Chapter 27: Childhood Friend II (Part 1)

Chapter 27: Childhood Friend II (Part 1)

Lin Qiushuang's question about who Li Su was was cut short by Li Su's startled cry when he got bitten by an insect.

Li Su appeared cute and well-behaved, but his voice was really grating.

He'd noticed earlier that Li Su's voice sounded raspy, but when Li Su cried out, it was so hoarse it sounded like he had pebbles stuck in his throat.

Song Wuyi's attention quickly shifted to Li Su. He crouched down by Li Su's feet, rolled up his pants to check, his movements surprisingly skillful.

Lin Qiushuang knew he wasn't needed anymore and tactfully backed off.

Actually, Li Su hadn't been bitten by any insect. He yelled out on purpose to distract them, fearing Lin Qiushuang might blurt out something that would touch on Song Wuyi's sore spots.

When Song Wuyi realized Li Su was just faking it, he pinched Li Su's calf as a warning.

By the time they finished setting up camp, night had fallen.

Song Wuyi went around checking that the tents were set up properly, with Li Su following right behind him.

He heard Lin Qiushuang say to someone, "This is Young Master Song's personal attendant, home-raised."

"A servant? Doesn't look like it. Clearly Young Master Song looks after him more—maybe he's a distant Song family relative or something."

"Does the Song family have any relatives with the surname Li?"

In a place where family prestige decided your status, your surname was your social calling card.

The Song family was formidable—just their surname alone made people think twice, and even their side branches benefited from the association.

But no one had heard of any connection to the Li surname.

Lin Qiushuang was also curious, but Song Wuyi's attitude made him hesitant to step over the line.

Li Su turned and shot a glance at Lin Qiushuang. Lin Qiushuang was taken aback at first, then smiled at him.

Li Su returned an awkward smile.

Lin Qiushuang grew more conflicted.

This was too intriguing.

On this island, there was only one person who could satisfy Lin Qiushuang's curiosity, so he left the campsite.

Li Su noticed Lin Qiushuang leaving alone. He tugged at the hem of Song Wuyi's clothes and said softly,

"Lin just went into the woods on the left. He seems to be heading to Camp Three."

Their current camp was Camp Four, while Camp Three was the area led by Song Xianting.

Song Wuyi held Li Su's hand and said calmly, "Don't worry about it."

After checking the tents, an instructor came to distribute basic food supplies. Song Wuyi went along to help hand them out, telling Li Su to stay put.

A girl quietly snuck up from behind a tent and suddenly tapped Li Su on the shoulder.

Li Su turned around and saw a girl, feeling a bit flustered.

"Uh... is something wrong?"

The girl was momentarily startled by Li Su's voice, but she didn't let it bother her and handed him a pack of candy.

Li Su knew very well what such small gifts meant.

He used to receive love letters and candy often, and many had asked him out, but he only enjoyed being liked without ever thinking about romance.

After that incident happened, Li Su no longer received such signs of affection, and gradually lost confidence, thinking that no one liked him anymore.

When the girl stuffed the candy into Li Su's hand, he nearly hugged her out of excitement.

But he managed to hold back gracefully, accepted the gift, and asked for her name.

"Just call me Tao Tao. I'm a fourth-year in Zone A. And you?"

Li Su only gave his name and dodged the rest.

Tao Tao figured Li Su was shy, so she didn't push it.

Since they were in the same team, they would see each other every day for five days—they'd have plenty of time to get to know each other.

Watching Tao Tao walk away, Li Su noticed that her tent was right across from his.

Song Wuyi helped the instructor build a campfire in the center of the camp for nighttime lighting and cooking.

Li Su fished out a pack of instant noodles from his backpack.

Back at the Song residence, with the butler and Song Wuyi arranging all three meals, Li Su never had a chance to eat instant noodles.

Now that he finally had a legitimate opportunity to eat them, he didn't want to miss it.

But he had sneaked the noodles in without a pot or hot water—he couldn't just eat them dry, could he?

Just as he was stressing out,

Tao Tao, from inside her tent, unzipped her tent a crack and waved at Li Su, mouthing, "Come here."

Li Su looked left and right, confirming that Tao Tao was calling him. He instinctively glanced over at Song Wuyi.

Song Wuyi was listening to the instructor's night safety talk and didn't seem to be paying him any attention.

Li Su figured stepping away for a moment wouldn't be a big deal.

He tucked the instant noodles under his shirt, hunched over, and scurried to Tao Tao's tent entrance.

Tao Tao unzipped the tent all the way, pulled Li Su inside, and zipped it back up.

"Hey Li, did you like the candy I gave you?"

Li Su hadn't had a chance to taste it yet, but regardless of whether he liked it or not, he only had one answer.

"It's delicious."

Tao Tao was very pleased. She picked up her pink bag, turned it over, and dumped out a pile of snacks.

"Wow!"

Li Su hadn't seen this many snacks in ages.

Song Wuyi wasn't big on food beyond three meals a day, so there was hardly any snacking.

He doesn't eat himself, nor does he allow Li Su to eat.

Every night he also sleeps with Li Su, leaving Li Su no chance to find the snacks the butler had hidden for him.

Song Wuyi always says that Li Su's body needs a healthy diet to recover.

Li Su doesn't feel anything wrong with his body; he can only think that Song Wuyi has taken on the responsibility for his injury, so he has to go along with it, so that Song Wuyi won't feel guilty towards him.

Because he knows that guilt is really hard to bear.

If he doesn't want Song Wuyi to feel bad, then he has to be the one to feel bad.

The snacks before him are dazzling, but what Li Su wants most at the moment is still to drink a sip of the instant noodle soup, the braised flavor.

Tao Tao read Li Su's thoughts and said she had hot water in her thermos. As for a bowl, they could just soak the noodles in the bag.

Li Su followed Tao Tao's lead, opened the packaging, and added the seasoning packets one by one.

Tao Tao poured the water that wasn't too hot in, and the greasy aroma slowly wafted out.

Tao Tao said she had never eaten this kind of instant noodles that cost two and a half yuan per bag.

Li Su generously offered to share it with her.

The two of them huddled in the tent, heads touching, eating from a pair of disposable chopsticks, one bite for you, one bite for me.

Li Su completely forgot about Song Wuyi, enjoying his secret feast.

One bag of instant noodles was quickly finished, and Li Su ate a lot of snacks as well, finally lying flat on his back with a full belly.

Tao Tao sat beside him, patting his belly.

"So cute."

Li Su flinched at the word 'cute', turning on his side to prevent Tao Tao from playing with his belly like a ball.

However, this behavior seemed like shyness to Tao Tao, which made Tao Tao want to tease Li Su even more.

She lay on top of Li Su, touching him all over.

Li Su was so tickled he had nowhere to hide, could only curl up defensively.

"Stop, it's so ticklish, haha."

After playing for a while, Tao Tao also got a bit tired. She grabbed Li Su's hand and interlaced their fingers.

"Li Su, do you want to be with me?"

Li Su raised his head in surprise, looking at Tao Tao's face which showed no shyness.

"You like me?"

"Yes, I do. You're very good-looking, I like you a lot."

Li Su sat up, shone the flashlight on his face, and pointed at the dark spot under his lip.

"Do you still like me like this?"

This spot had faded a bit; in fact, if you weren't looking closely, you wouldn't notice it.

Tao Tao squinted to see the spot and asked doubtfully, "Is this a birthmark?"

Li Su shook his head.

Tao Tao quickly stated, "No matter what it is, as long as it's on you, I like it."

Tao Tao was too straightforward; Li Su's buried confidence seemed to have returned.

"Do you really like me?"

"Of course!"

"Okay, then I'll be with you."

Neither of them understood the meaning of 'being together'; they just took it as a declaration of becoming friends, meaning they would hang out together from now on.

But at that age where they only half understood things, it's easy to confuse things.

When Li Su came out of Tao Tao's tent, Song Wuyi was standing outside.

With the campfire light behind him, it was hard to tell whether Song Wuyi's face was dark or grim.

Li Su knew he was in the wrong.

He hadn't waited for Song Wuyi to eat together, nor had he told Song Wuyi where he was going.

But he hadn't left the campsite, and in a way, he was right under Song Wuyi's nose.

Li Su went to take Song Wuyi's hand as a gesture of goodwill, turned back and said goodbye to Tao Tao.

"Tao Tao, I'm leaving."

Tao Tao smilingly waved at Li Su. Song Wuyi glanced sideways at her, and she swallowed her words of farewell, silently retreating into the tent.

Song Wuyi did not question Li Su, so Li Su confessed his crimes in a few words.

The biggest fault was secretly eating the instant noodles.

But since he'd already eaten them, Song Wuyi couldn't make him throw them up.

Li Su fished out the candies Tao Tao had given him from his pocket, unwrapped them, and placed a few in Song Wuyi's palm.

"Where did these come from?"

"From my girlfriend."

"Girlfriend?"

"Mm, Tao Tao, the girl in the team."

Song Wuyi said nothing, and held out his hand, demanding all the candies.

Li Su glanced at Song Wuyi, then dejectedly stuffed the candies, packaging and all, into Song Wuyi's palm.

At rest time,

Li Su sat in front of his tent, watching Song Wuyi help Tao Tao move her tent.

Song Wuyi said that Tao Tao's tent position was blocking the observation point, so he moved the tent behind Lin Qiushuang's tent, blocking the line of sight so Li Su and Tao Tao couldn't 'look across at each other'.

Lin Qiushuang sprawled there, grinning, using a whistle to catch Li Su's attention.

Li Su looked at Lin Qiushuang with disappointment, who blinked.

Li Su was about to duck into the tent, but Lin Qiushuang quickly crawled over and sat beside him.

"I know who you are now."

"I'm Li Su."

"I'm not talking about that. I mean, you know what your connection to Brother Song is."

Li Su frowned, a bit afraid of what fact Lin Qiushuang might reveal, yet curious about what he could say.

So he looked at Lin Qiushuang with a mix of reluctance and hope.

Lin Qiushuang was momentarily stunned, and it took a while before he could break eye contact with Li Su.

"I heard it from Brother Song. So you're..."

After listening to Lin Qiushuang, the knot in his stomach loosened.

Obviously, Song Wuyi's life hadn't been affected by the kidnapping, at least not as much as Li Su's.

At school, others only knew that the second young master of the Song family had been through a kidnapping case, and many details of the case were kept quiet by the Song family.

Kidnapping was nothing new to these rich kids; it was just about money.

Lin Qiushuang only knew that Song Wuyi had been injured in that kidnapping and took some time off to recover.

"So it was you who saved Brother Song—a real hero! No wonder Brother Song looks after you so much."

"I heard the murderer was a maniac. With your skinny frame, you managed to rescue someone from him?"

Lin Qiushuang suddenly said in a low, ominous voice: "And that maniac liked to chop people up, but when the police arrived, the maniac himself had been dismembered. It wasn't you, was it..."

Li Su felt panicked, as if the suffocating gossip had surrounded him again.

The Song family kept the details under wraps. On TV, it was just a regular news item about a teenage kidnapping, reminding parents to be cautious.

So the rumor that the murderer was dismembered never got confirmed.

Thus Song Wuyi wasn't the subject of gossip.

Li Su's fall from a "good Samaritan" to being despised and isolated was largely his own fault.

Because he had shot his mouth off.

He treated the details that had been covered up as his own glory, and suffered backlash.

Fearing those old ghosts would resurface, Li Su clapped his hand over Lin Qiushuang's mouth.

With a tone that was both pleading and warning: "Don't you go spreading this around!"

Lin Qiushuang, with his mouth pressed against Li Su's palm, said: "I'm not spreading rumors; Brother Song told me all this."

Li Su shot back: "I'm telling you not to tell others."

Lin Qiushuang nodded in agreement, and only then did Li Su release his hand, wiping his palm on Lin Qiushuang's shirt.

"Actually, no one cares about this—just some rich kid getting snatched for ransom. I'm just curious about what happened between you and Brother Song. Come on, tell me, how did you save Brother Song?"

Li Su waved his hand, indicating he wasn't interested in this topic.

Lin Qiushuang wouldn't let it go, grabbing Li Su's leg as he tried to crawl into the tent.

"I heard you hurt your vocal cords in that kidnapping. The scene must have been brutal. Just tell me about it; I promise I won't tell anyone."

The more Li Su heard, the angrier he became.

Someone else's trauma had become Lin Qiushuang's gossip fodder, and he kept pressing relentlessly.

Rude!

Li Su kicked backward, sending him stumbling, then turned and made a face at him.

Lin Qiushuang was stunned by the kick and didn't react for a while.

Once he snapped out of it, Lin Qiushuang was a bit angry.

Knowing that Li Su had no real connection to the Song family, Lin Qiushuang looked down on him a bit.

Especially after hearing Song Xianting say that Li Su was just using the fact that he saved Song Wuyi to curry favor with the Song family.

He was after all the young master of the Lin family, and being kicked by Li Su like that bruised his ego and left him feeling resentful.

He muttered under his breath at the closed tent door.

"Fine, keep it to yourself. I'm not interested anyway. A lifesaver? When it comes down to it, he's just buttering up Song Wuyi!"

Not letting it go, Lin Qiushuang picked up a pebble from the ground and threw it at the tent, then stomped off.