Chapter 25.1 - Red Azalea (1)
"You asked him last time how he was doing, right? Let me tell you, he's doing great, and it seems like he's fallen for a girl. They should be together soon."
"Impossible."
"Xu Riqing, I never knew you could be this unreasonable."
"It's not me being unreasonable—how many times do I have to tell you? Even if I’m wrong, I treated you as a way to get closer to him, but is he really that innocent?"
"Innocent?" Zhang Mingrui looked at the aggrieved yet resolute face across from him. "Don’t tell me he’s flirting with you."
He didn’t know whether he was hoping for a confirmation or a denial.
However, the girl moved her lips as if to say something, but in the end, she slumped her head down.
"Think what you want. I can’t say it; you won’t understand anyway."
Zhang Mingrui suddenly felt annoyed. The girl in front of him seemed like she wasn’t the bright and cheerful Xu Riqing he once knew.
"Can you just wake up? Are you stupid? If he doesn’t like you, why are you torturing yourself like this? I never knew you could be so confused."
"Zhang Mingrui, I know you think I’m being unreasonable. But you don’t understand, there are things you can’t experience, many feelings don’t need to be clearly expressed. I just know, I just know he likes me. Even if he’s just messing with me, it’s not me overthinking or imagining it. Even though he never said anything, even though I don’t know if he’s being truthful, it’s definitely him. He’s the one who made me misunderstand, he’s the one I can’t let go of. And now, nothing’s wrong with him—how long has it been? He’s already liking that girl? The one from the economics school? Are you sure?"
"You're just rambling nonsense."
Zhang Mingrui stood up, feeling like he understood, but also like he didn’t.
He left Xu Riqing in the cafeteria and went outside, where he saw Sheng Huainan and Luo Zhi walking side by side. He wondered if they noticed they were both wearing white shirts, looking so good together, almost like a pair of perfect partners.
A pair of perfect partners. Xu Riqing was more beautiful than Luo Zhi. If Xu Riqing were beside Sheng Huainan instead of her, it would also seem like a fitting match for the term.
Of course, that would be the confident, flamboyant Xu Riqing from before.
Zhang Mingrui suddenly looked at himself in the mirror by the entrance of the cafeteria. Back in high school, he had quite a few admirers. He was good at his studies, had a great social circle, looked handsome and composed, and was great at soccer. Though he made an own goal in the finals, he later scored two more goals to equalize the score. But why, for a long time now, had his shoulders been slightly slouched?
Zhang Mingrui still insisted that he truly regarded Sheng Huainan as a friend and wasn’t jealous.
If he could do it all over again, when faced with Xu Riqing, he would still agree without hesitation: "He’s a really good guy. If you want to meet him, I’ll introduce him."
He really didn’t regret it. Many things are destined. Though people must strive or avoid them, what’s meant to happen will happen.
In truth, how could he not have had a premonition?
"Your department... I’ve heard of someone named Sheng... yes, Sheng Huainan, right? When our political science team and your biology debate team had a mock debate at the beginning of sophomore year, I remember that name."
He had found it strange at the time. No one who had interacted with Sheng Huainan would forget his name so vaguely. They had debated face to face, and Sheng Huainan had left such a profound impression that it was unforgettable. How could she be so nonchalant and hesitant about it?
But he never liked to overthink and continued to speak with her with the same enthusiasm and focus, casually saying, "Isn’t he really handsome? He’s the top guy in our 521 Yicui dorm."
"521 Yicui dorm?"
"Our dorm number is 521, haha, isn’t that romantic?"
She smiled, and her smile always reminded him of fields of red azaleas—though, of course, he had only seen them on TV.
He told her all kinds of funny stories from the dorm, talked about his good buddy Sheng Huainan, and how his older brother once got jealous when his older sister-in-law was pursuing Sheng Huainan...
"As a roommate, I just think he’s an average guy," Zhang Mingrui shook his head, "I’m not putting him down or being jealous of him. You know, when guys hang out with their friends, it’s pretty normal. He’s a laid-back good friend. But when we’re outside the dorm, I can really feel that he’s different from us."
She smiled so brightly, like azaleas blooming again and again, and he naïvely thought it was because of his eloquence and generosity.
Later on, it seemed like Zhang Mingrui and she completely stopped talking—no messages, no meetings. By some twist of fate, he found himself tracking her ID on BBS, searching for any traces she had left online, secretly checking her name on Baidu to see any news related to her, and eventually, stumbling upon her rarely-visited private blog.
"I hear the sound of flowers blooming."
She didn’t dare look at him. Her gaze only shifted to him briefly after looking up at the teacher, stealing a glance at him, then quickly moving away. But unexpectedly, he suddenly looked at her. The fleeting, almost imperceptible gaze she had been directing at him was no longer hidden, and her face turned red as she quickly lowered her head.
When she looked up again, he was focused on his notebook, seriously taking notes on the teacher’s feedback about the mock debate they had just had. However, she noticed the subtle, ambiguous smile on the corner of his lips, so unbelievably beautiful.
He had seen it. Maybe he even understood it. He was so smart.
She thought about it for a long time, that smile magnifying endlessly in her mind, ascribing various meanings to it, to the point where she even lay in bed last night unsure—had he really smiled?
That text, throughout, was about "him." At that time, Zhang Mingrui could no longer be unclear about who this "him" referred to.
Once, when they first met, they had sat at the same table in the cafeteria. To their surprise, the cafeteria’s TV was playing the music video of two butterflies. They both looked at the screen and made a face, then burst into laughter, only to turn and find each other staring.
Such a vivid expression, such a natural connection.
Zhang Mingrui had only realized much later that Xu Riqing’s warmth toward him had indeed stemmed from their first meeting, when he had told her he was from the Department of Biological Science and Technology, and that he and Sheng Huainan were roommates in 521. However, at the time, how could he have anticipated it would go this far? They studied together, played badminton together, went to Huguo Temple for snacks together, and as they walked, she would hold an umbrella over him to shield him from the sun, saying, "If you get any darker, it’ll be dangerous crossing the street at night…"
Zhang Mingrui racked his brain but still couldn’t recall how the three of them ended up together. But he had promised from the beginning—his buddy, very close, it wasn’t that hard to get to know him.
Actually, when the three of them were together, it was still mostly him talking with Xu Riqing. But he could feel that Xu Riqing was carrying a nervousness wrapped in layers, every sentence was carefully worded, as if she wanted every word to be perfect.
Everything felt too familiar. His dull intuition finally kicked in. Even though Luo Zhi was far more natural than Xu Riqing and much harder to understand, he was certain that he had understood Xu Riqing through Luo Zhi's eyes.
That day, Xu Riqing woke up, crawled up from the table, and suddenly, without warning, looked at Sheng Huainan and asked, "Hey, do you see any wrinkles on my face?"
They exchanged glances, and Sheng Huainan replied, "Well, yes, I do."
