He didn't want to admit that every time Yi Tongxi deliberately picked on him with that sarcastic tone, he would feel a strange sense of comfort in his heart. Even thru the phone, he could still imagine her expression at that moment - the corners of her mouth would curl up, her grape-like eyes would narrow slightly, and then she would lightly turn her head away. In two words, it was arrogant, smug, and deserving of a beating.
He would feel comfortable, probably a little cheap, so he didn't want to admit it.
"I'm eating at the back door of the College of Arts and Sciences. I'll give you 15 minutes. If you're late, I'm leaving. Do you hear me?" Yi Tongxi hung up the phone.
He arrived in ten minutes.
The weather was not good, with muffled thunder rolling and a drizzle of rain beginning to fall. Yi Tongxi was eating barbecue in a roadside shed. When she saw him come, she turned her head and asked the boss for two more plates of meat skewers and vegetables.
Yi Yufei sat down, picked up a bottle of beer from the box next to the wall, and when he couldn't find a bottle opener, he put the bottle mouth against the edge of the table, and knocked it down hard, and the cap popped off directly.
"How rude," Yi Tongxi shook her head.
He rinsed the glass with beer and asked, "Do you want to drink?"
"Just a little."
At this time, thunder rumbled and rain drifted in. Yi Yufei moved the table inside and frowned, saying, "Why are you eating here on such a cold day? It's drafty everyplace. Aren't you cold?"
Yi Tongxi looked him up and down: "You're quite particular now, aren't you? If poor students don't eat this, what do they eat? A star-rated restaurant?"
Yi Yufei knew that she was deliberately distorting the meaning again, and asked back, "Are you poor?"
"Not exactly poor," she raised her eyebrows. "Let's get to the point. Do you think we should give the bank card Dad gave us today to Grandpa?"
"Come on," he laughed, "the old man would be angry if he knew we were still in contact with him, so don't bother."
Yi Tongxi pouted: "That's not necessarily true. Who would turn down money? 200,000 yuan is not a small amount."
Yi Yufei lowered his head and ate the mutton skewers: "I'm giving you money, so just take it. Why are you talking so much?"
She glanced at him sideways: "For me? All of
it?"
"Yes."
"I'm so embarrassed," she said lightly, "Have you thot it thru? Half of it is 100,000 yuan."
Yi Yufei threw away the bamboo stick and looked at her with a smile that was not a smile: "You just need to know in your heart. If you say again that I didn't spend money for you, then it will really be a slap in the face."
Yi Tongxi curled her lips and gave a guilty "tsk".
When the iron plate squid was served, half of the beer had already been drunk. He asked, "Are you used to living at school?"
She pushed the scallions aside and hummed, "It's been half a year, I'm used to it."
"Where are you going later? Home or the dorm?"
"Of course I'm going to the dorm." She suddenly became a little impatient, and her heart skipped a beat: "What's the point of going home? It's so dark..."
At this point, she felt inexplicably afraid, as if she had been abandoned in the empty house, lonely and helpless, while the person who abandoned her was sitting in front of her, as if nothing had happened. She suppressed a certain resentment, secretly took a deep breath, and tried to change the subject: "Auntie is preparing to return to Wangjiang to spend her retirement, did you know?"
Yi Yufei said, "Maybe you should change the word. 'Settled down' is better. She's not that old."
"It's enough if the meaning is about the same... Last month she came back to tidy up her residence, bringing her young boyfriend, what's his name, Liang Xiao, he seems to be a resident singer, I even had a meal with them, it was really awkward."
"What?"
"What do you mean? This is the first time I've seen a kept man... Beside, I don't know what to call him. My third aunt told me to call him Brother Liang, and he said I could call him Uncle Liang. Actually, he's only 27 or 28, but he acts so mature."
"Is Auntie really serious this time? She even brought him to meet the family." Yi Yufei was saying when his phone rang. He answered it, "Hello?"
On the other end, Yin Weiyao asked, "Have you gone back?"
"Not yet, he's outside."
"Have you eaten?"
"I'm eating."
"With your dad and sister?"
"Yes," Yi Yufei glanced at Yi Tongxi, "My dad has already gone back. Tongxi and I are near the school."
Yin Weiyao's tone was slightly nervous, and she said with a smile: "Why didn't you say it earlier? I should have treated your sister to a meal."
"You don't have to be so polite," Yi Yufei said with his head lowered, "Next time, there will be opportunities."
"Well, then, give her my regards... When will you be back?"
He was silent for a moment: "Are you still in the studio?"
"Yes, I'm still working overtime. I'm exhausted."
"Then I'll come and pick you up in a while."
Yin Weiyao said yes.
After the call, Yi Yufei saw Yi Tongxi looking down and using a bamboo skewer to poke the meat in the plate. Her face was pale and expressionless.
They were silent for a while. The rain was getting heavier and heavier. She took out her mobile phone and looked at it. She asked, "Are you full?"
"Not bad."
"Then you go first, aren't you going to pick someone up?"
Yi Yufei did not answer for a moment, continued to eat two mouthfuls, and said, "It's raining now."
"You drove here."
"Yes, I'll take you back first."
She smiled and said, "I'm going back to school. I just need to cross the road. There's no need to see me off."
"But it's raining now."
"It'll stop in a minute," she said. "You go on, don't stay here."
Yi Yufei was silent again, and after a moment, he reached out and rubbed her head. As she wished, he got up and left.
Yi Tongxi watched the car lights get further and further away, until they finally disappeared around the corner of the rainy street. She finished the remaining half bottle of beer, and then paid the bill.
"Little girl, I have an umbrella here, you can take it and use it first," the proprietress said kindly.
"Thank you."
She returned to the school dormitory, and when the bright incandescent light was turned on, several empty beds stood against the wall, and it was quiet all around. Her roommates had either gone home or gone on dates, and she was left alone again.
Yi Tongxi changed her clothes, removed her makeup, and took a shower. She had been exposed to the cold wind all day, and her head was dizzy and her throat was sore. She was afraid she was going to catch a cold. She got into bed and crawled under the covers, and she couldn't help but feel sad. She thot that even if she died here today, no one would know. The world had abandoned her.
Just as she was feeling sorry for herself, her phone rang. It was her roommate Li Shan, who said in a rush, "Xi Xi, Lao Deng and the others are going to sing karaoke. Why don't you come along? It's more fun with more people."
Lao Deng is Li Shan's boyfriend, who studies finance. Because of this illicit relationship, the people in the two dormitories often get together and fool around.
Yi Tongxi wanted to go, but he was not feeling well and could not do so.
I didn't expect that not long after she hung up the phone, Li Shan called again and reminded her in a sneaky way: "Don't rush to sleep. Someone heard that you were sick and found an excuse to leave us. He should have gone to deliver medicine to you. Keep an eye on the phone."
"Who?"
"Who else could it be? I don't believe you can't guess."
Yi Tongxi was stunned. A name popped up in her mind, followed by a serious face and his calm voice, as if he was saying: Don't be narcissistic, Yi Tongxi. Who do you think you are?
Lu Shengyao? Oh my god, that big pervert... No way?
She trembled as she buried herself in the quilt. Actually, she couldn't explain it herself. She clearly had a grudge against that person, and he was always cold and sarcastic to her. But why was he the first person she thot of at this moment?
It's hard to say, but it definitely won't be Yi Yufei.
She waited and waited, while outside the rain poured down and the thunder rumbled. Yi Tongxi lay on the top bunk, her head swimming, and thot that no one would come, and that she would be left to live or die on her own.
Just then, her phone rang loudly. She pulled it out from under her pillow and saw that it was indeed Lu Shengyao.
"Yi Tongxi," the man's tone was a little stiff, "Come out and get something."
She said in a hoarse voice, "Okay, wait a moment."
As she spoke, she got out of bed, found a hooded jacket, put on her slippers with bare feet, and ran out.
Walking out of the dormitory building and down a small slope, she could vaguely see Lu Shengyao holding an umbrella and standing outside the guard room, holding a plastic bag in his hand, which should be the life-saving medicine for her.
Yi Tongxi strode forward, got under his umbrella, and greeted him casually, "Hi."
Lu Shengyao saw that she was wearing pajama pants, the bottoms of which were already soaked. She didn't have an umbrella, and although she was wearing a hat, she was still a mess.
"How can you be so lazy? You don't even bother to use an umbrella? Aren't you catching a cold?"
"It's just a few steps away, I was afraid you'd have to wait too long."
"I didn't wait long," he said, a little awkwardly, handing her the medicine. "Here."
Yi Tongxi hung his head and did not move.
Lu Shengyao thot she was rejecting him, so he curled his lips and said coldly, "Old Deng and the others organized a party tonight, and I didn't plan to go in the first place. When I was about to go back to school, Li Shan said you were feeling unwell and were alone in the dormitory, so she asked me to come and see you. That's all. I passed by a pharmacy and bought some medicine. Anyway, I had nothing to do. Don't think I was willing to come over in the heavy rain. If it wasn't for Old Deng's sake, who would be willing to care about your life or death?"
Yi Tongxi looked up at him, unable to bear it any longer, and burst into tears.
"You..." He gasped, clenched his fists, and his heart was pounding.
Yi Tongxi cried so hard that she felt the world was spinning. She didn't know how it happened, but her head hit his chest heavily. Then, after a while, she didn't know how it happened, but he reached out and hugged her.
If she had only had a few vague guesses before, then when Yi Tongxi saw Lu Shengyao standing in the rain waiting for her, she was 100% sure that he liked her, without a doubt.