Chapter 9 – Stupid Fox

When Li Tang returned to the room, the commotion had ceased.

Everyone had returned to their seats. Cao Yang was duetting with Li Meiqi on “Roof,” their gazes filled with affection. On the other side, Huo Xichen and the square-faced boy were glaring at each other from across the room, the air thick with tension.

Seeing Jiang Lou and Li Tang enter together, Huo Xichen looked away, surprised and delighted. “Lou… Brother Jiang, when did you arrive?”

“Just now,” Jiang Lou said, sitting down in the empty seat in the corner of the room.

“Do you mean you just got here, or…”

Li Tang returned to his original spot. “I saw him get off the elevator when I came out of the restroom.”

Huo Xichen was relieved. “That’s good.”

Confirming that Jiang Lou hadn’t heard the argument earlier, the square-faced boy turned away, seemingly sighing in relief.

Exchanging glances, Jiang Lou smiled at Li Tang.

Li Tang knew it was a grateful smile.

He had thought Jiang Lou wouldn’t want to enter the room after hearing those words, but not only did he come in, he acted as if he knew nothing about it.

He truly never made others feel uncomfortable. For the first time, Li Tang wasn’t envious; he sincerely thought, it was only right that he had good relationships with people.

The KTV room was reserved until six in the evening.

Ten minutes before the end, the classmates were scrambling to select songs and grab the microphone, determined to sing one last song before the session ended.

While the others were lively and jubilant, Li Tang was tapped on the shoulder. Turning around, he saw Cao Yang’s girlfriend, Li Meiqi.

It was noisy around them, so she moved closer. “Come outside for a moment, I have something to tell you.”

Following her out of the room, they walked down the corridor to the lobby, stopping at the stairwell in the corner.

This area was seldom frequented by people, and it was rather quiet. Because of this silence, Li Tang felt increasingly uneasy. “What do you want with me?”

Li Meiqi turned around, the smile she wore in the room was completely gone, replaced only by scrutiny and undisguised disgust.

“I heard that you like guys.”

Li Tang was suddenly stunned, his hand clenched unconsciously at his side.

Very few people knew about this matter, only the classmates from his previous school who had been close to him.

“Where did you…”

“Don’t bother asking where I heard it, anyway, Cao Yang didn’t tell me.” Li Meiqi said, snorting derisively. “He considers you a true friend, I wonder what kind of intentions you have harboring around him every day.”

It was as if he had been slapped in the face, Li Tang’s cheeks burned with pain.

Never had he imagined that merely chatting on WeChat and meeting up during holidays would earn him the label of “harboring.”

Li Tang said, “I’m not harboring anything, we are ordinary friends.”

“You’d better be.” Li Meiqi looked at him suspiciously. “I called you out here to warn you, stay away from him. He’s a normal guy, don’t try to corrupt him.”

After Li Meiqi left, Li Tang stood alone in the same spot for a long time.

Until his hands stopped trembling, and his rapid breathing had calmed somewhat.

His cell phone rang for the third time before he answered it. It was Zhou Dongze asking where he was, if he wanted to join them at the Sichuan restaurant next door, where they had reserved a table.

“I’m coming.” Li Tang took a deep breath. “I’ll be there soon.”

Only after Li Tang had walked far away did the deserted stairwell return to its cold emptiness. A figure emerged from the corner of the wall.

Jiang Lou watched Li Tang’s receding back, his expression hidden in the darkness, a thorough understanding.

On the first day of school after the holiday, the results of the monthly exam were released.

In addition to the grade rankings posted on the bulletin board, each class had its own ranking list. Li Tang first checked his grade ranking, and his position in the upper-middle level was considered good. Returning to his class, he saw that he ranked forty out of fifty-two.

That was when he realized that Class 1 of Grade 2 was an elite class, and excelling in just English alone was simply not enough to rank at the forefront.

His deskmate Li Zichu was already very familiar with the rankings. When Li Tang turned around to look for another name, he reported without being asked, “Jiang Lou ranks third in the class. His English is just short of excellence, and his Chinese is average. Otherwise, with his mathematics scores, he could have climbed higher.”

Li Tang still went to check personally. Jiang Lou ranked twelfth in the grade, scoring 148 points in mathematics, an outstanding performance.

Experiencing the cruelty of competition for the first time, Li Tang slumped back in defeat, consoling himself, “Anyway, I’m going back to the capital for the college entrance examination.”

Moreover, judging by Li Yuanshan’s intentions, he was likely to skip the college entrance examination altogether, going directly abroad in Grade 12 to read preparatory courses for overseas study.

“Is this your reason for not working hard?” Li Zichu tried to motivate him. “Don’t you want your name to be closer to his on the honor roll?”

Li Tang lacked fighting spirit, thinking to himself that compared to being closer in rankings, he would rather be closer to him in other aspects.

After the monthly exam, the learning atmosphere relaxed slightly, and music, sports, and art classes returned amidst cheers.

During the physical education class, Zhou Dongze dribbled the basketball while looking at Li Tang’s wrist. “Your sprain hasn’t healed yet? I see you’ve had that bandage on for a long time.”

Li Tang was doing warm-up exercises. Hearing this, he subconsciously pulled his hand back behind him. “No, it still hurts a bit.”

“In that case, don’t go on the court today. What if it gets worse.”

Waiting for precisely this sentence, Li Tang suddenly felt no pain in his waist or legs, and he darted back to the sidelines, raising his arms and shouting, “You guys play, I’ll cheer for you!”

Zhou Dongze laughed. “I’ve never seen you so energetic.”

Just ten minutes into the game, a commotion came from the equipment room. Li Zichu, as the class monitor, went to investigate. When he returned, his expression was grave.

The few boys playing basketball gathered at the sideline and asked what had happened.

“The shelves in the sports equipment room collapsed, hitting someone,” Li Zichu said.

“Who was hit? Not from our class, right?” Zhou Dongze asked.

“No, it was two boys from the neighboring Class 2.” Pausing for a moment, Li Zichu hesitated. “Do you remember that day at the KTV, the first day of the National Day holiday, when two guys got into an argument with Huo Xichen…”

“You mean Zhao Yutao and Chen Zhengyang?” Zhou Dongze, who had invited them, naturally remembered most clearly. “Could it be them?”

“Mm-hmm.” Li Zichu nodded. “They went to the equipment room to fetch the props for the high jump. Those few poles had somehow been moved to the wall, and when they pulled them out, the rack resting on top collapsed.”

“Are they okay? What was on the rack?”

“It seems to be some consumables and accessories. The most dangerous were a few iron discs, and javelins used in the sports meet… One of them was hit on the head, and the other injured his shoulder. They’ve been taken to the infirmary for now. If no ambulance comes later, there should be no major problems.”

Those present that day at the KTV room still vividly remembered the situation. They looked at each other, seeing a hint of surprise in each other’s eyes.

One of the boys scratched his head. “Could it be karma coming so quickly?”

Another boy clicked his tongue. “Looks like we shouldn’t talk badly about others in the future.”

Zhou Dongze stroked his chin. “It can’t be Huo Xichen…”

“He wouldn’t do it.” Li Zichu said decisively. “He’s all bark and no bite. Standing up to argue with others is already his limit.”

Everyone’s focus instantly shifted. The boy who had said “karma” asked, “Aren’t you and Huo Xichen not close? How do you know him so well?”

Zhou Dongze raised his eyebrows, chiming in. “Yeah, what’s going on? Quickly explain to your brothers.”

…

Amidst the chatter, someone brought the topic back. “Do you think it could be Jiang Lou? After all, those two were insulting him, not Huo Xichen.”

“But Jiang Lou wasn’t even there at the time. Unless he has superhuman hearing, able to hear people talking badly about him from afar.”

“Forget superhuman hearing, our Brother Lou only has one ear that can hear, sigh…”

“So it’s simply impossible.”

“Hey, right, we should call him Brother Jiang in the future. Brother Lou sounds too close to a pun.”

Li Tang listened to them quietly from the side.

Someone nudged his arm. “What’s going on, haven’t heard a peep from you for half the day.”

Coming back to his senses, he saw it was Zhou Dongze.

“Our Tang is always like this, the more people there are, the more he withdraws into himself.” Li Zichu defended him. “Right now, he’s probably thinking about where to take us for his birthday dinner.”

“Is your birthday coming up soon?” Zhou Dongze asked.

“Yeah, Sunday.”

Li Tang was worried about how to extend invitations to his classmates, whether to send a group message on WeChat or ask each one in person. Someone helped him solve the problem.

Throwing a grateful glance at Li Zichu, Li Tang said, “Come and have fun when the time comes.”

The classmates responded in unison.

As the only person who knew that day at the KTV, Jiang Lou had actually heard everything outside the door, Li Tang had actually had doubts in his heart.

And this wavering guess dissipated the moment he saw Jiang Lou.

On Wednesday noon, on the rooftop of the comprehensive building, Li Tang had just stepped outdoors when he saw Jiang Lou, leaning against the railing ahead, raise his index finger to his lips and gesture for him to be quiet.

As Li Tang approached, Jiang Lou lowered his voice. “Someone is sleeping.”

Following his gaze, on the east side of the rooftop, several classmates had laid out their school uniforms on the ground and were dozing against the wall.

It seemed that this place wasn’t just a secret base known only to the two of them.

Li Tang felt regretful and guilty at the same time.

Jiang Lou was always so considerate of others’ feelings, how could I doubt such a kind person.

I’m truly despicable.

“Do you need something?”

It was Jiang Lou who interrupted his meaningless regret.

Li Tang made an “ah” sound, realizing that his volume was a bit loud, he hurriedly covered his mouth.

“It’s nothing, it’s just…” After some hesitation, Li Tang slowly extended his hand that had been behind his back. “The bandage came loose, I can’t wrap it by myself.”

This was the conversational method he had spent four classes in the morning thinking of.

Although it was still clumsy.

His arm was raised for a long time, until it started to ache, the other party still didn’t react.

As shame gradually spread, Li Tang’s patience was rapidly depleting, nearing the bottom, when a clearly defined hand reached out and gently supported Li Tang’s wrist.

The other hand removed the already loose bandage, Jiang Lou’s lips curved up. “Why didn’t you say something earlier.”

At this moment, Li Tang wished he could exhale forcefully, but he didn’t want to be discovered, so he could only breathe out slowly and lightly.

But his heartbeat defied logic, accelerating and echoing clearly, like a drumstick tapping on his eardrum.

He knew it was a bit risky because the injury caused by an incorrect force application on the punching bag had long healed. Now, the uneven marks on his wrist were all self-inflicted, each with its own origin.

There were random pinches when he was bored, presses when sitting in the living room looking up at the building, and on the road to sending Cao Yang and Li Meiqi to the station, due to feeling lost and extremely anxious, his hands had squeezed in the dark.

More often, it was at night, closing his eyes, remembering that rainy evening, the bandage wrapping around his wrist, one after another, finally being grasped by slender fingers, slowly and forcefully tightened.

It was a pain more addictive than drugs.

Just as Li Tang had guessed, Jiang Lou didn’t notice the unusual wound surface. His actions in wrapping the bandage were unhurried, his breathing steady, as if solemn, yet also seemingly bored and tired from doing this often.

Only at the end, the end of the bandage passed under the already wrapped bandage around the wrist, his fingers clenching together, pulling toward the palm.

The hand holding his wrist exerted force at this moment, not allowing him to move even a fraction.

The pain was much more intense and swift than last time. Perhaps he had hit a nerve, Li Tang even had a moment where his vision darkened, and cold sweat broke out.

Jiang Lou seemed to sense it, slightly easing the force. “Did I hurt you?”

That voice was deep, as if coming from a deep valley.

Fortunately, humans are best at forgetting fleeting hardships, even those that make life unbearable.

Releasing his upper teeth from biting his lower lip, Li Tang caught his breath. “No… it’s not very painful.”

A thick cloud drifted over, completely blocking the sun hanging high at noon, the sky grew gloomy.

After wrapping the bandage, Li Tang’s hand clenched and unclenched several times, remarking, “Amazing, it doesn’t affect movement at all.”

This time, he had wrapped a few more layers, fixed at the base of the thumb, naturally solid.

Jiang Lou’s gaze swept over, noticing that Li Tang was smiling.

Li Tang had a pair of round eyes, but the crease lines of his double eyelids extended upwards at the outer corners of his eyes, so even when he smiled until they narrowed, he always retained a mischievous and bright look, as well as a clear beauty—though that word shouldn’t be used to describe a boy.

Like a little fox.

But how could there be such an easily deceived, such a stupid fox in the world.

Jiang Lou remained silent, and Li Tang became somewhat apprehensive.

But he didn’t forget the second purpose of coming here today.

Li Tang moved to Jiang Lou’s right side, testing the waters. “Are you free on Sunday?”

“How so?”

“It’s my birthday, I’m planning to have a party at home… Will you come?”

Jiang Lou gave a light laugh.

Li Tang didn’t quite understand the meaning of this smile, feeling somewhat embarrassed, he added, “It’s not just you, I invited all the classmates in the class.”

This time, he didn’t have to wait long, Jiang Lou replied, “Mm, I’ll come.”