“Let me tell you something awesome. Guess what I just saw?” Zhu Niao returned to the barbecue stall seat, patted the table, drawing all of Yang Shuli and Xu Nian’s attention.
Yang Shuli, still stuffing her face, looked up at Zhu Niao in surprise. After a moment of thought, she blurted out, “Did you see Jatanjiao by the seaside?”
Zhu Niao shook her head.
“I saw Third Sister and her electronic pet.”
Yang Shuli was momentarily stunned. She glanced at the skewer in her hand. “So Third Sister is bringing her electronic pet up here to steal my barbecue?”
“Who’s stealing your barbecue?” A flicker of astonishment flashed across Zhu Niao’s face. “You didn’t get what I meant. What I’m saying is those two were like they were on a date, standing together by the sea, you get it?”
“Isn’t that normal?” Yang Shuli still thought it was nothing special. “Third Sister’s a master of emotions, you should mind your own business. Maybe it’s all part of her plan.”
“But they kissed.”
Yang Shuli finally stopped chewing the skewer, and the fullness in her cheeks ceased accumulating.
The situation reaching the level Zhu Niao described really caught Yang Shuli off guard.
“Third Sister got kissed against her will?” The first thing that came to Yang Shuli’s mind was Ye Qingchang’s identity being exposed and her electronic pet taking revenge for being toyed with.
“Uh, no. Third Sister kissed someone else.”
The table strewn with skewers—some half-eaten, some finished—fell into a brief silence.
Yang Shuli was the first to break it: “Then don’t think too much. Third Sister must have her reasons for doing that.”
One has to admit, the tiny dorm leader was surprisingly professional when she gave up thinking. While Zhu Niao was still trying to figure out Ye Qingchang’s intentions, she had already picked up another skewer.
After a while, Zhu Niao, who had never been in a relationship, pinched her chin and said, “You’re right.”
Then the two resumed eating barbecue, treating the earlier encounter as a small side story.
Gou Yu, frankly, never understood from the start and simply gave up on thinking.
Xu Nian was the same as before, feeding Yang Shuli various strange and curious things.
“Sounds like someone’s talking bad about me?” Yang Shuli’s shoulder was suddenly patted, causing the small dorm leader’s delicate body to shudder.
“It’s Little Bird. Little Bird was secretly bugging you just now, and I tried hard to stop her, but she wouldn’t listen,” Yang Shuli hurriedly pointed at Zhu Niao.
Ye Qingchang didn’t bother with these petty squabbles anymore and simply sat down beside Yang Shuli in her original seat.
After she sat, everyone at the table seemed to pause their actions—everyone except Liu Xie, whose head was still resting on the table as he snored loudly.
With the sea breeze blowing and after her impulsive actions earlier, Ye Qingchang felt her burning cheeks and dizzy head clear up quite a bit.
She looked around at the nearly motionless companions and rubbed her nose bridge, frowning.
“Why are you all staring at me? Eat your food.”
At this, the group started moving again, but their eyes remained on her.
“Third Sister, are you okay?” Even Yang Shuli could tell something was off with Ye Qingchang.
“I’m fine. I’m feeling good now. These two drinks wouldn’t be enough to get me drunk.” Ye Qingchang said as she glanced again at the shore beyond the railing, but couldn’t spot Xiao Yian.
She then put on the glasses left on the wooden table—that was Xiao Yian’s glasses.
She saw clearly. The confused young man was still standing by the shore, lost in thought.
“No, Third Sister, from what Little Bird just said, you don’t seem to be in a very good state, huh?” Yang Shuli pressed.
Ye Qingchang raised an eyebrow upon hearing that and looked at Zhu Niao. “You saw it all?”
Zhu Niao immediately shrank behind Gou Yu, only her head peeking out timidly, staring at Ye Qingchang. “You’re not going to kill me to silence me, are you?”
“Not that extreme.” Ye Qingchang threw the unfinished bottle of beer far away and reached out to grab a skewer of “bone and meat connected.”
She took a bite; it was already a bit cold.
Probably because the earlier trip outside took too much time, or maybe because the sea breeze was hardly gentle.
“I just confessed to him, as Ye Qingchang, president of the Literature Club.” The girl adjusted her glasses. “From now on, I’m going to keep pursuing him.”
Until she occupied enough space in Xiao Yian’s heart, until she could erase the previous impression she left on him.
So, she confessed.
Simply put: it was all an act.
Perhaps one of the rare confessions where the rejection was already expected but still hoped for.
Including the pitiful expression she put on, including the hopeful look she gave Xiao Yian in response, and even that kiss that disrupted his thoughts to keep him from suspecting her motives—all were fake.
To be clear, if Xiao Yian had agreed, Ye Qingchang would probably have suspected there was something wrong with his mind. That would have truly thrown her plans into disarray.
“Then you just now kissed…” Zhu Niao began, then suddenly realized, “I get it now. Third Sister, you have your own rhythm. It was my mistake to try guessing the emotions of a master.”
Then she said something about self-punishment and grabbed Gou Yu’s drink.
Zhu Niao’s suspicion wasn’t unfounded—Ye Qingchang really didn’t understand how she ended up grabbing Xiao Yian’s collar and kissing him.
She wanted to leave a deep impression on Xiao Yian, so he would always remember her, always remember that seaside confession.
Maybe it was her hair tie, or maybe the tears she shed in front of him.
In any case, it just had to be an unforgettable impression, convincing Xiao Yian that her confession was genuine.
But today, her hair was loose, and surprisingly, not a single tear came out.
So, she left him a kiss.
Her first kiss.
By all rights, a first kiss should be quite significant.
Ye Qingchang wasn’t sure if it was because she had transformed from a boy into a girl.
But maybe for boys, a first kiss was especially important.
Perhaps it was just because the other person was Xiao Yian.
Maybe it was guilt stirring inside her, thinking about how she had deceived him all these years and kept him in the dark.
But that didn’t make sense—she should have confessed earlier, not carried on the deception.
She just couldn’t figure it out. Maybe she was afraid—afraid Xiao Yian would discover her true identity, despise her, retaliate, and leave.
So she stopped thinking, just sighed while looking at the nearly empty barbecue on the table.
She wasn’t sure whether to blame Yang Shuli’s enormous appetite or herself for taking so long to confess.
She glanced at Liu Xie slumped over the table and suddenly felt a wave of melancholy rise in her heart.
Autumn by the sea didn’t seem like a good time for water play. She didn’t know what the others thought, but she certainly wasn’t brave enough to join in.
The autumn shoreline was far from as lively, free, and fun as in summer.
“Seems like this isn’t the right time to come here this year.” She suddenly blurted.
Zhu Niao paused, then chimed in, “Then let’s come again next summer.”
“Next summer?” Even Ye Qingchang herself hadn’t thought her plans would stretch this far.
“Sure, we’ll come again next summer.” Yang Shuli raised both hands in agreement.
“Who knows what you all will be like then? Maybe everyone will have a partner, and I’ll just be the third wheel.” Ye Qingchang laughed, rubbing the dorm leader’s head. “Well, okay then, next summer it is.”
Another gust of sea wind blew, and Zhu Niao, curled up beside Gou Yu, felt a chill.
Coincidentally, the barbecue on the table was nearly finished.
“I think we can head back to the hotel now.” Zhu Niao shrank her neck. “Also, we need to figure out how to get this guy back.”
For them, moving Liu Xie all the way back to the hotel seemed a bit challenging.
It didn’t seem right to ask Xu Nian and Gou Yu to do it either.
“I have a plan.” Ye Qingchang suddenly thought of something and took out her phone to dial a number she had saved earlier.
How much of it are lies, Ye Qingchan?
Never saw denial this strong for sure.