Chapter 71: School Starts

He hugged tightly, and the kiss hurt, so of course Jiang Shi was not happy. He reached out to push Cheng Ye, only to find that he had fallen asleep on his shoulder.

Jiang Shi lifted his head from Cheng Ye’s arm and looked at the dark circles under his eyes. His breathing on his skin was slow and heavy. He paused and found a comfortable position for himself.

…

Cheng Ye had barely closed his eyes for almost three whole days. He slept very deeply this time. When he woke up, the sun had already set.

The residual heat of the scorching sun still lingered in the air. The cicadas had not stopped chirping, their hoarse voices drawn out. The spot next to him was already empty. The crumpled sheets had been pulled, but to no effect.

Cheng Ye lifted the blanket and got out of bed. The glass windows of the main room were covered in dust, and the world outside was shrouded in a hazy light. Amidst the mottled dirt, the boy in the light blue shirt was like a nimble fish, carrying a basin and lightly stepping over the pitted path.

Behind him, a full moon hung high. At the boundary between morning and dusk, it rushed towards him.

He stood still. The fish jumped onto the low steps at the entrance, pushed open the old wooden door with a creak, and was stunned when he saw him standing inside.

“You’re awake…” Jiang Shi put the basin on the table, revealing the still steaming corn. “The corn just came out of the pot. Come and eat.”

As he spoke, he reached for the corn on top, only to quickly retract his hand from the heat.

The next second, his fingertips were cupped.

“What’s the rush?”

Jiang Shi hissed, “I’ve been carrying it all the way. I thought it was cold.”

Cheng Ye rubbed the red skin on his fingertips, turned to find a chopstick, grabbed a cob of corn, and with a flick of his wrist, broke it in two. He stuck the chopstick into the core and handed it to Jiang Shi.

Jiang Shi took the corn, blew on the heat, and watched Cheng Ye take a bite of the other half. “Why aren’t you burned?”

Cheng Ye said, “My skin is thick.”

“…”

Unable to refute.

Jiang Shi asked him, “Are you going back now that you’re here?”

“I’m not going. I’ll wait until school starts.”

Actually, there were not many days left until school started.

Thinking that the pleasant vacation was about to end, Jiang Shi played with all his might, while Cheng Ye…

Cheng Ye was helping Jiang Shi’s family build a house.

The studio’s second game went online, and the first month’s revenue broke one hundred thousand, finally ushering in a qualitative change.

Wang Zhuo called Cheng Ye to report this good news. “We’ve received a lot of invitations recently. Some want to meet you, some want to acquire our studio, and some are interested in the game and want a piece of the pie…” He paused. “Boss, why is it so noisy on your end?”

Cheng Ye held the phone with one hand, bent down to pick up a brick, and then shoveled some mortar with a shovel. After two consecutive days of work, his technique was already very skillful. With a smear, a placement, and a press, a brick was laid.

“I’m laying bricks. If you have anything to say, say it today. It’s probably going to be very busy tomorrow,” he said.

Wang Zhuo asked him, “What are you busy with?”

“Building the roof tomorrow.”

Wang Zhuo was silent.

On the other end of the phone, he heard a man’s voice, “Cheng Ye, we’re out of cement. Go carry a bag over.”

So Cheng Ye said, “I’m hanging up. If it’s not important, send me a message.”

Wang Zhuo hung up the phone in a daze.

The only girl in the studio was the artist. She had a very cheerful personality. Seeing him hang up the phone, she was the first to speak. “Brother Zhuo, how was it? Was the boss very excited to hear the news? Is he planning to give us a raise?”

Wang Zhuo said, “I don’t know if the boss is excited, but he seems to be working enthusiastically on a construction site.”

The artist: “?? “

Cheng Ye carried two bags of cement in one go. The sun was scorching hot, and he bent over to mix the cement.

The man who had asked him to carry the cement put a bucket next to him and wiped the sweat from his forehead with his hand. “You’re a strong young man. I see you’re pretty good at laying bricks. Do you want to consider working with me? I’ll call you for all the jobs in the future.”

Cheng Ye shoveled a full shovel of mortar into the bucket. “No, thanks.”

In the distance, a boy carrying a bag walked over.

Seeing the person, Cheng Ye stopped what he was doing and looked at him.

Jiang Shi walked around the messy wooden planks and bricks. His gaze met Cheng Ye’s for a moment before separating. He squinted his eyes and looked up at the people above. “Masters, stop working for a moment. I bought some ice cream. Come down and have one to rest.”

He handed out the ice cream one by one, with Cheng Ye being the last.

The workers were under the big pear tree. Jiang Shi and Cheng Ye sat under the plum tree on the other side. He handed the last ice cream in the bag to Cheng Ye. “Here, yours is different from theirs. Yours is the most expensive.”

Cheng Ye took it, looked at the words on it, and smiled with his eyebrows lowered. “I’m different from them?”

Of course you’re different…

Jiang Shi put his feet on the stacked bricks in front of him, curled his body, and rested his face on his knees. The wind blew the plum tree above his head, making a rustling sound. Sunlight fell through the gaps and landed on his eyelids.

He said, “The workers at least have wages. You’ve been working for my family for so many days for free. I don’t want others to scold my mom for being black-hearted.”

The young master’s mouth was very precious. It was hard to hear a good word from him.

As long as he was good to kiss, Cheng Ye didn’t care about anything else.

He tore open the ice pop wrapper. “The chocolate crispy coating on top, does the young master want to eat it?”

The cold taste was close to his nose. Jiang Shi’s eyes curved, and like a cat, he stretched his neck to bite the tip of the ice cream that was handed to him.

Jiang Xue stood at the door watching this scene. It wasn’t until the two had almost finished an ice cream that she spoke. “Time to eat! Time to eat!”

By the time the cloth covering the roof of the new house was removed, Jiang Shi had also started school.

In September, the temperature in Jiangcheng was as high as over thirty degrees. The sun was glaring, and the asphalt road was hot enough to burn your feet. The entrance of B University was crowded with people.

He didn’t have many things. Most of them were in the rented house, so he only packed one suitcase.

The suitcase was carried by Cheng Ye, and Jiang Shi held the map that came with the admission notice. He held up the map and compared it to the school gate. “Tourism Management… east side, go this way.”

Cheng Ye said, “That’s west.”

Jiang Shi said, “Are you annoying or not?”

Cheng Ye fell silent.

Sharp-eyed volunteers saw the two and swarmed up.

“Junior, what major are you in? Where are you going?”

“Do you have luggage? Do you need help?”

“Consider a phone card…”

Jiang Shi thought that the people at this school were quite enthusiastic, until he heard his roommate’s complaint.

“So unlucky. I was assigned to the fifth floor. My suitcase is full of local specialties my parents stuffed in. It’s so heavy. There were so many volunteers at the entrance, but not a single one was willing to help me.”

At this moment, Jiang Shi was holding a cold drink, using the map as a fan. In the stuffy and small dormitory, he was clean and beautiful, out of place with the people around him.

“How could that be? I thought they were very enthusiastic. Several people were fighting to carry my luggage for me.”

Looking at his face, the square-faced roommate’s heart choked. He asked, “So you agreed?”

“No.” Jiang Shi looked at Cheng Ye, who was bending over to make his bed for him. “Someone carried it for me.”

Truly… same dorm, different fate.

The square-faced roommate’s name was Zuo Hui, a native of Jiangcheng. He was the first to arrive at the dormitory, and his bed was already made. Everyone else’s parents came with them, only Jiang Shi brought a peer of about the same age.

He asked curiously, “Is that your older brother?”

No one would believe it if he said it out loud. Cheng Ye was actually younger than Jiang Shi. After so long, being asked this, Jiang Shi finally realized this problem.

He narrowed his eyes and said with a smile, “He’s not my older brother. He’s my younger brother. He’s younger than me.”

Zuo Hui looked around. “I can’t tell. Your younger brother is quite…” He paused and said tactfully, “quite mature.”

Jiang Shi said, “Can’t be helped. This kid has looked older than his age since he was little.”

Cheng Ye didn’t say a word during this time. It wasn’t until night that Jiang Shi knew what real “anxious” meant.

Registration for school lasted three days. Although Jiang Shi was required to live in the dorm as a freshman, no one cared for the first three days.

After making the bed, Cheng Ye took him back to the rented house.

In the village before, there were too many people and too many prying eyes. Jiang Shi’s house was uninhabitable, and Cheng Ye’s house was so dilapidated that a sneeze could be heard from far away. The two of them at most just kissed and didn’t do anything else.

Jiang Shi had a good time, but Cheng Ye was holding it in.

As soon as he got home, he grabbed Jiang Shi and kissed him, impatiently putting that thing into his hand.

“Good brother, touch me.”

Jiang Shi was stunned for a long while before he came back to his senses. “No… what are you calling me?”

“I’m not calling you randomly. Didn’t you say I was your younger brother? It’s not too much to call you older brother.”

Jiang Shi didn’t feel like he had taken any advantage at all. Instead, he felt like he was being teased.

Cheng Ye took the opportunity to put his hand into his loose pants. After being well-fed for a few months, although Jiang Shi’s face didn’t look much different from before, he had indeed gained weight, and the meat had all grown in the right places.

With a light push of his thumb, the snow-white flesh, like frozen tofu, trembled. It was so tender that his palm couldn’t hold it, and it slipped through his fingertips, filling the gaps between his fingers.

Jiang Shi couldn’t understand why Cheng Ye liked his legs so much. It wasn’t enough to just kiss and lick them. He wouldn’t let him in, so he just had him rub them together. But the position was too close, and they would always rub against each other. Sometimes it felt no different from going in.

The bed was very soft. When he knelt, all the pressure was on his knees. Jiang Shi didn’t feel any pain, but his skin was too delicate. It would turn red in a short while, and even where Cheng Ye’s hand held him, a few crimson fingerprints were left, like smudged rouge.

Later, he couldn’t kneel anymore, so he lay on the bed.

Outside the window was the rushing traffic, occasionally mixed with a few cries of vendors. The temperature in the room climbed. His back was pressed against his chest, and the temperature was so high it was like it would melt a person.

No matter how calm and collected Jiang Shi acted, he was still a young man of almost twenty. Young people were full of vitality, and some things were always addictive.

Cheng Ye held his shoulder and left a few hidden marks on his back. His breathing was heavy, and his fingers were dripping with water.

“Four fingers, older brother. I want to go in…”

Jiang Shi was still a little scared. It was difficult for him to even circle his two legs, let alone anything else. But after registration, there would be a twenty-day closed military training, which meant that for the next twenty days, he would not be able to see Cheng Ye.

He didn’t speak, and Cheng Ye didn’t speak either.

A piercing “beep” came from outside. Jiang Shi finally came back to his senses.

He curled his fingertips. His whole body was flushed with a layer of pink, like rouge dropped into water, spreading out in wisps.

The lights in the room were not on, and the curtains were not completely closed. A sliver of light slipped in through the narrow gap, and the figures were indistinct.

In the darkness, Jiang Shi turned over. His lips were still moist from the kiss just now. His vision was not as good as Cheng Ye’s, and he couldn’t find the right place, so he bumped his lips against his chin.

A cool and refreshing kiss.

Like the first dewdrop falling on the tip of the grass in the early summer morning, it fell into Cheng Ye’s heart.

And ignited a dormant volcano.