Chapter 313 - 180: Go Fall in Love Yourself
The moment the fourth-period study hall ended in the afternoon, Yang Ze couldn’t wait to run over to Shen Yuan’s side.
"Lao Yuan! Let’s go, let’s go! Time to eat!"
As Yang Ze spoke, he kept wiggling his eyebrows and shooting Shen Yuan meaningful glances.
’It was obvious something was up, and I didn’t even have to guess. It was most likely—oh, no, one hundred percent—related to Ah Jie.’
’Yang Ze had probably already drafted the outline for the secret crush Sugar Text that Ah Jie was supposed to write.’
’That was pretty fast.’
At this thought, Shen Yuan glanced over at Li Zhi.
’Honestly, I didn’t really want to discuss it right then.’
’After all, I wanted to spend my mealtime with Li Bao.’
’But if I ate with Li Zhi, there would be no way to avoid He Zhiyu and Zhuo Peipei.’
’In that case, wouldn’t it be impossible to keep the fact that Ah Jie is writing a Sugar Text a secret?’
Shen Yuan’s mind raced. He waved at Yang Ze, signaling for him to lean in from the back row.
Yang Ze approached from his seat in the back row. As the two leaned in close, Shen Yuan’s voice sounded in his ear.
"You go eat with Ah Jie and the guys. I’ll go with Li Bao. Zhuo Peipei usually eats with us, so I’ll go and sound her out."
Yang Ze’s eyes lit up at his words, deeply impressed by Shen Yuan’s strategy of planning before acting.
He broke into a grin, thumped his chest soundly, and whispered, "To be brothers... it’s all in the heart!"
Shen Yuan nodded emphatically.
Watching Yang Ze turn and walk away, Shen Yuan let out a long sigh of relief.
’This dumbass kid is way too gung-ho. He’s more fired up about this than if he were trying to get a girlfriend himself!’
’But then again, it was just as I’d expected.’
’When Ah Jie was being stubborn and refused to admit he liked Zhuo Peipei, the three of them teased him relentlessly.’
’But the moment Ah Jie finally admitted it, and even said he wanted to pursue Zhuo Peipei, the trio’s attitude immediately switched to ’what kind of father wouldn’t help his son?’ mode.’
’It was pretty amusing.’
Full of enthusiasm, Yang Ze dragged Ah Jie, Chen Mingyu, and Sun Xiansheng to the cafeteria.
As for Shen Yuan, he did exactly as he’d said.
He Zhiyu usually ate with Li Zhi, and Zhuo Peipei would use that as an opportunity to join them.
Barring any special circumstances, Zhuo Peipei was rarely absent.
When it came to shipping, Zhuo Peipei was nothing if not persistent.
Even though she didn’t get to see anything sweet sometimes, what if she did?
That would be a total win, right?
After getting their food from the cafeteria window, the four of them—Shen Yuan, Li Zhi, He Zhiyu, and Zhuo Peipei—found a relatively quiet corner and sat down.
Tray in hand, Li Zhi naturally took the seat next to Shen Yuan.
Shen Yuan sat on the aisle side, with Zhuo Peipei and He Zhiyu sitting across from them.
The air was filled with the smell of food and the noisy chatter and laughter of the surrounding students.
As the four of them ate, Shen Yuan pushed the food around on his tray while sneaking glances at Zhuo Peipei across from him.
Zhuo Peipei was excitedly sharing some interesting posts she’d seen on the school’s confession wall account with He Zhiyu, a delighted look on her face.
Indeed, that confession wall QQ account was a window into all sorts of drama that ordinary students never got to see.
As the one in charge of the account, Zhuo Peipei naturally knew a lot.
Who knew the most campus gossip? The President of the Shipping Association, of course.
Shen Yuan decided the time was right. He began to speak, feigning a casual tone, his voice just loud enough for the two across from him to hear. "You know, Peipei the Shipper..."
Zhuo Peipei was in the middle of a bite. She looked up, the excitement from her gossiping still sparkling in her eyes. "Hmm? What’s up, Lao Yuan?"
Shen Yuan tapped the rice in his bowl with his chopsticks, a faint, unreadable smile playing on his lips. He kept his tone deliberately light and casual. "There’s something I’m curious about."
"Shoot." Zhuo Peipei blinked.
Shen Yuan paused, his eyes fixed on Zhuo Peipei’s face. "You’re so passionate about your shipping. You ship everything from real people to fictional characters, you follow everything from the confession wall to fan-written Sugar Texts, and you always seem so happy doing it. Your analyses are always so on point..."
Shen Yuan deliberately dragged out the last word. Then, as Zhuo Peipei watched him with a puzzled expression, he posed his probing question: "So why don’t you ever think about getting into a relationship yourself? You’ve done so much literary analysis, don’t you think it’s time for some practical application?"
The moment Shen Yuan finished speaking, the expression on Zhuo Peipei’s face froze. All the excitement from her earlier gossiping vanished without a trace.
Zhuo Peipei had not expected Shen Yuan to suddenly ask such a question.
"Huh? I... I..." Zhuo Peipei faltered, at a loss for words. She even looked a little flustered.
Sitting beside Shen Yuan, Li Zhi keenly picked up on the hidden meaning in his question. Seeing Zhuo Peipei’s reaction, she immediately understood his intentions.
Li Zhi leaned forward slightly, getting closer to Zhuo Peipei, and picked up the thread of conversation with a meaningful tone. "Yeah, Peipei. You watch other people being all sweet and romantic every day, you read all sorts of Sugar Texts... You know all the tropes inside and out."
"They say practice is the only way to find the truth! Look at you, your theoretical knowledge base is more than enough. All you’re missing now is a test subject..."
Li Zhi deliberately paused here.
Under the table, the beautiful girl lightly nudged Shen Yuan’s leg. Shen Yuan immediately got the hint.
"That’s right. Peipei, you’ve read so many Sugar Texts and mastered all those techniques for charming guys and girls. Just find someone who’s easy on the eyes, and it’ll be the perfect chance to test whether all that stuff from your stories actually works."
Having said his piece, Shen Yuan went back to picking at the rice on his plate.
It was as if everything he’d just said was merely a joke.
But to Zhuo Peipei, those "jokes" sounded entirely different.