KMYB | Chapter 46

"Instinctive."

"Instinctively lying to me?"

Zhou Zeqi let out an ambiguous laugh, clearly getting even more fired up.

Xi Shui glanced toward the door and answered softly, "I was scared you'd be mad. I care about you, so I lied."

Zhou Zeqi said nothing. He stared at the nervous Xi Shui for a moment, then suddenly cupped his chin and kissed him, but only brushed his lips against Xi Shui's.

For that instant, Zhou Zeqi really did have the thought that he wasn't worthy of Xi Shui.

He was just an ordinary man, a little taller, a little better-looking, a little richer. You could find men like that all over the street. But when it came to liking someone, he had to learn it. Ordinary people measured the gains and losses in a relationship.

But Xi Shui was nothing like everyone else. He was warm and pure, and he naturally knew how to express love.

"Come on, brother'll treat you to some ice cream." Zhou Zeqi wrapped an arm around Xi Shui's shoulder and dragged him outside.

Xi Shui held up his umbrella, and the metal ribs jabbed Zhou Zeqi once. Zhou Zeqi snatched the umbrella from his hand. "I'll take you home after the ice cream."

"Huh?"

"It's too hot. I don't want you getting heatstroke."

Xi Shui had delicate skin. If he stayed at the stadium with him all day, he might end up with sunburned skin.

"Then what am I supposed to do at home these next few days while we're on break?"

"Dance?" Zhou Zeqi couldn't stay with him.

Xi Shui asked, "Did you buy that outfit?"

Zhou Zeqi paused. He didn't answer whether he had or hadn't, only raised a brow. "You're that eager to wear it?"

"No," Xi Shui shook his head. "I'm just worried you bought the wrong size."

Zhou Zeqi said, "I've carried you so many times I could tell by touch."

"Then what was that thing you said you wanted to add just now?"

"You'll know when the time comes."

"I want to know now."

"A gag."

"What's that?" Xi Shui had never heard of it.

"Something that keeps you from talking."

The sun shining straight onto the stadium made Xi Shui squint. He lifted a hand to shield his forehead. "I don't really talk much anyway."

Zhou Zeqi went quiet for a moment. Then he lowered his head, leaned close to Xi Shui's ear, and asked slowly, "Then who was it that kept saying 'faster' and 'slower' earlier?"

"That counts too?" Xi Shui was shocked.

"It means handing the decision over to me. How it's done, I decide." Zhou Zeqi tilted the umbrella toward Xi Shui. His voice was slow and unhurried, and Xi Shui's face and heartbeat both started to heat up as he listened. He pushed at Zhou Zeqi.

"It's too hot. Stay farther away from me."

Zhou Zeqi tugged him back again. "Then who do you want staying closer to you?"

"…"

Not far away, Meng Kewen and Lin Xiaojin were leaning together, staring in utter disbelief.

"Is it really appropriate to be all over each other like that in public?"

Lin Xiaojin held a small electric fan up in front of him as it spun. "What's inappropriate about it? Look at the row of people sitting against the wall. Their mouths are all stretched into grins."

Meng Kewen felt that Old Zhou was like a different person when he was with Xi Shui than when he was with everyone else. He watched for a while, then turned to Lin Xiaojin. "Didn't you say you liked Wu Chibang? What are you thinking?"

He had a huge voice, loud and clear, and it reached Wu Fengyi's ears by the track. Wu Fengyi, who wasn't getting much attention at all, was especially sensitive to the words like like and dislike. He turned around at once and accurately caught the source of the sound.

Lin Xiaojin immediately used the fan to cover his face and looked at Meng Kewen. Then, on purpose, he shouted, "Really? Meng Kewen, you actually like Wu Chibang! You're eating close to home!"

Meng Kewen: "…"

–

Xi Shui finished his ice cream at the entrance of the supermarket. Afterward, he went to find Lin Xiaojin, and the two of them went home together to dance and sleep.

Zhou Zeqi sat with a badge hanging from him at the highest tier of the stands, right level with the main platform.

Yun Chu had just finished reading an encouragement limerick sent anonymously by alumni. He looked up and met Zhou Zeqi's gaze.

Zhou Zeqi gave him a perfunctory curl of the lips, then looked away.

Wu Fengyi happened to see it. He shoved the stopwatch into the hands of the person beside him, jumped up in a few strides, and dropped down beside Zhou Zeqi with a thud. "What's going on between you and Yun Chu?"

Zhou Zeqi and Wu Fengyi were childhood friends. They were childhood friends because Wu Fengyi's father and Zhou Zeqi's father had been very close friends since high school. After university, Wu Fengyi's father went straight into the Zhou family's business and is now CEO of a branch of Zhou Corp.

So Wu Fengyi also knew Yun Chu very well.

Meng Kewen only knew him because he and Yun Chu had attended the same high school. Unlike Zhou Zeqi and Wu Fengyi, they knew every rotten thing about the Yun family.

"Oh, he had dinner with little Xishui last time."

Zhou Zeqi said nothing.

"Rare. I thought he didn't come down from on high," Wu Fengyi went on. "But if he's willing to take the initiative, then maybe he really has feelings. Be careful. He's not someone easy to mess with."

Zhou Zeqi wasn't worried. What Wu Fengyi meant was that Xi Shui couldn't afford to provoke someone like that.

After all, Yun Chu was the kind of junior even many old hands in the capital praised.

Zhou Zeqi took a sip of water. "He's not that kind of person."

"How is he not? He even went after his own father."

"His father had it coming."

"…Fair enough."

"Yun Chu has had it rough," Zhou Zeqi said, patting Wu Fengyi on the shoulder. "Cut him some slack."

A biological mother who had been treated like a疯子, a father who had cheated and sent his original wife to a psychiatric hospital, a mistress who was only five years older than him, and a whole nest of cold-hearted, ungrateful relatives…

Zhou Zeqi didn't think someone like Yun Chu would waste time on private feelings.

"What about Xi Shui?"

"It's too hot, so I sent him home first. His event is tomorrow anyway."

"What event does he have?"

"High jump."

The men's 1,000 meters was in progress. In the last 100-meter sprint, the boys on the track gradually started to accelerate, and two of them almost reached the finish line at the same time.

The staff kept pressing the stopwatch and recording the times.

A sweat-soaked boy stood to the side. After seeing that his time was two seconds slower than first place, he froze. "I got there first."

They were supposed to move on to the next round, but the group surrounding the timing records slowly started causing a scene.

"I was clearly the first one there. There's something wrong with your watch!"

"I think so too. I was also there before the one in front of me, but I'm behind him."

"What's wrong with it? We calibrated all the stopwatches yesterday. How could there be a problem? Second place really was two seconds slower than first place. That's what the stopwatch says, not what I'm saying."

"You people from the sports college decide everything yourselves, of course you're covering for each other!"

"Fuck, watch your mouth!"

Wu Fengyi glanced at Zhou Zeqi.

Zhou Zeqi hated this kind of thing the most. It happened every year at the sports meet.

He stood up and walked down from the stands, grabbing the sports college staff member who was about to throw a punch. "What are you doing?"

"Your sports college is covering for them. This time is wrong!"

"What do you want?" Zhou Zeqi looked down at him. "There are other people still competing later. State your demand clearly, and we'll figure out a solution."

Wu Fengyi grinned. He knew it. Old Zhou was always like this. That look alone could crush a person until they couldn't breathe, who would even remember what their original demand was?

"This isn't fair. I clearly got there before him."

"Like this," Zhou Zeqi gestured for Wu Fengyi and Meng Kewen to get their asses down there. "The three of us will run one lap. They'll time us with the stopwatch, and you'll time us with your phone's stopwatch. Our stopwatch can't be accurate, but your phone stopwatch definitely can. If the times match up, then you apologize to…" Zhou Zeqi pulled back the staff member he'd just dragged over. "Apologize to him."

Zhou Zeqi had the kind of personality that looked like he didn't care about anything, but in reality he was extremely reckless. Whatever he wanted to do would always come before whatever he was supposed to do.

The starter raised the gun.

When Zhou Zeqi took off, he even stirred a gust of cool wind across the faces of the crowd nearby.

"Fuck, Old Zhou really isn't human!" someone shouted, watching Zhou Zeqi run in circles.

He beat Wu Fengyi to the finish by half a lap. Meng Kewen came in second, Wu Fengyi third.

A thin sheen of sweat covered Zhou Zeqi's forehead. He pushed back the hair hanging over his brow, revealing his sharp sword-like eyebrows. After catching his breath, he walked over to the timekeeper. "Check the times."

The boy who had been protesting before took out his phone. The three times matched perfectly, exactly the same down to the second.

Zhou Zeqi looked at him. "Satisfied now?"

Wu Fengyi fanned himself with the hem of his shirt. "Second is second. If you're slow, who are you blaming? You're causing a scene here, and other people still need to compete. Do you think we're not human, standing here helping you test whether the watch is accurate?"

The boy's face went pale. When no one was paying attention, he grabbed an unused stool nearby and swung it at Wu Fengyi's head.

"Holy shit!" Wu Fengyi hadn't expected this guy to be so fragile. They hadn't even said much, and he was already throwing hands?

Wu Fengyi took the blow with his shoulder. There was no reason to take a beating and not hit back, so he threw a punch right at the guy.

The competitor was from Jing University, though it wasn't clear which college. Wu Fengyi was a student-athlete. One punch from him was enough to knock someone flat.

"You people from Jing University are mentally ill, aren't you?" The others had already been holding back their anger. Now that someone from their college had been hit, they all started complaining at once. "Get this straight, this sports meet has absolutely nothing to do with our sports college. We're here helping you guys out, and you still hit people?"

Once those words were out, things got serious. It directly ignited the conflict between the two big groups.

The other Jing University people present also began sneering and mocking them. "People from the sports college got into Jing University because of special talents. Do you really think you can compare with people like us who scored six or seven hundred on the gaokao?"

"Calling you physically strong really isn't wrong at all."

"Fuck, what are you saying?" Even Zhang Kan, who was usually mild-tempered, couldn't take it anymore. He kicked the guy in the ass. "The reason I'm physically strong is to beat the shit out of dumbasses like you."

"Who the fuck are you calling a dumbass?"

"Your whole family!"

"You dumbass!"

"You dumbass!"

Zhou Zeqi pulled Zhang Kan behind him. He let out a laugh, but there was no warmth in it at all. He said to the people opposite him, "Can't take a loss?"

The guy had gone mad with cursing and didn't care who he was talking to. "You and that Xi Shui from Jing Dance are a perfect match, one physically strong and one doing that bullshit ballet. Isn't that something only women do?"

He thought a lot of people would echo him, but once he said that, not only did the Jing Sports people freeze, even the Jing University people behind him stopped talking.

The smile on Zhou Zeqi's lips slowly disappeared.

Wu Fengyi was still back there having his arm rubbed by someone. Seeing that Old Zhou looked ready to make a move, he sprang up from the stool like his ass was on fire and rushed toward Zhou Zeqi. As he lunged, Zhou Zeqi had already kicked out.

The boy was sent flying several meters away. His organs almost came up out of his throat. He looked at Zhou Zeqi, terrified, as Zhou Zeqi walked toward him.

Wu Fengyi and Zhang Kan both grabbed hold of Zhou Zeqi. "Old Zhou, Old Zhou, calm down. Why bother fighting this dumbass? Forget it, forget it. He said women, which means he obviously doesn't have a mom, forget it, forget it."

"Come on! If you've got the guts, kill me!" The boy rolled around frantically on the ground a few times. "People from Jing Sports are all stupid assholes, giant apes!"

"Fuck your damn ancestors." Meng Kewen couldn't take it anymore.

Two or three dozen boys at the finish line started cursing while throwing punches. By then the leaders had already left the podium, but the student council immediately brought a whole crowd over to break it up, including the judges from the other events.

Everyone had different degrees of bruising on their faces. Even the people who came to break it up got caught in the crossfire.

A group of them lined up in front of the school clinic bus to have their wounds treated.

Zhou Zeqi sat in the tent with his arms folded, expression cold as ice. Yun Chu walked over and handed him a bottle of water. "Sorry. I'll report this to each of their colleges."

"No need." Zhou Zeqi said, "There's no point."

Jing University had looked down on Jing Sports and Jing Dance for more than a day or two.

"Fighting violates school rules. They should be punished."

Zhou Zeqi looked up at Yun Chu. The other man smiled. "You acted in self-defense."

Zhou Zeqi gave a faint laugh. "Trying to curry favor?"

"Not really," Yun Chu sat down beside Zhou Zeqi. "I'm actually very glad Xi Shui chose you instead of me. If it had been me, I definitely wouldn't have fought like this in a public place just to defend him. I'm a hypocrite."

He sat upright, his face carrying a look of solitude.

Zhou Zeqi wasn't exactly a good person either. He looked away and stared at the center of the stadium. "Since you know that, keep your distance from him from now on. You know exactly what kind of people your family are."

Yun Chu smiled. "Okay, I understand." He was very regretful. He wasn't Zhou Zeqi, would never become Zhou Zeqi, and he wasn't worthy of Xi Shui.

–

After Xi Shui woke up from his afternoon nap, it was still Lin Xiaojin who told him that Zhou Zeqi had gotten into a fight at school.

He looked at the forum. Someone had already posted about it, and the people from Jing University and Jing Sports had already started a shouting match. From that, Xi Shui could basically figure out what had happened.

1. The Jing University people thought the stopwatch was inaccurate.

2. Zhou Zeqi personally ran a lap to verify the time. The stopwatch was accurate.

3. Wu Fengyi mocked them.

4. The shouting match began.

5. Meng Kewen fired the first shot in the group fight.

Lin Xiaojin enlarged the picture to look at it. "Not gonna lie, Old Zhou looks pretty handsome with those bruises."

A photo had been taken of Zhou Zeqi sitting expressionlessly under the tent. There was a small, faint bruise at the corner of his eye, and a bandage on the corner of his mouth. He was cold all over, and the air pressure around him was so low it felt freezing.

Xi Shui nodded in agreement. "I think so too."

"…"

After a brief silence, Xi Shui jumped down from the bed and ran out barefoot. "You keep sleeping. I'm going to check on him at the stadium."

Lin Xiaojin sat on the bed, not really understanding. "It's just a bandage on his mouth, and his build is like he could punch a bull to death. What's there to worry about?"

At the entryway, Xi Shui bent down to put on his shoes and answered Lin Xiaojin loudly, "I like him. Even if he were Mount Tai, I'd still feel sorry for him."