Chen Luzhou was a difficult person to describe. Even Zhu Yangqi, who had grown up with him, couldn’t fully understand him. He could be sunny and narcissistic, and undeniably, a scoundrel. He knew exactly how to stab people where they were most vulnerable. Yet, he could also be exceptionally good at surface-level niceties. In short, it was best not to offend him, as he had no boundaries. The Chen family had adopted him primarily because of his strong spiritual presence.
This was true. Zhu Yangqi had a weak spiritual presence and often “saw ghosts” as a child. After being with Chen Luzhou, he never encountered strange things again. Even Chen Luzhou’s precious younger brother, who used to cry all night as a newborn, stopped crying after Chen Luzhou moved in.
Chen Luzhou, uninterested in hearing someone comfort their boyfriend, planned to finish his remaining cola and find a movie to watch. Suddenly, he heard Zhu Yangqi’s sarcastic voice: “Isn’t that Tan Xu, that bastard?”
Chen Luzhou glanced at him lazily, “Oh? You know him?”
“He was from No.1 High School,” Zhu Yangqi squinted, scrutinizing Tan Xu. “You remember Feng Jin, right? My friend from junior high who was forced to transfer schools.”
Forced?
“Yes, forced by his mother,” Zhu Yangqi emphasized, carefully separating the words.
A few years ago, No.1 High School was quite a mixed bag because they hadn’t yet abolished the direct promotion from the affiliated middle school, allowing some unqualified students to enter through money. Later, to boost their college entrance rates, the school was divided into three campuses: Zongshan, Main, and Yulin. The Zongshan campus housed five experimental classes, including Chen Luzhou’s, filled with academic prodigies and major competition gold medalists. The Main Campus, where Tan Xu and Feng Jin lived, was for ordinary top students and had the largest population. The Yulin campus was for art students like Zhu Yangqi and Gu Yan, mostly direct promotions from the affiliated middle school.
Chen Luzhou wasn’t a direct promotion, and his schedule differed from Zhu Yangqi’s. Zongshan students had classes from Monday to Saturday, with half a day off on Sunday, followed by evening self-study. Even during holidays, Chen Luzhou was usually attending competition training. Yulin students were left to their own devices. So, there was an information gap between them during their three years of high school, which was why Zhu Yangqi genuinely believed Chen Luzhou was dating Gu Yan.
Therefore, Chen Luzhou wasn’t very clear about Feng Jin’s situation. But hearing Zhu Yangqi’s words, he recalled playing basketball against Tan Xu once, noting that Tan Xu indeed had poor emotional control.
It was during a high school league match, No.1 High School versus Lecheng High School.
Both were provincial key schools, evenly matched. But that year, No.1 High had won many academic competitions, so Lecheng wanted to dampen their spirits in the basketball match. Lecheng’s play style was always aggressive and rough. With the referee making unfair calls, Lecheng players committed intentional fouls repeatedly. Chen Luzhou’s team endured for half the game, falling behind in scoring with several players injured. The cheerleaders on the sidelines were crying out for Chen Luzhou’s team to quit.
While the cheerleaders were arguing heatedly off-court, the players on the court remained surprisingly calm. They ignored the opponent’s provocations and focused on discussing tactics and strategies during halftime.
This was the charm of No.1 High students. They might have conflicts and be at odds in private, but they had a strong sense of collective honor. In crucial moments, they wouldn’t fight for personal glory but trust each other completely, with tactics coordinating from all directions and players always ready to support wherever the ball went.
Tan Xu was sent off by the referee after just half the game. Chen Luzhou and the team captain both had varying degrees of foot injuries. Due to Tan Xu’s dismissal, they only rested for ten minutes before rotating back in. They managed to turn the almost-dead game into a blood-boiling spectacle. In the end, they made a comeback, with Chen Luzhou scoring a buzzer-beating three-pointer to clinch that year’s league championship.
It was a narrow victory, and the whole venue was excited to tears. But later, for some unknown reason, Tan Xu suddenly rushed over and knocked down the opponent’s captain without a word. Chen Luzhou and several other team members had just sat down to catch their breath and couldn’t stop him in time. The scene was instantly engulfed by the boys’ roaring shouts and the girls’ hysterical screams.
That year, their results in the league were disqualified. Chen Luzhou and several team members had their feet badly injured, wearing casts for a month after the match. In the end, because of Tan Xu’s inability to control his temper, they didn’t even get a ranking.
……
“Now it’s hard to say whether he did it intentionally or not,” Zhu Yangqi said decisively to Chen Luzhou as they entered the room. He had just come out of the bathroom and was searching the room for a lighter. “Feng Jin said Tan Xu likes to show off. He was sent off, and in the end, you and the captain stole all the limelight. He must have been unhappy. Knowing that fighting would disqualify them, he still rushed in – if not stupid, then malicious. And if he hadn’t messed up grabbing rebounds, would your foot have been injured?”
As the person involved who had to wear a cast for a month because of this, Young Master Chen wasn’t as indignant as Zhu Yangqi. He picked up a chair with one hand and placed it in the middle of the living room, intending to change the lamp he had bought a couple of days ago. However, after standing on one foot and taking a look, he gave up. The lampshade was full of dead insects, and the previous tenant must have been a heavy smoker – the metal screw caps on the edge of the lampshade were covered in black, greasy tar. There was no way to start.
The living room light was dim, flickering as if trying to exhaust its last bit of brightness, looking like it could give out at any moment.
Chen Luzhou leaned back on the sofa, lifeless, staring at the ceiling and sighing. The ancient saying was still reliable – it’s truly hard to be a hero. First, you can’t have a cleanliness obsession.
“If your cleanliness obsession is so severe, you should move back home,” Zhu Yangqi mocked him, while also distancing himself, “Don’t look at me. I can’t do it. My cleanliness obsession is even worse than yours.”
“You have a cleanliness obsession and still smoke?”
“Artists need inspiration, you know. Besides, I only have a cleanliness obsession with others.”
Chen Luzhou asked him with sincere eyes, “Does Tan Xu have a cleanliness obsession?”
“Fuck off.”
“A real man should be able to bend and stretch,” Chen Luzhou earnestly advised him, “One should be able to stand as tall as Mount Tai, but also bow for five pecks of rice. You should bow a little too.”
“If you were born a hundred years earlier, I suspect you’d be a traitor, the kind who only knows how to manipulate people. Why should I bow to him?”
“Manipulate?” Chen Luzhou lounged lazily on the sofa, glancing at him sideways.
Zhu Yangqi said, “He and Feng Jin were quite close at first, but later Feng Jin found out he was a bit manipulative towards girls, so they fell out. Anyway, he acts like an autistic child wherever he goes, which easily arouses sympathy and protective instincts in some girls. This trick never fails, you know?”
“So, if I cut off an arm like Yang Guo, I can get married?” he joked shamelessly.
Zhu Yangqi ignored him, “Don’t you think that girl at his door looks very pure and easy to deceive?”
Chen Luzhou found it amusing, “I don’t know about easy to deceive, but pure is just her appearance.”
Zhu Yangqi clicked his tongue, wearing an expression that said ‘Now it’s your turn’, “You’re retaliating. You’re upset that she used you to comfort her boyfriend, aren’t you? Why don’t you go after her?”
He grabbed the remote control nearby, intending to find a movie to watch. He glanced at Zhu Yangqi, “Do I look that idle?”
“Aren’t you quite free these few months before going abroad?”
“Still not free enough to date.”
“You haven’t developed PTSD from the Gu Yan incident, have you?”
“Not that bad,” he switched to the movie channel, which was currently showing ‘The Shawshank Redemption’. He had watched this movie no less than ten times. On the theme of freedom and hope, this movie had expressed it to the extreme. He said carelessly, “My mom is strict. I promised her I’d get her approval before having a girlfriend. Besides, I’m about to go abroad. What’s the point of pursuing her now? Video chat every day? Long-distance relationships aren’t impossible, but I’m broke right now. Maybe I’ll consider it when my mom unfreezes my card. Otherwise, when she wants to see you, you can’t even afford a plane ticket.”
“I was just saying. Why are you thinking so far ahead? You’re not right. You must have thought about this before, otherwise your thoughts wouldn’t be so clear,” Zhu Yangqi knew him too well. This dog must have had some bad intentions.
“Mm,” he had the nerve to nod, frankly admitting it, “Using me as a negative example to comfort her boyfriend, and I’m not allowed to think about it? To be honest, she gives me more of a feeling than Gu Yan did.”
About half an hour passed.
The doorbell rang urgently. Zhu Yangqi, thinking it was his flash delivery, jumped up excitedly from the sofa and ran to open the door.
When the young lady’s face appeared at the door, Zhu Yangqi felt that things might be developing in an uncontrollable direction. “You—”
Xu Zhi got straight to the point: “Brother, help me out, call your friend.”
Zhu Yangqi stared straight at Xu Zhi, without turning his head, and called out all of Chen Luzhou’s names while leaning on the doorframe like a ghost demanding a life, his tone gradually becoming more agitated: “CY, Chen Luzhou. Xian Cao! Scoundrel!! Bastard!!!!”
The girl has come to our door!!!!!
“Are you an idiot?” Chen Luzhou cursed as he walked over with a bowl of freshly made instant noodles. He had a fork in his mouth, his brows slightly furrowed, his eyes coldly looking at Xu Zhi. His enunciation was unusually clear at this moment, “What’s the matter?”
“Can I borrow the baseball bat outside your yard?” Xu Zhi asked directly, “My necklace is stuck in that big tree at your doorway.”
Chen Luzhou looked her over, his eyes pointing to the incredibly tall tree outside: “You think you can reach it with just a baseball bat?”
Xu Zhi turned back to look, then calmly turned back, first glancing at Zhu Yangqi, quickly passing him over, then looking at Chen Luzhou, and finally lowering her gaze to the instant noodles in his hand and the spoon in his mouth: “Then are you free? I can wait until you finish eating.”
Chen Luzhou: “…”
Zhu Yangqi: “……”
There was only one old phoenix tree at the doorway, with dense branches intertwining. The leaves were layered thickly. It would be hard to find anything even in daylight, let alone at night.
Chen Luzhou went out with her to take a look. He propped one hand on the rough tree trunk, looked up silently for a moment, then looked at her with a troubled expression, “How about this, I’ll buy you another one—”
Xu Zhi was stunned for a moment, but reacted quickly: “That wouldn’t be appropriate.”
Chen Luzhou looked at her, not smiling. His eyes seemed naturally hooked, but very cold. He lazily pointed his chin upwards: “Show me again how you got it stuck up there.”
Xu Zhi: “…”
The moon hung high and aloof in the sky, like the thin, handsome young man in front of her. He seemed difficult to deal with, yet filled one with hope. Young Master Chen had been the center of attention since childhood. Because he had no boundaries, no one could get the better of him.
“This necklace is very expensive,” she tried to persuade him.
“Is that so?” He nodded empathetically, giving her advice, “Why don’t you make a wish? Don’t waste the opportunity.”
Xu Zhi:?
…
“This was left to me by my mother,” Xu Zhi finally said, looking at him.
Ms. Lin Qiudie had a particularly high appearance rate today. Xu Zhi rarely thought of her, perhaps it was the lady from this afternoon who had the same witty catchphrases as Lin Qiudie, making Xu Zhi feel an inexplicable sense of familiarity towards Chen Luzhou. Or maybe it was this necklace, which seemed to be reminding her of something.
Under the pale moonlight, their gazes met frankly in the air. Chen Luzhou felt that, unlike the “cold collision” from that afternoon, her eyes were much softer now, seeming to carry a kind of pitiful plea.
To be honest, flirting with other men while having a boyfriend was quite off-putting. Chen Luzhou considered himself experienced in matters of the heart. He had never been in a serious relationship, but he had developed romantic awareness early on. Back when Zhu Yangqi and the others still didn’t know why they felt compelled to pursue a particular girl, he already knew how to keep his distance from girls.
Because he was caught red-handed writing love letters as a child, his mother always thought he had a lot of girlfriends. However, Chen Luzhou never felt he had any issues with relationships. Tonight, he suddenly felt he might be meddling too much. He leaned back, averting his eyes, his tone turning cold: “Then I can’t help you. Why don’t you trouble the firefighters?”
“Don’t you have a drone? Can you use that to take a look?” The “flirted with” Xu Zhi was oblivious, remembering the drone she had seen at his doorway in the afternoon, and cautiously gave him a meaningful look.
Do you think it’s flying a kite?
“Sharp eyes, huh,” Chen Luzhou almost rolled his eyes, “My mom also has a plane, interested in that?”
Xu Zhi: “…”
Cai Yingying watched their back-and-forth, her eyes almost bleeding from staring so hard. She thought this super handsome guy was something.
The atmosphere fell silent for a moment, with the cicadas’ dull, intense sound seeming to grow from the ground. Chen Luzhou was about to go in to check on his instant noodles when he straightened up and saw someone coming out of the stairwell sideways, carrying a long pole.
Chen Luzhou expressionless: “Zhu Yangqi, what are you doing?”
Zhu Yangqi, sweating profusely, enthusiastically extended the object from the doorway: “Helping the little sister find her necklace!”
The pole, pieced together from various items, was a good three to four meters long. It was bound with all sorts of long tools that could be found in Chen Luzhou’s house, including but not limited to a baseball bat, a tripod, a clothes drying pole, a broom, and a wooden stick from who knows where. Most unacceptable to Chen Luzhou was that there was a ladle tied to the very top.
“How’s that, aren’t I clever?” Zhu Yangqi looked up, shamelessly seeking praise from him.
Chen Luzhou finally realized what that wooden stick was made of, his face instantly darkening, “Did you dismantle my model?”
Before he could explode, Zhu Yangqi slipped past him like an eel, huffing and puffing as he rummaged through the towering tree. The leaves rustled loudly as if ruffled by a strong wind, startling birds that flapped their wings in panic, flying into the boundless night.
“How about it, is there any—”
There was.
In the thick twilight, a shiny large gold chain suddenly “plop” fell in front of Chen Luzhou.
Chen Luzhou, holding his phone, questioned Xu Zhi’s aesthetic taste while fully affirming her persistence.
Unexpectedly, Xu Zhi casually glanced at it and said to Zhu Yangqi, unmoved: “It’s not this one.”
Zhu Yangqi: “…”
Chen Luzhou: “…”
Finally, just as the old tree was about to be stripped bare, Xu Zhi’s four-leaf clover necklace was found. She calmly and politely said: “Thank you, it’s this one.”
However, Young Master Chen, ever accommodating, put his hands on his hips, leaned against the nearby utility pole, and nonchalantly directed Zhu Yangqi: “Come on, don’t stop yet. Shake it some more, see if there are any gold bars or something.”
Xu Zhi: “…”
Cai Yingying: “…”
Zhu Yangqi: “……”