Chapter 22 Angry
On New Year's Day, Wu Ze and Lin Lin invited people out for dinner to celebrate the successful completion of the competition.
In addition to the members of the design team, those present also included Jiang Xiaoqing and Lin Lin's cousin, Lin Ximan, who was about 1.7 meters tall, with a good figure and temperament. Although she was not from the School of Architecture, she was very famous throughout the school.
"Senior, do you want to play PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds? Can I rank with you someday?"
Lin Ximan knew how to prescribe the right medicine. She talked about all of Li Shen's favorite games, movies, and basketball games with great enthusiasm and discretion.
After Li Zimai politely replied a few words, he picked up some food for Cheng Che and insisted on picking up spinach, which Cheng Che didn't like, just to annoy him.
"I don't eat this, are you annoyed?"
Cheng Che spoke very quietly, but everyone present could hear it clearly.
Li Zimai said to himself, "You finally talked to me. Why didn't you reply to my messages these past few days? I'm no longer useful now that the design class is over, right? You're too lazy to even give me a perfunctory response."
He completely accused Cheng Che of being a scumbag who would turn his back on him after pulling up his pants. Cheng Che put down his chopsticks, not caring about the looks from the people around him, and defended himself, "When did I not reply to your messages? You called me at one or two in the middle of the night, and you still expected me to answer."
"I can't sleep. If you don't live with me, I won't be able to sleep or eat well."
Li Zimai leaned closer to Cheng Che with his chin raised, and said pitifully, "Look, have you lost weight?"
You're such a skinny guy, Cheng Che thought to himself.
Wu Ze: "Lin Lin and I are planning to go to an exhibition later. There's an architectural planning exhibition in Nanping. Today is the last day. Do you want to go with us?"
Cheng Che became interested, "Do we need to make an appointment a day in advance?"
"Ah, I forgot. Lin Lin and I had made an appointment before."
Li Zimai suddenly asked Cheng Che: "Do you want to go?"
Cheng Che knew that this person had connections again. He had visited a private museum before, and it was still open at 8 pm. Later he found out that the museum belonged to Li Zimai. He didn't want to use Li Zimai's privileges every time, so he refused and said, "No."
"Going?"
"No, I want to go back to the dormitory to draw."
"All right."
Li Zimai really thought he was going back to the dormitory and sighed, "I might as well go back to the dormitory. It's so lonely living out here alone."
Lin Ximan took the opportunity to ask, "Senior, are you living in Chengyue Mansion? I heard that this property is a top-tier T-series product under Zhongding. How is it living there?"
Li Zimai replied: "I didn't notice. Is this Zhongding's house?"
Zhongding is a large real estate company in Beijing and a subsidiary of the Chu Group. After the company's head coach changed a few years ago, its performance declined sharply.
Lin Lin added, "Isn't Senior Feng Mengshan interning at Zhongding? She said that the current boss of Zhongding is Chu Nan, the illegitimate son of the Chu family, who has squeezed out the original President Ji."
A few people began to gossip about the wealthy families in Beijing, the internal competition in the real estate industry, and the difficult situation of the design institute.
Wu Ze asked, "Li Shen, do you plan to go straight to work after graduation? Will you go into real estate, a design institute, or start your own studio?"
Li Zimai didn't answer, but asked Cheng Che what he was going to do.
Cheng Che said, "The Design Institute."
Li Zimai didn't say anything, as if he was thinking about something.
Jiang Xiaoqing said, "The last time I went to the dean's office, I heard the dean on the phone. It seems like a new teacher will be coming next semester."
The instructors in the Department of Architecture at Huazhong University of Science and Technology are all top doctoral graduates from the top 20 foreign universities. The talent management is extremely strict and the mobility is very low. Having a new teacher is a very new thing in the establishment of the school.
Lin Lin said excitedly, "I heard about that too! The new teacher is very young and just graduated with a PhD from UCL. He'll be here next semester. I'm really looking forward to it."
Cheng Che silently listened to the college gossip, which teacher got divorced again, which teacher exploited graduate students, which teacher's project was rejected... After a meal, the food was eaten up and the gossip was also digested.
After the meal, the boys went to the counter to pay the bill together. Wu Ze originally planned to treat himself, but he fell silent when he saw the huge amount. This almost cost him a month's living expenses.
Cheng Che suggested going Dutch, which was a timely solution for Wu Ze. Wu Ze wasn't one to push things too hard, so he immediately said, "Okay, I'll create a group and bring Xiaoqing and Ximan in."
This was also an opportunity. Before the meal, Lin Lin told Wu Ze to create a group after the meal so that his cousin would have a chance to add Li Shen on WeChat.
Li Zimai scanned the payment code and said, "No need, I'll do it."
A four-digit Chinese meal was no big deal for Li Zimai, and he didn't pay much attention to Cheng Che's expression.
After the end, Lin Ximan strongly requested to go Dutch, and took the opportunity to add Li Zimai on WeChat, all her words were decent.
Lin Lin thought her cousin really had a way with men. Jiang Xiaoqing was also stunned. She felt extremely regretful when she thought about how she had been so impulsive in confessing her feelings to Cheng Che, which had now made it impossible for them to even be friends.
Outside the school was a very crowded city road. Wu Ze and Lin Lin were walking in front, Cheng Che and Li Zimai were walking at the back, with two girls in the middle.
Li Zimai was still talking to Cheng Che, trying to persuade him to move out with him, but the next second Cheng Che suddenly rushed out and grabbed Jiang Xiaoqing.
Jiang Xiaoqing was in a daze and didn't notice the local driver who was trying to overtake on the zebra crossing. The rearview mirror of the car scraped against Cheng Che's elbow and the driver drove away cursing.
There was a tear on Cheng Che's cotton coat, and Li Zimai's face looked frighteningly gloomy.
"Are you okay? I...I wasn't looking where I was going..."
Jiang Xiaoqing was almost crying in anxiety. If it were summer, the cut would have been on Cheng Che's skin.
Cheng Che let her go and said calmly, "It's okay, let's go."
After they crossed the road, they realized that Li Zimai had not come over. Cheng Che looked at him from across the crowd. The distance was neither too close nor too far, enough for him to see the expression on Li Zimai's face. His eyes, which were usually filled with starlight, were now obviously dim. He restrained all smiles and looked colder than Cheng Che had ever seen.
Everyone saw Cheng Che go back to look for Li Zimai. Not long after, Li Zimai turned and walked away, leaving Cheng Che alone. Wu Ze quickly chased after him and asked Cheng Che, "What happened to Li Shen? Isn't he going back to school?"
Cheng Che nodded stiffly.
Li Zimai was angry, the first time he had been angry in such a long time. He was very scary when he was angry. Just looking at him with that look was enough to make Cheng Che speechless.
That night, Cheng Che tossed and turned in bed, unable to sleep. When he closed his eyes, all he could think of was Li Zimai's cold face. He forced himself not to think about it. He and Li Zimai were not from the same world and were bound to go their separate ways. This was just right.
【Li】: If I don't look for you, you won't look for me, right? Do you really think I don't have a temper?
Upon receiving the message, Cheng Che suddenly jumped up from the bed. The depression in his heart seemed to be punctured without any hesitation, and it all burst out. His fingers tapped the screen: [You scolded me, why did you scold me, I didn't provoke you.]
【Ｌｉ】：I didn’t scold you.
He really didn't curse, he just made a very cold sarcastic remark. He didn't say a single dirty word, but it pierced Cheng Che's heart like a sieve.
[Cheche]: What do you mean by "I love to show off"? What do you mean by "I'm capable"? What do you mean by "I'm irresponsible"?
Cheng Che complained word by word, and the scene in the afternoon replayed in his mind. He felt a little aggrieved, but tried hard to control his emotions. He knew that he had no right to lose his temper with Li Zimai.
[Li]: I know you're capable and can do anything. Protecting others is your instinct, but have you ever thought about what would happen if you got hurt? Can you protect yourself before doing anything?
Cheng Che's eyes suddenly felt sore and his fingers went numb. He had a lot to say to Li Zimai, saying that he didn't want to see others get hurt, that he was afraid of pain and danger, and that he was not as capable as you thought. But when the words came to his lips, they only condensed into a short word "OK".
【Ｌｉ】：I didn’t mean to get angry this afternoon. I’m sorry.
That wasn't anger at all. Cheng Che had seen people get angry to the point of bleeding. He was obviously not a sentimental person, but he couldn't tolerate the other person's slightly cold attitude. Cheng Che didn't know what was wrong with him.
[Li]: You can’t be like this in the future. Don’t try to be the leader in everything. Take care of yourself first, okay?
Even though the phone screen was so bright, Cheng Che could no longer see the words clearly. He shrank back into the quilt, looking at the empty bed opposite him, his heart inexplicably empty.
Not long after, Li Zimai called. The vibration in his palm brought Cheng Che back to reality. He almost subconsciously hung up the call, refusing to hear Li Zimai's voice.
Li Zimai was hung up on, so he angrily called back. The call rang for a long time before the other party answered. Cheng Che's voice was muffled, as if he was hiding under the quilt. Li Zimai's heart softened immediately, and he whispered, "Are you angry?"
Cheng Che didn't say anything.
Li Zimai complained harshly, "I'm still angry. Why do I always try to comfort you when you're angry? It's fine if you don't comfort me when I'm angry, but you even get angry with me. How can you be like that?"
Cheng Che's face flushed red at the word "coax" and he completely forgot that Li Zimai had bullied him just that afternoon. He said awkwardly, "...I'm not angry with you."
"Not angry with me?"
Li Zimai chuckled softly from the other end of the line, as if he was angry. "Why did you hang up on me if you weren't angry with me?"
"...wrong button."
Li Zimai accepted this explanation for the time being and said magnanimously: "I'll forgive you this time, but if you hang up on me again next time I will..."
He didn't say anything for a long time. Cheng Che frowned and said, "What do you want to do?"
"...Not very good, I just keep playing."
Cheng Che's restlessness inexplicably calmed down. He covered his head with the quilt and felt suffocated. He opened the quilt to get some fresh air and saw Yang Mingxi's feet climbing onto the bed. "I won't talk to you anymore. Turn off the lights."
"Wait a minute!" Li Zimai stopped him, "I have some more questions to ask."
Cheng Che lowered his voice and said, "Ask quickly."
"Do you like Jiang Xiaoqing?"
Cheng Che frowned and said, "Why are you asking this suddenly?"
Li Zimai snorted and said sarcastically, "The look in the little girl's eyes almost says 'I want to marry Brother Che'. So, are you planning to send me an invitation directly later?"
"Don't talk nonsense."
Cheng Che didn't understand why Li Zimai, a grown man, was always concerned about whether others had a partner or whether they liked him. In addition to all sorts of messy knowledge, his mind seemed to be filled with a lot of gossip.
Li Zimai asked with determination, "Do you like it?"
Seeing that Yang Mingxi was still playing with his phone, Cheng Che didn't rush to hang up the phone and reiterated, "I don't want to be in a relationship."
"I asked if you like it, not if you want to be in a relationship."
“Isn’t this the same thing?”
Li Zimai automatically understood it as "I don't like you" and then pressed the issue further, "Then if you like someone in the future, will you date them?"
Cheng Che: "I don't fall in love."
Li Zimai: "Idiot."
After hanging up the phone, Yang Mingxi asked faintly in the darkness: "Brother Che, are you in love?"
Unable to wait for Cheng Che's reply, Yang Mingxi added: "Don't worry about me, I sleep late, you can talk to your girlfriend on the phone for a while!"
Cheng Che: “…”
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