Lemon Soda Candy - 89

The T-shirt Zhou Anran had brought in for him ended up worn by her.

After being carried out of the bathroom by Chen Luobai, Zhou Anran rested her head on his shoulder, her voice faint and weak. "It's so late now, there probably aren't any ginger left for sale."

Chen Luobai's tone was nonchalant. "I was only in the rain for less than a minute. No need for ginger tea."

Zhou Anran lifted her eyes to glance at him. "Did you do it on purpose? You just don't want to drink ginger tea, right?"

He really was extremely picky.

He didn't eat any condiments like scallions, ginger, garlic, or cilantro. It was barely acceptable for some seasoning, but something like ginger tea was completely beyond his acceptance.

The boy's brow quirked slightly, and he looked rather proud. "You found me out."

Zhou Anran reminded him in a small voice, "I still haven't finished the brown sugar ginger tea I bought last time."

Chen Luobai set her down on the bed, reached out to pinch her nose, his face helpless. "You want me to drink the stuff you drink during your period? Do you think it'll work?"

The brown sugar ginger tea wasn't very gingery; instead, it was overly sweet.

Zhou Anran didn't even like drinking it herself. Thinking it probably wouldn't be effective, and he really had only been in the rain for a short while, she didn't push it. "Forget it, then."

Chen Luobai withdrew his hand and turned as if to leave.

Zhou Anran instinctively grabbed his hand.

The longer they were together, the more she seemed to rely on him in private.

"Where are you going?"

"To get a change of clothes. And have you forgotten there's something you haven't put on yet?"

Chen Luobai paused, his gaze drifting slightly downward, his tone becoming meaningful.

"Not wearing it is fine too."

Zhou Anran: "…?"

Her face warmed, and she quickly let go of his hand, conveniently pulling the nearby pillow over to cover her face.

Then she heard the boy give a soft laugh.

With her vision blocked, her hearing became more acute.

Zhou Anran heard his footsteps recede slightly. Not long after, they grew closer again, finally stopping beside her.

"Zhou Anran."

Zhou Anran ignored him.

"Baby."

Zhou Anran's fingertips twitched, but she still didn't move the pillow away.

Chen Luobai's voice was clearly smiling. "Are you trying to suffocate yourself, or do you want me to put it on for you?"

Zhou Anran hurriedly tossed the pillow aside, sat up, and snatched the small item from his hand.

She originally intended to put it on, but when she looked up, she saw him gazing at her intently.

After nearly two years together, the one thing she still hadn't fully adapted to was him looking at her like this outside of that context. It always made her somewhat embarrassed.

Zhou Anran nudged him with her foot. "Turn around."

The girl's feet were snow-white, leading up to a pair of straight, slender legs, and further up was his T-shirt on her.

"Zhou Anran." Chen Luobai grasped her slender ankle. "You always renege."

Zhou Anran: "…?"

Before she could reply, she saw the corner of Chen Luobai's mouth lift.

The next second, she was pulled to the edge of the bed.

The hand gripping her ankle had veins slightly prominent on the back from the force. His other hand reached over, plucked the item from her hand, and tossed it aside. "Should've known it was a waste of effort to go get it."

……

That night, the ginger tea ultimately went undrunk, but they did end up taking another shower.

By the time they returned to the bedroom, Zhou Anran was already drowsy, her head resting on his shoulder, eyelids heavy and drooping.

Chen Luobai kissed her cheek, his voice soft, sounding tender. "Turn off the lights and sleep?"

Zhou Anran nodded, then shook her head.

Chen Luobai chuckled, moving slightly lower until his forehead rested against hers. His long fingers played with her hair, a subconscious action, indescribably intimate. His voice remained soft. "Are you so sleepy you're confused? Do you want to sleep or not?"

Zhou Anran's gaze met his extremely closely. She also kept her voice soft, like his. "I want to sleep, but there's something I want to ask you."

The boy stayed close, speaking to her in a low voice. "What is it?"

Zhou Anran: "At dinner tonight, Qin-jie said someone asked her for a favor. She meant you, right?"

Chen Luobai continued playing with her hair, casually uttering an "Mhm."

"So, those two times watching Qin-jie rehearse were actually arranged by you?" Zhou Anran asked him.

Chen Luobai "Mhm"ed again. "More or less. Strictly speaking, the first gathering after you joined the club was also arranged by me."

Zhou Anran's heart softened wave after wave. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"She's my cousin. Asking her for a favor wasn't a big deal. And it wasn't exactly the most above-board method." Chen Luobai paused, his tone joking. "Besides, there's someone who still always reneges after we sleep together. I was afraid back then that if she found out, she wouldn't want me."

Zhou Anran's face warmed slightly. "No way."

And besides, when did she ever renege?

It was clearly him repeatedly using that as an excuse indiscriminately.

Chen Luobai pinched her cheek. "Then who was it who, after adding me on WeChat, never took the initiative to message me, secretly passed answers to He Mingyu right in front of me, and oh, chatted animatedly with He Mingyu, only to get quiet the moment I showed up?"

Zhou Anran wrapped her arms around his waist. "I explained all that to you later. Why are you still jealous?"

"You have the nerve to say that. I waited almost a week, and only after getting your Senior Yu to help by having you watch the rehearsal did I finally get your explanation." Chen Luobai narrowed his eyes, pinched her cheek again, as if angry, but with controlled lightness. "It's far from over. I'll probably be jealous about that for a lifetime—"

Zhou Anran leaned in and kissed him.

The boy's words cut off abruptly.

"Is this better?" Zhou Anran asked, her face slightly red.

"Just one kiss?" Chen Luobai pretended to hesitate. "At most, I can only give you a discount. Let's say I'll only be jealous for eight or ten years then."

Zhou Anran couldn't help but smile. "And what about the photos Zhu Ran mentioned?"

The corner of Chen Luobai's mouth also lifted. "Didn't Zhu Ran tell you I went to see you many times in high school? The photos are still in my current phone. You have the fingerprint and password. You've just never looked."

Zhou Anran indeed never went through his phone.

She seemed to have absolute trust in him.

Back in high school, he never flirted with any girls. Aside from Yin Yizhen, who was briefly part of his circle due to Zong Kai, there weren't even any girls close to him around.

After they got together, he never let her feel any grievance or misunderstanding in that regard. He had almost all his WeChat adding methods turned off, leaving only a QR code. Unless he wanted to add someone himself, others simply couldn't add him.

Zhou Anran had always believed that even if one day he no longer liked her, there would be no betrayal or cheating between them. He would break up with her first before starting a new relationship.

This was the upbringing ingrained in her young man's bones. "Can I look?"

Chen Luobai handed her his phone. "It's always been yours to look through whenever you want."

Zhou Anran took the phone, unlocked it with her fingerprint, and opened the photo gallery.

He had set up several smaller albums within it, mostly categorized study materials. Only one small album had a cover photo of a sunset.

Zhou Anran had accidentally opened it once before. At the time, she thought it was an album of scenery photos he had taken. Something else came up just then, and she didn't get a chance to ask him about it, later forgetting entirely.

Only now did she notice the album's name: "R."

Zhou Anran's heart gave a faint stir. Her fingertip landed on it.

As soon as the album opened, she saw herself in the thumbnails.

Herself, wearing the Wucheng No. 1 High School uniform.

Zhou Anran didn't rush to scroll further. Instead, she first opened the second sunset photo. The first one only captured the sky; the second photo included a building. She recognized it at a glance as the teaching building closest to the school gate at Wucheng No. 1 High School.

He had taken over ten photos in this sunset series. As she scrolled through them one by one, her memory gradually returned.

It must have been a day in late May during the second semester of their senior year.

A Saturday, with make-up classes at school.

With the college entrance exam approaching, all senior students rushed back to their classrooms after dinner; no one lingered outside. That day, she was stuck on a math problem and didn't even go down for dinner, asking Cen Yu to bring a sandwich back to the classroom for her.

Just before evening self-study was about to start, someone outside shouted, "Come out quick, look at the sunset!"

At first, only two or three people from the classroom went out.

Later, those who went out returned to the classroom excitedly calling others, until almost the whole class had gone out.

Zhou Anran was pulled out by Cen Yu.

The moment she stepped out of the classroom, she saw the sky filled with red clouds enveloping the school.

So, that day, he had also looked at the same sky with her.

By the twelfth photo, the content finally shifted from the sunset to her. But in the twelfth photo, she was wearing the Wucheng No. 1 High School spring uniform, and the photo timestamp had also changed from late May to mid-April.

Zhou Anran looked up. "You didn't see me that day?"

Chen Luobai: "Which day?"

Zhou Anran navigated back to the sunset photos and held the phone in front of him.

Chen Luobai glanced down and recalled the specific time and circumstances.

It was before the college entrance exam, that time he specifically made time to go.

"Didn't see you. You didn't come out for dinner that day. But seeing such a beautiful sunset wasn't a loss either."

He said it lightly, but Zhou Anran's nose suddenly stung upon hearing it.

With the college entrance exam imminent, one could imagine how busy he must have been then. Although the distance between Wucheng and Nancheng wasn't extremely far, the round trip alone would have taken enough time for him to do quite a few practice questions.

Chen Luobai could tell something was wrong just by looking at her expression.

"Don't cry. It's really not a big deal."

He hadn't proactively told her about these things initially because, right after they got together, he always felt she saw him through particularly rose-colored glasses, as if he had no flaws in her eyes. So, he instinctively didn't want her to know about him secretly visiting her or using schemes to pursue her. Later, it was because he was afraid she would cry if she found out.

"If you cry, I'll take it as you tacitly agreeing to that request I brought up tonight."

Zhou Anran: "…?”

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