Love Notebook of a Reclusive Beautiful Boy - Chapter 21

Chapter 21

Jiang Sheng brought Du Yu back to the gymnasium once again.

The PE teacher was currently teaching his class. Seeing Jiang Sheng and Du Yu come over, his expression looked rather displeased, “Did I agree to let you leave? You are his bodyguard—even if you are a bodyguard, there’s no justification for just taking someone away whenever you please. Class is in session right now!”

Jiang Sheng offered an apology.

The PE teacher said a few more words in succession, then looked at Du Yu, who was standing to the side, “There are plenty of wealthy people in our school, but barely any are like you. Let me see…”

He glanced down at the roster, “Du Yu, right? None of them put on airs like you do. I can’t control whether you like to speak or not, but let me make this clear to you: when I call you, you have to listen. Although PE is a minor subject, the exams count just the same as your math and English. If nothing else, the shooting technique I taught just now—do you know how to do it? If you don’t, you have to…”

“He knows how.”

Jiang Sheng cut him off.

“He knows how?”

The PE teacher had assumed Du Yu was just like the other boys in the class who had long known how to play ball. He let out a cold laugh, “I was wondering why. No wonder you left without shooting—it turns out you already knew how.”

He gestured with his eyes toward the basketball hoop, “Come on, shoot a couple so I can see.”

Jiang Sheng picked up the ball and handed it to Du Yu, saying softly, “A-Yu, how did you throw it just now? Do you still remember?”

He pointed at the basket, “See that? That basketball hoop over there. Throw it in.”

Du Yu caught the ball, recalled that shot he had thrown just now, and then, relying on that sensation, gave a gentle upward push with his wrist.

The ball fell right into the basket.

Jiang Sheng smiled and patted his shoulder, “Very good, A-Yu.”

Having received praise, a light smile appeared in Du Yu’s eyes and brows. Without speaking, he just stood by his side like this.

The PE teacher glanced over, opened his folder, drew a checkmark next to Du Yu’s name, and said with his head lowered, “One should be modest in life. Look at the other boys in your class—which one of them acts like you?”

After saying that, he shook his head and walked away.

Class wasn’t over yet, and Jiang Sheng didn’t know where to take Du Yu either. Raising his eyes to glance at the high bleachers, he saw quite a few people still sitting there, so Jiang Sheng brought Du Yu over.

Finding a random spot, the two of them sat down.

Time passed very slowly. The noise inside the gymnasium was very loud, but the two of them just sat there like this, neither opening their mouth to speak.

Du Yu didn’t know how to speak, while Jiang Sheng didn’t know what to say.

After sitting quietly for a while, his smoking craving kicked in.

When he smoked, it was either because he was in a bad mood, or because he was bored.

At this moment, it was the second scenario.

Jiang Sheng pulled out a cigarette and lit it; very quickly, sparks flared up at the tip of the cigarette.

With his head lowered and his elbows resting on his knees, he held the cigarette between his fingers and took a puff.

Smoke drifted out from his nasal cavity, and Du Yu’s gaze was quickly drawn to it.

Even though the two of them were sitting together, there was about half a meter of distance between each seat on the high bleachers, and Jiang Sheng had intentionally lowered his head, so the smoke didn’t drift over to Du Yu’s side.

Du Yu extended a finger, and his cool fingertip gently tapped the back of Jiang Sheng’s hand—the one not holding the cigarette.

Jiang Sheng lowered the cigarette away from his lips and asked, “What’s wrong?”

Du Yu’s gaze was filled with curiosity, his expression looking somewhat half-understanding as he pointed at the cigarette in his hand.

Jiang Sheng glanced down at the cigarette in his hand, “You mean this?”

He let out a laugh, “This is a cigarette.”

“Cigarette…”

The sound of this word as he uttered it was very soft, and combined with Du Yu’s slight confusion, hearing him pronounce this word was truly pleasing to the ear.

Jiang Sheng smiled faintly and explained to him, “Yes, this is a cigarette. A-Yu can’t play with it, understand?”

After giving Du Yu this brief mention, he took another puff.

Du Yu looked at him and said softly, “A-Yu wants…”

Jiang Sheng turned his face and advised him, “A-Yu can’t have it. You’re still…”

He was just about to say “you’re still a minor,” but then he thought about it again—he would be turning eighteen next month, so counting it down, it really wouldn’t be long anyway.

“Want…”

Du Yu blinked his eyes twice as he looked at Jiang Sheng.

As for what a cigarette was, he was entirely clueless; it was merely that since he saw Jiang Sheng smoking it, he also wanted to copy him, that was all.

Jiang Sheng wasn’t a rigid person. There was never anything much to boys smoking, but this was ultimately not a good thing after all, and he didn’t want Du Yu to copy these habits from him.

“A-Yu wants…”

During this split second of hesitation from Jiang Sheng, Du Yu muttered to him once more and even lightly nudged his wrist.

His voice was very soft and sticky, and paired with this action, it truly seemed as if he was acting spoiled toward Jiang Sheng.

It was rare for Jiang Sheng to see him like this, and he found himself a bit helpless against him.

Thinking about it again, a cigarette wasn’t exactly something pleasant to smoke.

Advising him was useless, so he might as well let him try it once to let him know that a cigarette really didn’t taste good.

So he said to him seriously, “Only this one time, do you understand, Du Yu? One time.”

He extended his index finger, repeating “one time,” hoping Du Yu could understand that there would be no next time.

Du Yu probably understood, as he nodded his head.

Fearing that he might burn his hand, Jiang Sheng directly brought the cigarette right to the edge of his lips.

Du Yu copied the way Jiang Sheng looked just now and took a puff.

The extent of his inhale wasn’t large; his cheeks didn’t even puff up much.

But very quickly, he choked on it and coughed several times in a row.

This child did everything in a gentle, slow manner, so even his coughing was done at an unhurried pace.

Jiang Sheng pinched out the cigarette, laughing as he spoke, “Choked?”

Smiling, Jiang Sheng stroked his back, “Do you still want it next time?”

Du Yu’s face had turned a bit red from coughing. Looking at him with clear eyes, he shook his head, “Don’t want it.”

Jiang Sheng found it amusing, seeing that his face was slightly flushed from coughing, “Does it still feel uncomfortable?”

Du Yu didn’t answer his question, but instead looked at him, his voice remaining soft, “A-Sheng is not good, tricking A-Yu.”

Although this voice was placid, when these words entered a person’s ears, they carried a more or less accusatory tone.

Jiang Sheng laughed. He found it amusing, his mouth opening wide with laughter, and he said with some helplessness and innocence, “Who tricked you?”

He was so amused by Du Yu’s sentence that he completely forgot about Du Yu’s special status. In his reply, he neither added Du Yu’s name nor realized that his tone subconsciously treated him like a normal person during conversation.

Du Yu had no way to explain it to him. Paying no heed, he looked at him and muttered, “A-Sheng tricked A-Yu.”

Jiang Sheng felt a bit baffled. He turned his face away and let out a laugh, explaining, “I didn’t trick you. Look, I already told you that this isn’t something you can play with, it’s…”

He had almost finished speaking this paragraph before he suddenly remembered: how could Du Yu understand when he said all this?

Who could ever be clear about Du Yu’s thoughts?

Jiang Sheng naturally couldn’t hold a grudge against Du Yu over this kind of matter. Since explanations wouldn’t be understood, he could only take the blame with some amusement, adjusting to Du Yu’s way of thinking to speak with him.

“It’s my fault, I shouldn’t have tricked A-Yu. A-Yu, don’t be angry anymore, okay?”

His good patience and good temper were all thanks to Jiang Sheng’s mother; if it weren’t for her, the current Jiang Sheng would probably still be that impetuous youth from back then.

Du Yu’s thick, long eyelashes slowly lifted, his beautiful eyes staring at Jiang Sheng, “A-Yu is not angry.”

“That’s good then.”

Du Yu followed up in a low voice, “A-Yu won’t be angry at A-Sheng.”

Jiang Sheng didn’t hear clearly, “What?”

Du Yu, however, didn’t say anything further.

After sitting for just a little while longer, the bell rang.

Jiang Sheng brought Du Yu down to line up. The PE teacher briefly stated the tasks for the next class, and then dismissed them.

As soon as class was dismissed, these people made a racket and ran outside, each one more lively and active than the last. Jiang Sheng took a glance, then turned his face to look at Du Yu beside him.

He was so quiet it was as if he didn’t exist.

Standing obediently by Jiang Sheng’s side, there wasn’t a trace of curiosity or longing in his gaze—completely devoid of desires or demands. Toward this vibrant lifestyle, he truly had no interest.

Seeing Jiang Sheng look at him, he also turned his head to look back at Jiang Sheng, his eyes clear and his face innocent.

Looking at that pair of eyes, Jiang Sheng pulled him along and walked out, asking him as they walked, “A-Yu, do you like going to school?”

“Going to school…”

Du Yu seemed to be reflecting, murmuring softly, “Like it.”

Jiang Sheng couldn’t fathom why Du Yu would like going to school.

He never listened to the lessons, he didn’t reply when teachers called on him, he didn’t make friends either, refusing to talk to others, and spent the entire day lost in thought and dazed. It was truly impossible to understand why Du Yu would like going to school.

But if he asked him, it was impossible for him to give a detailed list of reasons, so he simply smiled and asked Du Yu, “Is going to school fun?”

Du Yu looked at him and lightly nodded his head.

In reality, Du Yu didn’t like going to school; it was just that only by coming to school would Jiang Sheng constantly follow him.

But he couldn’t comprehend these reasons at all; he merely felt that upon coming to school, Jiang Sheng seemed to frequently accompany him to play.

What did he consider Jiang Sheng to be—a friend or a playmate?

Du Yu couldn’t think of it, nor could he possibly state it clearly.

There was a lot of vegetation and flowers on campus, visible everywhere.

With one glance, Du Yu spotted those flowers that Auntie Fang had taught him about back in the greenhouse that day.

Following Jiang Sheng past those flowers, he pointed at them and softly murmured, “Baby’s breath.”

Jiang Sheng was surprised that he would actually remember, “Yes, it’s baby’s breath. A-Yu still remembers?”

Du Yu didn’t reply to him, pointing at those baby’s breath flowers and saying, “A-Yu wants…”

Jiang Sheng let out a helpless laugh, “How come you want everything?”

Moreover, these flowers were enclosed by a fence; one look and it was obvious that people weren’t allowed to pluck them at will.

He could only choose to persuade Du Yu, “A-Yu, let’s go back and pluck some later, okay?”

Once Du Yu became stubborn, truly not even a team of oxen could pull him back.

Paying no attention to Jiang Sheng’s meaning, he still pointed at the flowers, “Want…”

“A-Yu.”

“Want…”

Jiang Sheng let out a sigh, looking around with a bit of embarrassment, finding that no one was paying attention to him.

So he quickly leapt over the fence. He leapt over very easily, the entire process taking less than ten seconds, but because Jiang Sheng felt it was too embarrassing, the moment he handed the flowers to Du Yu, he rapidly pulled Du Yu away from the scene of the crime.

Having obtained the baby’s breath, Du Yu was naturally very happy. One of his hands was held by Jiang Sheng, and his other hand gripped the flowers.

This was the first time in Jiang Sheng’s life doing this kind of stealthy, underhanded thing. Embarrassed to the extreme, his walking pace was a bit fast.

Because Jiang Sheng kept walking forward without even turning his face back, while Du Yu’s pace was relatively slow, looking from a distance, it seemed as if Jiang Sheng was dragging Du Yu along as he walked.

After walking for a little while, Jiang Sheng felt it was far enough, so he let go of his hand.

Seeing Du Yu looking in a quite good mood, and considering that he hadn’t spoken any words, Jiang Sheng remained silent.

“Look…” Du Yu extended the flowers right under the tip of his nose, his eyes dark and bright, the corners of his mouth lightly turned up, “Fragrant.”

The floral scent of baby’s breath was faint. As Jiang Sheng walked, the flowers jolted up and down in Du Yu’s hand; in reality, no scent could be smelled.

But Jiang Sheng still habitually hummed along to coax Du Yu, saying, “Mm, very fragrant.”

Du Yu thought Jiang Sheng liked flowers just like Du Li did, so he reached out his hand, wanting to tuck the flower behind his ear as a gift to him.

As a result, the moment it touched Jiang Sheng’s ear, it was discovered by Jiang Sheng.

“What are you doing?”

Du Yu extended his hand, insisting on putting it on him, “Good-looking…”

Jiang Sheng roughly understood that he wanted to tuck a flower behind his ear just like he had done for Auntie Fang last time.

It truly wasn’t that he disdained it; he was a man. If these flowers were given to a girl, it would be fine, but for a man to wear a flower was truly somewhat neither fish nor fowl.

While pulling down his hand, he pushed back to block him, saying, “No need, A-Yu play with it yourself.”

Du Yu, however, refused to listen to him, stubbornly insisting on putting the flower behind his ear, his hand extended as he said, “Want… give to A-Sheng…”

Jiang Sheng grabbed his wrist, stopping him, his tone helpless, “Since I gave it to A-Yu, it belongs to A-Yu. A-Yu play with it yourself.”

“Give to A-Sheng…”

Du Yu did not decrease his uncompromising momentum in the slightest.

Whenever he encountered Du Yu being stubborn, Jiang Sheng simply got a headache.

He let out a sigh and covered his forehead.

Finally, out of sheer necessity, he lowered his hand and slightly bowed his head.

And so, Du Yu very happily tucked the flower on him.