Chapter 13: He Doesn’t Deserve You
“Zhouye-ge, let’s order too. What do you want to eat?”
Lin Seran took the menu and looked at the dishes, guessing which ones suited Pei Zhouye’s taste.
Pei Zhouye’s voice was cold: “As you please.”
“Okay.” Lin Seran seemed not to notice any strangeness, didn’t even lift his head, and didn’t ask Pei Zhouye why he came here again.
Dishes for both tables were served quickly.
Wen Yan sat next to Gu Yulan, looking sideways at Gu Yulan, eyes curved in a smile, listening to him speak.
The four of them relaxed a bit and started talking about school matters.
Gu Yulan was a conversationalist, very good at picking up conversations, participating in topics, and leading topics to Wen Yan.
Wen Yan listened more and spoke very little.
“I went to that competition too. After the award ceremony, I went to give flowers to Yan-yan,” Gu Yulan laughed twice. “Too many people gave flowers to Yan-yan. He didn’t accept anyone’s, probably didn’t see me either.”
Wen Yan frowned slightly, eyes blank for a few seconds: “Yulan-ge, you could have told me in advance.”
That was a not-so-small competition in the second half of last year. At that time, he was already relatively familiar with Gu Yulan. As a familiar senior giving him flowers, he would definitely have accepted them.
Gu Yulan’s smile didn’t change. He filled a bowl of soup with a ladle and placed it gently next to Wen Yan: “I didn’t know how to tell you, afraid you would distance yourself from me after finding out.”
“I remember!” Wu Qingqing said excitedly. “After that competition ended, so many people gave flowers to Brother Yan. Many were from unknown senders, and there was a particularly large bunch of sunflowers! Was that sent by you, senior?”
Thirty-three sunflowers, a very large bunch, very special and eye-catching. Clearly, more ornamental flowers could have been used, but the sender chose sunflowers which were not so suitable for large bouquets, yet they were wrapped extremely beautifully. Wen Yan looked at them a few more times that day. The greeting was handwritten [Wen Yan, Congratulations].
That handwriting was strange, indeed looking like deliberately disguised handwriting.
Wen Yan picked up the spoon and scooped a spoonful from the soup Gu Yulan just handed over, sending it into his mouth.
Gu Yulan smiled knowingly: “See, if you knew I liked you back then, you definitely wouldn’t have paid attention to me.”
Wen Yan was a person with strong boundaries, good to everyone but distant from everyone, and would definitely not have ambiguous entanglements with people who had feelings for him. The title of “High Mountain Flower” spread wider because of this.
Gu Yulan knew clearly in his heart that if Wen Yan’s father hadn’t had an accident this summer, he and Wen Yan would still maintain the relationship of neither far nor near for two years, and Wen Yan wouldn’t be with him.
The phone rang once. Wen Yan saw a message from a strange number.
[He is lying to you.]
[The sunflowers were not sent by him.]
“What’s wrong?”
Wen Yan paused for a while, shaking his head with a smile, “Spam message.”
After Gu Yulan looked away, Wen Yan blacklisted that number.
At the other table, Pei Zhouye’s gaze had been staring over there.
Lin Seran looked over; it was Gu Yulan and his very famous canary.
He frowned quite unhappily, his tone squeamish: “Zhouye-ge, listen to me quickly! What are you looking over there for? Is Gu Yulan better looking than me? I haven’t eaten out like this for a long time. Filming has been so tiring recently…”
His voice wasn’t small. The four people over there stiffened. Wen Yan and Gu Yulan looked up at the same time towards this side.
Tacit understanding that was annoying.
Pei Zhouye glanced at Lin Seran casually, his tone even: “Lin Seran, stop making a fuss.”
Lin Seran’s breath hitched at this glance. The complaints that hadn’t come out were all stuck in his throat. He muttered again, but his voice was much lower.
He followed Pei Zhouye’s gaze to look at the opposite side again. It was the person sitting next to Gu Yulan. Under the overhead light, there were no creases on his face; instead, it looked like deliberate lighting. He was smiling very faintly, his eye color also very light, with long eyelashes and a straight nose. It was a look favored by both men and women.
Lin Seran raised his eyebrows slightly, his voice seemingly raised inadvertently: “Zhouye-ge, are you going home tonight?”
This voice was not small. Wu Qingqing thought she heard some shocking gossip—wealthy heir and popular idol—and tilted her ear to listen to the words behind her.
“Not going back.”
“Alright.” Lin Seran acted coquettishly with grievance.
During the meal, whenever Wen Yan looked up, he always met the gaze cast by that person not far away. That person seemed never to have looked away, a cold and strong gaze that was hard to ignore.
Like the touch of a sticky and cold snake sliding down his back, Wen Yan frowned, feeling inexplicably cold.
The meal ended. Gu Yulan wanted to send the three back to school.
Lin Seran at the other table saw Gu Yulan stand up and shouted: “Yulan, come play with us tonight.”
Gu Yulan hesitated for a while, silent.
Wu Qingqing sensed Gu Yulan’s struggle and spoke: “Brother Mingtao and I both live at school. Senior, if you have something to do, just go.”
She meant for Gu Yulan to go play with Wen Yan, while she and Duan Mingtao went back together.
After all, the two were a couple, and the invitation from the opposite side must have been for both of them.
“Can I?” Gu Yulan looked down and asked Wen Yan who was still sitting.
Wen Yan shook his head: “You go.”
Gu Yulan: “I’ll let the driver take you back.”
“No need.” Wen Yan’s voice was cold. “We’ll just take a taxi back.”
The group over there was already leaving. When Pei Zhouye passed by here, Wen Yan met that gaze again.
In the end, Gu Yulan quickly caught up with that group.
The atmosphere in the car going back was stalemated.
After a long while, Wu Qingqing looked apologetic: “Brother Yan, sorry…”
Wen Yan’s voice was very soft: “You didn’t do anything wrong, what is there to be sorry for?”
He suddenly thought of the person who said this to him a week ago, paused, and said, “It should be me saying sorry to everyone.”
Duan Mingtao suddenly spoke: “Wen Yan, I think Gu Yulan is very strange.”
Wu Qingqing’s eyes widened, her gaze wandering between Duan Mingtao and Wen Yan.
Duan Mingtao pursed his lips but continued: “He doesn’t deserve you.”
“Duan Mingtao!” Wu Qingqing hurriedly interrupted, then laughed dryly and spoke to Wen Yan, “Brother Yan, you know he often speaks without thinking. Don’t mind him.”
Duan Mingtao didn’t speak again. He said this sentence after thinking. He didn’t care about others’ love lives at all, but Wen Yan was a good person.
Apart from being late and breaking the promise to send them back after it ended, Gu Yulan didn’t make any mistakes, and could even be considered cheerful, talkative, and polite. But he always felt that Gu Yulan had a sense of hypocrisy, just pretending.
“Senior is very nice.” Wen Yan wanted to laugh but couldn’t, his voice tired. “Don’t say such things in the future.”
After a while, Duan Mingtao said again: “I think President Pei is also very strange.”
This time no one objected.
Although the atmosphere relaxed later in the whole meal, they always felt a gaze staring at their backs, making their scalps numb.
The three people fell silent again.
Wen Yan looked down, wondering what he was thinking.
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