Chapter 57

Chapter 57

Gu Yufeng rarely heard Xie Ci speak flirtatiously in public, and he was caught off guard, completely flustered.

"Then what are we waiting for?"

Gu Yufeng grabbed Xie Ci's wrist and stood up, "Let’s find a place to get this done right now."

"..."

Xie Ci pulled him back to sit down, "Is that what I’m getting at?"

Gu Yufeng feigned confusion, "Isn’t it?"

Xie Ci thought to himself, here we go again.

To avoid discussing the topic of "how he used to be with others," he was once again using his old tricks to divert his attention.

Class was about to begin, and many people were returning to the classroom. Xie Ci looked at Gu Yufeng and said in a low voice, "Let me just say this, whether we do it or not, the itinerary still needs to be turned in."

Gu Yufeng: "..."

He’s not easy to fool.

Gu Yufeng glanced at the crossed-out itinerary, feeling completely overwhelmed, "You’re the one who wanted to start fresh, so why am I the one making the itinerary?"

"You’re the one who had to bring it up, so who else should be responsible?"

Xie Ci rested his chin on his hand, casually speaking, "If we hadn’t brought it up, there wouldn’t be a problem, right?"

What kind of messed-up logic is that? Gu Yufeng retorted, "So, it’s all my fault?"

If they’re going to fight over an itinerary, how are they supposed to talk?

Maybe the no-nonsense way they handled things in their past life, getting married and staying out of each other’s way, would suit them better.

"It’s a bit of a hassle,"

Xie Ci looked at the itinerary spread out on Gu Yufeng's desk, a slight smile on his lips, "But I’m really looking forward to it."

Gu Yufeng bit back his retort.

This reminded him of himself in his previous life, always looking forward to seeing each other again.

From this perspective, he could understand Xie Ci.

But how the hell is this supposed to be arranged?

What do high schoolers even do on dates?

Xie Ci added, "Someone as smooth as Mr. Gu should find it easy to arrange an itinerary, right?"

Gu Yufeng: "..."

Feeling like he’s being played.

The class bell rang, and Gu Yufeng frowned at the itinerary, even his favorite economics book couldn’t cheer him up. He slumped over the desk, completely defeated.

During the break, Zhang Ruochuan came over to ask Xie Ci something and, seeing Gu Yufeng looking like he was about to collapse into his seat, asked in confusion, "Lao Gu, what’s up? You feeling okay?"

Xie Ci glanced at the blank sheet of paper on Gu Yufeng's desk, his eyes filled with amusement.

"He's deep in thought."

Zhang Ruochuan: "What could he be thinking about to end up like this? He's practically meditating."

Because the "morning kiss for ten minutes" scheduled for the next morning was crossed out, Gu Yufeng remembered that Xie Ci had mentioned going to eat beef noodles next to Fu Ji together, so he brought it up.

Xie Ci agreed, but the next morning he couldn't wake up.

"If you don't get up now, we'll be late."

Xie Ci stood by the bed, pushing the person sleeping like a rock on the upper bunk, "Are we still going?"

Gu Yufeng frowned and struggled to open his eyes, leaning closer to the edge of the bed, pointing to his lips with his index finger, the hint was clear.

Xie Ci turned to look at their still-sleeping roommates, then pinched his mouth: "Hurry up."

Gu Yufeng: "..."

Was he always this oblivious?

When they left the dorm, the sun wasn't fully up yet, the leaves and grass covered in frost, the cold wind stirring up fallen leaves, bone-chilling cold.

Xie Ci turned to look at Gu Yufeng, reaching out to pull up the zipper on his jacket a bit more: "You cold?"

"Cold."

Gu Yufeng's voice was hoarse from lack of sleep, glancing at the beige sweater Xie Ci was wearing, he said leisurely, "I don't have a cozy sweater like yours."

Xie Ci: "Envious? Want to borrow it sometime?"

Gu Yufeng teased: "What if someone notices I'm wearing my boyfriend's sweater?"

Xie Ci said without expression: "How many times have you publicly confessed in class? Did anyone even notice?"

Gu Yufeng: "..."

Xie Ci: "Ever heard of the boy who cried wolf?"

Gu Yufeng: "..."

They arrived early, and Fu Ji's steamed buns wasn't crowded yet, so they only had to wait five minutes before it was their turn.

The old man at the steamer quickly packed the buns, looking up at Xie Ci, he exclaimed: "Young man, haven't seen you in a while."

Xie Ci paid and took the handed-over buns: "It's rare for me to get up this early, your buns are always sold out so fast."

The old man laughed: "If you want to eat, just let me know, I'll save some for you, just come pick them up every morning, no need to queue."

Xie Ci: "That would be too much of a hassle for you."

There was still a line behind them, so they didn't chat much, after saying goodbye, Xie Ci and Gu Yufeng went to the shop next door.

The noodle shop was already busy early in the morning, already packed, Xie Ci ordered two bowls of beef noodles and sat down with Gu Yufeng at a small table by the entrance.

The old folding table was set up right by the entrance, except for that time we ate cold noodles on the old street, Gu Yufeng had never eaten in such a humble spot, if he were alone, he would never come, wouldn't even consider it, but with Xie Ci, he felt like he could try anything, no matter where they went or what they ate, not just tolerating it, but actually looking forward to it.

Watching Xie Ci pour vinegar into his dish, Gu Yufeng also took a dish: "Pour me some too."

Xie Ci looked up: "I thought you didn’t like it this way?"

"It’s nice to try something different once in a while."

Gu Yufeng searched for conversation, "You know the owner of Fu Ji pretty well?"

Xie Ci opened the takeout box, casually handing over the chopsticks that had been scalded with hot water: "I tried to get a part-time job there once, but he turned me down. The owner is very kind, said I could have breakfast at his place during high school without paying, but I didn’t have the guts like you, so I never went."

Gu Yufeng: "Can you just say it without taking a jab at me?"

Xie Ci's eyes smiled: "Was I wrong?"

Gu Yufeng didn’t confirm or deny, instead saying: "Aside from your relatives, you’ve met some pretty decent people."

Thinking of his aunt's family, the smile in Xie Ci's eyes faded.

"When there’s no conflict of interest, people tend to be friendly."

He didn’t deny that there are many kind people in the world, but there are also many who are polite to outsiders but cold and even violent to their own family, commonly known as 'tyrants at home'.

They think they’re so clever, pulling all their shady tricks on their own family, and gloat over their successful deceptions, exploiting familial ties for profit, and then morally blackmailing the other party to let them off when things fall apart.

With Ye Yurou and Chen Xinhong’s personalities, he was sure they put on a friendly face for the outside world.

Gu Yufeng noticed the subtle change in Xie Ci's expression, picked up a dumpling and offered it to his mouth: "With a guy like me right here, why are you still thinking about those jerks?"

"..."

Xie Ci opened his mouth to bite, and after finishing, said, "You still won’t admit you’ve got no shame."

The beef noodles they ordered came out fast. Xie Ci placed the bowl without cilantro in front of Gu Yufeng: "If you don’t like it, don’t force it. We can grab something else on the way back. There’s a great spot for tofu pudding up ahead."

"Do I look like the type to eat something I hate?" Gu Yufeng picked up some noodles and blew on them.

Xie Ci thought for a moment, hesitantly asking: "The first time you came over, I didn’t add any salt to the food, but you still ate it, didn’t you?"

Gu Yufeng finished a mouthful of noodles, looking at him quietly: "Wait, you left out the salt on purpose? I thought you were just into that healthy, bland stuff."

Xie Ci was amused by the misunderstanding.

"Why didn’t you say anything?"

"I didn’t want to seem like a picky jerk on my first visit."

Gu Yufeng poked a dumpling, dipping it in some vinegar, "Besides, I was there for you, not the food."

How bold. Xie Ci continued: "When the food wasn’t so bland later, didn’t you wonder why?"

Mentioning this, Gu Yufeng sneered: "I thought you’d figured out my taste and were being sweet about it. I felt like an idiot for being so happy."

Xie Ci: "..."

Turns out, their whole connection was just a bunch of assumptions.

The shop got busier, and soon all six tables out front were taken.

Halfway through, Gu Yufeng was getting more and more pissed, nudging Xie Ci's foot under the table with his toe: "Why’d you skip the salt? And then act like that’s how you always eat? You’ve had me fooled this whole time—were you messing with me?"

After that, he noticed Xie Ci looked a little off, avoiding eye contact, looking anywhere but at him, which just made him think Xie Ci was hiding something.

"Don’t dodge the question," Gu Yufeng warned.

Under Gu Yufeng’s gaze, Xie Ci had no choice but to respond: "I was too nervous and forgot."

Gu Yufeng looked confused: "...Nervous?"

Xie Ci resignedly explained: "Didn’t I mention it was my first time bringing someone home?"

"Really the first time? I thought you were just saying that to be polite," Gu Yufeng said, somewhat surprised.

Xie Ci: "...Do I really seem like the type to bring people home often?"

"You sure do."

Gu Yufeng said leisurely, "Everyone says you’re emotionally intelligent, a real smooth operator, never seen any clingy exes hanging around, never mention any exes at any time, plenty of people in the circle are lining up to date you, saying even a few days with you would be worth it."

Xie Ci: "..."

No clingy exes—maybe because there aren’t any.

"Hurry up, it’s getting cold," Xie Ci silently changed the topic, afraid more secrets would come out if they kept talking.

As he finished speaking, he felt a knee brush his, a leg pressing close.

Gu Yufeng leaned in, grinning: "So, I’m really the first person you’ve had over for a meal?"

"Yes."

Xie Ci found it somewhat amusing, "Do you really need to be that happy about it?"

"Of course," Gu Yufeng said, sounding smug, "If I’d known it was President Xie’s first time cooking for someone, I’d have eaten more."

Xie Ci thought to himself that he’d given him a lot of firsts.

If he said that, would this guy get all cocky?

After breakfast, they both felt warm.

There was still time before the morning run, so they took their time walking back to school.

The morning sun was bright but gave off no warmth.

Gu Yufeng looked at Xie Ci beside him, his sharp features, darker skin, and black hair gave him a cool, refreshing look, the look in his eyes mixed the youth of seventeen with the maturity of thirty-five, finding everything about him pleasing.

Suddenly, his wrist was grabbed and pulled aside, snapping Gu Yufeng back to reality.

Xie Ci let go of him: "What are you looking at while walking?"

Gu Yufeng saw that the tiles at the spot he was just at were uneven.

"At you."

Xie Ci: "Why look at me?"

"Because you’re handsome."

Gu Yufeng looked at Xie Ci’s speechless expression, let out a short laugh, "Drop-dead gorgeous."

Xie Ci: "..."

It’s hard to tell who looks good.

On their way, they saw Zhang Ruochuan and a girl coming out of a breakfast shop, walking ahead together.

"First time I’ve seen him with a girlfriend," Gu Yufeng casually remarked. "She seems quiet, they seem like a good match."

"Yeah," Xie Ci agreed, also seeing it for the first time, and signaled Gu Yufeng to slow down, not to make them uncomfortable.

Gu Yufeng watched them, unsure what they were talking about, but their expressions were serious. From Zhang Ruochuan’s gestures, it seemed they were discussing a problem, walking side by side but keeping a careful distance.

After just a short walk, the two ahead suddenly stopped.

Xie Ci and Gu Yufeng quietly hid behind a tree, watching.

Zhang Ruochuan handed her the breakfast he was carrying, and the girl took it and gave him a paper bag in return, then left first.

Once the girl was gone, Zhang Ruochuan took something out of the bag.

Gu Yufeng saw it was gloves and remembered the hot water bottle Xie Ci gave him when he hurt his leg.

After Zhang Ruochuan also left, Xie Ci patted Gu Yufeng: "They’re probably trying not to draw attention, heading back separately. Let’s go."

Gu Yufeng: "Want me to get you a pair?"

Xie Ci: "What?"

Gu Yufeng casually said: "A pair."

Xie Ci: "..."

Catching some odd looks from passing students, Gu Yufeng explained: "I mean gloves."

Xie Ci: "Is 'gloves' too hard to say?"

Gu Yufeng: "Pair just rolls off the tongue."

Xie Ci: "..."

Friday afternoon, Xie Ci got a message from Fu Yicheng, saying he wanted to get together with them.

After school, Xie Ci, along with five others including Wang Hao, went to Old Li’s shop. After they ordered, Fu Yicheng rushed in, carrying five plush toys of various sizes and holding two cups of milk tea.

"Sorry I’m late, this meal is on me!"

"What’s up with this hobby?" Jiang Chenyu was the first to tease, "A guy into this stuff?"

"You don’t understand a thing," Fu Yicheng squeezed into his seat, took out several newly bought bags and opened them, distributing them one by one, "These are what I snagged."

Xie Ci waited until he finished distributing before asking: "You got something to tell us?"

Fu Yicheng put the bags by his feet and excitedly said: "Just wanted to say, the provincial championship basketball league results got canceled!"

Hearing that, everyone cheered and cursed, saying they had it coming.

Jiang Chenyu: "With their strength, they could have easily made it to the top three, but they had to resort to underhanded tactics."

Fang Sizhe: "Gao Yuan is the school bully at the sports school, so you can guess what he’s like."

Wang Hao: "Since their results were canceled, they won’t try to get back at us, will they?"

"How can they retaliate when we're always at school?" Fu Yicheng said dismissively. "They're just petty troublemakers. Do they really have the ability to find out where we are on weekends?"

Just as the food arrived, Fu Yicheng's phone kept vibrating.

Everyone at the table watched as he kept sending messages and voice notes.

Fu Yicheng, speaking into the phone with a cutesy voice, said, "Ah Xue, I caught a plush bear especially for you. Meet me at our usual spot before evening study."

After that, he switched to another contact, took a photo of the milk tea, and sent it: "Xin Xin, your first cup of milk tea this winter. I'll leave it on the windowsill before evening study. Don’t forget to grab it."

Fu Yicheng switched again: "Baby, didn’t you say you wanted to take a ride on the Ferris wheel and stargaze? I bought tickets for this Saturday night."

Fu Yicheng switched once more: "Fei Fei, are you free this Saturday? We mentioned studying together at the library a few days ago."

The table slowly filled with looks of disgust.

When Fu Yicheng finally stopped, he noticed everyone staring at him: "What’s with the stares?"

"Are you a time management guru?"

Jiang Chenyu couldn’t stand it. "Seeing so many girls at once, isn’t that too much?"

Fu Yicheng retorted, "What’s too much about it? I got these girlfriends fair and square. If you have the ability, go get one yourself."

Jiang Chenyu was speechless and quietly went back to eating his skewers.

Xie Ci casually added, "Is this why you didn’t make it into the top high school?"

Jiang Chenyu and the others burst into laughter.

"Are you taking shots at me?"

Fu Yicheng was upset. "Xie Ci, are you just jealous of me?"

Xie Ci chuckled but didn’t respond, which made Fu Yicheng even more annoyed. He started counting his girlfriends one by one, trying to make up for the sting of being mocked by Xie Ci by showing off his girlfriends.

However, he was met with another wave of teasing from Jiang Chenyu and the others.

Before the meal was even finished, Fu Yicheng paid the bill and headed out to drop off gifts for his girlfriends.

"Old Zhang, what’s wrong? You’ve seemed off the last couple of days," Fang Sizhe asked Zhang Ruochuan, who had been silent, after the others left.

Seeing him hesitate, Jiang Chenyu chimed in, "We could tell something was up with you a couple of days ago. We were waiting for you to bring it up, but you kept it to yourself until now."

Zhang Ruochuan was silent for a moment, then said with a bitter expression, "I think she dumped me."

Xie Ci and Gu Yufeng both looked up at the same time.

They had just seen the girl give him gloves on Tuesday morning. How could he have been dumped so quickly?

Zhang Ruochuan: "Everything was fine, but after school on Tuesday, I went to see her, and she suddenly said she wanted to put her studies first and didn’t want to meet privately for a while."

The table was full of single guys, and none of them had any useful advice to give.

Fang Size thought of Xie Ci and Gu Yufeng.

These two had secretly gotten together, but they were of incompatible genders.

Jiang Chenyu looked at Gu Yufeng: "Lao Gu, you're so handsome and experienced, give some guidance."

Gu Yufeng was at a loss for words when singled out. How could they see "very experienced" on his face? He had zero experience.

Under the gaze of everyone at the table, not only the troubled Zhang Ruochuan, but even Xie Ci looked at him with expectation. Suddenly, he was the go-to guy for advice. Gu Yufeng took a tissue, wiped his mouth, and spoke with a deep expression: "There's no problem that can't be fixed by sleeping on it. If it's not resolved, you probably haven't slept enough."

The whole table was stunned: "...?!"

Typical of you.

Xie Ci: "..."

So they fell apart in their past life because they didn't sleep enough?

The rookies blushed and fell silent after catching on, all looking to Xie Ci for help.

Xie Ci remained calm, his words laced with sarcasm: "You're sending a rookie who hasn't even left the starting zone to take on the final boss alone. He'd be lucky not to get lost."

Gu Yufeng: "...Are we never going to let that go?"

Zhang Ruochuan lowered his head and stammered, "I haven't even gotten to hold her hand."

Gu Yufeng retorted, "If you haven't even held hands, what kind of relationship is that?"

Caught off guard, Xie Ci suddenly realized that from the moment they met, in both this life and the last, they had never held hands.

"Dating doesn't necessarily mean holding hands," Zhang Ruochuan muttered softly. "Just going to and from school together and having meals is enough to make me happy."

"What’s so happy about that?" Gu Yufeng said with a cold expression.

"Just being together makes everything feel sweet," Zhang Ruochuan said, lowering his head in embarrassment.

"So you got rejected," Gu Yufeng said indifferently.

The whole table went silent for a moment.

That was brutal.

In contrast, Xie Ci became even more certain that Gu Yufeng wasn't as smooth as he thought.

Fu Yicheng was the real playboy in the dating scene, while Gu Yufeng was at best a seasoned newbie—both experienced and naive, lacking problem-solving skills and only knows how to drive.