Cui Hao looked at Xue Yang. Although Xue Yang appeared calm on the surface, giving up on a girl he had pursued for six years must have been incredibly painful.
Cui Hao threw an arm around Xue Yang's shoulders.
"My dear boy, you've finally seen the light! Do you realize? By letting go, you've freed both yourself and her. Your wise father here knows it's normal to miss the forest for a single tree. Now that you're willing to step past that tree, an entire forest awaits you. I'm so happy for you today. C'mon, let me treat you to some Happy Fatty Water."
Xue Yang shrugged off Cui Hao's hand in disgust. "Get lost. You know I don't drink that stuff. You shouldn't drink so much of it either. Be careful, or you'll drink so much that..." He glanced meaningfully below Cui Hao's waist.
"Damn it! That stuff brings pure joy, and you refuse to drink it? Fine! How about we go get a foot massage tonight? I've never been, but I hear it's so amazing you'll never want to leave. Pure bliss..."
Xue Yang looked at Cui Hao with disdain. "How much money do you have in your pocket? And you're talking about getting a foot massage?"
"I found a part-time job handing out flyers. It pays 80 yuan a day! Don't say I'm not looking out for you. What do you think? Tomorrow's the weekend, so let's go together. After we get paid, we'll go for that massage."
The two walked down a corridor with their arms slung around each other's shoulders, just as a group of people approached from the opposite direction.
It was a group of girls—third-year seniors, to be exact. They were clustered around one girl in particular as they walked to their classroom. The girl in the center wore a fashionable yellow floral dress. She was slender yet perfectly curvaceous. With her hair in large, flax-dyed waves, she looked to be just over twenty—in the prime of her life. Even in a crowd of vibrant, beautiful young women, she was the first one you'd notice.
A pale yellow dress and voluminous hair—it was a very popular style at the time. On some, the look might seem awkward, but on her, it looked as if it had been designed just for her. She was so beautiful it was hard to look away.
Girls are a strange species. Sometimes a pretty girl is liked by boys but ostracized by all the other girls. But other pretty girls are not only adored by boys but also manage to win the support of their female peers.
Clearly, Chen Ying belonged to the latter category—the kind of pretty that both boys and girls liked. Her presence alone turned the school hallway into a dazzling scene. The girls around her all put their best foot forward, drawing whistles from the boys across the corridor.
Xue Yang and Cui Hao continued to banter as they walked, though it was mostly Cui Hao doing the pestering.
"So, Xue Yang, what do you say? Want to hand out flyers with me tomorrow? Come on, 80 yuan isn't bad. It took me forever to find a rate this good. The others were only offering 75, and some were even worse—70 without even a meal included. Who'd take that job!"
"I have plans tomorrow. I can't go."
"What plans could you possibly have? Just come keep me company. Tell you what, I'll even split my pay with you, and you can treat me to that foot massage."
"Not going."
He looked up and saw Chen Ying and her entourage of fake friends.
"Chen Ying, look! It's your underclassman, Xue Yang. He must be here to apologize."
Every time Xue Yang confessed to Chen Ying and got rejected, he would buy her a milk tea to appease her. Chen Ying had gotten used to it, and so had her fake friends. So, out of habit, they assumed he was there specifically to apologize to her. Xue Yang was cute and handsome, and this group of so-called friends enjoyed teasing him, which he always took with a simple smile.
"Now, now, Xue Yang, you can't play favorites. You can't just get milk tea for Ying Ying and not for your seniors."
"That's right, junior. Your seniors want some of your milk tea, too. Otherwise, we can't trust you to take care of our Ying Ying, you know."
In the hallway, the group of upperclasswomen all teased Xue Yang, having completely forgotten how Chen Ying had publicly humiliated him just yesterday. In their eyes, Xue Yang was as resilient as a cockroach; no matter how harsh her words, he would still come running back to apologize.
There were about ten of them in the group. If Xue Yang were to actually treat them all to milk tea, it would cost him over a hundred yuan. In the past, he would have foolishly done it, but now...
Chen Ying turned her head away, refusing to look at him. She just knew it. No matter what awful things she said, Xue Yang would come pestering her again, just like always. It had been that way for years, without a single exception. But she was still fuming. This time, she absolutely wouldn't forgive him so easily. She had to make him understand just how outrageous his mistake had been.
Cui Hao nudged Xue Yang with his elbow. "Xue Yang, your seniors are talking to you! They want you to buy them milk tea."
Seeing so many of them, Cui Hao's heart ached for his friend. Treating them all would cost hundreds of yuan. For students like them, who still relied on their parents for living expenses, that meant eating nothing but steamed buns for days. Well, whatever. Xue Yang was his godson, after all. He could just skip the foot massage and begrudgingly spot him some of his own living money. Not that he'd ever actually been for a foot massage himself.
To everyone's surprise, Xue Yang acted as if he hadn't heard a thing. He walked straight past them in one smooth motion, giving neither Cui Hao nor Chen Ying's group a chance to react.
Chen Ying, I told you I wouldn't confess to you again. I won't like you anymore. I'm letting you go... and I'm letting myself go...
In that instant, Chen Ying felt as if a beam of light had struck Xue Yang's profile. His expression was calm and composed, with a hint of nonchalance—the detached cool of someone who had let go of the past. Seeing him like this, she was astonished to feel her heart skip a beat. She just stood there, stunned.
"Ying Ying, looks like your little admirer isn't all that great. He dares to give you attitude just because you asked for milk tea? If you actually said yes to him, you'd be in for a rough time."
"Exactly! You definitely did the right thing by rejecting him."
"You can't be with a man that stingy."
The girls all chimed in, one after another, listing all of Xue Yang's supposed flaws. An unnatural expression flickered across Chen Ying's beautiful face, but it vanished as quickly as it appeared.
In this world, anyone might ignore her, but not Xue Yang. He had once told her that wherever she was, he would be there too.
See? We ran into each other just now, didn't we? Trying to get my attention this way? Xue Yang, you're still too naive. This will only make me angrier.
Just then, a girl beside Chen Ying, who was almost a head shorter, spoke up hesitantly. "But... after what Ying Ying said to him in front of all the girls at school yesterday, shouldn't we expect him to be angry?"