Chapter 37 Because He Believed There Were Definitely No Fish in the River

“It’s the first time I’ve seen you lose your temper,” Xu Yuan said with a half-smile, watching Lin Wan’er.

This girl had hardly ever gotten angry since she was little; she was always good-natured to everyone, and on top of that, she was beautiful, which made her so likable.

“He’s slandering you; it’s really too much! Aren’t you angry?” Lin Wan’er said angrily.

Since Brother Yun said Xu Yuan is a scoundrel and a despicable person, that’s just too much!

“Thank you, Wanwan sister! You protected me once too.”

It’s getting late, Xia Ke should be with Qi Wei, the two definitely have a story. They probably won’t return to school tonight. Should I take you back to school?”

Xu Yuan also felt somewhat emotional; Qi Wei and Xia Ke could, to some extent, be considered the main couple in a youth campus drama.

A successful example of lovers finally becoming family.

“Xu Yuan… how about you accompany me for a walk? Don’t worry, I haven’t been drinking this time.”

Lin Wan’er suddenly hooked her arm around Xu Yuan’s and looked up, smiling as she spoke.

“Alright, anyway tomorrow is the weekend, no classes.”

  ……

The night in the imperial capital was still very lively, with dazzling neon lights making the city look like daytime.

The streets were bustling with traffic, and the shops on both sides of the street were crowded with people.

This was a noisy city that never slept.

Lin Wan’er said, “The imperial capital is much bigger than Jiangcheng, with many more houses, many more cars, and many more people.”

“Mm.” Xu Yuan didn’t say much else, just responded softly.

“Do you know? The first time I went to the night market with Keke, I was startled. The prices here are so expensive!

But the roads at night are easy to walk on, not dark at all. Even if you weren’t with me, I would still dare to walk.” Lin Wan’er smiled happily, sharing her life in the capital with Xu Yuan.

“That’s true. But Xia is a little rich lady; she probably doesn’t mind spending money. Being with her, you can get a lot of good food.” Xu Yuan also felt somewhat emotional. In his previous life, the first time he came to the capital, he was also shocked by its prosperity and bustle.

“Being able to be friends with Keke is really lucky. Meeting you… is also very lucky.” Lin Wan’er suddenly stopped walking, looking at Xu Yuan with a very serious expression.

“I didn’t drink today, not at all.”

Xu Yuan, was I ungrateful before?

Xu Yuan looked up at the sky. He had probably guessed all this long ago, so he wasn’t as at a loss as last time.

“That was just a part of life, not the whole. Wan’er, I only protected you as your brother for a while.”

In the future, there might be someone like I once was.

What kind of thing is this? In the past life, I begged but couldn’t get it; now that I have it, I can have it easily.

Xu Yuan didn’t believe Lin Wan’er truly liked him; she just hadn’t grown up yet and couldn’t tell the difference between liking and habit.

They are both still under 20 years old, too young for the long life ahead of them.

“Does he also call himself Xu Yuan?” Lin Wan’er’s eyes were somewhat blurry.

Xu Yuan’s expression was complicated. He took a deep breath, patted Lin Wan’er’s head, and comforted her, saying, “I don’t know where things went wrong. According to the script, you weren’t supposed to like me.”

If Xu Yuan hadn’t taken the initiative to approach Li Xinran in this life, would Lin Wan’er still like him?
In Lin Wan’er’s heart, it was nothing more than her beloved toy being taken away by someone else; more than anything, it was a feeling of unwillingness.

After all, in the previous life, when Xu Yuan didn’t have Li Xinran by his side, Lin Wan’er was not like this.

“Why don’t you believe me? I’ve grown up now, I’m not a child anymore. I can be responsible for what I say,” Lin Wan’er pouted and said reproachfully.

“Grown up?” Xu Yuan looked Lin Wan’er up and down.

Indeed, it’s not small!

“Alright!” Xu Yuan shrugged, then continued, “Then prove it to me. Right now, we’re still students, not truly grown up in the real sense.

At the very least, we need to be financially independent and able to take responsibility for our lives.”

Hearing this, Lin Wan’er brightened up, wiped the tears from the corner of her eyes, and said confidently, “I will prove it to you!”

Their eyes met, and Xu Yuan saw stubbornness in Lin Wan’er’s gaze, but he quickly looked away.

“It’s getting late, I’ll take you back to school first.”

Xu Yuan shook his head. After all, Lin Wan’er was still childish; if he slightly changed the subject, she would forget her original intention. Time would heal everything.

  ……

  ……

After sending Lin Wan’er back to school, Xu Yuan made a call to Qi Wei.

“Hey, Brother Yuan!”

Qi Wei’s voice was noticeably urgent, and faintly, Xu Yuan seemed to hear the sound of flowing water.

The imagery immediately came to mind! Xu Yuan was momentarily stunned.

What is going on here?
“Qi Wei, are you fucking human? Are you guys at the hotel?” Xu Yuan said through gritted teeth.

This kid is progressing so fast? Must be riding a rocket!

“No, Yuan Ge, I…” Qi Wei wanted to argue more, but unfortunately, before he could finish speaking, the call was cut off.

Xu Yuan didn’t need to guess; he knew there would definitely be a big fight between Qi Wei and Xia Ke tonight.

That bastard!
“What the hell is this! Those two are messing around, and here I am, playing at pure love!” Xu Yuan was completely heartbroken.

After being reborn, Xu Yuan felt more and more that he was no longer himself. After all, in his previous life, he was a scoundrel who had been through countless women, so how come now he was doing worse than Qi Wei?

“Sigh…”

Xu Yuan walked alone down the street, hands clasped behind his head, his mood very complicated.
Actually, Lin Wan’er’s changes during this period made him inexplicably a bit angry inside.

At first, he couldn’t understand what this girl was really thinking. Was it just because of Li Xinran’s appearance that his attitude towards her suddenly changed, making her feel that he was no longer the same Xu Yuan who used to be completely obedient to her?

Later, Xu Yuan probably figured out that the cause of all these changes might have been the high school graduation party.

Xu Yuan didn’t confess, but instead told everyone that they were just siblings.

Lin Wan’er perhaps felt that those words would only make sense if they came from her own mouth, not from Xu Yuan’s.

Perhaps even Lin Wan’er herself didn’t know that from that moment on, she developed a competitive spirit towards Xu Yuan.

She could give up toys she was tired of playing with, but the toys couldn’t leave her on their own, nor could they become someone else’s toys.

  ……

“Ah… Qi Wei, can you not use so much force?”

“Hold on a little longer, a bit of pain is normal.”

At the hotel, Qi Wei directly gave Xia Ke a set of traditional Chinese orthopedic massage.

Xu Yuan couldn’t have imagined at the time that they hadn’t done anything. The birthday gift Qi Wei gave Xia Ke was a set of massage techniques he learned in the Northwest.

After some effort, both were sweating profusely from exhaustion. If you didn’t know, you’d think they had really done something.

Xia Ke, panting, rested her head on Qi Wei’s shoulder and said shyly:
“This really hurts!”

“Keke, your constitution is a bit weak.” Qi Wei had just struck the acupuncture points on Xia Ke’s body with about eighty percent of his strength.

“Qi Wei, let me ask you a question. Do you think Xu Yuan still likes Wan’er?” Xia Ke, now happily with her own lover, hadn’t forgotten her good best friend.

Qi Wei was silent for a moment, seemingly deep in thought, then shook his head and said, “Let me tell you a story. When I was a kid, there was a river by the neighborhood. Someone said there were fish in it, so Yuan stole Uncle Xu’s fishing rod to go fishing.”

Unfortunately, it was an artificial little river, so there were no fish at all. Brother Yuan sat under the small bridge hole, fishing from morning until dark when no one could be seen, not even eating, still unwilling to give up. Uncle Xu and Aunt Li were almost going crazy looking for him, and the whole neighborhood was helping to search.

Brother Yuan heard someone calling him, but he just pretended not to hear and insisted on catching a fish.

By the time Uncle Xu finally found him, it must have been midnight. I was already asleep then, but I was abruptly woken up by Brother Yuan’s screams as he got beaten badly.

Qi Wei said this and involuntarily shrank his neck. Xu Yuan had been beaten like that since he was a child. A group of people pulled and tried to persuade, but Xu Donglai showed no sign of stopping.

Perhaps the father and son shared the same stubbornness.

“The next day, Brother Yuan still wanted to go fishing with his rod, but Uncle Xu told Brother Yuan that there were no fish in that river at all.

Hearing this, Brother Yuan didn’t say a word, directly returned the fishing rod to Uncle Xu, and never mentioned fishing again.

Even later, when some fish were released into that artificial river, Brother Yuan firmly believed that there were no fish in the river.”

“Do you mean that Xu Yuan is very persistent and won’t give up until the very last moment?” Xia Ke said, half understanding.

Qi Wei shook his head again after hearing this: “No. What I mean is that as long as Brother Yuan firmly believes there are no fish in the river, even if there really are fish later, Brother Yuan won’t go fishing again.

Just like now, Brother Yuan is convinced that the school beauty Lin doesn’t like him, so he definitely won’t like her anymore.

Even if he still likes her in his heart, he will find all kinds of reasons to convince himself not to like her.”

“What a stubborn personality!” Xia Ke hugged Qi Wei tightly; she definitely didn’t want her own fish to run away too.

“It’s not stubbornness, but a form of self-protection. It’s like how he didn’t catch any fish in that river back then, and ended up getting beaten badly by Uncle Xu.

I think deep down, Brother Yuan subconsciously believes that if you do something meaningless, the outcome will be bad.

Keke, sometimes I really think School Belle Lin is quite unfair. She knew all along that Brother Yuan liked her. If she felt it was a burden, why didn’t she make it clear earlier?
With Brother Yuan’s personality, he definitely wouldn’t have insisted too much. Now that Brother Yuan has finally given up, why is she unwilling then?” Qi Wei felt it was unfair for Xu Yuan. They grew up together and were best brothers. Qi Wei knew Xu Yuan better than anyone.

Xia Ke did not speak because she felt that Qi Wei made sense.

  ……

Early the next morning, Xia Ke reluctantly saw Qi Wei off.

After a night of communication, the two officially established their relationship.

Xia Ke, who had not returned all night, had just arrived at the dormitory when she saw Lin Wan’er with two panda eyes, sloppily lying on the bed, her hair somewhat messy, no longer as delicate as usual.

There were still many, many books laid out on the bed.

“Wan’er, what’s wrong with you?” Xia Ke looked at her good friend, who appeared so haggard and unusual, and asked with concern.

“I’m fine, Keke.” Lin Wan’er looked up and smiled in response.

“I want to prove to Xu Yuan that I’ve grown up, that I’m not a child anymore!”

“Ah?” Xia Ke looked puzzled, what was going on?
“Starting today, study hard and improve every day. Later, earn lots and lots of money, buy a big house, then buy a car. With these, Xu Yuan should finally believe that I can be responsible for myself, right?”

In Lin Wan’er’s eyes, growing up meant having a home of her own.

Xia Ke frowned, rubbing his temples. What exactly did Xu Yuan say to Lin Wan’er? He could even motivate someone to strive forward?
With that kind of eloquence, running a tutoring class would surely be very profitable, right?
  ……

Regarding that photo at the nightclub, many readers have pointed out issues, but I haven’t figured out how to revise it yet.

At first, I also felt it wasn’t quite right to write it that way, but then I thought that this kind of financial shock could also be a form of growth for Li Xinran.

Because of Ye Sisi’s presence, it makes sense that Li Xinran became a female investor in her previous life.

As for the character Ye Sisi, she is indeed not very likable.

But if you consider their ages, most of the main characters are actually 18 years old. Except for Xu Yuan, they are all just kids, and their minds may not be fully mature. Coupled with Ye Sisi’s family situation, her perception is definitely different from that of ordinary people.

I’ll think more carefully about how to make specific changes. Thank you all for your suggestions.

The author has a high tolerance for pressure, so please feel free to offer more advice. As a newcomer, I’m quite anxious, worried that if I write solely based on my own ideas, it might all fall apart.