Chapter 45: Someone is Always Dedicated to Making Him Useless…

Chen Yi looked at Gao Xinhe. “Gao Xinhe, do you want to sit at the front?”

Cheng Ye, in the front row, turned around.

Meeting his slightly warning gaze, Gao Xinhe had to be willing even if he wasn’t.

Jiang Shi, who inexplicably got a new deskmate after just a few seconds: “…”

Wait, isn’t anyone going to ask if he’s willing?

As if afraid he would protest, Cheng Ye arrived quickly with his books. Jiang Shi didn’t even have time to say anything before the deskmate switch was complete.

Looking at the new deskmate sitting beside him, Jiang Shi’s face fell.

Chen Yi stood at the podium, explaining the new class’s rules and notices.

Cheng Ye passed a White Rabbit milk candy to Jiang Shi. “Don’t be angry anymore. I have something serious to talk to you about.”

Jiang Shi didn’t think he and Cheng Ye could have anything serious to discuss.

Cheng Ye added, “About the game.”

Jiang Shi paused, said nothing, but his gaze shifted towards him.

“Since the game was released, the profits have been dismal. If nothing unexpected happens, my first investment has failed.”

“How could that be…” Jiang Shi was stunned, forgetting about being angry. “I tried it before, the playability is very high. How could it fail?”

“It is high,” Cheng Ye said. “But there have been too many new games recently. Our cost was too low, so firstly, the quality of the modeling isn’t as good as others. Secondly, the follow-up promotion didn’t keep up. Most players will subconsciously choose to play the popular games on the market, which has led to the current situation.”

Seeing Jiang Shi frown, he chuckled. “Actually, I anticipated this result when we were making it. I just didn’t expect that we can’t even recoup the principal now.”

On the podium, Chen Yi transitioned from class rules to chicken soup for the soul.

Cheng Ye lowered his head and stuffed the milk candy into Jiang Shi’s hand. “Little Young Master, why are you frowning? Didn’t you curse me out every day before? Now that I’ve failed so miserably, you should be happy.”

Jiang Shi kicked him under the table. “What nonsense are you spouting!”

Getting kicked, Cheng Ye actually laughed. “I’m not telling you this to make you worry. I just want the young master to take a little pity on me. For the sake of me playing the victim, don’t be angry with me anymore.”

Jiang Shi turned his head to glare at him. “Is this about me being angry or not? This is clearly, clearly about you…”

“About me what?”

“Can you not always be like that…”

“Like what?”

Jiang Shi kicked Cheng Ye again.

Cheng Ye bent down to pat the dust off his pant leg. “Young Master, everyone has desires. I’m just more honest about it.”

How was this being honest? This was clearly exposing himself.

Cheng Ye knew Jiang Shi was thin-skinned, so he quit while he was ahead. “I know, I’ll be more careful next time.”

Chen Yi transitioned from chicken soup for the soul to her university life.

Jiang Shi fidgeted with the milk candy in his hand. The originally hard candy had softened a little from his body heat.

He couldn’t help but ask Cheng Ye, “So what are your plans for the future?”

Cheng Ye tapped Jiang Shi’s forehead with his pen. “I told you not to frown, it’s not good-looking.”

“If the money’s gone, it’s gone. It’s not like my life is gone. I have hands and feet. If the money’s gone, I can just earn it back.”

Seeing Jiang Shi still unhappy, Cheng Ye said, “You should understand better than me, there’s no business in this world that never loses money. You know fishing, right? You have to put bait on before you cast your line. The bigger the fish, the more expensive the bait. It’s lucky if you can catch one, but getting skunked is also a common occurrence.”

“In short…” he said slowly, “I won’t let the young master suffer with me.”

He said he wouldn’t let Jiang Shi suffer with him, and he really didn’t let Jiang Shi suffer with him.

Even though Cheng Ye had lost so much he barely had his underwear left, it didn’t affect Jiang Shi’s quality of life in the slightest.

Today he would buy Jiang Shi a drink, tomorrow he would bring him food. If there was something Jiang Shi liked, he would bring it. If there was nothing he liked, he would buy something expensive.

His level of profligacy made even Jiang Shi want to curse him out.

“Cheng Ye, do you have a lot of money? The way you’re buying things, anyone who didn’t know better would think you’d made hundreds of thousands.”

It was late September, and the weather was unbearably hot. The student dorms had no air conditioning or fans, and it was stuffy and hot inside, like a sauna.

Cheng Ye climbed over the wall to buy Jiang Shi some sweet water sold at the school gate, and also bought a small rechargeable fan.

When Jiang Shi said this, he was unpacking the fan.

“Not a lot,” he said. “The money for you and the money for work are separate, so it’s not affected.”

Under Cheng Ye’s subtle influence, Jiang Shi no longer felt awkward or strange about him spending money on him. Hearing this, he just used a spoon to scoop a piece of ice from the sweet water into his mouth. “That’s still not how you should be spending it. You have money now, but what happens when it runs out? Can’t you have some awareness of saving money?”

Cheng Ye threw the box in the trash can and straightened out the fan’s tangled charging cable.

“Money isn’t saved, it’s earned. Besides, if anyone’s going to save, it won’t be you.”

After a thought, he took the cardboard box out of the trash, planning to save up a couple more to sell as scrap.

Mmm… saved.

Jiang Shi: “…”

Cheng Ye chuckled softly. “Why are you looking at me like that? Is the sweet water not good, or do you not want the fan?”

Jiang Shi’s face was so stuffy that his nose was sweating. He put down the sweet water, half of which he had drunk in three minutes, and said stubbornly, “It’s not good, and I don’t want it.”

Cheng Ye leaned over and plugged the fan’s charger into the socket by Jiang Shi’s bed. He pressed the switch, and the blades began to spin, bringing a refreshing breeze.

“You really don’t want it?”

The hair on Jiang Shi’s forehead was lifted by the breeze. He squinted his eyes comfortably, his voice weakening by half. “I don’t want it.”

Cheng Ye didn’t expose the certain someone who was being stubborn.

The roommates weren’t in the dorm. For a moment, the only sound was the whirring of the fan.

Cheng Ye spoke, his voice a few degrees lower, with a hint of hoarseness. “Jiang Shi, it’s been exactly 58 days since we last kissed.”

“If you really feel sorry for me, give me a kiss.”

The boy’s lips, moistened by the sweet water, were reddish, full, and juicy. If he had never tasted them, Cheng Ye could still endure. But after having had a taste, his mind was consumed day and night by that flavor.

Before, Jiang Shi was angry, so he didn’t dare mention it. In fact, even now, Jiang Shi’s anger hadn’t completely dissipated. But the unintentional worry that flowed from the boy’s eyes was like a catalyst, magnifying the desire hidden in his heart bit by bit.

The more Jiang Shi felt bad for Cheng Ye, the more uncomfortable Cheng Ye became.

Uncomfortably hard.

Jiang Shi suspected his brain was filled with nothing but smut. His heart, which had softened a little, immediately hardened again after hearing these words.

“Get lost, Cheng Ye. You’re like a sicko.”

---

The National Day holiday was in a few days.

When Jiang Shi returned, it was just in time for the autumn harvest. The weather had been good for the past few days, and everyone was busy harvesting corn.

Jiang Shi went along to help.

The sun was high and fierce. There wasn’t a single cloud in the sky. The sunlight baked the ground golden, and even the wind felt heavy.

Jiang Shi followed behind Jiang Xue with a basket on his back. He had gotten up a bit late today, and it was already past nine by the time he was ready to leave.

Even though it was morning, the heat of the sun on his face was already noticeable.

He tugged at the hat on his head. Jiang Xue said from the side, “Actually, I can do it alone. You don’t have to come and suffer. You have no idea how scratchy the corn leaves have been these past two days.”

Jiang Shi wore long sleeves and pants. His tender skin was wrapped in rough work clothes, casting a long, thin shadow on the ground.

Hearing Jiang Xue’s attempt to dissuade him, he said lightly, “But aren’t we a family?”

Jiang Xue froze.

Jiang Shi added, “Shouldn’t a family share the burden? If it were Song Jian’an, would you talk to him like this?”

Cautiously, trying to dissuade him on one hand, while on the other, afraid of hurting the young man’s fragile self-esteem.

Jiang Xue looked as if she had been hit over the head with a stick. It took her several seconds to stammer, “Mom didn’t mean to treat you differently…”

“I know.” Jiang Shi smiled. “And I don’t want to be treated differently. So let me help you, okay?”

This time, Jiang Xue didn’t say anything more and led him to the field.

It wasn’t that Jiang Shi wanted to be delicate, but his skin was naturally more fragile than others’, prone to allergies and marks. To avoid troubling Jiang Xue, even though it was very hot, he wrapped himself up tightly and mentally prepared himself.

It turned out he had prepared too early.

They had just reached the edge of the field, not even close yet, when Cheng Ye emerged from the cornfield carrying a sack of corn on his shoulder.

Compared to the fully covered Jiang Shi, he was dressed much more coolly in black shorts and a white tank top. His bronze skin was tough, and the corn leaves left no marks when they scratched against it.

Cheng Ye’s white tank top was stained yellow with dirt. Several sacks of harvested corn were piled at the path’s entrance. It was unclear how long he had been there.

He put down the sack from his shoulder and greeted Jiang Shi and Jiang Xue.

Jiang Xue was stunned. She looked several times to confirm that Cheng Ye was in her own field, harvesting her own corn. “Wait… what are you doing here?”

Cheng Ye said, “I let someone else farm my land. Since I’m idle anyway, I came to help you guys.”

Jiang Xue said, “How can we accept that…”

Jiang Shi could see the smile on her face that she couldn’t suppress.

Cheng Ye sat on the ridge of the field to rest and drink water. Jiang Shi stood beside him, watching him tilt his head back to chug water. His Adam’s apple bobbed, sweat rolled down from his eyelids, wild and sexy.

He had only been watching for a few seconds when Cheng Ye suddenly lifted his eyelids and looked over at him.

Jiang Shi instinctively dodged.

Cheng Ye screwed the cap back on the water bottle. “You came to help?”

“Can’t I?”

“You can, but it’s hard work. I can’t bear to see you do it.”

Jiang Shi subconsciously looked towards Jiang Xue. She was bent over not far from them, picking up a basket.

“Can’t you watch what you say depending on the situation?”

Cheng Ye smiled.

“Got it. My relationship with the young master can’t see the light of day.”

Jiang Shi: “…”

Cheng Ye stood up and straightened Jiang Shi’s hat, which had gone askew at some point. “Alright, go rest in the shade under the tree. I’ll do it.”

Jiang Shi subconsciously started to say, “I don’t…”

“You don’t what?” Cheng Ye unzipped his jacket, peeled off the rough outer layer, revealing the reddened skin underneath. “I came to do your share of the work. I’m not being kind, I just can’t stand to see you suffer.”

Jiang Xue didn’t hear what they said. The two had always had a good relationship, so she didn’t find it strange to see them standing together. Seeing Cheng Ye come to help, she didn’t want Jiang Shi to go into the field with her either.

Jiang Shi always said she treated him differently, but it wasn’t that she was biased. It’s just that people are different after all, and her way of getting along with Song Jian’an definitely wouldn’t work with Jiang Shi.

She slung the basket over her elbow and said to Jiang Shi, “It’s fine with Cheng Ye helping me. Why don’t you just not go in?”

The temperature was so high that even she, who was used to working, couldn’t stand it, let alone Jiang Shi.

If one were to speak of favoritism, her treatment of Cheng Ye and Jiang Shi was the real favoritism.

Unfortunately, neither of the two involved saw it. Or perhaps Cheng Ye saw it, but he didn’t care. He wished Jiang Xue would be even more biased.

Jiang Shi became hesitant after what Jiang Xue said. Plus, having been bundled up in long sleeves and pants the whole way, he was covered in sweat. All his determination was defeated by the hot weather.

Cheng Ye spoke again.

“Just consider it me begging you, Young Master. Let me do all the work, alright?”

Jiang Shi: “…”

Someone is always dedicated to making him useless.