Soon someone knocked on the door of the room, looking for Lu Zheyu. The previous troubles in the band had no effect on Lu Zheyu’s work, and the theme song audition continued as usual.
After work, the five left the bar together.
The setting sun outside has dyed the ground, bathing the whole city with a hazy golden glow.
“Leaving so soon? Isn’t today only the second day of the holiday?” Zhu Tong asked after he heard that Zhu Xin had to catch the morning flight tomorrow and wouldn’t go back to Gongshui County with them today. He was a bit surprised.
Zhu Xin replied, “I will take two days of extra art classes when I go back, so my holiday will end two days from now.”
“…”
Although reluctant, Zhu Tong could only let Uncle Liu send his sister back to his aunt’s house.
Before getting into the car, Zhu Xin glanced at Shao Ming with an inexplicable look. Then, she bid goodbye to her brother before getting into the car.
Luo Suo still waved at her very enthusiastically. “Goodbye Xiao Xin, come to play next time.”
Lu Zheyu was looking as usual – a silent background prop.
Zhu Tong looked at the direction the car was driving away.
Shao Ming walked up to him and said, “Reluctant?”
Zhu Tong shook his head and said, “Fortunately, we are used to this. Ever since we were young, we have been apart longer than we have been together.”
“…”
“It’s just… today, she specifically visited me. However, I didn’t take her to have a good time. It’s a pity.”
The thing is, he has been “isolated from the world” all year round. He doesn’t know how other people’s vacations are spent, and he doesn’t know what delicious and fun things are there. He simply has no idea what constitutes a proper “holiday activities”.
He smiled, looked back and said, “Let’s go too.”
Shao Ming did not budge.
Zhu Tong: “?”
Shao Ming stared at him for a moment before saying, “After we go back, shall we go horseback riding?”
Zhu Tong was slightly startled with the proposition. “Horseback riding?”
“Yeah.” Shao Ming continued, “In the suburbs of the county, a new racetrack was built not long ago. Would you like to take a look?”
Zhu Tong smiled and asked, “Why did you suddenly invite me to horseback riding?”
Shao Ming raised his eyebrows and said, “Didn’t you say it’s a pity that you didn’t have a good time? I agree, it’s a pity to not go play during the holiday.”
Zhu Tong: “I mean…”
What he said was that it was a pity that he couldn’t bring his sister to play, and not that he didn’t play during the holiday himself.
For him, as long as he doesn’t stay in that cold ward all day, he was content.
Shao Ming continued to ask, “Then do you want to go?”
Zhu Tong thought for a while, then hesitantly said, “But I can’t ride a horse.”
Although there was a horseback riding course in his previous school, he was weak and never learned it.
Shao Ming only smiled. “No problem. I’ll take you. So do you want to go?”
Zhu Tong imagined a scene of Shao Ming riding a horse. He nodded with a smile. “I want to.”
Shao Ming’s smile deepens.
The four of them chartered a car to go back to Gongshui County, and it was already 7 o’clock in the evening when they returned to the homestay.
Lu Zheyu was the first to leave the team, as he had to catch a part-time job.
Zhu Tong stood outside the homestay, looked at Lu Zheyu’s back, and lamented, “Is he working too hard?”
Luo Suo said, “Lao Er has always been like this. I have never seen him idle.”
Zhu Tong commented, “He is really hard-working.”
Luo Suo nodded. “Mn, I agree. I don’t know what he’s making so much money for, just don’t starve…”
Before he finished speaking, Luo Suo suddenly felt that the situation was not right, turned his head subconsciously, and saw a certain someone with a smile on his face.
He had seen this expression in the room before, and as for the follow-up development, he did not want to see it again. So, he turned to look at Zhu Tong again, “Ah, it’s getting late, I’ll go back first, I’ll see you guys at the racetrack tomorrow.”
Zhu Tong: “…”
When Luo Suo put it that way, it sounded like a date, somehow.
He didn’t think much about it and nodded.
Luo Suo ran away.
Zhu Tong stood outside the homestay for a while, when suddenly a cool wind blew, and he shivered violently.
Suddenly there was warmth on his shoulders, on his back, while a familiar voice sounded above his head, “Let’s go, it’s cold outside.”
Zhu Tong nodded and followed him inside.
Before Uncle Liu came back, he habitually glanced over there, then withdrew his gaze and said, “Do you know why Lu Zheyu left his entertainment company?”
Shao Ming was opening the door when he heard Zhu Tong’s sudden question. He paused before asking back, “I don’t know, what’s wrong?”
Zhu Tong shook his head and said, “Nothing, just curious.”
Luo Suo also said that Lu Zheyu wouldn’t say anything about his past, so he didn’t ask about it before.
“If we know, maybe we can help him1og text: “如果知道的话，或许还能帮帮他。”. There’s no indication of who Zhu Tong said could help Lu Zheyu. It could be him, Shao Ming, or both..”
Shao Ming: “…”
There was a soft click, and the door lock was opened. Shao Ming turned to let Zhu Tong go inside first. Then he said with a light smile, “How do you propose we’re going to help him?”
“Well, we can always tackle the source of the rumors.” Zhu Tong continued, “If we know, maybe we can help clarify things for him?”
Shao Ming said, “Why do you think none of the rumors in the bar are known in the school?”
Zhu Tong has been transferred to another school for so long, but he has never heard any unsavory rumors about Lu Zheyu in the school.
When Shao Ming put it that way, it confused him a bit. “Why?”
Shao Ming replied, “Maybe it’s because it has been dealt with.”
“…”
Zhu Tong asked, “What do you mean?”
“Just as I said.” Walking into the living room, Shao Ming took the lead and sat down on the sofa before continuing, “Even such rumors have been stopped from being spread in school. But still, no matter what, there will still be people who talk about this. While we can control their internet forum, we can’t control their actual mouths. As for clarification, since Lao Er himself refuses to tell his side of the story, it means that he doesn’t want to be known.”
Zhu Tong was stunned for a while, and then sat down on the sofa, “So it’s like that, ah.”
Then there’s nothing to be done.
As soon as he sat down, Shao Ming suddenly scooted closer and looked at him directly: “You care about him so much?”
Zhu Tong: “Care for who?”
“…”
‘Oh, Lu Zheyu.’ he realized.
“Not that much,” Zhu Tong said, “I just care a little bit.”
Shao Ming’s eyes darkened. “You… you care so much about other people’s affairs?”
Zhu Tong: “Huh?”
When has he ever cared about other people’s affairs?
“Today in the bar, if the person who was fighting wasn’t Lao Er, would you stand up in their place?”
As Shao Ming got closer and closer, Zhu Tong involuntarily leaned to the side.
He felt that the current Shao Ming was a little scary. He panicked a little bit. “Wha… what’s the matter with you?”
Shao Ming: “…”
Shao Ming himself couldn’t tell what was wrong, he was just… feeling a little unhappy.
Obviously he found it quite amusing when Zhu Tong stood out and tried to speak up for Lao Er. But then… he felt a bit upset when Zhu Tong complimented Lao Er’s greatness with a look of adoration in his face. It grated his ears.
Obviously it’s a very common compliment other people – and when it come to Lao Er, it’s the truth anyways. Why is he so unhappy?
Shao Ming does not have the answer. He just knows that he feels unhappy.
Especially after returning home, Zhu Tong mentioned “others” again.
Why does he care so much about Lu Zheyu?
Is it because Lu Zheyu is “powerful”, and Zhu Tong appreciates that quality? Or does he help people to slap annoyances like this?
–Was he, Shao Ming, just another person that Zhu Tong helps in “fighting injustice”?
Shao Ming felt a never-before-seen emotion emerge from the bottom of his heart. With the sourness, he identified it, and it slipped to his tongue: “I’m jealous.”
“…”
Zhu Tong felt that he was struck by lightning.
He suspected that he had heard it wrong. “Huh?”
Shao Ming smiled and repeated. “Mn, I’m jealous.”
Zhu Tong: “…”
Zhu Tong exhaled and closed his eyes, using his mind’s eye to see the system’s interface. The favorability progress bar is now… almost halfway through full.
Well, he believed Shao Ming’s claim.
–After all, the current progress bar is now at 48%.
Of course he has read several novels with this kind of progress bar setting2just a side note, the original was “He has read *strategy novels* before”. So I think it means such novels are a subcategory of this kind of “system” novel. Please correct me if I’m wrong.. In every one of them, only a 100% favorability rating is considered complete.
Does Shao Ming feel jealous even before the bar reaches halfway? Jealous of him, is more like it.
He looked at Shao Ming blankly, like a reaction meme: (Indifference.jpg)
His sudden change of expression seemed to trigger something inside Shao Ming. Instead of retreating, he advanced and asked, “Why do you want to help Lao Er?”
Zhu Tong: “…”
Isn’t this a typical “jealous” question? What does it have to do with Lu Zheyu?
Why help… shouldn’t he help?
Zhu Tong said truthfully, “Isn’t he your friend?”
Shao Ming was startled.
“You helped him… because he was my friend?”
Zhu Tong responded, as if this was obvious, “Otherwise? I’m not familiar with him.”
He and Lu Zheyu haven’t spoken a few words since his transfer. Even when they met in the milk tea shop, they didn’t have much communication, they can’t even be called a close classmate!
It’s not that he was too idle to be nosy about other people’s business, he also dislikes being troubled by unrelated matters!
Shao Ming: “…”
He was beyond baffled.
After a long while, his lips involuntarily twitched as he suddenly approached even closer. “You…”
“Hey, you…”
Their distance suddenly got closer, making Zhu Tong blush. He just wants to explain himself, don’t give him a “HD, extra zoom-in, handsome face” to press him!
At the same time Zhu Tong withdrew his hand, because the sofa was too narrow, his palm slipped from the edge of the sofa. Thanks to gravity, his body was also pulled backwards uncontrollably.
“Be careful…”
Shao Ming’s face changed slightly, and he subconsciously reached out to pull the youth up, but his body was already tilted too much, shaking his own center of gravity. As a result, he also fell down, directly on top of Zhu Tong.
Zhu Tong only felt a shock behind him, his body fell into the soft sofa, he closed his eyes subconsciously. As he finally stopped falling, he opened his eyes again, only to find that with the perspective change, the handsome face he wanted to avoid only got closer, barely a couple centimeters in front of his own.
Zhu Tong: “…”
Shao Ming: “…”
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