Edited and Proofread by: cream
[He felt that he was really done for]
Xu Xingzhe found an excuse to ask Lu Quoyuan for Lu Zhaoshen’s phone number and WeChat number.
After returning home, Qin Jiazhen looked at the injury on his ankle, feeling both heartbroken and angry. She grabbed his ear and ordered him not to get into trouble again. Xu Xingzhe was very obedient and did not refute it at all. In fact, his mind was full of thoughts on how to apologize to Lu Zhaoshen.
First, he applied to be Lu Zhaoshen’s friend on WeChat. Lu Zhaoshen’s avatar was an anime character from back in the days, no signature nor flashy background image. There were only a few words in his posts, the most recent one was a birthday wish for himself this year, which read: 16 years old, jia you.
However, there were only a few likes and comments. Xu Xingzhe felt that it was strange. How could someone with good looks like Lu Zhaoshen not have anyone pursue him?
There were a total of eight posts. Xu Xingzhe scrolled up one by one before quickly finding the earliest one.
——Mom, I’m doing very well now. Don’t worry.
Xu Xingzhe’s head made a buzzing sound.
He stared at that sentence for a long time, and after regaining his composure, he immediately hopped on one foot to find Qin Jiazhen.
“Mom, do you know the family situation of Uncle Lu, the one who drives for dad?”
Qin Jiazhen was putting on a facial mask. Hearing these words, she thought for a moment, “I remember that Lao Lu has a son the same age as you. He had a very good performance and also studied in Xizhong.”
“No, it’s about Uncle Lu’s wife, are they divorced?”
“His wife passed away very early on.”
Xu Xingzhe froze on the spot, then suddenly lost his strength. He held onto the edge of the wardrobe before he could stand firm, feeling breathless, and a feeling of regret quickly spread over his limbs and bones.
Was he more than just stupid?
He looked at his phone and found that Lu Zhaoshen hadn’t accepted his friend request yet, but Xu Xingzhe wasn’t hopeful. He went back to his room, closed the door, and sent a text to Lu Zhaoshen.
He said he was sorry, really sorry.
Lu Zhaoshen still didn’t reply. Xu Xingzhe fell asleep holding his phone.
His injury wasn’t very serious, but Qin Jiazhen ordered him to stay at home for a day to rest and recuperate, causing Xu Xingzhe to suffer to the point of going crazy. When he was able to leave the house on the third day, he exploded with an unprecedented thirst for knowledge and learning, fussing to go back to school. Puzzled, Qin Jiazhen touched Xu Xingzhe’s forehead, “Baobei, are you sure you didn’t hurt your brain that day?”
Xu Xingzhe got into the car, but found that the driver wasn’t Lu Guoyuan.
He was very disappointed and asked the new driver, “Where’s Uncle Lu?”
The new driver replied, “Lao Lu has gone to Jiangcheng to pick up Mr. Xu and will only come back tomorrow.”
Xu Xingzhe nodded, thinking to himself that his father should send Lu Guoyuan specifically to pick him up and take him to school. This would not only make work easier, but he could also extract some news from Lu Guoyuan about Lu Zhaoshen.
Xu Xingzhe went to class 12 to look for Lu Zhaoshen as soon as he got out of class, his injuries hadn’t healed yet, but he was burning with impatience and walked briskly, not caring about the pain. In half a minute, he had rushed to the back door of Class 12. When a classmate from his junior high school class happened to come out and saw him sneaking around, he asked, “Xingzhe, what are you doing here?”
At a glance, Xu Xingzhe saw Lu Zhaoshen sitting by the window in the back row working on a problem. His upper body was leaning slightly against the wall, and he was holding a black pen on his right fingertip, occasionally spinning it around.
They were all obviously wearing the same school uniform working on the same problem, but why was he so eye-catching?
“I came to look for Lu Zhaoshen,” Xu Xingzhe said without hesitation.
“You came to look for him too?”
Xu Xingzhe immediately became alert, his eyebrows squeezing towards the middle, “Hmm? Who else is looking for him?”
“There were a lot. From freshman year to senior year, it’s only been two months since school started and there were eight or nine girls coming to find him,” the classmate looked up and down at Xu Xingzhe, and suddenly smiled, “But you’re the only boy? What are you doing here?”
Xu Xingzhe couldn’t remember the reason for it for a moment, but when he saw that the recess was about to end, he had no choice but to shout out Lu Zhaoshen’s name. Then, with the sudden silence and concentration of his gaze from all the classmates in Class 12, he forced Lu Zhaoshen to come out.
When Xu Xingzhe was in junior high school, he was a little devil who made the teachers have headaches. He was used to being proud and indulged himself, and didn’t think that there was anything wrong with his behaviour.
So he shouted out recklessly, and the class immediately quieted down as he wished. Everyone first looked at Xu Xingzhe standing at the door, and then at Lu Zhaoshen.
Lu Zhaoshen also turned his head. His expression was originally relaxed, but it suddenly sank the moment he saw Xu Xingzhe.
Xu Xingzhe made faces at him and begged him to come out, but Lu Zhaoshen wasn’t part of Xu Xingzhe’s group of playmates and wouldn’t go along with everything, let alone allow him to fool around. Lu Zhaoshen turned coldly and continued to work on the questions until the end of the break without even moving again.
Xu Xingzhe was laughed at by the people of Class 12, and his face looked very hurt. The guilt and regret that had filled his heart before instantly decreased by three points.
He thought: ‘What’s the big deal? Those who don’t know are innocent. He didn’t mean it either. What’s so good about Lu Zhaoshen? He’s just a pretty face, who would he show it to?’
He thought angrily for a long time before deciding not to stick his hot face onto cold buttocks1 anymore. However, during physical education class, as a disabled member, he sat in the equipment room to take care of the volleyball. When Lu Zhaoshen was assigned by the physical education teacher to come in to pick up the volleyball, Xu Xingzhe’s arm that was supporting his head shook and he was completely dumbfounded. He sat in place blankly, forgetting to breathe.
Lu Zhaoshen saw him as well and reluctantly walked over without speaking to him. When he bent down to grab the ball, Xu Xingzhe regained his senses. Quick as a flash, he slapped the ball in Lu Zhaoshen’s hand, and then, like a hen guarding her cubs, opened his arms to block the basket, “I’m not giving!’
Lu Zhaoshen then turned around and left. Xu Xingzhe had made a fool of himself so he quickly chased after him. He walked around in front of Lu Zhaoshen and said, “Did you see the text I sent you? It doesn’t matter if you didn’t see it. I can say it now, I’m sorry, Lu Zhaoshen. I sincerely apologize to you for lying about what I shouldn’t have that day and tricking you into being sympathetic. I’m really sorry.”
Lu Zhaoshen lowered his eyes and after a moment of silence, he gave a brief “mm”.
But Xu Xingzhe wasn’t satisfied, he followed up, “Then do you forgive me?”
“I still have a class to attend. “Lu Zhaoshen continued walking forward, forcing Xu Xingzhe to step back until he reached the door of the equipment room. When he saw this, he immediately reached out and closed the door, pressing his back against the door lock.
The two of them were the only ones left in the small equipment room; the lights weren’t on and there was only a very dirty window that didn’t let in much light.
Xu Xingzhe swallowed his saliva and said, “Lu Zhaoshen, I really want to be friends with you.”
Lu Zhaoshen’s face turned black, while Xu Xingzhe stuck to the door like glue. Right as he touched Lu Zhoashen, he stuck to him again and couldn’t even tear himself apart from him.
Everything Xu Xingzhe did was a pain in the neck, but his face just had to have innocence written all over it.
Lu Zhaoshen calmed down for a few minutes and thought of something, he furrowed his brows then opened his mouth to ask, “Do you like boys?”
Xu Xingzhe was stunned, “No.”
As he spoke, he reached out and cautiously pinched Lu Zhaoshen’s sleeve, shaking it. “But I just really want to be friends with you.”
*
Lu Zhaoshen’s words caused a significant ripple in Xu Xingzhe’s heart.
Like boys? Neither the preceding nor following statement was true in this sentence. Firstly, his feelings for Lu Zhaoshen weren’t ‘like’, and secondly, he didn’t like men either.
The phrase ‘boys liking boys’ sounded very weird, like perverts. Xu Xingzhe had never heard such a thing before.
But how would Lu Zhaoshen know? Could it be that he’d heard of it? Or did a boy like him?
Xu Xingzhe’s mind was spinning rapidly, even more active than when he was solving math problems. Just as he was fretting, his sworn best friend Chen Xiaoming ran over and slapped Xu Xingzhe on the back, “Dude why didn’t you come to school yesterday?”
Xu Xingzhe kicked Chen Xiaoming and then collapsed on the back table, “My leg was broken.”
Chen Xiaoming kicked back and asked, “By the way, did He Kai come to see you these last two days?”
Xu Xingzhe shook his head and said, “No, but I feel like he wants to wait for an opportunity to make a big move.”
“That’s for sure. You robbed someone’s girlfriend, how could they not go after you?”
Xu Xingzhe rubbed his hair irritably, “Qian Sijia lied to me, she asked me to do her a favour and pretend to be her boyfriend. I thought she looked pitiful so I helped her out. As a result, that damn girl never broke up with He Kai at all and as a rival for his lover, I was chased by him for two blocks.”
“Then how did you escape?”
Xu Xingzhe paused and pondered for a moment before suddenly looking up and asking Chen Xiaoming, “Do you know Lu Zhaoshen?”
Chen Xiaoming was familiar with the name, but couldn’t remember it for a moment. He inadvertently glanced at the monthly exam report on the wall and suddenly said, “I remember, I remember. He’s the handsome one of Class 12. He ranked first in grade in the last monthly exam, and I was particularly impressed because his math score was twice of mine.”
“I’m talking about him as a person, do you know him?”
“No, he’s quite low-key,” Chen Xiaoming suddenly sighed after he said this, causing his whole person to lose heart, “I heard that Lin Yue likes him.”
Xu Xingzhe became completely lively. Looking at the clock on the wall, he had 15 minutes until the night self-study session started. He disregarded Chen Xiaoming’s shouts from behind and sped out of the class, almost falling because of his leg injury. He slid down the railing of the stairs all the way and rushed to the milk tea shop at the entrance of the school, bought a cup of low sugar taro milk tea, and then ran to Class 12.
On the way, he just happened to bump into Qian Sijia. Qian Sijia had never seen Xu Xingzhe in such a flustered state before, but before she could ask him what was wrong, Xu Xingzhe ran away like the wind.
Xu Xingzhe was sweating all over as he ran. He only realized the pain after he stepped one foot on the last step of the third floor. He probably twisted it again on the way, but he didn’t pay attention to it. At this moment, he was in so much pain that his vision went black in front of him, and his hand almost missed the railing.
But a familiar figure suddenly emerged from the corner, startling Xu Xingzhe. His legs suddenly went weak and he fell straight backwards; his eyes widened and he could clearly see the appearance of the person in front of him a second before he rolled down the stairs.
It was Lu Zhaoshen.
At this critical moment, Xu Xingzhe even sadly thought that he was going to embarrass himself in front of Lu Zhaoshen again.
However, Lu Zhaoshen rushed forward and grabbed his wrist, and after a whirlwind, his upper body was held by Lu Zhaoshen, his face pressed against Lu Zhaoshen’s chest. He didn’t know when his arms had wrapped around Lu Zhaoshen’s waist either, although his two legs were twisted and entangled together, hanging on the steps like a dying fish.
A person’s reactions at times of crisis were most authentic. Xu Xingzhe forcefully held down his heart that was about to jump out of his throat, pretending to be calm.
But suddenly there was a gurgling heat flow sliding down the legs of his pants. Xu Xingzhe’s eyes widened as he felt it for a while, beyond belief. The next second, his whole body burned, he hugged Lu Zhaoshen’s waist and shouted, “I didn’t wet my pants!”
Lu Zhaoshen didn’t speak. He pinched the back of Xu Xingzhe’s collar and pulled him away from himself. Xu Xingzhe timidly raised his head and was abruptly met with Lu Zhaoshen’s abnormally gloomy expression. He was so scared that he immediately lowered his head, but when he saw Lu Zhaoshen’s similarly wet pants legs, his state of mind balanced out. He grinned simple-mindedly, “Did you also wet your pants, Lu Zhaoshen?”
Lu Zhaoshen was so angry that he wanted to kick Xu Xingzhe down the stairs.
Xu Xingzhe suddenly smelled a sweet and creamy scent of milk. He sniffed for a moment before realizing that it was the smell of the taro ball milk tea he had just bought.
He looked down and saw the taro balls had exploded all over the floor with milk tea splattered all over his and Lu Zhaoshen’s pants. Lu Zhaoshen was fine, only his pants were wet, but Xu Xingzhe wasn’t so lucky. He had spilled on his crotch, dampening a large area.
“…”
Xu Xingzhe lowered his head and said, “I’m sorry.”
Lu Zhaoshen seemed to have become immune to him and just said “forget it” and was about to leave. Xu Xingzhe was embarrassed to pull him again, but at this moment, he suddenly heard He Kai’s voice coming from downstairs.
He stood on the steps down from the third floor, while He Kai was walking up from the corner of the second floor. As soon as he lifted his eyes, he met the disheveled Xu Xingzhe, “Fuck! Xu Xingzhe!”
Startled, Xu Xingzhe wanted to start running away immediately but not before forgetting to grab Lu Zhaoshen. However, there was nowhere to hide in the teaching building. His mind was in a moment of irrationality, so he ran into the bathroom with Lu Zhaoshen. He rushed into the last cubicle, pushed Lu Zhaoshen in, and then closed the door all in one go.
He was catching his breath when He Kai and his group surprisingly followed him in, and he heard He Kai say, “What colour shoes is Xu Xingzhe wearing today?”
Another boy replied, “It seems like red canvas shoes.”
Xu Xingzhe’s breath stopped. He glanced at Lu Zhaoshen who was almost unable to suppress the anger in his heart, his beautiful eyebrows were twisted in one place, as if he was about to kill Xu Xingzhe in the next second.
Xu Xingzhe hesitated; was it better to die in the hands of He Kai or in the hands of Lu Zhaoshen?
The answer was obviously the latter.
He took advantage of Lu Zhaoshen’s lack of attention and pushed him onto the toilet, then quickly straddled his lap, both feet in the air.
Lu Zhaoshen reacted and immediately grabbed Xu Xingzhe’s clothes, ready to lift him off. However, Xu Xingzhe grinned and wrapped his arms around Lu Zhaoshen’s neck, leaned in his ear, and whispered, “Look at my pants. If they see us in the same restroom looking like this, what would they think?”
Lu Zhaoshen had never been so angry before. He gritted his teeth and said, “You’re done for.”
Xu Xingzhe had been carefully listening to the movements of He Kai and his group outside the door, but at this moment, everything was quiet. He could only see Lu Zhao’s beautiful eyes becoming sharp due to anger, his thin lips were slightly open, every move was captivating to the soul.
He thought he was really done for.
Footnotes
1. 热脸贴冷屁股: metaphor describing a person who is trying to please someone but they are indifferent about it
red rabbit 
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