After Christmas, No. 1 Middle School had a three-day holiday for New Year's Day.
The students were overjoyed to welcome the holiday, or rather, the new year.
Zhu Yuan's internet cafe was unusually crowded, with the constant sound of keyboards being typed, and occasionally someone would let out a curse or a gasp. The room was filled with the murky smell of cigarettes and instant noodles.
In front of a computer in the corner, long, slender, fair fingers flew across the keyboard, and above them, focused eyes remained dignified and handsome even amidst the swirling smoke.
However, there was a hint of weariness in his eyes that he couldn't quite hide.
Jiang Cheng spent almost all of his three-day holiday in internet cafes.
Aside from showering and sleeping.
He leaves at dawn and comes back in the morning, sitting in front of the computer all day long.
The computer screen displayed the victory results. Jiang Cheng finished the game, his tense shoulders relaxed, he took off his headphones, and raised his hand to rub his temples.
He suffered some aftereffects from the ear he lost hearing. Wearing headphones for a long time would cause tinnitus and nerve pain, with a throbbing sensation like being pricked with needles.
Moreover, it will worsen over time.
Sometimes, when he can't stand it anymore, he'll take off his headphones and rest for a bit.
Seeing him rubbing his temples, Zhu Yuan pushed his headphones up to his neck and looked over, frowning as he looked at Jiang Cheng, a hint of worry flashing in his eyes.
He must be in so much pain that he can't bear it anymore.
Jiang Cheng's personality is like that; he's so patient and reserved that it's almost pathological.
He won't show it unless he really can't stand it.
Zhu Yuan hesitated for a moment, then finally spoke up, "Why don't you take a break, Brother Cheng? Can your ears take it?"
With this kind of relentless intensity, even a perfectly healthy person would find it unbearable, let alone Jiang Cheng's old ear condition.
"It's nothing." Jiang Cheng shook his head, a smile even appearing on his lips. "Anyway, they can't hear it, so how much worse can it get?"
Zhu Yuan was taken aback.
This might sound like self-deprecation at first glance, but Zhu Yuan knew it was actually the opposite.
Jiang Cheng almost cruelly overexerted his body, using every ounce of his strength, just to climb higher.
In order to climb faster.
After all, no one would entrust their precious child to a penniless young man.
Zhu Yuan thought that if he had a younger sister, even if he knew Jiang Cheng inside and out and knew that he was reliable, he would still think twice about it given Jiang Cheng's material conditions and family background.
She wouldn't easily agree to him being with her daughter.
This is only natural.
Not to mention a family like the little princess's.
Zhu Yuan sighed softly, his lips moved slightly, but he ultimately remained silent.
Jiang Cheng glanced at him, patted him on the shoulder, gave him a reassuring look, then put his headphones back on and immersed himself in the game.
-
That evening, at the Pei family home.
Pei Zhi sat on the sofa watching the game, his arms behind his head, his long legs still draped over the coffee table as if he had nowhere to stretch them out, looking relaxed and carefree.
Pei Xi came downstairs to pour herself some hot water. Standing next to the sofa, she held the glass and sipped the water slowly.
Pei Zhi happened to be flipping through channels when he saw this game; it was a live broadcast of a group stage match in the college basketball league, and not many people were watching.
Pei Zhi was too lazy to change the channel, so he stopped watching.
Pei Xi was bored, so he stood beside him while drinking water and watching.
Pei Zhi leaned lazily on the sofa, watching with a series of clicks of his tongue and occasionally offering a comment.
"Wow, I feel like this defender is even worse than me."
"This defense is terrible, this guy seems to be dreaming."
"They seem to have absolutely no teamwork; it's not even as good as me playing with..."
Pei Zhi blurted it out, but stopped abruptly halfway through.
Pei Zhi glanced at Pei Xi and, realizing she wasn't paying attention to what he was saying, breathed a sigh of relief and suppressed the embarrassment on his face.
"I'm not watching anymore." He looked disgusted, picked up the remote, and changed the channel.
While pressing the remote control, he turned to Pei Xi and asked, "What do you want to watch?"
"Either is fine," Pei Xi said.
Pei Zhi selected a recently popular TV series, clicked on the first episode, and left it playing randomly.
He picked up the phone next to his butt, unlocked it, and swiped it haphazardly for a while.
A few seconds later, after seeing something, he suddenly frowned and muttered into his phone, "Damn, are these guys crazy?!"
"What's wrong?" Pei Xi took a sip of water and turned to look at him.
"There's a guy in Qin Yufan's class who's spreading rumors." Pei Zhi scoffed, tossing his phone aside in annoyance, and said with considerable disdain, "I've met that guy in his class. He's a complete good-for-nothing hoodlum. Eight out of ten things he says are lies. He especially loves to brag. And people actually believe what he says."
"What rumor?" Pei Xi asked, somewhat curious.
Pei Zhi snorted, seemingly finding it both funny and absurd, "He said Jiang Cheng is deaf in one ear, and even claimed he heard Jiang Cheng say it himself, isn't that..."
Before Pei Zhi could finish speaking, a muffled thud was heard, and the porcelain cup in Pei Xi's hand fell onto the carpet.
The water poured out instantly, soaking a large area of the short-haired carpet.
"Pei Xi?" Pei Zhi frowned and immediately stood up. "What's going on?"
Pei Xi snapped out of her daze and quickly bent down to pick up the cup, hiding her expression as she looked down. "It's nothing, I... I just lost my grip."
Pei Zhi, without a second thought, quickly grabbed a tissue from the side, emptied half a bag, covered it on the carpet, and then squatted down to press it down hard.
"You're shocked too, aren't you?" He didn't look up, speaking as he pressed down, "Spreading such rumors, isn't that just plain insane? I really don't know what's wrong with their brain!"
Pei Xi paused for a moment, then took a tissue box, pulled out a few tissues, and squatted down to help Pei Zhi absorb the water from the carpet.
She clenched her fists and pressed down on the tissue with great force, as if she was desperately trying to restrain herself.
After a few seconds, she tried her best to calm herself down and asked Pei Zhi softly, "...Are there many people who know about this now?"
Pei Zhi grunted and said with his head down, "There should be quite a lot. That guy is a big mouth. He's in every group. I just glanced at it, and there were all sorts of things being said in the group. It's almost like an uproar."
He scoffed dismissively, then muttered to himself, "These people, I wonder if they even have brains..."
Pei Xi gripped the damp tissue in his hand, his fingertips trembling uncontrollably.
Pei Zhi, oblivious to her odd behavior, remained focused on cleaning up the water stains on the carpet, muttering to himself as he worked, "Just a little blotting will do; it'll dry on its own in a bit. Luckily it was just plain water; if it had been a drink, it would have been a real problem..."
Pei Xi lowered his head and did not respond, mechanically pulling out tissues.
She closed her eyes tightly, silently praying that things weren't as serious as Pei Zhi had said.
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