CH 66

After Ye Zhou went downstairs, he immediately called a taxi and arrived at the dorm entrance in less than a quarter of an hour.

Ye Zhou took several steps at a time and the three-minute trip was shortened to one minute. Gasping for air, he pushed open the door to 405. Ye Heng was sitting in his seat, looking through a book.

“Brother…” Ye Zhou kept panting, “You…why did you…come…”

“Zhou, drink a little.” Liu Yutian hurriedly poured a glass of water for Ye Zhou.

Ye Heng took a napkin from the table and wanted to wipe the sweat on his forehead. In the end, Ye Zhou instinctively turned his head, and then felt it was a bit impolite. He took the napkin in his hand and wiped his mouth, whispering his thanks. Gulping down the glass of water in one breath, Ye Zhou’s breath evened out and he pulled out Shang Jin’s chair and sat down. “Brother, why didn’t you tell me in advance?”

“I came here on business. Thinking that you were here, I came to see you.”

Ye Zhou relaxed. “That so, when are you leaving?” The words just left, Ye Zhou couldn’t help but slap himself. What was this question!! He had subconsciously asked what he wanted to know the most. However, he remedied, “No, I just wanted to say, did you book a hotel? If you didn’t, I can help you make the reservation.”

Ye Heng who was injured for a second was immediately cured by Ye Zhou’s concern. He said, “I’m leaving tomorrow morning. I heard that you’re renting a house outside. I’ll go to your rented house and stay there with you. We brothers haven’t seen each other for so long, and we should have a good chat in the evening.”

Liu Yutian and Ye Zhou said in unison, “What??”

Ye Heng looked at both of them and said, “What’s wrong?”

Liu Yutian said resentfully, “Nothing, nothing.”

Ye Zhou said with a forceful smile, “Brother, my house is small and lousy. If you go there, there wouldn’t be any place to sit, not to mention staying. I’ll book a hotel for you!”

“It’s okay. I’m not a picky person. You can live there, so why can’t I live there? Besides, I just want to see where you usually live.”

“There’s really no need. It’s just a general one-bedroom. There’s nothing to see.” Ye Zhou also didn’t care to be alone with Ye Heng, feeling uncomfortable. Changing the subject, he said, “Brother, this is the first time you came here. I’ll show you around.”

Ye Heng was of course very happy to.

“I’ll go to the bathroom first,” Ye Zhou said with a dry laugh, “I was in such a hurry that I actually forgot to go to the bathroom.”

“Go ahead, don’t panic.”

As soon as he closed the bathroom door, Ye Zhou turned on the faucet, took out his cell phone and dialed Shang Jin.

After ringing four or five times, the call went through to Shang Jin. “Yeah?”

“You hurry and get up, then tidy up the house. It’s best to pack it up like only one person lives there. Finally, help me book a hotel. Right, come back to your dorm tonight!”

Shang Jin didn’t ask anything and directly said he knows.

After explaining this, Ye Zhou was finally relieved. He turned off the faucet and opened the door. Pretending to the end, he came out and washed his hands in the sink. He went over to Ye Heng and said, “Brother, let’s go.”

Ye Heng didn’t suspect him, nodded to Liu Yutian and followed Ye Zhou to leave the dorm.

Just downstairs, Ye Zhou received a text message from Shang Jin on his phone that showed the address of the hotel. He couldn’t help but admire Shang Jin’s work efficiency.

Ye Heng waited until Ye Zhou put away his phone and asked, “Zhou Zhou, are you still good in school?”

“Pretty good.”

Ye Heng quietly observed Ye Zhou’s expression and continued to ask, “If it’s good, then why did you move out?”

“Eh…” Ye Zhou’s gaze shifted and he vaguely said, “It’s for my own reason.”

Ye Heng also didn’t go to the bottom of the matter. “I’ll be transferring to the A City branch at the end of the year. By that time, I’ll definitely settle here. Since you don’t want to live in the dorm, let’s go look at houses tomorrow. We can rent a bigger one and you can move over. I’m worried for you in the house you’re renting now. When I transfer over, we can look for a new house. It doesn’t matter if we’re buying or renting. We’ll live together.”

What was called ‘shooting yourself in the foot’… Was it too late now to say that the place he rented had a very good environment?

Ye Zhou said awkwardly, “But, I’ve paid half a year’s rent for that place…”

Ye Heng said extravagantly, “It doesn’t matter. Your brother will pay you back however much you spent.”

This wasn’t the matter of having money or not…

The more he talked, the more he couldn’t justify himself, so Ye Zhou could only very bluntly change the topic. “I’ll take you around the campus first.”

“Sure. Originally, I almost applied here. At that time, I was hesitating between the two schools.” Ye Heng patted Ye Zhou’s shoulder and said, “Now that you’re in A Uni, it could be counted as making up for my regrets.”

Perhaps the environment was familiar, so even though Ye Zhou was a bit uncomfortable around Ye Heng, he still could introduce him to his school.

This was the first time Ye Heng saw such a talkative Ye Zhou. While he was enjoying it, he began to doubt his previous thoughts.

At half past three, it was just when class let out. Walking past the school building, students kept streaming by.

A boy from the same dorm saw Ye Zhou and asked, “Ye Zhou, what are you doing? Why aren’t you with Shang Jin?”

Ye Zhou shot a glance at Ye Heng and quickly replied, “My brother came today, and I’m taking him around.”

“OK, then I’ll go first!”

Ye Zhou sighed with relief as he watched the other party leave.

Along the way, they encountered many such people. The first sentence was all “Where’s Shang Jin?” It made Ye Zhou start to review: was he always so stuck together to Shang Jin that it made everyone flabbergasted when he came out alone?

“It seems that you get along well with everyone.” Ye Heng felt like a weight was off his mind. What he was most worried about that Ye Zhou was bullied, but now it seemed that the facts were very different from his own imagination. Didn’t he say? His brother was so good, how could he not be loved by everyone? Even when he was in college, he couldn’t have walked along a street and have people keep greeting him along the way.

Just as he said this, another of Ye Zhou’s friends came.

“Yo, Ye Zhou, you’re alone?”

Ye Zhou saw the sports player and immediately greeted him familiarly, “Did you come from the sports field?”

“Yeah, I just went to play basketball,” The sports player originally greeted him casually, but when he saw Ye Heng who was leaning close to Ye Zhou, he asked vigilantly, “Where’s Shang Jin?”

It was Shang Jin again. Ye Zhou’s eyelid twitched and he urged, “He has his own business. You should quickly go, you!”

However, the more anxious Ye Zhou was in his heart, the more the sports player thought Ye Zhou was guilty. He shook his head and said helplessly, “You and Shang Jin quarreled again?”

“Really no!” Ye Zhou pushed the sports player and said, “Go on, this is my brother.”

The sports player heaved a long sigh of relief. “Oh, so it’s like this. Then you take your time strolling. I won’t bother you.”

Ye Heng, who had been listening to the entire conversation, couldn’t pretend even if he wanted to. He said suspiciously, “Who’s Shang Jin?” If he remembered correctly, the person on the phone screen of Ye Zhou’s roommate should be Shang Jin.

After calling Ye Zhou’s phone, he couldn’t reach the other party. In the end, they called Shang Jin and found him.

But Ye Zhou didn’t lift his head and simply said, “Just a friend of mine.”

“That so.” Ye Heng glanced at his nervously clenched fists and said, “I heard that your school library is very big. Where is it? Could you take me to see it?”

Ye Zhou couldn’t have asked for anything else. While walking, he said, “I usually love to visit the library. There are a lot of books and many books aren’t sold outside. Also…”

Listening to Ye Zhou gush on, Ye Heng suddenly stopped and watched him silently.

Ye Zhou touched his face and said, “What’s wrong?”

Ye Heng laughed and said, “Just thinking I’ve neglected my duty too much. I’ve obviously been your older brother for twenty years, but I feel like I’m meeting you for the first time.”

“How…how can…” Ye Zhou lowered his head and felt embarrassed to speak again.

“Let’s take a rest.”

Ye Zhou brought Ye Heng to the school cafe and ordered two cups of coffee.

When touring the campus, he could keep looking for topics, but after stopping, it felt somewhat awkward.

As though specifically pointing out Ye Zhou’s distress, Ye Heng said with a smile, “How come you’re not speaking?”

Ye Zhou took a sip of coffee and said, “No.”

Ye Heng no longer embarrassed him. “Actually, before coming here, I’d always worried that you were as unhappy as you were at home. Today, I’m so happy to see that you’re comfortable at school and have so many friends.”

Ye Zhou scratched his head and said, “It’s because everyone is so easy to get along with.”

“You don’t feel at ease when you’re home, so I also don’t blame you for not wanting to go home.”

Ye Zhou’s lips moved, but finally, didn’t refute.

“Zhou Zhou, whatever you feel about our family, you have to remember,” Ye Heng said earnestly, “You’re the pride of this brother. Brother has always been very happy to have such an outstanding little brother.”

Ye Zhou’s nose was sour. Wasn’t it his brother who was his pride? He’d almost forgotten that once he’d pointed at the picture of Ye Heng on the honor roll and proudly introduced to his classmates that was his brother. He didn’t know at what point his pride had become ugly jealousy, a mountain crushing him. Every time he felt he could stand up under heavy pressure, he would be pinned down in the next second.

Almost…just a little bit…

Obviously it was within sight, but it could never be crossed.

But without knowing, this mountain had never been a mountain, but also a road sign in the desert, silently waiting in the same place. Only he’d avoided looking at it.

He’d unilaterally turned his brother into an enemy, imprisoning himself and injuring his closest, most loved one.

Ye Zhou bowed his head and whispered, “I’m sorry…”

“We’re a family. There’s nothing to be sorry for.” Ye Heng rubbed Ye Zhou’s head and said, “And what I said is true. In my heart, you’re much better than I am.”

Ye Zhou didn’t believe his words of comfort. “No way. Obviously, my older brother is even more powerful. Since young, you’re the best in everything you do.”

“I think you’re more capable of making friends with a lot of people. In all fairness, I certainly can’t.”

“I said before that it’s because everyone’s easy to get along with…”

Ye Heng stirred the coffee with a spoon and said, “Now, let’s talk about Shang Jin.”

Ye Zhou was stupefied. Didn’t the topic switch a bit fast??