to be best friends even if they went to different schools. But after their life gradually separated, they would realise that in the end everyone was ultimately living for themselves.

There were no twists and turns for some, they were just silently drifting away and gradually didn’t write anymore.

Lu Yong vaguely sensed that the time to say goodbye was approaching.

Lu Yong knew very rationally that he was not qualified to ask Shen Wenqiu. That was Shen Wenqiu’s life and he was just a friend. He told himself that Shen Wenqiu was kind and there were good reasons not to tell him. But no matter how he comforted himself, he was still very distressed. So much that he couldn’t sleep all night.

Lu Yong was not worried about the college entrance examination. Their top class was taught quickly and they had already finished learning the contents taught in the second year of high school. The third year of senior high school was just to review and answer questions over and over. Lu Yong still had to work on his family’s company, so he only put a little mind on the exams. But because his studies were in-depth and solid, his grades were very stable. Thus he was not falling behind.

There was still one semester left and he really didn’t hear Shen Wenqiu say where he planned to go to university. Instead, he had already decided on his ideal university and major, which he had told Shen Wenqiu eight hundred years ago.

It was a strange encounter that they could become good friends in high school. He and Shen Wenqiu grew up in very different living environments. They should have never met each other in their entire lives, but they met by chance and became old friends.

Even if Shen Wenqiu hadn’t said it before, Lu Yong probably knew that Shen Wenqiu would not go to a university with him. Their hobbies and future development plans were completely different. He thought, ‘Shen Wenqiu must inherit the family business, so he will probably choose business or management?’

He naturally also hoped that Shen Wenqiu could go to the most suitable university.

It didn’t matter if he was not in the same university. He could go to Shen Wenqiu as soon as he was on vacation. He was not afraid of trouble or tiredness.

But going abroad was different.

He couldn’t easily go abroad to meet Shen Wenqiu. What about making expensive overseas phone calls? It was also possible to use a computer for video communication… could it be done? Usually, it took half a day to open a difficult webpage in class and the data usage was extremely expensive. At that time when they were in high school, communication was far less developed than it was today. There was internet, but the internet speed was very slow.

Lu Yong didn’t mind any of these, he could save money to get a chance to talk to Shen Wenqiu.

But when the time comes, the two of them would be jet-lagged. If they wanted to see each other for a year, they had to coordinate with each other. He could do it all. He was willing to cooperate with Shen Wenqiu. But Shen Wenqiu would make more good friends abroad, right? After meeting those interesting people, would he still be willing to go to the trouble of meeting him every once in a while?

If he always asked Shen Wenqiu, would it make Shen Wenqiu annoyed? How should he grasp this frequency and scale? When he thought that initially he could meet Shen Wenqiu everyday now, but he could only meet him once a week or even only once a month in the future and that he(SW) would probably gradually forget him later, he(LY) felt so stuffy in his heart that he couldn’t eat.

Shen Wenqiu stopped staying at school in the third year of high school. He spent half of the week making up for evening self-study. When he went home, he was taught by one-on-one private tutors. Every day he brought a bunch of fruit and snacks to school.

Lu Yong was worried for a week. Facing the sunny and ignorant Shen Wenqiu, he really couldn’t ask it. Instead, he became haggard.

Shen Wenqiu thought that Lu Yong had too many things to worry about, so he was so tired. He stuffed him with delicious food and cared about him, “Dayong, are you under too much pressure? Isn’t uncle working very well? He manages quite well. If it’s not going well, I’ll ask my father…”

Lu Yong looked at Shen Wenqiu’s unreserved enthusiasm and kindness. He racked his brains but he still couldn’t figure out why Shen Wenqiu didn’t tell him about studying abroad. Was it because he felt that they were not of the same class and even if he was told, he couldn’t give any good advice? He was really not helpful in this regard, but he just wanted to know.

‘Why didn’t Shen Wenqiu tell him? Why?’

The urge to ask Shen Wenqiu became stronger and stronger, but Lu Yong suppressed this urge to the point that he didn’t even want to talk to Shen Wenqiu and became more and more silent.

His whole person went back to being gloomy. Even though they were tablemates, the two of them didn’t talk much. This time, it was Lu Yong who ignored Shen Wenqiu.

One day during lunch break self-study.

Lu Yong was writing the papers to divert his irritable mood. He took a glance. Shen Wenqiu was chatting with other classmates in the corridor and after a while, Shen Wenqiu came back with a letter in his hand.

It was a light pink envelope with a cute cartoon pattern printed on it. At first glance, it looked like a love letter written by a girl.

Shen Wenqiu received a lot of confession letters these days. Since he was about to graduate, the people didn’t care if they could be together or not. If they didn’t say it, they wouldn’t have the chance to say it anymore. Shen Wenqiu would accept every love letter and put it away, but he would also reject it without any hesitation. It couldn’t be said if that was gentle or cruel.

Lu Yong suddenly became uncontrollably jealous. He was too jealous, why could girls just say they liked Shen Wenqiu so openly?

While he was a man, was disabled even, someone who couldn’t talk with Shen Wenqiu about studying abroad. He could only watch from the sidelines and couldn’t confess to Shen Wenqiu. He didn’t even have the qualification to join as a participant in this love game.

At this time.

Shen Wenqiu handed the letter to him.

Lu Yong was puzzled and raised his head, “What is this?”

Shen Wenqiu seemed a little unhappy and said, “A girl I don’t know asked me to hand it over to you. It’s a love letter, right?”

Lu Yong, “…”

Lu Yong thought, ‘Why is Shen Wenqiu so upset? Could it be that he thought it was for him at first, but found out that it was for me?’

Lu Yong took it and put it directly into the desk without even looking at it.

Shen Wenqiu pulled the chair, sat crookedly, leaned his arms on the back of the chair, stared at him and asked as if he had nothing to do, “Are you not going to read the love letter?”

Lu Yong kept his head down and said with a serious attitude of doing the questions, “I won’t look at it for the time being.”

Shen Wenqiu, “Why?”

Lu Yong, “No reason? I just don’t want to read it for the time being.”

Shen Wenqiu laid on his arms and started chattering, “I really want to know, what’s her name? I don’t know, do you know? When did you meet? That girl is quite cute, with a small round face and big bright eyes. I think she had a good eye for liking you…”

Lu Yong felt inexplicably that Shen Wenqiu seemed to be adding fuel to the fire one scoop at a time. He was so annoyed that he took out the letter and handed it to Shen Wenqiu, “You can read it if you want to.”

Shen Wenqiu didn’t take it. He sat up straight, his eyes glued to the love letter and shook his head, “I’m not going to read it. This is your love letter, not mine. I will still respect this personal right to privacy. Who do you think I am?…”

After speaking, Shen Wenqiu stood up blankly as if he wanted to leave. But he didn’t know where to go, so he just stood there in a daze.

“*Ding ding ding.*”

The class bell rang and Shen Wenqiu sat down again.

It was just that the two of them didn’t say a word until the evening. After class, Shen Wenqiu ran to play with others while leaving Lu Yong alone in his seat. Except for going to the toilet, Lu Yong spent almost the whole day sitting without moving.

When Shen Wenqiu was away, he also thought about whether to read this love letter or not.

So he took it out and looked outside first. The girl’s name was written on it. Lu Yong didn’t have any impression of her. She wrote three pages of paper. After reading the first page, Lu Yong probably remembered it. …It seemed like there really was such a thing. When he saw a girl carrying things, he helped her share half of the burden simply.

He has done a lot of this kind of effort, and did not specifically remember which time was for her.

Lu Yong couldn’t help but get distracted——

He thought, for Shen Wenqiu, was he also this kind of effort for which he didn’t care much about?

Therefore, he envied and liked Shen Wenqiu, a young master who was born in a wealthy family. The young master who grew up in a loving environment and received so much love. He was bright and generous, so he would not be stingy at all in giving a little to others.

But to him who was barren, the little master’s insignificant gesture of self-esteem felt like a treasure, more precious than everything he owned.

Lu Yong couldn’t continue reading it any longer, so he put the letter away again.

He wouldn’t answer it anyway.

Gym class.

It was a rare time to relax and Shen Wenqiu played a game of basketball, but he was in poor form today and made many mistakes.

So he withdrew halfway through, sat down on the ground and gulped some water. Lu Yong saw that he was still very thirsty after drinking a bottle of water, so he stood up  and handed over his glass.

Shen Wenqiu took the water glass, stood up and looked straight at him.

Lu Yong said, “Go back and rest.”

Shen Wenqiu said “um” and walked with him to the teaching building. When they walked to a place where no one was around and only the two of them were left, Shen Wenqiu asked, “Are you going to fall in love with that girl?”

Lu Yong said, “No. I don’t like her.”

Shen Wenqiu said in a low voice, “This is the first time you have received a love letter, right? If you don’t talk about it, you won’t have a chance…”

Lu Yong frowned, ‘Is Shen Wenqiu so experienced? Has he been in a relationship with a girl before without telling him? Some boys are like this, even if they don’t like the girl, they could try it out with her.’

Lu Yong said decisively, “No, I won’t have a relationship with someone I don’t like.”

Shen Wenqiu’s voice suddenly stopped like a broken string and then he said a short “Oh” in frustration.

Evening study.

Shen Wenqiu did not ask for leave to go home for class today, but instead he stayed at school to do his homework.

The first night of self-study after class, Sheng Xu went to their place to chat with Shen Wenqiu. The two were chatting about a basketball game. Lu Yong had no interest in it so he couldn’t join in at all and he didn’t want to join in. So he took care of himself and wrote his own homework.

Lu Yong felt it was very noisy and when he heard Shen Wenqiu chatting so happily with others, he felt it was unbearable.

Shen Wenqiu turned his back to him.

Lu Yong was upset and wanted to raise his head to take a look. But Sheng Xu happened to be sitting on someone else’s table next to him, with his arms folded in front of his chest, looking down at him condescendingly with his usual ruffian expression on his face. Sheng Xu curled the corners of his mouth, as if mocking him and said, “Xiao Baa, it’s not good for us to leave Lu Yong out of the conversation, right? Let’s talk with him. But he doesn’t seem to be very clear about it, huh.”

Shen Wenqiu said in a daze, “Lu Yong doesn’t understand this. He doesn’t understand even if I explain it to him.”

Lu Yong was so angry that he was about to explode.

Lu Yong heard the sound of a click. The case of the ballpoint pen in his hand was cracked, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

Lu Yong stood up and said, “I’m going out for a while.”

Shen Wenqiu also stood up, “Where are you going?”

Lu Yong glanced back at him coldly, “I’m going alone, don’t follow me.”

Lu Yong walked out of the door quickly, without looking if Shen Wenqiu was following up or not.

Lu Yong didn’t want to stay in the suffocating environment that made him angry. He went downstairs straight to the playground, wanting to run two laps to vent. But before he even got there, he couldn’t help but run.

The school playground at night was not lit.

There seemed to be a few people on the curb. Lu Yong ran halfway through the lap and was stopped by a girl in surprise, “Lu Yong? You came?”

Lu Yong stopped in confusion, “What’s the matter?”

The girl pruned her hair nervously, “You…you didn’t come here because of what I wrote in the letter?”

Lu Yong, “…” He didn’t read the letter, so he had an appointment to meet her at the playground at night? How was it so coincidental?

Lu Yong stood upright and said to her, “I’m sorry.”

The girl understood and nodded silently with tears in her eyes.

“Lu Yong.” He heard Shen Wenqiu’s voice, turned around and found Shen Wenqiu standing at one end of the track.

Lu Yong’s scalp was numb and for a moment he had the illusion of being caught in adultery.

Shen Wenqiu trotted over and said to him, “You’re walking too fast, do you want me to keep an eye for you? Recently, the dean of education has been very strict and they will squat on the side and arrest people…. Oh you guys talk, just talk.”

Shen Wenqiu said such words, but his eyes revealed his sadness.

Like a puppy who was afraid of being abandoned, yet he seemed to be saying, ‘Didn’t you say you’re not interested? Why are you rushing to an appointment?’

Lu Yong said, “No. It’s over. Let’s go back to class.”

Then he said to the girl, “You should also go back quickly. It’s very cold at night. You’re wearing very few clothes. Don’t catch a cold and get sick.”

After speaking, Lu Yong raised his foot and walked back.

Shen Wenqiu took a few steps to catch up to him and said, “Am I disturbing you? Actually, you don’t need to mind me. I feel like I’m annoying?”

Lu Yong quickened his pace several times, wanting to rush back as soon as possible. But it was still too late and he was only halfway there when the sudden bell rang.

The feeling of breaking the jar suddenly came up.

Lu Yong quickly stopped as if he was about to run, stood firm, turned around, turned his back to the light, faced Shen Wenqiu, stared silently for a moment and asked abruptly, “Shen Wenqiu, which country and which school are you going to study abroad?”