He Only Understood That Whatever He Wanted, He Had to Get

He Li'an coughed until his face turned even redder. Yu An was a little worried. "Are you sick?"

Those two protagonists had mentioned during their argument that He Li'an died young.

They had not said exactly how young.

Yu An did not know exactly how he died, either.

Given the exaggerated setting of this novel's world, He Li'an had most likely either died in a traffic accident or from a terminal illness.

"I'm fine." He Li'an pushed the menu away and pointed at Yu An. "I'll have the same meal as him, thank you."

How could someone so polite and kind have to die?

Yu An found it deeply regrettable.

After the waiter left, he reminded He Li'an, "You need to take care of your health."

Yu An looked extremely earnest, even somewhat stern.

He Li'an paused, then laughed softly. "Mm."

Yu An was a little dissatisfied. "Don't take it lightly. You need regular checkups, and when you cross the road, you need to watch out for cars, too."

"Okay." He Li'an held back a laugh and lowered his eyes to drink some water as a cover.

It was not that he had not taken Yu An's words seriously. He simply thought Yu An looked like a little adult when he put on a stern face and lectured him.

Yu An himself was clearly a child who did not understand much about the ways of the world.

Yet he cared about him so much.

Looking at it that way, Yu An seemed to... really like him.

Yu An's phone vibrated, showing that he had a new message.

He lowered his head to check it and discovered it was a message Song Yuechi had just sent.

[Song Yuechi]: Photo.

[Song Yuechi]: You're having dinner with Senior He!!!????

The photo showed Yu An sitting together with He Li'an. It had clearly been taken in secret just moments ago.

Yu An examined the angle. When he looked over, he happened to see several people sneaking away furtively.

[Yu An]: Mm. You have a lot of informants.

[Song Yuechi]: That's called having connections!

[Yu An]: Oh.

[Song Yuechi]: I'm on my way over. I'll pretend we ran into each other later, so don't give me away.

[Song Yuechi]: We're friends, help me out!

Friends?

Could people call each other friends after knowing each other for only one day?

Yu An silently gave Song Yuechi a new label: rash.

The waiter came over with their food, making enough noise that Yu An looked up and found He Li'an watching him—more precisely, his phone.

He Li'an asked as if casually, "Where's your phone case?"

Yu An answered honestly, "I sold it."

He Li'an's first thought was that Yu An needed money.

But if he asked too directly, he might hurt Yu An's pride.

So he asked tactfully, "Why did you sell it?"

Thinking of the hundred thousand yuan that had so easily landed in his account, Yu An smiled from the bottom of his heart. "Because he offered too much."

After saying that, he saw He Li'an press his lips into a straight line.

He did not look angry, nor did he look unhappy. In any case, his expression was somewhat complicated.

Yu An could not make out his emotions.

"Let's eat." He Li'an lowered his eyes and picked up his chopsticks.

Halfway through their meal, Song Yuechi's panting voice came from the entrance. "Yu An, what a coincidence!"

His voice was so loud that it drew everyone in the restaurant's attention.

The entrance was at least eighty meters from Yu An's table.

From so far away, panting as he called it a coincidence was far too obvious.

Yu An felt there was no need to keep pretending, so he turned back and continued eating.

"Senior He! You're here too! What a coincidence!" Song Yuechi ran over quickly, excitement impossible to hide from his expression, voice, and tone.

Even now, he was still pretending they had run into each other.

He was so dumb it was almost heartbreaking.

Yu An looked up at He Li'an. The other man's expression remained as gentle as usual as he said, "Mm, what a coincidence."

He Li'an's cooperation made Yu An reflect for two seconds.

In a situation like this, He Li'an could gently refrain from exposing him and even cooperate completely, while all Yu An could think was that Song Yuechi was stupid.

He truly had neither manners nor morals.

Song Yuechi was flushed with excitement as he plopped down beside Yu An, slapped his phone onto the table, propped up his face, and stared dreamily at He Li'an. "Senior He, go ahead and eat. I came to find Yu An."

Yu An:?

You came to find me?

Then at least look at me!

He Li'an's gaze fell on Song Yuechi's phone and was caught by the familiar-looking phone case.

Song Yuechi noticed and hurriedly flipped his phone over. "Hehe."

Yu An still had a class that afternoon, so after lunch, he left together with Song Yuechi.

Song Yuechi giggled foolishly the whole way.

Yu An: "..."

After a pause, he asked, "Do you like He Li'an that much?"

Song Yuechi nodded madly. "Mm."

Yu An asked, "Then why don't you confess to him?"

As though he had heard something outrageously blasphemous, Song Yuechi's eyes widened. "What nonsense are you saying? To us, Senior He is the moon in the sky. He should stay high above for everyone to admire! He shouldn't be selfishly claimed by anyone! Do you understand?"

Yu An said flatly, "I don't."

He only understood that whatever he wanted, he had to get.

"..."

Song Yuechi felt as though his impassioned speech had been wasted.

He stared at Yu An for a long while.

Perhaps because he had a pair of droopy puppy eyes, his pale, indifferent face gave people the impression that he was innocent, pure, and harmless.

After confirming that Yu An was not deliberately arguing with him, Song Yuechi sighed. "Forget it. You're still young. You don't understand."

He was calling him that again.

Yu An was particularly sensitive to words like "young" and "don't understand," especially when they came from foolish Song Yuechi.

He stopped walking and asked Song Yuechi seriously, "How old are you?"

"Eighteen." Under Yu An's cool, chilly gaze, Song Yuechi felt an inexplicable pressure and quietly stood up straighter.

Yu An tilted his head slightly and scrutinized him. "I'm eighteen too."

How strange.

Song Yuechi did not think he had said anything wrong, but he somehow felt terribly guilty and a little scared.

He tried weakly to explain further. "Our feelings for Senior He are very complicated. Some people want to give birth to him, while others want him to be their parents. There are no more offensive thoughts than that."

Yu An: "..."

He felt that he had wronged Song Yuechi a little earlier.

That kind of feeling...

Really was complicated.

At least, none of the books he had read covered anything like it.

He should read more books.

"Oh."

He Li'an had no classes that afternoon and was busy with student council matters.

He had Yu An's class schedule. Timing it for when Yu An got out of class, he called him.

The child was very slow to answer. He did not pick up until it was almost about to hang up automatically.

"Class over?"

"Mm."

Yu An had probably just left the classroom, because it was noisy on his end.

Afraid Yu An would not hear clearly, He Li'an raised his voice slightly. "The car is parked where you got out this morning. Come straight over. We'll go home together."

Go home together.

Yu An had only heard those four words when he was very young.

Setting aside what came later, they were beautiful memories.

But he could not set it aside.

"Got it."

Yu An hung up.

The school was too large, so he had to take the campus shuttle to get out.

Yu An had a good memory. When he got out of the car that morning, he had memorized its model and license plate number.

He spotted He Li'an's car at a glance and walked straight toward it.