Chapter Twenty-Five: Misunderstandings

After dinner and a shower, Lu You grabbed his thermos and a newly purchased glass bottle. Filled with brown sugar and ginger powder borrowed from a health-conscious roommate, he headed outside the canteen to fetch hot water. By chance, he ran into Xu Nian on the stairwell.

Lu You quickly stepped forward to stop her. "Xu Nian, how is Tang Wan doing? Is she feeling any better?"

"She's alright. After taking the medicine this afternoon, the pain subsided. She even participated in the drill just now and seemed fine," Xu Nian replied, not holding back the details of Tang Wan’s condition.

"Is she not going to continue taking leave?"

"She said it wasn't necessary. Besides, the dagger drill isn't exactly high-intensity exercise. By the time the performance comes around on Friday, she should be fully recovered."

Lu You pondered for a moment before asking, "Are you busy right now? I might need you to run an errand for me."

Xu Nian didn't agree immediately. "Tell me what it is first, then I'll decide if I have the time."

"I'm going to get some hot water, and I want to make her a cup of brown sugar ginger tea. Do you have time in ten minutes to come down and pick it up to take to her?"

Xu Nian narrowed her eyes, asking guardedly, "You seem awfully practiced at this. Why are you doing all this? And why don't you just give it to her yourself instead of going through me? Are you trying to surround the city from the countryside?"

"Huh? What are you talking about?" Lu You looked bewildered. "I’m just doing it because I want to, that’s all. As for not giving it to her directly, it’s just because I happened to run into you. Besides, she’s more likely to accept a gesture of kindness if it comes from you."

"I'll trust you for now, but don't think about fishing for information about her through me. I feel like you’re quite the operator; you’d better not let me discover any dark secrets about your past." Xu Nian continued to eye him with suspicion.

Lu You felt as though Xu Nian was a protective puppy issuing a warning. He didn't say anything more; as long as she agreed to deliver the drink, the rest would be proven by time better than any words could.

"I'll see you in ten minutes, then. I’m off." With that, he turned and headed downstairs.

He didn't even offer a defense? Xu Nian found this even stranger, unable to guess what he was thinking.

...

On his way back to the dorm with the hot water, Lu You’s mind drifted.

*If only I had a kitchen, I could stew some donkey-hide gelatin and pigeon soup. Or maybe mutton soup with medicinal herbs would be nice. Or perhaps I could make some red date cake. I should make these for Mom when I get home from military training.*

When Lu You returned to the second floor, Xu Nian was already waiting. He hooked his finger through the glass bottle’s handle and handed it to her.

"Remember to give it to her. And tell her to be careful—it’s hot water inside, watch out for burns."

"Shouldn't you be telling me to be careful? I'm the one carrying it."

"Oh, right. Then you be careful too, and don't smash my bottle; it's brand new," Lu You said dismissively.

Xu Nian’s irritation rose a notch.

"Oh, one more thing," Lu You added. "If Tang Wan asks, just tell her it came from your homeroom teacher."

"Are you trying to play the part of the boy who works silently in the shadows without asking for credit?"

Lu You looked at her with disdain. "You’re overthinking it. I’m no sucker. It’s just not the right time yet."

Xu Nian’s mouth twitched. "Aren't you afraid I'll tell Tang Wan about your ulterior motives?"

"Go ahead and tell her. If your words can change her opinion of me that easily, then I'm better off not bothering with her at all," Lu You said, turning back toward his dorm. "Just give the bottle to Li Yu tonight."

"Damn!" Xu Nian immediately felt this guy was ridiculously cocky. He didn't hide his intentions at all, yet she didn't sense that he cared too much about Tang Wan; he seemed to be doing all this as if it were just second nature.

"I hope you're not casting a wide net," Xu Nian muttered to herself.

Lu You found his health-conscious roommate and smiled. "Thanks for the brown sugar ginger powder. I'll cut you a slice of cake on my birthday."

"No need to be so polite, monitor. We're all classmates; it's just a small thing."

"That won't do," Lu You shook his head. "Relationships between people are built through give-and-take, and the breakdown of those relationships is often the result of many small, ignored incidents. You’re definitely eating my birthday cake this month."

"Hahaha! Alright, I won't be shy then," the roommate said happily. "Has the monitor remembered my name yet?"

"Why don't you introduce yourself one more time?"

The roommate knew Lu You hadn't remembered, but he didn't mind. "My name is Yuan Wenliang. 'Yuan' as in 'champion,' 'Wen' as in 'refined and gentle,' and 'Liang' as in 'a beautiful scene.'"

The two officially got to know each other.

Back in her dorm, Tang Wan was sitting on her lower bunk chatting with others.

"Wanwan, this is some brown sugar ginger tea I swiped from the homeroom teacher. Drink it while it's hot." She placed the glass bottle beside her.

Tang Wan looked at the dark red liquid inside and asked in surprise, "Is Teacher Liang a Doraemon? How does she have everything?"

*You should be asking if Lu You is,* Xu Nian thought to herself.

"I'll have to find time to thank Teacher Liang later; I've troubled her today." Tang Wan unscrewed the cap and took small sips. "Mm~ so warm, it feels wonderful."

When Xu Nian heard her mention looking for the teacher, she stiffened, her mind racing. "Um... the teacher said she has something to attend to at home and had to head back tonight."

"Is that so? Then I'll talk to her in a few days when I see her." Tang Wan closed her eyes, feeling her lower abdomen slowly warming up. "What’s the plan for tonight? More training?"

"The instructor didn't say, but based on junior high experience, we're probably watching a movie tonight," Xu Nian said, sounding uncertain.

"That's good. As long as I don't have to move, any movie is fine."

...

That night, Instructor Liu led everyone through two rounds of baton drills before heading to the canteen. The training base canteen had three floors, each spacious enough to hold half the grade. The performing battalion was seated toward the front on the second floor.

This was when Lu You enjoyed the perks of being a class monitor; he could sit in the front row and watch the movie up close. Just as he found a seat, Li Yu appeared beside him.

"How come you're here too?"

"I escaped the grind; I'm filling in for someone else's spot," Li Yu said, pounding his thigh. "I feel like my legs are made of iron."

Lu You didn't respond, instead turning his head to look for that certain figure in the Class 2 formation.

The moment he turned, he locked eyes with a pair of gentle, watery eyes. Tang Wan was sitting right behind Li Yu. By now, the unapproachable aura she had in the afternoon was gone, replaced by her usual bright, vibrant self.

Their eyes met. Seeing that she was doing well, Lu You felt a surge of joy and raised his hand to say hello. But Tang Wan immediately turned her head away, ignoring him. Lu You’s hand hung frozen in mid-air, and he felt incredibly awkward.

"What kind of move is that?" Li Yu asked curiously, seeing Lu You’s gesture.

"Cough, it's nothing," Lu You pretended to stretch to cover it up, then fell into thought.

*She’s back to normal, but she still seems to have some issue with me.*

Lu You carefully recalled his interactions with her over the last two days, but from his perspective, there were no problems.

He decided to stop overthinking it. If he couldn't figure it out, he’d just wait for the movie to start, sit in front of her, and ask directly.

Lu You leaned over and whispered to Li Yu, "When the movie starts, pretend to go to the bathroom. When you come back, we'll swap seats."

"One hot dog."

"I'll give you two. Don't ask any questions."

"And you have to cook me a meal when we get back," Li Yu pushed his luck.

"Am I your husband? Why am I cooking for you?"

"Then there's no deal."

"Fine, I'll make you a dessert."

"Holy cow!"

Li Yu realized he’d been too loud. Several gazes turned toward them, so he quickly covered his mouth and asked in disbelief, "You can actually do that?"

"If I said it, I can definitely do it. Do you want it or not?" Lu You was getting impatient.

"Deal!"

Soon, the projector screen slowly descended, the lights in the canteen went out, and the beam from the projector hit the screen. The movie began.

It was a standard patriotic film, a bit dated, with themes revolving around passion, revolution, patriotism, and sacrifice. Under normal circumstances, the students wouldn't have watched it voluntarily, but in the environment of military training, this movie was more interesting than anything else.

Once the movie entered a slow phase, Lu You checked his surroundings. Seeing that everyone’s attention was focused on the screen, he tugged on Li Yu’s arm.

Both of them left their seats and crept out of the projector's beam, pausing in the darkness.

"Are you trying to talk to Tang Wan?" Li Yu asked.

"Didn't we agree not to ask?"

"Fine, I won't ask. Time’s up, let's go."

They crept back in. Because the lighting was dim and everyone was focused on the screen, no one noticed them swapping places.

Lu You turned around, just about to speak to Tang Wan.

However, from Tang Wan’s perspective, she felt a dark shadow approaching and was startled, instinctively pushing her hands forward.

Lu You gently caught her hands to prevent himself from being pushed to the floor, whispering softly, "It's me. I have something to tell you." He then let go of her hands.

When Tang Wan realized her hands were being held by Lu You, her heart rate spiked like a rocket. Even with the loud volume of the movie, she could clearly hear her own "thump-thump-thump" heartbeat.

After pulling her hands back, she didn't know where to put them, feeling completely flustered.

"Is... is there something that couldn't wait until after the movie?"

Lu You heard the panic in her voice and guessed she was shy. A gentleness he wasn't even aware of appeared on his face as he smiled. "Now is the best time. The lights are dim, no one can see. There’s the movie sound effect, so only we can hear each other. And you’re stuck sitting here, so you can’t run away."

Tang Wan’s inner resolve wavered even more. "It's just a few words, is it necessary to be so strange about it?"

"Yeah, just a few words. You don't have to be so nervous."

Tang Wan closed her eyes and took several deep breaths to calm herself. After a moment, she opened her eyes and said, "Go ahead, I'm listening."

"Do you have any grievances against me?" Lu You went straight to the point without hesitation.

Tang Wan’s newly settled mood fell back into chaos. "No... no, why would I have grievances against you?"

"If there's anything you don't understand, you can just ask me. You don't have to keep it inside, speculate on your own, and get stuck in a rut."

Tang Wan hesitated for a long time before looking down and whispering, "I just felt like you might hate me."

"Huh?" Lu You was full of question marks. "Did I do something to make you misunderstand? Should I go back and reflect on that?"

"This afternoon, I was sitting in front of the canteen. You clearly saw me, but you didn't say a single word to me and just left after buying your things."

Lu You didn't expect to be caught. "Are you sure I saw you?"

"Well, did you?"

"I actually did see you, but at that moment, I didn't want to talk to you."

Tang Wan was suddenly drowned in sadness, as if hit by a debuff, and she bowed her head in silence.

Lu You panicked and quickly tried to comfort her. "It’s not what you think! At that time, I saw you sitting there alone, and your whole vibe was saying 'don't bother me,' exactly the same way my mom acts that time of the month. How could I dare to go talk to you?"

"What you mean is... you knew I was on my period?"

"I guessed."

"How are you so knowledgeable? Do you have a girlfriend?" Tang Wan’s tone instantly turned guarded and suspicious.

Lu You gasped. *Why do you girls always think of that?*

He said every word clearly, "I have lived this long, and that was the first time I've ever touched a girl's hand. Except for my mother and my sister."

"Do you often pay attention to girls' moods? Can you guess that accurately?" Tang Wan blushed, but remained on guard.

"Not often. I only started paying attention this afternoon."

Tang Wan blushed even harder. Fortunately, it was dark, and no one could see her clearly, allowing her to boldly ask more questions.

"If you knew I was on my period, you didn't do anything about it, not even suggest drinking more hot water." Tang Wan subconsciously ignored the current relationship between them.

Lu You raised an eyebrow. The atmosphere felt a bit too ambiguous. But he didn't point it out, deciding to let things take their natural course. They still needed more time to understand each other.

"Are you sure I didn't do anything? Is it possible that I did do some things, but you just didn't know?"

Tang Wan froze and began to recall the events of the day, saying in surprise, "The medicine and the brown sugar ginger tea were from you?"

"Yeah, I had Xu Nian give them to you. I was afraid that if I gave them to you directly, you’d be too embarrassed to accept them."

"You lied to me! A boy who carries ibuprofen and brown sugar ginger tea with him, and you dare say you don't have a girlfriend!"

Lu You felt a mouthful of blood clogging his chest. *Damn it, is this topic never going to end?*

"The medicine was given to me by my mom; she said it was for inflammation and pain relief, for emergencies. I didn't even know it was called ibuprofen. As for the brown sugar ginger tea, there’s a health-conscious guy in my dorm who drinks it for his stomach; I borrowed it from him." Lu You explained the origin of both items in detail.

"Then do you know what's good to eat during this time? I usually just let my mom arrange it, and it's the same old stuff every time. I want her to make something more creative."

*Oh? Cooking? I'm an expert at that, second only to my math skills.*

Speaking of a field he was familiar with, Lu You talked at length: "The classic stuff is donkey-hide gelatin and pigeon soup, or you could stew mutton soup with herbs. You can also boil sugar water with black rice, red dates, and lotus seeds. If you want pastries, there's red date cake, lotus seed cake..."

"You really are a player! You know more than I do as a girl, and you still say you don't have a girlfriend!"

Lu You: ...