Chapter 55: A Rugged Stranger

Chapter 55: A Rugged Stranger

"You… why do you care?" Cen Wu stammered, his ears turning even redder. He pushed Xie Guiluan's hand away and said, "Can't I just be really hot, alright? What does that have to do with you?"

It was still raining in the evening. The back door of the classroom was open, and the cold, wet rain blew in. It was actually quite cold, but Cen Wu's eyelashes fluttered as he shrank back from Xie Guiluan, his whole body feeling hot.

Cold sweat beaded on his pale nose.

Xie Guiluan grabbed his wrist, preventing him from pushing away. Cen Wu was already sitting in the innermost position, and now he was cornered against the desk.

Cen Wu started feeling paranoid, convinced someone was watching them. This tugging and pulling was such a scene. He wanted to return to his own seat, but Xie Guiluan moved his leg over to block him.

Blocking him relentlessly, without even pretending, his knee pressed against Cen Wu's knee.

Cen Wu was so angry he was losing his mind. He raised his hand, intending to take off his school jacket to show that he was really hot. Xie Guiluan, fearing he might catch a cold, pressed down on his hand, not allowing him to take it off.

"I'm sorry," Xie Guiluan apologized without hesitation, his dark eyes hiding a hint of amusement. His attitude wasn't very sincere as he cheekily said, "The second young master is always right."

A classmate who had just run back from outside, drenched and shivering from the cold: "..."

Can you two stop? Just give him your jacket if he's cold.

Cen Wu couldn't leave, so he sat next to Xie Guiluan and did his homework. Xie Guiluan had finished last year's and the year before's provincial chemistry competition papers and was now writing in a notebook, not knowing what he was jotting down.

Seeing Cen Wu working on his homework, Xie Guiluan turned to look at him.

Cen Wu kept his head down, unable to solve a single problem. His snow-white ear tips were getting redder, and he finally lifted his arm to block the test paper.

This is so frustrating.

If he didn't become the provincial top scorer, it would all be Xie Guiluan's fault. Huai Jing No.1 High School would lose a rising star.

As he copied Xie Guiluan's homework, Xie Guiluan leaned over and shamelessly asked him, "Copying only my work and no one else's—does that mean you like me?"

He dipped his hand into Xie Guiluan's thermos and soaked some black wolfberries. Xie Guiluan stared at him again and deliberately asked in a low voice, "Only for me, no one else—what does this mean?"

"..." Cen Wu replied grumpily, "It… it means you're particularly weak."

Xie Guiluan's eyebrows rose slightly, but before he could speak, Cen Wu clamped his hand over Xie Guiluan's mouth.

Cen Wu's face flushed crimson, not daring to let Xie Guiluan speak. Xie Guiluan was full of mischief and would definitely say something. Hadn't he seen it before? Does the second young master not know if I'm weak or not?

Cen Wu considered breaking his hand and confiscating his "tools," but was afraid that might actually please him.

Xie Guiluan laughed softly under Cen Wu's tight grip. Cen Wu pressed harder, and Xie Guiluan, afraid of really angering him, couldn't help but gently bite the soft flesh of his palm and grind it lightly.

Cen Wu: "..."

Are you asking for another slap, bro?

Cen Wu felt this couldn't go on any longer. He wasn't going to date Xie Guiluan. This entanglement wasn't good for either of them. Dragging it out wouldn't help him move on.

Not to mention whether he liked Xie Guiluan or not, the closer he got to him, the duller the pain of separation would be. He was an adult and should be more composed.

In fact, Cen Wu hadn't really attended high school much in his previous life. He started filming at sixteen and was almost never at school. Like Xie Guiluan, this was practically his first time in high school.

He shouldn't get too attached to this school, make friends, or fall in love with anyone. After all, never having had something was entirely different from having it and then losing it.

But he couldn't bring himself to say harsh words to Xie Guiluan, couldn't ignore him, and didn't know how to refuse.

He hadn't been entirely pretending to comfort Xie Guiluan earlier. If everyone in the world was drowning, he'd be the first one to save Xie Guiluan.

Xie Guiluan was very important to him.

No matter how heavy the rain was, no matter how many times—a thousand or ten thousand times—he would still go and find him.

Cen Wu's eyelashes fluttered as he released Xie Guiluan and removed his hand from over his mouth. He lowered his head and continued with his homework.

Xie Guiluan shifted slightly, his long legs awkwardly positioned, nearly bumping into Cen Wu's knees again. He leaned on the desk and watched him write, even taking Cen Wu’s draft paper and scribbling on it.

Cen Wu didn’t care at all what Xie Guiluan was up to. When Xie Guiluan wasn't paying attention, he quickly peeked, only to find that Xie Guiluan had drawn a puffed-up little cat's face.

Cen Wu: “……”

How could someone be so annoying?

"Stay away from me," Cen Wu, unable to bear it, moved away from him, speaking somewhat harshly, "I don’t want anything to do with you. Why are you always hanging around me? Do I need to tell you again that I don’t like you?"

Xie Guiluan pursed his thin lips tightly. His eyes were a deep, dark black, and if you stared at them long enough, they seemed like a bottomless vortex.

Cen Wu's words suddenly reminded him of the night of the autumn outing when they played Truth or Dare. Cen Wu had admitted to having a crush on someone, and Xie Guiluan had thought Cen Wu was talking about him.

Since Cen Wu didn’t like him, who was that person?

Xie Guiluan's pale, handsome face darkened, carrying a bit of sinister menace. Where did this random guy come from?

He wished he could erase him from existence.

Cen Wu thought he had been too harsh, and that Xie Guiluan was angry. He didn’t dare to look at Xie Guiluan, pushed Xie Guiluan's leg away, and stood up to return to his own seat.

Lu Wang had just finished playing games with some boys in the back row when he returned to find Cen Wu poking holes in his exam papers. The papers were a mess, and not a single problem had been solved.

He scratched his head. He didn’t know what Cen Wu was thinking, but he often found himself in the same situation, unable to solve a single problem for hours.

He comfortingly patted Cen Wu's shoulder, "Don’t worry, once I figure it out, I’ll show you how to do it."

Cen Wu: “……”

Thanks... I guess.

"Oh, by the way," Lu Wang suddenly remembered, "It's your birthday this weekend. I bought you a limited-edition pair of sneakers!"

He wanted to buy things for Cen Wu, but now Cen Wu wouldn’t accept his money. He had tried to return the items he bought, so Lu Wang seized this opportunity to spend lavishly on him. These sneakers cost over 30,000.

In fact, he had his eye on a more expensive pair but didn’t buy them because he was afraid Cen Wu wouldn’t accept them. These shoes were barely worthy of his brother.

The Cen family threw an annual birthday party for the original host, and this year would be no different. Just thinking about it filled Cen Wu with dread.

He could hide from other banquets, but he couldn’t hide from his own birthday party. It was fine before, but after Lu Wang mentioned it, his hands and feet suddenly turned ice-cold.

He couldn’t refuse, or else the Cen family would become even more suspicious of him. After all, the original host loved the feeling of being the center of attention at his birthday parties. Faking illness wasn’t reliable either; going to the hospital would expose everything.

Cen Wu bit his lip. Actually, this should have been Xie Guiluan's birthday. Song Lingwei occasionally had moments of cleverness and had changed Xie Guiluan's birthday to December during registration.

Only Song Lingwei and the late Chen Weiguo knew Xie Guiluan’s real birthday; even Xie Guiluan himself was unaware of it.

Cen Wu instinctively turned to look at Xie Guiluan, only to remember that they were in the middle of an argument. He couldn’t afford to think about that anymore. His eyes widened slightly.

Xie Guiluan wasn’t at his seat anymore. He didn’t know when he had left, though his belongings were still there.

Cen Wu hurriedly shook Lu Wang. "Xie... Xie Guiluan?"

"Huh?" Lu Wang looked confused. "He was here a moment ago."

Cen Wu panicked. Could it be that Xie Guiluan had left in anger? Xie Guiluan had endured too many humiliations, and his pride was stronger than most. Cen Wu had slapped him before and was already surprised that Xie hadn’t killed him over it.

Cen Wu waited a few more minutes, but Xie Guiluan still didn’t come back. His lips had turned pale.

The heavy night covered the entire school, and it was still drizzling outside. Xie Guiluan seemed to have left without an umbrella.

Lu Wang spoke to him, and Cen Wu’s lips moved, but he couldn’t make a sound, not even a stutter.

Cen Wu’s head buzzed, and he pressed his hand against his tight throat. His ears were also ringing, and he couldn’t hear what Lu Wang was saying. Lu Wang looked concerned and leaned in, his mouth moving silently.

Lu Wang was startled. He wasn’t completely oblivious; he could sense that Cen Wu couldn’t hear him. His self-care skills were poor, and he wasn’t good at taking care of others. When he was scared, his eyes turned red.

Cen Wu calmed down and shook his head at Lu Wang. Seeing him so composed, Lu Wang relaxed a little.

Cen Wu gestured that he wanted to rest for a while. Seeing that Lu Wang understood, he lay his head on the desk and took a few deep breaths. There was a draft paper next to his hand, and the little cat face on it was still glaring at him.

He had experienced this symptom before, but it was the first time since he had transmigrated into this book.

Cen Wu wore a thin hoodie under his school uniform. He put the hood up, and after a few minutes, the sharp ringing in his head gradually subsided. Feeling better, he decided to go find Xie Guiluan.

Suddenly, the hood was gently lifted, and something warm touched his cheek.

Cen Wu was startled and looked up.

It was drizzling lightly now, and many students in the school weren’t carrying umbrellas.

Xie Guiluan hadn’t brought one either. His knuckles were cold, and his black hair was a little wet with water droplets. The cupcake he was holding was still warm, with a soft sponge that smelled sweet.

Huai Jing No.1 High School had three cafeterias, and there was a cake shop under the first one. These cupcakes were particularly popular. Every day before the last batch came out of the oven during evening self-study, there would be a line of students outside the cake shop.

Evening self-study sessions lasted over three hours, and Meng Liangping didn’t mind them eating as long as they didn’t eat continuously or choose something with a strong smell.

Many students in the class bought this cake.

Cen Wu was too socially anxious to face so many people and had never gone. But each time he passed by, he’d sneak several glances. There was a lychee cake with five or six fresh lychees on top.

Xie Guiluan waited until just before evening self-study when the cake should have been ready and went to buy it for him. He had been a little malicious, intending to scare Cen Wu, but when he looked down, he saw that Cen Wu’s face was pale, and his eyes were a little red, as if he wasn’t feeling well.

"What’s wrong?" Xie Guiluan was taken aback and reached out to touch his forehead, worried that Cen Wu might have caught a cold during their earlier scuffle.

Cen Wu shook his head. "It’s... nothing."

Once Xie Guiluan was sure Cen Wu wasn’t sick, he felt relieved. The resentment on his brooding, handsome face hadn’t completely dissipated, and he had even suspected Ji Changyu. But he still hadn’t figured out who Cen Wu might like.

Cen Wu stared longingly at the lychee cake, not daring to speak or take it. Xie Guiluan paused, unwrapped the spoon, and placed it in his hand, almost as if he was going to feed him like a child.

Cen Wu’s ears instantly turned red with embarrassment. He could eat by herself; she didn’t need this kind of help!

The evening self-study bell rang, and Meng Liangping urged them to return to their seats. Xie Guiluan went to sit at the back.

Cen Wu ate a few bites of the cake, cursing Xie Guiluan in his mind. Even though Xie had bought him a cake, Xie was still in the wrong. Cen Wu knew he wasn’t being fair.

Cen Wu had just had dinner and wasn’t hungry. He ate a few bites and planned to save it for a midnight snack.

He had just sat up and taken out his math homework when a cold and slender hand suddenly pinched the back of his neck.

Cen Wu was forced to lean back a little, hearing Xie Guiluan say to him, "I'm not mad."

Cen Wu's eyes turned red again.

Then he heard Xie Guiluan lower his voice, saying in a mischievous and lazy tone, "Only my boyfriend gets to call me out like that. You look like you could be my boyfriend, so I’ll let it slide for now."

Cen Wu: “…………”

Like hell, your whole family looks like it.

Cen Wu’s pent-up frustration vanished thanks to Xie Guiluan’s teasing, making him feel more at ease. He even felt like he could argue with ten Xie Guiluans right now.

Lu Wang looked expressionless; his concern had been unnecessary.

Hou Zhong was dismissed from school for participating in competition cheating, and a new chemistry teacher was assigned to them.

Xie Guiluan went to attend the training camp for the provincial chemistry competition finals and was often not in the classroom, which finally gave Cen Wu a few days of relief. However, when Xie Guiluan wasn’t busy, he always sent Cen Wu messages.

At first, Cen Wu pretended not to see them and didn’t reply, but Xie Guiluan kept messaging him.

"Xie Guiluan: Hello, press 1 for dinner delivery, press 2 for homework help, press 3 to talk to a human."

Cen Wu: “……”

"Cen Wu: TD"

"Xie Guiluan: Okay, transferred to human."

Cen Wu: “……”

Help, he needs to call the cops.

Even during training camp, Xie Guiluan would still swing by on his bike to give him a ride home before heading to the hospital or Blue Night.

Cen Wu felt like he was becoming a burden to Xie Guiluan. Something was off; he should have the driver handle picking up and dropping off Xie Guiluan.

On Saturday evening, the second-year high school students were dismissed early at around 5 o'clock. Song Lingwei still needed a CT scan, and the doctor wanted to discuss her next treatment plan with Xie Guiluan, so he’d be busy tonight.

Cen Wu didn’t go home but followed Xie Guiluan to the hospital first, hoping to help out a bit.

Honestly, he couldn’t care less about Song Lingwei’s fate. Once the truth about the takeover came out, he wouldn’t stick around the Xie family or acknowledge Song Lingwei; he’d just leave for good.

Xie Guiluan first took Song Lingwei for her scan, and once she was back in her ward, Cen Wu accompanied him to the sixteenth floor of the hospital to wait for the doctor. There were several other patients undergoing examinations.

The hospital corridor was quiet, with few people around.

"Tired," Xie Guiluan suddenly said, hugging him from behind and resting his chin on his shoulder.

Cen Wu was startled, his body tensing up, then heard Xie Guiluan, who was buried in his neck, chuckle softly, his low and hoarse voice making Cen Wu's ears turn red.

Cen Wu wondered if Xie Guiluan was faking it. In the original story, Xie Guiluan never admitted to being tired, though he could get exhausted; he just didn’t show it. Still, Cen Wu was worried that Xie Guiluan might really be tired.

Xie Guiluan's tall and straight nose rubbed against his neck.

After hesitating, Cen Wu finally hugged him back, gently patting his back and whispering, "Then lean on me for a bit."

Song Lingwei sat in her wheelchair, hiding in the staircase corner, her heart going numb as she watched the embrace between Xie Guiluan and Cen Wu.

She didn’t know what Xie Guiluan and Cen Wu were talking about, but she had never seen Xie Guiluan act so affectionate before. Cen Wu’s ears were completely red, and Xie Guiluan didn’t pull away, instead acting all clingy and affectionate.

She had been in the ward earlier and had vaguely heard Cen Wu’s voice, so she followed it, not expecting to actually see Cen Wu.

Although Cen Wu wasn’t an actor, he was quite sensitive to cameras and people’s gazes. He quickly spotted Song Lingwei’s shadow.

When the original owner was thirteen, he accidentally discovered he wasn’t a biological child of the Cen family parents.

He had just started middle school, and during a biology class about blood types, some of his classmates were curious and decided to test theirs. The original owner followed along, only to find that his blood type didn’t match what the Cen family parents had said.

He mysteriously kept it a secret until he ran into Song Lingwei at the hospital.

Song Lingwei’s condition was worse back then, and she was about to undergo a risky heart surgery. She thought she might die, so when she saw the original owner, she became extremely emotional.

Xie Guiluan wasn’t there that day, and Song Lingwei went for her check-up alone. Upon seeing the original owner, tears started flowing down her face.

At first, the original owner thought he had run into a madwoman, screaming for someone to take Song Lingwei away.

But he had seen Song Lingwei before. When she lifted her head, her disheveled hair revealed swollen, red eyes. He was startled and recognized her as that mistress of Xie Mingcheng’s.

Blood ties can be powerful. Song Lingwei’s gaze terrified him.

He picked up the hair that had fallen from Song Lingwei’s disheveled hair and secretly went to do a paternity test with Xie Guiluan. It turned out that Xie Guiluan wasn’t Song Lingwei’s biological child. He didn’t dare to test his own blood relation with Song Lingwei, but he did a test with Cen Xiao.

It revealed that there was a high chance he wasn’t Cen Xiao’s biological younger brother.

He had heard Xie Shangjing mention that Song Lingwei’s hometown was in a mountainous area, and he also knew that Guan Xingxue had given birth to a child in that same area. Panic hit him suddenly.

He wasn’t the brightest, but under such an impact, he guessed there was something fishy about his own origins.

Xie Guiluan had his back to Song Lingwei, and Cen Wu wasn’t sure if he had noticed her. He stood on his tiptoes and slightly exposed his head over Xie Guiluan’s shoulder.

Song Lingwei immediately panicked, raised her hand to cover her face, afraid of being discovered by Cen Wu.

Cen Wu shrank back and then peeked out again, startling her.

Cen Wu couldn’t do much now, but after scaring her a few times, he considered it payback for Xie Guiluan. Xie Guiluan patted his head and rubbed it lightly, amused, "What are you doing?"

Cen Wu shook his head, his beautiful eyelashes curved, hiding a bit of mischievousness.

After Xie Guiluan finished talking with the doctor, he sent Cen Wu home. By the time the motorcycle stopped outside the Cen family mansion, it was already past 10 PM.

"Good night." Cen Wu waved at Xie Guiluan through the mansion’s tall, intricate gate and was about to head home when Xie Guiluan suddenly grabbed his wrist forcefully.

The evening breeze brushed past as Xie Guiluan slid his hand down from his wrist and held it tightly, their fingers intertwined.

Cen Wu’s palms were slightly sweaty. The streetlight cast a flickering glow over their shadows, and neither of them let go. The atmosphere between them grew thick and charged, like spring vines wildly growing.

Cen Wu lost track of time, only realizing his legs were numb and his hand ached. He finally tried to pull his hand back but couldn’t. His ears flushed red, and he could only ask in a soft voice, "Why are you holding my hand?"

Xie Guiluan, sitting on the motorcycle with his long legs propping it up, held Cen Wu’s hand with one hand and his helmet with the other.

The night sky cast a cold, faint light on him, but his palm was scorchingly hot. He teasingly hooked Cen Wu’s palm and then hooked a few of his fingers, asking in return, "Don’t you get it?"

Cen Wu looked up, puzzled.

Xie Guiluan’s dark, almond-shaped eyes crinkled slightly, a half-smile playing on his lips as he said, "I’m chasing after you."