Lend Me Your Shoulder - Chapter 7

Chapter 7: Borrow Seven Times

It had been too long since she got a response, so Xu Yeyu felt a bit awkward showing off her glittery gold pen.

She shrank her neck slightly, her pupils flickering.

“Buling buling means, it sparkles,” she added as an explanation.

“I know.”

Looking at his expressionless face, Xu Yeyu licked her lips, “Do you think it’s boring?”

After a few seconds, Lu Yanbai didn’t even lift an eyebrow, and Xu Yeyu thought he was definitely going to scold her for being distracted—

But he parted his lips, expression completely calm: “It’s quite interesting.”

Xu Yeyu: “………………………………”

She sulkily withdrew her hand, putting the pen back into her pencil case, her voice a little muffled: “Forget it, you must think it’s very boring.”

Lu Yanbai nodded inwardly but shook his head lightly on the surface: “Not boring.”

Xu Yeyu looked into his eyes, her gaze sliding down his cheek, her eyelids lowered, and she puffed out her lower lip.

“You’ve never coaxed a girl before, right?”

This guy doesn’t even know how to lie convincingly.

Seeing her somewhat defeated yet cute expression, for some reason Lu Yanbai felt like laughing.

Whether intentional or not, seriously saying something she wouldn’t believe, then watching her see through it, was actually a way to lighten the dull classroom atmosphere.

Extra tutoring was too boring; occasionally it needed some liveliness.

“Then forget it. After all, it’s your book. If you don’t like it, I won’t draw on it and dirty your book,” Xu Yeyu moved the pen farther away, “I’ll put it over here so I don’t accidentally use it.”

She pressed down on the book: “Alright, let’s get started.”

Because the reference book she ordered hadn’t arrived yet, they were using Lu Yanbai’s book during this time, and notes and markings were also made in his book.

Lu Yanbai handed her a highlighter: “Use this one, it’s pretty good.”

She shook her head almost like a whirlwind, afraid to cause him trouble: “No, no, I’m fine, I can take notes with others too. It’s just that…”

Just that when she saw something new, she wanted to share this interesting and novel experience with him.

Lu Yanbai didn’t say anything else. When organizing the next knowledge points, he directly used the pen she bought to mark.

The man’s nails were neatly trimmed, his finger joints distinct, and the moons on his fingernails were the curves she admired.

Watching him decisively draw, pulling out a long strip of marks, the gold powder followed the movement of his fingers, obediently and fragmentedly flickering, then stopped with a deep-colored rest mark at the end.

He explained the knowledge point in a simple way, then looked at Xu Yeyu.

“Daydreaming?”

Xu Yeyu withdrew her gaze from his hand, and from the “stunning” thoughts in her mind, honestly said, “No, I’m thinking about the knowledge point.”

“Then tell me, what did I just say?”

She repeated what he just said, with a few words different but the overall meaning the same.

At the end, she smiled a little proudly: “Right?”

Lu Yanbai nodded: “Then what about yesterday’s part? Anything you don’t understand?”

“……”

Since that accident, he always felt she didn’t understand some parts and was too shy to speak up. He worried she was struggling but hesitant to say.

“I understood it, really,” Xu Yeyu even raised three fingers to swear, “If I don’t understand, I’ll tell you.”

The man didn’t confirm or deny, took a workbook from the drawer, and circled a few questions for her: “Then do these first.”

“You just don’t believe I understood,” Xu Yeyu took the workbook, stammering, “Do I look that dumb?”

After finishing those questions, Lu Yanbai corrected them — unsurprisingly, all were correct.

He raised an eyebrow: “You’ve got a pretty good grasp.”

“I told you, you still don’t believe me,” she quietly defended herself, blowing on her bangs, voice even softer, “I’m actually… pretty good.”

Seeing her strong comprehension, good mastery, and ability to apply knowledge flexibly, Lu Yanbai decided not to force-feed theory anymore and switch to a faster method.

“Is that so?” he said lightly while circling the next set of exercises, “How so?”

Afraid that because she knew nothing about psychology, he might think she was just a lazy slacker, Xu Yeyu found a chance to prove herself. She originally planned to boast of her unmatched greatness but ended up saying—

“Well, I can write novels, and my grades are okay.”

…She still wasn’t very good at bragging.

Lu Yanbai: “Grades are okay?”

Seeing his lack of surprise, Xu Yeyu straightened her back: “At least I’m a best-selling author.”

“Hmm,” he nodded, like an elder praising a junior, “Not bad.”

He knew some university students developed side jobs—some writing novels, some drawing comics, some making handmade jewelry and opening shops, some assisting their mentors on projects. While he was pleasantly surprised, he wasn’t shocked.

There were quite a few students at L University who wrote novels, but a best-selling author? So far, he hadn’t met one.

“That’s pretty good, right?” Xu Yeyu quietly accepted the compliment, like someone who’s been through many storms, “Writing isn’t easy.”

“……”

Lu Yanbai paused, still using a senior-to-junior tone, calmly analyzing, “Your family should be happy. Writing is a skill not everyone has.”

Xu Yeyu thought for a moment: “Well, kind of. Although my parents are rather satisfied, it’s not something they treasure deeply. Because my cousin also writes, and he’s pretty good.”

He didn’t expect—her fingers tapping the book’s edge—“Your family has literary genes?”

“No,” Xu Yeyu honestly shook her head, “I started because I had no pocket money back then. When buying magazines, I saw a call for submissions offering 100 to 300 yuan per thousand words. I thought, this is like someone shoving money into my pocket. I wanted to earn some pocket money, and so started down this path of no return.”

How did that saying go? Dreams and goals aren’t the primary productivity; money is.

“……”

“My cousin is purely talented, can’t learn anything, scores ten in math but full marks in essays,” she recalled, “He writes sci-fi and is really good, won many awards, even abroad.”

As for her, she’d been writing off and on since high school. During the summer after graduating high school, she published her first best-selling book, and within two years had several hits.

Though it wasn’t as easy as she initially thought, she at least liked it.

Lu Yanbai glanced at her.

If her cousin was truly that good and often compared at home, the other one might feel pressured or develop some negative feelings of inadequacy.

But from her words, he couldn’t detect any such emotions, indicating her family was probably quite enlightened and supportive, which is why she had such a good personality.

Xu Yeyu noticed Lu Yanbai looking at her and thought he wanted to know more, so she added regretfully, “But he hasn’t written for a long time.”

Lu Yanbai didn’t say anything, just closed his eyelids lightly.

She softly said, “So I’m trying to learn and understand more, hoping to help him get better.”

Also hoping to break through her own bottleneck caused by circumstances.

With a sigh, she thought of her main purpose for coming here.

“Alright, have you circled the questions? I can start now.”

After class, Xu Yeyu went to the supermarket to buy some snacks and Yakult.

She definitely hadn’t finished the 30,000-word novella promised to the editor, stuck awkwardly at 214 words.

It wasn’t that she didn’t want to write, she just couldn’t.

While pushing the cart and throwing Pocky into the basket, her phone vibrated — a message had come.

Opening it, her editor Wanwan sent a music share: “Heard a nice song, you might like it, sharing it with you.”

Xu Yeyu listened; it was a comfortable, relaxed melody.

At first, she thought Wanwan was going to urge her to finish the draft, luckily not, and she relaxed, replying: “Sounds nice!”

Wanwan: “I understand you, right?”

Wanwan: “Then guess, what’s my favorite music?”

This question stumped Xu Yeyu: “What music?”

Wanwan sent a voice message — it was the chat app’s message notification sound.

“My favorite music is the sound you send when you upload your drafts to me, the melody is beautiful and cheers me up all day.”

Xu Yeyu: “………………”

So she was waiting for her all along?

Facing Wanwan’s complex and changing methods of urging her, Xu Yeyu decided to respond in kind: “Do you know what music the male and female leads in my novella like most?”

Wanwan excitedly: “What music!! ‘Nine Sister’??!!!”

Xu Yeyu: “To be honest, I don’t know what music they like.”

Wanwan: “……”

When it was her turn to pay, Xu Yeyu held down the voice key and said while taking items from the cart: “So I think they went to seek the great harmony of life, escaping from my drafts with wild and free souls to find their truest desires, their primal beliefs, and the sounds they love most.”

Wanwan: “……”

Xu Yeyu continued: “And the word count tells me my protagonists are spending an important festival in another world. I can’t just pull them back and lock them in my drafts to create stories.”

Wanwan: “Speak human language, how many words written?”

Xu Yeyu: “214. Valentine’s Day. You must have been moved and melted by their passionate love, right?”

Wanwan: “You’re ruthless!”

Wanwan: “I’m not melted, I’m about to be cremated for not getting the manuscript.”

After this battle of wits, they set a date. Wanwan said she would help organize the thoughts and outline to discuss the next story’s direction to help her write better.

Xu Yeyu sincerely nodded.

Joking aside, Wanwan had been her editor for years and knew very well that if Xu Yeyu hadn’t finished the draft, it was truly because she couldn’t.

She always completed her promised manuscripts with a good reputation.

After shopping, Xu Yeyu took a taxi back to her apartment.

Xiang Wei was lying on the sofa, legs arrogantly propped on the armrest, shaking slightly to the music.

Seeing Xu Yeyu back, she sat up a bit and habitually asked, “How was it?”

Because they hadn’t spoken for a long time, her voice was a bit hoarse.

Xu Yeyu knew Xiang Wei was asking about the tutoring. She thought for a moment and said, “Made a lot of progress.”

Xiang Wei sat up quickly, paused her phone’s video, “Really?! What did you guys do?!”

Xu Yeyu smiled shyly: “He held the pen I held before, so it counts as an indirect hand-holding.”

“……”

Xiang Wei curled her lips, imitating her rounding: “If he ate sweet and sour pork at noon and you ate it too, does that count as an indirect kiss?”

Xu Yeyu paused, then suddenly enlightened, nodding enthusiastically: “Good idea.”

Xiang Wei almost rolled her eyes to the sky.

“By the way, I got you a package when I came back, it’s on the table.”

“My package?” Xu Yeyu asked, “Has the reference book arrived?”

“No, it’s very thin,” Xiang Wei lay on the sofa, “Check it out.”

“I haven’t bought anything besides the reference book, what is it?”

Xu Yeyu walked to the table, picked up the envelope and looked, weighing it in her hand.

Inside was something very thin and light. The delivery note was printed in neat black font with her pen name—

“Shi Ye Xixi” as recipient.