Ordinary friends

Ordinary friends

There are shops in the open-air plaza having anniversary sales today; I heard the event will last for a week.

As soon as Shen Muwei finished asking her question, she heard the drum music of a dance troupe suddenly start playing nearby. Several beautifully dressed girls ran out, rushed to the open space in front, and began to dance.

Shen Muwei's attention was immediately drawn to the girls dancing over there. She remembered that it seemed to be a new song from a girl group that was very popular recently, with various cover videos online.

While Shen Muwei was watching those girls run, Xiang Zhixing clutched his chest and gasped for breath.

Shen Muwei turned around and saw him lower his hand from his chest.

"You haven't answered me yet."

"I...I'm just a regular friend to you..."

Shen Muwei slapped her thigh: "I knew it! They just wouldn't believe me. I told them to come and ask, and they'd understand everything."

Xiang Zhixing's ears turned red, and he stammered, "Who...who are they?"

"My roommate told me."

He quickly waved his hand, stood up straight, looking incredibly awkward and uncomfortable.

"No, no, no, that's not true. Don't listen to their nonsense..."

Seeing his reaction, Shen Muwei found it amusing: "Why are you talking like that? Did I ask too suddenly?"

"Yes, a little."

Shen Muwei: "Oh~ I'm sorry, I'm a pretty straightforward person, so I just came up here to ask about this. I hope it doesn't bother you. I haven't finished my meal yet, so I'll head back now."

Xiang Zhixing nodded quickly: "Oh, okay, okay, you should go back and eat quickly. The food won't taste good if it gets cold. Eat it while it's hot, it's good for your health."

Having resolved a major issue, Shen Muwei strode confidently toward the restaurant in high spirits.

Back at the restaurant, she sat down with a beaming smile: "After asking him, I said it was impossible, and he denied it."

The two chuckled. Some things are better left unsaid. Words are only useful when spoken to someone who can understand them; it's pointless to say too much to someone with a blockhead.

The meal was almost finished and quickly came to an end.

The three of them picked up their belongings and went outside. In the open-air square, there were a few residents strolling with their children.

Qian Eryun was looking down at her phone when she suddenly exclaimed, "Ah! I have to perform!"

"What? What?" Two girls crowded around to look at her phone messages.

The message came from the dance class she had enrolled in. They said that several shops in the square were having a joint event on Saturday, and their dance studio had produced some popular dances. Unfortunately, one of their members had sprained his ankle, and quite badly at that. They asked Qian Eryun if she had time to fill in.

Qian Eryun and Guan Panfu enrolled in the dance class together during their freshman year. Guan Panfu practiced dancing to make short videos, while Qian Eryun practiced because she was uncoordinated and wanted to challenge herself.

She had always been a little worse at dancing than others, and her progress was slower. Even when she learned, her movements were stiff. But Qian Eryun didn't feel ashamed. Guan Panfu stopped signing up because of work, while she chose to continue learning.

She has practiced this dance for two years, working harder than anyone else. While she may not be the most outstanding dancer, she is certainly capable of handling any situation on stage like this.

"Ahhh! That's great!"

Everyone in the dorm was happy for her. She had danced before, but she was a backup dancer, performing in a very remote corner. This time was different; she was performing the role of a member of a girl group, definitely the main character.

Qian Eryun teared up: "I'll treat you all to dinner! Waaah..."

Shen Muwei: "Next time, next time I'll take advantage of you. I'm just too full today."

In her spare time, Qian Eryun would go to the dance studio to rehearse in preparation for the activities on Saturday and Sunday.

The relationship between Shen Muwei and Xiang Zhixing has returned to normal.

On Thursday evening, Shen Muwei invited Xiang Zhixing to go for a run together.

The running location was a riverside park, which has now been developed into an entrepreneurial park. The park has beautiful scenery and is open to residents.

In addition, there is a large artificial lake in the park, and a wide pedestrian walkway has been built along the lake. In the evening, many young people come here to ride and run at night.

When Shen Muwei arrived, Xiang Zhixing had already arrived.

He was wearing a white tracksuit, and because he was already thin, he had a somewhat ethereal and otherworldly air about him. His tall and slender figure made him quite eye-catching.

Shen Muwei saw him first and was about to walk towards him when a girl walked up to him and whispered something to Xiang Zhixing. Shen Muwei couldn't hear what she was saying, but judging from the situation, the girl was probably asking him for his WeChat.

In order not to disturb his good time, she slowed down her pace, but he waved his hand, shook his head, and the girl left.

This... is a rejection?

While she was still wondering, Xiang Zhixing had already seen her and waved to her, so she quickened her pace and ran over.

Before Shen Muwei could ask, Xiang Zhixing explained, "He asked for my WeChat, but I refused."

"Why refuse? Let's get to know each other and become friends. That girl is quite pretty. Maybe she'll become your girlfriend. I can even be your advisor."

Shen Muwei thought to herself that she really dared to say anything; had she ever been in a relationship before acting as someone's strategist?

No, no.

Seeing his awkward manner, Shen Muwei knew he was shy. Finding it novel and amusing, she teased him a couple of times and discovered that he was really thin-skinned, and seemed to be getting a little angry.

Shen Muwei dared not tease him anymore and shut up.

The two of them had been pacing around for ages, but hadn't started running yet. Xiang Zhixing touched his increasingly red ears and asked, "Aren't we going to start?"

Shen Muwei raised her hand and glanced at her smartwatch: "It's not time yet, I'm waiting for someone."

"Is there anyone else?"

"right……"

No sooner had he finished speaking than Zhang Wenhao, dressed in sportswear, came running over with high spirits: "Sorry, sorry, I'm late. I hope you two didn't have to wait long."

Shen Muwei smiled and said, "No, I just arrived too."

"That's good." After saying that, Zhang Wenhao extended his hand to Xiang Zhixing: "Hello, I didn't have a chance to say hello properly last time. My name is Zhang Wenhao. I am a student at USTC and a friend of Xiaowei."

Xiang Zhixing stood frozen in place, slowly reaching out his hand, his expression clearly unfriendly: "Next time, have some sense of time. I've been waiting for quite a while."

"Sorry, I'll treat everyone to water later. There's a small street with a rest area and a convenience store with a pretty good selection. It'll be on me."

Shen Muwei explained, "Zhang Wenhao often runs here at night. I only found out today. I thought it might be a bit boring for you, a guy, to run with me, so I invited him to join me. That way, you won't be bored later."

How understanding Shen Muwei is.

Before coming, Xiang Zhixing was quite nervous, after all, this was his first time going for a night run with her, and he was afraid that the conversation would become awkward or that they would have a fight. But now it's all good, no need to worry about it, there won't be any awkward silences at all.

He gritted his teeth and glanced at Zhang Wenhao, then put on a well-behaved expression and smiled at Chen Muwei: "Thank you, this arrangement is certainly good."

Shen Muwei knew that her arrangement must be reasonable, thanks to Zhao Ranzhu asking her before she left, "Won't it be awkward for you to go for a run alone with him at night?"

Shen Muwei thought to herself, what's so awkward about this? It's just two people running together after meeting, right? Where's the awkwardness?

She hadn't felt awkward when she wasn't saying anything, but after someone said that, Shen Muwei felt a little embarrassed. After thinking it over, she contacted Zhang Wenhao.

She often saw Zhang Wenhao posting pictures of his night runs on his WeChat Moments, and the location happened to be the riverside park, which was like a stroke of luck.

Contacting Zhang Wenhao was also easy, because he happened to be running around the same time, so we naturally arranged to meet up.

Shen Muwei and Zhang Wenhao are both people who exercise regularly, and they habitually did stretching exercises before running. Xiang Zhixing followed along, swinging his arms around beside him, clearly not wanting to do it.

Shen Muwei pulled him aside and whispered, "Don't you want to run?"

She could understand, after all, he might have been forced to do it by himself, and he might not usually like exercising at all.

Xiang Zhixing shook his head and said seriously, "No, I'm willing to run."

Shen Muwei felt that he wasn't taking it seriously, but night running had nothing to do with performance; it was something you could do whether you liked it or not. She couldn't force him to run, which wasn't realistic, and besides, she wasn't the kind of person who liked to discipline others.

So she stopped paying attention to him and just did her own thing, chatting with Zhang Wenhao for a bit.

When she officially started running, Shen Muwei put on her headphones and played some upbeat pop music, which helped to motivate her.

She wasn't running fast to begin with, and after resting for half a month, she didn't seem to be struggling when she started running again. Zhang Wenhao was running a little ahead of her, occasionally looking back to see if she was keeping up. Xiang Zhixing was running behind Shen Muwei, and Shen Muwei would occasionally look back at him as well.

Shen Muwei slowly began to sweat, and her cheeks turned slightly red.

In the early autumn, many people were exercising in the riverside park. Every now and then, someone would overtake Shen Muwei, or a night cyclist with music playing loudly would speed past her.

The fresh air in the park made her feel comfortable and at ease, as if the cells in her body had been revitalized.

Zhang Wenhao slowed down and ran alongside Shen Muwei, saying, "I'll run ahead, and we'll meet at the convenience store entrance later."

Shen Muwei gave him an "OK" sign, and Zhang Wenhao suddenly dashed out. It was quite remarkable that he had been holding back his speed for so long.

Wait... whatever... she seems to have been so engrossed in running that she forgot to look back at Xiang Zhixing.

Looking back, Xiang Zhixing was nowhere to be seen; the space behind her was empty. She unconsciously stopped in her tracks. An old man in a t-shirt passed by her, and seeing her looking around, asked, "Looking for your companion?"

"Yes, did you see him?"

"Is he a tall boy?"

"Yes, yes, that's him! Where is he?"

The old man chuckled helplessly: "He had a leg cramp. He called you but you didn't respond. I happened to run into him and rubbed it for him. You can see him if you run back seven or eight hundred meters now."

Shen Muwei was startled. She thanked the old man first and hurriedly ran back.

Xiang Zhixing had been out of exercise for too long and hadn't run like this in a long time. Not only was his stamina not up to par, but he also didn't eat well and was calcium deficient. After just a couple of steps, his legs cramped up and he couldn't run anymore.

It was excruciatingly painful, and I couldn't open my throat properly. I could barely make a sound when I tried to call for help. Luckily, an old man passed by and rubbed my throat, which relieved the pain a bit.

He wasn't sure if it was because Shen Muwei was wearing headphones and didn't hear him, but he was a little angry. He could have contacted Shen Muwei, but he held back his anger and didn't.

When Shen Muwei ran over, she saw him sitting on the chair next to her, his right leg bent and resting on the chair, his hands rubbing his calves.

He was sitting under a streetlamp, his eyes lowered, his gaze fixed downwards, looking as if he had been abandoned by the whole world.

Hearing the noise, he looked up and turned his head, exchanged a glance with Shen Muwei, then lowered his head again, throwing a little tantrum.

Shen Muwei approached and squatted down, wanting to see if there was anything wrong with his legs. What she saw first was his long legs that had no hair at all.

No, who is the man and who is the woman? How come a man's legs are so clean?

She looked up, about to apologize. But Xiang Zhixing spoke first: "Why did you come back? Weren't you with him? Why did you come back to see me..."

Her tone was so pitiful that Shen Muwei was stunned, and couldn't help but burst into laughter.

After she had finished laughing, she slowly stopped amidst Xiang Zhixing's annoyed gaze and incredulous expression.

"Are you... are you jealous?"

Upon hearing this, Xiang Zhixing's ears turned bright red. However, the "jealousy" that Shen Muwei spoke of was clearly different from his, so she could laugh out loud so openly.

Xiang Zhixing's face turned red: "Why would I be jealous?"

Shen Muwei suddenly remembered watching TV dramas with her grandparents when she was very young. After each episode, there was a vinegar commercial in the middle. In the commercial, a girl angrily asked, "What are you jealous of?"

The boy said, feeling wronged, "It's xx vinegar..."

She wanted to laugh again.

This person is easily teased, so Shen Muwei stopped teasing him and went around to sit on the other side of the stool.

Are you feeling better?

He didn't speak.

"Okay, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to. I was wearing headphones and the music was too loud, so I didn't hear it. I won't wear headphones in a bit."

She usually speaks in a soft voice, but when she's really trying to be cute, her voice becomes even more coquettish.

Xiang Zhixing felt that he was really pathetic. How come he wasn't angry anymore after she said sorry? Instead, he even wanted to laugh, and the corners of his mouth kept turning up.

Shen Muwei noticed the slightly upturned corners of his mouth.

"Haha, you laughed, you're not angry anymore? Let's go get something to eat, it's on me."

That's more like it," Xiang Zhixing thought. He slowly put his leg down and stood up with Shen Muwei.

Shen Muwei: "How are you? Does it still hurt?"

Xiang Zhixing thought to himself, "She still cares about me." But on the surface, he said in a serious tone, "It doesn't hurt anymore."

That's what they say, but when I actually walk on it, I can still feel a little discomfort.

Shen Muwei nodded in relief and sent a voice message to Zhang Wenhao: "We'll be there soon. If you can't wait, run ahead."

My mood, which had just started to improve, suddenly soured again.

She quickly received a reply from Zhang Wenhao, also in the form of a voice message: "It's okay, I'm just taking a break. There's some exercise equipment here, I'll play with it for a while. No rush, you guys take your time."

It's at least a kilometer from here to the small shop. It would take about twenty minutes to walk there, but it would be much faster if you ran.

Xiang Zhixing jumped up and down twice: "I feel much better, let's run over together."

Shen Muwei smiled and ran with him in that direction.

This time, the two were about the same speed. Shen Muwei wasn't wearing headphones, and Xiang Zhixing felt like he was rediscovering the joy of running.

Zhang Wenhao had indeed been waiting there for a while. When he saw the two of them running over, he handed them the two bottles of sports drinks he had already bought.

"Thank you," Shen Muwei said, taking the bottle, unscrewing the cap, and drinking.

"Have we been waiting too long? I'm so sorry to have made you come all this way to accommodate us."

Shen Muwei knew that he usually exercised quite intensely, and she often saw him post photos of himself working out on his WeChat Moments.

Zhang Wenhao: "It's okay. You're a girl, and you haven't exercised in a while, so I don't recommend starting with such high intensity right away. I'll just take a break. What do you say, bro?"

He said the first half of the sentence to Shen Muwei, and the second half to Xiang Zhixing.

Xiang Zhixing understood; it was clear from his words that he disliked Xiang Zhixing for being a burden to him.

Xiang Zhixing finished his drink, smiled with his head down, and took two steps forward. He was taller than Zhang Wenhao, and the closer he got, the stronger the sense of looking down on him became. He curled the corners of his mouth, but his eyes were devoid of warmth.

"I think so too. Why don't you start running first, so as not to affect your progress? What do you think?"

He speaks clearly, each word coming out distinctly, his speech as clear as could be.

Zhang Wenhao felt a chill run down his spine for no apparent reason. He had initially thought this person was a complete weakling, but now he felt that he was sinister.

He made the suggestion in a friendly manner, and Shen Muwei also felt that the suggestion was very useful. Indeed, it was too much of a burden.

Shen Muwei: "Yes, Zhang Wenhao, why don't you just leave us alone and do things at your own pace?"

Taking the opportunity, Zhang Wenhao took two steps back, leaned back, and looked over Xiang Zhixing's shoulder at Shen Muwei behind him. He replied, "No need, no need. I usually get quite bored running alone. It's quite fun with you guys."

This way, he could avoid Xiang Zhixing's sinister gaze, which made him feel better.

Shen Muwei still felt that she was a bit of a burden to others, so she said, "It's okay, you don't need to feel anything. If we slow down your progress, I'll feel guilty."

Xiang Zhixing walked back to Shen Muwei's side and echoed, "Yes, especially me. I feel so sorry for you."

He took a deep breath, recalling his brief encounter with Xiang Zhixing last time. The girl who was with him had said that this guy looked like a top-tier green tea.

As expected, green tea is not easy to deal with.

Zhang Wenhao felt like he had to swallow his pride: "No way, since we agreed to go together, let's go together. There's no reason for anyone to leave first. Besides, I'm having a great time with you guys today. No need to be so polite."

He said it with a smile, but it was a somewhat forced smile. When he glanced at Xiang Zhixing, he saw him tilting his head and smirking, with a clear sense of mockery at the corner of his mouth.

After a short rest, the three set off again.

Tonight's task was to run around the riverside park, and there were no further incidents in the second half of the run.

What Shen Muwei found strange was that the two of them always tried to run to her side. At first, she would nod or talk to them casually, but after a while, she got annoyed and simply put her headphones back on and ran to the front herself.

But soon, the two men caught up with them again.

After running back to the main entrance of the park, the three of them went to the roadside to wait for the bus back to school.

The bus to USTC was to be disembarked earlier than the bus to Huida. Before getting off, Zhang Wenhao told Shen Muwei to let him know she arrived safely at the dormitory. He then turned to Xiang Zhixing and simply raised his hand in a gesture of greeting.

After everyone left, Shen Muwei leaned closer to Xiang Zhixing and asked, "Don't you two get along very well?"

Xiang Zhixing exclaimed in surprise, "Really? No way! I think Zhang Wenhao is a really nice person. He even told me some tips while we were running, which made me feel that he is a very thoughtful person and takes good care of me."

"Oh, I see. Well, it seems pretty good." Shen Muwei scratched her head. Could it be that she was mistaken? She didn't think the atmosphere was that good when she was running just now.

Xiang Zhixing continued, "Yes, I think he's a really nice person. I can invite him to go for a night run with me next time."

Since he's already looking forward to the next time, then it must be fine. Maybe I just don't understand how guys interact.

"Okay, then let's invite him next time."

After running all night, Shen Muwei was sweating a lot and felt very comfortable, so she went to the bathroom to take a shower.

After she finished showering, she saw a message on her phone from Zhang Wenhao, asking if she had arrived at school safely.

She had just gotten back and was in a hurry to take a shower, so she forgot to message him. She quickly replied: "Arrived safely."

Zhang Wenhao: [I feel like Xiang Zhixing's physical fitness seems a bit lacking. Does he not exercise often?]

Shen Muwei: [It seems so, what's wrong?]

Zhang Wenhao: [Nothing, just asking [laughing emoji]]

Shen Muwei didn't take it to heart. The next day, Qian Eryun was rehearsing in the dance studio and invited Shen Muwei and Zhao Ranzhu to the dance studio to watch her rehearse.

Zhao Ranzhu and Shen Muwei sat in a corner of the dance studio, filming Qian Eryun's dance routine. During the break, Zhao Ranzhu asked about what happened last night.

Shen Muwei said, "They get along very well."

As soon as she finished speaking, she received a WeChat message from Zhang Wenhao:

Is this Xiang Zhixing? I saw him and his girlfriend, what a coincidence! [Smirk]

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