Chapter 130: No Guesses ②
Nie Qiu was actually disappointed that Li Kai made a mistake in answering the questions. She really hoped that Li Kai could be as he said, but the reality was not like that.
In her previous life, she never dated during junior or senior high school. She was not sociable and didn’t know if any boys liked her. But looking back afterwards, she felt very regretful. Why didn’t she date once at that age? The love at that time should have been the purest and most regretless, right?
There were no benefits, just simple liking and love.
Women have no so-called marriage requirements, demanding a car, a house, and no parents. Men have no so-called proposal requirements, demanding gentleness, virtue, and filial piety.
So she regretted not having a regretless relationship during junior or senior high school. Now that she was reborn, she thought she had met someone who truly liked her not for any other reason but for who she was, but… is this not-so-firm liking truly liking?
Nie Qiu didn’t understand. To be honest, she hadn’t dated much, but each time she didn’t find the feeling of blushing and heart palpitations described in books, nor did she have any vows of eternal love or promises of life and death. More often, in her opinion, it was a slow and steady flow. She actually envied the love stories of Qiong Yao. Although there was sadness, there was also happiness. Although there was hurt, there was also joy. It contained all the flavors of life.
Huang Yan, who had just come out of the toilet and washed her hands, looked at Nie Qiu in the mirror and asked, “Nie Qiu, what kind of boys do you like?”
“Huh? You’re asking me?” Nie Qiu was a little surprised. Although she and Huang Yan were good friends, they had never discussed such topics. This made Nie Qiu a little suspicious. She knew that girls would always ask each other who they liked, what kind of boys they liked, and so on.
“Yes! Nie Qiu, what kind of boys do you like?” Huang Yan asked with a smile.
Nie Qiu walked over, washed her hands, turned to look at Huang Yan beside her, and asked with a smile, “What about you? What kind of boys do you like?”
“Okay! Nie Qiu, you’re so cunning!” Huang Yan stepped forward, about to tickle Nie Qiu, and said loudly, “I asked you first, you should answer first.”
Nie Qiu was tickled by Huang Yan until she couldn’t breathe, laughing. While dodging, she kept saying, “Okay… okay, I… I’ll say it, I’ll say what kind of person I like. Stop tickling me, it tickles so much… haha…”
Huang Yan withdrew her hands, shook her claws triumphantly, and said to Nie Qiu with a smile, “You’re sensible. Go ahead! What kind of boys do you like?”
“Hmm… let me think.” Nie Qiu crossed her arms and propped her chin with one hand, pretending to be thoughtful for a moment. Then she looked up at Huang Yan, who was looking at her with anticipation, and said, “I guess… I would like boys who like me?”
“That’s not how it works, you’re just brushing me off!” Huang Yan was not satisfied. She grabbed Nie Qiu’s hand and walked out of the toilet with Nie Qiu, complaining as they walked, “Nie Qiu, how dare you brush me off! It’s almost time for morning self-study. I’ll let you off for now, and I’ll talk to you after class.”
“Didn’t you ask me what kind of boys I like? If someone likes me, I can’t dislike them, can I?” Nie Qiu said helplessly. She pointed to a green belt not far away and then to a flower, “Look, Huang Yan, is that flower pretty?”
Huang Yan stopped and looked at the pinkish-yellow flower, then at Nie Qiu, and nodded, “It’s pretty! Why are you telling me this?”
“Do you like it or not?” Nie Qiu asked again.
Huang Yan pulled Nie Qiu along and walked up to examine the flower carefully. The flower, swaying in the morning dew, looked delicate and lovely. Huang Yan couldn’t help but reach out and grab the stem, about to pick the flower. Nie Qiu grabbed Huang Yan’s hand and smiled at her, “See, you like this flower, right? If you like it, you want to pick it, but… look…” As she spoke, Nie Qiu pointed to the gardener who was managing the school’s greenery. The gardener was watering some flowers, smiling in the morning light, seemingly very happy that more flowers had bloomed.
Huang Yan looked at Nie Qiu, not understanding the meaning, and was confused.
“You like this flower, so you want to possess it. These gardeners love these flowers, so they are willing to give,” Nie Qiu said to Huang Yan. “Liking and loving are different. Liking is about getting, while loving is about giving.”
“If you ask me what kind of boys I would like, I really can’t answer. I hope there is someone who truly loves me for who I am. If he truly loves me, he will be willing to give for me, and I will love someone like that too,” Nie Qiu said to Huang Yan with a smile. “This person might not be the one who loves me, but what I want to say is that I won’t snatch because I like someone, but I will give for the person I love. That’s it.”
Huang Yan smiled and stopped asking Nie Qiu this question. Instead, she smiled and said, “Let’s go! It’s almost time for morning self-study.” She thought she understood what Nie Qiu meant. At their age, some people talked about romance and love all day, but it was just what Nie Qiu called liking, wanting to possess. In fact, true liking is love, it is giving.
If she asked Nie Qiu what kind of boys she liked, how would Nie Qiu answer? What kind of answer would satisfy her? Then… only this answer would satisfy her the most.
No matter who Nie Qiu dated, she knew it would be after Nie Qiu had carefully considered it. As a friend, she should bless her, shouldn’t she?
After Nie Qiu and Huang Yan returned to the classroom, the bell for morning self-study rang. The politics class representative walked onto the lectern, holding a politics book, leading the reading while also managing discipline.
Li Kai hesitated for a long time before pushing the soy milk he bought at the small store towards Nie Qiu’s desk. A sticky note was clearly attached to the box, saying, “Nie Qiu, I’m sorry…” Below it was a small Q-version self-portrait, with both fists clasped above its head, as if bowing, looking endearingly naive and extremely cute.
Nie Qiu, who was reading the text, felt her elbow being nudged. She looked at where she was nudged and saw the bottle of apologetic soy milk. Seeing the sticky note on it, she couldn’t help but smile. She looked up at Li Kai and saw him holding his book to his face, his ears bright red. It was likely… his whole face was red too?
Nie Qiu moved the soy milk from her desk behind her, took out the straw, inserted it into the box of soy milk, and started drinking. Although it was class time, quite a few people were eating breakfast during morning self-study, so Nie Qiu drank her soy milk with some impunity. However, Zhang Haiyang, who was sitting in front, kept glancing sideways at Nie Qiu drinking the soy milk. How could Nie Qiu have accepted it? He had even bet with Li Kai whether Nie Qiu would accept it!
