I Will Care About You

The next day after school.

Wang Cheng looked at the two people in the back seats, always feeling that something was very strange. “Shi Sui, if you are going to your part-time job, why can’t I go to the internet cafe to surf the net?”

Shi Sui kept a stiff face. “Because you interfere with the internet cafe’s business and affect my performance metrics.”

Wang Cheng: “?” “Do you want to listen to what kind of ghost talk you are speaking?”

Shi Sui glanced at him, put on his backpack, and stood up. “Anyway, don’t come today.”

Wang Cheng tilted his head to look at Lu Huaizhi. “Top student, what about you? What are your arrangements today? How about the two of us go find some fun?”

Lately, Chi Qing and Tao Lingwei were inseparable, and Shi Sui had things to do, so wasn’t it just down to him and Lu Huaizhi.

“Not going,” Lu Huaizhi put the last exercise book on the desk into his backpack. “The cat climbing frame for my cat has arrived, and the courier needs to be signed for in person.”

Wang Cheng’s expression instantly slumped. “Fine then, I’ll find something to do by myself.”

“Make way, let me out,” at this moment, Qi Sizheng had already packed his backpack, patted Wang Cheng’s shoulder, and asked him to pull back his legs that were blocking the aisle.

Wang Cheng’s eyes lit up the moment he saw him. “Monitor, do you have things to do after school?” Qi Sizheng: “?”

Shi Sui and Lu Huaizhi really walked in opposite directions after walking out of the school gate, prioritizing a realistic display.

Shi Sui went home first to drop off his backpack. Because he walked too fast on the road, he even sweated. Shi Sui pulled up his collar to sniff it, finding no smell, but he still changed into a fresh short-sleeved shirt and washed his face in the restroom.

He carelessly wiped away the water droplets on his face, raised his head, and looked at his face in the mirror which had been rubbed red by himself, suddenly feeling a bit dazed. What was he doing?

The sky was almost dark yet he started tidying himself up, even changing his clothes? What an idiot!

With a foul face, Shi Sui put back on that school uniform short-sleeved shirt he had worn for the whole day.

He wiped a water droplet off his chin, picked up his phone, finding no messages.

The time he had agreed on with Lu Huaizhi was 7:30 PM, and now it was only 7:00 PM. It was still early.

Shi Sui walked around the house again. Feeling bored, he tidied up all the trash and mopped the floor once.

7:15 PM.

Lu Huaizhi still sent no messages.

[ss: ?] [ss: Left the house?]

It couldn’t be that he was tangled up by Wang Cheng, right?

Shi Sui tentatively mentioned Wang Cheng in the “A Nest of Dogs” group chat.

[ss: @Wangwang] [Wangwang: What?]

His tone was normal, so it seemed that the matter of going out alone with Lu Huaizhi had not been exposed.

However, Shi Sui didn’t know why he felt so guilty, resembling a thief.

Wasn’t it just going out alone with Lu Huaizhi to buy a cup of milk tea? It wasn’t a date.

Shi Sui’s brain instantly froze, as if struck by a bolt of lightning.

He went to the restroom again to wash his face with cold water, silently chanting countless times “it’s not a date, it’s not a date” before the heat on his face finally went down.

7:20 PM. Lu Huaizhi still hadn’t replied to his message.

Shi Sui frowned, guessing that he was probably walking and had no time to reply to messages.

[ss: I’ve left the house.]

The sky was covered with a magnificent evening glow, twilight overflowing, extending from the distant high buildings, reflecting against the blue sky like an orange ocean.

Shi Sui raised his hand to take a photo and sent it to Lu Huaizhi.

[ss: Look, it’s redder than a monkey’s butt.]

The residual shadow of the evening glow also fell into Lu Huaizhi’s room, illuminating two figures standing in silence, with an unopened suitcase beside them.

Lu Huaizhi looked at the woman in front of him. “Mom, why didn’t you tell me in advance that you were coming over from City A?”

Lu Jie was still wearing a professional business suit. Her brow and eyes were fifty percent similar to Lu Huaizhi’s, but carried a bit more of the capability and coldness found after entering society.

“Why should I tell you in advance?” Lu Jie said. “So that you can prepare yourself?”

She was irritated by Lu Huaizhi’s phone which kept ringing on the desk, so she picked it up directly and turned it off.

“Lu Huaizhi, didn’t you promise me every day that you would go home early?” Lu Jie’s voice carried an interrogation. “But a few days ago, when I called the security guard, he said you didn’t come back for one night.”

She didn’t even dare to think deeply about where Lu Huaizhi had gone, what kind of people he was with, and what he had done.

“So that’s why you rushed over so urgently, is it?” Lu Huaizhi took a step back, carried Tangtang, who kept circling around him, out of the room, closed the door, and replied calmly, “I am about to become an adult, and I think I can make decisions for this kind of matter.”

“Even if you graduate from university, you are still my son!” Lu Jie’s voice raised by a notch. “Yesterday too, your homeroom teacher said you left before the recitation competition ended. You’ve learned to skip school, have you? And even had a late-night snack with someone?”

Lu Jie became angrier the more she spoke. “Is this how you take responsibility for your future? Fooling around with people and not learning well, you really want to anger me to death!”

Lu Huaizhi listened to the sound of the cat scratching the door outside and didn’t speak.

“From now on, I will be responsible for your daily life and meals here,” Lu Jie picked up the suitcase, not forgetting to take away Lu Huaizhi’s phone when she walked out. “Reflect on your own behavior properly in the room.”

With a bang, the door was closed, followed by the sound of locking.

Lu Huaizhi pulled back the chair of the desk, sat at the desk, and looked out.

He seemed to have seen the last message Shi Sui sent him just now, saying the evening glow was redder than a monkey’s butt.

Lu Huaizhi tugged the corner of his mouth.

He leaned against the back of the chair, covering his eyes, letting the world sink into a blanket of darkness. But that evening glow simply couldn’t be wiped away no matter what.

Shi Sui waited at the intersection for half an hour. It was almost 8:00 PM, yet he hadn’t seen a sign of Lu Huaizhi. Calling him also showed that the phone was turned off, thoroughly losing contact.

Only then did Shi Sui realize that he had been stood up.

It was his first time encountering such a thing. Countless times he wanted to throw the two cups of milk tea directly into the trash can, but after walking a few steps, he turned back to stand properly.

Lu Huaizhi couldn’t possibly not come. When the guy arrived, he would throw the milk tea directly onto Lu Huaizhi’s face.

Moreover, today was the last day of the milk tea shop’s buy-one-get-one-free event, and it would be gone if missed.

Perhaps because Shi Sui’s face was too foul, the people coming to buy milk tea automatically kept their distance upon seeing him.

The store clerk looked at Shi Sui with a hesitant expression, thinking he was a competitor coming to drive away customers and make trouble.

Shi Sui was also a tough nut; whoever looked at him with a strange gaze, he would look back with cold eyes, not backing down from anyone.

However, he then saw Wang Cheng.

Wang Cheng was pulling Qi Sizheng in a hurry. “It’s the last day of the event, hurry up, we still have to line up.”

Qi Sizheng looked speechless. Why on earth did he have to be pulled out by this guy to do such a boring thing? His brain must have twitched.

But the originally hurried Wang Cheng suddenly paused his steps. “Why does it seem like I saw Shi Sui?” Didn’t this kid go to the internet cafe for a part-time job?

Qi Sizheng looked over along his line of sight, finding nothing. “You must have seen wrong, right?”

There were many people at the milk tea shop now, and not a few were wearing the First High School uniform.

“Impossible,” Wang Cheng replied resolutely. “That back of the head, I could recognize it even if he turned to ash.”

Yesterday night Shi Sui had turned his back and run away exactly like this. Now that the sky hadn’t even darkened completely, it was even more impossible for him to mistake it.

“You line up, I’ll go take a look.”

Shi Sui thus fled in a sorry state with his head covered under Wang Cheng’s tracking.

By the time he finally threw off the person, the sky had already turned dark.

Shi Sui leaned against the wall, panting in small breaths. Why was Wang Cheng like a dog, chasing him for at least half a street.

The phone in his pocket rang at this moment. Shi Sui’s hand holding the milk tea bag tightened. After letting it ring for a minute, the call hung up, and soon, it rang again.

At the very last moment before the phone automatically hung up, he took out the phone and pressed answer.

“Shi Sui, did I see you just now? Where are you right now?” The moment he heard Wang Cheng’s voice, he really wanted to cut off the call directly.

Shi Sui kept a cold face. “At the internet cafe for my part-time job.”

“Oh,” Wang Cheng’s voice also carried a bit of panting. “Fine then, maybe I saw wrong.”

Shi Sui hung up the phone, just standing quietly in the alley, extending his head to look outside from time to time.

Watching young couples intimately discussing what flavor of milk tea to drink, watching Qi Sizheng and Wang Cheng finish lining up in the long queue, leaving together with a cup in each of their hands. Watching fewer and fewer people at the milk tea shop, the sky thoroughly darkening, and the warm yellow lights lighting up at the shop entrance.

Yet the person he was waiting for never appeared from beginning to end.

Shi Sui raised his hand, threw the two cups of milk tea that had turned to room temperature into the trash can beside him, and turned around to go home.

How foolish was he to wait here until the sky turned dark.

After Shi Sui went home, he took a cold shower, lay on the living room sofa, and expressionlessly played Pop Star.

Unknown if his luck was bad or what, but after spending all his energy, Shi Sui didn’t pass a single level.

Shi Sui threw the phone onto the coffee table and cursed, “Idiot.” Unknown who he was cursing.

He kicked the armrest of the sofa with his foot. One minute later, he climbed up again and sent a message to Wang Cheng.

[ss: Has Lu Huaizhi contacted you?] [Wangwang: No! What’s wrong?] [ss: Give him a call.]

A few minutes later.

[Wangwang: Called, it shows turned off.]

Shi Sui scratched his hair irritably. Could it be that something happened to this kid?

Last time Tian Hongjun invited the class for a gathering, Lu Huaizhi drank too much and mentioned where his house was located. Anhe Community, Building Five, two-zero-something?

Shi Sui tried hard to recall, but couldn’t remember clearly.

He took his phone and keys, changed his shoes, and went out.

Even if he didn’t remember, the community security guard would always know. If he couldn’t find the person, he would call the police.

Putting on his shoes to go out, and then going down from the fourth floor, during this short few minutes of travel, Shi Sui thought about a lot of things.

Could Lu Huaizhi have been kidnapped by Chen Niu’s gang, his phone snatched away, and he was getting beaten up in some corner. Or was it that group of yellow-haired guys from before? Qian Hao?

Shi Sui’s mind was in a mess, the keys in his hand gripped tightly, the sharp edges cutting into his palm, making him sober up a lot.

No matter what, find the person first.

But when he walked to the first floor and saw that person standing under the streetlamp, the cluttered thoughts in his mind instantly cleared out.

Shi Sui quietly locked eyes with him for a second, and then turned around directly to walk upstairs.

His arm was quickly grabbed by someone. “Shi Sui, I didn’t mean to be late.”

“Oh,” Shi Sui turned his head, saying in a cold voice, “So what?”

Lu Huaizhi paused. “It’s my fault, don’t be angry.” He had gone to the milk tea shop first and asked the clerk, who told him that they saw a person with a very fierce appearance waiting at the milk tea shop for a long time.

He knew clearly in his heart that Shi Sui was probably driven mad with anger. He was standing down here just now and didn’t go up, only thinking of a solution.

Shi Sui wanted to pull his arm out, but Lu Huaizhi grabbed it very tightly.

“Let go,” Shi Sui swept a glance at the milk tea Lu Huaizhi was carrying in his hand. “Before I throw the milk tea onto your face.”

Lu Huaizhi quickly let go of his hand, but also handed the milk tea over. “Throw it, as long as you can dissipate your anger.”

Shi Sui let out a cold laugh. “Lu Huaizhi, do you really think I can’t do anything to you?”

Just as he was preparing to take over the milk tea, he saw a vivid red at the position of Lu Huaizhi’s right elbow.

Shi Sui yanked his arm over, his gaze colder than just now. “Who did it?” The elbow was a bloody mess, even stained with a lot of dust and unknown particles.

Lu Huaizhi: “When I climbed out of the window, I accidentally scraped it against the wall.”

Shi Sui frowned. “Why did you climb out of the window?”

“My mom came to Ancheng, locked me in the room, and even confiscated my phone,” Lu Huaizhi lowered his eyes, looking at the wound on his arm. “I had no other way.”

“Are you sick, Lu Huaizhi,” Shi Sui couldn’t help but curse. “If she doesn’t let you out, can’t you just stay at home properly? You just had to court death by jumping off the building, right? And you even carried this arm to twist the milk tea all the way?”

“It doesn’t count as jumping off a building,” Lu Huaizhi paused. “My house is on the second floor.” “And, I was afraid you would be anxious from waiting.”

The last sentence made Shi Sui completely lose his fire. He threw away Lu Huaizhi’s arm and turned around to go upstairs. “I really can’t be bothered to care about you.”

Walking to the corridor of the first floor, Shi Sui stopped his footsteps, looked at Lu Huaizhi who was standing foolishly under the building looking up at him, and said fiercely, “Roll up here.”

Looking just like an abandoned puppy.

Shi Sui was very experienced in treating scrapes. Cleaning up the small particles first and disinfecting it would do.

Precisely because he had suffered this kind of injury many times, he also knew that this kind of wound was very painful to treat.

But Lu Huaizhi acted as if he had lost his pain reception nerves, staring straight at him during the disinfection, as if afraid he would run away.

“What are you looking at,” Shi Sui threw the blood-stained cotton swab into the trash can. “Looking at me makes it not painful, is that it?”

Who knew Lu Huaizhi would actually nod. “Mm.”

Shi Sui: “…” After treating the wound, Shi Sui sat on the other end of the sofa playing with his phone with a cold face, not saying a word.

“Shi Sui,” Lu Huaizhi called him. Shi Sui ignored him.

Lu Huaizhi leaned a bit toward his side. “Shi Sui.” This time his voice was lowered a bit.

Shi Sui: “Are you calling a ghost?”

“Don’t be angry anymore.” Shi Sui ignored him again.

“The milk tea hasn’t been drunk yet,” Lu Huaizhi inserted a straw into a cup of milk tea on the table and handed it to him. “Fortunately, it hadn’t closed when I went there.”

The last day of the event, they caught it.

Shi Sui raised his hand to take it, took a sip, and continued to lower his head to play with his phone.

Saying it was playing with his phone, it was just switching back and forth between WeChat and the main page, pretending to be very busy.

But with Lu Huaizhi around, his vision couldn’t possibly stay on the phone all the time.

“Shi Sui, there are mosquitoes.”

Shi Sui gave him the toilet water. Then, he watched Lu Huaizhi use that injured arm to awkwardly apply toilet water on himself.

Shi Sui couldn’t stand watching it, taking it over with a swift motion. “Let me do it.”

After applying the toilet water, Shi Sui still heard mosquitoes buzzing around his ears, disturbing one’s peace of mind.

He sat up from the sofa and walked toward the bedroom. After walking a few steps, he turned his head. “Are you waiting to be bitten to death by mosquitoes there alone?”

But when the two shared the bedroom, Shi Sui regretted it again.

The bedroom was just that small. The two sat on the bed, and if they moved slightly, their arms and legs would touch.

Moreover, he was wearing shorts, clearly perceiving the heat on Lu Huaizhi’s body through his skin, invading over bit by bit.

Coupled with that faint smell of toilet water, it inexplicably reminded him of that night in the multimedia classroom. The more Shi Sui thought about it, the more agitated he became, trying hard to press his right arm against the cold wall to cool himself down.

That bit of anger toward Lu Huaizhi was also suppressed.

“Are you hot?” Shi Sui tried to chat about some topics to divert attention.

Lu Huaizhi glanced at a layer of fine sweat on Shi Sui’s forehead and nodded.

“Then I’ll turn on the fan,” Shi Sui leaned forward, crossing over Lu Huaizhi to turn on the fan on the bedside table.

Shi Sui propped one hand beside Lu Huaizhi’s side, and reached out with the other hand to turn the knob of the fan.

He arched his waist, the hem of his shirt scraping upward a small edge, faintly revealing his fair and flexible side waist.

Lu Huaizhi swept a glance, moving his gaze away with restraint, but saw Shi Sui’s loose collar falling down a large piece, revealing the sunken collarbone, as well as a small mole embedded on the side.

Unknown if it was rubbed by the rough collar, the skin around the small mole was slightly flushed, looking exceptionally prominent on the fair skin.

Shi Sui turned on the fan, tilted his head, and caught Lu Huaizhi’s gaze unexpectedly.

Just like that night in the multimedia classroom. A deep and extremely possessive gaze.

Shi Sui’s Adam’s apple rolled. Did this kid want to eat him?

He wanted to straighten his body to speak, but forgot that he had been propping himself on the edge of the bed. His hand shifted, his center of gravity became unstable, and he fell straight toward the bottom of the bed.

It was even a face-landing posture.

Shi Sui had already closed his eyes, but a pair of hands steadily supported his waist, bringing him into his embrace.

The two pressed together.

This time the distance was even closer than in the multimedia classroom.

The moment Shi Sui opened his eyes, he could see Lu Huaizhi’s protruding Adam’s apple— It rolled very lightly.

Perhaps out of a person’s intrinsic attention to dynamic things, a very strange thought emerged in Shi Sui’s mind. Wanted to touch it.

So, he poked it with his finger.

He heard Lu Huaizhi draw in a breath and look down at him.

Shi Sui’s nose tip lightly scraped past his jaw.

Both of them had sweated a bit, their wet skin rubbing against each other.

Shi Sui couldn’t explain that feeling, it was just like getting electrocuted. It was even more stimulating than fighting.

Lu Huaizhi’s voice was tense. “What are you doing?”

Shi Sui felt that the posture of lying on Lu Huaizhi’s body was not suitable for communication, so his hands propped on his two sides, and he rose slightly. The position on top made him feel not so passive. “Not doing anything.”

He replied with a lot of spine. In reality, the bottom of his heart was in a complete mess.

Looking from this angle, even Shi Sui had to admit that Lu Huaizhi was good-looking, his brow and eyes deep, his facial features three-dimensional, and his lip shape was also very full. Perhaps because he had drunk milk tea, his breath was a bit sweet.

Shi Sui inopportunely recalled what the girls beside him said during the recitation competition.

[Lu Huaizhi’s mouth shape looks very nice, and it looks very soft.]

Shi Sui was not stupid, naturally knowing that those people meant it felt very soft to kiss.

He also couldn’t tell whether he wanted to verify if it was really soft, or was bewitched by Lu Huaizhi, leaning down slightly. “Lu Huaizhi, aren’t you afraid of me being angry? Agree to one request of mine, and I won’t hold today’s matter against you.”

Lu Huaizhi lowered his eyes, took a glance at Shi Sui’s tightly pursed lips, and let out an ambiguous sound of agreement.

“Close your eyes.”

Lu Huaizhi’s Adam’s apple swallowed heavily, and under Shi Sui’s urging gaze, he slowly closed his eyes.

The interwoven rapid heartbeats of the two resembled drumbeats, making Shi Sui’s heart tremble.

He also didn’t know what he was nervous about, the hands propping on Lu Huaizhi’s two sides feeling a bit soft.

Lu Huaizhi was in the darkness, and Shi Sui’s heavy breathing beside his ear was exceptionally clear.

After a long while, a warm object scraped past his lips.

Lu Huaizhi opened his eyes, and Shi Sui swiftly retracted his hand, curling his index finger heavily in his palm. He still didn’t have the courage to kiss him.

But this time, even Shi Sui’s neck was thoroughly red, yet he propped up his body with forced composure and sat back beside Lu Huaizhi. “Alright, let’s leave it like this for now.”

Lu Huaizhi looked at Shi Sui’s right index finger which had been hidden all along, as well as the bedsheet that was almost poked into a hole, a smile flashing beneath his eyes. “Fine, listen to you.”

“Let’s leave it like this for now.”