Chapter 64#
The People in the Story (1)#
After sitting at the welcome booth all day, Ye Sheng was a little thirsty. He opened a bottle of mineral water and took a long drink. Wiping the water from the corner of his mouth, he looked at the wall of the old gymnasium with a cold, deep gaze.
The abandoned building, which had been deserted for many years, now stood in the moonlight like a large shadow.
Ning Weichen, bored, asked, “Are you going to take me inside?”
“We can’t get in.” Ye Sheng shook his head and said, “The old gymnasium only opens under special circumstances.”
Ye Sheng placed the mineral water bottle on a chair, walked a few steps forward, took out his phone, opened the search function, and took a picture of the old gymnasium. The scope of the photo was too large, and the search didn’t show anything.
Behind him, Ning Weichen smiled and blinked. “But gege, if you need it, I can make it a special circumstance right now.”
Ye Sheng: “…” Oh, he almost forgot. Ning Weichen was someone who could directly buy the Luohu Mansion and parachute into Huai’an University.
Ye Sheng: “No need. Let’s first find out what happened back then.”
Ning Weichen asked, puzzled, “Why are you so interested in this place?”
Ye Sheng thought for a moment and didn’t hide it from him. “A gut feeling. The old gymnasium and Lover’s Lake give me a very similar feeling.”
His thin lips, now moist with water, appeared even more of a lustrous red.
Ning Weichen stared at him. “You think there’s a grotesque story written by the Story King in here too?”
“Mm.” Ye Sheng nodded.
Ever since his first encounter with the Story King on the Yinshan train, he seemed to have developed an instinctive intuition for that kind of aura.
Ning Weichen said with a smile, “So it’s just the two of us, single-handedly investigating the Story King.”
Ye Sheng glanced at him. “Do you want the Unnatural Bureau to get involved?”
Ning Weichen shook his head and chuckled lightly. “How could I? This is our private date.”
Seeing that he hadn’t even opened the mineral water in his hand, Ye Sheng was silent for a moment and said, “Let’s go get dinner.”
Ning Weichen nodded and followed Ye Sheng slowly to the food street next to the school.
For the past two months, Ye Sheng had eaten every meal very efficiently. If he ate in the cafeteria, he would finish it on the spot. If he bought food from the food street, he would take it back to his dorm.
This time, taking Ning Weichen to eat, Ye Sheng had to slow down.
He didn’t know what to eat for dinner, so he randomly found a ramen shop and walked in.
The ramen shop was filled with students from the nearby universities.
This kind of small street-side noodle shop was narrow and noisy. Even if the tables were wiped clean, there seemed to be a thin layer of oil on them. There was no air conditioning, only electric fans whirring. The owner was busy inside, and the place was full of the smell of life.
“What do you want to eat?” Ye Sheng said.
Ning Weichen smiled, not picky at all. “Anything is fine with me.”
Ye Sheng ordered two bowls of beef noodles.
After getting the order number, he found a table and sat down.
The table was in the innermost part of the restaurant, covered with a clean cloth. Some piled-up clutter happened to shield them from the gazes of others.
Ning Weichen looked around thoughtfully and said with a smile, “Gege, if you don’t like being looked at, you can let me choose the place to eat in the future. The restaurants I choose will definitely not be disturbed by others.”
Ye Sheng: “…”
The restaurants Ning Weichen chose would indeed not have extra people, but the price of one meal might be his entire month’s salary. So expensive that he felt like he was being robbed. They could have just robbed him, but the restaurant still gave him a bowl of rice, what a conscientious business.
Ever since he found out the cost of one night at the Yuecheng Hotel, Ye Sheng no longer trusted Ning Weichen’s consumption habits.
Ye Sheng’s mouth twitched. “No need. In the future, when we eat, you eat yours, and I’ll eat mine.” If it weren’t for Ning Weichen, he would have already been heading back to his dorm with a takeout box.
Ning Weichen thought for a moment and said, “You’re already my fiancé in name, you don’t need to be so distant with me.”
Ye Sheng: “That lie is good enough for the Unnatural Bureau. When it’s just the two of us, just shut up.”
Ning Weichen was not at all surprised by his reply. He propped his chin on his hand and looked at him, his peach-blossom eyes curved in a smile, his gaze unfathomable.
Soon, the steaming hot beef noodles arrived.
Ye Sheng took his chopsticks and stirred the soup first. Seeing that Ning Weichen hadn’t moved, he frowned and asked, “You don’t know how to use chopsticks?”
Ning Weichen smiled. “Of course I do.”
He quickly showed Ye Sheng how he used his chopsticks. His long, slender, pale hands held two black wooden chopsticks, reached forward, and picked out all the cilantro from Ye Sheng’s bowl.
Ye Sheng: “?”
Ye Sheng: “…” When they came in, he had just seen a couple do this.
Ye Sheng’s grip on his chopsticks instantly tightened, directly breaking the noodles.
He resisted the urge to curse, his tone cold, his eyes clear and sharp. “Ning Weichen, I’m not a picky eater. I eat everything.”
He knew that some people in the world didn’t eat cilantro, durian, or scallions, ginger, and garlic. Those who ate them loved them, and those who didn’t hated them. But Ye Sheng belonged to neither side.
In his childhood, he was often so hungry that he ate tree bark. When he was starving, everything tasted the same.
In his opinion, any food that could be eaten was a good thing, and throwing it away was a waste.
Ning Weichen said, “I know.” But he didn’t stop. Propping his chin, he slowly and methodically picked out the chili, fennel, and scallions from his bowl.
Ye Sheng couldn’t stand him wasting food like this. “Are you planning to switch bowls with me?”
Ning Weichen said, “No.”
He put down his chopsticks and said with a smile, “I just remembered that in the books I’ve read, they all say that you can’t eat cilantro or chili during pregnancy. Gege, even if you don’t think about yourself, you have to think about our child.”
Ye Sheng: “…”
Ye Sheng: “…”
Impressive.
Just then, the owner’s wife came over with a plate of peanuts and dried fish. She looked at the two handsome and pleasing-to-the-eye young men and smiled broadly. “You two handsome boys, these are our homemade dried fish. Huai’an University started school today, so our shop is having a little event. These two plates are on the house for your table.”
Ning Weichen smiled. “Thank you, ma’am.”
The owner’s wife’s favorability towards him skyrocketed. She said ecstatically, “Handsome boys, would you like to add anything else?”
Ning Weichen thought for a moment and said, “Another bowl of noodles, please.”
The owner’s wife: “Huh?”
Ning Weichen glanced at Ye Sheng and smiled. “I’m sorry, ma’am. I forgot when I was ordering that my friend has a lot of dietary restrictions right now. Please bring another bowl. He doesn’t eat spicy food, garlic, pepper, or cilantro. Do you have any lighter noodle dishes here? Less oil, less salt, oh, and he doesn’t seem to eat pickled food right now, so it’s best not to have any pickled vegetables, preserved mustard greens, or fermented bean curd.”
The owner’s wife: “…” What a request. After eliminating everything, she couldn’t find anything else in the shop that she could make.
The owner’s wife asked with concern, “Is your friend sick and in recovery?”
Ning Weichen was about to speak. Ye Sheng had already put down his chopsticks and looked at the owner’s wife. “Yes, he just had a brain removal surgery. Please bear with him, ma’am.”
The owner’s wife: “…”
Ye Sheng: “Ma’am, another bowl of beef noodles, please. Add cilantro, scallions, garlic, preserved mustard greens, and fermented bean curd. Extra spicy, as spicy as you can make it, thank you.”
The owner’s wife: “…” You guys are really making things difficult for me.
Ning Weichen didn’t speak, a smile playing on his lips, his eyes fixed on Ye Sheng without blinking.
The owner’s wife was at a loss for a moment, not knowing what the two of them were doing. She looked at Ning Weichen. “Handsome boy, you two…”
Ning Weichen said calmly, “Listen to him.”
After he finished speaking, he looked over with a smiling gaze, his tone a mix of curiosity and seriousness. “Gege, have you been craving spicy food lately?”
Ye Sheng forced a smile, just annoyed with him. “Yes.”
Ning Weichen nodded. “Oh, that seems like a good sign. Isn’t there an old saying in China, ‘sour for a boy, spicy for a girl’? Since you like spicy food, that means…”
“…”
Fuck!
Ye Sheng’s scalp tingled. Without thinking, he picked up a peanut and stuffed it across the table into his mouth, stopping Ning Weichen from saying anything more.
The owner’s wife was still taking notes on the side, and was completely stunned by Ning Weichen’s shocking words. Her eyes widened and she looked up in disbelief at the two dazzlingly handsome men.
Ye Sheng said expressionlessly, “Ma’am, we’re fine at this table.”
“Oh, okay, okay…”
The owner’s wife left with the menu in a daze.
Ye Sheng wanted to pull his hand back, but the tip of his chopsticks was gently bitten by Ning Weichen’s teeth.
Ning Weichen’s tongue took the peanut, put it in his mouth, chewed and swallowed it. His movements were slow, his eyes smiling as he looked at him. Every move seemed to be tinged with an indescribable desire.
“…”
Ye Sheng’s mouth twitched, and he quickly pulled the chopsticks out.
After he pulled the chopsticks out, Ning Weichen couldn’t hold it in anymore. He leaned on the table and laughed, laughing for a long time.
Ye Sheng said with a cold face, “Now we really have to switch bowls.” He directly swapped their bowls and chopsticks.
Ning Weichen wasn’t actually hungry at all and had no intention of eating dinner at this restaurant.
He had laughed enough and asked, “Ye Sheng, are you really homophobic?”
Ye Sheng: “I just hadn’t been exposed to it before. Thanks to you, I think I’m really homophobic now.”
“Oh, is that so.” Ning Weichen lifted his chin and suddenly said, “The owner’s wife is looking at us.”
Ye Sheng cursed under his breath, “You have the nerve to say that, it’s all your fault.”
Ning Weichen smiled. “Turn around and look, her expression isn’t what you think it is.”
Ye Sheng turned around and saw the owner’s wife talking animatedly to her son at the cash register.
Her gaze towards them wasn’t strange or surprised, but rather one of envy and a kind smile.
Ye Sheng’s hearing was very good. Amidst the whirring of the fan, he knew that the owner’s wife was talking about their table.
She thought they were just playing around.
She said their relationship must be very good.
Ye Sheng was slightly taken aback.
It wasn’t that he had never had a meal with others. When he ate with Huang Qiqi and Xia Wenshi, he would answer whatever they asked. Other than that, Ye Sheng wouldn’t say an extra word. The gazes of others annoyed him, and he would choose to ignore them. Most of the time, Ye Sheng felt that he didn’t fit in with this human society. He was like a monster disguised as a human.
But Ning Weichen was different. Ning Weichen fit in with this society so well that it was almost eerie. A natural socialite, at ease with people, and composed in any situation.
Even Ye Sheng, when he was with him, seemed to become more “normal” in all aspects. In this restaurant, he was just an ordinary university student eating out with a good friend after school.
An ordinary and normal person among the masses.
“…” How ironic.
Who would have thought that this “normalcy” was brought by Ning Weichen, a madman even more abnormal than him.
Ning Weichen said, “What are you thinking about?”
Ye Sheng put a peanut in his mouth and said, “Nothing.”
After leaving the noodle shop, Ye Sheng planned to go back to school. Ning Weichen said they should go to his place first to take his medicine. Only then did Ye Sheng remember that he had to continue taking the prescription Andrew had given him.
As they were waiting at a red light, as fate would have it, Ye Sheng ran into Chen Can.
The group of men and women next to Chen Can were all dressed up, probably the group of freshmen who had been clamoring in the group chat to go to a party.