Chapter 24
“Why?”
Lu Yao looked down at him. “Why, why don’t you like her looking at me?”
Yu Le hugged Da Huang closer. “Does there need to be a reason?”
Lu Yao replied, “Isn’t there always a reason for everything?”
There was, but Yu Le wasn’t eager to explain. He pouted and said, “I don’t like her, that’s all. No reason.”
Lu Yao’s hand, which had been resting at his side, curled slightly as his gaze shifted to Da Huang, gently stroking its little whiskers.
Lu Yao’s relaxed demeanor led Yu Le to entertain a rather unbelievable thought. “Could it be… that you like her?”
Lu Yao lifted his eyelids. “Who?”
Yu Le clarified, “Wang Wenyin. Do you like her?”
Lu Yao: “…”
Yu Le’s expression shifted between confusion and oddness, showing signs of frustration. “She already has a boyfriend.”
“Stop overthinking.”
Lu Yao’s hand finally came to rest on Yu Le’s head, not too hard, but enough to ruffle his soft hair. He shook his head, both amused and exasperated, “I don’t like women.”
“…?”
The sudden revelation left Yu Le stunned. His frustration instantly faded, and a strand of hair popped up like a “puppy dog” hair. His expression became somewhat blank.
“You… don’t like women?”
Lu Yao nodded calmly. “No.”
Yu Le asked, “So, you couldn’t possibly like Wang Wenyin?”
Lu Yao crossed his arms, “Yu Le, when it comes to matters of the heart, I’m quite strict about my preferences.”
Oh.
Yu Le felt the pressure in his chest lift instantly, his brows relaxing, replaced by a subtle, barely noticeable sense of relief.
He wasn’t sure if he was relieved by Lu Yao’s denial of the absurd guess or by Lu Yao’s firm stance on his sexual preferences.
“But she’s very attractive and beautiful, isn’t she? Sensual and bold, and very passionate.”
He continued to scratch Da Huang’s chin, “I thought you might like that type.”
In his impression, it seemed that many men would be drawn to such a type.
Lu Yao replied, “But to me, it’s no different from Da Huang stretching. Besides, my preferences are poles apart from Wang Wenyin’s.”
“?”
Yu Le suddenly stopped his hand, looking at him and then at Da Huang, confusion growing on his face.
Lu Yao asked, “What’s wrong?”
“Our perceptions of the same thing might be different,” Yu Le said. “Don’t you find Da Huang’s stretches cute, making you want to hug him?”
“No,” Lu Yao answered without even a second’s thought. “When have you ever seen me hug him while he stretches?”
Yu Le: “…”
His idea of what was cute seemed to be quite different from the norm.
“Never mind.” He shrugged at Lu Yao. “Hand over the nail clippers.”
When Lu Yao placed a small, pet-specific nail clipper into Yu Le’s hand, Da Huang stretched out his front paws and yawned.
Like a student who had just completed a test, Yu Le immediately looked up at Lu Yao, his eyes clearly asking:
“See? Isn’t this cute?”
Lu Yao’s eyes flickered.
The next moment, a hand covered the nail clippers, and Yu Le was suddenly pulled closer. Da Huang was now sandwiched between them, tilting his head and exposing his belly, making discontented meows, “Meow!”
Since being “rescued” from the tree, the kitten had been a bit moody.
Unfortunately, as the instigator, Yu Le could not empathize with its feelings.
Lu Yao’s presence felt overwhelming, almost suffocating, leaving Yu Le feeling a bit short of breath.
He struggled to lift his face, pressing down on Lu Yao’s shoulder, like a koi fish just breaking the surface of water for air. He heard a relaxed, laughing voice,
“It is cute.”
“Then let me hold him.”
….
After a morning of thinking, Yu Le had decided what to sew. Since he had some waterproof fabric, he planned to make a raincoat for Da Huang.
He marked out the cutting lines and was interrupted by a knock on the door.
“What are you doing?”
Guang Zheng entered with two bottles of water, one already partially consumed and the other with the cap loosened, which he had brought for Yu Le.
“Cutting fabric,” Yu Le said, setting the water on the cabinet and stepping aside to show him. “Since I have nothing else to do, I’m making a raincoat for Da Huang.”
Guang Zheng seemed intrigued, “You can make clothes for pets?”
Yu Le picked up the scissors and indicated where he planned to cut, “It’s not hard. Making clothes for pets is much simpler than for people.”
Guang Zheng, seeing this, volunteered to hold the fabric to make cutting easier.
At a distance, Yu Le carefully cut the fabric while Guang Zheng secretly watched him, completely absorbed.
How can a guy look so good?
He thought, even as a same-sex admirer, he couldn’t find fault. Each feature, when viewed individually, was exquisitely beautiful and perfect. And together, they formed a flawless whole.
Unfortunately, being a thorough science student, Guang Zheng’s vocabulary for compliments was severely limited. He could only come up with,
“Looks stunningly beautiful.”
“Um, Yu Le.”
Ending his daydream, he stumbled over his words, nearly biting his tongue.
“Hm?” Yu Le, focused on aligning the angles, didn’t look up. “What’s up?”
Guang Zheng stared at his eyelashes, which were like two small fans, and asked, “I’m just curious. Do you have a girlfriend?”
“You seem quite nosy.” Yu Le looked up and smiled. “What about you? Do you have a girlfriend?”
“No!” Guang Zheng quickly denied. “I don’t have anyone I like.” After a moment, he glanced away, looking at the ceiling.
“I guess I don’t have one.”
“Oh, I don’t have one either,” Yu Le said, continuing to cut the fabric.
Guang Zheng asked, “Why?”
Yu Le: “What’s there to explain? No one likes me.”
Guang Zheng’s voice rose in disbelief, “How could that be?”
Yu Le was startled by his reaction, “What do you mean, how could it be?”
Guang Zheng spoke quickly, “How could it be that no one likes you? How could someone not like you? It’s just not realistic.”
Yu Le was amused. He laughed, saying, “Well, there’s this classmate of yours, Zhou Fei. Doesn’t he just dislike me a lot?”
Mentioning this person, Guang Zheng’s expression immediately turned to one of extreme disdain, “He’s just a dog. No need to count him as a person. Always disliking this and that, not even considering if he’s worthy of anything himself.”
The intensity of the disdain was unmistakable.
Yu Le laughed, placing the cut fabric on the table. “It’s fine, it’s pretty normal. I’m not a currency note; I can’t make everyone like me.”
Guang Zheng was agitated. “That can’t be the same! Obviously, you’re so talented, have a good temperament, and are so… so…”
He trailed off.
Yu Le swore he wasn’t fishing for compliments. He was just curious, “So, so what?”
Guang Zheng’s gaze met his for a moment before quickly darting away. He swallowed hard, his ears turning red. “So, so—”
Knock knock.
The door was knocked on, interrupting Guang Zheng’s stammering.
Yu Le looked up to see Lu Yao retracting his hand. Lu Yao’s gaze swept over the distance between them, and he said calmly, “Your classmate wants to go out and see something. He’s asking you to come downstairs.”
“Ah, oh, okay, I’m coming!”
Guang Zheng, for some reason, felt inexplicably guilty and avoided looking at Yu Le. He hurriedly walked past Lu Yao, his collar failing to cover his neck, which was now redder than his ears.
“What’s with his face turning so red?” Yu Le leaned out to watch Guang Zheng leave, muttering, “Is my room that hot?”
“It’s not hot,” Lu Yao replied, changing the subject. “What are you doing?”
Yu Le proudly displayed the fabric. “I’m preparing to make clothes for Da Huang.”
Lu Yao raised an eyebrow. “In the middle of summer, a fur coat isn’t even enough for him, yet you want to make him clothes?”
The question was too pointed, and Yu Le’s proud expression faltered. He had completely forgotten about this before Lu Yao brought it up.
“Oh,” he hesitated, looking at the fabric. “Should I continue?”
Lu Yao smiled slightly, walking over to take the fabric and help him hold it. “Go ahead. Finish it and leave it here. You can put it on him when it gets cold.”
Well… okay, it’s better than abandoning it halfway.
Yu Le continued cutting the fabric with Lu Yao’s help.
After a while, Lu Yao spoke up, “Yu Le.”
Yu Le replied automatically, “Here.”
A hint of amusement flashed in Lu Yao’s eyes as he said gently, “Didn’t I tell you that you can call me if you need any help?”
Yu Le almost instantly understood his meaning. He cut the air a couple of times with the scissors.
“Actually, it doesn’t necessarily need someone else’s help. Guang Zheng happened to be here to pass the time, so it was just convenient.”
Lu Yao’s tone grew more pronounced, “He came here to pass the time?”
Yu Le nodded, focusing on cutting the fabric. “Yes, he told me before that staying on the same floor with his classmates was particularly frustrating, so he wanted to come here for some peace and quiet.”
Lu Yao stared at him without speaking.
Yu Le said, “Hold it higher; it’s hard for me to cut at the bottom.”
Lu Yao remained still.
Yu Le looked up in confusion. “What’s going on?”
Lu Yao said, “Don’t let him come into your room casually in the future.”
Yu Le asked, “Why?”
Lu Yao raised his arm a couple of inches. “Just because I said so. No reason.”
This sounded quite familiar.
Yu Le made a hissing noise, deliberately squinting at him. “Oh, I see. Holding a grudge, huh?”
Lu Yao replied, “I thought it’s called learning and applying it on the spot.”
Yu Le said, “Yes, yes, yes. Even a parrot can’t match you.”
Lu Yao actually nodded. “Well, the physical constitution is different.”
Lu Yao’s serious joking made Yu Le almost lose his composure. He laughed and gave Lu Yao a light punch on the hand. “You’re annoying, Boss Lu.”
“Boss! Boss!”
Zhao Xiaosong’s voice called out from downstairs, shouting, “My boss, are you there? I can’t handle it anymore!”
Lu Yao quickly went downstairs to see Zhao Xiaosong struggling to carry a large basket of lychees, the branches and leaves still attached, with Zhao Xiaosong’s head almost completely obscured.
Lu Yao quickly took the basket from him. “If you can’t hold it, why not just put it down?”
Zhao Xiaosong, panting and wiping sweat from his forehead, replied, “A strong man doesn’t fear this little weight!”
Lu Yao thought about kicking him. “Where did you get these lychees?”
“My uncle picked them from his orchard. There’s a lot. This basket was handpicked by our dear Ms. Zhao and she asked me to deliver.”
He pulled out a small bag from the basket. “And this, super sweet mangosteen. I specially brought it for Yu Le. Where is he?”
Lu Yao carried the lychees to the tree and rinsed them with well water, then took a pair of scissors to deal with the branches. “Upstairs. Go find him yourself.”
The sound of water delighted Shui Cai, who ran over and started splashing around Lu Yao’s feet. Just as he was about to lie down on the wet ground, Lu Yao, with wet hands, patted Shui Cai’s head.
“Go play elsewhere.”
Zhao Xiaosong ran up the stairs with the mangosteen, calling back to Shui Cai, “Come on, Shui Cai, let’s go play upstairs!”
Shui Cai couldn’t resist the invitation. He immediately wagged his tail and dashed up the stairs.
The loud voices of the kids could be heard upstairs, and Yu Le decided to go down to try the lychees.
As soon as he stepped into the hallway, he heard Zhao Xiaosong and Shui Cai rushing up, the combined energy of one person and one dog creating a chaotic scene.
Yu Le was about to call out that they didn’t need to come up, but Zhao Xiaosong was quicker than he could speak. He turned a corner without braking and bumped directly into Yu Le.
Bang.
The mangosteen pressed painfully against Yu Le’s ribs. He winced, swaying unsteadily. Shui Cai, coming from behind, happily gave him another nudge.
Oh no, this is bad.
Yu Le’s feet slipped, and he sat down hard on the stairs.
The real issue was the sharp pain in his right ankle. Yu Le gasped, trying to catch his breath.
Zhao Xiaosong, dazed from the collision, quickly threw the mangosteen aside and rushed to help Yu Le.
“I’m so sorry, Yu Le! Are you okay? Can you stand up?”
Yu Le could hardly speak. He trembled, covering his eyes, and whispered, “Don’t pull me. Go get your boss.”
Seeing the situation and hearing Yu Le’s voice, Zhao Xiaosong’s face fell, and he burst into tears.
He ran halfway down the stairs, worried that Yu Le would be alone and frightened, and stuffed Shui Cai into Yu Le’s arms. Then, turning, he continued to jump down the stairs, crying out.
“Boss, boss, woo woo woo!”
“I think I might have broken Yu Le’s leg! Hurry and come check, woo woo woo!”
