Chapter 111
A FTER HE’D MOVED AWAY from Wang Xu and Zhou Jing, the two people he needed to dispose of in a dark alley, Jiang Cheng hadn’t expected to run into another person who needed to be permanently silenced in a place as far away as this—especially not someone he was only speaking to for the second time.
Since Zhao Ke had been holding out his phone so Jiang Cheng could scan his QR code, the two of them were standing close to each other.
At this distance, even someone nearsighted like Gu Fei would be able to see his phone clear as day without glasses; the full-sized pictures on his lock screen and home screen were so in-your-face that Zhao Ke had to have noticed, even if he hadn’t wanted to look.
At that moment, Jiang Cheng wasn’t sure whether he should say something or just go ahead and open his WeChat app like nothing had happened.
But perhaps seeing all these pictures of Gu Fei in a row had reawakened his longing; he couldn’t quite hold himself back.
“This is my…”
This is my boyfriend—a very handsome, adorable, and composed young man.
But the fourth word got stuck in his throat.
He was in an unfamiliar environment, face-to-face with his roommate who was still practically a stranger.
He didn’t know anything about this guy’s character, or if he was tolerant of things like this…
Even if he was, just recklessly throwing the word “boyfriend” around like that would make Jiang Cheng look like an oblivious dork desperate to flaunt his romance to the world.
“Friend from school?” Zhao Ke offered, in lieu of an awkward pause.
That was technically true, but the idea of referring to Gu Fei as simply a friend from school behind his back was unacceptable to Jiang Cheng.
“Buddy?” Zhao Ke continued offering up words. “Hero? Idol?”
In the brief moment when Jiang Cheng’s brain had stopped working, Zhao Ke quickly tossed out several different answers for him to choose from.
At that moment, Jiang Cheng was sincerely grateful for Zhao Ke’s ability to read the room.
He realized that if he hadn’t started the sentence, Zhao Ke definitely wouldn’t have asked about it.
“This is my boyfriend,” said Jiang Cheng.
As he said those words out loud, Jiang Cheng felt a sense of ease spread all throughout his body.
To hell with the consequences. If he said it now, he wouldn’t have to keep hiding it—especially considering the two of them would be rooming together for the next few years.
“Oh,” Zhao Ke replied. “The guy who came here with you yesterday, right?”
“Mm-hm.” Jiang Cheng nodded. Zhao Ke sounded calm enough, but his expression betrayed his surprise.
Jiang Cheng cleared his throat. “Sorry, if you mind…”
“I can’t say I’m totally cool with it,” said Zhao Ke. Jiang Cheng’s heart skipped a beat, and he got ready to turn around and head back to their dorm. “But I don’t care that much either way,” said Zhao Ke. “It’s none of my business.”
“Oh.” Jiang Cheng looked at him.
“Here, scan mine.” Zhao Ke cut the subject off decisively. He swiped a few times on his own phone before holding the screen out to Jiang Cheng. “Do you want a campus guide someone made? I can send it to you.”
“Sure.” Jiang Cheng scanned the code and added Zhao Ke as a contact.
Zhao Ke’s WeChat display name was simply “Zhao Ke,” which saved Jiang Cheng the trouble of making an alias for him.
Jiang Cheng wanted to tell Gu Fei that he just came out to his roommate under completely unforeseen circumstances, but he didn’t get a chance.
Zhao Ke was like a tour guide—he provided Jiang Cheng with commentary on every structure they came across.
He had something to say about everything, from the featured dishes on the cafeteria’s menu to the history of each building.
He even had some fun facts about how their dormitory had developed into its present state.
Jiang Cheng was impressed. Despite having made his decision to come here back in middle school, he had never been so detail-oriented as to research the architectural composition of the campus.
“It’s like you’ve been here for years,” he said.
“I just read up on it whenever I’m bored and have the time, and I remember what I read,” said Zhao Ke. “The library is up ahead. Wanna check it out?”
“Sure.” Jiang Cheng nodded.
“This library is new. Apparently, it was hard to even find a seat in the old one. You had to line up…” Zhao Ke paused midway through his sentence, looking off ahead.
Jiang Cheng followed his gaze. Ahead of them, some students were walking into the library—quite a lot of them. He wondered who Zhao Ke was looking at.
One of the long-haired girls facing them happened to glance their way as she lifted a hand to brush her hair back. Zhao Ke reacted so quickly, it was as if he’d cast a flash teleportation spell. Before Jiang Cheng knew what was happening, he was already standing behind a tree six feet away.
“Huh?!” Jiang Cheng was left standing frozen in place, floored by Zhao Ke’s speed.
The long-haired girl in front of the library was still looking in their direction. From this distance, it was hard to tell if she could see Zhao Ke behind the tree, though it must’ve been easy enough to see Jiang Cheng standing there stiffly like an idiot.
Holding one hand over her eyes to block the sun, the girl laughed as she waved in their direction.
Jiang Cheng turned to look at Zhao Ke.
Standing sideways against the tree trunk, Zhao Ke exchanged a completely stone-faced look with Jiang Cheng. He acted like a total stranger—a total stranger who’d been inflicted with some kind of paralysis-inducing status condition.
Jiang Cheng had pretty much figured out what was going on. To return the favor to Zhao Ke for respecting his sexual orientation, he steeled himself and waved back at the girl.
She practically doubled over with laughter.
Jiang Cheng powered through the awkwardness and stayed rooted to the spot until the girl had walked into the library, still laughing. Then he turned to Zhao Ke and said, “She went inside.”
Zhao Ke finally stepped out from behind the tree.
He pulled out his phone and turned right around to walk back the way they came, saying, “So that’s what the library looks like.
We’ll probably be there every day from now on, so no need to go in today.
Let’s go check out coffee shops now. There are quite a few of them… ”
Jiang Cheng had no choice but to follow after him in resignation.
“That was my older sister’s friend from high school,” said Zhao Ke, unprompted.
“…Oh” was all Jiang Cheng could manage.
“She’s in the law program too—first year of grad school.” After a moment, Zhao Ke added, “My goddess.”
“Ah.” Jiang Cheng glanced at him.
“Do you think she saw me just now?” Zhao Ke asked, turning to him.
“Well, she doesn’t know me. Do you think she would’ve waved at me and laughed like that if she didn’t see you?” Jiang Cheng was a little at a loss.
“She was laughing?”
“Mm, quite cheerfully.”
“Really? Very cheerfully?”
“You should know,” Jiang Cheng said, fixing him with a look, “that people usually seem pretty cheerful when they’re laughing at idiots.”
“Good.” Zhao Ke nodded. “Coffee’s on me.”
***
The train station was just like it had always been. Gu Fei followed the stream of people toward the exit as he sent Jiang Cheng a message.
- Just got off the train.
Jiang Cheng’s response came so swiftly, it was almost instantaneous.
- are Li Yan and the others there?
- They’re waiting for me outside. Have you eaten?
- almost done, ate at two different cafeterias
- With Mr. Zhao Ke?
- that’s right, the handsome Mr. Zhao Ke
Gu Fei laughed and sent him a voice message: “What should I do when my boyfriend bullies me?”
“Your boyfriend has something to tell you later,” was Jiang Cheng’s low and mumbled response.
“What is it? Is it something that can’t be said in front of the handsome Mr. Zhao Ke?” Gu Fei spotted Li Yan standing outside the station exit. Gu Miao was crouched next to him on the ground, looking grumpy.
- mm, i just came out to him, i’ll tell you about it later. go eat first
- !!!!!!!???????
Gu Fei was more than a little shocked. It had been less than a day since Jiang Cheng officially moved into his dorm, and he’d already come out to his roommate?! What kind of hyper-modern progressive speed was this?
He was immediately overcome with worry. His boyfriend wasn’t just impulsive, he could also be a little naive at times. If he happened to not get along with this roommate, who knew what might happen with that fiery temper of his…
- it’s fine. it was unexpected, but he doesn’t really have a problem with it. i’m going with him to the supermarket now to buy some stuff, don’t worry
- Mm ok
- kiss me
Gu Fei lifted his phone, turned his face a little toward the wall, and smacked his lips hard against the mic on his phone. He sent that as a voice message to Jiang Cheng.
“Don’t think I don’t know what you’re doing just because you’re facing the wall!” Li Yan was pointing at him from a couple of yards away. “I’ve been watching you!”
Gu Fei ignored him, and bent down and opened his arms.
Gu Miao jumped up from beside Li Yan and dashed toward Gu Fei, dragging her skateboard behind her. As she leapt into his arms, the skateboard knocked hard against his shin.
“Ow.” Gu Fei sucked in a breath and hugged her. “How many times have I told you? Put down whatever’s in your hand first.”
Still holding her skateboard in one arm, Gu Miao turned and started dragging him outside.
“Where’s Liu Fan?” Gu Fei asked Li Yan.
“In the car. There’s nowhere to park,” Li Yan said. “We just stopped at the side of the road, so he had to stay.”
“I see.”
“So, how was it?” Li Yan glanced at him.
Gu Fei shot him a look. “How was what?”
“Jiang Cheng’s…school.”
“It looks the way you’d expect elite universities to look,” Gu Fei said. “Fancy as hell.”
Li Yan started laughing. “All right, then.”