CH 20

Chapter 20 Fainted

Jian Chi took a leave of absence from the Literature Club. One reason was of which to not wanting to meet Shao Hang, and the other was that the assessments of several disciplines were piled together. When the bell rang, Jian Chi walked into the library with his book and notebook in his arms. He saw a red smear standing out from the crowd at a glance, and he subconsciously had the urge to go back. 

It was a coincidence that he did it deliberately. The only time he asked for leave was when he ran into Shao Hang, who also skipped class—the reason why it was classified as ‘skipping class’ was that Jian Chi didn’t believe that Shao Hang would have the patience to ask for leave. 

It was noon, and Shao Hang was sitting outside the window where the sun could shine, with one hand on his chin, a book spread out in front of him. His unruly eyebrows was lowered and he looked like he was a bit bluffing and serious, but Jian Chi knew that as soon as he opened his mouth, this rare sense of atmosphere would be completely destroyed. 

The surrounding area was empty and no one could be seen, but many people quietly looked over in Shao Hang’s direction with their peripheral vision. When Jian Chi walked by, he heard someone whispering, “Why come to the library when there is a special lounge”. It might be like trying home-cooked stir-fry after being used to eating wild game, Jian Chi guessed in the bottom of his heart.

Fortunately, the library was spacious enough. With a three-story design, there were fifteen study sections in a single study area. Jian Chi bypassed Shao Hang, found an excellent visual blind spot, put down the things in his hand, put on his headphones and tuned to the music he usually listened to, and entered learning mode. 

Jian Chi didn’t know how the others were doing. He especially enjoyed this quiet feeling. He could cut off the connection with the outside world for a short time and immerse himself in the world of symbols and words. 

But some people can’t stand it. 

The music on the right stopped abruptly, leaving only a hoarse male voice humming in his left ear. Jian Chi looked up at the culprit. Shao Hang held the headphone cable as if he was holding a trophy, and a deep smile appeared on the corner of his mouth. 

“What a coincidence.” 

Jian Chi’s heart beat a few more times, he was frightened. He was speechless for a while, and he couldn’t understand, “…Why are you here?” 

A pair of earphones was held in Shao Hang’s hand. He sat beside Jian Chi naturally, tilted his head, and his fingers provocatively circled the cable. His sweet and magnetic voice made Jian Chi feel upset: “This sentence, shouldn’t I be asking you that? Why are you hiding when you see me?” 

Jian Chi’s hand on the keyboard couldn’t go on, and after a few seconds of silence, he changed the subject: “I still have homework to write.” 

“Did you go to a concert with Ji Huaisi?” Shao Hang asked himself, observing Jian Chi’s reaction with some playfulness. 

Jian Chi didn’t want to pay attention to it at first, but then he thought that such a reaction might make Shao Hang more energetic, so he replied, “En.” 

Simple and clear, cutting off any possibility of chatting.

It’s pointless to ask him why he knew about this, just like asking how Shao Hang knew he was sitting in this position. Jian Chi understood that he would definitely be fooled by Shao Hang’s frivolous tone. 

Shao Hang didn’t seem to care about this defiant answer at all, but leaned on the table. He leaned closer, as if wanting to stick to Jian Chi’s ear and whispered: “I heard that you came back very late that day, what did you two do?” 

The ambiguity deliberately created in the sentence made Jian Chi feel a little uncomfortable, he moved aside a little, “This has nothing to do with you. The library forbids making noise. If you have anything else to say, you can wait until the next time.” 

Best not have a next time. 

“You and Ji Huaisi are really compatible,” Shao Hang snorted coldly, pulled away, and threw off the headphone cord that was coiled by him. “One is serious, the other is really boring.” 

Jian Chi couldn’t understand why Shao Hang came over to say these words. He looked at him for a while with the eyes of looking at a child in trouble, then without refuting, he calmly replied ‘en’. 

This perfunctory answer obviously aroused Shao Hang’s dissatisfaction. His eyes swept across to his desktop, raised his hand to close Jian Chi’s laptop, closed the book along the way, and then his lips twitched, “That’s right, if you continue studying, it will be bad for your brain. It’s already not very smart.”

The moment the notebook was closed, Jian Chi suffered a cardiac arrest. He patted Shao Hang’s hand away and restarted Word. When he saw that the unsaved document could be restored, his heart returned to its original position. 

Thinking that the homework he had just been busy for a few hours was almost destroyed by Shao Hang’s hands, Jian Chi could hardly keep his calm. His tone was not polite: “Please ask before touching other people’s things, this is the most basic courtesy, didn’t your parents teach you?” 

He didn’t know which words pierced Shao Hang’s strange red line, but he pinched Jian Chi’s cheek. His face was gloomy, and his eyes looked down with a bit of terrifying coldness, “What are you? You think you are worthy of mentioning my parents?” 

Jian Chi was forced to look up. He was so angry that he wanted to laugh when he heard this sentence, and his reason came back a little at this time, but he didn’t want to explain or excuse himself. Seeing Shao Hang’s stabbed expression, there was something inexplicable in his heart that comforted him. 

“At least I know how to tolerate a mentally handicapped person who lacks basic manners.” 

There was a dull pain in his cheeks, and Jian Chi felt that his bones were pinched. He wanted to say something more extreme, but seeing the anger in Shao Hang’s eyes, reason still put out the restlessness in his heart. 

Shao Hang stared at Jian Chi’s eyes, as if he wanted to look into the depths from a short distance of an inch to peel off the shell to see the inside. Jian Chi kept his composure and looked back. He didn’t know how long it took for the shackles on his face to disappear. Shao Hang let go of him as he threw away the earphone cable, and snorted coldly. 

“A person is a little more stupid, but their courage would be a little bigger.” 

Jian Chi pressed his sore face, thinking about every time he met Shao Hang, they would inevitably bump into each other. He had some regrets to those impulses just now, but in the end he had no excuse. Shao Hang glanced at him sideways, then the corners of his originally cold mouth gradually turned into a smile. He reached out and scratched Jian Chi’s blushing face, “Does it hurt?” 

Goosebumps aroused with Shao Hang’s touch. Jian Chi didn’t understand what heinous thing he had done for him to sit here facing him. Pressing down his temple, “If you can stop yourself next time, it may not be necessary to answer that question.”

Jian Chi was ready to be rebutted back by Shao Hang, but Shao Hang just raised his eyebrows and spat out, “I’ll try my best.” 

Strange person. 

Jian Chi felt that Shao Hang might know what he was thinking, at this moment, it was really difficult for him to take into account the content of the book. Shao Hang’s hate was too real. Even in the book, Jian Chi couldn’t help but want to go and beat him up, not to mention that he was alive in front of him. There was no way to separate it, to stand in the perspective of God. 

One third of the fourth semester has passed without him knowing it, and Jian Chi had no time to continue wrangling with Zhang Yang. He devoted most of his energy to his schoolwork. With the accident of being caught by Shao Hang last time, he chose to spend half of the time in the dormitory and half of the time in the library. This decision made Jian Chi unavoidably confront Wei An. Often after a few words, it made him feel uncomfortable from time to time and to think of changing dorms. 

The weekly swimming lesson was a rare time to relax. After changing his clothes and closing the locker door, he accidentally caught a glimpse of Wen Chuan, who was covered in scars. His thoughts drifted back. Bai Xiyu should have finished the plot. He should be slowly getting to know Wen Chuan. He was too busy during this time to observe the direction of the story, and Bai Xiyu also disappeared from sight for a while. But Jian Chi guessed that it should be about the same as the original plot.

The locker door slammed shut, interrupting his thoughts. Wen Chuan walked past Jian Chi, the cold white complexion made the abnormal redness of the cheeks stand out and the delicate facial features were a bit weary and morbid, even more beautiful than usual. Although it looked the same as usual, the air pressure around him was lower. 

Was he sick? Jian Chi guessed in his heart, and before he could take a few more glances, Wen Chuan’s figure had already walked out of the dressing room. 

“One second slower than last time.” 

The teacher squatted by the pool, waited for Jian Chi to stick his head out and pressed the stopwatch in his hand, “Do you want to do it a few more times? Don’t be discouraged, swimming itself is not an easy exercise to improve.” 

Jian Chi took off his goggles while panting, and shook his head, “I’ll take a break.” 

The teacher didn’t force him to continue, and asked, “How is the consideration for what I told you last time?” 

Jian Chi was not surprised to hear this sentence. After several training sessions, he gradually became acquainted with this stern but gentle teacher. The teacher’s surname was Gao. He used to be a member of the national team, but later retired due to injury and took an idle job in the school. He paid special attention to students who were good at swimming, such as Wen Chuan and Jian Chi was the second. In the last class, Gao Yan asked him about his willingness to participate in a swimming competition. 

Saintston paid attention to the dual development of sports and academics, and sports competitions of various sizes were spread over the four semesters of the year. Equestrian competition was the most formal event. Others like swimming competitions, tennis competitions, football competitions, etc. were organized by people in the circle. Everyone could sign up to participate and the final prize was also a plan to have some fun, a relaxation from boring schoolwork. 

Jian Chi hesitated a little, then said his decision: “I’m not going to participate in the competition.”

Gao Yan sighed regretfully and did not persuade Jian Chi to change his mind, “With this there will be no suspense in the championship. If you can participate, you may be able to compete with Wen Chuan.” 

While talking, Gao Yan looked at Wen Chuan on the other side and Jian Chi also casted his gaze subconsciously. Perhaps because of Wen Chuan’s participation, he subconsciously chose to refuse, “I can’t compare to him.”

“Who knows?” Gao Yan smiled, “No one can tell when you haven’t tried, but I’m very optimistic about you, Jian Chi.” 

This time, Jian Chi deliberately waited for everyone to leave the locker room after taking a shower, then walked in as the last one. He confirmed that Wen Chuan went in very early, and should have left by this time. The dressing room surrounded by fog was deserted. When Jian Chi opened the cabinet, he suddenly heard a movement from the bathroom. 

A ‘boom’ sound, like the sound of a heavy object falling to the ground. 

Without thinking much, Jian Chi walked over quickly. There was only one booth in the bathroom closed. He raised his hand and knocked on the door, but there was no response, so he knocked again, “Classmate, are you all right?” 

There was a slight noise inside and the shower was still spraying water. Just when Jian Chi was hesitating whether to break the door or not, the lock was opened from the inside. The sultry water vapor obscured his vision and blocked his thoughts. Wen Chuan lowered his head, his long hair wet and sticking to the side of his flushed face, and his lips were frighteningly white. He took the bath towel and wrapped it around him, and as soon as he uttered a ‘get lost’ at Jian Chi, he swayed against the door. 

There was a trace of regret in Jian Chi’s heart. If he could go back to the last second, he would definitely not choose to come in, but to go out to find someone for help. 

He didn’t dare to glance at him, and asked as calmly as possible, “Can you come out by yourself? Or I’ll call the teacher over.” 

“Mind your own business…” 

The weak and irritable Wen Chuan was a lot more angry than the icy appearance from before, his mouth was still hard, but his voice was getting lower and lower. The air in the bathroom was sultry and hot and Wen Chuan was suspected of having a fever. If he continued to stay, he would just faint here. Jian Chi could only say in a tougher tone, “Either you go out by yourself or I will ask someone to help you out. You are sick. If you continue to shower here, it will only aggravate the condition, do you want to be carried out?”

The delicate brows and eyes frowned slightly. Wen Chuan pursed his bloodless lips, was silent for a moment, then turned off the whistling shower. 

Jian Chi breathed a sigh of relief and was about to turn around, when Wen Chuan in front of him, either slipped or lost his balance, and fell straight ahead. Jian Chi was caught off guard by the weight, and the back of his head and back hit the slippery bathroom tiles, causing his eyes to go black in pain. It took some time for him to recover. 

The hot humid skin clinging on the naked body caused the unusually high temperature to pass to him through every inch of the touch, almost burning. 

“Wen Chuan?” 

He called out tentatively, but there was no response. 

Jian Chi turned his head with some difficulty and looked at Wen Chuan, who was lying on top of him. His eyes were lightly closed, and his perfect facial features were directly in front of him. Jian Chi had to slow down, then after a while, he reached out and shook Wen Chuan. 

Passed out.