Gu Xi continued to talk despite being aware of Lin Wenxi’s cold attitude toward him. He told Lin Wenxi that there was a newly-opened piano store nearby. As they shared this common interest, they went to the piano store together. It was called Ziyun Piano Store.

When Lin Wenxi saw this name, he found it somewhat familiar.

The sales girl in the store greeted them cordially and invited Gu Xi to play a tune. Gu Xi shook Lin Wenxi’s arm. To his surprise, Lin Wenxi was intrigued and quicky sat on the bench to play a peice of classical music. When enjoying the music, the sales girl noticed that Lin Wenxi’s sleeves were too long and it hindered him from playing the piano smoothly. Before the boy realized it, the girl went over to roll the sleeve up for him, revealing some new bruises on his arm. Lin Wenxi was bruised from belt beating. He quickly rolled down his sleeves to cover his bruises and left. Gu Xi grabbed his hand and burst into tears.

“Why are you crying?” Lin Wenxi asked coldly and curiously. He wondered, “Gu Xi met me not long ago. Although we do share some common interests, we’re not good friends yet. Why does he feel so sad for me now?”

“Did those bruises caused by Zheng Kai? That bastard!” Gu Xi said while sobbing.

“No, it was my father who did this to me. ‘Spare the rod, spoil the child.’ That’s one of his beliefs,” Lin Wenxi said flatly.

Gu Xi slowly grabbed Lin Wenxi’s hand and gently touched it. Somehow, Lin Wenxi felt that the bruises on his arms were not so painful anymore.

“But you’re not a child anymore. He has to treat you as an adult now. I can go to your home together with you. I’ll have a talk with him and tell him how he should treat you now,” Gu Xi said seriously. The next moment, when he noticed the strange and ominous expression on the face of Lin Wenxi, he slapped himself across the face and said, “That’s really inappropriate! Why did I say that?” Upon seeing that, Lin Wenxi could not help but smile and then he quickly put on a straight face again.

Back in his home, Lin Ziwei had flared up upon knowing that Lin Wenxi had skipped classes and refused to eat breakfast. He scolded Lin Wenxi as if he had done something really outrageous, and Lin Wenxi could not help but talk back. After a messy brawl with his father, he was punished by his father and knelt on the ground. Upon seeing that, his mother Huang Xiya cried and had a fight with his father. It was at this moment that Lin Wenxi took this chance to sneak out of his home.

When he came back to his university, he found out that he could never peel off his clingy friend Gu Xi. After spending some time together with Gu Xi, he finally came to know why this slender boy could manage to subdue a tough guy like Zheng Kai. In Lin Wenxi’s eyes, Gu Xi was more than clingy. He was so close to him and seemed to be always around him.

When he wanted to take a walk through the campus, Gu Xi reported to him in a low voice, “Shu Xiaoman has just come out of the girls’ dormitory building. If you don’t want to meet her, you can avoid her by taking the Xueyuan road.”

When there was a smelly toilet ahead, Gu Xi warned him in a loud voice. “Oh gee, this university really doesn’t care about the air at all. Stop going ahead. There’s a public toilet ahead of you on the right. Let’s go that way. Let’s go to the library.”

When he drank milky tea together with Gu Xi, Gu Xi never minded drinking up the tea that he left after drinking up his own tea. This reminded Lin Wenxi of someone who never minded eating his leftover food. He felt irritated and asked Gu Xi grumpily, “We’ve been walking around for such a long time. Where indeed do you want to go?”

Gu Xi blinked his eyes and said, “I’ll go wherever you go.”

Lin Wenxi went back to his dorm, and Gu Xi followed him and then sat beside him on his bed. Lin Wenxi went to the bathroom. Gu Xi stood up and followed him again. Lin Wenxi opened the door a crack and said, “Don’t say that you want to follow me into the bathroom.” Gu Xi shook his head and then sat on a chair with his face toward the door of the bathroom. When Lin Wenxi went out and sat on his bed again, Gu Xi turned his head 180 degrees to look at Lin Wenxi again.

Wang Xiang, who had just come back from the basketball court, happened to see that. He took off his sweat-soaked top and exclaimed, “What a lackey you are.”

“I’d rather be a lackey than a pushover like you,” Gu Xi retorted loudly.

“What the fuck are you talking about?” Zhao Yuan walked into the dorm and asked. The moment he saw Lin Wenxi, who staggered in and out of the dorm without talking to anyone except for Gu Xi, he was rendered speechless and looked sad. He thought that he must have done something wrong and was afraid of offending Lin Wenxi again. As such, he really did not know what to do now.

At night, when the electricity went out, Zhao Yuan still tossed and turned in his bed restlessly. When he slept on his side, he suddenly saw Lin Wenxi’s shadow through the window of the bathroom. He saw him stand still for a moment and then bend down. The water in the bathroom kept running, but Lin Wenxi never seemed to stand up again.

Zhao Yuan worriedly jumped off his bed and pounded on the door of the bathroom. To his surprise, he did not see any mist on the window. When he touched the door, he found out that it was cold too.

Zhao Yuan pretended to be impatient and grumpy and shouted, “Who’s in the bath at midnight? Hurry up. I have to pee now. I can’t hold it any longer.”

The next moment, he heard some noise inside the bathroom. After that, Lin Wenxi walked out of it while trembling. His lips were purple, and his face was covered with water or tears. He seemed to have put on his clothes hastily and forgotten to cover the bruises on his arms. Zhao Yuan grabbed Lin Wenxi’s arm and rolled up the sleeves. To his surprise, he saw that it was covered with bruises. He tore Lin Wenxi’s clothes and saw bruises all over his body. “These wounds look worse than those that he got when climbing the cliff together with Zheng Kai,” Zhao Yuan thought in surprise.

“I don’t want to wake up anyone else. Just leave me alone,” Lin Wenxi said coldly and pushed Zhao Yuan away. When he was about to put his clothes back on, Zhao Yuan held him tightly, dragged him into the bathroom and locked the door.

“What’re you doing?” Lin Wenxi shouted and pushed Zhao Yuan away again. He felt somewhat irritated and frightened, and his eyes became red. He looked at Zhao Yuan vigilantly.

When Zhao Yuan approached him, he picked up the wire cutter behind himself, which had been left here by Zhao Yuan after repairing the window.

Zhao Yuan rushed toward him and hugged him tightly. He flogged Zhao Yuan’s back with the wire cutter. Zhao Yuan groaned and let Lin Wenxi flog him again.

He continued hugging Lin Wenxi tightly while enduring the pain, his face against Lin Wenxi’s forehead. He said, “Wenxi, tell me what happened.”

“Please just tell me, okay?” Zhao Yuan began to sob.

“If you don’t let me go, I’ll kill myself in front of you by slamming my head into the wall,” Lin Wenxi said coldly.

Zhao Yuan hurriedly took his hands off Lin Wenxi. He stood in front of the door and asked, “What can I do for you? I’m willing to do anything for you, Wenxi!”

“Zhao Yuan, I beg you to leave me alone and stop treating me so well. Leave me alone. Give me some peace.” Lin Wenxi stressed each word with due strength, and tears began to spill out of his eyes.

“No, I didn’t treat you well enough. Otherwise, you wouldn’t hide this thing from me or torture yourself like that. It’s my bad. I failed to take a good care of you, so you left in anger and refused to let me take care of you when you’re wounded so badly. I’m sorry, Wenxi. I didn’t know what I should do. I could only hug you. I just wanted to keep you warm,” Zhao Yuan kept talking. He would rather die than watch Lin Wenxi hurt himself.

“You really don’t need to do this for me!” Lin Wenxi replied coldly, making Zhao Yuan feel desperate.