The Silent World And Him - Chapter 16

Pu Chen politely declined Qin Yu’s invitation. She helped him with his homework because he scored eighty points. She was willing to admit defeat and also wanted to give him some motivation to study. However, if she accepted his treat, the meaning would change.

“We are desk mates, no need to be so formal. When school starts, you can treat me to a few candies.”

Qin Yu responded, “Okay, I’ll buy you candies then.”

Pu Chen was momentarily unsure of what to say.

During her silence, Qin Yu continued typing: “I’m not specifically treating you. I’m planning to go to the restaurant Zhao Shu recommended in the group chat. Going alone isn’t much fun. When we first sat together, you bought me bread and water. This time, let me treat you. That restaurant isn’t expensive.”

Afraid that she might still refuse, he explained further: “Treating you to dinner is also about building a good relationship with you so that I can occasionally improve my breakfast.”

Pu Chen was puzzled, “What do you mean?”

Qin Yu replied, “Didn’t you say Uncle Pu’s breakfast was delicious? If you can’t finish it someday, bring some for me. I’m tired of outside breakfast.”

Pu Chen remained silent.

Qin Yu asked again, “When are you free? I plan to go tomorrow.”

Unable to decline his persistent invitation further, they both felt awkward. Pu Chen didn’t want to dampen the mood, “I’m free tomorrow.”

Suddenly, she remembered, “Just the two of us?”

Qin Yu confirmed, “Yes, just us.” Then hesitated, thinking she might want to see Peng Jingyang and Zhao Shu, “If you want to see Peng Jingyang and Zhao Shu, invite them along.”

Although Qin Yu said this, he wasn’t happy about it and then changed his mind, “Let’s invite them next month. It’s almost the end of the month, and my pocket money is running low. I can only afford to treat you.”

Pu Chen’s attention was diverted. She realized Qin Yu’s family was wealthy but also had monthly allowance limits like her own.

“I sent it to you,” Qin Yu signaled her to look at her phone.

Pu Chen opened the chat window, and Qin Yu sent her the plan for tomorrow on WeChat: going to the library in the morning, he’s treating for lunch, and the afternoon plans were pending.

“Pu Chen, do you want to buy snacks?”

Suddenly, Lu Baisheng’s voice startled Pu Chen. She put away her phone and nodded randomly.

Lu Baisheng and Pu Wanli pushed their shopping carts to another section, occasionally communicating with gestures.

Pu Chen rarely ate snacks, occasionally chocolates and candies. Over time, she had developed a resistance to snacks since childhood. Her aunt always warned her about getting fat from eating.

Before Pu Chen could think about it, she responded to Lu Baisheng’s question and picked a few snacks from the shelf.

“Do you usually eat this?” Lu Baisheng asked.

Pu Chen turned and saw Lu Baisheng holding bags of grilled octopus legs. She shook her head, “I usually don’t eat snacks, just fruits and yogurt.”

Lu Baisheng said, “Then try this; it’s tasty and won’t make you fat.”

Pu Chen smiled. Since it won’t make her fat, she took two bags and planned to share them with her aunt on New Year’s Eve.

Qin Yu silently watched Lu Baisheng’s thoughtful gestures and felt something was off.

After leaving the snack area, they split up to browse. Pu Wanli and Pu Chen went to the fresh food section, while Lu Baisheng and Qin Yu followed the crowd.

Thinking there was nothing to buy before coming, they almost couldn’t fit everything in four large shopping bags after checkout.

Putting away the two bags of New Year’s goods, Qin Yu asked, “Teacher Lu, do you have photos of your ex-wife on your phone?”

Lu Baisheng’s eyes turned wary, “Why do you want to see my ex-wife’s photos? It’s adult stuff; kids shouldn’t be curious.”

Qin Yu turned to him, “I wasn’t curious. You’re so caring toward Pu Chen and her father, beyond what a homeroom teacher should be.”

Lu Baisheng stayed silent and closed the trunk.

Qin Yu sighed, unexpectedly feeling a hint of sympathy for Lu Baisheng, although Lu Baisheng seemed psychologically strong and didn’t need anyone’s sympathy.

After standing there for a few seconds, Qin Yu got into the passenger seat. “If you ever need to go to a repair shop, I’ll cover for you.”

Lu Baisheng said nothing.

********

Tomorrow, Qin Yu would treat Pu Chen to dinner. Before going to bed, he browsed through the restaurant’s ratings and reviews to decide which dishes were highly praised.

After reading hundreds of comments, he found that the dishes Pu Chen liked had good reviews. Satisfied, he closed the webpage.

Qin Yu looked at Pu Chen’s chat box. He had already mentioned everything he needed to say. He even informed her of the time he would pick her up tomorrow morning. He absent-mindedly tapped his phone under the blanket; it was almost dawn, but he felt no sleepiness.

The last time he couldn’t sleep was when he was in the hospital. After waking up from surgery, he asked the doctor the date and realized he missed the math competition exams. He barely slept for two days.

Lost in thought, Qin Yu received a game invitation from Peng Jingyang.

Peng Jingyang: “Want to play a game?”

Qin Yu asked Peng Jingyang before the game, “Do you like Zhao Shu?”

Peng Jingyang was drinking water and ended up spraying the table, and the competition materials were not spared. He coughed while wiping the water off the table with tissues.

Does he like Zhao Shu? “Maybe if my brain goes bad one day, I might like her.”

Qin Yu and Peng Jingyang didn’t have many secrets between them, so when Peng Jingyang said he didn’t like Zhao Shu, Qin believed him.

After a moment of hesitation, he asked again, “Could it be that you like Pu Chen?”

Peng Jingyang understood what Qin Yu was worried about. He thought Qin Yu’s invitation to the library today was a sign of interest in Pu Chen. Survival instinct made him speak insincerely, “How could I like Pu Chen! I… I’m not even sure if I like Zhao Shu. I haven’t seen her for a few days and something feels off. Maybe I’m just used to being abused by her. I’m being stupid. You know how sharp-tongued Zhao Shu is. If I directly ask her out, she’ll definitely take the opportunity to belittle me. She’s always been nice to Pu Chen, you know.”

As long as he didn’t like Pu Chen, Qin Yu didn’t care about what was going on between Peng Jingyang and Zhao Shu.

The two of them continued to compete in the game until two in the morning.

—

At a quarter past two in the morning, Pu Chen opened her eyes and stared at the dark curtains on the balcony, where she could vaguely see the outlines of various plush toys on the bookshelf.

The house was old and poorly soundproofed. Occasionally, cars passing by downstairs sounded especially clear in the late night.

Pu Chen rolled over and lay on her back, gazing at the ceiling. Earlier, unable to sleep, she had watched a movie about first love, which only made it harder for her to fall asleep.

In her current situation, she had no chance of falling in love. After all, the person she liked would never be interested in her. Who would want to be with someone who couldn’t speak? That would be a lifetime burden.

She knew in her heart that after graduating from high school, she might not even have a chance to meet Qin Yu again. She wanted to cherish some memories.

Lost in her thoughts, Pu Chen didn’t realize when she fell asleep.

The next morning when she woke up, her father had prepared breakfast. Seeing the breakfast on the table, Pu Chen thought of Qin Yu.

“Dad, I want to bring some dumplings to Qin Yu. He said he’s tired of eating outside.”

Her father smiled, “There’s some in the pot, I’ll pack them for you when you leave.”

“Thank you, Dad.”

Her father asked, “Are all of you kids going to the library today? Should I pack some for Peng Jingyang and Zhao Shu too? I made a lot today, and you four won’t finish it all.”

Pu Chen shook her head, “Peng Jingyang has classes today, just me and Qin Yu are going.”

Before leaving, her father handed Pu Chen the packed breakfast. Qin Yu was waiting downstairs; he no longer needed to accompany his daughter to the alley.

Qin Yu never avoided parents. He always openly waited for Pu Chen, so Pu Chen’s father never thought much about it. He always assumed it was arranged by Lu Baisheng for these kids to accompany his daughter.

Pu Chen was wearing a new white down jacket today, her third new one this year. Underneath, she wore a loose pink knitted sweater.

She had worn the white hoodie yesterday because Qin Yu didn’t come over; she randomly paired it. Today’s outfit included pants and shoes; she had spent quite a bit of time carefully coordinating it last night.

Approaching Qin Yu, Pu Chen handed him the breakfast. “This is for you.”

Qin Yu opened it, finding a box of warm milk and a few freshly steamed dumplings. Instead of saying thank you first, he asked, “Did you bring this breakfast for Peng Jingyang yesterday too?”

Pu Chen looked puzzled. How did he know she brought breakfast for Peng Jingyang? Were he and Peng Jingyang so close that they shared such trivial matters?

“I bought rice balls for Peng Jingyang yesterday. He gave me money to help him buy them.”

Qin Yu simply replied, “Oh,” and didn’t say much more. He ate the dumplings as they walked, seemingly unaffected by the chilly wind.

Pu Chen noticed that Qin Yu’s demeanor was unusually gentle throughout the morning. He even took the initiative to do a practice paper, although he got most of the answers wrong.

Looking at the rows of red crosses on the paper, Pu Chen asked, “Do you have any questions after checking the answers?”

Qin Yu said, “Yeah, several.”

“Can you explain them to me?”

Pu Chen nodded and fetched some scratch paper, explaining and working through the problems for him.

When she reached the second question, she suddenly got stuck and didn’t know what to do next.

Pu Chen felt embarrassed, scratching her forehead with her hand. Later, she covered her face and laughed.

Qin Yu was puzzled, “What’s wrong?”

Pu Chen wrote something down and handed it to him, unable to look at him. It was too embarrassing.

“I forgot how to solve it. Let me check the answer Peng Jingyang gave me, then I’ll explain it to you.”

Qin Yu said to Chen Chen, “It’s okay, just read it again to deepen your impression.”

Puchen thoroughly understood the question before explaining it to him again.

It was almost noon, and there were only a few people left in the reading room. Qin Yu closed the test paper and nudged her arm, saying, “Let’s go eat.”

Puchen packed her bag and followed him out. Throughout the morning, she hardly spoke to him, only explaining the correct answers when he got a question wrong. They sat side by side without disturbing each other, and she didn’t dare to turn her head to see what he was doing.

Now, with him walking ahead of her, she could openly watch him. He was a head taller than her, so she had to tilt her neck to look up. Earlier on the way to the library, she asked him why he was willing to come to the library, and he said it was because of Teacher Lu’s instructions. It made sense; otherwise, how could someone who disliked studying come to this place to torture themselves?

The restaurant was a distance from the library, and with traffic, the taxi ride took nearly half an hour. Qin Yu and Puchen arrived early and got a queue number on their phones. When they reached the restaurant, they waited less than five minutes for a table.

Led by the waiter, they were seated at Table 19. Qin Yu handed her the menu, saying, “You choose.”

Puchen looked at the menu and picked a few dishes that Qin Yu liked. She often sat with him at the cafeteria and knew his favorite dishes. To avoid Qin Yu noticing her intentions, she coincidentally chose the dishes Zhao Shu recommended in the group chat: “Zhao Shu said these are delicious; let’s try them.”

What Puchen didn’t know was that every time Qin Yu went to the cafeteria, his only request was to avoid fish and shrimp; otherwise, Peng Jingyang randomly selected dishes for him, so these weren’t his favorites.

Qin Yu looked up at her. Bringing her here wasn’t to prevent her from ordering what she liked but to only order what Zhao Shu recommended. He compared the prices, pretending to calculate the total cost, “Can we change a few dishes?”

Puchen agreed casually: “Sure.”

Qin Yu said, “I don’t have enough money; let’s pick cheaper dishes. We can come again next month.”

Puchen blinked; she hadn’t realized the reason for changing dishes. She wanted him to eat what he liked, especially since he was so picky about food. She said, “No need to change; I have money on my phone. I’ll treat today, and next time, you can treat.”

Qin Yu insisted, “I’ve already crossed them out,” and he changed three dishes to two that she liked. Without further discussion, he handed the menu to the waiter.

While waiting for the food, Puchen struck up a conversation, “How much is your monthly allowance?” She couldn’t believe he was so poor, even poorer than her.

Qin Yu didn’t know exactly how much his monthly allowance was. During his month and a half in Su City, his parents had given him a total of over 500,000 yuan. When he was in Beijing, he stayed at his grandma’s house, and they gave him tens of thousands of yuan in pocket money each month, whether he needed it or not, just to reassure themselves. He lacked everything except money.

For now, he could only lie, “Maybe not as much as your allowance; it’s 2,000 yuan a month, including my meals and all study expenses.”

Puchen nodded, calculating that after deducting money for three meals a day and occasional study-related costs, there wasn’t much left for him to spend freely.

“Last time at the arcade, you recharged 2,000 yuan at once; I thought your monthly allowance was tens of thousands,” she said.

Qin Yu hesitated for a moment, then quickly came up with an idea, “Isn’t it because I wanted to invite you all to have fun, acting like a big shot and spending all the savings I’ve accumulated over the years.”

Puchen smiled. Then she became worried: “[If you’re out of money, how will you eat? There are still three days left in this month.]”

Qin Yu leaned his chin on his hand, negotiating with her, “How about you lend me two hundred, and I’ll pay you back at the beginning of next month. I was thinking of borrowing from Teacher Lu, but he definitely wouldn’t let me repay him.”

Puchen handed him five hundred: “[Keep a little extra on you, just in case of emergency.]”

Qin Yu looked at her for a few seconds. To her, this gesture might have seemed trivial, just a show of concern for a classmate, but to him, it meant something more. He accepted the money, saying, “Thank you.”

“Where do you want to go this afternoon?” he put down his phone and asked.

As long as she was with him, Puchen didn’t care where they went. She remembered that the schedule he sent her had this afternoon as undecided, which probably meant he didn’t want to go to the library again.

“[Where would you like to go?]” With a burst of courage, she typed those few words.

Qin Yu said, “Let’s go to the bookstore and pick up some study materials.”

Huh?

Puchen was relieved that he was willing to study rather than just talk about it.

She replied, “[Let’s go to the bookstore.]”

Qin Yu poured her a glass of warm water and asked, “Have you thought about what major you want to pursue?”

Puchen’s eyes darkened for a moment. The major she liked sounded like a pipe dream. Besides her dad and aunt, she hadn’t mentioned it to anyone else.

Qin Yu was different to her; she didn’t want to hide it from him. “[I want to study law and become a lawyer.]”

How ironic—she wanted to be a lawyer but ended up mute.

Qin Yu regretted asking her that. He just wanted to know whether she chose arts or sciences in her second year of high school. Trying to comfort her, he said, “You can be a lawyer even if you can’t speak, like a non-litigating attorney.”

Puchen smiled and didn’t want to talk about herself anymore.

She urgently asked, “[What about you?]”

Qin Yu didn’t talk much about himself before because he wasn’t close to her, but now they were classmates, he briefly shared his future plans, including which university he wanted to apply to, what major he wanted to study, and even that he intended to stay in New York in the future.

“My parents would prefer me to go abroad and not come back,” he said. Without him as a burden, they could each date and get married without any worries.

Puchen had guessed he would go abroad. Their lives were different. He probably wouldn’t return to Sucheng after graduating from high school. She cherished every second spent with him even more.

She recorded everything about their day in her diary like writing a script—where they went, what they did, what they talked about, what they had for lunch.

For the next two days, she didn’t contact Qin Yu. Maybe he was at home playing games, or maybe he had returned to Beijing.

—

At home, Qin Yu finished reading the latest issue of “Nature” and checked the time; it was only 8:30 in the evening. He messaged Lu Bosheng: “[When are you coming back? Bring me some old issues of ‘Nature’ when you do.]”

Lu Bosheng was still in Beijing and replied, “[I’ll be back before the New Year, but the exact date isn’t certain. If you’re bored, go experience life.]”

Qin Yu responded, “[I’m not bored, I’m busy!]”

He had just sent the message when another one from Lu Bosheng came in: “[Just go to Puchen’s house and help her dad at the repair shop. See for yourself how hard it is to make money.]”

Qin Yu immediately retracted his previous message of “I’m not bored, I’m busy!” and edited it to: “[Sure, I’ll do whatever you say, giving you face.]”