Chapter 31: If You Play, He Plays

Yu Ting didn’t reply. He pulled his backpack around, intending to get something, but before his fingers could touch the zipper, Lu Jue said, “Let’s head upstairs.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Wealth shouldn’t be flaunted.”

With that, he didn’t wait for Yu Ting and carried the fruit upstairs.

Yu Ting had no choice but to follow.

The house was cold and empty. Yu Ting changed into slippers and went in, returning the wrapped twenty thousand yuan to Lu Jue. “Aunt Zhou didn’t come?”

Aunt Zhou was the lady who came to cook and clean.

Lu Jue took the money and casually tossed it into a drawer. Carrying the fruit, he went into the kitchen. “I told her not to come the past couple of days.”

Soon, Lu Jue came out carrying a plate of clean fruit. The Shine Muscat grapes were dotted with water droplets, looking even more tempting.

Yu Ting was surprised. “You haven’t eaten at all today?”

“No appetite.” Lu Jue popped a grape into his mouth, chewed, then squinted. “Sour.” He pushed the fruit plate directly in front of Yu Ting. “You deal with these. I’ll eat a kiwi.”

Shine Muscat grapes were expensive and couldn’t be sampled. Zhao Rufei hadn’t eaten any earlier either, so Yu Ting really didn’t know the taste. He also plucked a grape and bit into it. A crisp, sweet flavor burst on his tongue, and his brows furrowed slightly.

It was clearly very sweet.

Was it because Lu Jue hadn’t eaten all day?

Yu Ting thought for two seconds, then suddenly asked, “Want some Sea Intestine Claypot Rice?” He always ate Sea Intestine Claypot Rice when he had no appetite.

“I like that a lot.” Lu Jue lowered his head to peel a kiwi, his expression unreadable. “But Aunt Zhou doesn’t know how to make it.”

Lingjiang was coastal. Besides a few specific types, fresh seafood was available all day at the vegetable market. Yu Ting remembered there was one nearby.

“I’ll make it.” He turned and went into the kitchen.

It looked like the stove hadn’t been used for a few days. The fridge had nothing but bottled water.

Luckily, there was rice. Yu Ting washed the rice and started the rice cooker. Coming out of the kitchen, he said, “The rice is cooking. I’m going to buy groceries.”

Lu Jue bit into his kiwi, pulled a tissue, and wiped his fingers. “I’ll go too.”

…

An old-fashioned lady’s bicycle cut through the streets. Night was falling, the sky not yet completely dark, but the streetlights on both sides of the road were already on.

After a night of rain, the evening breeze carried a moist coolness. Yu Ting’s white shirt puffed up in the wind, occasionally brushing past the tip of Lu Jue’s nose.

A clean, faint scent of soap.

The scent that belonged to Yu Ting.

Lu Jue openly stared at Yu Ting’s lower back.

The fabric of Yu Ting’s shirt was very thin. Up close, it was easy to see the white undershirt he wore inside.

The undershirt clung tightly to Yu Ting’s skin, a gap between it and the loose shirt. His waistline was remarkably slim. Lu Jue raised his hand, measuring against the fabric.

He could easily encircle it with one hand.

“Lele.” Lu Jue spoke. “Don’t wear white anymore.”

Yu Ting was baffled. “Why?”

“It doesn’t suit you.” Lu Jue withdrew his hand. “Black, purple, something like that. Dark colors suit you better.”

Yu Ting bought clothes that were cheap and practical. He never bothered with fashion and didn’t give the comment much thought.

At the vegetable market, Yu Ting was very efficient, quickly buying the necessary ingredients—

Sea intestines, ground pork, shrimp, chives, and a flat of eggs.

Passing a stall with very fresh vegetables, he also picked out a few bundles of tender lettuce.

“I’ll make some oyster sauce lettuce.” Yu Ting planned.

Lu Jue just smiled. “Sounds good, I’ll eat anything.”

After shopping, the two carried several bags back the way they came. Across the street, a boy was on the phone. “For real, didn’t see him at school today, hey—”

The boy suddenly stepped forward a few paces, squinting at the black lady’s bicycle riding away. Surprised, he said, “I see him! God Ting’s at the vegetable market!”

The person on the other end said something. The boy replied, “The one just near our school, and he’s carrying groceries!”

Just then, the bicycle turned into another street and disappeared. The boy looked away. “The one with him looks like from your class… the transfer student from your former class, Lu Jue. Tch, the No. 2 High School Tieba homepage has been full of fangirl posts about him lately. Rich and seriously damn handsome…”

~

Yu Ting had just carried the groceries into the kitchen when his phone vibrated. He pulled it out. The caller was Li Chengxi.

At this hour, wasn’t it the middle of the night where Li Chengxi was?

He answered. Before he could speak, Li Chengxi’s voice was urgent. “Brother Ting, where are you?”

“A friend’s place.” Yu Ting asked, “Is something up?”

He glanced at the time. There was only an hour left until evening self-study. He pinned the phone between his shoulder and ear, turned on the faucet, and started cleaning the sea intestines.

“You—” Li Chengxi paused for two seconds, then suddenly chuckled. “The mouse you gave me is broken. I’m just asking about the warranty period. I’ll bring it back to get it fixed at the end of the year.”

Yu Ting said, “It can’t be fixed. I’ll get you a new one when you’re back.”

“Oh.” Li Chengxi murmured, then asked, “Brother Ting, there’s something I want your opinion on.”

“Ask.”

Li Chengxi took a breath. “What’s your view on homosexuals?”

“…” Yu Ting’s hands, which were holding the sea intestines, slowly stopped.

“Oh, it’s like this.” Li Chengxi laughed. “I made a few friends over here. Today, a male friend confessed to me. It’s quite rare back home, but pretty common here. I’m not sure how to interact with him now and wanted your advice.”

Nervousness was audible in Li Chengxi’s voice. “Should I distance myself from him?”

Yu Ting glanced to the side. Lu Jue was beating eggs, his movements more practiced than when he’d made Sea Intestine Dumplings last time. Noticing Yu Ting’s gaze, Lu Jue looked over and raised an eyebrow slightly.

“What’s wrong?” he mouthed silently.

Yu Ting shook his head, pressing the earpiece closer to his ear to prevent sound from leaking. He answered simply, “Depends on what you think.”

“I don’t have any thoughts. Homosexuality and heterosexuality are the same in my eyes, I have no prejudice.” Li Chengxi immediately said. “It’s just the first time a guy confessed to me, I don’t know how to handle it. Brother Ting, just be straight with me. If you find it disgusting, I’ll cut ties with him. If not, I’ll just interact with him normally.”

Yu Ting’s mind wandered. Would Lu Jue encounter something like this? Being found disgusting and shunned…

Water ran over his fingers. A piece of sea intestine suddenly slipped through his fingers. He snapped back to attention, hurriedly grabbing it, and took a deep breath. “Not disgusting. I’m busy, gotta go.”

He moved his hand and hung up the phone.

“What’s not disgusting?” Lu Jue suddenly asked.

“My friend wants to watch a gory movie.” Yu Ting calmly found an excuse. “I’ve seen it. He asked if the scenes were disgusting.”

“You like gory movies?” Lu Jue held his chopsticks, stirring the egg mixture unhurriedly.

“No.” Yu Ting said coolly, “I’ve only seen one that wasn’t gory.”

“Then what type of movies do you like?”

Yu Ting didn’t particularly enjoy watching movies; he preferred reading books. But if he had to name one—

He placed the cleaned sea intestines into a bowl. “Documentaries.”

Fresh rice wasn’t ideal for claypot rice, but Lu Jue, who had no appetite, cleaned out the entire pot of Sea Intestine Claypot Rice.

It was almost time for evening self-study. Yu Ting and Lu Jue parted ways at the residential area gate. He took out the fast-track math improvement plan he’d written the previous night and gave it to Lu Jue.

“Starting tomorrow, we’ll follow this plan for tutoring. You can preview sets on your own tonight.”

Lu Jue glanced at the plan. “When did you write this?”

Yu Ting opened his mouth to reply, then felt it was unnecessary. What if Lu Jue thought he still wanted to be deskmates…

The words changed course as they left his mouth. “A while ago.”

He mounted his bicycle. “I’m off.”

Without waiting for Lu Jue to speak, Yu Ting rode away.

~

The next morning, when Fu Diyang entered the classroom and saw Yu Ting at his seat, he rushed over before even putting down his backpack, wailing, “God Ting! Only you can save me from dire straits, rescue the reputation of Grade 11 Class 3 from the brink!”

“…” Yu Ting said flatly, “I can’t play basketball.”

He’d heard from Lu Jue yesterday. Next week, the city’s high schools were holding a basketball league. Grade 11 Class 3 also needed to field a team.

Playing casually for fun was one thing, but when it came to forming a real team, Grade 11 Class 3 was basically full of bookworms. Fu Diyang had been crying and begging for a whole day, still desperately short of one person.

“I know.” Fu Diyang was blunt. “Your grades crush the whole city, but as for playing on the court, that’s purely giving free wins to the opponent!”

“…” Yu Ting clicked his pen cap down and bent his head to solve problems.

“Hey.” Fu Diyang leaned in with a flattering smile. “God Ting, help me out, will you? You’re tight with Handsome Lu. If you ask, he’ll definitely give you face!”

Yu Ting remained unmoved. “Ask him yourself.”

“I already did! Handsome Lu’s too big a deal, I just couldn’t invite him!” Fu Diyang instantly put on a miserable face. “I almost offered myself to him in exchange!”

The pen tip nearly snagged the paper. Yu Ting lifted his pen, moved it a centimeter, and continued writing formulas steadily. “Asking me is useless too.”

“It’s useful!” Fu Diyang sensed an opening and immediately got excited. “Yesterday, Handsome Lu said, if you play, he plays.”

“…Aren’t you afraid I’ll give free wins to the opponent?”

“Afraid.” Fu Diyang said, “But since we can’t fill the team, if you join, we’re full! We’ll just make do.”

“…”

Lu Jue walked into the classroom just as the bell rang. Settling into his seat, he immediately noticed his deskmate’s mood was very low.

Yu Ting hadn’t glanced at him or checked his homework.

The moment he leaned over, Yu Ting subtly shifted leftward without batting an eye.

Lu Jue raised an eyebrow. Was Yu Ting mad at him?

Just then, the English teacher entered and called the English class representative to lead the reading.

Yu Ting opened his English textbook and recited along for a few sentences. A piece of scratch paper was pushed over.

On it were simple stick figures. One little figure held the book Ship and Ocean Engineering, the other knelt on one knee bearing thorny branches to kneel and apologize for a mistake, a speech bubble above its head reading—

【Lord Yu, this small one knows his error! Please forgive me just this once, don’t be mad.】

“…” Yu Ting pressed his lips together tightly.

He continued reading aloud with the class, but picked up his pen and drew a bubble above the figure with the book, writing inside—“Why drag me into this? I can’t play basketball.”

After he pushed it back, Lu Jue returned it not long after.

Above the penitent figure was a new bubble: “I suck at basketball, I’m scared playing alone.”

Yu Ting, “…”

It made sense. Lu Jue appeared strong, but looking like an athletic king on the outside, he was actually fragile, like he’d fall in a breeze.

Just going to fill a headcount wasn’t a big deal.

Yu Ting also drew a bubble and wrote—

“Don’t be nervous, it’s just one game.”

After class, Fu Diyang received the news that moved him to tears. He rushed up, wanting to hug Yu Ting. “God Ting, you are my one true god! Let me give you a kiss—”

Before he could get close, his back collar was suddenly yanked. Fu Diyang, at 188 cm and 165 jin, was directly pulled away by Lu Jue.

“Sports Rep, go pick a basketball.”