The Infatuated Cannon Fodder Quits Chapter 52

It was rush hour, and the school gate was bustling with people and cars.

Bo Jin squeezed through the crowd with Xie Ruan in tow and asked him, “What do you want to eat tonight?”

Xie Ruan brushed off his shoe, which someone had just stepped on, and turned the question back, “What about you?” Going to Bo Jin’s place was one thing, but having him pay for dinner felt like too much.

Bo Jin could guess what he was thinking and didn’t argue. After a moment’s thought, he suggested, “How about some crayfish? The cafeteria food’s been so bland, I feel like I’m losing my taste buds.”

Xie Ruan stifled a laugh and raised an eyebrow, teasing, “Maybe it’s because you’ve eaten too much candy.”

“Oh, mocking me now?” Bo Jin hooked an arm around his shoulders, pulling him close. “Getting bolder, aren’t you?” He mussed Xie Ruan’s hair playfully, snorting, “Clearly asking for it.”

“Bo Jin!” Xie Ruan panicked, worrying about his messy hair, and squirmed away. “Don’t mess around on the street.”

Bo Jin paused, glancing around. Seeing that no one was paying attention, he whispered, “So…if not on th street, then anywhere else would be fine to do it?”

“Absolutely not…” Xie Ruan started to say but then realized the deeper meaning behind Bo Jin’s words, his ears turning red. “You’re such a jerk!”

Bo Jin chuckled, pulling Xie Ruan’s scarf a bit tighter. Not wanting to push him too far, he changed the subject at the right time. “You can’t handle spicy food, so how about garlic-flavored crayfish? I know a place that makes it just right.”

Xie Ruan was eager for him to change the subject and went along, saying, “With thirteen spices, right? I don’t like garlic flavor.”

Bo Jin clicked his tongue, gently pressing his forehead, “No spicy food, no garlic either,” he teased. “How are you so hard to please?”

If anyone else had said that, Xie Ruan wouldn’t have thought twice; everyone has their preferences. But coming from Bo Jin, it somehow felt different, and he was bothered by it. “Not like you’re the one taking care of me,” he replied, irritated, and brushed his hand away, ready to walk ahead.

What a little temper.

Bo Jin chuckled, grabbing his backpack and pulling him back. “What if I want to take care of you myself?”

The sky was dimming, and streetlights began to flicker on along the sidewalk. The gentle glow softened Bo Jin’s features, adding a warmth to him that wasn’t usually there.

Take care of him… that sounded oddly intimate!

Xie Ruan swallowed, averting his gaze in a calm pretense. “Enough talk. Are we eating or not?”

Bo Jin smirked. “We are.”

It was dinnertime, and the restaurant was packed and noisy. The two of them decided to take the food to go.

Bo Jin’s place wasn’t far from the school, so by the time they arrived, the crawfish was still hot.

“Make yourself comfortable,” Bo Jin said, setting the food containers on the coffee table. Instead of eating, he took Xie Ruan on a small tour of his home.

Bo Jin’s apartment was modest—around 100 square meters, simply decorated, looking more like a model room than a lived-in home.

There were just two rooms aside from the kitchen and bathroom: a bedroom and a study.

In the study was a large desk with two computers, likely for Bo Jin’s work. Next to it was a fully stocked bookshelf.

Curious about what kind of books Bo Jin, of all people, would read, Xie Ruan took a closer look.

What he found almost made him laugh out loud.

Complete Collection of Home-Cooked Recipes, A Taste of China, Millions of Hits for Home Cooking… What the heck was all this?

Stunned, Xie Ruan asked, “Are these yours?”

It made sense, given Bo Jin was always reading recipes at school. He’d heard that geniuses often had quirks, so he figured Bo Jin was just… normal in his own way.

Bo Jin replied with a casual “Yeah,” and didn’t seem to think much of it. “Not much to see. Come on, if you ever want to play games, you can come here.” He then led Xie Ruan to the bedroom and pointed to the wardrobe, explaining, “This section is for winter clothes, that one’s for summer clothes.”

Pulling open the farthest section, he said, “This is where I hang coats and anything that might wrinkle…”

Dazed, Xie Ruan just nodded. “Oh.”

But why was Bo Jin showing him this? He was only staying the night, but it felt as if Bo Jin was setting him up for a long-term stay.

A long-term stay…

Xie Ruan suddenly recalled Bo Jin’s earlier teasing on the way there.

Glancing at the large bed beside them, Xie Ruan felt his face heat up.

Bo Jin, adjusting the heater remote, noticed and asked, surprised, “Why’s your face so red… Is it too hot?”

“Yeah.” Mortified, Xie Ruan silently cursed himself for his wandering thoughts. It had to be Bo Jin’s influence. He mumbled, “A bit hot.”

“Then let’s skip the heater,” Bo Jin said, believing him and putting down the remote. “Come on, let’s wash up and eat.”

Just as they sat down to eat, Xie Ruan’s phone rang—it was a call from his mom, Chen Wei.

He had sent her a text earlier saying he’d be staying at a classmate’s place tonight, but she hadn’t responded, probably because she hadn’t seen it yet.

Xie Ruan went to the balcony to answer. “Mom.”

“I was cooking and missed your message,” Chen Wei explained, then asked with some hesitation, “Which classmate are you staying with? Is it a boy or a girl?”

She’d felt something was off with her eldest son lately. Last time, he even fibbed about going out with the top student. Hopefully, he wasn’t dating.

“A boy,” Xie Ruan replied.

Chen Wei paused, then asked, “Really?”

“Yes.” To reassure her, Xie Ruan opened the balcony door and called out into the living room, “Bo Jin!”

“Yeah?” Bo Jin responded, coming over.

He wasn’t loud, but since he was close, Xie Ruan’s mom heard every word.

Feeling relieved that it was just a boy, Chen Wei relaxed. “Okay, have fun, and I won’t disturb you two.”

“Got it.” Xie Ruan hesitated for a moment, then added, “Can you be here at eight-thirty the day after tomorrow?”

Chen Wei chuckled. “Of course, don’t worry.”

She couldn’t help but feel that her son had grown distant recently. The days when he’d come running to her with every small thing felt long gone.

Maybe it was just her imagination. She rubbed her temples, wanting to ask how school was going, but then she heard He Jinsheng impatiently saying in the background, “Are you done? Dinner’s ready, and I’m starving.”

Chen Wei held back her questions and quickly hung up.

Xie Ruan heard the man’s voice too. In the past, he might have felt hurt by Chen Wei’s choice, but now…

He glanced at Bo Jin waiting nearby and smiled indifferently, pocketing his phone and tossing it onto the sofa. “Let’s eat.”

They had different tastes, so they didn’t mix their food. Tossing a shrimp shell into the trash, Xie Ruan noticed the red oil in Bo Jin’s meal and asked, “Isn’t that too spicy for you?”

“Not at all.” Bo Jin expertly removed the head and tail, then slid a whole shrimp out of the shell. Noticing the interest in Xie Ruan’s eyes, he dipped the shrimp in the sauce and brought it to Xie Ruan’s lips, brushing it against them. “Wanna try?”

Xie Ruan had initially intended to give it a try, but before he even got to the shrimp meat, the spicy aroma rushed up to his nose. He couldn’t take it and turned his head away, rubbing his itchy nose and backing off. “No, no, I can’t.”

Seeing him like this, Bo Jin didn’t push him and instead naturally ate the shrimp himself.

“I already had a bite of that one,” Xie Ruan said, a bit too late to stop him.

“Yeah, I know,” Bo Jin replied, taking a sip of his cola. “Is that a problem?”

His tone was so casual, as if eating something Xie Ruan had already tried was completely normal, making Xie Ruan feel like he was the one overreacting.

Stunned, Xie Ruan didn’t know how to respond. After a while, he finally mumbled, “Then… never mind.”

“We’ve eaten out of the same bowl so many times; I would have been put off a long time ago if I minded.” Bo Jin took off his glove stained with chili oil, moved over to Xie Ruan, and smirked. “What, you need me to prove it?”

Xie Ruan’s mind was still reeling, and he blankly asked, “Prove?”

Bo Jin, not wanting to touch him with his oily hand, simply licked his lips and said meaningfully, “Yeah, prove it with my body.”

“Prove my foot!” Xie Ruan jumped a half-meter away, voice fierce but tinged with panic. “Stay away from me!”

Bo Jin hadn’t actually planned on doing anything—he wasn’t about to kiss him with a mouth full of shrimp flavor. He just liked teasing his little classmate. He slipped on a fresh pair of gloves and returned to his seat. “Got it, come back and eat.”

After dinner, they played games for a while before each took a turn in the shower to prepare for bed.

Xie Ruan went first, while Bo Jin sat on the sofa playing on his phone.

In his usual routine, Xie Ruan washed his underwear by hand. When he stepped out, he realized that to get to the balcony, he had to pass through the living room, and Bo Jin was still there, clearly not planning to leave any time soon.

The idea of drying his underwear in front of Bo Jin felt embarrassing. But he also couldn’t just carry it around without hanging it up, could he?

Hesitating for a moment, Xie Ruan glanced at Bo Jin, who appeared to be fully engrossed in his phone. Taking a deep breath, he decided to just go for it.

Maybe, if he moved quietly, Bo Jin wouldn’t even notice.

Xie Ruan carefully adjusted his expression and tiptoed across to the balcony, keeping an eye on Bo Jin the entire way. To his relief, Bo Jin didn’t look up once.

After finishing, he breathed a sigh of relief and left the balcony.

What he didn’t know was that Bo Jin had been watching him out of the corner of his eye the whole time, trying hard not to laugh. He knew that if Xie Ruan caught him watching, he might just storm off to a hotel. Only when he was sure Xie Ruan was safely out of sight did he put down his phone and head to the bathroom.

There was only one bed in Bo Jin’s home, so they inevitably had to sleep together.

This wasn’t the first time Xie Ruan had shared a bed with Bo Jin, and he usually didn’t feel much about it. But this time felt different; he hadn’t even laid down yet, and his heart was already racing, his nerves so on edge he nearly stumbled.

“I’m turning off the light,” Bo Jin called from the door.

Xie Ruan crawled under the blanket and muffled a quiet “Mm.”

With a click, the room fell into darkness.

As his eyes adjusted, he couldn’t see anything, but he felt the bed sink as Bo Jin laid down beside him. Soon, he could hear Bo Jin’s quiet breathing, which, though soft, felt very present.

Usually, Xie Ruan fell asleep almost instantly, but tonight, for the first time, he couldn’t drift off.

He laid there rigid, his mind a chaotic swirl of thoughts.

And he wasn’t the only one awake.

Bo Jin laid there, unable to sleep as well. Memories that he couldn’t forget came rushing back, as clear as if they had just happened.

It was easy to stay distracted during the day, but nighttime brought all those memories back to the surface. And even though he had tried to come to terms with everything, Xie Ruan’s notebook entries haunted him, each recollection pricking him like a thorn.

He sighed quietly and, guessing that Xie Ruan had already fallen asleep, tried to slip out of bed to go to the balcony for some fresh air.

“You can’t sleep either?” Xie Ruan suddenly rolled over and asked.

Bo Jin froze. “Did I wake you?”

Xie Ruan didn’t respond directly. Instead, his mind was already racing, focused only on Bo Jin’s insomnia, and he began suggesting solutions. “Did you bring that wolfberry tea with you?”

Bo Jin thought, This isn’t something that a cup of tea will solve.

He appreciated Xie Ruan’s concern, though, and his heart softened. With a playful tone, he said, “Tea won’t help. If you’d let me hold you, I’d fall asleep just fine.”

The room went silent.

Bo Jin hadn’t expected anything, certainly not for Xie Ruan to agree. With Xie Ruan’s usual attitude, he’d consider it lucky if he didn’t get told off.

But before he could explain that he was joking, Xie Ruan suddenly moved over and snuggled against him.

Bo Jin was stunned.

“Stop fussing,” Xie Ruan mumbled, thankful for the darkness that hid his flushed face. He pulled Bo Jin’s arm around his waist, his tone sharp but caring. “Go to sleep.”