But soon, Yun Ci couldn’t be sure if Yu Xun was looking at him or just happened to be looking in his direction.
Because Yu Xun’s gaze avoided his the moment their eyes met.
He leaned back, putting some distance between them, his back against the leather sofa’s backrest. He withdrew all expressions, all emotions in his eyes blurring under the hazy light.
Only the sharp line of his jaw and the Adam’s apple, which he couldn’t help but move, stood out clearly.
The piano music flowed gently.
The player’s skills were poor, with a few mistakes in the middle.
Due to the surprise, no one spoke at the table for a moment. After a while, Liu Sheng cautiously asked, “…Do you guys, fear gays?”
In high school, dating was prohibited. Early romances between boys and girls were rare, and relationships between boys were unheard of. After entering university, with more majors and a larger student population, they occasionally heard gossip about art school boys due to stereotypes, but this group of straight guys never paid much attention.
Luo Sifang was the first to speak for the dormitory, “Although it’s unexpected, we’ve been roommates for so long, and society is so open now, it’s not a big deal.” He then brought up an old topic, “I still say the same thing, Peng Shao, if a rich second-generation like you considers me, I wouldn’t mind—”
Peng Yiyuan pulled a face of disgust, “Si-ge, I have no issue with Liu Sheng, but I do with you. I’m not considering it.”
Luo Sifang: “…It seems like a fine man like me has no hope of marrying into wealth in this life.”
Wang Zhuang: “You two, enough…”
This trendy guy thought for a moment and said frankly, “I’m quite straightforward, so I’ll speak plainly. It would be a bit weird and awkward, I guess.” He then changed his tone and said, “But it doesn’t count as fearing gays. We’re all brothers, and brothers wouldn’t use such a term.”
Everyone else had expressed their views, leaving only two people who hadn’t spoken.
So, all their gazes fell on Yun Ci and Yu Xun.
Usually eager to speak and always supportive, Yu Xun just held a glass of water and softly said two words, “I wouldn’t.”
He spoke too few words to discern his tone.
He didn’t even show much expression, and his emotions were unclear.
But no one thought much of it, and attention shifted to Yun Ci: “Ci-ge, what about you? It’s your turn.”
Yu Xun’s grip on the glass suddenly tightened; his knuckles were almost white, and his veins were faintly visible.
From the earlier gaze to this moment.
It all gave Yun Ci an illusion.
He felt that this person seemed to care very much about his answer, about his attitude toward this matter. It even felt like waiting for a sentence.
“Me?”
Yun Ci didn’t preset any of his views and simply centered on Liu Sheng, saying, “Don’t worry. In the dormitory, we will interact as we did before.”
These words didn’t address whether he feared gays or not.
But they were more practical and warm, lifting the burden in Liu Sheng’s heart.
Liu Sheng briefly explained his past: “I met him at art school training. We didn’t part on good terms. I was anxious due to exam pressure and in a bad mood, while he was close to others.”
He skipped the part about being two-timed: “Anyway, we broke up later, deleted all contact, and I didn’t want to recall the past or see him again. I heard he also went to Nanyang University, but in a different department and campus, so we never met until the competition.”
“It’s my fault,” Luo Sifang said, “There was a list of participating teams before the competition. I didn’t think to show you.”
Liu Sheng: “No, it’s my issue. I never mentioned my situation.”
Wang Zhuang smoothed things over, urging, “Can we eat now? If you two keep deferring, the food will get cold.”
The topic of fearing gays was dropped.
Everyone tacitly agreed not to bring it up again.
…
After the meal, Peng Yiyuan suggested going next door to celebrate.
The group had just left the shop and was walking down the street.
“Next door? Where?” Wang Zhuang asked while walking, “Don’t tell me it’s an internet cafe. Lately, we’ve been going to internet cafes all the time, living the life I dreamed of in high school, but the frequency is too high. I don’t want to go again.”
Peng Yiyuan said, “It’s a KTV.”
“The money I loaded last time hasn’t been used up yet.”
Wang Zhuang was stunned: “You recharged a card??? You even recharged a KTV card?? How much is your monthly allowance? Forget it, I didn’t ask.”
Peng Yiyuan also felt it was a bit much and explained: “That day I drank too much, and no one stopped me…”
Yun Ci walked at the back, with Yu Xun being the last one.
The two were originally walking one in front of the other, but during the red light while crossing the street, they ended up side by side.
Yu Xun didn’t speak, and an unexpected silence fell between them.
After a while, Yu Xun said the only sentence: “The light’s green.”
Walking side by side without talking felt strange, with an indescribable sense of awkwardness, as if they were tacitly avoiding something. So Yun Ci said, “Although it was a tie just now.”
He continued, “But in the first ten minutes of the game, I got three kills, and you got two.”
“……”
He really knew how to find a topic.
After saying that, he also felt it was a bit absurd.
Yu Xun smoothly responded, “Hmm, as expected of my strong opponent.”
“……”
“In any case, don’t bring breakfast anymore,” Yun Ci brought up an old topic, “I arranged to go to the cafeteria with Li Yan in the morning, there’s really no need.”
He then remembered why Yu Xun insisted on bringing him breakfast and explained from the root, “About the fever incident, don’t worry about it.”
“We’re all in the same dormitory; it’s nothing.”
“If it wasn’t me, someone else would have bought the medicine.”
A cold wind happened to blow over.
Yu Xun didn’t speak; his chin was half-covered by a scarf, his breath visible in the white mist. After a moment, he responded very low, then suddenly couldn’t help but say, “Let me ask you a question.”
“?
What?
Yun Ci waited for a long time but didn’t hear the next sentence.
“Nothing,” Yu Xun swallowed his words, pretending nothing happened, and said casually, “I suddenly forgot.”
Evening. The usual place, the usual private room.
Peng Yiyuan, as an esteemed member, called the store to ask if there were any spots available. After receiving a positive response, the store, according to his previous recharge package, started stacking several boxes of beer in the private room even before they arrived.
“……”
“Quite grand,” Luo Sifang couldn’t help but say as soon as he stepped in, “This is the world of recharging.”
Wang Zhuang immediately queued up ten songs, grabbing the mic: “I have to sing before Sheng-ge, otherwise, once he starts singing, I get self-conscious.”
Yun Ci’s phone kept vibrating: “I’ll step out to take a call.”
He pushed the door open and walked to the end of the corridor, near the emergency exit.
Ensuring that the noise wouldn’t reach the other end, he answered the call: “Hello, Dad.”
On the other end, Yan Yue’s voice was very serious: “Did you really join that game competition?”
What Yan Yue said was within his expectations.
“I just signed up casually,” Yun Ci said, “to make up the numbers.”
Yan Yue: “You’re free now, no one’s watching over you, but you can’t waste your time.”
Yan Yue: “I’ve seen too many students, who originally had good grades, but then? Hiding phones, playing games in class, not doing homework at home…”
The word “game” hit Yan Yue’s sore spot.
Parents are naturally sensitive to “games,” especially since his dad was a dean. His sensitivity to games was much stronger than that of average parents; you could say it was a long-standing grudge; after all, he was always confiscating phones at school and catching students who went to black internet cafes after school.
Yun Ci rarely felt a bit annoyed and said, “It’s not that serious. I said it was just to make up the numbers. Games have nothing to do with grades.”
Yan Yue said a lot, but Yun Ci let it go in one ear and out the other. The last sentence before he hung up was: “…I’ll be waiting to see your final exam scores.”
The call ended.
Yun Ci didn’t return to the private room directly. He leaned against the wall, standing by the emergency exit for a while.
He lowered his head, scrolling through his phone and checking Li Yan’s messages.
Li Yan: [Damn it]
Li Yan: [Why did you go in so early?!!!! If I had known, we would have entered later too and given you an entrance ceremony outside.]
Li Yan: [Yu Xun’s entrance was pretty cool, though.]
After sending that, he felt he had misspoken and added: [Of course, the coolest is still my uncle, entering early, keeping a low profile, very cool.]
Li Yan: [But we still need to strive for excellence. This time was our mistake. Next time, we can’t let them steal the spotlight.]
Yun Ci thought of the spectacle of the two groups during the day and muttered, “Damn.”
The annoyance from the phone call with Yan Yue dissipated a bit.
After finishing the call, he returned to the private room and found that the scene inside had changed from when he left. The room was divided into two groups: those singing and those drinking.
The main drinkers were Liu Sheng and the guy with the surname Yu, whose entry was quite cool earlier.
Yun Ci patted Luo Sifang: “Why are they drinking?”
Luo Sifang, who was clapping for the singers, paused and said, “Sheng-ge is reminiscing about sad past events and feels bad.”
Yun Ci raised his chin: “And the other one?”
Luo Sifang: “Oh, Yu-ge said that in the first ten minutes of the game, he got two kills and you got three, so he felt bad and went to accompany him.”
“…”
Lunatic.
Luo Sifang worried: “You won’t go over to accompany one and compete to see who can drink more, will you?”
Yun Ci replied: “I’m not crazy.”
Yun Ci sat down in the middle, between the two groups, acting as the only neutral party.
In the second half, the singers couldn’t sing anymore, and the drinkers couldn’t drink anymore.
Liu Sheng, barely conscious, said, “Yu-ge, I can’t outdrink you. The power of your enemy status is much greater than that of any ex-boyfriend… hic.”
Others hurriedly handed him a trash bin.
Compared to Liu Sheng, Yu Xun seemed very quiet and didn’t look drunk.
But Yun Ci knew this person couldn’t handle alcohol well.
Luo Sifang hoisted Liu Sheng up, still not missing any chance to improve dormitory harmony: “We’ll carry Sheng-ge back. Yu-ge is your responsibility.”
Yun Ci, being named: “?”
“Swap.”
“No swap,” Luo Sifang said, “If you must ask why, it’s because you carried him last time and are more familiar.”
…
When carrying a person, what’s there to be familiar with?
But seeing those guys tightly holding Liu Sheng’s arms and legs, refusing to let go, Yun Ci had no chance to argue.
In the end, like a reenactment, in the private room littered with beer bottles, dimly lit with colorful lights, Yu Xun sat while he stood straight in front of him, shouting, “Can you get up by yourself?”
Yu Xun’s state was better than last time.
Specifically, he could understand words and still stand.
But after a few steps, he became unsteady.
Yun Ci grabbed one of his arms and put it over his shoulder: “I told you not to drink.”
“You’re bad at it but still love to drink.”
“Walk back to school if you’re so capable.”
After mocking him, they reached the place where Yun Ci had taken the call earlier.
Half-drunk, Yu Xun remembered something undone: “Phone.”
Yun Ci didn’t catch it: “What?”
“Make a call,” Yu Xun said, “my phone.”
Yun Ci guessed he might be calling his aunt: “How should I know where your phone is?”
Yu Xun added: “In my clothes.”
“…You can’t get it yourself?”
But after Yun Ci said this, the drunk one went silent.
…
Selective hearing when drunk?
Yun Ci used his free hand to search Yu Xun’s coat pockets. The long coat’s pocket was stiff, and he found the edge, reached in, and pulled out the phone.
Then Yun Ci accidentally saw the familiar unlock password: “…”
He wanted to say, can you change your password? but then realized Yu Xun didn’t know he knew it, so he swallowed the words: “Make the call. Finish it and let’s go.”
Yu Xun’s drunkenness today showed in his eyes. His vision wasn’t good, and he couldn’t find the contact for a long time.
“Can’t find it?”
Yun Ci leaned in and saw that he hadn’t even opened the contacts list: “…”
“You,” he choked up, “do you remember the number?”
Yu Xun said he remembered and directly handed the phone to him: “I remember. You dial.”
Yun Ci took his phone, but just as he did, some quick operation settings brought up all the background apps. He had to support the person and operate the phone single-handedly, trying to switch back to the dialer.
This operation made it easy to touch the wrong thing. His finger slid over the screen edge, accidentally opening the photo album.
“Damn.”
He got a bit annoyed and was about to exit.
But before exiting, his eyes caught a familiar photo in an album.
Red sweater. New Year. Holding a relative’s child.
It was a photo he posted on his Moments.
One shouldn’t casually go through others’ phones, but he couldn’t help but open it.
The album was full of photos of him.
Dozens of photos—the latest saved ones were all from his WeChat Moments after adding him, and scrolling up, there were even photos from high school.
There were pictures from when he was a sophomore, posted on the bulletin board, mostly official school photos taken for competitions. Some had been published in the electronic school newspaper.
Oh my god this Yu Xun guy has been keeping his feelings hidden for so long awww