Chapter 19 P - Heart Lock
Xing Yu put down his luggage and turned to block Chu Beiling's view. "Thank you."
After saying that, he took the toolbox from his hand and pushed Chu Beiling out the door.
"No." Chu Beiling's hands reacted faster than her brain, and she immediately reached out to block the door.
Xing Yu panicked and only wanted him to leave, so he moved even faster. Chu Beiling instinctively tried to pull his hand back, but it was too late.
The old-fashioned iron gate was very heavy. The moment it pressed down, a sharp and burning pain shot from the back of his hand straight to his forehead. Chu Beiling's brain was buzzing, and he gasped in pain.
Xing Yu quickly released the toolbox, spilling paintbrushes and paints all over the floor, but he had no time to care. He took Chu Beiling's trembling right hand to check her: "Are you alright?"
"You're alright? Look at you, you got your hand caught in the door. Luckily it was your right hand. If I couldn't draw with my hand, I'd chop you up first!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Chu Beiling changed the subject: "Forget it, I owe you, so I should."
Hearing this, Xing Yu, who was holding his hand, looked up at him. Chu Beiling's face was pale, and tears were falling like a broken string. In the moonlight, his eyes were bloodshot, showing both grievance and stubbornness.
Just as he was about to speak, Chu Beiling, who was still taking breaths, said, "I'm really fed up. Even if we don't get along, you don't have to treat me like this!!"
"Let me rub some safflower oil on you." Xing Yu took his hand and led him indoors, pressing him down on the chair in front of the easel: "Wait a moment."
Not long after—
Xing Yu, who had gone into the bedroom to get a bottle of safflower oil, knelt down on one knee in front of him. Chu Beiling subconsciously reached out to take it, intending to open it for him, but the movement pulled on the back of his hand, causing him to wince in pain.
Xing Yu's narrow eyes curved into a smile as he handed over the safflower oil, saying, "Can you do me a favor?"
Having taken care of Xing Yu this week, the two had developed a good understanding. Chu Beiling immediately understood and casually unscrewed the bottle cap.
"Tell me if it hurts." Xing Yu poured safflower oil onto his chubby white hands.
"Um."
Chu Beiling looked down at Xing Yu kneeling on the ground, carefully rubbing him with one hand, and suddenly laughed.
Xing Yu tilted his head slightly: "What are you laughing at?"
"Xing Yu, what do you think we're doing?" Chu Beiling shrugged: "We're art students, we're supposed to draw for the rest of our lives, but we've both injured our hands. Luckily, our hands aren't completely useless. If we really couldn't draw anymore, we'd have nowhere to cry."
The more Chu Beiling rubbed his hands, the hotter they got. She stared at him, her breathing slowing slightly, and said, "So let's stop hurting each other. Hands are quite important."
As night deepened, the wind blew through the blue seashell wind chimes hanging on the balcony, amplifying their clear, tinkling sound in the quiet room.
One after another.
After a long while, Xing Yu finally spoke: "Okay."
Chu Beiling's heart finally settled down, and he breathed a sigh of relief. Just as he was calming down a bit, the young master Chu's awkwardness kicked in again, and it was rather strange for them to just stare at each other like that.
He casually started a conversation: "I just heard the sound of wind chimes."
"Mmm," Xing Yu responded softly.
After another moment of silence, Chu Beiling awkwardly gripped the ground with his toes, thinking that he might as well just argue with Xing Yu directly, so that Xing Yu wouldn't be so restless.
Xing Yu looked up: "I'm still very uncomfortable."
Chu Beiling nodded and then shook his head.
Xing Yu glanced indifferently at the person who was fidgeting and whose face was contorted with unease, then continued to rub his hands for him: "Can't you speak?"
Chu Beiling immediately retorted, "I'm a communication expert, who's like you?"
Xing Yu lifted his eyelids, seemingly disagreeing with this statement.
Chu Beiling snorted coldly: "What, if you're not convinced, come and fight."
Xing Yu squeezed the back of his hand hard with his calloused fingertips. Painters naturally have strong hands, and with his cello playing, the force was heavy and his palms were a bit rough, creating a multi-layered effect.
Chu Beiling's face was practically contorted with pain: "Holy crap, are you trying to murder me?!"
Xing Yu increased the pressure on his hands again, and Chu Beiling pulled her hand away, rubbing herself with a displeased expression: "What are you doing?!"
"Don't swear," Xing Yu said.
Chu Beiling glanced at him, utterly bewildered and defiant: "We just said we wouldn't hurt each other, and now you're trying to control me? Who do you think you are!"
"You can't do that in front of me." Xing Yu stood up. His legs were numb from kneeling for too long. The moment he stood up, a piercing pain shot through his chest, and he staggered two steps because he couldn't stand steadily.
Chu Beiling subconsciously reached out to help him, but her movements were not as quick as Xing Yu's. The cool touch of Xing Yu's skin lingered on her fingertips for a fleeting moment.
In an awkward moment, Young Master Chu withdrew his hand, which had nowhere to go.
Chu Beiling still couldn't stand Xing Yu's bossy attitude, and raised her chin: "I insist on doing it!"
Xing Yu narrowed his eyes and sneered, "Whatever, you can try."
At the same time, he opened the photo album and handed his phone to Chu Beiling, scrolling through the photos one by one.
The album contains many of Chu Beiling's embarrassing past events, which he himself doesn't want to look at: "Close it, close it."
Xing Yu: "If you say it to me once, I'll print one out for you and hang it on the community bulletin board so that the neighbors can have a good look at it."
Chu Beiling huffed, "Xing Yu, you're amazing! You're so awesome!"
Xing Yu nodded slightly: "Thank you for the compliment. I am honored and will certainly live up to the expectations of the young painter Chu."
Chu Beiling was so angry she almost choked and rolled her eyes. Xing Yu's narrow eyes drooped slightly, a nonchalant smile in them.
The paintings that Chu Beiling found unacceptable, while not flawless in terms of light, shadow, color, and structure, were certainly not unbearable black history. These paintings had even won second or third prizes in national painting competitions.
However, a certain young man, whose love and demands for painting were almost to the point of obsession, could not accept it and was unwilling to let it out and embarrass himself, so he could only let Xing Yu control him.
Sunday is Xu Tunan's birthday. He told the other five people in dormitory 412, the sports committee member, Li Dong, and the other two girls in their dormitory a week in advance that they would go to a house party at noon today and return to school together in the afternoon.
Xing Yu still refused to participate in group activities no matter what.
Chu Beiling was about to go out when she ran into Xing Yu, who had just come downstairs.
The neck sling that was immobilizing his hand has been removed, and the cast on his arm is also a little shorter than before, so it must have been changed at the hospital over the weekend.
After a moment of eye contact, they both asked at the same time, "How's your hand?"
Their voices overlapped, and both boys were taken aback.
Freeze for ten seconds —
Xing Yu walked down to Chu Beiling's side, standing at the same level as him.
As soon as he reached out, Chu Beiling raised his hand and waved it: "Fully recovered, you're a hero again."
Xing Yu nodded and said, "I'm fine too."
The party was set up at Wulin Square, which is surrounded by restaurants, entertainment venues, and the class monitor's clubhouse is also nearby. Xing Yu was going to stay and take Line 1 anyway, so the two of them were going the same way.
Without exchanging a word, they tacitly walked together towards Exit D of the subway station and boarded the subway together.
When they arrived at Wulin Square Station, the two got off the train together. Chu Beiling grabbed Xing Yu, who wanted to transfer to Line 3 to go back to Liuxia, and said, "A lot of people have gone. You should go with them."
Xing Yu still refused: "There's no need."
“It’s absolutely necessary.” Thinking of Xing Yu sitting alone by the window and his empty home, Chu Beiling felt it was absolutely necessary.
He took Xing Yu's hand and walked towards the subway entrance: "We need to interact with people and experience the joy of being with friends. Haven't you noticed that many classmates are afraid to approach you, or even pity you? It's only because you have such a handsome face that you would have been isolated long ago."
Xing Yu stopped in his tracks, and Chu Beiling turned to look at him: "Is there a problem?"
“These group activities are meaningless; they’re just for fun. So what if I’m isolated? As long as I know what I’m doing, that’s enough,” Xing Yu said expressionlessly.
Having always been alone, he had become accustomed to it and no longer felt anything special. However, after the excitement subsided, he was forced to return to solitude, and this sense of loss was something Xing Yu was unwilling to experience.
Besides, he genuinely disliked these meaningless, frivolous gatherings that wasted his time and energy.
I'd rather go back to school and draw.
"Give it a try~ Just this once. If you really don't like it, then don't go next time. You can choose to be alone if you like, but you should always try to go into a lively crowd and experience different emotions."
Chu Beiling stared straight at him with her amber eyes: "Only in this way can your paintings have vitality and grow towards the sun, instead of just being a collection of techniques."
At the end of September, the weather in Hangzhou was still hot. The air conditioning in the subway station was only turned on for ventilation, which did little to help. The air was still stuffy and humid.
Chu Beiling's eyes were burning hotter than the sweltering heat of Hangzhou, making Xing Yu's heart tremble.
"I—" Xing Yu opened his mouth, but ultimately didn't say whether he would go or not.
Chu Beiling remained silent, waiting for his choice.
People were coming and going at the exit. The two teenagers stood facing each other, and people would occasionally turn around to look at them.
Li Dong, who had just gotten off the subway and was about to exit the station, saw the two of them and quickly went up to greet them: "Did you two have another fight?"
Chu Beiling: "Of course not."
"As long as there was no fight, that's fine." Li Dong turned to Xing Yu and casually said, "Want to come to Hu Tutu's birthday party too? You're the only one missing."
Xing Yu nodded.
Li Dong raised an eyebrow, quite surprised that someone who never participated had changed his tune: "Did the sun rise in the west?"
Xing Yu didn't say anything and simply swiped his card to exit the station.
Li Dong pulled Chu Beiling along and quickly caught up with him.
Even though Xing Yu finally agreed, Young Master Chu's competitive spirit kicked in again, and he became somewhat unhappy, his face immediately falling.
He deliberately slowed his pace and followed behind them, his eyes scanning back and forth among the handsome men and beautiful women chatting casually ahead.
When they arrived at the agreed location, a waiter came forward to greet them. After Chu Beiling gave the room number, the waiter led them there.
As soon as the door to the private room was pushed open, seven or eight pairs of eyes looked up at us.
After recognizing the newcomers, Xu Tunan stood up and greeted them, "Come on, come on, we were just missing the three of you. By the way, why did you all come together?"
"We just happened to run into each other on the way," Chu Beiling said.
Xue Ziang, sitting at the other corner of the table, waved to them: "Come sit inside, it's inconvenient to serve food outside."
Chu Beiling went over first and sat down next to the class monitor. Li Dong followed closely behind and sat down next to him, while Xing Yu sat down next to Xu Tunan.
During the meal, someone told a joke, and Chu Beiling laughed heartily, almost falling off her chair. Li Dong reached out and pulled her back into the chair. Once she was seated, she looked up and her eyes met Xing Yu's dark pupils.
Their eyes met for a moment before they both looked away. Chu Beiling lowered his eyes and silently ate his rice.
After dinner, the group of young men and women moved to a VIP room on the top floor.
"The private rooms on the top floor of our building are usually reserved for members who have paid a million-yuan annual fee; otherwise, they are not qualified to open these private rooms."
Xue Ziang looked at Xu Tunan with undisguised arrogance and boastfulness: "I begged my parents for a long time before they finally agreed to celebrate your birthday this time."
Xu Tunan said, "Actually, there's no need to trouble Auntie so much. We can just find any KTV."
If he had known beforehand that the class monitor's family was so expensive, he would never have wanted to come. Not only would he not want to take advantage of them for nothing, but it's also not that he couldn't afford to treat them.
Rather, it's because people their age aren't suited to such high levels of consumption.
“The KTVs outside are dirty and messy, nothing compares to the cleanliness of my family’s club.” Xue Zi’ang said, “It’s okay, we’re all classmates, don’t feel guilty.”
After that, they started introducing their clubhouse, how much money they spent on its construction, how impressive it was, and how it had hosted foreign guests.
The families of the group of art students are generally not poor. They are not very interested in how luxurious the private rooms are, nor is it a consideration for them. They just need something interesting and fun. Too much luxury would be a burden for teenagers of this age.
Not interested but unable to ignore it, they could only nod and do whatever the class monitor said, occasionally exclaiming how amazing he was.
Actually, I was already panicking.
Xu Tunan leaned closer to Chu Beiling and lowered his voice, saying, "If I had known that a private room here would cost over a million in basic expenses, I would never have come. Now this has put me under a lot of pressure."
Chu Beiling had never encountered such a thorny problem before. If it were him, he might have just left, but he wasn't the one in charge this time, so he could only say, "Then what should we do? Leave now?"
Even if he doesn't leave, he really can't be of much help. Ms. Li lives in Singapore most of the year, so she probably isn't a member of any high-end clubs in Hangzhou.
Even if he did, Young Master Chu wouldn't dare mention it to Madam Li, or he would definitely be severely scolded by her.
Li Dong thought for a moment and said, "Hu Tutu, how about I ask for you? My mom should have it. I'll ask her first."
“Even if we are eligible, we are only teenagers and it’s not appropriate for us to spend so much,” Xing Yu glanced at Xu Tunan indifferently and made the final decision, “Let’s go somewhere else.”
Xu Tunan hesitated for a moment: "Mainly because we just ate here, isn't it inappropriate?"
“There’s nothing wrong with it, it’s inappropriate to spend money here and book a private room.” Xing Yu lifted his eyelids: “If your parents don’t mind, and you’re spending so much at your age, then disregard what I said.”
Chu Beiling quickly chimed in, "Tutu, Xing Yu is right, think about it again!"
Xu Tunan thought about it and agreed. He stopped the group of people walking ahead and said bluntly, "Friends, let's go somewhere else. If we really celebrate my birthday here, I'll get my legs broken when I get back."
"Sure."
"no problem."
"Let's go then, I know there's a karaoke bar nearby that would be perfect for us."
The group of young men and women, who had been feeling like they were sitting on pins and needles, felt relieved when they heard Xu Tunan say this.
After all, they are still minors, and such a large amount of spending is quite frightening, regardless of whether they need to pay for it or not.
Xu Tunan then turned to Xue Ziang and said, "I'm sorry, class monitor, I've let you down."
Xue Ziang gave a forced smile: "It's nothing, it's your birthday, as long as you're happy."
The group of teenagers felt more relaxed here than at the upscale club, where they weren't being watched by their parents and could have more fun.
The group had a blast; some were requesting songs and queuing up to sing, while others chatted and ate sunflower seeds.
It was so much fun!
Chu Beiling and Li Dong huddled together, chatting and laughing. Xue Ziang glanced at them, then turned to the crowd, clapped his hands, and said in a voice louder than his singing voice, "Classmates, how about we non-singers play 'Don't Do the Challenge'? It's so boring sitting around, and chatting isn't interesting either."
In the afternoon, the boys and girls who wanted to pretend to be adults and drink alcohol couldn't go back to school, and drinking beverages wasn't considered a punishment. So the class monitor suggested drawing turtles on their faces.
A group of art students have no shortage of paintbrushes; they have all sorts of different kinds, and they can draw however they want.
Xue Ziang found props and wrote challenge cards on them. Even the singers joined in the challenge. Everyone had challenge tasks stuck on their heads, and the host and others guided them to perform designated actions.
At first, everyone played peacefully and had a lot of fun. Almost everyone who sat down was tricked. After two rounds, the class monitor took charge, and under the monitor's guidance, Chu Beiling, who was naturally rebellious, was tricked every time.
One second ago, Xue Ziang said, "Drink a beverage."
Despite his aversion to drinking, Chu Beiling refused: "I won't drink."
lose.
The next time, Xue Ziang told Chu Beiling, "You can't sing."
Despite being obliged to comply with any demands, Chu Beiling immediately burst into song, "The vast sky is my love..."
lose.
Once again, Xue Zi'ang asked Chu Beiling, "Sing a song."
With her head bowed, Chu Beiling burst into song, "The vast sky is my love..."
We lost again.
Not long after—
Young Master Chu's face was a mess, covered in a tangled mess. Everyone was laughing, laughing until their stomachs hurt, all laughing at him for being a complete game idiot.
Only Xing Yu didn't laugh; his gaze remained fixed on the man's flushed skin.
Chu Beiling stood up: "I'm going to the bathroom to wash up, you guys play first."
Xue Ziang raised his eyebrows: "Prince Fanfan, are you angry?"
Chu Beiling turned around, her amber eyes revealing no emotion: "No."
Xue Ziang smiled faintly: "That's true. It's just a game, you have to accept the consequences. Prince Fanfan shouldn't be that petty."
Xing Yu shifted his gaze to the class monitor, his narrow eyes narrowing slightly. When the others were hosting, the paint they used to paint the losers was basically watercolor or gouache, which is easy to wash off as it dissolves in water.
The class monitor presided over the event, and Chu Beiling not only fell for the trick every time, but the paint he was given was also acrylic paint that was difficult to wash off.
This pigment forms a thin film after drying, which is extremely difficult to wash off the skin. It also contains ingredients that can cause allergies or irritation, so direct contact with the skin should be avoided.
They won't use it unless there are special requirements when they're drawing.
Xing Yu's lips curled into a smile, his tone casual, but his gaze was as cold and icy as if it had been tempered with ice: "I'll host the next round."
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