Chapter 68 - Awkward

Chapter 68: Awkward

The spring trip just happened to fall on a Friday so after the teachers and students returned to the school, they disbanded, and each returned to their own homes.

However, Qin Xu felt that it was still early and naturally didn’t want to be separated from Jiang Yang so soon, so he moved over to make a proposal for them to continue hanging around and not return home yet.

Without even thinking, Jiang Yang rejected it.

Qin Xu pouted with dissatisfaction and continued holding onto Jiang Yang with no indication to let go, “Then I’ll go to your place to play and just stay for the night?”

Jiang Yang: “No!”

This time he had refused very quickly and there was even a hint of urgency within.

Qin Xu felt wronged: “Why? Aunty said that I am welcome to go and find you to go out a play.”

Jiang Yang slammed his foot onto his bike pedal and sped up so that he had created a large distance between himself and Qin Xu. Without even looking back he said: “That’s just out of politeness. I’m going home to wash up and sleep. Don’t you feel tired after playing for a whole day?”

With just ice skating, the skates were hard, and he had skated until his feet hurt. Let alone, they had spent the whole day going on various rides and even experienced utter physical and mental exhaustion from the haunted house. This was the excuse Jiang Yang had given but what he didn’t want was for Qin Xu to go to his place.

Qin Xu was very reluctant. He looked at Jiang Yang with an aggrieved look, but he knew his limit of shamelessness. Seeing Jiang Yang’s firm attitude, he didn’t continue pushing for it and just used his pair of dark, shiny eyes to look at Jiang Yang making him appear all the more pitiful.

After Jiang Yang returned home and had dinner, the first thing he did was to take a shower. After washing up, he felt instantly refreshed.

He sat on the edge of his bed and randomly dried his hair with a towel as small beads of water flowed down from the ends of his hair onto his neck. With the other hand he picked up his phone and started playing games. However, he found it hard for him to become immersed in the game and quickly gave up.

Jiang Yang sat lazily with his back slouched and his head lowered. Under the lights, two small shadows from his eyelids formed on his face and he appeared to be thinking about something.

For a while, the room was quiet.

Jiang Yang didn’t know why but internally he called out for the system.

That’s right. The system had not appeared for a while. At the very least, it was like this on Jiang Yang’s side. Qin Xu’s side appeared to get more frequent tasks but it had also reduced in frequently recently.

After a while, the familiar mechanical sound was heard in his mind: “What’s the matter?”

Looks like it’s still here.

Jiang Yang asked: “It’s nothing. I just felt that it has been a long time since you’ve given me a task and found it strange. Is it already completed?”

Completion. That would be when the system acknowledges the fact that he and Qin Xu had become friends.

But the system sounded somewhat conflicted. It was as if it didn’t know what to say and was a little troubled, “Based on the data, it should be considered completed but after analysis, it looks like it was a failure…..”

Jiang Yang was a little surprised: “Failure? What do you base your analysis on?”

Although he and Qin Xu’s relationship weren’t great before, he had to admit that in fact their relationship had improved significantly. It wouldn’t be wrong to say that they had become good friends so why did they report that it was a failure?

The system explained seriously: “We base it on the degree of affection by assessing the interactions, attitudes and emotions you both experience. From this, we establish a data analysis table and judge your friendship progression based on that. Before, the data revealed that your relationship was developing quite well so we didn’t intervene but the current data…………”

Jiang Yang heard it pause and asked with a hint of urgency: “What’s wrong with the current data?”

The system hesitated for a moment before finally answering: “The degree of affection is good but compared to our database, it looks like it has exceeded the standard, too high……..”

“This is my first time doing this and it looks like I have failed.” The system sighed grimly with both some doubt and some grievance. He was clearly doing the right things but how did things develop this way? Based on what he had heard from his senior’s experiences, it shouldn’t have developed this way.

The system wasn’t in a good mood but when Jiang Yang heard that the degree of affection had exceeded the standard, he no longer paid attention to the rest of the system’s words. His mind was filled with those words repeated again and again. For a moment everything before him had turned white and all he could hear was white noise.

After an unknown amount of time passed, he stood up with an indifferent expression and went to the bathroom. When he was done, he pushed the flush button and watched the water flow away before moving to pick up his toothbrush to brush his teeth. Finally, he bent down to wash his face.

He stood before the mirror. His face was still wet and dripping with water, but his movements had stopped. Using both hands he supported himself at the basin and stared at his own reflection in daze. Finally, he came back to his senses and used his towel to roughly dry his face while uttering out in irritation: “What the hell is with this situation.”

He said this to himself in a very small voice.

After he moved the towel down, a pair of dark eyes was exposed

He is now quite certain that Qin Xu that guy felt something different towards him. The moment he realised this, he was a little surprised and all the more confused. What was even more frustrating was, what did he himself feel?

Jiang Yang looked at himself in the mirror and took a deep breath.

Speaking honestly, he really didn’t know.

He just thought that, after hearing Wu Tong and the systems words, he could no longer face Qin Xu normally. A strong resistance to the idea of going back to school on Monday formed within him.

When he didn’t know about it, he could still joke around and get along with him like a good friend but the moment he came into realisation, every scene that came to his mind appeared particularly ambiguous. If you asked him to act the same as before and be clingy and touchy with Qin Xu, he probably could no longer remain indifferent.

Jiang Yang was unwilling to think about the reason for this and just immersed himself in games for the entire weekend. Killing and slashing through his enemies, it allowed him to vent without the need to think about anything else.

However, he deliberately chose a game that Qin Xu didn’t play much of so that he could avoid running into him.

As for WeChat, Jiang Yang would not respond to any of the messages that Qin Xu had sent. When Qin Xu had sent over more than a dozen messages along with a bunch of crying and upset emoticons before finally resorted to making a video call, Jiang Yang opened the chat window and typed out a line, “Playing a game”.

Qin Xu quickly said, “Together.”

Jiang Yang responded as usual with the name of the game before saying in disdain that he sucks at it, so he didn’t want to play with him.

Qin Xu didn’t notice anything wrong with his words and just acted pitiful as usual.

Then, the weekend passed normally.

Monday still came.

It was unavoidable.

Jiang Yang had breakfast at home. He was having meat balls and rice noodles that mother Jiang had made. He ate very quietly and didn’t speak a word through the whole process.

Mother Jiang felt that something wasn’t right and whispered to Jiang Yuan, “What’s wrong with you brother?”

Jiang Yuan looked over at him and saw him acting indifferent as usual. She felt that there wasn’t anything wrong.

Mother Jiang was certain, “It feels different. Like he isn’t in a good mood. Could he be…..heartbroken?”

Jiang Yuan’s eyes widened: “What? Brother is in love?!”

“What is there to be so surprised about. Calm down.”

“How can I not be surprised? Since young, I had helped pass over numerous love letters to brother, but I had never seen him pay any attention to any of the girls. It was like he had dissociated himself from anything love related but what’s this? When did he fall in love without my knowledge?!” Jiang Yang cried out in grievance.

Mother Jiang pinched her daughter’s face and said: “With you as slow as you are, I’m not surprised if you didn’t know. In any case, check out the situation at school. Your brother may seem cold and bad-tempered but when he is faces with something like this, he had always been particularly awkward and too proud to express his thoughts.”

Jiang Yuan heard this and nodded in agreement. She then reassuringly patted her own chest and boldly announced in front of everyone – I will definitely complete this mission with perfection.

Mother Jiang watched her do this and couldn’t help but laugh, “Jeez, you.”

Jiang Yang was thinking about things and didn’t pay any attention to the discussion going on around him. After finishing his breakfast, he calmly changed his shoes and opened the door with a clack. He felt that his acting was pretty good but, under the eyes of mother Jiang, it looked like he was preparing himself for imminent war.

When he reached school, Jiang Yang locked his bike and walked up the stairs to his classroom. He hung his bag on the hook on the side of his desk and pulled out his incomplete homework.

When Qin Xu arrived, the first thing he saw was the warm, golden sunlight falling into the room and lighting up Jiang Yang’s handsome profile. For a moment it looked like he was glowing. Qin Xu felt his mood improve significantly.

He walked over, placed his bag on his desk and greeted him with a brilliant smile, “Xiao Yang Yang, morning.”

Jiang Yang’s hand that was holding onto his pen paused for a moment before he continued to write as if nothing had happened. He didn’t look up at him and only faintly uttered a sound to indicate that he had heard his greeting. That reaction of his was extremely polite and indifferent, as if he was saying that to a student that he was unfamiliar with.

But Qin Xu didn’t see his expression and only thought that he was just busy finishing his homework, so he didn’t have to time to show him any concern. He didn’t think much of it and just proceeded to turn around to chat with the other classmates.

Between classes, the boys went together to the school store to buy snacks. Jiang Yang looked down playing on his phone and didn’t join them. When Qin Xu stood up to leave, he naturally asked Jiang Yang, “Do you still want the same as me?”

Jiang Yang however shook his head and said: “No need. Not hungry.”

Qin Xu stalled for a moment. He seemingly had not expected Jiang Yang to refuse and for a moment he couldn’t react. He only returned to his senses when Xie Zhe complained that he was slow and dragged him out.

When he left the school store and walked up the stairs, Qin Xu was eating a mildly spicy sausage while mulling in his thoughts. He suddenly turned to Xie Zhe and asked, “Don’t you think that Jiang Yang is acting a little strange?”

Xie Zhe was confused: “How is he strange?”

Qin Xu said: “He didn’t speak much today. When I speak to him, he would just utter one word or make a sound and he didn’t take the initiative to speak to me.”

Xie Zhe didn’t find it strange. Instead he laughed and said: “Xu brother, what happened to your cold persona? In the past I had never thought that you could be so talkative but when you’re with Jiang Yang you could talk endlessly. Jiang Yang is probably just annoyed at you for talking to much. Also, hasn’t Jiang Yang always been like that?”

Qin Xu frowned in disapproval. He refuted: “What cold persona? Our personalities are the same, cold on the outside but warm on the inside. Why should I act all enthusiastic and laugh all the time when I’m around someone I’m not familiar with? If course, I’ll become more talkative when I’m around people I’m close to.”

Xie Zhe grinned, “Based on those words, you must be deeply in love with Jiang Yang. If I’m Jiang Yang, I would probably be annoyed by you to the point that I would want to beat you up.”

Qin Xu rolled his eyes in annoyance, “You should look at yourself. Why should I be passionate about you?”

Xie Zhe was dissatisfied: “Hey, I reject personal attacks.”

Qin Xu scoffed coldly: “Also, you’re talking about me? What’s the situation with you and Xiao Yuxin?”

Xie Zhe didn’t hesitate: “That’s different.”

Qin Xu however raised his eyebrow, “What’s different? I think it’s the same.”

At the beginning, it could be said that Qin Xu was just being overly sensitive and was thinking too much but after it happened for two consecutive days, Qin Xu was even more certain.

For two whole days, the number of times Jiang Yang and he talked were few and far between. Every word spoken were cold and indifferent, as if the two were just classmates and had rarely interacted with each other. This situation was even worse than when they were butting heads with each other. At the very least, at that time Jiang Yang would look at him with fire in his eyes and steam coming out of his ears but the Jiang Yang now would avoid his gaze at all costs.

When they were required to change classrooms for their music classes and computer classes, Jiang Yang would directly ignore him and go to find Huang Shao to sit together. It was clear as day to Qin Xu that Jiang Yang was deliberately avoiding him.

Even the dense Huang Shao could tell that something wasn’t right. He looked back and was scared by Qin Xu’s cold stare from not far behind him. What’s going on with that terrifying look? Did I do something to offend Xu brother?

The sly Huang Shao immediately tried to think back to the moments where he might have offended Qin Xu but he soon realised that the hot stare wasn’t directed at him and was instead directed at Jiang Yang who was next to him.

Huang Shao breathed a sigh of relief before quickly becoming worried again. He moved over to Jiang Yang and nudged him with his elbow before asking quietly: “What happened between you and Qin Xu? He’s staring at you.”

Jiang Yang naturally also felt the stare from behind him and had deliberately ignored it. He didn’t want to talk about it and he also didn’t know what to say so he only pursed his lip and said calmly: “It’s nothing.”

Who would believe that?

Huang Shao pouted his lips, but he also knew that Jiang Yang probably didn’t want to say anything. He could only hope that they would sort it out between them soon and don’t make it any worse that it is already. They were clearly in such a bad relationship back in first year and they had managed to reconcile so everyone was happy to see that but what’s going on now?

That’s right, in Huang Shao’s opinion, these two are good friends. Despite occasionally getting into some arguments, fights and disagreements, they would still eventually reconcile. Even if they didn’t notice it themselves, as a bystander Huang Shao could see it clearly. They were special to each other and they cared about the other person greatly.