Chapter 14
That night, Su Orange ultimately did not say anything.
The sudden downpour drowned out the entangled ambiguity, and the sound of the raindrops hitting the ground was like the sound of cicadas chirping at first, startling people into a panic.
Su Orange ran into the dormitory room after still thinking about that question just now and his look when he spoke, his eyes glittering, his eyes seem to be able to penetrate everything as if.
Then her secret ……
Su Orange’s heart once again beat fiercely, the tip of her heart seemed to be scratched by something, couldn’t tell if it was an itch or what, in any case it was a little hard to bear.
She leaned against the cabinet door, her hand loosened and something in her palm fell down, it was the burn cream that Zhou Yuchen had just given her.
She slowed down for a few seconds before reacting, bending down to pick it up, Yu Lele happened to walk over with a towel, stopping the action of wiping her hair, she squatted down first and picked up the burn cream on the floor.
Then she was surprised and said, “Orange, didn’t you go buy a pen? How come you have this?”
She held the burn cream up and blinked, “Is this you going to the infirmary again?”
Everyone else in the dormitory went to wash up, only Su Orange and Yu Lele were there, Su Orange’s matter Yu Lele also knew something, Su Orange didn’t hide it from her, said in a faint voice, “No, it’s from someone else.”
“Someone else? Which other person?” Yu Lele’s eyes lit up, “It can’t be…Zhou Yuchen, right?”
The mere mention of his name would make Su Orange’s heart beat faster, her eyelashes lightly trembled as she hmmmed, her cheeks turning vaguely red.
“He specially went to buy it for you ah?” Yu Lele’s eyes were all light.
“No.” Su Orange explained with the words Zhou Yuchen had said, “Zhang Yang’s stomach was not feeling well, they bought it by the way when they went to the pharmacy to buy medicine.”
Afraid that Yu Lele would think randomly, she emphasized again, “Not on purpose, just in passing.”
“That monkey Zhang Yang was jumping up and down just now, how could he be uncomfortable.” Yu Lele smiled with a different meaning, squeezing her eyes, “It’s what Zhou Yuchen bought especially for you.”
Su Orange:”……”
Su Orange took the ointment from her hand, “It really isn’t.”
Yu Lele didn’t believe it, she pointed to the label on the ointment and said, “There’s a store name on it, do you know how far away this store is from our school, two intersections, Zhang Yang that dead cargo is really not feeling well, but also can’t possibly go to such a far away pharmacy to buy medicine. My guess is that Zhou Yuchen specially bought it for you.”
After saying that, Yu Lele covered her lips and made an exaggerated expression, “Wait, Zhou Yuchen won’t be interested in you, right?”
Su Orange held back her heart palpitations and asked rhetorically, “Do you think he will?”
Yu Lele thought about this question very seriously, according to Zhou Yuchen’s past love history, it seemed… it really wouldn’t.
Anyone knows that Zhou Yuchen likes the kind of girl who has a curvy body, is sexy and can be pampered, Su Orange is completely out of touch with such a girl.
“I think ……” Yu Lele paused, “It seems like it really won’t.”
Su Orange’s eyelids drooped, her mood was a bit low, she didn’t know if she was speaking to Yu Lele or to herself, “He wouldn’t have been able to.”
She held the ointment in her hand, her heart sinking vaguely.
Yu Lele raised an eyebrow, “What about you?”
“What about me?” Su Orange asked.
“You said you have a crush.” Yu Lele nuzzled her mouth and made a bold guess, “That crush of yours wouldn’t be Zhou Yuchen, right?”
Su Orange’s heart beat a little harder, the ointment once again fell out of her hand, as she lowered her head to pick it up, she let out a hmmm, “Yes.”
Yu Lele: “……”
“When did it start?” Yu Lele curiously pursued.
“When I was in high school.” Su Orange answered honestly.
“How do I remember that Zhou Yuchen went to high school in the Beijing North Annex, weren’t you in a small town?” The night they first enrolled in school, this was what they said when they introduced themselves.
“I transferred to Beijing North Annex Middle School in my sophomore year, and returned to my home town in the second half of my senior year.” At the mention of that person, it seemed as if the pain in her fingertips had eased, and she said in a faint voice, “But we’re not in the same class, he’s in class one and I’m in class eight.”
These matters of the heart Su Orange never told anyone, tonight emotionally on top of her head, she said more, “Annexed middle school has the requirement to get up early to the playground morning reading and memorizing, class one and class eight stand diagonally, he is tall, always the last row, in order to be close to him, I am the first to go to the playground every day.”
Su Orange paused, raised his eyebrows, his eyes looking into the distance, “Have you ever seen the light of six o’clock in the morning in winter, the sky is all dark, all around the dense, the beams of light hanging down, reflected in the red and green playground, the cold wind blowing from all directions, the school uniform was blown bulging, holding the book of the hand freezing and trembling.”
And he was the only warmth in the crisp, cold wind.
It seemed that if you got closer, you didn’t feel the cold.
“So pathetic.” Yu Lele’s thunder point was low, her eyes reddened as she listened, “Ai, I’m heartbroken.”
“This is nothing.” Su Orange smiled, “I’ve done something even harder.”
“What is it?”
“In the second half of the second semester of senior high school the school held a sports meeting, the girl he liked signed up for 800 meters, he accompanied that girl outside the track to run the whole race, and I ……”
“And what happened to you?”
“Mixed in the crowd to accompany them to run through.”
She had planned not to participate in the 800-meter sports event that day, with a 39-degree fever and her teacher’s opinion that she should withdraw from the race.
But when she learned that he would run with that girl, she asked the teacher while holding back her soreness that she wanted to participate.
Just like that, a few meters away, she watched his hair rise, watched the hem of his tracksuit fly, watched him gently encourage the girl next to him.
His voice was good but solid.
Yu Lele couldn’t listen anymore and rubbed Su Orange’s arm, “Oooh, too heartbreaking.”
The bottom of Su orange’s eyes were dyed with moisture, the smile on her face was a bit far-fetched, she hooked her lips, patted the back of Yu Lele’s hand, and said soothingly, “It’s all in the past, I’m fine.”
Seeing Yu Lele’s disbelief, she once again guaranteed, “Really, I’m really fine.”
Yu Lele believed it, she raised her hand and assured, “Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone about this matter.”
Su Orange nodded, “Uh, thanks.”
The sound of pushing the door came, Lin Mai came back from outside, shaking the rainwater on her umbrella and said, “It’s the end of October, why is it still raining.”
The weather in the northern part of Beijing is like this, before winter comes, there will be a rainfall, and when the rain stops, the temperature will drop a few degrees, and in some cases, it will even drop ten degrees or so.
Su Orange responded, “It’s going to cool down.”
Lin Mai blinked, “Then I have to find my winter clothes.”
Yu Lele still maintained her posture of leaning against the cabinet door without moving, Lin Mai said, “What are you doing?”
For Su Orange’s heartache, Yu Lele didn’t say this, and let out a laugh, “I’m thinking about life.”
“Then what did you think about?”
“I haven’t finished my homework for tomorrow.”
“I’ll go, I haven’t finished it either.”
Yu Lele didn’t wipe her hair and sat down at the table to do her homework, “Orange, have you finished?”
Su Orange said before carrying the dirty clothes to the laundry room, “Uh, finished writing, it’s on the table.”
Lin Mai didn’t look for the clothes and sat at the table with an amenable voice, “Still Orange is great, every time you can finish your homework on time.”
“Orange is great at more than just homework.” Yu Lele said.
“Then what else?” Lin Mai asked as she took a pen from her pencil bag.
“Nuo, look for yourself.” Yu Lele gestured Lin Mai to look at the pile of books, “They’re all Orange’s.”
“Isn’t that what you have to learn in sophomore year.”
“Orange has all studied in advance.”
“…… “Only after a long time did Lin Mai hold back a sentence, “Is Orange trying to be number one in the whole department.”
Su Orange didn’t hear their conversation, she held the clothes and went to the laundry room, when she came back after washing, the others were all packed up, she went to the bathroom to wash up again.
Yu Lele was very upset tonight after hearing about Su Orange, always wanting to do something for Su Orange, she took out her cell phone and sent a WeChat to Zhang Yang.
Coincidentally, Zhang Yang was also planning to send her a WeChat.
The two people chatted with each other, from tonight’s barbecue to the philosophy of life, and from the philosophy of life to the three meals a day.
Zhang Yang bla bla bla said: [The spicy hot pot in the third cafeteria is very tasty, I remember you like to eat spicy food, do you want to go and try it?]
Yu Lele: [Yeah, yeah, yeah, I like spicy hot pot the best.]
Zhang Yang: [Then let’s go tomorrow night?]
Yu Lele: [OK.]
Yu Lele: [By the way, I’m not alone.]
Zhang Yang: [It’s just as well, I’m not on my own either.]
Yu Lele: [Why don’t you call them all?]
Zhang Yang: [Okay, call them all.]
Su Orange came out from the bathroom, Yu Lele hooked her finger at her, Su Orange walked over suspiciously, “What’s wrong?”
Yu Lele pressed against her ear and muttered, Su Orange’s face turned red at a speed visible to the naked eye and said shyly, “This is not good, right?”
Yu Lele: “What’s wrong with it, people always invite us, this time it’s our turn to invite them.”
She blinks and slows down her speech, “I told Zhang Yang to ask Zhou Yuchen to come along.”
After saying that, Yu Lele remembered something, “Bad, you can’t eat spicy food.”
Su Orange pursed her lips, “Eating less…is also fine.”
Yu Lele understood and said, “Love makes people crazy.”
Su Orange hummed in a petulant manner.
On the other hand, in the boys’ dormitory, Zhang Yang and Yu Lele finished chatting and went to mess with Zhou Yuchen again, “Brother Sam, tomorrow we’ll go to the third cafeteria to eat spicy hot pot, will you join us?”
Zhou Yuchen’s smoking action paused, slowly lifted his eyelids, looked as if he was not very interested in this proposal.
So a large group of girls, Zhang Yang can’t handle it, besides, he just promised Yu Lele, he has to call Zhou Yuchen to go as well.
“Brother Sam, let’s go?” Zhang Yang also learns to pamper the girls, but he learns to be unlike the others, giving people goosebumps.
Zhou Yuchen’s eyelids drooped and said, “Don’t go.”
“Eh, don’t.” Zhang Yang continued to persuade, “The spicy hot pot in the third cafeteria is delicious, let’s go and try it together.”
Zhang Yang failed to persuade, gave Song Zhou a wink to follow along with the lobby, Song Zhou looked at Zhang Yang’s eyes like looking at a psychopath, light voice: “You dig your own pit, you fill it yourself.”
Zhang Yang does not want to lose faith, can only continue to beg Zhou Yuchen, this master is really not good to beg, enough to say ten minutes to say.
Hearing Zhou Yuchen finally loosened his mouth, Zhang Yang’s heart only fell to the ground, humming a song to the bathroom to wash up.
Only Song Zhou and Zhou Yuchen were left in the dormitory, Song Zhou put down his pen and looked over with a sideways glance, “Sam, that spicy hot pot flyer is what you put on Zhang Yang’s desk, right?”
The corner of Zhou Yuchen’s lips with a cigarette in his mouth lightly hooked down, and he answered diffidently, “Uh-huh.”
Song Zhou smiled with a different meaning.
Before lights out, Su Orange took advantage of the fact that they were chatting, quietly took out the can of orange candy from the cabinet, hid it under his pajamas and brought it to bed.
When the lights went out, they continued to chat, Su Orange didn’t participate, and on a whim, she opened the lid, poured out all the candies inside, and counted them one by one.
Her intention was to see how many there were and how long she could eat them.
After counting once she felt that the number seemed like it was subtly saying something, then she counted again with uncertainty, and it was still the same number-52.
In the darkness of the night a certain sensation suddenly amplified, Su Orange did not understand why it was 52, not 42, 32, or that Zhou Yuchen did not know the number of candies, but just happened to be this number.
Heart palpitations like the rain outside, suddenly came to the ground heavy sound, her heart is numb again, her spine seems to be numb.
This night, destined not to sleep peacefully.
The rain was still falling the next day, until the evening, and as expected, the temperature dropped a lot, yesterday there were people wearing short-sleeves across the street, today honestly all put on a sweater, jacket.
Don’t look at Su Orange as a northerner, accustomed to all kinds of bad weather in the north, but every winter still can’t stand the cold here.
While others wore sweaters, she had already put on a sweater with fleece and a knee-length trench coat outside, just like this, her hands were still inevitably frozen red.
Zhang Huan complained, “This hellish weather, when the hell will the heating come on?”
Su Orange chimed in with trembling lips, “It’s usually mid-November, there’s still half a month to go.”
“So long, want to freeze us to death.” Lin Mai complained.
Yu Lele stomped her foot and urged, “Alright, stop chatting, let’s quickly go to the cafeteria and eat something to warm up.”
The third cafeteria was particularly crowded today, especially at the window of the spicy hot pot, people were crowding in, as if they didn’t need the money.
When Gao Chang looked at the crowd, his legs immediately softened, “With so many people, when will it be our turn, or let’s eat something else.”
Zhang Huan also said, “Yes, there are too many people.”
Yu Lele took out her cell phone and tweeted to Zhang Yang, “Where are you?”
Zhang Yang replied, “There’s a private room at the end of the promenade, the one with the red door, forget it, I’ll go pick you guys up.”
Zhang Yang pushed the door and walked out, calling out from afar, “Yu Lele.”
Yu Lele exchanged a glance with him and turned to greet Su Orange and the girls, “Quickly, there’s a spot there.”
Other than Su Orange, the other three were a bit confused, Lin Mai asked, “Eating with them again?”
Yu Lele said, “By coincidence.”
Lin Mai muttered, “That’s quite a coincidence.”
Su Orange pursed her lips, didn’t say anything, and followed behind Yu Lele, her heart lifted a little bit with every step, and her fingers in the pocket of her trench coat subconsciously clenched tightly.
Obviously only one night have not seen, she has a kind of a century has not seen the feeling.
Eyes on that moment, her heart violently contracted, heartbeat shook the periosteum trembling, she was afraid to be heard by him, subconsciously want to sit away from him the farthest that position.
Yu Lele sat down first, hey smiled and said, “Tonight I guard the door, orange you go sit inside.”
Zhang Yang’s little cotton-padded jacket once again played its role, “Su Orange, I see that your hands are freezing, come sit inside, there is a breeze at the door.”
He pointed to the seat beside Zhou Yuchen, “You sit here.”
The private room is so big, one more person can’t fit, the position is also very coincidental, except for Zhou Yuchen’s side other are full.
If Su Orange insisted on not sitting, it would seem a bit deliberate, she pursed her lips, lowered her head and walked over.
Zhou Yuchen was reclining his body to play the game, his fingers moving fast, his cell phone emitting various sound effects, I don’t know what’s going on, when she heard the sound effects, Su Orange was also nervous.
She gulped, holding onto the chair and moved to the side, afraid that Zhou Yuchen would stop like last time, so this time the magnitude of the movement was very small.
She had just finished moving, out of the corner of her eye she saw Zhou Yuchen exit the game and throw his cell phone on the table, unsurprisingly, she saw his standby screen.
That screen was very familiar, at a certain moment Su Orange even had a ridiculous thought, do they count this as a heart-to-heart?
Zhou Yuchen’s standby screen was a Pomeranian dog, very similar to the one in his WeChat avatar, but not quite the same, coincidentally, Su Orange’s standby screen was also a Pomeranian dog, and the demeanor of both Pomeranians was the same.
Su Orange had the feeling of being in a dream, otherwise-
How could it be the same.
She looked at Zhou Yuchen with trembling eyelashes, trying to determine something from the minutiae.
He stopped talking to Song Zhou and also inclined his head to turn around, turning the phone in the right direction with his hand, and the phone, which had just been tilted a bit, was now facing Su Orange.
That standby photo floated brightly in front of his eyes, really! Is! The same!
Su Orange had no chance to panic again, how could it be?
Until the cell phone screen went dark, Su Orange’s heartbeat did not return to normal, and her face too, was reddish.
Zhang Huan asked her what was wrong.
She picked up the cup of water and took a sip, whispering, “Nothing.”
After putting down the cup and realizing that Zhang Huan had been staring at her, Su Orange blinked, “What’s wrong?”
Zhang Huan coughed lightly and reminded, “That… the water cup you used for Zhou Yuchen.”
“…… “Su Orange looked over with a strained neck, only to see that there were two water cups diagonally in front of her, the one with the lipstick mark was still resting peacefully on the table, the one in her hand was the one that she drank more than half of, although it also had a lipstick mark, she was certain that it was not her water cup.
She…really used the wrong cup.
Su Orange was not that careless, she looked carefully when she put down the cup, only her own cup, so when exactly did Zhou Yuchen’s cup put there.
Also, why didn’t he remind her.
Everything that happened tonight was a bit messy, Su Orange’s face turned even redder, lightly coughing an apology, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to take the wrong one, I’ll change it for you-”
Before she could finish her sentence, the waiter came over with a menu to order and interrupted her, and in the end she seemed to hear Zhou Yuchen explain to the waiter, “Come with a non-spicy one.”
Zhao Chuan came to say, “Spicy hot pot wants to be spicy, how hard it is to eat without it.”
Zhou Yuchen glanced at him, ignored, and started to clean the tableware in a familiar manner, just finished, Feng Zhao handed over the tableware, “Boss, help us clean it.”
Zhou Yuchen’s eyelids lifted, the teapot was put, lazily said: “No hands ah, get it yourself.”
Until the end of the other people did not find, a few times to eat, Zhou Yuchen only gave one person cleaned the tableware, his eyes seemingly swept, do not know what he saw, the corner of his lips gently hooked up.
After the meal, Zhang Yang grabbed to go to the checkout, came back waving a small ticket in his hand and said: “The new store opened with a discount.”
Yu Lele asked, “What kind of discount?”
“Take a group photo, free meal.” Zhang Yang squeezed his eyes, “Why don’t we take one together?”
Yu Lele hummed, lowered her head to send a message to Su Orange, [Ah ah ah, once in a lifetime opportunity to take a group photo with the school grass, can’t miss it, on.]
Su Orange pursed her lips: [I don’t dare, better forget it.]
Yu Lele: [That’s not good.]
Yu Lele stood up and asked Zhang Yang: “How many people can be photographed?”
Zhang Yang: “More than eight people are required.”
Lin Mai said, “We’re exactly ten people.”
“Right, it’s all free meals, what are we waiting for.” Zhang Huan stood up, “Let’s go, go shoot together.”
The photographer was a young man, playfully arranging the position, it was that just right, standing on Su Orange’s side was Zhou Yuchen.
Just now in the private room was not so feel, at this time they stood side by side, ambiguity for no reason was born again, like a line, wrapped them together, and incidentally also dyed red Su Orange’s originally fair cheeks.
The presence of the boy is too strong, she did not even dare to look sideways, just like that staring ahead, hanging down at her side hand tugging helplessly at the hem of her coat.
The air seems to be full of indescribable flavor, as if it is sweeter than sugar.
The photographer looked not very old, but quite demanding, holding the camera aimed at them, even after taking several shots, he still felt unsatisfied, he poked his head out, “That girl in the trench coat, you lean in on the left side, tilt your head a bit.”
“Yeah, that’s it.”
“The corner of your lips, raise the corner of your lips a bit.”
Of the few girls among them, only Su Orange was wearing a trench coat, the photographer was asking Su Orange to lean in the direction of Zhou Yuchen, Su Orange didn’t move much.
The photographer was still not satisfied, “More.”
Su Orange held her breath and moved again.
Seeing that he couldn’t make sense of it, the photographer simply walked forward, stood in front of Su Orange, and wrenched down her shoulders.
Zhou Yuchen didn’t say anything the whole time, didn’t dislike anyone, and didn’t do anything mixed up, he cooperated and adjusted his standing position until the two of them leaned together.
Photographer: “OK.”
Shutter pressed, Su Orange couldn’t tell if it was relief or something else, the breath held in his chest finally exhaled.
Yu Lele asked, “Where do I go to get a waiver?”
The photographer pointed to the window and said, “Just go in through the back door.”
She and Zhang Yang went to do it, and Lin Mai smiled, “Next time if we can still get a free ticket, we’ll still take pictures.”
Taking a picture with the school bully, what a dream, two birds with one stone.
Su Orange said in her heart, it’s too abrasive, one more time, she will really suffocate.
Zhou Yuchen seemed to know the photographer, after taking the picture, he went up and gave the other party a cigarette, then stood in a loose posture and chatted with the other party.
I don’t know what to talk about, the mood looks good.
Su Orange stared at the look of fascination, was found when it was too late to hide, eyes straight into, her heart missed a beat.
In a trance, it seems to see him smiling at her.
Su Orange: “……”
The heart palpitations continued until she returned to her dorm room, and a few girls in the hallway were talking about Zhou Yuchen again.
“Eh, what kind of girls do you think the schoolmaster likes anyway?”
“Good looking and sexy ones, the ones he dated before were all like that.”
“Maybe he’ll change his taste.”
“Do you like abalone or rotten shrimp?”
“That would be abalone, of course.”
“That’s not it, men ah, once they recognize it, they won’t change easily.”
Su Orange’s mood became low for no reason, she couldn’t raise interest in anything she did, Yu Lele called her, she didn’t hear it either.
Yu Lele walked to her and pushed her, “What are you thinking about?”
Su Orange came back to her senses, “Nothing.”
“Give you a good thing do you want it?”
“What?”
“A photo.”
Yu Lele said as if she was offering a treasure, “I begged for a long time before I got it from the photographer’s little brother, it’s out of print.”
Su Orange had thought that what Yu Lele sent her was a group photo, but she didn’t expect it to be a double photo of her and Zhou Yuchen.
In the photo, she was leaning forward slightly, and his staggered, his shoulders and arms were behind her, without looking closely, it was like gently wrapping her in his arms.
Ambiguity seemed to pour out through the photo, coloring her face red and burning her heart.