Chapter 38 Part 2

The other girls were all intimidated by Shen Yuze, but Lu Ping remained calm. He leisurely wrapped the melon seed shells in a tissue, stuffed it into his school uniform pocket, then grabbed Shen Yuze’s arm with one hand to borrow strength as he stood up.

“I’m heading out first.” Lu Ping waved to the girls. “See you later.”

With that, he hugged his U-shaped cushion and slowly followed behind Shen Yuze as they left the field.

Watching their departing backs, Chen Miaomiao suddenly grabbed her little sister’s hand beside her.

Chen Miaomiao’s voice trembled. “This candy—is it just me who’s tasting it, or are the other sisters tasting it too?”

Her little sister: “……???”

…

Shen Yuze walked quickly, and Lu Ping’s butt hurt. He couldn’t keep up after a few steps.

Lu Ping simply stopped walking and shouted from his spot, “Shen Yuze, what’s with your young master tantrum this time? Have you forgotten the first two rules of our ‘Desk Mate Rules’? First, no cold wars. Second…”

“—Second, communicate problems promptly.” That eraser was still in Shen Yuze’s pencil case. He took it out to fiddle with every day, so of course he hadn’t forgotten.

Lu Ping put his hands on his hips. “So I order you to communicate more with me!”

Shen Yuze turned back to Lu Ping and looked down at him. “Do you need to communicate with me? I saw you communicating just fine with Chen Miaomiao.”

“…” Lu Ping realized what was happening and laughed helplessly. “You’re mad just because I talked a bit more with Chen Miaomiao?”

Lu Ping thought, Was this the young master’s possessiveness? Because he was his friend, did that mean from beginning to end, he could only be his one and only friend’s friend?

Shen Yuze slightly averted his gaze, not wanting Lu Ping to see the embarrassment in his eyes. “…You even ate together.”

Even though it was just something small like melon seeds. But before today, Lu Ping had only ever shared food with Shen Yuze.

Hearing this, Lu Ping beckoned to him.

“Shen Yuze, hold out your hand.”

“……?” Though he didn’t know what medicine Lu Ping was selling in his gourd, Shen Yuze still extended his hand.

Then, Lu Ping pulled a wad of tissue from his school uniform pocket and gently placed it in Shen Yuze’s palm.

“Open it and see.” Lu Ping winked at him. “Guaranteed satisfaction.”

Uncomprehending, Shen Yuze unwrapped the tissue—and inside was a messy pile of broken melon seed shells.

Shen Yuze: “???”

Lu Ping: “!!!” He was mortified, his face flushing red as he hurriedly snatched back the messy pile of shells. “Sorry, sorry! Let me start over—I got the wrong one!!”

The boy frantically stuffed the tissue-wrapped shells back into his pocket, then pulled out another identical-looking crumpled tissue from the other side.

This time, he didn’t let Shen Yuze unwrap it. Instead, he carefully unfolded it himself—

—This time, he got it right. Inside the tissue lay dozens of intact melon seed kernels.

These were the ones Lu Ping had shelled one by one with his hands earlier, selected one by one, and saved one by one.

He’d saved them all for Shen Yuze.

Shen Yuze had received countless expensive gifts from childhood to now—imported famous horses from overseas, watches crafted by master artisans, even properties worth millions… But strangely, when receiving those gifts, he could barely even fake happiness.

But now, this small handful of light, almost worthless melon seed kernels made his heart pound heavily.

The boy looked up, his smile brighter than the early autumn sunlight. With a hint of showing off his achievement, he said, “I saved them all for you. I tried one—they’re really delicious!”

Afraid Shen Yuze wouldn’t believe him, he simply picked one up and held it directly to Shen Yuze’s lips.

How big could one melon seed kernel be? Shen Yuze parted his lips slightly, and with a flick of his tongue, he drew the kernel into his mouth… and “accidentally,” his lips brushed Lu Ping’s fingertip.

“They’re indeed delicious.” Shen Yuze stared into the boy’s eyes and said softly, “I’ll cherish them.”

…

A handful of melon seed kernels wasn’t much. Even if Shen Yuze ate them ever so carefully, they were gone in no time.

Lu Ping patted his chest in guarantee: next time there was a chance, he’d shell more for Shen Yuze.

Shen Yuze thought for a moment. “There’s no time like the present. Let’s go buy some melon seeds now.”

Lu Ping: “???”

Big bro, he was just saying it casually! Young Master Shen wasn’t short on cash—why not buy machine-shelled kernels instead of exploiting him, the Yang Bailao?

But Shen Yuze was insistent. He dragged Lu Ping straight to the school mini-mart and bought one bag of every flavor on the shelf.

Lu Ping: “…Boss, that’s a different price.”

Shen Yuze didn’t care. “If it’s a different price, so be it. Even a dollar per kernel, I can afford it.”

“!!!” Lu Ping was practically hugging his leg. “If it’s really a dollar per kernel, I could shell until you go bankrupt!!!”

The cashier had a deep impression of Shen Yuze. Who could forget the rich second-gen student who’d recharged a full 100,000 on his Campus One Card? Especially since this guy was so handsome.

Shen Yuze walked to the counter with several bags of seeds. “Checkout.”

He was as curt as ever.

The cashier scanned all the barcodes, fully prepared to witness the might of that 100,000 Campus One Card again!!

Then… she watched as Shen Yuze patted down every pocket on him and still couldn’t find his card.

Lu Ping, waiting beside him to check out, asked, “Did you forget your card? Use mine for now then.”

“…No, I brought it.” Shen Yuze replied. “I definitely had it on me before PE.”

Lu Ping: “…Then where’s the card?”

“The card’s gone.”

Lu Ping: “Fuck!!” It was the first time he’d cursed. “You lost the card????”

Shen Yuze remained calm. “Yeah, probably dropped it while running.”

Without another word, Lu Ping ditched the seeds and rushed out— a Campus One Card with 100,000 was gone; how many kernels would that buy?!!!!

…

Lu Ping ignored the pain in his butt and limped toward the field.

The problem was, it was Friday after school. Over a thousand students from the whole school were heading out the gates at the same time. The field was right in front of the Teaching Building, and everyone passed through it… Even though Lu Ping and Shen Yuze hurried back as fast as they could and circled the track many times, they still couldn’t find Shen Yuze’s lost student card.

Lu Ping was utterly devastated. Though the 100,000 wasn’t his, he was more anxious than Shen Yuze, the person involved.

Shen Yuze, on the other hand, stayed composed and comforted him instead. “The Campus One Card is also a student ID, with my photo, class, and name on it. If someone picks it up and wants to return it, they’ll definitely find me.”

“And if they don’t want to return it?”

“If they don’t…” Shen Yuze raised a brow. “…they’d better see if they have the guts to spend it.”

“…” Lu Ping thought about it carefully and realized Shen Yuze was right.

That card had 100,000 on it, and Shen Yuze was a school celebrity. Even if someone picked it up and wanted to pocket it, seeing that much money, they definitely wouldn’t dare act rashly.

The two discussed it: It was Friday after school now. If the finder wanted to return it, they’d surely come to the class on Monday to find Shen Yuze. If no one came by Monday, they’d go to the academic affairs office to lock the card and get a replacement.

For now, that was all they could do.

…

Because of this awful mishap right before dismissal, Lu Ping’s anticipation for the weekend was completely ruined.

He rejected Shen Yuze’s offer to drive him home and took the bus alone, swaying all the way back.

Ever since he’d gotten hurt, his parents had stopped making him help with the stall to let him rest at home with An An.

Once home, he first tutored his little sister with her homework. Even elementary schoolers had a lot now—dictation, reading aloud, memorizing ancient poems, keeping a diary… Lu Ping felt An An had it tougher than he did as a kid.

It wasn’t until 9:30 p.m. that the little girl stumblingly memorized the poem. An An was in the middle of losing her baby teeth right now, so her speech was lispy, making her recitation hilarious. Lu Ping wanted to laugh but didn’t dare, afraid that if he did, his sister wouldn’t study properly anymore.

Kids couldn’t stay up too late. Lu Ping coaxed the little princess to brush her teeth and wash her face, tucked her into bed, then tiptoed back to his own room.

By then, the clock had already struck eleven.

Lu Ping turned on his desk lamp and sat at his desk. Looking out the window directly opposite it, he could just see the view of the opposite shore of Jiao River.

He gazed at the lonely lit-up high-rises and spaced out—wondering what the long-haired princess in the high tower was doing?

He couldn’t help but pull out his phone, wanting to message Shen Yuze and chat.

It was strange; they’d only parted a few hours ago, but he already missed him.

He unlocked his phone, about to open his contacts, when his gaze was drawn to a familiar icon—the Partner App in the upper right corner clearly showed a red notification number “2”.

Lu Ping knew that meant someone had sent him private messages.

He’d kept sporadically updating the @fake-diaond account.

He didn’t know what word to use to describe himself. He knew it was wrong, but he was addicted and couldn’t stop.

At first, he’d impersonated Shen Yuze to borrow a glamorous identity and gain the respect and kindness he’d never experienced in real life. He was too lonely. In real life, he was practically invisible. Only online, cloaked in a layer of illusion, did people see him.

He was addicted to the feeling of being liked, even though he knew full well they didn’t actually like him.

He sometimes even thought that it would have been so much better if Shen Yuze had never come to his side. If Shen Yuze had stayed in the distant Capital, he could have continued living in his blissful diamond dream without a care.

But Shen Yuze had come—he had come anyway. He shattered the perfect myth and stood before Lu Ping in the flesh, more real than ever.

Lu Ping was so conflicted that he even despised himself. On one hand, he enjoyed Shen Yuze’s friendship; on the other, he lurked in the shadows, secretly siphoning off Shen Yuze’s vitality.

If Shen Yuze knew about all the shady things he did behind his back, if he knew about the pettiness and vanity in his heart, if he knew how desperately he craved others’ attention… he would surely find him laughable and ignore him from then on, right?

Lu Ping imagined it: once the truth came out, Shen Yuze would push him away just like all those people who had once despised him, maybe even stomp on him a couple of times, and complain to others, “So disgusting—how did I end up stuck with someone like that?” The thought made his heart shrivel up in sorrow.

One wrong step led to endless mistakes. Lu Ping had told one lie, and now he needed countless more to cover it up.

There was no turning back for him.

Lu Ping sighed, his mood sinking once again.

His phone vibrated lightly again, and the number in the upper right corner of the Partner App changed from “2” to “3.”

Lu Ping told himself not to overthink it. He pulled himself together and tapped into the app’s backend.

On the screen, a stranger’s avatar sat quietly in his inbox.

After reading the message, Lu Ping’s breath caught.

【Shen Yuze, you there?】

【I picked up your student ID on the sports field.】

【See you Monday.】