Chapter 111 Part 3

After a shower, Gu Fei went into the bedroom and lay down on the bed.

He had just closed his eyes when his phone dinged with a message from Jiang Cheng.

- I'm back in my dorm. Where are you?

- Lying in your bed

Jiang Cheng immediately called him. "So you went to the rental?"

"Mm," Gu Fei smiled.

"Not spending time with Er Miao?" Jiang Cheng asked.

"I'll go back to have dinner with her," Gu Fei said. "Then I'll come back here after she's asleep."

"Are you moving in to stay for good?" Jiang Cheng sniffed.

"Don't know. I'll come stay whenever I miss you," Gu Fei detected something off in Jiang Cheng's voice. "Hey, I've realized you're such a sissy now, crying so many times in just a few days?"

"Piss off," Jiang Cheng said. "You're the sissy. You're a sissy dad!"

Gu Fei chuckled. Jiang Cheng laughed for a good while before settling down. "I'm outside my dorm building now. I want to tell you something."

"About you coming out to Zhao Ke?" Gu Fei asked.

"Yeah. I screwed up again today," Jiang Cheng said. "He wanted to add me on social media. So I took out my phone..."

"And it's covered with photos of my gorgeous face," Gu Fei finished with a laugh.

"Luckily there aren't any nudes, or Zhao Ke would've died from shock," Jiang Cheng said.

"How did he react?" Gu Fei asked, still smiling.

"Pretty calm, I guess," Jiang Cheng said. "He said he can't quite accept it, but it's none of his business how I am. And he didn't bring it up again."

"Well, that's good then," Gu Fei thought for a moment. "Maybe you should change up the photos, not have me as your lock or home screen..."

"No," Jiang Cheng answered decisively. "It's my phone, I'll have whatever I want on it. It's not like I put photos of my boyfriend on someone else's phone."

"Alright, whatever you say," Gu Fei didn't argue further. Jiang Cheng had always been like this.

"Are you checking in tomorrow?" Jiang Cheng asked.

"Yeah," Gu Fei said. "It'll probably be over quickly, then military training. Liu Fan had a classmate who went to our school. He said training is just three days...ours in high school was a whole week."

"We don't start until sophomore year," Jiang Cheng laughed. "Remember to take pictures during training."

"Pictures of what?" Gu Fei asked.

"Of you, of course," Jiang Cheng said. "Selfies. I want to save a bunch to lick slowly later."

"I thought you meant to jerk off slowly later," Gu Fei said.

"Jerking off is definitely part of the plan. I am a vigorous young man, after all," Jiang Cheng said. "But I probably won't be in the mood recently. And the environment is unfamiliar..."

"Go on, say it. Who's shameless?" Gu Fei laughed.

"Me," Jiang Cheng readily admitted this time.

"Should've admitted it earlier," Gu Fei said. "Are you still eating at the cafeteria for dinner? How's the food?"

"Pretty good. I'll keep eating there tonight," Jiang Cheng said. "The roommates here are all foodies. They already know the specialties at each dining hall on campus and where the best stuff is. We're planning to try them all in the next few days."

"After a few months of my cooking, you're finally able to indulge," Gu Fei said. "Just don't get fat."

"If I had to choose, I'd rather eat your cooking every day," Jiang Cheng sighed. "When you're there, it's home."

His words made Gu Fei's heart ache. Just as he was about to change the subject, he heard someone call Jiang Cheng's name on the other end: "Jiang Cheng, let's go to the library!"

"Again?" Jiang Cheng said. "We just went this morning."

The other person said something unclear. Jiang Cheng didn't seem to want to go. "You guys go ahead. I'm on the phone..."

"Go on, Brother Cheng," Gu Fei said.

"I don't really want to go," Jiang Cheng said softly. "They said we'll go eat after the library."

"Then go," Gu Fei said. "You just met them, better to do things together for now. They won't think you're antisocial later when you do your own thing once you all know each other better."

"...Okay," Jiang Cheng acquiesced.

Gu Fei didn't want to hang up, but he did anyway.

He lay in bed for a good while before he could shake off that intense reluctance.

Sitting up, he went to the window and lit a cigarette, letting it dangle from his lips.

The one who called Jiang Cheng just now was probably Zhao Ke. They went to the library together this morning, as Jiang Cheng had reported.

The whole dorm was filled with top students. Visiting the library was the first group activity they planned upon arriving at university two days ago. Gu Fei smiled wryly to himself.

And that was the bulk of those other inexplicable feelings amidst the longing—

From now on, the people surrounding Jiang Cheng would be top students like him. Every single one was outstanding. Those people were Jiang Cheng's kind. The kind who belonged to a completely different world from the steel factory crew. They were Jiang Cheng's kin.

He had sensed it upon meeting Zhao Ke. No need to say much, just standing there and exchanging greetings, the contrast between them and the factory's locals was already glaringly obvious.

It was the same feeling as when he had first met Jiang Cheng.

Even though he hadn't associated Jiang Cheng with being a top student at first, even though Jiang Cheng wasn't a true top student, Gu Fei could still tell with one look that Jiang Cheng came from a completely different world than his own.

He was the one and only Gu Fei. Jiang Cheng had picked him out from that steel factory environment, but amidst the world Jiang Cheng belonged to, how long would his uniqueness and appeal last...

"Have you ever thought about...getting a boyfriend?"

The confusion and unease he had felt when Jiang Cheng first asked him that returned to his heart.