Caught in the Act

Because Lu Huaizhi’s left arm was injured, Shi Sui let him sleep on the inner side of the bed.

A 1.5-meter bed should have been a bit cramped for two guys, but whether it was because both of them kept their arms tucked in, a dividing line magically opened up right down the middle.

Clear and distinct.

Shi Sui’s nervous, pounding heartbeat gradually smoothed out.

The darkness magnified a person’s other senses, and along with the noisy cicadas outside the window and the turning of the electric fan, an extra person’s breathing entered Shi Sui’s ears.

Lu Huaizhi’s breathing was just like the guy himself, rising and falling evenly without the slightest change in rhythm or frequency.

He couldn’t have fallen asleep this quickly, right?

Shi Sui tried to relax his arm down, but the back of his hand accidentally brushed against a patch of slightly cool skin, and the breathing beside his ear paused.

Lu Huaizhi wasn’t asleep.

Shi Sui instantly pulled his arm back up, placing it over his stomach.

Having stayed up all night the night before, he hadn’t managed to catch up on his sleep at all during the day due to the argument upstairs, and he had even gotten into a brawl tonight, leaving him so exhausted he could barely keep his eyes open.

Yet he still couldn’t sleep.

The presence of the person beside him was simply too strong; the regular breathing, the cool body temperature, and the faint, elusive scent of mint carried by the fan threw Shi Sui’s mind into utter chaos.

“Can’t sleep?” Lu Huaizhi suddenly asked.

Sleeping on the same bed, Shi Sui could feel Lu Huaizhi shifting slightly toward his direction. Now, the sound of his breathing was even more distinct, carrying a trace of warmth.

Shi Sui: “Turn your head back around.”

The bedroom bed was pushed against the wall, and above the wall was a window where headlights from occasional passing cars would stretch across the room before plunging it back into darkness.

Lu Huaizhi used the brief flashes of light to see Shi Sui’s current state clearly. He was pressed tightly against the wall, hands clasped over his stomach, eyes shut, and his entire body tensed up completely out of his element.

It looked as though the person staying over wasn’t Lu Huaizhi, but Shi Sui.

Lu Huaizhi turned his head back around, “If you can’t sleep, let’s talk for a bit.”

Shi Sui: “Don’t want to talk.”

Lu Huaizhi obediently closed his mouth.

But Shi Sui still couldn’t sleep, and after a few minutes, he sat up, “Didn’t you get bitten by mosquitoes just now? Put on some toilet water.”

After saying that, he leaped over Lu Huaizhi by bracing his hands on the bed, didn’t turn on the light, and directly groped around the nightstand to pull out a bottle of toilet water, handing it to Lu Huaizhi.

Lu Huaizhi sat up along with him, lifting his eyes to glance at Shi Sui, but it was too dark; he could only make out a rough outline and couldn’t see Shi Sui’s expression.

He took the toilet water and symbolically poured a bit over those few mosquito bites.

Shi Sui sniffed the air, frowning, “Too little, pour more.”

Lu Huaizhi’s expression was a bit subtle. He subtly pulled up his shirt to smell the scents on him; there was the fragrance of laundry powder from the clothes, a very faint scent of body wash from his skin, and the pungent toilet water.

Aside from that, there was nothing else.

Seeing that he wasn’t moving, Shi Sui simply snatched the toilet water away to do it himself.

He poured a small half of the bottle until the entire room smelled of nothing but toilet water, and only then did Shi Sui lie back down on the bed. Finally, he could no longer smell that scent on Lu Huaizhi.

However, Shi Sui also found the smell of the toilet water a bit too strong, so he turned onto his side to face the wall, leaving Lu Huaizhi with nothing but a slender back.

“Shi Sui, do you like the smell of toilet water?” Lu Huaizhi felt like he was about to be pickled in it.

Shi Sui gave a perfunctory response, “Mm.” Fearing Lu Huaizhi might secretly go wash it off in the middle of the night, he added another line, “It smells pretty good.”

Lu Huaizhi fell silent for a long moment before replying, “As long as you like it.”

Those words made Shi Sui feel like Lu Huaizhi was playing word games with him, refuting, “Liking toilet water isn’t the same as liking you.”

“I know.” Lu Huaizhi’s voice was calm, “So I’m working hard to make you like me.”

Shi Sui’s shoulders tensed up instantly. In this kind of enclosed space, faced with Lu Huaizhi’s sudden confession, he couldn’t even run away.

He could only play dead.

“Was the speech I wrote for the sports meet really that bad?” Lu Huaizhi said, “You haven’t accepted any of my letters since then.”

Every time he slipped them into Shi Sui’s backpack, they would be discovered. Shi Sui had become vigilant.

Shi Sui shifted from his side-sleeping position to lying flat, looking toward the person beside him, correcting his phrasing with a taut face, “I never accepted them before either.”

Lu Huaizhi: “But you read them.”

Shi Sui thought of the three words on that very first letter. …

“Your letters are truly written terribly.” Shi Sui rubbed his ear, his tone remaining cold and harsh, “You only blindly copy sentences from the internet.” He attempted to use this method to strike a blow to Lu Huaizhi so that he would back down out of difficulty.

Lu Huaizhi blanked, “Copy?”

“We met a very long time ago, and since then, I have never forgotten you again.” Shi Sui repeated it to him expressionlessly.

They always said truth comes out after drinking, yet that time Lu Huaizhi drank too much, there wasn’t a single word of truth out of his mouth.

He thought Lu Huaizhi would turn angry from embarrassment after being exposed, but the other party unexpectedly let out a low laugh instead, “Next time I’ll try my best not to write something so common, but I didn’t copy it.” “So, how many times did you read those letters?”

Shi Sui: “?” “Don’t be narcissistic. Read them how many times? I threw them away long ago.”

After saying that, Shi Sui’s gaze bypassed Lu Huaizhi, casting a glance toward the nightstand drawer. He hadn’t opened the drawer when he grabbed the toilet water just now, right?

Extremely unfortunately, a car happened to drive past outside at this moment, the headlights briefly illuminating the interior.

Shi Sui’s originally hidden gaze was exposed instantly.

Following his look, Lu Huaizhi saw the two drawers underneath the nightstand, “You put them here?”

Shi Sui’s entire body went numb. He could only refuse to admit it to the death.

“You forgot that you got drunk yourself and recited letters on the street?” Shi Sui kept a taut face, “Stop talking nonsense.”

Lu Huaizhi didn’t delve any deeper, otherwise Shi Sui would truly turn his face in anger.

He said, “I didn’t copy the letters from the internet.” “We did indeed meet a very long time ago, you just forgot.”

Shi Sui spared him a glance, “Fabricated quite realistically.” After saying that, he turned around to continue facing the wall in self-reflection, clearly not wanting to listen to Lu Huaizhi’s nonsense anymore.

“Really.” Lu Huaizhi turned his head, and though he could only see the back of Shi Sui’s dark head, he still maintained this posture, “I remember it very clearly.”

“Back then I wanted to follow you, and you wanted to beat me up too.”

Shi Sui: “Yes, yes, yes.” “After I acted fierce to you, you fell in love with me at first sight, remaining faithful until death, right?”

Lu Huaizhi smiled, “Not quite.” “Also, remaining faithful until death isn’t used that way.”

He explained the usage of the idiom to the person, but Shi Sui didn’t give any response. Instead, a regular, drawn-out sound of breathing gradually drifted over.

He had fallen asleep.

Lu Huaizhi stared at his back for a moment, reaching out his hand to rub very lightly against Shi Sui’s upturned hair, as if patting his head.

The corner of his mouth curved up, “Goodnight, Shi Sui.”

The summer sky brightened very early.

Finding the light piercing, Shi Sui buried his face downward a bit, but he was still woken up by bursts of continuous alarms. He wanted to reach out to turn it off, but his arm felt as if it was pressed down by something, unable to be lifted up no matter what.

Shi Sui couldn’t help but deliver a kick forward.

A muffled groan drifted from beside his ear, and Shi Sui snapped awake instantly.

Opening his eyes, what came into view was that black skeleton shirt of his, the collar loose and sloppy, revealing a slender neck. Further up was a prominent Adam’s apple, which rolled very lightly under Shi Sui’s gaze.

Shi Sui lifted his head, locking eyes directly with Lu Huaizhi’s dark gaze.

Shi Sui: “…”

He was currently nestled inside Lu Huaizhi’s embrace, his head pillowed on the other’s arm, his hand resting on the other’s waist, and his leg hooked up to press over the other’s body, and he had even kicked the guy.

He didn’t know where he had kicked him.

Because the matter was too fantastical, Shi Sui’s expression was rarely a bit blank. Coupled with the sleepiness that hadn’t faded from just waking up and his bedhead hair, the entire person was rarely a bit cute.

Lu Huaizhi gave Shi Sui plenty of reaction time. Seeing that the other party’s eyes finally began to track, he spoke up: “Good morning.” His voice was a bit raspy.

Shi Sui immediately backed out of Lu Huaizhi’s embrace, pressing tightly against the wall, “You pulled me over in the middle of the night, didn’t you?” Taking advantage of him while he was asleep?

Shi Sui clenched his fist, “Your courage is getting bigger and bigger, kid.”

“You were the one saying it was hot in the middle of the night.” Lu Huaizhi said, “You stuck yourself over.”

“The hand too.”

Lu Huaizhi paused for a moment, “I moved your hand away, and you slapped me.”

He stretched out his hand, showing Shi Sui the back of his hand. There were still a few faint red finger marks remaining.

Shi Sui: “…” Looking at the marks on the back of the hand, he had actually used quite a bit of force.

He didn’t know his sleeping habits were this wild.

However, with the evidence right there, he couldn’t deny it either.

The cold expression on Shi Sui’s face couldn’t be maintained anymore. He sat up from the bed, changing the topic stiffly: “What time is it? I heard the alarm ringing continuously earlier.”

Lu Huaizhi picked up his phone to glance at it, “Six forty-five.” After saying that, he himself froze.

Early self-study began at seven o’clock.

The two dressed and washed up at the fastest speed, rushing out the door in a hurry.

When heading downstairs, Shi Sui saw the breakfast stall at the bottom of the community. Stamping on the brakes, he said to the owner, “Give me two orders of steamed buns, to go, make it quick.”

The owner knew Shi Sui was rushing to school, so his hands and feet were nimble as he packed them up.

Shi Sui stuffed one of the orders into Lu Huaizhi’s embrace, “The steamed buns from his stall are the best downstairs from my house.”

Receiving the piping hot buns, Lu Huaizhi reacted for a long moment before remembering that he had mentioned last night how the breakfast downstairs from Shi Sui’s house tasted very good.

Shi Sui walked a few steps, and seeing Lu Huaizhi hadn’t followed, he turned his head, “What are you standing there for? Want to be late on a Monday?”

Lu Huaizhi accelerated his pace, “Coming.”

By the time the two rushed to the school, it was already past seven o’clock. There were people standing guard at the school gate checking for latecomers.

After Shi Sui saw clearly who it was, he secretly cursed his bad luck, “Why is Old Man Deng here.” If he was caught by him, standing as punishment was a small matter, but sweeping the toilets was a big deal.

He directly pulled Lu Huaizhi to turn a corner, “Change roads.”

By the time Shi Sui bit onto the last steamed bun, took a running start, and leaped right over the wall, Lu Huaizhi fell into a rare silence.

Shi Sui’s posture was too practiced. Several bricks were even piled underneath the wall, some of them already stepped into pieces, clearly showing someone frequently climbed the wall to enter the school from here.

Sitting on top of the wall, Shi Sui reached his hand toward Lu Huaizhi, “Can you make it up? I’ll pull you.”

Lu Huaizhi shook his head, “I’ll do it myself.” If he didn’t step firmly, it would be easy to pull Shi Sui down too.

“Fine, watch your step.” After Shi Sui finished speaking, he leaped down into the school from the wall.

After Shi Sui landed, he patted the dust that rubbed onto his pant legs, taking a few steps back to make space for Lu Huaizhi. Lifting his head, he said, “Hurry up, if the commotion is too big, Old Man Deng will discover us.”

This spot wasn’t considered far from the school’s main gate.

But just as his voice fell, a warm greeting echoed from behind him: “Oh, climbing the wall?”

Deng Weiben kept both hands behind his back, his smile pleasant, “I just said I saw a familiar face at the gate, how did you suddenly vanish? So you found another road?”

He lifted his head to look at the top of the wall that had already been worn down to a smooth sheen, “Looks like quite a few people climb it. There’s still one more outside right now, isn’t there?”

Shi Sui: “No.” “Just punish me, I admit it.”

He raised his voice a bit on this last sentence, ensuring the person outside could hear it.

“Quite loyal, aren’t you?” Deng Weiben narrowed his eyes, “Is it Wang Cheng?” “Or Chi Qing? You three have always been mixing together.”

Shi Sui didn’t speak.

Deng Weiben let out a cold laugh, “Rest assured, no matter who it is, they won’t get away.” “During the flag-raising later, Lu Huaizhi will give his speech, and you guys will stand by the flag-raising platform as punishment. Let’s see if you feel ashamed!”

Shi Sui lowered his head to look at the tips of his shoes. Deng Weiben was even more nagging than Tian Hongjun when he started preaching.

“You’re desk mates with Lu Huaizhi, right?” Deng Weiben droned on continuously, “Why can’t you learn a single good thing?”

Shi Sui: “…”

Just at this moment, a commotion came from the top of the wall. Deng Weiben lifted his eyes, “Let me see who I’ve caught—” His words suddenly got stuck halfway through.

Lu Huaizhi jumped down from the wall, standing right beside Shi Sui, “Good morning, Teacher. I am Lu Huaizhi from Class Three, Grade Eleven.”

Deng Weiben: “?” Deng Weiben: “…”

You’re quite polite.