Lu Jingcheng really was avoiding Ye Qingyang.
He sat on the parallel bars, watching teachers and students doing their morning run on the track. His heart felt heavy.
He had always been so confident—always thought Ye Qingyang liked him, liked him a lot.
But in reality?
The guy didn’t like him at all.
It had all just been wishful thinking.
He watched people run lap after lap in the distance, his mood sinking lower and lower.
Maybe Ye Qingyang didn’t like him. Maybe he didn’t even like guys. Maybe he liked girls—someone like Yu Wan. That would explain why he noticed her right away during military training and thought she was pretty.
The worst thing in the world wasn’t suddenly getting “turned” by another guy.
It was thinking someone had turned you… only to realize it was all a misunderstanding. They were straight.
And now, still completely straight.
Meanwhile, you?
You’d already twisted yourself into a pretzel.
Lu Jingcheng stared blankly at the people passing by and, for the first time, felt like life was seriously complicated.
He sat there until just before morning self-study, then slipped into the classroom at the last minute.
Ye Qingyang had already arrived. The moment he saw him, he quickly sent a message:
【Where did you go? Weren’t we supposed to memorize vocab? Why weren’t you in the classroom?】
Lu Jingcheng looked at the message, his feelings tangled. He replied:
【Not in the classroom. Found a quieter place to study.】
After replying, he put his head down and prepared to sleep.
He hadn’t slept at all the night before.
His mind was full of one question—
Did this count as a breakup?
But they hadn’t even started dating.
Still… Ye Qingyang’s reaction clearly meant he didn’t like him.
So didn’t that count as rejection?
So what was this, exactly?
Lu Jingcheng didn’t know.
He just felt terrible. So embarrassed he didn’t even want to face Ye Qingyang.
It was too awkward.
Thinking someone liked you when they didn’t… was bad enough.
But now that Ye Qingyang knew?
Even worse.
And how was he supposed to act around him now?
He definitely couldn’t act like before—it had been too… ambiguous.
But if not that, then what?
Nothing felt right.
So maybe it was better to avoid each other for now. Give both of them time to think about how to interact going forward.
If there even was a “going forward.”
Lu Jingcheng slept through morning study period, skipped the break exercises, and kept sleeping at his desk.
Ye Qingyang watched him quietly, a little worried.
At lunch, the group went to the cafeteria together.
Chen Wei glanced at his unusually quiet deskmate. “What’s up with you today? Why so silent?”
“Nothing,” Lu Jingcheng said.
He set down his tray and sat.
Ye Qingyang sat beside him.
Out of habit, Lu Jingcheng picked up a piece of wood ear mushroom from the clay pot dish to give him—but halfway through, he paused.
Then pulled his hand back.
And ate it himself.
Chen Wei: !!!
Bai Le: !!!
Dong Yu: !!!
Ye Qingyang: …
“…Since when do you eat wood ear?” Chen Wei blurted. “You actually ate it?!”
Lu Jingcheng lifted his eyelids, gave him a flat look, and kept eating.
Chen Wei: ???
He turned to Bai Le, his eyes screaming: Something’s wrong with him today, right? He didn’t even snap back at me!
Bai Le propped his chin in his hand, studying his friend.
Yeah. Definitely off.
Ye Qingyang glanced at Lu Jingcheng, wanting to say something—but afraid the others would notice something was wrong between them, so he stayed quiet and ate.
The meal went on.
Chen Wei and Bai Le chatted and laughed.
Ye Qingyang and Lu Jingcheng? Not so much.
After lunch, Chen Wei and the others wanted to go to the internet café.
Ye Qingyang didn’t want to go.
But Lu Jingcheng did.
So Ye Qingyang said, “Then I’ll go too.”
Lu Jingcheng frowned. “You should study. Exams are coming up.”
“And you’re not studying?” Ye Qingyang asked.
Study?
Lu Jingcheng didn’t have the headspace for that.
He was still mourning a love that hadn’t even had the chance to begin.
“I’m not like you,” he said. “My grades are what they are. Studying won’t change much anyway.”
“But you said you were going to work hard,” Ye Qingyang said softly.
Bai Le immediately sensed something was off. “Then let’s not go. The monthly exam’s in two days—might as well cram a bit.”
He nudged Chen Wei.
Chen Wei caught on. “Yeah, let’s go after the exam.”
Dong Yu had no objections, so they all went back to the classroom.
Lu Jingcheng had zero interest in studying.
The moment he sat down, he pulled out his phone and started gaming.
Bai Le leaned over. “We came back so you could play games?”
“What else?”
Bai Le glanced at Ye Qingyang, then lowered his voice. “Did you guys fight?”
“No.”
“But you’re acting weird.”
“Am I?”
“Yes. You didn’t even pick food for him today.”
“Exactly,” Chen Wei chimed in. “You’re super off. Not talking, long face… If I didn’t know better, I’d think your boyfriend ran off with someone else.”
Lu Jingcheng: …
His boyfriend didn’t run off.
His boyfriend never even existed.
He grabbed Bai Le and Chen Wei and dragged them to a corner in the hallway.
“You’ve got some nerve talking!” he snapped. “I haven’t even settled this with you two yet!”
Chen Wei: ???
Bai Le: ???
“What does this have to do with us?” they asked.
“How does it not?!” Lu Jingcheng shot back. “One of you said ‘What if he likes you,’ the other said ‘He definitely likes you’—you made me think he actually did! And now what? He doesn’t even have that kind of feeling at all!”
Chen Wei blinked. “Wait… who are you talking about?”
Bai Le stared at him, shocked.
No way.
Had his friend actually come out of the closet?!
“Who else? Ye Qingyang!” Lu Jingcheng snapped.
Chen Wei: !!!
“I was joking!” Chen Wei cried. “People say stuff like that all the time! You actually took it seriously?! He’s a guy!”
Lu Jingcheng: !!!
At that moment, he felt like coughing up blood.
The worst thing wasn’t thinking someone was gay when they were straight.
Or even turning gay for them—only to realize they were straight.
No.
The worst thing—
Was that the people who told you they might be gay later said:
“I was just joking. You didn’t actually believe it, did you?”
Lu Jingcheng pointed at Chen Wei. “If I don’t beat you to death today, it’s only because I’m a good person.”
Chen Wei gulped.
“…So you really thought he liked you? And you even roomed with him…”
Then it hit him.
“Holy crap—don’t tell me you actually like him?! You turned yourself gay?!”
Lu Jingcheng tackled him on the spot.
Bai Le sighed. “I knew it.”
He pulled Chen Wei away and looked at Lu Jingcheng. “So… you told him?”
Chen Wei: “You told him too?!”
Lu Jingcheng seriously wanted to hit him again.
Bai Le rolled his eyes. “Otherwise why do you think they’re acting like this today?”
Chen Wei scratched his head. “Wait… why aren’t you surprised at all?”
“Because I’m not like you two,” Bai Le said calmly. “One clueless, one naive. The way these two interact? Of course he likes him.”
“So did Ye Qingyang reject you?” Bai Le asked.
“He’s not into guys.”
“You weren’t either,” Chen Wei muttered.
Lu Jingcheng kicked him. “Shut up.”
“I’m helping!”
“Thanks so much,” Lu Jingcheng said through gritted teeth.
“So what are you going to do?” Bai Le asked.
Lu Jingcheng went quiet.
After a long moment, he said:
“He’s different from me.”
“My family has money. Even if I like guys, it doesn’t really matter. As long as my family stands, no one dares say anything. And even if they do, I don’t care.”
“But Ye Qingyang is different.”
“He doesn’t have money. No background. His life is already hard enough.”
“What right do I have to drag him onto a path that might make things even harder for him?”
He lowered his eyes, voice soft.
“He knows I like him. And he rejected me. That means, right now, he doesn’t like me.”
“Knowing someone doesn’t like you and still chasing them—that’s not pursuit. That’s harassment.”
“And knowing their life is already difficult, but still dragging them into something full of judgment and pressure just for your own feelings—that’s selfish.”
“If my feelings can’t make him happy, then at the very least, they shouldn’t bring him trouble.”
“Otherwise… what kind of ‘liking’ is that?”