Chapter 101: Pei He: Why Are You Such a Boyfriend’s Treasure?

Freshmen weren’t allowed to live off-campus, and since Zhou Zhuoyuan and Pei He were in different institutes, their dorms weren’t even in the same building—hell, they weren’t even in the same area. When Pei He heard the news, he felt like the sky was falling.

On reporting day, Lin Boxu went with Pei He to drop Zhou Zhuoyuan off at his dorm. The other roommates had arrived early and already tidied up their stuff. They looked up from their bunks and greeted Zhou Zhuoyuan with smiles.

Pei He chatted with them while unpacking, and midway through, he yanked Zhou Zhuoyuan down from where he was clambering onto the bed with his butt sticking up. “I’ll make the bed. You go rest.”

The roommates all chimed in with envy. “Whoa, bro, where’d you find a catch like that? He’s way too sweet.”

Zhou Zhuoyuan had been a little annoyed at first, but hearing the jealous admiration in their voices made him beam. “We were in the same class in high school.”

They shot the breeze and swapped stories for a bit, hitting it off right away. Lin Boxu passed out bottles of drinks he’d bought. “Little Yuan’s not in great health, so I hope you guys can look out for him. Feel free to hit me up if anything comes up.”

The most outgoing roommate flashed a big toothy grin. “Don’t worry, Little Yuan’s in good hands with me.”

Pei He: “…”

Damn it—that was supposed to be his line. And they’d only just met—why was the guy getting so chummy already?

Zhou Zhuoyuan glanced at the sulking Pei He and had to fight back a laugh. He actually kind of enjoyed seeing Pei He jealous, but a good boyfriend shouldn’t let his guy stew in misunderstandings. He ducked his head and texted Pei He: He has a girlfriend. He posted pics of her on Moments.

Pei He’s expression brightened. Before they left, he added every one of Zhou Zhuoyuan’s roommates on WeChat. “I’m over in the XX Institute. If Little Yuan’s not feeling well, it’ll be faster to reach me than him. Dinner’s on me tomorrow.”

Zhou Zhuoyuan walked him out. It was the last day of freshman orientation, with red welcome banners fluttering in the breeze along the roads and upperclassmen hustling to sign people up for campus cards. It was a bustling, hopeful university campus full of promise.

~~~

Pei He bought an electric scooter and used it every day to shuttle Zhou Zhuoyuan to class first before heading to his own. He never minded the hassle—even if Zhou Zhuoyuan had a packed schedule, he’d make trip after trip.

The problem was the occasional scheduling conflicts: Pei He would still be in class while Zhou Zhuoyuan’s was letting out, or Zhou Zhuoyuan’s institute would drag him off to one of their endless lectures and events. Their time together barely hit half of what they’d had in high school, which left Pei He seriously frustrated.

The silver lining was that after his earlier punishment, Zhou Zhuoyuan had finally developed good habits. Even for minor issues like a touch of insomnia or a cold, he’d give Pei He a full, detailed report.

During PE class that day, Zhou Zhuoyuan—who wasn’t great with endurance—got dizzy after too many laps. Not sure if it was low blood sugar or heatstroke, but one of his roommates, who had the same teacher, helped him over to a shady spot to rest.

Once he’d caught his breath a little, Zhou Zhuoyuan pulled out his phone and messaged Pei He on WeChat.

His roommate laughed at him. “Dude, why are you so boyfriend-obsessed?”

Zhou Zhuoyuan’s cheeks flushed faintly. “Because I don’t want him to worry.”

The roommate stopped laughing. Maybe it was the discomfort, but Zhou Zhuoyuan’s voice came out weak and soft. Unable to help himself, the roommate reached out and wiped the sweat from his forehead. “You sure you’re okay? We don’t need to head to the school infirmary?”

Zhou Zhuoyuan took a sip of water and stared at his phone screen with a helpless smile. “I don’t think so, but my boyfriend’s on his way, so we’ll probably go anyway.”

The roommate pulled his hand back and fell silent.

Zhou Zhuoyuan must have used some fancy body wash and shampoo—despite being drenched in sweat, he still smelled faintly of camellia flowers. Pei He came barreling in, scooped up both the boy and that subtle floral scent, and deposited him on the electric scooter parked at the roadside.

Good thing there weren’t many people around. Pei He never gave a damn about prying eyes, which made him the polar opposite of Zhou Zhuoyuan.

~~~

Freshman year came with a heavy course load, but there were still pockets of free time—and Zhou Zhuoyuan’s roommates used them to hook him on gaming.

The school didn’t check dorms at noon, so if there was no class right after lunch, they’d head to the off-campus apartment they’d rented nearby for a nap. Pei He often caught Zhou Zhuoyuan sneaking out of his room during naptime to voice-chat and game with his roommates.

Some days, Pei He had back-to-back morning classes and returned with no time for some quality couple time, since Zhou Zhuoyuan was usually deep in his own gaming world by then.

Still, after more than twenty years with next to no entertainment, it was only natural—and worthy of support—for Zhou Zhuoyuan to get hooked on some harmless games.

Determined to share more common ground with his boyfriend, Pei He promptly downloaded every game they were playing.

And so, after dragging along total noob Zhou Zhuoyuan, Zhou Zhuoyuan’s roommates now had total noob Pei He to babysit too.

~~~

Over the past six months, the Zhou family had been expanding their businesses in the capital city, which meant they visited every so often. The first time around, Zhou Zhuoyuan let his guard down and accepted Zhou Zhuoli’s invitation without a second thought. He had no idea that Zhou Zhuoli had been the one blocking their parents from reaching out to him. In his mind, the only real rift between him and Zhou Zhuoli had been that single year of cold war.

It wasn’t until they arrived at the restaurant that he realized Zhu Wan and Zhou Fuxuan were there too, along with a kindly looking auntie he didn’t recognize.

Zhu Wan explained that the auntie was a renowned practitioner of traditional Chinese medicine who happened to be in the city for a few days. She wanted her to take a look at Zhou Zhuoyuan’s current condition.

In a foul mood, Zhou Zhuoyuan sat down and let her check his pulse.

The auntie examined him gently, then praised him for taking such good care of himself.

Of course he had—every single one of his meals was a meticulously balanced nutritional feast courtesy of Pei He. Sometimes Pei He cooked them himself; other times, he brought in a chef to prepare them at home.

Zhou Zhuoyuan paused for a moment, refusing to steal Pei He’s credit. “It’s my boyfriend,” he said. “He’s always looking out for me.”

His straightforward praise for Pei He landed like a slap across the faces of his parents and brothers—with that level of care, Zhou Zhuoyuan’s health could easily have been nursed back to full strength.

Halfway through the meal, fed up with all the nagging, he held up his darkened phone screen and announced he had something urgent to attend to and had to leave early.

Back home, he blew up at Zhou Zhuoli over the phone. Zhou Zhuoli apologized profusely, groveling until he barely escaped being blocked.

The fallout from eroding that trust meant Zhou Zhuoli couldn’t coax Zhou Zhuoyuan out for a meeting again the entire year. He only got to see his brother face-to-face during the New Year’s visit to the Pei family, where he could eavesdrop on scraps of Zhou Zhuoyuan’s recent life.