ICY Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Life continued as usual. Jiang Shi still didn’t go home for lunch, and Su Zhao Li still brought him two pieces of bread at noon, only he no longer paid attention to who the bread ended up with.

No matter how unhappy Chu Nan Du was, this was still the brother he had known since childhood, and he couldn’t really ignore him.

Friday was the last soccer game. Jiang Shi originally wanted to ask Su Zhao Li to take a walk with him during dinner; he had the entire dinner time free tonight.

When Jiang Shi came to find Su Zhao Li to tell him, he was glowing, looking very expectant.

“I…”

“Finally found you, Brother Jiang! They said you might be here, and you really are. Today we won the championship! Our homeroom teacher bought us food to celebrate and specifically called for you. Let’s go together; you’re our hero!”

Jiang Shi didn’t answer, but turned back to look at Su Zhao Li, waiting for him to decide.

Su Zhao Li suddenly found it a bit funny. “I haven’t finished my homework yet. You go celebrate with them.”

“Then A Li, I’m leaving. I’ll come find you tonight.”

Chu Nan Du assumed Su Zhao Li would be with Jiang Shi tonight, so he didn’t come to find Su Zhao Li. Besides, Jiang Shi wouldn’t eat the bread he brought him today anyway.

Su Zhao Li sat in his seat, eating his bread and doing his homework, feeling that everything he had done during this time was quite amusing.

·

On Saturday noon, Su Zhao Li went downstairs and waited two minutes for Chu Nan Du. “Let’s go.”

“What, not waiting for your husband?”

“Don’t say nonsense.”

“Huh?! Did I lose my memory? Weren’t you two doing well these past few days?”

“Not well at all; it hasn’t been good since that day.”

“Then these past few days?”

“He is indeed busy, and it’s important work. There’s no need to disturb him.”

“You should have said so earlier, making me angry by myself for so many days.”

“Really broken up?”

“Yeah, still, grades don’t lie. On the last exam, I was twenty points ahead of second place; next time, it’ll be even higher.”

“So inspiring.”

…

With ten minutes left until class, Jiang Shi was anxiously pacing outside Su Zhao Li’s residential complex. What if something happened to A Li?

“Old Wang, do you remember me? I’m A Li’s friend. Can you let me in? I want to go find him.”

“A Li? That Chu family kid?”

“Yes, yes.”

“He left early, went together with someone.”

“Went with Chu Nan Du?”

“Yeah, the two brothers went together.”

“Only two people? Did anyone strange look for them or follow them?”

“No, just the two of them.”

Jiang Shi ran to school as fast as he could, making it just in time before the final bell, but of course, he was still late for class.

But thankfully, Jiang Shi stood at the back of the classroom, looking at Chu Nan Du. His clothes were clean, so nothing should have happened.

Jiang Shi couldn’t figure it out, so he asked.

Perhaps he had sent a message saying he was leaving first, but he was already on his way and hadn’t seen it.

“Chu Nan Du, did something happen to you and A Li at noon?”

“No.”

“Then you…”

“Go ask A Li.” Chu Nan Du interrupted Jiang Shi before he could finish speaking. Chu Nan Du was now glaring at Jiang Shi with hostility and was naturally in a bad mood.

“Oh, okay.”

·

“A Li, you…”

“I don’t really want to talk to you, but things still need to come to an end. Thank you for your care during this time. My appearance must have bothered you; I’m sorry. China’s national soccer team needs you; I wouldn’t dare hinder your development. From now on, you don’t have to watch my expression or suffer my temper anymore. Bye, I want to sleep.”

“A Li,” “A Li,” “A Li.”

Jiang Shi understood very well. A Li wanted to break off their relationship. He was very anxious; he had ignored A Li too much during this time, and he hadn’t paid much attention to A Li’s attitude towards him. He had gone too far.

“A Li, I was wrong,” “A Li, please acknowledge me,” “A Li…”

The bell rang, and with urging from the student in front of Su Zhao Li, Jiang Shi reluctantly left Class 7, turning back with every step.

“He’s gone.”

Su Zhao Li looked in the direction of the door. “Thank you.”

“Chu Nan Du, A Li won’t acknowledge me. Can you help me?” Jiang Shi found Chu Nan Du.

“Jiang Shi, I’m actually quite happy that he completely broke up with you. I’m also very happy that he has nothing to say to you, but there are some things you need to know.”

“Come with me, I’m afraid I won’t be able to control my temper in a moment.”

The two asked for a leave of absence, mainly because Chu Nan Du said he was afraid he would be interrupted before he could finish scolding him.

“Jiang Shi, my brother and I have known each other since we were young. Our families have known each other for a long time, so you know, A Li grew up being loved and spoiled by both our families.”

“I…”

“Don’t speak yet. If I had known you were only enthusiastic for three minutes, I shouldn’t have introduced you two. If you just wanted to play around with him, then you shouldn’t have been so nice to him from the beginning, even I believed it.”

“Since you don’t care anymore, don’t look for him in the future.”

“I’m not!”

“You still dare to say you’re not? I ask you, what were you doing when he got hit by the ball that day? You just glanced over. He went to the sports field to find you that day.”

“He has a physiological condition. If his heartbeat fluctuates too much, he will experience trembling and weakness throughout his body. At that time, he was shaking so much that he couldn’t even walk, and he was sweating all over. He was walking unsteadily even that night, and I followed him all the way, but what about you? You were just immersed in your own world. I asked A Li that afternoon what he wanted to do with you, and seeing his reaction that night, I thought he had lightly forgiven you. I was angry for many days. Although he acted normal, I don’t believe you couldn’t see some of his recent actions, but you didn’t care. He told me at noon today that he didn’t disturb you these past few days because he saw you were busy with important work. Look at what you’ve done!”

“I didn’t know…”

“You still dare to say you didn’t know? Did you ever properly care about him and try to understand him? If you had just asked, his entire class, no, more than half the grade knows about his condition. That day, his classmates in his class didn’t need to be reminded to walk and speak quietly, afraid of disturbing him, but what did you do? Oh, I forgot to mention, he had his first episode at school because of you. You didn’t care then either, right? A Li had just come to our school, and you hit him with a ball. I saw clearly that the ball came from your kick, and you didn’t even apologize or come over to take a look.”

“Jiang Shi, I don’t know what you’re so arrogant about when you stand on the soccer field. Perhaps that’s your territory, and we little nobodies aren’t worthy of your attention. That day, A Li’s episode was clearly more serious than the previous one. Do you know why? It’s because of you. So do you think you’re innocent now? That you didn’t do anything?”

“No, no, it’s my fault.” Jiang Shi lowered his head, not knowing where to put his hands, his eyes bloodshot.

“I want to apologize to him, can you help me?”

“Don’t even think about it. I wish he would never see you again. If you try to go find him, I will stop you. Jiang Shi, since you never thought about treating him well from the beginning, why are you acting like this now?”

“No, no…”

Chu Nan Du ignored him and turned to leave.

Jiang Shi slowly moved to the base of the wall and slowly squatted down. He had really made so many mistakes. A Li was such a good person, but he had let him down. Even in that situation, A Li was still considering him. A Li must have felt disgusted being with him these past few days. It was obvious that he could have seen it; he didn’t drink orange juice anymore, he didn’t want to acknowledge him, and the bread wasn’t just bought for him anymore. Chu Nan Du was right, he was immersed in his own world and never considered A Li’s feelings. He was terribly wrong. He had made all of A Li’s kindness to him a joke during this time.

Jiang Shi squatted there for a very long time. He didn’t dare come out; once he came out, he would have to face the fact that he had done all of this, and once he came out, he would have to face the current situation.

Jiang Shi wanted to find Su Zhao Li, wanted to tell him that he was really wrong, wanted to tell him that he really wanted to cherish him, and didn’t want him to be sad or unhappy even a little bit.

Because Su Zhao Li’s Class 7 was a liberal arts class, it wasn’t on the same corridor as their class. The classroom was across from the teachers’ office. This layout meant that the side of Class 7 facing the corridor only had a small ventilation window at the top, so to see what was happening inside the classroom, one could only look through the front and back doors.

Jiang Shi wanted to go in, but Chu Nan Du and Zhou Er were guarding the front and back doors. He had called out to Su Zhao Li, but Su Zhao Li only glanced at him before lowering his head again. He was at a loss, very at a loss. He didn’t know what to do now, he could only keep calling out “A Li.”

But Chu Nan Du thought it was too embarrassing and dragged him back to where they had just talked and scolded him again.

Jiang Shi squatted at the base of the wall.

Back again.

When school was dismissed, Jiang Shi followed Su Zhao Li and Chu Nan Du out of the school gate from afar. Chu Nan Du guarded him, not letting him get close. A Li didn’t want to see him now, so he could only follow from a distance.

“Yo, Brother Jiang, hello.”

It was the people who had invited him last night. Jiang Shi looked back at them, thinking of last night. He had even made A Li choose. He was clearly forcing A Li to choose. Before they came to find him, he naturally wanted to walk and stroll with A Li, but after receiving the invitation, he clearly wanted to go with the others more. He seemed to have given the right of choice to A Li, but wasn’t it just that he didn’t dare to choose, didn’t dare to put what he wanted to do more out in the open?

Jiang Shi gave a polite smile, just like Su Zhao Li had been giving these past few days.

“What’s wrong with Brother Jiang’s eyes?”

“Nothing.”

“Brother Jiang, why are you walking alone? Do you want to go hang out with us?”

When Jiang Shi looked back, he could no longer see Su Zhao Li and Chu Nan Du’s figures. “No, I’m going back.”

After saying that, Jiang Shi hurried to run over. But A Li’s figure was nowhere to be seen along the way, not even at the entrance to his residential complex.

“Old Wang, did A Li and Chu Nan Du come back?”

“I don’t know, I didn’t pay attention.”

Jiang Shi waited a while longer before leaving.

Only after he left did Su Zhao Li and Chu Nan Du come out. “Did we need to change the route we walked?”

“We have to change it. From now on, we’ll take the other route. At most, we’ll just have to get up earlier in the morning. Don’t even think about reminiscing about the past on this route.”

“It’s not that exaggerated, our relationship wasn’t very deep to begin with.”

“Really? Then who was it that wanted to go find him after seeing him cry this afternoon?”

“It was me. I’m just being cheap, okay?”

“You were from the beginning.”