“Not at all. Those things that you said aren’t the premise to make friends.” Qin Yuan’s eyes darkened.
“Oh, then what is it based on?”
Qin Yuan paused, then said, “The most important thing between friends is the heart.”
Ruan Qingmu looked at him and suddenly burst into loud laughter as if hearing something especially amusing.
Qin Yuan’s expression changed. His handsome face became slightly cold. “Are my words so funny?”
“Yes, yes, super funny.” Ruan Qingmu laughed so hard that he stumbled. His crutches poked into the gap between the pathway’s bluestone, and he almost gave himself a sprain.
Qin Yuan’s hand was quick and held onto his arm.
Ruan Qingmu leaned on his shoulder, but he still couldn’t help laughing. He only stopped after a long time. His pair of peach blossom eyes narrowed into crescent moons.
“You said the exact same thing as my friend in the past.”
In his previous life, this guy had also suddenly told him this with a solemn face: The most important thing between friends is the heart. When he heard this just now, he felt his heart tremble as if stabbed by a small knife.
Qin Yuan’s hand used to support his arm slightly stiffened.
The two people stood at the foot of the school building’s stairs. Ruan Qingmu collected his crutches and mounted the stairs with light steps.
After several steps, he realized that Qin Yuan didn’t follow up. He turned his head, raised his brows, and looked at the tall youth at the bottom of the stairs. “Not going to the classroom?”
“Was it because of that friend that you mistook me for at first?” Qin Yuan calmly asked.
Ruan Qingmu squinted. “Yes.”
“He didn’t only look like me but also said the same thing?”
Ruan Qingmu leaned against the stairs and tilted his head to look at him with a faint smile in his eyes. “That’s right, like the same person.”
After thinking, he added again. “I thought that I’d met him again with a glance.”
Qin Yuan slowly put his hand on the stair’s handrail; his knuckles were a little white. “A childhood friend that got separated?”
Ruan Qingmu shook his head. “We haven’t been apart for long.”
Then it was a friend from junior high school?
Qin Yuan looked at him; his gaze was a little cold. So, this person had only gotten close to him because he saw the shadow of his former friend? No wonder.
His line of sight suddenly fell behind Ruan Qingmu.
He drew his legs and ran up the stairs in two or three steps toward a girl in a distant corridor. “Senior sister!”
The faraway girl had neat bangs and dark hair. Her face was beautiful and gentle. She smiled sweetly at him, like the first bloom of the spring flowers. “Here.”
Qin Yuan stood in front of her and whispered something to her. The girl extended her hand and handed a tote bag to him, her cheeks a little red.
Ruan Qingmu looked at them from a distance and resentfully snorted.
……
The first class in the afternoon was chemistry.
The teacher in front lectured about the subject; the pace was very fast. The seat beside Ruan Qingmu was still vacant, and Qin Yuan hadn’t gone to class until now.
They had only been seatmates for a few days, but it seemed to feel a bit empty when he wasn’t here.
He listlessly leaned on his desk and was stunned.
Taking advantage of the teacher writing chemistry formula on the blackboard, he suddenly poked the boy sitting in front and whispered, “Do you have the English textbook?”
That boy was the study representative from Honors Class 2, Li Jianquan, the forever second place. He turned his head to look at Ruan Qingmu, and his gaze was a little hard to express.
Even someone like him who didn’t like to listen to gossip had seen the popular topic at noon. This scumbag underachiever student mixing it up with their competition class had led top student Qin Yuan to a gang fight and almost caused Qin Yuan to get disciplinary punishment. He was simply a calamitous star descending from Heaven.
Afterward, this star of calamity used an unknown method and won over half of their class’ boys. Then, he also obtained the acknowledgement of the two bosses from Class 1 and had a group meal together at noon. It was practically outrageous and a smart means!
He took the English book from his bag and swiftly passed it backward. “Return it after the class ends. Don’t scribble in it.”
Ruan Qingmu let out an “mm,” propped his cheek, and opened the unfamiliar English textbook.
After some time, Qin Yuan’s figure finally appeared in the doorway. “Reporting. Sorry, I’m late.”
The chemistry teacher had taught their class in the last year’s semester and liked this Honor student very much. They didn’t ask anything and only nodded their head. “Come in.”
A good student like this must be occupied by some official business to be late.
Qin Yuan carried a big tote bag and walked to his seat.
He didn’t look at Ruan Qingmu, opened his chemistry textbook by himself, and intently listened to the teacher’s lecture.
Ruan Qingmu glanced at the backpack at his feet, then removed his gaze.
Tch. He called out ‘senior sister’ so sweetly, and his gaze at beautiful girls was really focused.
The class quickly passed. Some students began to walk out of the class to change classrooms while Li Jianquan in front turned his head. “Can you return the textbook to me?”
Ruan Qingmu swiftly closed the textbook and held out his hand to return it. “Thanks, glasses brother.”
A boy beside them came over in curiosity. “Why are you looking at English duringchemistry?”
Ruan Qingmu casually said, “Oh, I want to get a higher grade than you in English.”
The boy blankly looked at him. “Big Brother, do you know how much I score in English?”
“Aren’t you from the Honours Class?” Ruan Qingmu carelessly said, “If being in the top 100 in the grade won’t do, can’t top 50 crush you?”
The boy turned his head and walked away, completely ignoring him. What a joke! Just him? An underachiever from Class 9. Did this shit use a turbocharged engine to blow such a big bluff?
Qin Yuan had been silently listening with his gaze looking over. Ruan Qingmu turned his head to look at him and suddenly smiled. “Right, can you teach me if I have something I don’t understand?”
Qin Yuan cold eyebrows slightly smoothed; his gaze seemed to turn a little softer. “Okay.”
Ruan Qingmu gazed at him, then quickly removed his gaze. “Mm. Then I will trouble you…..for this one month.”
After one month, he would leave this class that he didn’t belong to and wouldn’t return again.
He inexplicably got too close to him in his previous life; so close that nobody knew since when they had changed from enemies into acquaintances that could drink wine together under the peach blossoms, into friends that could simultaneously and suddenly stop after fighting a hundred moves.
Afterward, he caused him to die.
He died in a thousand mile desert filled with yellow sands and at a young age with a promising future ahead.
He didn’t want to get close to this person anymore in this life.
Because whenever they got close, he would feel as if he were holding a lifetime’s debt. When he smiled at him, his heart would suddenly feel sore.