Chapter Five: The Tide Recedes

  One

  I don't know how many times Lan was called up by the teacher to answer questions today, she looked at the teacher with a dejected face, still looking very embarrassed. The bell rang just in time, and the girl let out a sigh of relief, Zhang Chongyu couldn't help but smile, but then a thread of unease surged up in his heart.

  She didn't know what she did wrong, and these days she wasn't as cheerful as before when she came to the classroom, flying around him like a little swallow. She had been quiet lately. Zhang Chongyu shifted his gaze back from Lan's body, and the girl still quietly and awkwardly walked through the crowded corridor to go to the bathroom, her ears reddening when the boys whistled at her in jest.

  "Hey." As the girl walked by for the third time as if nothing was wrong, Zhang Chongyu, who was leaning against the corridor railing, finally couldn't help but call out to her.

  Blue? She slightly froze, lifted her head and quickly exchanged a glance with him. After that, her eyes involuntarily looked down at the ground again. The boy next to her started laughing weirdly once more, and the girl's pale face was instantly covered in blushes again.

  "Let's walk home together," Zhang Chongyu pushed the boy next to him to shut him up, and then added in a low voice, "And Xiao Yi, let's go together."

  My heart skipped a beat, Lan C clenched the folds of her school uniform pocket tightly, "Uh... my mom is coming to pick me up after school."

  "Hmm." Zhang Chongyu stopped talking, his mood inexplicably irritated.

  After school, Lan was absent-mindedly packing her bag. The people in the classroom had almost all left, and she didn't know what she was still waiting for. She felt that her emotions had been a bit strange lately, like she wanted to get angry, but didn't know what she was angry about.

  "What's wrong with Lan Xi recently, she doesn't even like walking with us anymore." Xiao Yi turned her head to glance at Lan Xi in the classroom, and made an effort to adjust the backpack on her shoulder.

  Zhang Chongyu shook his head, "Even I, she doesn't care about."

  "Really!" Xiao Yi happily smiled and said, "She actually ignores you, she likes you so much, you don't know that?"

  "What nonsense are you talking about?" Zhang Chongyu patted the girl's head with a mixture of annoyance and nervousness.

  "Even a blind man can see it."

  "You're blind to the whole world." The two were arguing, when they saw Du Hongyi enter the classroom from the front door. Zhang Chongyu unconsciously shifted his gaze and looked at the crowded people downstairs.

  Seeing Du Hongyi walking over, Lan Mei didn't plan on paying attention to him, and instead struggled to put her light green backpack onto her shoulders, jumping up and down to get used to the weight.

  Du Hongyi sighed and knew she didn't want to talk, so he silently walked forward to help her adjust the strap of her backpack.

  "Does Du Hongyi like blue?"

  "Even a blind man can see it."

  "What about me?" Xiao Yi pushed him, "Let's go, don't wait any longer."

  Zhang Chongyu nodded, glanced at the two people in the classroom, and walked down the stairs. The waves of doubt in his heart grew higher and higher, but he suddenly realized that he didn't have the courage to go up to Lan's face and ask for the answers he wanted to know. Every time he saw her, he could avoid eye contact or pretend not to see her gaze, Zhang Chongyu felt very uncomfortable. However, that guy named Du Hongyi had a really thick skin, obviously Lan disliked him, couldn't he tell? Yet he still kept coming to find her.

  "How come they didn't wait for you?" Du Hong glanced at the two people who left from the back door.

  Blue? C let Du Hongyi help her straighten out her backpack, looked up at the boy's protruding Adam's apple, and didn't say a word.

  "It's alright, I'll send you back." Du Hong comfortingly patted the girl's head.

  Lan Caihe pulled back his hand, baring his teeth and saying: "Du Hongyi, don't be like this, my mom doesn't allow me to have a puppy love."

  The boy's body stiffened for a moment, and then the blood rushed back to its original state, full of life. Du Hong smiled and said, "Who says this is puppy love? I didn't even want you to be my girlfriend."

  "Don't come looking for me either."

  "What's wrong with looking for you? Zhang Chongyu often looks for Xiao Yi to play, I haven't done anything so excessive." Du Hong said seriously.

  They are friends.

  "Are we not friends anymore? You're also too heartless."

  "Anyway, my mom will come to pick me up later, you hurry and leave." Lan grabbed Du Hongyi's sleeve and pushed him towards the door. Du Hongyi lazily smiled and let the girl panting beside him push his immovable body. "I'm not leaving, I'm not afraid of your mom."

  Although the weather was a bit cold, the small eatery on the street was still packed with people, sitting in twos and threes, drinking wine and eating barbecue. The owner of the eatery was busy attending to customers, his face covered in fine sweat droplets, making this winter night not seem so cold after all. Xiao Yi used her chopsticks to stir the fish balls in her bowl, while the boy sitting across from her hadn't eaten a single one, smiling at her with a full face of joy.

  "Hey, why aren't you eating? If you're not going to eat it, I'll have it."

  Zhang Chongyu nodded and pushed the bowl in front of him to Xiao Yi, "All yours."

  "You're not eating, then I'll just pay the bill later." Xiao Yi took out her wallet and was about to take out money.

  "I'll finish, you eat." Zhang Chongyu pressed down on her hand, the warmth of the girl's palm transmitted to him, his heartbeat accelerated uncontrollably, Xiao Yi nervously pulled away her own hand and picked up the bowl to drink the fish ball soup in big gulps.

  "Xiao Yi." Zhang Chongyu looked at the girl's face hidden behind the large bowl and said seriously, "Let's be together."

  Xiao Yi put down her bowl in shock and looked at his serious expression, wanting to catch whether there was a playful or mischievous look on the boy's face.

  "I'm serious," Zhang Chongyu added.

  Xiao Yi shook her head and smiled, "But Lan likes you, you're not unaware of that."

  "I just think of her as a friend." The boy said word by word.

  "If I agree with you, would you dare let her know about our relationship?"

  "How come you don't dare."

  Xiao Yimuzhen stared at him without blinking, put the bill on the table and smiled beautifully: "Uncle, pay the bill!"

  Blue sat in the back seat of her mother's bicycle, occasionally turning around to look at Du Hongyi riding a mountain bike behind them. The boy smiled with a raised corner of his mouth, and the cold wind blew up his short hair, his forehead full and clean. He released his hands and put them into the pockets of his jacket, Blue took a deep breath of cold air, afraid that the speeding vehicles would sweep him under the wheels, and hurriedly called out to him in a low voice to stop, but then quickly covered her mouth, afraid that her mother would discover Du Hongyi following behind.

  Du Hongyi couldn't help but smile as he looked at her flustered appearance, and his bicycle followed quietly behind Lan Xichen. As soon as they arrived at the foot of their apartment building, Lan Xichen took advantage of her mother's absence to run back and forth, and it wasn't until she saw Du Hongyi parked by the side of the road that her heart finally calmed down. Du Hongyi leaned his bicycle against the roadside and lit a cigarette with his back to Lan Xichen.

  Lan C pinched a chunk of meat on Du Hong's thigh with her left thumb and index finger, causing the boy to inhale sharply in pain. The cigarette in his hand fell to the ground. "What are you doing, Lan C?!"

  "Du Hongyi, what exactly do you want to do!" Lan Qiao said in a lowered voice.

  Looking at the girl's slightly annoyed face, Du Hongyi couldn't help but want to tease her, "I've come to see Auntie."

  Blue? C was so scared that she kicked the boy's calf with her shoe tip and shouted "Get out!"

  "Damn it!" Du Hong bent down and rubbed his sore calf, which was cramping up in pain, as he watched Lan's departing back view and cursed under his breath.