Chapter 17

Chapter 17

“It's just an exchange program,” Shi Zeqing said indifferently.

“Studying is secondary. The real issue is that there are no girls. H University is truly worthy of being called a monk's temple.”

Hui Jiang's tone became extremely resentful.

“And yet that was the school you chose. I told you to come with me to B University...”

“I wanted to, too. What was I supposed to do if I couldn't get in?”

Hui Jiang interrupted him.

“If you're coming to H City, just buy a ticket yourself. Once you arrive at the bus station, I'll go pick you up.”

“No.”

The other party refused decisively.

“Hui Jiang, just come home once. I think Auntie and Uncle really miss you.”

“Bullshit. Classes only started less than a month ago.”

Hui Jiang saw through him at a glance.

“You brat just want to trick me into helping you carry your luggage.”

“Hey, you said before that you'd always give in to me.”

The moment that was brought up, Hui Jiang felt a headache coming on.

“That was when we were kids.”

“That was a promise you made, and there was no expiration date on it.”

“...I...”

Hui Jiang glanced at Hao Tu in the dormitory and hesitated greatly.

Seeing that he was not taking the bait, Shi Zeqing switched to an emotional approach.

“I really miss those days. You were always the one leading me across the street. Whenever I said I didn't know how to do something, you'd immediately come help me.”

“Enough, enough.”

Hui Jiang could never resist that tactic.

Letting out a sigh, he said,

“I'll do my best. It depends on whether my teammate agrees.”

“Oh?”

Shi Zeqing sounded suspicious.

“Really? From the way you're talking, you seem pretty annoyed with him.”

“He's alright, I guess.”

Hui Jiang answered dryly.

“Hui—Jiang—get—in—here.”

Hao Tu's voice suddenly came from inside the dormitory.

Startled, Hui Jiang quickly hung up.

“I won't talk anymore. The dormitory is about to turn off the lights.”

“Huh?”

Beep beep beep—

Before Shi Zeqing could react, the call had already ended.

He smiled and returned the phone to Mother Hui, but the smile never reached his eyes.

“W-What?”

Hui Jiang hurried back into the dormitory.

Hao Tu gestured toward the computer screen.

It was a bridge design blueprint.

And not just any blueprint—it was a completed design.

The annotations and labels on it were detailed to an almost absurd degree.

Just looking at it made Hui Jiang's scalp tingle.

His knees nearly gave out, and a feeling of reverence rose within him.

“Th-This... this... when did you make this?”

Hui Jiang was stammering.

Secretly estimating the gap between himself and Hao Tu, he regretfully discovered that their skill levels were probably already separated by a river as vast as the Yellow River.

Yet Hao Tu's expression was extremely serious.

“I made it with that person a few weeks ago.”

“That person?”

Hui Jiang glanced sideways.

“Don't tell me it's Cui Xingwen.”

“Mhm.”

The moment Hao Tu nodded, Hui Jiang's heart immediately sank halfway into the abyss.

He forced a dry smile.

“No wonder it's so impressive. It turns out it was made by two great masters.”

“But unfortunately, I won't be using this design for the competition.”

Hao Tu narrowed his eyes.

“Cui Xingwen also has a copy. Even if he doesn't use it, I still don't want to use it. So the reason I'm showing you this is because I want you and me to create a design that's even better than this one.”

Crack.

Hui Jiang felt as though something inside him had shattered.

After swallowing nervously for a long time, he finally spoke.

“Better than this? You and me?”

Hao Tu looked at him and nodded.

Brother, what exactly gave you the confidence to think I can draw something better than this?!

Hui Jiang was in despair.

Inside, he was crying like a storm.

He was just an ordinary college student drifting through life.

Did Hao Tu have some kind of misunderstanding about him?

“What does that expression mean?”

Hao Tu zoomed in on the design.

“This thing isn't flawless. For example, here...”

A string of technical explanations followed.

Hui Jiang couldn't understand a thing.

“And over here...”

More technical explanations.

Still couldn't understand.

The muscles around Hui Jiang's eyes were beginning to twitch.

Yet Hao Tu continued speaking.

“So, as long as we improve the points I just mentioned, we'll definitely be able to surpass this design.”

“I...”

“Is there anything else you don't understand?”

Hao Tu turned his head to look at him.

“I'll send you a copy. Study it whenever you have free time.”

“Hao Tu, actually...”

His request to go home became lodged in his throat.

No matter what, he could not force it out.

“I haven't even read the competition rules yet.”

“What did you say?”

Hao Tu raised an eyebrow.

So frightened that Hui Jiang immediately lunged forward and grabbed the competition poster.

“I'll go study it right now, haha.”

I'm dead.

I'm dead.

Returning to his seat, he lifelessly tugged at his hair.

Forget going home.

Even those seven days of holiday would probably be spent enduring Hao Tu's verbal abuse...

Hui Jiang carefully read the poster from beginning to end and roughly understood the competition rules.

This year's bridge design competition was similar to previous years.

Participants could design a bridge for any river in the world.

The freedom was extremely high.

If that was the case...

While pondering, he opened his computer and searched for the previous year's championship entry, then compared it with the design Hao Tu had sent him.

Something wasn't right.

There was something that felt off.

One after another, he searched for the championship designs from several years and placed them side by side for comparison.

The longer he looked, the more tightly his brows furrowed.

He continued researching until eleven at night.

Only after the campus internet shut down did Hui Jiang turn off the computer and go to sleep.

Lying in bed, he continuously replayed the designs he had seen in his mind.

The next day, Hao Tu tossed him a stack of books related to bridge construction.

The moment Hui Jiang opened one, the densely packed text nearly scared him to death.

To make matters worse, two of the books were entirely in English.

The complicated technical terminology almost made him cry.

And Hao Tu had become perverse to the extreme.

In order to make sure Hui Jiang finished all those books, from that day onward he followed him everywhere.

To class.

Out of class.

To the library.

The two of them even scheduled their laundry time together.

Hui Jiang was mentally and physically exhausted by the arrangement.

But he had to admit that over the past few days, he had learned more than he normally would in an entire month.

“See this part here? First do it like this...”

Hao Tu was demonstrating the process.

“Did you see it clearly?”

Hui Jiang nodded vaguely.

“More or less.”

“Good. Then demonstrate this one.”

“Oh, okay.”

Picking up a pen, Hui Jiang braced himself and began drawing on a blank sheet of paper.

One minute later.

“Damn! Did you buy your way into H University or something?”

Even the usually polite Hao Tu was so angry that he started swearing. He raised a hand and snatched away Hui Jiang's pen.

“Watch. You're supposed to draw it like this... How can you be this stupid?”

“Got it, got it. I'll definitely get the next part right.”

Hui Jiang had been scolded so much that he no longer had any temper left.

Over the past few days, he had suffered more than a hundred blows to his confidence.

Habit was truly a terrifying thing.

Holding the pen, he began drawing again according to Hao Tu's instructions.

Back when he was in school, Hui Jiang had never thought of himself as stupid.

In fact, his science scores had always ranked first in his grade.

Before he knew it, six days had passed.

Today happened to be Sunday.

Tomorrow was October 1st.

Departments with lighter course loads had already seen more than half their students leave.

Even the Civil Engineering Department had shown unusual mercy, canceling all afternoon classes.

Any student with a functioning brain was already packing their luggage and preparing to go home.

After returning to the dormitory, Hui Jiang once again cast envious looks toward his two roommates.

Fang Hao noticed and asked,

“Huh? Neither you nor Hao Tu are going home?”

“Not sure about him. I definitely want to go home.”

For the past few days, Hui Jiang had been unable to find a suitable opportunity to ask Hao Tu for permission.

“But that design competition...”

Fang Hao suggested,

“Uh... you guys could work on it from home. It's not like there's no internet. Just start a video call.”

Ling Yudong nodded.

“The dorm leader's suggestion isn't bad.”

Taking advantage of Hao Tu's absence, he quietly added,

“Hui Jiang, don't accommodate Hao Tu too much. If you want to go home, then go home. At worst, just come back to school a few days early.”

Imitating Hao Tu's tone, Hui Jiang said,

“Heh. How naive.”

He pushed up his glasses.

“Actually, I've already bought the ticket.”

“Wow, that's bold.”

Ling Yudong gave him a thumbs-up.

“Let's hope Hao Tu doesn't get too angry.”

“What are you talking about? I'm not planning to run away.”

Hui Jiang pulled out his laptop bag.

“Sigh.”

Fang Hao laughed.

“Just communicate properly. I think Hao Tu is actually pretty reasonable.”

“Then if he explodes later, you guys have to help hold him back!”

“Sure.”

“Okay.”

The two roommates answered in unison, instantly making Hui Jiang feel much more at ease.

However, Hao Tu didn't return to the dormitory until six in the evening.

By then, both roommates had already left to catch their transportation.

Even Hui Jiang himself had been forced to cancel his ticket because he had exceeded the refund deadline.

“Hm? Have you eaten yet?”

Hao Tu placed a takeout container on Hui Jiang's desk.

Seeing his listless expression, he couldn't help laughing.

“What's wrong with you? I haven't seen you for one afternoon, and you've already wilted?”

Hui Jiang shifted his gaze from the takeout box to his roommate's handsome face.

“Where did you go this afternoon?”

“The department director wanted me.”

Hao Tu narrowed his eyes and rubbed his shoulder.

It was obviously an ordinary action, yet somehow it looked exceptionally attractive when he did it.

“I spent the entire afternoon in the office. You know how it is—working as free labor for the professors.”

“Sigh.”

“Why are you sighing again? I brought you spicy hotpot. Eat it while it's hot.”

After spending several days together, Hao Tu had more or less figured out Hui Jiang's tastes and preferences.

Hui Jiang opened the plastic bag.

“Hao Tu, I want to go home.”

He had finally said it.

Raising his head, he cautiously observed Hao Tu's expression.

Only to discover that Hao Tu's face instantly darkened several shades.

“So?”

The icy voice made the entire dormitory seem several degrees colder.

So... so terrifying!

Hui Jiang felt a chill creep down his back.

He could only force himself to continue.

“I want...”

He hesitated for several seconds.

Finally, he gathered his courage and looked directly into Hao Tu's eyes.

“I want to invite you to stay at my house for a few days!”

“...”

It felt like he had just said something extraordinary.

A deathly silence followed.

The two stared at each other.

Even the atmosphere became awkward.

Holy crap!

What exactly am I saying?!

I scared Hao Tu so badly that he won't even look at me anymore.

Don't tell me he thinks I'm secretly in love with him again!

“Um, I...”

That's not what I meant.

“Enough.”

Hao Tu turned his face away, making it impossible to see his expression clearly.

“What time?”

This time it was Hui Jiang's turn to be confused.

“Huh? What do you mean, what time?”

Hao Tu pinched his earlobe.

“What time is the train?”

Brother, I haven't even booked the tickets yet.

Although that was the truth, Hui Jiang knew he absolutely could not say it.

“Tomorrow's. I was afraid you wouldn't agree, so I was thinking about canceling the tickets.”

But why had Hao Tu suddenly agreed?

As expected of a top student.

For the sake of the design competition, he was actually willing to go home with him.

So it didn't matter where they worked as long as they could continue preparing?

A mysterious blush appeared on Hao Tu's face.

“No need to cancel them.”

After speaking, he walked toward the balcony.

Blushing?

I must have imagined it.

Hui Jiang heard the sound of running water from outside and couldn't make sense of the situation.

Whatever.

He needed to book the tickets immediately.

If Hao Tu found out he had lied, it would absolutely be the end of the world.

He had just used WeChat to buy two tickets for noon the next day when Hao Tu came back.

Hui Jiang hurriedly put away his phone and continued eating his spicy hotpot.

What he didn't expect was that the first thing Hao Tu said upon entering was:

“Are we staying at your house?”