Reverse Approach

Liao Nanqing was able to come to City B thanks to Xu Yanyan’s help. It was Xu Yanyan who asked his cousin to pretend to be a parent and pick up Liao Nanqing out of the school. The method was okay, taking a risk in desperation but if not being careful, he would be punished, but Liao Nanqing couldn’t care that much last night.

Early in the morning, the head teacher called.

Su Beimo and the head teacher had exchanged phone numbers. Liao Nanqing’s family was special and the head teacher was not clear about it. Last night, she was careless and didn’t exchange phone numbers with the cousin so she could only find Su Beimo.

It was nothing more than to care about how Liao Nanqing’s health was; had the fever gone? The more dedicated she was, the more embarrassed Liao Nanqing was.

Su Beimo answered politely.

Liao Nanqing stood beside him without saying a word, his fingertips picking at his school uniform pants. Su Beimo didn’t expose him and instead, went along with what the class teacher said to round out the conversation, saying that Liao Nanqing would be able to return to school in the afternoon.

After hanging up the phone, Liao Nanqing whispered: “I’m not going.”

Su Beimo lectured him, “I heard that your grades have been unsatisfactory.”

Liao Nanqing blinked his eyes, the corners of his mouth were turned downward, twisted, not talking.

Xu Yuanming, who happened to come to the hospital, saw this scene and said amusingly, “I saw you training your younger brother when I came here. I didn’t expect Xiao Su to have such a stern side.”

Su Beimo said, “Xu ge, do me a favor and send him to the station.”

Xu Yuanming brought breakfast: “Your brother rushed over in the middle of the night for you, probably did not sleep long all night. Look, his eyes are swollen. You are too unkind to rush people early in the morning.”

Looking at Liao Nanqing again, he was standing in the same place and his face was still tired. He followed Su Beimo and slept on the bed for two or three hours, and then the head teacher’s call came.

He rubbed his eyes lightly, the eyebags under his eyes were indeed a bit big. Xu Yuanming handed him the breakfast and Liao Nanqing’s stomach yelled at the right time. He accepted it with a flushed face, shyly saying thank you and silently handed the breakfast to Su Beimo again.

Xu Yuanming said, “You eat it yourself, he’s not hungry?” He turned his eyes to Su Beimo, “Look at you, your brother is scared like a child bride.”

Liao Nanqing said hurriedly: “He doesn’t scare me.”

“…” It was also protected.

Su Beimo turned his face away and raised the corners of his mouth. After that, he turned to face Liao Nanqing with a serious face: “I’ll make a phone call to your class teacher, you can go back tomorrow. But next time, you are not allowed to come over like this, I will be worried.” He planned to let Liao Nanqing go to his small apartment, taking a rest and having a good sleep. Otherwise, going back and forth, he would be tossed up and down.

After Su Beimo’s examination report came out, there was no serious injury.

Xu Yuanming acted as the driver and sent them back to the apartment. Su Beimo knew that Xu Yuanming had also picked up Liao Nanqing last night and thanked him again and again. Xu Yuanming waved his hand: “I am also responsible for your accident. It was me who suggested the dinner, and I picked that damn place for a good reason but a child crossed the road randomly.”

Knowing that Xu Yuanming was being polite, Su Beimo didn’t take it seriously and casually chatted with him for a few minutes.

Liao Nanqing and Su Beimo sat in the back seat together, without a word. He stared at the scenery outside the car window, staring at the bustling city. Different from the small town and also different from the downtown area of No.3 High School. In the center of City B, there were countless high-rise buildings standing.

He was dazzled seeing them, and the heart also yearned for it. Perhaps, it was because Su Beimo was also here.

And Su Beimo’s company was among them, even though it only accounted for a very small part.

In view of the injury to Su Beimo’s head, he had to rest at home for a few days before going to work. But the data he was working on was not easy for others to take over, so he specifically asked Xu Yuanming to help him get around the company, thinking about going upstairs to get the documents.

Even if he was resting, Su Beimo did not intend to be idle. He planned to do all the work that should be done during the days when he was resting at home.

Liao Nanqing and Xu Yuanming were the only two people left in the car.

Probably because he was afraid that Liao Nanqing might feel embarrassed, Xu Yuanming chatted with him casually. But the two were not familiar with each other and there was nothing to talk about, so he talked about Su Beimo.

“Xiao Su is really restless. This week, too; It was so empty that everyone took a vacation. But he came to work with me.” Xu Yuanming had always talked a lot, “Fortunately, there was not much work in those days, otherwise with the continuous work, I couldn’t bear it.”

After saying that, he gave himself a good laugh.

Liao Nanqing was startled, raised his head, opened his mouth, and then asked after a long time: “Didn’t you work overtime all week?”

Xu Yuanming was shocked, his thoughts broke; he let the cat out of the bag. A few days ago, Su Beimo had been deliberately neglecting Liao Nanqing, perhaps using overtime as an excuse. Xu Yuanming had a headache, coughed, and hurriedly changed the topic: “Su Beimo usually gives you a topic? Your senior year is very hard, right? Ah, when we were in our senior year, we were even more tired, and there was no air conditioner in the classroom … ”

He babbled on and on, but Liao Nanqing had no intention of listening to any sentence at all, his mind was full of the fact that Su Beimo did not work overtime. Xu Yuanming could not go on and simply shut his mouth.

After silence, Liao Nanqing repeatedly asked, “Is it true that you haven’t worked overtime all day and you’re not busy?”

Xu Yuanming wiped his face in distress: “No, not really, occasionally busy.”

Liao Nanqing said nothing.

Xu Yuanming, as an older single male in his thirties, had always been a bit nosy. He saw Liao Nanqing’s extremely lost expression in the rearview mirror and suddenly felt in his heart that Su Beimo’s concern was right. This child was indeed too attached to Su Beimo. Such dependence was not a good thing for his growth.

Everyone wanted to go out of society, Xu Yuanming associated Liao Nanqing with his younger brother, so it was inevitable to say something more:

“You are too dependent on Xiao Su. It is always a good thing for boys to be independent. Xiao Su does it for your own good.”

As soon as the voice fell, Liao Nanqing squeezed his hands in a daze, and his face became inexplicably pale. He seemed to be still, and his gentle breathing became quieter and quieter. Xu Yuanming was frightened by his appearance and didn’t dare to say anything anymore.

Liao Nanqing didn’t speak anymore, and even after Su Beimo got into the car, Liao Nanqing didn’t say a word.

He lowered his head, his hair almost covering his seemingly gray eyes.

No matter how dull people were, they could know that Su Beimo’s estrangement this week was deliberate. The scene that Liao Nanqing had always worried about finally appeared, Su Beimo’s disgust, Su Beimo’s turning his back from him.

But he didn’t know anything and foolishly kept pestering Su Beimo about it. Perhaps in the eyes of Su Beimo, it was all a trouble, a joke. The experience from childhood made Liao Nanqing especially good at reading people’s faces, but why wouldn’t it work when it came to Su Beimo. He became dull, unsure of what to do.

These fatal willfulness were enough to make him completely lose Su Beimo.

To lose him was to lose light.

He would be in the darkness, beyond redemption.

This terrible thought swung back and forth in his head like a bell, sounding hypnotic.

Liao Nanqing recalled that in the hospital just now, Su Beimo wanted him to go back this afternoon, his heart was sour and swollen. His stepfather was right, he was a burden, who wanted to carry it for a long time?

But the uninformed Su Beimo was putting the document into the bag before reaching out to ruffle a handful of Liao Nanqing’s hair: “Your hair is long, ah. I will take you to the hairdresser to fix it. What do you want to eat tonight? There is a restaurant downstairs in the district, it’s not bad, we go there to eat?”

Liao Nanqing paused a little, his gaze evasively hidden, he pressed Su Beimo’s hand and gently took it away.

“It suddenly occurred to me that the monthly exam and the midterm are too close to each other. So for tonight’s study, there are mock papers to be taken.”

This was the second time that he had, in all seriousness, lied to Su Beimo.

Su Beimo’s gentleness made him get so carried away that he forgot his true colors.

He was the ‘famous’ Liao Nanqing.

In the afternoon, Liao Nanqing went back to school, he insisted on going back alone.

As soon as he went back, he was caught in a busy study.

Fortunately, No.3 High School had a good learning atmosphere. The third year classes were placed in a separate building. Whether it was lunch or dinner time, it was separated from the first and second year to avoid wasting time.

Liao Nanqing’s class had already entered a new round of revision and the class teacher of their class was the toughest teacher in the entire senior year, the top leader when it came to results. The class, except for a few who really didn’t want to study, were all immersed in the ‘care’ of the test papers. After Liao Nanqing’s monthly exam came out, he was criticized particularly badly.

He was determined to bury his head in study and put away his dependence on Su Beimo. At least, he didn’t want to disappoint Su Beimo.

However, the lack of a solid foundation made him work harder than others, and he lost a lot of weight in just a few weeks.

In order to make himself look less skinny, Liao Nanqing did not save so much when ordering food in the cafeteria.

But often, he was still calculating the money carefully.

Xu Yanyan, who could not bear to see it, occasionally would order three full meat dishes and deliberately share some with Liao Nanqing.

Liao Nanqing didn’t know how to repay Xu Yanyan, so he had to try to help him copy his notes and review them twice by the way. He put down the habit of sending messages to Su Beimo on weekdays and forced himself to concentrate on studying. Even if Su Beimo took the initiative to send messages and call, Liao Naqing could not help but think about it, but in the end, refused everything under the pretext of too busy studying.

Once, he looked at the message sent by Su Beimo and stood on the balcony of the dormitory with his mobile phone for a long time.

Long enough for Xu Yanyan to feel that something was wrong, and when he walked over to look, he found that Liao Nanqing’s expression was particularly bewildered that he didn’t have any clues.

“You, what’s wrong with you?” Xu Yanyan was caught off guard by his crying expression.

Liao Nanqing shook his head.

“Someone bullied you? Did the head teacher talk to you again?”

Liao Nanqing still shook his head, he was not going to go complain any word to Xu Yanyan and the others.

No.3 High School was the new life given to him by Su Beimo, he didn’t want to mess it up and he didn’t want to waste Su Beimo’s good intentions. Even if it was muddled, he was going to try to get through this third year.

In fact, Liao Nanqing had always been inferior. He grew up in a bad situation, different from others, lacking care and confidence. No one treated him well, but as long as someone treated him well, he would recognize that person. It was an instinct to hold onto it like a life-saving straw.

He also yearned for light and hoped to be born in the sun.

But all this was meaningless without Su Beimo.

It was Su Beimo who brought all the light, but now he wanted to withdraw and stay away from him.

During the lunch break, Liao Nanqing returned to the dormitory sullenly and wanted to lie down for a while. Xu Yanyan took off his shoes while complaining that the English listening in the morning was too difficult. He stomped on the end of the bed and pulled himself up: “Liao Nanqing, let’s memorize English words!”

“Okay.”

The rest of the roommates objected, “You’d better get some rest!”

Xu Yanyan was dissatisfied: “Are you guys jealous that I did better than you.”

The roommate lay down on his side: “Forget about it.”

Liao Nanqing closed his eyes and calmed down.

Outside the dormitory, the head teacher suddenly came, everyone hid their phones and fell back to pretend to be sleeping. Liao Nanqing went to open the door and the head teacher happened to be looking for him. In order not to disturb his classmates, the two of them walked to the other end of the corridor, and the class teacher handed him his phone. On the screen was a number that had just been dialed out, a number Liao Nanqing couldn’t be more familiar with.

“Your brother said something happened at home, it’s not convenient for me to convey.” The head teacher handed him the phone and walked far away: “I will stay downstairs of the hostels. After you finish the call, bring the phone back to me.”

Liao Nanqing was confused and curious about what happened at home, needing Su Beimo to tell him by contacting his head teacher.

On second thought, was he causing Su Beimo trouble again?

He held the phone to his ear anxiously, and Su Beimo said worriedly on the other end: “Liao Nanqing.”

“En?”

“Why don’t you reply to my message and answer my call.”

Liao Nanqing didn’t understand Su Beimo’s meaning, wasn’t he the one who told himself to stay away?

Seeing that he was silent, Su Beimo asked, “Why didn’t you send me any? I’m very worried about you, I…”

More and more things went wrong, Liao Nanqing’s clear astringent voice timely interrupted Su Beimo: “Su Beimo.”

“En?”

“I can’t rely on you anymore.”

“…What did Xu Yuanming tell you?” Su Beimo thought of it all at once.

That day he just went to the company to get a copy of the information, and before getting off the car Liao Nanqing was still fine, but when he came back, Liao Nanqing’s expression had changed.

Su Beimo said in a deep voice: “It’s not what you think.”

“…” Liao Nanqing was silent.

Su Beimo was anxious, pacing back and forth, he never knew he could be so anxious. Liao Nanqing’s deliberate estrangement was silent, but he was heartbroken and uncomfortable. Su Beimo regretted his insistence at the beginning, and was also angry that Xu Yuanming was talking too much. He finally understood that it was not that Liao Nanqing relied on him, but that he could not leave Liao Nanqing.

He didn’t want Liao Nanqing to disappear from his world.

He also clearly understood that this kind of feeling seemed to be like.

Su Beimo couldn’t hold back: “I admit, I did have this idea before.”

Liao Nanqing’s heart was tightly gripped, and it hurt so much.

“But now, I’m going back on my word. I regret it, these are not counted.” Su Beimo stroked a handful of his hair, not caring if he was in company or not, or if he looked a little flamboyant and indescribably childish. He was like a teenager who was in love and didn’t know what to do, blinded by his age and height.

Liao Nanqing didn’t know how to answer, he was dumbfounded and couldn’t react, only understood that Su Beimo didn’t mean to get rid of him.

He thought about it for a long time, but he still answered the words with grievances: “Then what counts?”

“I miss you.” Su Beimo said, “This is the one that counts.”