He Only Understood That If He Wanted Something, He Had to Get It

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

Those two protagonists had said during their argument that He Li'an died early.

They had not said exactly how early.

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

Given the exaggerated setting of this novel's world, He Li'an would most likely die 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 be doomed to die?

Yu An found it rather regrettable.

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

Yu An's expression was extremely serious, making him look 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 passing cars."

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

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

Yu An himself was clearly just 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 quite a lot.

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

He lowered his head to look and found that it was a new message from Song Yuechi.

[Song Yuechi]: Photo.

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

The photo showed Yu An sitting with He Li'an. It had obviously just been taken in secret.

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 it away.

[Song Yuechi]: We're friends. Help me out!

Friends?

They had only known each other for one day. Could they already be called friends?

Yu An gave Song Yuechi a new label in his mind: reckless.

The waiter came over with their food, making some noise. Yu An looked up and discovered that He Li'an was looking at him—more precisely, at 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 was short on money.

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

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 he said 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.

"Eat." He Li'an lowered his eyes and picked up his chopsticks.

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

His voice was so loud that everyone in the restaurant turned to look.

The entrance was at least eight zhang away from Yu An's table.

Panting and claiming it was a coincidence from that far away 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 hurried over, his expression, voice, and tone all unable to conceal his excitement.

Even at a time like this, he was still pretending they had run into each other.

He was so stupid it was almost pitiful.

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

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

In this situation, He Li'an could not only avoid exposing him with gentle tact, but even cooperate so thoroughly, while Yu An only thought Song Yuechi was stupid.

He really was both uncouth and immoral.

Song Yuechi was so excited that his entire face turned red. 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, drawn to the familiar-looking case.

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

Yu An still had a class in the afternoon, so after eating, he left with Song Yuechi.

Song Yuechi giggled foolishly the entire way.

Yu An: "..."

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

Song Yuechi nodded wildly. "Mm."

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

As if he had heard something utterly outrageous, Song Yuechi's eyes widened. "What blasphemous nonsense are you saying? To us, Senior He is the moon in the sky. He should hang high above for people to admire! He should not be selfishly claimed by anyone! Do you understand?"

Yu An spoke flatly. "No."

He only understood that if he wanted something, he had to get it.

"..."

Song Yuechi felt as if his passionate speech had gone to waste.

He stared at Yu An for a long time.

Perhaps because of those drooping puppy-dog eyes, his pale, indifferent face gave off an innocent, pure, harmless impression.

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

He was calling him young and ignorant again.

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

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

"Eighteen." Stared at by Yu An's cool gaze, Song Yuechi felt an inexplicable pressure and quietly straightened up.

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 felt terribly guilty, even a little scared.

He tried to keep explaining in a pathetic voice. "Our feelings for Senior He are very complicated. Some people want to give birth to him, and some want him to be their parents. There aren't any more offensive thoughts than that."

Yu An: "..."

He felt he might have wronged Song Yuechi earlier.

Those feelings...

Were indeed very complicated.

At the very least, none of the books he had read contained anything about that.

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 took a long time to answer. He only picked up when the call was about to disconnect automatically.

"Class is over?"

"Mm."

He had probably just left the classroom. It was noisy on Yu An's end.

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

Go home together.

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

Setting aside everything that happened afterward, it had been a beautiful memory.

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 out.

Yu An had a good memory. He had memorized the car model and license plate when he got out that morning.

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