Eat Less Fish in the Future - Chapter 13
Liang Yu raised an eyebrow.
Zheng Yimian propped up her head and explained. “It’s not that I’m against dating, I just reject unwanted attention from people I don’t like. Besides, I didn’t want to date in high school because rejecting people firmly makes them give up more easily. So I just said I had no plans to date at all. After that, no one dared to confess to me anymore, and things finally quieted down…”
“What about college?” Zhao Yuan asked.
“College?” She twirled her pen, pondering for a moment, then said, “It depends on the timing, on when I meet someone worth considering.”
Li Min asked her in surprise. “No one dared to confess to you after that in high school?”
“That’s right, because some people were just too persistent,” Zheng Yimian pursed her lips and repeated what she had told that guy back then, “‘I have no intention of dating in high school. I hope you can focus on your studies and not make it your mission to chase after me every day. If you keep this up, I’ll get really annoyed.'”
Zhao Yuan coughed lightly. “So, you just said that casually?”
“It wasn’t entirely casual,” Zheng Yimian added, “I just made it sound a bit more serious than it was, but it wasn’t actually that serious.”
That guy was really persistent, causing trouble in every aspect of her life. If she hadn’t been harsh, she probably couldn’t have gotten rid of him.
Zhao Yuan fell silent. “…”
Yes, she had “made it sound a bit more serious.”
Poor Liang Yu had taken those words to heart day and night, not daring to openly pursue her for fear of annoying her; he could only secretly admire her from afar, offering an umbrella when it rained and shade when it was hot.
He didn’t know about others, but for Liang Yu, this was already an extraordinary occurrence.
A few hours later, everyone had finished their sketches and were getting ready to go for dinner after tidying up their rooms.
As soon as they entered the dorm room, Zhao Yuan said to Liang Yu with great regret. “Do you regret it? Are you bitter?”
Liang Yu glanced at him, as if not understanding his train of thought.
“Regret what?”
“Well…” Zhao Yuan tilted his head, “Someone casually said something, and you took it as gospel and kept it in your heart.”
Liang Yu tossed his drawing board on the table and looked at the swing on the sketch paper.
Behind the swing was scenery, and on the swing was a person.
The scenery was ordinary, but the person was… the one in his heart.
He chuckled softly and shook his head, “No.”
Whatever she said, whether it was casual or not, including punctuation and meaningless spaces, he would take it all to heart.
He didn’t fall for people easily, so all he could do was to be serious and attentive to every detail.
Downstairs, Zheng Yimian and Li Min were almost done packing. Li Min leaned against the doorframe and looked back at Zheng Yimian.
“Mian, you’re still on your phone? We’ll be late if you keep looking at it. Stop chatting!”
“A friend is looking for me…” Zheng Yimian walked forward while looking at her phone. “Remember my high school best friend, Lin Zhan? She heard I’ve been gathering material for a manga recently and said her friend has a secret crush story I could draw… I just added this girl.”
“A secret crush, huh.” Li Min rubbed her chin. “That’s hard to draw. If you’re not careful, it’ll become a one-person show without a male lead, like someone watching his back from afar, or hiding to send him a message and then deleting it.”
After a while, Li Min bumped Zheng Yimian’s shoulder. “Why aren’t you responding to me? What do you think a secret crush is?”
Zheng Yimian put away her phone and looked out at the lush, thriving branches and leaves outside the window.
“A secret crush…”
What is a secret crush?
It’s doing all the romantic watching in a place where you can’t see.
After dinner, there was a bonfire welcome party in the evening.
Night always fell faster here than in W City. By the time Zheng Yimian had finished packing, it was already quite dark outside.
Small towns were never like sleepless metropolitan cities. Even though there was an event in the park nearby, the street lights were still dim and not too bright.
She and Li Min sprayed on some mosquito repellent and went to watch the bonfire party.
The bonfire party wasn’t particularly interesting, but it was rich in local customs and culture.
The class monitor brought the class assignments, saying that when inspiration struck, people might want to draw.
They sat on the long bench waiting for a while, gradually watching as people gathered around the bonfire and the host arrived.
The class monitor put the bag on the chair and said to Zheng Yimian and the others, “Come on, let’s go over.”
Zheng Yimian paused. “Are we just leaving the bag here?”
“Should be fine,” Li Min agreed. “Isn’t this place known for its honest folk? No one should steal anything.”
As they were speaking, the host had already started calling out to the crowd.
Zheng Yimian linked arms with Li Min, originally standing on the outskirts of the crowd, but the class monitor waved from inside. “Come over here.”
The two of them stood inside, listening to the host’s opening remarks.
Zheng Yimian turned her head and saw the class monitor smiling at her very strangely.
Following the class monitor’s gaze to the right, she indeed found Liang Yu standing next to her.
She realized then that gossip was the foundation of their class’s existence.
“Alright!” the host waved, “We’re going to light the fire now, everyone step back!”
The circle expanded outward. After retreating a few steps, someone came forward with a torch.
The fire roared to life, surging upward with a “whoosh”, violently shooting up towards the night sky before quickly receding, the flames spreading out.
When the heat wave suddenly swept over, everyone instinctively stepped back two paces.
A figure moved, shoulders blocking in front of her.
She was startled.
Because she was hiding behind Liang Yu, she had some shelter. While the people in front were being roasted, the temperature where Zheng Yimian stood was quite comfortable.
The heat accelerated the movement of molecules, and she smelled his scent again.
As she was vaguely trying to identify which laundry detergent it was, people around the bonfire had already started dancing.
In the midst of the revelry, they suddenly heard the class monitor shout–
“Hey, that’s my bag!”
Everyone turned around to see someone had casually picked up the class monitor’s bag and was running towards an alley.
Zhao Yuan quickly asked. “What’s in the bag?”
“Drawings, everyone’s drawings are in there…”
The class monitor was suddenly dumbfounded, pointing incoherently in that direction, “All of our drawings are in there, what use is it to steal that?!”
Just as he finished speaking, a gap suddenly split open in the crowd, and several figures darted out.
The class monitor also started sprinting. “Wait for me, I’m chasing too!!”
The crowd froze for a moment, then began to stir uneasily.
“I didn’t expect people to steal things here too…”
“It happens everywhere, just less likely here. It’s quite something that we encountered such a rare event.”
“They should be able to catch up, right? Liang Yu, Zhao Yuan, and the class monitor all went. Three college students should be able to outrun a middle-aged person, right?” Li Min counted on her fingers and asked Zheng Yimian, “Mian Mian, do you think they can catch up?”
The sudden turn of events left Zheng Yimian shaken. It took her a while to realize Li Min had just asked her a question.
“Whether they catch up or not is secondary, as long as no one gets hurt,” Zheng Yimian gazed into the distance, “I hope no one gets injured.”
“They shouldn’t get hurt, right…” Li Min rubbed her arms, “Don’t scare me.”
Zheng Yimian pursed her lips. “It’s good that only drawings were stolen, not anything valuable. The worst part is that everyone’s drawings are gone, and we’ll have to start over.”
Li Min looked at her: “It’s good that only drawings were stolen? Are you serious? Your drawing in there was really beautiful, Teacher Xu couldn’t stop praising it… I definitely don’t want such a beautiful drawing of yours to be stolen like this.”
Zheng Yimian shrugged.
“There’s nothing we can do about it.”
What was originally a lively and joyous bonfire party had been disrupted.
Everyone listlessly watched the party for half an hour, and none of the three had returned.
Li Min said, “Why don’t we all go back first? We’ll notify everyone when there’s news.”
Everyone returned to the dorms in small groups, their mood somewhat dampened.
Back in the room after showering, Zheng Yimian hugged her pillow on the bed, brainstorming plot ideas.
Suddenly, she heard a commotion, accompanied by shouting and applause.
Zheng Yimian tossed her pillow and went upstairs to look. Li Min followed behind her, panting and holding onto the railing.
“Are they back?”
In the center of the crowd was the class monitor.
The class monitor shook his head and kept backing up. “He ran so fast, and the terrain in the alley was very complex. I chased for five minutes and then got lost, couldn’t find them…”
“Then why did it take you so long to come back?”
“I got freaking lost! Lost!” The class monitor slapped the railing, visibly agitated, “Those alleys were like a maze! It took me an hour and a half to get out! Didn’t catch the thief, almost suffocated in there!”
“…”
After holding it in for a while, Li Min couldn’t help but laugh out loud.
Everyone thought the hero was late returning because he was upholding justice, but it turned out the hero had gotten lost on the path of righteousness 🙂
Feeling the class monitor’s resentful gaze, Li Min waved her hand and coughed, “I’m not laughing at you…”
“Then what about Liang Yu and Zhao Yuan?” Someone finally got to the point, “Are they still chasing?”
“Probably… but I guess they won’t catch up either. That guy ran like a rocket, way too fast…”
To save face, the class monitor strongly emphasized how vicious the thief was and how difficult it would be to catch him.
Just as he finished speaking, there was a sound of a door opening at the entrance.
The summer night wind gusted into the hall, making Liang Yu’s clothes flutter at his sides.
His deep brown hair was damp with sweat, hanging in strands on his forehead.
As he panted, he pulled up his collar to wipe the sweat dripping from his jaw.
His chest heaved, eyelids lowered.
He exuded a kind of hormone that only a young man could master, both youthful and outstanding.
Halfway through wiping his sweat, as if sensing Zheng Yimian’s gaze, he looked up at her.
His upward gaze curved into a full, beautiful arc, like an arched bridge.
“How did it go, did you catch him?!” The class monitor slapped the railing.
Liang Yu lowered his head, tugging at the corner of his mouth in a smile.
“Caught him a while ago.”
The class monitor choked for a moment, and some boys laughed at him. “Class monitor, you’re not up to it.”
The class monitor continued to ask. “You caught him a while ago, why are you only back now?”
“We took him to the police station, spent some time giving statements.” Liang Yu held onto the railing as he walked up, using his fingers to wipe more sweat from his cheeks.
Zhao Yuan, carrying the class monitor’s bag, finally arrived late. Before he could “answer everyone’s questions”, he rushed into the room to drink water.
After drinking, he threw the bag out of the window.
“Let me tell you, can we keep valuable items with us from now on? Chasing thieves is really damn tiring.”
The class monitor snorted, folding his arms. “What valuable items? It’s just everyone’s drawings. I didn’t expect anyone would want to steal that.”
“Who said there were no valuables? Our sister-in…” Zhao Yuan almost misspoke, coughing loudly to cover it up, “Aren’t our drawings all in there? Especially mine, worth thousands, OK? How could we let someone just steal it?”
“Just speak normally,” the class monitor laughed, shouldering the bag. “It’s not good to talk nonsense.”
“Get lost!” Zhao Yuan glared at him. “I’m exhausted, need to sleep early.”
“You two worked hard,” the class monitor waved at Liang Yu with a smile. “Tomorrow I’ll ask the head teacher if we can get you an extra meal.”
“No need for extra meals, I suggest we could…”
While Zhao Yuan was speaking from inside the room, the class monitor didn’t pay attention. Instead, he turned to Zheng Yimian and said, “You… don’t you have anything to say to Liang Yu?”
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