Chapter 108: You’ve Been Mentioning Du Zhuo Quite a Lot Lately
Lin Yuejiu felt a dull ache in her head. She raised her hand and rubbed her temple, wanting to say something but not knowing where to begin.
Seeing her hesitate, Chen Qianxi grew even more uneasy.
After taking a moment to calm down, Lin Yuejiu finally spoke. “Come on, I worked so hard to find you that handsome guy, and you… you just deleted him? If you didn’t want to meet him, you could’ve just told him directly. If you weren’t ready, you could’ve turned him down. But why delete him without saying anything?”
Chen Qianxi pouted. “I didn’t mean to… I just acted on impulse…”
Lin Yuejiu sighed. “Forget it, I’m not blaming you. What’s done is done. Since you’re not ready yet, I won’t bother finding you any more guys for now.”
Chen Qianxi tugged at her sleeve, gently swaying it. “Sorry, Jiujiu. I made you go through all that trouble.”
“It’s fine. You’re my best friend—I was happy to do it.” Lin Yuejiu’s tone softened. “But since you’re not ready yet, don’t force yourself into anything, okay?” She reached out and patted her head.
Chen Qianxi quickly nodded. “Got it!”
After that, Lin Yuejiu stopped matchmaking for her. Luckily, they didn’t run into that handsome guy again, avoiding any awkward encounters.
Later, when she had dinner with Xu Yishen, Lin Yuejiu told him about what happened. Xu Yishen peeled a shrimp, dropped it into her bowl, and asked in surprise, “She deleted him?”
“Yeah. She’s never dated before—usually it’s all just talk. She must’ve panicked and chickened out in the moment, so she deleted him.”
“So what’s she going to do now?”
“Guess we’ll just wait and see. I won’t be introducing her to anyone else until she’s ready.”
She didn’t notice the slight curve of Xu Yishen’s lips. The next moment, even more freshly peeled shrimp appeared in her bowl.
After that incident, Lin Yuejiu didn’t bring it up again, and life went back to normal. But Chen Qianxi seemed too embarrassed to face her, so she rarely came by. Still, every now and then she would message her on WeChat to complain about little things.
About a week later, on Sunday, Chen Qianxi finally asked her out. They sat together in a milk tea shop, where Lin Yuejiu quietly listened to her rant about the strict teachers, the endless assignments, and how studying in college somehow felt even harder than in high school.
Unconsciously, Chen Qianxi brought up Du Zhuo again.
“Can you believe it? Du Zhuo’s such a blockhead. I was pouring my heart out to him, and all he wanted to talk about was video games. It’s like we weren’t even on the same wavelength!”
Lin Yuejiu raised a brow. Something felt off. Chen Qianxi had been mentioning Du Zhuo’s name a lot recently—every time they chatted, it came up. And now, even after calling her out here, she was still complaining about him.
Lin Yuejiu decided to be direct. “Xixi, have you noticed that you’ve been bringing up Du Zhuo’s name an awful lot lately?”
“Really?” Chen Qianxi blinked, then frowned in thought. “Maybe it’s just because a lot of things recently involved him, so I ended up mentioning him more.”
Lin Yuejiu leaned back, smiling faintly. “Didn’t you used to dislike him? Why are you the one starting conversations with him now?”
Chen Qianxi looked up at her, then muttered softly, “Because… I felt guilty about avoiding you. I didn’t know how to face you, so I ended up talking to Du Zhuo instead…”
Lin Yuejiu chuckled. “Why would you feel guilty? You didn’t do anything wrong.”
“I did! You went out of your way to help me, even going so far as to ask a stranger for his WeChat. And I ruined it all by deleting him.”
Lin Yuejiu shook her head helplessly. “Xixi, I already told you—it’s fine. I chose to do those things because I wanted to. All I wanted was for you to find the sweet romance you’ve been dreaming of. Since you’re not ready yet, then we’ll just wait. There’s no rush.”
Chen Qianxi sniffled, looking at her with teary gratitude. “Jiujiu, you’re too good to me.”
“That’s enough.” Lin Yuejiu lifted her hand, stopping her words. “Now, back to the real question—why did you take the initiative to talk to Du Zhuo?”
This time, Chen Qianxi didn’t hold back. “Like I said, I felt guilty about avoiding you. I just needed someone to vent to. My new roommates—I haven’t really opened up to them yet. And aside from you, the only other people I really know here are Du Zhuo and Xu Yishen. Since Du Zhuo is in our class and knows both of you, I ended up going to him.”
“You didn’t actually tell him about me trying to set you up and you deleting that guy, did you?”
“Of course not! Sure, we were deskmates for two years, but that doesn’t mean I’d tell him everything. I only mentioned it vaguely, and he didn’t pick up on it anyway—he’s too much of a blockhead.”
“So, what did he say to you?”
“What I just told you,” Chen Qianxi huffed, still angry. “I told him I felt guilty toward you and didn’t know what to do. And you know what he said?”
“What?” Lin Yuejiu played along.
“He told me to go talk to Xu Shen, and have Xu Shen talk to you to make you persuade me!” Chen Qianxi looked utterly scandalized. “How can a guy possibly understand a problem between two girls? And besides, Xu Shen doesn’t even know what really happened!”
Lin Yuejiu looked a little guilty. “Actually… he does.”
“Ah?!”
“I was a bit troubled by it before, so I mentioned it to him over dinner.”
Chen Qianxi: “……” “And? What did he say?”
“He said it wasn’t really something he could give advice on—since it’s something between us girls, we should resolve it ourselves.”
“See?! That’s what a normal guy would say. Unlike Du Zhuo, that stubborn, clueless blockhead!” Chen Qianxi vented furiously.
Lin Yuejiu just smiled quietly to herself.
“What are you laughing at?” Chen Qianxi asked, puzzled.
Her lips curved as she teased, “Don’t you realize how easily he gets a rise out of you?”
Chen Qianxi waved it off. “That’s only because he’s infuriating! Anyone would lose their temper dealing with a guy like that.”
Lin Yuejiu didn’t argue. She only nodded, though inwardly she thought—funny, you never got this worked up with any other clueless guys before.
