The next day at school, Chen Xu forced himself to focus on his exams and lectures, trying not to think about Ji Chunxiao.
He knew Ji Chunxiao too well. Even if the young master didn’t want to break up, he definitely wouldn’t lose face by asking for a reconciliation.
At least for the time being, Ji Chunxiao wouldn’t come asking for reconciliation.
Even though breaking up was a decision made after careful thought, having been together for five years, Chen Xu felt an emptiness as if a part of him left with Ji Chunxiao.
He slowly realized that loving Ji Chunxiao had become a part of his life, like ivy growing thick and lush over a fence day after day. If it were suddenly torn away, it would only end in broken branches and scattered leaves, taking a long, long time to recover.
“Are you okay, Chen Xu?”
Xu Ke looked over with concern, “You’ve seemed off all morning.”
The clock on the teacher’s desk leisurely pointed towards the end of the class. The teacher started sipping water from a cup.
Hiding behind his workbook, Xu Ke whispered to Chen Xu, “The cafeteria has a special on sweet and sour ribs today, let’s go eat together, I’m pretty good at snagging food!”
Knowing that his deskmate was trying to comfort him, Chen Xu smiled, shaking off the negative thoughts.
“Sure.”
Seeing Chen Xu agree, Xu Ke nodded, “Alright, then as soon as class ends, we’ll run down the garden path. Stick close to me.”
Prepared for the bell, as soon as it rang, they quickly made their way out.
The corridor was crowded, and they were pushed around. Xu Ke didn’t look back, thinking Chen Xu was big enough not to get lost.
But when he reached the cafeteria, panting with a plate of sweet and sour ribs, he realized Chen Xu was nowhere to be seen.
Xu Ke puzzled: ?
How could someone get lost going to the cafeteria?
Chen Xu hadn’t gotten lost, he was abruptly stopped by Ji Chunxiao.
At the entrance of the garden path, where the crowd had thinned, Chen Xu tried to catch up to Xu Ke, but was unexpectedly grabbed by the wrist.
The grip was firm, and Chen Xu frowned—none of his friends were close enough to him to grab his wrist like that.
Turning around, he was surprised to see Ji Chunxiao.
Chen Xu was clearly stunned for a moment. Contrary to his expectations, Ji Chunxiao, the young master, came looking for him the day after being dumped.
The skin where their wrists touched slowly warmed. Chen Xu followed Ji Chunxiao’s gaze upward, but Ji Chunxiao remained silent, stubbornly pulling him towards the dormitory, holding something in his other hand.
Trying to break free and failing, Chen Xu pursed his lips, “Ji Chunxiao, we’ve already broken up.”
Ji Chunxiao seemed not to understand, “I remember you like sweet and sour ribs.”
Chen Xu: …?
He did like sweet and sour ribs, but why bring that up now?
“We are exes now, let’s not drag this out.”
Ji Chunxiao continued to divert the topic, “The weather is much nicer today than yesterday.”
Not far from the dormitory, as Ji Chunxiao was about to push open his dorm door, Chen Xu couldn’t help trying to stop him, only to suddenly find a lunch box being shoved into his hands.
It was a deep blue one with a well-known logo, very familiar, identical to the one Song Ming had.
Heavy and warm in his hands at that moment.
“What’s this?”
Ji Chunxiao said, “Lunch I prepared for you.”
Those lunches that Chen Xu had mistaken for five years, but when it was truly from Ji Chunxiao, it was after they had broken up.
Seeing Chen Xu looking down silently, Ji Chunxiao added, “It’s made by my aunt, she’s a good cook, I could learn from her, maybe in the future…”
Chen Xu didn’t let him finish, his tone cold as he pushed the lunch box back into Ji Chunxiao’s hands.
“Let me say it again, we’ve broken up, do you understand?”
Chen Xu stared at the person in front of him. He realized Ji Chunxiao seemed to intentionally filter out any talk of breaking up, like the emperor’s new clothes, insisting on maintaining peace even when it’s futile.
As clearly as he had put it, Ji Chunxiao continued as if he hadn’t heard a word.
“…I’ll bring you lunch every day, really. I let Song Ming get there first, don’t like him. I can bring it much longer, until…”
Chen Xu interrupted him, sighing calmly, “Ji Chunxiao.”
“What are you trying to do?”
The air suddenly fell silent, the scent of sweet and sour ribs wafting from the lunch box.
At seventeen, Ji Chunxiao was already over six feet tall. Now, looking down at Chen Xu, his fingers twitched at his side, wanting to embrace but not daring to.
After a long silence, a suppressed sob sounded in the room, the youthful voice tinged with a nasal quality.
He whispered, “Chen Xu, can we not break up?”
Chen Xu had greatly underestimated his significance in Ji Chunxiao’s heart. Ji Chunxiao, facing him, wouldn’t bow his head.
Even now, he was pleading, begging for a reconciliation.
This experience was too novel, and even Chen Xu, prepared as he was, was stunned.
He had rarely seen Ji Chunxiao cry, but now he had seen it twice in just a few days.
His heart instinctively ached, but he managed to restrain himself from comforting or coaxing.
They had already broken up; there was no need to repeat past mistakes.
Chen Xu finally sighed, “Don’t be like this, Ji Chunxiao.”
Then he pushed Ji Chunxiao and the lunch box out the door.
The dormitory door clicked shut, and Ji Chunxiao stood in the hallway for several minutes, motionless, like a living statue.
Even though he had braced himself for a difficult encounter, being outright rejected by Chen Xu was still hard to accept for the young master.
Before, Chen Xu had never refused him anything.
After a long while, Ji Chunxiao slowly came to terms with the numb pain in his heart, placing the lunch box in front of Chen Xu’s door.
He tapped gently on the door, “Chen Xu, I’m leaving. I left your lunch at the door.”
“Even if we… break up, you still have to eat.”
If anyone else dared to treat Ji Chunxiao with such disregard, Ji Chunxiao would have blacklisted them for a hundred years.
But this was Chen Xu.
Even if dumped, even if rejected, even if no longer cherished, Ji Chunxiao couldn’t let go.
That was Chen Xu, after all.
Ji Chunxiao remembered how he once considered himself a scholar of Chen Xu, like scientists and astronomers, his sole subject of study, the passion of his life.
Immersed and inescapable.
After being coldly rejected for a reconciliation, Ji Chunxiao still couldn’t help but get close to Chen Xu, quietly fetching water, sending flowers, and the undeterred lunch every noon.
Initially, Chen Xu was relatively gentle in his refusals, but after several times, he couldn’t help thinking if he needed to be harsher to get Ji Chunxiao to stop this behavior.
He definitely had no plans to get back together with Ji Chunxiao at the moment. The messy issues between them were too numerous, and liking each other wasn’t enough to be together.
But if Ji Chunxiao kept this up, Chen Xu feared he would soon relent.
The high and mighty young master stooping to such lengths was too much of a rule-breaker.
So, not wanting to repeat past mistakes, he had to be more resolute and excessive with Ji Chunxiao.
In the afternoon’s PE class, Class 3 and Class 12 happened to have the same session, and the teachers prepared to conduct a physical test of running one kilometer.
As soon as this announcement was made, the field was filled with groans.
Chen Xu was also worried; his physical fitness had always been poor, and running a kilometer was as exhausting as dying.
But what must come will come. Standing at the starting point of the track, he rotated his ankles, and at the sound of the whistle, the wind whistled past his ears.
He couldn’t help taking deep breaths as his lungs burned and his legs grew heavier.
Closing his eyes, he ran aimlessly forward, suddenly remembering the physical test in college in his past life. Ji Chunxiao would complain about his lack of stamina but always ran with him, reminding him how to breathe and pace himself…
These few minutes seemed like the longest in his life.
When he finally reached the finish line, completely drained, he almost collapsed on the grass but was pulled up by the arm.
Ji Chunxiao: “Don’t sit down, you need to walk. I’ll walk with you.”
Chen Xu used the last of his strength to pull his arm free, still breathless, “I, I can walk by myself.”
Ji Chunxiao’s eyelids drooped, and he didn’t insist any further, slowly following a few steps behind.
A few of the boys from Class 12, who often followed Ji Chunxiao, brought some water and handed him a bottle, “Ji Ge, drink some water.”
Ji Chunxiao took it, obviously thirsty himself, but his first reaction was to step forward two steps.
“Chen Xu, drink some water.”
Chen Xu didn’t even look at him, “I don’t want it.”
His voice was hoarse from breathing heavily, and hearing it made Ji Chunxiao frown, insistently handing him the water.
Chen Xu’s expression cooled, “I said, I don’t want it.”
“You should drink a few sips…”
Ji Chunxiao furrowed his brows watching Chen Xu, but saw him walk over to a trash can and throw the water bottle away in a perfect parabola.
The water bottle landed with a loud “thud”.
The few who had come to deliver the water were stunned.
They had heard Ji Chunxiao refer to Chen Xu as his wife the day they warned Song Ming, but Ji Chunxiao’s princess-like image as the pampered young master was too ingrained for anyone to believe he would change for anyone.
They thought, treating Ji Ge like this, it must be over now.
Chen Xu didn’t care about those looks, coldly glancing at Ji Chunxiao before turning to leave, leaving the boys around Ji Chunxiao looking at each other in bewilderment.
“Ji Ge, what are you going to do?”
The followers clenched their fists, ready to seek justice for their humiliated brother.
Ji Chunxiao watched Chen Xu’s retreating figure, his expression deep in thought for a while, as if making some significant decision.
“I’ve decided…”
He closed his eyes and the boys around him held their breath, leaning in to hear their brother’s grand plans for revenge.
Then they heard Ji Chunxiao say, “I’ve decided to be Chen Xu’s lapdog.”
