Gu Fei looked at her silently.

"I asked you before right?" Mom looked back at him. "You said I should compensate myself, right? Then I'm compensating myself! Isn't that right? I'm compensating myself!"

Gu Fei stared at her for a long time before turning to leave, planning to go back to his room.

"Da Fei," Mom called out from behind. "Da Fei."  

He turned back.

"Have you had enough of me?" Mom asked.

"Yes," Fei answered.

"You would have left me if it wasn't for Er Miao," mom wiped away her tears, "you would have left me long ago. If I didn't have a boyfriend, I would eventually end up alone, dying as a lonely old widow."

Gu Fei remained silent.  

How important is a sense of security to people? Those hidden desires for security deep in one's heart that you may not even feel, how much of an impact can they have on someone?

He sighed, and opened up his arms.

Mom rushed into his embrace, crying softly.  

He patted mom's back: "Don't cry anymore. Go wash up later, and stop seeing that person."

Mom didn't say anything.

"If you don't break up with him," Gu Fei said, "then don't go around saying all your boyfriends were chased away by me."

Mom pushed him away, stared at him for a while, then turned and went into the bathroom.

Gu Fei hadn't washed up yet. He went back to the bedroom and sat down in front of the desk. He almost didn't want to get up again, let alone wash up. Just taking the few steps from here to the bed seemed like too much effort right now.

Sitting in front of the computer, he stared blankly at a photo for at least five minutes before remembering what he was supposed to be doing. When he picked up the mouse, he suddenly felt great admiration for Jiang Cheng.

No matter the situation, Jiang Cheng could enter study mode in a very short time. Even on an afternoon like today, he was certain that Jiang Cheng's mind was completely clear right now, focused solely on the books and materials in front of him.

People like that were simply amazing.

He smiled. Clicking the mouse, his desktop background appeared, showing Jiang Cheng's handsome face. He leaned his chin on his hand and looked at the face.

He changed it about once a week. The photos of Jiang Cheng he had saved privately could last him until next year's gaokao.

He stared at the photo for a while before starting work again. These photos had to be submitted tomorrow, ever since he started going to Jiang Cheng's place everyday to study with him, he had to finish up his editing jobs by the deadline.

He had to complete these photos tonight and submit them. Normally he might skip half or whole days of class to leisurely finish them at home, but he was going to school tomorrow.

If he was going to skip class, it wouldn't be tomorrow. If he didn't show up tomorrow, Jiang Cheng would definitely think it was because of the "Gu Fei Composition" incident.

At 1am he picked up his phone, wanting to message Jiang Cheng, but as soon as he grabbed it, it vibrated with an incoming message. It was from Jiang Cheng.

- Testing if you've left a single brain cell for me

Gu Fei smiled and sent a reply.

- Haven't slept yet, all my brain cells are saved for you

- You haven't slept yet this late?

- Working on photos, will sleep soon. Have you finished reading?

- Yes, do you have time for a video call?

Gu Fei sent a video request over. Jiang Cheng accepted it quickly.  

When Jiang Cheng's face appeared on the screen, Gu Fei suddenly felt the turmoil stirred up by his mom earlier completely settle down.

Jiang Cheng really was a panacea.

Sleep aid, aphrodisiac, sedative, stimulant.....

Any emotional need could be solved by one Jiang Cheng.

"Are you about to sleep?" Gu Fei leaned back in his chair with a smile.

"Yeah, I'll listen to English as I sleep in a bit." Jiang Cheng said.

"Can you really sleep like that?" Gu Fei asked.

"I can. It's like hypnosis, I'll fall asleep listening." Jiang Cheng yawned, "How much longer do you have on those photos?"

"Half an hour." Gu Fei looked at Jiang Cheng's neck.

Jiang Cheng's head was tilted back on the chair, the line of his neck was very... stimulating.

"Then keep working, tomorrow..." Jiang Cheng hesitated, "Are you going to school?"

"I'm going," Gu Fei nodded, "But you'll need to call me when you get up to make sure I'm awake. I'm afraid I won't get up on my own."

"Got it," Jiang Cheng immediately smiled, "I'll wait for you at the breakfast stall."  

"Are you treating?" Gu Fei asked.

"My treat." Jiang Cheng nodded.

"Then it's a deal." Gu Fei looked at the time, "You should sleep first."

"Wait wait," Jiang Cheng sat up straight, "I want to see you."

"...Haven't you been looking at me this whole time?" Gu Fei was a bit surprised, he looked at his phone screen again. His face was very clear on the small screen.

"I want to see your collarbone." Jiang Cheng said.  

"Oh," Gu Fei suddenly laughed gleefully for a long time, "Is the collarbone enough? I can do buy one get one free for anything else."

Jiang Cheng just smiled without responding.

Gu Fei turned the camera towards himself, going from his face to neck to collarbone and down to his stomach. When he reached his stomach he asked: "Need more?"

"...No need, going further down would affect my sleep. I still need to recite English vocabulary in my dreams..."

Before Jiang Cheng could finish, Gu Fei swiftly pulled down his pants and turned the camera that way: "Little Fei says hi to Cheng."

"F*ck you Gu Fei!" Jiang Cheng yelled from the other end, "Shameless bastard!"

Gu Fei brought the phone back up, laughing uncontrollably: "I can take you cursing me but how can you curse my boyfriend too? Doesn't your conscience hurt?"

"...Screw your conscience!" Jiang Cheng flopped down on his pillow, pointing at the camera, "You're affecting my studying, do you understand?"

"Really?" Gu Fei said, "Then I'll interview you tomorrow morning, ask if you dreamed about English or dreamed about me."

Although he was in a good mood, when he buckled down he worked efficiently. But because he had been accompanying his boyfriend idling around these days instead of working, he had a lot piled up. By the time he finished it was already 3am.  

Gu Fei's normal time taken to fall asleep was around half an hour. Today when his head hit the pillow, it was like being punched and he immediately lost consciousness.

He wouldn't dream about English, but this night he didn't even dream about Jiang Cheng. All he heard was his phone ringing.

"Damn." Gu Fei rolled over. Sleeping without dreams made him feel like he had wasted the night, like he should open his eyes as soon as he closed them.

It was Jiang Cheng calling. Gu Fei picked up but didn't get a chance to speak before Jiang Cheng's voice came through: "Gu Fei, are you up?"

"I'm up," Gu Fei sat up. Although he was still a bit groggy and not fully awake, he could tell Jiang Cheng's tone lacked the usual cheerfulness when calling him to wake up. "What's wrong?"

"Li Hui is downstairs with some other people," Jiang Cheng said. "I don't know how he found this place. He probably doesn't know which floor I live on so hasn't come up, but he's downstairs."

"I'll be right there," Gu Fei jumped out of bed. "How did you know he was downstairs?"

"He called me," Jiang Cheng sounded very annoyed. "I already told him I don't want anything to do with Li Baoguo's stuff, and want nothing to do with any of it. Why can't he leave me alone?"

"Did he say why he's looking for you?" Gu Fei ran into the bathroom. He didn't even brush his teeth, just rinsed with the mouthwash that his mom had been tricked into buying by one of her boyfriends she met on a girls' trip.

"Asking me for Li Baoguo's bank book," Jiang Cheng said. "Don't come over, I'll just go down directly. I f*cking hate these clingy idiots."

"Wait for me," Gu Fei said, not even bothering to wash his face as he ran out shirtless.

Whether Li Baoguo had a bank book was beside the point. Even if he did, there was no way he would have given it to Jiang Cheng.

The reason Li Baoguo and Li Hui never got along in life was because Li Baoguo cared about Li Hui in his own steel factory way, and Li Hui responded in a similarly steel factory fashion.

Li Hui was very clear on this himself. He wasn't really looking for a bank book, probably just wanted money.

Jiang Cheng grew up in a big city, with decent family circumstances. He had credit cards from his adoptive parents, and as long as Li Baoguo knew this, Li Hui would know.

People like Li Hui were like a piece of chewed up gum, beyond reason.

Jiang Cheng couldn't deal with him. To take care of this, it would take a steel factory tyrant...

Gu Fei didn't take his bike, just wheeled his motorcycle out and drove toward the rental housing.