Chapter 17: Overflowing Envy

Ji Xu had just tapped the matchmaking interface.

Before his finger could even land on the screen, the entire room plunged into darkness with a loud “snap.”

The air conditioner’s display screen still emitted a faint blue glow.

However, all other light sources vanished instantly.

A streak of dim yellow light seeped through the gap in the curtains from the streetlamps outside, barely outlining the desk and chair.

He froze for a second before realizing that the dormitory lights-out time had arrived.

Shangnan University enforced a strict daily routine schedule.

At eleven o’clock sharp every night, the dormitory lighting circuits were cut off, leaving only the air conditioner and power outlets powered.

“Brother, I can’t play anymore,” Ji Xu brought his headset microphone close to his mouth, his voice sounding somewhat abrupt in the suddenly quiet darkness.

“The dorm lights just went out.”

Chu Siran’s side fell silent for a second or two, likely having picked up the change in ambient sound on Ji Xu’s end.

Then, a very low and brief “Okay” came through the earphones.

Immediately following it, he added two more words: “Good night.”

“Good night, Brother.” Ji Xu ended the voice call and placed his phone beside his pillow.

After the screen light went out, the room returned to darkness once again.

Only the faint humming of the air conditioner outlet and the fragmented voices drifting from the dispersing social event on the sports field outside remained.

He rolled over to face the wall, pulling the blanket up to his chin.

Drowsiness indeed swept over him.

Having been exposed to the sun for too long during the day, waves of soreness deep within his muscles were surging up continuous bursts of fatigue.

His eyelids felt heavy, his upper and lower eyelashes almost sticking together.

Yet before he could fully fall asleep, the sound of a key inserting into the lock and turning came from the door.

This was followed by the soft sound of the door being pushed open.

Ji Xu’s eyes, which had already been half-closed, opened again.

He tilted his head and glanced toward the doorway.

In the dark, he could make out a tall shadow being half-supported and half-helped inside by another person.

The steps were unsteady, with the weight resting heavily on the person assisting him.

The posture of one leg touching the ground was clearly drawn back.

The toes did not dare press down firmly, relying solely on the heel to tap the ground for support.

“What happened to you?” Ji Xu’s drowsiness vanished instantly.

He flipped over and sat up from the bed, leaping down to the floor in two or three steps along the ladder.

He hadn’t even bothered to put on his slippers, the coldness of the dormitory floor against his bare feet making him shiver.

He walked quickly over to Yuan Hanfei’s side, using the faint streetlamp light filtering through the window to inspect his condition.

A layer of sweat covered Yuan Hanfei’s forehead, his brows tightly furrowed.

His left ankle had visibly swollen in a distinct ring.

His trouser leg had been rolled up to his knee, revealing the skin at the calf and ankle flushed with an unnatural red.

The outline was significantly thicker than his right leg.

“It’s fine, just twisted my foot.” Yuan Hanfei’s voice sounded relatively steady, though the traces of enduring pain could not be hidden in his tone.

“I missed a step while going down the stairs, misjudged the last three steps, and turned my ankle.”

Ji Xu did not recognize the person supporting Yuan Hanfei.

The guy wore a light gray cultural T-shirt with the words “Shangnan University Student Council” printed on the chest.

He was of medium height and looked like a staff member from tonight’s social event.

He helped Yuan Hanfei over to the chair.

When Yuan Hanfei sat down, his injured foot lightly touched the ground before quickly being lifted back up, his brow furrowing even tighter.

“Then I’ll head out first,” Mo Xusong let go and stepped back.

“Get some good rest, and go to the infirmary tomorrow to let them check it out again.”

“Thanks.” Yuan Hanfei nodded, reached into his drawer to pull out a pack of snacks, and handed it over—it was a bag of imported chocolate biscuits.

Mo Xu accepted it and smiled in the dim light: “Why thank me?”

He nodded at Ji Xu as a greeting before stepping out of the dorm, gently pulling the door shut behind him.

Yuan Hanfei switched on his desk lamp.

A warm yellow light lit up from the corner of the desk, illuminating half of his face and his bare left ankle.

He looked down at his ankle and lightly touched the swollen ring of skin with his fingertip.

He instantly gasped in cold air, snapping his fingers back.

Ji Xu squatted down beside him, leaning in close to look at the ankle.

It was indeed swollen quite severely, expanding outward in a ring around the ankle bone.

The surface of the skin glistened with a shiny red hue, looking painful at a glance.

He raised his head to look at Yuan Hanfei’s face: “With you like this, you probably don’t have to attend military training anymore, right?”

“Yeah, I’ve already requested leave from the counselor.” Yuan Hanfei let out a breath and leaned back against the chair’s backrest.

“I went to the infirmary to get a sick note; all outdoor training during military training is excused until my foot gets better.”

Ji Xu squatted in front of him, his eyes glistening brightly under the lamp light, filled entirely with the words “so envious.”

He thought of how he would have to wake up again tomorrow morning at six-something to gather on the sports field and stand in posture.

Meanwhile, Yuan Hanfei could comfortably sleep until he woke up naturally, blowing in the air conditioner while lying in bed playing on his phone, without being baked by the sun or yelled at by the instructor.

That envious gaze was far too obvious—from his squatting posture to his slightly parted mouth and the glint at the bottom of his eyes, everything wrote out “I also don’t want to do military training.”

However, he looked down at Yuan Hanfei’s ankle, which was swollen like a bun, and thought better of it.

He wanted to avoid getting injured even more.

A sprain of this degree would take at least a week or two to heal, making walking a struggle and even going to the bathroom a chore.

Although military training was tiring, at least his own ankles were still functioning normally.

Yuan Hanfei sat on the chair, watching Ji Xu squatting in front of him.

Ji Xu’s squatting posture was very casual, his knees together, arms resting on his knees, head tilted up as he looked at him.

The envious light in those eyes had not fully receded.

Yuan Hanfei remained silent for a few seconds, his fingers tapping lightly on the armrest twice before speaking up: “Can you help me bring back meals tomorrow?”

Ji Xu blinked: “Bring meals? Sure.”

Yuan Hanfei looked at him, the corners of his mouth curving up ever so slightly: “One hundred yuan a day for running errands.”

Ji Xu’s eyes lit up instantly.

His squatting body surged upward, his knees almost bumping into the desk leg as he leaned whole-heartedly forward: “Yes, yes! I can help you bring back meals! Breakfast, lunch, and dinner are all covered, and I’ll even help you fetch your packages!”

The delight in his voice was impossible to conceal, the end of his tone floating upward.

That expression of pure happiness brought about by money was so candid that Yuan Hanfei couldn’t help taking a couple of extra looks.

So his roommate was a little money-grubber. Yuan Hanfei thought to himself, adjusting the angle of the desk lamp so the light shone more evenly between them.

He silently noted it down in his mind—Ji Xu, likes money, becomes very proactive when errand fees are sufficient, poor at expression management, with happiness and envy both written plainly on his face.

Over the next few days, Ji Xu became Yuan Hanfei’s dedicated errand runner.

Every morning, he set his alarm fifteen minutes earlier than before, pulling himself up at six-twenty to wash up before taking Yuan Hanfei’s campus card to buy breakfast at the cafeteria.

On the first day, he brought back millet porridge, mini steamed buns, and a boiled egg.

On the second day, it was a bowl of wontons plus a fried dough stick.

On the third day, he changed things up, bringing soy milk and a Chinese crepe, adding two eggs to it.

He hastily gobbled down a few bites himself before putting on his military training uniform to rush off to the sports field.

The moment the noon dismissal whistle blew, he dashed faster than anyone else, running all the way to the cafeteria to pack meals and bring them back, eating lunch face-to-face with Yuan Hanfei across their respective desks.

The same went for the evening.

He packed dinner, fought his way out of the crowded cafeteria, and returned drenched in sweat.

Yet the moment he entered the door and saw Yuan Hanfei sitting at the desk pushing a hundred-yuan bill over, he felt that tiny bit of fatigue was nothing at all.

After these few days of training, Ji Xu felt his physical strength had indeed improved.

The days when standing in posture made his knees tremble and holding split-action marching positions for less than thirty seconds made his legs shake were gradually passing.

He could now steadily raise his leg to the designated height and hold it for two minutes.

He sweat less while out in the sun, and his breathing was no longer as heavy during break times.

His muscles cycled repeatedly between soreness and recovery, like a piece of iron being repeatedly forged, slowly growing firmer.

Although he couldn’t compare to those naturally built Alphas, at least he now had the strength after military training to walk to the cafeteria, grab food, and walk back on his own, without collapsing motionless onto his bed like he did on the first day.

At noon, Ji Xu placed the two packed meals on the desk—one was his own, and the other belonged to Yuan Hanfei.

The swelling on Yuan Hanfei’s injured foot had subsided, though he still couldn’t put weight on the ground.

He hopped on one leg over to the chair to sit down, took the chopsticks Ji Xu handed over, and began eating.

Ji Xu sat opposite him, unwrapped his chopsticks, and shoveled a couple of bites of rice with his head down.

However, as he ate, his gaze involuntarily drifted across the table.

Yuan Hanfei was watching videos on his tablet.

His tablet was propped up on the desk, the screen playing a sports variety show.

He leaned against the back of his chair, holding chopsticks in his right hand to pick at his food, his left leg propped up, while his injured right foot rested elevated on a small stool.

His air conditioner temperature was set comfortably, the desk clean and tidy, with a glass of freshly made iced lemon water right by his hand, water droplets condensing on the outside of the glass.

His whole demeanor was relaxed and comfortable.

Only the bottom two buttons of his pajamas were done up, the collar open to reveal a small patch of firm chest.

He took a bite of food, took a sip of iced water, and then picked up the tablet to drag the video progress bar back for a replay, his expression so leisurely that it looked less like recovering from an injury and more like being on vacation.

Ji Xu’s gaze paused on him for two seconds before shifting away, taking a bite of rice, and then uncontrollably glancing back again.

The sun marks on Yuan Hanfei’s neck were much lighter than Ji Xu’s.

Because he had only been burned during that half-day on the sports field and had barely left the room over the following days, his skin had paled back somewhat.

His hands were clean, his fingernails neatly trimmed, and a wrist watch that looked far from cheap was worn on his wrist, its screen glowing intermittently.

Ji Xu looked down at himself.

The collar of his military training uniform was soaked through in a ring.

His arms and neck had been tanned into a two-toned gradient.

On the back of his hand was a light scratch from a small stone on the track yesterday.

His meal was the most ordinary set combo from the cafeteria.

Meanwhile, Yuan Hanfei’s lunch contained a portion of abalone sauce chicken drumstick—a separately added dish, the container visibly larger than Ji Xu’s.

Ji Xu’s gaze was far too obvious.

That look mixed with complex emotions of envy, jealousy, unwillingness, and resignation kept drifting across the table.

Drifting once or twice was fine, but by the sixth or seventh time, Yuan Hanfei finally raised his head from his tablet.

He turned his head to look at Ji Xu.

Ji Xu was shoveling rice with his head down, yet his gaze was clearly directed toward his side, unaware that a grain of rice was stuck to the corner of his mouth.

Yuan Hanfei let out a sigh, put down the tablet, and looked at Ji Xu with a helpless smile: “You’ve been staring at me for so long, do you like what you see?”

The rice in Ji Xu’s mouth almost sprayed out.

He snapped his head up, meeting Yuan Hanfei’s teasing, smiling eyes, only then realizing how long he had been staring at the guy just now.

He hurriedly swallowed the rice in his mouth, nearly choking, and patted his chest twice: “Um, I was just—anyway—” His tongue felt tied in knots, several words colliding in his head with none able to squeeze out, “I didn’t mean it like that.”

Watching his flustered and chaotic state, the curve at the corner of Yuan Hanfei’s mouth grew even wider: “Then what did you mean?”

Ji Xu’s face flushed bright red instantly, spreading from the tips of his ears all the way down to the base of his neck.

Even the skin around the gland at his nape flushed a subtle layer of pink.

He lowered his head and forcefully shoveled two bites of rice, saying mumbled: “I was just envious that you don’t have to do military training, nothing else.”

After saying this, he felt embarrassed himself and added another sentence: “Don’t overthink it.”

Yuan Hanfei looked at his bright red ear tips and lowered eyelashes, refraining from questioning him further.

He withdrew his gaze, picked up the tablet, and continued watching the video, though the smile at the corner of his mouth never fully receded.

Ji Xu kept his head down and continued eating.

The heat on his ears took a good while to slowly recede.

He reached out to touch his own face, finding it still burning hot.

He quietly stole a glance at Yuan Hanfei across the table.

Yuan Hanfei was absorbed in watching the video, as if that teasing remark earlier was just a casual comment he hadn’t taken to heart.

Ji Xu let out a breath of relief, yet he felt that phrase “do you like what you see” was still spinning around his ears, unable to be dispelled or driven away.

He gave his head a firm shake, casting those chaotic thoughts aside to focus on dealing with the food in his bowl.

The cool breeze from the air conditioner blew steadily.

The dormitory was quiet and comfortable, the sound of cicadas outside the window filtering through the glass, rising one after another.

Yuan Hanfei occasionally let out a soft laugh while watching the video.

Listening to that laughter, Ji Xu lowered his head and stuffed the last bite of rice into his mouth.

As he chewed, the corners of his mouth involuntarily curled up as well.

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