“I don’t know if they’ll go crazy,” Chi Yao said, “but I see you’re quite crazy today.”
He Yang was already used to his way of speaking. He couldn’t help touching his ear: “What do you think about me getting one too? I should be pretty suitable for it, right?”
Chi Yao didn’t even look up: “Go look in the mirror.”
He Yang: “…”
After a while, He Yang brought up the rehearsal from earlier: “My Brother Xia is even participating in a competition, I didn’t expect that.”
Mentioning Lin Zhexia opened the floodgates of conversation.
“Speaking of which, we take the same bus to school in the morning, right? On the bus, there was a schoolmate who came up to greet me the other day, saying he had seen me on the bus.”
“He also asked about the pretty girl next to me. I was stunned for quite a while, not realizing who this ‘pretty girl’ was. In that moment, I realized that after knowing her for so many years, I had forgotten Brother Xia’s gender.”
Saying this, He Yang sighed: “I didn’t expect my Brother Xia to be so popular. Of course, rest assured, I didn’t give out her contact information.”
“This classmate was also curious if I had ever had a crush on her, which gave me a shock, the kind where all your body hair stands on end,” He Yang said, “—How could that be possible? She’s my good buddy whom I’ve grown up with since childhood. I’m not crazy. With so many girls in the world, if I were to like anyone, it couldn’t be my Brother Xia. Don’t you agree?”
The more He Yang thought about this hypothesis, the more horrifying it seemed: “Tsk, that would be so awkward, the outcome would probably be cutting off all ties. Originally good brothers, ending up not even able to be brothers anymore.”
Chi Yao listened without speaking.
But his hand, tidying the coffee table, paused.
He Yang jumped from one topic to another quickly.
As he was about to switch to the next topic, Chi Yao interrupted.
“Had enough of sitting,” Chi Yao said, “if you’ve sat enough, then get lost.”
He Yang: “Yaoyao, you’re so heartless.”
Chi Yao closed his eyes and opened them again: “Get lost.”
“Fine, I’m leaving.”
Before leaving, He Yang very exaggeratedly raised his pinky toward him: “You hurt my feelings like this, I won’t come next time.”
The weekend rehearsal went well, and Lin Zhexia half-relaxed.
The other half couldn’t relax until after the competition was over.
On Monday, Tang Shuxuan saw that she was in good spirits: “I was worried you wanted to withdraw from the competition, didn’t expect you’re quite well-prepared.”
Lin Zhexia said while handing in her homework: “Yes, over the weekend I practiced… at home for two days. Originally, I thought about backing out, but now I want to try.”
Tang Shuxuan was happy for her: “That’s good, don’t be nervous at all, I’m here with you.”
Lin Zhexia initially thought she wouldn’t be nervous.
But the closer it got to the competition day, the more she couldn’t control it.
The day before the competition, she only ate half a bowl of rice.
Wei Ping asked worriedly: “You’re eating so little today, is the food not to your liking? How about this, tell me what you want to eat, and uncle will take you out to eat later.”
Lin Zhexia shook her head: “I’m full.”
She was mainly afraid that if she ate too much, she would get so nervous she’d want to throw up.
Lin He: “The competition is tomorrow, right? Is it in the morning or afternoon?”
Lin Zhexia: “Afternoon.”
At ten o’clock in the evening, she went to bed on time to prepare for sleep.
She even drank a glass of milk before bed.
However, after enduring a long time, acknowledging she couldn’t sleep, and opening her eyes again, she found the time displayed on her phone screen had become “11:03.”
The house was very quiet; Lin He and Wei Ping had long gone to bed by now.
She lay in bed, sighed, unable to sleep, yet really couldn’t find anything to do, so she casually opened a game.
Her enthusiasm for games came quickly and went quickly; after playing for a while during the previous holiday, she had quickly set it aside.
She went on to claim some items, looked around, and was about to log off when she received a friend message.
Little Pig Falls in Water:?
Splash: …
Little Pig Falls in Water: Not sleeping yet
Lin Zhexia was caught and typed a reply.
Splash: You caught me
Splash: I was secretly coming online to improve my gaming skills.
Splash: I just love the feeling of getting stronger behind my friends’ backs.
Little Pig Falls in Water: Oh
Then “Little Pig Falls in Water” said nothing more.
After about two or three minutes, “Chi Dog” called with a voice call.
“What is it?” Lin Zhexia answered the phone, lowering her voice to avoid disturbing Lin He, saying quietly, “I’m about to sleep.”
Chi Yao mercilessly exposed her: “Coward, can you even sleep?”
“…”
Lin Zhexia was about to say Give her a little more time, she could sleep, when she heard the person on the phone say, “I’m downstairs at your place.”
“Now?”
On the other end of the phone, besides that familiar voice, there was also the faint sound of cicadas.
“Yes,” he said, “are you coming down or not?”