Chapter 10: Take me in for these two days, Lele.

Lu Jue hung up the phone directly and effortlessly dragged the number into his blacklist.

He sat on the windowsill, his back against the wall, in the exact same posture as when he’d watched Yu Ting the second time, looking down at the Endless Summer hydrangeas below.

After several days of heavy rain, the few Endless Summer hydrangea bushes in the garden were growing more and more lush, their bowl-sized flowers a blue so deep it verged on purple.

Flipping to WeChat, Lu Jue logged in using his old phone number. As soon as he entered the main page, a pile of messages popped up. He ignored them all and searched for Yu Ting’s number.

User does not exist.

Lu Jue logged out. A chat from a flame avatar popped up: “Where did your old man lock you up? I’m heading to the military base next Sunday. Phone gets turned in, see you in a few years!”

Lu Jue casually replied, “Contact you next Friday.”

After replying, he deleted WeChat, tapped into his messages, and found Yu Ting’s number. “Lele, I’m home.”

The message was sent at 12:21 PM. A reply didn’t come until 4 PM.

【Yu Ting: Oh.】

That cold, indifferent face seemed to be right before his eyes. He was still cuter when he’d just woken up. Lu Jue chuckled. Feeling a bit thirsty, he jumped off the windowsill and went downstairs.

He didn’t reply to Yu Ting immediately. Instead, he dialed the butler’s number. “There’s a woman named Zhang Minhua—”

…

When Zhang Minhua received the transfer order, she practically floated as she ran. Working in a wealthy household, the kitchen had the most perks, especially the purchasing role they’d switched her to, which was brimming with opportunity. Even her base monthly salary had more than doubled compared to when she was a gatekeeper!

She had landed a cushy job, a lucrative job!!

Zhang Minhua ran all the way to the kitchen storage room.

The kitchen was on the first floor. Besides the main cooking and prep rooms, there was a storage room connected to the second floor.

The storage room had a back door leading to the rear garden. The back door was wide open now, revealing vast stretches of thick grass growing wildly under the sunlight. The tips of the grass were a little yellow, but most were a bright apple green. A chubby tabby cat and an orange cat lay sprawled in the grass, lazily basking in the sun.

“Sister Yang, you were the one who sweet-talked the butler into transferring me here, right! Thank you so much! You’re my own flesh-and-blood sister!”

The voice carried clearly to the staircase leading to the second floor.

The stairwell was enclosed with a sealed pane of transparent white glass. Sunlight was blocked by the goldenrain trees outside, only scattered fragments of light illuminating the wooden floorboards and a pair of dark grey house slippers.

Gripping a glass of ice water, Lu Jue leaned against the stair railing. The conversation that followed confirmed his guesses one by one.

“Yeah, my friend’s son is exceptionally outstanding! He placed first in our entire district for both his elementary-to-middle school and middle school entrance exams!”

“Right, my friend’s husband passed away over a decade ago. He was out at sea, ran into an accident, the ship sank… his body still hasn’t been fully recovered. Ah, so pitiable. My friend can’t speak. The kid was only five then, too. That heartless company declared bankruptcy and didn’t give a single cent in compensation. I really don’t know how that mother and child made it through…”

…

The voices in the storage room gradually faded. Footsteps moved away. Lu Jue raised his glass. The ice water was now room temperature. He drained it in one gulp, pulled out his phone, and typed out a line of text.

Buzz.

Two messages came into Yu Ting’s phone simultaneously. He glanced over, put down his pen, and picked up the phone.

The first was from Lu Jue: “What time are you buying the plane ticket for?”

Yu Ting was speechless for a moment.

The Lingjiang airport was still under construction. To fly, you had to go to the neighboring city. He hadn’t even considered flying.

The bus from Lingjiang to Jing City ran once a day, departing at 10 AM and arriving in Jing City at 7:30 PM. The fare was 178 yuan.

Yu Ting typed out— “I’ll take the bus…” He remembered Lu Jue might never have taken one, so he hit backspace to delete “bus” and changed it to “car”.

After sending it, Yu Ting opened the second message. It was an MMS from Li Chengxi—

In the photo, Li Chengxi stood at the bow of a boat, holding a huge basket of crabs and fish, grinning a mouthful of white teeth. Behind him was an endless sea, with two large ships sailing past.

A line of text at the bottom: 【Brother Ting, you still haven’t signed up for WeChat! I wanted to start a video call to show you the fish I caught! There was a big halibut, 4.6 kilos! And I got chased by a seal for several kilometers, hahaha.】

Yu Ting replied: “When I start college.”

After replying, he put his phone aside and glanced at the desk calendar. A sharp throb pulsed at his temples.

He no longer had enough money to give Li Chengxi an equally valuable gift.

His manuscript fee had arrived yesterday, 500 yuan. Added to his remaining savings, he only had enough for a gift around 700 yuan.

Yu Ting picked up his pen and did some calculations for a while, then put it down. He was feeling a bit agitated.

He didn’t like being indebted to people. He didn’t want to be, whether it was favors or money.

This time, he was indebted to two people at once: one for Li Chengxi’s new phone, and the other was Lu Jue.

Lu Jue had never mentioned it; it was his own guess.

Jiang Yu’s violations of school rules hadn’t happened just once or twice; he hadn’t been expelled solely because his uncle was the vice-principal. This time, the entire group that had targeted him was expelled. There was only one explanation: the person who ordered their expulsion was more powerful than the vice-principal.

And then there was the last time the flower nursery was vandalized; Jiang Yu voluntarily turned himself in and named his accomplices…

Among the people he knew, only Lu Jue could have managed it.

Lu Jue was good to him, and he was a homosexual. He had considered that Lu Jue might like him. But what if it was a misunderstanding? What if Lu Jue truly just wanted to be friends? His rejection would become a sharp knife that wounded, just like his classmates’ words.

His middle school classmates had said of the physics teacher, “He’s a homo? Ugh, gross! I always wondered why the look in his eyes was so weird!”

“Yeah, yeah! He was always sneaking peeks at me too! I’m gonna get goosebumps!”

“Hahaha, he definitely has a crush on you guys!”

“No way he likes two people at the same time…”

“Why not! He is a homo!”

…

The phone he owed Li Chengxi couldn’t be repaid this time, but there would be a next time, and a time after that. It would be repaid eventually.

Only Lu Jue—it seemed like, aside from lacking friends, he lacked nothing.

His phone vibrated again. Yu Ting glanced over, just catching the character “Lu.”

A new text message.

He pulled his gaze back, picked up his pen, and continued his calculations. The second-round exam was next Saturday: a written test in the morning, a lab practical in the afternoon. His time was running out.

Late at night, Yu Ting finally rested. He put his pen down, took a shower, and only then came out to look at his phone.

He opened the message. What Lu Jue had sent that afternoon was—a bus ticket to Jing City for next Friday.

~

In the blink of an eye, the day of departure arrived. Yu Ting brought a small carry-on bag, packed with two reference books, a change of clothes, and toiletries. He was going to be in Jing City for two days and two nights; the bus back to Lingjiang was Sunday night at ten.

He also carried a bag of snacks.

There were two cartons of instant noodles, two packs of crackers, two bottles of water, two cans of Red Bull, two packs of motion sickness medicine, and a small bottle of medicated oil.

Zhao Rufei had bought them, one set for Yu Ting, and one set for Lu Jue.

Zhao Rufei signed to him, “Be careful on the road yourself. Don’t cause any trouble for Little Jue.”

Yu Ting patiently waited until Zhao Rufei finished her instructions before getting on the city bus.

At the stop for the long-distance bus station, Yu Ting got off and hadn’t walked far before he saw Lu Jue, standing incongruously at the station entrance.

People around him were laden with bags, large and small, coming and going in a hurry. Lu Jue wore a black T-shirt and light blue jeans. He didn’t even have a small bag, looking as if he’d just stepped out his front door for a stroll. He was biting into a salted ice pop and held another unopened one in his other hand, which he shook lightly in Yu Ting’s direction.

“…”

Passersby were glancing at them. Yu Ting simply jogged over. Lu Jue offered the ice pop, gesturing with his chin towards the carry-on bag Yu Ting held. “Let’s swap.”

Yu Ting took a second to react. “It’s not heavy.” But he accepted the ice pop. “Thanks.”

Lu Jue pulled his hand back and walked inside, biting his ice pop. “Further in?”

It was Yu Ting’s third time at the bus station. The first two had been short trips. Today was a long haul. Fortunately, the station wasn’t large. A few minutes later, they found the bus to Jing City.

The bus was a new model with air conditioning, but since it hadn’t departed yet, the driver hadn’t turned on the AC. The windows were sealed. The interior was like a baking oven. Many passengers hadn’t boarded yet, waiting outside for the 10 AM departure.

Yu Ting had bought his ticket a bit late; his seat was number 48. This model was a 49-seater—the very back row. Lu Jue was seat number 1, where there was a breeze by the door.

Yu Ting said, “I’ll put my bag in the hold. You get on first?”

Lu Jue got on first.

The inside of the bus was stuffy and hot.

The young woman in seat 49 was drinking a cold beverage, looking down at her phone.

Suddenly, a pair of black canvas shoes appeared in her field of vision, and she smelled a clean, soapy scent. The woman looked up to see a sunny, handsome smiling face. “My friend and I don’t have seats next to each other. Could we switch? I’m in seat 1.”

The woman blushed and nodded, happily moving from the back row to the very front.

Yu Ting put his bag away and got on the bus, seeing a woman in seat 1. He was taken aback for a moment, then walked all the way to the back. Sure enough, in the right aisle seat of the last row, Lu Jue sat with a crumpled expression.

“Lele, I think—”

“…Don’t call me that in public.” Yu Ting took out a pack of motion sickness medicine and a bottle of water from the plastic bag and handed them to him, then sidled past to sit down inside.

A flicker of light passed through Lu Jue’s eyes. “I can call you that when we’re not in public?”

“…” Yu Ting fell silent. He unscrewed the cap of the other water bottle and swallowed his motion sickness pill in one gulp.

Lu Jue also tore open his motion sickness medicine, put it in his mouth, and swallowed slowly.

He didn’t get motion sickness, but it was his first time on a bus like this, and the new car smell was particularly strong. Not long after the bus started moving, he still threw up.

Yu Ting took out the instant noodles and crackers, emptied the plastic bag, and gave it to him. Lu Jue held the plastic bag, retching for a long time before he stopped.

By now, the bus was already on the Henghai Bridge. An endless expanse of azure sea stretched out, impossible to see the end of.

“Where does this bridge lead?” Lu Jue asked, wiping his mouth.

Yu Ting turned to look at him. “How did you get to Lingjiang?”

Lingjiang City was a distance from the mainland. The only way to other cities was this 30-kilometer Lingjiang Long Bridge.

The airport was under construction. Even if Lu Jue’s family was wealthy enough to own a private jet, they couldn’t just airdrop him directly into Lingjiang.

Lu Jue’s smile faltered, just for a fleeting second, but Yu Ting still caught it. Before he could think it through, Lu Jue leaned his upper body over, leaned close to his ear, and, using a volume only the two of them could hear, grinned and said, “Was tied up and thrown here.”

When he leaned close, Yu Ting saw the fresh marks on Lu Jue’s fingers again.

They weren’t old scars; they were fresh bite wounds.

Lu Jue’s family said Lu Jue was sick, because he was a homosexual.

Lu Jue was a homosexual, so they just… threw him away to Lingjiang?

Yu Ting froze.

At that moment, Lu Jue whispered in his ear again: “I’m not allowed to show up in Jing City. Using my ID to stay at any hotel will get me discovered by my father. Take me in for these two days, Lele?”