Chapter 48: Goddess (Minor Revision) Part 2

He looked at Tao Zhi, frowning as he advanced two steps. Tao Zhi immediately retreated.

The dorm wasn’t that big; Tao Zhi backed up until he hit the wall.

“Your phone has secrets, huh.” Fu Zheng was unhappy. He raised his hand and propped his arm beside Tao Zhi, blocking his escape.

Previously, Tao Zhi’s phone had been freely viewable.

Whenever he said he wanted to see it, Tao Zhi obediently handed it over.

Now he actually had secrets.

Fu Zheng ground his teeth.

“It’s normal to have secrets.” Tao Zhi feigned composure. “Who doesn’t have secrets on their phone?”

“You, before.” Fu Zheng blurted out.

Tao Zhi: “…?”

“I don’t.” Realizing his resentment was too obvious, Fu Zheng awkwardly changed his tune.

“Is that so?” Tao Zhi had somehow picked up Fu Si Heng’s favorite rhetorical question style.

It sounded familiar; Fu Zheng’s eyelid twitched.

Unaware, Tao Zhi pursed his lips and extended his hand toward Fu Zheng, steeling himself: “Then show me yours.”

Fu Zheng: “?”

Already checking up on him?

Fu Zheng paused, inexplicably finding the act quite intimate.

He actually blushed.

Fu Zheng wasn’t the fair-skinned type.

Neither brother was; they hadn’t inherited Lady Xu Yujia’s good skin.

A wheat-colored face blushing created an indescribably weird vibe.

Especially since it was Fu Zheng—maximum weirdness.

Unsure if he’d offended him with his bold words, Tao Zhi swallowed nervously, his fingers clutching his clothes tightly.

For a moment, neither spoke.

After some time, Tao Zhi shifted his feet slightly, trying to bend down and slip under Fu Zheng’s arm—

He was yanked upright by Fu Zheng the moment he bent.

Yanked up, straightened, and stared at with bulging eyes, making Tao Zhi’s heart crawl.

“Then delete it yourself.” After a long pause, Fu Zheng finally spoke.

He stopped fussing over whether there were secrets on the phone because he’d just remembered his own chat logs bombarding 17 or 18 people.

Maybe, just maybe, Tao Zhi was the same.

Chatting with friends about his roommate this and that…

In a burst of generosity, Fu Zheng said, “Delete it. I’ll watch you delete it, but I won’t look at your phone.”

Tao Zhi: “…”

Fine.

No other choice.

Fu Zheng wouldn’t give up until he got what he wanted; Tao Zhi knew his personality well.

He sighed, pursed his lips, took out his phone, and with super speed tapped on the avatar. Right in front of Fu Zheng, he deleted Fu Si Heng.

Fu Zheng was satisfied.

He had once hoped so much for Tao Zhi to hook up with Fu Si Heng; now he hoped just as much for them to cut ties completely.

Perfect.

From now on, Tao Zhi would have no connection to Fu Si Heng.

He stepped back two paces, no longer pinning Tao Zhi against the wall: “I promised you five million after success. I don’t have that much now; later. Anyway, I remember all the promises I made.”

“No need.” Tao Zhi had never truly believed in that five million.

The amount was too huge; it sounded like a joke. Last year’s Tao Zhi had only aimed to pocket tens of thousands from Fu Zheng occasionally.

Agreeing to help had been like being forced onto the stage.

“I’ll give it to you anyway,” Fu Zheng emphasized. “Just wait.”

Tao Zhi: “…”

Tao Zhi mumbled a couple of responses, not wanting to continue the topic with Fu Zheng.

He used packing his luggage as an excuse to create distance from Fu Zheng.

After packing, he returned to his seat and pretended to be busy.

An hour later, seeing Fu Zheng finally not looking his way, Tao Zhi recalled Fu Si Heng’s phone number and re-added him as a friend.

In that short hour, Fu Si Heng had already noticed he’d been deleted.

He messaged Tao Zhi asking if he’d returned to the dorm, only to get a red exclamation mark.

Though he didn’t know the reason, Fu Si Heng planned to go to the school and find him if there was no movement by the end of the day.

Now his phone showed that Tao Zhi had added him back as a friend.

Fu Si Heng sent a question mark.

Tao Zhi: [Sorry, Fu Ge, I accidentally slipped and pressed the wrong button.]

Fu Si Heng: [Is that so?]

Tao Zhi: “…”

Fu Si Heng: [Fine.]

Those four casual words made Tao Zhi feel a chill on his neck.

So despairing.

Despairing and lost.

Tao Zhi clutched his phone and zoned out for a while, then slumped over the desk with a lifeless, half-dead expression.

What was he supposed to do in this situation?

–

No ideas came.

Tao Zhi racked his brains all night but couldn’t figure out how to extricate himself from Fu Si Heng without Fu Zheng’s help.

But he really didn’t want Fu Zheng’s help.

No one liked being sarcastically mocked or lectured for hours.

So, if possible, he wouldn’t tell Fu Zheng and handle it himself.

Tao Zhi planned to try making Fu Si Heng break up with him first. If that failed, then he’d go to Fu Zheng.

At worst, they’d both get beaten by Fu Si Heng.

Tao Zhi even looked up the university medical insurance reimbursement rates.

He was truly out of options.

Also, before breaking up, he needed to scrape together 200,000 to pay back Fu Si Heng.

Tao Zhi had done the math over the past couple of days.

With Fu Zheng no longer seeking revenge, he probably wouldn’t hand out tens of thousands anymore. Estimating weekly earnings from helping Fu Zheng at around two thousand. Fu Zheng had matured a bit and no longer needed constant supervision; he could handle many things himself. In the meantime, Tao Zhi would seek nearby part-time jobs.

Save money diligently, then break up.

That was Tao Zhi’s current goal to motivate himself.

On the third day of school, after distributing flyers, Tao Zhi returned to find two people standing at their dorm door.

A man and a woman, back-to-back chatting by the stairs.

Tao Zhi was puzzled by the woman’s back at first—how did a woman get into the boys’ dorm? But his gaze shifted sideways, and he forgot that minor doubt.

The familiar figure in a suit, tall and upright, made his eyelid twitch.

As if by telepathy, the man at the door turned around just then.

Fu Si Heng.

It really was him.

Tao Zhi’s mouth fell open.

Why… why was Fu Si Heng at his dorm door?

“Tao Zhi.” Fu Si Heng called his name.