MNL Chapter 87

Chapter 87: A Prophecy Fulfilled

Under Yan Zhe’s enthusiastic invitation, the four of them ended up at a newly opened, large, upscale KFC nearby.

Yan Zhe tossed his phone aside, “Order whatever you want, it’s on me!”

The other three: “…”

Lin Jiayu immediately began to comply insincerely, “Wow, Boss Yan, you’re so generous, I’m practically worshipping you~”

Yan Zhe smiled slightly, “None for you.”

Lin Jiayu immediately started ordering.

Yan Zhe’s parents were both in business, and he usually had a lot of pocket money. Buying Jiang Pei’s albums and concert tickets costing thousands of yuan didn’t even make him blink. This led to him spending money like water at times, and tightening his belt and mooching off others at other times.

In the end, the four of them ordered two family bucket meals, which Xu Jing ended up paying for.

“Xu Jing, thanks to you this time, otherwise we would have really been in trouble.”

Yan Zhe ate with his mouth full of grease, and Lin Jiayu, disgusted, directly intervened.

Xu Jing only drank two sips of cola and didn’t touch anything else, saying indifferently, “What was the reason this time?”

“This time it has nothing to do with me, this time it was Lin Jiayu who caused the trouble.”

Lin Jiayu coughed and said, “The gang phenomenon at No.4 High School is much more serious than in middle school. The one who called Ning Shen earlier is a famous thug at our school. He acts arrogantly because his older brother works at the police station. Recently, he’s fallen for a girl in our class, and the other day that girl confessed to me, and then you saw what happened.”

Xu Jing frowned, “Do you two want to fight for the rest of your lives?”

Although the tone of this sentence wasn’t pleasant and had a lecturing tone, both of them knew Xu Jing’s temper and weren’t unhappy. Lin Jiayu shook his head, helplessly saying, “There’s no way around it. You’ll be assimilated in an environment like No.4 High School. Everyone around you is fighting. If Yan Zhe and I don’t fight, then we’re the odd ones out, and we’ll become the next targets.”

Xu Jing was silent for a while and looked at Yan Zhe, “Didn’t you want to get into e-sports?”

Yan Zhe was eating intently, not even raising his head, “Don’t even mention it. I thought I was a naturally talented player, but I went to a club last time and realized I wasn’t even fit to be an assistant.”

After finishing a spicy chicken burger, Yan Zhe said nonchalantly, “Xu Jing, you don’t have to worry about us two. Youth has no limits, we’ll take it one step at a time.”

With Yan Zhe’s mentality and optimism, he could actually succeed at anything, but this person only had a three-minute attention span for everything, and he would start giving up on many things as soon as they showed a slight improvement.

Everyone has their own destiny, and Xu Jing was too lazy to worry about it.

Yan Zhe asked, “By the way, why are you two here at this time?”

Xu Jing said, “Taking a walk.”

Lin Jiayu didn’t understand, “Huh? What’s so good about walking in a place like this with no one around, it’s not like you’re a young couple.”

These words slipped out without thinking. By the time Lin Jiayu reacted, the whole scene had gone silent. Yan Zhe, upon hearing this, felt that even the chicken leg in his hand wasn’t tasty anymore.

Xu Jing remained expressionless. Only a few minutes later, he left a sentence saying he was returning to school, and left with Shen Yan.

Yan Zhe kicked Lin Jiayu and scolded, “Why the hell did you have to say something like that? Don’t you know Xu Jing will overthink it?”

Lin Jiayu also looked a little annoyed, muttering, “I didn’t actually mean it that way, it’s just that I forget sometimes. Besides, could you accept it?”

On one side was his revolutionary friendship with Xu Jing, and on the other was a straight man’s self-cultivation. After struggling with the two thoughts in his mind for a long time, Yan Zhe finally had a look of acceptance and said, “I accept this KFC.”

The sky was dimming, but not yet dark. The two walked on their own, Xu Jing was thinking about something and didn’t pay attention to the road ahead. It wasn’t until a hand suddenly reached out and stopped him that Xu Jing looked up and realized he almost bumped into a tree.

As Shen Yan was about to retract his hand, Xu Jing took the initiative to grab it and put it in his pocket without allowing refusal.

A calm voice came from beside his ear.

“Shen Yan, I’m different from before.”

If he had encountered the things that happened today before, he would have overthought things, becoming timid and retreating. But now he would stand firmly in place, just like he had just held Shen Yan’s hand, without hesitation.

Shen Yan softly hummed in agreement, “I know.”

Xu Jing added, “You’re different from last year too.”

“Oh?”

“Your hand wasn’t this cold last year.”

Shen Yan thought there was a deeper meaning in Xu Jing’s words and turned his head to find the person beside him looking normal, so he smiled and said, “Maybe I’m just getting old.”

Clearly, he was just trying to look cool and not wearing enough clothes.

Xu Jing snorted, “Stop pretending.”

When the two returned to the classroom, they were a few minutes late. Fortunately, it was Liang Yin’s class, and she let them in after they called out a greeting.

“Now that everyone’s here, let’s quickly go over the answers. We’ll go over the exam in detail tomorrow.”

A student asked, “What’s the point of going over the answers?”

Liang Yin smiled, “What are your suggestions?”

The whole class chorused, “Watch a movie!!”

Liang Yin agreed readily.

However, before the cheers could last long, the class became quieter and quieter from the moment Liang Yin announced the answers. In the end, the whole class was as silent as death.

Cha Fei’ang looked at his answer sheet, where he had gotten three multiple-choice questions wrong in a row, and couldn’t help but shout, “Teacher, did you give the wrong answer?”

As soon as he said that, the whole class echoed his sentiments.

“Yeah, teacher, this is messing with my head.”

“Can you believe I only got two questions right on the first page?”

“Heh, I only got one right.”

Liang Yin interrupted the rising discussion, saying, “The multiple-choice questions on this test were indeed not very good, and there were ambiguous situations with the answers, so the overall accuracy rate for the entire grade was less than 35%.”

Everyone was satisfied now. Cha Fei’ang glanced at Xu Jing’s answers and found that even Xu Jing had gotten several wrong. He grinned uncharitably.

Xu Jing saw it and said, “Those are the answers on my test.”

Cha Fei’ang’s smile froze, “Ah, then how many multiple-choice questions did you get wrong?”

Xu Jing: “None.”

Cha Fei’ang: “…Are you happy seeing me cry?”

Xu Jing: “Yes, louder.”

Cha Fei’ang immediately leaned on Liang Ge’s shoulder, “Wuwuwu, I don’t want to live anymore.”

Liang Ge immediately jumped up, “Don’t do that, bro! I’m homophobic.”

Liang Yin chose a new movie that had just been released a while ago, “Border Town”. Many of the boys weren’t interested in it and either slept on their desks or played tic-tac-toe.

The lights in the back row weren’t turned off. Xu Jing didn’t leave the classroom either, but quietly read a book with his head propped up.

Shen Yan first realized the change in his emotions during that activity class. At that time, he and Xu Jing still didn’t get along. Because the weather was nice, everyone went to the playground, but he was the only one who thought it was too noisy and came back.

Walking in from the front door, Shen Yan immediately noticed the person reading in the corner: delicate and aloof features, black headphones wrapped around his ear, the collar of his school uniform buttoned neatly. As if he saw something interesting, the boy very lightly tugged at the corner of his mouth. That smile was gentle and shallow, like a warm summer night breeze, rippling across his calm heart.

The sound from the playground was distant and lingering. Shen Yan stood at the door for a long time. At that moment, he suddenly wanted to know what Xu Jing was reading.

Shen Yan approached and found that his deskmate was currently reading “Finnegans Wake”. He vaguely remembered that Xu Jing was reading “The Red and the Black” a week ago.

While others were reading about domineering CEOs falling in love with me, or rebirth as a top immortal, Xu Jing had already read countless Western classics from the last century. But Shen Yan knew that Xu Jing wasn’t just skimming, but really understood them.

It was strange that his deskmate couldn’t even understand what his peers were thinking, but could actually understand these books.

“Are you bored?” Xu Jing glanced at the person who was almost sticking to him.

“Not bad, just curious what you’re reading.”

As he spoke, Xu Jing turned another page. While pressing down on the book, he took another one out of his drawer with one hand.

“Here, take a look.”

Shen Yan glanced at it.

Damn it.

“The Bible.”

Shen Yan laughed in exasperation, but in order not to disappoint Xu Jing’s good intentions, he still took it.

Five minutes later, Xu Jing turned his head and saw that the person next to him had already fallen asleep, his left hand resting on the back of his neck, and his right index finger still pressing on the first page of “The Bible”.

Xu Jing shook his head and smiled silently.

Cha Fei’ang made his third invitation to Liang Ge tonight, “Deskmate, are you really not considering a tense and exciting game of tic-tac-toe with me?”

“Ugh, don’t bother me.” Liang Ge ruthlessly pushed away Cha Fei’ang’s hand, staring intently at the big screen.

The picture quality of the movie was comparable to a middle school chemistry experiment. Cha Fei’ang had question marks all over his head, “No, what’s so good about this?”

Liang Ge replied without looking away, “Don’t you think Cui Cui is a lot like someone we know?”

Cha Fei’ang’s brain worked at lightning speed for a long time, but in the end, he gave up. “I can’t think of anyone. Who?”

“The class representative!” Liang Ge’s tone was as firm as if he were joining the party.

“…Huh?” Cha Fei’ang looked at the big screen again and said, “Were your eyes pecked out by a chicken? She looks nothing like the class representative.”

“Nonsense, I’m not talking about looks.”

“Then what are you talking about?”

“I can’t describe it, it’s just that I feel like their styles, no, their backgrounds and fates, no… how do you say it.” Liang Ge tried his best to grasp the noun that had just flashed through his mind.

“Soul.”

Xu Jing’s calm voice sounded from behind.

“Yes, yes, yes, that’s the soul!” Liang Ge looked at Xu Jing with a look of finding a kindred spirit.

Xu Jing didn’t even raise his head and turned another two pages of the book.

“Are you guys speaking human language? How come I can’t understand a single word? Shen Yan, you—”

Cha Fei’ang was just about to find someone who was on the same team as him when he was interrupted by Xu Jing’s cold gaze.

Seeing that Shen Yan was sleeping, Cha Fei’ang didn’t dare to disturb him, covered his mouth, turned his head, and continued to play his single-player tic-tac-toe.

After school, most people chose to go straight back to their dorms, and only a small number stayed in the classroom to study.

Cha Fei’ang knew that Liang Ge had given up living at school so that he could escort Gu Qianqian home every day, and chuckled, “Stalker pervert.” Then he left, not forgetting to take his physics notebook with him.

Love isn’t important, studying is the key. He was going to make these beastly nerds at No.1 High School die of studying, of course, except for the two in the back. Those two weren’t human in the first place.

Liang Ge retorted at Cha Fei’ang’s back, “What stalker pervert!”

He could clearly accompany Gu Qianqian now. At most, he was a pervert, definitely not as lewd as stalking.

The two were still the last to leave the classroom. On the way, Liang Ge kept sneaking glances at Gu Qianqian.

Gu Qianqian’s clear voice came over, “Liang Ge, is there something on my face?”

Liang Ge was stunned and quickly shook his head, “No.”

“Then why are you staring at me?”

“No, I’m just looking around.”

Even Liang Ge himself couldn’t stand it after he said that. Wasn’t he just replying randomly after reading a message?

“Don’t lie.”

“Okay.” Liang Ge admitted in a low voice, “I was looking at you.”

“Okay.” Gu Qianqian paused and asked softly, “Is it nice to look at?”

Liang Ge’s eyes widened. Gu Qianqian wasn’t angry and even asked him this question.

“…So so so nice to look at.”

Damn it, he stuttered at the crucial moment. Liang Ge was so anxious he wanted to slap himself.

Realizing that the atmosphere was becoming a little awkward, Liang Ge racked his brains again and came up with a topic, “Did you think today’s movie was good?”

Gu Qianqian replied, “Not bad.”

Liang Ge scratched his head and said, “I think you and the female lead in it are especially similar.”

Gu Qianqian glanced at Liang Ge, “You should go to the hospital and see an ophthalmologist.”

“No, I’m not talking about looks, I’m talking about your… soul!”

At this moment, Liang Ge was frantically thanking Xu Jing in his heart, otherwise, he wouldn’t have been able to think of this word.

Gu Qianqian was clearly a little surprised to hear this, and she didn’t expect such a profound proposition to come from Liang Ge, so she couldn’t help but feel curious.

“Tell me more specifically.”

“…”

Damn it, Xu Jing didn’t teach this question.

Liang Ge gritted his teeth and said, “You’re both smart, kind, brave, and…”

Gu Qianqian: “…”

Seeing Gu Qianqian’s somewhat speechless expression, Liang Ge hesitated for a long time and couldn’t say anything more. He knew that his answer was really too terrible, just like an uneducated illiterate, so he said with a frustrated expression, “I’m sorry, Gu Qianqian, I’m not good at Chinese, it seems I’m really stupid.”

“No.” Gu Qianqian affirmed him this time, “You answered well.”

If this were a modern text reading comprehension question she had written, she would give Liang Ge four points out of five. After all, the intention was good, and he had answered the key points. But she would keep the remaining point.

To some extent, she and Cui Cui really had a lot in common, especially in terms of their growing environments. But in terms of fate, she wouldn’t be like Cui Cui, who ended up guarding the ferry alone in the small mountain town, thinking of her grandfather, and waiting for the person who could never return.

She would be an independently growing tree, one day becoming lush and protecting everyone she wanted to protect.

Gu Qianqian didn’t speak again on the way back. The girl’s face was solemn, as if she were carrying endless thoughts, and the more Liang Ge thought about it, the more he felt that he was clumsy and tongue-tied, and he should completely become a mute in front of Gu Qianqian in the future.

However, as they approached the alley, Gu Qianqian suddenly stopped, because she heard a sob.

She turned around and saw Liang Ge’s eyes were red, his eyelashes were wet, and his Adam’s apple was sliding up and down. Under the dim streetlights, a tear slid down his straight nose and fell into Gu Qianqian’s heart with a thud.

Gu Qianqian pressed down the hair that was being blown by the wind next to her ear, and suddenly felt a little at a loss for a moment.

He cried.

Why was he crying?

Liang Ge quietly wiped away his tears, and was still glad that Gu Qianqian hadn’t noticed anything unusual, but the next second, he saw Gu Qian turned around, her fair face flushed slightly, and reached out and hugged him.

In an instant, Liang Ge stopped thinking, and his heart was lifted up by something, and started beating violently. His flushed cheeks directly concealed the strangeness in the corners of his eyes.

But this hug was fleeting, and before Liang Ge’s nowhere-to-put hands could even touch Gu Qianqian, the other party had already pulled away.

“Goodbye.”

After saying that, Gu Qianqian turned and left.

On such a cold night, in the gloomy and damp alley, Liang Ge didn’t know how long he stood there. He vaguely felt that Gu Qianqian’s temperature still remained on his body, as warm as in spring.

On the way back, Liang Ge skipped and jumped, singing “The Girl Across From Me Is Looking Over”, and even the dogs on the roadside couldn’t stand it and chimed in twice.

He was so happy, but he didn’t expect that the words he said tonight would be a prophecy fulfilled.