I Treat You as a Brother - Chapter 7

“I thought that he didn’t live in this room,” Xu Xiran frowned. “Did I remember wrong?”

“Maybe this person runs around to commit his crimes?” Fang Mo answered for him.

“Could be,” Xu Xiran nodded, then asked, “Did he say anything weird to you?”

Fang Mo hesitated for a bit. Then after a moment, he made a decision and let out a slightly exaggerated sigh.

“Yeah, he… ai, I have no words.”

Not only did he need to admit it, but he also planned on adding fuel and vinegar to the story to paint himself as the poor victim. That way, Xu Xiran would not only feel that they share the same struggle, but also feel strong sympathy towards him and give him more attention.

Surely this would quickly establish feelings!

“This is just too much,” Xu Xiran said with concern. “Do you want to try and apply for a different room?”

“…And use what excuse?”

Xu Xiran went into deep thought. “It is a little hard to say.”

As they talked, the two left the residential area and walked side by side toward the dining hall.

It was still a little early for dinner. Xu Xiran had originally wanted to come over to see him, and while he was there, also ask if he could help out a bit and take him to dinner afterward. Never had he expected to see an unexpected person in his room, and thus, he immediately dragged him downstairs to ask about the situation.

“You don’t have to worry too much,” Xu Xiran added. “He’s half a head shorter than you and he looks weak. If he really makes a move on you in your room, just beat him up.”

Fang Mo looked at him all surprised.

“What is it? Are you afraid that you won’t be able to beat him?” Xu Xiran said with a laugh.

“I have a question.” Fang Mo was nervous.

Xu Xiran looked at him still smiling, “Mm?”

“Have you ever beaten someone who’s harassed you before?” Fang Mo asked.

“I have,” Xu Xiran said. “But only once. Most of the time, I only need to scare them a bit and they’d leave.”

“How did you scare them?”

“Something like…” Xu Xiran thought for a bit, then suddenly grabbed Fang Mo’s hand without warning and pressed it on his lower back. “Some people will put their hands over like this, right? Then…”

“……”

“What the hell are you doing! I’m just showing an example, you’re acting too much!” Xu Xiran stepped back repeatedly.

Fang Mo tried to suppress his excitement and looked down at his hand. “I… aren’t I roleplaying with you…”

“You’re crazy,” Xu Xiran didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “If I really met someone who pinched my butt, I’d definitely high-kick them!”

Fang Mo rubbed the hand that was still lingering with tactile sensation behind his back, then tremblingly held it out again to Xu Xiran. “Continue your demonstration, I’ll study hard.”

Xu Xiran slapped his hand away. “Continue still? I suspect you took the opportunity to take advantage of me.”

Judging by the tone of his expression, it was clear that he was joking. But for those with demons in their hearts, it was still a deterrence.

Fang Mo started to regret not having restrained himself, and letting his hand move out of the control of his brain. If this continued on, sooner or later, Xu Xiran would find out and the fight would be over.

He didn’t know how ordinary straight men would react to such a joke, so he could only forcefully change the subject.

“It’s not Liu Xiaochang who you’ve beaten up, right?”

“No, it’s not him,” Xu Xiran waved his hand dismissively. “As soon as he touched me, I scared him off.”

He had a relatively heavy appearance, but he didn’t look fierce. In the time that Fang Mo had spent with him, he always had a heartwarming smile on his face. It was hard to imagine how he would scare others.

“How did you scare him?” Fang Mo, who was just in regret, was now driven by his instinct to be less honest, and sneakily stretched out his hand. “Can you show me again?”

The moment his fingertip touched Xu Xiran’s T-shirt, his arm was suddenly hit by the other’s elbow. Not very strong, but very unfriendly. Fang Mo’s smacked arm froze in the air, neither reaching out nor retreating.

“What are you doing?” Xu Xiran interrogated.

When Xu Xiran said these words, his face had completely sunk, his brows slightly frowned, and his cold tone made Fang Mo’s heart tighten.

“Something wrong?” he asked again.

Fang Mo looked at his cold face and quickly retracted his hands behind his back. “I… I wasn’t, that, I was only…”

Xu Xiran’s tense face relaxed in an instant.

“Hahahahaha I scared him just like that,” he said with a big laugh. “Useful isn’t it?”

“……”

Fang Mo looked away.

His heart had almost stopped beating just now, but it finally was back to running and beating wildly again. Xu Xiran had really scared him. But apart from that, he looked really handsome while doing so.

At that moment, it felt so different from his usual gentle appearance and it was very thrilling.

“What’s the matter?” Xu Xiran was puzzled. “What is this reaction?”

“I’m afraid I won’t be able to learn…” Fang Mo answered in a low voice.

Xu Xiran thought for a while, sighed, and then put his hand on his shoulder. “You’re such a good and honest person. With your personality, you living in the same dorm as that Liu guy really makes me a little worried.”

Fang Mo’s whole back went stiff.

When he thought about it carefully, what Xu Xiran did just now, he had also done countless times before when growing up. But most of those times were with ordinary straight men free of his distracting thoughts.

For most boys, this type of physical contact between the same sex would be considered normal. However, Fang Mo was in the minority. Since his adolescent years, he had always resisted this sort of contact. In the past, whenever some unsuspecting classmate made this type of taboo move on him, he would immediately try to avoid it and show obvious displeasure. After a while, everyone knew that he simply had a habit of cleanliness. In middle school, he even encountered people who would deliberately tease him for this. In such instances, Fang Mo would never give face, yell back at them, and even get into fights over this.

Now that he thought about it, this could almost count as something he had in common with Xu Xiran.

Of course, what Xu Xiran had said to him just now made him quite happy.

When he first met Xu Xiran a few hours ago, he couldn’t think straight at all. Even having just gained some immunity, with Xu Xiran giving him this subconscious intimacy, his mind once again fell into disarray.

Fang Mo felt giddy and was beaming with joy.

“How about this,” Xu Xiran said. “Later when we head back, if he’s still there, I can help you scare him off.”

After he spoke, just as he was about to withdraw his arm, he suddenly let out a quiet “Yi?”

Fang Mo, having regained consciousness, turned his head and glanced along his line of sight, and saw a familiar face on the other side.

With their eyes facing each other, Zou Shun, who was standing a few meters away, stared at them with his eyes wide and immediately squeezed out an awkward and exaggerated smile.

“This is your friend?” Xu Xiran asked.

Fang Mo narrowed his eyes and looked at Zou Shun. “…You could say that.”

They both looked at each other, their heads filled with complicated thoughts. Zou Shun must have been secretly observing them for a while, as shown by the obvious inquiry and curiosity on his face. But with Fang Mo’s murderous glance, he didn’t dare to casually approach them.

Fang Mo also naturally didn’t want him to come close. Happily in their two-person world, he found it annoying to get interrupted by a big bright lightbulb. On top of that, he always felt that Zou Shun looked at Xu Xiran in a somewhat lustful way.

From Xu Xiran’s point of view, he couldn’t see Fang Mo’s expression clearly and naturally didn’t understand why Zou Shun froze in place when he saw them.

It was a pity that while Fang Mo tried hard to shoo him away, Xu Xiran strode forward.

“What a coincidence. You also just moved here this semester, right?” he asked.

Zou Shun licked his lips, looking nervous, “Yes, I… I want to go to the dining hall, but I don’t know the way very well.”

“Oh perfect, come with us,” Xu Xiran said and pointed forward. “It’s that way, I’ll take you guys there.”

Zou Shun opened his mouth without saying a word and gazed over at Fang Mo’s face.

Fang Mo, who was standing behind Xu Xiran, raised his hand expressionlessly and drew a horizontal line slowly but forcefully across his neck.

You come and I’ll kill you.

“What’s wrong?” Xu Xiran saw that Zou Shun didn’t move and was very dazed, so he patiently explained, “Aren’t you going to the dining hall? Fang Mo and I are also going there. We can go there together.”

Zou Shun was speechless. He rolled his eyes at Fang Mo before saying, “I suddenly remembered that I forgot to bring my card. I have to head back to my room to go get it. Just give me a direction, I’ll head over there myself later…”

The dining hall didn’t accept cash, and only accepted cards with their full student names. After being reminded by him, Fang Mo remembered that he also didn’t bring his card.

“That’s okay, I brought mine,” Xu Xiran said. “You can use mine.”

“…How embarrassing.” Zou Shun took a half step back due to Fang Mo’s stare.

“It’s okay, you can just pay me back through WeChat,” Xu Xiran said and put his hand on his shoulder. “Let’s go, let’s go.”

Zou Shun panicked, stared at the hand on his shoulder a few times, then quickly turned back to look at Fang Mo and frantically mouthed: Don’t blame me!

Fang Mo quietly raised his two middle fingers at him.

Author’s note:

Someone reminded me, so I will give a warning. Strictly speaking, this story has a CP1. Zou Shun’s emotional lines are there to completely serve the main CP in terms of the plot, but there will be more independent parts later. Stop here if this bothers you.