Chapter 54
On the bus, Chi Aibei dozed with his eyes closed, his head bobbing along with the movement of the vehicle. Lin Xiu brought a carton of milk with a straw inserted to his lips. “Open your mouth.”
Chi Aibei opened his mouth and bit onto the straw. The milk in the glass bottle went down at a steady pace…
Last night, it was past 2 AM when he finished his homework. Lin Xiu, afraid he would be too scared to sleep alone, slept with him. The previous two times they shared a bed, Chi Aibei either practiced kung fu in his sleep or burrowed around, but last night he stayed curled up and didn’t move all night. If Lin Xiu guessed correctly, he hadn’t slept a wink.
After finishing the milk, Lin Xiu fed him two small soup dumplings. Chi Aibei was simply too sleepy; when Lin Xiu offered a third, he refused to eat anything more.
Arriving at school, Chi Aibei slumped onto his desk and went silent.
Before the first period started, Lin Xiu called him. “Class is starting.”
Jiang Yu looked at Chi Aibei, who had been sleeping on the desk since arrival, and asked strangely, “Why is he so sleepy? what did you guys do yesterday?”
Chi Aibei suddenly sat up. Jiang Yu jumped. “Are you a zombie rising from the dead?”
Lin Xiu frowned, pressing Chi Aibei back onto the desk. “Keep sleeping.”
Seeing Chi Aibei close his eyes again, Jiang Yu looked at Lin Xiu in bafflement. “Wait, didn’t you just tell him to get up for class? Why are you letting him sleep now?”
Lin Xiu had wanted Chi Aibei to get up for class, but he couldn’t handle Jiang Yu throwing around phrases like “yesterday evening” and “zombie rising from the dead,” specifically poking at topics that shouldn’t be mentioned.
Lin Xiu didn’t know how much Chi Aibei had actually seen yesterday. He didn’t dare ask, and Chi Aibei hadn’t mentioned it. But rather than risking him remembering those bloody images, Lin Xiu preferred letting him sleep.
Lin Xiu draped his own uniform jacket over Chi Aibei. “He’s sleepy. Don’t talk to him.”
Jiang Yu, having his freedom of speech restricted, was somewhat unwilling. “Have you noticed you’re acting more and more like his dad?”
Lin Xiu looked at Chi Aibei, who had fallen asleep again, and thought, That’s impossible. How could I mess up the hierarchy like that?
Lin Yang’s smile had turned eerie from the moment Lin Xiu covered Chi Aibei with the jacket. Hearing Jiang Yu’s words, he finally couldn’t hold back. “One look and I can tell you have no experience. How is that like his dad? He’s clearly acting like his boyfriend.”
Lin Xiu glanced at Lin Yang. “You have a lot of experience?”
Jiang Yu frowned at Lin Xiu. At a time like this, shouldn’t he be refuting the boyfriend comment or calling Lin Yang crazy? Yet he actually asked if Lin Yang had experience—wasn’t that a bit off?
Lin Yang clasped his hands smugly. “This humble one isn’t talented, but I almost dated in second year of middle school. Later I found out the girl had a boyfriend, so I had no choice but to painfully withdraw.”
Lin Xiu looked at him numbly. “That’s not called withdrawing.”
Jiang Yu looked at Lin Yang in shock. This guy was looking for a partner in middle school?
After the shock, Jiang Yu felt something was wrong. “If I understand correctly, you were the other man?”
Lin Xiu: “And just a candidate for the other man at that. I don’t want to absorb that kind of experience. You may step down.”
Lin ‘The Other Man’ Yang: “…”
…
Although Chi Aibei attended evening self-study sporadically, whenever he came, he definitely worked on his papers seriously. But today, Chi Aibei’s attention wasn’t on the papers. He was frowning and looking at the person sitting in the back row.
Jiang Yu stopped halfway through explaining a problem, realizing Chi Aibei wasn’t listening. He tapped him with a pen. “What are you looking at?”
Chi Aibei furrowed his brows. “Why is he here?”
Jiang Yu followed his gaze, then looked back at Chi Aibei. “You mean He Chenjiang? He’s been here for several days, and you just noticed?”
Chi Aibei looked at Jiang Yu in shock. “What is he doing here?”
Jiang Yu was also shocked. Could a living person really have such little presence? He said, “He stayed for evening self-study starting the day your exam results came out. You didn’t know?”
Chi Aibei didn’t know. If he knew, he wouldn’t be this surprised now.
Seeing his blank look, Jiang Yu was a bit speechless.
Thinking about it, it made sense. Those few days coincided with Lin Xiu being angry and ignoring him. The little fool’s attention was entirely focused on Lin Xiu; where would he find the time to be distracted by anyone else?
Jiang Yu said, “You should spare at least a little of the energy you put on Lin Xiu to care about other things.”
Chi Aibei: “That’s not really necessary.”
If something was important, he would notice it even without distraction. As for things he didn’t notice, that meant they weren’t important. Chi Aibei didn’t want to waste that mental energy.
Thinking about how Lin Xiu’s attitude toward Chi Aibei had changed over the last two days, Jiang Yu asked curiously, “By the way, how did you coax Lin Xiu back to normal?”
Chi Aibei puffed up with pride at this topic. “Probably relied on my personal charisma.”
Just as he finished speaking, Chi Aibei saw Jiang Yu’s eyes shift to point behind him. Chi Aibei turned around and saw He Chenjiang, who had been sitting in the back row just a moment ago, now walking toward him.
He Chenjiang: “Where did you go last night?”
He Chenjiang had also found out Chi Aibei was attending evening self-study after the results came out. He had stayed behind every night for the past few days, and Chi Aibei was indeed there—but yesterday, he hadn’t come.
“None of your business.” Chi Aibei turned back and continued writing his paper.
He Chenjiang glanced at his paper. He was truly writing, doing every question earnestly. The day the exam results came out, He Chenjiang was more surprised than anyone. But seeing Chi Aibei’s clean handwriting now, He Chenjiang realized he truly knew how to do it.
A universally known fool could do problems even he couldn’t do. He Chenjiang’s sense of defeat came less from discovering he was inferior to Chi Aibei, and more from regret over his misjudgment.
He Chenjiang rarely regretted things, but since he did, he would try to salvage it. “I said last time, come to my house.”
Chi Aibei found him annoying. “I said I’m not going.”
He Chenjiang: “Tell my mom that yourself.”
Chi Aibei: “I won’t.”
While they spoke, Chi Aibei never looked up. His disregard made He Chenjiang a bit angry, but he had no strategy left.
In the past, when he ignored Chi Aibei, Chi Aibei would actively cling to him. Now that the roles were reversed, he didn’t know what to do.
Was there any way to make him look at him and listen properly?
He Chenjiang: “Lin Xiu…”
Before the last syllable dropped, Chi Aibei abruptly lifted his head, glaring at He Chenjiang vigilantly.
He Chenjiang smiled bitterly. Is mentioning Lin Xiu the only way to get his attention now?
Chi Aibei knew he was still targeting Lin Xiu, otherwise, he wouldn’t have come over. “What do you want?”
He Chenjiang didn’t want to do anything, but if he didn’t say something, Chi Aibei probably wouldn’t pay him any mind. “I know his relationship with your family isn’t what your family claims publicly.”
Chi Aibei’s fist hardened…
He Chenjiang’s mother and Chi Mother were close friends. It was understandable for them to mention in private chat that Lin Xiu was sponsored by their family. But hearing this come out of He Chenjiang’s mouth made Chi Aibei extremely unhappy. “Are you threatening me?”
He Chenjiang looked at Chi Aibei… This counts as a threat? He just mentioned Lin Xiu; he didn’t seem to have said anything threatening.
He Chenjiang couldn’t think of a better way to hold his attention. “If you say so, then yes.”
Chi Aibei gritted his teeth. “What exactly do you want?”
He Chenjiang: “Come home with me.”
This request sounded somewhat unrelated to Lin Xiu, but to prevent him from continuing to spout nonsense here, Chi Aibei grabbed his schoolbag and shoved the papers on the desk inside.
Seeing him stand up, Jiang Yu abruptly grabbed him. “Where are you going?”
Chi Aibei didn’t know why He Chenjiang insisted on him going to his house either. He said, “I’m leaving first. If I don’t show up tomorrow morning, remember to call the police for me.”
Jiang Yu: “…”
…
At the school gate, He Chenjiang hailed a taxi. Just as Chi Aibei opened the passenger door, He Chenjiang blocked him. “Sit in the back.”
Chi Aibei thought He Chenjiang wanted the front seat and didn’t fight him for it. However, as soon as he sat in the back, He Chenjiang followed him in.
Chi Aibei: “…” Is he sick?
Chi Aibei scooted himself to the other side, pressed tight against the door. He took out his phone, intending to message Lin Xiu, when he received a photo from Di Zuo.
Compared to Di Zuo, Chi Aibei currently found He Chenjiang more annoying. He clicked on the photo to take a look, only to discover the people in the photo were Chi Wendong and Lin Xiu.
The photo was taken in a hotel private room. At a round table, Lin Xiu sat beside Chi Wendong like an adult, flanked by several middle-aged men. Lin Xiu wasn’t looking at the camera; he likely hadn’t noticed Di Zuo taking a sneak shot.
A moment later, Di Zuo sent another message: [Why didn’t your brother bring you?]
Chi Aibei didn’t know Lin Xiu’s relationship with Chi Wendong had become so good that Chi Wendong would actually take him to business dinners. Things really were developing in directions he hadn’t expected.
But that was good. At least with Chi Wendong, he wouldn’t be in danger.
Just as Chi Aibei was about to reply to Di Zuo, he heard He Chenjiang suddenly ask, “You like Lin Xiu a lot?”
Chi Aibei typed as he spoke, “I like him. Is that not allowed?”
He Chenjiang wanted to ask, “Do you like him as much as you liked me back then?” But seeing Chi Aibei not even lifting his head, preferring to play on his phone rather than look at him, He Chenjiang suddenly felt it was ironic. Had the little fool ever really liked him?
He Chenjiang couldn’t help asking, “Who are you chatting with?”
Chi Aibei’s fingertips paused. He deliberately held the phone up to show him. “Di Zuo Gege.”
The name Di Zuo predictably agitated He Chenjiang, not to mention the “Gege” added at the end. He grabbed Chi Aibei’s hand holding the phone. “Chi Aibei, are you trying to piss me off on purpose?”
First Qi Yuan, now Di Zuo. He clearly knew He Chenjiang had bad relations with them!
Chi Aibei winced from the grip, frowning and struggling to pull back. Before he could break free, He Chenjiang saw Di Zuo reply: [Why didn’t you reply to the messages I sent before? Baby, be my partner, okay? Brother will definitely treat you better than someone named He.]
He Chenjiang looked at Chi Aibei. “He’s chasing you?”
Chi Aibei yanked his hand out of He Chenjiang’s grip with force. He looked at the message, speechless.
Not a single normal person among them!
Chi Aibei’s wrist hurt from the twist, and his mood was terrible. “I don’t know.”
He Chenjiang pointed at his phone. “He’s already being this obvious.”
Chi Aibei didn’t know what he was getting so worked up about. He threw the phone into his schoolbag. “So what if he is? What does it have to do with you?”
Indeed, what did it have to do with him? When the little fool belonged to him, he didn’t want him. Now that the little fool was being pursued by others, what right did he have to interfere?
He Chenjiang looked at Chi Aibei and finally asked the question he had wanted to ask all along. “Were you pretending to be stupid all this time?”
He Chenjiang, who had just been aggressively questioning Chi Aibei, suddenly became downcast, looking as if he had been betrayed. Chi Aibei stared, stunned.
He Chenjiang: “Did you look down on me that much? Just to make me dislike you, just so our parents wouldn’t matchmake us, you’d rather pretend to be a fool? And to pretend for so many years… I don’t know if I should call you scheming or praise your perseverance.”
Chi Aibei: “…”
Uh, no, is your imagination that vivid?
Chi Aibei hadn’t expected the story could be spun like this. Learned something new, truly learned something new! It just so happened he didn’t know how to explain why he suddenly wasn’t stupid anymore. Such a good excuse—it would be unkind of him not to use it.
Chi Aibei: “You’re right. I was faking it.”
He Chenjiang looked at him. “Then why stop faking now?”
Chi Aibei said with perfect logic, “Because it’s almost the third year of high school. If I keep faking, how will I get into university?”
Thinking of his exam results last time, He Chenjiang laughed self-deprecatingly. It turned out the only person lacking ambition from start to finish was him. Even Chi Aibei knew to study secretly while playing the fool to get into university in the future, while he only wanted to find a smart person to help him manage the company.
No wonder he was looked down upon. Who would like a piece of trash?
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