Chapter 04.2

Tang Yi’s injury was not serious, but it had aggravated an old injury, so she needed to rest. For the remaining two months of that semester, Tang Yi’s father arranged for a teacher to come to their home to tutor her.

Although Jiang Qiaosheng didn’t often go online to play games, he frequently appeared in the group chat.

Tang Yi used to have little time to use her phone during the day at school, but now on sick leave at home, she could often catch Jiang Qiaosheng online.

However, the two don’t chat all day long. After all, Jiang Qiaosheng is a senior, so he has things he needs to be busy with, and Tang Yi is also taking extra classes. They just chat a bit when they happen to run into each other.

The No. 8 high school will have a week off before the college entrance exam.

Jiang Qiaosheng and a few others have started playing games again. One time, Tang Yi overheard them talking about university matters. She pretended to be curious and casually asked where they were planning to go.

The stringed-instrument player: “My grades are similar to The Monk. My goal is Shanghai Jiao Tong University. Qiao Fu’s backup is Jiao Tong University, and he plans to aim for Tsinghua University.”

Tang Yi searched online for the admission scores of Jiao Tong University and Tsinghua University in recent years. She silently quit the game, picked up her test paper, and started working hard.

At that time, she was filled with joy, wholeheartedly wanting to capture everything related to him, like a reckless warrior, stumbling and bumping along the way, crashing into the southern wall that was Jiang Qiaosheng.

Whether it’s being crushed to death or both being defeated, the outcome is unknown.

Late at night, Tang Yi was trapped by a difficult problem, feeling a layer of loss in her heart.

The distance between her and Jiang Qiaosheng is more than just a matter of scores; soon, he will be traveling all over the place.

But all along, he thought she was Tang Sheng, the younger brother in the second year who was terrible at English but good at games.

But the entanglement in the game could not become a reality.

Tang Yi started to fantasize, if one day she could stand in front of Jiang Qiaosheng as Tang Yi, would everything be different?

Once this idea arose, it could not be suppressed no matter how hard she tried.

It was as if heaven was blessing her, and this opportunity was soon presented to Tang Yi.

That was the day before the college entrance examination, Tang Yi wished them good luck in the group, but Jiang Qiaosheng was not online yet.

The stringed-instrument player chatted with her for a while, and suddenly said, “Hey, how about we all go to the internet cafe to play games after the exam?”

The monk also echoed: “You always turn off the mic when playing games. Sometimes we can’t keep up with you, and we’re embarrassed to say it.”

They said one thing after another, completely unaware that Tang Yi in front of the computer was already in a panic, feeling that this was a surprise from heaven.

But she was a little hesitant, if they knew she was a girl, would they have less contact in the future, and she had pretended to be a boy in the first place in order to more easily approach them.

Tang Yi knew that this behavior was not very glorious, but it was the only opportunity she could think of to get in touch with Jiang Qiaosheng.

If it hadn’t been for that chance encounter at the internet cafe, Tang Yi might not have had Jiang Qiaosheng’s contact information until graduation.

The time they spent together was something she had luckily stolen, and she didn’t have the full courage to face the result of the mask being lifted.

Tang Yi didn’t agree right away, and only said to wait until the holidays to talk about it.

She was waiting all along.

But sometimes, some waiting is destined to be hopeless.

The college entrance exam was on the 7^th and 8^th, and Jiang Qiaosheng’s class’s farewell dinner was set for the 9^th, a night that Tang Yi would never forget.

In the evening, The stringed-instrument player and the others said they were going to the internet cafe after dinner to play games, and if Tang Yi was free in the evening, she could come to the internet cafe and find them.

Tang Yi didn’t reply, but she just couldn’t calm down and study.

Around 7 o’clock, her cousin He Yunkai came to visit Tang Yi’s parents during the holidays, and Tang Yi found an excuse to take him to the internet cafe.

Tang Yi sat down and played a game, the battle was very fierce, He Yunkai took off his headset and asked, “What’s on your mind? Playing like this.”

She didn’t dare to say, rubbed her face and said: “I’ll go buy a bottle of water, what do you want to drink?”

He Yunkai: “There’s water in the internet cafe.”

Tang Yi pursed her lips: “It’s expensive.”

“Just water is fine.”

Tang Yi got up and left.

The place where Jiang Qiaosheng and the others were eating was not far from the internet cafe, she didn’t know why, but after buying the water, she wanted to go around and take a look.

Tang Yi passed through the alley, there were many students standing at the door of the restaurant, probably after class.

She stood in the dark, watching one group after another come out.

After a long time, she finally saw a familiar person, but he quickly went back in, and when he came out again, there was a girl on his back.

There were cheers around.

Tang Yi slowly froze.

Jiang Qiaosheng walked out of the crowd with the girl on his back, passing through the alley from the outside.

The girl was probably drunk, muttering all the time. When they were waiting for the red light at the intersection, she suddenly raised her arm and shouted loudly, “In the future, I must work with Jiang Qiaosheng to make a game that sweeps across China!”

Jiang Qiaosheng responded in a low voice, his voice was gentler than she had ever heard before: “Okay, okay, don’t move around, be careful not to fall down.”

In the light of the street lamp, Tang Yi saw a red string tied around the girl’s arm.

At that moment, the wind blowing through the alley seemed to be mixed with a chill, wrapping her tightly, making her breathing difficult.

Tang Yi stood there for a long time, until He Yunkai was even worried about her and came to find her: “What are you doing here?”

Tang Yi suddenly woke up from her dream.

What is destined to happen will happen, what is not destined cannot be forced.

She finally understood this truth, took a deep breath, and handed the water in her hand to He Yunkai: “Brother, I didn’t buy the bottle of water I wanted.”

“What?”

“It was bought by someone else.”

He Yunkai looked at her: “Then buy it from another store.”

“It’s not the same.” Tang Yi felt a faint pain in her heart, grateful that the night concealed it, not letting her emotions be fully exposed: “Not being able to buy it is just not being able to buy it.”

It’s already too late.

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Author’s note:

Note: “What is destined to happen will happen, what is not destined won’t happen” is from “Expanded Collection of Wise Words.”