DCISBS chapter 12

Da Ze was pretty reliable—he called Lu Nanyang first thing the next morning.

“Lu-ge, I got the info you wanted.”

“Thanks, really appreciate it,” Lu Nanyang said, spitting out toothpaste foam. “You’re a lifesaver.”

But Da Ze’s tone was a little strange. “Hey Lu-ge, is this thing you asked about related to the case Mr. Meng gave you? There’s no other stuff involved, right?”

“Nope,” Lu Nanyang said, switching the phone to his other shoulder and rinsing his mouth. “What else could I be involved in? You’re giving me too much credit.”

“Then how come it’s connected to Xie Quan?”

Lu Nanyang froze. “Who?”

“Xie Quan. The campus heartthrob Wen Fei introduced last time? That’s his name, right?” Da Ze said. “He’s the one who reported it.”

Lu Nanyang spat out the last of the water, threw his toothbrush and toothpaste onto the sink, and grabbed his phone. “Hold up—you mean it wasn’t someone from Liu Qiuyan’s side who called the cops?”

“Nope. That Liu girl… what’s her name—she was only brought in after the report was filed. She insisted it was you who started the fight. The cops couldn’t get anything out of her.”

Lu Nanyang let out a cold laugh. “She even said she’d take me to court.”

“Huh?” Da Ze was startled. “Sounds like this thing has blown up a bit. Are you okay handling it on your own? Maybe it’s better if—”

Lu Nanyang raked a hand through his bangs and exhaled slowly. “It’s fine. I can handle it. Don’t worry. I’ll treat you to a meal tomorrow,” he said before hanging up.

The reason the other side dared to turn the tables on him and use this incident as leverage was because they believed there were no surveillance cameras on that street and no one to testify for him.

But now he knew—there had been a witness yesterday afternoon. The person who called the police was Xie Quan.

Xie Quan.

“Ugh—” Lu Nanyang groaned in despair and flopped onto his fluffy blanket.

What kind of sin had he committed in a past life?

Why did it have to be that Xie Quan again!?

……

Early Monday morning, Xie Quan noticed a figure hovering around him.

During class, the person tailed him near the classroom, but whenever he turned his head, the shadow disappeared. During lunch, he could clearly sense someone watching him, but the moment he looked over, the gaze vanished.

“What’s up?” asked the roommate sitting across from him.

“A fish’s taken the bait,” Xie Quan replied with a grin curling at the corners of his lips.

“What?” The roommate thought he misheard.

“Nothing. The fried chicken’s pretty good today,” Xie Quan said with a smile. “Try some.”

By the afternoon, the “fish” finally lost its patience.

After seeing off the last guy who had come to get some digestive meds, Xie Quan stood up to tidy the scraps of paper on the desk and pin the unused prescription sheets back together. As he bent down to look for rubbing alcohol in the drawer, he caught a figure standing just outside the infirmary from the corner of his eye.

“What’s up? Need meds or seeing a doctor?” Xie Quan didn’t pause what he was doing—he grabbed the alcohol bottle, sprayed the table a couple times, and wiped it down with a tissue.

The person outside didn’t answer. Xie Quan crumpled the dirty tissue and tossed it in the trash. He looked up at the figure at the door. “My shift’s over. You coming in or not?”

Finally, Lu Nanyang moved. Wearing a stony expression, he stepped inside and sat on the stool opposite Xie Quan.

Xie Quan didn’t speak either. He simply sat back down in his chair, picked up the pen on the desk, and raised his eyebrows, waiting.

Xie Quan’s fingers were long and slender, just resting there like an exquisite piece of art.

Perfect for holding a pen… or for gripping something else.

Lu Nanyang snapped his drifting thoughts back into place. He met Xie Quan’s gaze, pulled out his hand, and placed it on the desk. “My hand’s injured.”

Xie Quan looked at the back of his hand. The skin around the joints was scraped over a large area, and it was obvious the wound hadn’t been treated in time—there were signs of infection.

“What, punched a wall in a fit of rage?” Xie Quan smiled as he looked up.

Lu Nanyang stared at him for a while, trying to determine whether he genuinely didn’t know or was just playing dumb. But Xie Quan’s expression was as calm as ever—there was nothing to read from his face.

“Got beat up,” Lu Nanyang said.

Xie Quan looked him up and down, then chuckled. “And only your fist got hurt? Right.”

“Is that a problem?”

“Nope. Looks good,” Xie Quan grinned and reached out. “Let me see.”

Lu Nanyang flinched slightly when Xie Quan suddenly took his hand—the cool touch of skin against skin made him instinctively pull away, but the other didn’t give him a chance, tightening his grip.

Xie Quan held his four fingers firmly in his palm. Lu Nanyang noticed how cold his hand was—a sharp contrast to the room’s warm air.

“You didn’t treat the wound and even let it get wet, didn’t you?” Xie Quan released his hand and leaned back a little. “It’s infected. I’ll disinfect it and give you some antibiotics. Don’t underestimate small wounds—if they get infected, it’s still a hassle.”

As he spoke, Xie Quan got up and went to the medicine cabinet for iodine and cotton swabs. He hadn’t even shut the cabinet door when Lu Nanyang interrupted him.

“No need. I’ll disinfect it myself at home,” Lu Nanyang said, then added, “I’ve got iodine and cotton swabs.”

Xie Quan paused and looked at him for a few seconds, then put the bottle back. “Alright.”

Lu Nanyang watched him return to his chair, pull out a prescription pad, and start writing while saying, “Get the medicine from the pharmacy downstairs. Don’t let the wound touch water for a week. Avoid alcohol, tobacco, spicy, or greasy food.”

When he finished, Xie Quan looked up and handed him the prescription slip, his light gray eyes reflecting the overhead light. “You don’t smoke, right?”

“No,” Lu Nanyang said as he took the slip—only to find the other wasn’t letting go. Each of them held one end of the paper, caught in a strange standoff.

“I figured,” Xie Quan said with a small smile. “I never tasted any tobacco on you.”

Lu Nanyang said nothing but tightened his grip. Xie Quan let go in response to the force and snapped the pen shut with a grin.

Lu Nanyang stared at him for a while. Xie Quan returned the gaze, completely at ease.

“Anything else?” he asked.

“…No.”

Lu Nanyang folded the prescription paper a few times in his hand and strode out of the infirmary.

Xie Quan watched him leave with a bright smile and dropped the pen into its holder.

He was curious to see just how long that guy could keep pretending.

…..

That evening, Xie Quan didn’t have to be on duty in the infirmary. A girl from the Traditional Chinese Medicine class had switched shifts with him.

By 6:30, he had packed up his study materials and left the campus through the side gate, taking a shortcut toward the market.

With the sun low in the sky, the heat had finally begun to dissipate. The market was in full swing—vendors bustling, colorful umbrellas scattered haphazardly. As Xie Quan passed by with his backpack, he caught a faint whiff of rot rising from the sewers.

“…No, no way, you can’t haggle like that. Go ask the other stalls—our wholesale price’s higher than that!” a curly-haired auntie at the fish stall wiped her hands on her apron. When she looked up and saw Xie Quan, her face lit up. “Xiao Quan! Want a fish?”

The elderly lady haggling over the price looked unhappy and walked away with tiny steps, hands behind her back. Xie Quan stepped in front of the fish stall, glanced over the swimming fish in the tank, and pointed to one, “This one.”

“Alrighty, I’ll clean it up for you,” the auntie said with a smile, netting the fish and skillfully stunning it while it struggled.

Taking advantage of the moment, Xie Quan walked to the adjacent vegetable stall. As he looked up, he locked eyes with Lu Nanyang, who was sneakily lurking nearby.

Lu Nanyang, as usual, was bad at being discreet—hands in his pockets, shoulders hunched—he looked even more suspicious than usual.

It seemed he had forgotten the harsh words he spat out half a month ago, yet here he was, appearing in front of Xie Quan again and again, taking the initiative to provoke him.

Lu Nanyang was startled when their eyes met and quickly averted his gaze, but Xie Quan called out loudly, “Lu Nanyang, what a coincidence.”

With no other option, Lu Nanyang braced himself and walked over. “Ah, yeah, what a coincidence. Just out buying some food?”

“My place is nearby. If I’m not on night duty, I usually eat at home,” Xie Quan said, then called out to the veggie stall owner, “Boss, give me a kilo of millet peppers.”

The boss glanced at him and began tearing open a plastic bag, confirming, “A whole kilo?”

“A kilo.”

Watching the boss scoop a load of spicy peppers into the bag, Lu Nanyang was surprised. “Buying that many chili peppers? Can you finish them all?”

He remembered these peppers were quite spicy.

“I’ll give you some—help me eat them?” Xie Quan said with a bright smile.

“…Maybe not,” Lu Nanyang replied.

Xie Quan paid with a quick scan of his phone. The fish was also ready at the neighboring stall. He took the black plastic bag from the auntie, and the fish inside jumped a little in his hand.

“What about you?” Xie Quan asked. “Out buying food and didn’t invite your usual group of friends?”

“Not really, I was just… wandering around,” Lu Nanyang muttered vaguely.

“And you happened to wander three kilometers away?” Xie Quan asked.

“…Yeah,” Lu Nanyang replied stiffly.

Xie Quan chuckled. His eyes were beautifully shaped, and when he smiled, those pale gray irises half-hid behind his eyelids, with the ends slightly lifting—carrying both a flirtatious and affectionate vibe.

Lu Nanyang felt uneasy under that smile; the hair on his arms nearly stood up. He quickly turned and walked away.

Coming to find him was clearly a mistake. Why should he be the one to chase after this damn guy?

“Hey,” Xie Quan called out with a grin, lifting the twitching fish in his hand, “Want to come over for dinner? — My parents aren’t home tonight.”

It was an innocent enough question, but with that final line, it somehow sounded like a veiled, suggestive invitation.