Marriage, for these 17-18 year old students, seems too far away.
Even Duan Ye had never thought about it before.
Fortunately, the topic ended there. The restaurant where they were dining was partially owned by Guo Shichao’s family and had excellent food, service, and atmosphere. As the waiter served their dishes, Jiang Yumo was still immersed in her own world, trying to recall what the ending would be like between her and Duan Ye in that novel. She didn’t notice when Duan Ye reached out and placed his hand on her shoulder, pulling her closer to him… His actions were so natural that Jiang Yumo didn’t even realize that it was somewhat intimate.
Duan Ye reminded her, “Don’t get burned.”
Jiang Yumo turned her body sideways, getting close to him.
A faint rose scent lingered in his nose.
The waiter placed the sizzling plate of grilled squid on the rotating table. It was their order.
Of course, there was a birthday cake for the occasion.
Duan Ye had picked up the cake earlier that day when he went to the neighboring city to buy ice cream.
There was no cake shop branch of that brand in Ningcheng.
Jiang Yumo hadn’t reacted yet when Yan Qing already put the birthday hat on her head.
The cake was surprisingly beautiful, that she couldn’t bear to cut and share it. The private room was lively, filled with 17 to 18-year-old students, making a lot of noise. Jiang Yumo was originally uneasy because of the future she saw, but now she had a real smile on her face. Her laughter is magically infectious and could lift anyone’s spirits. Duan Ye also had a hint of a smile on his face as he listened to it.
It was midsummer, and they had finished all the dishes on the table. Even though the cake looked great, they couldn’t eat much of it. Jiang Yumo’s friends didn’t hesitate to start smearing cream and throwing cake at each other.
Even with Duan Ye around, she, the birthday girl, couldn’t escape.
Duan Ye’s friends didn’t dare to act recklessly, but Jiang Yumo’s friends didn’t show her any mercy. Seeing Yan Qing with cream on her hand about to touch her, Jiang Yumo shouted, “Elder Sister, spare me!”
She closed her eyes, but then Duan Ye grabbed her wrist and stood in front of her.
Yan Qing pressed her hand on Duan Ye’s back.
Yan Qing: “…”
Danger!
She shivered and withdrew her hand. But, she saw Duan Ye’s black short-sleeved shirt was now dirty, with an unrecognizable palm print made of cream on his back.
Yan Qing: “…”
Brother Duan will forgive her for Jiang Yumo’s sake, right? Right?
In fact, Duan Ye looks fierce and has a vicious reputation outside, but he rarely loses his temper. Even his friends like Guo Shichao and Zhao Zheng have never seen him get angry. If it were someone else, they would be praised for having a good temper, but strangely no one thinks Duan Ye has a good temper. No one dares to make inappropriate jokes with him, and when he has no expression on his face, it’s quite intimidating.
“Brother Duan, I’m sorry!” Yan Qing promptly apologized.
Duan Ye still had his gaze fixed on Jiang Yumo and didn’t turn his head as he replied, “Hmm, it’s okay.”
When they were young and carefree and without the pressure of life, the cake was not just for eating. Looking at the mess on the ground, no one felt sorry for it.
The waiter who came to clean up grumbled a few words, “What a waste.”
They could have shared it if they couldn’t finish it. Why play with the cake like that?
They really are children!
The birthday celebration certainly wasn’t just about eating and cake; afterwards, they would go in groups to the karaoke. It was still early, and Yan Qing and Sun Mengting knew that Duan Ye was going to ride with Jiang Yumo, so after briefly saying goodbye, the two followed Guo Shichao and got in a taxi.
Duan Ye had cream on his clothes. If Jiang Yumo wasn’t there, he would have taken them off directly. Otherwise, he would feel sticky and uncomfortable with cream all over him.
But since she was there, he could only endure it and turned his head to wipe the cream off with a tissue.
With a furrowed brow, he looked fierce, but his posture was somewhat comical.
Jiang Yumao couldn’t help it and burst out laughing.
Duan Ye loved to hear her laugh the most. When they were in junior high, he was annoyed when she was assigned to the other side of the podium and laughed loudly when reading comic books. At that time, their math teacher had a heavy accent… some of the things he said were really funny. The whole class would laugh, but Jiang Yumo would laugh the loudest, her sense of humor was really low. It made the math teacher, who had just graduated not long ago, turn red with embarrassment.
But the math teacher really liked Jiang Yumo.
Jiang Yumo’s uncle was the homeroom teacher, and many students thought the math teacher was nice to her because of this.
However, that wasn’t the case. Duan Ye sat on the other side of the podium and knew a lot about things too.
After Jiang Yumo laughed, she would sincerely apologize to the math teacher and say she was really sorry. Sometimes she found things that weren’t that funny, but she thought they were hilarious, and when others laughed, she would laugh even more. Adults could better distinguish whether or not there was malice involved, and the math teacher has a very good temper, so he didn’t mind much.
One time, the math teacher’s grandfather came all the way to the school to bring eggs and watermelons. There were many towns under Ningcheng, and their dialects were different. The security guard was also a middle-aged man in his forties or fifties who spoke Mandarin poorly, and the old man couldn’t speak Mandarin either. They were almost speaking two different languages.
Jiang Yumo was late that day, together with Duan Ye who was usually late.
The two of them were separated by a distance.
She walked briskly ahead, while he strolled leisurely behind.
When the security guard saw a student approaching, he was relieved and asked for her help. She also had difficulty communicating with the elderly man, but fortunately they eventually got a result. She led the old man to the office building, with Duan Ye following at a distance of about ten meters.
The old man was very enthusiastic, and when he learned that this young girl was his grandson’s student, he was even more delighted, and talked all the way.
Even though she clearly didn’t understand, she still nodded and responded.
—”Really? Is that so? That’s amazing!”
Just these three sentences kept the old man’s spirits high.
Finally, in front of the office building, the old man rummaged around in his snake-skin bag and pulled out a watermelon.
The melon still had dirt on it and was probably just picked from the ground.
She refused to take it, and they pushed it back and forth. In the end, she had no choice but to accept it.
Before the last class at noon, he napped as usual. He only heard her proudly say, “It was given by Teacher Deng’s Grandpa, so sweet. You should try it too. I think it’s even sweeter than the one my mom bought!”
No one asked why Duan Ye liked Jiang Yumo. No one was curious about it either.
In the eyes of teenagers, Jiang Yumo’s beauty was enough to make people like her.
But in fact, Duan Ye’s liking for Jiang Yumo was not love at first sight, nor was it related to her appearance. It took three whole years from the first year of junior high to the third year for the constant laughter to worm its way into his ears and his heart.
“Is it okay?” Jiang Yumo took out a wet tissue from her bag and walked behind him, lifting the hem of his short-sleeved shirt to wipe off the cream on his clothes.
The cream was white, green, and pink.
His clothes were black, making it difficult to clean.
Duan Ye was slightly startled and dared not move, letting her do as she pleased.
No matter how she wiped, she couldn’t clean it up. Even the surrounding area was stained by the water marks of the wet tissue, making it look even stranger.
During the meal today, she went to the restroom halfway through and wanted to pay the bill in advance. But the front desk refused to accept it, insisting that it had already been paid, so she couldn’t do anything… They were all students, living off their parents’ allowances, and they didn’t have that kind of relationship yet, so she couldn’t accept all of his arrangements with peace of mind.
She was feeling annoyed, but now she had an idea.
An idea he couldn’t refuse.
“I want to go to the pedestrian street,” Jiang Yumo said, “It’s still early anyway, those guys are all karaoke enthusiasts and fight for the microphone. We’ll just sit when we’re there, we won’t be able to compete with them.”
Duan Ye wouldn’t refuse any of her requests.
He didn’t think too much and nodded, “I’ll go move the motorcycle.”
Jiang Yumo grabbed his arm.
His skin was neither white nor black, but Jiang Yumo was extremely fair. Her hand grabbing his wrist formed a sharp contrast in skin color.
Duan Ye’s gaze dropped and fixed on her hand.
Jiang Yumao quickly let go.
She didn’t know what had come over her.
In fact, she couldn’t describe her relationship with Duan Ye. They certainly weren’t in a romantic relationship. Perhaps adult’s love started with unspoken mutual understanding, a glance, or a little testing…if the other person didn’t resist, then they naturally got together. But for young boys and girls who were just starting to experience love, there must be a very clear beginning, one side would say “I like you, will you be with me?” and the other would agree, then they would start dating. If the other person didn’t agree, even if they were closer than other classmates and friends, it wasn’t a romantic relationship.
After the confession after the high school entrance exam, Duan Ye didn’t say anything else.
Privately or publicly, they had never officially dated.
However, it was an undeniable fact that they were close. They would frequently exchange text messages, and Duan Ye would also invite her out to play…
But before today, even though Jiang Yumo knew she had feelings for him, she would try her best to avoid any special physical contact with Duan Ye. Today was different because she had seen that future. Whether it was good or bad, in the many years to come until the end of the novel when they were both thirty, Duan Ye would still like her. She dared not say it was love, as she was only seventeen and didn’t know what love was. The strongest feeling she could think of was simply liking someone.
The book said that they broke up and got back together many times.
That meant that in the future, they would be together, break up, and then get tangled up together again.
Can she say that no matter what the outcome is, Duan Ye is her first love and future boyfriend?
Just thinking about this made Jiang Yumo’s eyes involuntarily panicked.
Duan Ye asked, “What’s wrong?”
Jiang Yumo tried to remain calm and said, “It’s not far, let’s walk there.”
Duan Ye said, “Okay.”
It was six or seven o’clock and the sun had not completely set.
Duan Ye was a tall guy, standing at 1.85 meters, while Jiang Yumo was just over 1.6 meters tall, so he towered over her.
As they walked, the setting sun elongated their shadows. They passed by a small stall selling watermelons and a printing shop emitting the smell of mosquito repellent.
Duan Ye wanted to hold her hand but when he looked down, he saw the rough calluses and a scar on the back of his hand.
He held back.
His hand reached out halfway and then retreated, making a gesture that was typical of a boy his age. Disappointed and helpless, he rubbed his short hair.