Lu Ze slept straight through the night, waking up the next afternoon, feeling uncomfortable all over.
Sun Zhuoyu lounged on the bed with his legs crossed. When he heard movement, he sat up and looked at Lu Ze. “Finally awake?”
Lu Ze had a vacant look in his eyes and ignored him.
Sun Zhuoyu extended his hand, waved it in front of Lu Ze, and asked, “What’s going on? Did you sleep yourself silly?”
After a moment, Lu Ze frowned and said, “I…”
Damn, why was his throat so hoarse?
He cleared his throat. “I…”
Damn, it was no use.
He cleared his throat forcefully. “I… cough, cough…”
Once he started coughing, it was hard to stop. Sun Zhuoyu got off the bed, grabbed a glass from Lu Ze’s desk, and poured a glass of water for him. “Here, come on, have a drink.”
Lu Ze tilted his head and drank half the glass. At least the coughing stopped. He cleared his throat and asked, “Why are you in the dorm?”
Sun Zhuoyu and Mao Xin were always restless. Whenever Mao Xin had nothing to do, he would rush out to help others, and Sun Zhuoyu needed to go out to have some fun.
“Are you asking me this? Do you believe I said it just to look at you?”
Lu Ze held the water glass. “It’s just a breakup; nothing serious.”
Sun Zhuoyu stared at him without saying anything.
Lu Ze sighed and said, “I’m just upset, nothing major. You really don’t have to worry about me.”
Seeing Lu Ze like this, Sun Zhuoyu was more convinced of his own guess. He felt that Lu Ze might also need some time alone to process the pain, so he nodded and said, “Alright, I’m heading to the club later. Take some medicine yourself. Do you want me to bring you back some food?”
“No need,” Lu Ze said with a hoarse voice. “I’ll eat something randomly.”
After Sun Zhuoyu left, Lu Ze slowly got out of bed, feeling like he smelled bad. He endured the discomfort, took a shower, changed the sheets, and his growling stomach couldn’t muster the energy to eat.
He picked up his phone and glanced at it. Among a bunch of useless messages, there was a message from Jiang Yijie sent last night: “[Are we playing basketball tomorrow?]”
Lu Ze and Jiang Yijie were high school classmates and managed to get into the same university. Their relationship had always been strong. Lu Ze didn’t feel like typing, so he responded with a voice message: “[Not playing.]”
Jiang Yijie quickly replied with another voice message: “[What happened? Is your throat so hoarse?]”
Lu Ze hadn’t figured out how to respond yet when he received another message: “[Saying ‘no’ to playing basketball seems even more depressing than failing an exam.]”
Lu Ze chuckled and replied: “[Jie, let’s go out for a drink.]”
Jiang Yijie didn’t ask many questions and promptly responded: “[Now? I’m on my way.]”
Lu Ze then said: “[Come to my dorm to pick me up.]”
Jiang Yijie replied with a laugh: “[You’re getting the royal treatment. I’m on my way.]”
Lu Ze waited for about ten minutes, and Jiang Yijie arrived. He was taken aback when he saw Lu Ze. “Hey… did you just go through a breakup?”
Lu Ze sat in a chair and looked up at him. “Is it that obvious?”
Jiang Yijie nodded. “Very obvious, and clearly, you’re the one who got dumped.”
“Damn…” Lu Ze stood up, emphasizing stubbornly, “I was the one who initiated the breakup.”
“Can you drink like this?” Jiang Yijie asked with concern as he helped him up.
Lu Ze didn’t mind and said, “No problem, let’s find a place to eat first, and we can drink while eating.”
Jiang Yijie suggested, “How about having some barbecue?”
Lu Ze agreed, “Sure.”
As they were walking near the basketball court, they saw Qiu Ning approaching in a basketball uniform, holding a basketball. Lu Ze’s steps abruptly halted.
Jiang Yijie, puzzled, stopped alongside him.
Qiu Ning looked at them with a hint of curiosity and spoke first, “Is something the matter?”
Lu Ze stared at her but remained silent.
Qiu Ning stopped in front of him, wondering, “Lu Ze, do you want me to pass a message to Jing Jing?”
Jing Jing, that was a pretty intimate nickname.
Lu Ze felt like a jilted lover. No, a jilted boyfriend. He knew he shouldn’t be bothered by these things, but he couldn’t help feeling aggrieved.
He spoke coldly, “Hasn’t Han Jing told you? We broke up.”
Qiu Ning’s expression showed genuine surprise, “What? You broke up?”
Lu Ze couldn’t detect any signs of her gloating or any joy from finally witnessing their breakup. Qiu Ning furrowed her brow and asked, “Why did you break up so suddenly?”
Lu Ze, relieved, replied in a calm tone, “Ask her.”
After walking away, Jiang Yijie whispered, “What’s going on? Why did you break up, and what does it have to do with Qiu Ning? Why do you seem to have some hostility toward her?”
It wasn’t until they were seated at the barbecue restaurant that Lu Ze explained, “Han Jing and I broke up because she likes Qiu Ning.”
Jiang Yijie was so surprised that he almost jumped out of his chair. After a few seconds, he settled back down, his mouth slightly agape, lost for words.
Lu Ze smiled at him and said, “Shocked, right? Unbelievable, isn’t it?”
Jiang Yijie nodded.
Lu Ze continued, “I bet that was my reaction when I first found out.”
Jiang Yijie shook his head in astonishment and commented, “I really didn’t see it coming…”
Lu Ze asked, “But can you really see when someone’s homosexual?”
Jiang Yijie replied, “Some people can… Someone like Qiu Ning probably likes girls, but I never expected it from Han Jing.”
“Who could have expected it?”
Lu Ze poured himself a drink but was stopped by Jiang Yijie. “Not feeling your stomach? Eat something before you continue drinking.”
After a plate of barbecue arrived, Lu Ze consumed nearly ten skewers in a minute. Jiang Yijie looked at him and said, “Take it slow; I’m not competing with you.”
With his mouth full, Lu Ze mumbled, “I’m starving…”
After he was about half full, Lu Ze gradually slowed down. While drinking, he said, “Han Jing told me about this; otherwise, I would have never guessed. She didn’t do anything wrong to me, but I still feel… depressed.”
“Who wouldn’t feel down? I’d be down too,” Jiang Yijie said, “Besides, you’ve had so many girlfriends, but I assume Han Jing was your favorite, right?”
Lu Ze responded with a nod and then looked at Jiang Yijie. “Why so many? I haven’t had that many.”
Jiang Yijie rolled up his sleeves and began recounting, “Well, let me refresh your memory. In high school, in the first month of high school, you started dating the class beauty, but before three months passed, you said it wasn’t working and you broke up. Then, you got together with a senior from the second year. However, you broke up before the summer break even started. Then, in the first semester of your sophomore year…”
“Stop, hold on,” Lu Ze interrupted, glaring at him. “How do you remember all this better than I do? Do you have a photographic memory or something? Then how come you can’t memorize literary classics like ‘A Journey to the West’?”
Jiang Yijie laughed and said, “Damn… I just have a talent for remembering this kind of useless stuff. Do you want me to continue helping you recall? I even remember the girls you dated for just a few days.”
Lu Ze waved his hand, saying, “No need.”
The two of them fell silent for a moment. Jiang Yijie sighed and clinked glasses with him. “You’ve never really faced any emotional setbacks before. The first person you liked so much moved on to someone else. It’s normal to find it hard to accept.”
“If she really moved on, I wouldn’t be feeling this miserable,” Lu Ze said. “Han Jing said she might have liked Qiu Ning all along and never really liked me. She just realized it now.”
Jiang Yijie didn’t know how to console him, so he clinked glasses with him again and said, “Come on, let’s drink.”
Lu Ze gulped down his drink and wiped his mouth. “Drinking is so damn boring.”
Jiang Yijie instantly understood what he meant and stood up. “Let’s go to a bar and find something not boring for Ze-ge.”
