Chapter 25
During the few minutes Shici was gone, Jiang Chaochao lay on his bed again.
He absentmindedly looked at his phone screen, watching the chat messages pop up and scroll upwards.
His mind wasn’t processing these messages; he was simply thinking, why did Shici suddenly disappear?
Could it be that Xiang Ye ran into Shici after he got home?
He thought about what Xiang Ye said last time, that he messaged him as soon as he parked his car.
Xiang Ye’s complex was a villa complex. If Xiang Ye messaged him as soon as he parked this time as well, calculating the time it took to get from the garage to his house, it roughly matched the time between Xiang Ye’s “I’m home” message and Shici’s sudden disappearance.
If this deduction was correct, then Xiang Ye should be talking to Shici right now.
Shici had just been chatting with the group members about her uncle, and about the unspoken “xuechang.” If they were talking now, what would they be talking about?
It wasn’t until that familiar ID reappeared that Jiang Chaochao came back to his senses.
She had been gone for quite a while.
Not Shi Not Ci: “Holy shit, my uncle just came home, scared me.”
Jiang Chaochao rested his head on his arm, smiling because his deduction was correct.
It was actually true. Then could this be considered another form of connection between him and Xiang Ye?
Everyone’s topic immediately shifted to Shici’s return.
Group member 1: “You were gone for too long!”
Shici: “I was chatting with my uncle.”
Shici: “He told me to go to bed early.”
Shici: “And then kicked me back to my room.”
Group member 1: “So, continue?”
Shici: “Continue!”
Shici: “Just now I was saying, he brought someone with him to the barbecue.”
Shici: “And who was this person?!”
The cooperative group members, very cooperatively: “Who!”
Shici: “A xuechang of mine.”
Group member 1: “Huh? Huh? Huh?”
Group member 2: “Huh? Wait.”
Group member 2: “Huh? What?”
Group member 3: “Huh? Xue, chang?”
…
He could sense the group members’ surprise and confusion even through the screen.
Thus, the following ensued.
Group member 1: “Is the xuechang a guy?”
Shici: “?”
Shici: “Do you even need to ask?”
Group member 1: “Hahaha, sorry, I was too surprised! Could it be that…!”
Group member 2: “Could it be that…!”
Shici: “So I just asked my uncle, ‘Do you like my xuechang?’”
Seeing this sentence, Jiang Chaochao sat up abruptly.
He sat up too quickly, and his vision blacked out for a moment, merging with the darkness of the night.
Following his trembling eyes was his heartbeat, suddenly pounding loudly.
Shici, you really!
You, you!
The group members then asked, one after another, the questions that Jiang Chaochao wanted to ask.
Group member 1: “Huh? Huh? Damn, you’re so brave!”
Group member 2: “And then? And then? How did your uncle reply?”
Group member 3: “What do you mean? Is your uncle gay? And you know about it?!”
Shici: “Well… not really.”
Shici: “My uncle didn’t answer. He just kicked me back to my room and lectured me a bit.”
Shici: “I don’t know if my uncle is gay.”
Shici: “I was indeed very brave. I don’t even know what I was thinking, how could I just ask that?”
After Shici finished speaking, the group members started sending her [Thumbs Up] emojis.
Group member 1: “Ah, okay, I thought so.”
Group member 2: “Ridiculous.”
Group member 3: “There’s no smoke without fire. Tell us why you think your uncle likes your xuechang.”
Shici: “Emmm, this…”
Shici: “How should I put it, there’s a sweet vibe between them?”
Group member 1: “Tell us more.”
Shici: “Emmm…”
Shici: “Hard to say.”
Group member 2: [Raising hand]
Group member 2: “I have a question, is the xuechang handsome?”
Shici: “Holy shit? Didn’t I say? He’s super handsome!”
Shici: “They look so good together.”
Shici: “Oh right, is Teacher Bianbian here?”
Teacher Bianbian suddenly became nervous.
He didn’t dare respond. What good could come from being called at this moment…
Group member 1: “What’s wrong? What do you want from laoshi?”
Shici: “Ah, it’s nothing, he just posted a sketch this morning.”
Shici: “Actually, at first glance, it looked a bit like my uncle and xuechang.”
Shici: “Wait, am I allowed to say that? Inappropriate, I’ll retract it.”
Teacher Bianbian didn’t care about whether it was appropriate or not, he immediately opened his phone’s photo album.
He had sent the sketch to Xiuxiu this morning, and Xiuxiu must have posted it in the group chat.
The sketch he drew was of a top in a suit sitting on a chair, and a bottom in a white t-shirt and no pants kneeling on the top.
He naturally wasn’t thinking of himself when he drew it, but after what Shici said…
So, so suggestive.
And what a coincidence, the top also had slightly longer hair, tied back with a hair tie.
Like Xiang Ye from a certain period.
Another coincidence was that this wasn’t the first time Jiang Chaochao had imagined this scene.
Damn it, there was no going back.
Jiang Chaochao returned to the group chat, everyone was already talking about something else.
And Shici’s earlier messages, along with all the related replies, had been retracted.
Jiang Chaochao scrolled back, rereading Shici’s messages about her uncle tonight.
He paused for a long time at the sentence, “So I just asked my uncle, ‘Do you like my xuechang?’”
He tried to imagine the scene of their conversation, also tried to imagine Xiang Ye’s expression.
It was difficult, his mind could only picture Xiang Ye’s calm demeanor and his playful smile.
Stop thinking, stop thinking.
Shici’s story felt unbalanced, like she had said everything, but upon closer inspection, she hadn’t said anything at all.
Jiang Chaochao’s heart fluttered again, then he gradually calmed down.
People in the group were gradually going to bed, so Jiang Chaochao also turned off his phone.
But somehow, as soon as he closed his eyes, the sketch he drew appeared in his mind.
It was even more explicit now. The faces in the image were very clear.
And not only their faces, but also…
After Jiang Chaochao’s knees pressed against Xiang Ye’s thighs, Xiang Ye groaned in pain, his brows furrowing slightly, but he quickly smiled at Jiang Chaochao and said, “It hurts, baby~”
Jiang Chaochao, completely unable to sleep, grabbed his hair.
“Ah!”
No.
Jiang Chaochao, you…
Don’t do this…
In the middle of the night.
Jiang Chaochao kicked off the blanket and turned down the air conditioning temperature and turned up the fan speed.
After letting the wind blow freely for a while, Jiang Chaochao pulled the blanket back over himself.
But thankfully it was already late at night, and after all that tossing and turning, Jiang Chaochao was sleepy.
It had been an eventful day.
His emotions were also very eventful.
So, five hours later, it was dawn.
Today Jiang Chaochao had an appointment with a friend to have tea and dinner at their teacher’s house.
It was a long-time friend. They had learned piano together at their teacher’s place since they were young, and then coincidentally went to the same high school.
This friend had a class in A City tomorrow, and it had been a while since they last saw their teacher, so they made plans for today.
After chatting all day and finishing dinner, they came out of their teacher’s house and discovered that it was raining in A City.
Jiang Chaochao stood under the eaves, looking up at the drizzling rain, and suddenly, he thought of Xiang Ye.
Not any specific thought, just a thought. Then he thought, if Xu Hengzhi were here, he would definitely say dramatically, Jiang Chaochao, you miss Xiang Ye.
Jiang Chaochao wouldn’t admit it, he didn’t miss Xiang Ye.
Thinking of him was thinking of him, missing him was missing him.
“How are you getting back?” Zhang Lingzhi beside him interrupted his thoughts. “Should I give you a ride?”
Jiang Chaochao was puzzled: “You drove?”
Zhang Lingzhi: “I’ll order a car.”
Jiang Chaochao: “No need, I’ll order one too.”
Zhang Lingzhi gave an “mm-hmm”: “Anything on tonight?”
Jiang Chaochao thought for a moment: “Yes.”
Zhang Lingzhi nodded: “Okay, I’ll contact you next time.”
After he said this, a car stopped in front of them.
Jiang Chaochao finally understood what Zhang Lingzhi meant by giving him a ride. This guy must have ordered a car while they were still upstairs.
Jiang Chaochao didn’t think much of it, he did have something on tonight, he planned to finish that drawing.
Soon his car also arrived. Just as he drove away from his teacher’s street, the rain suddenly started pouring.
The rain pounded against the car windows, the sky darkened, lights came on all over the city, and the wet windows blurred everything outside.
So at this moment, Jiang Chaochao thought of Xiang Ye again.
This time, his thoughts were more concrete.
He thought, Xiang Ye should still be in B City.
Was it raining in B City?
Was the rain heavy in B City?
Thoughts were always strange; they easily affected emotions, then affected thinking.
So in the next second, Jiang Chaochao opened his Moments, took a picture of the rain-streaked car window from his perspective, and wrote a caption, “It’s raining here, how about there?”
Of course, his last shred of rationality prevented him from posting it immediately. He looked at it and deleted the “how about there?”
Yes, a bit too much.
Haha.
Looking at it again, he also deleted “It’s raining here.”
Yes.
Mm-hmm.
Finally, only two words remained: “Raining.”
Then, under visibility settings, he selected only “XY” from the list.
This time, he abandoned all rationality, closed his eyes, and posted it.
Then threw his phone away.
The rain continued pouring down, splatter, splatter, jolting Jiang Chaochao awake.
He consoled himself, It’s nothing, while his heart pounded.
It was just a Moments post, nothing special, he could have made it visible to everyone.
So then why did he set it to only one person?
A sudden ringtone interrupted Jiang Chaochao’s overthinking, startling him.
It was Xu Hengzhi. Perfect, Jiang Chaochao wanted to talk to him too.
As soon as he answered, Xu Hengzhi asked cheerfully, “Whatcha doing, Chao?”
Jiang Chaochao was disgusted by the overly familiar tone: “Chao my ass, why are you so happy?”
Xu Hengzhi became even happier: “Haha, I secured the project!”
Jiang Chaochao smiled: “Congratulations.”
Xu Hengzhi: “Ah, I feel so light and carefree now.”
Jiang Chaochao laughed: “Hmm? Is that how you use that phrase?”
Xu Hengzhi: “Don’t worry about it.”
Jiang Chaochao: “So what? Why did you call?”
Xu Hengzhi: “What do you mean ‘so what’? Can’t I call you if there’s nothing going on?”
Jiang Chaochao: “Cut the crap.”
Xu Hengzhi laughed: “Hahaha, there is something actually.”
Jiang Chaochao: “Say it.”
Xu Hengzhi’s tone immediately changed, becoming very gossipy: “I asked around, and Xiang Ye seems to actually be gay!”
Jiang Chaochao let out a “heh” from the back of his throat.
Xu Hengzhi calmed down: “What’s wrong?”
Jiang Chaochao: “You’re interesting.”
Xu Hengzhi was even more confused: “What did I do?”
Jiang Chaochao said helplessly: “If you’re asking around if someone’s gay, can’t you be a bit discreet? Did you just ask him directly to his face?”
“What do you mean?” Xu Hengzhi asked. “Did Xiang Ye find out?”
Jiang Chaochao: “Yes…”
Xu Hengzhi: “Uh…”
Jiang Chaochao gave another “heh.”
Xu Hengzhi: “So? Is he?”
Thinking of certain images, Jiang Chaochao pursed his lips, then couldn’t help but smile.
Fortunately, Xu Hengzhi wasn’t here, otherwise Jiang Chaochao couldn’t imagine how much he would be mocked.
“He is,” Jiang Chaochao tried to keep his tone steady.
“Holy shit! Holy shit!” Xu Hengzhi became excited again. “I told you! See!”
Jiang Chaochao had to nitpick: “See what?”
He actually did have something to see. His phone lit up.
Zhang Lingzhi messaged him that he had arrived at the hotel.
Xu Hengzhi on the other end of the phone was laughing heartily, hahahahaha.
It made Jiang Chaochao want to laugh even more: “What the hell are you laughing about?”
Xu Hengzhi was still laughing: “I didn’t understand what you guys saw in each other before, but now, you’ve made my heart melt.”
Jiang Chaochao wanted to laugh even more: “What did we even do to make your heart melt?”
Xu Hengzhi: “You don’t understand, you don’t understand!”
Jiang Chaochao replied to Zhang Lingzhi with an “okay” and then noticed a new notification on his Moments, with Xiang Ye’s profile picture.
Jiang Chaochao’s mind filled with question marks, and he immediately clicked on it.
Then, he saw it, the first post, a new Moments update from Xiang Ye.
The picture was of a rain-streaked window, with an overlooking view of the city lights outside.
Similar scenery, similar content.
The caption, “Same.”
No exaggeration, Jiang Chaochao instantly got goosebumps.
“Xu Hengzhi,” Jiang Chaochao said to the person on the other end of the phone. “Open Xiang Ye’s Moments right now and see what’s on there.”
Xu Hengzhi: “Hold on, let me switch accounts.”
Jiang Chaochao: “Mm-hmm.”
After what felt like a long wait, but was actually only a few seconds, Xu Hengzhi said, “There’s nothing there, only posts from the past three days.”
Jiang Chaochao instantly pursed his lips.
“What’s wrong?” Xu Hengzhi asked.
Jiang Chaochao opened Xiang Ye’s picture again.
Same.
Same.
“Xu Hengzhi,” Jiang Chaochao blinked slowly, “Do you think he might think I like him?”
