ATIBESLM 31

Ye Lingwei certainly didn’t think having a waist this thin was a good thing.

Moreover, having it spoken out of someone else’s mouth…

And it was Fei Lan who said it…

It was very unpleasant.

He lowered his eyes to watch Fei Lan unhurriedly helping him fasten his drawstring. As soon as he looked up, he saw Gao Linhao clinging to the doorframe, looking at him and Fei Lan with a face full of shock and disbelief. It was as if he had been struck by lightning.

“…”

“…”

“Aooooooooh help! My happiness is gone!!!” Gao Linhao waved his hands wildly, making a racket as he ran away.

—

Gao Linhao lay flatly on the desk, feeling for the first time that he was weak, boneless, and likely to fall over with a single gust of wind. Hearing movement beside him, he knew Ye Lingwei had returned. He sighed, looking very sorrowful.

Ye Lingwei poked him. “Hey.”

“Don’t touch me.” Gao Linhao dodged away.

“Go date then, if you guys want to date, just go date. What makes me sad is that you actually hid it from me, and dared to do that kind of thing in broad daylight…” Gao Linhao pointed at the gloomy, overcast sky outside, his face bright red. “Lan-ge’s hand went right into your pants!”

Ye Lingwei lifted his shirt. “He was helping me tie the drawstring…”

“…” Gao Linhao saw that patch of waist revealed under Ye Lingwei’s clothes—so white it was blinding. A rush of heat went straight to the top of his head. He jumped up, his whole body almost plastered against the wall. “Sh*t, sh*t, sh*t, you stay away from me!”

Fei Lan came in from behind, just in time to see Ye Lingwei putting down his shirt. He glanced at the bright-red-faced Gao Linhao. “What are you chatting about?”

Ye Lingwei pointed at himself. “Didn’t Gao Linhao say I have a thing with you? I’m explaining.”

Fei Lan nodded in agreement, asking casually as he pulled out a chair to sit, “How did you explain it to him?”

What kind of explanation could make someone blush like that? His face and neck weren’t even the same color anymore.

Ye Lingwei repeated the previous action. “Just like this.”

Gao Linhao froze. “Good Heavens!”

Fei Lan turned his head and saw it. He paused for a moment and then reached out to help Ye Lingwei pull his clothes down. He said indifferently, “Careful not to catch a cold.”

“Right, right, right, careful not to catch a cold.” Gao Linhao nodded repeatedly, thinking to himself, Can this guy stop messing with people? Is it that fun?

He was just making a joke. How could Brother Lan possibly be with Ye Lingwei? He was just surprised that their relationship was actually pretty good. He didn’t mean to look down on it. Although both of them were rich, inexplicably, Gao Linhao felt that if Brother Lan were actually with Ye Lingwei, it would be exhausting.

After all, the latter was annoying, high-maintenance, picky about food, in poor health, and loved ordering people around.

So annoying.

“Gao Linhao, lend me your jacket, it’s so cold,” Ye Lingwei slumped on the table, shrank his neck, and mumbled.

“Got it.”

When he took off his jacket, leaving only the base-layer T-shirt underneath, the wind from the back door blew and a layer of small goosebumps rose on his arms. Gao Linhao froze for a moment. What was he doing? Had he lost his mind?

—

Low immunity caused by heart condition. In fact, Ye Lingwei didn’t frequently have heart attacks. Most of the time, it was because his immunity wasn’t as good as others; constant minor illnesses would trigger a flare-up of his heart condition.

This kind of gloomy, drizzling weather is when it’s easiest to catch a cold. The temperature drops suddenly, only to rise back up again later. Autumn in Shencheng has always passed in a chaotic mess. Some people wore short sleeves, others wore hoodies.

It was very stuffy inside the classroom. Ye Lingwei woke up from a nap and went out through the back door. He stood in the hallway to get some fresh air.

It was rare for Lin Chudong to catch Ye Lingwei when he was alone. Gao Linhao was always following beside him. Even if Ye Lingwei was just sleeping on the desk, Gao Linhao was watching him at all times; a situation where he got absorbed in his own business and ignored Ye Lingwei simply would not happen.

“What’s the matter?” Ye Lingwei asked Lin Chudong lazily.

Lin Chudong was half a head taller than Ye Lingwei. He only needed to lower his eyes slightly to take in the other’s entire face. He hesitated for a moment and then said, “My mom didn’t do anything wrong. Your da-ge is slandering her to protect you.”

His tone was very resolute. Without even needing to guess, Ye Lingwei knew Li Lan must have told Lin Chudong the whole story—from her own perspective, of course.

However, regarding what he said about Ye Cen defending him, Ye Lingwei felt that was quite unlikely. Ye Cen at most believed that Li Lan had bullied a member of the Ye family. As for who this Ye family member was, that wasn’t within Ye Cen’s scope of consideration.

“You are dating Fei Lan.”

“He is my ge,” Ye Lingwei said indifferently. He finally looked Lin Chudong straight in the eye. Lin Chudong had assumed his gaze would be soft, pure like a little deer, and ignorant of worldly affairs. However, when Lin Chudong’s gaze actually met Ye Lingwei’s, his whole body froze.

Ye Lingwei’s gaze was icy cold, like the sea in winter, even the splashing spray was bone-chilling.

“I don’t want to hear you distort my relationship with Fei Lan again.” The relationship between the original host and Fei Lan was not something for dirty people like them to speculate about at will. 

No matter how Fei Lan appeared in others’ eyes, he was absolutely unwavering towards the original host.

What Lin Chudong was thinking about now was no longer the matter of Ye Cen pressuring the principal to demote Li Lan. He felt an intense pain in his heart, as if it were being torn apart alive by someone’s hands. He looked at Ye Lingwei in disbelief. “You really like him?”

Ye Lingwei: “…”

Lin Chudong was someone who thought very highly of himself and believed firmly in his own logic. Ye Lingwei couldn’t be bothered to deal with him, so he turned around, ready to go back to the classroom.

He turned around and stood still. Suddenly, a boy lunged at him from head-on, crashing into his arms. “Ye Lingwei, I missed you so much. Did you miss me?”

Ye Lingwei’s face was brushed by the other person’s hair. He turned his face away with difficulty. Just as he was preparing to speak, his arm was grabbed by someone who yanked him out of the other person’s embrace.

Ye Lingwei looked at this boy who had suddenly appeared without revealing any emotion.

The boy was very fair and very good-looking, with big, bright eyes and slightly curly deep chestnut hair. One look and you could tell he was the popular type. He gazed at Fei Lan. “Why are you two both looking at me with that kind of expression? Shouldn’t you guys be happy that I transferred to No. 3 High?”

“Ye Jiaojiao, I’m your best friend, you know.” Xia Huan poked Ye Lingwei’s face in dissatisfaction.

Three years, and you’ve already become this good-looking, Ye Jiaojiao…

Ye Lingwei slapped his hand away, obviously displeased. “What do you want?”

Fei Lan rubbed Ye Lingwei’s head. “Speak nicely.”

He looked at Xia Huan. “Xia Huan, aren’t you at No. 5 High?”

Xia Huan sighed. “I actually feel they’re all the same, but my mom said the study atmosphere at your No. 3 High is better. She used every threat and bribe to get me to transfer. I just didn’t expect you two to be on such good terms now.”

The three of them had known each other since childhood, but later, only Ye Lingwei and Xia Huan went to the same middle school. After graduation, they went their separate ways. Xia Huan was very clear about the falling out between Ye Lingwei and Fei Lan later on. Of course, he also knew about the Jiang Hui matter.

Ye Lingwei looked at Xia Huan. Looks like he is a childhood friend of the original host. They seem to be on pretty good terms.

Xia Huan finished greeting Ye Lingwei and Fei Lan. He stood on tiptoe and waved at Lin Chudong, “Hello, Chudong, long time no see!”

He knows Lin Chudong too?

Didn’t Ye Lingwei only meet Lin Chudong at No. 3 High? Xia Huan isn’t at No. 3 High, so how does he know him?

Ye Lingwei glanced at Lin Chudong behind him. The latter’s eyes were flickering and he was absent-minded, but a trace of a suspicious blush climbed up his ears and face.

This was already an explanation that couldn’t be more obvious.

—

There was no teacher for the afternoon class. Xia Huan went to Class 7. Ye Lingwei swapped seats with Gao Linhao. He stuck his head between the wall and Fei Lan’s body then asked curiously, “How do Xia Huan and Lin Chudong know each other?”

The two of them weren’t in the same school.

Fei Lan was playing with his phone, but out of the corner of his eye, he could see Ye Lingwei’s eyelashes fluttering. He thought for a moment, “Xia Huan has good grades, they probably met during a competition.”

“Then does Lin Chudong like Xia Huan?” Ye Lingwei asked excitedly. He was eager for Lin Chudong, that clingy pest, to go bother Xia Huan. If Xia Huan was the original host’s best friend… Ye Lingwei scrolled through his WeChat chat history. There was indeed a person named Xia Huan, but if that were the case, the last message was from two years ago.

It was asking if their school had participated in any city-level competitions recently.

Best friend, my ass.

Fei Lan shifted his gaze from his phone, and it landed on Ye Lingwei’s face. “Do you like him?”

“Who?” Ye Lingwei didn’t react for a moment.

“Lin Chudong.”

Ye Lingwei’s eyes widened. “I like him? I don’t like him at all.”

“Mm.” Fei Lan lightly said, “I remember you even wrote him a love letter.”

“I was just writing it for fun.”

“Writing love letters for fun?”

Ye Lingwei slowly slumped onto the table, his finger poking at Fei Lan’s shoulder. He mumbled, “Fei Lan, can you not bring up those humiliating things? It’s too humiliating.”

“Now you know it’s humiliating,” Fei Lan said indifferently, showing absolutely no mercy.

That rotten habit of flirting with everyone everywhere.

After Fei Lan finished speaking, he didn’t hear any movement behind him for a good while. He glanced back and found that Ye Lingwei and Gao Linhao had their heads together, chatting away.

“…”

—

“I didn’t expect Xia Huan to be your friend. That’s awesome, truly awesome.” Gao Linhao said excitedly, “Although No. 5 High School is trash, if No. 5 is a pot of shit, Xia Huan is the flower growing out of that pot of shit.”

Ye Lingwei frowned. “I don’t think that’s a very good metaphor.”

“Don’t pay attention to the details,” Gao Linhao said solemnly and then continued, “Xia Huan is the pillar of No. 5 High. Whether it’s looks or studies, he’s the only one No. 5 High can bring out to compare with other high schools. Those other so-called 2nd, 3rd, and 4th place rankers are only fit to be crushed by us.”

“So how come Xia Huan came to No. 3 High? Why didn’t No. 5 High spend hundreds of thousands to keep Xia Huan this time?” Gao Linhao worried on behalf of others. “With Xia Huan gone, if there are any competitions in the future, No. 5 High will have no one.”

“Hundreds of thousands?”

Since he is the childhood friend of the original host and Fei Lan, how could he possibly stay in a school that is so trashy in Gao Linhao’s mouth just for a few hundred thousand? A few hundred thousand isn’t even enough for Ye Cen to buy a watch nor enough for Ye Lingwei to throw a tantrum.

Strange.

“However, I’m not surprised he chose No. 3 High.” Gao Linhao looked around and said mysteriously, “You remember I told you last time that Lin Chudong has someone he likes, right? It’s him!”

Ye Lingwei gave him plenty of face. “Wow…”

No wonder Lin Chudong’s behavior toward Xia Huan at that time was so abnormal.

Gao Linhao breathed a sigh of relief. “With Xia Huan here, Lin Chudong finally won’t be harassing you all day. Look at how distracted he is. Let’s see how Li Lan has the nerve to blame you for being a bad influence on her son now. Her son is just a playboy to begin with. A few days ago, I saw him acting so heartbroken over you, I thought he liked you to death.”

Ye Lingwei thought that this time, Lin Chudong would finally stop bafflingly coming to find him. As it turned out, he was wrong.

Lin Chudong sent Ye Lingwei a WeChat message, a long and big paragraph, to explain his relationship with Xia Huan.

Ye Lingwei didn’t finish reading it and directly blocked Lin Chudong.

Meanwhile, Lin Chudong was still nervously holding his phone, waiting for Ye Lingwei’s reply.

He really didn’t like Xia Huan. It was just that he was happy to meet a rival during the competition back then, and he just treated Xia Huan as a rare soulmate. He thought that was love, but it wasn’t. He had never experienced that roller-coaster of emotions with Xia Huan.

He liked Ye Lingwei.

He hoped the other person still liked him just as he did in the beginning, instead of being like he was now—hot and cold, temperamental.

—

Fei Lan always went home late from school. When he stood up, he saw that Ye Lingwei’s desk was a total mess. His deskmate’s desk had books stacked neatly, with pens and rulers placed in the pen holder.

In contrast, looking at Ye Lingwei, there wasn’t a single empty spot to be found on the entire desk. If he needed a book, he would dig through this pile. If he couldn’t find it again, he would just lie down and sleep. After all, his health was poor and no teacher dared to discipline him.

Fei Lan paused for a moment. He put down his schoolbag and helped Ye Lingwei pack up his books one by one.

“Fei Lan.” A pair of clean sneakers appeared in his line of sight. “You and Ye Lingwei… are you really on good terms with him?”

“Do you need something?” Fei Lan smiled, but there was no smile in his eyes.

“Are you trying to curry favor with him?” Xia Huan looked at the books in Fei Lan’s hands. “Are you sure you two have cleared the air?”

Fei Lan didn’t answer this question directly. He asked Xia Huan, “Is your family doing okay? The Ye family’s things aren’t that easy to snatch, are they?”

Ye Fengmian’s sudden death gave many people an opportunity. None of the Ye family children were of legal age. People within the Ye family wanted to take over the Ye Corporation, and outsiders naturally wanted it even more. For a moment, the Ye family faced troubles both internally and externally.

The Xia family was one of them.

However, no one knew who made the move to beat the Xia family into pieces. The Xia family ran away with their tails between their legs. This was also the reason why Xia Huan didn’t apply for No. 3 High School later on. He felt guilty and he didn’t dare to. Fei Lan was here, and Fei Lan would definitely find out.

Moreover, No. 5 High School gave him a school selection fee of one million.

Even though it was only a matter of time before Fei Lan found out about those things.

Fei Lan rarely used a cold tone when speaking and on the contrary, he sometimes even made people feel he was gentle. However, when he asked Xia Huan, Xia Huan felt a chill run through his whole body.

“Stay away from Ye Jiaojiao.” Fei Lan lowered his eyes. He stacked the books neatly and picked up the pen Ye Lingwei had dropped on the ground. “Don’t get any ideas about him.”

“Since childhood, you’ve only been good to him. Aren’t I your friend too?” Xia Huan was a bit upset. Why is Fei Lan only good to Ye Lingwei?

Why?

Fei Lan was a bit surprised. “Obviously. Why would you even ask that?”

Xia Huan saw genuine confusion in Fei Lan’s eyes. He was so angry his head hurt. Fei Lan wasn’t doing it on purpose; he truly only treated Ye Lingwei well, and he believed he only needed to be good to Ye Lingwei. That’s why he was confused by the question—as if the person asking it was completely out of their mind.

“You guys could fall out before, you can do it now too.” Xia Huan said gloatingly, “Just wait and see. Wait and see what kind of trash Ye Lingwei will turn into.”

Besides, how much longer can he live anyway?

In this kind of weather, even a cold could take his life.

Fei Lan looked at Xia Huan with an indifferent gaze, like a collapsing glacier, covering Xia Huan entirely, making it impossible for him to even breathe.

—

Perhaps Xia Huan’s curse took effect.

Ye Lingwei started running a fever in the middle of the night. He checked his temperature himself: 39.0. A fever increases heart rate and adds burden to the heart. For a normal person, it wouldn’t be a big deal, but for someone like Ye Lingwei who already had a heart condition, such a rapid heart rate could trigger his underlying condition at any moment.

He called Auntie Li.

All the lights in the Ye family villa suddenly turned on. Ye Cen opened his bedroom door and Auntie Li threw a jacket right at his face. “Go, go, go, go check on Jiaojiao. He has a fever, he has a fever.”

Ye Cen frowned. “It’s fine if you just go.”

Auntie Li stopped in her tracks, ran back up the stairs—thud, thud, thud—and hit Ye Cen directly. “Will you only be happy if he dies? Is that it? Is that it? What did he do wrong to have a da-ge like you?”

As she spoke, Auntie Li started to cry. Ye Cen was somewhat helpless. “Don’t be like this…”

“I’ll go drive.” Ye Cen admitted defeat. Auntie Li immediately smiled, and while she was at it, she went to the kitchen and carried the pot of chicken soup she had stewed for Ye Cen onto the car too.

“…”

—

Ye Lingwei sat cross-legged on the sofa, holding a thermometer in his mouth while watching Auntie Li bustling about. Ye Cen was still wearing pajamas, sitting expressionlessly on the chair beside the dining table.

“He didn’t get caught in the rain again so how did he get a fever?”

“It must be because he wore too little…”

Auntie Li was cooking ginger soup in the kitchen. She had finally stopped muttering, when she suddenly said resentfully, “It’s all your da-ge’s fault!”

Ye Cen: “…”

Ye Lingwei was wrapped in a blanket, drowsy. He slumped on the sofa, his forehead still boiling hot.

The doctor followed them over too, saying it was cold evil invading the body. Simply put, the temperature dropped suddenly and Ye Lingwei’s body couldn’t withstand the shock. It will be fine once the fever goes down. If the fever hasn’t gone down by tomorrow morning, then send him to the hospital for an IV drip. Burning out his brain is a minor matter, just don’t go triggering his heart condition again.

“What do you mean ‘burning out his brain is a minor matter’?” Auntie Li was furious.

Looking at Ye Lingwei’s face, which was as white as a sheet of paper, her heart ached endlessly.

With frequent illnesses, the boy’s physical condition was getting practically worse and worse. The surgery was scheduled for after the college entrance exam next year. Auntie Li looked forward to it day and night. In her heart, the college entrance exam was clearly not as important as Ye Lingwei’s health. She even felt he could repeat a year, but Ye Lingwei refused to do it no matter what, and she couldn’t out-stubborn him.

“Wake him up and feed him some water…” Auntie Li ordered.

Ye Cen listened to the sound of the rain outside, and looked at Ye Lingwei, who was drowsy against the sofa. He handed over a glass of warm water from the table.

How old is he, and he still needs to be fed.

Fortunately, probably because he was sick, the boy wasn’t as arrogant and disobedient as his usual self. He held the cup with both hands, drinking in small sips.

Ye Lingwei drank less than half a cup of water, then sighed.

Ye Cen glanced at him, and a sudden bad premonition arose in his heart.

“I want to eat a fruit yogurt bowl, I want fresh yogurt,” Ye Lingwei was curled up on the sofa, his hair messy and his small face pale. He feebly said, “Da-ge…”

After his personality changed, Ye Lingwei would only say what he wanted when he was sick to the point of delirium. He never said he wanted houses or cars, or watches and jewelry, but he wanted autographs from cartoon characters, he wanted the beads inside the living room chandelier, he wanted a hailstone. In short, not a single request was normal.

Ye Xuan would usually hide in his room at times like this, turn the music volume up to the max, and pretend he couldn’t hear. It wasn’t that he was afraid of Ye Lingwei, but that he feared Auntie Li.

Auntie Li wasn’t there, so Ye Cen acted as if he didn’t hear anything.

Ye Lingwei blinked his eyes and stared at Ye Cen for a while. “I want to eat a fruit yogurt bowl.”

“Shut up.” Ye Cen frowned.

“No yellow fruits, I don’t eat yellow fruits…” Ye Lingwei wrapped himself in the blanket, his voice muffled, declaring extremely slowly.

Ye Cen froze for a moment. He thought of the photo Ye Lingwei sent to his WeChat last night. On top of the almond cake, there happened to be a few thin slices of curled mango used for decoration.

However, Ye Lingwei said he doesn’t eat yellow fruits…

Ye Cen thought back to the past. Before this, Ye Lingwei wasn’t a picky eater; he ate whatever was given to him. If Ye Cen were truly a slow-witted idiot, he wouldn’t be sitting in this position.

He began to search his mind for some extremely trivial details from the past. It was only when he needed information that Ye Cen realized the space between him and Ye Lingwei was almost blank.

Auntie always said Ye Lingwei was a picky eater, but Ye Cen didn’t believe it because in front of him, Ye Lingwei ate whatever was given to him.

Without any warning, Ye Cen’s heart gave a fierce, painful throb.

Whether he admitted it or not, all these years, regarding many of Ye Lingwei’s matters, it was he who had been negligent.

Ye Cen grabbed his jacket and walked out the door while putting it on.

Auntie Li came out of the kitchen holding the ginger soup. Seeing Ye Cen looking like he was about to leave, she frowned. “You’ve only been here for how long?”

“He wants a fruit yogurt bowl.” Ye Cen spoke with no emotion, and the door was pulled shut cleanly, leaving Auntie Li with a blank look on her face.

He didn’t just take the chance to sneak away, right?

—

The way Ye Lingwei looked, huddled weakly in the sofa, made Ye Cen, whose heart had always been harder than stone, soften for once. He drove the car, the wipers sweeping away the rain that smashed against the windshield one after another. Almost no shops were still open on either side of the road. In the pitch-black rainy night, a low-profile Cayenne was rushing and weaving all through the city.

He finally found a fruit yogurt shop that was about to close after much effort. The expressionless man stared tightly at the boss’s hand cutting the fruit; the boss’s hand was already shaking like a sieve.

It wasn’t fear, it was nervousness. It was even more nerve-wracking than the regional manager coming to inspect.

Until the boss took out a mango…

“Wait.”

The boss gulped. “Wh… what is it?”

Ye Cen said coldly, “No mango. I don’t want other yellow fruits either.”

The boss: “…”

In the process of waiting for it to be made, Ye Cen opened WeChat. Rarely in the mood to open his Moments, he saw he had quite a few friends, ranging from CEO Wang in electronics showing off luxury cars to Little Liu, who was starting a business, showing off the Maserati he just picked up.

Skimming as he slid all the way down, his finger stopped abruptly upon seeing the familiar living room in the background of a certain photo in a certain Moment.

The boy who, just before, had a pale little face in front of him, speaking feebly and looking so weak he was barely recognizable, was now smiling brilliantly at the camera. He was holding a tablet in his arms, and in front of him was a bowl of sweet soup with beautiful colors. He looked exactly like a little young master being held in the palm of one’s hand.

[Caption: Sick. Not happi.]

Just then, the fruit yogurt was done. The owner placed the packed fruit yogurt at the window. “Your fruit yogurt is ready!”

In the pouring rain, he went around half the city to buy a fruit yogurt, while a certain boy was nestled in a warm and soft sofa, drinking sweet soup, playing with a tablet, and posting photos saying he’s “not happi”?¹The correct phrase for unhappy is “不开心” (Bù kāi xīn). Ye Lingwei intentionally uses “Sen” instead of “Xin.” This is “internet baby talk” or cutesy slang, intended to sound adorable and pouty. 

Not happi? I think you are very “happi”.

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  The correct phrase for unhappy is “不开心” (Bù kāi xīn). Ye Lingwei intentionally uses “Sen” instead of “Xin.” This is “internet baby talk” or cutesy slang, intended to sound adorable and pouty.