Lend Me Your Shoulder - Chapter 1
Chapter 1 Borrowing A Moment
Liking is knowing when to stop the loss; love is throwing caution to the wind.
It was exactly 2:15 in the afternoon. Two whole hours had passed since Xu Yeyu sat down on this chair.
Her back was tense, elbows resting on the desk corner, and the back of her hand pressing on the mechanical keyboard, the knuckles visibly prominent. Her light brown eyes were fixed rigidly and unwaveringly on the computer screen before her.
Like a fierce tiger gathering strength before breaking free from captivity, she was extremely focused.
Five minutes later.
She suddenly let out a sigh, her back relaxed, her whole body slumped, even her bangs drooped lazily over her eyelids.
Blowing on the light strands of hair, Xu Yeyu resignedly rested her head on her arm: “…I can’t write.”
A week ago, while enjoying a leisurely nap, Xu Yeyu had received a call from her editor. On the phone, the editor was almost tearful, helplessly calling her real name and begging for help: “Boss Ye! I haven’t received a single article this issue! No articles means no page fees, no page fees means my salary is tiny, tiny salary means I have no money to pay the mortgage, support my kid, or pay off the Ant Credit. Please save the kid, write something for me, baby!!”
At that moment, Xu Yeyu was still half-asleep and her focus was somewhere else: “…Since when did you have a baby behind my back?”
“Oh, I meant the 16-year-old trainee in my new entertainment company. Mom loves him for life!”
“…”
The editor continued hinting: “You haven’t written a short story for months and a long story for two years. Do you know how many readers have been waiting day and night for you? If you don’t give them some spiritual food, how are they supposed to enjoy? Are you even human?”
She opened the computer, looked at the pile of discarded old documents in the recycle bin, and mumbled, “When’s the deadline?”
“Two weeks later!” The editor was ecstatic. “I’ll take that as a yes! See you in two weeks, love you, love the brilliant and great you!”
Thinking about this, Xu Yeyu glanced at the brilliant and great word count in the document.
Zero.
…
After staring blankly at the empty document for several minutes, Xu Yeyu picked up her phone and called her roommate Xiang Wei: “I’m stuck. I’m going out to find some inspiration. When will you be back? Did you bring the key?”
“I’ll be back at seven, and yes, I brought the key.” Xiang Wei suspiciously added, “Where are you going for inspiration? You’re not going to break cookies again, right?”
She recalled last time when Xu Yeyu had no inspiration, she bought a bunch of cookies at the supermarket and broke them apart at the apartment.
Morning, afternoon, and even before sleep, cracking and crunching, almost driving Xiang Wei insane.
Xu Yeyu had her quirks—certain strange sounds could spark her writing inspiration.
Xu Yeyu: “…No cookie breaking this time, I’ll find something else.”
“You’re a bestselling author, do be a little more restrained,” Xiang Wei advised.
After hanging up, Xu Yeyu took her laptop and went out.
After walking more than ten minutes, she turned into the only convenience store within several miles.
While searching inside, a boy holding a Yakult passed by.
The straw punctured the Yakult foil with a light “dong” sound right by Xu Yeyu’s ear — clear, refreshing, and like a heavenly melody.
It was as if her energy channels opened instantly — that’s it!
A sparkle flashed in her eyes; she quickened her steps toward the fridge.
At the same time, two others entered the convenience store.
The man who came in had an excellent figure, long legs, and a perfect inverted triangle torso under his shirt.
His features were refined, with a straight nose, thin lips pressed into a line. Although he had a pair of peach blossom eyes, they were not flirtatious but carried a calm and steady demeanor.
Following him was a young girl, apparently his middle school-aged sister.
The girl saw the boy drinking Yakult eagerly, swallowed, and tugged at the man’s sleeve: “Brother, I want to drink some too.”
Lu Yanbai lowered his head to look at her, his voice low and clear, like the sound of water echoing in a valley.
“If you drink this, you can’t eat ice cream later.”
The girl pouted.
Lu Yanbai continued, “The air conditioning is strong. Eating too many cold things will upset your stomach.”
“…Okay.” She hugged her books, resigned.
Lu Yanbai’s eyes crinkled slightly in a smile: “So what do you want?”
“Yakult.”
The man was really good-looking, his temperament cold and noble. Compared with the leading actors in commercials, he was in no way inferior. Just by walking in, he had attracted many gazes.
The whispering girls and the clerk all perked up to listen to his conversation. When they heard the little girl wanted Yakult, they proactively came over to him: “Yakult is in the front fridge, just walk straight ahead.”
Used to such “enthusiastic hospitality,” Lu Yanbai was not surprised and nodded politely to thank them. Though gentle, his tone carried a cold and distant aloofness.
Leading the little girl to the fridge, Lu Yanbai saw her happy expression and curved his lips. Just as he was about to reach out—
A slender hand appeared in front of him, fingers straight with a crescent-moon curve at the tip.
The index finger had two matching knuckle rings, their tiny diamonds sparkling brightly under the fridge light.
He paused and politely waited for her to take the Yakult first.
The next second, Xu Yeyu reached out and decisively took the last two rows of Yakult.
Lu Yanbai knit his brows: …
Unaware someone was behind her, Xu Yeyu hummed happily as she walked to the cashier.
Seeing his sister frown, Lu Yanbai asked for her opinion, “Shall we drink it tomorrow?”
The girl was conflicted: “But I want to drink now. That lady bought so many, surely she can’t finish them. Maybe we can ask her to sell us one?”
After a long silence, Lu Yanbai sighed faintly, “After drinking Yakult, you need to study hard when you get back.”
“Got it!”
Getting a straw from the front desk, Xu Yeyu took her spoils and sat outside in the shade. She opened her laptop, the empty document glowing on the screen.
She clasped her hands in front of her and started praying that after listening to ten Yakult bottle-opening sounds, she would get some inspiration.
Lu Yanbai, just stepping outside, saw this scene. She sat solemnly in the chair as if about to hold a grand ritual.
He stood there quietly without interrupting, patiently waiting for her prayer to end.
Finally, when she finished praying, he took two steps forward and saw her open all ten Yakult bottles one by one with a rhythmic “ta ta ta” sound.
None were spared — all were opened.
Xu Yeyu had no idea someone wanted her Yakult; she only looked at the row of drinks with straws inserted, feeling a strange sensation rising in her chest.
She took a photo and sent it to Xiang Wei: [Doesn’t this look like an orchestra?]
Xiang Wei: [What are you doing again?]
Xu Yeyu: [I live so sadly, blowing Chopin in the rain.]
Xiang Wei: [???]
After hearing ten bottle-opening sounds, Xu Yeyu felt a surge of energy rushing straight to her brain’s center. The impact made her unconsciously raise her hands to do something—
She spiritedly typed a title in the document — “Don’t Know What to Call It Yet, But Let’s Go With This.”
After typing this line so boldly, she surprisingly and unsurprisingly got stuck again.
Seeing Xu Yeyu stop typing, Lu Yanbai felt as if his shirt hem was tugged again.
“Brother, do you think she will drink all of them?”
Just then, Xu Yeyu raised a bottle of Yakult and sipped through the straw.
“Forget it, she really loves drinking this.”
The “really loves drinking” Xu Yeyu took two hours to finish ten bottles, with gains being: one trip to the restroom and 22 words.
Her document was much fuller than before, showing 22 characters in size 5 SimSun font:
“Don’t Know What to Call It Yet, But Let’s Go With This”
By: Shi Ye Xi Xi (Night Breeze)
Almost five hours passed, scribbling nonsense under a fake pen name and an arbitrary title, writing 22 useless characters.
…She wondered if the editor would kill her after reading this.
Resigned, Xu Yeyu sent an empty Yakult bottle photo to Xiang Wei: [Chopin finished blowing, Ye Yeyu descends to earth.]
Xiang Wei: [You need medicine.]
Throwing the Yakult bottles into the trash, Xu Yeyu packed up her laptop and left, completely unaware someone was sitting nearby.
“That lady seems a bit strange. What’s she doing?”
Lu Yanbai’s tone deepened: “Probably performance art.”
Xu Yeyu returned to the apartment, and Xiang Wei came back too, carrying a bag of apples.
Xu Yeyu tidied up, washed and sliced the apples, and painfully typed “chapter 01” into the document. Time quickly reached nine o’clock.
Having drunk so much Yakult that afternoon, she had no appetite for dinner. Now a little hungry, she ate apples while continuing her stuck writing.
The bathroom water suddenly stopped, and Xiang Wei ran out holding her phone: “You asked me to check if there are any good psychology professors nearby, right?”
Xu Yeyu took a bite of apple: “Yeah?”
“I found one — Professor Lu Yanbai at L University! I heard he’s ridiculously handsome and teaches well,” Xiang Wei pulled at her bath towel, “You wanted to learn about psychology, right? He has a class tomorrow evening; we can audit it. L University is pretty famous.”
Recently, Xu Yeyu was preparing to write a new novella and a new long story. The long story was related to psychology, so she wanted to attend some classes.
The novella was stuck absurdly. As a self-proclaimed “romance grandmaster,” Xu Yeyu was stuck on the romance plot and couldn’t write a single word.
“You can listen to psychology lectures for the long story preparation and maybe get some romance inspiration from the professor, who is said to look like a novel male lead,” Xiang Wei dreamed aloud, “Art comes from life, right? Think like this, your novella problem will be solved.”
Xu Yeyu bit into an apple: “Can he fall in love with me?”
Not providing inspiration for romance was just playing tricks.
Xiang Wei was silent for a few seconds, looked at the clock pointing to ten, and calmly said: “It’s night now. Time to dream.”
“…”
Xu Yeyu didn’t know she had already had a “one-time encounter” with the rumored Professor Lu Yanbai and asked a few more questions.
Xiang Wei just finished answering when her pupils flickered, and she stretched out a trembling finger: “You ate all the apples I bought?!”
Only then did Xu Yeyu realize, a little apologetic: “Sorry, my hand slipped.”
“Your hand slips so precisely,” Xiang Wei scoffed, “These are expensive Red Fuji apples I worked hard to buy, ten yuan per jin!”
“Medium grade,” Xu Yeyu crossed her legs and blinked, “I’ll go to Mount Fuji to pick you some next time.”
Mount Fuji is in Japan, and the relation to Red Fuji apples is — none at all.
Xiang Wei plopped down beside Xu Yeyu and rolled her eyes: “Just hearing ‘Mount Fuji’ makes me want to die.”
The next day, hearing that Lu Yanbai’s class was at 7 PM, Xu Yeyu prepared early and left with Xiang Wei at six, planning to arrive by seven.
Just entering the L University gate, Xu Yeyu took a deep breath and sighed: “I just graduated a few months ago. Why does the school feel so unfamiliar now?”
Xiang Wei: “Because you didn’t attend L University.”
“…”
Xu Yeyu: “If I sulk at you, will you die, babe?”
Xiang Wei waved her wrist: “No, I’m already fifty-five. If you sulk for 500 words more, we’ll be late.”
Fortunately, the two didn’t arrive late. Racing against time, they finally reached the classroom door at 6:58.
Just glancing inside, the full seats shocked Xu Yeyu into silence.
…There’s hardly an empty seat?
Before she could enter, a magnetic deep male voice was already heard inside.
“Today’s class is…”
Xiang Wei leaned on Xu Yeyu’s shoulder: “The class has started?”
Xu Yeyu: “Probably.”
Xiang Wei: “Shouldn’t be. It’s not seven yet. Are professors really so dedicated, starting two minutes early?”
Since class had begun and they weren’t his students, it was awkward to barge in.
Xu Yeyu slowly stood up, her sharp eyes fixed on the tall figure on the podium, unwilling to give in: “I, Xu Yeyu, after a long time, came to the classroom, I will definitely study hard today!”
Lu Yanbai’s voice deepened, “Today’s class is not about psychology, but about life.”