Chapter 3: Missing you is like being tipsy with wine 03
As winter approaches, the cold wind becomes increasingly biting, and the chill penetrates people's hearts.
It was a little after seven in the morning. The sky was gray and thick clouds were drifting aimlessly, layer upon layer, quickly swallowing up the warm sunlight.
"so cold……"
Walking around the campus holding Lin Mobai's arm tightly, Zhou Shiqing couldn't help but sigh.
Then, as if in response to her words, a biting cold wind whistled in and quickly rushed into her body through the narrow cuffs, so she couldn't help shivering and sneezed several times.
"Luckily it didn't rain, otherwise it would be even colder." Lin Mobai looked up at the gloomy sky and tightened the black scarf around his neck.
"I'd rather it rain." Zhou Shiqing couldn't help curling her lips when she thought of Lin Mobai pulling her out of the warm bed early in the morning. "At least this way I have an excuse not to come to class."
"You can skip classes even if it doesn't rain." Lin Mobai tilted his head and looked at Zhou Shiqing, who looked resentful. He smiled brightly and teased, "At most, you'll be deducted a few credits."
"Have you forgotten? Professor Xu has always been against such shameful behavior as roll call." Zhou Shiqing replied with a bright smile, "Besides, going to class in such a cold weather and rain would be a waste if you catch a cold. It's better to get a good night's sleep and rest. I think Professor Xu must think so too."
"Do you think everyone is as lazy as you?"
"Do you think everyone is as enthusiastic as you? Besides, few people can understand Professor Xu's lectures. It doesn't matter whether you go or not."
"Although it's really hard to understand..." Lin Mobai sighed in agreement, but when she thought of the classroom that was almost always packed, she couldn't help but frown and shake her head, "But Professor Xu's class has always been very popular. There were several times when we were late and almost didn't have a seat."
"Well, there's a reason!" Zhou Shiqing couldn't help but roll her eyes at Lin Mobai. Professor Xu's classes were always boring, and few people really attended. At least, if it weren't for Lin Mobai, she would have escaped with a clear conscience. However, facing her contempt, Lin Mobai still looked puzzled, so Zhou Shiqing couldn't help shaking her head, reaching out and knocking her on the forehead, and said helplessly: "Stupid, I knew you definitely didn't notice it."
"What do you mean?" Lin Mobai really didn't notice anything. After being hit by Zhou Shiqing, he still frowned in confusion.
She also knew that Professor Xu's course, "Marxist Philosophy," was not an interesting course, and that it was not essential knowledge for her major, so it was even more irrelevant. In addition, she had heard from her seniors that the truancy rate for this course was the highest in the year, and it was the same for every class. However, in their class, the opposite was true. This course, which included the Department of Fine Arts and was taught in large classes, was always full before class on Tuesday and Thursday mornings, which showed how popular it was.
"Idiot! The reason is..." Facing Lin Mobai's puzzled look, Zhou Shiqing wanted to tell the truth, but she stopped talking suddenly. Then, she showed a playful smile and said in a confident tone, "I guess there will be plenty of seats for you to choose from later, haha!"
"What? We left home ten minutes late. How can we get a good seat?"
"We'll see."
Zhou Shiqing's smile became more mysterious. After she finished speaking, she took Lin Mobai's arm again and walked towards the teaching building.
After a while, the two walked into the multimedia classroom on the first floor of the teaching building.
However, the classroom, which should have been crowded with students, was empty with only a few people left. In the silence, one could still hear the sound of people rushing into the classroom through the gaps in the window. Even the professor, who had arrived early, thought he had walked into the wrong classroom. After connecting to the school intranet, he logged back in to check the schedule of this week's classes.
Only Zhou Shiqing looked proud, and gave Lin Mobai a proud look that said "Just as I expected".
Afterwards, the two of them found a seat and sat down casually. Zhou Shiqing leaned close to Lin Mobai's ear and said, "Mobai, look, this is the normal behavior that ordinary people should have."
"Ah?" Lin Mobai blinked, as if he couldn't keep up with the other party's speaking rhythm, and could only utter a single sound in confusion again.
"Please, it's so cold today. Except for a few good students like you, everyone would want to skip classes." Although her expression clearly showed her disgust at Lin Mobai's slow reaction, Zhou Shiqing had to lower her voice and said patiently.
"Are you saying that everyone is like this because of the cold weather?" Lin Mobai also lowered his voice, with the word "Impossible" written all over his face.
"Alas..." Zhou Shiqing shook her head and looked at Lin Mobai with a sad expression of "a child who is incorrigible". She originally wanted to let her figure it out on her own, but after staring at each other, she had to give up this idea and took the initiative to say, "He Qingkong has no classes on Tuesday and Thursday mornings. Haven't you noticed that every time he attends Professor Xu's class, the handsome He always comes to report on time?"
Hearing this, Lin Mobai paused in turning the pages of the book and was stunned for a few seconds.
Then, a warm smiling face unexpectedly appeared on the book, covering the densely packed words. Even though it was only a fleeting flash, it had already been reflected in Lin Mobai's heart.
"So, everyone is so eager to come to class because of... Clear Sky?"
"Although I feel sorry to say this, Professor Xu, it is true. Apart from our class, all the students in the entire Academy of Arts can only have the opportunity to see He Qingkong during these two days, so of course we have to seize the opportunity! However, in the past two weeks, He Qingkong suddenly disappeared. Everyone noticed that he no longer came, so naturally they lost interest in Professor Xu's class."
Hearing this, Lin Mobai pursed his lips and looked back into the textbook, but a look of disappointment could not help but fill his brows.
It turned out that it had only been two weeks. Since He Qingkong disappeared from her world, time seemed to be stretched, and every minute and every second passed incredibly slowly.
"What's wrong?" Realizing that Lin Mobai looked depressed, Zhou Shiqing first showed concern, then a look of disgust, "Don't tell me that you just discovered He Qingkong's charm and popularity now? His fame in our F University has overshadowed our school hunk, not to mention Z University, where there are many girls who admire him. Unlike you, he has come to you voluntarily, and you are stupidly pushing him away! Lin Mobai, it's like a treasure that is so expensive that it has to be checked and disinfected even if you touch it. It's discounted and placed in front of you, begging you to take it back, and you actually turned a blind eye to it, you..."
"Wait, pause for a moment." Lin Mobai's thoughts were quietly interrupted by Zhou Shiqing's resentful chatter. When he understood the meaning of the other party's words, he interrupted without thinking, "Shiqing, why do you keep mentioning him recently? This has nothing to do with your queen temperament."
"Humph, if it weren't for you, I wouldn't bother to care." Zhou Shiqing put on a proud look, but her thoughts turned to the topic of He Qingkong. She asked Lin Mobai suspiciously, "By the way, what is handsome He busy with recently?"
"I..." Lin Mobai was speechless for a moment, "I don't know either."
"You don't know again? I say, how come you don't know anything? Honey, are you deliberately hiding something from me? I've asked you several times, and you always use words like this to brush me off. That's really mean!" Thinking of the several times of concern she had shown these days and only received such speechless answers, Zhou Shiqing was displeased and the doubts in her heart increased.
"But... I really don't know." Lin Mobai seemed a little aggrieved. She hadn't contacted He Qingkong at all in these days, so what was there for her to know?
"Mo Bai..." Sensing the grievance in her tone, Zhou Shiqing couldn't help but gently poked her arm and asked cautiously, "Did something happen between you and He Qingkong?"
"No." Lin Mobai answered without hesitation.
"How is it possible?" Zhou Shiqing mistook her inexplicable ignorance for concealment and stared at her with a sharp gaze. "You know, the curriculum of Z University is simply abnormal. It is said that you have to complete nearly a hundred drawings every week, and each one cannot be sloppy. The technique and painting skills must be at a certain professional level. These drawings are an important reference for the final grades of each semester. But He Qingkong can find time to come to F University almost every day, which shows how much he cares about you. How could he suddenly disappear without a trace? Mo Bai, something must have happened between you, but you don't want to tell me."
Hearing this, Lin Mobai choked and bit his lower lip slightly, but he didn't know how to explain it.
She didn't mean to hide anything, but she could think of too little. If Zhou Shiqing hadn't revealed this important information, she wouldn't have known how much He Qingkong, who came to her every day, had sacrificed for her. She just knew that Ding Zhiyou was a grudge in her heart. She couldn't ignore the past and accept He Qingkong's friendship again because she was afraid of losing him again.
So, in order not to lose him, she had to keep her distance from him.
She had clearly told him not to visit her too often, but ever since he stopped showing up, she had been feeling lost.
It turned out that she had adapted to He Qingkong's presence since some time ago, even though she had been trying hard to resist his approach from the beginning.
As if she had suddenly realized something after the impulse, Zhou Shiqing looked at Lin Mobai who looked uncomfortable, and couldn't help feeling guilty.
No matter what happened between Lin Mobai and He Qingkong, she shouldn't ask aggressively, no matter how much she cared about her.
Thinking of this, Zhou Shiqing took a breath, pretended to be relaxed and changed the subject, saying: "By the way, the results of the sketch competition will be out soon. If you win a prize, you must treat us."
She smiled , and her tone and expression were natural and relaxed, as if the unpleasant episode just now had never happened.
Lin Mobai also took a breath and smiled gratefully. Before the professor noticed their inattention, she agreed, "No problem."
…
Not long after, the results of the Art Department's sketch competition came out.
Among them, Lin Mobai's sketch was favored and praised by professors, and stood out from many entries, winning the first prize in the sketch competition. Not only that, when all the winning works were publicly displayed, Lin Mobai's work received unanimous praise. All the students who had seen He Qingkong said that the portrait was lifelike, and some even said that standing in front of the portrait was like the person in the painting standing in front of them.
Afterwards, this sketch quickly set off a trend in the school - almost every girl took out their mobile phones to take a picture of Lin Mobai's work when they saw the sketch. In order to find out who He Qingkong was in the work, some girls even searched all over F University. What's more, some even took photos with He Qingkong in the sketch and posted them on Weibo to make a high-profile confession.
Although he received unprecedented attention, He Qingkong did not get the information immediately because he was a student at Z University.
When the wave of public opinion began to spread from F University to Z University and even to other universities, Lu Yanqi and Shi Xujun, who were both F University students like Lin Mobai but rarely paid attention to the hot topics, also saw the sketch.
Even though the two of them sneered after being surprised, and even deleted the pictures sent by others immediately, Shi Xujun still couldn't tolerate it.
She gritted her teeth and clenched her fists, her overwhelming anger flickering in her pupils, emitting a hot light.
Then she rushed out of the dormitory and went straight to the dormitory area for students from the Department of Fine Arts.
Shi Xujun came downstairs to the dormitory impulsively, and then she remembered that she didn't know Lin Mobai's dormitory number at all. So she could only ask the dormitory aunt for help. Fortunately, the dormitory aunt didn't have any doubts, and she gave her Lin Mobai's dormitory number after looking through the notebook.
When she heard the continuous and violent knocks on the door, mixed with the sound of "Lin Mobai", she was still unable to recognize Shi Xujun's voice.
Then, when she opened the door and saw Shi Xujun, Lin Mobai was stunned, but she couldn't help but feel an inappropriate hope in her heart. This was the first time Shi Xujun came to see her after Ding Zhiyou's accident.
However, because of surprise and nervousness, Lin Mobai completely ignored the anger on Shi Xujun's face.
It was not until Shi Xujun's cold words permeated the cold air that Lin Mobai noticed the resentment and disgust overflowing from her expression.
She only said in a harsh tone: "Lin Mobai, it's been a few years, how come your disgusting personality hasn't changed?"
Hearing this, Lin Mobai choked, lowered his eyes slightly, and kept comforting himself in his heart: It's not like I haven't heard this kind of thing before, so it's okay, it won't hurt me.
However, Shi Xujun interpreted her silence as pretending to be aggrieved and pitiful.
So, her anger escalated again. She approached Lin Mobai step by step, cursing: "Lin Mobai, how can you be so shameless! Qingkong just came back, and you drew his portrait without permission and took it to the competition! Even if you win the prize, so what? What exactly do you want to do? Do you want to take advantage of Qingkong's kindness and make sure that he won't do anything to you, or do you want to win him over?"
After hearing her words, Lin Mobai immediately knew that she had misunderstood, so he hurriedly explained: "Xu Jun, you misunderstood..."
"Shut up, you have no right to call my name! People like you should have died long ago! Lin Mobai, I, Shi Xujun, came to you today just because you are so shameful that I can't stand it! Also, if you dare to use Qingkong again and do something to hurt him, I will not let you go! Those who do evil will eventually perish, I am waiting to see you suffer the consequences!"
After he stopped talking, Shi Xujun glared at her fiercely and turned away.
The thorn seemed to pierce the softest part of his heart, and the pain immediately spread throughout his body. Lin Mobai couldn't help but clench his hands, but he couldn't stop his body from shaking, and the hot liquid that burst out of his eyes had already fallen on the concrete floor like rain.
The night was so cold that Lin Mobai felt like he had been frozen into an ice cube.
In the same time and space, with the same weather, He Qingkong felt extremely hot in his heart.
After putting down the paintbrush sadly again, He Qingkong let out a long breath, then raised his hand and gently rubbed his eyebrows. Without looking at the half-finished work on the drawing paper, He Qingkong had already decided to throw the painting into the trash can.
His heart had been restless for several days, ever since that day when Lin Mobai told him not to look for her anymore.
We are already friends, Lin Mobai said so, but he didn't feel happy, as if he had lost something. Every time he wanted to go to F University to find her, he could no longer find an excuse.
Thinking of this, He Qingkong let out a long sigh, picked up the mobile phone that had been placed aside, and took out the portrait painted by Lin Mobai that Zhou Shiqing had sent him in the afternoon.
However, although he was seeing his own portrait, all that filled his mind were Lin Mobai's every smile, every move, and every action during those days.
In a trance, the longing that filled my heart and disturbed my thoughts overflowed like overgrown weeds, instantly turning the whole world green.
This was clearly longing, like a little drunk, wanting to stop but not stopping. However, when he was slightly drunk, his heart suddenly sobered up, as if he vaguely felt that this unspeakable emotion made him feel uneasy.
Because of this inexplicable emotion, he frowned inexplicably.
