Chapter 82: Coming Clean Part 1

Tao Zhi: “……”

The screen was filled with messages of disbelief and exclamation points, but every word practically screamed for an explanation.

……How was he supposed to explain this?

Tao Zhi truly hadn’t lied.

When Fu Zheng confessed to him, he really had been straight. Later, when he got together with Fu Si Heng……that was because he had bent.

It was that simple.

Straight guys turning gay—wasn’t that perfectly normal? Fu Zheng himself had gone from straight to gay……Though he tried to convince himself like this, Tao Zhi still felt a twinge of guilt as he looked at the ongoing barrage of accusations on his screen.

His fingers hovered over the screen, hesitating for a long while without typing a single word.

He had no idea what to say.

Meanwhile, Fu Zheng’s messages kept coming one after another, bombarding Tao Zhi until his eyes blurred and he could barely make out the words.

Tao Zhi simply closed the chat window.

He sent a message to Fu Si Heng.

It wasn’t an accusation, nor was it asking what he had said to Fu Zheng. After all, he had planned to tell him anyway; Fu Si Heng had just beaten him to it by a few hours.

What Tao Zhi said to Fu Si Heng was: [Fu Zheng knows. I want to talk to him.]

The fact that Fu Zheng was only sending messages and hadn’t shown up in person meant Fu Si Heng’s people were still keeping him in check.

He couldn’t come over, so he vented his frustration on WeChat.

But Tao Zhi couldn’t just ignore it.

He scratched the tip of his nose and continued typing: [I’ll go see him on Wednesday.]

Fu Si Heng: [Can you take a call?]

Tao Zhi, who had just received the message, turned to glance at his senior classmate.

The senior was packing up his things on the desk. Noticing Tao Zhi’s gaze, he turned with a beaming smile. “I’ve got a date with my senior sister to try that new Xinjiang stir-fried rice noodles place.”

“Let’s go, let’s go. Want me to bring you some?”

“No need.” Tao Zhi smiled at him. “You go ahead.”

After the senior left, he lowered his head and typed: “Sure.”

The message had just gone through when his phone rang in his palm.

Tao Zhi answered: “Fu Ge.”

“Mm.” Fu Si Heng responded, sounding in a pretty good mood.

He had just dealt with Fu Zheng’s tantrum, enduring his roars, curses, and threats. Now, hearing Tao Zhi’s soft, gentle voice purified his soul.

His mood lifted, the weather seemed brighter, and he temporarily shelved the idea of teaching his idiot brother a lesson. He casually closed the search tab on backward mountain villages on his computer.

Just moments ago, he had seriously planned to arrange a year-long leave of absence for Fu Zheng, shipping him off to learn how to be a proper human being and respect his brother.

Not anymore.

He didn’t have time to deal with Fu Zheng right now anyway.

Fu Si Heng stood and walked to the floor-to-ceiling window, asking Tao Zhi, “Have you eaten?”

“I’m eating.” Tao Zhi said.

Fu Si Heng: “What are you eating?”

“School cafeteria food.” Tao Zhi told him. “They must’ve changed chefs; the taste is a bit different.”

Fu Si Heng: “Better or worse?”

“Better.” As Tao Zhi spoke, he popped a piece of celery into his mouth.

After swallowing, he remembered the reason for the call.

He had almost let Fu Si Heng derail the topic. Tao Zhi hurriedly corrected course: “I want to go see Fu Zheng on Wednesday.”

Alright, down to business.

Fu Si Heng asked him: “Why? Has Fu Zheng been bothering you?”

“Yeah, he sent me a few messages asking about it.” Tao Zhi’s tone was extremely tactful, sparing Fu Zheng’s dignity.

But when Fu Si Heng heard it, he just laughed outright: “A few? Try a few hundred.”

Tao Zhi: “……”

His tact had failed; Tao Zhi’s face flushed with embarrassment.

“Baby, actually, I suggest you listen to my mom.” After laughing, Fu Si Heng gave him advice. “I can handle this. You don’t need to get involved. I guarantee the next time Fu Zheng sees you, he’ll obediently call you sister-in-law.”

“……That magical?” Tao Zhi was a bit skeptical.

With Fu Zheng’s rebellious personality, he couldn’t imagine him calling him sister-in-law.

Fu Zheng struck him as the type who got more defiant the more you beat him.

Like that time in the dorm when he got beaten—he said he understood on the surface, but the moment Fu Si Heng left, all sorts of devious ideas popped into his head, scaring Tao Zhi half to death.

“How do you plan to handle it?” Tao Zhi asked curiously.

“Get him a leave of absence first. He skips classes all the time anyway; going to school or not doesn’t make much difference to him.” Fu Si Heng stood by the floor-to-ceiling window with one hand in his pocket, his tone calm, his expression indifferent.