Chapter 19

◎Don't swear randomly◎

Wei didn't expect that the three people would really come to the invitation he casually made, and their expressions were very different.

The talkative boy looked a little... shy? Oh, he said last time that he really wanted to go to Huaimei, and he must be very excited to come to school.

Two girls stood diagonally behind him, one was absent-minded and idle, looking bored; the other held two mobile phones in her hands, and kept looking down to flip through them. Her bangs covered most of her face, but you could still see her emotional ups and downs.

The moment Du Ningyang got on the bus, he snatched Zhu Yao's phone and secretly checked Zhu's updates. The space was full of affection, and he also wrote a diary with pictures and texts to express his love for Wu You.

It would be strange if she didn't get angry.

But she was so mean. Although she was almost angry and wronged, she still kept scrolling down. Zhu Yao didn't dare to say a word, staring at Du Ningyang, afraid that she would get crazy and throw her phone on the ground and break it.

Fortunately, she didn't like Zhu He's message. Zhu Yao was secretly glad that she didn't spend any time on Xu Zhaolin.

"Let me show you around," he kept his word. He came as he said. Wei was also amused and walked in front with Xu Zhaolin. "This is the branch school. The campus is relatively small. After the tour, I will treat you to spicy hot pot."

"This is Lihu, the origin of the name of Lihu campus." After entering the school gate, there is an artificial lake in front. Wei also introduced: "From above, its shape is like a round little lychee."

Zhu Yao swallowed her saliva. When she bought the phone, she forgot to ask if it was waterproof.

If Du Ningyang really threw her phone into the artificial lake, at most she would ask Zhu He to compensate her with the latest Samsung. Full screen is very popular now, Zhu Yao thought.

"Here," Du Ningyang suddenly changed his mind and handed the phone to Zhu Yao, "Zhu He went to Shenzhen again."

"How do you know?" Zhu Yao remembered that Zhu He had not been home for a long time, about... two months.

The few new photos he posted were taken at the Window of the World, which is only available in Shenzhen.

"No taste," Zhu Yao said in a guilty conscience to comfort him, "What's fun in Shenzhen? He's a bumpkin, leave him alone."

In the year when she was most loyal, she would say to her friend that there was nothing fun in the most prosperous metropolis in China, and call her own brother a bumpkin.

"Let's go around from the right. There is a cherry blossom corridor over there. You came too early. It's early cherry blossoms now. The late cherry blossoms at the end of March are light pink and white, which are more beautiful," Wei Ye introduced as he walked in front.

Xu Zhaolin turned around and glared at the two of them, asking them to concentrate on listening. Zhu Yao quickly understood, "The early cherry blossoms are also very beautiful, Du Ningyang, right? You like pink the most."

Du Ningyang denied it, and said impatiently, "No way, I like black, I don't like pink."

What a face-saving little girl.

Wei Ye stood aside, a little embarrassed, "Then do you want to take a photo together?"

"I'll take a photo with you," Du Ningyang consciously stepped back and reached out to Wei Ye to ask for his camera.

Zhu Yao stepped back in tacit understanding, giving Xu Zhaolin an opportunity. "Well, you boys will do it together, and we girls will do it together."

Xu Zhaolin suppressed the corners of his mouth, said "hmm" deeply, and looked at Wei Ye like a young wife.

Wei Ye said, "Okay."

Du Ningyang quickly took several photos.

"The composition is very good," Wei Ye flipped through the group photos, "Do you usually take photos? The photos are very good."

Although the two stood straight and did not have many movements and expressions, Du Ningyang did not take the photos according to the specifications of tourist photos. He leaned forward slightly and turned the lens to make people appear in the photo at an angle.

This photo was definitely not up to standard in the eyes of Du Minda and Fang Fang, and did not meet the basic requirements of tourist photos, but it made Wei Ye, a stream of consciousness enthusiast, brighten his eyes.

There were also a few photos with blurred backgrounds, which Du Ningyang explained as hand shaking.

"She doesn't take photos, but her aesthetics are really good," Xu Zhaolin rushed to answer, "Du Ningyang is one of the best in Teacher Lu's studio... Hey, except."

"Except what?" Wei Ye was a little interested in Du Ningyang.

"Except that she has a bad taste in choosing secret crushes," Xu Zhaolin opened his mouth, and Zhu Yao knew what he wanted to say.

From Wei Ye's height, Du Ningyang suddenly turned into an angry Chihuahua with her hair standing on end, staring at the two people with big eyes and puffed up.

So cute.

Wei Ye smiled and said, "Okay, okay, let's go forward, otherwise we will have to queue up for dinner at mealtime."

The three of them followed Wei Ye forward again, chattering and making fun of each other, and they would fight at any time.

When passing by the art building, Wei Ye learned that Du Ningyang's "secret crush with poor aesthetics" was Zhu Yao's second brother who was addicted to the Internet; when going up the circular staircase of the observatory, Wei Ye heard that Du Ningyang came here because Zhu He was in the Lihu campus; when taking a walk to the playground, Wei Ye learned that Du Ningyang was "one of the three little pigs" in Zhu He's description.

Du Ningyang appeared too often in their mouths, and Wei couldn't help but take a peek at her. She was obviously very beautiful, with bright, sparkling and lively eyes.

She was full of vitality.

He had a crush on a girl in high school, and her silly look at the moment was exactly the same as that girl, which immediately brought his thoughts back to the past, the sparkling and spring-like youth.

He felt that Zhu He's vision was too bad... He would like an illusory netizen, but not a vivid and sincere girl.

He seemed to have similar conditions to Zhu He, and was a little better than him, as he was from Huaimei University. Otherwise, he could be a substitute.

Du Ningyang didn't expect that not only did she not meet Zhu He on this trip, but she also had a complicated suitor. Her unreliable best friend, the person she swore to love in her life.

As the sun was setting and the beautiful Saturday afternoon was about to end, Wei Ye said to Du Ningyang inexplicably: "Go back and study hard, Du Ningyang, I'll wait for you at Huaimei."

"What about us?" Xu Zhaolin hadn't figured out the situation yet, "Aren't you waiting for me and Zhu Yao?"

"Wait, of course, I slipped my tongue," Wei Ye suddenly coughed twice, "I'll wait for you at Huaimei."

"See you then," Xu Zhaolin waved at Wei Ye and asked, "When will we meet next time?"

"Let's talk later," Wei Ye stood in the backlight of the setting sun, his blurred eyes fell on Du Ningyang, "I think it will be soon."

Wei did not break his promise, and they did meet again soon. After finishing his work at the Lihu campus, it was already May two months later. The graduate thesis defense was over, and he joined a wildlife photography team for internship, and he would be away for a whole year.

When he was about to leave, Huaicheng entered the plum rain season in May, and the temperature rose, but it was wet. He followed the address given by Xu Zhaolin to Teacher Lu's studio and stood at the entrance of the alley waiting for them to finish school.

When the bell rang, the students rushed out all at once, and the trio walked out together again.

Wei Ye saw Du Ningyang at a glance. The dishonest guy had shortened his school uniform skirt a lot, revealing his fair and well-proportioned legs. Summer was coming, and his hair was cut short to shoulder length, which made him look lighter than in spring.

"I'm here," he shouted to them, "Du Ningyang! - Xu Zhaolin, Zhu Yao, I'm here."

"You're really here," Xu Zhaolin shook off the two people who were dawdling behind him and ran quickly towards Wei Ye.

"Well, I'm going to the west for internship, and I won't be back for a while, so I'm here to say goodbye to you," Wei Ye took out a small envelope from his backpack and handed it to Xu Zhaolin, "I developed the photos you took when you came to Lihu last time, here they are."

Du Ningyang and Zhu Yaohe followed and looked closer.

Xu Zhaolin couldn't wait to flip through the photos and look at them one by one, "I don't even remember how I took so many photos, they look so good, did you use that kind of retro photo paper?"

"Yeah," Wei Ye's peripheral vision followed Du Ningyang, she was also concentrating on looking at the photos.

Xu Zhaolin's hand suddenly stopped, this was a single photo of Du Ningyang, at that time they were standing on the observatory and blowing the wind, the wind blew her ponytail up.

Wei Ye's camera favored her very much, she was turning her head to smile at the camera.

Anyone with a discerning eye could tell what it meant at a glance... Why was there no single photo of Xu Zhaolin, why was there no single photo of Zhu Yao, why was Du Ningyang so beautiful and full of vigor under his camera.

Xu Zhaolin stood there, unable to hide the disappointment in his eyes. Now, if the oath really worked, according to the agreement between him and Zhu Yao, he would either continue to love this straight man or be struck by lightning.

Wei Ye obviously did not realize the undercurrent, "Du Ningyang, I originally planned to stay in Huaimei as a researcher, so I said I would wait for you in Huaimei, but now there are more things I want to do. When I become a better me and you become a better you, I will come back to find you."

Du Ningyang was stunned, looking up at Wei Ye in surprise, the whole person was extremely confused, "Looking for me...? What?"

"I like you," Wei Ye raised the corner of his mouth without caring about the people coming and going, and gave an answer that must be affirmative, "It's probably not love at first sight...at most it's love at second sight, I like you, really, very seriously."

Although he was mentally prepared, Xu Zhaolin still couldn't control his emotions, and took two steps back with trembling legs.

In a flash, Du Ningyang grabbed Xu Zhaolin's arm and said to Wei very firmly: "Don't like me, I don't like you, there is no possibility for us."

She was trying to reassure Xu Zhaolin.

She was expressing her loyalty to Xu Zhaolin.

Encouraged, Xu Zhaolin took a deep breath, "Wei Ye, I am the one who likes you."

Recalling the past two months, he said good morning and good night to Wei Ye almost every day, and would reply to every message of his in a long paragraph, and all the dynamics he posted were about his secret feelings.

In the end, did he reply to him seriously just because he liked his best friend?

Xu Zhaolin said regardless: "It doesn't matter if you don't like me, really, but I just like you, regardless of gender. I won't force you to like me, and I won't force you to dislike Du Ningyang. I just want to express that I don't want to leave regrets for myself."

After a moment of silence, Wei Ye said: "Thank you."

Xu Zhaolin thought that Wei Ye would say "wishful thinking", "shameless" and "lunatic", but he didn't expect him to say "thank you" sincerely.

This time, he fulfilled his vow, and he would love Wei Ye forever.

That day, after work, Xu Zhaolin's bus was rerouted due to road construction. He happened to pass by the street where Teacher Lu's studio was located, and found that the small building had been renovated. While waiting for the traffic light, he saw someone moving new drawing boards and painting materials into the studio.

Xu Zhaolin asked in the WeChat group: [Didn't you say some time ago that Teacher Lu was about to retire? Why did I see new painting materials being moved into his studio?]

Zhu Yao: [Ask Du Ningyang's husband what's going on, he's working there part-time]

Du Ningyang: [Your husband]

Looking out the window, Xu Zhaolin saw the familiar silhouette. The man in the dark blue sportswear took a box of paint out of the trunk. He still had a flat head and his facial features were still sharp.

The bus started and slowly moved forward. Xu Zhaolin and Wei Ye missed each other a little bit. He turned back in disbelief to confirm if it was him.

The phone vibrated. Du Ningyang said: [Teacher Lu is retiring at the end of this month, so he sold the studio. Wen Xu said he sold it to Huaimei.]

Zhu Yao: [Sold it? Isn't he afraid of losing his integrity in his later years?]

Xu ​​Zhaolin confirmed that Wei Ye had returned. He typed the words [I won't lose my integrity in my later years] and clicked send.