CH 74

Wen Li was excited for a while. When her emotions settled slightly, she finally realized that she might have scared the teacher.

"Sorry, Teacher..." She sniffed and started to defend herself, "We actors tend to have more intense emotions."

In the end, it was just a difference in personality between her and Song Yan.

But the class teacher didn't expose her and nodded, saying, "I understand, I understand."

Wen Li took a deep breath, calming her tone, and asked, "You mentioned earlier that these magazines were confiscated from Song Yan?"

"Yes. The dormitory administrator gave them to me. The other boys in the dormitory had things like game consoles, but Song Yan's collection was different. So they gave them to me. He has always had good grades, and if I talked to him about it, it might affect him. So these magazines ended up staying with me all these years and I never threw them away," The class teacher said and then laughed, "It's a good thing I didn't throw them away."

Wen Li tightened her arms, firmly holding the magazines.

"Did Song Yan read them during class?" This question seemed absurd even to herself. She hesitantly added, "He definitely wouldn't, right?"

"Not during my class, but I don't know about other classes," the class teacher recalled, "Although in my class, he did sometimes get distracted."

After teaching for so many years, they knew very well that no student could truly concentrate on every lecture, even the most outstanding ones.

In one class, the class teacher assigned a task for group discussion. Some students were earnestly discussing, while others took the opportunity to chat secretly. Song Yan and Bai Sen's group consisted of four boys who pushed their desks together, and they happened to be sitting by the window, away from the corridor. Suddenly, one of the boys tapped Bai Sen's shoulder.

"Hey, Bai Sen, isn't the girl downstairs your fiancée?"

"Wen Li, childhood friend, childhood sweetheart, sister... You only know her as my fiancée?" Bai Sen replied impatiently, looking out the window, muttering, "I hope she didn't get into another fight with her friends..."

Downstairs, there were several girls standing, all wearing the uniform of the neighboring Mingfeng Arts High School.

Their uniform had a deep gray color with accents of bright yellow on the tie and cuffs, different from the design of Yingde School, which had a predominantly gray color. Mingfeng Arts High School had more female students than male, and their uniforms had an apricot yellow tone, resembling maple leaves that hadn't fully matured because the season hadn't arrived yet.

Bai Sen opened the window and took the opportunity while the classroom was noisy with discussions. He shouted, "Hey, Wen Li! Skipping class again, huh! Be careful, I'll report you to your uncle!"

Wen Li raised her head and saw Bai Sen. Immediately, she raised her arm and waved her phone, "Look at your phone! I sent you a message!"

Bai Sen looked left and right, realizing that the class teacher hadn't returned yet, so he took out his phone to see what she had sent him.

The other two boys in the group also leaned in to see.

Bai Sen glanced at the message, and just as the class teacher returned and asked how the discussion was going, he quickly put his phone away and nudged Song Yan's arm, raising an eyebrow as he whispered, "Ah Yan, let's switch seats. You sit by the window."

Song Yan, who was writing a bilingual essay assignment for this class, looked up and asked, "Why?"

"Wen Li had a fight with her friend that day and skipped class to find me. But our class had a basketball match with the neighboring class, and I couldn't leave since I was playing as a forward. So she asked me to have you wait for her in the classroom. Remember?" Bai Sen grinned, "She made up with her friend, and now she's bringing her friend to see the handsome guy."

Song Yan's eyelids twitched slightly, his tone still flat as he said, "Oh."

"Oh? Come on, she told me in the message that she brought her friend specifically to see you," Bai Sen said, "Go on, I opened the window for you. Just show them your handsome face for a moment."

Bai Sen pulled Song Yan's arm and insisted on switching seats with him.

Song Yan sat by the open window and looked outside.

Downstairs, the girl who had been waiting for him for a long time finally saw him.

Song Yan's gaze was calm and serene. Wen Li felt embarrassed and lowered her head, pursing her lips. She uncomfortably touched her nose and then quickly nudged her friend next to her. The friend also quickly raised her head and was left dumbfounded, with amazement in her eyes. She grabbed Wen Li's hand and whispered excitedly, "Oh my god, this boy is so handsome, really handsome."

Wen Li proudly said, "I didn't lie to you, right? He's even more handsome than Bai Sen."

Then she smiled at Song Yan upstairs and waved her hand excitedly, "Thank you, senior!"

Song Yan furrowed his brows slightly and quickly turned his head away.

Not receiving a response, Wen Li felt a bit disappointed and pouted. But her goal had been achieved, so she didn't pay much attention to his deliberate indifference. Hand in hand with her friend, she ran off happily.

Song Yan pursed his lips. Wen Li had used him as a tool to reconcile with her friend, and with a light and airy "thank you", she dismissed him without even saying goodbye, then left on her own.

Just like that day, she sat in the classroom and vented her grievances for a long time. But as soon as she realized he wasn't Bai Sen, her expression immediately changed. After that, he ended up with a split lip, she didn't even offer an apology or show any concern. She just left him behind and ran away.

He couldn't calm down for a long time. In his dreams, he was being stirred by someone and the sheets that had been washed were soaked wet again. But she was so carefree, knowing that both of them had their first kiss, she took the accident lightly, feeling that she hadn't lost anything. When he woke up, it was as if nothing had ever happened.

In the clear and transparent sky, the wispy clouds were as light as cotton, and the phoenix trees planted next to the teaching building had not yet bloomed. The flower buds were still in their infancy and the branches stretched out with endless tender greenery. The apricot yellow school uniform skirts were bright and vibrant, intruding into the vast spring scenery. Similarly, that bright smile intruded into people's hearts without a word.

Song Yan stared at the stubborn and agile figure as she ran further away. He looked outside the window for a long time until the class teacher called him back to reality.

The young boy clenched the pen in his hand and whispered, "I'm sorry."

The class teacher looked out the window and didn't blame him. In a gentle tone, the teacher said, "Our school has beautiful scenery. You can take your time to admire it after class. For now, finish the essay I assigned."

During their teenage years, it was easy to create small episodes that played out like tangy and tender lemon-like heartaches.

"Maybe the scenery outside the window was just too beautiful, so he got lost in his thoughts," the class teacher concluded from the memories.

Wen Li nodded and said, "I have experienced that too."

She often daydreamed during class.

"In that case, I'll return these magazines to their rightful owner," the homeroom teacher said, "Seeing these now must be quite embarrassing for him. I'll leave the rest to you."

"..."

The teacher entrusted Song Yan's embarrassing secret crush to the person he had a crush on. While the teacher felt relieved of any burden, Wen Li felt troubled.

Though she was straightforward, she understood that if Song Yan had kept this secret hidden for so long and hadn't even told her, it meant he cared deeply about it and didn't want her to know.

If she were to tell him abruptly, "I know your little secret", she would be happy, and her vanity would be satisfied. But what about Song Yan?

He would definitely feel that she had intruded into his memories and stolen his secret.

Even if she was the leading lady in his heart, it didn't mean she could flaunt her superiority in front of him.

Because these memories belonged to him, and although she was part of these memories, she had no right to make jokes or hurt him using those memories.

She wanted to protect Song Yan's eighteen-year-old self and protect the hidden affection of his youth.

Troubled, Wen Li held the magazines and, after being urged by the staff, hurriedly handed them to her assistant.

"Hide them well, don't let Teacher Song find out."

"What is this?" Wen Wen glanced at the cover, then at Wen Li, sounding shocked. "Sister, isn't this you? Wow, this is considered an antique!"

"If this is an antique, what does that make me? A thousand-year-old turtle?" Wen Li said irritably, "Take me to Lily to touch up my makeup. My eye makeup might be smudged."

Wen Wen looked at Wen Li's eyes, which were indeed a bit smudged. Fortunately, the eyeliner and mascara were waterproof, so unless you looked closely, you couldn't tell at all.

With the camera pointed at their faces, Wen Wen greeted the staff and took Wen Li to find the makeup artist.

Makeup artist Lily handed her a compact powder and asked, "You just had your makeup done, what happened? Did you cry?"

"No, it's hot."

While supporting her chin, Wen Wen admired Wen Li's touch-up and murmured, "But the air conditioning in the administrative building is quite low. I've been sneezing..."

Wen Li calmly changed her tone, "Oh, then it must be cold. It was because of the cold."

Wen Wen: "..."

After she finished with the makeup, she went and found Song Yan. For some reason, Wen Li's attitude towards him suddenly became strange. In the afternoon, Song Yan took her around the campus, but she didn't look at the trees planted along the roadside, the buildings, the landmarks, or the students around her. She kept staring at Song Yan.

Every time Song Yan turned to look at her, she would seemingly carelessly shift her gaze away.

Her absent-minded appearance was captured by the camera and the cameraman felt that something was off with Wen Li's demeanor that afternoon. So he sent a WeChat message to Director Yan, asking how to handle it and whether they should temporarily pause the shooting.

Director Yan:「No need to pause, just keep shooting.」

Director Yan:「Song Yan has played the obsessive lover for so many episodes. It's finally his turn to be the target of obsession.」

Director Yan:「Feeling triumphant.jpg」

——

The first day of recording was set to officially end at four o'clock in the afternoon. In the afternoon, Wen Li separately went to the boys' dormitory. She intended to visit the dormitory where Song Yan used to live and look for traces of his past life. However, as soon as she entered, she ran into a shirtless young boy.

She didn't feel embarrassed; after all, he was just a young boy. She smiled at him.

The young boy was caught off guard by a beautiful lady seeing his upper body exposed. When he took a closer look, he realized it was Wen Li, who frequently appeared on television. At that moment, he couldn't care less about feeling embarrassed for Wen Li seeing his shirtless upper body, he was only afraid of being caught on camera and appearing on TV, so he covered his face and ran away, forgetting to ask for her autograph.

A few minutes later, the young boy grabbed a megaphone and shouted loudly in the dormitory corridor, "Wen Li has made a surprise attack on the boys' dormitory!!! Guys, get dressed!!!"

Suddenly, the entire boys' dormitory seemed to tremble, causing quite a sensation.

"Goddess Wen Li!!!"

"Sister!!! I'm your fan! I've been signing in on your fan club every day and I'm at level eight!"

Later, several staff members who were following Song Yan's filming received a group message, saying that Wen Li's surprise attack on the boys' dormitory had caused a major earthquake, and they didn't know whether to laugh or cry as they told Song Yan about it.

Song Yan: "..."

Overall, today's recording went smoothly except for Song Yan being absent-minded in the morning and Wen Li being absent-minded in the afternoon. Throughout the tasks, they were followed and observed by the students, and during the quiz segment, the students helped them answering the questions. Everything else went smoothly.

The biggest achievement for the production team was interviewing Song Yan's class teacher. They had previously sought out Yingde to interview his teachers and learn about Song Yan's school days. But each time, it was either the class teacher taking students abroad for a competition or going on a business trip for research.

The interview with Song Yan's high school class teacher was an exclusive material for their program and it would definitely be featured prominently.

Chen Zitong, who also attended Mingfeng Arts High School like Wen Li, accompanied her husband Qiu Hong to Yandu High School High School today. They would come to Mingfeng for recording the next day. After finishing the afternoon recording, they happened to come over and meet Wen Li and the others, so they decided to have dinner together.

In front of the camera, the guests casually talked about interesting things they encountered during the school recording today.

The guests were still wearing their school uniforms, and when Qiu Hong met Song Yan and Wen Li, he couldn't help but take several glances. Now, at the dinner table, he couldn't hold back and joked, "I have to say, the difference between public and private school uniforms is too big. Are your uniforms for shooting idol dramas?"

Whether school uniforms look good or not mainly depends on the person wearing them. Qiu Hong and Chen Zitong were both tall and slender, so the uniforms looked good on them. Qiu Hong's comment was mainly for the sake of entertainment.

Chen Zitong patted Qiu Hong's shoulder and comforted him, "Don't worry, the uniforms at my school are also good-looking. You'll get to wear them when we go to my school for recording tomorrow."

"I don't believe it."

"Hey, why would I deceive you?"

After saying that, Chen Zitong took out her phone and searched online for Mingfeng's school uniform and showed it to Qiu Hong, "Isn't it nice?"

Qiu Hong looked at it and became even more envious, "It's too depressing. Only the uniforms at our school are the ugliest."

Unbeknownst to them, the couple opposite actually knew what Mingfeng's school uniform looked like and also thought that Mingfeng's school uniform was more attractive than Yingde's.

"Mingfeng's is a bit better-looking," Wen Li showed a clear bias towards her alma mater and nudged Song Yan's arm, "What do you think, Teacher Song?"

Song Yan, lost in thought, nodded. "Yes, the colors are more appealing."

"Too kind, too kind. On behalf of our school, thank you."

"But the picture online is from a few years ago, it seems that there have been some changes recently. The color hasn't changed, but the apricot yellow makes it look a bit dark," Chen Zitong glanced at the couple opposite and then at her own husband, "It should look good on you both, but I'm not sure about my dear husband. He's too dark."

Qiu Hong widened his eyes, "What do you mean? I have a healthy wheatish complexion, alright?"

"Wheatish complexion, wheatish complexion," Chen Zitong replied casually.

After dinner, the guests got into cars and headed to the hotel arranged by the production team. Wen Li and Song Yan were in the same car, but they both had something on their minds and didn't communicate much.

Once they got out of the car, Wen Wen called out to Wen Li.

Song Yan instinctively stopped as well, waiting for Wen Li and Wen Wen to finish talking.

Wen Wen asked loudly, "Sister, aren't you taking the magazines you gave me back to the hotel room?"

Song Yan asked, "What magazines?"

Wen Wen said, "It's... um?!"

"Oh, it's nothing, it's nothing!" Wen Li suddenly ran towards Wen Wen, covering her mouth with her hand, and turned to Song Yan with a forced smile, "Teacher Song, why don't you go upstairs first? Wen Wen and I need to discuss something privately."

Song Yan looked at Wen Li. Every time he observed people, he would be like this, quiet and inexplicably unsettling.

Wen Li urged, "You should go upstairs and rest."

The man ultimately didn't say anything and turned around to go upstairs first.

Once his figure disappeared, Wen Li let go of Wen Wen. Her tone was reproachful. "Yu Wen Wen! What are doing by bringing up the magazines in front of my husband?"

When her sister scolded her by calling out her full name, Wen Wen felt wronged, but more than that, she was confused.

"What's wrong? It's not like they're adult magazines..."

"You don't understand," Wen Li sighed irritably, "A boy's heart is also fragile. It would hurt him if you directly burst his bubble like that."

Wen Wen looked puzzled, "I don't get it."

Wen Li didn't expect Wen Wen to understand. She stood there, rubbing her chin and thinking for a while, then she suddenly had an idea. She took out her phone and sent a WeChat message to Chen Zitong, who had already returned to her room.

Shortly after, Chen Zitong replied promptly with an "OK".

"I won't go back to the room yet. I'll go to Zitong's room to discuss something with her," Wen Li tapped Wen Wen's forehead, "You go and put our luggage in the room first. And remember, make sure the magazines are well-hidden. Got it?"

Wen Wen held her forehead and said, "Okay."

Wen Li went to Chen Zitong's room, while Wen Wen carried the small luggage and went to Wen Li and Song Yan's room.

Song Yan opened the door and was surprised to see Wen Wen.

"Where is she?" he asked.

"Sister went to find Teacher Chen Zitong," Wen Wen replied.

Without saying anything, Song Yan helped Wenwen bring in Wen Li's luggage.

"Task completed," Wenwen respectfully said, "I'll go back to my room now. Teacher Song, please rest early."

Just as she turned around, Song Yan called her back.

Wenwen had a bad feeling in her heart, and sure enough, Song Yan asked about the magazines.

"It's nothing," Wenwen replied vaguely.

Song Yan raised an eyebrow, his tone gentle, "She told you not to tell me?"

Wenwen pursed her lips and clasped her hands together, "Mr. Song, I can't afford to lose this job. I still have to pay my monthly mortgage. Please understand."

"I understand," Song Yan narrowed his eyes slightly, his tone softened, seemingly disappointed, "It's not a magazine of other male artists, is it?"

"No! Absolutely not!" Wenwen whispered, "It's my sister's, so don't worry, Teacher Song."

After saying that, Wenwen quickly ran off, afraid of being questioned further by Song Yan.

After the assistant left, the man sat on the sofa and stared into space for a long time.

According to the staff, when he went to visit other teachers today, Wen Li didn't come with him because his class teacher had a personal conversation with her after the interview.

Being clever and sensitive, he quickly guessed what happened. He suddenly pursed his lips, his handsome face showing a hint of panic and helplessness.

The long-buried secret was unexpectedly uncovered just like that. He had never revealed it to anyone, not even to his closest friends.

It was unclear whether he was more afraid or ashamed. Song Yan suddenly bent down, placing a hand on his forehead and deeply sighed.

That night, Wen Li returned to the hotel room very late.

She thought Song Yan was already asleep and quietly went to the balcony to make a phone call.

Even though she was outside in the balcony, she was afraid of waking up Song Yan, so she kept her voice very low on the phone. Only occasionally, when she was unable to contain her excitement, she shouted "uncle" a few times, but quickly lowered her voice again.

After the call, Wen Li went to wash up and then quietly climbed into bed, covered herself with the blanket, and turned her back to him while playing on her phone.

Song Yan waited until the phone's light went off before embracing her.

Knowing that she was already asleep, he still dared not ask too directly.

"Did it burden you?" he paused, his voice hoarse, and self-deprecatingly said, "Isn't it disgusting?"

The senior who used to be cold and distant to her actually collected the youth magazines featuring her as the cover model in secret. Even in the presence of her fiancé, who was such a close friend to him, he had developed such feelings for her.

Even after being explicitly rejected by her family, he didn't give up.

If he couldn't have her, he would at least share the same dream as her, or get a little closer to her dream.

Later, by coincidence, she gave up her idol dream and stood under the spotlight in the domestic entertainment industry, becoming an actress.

That beam of unattainable light in his heart became his junior.

That day, on the red carpet, when the pen in his hand suddenly ran out of ink, Wen Li, who appeared on red carpet afterward, politely nodded at him, with an official smile, distant politeness, as if it were their first meeting.

Well, they weren't close in high school to begin with.

Song Yan also nodded and the hand hanging by his side almost snapped the pen in his hand. Thus, the two of them had their first photo together on the red carpet in that way.

Even though they had known each other for ten years, their first photo together was unexpectedly taken by the media.

Every interaction after their reunion left Song Yan with mixed feelings. He was afraid that she would notice, yet he was also afraid that she wouldn't.

But now when she finally noticed, she seemed to pretend not to know. He didn't want to ask or dare to ask about the reason.

In the quiet room, the only response he received was the quiet sound of breathing from the person in his arms.

——

The recording on the second day proceeded as usual. The two of them returned to Yingde, but Wen Li was nowhere to be found in the afternoon after the morning recording ended.

As her husband, Song Yan surprisingly didn't ask her where she went, and the staff didn't mention it either. It seemed that today's script called for them to record separately and the entire production crew felt something was off.

Yingde campus was quite large, so Song Yan decided to take a walk around the places he didn't have a chance to visit yesterday, intentionally avoiding the fireworks square.

A few staff members followed him and whispered among themselves.

"Did you already tell Teacher Song not to go towards the square?"

"No, I haven't had a chance to tell him. I thought it was you."

"I didn't say anything."

The staff members looked at each other, and in the end, no one knew why Song Yan, who hadn't been informed in advance, had consciously avoided the fireworks square.

Forget it, the result is the same anyway, so there's no need to worry about the reason.

Hopefully, everything goes smoothly with Teacher Wen's arrangement.

Teacher Wen's arrangement on this side wasn't going smoothly. She had never done something like this before, so she shamelessly asked the staff to buy a box of candles and fireworks for her. When the items were brought back, the staff offered to help her set them up together, but she refused, saying she wanted to do it herself.

Back then, no one helped Song Yan. Poor senior had set it up all by himself, so she also wanted to do it alone.

Setting up the candles sounded simple, but it was a bit difficult to do it alone. How big should it be? How many candles should she use? Because she couldn't see the overall effect, the heart shape she set up ended up crooked. These were unexpected difficulties.

Furthermore, she was being watched by the staff and a group of students like a monkey, which was really embarrassing.

Everyone thought it was part of the program, but no one knew it was actually Wen Li's own idea.

In the end, she couldn't stand the surrounding gazes anymore and told Wenwen, "Wenwen, go buy some alcohol for me outside the campus."

Wenwen thought she misheard, "Huh? Sister, is it not good to drink during the program recording?"

"It's okay. I'll secretly drink when the camera is not looking. I won't get drunk, just need a little bit of courage."

"Alright."

As the sun gradually set, the visibility on the square dimmed. The outdoor temperature during the summer was extremely high. The misting fans and sun umbrellas they weren't enough to beat the heat. Wen Li wiped her sweat and almost felt exhausted.

She smiled confidently and said to the staff, "We can bring Song Yan over now."

Wen Li had already discussed this change in the script with Director Yan in advance.

Director Yan felt both happy and sad. He was happy that this couple no longer needed their script to surprise each other, instead, one of them took initiative to surprise the other. He was sad because after knowing that Wen Li wanted to surprise Song Yan, he provided her with many novel ideas, but Wen Li was extremely stubborn and insisted on setting up candles.

It was really old-fashioned!

Director Yan was extremely disdainful of this idea.

He just didn't know if Song Yan would also find it old-fashioned. He hoped that after seeing this surprise, Song Yan wouldn't find his wife too old-fashioned.