ATAFBS Chapter 16

Yu Juan’s finger hovered over the red end call button, wanting to press it, but he hesitated for a few seconds.

Then, Zhou Huiyue’s voice came through without the speaker turned on.

It sounded quite distant and rather vague.

He asked, “Is it that hot? Your face looks really red.”

Yu Juan was in a daze for a moment, then saw his own face reflected on the video call floating window and thought that Zhou Huiyue should have been mistaken.

There was a whole cherry rolling around in his mouth, so Yu Juan spoke unhurriedly and at a slower pace than usual, “No, not really.”

It was already too late to hang up now as the best opportunity had slipped by.

Once he swallowed the cherry, the two people chatted casually.

Zhou Huiyue nonchalantly asked, “What are you doing?”

Yu Juan was seated on a chair in the shade of a tree, his phone resting on his knees, and his head was lowered as he swayed slightly. “I’m sorting out bamboo leaves.”

“And also eating cherries.”

Yu Juan had this persistent feeling that their relationship wasn’t quite like what he had initially assumed it to be.

He didn’t intend on befriending Zhou Huiyue and merely hoped that the latter could recover to full health, yet they’ve been eating together these past few days and even occasionally chatted about random things after having exchanged phone numbers.

This was not something he had ever thought of.

This was most probably one of those unexpected surprises in life. Not everything could go according to what he had in mind, after all.

Like how he hadn’t expected to transmigrate into the world of a novel either.

After a while, Grandma Liu scooped up the bamboo leaves Yu Juan was holding. He was mainly responsible to act as a human-shaped rack. There were still some left, but Grandma Liu motioned for him to continue with the phone call first.

Yu Juan shook off the droplets of water on his palm first before picking up his phone.

The sun was shining so brightly that it was completely unpredictable that it would rain in two hours. He listlessly asked, “Do you want some to eat?”

Zhou Huiyue asked, “Cherries?”

Yu Juan nodded. The cherries had just been washed, so they were still wet. He held one with the stem in between his fingertips and waved it in front of the camera, “It isn’t that sweet. It’s really delicious.”

Green eyes, red cherries. The bright colors were right in front of the camera.

Yet Zhou Huiyue said, “I can’t see it clearly.”

Yu Juan still insisted on believing that this person was really annoying. The appearance of the cherry had no influence on the taste, but he still brought the phone closer and aimed the camera to show the cherry again.

For some reason, Zhou Huiyue was also really close to the screen– so close that Yu Juan had the impression that the other was right in front of him.

They’ve never been so close to each other like this. Zhou Huiyue’s face was really handsome. It was just hidden underneath sickness, indifference, and gloominess. His eyes were a bottomless pitch-black color.

They were awfully deep and had the ability to lure people in just like a whirlpool.

Yu Juan slowly blinked as his heart skipped a beat, likely due to the danger he felt.

He returned to his senses and moved back a bit before sullenly asking, “Have you seen it?”

What Zhou Huiyue was thinking of was how the branches and leaves behind set off Yu Juan’s bright red lips.

There was a hint of a smile flickering in his eyes, “I have.”

Yu Juan “oh”-ed before saying, “I’ll be leaving in a short while. I’ll be back before it rains.”

When Grandma Liu saw that he hung up, she asked curiously, “Who was it?”

Previously, he had only been in contact with Zhou Huiyue, and explaining why he had come here was relatively easy.

Yu Juan thought for a moment before saying vaguely, “It’s just that one relative I’ve mentioned previously.”

Grandma Liu smiled affectionately, “What relative? It doesn’t quite sound like it.”

Yu Juan didn’t say anything as he was rather scared of being exposed, so he went to find a bag and filled it with cherries instead.

*

After coming back, Yu Juan shared the zongzis with Zhou Huiyue and specifically pointed out that he had contributed greatly into making them.

Zhou Huiyue really gave him face, saying that they were delicious.

As for the cherries, Yu Juan placed them by the sink in a place easily noticeable.

Yu Juan went back to his room after eating and took a shower. He had been outside the whole morning and was a bit tired, so he was thinking of taking an afternoon nap.

However, once he lay down on the bed, even tossing and turning about still couldn’t make him fall asleep.

These past few days, Yu Juan had been thinking about some important matters that he had yet to make up his mind on.

When he was filling in his college application form, Yu Juan had simply and directly chosen a school. Out of boredom, he decided to look into that school’s information once again.

It was indeed really far away from Baicheng, and the level of professionalism was not that bad either. However, there were still many aspects that Yu Juan was dissatisfied with.

The weather was too cold, the dormitory was shabby, the school rules and regulations were too strict, and it wasn’t allowed to live elsewhere.

Those things weren’t hard to resolve. Just changing schools would be fine.

As he was choosing again, the school that was originally not in Yu Juan’s options, Baicheng University, caught his attention.

Unexpectedly, Baicheng University was really similar to a school in Yu Juan’s original world in almost every aspect. He thought about it for a long time before finally finding a probable reason– Zhou Huiyue had gone to Baicheng University, so there were various depictions of the school in the novel. The author must have referred to reality as they were writing the book, therefore the settings were based on the real world. According to this logic, it was why the two schools were almost exactly the same when the world in the novel came true.

And it was precisely this school that Yu Juan had admired since he was a child, the one he had worked hard to get in.

A simple thing became complicated. Yu Juan stopped trying to pick out another school, though he would involuntarily fall in a daze as he stared at the interface of the college application form.

If he did choose Baicheng University, it would mean Yu Juan would be unable to leave as he would have to stay here for the next few years at least. There was the possibility of being caught right in the middle of the plot of <The Count of Baicheng>.

Yu Juan sighed as he lifted his arm to cover his eyes.

He recalled that when he was much younger, at the age he could still ride a stuffed dog toy, his grandmother would open up educational children books to teach him word by word.

At that time, Yu Juan’s brain had not fully developed yet and he was still a bit ignorant. Whenever he would learn a few words, his grandmother would praise him– so he felt like he was a genius. He heard somewhere that all the smart kids wanted to get into the most renowned school, so he also told his grandmother the same.

Yu Juan’s grandmother had looked at him with a smile, saying that it was definitely possible since he was so smart.

She also said, “No matter which school JuanJuan goes to, grandpa and grandma will accompany you until you graduate.”

Those words were clearly engraved in Yu Juan’s mind.

In the end, that promise was unable to be fulfilled. There was nobody left.

He really wanted to go to Baicheng University in the hopes of completing that promise he made to his family.

Yu Juan moved his arm away, his heart still indecisive.

Should he change it?

Mottled marks, the wrinkles left behind by time, were everywhere on the ceiling. It was because the manor hadn’t been renovated for over a decade, and this wasn’t Yu Juan’s house.

Yu Juan suddenly reacted.

He shouldn’t have been here originally. After making a decision, he did something that was completely different from the original plot so simply.

Since he didn’t approve of his fate as set in the novel, nor did he believe that the Yu family should be able to control him, why should he, for the sake of a far-fetched plot, hesitate and not dare to fulfill a promise? To change himself in order to escape wasn’t Yu Juan’s character.

Once he changed the college choice, Yu Juan unexpectedly didn’t feel relieved. He simply felt that it was something he should’ve done much earlier and fell asleep without any worry.

On the side, the computer still had its screen turned on and was emitting a cold white light.

It was unknown how long he slept for, but when Yu Juan woke up, he only knew that he was feeling really thirsty.

He supported himself with his arms and sat up, leaning against the wall.

The curtains weren’t the thick and heavy kind, but Yu Juan felt like it was too suffocating so he removed them.

Yu Juan could see the gloomy sky through the thin sheer gauze curtains[mfn]there were two layers of curtains, YJ removed one so this is left. just in case it wasn’t clear[/mfn], and he stared at it in a daze for a few minutes before getting up and walking to the kitchen.

He went to the refrigerator and took out a bottle of water. As he turned around with the intention of returning to his room, he unexpectedly bumped into Zhou Huiyue at the doorway.

The rain was once again delayed, so the air was stuffy and humid. Outside, the clouds were dark and heavy.

Zhou Huiyue just happened to be blocking the way. Yu Juan, who couldn’t go out, asked in a slightly unhappy tone, “What are you doing?”

Yu Juan had just woken up and was dressed in a loose t-shirt, looking a bit dazed and still sleepy. He also seemed impatient, in a spoiled manner, from being disturbed, which made him look really cute.

Zhou Huiyue wanted to bother him even more.

In fact, he had only come here when he heard the door opening.

So Zhou Huiyue asked, “I’m about to wash the cherries, do you want some?”

Yu Juan asked in a perfunctory manner, “Hm?”

Zhou Huiyue stated, “Don’t you like them?”

It was something that couldn’t be refuted.

Yu Juan was indeed quite thirsty to the point that his taste buds were almost worn down, so he really needed those cherries. Thus, he went along to Zhou Huiyue’s room.

The windows in the room were intact and able to prevent the things Yu Juan hated from reaching him, so he didn’t need to be as cautious when he walked in.

The porcelain plate with a pile of cherries on it was placed on the table.

Yu Juan picked one up. After eating it, he picked up another. It continued like this until he finally noticed someone’s gaze on him, and he asked, “Aren’t you going to eat?”

Zhou Huiyue said, “You eat.”

Yu Juan propped his cheek up, thinking that Zhou Huiyue was a bit weird.

He didn’t seem to be that interested in cherries, so why did he keep looking at them?

Yu Juan pondered over this matter aimlessly while taking a bite of the cherry.

He then paused all of a sudden, his brows knit tightly as if something inconceivable had happened.

When Zhou Huiyue saw him in such a manner, he moved the wheelchair forward. “What’s wrong?”

Yu Juan lowered his head, his gaze shifting for a second as if he was hesitating over whether to be honest or not.

Zhou Huiyue had never noticed Yu Juan making this kind of face previously, but he was able to guess that this meant Yu Juan was thinking about whether or not to use a lie to cover up his true intentions.

Yu Juan would often act like this, but not all the words he said after hesitating were false.

Yu Juan turned his head away. He knew that Zhou Huiyue was looking at him fixedly, and, under such a gaze, his lies would just be seen through.

Besides, lying was also unnecessary.

Yu Juan said, “…toothache.”

The cherries were a type grown in the village, both sweet and sour with a very refreshing taste. However, eating too many would result in some not-so-pleasant consequences.

Zhou Huiyue couldn’t help but smile.

Yu Juan covered the side of his face with the toothache, feeling the schadenfreude from this person.

Soon enough, Zhou Huiyue gave him a cup of warm water and pushed the porcelain plate to the other side of the table.

Zhou Huiyue asked, “Do you like them that much?”

His toothache had already eased significantly by the time he finished drinking the cup of warm water. Yu Juan then thought for a while, “I’ve never eaten this type before.”

Eating until he got a toothache was also something he had never done before.

Yu Juan looked at Zhou Huiyue absentmindedly, and, as if he had thought about it for a long time, he asked, “Zhou Huiyue, when will you get better? I’ve waited a long time.”

Zhou Huiyue went to eat the remaining cherries, but his expression was unlike Yu Juan’s and he didn’t show whether he liked them or not. “I don’t know.”

“I see,” Yu Juan sighed softly. There was not much disappointment in his tone since it was just a question he had asked on a whim.

Zhou Huiyue raised his eyebrow, asking: “Looks like your mood is quite good today?”

Yu Juan tilted his head slightly, his messy bangs hanging in the air, and nodded just like this.

A short while later, Yu Juan smiled: “No need to guess, you won’t be able to.”

It was as if he knew a protagonist as deeply scheming as Zhou Huiyue would surely be able to guess what he was thinking of.

Would he be able to guess why Yu Juan had come here? If it was really because of that extremely far-fetched and clumsy excuse he had given?

Yu Juan did not care about what other people thought and only did what he wanted to do, but that did not mean he had no thoughts.

Zhou Huiyue ate the last cherry.

He had always been this calm and indifferent. It was as if nothing could affect him. He was a perfect protagonist, the count of revenge who lived in his remote manor.

But he didn’t know where this world was heading towards. He didn’t know the ending of this story nor the reason he was here for, so it was even less likely for him to know about the grudges between the two of them.

Yu Juan lowered his eyes slightly. The corner of his eyes were tinged with a faint red, and he asked as if he was only joking around, “Will you dislike me? Or hate me?”

It was like he was just asking casually without expecting an answer.

Zhou Huiyue said, “I won’t.”

Yu Juan crouched down when he heard this answer. He met his gaze, as if he was trying to determine whether it was true or not.

Zhou Huiyue didn’t blink and looked at Yu Juan calmly. His eyes unexpectedly held a trace of warmth. That icy look he gave on their first meeting, the one that Yu Juan hated and was tormented by, was gone.

Yu Juan snorted lightly, very reluctantly believing him.