Obsession

Ten minutes later, Chen Lu sat in the driver's seat, staring straight ahead.

The changing colors of the neon signs ahead shone through the window and across his face.

After seeing Qin Wenxi into a taxi, Li Sinian opened the car door and sat down beside him.

No one knew what the two had talked about before parting, but a trace of a smile lingered on his troubled face.

Two seconds after the door closed, the wave of heat that had slipped inside finally began to fade.

Chen Lu couldn't be bothered to look at him. Staring ahead, he said expressionlessly, "When I treated Liang Zhirou to dinner, she couldn't even bear to order a dish that cost ten yuan."

Li Sinian hadn't noticed many of the details at dinner. He hadn't realized Qin Wenxi had only pretended to offer to pay, and thought Chen Lu had stopped him because he didn't want him spending so much money.

He listened silently to Chen Lu without arguing.

"I was afraid you'd lose face this time. If something like this happens again, don't come to me for a loan."

"Fuck, I don't get it. You had a living, breathing example right beside you. You think I had it easy before?"

Chen Lu was pained to be another step further away from his new DSLR camera, but there was nothing he could do. Li Sinian had treated him well over the past three years.

"I suggest you stay away from her. You two aren't in the same league." Chen Lu finally turned to look at him, his expression serious. "When you went out to pay just now, she asked to add me on WeChat, but I turned her down."

Li Sinian thought for a moment. "Maybe she just wanted to get a little more familiar with my circle? Like when you added Liu Yan back then. I did tell her you were one of my best friends, after all."

"XX."

Chen Lu cursed and backed the car out, his tone growing sharper. "You're even more obsessed than I was. Think about it. Would Liu Yan let Jiang Chao spend two thousand yuan on a meal for her?

"She wouldn't. If Jiang Chao treated her to two thousand yuan worth of Japanese food, Liu Yan would break his legs.

"Neither would Liang Zhirou. If she saw me spending that much on a meal for her, she'd regret it so much she'd cry."

Angry for the moment, Chen Lu couldn't be bothered to take his usual gradual approach.

Li Sinian bristled after Chen Lu had unloaded on him and said,

"What about Mo Yuqing?"

What he meant was that Chen Lu had once given a great deal for a girl too, so he shouldn't talk about him like that.

Chen Lu's face darkened. He wasn't keen on remembering what had happened between him and Mo Yuqing. "Mo Yuqing gave me a DSLR camera worth over thirty thousand yuan. Ask Qin Wenxi to give you one."

Li Sinian regretted it the moment he said it. He really hadn't meant to hurt Chen Lu, so he could only keep his mouth shut and look at the night scenery outside the window.

Chen Lu impatiently honked twice, signaling the car ahead to hurry up. Only after a while did he speak again.

"An unequal relationship isn't love. It's one person taking a mile when given an inch, and the other being moved by their own devotion."

Those were Chen Lu's last words to Li Sinian in the car.

A few uneventful days passed like that. Many third-year students were blindly squandering the last of their youth, just like Li Sinian.

After all, as they saw it, starting internships and entering society meant the end of their youth.

None of them seemed to want to regret going through their student years without ever falling in love.

A smaller number of couples, meanwhile, were at a loss about the future. One person would always be in no hurry to consider their future together, while the other grew too anxious, and they argued constantly over it.

This was the peak season for college couples to break up.

Early one morning.

Li Sinian got himself ready and turned to leave.

He had barely opened the door when Jiang Chao called out to him.

"What the fuck is wrong with you? She probably sees you as an ATM, and you're still rushing off to see her?" Jiang Chao looked so shocked that he looked like an idiot. "Didn't Chen Lu tell you? She even asked for his WeChat behind your back."

Li Sinian sighed. "We have a chance."

Jiang Chao stared at him, speechless. "Li Sinian, you're obsessed. Chen Lu was right. You're way more obsessed than he was back then."

Li Sinian still wouldn't accept it. "The girl I'm pursuing isn't as pretty as Mo Yuqing, her family isn't as well-off, and she's not some campus belle either. How am I more obsessed than he was?"

Jiang Chao thought of Liang Zhirou and gave a snort of laughter without saying anything.

How hard a girl was to pursue had nothing to do with her looks. Li Sinian was obviously switching concepts.

People in love really are all fucking stupid.

Oh, right, except me. Liu Yan's the stupid one.

Jiang Chao hurriedly distanced himself from the statement in his heart.

"But even Mo Yuqing wasn't that kind of person, was she? Fucking wake up, she's a scumbag!"

Before Jiang Chao could finish, the door slowly closed.

Jiang Chao glanced at Chen Lu, who was sitting on his bed reading, and sighed deeply again. "He actually dares to pursue a girl who asked for your WeChat the moment she met you, and he's even rushing off to see her."

Then he sat down on the edge of Chen Lu's bed and smiled. "You were absolutely right about one thing. If I treated Liu Yan to that, she'd definitely break my legs."

"And you're still sitting here reading!" Jiang Chao snatched the book from Chen Lu's hand in annoyance. "Why don't you help me talk some sense into him?"

"I won't."

Chen Lu yawned. "In the state he's in, he won't wake up until he takes a nasty fall. Let him learn from the setback. Either he'll have his heart shattered all at once one day, or time will wear it down like it did mine. Either way, he won't stay like this forever."

Then he added, "The former is more likely. That girl isn't a good person. It's not as simple as her not returning his feelings."

Jiang Chao looked at the tightly shut door, his thoughts in turmoil.

Chen Lu managed to climb out of the quagmire, but there's no telling if you can...

When he came back to his senses, he noticed that the book in his hand was about programming. Then he saw the startup process by the bed, and the corners of his mouth lifted slightly.

"You damn tsundere, huh? Turning me down while secretly studying this."

Chen Lu was unconcerned. "I really did turn you down, and I really am studying this. If I find out there's no way to make it work, I can still try to talk you out of it. You listen to advice more than Li Sinian, at least."

"Of course I listen. If I hadn't listened to you, I might still be a sea king, and I would've missed my chance with Liu Yan." Jiang Chao chuckled. "Speaking of which, isn't it a bit late for you to start studying programming?"

"I really do know a little." Chen Lu took the book back. "If I hadn't been trying to pursue Mo Yuqing, I wouldn't have chosen law as my major."

Jiang Chao raised an eyebrow. "So you actually gave up your own dream or hobby?"

"I don't have any dreams. I'm probably the kind of person who drifts through life without accomplishing anything," Chen Lu said softly.

"I'd believe that from anyone else, but there's no way it's true of you."

"Why?" Chen Lu found it strange.

Jiang Chao picked up the book Chen Lu had borrowed from the library and waved it. "Back then, you were putting everything you had into pursuing Mo Yuqing, and you still had the best grades in our class in your major courses. You knew how to do all sorts of other things too. I really admire you."

Chen Lu sighed. "If only you were a girl."

"What do you mean? If I were a girl, you'd pursue me?"

"No, it's mostly that being praised by a guy makes me feel sick. I'm seriously about to throw up everything I ate yesterday."

Chen Lu pulled on a T-shirt. "Come on, let's go to class. We're good kids who don't skip."

That evening.

Chen Lu called Liang Zhirou. He hadn't seen her all day.

"Have you started working part-time during the day too?" Chen Lu asked, frowning.

"Yeah. I, I'm about to go to my part-time job at the hot pot restaurant. Can I call you when I get there?"

"Okay."

Chen Lu hung up, his brow furrowing a little deeper, his expression full of confusion.

He couldn't shake the feeling that Liang Zhirou had been a little strange these past few days...