It was already half past four in the afternoon when the first round of drama rehearsal was finally, barely completed.
On the way back to the classroom, Xu Yan had been somewhat absent-minded, completely unable to listen to what Qiu Muyang and Sun Rui were chattering about beside him.
“Hey, Yanzi, wanna grab dinner at the school gate later?” Qiu Muyang dashed over, hooking his arm around Xu Yan, who was walking silently ahead with his hands in his pockets, and asked with a grin.
“Cafeteria,” Xu Yan replied, rolling his eyes at Qiu Muyang. His gaze was dim, and his lips looked somewhat pale.
Ji Ran, walking beside them, frowned slightly at the sight.
He felt very uncomfortable seeing Qiu Muyang and Xu Yan with their arms around each other like that.
“Huh?” Qiu Muyang looked up in surprise, as if shocked by Xu Yan’s choice of the cafeteria. “You can actually eat the food they serve there in the afternoon?”
Before Xu Yan could respond, Qiu Muyang curled his lips into a slight smile, tightened his hold on Xu Yan, and began swaying him from side to side. This was a common tactic among the boys when messing around, but for Xu Yan, this move was something Qiu Muyang specifically used to annoy him.
Soon, Xu Yan heard Qiu Muyang putting on a high-pitched voice: “Brother~ I want you to have dinner with me tonight, okay? Please, brother, brother~”
Xu Yan silently closed his eyes tightly, while Sun Rui pointed at Qiu Muyang, clutching his stomach as he burst into laughter.
“Yang’er, I gotta say, you’re hilarious, hahaha.”
Xu Yan rubbed his forehead and said helplessly to Qiu Muyang, “Let go. Fine, I’ll go with you.”
Qiu Muyang immediately released him and said, “That’s more like it. I knew Yanzi would come with us.”
Witnessing all this, Ji Ran felt somewhat puzzled. He thought Xu Yan and Qiu Muyang were too close.
He stood silently to the side, watching Qiu Muyang holding onto Xu Yan, vaguely feeling that Qiu Muyang was an eyesore.
Xu Yan had never acted like that with him before.
“Ji Ran, we’re going to a Sichuan restaurant near the school gate for dinner. Do you want to come?” Xu Yan trotted lightly over to Ji Ran’s side, tugged on his school uniform, and asked with a smile.
Ji Ran was slightly taller than Xu Yan. He glanced sideways at his school uniform sleeve being tugged by Xu Yan and was about to coldly refuse when, unexpectedly, he caught sight of Xu Yan’s soft, slightly tousled hair.
It looked like the woolen blanket at home—soft and fluffy. He really wanted to ruffle it.
“Are you coming? Ji Ran?” Xu Yan asked again.
“Come on, top student. The school cafeteria isn’t good anyway. Just come eat with us,” said Qiu Muyang, who thought he was already familiar enough with Ji Ran, as he squeezed himself between Xu Yan and Ji Ran.
But Qiu Muyang unexpectedly received a cold glare from Ji Ran, which scared him into breaking out in a cold sweat.
He wondered how Xu Yan managed to get along with this top student—one look from him felt like it could pierce right through you.
“No money,” Ji Ran said flatly. To Xu Yan, his tone even sounded a bit aggrieved.
Qiu Muyang: “Huh?”
Sun Rui, who had just come closer, also: “Huh?”
Xu Yan seemed somewhat accustomed to this. He cleared his throat and said seriously to Ji Ran, “Classmate Ji, seeing as you’re so pitiful, I’ll treat you this time. Just this once.”
Because, truth be told, Xu Yan didn’t have much money on him either.
“Mm,” Ji Ran replied softly in agreement, as if feeling that a simple “mm” wasn’t enough to perfectly convey his emotions, he added, “Thank you.”
Qiu Muyang and Sun Rui were stunned speechless. Xu Yan was offering to treat them to a meal? What kind of joke was that? Wasn’t Xu Yan the type to split everything down the middle? Since the start of the semester, he had never once treated them!
And the top student—why was he saying thank you?
Qiu Muyang, feeling a bit displeased, began to speak with a sarcastic tone, “Oh, feeling sorry for him and treating him, huh? Yanzi, you’ve never treated me since the semester started. Guess your desk mate is more important, right?”
Sun Rui spread his hands and added, “Not sitting together with Yanzi anymore, so the bond’s faded.”
Xu Yan couldn’t help but smile wryly. He laughed it off and said, “Alright, then I’ll treat you both to milk tea from the shop outside the school gate. But I’m not paying for your meals—I don’t have that much money.”
“Deal!” Qiu Muyang and Sun Rui agreed in unison, their earlier sarcasm completely gone as they crowded around Xu Yan, calling out, “Brother Xu!”
Ji Ran silently took half a step back.
They were really noisy.
Xu Yan and the others horsed around all the way to the milk tea shop, only to be stunned by the long line that had formed.
“What’s going on? Why are there so many people?” Qiu Muyang, who had his arm slung over Xu Yan’s shoulder, took a step back in shock at the sight of the queue outside the milk tea shop.
Xu Yan brushed off Qiu Muyang’s arm and said, “I’ll wait in line for you guys. You two go with Ji Ran to order.”
“Oh, okay.” Qiu Muyang nodded at Xu Yan, then glanced at Ji Ran’s gloomy expression and swallowed nervously. “Top student, shall we go?”
“I’ll wait in line,” Ji Ran said naturally, stepping behind Xu Yan. “You two go order with them.”
Xu Yan was puzzled. He thought about it—Qiu Muyang and Sun Rui probably weren’t very familiar with Ji Ran yet. He wanted Ji Ran to take this chance to get closer to them, so he nudged Ji Ran aside. “I’ll wait in line. You just go with them to order. I’ll pay later.”
“No need.”
“Why?” Xu Yan asked.
“Annoying.”
Qiu Muyang: “…”
Sun Rui: “…”
Great, they were being disliked again.
Xu Yan was taken aback for a moment, then nodded, thinking Ji Ran had a point—Qiu Muyang and Sun Rui were indeed quite annoying.
Xu Yan handed all the loose change he had to Ji Ran, turned around, and slung his arm over Qiu Muyang’s shoulder. Looking back at Ji Ran, he smiled and said, “Then I’ll leave it to you. Just the cheapest caramel milk tea is fine. We’ll wait for you at Bashu Home-style Restaurant.”
“Mm.”
Ji Ran stood in line, feeling a bit bored.
There were many girls in the queue, and their hushed whispers made Ji Ran frown slightly. Then, waves of screams from the front caught his attention, and he looked over.
His eyesight was excellent, and he was tall enough to stand out in the crowd. He easily spotted the male shop owner inside the milk tea shop, who was busy working when a male employee beside him gently wrapped an arm around his waist. The shop owner very naturally leaned his head against the employee’s shoulder.
From Ji Ran’s perspective, it looked as though the shop owner was nestled entirely in the employee’s embrace.
Huh? That’s strange… Could he and Xu Yan do something like that too?
“Wow, are they a couple?”
“I think so too. They seem so sweet together!”
“Definitely a couple, judging from my experience reading novels!”
“So sweet, so sweet. Heh, hehehe…”
The girls in front of Ji Ran huddled together, whispering and discussing something. They thought their voices were quiet, but their words inadvertently reached Ji Ran’s ears, clear as day.
What does it mean to be a couple? Like in a romantic relationship between a man and a woman? Does that mean two men can also be together?
Ji Ran didn’t quite understand. When it was his turn to order bubble tea, his mind wandered. Even though Xu Yan had specifically told him to order caramel milk tea, he instinctively said, “Hello, one grape jelly tea.”
“Yanzi, do you think the top student might not find the restaurant? It’s been so long, and he still hasn’t arrived.”
At the dining table, the ordered dishes had long been served. Qiu Muyang held his chopsticks, repeatedly poking his empty bowl as he stared anxiously at the food.
“Probably… not.”
Ji Ran wasn’t stupid. It was just a restaurant near the school—how could he possibly get lost?
“Wait, Yan’er, why are you standing up?” Sun Rui asked, looking at Xu Yan in surprise as he rose from his seat.
“Going to find Ji Ran.” Xu Yan tossed out this sentence and rushed out, leaving Sun Rui and Qiu Muyang staring at each other in confusion.
Xu Yan left the restaurant and hadn’t walked far along the road when he ran into Ji Ran head-on.
“What’s wrong?” Ji Ran asked.
Of course, it was because I was worried some fool couldn’t find his way and came out specifically to look for you, Xu Yan thought to himself. But his hands immediately took the bubble tea from Ji Ran’s grasp.
Wait, why is the milk tea fruit tea instead?
“One grape jelly tea and… three lemonades?” Xu Yan held up the transparent bubble tea bag and examined it closely. “I remember telling you to get caramel, didn’t I?”
Xu Yan found it strange. He wondered if he might have misremembered—maybe he hadn’t actually told Ji Ran that?
“Did I tell you the wrong thing?” Xu Yan’s eyes were full of confusion, but then he seemed to figure something out and nodded. “Yeah, I must have misspoken.”
With Ji Ran’s brain, how could he possibly misremember something so simple? It must have been that he himself really wanted grape jelly tea and accidentally said the wrong thing when telling Ji Ran.
“No,” Ji Ran paused. “I said the wrong thing.”
“I remember you said this tea was really good.”
“Grape jelly tea?” Xu Yan asked.
“Mm.”
Xu Yan looked at Ji Ran and smiled. “So you actually remember everything I tell you. Why did you act so impatient back at the start of the semester?”
At the beginning of the semester, they really weren’t familiar with each other. Ji Ran thought to himself but was unexpectedly distracted by Xu Yan in front of him.
Xu Yan leaned in extremely close, his nose lightly brushing against Ji Ran’s cheek, like a dragonfly skimming the water, sending ripples through his heart one after another.
What is he doing? Ji Ran wondered, quickly realizing that Xu Yan’s hand seemed to be smoothing something on his head. He stood frozen in place, his entire body stiff.
He didn’t dislike Xu Yan’s actions, but he felt there was something strange about the way Xu Yan made him feel.
Is this how friends usually act?
Xu Yan seemed completely unaware that this distance was too close. He casually plucked a ginkgo leaf from Ji Ran’s hair and held it up in front of him. “There was a ginkgo leaf in your hair. You didn’t notice it the whole way?”
“No,” Ji Ran glanced at it, his eyes meeting Xu Yan’s. For some reason, he instinctively looked away.
“Alright, then I’ll take you to the Sichuan restaurant.”
“Okay.”
When Xu Yan walked into the restaurant holding the bubble tea bag, Qiu Muyang and Sun Rui’s eyes lit up, fixed intently on the tea in his hands.
As soon as Xu Yan sat down, the two of them pounced on it like hungry wolves.
But when they opened it and saw it was three lemonades and one grape jelly tea, they instantly shrank back into their seats.
“No, how are we splitting this?” Sun Rui asked, dumbfounded, then reached his hand over the grape jelly drink. “So I’ll take the grape one?”
Qiu Muyang glanced at Sun Rui, then looked at the top student sitting across from them, wisely choosing to stay quiet.
Just as Sun Rui was about to claim the drink, a slender, well-defined hand beat him to it, snatching the grape jelly drink away and placing it naturally in front of Xu Yan.
Sun Rui heard the usually quiet top student say softly, “This grape jelly drink was bought for Xu Yan.”