Having received a calm response, Ci Ye’s anxiety eased somewhat. He helped find an excuse. “You two always differ by just a few points. Your strengths are similar; it’s mostly luck.” He paused before continuing, “And, didn’t you change your birthday wish this year? It’s no longer to be first in the whole school.”
After the System raised her body temperature, Song Fu’s head felt like it was covered by a plastic bag, foggy and hazy. She replied perfunctorily, “Yeah.”
“How about I give you my birthday wish for this year?”
Ci Ye negotiated. “My birthday is in winter, so you’d have to wait a bit, but it won’t be long. You…”
“Aren’t you mad at me?” Song Fu tilted her head and looked at the muttering person beside her, cutting off the rest of his words. She asked the question that puzzled her the most.
Ci Ye opened his mouth, then squeezed out, “Am I supposed to hold it against someone who’s sick?”
Song Fu’s lips curved up. She chuckled lightly. “You could hold it against me a little.” It was fine if he was angry. He could even hate her completely because, “I’m about to do something really outrageous.”
Ci Ye couldn’t imagine what “outrageous” meant. “Are you going to cut ties with me, or actually date that Lu guy?” Both possibilities were extremely outrageous, completely unacceptable, but the more he thought about it, the more likely they seemed.
What if Song Fu, unable to get first place, decided to go off the rails completely and start a campus romance? “High school is such a crucial time. I’d really tell on you. I’m not kidding.”
“Are you in elementary school?” Song Fu poked Ci Ye’s forehead like she did when they were kids. “It’s not about dating.”
“Oh.” Ci Ye let out a breath of relief and followed up. “Does it have a lot to do with me?”
“Very much so.”
“You’re really going to cut ties with me?”
“No.”
Song Fu shook her head. Ci Ye urged her to just say the answer directly, but she refused. Then Mother Song came to pick her up and take her home. The topic ended on a suspenseful note.
Ci Ye puzzled over it until two in the morning but still couldn’t figure out what bad thing Song Fu was planning to do, especially since it involved him.
The next day, Song Fu predictably didn’t come to class. But the day after monthly exam results came out usually involved reseating arrangements.
For that reason, the homeroom teacher specially called Song Fu’s home. Father Song answered the phone. After hearing the reason, he immediately asked his daughter where she wanted to sit. Upon getting the answer of her original seat, he still couldn’t help asking one more time, “Fu Fu, have you really thought this through?”
Mother Song came over with a glass of water and sighed. “Even if it’s true, wait until university, or at least until after high school graduation.”
Song Fu lay flat on the bed and nodded stubbornly, showing a rare bit of willfulness. “I want to get engaged right now.”
Father Song’s head throbbed. He didn’t understand what had stimulated his daughter, but he couldn’t bear to lose his temper. He could only continue reasoning with her. “This can’t be rushed. You’re at a key time for studying right now. Dating takes up too much energy.”
Yesterday, his wife had been in charge of picking up their sick daughter. He had called the family doctor early. While she was getting an IV, his Fu Fu suddenly said she wanted to get engaged to the kid next door.
She wasn’t joking. His sky had fallen.
He had even suspected her fever had fried her brain.
“I didn’t say I want to date him. I just want to be his fiancée.” Song Fu corrected him seriously.
Mother Song didn’t know what strict distinction there was between the two. She suddenly recalled the holiday incident. “Your argument before wasn’t related to this, was it? Little Ye wanted to get engaged to you, but you didn’t agree at the time. Now you’re just giving in…”
“No.” Song Fu interrupted her mother’s speculation. “This is something I thought of on my own. It has nothing to do with Ci Ye. He doesn’t like me.”
That made engagement even less appropriate. Mother Song’s head hurt. “Arranged marriages aren’t a thing anymore. At least there needs to be feelings, right? Fu Fu, what exactly are you thinking?”
Song Fu rolled over once on the bed. “I just want to be his fiancée. Is that not okay?”
She buried her head in the quilt and acted unreasonably. “Whether a forced melon is sweet or not, you have to twist it first to find out.”
The couple standing by the bed exchanged a glance. They saw the same helplessness in each other’s eyes. Their daughter had always been obedient from childhood. This was the first time she had made such a firm demand, and it was to become someone’s fiancée. What could they do? They could only nod. “I’ll mention it to your Uncle Ci. But you’re still in high school right now. Don’t rush things, okay?”
Song Fu pulled the quilt off her face and nodded vigorously like pounding garlic. “I know.”
She took her medicine and quietly let out a breath of relief. The plotline hadn’t said it would be this difficult. She had nagged from last night until now and finally got them to relent. She was utterly exhausted, body and soul.
Mother Song touched her daughter’s forehead. “Rest well.”
At school, daily life continued as usual.
During morning reading, when confirming positions, Zhu Chenxi agonized over the blank seating chart for a long time but still couldn’t decide where to sit. She didn’t need glasses; anywhere was the same… Thinking of this, Zhu Chenxi turned her head to look at Ci Ye, who was staring blankly at the empty seat. “If you could pick a seat, where would you want to sit?”
Ci Ye’s rock-bottom grades were extremely stable. He never had to think during seat-picking. The last empty spot left was always his.
Asked like this, he didn’t even muster the energy. His eyelids didn’t lift. “Anywhere.”
Utterly perfunctory.
Zhu Chenxi propped her chin. “Haven’t you ever thought about sitting with Song Fu?”
Ci Ye: “…”
He almost forgot if she hadn’t mentioned it.
His desk-mate relationship with Song Fu had ended in elementary school, around the time people started saying they had a baby betrothal and would definitely get married when they grew up. Song Fu always got very unhappy hearing such things. She would deny it seriously and firmly, saying there was absolutely no chance.
Song Fu didn’t want people to know they were close. Ci Ye had realized this fact long ago. “No.”
His stiff eyelashes drooped. He looked completely insincere.
Zhu Chenxi had an idea. She lowered her voice. “Did you have a fight with Song Fu?”
Ci Ye froze.
His face practically screamed, “How did you know?”
He didn’t refute but reminded her. “Don’t tell others that I’m close to Song Fu.” Lest Song Fu get mad again and say they were just casual acquaintances.
Ci Ye didn’t have the habit of confiding troubles to near-strangers. He turned his head to the other side, unilaterally ending the conversation.
In the end, Zhu Chenxi chose her current position and passed the filled seating chart to the third-place student.
Ci Ye’s mother had saved her back then. She still wanted to help as much as she could. At least, she couldn’t let him keep being dead last! Zhu Chenxi felt a bit frantic. She couldn’t think of a reason that would make Ci Ye start studying.
Song Fu’s illness kept her out of school for a whole week. Some classmates asked the homeroom teacher if the illness was serious. The teacher, equally in the dark, could only give a vague answer. Rumors spread, with some even saying it was terminal cancer.
Of course, most people didn’t believe it. But Ci Ye had never been patient.
By Sunday’s fixed half-day study session, he directly asked for leave and left school. When he got home, he found the family’s expressions very strange, unable to explain why.
Ci Ye called Song Fu twice, but she didn’t pick up. He opened the door, ready to go next door directly, when his dad came home.
He had thought there would be immediate criticism for not staying properly at school. Instead, his dad just gave him a deep look and said something incomprehensible:
“The engagement is confirmed. For the formal ceremony, what are your thoughts? Wait until after high school graduation, or after university? I suggest doing it as soon as you graduate high school. Once you’re in university and time drags on, nothing is certain.”
Ci Ye’s brows furrowed. His gaze turned cold. “What?”
Had he misheard, or what?
Engagement? What a joke?
Father Ci noticed his son’s resistance and showed complete incomprehension. He countered, “What are you dissatisfied with?”
In that instant, Ci Ye thought of many things. There were indeed people in their circle who had early commercial marriage arrangements, but he never imagined it would happen to him. “Is our family finally going bankrupt, so you suddenly thought of selling your son?”
Disgusting. He wanted to vomit.
An engagement, and they hadn’t even asked him once, jumping straight to the ceremony. “Should I thank you for at least letting me pick the ceremony time?” Ci Ye’s tone dripped with sarcasm. The words squeezed out from between clenched teeth.
He was too lazy to even ask who the other party was. His fingers clenched until the knuckles turned white. “Don’t even think I’ll obediently listen to you. I absolutely won’t—”
“You two didn’t discuss it?” Father Ci had always been at odds with his son like needlepoint against wheat awn, but he hadn’t expected such intense resistance.
Ci Ye shot back irritably, “Discuss with who?”
“Song Fu.”
“Who?”
“Song Fu.”
Ci Ye confirmed he hadn’t misheard. His fist unclenched. “What does this have to do with Song Fu?”
After a series of explanations, Ci Ye gradually understood. This matter was hugely related to Song Fu. She was his engagement partner, his… fiancée.
Seeing Ci Ye’s bewilderment, Father Ci confirmed his son was completely in the dark about the engagement. He had thought the two kids were mutually willing and had discussed it in advance, which was why the neighbors brought it up. But no. The Ci and Song families didn’t have particularly close business ties. Though as an elder, he was a hundred percent satisfied with Song Fu, if Ci Ye was unwilling, there was no happy ending.
Thinking of this, Father Ci stood up. “I’ll convey your wishes to them.”
“What wishes?”
“You’re unwilling, so the engagement is off. It was just a verbal agreement anyway. You…”
“Wait, I didn’t say I was unwilling!” Ci Ye blocked his dad’s path, deciding to swallow all his previous words. “I was just too shocked.”
This was reality.
Not a dream, right?
Ci Ye pinched his own arm, feeling the real pain.