Chapter 28

Jiang Jiashu noticed that Ying Nian had suddenly started acting strangely, always smiling foolishly at her phone for no apparent reason. Since they were in different classes, they only saw each other during morning exercises unless they made special plans to meet. The few times Jiang Jiashu came looking for her, he always saw her pulling out her phone, watching it, and laughing.

Unable to contain his curiosity, Jiang Jiashu finally asked, “Who do you have on your phone that makes you smile like that? Could it be some guy?”

Ying Nian, of course, didn’t admit it. Annoyed by his questions, she reluctantly answered, “No one, just an online friend.”

Jiang Jiashu didn’t believe her, but since she wasn’t willing to explain, there wasn’t much he could do.

Unable to get to the bottom of it, he decided to drop the subject. Having just dealt with Ding Yi’s issue, Jiang Jiashu wanted to invite Ying Nian to hang out with friends, but as soon as he brought it up, she refused.

“No, I have something to do this weekend.”

“How about next week?”

“I’m busy next week too. I already planned to go to Ding Yi’s house for dinner.”

“That’s not right.” Jiang Jiashu frowned. “Didn’t you mention this before?”

“Yeah, I was originally supposed to go to her house this weekend, but something came up at the last minute, so we rescheduled to next week.”

He asked curiously, “What are you doing this week?”

Ying Nian didn’t hide it and openly told him, “I’m going to watch Yu Linran’s match!”

“……” This answer was as good as no answer at all.

Jiang Jiashu was unhappy—why was it him again? That Yu guy, always lingering like a ghost!

“What’s so great about him anyway?” His dissatisfaction spilled over into his words. “It’s just that he looks a little good. There are plenty of good-looking people around, even in our school. Look at my buddy Chen Xuze, isn’t he better looking than Yu Linran?”

Upon hearing this, Ying Nian rolled her eyes dramatically. “Hah, Chen Xuze? Give me a break. He’s got a poker face, always walking around like everyone owes him money. Can he even smile? I’m afraid of getting frostbite just standing near him! Most of the girls at our school must have something wrong with their eyes!”

The only friend Jiang Jiashu could really brag about was Chen Xuze; everyone said he was handsome and impressive, but Ying Nian didn’t see it that way.

Though it was known that Chen Xuze didn’t put much effort into studying and relied on his mood for exams, placing in the top five depended entirely on how many questions he felt like answering. If he got serious, Seventh High’s top spot would likely have two contenders, but Ying Nian wasn’t afraid of him at all.

Everyone was excellent, but treating him with reverence like onlookers at a parade? Completely unnecessary.

In the end, it all came down to the fact that the two just didn’t get along.

“He’s not as bad as you say!” Jiang Jiashu felt the need to defend his friend. “Also, it seems like you know quite a bit about our Xuze, huh?”

Chen Xuze had a cold personality and didn’t like getting involved in other people’s affairs. Sometimes, when Jiang Jiashu brought acquaintances along for meals, Chen Xuze couldn’t be bothered to show up. Not long ago, when they went to corner Li Yunyun, Chen Xuze didn’t participate. Even in the past, when eating with Ying Nian, Chen Xuze always chose not to go.

According to other friends, if he had the time, Chen Xuze would rather go home and spend it with his childhood friend—a girl he grew up with, seemingly a good friend of his. Occasionally, Chen Xuze would bring her along to hang out with Jiang Jiashu and others.

That girl wasn’t from Seventh High, and she was one of the few people Chen Xuze got along well with. It’s no wonder that as soon as school was out, Chen Xuze didn’t want to stay even a minute longer.

Ying Nian snorted, standing her ground without wavering. “That’s because your friend is more annoying than others! Just one look at him and my eyes hurt for days!”

“……” She was really good at dissing people. Jiang Jiashu was silent for a moment before switching to praising someone else. “Then take a look at your brother, which is me! Don’t I look handsome? And what about Brother Heng? How has your sense of aesthetics not been influenced at all?”

“Brother Heng” referred to Ying Nian’s older brother, Ying Heng. Although his looks were not the same type as Jiang Jiashu’s, they were even less similar to Yu Linran’s.

Ying Nian scolded him, “Why do you talk so much nonsense! My brother’s decent, but you are handsome? Forget it!”

Jiang Jiashu was so angry that he almost fell over backward.

He took a deep breath to calm himself and asked one last time, “Don’t go to the match this weekend. Let me take you out to have some fun?”

Ying Nian gave him a smile. “No.”

After saying that, she didn’t bother arguing further with him, waved her hand, and walked away.

“You have fun on your own. This weekend, I have to meet my Yu Linran!”

Fuming, Jiang Jiashu shouted from behind, “Ying Nian, you… you idiot!”

Ying Nian turned back and gave him a hard kick.

…

Since Yu Linran had said not to buy chocolate cake anymore, Ying Nian chose a different flavor this time. She had already pre-ordered it the day before departure, just waiting for it to be delivered near the venue.

After a night’s sleep, she would catch a flight and see Yu Linran soon—it would only be a matter of hours. Ying Nian was already struggling to contain her excitement.

She wanted to message Yu Linran but was worried about disturbing him. Ying Nian tossed and turned under the covers, clutching her phone and sighing repeatedly.

During their last voice call, Yu Linran’s attitude was very different from usual, which made Ying Nian feel both nervous and uneasy. She was afraid of losing composure or doing something inappropriate that might mess up the hard-won “progress” they had made.

So she became even more cautious, especially after that. Aside from arranging a seat for her and chatting once, Yu Linran hadn’t contacted her again, and she didn’t dare to initiate a conversation with him either.

Although Yu Linran had mentioned buying her a ticket, the SF team had complimentary tickets. Once Ying Nian confirmed the time, Yu Linran arranged an exceptionally good seat for her.

At the moment, Ying Nian was tapping on her phone screen, torn between whether or not to send him a message.

Maybe she could post something on Moments? She thought about taking a picture of the cake order receipt to see if it might catch his attention.

That seemed a bit too contrived.

After thinking it over, Ying Nian still felt it wasn’t appropriate. In the end, she just opened Yu Linran’s Moments and stared at it blankly. In his Moments, only the activities from the last three months were visible, and within those three months, there was just one photo: the entrance to the SF team base.

His caption was: 【.】

Yes, just a period.

Ying Nian liked the old photo.

Half a minute later, she felt it was inappropriate and un-liked it.

After thinking about it, she decided to like it again.

No, that didn’t feel right either. Liking such an old post felt deliberate, so she quickly un-liked it again in a fluster.

But since he hadn’t posted anything new for so long and this was the only photo, not liking it felt like she wasn’t being a proper fan. So, she liked it once more.

The problem was…

Ying Nian was in turmoil, liking, un-liking, liking, and un-liking again, back and forth.

Just as she was about to like the post once more, a message from Yu Linran popped up at the top of her screen:

[…Are you done yet?]

Ying Nian was stunned.

He saw it?

Pretending not to understand, she nervously asked, [What’s wrong?]

Yu Linran didn’t beat around the bush: [Liking, un-liking, un-liking, then liking again—are you having fun?]

Ying Nian was worried that he might be angry, so she apologized: “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to.”

She cautiously sent several more messages saying sorry.

Yu Linran didn’t reply for a while.

She asked, [Captain, are you mad?]

Half a minute later, Yu Linran finally responded, [No.]

Oh no, he was definitely angry.

Ying Nian felt terrible. [Captain, I didn’t mean to bother you. Please don’t be angry.]

[I’m not angry.]

That tone clearly sounded like he was angry. Ying Nian said again, [Please, really, don’t be mad…]

He responded with the same three words, [I’m not angry.]

Her heart sank. [I’m sorry, I’m sorry.]

There was no reply from his side.

Ying Nian felt dejected, like a wilting cabbage hit by frost, completely deflated.

Suddenly, a voice message popped up in the chat, and it was quite long.

She was slightly stunned as she tapped to play it, and Yu Linran’s voice filled the warmth of her cozy bed.

“I’m not angry.”

The first three words carried a hint of helplessness. After a pause, he continued, “Every now and then, a new notification pops up, and it’s always you liking and un-liking. Isn’t it tiring? If you have something to say to me, just say it directly.”

Upon hearing the gentleness in his tone, Ying Nian finally relaxed and let out a long sigh of relief.

She replied with a voice message of her own, feeling a bit wronged and slightly scared. Without even realizing it, her words came out sounding a bit like she was whining: “I thought you were really angry at me…”

Less than half a minute after sending the message, two new lines of text appeared on the screen.

Yu Linran said:

[Like the post again.]

[If you’ve liked it, then don’t undo it.]