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Chapter 21
Editor: Princess
This was the first time Luo Changzhou openly admitted his sexual orientation in front of Yu Pei.
It was also the first time he’d ever been this nervous, kind of like how Zhu Yueming felt when she confessed to him. He was gripping his cup of snow velvet milk tea so tightly that it was starting to bend a little, and he was staring straight at Yu Pei, refusing to miss even the tiniest flicker of emotion in his eyes.
But Yu Pei just looked up at him, blinked, and said, “Huh? Me too.”
“You too?!” Luo Changzhou’s voice went up a notch, like he couldn’t believe what he just heard.
Yu Pei had been too busy poking at the chewy white pearls at the bottom of his drink with his straw to really pay attention to what Luo Changzhou was saying. The only thing he vaguely caught was something about not liking girls like Zhu Yueming, so he just went along with it and said, “Yes, why?”
He liked the quiet, gentle type, like Qi Wenqiang. Girls like Zhu Yueming, the bold and fiery kind, didn’t do anything for him.
Luo Changzhou muttered, “Nothing…”
He knew Yu Pei probably didn’t mean it the way he was hoping, but as he looked at the teenager’s soft and delicate side profile, the words he was about to say just… got swallowed back down.
Yu Pei slurped up one of the chewy white pearls from the bottom of his milk tea, then noticed Luo Changzhou still staring at him blankly. So, he reached out and poked him on the arm, nudging him. “The snow velvet milk tea’s really good, try it.”
Luo Changzhou, on autopilot, took a huge sip. But he wasn’t paying attention and swallowed a pearl whole without chewing. He nearly choked on it and had to gulp down several big mouthfuls of the overly sweet milk tea before he could breathe again.
Chuckling, Yu Pei asked him, “It’s good, right?”
Luo Changzhou looked down at Yu Pei’s fair face, his smile as bright as a crescent moon. He was silent for a few seconds, then the corners of his lips curled up too, and he said, “It’s good.”
Forget it. At least Yu Pei didn’t like that girl. And what if… what if he did mean it that way?
The smile on Luo Changzhou’s face didn’t fade, not even after he got home, causing Mother and Father Luo to keep staring at him, confused. “What happened today? Why are you grinning like that?”
“Nothing.” Luo Changzhou was still smiling. After dinner, he washed the dishes, made himself a cup of tea, and headed upstairs. “I’m going to do my homework.”
However halfway up the stairs, his phone buzzed in his pocket. He froze for a second, then bolted for his room even faster. Because the only person who had his number and would text him at this hour—was Yu Pei.
Ah Pei, Ah Pei.
He silently repeated Yu Pei’s nickname a few times in his head before unlocking his phone. His inbox showed: [You have an unread message from Ah Pei.]
Lying on his bed, he opened the message and suddenly noticed something different—today’s text had a picture attached to it.
[I had an egg pancake today. Picture, picture, smiley face Let’s get one together sometime, okay? Good night =3=]
He smiled at the text at first, but then his smile slowly faded. He stared at the burnt patch on the top right corner of the egg pancake and frowned, thinking to himself: Where did Ah Pei even buy this? It looked terrible and was nowhere near as good as the ones he made. And eating burnt food all the time wasn’t good for ones health.
After thinking it over seriously, he replied: [Street food isn’t clean. I’ll make one for you next time. Good night.]
**
Yu Pei was in a great mood on his way home that Friday, but it wasn’t because there was less homework or anything like that. He was happy because Luo Changzhou didn’t accept Zhu Yueming’s confession, which meant they could still go to and from school together like always.
But mixed in with that happiness was a tiny bit of guilt—because this also meant Luo Changzhou didn’t have a girlfriend now.
But this guilt didn’t last long though; it vanished in an instant. Yu Pei told himself, “Who needs a girlfriend? We’re in senior year, so studying should be the priority. Even he had started taking school seriously.
He was secretly grinning to himself when Uncle Zhuang saw him and asked, “Little Young Master, did something good happen today? You look really happy.”
“Uh… it’s the weekend, so I can sleep in.” Yu Pei quickly made up an excuse. He wasn’t about to admit he was happy just because Luo Changzhou didn’t get a girlfriend, because saying that out loud sounded kind of weird.
Uncle Zhuang didn’t press further. Instead, he reminded him with a smile, “Little Young Master, tomorrow is your follow-up appointment with Dr. Xia. You’ll need to wake up a little earlier, and I’ll be taking you there.”
Yu Pei froze. It took him a second to process before he suddenly remembered—he had already been out of the rehabilitation center for two whole months, and tomorrow was the day he was supposed to go back for a check-up with his psychiatrist, Dr. Xia.
“Don’t worry.” Uncle Zhuang said gently when he saw him spacing out. “You’ve been taking your medication on time, so the results should be fine.”
“En.” Yu Pei nodded. Thinking about it, that was true. He knew his own condition best, and compared to when he had just left the center, he was doing way better now. What could possibly be wrong?
Uncle Zhuang added, “Besides, little young master, you’ve made so many good friends now, haven’t you?”
“Yes.” Yu Pei’s voice was a little guilty when he answered. Because if he was being honest, he had really only made one actual friend—Luo Changzhou. The rest of his so-called “backup friends” only had a “goodnight” text relationship with him.
“So there’s no need to be nervous.” Uncle Zhuang patted him lightly on the shoulder.
**
Even though Yu Pei told himself not to worry, he was still hung up on the whole “friend count” thing. So during dinner, he snapped a photo of the egg pancake the chef made, and as soon as he got back to his room, started drafting a mass text. Back when he was discharged, Dr. Lin had nagged him over and over to make more friends. If Dr. Lin asked him tomorrow how many friends he had made and he could only say Luo Changzhou, what if Dr. Xia thought he still wasn’t getting better?
So he figured it was time to make a few more friends on the spot.
Using food as bait… that should work, right?
[I had an egg pancake today. Picture, picture, smiley face Let’s get one together sometime, okay? Good night =3=]
After finishing the message, he took a deep breath, kicked off his shoes, and rolled into bed, waiting for his classmates’ replies. He waited… and waited… but in the end, only Luo Changzhou replied: [Street food isn’t clean. I’ll make one for you next time. Good night.]
Huh?
He blinked in confusion. He was pretty sure he had added Luo Changzhou to the list of recipients… but when he opened up the template for his mass texts, he suddenly realized, that the only recipient in the template… was Luo Changzhou.
Which meant, all those mass texts he thought he had been sending every night… had only ever gone to Luo Changzhou.
AAAAAAHHHH—!
Even someone as emotionally low-key as Yu Pei wanted to wail right now. No wonder none of his other classmates ever replied. He had been thinking they just didn’t like him, but turns out, his messages never even got sent in the first place!
But at least… Luo Changzhou did get them…
Thinking that, he snuck a guilty glance at his phone screen, and felt even more guilty.
Luo Changzhou… probably hadn’t realized yet that all those good night texts were supposed to be mass messages, right? Quick, delete the template before he finds out!
Yu Pei frantically tapped at his phone, wiping the message template out of existence in just a few seconds. Then, still feeling guilty, he pulled the blanket up to his chin and lay there for a while. But he couldn’t help himself—he unlocked his screen again and carefully scrolled through all his past messages with Luo Changzhou.
Except for the very first night, Luo Changzhou had always replied to his [Good night] texts.
And since he had added Luo Changzhou on QQ, he hadn’t really been checking his text inbox anymore. Most of their chats were on QQ now.
[Street food isn’t clean. I’ll make one for you next time. Good night.]
Yu Pei kept rereading the last text Luo Changzhou sent him over and over again. And the more he looked at it, the weirder he felt—his body was acting up for some reason. He used his free hand to cover his burning cheeks, then touched the corners of his lips, which were lifted way too high.
Hiding under his blanket, he let out two small chuckles—Luo Changzhou said he’d make him an egg pancake next time. He was so gentle.
Having a friend like this was really nice.
He had figured it out. Whatever Dr. Lin said tomorrow, he didn’t care. He wasn’t doing mass texts anymore.
It had been almost a month since school started, and he could tell his classmates were treating him a lot better than before. Besides, when it came to making friends, quality mattered more than quantity. Luo Changzhou—a smart, gentle friend like him—was worth ten regular ones. Having Luo Changzhou was enough.
Maybe it was because he had let go of his worries, but Yu Pei slept so well that night. So well that the next morning, when Uncle Zhuang came to wake him up, his pale cheeks had a faint rosy tint to them. Even Zhang Geng glanced at him a couple more times. And Dr. Xia, who had been waiting in his office early, could sense his bright mood the moment he walked in—he didn’t even need to ask.
“Good morning, Ah Pei.” Xia Qi greeted him with a smile.
Yu Pei grinned back. “Good morning, Dr. Xia.”
“You seem to be in a great mood.” Xia Qi opened Yu Pei’s medical file, jotting something down as he asked, “Did you make a new friend?”
“Yes!” Yu Pei answered obediently, then started giving Xia Qi a detailed introduction. “His name is Luo Changzhou. He’s my deskmate. He’s mixed, and his eyes are blue, like the ocean! They’re so pretty!”
Xia Qi chuckled at this then continued: “I haven’t heard you mention him before. Is he a transfer student?”
“En.” Yu Pei nodded. “He just transferred in this semester.”
Xia Qi looked at the bright smile Yu Pei couldn’t seem to hold back and said warmly, “You light up the second you mention him. He must be a really good friend.”
“He is! Changzhou walks to school with me every day. We go home together too. He even tutors me and helps me with my homework…” The moment Luo Changzhou’s name came up, Yu Pei turned into a chatterbox, going on and on to Xia Qi about how great Luo Changzhou was to him. Honestly, it sounded more like he was showing off the fact that he had such a good friend.
And meanwhile, the very person Yu Pei was thinking about—Luo Changzhou—suddenly sneezed, as if someone had been talking about him too much.
He frowned, staring at the half-finished physics problem in front of him. Then with a sigh, he put his pen down, picked up his silent phone, and glanced at the message the teenager had sent him—
[Good morning, Changzhou ;d]