Chapter Eleven: Records of an Autumn Excursion (Part Four)

"No pictures were taken at all. That was just made up by those animals. They were just bluffing and coaxing me, just waiting to see me make a fool of myself!" He Tianran spoke in a fast and urgent manner, terrified that if he slowed down, Cao Aiqing would actually believe it.

"Then let me see your phone..." The girl's hand remained stubbornly suspended in mid-air.

He Tianran uttered a sound of exasperation. "I really can't do anything with you."

He unlocked the screen and handed the phone over. Cao Aiqing took it, and her pupils suddenly dilated as she said in astonishment:

"You—this is..."

"Ah, yes, that's Wen Liang."

He Tianran glanced at the phone, realizing she was shocked by the person on his lock screen wallpaper.

Cao Aiqing looked up. "Don't you have a girlfriend? How come..."

"We broke up. We're just friends now." He Tianran shrugged, looking helpless.

"When did this happen?" Cao Aiqing asked.

"The day after I introduced her to you."

Cao Aiqing found it hard to believe. "Wait, wasn't that day your first day together?"

"Oh, are you still going to check or not? If not, give it back." He Tianran was getting annoyed by the questioning.

The girl pulled her hands back, shielding the phone against her chest, and then cautiously opened the photo gallery.

The scandalous items in He Tianran's gallery had long since been thoroughly deleted. Now, the vast majority of the contents were scanned files of art books, occasional meme stickers used for chatting, and otherwise scattered, everyday casual photos.

Cao Aiqing scrolled slowly and said curiously, "You don't seem to like taking selfies..."

"I'm just ugly... Hey, stop randomly looking through things, you'll get styes in your eyes!"

"I—I didn't!"

Startled, she hurriedly scrolled all the way down. Gradually, an image came into view, and her face instantly flushed red again. She cried out with reluctant resentment:

"Why is there a picture of me in your gallery besides Wen Liang? And it's a candid shot!"

"???"

He Tianran was completely baffled. He leaned in for a closer look—wasn't this the picture Xue Yong had sent him yesterday?

When on earth had he saved it?

"No, this—this was sent to me by Xue Yong. I didn't secretly take it..."

Getting stuck in a situation where mud lands in your trousers makes it harder to explain the more you try. He Tianran was genuinely panicked now.

Cao Aiqing's reaction was intense. She didn't seem interested in hunting for any unflattering candid photos of herself sleeping anymore; her focus had completely shifted, and she muttered inexplicably:

"You—you said you wanted to pursue me at first, then—then you came back and found a girlfriend, and now you're using Classmate Wen as your wallpaper, plus you have candid photos of me in your gallery. You, you, you..."

The girl spoke in a jumbled mess, leaving He Tianran with a head full of question marks.

What kind of logic was this?

What on earth was she trying to express?

He Tianran wanted to speak up and explain, but before he could, Cao Aiqing suddenly shoved the phone into his arms and yelled:

"You liar! I actually thought you were an innocent person! I misjudged you! Big liar! Big jerk!"

With that, she squeezed past the seat, got out, and hurried down the bus.

Not daring to hesitate, He Tianran stood up, grabbed his belongings, and chased after her.

Hastily stepping off the vehicle, he strode up to Cao Aiqing's side and said with an anxious, flushed face:

"It's a misunderstanding, Aiqing. That picture really was sent to me by Xue Yong. I'm not lying to you, I don't even know when I saved it. If you don't believe me, just look at the saved timestamp, right?"

"..."

Cao Aiqing said nothing, keeping her head down as she walked forward.

"Come on, it's just a picture. I'll delete it right now, okay?"

He Tianran wanted to trivialize the matter, believing that the photo was the root cause of Cao Aiqing's anger. Little did he know, that wasn't what the girl was hung up on at all.

The boy followed closely behind, racking his brain to guess. Cao Aiqing stubbornly made her way up the mountain, shaking him off whenever he tried to grab her arm. Therefore, he had no choice but to tag along shamelessly, genuinely afraid that a young woman like her would get lost.

He couldn't tell that the usually gentle and lovely Cao Aiqing had such a stubborn side to her.

Could this also be a trait of Taurus?

Looking at Cao Aiqing's back, He Tianran felt that he really needed to research astrology.

The two walked and talked—or rather, it was just the boy trailing behind like a stand-up comedian. With his throat parched, he finally couldn't help but blurt out:

"Seriously, what on earth are you mad about? Even taking a step back, if I really were a jerk, I haven't jerked you around! What are you even mad at?!"

Having said that, He Tianran stopped walking and simply plopped down on the stone steps of the mountain.

Cao Aiqing stopped too. She turned around to look at He Tianran, who had also gotten angry, her fingers nervously twisting the hem of her clothes.

Seeing that there was no movement, He Tianran turned his head and caught sight of Cao Aiqing's somewhat aggrieved expression. His heart stirred violently, leaving him with no temper left.

"I really am... Damn it, what a pushover!"

He cursed himself mentally, softened his expression, slowly walked over to Cao Aiqing, and awkwardly tried to comfort her:

"I really don't know why you're mad. Tell me, and I'll explain it to you, okay? If you don't say anything, I can't guess, right?"

Cao Aiqing hesitated for a moment, then lowered her head and walked off to the side. Facing a stretch of golden mountain forest in front of her, she murmured softly:

"I—I shouldn't have reacted so strongly either... It's just that I felt..."

"Felt what?" He Tianran followed after her, but Cao Aiqing suddenly whirled around, not wanting to face him.

"Just felt... right, felt that since you like Classmate Wen, you shouldn't keep it from your girlfriend. You use someone else's picture as your wallpaper, and even though you broke up, I still see Classmate Jiang coming to the classroom to look for you often. She probably still likes you. You shouldn't do that. I—I'm just giving you advice as a friend!"

He Tianran was speechless. When could his and Wen Liang's affairs ever be explained clearly in a short time?

"Then I really must thank you." The boy spread his hands with a helpless tone.

Cao Aiqing turned her head and said earnestly, "You should... treat the people who like you well!"

"I want to treat her well!"

Hearing these words instantly stirred up all the deeply buried emotions within He Tianran's heart. He suddenly let out a roar that left Cao Aiqing frozen on the spot.

"But other people don't accept it, what can I do?! Can I force her to accept me? Right now, I just want to pour my heart and soul into treating someone well, why can't you all just accept it willingly? I don't have any malicious intent, and I have no idea where any of you feel wronged, or where you can't bear it. I haven't even had the time to truly love someone..."

As he spoke, his body went limp, and he slowly squatted down.

"And then everything was gone, everything was just gone... gone..."

He couldn't figure it out, repeatedly muttering to himself while frantically running his hands through his hair.

Seeing his state, Cao Aiqing felt a rush of worry. She quickly squatted down beside him and cared:

"Tianran, don't be like this. It's my fault for misunderstanding you, alright? Please don't be like this..."

The girl took He Tianran's hands in hers, hoping that this would help him calm down a bit.

He Tianran shook his head and slowly said:

"I'm fine, I'm fine... Just let me be for a little while..."

Wen Liang's departure had been an absolute devastating blow to him. He Tianran's suppressed emotions had never found an outlet. He had thought time would slowly help him walk out of the pain, but he hadn't expected that a single remark from Cao Aiqing would drag him right back to square one.

Why was it so hard to just treat someone well?

Time passed, nobody knew for how long. The boy's emotions gradually stabilized. Cao Aiqing stayed by his side the entire time, neither moving nor speaking, just gazing at him with gentle eyes.

He Tianran didn't dare meet that gaze. It felt somewhat familiar, yet somewhat frightening. He licked his dry lips and, after a while longer, said:

"Th—thank you. Sorry, I lost control of myself."

Seeing that he was unharmed, Cao Aiqing offered a warm smile in response.

He Tianran felt warmth on his hands. He tried to pull them away, but Cao Aiqing's reaction was faster, and their hands quickly parted ways.

"..."

"..."

"I..."

"I..."

The two spoke in unison, then fell silent in unison.

"You speak first..." Cao Aiqing mumbled.

"Ahem... It's just—I—I'm not a jerk..."

He Tianran made an awkward expression.

Cao Aiqing pouted and muttered, "You're so easy to chase, and you claim you're not a jerk?"

"Since when does being easy to chase have a necessary connection to being a jerk?" He Tianran wore a look of utter bewilderment.

Cao Aiqing propped her head up with both hands. "I've never been in a relationship, how would I know?"

"Can we please talk properly? Using actual logic, I mean."

The girl rolled her eyes at him. "I happen to be a very emotional person!"

"Fine, you ask the questions, and I'll explain."

Cao Aiqing paused for a moment. "Do you like Classmate Wen?"

"I do." He Tianran didn't hesitate.

"Then do you like Classmate Jiang?"

"I wouldn't say I do right now... but I will in the future."

"So where is the logic in that?"

"Um... because she's... cute?"

"And you still say you're not a jerk!"

"No... wait... she..." He Tianran was left completely speechless by the questioning, mostly because this conclusion really was a bit hasty.

Cao Aiqing narrowed her eyes. "Do you harbor good feelings for every good-looking girl?"

"Not just me, that's a common flaw among all guys." He Tianran spoke a brutally honest truth, but added at the end:

"However, when you truly fall in love with someone, no matter how attractive other girls are, they're just there to be looked at."

"So you wouldn't like another person while you're already in love with someone?" Cao Aiqing asked again.

"The premise is that she likes me back, too. Loving someone one-sidedly is everyone's freedom, right?" He Tianran said.

Cao Aiqing was startled, and after a long moment, she asked:

"Then... when you told me you wanted to pursue me... did you actually like me?"

"..."

Hearing this, He Tianran's entire body stiffened. But by now, he was no longer troubled by this question; he decided to be completely frank and open about it. He said in a deep voice:

"I did. Ever since the first year of high school, I've liked you. Because of that, I was even laughed at by people. That wasn't really a secret in class."

Facing such a straightforward declaration, even though Cao Aiqing had prepared herself, a flush still crept onto her face. Her eyes fixed nervously on the tips of her shoes, unable to wander, while her heart pounded like a startled deer.

"That question I asked you last time was basically just me wanting to bring closure to my years of unrequited crush. Heh, actually, I knew the result without even having to think. But that day, I just wanted to properly turn the page on this matter, and then... welcome a new relationship."

"So... you ended up liking Classmate Wen?" Cao Aiqing looked up at him.

"Mm."

"You guys didn't end up together?"

He Tianran's expression turned desolate. "We would have."

Cao Aiqing bit her lower lip and slowly said:

"If—and I'm saying if... if back then... I had said yes to you? Who would you have liked?"