Transmigrated as the Campus Heartthrob’s Cannon Fodder Ex-Boyfriend Chapter 33

Shoutout to Kari for the commission!

By the moonlight, Zhou Shirui could clearly see Le Cheng’s wound.

His movements were very gentle. Le Cheng kept his mouth open and watched his lowered, long eyelashes, his expression focused and serious.

Le Cheng blinked, letting out a slight hum as the medicine powder irritated him.

This sound was a little embarrassing. Le Cheng’s face turned red, and Zhou Shirui lowered his eyes and asked him, “Does it hurt a lot?”

“No…” Le Cheng spoke indistinctly and urged him, “Hurry up.”

Zhou Shirui then sped up his movements. Le Cheng’s rosy lips looked moist in the darkness. When his gaze accidentally fell upon them, he quickly looked away.

After applying the medicine, Le Cheng returned to his own bed, pulled up the blanket, and obediently said, “Going to sleep, good night!”

“Mm.” Zhou Shirui also closed his eyes. “Good night.”

Tan Xiaobai stayed in the hospital for three days.

On the day he was discharged, He Ziqing also came to help.

The four of them, along with their luggage, took two cars.

Le Cheng stretched in the back seat of the taxi and couldn’t help muttering, “To be honest, the hospital bed is more comfortable to sleep on than the one in our dorm…”

Halfway through, Le Cheng suddenly shuddered, his little expression panicked. “Pui pui pui…… That’s unlucky!”

He looked a little silly, and also a little cute, making Zhou Shirui unconsciously curl his lips slightly. “Why do you still believe in that?”

“Of course.” Le Cheng said solemnly, “I never say anything bad. I’m very cautious!”

Tan Xiaobai, sitting in the passenger seat, suddenly said, “Oh right, Le Cheng, thanks for you two this time while I was hospitalized. Let’s get together this weekend and go out for a meal?”

Le Cheng thought about it when he heard this. “Probably not. I’m not free this weekend.”

“Huh?” Tan Xiaobai turned around and looked over with the keen gaze of a single person. “What! Come clean, are you two going out on a date!”

“Hahahaha, no!” Le Cheng was amused by his astonishing train of thought. “I joined an activity organized by the student union. I’m going to an orphanage to spend time with the children, so I’m not free this weekend.”

“And besides.” Le Cheng said very loyally, “We’re all friends. It’s only natural that I take care of you. What’s the big deal?”

“Fine.” Tan Xiaobai said, “But you’re participating in a student union activity. You’re not in the student union, so why would they let you go?”

As soon as he finished speaking, Zhou Shirui’s gaze also swept over lightly.

“It’s like this. Our class monitor is a really nice person. He invited me to go. He said there aren’t many people signing up, so even people who aren’t members of the student union can go.” Le Cheng smiled brightly. “I can play with the children, and I can even make money!”

“Holy cr*p, such a good thing!” Tan Xiaobai said enviously. “Can you invite me?”

“Sure, I’ll ask my class monitor. Wait.” Le Cheng took out his phone and tapped on the class monitor’s chat.

He turned his head and casually asked, “Zhou Shirui, do you know about this activity?”

Zhou Shirui was also in the student union, but based on what he knew about Zhou Shirui, he probably wouldn’t participate.

“Mm.” Zhou Shirui said, “I know.”

“Then do you know if it’s full?” Le Cheng asked. “Are you participating?”

“I don’t know.” Zhou Shirui answered almost without hesitation. After pausing for a moment, he added, “I’ll participate.”

“Huh?” Le Cheng was a little dumbfounded. “You’re participating too?”

Zhou Shirui was actually going to participate in an orphanage activity. You really couldn’t tell from looking at him. He usually looked cold and icy, but unexpectedly, he was quite compassionate.

“Mm.” Zhou Shirui looked at him calmly, his tone composed. “I’m participating too.”

Le Cheng’s brows curved. “What a coincidence! Then we can go together this weekend.”

“Ding dong, ”

Le Cheng lowered his eyes. It was a message from the class monitor.

[Class Monitor: Le Cheng, you asked too late. It was already full that day.]

[Class Monitor: But if there’s another activity like this next time, I can keep an eye out for you.]

[Orange: Okay, no worries, no worries. Thank you, Class Monitor.]

[Orange: Puppy bows.jpg]

Tan Xiaobai asked him, “How is it? How is it?”

“Nope, it’s full.” Le Cheng scrunched up his face. “I’ll definitely tell you earlier next time.”

“Hey, it’s fine.” Tan Xiaobai said, “It just so happens I can get some extra rest in the dorm.”

***

When the weekend arrived, Le Cheng got up early, washed up, and after going downstairs, saw Zhou Shirui waiting for him.

“Coming, coming!” Le Cheng jogged over. “Shall we go meet up?”

“Mm.” Zhou Shirui nodded.

They met at the school gate at 7:30 and got on the school bus. The group headed to the orphanage.

Le Cheng sat beside Zhou Shirui. They had gotten up too early, and he was so sleepy that he kept yawning.

“Eh? Brother Rui?” A buzz-cut guy in front suddenly poked his head over. “Holy cr*p, when I was waiting for the bus just now, I thought I was seeing things. I didn’t expect it to really be you.”

Zhou Shirui obviously knew him too and responded with a very faint “Mm.”

The buzz-cut guy said, “How strange, you actually came to participate in the orphanage activity?”

“Mm. Just participating once in a while.” Zhou Shirui said nonchalantly. “What’s wrong?”

So this really was his first time participating?

Le Cheng caught part of the conversation, turned his head toward Zhou Shirui, and asked quietly, “What made you decide to participate this time?”

Zhou Shirui paused for a moment. “I had more free time.”

“Oh, ” Le Cheng thought it was pretty good. “I’m so sleepy. I want to sleep for a bit. Wake me up later.”

Zhou Shirui reached out and adjusted the height of Le Cheng’s seat back for him. After seeing him close his eyes, he lowered his head and looked at his phone,

[Free Flying: Have you arrived at the orphanage?]

[Zhou Shirui: No.]

[Free Flying: How is it this time? I did a pretty good job, right? Smug.jpg]

[Free Flying: But why did you suddenly say you wanted to go? Feels tiring and the money is little. Wouldn’t it be better to stay in the dorm with this free time?]

[Zhou Shirui: I’ll treat you to a meal when I get back.]

[Zhou Shirui: Red packet.]

[Free Flying: Oh my! Boss is generous!!]

[Free Flying: I’ll participate in these errands-running things in the future too!]

Looking at Cheng Yufei sending three cheeky reaction images, Zhou Shirui extinguished the screen without much hesitation.

Zhou Shirui thought there was nothing wrong with a white lie.

After all, if Le Cheng went alone, with no one to accompany him, he would definitely be bored.

The school wasn’t too far from the orphanage, but the bus was still bumpy for two and a half hours.

Keeping track of the time, Zhou Shirui woke Le Cheng up ten minutes early.

Le Cheng was sleeping in a completely disheveled state. He opened his eyes in confusion, his dark, glossy pupils hazy with sleep, and there was still a red mark pressed into his cheek. He turned his head and discovered that he was actually resting his head on Zhou Shirui’s shoulder.

Just after waking up, Le Cheng couldn’t quite process things. “……We’re here?”

“No.” Zhou Shirui reached out and stroked his messy hair. “Ten more minutes. Wake up first.”

Le Cheng nodded somewhat dazedly. The bus soon stopped, and after taking a moment to recover, he finally became a little more energetic.

Happily jumping off the bus, the dozen or so of them were divided into several groups, each assigned to different children. Naturally, Le Cheng was together with Zhou Shirui.

A group of tiny little children came rushing over in a flurry. The director introduced their names, and each of them obediently called out, “Hello, Big Brother.” Le Cheng had a good personality and was also cute-looking, so he quickly became familiar with the children. Some of the bolder ones even climbed all over his legs.

Zhou Shirui and Le Cheng worked together to make the children happy, but unfortunately, his appearance was too intimidating. The children all looked at him timidly and refused to let him hold them.

Le Cheng had three little attachments hanging off him and was too busy to manage them all. He turned his head toward Zhou Shirui and saw that he was incredibly free. Just as he was about to speak, he unexpectedly saw a trace of helplessness on that usually calm and expressionless face.

He wanted to laugh, but held it back.

Zhou Shirui noticed and didn’t get angry. He helplessly tugged at the corner of his lips. “Children have never really liked me.”

“How could that be?” Le Cheng instinctively denied it. Zhou Shirui was a very good person; it was just that his appearance and aura were relatively fierce and cold. He thought for a moment, then suddenly came up with a brilliant idea. He crooked his finger. “Come here, I’ll tell you something…”

Zhou Shirui paused slightly, then leaned over as instructed. Le Cheng spoke very quietly beside his ear, muttering, “In a little while, we’ll do this, then I’ll do this…”

After finishing their secret plan, Le Cheng clapped his hands. “All right, all right, everyone come over quickly. We’ve been here too long. Why don’t we go outside and play a game, okay?”

The children all agreed.

“Okay!!”

“Big Brother Chengcheng, what game are we playing?”

“Hmm…” Le Cheng said, “Let’s play Eagle Catches Little Chickens!”

The simple game was one the children almost all loved to play. They quickly ran to the courtyard to gather. Le Cheng played the eagle, while Zhou Shirui played the mother hen, protecting the little bunch of chicks.

“The eagle is coming…” Le Cheng charged forward with great momentum. Zhou Shirui was taller than him, had better athletic ability than him, and most importantly, had faster reactions. After one round, Le Cheng hadn’t held back at all and was already panting heavily, yet he hadn’t caught a single “chick.”

Sure enough, because of the game, the children developed a very wonderful fondness for “Mother Hen” Zhou Shirui.

The children hid behind Zhou Shirui and made faces.

“Big Brother Chengcheng, with Big Brother Rui Rui here, you can’t catch us!”

Le Cheng found them adorable and really wanted to laugh, so they played another round. He really couldn’t run anymore. In the end, he stumbled and directly crashed into Zhou Shirui’s arms.

Zhou Shirui caught him steadily. Le Cheng was exhausted to death. Being the eagle really was physically demanding. He didn’t really want to get up, so he hooked his arm around Zhou Shirui’s shoulder and said softly, “So tired…”

The end of his voice floated lightly, like a little hook.

Zhou Shirui pressed his lips together. “Then rest for a while.”

The children all gathered around them, each staring with wide eyes.

“Big Brother Chengcheng, rest if you’re tired.”

“We’re tired too!” Being watched by a group of children, Le Cheng finally felt embarrassed and quickly stood up straight. “Ahem, then let’s go inside and eat something first!”

The children had also been running for so long and wanted to go back inside. Zhou Shirui found a storybook and read fairy tales to everyone, while Le Cheng got up to bring juice for everyone.

Zhou Shirui flipped through it and read them a story about Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

The children rested their chins on their hands. “Are Snow White and the dwarfs good friends?”

“Mm, they’re good friends.” Zhou Shirui’s voice was soft and slow.

The children’s thoughts then branched out, spontaneously introducing Zhou Shirui to who among them were good friends with whom.

At the very end, a little girl with braided pigtails asked, “Oh, I know! Big Brother and Big Brother Chengcheng are good friends too, right?”

The other little bunches chimed in. “That’s right, that’s right, good friends!”

Good friends.

Zhou Shirui lowered his eyes slightly, inexplicably dissatisfied with this title in his heart.

He thought for a moment. “We’re good friends, but we’re also not good friends.”

“Huh?” The other little bunches tilted their heads. “Then what are you?”

Three words rolled around on the tip of his tongue. Zhou Shirui frowned as if thinking. Before he could speak, Le Cheng returned carrying orange juice.

“Time for orange juice!” Le Cheng smiled brightly. “What are you talking about? Was the story Big Brother Rui Rui told you good?”

“Good!!” Seeing the juice, the children no longer worried about who was whose good friend and happily came forward to drink the sweet beverage.

“One cup each, don’t fight over it.” Le Cheng said this, then instructed Zhou Shirui, “Hurry and help me hold the cups, Big Brother Rui Rui.”

Big Brother Rui Rui.

A very casual, very affectionate form of address. Zhou Shirui froze, and the corners of his lips unconsciously lifted slightly. “Mm… Give them to me.”

After playing at the orphanage for the whole afternoon, the children were all very reluctant to part when it was time to leave.

Two were hanging onto each of Le Cheng and Zhou Shirui’s legs, and they still had to carry one in their arms.

“Big Brother, I don’t want you to leave…”

The children’s eyes were brimming with tears.

“But it’s getting very late.” Le Cheng said patiently, “Big Brother has to go home.”

“Wuwuwuwu……” Someone began wiping their tears.

Le Cheng simply couldn’t stand seeing other people cry. His heart immediately softened, and he looked toward Zhou Shirui as if asking for help.

Zhou Shirui met his gaze, put down the little bunch on his shoulder, and said slowly, “Big Brother will leave today, but next time we’ll come again. Everyone be good, and we’ll see each other again next time, okay?”

His low, soothing voice made people inexplicably believe him. The children stopped crying and looked at Le Cheng. “Really?”

Le Cheng’s heart stirred. “Of course it’s true. We’ll come again next time.”

“Okay!”

Only then did the children let go.

They got on the school bus. It was already very dark. According to some traditions, the organizers would invite everyone to eat together.

After playing all day, Le Cheng was a little tired. He lowered his head and flipped through his phone, looking at the photos he had taken.

When taking photos, he had mainly photographed the children, wanting to keep some memories, but he hadn’t paid particular attention to it. Occasionally, Zhou Shirui had ended up in the frame.

Le Cheng admired his photography skills.

He had captured the little bunches ridiculously cutely.

The two photos with Zhou Shirui in them were relatively blurry, so he enlarged them to take a look.

How should he put it?

There wasn’t really any technique.

Just naturally handsome.

Thinking that it had been a long time since he had given his male-model CP fans something to eat, Le Cheng admired the photos for a moment and felt that he had new material to serve up.

Le Cheng looked at his phone without avoiding anyone, simply placing it obediently on his lap as he looked through it. Zhou Shirui lowered his eyes and, inadvertently, caught sight of the image on the screen.

It was a picture of himself.

Le Cheng’s slender fingers were still scrolling across the screen, enlarging the photo and examining it carefully. In the end, he seemed quite satisfied and closed his phone screen.

Zhou Shirui withdrew his gaze.

Rarely, the tips of his ears were a little red.

Le Cheng had taken his photo. Zhou Shirui lowered his eyes. Not only did he not feel offended, but instead, there was a faint, indistinct feeling in his heart that made his body and mind feel strangely comfortable.

Le Cheng turned off his phone and casually glanced back at Zhou Shirui. Very considerately, he asked, “Is it a little hot?”

Zhou Shirui was puzzled. “Hmm?”

“Your ears are a little red.” Le Cheng said understandingly, “There are a lot of people on the bus. I’ll open the windows a bit.”

Zhou Shirui blinked lightly. “Go ahead.”

The bus drove for two hours before arriving at their destination.

Le Cheng entered the private room and found a place to sit. There were a lot of people, so they had opened more than one room and split up, with only five or six people in each private room.

Ninety percent of these people were from the student union. Le Cheng basically didn’t know any of them. He obediently sat at the table, looking forward to when they would start eating.

Someone else went to get alcohol and asked if anyone wanted juice. Zhou Shirui spoke up, “Yes, get orange juice.”

“Whoa, Brother Rui,” that person teased, “How come you’re drinking orange juice now?”

“I want to drink it.” Zhou Shirui lifted his eyelids. “Can’t I?”

“Of course, of course.” The person laughed and cursed jokingly. “I’ll bring all of it over for you guys. Red, white, yellow, green, everything!”

Le Cheng remembered the last time they had gone out for a gathering. Zhou Shirui hadn’t drunk much; adding it up, he should have had about one bottle of beer.

He didn’t know whether Zhou Shirui had a good alcohol tolerance.

Le Cheng himself could hold his liquor fairly well. He wasn’t particularly good, but he wasn’t bad either. Three bottles of beer were completely fine for him. He turned his head and asked, “Zhou Shirui, how’s your alcohol tolerance?”

Last time, Zhou Shirui had even helped him block the alcohol.

They were too close. Zhou Shirui turned his face slightly and looked at him, his gaze slowly falling from the tips of his thick eyelashes to his lower lip, where it lingered for several seconds. “Average.”

Average?

Le Cheng felt that as long as it was a guy, he would brag about his alcohol tolerance when he was out drinking. “Average” probably meant he wasn’t very good.

Zhou Shirui probably couldn’t drink as much as him.

Thinking of this, Le Cheng strangely felt a sense of contrast that was somehow cute. In a small voice, he said, “Then let’s drink juice together!”

Zhou Shirui had gotten the juice for him to drink in the first place. Upon hearing this, he didn’t hesitate. “Okay.”

The servers soon brought out the dishes. While everyone else chatted, Le Cheng was the only one seriously eating.

There was only one thing in his eyes: the giant chicken legs!

Halfway through the meal, everyone at the table had gotten excited from drinking and said they wanted to play a game and compete at drinking.

Having learned his embarrassing lesson from last time, Le Cheng immediately shook his head and said he wasn’t playing.

Everyone was already drunk and somewhat lacking in restraint. One of the men in a plaid shirt said, “Oh, come on. We came out to have fun, to liven things up. It’s such a buzzkill if you don’t play.”

Le Cheng insisted, “I can’t hold my liquor. I don’t want to play.”

That person mixed red wine and white liquor together and placed it in front of Le Cheng. He was holding the glass and just about to say something when his arm was suddenly gripped tightly by someone.

The strength was like an iron clamp. The man in the plaid shirt turned his head along with his arm, about to lose his temper, only to meet Zhou Shirui’s dark, calm eyes.

Zhou Shirui’s face was expressionless. His black eyes stared straight at him, his tone without much fluctuation. “He said he’s not playing. Didn’t you hear him?”

“Oh… oh, oh, I’m just hard of hearing.” The man in the plaid shirt’s heart skipped a beat, and he immediately sobered up quite a bit. “Brother Rui, the music’s too loud. I didn’t hear him clearly! It’s all a misunderstanding, all a misunderstanding.”

“It’s fine.” Zhou Shirui said indifferently, slowly releasing him and taking the glass of alcohol. “I’ll drink this glass for him. You guys enjoy yourselves.”

With that, he tilted his head back. His Adam’s apple bobbed as he drank it all in one go.

Then, he turned the glass upside down.

“Smack—”

Not a single drop remained.

The others immediately laughed to ease the atmosphere. “Oh, you drank it so cleanly. Brother Rui sure is generous. Come on, let’s play, let’s play.”

Le Cheng’s eyes widened.

No, mixing red wine and white liquor together was basically a double bomb, it was incredibly easy to get drunk!

He hurriedly poured a glass of orange juice. “How are you? Are you dizzy?”

“I’m fine.” Zhou Shirui shook his head, his expression normal. “Eat.”

As the meal was nearing its end, they finally stopped playing games at the table and started gossiping.

“A while ago, I heard that Little Lin broke up with his girlfriend, and it ended pretty badly.”

“Huh? Why?”

“What else could it be? That girl heard that Little Lin only pursued her because of a bet. Even though he became serious about her later, she still couldn’t accept it, I guess, so they broke up.”

“Can’t blame her for breaking up.”

“I heard Big Chen and his girlfriend broke up too.”

“I knew it. I never thought they’d last.”

“Exactly. And have you seen how Big Chen acts every day? He’s so d*mn aloof, putting on an act. Girls have hearts too; they’re not made of iron. He didn’t give her a response for so long, so she just broke up with him.”

“When I get back, I’m definitely going to make fun of him properly, hahaha…”

Le Cheng lowered his head and drank his juice while everyone at the table laughed.

Only Zhou Shirui kept his eyes lowered, as though he had fallen into deep thought.

After the meal ended, everyone called taxis and headed back.

Le Cheng followed behind Zhou Shirui. Seeing that Zhou Shirui wasn’t moving, he tilted his head and asked him, “What’s wrong? Aren’t we going back?”

“Going back.” Zhou Shirui turned his head to look at him.

But he still didn’t call a taxi.

Le Cheng guessed that he had been drinking and wanted to enjoy some cool air to sober up, so he didn’t say anything and simply walked along with him.

It was already very late at night. There were hardly any people on the road. Stars dotted the night sky, making the surroundings feel vast and relaxing.

Le Cheng took a deep breath and felt that taking a walk like this every once in a while wasn’t bad.

The person beside him hadn’t said anything the entire time. Unable to resist, Le Cheng asked, “Zhou Shirui, are you a little drunk?”

Zhou Shirui was silent for a moment before answering with an “Mm.”

…He wasn’t drunk, but his heart was in turmoil.

Hot, restless.

He lowered his eyes. Le Cheng was looking down and kicking small stones along the road. His black hair was smooth, his neck fair and slender, and the side of his face was as soft as a cloud.

Something in his heart was on the verge of breaking free, while the words he had just heard seemed to keep echoing in his ears.

Not giving any response at all.

Would Le Cheng be like that too? Never before had he so desperately hoped to receive something from Le Cheng.

Le Cheng kicked the little stones for a while before realizing that Zhou Shirui seemed to have stopped.

He stopped too and stood still. “What’s wrong?” Are they going back?

Zhou Shirui’s voice was low. “Le Cheng.”

The night made his brows and eyes hazy, as though they were wrapped in a layer of gentle gauze.

Le Cheng blinked. “Hmm?”

Zhou Shirui: “Do you like me?”

Le Cheng answered instinctively, “Of course I do.”

Then he suddenly realized what he had just said.

Huh? What did he ask? Who was he? Where was he? What had he answered?

Le Cheng completely short-circuited. His brain couldn’t quite process things. His heart was pounding wildly. He looked at Zhou Shirui’s expression, trying to understand why he had asked that question.

The light was too dim. Zhou Shirui seemed to have no expression at all.

Le Cheng swallowed hard and quickly thought it through. Almost immediately, a guess popped into his head.

Could Zhou Shirui be thinking about breaking up?

Although he didn’t know why, if Zhou Shirui was asking whether he liked him, he must have noticed something. And he had just answered that he did. Wasn’t this about to end in a breakup?!

Everything had happened too suddenly. Every plan Le Cheng had imagined before shattered at this moment. His palms were sweating from nervousness, so in less than two seconds, he made his decision.

Le Cheng stepped forward, rose onto his toes, and kissed Zhou Shirui on the lips.

It was over in a touch.

Zhou Shirui’s expression froze, his narrow eyes widening slightly.

Le Cheng’s heart was pounding wildly, almost as though it were about to burst out of his chest. Let the storm come even more fiercely, let him add fuel to the fire! Speed up the breakup!

Zhou Shirui didn’t move or make a sound. His dark eyes slowly lowered. Being looked at like that made Le Cheng a little afraid.

Zhou Shirui’s gaze looked as though he wanted to devour him whole.

“You…”

But Zhou Shirui abruptly interrupted him, his voice cold and deep. “Do you know what you’re doing?”

“I kn…” Le Cheng stammered. “I know… mmph!”

And in the next moment, Zhou Shirui reached out, his long fingers gripping the back of Le Cheng’s neck. He lowered his head and bit down hard on Le Cheng’s lips without hesitation.