Sandwiched between two cookies?! That definitely wasn’t me talking, I don’t have that kind of kink.
“Then stop pretending already and go win He Nan back. I won’t keep clinging to him anymore. If there are any misunderstandings, tell me, I can explain them for you.” The hard part was this, he didn’t even know what exactly he’d done to make them split up. He did want to figure out how many of those were misunderstandings that could be cleared up, but he had no memory at all.
Even if he wanted to help, he had no place to start.
Jiang Zhi turned and got back into the car. “I get it now too. Some people are only ever passersby.” With a long, dramatic sigh, he pulled on his seat belt, then turned his head and found someone sitting down beside him. “Who said you could get in?!”
“Give me a ride home.” Su Yin fastened his seat belt, lowered his head, and let his legs hang. “I’m tired.” Riding his bike back and forth had left his legs numb. He hadn’t exercised at all in six years, so now his physical condition was pretty average. Back in the day, he could run three laps around the track and barely react.
And today he’d also spent two hours at the gym. Too much cardio wasn’t good either.
“Get out. I don’t give rides to love rivals.” Jiang Zhi kept one hand on the steering wheel and simply refused to start the car.
“What love rival? I’ve only ever loved Pei Weixue.” Su Yin glanced at the signs around them and said, “You should be getting a ticket soon. You can’t stay parked here too long.”
No matter how the person controlling him had liked He Nan, that wasn’t something he’d done.
Thinking of all those cultivation novels, he had wondered if he’d been possessed, but his signature, handwriting, and brushwork in his drawings were all identical to his own, so that made no sense. The most likely explanation was what he’d thought the day before yesterday, he’d been cursed.
In the photo on the marriage certificate, his eyes looked dead, and the date was so close to the time of the confession. Even if he no longer liked Pei Weixue, he would never have given up that quickly. Jiang Zhi had only returned to the country half a year ago, and He Nan was someone he’d also met only half a year ago.
The painting in the studio had also been painted half a year ago. The other design drafts had all been done in the last six months too, so for the five and a half years before that, had he just been drifting through life, eating and waiting to die? No, this wouldn’t do. He had to find some kind of master to take a look at him.
No sooner had he said that than Jiang Zhi’s phone received a text about a fine and points deducted from his license. Jiang Zhi shot Su Yin a glare and, unwilling as he was, finally started driving. “Get out at the next intersection.”
Su Yin said, “No. What’s wrong with driving me home? Is Young Master Jiang really going to quibble over a little gas money?”
“Heh…” Jiang Zhi let out a cold laugh. “I wouldn’t dare act like some young master in front of you.”
Su Yin looked at him. “Come on. Stop pretending. If you want to get back together with He Nan, I can help.”
The displeasure on Jiang Zhi’s face really did fade a little. He turned an ear toward him. “Help how?”
Su Yin reached over and patted his mouth. “Open it. If there’s a misunderstanding, clear it up. Don’t walk around with a mouth and only know how to put on an act.” If he knew what the misunderstanding was, he’d honestly like to be a loudspeaker for him.
Huh? A loudspeaker? Right, that was it. Pei Weixue wasn’t talking to him now, which basically meant there was one more mute person in the house. He really did need to become a loudspeaker. That way they’d balance each other out.
It just made him a little sad.
The Pei Weixue in his memories had never been mute. A few casual words from him were often enough to reel Su Yin in until he was half-dead for him, enough to make him want to toss the brocade quilt aside and drown in red waves. And when they occasionally fought, with that little mouth of his chattering away, Su Yin could never win an argument.
How had things ended up like this?
Jiang Zhi scoffed. “I’m Jiang Zhi. You want me to humble myself and go beg for peace and explain myself? Impossible. Why should it not be him coming to me? Sure, you were stirring things up in the middle, but if he insisted on believing you, that’s his problem too, isn’t it?”
“Oh. You don’t want to humble yourself and make peace, but you’re driving in circles around He Nan’s company?” Su Yin exposed his act. Hugging his backpack, he leaned back. Riding in a sports car really was nice. One gust of wind beat sweating all over himself. He wondered if Xue’er had made it home yet. Later he should ask again whether he’d be willing to model for him.
He only remembered Pei Weixue’s measurements from six years ago, and there had definitely been changes over the years. Besides, Pei Weixue liked wearing long trench coats. Su Yin would have loved to scan him with his eyes, but he just couldn’t. Ever since he’d come here, Pei Weixue had been wearing sweaters and long coats, and he couldn’t see his waistline at all.
Stop. Su Yin, that’s a little pervy. Stop thinking about Pei Weixue’s waist.
Jiang Zhi, of course, had no idea where his thoughts had wandered off to. He propped an arm against his head and struck a brooding pose. “I’m just out for a drive. The making up part was a lie.”
“The making up part was a lie~” Su Yin repeated in an exaggeratedly snide tone. Seeing Jiang Zhi’s face fill with the urge to punch him, he immediately raised both hands. “Kidding, kidding. But Zhiya, come on, like I don’t know you? You’ve loved pretending ever since we were kids. Seriously, stop pretending. I don’t know what happened between you two, but if you really like him, don’t miss your chance because of pride.”
The more Jiang Zhi listened, the angrier he got. “Am I the one pretending?! Weren’t you the one who started all this? You said so many bad things about me to him that he won’t even meet me. He’d rather go out and drink himself senseless to pull investment than use my money.”
Su Yin said in surprise, “What bad things did I say?” At most, Jiang Zhi liked to put on airs. Even if Su Yin had wanted to badmouth him, what was there to say? They’d grown up together and knew each other inside and out. It couldn’t be that he’d just lied through his teeth, could it?
“You told him I was sleeping around by the time I was sixteen. You told him I only went after him because he looks like Dun’er.” Jiang Zhi wasn’t all that suspicious of Su Yin’s nonstop questions. He was focused only on venting his frustration.
He had it rough too. This was his one brother, and when he got a boyfriend, the first person he introduced him to was his brother, and this was how it ended.
Otherwise, there was no way he could have said something like cutting ties for good. Su Yin really had always been loyal. At least before all this happened, he’d cared a lot about this brother of his. Otherwise, when trouble arose in his relationship, he wouldn’t have gone to ask Su Yin about it, and then done whatever Su Yin told him to do. The result only got worse and worse.
“Pfft! Cough, cough…” Su Yin nearly choked to death on his own spit. “Sleeping around at sixteen? Dun’er?! How does he look anything like him?”
Even though he’d never seen the real man in person, there were plenty of photos on his phone, so he had a decent sense of what He Nan looked like. Even if there was some difference between photos and real life, it couldn’t be by much.
Dun’er had been a transfer student who came into their class in middle school. He was big and burly, his family was well-off, and he always liked throwing his weight around and bullying people because of it. Jiang Zhi had been a troublemaker back then too, and Dun’er once had people corner him in the bathroom and beat him up. The second Su Yin heard about it, he’d charged right in.
Because of that, he’d nearly gotten a major disciplinary demerit. Dun’er didn’t really have many memorable traits otherwise. He had a shaved head, and there was a red dot on his eyelid. Su Yin didn’t know whether it was a mole, but it looked vicious.
“Wait.” He Nan in the photo did seem to have a mole on his eyelid. He couldn’t remember clearly.
Jiang Zhi gave a cold snort. “What else? I don’t know why he believed you, either. He came running over to ask me if I was treating him like a substitute. A substitute for what the hell? That Dun’er and I never got along. What, did my brain short-circuit and make me go looking for a stand-in for him?!”
Su Yin: “…” It really was a bit bizarre.
Su Yin: “I really deserve to die.” ‘He’ really deserved to die! Leaving behind such a gigantic mess for him to clean up.
“No need for you to die.” Jiang Zhi slowed to a stop at the red light ahead, then turned his face toward him. “Su Yin. I don’t know what exactly is wrong with you. He Nan was stupid enough to believe your instigation, and you wanted to pry into my relationship, fine, I can let that go. But Aunt Yue is your mother. How could you talk back to her? And then there’s Pei Weixue. I really can’t understand that one either. I saw your feelings for him with my own eyes. How could they change just like that?”
“You know, Pei Weixue came to find me two months ago.”
Su Yin jerked his head up. “He came to you?! What did he say?! Was it about me?!”
Jiang Zhi nodded. “Yeah. He asked me to win He Nan back. Otherwise, do you really think I’m the type to beg to get back together after a breakup? Who would’ve thought you still divorced him in the end. What the hell were you thinking? That’s Pei Weixue. He’s your muse. He’s the Pei Weixue you were willing to give up going abroad to study under a famous master for, just so you could stay with him until he recovered.”
A sigh sounded from the passenger seat.
In his junior year, Ye Lin had asked him whether he wanted to go abroad for further study in design. It had been a top institution, five years long, and after those five years he could have gone straight into holding his own personal fashion exhibition. At the time, Pei Weixue’s color blindness still hadn’t been cured, so he refused.
Later, his teacher had backed down and said that after graduation he could go with her for just half a year instead. He had really wanted to go, so he didn’t refuse again. He figured half a year was nothing, it would pass in no time. Graduation was still a long way off, and by then Pei Weixue’s color blindness would definitely be better, so he wouldn’t have any misgivings.
His teacher had said many times that giving up that chance had been such a pity, because opportunities like that didn’t come often. But Pei Weixue had needed him too. Pei Weixue had no relatives from his hometown he could stay in contact with, lived alone in an off-campus rental, had few friends, didn’t interact much with classmates, and he had been at a crucial stage of treatment. Su Yin truly couldn’t leave him behind.
Even now, only his teacher and Jiang Zhi knew about that. He had never told his mom or Pei Weixue. He didn’t much like the idea of “holding a favor over someone’s head.” It had been something both sides had willingly chosen to do.
There was also a bit of arrogance at work in him. He believed that even without that period of further study, he still could have his own personal fashion exhibition and become a top fashion designer.
“Zhiya. I love him. I loved him from the first time I told you I’d fallen in love with someone, and that has never changed.” Su Yin didn’t know how to explain those absurd six years, that outrageous change of heart and those despicable things he’d done, but the one thing he could be sure of was that even in this body from six years later, his heart was still beating for Pei Weixue.
If he hadn’t been controlled, if he truly didn’t love Pei Weixue anymore, then even if he had somehow ‘traveled’ six years into the future, his heart couldn’t possibly still ripple for Pei Weixue. Love or no love, his body made it very clear.
The pain in his chest when he found out Pei Weixue wanted to break up with him had not been fake. It wasn’t the kind of heartache that existed only in his mind, it had been a real pain, as if his heart were being slowly unraveled thread by thread.
“You love him, and you cheated on him.” Jiang Zhi said with contempt, “You call me fake, but I think you’re the biggest faker of all, refusing to admit what you’ve done.”
Su Yin covered his face and let out a deep sigh, as though all his helplessness had seeped into the air with his breath. Then he lowered his hand and stared dully at the stream of traffic. “I’ll find the reason.”
“So cheating has a reason now. Psycho.”
After getting out at the entrance to the residential complex, Su Yin sorted out his thoughts and wanted to say goodbye to Jiang Zhi, but the man had already hit the gas hard.
The moment he stepped into the elevator, he heard a familiar voice from outside. “Wait a second!”
His eyes lit up. He immediately blocked the elevator door for a moment. Reeking of alcohol, Pei Weixue strode quickly to the entrance. When he saw Su Yin inside, he froze for a moment, then returned to his usual expression and walked in as if nothing had happened.
“Xue’er, you’ve been drinking?”
Pei Weixue stared at the buttons. “Didn’t you say you were going to change?”
Su Yin looked puzzled. “Hm?”
Pei Weixue glanced at him from the corner of his eye, then fell silent.