Bite Your Fingertips

48 -【I dare not】

“Soft hands?”

Lu Shi’s last syllable had a lilt as he leaned closer to Chu Yu.

Covering Chu Yu’s index finger with his own, they were going to pull the trigger together.

Arms overlapped, leaving no gaps.

Lu Shi looked straight ahead while counting down beside Chu Yu’s ear. “Five—Four—Three—Two—One—”

“Bang!”

The bullet hit the glass bottle thrown out by the machine, and the shattered glass exploded like crystals, sprinkling all over the floor.

Lu Shi released his grip and took half a step to the side. “Try again by yourself?”

Chu Yu’s mouth was dry, and since his collar looped his neck, even breathing was uncomfortable.

He threw the gun back into Lu Shi’s hand. “No more, I won’t play anymore.”

Lu Shi took the gun. “Really?”

“Real—”

In fact, Chu Yu still wanted to play, so he corrected himself after saying half the word, “Not, really.”

After speaking, he reached out and grabbed the gun back from Lu Shi’s hand.

Lu Shi didn’t assist him with shooting again, and instead sat on the high stool next to him.

The shooting hall was plainly decorated, with cement walls, metal racks, and hanging lamps that felt quite cold.

Lu Shi sat on the high stool with his long legs casually propped on the ground, playing toss with the bullets in his hand, but his eyes were fixed on Chu Yu who was firing the gun.

Chu Yu had a lot of fun, even though he could never hit a target, he was very happy.

The door was knocked on lightly. Lu Shi turned his head and saw Wei Guanglei standing in the doorway.

“Lu-Ge!”

Lu Shi gestured, telling the person to come in.

“I was about to leave after finishing a fight when I heard the boss say you were here, so I came to have a look.”

When Wei Guanglei came here to play, his first shot was also taught by Lu Shi. There were few men who didn’t love cars or guns. After touching once, they’d want to touch a second time.

When Lu Shi started school, he became a regular visitor and got acquainted with the boss too.

Sitting on a stool at the side, Wei Guanglei watched Chu Yu, who was wearing headphones and goggles, engrossed in pulling the trigger. He gave a ‘tsk’. “Young master’s accuracy, he’s almost the same as me before, a complete noob.”

Lu Shi raised his eyelids and looked at him. “Your accuracy isn’t necessarily better now.”

“Hahaha, I’ve been practicing hard!” Wei Guanglei examined Chu Yu’s back view. “When Zhu Zhifei told me about the previous landslide, I broke out in a cold sweat on the spot. Regarding the young master’s situation, he should be fine, right?”

“Hm, it’s alright.”

Lu Shi didn’t mention how every night, until now, Chu Yu had to turn on all the lights, his flashlight-loaded bag must be placed on the bed, and that he’d have nightmares in the middle of the night which would wake him up and result in sending Lu Shi a text. He had unlocked the door of the next dorm room with the key in hand several times at two or three in the morning to accompany the other to sleep.

“The young master is a good person. Isn’t it always shown in TV dramas that there will be a blessing afterwards if you escape a calamity?”

Wei Guanglei turned his gaze back to Lu Shi. “I heard Aunt Jing talking about the midterm exams and giving Zhu Zhifei soup to replenish his brain. Are you guys having exams again?”

“Hm, midterm exams.”

“Then during this time, why are you still bringing the young master over to play?”

“He’s unhappy.”

Whilst Lu Shi was talking to Wei Guanglei, his attention was still on Chu Yu.

Seeing that his bullets were hitting more and more crookedly, he directly got up and stood beside Chu Yu. His hand looped over, patted Chu Yu’s waist, and corrected his gun holding posture.

Chu Yu was already very used to Lu Shi’s touch, so he didn’t evade even a tiny bit.

Wei Guanglei originally wasn’t paying attention to it, but his line of sight inadvertently passed by and he saw Lu Shi shift Chu Yu’s headphone and speak near his ear.

Leaning very closely.

Only after finally hitting a beer bottle did Chu Yu feel satisfied. The unhappiness in his heart was like fog; it cleanly dissipated once the sun appeared.

Removing the headphones and goggles, Chu Yu was full of excitement. He saw Wei Guanglei when he turned and was surprised. “Huh, Shitou? When did you arrive?”

Wei Guanglei raised his hand and waved, saying with a smile, “Since earlier, you didn’t hear anything because you were too focused.”

Chu Yu was all smiles and his light-colored eyes were akin to water ripples shone by light. “It’s so fun to hit beer bottles! It’s just that because of my soft hands my fingers are shaking uncontrollably now, so I can’t gather strength!”

“Then would you like to recharge?” Wei Guanglei said, “A new barbecue stall opened on the street and within two days of opening, it robbed a lot of businesses. I ate there once the day before yesterday and it was really delicious. Want to go together?”

Lu Shi didn’t answer, looking at Chu Yu.

Chu Yu was eager to look for more random things to do at the moment, all in order to cover up everything concerning the exam on his mind, so he nodded. “Yeah yeah yeah, let’s go!”

That barbecue stall on Qingchuan Road really only had one stall. A blue cloth canopy was set up and white smoke rose into the sky. Looking at it from a distance, it seemed like it was on fire.

The small wooden tables and low stools had been placed and arranged one by one, while the smell of charcoal and cumin suffused the air.

After they found a table and sat down, Chu Yu looked around and noticed that there were a lot of people of every kind. There was even a girl with heavy make-up wearing hot shorts paired with black fishnet stockings at the next table. Chu Yu felt cold just looking at her.

Wei Guanglei asked Chu Yu, “Little Master, what do you want to eat? I’ll order all at once.”

Having no knowledge of what the stall sold, Chu Yu pondered. “I want what Lu Shi eats.”

Wei Guanglei then looked at Lu Shi.

Lu Shi“Order what you want to eat.”

Wei Guanglei“Okay, then I’ll take a look and choose.”

The barbecue was slow to arrive, so Wei Guanglei first returned with a plate of baked potato chips to cushion their stomachs, and two beer bottles in his hand.

He pulled apart the disposable chopsticks and recalled, “That’s right, just yesterday, the auto repair shop on the neighboring street closed down. The landlord wrote the words ‘For rent’ on it with red paint.”

Chu Yu still remembered. “Was it Hengxiang auto repair shop?”

The people from this auto repair shop had encircled Lu Shi for a fight but were all beaten to the ground, so he remembered them clearly.

“Young Master has a good memory!” Wei Guanglei nodded. “Doesn’t matter where they move, as long as they don’t come to Qingchuan Road and fight over my business!”

After he finished talking, he poured beer into a glass and asked Lu Shi, “Young Master definitely mustn’t drink. How about you, Lu-Ge?”

Lu Shi’s fingers were fiddling with his empty glass. Hearing Wei Guanglei’s question, he flipped the mouth of the glass upside down. “Drink by yourself.”

He sat in a relaxed manner, with long legs resting on both sides, half of his face seemingly trapped in the noise and smoke, and the lights pervading his eyes.

Very eye-catching.

Many people around were watching their table.

They talked about basketball and F1 racing. After hearing Wei Guanglei talk about his mother, Lu Shi said, “Tell Aunt Rou I have an exam next Thursday and won’t be coming back this weekend.”

“Okay, what about next weekend?”

Lu Shi’s eyes were slightly cold, but his tone didn’t change. “Also not coming back, going to A city.”

When Chu Yu heard it, he guessed that Lu Shi would be going home to attend the birthday banquet.

The boss, who had a black apron with the words ‘Gaoheng rapeseed oil’ written on it, brought their barbecue tray.

The plates were covered with plastic film and packed to the brim with meat dishes.

Wei Guanglei glanced at it. “Boss, it’s wrong. I didn’t order grilled oysters, and this sour plum soup isn’t ours. Won’t you lose money if you serve food indiscriminately?”

The boss laughed and pointed his rough, oily fingers to the side. “How come you react so slowly? The lady at the next table treated you all.”

Chu Yu followed the direction and turned his head to look. He discovered that the boss was pointing at the girl wearing black fishnet stockings on such a cold day. The other party’s eyes were frank, staring solely at Lu Shi.

Wei Guanglei shifted his head back and muttered to Chu Yu with a smile, “Young Master, let me tell you, our Lu-Ge’s face coupled with his temperament often fascinates little girls from all walks of life. All this while he’s not yet an adult, what will happen when he reaches adulthood? The girls chasing him would probably be able to line up from this place where our table is set up to the gate of your school.”

Chu Yu knew that many girls in school liked Lu Shi, but he was too aloof and the girls’ faces were thin. Chu Yu had accidentally heard a girl chatting say that even if she liked Lu Shi, she only dared to look at him from a distance and would not be fearless enough to deliver a love letter.

Turning his head to look at the girl again, Chu Yu asked Wei Guanglei, “It used to be like this often?”

“Mm, correct. However, our Lu-Ge wasn’t interested, either he returned it or didn’t touch it at all. He was quite indifferent.”

Chu Yu didn’t touch the grilled oysters and sour plum soup.

He was holding a bottle of soy milk, feeling that his good mood moments ago was like a balloon that had been poked at some unknown point in time. He’d unconsciously stare at Lu Shi, and whenever Lu Shi moved his finger, he began worrying whether Lu Shi would eat a bite of the raw oysters or take a sip of the sour plum soup.

Maybe something went wrong with himself.

After a dazed while, laughter came from the table beside them. Chu Yu looked over and saw the girl in black fishnet stockings stand up. Stepping on her thin high heels, she swayed over gently and beautifully while staring straight at Lu Shi. “Can Sister add your WeChat?”

Everyone knew what her ambiguous tone meant.

The girl’s looks weren’t bad, with a nice face, a good figure, and straight, long legs in fishnet stockings. With heavy makeup and curled up false eyelashes, her eyes were full of interest and amazement when they gazed at Lu Shi. Her friends at the side loudly jeered one after another, causing many people around to look over.

Chu Yu grasped the glass bottle of soy milk tightly.

He wanted to see Lu Shi’s reaction, but he was inexplicably afraid to. In the end, he lowered his eyes and stared at the corner of the stainless steel grill, waiting for Lu Shi’s answer with bated breath and rapt attention.

After a long, long period in a trance, he heard Lu Shi’s insipid answer. “No.”

As if finding it troublesome, he was unwilling to say a word more.

Chu Yu instantly fell to the ground from 10,000 feet high up in the sky.

At this time, Lu Shi stretched out his hand, took the soy milk from Chu Yu’s grasp, filled his glass, and took a sip.

He didn’t even glance at the sour plum soup. Wei Guanglei intended to lay out a flight of stairs for the girl, so he said with a grin, “Sister, I also have WeChat, do you want to add mine?”

The girl wasn’t too attached with the matter and stepped down the stairs. “Okay, come.”

Chu Yu didn’t pay attention to his surroundings anymore. He couldn’t help but watch Lu Shi.

Lu Shi placed his fingers on the sides of the glass, his nails were smooth and rounded. The colored lights reflected by the glass repeatedly embellished his fingertips.

He stared at Lu Shi’s fingers, absent-mindedly.

“Want to drink?”

Before Chu Yu could come to his senses, he saw Lu Shi bend his knuckles and push the glass in front of him.

He didn’t want to drink soy milk, but words of refusal wouldn’t come out.

Chu Yu held up the glass, pressed it to his lips, and took a few sips.

After drinking, he pushed the glass back to Lu Shi.

Leaving the barbecue stall, the three people walked along the street. Chu Yu walked slowly, Lu Shi matched his speed, and Wei Guanglei also took a leisurely stroll.

Passing a convenience store, Chu Yu stopped. “I’m going to buy something, you guys wait for me.”

Lu Shi motioned to Chu Yu’s foot. “Should I go?”

“No need, I’ll go by myself!” After saying this, he turned around and walked to the convenience store.

Lu Shi and Wei Guanglei stood on the edge of the road.

Wei Guanglei smoothly fished out a lighter and cigarette, but then put the lighter back and simply bit the cigarette instead of a smoke to satisfy his craving.

He turned his head and watched Chu Yu move between the shelves through the glass window of the convenience store.

“When that woman asked for your contact information earlier, do you know what your first reaction was?”

Lu Shi put his hand in his pocket and asked, “What?”

“Your first reaction was to look at Chu Yu.”

Wei Guanglei bit the cigarette butt, his wrinkled eyebrows tightening. He felt that he shouldn’t care, but when he looked at Lu Shi, he couldn’t hold back his words.

“I still remember what you said to me in the yard when we were eating hot pot together.”

Wei Guanglei and Lu Shi knew each other for neither too long nor too short, but they mingled together all day long. What was Lu Shi like? He couldn’t say that he knew all ten points, but he still knew three to five points.

He once thought that Lu Shi regarded Chu Yu as prey and wanted to trap the person to his side so they’d be inseparable, resulting in him using any method possible.

Later, he felt that Lu Shi had entered into a bit of a pitfall.

He used himself as bait to lure another. The other party took the bait and he himself ended up bitten. They were tangled together and couldn’t let go.

He put away the unlit cigarette. “Lu-Ge, at this point, can you tell whether you’re sincere or not towards Chu Yu?”

Amid the night breeze, Lu Shi’s features were distinctly cold.

“Can.”

Wei Guanglei glanced at the convenience store. Chu Yu was lining up for check out.

He thought that he was really so damn idle that he lost his head. Because there weren’t enough cars to repair in the store and the game wasn’t fun, he was standing on the side of the road this late at night, being blown by the cold wind, and worrying about his brothers getting involved in gaojislang for homosexual practices dating.

“Then do you want to discuss it or not? What are you still worried about?”

Wei Guanglei singled out the question that he’d been reluctant to think about deeply and had been avoiding.

What am I worried about?

The cold wind blew and the remaining leaves on the trees lining the road swayed.

A car traveling during the night drove by in front, whipping up dust.

Lu Shi stood under the shadow of a tree, his figure lonesome and his eyes lowered, concealing every emotion in them.

His voice was so soft that it dispersed as soon as the wind blew.

He answered, “I dare not.”

The author has something to say: Here’s a swirling leaf in the air in the form of a heart as my love for you~

• 1Lu Shi
• 2Wei Guanglei
• 3slang for homosexual practices