Chapter 2: Youth Does Not Disperse (Part 2)

Zhou Xiaoru walked in front, one hand clutching the oden that had already been squeezed out of shape by her, while she bared her teeth and grimaced, rubbing the arm that Gu Liyan had just grabbed with a fierce expression.

As she walked, she cursed in her heart that this person was a bastard!

At the very least, I was once his woman; it's one thing not to cherish old feelings, but to be so rude!

The person behind followed the whole way, eyes fixed on that back; he did not know that at this moment, Zhou Xiaoru had already sliced him into a thousand pieces ten thousand times in her heart.

In the southwest corner of the Fifth Canteen, there was a quiet little path, with two neat rows of trees planted on both sides of the path.

Just now, when they said they wanted to talk outside the supermarket, both of them tacitly thought of this place, because this was where they used to date when they were in a relationship.

At this moment, there was no one on that path; it was empty, and apart from the slightly floating and swaying branches and a piece of undeveloped wasteland overgrown with weeds in front, there was nothing else.

When Zhou Xiaoru arrived there, she plopped down onto the cement-built ledge along the side of the path.

She touched the small bowl in her hand; the things inside had all gone cold, and the oden broth couldn't even be drunk anymore...

Frowning, she picked up a skewer of meatballs and started eating again; she had already bought them, so she couldn't waste them. Her eyes darted back and forth, simply refusing to look at the person staring at her from the side.

Without any warmth, she threw out a sentence, "If you have something to say, say it." What kind of bullshit did they have to talk about now?

Gu Liyan's handsome face darkened slightly, and he frowned a little; now, in her eyes, he wasn't even as good as the meatballs in her hand.

"So much time has passed since before, and I already apologized to you back then. Let's part on good terms; why must you make things so awkward for everyone?"

The fingers holding the small bowl tightened abruptly upon hearing such words. Zhou Xiaoru stood up from the ground with a start, her gaze like a torch, staring at the person only two or three steps away from her.

"Awkward?! Gu Liyan! Are you playing the thief crying 'stop thief' now? Who was the one who made things awkward for whom back then! How dare you ask me now, telling me not to make things awkward for you? Who do you think you are! A rose? Does every woman have to like you? Pfft!"

"You!!" Gu Liyan was rendered speechless by this barrage of gunfire-like words; how had he never noticed before that this girl was so sharp-tongued!

"What about me! I just went to the supermarket to buy something; did I get in your way?" She was about to slip away through the back door, yet they insisted on giving her a reunion after a long absence!

Gu Liyan was completely speechless now and could only swallow his pride; if Zhou Ding hadn't said he saw her, they wouldn't have gone to the back door to intercept her.

But what he didn't expect was that even though he had left school for nearly two years, she was still so repulsed by him.

Who told him to be the one who hurt her first back then...

In these two years, not only did Zhou Xiaoru block his WeChat and phone calls, she didn't even want to see him...

At that time, he really hurt her very deeply...

Thinking of this, he softened his tone and said, "We just wanted to say hello to you, there's no other meaning."

Zhou Xiaoru looked away, not wanting to look at that face she had liked for many years anymore.

Two years without seeing him, this person was still as handsome as ever, but her heart was also as wounded as it was in the beginning.

"Gu Liyan, you don't actually believe that nonsense about being able to be good friends after breaking up, do you! That's you, not me."

He had never liked her, not in the past, nor later when they were dating; even after breaking up, the only one in pain was her...

That was why he could speak so easily and comfortably now, and even be so brazen!

Gu Liyan fell silent; everything he thought time could smooth over had not been washed away with the passage of time.

"Can we... really not even be friends?" After all, they had known each other for so many years, and more importantly, both their parents knew each other. To be so estranged was really not his style.

Friends? Zhou Xiaoru sneered in her heart!

She looked at the things in her hand that had completely cooled down; there were only two or three meatballs left inside. What a pity... she might as well take them to feed the stray cats behind the dormitory.

Gu Liyan also followed her gaze to look at the things in her hand, his handsome brows furrowing again, "Zhou Xiaoru, I'm asking you a question." She had been staring at those meatballs since just now...

She looked up in a daze, "What did you say just now?"

"......"

At this moment, Gu Liyan's handsome face drooped completely; he knew this girl was doing it on purpose.

Zhou Xiaoru then feigned ignorance, "Oh," she said, "you said being friends..." She looked around, "It's not impossible, I'm just afraid you can't do it."

The man's eyes lit up instantly upon hearing this, "What do you mean?"

Zhou Xiaoru used a bamboo skewer to spear the remaining three meatballs in the disposable small bowl and held them in her hand. Then, she scooped a bit of mud from under a large tree nearby and put it into the small bowl. She even shook it with great seriousness, thoroughly and fully blending the mud with the remaining oden broth.

Gu Liyan stared at all of this without blinking, a bad premonition rising in the bottom of his heart, and then his premonition was confirmed...

Zhou Xiaoru handed the paper bowl to him and said, "If you drink the broth in here, I'll pretend the past never happened, and we'll still be friends, and when we meet, it'll be just like before."

She didn't believe that Gu Liyan, who always had mysophobia, would drink it!

When they were dating, he wouldn't even eat from the same bowl as her!

At that time, she thought it was because of his mysophobia, but now that she thought about it, she felt it was because he didn't love her! That was why he wasn't willing to do those sweet things lovers do.

At this moment, Gu Liyan's handsome face turned completely black, and his expressive eyes looked like two bombs ready to detonate at any time! He knew Zhou Xiaoru was deliberately messing with him!

After staring at the person in front of him quietly for a while, the corners of his mouth curled up, revealing a smile...

Seeing this smile, Zhou Xiaoru couldn't help but shiver, and her spine felt a chill; she thought to herself, this person wouldn't want to beat her up here, would he?

Just as she was about to pull her hand back, her wrist was grabbed by the man's slender, powerful hand.

Gu Liyan spoke softly, "Is what you said true? As long as I drink this, we will be friends in the future, and you won't be able to hide from me and Zhou Ding and the others anymore..."

Zhou Xiaoru was stunned, and even more covered in goosebumps by his gentle, soft-spoken words; she wouldn't believe even if she died that this person would drink what was in her hand!

"I keep my word!"

"Good!"

Immediately after, the moment to witness a miracle was born...

Without a word, Gu Liyan took the small bowl from her hand, and the mouthful of mud-mixed broth was poured directly into his mouth...

Zhou Xiaoru's mouth was instantly shocked into an 'O' shape!

Gu Liyan only frowned when the stuff entered his mouth, and then he tossed the now-empty small bowl into a trash can not far away.

The disposable small bowl landed accurately and correctly into the trash bin, and he said in an unrefusable tone.

"I drank it. You have to keep your word. Take out your phone now and unblock my phone number and WeChat from your blacklist."

At this moment, Zhou Xiaoru was still in a dazed state, her large eyes wide open, pointing at the man who was acting like nothing had happened with the remaining skewer of meatballs in her hand, 'trembling'.

She stammered,

"Gu Liyan! Are you even human?" To be friends with him again, she had even drunk the bowl of mud-slurry; if what she had put in it just now hadn't been mud, but dog shit, would he have eaten it without hesitation too?!

Gu Liyan saw through what she was thinking at a glance, and his entire face darkened another shade, "Zhou Xiaoru, rest assured, I do not eat shit!"

".........."

Today's sunlight is exceptionally fine, passing through the layers of trees, shining upon every place and every object on the earth...

And also shining upon the tail end of youth...