Chapter 40 – Shameful

His noisy voice brought Xie Sui’s thoughts back to the present, and he temporarily put down the matter of his illness.

He tilted his head and met Song Yu’s light brown eyes that were now flushed with anger. His eyes were clear and bright, clearly infuriated, but Xie Sui felt that they were lovely.

After getting along together in recent days, Xie Sui had gotten very good at dealing with him.

He ignored his threat and just curved his lips, asking, “What subject are you studying today?”

Song Yu: “Eh?”

A whole wave of anger was instantly swallowed back. When it came to his studies, he would be reminded of the monthly exams, and when he thought of the monthly exams, he would think of Father Song and his own study god set-up, causing him to finally settle down again.

Song Yu scratched his head, “Chinese, then. I still have Chinese homework left.”

The city library was further away than the school library, so Song Yu simply took a taxi to go back to school. It was the weekend, and many students whose homes were far away hadn’t gone back. The study rooms on the first floor of the school library were full and there was basically no place to sit. It was filled with Senior Three students.

“Let’s go to the second floor.”

Song Yu didn’t want to squeeze in with them either.

There were relatively fewer people on the second floor. He chose a corner.

Song Yu pulled out his homework. He’d just sat down when he saw that it was raining outside the window.

The misty weather made the whole school feel very quiet. Summer rain was very heavy when it swept by, and the sound of it was very loud, transmitting in from outside the glass as water drops coated the window.

Song Yu picked up his pen. He found everything interesting when he had to start studying and his tone was excited, “This is the first time I’ve seen rain in Jing City.”

Xie Sui glanced outside, then answered lightly, “Mm.”

Song Yu noticed that he wasn’t in high spirits and asked, “You don’t like rainy days?”

Xie Sui had never liked sharing his emotions with others, but when a perfunctory answer arrived at the tip of his tongue and was about to be spoken, he stopped and smiled, “Yes, I don’t like them.”

Rainy days brought back bad memories.

It seemed that he had died on a rainy day.

He didn’t want to talk much about this topic.

“Give me all the papers you did yesterday.”

“Okay.”

Seeing that he didn’t want to talk anymore, Song Yu very naturally didn’t ask him more about it.

Although he’d come to work on his Chinese homework, people always had a tendency to overestimate themselves. He thought that if he finished his homework in half an hour, he’d have nothing else to do—so he’d also brought a math exercise book with his test papers stuffed inside.

“Here you go. I’ve written a little for every question on this paper.”

His tone even held a bit of pride.

Xie Sui accepted it, then laughed quietly, “Did you write any solutions?”

Song Yu: “……”

Have you figured it out yet or not?! I’m currently your term goal! The target of your support!

Xie Sui preempted him before he could get angry, placing his pen against Song Yu’s lips, his movements graceful. “Noise isn’t allowed here.”

Song Yu: “……” Dammit!!!

He gritted his teeth, then he bowed his head and began to do his Chinese homework.

The homework assignments were very easy at the beginning of the first year of high school. The only troublesome one was the composition that had to be done every week.

After all, the Chinese teacher was a middle-aged man who’d asked them to write about their term goals at the start of school. The writing topic this time was also very literary focused.

“Something that lingers in your thoughts will someday spring up in your life.”

A simple sentence. The topic had to be decided on their own, and the ideas had to come from themselves.

Before the holiday, the teacher had even specifically emphasized that any answer they could find on the Internet was something he could find, too. This one sentence had broken down their opportunistic hearts.

Song Yu was most afraid of writing compositions.

He bit at his pen and stewed on it for a long time before deciding to use the topic sentence as his own topic.

“Something that lingers in your thoughts will someday spring up in your life.”

They had to decide their own topic, but nothing said that they couldn’t copy it.

Not bad, one sentence. He’d finished one percent.

However, did the title count?

Forget it, he wasn’t going to think too much about it. Song Yu went to look it up on Baidu and copied down its meaning. He was on track; he’d gotten thirty words now.

He cobbled together the total number of required words.

On the other side, Xie Sui was looking through his papers very carefully. He picked up a pen and began to write in the book after flipping through them.

Song Yu’s thoughts were scattered everywhere as he wrote his composition. He harassed the other, “Are you writing me a study plan?”

Xie Sui: “Notes.”

Song Yu: “Mathematics notes? I also did that myself.” He’d even asked Xie Sui about Venn diagrams last time.

Xie Sui held the pen and didn’t even look up, “It’s content from junior high. Your foundation regarding functions is particularly chaotic.”

Song Yu: “Oohh.”

He finally falteringly cobbled together eight hundred words. He studied the original sentence deeply, then talked about more than ten possibilities and the feasibility of ‘staying in the mind’. He didn’t know if the teacher would be satisfied but, in any case, he was very satisfied with his work.

Song Yu felt extremely sleepy after he finished writing.

“I’m going to sleep for half an hour. Wake me up when the time’s up.”

Xie Sui: “Mm.”

The lights in the library were on, warm and bright.

It was very quiet here, and there was only the rustle of Xie Sui writing across from him. Xie Sui even deliberately lightened his movements after Song Yu fell asleep.

The sound of rain outside was getting lighter.

The environment was quiet and comfortable.

But Song Yu didn’t sleep very well.

Last time, he’d dreamed of an island, the blue sky, and the sea.

These words sounded bright, but the dream was cold and depressing, accompanied by gunfire and blood.

This time, his dreams were intermittent, but he was no longer an outsider in them.

A high-end villa, gorgeous chandeliers, melodious piano music, and the sound of goblets gently clinking together.

Wine flowed freely. A group of smiling celebrities wore evening dress, their attitudes expectant and uneasy, their tones full of yearning. ‘Xie’ was the word that was heard the most, and it seemed like this was a dinner party that was being held in order to welcome someone.

At the front of the villa, the gate carved with iron flowers opened, and an extra-long black car drove in.

He only saw the door open as though someone was stepping out, but didn’t manage to see the person’s appearance before the scene in his dream transformed into a rainy night.

It was raining heavily, and the entire sky was gloomy and heavy. A youth stumbled out of an apartment, his school uniform splashed with bright red blood.

It was just like his reddened eyes, fierce and crazy.

The youth slowed down after taking a few steps, his tall and straight body like a stalk of bamboo that had broken in a flash.

He bent over, supporting himself against a post, and couldn’t help himself from vomiting.

Someone woke Song Yu up.

.

“It’s been half an hour.”

Song Yu still felt like he was in a trance when he woke up. The rain outside also hadn’t stopped.

There were a lot more people in the library now.

He stared dazedly at the person in front of him for a long time. He wanted to say something, but the words stalled at his lips.

A silent and oppressive rainy day.

He looked into Xie Sui’s dark eyes and said uneasily, “Are you hungry?”

Xie Sui hadn’t expected this to be the first thing he asked after waking up. He handed Song Yu the notes he’d finished writing, then said in amusement, “There’s a cake shop outside.”

Song Yu nodded.

It wasn’t time for dinner yet.

“Let’s go get something to eat first.”

Many people looked toward them when they entered the cake shop.

They casually found a place to sit, then Xie Sui said, “I’ll go. You sit down first.”

Song Yu looked up and saw that there was a particularly long line of people waiting. He agreed.

Song Yu grew bored during the process of waiting and turned on his cell phone. He casually clicked in and opened up a few apps, but his focus wasn’t there. Song Yu’s mind was still filled with the dream from just now. He didn’t like rainy days? It made sense for him to dislike them. Rainy days were unfortunate days for Xie Sui.

Several of the times when his life had collapsed had been on rainy days.

In <Gentle Control>, although Gong #1’s attitude was ambiguous, his speech and behavior were too intimate. Xie Sui had always simply thought of him as a friend, his only friend. He’d been born in a very bad environment, but his heart was unexpectedly pure and he’d never thought about those disgusting things.

A little bit of kindness and tenderness was magnified infinitely and carefully treasured. So after graduating from senior high, when he’d been drugged by Gong #1 and tricked into going to Wang Ci’s place, how desperate had he been?

He’d come to realize the ugly true face of his good friend.

And also had to face the truth that he was alone.

Song Yu’s heart felt very stuffy.

Incredibly unhappy.

The more he thought about it, the more he gritted his teeth in anger. He kind of wanted to go to the hospital and beat Wang Ci up again while he was still in the hospital bed.

He casually clicked into the forums.

And his gaze was drawn by a new post.

[ Jealous. Other people have a school grass studying with them when they’re fifteen, but I have nothing at all ]

The main post included two photos.

The photos were of him and Xie Sui. Xie Sui was writing while he was sleeping. Light shone down gently in that corner of the library. Xie Sui was wearing a white shirt and black trousers, and his side profile in the photo was handsome and cool, his eyelashes long. His entire person seemed covered in a kind of mysterious temperament.

As for him, he was asleep on the table and only half of his black hair could be seen.

The person who’d taken the photos had been sitting on the other side of the second floor of the library. From her perspective, the rest of him was blocked by the bookshelf, and it wasn’t even clear if he was male or female.

1L: Is it God Xie?

2L: Damn, damn, damn, damn! Who’s that with God Xie in the library!

3L: Original poster, your photography skills are too terrible!

4L: Are there any other sisters in the library? That looks like the second floor to me! Go and help us have a look! I don’t believe that my Brother Yu is getting greened wuwuwu

5L: You’re overthinking it. Would people who go to study in the library on weekends still read the forums?

……

6L: The chicken drumstick I’m holding in my hand suddenly doesn’t seem fragrant anymore

7L: My happily bouncing little feet are gradually coming to a stop

8L: Wuwuwuwu, this is other people’s weekends, other people’s fifteen-year-old lives

9L: Original poster, take a clearer photo! Let me see who it is!

……

15L Original poster: ╥﹏╥ Sisters above me, I’m really sorry, I… They left while I went to the bathroom. However, after asking people, it seems that they’ve gone to the cake shop next door. I’ll go after them and take a picture for you guys. Oh, the person across from God Xie is a little brother, not a girlfriend, and I still remember what he was wearing. Wait for my good news.

The thread that had originally started off sour and jealous changed its tone at this time.

[ ??? ]

[ ??? A boy? Is it the one I’m thinking about? ]

Of course, the CP that the girls tacitly understood had no sense of existence when it came to boys. They didn’t think that it would be Song Yu at all and came in cursing and kicking up a fuss, not at all covering up the resentment they felt from being single for so many years.

36L: Who is it? Are they studying or falling in love

37L: Disgusting, and they’re even going to eat cake. Isn’t it too lovey-dovey for two guys to go together? Retch, retch, retch.

38L: Original poster, photo! Hurry and take a photo! We’ll execute him publicly, I’m so angry! Laozi also wants the number one in the city to study with me!

Song Yu’s face was expressionless.

All of a sudden, there was a flash of light from the right that was aimed in his direction.

His expression was unimpressed as he tilted his head and looked over. He saw a girl with a ponytail who was wearing her school uniform. She’d probably only realized that she’d forgotten to turn off the flash after she’d taken the photo and was now embarrassed, her head buried in her books. She didn’t dare to look at him.

Song Yu didn’t say anything and bowed his head to continue watching the development of the thread.

40L Original poster: I took a photo… I feel that… he looks a little familiar!

41L: Upload it, upload it. Let me see who is so shameless. Laozi is working so bitterly to catch up on my homework, but what are they doing? Acting so disgusting and lovey-dovey. Quickly put up the photo and, after it’s out, fellow brothers, let’s all put ‘shameful’ in our replies.

……

42L Original poster: [photo]

The photo was of a teenager sitting on one side of the cake shop and looking down absentmindedly as he played with his phone. His hair was light and soft, his skin pale, and his good looks were paired with a cold expression. He didn’t seem like a person who would be good to provoke.

At the same time.

[ Your Husband, Brother Yu: It’s me ]

“……”

For a moment, this lively and bustling thread fell silent, the atmosphere stagnating.

Immediately after, the forums became noisy again.

The screen was filled with ‘hahahaha’, ‘ahhhhh’, and ‘Brother Yu is so handsome’.

At this time, someone manually cued the brother from 41L, [ The photo is out, say something, big brother 41L, the one with the ID A Long Bow Isn’t Afraid Of Being Long. ]

……

57L A Long Bow Isn’t Afraid Of Being Long: Handsome.

58L A Long Bow Isn’t Afraid Of Being Long: Anyone who sees this should praise this handsome brother?

Every word seemed to be typed out by a trembling hand.

The responses below it were particularly uniform.

A whole row of:

[ Shameful ]