I Treat You as a Brother - Chapter 25

After the two of them looked down at the phone in silence for a few seconds, Fang Mo felt that he should say something.

The previous “catching him in the act” could still be categorized as a misunderstanding, but this time, Yang Lin made it clear that he was throwing dirty water at him. He should have acted angrier.

Just as he was about to curse out from his emotions, Xu Xiran spoke before him.

“Is this person sick?” His words were not intense, but his tone was clearly filled with anger.

Fang Mo opened his mouth, then closed it again. He moved his gaze toward Xu Xiran’s face. The lighting here was not good, and when he sat next to Xu Xiran, he could only see his side profile. Fortunately, they were very close at the moment, and Fang Mo could still clearly see his frown.

Xu Xiran was angry.

Instead of replying to the message, he directly clicked on the other party’s profile and made a call.

Fang Mo was next to him, and could roughly hear the movement on the other side. Yang Lin answered in seconds. His tone was quite calm when he spoke, and Fang Mo couldn’t tell if he was forcibly restraining himself.

“Xuezhang, what I just sent you…”

“I saw,” Xu Xiran interrupted him, “Fang Mo provoked you, and you slander him like this?”

The other end of the line fell silent.

“How much hate do you have?” Xu Xiran continued, “What were you thinking? What’s your motive?”

“I…”

“I know exactly what kind of person he is, and there’s no way that he would do such a thing,” Xu Xiran said, then asked, “What are you trying to do?”

His tone was rarely this serious. Yang Lin clearly didn’t expect this result, and couldn’t say a word.

“Why aren’t you saying anything?” Xu Xiran continued to ask, “Where are you now? Did you return to your dorm?”

Seeing that he suddenly expressed concern, Yang Lin finally came back to his senses.

“I’m in my dorm… xuezhang, listen to me, I…”

“Fine, I’ll listen to you. You come out and we’ll talk face to face,” Xu Xiran said, “Right now I’m at the place where you secretly took your pictures. Come here, I’ll wait.”

Yang Lin was dumbfounded. It was not just him, Fang Mo was also taken aback. He didn’t want to confront Yang Lin in front of Xu Xiran, that would be too stupid.

“Forget it, it’s late,” he stretched out his hand to pull Xu Xiran’s arm, “Don’t be mad, I didn’t take it that seriously.”

Xu Xiran turned his head to look at him.

“Is he right next to you?” Yang Lin’s voice came from the phone.

After a few seconds of deliberation, Fang Mo gestured to Xu Xiran, took the phone from him, and cleared his throat.

“I’m here,” he said to the person on the other end of the phone. “I saw the message you sent. Did I do something that day that would make you misunderstand?”

“You… that day…” Yang Lin was obviously embarrassed, “Maybe I thought too much, I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine,” Fang Mo said with an incomparably nonchalant attitude, “Since it’s all a misunderstanding, let’s not take it to heart. It’s late, there’s no need for you to come here. I’ll try to persuade him for you. You should rest early.”

After he finished speaking, before Yang Lin could respond, he cut off the call and handed the phone back.

Xu Xiran looked at him, and still seemed displeased after taking back the phone, “Why aren’t you scolding him? Isn’t he trying to catch a thief while playing thief? This is too disgusting.”

“…It’s fine, I didn’t suffer any losses,” Fang Mo looked away guiltily, “But you, why are you so angry all of a sudden?”

“Do you not feel angry?” Xu Xiran still looked unhappy, “I hate these types of people the most.”

Fang Mo asked carefully, “Are you angry on my behalf?”

“You have such a good temper,” Xu Xiran sighed, “If someone messed with me like that, I would definitely fight with him.”

Fang Mo didn’t make a sound. His heart was beating a bit fast, and for a moment, he couldn’t tell whether it was because of guilt or nervousness, or because he couldn’t restrain his heartbeat again.

Xu Xiran stood up for him, so he was naturally happy, but he couldn’t help but feel restless. He didn’t expect Xu Xiran to be so angry because of Yang Lin’s actions when he had done the same exact thing not too long ago.

“These types of people really annoy me the most,” Xu Xiran said, standing up, “They’re all full of shady thoughts. Whoever meets them always gets screwed.”

He looked back at Fang Mo and said, “It’s late, I’m getting sleepy. Shall we head back?”

~

When the two headed back to the dormitory, one in front of the other, Fang Mo kept his head down.

He couldn’t restrain the panic in his heart, and the more he thought about it, the more empty he felt.

Xu Xiran misunderstood his silence and took the initiative to comfort him, “We don’t see eye to eye with those people. If you want, I’ll treat you to milk tea tomorrow.”

“You just want to collect your points,” Fang Mo roasted him, then after struggling for a while, he said, “You seem to have a bit of a double standard, don’t you?”

“Ah?” Xu Xiran turned his head, “I do?”

“You think Xiaoyao is cute, and you’re even willing to be deceived by her. But now you say you hate people with these shady thoughts,” Fang Mo said, “Isn’t Xiaoyao also full of shady thoughts?”

“How are those the same?” Xu Xiran was unhappy. “How can you compare white lies with malicious slander? You’ve insulted my wife.”

Fang Mo kept his head down and didn’t look at him or make a sound.

Xu Xiran continued to explain on behalf of his goddess, “When Xiaoyao lied that time, was it malicious? No. Did she deliberately slander people behind her back and pour dirty water on them? She’s so kindhearted and always thinks for the good of others. Those were not shady thoughts, those were cute thoughts.”

“…Oh,” Fang Mo nodded, “Then if she also…”

“Impossible,” Xu Xiran interrupted immediately, “She’s not that kind of person.”

“……”

“The rumors behind her back are all villainous behaviors, a kindhearted girl like Xiaoyao would never do such a thing,” Xu Xiran emphasized, then reached out and patted Fang Mo, “I will punish you to go back and re-appreciate my goddess’s charm.”

Fang Mo pursed his lips and did not make a sound.

~

He could not sleep that night.

Lying in bed, staring blankly at the bottom of the upper bunk, his mind was a mess.

So much had happened today, most of which was good.

Xu Xiran had accompanied him to class, and had dinner with him. He was even fooled by him into agreeing to his proposal to pretend to be a couple. From now on, Fang Mo would then be able to show off his might in front of all his rivals.

Xu Xiran also got mad at others for his sake, took the initiative to help him out, and made Yang Lin, who framed him, suffer a lot.

All of this was worthy of Fang Mo to be happy about. But now, all he felt was agitation.

He seemed to have planted a landmine for himself. Hidden under the seemingly calm appearance, concealed in a harmonious atmosphere, he didn’t know when he would step on it, or if he would step on it. It existed quietly, reminding Fang Mo that he had done something that would make Xu Xiran feel ashamed not long ago.

He was full of shady thoughts, and deliberately poured dirty water on people. Yang Lin must be furious now, and if he were to insist on saying something to Xu Xiran alone, and the two were to confront each other and Xu Xiran found out that Fang Mo had done the same thing, then Fang Mo would have definitely wasted all his previous efforts.

Xu Xiran had a bright and clear heart, and looked down on these kinds of things.

Fang Mo was full of regret.

~

The next day, Xu Xiran indeed treated him to milk tea. He not only treated him, but also Zou Shun as well. Since Zou Shun’s cosplay costume was now ready, he needed to go over and try it on.

Fang Mo accompanied him, and sat with Xu Xiran in the corner of the club room. Seeing Zou Shun once again surrounded by a group of girls and at his wit’s end, Fang Mo felt bad for him, but at the same time, also wanted to laugh.

Zou Shun’s costume was quite simple; it was a school uniform. The style was naturally a little more complex than a real school uniform, but the overall tailoring was relatively simple, and was made by a freshman girl in the club who had just started learning clothing design.

Her craftsmanship was not the cleanest, and there were many flaws in the details that needed to be fixed. Zou Shun changed into the ill-fitting clothes and stood there pitifully, while being touched from head to toe by a girl with a tape measure and chalk, carefully marking the parts that needed to be fixed.

Seeing his stiff appearance, Fang Mo couldn’t help but sigh with sorrow. In front of strangers of the opposite sex, Zou Shun was like a different person. At this moment, the confidence that he displayed last night in front of Yang Lin was completely gone. People who were not familiar with Zou Shun would probably think that he was a shy innocent boy.

As Fang Mo laughed to himself, Xu Xiran, who was sitting next to him, suddenly asked, “How did you and Zou Shun meet?”

Xu Xiran usually wasn’t one to gossip, and seldom asked about other people’s personal affairs. It was rare that he was interested in Fang Mo’s friends, but at this moment, Fang Mo could only feel embarrassment.

Last night, he had secretly made up his mind that in the future, he would try to be as honest as possible in front of Xu Xiran, and would stop talking nonsense all the time. Meeting the devil was inevitable if he walked too much at night, and sooner or later, he would not be able to make up for it if he kept spewing nonsense. His foundation has already been laid well enough; he just had to maintain it, so there was no need to add more hidden dangers for himself.

Never did he think that he’d encounter a problem so soon. He and Zou Shun had met each other on a gay dating app.

“We met at school,” Fang Mo said, “Even though we were not in the same dorm building back on the old campus, we still lived pretty close to each other.”

The answer was vague, but fortunately, Xu Xiran didn’t go into it. After a moment of silence, he asked another question.

“Then how did you know that he likes men?”

Fang Mo felt a little strange inside, “Everyone knows. He has no intention of hiding it. If someone in your club were to ask him if he has a girlfriend, he would definitely directly answer that he likes men.”

“Has he ever had a boyfriend before?” Xu Xiran asked.

This question was not an easy one to answer. Although Zou Shun was bold and unrestrained in this regard, he was also the order in chaos. He had been ambiguous with multiple people at the same time, and has had several short-term relationships. But those clearly weren’t serious, and it was hard to consider those as relationships.

Fang Mo didn’t know whether to say if he had or hadn’t, and it was inconvenient to explain to him in detail. After hesitating for a moment, he shook his head, “Probably not.”

Hearing this, Xu Xiran fell into deep thought.

“Why do you care so much about him all of a sudden?” Fang Mo asked.

He knew that Xu Xiran was unlikely to suddenly change his sexual orientation for no reason and fall in love with Zou Shun, but he couldn’t help but feel a little jealous in his heart.

Xu Xiran didn’t answer his question, and asked, “Besides you, does he have any other close friends?”

“Yeah,” Fang Mo said, “Don’t look at how reserved he is in front of these girls now. He actually has a number of female friends that are close. But I’m not very familiar with them. He has male friends too. The ones from the circle, I’m not too familiar with them either.”

Xu Xiran remained silent again, with the same thoughtful expression as before.

“What the matter?” Fang Mo couldn’t help but ask.

“So, he came out publicly without a boyfriend, and… in school, the only particularly good relationship he’s had with a boy is with you?” Xu Xiran asked.