Chapter 42: Do you like him?

Liu Miaomiao, who hadn't slept enough, had just entered the classroom when her gaze was involuntarily drawn toward a certain direction.

Seeing Lu Mingfei buried in his work at that seat just as she had expected, she curled her lip, walked with slightly heavier steps, and sat down at the desk in front of Lu Mingfei, carrying a hint of "anger."

But the person behind her didn't look up; he hadn't even noticed that Liu Miaomiao had arrived in the classroom—how could "Flow State" be such an inconvenient thing?

In a state of high concentration and immersion, if one could be distracted by just any little movement, then in a place like a classroom, which was densely packed with people and filled with chaotic noise, Lu Mingfei's Electric Shock Warning count would have long since been exhausted, and he would have been shocked until smoke poured from his seven orifices.

There was a reason why Liu Miaomiao was a little "angry"—

Last night.

It was probably around the time Lu Mingfei got into Brother Chu's Mercedes and headed toward Xishan Villa at a speed that absolutely qualified as "dangerous driving" that Liu Miaomiao had already returned home.

Shanshan Ayi had said she "had a party to attend," so she had let Liu Miaomiao finish her lesson early.

Such a casual arrangement would have had parents knocking on the door demanding an explanation at any other tutoring agency. After all, they had paid money; naturally, they were entitled to demand quality and duration for the service they bought.

But it was different with Shanshan Ayi; the money she collected for tutoring was really just a token gesture. She was just looking for something to do since she had time on her hands, and the amount of money didn't matter. It was only because Liu Miaomiao's parents had pulled strings, and because Liu Miaomiao truly had talent, that she had agreed to take her on.

In her room, Liu Miaomiao, having finished her homework, lay half-reclined on her HermanMiller Aeron chair, holding a piece of sheet music in her hand.

Since its debut in 1994, this chair had always been the benchmark for ergonomic seating. "A reputation is rarely without substance," and its comfort level was sufficient to match its price; usually, Liu Miaomiao felt it was fine whether she was sitting or lying in it.

But today, she suddenly felt as if she were sitting on pins and needles.

"Is it time to change it since I've been sitting for so long?"

Liu Miaomiao muttered to herself, pushed off with her feet, and slowly began to spin.

Her gaze naturally swept past the window as she spun, but the floor-to-ceiling window across the road remained dark.

"Still not back, what on earth did he go off to do?"

It was inevitable that Liu Miaomiao would care so much about Lu Mingfei's whereabouts.

As a piano beauty, it wasn't as if she hadn't been the subject of rumors before. But those were all groundless gossip, mostly about her having spoken a few extra words to someone, and they came and went quickly.

But being dragged away from the classroom by a boy while holding his hand without putting up any resistance—that was no longer "groundless gossip"; it could absolutely be considered "hard evidence" and "public exposure"!

Liu Miaomiao didn't even dare to go on the Shilan Middle School Campus Forum now; she knew roughly how massive the storm of public opinion in the posts there would be without even looking.

Under these circumstances, although she said things like "the innocent remain innocent, the corrupt remain corrupt" and "my conscience is clear," how could she not care at all?

Yet the culprit behind it all, Lu Mingfei, was acting as if he had gone missing.

Thinking of this, Liu Miaomiao sighed and tapped her head with some annoyance; she didn't know what had gotten into her these past two days, as if she were possessed!

Rationally, she should immediately post a clarification statement. Although "a clarification wouldn't stop the gossip," it would at least express her stance, and that way she could at least distance herself from it.

Liu Miaomiao opened her computer, and a "clarification statement" was quickly edited, but just as she was one step away from "clicking the left mouse button to publish," she hesitated again.

If she did that, wouldn't she be dumping all the pressure onto Lu Mingfei?

Although this matter was Lu Mingfei's fault to begin with, and although he was usually all smiles and acting like a rascal, and although he was usually a transparent person who didn't care even when mocked or looked down upon, his stress-resistance was maxed out...

She could find a basketful of reasons to click that left button, but why? Why couldn't she just click it?

Liu Miaomiao didn't quite understand; it was clearly such an easy thing to click the left button!

When a person subconsciously doesn't want to do something, they can always quickly find a reason for it. Liu Miaomiao was the same, and she soon found one—

Because Lu Mingfei was a "non-human" level peerless piano genius!

Possessing some piano talent herself, she knew how rare talent of that level was. What if Lu Mingfei couldn't handle this blow and was crushed by it?

No one knew when the last straw that broke the camel's back would arrive.

Yes, that's right, this was her cherishing of talent!

Having successfully convinced herself, Liu Miaomiao had just deleted the clarification statement and pressed ESC to exit when she was distracted by the "di-di" sound of a QQ notification.

It was so late, who would be looking for her?

Could it be that this guy Lu Mingfei had finally regained his conscience and knew to send a message before coming to apologize in person to show his gratitude? If that were the case, her sacrifice would have been worth it!

Liu Miaomiao subconsciously glanced out the window; the light was still off.

She looked toward the bottom right corner of the screen, where the avatar of the person messaging her was flashing; it was... a girl wearing a baseball cap.

Chen Wenwen!

Liu Miaomiao's breath hitched, and she felt her heart stop for an instant.

It was common knowledge at Shilan Middle School that Lu Mingfei liked Chen Wenwen, and now he was rumored to be with her... was Chen Wenwen coming to cause trouble?

But she quickly calmed down.

It was true that Lu Mingfei liked Chen Wenwen, but now, she was afraid she had to add the word "used to."

Besides, the original situation was that Lu Mingfei was unilaterally harboring a secret crush on Chen Wenwen, and Chen Wenwen hadn't expressed anything... the relationship hadn't even reached the point of being a couple!

So why should she panic like "a mistress preparing to take the throne only to have the queen come knocking"?

Having figured out the crux of the matter, Liu Miaomiao "calmly" clicked on the flashing avatar, and the chat window popped up.

Chen Wenwen: "Do you like him?"

"Him"—she didn't say who, but anyone who wasn't a fool knew Chen Wenwen was asking about Lu Mingfei... Liu Miaomiao felt as if time had frozen; she fell into a daze.

Before opening the message, she had thought about how Chen Wenwen might speak—would she start by chatting about some daily girl talk to open the door, then use various words to probe and hint?

Or would she be more overbearing and directly assert her sovereignty, saying that even if he were a dog she didn't want, he was still a dog she kept, and how could she allow a lowly person like you to covet him? I'm going to take him back!

Hmm, the second style didn't really fit Chen Wenwen; it sounded more like something Su Xiaoqiang would say. But given Su Xiaoqiang's personality, she wouldn't keep a "dog" at all; if she had a crush, she would just announce it publicly!

But despite all her calculations, Liu Miaomiao hadn't expected Chen Wenwen to throw a straight pitch—simple, crude, and direct, like the sharpest blade striking the weakness of the human heart.

If she said she liked him, it naturally didn't count yet; at most, it was just a tiny bit of... affection?

But if she said she didn't like him, then what was she doing?

Bring up the "peerless piano genius" excuse to explain? That would be able to explain it, but wouldn't she be putting herself at a disadvantage? Why should she have to explain just because Chen Wenwen asked? You aren't anyone to Lu Mingfei!

Furthermore, Liu Miaomiao didn't want to say it.

She had a "treasuring" mentality; just like when a person discovers that a piece of ugly, unwanted stone on the side of the road contains Imperial Green, they would naturally hide it away and treasure it—there was no reason to take it out and show it off!

Between the two choices, the reason for not choosing the latter answer overwhelmed the former with an absolute advantage.

And so, after thinking for only two seconds, Liu Miaomiao replied: "I like him, so what?"

The tone of this remark actually carried a rather blunt implication; after all, Liu Miaomiao was also quite annoyed at being force-fed such a direct pitch, and it still came back to that same point—you aren't anyone to him!

If you wanted to win him back now, what were you doing earlier? You didn't make a move for two and a half years, and now you're starting just when you're about to lose him?

You can't just think about regretting things when you've already lost them!

Then Liu Miaomiao saw Chen Wenwen's reply: "Then I can rest easy!"

She froze for two seconds, then sent over a question mark.

Liu Miaomiao: "?"

Liu Miaomiao: "What do you mean by that?"

Chen Wenwen: "Because, Lu Mingfei is a very gentle, yet very lonely and pitiful person."

Chen Wenwen: "I've always known he liked me... once."

Chen Wenwen: "But I don't like him. I just... pity him. But not liking someone is just not liking them; I can't just like him out of pity. That wouldn't be fair to him or to me, would it?"

Chen Wenwen: "It's not that I haven't thought about rejecting him. It would be simple: don't invite him to Literature Club activities, don't say another word to him, make him stay away from me...

But I just couldn't bring myself to do it. Every time I was about to reject him, I could think of his pitiful expression.

Besides, I was the one who pulled him into the Literature Club back then, and he didn't do anything wrong. What's wrong with liking someone?

He wasn't even confessing his feelings, so what would it look like if I suddenly kicked him away? He might even be crushed by it..."

Chen Wenwen: "Now he likes you, and you like him back. Mutual affection is the best thing, like a story in a book."

Chen Wenwen: "Sorry for saying so much, I'm kind of just venting (smile), but now that I've asked clearly, I can finally breathe a sigh of relief. Goodnight!"

Liu Miaomiao: "... Goodnight."

Chen Wenwen closed her laptop and let out a sigh of relief.

She had asked that question because she was a little worried that Liu Miaomiao might have approached Lu Mingfei for other reasons, such as simply wanting to snatch Lu Mingfei away to spite her. Now that she had asked clearly, she felt much better.

Although it was a bit uncomfortable at first that a friend who had always been by her side was leaving, it could be considered a good thing; at least it gave this vague, youthful emotion a decent ending.

Chen Wenwen felt relieved and went to bed to rest.

On the other side, Liu Miaomiao couldn't sleep.

After hearing everything Chen Wenwen said, she was, of course, able to understand it.

Chen Wenwen, after all, was a literary girl, a "central air conditioner" who was gentle to everyone; her personality could be described as indecisive, so it was perfectly normal for her to do something like this.

But because of this, Liu Miaomiao felt like she had been "put on the spot"!

She had already said all that to Chen Wenwen, so what if Lu Mingfei actually still liked Chen Wenwen, and was just momentarily infatuated, only to go after Chen Wenwen again later...

Then where would I stand? Where would I put my face?

How did things develop to this point?

Liu Miaomiao lay in bed, dazed, and unsurprisingly, suffered from insomnia.

In the end, with her thoughts in a tangled mess, she reached a conclusion—

"It's all Lu Mingfei's fault!"

Forget it, tomorrow I'll tell Lu Mingfei everything exactly as it happened! This is his business, let him worry about it. Why am I the one agonizing over it here?

Thinking this, Liu Miaomiao was finally able to fall asleep. However, there were less than six hours left until dawn...

After sorting through the matter from beginning to end once more and confirming there were no omissions, Liu Miaomiao turned around and waved her hand in front of Lu Mingfei, who was buried in his studies.

"Lu Mingfei, I need to tell you something."

This chapter is 3.2K! Please keep reading and vote with your monthly tickets! There will be another chapter at six tonight.

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(End of chapter)