unfinished

Hu Chen and Sheng Yao were stunned after only two steps. Sheng Yao spoke faster than he could think, his voice and appearance drifting off: "Fuck."

The punch was quite powerful and hit Qi Wuchen right in the face.

Jiang Han was also confused. He was shocked to see a few red spots on the back of Qi Wuchen's hand after he wiped the corner of his mouth.

Qi Wuchen just put down his hand after wiping the corner of his mouth, and then he clenched his other hand into a fist and smashed it into Ling Yiyan's face in front of everyone's surprised gaze!

This woke Sheng Yao up, and he quickly rushed over to hold back the nearly out-of-control Qi Wuchen: "Calm down, Brother Chen! Calm down!"

Ling Yiyan was hit so hard by Qi Huochen's punch that he saw stars and fell to the ground. However, Qi Huochen had no intention of stopping. He grabbed Ling Yiyan's collar and was about to continue. As soon as he raised his hand, Hu Chen next to him pulled him back in time.

Hu Chen and Qi Wuchen had known each other for years, so how could he not see that he was serious at this moment? While pulling him back, he kept saying, "That's enough! If you hit him again, he'll die!"

Qi Wuchen gradually calmed down after being pulled and persuaded by the two men, but there was still some anger in his eyes. A glance at him made the creditors terrified.

The security guard pointed at Qi Wuchen and said to Sheng Yao and the others, "Take this student to the infirmary."

"Oh oh oh." Sheng Yao pulled Qi Wuchen and left quickly.

Hu Chen beside him also followed, leaving Ling Jianghan alone standing there with his eyes lowered, staring at Ling Yiyan on the ground.

Seeing that Ling Jianghan had no intention of leaving, the security guard reminded him, "You should go back to school too."

Ling Jiang Han withdrew his gaze, said "hmm" lightly and left.

In the infirmary, Sheng Yao stared at Qi Wuchen, who was sitting opposite him, for a long while. Finally, he mustered up the courage to ask, "Brother Chen, your injury is minor, but how are you going to explain it to Sister Yue and the others when you get back?"

Ling Jianghan, who was in front, had just paid for the medicine. Hearing this, he raised his eyebrows and glanced at Qi Wuchen.

You can't tell, the top student in the grade is in a premature relationship.

"I won't go back." Qi Wuchen used a cotton swab to rub the corners of his mouth. "I'll stay at your house for a week first, and then go back after I feel better."

"Uh." Sheng Yao's expression was a little embarrassed: "Brother Chen... I'm living on campus this semester."

"?" Qi Wuchen stopped and looked at him with a frown.

Hu Chen, who was standing next to him, kindly explained for Sheng Yao, "He failed his final exam last semester, so his dad made him live on campus for a period."

That can be considered a form of torture.

"How about... you stay at my house and suffer for a week?" Hu Chen asked tentatively.

Then he successfully got Qi Wuchen's expression of "Do you think I am willing?"

Sheng Yao and Hu Chen sat side by side on a chair. The seat opposite Qi Wuchen happened to be empty, so Jiang Han sat down next to him. "There's no one at my house. Would you like to stay here for a week?"

The tone was so familiar, as if he was inviting a friend he hadn't seen for many years to dinner.

Qi Wuchen turned and stared at him for a while, then finally asked, "Okay, where do you live?"

"Not far, just opposite the school." Jiang Han seemed to remember something: "But I have a cat at home."

"Cat?" Sheng Yao thought, what's the difference between that and staying at Hu Chen's house for a week? Just as he was about to speak, he heard Qi Wuchen speak.

"It's okay, just stay for a week."

"Brother Chen?!" Sheng Yao widened his eyes in disbelief.

Hu Chen, standing by, stared at him in shock. Before he could say anything, he heard the doctor say, "All the teachers and staff at the school are going to have a meeting. You students don't have to attend evening self-study classes. Come straight to class tomorrow."

"So good?" Sheng Yao was stunned by the sudden joy: "Then let's go eat hot pot together!"

"No." Qi Wuchen refused without any mood: "I want to sleep."

In the end, Sheng Yao and Hu Chen left together, and Qi Wuchen followed Ling Jianghan to the gate of the opposite community.

Qi Wuchen waited for Ling Jianghan to swipe his access card before following him into the complex. He looked around before settling his gaze on the figure in front of him. "Ling Jianghan, do you live alone?"

Hearing the voice, Jiang Han stopped, turned around and looked at him without saying a word.

"What's wrong?" Why are you looking at him like that?

"No." Ling Jiang Han turned around and continued walking forward.

This was the first time they met and the first time they called each other's names, but why did he have a sense of déjà vu?

Jiang Han's thoughts were swirling in the front, while Qi Wuchen behind him looked around calmly.

This community is beautiful and quiet, which makes Jiang Han like the living environment.

Qi Wuchen followed Ling Jianghan all the way to the door of his house. As soon as the door was opened, Qi Wuchen saw a white ball on the ground.

When Ling Jiang Han got the slippers for Qi Wuchen, he picked up the white ball and gently placed it on the sofa.

Qi Wuchen closed the door, leaving Jiang Han to play with the cat with his back to him. Without even turning around, he said, "There are drinks and snacks on the table. Grab whatever you want."

"Okay." Qi Wuchen responded and squatted down to look at the cat: "What's its name?"

"The first day of the Lunar New Year." Ling Jianghan said, "I brought it back on the first day of the Lunar New Year."

The white cat ignored Qi Wuchen beside it and just rubbed its furry head against its owner's hand.

"Have you always lived alone?"

"No, I used to have my grandparents to accompany me. My grandmother passed away six years ago, and my grandfather was just buried yesterday." Ling Jiang Han lowered his eyes and touched the cat's chin.

"……Feel sorry."

Ling Jiang Han looked up at him and said, "Birth, aging, sickness and death are just the normal state of life. There is nothing to be sorry about."

Qi Wuchen stared at the cat rolling around in a coquettish manner, and after hesitating for a moment, he asked, "Can I ask a question?"

"Ask who those people at the school gate are?" Ling Jianghan asked instead of answering.

Qi Wuchen didn't say anything, which was a kind of consent.

"They are my father's creditors. He has no money on him, so he brought them to me."

Qi Wuchen didn't respond at this moment. He reached out to touch the cat's head, but was slapped away by Chu Yiyi's claw.

Jiang Han immediately reached out and pressed the cat's paw. Qi Wuchen withdrew his hand and said with a smile, "It's quite fierce."

"It has never seen an outsider before. You are the first one." Ling Jianghan explained without any emotion.

"...Is that so?" Qi Wuchen used a smile to hide his unexplained sense of loss, raised his head and asked, "Can I go to the balcony?"

"Can."

Qi Wuchen stood up and walked to the balcony, pulling out a cigarette from his pocket with one hand and opening the balcony door with the other. He took out a cigarette and was about to light it, but when he caught a glimpse of the person inside, he put the cigarette in his mouth first, reached out to close the door, and then lit the cigarette.

The people outside were surrounded by smoke, and it was unclear what they were thinking. Qi Wuchen leaned his left hand on the railing, blowing smoke rings into the sky, and only then did his heart calm down.

He leaned against the railing, his mind full of Ling Jianghan's words "outsider".

Hiss, why do I feel a little sour in my heart?

He seemed unable to accept the identity given to him by Ling Jianghan.

Qi Wuchen suddenly remembered the moment when his eyes met Jiang Han's unexpectedly at the school gate.

In that extremely brief moment, Qi Wuchen's heart was more panicked and helpless than ever before in his life.

He seemed to have fallen in love with those eyes he hadn't seen in years.

The moment this thought came to his mind, Qi Wuchen pinched the cigarette in his mouth between the two fingers of his right hand, took out his cell phone with his left hand and made a call.

"Aunt Yun, I want to rent a house across from the school."

Yun Ren was stunned for a moment before reacting: "Auntie doesn't object to you living alone, but can you take care of yourself?"

"Yes." Qi Wuchen answered decisively.

"Okay, it's the neighborhood across from your school, right? I'll ask Uncle Wang to find one for you and send it to you tonight. If you don't have enough money, tell Auntie. If you want to go home, call ahead and I'll make you something delicious..."

The balcony door opened at this moment, and Yun Ren's voice was forgotten. Qi Wuchen looked up and saw Ling Jianghan walking towards him with an ashtray.

He retracted his gaze and replied slowly, "I understand. You should take care of yourself too."

When the phone was hung up, the ashtray in Jiang Han's hand fell on the table next to Qi Wuchen.

After confirming that he had hung up the phone, Jiang Han slowly spoke: "Qi Wuchen, you are the most unlikeable academic tyrant I have ever seen."

"Did Sheng Yao tell you this too?" Qi Wuchen turned his head to look at him.

"Yeah. He told me there's a top student in his class whose name is very similar to mine."

"Do you think it looks like that?" Qi Wuchen asked.

"Not really." Ling Jianghan replied uncertainly.

"Familiar?"

"Not familiar." Jiang Han looked at him strangely: "We don't know each other."

“…”

What a stranger.

"Then why do you think I don't look like a top student?" Qi Wuchen asked him curiously.

Ling Jianghan stared at the cigarette in his hand: "Do you think you look alike?"

Fighting and smoking, he looks more like a school bully no matter how you look at him.

Qi Wuchen just smiled for a moment, raised his finger and shook off the cigarette ash twice and asked: "If your father comes to see you again, what are you going to do?"

"Call the police." Ling Jianghan replied without hesitation.

"Sure." Qi Wuchen nodded affirmatively. "It just so happens that I'm also going to rent a house here until the college entrance exam. Do you want to go together after school?"

"Whatever."

Qi Wuchen was a little surprised: "Are you so familiar with others?"

Jiang Han gave a perfunctory "hmm".

What's the point of knowing each other well or not? We probably won't be in long-term contact anyway, so what's wrong with having a companion for the time being?

Qi Wuchen was about to say something when the phone in his pocket suddenly rang.

He pressed the answer button, and Qi Yun's slightly childish voice came from the other end of the line: "Second brother, Mom just said that you have to live outside from now on. Is it because I disturbed your sleep on the weekend?"

"Xiao Yun, it's not that I think you're noisy, it's that I need to concentrate on studying for the exam." Qi Wuchen used his limited patience to explain to Qi Yun, "Just be good and obedient at home, and I'll be home during the holidays."

After getting the promise, Qi Yun stopped pestering him and hung up the phone without saying a few words.

Qi Wuchen put the rest of the cigarette into the ashtray, turned around and saw Ling Jianghan leaning against the glass door of the balcony and looking up at the clouds.

Qi Wuchen felt that what he wanted to see was not the clouds, but the people who were separated from him by life and death.

"Ling Jianghan," Qi Wuchen called him out as if possessed by some strange force, "if you're unhappy, tell me."

Jiang Han froze at the sound, as if there was something wrong with his ears. There was a hint of disbelief on his face: "What did you say?"