Yang Shuli returned to the theater hall with Xu Nian.
To be honest, she didn’t really understand what Xu Nian meant.
“You said you want to go back to my hometown with me. Is it because you have something to take care of, and you’ll just pass by my hometown along the way?”
Staring at the big screen, Yang Shuli tore her attention away and spoke to Xu Nian beside her.
Of course, if Yang Shuli’s single-threaded mind could be distracted at all, she probably wouldn’t be able to follow the movie being shown.
“No, there’s nothing more important than you for me to handle. What I mean is, I want to go back to your hometown with you and spend the New Year there with you.” Xu Nian gently shook his head.
He wasn’t the type to leave things until the last minute.
Even if he had three years, he thought that until graduation he should be able to live peacefully. He could completely enjoy this period of time with Yang Shuli.
But Yang Shuli’s situation seemed to be getting more and more severe, more and more numb.
So he couldn’t delay, and he couldn’t be sure how many unexpected changes might arise in the future.
What he could do was to take care of things as soon as possible, and let everything settle down.
That would be good for Yang Shuli, and good for himself as well.
Xu Nian, who originally had two alternative plans, was forced by a single phone call to choose to handle this matter and couldn’t take Yang Shuli to run away from it.
Even if it would hurt Yang Shuli, he had no choice.
“Ah, I see……” Yang Shuli lowered her head slightly, lost in thought about something. “So you want to travel around my hometown? I don’t think there’s anything particularly interesting to see around my place……”
“It’s not for sightseeing, just to be with you.” Xu Nian paused after speaking. “But if you want to go sightseeing, that’s fine too.”
“Ah, no, I don’t really want to go traveling……”
Yang Shuli felt more and more uneasy.
Going out to eat with a good buddy, watching a movie, spending a whole afternoon at the arcade—that was all normal behavior between good friends.
But going back home with a good buddy—could friends really do that? Wouldn’t that seem weird?
With her walnut-sized brain, Yang Shuli started a little brainstorm.
Maybe it wasn’t that weird—just visiting a friend’s hometown wasn’t anything that special.
But was her relationship with Xu Nian really that close?
The petite Yang Shuli, after eating at nearly all the restaurants nearby with Xu Nian and having fun at nearly all the interesting spots, suddenly wondered about this.
She felt that, up until now, everything she’d done with Xu Nian was something good friends could do—totally appropriate for their relationship.
But if you brought a friend home, at the very least, wouldn’t you have to be as close as family?
But was she really that close to Xu Nian?
She didn’t know, so she didn’t dare agree just yet.
If she didn’t agree, she’d probably hurt Xu Nian’s feelings, right?
If Xu Nian could say this to her, he must think of her as a best friend, almost no different from family.
There was another particularly important word.
The New Year.
Xu Nian was giving up the chance to spend the New Year with his own family, to go back with her—this was clearly a huge sacrifice.
According to how she usually interacted with people, her relationship with Xu Nian was all about equal exchange.
However much Xu Nian gave her, she’d give him the same in return.
By that logic, after Xu Nian made this proposal, she should have agreed without hesitation.
Since Xu Nian valued her so much, she should reciprocate.
Just like before, when Xu Nian saw her as his best friend, she would see him as her best friend too.
But this time, it was different.
Home—this was an extremely special place, making Yang Shuli cautious, making her reconsider their relationship.
She should’ve agreed, but there was a thorn in her heart.
Xu Nian didn’t remember her when she was a boy.
Call it sentimental or overthinking if you want.
Once she knew that someone important to her kept their memories, Yang Shuli always felt like this would become a thorn between her and Xu Nian.
Even if her relationship with Xu Nian had progressed to be closer than before, she couldn’t ignore this thorn.
Now her relationship with Xu Nian seemed even more intimate than before—they had already moved past just eating together and venting feelings; now they took care of each other’s emotions.
Even in the mall, the cat-ear headband Xu Nian bought for her was still on her head, because she knew Xu Nian liked seeing her like this.
Though she didn’t really get what was so appealing about her appearance, she figured that even if she slipped into a third-grade classroom, no one would notice anything strange.
This sense of estrangement was intensified after she overheard the matter between Dormmate Number Three and her electronic pet.
She’d heard that Ye Qingchang’s old electronic pet, even without ever having met Ye Qingchang, just worshipped her online persona as a god—and even so, still remembered that Ye Qingchang used to be a boy.
But Xu Nian didn’t remember her, even though they’d had more meals together than she ever had with her roommates.
And yet, Xu Nian didn’t remember her.
What’s more, compared to before, Xu Nian was obviously much more caring toward her.
He hadn’t cared about her before, which was why he’d forgotten about her—but now he was being so attentive, just because she looked different?
Yang Shuli knew that Xu Nian wasn’t the kind of guy who judged people by appearances, and the reason they got along so well now was because they’d already been good buddies before.
But her old self just couldn’t compete with her current self.
She and Ye Qingchang seemed to be opposites—in her case, the boy she used to be couldn’t beat her present self.
“Do you really want to go?” Yang Shuli lowered her head. “You’d give up New Year with your family, just to spend it with someone like me who doesn’t even matter that much to you?”
The second half of the sentence was very soft, but Xu Nian still heard it.
He just smiled slightly and reached out, pulling Yang Shuli into his arms.
“Wu-eh?”
“Keep your voice down, or you’ll disturb the other audience members.” Xu Nian hugged Yang Shuli gently from behind, resting his chin softly on her shoulder.
“Of course you matter to me. I remember you used to be a boy, I remember giving you a cigarette when we first met, and I remember our first meal together was at that Huangmen Chicken place—you were upset for ages when it closed down.”
“Eh?” Little Yang’s little head almost exploded.
Xu Nian remembered her—he’d always remembered her.
That was a delightful surprise, but she was even more curious about why Xu Nian had hidden it from her at first.
“But don’t tell your roommates that I remember you. Otherwise, they won’t let me hang out with you,” Xu Nian said in a low voice.
“Why not?”
“Because men and women need to keep their distance.”
“Old Xu, you’re not exactly a girl, you know.”
Xu Nian smiled helplessly and ruffled Yang Shuli’s hair. “Just keep it secret, okay? It’s our little secret.”
“So, do you agree to go back home with me now?”
“I guess that’s fine……” Yang Shuli grinned. “But next time, I want to go to your hometown too.”
Such a schemer. And he’s using all these schemes just to help her