Bite Your Fingertips

4rth -【Sit properly】

When Chu Yu was a child, his elder brother and sister introduced him to outsiders as, “This is my younger brother,” and it was always bound to be followed by the sentence, “Isn’t he pretty?”

If Aunt Lan took him for a walk and met someone she knew, she would say, “This is our young master. Doesn’t he look so lovely and cute?”

Their business partners praised his brother for being decisive, thus, taking on the role of their father, and praised his sister for inheriting their mother’s talent in business. When he was praised, it was always for his beauty and how he completely inherited his parents’ superior genes, every single time.

So Chu Yu knew from an early age that he was very good-looking.

In middle school, Chu Yu became deeply worried. Why was he so good-looking?

After telling his elder brother and sister about the pains of adolescence, Chu Yu’s elder brother and sister also became very worried.

Chu Yu was still finding himself at the end tail of his chuunibyou stage when he entered the first year of high school.

As a typical failing student, it didn’t make much of a difference whether he answered the questions or not, but Chu Yu’s attitude was very earnest and did his best to fill up all the empty spaces.

When he was completing the Chinese paper for the entrance exam, he sat down and had a nap first. After waking up, he scanned the questions rapidly and noticed it immediately. Eh, I know this question!

He filled up the blank and finished the question, hands moving like drifting clouds and flowing water.

Afterwards, the plot went wild. Before he could react, he had already been elected as Jianing Private’s school flower with the highest votes.

No. I am not. I don’t want to be. Whoever wants it, take it.

Wei Guanglei and Zhu Zhifei were still discussing.

Wei Guanglei stroked his chin. “Have you seen what this school flower looks like? Haven’t you been curious at all? You didn’t go to the main school to see them?”

Zhu Zhifei, “Where would I see them? The main school and branch schools are miles apart. Do you think I have clairvoyance or have hot wheels under my feet? If I have that kind of skill, I would rather use it on exams!”

Wei Guanglei knew that Zhu Zhifei was a diligent student who studied hard with both his heart and mind. He had good grades since childhood and was different from himself. Although he couldn’t catch up with Lu Shi, that defiance of natural order, he was still a decent top student.

Wei Guanglei studied Chu Yu, who was poking at his rice with his chopsticks, out of the corner of his eyes, and bumped Zhu Zhifei with his elbow. “Hey, Xiao Fei, speaking of which, between this young master and that school flower, who is more beautiful?”

With eyes wide open, Chu Yu squeezed his chopsticks tightly, and almost choked from fright!

“Xiao Fei, Xiao Fei, you’re the fucking XiaoXiao means little or small; commonly used as a nickname. Zhu Zhifei don’t wanna be called Xiao!!” Zhu Zhifei poured a cup of tea and handed it to Chu Yu. He pondered. “However, even though I have never seen the school flower, I vote for the young master!”

Wei Guanglei agreed, “I also vote for the young master! How do you say it? Oh yeah, a young master’s beauty in the period of prosperity!”

Chu Yu clutched his chest with his hands, and coughed even harder—bullshit, this young master doesn’t want your votes! Doesn’t! Want!

Because the weather was hot, Wei Guanglei shouted an order as they ate, “Uncle Yang, two bottles of cold beer, I want them fresh from the freezer!”

Chu Yu was holding his tea cup, eyes still a bit red. He responded in surprise, “Cold beer? Are you an adult?”

“No. No more, no less, just seventeen.” Wei Guanglei raised his eyebrows. “In this weather, drinking cold beer is so refreshing it could make you fly! I’m not tricking you, I won’t tell anyone our secret.”

Chu Yu was born prematurely and was often in poor health. He was carefully taken care of since he was a child. Don’t mention cold beer, he’d never even had iced fruit juice.

He remained unsure. “Really?”

Wei Guanglei placed the order. “Really! If you don’t believe me, you can try a drink first? It’s so cool and refreshing, it’ll make your soul tremble!”

Chu Yu really wanted to try.

He was actually enjoying himself a lot, sitting in a small shop that was not so great and was even a little shabby and a bit dirty, talking about this and that with a few friends, carefreely and happily.

Uncle Yang brought the beer and put four drinking glasses on the table.

Wei Guanglei held the beer bottle and filled three cups. “Lu-Ge, don’t drink or your throat will turn useless. You also have that hole in your waist that just got bandaged. If my mother knew I took you drinking, she’d hit my legs with a stick ‘til they broke!”

Lu Shi gave a faint “hm”.

Chu Yu was still a little afraid of Lu Shi, but after sitting for a while, his fear had eased.

He picked up the glass and looked carefully at the beer emitting small bubbles. He thought that the color was like brewed tea.

Seeing Wei Guanglei and Zhu Zhifei picking up their glasses and finishing it in one drink, he did the same. Putting the glass to his mouth, he finished the drink in a few gulps.

It was cool, feeling it run down your throat was indeed refreshing.

Zhu Zhifei pushed up his glasses and talked to Lu Shi, “My mother is letting me live on campus when school starts, saying it will give me more time to study. The accommodation conditions in Jianing are good, although the fee is expensive, the school is waiving half of the cost for me so it’s acceptable. I’m going to live there, how about you, Lu-Ge?”

“Living at school.” Lu Shi was leaning back in his chair, his left hand casually inserted in his pocket, and his cold, white fingers pinching his empty glass, spinning it around. His throat hurt so he spoke less, and with his eyelashes drooping, his whole body seemed a little cold.

“There must be a deluxe single room reserved for you at the main school.” Zhu Zhifei beat the table with his fist and sighed. “When will I also be exempted from all the tuition and fees, get a special scholarship, and live in a five-star deluxe single dorm room?!”

“When you surpass Lu-Ge and take first place on the exams.” Wei Guanglei picked up the knife. “Of course, both you and I know, this can only happen in your dreams, hahaha.”

“You, hurry up and get lost from Laozi’s side!”

“Eh.” Wei Guanglei noticed something amiss and gestured with his chin. “This young master… is he drunk?”

Chu Yu sat on his chair silently, staring at the empty glass without blinking, his eyes a little unfocused. Despite hearing someone calling him, there was no response.

“Damn, is he really drunk?” Zhu Zhifei was also surprised. “Is this the legendary one cup lightweight?”

Lu Shi knit his brows. “Three cups.”

“Okay, three cups it is. One cup or three cups is still weak, it doesn’t make a difference.” Zhu Zhifei didn’t expect that someone’s alcohol tolerance could be this low. “What do we do, send him back? Where does he live?”

“Don’t look at me, I don’t know. He was stopped by some grandsons. Lu-Ge and I just happened to be passing by. Lu-Ge originally wasn’t going to take care of it, but I guess his conscience was restless and he turned back to take the person out.”

Zhu Zhifei’s focus was on; “Lu-Ge has a conscience?”

Lu Shi looked up. “Fuck off.”

Wei Guanglei wanted to ask if this young master and Lu Shi knew each other. But now, he felt that Lu Shi didn’t seem very fond of the young master.

Wei Guanglei didn’t want to make things awkward. “Well, how about… leaving him here with Uncle Yang and letting him take care of him? Or we wait until he sobers up?”

Zhu Zhifei, “That’s no good. After all, he followed us here to drink.”

At this time, the phone Chu Yu had left on the table rang, and the caller ID showed “Uncle Chen”.

They exchanged a look. Zhu Zhifei took the initiative to shoulder the heavy responsibility of answering the phone.

After a few sentences, Zhu Zhifei summarized, “His driver said he’d come pick him up right away, and asked us to help watch him for a while.”

Wei Guanglei relaxed. “It’s good if someone’s coming to pick him up. I can take a closer look at the Rolls-Royce from last time. Isn’t this always the development you see on TV? In a kidnapping or something.”

So they all sat and waited.

After a few minutes, Chu Yu, who had been hanging his head in a daze, suddenly raised his head, wrinkled his nose and sniffed, then looked at Lu Shi.

He was sitting beside Lu Shi, but there was a wide distance between them. At this time, Chu Yu turned himself sideways, and closed in on Lu Shi. His voice was vague, and heavily nasal. He was too drunk, and the amber light in his eyes was like rippling waters. “What delicious thing are you hiding? It smells good…”

Wei Guanglei’s first reaction was to cover his eyes and then move closer to Zhu Zhifei, lowering his voice, “Hey, what’s this, so exciting! Is Lu-Ge getting molested? Is he? Is he?”

He spread his fingers apart and created a seam in between. “But to be honest, this young master is so pretty when he’s drunk, isn’t his face too good?”

Lu Shi was in a scuffle last night; the other side secretly brought a knife and managed to land a blow.

The wound on his waist hadn’t been treated properly, and it had probably torn open. Blood seeped through the bandage, and even his T-shirt was soaked.

The clammy sensation of wet blood oozing from the wound was unpleasant, and Lu Shi smelled faintly of blood, his disgust showing in his eyes.

The tantalizing smell penetrated into Chu Yu’s nose, causing his heart to beat violently, his throat to feel dry and itchy, and his breathing to become faintly erratic.

The burning feeling of his whole body being consumed by fire came again.

So thirsty…

Chu Yu became more confused, and he instinctively searched for the source, wondering where the smell came from. If he found it—

“Sit properly.”

Realizing that Chu Yu was almost lying on his body, Lu Shi impatiently ordered in a hoarse voice, “Sit properly by yourself.”

Wei Guanglei wanted to tell Lu-Ge not to reason with drunk people because it was useless.

But before his words could come out, he saw Chu Yu really sit down properly by himself, like a primary school student with both hands obediently placed on his thighs. He just waited anxiously, watching Lu Shi while looking aggrieved.

Wei Guanglei laughed heartily. “I say, Lu-Ge, people are really afraid of you when you’re this intimidating, hahaha! Or maybe you really have something delicious on your body which draws people and makes the young master come after you.”

Lu Shi met Chu Yu’s eyes, then looked away two seconds later. He got up and rapped his knuckles against the table. “Both of you stay and watch him, I’ll head back first. I have to take a call.”

Walking outside, Lu Shi recalled the moment Chu Yu leaned over him. His soft hair sweeping against his arm, his clothes that still smelled of orange blossoms, and his eyes that seemed to be covered with a layer of mist—

This was the kind of person he hated the most, unsuspecting, clean, and unguarded.

• 1Xiao means little or small; commonly used as a nickname. Zhu Zhifei don’t wanna be called Xiao!