She said this ti she wanted to treat Zhou Yuwen to clams.
Zhou Yuwen said, "Forget it, you’ve worked so hard at your part-ti job to earn all this money. Buy yourself so makeup."
"I’m not short on money, I have to treat you!" Tao Tian pouted.
Zhou Yuwen said, "I don’t really feel like eating them."
"No way, you must eat!" Tao Tian insisted, hands on her hips.
She said the clams were really delicious.
"Believe , I’ve been eating them for three years now."
The two chatted as they walked into the alleyway, with Tao Tian always playing the role of carefree and cheerful in front of Zhou Yuwen, who inquired about her opinions on her part-ti work that day.
Tao Tian said, "It’s pretty good, the pay is generous, and it’s not tiring."
"Okay, I’ll call you next ti there’s an opportunity like this, and you can talk to your group of friends. If possible, we can establish a long-term cooperation," he proposed.
"Zhou Yuwen!" Tao Tian was a bit angry.
"Hmm?" Zhou Yuwen was curious.
"Can’t we talk less about work?" she asked, slightly annoyed.
Zhou Yuwen replied, "If not about work, what should we talk about? Dating?"
At this, Zhou Yuwen laughed, clearly joking. Explore more adventures at .Côm
"Sure, why not," but to his surprise, Tao Tian agreed imdiately, asking with a smile, "Do you dare?"
"Would like to."
"But,"
"I have a girlfriend," Zhou Yuwen stated.
Tao Tian quite aggrieved, complained in a soft voice, "You’re doing it on purpose."
"Weren’t we going to eat clams? Where is it?"
The alley next to the school had actually beco a shanty area because it was filled with decades-old houses with no urban planning. The local residents, who had mostly moved out to live in apartnt buildings, rented their places out to migrants seeking livelihoods, and because of the proximity to school, over ti the area developed into a street of cheap snacks.
It was the peak ti for the snack street, not only populated by workers who had just finished their shifts but also by students returning from part-ti jobs outside. They would buy a serving of street food, like clams, barbecue, and the rolled wheat pastry from northern Jiangsu, among all sorts of other snacks.
Tao Tian indeed had an exceptional presence; among the other students returning from their part-ti jobs, who were just ordinary, only Tao Tian was dressed beautifully. Moreover, with her makeup on and a smile on her face as she walked with Zhou Yuwen, she stood out and attracted many second glances.
"This is the place. Auntie, two orders of clams, please," Tao Tian called out to the owner of the stall.
The stall owner recognized Tao Tian, the pretty girl, and seeing that she was with Zhou Yuwen, asked with a laugh, "Just back from a date with your boyfriend?"
Upon hearing this, Tao Tian laughed sweetly, reached out, and took Zhou Yuwen’s arm, asking, "Auntie, do you think we look good together?"
"Of course, you’re a perfect match," she replied.
That afternoon, Zheng Yanyan didn’t have many classes and was killing ti playing with her phone in her dorm, sporadically checking WeChat for Zhou Yuwen’s profile picture.
The fact that Zhou Yuwen hadn’t changed his profile picture was perhaps her greatest comfort.
So Zheng Yanyan asked Lu Lin, who was next to her, "Lu Lin, it’s been three days; why hasn’t Zhou Yuwen co to find ?"
"How should I know? If you’re so curious, why don’t you send him a ssage and ask him yourself?" Lu Lin sat in her chair, her beautiful legs clad in capri jeans propped up on the table, fully focused on applying nail polish.
Her toenails were neatly trimd and shone bright red with the polish.
Seeing that Lu Lin was preoccupied, Zheng Yanyan sulked, "Stop doing your nails; no one is looking at them. You might as well chat with ."
Having said that, Zheng Yanyan sat on Lu Lin’s desk.
Lu Lin murmured, "How do you know nobody’s looking?"
"Ugh, I’m so annoyed!"
"Why don’t you just ask him directly?"
"I always have to apologize first. Can’t he co and coax for once!?" Zheng Yanyan was feeling frustrated and said, "He couldn’t be thinking of breaking up with , right? I saw he hasn’t changed our couple picture."
Lu Lin felt Zheng Yanyan’s worries were just internal struggles and suggested she should clear things up by asking directly.
But Zheng Yanyan firmly refused.
She said that if Zhou Yuwen cared about her, he would have co to find her.
"Oh, so you understand this principle?"
"Then why hasn’t he co to find ?"
Lu Lin didn’t know how to explain it to Zheng Yanyan, telling her that if you want to hold on to a man, it isn’t enough to rely on feelings; you have to involve physical attraction too.
Upon hearing this, Zheng Yanyan blushed but felt helpless.
"Even if I want to be with him, he’s not coming to find . Am I supposed to go over there and throw myself at him? I’d be so shaless," she said, her face turning red.
"Then there’s nothing you can do."
Zheng Yanyan thought for a mont and then asked, "Hey, Lu Lin, are you going online today?"
"Not going,"
"You go every day, how co you don’t go today when you don’t have class?"
"Don’t want to go."
"Co on, keep company!"
Unable to resist Zheng Yanyan’s coquettish persuasion, Lu Lin eventually agreed, rented a private room in the internet cafe, and played until around 9:30 PM.
While gaming, Zheng Yanyan was sowhat distracted.
Chang Hao, who was also playing gas in the dorm that evening, noticed that Zheng Yanyan was online.
He couldn’t help but twitch at the sight.
They had known each other since sumr break, so it wasn’t a surprise to have each other’s ga accounts.
In fact, Chang Hao really wanted to invite Zheng Yanyan to play together.
But rembering how awkward it had been before, he was sowhat hesitant.
After much deliberation, he decided to spectate for a while first.
At this mont, Zheng Yanyan was clearly not focused on the ga; she hadn’t co out to play gas but to create a chance encounter, hence why she lost every round she played.
After watching a few rounds, Chang Hao thought it over and decided to ssage Zheng Yanyan: "It’s a pity you lost the last round."
Zheng Yanyan didn’t reply for over ten minutes, and eventually, she responded with a brief "Hmm."
Then Chang Hao mustered his courage, "Shall I carry you in the next ga?"
"No need, waiting for my boyfriend."
The ssage ca across as very indifferent.
Although he knew what to expect, Chang Hao was still disappointed.
Chang Hao thought to himself, people are masochistic, clearly knowing the outco yet still asking.
"Oh? So you and Zhou Yuwen made up?"
Chang Hao asked another question.
But Zheng Yanyan did not reply.
Noticing the ti, it was already 9 PM, Zheng Yanyan turned off the ga and said to Lu Lin, "Linlin, it’s 9 o’clock, let’s get going,"
"I just started, though," Lu Lin said.
"Don’t start another one. Didn’t you say Zhou Yuwen goes to the alley to get food every night at 9?" Zheng Yanyan said.
Only then did Lu Lin look at Zheng Yanyan with a delayed realization, "You dragged out to get online just because of this?"
"What else then!" Zheng Yanyan was getting anxious as ti ticked by.
Lu Lin said, "Then forget about it, Zhou Yuwen isn’t at school today."
"?"
"He took Tao Tian and the others out for a part-ti job," Lu Lin said.
"???"
Zheng Yanyan was stunned, "How do you know everything?"
"Didn’t they post it in the departnt group on Monday? Don’t you ever read the departnt ssages?" Lu Lin said while continuing to play her ga.
"No." At this point, Zheng Yanyan felt so upset she wanted to cry; wasn’t her effort to go online and create a chance encounter in vain?
It was already 9:30 PM by the ti Lu Lin finished her ga, and seeing Zheng Yanyan’s disheartened face, she sighed, "That’s why I say it’s better to talk things out face-to-face. What kind of couple goes three days without ssaging? If you keep this up, who knows if he’ll move on to soone else."
Zheng Yanyan was startled by Lu Lin’s words and asked, "Really?"
"How would I know?"
After gaming, by the ti the two returned to the school, Lu Lin suggested that since they had co all this way, they should buy sothing to eat in the alley.
Zheng Yanyan had no objections, and as today was ant for gaming online, neither of them had dressed up particularly, just wearing casual jeans with a simple blouse.
They wandered around the alley and decided to buy two servings of clams to take back and eat.
But just as they approached the clam stall, they saw an attractive couple holding hands.
The girl was pointing at the clams with her beautiful nails, praising how delicious they were at this stall.
"Auntie, two servings of clams, please."
At that mont, Zheng Yanyan was really distracted, not paying any attention to the couple next to her, until Zhou Yuwen turned around. When she saw him, Zheng Yanyan froze for a mont, and then saw Tao Tian’s hand encircling Zhou Yuwen’s arm.
In just an instant, Zheng Yanyan felt her eyes well up with tears.
"Yanyan, don’t get wrong. I was just socializing with Zhou Yuwen. He drank quite a bit, and I was helping him," Tao Tian explained understandingly before he could even speak, imdiately withdrawing her hand from his arm.
Zheng Yanyan let out a faint "Oh."
Clearly distressed, yet still stubbornly saying, "Whatever he does has nothing to do with ."
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