BTO CH65

The gossip continued at the dinner table.

“Your gossip isn’t as exciting as mine. What’s a pregnancy?”

“But my gossip is related to our vital interests. If I didn’t say it, would you know our chemistry teacher is pregnant? Would you know a substitute teacher is coming next week? I heard that substitute is super fierce, managed Class 4 so well they’re completely docile.”

“Holy shit, sounds like Abbess Miejue.”

After that, the boys and girls separated into different camps. Among them, a girl named Qiu Qiu was online shopping with a few of her sisters, her phone splayed openly on the table. Xu Sheng remembered her, knowing she was the short-haired girl who ran for Arts and Entertainment Committee Member back then. The girl said in distress: “Which one looks better? I feel like this color complements the skin tone, right?”

Xu Sheng was sitting close to them, his hand resting on a glass. With a slight turn of his head, he could see the contents of their phone screens.

“Who’s wearing it?” Xu Sheng suddenly asked.

Qiu Qiu answered subconsciously: “…Me.”

Xu Sheng glanced at the picture, then raised his eyes to look at her: “The second one. It suits you.”

Qiu Qiu was originally startled that the School Tyrant suddenly joined the girls’ conversation, and hearing him offer an opinion was even more startling. Having witnessed the terrifying straight-guy aesthetics of Hou Jun and the other boys, she initially intended to ignore the School Tyrant’s advice. But unexpectedly, the one Xu Sheng pointed out was the exact same one she was leaning toward in her heart.

Qiu Qiu’s personality completely contradicted her appearance. She slapped her thigh and directly called him ‘bro’: “Sheng-ge, great minds think alike.”

“Then could you help me look at another outfit?” Qiu Qiu wasn’t polite at all. “I feel you’re much more reliable than they are.”

Xu Sheng: “Sure.”

Watching Xu Sheng naturally join the girls’ topic just like that, Shao Zhan: “…”

He felt even more worried.

Xu Sheng said he was fine, but after a few glasses of alcohol, Shao Zhan suspected he hadn’t really drank much before. This Lord Xu had clearly overestimated his alcohol tolerance, specifically manifested by him starting to call Qiu Qiu ‘Desk Mate’.

Xu Sheng’s drunkenness wasn’t very obvious.

If it weren’t for the fact that the logic in his speech was getting increasingly chaotic, Shao Zhan really wouldn’t have been able to tell.

Xu Sheng truly rarely drank. He used to sneak beers from the art studio’s fridge with Kang Kai, and since his face didn’t change color after downing a can, he thought he had a high tolerance. In reality, he would collapse after two or three glasses of anything with real alcoholic content.

Finally unable to bear it, when Xu Sheng said “Fill me up again” to Hou Jun, Shao Zhan pressed down on his hand.

Shao Zhan sighed: “Stop drinking.”

Hou Jun didn’t know whether he should continue pouring the drink or not. Ultimately seeing through the situation, he took his bottle and sat back down.

“I can still drink,” listening to the noisy chatter at the dining table, combined with the chandelier overhead, Xu Sheng’s mind began to spin dizzily. Still refusing to admit it, he said, “Let go.”

“Your ears are already red and you’re still drinking,” Shao Zhan pried his hand off the glass little by little, wrapping Xu Sheng’s slender fingers in his own hand, and said coldly, “Let go.”

Xu Sheng was indeed too drunk, his brain unable to process it. After hearing Shao Zhan, he actually stared blankly and let out an “Oh.”

He looked exceptionally well-behaved like this, completely different from his usual flamboyant, trash-talking self. Not only were his ears red, but the fingertips Shao Zhan pried open were red too. Perhaps the drink had been too cold, so that flush spread all the way to his slightly prominent knuckles, making him look as though he had been bullied.

Xu Sheng’s hands were about as slender as Qiu Qiu’s next to him, but his fingers were a full segment longer.

After the glass in his hand was taken away, Xu Sheng stayed quiet for a while. Feeling truly dizzy with a throbbing headache, he simply laid his head down on the table.

Yuan Ziqiang and the others were busy ordering a second round of dishes.

“Let’s order some more food. We didn’t order enough just now. Speaking of which, is Old Meng really treating us to this meal?”

“Old Meng said it himself, he and Director Gu are treating us to this one.”

“Old Meng is so generous,” Hou Jun pulled out his phone from his pocket, tapped into the ‘Loving Family Class Group Chat,’ and tapped on their homeroom teacher Meng Guowei’s profile picture. Middle-aged people like him loved using close-up selfies as profile pictures, so a kind, small-eyed middle-aged man appeared on the phone screen. Hou Jun propped the phone up on the side. “Even though Old Meng has a meeting today and can’t celebrate with us, Old Meng must be with us in spirit for this meal!”

With such a rowdy personality, Xu Sheng rarely sat out when they were messing around like this.

However, it was clear that even when drunk, Xu Sheng wouldn’t know how to spell the word “well-behaved.” Because while lying next to Shao Zhan with half his face buried in the crook of his arm, he took advantage of Shao Zhan not paying attention to directly steal the glass of alcohol from his spot.

There was still half a glass of alcohol in the glass in front of Shao Zhan.

The other students were busy toasting the Meng Guowei on the phone, laughing together, and some even wanted to record a video to send to him. No one noticed the movement on their side.

Xu Sheng rested two fingers on the rim of the glass while supporting his chin with his other hand, barely managing to sit up straight. Deliberately waiting for Shao Zhan to notice, he shook the glass, curled his eyes rather childishly, and drawled lazily: “Stole it.”

And that wasn’t all. Xu Sheng brought the glass closer, his lips touching the rim. Lifting his wrist, he took a direct sip. As he tilted his head back, the curve of his jaw was exceptionally beautiful, his Adam’s apple bobbing slightly, completely disregarding whether Shao Zhan had drunk from that spot just now or not.

All the words on the tip of Shao Zhan’s tongue instantly vanished into silence.

After successfully stealing the drink, Xu Sheng’s mood visibly improved. His consciousness unclear, only knowing this was the neighboring classmate’s drink, he clung to him again after finishing it: “I want more.”

“…” Shao Zhan stared at the hand close at hand, even suspecting if he was doing it on purpose—if he had seen through him and was deliberately teasing him. “It’s gone.”

Xu Sheng badgered him for a while longer before giving up.

This meal lasted until almost eight o’clock before ending.

Xu Sheng wasn’t the only one drunk; Shen Wenhao was too.

Hou Jun said: “I’ll go to the front desk to pay the bill. Kaizi, Zhan-ge, you two take one each. Zhan-ge is in charge of carrying Sheng-ge back. Everyone, be safe heading back to the dorms.”

The others replied with “Okay” one after another.

The girls’ dorm and the boys’ dorm were separated, not in the same place. The girls left together first, and the boys also gradually walked back to school.

Xu Sheng was harder to deal with than the other drunkard in the class. Even drunk, he wasn’t honest. Shen Wenhao was very self-aware, completely devoid of his own thoughts. Tan Kai just hoisted him onto his back and left: “Zhan-ge, you two live on the same floor, thanks for the hard work.”

Only Shao Zhan and Xu Sheng were left in the private room.

“Can you walk?”

Xu Sheng’s thoughts were sluggish now. He had to run those three words through his head a few times to make sense of them. His sitting posture was very improper now, one leg bent and stepping directly on the edge of the chair. Because he was dizzy, he simply rested his chin on his knee: “…No.”

When a person gets drunk, their mode of thinking really short-circuits instantly and then inexplicably derails onto other tracks. Seeing Tan Kai carry someone, he wanted to say, Why don’t you just carry me back.

But a momentary slip connected his thoughts to the rooftop.

So, driven by some inexplicable impulse, Xu Sheng blurted out: “Hug me back then.”

His voice was a bit hoarse, his articulation slightly slurred, yet it was like a hook, scratching viciously at the bottom of Shao Zhan’s heart.

Good thing Xu Sheng was drunk and didn’t realize what kind of nonsense he was spouting.

Only Shao Zhan was tormented.

Shao Zhan stared at him for a while, thinking to himself: You might as well play me to death.

Shao Zhan took a step forward, rarely cursing in his heart. His own desires stirring, his face remained expressionless, his brows as cold as ever, yet he teased: “How am I supposed to hug you like this?”

Xu Sheng didn’t react, continuing to arduously ponder that sentence with a drunkard’s logic.

In a drunkard’s mind, Shao Zhan’s sentence was too long and hard to understand, but the core word “hug” was obviously easy to grasp.

Then he blinked, his thoughts extending, ultimately extending to a very strange place. Maintaining his current posture, the teenager opened his arms, making a “hug” gesture.

“…”

Xu Sheng repeated: “…Hug.”

After they swapped back, their perspectives returned to the right track. Looking at his own face previously was weird no matter how he looked at it.

Including that hug on the rooftop.

But this time, the person in his line of sight was Xu Sheng himself—the Xu Sheng who disliked wearing school uniforms, wore an ear stud on one side, and always had an unserious demeanor as if he played with feelings.

At this moment, Xu Sheng’s eyes were narrowed, looking a bit sleepy.

Uncontrollably, through the fabric of his clothes, Shao Zhan gave him a very brief hug, his heartbeat stopping for a few seconds. Once he could stand straight again, he let go.

The reason was simple. He was afraid of losing control.

Shao Zhan was very certain that in his seventeen years of life, he had never shown any inclination of liking the same sex.

Nanping’s teaching staff was weak, and the educational environment was chaotic, so puppy love was exceptionally common. He had received plenty of love letters, yet he had never entertained any such thoughts.

Nor had he ever liked anyone.

Xu Sheng was the first.

Fortunately, Xu Sheng wasn’t drunk to the point of losing his mobility. He just swayed left and right when walking. From his personal perspective, he couldn’t tell if he was swaying or if the world was swaying. Seeing the streetlamps by the road, he even wanted to sigh emotionally about how round the moon was tonight.

Xu Sheng’s remaining sliver of rationality was entirely devoted to gripping the wrist Shao Zhan extended to him.

Shao Zhan was afraid he would fall halfway: “Hold on.”

“Be careful, student. Have a safe trip—” Behind them, the restaurant owner followed them to the door and said a word of parting.

Walking out of the restaurant, only a few eateries around were still open; the other shops had already closed for the night, the streetlamps on both sides illuminating the road.

Xu Sheng was led toward the school by Shao Zhan just like this.

The hottest month of summer was almost over. The dry wind blew past, making Xu Sheng feel a bit floaty.

Leading a drunkard who couldn’t even speak clearly, Shao Zhan didn’t expect him to answer, casually asking: “Do you still know who you are?”

Xu Sheng answered extremely slowly, acting tough even in a drunken state: “I… am your Big Bro Xu Sheng?”

Shao Zhan: “…”

After a long while, Shao Zhan let out a laugh.

Talking to a drunkard was quite interesting. Shao Zhan asked a few more inconsequential questions.

“Do you know who I am?”

“I know.”

“Who am I?”

“…My desk mate.”

Then, unable to control himself, Shao Zhan lost control and asked a question: “Have you ever dated?” Do you have someone you like?

Xu Sheng’s looks were too ostentatious.

No matter how you looked at it, this face didn’t look like someone who had never dated; rather, it looked like he had countless exes.

Asked several questions in a row, Xu Sheng was a bit dazed and didn’t respond for a long time.

Shao Zhan sighed. Forget it.

The two walked and chatted along the way.

Xu Sheng originally walked behind him, but later they walked shoulder to shoulder. From the corner of his eye, Shao Zhan glimpsed the black T-shirt with the flamboyant design Xu Sheng was wearing. He was very familiar with this shirt; after all, he had worn it before they swapped back.

The dorm building was right in front of them.

Although Shao Zhan messed around in middle school, after entering high school, he adhered to the rules with almost masochistic strictness. The only rule-breaking thing he had done in over a year was becoming Xu Sheng, even temporarily helping Xu Sheng maintain his persona.

Even Director Gu had resigned himself to Xu Sheng not wearing his uniform, yet Shao Zhan suddenly wanted to know why he didn’t wear it.

In fact, he truly asked it out loud: “Why don’t you wear the school uniform?”

Who knew if it was because the wind had blown away some of the alcohol’s effect, or if this question struck a certain nerve in Xu Sheng, but he remained silent for a while. His train of thought surprisingly didn’t derail, and he instinctively covered it up: “It doesn’t look good.”

It didn’t look good?

Shao Zhan recalled the first day he became Xu Sheng. He had worn the school uniform once in Xu Sheng’s body.

Xu Sheng woke up very early the next day. Looking at the time, it was only five o’clock.

Yesterday, Shao Zhan stayed in his dorm until the early hours of the morning, coaxing him to drink something for the hangover. Worried he would feel sick if he lay down, he only left after confirming Xu Sheng was fine and thoroughly asleep.

Xu Sheng did actually sleep okay that night without tossing and turning much.

Drinking too much alcohol left Xu Sheng’s throat as dry as if it were on fire. He propped himself up and sat up. His mind went blank for a moment, followed closely by a dull throbbing ache in his head.

Xu Sheng thought to himself that he really drank too much yesterday. His memory stopped at chatting with Qiu Qiu about clothing colors and style matching.

Along with the ache, fragmented scenes finally flooded in. The first fragment was him drinking Shao Zhan’s alcohol with an almost “flirtatious” attitude, and the second fragment was him pestering Shao Zhan to hug him back.

“…” Fuck.

Xu Sheng was so shocked by these two fragments that he couldn’t even care about his headache.

What the hell did he do last night?

Fake alcohol harms people.

Xu Sheng got up, intending to wash his face, but right as he caught the water and buried his face in it, he remembered the final fragment. It was Shao Zhan asking: “Why don’t you wear the school uniform?”

And there was a following sentence.

“You look really good in the school uniform.”

…

Xu Sheng’s heart hammered wildly. He shook off the water clinging to his hair and turned off the faucet.

Xu Sheng not wearing the school uniform was inextricably linked to his desire to go to Liyang and being forced to give it up.

Coupled with Director Gu constantly chasing after him to argue about it endlessly, opening and closing his mouth with “rules, rules.” People always have a rebellious streak; the more they argue, the less willing he was to listen.

But after this period of time had passed, he realized he was no longer hung up on the school uniform issue. Becoming Shao Zhan meant not only wearing the uniform all day but also being forced to study. Yet, after living at Linjiang Sixth High in another identity, he found that even though he hadn’t gone to Liyang, he had witnessed a different scenery at Linjiang.

He was even gradually stopping his rejection of studying, so what else couldn’t change?

Or perhaps it could have changed even earlier.

It was just that since he had kicked up such a huge fuss over the uniform before, he couldn’t swallow his pride.

And did he look really good in the school uniform?

It was true when Xu Sheng said Linjiang Sixth High’s uniform didn’t look good. In the entire school, the only person he had met so far who could turn the tide and bring that uniform back from the dead was Shao Zhan.

He hadn’t touched that uniform since it was issued in freshman year, let alone worn it.

Shao Zhan had worn it using his body, but at the time, Xu Sheng was too busy being shocked and utterly unaccustomed to facing his own face. So he just pressed him back directly, his mind filled with “persona,” with no mood to see what he looked like wearing the school uniform.

“Good-looking people probably look good in anything they wear,” Xu Sheng muttered to himself. “Like me.”

The dorm building was still very quiet at this hour; no one woke up this early.

Xu Sheng unlocked his phone screen and found his contact, Zhang Feng. Regardless of what mood Zhang Feng would be in upon seeing this message, whether he would be so scared he’d fall out of bed, or think he was still dreaming and hadn’t woken up, he tapped his fingers on the screen a few times and sent a sentence:

Are you awake? Do you have any extra school uniforms?