After Chen Lin left, she looked at the water she had bought for He Yang and sighed.
Why had she agreed?
She knew the answer herself.
Because she had been distracted yesterday.
And the reason she was distracted was that she had recently begun to magnify certain details in her interactions with Chi Yao.
These details could easily affect her.
Lin Zhexia stopped thinking about this and took out her phone. She discovered that He Yang had sent her a bunch of messages twenty minutes ago—
I’m about to go on, Summer-bro, don’t forget—
Look for me, I’m number 12—
You can find me, right? I shouldn’t be too ordinary in a crowd, should I? Even if I am somewhat ordinary, given our years of acquaintance, you should be able to spot me in the sea of people—
Whether I can save face at Experimental Affiliated School depends on you—
I’ll treat you to milk tea tonight, eternally grateful!!!
Lin Zhexia replied: I want thirty cups.
Da Zhuang: …Never mind whether my allowance is enough, can you even drink that many??
Lin Zhexia seized the opportunity: I’ll drink three cups each month, for ten months.
After replying, she put down her phone and looked at the field.
There were many people on the field—runners on the track, referees blowing whistles, and scorekeepers recording results at the finish line.
The basketball game was arranged on the right side. The Experimental Affiliated School players had their school name written on their jerseys, making them easy to identify.
The second half seemed to be ending soon. She found He Yang dribbling and was about to take the water bottle beside her and go down from the stands when suddenly a force came from behind—a hand on her shoulder pressed her back down.
She turned around and saw Chi Yao, already changed into his jersey.
The Second Middle School jersey was black, with the number 0 written on the loose jersey. This number somehow gave off a sense of recklessness, just like the boy’s eyes that, though cold, seemed ignited by the sunlight.
The stands were arranged in tiers, with no barriers between each level.
Chi Yao was now crouching on the step above, and after pushing her back down, his hand changed course and took the water bottle from her hand.
Although Lin Zhexia wanted to break her promise, she still needed to fulfill what she had promised to He Yang, so she said, “If you want water, go buy your own.”
Chi Yao: “I don’t feel like going.”
Lin Zhexia: “…”
Thinking that he would also be competing soon, she compromised: “Then I’ll go buy you one later. Give this one to He Yang first.”
Chi Yao finally said, “I’m not trying to compete with him.”
He paused, then added in a condescending tone: “I’ll take it down to him.”
Lin Zhexia: “?”
She didn’t understand why he suddenly wanted to get involved in her water delivery arrangement with He Yang.
With an expectation she wasn’t even aware of, Lin Zhexia asked: “Why won’t you let me deliver it?”
Chi Yao glanced at her while holding the water: “Is that so hard to understand?”
It was quite hard to understand.
Lin Zhexia was about to nod when she heard him say:
“I’m petty. I don’t want to see him showing off.”
“…”
This person had such deep schemes.
Lin Zhexia was stunned by his matter-of-fact attitude and momentarily forgot to stop him. By the time she came to her senses, Chi Yao had already taken the water she had originally intended to give to He Yang and gone down from the stands.
After a while, she lowered her head, opened her chat history with He Yang, and sent two messages—
Da Zhuang, take care of yourself—
I can’t save you now.
On the basketball court, the referee blew the whistle.
He Yang stopped his attempt to rush for the ball. He bent over to catch his breath, tugging at his jersey collar to fan himself while waiting for Lin Zhexia to come boost his image.
He had it all planned out—
In a moment, he would receive that bottle of water with the most elegant and handsome posture, in front of everyone’s eyes.
He would even pretend to be cool and act like it was nothing out of the ordinary—
He Yang was just indulging in this fantasy, adjusting his breathing, when the next second he heard a familiar voice.
“Hey.”
A bottle of water appeared in front of him. Following the bottle upward, he saw his bro Yao’s excessively handsome face: “Your water.”