“I do…”
She looked at him with a soft, sleepy expression and said, “Then I’ll go with you in the morning.”
He stared at her for a moment before responding in a husky voice, “Okay.”
She stood up and slowly waddled back to the tent like a little penguin.
Pei Chen watched her go, then lowered his gaze, thinking back to the moments they shared while gathering seafood earlier, and the emotions he couldn’t suppress.
Xuan Xia had advised him to go with the flow when it came to Liang Zhiyi’s affection, but the truth was, going with the flow only made him fall for her more each time.
Yet, he still couldn’t bring himself to give her a clear response.
She was innocent and naive, unaware of the real issues between them, and she didn’t fully understand what love truly meant. He was afraid she would regret it or get hurt in the future.
He liked her, but at the same time, he didn’t know how to follow his own heart…
Pei Chen felt like he was sinking deeper into quicksand.
But it wasn’t until later that he realized, no matter how much he struggled, he would eventually fall for her.
°°°
The next morning, just as the sky was beginning to lighten, Pei Chen was awakened by his alarm and got out of bed.
He was used to waking up early; his internal clock was pretty much set.
After getting dressed and washing up, he put some congee on the stove to simmer slowly.
When he returned, he found the other three boys still fast asleep, impossible to wake up, and there was no movement from the girls’ tent either.
He had expected this.
After all, everyone had played so hard the day before that they were too exhausted to get up in the morning.
He waited for a while, but in the end, he didn’t have the heart to wake Liang Zhiyi. Instead, he headed out alone with his tools to gather seafood after the tide had receded.
When he was younger, Pei Yongxia had brought him here to play. It was also Pei Yongxia who took him on his first trip to gather seafood. But after Pei Yongxia was paralyzed, Pei Chen had never returned.
He collected a half-bucket of seafood, and by the time he was done, the sun had already risen. He returned to the campsite, cleaned the seafood, and cooked it into a pot of seafood congee.
The others gradually woke up as the sunlight streamed in. “Oh crap, the sun’s already this high…”
“Haha, you were sleeping like a log…”
Liang Zhiyi came out of the tent after getting dressed, surprised to see Pei Chen cooking congee. “You already went out and gathered seafood?”
“Yeah.”
“Why didn’t you wake me up!” she whined.
She felt disappointed—they had planned to go together.
Pei Chen calmly replied, “Didn’t you sleep well?”
“…”
Alright, she had to admit she did sleep well.
Everyone got up, and when they saw that Pei Chen had already made a pot of seafood congee for them, they all praised him for being so considerate.
After having a bowl of seafood congee in the morning, they went to the beach for a bit more fun before it was time to head back, since they still needed to study for the midterms.
After packing up their things, they boarded the boat back to the dock, and then headed home.
The minivan dropped everyone off along the route, leaving only Liang Zhiyi, Liang Tongzhou, and Xuan Xia in the car.
Just before getting off, Liang Zhiyi received a message: Zhizhi, the knee pads you asked me to buy for you have been shipped to your house. They should arrive today.
The girl smiled brightly at the message and replied: Thank you, Auntie, and please thank Uncle for me too!
Before getting off the van, Liang Zhiyi secretly asked Xuan Xia, “Can you come to class a little early on Monday morning? I need to ask you for a favor.”
“What is it?” Xuan Xia grinned. “Is it something about Pei Chen?”
Liang Zhiyi smiled mysteriously. “You’ll find out when you get here.”
Xuan Xia agreed, “Alright, alright.”
The weekend passed, and on Monday morning, Liang Zhiyi and Xuan Xia arrived at the classroom earlier than usual, just as they had planned.
Before Pei Chen arrived, Liang Zhiyi took out a bag from her backpack and handed it to Xuan Xia. “This is a knee brace I bought for Pei Chen. His leg was injured before, right? I noticed that his old knee brace wasn’t very good, so I thought I’d get him a new one.”
Seeing the boy she liked unable to afford a high-quality knee brace due to financial reasons made her heart ache. She wanted to get him the best knee brace to properly protect his leg.
So, she reached out to her uncle, who used to be a professional athlete. Liang Zhiyi told him that a classmate had asked her for help and requested that he pick out a professional-grade knee brace, disregarding the price.
Xuan Xia took the bag and, after seeing what was inside, exclaimed, “This is the kind of knee brace professional athletes use! Where did you manage to get this?”
It’s not always easy to find genuine products on the market.
“Why don’t you give it to him yourself?” Xuan Xia raised an eyebrow. “He’d be really touched if he knew.”
Liang Zhiyi shook her head. “Absolutely don’t tell him it’s from me. Knowing his personality, he definitely wouldn’t accept it.”
From what happened during the National Day tutoring session, she could tell that he couldn’t easily accept any free gifts from her. And this knee brace was much more expensive than the tutoring fee had been.
Xuan Xia sighed, “You really like Pei Chen a lot, huh.”
The girl’s dimples showed as she smiled. “So, I’m counting on you. Make sure he uses it. I’ll treat you to a meal sometime.”
“Alright, leave it to me.”
Later that evening, during the school team’s practice, Pei Chen was in the locker room changing clothes and was about to put on his old knee brace when Xuan Xia handed him the new one and snatched away the old one.
“I got you a new one. Use this and throw that old knee brace away. How long have you been using it?”
Pei Chen: ?
“Why did you buy me a new one?”
Pei Chen tried to return it, but Xuan Xia insisted, practically shoving it into his hands. “Just put it on and stop arguing. Try it out. I just got it for you on a whim.”
Xuan Xia was one of the few people who could speak to Pei Chen in this manner, mainly because they were close friends, and Xuan Xia knew this approach would work.
The coach was urging them to hurry up and gather, so Pei Chen had no choice but to put on the new knee brace. As soon as he touched it, he could tell the quality was much better than his old one, and it felt more comfortable on his knee.
After they warmed up, Xuan Xia asked him, “How is it? Is the knee brace okay?”
Pei Chen nodded, clearly pleased. “It’s great. Thanks, man.”
“Don’t mention it…” Xuan Xia thought to himself, This isn’t even from me, it’s from that silly girl who likes you. But he didn’t dare take credit for it.
The midterm exams were scheduled for Thursday and Friday.
The exam rooms were assigned based on the rankings from the previous semester’s final exams, with a total of twenty-five rooms. On Wednesday afternoon, the teachers posted the exam room assignments for everyone to see.
After school, Liang Zhiyi went to find Ji Fei’er. As they chatted about where they would be taking their exams, Sang Xunling and Tong Sisi, along with some other students, glanced at Liang Zhiyi and then walked out of the classroom.
As they headed downstairs, Tong Sisi quietly asked Sang Xunling, “By the way, is Liang Zhiyi good at studying? She doesn’t really seem like the type who would be.”
Sang Xunling replied, “Didn’t you hear that she was ranked first in her grade at the branch school?”
“But she’s always hanging around Pei Chen. How could she have time to study?” another friend mocked.
Hearing this, Sang Xunling clenched her fists but then relaxed them slightly.
Sang Xunling was ranked fifth in the grade, and she figured that no matter how well Liang Zhiyi did, she couldn’t possibly surpass her. Although Liang Zhiyi was top of her class at the branch school, there were plenty of top students at the main campus. Sang Xunling expected that Liang Zhiyi would soon find herself slipping into the middle of the pack.
Would Pei Chen really be interested in a girl who doesn’t focus on her studies and doesn’t have great grades? It seemed impossible to her.
Meanwhile, Liang Zhiyi was unaware of the gossip. She continued to focus on her studying.
For her, studying didn’t require much effort, but since this was her first exam at the new school, she wanted to be well-prepared.
Thursday and Friday passed quickly with the midterm exams.
With the exams over, a weight was lifted off the students’ shoulders, and they could now turn their attention to the upcoming high school basketball tournament in Lincheng.
Thirty-two high schools were participating in the tournament, divided into two halves of sixteen teams each, grouped by region. Each group had four teams, and they would first compete in a round-robin group stage, with the top two teams advancing to the round of sixteen.
Lincheng No. 1 High School was in Group A, and their first group match was scheduled for Saturday evening against Lincheng No. 5 High School.
Since it was an away game, they had to travel to No. 5 High School.
Liang Zhiyi had been excited about the first group match for the past two weeks, insisting she wouldn’t miss it. But tonight, Zhong Xinrou insisted on taking her to her grandmother’s house for dinner, and she couldn’t find a way to get out of it, so she had to cancel her plans at the last minute.
On the way to No. 5 High School, Pei Chen received a message from Liang Zhiyi: Pei Chen, something came up with my family, and I can’t watch your game tonight. I’m so sad about it, but good luck! I know you’ll do great!
Pei Chen’s gaze lingered on the screen, almost hearing her voice as if she were saying those words right beside him.
She wouldn’t be there to watch the game.
A sense of emptiness settled in his heart as he turned off his phone.
When they arrived at No. 5 High School, the team was escorted by the school’s support staff to the indoor gymnasium where the match would be held.
With twenty minutes left before the game, several of the boys were warming up. After a while, Xuan Xia suddenly noticed a girl on the opposing Lincheng No. 5 High School team walk up to one of the players, hand him a bottle of water, and then stand on her tiptoes to kiss his cheek.
Immediately, a chorus of teasing and hoots erupted from the crowd.
The boy ruffled the girl’s hair, and it was clear they were a couple.
Seeing this, Xuan Xia chuckled and joked with the other boys nearby, “Wow, they’re really feeding us some dog food here!”
“Yeah, it’s like they’re rubbing it in our faces that everyone on our team is single! Why don’t we have girls bringing us water?”
Nan Zhi chimed in, “Hey, who said we don’t? With Pei Chen and Liang Tongzhou’s looks, there’d be plenty of girls lining up to bring them water, but those two won’t take it! Hahaha…”
Xuan Xia glanced at Pei Chen with a knowing smile, “Well, not necessarily. It’s just that the one who usually brings water didn’t show up today, right?”
Pei Chen’s expression flickered for a moment as he looked over at the couple being all lovey-dovey across the court. He forcibly averted his eyes and didn’t respond to Xuan Xia’s comment.
At 7:30 PM, the basketball game officially began.
During the pre-game analysis earlier in the week, they had determined that Lincheng No. 5 High School wasn’t particularly strong, so Coach Sun Jing planned to hold back their full strength, allowing Pei Chen and Liang Tongzhou to play as substitutes and conserve energy.
The game went smoothly, just as expected.
Pei Chen only played during the third quarter, and although he was on the court for just ten minutes, his performance was still outstanding. Many students who had never seen him play before were impressed by both his skills and his looks.
In the end, Lincheng No. 1 High School won the game without any surprises.
The team from No. 5 High School was quite friendly, too. Knowing they weren’t as strong as No. 1, they exchanged a few words after the game, suggesting they meet again for a friendly match in the future.
After the game, Coach Sun Jing gathered the team for a brief post-game summary, and then everyone was free to leave.
As they were heading out, Pei Chen mentioned that he needed to use the restroom and told the others to head to the school gate first.
Since there were no evening classes, the school building was dimly lit, with only a few lights on in the corridor.
After finishing in the restroom, Pei Chen was about to leave when he heard a girl’s playful, coquettish voice coming from the stairwell nearby.
Instinctively, he turned his head and saw, in the dim light, the boy from No. 5 High School who had been given water earlier. The boy now had the girl in his arms, kissing her passionately.
They were so absorbed in each other that they didn’t even notice Pei Chen.
As a young man inexperienced with relationships, Pei Chen was startled by the sight. It was the first time he had ever seen a couple kissing in person.
It was much more real and more impactful than the scenes in TV dramas that were filtered and acted out.
He was startled, and quickly retracted his gaze and left the teaching building.
He walked towards the school gate, and the scene just now lingered in his mind.
Pei Chen thought of the boy hugging the girl and kissing her in such an ambiguous and silent environment.
Out of control and wild.
The next moment, an inexplicable image of Liang Zhiyi’s youthful face appeared in Pei Chen’s mind, uncontrollably accompanied by the same scene.
In an instant, a strange sensation exploded from his heart, causing his dark lashes to tremble violently.
A sudden wave of heat surged within Pei Chen, making him feel unexpectedly parched.