The Ceo Of The Company Next Door Seems To Have A Crush On Me Chapter 19

A Silk Scarf for the Hair and a Different Kind of Next Time

Well, about that…

“No,” Yan Xucheng shook his head, his slightly curly red hair like a surging sea of flowers in the wind. “I went to the high school affiliated with Jing University.”

As for why he was so familiar with He Ye High School, it was purely because when he was in high school, he often skipped class with Jiang Mingyi, and they would always pass by He Ye. However, this experience wasn’t exactly glorious, so Yan Xucheng didn’t specifically bring it up.

Lu Zhijian, of course, didn’t know the real reason. He Ye High School and the Jing University Affiliated High School were only separated by two streets, so it was perfectly normal for Yan Xucheng to be familiar with He Ye. “I see.”

He suddenly perked up as if he’d thought of something. “Maybe we even saw each other when we were going to and from school.”

Lu Zhijian was somewhat of a wordsmith, sensitive to and easily excited by such subtle coincidences. The thought that they might have locked eyes across a crowd, only to reunite in a foreign country more than ten years later, made Lu Zhijian feel that fate was truly a marvelous thing.

Unfortunately, Yan Xucheng didn’t have much of a literary bone in his body. He quietly said in his heart, Impossible. When I was going home after school, you were still in class.

The last class at the Jing University Affiliated High School was always self-study.

Self-study, as the name suggested, meant studying on one’s own. Yan Xucheng, the top student in his grade, dragged Jiang Mingyi, the second-ranked student, to the teacher’s office to apply for early dismissal. His reason was quite sound: “I’ve already learned the material. Staying in school won’t help me improve.”

In the end… the teacher naturally sent them both back to class: “You can read books or do homework, but don’t talk. Stay put and don’t disturb others, understand?”

How could that be possible?

As the saying goes, for every policy, there is a countermeasure. After ten minutes of playing Go with Jiang Mingyi, Yan Xucheng passed her a note with four large characters written on it: Let’s run.

Jiang Mingyi was a woman of action; they decided to run right then and there. The two slipped to the back wall. Jiang Mingyi and Yan Xucheng used scattered stones to build a makeshift step. Then, in the blink of an eye for Yan Xucheng, Jiang Mingyi was already squatting on top of the wall, reaching out to him. “Hurry up!”

Yan Xucheng wanted to go up, but it was a bit difficult for him. He stepped on the stones and tried hard to stand on his toes. Although this action didn’t help his grand plan of going home, it successfully made Jiang Mingyi anxious, like a monkey in a frying pan, scratching her ears and cheeks on the wall. At least it wasn’t entirely useless.

“Hey! Which class are you two in!?” A round figure was approaching, with a suspicious shine reflecting off the top of his head.

“Hurry up and go!”

Perhaps the potential in his body erupted in that critical moment. Yan Xucheng leaped up, propping his right arm on the wall. Jiang Mingyi quickly grabbed his left hand and pulled him up. With a roll, Yan Xucheng successfully made it onto the wall.

Jiang Mingyi jumped down first. “Jump, I’ll catch you.”

Yan Xucheng didn’t need Jiang Mingyi to catch him. He was tall, and the distance from the wall surface to his feet was only about thirty centimeters. He jumped down with ease.

“You two!” The poor dean shouted from the other side of the wall.

Yan Xucheng had no sense of crisis and even had the presence of mind to wave at the dean. “Goodbye, Dean!”

“Yan Xucheng! Jiang Mingyi! You two are—!”

The rest of the words were left behind. Yan Xucheng and Jiang Mingyi had already walked quite a distance. They were now in a dessert shop, Yan Xucheng’s eyes shining as he waited for his double scoop of cheese sea salt and matcha rose ice cream.

Of course, these stories were not suitable to tell Lu Zhijian. Although he skipped class and school, he still valued his image as a top student. Moreover, seeing Lu Zhijian look unusually happy right now, it was better not to interrupt him.

The restaurant served food quickly, or perhaps Yan Xucheng was so busy chatting with Lu Zhijian that he didn’t notice the passage of time.

On the left side of the square dining table, near the center, was a plate of somewhat familiar food. He hadn’t ordered it, but he seemed to have seen it on the menu just now. “You don’t like chives?”

The picture on the menu had fresh green chives as a garnish.

Lu Zhijian was stunned. He hadn’t expected Yan Xucheng to notice so quickly. “A little bit.”

After several interactions with Lu Zhijian, Yan Xucheng felt he understood him somewhat. When Lu Zhijian said “a little bit,” he meant “no.” Lu Zhijian always downplayed his emotions.

Yan Xucheng didn’t point it out. His smoky-cyan eyes looked bright. “Is that so? I don’t like them either.”

That unfamiliar emotion started to surface again.

Lu Zhijian didn’t say anything more, but his dark brown eyes were like melted amber. As the thick pine resin flowed away, it revealed the smoky-cyan landscape hidden within.

People unconsciously smile when they are happy.

Yan Xucheng loosely gathered the long hair at the back of his head, instinctively reaching for the hair tie he usually kept on his right wrist. To his surprise, he felt nothing. After a few tries, he only felt the smooth silk fabric of his sleeve. He pulled down his sleeve, revealing his pearly white wrist, which was bare.

“What’s wrong? What are you looking for?”

Yan Xucheng rummaged through his pockets without lifting his head. “I don’t know where I put my hair tie.”

Lu Zhijian couldn’t really help with this. He watched helplessly as Yan Xucheng searched, then suddenly remembered the light-colored silk scarf he was wearing today.

Lu Zhijian stopped Yan Xucheng, who was about to go look in the car. “Will this work?”

In his hand was a light-colored silk scarf with a green leaf print.

“Yes, yes, that’s a huge help.” Yan Xucheng breathed a sigh of relief. He returned to his seat, intending to take the silk scarf from Lu Zhijian, but Lu Zhijian walked directly behind him instead.

“May I tie it for you?” Lu Zhijian’s slightly magnetic voice came from behind Yan Xucheng.

Yan Xucheng didn’t have a habit of disliking others touching his hair. He simply thought Lu Zhijian was curious, having never seen a long-haired man, and wanted to help him tie his hair. “Sure, thank you.”

Lu Zhijian had never touched hair this long, nor had he ever tied someone’s hair before. So, his movements were cautious as he gathered the hair, afraid of pulling Yan Xucheng’s strands.

Yan Xucheng chuckled. “You don’t actually need to be so careful.”

Lu Zhijian smiled shyly, pursing his lips without making a sound. His movements were a little bolder than before, but still very gentle, like grooming a small bird’s feathers. It was as if damaging a single feather would prevent the bird from flying.

Yan Xucheng felt Lu Zhijian adjusting the knot of the silk scarf. He didn’t know what his hair looked like now, as Lu Zhijian clearly looked like the newest of novices. His eyelashes fluttered like a butterfly taking flight, carrying a hint of initial nervousness. “Is it done?”

Lu Zhijian adjusted it one last time, then let out a long breath. “It’s done.”

Yan Xucheng checked with his phone camera. It was just a low ponytail; nothing looked different from the front. Lu Zhijian proactively offered, “I’ll take a picture of the back for you to see.”

“Okay.” Yan Xucheng handed his phone directly to Lu Zhijian.

Lu Zhijian’s movements were hesitant for only a fraction of a second, so brief that even Yan Xucheng didn’t notice. He quickly took the photo and showed it to Yan Xucheng, asking casually, “How is it? Is it okay?”

“It’s especially beautiful! You must be a genius at tying hair!” Lu Zhijian had even adjusted the knot into a shape that looked like a silk flower. “The tightness is perfect, not too loose, not too tight—just right. You don’t look like a beginner at all.”

“Is that so?” Lu Zhijian smiled shyly, pursing his lips. He wasn’t very good at handling such direct praise.

Yan Xucheng immediately affirmed, “Of course. Many people mess up their hair when they first start tying it, making it look like a bird’s nest.”

“Were you like that too?” Lu Zhijian imagined Yan Xucheng’s hair turning into a bird’s nest based on his words.

Yan Xucheng gave a light snort. “Of course not.”

When they finished eating and were about to leave at half-past one, Yan Xucheng saw a white paper bag on a chair. He paused. “Is this yours?”

Only then did Lu Zhijian remember that he had prepared a gift for Yan Xucheng. He handed the bag to Yan Xucheng. “This is actually for you.”

“For me?” Yan Xucheng hadn’t expected to receive a gift. He looked at Lu Zhijian inquiringly. “Should I open it?”

“Yes.”

Inside the bag was a box. Yan Xucheng opened the box, revealing a layer of soft black velvet cloth. Resting on the velvet was a pair of gold-rimmed glasses, the golden frames shimmering with a faint light.

“This is!”

Lu Zhijian’s voice remained even. “I promised to send you a pair of glasses when you asked me for the link to the glasses chain before. Now I’m fulfilling that promise.”

Yan Xucheng had actually forgotten about it. In the adult world, phrases like “I’ll send it to you next time,” “Let’s meet up next time,” and “Definitely next time” usually meant no. They were just polite ways to save face, but everyone knew that no one would ever wait for that “next time.”

So, as usual, Yan Xucheng had treated the phrase as empty air and long forgotten it. He hadn’t expected Lu Zhijian to remember it and treat it as a promise that must be kept.

Lu Zhijian was looking out the window at a few swaying bamboo stalks, as if flowers had suddenly bloomed on them. “Do you like them?”

Yan Xucheng found it amusing. “I love them, I really do. And this on the side…”

There were uneven marks on the temple arms. Yan Xucheng examined them closely and found they were a rose pattern. He immediately put them on and asked with a smile, “Do they look good?”

Lu Zhijian couldn’t manage any better words of praise at the moment. He felt like he had wasted all those years of schooling, only managing to squeeze out one phrase: “They look good.”

They truly looked very good.

Lu Zhijian ran a media company and had many artists under contract. Even though Lu Zhijian didn’t personally enter that big dye vat, he had seen plenty of the colors within it. Few people in the entertainment industry, famous for its beauties, could compare to Yan Xucheng.

He wasn’t unfamiliar with giving compliments. When talking to others, the words flowed smoothly, as naturally as breathing—so naturally that sometimes Lu Zhijian didn’t even remember what he had said.

But when facing Yan Xucheng, Yan Xucheng…

Yan Xucheng was different from everyone else.