Who Told You To Fool My First Love? - Chapter 11

By the time Qiao Muyu emerged from his shower, only a sliver of pale yellow remained of the sunset on the horizon.

Before long, the twilight deepened.

The autumn wind whipped outside, the temperature feeling much lower than during the day, and the evening breeze felt slightly chilly against his skin.

Qiao Muyu put on a light jacket, stepped out, and rode his bicycle at a leisurely pace toward the designated dinner location.

Hu Jun’s parents operated a small restaurant in Nanjian City. It wasn’t a large establishment, but the food and service had a good reputation.

Every time Class 1 had a dinner event, it was held here. It was convenient and saved a lot of trouble. This time was no exception.

As Qiao Muyu was parking his bike in front of the restaurant, Du Jingfei happened to arrive right behind him, so the two walked toward their private room together.

Pushing the door open, a few classmates were already sitting there, munching on peanuts and chatting.

“You’re here?”

Hu Jun looked up, spotted Qiao Muyu and Du Jingfei, and waved them over with the air of a host.

“Find a seat wherever you like, don’t be shy.”

With that, he picked up an empty cup and started pouring barley tea. Seeing this, Du Jingfei snatched it up and took a large gulp: “So thoughtful, how did you know I was thirsty?”

Hu Jun: “Get lost, that was for the Class Monitor, not for you.”

Qiao Muyu ignored their bickering and sat down in an empty seat near the door.

Du Jingfei draped his jacket over the back of the chair next to him, staking his claim, and then headed to the restroom.

A moment later, Qiao Muyu heard the door behind him being pushed open. Instinctively, he looked back and saw Lu Zhen appearing in the doorway.

He seemed to have just showered, having changed into clean, crisp casual clothes. His black, just-dried bangs were fluffy and fresh, slightly obscuring his eyes and brows. As he approached, Qiao Muyu could smell the faint scent of shampoo on him.

Without waiting for Qiao Muyu to greet him, Lu Zhen reached out and pulled out the empty chair next to him without a word.

“Hey, hold on, this is—”

Qiao Muyu was just about to say it was Du Jingfei’s seat, but Lu Zhen was already sitting down, tilting his head toward him: “What?”

Qiao Muyu felt too embarrassed to kick him out, so he swallowed his words: “…Nothing.”

Two minutes later, Du Jingfei returned from the bathroom only to find a living, breathing person sitting in the seat he had claimed.

He walked over, tapped Lu Zhen on the shoulder, and politely reminded him: “Sorry, Brother Lu, this is my seat.”

Upon hearing this, Lu Zhen showed absolutely no intention of getting up. He tilted his chin slightly toward the opposite side: “Aren’t there empty seats over there?”

Du Jingfei choked, his face clearly saying: “Yeah, you know there are empty seats over there, too! So why do you have to take my seat?”

Before he could argue his case, Hu Jun walked in carrying two portable alcohol stoves. Seeing Du Jingfei blocking the path where the food was supposed to be served, he immediately yelled at him: “Du Jingfei, what the hell are you standing there for? Go find a seat, don’t block me!”

“Oh.”

Du Jingfei could only sheepishly shuffle to the side.

Seeing Lu Zhen comfortably continuing to occupy his seat while his good buddy Qiao Muyu was busy whispering to Xu Runcan on his other side, completely oblivious to the drama, Du Jingfei looked at his heartless back of the head, feeling helpless. He could only sigh in secret.

Sigh, forget it. It’s just a seat. Considering Lu Zhen had brought a lot of face to Class 1 over the past two days, he wouldn’t hold it against him.

He had no choice but to sit in an empty seat across the table.

On this side, Qiao Muyu was listening to Xu Runcan tell gossip she had picked up at the sports meet, completely unaware of the grievance his good buddy had just suffered.

As he listened with relish, he reached toward the small plate of hawthorn slices on the table, only to touch thin air.

Qiao Muyu felt embarrassed. He hadn’t realized he had finished them all.

But he was truly hungry. He hadn’t eaten much all afternoon, and the tantalizing aroma of food wafting from the kitchen made him even hungrier.

The main courses hadn’t been served yet. The table only held a few bottles of drinks and a few plates of standard pre-meal snacks—peanuts, hawthorn slices, and the like. But they had almost all been emptied by the other students, and the only remaining plate of preserved plums was placed on the opposite side of the round table, out of reach.

Qiao Muyu had a weakness for sweet and sour snacks. Whenever he encountered them, he would overindulge. By the time he came to his senses, he had already eaten quite a bit.

He couldn’t help but steal a few glances at the opposite side, but he felt too embarrassed to spin the tabletop.

Forget it, just endure it. Dinner will be served soon.

Just as he was thinking this, a bony, well-defined hand pressed onto the glass table, turning it gently until that plate of preserved plums stopped right in front of Qiao Muyu.

Lu Zhen reached out and moved it closer, saying to Qiao Muyu: “Eat.”

Qiao Muyu froze: “Huh?”

Lu Zhen: “Weren’t you staring at it the whole time?”

Qiao Muyu: “…”

How embarrassing, he had been seen through!

His earlobes turned red. Giving up on pretense, he grabbed a handful of preserved plums and stuffed them into his mouth, mumbling: “I fank you.”

A light chuckle drifted into his ears: “You’re welcome.”

Qiao Muyu turned his face away, not wanting to look at him again.

Just then, Hu Jun led in the final classmate arriving for dinner.

Seeing that everyone had arrived, Du Jingfei knocked his chopsticks against his bowl, clamoring: “Sports Rep, Sports Rep, Sports Rep! Why hasn’t the food been served yet? I’m starving to death!”

“Exactly!”

Everyone had been waiting impatiently and immediately chimed in, wishing they could just run into the kitchen and steal a bite.

“Coming, coming! Friday nights are just busy. Everyone, keep your cool, I’ll go urge them again!”

Once Hu Jun finished speaking, he disappeared again in a flash.

“If I knew we had to wait this long, I would’ve brought a deck of cards,” Du Jingfei sighed.

“What’s the point of playing cards? Since so many of us are gathered here, why don’t we play Truth or Dare?” Xu Runcan suggested.

Huang Zhengsen raised his hand to support her: “Sure, I’m down.”

Du Jingfei, sitting beside him, patted his shoulder, warning him earnestly: “Buddy, take my advice—never play this game with this woman. The ‘dares’ she comes up with every time are outrageously weird. You can’t afford to lose.”

Huang Zhengsen looked at Du Jingfei’s incredibly sincere eyes, seemingly seeing countless indescribable memories within them. He immediately lowered his hand, not daring to risk it: “…Let’s play a different game then.”

In this regard, Qiao Muyu was also a victim. Afraid that Xu Runcan would take the opportunity to demand something excessive, he quickly took control of the conversation: “How about we play ‘I Have Never’? But just as a pre-meal entertainment; there won’t be any punishments for losing.”

“What about the final winner, then? Is there a prize?”

“The winner doesn’t have to participate in paying the bill today, how about that?”

“Deal!”

Everyone agreed. The reward didn’t really matter, it was just to kill time before the food arrived.

As everyone grew eager to start, Lu Zhen suddenly touched Qiao Muyu’s arm and asked in a low voice: “How do you play this?”

Qiao Muyu was a bit surprised: “You’ve never played this before?”

Lu Zhen: “Never.”

“It’s very simple.” Qiao Muyu turned sideways to face him, starting his tutorial: “Little Lu, please extend your hand.”

Lu Zhen obediently held out his palm.

“Look, our five fingers represent our five lives. We take turns in order, each person says something they’ve experienced. If the others have had a different experience, they fold down a finger.”

As Qiao Muyu explained, he pinched Lu Zhen’s index finger and gently pressed it toward his palm.

A cool, ticklish sensation came from his fingertips. Lu Zhen lowered his eyes and said “Mhm” in a composed manner.

“If you’ve had the same experience, you don’t fold one. Whoever has all five fingers folded first is eliminated. The last person remaining is the winner.”

Qiao Muyu finished and looked at him: “Did you understand, Little Lu?”

Lu Zhen rubbed his fingertips, where the warmth from the other person seemed to linger.

“Yes, I understand.”

In “I Have Never,” taking the initiative is crucial.

To be fair, everyone decided to spin a water bottle. Whoever the cap pointed to would go first.

In the end, Huang Zhengsen became the lucky one to start.

Amidst the anticipation of the crowd, he stood up, cleared his throat, and opened with a nuclear bomb: “I’ve been in a relationship!”

“…Damn!”

Everyone at the table cursed and folded a finger, none escaping.

“Can’t tell, you little guy, you’re full of surprises,” someone remarked.

Du Jingfei took the opportunity to report him: “Class Monitor, I’m reporting him for early dating!”

Only then did Huang Zhengsen realize he had accidentally become a suicide bomber, and he hurriedly explained: “No, no! That’s all in the past, we broke up long ago. I no longer have those worldly desires!”

Everyone burst into laughter.

Perhaps influenced by Huang Zhengsen’s unorthodox start, the next two people also focused on related topics.

One said: “I’ve held hands with the opposite sex,” and another said: “I’ve written a love letter to someone.”

Qiao Muyu’s experience in this area was essentially a blank slate. In the blink of an eye, he had suffered three consecutive defeats, feeling helpless and stifled.

He turned his head to check on the others’ progress, feeling relieved to find that Lu Zhen, sitting next to him, had died three times just like him. He felt his psychological balance restored.

He looked up and met Lu Zhen’s gaze. He was about to say something like, “We are both fellow sufferers,” but saw that the other person looked anything but frustrated, with a hint of an unreadable smile hidden in his eyes.

Qiao Muyu was confused: “What are you laughing at?”

Lu Zhen glanced at his two remaining fingers, his eyes curving slightly: “Nothing.”

Qiao Muyu really didn’t understand how he could still be laughing. He was about to be eliminated, yet he had zero sense of crisis.

Although this was just a harmless little game, as a top-tier perfectionist, Qiao Muyu’s life motto had always been: Once the game starts, you must strive for first place.

Moreover, the fact that the winner didn’t have to pay for the meal was slightly tempting for him.

Fortunately, the next two classmates spoke about school-related experiences, which Qiao Muyu had fortunately both had, barely managing to keep his last two fingers.

Finally, it was Lu Zhen’s turn to speak.

Lu Zhen seemed to have been prepared for a while and said his answer calmly: “I’ve ranked first in the grade in high school.”

After half a second of silence, the whole table erupted into howls.

Qiao Muyu, the sole survivor of this indiscriminate attack, sighed in secret and gave Lu Zhen a mental thumbs-up.

“Ahhh, Brother Lu, you’re playing favorites!”

Xu Runcan, who was down to her last life, screamed in collapse, “You clearly knew that only the Class Monitor had ranked first!”

“Fine, fine, a bet is a bet.”

Du Jingfei rubbed his forehead in resignation.

“Next, Little Yu, it’s your turn.”

Qiao Muyu, who had been called upon, was momentarily dazed and weakly followed the trend: “I… I’ve ranked second in the grade?”

As soon as he said this, the whole table hissed.

“Hey, hey, hey, Class Monitor, that’s not interesting! I could also say I’ve ranked 66th in the grade—such an auspicious number, has anyone else achieved that?”

“Fine, let me change it.”

That trick was indeed a bit suspicious. Qiao Muyu gave up struggling and thought again.

“Okay, I’ve spoken as a student representative at the opening ceremony.”

With that, everyone lost all strength and means to resist, all resignedly dying and settling in to watch the show.

After scanning the group, everyone realized that only Qiao Muyu and Lu Zhen remained, and they each only had one life left.

With the critical match point approaching, the atmosphere inexplicably became tense.

And according to the order, it was Lu Zhen’s turn again.

Qiao Muyu felt that having the initiative in someone else’s hands was a terrible feeling.

Even worse, his opponent was a rich young master who had seen the world. His life experiences were definitely richer than his own. Forget Lu Zhen, even Qiao Muyu’s brain was already flooding with seven or eight lines that his opponent could use to instantly kill him.

Well, no matter how he thought about it, he was a goner.

Qiao Muyu silently accepted his fate, preparing to die generously.

However, in the next second, he heard Lu Zhen say his final answer calmly: “I’ve scored a perfect score in math.”

Qiao Muyu’s pinky finger, which had already folded halfway down, gave a start and snapped back up.

He blinked slowly, almost suspecting he had heard wrong.

That… was it?

Seeming to see the hesitation on his face, Lu Zhen added: “How about you?”

Qiao Muyu’s back straightened instantly. He stubbornly held up his pinky finger, his eyebrows raised slightly: “This, I’ve achieved it too, many times.”

“Oh.” Lu Zhen calmly retracted his own last finger: “Then you win.”

Everyone: “…”

“He threw the game, this is definitely throwing the game!”

Xu Runcan let out a sharp cry again, seemingly ready to report the injustice to the highest authorities.

“He didn’t just throw it, he flooded the whole thing! I could think of a dozen ways to insta-kill Little Yu using just my toes.”

Du Jingfei, deeply immersed, began counting on his fingers: “Things like ‘I’ve transferred schools,’ ‘I’ve won a triple crown at the sports meet,’ ‘I have a chauffeur driving me in a luxury car to school every day’… and you tell me your trump card is that you’ve scored a perfect score in math? I did that in the first grade of elementary school!”

Lu Zhen didn’t deny it, saying lightly: “I didn’t think of those just now.”

The whole group went silent.

I’ll believe that when I see it.

Qiao Muyu, who had picked up a big bargain, hadn’t had a chance to express his victory speech when Hu Jun walked in carrying two plates of freshly cooked hot dishes: “Make way, make way! The food is here!”

The crowd’s attention was immediately snatched away. Everyone scrambled for the food like starving ghosts, no one caring about the outcome of the game just now.

Qiao Muyu struggled to grab a prime piece of pork rib in the scramble. After hesitating, he finally put it into Lu Zhen’s bowl and whispered: “Thanks for letting me win just now.”

Lu Zhen: “It’s fine, I don’t care about the money for this meal.”

Qiao Muyu, who had been filled with gratitude a second ago, suddenly wanted to retract the pork rib: “…”

Damn it, he was showing off again.