Chapter 21 (The Sword is Drawn)

Pei Xu walks towards Di Xingchen and asks, “Did you know I was coming?”

Di Xingchen said, “The programme team just talked to me and they told me. Why did you suddenly think of coming to our school?”

“I have nothing to do, I came to your school for a look around.” Pei Xu glanced at Di Xingchen, saw that Di Xingchen was looking at him, then silently averted his gaze, pursed his lips and said, “Since we met, do you want to show me around?”

Di Xingchen says: “Our school is very big.”

Di Xingchen and Pei Xu were chatting as they walked along the boulevard towards the adjacent Changming Lake when Di Xingchen looked back and suddenly smiled.

Pei Xu looks back, and sees the programme crew sneaking up behind them, filming them from afar.

“Should we call them over?” Di Xingchen asked.

“No.” Pei Xu said, “You should also be prepared …… I’m a boring guy, I don’t have much to say.”

Even if the crew came to film, they would not be able to capture anything useful.

He also knows why the programme team is focusing on him.

Di Xingchen smiles and nods, “I know that.”

Pei Xu was not a talkative person, and when he met Di Xingchen, his heart was so hot that he didn’t know what to say.

But the beauty of Di Xingchen is that anyone would be comfortable with him.

Even if he didn’t know what to say to be nice.

Di Xingchen took Pei Xu on a tour of the Central Academy of Dance, Changming Lake, the library, the academic buildings, the dormitories, the food court and the playground by the sea.

It was lunch break, and there was no one in the playground but a few boys playing basketball in the open playground.

The weather was so nice today, the sky was turquoise blue like a picture from an anime.

Pei Xu took a long stride and went straight up to the next stand. Di Xingchen followed closely behind and the two walked along the stand to the highest point, where they could see the endless sea.

The crew didn’t follow them, they were standing in the playground with three cameras, one aimed at Di Xingchen, one at Pei Xu and the other for the panorama.

Di Xingchen was saying something, Pei Xu was quiet, nodding his head every now and then, and finally the two sat on the high bleachers, the warm sun shining down on them as they sat in silence looking out to sea.

The stand was old and a bit worn, but the sun was shining and they both sat there looking at the sea like they were in a movie.

They both sat there for about half an hour, not knowing what they were talking about.

The crew finally couldn’t resist and sent the drones out.

The drone buzzed over their heads as Di Xingchen glanced at the time, stood up and said, “I’ve got to go to rehearsal.”

Pei Xu nodded a little, didn’t stand up, sat back and tilted his head and asked, “Is it still in the same place as last time?”

Di Xingchen nodded: “Do you want to come and see it?”

Pei Xu said, “I want to sit a little longer and watch it later.”

“I’ll go first then.” Di Xingchen said.

” Is Yan Zhi coming to pick you up this afternoon?” Pei Xu asked.

Di Xingchen nodded, “He said to come at six.”

Pei Xu watched Di Xingchen run all the way down the stands, stopping to greet the staff as he ran to them.

Pei Xu took a long breath. It wasn’t a hot day, but he was actually sweating, the roots of his ears were red and there was sweat running down behind them.

He pursed up his lips, the daylight illuminating his face in all its whiteness, his high nose, the well-defined outline of his jaw, his dark hair, his long legs propped up, both hands resting on his lap, palms slightly curled, the outline of bruises floating on the backs of his hands.

When Pei Xu arrived at the rehearsal hall, he did so quietly and late, and when he did, Di Xingchen had thought he would not be there.

Pei Xu sits in the darkness quietly watching Di Xingchen in the crowd.

He was due to make another trip to the office this afternoon, but he sat there for over an hour.

Their rehearsals were much more detailed this time, with hardly any complete passages, usually just a detail that the dance teacher had to adjust over and over again. They didn’t wear costumes either, they wore white gongfu trousers, and Di Xingchen might have to do each move three or four times. Without the wide skirts, his movements are more visible, with each jump, leg hug, spin and flip, the beauty of the clothes is gone, leaving all the beauty of his body behind.

His body is really beautiful, long, strong and lean waistline, long limbs, the slightest hint of colourful beauty, like a work of art, with that stunningly beautiful face, almost as if he was born for the stage, very Sue.

There were so many pretty boys on stage, and he was the only one with that sense of su.

Di Xingchen is a different person, a gentle, lively and homely man in the red and blue room, a dazzling, competent and serious man on stage.

They were not the only department to rehearse, other departments were arriving one by one and the rehearsal hall started to get noisy as Pei Xu got up to leave.

After sitting in the dark for so long, Pei Xu felt a little dizzy when he came out in the sunlight.

“This senior!”

When he looked back, he saw an extremely pretty girl running up to him with his mobile phone, “Can I add you to WeChat?”

Pei Xu said, “Sorry, I can’t.”

The other party froze for a moment and watched Pei Xu walk away.

Pei Xu was walking alone against the crowd as the students of the Modern Dance Academy were entering the rehearsal hall, his tall figure and overpowering presence attracted the attention of almost everyone who passed by and turned to look at him.

One by one, three girls and one boy chased after him, asking for his contact information.

The crew standing on the raised platform for the shoot said, “Look at Pei Xu the bogeyman.”

He was alone, all in black, draping his sweatshirt and hat over him, dressed so casually, but the man was so noticed, walking against the crowd, as if splitting a wave belonging to him in a sea of people, withdrawn and resolute.

After Di Xingchen finished the dance, he went to the florist before Yan Zhi arrived. He didn’t buy any full-strength stars since he already had them at home.

The florist had everything, and after picking out half a dozen flowers, he thought that since he was messing around, he would make it a big one.

He bought a handful of pink roses.

Yan Zhi was surprised when he saw it and asked, “You like roses?”

Di Xingchen said, “I didn’t know what to buy, so I just bought whatever I wanted, I didn’t want to duplicate what you bought.

Yan Zhi laughed at this.

“Why are you changing your clothes again.” Di Xingchen said.

That’s a lot of cleanliness.

“I usually change my outfit for a meal, if I can.” Yan Zhi says.

He was wearing a white T-shirt today and a grey casual suit over it, and his whole body looked high class.

The man is so well dressed, with his tall figure and gold-rimmed glasses, the word “quality” is almost written on his body.

Di Xingchen had been dancing all afternoon and was sweating a lot. Although he had just taken a shower in the morning and didn’t stink, Yan Zhi was a heavy cleanliness freak.

He remembers the small detail of Yan Zhi’s deference to the sweating Hu Ying.

So he stayed as far away from Yan Zhi as he could, and when he got into the car he said to Yan Zhi, “I might smell.”

“Yeah?” Yan Zhi twisted his head to look at him.

Di Xingchen said, “You might smell sweat, I’ve sweated a lot today.”

Unexpectedly, Yan Zhi suddenly leaned slightly towards him and then sniffed.

Di Xingchen pursed his lips and looked at Yan Zhi.

To my surprise, Yan Zhi said, “It smells good.”

“Huh?”

Yan Zhi said, “It smells a bit good.”

This came out a little sarcastic even for Yan Zhi, who changed the subject and said, “Put on your seat belt.”

Di Xingchen went to fasten his seat belt, Yan Zhi pursed his lips and started the car.

He actually hates the smell of sweat on other people, especially on most men. He is very sensitive to smells, male animals generally have a stronger body odor, and men’s sweat smell is heavier than women’s. When he used to go to school, every time he came back from playing football, he had to wait until the smell of the dormitory had almost dissipated before entering.

Even for a beautiful man like Hu Ying, he is a bit disgusted by the sweat.

But it’s probably true that all people are inevitably double-standard.

Di Xingchen smells of sweat, which he really thinks smells good.

Naturally, it’s not a perfume, nor is it a fragrance in the worldly sense of the word, as sweat carries the smell of one’s skin and fat, probably the body odour that everyone has.

The thought of Di Xingchen drenched in sweat makes a fire rise up.

He really wanted to bury himself in his neck and smell it.

When they returned to Red and Blue Lodge, Wen Nuo and the others were already preparing dinner.

Huo Cheng was back early today, so he left work early and didn’t even go to dinner with his old friends.

He also volunteered to work with Wen Nuo and the others to prepare dinner.

He wanted to share some of the work for Di Xingchen, who felt it was too much work for him to be responsible for so many people’s dinners on his own.

Wen Nuo and Lin Qingning are both very gentle people, and Huo Cheng is a good conversationalist, so when the three of them are together, the atmosphere should be lively and full of laughter, but Huo Cheng is very quiet, as if he is deliberately trying to draw a line under the red guests.

The three men very quietly got the preparations almost done.

“Someone’s back.” Wen Nuo said when he heard the door open.

” Di Xingchen?” Huo Cheng shouted.

“Hey. Brother Huo good evening.”

He heard Di Xingchen answer him.

Huo Cheng, who had been quiet for a long time, grinned at the sound of Di Xingchen’s transparent voice: “The chef is finally back.”

It’s as if the whole person has a refinement all of a sudden.

But the next thing Huo Cheng saw was Di Xingchen entering with Yan Zhi, holding a bouquet of pink roses.

The smile on Huo Cheng’s face froze instantly.

Wen Nuo and Lin Qingning also froze for a moment.

Di Xingchen put the bouquet of flowers on the table: “I thought the kitchen was my place, why are you doing it again?”

“Hu Ying told us what you were doing for the evening and we thought we had nothing better to do than to help you clean up first.” Lin Qingning smiled and asked, “Who bought the flowers? Yan Zhi?”

“I bought it.” Di Xingchen said.

Huo Cheng’s face, which had been stagnant, instantly came to life, and Wen Nuo peeked at Huo Cheng and pursed the corners of his lips.

“Why did you buy flowers too?” Huo Cheng asked with a smile. Huo Cheng smiled and asked, “Did I not buy enough yesterday? Let me know and I’ll buy more today.”

“And I can’t keep breaking your bank.” Di Xingchen smiled and said, “I bought the pink roses, any of you like them, feel free to take them.”

” Hu Ying would love it.” Lin Qingning says with a smile.

“Where is he?”

“It’s upstairs in the shower.”

They had agreed last night that Hu Ying would be back earlier today, so he asked Di Xingchen to write a list and went to the supermarket to buy all the vegetables he needed for the evening.

Di Xingchen looks at the food Hu Ying has bought, while Huo Cheng stands beside him, his heart still pounding.

The palpitations of that moment just now had given him a very heavy shadow.

He thought the roses were from Yan Zhi to Di Xingchen.

This cannot be allowed to go on.

He then said to Yan Zhi, “Are you still not doing anything tomorrow? Are you still picking up and dropping off Xingchen?”

Yan Zhi looked over at Huo Cheng and gave a ‘hmm’.

He guessed that Huo Cheng’s opening would not be a good one.

As a result, Huo Cheng smiled and said, “Don’t just focus on Xingchen, we have another one here who doesn’t have a car.”

Wen Nuo, who was next to me, immediately said, “I can take the bus and a taxi easily.”

When Yan Zhi saw that both Lin Qingning and Di Xingchen were also looking at him, there was no way he could have a second answer either way, so he said, “Sure, both can be delivered.”

Huo Cheng just smiled.

Yan Zhi slightly restrained his gentleness and turned his head towards Huo Cheng, who didn’t look at him and went back to picking out the roses that Di Xingchen had bought.