The Fading Away of Our Youth (So Young) Chapter 13

When Zheng Wei returned to the dormitory, she looked around for a long time but didn’t see Ruan Ruan. When she returned, like an excited little tadpole who finally found her mother, she said, pleasantly surprised, “Ruan Ruan, you’ve returned.”

Before she had set in the morning, Ruan Ruan felt as if she was in the Cold War, was made incomprehensible at her sudden pa.s.sion, she didn’t have time to say anything before she was pulled out of the dormitory by Zheng Wei, “I have a lot of good things to say to you.”

She pulled Ruan Ruan along a small path, running to the statue of Mao Yi Sheng near the Architecture College, not far from the shadowy inside were a pair of Mandarin ducks, the two people sat on the small pedestal and Zheng Wei began to recall what happened that day. Ruan Ruan didn’t interrupt and listened intently, the more she heard, the wider her eyes became, in the end she couldn’t help but say, “Wait up, let me digest this, in short, you mean today, in a day’s time, you’ve liked someone, rejected someone’s love confession and you want to confess to another person?”

Zheng Wei nodded her head naturally, “Yes, what’s wrong?”

Ruan Ruan said, “If I didn’t remember incorrectly, I only didn’t see you for half a day, how did the matter grow tremendously to this stage?”

Zheng Wei was thrown off, “Was it fast, I also don’t know why it would be like this, but I only feel that today is incredibly long, Ruan Ruan, when you were with your Xiao Yong Yong, wasn’t it like this, did you tell him that you liked him like this?”

The “Xiao Yong Yong” that she talked about, naturally was Ruan Ruan’s boyfriend Zhou Shi Yong. Even though Zheng Wei had never met Zhou Shi Yong, she had answered the phone numerous times, and had already become acquainted. Ruan Ruan shook her head, “At that time, things were extremely simple, I didn’t confess to him once, he didn’t either. Like water flowing into a ca.n.a.l, we got together. I say, you’re hateful enough, is Chen Xiao Zheng spooked out?”

Zheng Wei scratched her head and thought of his frightened expression, she laughed, she turned, very serious to Ruan Ruan, “Being so rushed, I do also have a reason, if I don’t say it, how will he know that I like him, he doesn’t know anything at all. I don’t want to be setting myself up for being broken-hearted, and I have to give something for his inner heart to be conflicted about, maybe he pondered these obsessions just like me, and also likes me. Plus, even if he doesn’t like me immediately, in the future he will look at me with different eyes. Before, when he looked at me, he was only looking at a common person, but in the future, he’ll look at me like I’m someone he has emotional entanglements with, how warm will that be, for someone like him, I’m sure this will have the strongest heart impact. Plus, I heard Li Wei Juan say that he has an ‘accurate girlfriend’ by his side, I estimate that the two have had the intent of becoming a couple for a time now, but they’re all playing the game of losing modesty. Under these circ.u.mstances, it’s more of a reason why I shouldn’t wait, I must first make my move to become stronger, and then bring disaster with my next move, I will kill all the daring, and starve all the timid people, isn’t this always written in all the novels. These hazy feelings are the more fragile and cannot withstand wind and rain, I will take my strong involvement in the budding stage to stifle this feeling, making them far apart, hopeless in this life! ”

Ruan Ruan listened in admiration as she listed out her a.n.a.lysis, “That’s really crazy enough–the crazier thing is that I actually think what you’re saying is pretty reasonable.”

“Haha.” Zheng Wei gave a slightly smug smile, “Good guys fear being wrapped around the female, even if Chen Xiao Zheng is more staunch, under my power, I won’t be afraid that he doesn’t become pliant.”

Ruan Ruan watched her lively words as she used her fingers to make a “pliant” move, and couldn’t help but start sweating for Chen Xiao Zheng.

Most people with O blood types were activists, Zheng Wei was this to the extreme. The next day at cla.s.s, Ruan Ruan found that she had brought a pen and a book to cla.s.s. Extremely surprised, she went over to ask, “What are you writing?” Zheng Wei boldly opened the book to Ruan Ruan and showed her her crystalline wisdoms, “Strategies to capture Chen Xiao Zheng……” She finished, and had no words. It was a beautiful small book. 10 pages of eloquent notes had been written, teeny small print, every word neat, all aspects of the details of each step were all key local precautions and some had been underlined or marked out. Ruan Ruan thought of Zheng Wei pa.s.sionate in learning the j.a.panese audiovisuals and once again thought of Zhu Xiao Bei’s phrase “wretched and serious”; the evaluation was simply too precise.

Strategy, first step: Know yourself, know your enemy, and be victorious.

Within Zheng Wei’s network of people, if you wanted to know more about the enemy, it wasn’t too hard, using several charms on Lao Zhang, she obtained Chen Xiao Zheng’s cla.s.s schedule and working schedule, who didn’t forget to persuade her conscience, “Wei Wei, I think we shouldn’t pulverize an already defeated enemy, even though he pushed you hatefully, he has also had the bitter end of the stick, so let him off.”

Zheng Wei used big eyes to look at him, “Lao Zhang, you’re the one pulverizing the defeated enemy, from now on, if you scold him, you’re scolding me, my old pa.s.sions for him have already worn off, right now he’s someone I like, who said that I gathered these to torment him, I plan to make him fit my fancy, delivering whatever he needs at the place.”

Lao Zhang was in a semi-state of dementia for a long time, he didn’ t understand if it was that he had grown old of if the world changed too quickly, why was it that the moment he woke up, the implacable Chen Xiao Zheng became someone that Zheng Wei liked, but Zheng Wei didn’t hear him ramble a lot of times, she was bringing her own small treasure book over, and in a day’s time his birthday, birth constellation, blood type, favorite books, and places were he went often were all clearly recorded by her. Before giving her the information, everyone told Lao Zhang of being at a loss, so he carefully verified, “Zheng Wei comrade, are you sure you aren’t joking?”

“I don’t have those skills.” Zheng Wei seriously said to Lao Zhang, “That’s right, I’m pursuing Chen Xiao Zheng!”

This was her strategy, step number two, Campaign, create a good atmosphere of action with the advantage of public opinion.

Even in the students who were not so keen of gossiping, the Zheng Wei from the Civil Engineering department who was pursuing Chen Xiao Zheng from the Architecture Department spread quickly through the school. At this time, girls chasing guys was nothing surprising, but the strange thing was the high-profile and fearlessness of the two, moreover the young flying small beauty, Zheng Wei and the understated, eccentric top student, Chen Xiao Zheng, this combination had many great conditions to attract the public eye, for a time, skeptics watched the fun, and overtly or covertly, commented on the two, and the people who didn’t really have any taste were also with them.

Zheng Wei didn’t have any difficulties, even though there were a lot of people anxious to know directly or indirectly, or confirm, she would always say, “Yes,” firmly. The more she was open and at ease, the more the people beside her wouldn’t say anything else.

But Chen Xiao Zheng, during that time, no matter where he went or what he did, there would always be someone with a joking smile and ambiguous eyes who would look at him, some were envious and say: “You have luck with the ladies, your luck is really not shallow!” Of course, more would be behind him and point, talking about it, “Well, this person is the legendary pursuer of Zheng Wei from the Architecture Department, he doesn’t count as any hot guy, but actually had someone who liked him.” “I heard that his family isn’t great, but he actually forced Xu Gong Zi to one side, this is called skill……”

Throughout these rumors, he usually exercised everyday in the morning, was usually at cla.s.s, usually did his self-studying, and was usually alone, not deliberately dodging the eyes of others nor bothering to clarify, just indifferent, as if he spoke of another person’s story, but when he saw Zheng Wei from far away, he would lower his head and walk quicker.

But Zheng Wei wasn’t afraid that he would avoid her, how big could a school be, if you had the heart to find someone, you would find him, let alone that he was this kind of guy. Strategy, step number three: Hit the snake with the stick and keep him wrapped around it, not relaxing.

So, when Chen Xiao Zheng met Zheng Wei at the Foreign Languages Corner for the n+1 time, his appearance was very cold, and his inner heart was very conflicted.He didn’t know what tricks she had used to be in the same group as him but then, all the other students would somehow disappear, and wherever he was, she would be.

He could have turned a blind eye to her but she was really noisy, she said:”Chen Xiao Zheng, you wouldn’t have that much decreased interest right, you don’t even dare to converse with me, unless you have spirits in your heart?” He actually felt what she said was very reasonable, what was he afraid of, good people are at peace with themselves, but the wicked at uneasy, people of low standings were often distressed, so what was the big deal if he pretended she was a fly.

When she waited until he managed to convince himself, she stood near to him and innocently asked, “Cla.s.smate, my English isn’t good, you will have to teach me more. I would like to ask you, I-like-you, how do you say that in English?”

He could only look at her coldly, and convince himself that being angry with her was unwise. He grew up in a strict household, and had always accepted a conservative education, by his side, the maiden was not soft spoken, honest, or sincere, moreover he had never seen such a girl like her. Of course, in the great world, full of wonders, he could accept that this world had many strange people, but why did someone like her appear by his side and actually also say that she liked him, the most scary thing was that he felt that she was serious.

He wouldn’t like Zheng Wei, she was completely contradictory to his other half, indeed, she revolutionized his understanding of women. He wasn’t very keen on playing games, in his world, distance was more important than love between a male and a female. In the past he had always seen that towards a girl that he didn’t love, being cold to her was sufficient. But only after he met Zheng Wei did he know that the light had not enough coldness, and the distance was not enough.

A few days ago, when Ceng Yu saw him, her eyes had a  sad and dodgy expression, she had probably heard of Zheng Wei’s matter. Towards Ceng Yu, she didn’t count as someone he liked, during the school semester he already had no heart to start dating, but appreciation was still there. Seeing many romantic girls, he felt that Ceng Yu’s practicality and progress were what he appreciated in someone’s character. He knew of her feelings more of less, but didn’t say anything deliberately because he didn’t want to spend their time in love, and thus she had always been by her side. Would he love her one day? No one knew. In short, while Ceng Yu felt sad, he wasn’t sad, but was mad towards Zheng Wei’s success, her audacity was well known, so wasn’t she just wanting to achieve this effect? Chen Xiao Zheng didn’t like many people, of course when he liked someone, that was just feeling that a person was less annoyed. He found now, that towards Zheng Wei, she annoyed her more and more.

“I don’t like you, how many times do I need to say it?” He had a poisonous hope that the smile on her face would clear away.

She put her palm behind her and laughed , “I just knew you would say this, from now on whenever you say ‘I don’t like you’, that means ‘I like you so much’; if you say ‘are you annoying or not’, that means ‘you’re beautiful’, if you say ‘what do you want to do’, that means ‘I’m thinking of you’; if you say ‘you’re such a bore’, that means ‘seeing you is really great’.”

Chen Xiao Zheng mockingly laughed, “You’re such a bore.”

She was like she had hit the jackpot, “I knew you would say ‘seeing me is so great’, me too.”

He wisely chose to remain silent, the only correct decision, pretending that he didn’t hear her behind him and said, “Yes, I forgot to say, if you do not speak, that means that you have had a crush on me for a long time.”

　　……

In the end, how much tenacity and vigor does one need to persevere, in the later days, Chen Xiao Zheng was forced to get used to Zheng Wei’s shadow, maybe it was the path, maybe it was the cafeteria, maybe it was the library, maybe it was the cla.s.sroom, and maybe it was the dormitory, on the huge campus, for him, besides the men’s restroom, there was not half of any Pure Land ( usually refers to Amitabha Buddha’s Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss), and he couldn’t find any safe place, thus, he was helpless to find that pa.s.sive resistance made it all easier for her, because many times at the night self-study cla.s.sroom, he could not stand the person who laughed secretly beside him, he also couldn’t stand the person who didn’t stop looking for him outside the window, when she caught an acquaintance she would ask: “Have you seen which cla.s.sroom Chen Xiao Zheng is in?”

He felt sad for himself, in the whole world, whenever wise people meet daring people, it was all pitiful. Of course, his more acceptable version was that when any normal person meets any abnormal person, it is often sad. He eradicated his long experience of war, Zheng Wei was definitely one of the people who would become braver with every failure, the more objections he gave her, the more relentless she would become in following her, she was someone who would never get cooked with braising, you could never cook her through, if you smashed her she wouldn’t break, a copper pea that one chewed with loud clangs. Only when she was disregarded herself when she was by his side. When in the endless cold, she would be a little lost, would he feel the brief pleasure of revenge.

During that time he usually dreamed that he was going towards a particular direction, wading through a still pond when a snake with Zheng Wei’s head would catch him tightly so he couldn’t breathe, but he could only follow her deep underwater, her hair swaying, her delicate and charming face, he struggled desperately but was unable to make her unlatch her hold, in the end, he only felt quiet, very quiet. And then when he woke up, he would usually have a dense, cold sweat, he would blame the dream on her disgusting way of squirming into his sleep state, it looked like he had to stop thinking of that terrorist before he went to sleep.

All of the people would exaggerate their enemy’s ability, when Chen Xiao Zheng was being shown extremely dangerous things from Zheng Wei he would often forget, no matter how much more strength she put into this, she was only an 18, 19-year-old girl, if he could just pay a little more attention when she looked down for a moment, he would see that she was joyous with victory, but he had never done so, his eyes would always turn and leave her.

Zheng Wei wasn’t experienced in love, she didn’t know what other’s love was like, she only had her own intuition, to use her whole energy to exhaust him, going nearer to the guy she loved, even though her method made people think her ridiculous. And his cold was a brick wall, she hit it many times, her head broke, so she put on armor, when the base of the wall shook, she forgot the pain.

The people that knew her regarded her and Chen Xiao Zheng as a cla.s.sic, Li Wei Juan said that she basically lost all of the girls’ reputations. There was such a good person in front of her that she didn’t love, and she found one she couldn’t get, asking for trouble. He Lu Ya and Zhou Mei didn’t even get a chance to be surprised, Zhu Xiao Bei simply idolized her, only Ruan Ruan asked her if she was tired? She laughed and nodded her head, then she shook her head.

Zheng Wei’s strategy’s fourth step: making him angry, mad at me, annoyed at me, while I’m wrapped around him, pursuing him, bothering him, not letting go? What I ask for I’ll get, what bitterness can there be? Moreover, young love, throughout the course of the love of youth, maybe we love the wrong way, but our love intuition will always be right.