As the last class was about to end, Ye Wenyu prepared to head to the Art Building.
Chi Dongting hadn’t signed up for the competition, but feeling bored, he decided to tag along for the fun.
Unexpectedly, just as the two arrived downstairs at the Art Building, Ye Wenyu received a call from his counselor, asking him to go to the office immediately.
The counselor said, “Come to my office to pick up a copy, then go to the second floor of the Administration Building to get it stamped. After that, all the procedures for the scholarship will be complete.”
Why did it have to be at this exact moment…
Ye Wenyu couldn’t help but frown. After the call ended, he looked up at the building.
Chi Dongting thought he was worried about leaving him alone and waved his little hand, saying, “It’s fine, Wenyu, you go ahead. I’ll go up myself and let them know you went to find the counselor.”
Ye Wenyu had no choice but to nod and turn back toward the Teaching Building.
After finishing all the procedures, he immediately rushed to the Art Building.
He wasn’t worried that Yan Chen would fail the voice test, but he kept thinking about what Maoqiu had said.
Without him there, Yan Chen didn’t know anyone, and being shy, he would definitely feel uncomfortable.
The more he thought about it, the more uneasy he felt. He couldn’t help but quicken his pace, pulling out his phone to message An Xue to ask if the test had ended. Unfortunately, there was no reply.
Unsure if it was because the test wasn’t over yet and she hadn’t had time to check her phone, Ye Wenyu also sent a message to Chi Dongting. This time, he got a quick response.
Chi Dongting: [It’s almost done. Your reinforcement is amazing! He passed in one go. The class monitor is going to be over the moon.]
Chi Dongting: [They’re taking this time to finalize role assignments. Are you back yet?]
Ye Wenyu: [Yeah, I’m almost there.]
Chi Dongting: [Ok, we’re waiting for you.]
Chi Dongting immediately passed on Ye Wenyu’s message to everyone.
While waiting, others were flipping through their scripts to familiarize themselves. Only he had nothing to do. He looked here and there out of boredom, and then glanced at their class’s powerful reinforcement…
‘Hm? Why did the clothes look so familiar?’
“Here, Yan Chen.”
Just as Chi Dongting was about to speak, An Xue bounced over with her phone. “Thanks for your hard work. Please join the group chat. We’ll discuss everything related to the project there, and if you have any questions, you can ask directly in the group.”
Yan Chen joined the group but before he opened the member list, he caught the figure appearing at the door out of the corner of his eye.
An Xue: “Since you’re the only one in the group who’s not a French major, we were planning to assign someone to guide you, but seeing you now, it seems you might not need that…”
“I need it,” Yan Chen said.
“Ah?” An Xue was interrupted and was momentarily stunned.
Yan Chen put down his phone. “I’m lacking in professional aspects and need someone to guide me.”
‘Is… is that so?’
An Xue choked up.
From the audition just now, she really hadn’t noticed where Yan Chen was lacking.
But since Yan Chen himself had requested it, she couldn’t refuse. She could only say, “Alright, you can choose whoever you think is suitable, or we can discuss it…”
“I’ll guide him,” Ye Wenyu said as he entered from outside, his breathing still a bit uneven. “We know each other. It’ll be more convenient for me to guide him.”
An Xue asked Yan Chen for his opinion. “Is that okay? Let Wenyu guide you.”
Yan Chen nodded. “Okay.”
An Xue: “Great, if there are no objections, it’s settled. Wenyu, the new member is in your care.”
Ye Wenyu: “Alright.”
“Everyone,” An Xue clapped her hands, “the dubbing group is now fully assembled. Everyone, go over your scripts and familiarize yourselves. If you have any questions, please bring them up. We’ll do a quick run-through soon, and the rest will be arranged tomorrow.”
By this time, most people in the building had left, leaving behind a quiet atmosphere. In the classroom, only the occasional rustling of flipping pages and low murmured discussions could be heard.
Ye Wenyu had just sat down beside Yan Chen, and before he could say a word, Chi Dongting, who was sitting on Yan Chen’s other side, leaned over the desk and called out to him, “Wenyu! Wenyu!”
Ye Wenyu had no choice but to respond, “What is it?”
Chi Dongting: “Look, Yan Chen’s wearing a training uniform. Isn’t it exactly the same as the one you donated to the children in the mountain area?”
“?!” Ye Wenyu was momentarily confused. What donation to the mountain area?
However, in the next second, long-buried memories suddenly resurfaced, and his back stiffened instantly.
It turned out this page of the past had to be flipped open right in front of the person involved, huh?
He couldn’t help but glance at Yan Chen, only to find that Yan Chen was also looking at him, seemingly asking with his eyes, “Am I the child from the mountain area?”
Ye Wenyu: “…”
Chi Dongting, who was still innocent, added, “If you had stayed a few more days, we could’ve uncovered the truth. What a pity! You donated it so quickly I only saw you wear it once.”
With the person concerned sitting right there, Ye Wenyu felt mixed emotions. He opened his mouth helplessly, but couldn’t find the words to say.
Would Yan Chen think he was weird?
Would he be angry?
Would he regret coming to help him?
What should he do if Yan Chen really got upset?
How should he apologize to him?
And how should he explain?
His mind was a complete mess when suddenly a flash of white appeared, and Yan Chen placed his script in front of him.
With his fingertips tapping on it, Yan Chen asked him, “Teacher Ye, how do you read this?”
Ye Wenyu’s chaotic thoughts were instantly cleared by this “Teacher Ye”, and he lowered his head to look at where he was pointing.
“Amphigourique,” he said, “Here it’s a derivative of amphigouri.”
Yan Chen nodded in understanding and pointed to another line: “What does this sentence mean? It’s skipped in the translation.”
Ye Wenyu: “It’s slang in French, meaning silent like a carp…”
Yan Chen kept asking a few more questions, and seeing they were discussing serious matters, Chi Dongting sensibly stopped bothering them and pulled out his headphones to play games.
After Chi Dongting retracted his head, Yan Chen also stopped asking.
Ye Wenyu quickly realized that Yan Chen was not really confused, he was just trying to help him out of the embarrassment.
Such excessive thoughtfulness and understanding made Ye Wenyu feel guilty.
“Sorry.” Afraid that Chi Dongting would hear, he apologized very softly but still couldn’t come up with a proper explanation afterward.
He didn’t know how to explain. Was he supposed to say he had lied to his roommate on a whim?
Yan Chen’s gaze swept over his face and landed on his hands gripping the pen.
His thumb and forefinger were slowly and continuously spinning the pen, accurately conveying his slight unease and frustration, with every knuckle tinged faintly red.
“It’s okay.” Yan Chen’s tone was not loud, carrying a subtle hint of comfort. “You guessed quite accurately, my home is indeed in the mountains.”
It seemed he really didn’t take this matter to heart, and he even joked with him.
Ye Wenyu let out a sigh of relief, but inevitably began to feel he had gone too far.
From the beginning when Yan Chen lent him clothes out of kindness, to later joining the dubbing group to help them, and now forgiving him unconditionally for his nonsense, even going out of his way to help him out of awkwardness.
Yet he had always approached Yan Chen with ulterior motives and selfish intentions.
This stark contrast made his guilt even heavier.
“I’ll be helping you during this period. If you have any questions or don’t understand anything, you can ask me.”
The original plan had to continue, and he could only try to make up for it in other ways: “Anytime is fine, as long as I see it, I will reply.”
Yan Chen pressed his palm lightly on the script: “If there are too many questions, won’t it trouble you?”
“It won’t.” Ye Wenyu shook his head and gave a very firm answer: “It won’t be any trouble.”
Yan Chen let out a small hum and did not decline further: “Sorry for troubling Teacher Ye.”
Ye Wenyu felt embarrassed being called “Teacher” and became even more ashamed: “You don’t need to be so polite. I don’t really count as a teacher. Just call me by my name.”
Yan Chen looked at Ye Wenyu, and soon his thin lips curved slightly: “Mm, Wenyu.”
The tone was so natural, as if he had called him that countless times before.
–
On the way back from eating at the cafeteria, Chi Dongting suddenly let out a sigh.
Ye Wenyu didn’t react.
Chi Dongting sighed again, louder.
Ye Wenyu still didn’t react.
Chi Dongting: “…”
Chi Dongting: “Sigh!”
Ye Wenyu finally came back to his senses: “What’s wrong?”
“Since coming out of the Art Building, you’ve been absent-minded,” Chi Dongting asked him, “What are you thinking about?”
Ye Wenyu: “Nothing.”
Chi Dongting: “Your neck is still a bit red.”
“…It was stuffy in the cafeteria.” Ye Wenyu touched his face and quickly changed the subject, “Why were you sighing? Did something happen?”
Chi Dongting pouted: “It’s not me, it’s you, Wenyu. I’m a bit worried about you.”
Ye Wenyu was puzzled: “Why are you worried about me?”
Chi Dongting: “During such a long period of preparation for the competition, are you going to be coaching Yan Chen one-on-one?”
Ye Wenyu thought for two seconds: “I think so.”
Chi Dongting’s face wrinkled up: “Even though he’s very awesome, he feels so cold and hard to approach. It’s not easy to get along with him at all. You’re so good-tempered, you might get bullied.”
‘So it was this.’
“Don’t worry, I won’t.” Ye Wenyu reassured him, “He’s not cold. He just doesn’t talk much because he’s not familiar with everyone yet and is shy.”
‘Shy?!’ Chi Dongting did not agree with Ye Wenyu’s wording.
‘Was that shyness?’
That was clearly “strangers keep away” written in capital letters.
Chi Dongting: “But he barely talked to us. Other than during the voice test, he barely opened his mouth. Only after you arrived did he seem a bit better.”
Ye Wenyu thought, ‘As expected, when I wasn’t there, Yan Chen must have felt really uncomfortable surrounded by strangers.’
It seems that he had to be careful next time and not leave him alone until everyone got familiar with each other.
“Maybe he just looks cold.” Ye Wenyu said, “Don’t worry, he’s actually easy to talk to.”
Chi Dongting’s head was filled with big question marks.
Really?
How come he didn’t see it at all?
But since Ye Wenyu said so himself, he couldn’t argue and could only silently pull out his phone to send An Xue a message:
Chi Dongting: [Class Rep, please pay more attention to Wenyu during dubbing practice, don’t let him get bullied!]
An Xue: [?]
After returning to the dormitory, Ye Wenyu opened WeChat. The newly added friend hadn’t sent him any messages yet, so it seemed there were no problems for the time being.
However, their chat box was empty, with nothing but the notification automatically sent by the system when the friend request was accepted, along with Yan Chen’s profile picture. Looking at it made Ye Wenyu feel like he was leaving Yan Chen awkwardly alone.
Should he send him something?
But what could he say that would sound natural and not deliberate?
He started to regret it. He shouldn’t have said everything back at the Art Building, otherwise, he wouldn’t have nothing to say now.
After lights-out, as he lay in bed, he tapped on Yan Chen’s profile picture and entered his Moments, trying to find a topic.
Just like him, Yan Chen’s Moments hadn’t set any limit for visibility over a certain period. The records were simple, mostly just pictures without any captions.
Ye Wenyu had heard people talk about Yan Chen’s family background, but he couldn’t see any trace of it. At least from his Moments, he didn’t seem to have the slightest aura of a rich young master.
Sometimes it was a silhouette at sunset, or the windowsill littered with dead leaves after heavy rain, giving people a quiet and comfortable feeling. But after looking at it for a long time, it would make one feel a kind of subtle loneliness.
Once Ye Wenyu entered, he didn’t come out.
He didn’t know how far he scrolled down, nor did he know when he fell asleep. When the alarm vibrated and woke him, the sky outside was already bright.
He raised his hand to cover his eyes and squinted for a while before fumbling for his phone to turn off the alarm.
The screen was still on Yan Chen’s Moments. He tapped back and accidentally found that there were dozens of new message notifications in his own Moments.
He was sure he hadn’t posted anything yesterday, nor had he replied to anyone’s messages. Then where did all these notifications come from?
He clicked in with confusion, and when the long list of notifications appeared, he was stunned.
It turned out that while he was scrolling through Yan Chen’s Moments last night, Yan Chen was also browsing his.
The only difference was that Yan Chen generously liked every single post he had one by one.
