CH 29

The tall figure turns around at the sound of footsteps and when he sees the person, he strides over to help Ye Yao with his backpack.

Ye Yao waved his hand, “No, it’s just a few books, I’ll just memorise them myself.”

Lu Xun didn’t give Ye Yao a chance to refuse and took Ye Yao’s backpack.

Lu Xun slung his backpack over his shoulder, farther away from Ye Yao: “Did it go well? Did the family bully you because you were nice to talk to?”

Ye Yao, who had just beaten up his own student, shook his head as he tried to grab his bag back and said, “They’re all pretty nice to talk to.”

“That’s fine.” Lu Xun put the bag he was carrying on his back in front of him and said in a cupped voice, “What are you doing pulling and tugging on the street?

Ye Yao : “……”

Ye Yao stopped moving with an expressionless face, “Having travelled together for four years, I didn’t know that Brother Lu was a lady’s man, so I’m really surprised.”

When Ye Yao stopped chasing him, Lu Xun automatically came over and bumped Ye Yao’s shoulder: “You have to be responsible for being abusive for so many years, are you still a man?

Ye Yao looked Lu Xun up and down, “So how can I be responsible for this, Lu girl is bigger than me when he pulls out, I might as well be a scumbag.”

Lu Xun laughed a few times, he touched Ye Yao’s shoulder, the evening breeze was cool, he subconsciously wanted to hold Ye Yao’s hand, but suddenly he remembered that Ye Yao did not want to be held by him.

Lu Xun’s hand froze in mid-air for a few seconds, before turning to put his arm around Ye Yao’s shoulder.

It was a common gesture between close friends and no one who passed them in the area looked surprised.

Lu Xun had overcome his annoyance at not seeing Ye Yao for most of the day and his displeasure at not being able to hold Ye Yao’s hand, and reassured himself that it would be nice to come and pick Ye Yao up from work.

This is his privilege, only he can come and pick up Ye Yao.

Thinking of this, Lu Xun put his arm around Ye Yao’s shoulders and lowered his voice, “I’ll pick you up every time from now on, and you can’t let anyone else do it, okay?”

Ye Yao lowered his eyes, the cold, hard keys still in his pocket, representing his chance to get away from Lu Xun.

The conversation is interrupted by the arrival of a taxi, and Lu Xun pushes Ye Yao into the car, forgetting to ask Ye Yao for an answer.

*

Once this make-up session was over, it was time for classes to start again.

Lu Xun once again began his ordeal of being alone in class, thinking about what Ye Yao was doing while listening to the lecture, but he was smart enough to keep up with his studies.

Lu Xun surreptitiously sent Ye Yao a message during class time, and rightly so, he didn’t get a reply. Lu Xun knew this was normal, but he couldn’t help but feel irritated.

Here we go again, living like this.

From Monday to Friday, he has a full schedule of classes and can only talk to Ye Yao face to face during the day at lunchtime. In the evenings, there are occasional electives where he can join Ye Yao, but he can’t speak freely either.

Even on the free evenings when he is not taking electives, Ye Yao has to do his homework and revise his assignments, so he does not want to disturb Ye Yao.

Before, there were weekends, and it was painful to stay up from Monday to Friday, but not unbearable. But now Ye Yao is busy even on weekends.

When this semester is over, will there be less classes next semester?

There really should be a camera on this guy so he can see him every second of the day. Or maybe just tie the person up and strap them to him so they can be touched as soon as they reach out.

He should probably buy Ye Yao a smart bracelet so that whenever he misses Ye Yao, he can connect to the data on the smart bracelet and see Ye Yao’s heartbeat.

Lu Xun thought so and did so, ordering two sports bracelets directly from the shopping platform.

*

The smartband arrived on Friday. Lu Xun collected the delivery after a day of classes and told Ye Yao on WeChat that he had a gift for him with a happy heart.

Ye Yao : [What’s the gift?

Lu Xun sold the story without saying it directly: [You don’t have any other plans tonight, do you, let’s go out to eat? I’ll send you the stuff then.

Ye Yao did not reply immediately, but sent a line after a while: [Are you still in the dorm? I want to talk to you about something.

Is there something you can’t talk about on WeChat or when you go out to eat that you need to talk to him about when he gets back to the hostel?

Lu Xun thinks for a few moments and his face begins to sink.

He didn’t think it could be anything good.

Another message popped up on his phone, sent by Wen Ke from the same dormitory.

[Brother Lu …… Me and Fatty were in the dormitory and saw Ye Yao packing clothes, are you guys planning to move out?

Then why didn’t Ye Yao help Lu Xun with his clothes?

Wen Ke’s doubts were not asked outright, but Lu Xun’s face had darkened to a frightening shade when he saw this and clenched his phone.

Ye Yao had never mentioned to him before that he was moving out.

So that’s what we’re going to talk to him about later?

Lu Xun accelerated his pace towards the dormitory, while trying to think of the good things in his mind.

He had secretly prepared gifts for Ye Yao, and perhaps Ye Yao had also quietly prepared gifts for him at the same time, and rented a house outside to live with him.

The rented house has a large double bed and he can sleep with Ye Yao in his arms every day, just as he did before.

Lu Xun’s face finally looked better as he imagined in his mind all the things that would happen when they moved out. When he reached the dormitory building, he took a big leap and rushed up.

Lu Xun arrives at the door of the hostel.

Lu Xun pushes in the door to meet Ye Yao, who is packing his things.

Ye Yao looks back at Lu Xun when he hears the noise, drops his things and helps Lu Xun with the delivery and the book he is holding, then goes to pack his own clothes.

Lu Xun took a few breaths and controlled himself to ask in a normal voice, ” Is Brother Ye packing his clothes for a business trip?”

“It’s okay to say that.” Ye Yao smiled, “Aren’t I going to be a tutor for the weekend? It’s too far from the school, so that family prepared a room for me nearby so I could stay there for the weekend and save me from having to go back and forth.”

The camouflaged smile on Lu Xun’s lips disappeared and he stared intently at Ye Yao.

“Don’t worry about me, it’s safe there, I’ll be back from my business trip on Sunday night.” Ye Yao looked down and zipped up his backpack, speaking to Lu Xun in his usual tone, “Can I go to dinner with you first tonight? I can come back afterwards.”

Lu Xun did not say anything.

The hostel was quiet.

When Wen Ke and Xiao Pang saw that the mood was not right, they exchanged glances and climbed out of bed, darting away from the battlefield to give the best friends some space to themselves.

The door was thoughtfully closed from the outside by Xiao Pang, so that even the laughter of the other dormitories outside could not be heard.

Lu Xun walked slowly to his wardrobe and said in a raised voice, “I can’t believe this is happening, that family is quite generous. You wait for me for five minutes, I’ll get two sets of clothes.”

Ye Yao raised his eyes, “What are you doing packing your clothes?”

Lu Xun let out a laugh, “Of course I’m going to live with you, you’re asking?”

“But it was someone else’s house. She originally lent me to live alone, but suddenly the single person became a double, which would be very rude to the landlord.” Ye Yao replied.

The atmosphere on the surface is business as usual, but the unseen undercurrents are surging.

“Oh, it’s not polite, it’s quite rude.” Lu Xun was still laughing, “That’s easy, if we don’t live in her house, why don’t you and I rent another room so we can live together?”

Ye Yao looked at Lu Xun and said slowly, “The central business district, Lu Xun, is very expensive to rent.”

Lu Xun stopped laughing and took a few steps to Ye Yao’s face, reached out and cupped Ye Yao’s chin, turning Ye Yao’s face towards him.

Lu Xun is tall, half a head taller than Ye Yao, and at his height, he is very oppressive when he looks at someone like this. Lu Xun’s dark eyes are not smiling, so he looks even more intimidating.

“I don’t think it’s expensive, I have plenty of money, I’ll pay the whole rent.” Lu Xun said in a deep voice, “Isn’t it just a rent? You can just buy a flat.”

The skin on Ye Yao’s chin is a little red from his pinching. Lu Xun eases his hand, looks down at the redness and rubs his thumb over it a few times.

Ye Yao reacted by slapping Lu Xun’s hand away and taking a few steps back.

“What, you don’t want to live with me?” Lu Xun leaned against Ye Yao’s desk, holding Ye Yao’s backpack behind him as he relaxed his expression and said with a wry smile, “Do you still consider me a brother?”

Ye Yao frowned slightly: ” Lu Xun, I’m trying to reason with you, it’s not worth spending such a sum of money for nothing, and it’s not necessary, you can’t waste money like that. Besides, it’s not like I’m not coming back, I’m just staying for two days at the weekend and coming back on Sunday night. It’s not like I’m not coming back, I’m just staying for two days at the weekend and coming back on Sunday nights. We’ll only see each other on Saturdays at all.

Reasoning?

Yes, he acknowledges that Ye Yao has a point, and that seeing ordinary friends six days a week is perfectly adequate.

But they are not ordinary friends.

They are the best of friends.

Who wants to be emotionally reasonable when all he knows is that he and Ye Yao are spending less and less time together and Ye Yao is always giving the best of reasons, but who cares if it’s all reasonable!

Lu Xun was so angry that he walked back and forth through the dormitory twice in annoyance and reached out and kicked his own chair, knocking it right over with a loud snap.

“You’re just going to let me be in the dorm by myself for the weekend.” Lu Xun said grimly, “Yeah right.”

Ye Yao looks at the fallen chair for a moment and walks over to help it up.

“You’re angry, Lu Xun .” Ye Yao bowed his head, his long, slender lashes twitching, “Let me buy you dinner.”

Lu Xun said coldly, “You don’t have to invite me to dinner, you just have to let me go out and live with you.”

“I don’t think it’s appropriate to break you in,” Ye Yao’s voice was soft and insistent, “there’s no need to stick together every day, I’m just going out to work and we can still video when you want to talk to me.”

Ye Yao was standing right next to Lu Xun, who couldn’t stand it any longer and pulled Ye Yao to his feet by the shirt on his chest.

As Lu Xun moves Ye Yao lifts his head and he looks as normal, except for a slight dampness in his eyelashes.

This little bit of wetness is not even noticeable if you don’t look at it, and perhaps Ye Yao himself doesn’t even notice it, but it is like a bucket of ice water that puts out Lu Xun’s anger and calms down his brain.

“Are you going to get mad at me,” Ye Yao said, “you can beat me up if you’re really upset, I won’t fight back.”

“I didn’t lose my temper at you …… I won’t lose my temper at you, let alone move you.” Lu Xun sighed and pushed all his emotions into his heart, he straightened the clothes on Ye Yao’s chest that he had wrinkled, sat in his chair for another moment and stood up, “Let’s go, I’ll treat you to dinner.”

*

They chose a nice restaurant in the centre of town, close to where Ye Yao was going.

It took a while to get here from school, and on the way here Lu Xun, with a clear head, thought a lot about it.

Ye Yao has to work part-time on weekends, Ye Yao doesn’t want to sleep with him at night anymore, Ye Yao is busy with school during the day and doesn’t have much time to spend with him.

Ye Yao wouldn’t sit on his lap, Ye Yao wouldn’t hold hands with him, Ye Yao wouldn’t spend his money.

In each case Ye Yao gave a plausible reason and he didn’t see a problem with it before.

But not wanting him to spend more money so the two of them could live apart on weekends was a ridiculous reason. He could still drop Ye Yao off and pick his up every day if he wanted to, and they could still spend a lot of time together.

…… Ye Yao is alienating him.

As much as he hates to admit it, Lu Xun has come to this conclusion with difficulty.

Why?

Was it because he was too much in charge and made Ye Yao breathless and bored?

Or ……

Lu Xun speculated on the possibilities, and the more he thought about it, the more breathless he became.

The taxi drove them to their destination and Lu Xun and Ye Yao got out of the car and entered the restaurant.

Ye Yao is in charge of ordering today, while Lu Xun is across the street drinking free tea from the restaurant, with a slight chance in his mind.

What if he was just being paranoid, maybe Ye Yao hadn’t alienated him at all?

Ye Yao finishes his order and the waiter who took it leaves. Lu Xun gets up from his seat and sits next to Ye Yao.

“What’s wrong?” Ye Yao asked.

Lu Xun takes out his phone and lights up the screen to reveal his screensaver.

That is a photo of him and Ye Yao in bed at Ye Yao’s house during Chinese New Year.

“We will have less time to spend together in the future, so we have to cherish every time we come out together to take a picture to remember.” Lu Xun said.

Lu Xun taps the lock on his phone, turns on the front camera and watches himself and Ye Yao appear on the screen of his phone.

There was a gap between them, so Lu Xun moved closer.

Ye Yao didn’t duck.

Lu Xun leaned in a little closer and Ye Yao looked at him askance, “What are you doing, do you think our faces are too big to fit on the screen?”

“Do you know what a restaurant group photo is, it has to have a sense of atmosphere, do you know? It has to look like we’re best buddies.” Lu Xun held his phone further away, “Come and post it, I’ll take it while I’m posting it.”

“No.” Ye Yao refused without hesitation, “Didn’t we take one before, no, that’s a holiday limited edition.”

Ye Yao was a little worried that Lu Xun would continue to pester him, but Lu Xun seemed convinced by his reasoning and the two took some generic photos together and started eating.

Lu Xun never returned to the seat opposite, sitting right next to him, one leg touching his leg and his shoe touching his shoe.

Eating at the back, Lu Xun slips a calf between his feet and scoops his right leg up, pinning it into both legs.

Ye Yao couldn’t help but stop his chopsticks: “Isn’t your posture a bit unsightly Lu students, why don’t you just twist into a twist with me?”

“You think I don’t want to?” Lu Xun was fierce, “Eat your food and stay out of the grown-ups’ business. You’re leaving and you’re not allowing me to warm up?”

That’s right, Ye Yao endured.

After dinner, Ye Yao was ready to go to his house, and he politely refused Lu Xun’s escort: “No need to see me off, I’ll be back on Sunday, it’ll be quick. It’s dark, you can go back.”

Lu Xun rubs up against him and sends him to the junction.

Before he left, Ye Yao warned, “Don’t sneak up on me, you know what I study. I’ll be looking back from time to time, so don’t take any chances.”

Lu Xun frowns and nods. Ye Yao waves goodbye to Lu Xun, relieved at last.

*

The smile and relief on Lu Xun’s face disappears completely as Ye Yao walks away. He sees Ye Yao turning back every now and then, eliminating any chance of him following him.

It is certain that Ye Yao is indeed distancing himself from him.

What did he do wrong that Ye Yao didn’t like?

Lu Xun was so upset that he did not want to go back to the dormitory at all. Without Ye Yao, the dormitory is an empty shell, without the warmth of home.

Lu Xun walks sullenly through the streets of the central district, intending to walk wherever he can, to exercise to relieve his mind of boredom, and to clear his mind and organize his thoughts.

Ye Yao was still very close to him during the winter holidays, and it was after the school year started – or rather after his birthday – that his attitude subtly changed.

He must have done something to annoy Ye Yao when he was drunk.

Lu Xun couldn’t remember any of it, so he got even more annoyed and wanted to go back to that day and beat up his drinking self.

The desire to see Ye Yao was so strong that he was tempted to use inappropriate means.

He needs to get Ye Yao’s address details, one way or another.

Lu Xun frowned as he walked to the door of a luxury shop and was about to walk past when he heard a female voice calling his name.

“Hey, isn’t that Lu Xun? Is that Little Lu?”

Lu Xun turns his head and sees a round-faced, amiable middle-aged lady.

Lu Xun thought for a moment, recognised who it was and stopped in his tracks, “Auntie Wang.”

Lu Xun’s family has been involved in real estate and he recognises this woman as the ex-wife of a real estate tycoon. he had divorced the real estate tycoon because of a personality disagreement and had received a large share of the family fortune, so he was now probably very well off.

Ms. Wang came out with a big bag and smiled with his eyes, “Oh really, you look so handsome now, you were small when I saw you before. But your dad often posts pictures of you in his circle of friends, so I recognized you.”

Lu Xun : “……”

Ms. Wang’s chatty nature continued: “I was checking the news of the tutor’s top student earlier and I saw your picture too, how coincidental do you think it is? The reporter even said you were good friends who helped each other out, are you still friends with him now?”

Lu Xun’s pupils narrowed as he became aware of a possibility.

He quickly lowered his eyes and whispered, “Of course, we’re best friends.”

Lu Xun took out his phone and showed Ms. Wang his and Ye Yao’s screensaver, and then showed Ms. Wang a photo he had taken with Ye Yao over an hour ago.

“I tried to apologise to him, but he didn’t answer my calls and I don’t know where he went, he didn’t go back to the hostel.”

“Hey …… actually auntie probably knows where she is.” Ms. Wang is not comfortable with this kind of thing, she trusts Ye Yao and Lu Xun, she thinks both of them are good kids, it’s better to solve conflicts quickly.

she thought for a moment, “It might be too soon for you to go straight to him now, Auntie will give you the key to the house next door to him, and you can see when he has subsided and try to knock on the door to apologise.”

*

Lu Xun sat in the room opposite Ye Yao, looking at the key in his hand and thinking about what he would tell Ye Yao later so that he would not appear to have planned this for a long time and further anger Ye Yao.

The newly rented house is much larger than the dormitory and much better soundproofed, so empty and quiet that it can be frightening.

As Lu Xun sat in this silence, his thoughts drifted back to the various reasons that might have alienated Ye Yao from him.

Was it as his mother used to say to him, that he interfered too much with too many lines and bored Ye Yao?

If so, he can change it.

Or ……

Another possibility intrudes into Lu Xun’s brain.

Ye Yao has started to show an interest in girls in recent times. Is it possible that Ye Yao …… has secretly had a girlfriend on the outside?

Lu Xun had always been in good health, and even in the dead of winter he rarely felt cold. But now the thought of this possibility sent chills down his spine.

What should Ye Yao do if he has already got a girlfriend?

Unlike a budding relationship that can be cut off, if he goes back to trouble after a relationship has been established, Ye Yao will be the first to forgive him and may even cut him off because of what he has done.

He can only watch Ye Yao and that woman walk down the aisle. Will Ye Yao ask him to be his best man and how will he be able to smile at the wedding?

Lu Xun’s fingertips trembled at the imagery, and he could not think of an answer.

The house is quiet and faintly Lu Xun, sitting in the living room, hears a little noise from outside, the sound of two people talking.

Is she really Ye Yao’s girlfriend? Ye Yao had just moved in and she came to see him?

Lu Xun immediately stood up and went to the door. He looked over the cat’s eye first and saw a sight that made his blood flow backwards.

There was no woman outside, but there was a man dressed very slutty.

The young looking man came out of Ye Yao’s house with a smile on his face, he didn’t leave immediately and stood at Ye Yao’s door talking to Ye Yao.

As Lu Xun opened the door a crack, he heard the man say to Ye Yao, with a cool look on his face, “You sure you don’t want to touch my abs? They feel so good.”