Chapter 9: Crybaby
The tone was the same as usual—casual and commonplace, not really sounding like someone trying to comfort another. But just that simple sentence truly warmed Ye Qizhen’s heart. She rubbed her cheek against her knee, quietly turning her head slightly. She saw that Wen Yu was indeed just looking straight ahead, sitting silently beside her with a person’s distance between them, showing no intention of leaving.
Caught secretly crying by Wen Yu for the second time, Wen Yu must think she was very melodramatic. Crying over such a trivial matter—what was there to cry about? Ye Qizhen felt embarrassed again, although it was an indisputable fact that she loved to cry.
She had loved crying since she was little. When she was just a few years old, her parents would sternly lecture her, saying, What use is crying? People who love to cry are the most useless people; no one will like them. They told her to be like her older sister.
She was afraid of being disliked.
Later, she changed…
She changed to hiding away to cry.
Although she didn’t agree with her parents’ views after growing up, habit was a terrifying thing. Moreover, in other people’s eyes, she was such a positive and optimistic person; crying would seem strange, right? If Tang Tang saw her crying like this, she would definitely be scared out of her wits, thinking something catastrophic had happened.
Ye Qizhen reached out to wipe the tear stains from her face. Occasionally, she couldn’t hold back a sob or two, but because someone was sitting beside her, she didn’t let loose as freely as before.
Wen Yu heard Ye Qizhen forcing back her sobs and wanted to say, Cry if you want to cry, but after thinking about it, she decided to remain quiet and not disturb her.
The two sat side by side, maintaining a mutual silence for at least ten minutes.
Ye Qizhen finally stopped her tears. She raised her head and also looked into the distance against the wind. The river reflected the colorful night view, swaying with the waves, dreamlike and illusory. She thought that next time she came, she could bring her camera.
“Thank you.” Ye Qizhen looked at Wen Yu’s shadow on the steps and said. She had said thank you to Wen Yu so many times. What a wonderful fate this was; she had thought she was a grain of sand in Wen Yu’s eye.
Only when Ye Qizhen was willing to speak did Wen Yu turn her head to look at her. The lighting here was better than at the school’s back playground, and she clearly saw how red Ye Qizhen’s eyes were from crying. She looked even more pitiful than last time.
“I don’t know if you believe me…” Wen Yu said.
“Hm?” Ye Qizhen didn’t understand.
“I never flirted with Guan Ming, nor am I interested in him.” After consideration, Wen Yu calmly told Ye Qizhen this.
She never deigned to explain these things about herself; no one believed her even if she did. In the eyes of the outside world, she was just a terrible person. Being isolated, rumored about, and disliked—over time, she became numb. If you don’t care, you won’t get hurt, she kept telling herself.
“Mn, it’s all a misunderstanding,” Ye Qizhen replied calmly.
Not hearing the slightest doubt—did she trust her that much? Wen Yu looked at Ye Qizhen silently for a moment. After all, she was more used to people snorting at her and saying: Why pretend? Who doesn’t know what kind of goods you are?
Seeing Wen Yu suddenly fall silent, Ye Qizhen asked, “What’s wrong?”
“When he was chasing you, he was entangled with several other girls. He doesn’t deserve you.” Wen Yu saw that Ye Qizhen’s personality was too pure and felt it necessary to remind her that being sad over this kind of man was truly not worth it. And the latter half of the sentence, she said sincerely; she believed Ye Qizhen deserved someone very good.
Ye Qizhen’s reaction was a beat slow, and only then did she realize Wen Yu had misunderstood her. It made sense; crying like this, she looked exactly like someone heartbroken by a scumbag. She explained, “You misunderstood. I never liked him… I’m not blind.”
She just looked “pure,” but she understood what she needed to understand. She wouldn’t blindly follow the crowd to dislike Wen Yu because of outside rumors, nor would she trust Guan Ming because of a few sweet words. She wasn’t that easy to fool.
Wen Yu couldn’t distinguish the truth of this sentence. She seized the opportunity to ask Ye Qizhen, “If you didn’t like him, why did you hate me?”
Ye Qizhen said aggrievedly, “When did I ever hate you?”
“You didn’t?” Wen Yu enunciated each word, tilting her head to question, implying Ye Qizhen should think carefully.
“I…” Sorting through the sequence of events, Ye Qizhen felt guilty. It was indeed her own problem; Wen Yu clearly had no malice time after time. Only then did she truthfully tell Wen Yu, “I thought you hated me.”
The voice of the person beside her trembled slightly, soft and aggrieved. Hearing this, Wen Yu couldn’t bear to say anything more. She admitted she had a bad temper, but facing Ye Qizhen, she found herself subconsciously softening her tone. She always felt this girl was too gentle; even when shouting and cursing just now, she had absolutely no imposing manner to speak of.
“Because of that rotten person?” Mentioning him, Wen Yu was full of contempt. “He’s not worthy.”
Ye Qizhen saw that dismissive smile on Wen Yu’s face again. Hearing Wen Yu say “He’s not worthy” felt inexplicably relieving. She nodded and echoed, “He’s not worthy.”
Because of this, they had muddled through two years as love rivals. Thinking about it was ridiculous.
Looking at the night view again, Ye Qizhen sniffled and wiped away the last bit of tears from her eyes. Taking a long breath, she stopped crying.
“And you still say you don’t like him.” Wen Yu glanced sideways at Ye Qizhen, another sentence floating out of her mouth unexpectedly. She saw Ye Qizhen’s eyes were swollen from crying. She had cried for a full ten-plus minutes just now, clearly extremely sad, yet kept stubbornly saying she didn’t care. It was quite like Student Ye’s style: sunny and bright in public, a crybaby in private.
“I really don’t like him!” Ye Qizhen got anxious now. Thinking of that guy surnamed Guan made her sick. She straightened her back toward Wen Yu, raising her voice to defend herself.
Wen Yu felt she looked like someone trying to save face no matter how she looked at it. “Then why were you crying so sadly?”
“I just like to cry. I cry easily over nothing.” Ye Qizhen blurted out righteously. It was the first time she personally admitted this. After admitting it, she lowered her head awkwardly and closed her eyes, embarrassed.
Seeing her expression of self-disgust, Wen Yu let out a small laugh but immediately suppressed it. The girl was crying so sadly beside her; laughing at this moment would be too unkind. “Really?”
Ye Qizhen thought she had long lost face in front of Wen Yu anyway—a dead pig isn’t afraid of boiling water. Braving her red and swollen eyes, she looked at Wen Yu very sincerely. “Really.”
Wen Yu propped up her head, ruffled her hair, looked at Ye Qizhen, and didn’t make a sound.
Seeing through Wen Yu’s suppressed laughter, Ye Qizhen suddenly broke into a smile through her tears. Tears still welled in her eyes at this moment, and her voice carried a slight nasal tone from crying. “If you want to laugh, just laugh.”
Because of this sentence, the corners of Wen Yu’s mouth lifted.
Ye Qizhen smiled with tears in her eyes, looking at Wen Yu’s face. On the surface, she seemed casual, but in reality, she looked carefully from the other girl’s eyes to her nose to her lips…
Really alluring, especially when smiling.
She didn’t know Wen Yu well yet, but judging solely by appearance, this was definitely the best taste Tang Xiao had ever shown.
The phone in her pocket rang rhythmically. Ye Qizhen took it out and saw a voice call coming in. The contact name was Communications Xu Kaiming, the alumnus she had added on WeChat during the dinner earlier.
Looking at the phone screen, Ye Qizhen didn’t answer immediately. Her voice sounded like she had been crying; it would be more appropriate to hang up and send a text message.
“I’ll answer it for you.” Wen Yu reached out her hand, palm open toward Ye Qizhen.
Having her thoughts guessed, Ye Qizhen was incredulous and dazedly handed the phone to Wen Yu. She watched Wen Yu answer the call and turn on the speaker. A male voice came from the receiver: “Ye Qizhen, this is Xu Kaiming. Where are you? We’re going to KTV, come up now?”
Wen Yu didn’t speak immediately, giving Ye Qizhen a look first.
Ye Qizhen understood and shook her head at Wen Yu. Crying like this, how could she dare see anyone else?
Wen Yu guessed as much and calmly replied to the other side, “This is Wen Yu. Ye Qizhen isn’t feeling well, so I’m staying with her. We won’t go singing…”
Mentioning the name Wen Yu, Xu Kaiming immediately recalled who she was. Wen Yu dismissed Xu Kaiming with just a few sentences.
Ye Qizhen kept staring at Wen Yu’s profile. She really couldn’t figure out why such a thoughtful person was described like that by everyone. Indeed, prejudice misleads people. She thought Wen Yu being isolated must be inseparable from her mother’s affairs. It was also after her mother’s scandal broke out that rumors about her spread like wildfire.
After replying, Wen Yu stuffed the phone back into Ye Qizhen’s hand. “Wait for me here, I’m going upstairs to get my bag.”
“Wen Yu…” Ye Qizhen stood up too, calling out to Wen Yu who was walking toward the restaurant.
Wen Yu turned back, looking at Ye Qizhen standing on the steps, her tone helpless: “Scared to be alone?”
“No.” Ye Qizhen was embarrassed. “You go play with them, you don’t need to accompany me.”
“Don’t want to go.” Wen Yu answered briefly and left.
Ye Qizhen stayed put, looking at Wen Yu’s retreating figure and criticizing silently: Since she doesn’t want to join in any fun, why come to the gathering? Could she really have taken a fancy to Tang Xiao?
After waiting for about five minutes.
Ye Qizhen saw Wen Yu carrying her bag, walking toward her. The two stood face to face. Ye Qizhen was thinking about what to do next; it wasn’t even eight o’clock yet, too early to go back to school.
She remembered Wen Yu hadn’t eaten much tonight, so she said, “Do you want to go eat something?”
“Didn’t we just finish dinner?” Wen Yu said.
“You only ate that little bit, aren’t you hungry?” Ye Qizhen had watched from the side; it definitely wasn’t more than seven bites.
“You pay quite a lot of attention to me,” Wen Yu said leisurely. It was the same in high school; she noticed Ye Qizhen often looking at her through the window. Back then, she only thought Ye Qizhen simply hated her.
What a strange entry point for a topic. Ye Qizhen looked toward Yanjiang Road and smiled again. “I know a very delicious rice noodle shop nearby. Shall I take you there? I happen to not be full either.”
She hadn’t eaten any staple food for dinner, so her stomach still had room, but not to the point of not being full. Saying this was mainly to consider Wen Yu’s feelings.
Hearing this, Wen Yu sized up Ye Qizhen’s thin frame with slight surprise. She had seen Ye Qizhen eating every dish with relish tonight, like a hamster. She couldn’t help asking, “Can you really eat that much?”
This… Ye Qizhen absolutely hadn’t expected Wen Yu to react like this. She looked up at Wen Yu for a long while, momentarily not knowing how to respond, hesitating to speak.
Meeting Ye Qizhen’s still-red eyes, Wen Yu realized she might have said something wrong. She’s not going to cry again, right? Seeing the situation, she quickly and softly corrected herself: “Being able to eat is a blessing.”
Ye Qizhen: “…”
