Chapter 18: Returning the Diary

  Cen Yan Qiu Duan sat in his seat, his eyes occasionally sweeping over the corridor outside to Mo Fei, and he was also thinking about how to return the diary to her.

  Yang Chengyu's storm passed, and he returned to his original state, with a puzzled face, turning his head to look at Cen Yanqiu, asking in a low voice: "Qiu, what did you just say? Does Mo Fei have a crush on you?"

  "Hmm...I'm not sure..." Cen Yanqiu looked away with a troubled expression, gazing at his best friend who still had a mischievous look on his face. After a pause, he said, "Do you still remember that pink diary from a while back?"

  "Remember, what's wrong?" Yang Chengyu sneered and lowered his voice, asking: "How, you little thief really peeked?"

  "I didn't! It was my mom..." Xun Yanqiu's face was full of helplessness. If his mother hadn't been sweeping the room and seen this diary, he probably would never have known about this matter.

  Yang Chengyu didn't bother to respond to his dead party's worried expression, he still had an air of being above it all, and in a low voice asked: "What did the diary say? That Mo Fei has a crush on you?"

  "Hmm... Every day's record has my name on it..." Xun Yanqiu said languidly, with a hint of helplessness, "Nor is it certain if it's her diary, she started keeping it in junior high school, and only four classmates came over from junior high school, apart from her, there shouldn't be anyone else..."

  "Cough, cough..." Yang Chengyu couldn't help but let out a light cough after hearing this, his gaze shifting back to Ji Ningning behind Qin Yanqiu. Only then did he notice that Ji Ningning had stopped writing with her pen and was listening expressionlessly to their conversation.

  Yang Chengyu knew that Ji Ningning would be unhappy again, and he was rarely unhappy, so he didn't have a concept of sadness, but one day after school, he saw Ji Ningning sitting by the lake, crying.

  At that time, the sunset lazily shone on Ji Ningning's body, and the lake water was slightly rippling with golden light, reflecting her calm face, and also revealing the crystal in her eyes. He stared blankly for a long, long time, seeing her full of energy arguing with his friends during the day, but at this moment, he saw her sitting alone by the lake watching the flowing water, which was very different from usual, so he had the desire to understand her mood. Also don't know how long such mood lasted, finally confessed on a day before the summer vacation of sophomore year.

  After that, Ji Ningning still joked that he had "middle school disease" at the time and only said those words of confession to her. It's not clear whether she was really confused or pretending to be confused, but in any case, she didn't believe his feelings. Sometimes he himself would inexplicably become sad, even though originally he wasn't a person who got sad like that.

  "What are you coughing about?" Xun Yanqiu gave his best friend a disdainful look. He was currently talking about his own troubles, but his best friend seemed completely uninterested, which made him somewhat dissatisfied. Giving Yang Chengyu a withering stare, Xun Yanqiu said coldly: "Don't tell me this diary belongs to you! You've been secretly pining for me all these years... Let me tell you, my orientation is normal!"

  "Cough...cough..." Yang Chengyu couldn't help but let out a light cough, but this time it wasn't to mock her. He simply had nothing to say. As soon as he saw Ji Ningning's expression, he suddenly fell silent.

  Cen Yanqiu's face sank, and he stopped talking. He turned his head around, only to see Mo Fei sitting back in her own seat, which was at the third table of the first group, by the window. His seat was at the fourth table of the third group, and he could see her whenever he looked up.

  "Hey, Ball," Yang Chengyu's voice came over again in a low tone, "You'd better not return the diary to her. Pretend you don't know anything and the two of you can focus on studying!"

  "Hmph……" Cen Yanqiu heard this sentence, didn't stop the car, couldn't help but burst out laughing, and turned his head to look at his best friend, laughing and saying, "You can also say such things? You're still learning well! You've had so many girlfriends, don't you feel ashamed?"

  "I'm telling the truth!" Yang Chengyu's rare serious face, put away his mischievous smile, looked even more handsome than usual, with a piercing gaze fixed on Cen Yanqiu, continued: "She may not want you to know, but by recklessly returning her diary, you'll only end up bothering her. Think about it, since you don't like her anyway, why bother letting her know and causing trouble?"

  Cen Yanqiu also slightly moved her bright eyes, thought for a moment, and felt that Yang Chengyu's words were not unreasonable. "Alright, then I won't return it to her."

  "No way!" Yang Chengyu couldn't help but despise his best friend this time. Usually clever Qin Yanqiu, how did he suddenly become so stupid today? "The diary belongs to her, you can't keep it for yourself! It must be returned, just... it shouldn't be you who returns it..."

  Yang Chengyu said, his serious eyes suddenly became sly again, and he looked at Cen Yanqiu with a bad look.

  After listening to Yang Chengyu's words, Cen Yanqiu suddenly enlightened, smiled lightly, and slowly turned around to look at the girl behind him.

  At this time, Ji Ningning was also a bit distracted, scribbling randomly on her draft paper the Chopper from "One Piece", she thought Chopper was easy to draw and it was the only thing she knew how to draw.

  "Hey, Ji Ningning, I gave you the diary last time!" Cen Yanqiu said, putting the diary on Ji Ningning's desk. He didn't forget to take a look at her expression, which was completely different from Mo Fei's. Unlike Mo Fei, who had been chatting and laughing with other girls just now, Ji Ningning had an icy face since early morning. Maybe he preferred more outgoing girls, but Ji Ningning wasn't not outgoing, she just didn't give him a good face.

  "Oh..." Ji Ningning didn't lift her head, her eyes just glanced at the diary quietly lying on her desk, and she didn't know what she was thinking about.

  Cen Yanqiu had already gotten used to her indifference, and didn't think much of it. She paused for a moment, then sneered, "Ji Ningning, although you think I'm not good, there are still people who like me!"

  After hearing this, Ji Ningning raised her head and looked deeply at Cen Yanqiu. At this moment, she suddenly had an impulse to speak out the words in her heart, but ultimately couldn't say them out loud.

  Cen Yanqiu only felt a daze, just now was it an illusion, he actually saw the tenderness in Ji Ningning's eyes, faint and obscure, making his heart skip a beat.

  "Whoever likes you is a fool!" Unexpectedly, the next moment, Ji Ningning suddenly regained her disdainful expression, raised an eyebrow, and seemed to have added a few more mocking tones towards Cen Yanqiu.

  Cen Yanqiu knew that he couldn't communicate with her, so he sighed silently and looked at the diary on his desk, lowering his voice: "This is Mo Fei's diary, just give it to her."

  "Did you sneak a peek?" Ji Ningning already knew the answer, but still pretended not to know and asked again. In fact, she couldn't have imagined that Cen Yanqiu would think this was Mo Fei's handwriting after seeing the diary. This also shows that he doesn't understand her handwriting at all. Come to think of it, how could he possibly notice her handwriting when only she pays attention to him?

  Cen Yanqiu was also taken aback by the question and hastily retorted, "I didn't see it! It was my mom... who accidentally let her see it. She even scolded me last night and told me to return the diary to its owner today."

  "You've seen it too, haven't you?" Ji Ningning was relentless, staring coldly at Cen Yanqiu. In fact, she really cared whether he had finished reading the diary or not.

  Cen Yanqiu let out a sigh, feeling that she couldn't win an argument against Ji Ningning. If they continued to debate like this, they might not even have time for class. "I only read the first four articles and the last one, I didn't finish reading them all. There was too much homework last night, no time to read."

  "Alright, I believe you! I'll return the diary after school!" Ji Ningning said, putting the diary into her backpack.

  Cen Yan let out a breath and didn't say anything else, turning his body back around.