Chapter 16
“I really want to meet students from other departments…”
“I really want to have a sweet campus romance…”
The moment Xie Ning came back to the dorm, he heard Gu Nian and Chen Xi wailing together.
The two of them had their arms slung over each other’s shoulders, looking like tragic brothers suffering side by side.
Hearing the door open and seeing the striking looks of both Xie Ning and Pei Zhi only made them feel even sadder. Gu Nian complained, “Damn it, even that gopher-looking Lao Liu got a girlfriend! My heart is a total mess.”
Chen Xi had been feeling pretty miserable too, but suddenly burst out laughing. “You illiterate dumbass, get lost.”
Pei Zhi had no interest whatsoever in topics about romance, and neither did Xie Ning.
Pei Zhi pulled the chair back a little, then lifted Xie Ning—who was still wearing Pei Zhi’s coat—and sat him on his lap. The space between the desk and his body was filled perfectly by Xie Ning.
He brushed the back of his hand against Xie Ning’s face. It was still a little cool, so he held him a while longer. With his other hand, he unscrewed a bottle of mineral water one-handed and fed Xie Ning small sips.
At first, Xie Ning had found it hard to adjust, but after it happened often enough, he had grown used to this kind of meticulous care from a friend.
The computer screen lit up his face. His long lashes trembled slightly. After drinking a few sips, he turned his head away and said softly, “I don’t want any more.”
[So good.]
[Wife is so cute, fuck him.]
“Oh right, Brother Pei, we swiped these bottles of mineral water from coach, hehe. Here, take a few,” Chen Xi said, setting several bottles down on Xie Ning and Pei Zhi’s desk. “Did coach hit the jackpot recently or something? He actually bought us water this expensive!”
After handing over the water, Chen Xi went right back to fooling around with Gu Nian.
Meanwhile, Pei Zhi started tidying up the desk.
Xie Ning suddenly realized that sometimes, Pei Zhi really was childish.
Pei Zhi always arranged their things right next to each other, then moved anything the other roommates had given farther away, sometimes even sticking a tissue between them.
Only their belongings were allowed to sit together, and always closest to each other, like some silent expression of possessiveness.
Pei Zhi took off Xie Ning’s shoes and socks, one hand supporting the sole of his foot as he carefully checked his ankle.
It had nearly healed. There was only a faint mark left. Xie Ning asked, “Can I walk now?”
Pei Zhi rubbed the skin around it with his thumb and asked, “Can you feel this?”
“Yes.” Xie Ning pulled his foot back a little. “It tickles.”
That serious answer seemed to amuse Pei Zhi. The corners of his lips lifted. “That ticklish?”
“You can walk again, but no strenuous movement yet.”
The skin contact made Xie Ning feel very comfortable, and he no longer wanted to move. Lazily, he leaned against Pei Zhi and answered with a very soft “Mm.”
“Brother Pei, are you going to that mixer this weekend? It’s one of those events with a bunch of departments together. I think they’re going to a hot spring villa or something.” Chen Xi looked at the group messages. “That hot spring villa looks fancy as hell. It even has a private cinema, massage, scrubbing… and the rooms look really good too.”
Pei Zhi never went to things like mixers. Too many people, too annoying. But while holding Xie Ning, he was prompted by some strange impulse to ask, “Are you going?”
Xie Ning lifted his eyelids. “Me?”
Gu Nian said, “Come with us. If you go, Brother Pei will definitely go too. Then the four of us can all go together and look out for each other. And it’s a private hot spring, so it’s very private. You won’t need to worry about soaking with everyone else. I checked the sign-up list, and there are even students from your major…”
Xie Ning did not like this sort of social activity, especially not when there were a lot of people. But suddenly he remembered that in the “100 Little Things You Must Do With a Friend” list he had saved, there seemed to be items like soaking in a hot spring together, watching movies, and getting scrubbed down together.
This was also part of normal socializing.
And if it was a private hot spring… it should be fine, right?
So Xie Ning agreed.
…
Once Xie Ning’s foot got better, he stopped letting Pei Zhi keep escorting him.
Following the principle of returning courtesy for courtesy, he started going to the gym to pick Pei Zhi up on the way.
The path from the on-campus studio to the dorm happened to pass by the gym. At first, Xie Ning waited outside. Later on, the people there all recognized him and kept urging him to come inside and wait.
It became difficult to refuse their enthusiasm.
So while Pei Zhi trained, there would always be a cool-faced young man sitting in the seats off to one side. Sometimes he would lower his head and work on drafts. Sometimes he would rest with his eyes closed. And sometimes he would watch how Pei Zhi trained.
The moment the coach dismissed them, Pei Zhi hurried toward Xie Ning. Xie Ning stood up and handed him a bottle of mineral water.
Pei Zhi took it straight away, twisted open the cap, and tipped his head back for a drink. Then he suddenly realized something was off.
He saw that Xie Ning was holding another unopened bottle of water.
Realizing he had taken the wrong one, Pei Zhi apologized, “Sorry. I shouldn’t have drunk your water.”
After training, Pei Zhi was always covered in sweat, so he usually tried to avoid touching Xie Ning. Reaching too quickly and taking the wrong bottle was understandable.
After exercise, every muscle in his body was swollen and pumped with blood, veins standing out, his whole body radiating explosive power and strength, along with a strong male hormonal presence.
Xie Ning said, “It’s fine.”
Pei Zhi wiped the sweat off his body. He really should have gone to shower, but he wanted to stay with Xie Ning a little longer.
Looking at the empty basketball court, Xie Ning heard Pei Zhi ask, “Want to play?”
Xie Ning said, “I don’t know how to play basketball. And I haven’t played in a very long time.”
“Haven’t played in a long time?” Pei Zhi raised an eyebrow. “Did you play often before?”
Xie Ning did not look like someone who would like basketball.
With a straight face, Xie Ning said, “I played in elementary school.”
His long legs spread naturally apart, Pei Zhi bent down, propped his elbow on his thigh, rested his chin on one hand, and turned to look at Xie Ning. “Then why did you stop?”
Xie Ning said, “Long periods of exercise and sweating make it hard for me to breathe.”
“I see…” Pei Zhi said. “Then why did you play in elementary school?”
“Someone taught me back then, but I’m not talented at sports, and I was too clumsy. I never learned.”
“It’s not that you’re clumsy,” Pei Zhi said. “It’s that the person teaching you didn’t care enough.”
Then, suddenly, Pei Zhi asked, “Want to try?”
He moved closer, and the warmth coming off his body made Xie Ning freeze for a second. Pei Zhi said, “I’ll teach you.”
Pei Zhi demonstrated several times. His jumping ability was astonishing, and the strength in his lower body was very steady. His hand was big enough to grip the basketball in one palm.
He even found Xie Ning a brand-new ball and wiped it several times with disinfecting wipes. But Xie Ning truly had no talent for sports, and his sense of balance was poor. Forget making a shot—he could barely even dribble properly.
Xie Ning was about to say maybe they should forget it, but Pei Zhi said, “It’s the ball’s problem. It’s new, so it doesn’t feel right.”
The gym gradually emptied out until only the two of them were left. The basketball kept hitting the floor with heavy bangs, while Xie Ning’s breathing never evened out for a second.
Pei Zhi supported Xie Ning, lending him strength with his own body. Both of them had worked up a layer of sweat. Xie Ning felt a little uncomfortable and frowned slightly, almost as if disgusted.
But more than that, he felt frustrated.
“Your posture’s wrong. It’s not your fault.”
Xie Ning found that a little funny.
In Pei Zhi’s eyes, it seemed as though he really was perfect, as though there was nothing he could fail at. And even if he failed, that would still be someone else’s problem.
One arm reached around from beside him. Pei Zhi’s hand covered the back of Xie Ning’s hand, adjusting how he held the ball.
“Bend your elbow a little. Don’t move your head. Lower your center of gravity.”
“Use the strength in your arm to throw the ball, not your fingers or wrist…”
Standing behind him, Pei Zhi surrounded him with warmth on all sides. Because they were standing so close, it felt almost like being hugged.
When Xie Ning turned his head slightly, he saw Pei Zhi staring intently at the basket ahead.
His arm was guided upward. The basketball left his hand. A perfect arc formed in the air, then dropped cleanly through the hoop.
Pei Zhi was still standing behind him. After confirming the shot had gone in, he bent down, like some enormous creature enclosing Xie Ning within his territory. Looking at Xie Ning’s face, he said, “That was amazing. You made it from that far away.”
Helpless, Xie Ning said, “You were holding my hand when it went in.”
Pei Zhi said, “Was I? I only adjusted your angle a little. To be precise, you made that shot.”
Maybe it was the lighting, but Pei Zhi’s features did not look as cold and untouchable as usual. Instead, there was a trace of softness and indulgence to them.
The sound of the basketball hitting the floor echoed through the empty gym. The repeated pounding on the ground sounded almost like a suspended heartbeat.
Then suddenly, Xie Ning smiled.
Xie Ning rarely smiled. He was always cool-faced and distant, as though nothing could stir his emotions.
And in truth, that really was the case. He took everything lightly. As long as he did not care, his emotions would not ripple.
Yet at that moment, he smiled.
A faint smile appeared on that cool face, like clear moonlight suddenly washed in some gorgeous, dreamlike color.
Pei Zhi’s pupils slowly widened, his gaze fixed tightly on Xie Ning’s face.
Unfortunately, the smile vanished as quickly as a night-blooming flower.
Xie Ning said, “When I was little, I used to think naïvely that once I grew up, I would grow tall, and then the basket that looked so impossibly high would become easy for me. But after growing up, I realized that wasn’t true at all.”
As a child, Xie Ning had been in poor health and had basically needed to drink medicine every day. His family never let him take part in sports, because in their eyes, everything about it was dangerous.
Sometimes he would envy certain sports stars.
But by the time he really grew up, he realized those sports were just that. He had little interest in them, and he was not good at them. He hated sweating. He hated the sticky, clammy feeling all over his body.
What he liked was not exercise itself, but a healthy body—the power to control his own body freely.
The wind outside the gym lifted the hem of Xie Ning’s clothes, making them flutter. Beneath them was a slim, elegant figure, his face and neck flushed red.
He really was not good at sports.
Pei Zhi said, “You’re tall now too.”
Xie Ning looked up at the top of Pei Zhi’s head and tugged out the faintest hint of a smile. He made a mild joke at the right moment. “You saying that isn’t very convincing.”
Among men, Xie Ning was not short. But Pei Zhi was still almost a full head taller than him. Whenever he was held in Pei Zhi’s arms, his limbs seemed even more slender by comparison.
Pei Zhi’s large hand gripped Xie Ning’s waist and lifted him up with ease.
The sudden sensation of being lifted made Xie Ning freeze. Pei Zhi’s shoulders were broad, and somehow Xie Ning fit perfectly on top of them. Afraid of losing his balance or falling, he instinctively threw an arm around Pei Zhi’s neck, while Pei Zhi’s palm firmly secured his waist.
The contact of that burning body heat felt like rain extinguishing a pot of boiling bubbles, filling him with an indescribable sense of satisfaction.
Blankly, Xie Ning looked at Pei Zhi.
In the middle of the open-air gym, beneath a sky full of bright stars, their eyes met, moonlight and each other’s faces reflected in their gaze.
“Xie Ning,” Pei Zhi said. “Now you’re taller than me.”
