Detective at the Noble Boys' School — 21

21

Ji Yue woke to a room already bright with morning. Light filtered through the old curtains and fell warm against his eyelids, almost burning.

The seaside sun seemed fiercer than anywhere else.

As he washed up and dressed, he turned over everything he had gathered on this trip — this time, the information collected was about the scholarship student's motives for entering the school.

Ji Yue believed he could find crucial clues from the F4 side as well — like why none of them had developed feelings for the scholarship student.

'Maybe it's because they like you,' the System chimed in.

The System cackled.

'When the scholarship student enrolled, I was in the Upper City. The F4 didn't know me.'

'Ha, still, you'd better be careful not to blow your cover.'

Ji Yue opened the bedroom door. The scent of food drifted over from the dining table not far away.

Two breakfasts sat on the table — fried-egg toast, neatly cut and arranged on plates, each with a glass of milk beside it.

Si Jing stood at the table's edge and gave him a small smile. 'You're up.'

'Thank you for breakfast.'

Ji Yue had just woken; his lashes hung low, lending him a drowsy softness he didn't usually carry. His pale cheeks bore faint red marks, as though someone had pinched them.

Si Jing knew — those were the impressions left by the cool bamboo mat he had slept pressed against through the night.

Last night had been indescribable.

He had tossed and turned, his heart ground to pieces by something he couldn't name. In the small hours Si Jing had slipped into the bedroom, sat on the edge of the bed, and watched for the rest of the night — the longer he watched, the harder it became to breathe.

So this was how a first love shattered — against a heartless detective...

Si Jing thought of everything he had said yesterday: those honest words, the memory from the convenience store, that autumn when he had stumbled upon a beautiful boy who had come to sketch. Had Ji Yue been laughing inside when he heard it all? To think Si Jing had taken it for a fateful, beautiful coincidence — had even enrolled in the Noble Boys' School for his sake.

What a fraud! One whole day sleeping comfortably in his bed, then waking up to eat eggs laid by his family's chickens and drink the milk he had bought.

And last night — I was the one who washed his underwear!

Si Jing laughed coldly to himself.

Now, he held Ji Yue's most damning secret.

With that thought, Si Jing lowered his head and scrubbed the table with fierce, deliberate strokes, saying as he wiped: 'Don't mention it. Eat first.'

'Could you take me out to see the town afterward?'

'...Where do you want to go?'

'Places you played at when you were little.'

'...'

Si Jing frowned and looked at him.

What did that mean?

Was he so dedicated to being a detective that even going out to investigate Si Jing's childhood had to be done together?

No need to think twice — there was a scheme in this.

'If you'd rather not, I can go on my own.' Ji Yue cut through his thoughts.

'Let's go.'

'You don't seem happy about it.'

'I'm fine.'

'How is it that after one night's sleep this person's whole attitude has shifted — talking with a bit of an edge to it? Is it because you slept in his bed and left him nowhere to sleep?' The System let out a dry laugh. 'What a petty man. You can't keep one like that!'

'I don't think of him that way.'

'Are you planning to take photos when you go out?'

'His childhood might not match what was written in the bonus chapters.'

It was not yet eight o'clock, but the village had already come alive. Neighbors were out spreading fishing nets to dry in the sun; roadside vendors were selling savory crepes. Si Jing bought one and pressed it into Ji Yue's hand, his tone blunt: 'Eat something on the way. You barely touched breakfast.'

'I don't have much of an appetite today.'

'You have a bird's stomach — that's why you're so thin. Ha.'

'...'

'Why is Si Jing being considerate again? Split personality?'

Si Jing led him to a primary school.

The village school had been renovated in recent years — clean and bright. It was the holidays now, so the campus was empty, save for a security guard at the gate chewing betel nut.

Ji Yue found a section of the alumni display board dedicated to Si Jing. As a scholarship student from the Lower City who had once caused a sensation, Si Jing had become something of a local celebrity, and this little school had included him among its distinguished alumni.

A photograph of Si Jing.

It looked like a crop from a graduation photo — he was about seven or eight, silver-haired, beaming at the camera with unguarded happiness.

'What's the point of looking at this?'

Si Jing didn't understand private detectives. Was this kind of information worth collecting?

'What was school like for you here?'

'Pretty good. Everyone looked out for me.'

That didn't match the original story at all.

In the bonus chapters of the source novel, Si Jing had been withdrawn as a child because of his family's circumstances — yet the boy in the photograph was visibly sunny and open.

The two of them walked along the red rubberized track. Ji Yue strolled with his hands clasped behind his back, glancing left and right as he went, pausing to look a little longer even when they passed the basketball court.

Si Jing followed half a step behind. He had no idea what Ji Yue was observing or what there was worth seeing — a primary school playground, a place he had run laps around countless times as a child. What secrets could it possibly hold?

He raised an eyebrow.

...He could just ask directly.

With school out and the students gone, the campus had filled instead with a cluster of old men playing Go beneath the trees, and a group of aunties in red practicing their dance routine on the open ground nearby. The moment they spotted Si Jing, they all smiled at him: 'A-Jing, you're on holiday?'

One auntie stopped to rest, dabbing at her sweat. She caught sight of Ji Yue beside him and her eyes lit up: 'And who's this? Your girlfriend?'

Si Jing frowned and corrected her earnestly: 'He's a boy.'

'Oh, such a fashionable, pretty young man!' The auntie blinked, then broke into a wide smile, turning to look Ji Yue up and down. 'You're so good-looking! Where are you from? Do you have a girlfriend?'

Si Jing stepped in, planting himself firmly between the two of them. He exchanged a few pleasantries with the auntie, then steered Ji Yue away.

The two of them headed back the way they had come.

Ji Yue followed behind him, then spoke quietly: 'This place actually suits you better.'

He was simply stating a fact. It was plain to see — Si Jing's life in the Lower City was the happier one.

Si Jing's expression went cold.

What did he mean by that?

Was he saying, plainly and openly: you got yourself into a place defined by class, all for someone you liked — you were reaching beyond yourself?

Enough.

'The scholarship student is emotionally volatile too — suddenly shutting the door and walking off like that.' The System was baffled. 'Though looking at it this way, the source novel really does have a lot of plot holes and inconsistencies. Which version is actually true?'

Ji Yue checked his watch. It was about time to move on to the next city.

The Upper City capital — and the home territory of the F4 families.

He sent Si Jing a message to say goodbye.

[I'm heading home. Thanks for having me. Goodbye.]

The next second, the door banged open.

Si Jing's expression was complicated. 'You... why are you leaving so soon?'

'It's time to go home.'

'Is your family strict? I'll take you to the airport.'

'What is this person doing?' the System wondered.

'No idea.'

By the time they reached the airport it was half past ten. The terminal was full of travelers of every description, and the announcement system had already begun its steady stream of broadcasts.

Ji Yue took his luggage and made to head toward check-in.

Beside him, Si Jing's gaze stayed fixed on his face, as though there was something he wanted to say.

In the end, he called out to Ji Yue.

'Is there something you want to say to me?'

Beneath the disheveled silver-white fringe, those eyes were turbulent — stubbornly waiting for an answer.

'Is the scholarship student hoping you'll confess to him?' the System asked.

Ji Yue thought: he hoped not.

The crowd surged around them — hurried travelers brushing past, couples exchanging lingering farewell kisses — and yet the two of them only stood there, looking at each other in silence.

'Let's talk about all this after you graduate.' That was what Ji Yue said.

'What do you mean by that?'

Si Jing gave a short, humorless laugh — there and gone in an instant, with something faintly bitter in it.

'...'

Ji Yue realized then that perhaps the premonition he'd had before was right.

Si Jing grabbed his shoulder with sudden force and, quite abruptly, pressed a kiss to his cheek.

His head spun.

Before he had even recovered from that unexpected kiss, his luggage had been taken by someone else. Si Jing slung an arm around his shoulders and steered him through the crowd toward the check-in counter.

Only once he had walked Ji Yue all the way to check-in did Si Jing let go. He bent his head and pressed the luggage handle into Ji Yue's hand, his silver fringe falling forward to curtain his eyes, his expression unreadable.

The faint warmth of the kiss still lingered on Ji Yue's cheek. The tips of his ears burned.

Ji Yue heard Si Jing murmur close to his ear — 'You need to be careful from now on.'

Careful of what?

...More than one person probably knows who you are.

Si Jing looked at the flush spreading across Ji Yue's face and, in the end, said nothing.

He let go and turned to walk away.

He hadn't exposed Ji Yue, and he had no wish to see Ji Yue exposed by anyone else.

In a place like the Noble Boys' School, if a private detective's identity — so unlike anyone else's — were to come to light, the consequences would not be good.

Si Jing didn't know who had sent that letter. Yesterday he had asked the neighbors nearby; none of them had seen any stranger around, which meant whoever it was had come prepared.

He thought, with a mocking sort of tenderness: even now, the words I wrote still love him.

He slipped back into the airport crowd and watched from a distance as Ji Yue stood at the counter.

Ji Yue had returned to his usual self — expression cool, not a word for the men who tried to chat him up. Just before he disappeared from view, he raised a hand and pressed it over the spot where he had been kissed, brow furrowing slightly.

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BBS

Hot Posts / HOT....

Thread: Ran into the school beauty scholarship student at the Lower City airport... (sobbing) (fist)

0L: [Photo] Why are they kissing goodbye?? I refuse to accept this!! (sobbing)

1L: The whole world gets to run into the school beauty?? Am I the only one who never has?!

2L: I give up — what is this scholarship student's secret? He gets kissed and he's still that fierce?? (fist)

3L: I also ran into the school beauty on the plane, and his face was all red... so cute (fire)

4L: This flight is headed to the capital — is the school beauty going home or connecting somewhere for a trip?

5L: Can you come play in my heart for a bit? (heart)

6L: That's probably what the F4 are thinking too — sitting at home all washed up and waiting until they turn to stone

7L: I strongly suspect the school beauty is about to have secret rendezvous with the F4 one by one! (on alert)

8L: Holy sh*t, you called it — the person who came to pick him up is someone we all know....

9L: Holy sh*t, seriously?? (sobbing) (fist)

10L: Just how many 'good big brothers' did the school beauty make plans with this holiday?

11L: Somehow I'm not even surprised...

12L: I have a feeling the school beauty's holiday is going to be very, very busy — and very, very dangerous... (white flag)

---------

'How did you know my flight today?'

Being picked up by someone other than the family butler was not particularly strange for Ji Yue — he had experienced similar things before. But why had this person come?

'He Yuanxi — of all people!' The System was aghast. 'Is He Yuanxi trying to haul you in?'

'If I want to know something, I find out — you of all people should understand that.' He Yuanxi removed his sunglasses; his eyes held a faint smile, as though he had long since seen through Ji Yue's confusion.

A right hand in a black glove reached over and took his luggage.

Ji Yue did not thank him.

'I didn't know you were in the capital.'

'Disappointed?' He Yuanxi's smile deepened. 'That it's me who came?'

'...'

Just surprised.

This person had been slapped by him and had clearly not let it go — yet here he was at the airport. Had he come to settle the score on the very first day of the holiday?

'Can't wait to get slapped a second time?' The System burst out laughing.

Outside the terminal, a sleek black stretch limousine glided to a stop in front of them, its door rising slowly upward.

He Yuanxi stood at the car door and gestured for Ji Yue to get in.

Ji Yue frowned and didn't move.

He Yuanxi stepped up to him and said: 'You said before that you owed me an apology.'

'I never said anything like that.'

'In that case — let me take you to dinner?'

'...'

Ji Yue thought about how He Yuanxi had been described in the source novel — an ordinary person caught up in the aching, bittersweet kind of youth romance. What did that have to do with the man standing in front of him now?

Once again, the source novel and reality had diverged enormously.

He got in the car at last. There was a faint trace of cigar smoke inside. Ji Yue leaned back against the seat and looked out the window as car after car swept past.

The privacy partition in the rear rose, cutting off the view of the driver.

Only two people remained in the cabin.

Ji Yue observed his surroundings without letting it show.

He knew that He Yuanxi had lured him in here most likely for payback — there was a good chance he was about to get hit.

At that moment He Yuanxi was resting his chin in his hand, studying Ji Yue carefully, from head to toe.

'You went all that way to see your boyfriend. That must have been tiring,' he said, and then, without warning, asked: 'Does your boyfriend know I exist?'