Chapter 7: Chapter 7

The next morning, before the sun rose, dawn just broke.

“Knock, knock.”

“Yi the big lazy pig, get up!”

Yi Feng was awakened by the noise, groggily opened his eyes, and saw the yellowed bedding, mottled walls, the peeling red wardrobe, and the Jay Chou poster on the wall.

Sigh.

Nothing had changed.

I’m still in the year 2000.

He had a very long dream last night, in which he and Gu Muxi got married, but upon waking, he found it was just a dream, and he was still lying in a hospital bed.

But now, waking up again, he found that even lying in the hospital bed was a dream.

Truly a dream within a dream.

He got up and walked to the window, looking across.

Gu Muxi poked his window with a clothes prop, disdainfully saying, “Yi Feng, why are you getting up so late today?”

Seeing him get up, she then retracted the clothes prop and started to comb her hair.

Under the morning light, Gu Muxi, wearing a loose blue school uniform, her delicate features appeared particularly distinct in the light, and her fair, jade-like skin seemed to be glowing with youth.

So beautiful.

Yi Feng rested his chin in his hands on the windowsill, gazing at her and chuckling foolishly.

“What are you laughing at? Go change into your uniform. I don’t want to be late because of you!” Gu Muxi hummed, her hands pulling her hair into a ponytail, then neatly tying it up.

“Okay, wait for me, I’ll change right now!” Yi Feng chuckled, immediately taking off his shirt.

“Oh, then I’ll wait for you at the door.” Gu Muxi watched him change, her expression calm.

“Hey, hey, Gu Muxi, won’t you turn away?” Yi Feng pulled at the corner of his mouth, not seeing the embarrassed and blushing Gu Muxi he had imagined.

Gu Muxi glanced at him disdainfully, “I know every hair on your body, what’s there to turn away from?”

“Hurry up, don’t dilly-dally.”

She closed the window, drew the curtains, and left.

Yi Feng shook his head, smiling, quickly changed clothes, brushed his teeth and washed his face at lightning speed, then grabbed his backpack and was ready to leave.

“Son, aren’t you eating breakfast?” Meng Xiaoyun called out from the kitchen.

“No need, Mom, I’ll just grab something on the way!” Yi Feng replied, opening the door to leave.

He hurried to the door opposite, which just opened.

A well-dressed middle-aged couple appeared, Gu Muxi’s parents, Gu Xingzhong and Li Wan.

“Uncle, Auntie, hello!” Yi Feng greeted with a grin.

“Little Feng is here, Xixi will be out in a moment,” Li Wan said kindly, patting his head.

“Xixi, hurry up, Xiao Feng is waiting!”

“Coming, coming!” Gu Muxi, with a piece of bread in her mouth, suddenly appeared, put on her shoes, and left the house.

“Mom and Dad, we’re going to school!”

“Don’t ride too fast on the way, be careful,” Gu Xingzhong said with a smile.

“Got it, Dad, bye~” Gu Muxi took Yi Feng’s hand, and they went downstairs together.

Yi Feng, having his hand held, felt her hand was soft and smooth…

This scene seemed to repeat every day in his memory.

Every day, they went to school together, came home together, studied together, and often did homework together.

Arriving downstairs, Gu Muxi released Yi Feng’s hand, “Yi Feng, go bring out the bike, I’ll wait for you here.”

“Bike? Didn’t you puncture my tires yesterday? Where’s my bike?” Yi Feng spread his hands.

Gu Muxi paused, slapping her forehead, “Ah, that’s right, how could I forget?”

But then she quickly covered her mouth as if she realized she had said too much!

“Ah, so it was you!” Yi Feng said “tragically,” then sat on her bicycle’s rear seat.

“Until my bike is fixed, you’ll have to carry me to school, hehe.”

Gu Muxi: “……”

“That’s because you made me angry.”

“I’m not carrying you!” she pouted haughtily.

Yi Feng got off the bike, “Then shall I carry you?”

“That’s more like it!” Gu Muxi nodded in satisfaction.

Yi Feng got on the bicycle, and Gu Muxi, adjusting her skirt, sat sideways on the rear seat, holding onto his waistband.

“Okay, I’m seated, let’s go!”

“I suggest you hug my waist; it’ll be steadier.”

“I’d rather not!”

Yi Feng glanced back, pedaled the bike, and suddenly accelerated.

Caught off guard by the sudden acceleration, Gu Muxi yelped, her head bumping into his back.

After the sudden acceleration, Yi Feng applied a sudden brake, causing Gu Muxi to crash into his back.

“Why did you brake so suddenly?”

“There was a threshold ahead, I didn’t see it, and besides, I told you to hold tight,” Yi Feng said.

Gu Muxi rolled her eyes at him and wrapped her arms around his waist from behind, holding on tight.

“Now we’re good, let’s go!”

Yi Feng felt the warmth and softness against his back, as if countless ants were crawling in his heart.

His scheme successful, he chuckled, “Alright then, Miss Gu, off we go!”

…

Yi Feng rode a pink ladies’ bicycle, carrying the school beauty Gu Muxi, attracting sidelong glances from passersby.

His eyes carried a mix of surprise and amusement.

Middle-aged people might even sigh, “Youth is wonderful.”

“Gu Muxi, are you full from just a piece of bread?”

“What do you think?”

“Then let’s go have some pork offal noodles.”

“Okay!”

On their way to school, at a crossroads with traffic lights, there was a noodle shop, their go-to choice for an improved breakfast.

Yi Feng parked the bike and called out to the kitchen, “Boss, two bowls of pork offal noodles!”

“Alright, just wait a moment,” a fifty-year-old boss with flecks of white hair in the kitchen replied.

He poked his head out of the window, saw Yi Feng and Gu Muxi, and asked with a smile, “The usual today, one with extra sausage, one with extra liver, right?”

“Hehe, yes, boss,” Yi Feng smiled.

It was still early, not many people were off to work yet, and the shop had only seven or eight customers. Their noodles were quickly prepared.

Yi Feng paid the money, three yuan per bowl, six yuan in total.

Spending six yuan was somewhat extravagant for the current Yi Feng.

He carried the noodles over, Gu Muxi took out three yuan and handed it to him, then took one of the bowls.

“No need, this meal is on me,” Yi Feng said with a smile, returning the money.

“Huh? Yi Feng, are you feeling alright? You used to be afraid I’d eat and not pay. Why so generous today?” Gu Muxi looked at him with an utterly astonished gaze.

Why did Yi Feng suddenly seem like a different person?

Truly strange.

Could it be… I knocked some sense into him yesterday?

“Hehe, people change,” Yi Feng sat down, starting to pick out the liver from his bowl.

Gu Muxi glanced at him doubtfully but still picked out the sausages from her bowl and placed them into his.

The two of them, one liking sausages and the other liver, swapping ingredients in their pork offal noodles, had been their tacit understanding for many years.

Gu Muxi stirred her noodles, and after finding no more sausages, began to eat heartily, though she couldn’t help but sneak glances at Yi Feng.

She felt Yi Feng had indeed changed, but couldn’t pinpoint what exactly had changed.

The face before her, his appearance, was still as familiar as ever.

“Gu Muxi, you seem to have dark circles under your eyes?” Yi Feng suddenly looked up at her.

“Ah? Really?” Gu Muxi rubbed her eyes.

She had been up all night thinking, unable to sleep well.

“Hehe, were you up all night thinking about me?” Yi Feng whispered with a laugh.

Gu Muxi’s cheeks flushed, a hint of panic in her eyes, “You wish! Only a fool would think about you. I was just… just worried about not finishing my homework, that’s all.”

“Don’t talk about yourself like that,” Yi Feng said earnestly.

Gu Muxi: “……”

“Stinky Yi Feng, you’re the fool, I have an IQ of 115, okay!”

“Is that so? Shall I test you?”

“Go ahead!”

“What’s 2 times 4?”

“8!”

“Ah, what a good girl.”

Gu Muxi: “???”

———- Support the Translation! 🌐✨ Your donations not only show appreciation but also keep the translator motivated! Every contribution helps continue bringing you more of what you love. Thank you for being a part of this journey! 💖 /maxoofie