Chapter 8: Who is Soft-hearted?
When An Baili returned to the classroom, she saw Lu Li with his back to her, his head lowered, his shoulders shaking. An Baili’s heart ached. When she was sad, she also liked to lower her head and sob. Seeing Lu Li sad was more painful than death itself. She walked over quietly. “Li, are you okay?”
Lu Li turned around, holding a bowl of oden, happily munching on a fish ball. “Baili, the oden in the cafeteria is only four yuan. I got you a bowl too.”
“…”
An Baili looked at the steaming bowls of oden on her and Chu Jingyi’s desks, both amused and annoyed. After Wen Hupo said those things to him, Lu Li actually had the mood to grab breakfast in the cafeteria? She had underestimated Lu Li’s resilience. Was he the kind of person who would be devastated by heartbreak?
“I actually overheard your conversation with Wen Hupo.” An Baili sat down in Wen Hupo’s seat and whispered to Lu Li while Chu Jingyi wasn’t there yet.
Lu Li paused, holding a bamboo skewer with a piece of tofu. He glanced at An Baili, then at the tofu in his hand. “Eat breakfast first, it’ll upset your stomach if you eat it cold.”
“Li, I actually always knew you had a crush on Wen Hupo.” An Baili lowered her head and whispered, “I also know that you’ll be disappointed to be treated as an insignificant ‘passerby’ by her. But Jingyi and I will always be by your side, okay?”
Lu Li smiled, put down the oden, and rubbed An Baili’s head with his spice-stained right hand. “Don’t make such a big deal out of it. I was indeed disappointed, but it’s not enough to bring me down. I’m not a seventeen or eighteen-year-old boy anymore.”
“But. But. One day in the future, on a quiet night, you’ll start to miss her. You’ll definitely remember what she said today. You’ll remember this regret for the rest of your life, won’t you?” An Baili said dejectedly. This wasn’t mere speculation, but her own personal experience.
“There are countless regrets in a person’s life. How can there be someone who has no regrets?” Lu Li shook his head. “To miss out on even more precious people for the sake of one regret, that would lead to even more regrets.” An Baili was like that, caring about him even more than she cared about herself.
Just then, Chu Jingyi entered the classroom. She couldn’t go back to her seat and hurriedly walked to the podium. “Five minutes early, we’ll be discussing some arrangements for the sports meet during today’s class meeting. Let the people in the hallway come in quickly.”
Wen Hupo, who had changed back into her school uniform, appeared abruptly at the back door of the classroom. She walked silently to Lu Li’s side and whispered to An Baili, who was still sitting in her seat, “An Baili, it’s time to go back to your own seat.”
An Baili snorted softly and reluctantly got up. Wen Hupo sat down, her gaze fixed on Lu Li. It was clear she wanted to say something. Lu Li completely ignored her, just staring at Silly Goose on the podium. After what Wen Hupo said, he, as a man with self-respect, shouldn’t fawn over her anymore.
Silly Goose was very dignified when she was serious. Her small face was tense, her cherry lips pursed, completely different from her usual soft and easily bullied appearance. Thinking of Silly Goose’s blushing face and pouted lips, Lu Li couldn’t help but chuckle.
“What are you laughing at?” Wen Hupo seemed to be looking for a conversation starter.
Lu Li’s smile vanished instantly. He said calmly, “Nothing.”
“Oh…” Wen Hupo’s jade-like fingers tapped on the desk. “Um, did you think of something happy?”
“No.”
Her fingers drew circles on the desk, like a dancing figure. “Really…”
Silly Goose was talking about the athlete groupings. Some events were group events and couldn’t be entered individually. She specifically mentioned Wen Hupo. If she wanted to participate in the three-legged race and doubles table tennis, she needed to find a teammate.
“…For example, Miss Wen Hupo. If you want to sign up for the three-legged race and doubles, you have to find another teammate…”
As soon as the Class Monitor finished speaking, enthusiastic boys raised their hands. “Me, me, me, I also signed up, let me team up with Miss Wen.”
However, Wen Hupo’s gaze was fixed on Lu Li. She looked at him with five parts expectation and five parts timidity. Wen Hupo felt that never in her life, and never in the future, would there be an event or a person that could make her emotions fluctuate so much. She was worried about the unpleasant parting with Lu Li earlier, yet she hoped that he would, as she wished, help her create some beautiful memories.
She didn’t hear the other boys’ calls at all, nor did she want to. Because in this school, even in this country, the only male she was willing to treat as an equal was Lu Li.
Wen Hupo didn’t understand why Lu Li was angry. Perhaps she could guess a little, or perhaps not at all.
Faced with the numerous gazes that followed Wen Hupo’s, Lu Li seemed oblivious. He sat upright, looking at Chu Jingyi biting her lower lip on the podium, appreciating how adorable she was. She must be jealous, right? The expression of the silly goose was written all over her face…
If it had been before, he would have been happy to be Wen Hupo’s “partner,” just like at the New Year’s Eve party. But today, no. Or rather, not just today, not right now.
Wen Hupo’s porcelain-white face began to flush, turning hot. This was the first time she had felt embarrassed and humiliated. The feeling of being ignored was terrible. She remembered Lu Li telling her that when she didn’t know what expression to make, she should just smile. So she smiled. She smiled, her voice soft, and called Lu Li’s name.
“Um, Miss Wen Hupo, what do you mean…?” Chu Jingyi finally broke the awkward silence. “Should I pick a teammate from the participating athletes?”
“Choose me, choose me!” someone shouted.
“Lu Li…” Wen Hupo still whispered, her tone becoming more pitiful, more pleading. She really wanted to just leave, leaving a solitary figure for the world to see.
Lu Li was annoyed by the clamor. He shook his head impatiently.
He couldn’t be soft-hearted anymore. Because the price of his soft-heartedness was Chu Jingyi’s tears. On the scales weighing Wen Hupo against Chu Jingyi and An Baili, Lu Li had finally made his choice.
He wasn’t soft-hearted, but a certain cutie was.
Chu Jingyi’s voice trembled. “Or, Lu Li, you, you can team up with Miss Wen Hupo?”
Lu Li sighed, feeling like the defenses he had built up with difficulty were collapsing with Silly Goose’s single sentence. Why are you so cute? Why are you so kind?
“Yeah…” Under everyone’s bewildered gazes, Lu Li finally nodded.
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