Chapter 15
by VolareHe didn’t entirely believe Wang Mingan’s story. He was a law student, and he trusted evidence more than empty words.
But Wang Mingan was clearly prepared, taking out his phone from his pocket to show him: “See for yourself.”
At the top was July 5th, the date Ling Sheng had actively added Wang Mingan on WeChat, and Wang Mingan had accepted.
There weren’t many messages between them. Jiang Chen couldn’t possibly rummage through Wang Mingan’s WeChat, but he could see the messages Ling Sheng had sent.
Ling Sheng: 【Your muscles look great.】
Wang Mingan: 【I’ve been working hard for a long time, but this compliment makes it worth it.】
Ling Sheng: 【Interested in being a model for the company?】
The first time Ling Sheng met him, he also asked if he wanted to be a model. Was this some kind of occupational hazard?
Wang Mingan casually swiped down to show the next message.
Ling Sheng: 【XX Hotel, Room 1815, just come on up.】
Wang Mingan: 【Okay, can it be a little later? 9:30? I have something to take care of today.】
Ling Sheng: 【Okay, I’m going to take a shower first.】
“After I went, he was pretty direct, but I’m straight, so of course I didn’t agree. I didn’t bother with him after that.”
Following that were a few scattered messages from different dates.
Wang Mingan: 【Bro, I’m not short on cash. I won’t do it.】
Ling Sheng: 【Okay】
Although these messages didn’t explicitly mention anything, Jiang Chen’s expression changed. Ling Sheng had only been in Jiang City for four months, and they had only been dating for half a month. Naturally, he wouldn’t pry into Ling Sheng’s past relationships, and those were all things of the past anyway. He wouldn’t be so petty. He knew Wang Mingan was trying to provoke him, but he had to admit, it was working.
“Can’t get the main course, so you have to find a substitute. People who have been in society for so long have a lot more tricks up their sleeves than we do, so I’m doing this for your own good.” Wang Mingan keenly sensed the change in Jiang Chen’s expression and felt a surge of joy.
If homosexuality didn’t bother him, he didn’t believe this wouldn’t work, especially since no man could tolerate being treated as a replacement, especially someone like Jiang Chen, who had been admired all his life. Wang Mingan felt the depression that had been suppressed in the first half of the game dissipate, and he stretched his shoulders, preparing to go back on the court.
Behind him, Jiang Chen’s gaze became even deeper. Wang Mingan was feeling triumphant, his steps light, but he hadn’t taken more than a few steps before he heard Jiang Chen’s voice behind him: “Thanks for the heads up.”
He turned around and saw Jiang Chen smiling at him: “Your goal was indeed achieved.”
When the second half started, Jiang Chen’s aura was noticeably off. Even his teammates noticed, but this wasn’t the kind of “off” that meant he was playing poorly, but the kind that meant he was playing exceptionally.
It was just an inter-school friendly match. Winning was important, but they also had to save some face for the other team, so even if the score was high, they wouldn’t make it too lopsided. But in the second half, Jiang Chen was practically dominating the other team, especially Wang Mingan. He wasn’t just failing to shine; he wasn’t even being given any face at all.
As a result of his exceptional performance, his teammates were also fired up. The whole team was as excited as if they’d been injected with chicken blood, overwhelming the other team to the point where they almost gave up in the last five minutes.
The score difference had already widened to thirty-five points.
They had barely scored at all in the second half.
“Damn it, Jiang Chen, if you want to go crazy, go take it out on Ling Sheng. Why are you taking it out on me!” Wang Mingan dribbled the ball, facing Jiang Chen, and couldn’t help but explode: “Damn it, I’m straight. Being harassed by a homosexual is already bad enough. I kindly remind you, and you come looking for trouble with me. Are you sick in the head?”
Jiang Chen didn’t say anything, taking advantage of his agitation to find an opening, neatly stealing the ball, dribbling past, and shooting a layup.
“Jiang Senior is so handsome!!!”
“It’s in! Damn, this game is practically Jiang Chen’s personal show!”
“Jiang Senior, we love you!!!”
The deafening cheers ended the game. The exhausted players, who had been panting for the whole match, picked up Jiang Chen and threw him into the air, cheering for a long time before putting him down and going to shake hands with the opposing team.
Wang Mingan was so angry he wanted to punch him. Jiang Chen shook his hand: “You guys were also very strong.”
What was someone who had widened the score difference to forty points by the end of the game saying to him?
It was pure mockery.
Wang Mingan was fuming.
Hua Shao rushed over, seeing Wang Mingan’s bad expression, and cheerfully comforted him: “Hey, we can play together again in the future. Giving it your all is the greatest respect for your opponent. Don’t worry about it.”
At this moment, a girl ran over, wearing a cheerleader uniform, as pretty as a beautiful girl from a manga. She handed Wang Mingan a towel and water: “You must be tired. Have some water.”
Wang Mingan took the water and drank it, looking at Jiang Chen with resentment and anger. Seeing Ling Sheng and his group coming over, he sneered, grabbed his girlfriend, and turned to leave.
There were three games today. There was only one in the morning. After lunch, there would be matches between two other schools. This time, there was another venue at another school also competing. The team that won today would have another match tomorrow, competing for the championship.
Coco had something to do with the children in the afternoon. Tonio planned to watch the afternoon games, saying he wanted to scout for handsome guys. Coco even thoughtfully found an excuse for Ling Sheng: “You haven’t been back for seven years. You can take advantage of today and have Xiao Chen take you to reminisce about campus life.”
Tonio said he was on a diet and wanted to go out for a low-fat meal. Jiang Chen took Ling Sheng to eat at the cafeteria, but first went to Hua Shao’s dorm to take a shower.
Hua Shao and the others were too lazy to go, saying they had classes in the afternoon anyway, so they didn’t go.
Jiang Chen stood under the shower, letting the water run over him, but he was still thinking about what Wang Mingan had said.
Although he knew it was something that had happened before, Ling Sheng was 28 this year, it was normal to have had a few relationships, and it was nothing to pursue someone you liked. They kissed on their first date. He didn’t seem to be too concerned about these things, so even if something had really happened in the past…
Damn it.
Jiang Chen forcefully wiped his face. This wave of self-comfort actually had the opposite effect.
Ling Sheng sat in the dorm room waiting for Jiang Chen. The summer air in the men’s dorm was always filled with the smell of sweat, but this dorm at least didn’t have too strong of a foot odor and was relatively clean. Compared to when he lived there before, it seemed to have been renovated.
The sound of the shower stopped after a while. Guys were quick in the shower. Jiang Chen didn’t want to make Ling Sheng wait too long.
He came out already changed into clean clothes, his hair still wet. He casually wiped it a few times with a towel and said, “Are you hungry? Should I take you to eat first?”
Ling Sheng touched his wet hair: “Dry it a little.”
In this weather, his hair would dry in a moment. There was no need to dry it at all.
Jiang Chen shook his head: “No need, it’ll dry in a bit.”
Ling Sheng rubbed his head: “I’ll dry it for you.”
“Oh.” Jiang Chen turned around to get the hair dryer for him.
He sat in the chair, and Ling Sheng stood behind him, drying his hair. His slender fingers went into his short hair, like giving him a scalp massage, the movements light and gentle. Jiang Chen felt very comfortable being touched, but it dried quickly.
Ling Sheng unplugged the hair dryer, put it back, and said softly, “Winning too easily doesn’t give you a sense of accomplishment?”
It took Jiang Chen a second to react before saying, “No, I was a bit harsh today. I shouldn’t have done that.”
He was angry at Wang Mingan, but now that he thought about it, he had indeed gone too far.
“What did he say to you?” Ling Sheng turned to face him, half-leaning against the edge of the desk, looking down at him: “To make you so angry.”
Jiang Chen was still conflicted. He rarely acted like this. Wang Mingan had shown him the chat logs, but the content didn’t directly suggest that Ling Sheng had had anything with him. He should trust solid evidence. This information was vague and ambiguous, even though Wang Mingan had said that nothing had happened in the end. But the thought that Ling Sheng had also approached him, had a good impression of him, and might have even pursued him made him very uncomfortable.
Extremely annoyed.
Jiang Chen sat in the chair. He needed to look up to see Ling Sheng’s face. Ling Sheng didn’t have any particular expression, still calm, gentle.
“Do you know Wang Mingan?” Jiang Chen asked.
“Yes,” Ling Sheng replied honestly. “He has a good physique. Some of the company’s sports series are suitable for him to model, but he only came to shoot once and then never came back.”
His openness made it difficult for Jiang Chen to continue asking. He was worried that Ling Sheng would think he was being petty. He lowered his eyes and touched his hair uncomfortably: “I can get like that too.”
Ling Sheng raised his eyebrows slightly, sensing something, and a smile appeared on his lips: “What are you comparing yourself to him for?”
Jiang Chen pursed his lips, with a hint of defiance: “If you like that kind of body, I can get it.”
A hand reached over and grabbed his chin, lifting his head up. Ling Sheng looked straight into his eyes with a smile: “What did he say to you?”
Jiang Chen knew what was wrong with him. He was jealous.
Ling Sheng had accepted his confession quickly, so if he really liked Wang Mingan, he might have actively pursued him.
The thought that Ling Sheng would actively pursue someone else made his teeth ache.
Ling Sheng wasn’t wearing glasses today, just contact lenses, transparent ones that fully revealed his eyes, a deep brown color, clear like a piece of amber.
Jiang Chen grabbed his hand and stood up, leaning forward and kissing Ling Sheng’s lips.
Their kisses were always gentle and lingering, Ling Sheng always guiding him, but Jiang Chen was a little impatient this time. He wrapped his arm around Ling Sheng’s waist, giving him support, and put his other hand under his arm, his large palm pressing against his back, pulling him tightly into his arms, urgently demanding a kiss.
Ling Sheng was a little surprised at first, but quickly indulged his movements, even responding actively to appease him.
The atmosphere in the empty dorm room quickly heated up. The body wash on Jiang Chen’s body wasn’t his usual one, it didn’t have much of a scent, but his clothes had the familiar scent of laundry detergent, very refreshing.
It wasn’t until he had kissed enough that he let go. Ling Sheng didn’t move either, allowing him to hold him tightly, resting his head on his shoulder: “He said you liked him, even pursued him, and said that because he rejected you, you found me.”
“And you believed him?” Ling Sheng stroked his head. The area around his lips was red, showing how forcefully Jiang Chen had been kissing him.
Jiang Chen felt childish, but couldn’t help but be angry: “I don’t believe him.”
“You don’t believe him, but you’re still this jealous.” Ling Sheng hugged the person leaning on him: “I played ball with him twice, and thought he was suitable for shooting the company’s sports series, but he came for a test shoot once, and then he refused because we couldn’t agree on a price. As for pursuing, I did have some good feelings, but I didn’t pursue him.”
“You like his body.”
“I like your body.”
Jiang Chen was just comforted by these words when he felt a hand on his abs. His whole body tensed, his muscles instantly tightening even more, becoming even more sensitive.
The hand had somehow slipped in under his shirt, against his skin, fingertips slowly tracing through the grooves of his abs, both itchy and numb, like a slight electrical current, shooting up his spine, making his whole head numb.
Ling Sheng’s satisfied sigh reached his ear: “I liked you the first time I saw you.”