TWSITAOCP Chapter 59

“Are you kidding me?” Yang Feiwen was surprised.

Playing around was one thing, and serious matters were another. He swore he hadn’t started the teasing to actually pair Yu Sui and Yan Xiu together; turning his best friend gay in the process was a serious offense.

Yu Sui didn’t respond, giving him a half-smile.

Yang Feiwen’s heart skipped a beat. He knew this was probably true: “When did this happen? How long ago?”

“…Not long ago.” Yu Sui counted, silently releasing his phone, pulling out a tissue to wipe the sweat from his palms. “Really not long.”

Although he’d been stirring up trouble for so long, this was truly the first time he’d seriously discussed this with someone.

Yu Sui had never shown any signs of this before, so Yang Feiwen’s shock was understandable. He had actually anticipated the possible reactions, thankfully the outcome was the best—Yang Feiwen didn’t leave.

He silently let out a sigh of relief, his tense back relaxing. The next second, he inwardly chuckled to himself.

He wasn’t truly nervous or afraid. This tension felt like a mere formality, a perfunctory few seconds after the admission, a prelude to the future. He couldn’t keep Yan Xiu hidden forever.

“You startled me,” Yang Feiwen said, dragging a chair over and slumping down.

A moment later, he suddenly leaped up, rushed to the dormitory door, and locked it from the inside.

Yu Sui was baffled: “What are you doing?”

“Locking the door,” Yang Feiwen said nervously. “Otherwise, when Lao Huang and Lao Cheng come back…”

“…” Yu Sui felt he had relaxed too soon; Yang Feiwen was probably already scared to death. “Where else would they go if they didn’t come back?”

“It’s not that I’m not letting them in,” Yang Feiwen said, sitting down. “I’m just stopping them for a while.”

“What’s wrong with you?”

Just as Yang Feiwen sat down, his phone rang. It was the time he and Tian Tian always had their usual long phone conversations.

Yu Sui glanced at his phone and reached for his earphones.

Yang Feiwen didn’t leave the dorm this time. He answered the phone in front of Yu Sui, said “Honey, I’ll call you back later,” and hung up, turning to stare at Yu Sui.

Under that gaze, Yu Sui helplessly spread his hands: “What exactly do you want to know?”

“Sui’er,” Yang Feiwen said, “Are you serious?”

“Serious.” Yu Sui avoided his stare. “Just as serious as you and that other person.”

To his surprise, Yang Feiwen’s expression relaxed: “Oh, Tian Tian and I had a pinky promise, and we will break up after graduation.”

Yu Sui: “???”

“She brought it up, and I agreed. Who knows what will happen after graduation.” Yang Feiwen said, bending down to feel for the cigarettes hidden under the table. To prevent sudden dorm checks by the student council and teachers, he hid these things in hard-to-reach places.

He searched for a while without finding them. Yu Sui tugged at him, pulled the pack out of Yang Feiwen’s drawer, and tossed it to him. Open flames weren’t allowed in the dorm, so Yang Feiwen just took one out and held it in his mouth. Yu Sui also grabbed one and played with it.

He paused, taken aback by Yang Feiwen’s mention of it, instinctively wanting to deny that he and Yan Xiu were in a pinky-pinch relationship, but saying that would be pointless.

It would sound like he was deliberately emphasizing something.

But what Yang Feiwen said made sense: who knew what would happen in the future?

Promises and vows made at this age were like a shiny candy wrapper, slipped into a bottle and sent across the ocean—always carrying a hint of youthful naiveté.

Yang Feiwen had pondered this alone for a long time, even during the summer break. He had even wondered several times if he was out of his mind to make such a connection.

Now Yu Sui told him it was true.

Yang Feiwen had a lot to say, but after a long pause, he only managed to utter, “… Is it because we’re fooling around?”

Yu Sui: “…”

He had a headache, belatedly realizing that sitting there with Yang Feiwen like this was a bit idiotic.

“What are you thinking? How much influence do you have that I’d sacrifice myself for your wild ideas?” Yu Sui stopped Yang Feiwen from continuing, took off the chewed-up cigarette, before getting up to open the dormitory door, and was unexpectedly confronted by Yan Xiu’s cold, stern face.

“Are you there?” Yan Xiu frowned, puzzled. “Is your phone dead?”

Someone had suddenly disappeared mid-text message, the previous voice message only half-finished, stopping at a muffled syllable.

Yan Xiu waited a long time for the next message, but it didn’t come, so he simply came downstairs to ask.

Yu Sui hadn’t expected to see Yan Xiu as soon as he opened the door.

After all, he had just come out a little, and Yan Xiu was unaware of it. Yu Sui gestured for Yan Xiu to stand to the side of the corridor, so as not to upset Yang Feiwen.

The boy’s hands were long and slender with distinct knuckles, a cigarette curled into a coil between his fingers.

Yan Xiu’s expression shifted, then he suddenly grabbed Yu Sui’s hand and snatched the cigarette from between his fingers.

Yu Sui instinctively pulled his hand back: “…”

Yang Feiwen, not hearing the voice clearly, thought it was his roommate returning. He walked over, a cigarette dangling from his lips, and mumbled, “What are you doing at the door?” Then he stepped out from behind the door and froze.

Yang Feiwen’s feelings towards Yan Xiu were incredibly complex. Firstly, he hadn’t recovered from the shock. Secondly, as a frontline fan of the CP and a true brother of Yu Sui, he didn’t know whether to first exclaim with relief that his ship was actually real or to condemn Yan Xiu for stealing a handsome guy from their group.

But he realized he had no right to think about these things, because besides all that, Yan Xiu was also the nominal student council president, the powerful Minister of the disciplinary department, and the disciplinary committee member for Class 3 Arts.

Even though the school was relatively more lenient during the holiday make-up classes, the basic management structure remained. Class 3 Arts was currently using the class rules set by Lao Gu, who understood the class and had specifically addressed their weaknesses.

The punishment for bringing or using tobacco was writing a self-criticism and taking a math test.

Yu Sui didn’t care for the cigarette. Instead, he turned around and took Yang Feiwen’s, then stuffed it into Yan Xiu’s hand, hoping for a pardon or a reduced punishment.

Unfortunately, Yan Xiu was unusually impartial today, not only confiscating the stolen goods but also taking away the offender.

Class 3 Art’s attitude towards writing self-criticism was becoming increasingly perfunctory, as Lao Gu hardly ever read it.

The main issue was the extra math test.

When there were no make-up classes, Class 3 Arts was notoriously unbalanced in its subjects; their English scores were high, but their math scores were always mediocre.

A single math problem could take them over half an hour to solve, wasting time, brainpower, and mental energy.

Yu Sui casually wrote a sentence, signed his name, and that was it for his self-criticism. Next to him, Yan Xiu scribbled a few lines on the test paper, finally leaving only a few classic problems for Yu Sui and Yang Feiwen.

Yang Feiwen left dejectedly.

He had maintained this state all day.

Yu Sui nudged Yan Xiu with his elbow and said, “I told A-Wen.”

Yan Xiu folded a page in his textbook for him, then looked up at Yang Feiwen: “…He only just found out?”

Yu Sui was momentarily speechless: “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” Yan Xiu simply said, genuinely confused. “I always see him making a scene with such enthusiasm?”

“…” Yu Sui was silent for a moment, then suddenly leaned closer and whispered, “Minister, what were your thoughts when you first found out someone was pairing you and me up?”

“…”

Yan Xiu seemed suddenly engrossed in folding Yu Sui’s textbook, flipping through several pages without paying any attention to him.

Only when Yu Sui couldn’t resist trying to help did Yan Xiu finally come up with an answer.

He couldn’t come up with a convincing love confession, nor did he want to, but the young master had asked, and with an air of relentless determination to get an answer. Yan Xiu dodged Yu Sui’s sneak attack, sighed softly, and said, “Young Master, I didn’t know you back then.”

This was the truth.

Yu Sui remembered too.

He didn’t know Yan Xiu back then either.

Yan Xiu seemed to sense something: “What were your thoughts when you found out?”

The young master gave an awkward smile, grabbed a pen, and pretended to start writing on his exam paper. After answering two questions, he reached into Yan Xiu’s drawer and pulled out his sketch notebook, trying to change the subject.

Yan Xiu clicked his tongue softly.

After the easy questions were answered, there was very little left.

Yu Sui finished quickly, even taking a moment to flip through Yan Xiu’s notebook.

The notebook had probably been used for a long time, filled with messy sketches mixed in with Yan Xiu’s score sheets. Often, when Minister Yan forgot his sheets, he would jot things down in the notebook.

He flipped to last year’s Discipline Inspection Minister’s patrol schedule and surprisingly saw his own name.

Patrol: Close doors and windows, second floor.

Time of violation: Heavy rain. Class and name: Class 24, Yu Sui. Deduction record: He drank two small bottles of milk.

Then, on another day very close to the date:

Patrol: Second floor, return umbrella, Class 24, Yu Sui.

Time of violation: — Class and name: — Deduction record: Very pale

 

Yu Sui later learned that Yan Xiu’s scoreboard was always filled with random, absent-minded scribbles, but he hadn’t expected his own to be so frequently written. He flipped through a few pages, and suddenly a sketch appeared.

The date was very, very early.

Yu Sui picked up the sketch and placed it on the table.

“Minister,” Yu Sui called out.

Yan Xiu glanced at him, then followed the young master’s smug gaze to the table, his face instantly turning blank.

Yu Sui pointed at the sketch with his chin, grinning smugly: “Slacking off during your shift, shouldn’t you write a self-criticism?”

“…”

Yan Xiu didn’t seem to admit it. He reached for the sketch, but Yu Sui grabbed it first.

Drawing Yu Sui openly and drawing secretly behind his back were quite different. The latter is much more ambiguous and secretive.

Yan Xiu himself hadn’t even noticed when this quick sketch from his duty shift had been stuffed into his notebook. For the first time, he reflected on his habit of scribbling notes casually, realizing it was potentially digging his own grave.

The young master’s smugness was endless. Yan Xiu couldn’t stand it after two classes and stood up to catch him.

Yu Sui heard the commotion and ran away. He circled half the classroom, folded the sketch paper into a square, stuffing it into his phone case to carry it with him everywhere.

As if this could seal away the summer of this year.