Chapter 23

Fu Yuhe's lips twitched. "What if I tell Fu Cheng you stayed up in the middle of the night to come seduce me..."

"He won't believe you," Shen Yi said bluntly. Then he smiled wickedly and laid out the story he had just come up with. "You'd been drinking, got confused for a moment, and mistook me for someone else. You pinned me to the floor and forced yourself on me. Poor me, I only came to bring you a present..."

"Brother, are you feeling unwell? Shen Yi?" Fu Cheng had reached the first floor.

If the sofa hadn't blocked the view, the two of them would have been fully exposed to Fu Cheng in their spectacular position.

Fu Yuhe cut Shen Yi off. "Enough. I agree."

He let go of Shen Yi, got up, and sat on the sofa beside him. Freed from his hold, Shen Yi finally sat up at a leisurely pace. He bent one leg, smoothed out his T-shirt, rested one hand casually on the sofa, and turned to look at Fu Cheng.

"What are you doing here?" Fu Cheng asked. "Why didn't either of you answer me just now?"

"Just now..." Shen Yi's tone was suggestive. He glanced at Fu Yuhe, who looked up at him with a cold, sharp expression. Yet the lust in his eyes had not faded. He was like a wild horse, one whose gaze alone could awaken the desire to conquer him.

"Looking at the stars." Shen Yi pointed at the wall. "The birthday present I gave Brother Fu."

The light was dim. Although they could see one another's features clearly, details like swollen red lips were less noticeable, so Shen Yi wasn't afraid Fu Cheng would see.

"Then... how did it get like this?" Fu Cheng asked, looking at the mess. After a two-second pause, he said, "Did you two get into a fight?"

Several cushions had fallen onto the floor, the coffee table had been pushed out of place, and the tissues from the table had fallen to the floor and been crushed into a mess.

"Ah..." Shen Yi said. "Your brother drank too much and took a fall."

Fu Cheng instantly put his doubts aside and asked in startled concern, "Brother, are you all right? Where did you hurt yourself? Should you go to the hospital and get checked out?"

Fu Yuhe, who had been forced to take a fall, said, "...I'm fine."

Chapter 11: Kissing people at will

The next morning, a thick white fog had risen outside the windows, misting over the glass. The temperature had dropped, and chilly gusts of wind blew past.

Fu Cheng paced back and forth on the villa's first floor. Before long, the sound of someone coming downstairs came from the staircase. Shen Yi was the last person in the house to get up.

He wore a black T-shirt and carried his school uniform jacket in his hand. His rough approach to washing his face had left his short hair wet too, and he had pushed it to one side. He came downstairs, sat at the dining table, and accepted the hot congee Fu Cheng handed him.

"Why are you only waking up now? Did you drink too much last night?" Fu Cheng asked.

He had stayed at Shen Yi's house a few times before. Every time, Shen Yi had gone downstairs for a morning run early in the day and was already back by the time Fu Cheng got up.

"Your bed's comfortable," Shen Yi said.

Fu Cheng smiled. "If you like it, you can come over often."

"You're trying to drum up business." Shen Yi teased him, resting his cheek on his hand as he smiled at Fu Cheng. "Should I pay you for the room?"

Fu Cheng held out his hand. "I'll give you a discount. Eight hundred."

Shen Yi flicked his palm with a finger. "That's robbery."

Fu Cheng laughed, his eyes curving.

Shen Yi lowered his head and ate his congee with a spoon. "Your brother left?"

"He did. He went out around six." Fu Cheng paused for two seconds, then muttered, "He didn't even eat breakfast."

Shen Yi lowered his head and stirred the lightly seasoned shrimp congee in his bowl. "He probably had something to do."

Was he avoiding me?

After breakfast, the two put on their school uniform jackets and went to school together. Fu Cheng's family had a driver to take him to and from school, which made things much more convenient. They arrived just in time for morning reading.

Shen Yi sat down at his desk. He had walked all the way from the school gate, jogging for a few steps on the way, and felt a little warm. He pulled down the zipper of his uniform jacket.

Everyone in the class was busy with their own things. Some were working on test papers, reading, or reciting English, while others were still sleepy and catching up on sleep at their desks. A boy sitting in front of Shen Yi had swapped seats with a girl, so two girls were now sitting there, talking with books in their hands.

"What did you get in English on the last test?"

"106. The English questions were so hard last time."

"I thought math was harder. How about you explain some math to me, and I'll help you with English?"

"Sure. Will you come to my house after school?"

"Either way works-oh, I've decided. I'm going to put my idol aside for now and study hard."

The girls spoke in soft, gentle voices, and Shen Yi could hear a few snatches from where he sat behind them. He was drawing a diagram on scratch paper with a pencil and made a mistake in one place. When he couldn't find an eraser, he borrowed one from Fu Cheng.

"Shen Yi." One of the girls in front suddenly turned around.

"Hmm?" Shen Yi looked up.

The short-haired girl met his eyes with her round ones and nearly forgot what she had been about to say. A little shyly, she asked, "Do you have a minute?"

"Yeah." In other people's eyes, Shen Yi was also an easygoing, cheerful young man. The impression he had given when he first transferred in, of someone not to be trifled with, had already been replaced.

The girl took out a test paper. "Neither Xiao Meng nor I could solve the last major problem. Can you do it?"

Shen Yi glanced at it. "I did it. Want to see?"

He found the test paper tucked inside his book and handed it to the girl. She thanked him, took the paper, and studied it with her deskmate.

"I got it, I got it," the girl whispered. "Let's look at it together."

"I thought he wouldn't pay any attention to us," the other girl said.

"I told you he was pretty easygoing."

Fu Cheng was the person Shen Yi was closest to in class. Usually, he was also relatively close to only a few of the boys in class. He was good-looking, got good grades, and was tall, handsome, and clean-cut. A boy like that always felt somewhat distant to girls their age.