Toad Wants to Eat Swan Meat (Revised)

Liu Chang'an turned off the accompaniment and music, tapping the microphone like an old-timer testing the sound for a leader's speech. After a couple of "hello, hellos," the private room fell silent.

This left Qian Ning and Lu Yuan secretly regretting that they hadn't had the courage to take the mic and confess to Bai Hui just moments ago.

When a voice echoes, doesn't a girl's heart find it easier to flutter along?

Liu Chang'an looked at his classmates of three years, from the raw innocence of their first steps into youth to the final vestiges of naivety as they prepared to leave the ivory tower for the social adaptation of university life. They might reunite during the first university break, or perhaps at a class reunion ten, twenty, or thirty years down the line... As faces aged, they were merely fleeting passersby in each other's lives, ultimately just small ripples in the long river, embellishing the passage of time.

Liu Chang'an's voice was gentle, tinged with a sense of reflection:

"Enrolling in the autumn of 2014, the first time I stepped onto the Affiliated High School campus—the bustling crowds, the quiet shade of the trees, the busy teachers and staff, countless unfamiliar and youthful faces, some of whom are sitting here right now... Three years have passed in the blink of an eye."

Liu Chang'an paused, looking at his classmates. They had quieted down, their gazes still drifting between Liu Chang'an and Bai Hui.

Liu Chang'an also glanced at Bai Hui. Bai Hui opened her mouth, nearly blurting out the lines she had prepared. Liu Chang'an's gaze was truly enough to make one's face burn. Even though he wasn't her preferred type, girls were emotional creatures after all, easily swayed. In such an environment, with the focused attention of their classmates and that voice—gentle as a caress against her earlobe—echoing around her, it was hard not to develop feelings that defied her rational judgment.

Bai Hui held back; she had to wait for him to confess before she could speak. This was likely her final victory after three years of high school and An Nuan.

"That day was also the first time I saw Qian Ning, Lu Yuan, Zhao Wuqiang... Miao Yingying and Lin Xinhuai. Right, Lin Xinhuai was sitting behind Miao Yingying that day. It seems his ulterior motives started three years ago..."

The classmates roared with laughter. Lin Xinhuai rubbed his head, while Miao Yingying blushed, casting a sympathetic look at Liu Chang'an, for she knew that Bai Hui would never say yes to him.

Liu Chang'an's gaze shifted to Bai Hui. The corners of her mouth curled up, as if she, too, were reminiscing about their first meeting.

"Later, when I walked out of the classroom, that was the first time I saw Bai Hui. She was wearing a gray, black, and white striped skirt, a white uniform shirt, and a red ribbon. Her twin tails were swaying, and her face held a slightly shy, enthusiastic smile. She was incredibly cute..."

Liu Chang'an paused, and the other students burst into laughter. The story of Liu Chang'an seeing Bai Hui fall down the stairs on the first day of school was already worn thin from being teased; to an extent, it had even boosted Bai Hui's popularity. Many were curious: just how pretty must a girl be to make someone lose their soul like that?

"I'm sorry... I was a little late that day. I only found out later that you were in our class too..." Bai Hui felt a touch of pride and smugness, yet she maintained an apologetic and shy expression, her fingers brushing a stray lock of hair from her ear.

"It had nothing to do with you." Liu Chang'an shook his head.

"It was just a toad lusting after swan meat, wasn't it?"

Seeing the atmosphere between Liu Chang'an and Bai Hui growing increasingly ambiguous, Qian Ning couldn't help but sneer.

The voice wasn't loud, but everyone heard it. Bai Hui's expression shifted slightly; she didn't want Liu Chang'an to be so mocked by Qian Ning that he wouldn't dare to speak, or her victory would be completely ruined.

"That's right... that day was also the first time I saw An Nuan. She was as beautiful as a swan..."

Liu Chang'an lowered the microphone. His voice rang out leisurely, yet it seemed even clearer and more piercing than when he had used the mic. How did it suddenly shift to An Nuan?

"An Nuan was not far behind Bai Hui. Sunlight filtered through the trees, falling onto her shoulders and cheeks. It felt as if I could clearly see every fine hair on her soft earlobes. Her fair neck was as elegant as a swan's, and her bright eyes were like black pearls hidden behind her lashes. She was also wearing a gray, white, and black striped skirt. One foot was stepped forward, while the other was raised against the wall. Suddenly, she turned her head to look at me... I felt as if I had traveled through countless ages, seeing the river isle, hearing the guan-guan cry of the ospreys. Just like that man, the longing that kept him awake, the tossing and turning—that was exactly how I felt because I saw a girl like An Nuan... I felt a bit dizzy, and that's when I fell down the stairs."

Liu Chang'an paused again, revealing a shy expression of relief. "It's a good thing An Nuan isn't here today, or I wouldn't have dared to say it."

The entire private room went silent. The students were dumbfounded, looking at Liu Chang'an in disbelief. Who could have imagined that the truth behind a three-year-old rumor was this? It wasn't Bai Hui who made Liu Chang'an fall down the stairs, but An Nuan!

Qian Ning and Lu Yuan breathed a secret sigh of relief. This Liu Chang'an looked plain, but he always gave off a sense of threat. Now, it was fine; they knew Bai Hui well, and Liu Chang'an had offended her deeply. Bai Hui probably felt like killing him right now.

Bai Hui bit her lip, her chest heaving as she tried to calm her emotions. Her cheeks were burning hot. Did Liu Chang'an mean she had been wishfully thinking for three years? That he had liked An Nuan from start to finish, and not her, Bai Hui?

Was An Nuan really that pretty? Was An Nuan the "fair, virtuous lady" from the Guan Ju? Was An Nuan the real swan meat?

"Liu Chang'an! You knew you'd be rejected, so you did this on purpose!"

After saying this, Bai Hui turned, slammed the door, and ran out.

"Aren't you two going to chase her?" Liu Chang'an said to Qian Ning and Lu Yuan, who were still standing there in a daze.

The two finally snapped out of it and hurried out after her.

After school that afternoon, An Nuan left her classmates with a cool, detached back as she headed home in a huff.

There was no doubt that Liu Chang'an was a jerk. If a girl like Bai Hui invited him, he would definitely go, especially since she was the object of his infatuation.

Thinking about it carefully, Bai Hui was very pretty. Although her cheeks were a bit fleshy, perhaps in the eyes of boys, that was just cute baby fat. Her figure was beyond reproach; An Nuan had seen her in the locker room, and Bai Hui was truly as cute as a chubby little white rabbit, enough to make even a girl's heart flutter.

As a friend, she could only remind him occasionally. But Liu Chang'an wasn't the type to listen to others and change his mind; he treated almost everyone with the same perfunctory attitude. No one knew what he was really thinking.

High school was almost over; surely nothing would happen between Liu Chang'an and Bai Hui, right? But what if Liu Chang'an and Bai Hui got together tonight? Maybe Liu Chang'an would confess, and Bai Hui would agree... Lu Yuan and Qian Ning were with them, surely they would stop it? But in the end, it was their own business.

Lost in these messy, random thoughts, An Nuan arrived home. Seeing an unopened package at the door, she opened the door while moving the parcel inside and called out, "Mom, did you buy flowers again?"

"Why didn't the courier call? Just dropped the package and left without a word?"

A voice came from the bathroom. An Nuan closed the door, suddenly remembering the important thing she had to do today. She glanced toward the bathroom, kicked off her shoes, and tiptoed to the sofa, rummaging through it, but couldn't find her phone.

She checked the bedroom, the balcony, and the kitchen, but it was nowhere to be found. That left only one possibility: her mother had taken the phone into the bathroom while showering.

Did she usually have the habit of taking her phone into the bathroom? An Nuan wasn't sure; she had the impression she did, but then again, maybe not.

An Nuan dialed her mother's phone, and it was hung up immediately. A puzzled voice came from the bathroom: "Why are you calling me?"

"I dialed the wrong number," An Nuan said quickly.

Soft humming drifted from the bathroom again, sounding like an old song from the eighties or nineties. It seemed she was in a good mood.

The fact that she hung up so quickly meant she had the phone in her hand. Was she playing with her phone while showering? An Nuan didn't remember her mother being that dependent on her phone. Or was she just being paranoid and overthinking things?

As she pondered, An Nuan's phone pinged. She checked it and saw that her classmate Zhao Wuqiang had added her as a friend.

Even in the same class, most people only interacted in the class group and didn't necessarily add everyone as friends. An Nuan remembered she wasn't particularly close to Zhao Wuqiang. Perhaps, with graduation approaching, adding a friend was just a memento?