Chapter 16 – This Is a Secret

In the afternoon, they arrived at the live-action role-playing venue in high spirits, and upon entering, they were awestruck by the opulent interior. It was a real-life script murder mystery, and it seemed that the class funds had been emptied to create an immersive experience.

Li Zichu arrived just before the roles were assigned, joining Huo Xichen. When asked where he had disappeared to during the movie, Li Zichu replied, “Didn’t I say? The restroom.”

“So long?” Li Tang couldn’t understand.

Li Zichu winked at him. “Hemorrhoids and constipation.”

Li Tang was speechless.

There was no need to broadcast such matters so loudly.

They drew lots to assign roles, and Li Tang ended up playing a reporter from the Republican era, receiving a shirt and overalls as his costume. The quality of the clothing was average, but at least he was playing a man. There were equal numbers of male and female characters in the script, but there were more men than women present, so unfortunately, Li Zichu was cast as the warlord’s eldest daughter, needing to wear a wig and a dress.

The men’s changing room was crowded, and Li Tang struggled inside for a while, almost dislocating his arm trying to fix the straps on his overalls. Worried that the others outside were getting impatient, he poked his head out from behind the curtain. “Sorry, could you wait a bit longer? I—”

His voice trailed off mid-sentence.

Waiting outside wasn’t anyone else, but Jiang Lou, leaning against the door frame with a look of “I’m not in a hurry.”

Jiang Lou’s role was the officer’s driver, requiring only a change of pants and a suit jacket.

Seeing Li Tang struggling with the overalls’ straps, Jiang Lou asked, “Can’t get it on?”

Li Tang nodded, embarrassed. “These straps seem too short…”

“Let me see.” Jiang Lou stepped into the changing room.

Li Tang quickly turned around. His shirt was still unbuttoned, and his pants weren’t fastened, his state best described as disheveled.

Jiang Lou tugged at the strap, also finding it short. “Is this meant for a kid?”

“…Probably not.”

Li Tang wasn’t listening to what he was saying, only feeling the warm breath brushing against his neck – Jiang Lou was taller, standing behind him to help with his clothes, holding him as if embracing him from behind.

Unlike other guys, Jiang Lou didn’t have an unpleasant sweat smell or a confusing mix of hair gel and cologne; instead, he had a faint, clean soap fragrance that slowly permeated Li Tang’s nostrils, making him feel dizzy and entranced.

Li Tang didn’t notice when the other foot entered the room or when the curtain closed.

Fortunately, the strap was adjustable, and once Jiang Lou realized this, he extended it, wrapping his arm around Li Tang’s waist to hook the metal clasp onto the protruding button.

The left strap got stuck in the pant leg, and Jiang Lou’s fingers slipped along the waistband, pulling the strap out piece by piece. As the metal buckle slithered up his leg, it felt like a snake moving under his skin.

Li Tang bit his lip, barely managing to suppress his ragged breathing.

Suddenly, voices came from the neighboring changing room.

“Why isn’t Su Qinhan here this time? Isn’t she usually wherever Jiang Lou is?”

“She might have given up; not everyone can handle rejection.”

“I think Jiang Lou is fine with her, he hasn’t rejected her.”

“Hmph, he’s just stringing her along, enjoying the attention of a pretty girl.”

It was two boys from their class, one inside a changing room and the other outside, perhaps thinking no one was in the adjacent changing room and thus chatting loudly about gossip.

Li Tang dared not breathe, fearing discovery. However, the subject of their conversation remained calm, seemingly ignoring them as he continued to adjust the strap around Li Tang, letting it dangle down over his shoulder.

The two continued talking.

“I saw him recently hanging out with the new student, sitting together during the movie.”

“You mean Li Tang? Weren’t they desk partners?”

“For how many days? In the last monthly exam, few answered the last two math questions correctly, Li Tang did.”

“Do you think Jiang Lou gave him the answers?”

“What else could it be?”

Hearing his name, Li Tang’s heart raced, nearly leaping out of his throat.

In panic, he started subconsciously twisting his hands, his fingers digging into the skin of his wrists.

Before he could exert much force, Jiang Lou’s hand restrained him. Like he had helped Li Tang with the overalls, his clear-cut fingers touched Li Tang’s thin wrist, his fingertips grazing the prominent bones.

Then, two fingers tightened, gradually applying pressure to the lingering purple bruise.

As the pain surged, Li Tang drew a breath, a broken cry escaping his throat, fragmented by trembling.

It was muffled by Jiang Lou’s other hand covering his mouth, barely audible.

“Ssh—” Jiang Lou whispered in his ear, “Don’t want to be found out, do you?”

“But why doesn’t he give us the answers? We’re all classmates.”

“There’s a mirror in the restroom.”

“What does that mean?”

“Look at yourself in the mirror, see what kind of pig you look like.”

“Damn, are you saying Jiang Lou likes Li Tang…”

“Li Tang is indeed handsome.”

“You wouldn’t also…

“Get lost, I don’t like guys.”

Li Tang could hardly hear the rest of the conversation.

His fingertips sank into his flesh, waves of pain engulfing the remnants of his clarity.

He felt as if he was sinking to the bottom of a lake, entangled by seaweed, unable to escape which filled him with fear, yet the tight embrace provided a sense of security.

Jiang Lou lowered his body, his lips almost touching Li Tang’s ear, whispering amidst the amplified sound of heavy breathing, “This is a secret.”

Covering his mouth caused mild oxygen deprivation, so Li Tang didn’t know if the secret Jiang Lou referred to was giving him the answers alone, or something else.

Throughout the entire script murder mystery game, Li Tang was distracted.

So much so that he didn’t even remember who was playing whom by the end. During the final phase of identifying the murderer, he randomly pointed at Huo Xichen, who stared at him with eyes wide as bells. “Dude, we’re on the same team!”

He then pointed at Zhou Dongze beside him, who smiled bitterly. “I just shared information with you in the last round.”

His gaze shifted to the side, landing on Jiang Lou, dressed in a suit.

Citing poor hearing, Jiang Lou had barely participated in the discussions. Fortunately, the role of the driver was merely filler, so his absence didn’t matter.

Yet despite the peripheral nature of his character and the haphazard costume, Jiang Lou was still the most eye-catching presence – he was tall and broad-shouldered, his physique giving the soft material of his clothes a pleasing silhouette. The few girls at the table were secretly watching him, including the DM lady.

Before Li Tang could speak, Jiang Lou spoke first. “You should rule out Li Tang as well; he definitely isn’t the murderer.”

Some teased that Jiang Lou was being biased, but he just laughed.

During the subsequent discussions, everyone indeed ignored Li Tang, allowing him to catch his breath. At the same time, Li Tang realized that Jiang Lou seemed to always know what he wanted – at the beginning of the school year, when he wanted to be the English class representative, it was Jiang Lou who advocated for him.

And earlier, in the changing room…

Lightly tapping his wrist under the table, the perfect pain still lingered.

His earlobe tingled, and Li Tang raised his hand to touch it, feeling the warmth.

That was where Jiang Lou’s lips had brushed past.

After the game ended, several girls went to the lobby to take photos in their costumes, while the boys rushed to the changing room.

Li Tang lagged behind, seeing the crowd inside, he decided to wait until most people had left before changing.

Walking through the empty colonnade in the evening, facing the lush European-style garden, and amidst the gentle sound of the fountain, Li Tang idly played with his phone, absent-mindedly.

On his way back, passing by the room decorated as a banquet hall, Li Tang inadvertently glanced inside and noticed two people embracing under the glass dome, one looking up and the other leaning down, kissing.

Not wanting to intrude, he hurriedly walked away.

By the time he reached the changing room and recalled the scene, he realized that the “girl” in the boy’s arms had lustrous curly hair and wore a royal blue dress.

If his memory served him right, she was dressed like the warlord’s eldest daughter in the script.

At dinner, Zhou Dongze saw Li Tang and Jiang Lou sitting together again, having a quiet conversation.

What they were discussing was actually about Li Zichu.

Li Tang asked if Li Zichu had left halfway through the movie due to Huo Xichen, and Jiang Lou confirmed, “Yeah.”

Reflecting on various events, Li Tang was shocked and confused. “Aren’t they supposed to be at odds?”

Jiang Lou explained, “Well, they live under the same roof, can’t avoid each other.”

Li Tang remembered Li Zichu mentioning that his mother remarried at the beginning of the year, and the man also had a son, meaning he now had a half-brother.

Recalling Li Zichu’s peculiar tastes, preferring simple-minded individuals who displayed their emotions openly, fools.

And the night of the birthday party when both of them disappeared together, and the wounds that appeared on both their lips the next day.

Earlier, Li Zichu cared more about switching seats than Li Tang himself did.

…

Li Tang had never been so shocked in his life, “So they…!?”

He couldn’t find the right words to describe it, gesturing wildly, his face flushing first.

Immediately after, Li Tang realized something else.

“So, you made Huo Xichen call Li Zichu out because you wanted to come?”

To sit next to him.

Knowing he had figured it out, Jiang Lou chuckled. “Not too stupid after all.”

This was the first time someone had called Li Tang stupid, surprisingly, he wasn’t annoyed.

Instead, he found the word strangely intimate, sending a thrilling shiver to his heart.