Chapter 69 Stranger
If a person wants to disappear in front of another person, even if they are in the same school, the same teaching building, or the same dormitory, they can completely avoid seeing each other. The previous encounters where they could not see each other when they looked up and down were just deliberately created chance encounters.
The news that Li Zimai ran out of the boys' dormitory holding Cheng Che that day spread like wildfire. More and more people on the Huazhong University of Science and Technology campus believed the incoherent post on the Internet, saying that Cheng Che was also gay and liked men, and that Huazhong University of Science and Technology had a famous gay couple.
Not long after, Li Zimai, one of the protagonists of the scandal, posted a statement on his WeChat Moments, which was then deleted. The two protagonists never appeared on the same screen together again, and the rumors about Cheng Che gradually disappeared.
Everyone's attention was focused on the famous Li Shen. All the gay men in Hua University and even in the university town, whether they were closeted or not, were all attracted by the opportunity and tried every possible way to hook up with the rich, handsome and single Li Shen.
But after that, Li Zimai almost disappeared from Hua University except during class time. He was even more difficult to approach than when he was a freshman. After a period of time, no one dared to flirt with Li Shen.
Gu Wei sat in the passenger seat of Li Zimai's car. He looked over and saw Cheng Che cleaning up the bar's trash. A boy beside him was clumsily helping him. Gu Wei sighed and said, "How long are you going to watch like this?"
Li Zimai didn't say anything, just smoked.
Gu Wei threatened him, "That boy likes your Cheche, aren't you worried?"
Li Zimai still smokes.
"Stop smoking. You'll get lung cancer if you continue to smoke."
Gu Wei put out his cigarette and opened the window for ventilation. Li Zi told him not to open the window because Cheng Che would see it. Gu Wei laughed angrily, "What are you doing? You agreed to break up with someone on the surface, but you are spying on them like this behind their back."
Li Zimai frowned and explained, "I wasn't monitoring him. I just happened to run into him."
Gu Wei didn't want to expose his poor excuse.
After Cheng Che entered the back door of the bar, Li Zimai started the engine and muttered to himself, "It's a waste of all the flesh I put on. I'm just skinny again."
Gu Wei looked at his slightly sunken cheeks and dark circles under his eyes and sighed, "You're not much better."
Gu Wei came back without telling his family, and Li Zimai didn't want to go home and face his mother's nagging, so the two of them found a hotel to stay for one night.
"It makes sense that I don't want to go home, but what's your reason for not wanting to go home?"
Li Zimai unbuckled his seatbelt and said calmly, "My mom heard somewhere recently that I got dumped, and she's trying to introduce me to someone."
Gu Wei was silent. Some time ago, Yang Yanning contacted him every day to ask about Li Zimai's situation. He just said he didn't know and asked Yang Yanning not to provoke Li Zimai. Yang Yanning was rarely obedient and said that Li Zimai was really angry this time. Not only did he deal with Xu Sinian, he also went to say hello to Teacher Li and said that he didn't want to see him again.
Only then did Gu Wei realize the twists and turns in the story. He quickly finished his lab project and went back to see his heartbroken childhood friend.
"Auntie might be intervening because she's worried that you're feeling bad. You should talk to her and see if she knows about you and Che... and Cheng Che."
Li Zimai didn't want to discuss this topic. "You don't have to come back. It's not a big deal. Don't delay you."
"No need to delay. Maomao has been busy lately, so I came back to help him with an experiment."
"You two are in finance and physics, so you still have common topics."
Gu Wei explained a lot about how his experiments were supported by Zhou Xumao's fund. Li Zimai didn't know if he understood. At the end, he said, "Well, I have to go to the project during this period."
Gu Wei knew that he was following his uncle, the dean, on the project, so he said, "I'll come back to see it when it's completed."
They entered the hotel and requested two rooms. After Gu Wei finished packing, he went to find him next door. Holding the wine that the hotel had just delivered, he asked him, "Do you want to drink with me?"
The hotel's balcony garden could see most of Beijing. Seeing him staring at the dark sky, Gu Wei lay down and stared at the sky as well. "Do you want to turn into a quantum probability cloud?"
Li Zimai closed his eyes and replied vaguely, "Think about it. It would be best if I could age faster."
He really wasn't in the mood to discuss quantum decay with a physics PhD. "Go back to sleep. You have a flight to catch tomorrow."
"You really don't have anything to say to me? I can listen. You know I'm a better listener than Mau Mau."
Li Zimai laughed, "You think I'm a heartbroken girl, and I'm going to complain about my ex to my bestie?"
He never smiled so forcedly, as if he was using all his strength to tell everyone, "I'm fine, don't worry about me," but it was obvious that he could not hold on any longer.
Since adolescence, Gu Wei has always been Li Zimai's best listener. He is always the first to tell Gu Wei about Li Zimai's confused sexual orientation issues, his worries about not wanting to learn cello, and the frustration of being bound by the messy rules at home.
But that night, he didn't tell Gu Wei how sad he was about losing Cheng Che. He didn't even say a word. He just stared at the dark sky in a daze.
There were no stars in the sky and the moon was hidden.
Gu Wei probably understood that some sadness cannot be expressed in words.
In December, the School of Architecture at Huazhong University of Science and Technology held its biennial Decathlon Construction Competition, inviting top university student teams from across the country to participate. After the first round of proposal evaluation, ten teams entered the final construction stage.
As the organizer, Huazhong University of Science and Technology selected the best students from various majors in the college to form a team to participate in the competition. A total of 14 students, ranging from sophomores to third-year graduate students, were led by the college's youngest students, Zuo Xuan and Ji Xiao, and worked day and night in an empty field in the suburbs of Beijing.
Cheng Che and several seniors were responsible for the exterior wall surface, while Li Zimai and two structural seniors were responsible for the roof. From the day of the launch meeting, the two had not spoken a word except for normal work exchanges. Fortunately, everyone in the team was very motivated and had little time for idle chat, so Cheng Che's introverted personality was not so conspicuous.
The day ended early, and several seniors asked Cheng Che if he wanted to go to the commercial street next door for a good meal. Cheng Che declined, saying, "I'm going back to school first. You guys eat first."
After Cheng Che left, the people on the roof stopped what they were doing and looked in the direction Cheng Che left in silence.
The people below asked, "Will Li Zimai go? Please do me a favor."
Li Zimai climbed down the wooden ladder and said, "I'm not going. Something happened at home."
The man tutted, "Why are the students nowadays so disrespectful?"
A female voice said, "Since you can get the handsome guy to come, we'll take care of your meals for next week!"
Everyone laughed, saying that the academy finally produced two of the most handsome guys, but each one was more aloof than the other.
Cheng Che didn't walk far and came back to look for the dormitory key. Outside the grille, he heard someone talking. It was the international student from Italy.
"Auntie asked me to come home for dinner this weekend, will you come back?"
"Didn't I make it clear? You don't have to do this."
The voice that answered was Cheng Che's most familiar voice.
Li Zimai is quite annoyed. His mother said some time ago that when his uncle was young, the son of a friend of his graduated and wanted to return to China to develop his career. He was about the same age as him and studied architecture. She asked Li Zimai if he wanted to open a studio with him.
Li Zimai refused at that time, saying that he had to set up the studio alone and that partnership was not an option. Li Qing agreed at the time, but turned around and called people back from Italy and asked his uncle to arrange them into a team for a competition, saying it was for academic exchange, but in fact he had ulterior motives.
Li Zimai understood her mother's thoughts too well. Since her son didn't like girls, she had to know the boy's background well before finding one, so that Li Zimai wouldn't mess around outside.
The boy's Chinese name is Bei Yiqing. He is of Chinese and Italian descent. He grew up in China, went abroad for high school, and then followed in his father's footsteps to study architecture in college, a field he has continued to pursue until now.
He is quite smart and good at studying. He is so outstanding that there is nothing wrong with him, but he listens too much to his parents. No matter how Li Zimai declares that he is single, it is useless.
"My mother was just impulsive. You don't have to come all the way from school. Just go back after the game. If you ever return to China to develop your career, I'll do my best to help you."
Li Zimai was very polite, but Bei Yiqing didn't give up and tried to come up with many reasons to prove that they were suitable. "My father and your uncle have always had a good relationship. Your mother likes me very much. We are in the same major. After graduation, we can open a studio together. I know my family's situation is not as good as the Jiang family, but I also know that you are not the kind of person who cares about these things, right?"
"We have the same life path, why can't we try to walk it together? I like you very much, and I know that your previous relationship was not very happy. I can..."
"Okay." Li Zimai interrupted him, "My life path is my own. I don't need to share it with others."
Seeing his cold face, Bei Yiqing stopped talking and just said, "Will you go home this weekend? Auntie said we should go back together."
Cheng Che didn't want to listen to their conversation, but he saw his keys pressed under the wooden board next to Li Zimai's feet. Perhaps it was because the weather was cold, and the wind blew over, lifting the thin board and revealing a small part of the key chain's tail.
Li Zimai and Cheng Che bought the keychains a long time ago at the snack street, one for each of them, one for Iron Man and one for Captain America. Cheng Che's was Captain America holding a shield. Now the color of Captain America's shield has faded and a corner of his mask is also broken.
Bei Yiqing saw Li Zimai suddenly squat down to pick up a dirty keychain, and hurriedly took out a tissue from her bag and gave it to him. Li Zimai didn't take it, nor did he say anything. He looked at the dusty keychain in a daze.
"...Mine, give it to me."
Cheng Che still walked in and asked Li Zimai for the key.
It was not until the keychain was taken away by Cheng Che and his fingertips accidentally touched Li Zimai's palm that Li Zimai came to his senses and remembered that he had not felt Cheng Che's body temperature for a long time.
Cheng Che said "thank you" like any other student would thank a kind classmate who found something lost. When he was about to leave, Li Zimai instinctively explained: "...don't..."
Don't be angry, don't misunderstand, don't break up, don't leave me.
He had said "please don't" many times in a coquettish, playful, and pleading tone, but he couldn't say it at this moment. No matter what followed "please don't", he was no longer qualified to say it.
Cheng Che doesn't want him anymore.
He finally fell silent and watched Cheng Che leave again.
That day was like a ripple beneath the peaceful life they pretended to live, but it soon disappeared. They continued to be the most ordinary classmates and the most unfamiliar exes.
On Saturday, the team finished work early. Cheng Che saw Bei Yiqing get into Li Zimai's car and sit in the passenger seat where he usually sat.
Once, when Yang Mingxi was about to go out, Li Zimai happened to be returning to the dormitory to help Cheng Che get something, and said he would give him a ride. Yang Mingxi followed him into the car and wanted to sit in the back seat, but there were only him and Li Zimai in the car. Sitting in the back seat would make Li Zimai the driver, so Yang Mingxi went to open the passenger door. Li Zimai immediately raised an eyebrow and said, "That's my wife's seat. Are you sure you want to sit there?"
As soon as Yang Mingxi got out of the car, he complained to Cheng Che, saying that Li Shen was too particular and would reserve the passenger seat for him even when no one was around.
At that time, Cheng Che wondered why Li Zimai had so many strange rituals, but now he realized that they were the unique things that Li Zimai left for him alone.
Now this uniqueness finally belongs to someone else.
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