Chapter 32 The Gardener and the Rose

Chapter 32 The Gardener and the Rose

When Lin Yao was pressed against the wall by Shi Yu, her heart involuntarily trembled.

She was terrified.

Not of Shi Yu, but of the conversation she overheard about the bet from the group with Huang Mao. If they were discovered, it would be disastrous.

In her panic, her hands unconsciously grabbed Shi Yu's palms and then clung to the cuffs of his shirt, trying to hold on tighter.

"Shi Yu..." Her voice, deliberately kept low, trembled. "They... they're coming..."

In the next moment, Lin Yao felt her chin being lifted by a slender, slightly cool finger.

Forced to look up, she met Shi Yu's eyes under the moonlight.

His gaze was deep and clear, a kind of focused calm she had never seen before, tinged with an indescribable emotion.

Something wondrous yet unfamiliar lightly brushed her heart.

Lin Yao opened her lips to speak, but out of the corner of her eye, she saw Huang Mao and his group approaching.

She urgently tugged at his sleeve.

"Don't be afraid."

Shi Yu's palm pressed against her lips.

As his face gradually came closer, their noses almost touched.

Yet, his thin lips landed on the back of the hand covering her lips.

The hand that held her chin gently cupped her face, naturally concealing their seemingly passionate embrace.

His broad shoulders completely enveloped her petite frame, hiding her in his black hoodie.

Standing not far away, Shen Chaowen watched the two figures under the moonlight, seemingly locked in a kiss.

The girl in the boy's arms seemed startled or perhaps too shy.

Her petite body, almost entirely enclosed within his embrace, trembled slightly. Her beautiful, pale hands unconsciously gripped his long, strong arm.

The contrast between her white fingertips and the black hoodie was stark.

At that moment, for some reason,

Shen Chaowen's eyelid twitched.

Huang Mao and his friends, who were initially planning to approach, hesitated upon seeing this scene.

"They must be from our No. 5 Middle School," "Let's go get some milk tea," "Hey, don't disturb the lovebirds..."

Huang Mao and his group whistled excitedly as they passed by, making some lewd comments, all laughing and joking.

Only Shen Chaowen remained silent, watching for a while longer before indifferently turning away.

Forget it, it wasn't Shi Yu...

How boring.

...

...

The voices of Shen Chaowen and his group gradually faded away, disappearing at the alley entrance.

Lin Yao's heart finally settled.

As her heartstrings relaxed, she suddenly realized how intimate their current position was.

Shi Yu's palm still covered her lips, and when she had been breathing nervously earlier, the scent of his familiar, crisp, woody fragrance filled her nostrils.

Each time she exhaled nervously, her breath left a slight dampness on his palm.

Over time, the small space between her mouth and nose became increasingly moist.

Moreover, after Shen Chaowen and his group passed by, Shi Yu turned his face away, no longer 'kissing' her.

But his entire body still pressed her tightly against the wall, leaving no room for any prying eyes.

So now, Lin Yao was still firmly pressed against the corner by Shi Yu, with no space between them.

Lin Yao paused, wanting to speak, intending to remind Shi Yu that he could let go.

But just as she was about to speak, the hand pressing her lips withdrew.

Shi Yu released her.

"It's okay now."

"I'm sorry about that."

He put his hand in his pocket and turned to her, speaking softly.

Lin Yao was taken aback, knowing that Shi Yu had done this to deceive Shen Chaowen and the others.

"It's fine..." Lin Yao whispered, "Luckily it was you, or we would have been caught... Shi Yu, you don't know how scared I was; my legs went weak. In the noodle shop, I heard Shen Chaowen and the others talking about getting revenge on you and grabbing me to ask about milk tea... Ugh, so annoying, how unlucky to run into them."

The girl seemed to forget the intimacy of their close contact just moments ago.

Chattering on and on.

But she didn't notice the boy who, seemingly casually, pulled back the hand that had touched her lips, his fingertips gently rubbing in his pocket.

He lowered his dark eyes, locking onto her, listening quietly with a deep and mysterious gaze.

"Shi Yu, Shi Yu..." Lin Yao spoke for a while, pouring out all her earlier panic and unease, but heard no response from Shi Yu.

She couldn't help but pout. "Why aren't you saying anything?"

Always ignoring people like this.

He's so annoying.

Shi Yu still didn't respond.

The little girl's temper flared up, remembering Shi Yu's usual cold attitude towards her.

Even if Shi Yu was slightly nicer to her as a way of repaying her family, tutoring her, it didn't mean he was someone easy to talk to.

She must have thought too much, talked too much; she should just ignore him.

Lin Yao bit her lip, preparing to stay silent and walk past Shi Yu to leave.

Just two steps away, she suddenly saw Shi Yu turn around and head towards the closed breakfast shop in the alley.

It was pitch black over there, and she couldn't see what he was doing. After a while, she saw Shi Yu emerge from the dark alley carrying two bags.

One bag contained tutoring books and test papers.

The other bag held... Snow King!?

Lin Yao: ? ? ?

"You... when did you..."

She was dumbfounded.

Was Shi Yu performing magic?

"Just bought milk tea from the bookstore, your favorite Dobo, half-sweet, less ice."

When he saw her in trouble earlier, he had casually placed the milk tea and books on the small table at the closed breakfast shop at the alley entrance.

Shi Yu handed the milk tea to her, his clear, cold gaze deep and mysterious.

"Yoyo, do you want to drink it?"

Lin Yao: "..."

*

Lin Yao held the milk tea in her hands, happily sipping it as she walked home with Shi Yu.

Their neighborhood was a quiet oasis amidst the bustling city.

After passing through several lively night market streets, they arrived at the quiet residential area.

Seeing that they were almost home, Lin Yao tried harder to finish the milk tea before entering the neighborhood.

She hated wasting anything.

Shi Yu turned his head to look at the little girl sipping her milk tea, a subtle emotion flickering in his dark, scattered eyes.

He suddenly spoke.

"Lin Yao, do you want to hear a story?"

Lin Yao didn't even lift her head, her cherry-pink lips working hard on the straw, humming contentedly.

At this moment, she would probably agree to anything Shi Yu said.

Just a story, and for the sake of the milk tea, she could listen to ten.

So Shi Yu told Lin Yao a story about a gardener and a rose.

Shi Yu: "Once upon a time, there was a gardener who raised a rare rose. It was a green rose, very rare and beautiful, and most importantly, the gardener loved it very much. So, the gardener carefully tended to the green rose, waiting for the day it would bloom..."

Lin Yao bit the straw, looking at him with a puzzled yet serious expression. "Wait a minute, a green rose? That's so strange?"

"Hmm." Shi Yu hummed softly. "There's something even stranger."

Shi Yu: "The gardener found his love for the green rose growing stronger and uncontrollable. Even to the point where if others looked at the rose, he would feel emotionally unstable. He knew that once his little rose bloomed, it would be stunningly perfect. The more he thought about it being discovered and admired by others, the more he wanted to dig up the green rose, place it in a beautiful glass container, and keep it for himself alone."

"But the gardener also knew that if he really did that, the little rose would be unhappy and lose its vitality. So, to avoid hurting her, the gardener decided to temporarily distance himself from the green rose. He went from watering and fertilizing it every day to showing indifference, deliberately ignoring it..."

"Wait a minute..." Lin Yao suddenly asked a profound question. "What if no one takes care of the green rose? Will it die?"

Shi Yu frowned. "No, the green rose has family and friends who will take care of it."

Lin Yao: "But how can a rose have family and friends?"

Shi Yu: "..."

His eyes darkened.

"Yoyo, this is just a fairy tale."

"...Okay."

Lin Yao accepted the fairy tale setting, but if it was a fairy tale, she had even more questions.

"Since it's a fairy tale, the green rose would have its own consciousness, right? Although the gardener says he's doing it for its own good by temporarily leaving it alone, he's actually pushing the green rose away... If I were that green rose, I definitely wouldn't like the gardener anymore..."

The little girl finished her opinion and then lowered her head to quickly sip her milk tea.

She didn't notice at all that the young man walking beside her had visibly stiffened under the moonlight.

After a few seconds, she heard Shi Yu's low voice from behind.

"You're right... Fortunately, he realized it wasn't too late."

"He will coax her back..."

Lin Yao didn't hear clearly what Shi Yu said. She turned around just as her phone rang.

It was Xia Tingnan calling to ask where they were and why they hadn't returned yet. Lin Yao hurriedly threw her milk tea into a nearby trash bin and said they would be back soon.

Only after hanging up did she realize that Shi Nian had sent her a text message earlier.

Fortunately, Shi Nian guessed what might have happened and helped cover for her in front of her mother.

"Hurry up, give me the tutoring books. My mom is looking for us." Lin Yao didn't have time to continue the previous conversation. She took the bag of tutoring books from Shi Yu and tugged on his sleeve, running towards the neighborhood.

In this spring when the late cold snap was about to end.

Shi Yu looked down at the little girl who had taken the initiative to hold onto his sleeve. The corners of his lips curved upward, showing his first genuine smile.

...

Before going to bed that night.

Lin Yao, wearing a nightgown, sat on the bed with a pillow in her arms, looking at Shi Nian.

Shi Nian was also in her pajamas, having just finished packing her schoolbag for the next day. She turned off the bedside lamp and was about to get into bed.

Turning around, she saw Lin Yao staring at her with eager eyes and couldn't help but smile.

Shi Nian: "What's wrong? Is there something you want to tell me?"

"Mm..." Lin Yao nodded, her voice slightly nasal. "Can you tell me about you and Qi Yanye?"

Ever since returning, Lin Yao had been tossing and turning, thinking about the conversation she overheard between Shen Chaowen and the others.

Why did they say Qi Yanye would be a dead dog without Shi Nian?

Also, the relationship between Qi Yanye and Shi Nian seemed strange now.

And Shen Chaowen too...

Lin Yao felt that these three people were different from the plot snippets she remembered from the original book.

Shi Nian was clearly taken aback, not expecting Lin Yao to bring this up.

"Of course, I wanted to talk to you about this." She lifted the covers on the other side and got into bed.

The two girls hugged their pillows, snuggled under the covers, and started whispering.

Shi Nian: "By the way, there's something else I wanted to tell you... Do you know if Shi Yu has a girl he likes?"

Lin Yao's heart skipped a beat.

She certainly knew.

Even though she pretended not to understand the story when she came back tonight,

anyone could tell that Shi Yu liked the green rose in his story.

Lin Yao spoke hesitantly, wondering whether to reveal Shi Yu's secret: "I..."

Shi Nian smiled: "Okay, you must remember. It's the girl from our childhood who always wore blue dresses."

Lin Yao's eyes lit up, and she and Shi Nian said the name together.

"Zhou Yanan."

They both smiled at each other.

Lin Yao, of course, knew.

That was Shi Yu's official pairing in the original text.