Chapter 123

Chapter 123

Chapter 123: Two Arranged Marriages

Panda Novel

“Little Older Brother…” as this familiar moniker came out of Xie Yujia’s mouth, Hao Ren thought it sounded exactly the same as what he used to hear when he was a child.

Along with the sound of her voice, all of the memories from deep within his brain began to gush out.

“That puny ‘Little Carrot’, used to follow her ‘Little Older Brother’ everywhere he went, and he was always pretending to be a big man… That Little Carrot who left strings of messy and cluttered footprints on the beach. She always picked up a bunch of beautiful shells, and she would then shove them into Little Older Brother’s hands in a pleasing manner…”

Xie Yujia turned and held her gaze at Hao Ren, who was now speechless with his eyes widened. Lowering her head, she mocked herself while laughing, “It’s quite silly, isn’t it? Actually, even I think it is stupid to wait more than a decade for something with such a slim chance…”

At that moment, Hao Ren was so stunned that he could not utter a single word. In fact, he felt a little dizzy and quickly reached out to grab onto the rail; he was afraid he would fall straight off of the roof if he didn’t steady himself.

“To be honest, after getting to know you more, I thought we got along quite well. I don’t know if it is just my mind playing tricks on me, but I think… You somehow reminded me of him.” Xie Yujia smiled faintly and said with resignation, “Anyway, that is about it.”

As she finished, she headed towards the glass door.

Locking his eyes onto her, Hao Ren suddenly asked again, “Is he an outstanding person?”

He was now sure that Xie Yujia was Little Carrot, but he had no idea how many ‘Little Older Brothers’ Xie Yujia had encountered in her life.

Xie Yujia paused and turned back to look at Hao Ren. “He should be. Both of his parents had graduated from university even back in that slightly disadvantageous era. His father and my father were classmates, and his father supposedly had the best grades in the university back then. Hence, I think he would have followed his father’s footsteps.”

“Is that why you study so hard?” Hao Ren continued inquiring.

“Yep!” Xie Yujia nodded. “I believe he must be a person of great talents. Therefore, I can’t afford any setbacks as I’m afraid I won’t be at the same level as him.”

“But you haven’t seen each other in more than a dozen years, how do you know if he will ever come back?” Hao Ren couldn’t help but ask again. With every question that he has asked, he felt that his heart had trembled with it.

“Are you trying to talk me out of it or what?” Xie Yujia’s tone suddenly became obstinate. “I have my own beliefs. Even though his family and mine have lost contact as they have sold their old place and might not even live in East Ocean City anymore, I still believe that he will return one day.”

“What if… he already has a girlfriend?” clenching his teeth, Hao Ren further questioned.

“If he has a girlfriend, I will give him my best wishes. Either way, I insist on waiting for him; I guess it is an obsession I have had for most of my life.”

After that, Xie Yujia seemed to think that Hao Ren’s line of questioning had the wicked intention of wavering her from her belief, so she added, “No matter what you say, or what others say, I firmly believe that he will be an amazing person, and I am willing to wait. I am willing to wait in the hope of a reunion. Even if he is not good-looking at all or his family is now in straitened circumstances, as long as he is still the same good person, I am willing to get in touch with him.”

“Well then.” Hao Ren nodded his head as there was nothing else he could say.

Seeing that Hao Ren’s interest was fading, Xie Yujia noticed that she might have been taking a slightly harsh tone. “You can say that I am naive or obsessive, but that is who I am. At any rate, I’m only telling you so much because I think of you as a very good friend.”

Hao Ren smiled bitterly; he was used to the Class President’s candid behavior.

“In other words, I don’t stand a chance, right?” Hao Ren asked.

“Yeah…” Xie Yujia lightly nodded. “I never had good male friends in the past, so I might not know the boundaries well. If there was anything I did that might have misled you, I sincerely apologize. From now on, I will try my best to behave appropriately.”

After her clarification, she felt a bit uncomfortable as she was afraid of having hurt Hao Ren’s feelings. On second thoughts, she put out her fist and gently punched Hao Ren’s shoulder. “I know you have a crush on Su Han! Just take this as me being sentimental and wanting to share my mind with you!”

“Haha…” Hao Ren let out some awkward laughter and walked towards the glass door, too. On his way, he abruptly asked Xie Yujia again, “Are you not going to ask me about today’s incident with those two girls?”

“I won’t be bothering you with loads of questions anymore. Before, I was a little concerned because I saw those expensive cars suddenly popping up to escort you from school. But now that I know why, I will no longer intrude into your personal affairs,” Xie Yujia replied with ease.

“Ah, that’s why…” Hao Ren pushed open the door and got to the main floor of Building C. Since the one Xie Yujia adored was actually the ‘Little Older Brother’, he had no clue how he should reveal the truth to her.

“Aside from that, with my personality, which urges me to take school so seriously ever since I was a kid, I am just not the type that would fall in love easily. Maybe that is why I intentionally idolized this ‘Little Older Brother’, so I can exempt myself from the influence of other boys, Xie Yujia suddenly added as she followed Hao Ren back to the classroom.

Hao Ren nodded in acknowledgment. He realized that ‘Little Older Brother’ had become a guardian and had helped Xie Yujia resist the intrusions of other boys. He was in awe of the fact that he had obliviously resided in her heart for more than a dozen years.

As they entered the classroom, the class was about to start in ten minutes. Seeing that Hao Ren and Xie Yujia had a conversation outside and now had walked in together, the other guys began winking at him, curious about the content of their dialogue.

“Did you confess to Xie Yujia and got thoroughly rejected today?” Zhao Jiayi asked as he saw Hao Ren returning with an ashen face.

“Zhao Jiayi, come out for a second!” Standing by the door, Xie Yujia pointed at Zhao Jiayi as she requested.

Zhao Jiayi was surprised; he was not expecting this. He hesitated for a second then walked to the door. Following Xie Yujia, they both disappeared out of the room.

A few minutes later, Zhao Jiayi returned. As he had no luck trying to get Hao Ren to talk, Zhou Liren curiously turned to Zhao Jiayi and asked, “What did she talk to you about?”

“She told me a little about the basketball match, and then… she reminded us not to spread rumors blindly. She and Hao Ren are only good friends. She emphasized that we should avoid spreading rumors that could embarrass them and make their relationship awkward.”

“Good friends?” Brushing his chin with his fingers, Zhou Liren was trying to understand the real meaning of those words.

“Yu Rong, can you come out too!” As there were still a few minutes before class, Xie Yujia was now waving at Yu Rong who was seated in the second last row.

Scratching his head, Yu Rong stood up and scuttled out. As a male student in the class, this was his first time being summoned by the Class President.

Soon, he had also returned. Their conversation was similar to the one Xie Yujia had with Zhao Jiayi, except that she did not mention anything about the basketball match this time. All in all, her primary objective was to clear up her relationship with Hao Ren.

“The Class President is now taking this very seriously. She probably doesn’t want me to develop any more inappropriate feelings due to the guys’ instigation…” Observing Xie Yujia who had now returned to her seat in the front and was quietly waiting for class to start, Hao Ren couldn’t help but wonder what her reaction would be if he were to call out ‘Little Carrot’ at the moment.

“Regardless of what Xie Yujia said, I still think she is interested in you,” after a moment of silence, Zhao Jiayi whispered as he patted Hao Ren with his hand.

“Enough is enough! Stop saying that!” Hao Ren had suddenly said.

This was the first time that Hao Ren lost his temper in front of Zhao Jiayi. Even as the Dorm Captain, Zhao Jiayi was now dumbfounded and at a loss of words.

“It looks like Ren is truly lovelorn this time…” Cao Ronghua, Zhao Jiayi, and Zhou Liren gathered closely together and began discussing quietly.

On the other hand, Hao Ren was lamenting the fact that ‘Little Older Brother’ was the who the Class President liked as he observed her from the back.

Hao Ren recalled the big mason jar he had at home that still contained the ample amount of shells she picked up for him; he didn’t even throw it away when a lot of stuff was lost during his family’s move.

“You miss the Little Older Brother who helped you sharpen shells into chalks to doodle on rocks, and I miss the snotty Little Carrot who always tagged along and accompanied me for any crazy ideas I had… Life is tricky sometimes…” Those were indeed some of his best childhood memories. Yet, he did not expect Little Carrot to stay in East Ocean City in anticipation of her Little Older Brother’s return. Even though Hao Ren found Little Carrot to be exceptionally stubborn, he felt deeply moved at the same time.

Ding, ding! At this moment, the bell had announced the end of the class. After Xie Yujia put away her textbooks, she turned around to look at Hao Ren. She felt sorry as she saw that Hao Ren was still looking dispirited.

Wrapping her arm around Xie Yujia’s, Ma Lina said, “Let’s go. Don’t you have to go to the library?”

“Yep, let’s go.” Biting her lip, Xie Yujia headed to the door.

“Didn’t you say that there is someone you like who isn’t Hao Ren?” Detecting the uneasiness on Xie Yujia’s face, Ma Lina inquired as she walked.

“Again, Hao Ren is a good guy, but there is someone else that I must wait for. So, you should stop teasing too. Hao Ren and I are good friends, nothing more…” Heading towards the door, Xie Yujia turned her head and spoke to Ma Lina softly.

“Alright, alright. In the end, you two are probably just not meant to be! If there isn’t this perfect guy that you’re waiting for, maybe he’d have a chance… Speaking of which, you have never told me about this guy before; you have to tell me all about it later… All things aside, Hao Ren is not exactly good-looking, and he is not from an affluent family either. At any rate, he is not good enough for a great beauty like you…”

“Appearance and family background are not that important to me. If Hao Ren can do even better on his grades, then he’d be close to being perfect…”

Hao Ren’s hearing had now become so keen that no words that were exchanged in the classroom could ever escape his ears. As a result, he caught the entire conversation between Xie Yujia and Ma Lina as well.

“Ren, to celebrate the fact that you’re now officially lovelorn, Zhou Liren, Cao Ronghua, and I have decided to treat you to dinner!” Zhao Jiayi announced as he patted Hao Ren.

Enervated and hopeless, Hao Ren had originally laid his head down on the desk. Upon hearing Zhao Jiayi’s remark, Hao Ren propped himself up while holding onto the desk. “F*ck, can you guys be more heartless?”

“There are plenty of fishes in the sea! So, what if Xie Yujia rejected you? You still have Su Han!” while pinching Hao Ren’s face, Cao Ronghua praised, “What type of supplements have you been taking lately? Your skin is even smoother than mine!”

“Alright, alright, save the sweet talk! I am fine!” after smacking off Cao Ronghua’s arm, Hao Ren got up.

“I haven’t gone wasting my life away with you guys in so long; let’s go to the Internet Cafe!”

“Exactly! The Internet Cafe is where you go when you are lovelorn!” Zhao Jiayi was completely convinced that Hao Ren was behaving in this way because he felt defeated by love. Hence, Zhao Jiayi decided to forgo the chance to train in the stadium and offered his companionship to his good friend instead.

The four went straight to the Internet Cafe. On their way, noticing that Hao Ren seemed to be feeling better, Cao Ronghua and the others couldn’t help but inquire about the two pretty girls.

Yet, Hao Ren would not say a word about it. The others thought that he was still mourning over his failure in love. Thus, they stopped any further questioning.

Since they had no class in the afternoon, they played all the way until six o’clock. Since Zhao Jiayi had not visited the Internet Cafe in so long, he was so engaged in gaming with Cao Ronghua and Zhou Liren that he forgot he was there to offer his companionship to Hao Ren.

Not wanting to spoil their fun, Hao Ren quietly went up to pay at the reception desk. Then, he went back to their dorm room to get his tutoring material and left for the bus stop.

Soon, Bus 767 had arrived. After hopping onto the bus, Hao Ren found a seat and sat down. Unexpectedly, a shade of dark cyan and a shade of light green had leaped into his sight.

Holding their Public Transit Cards, they swiftly scanned them and arrived right in front of Hao Ren.

“You two…” Hao Ren looked at them in shock.

“Elder Lu had said that Gongzi is paying a visit to the Dragon King’s home tonight, so my sister and I have decided to accompany Gongzi so that we can show our gratitude to the Dragon King as well,” they stated as they seated by Hao Ren’s sides.

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