Jealousy

After he said it, Yu Fan turned to leave, but paused, remembered something, took off the hat and handed it back, coldly: 'Take it.'

Chen Jingshen glanced at his hair sticking up on top, silently took the hat.

His hand empty, Yu Fan's face went colder, and he turned to go. But as soon as he took a step, his T-shirt was gently tugged again.

Yu Fan felt it was the leftover morning crankiness—he was about to explode at the slightest touch. He turned back: 'The fuck, are you addicted to pulling on me...'

His sticking-up hair was pressed down, and the hat was back on his head.

After fixing it, Chen Jingshen walked ahead of him and said, 'Let's go.'

Yu Fan didn't react, his head turning with him: 'Where?'

Chen Jingshen: 'Going to the Internet Café with you.'

Yu Fan didn't move, frowned: 'Aren't you going to eat with your former deskmate?'

'No,' Chen Jingshen said. 'Where'd you hear that?'

'Yesterday... nowhere.' Yu Fan stopped himself in time. He paused for two seconds. 'Did I say I'd take you to the Internet Café?'

'No.' Chen Jingshen looked down at him. 'But I want to go with you.'

'...'

'Don't come. You'll just watch Hu Pang next to me again, embarrassing.'

After a long moment, Yu Fan squeezed out a sentence. Then he looked down, didn't look at him again, brushed past his shoulder and headed in the direction the navigation was pointing.

The refusal was blunt, the tone disgusted.

Except he was still wearing Chen Jingshen's hat.

And he walked slowly, dragging his feet.

Chen Jingshen stared at his back for two seconds, couldn't help lowering his head, the corner of his mouth twitching. Then he silently followed.

The two walked one behind the other for a while, and soon they were side by side.

Sunlight cut by the leaves sprinkled finely over them.

Chen Jingshen raised his hand, offering the juice he was carrying: 'I saw you, so I bought an extra cup.'

'...Chen Jingshen, you're so annoying.'

Yu Fan kept a straight face, walked a few steps before pulling his hand out of his pocket, took the watermelon juice, poked it open, and drank.

Very cold, very refreshing.

They weren't walking fast. A mother and daughter passed by.

'I'm asking how you did on the exam?'

The girl was eating, speaking indistinctly: 'Bombed it.'

'Figured,' her mother said coolly. 'And I got up early to take you to the exam... Can you eat slower? Can you be a little more reserved?'

'No. I've been testing for almost three hours, my brain's squeezed dry—and my stomach too. And I didn't eat breakfast this morning so I wouldn't get sleepy.'

'Plenty of people take exams without breakfast, and I don't see them wolfing it down like you.'

'...'

Yu Fan listened lazily, took a big slurp of his watermelon juice, and glanced at the person beside him.

Did Chen Jingshen eat breakfast when he took exams?

Probably not, otherwise he wouldn't have looked for him to eat as soon as he saw him.

Yu Fan looked away. Coldly thought, starve, see if you can get a little shorter.

When they reached the Internet Café, Chen Jingshen reached out to push the door, but his sleeve was gently tugged by the person next to him.

'Hungry,' Yu Fan said vaguely. 'Let's eat something first.'

Chen Jingshen looked at him, let go of the door handle: 'Okay.'

They didn't bother to pick—next door was a Sichuan restaurant.

The restaurant was simply decorated, but at least it was clean. At noon there weren't many people, just a few tables scattered around. Each table of customers was tacitly far apart, not disturbing each other.

Yu Fan picked a seat by the window.

Only after he sat down did he feel his Mobile Phone vibrating in his pocket — it was a voice call from Wang Luan'an.

Yu Fan answered: 'What?'

'...You tell me?' The other side was stunned by the question. 'Four of us have been awkwardly chatting in the League of Legends lobby for half an hour. What do you think? Zhu Xu said he didn't even wait this long for a date with his girlfriend. If you'd answered two minutes later, I would've called the cops.'

'...'

Yu Fan took his phone away and looked—he saw the text he'd typed earlier still in the chat box.

He'd been pulled back by Chen Jingshen just now and forgot to send it.

Wang Luan'an: 'So where the hell are you? It's been this long? Isn't there an Internet Café downstairs from your place?'

'I'll order you a gaming companion,' Yu Fan said.

'?' Wang Luan'an was confused. 'What do you mean?'

'The Internet Café downstairs from my place had no seats. I'm at Yuhé River now...'

'Holy shit, isn't it half an hour from your place to Yuhé? Going that far? What, is the Internet Café at Yuhé paved with gold?'

Chen Jingshen was wiping his hands with a hot towel, and looked up at that.

Yu Fan closed his eyes, forcefully covered his cheap phone that was leaking sound, gritted his teeth: 'The fuck... keep your voice down.'

Wang Luan'an said oh: 'Then hurry up. Zuo Kuan said there are plenty of Internet Cafés at Yuhé.'

Yu Fan said: 'I'm having lunch at a restaurant.'

'...'

After hanging up, Yu Fan downloaded a gaming companion app and ordered them a pretty expensive one.

'I ordered a few dishes. See if you want to add anything.' The restaurant used QR code ordering, and Chen Jingshen handed his phone over.

Yu Fan was about to say whatever, but when he glanced at the screen, he saw the total amount in the bottom left corner: 373 yuan.

Yu Fan's eyebrow twitched. He took the phone, wanting to see how this guy managed to order 400 yuan worth of food at a place where each dish was ten or twenty yuan.

But as soon as he took it, Chen Jingshen's phone vibrated in his hand.

He opened the menu—vibrate.

He scrolled down—vibrate.

Chen Jingshen had scanned the menu with WeChat, so there were no pop-up notifications.

After five consecutive vibrations, Yu Fan's inexplicable anger flared up again. He pressed the screen harder, the screen pitifully thumping: 'Your former deskmate is looking for you.'

'My former deskmate...' Chen Jingshen paused. 'What does he want?'

Yu Fan's speech was fast and cold: 'How would I know? Am I the one chatting with him? You...'

Buzz, the phone vibrated again. Yu Fan subconsciously looked down.

This time the vibration had a pop-up. Two SMS previews appeared—

[Unknown number: Chen Jingshen, this is Miao Chen. I didn't get to check answers just now. I wanted to ask about the second-to-last multiple choice...]

[Unknown number: Also, um, the WeChat friend request I sent you yesterday hasn't been accepted yet. Did I add the wrong person?]

Yu Fan kept his frown until the two message previews disappeared, then spoke: '...Looking for you, to check answers.'

Chen Jingshen said: 'I didn't memorize them.'

'...Oh.'

Yu Fan opened the SMS and saw that Miao Chen had sent Chen Jingshen several messages yesterday, some long, some short. He didn't read them carefully, quickly replied 'didn't memorize' and closed it, going back to look at the menu.

A few seconds later, he suddenly realized—wait, why am I replying to messages for Chen Jingshen?

And...

Yu Fan looked confused: 'You didn't add him on WeChat?'

Chen Jingshen hummed in affirmation.

'Then who were you chatting with last night?'

'My mom.'

'...'

Yu Fan blinked, unconsciously let out a breath, felt a bit better.

The next moment, he sucked that breath back in.

What the hell am I feeling better about??

'Speaking of which.' Chen Jingshen looked up at him, said flatly, 'Were you angry last night—'

'No.' Yu Fan seemed to be poked. 'Nothing happened, why would I be angry?'

Chen Jingshen raised an eyebrow: 'I don't know. Just now you also—'

'No.' Yu Fan interrupted him expressionlessly, threw the phone back, forcibly ending the topic. 'I'm done.'

Chen Jingshen picked up his phone, stared at the screen for several seconds, then looked up: 'You...'

Yu Fan: 'I said I'm not angry! Chat with whoever you want, I'm not angry! How many times do you need to ask?!'

'...'

'I was going to say,' Chen Jingshen turned the phone over, showing the empty ordering interface, 'how come you deleted all the dishes I ordered.'

'...'

Yu Fan snatched the phone from his hand, expressionlessly re-ordered.

The restaurant was nearly empty, and the food came up quickly. When the server brought the dishes, he couldn't help glancing at the person on the left.

Yu Fan had already put the baseball cap back on, which he'd taken off when they entered.

He pulled the brim very, very low, low enough to cover half his face. The tips of his ears, visible through his hair, were as red as the chili peppers in the dishes.

Yu Fan buried his head in his phone, his face heating up continuously. He cursed himself a thousand times in his mind: idiot.

Yu Fan liked to eat staple foods when he ate—filling, stomach-stuffing. At home, one bowl was enough to last him a day.

A bowl of hot noodles arrived. Yu Fan picked up the condiment bottle next to him and poured in a lot.

Chen Jingshen glanced at him, said flatly: 'You really like vinegar?'

'Yeah.' Yu Fan answered without thinking.

A few seconds later, Yu Fan suddenly felt something was off. He looked up and saw Chen Jingshen had already turned his face away, looking like he couldn't hold back a laugh.

'Chen Jingshen, you motherfucker...' As he spoke, Yu Fan's hand shook, and a large splash of black vinegar fell into the noodle soup.

Yu Fan's face was bright red as he stared at the table, hesitating whether to splash the vinegar on Chen Jingshen's face or dump the noodles on his head.