Chapter 12
When Deng Letian sent a message, Jiang Zhong was pretending to seriously check if there was anything in the house that needed cleaning.
Everything was perfect—everything was neatly arranged, and there wasn’t even any dust in the corners.
He didn’t need to do anything at all.
Jiang Zhong decided to give the cleaning service a five-star review.
Since coming in, Xi Qin had been forcibly seated on the sofa by Jiang Zhong and could only hold his drink while watching him “busy” himself back and forth, with his eyes constantly fixed on Jiang Zhong.
“They’ve arrived,” Jiang Zhong walked over and drank the other cup of beverage on the coffee table in one gulp. “I’ll go out to meet them. Do you want to come with me or wait here?”
“I’ll go with you.” Xi Qin put down his cup and stood up.
At the gate of the villa community, the male students from the Computer Science Department and the female students from the Finance Department had formed small groups, secretly observing each other.
Some of the bolder guys had started approaching the girls to chat.
Jiang Zhong came out from the gate, jogged over to the crowd, and said, “Why are you all standing so far away? Come on, I’ll take you inside.”
“It’s not like we wanted to stand so far,” Deng Letian said with a wry smile. “The security guards over there have been eyeing us, probably thinking we’re here to cause trouble.”
Seeing the twenty-something people standing together, Jiang Zhong realized they did look like a crowd ready to stir up trouble. So, he went over to explain the situation to the diligent security guards.
Once the guards understood, they relaxed, and Jiang Zhong led the group towards his house.
After arriving, Jiang Zhong briefly introduced the kitchen, game room, and other places they could freely use, then sat back down next to Xi Qin, acting like he was just another guest here to have fun.
After all, the only reason he’d offered the place was that Deng Letian had struggled to find a suitable location. If he acted like the host now, it would only make everyone more self-conscious.
Fortunately, everyone was around the same age, and they had already gotten to know each other a bit in the group chat. After figuring out who was who, they quickly started chatting.
Jiang Zhong could feel a few girls sneaking glances at him and Xi Qin. Clearly, Deng Letian’s friends had shown them photos of the two beforehand, and they had recognized them.
Jiang Zhong let them look—he wasn’t interested in anyone else here today, whether it was the girls or the guys.
The only person he was interested in was sitting right next to him.
“There’s a girl in front of you on the left, sneaking glances at you,” Jiang Zhong leaned towards Xi Qin and said with a smile. “She’s pretty cute. Aren’t you going to look?”
“If you’ve noticed her, how is that still sneaking a look?” Xi Qin responded calmly, unfazed. “With you sitting this close, she might just be openly looking at you.”
“Oh? Is that so?”
Jiang Zhong smirked, turned his head to meet the girl’s gaze directly, waved his hand, and mouthed “Hi.”
The girl, caught off guard, froze for a moment. Her face flushed slightly, and she awkwardly waved back at Jiang Zhong.
Xi Qin caught a glimpse of Jiang Zhong and the girl’s exchange from the corner of his eye, glanced at Jiang Zhong, and said clearly, “Player.”
“How am I a player now?” Jiang Zhong laughed in disbelief. “Maybe she was looking at both of us. You’re ignoring her, and now I can’t even greet her?”
Xi Qin remained silent, letting out a faint, almost imperceptible snort.
“And besides, I was just saying hi. It’s not like I did anything,” Jiang Zhong whispered. “Jealous much.”
Even though he was saying this, Jiang Zhong was actually quite happy inside. Seeing Xi Qin act jealous was just too amusing.
“By the way,” after a while, Jiang Zhong asked, “Can you cook?”
“I’m okay, I know a few dishes,” Xi Qin replied.
“Perfect. They’re planning to make lunch themselves,” Jiang Zhong raised an eyebrow, “Do you want to show off a little later?”
“No,” Xi Qin refused without hesitation.
Jiang Zhong thought, ‘Wow, not giving me any face here?’
But then Xi Qin added, “There are too many people. I don’t want to.”
“Alright.” Jiang Zhong didn’t want to push him.
Hearing the slight drop in Jiang Zhong’s tone, Xi Qin figured he hadn’t understood his meaning, so he explained more directly, “Ahem, didn’t you say you wanted to visit my place? If you come over sometime, I’ll cook for you.”
At that, the bit of disappointment Jiang Zhong had just felt instantly disappeared. “Wait, your rented place has a kitchen? I always thought you just rented a studio.”
“It was originally a studio, but…” Xi Qin glanced at Jiang Zhong, hesitated, then continued, “But after getting tired of takeout, I switched to a place where I could cook this semester.”
“Nice. I’m so sick of cafeteria food,” Jiang Zhong said, looking a little hopeful. “Can I come over for meals from time to time?”
Before Xi Qin could respond, Jiang Zhong added, “Actually, I can cook too. I won’t just mooch off you. When you don’t feel like cooking, I can do it…”
“No need.” Xi Qin cut him off, frowning.
“…But I can only make simple dishes, so I can’t guarantee they’ll be great.” Jiang Zhong insisted on finishing what he wanted to say, then finally closed his babbling mouth. “Hmm?”
Xi Qin looked at him seriously and said, “If you want to come over, just come. You don’t need to cook.”
Jiang Zhong: “…Okay.”
Damn, unconscious flirting is the deadliest.
Although Xi Qin had said there were too many people and he didn’t want to cook, he still ended up showing off a little in the afternoon.
Of course, only Jiang Zhong got to see it.
In the afternoon, the group was preparing a barbecue, and they had already bought all the ingredients.
Jiang Zhong always thought that barbecuing these semi-prepared foods was something anyone could do, and that the taste couldn’t be too bad either.
Even today, he still believed that.
However, he added one more point: while the taste couldn’t be bad, it could also reach a higher level of goodness.
The former was what he grilled, the latter was what Xi Qin grilled.
Jiang Zhong couldn’t understand it. It was the same meat, the same grill, and cooked for the same amount of time—so why did Xi Qin’s taste better?
So, Jiang Zhong switched spots with Xi Qin and tried to match his rhythm.
When Xi Qin flipped the meat, Jiang Zhong flipped it, when Xi Qin spread the sauce, Jiang Zhong spread it, when Xi Qin added chili powder, Jiang Zhong did the same.
After it was all done, Jiang Zhong tasted both—Xi Qin’s was still better.
Jiang Zhong: What the heck…
So Jiang Zhong gave up and contentedly waited to eat what Xi Qin grilled.
Xi Qin went along with Jiang Zhong’s childish antics the whole time, doing whatever he wanted. Seeing Jiang Zhong getting frustrated with himself, Xi Qin suppressed a laugh and comforted him, “Actually, I think yours tastes better than mine.”
“Really?” Jiang Zhong didn’t take it as comfort at all and felt slightly offended. He replied weakly, “Then how about I give you everything I grilled, and you give me everything you grilled?”
“Sure,” Xi Qin agreed without hesitation.
Jiang Zhong: “…I was just kidding.”
“I said yes,” Xi Qin insisted. “But my hands are busy right now. Will you feed me?”
Jiang Zhong: “…”
Damn, why is Xi Qin so good at flirting today?
Jiang Zhong thought, If he’s going to say things like that, I can’t just back down, right?
Alright, let’s flirt back. We’ve got plenty of time anyway.
So Jiang Zhong grabbed a pair of disposable chopsticks, picked up a piece of meat, blew on it to cool it down, and fed it to Xi Qin.
After feeding him a few bites, and seeing Brother Qin genuinely enjoying the food, Jiang Zhong couldn’t resist eating as well.
Just as the two were happily feeding each other, Jiang Zhong noticed a girl walking toward them from the corner of his eye.
“She’s finally here,” Jiang Zhong said.
“Huh?” Xi Qin asked.
The girl was the one Jiang Zhong had caught spying on them that morning. Besides that moment, he had felt her gaze on them several times throughout the day.
Jiang Zhong put down his chopsticks, pretending to roll up Xi Qin’s sleeves, and whispered close to him, “If she confesses to you later, you have to reject her directly. Don’t leave her with any false hopes, got it?”
Xi Qin: “…”
“You don’t like girls,” Jiang Zhong said righteously. “Giving her false hopes would only hurt her.”
“Hi,” the girl had already walked up behind Jiang Zhong and politely asked, “Can I sit here?”
Jiang Zhong turned around and smiled gentlemanly, “Of course you can.”
Xi Qin: “…”
The girl was quite pretty, with a gentle voice. “Hello, my name is Yan Xiaoxing.”
“I’m Jiang Zhong,” Jiang Zhong answered quickly, beating Xi Qin to it. “And this is Xi Qin. We’re roommates.”
“You two seem really close,” Yan Xiaoxing said, her eyes sparkling. “And you’re both very handsome.”
Although what she said wasn’t wrong, something about the way she combined those two statements felt… off.
Jiang Zhong politely replied, “Thank you, you’re very pretty too.”
Yan Xiaoxing smiled and pointed to the grilled meat on the table, “Can I have some?”
Still smiling, Jiang Zhong moved the meat Xi Qin had grilled in front of himself, leaving the meat he had grilled in its original place. “You can have these,” he said.
Before Yan Xiaoxing could make a move, Xi Qin suddenly reached out, grabbed all the meat Jiang Zhong had grilled, and moved it in front of himself, expressionless. “No, these are mine.”
Jiang Zhong glanced at Xi Qin, silently wondering if their behavior might seem stingy to the girl.
But just as he was about to offer some of the meat in front of him to Yan Xiaoxing, he noticed her eyes light up even more, and she looked excited.
Jiang Zhong: “?”
“Um,” Yan Xiaoxing struggled to suppress the smile threatening to break out on her face, moved a little closer to Jiang Zhong, and whispered, “Are you two… a couple?”