Chapter 110: Wanting to Continue, Wanting to Go Further part 1
A brief silence fell over the room.
With a crisp smack, Shi Ye slapped the back of Li Ao’s head.
Li Ao kowtowed to the half-dead phone, finally managed to sit up straight, stayed silent, and then turned around to grapple with Shi Ye.
Fists collided with a dull thudding sound. Li Ao was clearly outmatched; he sucked in a sharp breath after taking a hit—it actually hurt.
Zhou Xie didn’t join the fray. He turned sideways to explain to Wen Rong, “I thought I broke your phone, so I asked Li Ao if he could recover the data.”
And so, Li Ao learned what had happened that day.
Wen Rong realized this needed a permanent solution. He let out a breath. “Shi Ye got physical with you too. Let’s just pretend what happened that day never happened.”
“Never happened?”
Zhou Xie seemed to have more to say, but Li Ao interrupted with a scream. “Cousin! Help me, I can’t beat him!”
Zhou Xie reached out, not to hit Shi Ye, but to pat Li Ao’s head. “Keep it down.”
Li Ao followed the advice immediately. “Cousin, save me, I really can’t beat him.”
Zhou Xie, always one to let others do the dirty work, turned to shout at Wen Rong. “Save him, or you’ll be sleeping with four people in your dorm tonight.”
Wen Rong knew exactly how to handle Shi Ye. “Shi Ye, I asked him to come here to help open a very important file. Do you want to investigate it together?”
Shi Ye stopped. He took a punch from Li Ao but ignored it, simply asking Wen Rong, “What file?”
Wen Rong recounted his conversation with the woman to Shi Ye.
incidentally, Li Ao finally understood why he had braved the risk of becoming a scandalous boyfriend to come here.
Although he found it baffling that Wen Rong would trust a stranger yet suspect them of sending a virus, he did his job dutifully, carefully extracting the contents of the compressed file.
The whole process reminded him of a certain restaurant in Zone 1. To eat an egg there, you were given five tools: one specifically to hold the egg, two for cutting, one to confirm the opening, and one to vibrate and shatter the shell. This ensured the shell cracked in a smooth, regular pattern. Finally, once the egg was open, you sprinkled pepper and cheese, inserted a special knife and fork, and dug out a small spoonful… of egg white and yolk.
Watching someone eat an egg like that left one speechless. It felt like they had nothing better to do than invent useless rituals to increase the hassle.
That was exactly how Li Ao felt when he finally right-clicked to open the compressed file after a flurry of operations.
“Alright, she didn’t lie to you. She just simply compressed the photos into a file.”
As soon as he spoke, several blurry photos spread across the computer screen.
The mouse paused for a long time before the automated system recognized the owner had left, and the cursor vanished from the desktop.
“Night shots of the Outer District? An old camera version?” Li Ao was speechless.
Zhou Xie asked, “Can you clarify the photos?”
“I can, but these photos are too dark. Processing them will take some time. Why don’t you three go to sleep first while I work on it?”
All three of them looked at the single bed in unison.
Zhou Xie nudged Shi Ye with ambiguous intent. “Why didn’t you compensate him with a bigger bed back then?”
It was a reference to the paint-splashing incident at the start of the school year.
Shi Ye choked. “Fuck! Shut up.”
Wen Rong put an end to the brewing fight. “How about everyone goes back for tonight?”
Shi Ye: “…Mn.”
Zhou Xie: “Mn.”
Li Ao: “Okay, okay, okay, okay.”
Approaching midnight, the lights in the dorm corridor went out. A door opened, and three tall figures filed out.
None of them looked particularly happy. They stood frozen for a few seconds until someone muttered, “Let’s go,” and turned around.
No goodbyes, no pleasantries. Silent as four mutes.
Wen Rong slowly closed the door, the rectangular beam of light on the floor narrowing.
Suddenly, the light was blocked. A hand braced against the door frame.
Wen Rong was stunned for a moment. In the next second, Shi Ye swiftly pressed against him, pushing inside.
Click.
The door closed softly.
It still made some noise. Li Ao looked back to see the missing Shi Ye and the tightly shut dorm door. He tilted his head and asked his cousin, “What is he doing?”
Zhou Xie paused for a few seconds, then turned his head and said coldly, “Let’s go.”
The two went downstairs one after another. The doors to the two adjacent rooms pushed open, and two heads popped out almost simultaneously. Seeing each other, they weren’t surprised but whispered in hushed tones.
“Gone?”
“Who came to see my male god?”
“Wait, let me check the main gate…”
A few seconds later, an excited voice rang out. “Damn! The Dealer and Li Ao.”
The other replied, “Why did they come to find my male god so late?”
“Could it be a nighttime intrusion to cook the rice while it’s raw?”
“The two brothers together?”
“Mn. Brothers gaifan (Rice Bowl).”
“Isn’t that a bit too inconsiderate of my male god’s body?”
Floriman Academy had stood for many years. While there were many new buildings, the dormitories were often full and rarely renovated. The soundproofing was just as bad as it had been a hundred years ago.
Wen Rong could hear the voices just by leaning the back of his head against the door, but he had no time to worry about those increasingly outrageous speculations.
Shi Ye deliberately bent down, his broad shoulders pressing downward, locking eyes with him.
In those resentful eyes, there was a clear intention to settle the score.
Sure enough, the next second he asked, “Why did you call him and not me?”
Hot breath sprayed onto his face. Wen Rong was too experienced; he had a premonition that something was about to happen.
He thought for a moment and said, “I originally looked for Senior Lin Qizheng, but he didn’t have time, so I thought of Li Ao. But I’m not close with Li Ao, so I asked for his help through Zhou Xie.”
“Mn, very logical.” Shi Ye approved, but abruptly lowered his head to press his forehead against Wen Rong’s.
“Do you have anything you want to tell me?”
“No.”
“Or is there something you want me to say to you?”
“…”
Shi Ye kept his mouth shut. His slightly heavy breathing evened out, slowly, slowly becoming tranquil.
Their warm breaths entangled, baking the air. Shi Ye’s head blocked the light, casting a shadow over Wen Rong’s face.
Then, Wen Rong raised his arms and wrapped them around Shi Ye’s neck.
Like a signal, Shi Ye moved instantly, but the kiss landed on his chin.
Wen Rong tilted his face up, looking at him with lowered eyelids. His eyelashes fluttered, almost covering the light in his pupils.
“Don’t be awkward. You haven’t said it yet.”
“…”
“While you organize your words, can you let me check the Black Pigeon Forum first? I suspect there’s a new scandal.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Why say sorry all of a sudden?”
“The paint incident.”
“Didn’t I forgive you for those past events a long time ago?”
“Mn. But I just really wanted to apologize to you again.”
Shi Ye added, “You forgive too easily. You don’t hold a grudge at all, which makes me a little sad.”
Wen Rong found it amusing. “Then should I not forgive you?”
“So you’ve completely forgiven Zhou Xie?”
So this was what Shi Ye actually wanted to talk about.
Wen Rong nodded. “…Mn.”
“Why forgive him?”
“Because you already vented my anger for me. You ruined his reputation and made everyone think he knelt and begged me.”
Shi Ye’s tense expression relaxed slightly. “He got off too easy.”
“A little bit.”
“Don’t get too close to him.”
Wen Rong grasped a bit of Shi Ye’s mindset. “Actually, I’m closer to you. With him, it’s more like colleagues.”
“Just ordinary colleagues?”
“I only get along with him for the sake of you and Senior Leon, since you grew up together.”
“Really?”
“Mn.”
He wasn’t lying to Shi Ye. The reason Wen Rong got along peacefully with Zhou Xie was largely due to Senior Leon and Shi Ye.
But recalling the conversation with Shi Ye, he suddenly felt like a scumbag sweet-talking a little girl.
“Come on, give me a kiss.”
He tried to dilute this scumbag feeling and give Shi Ye some reward for the current atmosphere.
Shi Ye was stunned for half a second, then lowered his head to kiss him gently, leaving behind a “You’re so good.”
“Why say I’m good all of a sudden?”
“Just very good. It makes me very happy.”
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