During that period, Chen Qianqing spent most of his time on recovering and reading books. By the time school started again, he could already walk without his crutches.
School starts for Chen Qianqing on the 3rd of September, and it had been more than ten days since Lu Zhengfei’s birthday ended. In those dozen days, Lu Zhengfei had not been speaking much to him; it could be seen that he had very much been hurt, even the task of sending him to school had been passed over to someone else.
Chen Qianqing would just pretend that he did not see the sullen look on Lu Zhengfei’s face, not like Lu Zhengfei would do anything to him anyway, it did not matter to him if they were going to be in this deadlock.
Zhu Mao thought that Chen Qianqing would be staying at home like the last semester, but he never would have thought that Chen Qianqing would move back to the dorms. Clearly, he was planning to live on campus all throughout this semester.
It was inconvenient for Chen Qianqing to move his things, so Lu Zhengfei sent some people to help him move his things into his dorm before leaving.
Zhu Mao was just changing his bed sheets when he saw Chen Qianqing. He was surprised:”Qianqing, you’re not staying at home this semester?”
Chen Qianqing responded with a hum. He had not stayed in the dorms before but he knew that there would still be things about dormitory life that would not be very convenient. But compared to staying with Lu Zhengfei everyday, he would rather endure the extra trouble. Not to mention, Lu Zhengfei himself had also agreed for him to do this, so why would he say no?
It felt to Zhu Mao like Chen Qianqing had changed completely as a person ever since he broke his leg. He smiled less, and in general, he seemed colder, it was almost to the point where Zhu Mao did not even dare to talk to him sometimes.
Chen Qianqing could detect the gap between him and Zhu Mao, but he did not plan to change it. Dealing with Lu Zhengfei was tiring enough for him, if he still had to put on an act in front of someone who did not matter to him, Chen Qianqing feared that he might one day go mad for real.
The weather in September was still very hot. After Chen Qianqing was done changing his bed sheets, he left with Zhu Mao to grab dinner.
Although Lu Zhengfei allowed Chen Qianqing to stay in the dorms, he had still sent people to follow him. After all, he still did not trust Chen Qianqing enough to let him run around freely.
Chen Qianqing and Zhu Mao had casually found a little shop to have their meal in. As they talked, they entered the store.
Usually, each dorm would be occupied by four people. However, Chen Qianqing’s room was special. Chen Qianqing and another Lu Siyou did not stay in the dorms, while Liu Jingyang had already dropped out of school. That was why the second half of their last semester had been occupied only by a single Zhu Mao.
Chen Qianqing was not at all familiar with any of the classmates in their class, so besides Zhu Mao, there was practically nobody he knew. Since he broke his leg last semester, he did not participate in any of the class activities either, further lowering his chances of getting to know any of his classmates.
Chen Qianqing ordered a bowl of noodles, and Zhu Mao a plate of fried rice. As the two ate, they started to chat.
Zhu Mao asked: “Qianqing, the class president said we will be organizing a mountain climbing activity after everyone’s back from National Day, are you going?”
Chen Qianqing did not have much appetite, but he still attempted to get some food in: “I’m not sure, we’ll have to see then.”
Zhu Mao continued: “Then, will you be going home on National Day? If not, could you help me take care of my hamster……?”
Zhu Mao had a pudding hamster he raised in their room called Lumpy. Right now, it was so fat that it would spread into the shape of a flat biscuit whenever it laid down. Everyone would be going on their holidays during National Day, so he could only look for someone to take care of it in his place.
Chen Qianqing did not return home for National Day in the past——Or more accurately, it was Lu Zhengfei who forbade him to return. But due to what happened this year, Chen Qianqing said: “Yeah I’ll be going back, it wasn’t convenient for me to go during the holidays, so it would be unseemly of me if I still didn’t return.”
Zhu Mao acknowledged that. He raised his hand to push his glasses up and said: “I’ll look for someone else then.”
As soon as the two finished their dinner, they returned back to their dorm. Since it was still early, and their school was not that far away anyway, the two decided to just walk back.
But they would never have expected to bump into a familiar face on the way.
“Liu Jingyang!” Zhu Mao thought that he had seen wrong at first, but after a careful look, he realized that the one standing on the road really was Liu Jingyang. Compared to a few months ago, Liu Jingyang now appeared more disheveled. He was wearing a black t-shirt and his hair was in a relatively messy state; it could be seen that life had not been going smoothly for him.
Chen Qianqing was quite surprised to see Liu JIngyang. He felt that with Lu Zhengfei’s personality, Liu Jingyang would have been driven out of the city long ago so as to leave him no way to appear in front of him ever again, but he did not think that he would see him here right now.
“Zhu Mao.” Liu Jing Yang heard his name being called, and saw Zhu Mao and Chen Qianqing when he raised his head. A look of resentment flashed past his face, but he quickly concealed it with a smile: “Were you two just eating?”
Zhu Mao knew that Liu Jingyang and Chen Qianqing did not get along well together. He looked at Chen Qianqing, and seeing that he did not look much unhappy about this situation, he said: “What have you been doing recently? You didn’t even contact us.”
“What else? I was busy looking for a job.” Liu Jingyang did not dare to tell his family he had been kicked out of school at all. It was way too easy if Lu Zhengfei wanted to make a simple student like Liu Jingyang’s life miserable, all he had to do was move his mouth a little.
Liu Jing Yang could hurt Chen Qianqing, but he would never be able to hurt Lu Zhengfei.
Hearing the dialogue between the two, Chen Qianqing’s face had been blank this entire time. It was as if he was just listening to the chatters of the strangers on the streets; whether he heard them or not, he had no interests in interjecting them.
Liu Jingyang and Zhu Mao talked for a little longer, but seeing that Chen Qianqing did not have the interest of joining in, he started to get anxious. He started to him softly: “Qianqing, I know I spoke out of line yesterday, I’m sorry, please don’t mind it.”
Chen Qianqing revealed a plain smile to him. This Liu Jingyang was really still taking Chen Qianqing as one without any temper; but on that note, if this was the real Chen Qianqing, then Liu Jingyang might actually be able to achieve his goal.
If the real Chen Qianqing had really caused Liu Jingyang to be kicked out because he was angry, seeing Liu Jingyang’s current condition now, as well as his apology, may actually be able to shake him.
But it was a pity……The current Chen Qianqing was a cold-blooded one; he did not think that the state Liu Jingyang was in deserved any pity, and even thought that Lu Zhengfei had gone too easy on him this time. Thus, he smiled: “If you knew you went overboard, why are you still showing yourself in front of me?”
Liu Jingyang’s face turned sour. He would never have thought that Chen Qianqing would be so unrelenting.
Seeing that the atmosphere between Liu Jingyang and Chen Qianqing was starting to get tense, Zhu Mao interrupted them nervously: “We’re all classmates, there’s no need for all this stiffness, right……? We might even end up working in the same place in the future.”
From Zhu Mao’s angle, this was Chen Qianqing trying to make things hard for Liu Jingyang on purpose. He did not know what it was that Liu Jingyang happened to say to Chen Qianqing, so naturally, he did not know how those words had affected Chen Qianqing.
Chen Qianqing looked at the angry-faced Liu Jingyang, and suddenly reached out to pat him on the shoulder. He spoke seriously: “Don’t try to mess with me anymore, or this won’t be the worst of it.”
Liu Jingyang was so pissed that he was seeing red. They were both hot-blooded youths in their twenties, so just lowering himself and apologizing to Chen Qianqing was already a slap in the face; he would never have thought that Chen Qianqing would ignore his apology, and even gave him another few hard slaps. Liu Jingyang smacked his hand off and spat on the ground next to him, yelling fiercely: “Chen Qianqing, what are you being all fucking pleased about? Aren’t you just a little money boy with higher class? I was blind to have thought you were any better!”
Even though his hand had been smacked away, Chen Qianqing did not get angry. All he did was look at Liu Jingyang’s indignant figure as he left with a pitying gaze——The people sent by Lu Zhengfei to follow him would definitely report this to Lu Zhengfei tonight, he would not even have to complain this time.
But in truth, Lu Zhengfei had already found out about it before the sun had gone down. He told the people following Chen Qianqing that they were to contact him immediately if anything out of the norm were to happen, not a single minute was to be wasted.
And the time when Lu Zhengfei had received this news was during his talk with Chen Qianqing’s therapist about his recent situation.
“It feels like he’s a completely different person.” Lu Zhengfei could not get the therapist to see Chen Qianqing directly, so he could only describe him himself: “He wouldn’t just ignore me, not was he as stubborn in the past. He would even smile at me sometimes……”
As the therapist listened to him, he seemed to have recalled something. He said: “Do you think this is a good change, or a bad one?”
After a moments of hesitation, Lu Zhengfei responded: “……His personality seems to have improved, but……”
The therapist noticed the change in Lu Zhengfei’s expression, and urged him on: “But what?”
“I don’t know.” Lu Zhengfei was frustrated: “He used to resist me, and I would always have a way to deal with him, but not anymore……he……he……”
The therapist revealed a look of understanding: “So it’s a all-arms war to a cold war?”
Lu Zhengfei: “Yeah.”
The therapist’s writing paused for a moment. He smiled: “Lu Zhengfei, from what I understand of you, I don’t think you would come to me about this if this was the end of it. Tell me, what else are you hiding from me?”
Lu Zhengfei’s expression showed he was clearly very uncomfortable.
The therapist went on: “Stop fretting, just tell me.”
After a long moment of silence, Lu Zhengfei said with much difficulty: “He……can’t get hard anymore.”
The therapist nearly cracked the pen in his hands in half. He coughed a few times to hide his surprise, and tried to appear calm: “Well, every dog has its day.”
Lu Zhengfei was mad: “Fuck, Xu Shaoren you asshole, is this the time to be gloating right now?!”
Xu Shaoren could no longer endure his laughter: “I told you to watch yourself, you were treating him so rough back then, but now it’s karma isn’t it? Just look at how anxious you are!”
Lu Zhengfei cursed again before saying: “Stop talking shit, tell me what to do.”
Xu Shaoren responded: “Well, the biggest problem now is not whether he can get hard or not, but whether or not you’re the one he can’t get hard with.”
Lu Zhengfei’s face turned dark.
Xu Shaoren was amused: “Want me to give it a try?”
Lu Zhengfei scoffed: “You? With his personality, he’ll have your dick chopped off.”
Xu Shaoren responded: “Wow, that spicy? Now you’re getting me tempted.”
Lu Zhengfei snapped back: “Can’t you be serious for once?”
Only then did Xu Shaoren put his smile away, and responded to him seriously: “First of all, you should figure out if he really can’t get hard, or if it’s just with you that he’s struggling.”