Serenade

Chapter 36

Bo Yan strolled down the street with one hand in his pocket, a spaceship-shaped backpack hanging on his straight back.

The little kitten poked its head out of the distant glass window, looking around curiously, attracting quite a few onlookers.

Jin Xi followed Bo Yan like a little tail, murmuring to herself and the kitten: "Be good when you get to your new home."

"Since I didn't give you a name, let your new mommy do it."

"I'll come visit you sometimes with Senior Bo Yan when I have time."

Bo Yan halted and Jin Xi bumped into his back, then he grabbed her to the front: "Bo Yan?"

"Uh..." Jin Xi rubbed her head and explained, "The kitty is still so young!"

Bo Yan's slender fingertips tapped her forehead: "You think you're still young and childish like an elementary schooler."

Jin Xi frowned, looking at the kitten perched by the round window: "In the whole world, only you, Senior Bo Yan, are an adult. Everyone else is a kid. Kitty, am I right or wrong?"

The kitten let out two "meow meow".

Bo Yan's narrow peach blossom eyes slightly curved up, revealing a hint of romance. He patted the back of her head, making her jerk forward a bit.

She lowered her head, muttering under her breath like a pigeon.

They waited at a traffic light.

In the past when crossing the road, Shen Ping Chuan would always hold her hand, even when she grew up, he kept this habit.

So almost instinctively, when the green light came on, Jin Xi reached out and grabbed Bo Yan's hand.

Bo Yan was a little surprised and glanced down.

The little girl looked calm, snuggling by his side, extremely obedient.

Her palm was soft and dry, much cooler than his.

Bo Yan's hand gripped hers tighter unconsciously.

Of course, happy times are always fleeting. After crossing the road, Jin Xi let go of him almost without hesitation, completely unaware of anything inappropriate.

She treated Bo Yan as Shen Ping Chuan, as her closest person. She trusted him and relied on him.

Bo Yan's palm grasped at nothing, still reminiscing the fleeting feeling from earlier.

The two got off the subway and arrived at a high-end residential area. They found the adopter's unit number based on the address and went upstairs.

The adopter was a newlywed young lady. This was her new marital home.

She planned to raise a kitten and was going to buy a pet cat at first. But she happened to see her friend reposting the adoption info of this kitten from the Meow Meow Society WeChat account and decided to adopt it instead.

The WeChat public account had always been managed by Jing Chi. With their classmates' shares, the broadcast range was extensive and many people applied to adopt the kitten.

The Meow Meow Society would carefully assess and screen potential adopters to avoid tragedies of abandonment as much as possible.

In the cozy new home, the young lady had prepared a soft cat bed, premium cat food, and cleaning cat litter. Everything was ready.

Bo Yan took the black and white kitten out of the spaceship backpack and handed it to the young lady: "It doesn't have a name yet. Please give it one as the new owner."

"Sure, thank you."

"Please take good care of it. Remember to get regular vaccinations. Here is a feeding guide."

The young lady accepted the hand-drawn booklet from Bo Yan. The content was also handwritten print, with cute simplified cartoon cats on every page.

"How cute!"

Jin Xi said proudly: "Senior drew every page himself."

"You guys are so thoughtful."

As Bo Yan helped set up the cat bed, the young lady whispered to Jin Xi: "Your boyfriend is so handsome!"

"Ah..." Jin Xi froze: "He's not..."

Bo Yan stood by the door and waved to Jin Xi: "Let's go, daughter."

Jin Xi: ...

Young Lady: ...

Modern young couples like to roleplay.

On the way back to school, it was rush hour so the subway was packed with people. In this environment, Bo Yan had to protect his daughter, of course.

He shamelessly cornered Jin Xi against the wall, one hand on the grab handle and the other hand on the wall beside her.

Jin Xi was trapped in a cramped little space, unable to move forward or backward.

If she looked up, she could see his rugged neck and protruding veins.

Jin Xi recalled how the young lady's eyes shone when looking at Bo Yan earlier.

He was not the obviously handsome type like Jian SiXun with thick brows and big eyes that one could recognize with a single glance. On the contrary, his features were very distinctive and his expressions were vivid, with a flowing temperament. So he was handsome in a profound and restrained way, with a deep and unfathomable air.

Jin Xi stopped looking at him and lowered her head to lightly sniff.

The subway was crowded with all kinds of unpleasant smells mixed together. But now, all she could smell was his scent, which suddenly seemed nice.

A tinge of milkiness, light.

It was Jin Xi's first time encountering a milk scent on a boy. She moved closer to his clothes and inhaled deeply.

This time, she could smell the laundry fragrance of his clothes, blended together to form Bo Yan's unique body odor.

Mammals are sensitive to smells. Females also choose their mates based on the males' scents.

Jin Xi's mind oddly conjured up the nature documentary narrator: It's mating season again...

Among all male creatures, Bo Yan's scent must be the most lethal.

The journey continued. Jin Xi took out her phone and chatted nonsense with her roommates.

Bo Yan lowered his head to look at the two little whorls on her head.

She giggled while staring at her phone, laughing at the silliest jokes.

Bo Yan also took out his phone and sent her a message: "Fart Xi."

Jin Xi's phone dinged and Bo Yan's message popped up. She asked: "Why are you messaging me?"

"I have something to tell you."

Jin Xi humored his weird quirk and replied:

"Go ahead."

After sending it, she looked up at him puzzled.

Bo Yan's slender fair fingers quickly tapped the screen. Jin Xi saw him typing a lot before deleting it all.

"Ding." The message came in.

Jin Xi opened it curiously. He sent her a line of words: "From now on, you can smile at many people, but..."

She asked: "But what?"

Bo Yan edited the message:

"You can only cry in front of me."

Reading that line, Jin Xi suddenly looked up. He was also gazing at her. His obsidian eyes contained some kind of scorching light that burned her heart.

...

You can smile at many people, but you can only cry in front of me.

Late at night, Jin Xi shrank in her blanket, reading Bo Yan's WeChat message over and over again. Finally she smiled and murmured: "So childish."

In March, due to the poetry event, Jin Xi had been in frequent contact with Jian SiXun.

Several times, Bo Yan came back late from training and saw Jian SiXun standing at the male dorm entrance talking to Jin Xi, holding the planning materials.

He put down his camo jacket on his shoulder, shook it out and wore it. Then he leisurely did up the buttons one by one and sauntered over to the two. He paused for a moment.

From the snippets he overheard, it was all about the Gu Yu poetry event.

Bo Yan brushed past Jin Xi, glancing at her.

Her dark doe eyes were fixed intently on Jian SiXun, listening to him speak with rapt attention, occasionally nodding, afraid to miss anything.

So attentive.

She didn't even notice him passing by.

Bo Yan walked into the dorm. He turned his head to look at the dorm auntie on duty in the office, then headed over.

The duty auntie was sitting at the small window table watching a family drama on CCTV-8.

Bo Yan leaned his elbows on the window ledge and said, "Evening, Auntie."

The duty auntie recognized Bo Yan. Last time there was a big fuss over his girlfriend. Later Bo Yan came to explain to the auntie repeatedly before she believed he and Jin Xi didn't do anything indecent in the dorm.

"You brat, what do you want?"

Handsome boys who can charm the aunties are always beloved by middle-aged women. The dorm auntie both loved and hated Bo Yan, but overall, the former outweighed the latter. Even when he came back late sometimes, the auntie would still come open the door for him. No one else got this kind of special treatment.

Bo Yan glanced at his watch and smiled. "Afraid Auntie will forget the time watching TV. It's curfew at 10pm."

"I won't forget. The TV drama's commercial break is exactly at 10. It's not time yet."

Bo Yan simply leaned on the window ledge and accompanied the dorm auntie to watch TV.

Auntie, the dorm supervisor, knew that this guy would never come to her office without a reason. She poked her head out the door and saw Jin Xi and Jian SiXun chatting outside. Annoyed, she said, "Broke up with your girlfriend and now seeing another boy?"

Bo Yan's mouth curved into a faint, roguish smile. "I've explained it to you many times, Auntie. Don't tease me."

Having worked in student affairs for so many years, there was little Auntie didn't understand. Bo Yan's little crush was not lost on her.

She walked out of the office and said to the boy and girl outside, "Curfew time. Finish up your chat and head back to your dorms. You can talk tomorrow."

Jin Xi hurried inside the iron gate, turning back to say goodbye to Jian SiXun. "Senior, I'm heading back. Let's chat tomorrow."

Jian SiXun seemed to want to say something but held back. After a long pause, he simply said, "Good night."

Jin Xi turned and walked past Bo Yan, glancing at him as she did.

Bo Yan pretended to flip through the newspapers on the shelf, keeping his back deliberately turned until Jin Xi's footsteps faded away. Only then did he look back, realizing Jian SiXun still hadn't left, staring blankly at Jin Xi's retreating figure.

Seemed reluctant to part.

Damn.

...

Jian SiXun's gaze twisted a little knot in Bo Yan's heart.

Back in his dorm room, sitting in his chair, Bo Yan felt more and more annoyed. He asked Jing Chi, "What's the background of that pretty boy from the Literature Club?"

Jing Chi was sorting through a pile of condoms on his bed. Distractedly he said, "He's a man with access to Baidu Baike. Move your fingers and look it up yourself."

Bo Yan opened his laptop and searched Jian SiXun's name. Sure enough, the guy had his own Baidu Baike page, touted as "Chongqing University's most talented and handsome heartthrob." He had participated in and won second place in a classical literature quiz show hosted by the local TV station, with only a Chinese literature graduate student from a top university placing above him.

What an eye-blinding resume.

Digging further, Bo Yan discovered Jian SiXun's Weibo account with over 400,000 followers and verified as "Chongqing University's Campus Heartthrob."

Looking through his information, Bo Yan's tongue pushed against his back molars in irritation. He muttered, "Quite the nerve proclaiming himself a campus heartthrob."

Jing Chi said as he put down his ledger, "Personally I think you, Bo Yan, are more popular than him."

But Bo Yan didn't have 400,000 followers.

Jing Chi rationally analyzed, "It's an image problem. Look at Jian SiXun - he's always smiling wherever he goes, humble and polite. Now look at you, you f*cker. Wherever you go you have that aloof, married man's restraint, afraid girls won't know you're taken. "

Bo Yan: ...

If the kind of soft, delicate, innocent lotus flower was the green tea b*tch in girls' eyes, then a pretentious tool like Jian SiXun was absolutely the green tea trash in guys' eyes.

Right now Bo Yan extremely disliked Jian SiXun.

The next evening, in the final minutes of poetry meet registration, Bo Yan finished training, his body still simmering with heat, and went to sign up. With a bold stroke he wrote down his name.

Jin Xi stood at the table sucking a lollipop, looking at him in slight surprise.

He wore a camo T-shirt, tall and lean, with defined muscles on his chest and shoulders. Bending over the table, his arms powerfully propped himself up. His fair skin revealed faint blue veins.

Jin Xi popped the lollipop into her left cheek, puffing out a round bulge. She mumbled, "Senior, do you know how to recite poetry?"

Bo Yan casually tossed the pen aside and indifferently said, "Nope."

"Then what are you signing up to perform?"

Jing Chu said, "Your senior just needs to stand on stage to outshine everyone else."

Jin Xi: ...

Okay, the main thing is to participate.

Jian SiXun picked up Bo Yan's registration form and said to him, "In all these years of poetry meets, you're the first participant from the National Defense Academy. I really look forward to your performance."

Bo Yan straightened to his full height, now half a head taller than Jian SiXun, looking down at him with a faint oppressive aura.

"I also look forward to beating you."

Others: ...

What gave you such confidence?

Jian SiXun had refined, handsome features. His smile gave off a warm April sunshine feeling. Bo Yan's features were aggressive, his narrow phoenix eyes sunken under arching brows, carrying a hint of danger. Like a frozen winter pond, giving people chills.

The two looked at each other briefly, both sensing the other's hostility. Love rivals always maintained a kind of tacit understanding, seeing through yet not pointing it out.

Bo Yan said indifferently, "I heard someone say with Jian SiXun participating, everyone else is just a sideshow."

Jin Xi unwrapped her second lollipop, popping it in her mouth, blinking her eyes.

She didn't say that - Chao Zhao did.

Jian SiXun smiled gently, waving his hands again and again. "Of course not. I'm just here to make up the numbers, mainly to arouse students' interest and passion for poetry. That's been the original intention of the poetry meet, as well as my own greatest wish. So I'm really happy Bo Yan is participating. I truly am."

Bo Yan realized when Jian SiXun spoke, his tone was the same bullshit as Shen Ping Chuan's.

But according to Jing Chi, this kind of pretentious official-speak was what girls loved most. The seemingly noble image - silly young girls loved senior brothers like that the most.

Sure enough, Jin Xi spoke up around her lollipop cheeks, "I believe that with Senior's efforts, even more students will come to love poetry!"

Seeing the worship in her eyes, Bo Yan ground his teeth in irritation.

Why couldn't she open her eyes and see clearly - what was there to like about this green tea trash!

Jian SiXun said to Bo Yan, "I look forward to your performance then. Be sure to prepare well and don't get too nervous to go on stage."

"I won't disappoint you."

Bo Yan reached over and plucked the lollipop from Jin Xi's mouth before sauntering away.