The day before summer vacation ended, Jiang Li quit the cafe after his last morning shift.
While processing his paycheck, the manager saw that he had performed well during this period and gave him an extra bonus, saying that he could come back to work full-time or as a part-timer as long as he wanted.
Jiang Li thanked the other party, greeted other colleagues, and left the cafe.
When he got outside, Jiang Li met up with Xu Haowen who happened to pass by.
During the summer vacation, Xu Haowen also came to the cafe a few times. Although they weren't really familiar with each other, they were also considered acquaintances. So when they bumped into each other, naturally they had to say hello.
Xu Haowen saw him come out of the cafe and asked, "You're getting off work?"
"I quit." Jiang Li smiled at him. "School is about to start and there's no time to work."
Xu Haowen nodded understandingly but after greeting, both of them didn't know what to say. Jiang Li had invited Chi Fang and Feng Yu to have dinner so he said "I'll go first", turned his body, and walked past Xu Haowen, he then took the elevator to the second floor of the building.
When he found Chi Fang and Feng Yu in the small private room of the Internet cafe, the two were battling each other online with their headphones on and didn't raise their heads at Jiang Li's arrival.
After a summer vacation, the three of them had long been acquainted with each other and Jiang Li didn't mind, sitting down on a small sofa waiting for the two.
At the end of the battle, Chi Fang won Feng Yu again without any difficulty.
"Fuck." Feng Yu shouted, took off his headphones and threw them on the table, and grabbed Chi Fang's neck with both hands, "I'm going to choke you to death!
"Let go." Chi Fang grabbed his hands away and stood up from the sofa. "Let's go eat, I'm starving."
"No! Let's play two more matches!" Feng Yu, who had lost throughout the afternoon, was unconvinced.
"It will be the same outcome even if we play a few more matches."
"Then I'll play with Jiang Li."
"…"
"…"
Chi Fang looked at him incredulously. "Are you sure?"
"What? Can't I?" Feng Yu gave him a strange look and said to Jiang Li, who was sitting on the sofa, "Jiang Li, do you know how to play? I'll teach you."
"I know a little." Jiang Li got up from the sofa and sat in front of the computer that Chi Fang had used earlier. "Chi Fang taught me before."
"Okay, let's play two matches. Don't be afraid, I'll go easy on you." Feng Yu put on his headphones eagerly.
"Okay, thank you." Jiang Li smiled.
A few minutes into the game, Feng Yu, who said he would go easy on Jiang Li, was beaten into a dog. [T/N: beaten badly]
Looking at the big word "failure" on the screen, Feng Yu blinked his eyes, still hadn't recovered from it. "What happened?"
"You're the one who lost, you idiot!" Chi Fang stood behind and slapped him on the back of the head. "And you said you want to go easy on him, shame on you."
"No, Jiang Li, how are you so good!" Feng Yu asked.
Jiang Li took off his headphones and said modestly, "It's mainly because Chi Fang taught me well."
"No wonder, a famous teacher makes a good student!" Feng Yu had never beaten Ch Fang in the game, so he didn't doubt when he heard him and raised a thumb towards Chi Fang.
Chi Fang placed his hand on his forehead, and thought: Quickly shut the fuck up, your compliments make laozi's face hurt!
The three of them went out of the Internet cafe, talked about what to eat later as they walked, and met Xu Haowen again on the way down.
Xu Haowen and Chi Fang were in the same class, so Feng Yu waved and said hello to him, who also nodded.
The two parties walked past each other, and as Xu Haowen stood upstairs looking back down, he couldn't understand how Jiang Li and Chi Fang knew each other. It seemed like they had a pretty good relationship.
On the other hand, after a distance from Xu Haowen, a blazing fire was ignited in Feng Yu's gossiping heart and he asked Jiang Li in a low voice, "Xiongdi, is the matter of you liking Xu Haowen that we heard before true or not? How come you didn't look excited when you met Xu Haowen just now? It's completely different to those female students who like Chi ge."
"Why are you involving me? What's wrong with you?" Chi Fang gave him an oblique look.
"Just an analogy." Feng Yu smiled and waved his hand, and asked Jiang Li again, "So do you like him or not? Don't worry, even if you like men, xiongdi will not look down on you."
"Does he need you to look up to him? You're not as good as Jiang Li in studies, and you're also not as good as Jiang Li in games." Chi Fang said sarcastically.
"I say, Chi ge, why are you like a watering can 1 today, insulting me all day long?" Feng Yu said strangely, "Aren't you curious?"
"I'm not as bored as you are." Chi Fang snorted, hands in his pockets, seemingly unconcerned about Jiang Li and Xu Haowen's affairs, but his ears involuntarily perked up.
Jiang Li couldn't help but laugh towards the two bickering and said in a frank tone, "It's not to the extent of liking, I probably just have a good feeling about him, after all, he is so outstanding. Comparing my previous self to him, one was in the sky and one was on the ground, so I want to become someone like him."
The original host was only sixteen years old, his mother left home when he was young, his father didn't give him any care other than scolding and beating him. In the environment he grew up in, he couldn't even tell what kind of emotion like or love was. The 'like' he said to Xu Haowen was not accurate, in fact, it was more like admiration and worship.
As he said in his diary, he longed to be a person like him. Like a warm ray of sunshine that could light up people who lived in dark corners like himself, or like a bouquet of bright flowers that were given to others and would leave a fragrance in their hands; rather than a weak small grass with low self-esteem, with no one to rely on.
After listening to his words, Feng Yu touched his chin without fully understanding. "That is to say, he is your idol?"
Chi Fang: "…" So it is true that he only has studies in his heart?
"Then why don't you clarify? Our class was abuzz with the rumor, all of them were saying that you like Xu Haowen, that nerd." Feng Yu asked in disbelief.
"I can't clarify." Jiang Li shook his head. In the original host's situation, one, he wasn't favored by the teacher, while second, he wasn't favored by his classmates. No matter what he said, no one believed him.
"The innocent will be innocent, the guilty will always remain guilty, don't care about it too much." Chi Fang who was beside them said. With his character, he always disdained this gossip and rumors.
"Holy shit, Chi ge, you can actually say something so meaningful!!!" Feng Yu was amazed. "It seems that Jiang Li's tutoring you this summer has paid off big time!!!"
Feng Yu also knew about the matter of Jiang Li tutoring Chi Fang. When he heard about it, he was simply stunned, very curious about what method Jiang Li used to make him agree to attend the make-up lessons. He followed him to the make-up lesson for two days on a whim, finally couldn't hold it and wanted to sleep once class started so he escaped from the third day.
"… Get lost."
The three of them found a reputable small fat mutton hot pot restaurant in the commercial street to have dinner. It was also a fun thing to eat hotpot with the air conditioning on in the summer.
It was exactly dinner time, the boisterous sound of people filled the hot pot restaurant. The rich fragrance of the hot pot soup shrouded the whole hall. The three people ate and chatted, only finishing their dinner after gorging on the food for nearly two hours.
Jiang Li just received his salary today and this meal was his treat. When he was paying at the cashier, his eyes inadvertently fell on the small TV on the wall.
The TV was broadcasting the news, a nightclub was investigated by the police last night, they found a large amount of marijuana, methamphetamine and other drugs in the store. Now, the case was being further investigated.
Jiang Li saw a flash of a familiar face from the chaotic crowd in the news and his brow slowly frowned. He didn't even notice when the waiter handed over the change.
Chi Fang on the side took the money for him, raised his eyes to look at the news, and patted his shoulder. "What are you looking at?"
"En?" Jiang Li retracted his gaze, shook his head, and took the money in Chi Fang's hand. "Nothing."
At this time, Feng Yu also came out of the toilet, and the three of them went out of the hot pot restaurant together.
After leaving, Feng Yu took a ride home from the other direction, Jiang Li and Chi Fang went the same way and boarded the bus together.
At this hour, many people had just returned from shopping in the commercial street and the bus was packed full of passengers. Chi Fang pulled Jiang Li and squeezed into the back door of the bus to find a place to stand.
With the bus stopped at the next station, a few people got on the bus one after another, the crowd in the aisle squeezed towards the back of the crowd once again. Chi Fang took advantage of his height to protect Jiang Li in front of him, one hand propped on the railing next to him to stop others from squeezing into him.
Jiang Li was shielded by him in a safe area with a slight distance from the others, he could see Chi Fang's slightly pursed lips and smooth and sharp jawline just by raising his head slightly.
Chi Fang's appearance was undoubtedly extremely advantageous; with dashing eyebrows and starry eyes he was handsome and charming, there were many young girls in love with him in school. According to Feng Yu, their class flower Nan Yin also liked Chi Fang.
This kind of handsome, kind-hearted, and righteous boy was indeed very attractive to people.
"In that case, Host, don't hesitate and boldly capture."
System's words rang in his head. Jiang Li retracted his eyes that were placed on Chi Fang, responded to it in his mind with a headache, "Little cutie, be quiet."
System: "… Oh."
At this time, Chi Fang's heart wasn't calm.
Because of the crowded passengers in the bus, his arm holding the railing occasionally brushed the hair around Jiang Li's ear. The soft hair swept on his skin with a seemingly itchy feeling and the subtle itchiness seemed to spread all the way down the inner veins of his arm to the bottom of his heart.
He landed his gaze outside the window and never looked back from the beginning to the end.
The bus stopped at South Slope Street's stop, and the two of them got off the bus together and went back to Chi Fang's house.
During this period of summer vacation, Jiang Nuomi was mostly kept in Chi Fang's house to be taken care of by the old man, because Jiang Li was afraid that when he was not at home, Father Jiang would come back and hurt the little guy.
After playing with Jiang Nuomi at Chi Fang's house for a while, Jiang Li left and Chi Fang sent him downstairs.
When he arrived at the entrance of the neighborhood, Jiang Li saw him and waved at him. "Go back, see you tomorrow."
Tomorrow was the start of the second year of high school, Chi Fang nodded. "Be careful on your way back."
Jiang Li nodded and walked in the direction of the bus stop sign.
Chi Fang stood in place and watched him get on the bus before returning.
There were only a few people on the bus heading back. Jiang Li found the back seat by the window and sat down and asked System out loud, "What's the favorability now?"
"39%." System replied.
These days, Jiang Li had been deliberately controlling the progress of the capture. After two months, Chi Fang's favorability was still controlled at under 40%. It didn't break through the friend level.
"Noted."
Jiang Li leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes to recuperate. "I'll take a break, call me when I arrive."
"Okay."
The bus arrived at the intersection of the old city area, the System woke Jiang Li up and he got off the bus.
After Jiang Li returned home, he dragged out the wooden box under the bed in the room, then used a knife to pry open one of the tiles under the bed and fumbled underneath to find a small, worn wooden box.
This was where the original host used to hide money.
Jiang Li made up for the money previously spent from the small wooden box to buy glasses and also used on daily expenses.
The money in the box was hidden by the original host as tuition fee, although Jiang Li had now replaced him to live, he felt that he wasn't qualified to use the hard-earned money earned and saved by the original host working in the lumber mill.
Putting the box back in its place, Jiang Li took his pajamas and went to take a shower. He returned after showering, turned off the lights, and went to sleep.