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墨書 Inktalez
“Zhu Hui, you are always so understanding,” Yang Qianfan said, gazing deeply at her, a faint smile playing at the corners of his mouth, tinged with melancholy.
“Because I’m someone who loves to share happiness with others.”
“Happiness?” Yang Qianfan pondered, then asked, “What should one do to truly make oneself happy?”
“It’s quite simple! Just like Chekhov said, if a match catches fire in your pocket, you should feel lucky that your pocket isn’t a powder keg. If you prick your finger on a thorn, you should be glad that it didn’t go into your eye!”
“Is that so? It seems you really are a happy person. I think whoever marries you in the future will surely be the happiest person in the world.” Yang Qianfan forced a bitter smile, lowering his head and sighing dejectedly to himself, “It seems Wang Yuhan is indeed quite fortunate.”
“Talking like that makes it sound like Li Lingfei has been unkind to you,” Zhu Hui teased, shrugging her shoulders as she sat on the stone steps of Jiang Tan.
“Zhu Hui, don’t you want to know why I’m feeling down today?” Yang Qianfan suddenly asked her.
“Can I ask? I’m afraid that if I do, it might make your mood even worse.”
“Really?” Yang Qianfan shook his head at her and sighed wistfully, “I don’t want to talk to anyone else, but I really want to talk to you.”
“Oh, is that so? I’m honored.”
“I had a falling out with Wang Yuhan. We even got into a fight and beat each other up pretty badly.”
Zhu Hui was taken aback by his revelation about Wang Yuhan and turned to stare at him in shock.
“Aren’t you and Wang Yuhan usually on good terms? How did it come to fighting?”
“Because I made a mistake.”
“You made a mistake?” Zhu Hui furrowed her brow as she looked at him. Suddenly recalling how Wang Yuhan had pressured her to introduce him to a girlfriend, she gasped in realization. “I know what mistake you made.”
"You know?" Yang Qianfan felt a tightening in his chest upon hearing her acknowledgment, his entire body going limp.
"Actually, you're a good person, but you tend to be too self-righteous. You never consider other people's feelings and often do things that are inexplicably unacceptable."
"Even you feel that way." Yang Qianfan lowered his head in frustration, falling silent.
"You don't need to be so down. Just apologize to him, and all your problems will be easily resolved!"
"You're too naive; this problem isn't that easy to solve." Yang Qianfan paused, suddenly recalling something, and asked, "Now that I've severed ties with Wang Yuhan, will you still talk to me in the future?"
"You breaking ties with him doesn't mean I'm breaking ties with you. Why would I ignore you?"
"But you're his girlfriend!"
"Oh—right, I am his girlfriend now; how could I forget?" Zhu Hui was reminded of her status as Wang Yuhan's nominal girlfriend.
Hearing her silly words, Yang Qianfan thought she was joking, which only deepened his heartache.
"At this point, you still have the energy to joke with me."
"Yang Qianfan, you look really down right now!" Zhu Hui leaned closer to him, trying to cheer him up. After a moment of thought, she suddenly said, "How about I perform a show for you?"
"A show? What kind of show?" Yang Qianfan looked up at her, puzzled.
"I'll sing a song for you!"
"Stop right there." Hearing that she wanted to sing made Yang Qianfan immediately make a stopping gesture. "Please, don't sing 'Children's League Song'; I want to live for another two years."
"Ah! You don't like it?" Zhu Hui sighed in disappointment, lowering her eyes with a frustrated expression.
Seeing her frustrated expression, Yang Qianfan smiled at her with interest and asked,
"Do you really want to make me happy?"
Zhu Hui nodded in agreement.
"Alright then, I enjoy listening to operas. Sing me a piece, specifically 'The Female Accompanist.'"
"Ah! You want me to sing an opera?" Zhu Hui looked at him with a troubled expression.
"That's right! I want to hear you sing, and you have to put on some actions too!"
After thinking for a moment, Zhu Hui said, "Okay! Today, I’ll risk it all for you." She stood up and began to perform in front of Yang Qianfan, singing with such flair that he burst into laughter.
“To save Li Lang from his homeland, who would have thought I’d top the imperial examination? Dressed in a red robe, with a flower hat so fresh and new. I have attended the Qionglin banquet; I have ridden my horse before the palace gates. Everyone praises my looks like Pan An, but it turns out the gauze hat hides my beauty. I don’t seek fame by topping the exams; I don’t aspire to be a high official. It’s for the affectionate Li Gongzi, so that we can enjoy a harmonious life together under the moonlight. Joyful and content, just waiting for leave to return home, to see Li Gongzi, and present him with my title as the top scholar.”
After finishing her song, Zhu Hui let out a big sigh of relief and returned to sit beside Yang Qianfan. She asked, “Now you should be happy, right?”
Yang Qianfan smiled at her and nodded sincerely, “I’m very happy. Thank you!”
“That’s good to hear.” Zhu Hui beamed at him. After a while, she suddenly said, “Promise me you’ll reconcile with Wang Yuhan, okay?”
Hearing her mention Wang Yuhan again, Yang Qianfan's expression darkened.
Noticing that her soft approach wasn’t working on him, Zhu Hui decided to take a firmer stance. Pretending to threaten him, she said,
“Hey! Did you hear what I said? If you don’t reconcile with Wang Yuhan, I’ll sing the ‘Children's League Song’ to scare you!”
Yang Qianfan was startled by her threat and couldn’t help but laugh out loud. He tilted his head at her and asked:
“Hey, are you even human? How can you be so optimistic? Don’t you ever feel pessimistic?”
“Of course I’m human! I have my emotions just like everyone else. It’s just that I tend to feel pessimistic a bit less often than I feel optimistic.”
“Oh, really? When do you feel pessimistic? And when do you feel optimistic?”
Zhu Hui rolled her eyes and thought for a moment. “For example, I feel particularly pessimistic during parent-teacher meetings because I’m the only one in the class without a parent attending. Even though I always come in first place and win numerous awards, my mom doesn’t even know she has such an outstanding daughter. Whenever I think about this, I feel incredibly pessimistic because it’s during those times that I truly realize I’m an orphan.” She sighed, feeling a sense of relief, then smiled at Yang Qianfan and raised her fist in a gesture of encouragement. “Even though I feel very pessimistic then, I always find ways to comfort myself by saying, ‘Zhu Hui, as long as you study hard and become a useful person in the future, your mom will eventually come back to find you, just like they portray in TV dramas.’ That’s how my optimism was born.”
Yang Qianfan watched her feigned strength with a heavy heart, lowering his head and falling silent.
“Now that I’ve shared my pessimism and optimism, shouldn’t you share yours too?” Zhu Hui asked curiously, blinking her big eyes at him.
“My pessimism and optimism?”
“Don’t tell me you’re not human and don’t have emotions or feelings of pessimism or optimism.”
“Of course I'm human!” Yang Qianfan said, gripping his chin and thinking for a moment. “My pessimism comes from the fact that the girl I like is someone I can never have. My optimism comes from believing that one day I will meet someone even better than her. That’s it.”
“Wow—you're quite the player! Having such a beautiful girlfriend like Li Lingfei isn’t enough for you; you’re still thinking about flirting around and spreading your affections everywhere,” Zhu Hui exclaimed, unable to suppress a gasp as if she found it hard to imagine such things.
“Is that so? Looks like I’ve shocked you,” Yang Qianfan said with a cold smile upon seeing her astonished expression.
“Yes! If my boyfriend in the future is as unfaithful as you, then I’d rather not marry at all and become a nun.”
“Is that so? It seems we’re destined to be incompatible,” Yang Qianfan said dejectedly. Suddenly startled by his own thoughts, he turned to look at her as if he had discovered a new continent like Columbus. “Wait a minute—what did you just say about your ‘future’ boyfriend?”
Zhu Hui’s ears turned red at his question; she realized she had let something slip and hurriedly explained, “If Wang Yuhan is as unfaithful as you are, then… then I’d rather not marry at all and become… become a nun.”
"That's true, Wang Yuhan is so good, at least she's not as fickle as I am," Yang Qianfan said casually, letting out a long sigh.
"If you know you're fickle, you should tone down that behavior of yours and not hurt the people around you," Zhu Hui reminded him.
"If the girl I like would give me a chance, I think I wouldn't be fickle."
Hearing this, Zhu Hui seemed to catch another meaning in his words and asked, "Hey, it sounds like something happened between you and Li Lingfei?"
"I broke up with her," Yang Qianfan confessed.
"You broke up with her? No wonder your behavior today is so unusual," Zhu Hui said in surprise, looking at him. "She's so great; why would you break up with her?"
Yang Qianfan gazed deeply at her without answering the question.
"Since you want her to give you a chance, you should take the initiative to fight for it. I believe Li Lingfei will give you that chance," Zhu Hui said thoughtfully.
"Unfortunately, the girl I like isn't her."
"Not her? Then who is it? Do I know her?" Zhu Hui was even more surprised.
"I'm really troubled right now; can you not ask about it?"
"Alright... alright... I won't ask. As long as you're sincere about this girl, I wish you the best in pursuing her."
"Do you really wish me well?" Yang Qianfan squinted his eyes, suddenly thinking of something and asked with ulterior motives.
Zhu Hui sincerely nodded in agreement.
“Since that’s the case, if I want to pursue that girl, will you help me?”
“How can I possibly help with something like that?”
“Just so you know, you actually know that girl too.”
“I know her?”
Yang Qianfan nodded at her.
“Who is she? Are you two close?”
“She should be okay!”
“Well, if you’re on good terms with her, then I can try to help you!”
“You’ll help me?” Yang Qianfan raised an eyebrow, asking cautiously, “What if Wang Yuhan has a problem with it? What if he comes out to cause trouble?”
“Why would he come out to stir things up?”
“He doesn’t want you to help me, doesn’t want you meddling in my affairs! He definitely doesn’t want to see me happy.”
“That won’t happen. If he dares to interfere, I’ll make sure to give him a good beating to vent your frustrations.”
“Really?” Yang Qianfan looked at her with a hint of disbelief.
“Of course! But first, you need to tell me who this girl is. How can I help you if you don’t tell me?”
“Don’t ask so many questions right now; I’ll tell you when the time comes.” Yang Qianfan stood up from the stone steps, dusting off her pants. “It’s getting late now; let me walk you back. Don’t forget what you promised today—helping me win over that girl.”
“I want to help you, but you have to at least tell me who that girl is!” Zhu Hui pressed on stubbornly.
“Stop whining. I won’t tell you since the timing isn’t right,” came the reply.
“Is that girl Jiang Xi?” Zhu Hui speculated, surprised by her own guess.
“No.”
“Wan Shuhui?”
“No.”
“Li Ting?”
“No… no… Just stop guessing. Even if you guess it right, I won’t admit it,” Yang Qianfan said impatiently, pulling her along and dragging her back home.
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