CH 25

Chapter 25

With his hand hanging in mid-air unable to move up or down, Lu Qi’an simply held the milk carton.

Li Qinhe, who was sitting near him, was the first to notice his abnormality. After seeing the milk carton and the pink envelope, he sneered: “Which class is this girl from? She doesn’t know how to read the room at all, giving you milk even when you’re lactose intolerant.”

He reached out, trying to yank the milk carton away from Lu Qi'an's hand: "I'll drink it for you."

He yanked, but couldn’t yank it away. He yanked again. Still nothing.

When he wanted to try again in disbelief, Lu Qi'an raised his head and coldly made Li Qinhe loosen his grip: "Don't touch it."

Lu Qi'an's actions were merciless, making Li Qinhe feel very wronged. He covered the spot where he was beaten and said: "Aren't you lactose intolerant...why won’t you let me drink?"

It was common for girls to deliver gifts to Lu Qi’an, and Lu Qi'an would throw away such things without exception. Among the girls, there were very few that’d give milk, and most of these occurrences happened only when the first-year high school students first started school. It only took a bit of getting to know Lu Qi’an that the girls would find out he’s lactose intolerant.”

Lu Qi'an stared at the milk and the envelope in his hand, his face dismal and uncertain.

Li Qinhe stared and stared, not daring to provoke him anymore. He quietly sat back in his seat, not even daring to let his eyes wander. 

With no one bothering him, Lu Qi'an gradually cooled down. He calmly opened the envelope and read the letter in his hand.

The letter reads:

Lu Qi'an,

How are you?

Sincere greeting to you. 

After weighing upon this several times, I chose to express my heart to you through a letter. When I wrote these words, my heart felt like it was being set on fire. My love for you has become unbearable, tormenting me like torture yet intoxicating me to the heavens.

How lucky I am to meet such a dazzling you in my life. 

Please accept me and let me treat you well.

Miss you, miss you, miss you.

I wish you happiness.

Fu Jia.

Li Qinhe was sitting in frustration and ranting to his girlfriend through SMS when he suddenly heard a burst of suppressed laughter from his side. It was very short, lasting only one syllable. 

He stared at Lu Qi'an as if he had seen a ghost, and saw that his head was turned to one side, his fist covering his lips, and the corner of his mouth had a slight upward arch. 

Lu Qi’an was laughing?

Next, he saw Lu Qi'an put his hand down, regaining his cold expression. But he carefully folded the letter and returned it back in the envelope. Considering this affectionate gesture, it appeared that he wanted to keep this letter.

Li Qinhe was baffled.

“Qi’an, are you okay?” he asked carefully. His attention was completely captured by the pink love letter in his hand.

Studying his expression, Li Qinhe suddenly realized that with Lu Qi'an's temperament, why would he rush to open the love letter given by others in the classroom? He looked like he couldn't wait to open it.# 

Li Qinhe's heart skipped a beat.

It’s over.

Over the course of the subsequent week, every morning Lu Qi'an would take out a carton of milk and a love letter from inside his desk, and every morning Lu Qi'an would open the letter and read it during the first period. 

Li Qinhe seized this opportunity, sat next to him, and stared at Lu Qi'an to death. He didn't have the courage to snatch the love letter over and read it, nor did he dare to sneak a peek. He could only observe Lu Qi'an's expression as he read, trying to uncover any clues. It was a pity that Lu Qi’an only smiled on that first day, for the rest of the week he kept his face blank as he read the letters.

From opening the letter to reading it, then putting the letter back in the envelope again, the whole set of actions was impeccably watertight. 

The next incident happened the following Monday– the milk and the love letter were cut off at the same time.

That morning, Lu Qi'an looked normal. But Li Qinhe, having known him so well, knew there was something wrong with him.

Lu Qi'an was colder than usual, emitting a low pressure for a long time, which made people afraid to approach or talk to him. Not only that, but Lu Qi’an would become distracted from time to time, motionlessly staring off into nothing.

Seeing him like this, Li Qinhe was in complete awe. 

A master! Whoever wrote the love letters must be a master of love!

Who could play with Lu Qi'an's feelings so freely?

This trick of playing hard to get, retreating for a further advance, was too beautifully played.

First, use a week’s worth of time to launch a fierce attack using milk and love letters, and then once Lu Qi’an got used to it, abruptly cut off all supply.

This method must have come from a master!

Li Qinhe’s heart itched unbearably, he was dying to know who this ‘master’ was. He took out his phone and asked his female friends one by one to see if there was any information. 

Li Qinhe could never have imagined, not even in his next life, that this so-called love master would be Fu Jia. And what he could never imagine, not even in his next-next life, was that the reason why Fu Jia stopped delivering the milk and letters was–

He was broke. 

Following Cen Mengke's teachings, Fu Jia began to pursue Lu Qi'an by delivering milk and writing love letters. In reality, Cen Mengke never came up with this rancid idea of ‘delivering milk and love letters together’. She only gave two examples, saying that things like milk or love letters were good ways to keep things going. By persevering, the other party would easily be moved.

From Fu Jia’s perspective, if both methods were effective, then why not do both at the same time?

Because it was for Lu Qi'an, Fu Jia couldn’t be negligent. The milk he chose was the most expensive option at the on-campus store, as was the envelope and letter paper for writing love letters.

Fu Jia was full of confidence at the beginning. He prepared himself to live frugally for a long time, determined to deliver gifts for a whole year. But last weekend, the school required an administrative fee, which made Fu Jia almost vomit blood.

He couldn't afford to deliver milk anymore, and even if he could deliver it for another day or two, he definitely wouldn’t be able to deliver it for a whole year in the future.

The night before Monday morning, Fu Jia tossed and turned and practically didn’t get any sleep. After the sun had risen, he woke up early and wandered back and forth in front of the store, before finally buying a bottle of water. 

A regular bottle of mineral water.

He squeezed the bottle tightly, hyping himself up.

Monday was a rare opportunity because Fu Jia's class and Lu Qi'an's class will have PE class at the same time. 

The injury on his foot wasn’t fully healed yet. During class, Fu Jia asked the teacher for leave and sat by the flower bed to rest. Fu Jia brought the water he bought earlier this morning and stared at the basketball court before him from afar. 

As expected, Lu Qi'an was playing basketball with his classmates. 

Fu Jia stood up and resolutely walked to the basketball court.

A stranger approached, but didn’t attract Lu Qi’an or his classmates’ attention. Whenever Lu Qi’an and Li Qinhe played basketball with others, unrelated spectators would often come over to watch. So whether it was the students standing on the sidelines or the people playing on the court, such as Li Qinhe, none of them noticed Fu Jia.

It wasn't until the intermission, when everyone went to the sidelines to drink water and wipe off sweat, that Li Qinhe felt a little weird.

Just now, did Lu Qi'an lose his focus? He made a few low-level mistakes, and who knew where his eyes drifted off to?

Li Qinhe felt a sense of déjà vu because this wasn’t the first time that Lu Qi'an suddenly lost his focus on the basketball court.

Li Qinhe wanted to ask, but just as he was about to take a step forward, he caught sight of Fu Jia's figure and saw him passing through the crowd to squeeze to Lu Qi'an's side.

Fu Jia stretched his arms straight, held the water bottle up high, and said loudly: "L-Lu-xuezhang,# are you thirsty? Do you want to drink some wadder?"

It’s over! He stuttered, he mispronounced the word water.

The water bottle in Fu Jia's hand began to shake as his arm trembled.

Fu Jia's plan today was: deliver water to Lu Qi’an. This was not taught by Cen Mengke, but a method he came up with himself. He was inspired by last gym class, when he saw a girl give Lu Qi’an a bottle of water. When Lu Qi’an accepted it, his heart felt very uncomfortable. 

If others could give it, why couldn’t he?

Now, he really did give it, but the entire basketball court fell silent because of his words.

Who taught Fu Jia all this?

If the one being pursued wasn’t himself, they’d definitely be scared off by Fu Jia’s recklessness. After just exercising, Lu Qi'an was still a bit out of breath.  He took a deep breath, exhaled again, and steadily took the water bottle from Fu Jia's hand.

Fu Jia was very excited, his face turning red: "I... I'm here to bring you water."

“I know. Let’s go talk somewhere else,” his voice was also steady.

Fu Jia’s mind and heart raced. He asked: “Why go somewhere else?

“To talk.”

He grabbed Fu Jia's wrist and led him far away. During their walk, one walked behind the other, and Fu Jia obediently followed Lu Qi’an’s footsteps.

They eventually stopped under the shade of a tree that couldn’t be seen from the basketball court.

The two hadn’t seen each other for a week. It was fine if they didn’t meet, but only when they were together again did Fu Jia realize how ineffective the repetitions of  ‘miss you’ were in his love letter. 

It wasn’t as simple as repeating ‘miss you’ three times. Rather, it was more like ‘miss you too much’, ‘miss you like crazy’. 

Ignoring how Fu Jia was peering into him with shining eyes, Lu Qi'an raised the water bottle in his hand and asked him: "Who taught you this?"

Fu Jia replied truthfully: "I came up with it myself."

Lu Qi’an lightly frowned, clearly not believing him: “Then what about the milk and love letters?”

Hearing him directly say the words ‘love letter’, Fu Jia’s face slightly warmed up. He said: “I…I learned it from a book.”

He didn’t rat out Cen Mengke. 

When Lu Qi’an thought of those love letters, excluding the beginning and ending, there were only sour and cringeworthy lyrical lines that gave one a headache. 

“Stop all of this,” he said firmly.

“I won’t stop,” Fu Jia said just as firmly.

He absolutely couldn’t accept stopping. He mentally prepared himself enough before he started, and he was even more encouraged after consulting Cen Mengke.

He will never give up.

Lu Qi’an’s tone grew colder: “I don’t like any of this.”

Fu Jia insisted on not giving in and asked him instead: "Then what do you like?"

Lu Qi'an pursed his lips and fell silent.

Fu Jia didn’t speak either, waiting for his reply.

Fu Jia's eyes had always been stubborn, Lu Qi'an knew that. From the first time Fu Jia ran from the Lin family villa’s domestic workers’ room to the courtyard to confidently ask him bold questions, he had always been so stubborn.

After a long time, Lu Qi'an said: "I don't like anything."

The rejection in his words couldn't be more obvious. Fu Jia opened his mouth and said: "Impossible. It’s impossible for a person not to have something they like. You’ve said before that you like someone who’s good at studying.”

These weren’t Lu Qi’an’s original words, but that didn’t stop him from interpreting it like this. 

He said: "The results of the weekly tests came out last week. This time you didn’t circle questions for me, but I still improved. I was fourteenth. If I work harder, I can enter the top ten. You will definitely like that."

Fu Man looked at him expectantly, and Lu Qi'an saw the request within his eyes. 

Lu Qi'an clenched his hands tightly, his fingertips numb. Whenever he tried to force himself to calm down but couldn’t, his fingers would tingle as if his blood had frozen and couldn't reach his fingertips.

He told himself: You can’t. You can’t.

“I don’t like you.”

He said.

It felt like swallowing a piece of ice to his stomach during the midst of deep winter.