Chapter 104
Lin Siyi in Su Yu’s memory was always the boisterous girl. He could often sit at the back door of Class 1 and hear the loud laughter of Lin Siyi and a few boys from Class 2 next door. The sound was so loud it seemed like it could lift the roof off. Chen Kai would always joke with him, wondering how Xia Qian Ge could be best friends with a girl as hyper as Spongebob Squarepants. He even jokingly asked if that made Xia Qian Ge Squidward, which earned him a chase down the entire corridor from Su Yu.
Xia Qian Ge and Lin Siyi were two people with completely opposite personalities. Lin Siyi was enthusiastic with everyone, and could become very close with a stranger in a few minutes, laughing with their arms around each other’s shoulders. Once she decided someone was a friend, they were a friend forever. She had even gotten into arguments with people for her friends. But Xia Qian Ge was quiet, gentle, and her voice was just loud enough for the person in front of her to hear. But these two people had become friends, and for a long time.
He remembered that the pretty Lin Siyi had retired from acting after being a second-tier actress for a few years and had married a rich businessman. She lived a life that could be considered high-class. But people always change. Growing up, they were inevitably forced to become materialistic by life. She genuinely had Xia Qian Ge’s best interests at heart, and later, her attitude towards Su Yu had become very bad. She would often give him the cold shoulder, thinking that he was holding Xia Qian Ge back from a bright future, and that the two of them together would definitely lead to trouble, so it was better to break up early.
In the beginning, Su Yu was young and arrogant and didn’t understand. He had desperately wanted to change jobs because of Lin Siyi’s sarcastic remarks. But Xia Qian Ge had said she didn’t care. Changing jobs was risky, and it was unstable for their budding family. So he had given up the idea and had never left his original job.
“Su Yu! Over here.”
From a distance, Su Yu saw a beautiful figure waving at him. Lin Siyi was a dance major, tall and well-proportioned, just like her straightforward personality.
Su Yu walked up to her. Lin Siyi was so enthusiastic that she seemed about to pounce on him. She looked behind Su Yu and frowned. “Huh? Qian Ge isn’t here yet?”
“Maybe… she’ll be late. Is this your boyfriend?” Su Yu looked at the boy with Lin Siyi and asked tentatively.
Lin Siyi enthusiastically introduced the boy next to her. “Yes, yes. His name is Zhang Heng. We’ve been dating for three months. We met at a club.”
Zhang Heng was a tall and thin boy. He wore glasses and had a clean look. He also nodded at Su Yu a little reservedly.
“Su Yu, hello.” Su Yu also said hello.
“Hey, hey, hey, Qian Ge said she’s almost here. But I don’t see her.”
Lin Siyi looked around, searching for Xia Qian Ge’s figure, wondering where she would come from, her expression anxious.
“She should be here soon…”
Su Yu knew the shortcut from the school to the station. He saw Xia Qian Ge not far away, but his words turned into a choked gasp. His vocal cords trembled, as if he couldn’t make a sound. His eyes widened, his dark pupils constricting, his blood turning into ice, creating the illusion of a stiff body.
“Who are you looking at?”
Lin Siyi followed Su Yu’s dazed gaze and saw the late girl not far away. She immediately shouted with joy and ran towards her. “Qian Ge, I missed you so much.”
“Are you… okay?”
Zhang Heng patted Su Yu’s shoulder and looked at his shocked and helpless expression with concern.
“Oh… I’m fine. I probably didn’t rest well yesterday. I was a little short of breath just now, but I’m much better now.”
Su Yu suddenly came back to his senses. His heart, which had stopped, began to pound in his chest again, pumping warm blood to his limbs. By the time he looked up again, the girl was already standing in front of him, smiling brightly at him.
“What? Are you so stunned by my Qian Ge’s devastating beauty that you can’t speak? Do you feel like your whole body is glowing?”
Lin Siyi and Zhang Heng, who had never seen Xia Qian Ge before, were stunned for a moment before accepting her makeup. It was the first time they had seen the girl so carefully dressed up. They had seen her use a dark eyebrow pencil to draw her eyebrows deep and long, and a contouring pen to sharpen the contours of her face. Her thin lips were also dyed a vibrant red.
The slightly sharp and mature makeup had a neutralizing effect, neutralizing her original soft and gentle appearance, creating an unusually harmonious and bright feeling.
Such a girl was stunning. She was like a dazzling jewel, able to attract everyone’s attention. But it made him feel cold all over, even indescribably so. The familiar visual impact was like an invisible hand choking his neck, making the air thick and making it hard for him to breathe.
So similar… to the once high and mighty, dazzling Xia Qian Ge. For a moment, he even felt that the old Xia Qian Ge had returned, or had never changed. He had been struggling in a boundless darkness, and only when he was exhausted did he realize that he had never escaped. Everything was still the same, a Möbius strip of infinite reincarnation in a nightmare.
“Yeah, you look good.” Su Yu swallowed the saliva that had collected in his mouth, his Adam’s apple bobbing up and down. He smiled. “I almost didn’t recognize you at first glance.”
The boy’s smile was forced, so much so that anyone with a keen eye could easily see through it.
“Thank you. I was worried you wouldn’t like it.”
Xia Qian Ge smiled, tilting her head slightly, so bright and brilliant that it was hard to look away.
“Um… then let’s go. Otherwise, it will get crowded later.”
Su Yu looked away from Xia Qian Ge. He smiled and changed the subject, pointing at the bus that was about to arrive, attracting Lin Siyi’s attention.
But Xia Qian Ge’s gaze was still fixed on the boy. From her angle, the other party’s handsome and elegant profile was reflected in her pupils. The boy extremely unnaturally scratched his straight and handsome nose. That feigned but extremely unnatural gesture could only deceive those who didn’t know him at all, but it was seen through by her.
Her mood suddenly became a little high because she had so easily controlled the boy’s emotions. The boy’s unnaturalness, timidity, and hesitation because of her… all made her feel genuinely happy.
Xia Qian Ge pursed her lips into a charming smile. She chatted happily with Lin Siyi, her tone cheerful, full of regret and excitement for their long-awaited reunion.
But she could clearly feel that the boy’s vision was occupied by her at this moment, and even now he was still secretly trailing half a step behind her, stealing glances at her profile.
This feeling of control was simply intoxicating. Xia Qian Ge walked in her canvas shoes, as if she were stepping on the green pine cones that littered the forest floor with every step, as cheerful as the baby’s breath petals dancing in the air.
She began to look forward to this trip…
Lin Siyi was chattering in her ear about the things that had happened to her, which she thought were interesting. Xia Qian Ge covered her mouth and laughed, her eyes sparkling with a fiery excitement.
