Chapter 28: The Vicious Fake Young Master of a Wealthy Family · 28 Part 2

Just as he neared the end of the tree-lined path, Su Wenyu unexpectedly ran into someone.

It was the only companion close to his age who had been with him in the sanatorium since childhood.

An older brother with a terminal illness, yet possessing an incredibly strong inner core.

Although this person had passed away from his illness two years ago, Su Wenyu still thought of him even now.

On his birthday this year, when Su Wenyu had sneaked out and gone to the Glass Greenhouse on the back hill, it was also to feel a little closer to the departed man.

He just hadn’t expected this rare disease flare-up to be far more severe than previous ones. If he hadn’t bound the system and temporarily stabilized his vital signs, he probably would have been cremated by now.

Su Wenyu lowered his head, walking slowly along the campus roadside, watching his shadow beneath the streetlights. With each step, it lengthened and shortened with the changing angle of the lamps.

He still remembered the first thing that older brother had said to him during that encounter back then.

“Su Wenyu, look up and watch where you’re going.”

A familiar voice suddenly rang out. Su Wenyu looked up in a daze and saw Zhou Xu standing under a streetlight.

Zhou Xu had his phone in his hand, wearing loose shorts and a T-shirt, looking directly towards him.

Due to the backlighting, Su Wenyu couldn’t quite make out the expression on his face. He just felt this scene was terribly similar to that person from three years ago.

Zhou Xu saw him suddenly stop moving, frowned slightly, and walked over. “Why didn’t you reply to my messages?”

“Huh?” Su Wenyu stared at him blankly. Only upon hearing this did he look down and pull his phone from his pocket, checking the unread message. “My phone was on silent.”

Zhou Xu didn’t press further. He simply reached out and took the packed dinner and the milk tea from Su Wenyu’s hands.

Su Wenyu’s fingertips were a bit red from the weight of the bags. After Zhou Xu took them, his fingers rubbed together, feeling somewhat empty.

“Not going back?” Zhou Xu asked, seeing him still standing there, unsure what was going through his mind.

“Going back.” Su Wenyu snapped out of it and hurriedly stepped forward to follow.

Zhou Xu frowned again. “Slow down. No one’s rushing you.”

Only then did Su Wenyu realize walking faster made his ankle uncomfortable. He slowed his pace and stayed beside Zhou Xu, making his way slowly back toward the dorm.

He glanced back at the spot where Zhou Xu had been standing moments before. He hesitated, wanting to speak, and only managed to ask after a while: “Why were you downstairs?”

Zhou Xu gestured at the steps, replying, “Taking out the trash.”

“Oh.” Su Wenyu lowered his head and walked up the steps one by one.

Zhou Xu looked down and saw the ends of his hair, slightly mussed from his afternoon nap. A touch of obsessive-compulsiveness stirred, and his fingers hanging at his side twitched, but ultimately, he did nothing about it.

“How did you come back alone? Where are those two?” Zhou Xu asked.

Inside the dorm building now, Su Wenyu used the railing for leverage, moving upwards one floor at a time.

He explained, “They had a class meeting, not enough time, so they went straight from the cafeteria.”

Zhou Xu nodded and followed behind him up the stairs, saying nothing more.

At the dorm, Su Wenyu took out his IC card to open the door, letting Zhou Xu enter first, then limped in after him, reminding, “One of those milk teas is mine.”

Zhou Xu: “…”

“I know.” He hadn’t planned on drinking both himself.

Zhou Xu set down the items and handed one of the milk teas to him.

Holding the milk tea, Su Wenyu contentedly returned to his desk and sat down.

Sipping the milk tea through his straw, Su Wenyu didn’t forget to play the pity card with Zhou Xu: “The cafeteria was so crowded tonight. The lines for food took forever.”

Zhou Xu spoke in an unsurprised tone: “Because of freshman move-in. During their military training period, it’s best if we don’t eat at this nearby cafeteria. Let’s try a different one.”

Su Wenyu was curious: “Why?”

Zhou Xu: “Their military training ends half an hour before our morning classes end. By the time we get out of class, the cafeteria will already be swarming with freshmen.”

Sudden realization dawned on Su Wenyu: “Ah, so that’s how it is.”

Zhou Xu nodded.

After all, he’d been a freshman himself last year. The image of the cafeteria packed with a sea of camouflage uniforms was one he’d been a part of.

Zhou Xu opened the dinner Su Wenyu had brought him and reminded him: “Take your shower early today. Once the other two get back, there’ll definitely be a queue for the bathroom.”

Su Wenyu sucked up a tapioca pearl, feeling Zhou Xu had a point. He set his milk tea aside for the moment, went to his wardrobe to pull out some loose T-shirts and pants that could double as both regular wear and pajamas. He then went to the balcony to grab a dry pair of underwear and a large towel from the line, swapped into the plastic flip-flops for showering, and shuffled into the bathroom, closing the door behind him.

Soon, Zhou Xu heard the sound of the shower coming from inside, followed by the sound of Su Wenyu sitting under the spray and water hitting his body.

Zhou Xu ate his meal in silence, but his mind involuntarily flashed back to that first day in the dorm and the fleeting glimpse of white that had crossed his vision.

Over these past days in the dorm, Su Wenyu basically never avoided Zhou Xu while doing anything.

Whether changing his shirt or his pants, he just took them off right in front of him.

Although Zhou Xu instinctively looked away, every time he did, he’d find himself wondering why he was averting his eyes.

They were both guys. If Su Wenyu could take his clothes off in front of him, why was he afraid to look?

After much thought, the answer Zhou Xu gave himself was: while he himself wasn’t gay, Su Wenyu was, after all, gay.

Watching a gay person’s body was very impolite. It might even make Su Wenyu mistakenly think he was deliberately looking at him undressing.

Perhaps Su Wenyu was pretending not to care but was actually deliberately changing clothes in front of him, trying to seduce him.

Only, Su Wenyu probably hadn’t expected that Zhou Xu was 24K solid gold straight and completely unfazed by his little schemes.

As for today—Su Wenyu telling the other roommates he was his brother, then ditching him to go eat with others tonight—after sitting alone in the dorm thinking about his behavior, Zhou Xu concluded it was a new tactic Su Wenyu thought up to get his attention.

Perhaps Su Wenyu, seeing his previous actions had no effect, had adopted a different approach.

Like pretending to get close to those two, then deliberately creating distance with him.

Hmph. Just childish tricks.

Zhou Xu didn’t mind at all, and calmly finished every last bit of the food Su Wenyu had packed back for him.

Su Wenyu finished his shower about half an hour later. After drying off and changing into clean clothes, he tossed his dirty laundry into the laundry basket. As for his underwear, he lathered it up with soap and stood before the sink, carefully scrubbing it clean with warm water.

The technique for washing underwear was something he’d specifically looked up online, following video tutorials step-by-step, and he could always get them very clean.

After washing, Su Wenyu wrung them out as dry as possible and hung them on the balcony.

Then Su Wenyu rinsed his hands, used a towel to dry his still-damp hair, and stood in front of the mirror to blow it dry.

Once his hair was dry, Su Wenyu, imitating what Zhou Xu did after his showers, wiped the water spots off the sink, used a mop to dry the bathroom floor, and finally used a paper towel to pick up any stray hairs from the floor, dropping them into the small wastebasket nearby.

After tidying everything up, Su Wenyu came out with the laundry basket and asked Zhou Xu, “Bro, do you have any clothes to wash? Let’s put them in the washer together.”

Zhou Xu was the type to change clothes frequently. The moment he sweated, he’d come back, shower, and change. With the recent weather being especially hot, he could change at least two or three times a day.

Hearing Su Wenyu’s question, Zhou Xu tossed the shirt and pants draped over his chair back into the laundry basket, asking, “Can you manage alone?”

“Yeah, I’ve seen you use the washer before. I know how it works now.” As he spoke, Su Wenyu heaved the basket up with a grunt and headed out of the dorm.

Each floor of the dorm building had two washing machines and two dryers, newly installed during the summer renovations.

Over the past week, it was mostly Zhou Xu who’d put both their sets of outer clothes into the laundry basket and wash them together in the machine.

Once, Su Wenyu happened to be strolling the hallway with his walker to aid digestion and, seeing this, followed Zhou Xu to the laundry room for a look around, learning how to use the dorm washing machine in the process.

But now, with the new freshmen starting, the machines were very busy. The floor was piled high with basins, holding places in line.

When Su Wenyu reached the laundry room, holding his basket, he almost didn’t know what to do.

The instinct of a university student made him put his own basket in line behind the other basins. But one machine had just finished its cycle, and no one in the room stepped forward to take the clothes out. After a moment’s hesitation, Su Wenyu stepped forward and opened the machine, wondering whether he should help take this person’s clothes out first—otherwise, it would take forever.

The moment he opened the machine, Su Wenyu saw it was crammed full of random things. Besides normal clothing, he even spotted several pairs of bright red and green underwear.

Su Wenyu: “…”

Why would anyone use a public washing machine to wash their underwear??

Another machine nearby also finished. Disbelieving it could be worse, Su Wenyu walked over and opened that one too. Inside, he saw three pristine pairs of sneakers, freshly spun dry.

Su Wenyu fell silent again.

After waiting a while in the dorm, Zhou Xu saw Su Wenyu come back carrying the laundry basket exactly as he had taken it out.

Zhou Xu watched Su Wenyu’s wilted, dejected look and raised an eyebrow in surprise. “What’s wrong? Can’t figure out the machine?”

Su Wenyu shook his head.

“What is it then? Did someone bully you?” Zhou Xu stood up, his posture suggesting he was ready to go defend him if Su Wenyu said yes.

Su Wenyu shook his head again.

This time, before Zhou Xu could ask further, Su Wenyu let out a deep sigh and said, “Can we just not use the washing machine anymore for our clothes?”

Then Su Wenyu told him, with a bit of embellishment, about the people washing their dirty underwear and shoes in the public machines.

“Those are public washing machines! How can they use them to wash those things? Don’t they think it’s gross?!” Su Wenyu couldn’t understand it.

Zhou Xu hadn’t expected this. It was indeed an oversight on his part.

With no one else using the machines for the past week, he’d almost forgotten the entire building was now full of freshmen.

Not all students have good sense and know not to wash underwear or shoes in the public machines. Most are just too lazy to hand-wash and toss everything in together.

In Zhou Xu’s previous dormitory experience, when he couldn’t avoid using the communal machines, he’d run the machine twice with boiling water to rinse it, just for peace of mind.

Now, seeing the utterly disgusted look on Su Wenyu’s face, he could only helplessly take the basket from his hands.

“Give it to me. I’ll hand-wash it,” Zhou Xu said.

Su Wenyu instantly looked concerned. “Won’t that be too tiring?”

Zhou Xu looked at the few summer shirts and pants in the basket and felt Su Wenyu might be underestimating him a little.

“It won’t be tiring. Do you need help getting into bed first?” Zhou Xu asked.

Su Wenyu shook his head. “I’ll sit down here and watch some TV. I’ll go to bed after I finish this milk tea and brush my teeth.”

“Alright. Wrap yourself in a blanket. The AC is turned down pretty low.” Zhou Xu had no desire to end up taking care of him for a cold after looking after his sprained ankle.

Obediently, Su Wenyu opened his wardrobe and fished out an orange-red fox-patterned throw blanket, draping it over himself.

When Zhou Xu passed his wardrobe, his peripheral vision caught sight of its interior, which had somehow become an utterly chaotic mess. He fell silent for a moment.

“After I finish washing the clothes, I’ll teach you how to fold them properly,” Zhou Xu said, finding it intolerable that someone’s wardrobe could look like a pigsty.