Chapter 5

The manager of the cafe told them that, that day, after Qin Fang and his buddies left, Xing Yan also left pretty quickly, without really bothering with Zhou Siming. They basically didn’t talk, and Zhou Siming left after resting in the shop himself.

But however they were, Qin Fang didn’t really care, since he was preoccupied with other matters.

Qin Fang went back to Hua Tong’s dorm, as it was closer. There, Hua Tong asked him, “Are you really okay?”

“No.” Qin Fang shook his head as he put his hands on his abdomen to assess the damage, “I bet it’s gonna bruise tonight.”

“It’s fine if it bruises,” Hua Tong replied as he handed Qin Fang a bottle of water, “As long as you’re fine on the inside.”

Qin Fang opened the bottle and gulped some down, and then lowered his head to look at something on his phone. Hua Tong sat across from him, in his roommate’s chair, asking, “When did you go find him, and why didn’t you tell me?”

Qin Fang didn’t reply, as his attention was all on his phone below.

“Why?” Hua Tong prompted.

Qin Fang put down his phone after a bit, but didn’t say anything after, falling into a daze. Hua Tong, slightly worried, continued to ask him what was up. Finally, Qin Fang turned his head to look at Hua Tong, and suddenly smiled.

His smile kind of creeped Hua Tong out: “Why are you smiling? He didn’t hit your head while you were fighting.”

Qin Fang stopped, but raised his head upwards and covered his face with his hands, his voice low, “Tong Ge, this fight, well… had its purpose.”

Hua Tong, from looking at him, could guess how things went. He didn’t say anything more, but he got up and went to check Qin Fang’s phone. The phone still was on the WeChat message page between Qin Fang and Gong Qi, where Qin Fang had asked, [Do you know Zhou Siming and Xing Yan.]

Gong Qi just replied with, [Sorry.]

Hua Tong hadn’t yet put the phone down when another message came in, [Sorry, Qin Fang.]

Hua Tong frowned, his mouth creased into an unhappy line, internally cursing out the girl.

“She said ‘sorry’ again,” Hua Tong told Qin Fang, “I’ll delete her?”

Qin Fang didn’t reply, only making the slightest “en” sound, and then sat up straight and let out a long breath of air.

“Feel bad?” Hua Tong asked carefully. The entire way back from the cafe, Hua Tong didn’t really dare to bring the thing up, so without Qin Fang’s prompt he didn’t mention it either.

“I don’t feel bad,” Qin Fang shook his head, his expression a little hard to describe with simple emotions, “…. Just embarrassed.”

It was quite embarrassing for Qin Fang, really, since he felt like he had never been so embarrassed during his entire lifetime. He went after a girl who already had a boyfriend, inviting someone to splatter green paint on his care. If the paint thing was something that someone did on their own and they fought over that, Qin Fang wouldn’t feel bad at all. But to fight with someone else over this type of reason, Qin Fang really didn’t feel great about that.

Hua Tong Also felt that this entire ordeal was quite embarrassing, but it wasn’t like it was Qin Fang’s fault. He returned to his roommate’s chair, saying, “This type of unlucky thing kinda fell down from the sky and smashed into you. When you started pursuing her you didn’t know that she wasn’t single, did she say that at all? If she did say so you wouldn’t have tried at all.”

Gong Qi, indeed, didn’t say anything. When Qin Fang had asked her if she was single or not, she nodded.

But it wasn’t like he could explain the whole thing like that, since in the eyes of others, he had really done something disgusting. Qin Fang wouldn’t spend the effort on that anyways, since he had never become an item with Gong Qi, so other people would of course think that it was a one sided pursuit by him, and had nothing to do with Gong Qi. Finally, Qin Fang wouldn’t do anything like trying to shift the blame on Gong Qi, since both sides were technically at fault and there was no point in dirtying the girl’s reputation like that anymore.

So, just like Qin Fang promised Xing Yan at the cafe, if it was all true, then he would admit and accept it.

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“I’m really done with you,” Hua Tong felt sorry for his brother but wanted to laugh, “Do you have a curse with love or relationships or something?”

“Maybe.” Qin Fang nodded.

Regarding Qin Fang’s relationship status, Hua Tong always felt confused. Qin Fang, from when he was quite small, really, was never a traditionally obedient kid. Qin Fang had started goig after pretty girls in middle school, and of course continued that habit in high school. There were times when he pursued someone, there were times when someone pursued him, but none were really ever considered successful. And even if they did get together for the time being, Qin Fang would almost certainly part with them in the next month or so, never having a sustained relationship.

Hua Tong would sometimes also get into relationships, but at least his could last a year or so, not like Qin Fang, who usually parted with them real quick. He used to say that Qin Fang didn’t have a heart, since usually after one fell apart he would just find another one, kinda like a scum guy. But Qin Fang didn’t think that the adjective was right for him, since he just went with the flow, and if they drifted apart, it wasn’t anything huge.

“I think you should just be single and calm down for a bit,” Hua Tong stated. “This one was not successful at all and you already have a target on your back, so just don’t go out and find trouble.”

Qin Fang cursed at him, but he himself found the whole situation laughable. He wasn’t really committed to starting a relationship anyways, since he found that being single also meant he was free. Before, he had just thought that Gong Qi was up his alley and just asked for some contact information. If a guy gets a girl’s contact information, that means that he’s basically halfway there, and if the girl didn’t have any thoughts then they just wouldn’t give it to anyone.

Well, Hua Tong had already deleted Gong Qi’s contact information for Qin Fang, and they probably will not contact each other anymore.

After this entire thing, Qin Fang really didn’t want to start any relationship, as he was annoyed and tired of it.

Qin Fang never liked to take anything lying down, so usually, if he was kicked like that, he would surely get retribution. However, he wasn’t unreasonable, and if he stood at the opposite view point, he could see that he was overstepping boundaries and doing unethical stuff. Like, for example, if one day someone started pursuing Hua Tong’s girlfriend, he could totally do something like that, or even worse.

So, after two days Qinf Fang asked his only two friends in the Chemistry Institute to bring Zhou Siming ten thousand yuan. After all, after his bucket of glue, the guy’s computer was undoubtedly gone, so after he returned the money for the computer, Qin Fang considered the case to be closed. That kick that he took was what he deserved, so he just let it go.

Afterwards, Qin Fang grew more passive, or perhaps even a little depressed. Mainly, he just still felt embarrassed over the whole ordeal. Our Fang Ge did fight a lot of fights, but it was his first time fighting someone over a girl.

“Don’t feel bad, Fang Ge, if you want to find a girlfriend I can introduce one for you.”

Qin Fang was sitting on the sofa, boredly watching Hua Tong play pool with someone else. Xiaopeng sat beside him, waiting his term, feeling good about comforting his friend, “Really, my girlfriend has two friends that are single. They are all nice and pretty.”

“I’m not short on love,” Qin Fang made a no gesture with his hands to get Xiaopeng to shut up, “No need.”

“Well, if you change your mind do come to me,” Xiaopeng patted his head, “I’m definitely reliable.”

“Thanks.” Qin Fang didn’t even lift his gaze. It made Qin Fang more tired, knowing that Dong Xiaopeng from the school next door learned of his embarrassing ordeal.

Dong Xiaopeng came over today with two friends, all of whom were good friends with Hua Tong and Qin Fang in their high school days. Problem was, he only had okay grades, so after the entrance examinations he went to a second ranked school near them. Still, they maintained their friendship, with Dong Xiaopeng occasionally coming over for dinner.

Hua Tong turned his head around and called, “Don’t worry about it, Peng, if our Fang Ge wants to find one he doesn’t need you. Do you think that his charms are for nothing or what?”

“No,” Dong Xiaopeng shook his head repeatedly, “My Fang Ge’s visuals have no question.”

After he said that, though, Hua Tong could only laugh, “See, Fang Ge, you are only left with your visuals now.”

“Why don’t you shut up if you’re playing,” Qin Fang said as he looked upwards and closed his eyes.

It was a little stupid occurence, with no one reporting it to the school, so after two weeks passed incident wasn’t really brought up again. Especially since the two people involved were from different fields, no one really thought of them together again. And Qin Fang, after a few days of feeling down in the dumps, returned to being active again, without that issue plaguing his heart.

But, isn’t there a saying? Coincidences that you don’t that you don’t want to happen will always occur. Even if you don’t want to meet someone, if fate wishes it, then don’t attempt to run away from it.

For this semester, Qin Fang’s schedule was set to have odd and even weeks. On the odd weeks, he had a schedule packed with classes, but on the even weeks, he had less to do. As both of his roommates were juniors and Shen Dengke was preparing for his grad school exams, they basically spent all of their time at the library. When Qin Fang didn’t have class and wasn’t out and about, he would go to the library and help his roommates get a spot at a table. He didn’t wish to take the grad school exams and really didn’t feel like putting too much effort on his studies, but he wasn’t against just going to the library, sitting down and playing with his phone.

That day, Qin Fang had taken Shen Dengke’s water bottle and went to the library early to get a spot for him. As he was early, he got a spot at a table in the main room of the fourth floor. The fourth floor had a large window, resulting in great lighting, and so after Qin Fang sat down, he took a picture and sent it to Shen Dengke in their dorm chat: [Bright, right?]

Shen Dengke replied, [So bright, memeda 1 ]

Qin Fang smiled as he typed, [Don’t kiss me, I swear you think I’m placing a green hat on you too.]

After that message, he sent an @ for Chen Ke.

Qin Fang just sat there and played with his phone for a while, but he grew bored, so he thought that he would get himself a book to read.

After taking a quick walk, he found a copy of A Brief History of The World . He could get through some of it and learn some history before Shen Dengke came.

Qin Fang took the book back to the place he settled at. Approaching it from afar, he saw someone sitting across from him. That person had a baseball cap on, with a black denim jacket. Qin Fang could see this person’s back, and when he walked slightly closer he could see this person’s neck. Qin Fang actually lamented internally about how pale this guy’s neck was.

Still, after noting down these observations he returned to his seat and sat down.

He was pretty used to coming here already, so it wasn’t like someone sitting across from him was extremely new. Qin Fang looked down at the book and flipped through the table of contents, then looked up and around as he yawned.

However, his chain of actions did not proceed smoothly, as after he surveyed half the place his gaze got stuck.

The guy sitting across from him was watching him.

Well, fuck.

Qin Fang couldn’t help but curse in his head. What the hell was this script writing for his life?

This was the third time Qin Fang had met this person’s gaze.

The first time, Qin Fang had also displayed his own arrogant and uncouth nature.

The second time, although Qin Fang had felt a little guilty, he still held the guy’s gze, not breaking eye contact or giving away anything.

This time, it was the most awkward. The guy across from him basically had no expression, while Qin Fang had just yawned halfway and hadn’t yet closed his mouth. This clash of eye contact truly caught Qin Fang off guard, so much so that his heart sank.

Your Fang Ge really doesn’t want to see you, can’t you just not appear and let bygones be bygones?

Qin Fang and Xing Yan gazed at each other without much expression on their faces, the two cool guys battling it out in a staring contest. But, Qin Fang suddenly turned his gaze away, smiled and shook his head, his lips carving out a handsome curve.

Qin Fang was quite handsome when he smiled. He used his fingers to carefully trace the page he was one while he told the guy across from him, “Mr. Handsome, if you continue staring then I guess I will blush from embarrassment?”

Thanks for reading!

Footnotes

an onomatopoeia for a kissing sound