"You..." The boy took a moment to react, his face flushing bright red as his gaze involuntarily drifted downward.
The man narrowed his dark eyes, a dangerous glint flashing in their depths. His voice was husky. "Where are you looking?"
The boy hurriedly averted his eyes. "Move. I need to go get my phone."
"No need. The production crew will bring it over." The man took a deep breath and pressed his lips together. "Rather than that, why don't you tell me what those rumors about you and Ren Le were all about?"
"Me and Ren Le? There were rumors?" Song Yunxing blinked blankly.
"Back in high school, wasn't everyone saying you two were dating?" The man turned his face aside, looking somewhat awkward.
"Was that really a thing? Which kid had so much time on their hands they started that rumor?" The boy frowned slightly.
"She told me herself! She said you two were dating!" Shen Yanci sounded urgent.
Confusion surfaced on the boy's face. "I-I never dated her. There was just a period when she used the communal piano in the shared music room, while I practiced dancing in front of the mirror."
"We came and went at the same times, and sometimes I gave her a few pointers while I was there."
Their eyes met, and in that moment, they both realized something.
"You actually believed her?" the boy asked incredulously.
The man pressed his tongue against his back teeth and said through gritted teeth, "Ren Le really is a scheming little snake!"
Shen Yanci exhaled and pulled the boy down onto the sofa, recounting everything that had happened as he recalled it.
Ten years earlier, Jin City.
The cold snap had passed, and warm breezes swept into Xinyue International Middle School as greenery once again