MTLY | Chapter 11
by _squishee◎Who are you acting cute with?◎
The next day, Song Tinghuan went to a bookstore outside Qinde at the time she had agreed on with Guan Linlin.
The bookstore was bright and spotless, and it was quite large. Since it happened to be the weekend, many students were there studying on their own.
Song Tinghuan picked a seat by the window and messaged Guan Linlin: 【I’m here】
Guan Linlin: 【Okay, okay, I’m on my way】
The two of them had agreed to do worksheets together. Since Guan Linlin hadn’t arrived yet, Song Tinghuan stood up and went to look for books on the shelves nearby.
She pulled down a collection of essays, and when she looked up, she saw a familiar pair of brows and eyes across from her. “Liang Shiyi?”
The boy lifted his gaze. He had a fair, handsome face, very clean-cut. Liang Shiyi frowned slightly, as if searching his memory, then the corners of his lips lifted into a smile. “Tingting?”
Song Tinghuan really hadn’t expected to run into Liang Shiyi here. Since that speech under the national flag, she hadn’t run into him again at school. Hearing that Song Tinghuan also studied at Qinde, Liang Shiyi was quite surprised. “Why did you come to Jiangbei to study?”
Song Tinghuan lowered her eyes, and a trace of disappointment flashed across her face. She curved her lips. “My dad wanted me to come. Maybe because the quality of education here in Jiangbei is higher?”
Liang Shiyi nodded.
A third- or fourth-tier city like Lingcheng really couldn’t compare with Jiangbei in terms of education.
Afraid of disturbing the others, the two of them left the bookstore. Right next door happened to be a milk tea shop.
“Want some milk tea?” Liang Shiyi asked.
“Okay.”
While they waited for the drinks, the two of them naturally started reminiscing about childhood.
“Back then, I was in the car and saw you running after it, crying your eyes out with snot and tears everywhere.” As if he had remembered the scene, the smile in Liang Shiyi’s eyes deepened. “You definitely don’t know this, but I was bawling just as hard in the car too.”
Bringing up something embarrassing from childhood made Song Tinghuan feel a little awkward at first, but when Liang Shiyi suddenly said that, she stared blankly at him.
Liang Shiyi was still smiling faintly. “Then that night I called Uncle Song, and I heard a certain little girl next to him hiccupping through her tears while asking, ‘Liang Shiyi is gone. Who’s going to help me do my homework now?’”
Song Tinghuan’s ears grew a little hot from being teased. She looked at Liang Shiyi and puffed out her cheeks.
Honestly, it was way too embarrassing.
By the time Guan Linlin arrived, what she saw was exactly that picture of peaceful harmony, a handsome boy and a beautiful girl. The boy’s amber eyes were full of gentle laughter, and the girl’s cheeks were flushed red.
“Ahem.” Guan Linlin cleared her throat.
Song Tinghuan turned around. “You’re here.”
Guan Linlin looped her arm through Song Tinghuan’s and swept an ambiguous look back and forth between Song Tinghuan and Liang Shiyi. While Liang Shiyi went to get the milk tea, she leaned close to Song Tinghuan’s ear and whispered, “What’s going on, babe?”
Song Tinghuan didn’t understand. “What… what’s going on?”
“Quit pretending.” Guan Linlin glanced at Liang Shiyi. “You and our Liang top student.”
“Ah? We just ran into each other in the bookstore. We hadn’t seen each other in a long time, so he said he’d treat us to milk tea.”
“That’s it?”
“Mm, that’s it.”
Guan Linlin didn’t really believe her. “Then why are you blushing?”
Song Tinghuan frowned slightly. Was she blushing?
She had only suddenly remembered something from when she was little, and was a bit embarrassed.
Guan Linlin glanced at Liang Shiyi again. The boy was tall and loose-limbed, with a bamboo-like elegance. He wore casual jeans and a plain white shirt, looking every bit the refined young gentleman.
“Still, Liang Shiyi’s not bad either. He’s not worse than Jiang Yu.”
Song Tinghuan: “?”
Liang Shiyi had also made plans with someone else today. Before they parted, he told Song Tinghuan that he was in Class 9, Grade 2, and if she ever needed anything, she could come find him.
After Liang Shiyi left, Song Tinghuan only then reacted belatedly. “He’s in the same class as Jiang Yu.”
With her head lowered, Guan Linlin answered casually, “Yeah. Qinde’s two school gods, and never the twain shall meet.”
Song Tinghuan: “?”
“I heard it’s because of Su He from the attached high school.”
Song Tinghuan: “…”
This seemed like the fifth girl she’d heard about who had some connection to Jiang Yu, and she was still from another school district.
“Jiang Yu… is he that flirtatious?”
“Hm?” Guan Linlin looked up. Clearly, gossip was way more interesting than doing worksheets.
“He’s got the capital for it. With Jiang Yu’s face, anyone who looks at him gets dizzy.”
Song Tinghuan frowned slightly. What did “dizzy” even mean?
“Then doesn’t he have a fixed girlfriend?”
“Probably not. Anyway, I’ve never heard of one.”
“Isn’t Han Jingjing one either?”
“Nope, probably still in the ambiguous stage. Neither of the people involved has ever admitted it.”
Song Tinghuan’s brows furrowed even deeper.
She muttered under her breath, so softly it was almost to herself, “Teacher Qin even told me to learn well from him. Learn how to be a player?”
“What did you say?”
“Nothing.”
After lunch, Song Tinghuan and Guan Linlin did another worksheet in the bookstore before heading home separately. Only when she reached the entrance of the Jiang family villa did Song Tinghuan remember something, she didn’t have the house key.
Today was the weekend, and the housekeeper wasn’t around either.
Song Tinghuan wanted to call Jiang Yu, but then she thought of the conversation she had overheard last night in Jiang Yu’s room between him and Li Yiliang, and gave up on the idea.
The afternoon sun in spring wasn’t too strong. Song Tinghuan sat under the crabapple tree by the door and took out the book she had just bought.
Before long, she yawned, and a faint wave of sleepiness washed over her.
She didn’t know when exactly she had fallen asleep. When she sensed someone calling her beside her, she woke up groggily, and saw Jiang Yu crouched beside her.
Clouds and sunset glow burned red at the edge of the sky. The boy was bent slightly at the waist, wearing a pure black hooded sweatshirt. Red headphones hung along the side of his fair neck, swaying in Song Tinghuan’s line of sight.
Song Tinghuan blinked slowly and saw her own bewildered reflection in Jiang Yu’s dark eyes.
How had she fallen asleep?
She raised a hand to rub her eyes. “I forgot to bring my key.”
Her voice was mumbling and soft, still carrying a trace of sleepiness from just waking up, sounding even gentler than usual.
“You forgot your key, and you didn’t know to call?”
“I…” Song Tinghuan pressed her lips together. “My phone was out of battery.”
Jiang Yu: “…”
“If I weren’t coming back tonight, would you just keep waiting here?”
Song Tinghuan didn’t understand that assumption. “But you said you were coming back tonight.”
Such a soft voice.
Who are you acting cute with, huh.
Jiang Yu’s eyes shifted slightly.
Only then did Song Tinghuan notice that a few boys were standing behind Jiang Yu too. She knew Li Yiliang and Han Shuming, as well as Li Kuo, who had repeated a grade into their class. The others were strangers.
Just as she was about to get up, her foot went numb and she fell back down again.
A hand caught her arm, and fortunately Jiang Yu grabbed her.
That thin, soft section in his palm was an extremely unfamiliar sensation to Jiang Yu. It felt like if he used even a little more force, he could pinch it shut.
Were all girls this soft?
Song Tinghuan really felt her ankle go a little weak. Instinctively, she grabbed the collar of Jiang Yu’s sweatshirt, tugging the tall boy forward so he bent slightly.
He always seemed to carry a clean, cold scent. When he got close, it could easily fill her nose completely.
“Your leg’s numb?”
“A little.”
“Serves you right.”
“…”
Li Yiliang looked at the two of them and felt like something was a little off, but exactly what was off, he couldn’t say.
There were still a whole bunch of people standing around, and Song Tinghuan didn’t want everyone waiting for her. After a moment, she straightened up. “I’m okay now.”
Then she let go of the fabric in front of Jiang Yu’s chest and limped toward the door.
Jiang Yu lowered his eyes and looked at the spot she had grabbed.
A boy with ash-gray hair walked over and draped an arm over his shoulder, studying Song Tinghuan’s retreating back. “Bro Yu, who’s this pretty little sister? You’re not even introducing her.”
“Introduce my ass. Didn’t you see how nervous your Bro Yu was just now?” As he said that, Li Kuo even copied the frown Jiang Yu had worn earlier. “‘If I weren’t coming back tonight, would you just keep waiting here?’”
Li Kuo used to be in the same class as Jiang Yu, and now he was in the same class as Song Tinghuan. He sat right in front of her, and like Guan Linlin, he was naturally built for gossip. By now he had long since figured out the relationship between Jiang Yu and Song Tinghuan.
The boy beside him was very quick on the uptake and picked up the line, “But you said you were coming back tonight.”
Even the trailing “tonight” was exactly the same.
A group of boys burst out laughing. The ash-gray-haired one, whose hand had been on Jiang Yu’s shoulder, sheepishly withdrew it. “My bad, I’m blind.”
Jiang Yu flicked a glance at the people behind him, who were all making a racket. “You all sick or something?”
*
Song Tinghuan went upstairs to change clothes. When she came back down, she happened to see Jiang Yu getting a drink from the kitchen.
She thought of the conversation she had overheard last night between Jiang Yu and Li Yiliang, chest, butt, exciting.
They were all boys. Could they really… have gone to that kind of place?
“Eat with us later.”
With that group of boys?
Song Tinghuan hurriedly shook her head. “N-no, it’s fine.”
Jiang Yu tilted his head, feeling like Song Tinghuan was a bit weird tonight. He stood motionless in place, his long fingers holding a green aluminum can, index finger hooking the pull tab and giving it a light push. Fine foam surged upward.
A thin layer of mist covered the can. Jiang Yu took a slow sip, his Adam’s apple sliding up and down gradually. Song Tinghuan looked at the protruding part, covered by pale skin, the sharp contours tightening into view.
It was only a small piece, but it somehow seemed packed with power.
Things on boys really were strange.
Song Tinghuan seemed to catch whatever it was too, and swallowed unconsciously.
The white lattice window cut the sunset into pieces. Jiang Yu leaned against the island counter, still not saying a word. His thin lips were moistened into a dazzling sheen, and his gaze stayed fixed on Song Tinghuan.
This little girl was acting a little off tonight.
“Not eating?” Jiang Yu asked.
“Mm.”
A very light sound, followed by a growling stomach.
Li Yiliang’s bright voice rang out from the hallway outside the kitchen. “You know what that’s called? Saying no with your mouth, but your body is being very honest!”
Song Tinghuan: “…”
Jiang Yu lowered his eyes and laughed softly.
Song Tinghuan really looked like she had seen a ghost.
Outside the kitchen, Li Kuo was still arguing stubbornly, “But that horse was really fierce! And Bro Yu was weird too. You were the one who wanted big boobs and a big butt, not me. I’m fucking not even as tall as the horse yet.”
Li Yiliang: “Hahahahahaha, fuck!”
Li Kuo was short and fat, and among this group of people he had a very fitting nickname, Roundhorn.
Li Yiliang’s maniacal laughter echoed through the whole villa. Song Tinghuan stood awkwardly in place. “You guys… went horseback riding today?”
“Mm.”
Jiang Yu answered lightly, but his gaze never left Song Tinghuan. He took another sip of Sprite. “What else?”
Song Tinghuan was silent.
There was no “what else.” That was just what she had thought.
Suddenly, a shadow fell over the top of her head. Golden-red evening light poured in, and Song Tinghuan was completely enveloped by Jiang Yu’s silhouette. Her lashes trembled as she looked up, and the whole of her fell into the boy’s dark, clear eyes.
“I’ve discovered something,” Jiang Yu said, bending slightly. The corners of his lips were restrained with a hint of amusement. “You little girl, your imagination is really quite something.”