Beyond the Rift (Campus 1V1) - 14.

14.

Zong Du finishes showering. He hears cooking sounds from the kitchen.

He walks out of the bedroom. The living room TV plays evening news.

A reporter interviews Yi Chuan’s father, Yi Dongzheng. He asks if he plans to run for president next year.

The secretary beside Yi Dongzheng blocks the reporter.

“Sorry, no comment.”

“Mayor Yi Dongzheng, about the recent brawl at Li Jin Vocational High. What do you want to say? How’s the police investigation? Is it really just a violent incident caused by teenage rebellion, as the news reports?”

A Li Jin Daily reporter asks.

Yi Dongzheng pauses. He faces the camera.

“The incident is under investigation. Results come to the public first thing.”

The screen quickly switches to a reporter’s interview at Li Jin Private Hospital.

Hospitalized students give similar answers. They all deny someone orchestrates the violence.

Zong Du watches for a bit, then heads to the kitchen.

The glass door stays open. Ling Jia’s wearing pajamas matching his color scheme. She carefully scoops egg fried rice into two bowls with a spatula. She turns, sees his figure, and looks surprised. She pauses. Then she quickly smiles.

“Hungry?”

She wears the auntie’s apron. It;s a red-and-white checkered style.

Her beige nightgown has a low neckline, scant fabric at the back. The two don’t match.

Zong Du reaches out. He unties the bow at her back.

The reporter’s voice continues on the TV.

Ling Jia hears the repeated mention of Li Jin. She cooperatively lets him remove the apron.

“Have you been to Li Jin?”

Zong Du sets the apron on the counter. He leans against it. He takes a sip of the warm water she just poured.

With the TV on and her deliberate topic, he knows what Ling Jia wants to say. He plays along.

“I go there recently. What? You’re interested in it?”

“When I watch Auntie cook, she says you like seafood from there. How about next weekend, if you’re free, we go eat fresh seafood there?”

Ling Jia carries the rice. She walks with him to the living room.

Zong Du follows behind. He hooks the thin strap on her shoulder. It makes her stop.

He tugs the strap. Ling Jia moves closer with his pull until only a hand’s distance remains between them.

“Auntie tells you these things?”

Ling Jia doesn’t look away, meets his gaze, and nods.

“She probably thinks it helps me understand you better. So she shares some things about you.”

“Really?”

Zong Du smiles.

“What else does she say?”

“She says you only like egg tarts among sweets, never touch fried food, prefer hand-rolled noodles over thin ones, enjoy solitude more than crowds, bought a TV but never turn it on, get annoyed by phone rings, and says you never bring others here before.”

“Others(别人).”

He catches these two words. He asks her.

“Who does that mean?”

Ling Jia thinks for a moment.

“Probably your fiancée, Yan Xue.”

“Not natural enough.”

Zong Du smiles, critiques.

Ling Jia bites her lip. She’s thinking. She then rephrases.

“She means your fiancée.”

Zong Du’s tone sounds like a playboy.

“She’s just a fiancée. Not married, so why come here? For s3x, I have you. For cooking, there’s Auntie. She can’t come to play games with Raven.”

“…”

Ling Jia discovers for the first time Zong Du’s words can be so cutting.

Her speechless look amuses him.

“Not what you expected? Let me rephrase. Ling Jia, you don’t seem to get what I say at the hospital. ‘You keep me happy, I have your back’ means you please me first before you make demands or ask me to do what you want. Understand?”

Like a puzzle game, he already gives the hint.

But how far he helps, Ling Jia isn’t sure. She isn’t naive enough to think her place in his heart makes him break off with Yan Xue. The two shots at Yi Chuan already get an answer on TV.

Not for her sake, not at all.

She’s just an excuse. A warning to the Yi family.

The current president wins with votes pulled by the Zong family.

Yi Dongzheng loses by a few votes back then. On the surface, the families coexist peacefully. But fewer collaborations in recent years show hidden tensions.

Yi Dongzheng has only one son, Yi Chuan. Zong Du’s shots are for Yi Dongzheng to see.

Maybe there’s another purpose.

But it’s clear Zong Du isn’t as kind as he seems.

What does he mean by pleasing him?

Just make him hard, wrap her legs around him, let him come from friction—is that pleasing, or, as Yan Xue says, help him overcome his mental block to truly have s3x with her?

For such unsolvable questions, she chooses to cheat.

She skips finding the answer herself. She asks him directly.

“How do I make you happy?”

The news program nears its end.

Closing music fades in.

The music is called overly noisy by Li City folks. It eases the silent tension between them.

Her nervousness and unease lay bare before his eyes.

But on how to make him happy,

Zong Du only recently finds the answer from her.

He likes her eyes that look at him but don’t fully land on him.

He likes her clumsy acting, pretending to be pure despite being unpolished.

He feels like a valuable object for her to use.

Need, use, deceive, conceal, please, beg, and now her asking—

All bring him joy. It’s a joy surpassing the thrill of self-inflicted pain.

He kindly guides her. In a way that’s more teacherly than any Qianchuan instructor.

“Get close to me.”

The chair scrapes across the floor. It makes a harsh sound.

Ling Jia walks to him. Her skirt brushes his pant leg. Then she improvises. She sits on his lap.

“What’s next?”

He kisses her as she speaks.

He bites her lower lip. Hearing her pained moan, he smiles. He strokes her nape like admiring a perfect artwork. His fingers move from back to front. They catch her off guard. They grip her throat.

Ling Jia winces in pain. She opens her eyes. She sees Zong Du watching her with an utterly cold expression.

She freezes. She doesn’t cry for help or beg. She only feels confused. She blankly meets his gaze.

Zong Du releases her. He kisses her wet eyelashes soothingly.

He pulls her into his arms. His fingers stroke her long hair. He then speaks softly in her ear.

“Next, you beg me. Ask if I can take you to my aunt’s birthday party to let Yan Xue know you mean more to me than she thinks.”