The Nth Day of Being Able to Read Minds

Chapter 3 – Clashing with your enemy on a narrow road

The next day, Tao Ran was woken up by the loud sound of the door slamming shut.

Confused and in a daze, he wondered what the hell was wrong with Jiang Yu Heng so early in the morning.

He searched for his phone by his pillow in a drowsy state, squinting his eyes when the bright light flashed on his screen. When he finally saw the 7:45am clearly on the screen, he jumped up in shock and straightened himself.

He’s done for, he’s doomed. His morning class at 8 today is with professor in his department most well known for being strict and merciless!

He could already imagine the tragic consequences from being late.

Tao Ran got out of bed swiftly, washed up and changed his clothes as fast as he could. He swiped at the breakfast on the table before rushing downstairs.

He stepped into the classroom as the bell went off. Slipping into the back row, he saw Wu Hao saving him a seat.

As soon as he sat down, Wu Hao teased him, “Woke up late?”

Tao Ran yawned and nodded, “Luckily roll call hasn’t started.”

“Hah.” Wu Hao patted his shoulder, indicating him to look forward, “Be happy. You and Jiang Yu Heng both came in late today.”

Tao Ran did not notice that the class was combined today. He looked forward first only to see Jiang Yu Heng standing in front, ready for roll call. He glanced at Wu Hao in confusion and said, “Him? Late?”

Jiang Yu Heng only had this one joint class with them and every time, he was half an hour early to the classroom. That too, he was acting like the teacher’s pet as usual.

Wu Hao leaned in and whispered to him, “Right? He was even later than me today.”

Tao Ran: “To think that could happen too. What time did you arrive?”

Wu Hao: “Close to 7:50am.”

Tao Ran bit down into a mouthful of sesame dough, thinking to himself it was no wonder Jiang Yu Heng slammed the door this morning and ran out. It was truly hilarious to see him put so much effort into keeping his persona from collapsing.

Wu Hao stared at the sesame dough in his hand and gulped, “Looks good.”

Tao Ran tilted his head, “Isn’t this what you left on the table for me? Didn’t you have one?”

Wu Hao opened his mouth in shock, “How is that possible? That’s always sold out by 6:30am in our canteen as soon as it’s served. I can’t possibly get up that early.”

Tao Ran: “?”

He stopped chewing and slowly took the sesame dough a bit further away in shock. “Who else would buy me food if not for you? This can’t be poisoned, right?”

“It won’t kill you. Give it to me if you don’t want it.” Wu Hao felt hungry again even though he had breakfast and close to snatching it from him already.

The creaking sounds from their chairs attracted the attention of people in front of them. They turned their heads at the two of them. Tao Ran pushed the plastic bag filled with the sesame doughs and smiled at the professor awkwardly and apologetically.

Tao Ran did not overlook the fact that among all the stares, there was one from Jiang Yu Heng as well, who made him uncomfortable all over from just one stare.

After roll call, the professor began talking eloquently about the academic papers from the previous graduates. Tao Ran listened but eventually got distracted.

Aside from Wu Hao, who else would buy him breakfast and would do it unnamed too?

Usually, the ones who come into his dorm room to find Jiang Yu Heng only talked about proper school matters. That Zhang Yuan Qi who was always with Jiang Yu Heng too, wasn’t close to him either.

He subconsciously skipped the possibility of Jiang Yu Heng bringing him food, even if that was the most reasonable possibility.

Jiang Yu Heng? That would be impossible.

When he recalled those strange words he heard last night, Tao Ran shuddered.

It felt like nothing good was going to happen.

It was meal time by the end of this class. Wu Hao got to eat the grilled fish from third floor as he wanted.

The long queue of people lining up to buy food was contributing to the loud hustle and bustle. Tao Ran poked at the grilled fish with his chopsticks, bored, while looking up from time to time.

Wu Hao’s mouth was stuffed full while he talked, “’Fortunately we came here quickly today. Otherwise there wouldn’t be a place to sit.”

Tao Ran raised his eyebrows casually to show agreement but froze the moment he looked up.

Jiang Yu Heng’s proud and outright posture stood out particularly obvious in the crowd.

He was searching around for a seat while holding onto his plate of food, followed by a long-haired girl. Even with a mask on, it was easy to tell that she was a beautiful lady.

Tao Ran squeezed the chopsticks in his hand a little too hard. The dried chili pepper on the fish made tiny crunching sounds before shattering into smaller pieces.

This action drew Wu Hao’s attention towards him.

“Wu Hao.” Tao Ran withdrew his gaze and asked with a serious expression. “Do you think I’ve been cursed lately?”

The campus on Beijing University wasn’t that big or small. Usually, it wasn’t easy to run into Jiang Yu Heng outside their dorm room. If he wasn’t cursed, why else would he run into him so many times in the past two days?

Wu Hao’s expression was equally serious as he said, “Peachy, I don’t know whether or not you’ve been cursed. But I do think you’ve eaten your fill.”

Tao Ran: “……”

Wu Hao felt like he was quite an understanding person himself. He then said, “The fish’s going to be ruined if you keep poking at it. I understand, you feel bored once you’ve eaten your fill and have nothing else to do, right?”

Tao Ran pinched the spot between his eyebrows a little and decided not to argue with his idiotic childhood friend.

He was also busy chanting this in his heart, “Don’t come over here, don’t come over here. You didn’t see me, you didn’t see me.”

Tao Ran didn’t want his rare good mood from this meal to turn bad. Although his current mood wasn’t that great anymore either.

But unfortunately, things always go the opposite of the way people want it to go. Jiang Yu Heng walked straight in their direction.

“Excuse me, is there anyone sitting here?” The girl’s eyes were full of smiles and her voice was soft, “If not, can we sit here? We’ve gone one round and still couldn’t find anywhere to sit.”

Before Tao Ran could say anything, Wu Hao started choking a few times out of excitement. He then nodded quickly, surprised yet flattered, “Sure, sure. Go ahead.”

Tao Ran stepped hard on Wu Hao’s foot under the table. When he realized the other side gave no reaction at all, he suddenly regretted not telling him what happened with Jiang Yu Heng.

After all, it was hard for Wu Hao to understand what was going on now with his level of emotional intelligence and sensitivity.

With Jiang Yu Heng sitting beside him, Tao Ran quietly shifted a little further away from him.

The girl sat on the opposite of Jiang Yu Heng. After taking off her mask, she was truly a beauty. Such elegant good looks, even the movement of her eating was pleasing to the eyes.

In some ways, it’s really quite envious—

[So jealous.]

Envious of Jiang Yu Heng for always being surrounded by beautiful women…

Tao Ran was caught off guard, having his thoughts read like that. He felt like he was insulted. He was only just envious, okay?

But…

Tao Ran craned his neck towards where the voice came from, in a sluggish manner. “Just now, were you talking to me?”

Jiang Yu Heng folded the mask in his hand neatly. Just as he was about to put it in his pocket, he froze at the question before smiling back at him, “I wasn’t. But now I am.”

Tao Ran wasn’t sure whether or not he was shaken by the other party’s big, white pearly smile. But he almost rolled his eyes and passed out at that.

But anyhow, since they were in front of a beautiful lady, he decided to learn from Jiang Yu Heng’s fake gentleman act.

He forcibly curved the corners of his lips upwards before craning his neck back to where it was in the first place but did not reply a single word.

He didn’t see how Jiang Yu Heng stiffened for a moment, the smile in his eyes slightly dimmed.

Tao Ran was still secretly pondering that maybe the cafeteria was so crowded that it sounded like he was talking to him earlier.

But even if that was Jiang Yu Heng’s words, what was there for him to be jealous of? That made no sense at all.

Tao Ran stirred the bowl of rice in front of him with his chopsticks while Jiang Yu Heng continued to talk and joke around with the beautiful lady across the table. He wasn’t listening carefully to what exactly they were talking about.

On the contrary, it was Wu Hao who tried listening so hard that even after his bowl of rice was emptied, he was still feasting on what he heard, completely disregarding Tao Ran’s signal of “Finish eating quickly and let’s leave already”.

Tao Ran had no choice but to step on his foot yet again.

“You…” Jiang Yu Heng suddenly stopped his conversation with the girl, paused for a bit before looking over. His tone was a little strange, “You’ve finished eating?”

Tao Ran wanted to ignore his question at first but Wu Hao coincidentally averted his gaze and looked over. Tao Ran nodded at him with a fake smile, “Have you finished eating? If so, let’s go then.”

Wu Hao didn’t seem too happy about leaving the spot beside the beauty. He squirmed and hesitated for a long time before saying, “Yeah”.

Tao Ran appeared to have been liberated. He got up with his food tray, looking like he was ready to escape.

“Tao Ran.” Jiang Yu Heng called out to him.

Tao Ran subconsciously replied, “What is it?”

Jiang Yu Heng looked up at him and answered casually, “I won’t be returning to the dorm at noon. I have a meeting to go to.”

“…Oh.”

Tao Ran thought something was wrong in his head. Because why is he telling him that?

And it was as if he was explaining or reporting to him instead. Did he need to do that? With the kind of relationship they have?

Not at all required.

Jiang Yu Heng must be working on his perfect persona again. Tao Ran couldn’t help but get goosebumps all over. He wasn’t interested in playing along with this fake “good dormmate relationship”.

He pulled Wu Hao and walked away, only slowing down when they reached the cafeteria exit.

Wu Hao let out a yelp, gasping for breath, “Slow down! Is there a ghost chasing after us?”

Tao Ran gritted his teeth and said, “Not a ghost, but an enemy.”

Clashing with your enemy on a narrow road was an accurate saying after all.