Chapter 22: A Familiar Feeling
Su Moyu felt confused when she heard that.
She looked at the guy in front of her again. Yes, it was definitely Bai Shuchuan.
“That makes me happy?” Su Moyu joked with a smile. “It really doesn’t sound like something you would say, Bai Shuchuan.”
Every time Su Moyu teased him, Bai Shuchuan really didn’t know how to respond.
But he did want to learn from her and try to say something funny back.
“If I said it tastes bad directly, you would be unhappy,” Bai Shuchuan could only answer like that.
Su Moyu pouted and thought seriously for a moment before speaking. “That… actually makes sense.”
After saying that, Su Moyu suddenly realized something. When Bai Shuchuan was with her, he could be quite considerate. But when it came to flirting with girls, he suddenly had a lot of clever lines.
Thinking about it made her feel amused, so she continued, “You can easily say nice things to comfort me. If you used that effort on other girls, you’d already have a girlfriend. With your looks, you don’t need to worry about finding one.”
After speaking, Su Moyu casually used a small fork to pick off some cream from the cake. That was the only part that was easy to eat.
“Why are you more anxious about this than my mom?” Bai Shuchuan gave a bitter smile. “There’s no need to rush about this kind of thing.”
Su Moyu rested her chin on her right hand. “By the way, when you dated Chen Xue in high school, why did you break up? You never told me. I thought she could change your straightforward personality.”
Bai Shuchuan waved his hand. “We broke up after graduating from high school. The university she went to is quite far from mine.”
Su Moyu nodded in agreement. “Yeah, being far apart is really troublesome.”
Actually, Su Moyu believed that love could overcome long distance. If it was real love, it should last no matter what.
But reality is still reality. In real life, there aren’t that many Romeos and Juliets. There are more ordinary and imperfect couples.
“So next time, find someone closer. Best if… you can see each other every day,” Su Moyu suggested.
The smile on Bai Shuchuan’s face suddenly became very bright, but he no longer looked at Su Moyu.
“Yeah, I’ll find someone closer.”
The only person he saw every day… wasn’t that Su Moyu?
“I thought after dating once, you would understand relationships a bit better. Didn’t expect you’d still be so clueless,” Su Moyu said casually, then her expression turned a bit worried. “What if you fall for some bad woman and tricks you out of your money?”
The evening always gives people a sleepy, hazy feeling.
Bai Shuchuan suddenly remembered a Sunday afternoon in high school. He and Chen Xue were sitting by the window in the study room. The sunlight fell on her in the same golden way, just like how it now shone on Su Moyu.
He looked up at her smiling face, and a feeling of nostalgia suddenly appeared in his heart.
Actually, even without a relationship, his life had always been the same. Studying, dealing with exams, or sometimes doing part-time jobs to earn some money.
As for social life, he usually just went to class and ate with Su Moyu.
But the scene in front of him made him start to miss something, like the smile on that girl’s face after he helped her solve a problem.
Or the surprise he felt when he received his first love letter…
He had almost forgotten what being in love felt like. He had even almost forgotten what Chen Xue looked like. Only sometimes, at a moment like this, when the sunset shines through the window, lighting up the marble floor and turning someone’s hair golden, he would suddenly remember that warm feeling…
“Bai Shuchuan?”
Su Moyu’s gentle voice came. Bai Shuchuan suddenly came back to his senses. When he met her eyes, he felt a bit uneasy.
“What’s wrong?” he replied instinctively.
Su Moyu had never seen him so lost in thought before.
“What were you thinking about? We just mentioned Chen Xue and you suddenly looked so distracted…” she said, then smiled again.
Could it be that Bai Shuchuan still liked Chen Xue?
Back in high school, Su Moyu and Bai Shuchuan were not in the same class, so she didn’t know Chen Xue very well. She also didn’t know much about their relationship.
But when Chen Xue confessed to him, Bai Shuchuan had actually asked Su Moyu for advice.
Su Moyu had always liked to support any couple she saw. And besides, Bai Shuchuan had never been very popular with girls since he was young.
So the two of them got together. But the most direct feeling Su Moyu had was that Bai Shuchuan no longer came to ask her to eat together.
“You don’t still like her, do you?” Su Moyu asked in a mysterious tone.
Bai Shuchuan raised his eyebrows, lowered his head, scooped a small bite of cake into his mouth, and calmly chewed it.
Su Moyu was honestly impressed. Even though the cake tasted so bad, he could still eat it with a straight face.
“Not really,” Bai Shuchuan replied.
Although that warm and nostalgic feeling in his heart had not completely gone away, he really could barely remember what Chen Xue looked like.
In his daily life, he didn’t even think about her. That past relationship now felt like a dream, something unreal.
Since that was the case, how could he still like her?
Of course, Su Moyu didn’t believe that. Not to mention he had just been lost in thought for so long, and had that look of quiet sadness.
This guy joked about her, but he himself was actually very devoted.
With the attitude of someone experienced, Su Moyu said seriously, “It’s normal if you can’t forget your first love.”
Bai Shuchuan felt that she didn’t believe him, so he replied casually.
“If you didn’t bring her up, I wouldn’t even remember her,” he said, leaning back in his chair. “I’d rather we never had anything between us.”
Seeing his indifferent expression, Su Moyu didn’t know what to say.
Back then, their relationship did have some of her influence…
Maybe Bai Shuchuan didn’t like Chen Xue that much. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have broken up so decisively.
Not to mention that during his relationship, his grades actually improved.
Normally, being in a relationship would distract someone, but Bai Shuchuan did the opposite. Maybe he used studying to avoid Chen Xue.
“Alright,” Su Moyu decided not to bring it up anymore.
“So where do we go now?” Bai Shuchuan asked, taking out his phone from his pocket.
“I’ll deal with these cakes, then let’s go have dinner.”
“Okay,” Bai Shuchuan replied and stood up.
He walked out of the shop and looked at the lonely shadow on the ground.
The whole afternoon had really passed just like that.
Even he himself couldn’t understand how, two years ago, he could sit in a study room with a girl who had no relation to him for an entire afternoon, just because of a few math problems.
Just because Chen Xue once praised him for being good at math.
While he was thinking, Su Moyu pushed the door open and came out. He turned back to look at her, and she smiled at him.
He took a step forward, and she naturally followed.
“Do you not like making cakes?” Su Moyu asked.
Bai Shuchuan was about to say “it’s a bit boring,” but for some reason, he remembered the scene of the male shop assistant talking with Su Moyu.
“It’s… okay,” he answered.
Su Moyu’s expression became a bit awkward again. “You being so polite like this… I’m really not used to it.”
Bai Shuchuan licked his lips. “It’s really okay.”
“Then is there anywhere you want to go?” Su Moyu asked softly. “We came out to have fun, it can’t be just me being happy.”
A smile suddenly appeared on Bai Shuchuan’s face. “But you’re the one who dragged me here.”
“I just saw you going between the same three places every day, so I wanted to bring you out to relax,” Su Moyu snorted lightly. “Anyway, you have to find something that makes you happy, or I’ll feel like I’m being selfish.”
Bai Shuchuan looked at her face. Seeing her slightly proud and stubborn expression, that warm feeling in his heart slowly spread again.
He lowered his eyes. Su Moyu was now a whole head shorter than him.
The sunlight still fell on her face. At that moment, Bai Shuchuan suddenly realized that, compared to the girl who praised his math skills, what he needed more was someone who cared whether he was happy.
His connection with Chen Xue started from studying. It was the first time in his life that he felt needed by someone of the opposite sex.
For the first time, he felt that he was worthy of someone’s admiration.
Of course, the price was that he studied desperately, trying to become a better person in that girl’s eyes.
But feelings didn’t go the way he wanted. No matter how good his grades were, he still couldn’t enter the same university as Chen Xue. In the end, his excellent grades even became the sharp words she used when breaking up with him.
‘You’re really a boring person. Your mind is full of knowledge and formulas. You’re not romantic at all. Being with you is exhausting, I’ve wanted to say this for a long time…’
Bai Shuchuan let out a quiet breath. Their shadows on the ground slowly stretched longer.
“As long as you’re happy, that’s enough.” He said it softly.