Chapter 45
Qi Wang never saw Qi Nian at school again, but he did hear that at night, Qi Nian had sleepwalked and somehow fallen down the stairs by himself.
Qi Wang was stunned for a long while. For the first time, he truly felt what people meant by karmic retribution.
Hmph, serves him right!
When Qi Wang came back, he saw Lin Huaixi sitting alone in his seat, swaying his head from side to side, smiling so hard that his eyes had narrowed into slits, so he asked, “What made you so happy?”
“When bad people get what they deserve, of course that’s something to be happy about,” Lin Huaixi muttered. Then he suddenly thought of something and looked at Qi Wang worriedly. “This won’t affect you, will it? Did they make things difficult for you?”
Lin Huaixi’s pupils were clear and moist. Looking at his own reflection in them, Qi Wang only wanted to sink into that gaze. “No. Since they found me, that proves they don’t dare touch me. And this is exactly what I needed.”
Qi Wang did not explain in detail, but those few words carried a great deal of meaning.
In the original book, he had also taken back the family property, though the process had never been described in detail, so Lin Huaixi had no idea how he had done it.
Before the author derailed into writing about abusive romance with scumbag love interests, Qi Wang’s original role had been that of a no-romance, powerful male lead—beautiful, strong, and tragic, clever and capable. He was not the traditional hot-blooded protagonist. He was thoughtful, calculating, and deeply scheming, and his experiences from childhood onward had given his true nature a trace of ruthlessness. Only someone like him could have gone up against three powerful, well-connected scumbags all by himself, villains no less terrible than the antagonists of any other story.
Only now, the current Qi Wang was wearing a clean blue-and-white school uniform, with gentle brows and eyes and a warm, mild temperament. He was completely different from the protagonist as originally portrayed in the book.
But Lin Huaixi knew that his gifts and abilities had never changed. He had only managed to avoid some unnecessary suffering.
Who said that living had to mean enduring hardship? Wasn’t it better to be happy every single day?
Thinking of that, Lin Huaixi smiled too. He did not press Qi Wang about anything and trusted him completely, but he still could not help adding one reminder: “Learn from this lesson. If anything ever happens again, you have to tell me. Don’t carry it all by yourself anymore.”
Qi Wang’s concealment this time had ultimately dragged Lin Huaixi and Sun Baiyi into it, yet the focus of Lin Huaixi’s words was not on himself at all. He was worried about Qi Wang.
The moment Qi Wang realized that, the numb, tingling feeling in his chest returned. It did not hurt, but it was difficult to resist. He pressed his lips together before softly answering, “Mm.”
Lin Huaixi still wanted to say more, but the PE representative came over and interrupted them. “Qi Wang, are you really not going to join the basketball tournament?”
Every November was basketball month. Local schools all sent out their school teams to compete against one another, and in the end the champions were decided.
Their school had been eternal runner-up for years, but this year’s incoming students were especially strong. It was their best chance in years to finally win the championship.
But then an accident happened. Lin Huaixi and Sun Baiyi both could not participate because of their injuries, and Qi Wang had also firmly refused.
Thinking of how earnestly the upperclassmen had hoped for victory, the PE representative’s blood started boiling again. He tried once more to persuade him. “Qi Wang, you’re so tall. You’re built perfectly for basketball. If you join the school team, maybe we can finally beat the school next door. You could give this school its first championship in ten years!”
Lin Huaixi loved basketball too, and to him this was not just about winning, it was about washing away old shame. His body instinctively leaned toward Qi Wang. “This is such a rare chance. Just say yes already!”
The PE representative knew the two of them were unusually close. Qi Wang indulged Lin Huaixi in almost everything and hardly ever refused him, so he set his sights on Lin Huaixi instead. “Huaixi, I’m leaving this to you. Help me persuade him a bit more, okay? This really matters to the team!”
Lin Huaixi patted his chest, his eyes silently saying: Don’t worry, leave it to me.
Satisfied, the PE representative left.
When Lin Huaixi saw that Qi Wang was still standing there, he reached out and grabbed the corner of his shirt. Unable to do anything about him, Qi Wang could only sit back down.
Lin Huaixi immediately stuck close to him. “Qi Wang, you’re always playing basketball with me, so I know your skills best. If you joined the school team, you’d absolutely be the boss there. The moment you stepped onto the court, the school next door would be kneeling on the ground singing ‘Conquer’!”
Qi Wang had no idea where Lin Huaixi kept coming up with all these strange phrases, and he laughed. “Am I really that amazing?”
“Of course you are!” Lin Huaixi puffed out his chest, even his nose tilting upward. “Birds of a feather flock together. Since you’re my friend, you can only be amazing.”
Qi Wang raised a brow. “Are you praising me, or praising yourself?”
“That’s not important.” Lin Huaixi leaned in a little closer, and his voice softened. His beautiful eyes blinked and blinked as he wheedled, “Don’t dodge the question. You still haven’t promised me.”
After all these years, Lin Huaixi’s way of acting spoiled had never changed. He had only toned it down a little, but for Qi Wang it was still a perfect one-hit kill.
Qi Wang opened his mouth, unable to say the words of refusal, but hesitation and difficulty were plain on his face.
Lin Huaixi sighed inwardly, then straightened a little and turned serious. “I know what you’re thinking. You think you dragged us into this and got us hurt. You think it’s your fault, that you have to be punished, that you have to stay with us, so that’s why you turned down the PE rep, right?”
Qi Wang had been seen through completely. He avoided Lin Huaixi’s eyes.
Lin Huaixi thought he really was stubborn beyond help and could not help muttering, “Tell me honestly—did you, even for one second, wish your left leg had gotten hurt too, just so you could stay with me?”
“…” Qi Wang looked exactly like someone whose thoughts had been exposed.
Lin Huaixi had long known about this bad habit of his and had no intention of letting him off.
The two of them had grown up together and had always been very close. Lin Huaixi knew better than anyone that Qi Wang was fiercely loyal, just a little too extreme about it.
“I did get hurt. My leg really hurts, and I can’t move around properly, but you’re suffering even more than I am.” Lin Huaixi softened his tone and went on. “This really does have something to do with you, but don’t use another wrong to punish yourself. And I’m not blaming you at all. Seeing you like this makes me feel bad too.”
Qi Wang had not expected Lin Huaixi to say something like that. He stared at him blankly, utterly captivated, able only to look at him without blinking.
Seeing that he had gotten the effect he wanted, Lin Huaixi immediately seized the chance. “So now can you agree to join the school team?”
What a sneaky return strike—Qi Wang was caught entirely off guard.
Only then did Qi Wang realize that all those heartfelt words had merely been paving the way for this.
“All right, I promise.” To reassure him, Qi Wang immediately turned and went off to find the PE representative and tell him.
Watching his back, the curve of Lin Huaixi’s mouth disappeared completely. He let out a long breath, and only then did his racing heartbeat gradually settle.
He had wanted to say those things to Qi Wang for a long time, but he had never found the right moment. Now, using basketball as an excuse, he had finally said them in a half-joking tone. That way they would not sound too heavy, and he had still managed to make his feelings clear to Qi Wang.
Thinking back on how he had just handled it, Lin Huaixi felt more and more satisfied.
Qi Wang noticed none of this. When he came back, he said, “Come find me on the basketball court during the second evening study session today. There’s something I want to tell you.”
A huge question mark popped up over Lin Huaixi’s head, but Qi Wang gave him no chance to ask.
…
Something this serious had happened at school, and since Lin Huaixi was the victim, the school had given him all sorts of special privileges in order to calm public opinion, including permission to go to the infirmary and see the teachers whenever he wanted.
Taking advantage of that, Lin Huaixi secretly slipped out of the classroom. When the teacher saw him, not only did they not stop him, they even gave him a look of concern.
“…”
He felt guilty for one second, lowered his head, and quietly slipped out.
This was the first time in his life that he had openly skipped class. He still had no idea what Qi Wang wanted to say and why it absolutely had to be on the basketball court.
Lin Huaixi came up with all sorts of possibilities in his head, but when he reached the empty court, he looked around and saw no one. What he did bump into at his feet, however, was something else.
Lin Huaixi lowered his head and discovered that a basketball had rolled over.
Ever since getting hurt, he had been forced to rest properly and had not moved around in a long time. His hands had been itching for activity for ages. The instant he saw the basketball, his eyes lit up, and he immediately bent down to pick it up.
Qi Wang came out from around a corner and waved at him. “Want to play basketball?”
Lin Huaixi knew everything here had been arranged by Qi Wang. His chest warmed, and the two of them gazed at each other in silence for a few seconds before he limped over.
“How did you know I wanted to play basketball?” Lin Huaixi asked softly.
Qi Wang smiled. “When basketball came up, you were practically drooling. How could I not know?”
Lin Huaixi froze for a second and reflexively wiped at the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand, but his mouth was completely dry. Only then did he realize what Qi Wang had meant and protest, “Qi Wang, you’ve gone bad! You did that on purpose to tease me!”
Qi Wang knew he was not really angry and simply took him by the hand and led him forward. “I’ll play with you.”
The bandages on Lin Huaixi’s leg had not yet been removed. He limped just walking, let alone running or jumping. There was no way he could really play basketball, and yet he still followed obediently.
“Come on. Let me help.”
Before Lin Huaixi had time to react, the world in front of him tilted sharply, and his body seemed to grow lighter and lighter. All of his weight shifted into the pair of hands around his waist.
Qi Wang lifted him up and became his “legs.”
Lin Huaixi knew Qi Wang was using this method both to apologize and to comfort him. The smile on his face widened more and more. Hugging the ball in both hands, he waved it toward Qi Wang. “Legs, you’d better move properly. I’m about to dunk now.”
Lin Huaixi had absolutely no self-awareness about being an injured patient and directly chose the hardest move possible.
Qi Wang, however, did not even frown. Carrying him, he ran straight beneath the hoop and lifted Lin Huaixi higher and higher.
Lin Huaixi had shot up in height like bamboo in spring, and he was good at sports too, but dunking was still difficult for him and not something he could succeed at every single time.
This was the easiest it had ever been.
He watched the hoop draw nearer and nearer, raised his arm high, and slammed the ball cleanly into the basket.
As the ball hit the ground with a thud, the once-empty court suddenly seemed filled with spectators, all around them echoes of cheers and screams, celebrating the birth of a new basketball star.
Completely immersed in it, Lin Huaixi said eagerly, “Let’s do another one.”
“Mm.” Qi Wang had never known how to refuse Lin Huaixi. As always, whatever Lin Huaixi asked for, he gave. Without any effort at all, he carried him back under the hoop and continued helping him perform these ultra-low-difficulty dunks.
Lin Huaixi had successfully cheered himself up and kept laughing without stop. Watching him, Qi Wang’s own lips never lost their curve either.
Under the star-filled night sky, the lights beside the basketball court were bright but not glaring, covering them with a layer of color called youth. The smiles on their faces had not yet been touched by the dust of the world and carried only the purest kind of happiness. They were quietly stored away in the deepest part of memory, becoming that forever-unreachable beautiful time.
But the streetlights could only illuminate so much. Around them, the trees cast swaying shadows. In one patch of darkness, a blurred outline could just barely be seen, along with a pair of sneakers touched by the light.
Sun Baiyi was usually like an enthusiastic, slightly clumsy big dog, always wanting to stick close to Lin Huaixi. But this time, instead of running over with shining eyes, his face looked especially pale under the darkness of night. He shook his head in disbelief and took one timid step backward, hiding his whole body inside the shadows.
…
He too had been specially looked after by the school after getting hurt while saving Lin Huaixi. During evening study, if he felt physically unwell, he was allowed to go in and out of the infirmary freely.
Earlier, his wound had felt numb and itchy, so he had gone to the infirmary. The doctor said it was healing well, that the strange sensation was just part of the recovery, and then half warning, half threatening, added that scratching or moving the wound carelessly would leave a scar.
Sun Baiyi had not taken a word of that to heart.
He was a real man—tough skin, thick hide. Even if it left a scar, so what? It would be a medal from saving Xixi, and if anything, he wanted it to be even deeper!
But if that happened, every time Xixi saw it, he would worry and blame himself. And Xixi’s injury was even worse than his—what if Xixi ended up with a scar too?
That thought dug itself deep into Sun Baiyi’s heart. He did not care about himself at all, but he cared intensely about Lin Huaixi. Because of that, he spent the whole day distracted and dazed. Right after school, he rushed to the pharmacy next door and bought a scar-removal cream for Lin Huaixi.
He wanted to give it directly to him, but then he worried that “all medicine carries some toxicity,” so later he secretly slipped off to the infirmary at another time, wanting the teacher there to take a look first.
The teacher had not expected such a rough-and-ready-looking boy to have such a careful, delicate side. Their eyes carried teasing goodwill.
Sun Baiyi was very familiar with that kind of look. His classmates had teased him like that several times already. At the time he had not felt much about it, but being looked at that way by a teacher made him shift his gaze awkwardly aside, and he rubbed the tip of his nose guiltily.
He had never once tried to hide how much he cared about Lin Huaixi, or how much he liked him. He was always talking about Lin Huaixi, even deliberately dragging him into conversations when there had been no reason to.
As long as he could see Lin Huaixi, as long as he could keep hearing his name, he would feel unbelievably happy. Once he got the scar cream, he became like a fussy old granny—eyes full of worry, repeating the same instructions over and over again.
His deskmate and the boys in class had been teasing him relentlessly.
“Sun Baiyi, this is getting to the point where you value friendship over romance. If you ever get a girlfriend in the future, you definitely won’t treat her as well as you treat Lin Huaixi!”
“Exactly. Your girlfriend would definitely get mad. If you had to choose between the two of them, who would you choose?”
Sun Baiyi answered without the slightest hesitation, “Of course I’d choose Xixi!”
He did not even blink. There was not the slightest pause in his tone, as if only that kind of straightforward answer could fully express how he felt about Lin Huaixi.
Sun Baiyi’s reaction was so over the top, and since he was the sort of person who joked around easily anyway, everyone immediately burst into noisy teasing.
“Sun Baiyi, I’ll teach you a perfect solution—just go be Lin Huaixi’s wife. Then nobody will get jealous!”
“Right! You absolutely treat Lin Huaixi like a little girlfriend. Don’t laugh at me, but if the goddess I liked actually agreed to be my girlfriend, I’d definitely treat her really well. But no matter how hard I tried, I still probably wouldn’t treat her even half as well as you treat Lin Huaixi!”
Faced with all the teasing and uproar, Sun Baiyi remained completely at ease, without the slightest hint of embarrassment.
He was always blunt and straightforward, saying exactly what he meant. Besides, a real man should admit the things he had done.
But he also truly did not think his feelings for Lin Huaixi had crossed any line. He had no thoughts in that direction.
The boys around him were all still living in an ivory tower, with limited experience of the world. Some of them went around loudly claiming they had a “goddess” in mind, yet they themselves could not even tell the difference between good feelings, liking, and love. As for the rest, they had not even awakened at all. Their teasing words were just idle nonsense, not something they actually believed.
And yet when he sat in front of the infirmary teacher during evening self-study, Sun Baiyi felt strangely as though some buried thought inside him had been poked, leaving him restless and unable to sit still.
Terrified that the teacher might say something even more shocking, the moment he got confirmation that the medicine was fine, he grabbed the scar-removal cream and fled the infirmary as though escaping for his life.
The night wind was already very cool, but even blowing over his face, it failed to lower his temperature at all. His mind had become inexplicably messy, and he felt as though he were floating on top of a cloud, dazed and unreal.
Instead of heading back to the classroom, he wandered around the campus under the cover of night with no clear destination.
The whole campus lay in darkness, except for the basketball court, where the lights were still on and voices could faintly be heard. Without thinking, he followed that sound there, never expecting to run into Lin Huaixi and Qi Wang—two people who, under normal circumstances, never skipped class.
Sun Baiyi’s eyes widened with delight at once, and he took a step forward, wanting to join them. But, for once, a usually insensitive person like him clearly sensed the special atmosphere between Lin Huaixi and Qi Wang.
It did not fit him. In fact, it excluded him.
Sun Baiyi could only stop there. Like some gloomy voyeur, he stood silently in the corner and watched everything unfold.
His heart was still full of Lin Huaixi, and his field of vision was filled with Lin Huaixi too. Whenever he saw Lin Huaixi smile, he would also become absurdly happy and excited, as if his blood itself were leaping inside him, making him feel intensely alive. It always left him impatient to do something.
Before this, he would have run straight to Lin Huaixi’s side, thrown an arm around his shoulders, grabbed his hair, or bumped and rubbed all around him just to make sure he was noticed. When he saw their two shadows overlapping closely together, he would mysteriously ask Lin Huaixi to guess what he was thinking, only to point it out to him afterward and turn it all into some silly prank.
Lin Huaixi had a good personality. He always played along with those childish games, and he always smiled. But the way Lin Huaixi looked right now was different from what he remembered.
He had not yet fully awakened, but instinct had already started sounding the alarm in his mind. His ears buzzed, and his temples throbbed with pain.
Before this, his relationship with Qi Wang had been bad, but only on a surface level. Now he felt like a beast whose territory had been challenged. All he wanted was to rush over, slam Qi Wang aside with his head, and pull Lin Huaixi into his own arms.
He too could help Lin Huaixi dunk. He too could rub scar cream onto him. When Lin Huaixi felt bad, he too could comfort him over and over.
He was willing to do anything for Lin Huaixi.
He was even willing to guarantee that after this, there would never be another person more important in his life. He would not have a girlfriend or a wife either.
As long as he had Lin Huaixi, he would already feel completely satisfied.
Lin Huaixi was that important to him, and yet now all he could do was stand there and watch Lin Huaixi be together with the person he hated most—Qi Wang.
People were always saying that Sun Baiyi had no sense, that he could not read a room, that he liked to crash loudly right into the middle of things. But now that he finally did understand the atmosphere, all he could feel was a pain like his insides were being torn apart.
It was not “one day in the future.”
It was now.
Lin Huaixi would one day find someone utterly special to him. He would become that person’s partner for life, and no matter how close Sun Baiyi was to him, he would only be able to retreat into the place of “good friend,” forced to watch Lin Huaixi be close to someone else while drifting farther and farther away from him.
No. He did not want that!
If the person who would date Lin Huaixi and stay with him for life could be someone—why couldn’t that someone be him?!
It was not as though he had never imagined that person before. It was just that the face had always been blurry, and every detail about it had felt wrong. But now that Lin Huaixi’s figure had appeared in his mind, the snapped string in his head finally reconnected.
Yes. That was exactly how it should be. He liked Lin Huaixi. He wanted to be with Lin Huaixi!
Though Sun Baiyi was only just awakening to love, those emotions had been piling up in his heart for a long time. Now that they had finally found a breakthrough, they burst forth and took over his entire inner world. His breathing grew rapid and hot. His eyes fixed on Lin Huaixi, filled with the predatory urge that accompanied a male animal in courtship.
Sun Baiyi’s hand trembled as he raised it to run through his hair. Mouth open, he kept taking deep breaths.
He found it hard to describe the feeling. Every thought in his body, every single cell, seemed to develop a will of its own, crashing into each other and erupting into crackling sparks. Those sparks turned into an even deeper force that made it impossible for him to remain still. His hands and feet seemed ready to act on their own, wanting to get close to Lin Huaixi and show him the very best version of himself.
A peacock fanning its tail really was the most instinctive thing in the world.
Sun Baiyi stood there in the night, grinning foolishly to himself for a while. Then he raised his dark eyes and looked at Lin Huaixi, his gaze both aggressive and tender, before taking one more step forward.
But Lin Huaixi did not look at him. He was lifted high in Qi Wang’s arms, smiling so happily.
He even rested his hands on Qi Wang’s shoulders, and the two of them looked quietly into each other’s eyes. They needed no words at all before smiling in unison.
The way Qi Wang looked at Lin Huaixi was terribly familiar, because Sun Baiyi looked at him that same way himself.
The foot he had just lifted froze in the air. It felt as though the back of his head had been smashed with an iron rod. His ears rang, all sound and color twisting together into a single blur before turning black and spinning around him, trapping him tightly inside.
This night was exceptionally special to Sun Baiyi.
Cruel, too.
It had taken him so long to finally understand his feelings for Lin Huaixi.
And at the very same time, he had uncovered another secret.
Qi Wang liked Lin Huaixi too.
