Rumors, Truth, and an Unwelcome Message

“Senior, please look over this list.
If there’s no problem, you can sign it.”

The junior from the publicity department was very diligent.

She discussed seriously with Lin Xiu about which sponsors should be selected and listed all the companies that met the requirements.

Lin Xiu looked through the list and felt there were no issues.

Just as he was about to sign, a dull “bang” suddenly came from the locker room next door.

Lin Xiu’s eyelid twitched.

However, the hand holding the pen remained extremely steady as he calmly ticked a mark next to the sponsor’s name.

The junior looked toward the locker room in confusion.

“Senior… did you hear some kind of sound?”

“…No.”

Lin Xiu smiled gently.

Without changing his expression, he continued confirming and signing the document.

“Maybe you heard wrong.

Our locker room’s soundproofing has always been very good.”

The junior blinked.

She seemed curious, but since she was inside someone else’s locker room, she didn’t ask further.

Lin Xiu handed the signed form back to her.

“Then I’ll trouble you with the rest.

Our team captain’s requirements are honestly a bit too many.”

“It’s fine, it’s fine.

This is our job anyway.”

The junior stood up holding the stack of documents.

She glanced toward the locker room again.

“Has Senior Jian finished talking with Minister Qu yet?”

Lin Xiu gave an awkward smile.

He wasn’t sure what to say and was just about to give some vague answer when the locker room door suddenly opened.

Qu Chao walked out supported by Jian Yixun.

There was a purple bruise on his face.

He clutched his stomach tightly, looking as if he had been beaten.

The junior was shocked.

“Minister! What happened to you?”

Qu Chao whimpered and shook his head.

“While we were talking in the locker room, Senior slipped and fell.”

Jian Yixun lied with a completely straight face, calm and confident.

“He hit his face when he fell.

His stomach probably also bumped into a locker, so it hurts now.

But I checked briefly.

It’s nothing serious, so don’t worry.”

“That’s good.”

The junior let out a relieved breath.

“But Minister, how could you be so careless?

How do you slip and fall on flat ground in a locker room?”

Qu Chao gritted his teeth in resentment.

Through clenched teeth he forced out a sentence.

“I’m fine… thanks to junior for helping me out.”

Jian Yixun raised his eyebrow slightly.

He stood behind him with his arms crossed, looking sincere.

“If senior needs help going to the hospital, I’ll definitely accompany you.

You don’t need to worry.”

“You—”

Qu Chao nearly choked on his own breath.

“Then thank you, senior.”

The junior didn’t notice the undercurrents between them.

She supported Qu Chao and bowed slightly to Lin Xiu and Jian Yixun.

“Then we’ll meet again after school starts in March.”

After seeing them off, Lin Xiu nudged Jian Yixun with his elbow.

“Hey.

He didn’t fall, right?”

“Of course he didn’t fall. I hit him.”

Jian Yixun spoke with a calm expression.

As if he were simply talking about tomorrow’s weather.

“What? Couldn’t you tell?”

“No, I mean…”

Lin Xiu started speaking but got stuck halfway.

After a long pause he regained his composure.

“Why are you hitting people?

This is a society ruled by law.

You can’t solve everything with violence.”

“He spread rumors about someone.

Why can’t I hit him?” Jian Yixun sneered.

“He said that person was sleeping with this one and that one.

I already gave him a chance and he still refused to stop.

Isn’t that just asking to be beaten?”

Lin Xiu was about to ask who Qu Chao had spread rumors about.

But seeing the anger burning in Jian Yixun’s eyes, he immediately understood.

Most likely Xu Shuche.

Lin Xiu let out a long sigh and patted Jian Yixun on the shoulder.

“Brother… I think you’ve fallen for him.”

“Fallen for him? Fallen for what?”

Jian Yixun looked at him with completely confused eyes.

As if he truly had no idea what Lin Xiu meant.

With this kind of thing, the person involved is always the last to realize.

Lin Xiu felt that saying this much was already enough.

So he wisely stopped talking.

B University’s final exams finished around January twelfth.

Some student leaders stayed until the fourteenth or fifteenth when teachers officially started their holiday.

Xu Shuche had already submitted his thesis to his advisor early.

He also promised several junior students that he would help review their papers.

Now he sat in the dormitory with his chin resting on his hand, staring at the computer in boredom.

Half of the basketball team had already bought tickets and gone home.

Jian Yixun suddenly had too much extra energy with nowhere to spend it.

So he bought a gym membership.

Every day he ran wildly for two or three hours.

Then he returned to the dorm covered in sweat and immediately leaned against Xu Shuche.

Xu Shuche had been carefully correcting a junior’s thesis word by word.

He jumped slightly when Jian Yixun leaned so close.

“What are you doing?”

“Hm?”

Jian Yixun looked up at him.

His eyes sparkled brightly.

“I’m resting for a bit. I’m tired.”

“Don’t rub against me,” Xu Shuche said.

“You smell like sweat. You’re dirty.”

Jian Yixun was someone who listened to advice.

Since Xu Shuche said he was dirty, he immediately stood up and grabbed a towel to take a shower.

He had just pulled his shirt halfway off when he suddenly remembered something.

He turned his head.

“You don’t have to worry about living here anymore.”

Xu Shuche raised his eyes.

“I taught him a lesson.”

Jian Yixun covered his mouth and coughed lightly.

He turned his gaze aside.

“I don’t know if you’ll think I’m too domineering.”

“But every time he talked badly about you in front of me.”

“It made me really uncomfortable.”

Xu Shuche looked at him quietly for a while.

“If I blamed you for it… would you be angry?”

“Not really.”

Jian Yixun rubbed his nose.

“Because I made the decision myself to stand up for you.”

“I didn’t ask whether you needed that.”

“So… if you blame me, that’s fine too.”

“So I won’t blame you.”

Xu Shuche spoke softly.

“You did it for my sake.”

“If I turned around and criticized you for it…”

“Wouldn’t that make me a hypocrite?”

“I…”

Jian Yixun froze.

The explanation he had prepared got stuck in his throat.

He hadn’t expected Xu Shuche to think like this.

Based on his personality and his experience of being bullied before, Jian Yixun had assumed Xu Shuche would first scold him for hitting someone.

“But that’s exactly how it is.”

Xu Shuche lowered his head and adjusted his glasses.

A flash of disgust passed through his usually clear eyes.

“He was the one who provoked us first.”

“We didn’t go looking for trouble.”

“If we’re talking about bullying…”

“Then he was the one bullying us.”

Jian Yixun swallowed.

Then asked almost instinctively.

“When you say ‘us’… you mean—?”

“You and me.”

Xu Shuche tilted his head slightly, puzzled.

“Who else could it be?”

“Oh… nothing.”

“I was just asking.”

Jian Yixun grabbed the clothes and towel from the chair and rushed into the bathroom.

“Well then, I’m going to shower!”

Suddenly he felt strangely short of breath.

It was as if Xu Shuche’s gaze wrapped around his neck, making the heat in his chest harder to endure.

Yet being included in Xu Shuche’s “us” made him happy.

Before this, Jian Yixun had always felt excluded from Xu Shuche’s world.

But after this incident, the invisible barrier Xu Shuche used to protect himself seemed to open slightly.

If he tried a little harder…

Maybe he could step inside.

Holding the towel, Jian Yixun stared at the bathroom tiles and grinned foolishly for a long time before coming back to his senses.

Why did he want to step into Xu Shuche’s heart?

Was that what good brothers did?

After the bathroom door closed with a bang, Xu Shuche finally withdrew his gaze.

He picked up the phone beside the computer.

While he had been talking with Jian Yixun earlier, the phone had been vibrating constantly.

Message after message had popped up on WeChat, filling the screen.

A trace of indescribable disgust flashed through Xu Shuche’s eyes.

He closed them briefly and unlocked the phone.

On the WeChat interface, a bright red “10” notification stood out.

The sender had no remark name.

The avatar was a landscape painting.

Exactly the kind middle-aged men liked.

Xu Shuche frowned and opened the chat.

The screen was filled with accusations.

“Are you still not coming home this year?”

“Damn it, I raised you all these years and you just ran away. Where am I supposed to put my face?”

“I don’t care. If you don’t come back this year, I’ll go to your university myself!”

“I’m out of money. Send some to my card.”

“You have money, right?”

“My card number is 238XXXXXXXX.”

“Hurry up. Don’t make me remind you.”

“You’re supposed to support me anyway.”

Xu Shuche read each message.

It felt almost suffocating.

His fingers trembled as he typed a reply.

“I will not send you money.”

“And I will not go home for the New Year.”

“Stop trying to get even a single cent from me.”

After sending that message, he immediately blocked the contact.

That person was his father in the legal sense.

The alcoholic father who abused his mother and divorced her.

The father who had never fulfilled the responsibilities of being a guardian.

In high school, when his sexuality was exposed by Wang Shimei, the teachers called his father to school.

His father arrived reeking of alcohol.

When he heard that the only son of the Xu family had “grown crooked,” he became furious.

He took off his shoe and beat Xu Shuche in front of everyone while shouting curses.

After that day, Xu Shuche became the laughingstock of the entire school.

Many times he thought about how that year in high school had nearly destroyed him.

Yet somehow he still survived.

After entering university, he never went home for the New Year again.

If the dormitories closed, he would stay in cheap hotels for a while.

Then return about half a month before the new semester started.

And this year would be no exception.

Xu Shuche lowered his eyes.

He locked the phone and placed it on the table.

Just as he was about to continue reviewing the thesis, the bathroom door opened.

Warm steam rushed out, filling half the dormitory with the scent of body wash.

“So annoying. Most of the basketball team has already gone home.”

Jian Yixun walked out while drying his hair.

“Tomorrow I have to meet the sponsor alone.”

He replied to a message, then casually asked,

“Senior, when are you going home?”

“Did you buy your ticket?”