Happy April Fool"s day! As much as I would like to screw with you all this is already a very enjoyable chapter so enjoy it with the happiest song I can find in my playlist. Song name translates to “Another me”
-h.e.l.li
Chen Qianqing sat in the dorm and played with the hamster.
Zhu Mao raised Lumpy very well. It was fat, fluffy, and even enjoyed curling up into a ball. Chen Qianqing put Lumpy in his hands and watched as it munched on a piece of apple.
This was the scene Zhu Mao saw when he returned.
Truthfully, ever since Chen Qianqing had returned to school, he had always felt that Chen Qianqing was less popular than before; perhaps, it may be easier to get along with him now, but it still felt like you could never get close to him.
Zhu Mao felt that Chen Qianqing appeared way better when he was holding Lumpy. He said: “Qianqing, I bought some oranges, do you want some?”
Chen Qianqing did not even turn his head: “Nope.”
Zhu Mao nagged: “You don"t usually eat much, and you don"t like fruits either, how is your body going to hold up like this?”
It was not as if Chen Qianqing was eating less because he was picky, but it was simply because he lacked the appet.i.te to do so. Nothing could catch his attention, and it was because of this that he started to eat less. But hearing what Zhu Mao had to say, he spoke: “Give me an apple then.”——It would have been fine if it was just him, but he must never ruin Chen Qianqing"s body.
Chen Qianqing looked down to see the peeled orange. He was not too big a fan of oranges, but fruits were not as abundant here in the school as in Lu Zhengfei"s house, so this was just the same.
Zhu Mao turned on his laptop and said: “Qianqing, are you going for the last cla.s.s the day after tomorrow?”
Chen Qianqing stuffed a slice of orange into his mouth, and responded without even turning back: “Of course. What, are you going to skip cla.s.ses?”
Zhu Mao coughed and spoke cautiously: “Then, if the lecturer were to take attendance, could you help me out……?”
Chen Qianqing"s paused for a moment. He felt rather suspicious: “You"re not going to cla.s.s?” Zhu Mao was famous for being a stop student, besides the days when he really got sick, he went to practically every single cla.s.s. But now he actually needed his help in taking attendance, the sun didn"t just rise from the west, did it?!
Zhu Mao sighed: “It"s not like I don"t want to either, but it"s the holidays soon and I only managed to buy the afternoon train tickets, I definitely won"t be able to catch the cla.s.ses in the afternoon……”
Chen Qianqing was shocked: “The holidays are coming again?”——But why does it feel like school just started not long ago?
Zhu Mao said: “Besides going to cla.s.s all you do is sit in the library, you"re even starting to confuse yourself……Isn"t it already the 29th?”
Chen Qianqing chewed on his orange and suddenly remembered a problem……He hadn"t bought the train tickets home yet.
Zhu Mao: “Qianqing, what"s up with you?”
Chen Qianqing swallowed his orange and said: “Alright, I"ll help you out.”
Only then was Zhu Mao able to relax. Cla.s.s was a pitifully empty sight right before the holidays; it would be good if the lecturer was understanding, otherwise, things would not go well if they suddenly decided to take attendances.
It was only after being reminded by Zhu Mao that Chen Qianqing remembered he had to go home for National Day. But the problem was, he still had not bought the tickets yet……
After a long moment of hesitation, Chen Qianqing decided to give Lu Zhengfei a call.
Lu Zhengfei was quite surprised to have received Chen Qianqing"s call. Normally, he would be the one to contact Chen Qianqing, and to call him out for lunch. Trying to call him was like trying to invoke his ancestors from the heavens. To think that Chen Qianqing would actually take the initiative to call him today……
However, Lu Zhengfei"s pretty pink bubbles were quickly popped in the next moment, Because Chen Qianqing"s first words were: “Lu Zhengfei, can you help me get a train ticket to C City?”
Lu Zhengfei had not even the time to be happy for two seconds when a bucket of cold water had been dumped over him. He said: “Chen Qianqing, are you teasing me?”
Chen Qianqing responded: “I what?”
Lu Zhengfei snorted: “Your mom told me to go back and enjoy ourselves with you, I didn"t buy any train tickets, but I have the plane tickets for the night of 30th, do you want them or not?”
Chen Qianqing: “……Can you get just one?”
Lu Zhengfei responded: “Yeah there"s just one, one for you, one for me.”——There was no way he did not know what Chen Qianqing was implying, he just pretended to be ignorant.
Chen Qianqing could also figure out that Lu Zhengfei was just acting the fool, so he just hung up the call.
Lu Zhengfei felt his anger coming up when he heard the beeping from the receiver. Ever since Chen Qianqing relented, he found it exceptionally hard to deal with Chen Qianqing. If he got angry, then Chen Qianqing would just look at him innocently, almost as if he was trying to ask: I"ve already compromised with you, what are you still getting angry for? It completely deflated Lu Zhengfei"s temper.
And this was the greatest difference between the Chen Qianqing of the past, and the Chen Qianqing now; take this matter for example, if the past Chen Qianqing ever heard Lu Zhengfei say he wanted to go home with him for the holidays, then they might have broken out into a huge argument; or, he might even find a way to run home by himself. But the current Chen Qianqing was different, he knew there was no way to change the status quo, so he might as well accept it. For him to just hang up on him actually made Lu Zhengfei feel even more miserable.
When dealing with Lu Zhengfei, you could only be soft. The softer you are, the more confused he would be on what to do; this was what the past Chen Qianqing never knew, and also what the current Chen Qianqing had fully implemented into his routine.
After hanging up on Lu Zhengfei, Chen Qianqing was not in much of a better mood either. He had once been to Chen Qianqing"s house in his past life, but the purpose of his first visit was to threaten Chen Qianqing; and the second was to attend the funeral of Chen Qianqing"s mother. Neither of them had been good memories.
Chen Qianqing washed the juices of the apple off his hands and thought: in this life, there was simply too much he needed to repay.
On the 31st of October, Zhu Mao took up his suitcases in the afternoon and left for the train station. Chen Qianqing took a nap and went off to cla.s.s leisurely.
After his cla.s.ses, he returned to the dormitory once more to get his luggage before he headed to the school gates, and into Lu Zhengfei"s car.
Lu Zhengfei was wearing a green vest over a white shirt, and a pair of jeans below that. When you add in that harmless smile on his face, it looked like his age had been dragged back to look just as youthful as Chen Qianqing.
Seeing this appearance caused the hair on Chen Qianqing"s skin to rise. The one thing he could not stand was Lu Zhengfei"s seemingly pure smile, it really tempted him to slap that off his face——It sort of gave him the same feeling of disappointment a father would feel when looking at his unachieving son.
After Chen Qianqing put his luggage in the trunk, he went over to sit very unwillingly beside Lu Zhengfei.
Lu Zhengfei spoke: “Let"s go to the airport first, otherwise, we would be in trouble if we were late for our flights for getting caught in traffic.”
Chen Qianqing nodded.
And so the driver headed for the airport. Travelling would always be a very painful thing go to through during the big holidays; you would find a sea of people practically everywhere you went, Chen Qianqing had no desires to even leave his house at all——Well, alright, there"s always exceptions. If the one going out with him was the original Chen Qianqing, then he would be pretty happy about it. Thinking about this, Chen Qianqing threw a repugnant look at the Lu Zhengfei who was trying to suppress his joy.
Chen Qianqing endured for a long time, but he did not end up dumping a bucket of cold water over Lu Zhengfei. Instead, he took out his phone and gave Liu Huamei a call.
Liu Huamei knew that Chen Qianqing was going to come home, so for him to call now must be to confirm his time of arrival. She spoke: “Qianqing, when will you arrive home?”
Chen Qianqing responded: “No, I"ll be taking the plane tonight with Lu Zhengfei, we might be able to reach there by eleven.”
Liu Huamei was confused: “Do you have enough money for a plane ticket? Remember to call if you don"t, and I thought I heard you say you were taking the train when I asked two days ago, how come you"re suddenly taking the plane?”
Chen Qianqing responded: “Well, I wanted to go home sooner, don"t you miss me, mom?”
Liu Huamei laughed: “You little rascal, your mouth is getting sweeter these days. Alright, mom will make you a snack when you reach home, what do you feel like having?”
Chen Qianqing said: “Anything"s good, I like anything you make.”
The mother and son pair chatted for a while longer before Liu Huamei hung up with reluctance.
He thought that if they headed straight to the airport after cla.s.s that they may not encounter as much traffic, but they still got stuck on the highway. Lu Zhengfei looked at the time: “Are you hungry yet?” It was already time for dinner now, but with the current situation at hand, they may not be able to have dinner.
Chen Qianqing responded: “I"m not hungry……”
Hearing his response, Lu Zhengfei had still taken out a piece of chocolate and handed it to Chen Qianqing: “Don"t you like to eat these? I asked someone to bring these over just for you.”
Chen Qianqing should have been one to enjoy chocolates, but Chen Qianqing was very familiar with this piece of chocolate——That was because these were made personally by him in the past.
There was no need to describe what a ridiculous sight that piece of chocolate was when it was the fumbling Lu Zhengfei himself who made it. And when he handed that piece of chocolate over to Chen Qianqing, the original Chen Qianqing did not even spare it a glance before throwing it straight into the bin.
At that time, Chen Qianqing had never been picky about chocolates, but of all the ones he threw, he threw the ones made personally by Lu Zhengfei.
Even if it was Lu Zhengfei, you had to admit: that"s life.
After Chen Qianqing threw Lu Zhengfei"s chocolate into the trash, Lu Zhengfei waited until Chen Qianqing had left to secretly dig out that piece of chocolate, and ate it silently by himself.
From then on, he had never again attempted to make any more gifts for Chen Qianqing with his own hands; because he knew, the things Chen Qianqing wanted would never be things that he could ever provide.
And right now, it was he himself who had returned to the past to receive them; these were the chocolates made by the younger version of himself.
Chen Qianqing took the chocolate, opened the wrapper, and took a bite. It was slightly bitter, but the rich flavour of chocolate spread through his mouth along with the silky texture that was very pleasing. He took another bite and pretended not to have seen that look of antic.i.p.ation in Lu Zhengfei"s eyes, calmly throwing out a sentence: “Thanks, the taste is not bad.”
Lu Zhengfei"s eyes lit up in an instant like the stars in the night sky. Chen Qianqing turned his head towards the window, and he did not know why, but he suddenly found it very hard to swallow that thing in his hands.
The young Lu Zhengfei was so eager to see warmth in Chen Qianqing"s eyes, but the methods he used, matched with Chen Qianqing"s stubborn character, doomed the start of their relationship, and the end of their relationship would never improve either.
The real Chen Qianqing would never accept this piece of chocolate, the one to swallow it down at the end was still he himself.
A Chen Qianqing who could accept Lu Zhengfei, would no longer be able to be Chen Qianqing.
yes unachieving is not a real word leave me alone mom