Chapter 38: He’s Jealous
You believe whatever Leon says?!
Shi Ye’s brain throbbed with pain. He banged his forehead against the glass to force himself to calm down.
Can’t rush, can’t rush.
Wen Rong said he wouldn’t forgive me before, but hasn’t he forgiven me now? If he won’t be my friend today, just try harder.
In sports, impatience is taboo.
Must plan slowly.
Shi Ye grabbed a cup and downed several mouthfuls of water before typing a reply to Wen Rong: [Leon is my friend, you are Leon’s friend. Rounding up, we are also people in the same circle of friends. Contact me directly if you need help with anything in the future.]
Wen Rong: [Thank you!]
The next day, the News Club group chat was unusually silent.
At 9:00 AM, Zhang Jincheng notified that there were no club activities today and to arrange their own schedules. Lin Qizheng and Zhang Lin replied mechanically with “Received.”
Wen Rong tapped on Zhang Lin and Lin Qizheng’s avatars several times—typing, deleting, typing, deleting—and finally put down the phone helplessly.
Neither Zhang Lin nor Lin Qizheng mentioned the President’s matter last night. In the silence, Wen Rong vaguely realized he shouldn’t speak recklessly either.
But he also felt that when a friend was sad, he should do something.
After submitting the homework assigned by the teachers into the Black Pigeon System, Wen Rong packed his things and went to Room 100.
Click.
The moment he pushed the door open, thick smoke choked Wen Rong’s eyes, instantly bringing out tears.
Through his watery vision, the small room had turned back into an airtight “garbage station.” The table was messy, covered with leftover takeout boxes.
Zhang Jincheng’s messy head was resting on the table.
Rubbing his eyes, Wen Rong entered and opened the window for ventilation.
Zhang Jincheng didn’t stop him, nor did he get up.
Wen Rong thought he was asleep and wondered if he should cover him with a jacket. Unexpectedly, when he turned to face Zhang Jincheng, he was caught off guard meeting a pair of eyes and jumped.
“Surprised?”
Wen Rong nodded once and awkwardly pulled a chair over to sit.
“Senior, can you share with me what happened to you yesterday?”
These were words Wen Rong racked his brains to come up with. He had few friends before and no one to comfort, so he really had no experience.
“…”
Zhang Jincheng frowned slightly and turned his face the other way.
Wen Rong moved his chair and sat in front of Zhang Jincheng.
Zhang Jincheng: “…”
Zhang Jincheng turned his face again.
This time Wen Rong didn’t move the chair but moved a new chair to sit in front of Zhang Jincheng again.
Zhang Jincheng sat up. “Are you annoying or what? Don’t need you to care.”
“Senior, you are my boss, I am the youngest. If there’s anything you need me to do, I’ll do it.”
“Nothing for you to do. Go back to the dorm and sleep.”
“But I think you need help right now.”
Zhang Jincheng was irritable. “Can you have some boundaries? My business has nothing to do with you.”
Wen Rong fell silent.
His handsome features were indifferent and ignorant, but his extremely light eyes shone terribly bright, flickering with platinum light—perhaps because he opened the window just now, perhaps because he was sitting in the sunlight.
He had a strange temperament. Not exactly resentful, not exactly well-behaved, just stubborn. Staring at him for too long inexplicably produced a sense of guilt.
Realizing he had spoken harshly, Zhang Jincheng looked away in embarrassment. “Sorry, I didn’t mean that.”
“What are boundaries?”
So you just didn’t understand.
Already in a bad mood, now meeting a fool! Zhang Jincheng’s anger surged. “It means don’t mind other people’s business, don’t pry into others’ privacy. Like you cleaning Room 100 and ironing my clothes—these behaviors lack boundaries.”
Wen Rong: “…”
“Not everyone likes the things you do. It’s actually really annoying.”
“…”
“Why aren’t you talking?”
Wen Rong tilted his head. His eyelashes fluttered, casting dense shadows on his cheeks. “Senior, I don’t know how to comfort people. If cursing helps you, then curse me a few times.”
Zhang Jincheng punched cotton. Even angrier!
“Won’t you get angry if I curse you?”
“As long as you don’t beat me up.”
“…”
“I don’t want you to drop out. I want our club to always be neat and complete, so I decided to do something. Maybe it lacks boundaries, really sorry, but if it made you angry, you can curse me. I’m willing to bear the consequences.”
“…”
This…
Doesn’t this make him look narrow-minded, unreasonable, and unappreciative?
Zhang Jincheng thought about it carefully; it really seemed that way. So he sighed, got up to close the door and window, came back, and sat down again. “Wen Rong, have you ever failed?”
“What counts as failure?”
“Not getting what you want, not being able to do what you want to do.”
“Then I have many failures. I couldn’t beat the people who bullied me before.”
Zhang Jincheng’s heart took a heavy blow. “Bes… besides that?”
“I wanted them to stop beating me or get punished, but I didn’t succeed when finding teachers or police. That counts as failure, right?”
“Can you not mention you being bullied? Senior’s conscience is a bit uneasy now.”
“Oh, oh. Then when I was at the welfare institute, clothes, food, beds… I couldn’t grab them faster than others. That seems like failure too.”
Zhang Jincheng wiped his hair. “Is there nothing else besides these? Like losing something.”
“I lost my mom and dad when I was very little?”
Zhang Jincheng pounded his chest. “Besides mom and dad.”
Wen Rong couldn’t figure out why the Senior kept asking these questions. He could only guess the Senior was in a bad mood and wanted to chat, so he thought hard about the Senior’s questions.
After thinking for several seconds, the sound of leaves falling to the ground last night popped into his mind. He said with surprise, “Does being sent back to the welfare institute by foster parents count? I could have had parents, but the older brother in that family didn’t like me, so they sent me back. Does this count as losing?”
“…”
“Can you stop talking about these tragic things? Have you never lost anything specific? Like toys.”
“But I didn’t have toys.”
“…”
Zhang Jincheng had intended to use the topic of failure to lead into telling Wen Rong about his own experience of failure. But hearing Wen Rong’s “failures,” Zhang Jincheng couldn’t help thinking: What am I?
Wen Rong: “Senior, why are we talking about me?”
Zhang Jincheng: “…”
“You can say a bit about your matter. I’m listening seriously.”
What can I say?!
Zhang Jincheng didn’t know how to start.
Say that he grew up with no worries about food or clothing, pampered by parents, lived smoothly as a young master until eighteen, only to have a breakdown now just because he met someone with higher talent than him at Floriman Academy?
Compared to Wen Rong, he was a coward.
Click.
Fortunately, when things got awkward for Zhang Jincheng due to Wen Rong’s questions, the door to Room 100 was pushed open.
A tall figure almost blocked the entire doorway.
The boy entered pinching his nose. Seeing Wen Rong sitting very close to Zhang Jincheng, his brow bone protruded in a frown.
Zhang Jincheng froze, thinking, What is he doing here?
Shi Ye’s voice rose high. “Are you teaching him to smoke?”
Wen Rong asked Zhang Jincheng’s question. “Why are you here?”
“Come…” Shi Ye stopped himself. His gaze swept around Room 100 and finally landed on Zhang Jincheng. “Come to care about the Senior who committed arson.”
“Oh, oh. Are you here to help the Senior too?”
Shi Ye looked at Zhang Jincheng’s knees, which were almost touching Wen Rong’s, and nodded against his conscience. “Mm.”
Zhang Jincheng: “?”
Shi Ye closed the door behind him, reached out to pull Wen Rong’s chair into the shade, sat down opposite Zhang Jincheng himself, and continued to speak against his conscience, “My mother used to be a loyal client of Senior Zhang Jincheng’s mother. I came to continue the mothers’ friendship.”
Zhang Jincheng: ?
How come I didn’t know your mom was my mom’s loyal client?
Wen Rong nodded naively and vigorously. “So you have such a connection.”
Zhang Jincheng: “…”
Absolutely not!
Shi Ye: “Senior, speak. What’s with the arson?”
Zhang Jincheng wasn’t a real fool. Anyone could see Shi Ye’s attitude last night. No need to guess; he definitely didn’t come for him, and asking these questions wasn’t sincere either.
“Nothing. Since you’re here, take Wen Rong away quickly. He’s annoying as hell.”
Shi Ye was resolute. “Did you set the fire? The forum says the finished clothes inside were burned. Besides the new products for the exhibition, there were some prepared to be sent to clients. The loss is estimated at nearly three hundred million.”
Zhang Jincheng: “Yes, yes, yes. Satisfied? Can you take Wen Rong out?”
“So, is it true that Wang Allen said you were jealous of his talent and wanted to destroy his autumn/winter fashion show?”
Zhang Jincheng froze. “I’m jealous of him…”
“So you are really jealous of him?”
“My ass.”
Shi Ye lowered his eyelids. “Senior, can you finish your sentence in one go next time?”
“I was just upset that he took the mulberry silk I applied for from the Student Council. I went to argue with him and ask for the stuff back.”
“And then?”
“He wouldn’t return it. We argued a bit. In a fit of anger, I kicked over the decorative aromatherapy at the door.”
Shi Ye: “Was there anyone inside when you left?”
“The police said after I left, he took everyone out for dinner because he was in a bad mood. This incident was an accident; it’ll be handled leniently. I pay money, take a Yellow Card, end of story. So I said there’s no need to care—”
Before he finished, behind Shi Ye, Wen Rong suddenly raised his hand like a kindergarten kid.
Zhang Jincheng was speechless. “Youngest, just say it if you have something. No need to raise your hand to ask if you can ask.”
“Senior, are you talking about that Wang Allen who has dried-up inspiration and can’t design anything?”
Zhang Jincheng: “?”
Shi Ye: “?”
Both turned around. Wen Rong’s eyes were ignorant. “When I read Zhao Zeryang’s posts before, I happened to see a post by Wang Allen saying he was under great pressure because he couldn’t design anything and had no inspiration. He wanted to burn everything before the exhibition to have an excuse not to hold it.”
Zhang Jincheng leaned forward. “You really saw it?”
Wen Rong nodded.
Shi Ye scoffed. “Why do these people say everything on the forum?”
Wen Rong nodded vigorously. “Mm-hm, I think it’s very strange too.”
“So that’s how it is!”
Zhang Jincheng got up excitedly. Due to excessive excitement, he reached over Shi Ye and gave Wen Rong a big hug. “Youngest, thank you, thank you! You really helped me.”
Wen Rong: “Huh?”
Shi Ye reacted in time and quickly reached out to pry Zhang Jincheng off.
Zhang Jincheng didn’t notice. He immediately grabbed his clothes, putting them on as he walked out. “Youngest, I’m going out for a bit. Invite Number Two and Number Three; I’ll treat you guys to dinner tonight.”
“Oh, oh.” Wen Rong didn’t understand the situation, but seeing the emotion on Zhang Jincheng’s face was truly happy, he took out his phone to send a message in the group.
A knuckle-defined hand suddenly blocked the screen.
Wen Rong looked up and saw the anger on Shi Ye’s face illuminated very clearly by the sunlight.
The Senior is in a good mood, why is he not happy?
Wen Rong asked curiously, “Is something wrong?”
“I…”
Shi Ye wanted to say Why did you let Zhang Jincheng hug you, but he wasn’t brainless to that extent. He knew clearly that the current him had no standing to tell Wen Rong to do anything.
But his heart was very uncomfortable. Leon could be so close to Wen Rong, Zhang Jincheng could hug Wen Rong, and Wen Rong was even very happy.
“Huh?”
Shi Ye said sullenly, “I helped too. Why not treat me?”
“…” Wen Rong scratched his head. “Maybe the Senior plans to treat you alone? You are more familiar with him, not familiar with us.”
What?!
The phrase “not familiar with us” almost split Shi Ye on the spot.
Fck!*
Fck!*
You guys, you guys!
You say “us three” aren’t familiar with me, actually it’s YOU who aren’t familiar with me.
Shi Ye knew he had no status in Wen Rong’s eyes, but he didn’t expect it to be this low. Fck!*
He turned around and almost punched the wall, but suddenly remembering he scared Wen Rong behind the sofa last time, he stopped his hand in time and rubbed his hair vigorously.
Calm down.
Calm down.
At least it’s progress compared to “unforgiven.”
Shi Ye took a deep breath. “Where are you eating? I’ll have the butler send you.”
“No need, no need.” Wen Rong shook his head, then suddenly thought of something else. “I remember there’s something I might need to consult you about.”
“Ask.”
Shi Ye suppressed the corners of his mouth, thinking Wen Rong still needs me.
“What is the mulberry silk the Senior mentioned? Why wasn’t it returned after being taken? How can the Senior get it back?”
The smile froze on his face.
Shi Ye realized Wen Rong genuinely cared about Zhang Jincheng.
Except for the one or two sentences Zhang Jincheng mentioned just now, no one noticed that the cause of this incident was Wang Allen snatching Zhang Jincheng’s stuff. Even Zhang Jincheng running out just now was because he caught Wang Allen’s handle.
Only Wen Rong remembered Zhang Jincheng needed that mulberry silk.
A stifled feeling surged from his heart and blocked his throat. Shi Ye found it hard to breathe.
What did Zhang Jincheng do? Just sitting here blaming everyone else, yet Wen Rong comforted him and tried to make him happy.
I searched the whole library early in the morning place by place to come here, only to get a “not familiar.”
—He was jealous of Zhang Jincheng.
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