How I Accidentally Bent My Best Friend - Chapter 23.1

“What?! How can there be no difference?!” Lu Wei pulled out those two sheets again, holding them up in front of Chen Yushu. “Take a closer look! I put a lot of effort into writing them!”

Chen Yushu pushed her hand away, a faint smile curling at the corner of her lips. “They’re the same.”

“How is that possible?” Lu Wei grumbled in frustration, trying to persuade her, only to see Chen Yushu already turning to leave.

So, that painting probably didn’t mean anything after all. Good, no need to anxiously rack my brains over it.

As Lu Wei’s voice called out from behind, Chen Yushu stopped in her tracks, quickly composed herself, and feigned nonchalance. “What? I’m going back to shower, hurry up.”

“Wait for me.” Lu Wei strode to catch up, still hung up on the matter. “Chen Yushu, do you even have any taste? Fine, I’ll ask someone else.”

Chen Yushu ignored her. “If you think they’re good, you keep them yourself.”

“You really dislike them that much?”

“Mhm.”

“Alright, then I insist you take them.” Hearing this, Lu Wei only grew more determined. She unzipped Chen Yushu’s backpack and stuffed the rice paper inside. “You’re not allowed to throw them away, got it?”

“Childish.” Chen Yushu rolled her eyes. “Why don’t you just tear off the names on the paper and mail them to those people?”

Lu Wei chuckled. “That’s because my handwriting is ugly.”

“Hmph.”

There weren’t many things in the backpack, but as Chen Yushu walked, she inexplicably felt her steps grow heavier.

When they parted at the dormitory building, Lu Wei made her promise to play games with her that evening before letting her go.

Chen Yushu didn’t pay it much mind. She entered the dorm, gathered her things, and went to the bathroom to shower, using the time to sort out her thoughts.

Somehow, without realizing when it started, her emotions had become attached to Lu Wei. Her moods revolved around Lu Wei one moment a rainbow, the next a storm, heaven and hell in the blink of an eye.

Feelings were too complicated. She tried to sort them out in a simple way.

First, she liked Lu Wei more than just as a friend. That was undeniable and impossible to ignore for now.

Second, Lu Wei was undeniably straight. There was no way their relationship could evolve into something else.

All the ambiguous tension was just a product of her own imagination.

Recognizing this didn’t seem too difficult, but how could she reel these feelings back and place them in the right position?

The theory was clear, but unfortunately, she wasn’t great at putting it into practice. Implementing it was proving to be a challenge.

The shower took a while, and by the time Chen Yushu got into bed, it was already 11:30 PM.

Her phone was flooded with messages from Lu Wei demanding answers. She skimmed through them briefly, didn’t reply, then turned off her phone and lay down.

Why should I be the only one led around by you?

That was Chen Yushu’s final thought before closing her eyes.

After two days of sitting in the classroom, they finally had a PE class.

Chen Yushu and Jiang Yuran had the same teacher, while Ye Chiwan and Xia Ke had another.

After one class, the two of them headed to the sports field together.

On the way, Jiang Yuran couldn’t resist probing. “So, how did things go with Lu Wei yesterday?”

Chen Yushu remembered she hadn’t yet cleared out the papers Lu Wei had stuffed into her backpack. She immediately opened it and pulled out those crumpled sheets. “Here.”

Jiang Yuran: “Oh my god! She’s so good at this! Saying she misses you while writing your name it’s deadly! I’d be smitten too if it were me!”

Jiang Yuran first saw the paper filled with Chen Yushu’s name. As she flipped further down, the doting smile on her face instantly stiffened, and she said expressionlessly, “As expected, I knew it. Tsk, the little tricks of a niece.”

Chen Yushu nodded in agreement.

“See? A living example. It’s people like us who get fooled.” Jiang Yuran waved her hand, nearly scattering the stack of papers like ashes.

Chen Yushu nodded even more emphatically.

Jiang Yuran sympathetically took her hand and spoke earnestly, “Before it leads to disaster, we must turn back while we still can!”

Chen Yushu felt her words were extremely, incredibly, and exceptionally reasonable, and without hesitation, she continued nodding.

“I know, once you get involved with a straight girl, it’s incredibly difficult to break free completely.” Jiang Yuran wore a knowing expression, then abruptly changed her tone. “But don’t worry, I have experience. I won’t let you suffer that heart-wrenching, bone-deep pain!”

Although Jiang Yuran spoke seriously, the way she described the other person as if they were some kind of monstrous threat made Chen Yushu chuckle.

However, in the very next second, a bright, dazzling smile burst into her line of sight. Lu Wei had tied all her hair back, revealing a beautiful, radiant face, and she was wearing a warm yellow tracksuit.

At that moment, Lu Wei stood against the light, jumping up to greet her. Every strand of her hair was tinged with golden sunlight, dancing along with her movements.

Everything around them seemed to fade into the background empty and silent. She was quiet, yet earth-shattering.

Countless memories overlapped in her mind.

Chen Yushu’s breath hitched, and she suddenly felt that Jiang Yuran was right.

Some people, the moment they appear, are destined to be a trial in your life an unavoidable one that only you can overcome.

“Hopeless, hopeless,” Jiang Yuran muttered, her eyes darting back and forth between the two of them. She sighed and began to grumble, “No, we still have to try to salvage this. Otherwise, we won’t even know where to bury you later.”

“Wheee ”

A sharp whistle snapped Chen Yushu out of her daze. She glanced over to see Jiang Yuran’s utterly speechless expression, her own face warming slightly as she bashfully lowered her head.

Jiang Yuran sighed. “Let’s go, it’s time for us to assemble too.”

Chen Yushu hummed in response, quickly stealing a glance toward Lu Wei’s class before jogging to catch up.

After the assembly, the female teacher, holding a basketball, began explaining the breakdown of the final grades. Besides the final exam score and participation points, students also had to complete a campus run at least 90 kilometers for girls and 120 kilometers for boys.

As soon as she finished speaking, a chorus of groans erupted.

Chen Yushu felt her vision darken. Just then, Jiang Yuran nudged her elbow and whispered, “Don’t worry, you can hire someone to run for you.”

“Is that allowed?”

Jiang Yuran made a zipping motion over her lips. “Gray market transaction.”

Chen Yushu: “Understood.”

“Alright, students, before we start the class, let’s warm up with a run. Everyone, turn left and run around this circle.”

Chen Yushu followed the person in front of her. As she ran along the outermost lane, she passed by Lu Wei’s class, where they were currently stretching.

Seeing her, Lu Wei immediately gave her a playful wink.

Just like that, their eyes met again and again. Breathing slightly heavily, Chen Yushu didn’t feel tired at all. When the teacher called for them to stop, she even felt a little wistful.

Next up was the warm-up exercises. Chen Yushu followed the teacher’s movements with her body, but her gaze uncontrollably drifted to the opposite side.

Lu Wei stood in the middle, partially blocked from view, leaving only a glimpse of warm yellow visible.

“One basketball per person. Next, we’ll start learning how to dribble.”

The first class of the day was Advanced Mathematics. The instructor was a bespectacled elderly man who walked in cheerfully. After introducing himself, he chatted casually until the bell rang to signal the end of class.

“Alright, take a break, everyone. Next class, we’ll officially begin our Advanced Mathematics lessons,” the elderly man said before leaving with his teacup in hand.

Chen Yushu pulled out her phone from her bag. As soon as she turned it on, several messages popped up almost all from Lu Wei.

Checking the timestamps, she noticed the messages had been sent intermittently from the start of class until it ended, spanning a surprisingly long period.

Didn’t she have classes today too? Chen Yushu wondered as she pulled up Lu Wei’s schedule. Sure enough, it listed sketching classes, with two sessions scheduled over two days.

Just then, another message from Lu Wei came through:
[Class is over, why are you still ignoring me?]

Chen Yushu replied:
[Why are you using your phone during class?]

Lu Wei immediately sent back an indignant emoji:
[We haven’t started drawing yet.]

Lu Wei:
[Later, you won’t even get a message from me. You have no idea how to cherish this!]

“Narcissist,” Chen Yushu muttered under her breath, a hint of disdain curling her lips as she typed:
[Thank you. I’d be more than happy if that happened.]

Suddenly, Chen Yushu felt someone lean close to her ear. It was Jiang Yuran. “Are you chatting with Lu Wei?”

She nodded, inexplicably feeling a bit guilty, as if afraid of being found out.

Fortunately, the class bell rang just then. Jiang Yuran let out an “oh” and returned to her seat.

Chen Yushu tucked her phone back into her desk, opened her textbook, and focused on the lesson.

As soon as class ended, everyone got up and hurried to another classroom. Crowds of students moved between buildings, a novel experience for Chen Yushu.

Class ended at 11:40, and they had another one at 2:00 PM, leaving little time in between. Chen Yushu glanced at her phone and, just as Lu Wei had warned, there were no new messages.

After a moment’s thought, she decided to grab lunch with her roommates first.

They had just sat down with their food when Xia Ke whispered, “Hey, check the group notification.”

Hearing this, they all pulled out their phones. Ye Chiwan was the first to curse, followed closely by Jiang Yuran.

“Seriously? Evening self-study in college? Whose idea was that?”

“I’d heard before.” Jiang Yuran paused, as if recalling something, and after a few seconds continued, “A friend mentioned that freshmen have evening self-study. I didn’t think it was actually true!”

Chen Yushu glanced at her, understanding that she was likely referring to her ex-girlfriend.

“I take back what I said this morning,” Ye Chiwan declared, slamming her chopsticks down. “I can’t stand this university for even one more day!”

“Seconded,” Jiang Yuran raised her hand. “Let’s go drop out and retake the college entrance exams right now.”

“Get out of here,” Ye Chiwan swatted her. “Are you crazy? This is a top-three prestigious university. Help me up this humble servant can still endure.”