After the two back-to-back early morning class periods ended, Jiang Mian felt something and instinctively turned his head, spotting Chen Gu appearing in the corridor.
Chen Gu hooked his lips at him, completely unafraid, and walked straight in.
Someone suddenly entering the classroom was still quite attention-grabbing.
Especially when Chen Yishen stood up in surprise, waving and calling out: “Bro!”
The classroom instantly quieted.
Chen Gu’s hair still couldn’t be fully tied up, leaving not only two strands by his temples but also a layer covering his nape.
But this hairstyle gave off a somewhat rakish, unrestrained feeling. Today, he was also wearing a loose, dark leisure dress shirt that looked like it had been stained with quite a bit of paint, paired with his careless expression. His entire aura was completely different.
Chen Gu placed the milk tea he had hooked on his fingers in front of Jiang Mian. Chen Yishen noticed there was only one cup and immediately felt wounded: “Bro! You bring Jiang Mian milk tea but not me!”
“Didn’t know what you like to drink.” Chen Gu was extremely perfunctory. “I’ll send you money later to buy your own.”
Jiang Mian reached out and touched it. “Warm?”
Chen Gu nodded, smoothly sitting down right beside Jiang Mian. “Drinking cold in the morning is bad for the stomach.”
Jiang Mian corrected him: “It’s late morning now.”
Already ten o’clock.
Chen Gu nodded obligingly. “Mm, drinking cold in the late morning is bad.”
“…”
Jiang Mian knew perfectly well how adept Chen Gu was at debating, so he didn’t get hung up on this point, just asking: “Why did you suddenly bring me milk tea?”
Chen Gu raised an eyebrow. “Aren’t you in a bad mood? Eat something sweet.”
Jiang Mian said “oh,” but couldn’t help thinking inwardly just how long Chen Gu planned to keep using the milk tea tactic.
The moment this thought arose, Jiang Mian mentally scorned himself.
Having a cup of milk tea was already very good. How could he be so greedy and insatiable.
However, Chen Gu then said: “Hand.”
Jiang Mian froze for a moment. His first reaction was that Chen Gu was having a relapse, so he subconsciously reached his hand out.
But what landed on his hand wasn’t Chen Gu’s fingertips, but a small charm, warmed by Chen Gu’s grasp.
It was a little cat, its whole body painted black, but that wasn’t the important part.
The important part was that a very cute white heart was drawn on the cat’s back.
Chen Gu hooked his lip. “Look at its paws again.”
Jiang Mian followed Chen Gu’s instructions, turning the little cat over. He saw that on such a small charm, the contours of the paws were even sculpted out.
Especially the cat’s toe beans—they were all heart-shaped, and the white kind at that.
Chen Gu chuckled softly, his voice lowered, making it sound even more ambiguous: “A little cat uniquely one-of-a-kind in the whole world.”
Jiang Mian felt the wood-like texture and understood almost instantly. “You made this.”
Chen Gu nodded. “That day, you seemed to really like cats, so I thought I’d make you a little charm to carry with you.”
His tone was casual. “What did you think I was doing, staying up until two in the morning?”
That forum post—the “That’s his brother Chen Gu” comment—was posted by him.
He had seen that thread and wasn’t sure if Jiang Mian would see it, but Chen Gu liked to make thorough preparations.
In truth, Jiang Mian didn’t have any special fondness for animals. If he had to say, he preferred fiercer but good-looking ones, like jackals.
The reason he said “paint a cat” that day was simply because of Chen Gu’s profile picture.
Jiang Mian looked down at the charm in his hand and couldn’t help tightening his grip. “Thank you.”
He thought that, from now on, he would probably grow to like cats.
Chen Yishen, who hadn’t been able to get a word in, had been holding it in for a long time and finally found a chance to speak: “No, wait a sec.”
He looked at the two of them, his face full of question marks. “Bro, Jiang Mian, what exactly is going on between you two? Can’t you reveal even a tiny bit to me?”
Hearing this question, the classmates in the front row, who had already been intently paying attention to them, perked their ears up even straighter.
Jiang Mian didn’t speak, because he actually didn’t quite understand what this current relationship between him and Chen Gu was either.
He just heard Chen Gu, without any attempt to hide it, hum lightly: “I’m pursuing him.”
He said it very smoothly and naturally, but it directly stunned Chen Yishen into a stupor.
Chen Yishen: “??”
Although he had vaguely guessed some hints, when the person involved actually confirmed his suspicions, Chen Yishen still received an immense shock and jolt.
Especially since Chen Gu said he was the one pursuing Jiang Mian.
Chen Yishen: “Wh-When did this start?”
Facing anyone other than Jiang Mian, Chen Gu’s tone was noticeably much cooler and always carried a sense of being perfunctory. “A long time ago.”
Actually, Chen Gu clearly remembered the exact date, but he deliberately wasn’t making it clear, precisely to blur the truth.
Jiang Mian glanced at him. Chen Gu’s expression instantly changed, blinking somewhat innocently.
Jiang Mian’s lips moved, but in the end, he didn’t say anything.
So the already dumbfounded Chen Yishen asked again: “Wait, Jiang Mian, why haven’t you agreed yet?”
The reason he asked such a question was that Chen Yishen could see it clearly.
Jiang Mian’s attitude towards Chen Gu was truly very different.
Back then, when Chen Yishen was traveling out of town and didn’t notice because he was having fun—
Now, looking back, he just felt that when he contacted Jiang Mian and told him he couldn’t reach Chen Gu, Jiang Mian’s reaction was very anxious.
Although Jiang Mian only sped up his speech slightly, without much fluctuation in his tone, generally speaking, Jiang Mian wouldn’t say things like that.
He would only calmly ask about the complete story and then provide a solution.
That’s why whenever something came up, Chen Yishen and Zhou Yuhui always liked to go to Jiang Mian first.
Because in their eyes, Jiang Mian, who was slightly younger than them, seemed instead like a great mountain holding up the sky.
Reliable and steady.
Hearing Chen Yishen’s question, Jiang Mian immediately became even more silent.
He thought to himself that Chen Yishen’s EQ really needed some urgent improvement; otherwise, he would get beaten up sooner or later once he was out in the world.
Whether he had glimpsed Jiang Mian’s inner grumbling or not—even if he hadn’t, Chen Gu could still sense the speechlessness rising in Jiang Mian for an instant.
So Chen Gu first let out a muffled laugh, then leisurely answered for Jiang Mian: “Because I like the feeling of pursuing him.”
He said it extremely naturally, without blinking. “So I told him not to give me an answer yet.”
Chen Yishen: “??”
His gaze towards Jiang Mian and Chen Gu could already be described as extremely horrified.
“You two really know how to play…”
Chen Yishen looked at them as if asking, Are you guys okay? “I’m in awe.”
However, Jiang Mian and Chen Gu simply ignored his words.
Because as Jiang Mian stood stunned, he instinctively looked towards Chen Gu.
He truly had never imagined Chen Gu would say that. He’d assumed that, with Chen Gu’s mischievous personality, he’d most likely follow Chen Yishen’s lead and ask him, in that joking yet secretly sincere tone, “Yeah, Sir Jiang, why haven’t you agreed yet?”
But Chen Gu didn’t.
He, the petty man, had misjudged a gentleman’s heart.
Jiang Mian admitted he was touched.
Especially seeing Chen Gu lightly wink at him, revealing a hint of slyness and lightness.
——
Because there was still one more class period for this course, Chen Gu simply stayed seated there and didn’t leave.
After the ten-minute break ended, the professor returned to resume the lecture. At first, he didn’t notice that two identical people were sitting beside Jiang Mian; he only realized when he called on Jiang Mian to answer a question.
After all, it was a lecture hall—there were truly many people.
The professor paused, pushed up his glasses, and looked slightly incredulous. “Excuse me, students, am I seeing things? Why do I see two Chen Yishens?”
A student explained to him: “The other one is Chen Yishen’s older brother.”
The professor marveled: “Twins? Haven’t seen him before.”
He smiled and told Jiang Mian to sit down. “Then let Chen Yishen’s older brother answer this question.”
Chen Gu, who had been sitting next to Jiang Mian auditing the class to the point of nearly falling asleep: “?”
He stood up somewhat lazily, taking Jiang Mian’s place, his tone casual and relaxed. “Sorry, Professor, I’m an art student. I’m just auditing.”
“Being able to come here means you’re interested in my class.” The professor joked. “Besides, you have someone studying law in your family. You can’t possibly be completely clueless, right?”
Actually, the professor meant Chen Yishen, but Chen Gu glanced at Jiang Mian. Jiang Mian, under these words, also inexplicably reddened at the tips of his ears.
Their reaction was caught by Chen Yishen. Chen Yishen, watching from the side, was on the verge of becoming numb.
So basically, he and Chen Gu were just strangers who happened to look alike, right?
Chen Gu chuckled lowly. “Indeed.”
He nodded with feigned seriousness. “You’re right, I must go back and cram properly, to avoid embarrassing my good student here if this happens again.”
Jiang Mian: “…”
Chen Yishen drew a sharp breath.
He had truly, for the first time ever, seen Chen Gu act like this.
Was this really the same brother who could beat someone to a cripple without changing expression?!
Damn, he was so flirtatious he practically seemed like one of those male escorts from those novels, okay?!
The professor also felt Chen Gu’s words were somewhat ambiguous, but didn’t think much of it, just asking: “You really don’t know?”
Chen Gu admitted it generously; after all, his major truly wasn’t in this area. “Sorry.”
So the professor said: “Alright then, let your family’s good student answer this question for you.”
The professor’s original intent was Chen Yishen, but Chen Yishen didn’t dare claim that title.
Especially since Chen Gu looked at Jiang Mian with extreme innocence.
Jiang Mian, who was already gripping his pen so tightly his knuckles had gone white, radiated an aura of utter resignation.
Chen Gu was truly mischievous, because he really liked seeing Jiang Mian like this. He felt this Jiang Mian was vivid and adorable.
It always made him imagine a little figure in Jiang Mian’s heart incessantly mumbling things no one else could hear.
Chen Gu felt that teasing to this point was about enough, no need to put someone in a difficult position.
So just as he was about to leisurely retract his display of prowess, he saw Jiang Mian move.
He slowly stood up again, actively claiming that title, standing with Chen Gu like a pair of cranes among chickens in the classroom.
Under everyone’s astonished gazes, Jiang Mian slowly answered this question—the very one he had been called on to answer in the first place.
The professor was dumbfounded. “Ah… very good.”
He stammered: “S-Sit down, please.”
The two people involved sat down together.
Jiang Mian pressed his lips together. Before he could lift his hand back onto the desk, it was suddenly seized by Chen Gu.
He stopped, not daring to look at Chen Gu, only slightly turning his head and lowering his voice: “I’m not…”
Jiang Mian wanted to tell Chen Gu that it didn’t mean he was agreeing to his pursuit, but before he could finish, Chen Gu interrupted: “I know.”
Chen Gu said softly: “I’m just having a relapse.”
He was indeed having a relapse.
From the moment he saw Jiang Mian stand up, Chen Gu was expending immense effort just to endure, to not let impulse take over, to not pull Jiang Mian into his arms and meld him into his embrace.
But every cell in his body was screaming. His blood seemed laced with ignited gunpowder, boiling and burning fiercely.
Wanting to touch Jiang Mian.
Wanting to be close to him.
Wanting to merge into one with him.
Wanting to simply turn into a layer of skin, wrapping around him, sticking to him forever.
His Jiang Mian.
His good student.
Uncontrollable thoughts were growing wildly in Chen Gu’s mind.
He obsessively wanted to demand more from Jiang Mian—more than Jiang Mian could bear, things that might even drive him to death.
How he longed to embrace Jiang Mian, to be buried together, or cremated together.
Let their ashes mix together, entangled for all eternity, life after life.
