Heartbeat Command - Chapter 5

Chapter 5: “He has words for you when you provoke him.”

Gu Shiyue was silent for a moment, then replied, “Thanks.”

“No problem, no problem, it’s nothing,” Jiang Luo said as he circled around him. His game character, a tiny little thing, happily circled Gu Shiyue’s character.

“If anyone comes for you, just hide behind me,” Jiang Luo said. “My health bar is thick; I can take the hits.”

Gu Shiyue responded, “Mn.”

Cheng Jiashu spoke up gloomily, “You’ve never said such comforting words to me when I was a child.”

Jiang Luo laughed and sprawled out on the sofa.

Two people from the opposite side came into their jungle to counter-jungle and ran straight into Gu Shiyue and Jiang Luo. Since Gu Shiyue had been clearing jungle monsters earlier, he was already familiar with the controls. He was filling in for Xiang Qin, so his in-game economy was high, and consequently, his damage was significant. With Jiang Luo’s support, they actually pulled off a double kill against the opponents.

“Nice,” Cheng Jiashu praised.

“Wow, you’re so amazing.” Jiang Luo followed behind Gu Shiyue, flying over to heal him.

The little tagalong looked even more energetic now; if you gave him a pair of wings, he could take off right then and there.

Gu Shiyue didn’t feel it was particularly amazing, stating objectively, “I would’ve died without you.”

“No, no, it really is you who’s amazing.” Jiang Luo lay on the sofa, hugging a cushion and laughing. “And I won’t let you die; I guarantee I’ll keep you safe.”

Jiang Luo wasn’t just being polite; he genuinely felt Gu Shiyue was skilled. After all, the game character he was playing had quite complex controls, and the double kill just now clearly wasn’t a fluke—it showed awareness and skill. To be this quick to learn on his first time playing was impressive. If nothing else, his reaction time was truly strong.

Cheng Jiashu was playing the output role. Without Jiang Luo’s protection, this fragile character was inevitably targeted, getting killed twice in just one minute. Jiang Luo was having such fun following Gu Shiyue that he completely ignored Cheng Jiashu’s survival. Cheng Jiashu spoke up in protest: “Are you coming home yet, kid? I’ve died twice now, can you look after me for once?”

“Coming, coming.” Before leaving, Jiang Luo let Gu Shiyue know, “Senior, I’m going to go protect him for a bit.”

Gu Shiyue said, “Mn.”

“You really have eyes for no one else but him,” Cheng Jiashu said, dodging the opponent’s skills while maneuvering. “If you don’t look after me, I’m going to throw a fit.”

Gu Shiyue glanced at the mini-map and reminded Jiang Luo: “There’s someone in the grass on the right.”

“Mm-hm.” Jiang Luo hadn’t actually noticed and was almost caught.

Xiang Qin returned quickly. From a distance, he saw Gu Shiyue’s lips moving as he spoke, which was quite rare. When he returned, he saw that not only had Gu Shiyue not died, but he had also secured two kills.

“Not bad,” Xiang Qin said as he took back his phone and looked at Gu Shiyue. “A top student’s brain really is useful; even at games, you pick it up so fast. Why don’t you keep playing? I drank too much beer and the sleepiness is kicking in; I want to take a nap.”

“Play it yourself,” Gu Shiyue said, then stood up and walked away.

Jiang Luo asked from the other end of the phone, “Are you sleepy? Should we finish after this match?”

Xiang Qin laughed and said, “Not sleepy. I was lying to him—I wanted to provoke him into talking more. I’ve noticed he talks quite a lot with you.”

Jiang Luo chuckled twice: “It’s because I talk a lot.”

“That’s exactly it,” Xiang Qin laughed lightly. “He has words for you when you provoke him, but he might not even bother responding to anyone else.”

Jiang Chen stayed in the study for over two hours before coming out. He finished his weekend homework that same night. He had no other hobbies—he just loved to sleep—so he went to bed early after finishing his work, unlike Jiang Luo, that little night owl who stayed up until the middle of the night.

The next morning, Jiang Luo made sure to set an alarm and got up at eight. After washing up, he went to knock on Jiang Chen’s door, chanting: “Jiang Xiaochen, Jiang Xiaochen, time to get up, time to get up.”

Jiang Xiaochen ignored him, turning over and burying himself under the quilt to keep sleeping.

Jiang Luo opened the door and entered. Jiang Chen was curled up at the edge of the bed like a silkworm cocoon. Jiang Luo walked over and tapped him on the back with a cushion: “Get up, time to run, get up, get up, get up.”

Jiang Chen wiggled twice, his voice muffled by the quilt: “Don’t want to get up…”

Jiang Luo tugged at his quilt: “You have to get up whether you want to or not. Don’t you know that ‘the day is best planned in the morning’?”

Jiang Chen was extremely self-disciplined in everything else, except when it came to waking up. On the weekend, no one could stop him from sleeping in—except for his brother.

Actually, eight o’clock wasn’t that early, but he just didn’t want to get up. Jiang Chen struggled for a good while before finally throwing off the quilt and sitting up, looking at his brother with a messy head of hair and bleary eyes: “Can we not run?”

His tone was one of negotiation, and he sounded quite pitiful. It wasn’t that Jiang Chen didn’t want to run; he just didn’t want to get out of bed.

“No.” Jiang Luo smiled and pulled him up. “You can sleep after you finish running. Hurry, go wash your face.”

Jiang Luo’s mother had passed away from an illness. During that time, Jiang Luo was in the hospital almost every day, watching his mother grow thinner and thinner, her spirit fading little by little, becoming as weak as a plant about to wither away. He didn’t know why his mother had fallen ill so suddenly without any warning. When a person is entangled by illness, they are like an ant that can be crushed at any moment—tiny and powerless.

Ever since then, Jiang Luo had been terrified of the people around him getting sick. Even a minor fever from Jiang Chen could make his heart race with panic. But Jiang Chen had a weak constitution as a child, and he would have minor ailments every now and then, so Jiang Luo would make him run, exercise, and strengthen his physique.

Things were different now compared to when he was small; Jiang Chen was almost as tall as him, and his physique was no worse than his brother’s. In another two years, the roles might be reversed.

Jiang Luo was the type to be lenient with himself but strict with others. He never got up early to exercise at university, but once he was home, he was strict about supervising Jiang Chen.

Jiang Chen had to run every morning at boarding school. He looked at Jiang Luo with a face full of grievance after getting out of bed: “I run enough at school.”

“Exactly, so you need to maintain the good habits you formed at school even during the holidays. I’ll run with you,” Jiang Luo said with a smile, pushing him toward the bathroom. “If you can run at school, why can’t you run at home? You just want to sleep in, you chronic sleepyhead.”

Jiang Chen turned his head to ask, “Do you run every morning at school too?”

Jiang Luo grinned, didn’t answer, and pushed him forward.

“I knew it,” Jiang Chen said blandly. “Brother, do you know what ‘do not impose on others what you yourself do not desire’ means?”

Jiang Luo played dumb: “Don’t know, never heard of it.”

After running and taking a shower, Jiang Chen went back to his room to sleep again. They ate lunch at home, and after the meal, Jiang Luo took Jiang Chen to a barbershop for a haircut. Jiang Chen, wanting to keep it simple, just asked the barber for a buzz cut.

In the afternoon, Jiang Luo took Jiang Chen to the mall, wanting to buy him a couple of new outfits. Jiang Chen didn’t want this or that, and after shopping for the whole afternoon, they hadn’t bought a single piece of clothing. His excuse was that he had to wear his uniform at school, so he wouldn’t have a chance to wear them anyway. Jiang Luo knew he just wanted to save him money, so in the end, he didn’t buy clothes but bought him a new pair of basketball shoes.

In the evening, one of Jiang Chen’s classmates came over to ask him to play ball. As soon as he walked in, he was shocked by his new haircut: “Holy crap, why are you bald!”

Jiang Luo let out a laugh: “What kind of way is that to talk?”

“Brother Jiang Luo.” Tian Haoyu giggled. “You took him to get that shaved? Why’d you shave it like that?”

“He wanted it shaved himself; I couldn’t talk him out of it.” Jiang Luo walked over and rubbed Jiang Chen’s head; the stiff stubble was quite prickly. “Isn’t it good? Isn’t it cool?”

“It’s a bit too man-ly.” Tian Haoyu held the basketball and laughed. “I bet he’ll scare the girls in class.”

Tian Haoyu lived in their apartment complex and had known Jiang Chen and Jiang Luo since childhood. Jiang Chen was one year younger than Tian Haoyu, but he had skipped a grade in middle school, so he was in the same grade as Tian Haoyu in high school. They were in the same class.

Jiang Chen went to his room to change into loose pants. Tian Haoyu sat on the sofa waiting for him and asked Jiang Luo by the way: “Are you coming with us, brother?”

“I’m not going. You two have fun.” Jiang Luo’s phone rang—it was his uncle.

“Luoluo, have you had dinner?”

“I have, Uncle.” Jiang Luo walked toward the balcony while talking.

“Are you at home, or out?”

“Out.” His uncle probably had something to discuss if he was calling at this hour, so Jiang Luo skipped the small talk and asked directly, “What’s wrong? Is something the matter?”

“Well, yes, there is a small matter.” His uncle lowered his voice. “I originally felt there was no need to specifically mention this to you, but after all, you are Xiaochen’s brother…”

Jiang Luo frowned: “What happened to Xiaochen?”

“It’s nothing major, don’t you worry. It’s just that last week, he almost got into a fight with someone at school—”

Jiang Luo was stunned: “What?”

“During P.E. class, he had a conflict with a classmate. The homeroom teacher even called me that day after school…”

Jiang Luo listened silently as his uncle explained the situation.

“You should have a chat with him later. This kid only has words for you; I can’t seem to get anything out of him when I try to talk to him.”

“Mn, I understand. Sorry for the trouble.”

“What are you saying?” His uncle laughed. “You should find an opportunity to talk to him properly. At his age, his personality is just starting to solidify; it’s very easy for him to go astray if he isn’t guided properly…”

Jiang Luo didn’t find those words very pleasant: “I know what kind of personality Xiaochen has. He has his own ideas; he won’t go astray without guidance. You don’t need to worry about that.”

Jiang Luo hung up the phone and saw Jiang Chen walking out of his room. He glanced at Jiang Chen and put his phone back in his pocket.

“Brother.” Jiang Chen walked over and said, “I’m heading out.”

Jiang Luo smiled: “Go ahead.”

Even though Jiang Luo’s reaction seemed normal, Jiang Chen noticed something unusual from the look Jiang Luo had given him earlier. Jiang Chen’s personality was a bit blunt; he was often detached and not very sensitive to things, but since he and Jiang Luo were biological brothers who had grown up together, the chemistry between them was carved into their bones. No matter how blunt he was, he was still sensitive when it came to his brother.

“Brother.” Jiang Chen looked at Jiang Luo. “Is something wrong?”

Jiang Luo laughed: “You’re quite sharp.”

Jiang Luo hadn’t intended to bring this up now; he wanted to wait until Jiang Chen got back from basketball. Jiang Chen had a stable temperament and had been well-behaved since he was little. Something must have happened; otherwise, he wouldn’t have reached the point of almost getting into a fight.

“There is something, a small matter,” Jiang Luo said. “We’ll talk when you get back. Go play for now.”

“Can you tell me now?”

Jiang Luo thought for a moment, walked over, and sat on the sofa: “Fine, then we’ll talk now.”

“Uncle just called me to say that you almost got into a fight with someone at school a few days ago.”

Jiang Chen knew it was highly unlikely he could keep this from his brother. He lowered his eyelids and let out an “Mn.”

Jiang Luo’s gaze fell on his right hand: “So, how did you actually get the injury on your hand?”

Jiang Luo frowned slightly: “Did someone else do it to you?”

“No, it was me… I hit it against the wall.”

Jiang Luo took a deep breath: “And you lied to me, saying you fell. Jiang Xiaochen, you’ve grown up, haven’t you? You know how to lie now, and even to me.”

Jiang Chen lowered his eyes and said nothing. He didn’t offer an explanation. Instead, Tian Haoyu, who was standing to the side, jumped in to defend him: “Holy crap, that idiot was the one acting like a jerk first, brother.”

Jiang Luo looked at him, and Tian Haoyu, clutching the basketball, walked quickly to Jiang Chen’s side: “Brother, don’t scold Chen’er. That idiot was the one who started it—he was the one who started being trashy and cursing people. That idiot’s crush didn’t like him but liked our Chen’er, so he was pissed. He’d just find trouble whenever he saw a chance.”

Jiang Luo frowned: “Does he often bully Xiaochen?”

“Not really,” Tian Haoyu said, lifting his chin. “With me around, would he dare? He’s just a coward.”

Jiang Luo looked at Jiang Chen, his voice softening: “What exactly is going on?”

Jiang Chen lowered his eyes and remained silent.

“It’s just…” Tian Haoyu looked at Jiang Chen, rubbed his nose, and said, “That day during P.E. class, that idiot was acting like a jerk, and he called Chen’er… an ‘orphan’.”