“Go to hell.”
Jiang Yu gritted his teeth and flung Chen Zhiyan’s hand away. The movement was so forceful that he spun halfway around. He turned back to glare fiercely at Chen Zhiyan, cursing him for being ungrateful. “Don’t let me see you again,” he snapped, “or I will beat you up every time I do.”
Chen Zhiyan remarked that Jiang Yu had acted too impulsively regarding the matter.
Hearing him dare to bring it up again, Jiang Yu threw an elbow that sent Chen Zhiyan stumbling back two steps. He completely forgot about their shared physical sensations until a sharp pang of pain shot through his own stomach. His anger flared, but he was trapped in a frustrating position where he wanted to hit him but could not. Suffocating with rage, he slammed the door and stormed out.
Cursing under his breath the entire way, he ran home clutching his blanket and pillow.
Chu Qingzi looked on in bewilderment. “Xiao Bao, why are you back?”
“This is my house, can I not come back?” Jiang Yu realized his tone was too sharp and fell silent. He stormed into his room and locked the door. Tossing his blanket and pillow onto the bed, he threw himself down and stared at the ceiling lamp, resentfully punching the mattress twice.
Fuck.
I am so damn wronged.
That low-EQ, repressed man deserves to be single for the rest of his life.
No, is there something wrong with him?
Fuming, Jiang Yu eventually fell asleep. The next morning, Chu Qingzi woke him up. After breakfast, she packed four containers of fruit salad. Without needing to be told, Jiang Yu knew one was for Chen Zhiyan. He refused to take it.
Chu Qingzi said, “You have slept in Xiao Zhi’s room for so many days, it is only right—”
“I slept in his room, not with him! And I was sleeping on the sofa before! Now I have bought my own bed!”
“Do not be angry. If you do not want to bring it to him, then do not—”
“Mom, what do you mean? Are you lecturing me?”
The mother remained silent. Her hands were itching to swat him. This brat.
“Fine, I will take it! Let him eat it! I hope he chokes!” Jiang Yu grabbed one of the containers and went to the kitchen. He muttered something about Chen Zhiyan liking oranges and cut a few up for him.
Chu Qingzi felt quite relieved.
What she did not know was that Jiang Yu had actually sliced lemons. Afraid Chen Zhiyan would notice, he did not put the slices in; instead, he squeezed all the juice out over the fruit. Worried he would mix it up with his own, he specifically placed that container on the very top.
When he reached the classroom, Li Heng bounced over. “Brother Jiang, it felt so good to vent by hitting that guy yesterday. Do you have any other enemies? Let us keep beating them up.”
“Piss off.”
Li Heng was taken aback by the hostility. He wanted to ask why, but looking at Jiang Yu’s face, he quickly shut his mouth and dutifully pulled out all the fruit salads Jiang Yu had brought.
Jiang Yu had just set his laptop on the desk when he turned to see four identical containers of fruit salad lined up neatly on the adjacent desk. His lip twitched as he pointed and asked Li Heng, “Which one was the one on top?”
Li Heng blinked. “I forgot.”
Jiang Yu pinned him down for a brief thrashing. “Forgetting right after taking them out, how trendy of you.”
He smelled them one by one, finally placing the one with the lemon juice inside Chen Zhiyan’s desk drawer.
They usually sat together, but now Li Heng and Xu Zhile were sandwiched between them. Seeing that Chen Zhiyan showed no intention of apologizing, Jiang Yu’s face turned as black as the bottom of a pot, and it was only getting darker. Li Heng kept his mouth tightly shut, not daring to make a sound for fear of saying the wrong thing and getting another beating. But even then, Jiang Yu found a reason to pick a fight. “Do you have fucking tape over your mouth?”
“…”
“Speak! Am I that scary?”
Believe me, you really are that scary. “Ahem, is class not in session?”
“What the hell does their class have to do with you? Can you even understand it?”
“No.”
During the break, Jiang Yu lay on his desk playing with his phone. From the corner of his eye, he saw Chen Zhiyan take out the fruit salad. He instantly perked up. Watching him eat it bite by bite without any expression, Jiang Yu began to doubt his own reality.
That is the one with the lemon juice, right?
And that was the juice of two whole lemons.
Could I have picked the wrong one?
No way, right?
Seeing Chen Zhiyan finish nearly half of it, Jiang Yu could not sit still. He turned off his phone and sat up straight. Once he saw Chen Zhiyan close the lid and head out, Jiang Yu sat in his seat and sniffed the container.
He was certain there was lemon juice in it.
But how did Chen Zhiyan eat it without even flinching?
Jiang Yu poked a strawberry and popped it into his mouth. The moment he chewed, his expression transformed. The sourness made the back of his tongue salivate uncontrollably. His hands clenched into fists as he leaned over and spat it into Chen Zhiyan’s trash can.
Fuck.
Chen Zhiyan is playing me.
About ten minutes later, Chen Zhiyan returned, carrying a bag of snacks. Seeing Jiang Yu’s sour face, he paused and hung the snacks on the side of the desk. He kept only one candy, unwrapping it and putting it in his mouth to wash away the acidic taste.
Jiang Yu crossed his arms and sneered. “Did you not say snacks are junk food? I bet you have been secretly eating plenty behind everyone’s back. Hypocrite.”
Chen Zhiyan said nothing.
Forget it. Jiang Yu was angry; he could say whatever he wanted.
At lunch, Jiang Yu took Li Heng and Xu Zhile with him, completely ignoring Chen Zhiyan. He left him to enjoy his loneliness, since he usually loved peace and quiet and found Jiang Yu annoying anyway.
While eating, Jiang Yu spotted a girl sitting across from Chen Zhiyan. Good grief, Chen Zhiyan was even smiling at her.
He was a total double-standard dog.
Li Heng looked at the untouched chicken drumstick on Jiang Yu’s plate and wanted to ask if he was going to eat it. If not, he would take it. But when he looked up, Jiang Yu was chewing on a slice of lotus root with such force it looked like he was trying to devour a person, as if the lotus root were bone. Following Jiang Yu’s gaze, he understood.
So, he was jealous.
That was easy to fix.
Li Heng waited until Chen Zhiyan went to the restroom and followed him. He mentioned that Jiang Yu had been particularly angry yesterday about Fang Bozhou selling out his privacy, as it would cause him a lot of trouble. He asked Chen Zhiyan what had happened between them and why Jiang Yu was so upset today.
Chen Zhiyan said it was nothing.
Li Heng scratched his head and left.
He thought to himself, If Jiang Yu wants to hit him, just let him hit him. It is not like it hurts anyway. Just stop with the constant gloomy face; it is terrifying. Wait, if he is mad at Chen Zhiyan, why does he not just go hit Chen Zhiyan? Does he not usually just go for it? His temper has been way too restrained lately. I hope he does not end up with stress nodules from bottling it up.
With that in mind, Li Heng went to the supermarket to buy snacks for Jiang Yu. When he returned to his seat and glanced over, he saw that the variety of snacks was almost identical to the bag Chen Zhiyan had bought. He exclaimed, “Brother Chen, did you buy these for Brother Jiang?”
He should have said so earlier.
I just wasted my money.
Jiang Yu pricked up his ears.
Chen Zhiyan’s eyelid flickered as he denied it. “No.”
Jiang Yu squinted at Li Heng with a cold laugh. “You have a damn big mouth.”
Li Heng thought, You two should just stay in a room and fight it out so you stop collateralizing everyone else.
As if to prove the snacks were not for Jiang Yu, Chen Zhiyan picked up the bag and walked out. When he returned, his hands were empty.
Li Heng leaned over, shielding his mouth with his hand, and asked Chen Zhiyan who he gave them to, and if it was that girl from lunch.
Chen Zhiyan gave a soft “Mm.”
Jiang Yu heard it.
He grabbed his crossbody bag, threw it over his shoulder, and started walking out.
Xu Zhile asked, “Brother Jiang, where are you going?”
Jiang Yu said, “My girlfriend needs me for something.”
Li Heng was baffled. Once it clicked, his face was full of gossip. “Girlfriend??”