Chapter 84: The Composure of the Main Partner

Jiang Shi: “…”

Fine, fine.

That part of his past was indeed quite不堪, and he thought it would be difficult to talk about. However, the reality was like snow—cold and hard when it gathers, but light and airy when it falls.

Cheng Ye also accepted it lightly.

The past was torn away like a page from a book. Jiang Shi had thought the wound he was covering was festering, but in reality, with the passage of time, it had long since healed, so faded that not even a scar was visible.

Unconsciously, he had already moved on so far.

He could let it go, but Cheng Ye couldn’t.

The snow grew heavier as the night deepened. The city was so quiet that only the rustling sound of the falling snow could be heard. Two dirty tracks from a passing car were left on the asphalt road.

Cheng Ye stood on the balcony, listening to the faint sound of a car horn from somewhere unknown.

Those light snowflakes fell into his heart, melted into water, and then froze into solid ice.

This was the heaviest snow he had seen since coming to Jiangcheng.

Water on Earth constantly evaporates, rises, condenses in the clouds—becoming rain when it’s warm, snow when it’s cold. It’s a cycle. After who knows how many repetitions, the snow that once fell on Jiang Shi’s shoulders had re-condensed, and after several years, it was now dancing in the skies of Jiangcheng.

Cheng Ye opened his palm. A cold snowflake landed in it, and in less than a few seconds, the beautiful crystal melted into liquid, like a crystal-clear tear.

…

A few days later, a call from across the ocean came to Jiang Shi’s phone.

Jiang Shi was still asleep. Annoyed by the phone, he poked his head out, his hair a mess. He fumbled for his phone with his eyes closed, not even looking at the caller ID, and answered it.

“Hello?”

A lazy laugh came from the other end. “Long time no see, my dear Jiang Shi.”

Jiang Shi was instantly awake.

“Huo Ji.”

“It’s been so long, I thought you’d forgotten me.”

Jiang Shi sat up, his hand gripping the phone tightly. “Why are you calling me?”

“Can’t I just catch up on old times?”

“I told you, there are no old times for us to catch up on.”

Just as Jiang Shi was about to hang up, Huo Ji on the other end spoke again. “I heard Jiang Kaile was blind enough to bully you?”

His action of hanging up paused. “What did you do?”

“I sent you a little gift. I broke his leg. Are you happy?”

Jiang Shi frowned. “Huo Ji, if I remember correctly, Jiang Kaile is your brother?”

“Brother?” Huo Ji laughed. “How can a brother be as important as you?”

“It’s been two or three years. You should have had enough of your tantrum. When are you coming back to my side?”

Jiang Shi laughed out of anger. “When was I ever throwing a tantrum at you?”

Huo Ji lit a cigarette.

It was late at night where he was. The stars were scattered outside, and his tall, thin reflection was cast on the floor-to-ceiling window.

“You will come back to my side,” he said with certainty. “It’s always tough out there. You can’t handle hardship. Only my arms are warm and safe. It’s only a matter of time before you come back.”

Jiang Shi said, “What time is it, and you’re still dreaming. Huo Ji, from the moment you lied to me, let alone anything else, we can’t even be friends.”

Huo Ji had heard this many times. He had always been conceited and only ever took it as Jiang Shi throwing a fit.

In their circle, even husbands and wives could grow apart. False affections and acting were plentiful. There was no such thing as complete honesty.

A young man’s pride is high. He doesn’t know how high the sky is. Once he stumbles outside, he will naturally realize how good he had it.

Huo Ji said, “I know what you want, and I’ve given you your wish. For no good reason, why do you think the Huo family sent me abroad?”

“Jiang Shi, I told them I like men.”

Jiang Shi was speechless for a moment, and then what surged in his heart was more of a sense of helplessness.

“Huo Ji, I only ever saw you as a friend. Whether you like men or women has nothing to do with me. Even if those things hadn’t happened, in my heart, you would only ever be a friend.”

“Friend?” Huo Ji took a drag from his cigarette and laughed. “Then who is your boyfriend? That country boy who was standing by your side? Jiang Shi, when did your taste get so bad? A person like that is worthy of being your boyfriend? A crude, unreasonable, uneducated thing with nothing but brute force…”

As he spoke, his hand trembled, and cigarette ash fell onto his black pants, a stark gray-white.

On the other end of the line, Jiang Shi laughed.

“Yes, I just like him. No matter how crude or unreasonable he is, he’s a thousand times better than you. Don’t compare yourself to him. If we really compare, in my heart, you can’t even hold a candle to his little finger.”

Bang—

The phone smashed into pieces on the floor. Huo Ji’s eyes were bloodshot, his chest heaving violently.

A few minutes later, there was a knock on the door. A young man’s weak voice sounded from outside. “Mr. Huo, are… are you okay?”

“Come in.”

The person outside hesitated for a moment, then pushed the door open and slowly poked his head in.

Before he could even step inside, he was grabbed by the collar by Huo Ji and dragged in.

The young man was thrown onto the bed, his snow-white collar falling open. The next second, the cigarette butt was pressed against him.

He trembled and subconsciously struggled, but Huo Ji grabbed him by the neck and tore his clothes open.

By the time everything was over, the faint light of dawn was already appearing on the horizon. The young man slept on one side, his breathing low. Huo Ji, wrapped in a bathrobe, stood by the window, treading on the fragments of the phone.

Cheng Ye…

He chanted this name as he lit another cigarette. Hatred coiled up, making his heart ache.

Cheng Ye sneezed.

The auntie in front of him grabbed a struggling rooster. “Young man, are you sure you want this one?”

“This one.”

He paid, waited for the auntie to prepare it, and carried the groceries home.

Usually, at this time, Jiang Shi was still asleep, but today, as soon as he reached the door, he heard a clanging sound from inside.

He opened the door with his key, and Jiang Shi ran out of the kitchen holding a spatula.

Thick smoke billowed behind him. There was a gray smudge on his face. He sneezed twice in a row at Cheng Ye’s somewhat dazed expression.

Cheng Ye put down the groceries, first turned off the still-burning stove, then turned on the range hood. He glanced at the pot Jiang Shi had thrown into the sink. Inside the pot was a black substance of unidentifiable origin.

Jiang Shi held up the spatula. “I was just trying to cook some instant noodles.”

It was just that he had never been in the kitchen. Once the noodles were in the pot, he forgot about the time and boiled all the water away.

Cheng Ye took the spatula from his hand, his voice calm. “Good thing you were just cooking instant noodles. If you were making a Manchu-Han Imperial Feast, the kitchen would probably look like a World War II battlefield.”

Jiang Shi: “…”

An honest man’s words are the most poisonous.

He unhappily snatched the spatula from Cheng Ye’s hand and threw it into the sink. “I cook for you and you’re still being picky. People like you deserve to starve to death.”

Cheng Ye: “…”

Never mind whether cooking instant noodles counted as cooking, he hadn’t even had a bite and was already branded as picky. Cheng Ye felt wronged, but Cheng Ye didn’t dare say anything.

“I’m sorry, it’s my fault.”

Jiang Shi snorted, barely satisfied.

Cheng Ye poured the black mass from the pot into the trash can and obediently started scrubbing the pot. Water flowed over the back of his hand, stirring up a layer of foam that scattered and then gathered again.

He asked Jiang Shi, “Why are you up so early today? And what’s with the sudden whim to cook me instant noodles?”

Jiang Shi said, “I couldn’t sleep, so I got up. Where did you go?”

“Grocery shopping.” Cheng Ye’s scrubbing motion paused. “On my way here, I got a message. Jiang Kaile broke a leg.”

He looked at Jiang Shi. Jiang Shi’s face stiffened. “Why are you looking at me? I didn’t do it.”

Cheng Ye looked away. “Then it was Huo Ji.”

Jiang Shi was silent.

So Cheng Ye said no more.

He washed the pot clean, then washed the rice and started it cooking. Jiang Shi was still standing in the kitchen, not having left.

He saw that Cheng Ye’s expression was the same as usual, as if none of this affected him. He couldn’t help but ask, “How did you know it was Huo Ji?”

“Jiang Kaile isn’t that smart, in the end. He took a hit from me and couldn’t do anything about it, so naturally, he had to find someone who could. After thinking it over, the only person was Huo Ji. But he overestimated his own importance in Huo Ji’s heart and underestimated yours. Telling him was undoubtedly pushing himself to a dead end.”

He asked Jiang Shi, “You got up so early. Did Huo Ji call to take credit?”

Others would only think Cheng Ye was an honest man with brawn but no brains based on his appearance. Only Jiang Shi truly felt how smart he was.

He let out a slow breath and his shoulders slumped. “He called. He told me to go back to his side.”

Cheng Ye was holding spinach in his hands, his back straight, his tone carrying the composure that only a main partner could have. “So what do you think?”

“What can I think…” Jiang Shi gave him a light shove. “It’s not that kind of relationship between us. It’s always been one-sided on his part.”

“Alright then…” Cheng Ye said, “Block his phone number.”

Jiang Shi: “…”

He looked down and saw that the spinach in the main partner’s hand had already been crushed, its green juice seeping out from between his fingers.

“…”

His mind was smaller than the eye of a needle.

In the blink of an eye, it was New Year’s Day. The day before the party, Jiang Fei stuffed a formal dress and a wig into Jiang Shi’s hands. “Go home and try it on to see if it fits. If it doesn’t, I’ll get you a different one.”

Changing in the dorm was too embarrassing, so Jiang Shi took the dress home.

Coincidentally, Cheng Ye was also there today. It was the New Year’s holiday, and he had taken the opportunity to go on a business trip. He came back to pack his things and happened to run into Jiang Shi, who had come back to change clothes.

They met at the door. His gaze fell on the bundle of clothes in Jiang Shi’s arms. “What’s this?”

Jiang Shi hadn’t yet realized the gravity of the situation and answered honestly, “Aren’t I supposed to be playing that damn Snow White? This is the costume. The class president asked me to bring it back and try it on to see if it fits.”

The clothes in his hand suddenly weren’t in such a hurry to be put away. Cheng Ye leaned against the door and reached out to close it. “Hmm, go change then. I’ll help you take a look.”

So Jiang Shi took the clothes and went in.

Cheng Ye lowered his head and had Wang Zhuo reschedule his flight.

Jiang Shi rustled around for a while, and it was almost ten minutes before he opened the door and poked his head out. “Cheng Ye, the zipper is in the back. I can’t reach it.”

Cheng Ye’s Adam’s apple bobbed. He got up and walked towards Jiang Shi. “Open the door, I’ll help you zip it up.”

The curtains were drawn in the room and the lights were on. The light, like a flowing river of stars, poured down onto a snow-white back.

The dress spread out like flower petals, becoming more voluminous towards the bottom, and then gradually tapered up to a narrow waist.

Cheng Ye’s hand rested on the waist, his fingertips hooking the zipper. With one pull up, the snowy white was hidden under the champagne-colored fabric.

A section of his back was still bare. The man’s somewhat scorching breath sprayed onto it. Jiang Shi moved uncomfortably. “I ate too much for dinner, it’s a bit tight. But it should be fine if I don’t eat.”

The hand on his waist did not leave. He belatedly finally sensed that something was not right.

“Cheng Ye, move. I’m going to change my clothes.”

Cheng Ye didn’t move.

Jiang Shi got up and turned around. The next second, he was scooped up by the waist and carried to the bed.

The soft, large bed trembled, and a multi-layered flower bloomed.