Chapter 7
“No,” Jiang Zhong said, rubbing his forehead, “We’ve never been together.”
Xi Qin responded, “Oh.”
That meant Xu Shanshan’s confession was rejected back then, he should have stayed a little longer to hear the whole story.
“Also,” Jiang Zhong said seriously, “I don’t have many girlfriends, I’ve never been in a relationship.”
Xi Qin’s eyes brightened.
After Jiang Zhong said this, he suddenly felt that not having been in a relationship by the time he was a sophomore in college was nothing to be proud of, so he added, “I used to think early relationships weren’t good.”
“Hmm.” Xi Qin agreed and gently advised, “It’s not considered early anymore. You can try to have a relationship.”
“Let’s talk about it if I meet the right person,” Jiang Zhong said vaguely. “For now, we should focus on how to deal with all these green health foods.”
“Don’t worry, we’ll finish it. I have a good idea of how much there is,” Xi Qin said, handing Jiang Zhong some grilled meat. “Eat more meat.”
Jiang Zhong wrapped the grilled meat in lettuce and couldn’t help but laugh as he thought about Xi Qin’s meticulous preparations. “Xu Shanshan would never expect that she unwittingly made me ‘¹green’ while being completely unaware.”
Later, when Jiang Zhong and Xi Qin encountered Xu Shanshan again on campus, along with her boyfriend who was holding her hand, Jiang Zhong looked at Xi Qin with a smirk.
Xi Qin, feeling a bit guilty, touched his nose and looked at Xu Shanshan with a hint of apology.
Xu Shanshan looked confused.
Xu Shanshan’s boyfriend, on the other hand, gave Xi Qin a wary glare.
Jiang Zhong felt he could make fun of Xi Qin with this incident for the next three years.
After the National Day holiday, not long after returning to school, the “Welcome Party” finally took place, set up on the large square in front of the library.
When Jiang Zhong and Xi Qin passed by, they stopped to watch for a while.
Jiang Zhong remarked, “If my foot hadn’t been injured, I would be in backstage preparing for the next performance.”
“Hmm.” Xi Qin said, “You looked great when you danced.”
Jiang Zhong thought if he were Xi Qin’s girlfriend, he would be staring at him angrily, saying, ‘Only when dancing? Do I not look good usually?’
But since he wasn’t Xi Qin’s girlfriend, or boyfriend, he could only follow the logic and say, “You haven’t seen me, so how do you know?”
“I have seen you,” Xi Qin said softly.
“You’ve seen me?” Jiang Zhong thought for a moment and then realized, “Was it when I was rehearsing in the art building last time? That wasn’t a complete performance.”
Xi Qin responded vaguely.
Speaking of this, Jiang Zhong couldn’t help but ask, “So did you really come to pick me up last time? Why did you leave afterward?”
“I saw you and Xu Shanshan rehearsing and laughing. I thought you might be taking her back to the dorm after you finished,” Xi Qin explained, “And you didn’t reply to my messages, so I left.”
“Pff.” Jiang Zhong couldn’t help but laugh when Xu Shanshan was mentioned. He quickly became serious and said, “So you didn’t leave because of any urgent matter. Why did you suddenly get angry with me afterward?”
Xi Qin, feeling guilty, said, “I wasn’t angry with you… I was angry with myself.”
Seeing that Xi Qin still wasn’t willing to tell the truth and not wanting to put him in a difficult position like last time, Jiang Zhong smiled and changed the subject. “I really don’t understand why you thought Xu Shanshan was my girlfriend. Do we look like we’re in a relationship? We don’t date or even call each other.”
“Not like that,” Xi Qin said.
Before, Xi Qin’s strong subjective impression had made him overlook the fact that Jiang Zhong never went out with Xu Shanshan, and he had secretly felt pleased about it.
“Actually…” Xi Qin said with a determined tone, “I saw you dance on stage.”
“How could that be? I haven’t danced in public since I started college,” Jiang Zhong reflexively contradicted.
“Wait…” Jiang Zhong suddenly thought of another possibility. “I remember you’re also from H City like me. Which high school did you attend?”
Xi Qin smiled without answering.
Jiang Zhong’s eyes widened as he confirmed, “Was it Shiyan High School? Did you attend the same high school as me?”
In high school, Jiang Zhong was known for being well-liked, or in less flattering terms, for being showy and getting involved in everything.
H City Shiyan High School focused on quality education and a balanced lifestyle. In addition to regular courses, they had a wide range of extracurricular activities.
Unlike other key high schools that pressed students from the first year to seize every learning opportunity, Shiyan High School seemed to fear students wouldn’t have enough fun, hosting many activities every semester.
New student welcome parties, sports meets, art festivals, New Year’s Eve parties, and so on.
Jiang Zhong, with his good looks and previous dance training, stole the spotlight at various events.
Especially in his second year of high school, when teenagers often had a sense of vanity and enjoyed being adored.
Jiang Zhong’s second year was very fulfilling. Besides handling his studies and participating in activities, he also had to deal with an endless stream of romantic pursuits.
It’s no exaggeration to say that almost everyone in Jiang Zhong’s year knew him, whether they were male or female.
Even those who didn’t know his name would recognize him if someone described him as “that guy from last time.”
Many boys from Jiang Zhong’s year knew him because they “disliked” him or were jealous of him. Jiang Zhong was always surrounded by various girls and had a close relationship with the campus beauty Xu Shanshan.
But there were exceptions, such as Xi Qin.
Xi Qin wasn’t jealous of Jiang Zhong, he was jealous of Xu Shanshan.
“It shouldn’t be,” Jiang Zhong said. “If you were also from Shiyan High School, I’d definitely remember you. I remember everyone from our year who was at least decent-looking, let alone someone as handsome as you.”
“I wasn’t handsome in my second year,” Xi Qin glanced at him and teased, “Not compared to you, who was like a campus star.”
“Don’t say that,” Jiang Zhong recalled his naive and embarrassing moments from his youth and said disdainfully, “I was like a fool back then.”
“It was quite good,” Xi Qin said.
If it weren’t for that, Xi Qin wouldn’t have noticed him with his mindset back then.
Xi Qin had been depressed for a long time during his second year due to family reasons. He was withdrawn, didn’t want to talk, didn’t care about his appearance, and wasn’t interested in managing his figure.
Even people in his own class didn’t have much impression of him, let alone someone as “busy” as Jiang Zhong.
Later, after he started to have feelings for Jiang Zhong, Xi Qin’s mood improved. He began to care about his appearance and took time to dress up.
Unfortunately, it was soon the third year, and the classmates who had played around for two years started to feel the pressure and buried themselves in studying. They didn’t notice Xi Qin’s subtle transformation.
It was around that time that Xi Qin accidentally overheard Xu Shanshan confessing to Jiang Zhong.
From Jiang Zhong’s past actions, Xi Qin deduced and firmly believed that Jiang Zhong was a straight man with a girlfriend.
Xi Qin had known his sexual orientation for a long time and knew that for people like him, straight men were completely off-limits. So he kept his feelings to himself and never thought of trying to get to know Jiang Zhong or be friends with him.
Attending the same university and choosing the same major, and even ending up in the same dormitory, was purely a coincidence.
But this coincidence still excited Xi Qin.
When Xi Qin saw Jiang Zhong’s name in the dorm group chat created by Deng Letian, he had doubted if it was a case of the same name. After Jiang Zhong mentioned he was from H City, Xi Qin was 80% sure.
On the first day of school, after Jiang Zhong replied to Deng Letian’s question about when he would arrive, Xi Qin, who had arrived early, couldn’t help but use the excuse of buying water to go downstairs and wait for him.
Seeing Jiang Zhong resting with two large suitcases at the bottom of the stairs, Xi Qin completely forgot about the ‘straight man taboo.’
Unable to resist, he approached Jiang Zhong, pretending to be calm while actually feeling nervous and forgetting to pretend not to know where Jiang Zhong was going, and grabbed the two suitcases to carry them up.
Fortunately, Jiang Zhong didn’t notice this issue.
But because Jiang Zhong didn’t notice, it led to Xi Qin never finding an opportunity to tell him, “We’re high school alumni. I knew you long ago. You’re handsome, and you have a great personality.”
I like you.
—
¹”green” (绿, lǜ) refers to the concept of being “cheated on” or “betrayed” in a relationship. It’s part of the expression “戴绿帽子” (dài lǜ mào zi), which literally means “wearing a green hat” and is a Chinese idiom for being cuckolded—when a partner is unfaithful.