23 : Childhood sweetheart

 Song Shi hadn't had time to recover when the whistle blew ahead, so he had to put his phone away again.

Because they had all played in team competitions before, their teamwork was quite good, and there wasn't much of a painful period of friction.

When they had practiced enough, Xu Sen told everyone to take a break.

Chen Zhoumu sat next to Song Shi, watching him take the water from his hand, then tilt his head back and drink it all. It seemed he drank too quickly, and some water slid down his chin and down his neck.

He hurriedly looked away,

casually taking out his phone as if to cover something up.

After a while, Chen Zhoumu finally spoke: "Are you free this weekend? It's the girlfriend's birthday party of a friend from No. 7 Middle School in Hexi. I need to go and support her."

Song Shi wiped his mouth and then said, "No time, I have something to do."

"What is it?"

"Personal matters."

"Okay, then I'll decline."

Song Shi put the water away and picked up his phone again to open the chat.

Chen Zhoumu sat to one side, his eyes unconsciously glancing at the other person's phone. He suddenly remembered that Song Shi's profile picture seemed to be a cat.

He frowned, picked up the phone, and tapped on the profile picture. Sure enough, it was an orange cat.

Then he tilted his head to look at the dog's profile picture.

Song Shi glanced up at him and then turned off the screen: "What are you looking at?"

Chen Zhoumu looked at him, his tongue unconsciously pressing against the soft flesh in his mouth: "Who is he?"

"A friend."

"What friend?"

"Tsk, why are you asking so many questions?"

Chen Zhoumu didn't know why he was suddenly being so inquisitive, but he just wanted to know who the person with the profile picture that looked like a couple's picture with Song Shi was.

So he simply grabbed Song Shi's hand as he tried to leave, and the other person, due to inertia, fell back into his seat, even closer than before.

Now Chen Zhoumu looked more like an angry questioner who had accidentally discovered a third party on his wife's or husband's phone.

But some flustered wives or partners pretend to be calm, trying to escape and quickly scroll through the pages.

And this action was nothing more than protecting the shameless third party.

Song Shi stumbled as he was pulled, his tone cold: "What are you doing?"

Chen Zhoumu looked at the other's indifferent expression, a surge of anger rising within him: "What friend? What kind of friend is so close? That... what kind of childhood sweetheart was that last time?"

Song Shi looked down at the other's tightly clenched hand: "Yes, so what? What's it to you?"

Chen Zhoumu bit his upper lip, his tone unusually sarcastic:

"Heh, no wonder you weren't free this weekend, spending it with someone else. I knew you didn't know anyone here, turns out an old acquaintance came and left us all behind."

Song Shi was also getting angry at the question. He didn't know what was causing the other's sudden outburst of temper. He shook off the other's hand: "What's with the sarcastic tone?"

Then, without looking at the other again, he walked to another spot.

Chen Zhoumu glanced at his empty palm, feeling a little annoyed, then sighed and clenched his fist.

During the break, neither of them spoke. He Dong, sensing something was off, sat down next to Chen Zhoumu and asked, "What's wrong? Did you two have a fight?"

Chen Zhoumu paused, taking something out of his bag. "No."

The man standing beside him smiled. "We're good brothers, there's no need for so much friction. Going out for a meal together will resolve all the conflicts. It's not like it's some kind of petty lovers' quarrel."

Chen Zhoumu slung his backpack over his shoulder and nodded casually. He must have been possessed just now. He turned around and subconsciously looked for that familiar figure, but to no avail.

"Where's Song Shi?" He looked at He Dong, who was tidying up his things.

"He left a long time ago."

Chen Zhoumu pursed his lips, took out his phone, tapped the cat's profile picture, and sent a message, only to be met with a red exclamation mark.

He chuckled in annoyance, realizing he'd angered him again.

*

Song Shi left the stadium, thinking of going back to his dorm. He was hot and sticky from exercising, and all he wanted was a shower.

But thinking that if he went back to the dorm now, the two of them would run into each other. He didn't know what was wrong with Chen Zhoumu just now, but the other party's tone made him very angry.

He could explain the first two sentences of the other party's words, which was already considered good temper for him.

For Song Shi, his attitude towards Chen Zhoumu was already quite good. He was slowly getting used to the other party, and even somewhat tacitly allowing the other party to take advantage of him and slowly squeeze into his life.

Song Shi sighed, thinking that the only person he knew here was Tang Ze.

S: [Can I use the bathroom to take a shower? Are you not here?]

Ze Shao Zui Shuai: [Go ahead, I'm not going back to the dorm tonight.]

S: [Okay.]

Fortunately, there were spare clothes at Tang Ze's place.

After Song Shi went up, he could only be thankful that the single room had a combination lock.

Tang Ze's dorm room was also very clean, except for the things on the table.

The phone in his pocket started ringing loudly. It was Tang Ze.

Ze Shao Zui Shuai: [Wait! Old Song, I haven't cleaned my room yet!] [

Ze Shao is the most handsome: "Forget it, don't ask anything, I won't say anything."]

Song Shi ignored the message on his phone because he already knew. On the table

was a crumpled garment—a short skirt, like a maid's outfit, with some prop-like items beside it.

He casually picked up a plastic bag, expressionless, and used a tissue to put the items inside.

He knew that based on the scene he'd witnessed last time, and the way Tang Ze and the person next to him interacted, the one wearing the skirt was probably Tang Ze.

*Thud* A square box fell off the table, labeled "Beilele".

Song Shi frowned, not recognizing it, then noticed the words on the white and red casing.

"..."

He again expressionlessly picked up the box with a tissue and casually tossed it into the plastic bag.

Tang Ze and Song Shi were the same age, both adults, so this kind of thing happening to an adult was normal.

Song Shi calmly convinced himself.

He turned to look at the neatly folded bed, biting his lower lip.

Finally, he placed the bag on the table, opened and closed the door to his single dormitory room, and slung his bag over his shoulder again before leaving.

He still couldn't convince himself he should have known.

Later, he booked a hotel room near the high school for the night. With the holidays approaching, 400 yuan a night was indeed a bit expensive for Song Shi, who could only afford movable property.

But he didn't want to see that face yet, so he reluctantly booked a room.

Luckily, he had taken spare clothes from Tang Ze's dorm.

After everything was ready, Song Shi lazily leaned back on the sofa and took out his phone, which was already flooded with messages.

TT: [The earliest flight tomorrow morning, can you pick me up?]

Ze Shao Zui Shuai: [Old Song, Tan Xiuyuan is back in the country!]

Ze Shao Zui Shuai: [Oh my god!]

Song Shi's head was spinning looking at the messages on his phone. He opened the chat box that kept getting new messages.

S: [Time.]

TT: [Arrive at the airport at 9:30. If you don't want to come, I can come find you.]

Song Shi didn't look at the later messages, but his hand unconsciously tapped into the blacklist, where only one account was listed.

His gaze fell on the person's profile picture, but in the end, he didn't add the person.

Somewhat discouraged, he turned off his phone, his still-damp hair resting on the sofa as he stared blankly. When

Chen

Zhoumu returned to his dorm room, the lights were off. He fumbled for the light switch in the dark.

When the light came on, the empty room was deserted. The clothes he'd prepared that morning were still on the chair, the balcony door was slightly ajar, and his older brother lay lazily on the bed.

Everything was exactly as it had been when he left for class that morning—not a single thing had been touched.

The perfectly smooth sheets on the top bunk indicated that no one had returned.

He closed the door, squatted down beside the bed, and looked at his older brother, who was staring at him with his eyes open. Chen Zhoumu reached out and gently scratched his brother's head.

Looking at the cat comfortably squinting its eyes, Chen Zhoumu said with a bitter tone, "Your father Song doesn't want you anymore, and you still dare to be so carefree."

He turned to look outside, "It seems your father Song won't be coming back today. Brother, why am I so petty? They've been best friends since childhood..."

After thinking for a while, his frustration remained. He gritted his teeth and suddenly stood up, "Why can't I ask? No matter what, I'm his best buddy here."

He took out his phone and dialed Tang Ze's number. It connected quickly, "Do you know where Song Shi went?"

The voice on the other end was a little hoarse, "What's wrong with you guys? He went to my dorm this afternoon... to take a shower."

"The lights on your floor weren't on, so he shouldn't be here. Do you know where he could have gone?"

There was a long pause before the voice came, "I don't know..." Before he

could finish speaking, there was no sound. Chen Zhoumu thought the other party had hung up, but when he picked up the phone, it was still connected.

Immediately, another voice came from inside, this time not Tang Ze, but Shen Yihan: "Nearby hotels, guesthouses, hostels—they can't have gone far. We'll find them one by one."

"What's this about you two? That person who came back from abroad?"

"We didn't argue." Chen Zhoumu narrowed his eyes.

"Tsk, if you ask me, you two are just so awkward. Chen Zhoumu, if you really want to talk to her about this, you should have a proper talk with her."

"Also, stop talking about being a straight man. To verify if you truly like her, imagine whether you can accept kissing, hugging, and sleeping with her."

"Don't bother us anymore."

The phone was immediately hung up. Chen Zhoumu hadn't recovered from the other person's words. When he sat on the bed and thought about what Shen Yihan had said,

he suddenly realized that his way of interacting with Song Shi from the moment they met until now...

He seemed to be true to what they said; he wasn't a traditional straight man anymore.

At least, because of that person's appearance, he didn't seem so straight anymore. Because now he really wanted to see Song Shi.

There was no reason; he just kept thinking about her.

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