Chen Qingqing turned away at once and pretended she hadn’t seen a thing.
Xu Ye saw it and said quietly into Qin Zhiwei’s ear, “Damn it, don’t shout. Shen Xinyi didn’t see anything anyway.”
Qin Zhiwei’s eyes went perfectly round.
The look in them said: I am a gentleman of principle. Why on earth should I take the fall for you over nothing at all?
Seeing that the soft approach wasn’t working, Xu Ye went straight to threats. “Zhiwei, look at the sunset clouds over there. Don’t they look a bit like the five thousand yuan you owe me? Do your big brother this one favor and he won’t make you pay it back.”
Eat a man’s food and you can’t argue with him; take a man’s money and you can’t refuse him.
Hearing that, Qin Zhiwei deflated on the spot.
Only then did Xu Ye let go of Qin Zhiwei’s mouth. He scooped the box of condoms up off the ground and stuffed it into his backpack.
Qin Zhiwei looked thoroughly wounded.
Xu Ye then went over to Chen Qingqing, all consideration, and said with a smile, “Don’t tell Xinyi about this, will you? Zhiwei’s normally very well behaved.”
Chen Qingqing heard him out and stamped on his foot.
Xu Ye yelped in pain.
Chen Qingqing wasn’t stupid.
Qin Zhiwei was a plain, honest sort to begin with — one look at him told you as much — and there was no possible way he was walking around with a box of condoms on him.
So from the first glimpse she got of the box, Chen Qingqing knew Xu Ye was the one who had brought it.
The only reason she hadn’t said so in front of Qin Zhiwei was to save Xu Ye some face. She had not expected him to pin it on Qin Zhiwei instead. Naturally that was more than she could stand, so she stamped on his foot, and thought she would put him through a proper interrogation later, once Qin Zhiwei wasn’t there.
Shen Xinyi came down about then, and Xu Ye hurriedly changed the subject, waving all three of them into the car.
After they had eaten, Xu Ye drove to a hotel and took a twin room. Once they had dropped their things off, Chen Qingqing called him over to the door and spoke back into the room, to Shen Xinyi and Qin Zhiwei. “Xinyi, Xu Ye and I are going down for a walk. We’ll be back in a bit.”
Shen Xinyi answered at once, and Chen Qingqing towed Xu Ye away.
They were barely inside the elevator — the doors hadn’t even closed — when Chen Qingqing reached up and grabbed hold of Xu Ye’s ear.
“Ow, ow, ow!”
“Ow what? I’m not even pulling hard.”
Xu Ye knew perfectly well that she had brought him out here to talk about the condoms, and he got his defense in fast. “No, listen — let me explain.”
“Go on, then. Explain.”
“Here’s what happened. Last night I got back to the dorm after the group dinner with my roommates and there were people installing a—”
Xu Ye went on, perfectly calm. “One of my roommates got a box out of it and shoved it in my pocket. I did give it back to him. Then at lunchtime today, when I was driving over, I put my hand in my pocket and found the thing was still there. It seemed a waste to throw it out — even if there’s no use for it now, there’s definitely going to be a use for it later — so I just…”
Chen Qingqing’s face went scarlet.
What did he mean, no use for it now and definitely a use for it later!
What kind of nonsense was that!
The moment the elevator doors opened, Chen Qingqing dropped the words “we’re breaking up” and stormed out.
Xu Ye hurried after her and caught her small hand, putting on a pitiful face. “I was wrong, I was wrong. Don’t be angry, please?”
Chen Qingqing tugged twice, found she couldn’t get her hand free, and turned her head away. “I don’t care. We’re breaking up.”
“We’re not.”
“Hmph. If I say we’re breaking up, we’re breaking up.”
“It doesn’t matter what you say. I’ve already latched on to you.”
“Buzz off. Stop following me.”
Xu Ye spotted a round stone bollard nearby and pulled Chen Qingqing over to sit her down on it. Then he crouched on the ground himself, holding her small hand. “You have to believe me. Everything I just said is true. If you don’t believe me, I can call my roommate right now.”
He had said it off the top of his head, and to his surprise Chen Qingqing came straight back with, “Call. Call him now. I’m certainly not believing any of your nonsense.”
There was clearly no way out of it, so Xu Ye picked up his phone and put a video call through to Yang Fei, who answered and came straight out with, “What are you calling me on video out of nowhere for?”
“Don’t say anything yet,” Xu Ye said at once. “Just answer what I ask.”
Xu Ye: “That box of condoms — was it your ID that got swiped for it?”
“Yeah,” said Yang Fei, none the wiser.
He had barely said the one thing before the call cut off. Yang Fei was left staring. “You lunatic. You’re the one who grabbed my ID and swiped it, and you’re asking me?”
“There, you heard it,” Xu Ye said at once. “My roommate really did force it into my pocket.”
Chen Qingqing said nothing more, but she wasn’t paying him any attention either.
Xu Ye gave a little laugh. “It’s just a misunderstanding.”
“I’m not talking to you right now.”
“Come on, stop being angry. Come here and let me hug you.”
“No.”
“Just one hug.”
Half-reluctantly, Chen Qingqing let herself be talked into it, and Xu Ye got her into his arms in the end. By way of protest, she dug her nails hard into his rock-solid stomach twice.
Xu Ye changed the subject fast. “Tomorrow’s my birthday. Did you get those clothes you promised me last time?”
“I did.”
“This jacket I’ve got on is from high school. You probably won’t believe it, but I’ve grown another two centimeters since I started university, and my old clothes don’t sit right on me anymore.”
Once the conversation turned to that, Chen Qingqing put the whole business out of her mind, and said quietly, “I bought two. A denim jacket and a black baseball jacket. Baseball jackets run small, so I ordered a size up. I don’t know whether it’ll fit.”
“With a body like mine, everything fits.”
“Shameless.”
“It’s true.” Xu Ye stood up straight and, entirely without shame, pulled his T-shirt up. “I go running on the sports field whenever I’ve got time. Look at these abs. They’re getting more defined all the time.”
Chen Qingqing clapped her hands over her eyes, then peeked through her fingers. “I’m not looking, I’m not looking. Sit down, quickly.”
Xu Ye laughed and sat back down on the stone bollard beside her.
“What do you think Zhiwei and Xinyi are doing in the hotel right now?”
“I don’t know.”
“You think they might be up to no good?”
“Of course not. Qin Zhiwei is a lot better behaved than you.”
“Fine.”
Xu Ye sighed. “So in your eyes I’m the only bad one here.”
“You are. You’re the very worst, most rotten thing in the whole world.”
“Then let the rotten thing give you a kiss.”
“Buzz off.”
“Just one kiss.”
Seeing him coming at her with his lips puckered, Chen Qingqing got up and fled.
Xu Ye got up and went after her.
“Watch where you’re going.”
“I am watching.”
“You are not. You’ve bumped into my heart more than once already.”
…
“Um…”
“Um…”
“You go first!”
“You go first!”
Back in the hotel room, Qin Zhiwei and Shen Xinyi were sitting on one bed each, and the atmosphere was unusually awkward.
It was the first time either of them had been alone in a hotel room with someone of the opposite sex.
Qin Zhiwei had to go looking for something to say. “Are you going home for Labor Day?”
Shen Xinyi: “I don’t have to.”
“Huh?”
Shen Xinyi went red. “I mean, I can go back, or I can not go back.”
Xu Ye, in his place, would certainly have said: “Then let’s go out somewhere together when the time comes?”
But Qin Zhiwei said, like a block of wood, “I’m not going home. Xu Ye and the others aren’t either.”
Shen Xinyi: “Oh.”
Qin Zhiwei: “Can I start calling you Xinyi?”
Shen Xinyi: “You… you can.”
Qin Zhiwei: “Are you hot?”
Shen Xinyi: “I’m not hot.”
Qin Zhiwei: “Your face is red.”
Shen Xinyi got up quickly and went over to the window. “It’s a bit stuffy. I’ll just open this.”
When she opened the window and then didn’t move, Qin Zhiwei got up, curious, and came over. “What’s wrong?”
Shen Xinyi pointed at two figures across the road below. “Those two look like Xu Ye and Qingqing.”
“That’s them.”
“What are they doing?”
“They… they look like they’re kissing.”
“…”
“…”
(End of Chapter 224)