How I Accidentally Bent My Best Friend - Chapter 71.3

Chen Yushu didn’t reply again.

Knowing she was in the wrong, Lu Wei didn’t dare bother her further. She reluctantly put away her phone, finished packing, and got in the car.

The old house had been cleaned earlier, so Lu Wei tidied up a bit more and sent another message to Chen Yushu: 【I’m back! Bread came along too. Come see he’s gotten even chubbier.】

After waiting a minute with no reply, Lu Wei went ahead and knocked on the door across the hall. Chen’s mother answered before she could even ask, saying, “Chen Yushu isn’t here.”

“Ah? Where did she go?”

Chen’s mother: “She went out with friends.”

“What? Friends?” Lu Wei’s shock was no less than if she’d seen an alien. “Which friends? How could she…”

“I don’t know.” Chen’s mother sounded a bit impatient and gave her a meaningful look. “But it’s always good to make some new friends.”

“Hahaha, true.” Lu Wei nodded, forcing a smile in agreement.

As soon as the door closed, her face fell. She started typing furiously, asking which friends, why she hadn’t told her, and so on.

Chen Yushu casually replied with three words: None of your business.

Why did it feel like they had suddenly reverted back to square one?

Lu Wei rubbed her temples, exhausted, and leaned against the wall.

No, this wasn’t just reverting to square one it was more like being stripped back to the bare bones!

Aside from pure sisterly affection, did Chen Yushu really not have even a hint of other feelings for her?

Why, after that kiss, did she start acting cold and avoiding her?

Was it because she disliked her…?

Lu Wei’s heart was in turmoil, tears welling up in her eyes. Suddenly, with a surge of resolve, she thought, Since things are already like this, why not just lay it all out and go all-in with persistence?

No time like the present. If not now, then when?

Summoning her courage, Lu Wei dialed Chen Yushu’s number directly.

As the ringtone sounded, her nervousness intensified. Her palms were sweaty, and to make sure she wouldn’t be speechless when the time came, she rehearsed her opening line with false bravado: “Chen Yushu, I’m telling you, if you’re still mad, I’m just going to chase after you relentlessly.”

Just then, a ringing sound echoed. Glancing sideways, she spotted Chen Yushu standing at the stairwell, holding his phone and looking up at her.

“Finished talking?”

Lu Wei licked her lips and immediately shook her head without pride. “I, I’m done.”

Remembering her earlier threatening tone, she shook her head even more vigorously. “No, no! I’m not finished yet!”

Chen Yushu walked up the steps and stopped only when she reached Lu Wei, signaling her to continue.

“Uh.” Lu Wei blinked, took a step back, lowered her head, and said in a voice as faint as a mosquito’s buzz, “Well, don’t be mad, okay?”

“I’m not mad.”

Lu Wei clearly didn’t believe her. “Actions speak louder than words.”

“Can’t be bothered with you.” Chen Yushu shot her a glance. “Step aside, I’m going home.”

“Wait, your mom said you went out with a friend.” Lu Wei looked her up and down, trying to sound casual as she asked, “Who was it? Do I know them? Why didn’t you invite me?”

“You don’t know them.”

“Then who is it?”

“Is it any of your business?”

Lu Wei pouted resentfully. Of course it is, who knows if that friend might pose a threat to me?

“By the way, Qi Yi and the others are back. Let’s hang out together some other day.”

“I’m not going. I have to practice driving in a couple of days.”

A smile spread across Lu Wei’s face. “Practicing driving? That’s perfect I can teach you.”

Chen Yushu gave her a look that clearly said, “Are you out of your mind?”

“No, I mean.” Lu Wei laughed awkwardly. “I can keep you company.”

“Haven’t you already got your driver’s license?”

“Oh, haha, right, I forgot.” For a moment, Lu Wei wished she could crawl into a hole. But then, in a burst of impulsiveness, she blurted out, “But it wouldn’t hurt to learn again, right?”

Chen Yushu’s eyes were filled with disbelief. “What are you even saying?”

“Nothing, my brain might not be fully awake yet.”

With that, Lu Wei turned around, opened the door, and fled back inside like the wind.

Wait! Hold on! Wasn’t she supposed to be delivering a tough line and stubbornly pursuing her?

“Chen Yushu, you.” Lu Wei yanked the door open again, but Chen Yushu was long gone.

Forget it, next time. Next time, she absolutely wouldn’t let Chen Yushu get away!

However, over the next few days, Chen Yushu stayed holed up at home, giving Lu Wei no chance to see her.

When Lu Wei finally managed to corner her, she had only managed to set the stage before Chen Yushu hurried off to her driving practice, and upon returning, she refused to engage in any meaningful conversation.

In short, Chen Yushu avoided her at every turn, as if she were some kind of plague.

Time and again, the courage Lu Wei had mustered slowly dwindled away.

Coincidentally, around that time, Wang Zhizhi was holding an art exhibition in another city, and Lu Wei went along to help and learn.

Before she knew it, summer break flew by. Just before the new semester started, the college announced an outdoor sketching trip. Without even returning home, Lu Wei had to rush off again.

As the old students left and new ones arrived, the sophomores naturally took on the responsibility of welcoming the freshmen. Chen Yushu, being one of the volunteers, went to school early and only then found out that Lu Wei was going on the sketching trip.

Upon hearing the news, Chen Yushu paused for a few seconds. “How long will you be gone?”

Lu Wei replied, “Over twenty days.”

Chen Yushu couldn’t help but silently calculate how long it had been since they last saw each other. At the start of the semester, she had been fretting about how to meet again, but now that they couldn’t, it only made her more restless. “Oh, I see.”

“Oh? That’s it?” Lu Wei exaggeratedly raised her voice. “We haven’t seen each other for fifty-one days, and with the next twenty days added, we still won’t meet. Aren’t you going to express how much you miss me?”

“Get lost.”

“Not even a little bit?” Lu Wei asked with a smile, then took a breath and said softly, “But I miss you. I want to see you soon.”

Amid the bustling sounds of her busy classmates, Chen Yushu distinctly heard that one sentence.

She had to admit, there were times when she quite liked some of Lu Wei’s sweet words they had a way of tugging at the softest part of her heart.

The phone suddenly went quiet, as if a faint crackle of static had passed through. Just then, Lu Wei softly called her name, “Chen Yushu.”

“Hmm?” Chen Yushu unconsciously held her breath, feeling a strange sense of tension. “What’s wrong?”

“When I get back, I’ll.” It seemed Lu Wei realized it wasn’t the right way to start, so she rephrased, “I mean.”

“Lu Wei, let’s go.”

Someone on the other end of the line called out Lu Wei’s name loudly. Chen Yushu pressed anxiously, “What is it?”

“You’ll know when I get back,” Lu Wei said, speeding up her words. “Oh, and I bought you something. It should arrive today or tomorrow, so remember to pick it up. I have to go now, bye.”

“Okay.”

After hanging up, Chen Yushu didn’t put her phone down right away.

“Shushu, could you write the words on this poster for us?” Jiang Yuran held up a poster taller than a person.

“Sure, give it to me.”

After finishing the preparations for the welcome event, her phone chimed with a pickup code for a package.

What exactly did she buy?

Driven by curiosity, Chen Yushu went straight to the delivery point to pick it up.

“Shushu, where did you buy these sticky notes? They’re so pretty,” Jiang Yuran said, sitting sideways in her chair and looking over.

“These?” Chen Yushu held up the package she had just opened. “They’re not sticky notes it’s a calendar, but only for September.”

“A calendar?”

“Yeah.” Chen Yushu examined it again, unable to figure out why Lu Wei would send her a calendar. But then again, over the years, most of Lu Wei’s gifts had come without explanations, so she didn’t bother overthinking it.

Jiang Yuran stood up and walked over. “Can I take a look?”

“Here you go.”

“You can tear off the first few pages.” Unable to resist, Jiang Yuran tore off a page as soon as Chen Yushu gave her permission.

The torn page was irregularly shaped.

“Oh, I know this kind, when you tear off all the pages, it becomes a model. How fun!” Jiang Yuran flipped through the remaining pages. “But someone as impatient as me would probably tear them all off in one day.”

Suddenly, her hand paused on the last page. Her eyes scanned the handwriting, and after a few seconds, she quickly closed the calendar and set it back on the table. “You should tear them off slowly, one page a day. It’s quite meaningful that way.”

Returning to her seat, Jiang Yuran patted her cheeks, forcing her brain to start working.

What? What is Lu Wei trying to do?

Is she for real?

Could it just be a coincidence?

No, no. Lu Wei isn’t the poetic type, yet she wrote something like that, paired with that bold line before it. If there’s no deeper meaning, that’s just criminal!

This Wait, have I been analyzing it wrong all along?