He took screenshots of the past few days’ chat logs with Yan Chen, removed both their profile pictures and notes, and sent them to Chi Dongting.
It was a lot, so it would probably take some time to read.
Ye Wenyu got ready to continue watching Yan Chen train. Just as he closed WeChat, a Weibo ad popped up from the top of the screen. It was a promoted game ad.
He hadn’t played this game before, but the vaguely familiar name reminded him of another one.
Opening the app store, he typed in the name from memory and clicked to download and install it. Once launched, the interface screamed dreamlike shoujo vibes.
This was a type of game he had never played before, but fortunately the gameplay wasn’t complicated. Overall, it was about changing outfits, drawing cards, and increasing favorability with unlocked characters.
He wasn’t interested in the first two. As for the last one, he only cared about one unlocked character.
With the help of Baidu and detailed guides, he quickly unlocked his target character, Qin Mo.
As his character’s, the “me”, crush in the game, Qin Mo was outstanding in both background and ability; he was almost perfect. As an outstanding dentist, he was also gentle, kind, and easy to talk to.
Ye Wenyu read through Qin Mo’s character profile. As those two classmates had once said, this Qin Mo really was a spitting image of Yan Chen in a two-dimensional world.
He locked onto the character and started the strategy route. There was a brief CG introducing the crush story, and once it ended, the narrative monologue began.
The “me” in the game was a recent college graduate. While looking for an internship, “I” reunited with Qin Mo, a former senior. The long-buried feelings were reignited, and after several fated encounters, “I” decided to muster up the courage to pursue Qin Mo.
The “me” character had a long emotional journey. Ye Wenyu was just reading the line “I should get closer to him and try to touch his world”, when Classmate Chi Dongting popped up again.
Chi Dongting: [Wenyu, we finished reading the chat logs. I have one question. Are you sure that girl really doesn’t like your cousin?]
Ye Wenyu was confused: [Why do you say that?]
Chi Dongting: [Because based on the chat, my sister and I both think that if there weren’t any feelings to begin with, there’s no way anyone could tolerate your cousin’s way of chatting.]
Chi Dongting: [It’s so cringey and awkward, ahhh! Classic small talk with no content, boring and pointless, the entire thing is just filler, a complete waste of time…so stupid! It’s the kind of chat that would make any normal person block the sender after two or three messages!]
Ye Wenyu stared at the screen, dumbfounded.
He had thought things were progressing well. Why did it seem so different from an outsider’s point of view?
Ye Wenyu: [But he didn’t get blocked.]
Chi Dongting: [Exactly. Not only did she not block him, she actually responded to every single one of his stupid messages, and didn’t even seem annoyed.]
Chi Dongting: [So are you sure your cousin and that girl don’t have mutual feelings for each other? What if she likes him, and he’s just too dense to realize it?]
‘…Mutual feelings?’
Ye Wenyu carefully savored the words repeatedly and felt an inexplicable shock in his heart. He couldn’t help but glance at the figure rising and falling in the swimming pool.
But just a moment later, he lowered his head and replied:
Ye Wenyu: [Probably not.]
Ye Wenyu: [That girl has always had a very good personality…she’s patient, meticulous and gentle. He noticed that from the first time they met.]
Chi Dongting: [That’s too good to be true.]
Chi Dongting: [Forget it, let’s just assume your cousin is still in an unrequited love. Either way, this kind of awkward chat method won’t work. It’s better he stops while he still can.]
Ye Wenyu: [But isn’t chasing someone about more communication and more time spent together?]
Chi Dongting: […]
Chi Dongting: [Is this kind of useless communication what you mean by that?!]
Chi Dongting: [Wenyu, listen to me, stop giving your cousin advice. Stop while you’re ahead, I’m really scared you’re going to ruin a perfectly good match.]
Ye Wenyu started to feel uneasy. He kept recalling the details of their interactions over the past few days. Was everything he did really in vain?
Chi Dongting: [Since we’re on the topic, my sister said she has to ask, if this is what you call communication, then what about spending time together? How do they actually spend time together?]
Ye Wenyu: [Eat together, go to class together.]
Chi Dongting: [Can you be more specific?]
Ye Wenyu: [Eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner together. Attend major-related classes together.]
Chi Dongting: [That’s it?]
Ye Wenyu was confused: [What else should there be?]
Chi Dongting: [So it’s just eating and going to class, nothing else?]
Ye Wenyu: [Yeah.]
Chi Dongting: […]
Chi Dongting: [I’m speechless. What is your cousin even thinking? If just eating and going to class were enough to spark something, this world wouldn’t have single dogs!]
Chi Dongting: [I’ll forward my sister’s exact words to you.]
Chi Dongting: [There are many kinds of spending time together. Without ambiguous hints or special treatment, how is it any different from being just friends?]
Chi Dongting: [Communication doesn’t mean treating the other person like a trash can for useless chatter. And spending time isn’t just being physically present. Remember this: without crossing the line and offending the other person, appropriate physical contact works wonders for developing feelings.]
Chi Dongting: [Tell him to be smarter. Don’t wait till some other guy swoops in and takes the girl, and he’s still there stupidly asking whether she wants steamed buns or soy milk for breakfast.]
Chi Dongting: [Also! Tell your roommate to stop giving his cousin advice!]
Ye Wenyu: “…”
He frowned and read Chi Dongting’s messages over and over again, until a notification from the still-open game reminded him if he wanted to close the background process.
He tapped back to the game interface. The character monologue was still stuck where he left off.
—I should get closer to him and try to touch his world.
During the mid-training break, Yan Chen came out of the water, turned, and saw Ye Wenyu sitting with his head down, looking at his phone. When he got closer, he found that the screen of the phone was black. He was not looking at the phone, but just staring at it in a daze.
A jelly cup had rolled out from the shopping bag and lay by his foot. Yan Chen squatted down to pick it up and put it back in the bag, then looked up at Ye Wenyu from that position: “What are you thinking about?”
Ye Wenyu turned his head, saw that Yan Chen was soaked, and silently grabbed a dry towel from the side to help dry his hair.
Yan Chen narrowed his eyes, letting him do whatever he wanted to his head: “What’s wrong?”
Ye Wenyu: “I want to ask you for a favor.”
Yan Chen: “What kind of favor?”
Ye Wenyu’s movements slowed down, as if he was still hesitating to say it.
There was still a lot of time for the break, so Yan Chen waited patiently without rushing him.
After a while, Ye Wenyu finally asked in a low voice, “Will you agree to it?”
Before Yan Chen could reply, he continued seriously, “I helped dry your hair, you took advantage of me, so it would be inappropriate to refuse.”
Even with his eyes closed, Yan Chen couldn’t hide the smile that crept across his face. He went along with him: “Mm, I agree.”
Ye Wenyu: “Teach me how to swim.”
As soon as the words left his mouth, Yan Chen opened his eyes.
Ye Wenyu pressed the towel down and looked at him: “But there are too many people here. I want to go to the swimming pool at your house.”
——
“You see what I said? Wenyu really did just want Yan-ge to teach him how to swim.”
As soon as Yang Liang got the news in the dormitory, he started howling: “Did you see that, Old Dong? I was right, hehe.”
Dong Xi: “…”
He stared at the messages in the dorm group, scrolled back and forth and started to doubt himself. Did he really misjudge the situation?
Yang Liang: “But why go outside? Isn’t our school’s swimming pool very convenient? And it’s lively too.”
Dong Xi blinked, then suddenly let out a long breath of relief. He knew it, there was no way he read it wrong.
“Too many people makes it inconvenient,” Dong Xi tilted his head back and leaned comfortably into his chair. “A blockhead like you wouldn’t understand.”
Just as they were talking, Yan Chen suddenly opened the door and walked in.
Yang Liang exclaimed: “Yan-ge, why are you back? Didn’t you say you were taking Wenyu out to learn swimming today?”
Yan Chen pocketed his keys: “Came back to get something.”
Ye Wenyu followed him in and watched Yan Chen take out a familiar bag from the cabinet. As expected, inside was the pair of swim trunks he had given him back then.
Yang Liang looked at Yan Chen, then at Ye Wenyu, and suddenly had a thought: “You guys are going swimming, can Old Dong and I come along too? We’re on break today anyway. I want to go have fun with you guys…”
Ye Wenyu quickly looked at him: “No!”
Yang Liang was interrupted before he could finish his words. His expression was dull for a moment, and he suddenly felt aggrieved: “Seriously? Wenyu, you rejected me so straightforwardly. To be honest, I am a little hurt.”
Ye Wenyu: “…”
He struggled to explain, “No, it’s just that… if you guys go too… it might be inconvenient.”
Yang Liang: “Why not?”
Ye Wenyu: “Too many people. I… can’t relax.”
“Hey, we’re all so familiar with each other, what’s there to be nervous about?”
Yang Liang even tried to reassure him: “Besides, it’s not that many. Just the four of us in the dorm. There’s no need to be shy. And I can teach you how to swi…ugh!”
Dong Xi locked his throat with his arm and looked at Ye Wenyu with a smile: “He’s just joking. Don’t mind him. We already planned to team up this afternoon and rank up, so we don’t have time to go swimming.”
Yang Liang: “When did we pla…mmph!”
This time Dong Xi directly covered his mouth and said firmly, “We did. Long ago. Don’t flake. I’ll treat you to milk tea tonight.”
Yang Liang: “?”
His mouth was blocked and he couldn’t speak. When Yan Chen and Ye Wenyu left, Dong Xi finally let go, and he could speak again: “When did we say we’d play games? I don’t want to. I want to go swimming with them.”
Dong Xi strolled back to his seat: “Haven’t you had enough of swimming every day?”
Yang Liang: “It’s different. This time it’s to teach Wenyu.”
“Oh please, like you’d be the one teaching.” Dong Xi smirked. “If I hadn’t covered your mouth just now, Yan-ge probably would’ve thrown you out.”
Yang Liang: “Huh? Why throw me?”
Dong Xi: “Blockhead. Who else would he throw if not you?”
–
Yan Chen didn’t take Ye Wenyu to the previous house, but instead drove straight to a standalone villa in the suburbs of Xuancheng.
After getting out of the car, Yan Chen walked ahead to enter the door code. Ye Wenyu looked around and couldn’t help but be surprised: “This is your house too?”
Yan Chen opened the door: “My uncle’s. After they moved to France, they rarely came back.”
Ye Wenyu walked in: “But it looks really clean.”
Yan Chen closed the door behind them: “Someone comes by regularly to clean.”
The suburban villa was bigger and more spacious than the one in the city. Most importantly, it had a small indoor heated pool.
That was something Ye Wenyu had overlooked. The season was moving deeper into autumn and temperatures were dropping. The outdoor swimming pool at the city villa wasn’t suitable for use anymore.
After changing, Ye Wenyu went over. Yan Chen hadn’t arrived yet. The heater in the pool area was already running, and the glass walls blocked the cold wind outside. He squatted down and reached into the water to test the temperature.
“Cold?” Yan Chen’s voice came with approaching footsteps.
Ye Wenyu shook his head, withdrew his hand, and turned around. The moment his eyes landed on Yan Chen, they subtly froze.
There was no other reason…he just hadn’t expected the swim trunks he bought for Yan Chen to be… this short.
In fact, it was just a little shorter and it was not a rare style. But when he thought that he bought it for Yan Chen, he couldn’t help blushing and looked at it for a few more seconds.
“No, it’s not cold.” He turned his head away awkwardly.
Yan Chen placed two dry towels on the lounge chair beside them and walked toward him. “Do you want to get in?”
“Now?” Ye Wenyu glanced at the clear swimming pool hesitantly.
He couldn’t swim and was a little afraid of water. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have given up on swimming, the physical education elective that would give him the easiest way to get a high score in the final exam. If it weren’t for wanting to spend time alone with Yan Chen, he would probably never have thought of learning to swim.
Also, the water was so clear he couldn’t judge how deep it was.
As if reading his mind, Yan Chen said, “This is the shallow end. The depth is 1.8 meters. If you tiptoe, you should barely be able to keep your head above water.”
Ye Wenyu: “…”
He had only one question…was a shallow end supposed to be 1.8 meters deep?
With a splash, Yan Chen entered the pool. As water sprayed up, Ye Wenyu subconsciously turned his head and raised his hand to block it.
When he looked back, Yan Chen was calmly floating in the water in front of him, wiping droplets from his face. “Are you coming in?”
Ye Wenyu hesitated a while, then admitted he still wanted to prepare a bit more.
Yan Chen swam away, giving him time to get ready.
Ye Wenyu sat at the edge and did some mental preparation. He dipped his legs into the water first, and after getting used to the temperature, found it manageable.
Now that we was here, he can’t back out at this time.
He exhaled and wanted to call for Yan Chen, but when he looked up, he didn’t see anyone. Just as he wondered where he had gone, something suddenly grabbed his ankle.
Startled, he lost balance and leaned forward. His hands, which had reached the water surface, happened to land on the shoulders of Yan Chen, who had just surfaced.
Still shaken, he looked up and met the faint smile in Yan Chen’s eyes.
“Come in,” Yan Chen tilted his face up at him, arms open. “I’ll stay with you. I won’t let anything happen.”
Ye Wenyu entered the water.
The suffocating feeling of water rising from his feet to his throat made it hard not to panic. His tension was obvious from the look in his eyes, and Yan Chen caught it all.
“Relax,” Yan Chen softened his voice, meeting Ye Wenyu’s gaze and steadily passing reassurance to him. “I’m here.”
Ye Wenyu clung to Yan Chen’s shoulders, trying his best to relax as instructed.
“Can you feel the buoyancy?” Yan Chen gradually lessened the support under his arms. “Try to use it to float.”
Ye Wenyu could feel it, but what he felt even more strongly was that Yan Chen was about to let go.
The unease from not feeling the bottom of the pool quickly grew at this moment. The weight of the water seemed to press on his chest, forcing him to swallow hard. His eyes opened wider, and his gaze, which was almost glued to Yan Chen’s face, was filled with obvious helplessness.
The exact same expression as when the soup dumpling fell into the swimming pool in summer and had to be rescued.
Yan Chen’s eyebrows softened, and his voice became even lower and gentler: “Don’t be afraid, Wenyu. Trust me.”
He let go completely.
Ye Wenyu’s anxiety peaked the moment he lost Yan Chen’s support. His body floated for barely three seconds before stiffening and sinking fast.
As soon as his chin dipped below water, he panicked. The moment his toes brushed the pool floor, he shut his eyes, wrapped his arms around Yan Chen’s neck, and pressed himself against him.
“No, I can’t, not yet…”
Yan Chen’s eyes flickered, then he quickly wrapped his arms around him, gently soothing his back.
Ye Wenyu couldn’t get used to this unfamiliar territory for the time being and clung tightly to him, unwilling to let go.
Yan Chen gave him time to adjust, his voice close to Ye Wenyu’s ear: “It’s okay, take your time, we still have plenty of time.”
Yan Chen was really patient. Even though Ye Wenyu failed several times, he never showed the slightest bit of impatience. In the end, it was Ye Wenyu who felt embarrassed first and took the initiative to ask if they could try the deep water area.
Yan Chen: “The deep end is two meters deep. No matter how much you tiptoe, it won’t help. Aren’t you afraid?”
Ye Wenyu was quiet for two seconds. “I’m not afraid as long as you’re here.”
Yan Chen ran his wet hand through Ye Wenyu’s hair, then turned his back to the deep end and slowly led him in.
As they drifted farther from the edge, Ye Wenyu grew more and more uneasy. He couldn’t help but grip Yan Chen’s arm tightly. The sound of retreat rang out in his heart several times, only to be forcefully hushed.
“How old were you when you started swimming?” He tried to find something to distract himself.
Yan Chen: “I learned when I was nine.”
Ye Wenyu: “That early?”
Yan Chen: “There wasn’t much to do at home.”
Ye Wenyu suddenly remembered that Yan Chen had been tightly controlled as a child. His parents practically kept him locked inside the house. With no playmates to interact with, he could only find ways to pass the time on his own.
Realizing he might’ve said something wrong, Ye Wenyu was momentarily frustrated and tried to change the subject. Suddenly, the ground beneath his feet vanished and his toes sank downward several inches without touching anything.
He had distracted himself too well and didn’t even notice they had entered the deep end.
Water surged into his nose and he couldn’t open his mouth. In panic, he reached for Yan Chen, but Yan Chen was faster. He grabbed Ye Wenyu by the waist and lifted him out of the water in one swift motion.
For someone who feared water, the sensation of nearly being submerged was terrifying. Ye Wenyu even felt like he’d just survived a disaster. He subconsciously wrapped his hands and legs around Yan Chen and clung to him like a tree sloth.
But Yan Chen’s swim trunks were just too slippery. No matter how he clung, he kept sliding down. In the end, he had to raise his legs and wrap them tightly around Yan Chen’s lean waist.
His heart was pounding like crazy, and he didn’t even notice the sudden tightening of the arms around his waist or the deepened breathing by his ear. He focused only on coughing out the water that had gone up his nose, clinging to his life-saving straw.
But before he could catch his breath, that life-saving straw suddenly moved.
Yan Chen hugged Ye Wenyu and quickly swam to the edge. After setting him down, he silently turned and swam away, his body almost skimming the pool floor as he dove.
Ye Wenyu sat on the edge in a daze, his nose red from coughing. He watched Yan Chen’s defined back gradually blur from view, and as he came to his senses, a chill crept over his heart.
It was over.
He was so useless that he annoyed Yan Chen.
