Chapter 62
The trip to City A ended abruptly due to an exam notification from the affiliated middle school.
September was just around the corner, and with the new students arriving soon, the school distributed photos of the incoming students to the teachers who would be teaching new classes. The annual face-recognition exam was scheduled for three days later.
Although Jian Wu had a good memory, he still had to go back and take the exam, and also prepare for the new semester.
When he was leaving City A, Jiang Xu even came to see him off. He, in return, invited Jiang Xu to visit him, but Jiang Xu shook his head, saying he would probably be on duty during the National Day holiday and Chinese New Year and wouldn’t be able to return to City B.
Sitting on the high-speed train back, Jian Wu still felt a little regretful: “Not even going home for the New Year, Senior Jiang is really working hard.”
Song Shuci glanced at him. He originally wanted to say “You didn’t come home for the New Year either,” but he swallowed the words and changed them to: “Did you have fun at his place?”
Jian Wu took the blanket and eye mask Song Shuci handed him, his tone slightly ambiguous: “It was quite fun.”
He hadn’t spent the last two days in City A with Song Shuci, but at Jiang Xu’s place.
This probably stemmed from the night Song Shuci took him to watch the competition.
After his initiative that night, an indescribable emotion lingered between them. He felt Song Shuci was acting strangely, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on it.
This feeling made him uncomfortable. Later, Jiang Xu asked him if he wanted to stay at his place. He told Song Shuci about it, and Song Shuci said he could go if he wanted to, so he stayed there for two days, which was why Jiang Xu was seeing him off at the station today.
Actually, when he told Song Shuci, he was prepared for some sarcastic remarks, but Song Shuci didn’t say anything, not even showing a hint of displeasure.
Jian Wu felt he was also being difficult.
When Song Shuci was assertive, he felt rebellious, but when Song Shuci truly respected him, he felt their relationship was strange, he wasn’t used to it.
Perhaps because they had rarely interacted like this before. After being left alone at home for over a month and hearing his heartfelt confession, Song Shuci had changed too much, too drastically, making their dynamic unfamiliar to Jian Wu.
He now felt Song Shuci was too polite, too gentle, making him feel at a loss sometimes.
Even that night, at the peak of passion, when he couldn’t take it anymore and mumbled “stop” or “no,” which was just playful resistance, Song Shuci actually stopped and asked with concern if he was uncomfortable.
This was probably the time he was most aroused initially, but the least satisfied in the end.
Actually, when he made that invitation, although he was drunk, he did have the thought of reconciling with Song Shuci, but things didn’t develop as he had imagined.
They used to bicker, but after sleeping together that night, the bickering stopped. He would say something, and Song Shuci would just agree, making him unsure how to talk to him.
He wanted to talk to Song Shuci, but how to express these feelings was a difficult problem for Jian Wu.
Could he really tell Song Shuci, “Actually, it’s good when you’re assertive,” or “I actually miss arguing with you”?
Song Shuci would definitely think he was crazy.
So, with his confused thoughts, he had a rather complicated sleep on the train.
When Jian Wu was woken up by his alarm, Song Shuci was holding his phone. Seeing him look over, Song Shuci turned off the alarm and said: “Go back to sleep, we’re not there yet, I’ll keep an eye on it, we won’t miss our stop.”
“I’m afraid I’ll be too sleepy at night if I sleep too long now.”
As he took his phone from Song Shuci, he noticed Song Shuci’s expression seemed a bit complex. He didn’t think much about it at first, until he saw the numerous messages on his lock screen.
Song Shuci hadn’t opened them, so only the latest message was visible — “Waiting for you, waiting for you [heart]”.
Jian Wu immediately sat up straight.
He unlocked his phone, opened WeChat, and saw the messages this person had been sending him all afternoon. His notification volume wasn’t loud, but it was definitely loud enough for Song Shuci, who was sitting beside him, to hear.
He glanced at Song Shuci, waiting for him to ask, so he could explain, but Song Shuci, recently diligently playing the role of a virtuous, non-jealous, non-angry, non-retorting person, didn’t ask, even gently folded the blanket and put it away in his bag.
“…” Jian Wu finally couldn’t hold back, “A student of mine… came to see me today.”
Song Shuci’s voice betrayed no jealousy, only genuine curiosity: “School hasn’t started yet, what did he want?”
“Not from the affiliated middle school,” Jian Wu explained, “A former student of mine.”
Song Shuci: “A guest from afar, then let’s treat him to dinner later.”
Jian Wu: “…”
The boy who sent him the messages was named Xiang Zhuo, a student from the last high school class he taught before returning to City B. He was now studying to be a teacher.
Jian Wu’s training happened to be at his university, and Xiang Zhuo happened to be helping his teacher organize the training, so they ran into each other. Because of their teacher-student relationship, and because Xiang Zhuo was following in his footsteps and studying to be a teacher, they had many conversations during that month and exchanged contact information.
Xiang Zhuo, learning he was now in City B, said he wanted to visit him. He naturally couldn’t refuse, but he hadn’t expected the teenager to be so proactive. He had just told him he was coming back today, and the boy had already rushed over.
Xiang Zhuo was currently waiting for him downstairs, sending him messages saying he had been waiting for a long time, repeatedly asking why he wasn’t replying and when he would be home.
Jian Wu looked at the barrage of messages from the boy, his excitement almost palpable even through the screen.
He suddenly had a bad premonition.
And this premonition reached its peak when he saw a male university student in a white T-shirt, holding a bouquet of flowers, running towards him energetically.
“Jian Ge!”
Xiang Zhuo used to call him Teacher Jian, but during the training, he changed it to Jian Ge.
Xiang Zhuo handed him the flowers, a bouquet of bright red roses.
Jian Wu took the bouquet and counted the number of roses, nine.
He hid his shock and suspicion, smiled politely, and greeted: “Xiang Zhuo.” Then he glanced at Song Shuci, who was dragging his suitcase, turned back, weighed the flowers in his hand, and said politely to Xiang Zhuo: “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome, as long as you like them!”
Seeing Xiang Zhuo’s gaze fall on Song Shuci behind him, he took the initiative to introduce: “This is Teacher Song, we live together now.”
“Hello, Teacher Song!” Xiang Zhuo smiled at Song Shuci.
Although Song Shuci hadn’t shown any jealousy on the train and hadn’t asked about the messages or his student, Jian Wu still hadn’t expected that, looking at the bouquet of red roses, Song Shuci would remain calm, like a random passerby, “Hello.”
So Xiang Zhuo, whose eyes had held a hint of suspicion, became even more enthusiastic, putting his arm around Jian Wu and saying: “Jian Ge, are you happy to see me? Surprised?”
“Happy.”
Although he said so, Jian Wu frowned slightly in Xiang Zhuo’s blind spot.
During the training, although Xiang Zhuo liked to talk to him, he wasn’t this clingy. He should have kept more distance, knowing this would happen.
Jian Wu was sensitive to physical contact. He subtly pulled his arm away, turned to take a suitcase from Song Shuci, and occupied the hand closer to Xiang Zhuo.
Xiang Zhuo’s smile faltered slightly, but he still moved closer to Jian Wu and said cheerfully: “I didn’t book a hotel, Teacher Jian, can I stay at your place tonight?”
“Sure, no problem.” He had invited him over, so naturally, he couldn’t refuse, but… he looked at Xiang Zhuo. The boy’s face lit up with a smile almost the moment he looked over.
It was the kind of lovesick smile a young person couldn’t hide.
He used to be able to spot such looks and catch students in puppy love relationships with perfect accuracy, but he hadn’t expected to see his own student look at him like this.
Jian Wu’s composure slightly cracked.
Don’t tell me…
This kid couldn’t possibly like him, right?
When he taught high school, his students were at least fifteen or sixteen years old, a sensitive age, so he usually didn’t shave or wash his hair, trying his best to lower his attractiveness and avoid such situations.
Although his scalp tingled, his expression remained unchanged, maintaining his usual politeness: “What do you want for dinner? We’ll take you out to eat.”
“I want to eat at home,” Xiang Zhuo’s eyes sparkled, “During the training, didn’t everyone say you’re a great cook, Jian Ge? Can I have the honor of tasting your cooking?”
“…Okay,” Jian Wu paused and suggested, “Then why don’t you two go grocery shopping? I’ll just bring the luggage upstairs.”
He felt he needed to maintain some distance from Xiang Zhuo, but Xiang Zhuo clearly didn’t think so: “It’s okay, Jian Ge, don’t trouble Teacher Song, I’ll help you with the luggage, and then we can go grocery shopping together.”
He took the suitcase from him, and, as if to show off his strength, even tried to take the suitcase from Song Shuci.
Jian Wu couldn’t stop him, so he just held the flowers and looked at Song Shuci.
But Song Shuci only resisted slightly… then let go.
In the end, Xiang Zhuo helped them carry all the luggage upstairs and even showed off: “Am I amazing, Jian Ge?”
“Amazing…”
“Then let’s go, grocery shopping! What do you want to eat, Jian Ge?”
Teenagers didn’t have much concept of “propriety.” He did whatever he wanted, seemingly not even seeing Song Shuci, not caring at all, forcefully creating a space for him and Jian Wu to be alone.
Jian Wu didn’t consider himself narcissistic.
But if he still couldn’t see that his student had a problem, then he had lived in vain all these years. If Xiang Zhuo was just naturally enthusiastic and had no sense of boundaries, it would be one thing, but he used to be quite shy. If his sudden enthusiasm was because he wanted to borrow money or ask for a favor, he would have mentioned it during the past month.
The most likely possibility was that Xiang Zhuo had a crush on him, and after seeing him again, found his former teacher quite handsome after cleaning up, thought about it for a while, and decided to make a move.
After all, the cost of trial and error for young people was low.
But this situation was troublesome for Jian Wu. Since the other party didn’t say anything directly, he could only politely maintain his distance, but this was a student he had invited over, he couldn’t really be cold to him.
While he was pondering, Xiang Zhuo had already prepared the shopping bags and reached out to pull him: “Let’s go, Jian Ge!”
Jian Wu stood up on his own.
He glanced at Song Shuci, who was still looking at his phone.
Jian Wu was speechless.
Even now, couldn’t Song Shuci say something?
He didn’t believe that if he could see it, Song Shuci couldn’t. What was he pretending to be oblivious for? Hadn’t he been jealous before?
But his inner cries clearly didn’t reach Song Shuci’s ears, so he could only follow Xiang Zhuo out the door with a heavy heart.
As the door closed, Song Shuci’s face finally darkened.
They were both men, the other party’s intentions were so obvious, he wasn’t stupid.
He had almost exploded when he accidentally saw that heart emoji while turning off Jian Wu’s alarm.
Seriously?
He wasn’t even qualified to send Jian Wu a heart emoji!
Jian Wu said he didn’t like him being assertive, possessive, and controlling of his friendships. He had been holding back, trying not to say anything too jealous that would pressure Jian Wu, he had even been talking less, but there was a limit to his patience.
He felt like he was about to suffer internal injuries from holding back.
He stood up and looked down from the balcony, seeing the energetic university student bouncing around his ex-boyfriend, a smile always on Jian Wu’s face. His hand, gripping the balcony railing, almost deformed.
It was one thing for Jian Wu to go to Jiang Xu’s place, after all, they hadn’t seen each other in a long time, but this student… who the hell was he?
He took a deep breath, repeatedly telling himself to calm down, and finally regained his composure. He turned and went to the kitchen to wash a glass for Xiang Zhuo.
Coming out of the kitchen, he walked over to Jian Wenming.
The little parrot, having survived his near-death experience, was now plump and healthy. While they were away, they had asked Cheng Xian to take care of their two pets. Although generally unreliable, he was quite meticulous when it came to taking care of animals. Jian Wenming had even gained weight.
Seeing him, it greeted him: “Idiot.”
Song Shuci fed it some treats and coaxed it like a child: “Repeat after me, Xiang Zhuo…”
Jian Wenming immediately screeched: “Xiang Zhuo, idiot!”
“Mm,” Song Shuci nodded approvingly, his brow finally relaxing a bit, “Just say that later.”
