DP Chapter 21

Chapter 21

Chapter 21

In the evening, Xu Chuo was still in the sky above City S, hadn’t landed yet, but Xiang Yiye’s message landed faster than the plane: “Have you arrived?”

The corners of Xu Chuo’s mouth turned up, he wanted to reply “Do you miss me?”, but after thinking about it, he didn’t send it. He returned to his apartment and was surprised to find everything normal, with no signs of intrusion.

He turned on the backup phone that had been left at home for more than a week. There were several missed calls and text messages, all from Xie Zhimin.

“About the art exhibition, call this number, he will tell you the reason.” Followed by a string of numbers.

“Or if you insist on blaming me, I’m fine with it, anyway, that’s how you’ve always seen me.”

“It’s snowing in City M, right? Artists are so romantic.”

“Aren’t you going to the Stone^3 Drawing Studio to wish Uncle a happy new year tomorrow? You’re so detached, aren’t you afraid of hurting his feelings. How about I go for you?”

Four short messages contained a lot of information.

First of all, the power outage at the art exhibition was not Xie Zhimin’s doing. Xie Zhimin is not someone who likes to cover things up, nor does he need to, as there are plenty of people to clean up his messes. Xu Chuo called the number in the message and confirmed this.

Secondly, Xie Zhimin knew about his trip to City M. This was expected, as long as Xie Zhimin was in the country, he would keep a tight grip on his itinerary. Thinking of this, Xu Chuo regretted it a bit. He shouldn’t have left City S just on a whim. Even if he wanted to leave, he shouldn’t have chosen City M as his destination.

He could only secretly pray that Xie Zhimin hadn’t turned his attention to anyone else.

Finally, Xu Chuo thought that he had to meet Xie Zhimin tonight no matter what. He looked at the several fiery red gift boxes at his feet, which were all local specialties from City M that Xiang Wansai had given him before he left.

Xu Chuo changed his clothes, picked up the gift boxes, and drove to Xie Lei’s Stone^3 Drawing Studio.

Similar to Xu Chuo’s own studio, Stone^3 Drawing Studio was also located in an old street. But unlike Xu Chuo’s quiet and interesting place, Xie Lei chose this place back then for a simple and direct reason: no money.

Xie Lei had been painting all his life and knew nothing else. All his assets were in this duplex studio.

In the early years, before his divorce, Xie Lei also took in many students to make a living, some who were interested in painting as a hobby, and others who wanted to take the art exam. But he had high standards and a bad temper, and he disdained to compete with his peers, and couldn’t compete anyway, so students were quickly lost.

Over the years, Xu Chuo was the only student Xie Lei taught from beginning to end.

Xu Chuo saw a familiar car at the entrance of the street and was prepared. He opened the door of the studio and saw a person standing inside.

Xie Zhimin was standing opposite a plaster statue. He had high brow bones and the distance between his eyebrows and eyes was relatively close. When he stared at a place with his deep eyebrows and eyes, his face would have a touch of tender affection.

At this moment, Xie Zhimin was moving that gaze away from the plaster statue and onto Xu Chuo’s face, as if his gaze instantly passed through ten years.

Ten years ago, Xie Zhimin was sixteen years old. That autumn, he and his friends were climbing a mountain in the suburbs of City S. He walked out of the dense forest and reached a flat and open area. His friend raised his arm and pointed forward, exclaiming, “Look, someone is painting!”

The observation deck had just been built. Xie Zhimin followed the sound and looked over, seeing Xu Chuo standing by the railing, sketching. Xu Chuo was wearing an orange sweatshirt, dissolving into the autumn colors of the mountain. He was holding a paintbrush, looking at the scenery outside the railing, probably determining the proportions.

“He paints very realistically.” His friend walked over to look at the painting.

Xie Zhimin didn’t get close, feeling like he had seen the person in front of him somewhere before. He stared at Xu Chuo’s profile without moving, finally remembering that it was in his uncle’s studio.

At that time, Xu Chuo was fourteen years old. His personality was not as outgoing and capable as it is now, and he still had a bit of arrogance. When he heard someone praise his painting, he just smiled slightly and didn’t say much.

After his friend finished looking around the observation deck, he said, “The air in the mountains is so good. I wonder if there’s a temple up here. It would be worth it to become a monk.”

“Is it that serious? If you like it, buy it and build whatever you want.” Xie Zhimin said.

“I can’t afford it,” his friend laughed, “I can only rely on you, Lao Xie.”

Xie Zhimin was just joking, but he glanced at Xu Chuo and suddenly raised his voice, saying, “Okay, that way we can clear out some irrelevant people, and it’s more interesting to enjoy the beautiful scenery alone.”

Xu Chuo’s hand holding the paintbrush paused and turned around.

So he was listening to them, Xie Zhimin thought, then why hadn’t he given them a straight look from the beginning?

He thought Xu Chuo would speak to them next, but Xu Chuo only glanced at them and then turned back to his own world, as if the people behind him were not worth mentioning compared to the scenery in front of him.

Before leaving the observation deck, Xu Chuo blurted out, “It doesn’t belong to you, it belongs to those who can appreciate it.”

That was the first sentence Xu Chuo said to him. Later, Xie Zhimin learned that the barren mountain would be developed into a scenic spot, and the investor was Yunhua Real Estate.

Xie Zhimin always remembered the expression on Xu Chuo’s face when he turned his head, that expression carried an unintentional indifference and contempt, which had appeared many times in the following ten years and could still accurately hit his nerves.

Returning to the present, Xie Zhimin looked at the gift boxes in Xu Chuo’s hand and said, “I was wondering if you would come tonight… Was City M fun?”

“Fun, it makes people linger.” Xu Chuo put the things on the table, looked around, and asked, “Is the teacher not here?”

“Looking for a book upstairs.” Xie Zhimin walked to the table and opened the boxes without saying a word, looked at the ingredient list, and said, “Lingering, reluctant to leave, so you didn’t even bother to choose things properly. Look at these things, which one is suitable for Uncle to eat?” Most of the local specialties are high in oil, salt, and sugar, which Xie Lei’s body can’t handle.

Xu Chuo said, “I bought it for you, okay? If you like it, take it back.”

“So many additives, I’m afraid I’ll die.” Xie Zhimin saw that Xu Chuo didn’t seem to care much about the boxes, and immediately lost interest.

“Who have you been with these days, not even coming home? And you’re hiding it from Uncle Xu. If I hadn’t called him, he wouldn’t have known you weren’t in City S.” Xie Zhimin said.

“Where I go, what I do, who I’m with, do you need to ask me to know these things?” Xu Chuo said.

Xie Zhimin found a stool and sat down: “Listening to stories, of course it’s more interesting to hear from the person involved. You’ve had quite an exciting six months, too bad I was abroad and didn’t see it with my own eyes… Is that kid from Xinghui still Twist you?”

“Who are you talking about?” Xu Chuo’s heart skipped a beat.

“Almost caused someone’s death for you, and you’re asking me instead, Xu Chuo, is your heart really made of iron?” Xie Zhimin said.

He was talking about Han Fangyan, and Xu Chuo’s heart calmed down slightly. In these few minutes of panic, he realized that Xiang Yiye occupied a much heavier place in his heart than he had imagined.

“I pity that kid surnamed Han, after all, being liked by you is a disaster.” Xie Zhimin smiled and took out a cigarette to light.

Xu Chuo’s brow twitched and said, “If you want to smoke, go outside, there’s paper everywhere in the room.”

Xie Zhimin lit a cigarette and took a puff, flicking the ashes everywhere: “Come back with me tonight.”

“I have my own home to go back to, I’m not your dog.” Xu Chuo frowned even more, his tone full of disgust. He didn’t want to stay any longer and planned to go upstairs to find Xie Lei directly.

Xie Zhimin clamped Xu Chuo’s arm, pulled him in front of him, and pressed the cigarette in his hand against his chest. A pit was immediately burned into the surface of the coat collar, and a faint burnt smell filled the air.

“Let go of me, Xie Zhimin, you’re hurting me.” Xu Chuo struggled, elbowing Xie Zhimin’s arm, which felt like iron pliers.

“Don’t you like it when people treat you like this?” Xie Zhimin grabbed his neck, turned his chin, and said in his ear, “What are you pretending to be a normal person?”

“Get away, you’re the only one who’s not normal, I wouldn’t go back with you no matter who, you madman…” Xu Chuo’s voice trembled, recalling Xie Zhimin’s seventeenth birthday.

At that birthday party, Xu Chuo, who couldn’t swim, accidentally fell into Xie Zhimin’s swimming pool.

After being fished out, Xu Chuo was soaking wet and apologized to Xie Zhimin in the crowd: “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to ruin your birthday party.”

Xie Zhimin didn’t say anything at the time, but followed him all the way and sneaked in while Xu Chuo was changing clothes, pressing him hard against the wall: “When you fell in just now, I was on the balcony on the second floor. I clearly saw that you didn’t fall by accident, it was on purpose.”

They attended the same high school, and because of Xie Lei, Xu Chuo still maintained politeness and distance from him at that time: “I’ve been staying up too late these two days, I was dizzy when I passed the swimming pool, and I thought the side was a bed of a dozen square meters… I’ve already said I’m sorry, if you’re still unhappy, I’ll compensate you as much as I can, if that doesn’t work, you can beat me up to vent your anger, just don’t hit my face.”

Xie Zhimin’s expression became excited, and as he wished, he beat him black and blue. Xu Chuo endured it without dodging or fighting back, thinking that if he endured it once, it would be over.

In the end, Xie Zhimin asked Xu Chuo: “Do you like being beaten?” Otherwise, why would Xu Chuo be kind to everyone else, but always deliberately provoke him to anger?

Xu Chuo buttoned up his shirt and glared at him, saying, “Are you crazy?” He thought, what’s wrong with this person? Who likes to be beaten for no reason?

Xie Zhimin didn’t believe it, thinking he had grasped a secret of Xu Chuo, and used it as a non-existent handle to blackmail him for many years.

In his first year of high school, Xu Chuo’s campus life was like hell. If he ignored Xie Zhimin, Xie Zhimin would use all his connections in the school to bully him. Anyone who stood on Xu Chuo’s side would suffer. Xu Chuo once saw his best friend put torn desiccant and correction fluid into his cup.

Xu Chuo reported it to the grade director, but it only resulted in pulling out a few irrelevant students to criticize them, or at most expelling a few innocent ones. The Xie family was one of the school’s shareholders, and all the electronic equipment in the school was provided by the Xie family free of charge.

Xu Chuo also sought help from his family. His father, Xu Mian, interrupted him after hearing the beginning and asked a question: “Then why does he only bully you? Doesn’t that mean you’re also wrong in some ways?”

Then Xu Chuo knew he should shut up. He had a hidden worry in his heart, feeling that if he pursued it further, Xu Mian would attribute the reason to him not learning to paint with Xie Lei. After that, he no longer had extra expectations for Xu Mian, as long as Xu Mian didn’t object to him painting, he was already satisfied.

In the end, Xu Chuo had no choice but to show weakness to Xie Zhimin. Showing weakness was the most efficient and least damaging way. At most, he would be dragged to the bathroom or the small forest, where Xie Zhimin would leave some marks on his body in unseen places. If he cooperated a little, those marks would be lighter and would disappear within a week.

Just like now. Damp heat hit the back of his neck, and Xu Chuo felt that Xie Zhimin’s teeth were about to bite down in the next second.