Chapter 18

“Eldest Young Master Chu, what have you been so busy with lately? You haven’t summoned your humble servant at all.” After all the WeChat messages Zheng Yu had sent to Chu Ci sank without a trace, he finally just called him. Otherwise, he was afraid Chu Ci would have forgotten him entirely.

Zheng Yu was one of those friends of Chu Ci’s that could only barely be described as such. A few years older than Chu Ci, their dynamic had always been one where Chu Ci held absolute authority.

He was a slippery eel of a man, worldly and shrewd. When Chu Ci was still a high schooler, Zheng Yu had already been brazenly acting as his lackey without a shred of shame.

So, it could be said he held a tiny bit of standing with Chu Ci.

Zheng Yu was a straight man, and he also knew Chu Ci’s sexual orientation. But for people of their status, this was a non-issue.

Who knows, he might one day become interested in men too. You can never be sure about these things.

“School, work. If you’ve got something to say, spit it out.” Chu Ci was so busy his feet barely touched the ground. Taking Zheng Yu’s call was already giving him a lot of face.

“Tsk tsk, adulthood really does change a man. Your voice sounds steadier already.”

“How about drinks tonight? Everyone’s hoping you’ll come.” Zheng Yu extended a proper invitation.

He was naturally talking about a gathering of their social stratum. Without Chu Ci, any such event felt like its value was diluted.

He also knew Chu Ci’s temperament particularly well and added a special enticement: “A few guys just got back from studying abroad, good-looking ones. And there’s Second Young Master Gu. I don’t know if you remember him, the one who publicly came out a few years back. Didn’t you say he was pretty hot?”

“How old was I back then? Ever hear the phrase ‘out of the mouths of babes’? Don’t bring that up next time. Go by yourself. I’m swamped recently. We’ll talk when I’m free.” Chu Ci didn’t mention that he’d run into the guy not long ago.

He’d almost forgotten what he looked like by now.

Zheng Yu clicked his tongue in surprise. This young master was someone who usually stood by every word he’d ever said, even from the age of four. After all, his personality had been rotten from childhood, completely unchanged for over a decade.

He never expected a phrase like ‘out of the mouths of babes’ to come out of Chu Ci’s mouth.

Nor did he expect the once debauched and blunt Chu Ci to grow up into a workaholic. The old Chu family must just be blessed, while other families’ descendants were each more worry-inducing than the last.

“Fine, fine. I won’t delay you any longer. Call me anytime you’re free, Young Master. I’m always on standby.” After a bit more casual banter, Zheng Yu waited for Chu Ci to hang up, then relayed the situation to the others.

“Chu Ci can’t make it. Don’t hold your breath.”

“I haven’t heard about him having anyone. Could he really have turned over a new leaf?”

“That’s not entirely accurate. He’s simply never had eyes for anyone. I wonder what kind of devastating beauty could catch Eldest Young Master Chu’s eye.”

“He’s probably really busy. He’s not like us; he has a family empire to inherit.”

……

Chu Ci glanced at his watch. After being tempered these past days, his entire presence seemed sharper and more resolute, his gaze naturally colder.

It was almost 7 PM. His big sister had messaged him on WeChat asking him to come home for dinner. Chu Ci thought it over and refused.

Going back and forth would take up his entire evening, and he had only these little bits of free time.

He didn’t even go out to eat, just took a casual look in the employee cafeteria. At this hour, only a few food stations were open. Chu Ci wasn’t sensitive to taste anyway, so for convenience, he got two dishes and carried his tray back to the office.

The cafeteria chef was stunned to see the corporation’s young master. He never expected him to eat there. Grinning, he served up ridiculously large portions of the two dishes.

On the tray, the tempting sweet and sour ribs and scrambled eggs with chives exuded that distinct aroma of large-batch cooking.

Utterly unmoved, Chu Ci got to his office, thought for a moment, and video-called He Yuxuan.

The instant he pressed the button, Chu Ci’s heart inexplicably skipped a beat. Then he chided himself, not knowing what he was nervous about. He was never this kind of person.

Fortunately, the call was picked up quickly.

“Chu Ci, you’re eating,” He Yuxuan said, setting his phone on a stand he’d scavenged from the club. Seeing the scene on screen, he smiled. “Looks pretty tasty.” Taking a closer look, he added.

He showed no sign of his past complaints about the cafeteria food. For that price, what was there to be picky about? His expectations were naturally much higher for expensive food.

“Yeah, just got off work. What are you up to?” Chu Ci saw He Yuxuan holding a pen and a notebook.

“Doing homework. I’ve really got to study hard,” He Yuxuan pouted.

He truly had no talent for studying, but he had to put in the effort to not let down Chu Ci’s good intentions.

In a corner of the desk, out of the camera’s view, He Yuxuan had a small daily planner detailing his schedule.

In a past life, an assistant would have done this. Now, He Yuxuan handled it with ease. Without a schedule, his brain just couldn’t function.

For instance, today was a weekday with many classes, so he’d been busy until 5 PM. After dinner, he had a few hours left, so He Yuxuan hadn’t scheduled piano practice or his part-time job, dedicating the time to studying instead.

He was, more or less, a busy man now.

While eating, Chu Ci watched He Yuxuan’s troubled expression and the corners of his eyes curved up.

He understood the pain of a poor student.

“So you’ll be studying right up until bed?” he asked.

“Yep,” He Yuxuan responded, lowering his head to review.

So Chu Ci could see his fluffy head of hair and the soft whorl at the crown of his head.

“Then I’ll keep you company. I just finished my work anyway,” Chu Ci said calmly.

He Yuxuan was briefly stunned. He’d never had this kind of experience before, but he still didn’t think it was a big deal. Given their current relationship, if they were back in high school, they’d probably be scratching their heads and muddling through the whole night together.

“Okay. Tell me if you get tired, and we can rest together,” He Yuxuan said, giving himself an out.

“Okay.” Chu Ci quickly wolfed down his meal and propped his chin on his hand, watching the video.

It’s said that WeChat video calls make people look ugly. Chu Ci idly checked his own image in the small preview window and found it to be true.

He looked bad from several angles, so Chu Ci paid a little attention to his image, making sure the other party didn’t see those angles.

But when he carefully observed his hard-studying roommate again, he found He Yuxuan hadn’t gotten uglier at all. Other than being slightly blurry, he was no different from usual.

Still at a level where every frame could be a phone wallpaper.

Chu Ci, a born face-judger, simply felt happy just looking. And not to mention, this person wasn’t just anyone – he was his roommate.

So even though work was exhausting, in this moment, Chu Ci cast all of it to the back of his mind.

He Yuxuan struggled with some knowledge points. Naturally, regarding math, he struggled quite a bit, leading to a pile of question marks.

“Is it that hard?” Chu Ci asked occasionally while voluntarily doing some extra work.

“Insanely hard. It’d be great if you knew this stuff,” He Yuxuan unconsciously started getting more familiar and close with Chu Ci as a friend.

Chu Ci’s hand on his mouse paused. He was a bit regretful he never liked studying in high school. Had he known this day would come, he would have listened in class even just a bit more.

While He Yuxuan was battling alone, Tang Yi pushed open the dorm room door and returned.

Only then did He Yuxuan realize it was past 10 PM, though the Academic God was back relatively early tonight.

Tang Yi maintained his usual lukewarm demeanor, and He Yuxuan, being more occupied with club activities, hadn’t interacted with him much.

But He Yuxuan, who’d started becoming more down-to-earth, had grown much thicker-skinned. He thought for a second, then glanced at Chu Ci on the video call.

Both were main leads, neither could be that bad. And this standoff had been going on way too long; they still didn’t even seem close yet. For his friend’s happiness, He Yuxuan suddenly waved and called out: “Academic God, I’ve got a few problems here I can’t figure out. Could you help me look at them?”

Tang Yi paused mid-motion, putting his bag down, and looked up at He Yuxuan.

He wasn’t overly altruistic, but he wasn’t completely devoid of human feeling either; he just focused more on himself usually.

But since it was a roommate asking for needed help, and Tang Yi’s impression of him wasn’t bad, he nodded and walked over.

“Which problems?” he asked calmly.

He Yuxuan thought to himself: No wonder Chu Ci fell for Tang Yi. Even at this moment, he felt having an Academic God friend like this would be absolute bliss.

“These few.” He Yuxuan quickly pointed them out.

Actually, as soon as Tang Yi came closer, he saw Chu Ci on the video screen. Though there’d been a tiny bit of friction before, it was across a screen with no contact, so he didn’t want to seem petty.

Tang Yi just didn’t direct his gaze over there. He’d never had much of a good impression of domineering rich kids.

“To solve this limit, you first need to remember…”

Tang Yi’s explanation was concise. Perhaps it really was just that simple for an Academic God. He Yuxuan thick-skinnedly asked several times before barely grasping it.

“I’ll be going if there’s nothing else.”

“Nothing else! Thanks, Academic God. Next time, the meal’s on me,” He Yuxuan didn’t begrudge his smile; after all, selling milk tea, his smile had long since stopped being a precious commodity.

Chu Ci had been watching their interaction from his end the entire time, feeling an indescribable discomfort inside. But what Tang Yi could do, he indeed could not, so he had no grounds to say anything.

But he felt an inexplicable aversion to He Yuxuan having good relationships with other people. Even though Chu Ci knew that strange roommate of his was homophobic and nothing could possibly happen between them.

“The Academic God really is an Academic God.” He Yuxuan reviewed the solution process, then sighed in admiration again. Seeing the Young Master frozen, he thought the Young Master must have felt the Academic God’s charm too.

He’d done another good deed.

Chu Ci didn’t want to speak.

“Now I understand it too. Next time you’re back at school, I can teach you.” He Yuxuan hadn’t forgotten his good friend was also a poor student, though the guy just needed to learn management well.

“…Okay.” If that was the case, Chu Ci minded it a bit less. In the end, He Yuxuan was doing it for him, and it seemed he wasn’t really that close with Tang Yi. He was still the other’s most important friend.