Perhaps the pillow fight had exhausted everyone. By eleven that night, quite a few people had fallen asleep almost the moment they lay down. Zhi Li slept at the far edge, while Ke Bu lay between Zhi Li and Su You Yan. The club building was very quiet, and the moonlight was bright. Ke Bu had slept for a while earlier and now couldn’t fall asleep no matter what he did. Listening to everyone else’s steady breathing, he suddenly remembered something. He turned toward Su You Yan and whispered as softly as possible, “Hey, You Yan. Are you asleep?”
A full minute passed before she answered. “What?”
“There’s something I’ve never known whether I should tell you.”
“Then tell me after you’ve decided.”
“It’s just… Lan Yin actually knows you like Zhi Zuo Si. The general idea she wanted me to pass along is that you don’t need to feel guilty, you can pretend they never got back together, and she warmly welcomes you to go steal Zhi Zuo Si from her. I don’t really understand the way that family thinks either, so whatever you do, don’t judge them using an ordinary person’s ideas of right and wrong.” When they weren’t around, Ke Bu always called Lan Yin and Zhi Zuo Si directly by name. He knew it was a little impolite, but with the way those two looked, calling them Uncle and Auntie felt extremely strange.
“What?! You Yan likes Zhi Zuo Si!”
“You Yan likes Zhi Zuo Si!” Like an echo, the words passed from one person to the next.
“You were all awake this whole time?!” Ke Bu cursed.
“We were pretending to sleep to see whether anybody would do something…”
“What exactly were you expecting to happen?!”
Chu Hao Yu shook awake Ying Xiu Jie, who really had been asleep. “Wake up! You Yan likes Zhi Zuo Si.” Su You Yan stared at Ke Bu without even blinking, filling him with guilt. You Yan had clearly wanted nobody to know about this, yet events had gone completely against her wishes. Gong Zhu became extremely excited by the news. He sat cross-legged and folded his arms. “Even if the wife herself welcomes you, that’s still an extremely high difficulty level. You Yan, what are you planning to do? Since Lan Yin is the one inviting you, you wouldn’t count as the other woman. You’d be a concubine. So don’t have any psychological burden.”
“Could all of you please pretend you didn’t hear anything and forget it? You Yan’s eyes are about to kill me.” Nobody paid the slightest attention to Ke Bu, and question after question came flying.
“You Yan, when did you start liking Zhi Zuo Si?”
“How did you start liking him?”
“Why did you only tell Ke Bu and not us?!”
“Does Zhi Li know?”
Everyone talked over one another. Ke Bu knelt on the sleeping mat and bent forward. “You Yan, I’m sorry.”
“You’re disturbing my sleep.” The moment Zhi Li’s voice cut into the noise, the club building finally became quiet again. Ke Bu didn’t move and instead copied a line from a wuxia drama. “I know nothing I say will help. If you don’t forgive me, I’m not getting up!” Su You Yan rolled over and turned her back to Ke Bu.
“Do you really have to be that heartless?”
“It isn’t as dramatic as all of you are making it sound. Some people admire celebrities. Some people admire anime characters. My feelings toward Zhi Zuo Si are probably closer to that.”
Gong Zhu covered his cheeks and exclaimed softly, “Ah! I never expected You Yan to be this innocent!” Ke Bu’s legs had already gone numb, so he had no choice but to ask again. “You Yan, you’ve forgiven me already, right? This really was my fault for being careless.”
Su You Yan’s cold voice came back. “I haven’t forgiven you. Stay like that until morning.”
“You’re not even angry, so why won’t you forgive me?”
“Since when can you force somebody to forgive you?”
Ke Bu fell silent and wondered whether You Yan could really be that cruel. Suddenly, Zhi Li grabbed Ke Bu’s wrist and dragged him over to lie beside him. “If she won’t forgive you, I forgive you.”
“What did I do that requires your forgiveness?!”
“You disturbed my sleep.”
“Don’t—don’t press on my leg, it’s numb. Ahh! I told you not to press it!” Ke Bu shoved Zhi Li’s leg away. The club building had become bizarrely silent again. Ke Bu gritted his teeth. “So what exactly were all of you expecting in the first place? We’re not filming porn. Use your brains, okay? How could we possibly do anything here?!”
“Tch.”
…………………………
They had already been living in the club building far longer than Ke Bu had expected. Recently, every night when bedtime arrived, everyone somehow appeared there. The more diligent people traveled back and forth to their dorms to wash up, while the lazier ones simply moved all their daily necessities into the club building. Showering in summer was easy for boys anyway. Ying Xiu Jie and the others simply connected cold water in the washroom and rinsed themselves off there.
That night, Zhou Xin He had just finished spreading out the sleeping mats when someone knocked on the door. Without waiting for an answer, the door was pushed open. It was someone from the student council.
“Is something wrong?”
“Someone complained that you’re too loud.”
“Could the soundproofing just be bad?”
“Who is the president of your club?” one of the bespectacled boys asked. Chu Hao Yu immediately shoved Ke Bu forward. “He is. If you have any problems, talk to him. He’s the one who arranges everything we do. If we’re too loud, it must all be his fault.” This was far from the first time Chu Hao Yu had sold Ke Bu out.
“The club buildings weren’t meant for you to live in to begin with. Considering the weather, we haven’t made an issue of it, but if you use that as an excuse to ignore school rules and cause trouble for other people, then we can’t tolerate it.” Ke Bu interrupted him. “Wait. I admit that disturbing other people at night is bad behavior, but most of the time we’re only talking. And more importantly, it seems like none of the other clubs on this floor have anyone here at night.”
“If somebody complained, then somebody complained. Even if you’re staying in the club building, once the school’s official lights-out time arrives, you aren’t allowed to make any noise. Right, President?” The boy turned toward the person behind him. Bao Ji Lei patted his shoulder and stepped out from the shadows. A simple noise complaint had actually brought the student council president herself here. Ke Bu found that somewhat strange.
“We deal with complaints whenever we receive them. It’s also to ensure everyone has a proper school life.” Her voice was considerably gentler than her appearance suggested. Bao Ji Lei didn’t look at anyone else. She looked only at Ke Bu. That confused Ke Bu too. Under normal circumstances, most people he encountered looked at Zhi Li first. Don’t tell me I’ve suddenly had incredible romantic luck these past few months? First Shi Chan, now Bao Ji Lei? But Ke Bu had absolutely no need for any more romantic prospects.
Leave a Reply