After eating lunch down the mountain, the company organized a short shopping trip nearby. Around four o’clock, the bus arrived to take them back to Haicheng.
The return bus was different from the one they took to get there, and Liang Ruixi ran into Fang Lu as soon as he boarded.
Come to think of it, he owed his job at this company to this senior from F University, but because they weren’t in the same department, they rarely saw each other on weekdays.
Liang Ruixi called out “Senior Fang,” and Fang Lu, seeing him, was pleasantly surprised. She quickly pulled him to sit in the same row and asked how he’d been recently.
As the former campus heartthrob of F University, Liang Ruixi inevitably found himself gossiped about regarding his current relationship status.
Upon learning that he had just broken up with his girlfriend, Fang Lu was overjoyed: “What a coincidence! I’m meeting a few old classmates from F University for dinner tonight, and two of the junior girls are still single! Do you want to come with me?”
Liang Ruixi put on a pleading expression: “Senior, my heart hasn’t even healed yet.”
Fang Lu chided, “All the more reason to go out, clear your head, and meet people. Maybe you’ll click with someone! Besides, we’re all from F University, you don’t have to treat it as a blind date; it can just be a reunion dinner with old classmates.”
Liang Ruixi couldn’t politely refuse: “Then I’ll just tag along for a meal.”
Once in Haicheng, the two took a taxi directly to the restaurant. They were having Huaiyang cuisine. As soon as Liang Ruixi entered the private room, he bumped into an acquaintance: “Qi Qiurui?”
That’s right, this person was none other than Qi Qiurui, the junior who had recently posted photos of Xiao Zhi trying on her wedding dress in her Moments.
Xiao Zhi was Zhou Yan’s girlfriend, and Qi Qiurui was Xiao Zhi’s best friend, so the few of them had quite a bit of interaction privately back then.
“Oh, isn’t this the campus heartthrob?” Qi Qiurui was also surprised to see him.
Everyone else in the private room was delighted: “What good wind blew the campus heartthrob our way?”
Fang Lu pulled out a chair and said, “Did you forget he works at the same company as me now?”
The alumni laughed: “Our Committee Fang is truly impressive, she can even bring the campus heartthrob under her wing.”
Fang Lu chuckled, “I’d love to bring him under my wing, but unfortunately, we’re in different departments, so it’s hard to even see each other normally. Today, the company organized a team-building trip to Yanlu Mountain, and I just happened to run into him on the bus, so I quickly dragged him along.”
Everyone cheered, “Great! Our mood’s already better with the campus heartthrob joining us for dinner!”
Fang Lu raised an eyebrow: “What, your mood isn’t good when you eat with me?”
One person said, “Aiya, it’s just that seeing Committee Fang always makes us a little nervous!”
Fang Lu burst into laughter: “I’m not your committee anymore!”
The few of them chatted and laughed. Liang Ruixi listened for a bit and realized this was a dinner gathering for the F University campus media editorial department. Although they were from different years, both Fang Lu and Qi Qiurui had held important positions in F University’s campus media editorial department, which was why Qi Qiurui was also present.
Fang Lu saw that Liang Ruixi was familiar with Qi Qiurui, so she told them to sit next to each other.
“Senior Liang, how come you’re still as handsome as before, even after all these years since graduation?” Qi Qiurui praised him with a smile.
“Junior Qi, you’re just as beautiful.” Liang Ruixi returned with a grin.
“Don’t try to flirt with me with those sweet words.” Qi Qiurui pouted.
“How am I flirting with you?” Liang Ruixi’s mouth twitched. “You’re allowed to praise me for being handsome, but I’m not allowed to praise you for being beautiful?”
“I haven’t forgotten how many girlfriends you went through back then, and you always flirted with our President Zhou but never committed!” Qi Qiurui ribbed him.
Liang Ruixi choked on a mouthful of chicken soup, unable to swallow or spit it out.
“What’s wrong? You dare to do it but not acknowledge it?” Qi Qiurui rolled her eyes at him.
The moment the topic shifted to Zhou Yan, Liang Ruixi felt as if a mode-switching button had been forcibly pressed, and he instinctively became reserved: “It’s been years since graduation; why do you all still link me with Zhou Yan?”
Qi Qiurui chuckled, her meaning unclear.
Just then, the waiter served several baskets of soup dumplings. Fang Lu gestured to everyone: “Quickly, try these; the soup dumplings are their specialty.”
Looking at the basket of soup dumplings, Liang Ruixi seemed to be touched by a memory, and he couldn’t help but stare blankly.
The first time he ate soup dumplings wasn’t in Haicheng but in Zhou Yan’s hometown, in Nanshi.
After the Yanlu Mountain trip, the relationships between the classmates grew much closer, and there were noticeable changes in Zhou Yan.
He was no longer as gloomy and quiet as before; he smiled much more. Previously, whether it was for meals, classes, or going out, Liang Ruixi was usually the one to actively seek out Zhou Yan. After that, Zhou Yan also began to actively seek out Liang Ruixi. He would pull Liang Ruixi to study, recommend his favorite books, take him to museums, attend lectures outside of school, and always insist on paying when they ate together…
On weekdays, when Liang Ruixi chatted and joked with his classmates, Zhou Yan always accommodated and protected him.
If the old Zhou Yan was a block of ice difficult to melt, then afterward he was like water, water that would even change its temperature to suit Liang Ruixi’s needs.
As freshman year drew to a close, everyone started discussing where to go for fun again. This time, however, the outing wasn’t class-wide but a smaller gathering, mostly organized by roommates or close friends.
Zhou Yan’s hometown, Nanshi, was relatively close to Haicheng. Wei Ran and Lu Jingtong both suggested visiting Nanshi and invited Liang Ruixi to join them. Shen Hui had other plans that time and didn’t participate, so with Liang Ruixi, they formed a group of four.
Zhou Yan had already booked their high-speed rail tickets early. On the day of departure, when Lu Jingtong asked about the ticket fare, Zhou Yan politely said, “You’re visiting my hometown, and friends come from afar. It wouldn’t make sense for me to let you pay. Let me cover all the round-trip and hospitality expenses this time, don’t worry about it.”
Liang Ruixi and Lu Jingtong initially felt embarrassed, but Wei Ran, upon hearing this, was overjoyed: “Really? Zhou Yan, you’re too good!”
Zhou Yan took the opportunity to make a request: “Can you wash your socks diligently from now on?”
Wei Ran nodded repeatedly: “Absolutely, absolutely!”
Seeing this, Liang Ruixi and Lu Jingtong found it awkward to say anything more.
After getting off the high-speed rail, a dedicated car picked them up. Zhou Yan claimed it was a friend’s family driver, and he’d arranged in advance to borrow the car for a few days to take his classmates around. The driver was in his thirties, he called Zhou Yan “Xiao Yan,” and was very polite to all of them.
The first meal they had after arriving in Nanshi was the local soup dumplings. Although Haicheng also had soup dumplings, Haicheng’s xiaolong bao and shengjian bao were more renowned. Plus, the shop Zhou Yan took them to was a famous one, so it was definitely going to be special.
When the soup dumplings arrived, the aroma filled the air, making Liang Ruixi’s mouth water. He eagerly picked one up to try. With one bite, the soup burst out uncontrollably, flowing all over his chin, making him hiss and puff from the heat.
As he was clumsily eating, a hand suddenly appeared with a tissue, wiping his chin.
Zhou Yan looked at him with an amused expression: “I was just about to remind you to be careful when eating. Why are you in such a hurry?”
Liang Ruixi still remembered Zhou Yan’s gaze at that moment, as if filled with tenderness and affection… he didn’t know how to describe it, it just felt particularly strange. After all, even the best of male friends wouldn’t directly wipe someone else’s mouth. It was like when Jiang Cheng tried to feed him bread last time; his first reaction wasn’t to accept it obediently but to instinctively swat it away.
If it were him seeing Zhou Yan with soup all over his mouth, not only would he not actively grab a tissue for him, he’d probably take the opportunity to tease him a bit as well.
Besides the soup dumpling incident, there were several other times during those few days in Nanshi that made Liang Ruixi feel that Zhou Yan was acting a little off.
To make it easier to spend time with them, Zhou Yan didn’t go home those days but stayed with them. He booked two standard rooms at a hotel in the city center, arranging for Wei Ran and Lu Jingtong to share one, and he shared the other with Liang Ruixi.
The temperatures were quite high those days. The few of them would be drenched in sweat from playing outside all day. One evening, as soon as Liang Ruixi returned to the hotel, he headed straight for the bathroom to shower.
They were all guys, so he didn’t guard against anyone. He came out naked after his shower. Zhou Yan was sitting on the bed looking at his phone at the time and froze when he looked up.
“Why aren’t you wearing clothes?” Zhou Yan’s gaze was piercing.
“Forgot to grab them.” Liang Ruixi casually squatted with his back to Zhou Yan, rummaging through his backpack for a change of clothes. When he stood up, he noticed Zhou Yan was still staring at him.
The other party’s cheeks were flushed, and his eyes were disturbingly dark and intense, even more abnormal than when he watched him eat soup dumplings, just a direct stare.
Although Zhou Yan quickly averted his gaze, Liang Ruixi still felt a bit awkward. He quickly put on his underwear and T-shirt, feigning composure: “Aren’t you going to wash up?”
“I am.” Zhou Yan stood up.
“Which room are Wei Ran and the others in?”
“Next door, 0810.”
“Oh, I’ll go check on them.” He darted off in a flash.
Liang Ruixi wasn’t unaware of homosexuality. In fact, in high school, he had even been confessed to by a rather delicate-looking male classmate. However, that boy’s usual words and actions were somewhat affected, the kind commonly referred to as “sissy,” which made Liang Ruixi feel quite disgusted.
But Zhou Yan was completely different from that guy. In their freshman year, many girls pursued Zhou Yan, and in Liang Ruixi’s eyes, Zhou Yan’s words and actions were perfectly normal.
Yet, Zhou Yan’s gaze at him at that moment reminded him of that high school classmate.
He knew he was handsome and thought it was normal for people to like him, but it shouldn’t be Zhou Yan.
If Zhou Yan also became confused because of this, he would surely be scorned and disliked by others, just as he had scorned that “sissy” back then. That was absolutely not something he wanted to see.
Therefore, after leaving Nanshi, Liang Ruixi deliberately kept some distance from Zhou Yan.
For an entire holiday, he barely replied to Zhou Yan’s WeChat messages and never initiated a single phone call to him.
It was fortunate that it was summer vacation. After he returned to Changshui, he found two part-time jobs locally, giving him an excuse to tell Zhou Yan that he was too busy with work to keep in touch.
While working, he also met an older female acquaintance from his hometown who was also studying at a university in Haicheng, and they got along well. At that point, they hadn’t officially confirmed their relationship, but one day when Zhou Yan messaged him asking what he was doing, Liang Ruixi instinctively replied that he was shopping with his girlfriend.
After that, until school started, Zhou Yan never contacted him again.
The author has something to say:
[Little Interlude]
Liang Ruixi (coming out naked and bold): Straight man, completely fearless.
Years later.
Liang Ruixi (secretly putting on underwear in the bedroom): Scared.jpg
