Chapter 11
After Jiang Zhong finished speaking, Xi Qin was stunned. It was unclear whether Xi Qin didn’t understand what Jiang Zhong meant or if something else was going on.
Finally, having said the words that had been stuck in his heart for days, Jiang Zhong felt much lighter, amused by Xi Qin’s “shocked” reaction.
Just then, Xu Shanshan had also decided on the gift she wanted to buy, so Jiang Zhong put down his phone and quickly finished the rest of his meal.
“I’m done eating, let’s go.”
Xi Qin mechanically followed Jiang Zhong’s lead, picked up his plate and placed it at the dish return station, his thoughts clearly wandering elsewhere.
It wasn’t until they reached the dormitory building that Xi Qin stopped. Jiang Zhong, unaware, continued walking a few steps ahead.
“What did you mean by what you just said?” Xi Qin asked, staring at the back of Jiang Zhong’s head. “Is it the meaning I think it is?”
Jiang Zhong turned around. “How would I know what meaning you’re thinking of?”
Xi Qin hesitated, “You… are you like me?”
There were people coming and going in front of the dorm, so Xi Qin couldn’t directly say the words.
With a smile on his lips, Jiang Zhong leaned in close and lowered his voice, “That’s right. My sexual orientation… is the same as yours.”
The dim street light reflected in Jiang Zhong’s eyes, making them shine brightly.
Xi Qin’s Adam’s apple rolled once.
Jiang Zhong smiled and took a step back after speaking, signaling Xi Qin to keep walking. “Isn’t it funny? We never noticed it.”
Xi Qin took a deep breath and caught up with him.
“Isn’t there supposed to be some kind of radar between us?” Jiang Zhong laughed. “We’ve been so close this whole time, and yet we didn’t feel a thing?”
“I don’t know,” Xi Qin replied. “You don’t look like it at all.”
“No way, I think I do,” Jiang Zhong said narcissistically. “Look, I’m so outstanding and have never been in a relationship. Doesn’t the internet say that good guys who’ve never had a partner are all…”
“I think you look more like a scumbag,” Xi Qin teased with a smile. “You’re always surrounded by a bunch of girls. You haven’t dated because you can’t choose.”
Jiang Zhong gasped, “Ha!” before countering, “You’re the one who doesn’t look the part. You seem like a cold, emotionless straight guy.”
“Have I ever been cold to you?” Xi Qin quickly asked.
Jiang Zhong: “…No.”
Xi Qin always talked a lot in front of him, never held back his emotions, and was always very caring toward him…
Jiang Zhong: “…”
When looking at it this way, Xi Qin seemed to be special only when he was around him, and Xi Qin was gay. A gay guy being really good to another guy—what did that mean?
What did it mean?!
Could it mean that Xi Qin is actually interested in him?
Was it just because he thought Jiang Zhong was a scumbag before that he didn’t show it?
Jiang Zhong’s heart began to pound wildly, and he couldn’t help but smile, “Ahem.”
Before Jiang Zhong could think any deeper, the door to dorm 412 appeared in his view, and he had to temporarily push down the endless thoughts running through his mind.
As Jiang Zhong pushed the door open and entered, Xiao Yuan had just come in from the balcony after washing his hands, and the two bumped into each other.
“What made you so happy?” Xiao Yuan asked casually.
“Nothing.” Jiang Zhong thought to himself, ‘Am I being that obvious?’ Feeling a bit guilty, he said, “I’m just naturally cheerful.”
Xiao Yuan glanced at Xi Qin, who followed closely behind Jiang Zhong into the room, but didn’t ask any further questions. “Litian just mentioned that he had something to announce when you guys got back.”
“What is it?”
“No idea. He’s being all mysterious about it.” Xiao Yuan turned to Deng Litian and said, “They’re back now, so hurry up and spill.”
Deng Litian spun his chair around to face his three roommates, getting ready for a long conversation. “I have a friend…”
“Is this friend you?” Jiang Zhong asked.
Deng Litian: “…”
“Get out of here. I’m not asking about that kind of thing,” Deng Litian quickly responded. “I’m serious. I have a friend in the finance department. She’s a girl.”
Deng Litian paused and glanced around at the group before continuing, “You guys know, the finance department has a lot of girls, unlike our department where there are too many guys and not enough girls.”
“I was talking to my friend about the gender ratio issue, and she asked if we should organize a mixer between our two departments.”
“Hmm,” Jiang Zhong nodded along, “And then?”
“She said the girls in her program are all really good-looking,” Deng Litian chuckled.
“Oh.” Jiang Zhong remained unmoved.
Deng Litian was taken aback by his “straight guy” reaction, so he cut to the chase. “So, I’m asking if you guys are interested in having a mixer?”
“Uh,” Jiang Zhong thought for a moment, “I think you should first check with the girls to see if they’re interested.”
“My friend already asked a few of the single ones,” Deng Litian said, throwing a suggestive look at Jiang Zhong and Xi Qin. “Once they heard there were some handsome guys, they seemed pretty eager.”
Jiang Zhong: “…”
Xi Qin: “?”
Deng Letian confessed, “Actually, on your birthday, I posted a picture of you two on my social media. My friend saw it and came up with this idea.”
“So, if everything’s set, will you guys go?” Deng Letian asked cautiously.
“We’ll see. If we’re free, we can go and have some fun,” Jiang Zhong didn’t give a firm answer.
Xi Qin silently nodded in agreement.
“Just think of it as helping Xiao Yuan and me out,” Deng Letian tried to appeal to their emotions. “There are so few girls in our department, we barely get a chance to date. This is a rare opportunity to meet girls from another department. Getting into a relationship is just around the corner!”
Jiang Zhong rested his chin on his hand, still smiling. “You’re using Xi Qin and me as tools to help you guys find dates?”
Xiao Yuan wore an expression that said, “This has nothing to do with me, don’t drag me into this.”
Seeing that Jiang Zhong wasn’t buying it, Deng Letian tried a different approach. “Don’t you two want to find girlfriends?”
Jiang Zhong answered honestly, “Not really.”
Xi Qin silently nodded again.
Xiao Yuan glanced at Deng Letian with a look that said, “Are you kidding?”
“…” Deng Letian, realizing Jiang Zhong wasn’t swayed, shifted his focus. “Brother Qin…”
Jiang Zhong interrupted him, “Calling him ‘brother’ won’t help.”
—
In the end, Jiang Zhong and Xi Qin agreed to go to the so-called mixer, after much begging from Deng Letian.
What was originally just meant to be a small gathering to eat, drink, and chat turned into something much bigger when a surprising number of girls from the other department signed up. Not wanting to lose, Deng Letian invited several more guys from their major, bringing the total number of guys to over ten.
He was obsessed with balancing the ratio of guys to girls to 1:1.
With the numbers exceeding expectations, both sides decided after some discussion to rent a house for the event, where they could play games and cook—essentially, a house party.
As one of the “mixer organizers,” Deng Letian took on the task of finding a place.
However, after nearly a week of searching, he still hadn’t found a suitable location.
“It has to be close to the school, big enough to accommodate over twenty people, and affordable enough that no one feels guilty spending money,” Deng Letian complained. “Ugh, this is too hard.”
Unable to watch him struggle any longer, Jiang Zhong finally offered up his own house when Deng Letian complained for the third time.
“Won’t we disturb your parents?” Deng Letian hesitated. “There are so many of us, and we might also bother the neighbors.”
“It’s fine, my parents aren’t home,” Jiang Zhong said. “And as long as we don’t shout, the neighbors shouldn’t hear us.”
Jiang Zhong’s parents were frequently on business trips due to their busy work schedules. Back in high school, Jiang Zhong often invited close friends over during breaks.
Jiang Zhong’s parents had no objections. In fact, they felt guilty for not being around enough to spend time with him and were glad that he had friends over so he wouldn’t be alone at home.
Since Jiang Zhong had already offered, Deng Letian didn’t have any other options, so he gratefully accepted and had Jiang Zhong send the address to the group chat.
Deng Letian, knowing that Jiang Zhong’s lifestyle appeared pretty relaxed, assumed that his family was fairly well-off and that the house would be big enough with decent soundproofing. Worst case, they’d just keep the noise down.
However, when he arrived at the address on the day of the event, he was stunned.
Jiang Zhong’s house was located in a villa district. Since Jiang Zhong wasn’t with him, the taxi Deng Letian took wasn’t allowed to drive in, so he had to get out at the gate and wait for Jiang Zhong to come out and get them.
Jiang Zhong and Xi Qin had gone home earlier than the “main group,” under the pretense of wanting to clean up the house first since they didn’t know what state it was in.
In reality, there was no need for him to clean up—the house had a regular cleaning service.
Jiang Zhong just selfishly wanted to bring Xi Qin over first.