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The three people awkwardly waited until the hotpot arrived.
The waiter placed the dishes one by one in the empty place on the table, which was also in between Shang Jin and Shang Ming and opposite to Ye Zhou.
The Mandarin duck pot base was hot and spicy, bright red on one side and fresh and fragrant, light on the other side. Eighty percent of what the three big men ordered was all meat.
Shang Jin picked up a plate of mutton and poured it all into the spicy oil.
“Eh, you should put a bit on both sides.” Ye Zhou couldn’t stand it and picked up another plate of beef and put a few pieces into each side.
“Ye Zhou, why are you trying to manage it so much for? Such an adult and he still doesn’t understand what he wants to eat?” Shang Ming snorted and, matching strength with Shang Jin, took the meat from the plate next to his hand and dropped it in the pot.
“You guys slow down a bit.” This kind of thinly-sliced meat could easily be blanched twice then eaten. They put in so much in one breath, it was simply a waste! The meat would be overcooked! Seeing that the two of them had no signs of stopping, Ye Zhou slammed the table and furiously said, “Do you guys understand how to eat hotpot!”
The two people finally stopped their actions.
Ye Zhou disdainfully said, “I’m take over the rest. You guys just be responsible for eating.”
Shang Jin took up his chopsticks and habitually stretched toward the clear side of the soup. The chopsticks hadn’t touched the clear soup, Shang Jin turned his wrist and picked up the pale yellow bamboo dyed with a layer of chili oil. It wasn’t in a fit of pique that he put the meat covered in chili into his bowl; it was just that he also wanted to taste what Ye Zhou liked.
Ye Zhou really hadn’t seen Shang Jin eat spicy things. Ye Zhou and Zhou Wendao used to eat at this restaurant regularly. The spicy taste was especially excessive. If Shang Jin didn’t usually eat spicy, then it definitely wasn’t a good idea to try this for the first time. Ye Zhou ladled a bowl of clear broth and placed it next to Shang Jin, said, “It’d be better if you take a sip in the soup.”
Hungry for a morning and only eating one bread on the way, Shang Ming’s belly was singing like an empty city. After the meat was cooked, he couldn’t wait to pick up a lot. He was just about to eat with the tip of his nose sweating, but when he saw Ye Zhou’s close and considerate behavior, his movement paused. His eyes lingered between the two of them for a moment, then continued to immersed himself in gorging out.
Shang Jin looked at the clear soup and put the meat in his mouth.
The spice and numbness spread in his mouth in an instant. For those who weren’t good at eating spicy food, it was really hard for their tongues to adapt. But who was Shang Jin? Even if it was difficult to adapt, he could still eat one after the other without changing his look.
Ye Zhou said in astonishment, “Can you eat spicy?”
Shang Jin endured the internal heat in his mouth, nodded and said, “Tolerable.”
“Not bad.” Shang Ming, tilting up his lips, used the serving chopsticks to give Shang Jin a piece of duck blood and said, “Ye Zhou likes to eat this. Try it.” If he didn’t guess wrong, Shang Jin definitely didn’t like animal viscera. There was indeed a kind of person who was very resistant to eating these. So Shang Ming deliberately said that Ye Zhou liked to eat it after giving it to him, wanting to see the other side’s reaction.
Sure enough, Shang Jin looked at the duck blood in the bowl and hesitated.
“If you don’t like it, don’t eat it.” Ye Zhou glared at Shang Ming and said, “It’s not like he doesn’t have hands. Is it necessary for you to picked things for him?”
Shang Ming’s eyes avoided Ye Zhou and compromised, “I’m sorry. I also had good intentions. I saw some delicious things and wanted to share it. I forgot for a moment whether the other person could accept it or not. If you don’t like it, just don’t eat it.”
Shang Jin put the duck blood into his mouth and said, “The taste isn’t bad.”
Having Shang Jin accept what he liked, Ye Zhou was unexpectedly a little happy. A glimmer shone in his eyes and he expectantly asked, “Actually, clams and such are also delicious. Do you want to try?”
“You’ve already said so, how can I still refuse?” After finishing this sentence, Shang Jin suddenly realized that it seemed that he’d never refused Ye Zhou from the start, even when Ye Zhou had secretly taken photos of him that one time.
After lunch, Ye Zhou wanted to take Shang Ming to stroll around A City’s scenic spots. Shang Jin tactfully parted from them.
After eating a mouthful of spice, Shang Jin felt that he was already numb to the point where it didn’t matter whether he drank water or not.
Slowly waiting for the numbness of his tongue to dissipate, Shang Jin went to the foot of the dormitory and was about to enter when he seemed to have thought of something.  He walked to the parking shed and rode the car to the nearby flower and bird market.
Since the flowerpot had broken last time, he hadn’t had the time to buy it. After thinking that the potted strawberries would grow taller and bigger, Shang Jin simply settled matters in one go and bought a a big, 20cm pot and rich soil fertilizer for planting strawberries. Returning back to the dorm, he transplanted the strawberry seedling to the new pot.
The biggest leaf looked gradually withered, and small buds had sprouted again from the center. Shang Jin lightly touched the buds and softly said, “Quickly grow up.”
During the May Day period, there were still many people in the scenic spots even in the afternoon. Ye Zhou and Shang Ming sat in the bus for ten minutes and the bus was already crowded with people.
Shang Ming wiped his perspiration and grumbled in a low voice, “You say, why didn’t everyone rest at home during the holiday, and all came out for what liveliness?”
“The liveliness you came out for is the liveliness that people came out for.” When the two people got on the bus, they had seats. However, there were too many parents bringing their kids on the car, so they hadn’t warmed the seats yet when they stood up. Squeezed in the middle of the carriage with hands holding the ring, they swayed left and right along with the carriage. “Endure. We’ll arrive in twenty minutes.”
With difficulty, Shang Ming moved two steps toward Ye Zhou. Almost shoulder-to-shoulder, he whispered, “Ye Zhou, that…” The words were held back halfway. There were so many people in the bus that even if the two people spoke softly, it’d still be heard by the surrounding people. “Forget it.”
“Ah?” Ye Zhou said in dissatisfaction, “Have something, just say it. What’s the meaning of teasing and then running away?”
“I’ll tell you after getting off.”
They endured with great difficulty to arrive at their stop. Ye Zhou pulled him and followed out with the crowd to rush off the bus. Ye Zhou gasped for breath and said, “Can you continue?”
“Didn’t I ask you yesterday if you have someone you like?”
Ye Zhou touched his nose and said, “Why are you talking about this again? I’ve told you that we haven’t even started yet.”
Haven’t even started yet??
Not at all!
In the morning, Shang Ming hadn’t yet figured out why Shang Jin was targeting him, but after probing a bit while they were eating, he roughly had an idea in his heart. It was also because of this understanding that Shang Ming decided to turn a blind eye to Shang Jin’s rudeness. After all, anyone who saw the person they like hugging someone else and sleeping together for a night wouldn’t be happy in their heart.
In one short morning, Shang Ming, as an outsider, could sense that Ye Zhou was meticulous down to the smallest detail with Shang Jin, and Shang Jin wasn’t without feeling for Ye Zhou.
If the one Ye Zhou liked was Shang Jin, it would be to everyone’s delight and satisfaction if the two broke through the paper window between them. How could he say that nothing had started yet?
He’d clearly come to relieve his boredom. In the end, he still need to pull the strings for his good friend. Shang Ming felt that his responsibility was heavy and his heart was so tired. He planned out his thoughts and said, “In fact, between two boys, it’s the same whoever takes the initiative. Many things is just the matter of a sentence. You should tell what you feel in your heart to the other. When you say it out, the person would understand.”
Ye Zhou sighed and said, “The crucial point is that I’m not sure the other person can accept boys. After all, being together with a boy, there would definitely be a lot of strange gazes in the outside world.”
Shang Ming blinked. No matter how he looked, Shang Jin didn’t seem like a person who cared about gossip. There was no need to worry about this. “Society is now more inclusive. Even if a boy was together with a boy, the situation wouldn’t be so difficult.”
“Even so, I’m still worry about this.” Ye Zhou sighed, “But now, the most important thing is to pull closer to the other person.”
Shang Ming was astonished. “Isn’t being under the same roof close enough?”
Ye Zhou didn’t understand. “What under the same roof? We haven’t spent time alone yet.”
Shang Ming was dumbfounded. “Haven’t spent time alone?”
“Yeah. It’s been almost two months since we last met.”
“Don’t…” Shang Ming’s brain had a hint of confusion. “Don’t you like Shang Jin?”
“Shang Jin??” Ye Zhou was scared till his face turned red. “How can I like Shang Jin?? Are you kidding? Heavens, even if the whole class misunderstood me, how can even you be like this?”
Ye Zhou didn’t look like he was lying. Shang Ming doubtfully said, “Then who do you like?”
Ye Zhou hurriedly pulled out the photo of Tang Dongdong and said, “Here, his name is Tang Dongdong from an outside school.”
Having seen Shang Jin and now looking at Tang Dongdong, this was quite a gap of difference. At his side was Shang Jin who, from a guy’s point of view, was handsome enough to pressure them. So how did Ye Zhou look at Tang Dongdong? Thinking so, Shang Ming directly asked, “Why do you like him?”
“There’s no ‘why’ in the matter of love, but…” Ye Zhou mysteriously said, “I love him at first sight. Don’t you think this is dramatic? I never thought that falling in love at first sight would happen to me.”
“That is to say, you don’t know him at all?”
“I’ll know him after getting along with him for a while. It’s also the pleasure of gradually discovering the other person’s strengths in the process of getting to know each other.” Ye Zhou was a bit careless and his mouth said something shocking, “Actually saying that I like Shang Jin is too inconceivable. Even if I could like Zhou Wendao, I wouldn’t be able to like Shang Jin. Who’s Shang Jin? The enemy who’s forever pushing down on my head!”
“Enemy?” Shang Ming said with a laugh, “I really can’t make out that he’s your enemy.” According to his day of observation, Shang Jin was a very casual person in life and it was impossible for him to clean up his table. Linking this with the tidying method, it was most likely that Ye Zhou had done it. In the entire dorm, the other two people’s desks were also chaotic, but Ye Zhou only helped Shang Jin to tidy up. What kind of enemy was this?
Ye Zhou dry coughed and said, “The enemy is a friend now. When it comes to him and me, it’s also really dramatic enough. When school started last year…”
Ye Zhou recounted almost a year’s worth of encounters to Shang Ming. The more Shang Ming heard, the more he wanted to roll his eyes.
The two men went to an empty space and sat down. Shang Ming wasn’t resigned and asked, “I still can’t figure out: what do you like about Tang Dongdong?”
“Didn’t I tell you it was love at first sight? It’s like love, what a dramatic beginning.”
It seemed that Ye Zhou wasn’t aware of this side at all. It could be said that he’d really and thoroughly excluded Shang Jin from his options. But Shang Jin definitely wasn’t like a person who’d sit and wait for death. Shang Ming asked, “Then if there was a day when Shang Jin confessed to you?”
“How could that be!” Ye Zhou hurriedly said, “Didn’t I just tell you that after the misunderstanding happened, I told Shang Jin that I really didn’t like him and told him many times. How could he do such a thing? Besides, Shang Jin is my rival. I have always been pressured by him, so how can I succumb to him?”
It could be said that Shang Ming understood it. Ye Zhou had placed Shang Jin on the opposite side from the beginning. Even if his feelings for Shang Jin had changed, but Shang Jin’s position in his subconsciousness hadn’t changed. Similarly, it was the same for Tang Dongdong. At the beginning, he’d put him in the love at first sight position, so even if he didn’t know much about Tang Dongdong and his feelings weren’t deep, he had always firmly believed that Tang Dongdong was the one he liked.
Shang Ming rubbed his temples. As long as Ye Zhou didn’t have a day when he became aware of this, then even if he was in contact with Shang Jin for longer and their feelings grew deeper, there wouldn’t be any development. Thinking of this, Shang Jin was rather pitiful.
After a good while without hearing Shang Ming’s reply, Ye Zhou poked him and asked, “What are you thinking?’
Shang Ming sighed. “Just thinking…people can be stupid, and they deserve to take more detours.”