SYLM Chapter 57

Chapter 57 “Do you still want to keep your distance from me?”

The first class break in the afternoon.

As soon as the dismissal bell rang, Fu Yi Wen darted up to the 4th floor with her long-awaited new thermos, heading straight for the liberal arts office.

After knocking and entering the office, the teacher’s workstation near the door was empty. Tang Ying had gone to teach another class and hadn’t returned yet. Fu Yi Wen had to suppress her excitement and stand next to Tang Ying’s desk, waiting. After a short while, the office door opened.

Thinking Tang Ying had returned, Fu Yi Wen couldn’t help but grin, her face radiant.

However, the next second, upon seeing that it was Sun Li Xia who had returned, her gleaming white teeth came to an abrupt halt, sealed tightly behind her closed lips.

Seeing Fu Yi Wen’s near light-speed change in expression, Sun Li Xia’s expression was somewhat unnatural, but she still took the initiative to say something:

“Here to see your Teacher Tang?”

“Yeah.”

Fu Yi Wen nodded stiffly, avoiding Sun Li Xia’s gaze and staring straight towards the doorway, hoping for Tang Ying’s return.

Sun Li Xia returned to her workstation, put down what she was carrying, and her faint voice continued to reach Fu Yi Wen’s ears:

“Your Teacher Tang has six classes today, this one seems to be Class 11’s.”

“Yeah.”

“When I came upstairs just now, I saw her talking to the Class 11’s class representative in the corridor on the second floor, so she probably won’t be up for a while.”

“Yeah.”

Fu Yi Wen stared at the doorway, pacing back and forth. She was starting to get impatient with Sun Li Xia’s annoying attempts at conversation.

But Sun Li Xia didn’t seem to realize Fu Yi Wen’s emotions, and she continued to strike up a conversation on her own:

“Oh, right, child, what brand was that milk you used to buy me?”

“…”

Fu Yi Wen was silent. Sun Li Xia’s words were like a small stone dropped into a calm lake, creating ripples in her heart. The past was vivid in her mind, and she still couldn’t control herself from thinking back.

At the same time, the office door opened.

Tang Ying had returned.

And that familiar Hello Kitty thermos.

Even though the pink color clashed completely with Tang Ying’s cold and sharp demeanor, she was still holding that cup.

The moment her glacial, calm phoenix eyes met Fu Yi Wen’s, the heart that had just been tossed around by complex emotions instantly settled down. Perhaps at this moment, Fu Yi Wen truly let go.

Before speaking to Tang Ying, Fu Yi Wen first turned to look at Sun Li Xia, answering her earlier question word by word:

“That was all a long time ago, I’ve already forgotten.”

“…”

As soon as the words fell, Sun Li Xia’s expression was obviously a little embarrassed.

But the current Fu Yi Wen no longer cared about Sun Li Xia’s feelings.

Before Tang Ying’s eyebrows furrowed together, Fu Yi Wen turned around at lightning speed, approached Tang Ying, and took the initiative to explain:

“Just now, Teacher Sun asked me about the brand of milk I used to buy, but you came back before I could answer. How is it, is your throat feeling better?”

“…”

The topic changed, Fu Yi Wen’s heart and eyes were all on Tang Ying, and Tang Ying really fell for this.

Watching Sun Li Xia turn away to do her own thing because she couldn’t save face, Tang Ying raised her eyebrows and hooked her lips, directly showing her pleasure on her face. But the next second, her line of sight was suddenly blocked by a chubby little round face.

Not receiving an answer for a long time, Fu Yi Wen wrinkled her nose, stood in front of Tang Ying, and mumbled a little dissatisfied:

“You should look at me, I asked if your throat is better, and you haven’t answered me yet.”

“How can my throat be better after teaching 5 classes? It’s good enough if it doesn’t sound like a broken gong.” Tang Ying retracted her gaze, raising her eyebrows to look at Fu Yi Wen.

“Did you drink hot water?”

“What do you think? You’re as annoying as if you were urging me to die every class.”

Tang Ying put the Hello Kitty thermos on the table, her tone disdainful, but Fu Yi Wen’s attention was all on the slight curve of the corner of her lips.

She’s acting tsundere again.

…

The neat white teeth arrived, albeit late. Fu Yi Wen smiled until she could barely see her eyes. She happily put the new thermos on the table, and followed Tang Ying’s words:

“Trust me, drinking hot water is definitely useful, here you go.”

“Why another ugly cup?”

“…This cup is ugly too!?”

Fu Yi Wen looked down at the new thermos, and looked up at Tang Ying, her eyes wide like copper bells:

“I bought this especially for you, I spent a long time picking it out at noon!”

“Spent a long time picking out such an ugly one?”

“…This is already the best-looking one in the store!”

“Who told you to waste money?”

“This isn’t wasting money, I wanted to buy it! You have to drink more hot water when you have a cold.”

“So you just bought a water bottle?”

Looking at the large 2000ml capacity thermos on the table in front of her, Tang Ying was speechless.

What kind of aesthetic does this chubby girl have? It’s bad enough that the cup is ugly, but it’s also so big. If you took it to class, walking around once would be like a workout, right?

…

Dislike as she may, the thermos that looked like a fitness dumbbell still appeared on the Class 12’s podium during the third period Politics class in the afternoon.

Seeing Tang Ying taking advantage of the group discussion time to drink hot water with a cold face from time to time, if Fu Yi Wen had a tail, it would probably be wagging for the entire class.

During the discussion, Jiang Zhen Zhen used a test paper to cover her face, turned her head to look at the podium several times, and whispered:

“Fu Xiao Wen, is that the new thermos you said you bought for Teacher Tang?”

“Yeah, what do you think, is it good-looking?”

“…Yeah…”

Jiang Zhen Zhen looked troubled, hesitating for a long time before asking: “Did Chen Lu go with you?”

“Yeah, we went together.”

“Did Lu Lu help you choose it?”

“She helped, but the one Lu Lu liked was too small, I didn’t think it was suitable for Tang Ying, so I chose this one, how about it, imposing, right?”

“…”

No wonder I don’t know how to praise it.

Jiang Zhen Zhen smiled wryly, she turned her head wanting to change the topic and say something to Chen Lu, but she found that Chen Lu was staring straight at the desk, seemingly in a daze.

Surrounding sounds were completely blocked out. Chen Lu wasn’t in the mood to think about anything else, her mind was full of Gu Wan Jun.

During the break just now, she hesitated for a long time, and finally asked Qin Hao Yang to go to the Literature office to pick up the assignments.

When Qin Hao Yang returned to the class, Chen Lu’s heart was raised. She was afraid that he would come to tell her to go to the office again like he did in the morning.

But the thing she was worried about didn’t happen.

After Qin Hao Yang returned, he distributed the test papers by group, and didn’t say anything to Chen Lu even after they were all distributed.

It seemed that Gu Wan Jun didn’t ask her to go to the office.

This should be a good thing.

But Chen Lu felt inexplicably restless.

She took the initiative to walk to Qin Hao Yang’s desk, who had just returned to his seat after distributing the assignments, and asked a few questions as if to prove her innocence, such as whether they were only leaving one set of test papers today, and whether the homeroom teacher had said anything else.

But Qin Hao Yang shook his head with a red face every time. He didn’t know how many assignments were left, Gu Wan Jun didn’t say anything about the assignments, nor did she say anything else.

Gu Wan Jun should have noticed that she was deliberately distancing herself from her, right?

Was she angry?

This question had been buzzing and swirling in Chen Lu’s mind.

She was the one who took the initiative to avoid suspicion, but she was also the one who was afraid that Gu Wan Jun would be angry because of her avoidance. Chen Lu felt more and more that she was hopelessly twisted.

—

After evening self-study.

Chen Lu was still wondering whether to avoid walking out with Gu Wan Jun, but the next second, a familiar gentle voice fell into her ears. Chen Lu looked up and found that Gu Wan Jun was already standing in front of her at some point.

“All packed up?”

“…”

In the past, Gu Wan Jun would at most wait for Chen Lu on the podium or at the door, but now…

Her hands that were packing things picked up the test paper and put it down again, seeming very busy but not knowing what she was busy with. Chen Lu didn’t dare to look into Gu Wan Jun’s eyes, and her tone pretended to be calm:

“Not packed up yet, why don’t you go first, teacher?”

“It’s okay, no rush, I’ll wait for you.”

“…”

It’s over, she can’t put it off any longer.

Chen Lu silently sped up the speed of packing her things.

—

At the school gate.

The night and the lights stretched people’s shadows long, losing their original appearance.

When crossing the road, Gu Wan Jun wanted to reach out to link Chen Lu’s arm as she had done in the past, but Chen Lu, mindful of the surveillance cameras at the school gate, avoided Gu Wan Jun’s outstretched hand without a trace.

“Chen Lu, I’m going to get angry.”

“…”

Gu Wan Jun’s somewhat low voice came from her ear. As soon as the words fell, the two shadows reflected on the ground suddenly overlapped for a moment. Scanning the surrounding students and parents, Chen Lu was so frightened that she quickly moved to the side, pulled away from Gu Wan Jun, and walked while pretending to be calm:

“What’s wrong, teacher?”

“You know perfectly well.”

“…”

In front of Chen Lu, Gu Wan Jun was always gentle, so much so that even if she was really a little angry at this moment, her tone was still gentle.

Having said that, both of them were smart people, and knew what the other was thinking at the moment. After walking a short distance, Gu Wan Jun simply spoke directly:

“You already know, don’t you?”

“Yeah.” Chen Lu nodded.

“So your solution is to try to keep your distance from me?”

“…” Chen Lu blinked, her voice a little muffled: “I don’t want those people to talk about you.”

“So you unilaterally decided to keep your distance from me to avoid suspicion? Did you ask for my opinion? Did I agree to you doing this?”

Speaking of this, the two of them happened to reach the entrance of the residential complex. Gu Wan Jun stopped, grabbing Chen Lu’s arm, and the two of them faced each other.

The last time they had a fight was when they opened up about their feelings here.

…

“Chen Lu, do you remember what you told me when we reconciled after we had disagreements and a cold war for a while when we were switching classes last time?”

“…”

Chen Lu pursed her lips, lowered her eyes, and didn’t speak.

“You don’t need others to think they’re doing what’s best for you, and neither do I. I know what I’m doing. We’re innocent, and our conscience is clear. Why should we care about other people’s opinions? We’re not living for others.”

“…”

Chen Lu lowered her head, not knowing how to respond to Gu Wan Jun’s words.

She admitted that Gu Wan Jun was right.

But this time was different from the last time.

Those rumors weren’t all groundless, at least they got half of it right—

She did have feelings for Gu Wan Jun that she shouldn’t have.

Gu Wan Jun had a clear conscience about their relationship, and was innocent.

But she felt guilty towards Gu Wan Jun.

She couldn’t confess her feelings to Gu Wan Jun, and she was afraid that the feelings she inadvertently revealed would affect Gu Wan Jun. What should she do?

…

Gu Wan Jun didn’t know about Chen Lu’s inner turmoil. Seeing that the child wasn’t speaking, Gu Wan Jun sighed, thinking that she had spoken too harshly, and her tone was a little aggrieved:

“Why aren’t you talking? Are you still thinking about how to avoid me?”

“After the incident, didn’t the teacher ever think about keeping her distance from me?”

“No.”

“Why?”

“I can’t bear to, I don’t want to become estranged from you because of anyone or anything, is that okay? Do you still want to keep your distance from me?”

“…”