Chapter 87
After preparing for so long, the day of the school anniversary finally arrived. The venue was packed with people.
The first few performances had already warmed up the crowd. After a hot dance ended, the stage suddenly went dark. When the lights came back on, it was accompanied by a series of drum beats, ending with a cymbal crash.
Chi Aibei sat behind the drum set, wearing a simple white shirt, spinning a drumstick in his hand.
The two bassists and the lead singer were already standing on stage.
A string of electronic notes followed, and the drumming started again…
During the song “I Want to Fly,” the lead singer’s voice soared. Combined with the electronic bass and the drum beats hitting everyone’s hearts, the whole audience grew excited.
He Chenjiang sat below the stage, his eyes fixed on Chi Aibei as he played the drums… They’d grown up together, and he’d thought he knew him better than anyone, but the person before him felt so strange?
Looking at Chi Aibei drumming so skillfully—those confident and expert movements couldn’t have been learned in just a few days. Yet, how did he not know he’d learned to play the drums?
He Chenjiang frowned… No, something is definitely wrong. Is he really Chi Aibei?
As Chi Aibei drummed, he searched for Lin Xiu’s figure in the audience. Finally, he saw him in the seat at the very end of the third row. He tossed the drumstick into the air, and after a few spins, it landed steadily back in his hand. Just as the bass ended, he finished with a final flurry of notes.
The cheers from the audience lasted for nearly a minute.
As the performers were taking their bows and preparing to leave the stage, Di Zuo suddenly jumped onto the stage holding a bouquet of flowers.
The bassist let out a “Woah,” and stopped leaving, standing there to watch the drama.
Di Zuo blocked Chi Aibei as he was trying to leave the stage and said loudly, “Chi Aibei, be my boyfriend!”
It was as if Di Zuo had a microphone on him; his voice was so loud the entire audience could hear.
The cheers had just died down, and immediately a wave of catcalls and whistling rose. Chi Aibei frowned and took a step back. “No.”
Di Zuo asked, unwilling to give up, “Why not?”
Chi Aibei: “I have someone I like.”
Di Zuo didn’t believe it. “Who?”
Chi Aibei looked toward the audience. Seeing the empty seat in the third row, Chi Aibei froze—Where did he go?
Seeing him look toward the audience, Di Zuo also followed his gaze and then pressed Chi Aibei: “Tell me, who do you like?”
Chi Aibei glared at Di Zuo. “None of your business!” After saying that, he bypassed him and ran toward the backstage.
When did Lin Xiu leave?
Was he angry?
It was all Di Zuo’s fault—that guy who always ruined things!
Chi Aibei was anxious to find the person. Just as he ran backstage, his vision went dark as he crashed into someone standing in the shadows.
The person he hit let out a hiss and grabbed his shoulders. “What’s the rush? Where are you going?”
Hearing Lin Xiu’s voice, Chi Aibei suddenly looked up.
Lin Xiu was clutching his chest where he’d been hit. He’d moved the flowers in his hand out of the way just in time; otherwise, either the flowers or Chi Aibei’s head would have suffered.
Chi Aibei: “Gege, why did you run here?”
Lin Xiu handed him the flowers—a bouquet of lisianthus and sunflowers. “To give you flowers.”
Before, it was always Chi Aibei giving Lin Xiu flowers. This was the first time he had received any. He took the flowers, the corners of his mouth curling up. “For me?”
Lin Xiu smiled at how easy he was to please. “Congratulations on a successful performance.”
Chi Aibei was about to giggle when his smile suddenly vanished. He asked, “Gege, did you hear anything just now?”
Lin Xiu looked at him. “Hear what?”
Chi Aibei didn’t know when Lin Xiu had arrived, nor did he know if Di Zuo’s loud voice could be heard backstage. Seeing Lin Xiu’s look of confusion, Chi Aibei pursed his lips and shook his head. “No, nothing.”
The stage was so close to the backstage that anything heard in the audience could be heard backstage as well. Di Zuo’s dating style was usually not public and not responsible, but this time he had pursued Chi Aibei in front of so many people.
Lin Xiu looked at Chi Aibei as he fiddled with the flowers, his eyes darkening. “Want to go walk around the other venues?”
The other venues?
Today was the school anniversary; there were people everywhere. Chi Aibei’s eyes darted around as he did the math in his head. “Let’s go!”
Both Chi Aibei and Lin Xiu had thought about being low-key, but Lin Xiu led Chi Aibei around ostentatiously, and Chi Aibei wished he could put the bouquet on his head for everyone to see.
Di Zuo’s confession spread quickly through the school by word of mouth, but what spread even faster was Chi Aibei’s “demonstration.” After rejecting Di Zuo and stating he had someone he liked, he swaggered around the campus with Lin Xiu while holding the flowers. It was hard not to attract attention.
In the evening, taking advantage of Lin Xiu going to take a shower, Zhuang Yuan pulled Chi Aibei to the side and pointed at a photo on the school forum. “Look at this. You’re in the spotlight again today.”
A video of Chi Aibei drumming had been uploaded to a short video app and had gone viral outside the school in just one afternoon. But that wasn’t the most important thing. What was important was Di Zuo publicly confessing to him. Counting the time during military training, this was the second time Di Zuo had publicly shown his affection. Not only did Chi Aibei not accept it, but he’d spent the afternoon walking around with Lin Xiu while holding flowers. Photos of him and Lin Xiu had practically taken over the forum.
Chi Aibei flipped through the photos of himself and Lin Xiu one by one. “These were taken quite well.”
Zhuang Yuan was speechless. “Is that what I’m talking about?”
Chi Aibei handed the phone back to Zhuang Yuan and whispered, “I did it on purpose.”
During the holiday, the school was empty, so not many people saw him going around with Lin Xiu. After school started, they were busy with classes and didn’t have as much time together as during the holiday. Today was the school anniversary, and there were people everywhere—opportunities like this didn’t come every day. Plus, thanks to Di Zuo, the effect was even better than he’d anticipated.
Zhuang Yuan didn’t even know what to say… You? On purpose? The one doing it on purpose is clearly someone else!
It wasn’t that Zhuang Yuan looked down on him, but did he really think he could outsmart Lin Xiu? If Lin Xiu hadn’t intended it as well, would you have been able to drag him around to show off?!
Zhuang Yuan couldn’t be bothered to tell him. Fortunately, these two were thinking along the same lines; otherwise, he was afraid this little fool would be eaten alive while still busy helping the person count the money.
…
At the end of October, a significant drop in temperature caught the dorm residents off guard.
The heating hadn’t started yet, and the air conditioners only worked for cooling. They didn’t even have thick quilts. Lying in bed at night felt like lying in an ice cellar.
Chi Aibei hunched his body, pulling himself entirely into the quilt. After a while, he poked his head out to look at Lin Xiu in the lower bunk. “Gege, are you cold? Do you want me to warm your bed for you?”
Lin Xiu wasn’t actually cold, but he didn’t refuse the suggestion. “Come down.”
Chi Aibei came down from the upper bunk with his quilt and scrambled onto Lin Xiu’s bed. He said while arranging the quilts, “We won’t be cold if we use two quilts.”
Chi Aibei’s cold feet accidentally touched Lin Xiu. Lin Xiu frowned and grabbed his feet directly with his hands. “So cold, and you say you’re warming the bed? You’re about to turn into ice.”
Lin Xiu tucked Chi Aibei into the quilt and sat beside him to warm his feet. Chi Aibei tried to pull his feet back. Lin Xiu looked at him. “Don’t move.”
With his feet in Lin Xiu’s hands, Chi Aibei said embarrassedly while curling his toes, “Gege, I didn’t wash my feet.”
Lin Xiu: “It’s fine. I’ll wash my hands later.”
That wasn’t what Chi Aibei wanted to say. He’d originally come down to show some attentiveness, but instead, he ended up having Lin Xiu warm his feet. Who pursues someone like that?
Chi Aibei let out a sigh.
Lin Xiu laughed. “Why the sigh?”
Chi Aibei looked at him while lying in the narrow bed. “Gege, you’re so good.”
Lin Xiu: “Warming your feet makes me good?”
Chi Aibei: “Even without warming my feet, you’re good.”
Chi Aibei was restless when he slept in the summer, but when it was cold, he didn’t toss and turn. After falling asleep, he kept burrowing into Lin Xiu’s arms for fear of freezing.
When he woke up the next morning, he found himself being held by Lin Xiu. One of his arms and one of his legs were draped over Lin Xiu’s waist and leg respectively. The posture was simply too excessive.
Chi Aibei didn’t know who’d made the first move last night. Looking at the still-asleep Lin Xiu, Chi Aibei not only didn’t move his limbs but even giggled secretly as if he’d gotten a bargain.
Since he’d already taken the advantage, he wasn’t afraid of taking a bit more. Chi Aibei wanted to be a hooligan, but his courage was limited; he only dared to use his fingertips to lightly stroke over Lin Xiu’s clothes.
“Behave.” Lin Xiu’s voice was hoarse as he suddenly grabbed Chi Aibei’s hand that was moving around his waist.
Chi Aibei was startled and quickly closed his eyes, pretending he hadn’t woken up yet.
Lin Xiu never opened his eyes from start to finish. He held Chi Aibei’s hand in his and continued to sleep.
At first, Chi Aibei was happily studying Lin Xiu’s hand until a sudden urge to urinate hit him, making his concentration on Lin Xiu’s hand waver.
He squirmed on the bed, making the bed frame creak and groan.
Zhuang Yuan was woken up by the sound and glanced toward Chi Aibei’s bed. Seeing no one in the upper bunk, he looked down. “What are you two doing? Morning exercise?”
The quilt was bunched up from Chi Aibei’s squirming. From Zhuang Yuan’s perspective, it really didn’t look like an appropriate position. Chi Aibei poked his head out from under the quilt and looked up at Zhuang Yuan. “What exercise? I need to pee.”
Zhuang Yuan: “Then go pee. Why are you squirming like a maggot?”
Chi Aibei wanted to go, but he couldn’t get his hand out.
He suspected Lin Xiu was pretending to sleep; otherwise, who would hold someone so tightly while asleep?
What Chi Aibei didn’t know was that Lin Xiu’s ability to hold someone without letting go while asleep was something he’d developed himself—if he didn’t hold on tight, he might get hit a few times in the middle of the night.
The talking woke Lin Xiu up. He opened his eyes and looked at the pained-looking Chi Aibei. “What are you doing?”
Chi Aibei knelt beside Lin Xiu with his legs clamped together. “Gege, you’re finally awake. If you didn’t wake up soon, I would have wet the bed.”
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