As the only “lucky one” being targeted, Fu Yuhan had long known that Wen Yu wasn’t as friendly and gentle as he appeared, and his personality was even somewhat nasty.
But Fu Yuhan had thought that was only directed at him alone.
Looking at this room’s arrangement, it seemed like he was equally cold to everyone.
Fu Yuhan was lost in thought when his phone suddenly rang with music. He frowned and hung up.
Wen Yu lifted his eyelids: “Why didn’t you answer?”
“My mom.” Fu Yuhan said softly.
Wen Yu looked at him for a while, didn’t speak, and continued eating with his head down.
Before long, Fu Yuhan’s phone rang again. He hung up like before, but unexpectedly, Wen Yu suddenly stood up and, before Fu Yuhan could react, snatched his phone and pressed the power button twice—one short, one long.
“Now your phone is dead.” Wen Yu said, putting the phone back.
Fu Yuhan: “…”
If it were normal times, Wen Yu might take the opportunity to ask about his family affairs, or leisurely watch him struggle with the deadly chain of calls. There absolutely wouldn’t be this kind of… almost “caring” option.
So he really was drunk?
“What are you looking at me for?” Wen Yu said lightly. “Parents’ calls can be hung up if you want. They’re not important anyway.”
“…” Fu Yuhan was a bit annoyed. “You think I’m like you? My mom is very troublesome. If she can’t reach me with one call, she can nag for half an hour. If I turn off my phone tonight, my ears will be calloused next month.”
He heard some subtext in Wen Yu’s words. Look who’s talking—it seemed Wen Yu had quite a few stories of his own.
“Then turn it back on yourself.” Wen Yu said.
“Forget it.” Fu Yuhan smirked. “You helped me do something I didn’t dare to do. Thanks.”
Wen Yu chuckled: “So there are things you don’t dare to do. I thought there were only…”
“What?”
“Nothing.” Wen Yu shook his head and lifted his chin. “Go shower first. There are new toothbrushes and towels in the closet, help yourself.”
“Oh.” Fu Yuhan stood up.
He showered for 20 minutes. When he came out, Wen Yu had already finished eating and cleaned up all the dishes. The table was spotless, and on the nearby sofa were neatly folded pillows, blankets, and a stack of clean clothes, from t-shirts to disposable underwear.
This person was really full of details when taking care of people. Fu Yuhan felt flattered.
Too strange—he’d rather have him argue with him.
“You’re done?” At this moment, Wen Yu came out of the open-door room carrying a pile of clothes.
“Mm.”
“Then I’ll go shower. You should sleep early.”
“Wait,” Fu Yuhan didn’t understand. “Where am I supposed to sleep?”
Wen Yu turned back with a puzzled expression: “The sofa bed, haven’t you seen one?”
“You have two rooms and you’re making me sleep in the living room?”
“But I only have one bedroom.” Wen Yu smiled ambiguously. “Or do you want to sleep with me?”
Fu Yuhan opened his mouth, too shocked to speak. But he didn’t need to speak—Wen Yu quickly added: “Even if you were willing, I wouldn’t be.”
“…Who the fuck would be willing?” Fu Yuhan shot back.
Wen Yu quickly went into the bathroom and closed the door. Hearing the water start, Fu Yuhan suddenly breathed a sigh of relief.
That’s right—it felt more normal when he was arguing with Wen Yu.
He opened the sofa into a bed and prepared to make it up. But when he opened the bulky comforter, a doll rolled out.
That… Ghostly plushie that Wen Yu had grabbed for him and tried unsuccessfully to give him, which then disappeared somewhere.
He had actually kept it and was trying to give it to him again.
What a psycho.
Fu Yuhan cursed at the closed bathroom door and sat on the sofa sulking.
After sulking for 5 minutes, he remembered he still had unfinished test papers, so he went to the table.
Though the plushie itself was actually quite cute.
But it was proof of Fu Yuhan’s failed battle, utterly humiliating. He didn’t even want to look at it.
Wen Yu couldn’t hear these internal complaints. He might have been really drunk—after coming out of the bathroom, he only greeted Fu Yuhan before going back to his bedroom and closing the door, leaving Fu Yuhan unable to search for answers on his phone when he had questions, with nowhere to ask.
He hadn’t done homework properly in a long time. Because there were too many things he didn’t understand, it was painful to do, so he didn’t want to do it. But homework was something that became harder the less you did it. He’d been trapped in this vicious cycle for a long time, and finding a breakthrough now was difficult.
He had originally thought he could look at the academic achiever’s work… forget it.
Better to rely on himself than ask others.
Fu Yuhan didn’t sleep until 2 AM, barely finishing one English paper and half a math paper. He had thought he wouldn’t be able to sleep due to the change of environment, but fell asleep quickly from exhaustion.
However, the next morning, he was woken by some strange sound.
“Ugh…”
Fu Yuhan opened his eyes to see dawn just breaking. He groggily grabbed his phone and stared at the display that wouldn’t light up no matter how many times he pressed it, taking a while to remember where he was.
He looked up—the wall clock showed 5:20.
The sound was coming from the bathroom.
“Wen Yu?” Fu Yuhan shuffled over in slippers, sleepily trying to identify the source of the strange noise.
Wen Yu had his back to the bathroom door, head hanging low, one hand braced against the wall, retching as if he wanted to vomit his internal organs.
He looked very miserable.
“Are you okay?” Fu Yuhan asked.
Wen Yu ignored him, probably lacking the energy to speak.
“If you were going to throw up, why did you drink so much last night?” Fu Yuhan was somewhat speechless. “I thought only Chu Lei would be this self-destructive.”
“Ugh…”
“Do you have any hangover medicine?” Fu Yuhan frowned.
“What… the hell… ugh…” Wen Yu had already vomited up last night’s dinner, and now was only bringing up acid. His voice was terribly hoarse. “No one even knows I drink.”
Fu Yuhan was stunned.
The information in that sentence and the tone of pain from the hangover inexplicably touched him.
“Fine, considering you took me in.” Fu Yuhan sighed. “Let me borrow your kitchen.”
Wen Yu’s home had everything, except the owner himself lived without much human warmth. Fu Yuhan went into the kitchen to find a clean pot, pulled out a can of mung beans from the glass cabinet, and started making soup.
When he was little, his father always went out for business entertainment but had poor alcohol tolerance, coming home in agony every time. That year Fu Yuhan was six and wanted to do something for his dad, so he searched online for hangover remedies and learned to make mung bean soup.
This was simple to make, and drinking a couple bowls helped with alcohol metabolism.
Fu Yuhan put the pot on the stove, then poured a glass of water and brought it to the bathroom for Wen Yu to rinse his mouth. After bustling back and forth several times, Wen Yu finally emptied his stomach and straightened up against the wall: “…Didn’t expect you to be so skilled at taking care of people.”
“My mom has to take care of my sister, so I can only take care of myself.” Fu Yuhan supported his arm and helped him to the sofa, then went into the kitchen to ladle soup. “Wait here.”
The freshly cooked mung beans were actually a bit hard. Fu Yuhan hadn’t added anything, so it didn’t taste very good. Wen Yu took one sip and frowned, trying to put the bowl down: “Alright, I’ve had some.”
“Finish it.” Fu Yuhan blocked him. “You think you have a choice? You’re a patient right now, you know.”
“…Is your back injury better?”
“It’s fine, doesn’t hurt now.” Fu Yuhan said. “Changing the subject won’t work. Drink it.”
“…”
Wen Yu looked like he was going to his heroic death as he downed the soup in one gulp.
But a bowl of hot soup did make his stomach feel more comfortable. He watched Fu Yuhan go back into the kitchen to clean up all the scattered ingredients and utensils, and his mood suddenly became somewhat complicated.
Fu Yuhan’s movements were swift and practiced—clearly not his first day doing this kind of work.
This was a side of Fu Yuhan he had never seen before.
Fu Yuhan added some sugar to the remaining mung bean soup and poured it into a large bowl, then washed the pot clean and put it away. When he finished, he couldn’t stand it anymore and even washed the dishes Wen Yu had left in the sink from last night.
The sky outside gradually brightened. Fu Yuhan turned around to find Wen Yu had somehow walked to the kitchen doorway and was watching him.
“I need you to do me a favor.” He suddenly said.
Fu Yuhan: “?”
“Forget about last night and this morning.” Wen Yu said. “Consider it me owing you a favor.”
Fu Yuhan raised an eyebrow: “Really no one knows you drink?”
“Mm.”
“But…” Fu Yuhan asked back, “Why would I pass up this opportunity to badmouth you in front of Yang Fan?”
Wen Yu stared at him for a while, then suddenly smiled: “You won’t.”
Fu Yuhan: “…”
“If you were the type to kick people when they’re down, to make little moves behind the scenes,” Wen Yu said with a smile, “you would have gotten Yang Fan long ago. It wouldn’t be my turn to interfere.”
Fu Yuhan: “…”
This really hit… right where it hurt.
There was a voice hidden in the darkness of his heart that had tempted him countless times: Make your move, what’s wrong with turning Yang Fan gay? Maybe he’s already a closeted gay.
If Fu Yuhan had even slightly lower moral standards, he might have done something irreversible long ago.
“You really are…” Fu Yuhan smirked. “Every time my impression of you improves a bit, you always use your actions to tell me that you’re indeed very annoying.”
“Thanks for the compliment.” Wen Yu readily accepted it, then changed his tone: “I owe you one.”
“What use is your favor?”
“You’ll need it.” Wen Yu said.
Fu Yuhan was noncommittal.
After Wen Yu’s disruption, Fu Yuhan couldn’t fall back asleep. He usually got up early anyway, and besides, he still had to open the classroom door. He might as well wash up and prepare to leave.
Wen Yu was forced to break his own record for earliest arrival at school, and his head was spinning.
“If I’d known this would happen, I shouldn’t have brought you back last night…” he muttered while opening his bag. “I really made trouble for myself.”
“Who told you not to let me go to Yang Fan’s house yesterday?” Fu Yuhan’s voice paused as he saw what the other was doing. “You didn’t finish your homework?”
“Mm,” Wen Yu answered while writing. “These papers were too simple and boring to do, so I decided to save them for this morning.”
His homework speed was extremely fast, as if he barely needed thinking time. The moment his eyes scanned a problem, the answer was already written on paper, which shocked Fu Yuhan somewhat.
Mainly because even when his grades were at their best, he had never done homework this quickly.
“What kind of cold, ruthless problem-solving machine are you?” Fu Yuhan found him increasingly incomprehensible.
##
(advanced chapters available on kofi)
