Gu Changheng made up an excuse and explained casually, “In my hometown, people like to call others by Ah something. You’re Zhou Li, so I think Ah Li suits you pretty well.”
Zhou Li felt his ears heat up. He always felt that this nickname was really intimate, but Gu Changheng’s explanation left no room for him to object.
He nodded in understanding. “Oh, I see.”
—Zhou Li was tall but very thin, almost skin and bones, which made Gu Changheng feel distressed.
He wanted to help Zhou Li gain a little weight. Just as he was about to propose taking him out to dinner, the bell rang for class. He saw Zhou Li quickly lower his head to flip through his books, looking like he didn’t want to pay attention to him.
In fact, Zhou Li was too shy to look up at Gu Changheng, fearing that his eyes would betray his “dirty thoughts,” so he pretended to rummage through his bag for a book.
With their reunion, Gu Changheng struggled to control his emotions. He didn’t want to appear too excited and aggressive or scare Zhou Li, so he decided to take it slow.
Gu Changheng scanned the classroom and spotted the only empty seat, which he assumed was his. He walked over and sat down.
As soon as Gu Changheng left, Chu Rui leaned closer to Zhou Li and said, “Young Master Gu is so high up there. All the friends around him are from rich or noble families. He never hangs out with us commoners. When did you two become close?”
Zhou Li shook his head. “No, we haven’t.”
—Gu Changheng was unattainable. How could he ever reach him?
Gu Changheng managed to stabilize his emotions from the morning self-study session. As soon as the bell rang for the end of the morning, he came to Zhou Li’s seat again. “Zhou Li, don’t leave after school. I’m taking you out for dinner tonight!”
Zhou Li’s mind went blank and dizzy.
All day long, Zhou Li’s thoughts were occupied by Gu Changheng’s invitation for dinner tonight.
Although it felt strange to be invited to dinner by Gu Changheng, who had never spoken to him before, he couldn’t control his desire to have dinner with Gu Changheng.
He liked him so much.
Perhaps Gu Changheng’s invitation was just a whim or had some hidden agenda.
But it doesn’t matter. Who knows if there will be another chance in the future?
A person like Gu Changheng, if he didn’t like you, even if you threw yourself at him, it wouldn’t matter.
Having a meal together wouldn’t be dangerous. It was better to just treat it as a shared memory!
When the school bell rang, Gu Changheng stood in front of Zhou Li with his backpack and asked, “What do you want to eat tonight?”
“Anything is fine.” Zhou Li had never been to a restaurant since he was a child, and those well-decorated restaurants seemed too expensive.
“Alright, then come with me. I’ll decide!”
“Okay.”
Walking out of the school side by side with Gu Changheng, Zhou Li felt as if he was dreaming. He couldn’t believe he could be this close to Gu Changheng. It was incredible.
The driver Uncle Zhao, who usually drove Gu Changheng to and from school, had parked the car right in front of the school gate.
Gu Changheng led Zhou Li to the car and said, “Get in.”
Zhou Li’s mother gave birth to him and left him to his father and ran away. His father was a drug addict. Because of his drug addiction, the family was so poor that they often couldn’t make ends meet and had to rely on relatives for support.
Zhou Li rarely took taxis. Sitting in this private car that looked very expensive, he appeared very restrained. In his heart, he became even more aware of the big difference between him and Gu Changheng.
To Zhou Li, Gu Changheng was like a cloud floating in the sky, high above and noble, while he himself was a piece of mud that grew in the sewage ditch and couldn’t stand the light…
—A huge difference between clouds and mud.
