I Heard He Put Money In

Jimo immediately left the forum and sent Jiang Wangshu a message, asking where he was and saying he needed to talk to him. But by the time Jimo fell asleep sprawled on his bed, he still hadn't received a reply.

The entire Huiying Building was silent, with an exam underway inside.

The ticking of the wall clock echoed through the quiet room, accompanied by the scratch of pens on paper.

Jiang Wangshu's pen paused after he wrote the final word. He put it down, picked up his exam paper, and stood. He had finished the entire paper in only half the allotted time.

The invigilator asked him, "Aren't you going to check it over?"

Jiang Wangshu shook his head. "No."

As he went out, the students in the exam room were still staring at him blankly, their expressions growing more anxious.

With this exam over, winter break was almost upon them, but Jiang Wangshu didn't want to go home. At least his brother was at school.

The weather was lovely today, with white clouds and a blue sky that lifted the spirits.

Jiang Wangshu stared blankly at the distant clouds, lost in thought. But then he thought, Jimo would go home for winter break, wouldn't he? It wasn't as though he had a disgusting family like Jiang Wangshu's.

"Tap!"

Footsteps sounded behind him, then stopped.

Jiang Wangshu thought it was someone passing by and paid no attention, until a snide voice spoke from behind him. "What, you still have the leisure to sun yourself here? You'd be better off worrying about the situation you'll soon be in."

Jiang Wangshu's gaze turned cold. He turned around and, sure enough, saw Chen Ziwu.

He hadn't wanted to pay him any attention, but Chen Ziwu taunted him again. "You're an eyesore, clinging to Jimo like that. Does he know what disgusting thing you agreed to do so you could come back to school? Tell me, if he knew, would he still treat you the way he does now?"

Jiang Wangshu pressed his lips together, panic flashing through him for a moment. Chen Ziwu had hit upon the very thing he feared most deep down.

Back at the riding grounds, Jimo hadn't wanted him to lose the competition and be punished by He Zhenglin.

Jiang Wangshu had seen how hard Jimo had fought to help him win. His brother must really hate things like that.

A bunny-girl attendant. He was a man, yet he had to put on that disgusting thing. Even he wanted to throw up.

But if he hadn't agreed back then, he wouldn't have been able to come to school or see his brother.

Since he had already made up his mind, Jiang Wangshu stopped dwelling on it.

His panicked expression lasted only an instant, gone too quickly to catch. When Jiang Wangshu looked up again, his gaze was as still as dead water, yet he smiled.

"Brother was right. That night at the riding grounds, he mentioned that you were very..." Jiang Wangshu paused. "He also told me to stay away from you. Now it seems he was right."

"That's right, brother mentioned you once back then, but he never brought you up again after that. It's only natural I forgot."

Chen Ziwu was so furious that he laughed instead. Jiang Wangshu calling Jimo "brother" over and over had thoroughly disgusted him. His gaze turned icy. "Does Jimo know you're like this? I really ought to record it and show him. What the fuck are you pretending to be a white lotus in front of him for? You're asking for a beating."

Jiang Wangshu stood with his back straight and his chin slightly raised, looking for all the world as if daring him to try.

"Fuck!"

Chen Ziwu swore. The birthday banquet was only a few days away, and orders had come down not to make trouble for Jiang Wangshu, much less leave marks on him and spoil his appearance.

Chen Ziwu was used to being blunt and couldn't think of a comeback on the spot, so he snapped, "When the banquet comes, you'd better not count on Jimo going soft on you and play the victim again. Who'd want to bother with you?"

Being unable to hit him was driving him mad. He couldn't be bothered to look at Jiang Wangshu again and was genuinely afraid he wouldn't be able to control himself and would turn back to punch this green tea bitch hard.

After Chen Ziwu left, Jiang Wangshu was no longer in the mood to watch the clouds.

How annoying. He had to ruin even the little time Jiang Wangshu spent thinking about his brother.

Jiang Wangshu headed back, and only when he reached the dorm did he discover the message Jimo had sent him earlier that morning. The smile that had just appeared on his face immediately froze.

Jimo was actually asking him about He Zhenglin's birthday banquet.

He had asked whether Jiang Wangshu had received an invitation.

Jiang Wangshu pressed his lips together and stared at the message for a long time, unable to bring himself to send the "no" he had typed in the chat box.

When Jimo woke up, he found messages from two different people.

Jimo skipped over Ke Yueyi's message first and opened his chat with Jiang Wangshu.

Jiang Wangshu: [What's wrong, brother? Why are you asking all of a sudden?]

Jimo: [It's nothing. I just heard some bad rumors. Did He Zhenglin invite you to his birthday banquet?]

After he replied, Jiang Wangshu fell silent again. He seemed busy.

Only then did Jimo exit the chat and open Ke Yueyi's conversation irritably.

[Come with me to a banquet this weekend.]

That one simple sentence made Jimo frown. Since he had decided not to get involved in the F4's affairs, there was no need to play along with him. [Brother, what bad timing. I have to go home tomorrow.]

Ke Yueyi replied quickly. [Then you're at school now? Come to the lounge.]

A wave of irritation swept over Jimo. He wasn't Ke Yueyi's dog, obliged to come running whenever Ke Yueyi beckoned.

Whenever he had nothing better to do, he would tease Jimo a little.

Jimo couldn't be bothered with him. He tossed his phone aside and turned to do push-ups.

His phone vibrated several times, but he ignored it.

His arms had hurt all day yesterday, but he felt better today. Just as Jimo reached his fifth set, someone knocked on the dorm door.

Three knocks, unhurried.

Jimo paused. Most people had left school by now, so who else would come looking for him?

Could it be Jiang Wangshu?

With that thought, Jimo sprang to his feet and opened the door.

But when the door opened, a slender figure was leaning against the doorframe, dark green eyes watching him quietly.

Jimo paused, looking surprised. "Brother, what brings you here? It's pretty late."

Jimo had gotten up so quickly that he was still slightly out of breath as he spoke, his breathing uneven. His face was redder than usual from exercising.

Ke Yueyi stared at the damp hair on his forehead. "I sent you a message, but you didn't reply."

"Oh, I see. I was exercising just now and didn't notice." Jimo frowned, looking puzzled. "But brother, did you need something urgently, coming over all of a sudden?"

The two of them had been standing there for so long, yet Jimo had shown no intention of inviting him in to sit down.

Ke Yueyi spoke. "Are we going to keep talking at the door?"

Jimo paused, then stepped aside. "I was worried it was too small and you'd look down on it, brother."

Once inside, Ke Yueyi, like Chen Ziwu last time, looked around the room before returning his gaze to Jimo. But he made no comment about the dorm, even though it was probably only as big as the bathroom in his lounge.

Instead, he brought up something else. "I waited for you in the lounge, but you never came."

"Ah." Jimo explained, "Like I just said, I didn't see your message, so I didn't reply."

"No, I mean you never came."

Jimo fell silent.

Ke Yueyi lowered his gaze, staring at his rosy lips, and suddenly spoke. "Chen Ziwu has put quite a bit of money into you lately, hasn't he?"

Jimo thought, He knows.