Chapter 9
Editor: Princess
Yu Pei couldn’t understand—how could there be someone like Luo Changzhou in this world?
Every word he said was laced with subtle tenderness and concern, yet so sincere that it left others speechless.
*
Yu Qing wasn’t particularly busy today, so he returned to the Yu Residence early, waiting for Yu Pei to join him for dinner.
After Yu Pei changed his shoes and put his school bag down, he rushed over to the dining table, greeted Yu Qing, then immediately began shoveling food into his mouth at lightning speed.
By the time Yu Qing swallowed his first bite of meat, he had already demolished more than half of the rice in his bowl. Seeing him eat so quickly, Yu Qing assumed he must not have had enough to eat at lunch and was starving now. However just as he was about to express his concern, he saw Yu Pei choking from eating too fast, his eyes widening as he searched for water frantically. He ladled some soup for him hurriedly.
But Yu Pei wasn’t just eating in a hurry—he gulped the soup down just as quickly and ended up choking on that too, his face turning red as he coughed.
“Slow down, why are you in such a rush?” Yu Qing frowned, patting his back gently to help him catch his breath. “You didn’t have enough to eat at lunch?”
“It’s not that.” Yu Pei replied obediently once he caught his breath. He never lied to Yu Qing. “I made a new friend at school. He’s my desk mate, but he’s sick today. I want to finish eating quickly so I can go talk with him.”
“Even so that’s no reason for you to eat so fast. You can take your time.” Yu Qing’s frown deepened, a strange sense of dislike creeping in for this “new friend” Yu Pei had just mentioned.
Maybe this was a common trait of all parents.
Yu Pei froze for a moment, then said, “But he’s probably sitting in the hospital all alone right now. He just transferred to our school, and I’m the only friend he has.”
He wanted to talk to Luo Changzhou, not just to befriend him, but also because he didn’t want Luo Changzhou to feel lonely in the hospital. He knew what that felt like.
All alone in the hospital.
This sentence pierced Yu Qing’s heart like a sharp thorn, making him wince with pain. He looked at Yu Pei, suddenly understanding why he was in such a rush. If only he had paid more attention to Yu Pei back then, maybe he wouldn’t have missed the signs of his abnormal behavior, and things wouldn’t have escalated to the point where Yu Pei had to take a break from school for treatment.
He took a deep breath, his smile revealing nothing unusual. He refilled Yu Pei’s bowl with soup and placed it in front of him, speaking softly, “But you still need to eat slowly.”
“En, I won’t do it again.” Yu Pei agreed. He had always been very obedient, what’s more he also knew overeating was bad for his health. And if he got sick, it would be Yu Qing who’d worry about him.
Seeing how obedient Yu Pei was, Yu Qing’s smile widened. He added more food to Yu Pei’s plate, and Yu Pei ate it all.
But smile on his face faded after Yu Pei’s figure disappeared up the stairs, then intertwining his fingers, he rested them on the table, stared at the glossy porcelain bowls for a long time silently, then let out a sigh.
**
The moment Yu Pei entered his room, he started texting Luo Changzhou again: [Changzhou, I’ve finished eating. Are you feeling any better now? Have you had dinner?]
[I have. My mom just brought me some food, but she left shortly afterwards.]
Luo Changzhou responded quickly, almost as if he’d been staring at his phone, waiting for Yu Pei’s message.
Yu Pei asked him: [Didn’t your mom stay to keep you company?]
[I’m already eighteen. I don’t need my mom to stay with me.]
Seeing this, Yu Pei realized Luo Changzhou was older than him. He still had two months before turning eighteen himself. He didn’t expect that Luo Changzhou was already an adult.
He didn’t continue with that topic and instead asked cautiously: [We’ve been texting back and forth, it’s such a waste of phone credit. What’s your QQ number? Can I add you?]
Yu Pei thought he was really too clever, managing to ask for Luo Changzhou’s QQ number in such a short time so smoothly.
And sure enough, Luo Changzhou didn’t disappoint him, because in the next text, he sent his QQ number.
Yu Pei added him as a friend hurriedly, then after entering Luo Changzhou’s profile, he browsed through his feed, only to find that Luo Changzhou didn’t post much. And even when he did, it was just pictures of flowers, plants, and…. food?
This didn’t seem like the kind of content a cool, mixed-race transfer student would share. At first glance, it looked like something from a girl’s feed.
However he didn’t ask too many questions and instead typed a greeting: [Hi, Changzhou ;D]
And Luo Changzhou, seeing the familiar smiley face again, couldn’t help but smile too. He replied: [Hi, Ah Pei :D]
Yu Pei was even happier seeing Luo Changzhou call him by these two characters, because apart from Gu Zheng, only family called him that, so for Luo Changzhou to use it made him feel like they were a bit closer.
But then Luo Changzhou’s next message wiped the smile off his face, as he asked: [By the way, you’ve been chatting with me all this time. Aren’t you going to do your homework?]
The word “homework” left Yu Pei speechless. He’d either been sleeping or doodling in class today, and when he was awake, he was busy wondering what had happened to Luo Changzhou, why he wasn’t replying to his texts, or waiting for class to end anxiously so he could go home and chat with his new desk mate. He completely had no idea what today’s homework was.
But good students usually didn’t like hanging out with slackers. He might be terrible at studying, but he didn’t want Luo Changzhou to stop hanging out with him. So instead of answering directly, he deflected the question: [What about you? You’ve been chatting with me too.]
To his surprise, Luo Changzhou replied: [I’m sick. Why would I do homework? I need to rest. Besides, I’m a good student, so missing one assignment won’t hurt me.]
Yu Pei stared at that last sentence, stunned and silent. Here he was, worrying about Luo Changzhou, and Luo Changzhou was showing off in front of him! Huffing, he typed back angrily: [Oh, well I’m not a good student, so missing one assignment won’t hurt me either.]
Luo Changzhou who was in the hospital pressed a fist to his lips to keep from laughing out loud as he read the teenager’s delayed response. He didn’t know why, but he suddenly felt the urge to tease Yu Pei, just a little.
But not too much. So immediately afterwards, he sent another message: [I was kidding, there’s no homework today.]
Yu Pei had been a little annoyed by the earlier message, but now he was genuinely startled.
Luo Changzhou had someone else!
He had been in the hospital all day, clearly unable to know what was going on at school. But somehow, he knew there was no homework today!
Someone else must have beaten him to it, gotten his contact information, and chatted with him, which was how Luo Changzhou knew that there was no homework today.
He was no longer the only one caring about Luo Changzhou today. Yu Pei was both upset and anxious, but he couldn’t show it. He typed another message quickly, asking carefully: [Who told you that…?]
Luo Changzhou didn’t hide it, giving the person up quickly: [Tan Qiming.]
However what Luo Changzhou didn’t tell Yu Pei was that he only gave Tan Qiming his QQ number, not his phone number. Luo Changzhou felt that a social platform like QQ wasn’t all that private, so there was no need to keep it secret, whereas a phone number wasn’t something he’d give to just anyone.
Besides, Tan Qiming didn’t talk much. He only asked why he wasn’t in class today, told him there was no homework, then reminded him to rest and get well soon.
Yu Pei’s eyes widened when he saw Tan Qiming’s name. He already didn’t like Tan Qiming much, but now he mentally added him to a blacklist. He really wanted to tell Luo Changzhou that Tan Qiming was the kind of person who judged people by their appearance. He had even made fun of him before, calling him a little fatty. But he felt that speaking badly about someone behind their back wasn’t right, what’s more other than that comment, Tan Qiming hadn’t really bullied him. In fact, Tan Qiming‘s words were nowhere near as mean as Qi Wenqiang’s. Still, he just didn’t like him for some reason.
Luo Changzhou had no idea about the complicated thoughts swirling in Yu Pei’s mind. He didn’t know what Yu Pei had been like before he transferred to this school, or what Class 1 of Senior Year was like, so he just thought Yu Pei was just taking a while to reply because he was tired: [It’s already so late, why aren’t you sleeping? There’s class tomorrow morning.]
The phone buzzed in Yu Pei’s hand, and he finally realized it was late. Normally, by this time, he would’ve showered and been lying in bed, ready to sleep. But today, he hadn’t done anything, not even changed out of his uniform, too busy chatting with Luo Changzhou. He replied subconsciously: [I was just worried you’d be bored all alone in the hospital.]
This time it was Luo Changzhou’s turn to be stunned. His fingers paused over the keys for a moment before he typed: [I’ve already had the IV removed, I’m heading home soon. You should go to sleep now.]
[Alright, goodnight.]
[Goodnight.]
Luo Changzhou typed those two words, a small smile playing on his lips.
And when Father Luo, who had come to pick him up, noticed the smile on his son’s face as he held his phone, he asked with raised eyebrows, “Who are you texting that’s making you smile like that?”
Luo Changzhou replied: “My new deskmate.”
“A girl?” Father Luo asked again.
“A boy.”
“If it were a girl, I’d think you liked her.” Father Luo said in reply, sighing as he sat in the driver’s seat. “But it would have still been fine if it were really a girl. If it’s a boy, I’m worried we might end up in the same situation as before. Then we’ll have to transfer you to another school again.”
But Luo Changzhou didn’t respond. He just pressed on the tape covering his IV site silently, trying to ease the lingering pain. It was only when his phone buzzed again that he glanced at it after picking it up and saw the goodnight message the teenager had sent him that the tight frown on his face finally softened.
**
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