“Getting used to it isn’t an excuse either.” Zhao Che pressed half a step forward, nearly pressing against Gu Yu’s school uniform. “If anyone dares to say that again in the future, I’ll beat them up again! Let them give me a disciplinary mark if they want; as for my mom’s side…”
“Aunt Xue will worry,” Gu Yu interrupted him, his tone suddenly sinking a bit.
“Zhao Che,” Gu Yu’s voice softened, carrying a trace of imperceptible emotion. “There’s no need to do this for me.”
“What do you mean no need?” Zhao Che panicked, reaching out to grab his arm, the heat of his fingertips coming into direct contact with fair, smooth skin. “I’m your brother! We grew up together—if I don’t protect you, who will?”
He forcibly explained that he was acting this way because he was his brother. Yet only he knew that doing so wasn’t just because he was his brother…
It stemmed from a feeling deep in his heart that he couldn’t suppress—he liked him.
Gu Yu froze from his grip, then forcefully broke free. Keeping his eyes downcast, he said, “Alright, the milk tea is still at the security room. Zhou Wei and the other guy must be getting impatient waiting.”
Zhao Che watched his back as he turned and walked forward—his spine held straight as a ramrod, like a tree that refused to bend its trunk.
“Wait.” Catching up to him, Zhao Che pulled a candy out of his pocket—an orange-flavored hard candy the teacher had just handed out earlier. “Pop this in.”
Gu Yu tilted his head slightly to look at him.
“Cools down the internal heat,” Zhao Che explained, stuffing the candy into Gu Yu’s hand while unwrapping one for himself to pop into his mouth, the sweetness spreading instantly. “I’ll cool down some internal heat too.”
Holding that candy, Gu Yu unwrapped the wrapper and popped it into his mouth: “Mm.”
By the door of the security room, Zhou Wei was holding two boxes of milk tea while bickering with Wei Junjie. Catching sight of the two coming over, he immediately hollered, “Finally! Brother Che, what did you two go off to do? Wei Junjie, this lazy pig, has already started drinking first!”
Zhao Che walked over and picked up one box. Gu Yu naturally took over the other, his fingertips flinching back slightly as they touched the condensation on the cardboard box.
“Nothing, just bumped into a small matter on the way,” Zhao Che said offhandedly, greeting the two who were still standing at the door. “Hurry back; Old Chen will be getting anxious in a bit.”
“Stop drinking, let’s go!” Zhou Wei tugged at Wei Junjie’s uniform, picked up his box, and followed right along.
Li Changlin saw the four people carrying boxes from afar and called out, “They’re back!”
“Hurry up and hand them out to everyone, there’s fruit tea and milk tea both.” Zhao Che put down his box, picked up two cups of fruit tea, and sat down close to Gu Yu. “Here, this one isn’t sickeningly sweet.”
One passed, the other took—this simple sequence of movements had unconsciously turned into a habit.
“Holy crap! Is this from XX shop? I drank it before—even the cheapest cup costs twenty bucks!” A classmate held up a cup of milk tea, examining it back and forth.
“Oh right, I’ve had it too, it really is!” another classmate chimed in.
“Damn! Brother Che, Auntie is way too generous!” Holding a cup of taro paste milk tea, Li Rourou’s eyes curved into crescent moons. “Come on, say it with me: ‘Thank you Brother Che, thank you Auntie!'”
Everyone chimed in together: “Thank you Brother Che! Thank you Auntie!”
Faced with dozens of grateful gazes, Zhao Che felt a little embarrassed. He waved his hand and let out two dry laughs: “You’re welcome, you’re welcome, as long as you guys like it.”
Li Changlin inserted his straw, taking down half the cup in one big gulp, and said indistinctly, “Sigh, Brother Che… Brother Yu, I remember your family’s background seems pretty good. Why do you take the bus to and from school every day? Why not buy an e-bike to ride?”
He had initially only called out to Zhao Che, but realizing the two seemed to live in the same house, he added “Brother Yu” as well.
Zhao Che took a sip of his grape fruit tea, a few pieces of fruit pulp sliding up the straw into his mouth. Chewing twice, he opened his mouth: “Oh, that. It’s actually nothing—riding an e-bike is a bit far, and my mom wouldn’t feel safe either. Besides, hiring a private driver is too much of a hassle, and we can’t hire one on short notice, so we just took the bus instead.”
“Oh~” Li Changlin clearly missed the key point, completely failing to notice that “hiring a driver” was an exceptionally rare concept, and continued probing like a curious toddler: “Then doesn’t it get stuck in traffic? How far is the school from your house?”
“Uh… I actually haven’t calculated that. Sometimes there’s traffic, sometimes there isn’t. Anyway, we make it in time for school.”
“Then where do you live? I can probably estimate it! I used to run around everywhere with my dad, so I’ve been to most places in Nancheng!”
Sitting in the row above Li Changlin, Zhou Wei mocked upon hearing this: “Give it a rest! If you were accurate, I’d uninstall the maps on my phone!”
Just as Li Changlin wanted to argue back a few words with him, he heard Zhao Che say casually: “Fengjing Garden. Can you estimate that?”
Li Changlin: “…Where?”
“Are you deaf? Fengjing Garden!” Speechless, Zhou Wei repeated it for him.
“Holy shit, Brother Che, Brother Yu, your family lives in a villa?!” Li Changlin opened his mouth wide in shock, milk tea stains still resting on the corner of his mouth.
“What? Really? You two are hiding your wealth that deep?” Hearing Li Changlin’s exclamation, Li Rourou leaned over too. “No wonder Auntie ordered such expensive milk tea.”
“I’m gonna hold onto your thighs! Prime Minister Che, when you strike it rich, don’t forget your humble servant!” Zhou Wei seized the opportunity to play along with the ancient system of high officials again.
“Indeed, General Yu! When will you return to marry this concubine?” Li Rourou curled her pinky finger and stroked the tip of her high ponytail.
“Sigh, Rourou, do you like Brother Yu?” Zhou Wei had a sharp mind; he noticed a blush spreading across Li Rourou’s ears right away.
Her manner seemed like she was using the lightest, most joking tone to verify whether the other party shared feelings for her as well.
“Ah… what are you talking about?” She grew visibly bashful, no longer as relaxed as a moment ago.
Zhao Che noticed the change in Li Rourou too. He intentionally shuffled even closer to Gu Yu’s side, pulled out a folding fan from who knows where, and fanned it back and forth. With a somewhat profound air, he said: “When heaven and earth overturn, and the universe shatters apart—that is when the time will come.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means he’ll come marry you when the Earth explodes,” Zhao Che explained with a smile, the fanning action of his hand never stopping. It seemed like he was fanning himself, but in truth, the cool breeze was constantly straying into Gu Yu’s lap.
“I don’t believe it. General Yu has to tell me himself.” Li Rourou took a sip of milk tea, placed one hand on her hip, and looked cautiously yet expectantly at Gu Yu, who hadn’t said a single word, waiting for his answer.
When Gu Yu raised his eyes, his fingertips unconsciously squeezed the rim of his cup. His gaze swept past Li Rourou’s flushed face, then fell faintly back onto Zhao Che, who was waving the fan beside him—the other boy’s fanning movement noticeably paused for a second.
Withdrawing his gaze, his tone was calm without any ripples, yet carried an unyielding distance: “No need to wait for heaven and earth to overturn.”
Putting down the condensed, water-beaded milk tea in his hand, he added: “From beginning to end, such a day will never come.”
Devoid of extra emotion, it was like stating the simplest fact, yet it left no room for anyone to follow up—far more decisive than any fierce rejection.
Zhao Che’s hand holding the fan tightened slightly, then relaxed again. The corners of his lips subtly hooked into an extremely faint arc, and his fanning motion became lighthearted and casual once more—except that breeze seemed to hide a bit of someone’s inner smugness.
“…” For a moment, Li Rourou couldn’t even say a word. Seeing her fall silent, Zhou Wei thought she was about to cry and quickly wanted to comfort her, but suddenly heard her say spiritedly: “Fine then! General Yu, then I wish you find your true love! This concubine is going to fall in love with someone else!”
Her quirky words warmed the half-frozen atmosphere right back up. Everyone was amused by her righteous, heroic air and continued chatting away.
“Speaking of which, Black Lin, what about that goddess of yours from before?” Zhou Wei brought up an uncomfortable topic, specifically aiming at Li Changlin’s sore spot.
“Sigh, it’s a long story…”
Seeing Li Changlin about to launch into a long rant, Zhou Wei interrupted immediately: “Stop! Keep it short—you’ve told the process several times already, just give us the result!”
“The result is, she dumped me and fell in love with someone else.” Li Changlin took another fierce gulp of milk tea to express his grief and indignation.
Unsurprisingly, a burst of goose-like laughter erupted from the crowd.
“I knew you guys were making fun of me…” Li Changlin made a pathetic exit, sitting to the side and entering self-isolation mode.
After gossiping about a few more people’s romantic histories, the conversation suddenly turned to Zhao Che: “Have you ever been in love, Brother Che?”
“No.”
Everyone shook their heads with “tsk-tsks.”
“Then do you have someone you like?”
This time, Zhao Che hesitated. Countless scenes of Gu Yu flashed through his mind—his frowning, angry look; his smile with faint dimples; his serious, focused expression; and many, many more, too numerous to count. There was even his back—cold, slender, lonely, yet resilient.
He thought for a long time, so long that Zhou Wei started urging him: “Hurry up, Brother Che! If not currently, someone you used to like counts too!”
“I do.”
“Who is it, who is it? A classmate? Or a friend?”
That was just how their class was—the moment a hint appeared, they loved digging all the way to the root.
“Both.”
“Aiya, Brother Che, don’t just answer one sentence per question, hurry and tell us!” Zhou Wei widened his eyes and pricked up his ears, terrified of missing a single piece of heavy news.
“Him… I’ve always liked him. Liked him for a very long time—many years if you add it up. But he didn’t know; right up until he left, I never had the chance to tell him.” Zhao Che’s tone seeped with sadness, his words brimming with deep regret.
A collective sigh of sympathy rippled through the crowd.
Zhao Che paused for a moment. His gaze pretended to casually drift toward Gu Yu, who was less than half a meter away from him, clearly feeling the other boy’s body stiffen slightly while still holding the straw in his mouth.
However, he quickly shifted his eyes away from Gu Yu, turning back toward the clouds at the edge of the sky, and suddenly said lightheartedly: “I met him again. Just like before, nothing has changed—I still like him…”
Gu Yu, this time I won’t let go.
He added in his heart.
“Holy shit? That’s awesome! Then hurry up and chase her!” Zhou Wei excitedly slapped Wei Junjie’s thigh in passing. “With your qualifications, what girl could possibly refuse you!”
“Yeah, I think Brother Che is really outstanding too. Chase her bravely; we’ll support you forever from behind!” Wei Junjie rubbed his thigh, joining in on this gossip session as well.
Zhao Che shook his head, thinking to himself that they didn’t know “he” wasn’t a “she” anyway. But he didn’t plan on explaining either, saving himself from bringing up even more questions and trouble.
“Winners of the boys’ and girls’ long jump and high jump, please come behind the podium to receive your awards.” The loudspeaker might have had bad wiring at the moment, accompanied by crackling static noise—luckily, it was just clear enough to hear which events were receiving awards.
“Alright, alright, enough talking. Let me go receive my award, Zhou Wei.” Zhao Che switched the topic, jumping down from the bleachers in two steps. Turning back toward Gu Yu, he mouthed silently: Got that first place for you!
Gu Yu nodded his head gently. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out the pack of tissues Zhao Che had given him earlier to wipe sweat, drew one out, and wiped his hands back and forth—without even realizing it himself, the moment he heard that line “I met her again,” the fruit tea in his hand had already been squeezed until it spilled over.