Study System: I'm a 38-Year-Old Student-Chapter 254 - 173: The Consequences of Falling in Love
Against the wind, that’s the direction of youth
The injuries from the falls are medals burning hot
...
The phone in the girl’s pocket suddenly rang. Holding a bouquet of pink roses in one hand, she hurriedly fished out the phone with the other to take a look.
The caller ID showed: Kong Yiji
The girl pressed the Bluetooth earpiece hanging on her ear, and the call connected automatically.
"Lin Yufei!"
"Did you get lost again!"
"Why aren’t you back yet, didn’t you say you were on your way back already..."
A nagging voice buzzed through the earpiece.
"Shh!"
"Don’t alert my observation subject!"
Lin Yufei whispered back.
Upon hearing this, the person on the other end fell silent, and after a moment, the voice resumed: "What observation subject?"
"Is it homework from the teacher?"
"Sort of."
"Didn’t the teacher always say that as a law student you need keen observational skills!"
Lin Yufei said softly while gazing at the tall silhouette ahead.
"So, what’s your observation subject?"
"A heartbroken person!"
"Damn!"
"Only you, Chief Justice Lin, can make gossip sound so fresh and refined!"
The voice on the call exploded with a curse.
"I’ve already told you a thousand times, I haven’t decided if I’ll be a lawyer or a judge yet."
"Maybe I won’t even pursue a career in law."
Lin Yufei corrected her friend’s nickname for her.
"So, what’s special about this heartbroken person?"
The tone on the call lightened, and Lin Yufei even heard the crunch of potato chips. She could already picture it vividly.
Her friend Kong Xiaoyi lying on the dorm bed, legs crossed, toes wiggling leisurely, one hand reaching into an open bag of chips while the other held the phone, chatting with her while scrolling through "Xiaohai’s Book."
"Tall, kind of handsome."
"So, you’re observing a heartbroken hottie?"
"Uh, sort of!"
"Lin Yufei, you’re not developing feelings, are you! Let me tell you, love is something you shouldn’t get involved in, or it’ll become addictive and hard to quit!"
"You’re off-topic, I’m just curious about the erratic behavior of a heartbroken person, oh, you can help me jot it down..."
"So, what have you observed?"
"Very calm, no light in his eyes, empty and lifeless, whatever you ask, he’d probably agree to, hmm, that’s it for now..."
"Wait, it looks like he’s starting to sing!"
Lin Yufei hurried a few steps to maintain a ten-meter distance from Shen Yixiao ahead.
Then she heard it, indeed, it was singing!
Though, calling it singing would be generous. It was more like howling.
He was clearly singing "Chasing the Wind", which was her ringtone, yet Lin Yufei took a while to recognize it.
The injuries from the falls are medals burning hot
Chasing the wind, being your own hero
...
That howling voice, carried by the late September evening breeze, was tinged with an obvious sobbing tone.
"He’s crying."
Lin Yufei whispered again.
"See, that’s the consequence of being tainted by love!"
"Yu Fei, I’m telling you, you can’t handle love."
"Hmm, take a photo of the handsome guy for me..."
Lin Yufei let her best friend babble away, while she cautiously followed behind Shen Yixiao.
Suddenly, Shen Yixiao’s foot seemed to bounce like a spring, sprinting madly forward.
"He’s running!"
"So fast!"
Lin Yufei picked up her pace, but the distance between them grew wider and wider.
"Then you better chase him!"
"Don’t let your observation subject get away..."
Kong Xiaoyi urged, worried that if the person disappeared, there’d be no more juicy gossip to follow.
"He’s too fast."
"I suspect he’s an athlete, or perhaps his heartbreak has triggered his potential!"
"Note this down, a symptom of heartbreak: sprinting madly in the night!"
"He’s dashed into Sunset Park..."
Though unable to keep up with him, fortunately, it was a straight path, and under the streetlights, she could faintly see the silhouette.
"There’s a man-made lake in Sunset Park, he wouldn’t do anything rash, would he?"
"Huh??"
"No way!"
Lin Yufei was alarmed and quickly started running too.
"Let me know if you need to call the police."
"Uh-huh..."
Lin Yufei responded vaguely, perhaps worried that Shen Yixiao might really harm himself, and she pushed herself to the limit.
By the time she ran into Sunset Park, she was gasping for air.
"How’s it going?"
Kong Xiaoyi’s voice sounded in the earpiece.
Lin Yufei didn’t have the energy to respond. While panting heavily, she looked towards the man-made lake and indeed saw the tall figure.
He was standing on the boardwalk by the lake, one foot on the low wooden railing...
Suddenly, he let out a cathartic roar towards the lake!
"When did Sunset Park get wolves?"
Kong Xiaoyi’s voice sounded in the earpiece again.
"It’s him."
"Symptom of heartbreak, loud roaring!"
With a steadier breath, Lin Yufei replied.
"Is he very emotional?"
"He wouldn’t really jump into the lake, would he!"
"Hard to say."
Lin Yufei quickened her pace toward Shen Yixiao.
Sunset Park is located in the center of the university town. Students from several nearby universities often come here for a stroll, especially couples.
But today is a holiday, and it was already quite late, so there were only a few sneaky couples around the man-made lake.
They were all busy with their own activities, and even when they heard Shen Yixiao’s roar, they’d just curse "idiot" or something and then continue with their business.
Plop!
When Lin Yufei was about 20 meters away from Shen Yixiao.
The other person really did "jump into the lake"!
Ah!!
Lin Yufei let out a cry, then ran towards the lake while shouting, "Help, someone jumped into the lake!"
"Oh crap!"
"He really jumped!"
"I’ll call the police right away..."
"Wait!"
"It doesn’t seem like it!"
Lin Yufei noticed that although the guy had jumped into the lake, he immediately stood up from the water.
The water in this artificial lake was very shallow, particularly near the edge, only about a meter.
She ran to the edge of the boardwalk and found that the guy was splashing water with his hands, cursing, "Damn! Even in Beijing, someone dares to do such shoddy construction work!"
"The railing is so flimsy..."
Shen Yixiao certainly didn’t have any thoughts of harming himself, though the breakup was painful, he was always optimistic and wouldn’t go to extremes.
Earlier he had stepped on the railing with too much force, the wooden railing broke, and he accidentally fell into the artificial lake.
Just as Shen Yixiao was preparing to get out of the water, a pale hand suddenly reached out in front of him.
He looked up at the owner of the hand, wearing a pink baseball cap, with strands of hair peeking out from under the brim. She had a classic beauty’s oval face, her skin glowing with a peach-like sheen under the starlight, her eyes lively and slightly upturned at the corners, with amber pupils that seemed to hold bits of diamond, gleaming with fine, warm light.
Most notably, she was holding a beautiful bouquet of pink roses.
Uh, this bouquet looked a bit familiar.
Shen Yixiao remembered that earlier he had intended to throw the bouquet into the trash, someone asked for it, so he handed it over.
"Come up."
"Is the water that comfortable?"
Lin Yufei handed her palm forward again.
At this point, Shen Yixiao did need a helping hand. He silently grabbed her hand, used some force, and clumsily got back onto the boardwalk from the artificial lake.
"It’s just a breakup."
"Does it warrant jumping into a lake?"
"Luckily the water is shallow, if something did happen, how would you face your parents? It’s not easy for them to raise you to adulthood!"
Lin Yufei sternly lectured, her face serious. 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺
"I didn’t intend to jump into the lake!"
Shen Yixiao denied aloud.
"Alright, I won’t tell a fourth person."
Lin Yufei pouted, "You only get one life, I hope you’ll treasure it."
Shen Yixiao was wearing jeans that day, soaked by the lake water, they were wet and heavy, clinging uncomfortably to his thighs.
He was thinking of finding a place to check if the clothes in his backpack were also wet, but after hearing Lin Yufei’s words, his spine went cold, and he suspiciously looked left and right, "The fourth person?"
"Wait, where’s the third person?"
Shen Yixiao instinctively stepped back, and looked at the beautiful girl opposite him, "You wouldn’t be called Xiaoqian, would you?"
"What are you thinking!"
Lin Yufei rolled her eyes and pointed at the Bluetooth earpiece hanging on her ear, "There’s another one here."
"Oh!"
Shen Yixiao nodded, then realized she was on the phone with a friend.
"Thank you."
Shen Yixiao expressed his gratitude, although she only gave him a pull, she came to save him.
"You’re welcome."
"I hope you don’t do such foolish things again!"
Lin Yufei sincerely admonished with a serious face.
"I really didn’t mean to jump!"
Shen Yixiao said speechlessly, then pointed to the broken railing, "It’s all the fault of this shoddy construction."
"Alright."
"I believe you didn’t really want to jump."
Lin Yufei nodded slightly.
"That’s the truth."
"I was just venting my emotions."
For Shen Yixiao, a deliberate jump into the lake and an accidental fall were very different things.
As a top student at Sanjiang University, the son of the famous writer Shen Qiushan, the eldest son of the Shen Family, he still needed to save face.
"Goodbye!"
Shen Yixiao waved to Lin Yufei, preparing to flee from this place where he made a fool of himself.
And silently added in his heart: Never again!
Forget everything that happened today!
And because his sneakers were filled with water, every step Shen Yixiao took made a "squelch squelch" sound, leaving wet footprints on the boardwalk.
The evening breeze blew past.
Shen Yixiao couldn’t help but shiver, and his legs instinctively clamped together.
He finally understood what people meant by feeling the "chill in the wind"!
September 30th!
Shen Yixiao thought today was the most embarrassing day of his eighteen-year life.
No contest.
He reached into his pocket, preparing to take out his phone and book a hotel to stay.
However, his pocket was empty.
Shen Yixiao’s mouth twitched.
Most likely, his phone was lying at the bottom of the artificial lake!
Ah!!!
Shen Yixiao couldn’t hold it in any longer.
He looked up at the night sky and let out a howl.
What the heck!
How can someone be so unlucky!
After the howl.
Shen Yixiao still felt unsatisfied.
He suddenly crouched down, then placed his hands on the ground, and quickly started doing push-ups.
Lin Yufei was totally bewildered by Shen Yixiao’s "smooth little combo".
Breakup symptoms, push-ups??
Lin Yufei cautiously walked to Shen Yixiao’s side and asked, "Hey, are you okay?"
"I’m fine!"
"I’m all good!"
"Then what are you doing?"
"Performance art?"
Shen Yixiao didn’t reply, this was his unique way to relieve stress.
If the world is unfair to me.
Then I’ll just do some push-ups to defy it!!
