Chapter 64 Fear
Lu Jiayi was waiting for the elevator with a workbook in his arms. The moment he saw Li Zimai, he immediately stopped smiling and turned his head away without even saying hello.
Li Zimai asked calmly, "Have you finished asking questions, junior brother?"
Lu Jiayi was not surprised at all that the other party knew the excuse for his visit. He saw the senior leading him in and soon after that he sent a message to the scumbag to report. The scumbag must have been PUAing the senior.
"My senior told me to contact him again if I have any questions." Lu Jiayi said bluntly.
Li Zimai smiled and said, "Okay, you can contact Cheche or me, we both have the same WeChat."
Lu Jiayi: “!”
No wonder the senior didn’t reply when he sent her a message. This scumbag must have controlled the senior’s phone.
Li Zimai didn't realize he'd been made into a pervert capable of mind-controlling Cheng Che. He handed the midnight snack to Lu Jiayi and said kindly, "This Qingtuan is delicious. Take some home, junior. Repeaters need to eat well."
Lu Jiayi gritted his teeth and took the green dumpling, said thank you, then walked out of the unit door and threw the green dumpling into the trash can beside the flower bed. Li Zimai saw this scene upstairs and thought: This brother has two faces.
When they got home, Cheng Che was curled up on the sofa watching TV. Li Zi walked over, hugged him, touched his forehead, and asked softly, "Are you feeling unwell?"
Cheng Che dodged his hand and said, "No, why are you back so early?"
Li Zimai smiled and said, "Can't I come back to accompany my wife?"
Cheng Che: "Can you please stop being so pretentious?"
"How come you change your attitude faster than turning the pages of a book? You weren't like that yesterday."
Li Zimai said expectantly, "I really like it when you rush over to hug me as soon as I get home, really."
He was stubborn and insisted that Cheng Che welcome him back like he did yesterday. He even walked to the entrance, opened his arms, and said, "Baby, come quickly. I'm home again."
Cheng Che: “…”
Cheng Che didn't move, and he stood there motionless, as if to say, "If you don't come over, I'll stand here all night." Cheng Che had no choice but to slowly walk over to hug him, saying perfunctorily, "Alright."
Li Zimai: "You didn't kiss me."
Cheng Che kissed him perfunctorily again, and Li Zimai was reluctantly satisfied. He hugged him and lay back on the sofa.
He saw a used manuscript paper on the coffee table with a math problem on it and frowned, "Is your junior sitting on the sofa?"
Cheng Che replied: "Where else can he sit if not on the sofa? I told you he was coming."
If it were an ordinary friend, Cheng Che would let anyone he wanted to come, even if it meant tearing down his house. But after knowing that this junior had bad intentions, he could not bear that his and Cheche's world of two was invaded by such an unclean person.
Li Zimai asked, "Where else did you sit?"
Cheng Che frowned and asked, "What do you mean?"
Li Zimai said bluntly: "I don't like you as a junior student very much."
When Cheng Che asked him the reason, Li Zimai of course refused to say that it was his junior's bad intentions. Just like the Duan Rui incident, he couldn't help his love rival confess. It would be best to resolve the matter without Cheng Che knowing anything.
He explained pitifully, "I just ran into him at the door, and he didn't even say hello to me. I gave him a Qingtuan and he threw it away. I thought he was your junior, so I gave him our favorite Qingtuan."
Cheng Che consoled him, "Maybe he doesn't like it. Don't send it to him in the future."
Li Zimai nodded, hugged his waist and said coquettishly: "I feel so uncomfortable. I thought he was your junior and wanted to have a good relationship with him..."
"No need." Cheng Che said, "I don't know him very well. I helped him once when we were kids, and he's always wanted to thank me."
Li Zimai asked again: "What did you help him with? Why did you remember it for so long?"
Cheng Che recounted the story, and Li Zimai immediately understood. He was absolutely certain that the other party was targeting his Che Che, and that things like repeating a grade and tutoring were just excuses.
Li Zimai sighed and said, "Our Brother Che is so upright, he always stands up for what is right wherever he goes. But next time when he does something right, he must take care of himself first and not get hurt."
Cheng Che said "hmm", "Don't be sad, I'll have less contact with him."
Li Zimai achieved his goal and didn't want to mention this person for even a second. He carried his Cheche back to the house to sleep and planned to replace the sofa and dining table immediately.
Every morning, Lu Jiayi would wait for Cheng Che to go out and then block him downstairs of the apartment building. Li Zimai initially acted like a close senior to his junior, but later found that the junior would not listen to him, so he ignored him. Every day, he drove Cheng Che directly to Teacher Zuo's studio, and picked him up before getting off work, completely preventing Lu Jiayi from seeing anyone. Lu Jiayi was so angry that he added another charge to the scumbag: he did not allow the senior to contact people, which was completely depriving the senior of his personal freedom.
The more Lu Jiayi thought about it, the more he felt something was amiss. He felt that Li Zimai, being rich and powerful, must have forced Cheng Che into this situation. He told his equally wealthy and powerful uncle about the incident. Upon hearing that it was the son of the Jiang family, his uncle immediately locked his nephew up at home, forbidding him from provoking the Jiang family and confiscating the apartment.
Lu Jiayi was anxious and angry. He begged his uncle for a long time before he reluctantly agreed to let him go out and took him to the company to watch. As soon as he arrived at the company, Lu Jiayi heard several female employees discussing Xu Sinian, talking about his liking for men, his position, his financial backers, and the Jiang family. Lu Jiayi asked the employees to explain clearly.
The employees chatted among themselves, and one even pulled out a photo from his phone and handed it to Lu Jiayi. "We took a photo of it a while ago. It was the day Xu Sinian's middle finger-giving photo went viral. He was in the Bolton basement garage, all by himself with three wealthy young men. He was really impressive."
Lu Jiayi enlarged the photo and saw nothing dramatic, just a few people talking.
The employee added, "It wasn't a big deal at first, but it was trending for five minutes before being removed. Enthusiastic netizens jumped on it, thinking it was a sex scandal involving Jiang's youngest son. President Jiang's assistant called all the major media outlets that evening, saying everyone knew the consequences if President Jiang's brother's peace and quiet was disturbed."
"Our company has also been warned, so this photo can only be circulated internally."
Lu Jiayi found the clearest photo and took a screenshot. He originally wanted to send it directly to Cheng Che, but then he remembered that Cheng Che was under control now. If the scumbag saw it, it would be a waste of time.
He then used a secondary account to post it on the Huada forum, exaggerating that Li Zimai had rekindled his old relationship with someone. The forum was hot all night, and the next day the photo was directly forwarded to the Class 3 group.
Cheng Che was in the class group, but he didn't speak, so everyone thought he didn't read the group messages. The group was discussing heatedly whether Li Zimai really liked men and whether he was really having an affair with Xu Sinian.
The angle of the photo was very suspicious. It looked like Li Zimai was reaching out to pull Xu Sinian, and the other two people present were cut out, making it even more ambiguous.
What Cheng Che cared about was not the photos, but the unpleasant words in the group. The Li Shen, whom they thought was unattainable, would also mess around with a celebrity, and a male celebrity with a bad reputation at that.
Cheng Che spoke in the group for the first time: [Is it interesting to tell stories by looking at pictures?]
The group finally quieted down. After a while, Jiang Xiaoqing sent a message: [Don't be angry, they didn't mean it.]
Cheng Che didn't reply, and he felt annoyed.
When Li Zimai came back, he saw Cheng Che sitting in the study with a sullen face, without even bothering to change his clothes, and asked him what was wrong.
Cheng Che threw his phone at him and went into the kitchen to cook without saying a word. Li Zimai quickly glanced at the phone screen, thinking that he was unhappy about the photo, and hurriedly explained, "Gu Wei and the others were there that night, I didn't pull him out."
Li Zimai hugged him and asked cautiously, "Are you angry?"
Cheng Che pulled his arm away, "Aren't you angry?"
"Why should I be angry..." Li Zimai changed the subject, "...Angry. Very angry. The person who posted the photo is really good at slandering me."
"They say you..."
They say you like men, that you are promiscuous, and that you are just pretending to be well-educated.
Cheng Che couldn't continue. The perfect Li Shen they wanted would be trampled into nothingness if he had a "stain".
Li Zimai smiled and said, "I thought you were unhappy because you saw the photos, but it turns out it's because they said bad things about me?"
Cheng Che said coldly: "You can still laugh."
"Of course I can laugh. Brother Che is so protective of me and even seeks justice for me in the group."
Cheng Che's face was sullen, and the spatula clattered against the pot, clearly furious. Li Zimai quickly grabbed his hand and said with a playful smile, "Stop it! You'll probably break the pot if you keep doing that."
"Don't laugh, it annoys me."
"Okay, okay, I won't laugh or smile. I'll be cold and grim."
He made an ugly face with his face, and Cheng Che couldn't hold it back, and kicked him again, "Get out."
Li Zimai hugged him and said, "How about we go out for dinner tonight? How about a date?"
Before going out, Cheng Che asked him to change his clothes and asked Li Zimai why his pants were covered in dust. Li Zimai said he went to a construction site. Cheng Che thought it was a new project his uncle had taken on, so he didn't ask any more questions.
The date was set at a snack street near his home. Cheng Che used to like to eat here because the food was cheap and suited his taste. Before they started dating, this street was where they ate the most, besides the cafeteria. Although Li Zimai was used to eating good food, he had an incomprehensible obsession with roadside stalls.
"The last time I went to my brother's company, I brought him a bowl of this, and he loved it."
Li Zimai bought a large bowl of grilled cold noodles and enjoyed it very much. "I'll bring him to try it next time."
Cheng Che thought about Jiang Xun wearing a suit and leather shoes to eat at a roadside stall, and advised Li Zimai: "Let's not do it."
"Right. Forget it. We can't let him get away with it."
“…”
Li Zimai has a big appetite. He almost ate his way through the snack street before saying he was full. When we went out on a date, he just ate by himself and only said he wanted to change places after he finished eating.
Cheng Che asked, "Where are we going?"
Li Zimai habitually held Cheng Che's hand and said, "The last time I came here, I found there was an arcade here. I've never been there, and I want to go check it out."
They were stared at all the way while they ate. Li Zimai was used to being stared at and didn't think it was a big deal, but Cheng Che was not used to it and scared away many stares with a cold face.
Now, holding hands in the downtown area, Cheng Che received even more stares. He heard someone say, "Look... those two men..."
What about “those two men”? Cheng Che didn’t hear clearly, but it was probably about those two men holding hands, those two men being a couple, those two men being very brave, etc.
Cheng Che looked down at Li Zimai's hand. It was still beautiful, but the black ring was not worthy of his nobleness. He shouldn't have said it was fine while serving cheap cold food to Cheng Che.
"What's wrong."
Li Zimai's palm felt empty, and he remembered that Cheche didn't allow him to hold hands outside, "...I forgot."
Cheng Che pulled out his phone and tried to explain, "I was checking the news."
After he took a few steps, Li Zimai said, "Cheche, do you care about what others think?"
Cheng Che lowered his head and asked him, "Don't you care?"
"I don't care. I don't care what others say. I care about you and what you think."
For the first time, he asked Cheng Che so directly whether he cared and what he thought of their relationship, but Cheng Che remained silent, neither saying that he cared nor that he didn't care.
The trip to the arcade didn't happen, and the two returned home with their own thoughts. Cheng Che knew Li Zimai was unhappy, but he didn't know how to comfort him. It was always Li Zimai who comforted him... Why was it always Li Zimai who comforted him? Was their relationship unequal from the beginning? He always wanted Li Zimai to take care of his fragile and sensitive emotions. Obviously, Li Zimai also needed a sense of security, but Cheng Che never gave it to her, not even saying "I love you".
When it was time to sleep, Li Zimai still held him in his arms and sighed softly, "Cheche, you're still young. It's normal to care about what others think of you. It's okay."
He comforted Cheng Che, "I understand that you don't want others to know about our relationship. I will be more careful outside in the future, but when we get home, please don't treat me coldly."
"...I'd be scared too."
I’m afraid that you have never thought about being with me for a long time, I’m afraid that the future I envision does not have you, and I’m afraid that I will lose you too.
Where he couldn't see, Cheng Che cried.
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