After what Feng Xingyun had said in the car last time, Zhao Yi believed that he didn’t like Liu Duanhe anymore. So if he brought Liu Duanhe to watch the game again today, wouldn’t that just make Zhao Yi’s mind run wild with speculation?
Just thinking about it gave Feng Xingyun a headache. What’s more, he’d once again created an opportunity for Zhao Yi to talk to Liu Duanhe, he had absolutely no desire to play wingman for anyone else.
As soon as he stepped out of the teaching building, a gust of cold wind hit him in the face, carrying the withered scent of grass and trees.
The weather in the capital turned cold in an instant, as if it had jumped straight from summer to late autumn.
Feng Xingyun had worn his jersey underneath with a jacket thrown over it for convenience while playing ball, while Liu Duanhe wore only a single layer on top, a purple silk shirt that most people would struggle to pull off. It was loose and casual, with excellent drape, lending him a luxurious, rich handsomeness. He paired it with gray dress pants, a belt cinching his waist into a slender frame.
A pair of anti-blue-light glasses with silver chains and non-slip nose pads sat on his high-bridged nose, and his jet-black hair fell softly. Noticing Feng Xingyun’s gaze, Liu Duanhe turned his head and gave a small, pressed-lip smile. “I was in a bit of a hurry when I left and forgot to take my glasses off.”
He raised his hand, pale fingers threading through his black hair, a stark, startling contrast of ice and ink that was almost breathtaking, and swept the fallen strands back, revealing a smooth forehead. His aura instantly turned cold and commanding.
But then Liu Duanhe smiled again, softening the arrogance that had flashed for just a moment. “Tomorrow’s Sunday, no classes. Looks like I’ll need to have a stylist come to the house to trim my hair. I was supposed to go a few days before I was hospitalized.”
Feng Xingyun looked at him and nodded. Liu Duanhe was always smiling, soft as water, but every time he smiled so gently, Feng Xingyun felt it was when Liu Duanhe was at his most contemptuous and arrogant. Using his disguise to toy with everyone, how was that not a silent form of disdain?
That was why he hated all of Liu Duanhe’s smiles that weren’t genuine. Feng Xingyun said with complete sincerity, “Your smile is ugly.”
He said it bluntly, because Feng Xingyun had always been like this, someone with seemingly low emotional intelligence. That was why he had so few friends. On one hand, there weren’t many people he deemed worthy; on the other, those who approached him for whatever unknown reasons wanting to be friends would eventually be unable to stomach his ruthlessness.
The words he used to describe Liu Duanhe, arrogance and the like, would, in most people’s eyes, fit him better.
Feng Xingyun stood utterly alone; at best, all his friends were no more than casual acquaintances he could hang out with.
Liu Duanhe’s lips flattened, and he stared at Feng Xingyun with a heavy, unreadable gaze.
Feng Xingyun, by contrast, curled his mouth into a genuine smile. “Just like this, in front of me.”
He said this kind of thing again and again, and Liu Duanhe was getting annoyed too. He still remembered how Feng Xingyun had caught him smoking in the abandoned building last time, and he knew the man seemed able to see through his true emotions.
Liu Duanhe laughed too, a cold laugh. “I’ve heard of people who go looking for a scolding, but this is the first time I’ve seen someone who likes being given the cold shoulder.”
Feng Xingyun explained seriously, “Because you don’t actually want to smile. If you don’t want to, why force yourself? How miserable it must be to smile at people you don’t want to smile at.”
Liu Duanhe was briefly stunned, then said flatly, “What does wanting or not wanting, sincerity or insincerity matter? As long as I achieve my goal, nothing else matters except what I gain.”
Feng Xingyun could tell Liu Duanhe didn’t want to continue the conversation, so he didn’t press the argument further.
Since the indoor gymnasium was on another campus, they took the bus there.
Although they sat together, Liu Duanhe didn’t speak to him the entire ride. Even Feng Xingyun, with his stubborn, unrepentant temper, was starting to feel the strain, beginning to regret whether he was speaking too deeply for how little they truly knew each other.
Liu Duanhe gazed out the window, not bothering to spare Feng Xingyun a glance, and opened the window in front of him for ventilation.
The faint, unusual fragrance on his body drifted on the breeze, sweet, mingled with the warmth of his body heat, floating to Feng Xingyun’s nose.
It must be the scent of the body wash or shampoo Liu Duanhe always used. Feng Xingyun thought vaguely that he’d never been this close to Liu Duanhe before. Only when Liu Duanhe stepped out of the bathroom, or when he himself went in after, would he catch that scent. It really was pleasant.
Liu Duanhe’s habit on public transport was to not look at his phone. He spent the whole ride emptying his mind, releasing pressure. He wasn’t a god either, doing things he didn’t want to do tired him out. Since Feng Xingyun didn’t want to see a smiling face, he couldn’t be bothered to argue with him either.
But those words of his hadn’t left him entirely untouched. Still, there was no way he’d change the principles he’d lived by for over a decade just because of a few sentences from Feng Xingyun.
It was somewhat interesting, Feng Xingyun was one of the few people who could see through his true feelings. But that was where it ended.
When Liu Duanhe’s striking, vivid features were expressionless, his supremely noble temperament and appearance became especially aggressive, his presence overwhelmingly oppressive, like a flower atop a high peak, intimidating and untouchable, a stark contrast to his usual demeanor.
His long, curled lashes blinked coolly, his eyes as beautiful as glass beads in the sunlight. Suddenly, he turned his head to look to the right.
The classmate on the other side calmly put down their phone and apologized, saying, “Sorry, do you want me to delete the photo?”
Liu Duanhe had been photographed so often that he’d developed a sense for the camera, and to some extent, it had also trained his sensitivity to gazes, reducing the odds of being caught off guard by various underhanded moves. But while he’d encountered people who panicked when he caught them, this was the first time he’d met someone so emboldened and unflappable.
He’d only just reacted out of habitual alertness, so after giving the person a few extra glances, he said, “Forget it, no need to delete.”
The person replied with an “Oh.”
Liu Duanhe figured everyone had their own temperament, this classmate was probably just exceptionally thick-skinned and bold.
Feng Xingyun suddenly cleared his throat beside him, interrupting Liu Duanhe’s thoughts, and said in a hoarse, low voice, “We’ve reached our stop.”
“Oh.”
Before getting off, Liu Duanhe glanced once more at the classmate by the window. She was looking down, typing, and with his good eyesight, he could see at a glance that the screen showed the school forum.
Out of politeness, Liu Duanhe looked away.
Feng Xingyun stood next to him and said in an ambiguous tone, “Is she that attractive to you?”
For someone as bizarre as him who kept pushing again and again, Liu Duanhe’s strategy was to ignore him.
He’d encountered people before who thought he was easygoing and tried to take advantage, and without exception, Liu Duanhe had made them learn their lesson. His reputation as a smiling tiger in his circle came from exactly that.
Those who knew about these things naturally kept their distance from him. A truly harmless goody-two-shoes would only be devoured whole, but someone who always wore a three-part smile yet never showed mercy could secure both a good first impression and extra benefits without ever losing out.
As for people like Feng Xingyun and Chen Xingdong who were immune to both soft and hard tactics, he generally ignored their every move and word, and then they’d settle down.
Sure enough, he turned around without giving Feng Xingyun even a single glance, letting his words blow away with the wind. Feng Xingyun then walked close beside him, stealing glances from the corner of his eye the whole way.
Liu Duanhe remained composed and unhurried, walking the entire distance like that. Before they entered the gymnasium, Feng Xingyun finally couldn’t hold it in anymore and abruptly grabbed his sleeve, fortunately, he knew about Liu Duanhe’s cleanliness obsession and didn’t touch him directly.
He pulled him over to the landscaped garden in front of the gymnasium, and once they stopped, his dark eyes stared straight at him, deep and unreadable, complex and obscure. This time, Liu Duanhe couldn’t decipher the emotion in his gaze.
Feng Xingyun’s mood had been a mess the whole way, and he likewise couldn’t sort out what he was thinking.
He was nearly 1.9 meters tall, a bit taller than Liu Duanhe, with wheat-colored skin, thin eyelids with narrow double-fold creases, a high nose bridge, thin lips, and a neat crew cut. He had a distinctive handsomeness that made him look hard to get along with.
Without a certain level of looks, he might easily have seemed like someone just released from prison, but fortunately, his defiant aura and decent face carried it, like a gang leader who’d just arrived at a reform center but hadn’t yet been reformed.
Especially with the solid muscles built from years of exercise, and perhaps his natural bone structure, he looked a full size bigger than Liu Duanhe.
His eyes drooped slightly, shifting between Liu Duanhe’s gorgeous features and his pale, shapely lips that looked tempting to kiss.
He didn’t speak, and Liu Duanhe didn’t urge him either, polite, composed, waiting for him to say what he wanted to hear.
All afternoon, Feng Xingyun had been disobedient, and Liu Duanhe was genuinely displeased.
At some point, they’d drawn very close, face to face, close enough that Feng Xingyun could see Liu Duanhe’s thick, curled lashes fluttering as he blinked.
He said, “This afternoon was my fault. I shouldn’t have said those things.”
“And my tone wasn’t good either. I apologize.”
“Can you forgive me?”
If Feng Xingyun’s parents had seen him apologizing so sincerely like this, they’d probably suspect he’d been possessed. Since childhood, he’d had a stubborn temper, immune to both soft and hard approaches, he wouldn’t listen to gentle words, and with force, he wouldn’t be led forward but would only retreat when pushed. Extremely difficult to handle. When he believed he was right, even if his father broke the leather belt on him, Feng Xingyun would grit his teeth and refuse to change his words, with a temper exactly like his mother’s.
What he said today might genuinely have been the first soft words of his life, though Feng Xingyun wasn’t aware of any of that, he was just speaking according to what he felt inside.
When the potential for negative impact on him was very low, Liu Duanhe was easy to deal with, he just needed to see the attitude.
So he sincerely showed a satisfied smile, reached out to touch Feng Xingyun’s short hair stubble, feeling the hard resistance pushing back against his palm when pressed down, just like the man himself, stubborn as a wolf cub, and said, “Alright, I forgive you.”
“But it’s best if there’s no next time, understand?”
Liu Duanhe’s hand drifted down to casually stroke his warm cheek, like a reward, but beneath the smile was a hint of nonchalance.
A boyfriend who knew to reflect and repent immediately deserved encouragement, of course. As for anything more, Liu Duanhe still couldn’t overcome his psychological barrier.
Just two ordinary movements, but when performed by Liu Duanhe, they seemed utterly extraordinary.
Feng Xingyun’s gaze deepened, yet Liu Duanhe no longer looked at him. After making those two movements, it was as if he had overcome some obstacle. He lowered his head, raised his hand, and glanced at the time on his watch.
Then he took Feng Xingyun’s arm, who was still standing rooted to the spot, and headed toward the sports hall. “Hurry, let’s go inside. Isn’t time almost up?”