It will never be too late?
Zhong Chufeng felt a glimmer of hope after the unexpected encouragement.
It must have also been because he drank. In his foggy state of mind, he asked abruptly, “Yishu, you and Yuanyuan have been together for so long. Do you not like her? Not even a little bit?”
Yuchi Yishu was quiet.
He turned to look at Zhong Chufeng. “Don’t think I won’t beat you up just because you’re drunk right now.”
“So what if I’m drunk? Yuanyuan is so adorable. I just don’t buy that you don’t feel anything for her when you see her all the time.”
Feel anything for her? Yuchi Yishu thought for a moment, but it did not seem like there was anything special to it. He only ever saw her as a little sister, even though he did spoil her more than Little Sprout.
But this was only because he was warier of Yuanyuan’s feelings, since she was not his biological sister, whereas Little Sprout was. Thus, he tended to overlook Little Sprout.
Perhaps I should go home this weekend to check up on Little Sprout.
She’s been getting pretty close to a boy at her school lately. I heard that she’s also been secretly cooking at home and bringing food to him because his family is poor.
When I call her these days, she always rejects me and says she has other important things to do.
She’s probably just going to meet that boy?
Yuchi Yishu shook his head helplessly. This girl is already chasing after guys at this age. She’ll get a boyfriend in no time once she gets older, won’t she?
“Why aren’t you saying anything? What are you thinking about?” Zhong Chufeng glanced at him. “Do you also feel like you like Yuanyuan now that I’ve brought it up?”
Thump!
Yuchi Yishu punched him right in the face.
Zhong Chufeng did not avoid it. Was he unable to or did he not want to? Either way, he received the full blow and fell down beside the table, hitting his head against the leg of the table.
The pain made him sober up slightly.
Before he could sit himself up properly, Yuchi Yishu hovered over him and grabbed his collar with a stern expression. “I told you before. Don’t joke about my relationship with her. Zhong Chufeng, you may have a bad memory and you can make fun of me, but why do you have to drag her into it? Just because she rejected you, do you think you can talk bad about her now?”
Zhong Chufeng clenched his fists. The more he sobered up, the more it hurt. He scoffed, “Asking you whether you like her is talking bad about her? Could it just be that I have a good intuition and felt like you might have feelings for her?”
“I don’t!” Yuchi Yishu growled. “She and I grew up together. How can I have feelings for her? Will I still be considered a person if I did?”
Zhong Chufeng sneered, “So are you holding yourself back because of that? Otherwise, would you like her?”
Yuchi Yishu did not answer but his eyes slowly sank.
“Did you drink tonight so you could say all this nonsense to me? Before this, you begged me to stay next to her and protect her. Now you’re acting like this just because she rejected you.”
Zhong Chufeng laughed as tears welled up in his eyes.
“Just because she rejected me? I’m losing my mind here. Yishu, this horrifying thought occurred to me today.”
Yuchi Yishu frowned in distress. What horrifying thought? Did he think of taking his own life?
“I think Yuanyuan likes you.”
Zhong Chufeng started to burst out in laughter. But even though he was laughing, he was not the least bit happy and was full of sorrow.
On the other hand, Yuchi Yishu was dumbfounded as he stared at Zhong Chufeng like he had heard wrongly. He grabbed his collar for a long while and wanted to get mad.
“Yishu, don’t rush to get mad and hear me out first. You should think about it yourself and see if she really likes you. She always liked to stick close to you since she was little. Although we all get along with each other, do you think she treats you the same way she treats the rest of us?”
“Ask yourself honestly. You’re special to her. After she rejected me, she even asked about you. It was just a simple question, but do you know how much she tried to avoid looking at me? As far as I can tell, she felt uneasy. But why did she have to feel uneasy?”
That was the real reason Zhong Chufeng was down.
It was not because she did not like him, or that she did not have him in her heart—since that meant he still had a chance. But it was because she already had someone else in her heart, so it would be hard for him to even get a chance.
Moreover, that ‘someone else’ just so happened to be Yuchi Yishu.
“Tell me, Yishu. How can I compare to you? Do I stand a chance against you?” He fell like mud on the ground. “There’s no way. I can’t win against you. I probably don’t have a chance anymore in this lifetime.”
Yuchi Yishu remained silent.
He wanted to get mad earlier, but his fingers could not stop quivering now.
“It’s always clear to outsiders even though the person involved doesn’t see it. If you don’t believe me, you can ask that friend of hers, Meng Kefei.”
Yuchi Yishu grew sullen. “You’re drunk. You’re not making any sense. I’ll just pretend I didn’t hear any of this, and you didn’t say anything to me either. Forget everything when you wake up.”
“Forget?”
Zhong Chufeng forced a smile. “Do you think I can forget this? Can you lie to yourself, Yishu? If Yuanyuan really likes you, you’ll only hurt her by acting like you don’t know!”
Yuchi Yishu was also worried about that. He pursed his lips and said, “She just relies on me now because we grew up together. She’s still a child and her thoughts are not mature yet. Don’t force your opinions on her. This talk can wait until after she becomes an adult.”
With that, he let Zhong Chufeng go and stood up.
A thought crossed his mind, then he took a cup of cold water from the table and tossed it at Zhong Chufeng’s face.
The cold water drenched Zhong Chufeng’s face and sobered him up even more. But he still stayed stuck to the floor like mud and did not want to get up.
Closing his eyes, he could only see Tang Yuanyuan.
The way she talked and acted; her inquisitive and charming nature. None of this would be his in the future.
Meanwhile, nobody saw Yuchi Yishu’s constantly clenched fists and furrowed eyebrows. He never had any other intentions toward Tang Yuanyuan.
But he did not think she would have any toward him either.
But if what Zhong Chufeng said is true, how am I going to deal with it?
Meng Kefei, if I remember correctly, is Tang Yuanyuan’s best friend. It’s not very appropriate to ask her, but why did Zhong Chufeng bring her into this?
Yuchi Yishu felt conflicted. After he sat for a while, he got up and left the dormitory.
Bang!
After the door slammed shut, their room returned to its quiet state.
The other two of their roommates sleeping on the top bunks slowly sat up and looked at each other.
“Oh god. How did we just hear all of that?”
“Are we witnesses now? That cute little girl likes Yishu?”
