Chapter 76
Chapter 76
After that incident, He Qian felt that her feelings toward He Yuchuan had changed.
She had begun to like him.
Two voices warred inside He Qian’s heart.
One voice said, “Get a grip. You’ve always been a girl who follows the rules. How can you have feelings like this? Have you thought about what might happen if they keep growing?”
The other voice sneered back, “Don’t give me that useless nonsense. He’s tall, handsome, lively, interesting, and he knows how to protect people. Who wouldn’t fall for him?”
The two voices argued endlessly, and in the end, He Qian chose to let things take their course.
She could no longer imagine life without He Yuchuan. Every piece of her daily life was now steeped in traces of him.
She thought, so what if they were a little too close? There was nothing wrong with siblings being close.
Holding on to that bit of wishful thinking, He Qian continued spending time with He Yuchuan.
She could feel that He Yuchuan liked her too.
If she stepped outside the situation and looked at it objectively, why would a boy she had only known for a short time spend every day with a girl and go out of his way to protect her?
There was only one explanation: what he felt for her was romantic love.
But gradually, she also discovered that He Yuchuan had quite a few flaws.
He was careless and didn’t like studying, but those were minor things.
He Yuchuan had one very serious problem: he spent money like water.
He was generous with both himself and others, but his family circumstances really shouldn’t have allowed him to be so generous.
If someone else had something, he had to have it too. If no one else had it, he still had to have it.
To save money, their classmates would take turns buying magazines, with dozens of people passing a single issue around.
He Yuchuan never read magazines that had been passed from hand to hand until the pages were wrinkled and worn.
If he wanted to read something, he went to the bookstore and bought it himself. After finishing it, he would bring it to class and casually toss it to the others. “Pass it around if you want. No need to give it back.”
Besides that, he also loved buying clothes, shoes, and all kinds of sports gear.
If he chased after brand names, all those things added up to a lot of money, and unfortunately, he insisted on buying good brands.
The money He Yuchuan’s mother gave him was only meant to top up his meal card, but He Yuchuan would rather skip a few meals than give up on a pair of track pants he liked.
When he didn’t have enough money, he would ask He Qian for it.
He never felt that there was anything shameful about a man asking a woman for money. He would always ask He Qian openly, “Hey, do you have any money lately? I’ve got my eye on another pair of shoes.”
At first, He Qian felt a little uncomfortable about it, but as time went on, she got used to it. Eventually, she became perfectly willing to spend money on He Yuchuan.
She told herself that He Yuchuan simply liked nice things. That wasn’t a bad thing; it meant he had standards for his life. If he had been born into a wealthy family, these wants would have seemed perfectly reasonable. The fact that his ordinary family background couldn’t support them wasn’t his fault.
He Qian was a girl, so her family gave her a little more spending money. Whatever she had left over, she gave to He Yuchuan.
He Qian and He Yuchuan spent two full years together like that.
During He Qian’s final summer vacation, a dozen or so classmates arranged to sing at a KTV, and they invited He Yuchuan along too.
That night, everyone drank quite a bit of beer. He Yuchuan leaned drunkenly against He Qian’s shoulder.
He Qian nudged him. “Stop drinking. I’ll take you home.”
He Yuchuan obediently stood up and left with He Qian.
On the way back, he walked beside her and gently took her hand.
He Qian said, “What are you doing?”
He Yuchuan said, “Just for a little while.”
He Qian said, “Mm… all right.”
The two of them walked forward hand in hand for a while. Suddenly, He Yuchuan turned his head and said to He Qian,
“I like you.”
He Qian froze. “What… what are you saying?”
He Yuchuan said, “I like you.”
He Qian said, “You can’t like me.”
He Yuchuan said, “I know you like me too.”
He Qian said, “Don’t talk nonsense.”
Tears suddenly glimmered in He Yuchuan’s eyes. “After this summer, are you going to leave for another city?”
He Qian said, “Yes.”
He Yuchuan said, “Then what am I supposed to do?”
He Qian said, “You’ll stay here and live your life the way you’re supposed to. What else would you do?”
He Yuchuan said, “But then I won’t be able to see you anymore.”
He Qian said, “Then once we know which city I end up in, you can come to the city where I am too.”
He Yuchuan shook his head sadly. “I don’t have confidence in myself.”
He Qian patted his head. “That’s why you have to work hard.”
He Yuchuan sighed. “Do you think… we could be together?”
He Qian shook her head. “Definitely not. Our family would never agree.”
He Yuchuan said, “Then we’ll elope!”
He Qian said, “Silly, what are you talking about? How old are you? In the future, you’ll meet someone you like even more.”
He Yuchuan said, “How can you say something that hurts me so much?”
He Qian said, “Xiaoyu, the two of us don’t have a future. After I leave, forget about me, study hard, find a good girl someday, and have a proper relationship.”
Tears slid down He Yuchuan’s face. “Then can we hug?”
He Qian nodded and hugged He Yuchuan.
He Yuchuan held He Qian tightly. “You have to live well too. If you’re not doing well, tell me. I’ll definitely protect you.”
He Qian cried too. “When I’m not by your side anymore, you have to take care of yourself. Don’t waste money on clothes, eat properly, and if you don’t have enough money, I’ll send you some.”
He Qian thought for a moment, then added, “Don’t tell anyone about what happened between us. In the future, if you meet a girl you like, no matter how deep your feelings are, you can’t mention that we ever had feelings for each other. I’ll do the same. I won’t tell anyone.”
He Yuchuan sniffled and nodded hard.