Although the social atmosphere seventeen years ago was not yet to the point where people treated sex as a taboo topic, it was still not open enough to discuss such matters with someone you had only recently met.
Furthermore, the sexual orientation of the person discussing this topic was homosexual, and what was drawn in his sketchbook was a youth with a similar build to his own.
No one had ever taught Jiang Lu how to get along with someone like this; sitting on pins and needles, he practically fled in a panic. “I am sleepy! I am going to sleep! Good night!”
Fortunately, Lin Xuan had told him the location of the guest room in advance, preventing him from rushing blindly into the master bedroom like a headless fly.
Lin Xuan maintained a faint smile throughout, making no move to stop him. For a long time, he gazed at the tightly closed door of the guest room, his fingertips tapping against the sketchbook, the corners of his lips curving upward, though his gaze carried a hint of gloom.
Clearly, a careful reading between the lines would have revealed the loopholes and ill intentions hidden in his words.
Ah, what a silly little deer.
Jiang Lu closed the door with a blushing face, let out a deep sigh, and began to inspect the guest room.
The guest room wasn’t large, but the furniture was fully equipped. In the corner stood a full-length mirror, covered with a piece of cloth.
Jiang Lu collapsed face-up onto the bed. Unable to control himself, he thought of that thick sketchbook once more; with red ears, he silently wrapped himself up like a silkworm baby, leaving only his hair exposed.
After the wave of embarrassment subsided, he finally crawled out of his cocoon.
Although the weather was hot during this period and his hair was short enough to dry quickly without a hair dryer, Jiang Lu still searched the guest room thoroughly. Finding no hair dryer, he sneaked the door open a crack and peeked his head out first.
The living room lights were still on, but Lin Xuan was nowhere to be seen. The living room was spacious and quiet, save for the faint sounds of a washing machine operating from the balcony.
Jiang Lu hurried over to the bathroom, quickly dried his hair, and started back. Just as he was about to close the door, Bubu meowed and followed right up to the threshold.
Jiang Lu glanced down at the cat, quickly bent over to pick it up, and returned to the room.
Before bringing Bubu onto the bed, Jiang Lu sent a message to ask for Lin Xuan’s opinion: [Can Bubu come on the bed?]
Lin Xuan replied quickly: [Yes.]
[Get some sleep early.]
[Classmate Xiaolu, good night.]
Jiang Lu lowered his eyelashes and replied: [Good night.]
Neither of them mentioned the sketchbook from earlier. Jiang Lu ended the conversation, and when he returned to his chat list, he noticed the dorm group chat was completely quiet.
Jiang Lu pressed his lips into a thin line, put down his phone, and went to sleep.
Bubu sensibly curled up in a spot within his arms, its fluffy tail brushing across Jiang Lu’s cheek.
“Do not move.” Jiang Lu gently caught its tail to keep it from acting up, muttering under his breath that it tickled.
He pulled Bubu into his embrace, and the human and cat squeezed together, falling fast asleep in earnest.
Around the time he was half-asleep, Jiang Lu turned over. Amidst his hazy half-consciousness, he felt something warm and soft press down onto his stomach. As if unsatisfied with that softness, it made a couple of kneading motions before finally settling down comfortably on his belly to sleep.
Jiang Lu felt around, realized it was the cat, and let it be, drifting right back off to sleep.
It wasn’t until 6:30 the next morning, when Jiang Lu woke up with a dull ache in his waist, that he pulled back the blanket while supporting his lower back and saw Bubu sitting upright on his abdomen, looking at him with an innocent expression.
Jiang Lu smiled helplessly, picked it up, and planted a kiss on it, blending affectionate complaints with getting out of bed: “You really are heavy, baby.”
Bubu disdainfully stretched out a paw to push against his face.
Jiang Lu pressed close to it with a chuckle, and the moment he opened the door, he saw Lin Xuan standing right outside, seemingly just about to knock.
Lin Xuan’s gaze swept over his chest, and he looked momentarily startled before quickly breaking into a gentle smile, his voice smooth and melodic: “Good morning, Classmate Xiaolu.”
Jiang Lu’s smile receded slightly, his eyes darting away in evasion: “Good morning.”
Lin Xuan’s gaze drifted back down to his chest, he gave a light cough, averted his eyes, and offered a low reminder regarding his clothes.
Jiang Lu paused in a daze, lowered his head sluggishly, and only then realized that several buttons of his pajamas had come undone at some point, exposing a large expanse of fair chest.
Normally it wouldn’t have mattered, but coming from Lin Xuan, whose sexual orientation favored men, the reminder made Jiang Lu feel rather awkward. He hurriedly shut the door, straightened his attire, and reopened it.
The cat, having been put down, slipped away through the door gap.
Lin Xuan was still waiting outside. His gaze swept across Jiang Lu’s flushed face, and without a word, he turned around to lead the way to the living room.
There were sounds coming from the kitchen. Jiang Lu followed behind Lin Xuan and glanced toward the kitchen upon hearing the noise.
Lin Xuan turned his head just in time. Seeing him peeking around inquisitively, he took the initiative to speak: “It is the housekeeper I hired. I forgot to ask what you wanted to eat last night, but we can still have her make something for you now.”
“Anything is fine.” Yielding to his host, Jiang Lu thought for a moment and added that he would just eat whatever Lin Xuan was having since he was not a picky eater.
Lin Xuan nodded and said nothing more.
The housekeeper must have arrived some time ago; she had already finished preparing breakfast. However, she wasn’t eating with them, staying busy inside the kitchen instead and not coming out to disturb them.
Lin Xuan’s breakfast was simple, consisting only of ordinary white rice porridge, steamed buns, and eggs.
“About last night, I am sorry.”
Jiang Lu was looking down at his porridge when he suddenly heard Lin Xuan speak. He looked up to find Lin Xuan watching him.
Seeing him look over, Lin Xuan offered an apologetic smile, asking with utmost caution if he had frightened him and if he thought he was a freak.
“Not really.” Jiang Lu shook his head. Though he still felt a bit shy and embarrassed, he wouldn’t rush to definitive conclusions about Lin Xuan based solely on that, adding that he could understand.
It was merely drawing a few sketches; it didn’t rise to the level of calling someone a freak. Even though Jiang Lu had spent the past few months since crossing over buried in intensive study, he occasionally browsed the internet and knew there were bloggers who specialized in drawing adult content.
Moreover, Lin Xuan lived alone, and every corner of this apartment constituted his private space. Whatever he wanted to draw or wherever he chose to place his artwork was entirely his freedom. As for whether he was careless enough to leave it out where a hired housekeeper might see it, that was also his own affair to consider.
Besides, nobody could have predicted yesterday that he would end up following Lin Xuan back to his place; strictly speaking, it was he who had intruded into Lin Xuan’s private space.
Jiang Lu possessed the self-awareness of a proper guest, and he and Lin Xuan weren’t particularly close, so he had no intention of prying into the matter.
Therefore, he could understand.
Lin Xuan looked at Jiang Lu and chuckled softly after a moment, remarking that Classmate Xiaolu truly was as considerate as he looked.
“But I truly don’t know how to put pen to paper,” he said, a hint of trouble coloring his tone as he spoke in a low voice, before deciding to drop the subject.
Jiang Lu batted his eyelashes, quickly dropped his gaze, and lowered his head to continue drinking his porridge.
After a moment, he raised his eyes again to steal a glance at Lin Xuan.
Lin Xuan’s posture was striking; his waist and back were straight with no sign of slouching. With his gaze lowered and expression composed, the graceful, pleasing-to-the-eye manner in which he calmly ate his simple breakfast radiated emotional stability, carrying a natural smile and approachability.
Just what kind of family background could cultivate a person like this?
There were traces of strict upbringing stamped onto him.
Jiang Lu lightly tapped his white porcelain spoon and lowered his gaze once more.
The family rules of the Jiang household were also extremely strict, so strict that speaking to his parents without appending a proper title prefix would earn him a stern reprimand for lacking manners.
If Lin Xuan’s upbringing was this pristine and he seemingly came from a good background, where did the scars on his body come from?
Jiang Lu was lost in thought until a peeled egg was placed right before his eyes. Raising his gaze, he crashed directly into Lin Xuan’s deep, pool-like eyes.
Lin Xuan asked him what he was thinking about.
“Thank you.” Jiang Lu accepted the egg and sidestepped the question.
Lin Xuan watched him take a small bite of the egg, his Adam’s apple bobbing slightly as he looked away.
Just one bite, and the egg had suffered superficial injuries.
Tch.
Adorable.
It was still early after breakfast, but Jiang Lu left after playing with Bubu for a little while. He had early morning classes today and planned to return to the dorm first. A light drizzle was still falling outside, so he took an umbrella with him when he left.
Lin Xuan offered to call a ride-hailing car for him, but since Lin Xuan’s foot was injured, Jiang Lu didn’t let him come downstairs and left by himself.
Before getting into the car, Jiang Lu checked WeChat; the dorm group chat remained completely quiet. He gave a slight press to his lips.
Lin Xuan stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, lowering his gaze to watch Jiang Lu step by step walk out of the residential complex.
Only when Jiang Lu turned a corner and vanished from his field of vision did Lin Xuan pull back his gaze and place a phone call.
The phone rang a few times before being picked up just a fraction of a second before diverting to voicemail, a drowsy voice drifting from the other end asking who it was.
Lin Xuan spoke at a measured pace to ask how the situation was.
“Done. The hook was swallowed immediately—a pure and foolish college student, tch.”
Lin Xuan narrowed his eyes, exchanged a couple of brief sentences, and hung up.
Upon returning to the dorm, Jiang Lu found that none of the three had woken up yet. Seeing that the time was getting late, he propped his umbrella by the doorway and woke them up one by one.
Shi Jiayu greeted him sleepily, wishing him a good morning.
“Morning,” Jiang Lu asked, puzzled, inquiring what they had been up to last night.
Xie Yu clung tenaciously to his dreamland, speaking as if he were completely drained of vitality due to playing games.
Chen Feng hoisted himself down from the bed wearing a pair of massive dark circles under his eyes, yawning as he added that they had played all night.
No wonder the group chat had been dead silent all evening. Jiang Lu glanced at Xie Yu, who had yet to stir, shook him down from the bed, and told him to get down there because they still needed to go eat breakfast.
Looking like his vital essence had been sucked dry, Xie Yu dragged himself down, rubbed his face hard, and asked where Jiang Lu had slept last night.
Jiang Lu explained that he stayed at Lin Xuan’s place because it was near the campus, and since Lin Xuan’s foot was hurt and the rain was too heavy when he walked him back, he simply stayed over.
Kidnapped and taken home on day one. Xie Yu muttered something unintelligible, drifting toward the balcony to wash up like a sleepwalker.
Watching his retreating back, Jiang Lu asked Chen Feng and Shi Jiayu who they had been playing games with.
With a toothbrush clenched in his mouth, Chen Feng’s speech was muffled and indistinct as he said Jiang Lu did not know them.
Jiang Lu parted his lips slightly, a realization crossing his mind before he pressed his lips tightly together.
Damn it all, our school is really full of hidden dragons and crouching tigers. If it weren’t for them, the three of us could never have gamed all night…
While Chen Feng continued to jabber on, Jiang Lu lowered his eyes, his gaze sweeping over his fingertips, and said nothing.
For the next few days, Jiang Lu didn’t run into Lin Xuan.
With his foot injured, Lin Xuan had taken leave, while Jiang Lu was packed with classes and had no time to cross paths with him, the two of them maintaining contact exclusively through WeChat.
Lin Xuan sent over quite a few photos and videos of Bubu, occasionally accompanied by his newest artwork. He loved drawing the male physique, particularly youths, but without exception, none of these figures had faces.
While his mastery of drawing bodies had reached a point of effortless perfection, he hit a wall whenever it came to outlining a youth’s facial features, though it seemed less like an inability to draw them and more like an unwillingness to do so.
Jiang Lu didn’t know the reason why.
However, he was a very supportive audience member, well-versed in how to provide emotional value.
Lin Xuan was delighted, stating that only Classmate Xiaolu praised him like that.
Jiang Lu asked him why.
A few minutes passed before Lin Xuan answered that his family thought this was neglecting his proper duties, adding that he had originally wanted to major in art at Peking University.
Jiang Lu was caught up with something and didn’t reply in time.
Lin Xuan followed up by saying that he knew his own flaw because he could not imagine the faces of these figures, and asked if he might use Classmate Xiaolu’s face as a reference.
Jiang Lu’s reply came very slowly, asking if he meant him.
Lin Xuan confirmed it and asked if it was possible, wondering if Classmate Xiaolu would be willing to be his muse while promising that he would never draw Classmate Xiaolu’s face in that specific sketchbook.
It was hard for Jiang Lu to clearly articulate what he was feeling inside, so he asked why Lin Xuan did not look for someone else or his other friends.
Lin Xuan replied that he had no other friends, apologizing because the matter was rather complicated and noting that if Classmate Xiaolu was unwilling, they would just let it be.
He concluded by saying it was totally fine.
Jiang Lu pressed his lips together and agreed that he would do it if Lin Xuan needed it.
Lin Xuan confirmed that he did need Classmate Xiaolu, and asked if he could send a photo of himself over.
Jiang Lu selected a photo and sent it over.
Lin Xuan replied promptly to thank Classmate Xiaolu.
Jiang Lu let out a slow breath, switched back to his gaming interface, and stared at a continuous stream of unmentionable profanities and acronyms before clicking report with a deadpan expression.
It was a rare leisurely afternoon, and Jiang Lu was the only one in the dorm, as the other three had all gone out, apparently to meet up with those two newly acquainted gaming buddies.
There was an elective class in the evening. Jiang Lu arrived early, and shortly after he took his seat, Chen Feng entered through the front door of the classroom followed by four people.
Two of them were Shi Jiayu and Xie Yu, while the remaining two were strangers to Jiang Lu.
Their row could seat six people, but since Jiang Lu disliked sitting on the aisle edge, he habitually left an empty seat beside him.
Chen Feng glanced at that empty seat and murmured quietly to Jiang Lu, asking him to scoot over one spot.
Jiang Lu blinked in surprise, nodded, gathered his belongings, and moved to the seat by the aisle, allowing the extra person to sit down.
Xie Yu turned around to face Jiang Lu, explaining that they were Tang Yuan and Yu Jingrong, the guys they had been gaming with these past couple of days who happened to choose the same class, while reaching out to pat his head and mentioning he forgot to introduce them beforehand.
Jiang Lu gave a slight nod, his gaze skimming like a dragonfly over water across his own fingertips, which were growing faintly translucent.
Sure enough, a short while later, Xie Yu introduced Jiang Lu to those two individuals.
The two were Tang Yuan and Yu Jingrong from neighboring Industrial Management, and they smiled at Jiang Lu, though their expressions carried a hint of perfunctoriness and aloofness.
First impressions were a wondrous thing; upon meeting certain people for the very first time, one could instantly sense a clash of auras making it impossible to mesh.
Jiang Lu politely curved his eyes at them in a display of manners, then turned back around.
Whether it was due to his own heightened sensitivity or not, those two seemed to constantly draw Xie Yu and the others into conversation, subtly edging him out.
Jiang Lu glanced in their direction, noting that even Chen Feng, who sat closest to him, had turned his head to chat with them.
Over the past few days, the names Tang Yuan and Yu Jingrong had surfaced with high frequency from the mouths of his three roommates, as they shared common topics and seemed to have already formed a clique, leaving him intentionally ostracized and unable to wedge his way in.
A sudden wave of helplessness welled up inside Jiang Lu, causing him to turn back around and stare blankly at his increasingly translucent fingertips.
This time, his fingertips were practically on the verge of vanishing entirely.
So frustrating.
A surge of irritation rose within Jiang Lu.
He wasn’t normally such a petty person and wouldn’t have cared if his roommates made new friends, seeing as his personal boundaries had always been very strong.
Yet the plot’s invisible force made his marginalization feel strikingly tangible.
Classmate Xiaolu.
Lin Xuan’s voice descended from above.
Looking up in mild bewilderment, Jiang Lu saw Lin Xuan standing right in front of him, slow to process the sight.
With textbooks and a sketchbook in hand, Lin Xuan wore a faint, gentle smile on his face.
He glanced at the chatting group before his gaze locked onto Jiang Lu’s face, catching the trace of loneliness hidden deep within those beautiful doe eyes, and offered a warm invitation to sit with him while pointing toward the empty seats on the other side of the aisle.
It was a four-seater row, completely unoccupied.
With a teasing lilt in his voice, Lin Xuan remarked that he imagined Classmate Xiaolu wouldn’t have the heart to watch him sit through class all alone.
Jiang Lu weighed the thought for two seconds, nodded, packed up his things, and stood up to follow him.
Lin Xuan motioned for him to take the inner seat.
Once they sat down, Jiang Lu asked what he was doing here.
Lin Xuan replied with a faint smile that he happened to pick this elective as well, expressing surprise that it was such a coincidence for them to be in the same session.
Jiang Lu acknowledged it and asked if his foot was completely fine now.
Lin Xuan answered in a soft and unhurried voice that he used the medication and as long as he walked slowly it was fine, adding that he could not afford to miss any more classes.
With that, he handed the sketchbook over to Jiang Lu and asked him to take a look.
Jiang Lu hesitated for a single second before reaching out.
With a light chuckle, Lin Xuan told him not to be afraid because it was not the same book he saw that night.
Feeling a bit self-conscious, Jiang Lu opened the sketchbook.
Lin Xuan watched his hand turning the pages, tilting his head slightly as he noticed that he only used his thumb while his other four fingers remained somewhat rigid and motionless.
Oblivious to the scrutiny, Jiang Lu focused entirely on Lin Xuan’s drawing.
The artwork depicted a youth holding a calico cat by the street, and Jiang Lu quickly recognized that the tricolor cat in his arms was none other than Bubu, finally settling his gaze upon the vivid, lifelike expression of the youth in the drawing.
The elegant youth looked out at the viewer through raised, dark eyelashes, boasting a high-bridge nose, relaxed brows, water-clear eyes, and a sweet smile gracing the corners of his lips.
Jiang Lu recognized it as his own face.
Lin Xuan murmured right beside his ear that he came straight to show him the moment he finished it, thanking Classmate Xiaolu for his help and prioritizing drawing this one for him to see.
Jiang Lu pressed his lips together, and the discomfort and stifled frustration in his heart instantly vanished like smoke.
He watched as his fingertips began to materialize once more.