TSIBAMS Chapter 112
by VolareThe high school seniors’ winter vacation was about to shrink to nothing. Unlike previous years, Ye Xing felt incredibly calm this time.
He no longer brought up those unpleasant things with Fang Rong. He repeated his regular life, studying, actively doing housework, and even learning to cook by watching online tutorials, almost taking over all the cooking duties.
In addition, he took Fang Rong for psychological counseling once a week.
Occasionally, when he had free time, he would also take on some drawing jobs, but of course, he didn’t let Fang Rong know about it.
There were still some outstanding debts at home that weren’t urgent, and Fang Rong was at home resting, not working. With money only going out and none coming in, they would eventually not be able to cope.
Fortunately, there were no major expenses for the time being.
Ye Xing inserted his card into the ATM to check the balance. As usual, it only increased, not decreased—after all, the money he had saved had no immediate use. He had originally saved money for his art studio tuition…
Tuition?!
He suddenly realized.
Before, he couldn’t afford the tuition, and Qi Guang had secretly gone to the art studio to pay it for him!
Although he never asked him to pay it back, they had broken up after all… Normal couples would return expensive gifts after breaking up, and this was real money, and not a small amount.
Qi Guang’s personality would certainly not take the initiative to ask him for this money, but that didn’t mean he could accept it with peace of mind.
Ye Xing counted the balance on his card, his brows slightly furrowed.
Tsk, making money is as hard as pulling silk!
It had been so long and it was still not enough.
He calculated that he had a few small orders on hand that he could put together, plus the final payments for the ones he had already completed but hadn’t received. In another month, it would probably be enough to pay it back.
Thinking of this, he felt inexplicably nervous and a little bit excited. He couldn’t explain why he would have such emotions about “paying back money.” Maybe it was because he would have a clean slate, or maybe it was because his hopeless life could finally have some connection with Qi Guang.
Yes, although he didn’t want to admit it, the fact was—as the one who had been dumped, he was still hopelessly and humbly expecting an unrealistic future.
Although many times, especially when facing Fang Rong, this expectation made him struggle immensely.
But the sudden appearance of a “possible connection” made his heart, like a parched desert after a long drought, drink down this sweet rain without thinking.
But!
Damn it!
How could he call him and casually resolve the debt issue while pretending to be nonchalant? After all, he had once stupidly made a poisonous vow of “I’m a dog if I ever call you again,” which was clearly digging a pit for himself!
Ye Xing pulled out his card and put it into the hidden pocket of his clothes, pondering deeply for a while.
To avoid the pit he had dug himself, he decided to take a roundabout route and call Bai Shu.
“Ye Xing?” Bai Shu was a little surprised when he answered the phone. He glanced at Qi Guang, who was squatting next to him.
Qi Guang had his back to him and was drawing on a newly bought small blackboard, preparing to place it at the entrance of the 1984 bar as an advertisement. Hearing Bai Shu’s voice, he accidentally snapped a yellow chalk in half.
He nonchalantly smoothed the remaining chalk and continued to create on the blackboard.
Bai Shu cleared his throat a little unnaturally and continued, “Is there something you need… We all miss you… Pay back money? What tuition?”
Qi Guang raised his head.
Clearly, from those six short words, he quickly extracted the complete message.
Bai Shu spoke cautiously, his gaze never leaving the back of Qi Guang’s head, “He’s here right now…”
He’s right next to me, why don’t you talk to him directly?
Unfortunately, before Bai Shu could finish speaking, Qi Guang snatched the phone away and hung up.
He looked at Qi Guang, seemingly not surprised at all that he would do this.
Qi Guang didn’t seem like he was going to explain his actions either. After wiping the dust off the screen, he handed the phone back, “WeChat.”
“Okay.” Bai Shu wisely didn’t ask any more questions. After all, as a mutual friend between couples or exes who had quarreled or broken up, he should be aware of his role as a tool.
He found WeChat, opened it, scrolled down a bit, and clicked into Ye Xing’s chat box, then handed the phone to Qi Guang.
“Thanks.” Qi Guang wiped his hands on his pants, took the phone, and quickly typed a line of text on the keyboard.
-He said you don’t need to pay it back.
Ye Xing replied quickly.
-Then I’ll transfer the money to you, and you can give it to him.
Qi Guang frowned.
-Don’t transfer it to me, I won’t take it.
Qi Guang, damn you!
Ye Xing muttered softly, clutching his phone tightly, looking at the reply from the other side in the chat box with Bai Shu, his nose suddenly stinging with sadness.
If you’re pretending to be Bai Shu, can’t you be a little more professional?
Would Bai Shu speak in this tone? Would it kill him to be a little gentler?
Although he was complaining, a corner of his heart was filled with an indescribable satisfaction.
He rubbed his nose with the back of his hand and then typed a line of text and sent it.
-If you don’t take it, I’ll exchange it for cash and mail it to his house. If it gets lost, it’s on him. You tell him, this is money I’ve earned by drawing, stroke by stroke, in the past six months. He can throw it away and not care! But once I send it, I will be at peace with myself and we will be even.
As soon as he sent it, he realized that he had been impulsive. Why did he have to impulsively type the words “we will be even”?
How could they ever be even?
He clenched his fist and punched his forehead twice.
At this moment, the phone vibrated.
-Whatever you want.
Very good, the last clue related to him was successfully cut off by his own impulsiveness and clumsy words.
Taking advantage of the fact that everyone had just started school and hadn’t had time to get back into the rhythm, and that the teachers were lenient and hadn’t started assigning homework like crazy, Ye Xing took on many drawing jobs again. It wasn’t because he was provoked by Qi Guang’s emotionless and somewhat impatient “whatever you want.” If he had to explain it, it was probably because he had already said that he would pay back the money, and if he dragged his feet and didn’t do it, it would be very embarrassing.
Fortunately, he often worked with this client, had completely understood their preferences, and had long ago established a complete and systematic workflow. Although this way of completing the work was a little bit of a shortcut, it was, after all, a matter of earning money. Finding the simplest method while satisfying the other party was a good thing for both sides.
Otherwise, he would be dividing his energy between studying and working, and had already been late several times because he slept too late at night.
In one particular morning study session, after he was late again, he was surprised not to be met with the head teacher’s “you’re hopeless” glare, but rather with a lively scene—several classmates were distributing chocolates.
One of the girls wasn’t wearing a school uniform, and from her actions and those of the students around her, it was obvious that she was the main character.
“What’s going on?” Ye Xing asked his deskmate as he sat down, putting his homework on the table to organize it.
“Xiaotong is going abroad. She won’t be coming to class tomorrow. She bought some things for us,” his deskmate said with a sigh of regret, “From now on, our class will have one less candidate for class beauty.”
“Still a candidate?” Ye Xing took out his homework from his bag and placed it on the table to organize it, “How many years have you been a candidate and haven’t been chosen?”
“Hehe…” his deskmate pulled out a test paper from Ye Xing’s desk and started copying it without hesitation, “Elementary school students are the ones who have to choose!”
Ye Xing shook his head, “You dare to copy my homework.”
As soon as he finished speaking, a large handful of chocolates fell onto his desk. Ye Xing looked up and saw a sweet-looking female classmate smiling at him, then she handed him a notebook with a leather cover, tied with a thin hemp rope into a bow. It looked like it had been carefully wrapped.
“Ye Xing, this is for you,” the female classmate said.
Several of the classmates behind her who were helping to carry things, who had been making a lot of noise before, suddenly fell silent and started to snicker. Soon, the other students began to jeer, “Why does Ye Xing have a separate gift?”
“Yeah, yeah!”
“Ahhh, the chocolate in my hand suddenly doesn’t taste good anymore!”
“Ahhh, so these are wedding candies!”
Unfortunately, the person who said the last sentence got hit by a piece of chalk thrown by the teacher.
Fortunately, the chorus of jeers stopped there.
The little girl’s face instantly turned red to the roots of her ears.
“Thank you,” Ye Xing said, ignoring the gazes from all directions that held various expectations, he took the notebook and politely unwrapped it.
On the title page was written “Wishing you a bright future” and the signature was “Wu Tong.”
Ye Xing didn’t have much interaction with the opposite sex in his class. This Wu Tong was probably the only female classmate he had a bit more contact with. The main reason was that her mother owned a coffee shop near Ye Xing’s house, and she would sometimes go there after school. So, occasionally, they would meet on the bus and exchange a few words.
“I heard you’re going abroad?” Ye Xing asked.
“Yeah, it’s immigration. My dad’s restaurant over there is getting bigger and bigger, and my mom wanted to go help a long time ago,” Wu Tong said, also braving the countless “loving” gazes from the class, trying her best to be natural, proper, and humorous. “Maybe they see there’s no hope for me with these bad grades, so they started applying for visas last year, and the visas have been approved, so it’s almost time to leave.”
“So soon, what about the coffee shop? I remember the business was pretty good,” Ye Xing asked.
Although they occasionally chatted on the bus, he had never taken the initiative to start a conversation, and he had just asked two questions in a row.
Perhaps it was because he had received a gift that was more than what others had received, or perhaps it was because she was leaving, but no matter what the reason, Wu Tong was quite surprised and secretly pleased.
“We’ll see if we can sell it. If not, we’ll just take everything out and rent it out. My mom has already listed the shop. The real estate agent said that the location is prime, so it should be easy to rent out.”
Before they could have a chance to chat more, the English teacher started urging her, “Xiaotong, hurry up a little bit, we’re about to start dictation.”
“Okay!” Wu Tong looked back at the podium with an apologetic expression.
“Thank you for your gift,” Ye Xing said to her in a low voice, “I also wish you a bright future and smooth sailing.”