How I Accidentally Bent My Best Friend - Chapter 23.2

Chen Yushu chuckled and couldn’t resist sending a message to Lu Wei:
[Our class just announced we have evening self-study. How about yours?]

Thinking she probably couldn’t see it now, Chen Yushu was about to put her phone down when a voice message came through from the other side: [Who told me you left the art studio? Where are you? I’ll come find you.]

Chen Yushu bit her chopsticks, suddenly feeling a sense of foreboding. Guiltily, she typed out her reply word by word: [I’m in the cafeteria.]

Lu Wei quickly sent another voice message, followed by a second, a third.

The cafeteria was crowded, and the internet was slow, the text conversion took forever. Chen Yushu hurriedly fished her earphones out of her backpack’s side pocket, put them on, and clicked to listen to each one.

After a brief loading period, Lu Wei’s furious voice suddenly burst through the earphones. Chen Yushu flinched, her shoulders trembling, and the food in her mouth instantly became hard to swallow.

[You went to eat by yourself?]

[Why didn’t you wait for me?!]

[Chen Yushu, you abandoned me again!]

Chen Yushu took a sip of soup to calm herself, eating with one hand while typing a reply with the other: [What do you mean “again”?]

[Last time you sneaked out at night to have fun and didn’t take me with you. Knife emoji.]

Chen Yushu rolled her eyes in exasperation. Of all things to remember, why this? If only she could apply that kind of memory to her studies, she wouldn’t have ended up at this school.

Seeing that everyone else had started focusing on their meals, Chen Yushu picked up her pace, only opening Lu Wei’s messages to read without replying.

[What are you doing? Why haven’t you replied for so long?]

[I get it. You’re annoyed with me and starting to hate me, right?]

[Crying emoji.]

Why hadn’t she noticed before how clingy this girl could be?

After finishing her meal in a few bites, Chen Yushu lowered her head and focused on replying to the messages.

“Shushu, what do you think? Shushu?”

“Stop calling her. Can’t you see Chen Yushu is chatting with someone? Tsk tsk, chatting all day, every day morning, night, during class, after class. I don’t know what there is to talk about! Even if it’s with a partner, it shouldn’t be like this, right?”

Chen Yushu snapped back to reality, looking at them blankly. Hearing Ye Chiwan’s remark, she pursed her lips and smiled without saying anything.

In that short time, Lu Wei’s messages had flooded the screen like rapid-fire, faster than she could read them.

Ye Chiwan sighed and shook her head. “Got it. The body is here, but the heart is elsewhere.”

“Exactly. Can’t our dorm 4008 warm your heart? How can you think about that wild woman while eating with us?”

“Hahaha, Jiangjiang, you speak for me.”

Chen Yushu was completely overwhelmed, unable to deny it, and could only clasp her hands in surrender.

Jiang Yuran immediately teased, “Is that so? Then put your phone down and ignore her.”

“Huh?” Chen Yushu gripped her phone and glanced at the screen.

Ye Chiwan exclaimed, “She hesitated! Look at this woman she hesitated!”

“No!” Chen Yushu quickly denied. “Lu Wei hasn’t eaten yet. I’m going to buy her something.”

Ye Chiwan waved her hand dismissively, looking like she couldn’t bear to watch. “Go, go! I don’t get you and your bestie, all lovey-dovey.”

Jiang Yuran rested her chin on her hand and raised an eyebrow with a subtle expression.

After buying food for Lu Wei, the group got up and headed back to the dorm.

Turning a corner, they spotted Lu Wei leaning against the wall downstairs of her dorm, staring intently at a takeout bag on the ground. To an uninformed observer, it might have looked like she was plotting to steal someone’s food.

Chen Yushu looked at her, both amused and heartbroken, and unconsciously quickened her pace. “Stop drooling.”

Hearing the voice, Lu Wei turned her head sharply, her eyes lighting up like a puppy’s. But then, as if remembering something, she composed her expression and shot a cold, aloof glance. “Where’s my food?”

“Here.” Chen Yushu dangled the meal in front of her. “Hurry up and take it back to eat.”

Lu Wei let out a haughty hum and turned her head away with a pout.

Just then, Jiang Yuran and her group passed by and couldn’t help but laugh. “Hahaha, you kindly brought her food, but she’s not even grateful.”

“Hahaha, Chen Yushu, look at you now!”

Teased until her face flushed, Chen Yushu redirected her frustration at Lu Wei. “Are you eating or not? If not, I’m taking it away.”

Lu Wei stretched out a hand to block her path, still acting cocky. “What did you buy?”

“Just open it and see for yourself.”

Lu Wei tilted her head to look at her, her expression pitiful and aggrieved, but her tone remained stiff. “Eat with me.”

Chen Yushu’s heart softened, and she replied gently, “But I’ve already eaten.”

Lu Wei immediately pouted, lowered her head, and kicked at the small gravel by her feet.

“Alright, alright, let’s eat over there. Hurry up.”

To the left of the dormitory building, there were a few stone tables in a small grove. Chen Yushu pulled her along, opened the meal, and set out the chopsticks almost feeding her directly.

Seeing this, Lu Wei’s mood improved slightly. Forgetting all about restraint, she tossed her hair back and dug in heartily.

However, despite being ravenous, her picky habits remained unchanged. “There’s celery in here. What’s this? I don’t eat onions.”

“When I went to buy it, there wasn’t much left. You should be grateful you have anything to eat.”

“You’re gaslighting me!”

“Then don’t eat it.” Chen Yushu made a move to take the meal box away.

Lu Wei quickly looked up, trying to stop her with her eyes. Unfortunately, her cheeks were stuffed full, making her look anything but intimidating just adorably round.

Chen Yushu sat across from her, leaned forward, and poked her cheek with her index finger.

Lu Wei dodged to the side and mumbled indistinctly, “You eat this celery.”

“Just pick it out if you don’t want it.”

“No, there’s too much. I have nowhere to put it.”

Chen Yushu couldn’t help but click her tongue. “Give me the chopsticks.”

“Ah.” Lu Wei picked up a bunch of celery with her chopsticks and mimed an open-mouthed gesture.

Chen Yushu instinctively glanced around. Couples were everywhere, either feeding each other sweetly or flirting while digesting. No matter how you looked at it, the two of them stood out like sore thumbs.

“Lu Wei, you’re so annoying.” Chen Yushu leaned over and quickly ate the celery.

“See? I knew you were sick of me.”

“If you know, then behave and stop being so irritating.”

After a couple more bites, Lu Wei looked up again and called out, “Shushu, my hair’s getting in my mouth. Help me…”

“Am I your mom?” Chen Yushu gritted her teeth, stood up, walked behind her, and gathered her hair together.

“No.” Lu Wei smacked her lips. “You’re my number one wife.”

Chen Yushu’s hands, busy tying the hairband, paused for a moment before she replied, “Please, spare me. I can’t handle that.”

“We already sealed the deal. There’s no backing out now.”

Chen Yushu sat down beside her. “Who sealed anything with you?”

“In elementary school.” Lu Wei shook her head. “I asked if you wanted to sit with me, and you agreed.”

“Sitting with you means I’m yours?” Chen Yushu smoothed the stray hairs on her forehead, then gave her a light flick. She glanced at the time. “Hurry up and eat. I have class this afternoon.”

“What class?”

“It seems like Ideological and Moral Cultivation.”

“I heard you can audit classes in university.”

Before Lu Wei could finish, Chen Yushu already knew what she was scheming and gave her another knuckle rap on the head. “Thinking about skipping class on the very first day, huh?”

Lu Wei rubbed her head, swallowing the rest of her words in defeat.

The first class was quite relaxed. After the instructor finished teaching, everyone was allowed to practice freely.

Chen Yushu dribbled the basketball in place, and soon her hand grew numb. Jiang Yuran, who had been beside her, stopped at some point and was sneakily looking around. “Look, the teacher’s gone!”

With that, Jiang Yuran tossed the basketball into the net bag, clapped her hands, carefully pulled out a pack of wet wipes from her pocket, took one to thoroughly clean her hands, and then offered another to Chen Yushu.

Chen Yushu hesitated, unsure whether to go along with it. “Are we really going to slack off like this.”

“Who said it’s just the two of us?” Jiang Yuran turned her head, gesturing for her to look behind.

A row of people sat on the steps by the edge of the playground, basketballs at their feet, chatting and playing on their phones.

A few seconds later, the two joined them, openly turning their slacking into a public affair.

Chen Yushu chose a spot directly facing Lu Wei. They were also having free practice, but with the teacher present, no one dared to slack off or rest.

Perhaps noticing her gaze, Lu Wei paused her dribbling and looked over from afar. The next second, she dribbled the basketball and ran straight toward her.

“Already annoyed about the breakup!” Jiang Yuran pouted, tactfully moving aside while glaring at the two with resentment.

Just as Lu Wei was about to reach them, she suddenly swerved, executing a swift and smooth three-step layup. With a loud clang, the ball went in.

As she jumped, a glimpse of her flat, smooth stomach flashed, pale and dazzling.

Landing, Lu Wei put her hands on her hips, wiped the sweat from her forehead, and looked over with a bright, unrestrained smile.

“Peacock spreading its feathers,” Jiang Yuran commented aptly.

Chen Yushu nodded in agreement.

Just then, Lu Wei picked up the ball, called her name, and raised it overhead. “Catch”

The next moment, the basketball flew toward her. Chen Yushu’s eyes widened in shock, and she hurriedly stood up to dodge. The ball traced a perfect arc and flew right out of the basketball court.

Chen Yushu froze for a second, then burst into laughter, thoroughly amused.

“Who threw the ball out?!” a loud roar came from somewhere. “Whoever threw it, go get it back now!”

Chen Yushu couldn’t hold back anymore, laughing so hard she crouched down.

“Hahahaha, serves her right for showing off.” Jiang Yuran was also delighted, slapping her thigh and laughing heartily.

Lu Wei stood there awkwardly, rubbing her nose, about to slink off to retrieve the ball when she heard someone call her name from behind.

“Lu Wei, come play soccer.”

The person was about 1.75 meters tall, with long legs and a loose soccer jersey. She had medium-short hair casually tied into a small ponytail at the back of her head, a black headband across her forehead, and strikingly sharp, beautiful features. She held a soccer ball tucked between her arm and waist, looking like a character straight out of a manga.

Lu Wei turned her head and called back, “Wait for me, I’ll be right there.”

Chen Yushu, puzzled, stood up and curiously looked over. Just then, she felt the person beside her stand up as well.

“Shushu, I feel like. my love life is about to begin.”

Huh???

Chen Yushu stiffly and slowly turned his neck to look at Jiang Yuran, only to see her staring straight ahead as if she had lost her soul.

Chen Yushu: “Uh, didn your love just leave?”