Chapter 22

He was endearing. Yue Feng raised a hand to ruffle his hair, only for the boy who had climbed out of the water to knock it aside. "Just talk."

Yue Feng: "..."

Yue Feng gave He Qinghuan a resentful look, which the latter ignored outright.

Yue Feng chuckled awkwardly twice and lay back in the chair beside him. "Du Zhou likes your type, and he likes stealing Huan's things even more. You could say he has to get his hands on anyone He Qinghuan looks at twice. Huan didn't mean it just now."

Bewildered, Gu Wang let Yue Feng talk him out of being angry. He nodded and went aside to dry his hair. Yue Feng winked at He Qinghuan.

"Busybody." He Qinghuan picked up the bath towel draped nearby and spoke flatly.

Yue Feng scoffed. "If you don't explain, Gu Wang's definitely going to be angry. Sure, we didn't expect to run into him, but if Du Zhou saw you talking to Gu Wang, I don't even dare imagine what that mad dog would do."

He Qinghuan glanced at Gu Wang, who was straining his ears to listen not far away, then smiled and looked at Yue Feng. "Wangwang isn't unreasonable."

Yue Feng: "..." He Qinghuan had changed. He was no longer a cold-blooded animal.

Having a weak spot wasn't a good thing, especially for people like them.

He Qinghuan had clearly acted impulsively just now. There could have been a better solution, and He Qinghuan had no need to fear that fucker Du Zhou, either. But judging by his attitude just now...

He didn't want Gu Wang facing any threat whatsoever. Yue Feng could tell.

After turning it all over in his head, Yue Feng was moved by the depth of their friendship-he actually understood Huan so well. By the time he came back to himself, He Qinghuan was already gone. He looked for Gu Wang nearby, but he had long since vanished too.

Despite the bustle of the world around him, Yue Feng suddenly felt lonely. "Fuck. Assholes!"

Gu Wang was pulled into He Qinghuan's changing room. Standing behind him, he surveyed it for a while. "Why do you have your own changing room?"

Gu Wang just wanted to find something to talk about so it wouldn't be so awkward.

On the way here, he really hadn't seen any private ones, only separate men's and women's changing rooms.

"My family donated the Comprehensive Building," He Qinghuan said casually, his tone merely stating a fact, without any hint of showing off. He took a school uniform jacket and a pair of sweatpants from the locker and handed them to Gu Wang. "Go change."

"Thanks," Gu Wang said. "I'll use the changing room outside."

He Qinghuan didn't stop him.

Gu Wang had thought that although He Qinghuan was six, seven, or eight centimeters taller, their clothes should be about the same size. Only after putting them on did he realize that He Qinghuan had a bigger frame, and his clothes were bigger too. Gu Wang rolled the overly long sleeves up twice, and he couldn't fill out the shoulders either.

Gu Wang had a slim waist, so the trousers went without saying. He felt very hip-hop right now.

Out of that inexplicable competitive streak boys had, Gu Wang pulled the collar forward to check the size of He Qinghuan's uniform-XL.

His own seemed to be L, and sometimes even M!

After changing, He Qinghuan found a bag at the bottom of his locker for Gu Wang's wet clothes. When he went over, Gu Wang had just finished changing and was rolling up the trouser legs.

Hearing footsteps, Gu Wang looked up and met He Qinghuan's eyes. "They're a little big," he said stiffly.

The zipper wasn't pulled all the way up, and he had no T-shirt underneath. Bent over, Gu Wang exposed his pronounced collarbones, with the view extending down over his chest and abdomen.

They were a little big.

He Qinghuan looked away and packed up the clothes Gu Wang had set aside.

"Come back to the classroom with me," He Qinghuan said, looking at Gu Wang.

"I'll carry it." Gu Wang hooked the bag out of He Qinghuan's hand. Hearing that he wanted to return to the classroom, he was puzzled. "What for?"

Gu Wang's voice sounded more nasal now than when he had arrived, perhaps because the cold water had washed down his throat. He hadn't noticed it himself yet.

He Qinghuan walked up to Gu Wang, bent down, and reached out to zip up his uniform jacket. His still-cool fingertips brushed Gu Wang's neck, making his whole body jolt as though shocked.

"I'm not going back to the classroom. I'm going straight home." Gu Wang's eyelashes fluttered a few times under He Qinghuan's gaze, and he kept talking. "I already gave you the key. And the letter Yaya asked me to bring you is in my bag..."

A faint smile entered He Qinghuan's eyes at Gu Wang's pretense of seriousness and composure. He put an arm around his shoulders and steered him outside. "I have some cold medicine granules in the classroom. Drink some before you leave."

Gu Wang froze. He Qinghuan lowered his eyes to him. "I'll take you home afterward."

Gu Wang's gaze flickered, and he awkwardly slipped out from under He Qinghuan's hand. He had cold medicine at home too; there was no need. Just as he was about to refuse, Yue Feng came over. Seeing that both had already changed, he clutched his chest. "Did you two really have to?"

"I'm taking him back to the classroom. Do whatever you like," He Qinghuan said evenly.

Yue Feng: "..."

Gu Wang followed He Qinghuan down the stairs. Even the lightest footsteps echoed in the stairwell. Gu Wang concentrated hard on walking, mainly to distract himself.

His mind was a tangled mess.

The person behind him walked slower and slower, as though deliberately putting distance between them. He Qinghuan stopped, and Gu Wang stopped too.

"Gu Wang," He Qinghuan called.

"Mm," Gu Wang answered obediently.

He Qinghuan turned and raised his eyes to the boy still dawdling at the landing. Sunlight cast a molten-gold glow across the vast pane of glass behind him.

"Behave yourself," He Qinghuan said softly, his tone holding both helplessness and a warning that made Gu Wang's scalp prickle.

Gu Wang felt the sunlight behind him suddenly turn scorching, almost hot enough to melt him.

Keeping his face stiff, he walked over to He Qinghuan one step at a time. "Let's go. I have a cold. I need my medicine."

Actually, both the carrot and the stick worked on Gu Wang.

Author's note: Gu Wang: Don't scare me.

Chapter 30

The classroom water dispenser needed some time to heat the water. Gu Wang sat on his desk and opened WeChat.

[Song Zhiyan: Your girlfriend's back!!!!!!]

[Shen Zhao: Correction, Wangwang's ex-girlfriend! But Wangwang, with all your ex-girlfriends, do you even know which one we mean?]

Gu Wang stole a glance at He Qinghuan, who was at the back holding his cup and tearing open the cold medicine packet. Gu Wang quickly replied to the group.

[Gu Wang: Which ex-girlfriend?]

He slipped into the role of a player without the slightest awkwardness. Shen Zhao and Song Zhiyan automatically read it in Gu Wang's old, flippant, "you should feel honored I'm playing you" tone.

[Song Zhiyan: Mei Li, your ex from first year, No. 3 Middle School's little campus beauty!]

[Shen Zhao: A perfectly lovely girl, and they call her the little campus beauty. I'm annoyed on her behalf!]

[Song Zhiyan: We're talking business, Shen Zhao. Don't interrupt. Wangwang, Mei Li went abroad after breaking up with you, and she's transferred back this year. She didn't go back to No. 3 Middle School. She transferred to ours.]

[Shen Zhao: Because of Wangwang?]

[Song Zhiyan: That I don't know. I only found out she was back because I have her older cousin's classmate's younger sister on WeChat. Those two are best friends, and she posted on Moments. I came to tell you guys as soon as I saw it.]

[Shen Zhao: She's pretty cute. Out of all Wangwang's boyfriends and girlfriends, she left the deepest impression on me. She has two little canine teeth. Really cute.]

[Song Zhiyan: I think that hot girl from the Sports School was prettier.]

[Shen Zhao: The track team captain from No. 3 Middle School next door was really good-looking too!]

[Song Zhiyan: I thought that top student who was her class beauty at Zhou Middle School was pretty good. Her eyes were just a little too big.]

[Shen Zhao: And, and...]

Gu Wang: ...

Gu Wang knew the Original Host had a lot of exes, but he didn't know exactly who they were. The novel's plot began when he started pursuing He Qinghuan. The author had glossed over the Original Host's romantic history in just a few sentences. In short, he was a player.

Judging by Shen Zhao's enthusiasm, he probably had a truckload of exes, if not more.

But Gu Wang did remember Mei Li, a particularly cheerful girl. When disaster struck the Gu Family, she returned from abroad. Her father refused to get involved, but she gave Gu Wang all her savings and even borrowed money from her girlfriends, telling him he didn't have to pay it back.

Later, when the male lead Jiang Chi openly and covertly made life difficult for Shen Zhao and Song Zhiyan even as they delivered takeout and parcels, she had helped too. She had done everything she could for Gu Wang.

[Song Zhiyan: Fuck, Mei Li messaged me. She's asking whether you're single now. What do I say?]

[Gu Wang: Tell her I'm not single.]

The Original Host's romantic entanglements could only be cut off decisively by Gu Wang. He had little relationship experience and couldn't move as effortlessly among all sorts of men and women as the Original Host had.

He Qinghuan alone was already enough of a headache.

He didn't check what Song Zhiyan told her. When he looked up, a steaming cup of dark brown medicine was set in front of him. At the same moment, Gu Wang turned off his screen.

The movement was natural and unforced. He Qinghuan didn't notice.

Having just been brought into line by He Qinghuan, Gu Wang didn't dare say anything displeasing. He held the cup and blew away the rising steam, wanting to finish it quickly and leave.

Being with He Qinghuan made Gu Wang feel uncomfortable all over, but the cup was astonishingly hot. He couldn't drink it or hold it for long, so he would leave it for a bit.

Then he could play on his phone a little longer.

Distracted, Gu Wang saw that the group already had over ninety-nine new messages. He randomly tapped one of Song Zhiyan's voice messages, and it automatically played over the speaker.

The classroom was empty and quiet, filled entirely with Song Zhiyan's yelling.

"Fuck, Wangwang, I told her you have a super-sexy girlfriend, and she wouldn't believe me! She said she wanted to marry you. I said you were about to get engaged and would get married after high school, and she said I was a lying piece of shit. Why's this woman swearing at me?"

Gu Wang: "..."

When the message finished, He Qinghuan slowly tossed his pen aside and looked over at Gu Wang.

"You have a girlfriend? Getting married after graduation?" He Qinghuan's voice was extremely soft. He looked at Gu Wang, seeking confirmation.

"I..."

He Qinghuan interrupted him. "Wangwang, think before you speak."

Gu Wang thought of He Qinghuan's earlier "behave yourself." Objectively speaking, he didn't dislike He Qinghuan. He even admired people like him-provided, of course, that you hadn't offended him.

Gu Wang thought it through carefully. He hadn't offended He Qinghuan recently, but the relationship between them had grown strange.

He Qinghuan had been an utterly inscrutable person in the novel too. Gu Wang hadn't understood him even when reading with an omniscient perspective, much less now that he was caught up in it himself.

Right now, he was completely bewildered, his mind full of the question of why He Qinghuan was doing this.

He zoned out for a while, not thinking about He Qinghuan's question at all. When he came back to himself, he admitted frankly, "My ex-girlfriend came back. I asked Song Zhiyan to lie to her. It isn't true."

Whatever. As long as he wasn't trying to kill him, anything went. Gu Wang had never thought he could outplay He Qinghuan.

He Qinghuan lowered his gaze and paused. Gu Wang thought he would ask more questions, but instead he reached out and touched Gu Wang's cup. "Drink your medicine first."

Gu Wang's voice was growing increasingly nasal.

Although He Qinghuan thought Gu Wang looked even better soaking wet, if the price was Gu Wang getting sick, that was unacceptable.

"Mm." The temperature was just right now, tolerable, and the medicine tasted sweet and went down easily.

Gu Wang didn't consider himself delicate. He had endured plenty of hardship. But here, having become the Original Host, he had a particularly lovely family, and the extreme things he had initially suspected He Qinghuan might do to him had never happened.

It could be said that, throughout all his time in the story, Gu Wang had always been cared for.

He held his cup in a daze, a little brown medicine staining the corner of his mouth. He Qinghuan didn't point it out, taking a tissue from his desk instead.

He Qinghuan's sudden approach startled Gu Wang back to his senses. He jerked backward, but the wall was right behind him. He Qinghuan quickly reached out to cushion his head.

So Gu Wang had nowhere to retreat.

His hair was still a little wet, and his pale skin made his face look like a painting.

After wiping the corner of his mouth, He Qinghuan withdrew his hand naturally. Gu Wang felt his whole body heat up: the back of his head where He Qinghuan had touched him, the corner of his mouth, and especially the tip of his nose, which had almost brushed against him.

"Wangwang, give me the letter." He Qinghuan diverted Gu Wang's attention at just the right moment. The boy looked ready to burn up. He didn't want to see Gu Wang get stuck overthinking things. That wasn't good.