Chapter 21 Part 1
Because two pairs of eyes were staring at him, Ling Fengli blurted out: “In broad daylight, you’re doing this kind of thing, do you have no shame?!”
He had always felt something was off between these two when they were together before, but he didn’t expect Jiang Huaisheng and Gu Tang to do this kind of thing in the dormitory.
Where was their sense of propriety? Where was their face? Where were their morals?!
Gu Tang had just woken up, and from a nightmare at that, so he was grumpy. His handsome face was dark as ink, and his eyes held a hint of murderous intent as he looked at Ling Fengli.
However, Jiang Huaisheng was sitting on his waist and abdomen, pinning him down. In this position, even with great strength, he couldn’t sit up.
In this awkward posture, he first pushed Young Master Jiang with his hand, signaling him to move, then sat up, his sharp gaze sweeping towards Ling Fengli: “What do you mean, no shame? I dare you to say that again.”
After both of them sat up, fully clothed, Ling Fengli realized he had been mistaken. Today, Jiang Huaisheng was dressed very refreshingly in typical summer casual wear, a sleeveless sky-blue shirt paired with pure white shorts.
The shorts extended a little past his knees, revealing a section of his calves and white and black sports socks.
However, the blanket covering Gu Tang happened to be the same sky-blue as the young master’s shirt, and with the light shining in, it blurred the outlines.
Jiang Huaisheng’s skin was naturally fair, like a porcelain doll, and his calves were smooth, unlike some boys with thick body hair who had a leg full of black hair.
He had been mistaken just now. Seeing a section of bare calf, coupled with the “missing pants” illusion created by the white shorts, he thought Jiang Huaisheng wasn’t wearing anything below the waist and was just sitting there in the dormitory…
But in reality, the blue was Gu Tang’s blanket, and the white “shorts” weren’t Jiang Huaisheng’s thighs.
Gu Tang was covered with a blanket, his hair messy. Judging from his posture, he should have just been taking a nap. He was fully clothed and gave off a very proper aura.
As for Jiang Huaisheng, he was straddling Gu Tang’s waist, but his clothes were neat, and he hadn’t done anything (actually, he hadn’t had the time to do anything).
Realizing his huge blunder, Ling Fengli’s face instantly flushed red, but he still stubbornly defended himself: “I can’t be blamed for this, who told Jiang Huaisheng to sit on you? And in that position!”
Hearing Ling Fengli’s voice, Jiang Huaisheng’s movements froze slightly. He was indeed momentarily flustered, but only for a moment. He quickly recovered, adjusted his posture slightly, and his expression didn’t reveal any flaws.
“As they say, different people see different things. The benevolent see benevolence, the wise see wisdom, and the lewd see lewdness. This might be the case here…”
As he spoke, he took a pillow from Gu Tang’s side and threw it to his own side, indicating that he had only come over to get a pillow.
Although only three people were staying in this dormitory, it was originally designed for four.
However, the school had clearly decided on a triple occupancy, and the extra bed had been removed beforehand. The space where the fourth bed would have been was replaced with a large wardrobe with many storage compartments.
The layout of the three beds was such that Jiang Huaisheng and Gu Tang’s beds were very close, to be precise, the headboards of the two beds were next to each other, head to head.
And Ling Fengli’s bed was opposite theirs, next to the custom-made wardrobe.
There was only a 20-centimeter gap between Jiang Huaisheng’s and Gu Tang’s beds, making it easy to climb onto the other bed.
After getting the pillow, he moved over. From beginning to end, his expression didn’t reveal any hint of ambiguity: “It must be that Young Master Ling has seen too many special scenes in City B, so he has improper thoughts about everything he sees.”
The dormitory ceilings weren’t high enough, at least not enough for an adult to stand up straight on the bunk beds. It was normal to crawl or kneel to move around.
Gu Tang was sleeping just now, and sleeping soundly, so Jiang Huaisheng, being considerate, chose to get the pillow himself, which seemed reasonable.
Ling Fengli’s face was as red as his hair, but he still felt something was off.
But at this moment, having lost the argument, he could only sit back in his own spot, open his laptop, pull out the keyboard, and start typing, the mechanical keyboard clicking loudly.
He was very annoyed and could only vent his emotions in this way. But as he typed, Ling Fengli suddenly felt a flash of inspiration, as if he had suddenly grasped something incriminating about the two.
“Normally, even if Gu Tang was sleeping, Jiang Huaisheng should have woken him up instead of getting it himself. And he could have just taken the pillow from the side, why straddle his lap! There’s definitely something going on between you two!”
Ling Fengli turned his gaming chair around, leaned back 35 degrees, crossed his arms, narrowed his eyes, and assumed the posture of a famous detective, scrutinizing Gu Tang and Jiang Huaisheng, who were on separate beds, trying to catch any clues to verify his guess: “Don’t tell me you two really have some kind of shady relationship?”
Jiang Huaisheng looked at Ling Fengli with disgust. The young man in the blue shirt looked down at the red-haired youth, his gaze truly like a human looking at a stink bug, a noisy stink bug that made noise.
Having spent so much time alone with Gu Tang, he had momentarily forgotten that they weren’t in their private residence now, but in a dormitory with little privacy.
He had indeed made a mistake, which was not locking the door beforehand.
Jiang Huaisheng said in a judgmental tone: “Ling Fengli, you look really ugly when you’re being so self-righteous.”
He hated Ling Fengli’s tone, as if he knew him very well. Although he and Gu Tang did have a hidden, special relationship that couldn’t be exposed, it wasn’t for an outsider to point fingers at.
If his grandfather hadn’t refused his request, saying that the Jiang family intended to cooperate with the Ling family and wanted them, the younger generation, to get along, he would never have tolerated Ling Fengli’s presence here.
“You!”
Ling Fengli’s appearance couldn’t be described as ugly no matter what. He was about to retort when Gu Tang’s casual remark caught him off guard.
Gu Tang seemed to have remembered something and suddenly said to Jiang Huaisheng: “Actually, it’s quite normal. After all, back in third grade, Ling Fengli could mistake a boy for a girl. His eyesight has always been bad, and he loves to make up stories.”
Having known Ling Fengli for several years, Gu Tang naturally knew a lot about his childhood embarrassing stories.
For example, when Ling Fengli first transferred, he immediately told the teacher: “I was always the class president before, I want to be the class president!”
Gu Tang had also been a class president, but he didn’t have much of a craving for power as a child. In a new environment, having just experienced a major family change, he couldn’t possibly actively put himself forward.
But after spending half a year at the school, he knew that these students in City A were indeed different from those in his hometown. Although they were young, their competitiveness and desire for power were very strong.
Their class president had always been Jiang Huaisheng. In elementary school, he also served as the school’s student leader. Later, in junior high and high school, when there was a student council, Jiang Huaisheng was the student council president.
Boys were competitive and had a desire for leadership, especially children from large families like Jiang Huaisheng, who were basically trained in organizational and management skills from a young age.
Sometimes, Jiang Huaisheng wasn’t necessarily willing to manage these little kids, after all, the sense of accomplishment was too low, and there were no benefits. He simply hated being managed by others.
As for Ling Fengli, he came from a privileged family. As the second child, he was spoiled by his parents, grandparents, and even his older brother. He was a little tyrant at home and the king of the kids in the courtyard.
Elementary school wasn’t that difficult. With a little intelligence, he was among the top students in his class.
The class president wasn’t the same as the study committee member. It wasn’t that only the student with the best grades could be the class president. Ling Fengli had always been the class president before transferring, so naturally, he wanted to claim this position after transferring.
He definitely wasn’t motivated by a desire to serve his classmates and teachers, he purely felt that, below the teacher, the class president was the biggest, and he needed to show his dominance in the new environment.
However, Ling Fengli’s family was well-off, and the Jiang family was no less so. Moreover, the Jiang family were the local powerhouses, so the teacher couldn’t possibly offend Jiang Huaisheng to please the newly transferred Young Master Ling.
The class teacher at the time said very gently: “No, we already have a class president. Jiang Huaisheng is doing a great job as class president, and everyone supports him. But Ling Fengli’s proactive attitude is also commendable, so we can let you be the vice president and share the workload with Jiang Huaisheng.”
The teacher was also a clever and experienced person, skillfully avoiding a conflict between the outsider and the local powerhouse, using an additional position to resolve this small transfer student dispute.
At that time, Ling Fengli glanced at Jiang Huaisheng, a shy smile suddenly appearing on his face: “I have no objections, teacher.”
The usually difficult and domineering young master was very polite to Jiang Huaisheng, even shy, often showing inexplicable shy smiles.
Gu Tang didn’t think much of it at the time. After all, in that class, the class president, Jiang Huaisheng, had more authority than the teacher. Except for him, all the students listened to Jiang Huaisheng.
In that atmosphere, it was normal for a new student to treat Jiang Huaisheng differently.
But later, Gu Tang learned that this visually impaired young master had actually mistaken Young Master Jiang Huaisheng for a beautiful and delicate girl.
When he heard this from him and understood his misunderstanding, Gu Tang couldn’t help but laugh until his stomach hurt: “No, the girls in our class wear skorts, and the boys wear pants, how could you think Jiang Huaisheng is a girl?”
Jiang Huaisheng was very delicate-looking as a child, but he didn’t have long hair like a girl, he had a slightly shorter bob.
Among elementary school students in City A, many boys from wealthy families had this hairstyle because it made them look cute, obedient, and well-behaved. And there were still some differences between boys’ and girls’ bobs, boys’ hair would be shorter.
More importantly, Jiang Huaisheng’s voice and mannerisms weren’t feminine at all.
Ling Fengli tried to save face and make himself appear less foolish: “Aren’t girls with short hair very common? I thought he was just a more heroic-looking girl. There are many girls in our courtyard with short hair, even shorter than his!”
There were many children in their courtyard, and there were indeed many girls who wore dresses and pigtails, but there were also tomboyish girls.
Those girls weren’t even as delicate-looking as Jiang Huaisheng! Because they were always running around and climbing under the sun, their skin was rougher, and their faces were darker, while Jiang Huaisheng, due to his weak health, was like a delicate porcelain doll, with fair skin and long eyelashes.
“Anyway, I wasn’t targeting him for that reason, I just thought he was girly, and not very good at leading our class.”
This was also one of the main reasons why Gu Tang later chose to leave Ling Fengli’s small group. This guy was too stubborn.
He was young at the time, but he wasn’t stupid. Following a “boss” with such poor eyesight, there was really no future.
The key was that after interacting with Ling Fengli, he found that although he acted like a good brother who valued loyalty, his arrogance was innate and no better than Jiang Huaisheng’s.
Jiang Huaisheng would reveal the truth of the world to him, telling him about the ugly side of adults. Although heartless and cruel, he spoke the truth.
As for Ling Fengli, he was more stubborn than a mule and didn’t have many merits besides his good fighting skills and family background.
As for his good fighting skills, Gu Tang found that the military boxing Ling Fengli knew wasn’t that impressive. After learning it, he hadn’t practiced for long before he could perform it better than him.
Gu Tang was weak and unable to break free when it came to his parents, that was because of the bond of blood, a child’s natural yearning and dependence on their parents, and also because of the past warmth.
He valued relationships, yes, but that didn’t mean he would accept anything and everything. On the contrary, he actually had high standards for friendship.
And he also had true friends, just not in City A, not in this class.
He and Ling Fengli were both transfer students, seemingly in similar situations, easily ostracized by the original students.
But they weren’t truly in the same situation. Ling Fengli, accustomed to taking, clearly didn’t meet his criteria for a friend.
Hearing Gu Tang mention his embarrassing past, Ling Fengli became speechless.
This was the bad thing about childhood friends, the other party knew your embarrassing stories, had seen your pathetic side, knew you inside and out, and knew how to hit your sore spots.
He did have a crush on Jiang Huaisheng, at the age of ten, his first love.
In ancient times, people could get married and have children at thirteen or fourteen years old. It was normal for some precocious children to have their first crush at ten.
But the feelings at that time were innocent and couldn’t be considered true love. Adults would define it as children playing house.
Ling Fengli was the kind of child who matured early. He was the king of the kids in the courtyard, and many little girls liked him, some bold and domineering, some gentle and delicate like white lotuses.
But Young Master Ling didn’t like any of them, until he came to City A and saw Jiang Huaisheng, then he was captivated by the excellent class president of the new elementary school.
When the teacher pointed at Jiang Huaisheng, Ling Fengli saw a smart-looking, short-haired “girl” sitting there, instantly capturing his heart.
A smart and intelligent “girl,” extremely beautiful, and that calm demeanor felt just like his older brother, exuding the aura of a wise god!
The eight-year-old Jiang Huaisheng didn’t look like he did now. His facial features were softer, he was dressed neatly and behaved politely, like a pure white little lamb.
Ling Fengli blushed. If they were playing house, he would definitely choose to be the dad, and Jiang Huaisheng would be the mom.
But he soon learned that he was mistaken. Jiang Huaisheng wasn’t just not a smart little lamb, he was also a boy.
At that moment, Ling Fengli suffered a huge blow, he was unilaterally “brokenhearted.”
His affection was simple and shallow, so when he realized his mistake, he felt ashamed and angry.
“Gu Tang, that was ten years ago, why bring up that idiot’s mistake?”
It wasn’t Ling Fengli who spoke first, but Jiang Huaisheng.
Not many people knew about this strange secret crush. Jiang Huaisheng, the “crushee,” also felt extremely embarrassed because of this. Many boys and girls liked him, and he enjoyed this feeling of being admired by everyone.
But knowing that he was admired as a beautiful girl, Jiang Huaisheng only felt extremely ashamed.
