Want to Play a Game?

Jimo stayed where he was. Looking at Ke Yueyi, he insisted, "Brother, the place is so big. Why don't we all play together?"

With his back to the sunlight, Ke Yueyi looked at him quietly. He didn't immediately refuse, which gave Jimo a little hope.

He Zhenglin scoffed. "Seriously, Yi? What are you doing..."

Ke Yueyi suddenly cut him off. "Don't make me say it twice."

With that, he really did leave this time.

Jimo paused. He could tell Ke Yueyi was a little angry and in a bad mood.

He figured Ke Yueyi probably didn't like people contradicting him.

He Zhenglin drawled, "Just a reminder, classmate: you'd better follow him now. Yi is pretty scary when he's angry."

Jimo fell silent for a moment, then looked back at Jiang Wangshu.

Jiang Wangshu said, "Brother, you don't need to worry about me. I'll come find you later."

There was nothing else to do. Jimo couldn't afford to fall out with Ke Yueyi yet.

After Jimo left, only Jiang Wangshu and He Zhenglin remained in the changing room.

A smile played on He Zhenglin's lips as he stroked his chin. No matter how one looked at him, he seemed to have bad intentions. "Special-class student, what was your name again?"

Jiang Wangshu's expression barely changed. "Jiang Wangshu."

Realization dawned on He Zhenglin. He made a gun with his fingers and fired an imaginary shot at Jiang Wangshu. "Bang..."

"I know you. I heard you're pretty popular at the academy."

He Zhenglin blew away the nonexistent gun smoke. "Interested in playing a game?"

Jiang Wangshu started to walk away. "If there's nothing else, I'll be going."

He Zhenglin suddenly kicked a stool at him, his voice turning cold. "Just try walking out that door."

Bang. A deafening crash rang out.

The stool had just barely grazed Jiang Wangshu.

It brought him to a halt.

"That's more like it."

He Zhenglin came over and threw an arm around Jiang Wangshu's shoulders as if they were close. "Easton might be boring, but you don't want to go home either, right?"

If He Zhenglin wanted to look into something, all he had to do was crook a finger. That mess with Jiang Wangshu's family had long since ceased to be a secret.

Jiang Wangshu dug his nails into his flesh. "What do you want?"

He Zhenglin put on an innocent expression. "See, you're not listening to people again. I told you, we're all going to play a game. Cooperate nicely. I'm very easy to talk to, and as long as I have fun, anything can be discussed."

As soon as Jimo came out, he saw a staff member standing outside the changing room. The man said to him, "I'll take you to the riding grounds."

Jimo was just about to say he knew where the riding grounds were when he saw the staff member directing him down another path, so he had no choice but to follow.

Before long, the view opened up before Jimo, revealing a vast stretch of grassland that extended as far as the eye could see.

He paused in surprise. When they had come to ride earlier, they'd had no idea such a huge grassland was hidden here.

The staff member seemed to notice Jimo's confusion and explained with a smile, "This is the private grounds for Young Master He and the others. It was expanded by leveling the hill behind it. It doesn't belong to the school, and it's also used to receive their guests."

"Mm."

By the time Jimo arrived, Ke Yueyi was already on horseback, riding skillfully across the grass.

The setting sun stretched the shadows of horse and rider. Ke Yueyi didn't look at him, keeping his eyes ahead as he held the reins. To Jimo, the young man galloping freely on horseback seemed a little more uninhibited than usual.

He stood in the pavilion and waited quietly. Ke Yueyi rode two laps to enjoy himself, then reined in his horse's speed.

With the clatter of iron-shod hooves, Ke Yueyi came to a stop in front of him.

Jimo smelled the dust stirred up in the air, mingled with the scent of grass.

Ke Yueyi looked down at him. "Want to get on and ride?"

Jimo had already ridden with Jiang Wangshu and was quite certain he had no talent whatsoever for the elegant sport of riding, so he wanted to find an excuse to refuse.

But the next second, Ke Yueyi held out a hand to him.

Jimo was pulled up onto the horse. Ke Yueyi didn't teach him as he'd said he would; after pulling Jimo up, he simply had the horse carry them forward at a slow walk.

He didn't even explain the various techniques Jiang Wangshu had told him about earlier.

An odd silence settled between them. From Ke Yueyi's expressionless face, Jimo found it hard to guess what kind of mood he was in.

But he felt that, as a qualified passerby A, he had an obligation at a time like this to make things less awkward, so he took the initiative to start a conversation.

"Brother, do you often come here to ride?"

Ke Yueyi gave an affirmative reply.

"No wonder. I ran into you on my very first visit. What a coincidence. And your horse looks so strong and well-behaved."

His coat was silver-white with a reddish-brown sheen in the sunlight. With a slender head, a high-set neck, and strong, agile legs, he was a true knight of the racetrack.

Ke Yueyi stroked the hair on the horse's forehead. "His name is Snow Shadow."

"It suits him. He must run really fast, right?"

After Jimo said that, Ke Yueyi fell silent again, leaving Jimo wondering why he had called him over when he had so little to say.

Jimo tried several more topics, but Ke Yueyi always gave a few lukewarm replies.

And that was that. He made no attempt to expand on the topics, and his responses left even someone as emotionally intelligent as Jimo unable to carry the conversation forward.

Eventually, Jimo got tired too. He couldn't be bothered to speak, so he sat quietly on the horse's back and admired the scenery, wondering how things were going between Jiang Wangshu and He Zhenglin.

At that point, Ke Yueyi was the one to break the silence. "Are you close to that person from earlier?"

Ke Yueyi had an excellent memory. He had recognized Jiang Wangshu from just that one glimpse at the windowsill last time.

Alarm bells rang in Jimo's head. Was Ke Yueyi starting to take an interest in the male lead?!

He answered cautiously, "We're on decent terms. We met when we enrolled."

Ke Yueyi said coolly, "Seems you are. Close enough to hide in a wardrobe together."

Jimo turned to look at him, trying to work out how likely it was that Ke Yueyi cared about the male lead. Ke Yueyi was looking ahead, his green eyes like precious cat's-eye gemstones in the setting sun.

"Why were you hiding in there?" Ke Yueyi asked again.

Not long ago, a riot had broken out within the Alliance, killing several nobles. After the rioters were captured, they committed suicide by taking poison in prison before the Yi family could question them. Working backward from their motives and various other signs, the Alliance had concluded that it was an assassination attempt targeting the heir.

Given the gravity of the matter, the Alliance's upper ranks had called an emergency meeting.

The riot had been suppressed, and news of it had been sealed off.

When Ke Yueyi noticed movement in the changing room, he had thought the traitors' remaining accomplices had gotten word and were lying in wait there. He hadn't expected Jimo to be hiding inside.

If word got out, the people within the Alliance wouldn't care whether the two of them were innocent. They would quietly erase their existence behind the scenes, preferring to kill them even if they were innocent.

This time, it was Jimo's turn to fall silent.

Two grown men hiding in a wardrobe for no apparent reason seemed strange no matter how one looked at it.