Chapter 52: He Chen, I’m Not Done with You!!!

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The class bell rang, finally interrupting the two best friends’ thoughts. Huang Zhitao grabbed Qiao Yingzi and hurried back to their classroom.

During the lesson, Huang Zhitao kept an eye on her friend and soon noticed that Yingzi was rather distracted. Clearly, their conversation during the break had shaken her.

When school let out at noon, Zhitao quickly led her friend home, comforting her as they walked.

“You just need to be more careful from now on. You can’t really blame He Chen for thinking that way. Think about it. He and Ruan Liuzheng are much closer than you and Fang Yifan. They even live together, like Jia Baoyu and Lin Daiyu.

“But have you ever seen him put an arm around Ruan Liuzheng or have any other intimate contact with her? Even when one of them rides on the other’s bicycle, they keep a proper distance. They never take the opportunity to put their arms around each other.

“If he’s that restrained with himself, he’ll certainly be the same with other people.”

“But Fang Monkey and I really don’t have anything going on! As far as I’m concerned, he isn’t even a man!” Qiao Yingzi protested, feeling both aggrieved and frustrated.

She had never imagined that one day someone would mistake her for having something going on with Fang Monkey.

How could that possibly happen?

“Yingzi, I’m about to say something you won’t like.” Huang Zhitao glanced at her carefully before choosing her words. “I’m not a man either! There are plenty of things you could come to me about, but sometimes you don’t come to me. Instead, you go to Fang Yifan, a man you claim isn’t even a man.

“I believe you don’t mean anything by it. You’re simply like Lin Miaomiao—you haven’t quite figured these things out yet. But we’ve all taken biology. We know that young bodies are full of restless hormones.

“Even between biological fathers and daughters, mothers and sons, or brothers and sisters, people have to be careful to avoid impropriety once they get older. That’s because certain physical reactions can’t be controlled by willpower at all. They’re pure instinct.

“Can intimate contact between a teenage boy and girl—putting an arm around each other, and so on—really remain completely meaningless forever?

“You don’t feel anything right now. That doesn’t mean Fang Yifan feels nothing.

“If he didn’t have those kinds of thoughts, he wouldn’t spend every day pestering and harassing me.

“Since he’s different from you and does have those thoughts, do you really think He Chen’s line—‘Brother, you smell so good’—has never once flashed through Fang Yifan’s mind?”

Qiao Yingzi was speechless.

She truly had never thought about any of this. She really didn’t regard Fang Yifan as a man, because the fawning way he acted around her every day was entirely unlike the behavior of a real man.

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But He Chen’s attitude had struck her so forcefully that she could no longer deny that her best friend had a point.

As the two girls walked along, talking from the heart, a hand suddenly settled on Qiao Yingzi’s shoulder. Fang Yifan’s familiar, mischievous voice sounded beside her ear.

“What are you two talking about?”

Qiao Yingzi slapped his hand away and snapped, “What are you doing?”

“What’s wrong?” Fang Yifan stared at her blankly, looking completely at a loss. Then he quickly recovered and put on his usual cheeky smile. “I know you’re in a bad mood, but don’t take it out on me!”

“How did you know?” Qiao Yingzi demanded in surprise. She had already forgotten her anger at him for putting an arm around her the moment they had been discussing such behavior. She stared at him, flustered and furious.

“My mother told me.” Fang Yifan answered casually. “She said Aunt Song caught you at the planetarium and things became pretty unpleasant. You must be in a terrible mood, so she told me to cheer you up.

“By the way, what exactly happened?”

“Nothing happened!” When Qiao Yingzi realized that Fang Yifan knew nothing about the embarrassing details, she secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Then she said angrily, “Stop worrying about me. With all this free time, you should be worrying about your grades. You came in dead last, and you still have the energy to think about anything else?”

After holding herself back again and again, she added, “And from now on, don’t get handsy when we meet!”

“Why?” Fang Yifan looked utterly bewildered.

“Are you really clueless, or are you pretending?” Huang Zhitao looked at him with an almost mocking smile.

“I understand, I understand!” Fang Yifan’s face lit up. “The goddess has spoken. From now on, I absolutely won’t put my arm around Yingzi or get handsy with her. It would look bad. Anyone who didn’t know better might think Yingzi and I had something going on!

“That would ruin my reputation!

“Taozi, don’t worry. Without your permission, I’ll never do that again!”

“Drop dead!” Qiao Yingzi shouted.

When she saw him twisting her words around, she angrily stamped on his foot, then pulled Huang Zhitao away.

“What was that about?” Fang Yifan hopped around in pain, staring at the backs of his childhood friend and his goddess as they walked away, his brows tightly knit.

Their strange reactions had filled him with a sudden, unprecedented unease.

“Cousin, are you all right?” his timid sidekick, Lin Lei’er, called softly.

“I’m fine!” Fang Yifan composed himself, then asked his genius panda cousin, “What do you think is going on with them?”

“They were probably reminded that they shouldn’t put their arms around you,” Lin Lei’er said, immediately identifying the crux of the matter.

People with high intelligence were never truly lacking in emotional intelligence. The question was only whether they were willing to display it, not whether they were capable of it.

Lin Lei’er had scored more than seven hundred points and shot straight to the top of his class. Even without any relevant experience, how could he fail to understand what was happening when he stood by and observed it calmly?

“What?” Fang Yifan was stunned. Then he shook his head vigorously. “That’s impossible! Yingzi and I have been childhood friends and brothers for years. What’s wrong with putting an arm around each other? Yingzi absolutely isn’t acting strange because of that!”

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Lin Lei’er adjusted his glasses and said nothing more.

In truth, he envied his cousin. He envied Fang Yifan’s happy, prosperous family. He envied him for having a childhood friend like Qiao Yingzi, someone he could casually put an arm around—and for pursuing that childhood friend’s beautiful best friend as well.

It was practically the life of Jia Baoyu from The Dream of the Red Chamber.

Since his cousin refused to acknowledge something so obvious, Lin Lei’er felt it would be inappropriate to say anything more.

Otherwise, it would be impolite.

“If she won’t let me put an arm around her, I still have you!” Fang Yifan said, feeling irritated. He threw an arm around his cousin’s shoulders. “We’re the real brothers!”

“Mm.” Lin Lei’er smiled and agreed.

The two cousins walked off with their arms around each other, but Fang Yifan’s expression was nowhere near as unconcerned or clueless as he pretended.

He Chen, Qiao Yingzi, and Huang Zhitao were all exceptionally conspicuous around campus, so word had spread quickly about Qiao Yingzi and Huang Zhitao going to see He Chen during the break.

Fang Yifan had learned about it immediately.

Then this unprecedented estrangement between childhood friends had occurred. Even his bookish cousin had realized that someone must have reminded Qiao Yingzi not to be so close to him. How could Fang Yifan, who spent every day plotting how to pursue his goddess, have failed to notice or be affected by it?

He simply didn’t want to know, so he pretended not to.

Otherwise, if he seriously examined the situation, could he really maintain this kind of relationship with Qiao Yingzi while pursuing her best friend, Taozi?

That would be nothing but wishful thinking!

As for why he insisted on behaving this way—

In Fang Yifan’s eyes, Qiao Yingzi might not be as pretty as Taozi, but she wasn’t unattractive either. Besides, there were no ugly girls in their youth. Even if he had never consciously thought about it, somewhere deep down he liked having a close female friend whom he could touch intimately and who smelled wonderful.

But now everything was about to collapse because of He Chen!

Suddenly, Fang Yifan understood Ji Yangyang, who had become the laughingstock when he went up onstage that morning. That feeling of being furious yet forced to endure it, pretending to be strong and unconcerned, was absolutely unbearable.

He Chen, I’m not letting this go!