Fu Si Heng apologized to Tao Zhi, and Tao Zhi forgave him.
But regarding Fu Si Heng’s declaration that he wanted to pursue him, Tao Zhi didn’t respond.
He remained silent, buried his head in his food, and pretended not to hear. When pressed, he claimed he was straight, hurting Fu Si Heng once more.
He felt Fu Si Heng was being impolite.
Asking a straight guy if he could be pursued was too strange, and Tao Zhi didn’t know how to answer. It was a difficult question.
Later, Fu Si Heng stopped asking.
But afterward, Tao Zhi often saw him at school.
Frequently, almost every day, with the longest gap not exceeding two days.
Those two days were the weekend, when Tao Zhi was busy with something, so Fu Si Heng couldn’t find him.
Fu Si Heng really had a lot of free time. He didn’t do anything proper when looking for him—just simply watched him, accompanied him to classes, went to the library to study, helped with homework, or took walks, doing utterly meaningless things.
At least, they seemed meaningless to Fu Si Heng.
But Fu Si Heng didn’t think so.
He quite enjoyed it himself.
Their relationship had developed too quickly before. Now, calming down to pursue him properly made up for the regret of not dating in university, and it was a whole new experience.
He even felt himself becoming much younger because of it.
Thus, Fu Si Heng visited diligently.
Even if they did nothing but attend classes together, he found it interesting.
…
Tao Zhi found it very strange.
Because Fu Zheng had said before that he was very busy, often traveling on business, and the brothers rarely saw each other in a semester. Fu Si Heng had to make special time to come beat him up, even detouring to the school on the way to meet a client.
Unexpectedly, he suddenly wasn’t busy anymore. He became free, not only had time to come over but could precisely locate him every time without even asking. Sometimes Tao Zhi turned his head and there Fu Si Heng was. He even suspected he’d been bugged with surveillance.
Of course, that was impossible.
The main reason was that Tao Zhi’s life was simple.
After no longer hanging around with Fu Zheng, his daily routine consisted of classes, fixed library visits, occasional club activities, strolls around campus, or feeding stray cats.
He was easy to find.
And now that he wasn’t doing side jobs, even easier.
Fu Si Heng wouldn’t let him do those messy part-time gigs, and Tao Zhi was reluctant at first.
Though the family no longer had debts, he still needed to earn living expenses. His sister relied on him for her living and tuition fees, and his mother’s health wasn’t good. Earning more was always better.
Tao Zhi still wanted to work part-time, so Fu Si Heng simply arranged a dog-walking job in the neighborhood for him.
Saturdays were full: tutoring in the morning, lunch at his place, dog-walking in the evening, and Fu Si Heng drove him back to school by eight.
A reasonable schedule, with Sundays and weekdays off for work-life balance.
At least, that’s how Fu Si Heng saw it.
In reality, on Sundays, Tao Zhi went to model for Rong Huai.
Fortunately, the first batch was only three outfits. Tao Zhi completed all the shooting over two weeks and even went a bit viral online, with the promotional video garnering over two million likes. Rong Huai asked if he wanted to start his own account and do some self-media, but Tao Zhi knew nothing about it and declined. Rong Huai didn’t bring it up again.
Once the modeling was done, his life suddenly became leisurely.
No more bustling around with part-time jobs or revolving around others, taking care of everyone. Without money worries, he finally had the chance to properly enjoy university life.
Tao Zhi joined the drama club.
Though clueless about it, helping out with chores was fun.
He also participated in the volunteer club’s charity activities and the club gathering.
This was Tao Zhi’s first time joining a group outing for fun.
A new KTV had opened near the school. After the club dinner, someone suggested extending the fun, so the group headed to the KTV.
“New face, huh.”
Inside the KTV, others were drinking, singing, and playing games. Tao Zhi wasn’t good at it, so he sat aside watching, chatting with the Club President while sipping soda. Suddenly, a guy approached.
“Hmm? You mean Little Tao?” The Club President turned, saw the guy, and shrugged. “Not a new face. Little Tao was here last year, always actively participating in club activities. How could he be new? You just haven’t seen him.”
“Haha, calling me out.” The guy wasn’t embarrassed and just laughed.
The Club President spread her hands, then leaned to Tao Zhi’s ear and whispered, “This is the guy I was complaining about.”
Huh?
Him?
Tao Zhi thought for a moment before remembering.
This was a third-year senior who’d joined the club as a freshman but rarely attended activities. He’d joined just to chase a senior sister.
After she graduated, he didn’t quit but skipped activities while never missing a single gathering.
