Chapter 16: Like? Date!

  Do you know why they say that during the day there are thoughts and at night there are dreams? So why is it that the people I dream about are all those with whom I no longer have contact?

  "Wow, you..." Ou Yang looked at Mu Yu Huang in front of him and almost couldn't recognize her. In Ou Yang's impression, Mu Yu Huang was a relatively boyish girl, always wearing that light pink sweater with jeans, never paying attention to dressing herself up. Because of the acne on her forehead, Mu Yu Huang's bangs were very long, and he remembered one time they even reached her glasses. Ou Yang had teased her at the time, asking if it was because her bangs were too long that she got acne on her forehead, and ended up getting hit by Mu Yu Huang.

  But today, Ouyang still couldn't think of it, the Mu Yuhan in front of him was actually wearing a skirt. "Hey, I don't think I've ever seen you wear a skirt before, aren't you cold?" Mu Yuhan pushed her glasses and smiled, saying: "It's okay, I'm wearing a lot underneath, but let me tell you, don't tell anyone else that I wore a skirt, I only wore it once and you saw it." Ouyang nodded and followed Mu Yuhan into the park. The park in District D was where Ouyang often came when he was young. As soon as they entered, there was a "Historical River" underground, which was actually just a stone slab with the history of District D written on it from one end to the other. In winter, no water would flow through it. Further in, there was a symbolic building, a sharp tower standing in the center of the park like the Oriental Pearl Tower. Ouyang walked with Mu Yuhan and talked about his childhood stories. After hearing that Ouyang fell down in the park at the age of two and was photographed by his father, Mu Yuhan laughed so hard she couldn't close her mouth and shouted to see the photo. Ouyang promised to bring it back to school for her. The two arrived at the sharp tower and sat down on a long chair. Ouyang said: "When I was in elementary school, this sharp tower hadn't been built yet. At that time, it was just a big hole. We organized a trip to the botanical garden, but some of us didn't go, so we followed our teacher to play in this park. As a result, we saw two mice in that hole, probably mother and son." Mu Yuhan seemed very interested and asked: "Then what? You're not going to tell me that you guys caught them?" Ouyang smiled and continued: "I remember that at the time, there was a boy in our class who picked up a brick from nearby and threw it down from above, killing both mice." Mu Yuhan made an uncomfortable expression after hearing this, as if she had thought of the scene at the time. She said: "That's so cruel, those mice didn't do anything wrong." Ouyang said: "Yes, our female classmates said that too." After finishing speaking, Ouyang went to a nearby pavilion to buy two bottles of drinks and handed one to Mu Yuhan. However, he found that Mu Yuhan's eyes were fixed on the lake behind the sharp tower. "What's wrong?" Ouyang opened a can of cola and took a sip. "Can you row a boat on that lake?" Mu Yuhan pointed to the lake behind the sharp tower. "Ah, yes, it's 20 yuan for unlimited time. How about we go? We can each get one and see who rows faster." Mu Yuhan's expression showed a hint of anger, but only for an instant. Then she said: "I don't know how to row, let's just get one together." Ouyang nodded and took Mu Yuhan to the ticket booth. The two began rowing on the lake. As they rowed, Ouyang felt that Mu Yuhan had wrapped her arm around his, so he looked at her. Mu Yuhan blushed and turned her head to the side, saying: "I'm a bit afraid of water, do you mind if I hold onto you?" Ouyang smiled and said it was okay.

  After a while, it was almost noon, so the two of them went to a nearby restaurant for lunch. They had rice noodles, which were Ouyang's favorite. Murong Huan didn't expect that Ouyang would also like the same things that girls liked, such as rice noodles and spicy hot pot. The two of them chatted about some trivial matters, including their preparations for the upcoming final exams. Then they went to Ouyang's former elementary school, which had been replaced by a new People's Leisure Plaza. Murong Huan joked that it looked like the central square of their residential area. When it was almost 2 o'clock, Murong Huan said: "It's getting late, I should head back home. You should also go back and study hard, you seem to be very interested in your phone." Ouyang replied: "Alright, be careful on your way back, let's chat again when you get home and log onto QQ." Then Ouyang walked Murong Huan to the bus station and headed home. As soon as he got home, his brother Maisi walked out of the room and said: "Your QQ has been ringing nonstop, go take a look." Ouyang went into the room and saw that the avatar on the bottom right corner of the computer screen was flashing - it was Xu Yu Jie.

  "What did you do today?"

  "Ah, my brother is moving out and no longer lives with me. I went to help him pack up his stuff and just got back."

  "You're not fooling me, are you secretly going online instead of studying?"

  "Of course not, how could I forget our appointment? Don't worry, I'm well prepared."

  "That's good, you hurry up and rest for a while and read a book."

  After turning off QQ, Ouyang heard Mais speaking behind him: "When did I say I was going to move? You're not good at lying, are you afraid to say that you're going out with some female classmate?" Ouyang stood up and pushed Mais, saying: "How do you have nothing to do? By the way, is your final exam preparation ready?"

  "I'm in no hurry, I'll start again tomorrow and catch up," Mais replied nonchalantly.

  "Is that so? You've been saying that since the day before yesterday." Ouyang rubbed his nose and said:

  "Ouyang, come and help." It was the voice of his mother, Feng Hongyan. Ouyang then pulled Mai Si to the main house to help out. In his heart, he was still thinking about whether or not he should tell Xu Yu Jie about what happened with Mu Yu Huan.

  After finishing cleaning up the house, Ouyang's QQ rang again. Ouyang took a look and it was Mu Yuhan.

  I'm back home.

  "Ah, right! Earlier, Xu Yu Jie asked me what I was doing today? I didn't say I was with you."

  "Oh, so you mean I'd better not tell her either."

  "Well, if not, it would be too late when the time comes."

  "Alright, I know."

  "Alright, just don't say it."

  "Hey, do you think we're on a date today?"

  "Hmm, I'm not sure."

  "Ouyang, I'm asking you, do you like Xu Yu Jie?"

  When Mu Yu Heng asked this, Ouyang was taken aback. He had no idea what it felt like to like someone, so he didn't know how to respond. Immediately after, Mu Yu Heng sent three question marks to indicate a follow-up question, and Ouyang could only say

  "I don't like it either, I couldn't say it clearly."

  "Alright, I'm going to have dinner now, you remember to study hard."

  Ouyang couldn't sleep that night, thinking about what it means to like someone. Is it when you see her smile and feel happy too? Or is it when you take your promises to her seriously? If so, then Ouyang liked Xu Yu Jie, but when he saw Mu Yu Huan wearing a skirt in front of him, he seemed to like her too. Forget it, he thought, I won't think about it anymore.

  Just then, the sound of snoring came from beside him, and Ouyang got out of bed to use the bathroom. As soon as he opened the door, he heard his mother crying in the washroom. He pushed open the door and asked, "Mom, what's wrong?"

  Feng Hong Yan turned around, saw it was Ouyang, wiped away her tears, smiled, and said, "Nothing, I just thought about how we're going to move into a big house soon, and I'm happy."

  Feng Hong Yan understood Ouyang well. She couldn't tell him that his father had gone bankrupt, but she knew her child was simple-minded. Indeed, as soon as Ouyang heard what she said, he immediately stopped worrying and said, "Then I'm happy too, don't cry anymore, I'm going to sleep."

  Feng Hong Yan nodded, and Ouyang went back to bed. Feng Hong Yan looked at her red eyes in the mirror and let out a deep sigh.

  The next few days of the holiday, Ouyang was reviewing his lessons in an orderly manner. Then came the day of the final exam at the end of the holiday. After arriving at school, Ouyang discovered that the final exam was much stricter than the mid-term exam. Each classroom had a limited number of students from each class, and it would not happen that half of the students from one class were in the same room. The first subject on the first day was math, which was Ouyang's weakest subject. However, because he focused on reviewing math during the holiday, Ouyang felt that every question was easy to answer, so after finishing the test paper, he didn't even bother to check it and started sleeping. Then a coughing sound came from his left side, Ouyang opened his eyes and saw Xu Yu Jie secretly glancing at him. Ouyang immediately began to review his answers and found that there were still many careless mistakes.

  The second subject was language, and Ou Yang spent an entire afternoon during the holiday memorizing various articles that needed to be prepared for the exam, all of which were highlighted by Teacher Pan. Ou Yang really liked Teacher Pan and didn't want to disappoint her. The last subject was English, and as the English class representative, Ou Yang had unusually studied at home and memorized the listening comprehension book before the test. As a result, Ou Yang had already filled in the answers on the exam paper before the listening comprehension had even finished playing. Of course, Wang Lin, who sat behind Ou Yang, wasn't so lucky. Ou Yang could tell that after finishing the English exam, Wang Lin's face looked terrible, so he took Wang Lin to go online. Today's internet session was specially permitted by their mother, but Ou Yang's purpose wasn't actually to go online.

  When Zhao Junyi and Zhou Feng arrived at the internet cafe, they saw Ouyang anxiously using Wang Lin's phone to make a call. After hanging up, Ouyang said to Wang Lin: "Let's go, I have something important to attend to." Wang Lin stomped his feet and said: "Every time we come online, there's always something going on. Hey, isn't that Zhao Junyi?" Ouyang then walked towards Zhao Junyi and said: "Last time I didn't thank you properly, so why don't you two use our computers to go online? I have an urgent matter to attend to at home, consider it as paying you back." Zhao Junyi was also too lazy to go downstairs, so he pulled Zhou Feng over to sit down at the two computers. After saying goodbye to Ouyang and Wang Lin, Zhou Feng suddenly covered his stomach and said: "I really want to have diarrhea, you play first, I think I need to go home. I didn't eat well during the day and went to the bathroom many times." Zhao Junyi took a look and let Zhou Feng go home as well. As Zhou Feng walked out of the internet cafe door, he said to Ouyang and Wang Lin who were still not far away: "Hey, you didn't tell me where my family is."

  Ouyang didn't even turn his head back, waving his hand towards the back and shouting: "I knew you'd come out, that's why I didn't tell your parents, but what's inside is something else."

  Zhou Feng smiled slightly, thought for a moment at the door, shook his head and turned back home.

  Ouyang finished speaking and turned his head to say to Wang Lin: "Not only must you return the money, but also the favor. What was that phrase again?"

  "Not taking revenge when having an enemy is not a gentleman!"