Chapter 25: Unconcerned with Gender

You Chong’s face took on a faintly greenish hue, but he held back from losing his temper.

When he caught sight of Lin Hexi raising his hand to wipe his cheek, the frustration within him only deepened. For a moment, he didn’t know whether to be angry at himself for being so careless or at Lin Hexi for taking advantage of the situation with that smug expression.

With a grim expression, You Chong began reeling in the fishing line. Noticing his actions, Lin Hexi asked with a smile, “Heading back already?”

You Chong snorted coldly, “Isn’t this enough for you to eat?”

Lin Hexi wasn’t bothered by the remark. Instead, he looked down at the drawing in his hand.

The drawing was just a complete pencil sketch, not yet colored. Anyone familiar with You Chong would likely recognize the resemblance—both the facial outline and the expression captured on the paper bore a striking similarity to You Chong, about seventy to eighty percent accurate.

The odd thing was that, rather than depicting You Chong’s focused expression while fishing, the artist seemed to have captured his look of anger, with tightly pressed lips and a cold, tense face.

Lin Hexi held the drawing up to You Chong’s face, studying it carefully and seriously before suddenly laughing, “It’s pretty accurate, looks just like you when you’re angry.”

You Chong was slightly taken aback by his words. He then noticed the incongruity in the expression of the person in the drawing. A strange feeling arose in his heart, and as he recalled the face of the person who gave him the drawing, he confirmed in his mind that he didn’t know them.

Lin Hexi flicked the paper lightly with his fingers, then glanced up casually. “Did that person just now draw this?”

You Chong raised his eyebrow slightly, as if he had just heard something amusing. “If it wasn’t her who drew it, are you saying it was you?”

Lin Hexi neither confirmed nor denied, just gave a light smile and handed the drawing back to him. “Well, you should keep it. It’s a good piece.”

You Chong took the drawing, giving Lin Hexi a cool glance. “Do you really think an art student’s skills need your approval?”

Lin Hexi paused at his words but didn’t argue back. Instead, he smiled nonchalantly and agreed, “You’re right, I’m certainly not qualified to judge as a non-professional.”

You Chong didn’t respond further. He lowered his gaze, looking at the drawing in his hand with a slight frown, as if it were something troublesome.

“What’s the matter?” Lin Hexi followed his gaze. “You don’t want to keep it?”

You Chong responded coolly, “Why should I keep it?”

Lin Hexi was surprised for a second, then smiled and teased, “With that attitude, even if you’re tall and handsome, you might have trouble finding a girlfriend.”

You Chong replied, “And how is that any of your business?”

Fair enough, Lin Hexi thought, realizing that it really wasn’t any of his concern. He stopped the teasing, turned, and walked down the slope to pick up the fishing net that had been pinned under a rock by the lakeside.

From the slope above, You Chong’s voice called out, “You take the chair; I’ll carry the net myself.”

Lin Hexi paused for a moment, then turned back up the slope and obediently picked up the folding chair from the ground. As he straightened up, he saw You Chong lifting the fishing net from the water, the net bulging with nearly ten fish, each weighing a considerable amount.

Naturally, Lin Hexi couldn’t identify the species of the fish. As he casually followed behind You Chong, carrying the folding chair with one hand, he couldn’t help but think to himself with a tinge of regret that he might take back his earlier comment about You Chong not being able to find a girlfriend. If You Chong weren’t such a straightforward, no-nonsense type, Lin Hexi could now see that having You Chong as a boyfriend might not be such a bad idea.

By the time they returned, the person who had given the drawing, along with their easel, had vanished from the lakeside. In the end, You Chong decided to take the drawing with him, stowing it away in his backpack.

The sun was already dipping toward the horizon, casting a warm glow over the treetops as evening approached.

The elective teacher returned with the students who had been gathering wild vegetables and announced that it was time to set up camp.

You Chong laid out three folding tents on the open ground and looked up at the remaining five people. “Two people per tent. Set up your own.”

Zhou Xuan was the first to speak, “I’ll sleep with You Chong.”

Zhao Du quickly followed, “I’ll pair up with Yang Juan.”

That left Chen Xuan, who frowned slightly, making it clear he wasn’t happy with this arrangement. “I don’t want to sleep with him.”

The person he was referring to was, of course, Lin Hexi. Hearing Chen Xuan’s comment, Lin Hexi merely raised his eyebrow, clearly accustomed to such reactions.

“You don’t have much of a choice,” Zhou Xuan said flatly. “You either sleep with him, or you don’t sleep at all.”

Chen Xuan wasn’t pleased with this either. “Camping is part of the team’s overall score. If I leave now, you won’t get the points for teamwork.”

As the tension lingered, Yang Juan glanced at Lin Hexi and then at Zhao Du before stepping forward and saying, “I’ll share a tent with Lin Hexi.”

Chen Xuan’s expression finally eased at this.

Though Zhao Du was somewhat reluctant, he eventually accepted the new arrangement.

The six of them then began to work together to set up the tents. You Chong and Zhou Xuan’s tent was in the middle, Zhao Du and Chen Xuan’s on the left, and Lin Hexi and Yang Juan’s on the right. Their tent was close to the tents of other groups as well.

After the tents were set up, they followed the methods they learned in their theoretical classes to start a fire on the open ground. They then took out tools from their backpacks and began preparing the fish. The combined catch from You Chong and Zhou Xuan totaled over a dozen fish, and they shared nearly ten of them with the other groups.

Yang Juan and Zhao Du planned to make wild vegetable soup, so the two of them squatted nearby, using bottled water to wash the vegetables. You Chong took out a knife, bypassing the kitchen-averse young master Zhou Xuan, and asked the remaining two, “Who knows how to clean fish? Come help me out.”

Perhaps it was because of Lin Hexi’s deceptively innocent face, or maybe it was the impression he had left on You Chong as someone completely idle and useless. So, You Chong first directed his gaze toward Chen Xuan.

The latter awkwardly shook his head, “I don’t know how either.”

You Chong withdrew his gaze, not even bothering to ask Lin Hexi, and turned to the net to grab the fish.

But Lin Hexi suddenly called his name, standing leisurely in place as he looked at You Chong. “Why did you only ask him and not me?”

You Chong responded, “Do you know how?”

Lin Hexi answered, “I do.”

You Chong lifted his eyes to scrutinize him for a moment, and a hint of doubt crossed his face. “Do you really know how?”

Lin Hexi rolled up his sleeves, took the knife from You Chong’s hand, and slowly lifted the corners of his lips. “Whether I really know or not, you’ll see soon enough.”

As it turned out, this was one of the rare occasions when Lin Hexi was telling the truth in front of You Chong.

With practiced ease, he expertly split the fish open from its back, and cleaned out the innards without hesitation. You Chong couldn’t hide his surprise as he watched, narrowing his eyes thoughtfully. Ever since he had caught Lin Hexi feeding cats in that alleyway, Lin Hexi had continued to surprise him from time to time.

Though Lin Hexi still appeared to be the same person—full of lies, frivolous, and carefree, with a tendency toward feigned innocence—You Chong could distinctly feel that there was something different.

It was as if Lin Hexi had somehow separated himself from the rumors, shedding the stereotypes You Chong had held in his mind. The person standing before him seemed to be gradually revealing a side of himself that most people didn’t know, hidden beneath those layers of gossip.

As doubts about the truthfulness and reliability of those rumors resurfaced in his mind, You Chong suddenly asked, without any warning, “Were the things they said about you true or false?”

Lin Hexi’s hands suddenly paused, and he calmly lifted his head. “What did you say?”

You Chong repeated, “The rumors that have been spreading around the school—are they true or false?”

Caught off guard, Lin Hexi stood there in silence, unable to respond.

After a moment, he regained his composure and smiled, but he didn’t answer the question directly. “Are you really that concerned about whether they’re true or not?”

You Chong’s deep, dark eyes stared intently at him. “You don’t want to talk about it? Why not?” He thought for a second, quickly piecing things together. “Is it because of Lin Tong’s mother?”

Lin Hexi pressed his lips together, remaining silent. No one had ever probed so deeply into his thoughts before, and the first feeling that arose within him was a sense of being at a loss.

“So, what you’re saying is that all those rumors at school, like you mentioned before,” You Chong wasn’t foolish, and Lin Hexi’s intentions weren’t hard to guess, “are just false pretenses you use to deal with Lin Tong’s mother.”

Instinctively unwilling to fully expose his inner thoughts to You Chong, Lin Hexi averted his gaze from those deep, penetrating eyes and laughed as if nothing had happened. “Haven’t you ever heard the sayings ‘there’s no smoke without fire’ and ‘rumors don’t come out of nowhere’?”

You Chong admitted, “I did think that way—until I saw you feeding the cats in that alley.”

“Rumors always mix truth with lies, and it just so happens that you stumbled upon the false parts,” Lin Hexi muttered softly, still unwilling to concede. “Getting into fights often in high school is true, hanging out at bars with Ning Nan and the others is true, not taking the college entrance exam and getting into university through connections is true, and then—”

You Chong interrupted, “And then what?”

Lin Hexi’s gaze fell on the gloves covered in fish blood and innards, and for a moment, he seemed stuck.

“So,” You Chong continued in a low voice, “apart from those things being true, the rest are all false.”

Lin Hexi looked up, startled.

You Chong went on, finishing his thoughts for him, “Regularly renting hotel rooms with others is false, bullying others by abusing power is false, having slept with more than half of the students in the performing arts department is false, and taking anyone who comes your way, regardless of gender, is also—”

Realizing he was being led by You Chong’s words, Lin Hexi frowned and interrupted, “Wait.”

You Chong lifted his gaze and looked at him.

Lin Hexi, now calm, subtly moved closer to You Chong, and in a clear, low voice, he said, “There’s one thing you said that’s wrong.”

You Chong asked, “Which one?”

“The last one,” Lin Hexi leaned in closer, his tone turning ambiguous and flirtatious. “The part about not caring about gender—that’s true. For example, someone like you… I quite like it.”

You Chong suddenly fell silent.

The next second, his face contorted with anger as he gritted his teeth, “Lin Hexi, your gloves just got fish guts on me.”