Eat Less Fish in the Future - Chapter 19
Zheng Yimian turned her head and looked at Liang Yu.
He lowered his head, with a smile in his peach blossom eyes, but peering deeper, there was an impenetrable dense fog, impossible to dispel or extinguish.
She forgot to answer, and the scene from high school flashed before her like a magic lantern —
That day, the school had organized a competition, with an exam at another school.
After the exam, students had to cross an arched bridge to exit.
At that time, the weather was cold, with light snow falling, and the bridge surface was covered with a layer of ice, making it very slippery to walk on.
For safety reasons, the school had spread a layer of straw on it.
Zheng Yimian followed the crowd, stepping on the straw as she walked forward. That day was very crowded, with people almost shoulder to shoulder, moving forward in small steps.
On the uphill section, the straw under her feet was stepped away by someone, and her next step landed on the slippery ice surface. She slid straight down, and at that moment her mind went blank — although it sounds exaggerated, there were no handrails or support around, only strangers, and she couldn’t even cry out for help.
She fell backwards anxiously, losing her balance. In that split second when her mind was blank, suddenly a pair of hands supported her shoulders, pushing her forward slightly, helping her regain her footing, and even shared half of their straw with her.
As soon as she steadied herself, the people in front started moving, so she had to follow along, finding an opportunity to move to the edge of the bridge and hold onto the railing as she walked.
In the bustling crowd, she quickly felt that she had lost contact with the person behind her.
She was so nervous that she even forgot to say thank you. Her nose was numb from the cold, and she couldn’t remember the person’s scent. The only thing she remembered was the moment he reached out to support her, his arms open, and his embrace seemed very warm, and he was quite tall.
To this day, she still regretted not saying thank you to that boy, not being able to turn back and see what he looked like.
But this scene today… was it a coincidence?
The way he supported her and the feeling were really too similar to that day.
Liang Yu saw her looking ahead, as if lost in thought. He raised an eyebrow, gesturing for her to come back to her senses and speak.
She hadn’t fully regained her composure and just lowered her head, murmuring and repeating that question. “I like…”
Before she could finish, the class monitor behind them, who had reached the destination, shouted for everyone to gather. “Those on the bridge, come here and gather!”
Zheng Yimian was caught off guard and interrupted. With no time to complete her thought, she was pulled by Li Min to run towards the gathering place.
When they stopped, Zheng Yimian unconsciously breathed a sigh of relief.
What kind of person did she like?
In high school, she hadn’t thought about it, didn’t know.
Now… she hadn’t thought about it either, it seemed she hadn’t considered it yet.
Zheng Yimian touched her earlobe and began to ponder.
The class monitor raised his hand and started explaining the rules to everyone. “Everyone see this entrance? We’re going in there next to participate in a water balloon activity. The rule of the activity is –”
The class monitor smiled. “There are no rules, hit whoever you want to hit! You’ll be weighed when entering and exiting, and the one with the most water on them… will perform a show for us tonight!”
“Sounds very interesting,” Li Min laughed as she pulled Zheng Yimian. “I won’t go easy! I’ll hit you until you’re scared.”
Zheng Yimian looked at her. “I’ll hide away.”
Li Min seemed to think of something. “Oh right, but I heard that throwing water balloons at a girl might mean you like her… Will you end up being hit to death in there?”
The venue was a large enclosed hall, like a badminton court. Everyone who entered could get a water balloon, and after using it, they needed to go to the side to refill their balloon to hit others.
Zheng Yimian had initially thought of hiding in a corner, but… in such an open space, there was no way to hide.
She weighed herself, then stood to one side holding the water balloon, trying hard to lower her presence.
She stood by the wall, feeling a sense of security from a spot that provided cover. Suddenly, she heard someone calling her from behind.
“Zheng Yimian!”
It was an unfamiliar voice.
She turned around and saw that the source of the voice was a completely unfamiliar face.
Then, that person threw a white water balloon at her–
Li Min was shocked on the side. “Wow, a wild confession!”
Zheng Yimian bent down to dodge, but suddenly felt a figure blocking in front of her — just as he blocked, the water balloon burst on his back with a muffled sound.
Zheng Yimian looked up at Liang Yu in astonishment.
He was wearing that blue transparent raincoat. The water balloon broke on the raincoat, and the water inside trickled down intermittently along the raincoat.
She was cornered against the wall by him, encircled in his arms in a completely protective posture.
The scent on him hadn’t changed, cool and fragrant.
Liang Yu placed one hand on the wall, turned his head, and looked dangerously at the boy who had thrown the water balloon.
He narrowed his eyes, his voice not loud but very cold. “Who told you to throw a balloon at her?”
That boy was dumbfounded.
Zhao Yuan called for the person to leave. “Alright classmate, don’t play here, it’s dangerous, and you’ve chosen the wrong prey… Quick, go go…”
As soon as he finished speaking, Zhao Yuan was hit in the face with a water balloon.
“Damn, who hit me?!”
The class monitor laughed loudly in front of him. “You’re no good, can’t you dodge!”
Zhao Yuan made a quick decision and threw the balloon in his hand at the monitor’s head.
The atmosphere livened up like this, everyone screaming and mixing together, dodging, attacking, chasing… The entire hall was filled with warm laughter and joyful sounds.
Zheng Yimian was still pinned against the wall by Liang Yu, holding onto the edge of his raincoat, not daring to move. His question from earlier slid back into her mind, like a fish, stirring up a pond of water.
His breath, in the cool hall, was warm.
While her fingertips were cold.
Zhao Yuan was messing around with someone and accidentally hit Liang Yu’s back again.
With this hit, everyone started to notice something was a bit off.
“Oh my, I didn’t even notice, there are two people here?!”
“Who’s that in Liang Yu’s arms? Huh?”
“Everyone’s almost dead, and you two are still enjoying your peaceful moment here?”
“Where did that raincoat come from, Brother Yu? Prepared it for the girl?”
“We can’t burn you with torches today, so let’s just hit you with water balloons!”
Liang Yu reached out to pull the edge of the raincoat, completely wrapping Zheng Yimian inside. Everyone’s water balloons came in droves, all contributing to Liang Yu’s raincoat.
The water balloons burst one after another on his back. Some people threw them hard, making particularly loud bursting sounds. Zheng Yimian found it a bit frightening just listening.
He had to endure that force, his body forced to lean forward, his chin brushing over the top of her head.
She asked softly, “Are you okay?”
“What’s there to worry about!” The class monitor heard it, “He’s fucking enjoying it!”
Liang Yu frowned.
Although the raincoat was large, it was still a bit difficult to cover two people. He had originally thought of wearing it himself to protect her, but found that this method didn’t seem to work.
For the sake of politeness, he couldn’t get too close to her, so there was still a gap between them.
Seeing that he didn’t move, everyone started to provoke him.
Liang Yu’s fingers on the wall moved, quickly taking off the raincoat and putting it on Zheng Yimian. In the next second, he took the water balloon from her hand and turned to throw it–
“You really think I can’t handle you guys?”
The movement was fast and fierce. The air flow cut by the motion rushed into his shirt through the cuffs, forming a small bulge.
Zhao Yuan was the first victim.
He shouted “Run, run!” and scampered all over the place. Liang Yu’s technique was good, hitting accurately with each throw, almost soaking Zhao Yuan completely.
Of course, Zhao Yuan fought back. Although Liang Yu dodged quickly, he couldn’t avoid being hit. Soon, a large wet patch appeared on his shoulder.
Zheng Yimian stood there until a water balloon hit her. Only then did she belatedly look at Li Min.
Li Min pouted, seeing that her water balloon had no effect on Zheng Yimian. She sighed, “You’re so passive, really wasting this good equipment. If I were you, I’d be hitting people like crazy, specifically targeting those I dislike to vent my anger.”
Zheng Yimian shook off the water on her body and looked at Li Min’s bedraggled state, asking, “So that’s why you’ve ended up looking like this?”
Li Min looked at her and said, “You’re lucky. You have equipment, while I’m in the newbie area without any. Fortunately, the boss lady just gave me a raincoat, otherwise you’d be in real trouble now.”
Zheng Yimian looked at herself, then at Li Min, and suddenly understood.
Because of the large temperature difference between day and night here, everyone was dressed rather heavily.
Her clothes weren’t dry yet, so she had casually put on a thin white t-shirt. If she were hit by a water balloon, it would certainly be a pitiful sight…
Li Min pointed at herself and said, “Look, I’ve been hit like this and it’s fine. If you were hit, everything would be visible…”
As she said this, she seemed to realize something.
No wonder Liang Yu had spoken that way to the person who hit her earlier. So it was because of this.
It was because… he didn’t want others to see.
Li Min flashed a mischievous smile and pushed Zheng Yimian towards the water balloon filling station, saying, “Let’s play together, let’s play together. Don’t hide here anymore.”
Just as Zheng Yimian finished filling a water balloon, she heard light breathing beside her. Liang Yu was standing next to her, reaching out to take a balloon to fill with water.
He had been playing enthusiastically, his hair tips and clothes were all wet, there was a thin layer of sweat on the tip of his nose, and his fingertips were flushed red.
His shirt, soaked by water, clung tightly to his body. Though he was thin, his waist was slender, and one could vaguely see the clear lines of his abdominal muscles and V-line through the buttons.
She recalled what Zhao Yuan had said long ago, that this person looked tall and slender with clothes on, but didn’t lack any muscle where it mattered.
Zheng Yimian tied up her own water balloon and handed it to him, saying, “I don’t need it, you can have it.”
Liang Yu reached out to take it, holding the water balloon in his hands as if it were some treasure.
After a while, he curved his eyes, his wet bangs falling in strands over his eyelids.
He opened his lips, his hand resting on the edge of the pool, leaning close to Zheng Yimian, as if he had something to say.
She instinctively leaned in, “Hm?”
He whispered in her ear, his words seeming to spiral. “If you figure out what kind of person you like, remember to tell me.”
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