Chapter 72
Law and Finance rarely had an elective course together, so they could finally sit in the same large lecture hall.
Looking at the empty seat beside Lin Huaixi, Liu Zhengnian asked in confusion, “Where’s Qi Wang?”
Lin Huaixi stared blankly ahead, lost in thought, and did not answer.
Liu Zhengnian asked several times. When that failed, he had no choice but to grab Lin Huaixi’s shoulder and shake it. “Huaixi, what are you thinking about?”
Lin Huaixi slowly turned around and stared at him for a few seconds before his wandering thoughts finally returned. “I-I wasn’t thinking about anything.”
Liu Zhengnian was speechless. Could you at least make your lies sound a little more believable?
He did not dwell on it and repeated the question, “Where’s Qi Wang?”
It was just an ordinary question, but Lin Huaixi’s lashes trembled slightly. In the span of a few breaths, his face flushed red at a speed visible to the naked eye, so hot it looked as if steam might rise from it.
This hopelessly straight guy, Liu Zhengnian, had never seen such a dramatic reaction before and was startled. “What’s wrong with you? Are you sick? Do you have a fever? Why did your face suddenly get so red?”
There was no mirror nearby, so Lin Huaixi could not see himself, but he could clearly feel the heat burning across his face. Under Liu Zhengnian’s gaze, shame filled his eyes with moisture. He hurriedly tried to hide somewhere. “I’m fine.”
Seeing Lin Huaixi bend over and curl up into a ball, as if he wanted to bury his head inside his backpack, Liu Zhengnian grew even more worried and reached out to pull him. “Don’t be so reserved. Let me check your temperature. If you’ve got a fever, don’t push yourself. I’ll take you to the infirmary.”
“I’m really fine.” Lin Huaixi pressed the back of his hand against his face, only exposing his eyes. “Why are you asking about Qi Wang?”
A huge question mark seemed to pop up over Liu Zhengnian’s head. He had already sensed something was off. “You really don’t look like you have a fever. What exactly happ—”
Suddenly, Liu Zhengnian seemed to realize something. Narrowing his eyes slightly, he said, “It’s because of Qi Wang, isn’t it? You blush the second you hear his name. Ah, I know now!”
Liu Zhengnian’s voice was loud, and whatever he was about to blurt out next was already at the tip of his tongue. Every nerve in Lin Huaixi’s body tightened into a single taut line. His reason was on the verge of collapse, and in his panic he hurried to cover Liu Zhengnian’s mouth.
At the same time, Liu Zhengnian’s voice rang out beside his ear. “You must’ve had a fight with Qi Wang. That’s why your face is this red from anger!”
Lin Huaixi: “…”
His mind went blank for a few seconds. He stared at Liu Zhengnian, dumbfounded, his expression turning strange. Then he sat back down awkwardly. “Ah, you’re too smart. You really guessed it. I did have a fight with Qi Wang.”
Liu Zhengnian lifted his chin, looking smug and pleased with himself. “My observation skills are sharp. You can’t hide this kind of thing from me.”
Lin Huaixi glanced at Liu Zhengnian, and his feelings suddenly became complicated.
He really could not even mock Liu Zhengnian for being this adorably dumb, because he himself used to be exactly the same.
Completely clueless, with his thoughts never once turning in that direction. Qi Wang had liked him for so long and treated him so well—he must have felt pretty helpless too.
He pitied Qi Wang for a few seconds, then let out a long sigh.
But knowing now changed nothing. He still could not respond to Qi Wang. After all, they were just good brothers.
“Qi Wang had something to do today. He already asked the teacher for leave,” Lin Huaixi said casually.
Liu Zhengnian nodded. “Then why weren’t you in the dorm last night either? Did you go to see Qi Wang?”
With Liu Zhengnian’s thought process, there was absolutely no way he would think that way. Even if Lin Huaixi accidentally said something wrong, Liu Zhengnian would probably correct it for him automatically.
Relaxing, Lin Huaixi replied, “Qi Wang got drunk last night, so I went to—”
—“Xixi, if I didn’t lock you up, you would definitely go look for them, wouldn’t you?”
!!!
Lin Huaixi’s pupils contracted sharply, and he shot to his feet.
Last night, he had been too shocked and panicked. His brain had already lost the ability to process even the simple fact that “Qi Wang likes him,” so he had no spare capacity left for anything else.
Only now did he finally register the sourness, grievance, and resentment hidden in those words. Perhaps that had been the catalyst that made Qi Wang do something like that while drunk.
“What’s wrong with you now?”
Meeting Liu Zhengnian’s baffled expression, Lin Huaixi’s eyes lit up. He shook Liu Zhengnian’s shoulders excitedly. “Thank you! If not for you, I would’ve forgotten something super important!”
“What important thing?” Liu Zhengnian asked curiously.
But Lin Huaixi had already fallen into deep thought and ignored him completely.
Those words had been dripping with jealousy. Qi Wang did not want him going to look for them anymore.
Them????
It was such a simple sentence that even an elementary school student could understand it, yet Lin Huaixi’s brain froze for a full minute before he managed to sort it out.
That meant there was not just one person—at the very least, there were two people who liked him. They had to be people who often appeared around him and had spent a fair amount of time with him, or else Qi Wang would not have been jealous to that extent.
So he was actually that popular?!
Then who were they?!
Lin Huaixi was both confused and shocked. He used his left hand to hold down his slightly trembling right hand and forced himself to take deep breaths, trying to calm down.
Since there was no obvious candidate, then he could only use the method of elimination.
First, he ruled out the three scumbag love interests. The ones they liked were Qi Wang, not him. So the people around him who had known both him and Qi Wang for a long time were…
Lin Huaixi’s eyes widened like saucers. Like a rusty robot, his joints gave off an almost teeth-grinding creak as he slowly turned to look at Liu Zhengnian and Zhang Yunqiu.
Could it be these two?
Liu Zhengnian had his head buried in his desk cubby, crunching loudly on a pack of crispy noodles. Zhang Yunqiu was baring his teeth while laughing foolishly at a video. Sensing Lin Huaixi’s gaze, both of them turned around, their eyes full of a kind of transparent stupidity, the kind you could see straight through at one glance.
Lin Huaixi turned back expressionlessly. “…”
After being confessed to by Qi Wang, the once-clueless Lin Huaixi felt as though his romantic meridians had suddenly been opened. He had gained the ability to detect gay vibes at a glance.
These two? Forget secretly pining after someone—they probably did not even know what type they liked. No matter how one looked at it, it could not possibly be them.
But after ruling the two of them out, he had hit a dead end again. Lin Huaixi racked his brains so hard that his head began to ache, yet he still could not figure out who “they” were.
Who exactly likes him and has Qi Wang jealous enough to be like this? Would they please step forward already!
If he did not resolve this, he would not be able to focus on anything else. So he spent the entire day in a daze, until Sun Baiyi called him.
“Xixi, are you done with class? Do you have time to walk around with me for a bit?”
Lin Huaixi blanked for a few seconds before finally remembering that Sun Baiyi had come specially to spend time with him—and he had forgotten all about him.
What kind of friend does that make him? Totally unqualified.
Feeling apologetic, Lin Huaixi said, “I just finished class. Wherever you want to go, I’ll go with you.”
“Let’s go for a walk by the sea. I heard the view there is really nice.”
The school was by the sea but in a remote area, so there were not many tourists nearby. Taking a walk along the shore at dusk was not only scenic, but the atmosphere was also especially romantic, perfect for cultivating feelings.
Lin Huaixi did not catch on to Sun Baiyi’s little scheme at all. He agreed immediately and even bought milk tea and snacks for him, worried he might get hungry.
When Sun Baiyi took them, he was deeply moved. Looking at Lin Huaixi with great affection, he said, “Xixi, you’re so good to me.”
Lin Huaixi pressed his lips together. The guilt in his heart made his smile look forced.
They strolled along the seaside, neither of them speaking. Biting on his straw, Sun Baiyi raised his eyes and stole a glance at Lin Huaixi.
The evening glow lit up the whole sky. Lin Huaixi had his head slightly lowered, and the lines of his profile were soft and beautiful. His whole figure was rimmed in orange light, giving him a soft, furry sort of texture, and even his clear, clean eyes had been dyed warm by the sunset.
That version of Lin Huaixi was so beautiful it made one unable to resist wanting to get closer.
Sun Baiyi’s heart itched. The urge to confess suddenly surged up in him, but he knew the timing was not right yet. So with great difficulty, he swallowed the words back down and instead fixed Lin Huaixi with an intense gaze. “Xixi, do you have someone you like? Or a type you like?”
The word “like” struck a chord in Lin Huaixi’s heart. He lifted his eyes to look at Sun Baiyi, his expression turning very complicated.
Sun Baiyi noticed his abnormal reaction too. His movements paused, and he stopped walking almost unconsciously.
The two of them stood still at the same time, facing each other quietly. The waves rolled in gently. Amid the sound of the sea, there was also the pounding of human hearts, and the atmosphere changed completely from what it had been before.
Lin Huaixi genuinely could not think of an answer anymore. Instinctively, he wanted to ask someone else for help. Other than Qi Wang, Sun Baiyi was his best friend, and there were some things he could only say to him.
“Sun Baiyi, I want to ask you something. It might be a little strange, so don’t overthink it, and you don’t have to answer if you don’t want to.”
Lin Huaixi licked his dry lips, and the tips of his ears gradually turned red as well. “If among a group of good friends, one of them liked you—I’m not talking about anyone specific, and this definitely isn’t happening to me, I mean…”
His gaze flickered. He looked at Sun Baiyi with hidden expectation, hoping he would understand the implication and give him a bit of advice.
But Sun Baiyi’s reaction was completely different from what he had expected.
Sun Baiyi froze completely, as if his soul had left his body. After five or six seconds, he suddenly snapped back, his chest rising and falling violently, his face turning red so fast it looked as if he could barely breathe.
A giant question mark popped up over Lin Huaixi’s head. He had just opened his mouth to ask what was wrong when Sun Baiyi suddenly stepped forward and gripped his hand tightly.
“Xixi, when did you find out?” Sun Baiyi’s voice was trembling so badly he almost bit his tongue.
Lin Huaixi paused, then stared at him in disbelief. “Y-you knew too?!”
So even Sun Baiyi had noticed that Qi Wang liked him, and he alone had remained clueless? Was he really that dense?
Sun Baiyi’s gaze swept inch by inch across Lin Huaixi’s features. He did not miss a single subtle expression. Struck right in the heart by how adorable he was, Sun Baiyi’s lips curved slightly, and his heart trembled.
He knew the moment had come.
Taking a deep breath, he gazed at Lin Huaixi with eyes as gentle as water. Every word he spoke was accompanied by his pounding heartbeat.
“Xixi, I wanted to prepare myself a bit better first, but I didn’t expect you to have already noticed. That’s right—I like you!”
Lin Huaixi: …???!!!
What? What did Sun Baiyi just say… he likes him? Sun Baiyi likes him too?!
They had grown up together. Their relationship was incredibly close. Caught between the attacks of his two good friends, Lin Huaixi’s brain finally crashed completely under the double impact.
So Sun Baiyi was included among the “them” Qi Wang had mentioned. But Sun Baiyi was one of the scumbag love interests—how could he possibly like him?
And weren’t they supposed to be good brothers? Why did both of them have to go and like him?!
This chapter seems to be a repeat of the previous chapter?