The awkward atmosphere lasted until the end of the meal. During the meal, Su Cheng was absent-minded and almost knocked over the can of Coke.
They left the restaurant and got into a taxi. After Su Cheng told him the name of the hotel, she didn't say anything else.
Lin Ran and she sat in the back row. Both of them sat as if they were in a class. Their backs were straight and their eyes were straight ahead. They did not even look at each other. There seemed to be a bottomless ravine between them.
A man and a woman going to a hotel in the middle of the night and sitting like strangers …
Lin Yan saw through the rearview mirror that the driver's eyes didn't look right.
"How long do you plan to stay in Shanghai?" He broke the silence.
"Um … about a week. I want to go back to Suzhou next weekend to see my teacher."
Su Cheng hesitated for a moment before answering. Her voice was like a mosquito. She didn't seem like the same person as Lin Yan's impression of her.
"Do you have any attractions you want to see?
I can go with you tomorrow. "Lin Ran finally opened up a new topic, and he continued to speak.
Su Cheng shook her head, "I don't have any attractions I want to see …"
"How about we find a place to play games tomorrow?" Su Cheng suddenly said, "Did you bring your laptop when you came to Shanghai?"
Lin Yan couldn't keep up with the girl's thoughts. He was stunned for two seconds.
"I did …" When he came to Shanghai, he also brought his laptop. He originally wanted to use it to review games in the dorm. Later, he basically lent it to Xiao Tian to watch anime.
Su Cheng moved closer, "Didn't you want to take me out for a spin?
Use this time to play games with me at the hotel. Just tomorrow, I won't delay your training. "
Lin Yan turned his head. Su Cheng's delicate face was right in front of his eyes. Her clear eyes stared straight at him.
He originally wanted to ask why she didn't want to go to an internet cafe, but he suddenly realized that he was still half a year away from turning 18. He couldn't go to an internet cafe.
"… Okay." Lin Yan's Adam's apple moved up and down as he responded.
Su Cheng smiled, revealing a pair of sweet dimples.
The taxi stopped at the entrance of the hotel. Su Cheng waved goodbye to Lin Yan.
The relationship between the two returned to how it was before Su Cheng came to Shanghai, as if the awkward situation in the restaurant had never happened.
"Master, go to Spirit Stones Road," Lin Yan said to the driver as he watched Su Cheng enter the hotel's magnificent lobby.
The middle-aged driver raised his head and glanced at Lin Yan. He secretly scolded himself for his dirty thoughts and started the car to leave the hotel.
The next day, Lin Yan woke up early and ran around the base. He ran two more laps than usual and was full of energy.
After returning to the base and taking a shower, Lin Yan turned on his phone.
Su Cheng sent him a location. It was the coordinates of her hotel.
[Have you had breakfast?]
Lin Yan thought that it was still early, so he sent a message while drying his hair.
At the moment, Su Cheng was sitting cross-legged on the bed in the hotel room. Her eyes were drowsy.
She tossed and turned in bed the whole night yesterday and finally fell asleep at three o 'clock in the morning.
Her brain wasn't fully awake yet, but the phone in her hand was buzzing.
Su Cheng unlocked the screen with her thumb and saw the message from Lin Yan.
There's a breakfast buffet downstairs … Su Cheng subconsciously typed.
Suddenly realizing that something was wrong, Su Cheng's thumb trembled and she almost sent the message. She was scared out of her wits.
She quickly deleted the content in the chat box and typed again.
[Pan-Fried noodles and wontons, is that okay?]
After sending the message, she anxiously hugged the phone to her chest.
Ten seconds later, the phone in her chest vibrated. Even her heart was trembling.
Su Cheng glanced at the phone. Lin Yan replied with three messages.
【？】
[Why don't you stuff yourself to death.]
[I know a place that has good pan-fried noodles. I'll buy some on the way. See you downstairs at nine.]
Su Cheng replied with a "thank you" emoji. Her mood fluctuated with every bow from the little girl in the emoji.
Finally, the girl in white pajamas rolled around on the soft bed with the phone in her hand. Her slender legs kicked in the air excitedly.
At nine o 'clock, Lin Yan carried two breakfast bags and a laptop bag to the hotel lobby. He saw Su Cheng waiting there.
The hotel room was very spacious. Su Cheng was the only one staying there.
"This restaurant's pan-fried noodles are pretty good. It's similar to the pan-fried noodles restaurant on the street next to Suzhou." Su Cheng commented.
In reality, the taste of pan-fried noodles only stayed in her mind for a moment before it was replaced by the taste of her hometown.
When she was in high school, she would often buy two pan-fried noodles from the old restaurant on the street. One for herself, and the other for Lin Yan, who would stay up late to play games. The two of them would push their bicycles and eat as they walked. They would fill their stomachs and go to school.
"I think so too. Sometimes, I'll go to this pan-fried noodles restaurant early in the morning to satisfy my cravings." Lin Yan laughed.
Su Cheng's Alliance account had just reached level 30 after the college entrance examination. She specially bought all the heroes and rune pages. She also bought a few skins for the heroes she liked. She gave a lot of money to Penguin for each set.
The two of them played duo for an entire day and finally finished the ranking match.
The process was quite complicated. They even encountered two AFK games. Fortunately, Lin Yan played late game players like Tsar and Kassadin to ensure a higher chance of winning. It wasn't difficult for them to play a 4v5 when the equipment was ready in 30 minutes.
Moreover, Lin Yan found that Su Cheng had a keen sense of the jungler. Her strong overall vision allowed her to infer the opponent's jungler's movements from the limited information on the minimap.
After a 10-game winning streak, Su Cheng's account finally reached Gold One.
Su Cheng took Lin Yan out for a barbecue to reward him for his work. Unlike yesterday, the atmosphere between the two of them was quite harmonious.
They suppressed their feelings for each other to the bottom of their hearts. In the end, they still couldn't break through this layer of window paper. Perhaps the time wasn't right.
When Lin Yan returned to the dorm, Xiao Tian was watching the highlights. When Lin Yan entered the room, he only raised his eyes and glanced at him.
"You're back?"
"Yeah. What did you do today?" Lin Yan took off his shoes and planned to take a shower.
"Nothing much. I got up at noon and had a meal. Then I took a nap. In the afternoon, I played two games of Korean server. I went back to the dorm at night." Xiao Tian shook his head and stared at the phone screen.
"Here, take the laptop. The screen is bigger." Lin Yan handed over the laptop in his bag.
Xiao Tian thanked him and reached out to take the laptop. The base of the laptop was still a bit hot.
"What did you do today?" Xiao Tian was puzzled.
"I went to the hotel to accompany my classmate …" Lin Yan explained.
"Damn!"
Xiao Tian realized that he might have found a big piece of information. After all, he clearly saw Su Cheng's face yesterday.
He shifted his attention away from Mikasa Ackerman and put his square face on Lin Ran. He sniffed lightly, as if he wanted to identify the smell of Lin Ran.
"What did you two do in the hotel?"
"Playing games!"
Lin Yan angrily pushed away Phyllostachys Pubescens and went straight to the bathroom with the toiletries. "I helped her finish the ranking competition!"
When he was about to leave the room, Phyllostachys Pubescens finally reacted. In the middle of the night, Xiao Tian burst into laughter.