The Nth Day of Being Able to Read Minds

After Tao Ran headed to bed, Jiang Yu Heng did not continue with washing his shoes anymore and there were no sounds coming from the toilet.

To be precise, except for Jiang Yu Heng’s light breathing sounds, the entire room sounded extremely quiet that it was even a little terrifying.

Tao Ran had never been an early sleeper. It was even the weekend tomorrow. If this was the usual him, he would be typing away on his laptop, writing new stories. But he couldn’t do that today.

Being awake now meant the same thing as not being able to escape the thoughts in his head that were going wild and eating at him.

Tao Ran was a writer who dabbles into the fantasy genre. Self-admittedly, his brain could sometimes go extremely far and get lost in his fantasies, but this supernatural ability didn’t bring a single joy to him, but instead, it was entirely being shocked and horrified.

With that, he rolled in bed until three in the morning and still couldn’t fall asleep.

The next day, Tao Ran was awakened from a dream.

He was breathing heavily, his chest heaving up and down in large movements. It took a long time before he calmed down.

He dreamed that he was arguing with Jiang Yu Heng.

He couldn’t remember the reason why they were arguing, but anyhow, it was a really intense argument. But something changed.

Jiang Yu Heng suddenly smiled at him, wickedly, “Can you hear what I’m actually thinking?”

He thought that something was wrong with Jiang Yu Heng’s head, so he yelled at him for being crazy.

Jiang Yu Heng ignored that, tilting his head and smiled at him with crescent eyes, “How about you listen to what I’m thinking right now?”

Then he heard the inner voice of Jiang Yu Heng.

‘It’s too ugly with just a punch. Maybe it’s better to stuff him into a suitcase, pack it up and bring him home.’

Tao Ran: “?”

“No, what are you trying to do. Dude. We live in a civil society, by the law. D-Don’t be impulsive.”

Jiang Yu Heng smiled but did not say anything. Step by step, he walked closer to him…

Then he woke up.

Tao Ran let out an extremely honest, genuine ‘fuck’.

As expected of his nemesis. He wouldn’t let him go even in his dreams.

How would a normal person be able to utter such thoughts.

Oh right, Jiang Yu Heng was crazy after all. It was completely justifiable that he dreamed about this.

Tao Ran listened to the movement in the lower bunk bed for a long time. And only after deducing that Jiang Yu Heng wasn’t in the room that he slowly, carefully got down and went to the toilet.

Right after he splashed a handful of water on his face, his foot kicked into something and nearly tripped.

He didn’t stop washing his face, only looking down to find the culprit behind his tripping. It was a bucket by his feet. With a pair of half-washed shoes in it.

His thoughts from last night suddenly returned. Tao Ran froze, before he resumed washing his face in full force.

Jiang Yu Heng entered the toilet right then and witnessed this scene.

He frowned and took a big step forward, clutching Tao Ran’s wrist.

“What are you doing?”

Tao Ran was extremely taken aback. He stared unblinkingly right at the sudden appearance of Jiang Yu Heng, his eyelashes slightly quivering. The water droplets on his hand dripped down to the other’s arm.

Jiang Yu Heng seemed to have realized that this pose was inappropriate. He raised his eyebrow a little before hesitantly releasing his hand.

[If I’m not mistaken, he was…hitting himself?]

Tao Ran took two steps back suddenly, but his gaze was still fixated on Jiang Yu Heng’s confused face.

He shook his head and after a slight daze, slowly tried to answer, “Ah, didn’t I step on your shoes? I wanted to finish washing your shoes since you were doing that halfway.”

Jiang Yu Heng’s eyes lit up right then, “It’s okay, I can wash them myself.”

Tao Ran did not miss his reaction. He clearly wanted him to wash them, why the need to act reluctant? But at the moment, his heart was completely filled with how absurd it was.

“Fuck, it’s real…”

Jiang Yu Heng didn’t hear him clearly, “What did you say?”

Tao Ran bit down on his lips hard, pushed Jiang Yu Heng out of the way and went out.

It was truly terrifying, really.

He really wished it was all a dream when he woke up.

Yet, Jiang Yu Heng’s reply forced him to admit that it wasn’t. He really could read minds, and he could hear Jiang Yu Heng’s inner voice.

What kind of joke is God playing on him?

Tao Ran rushed out of the room and stayed there for a long time while the cold wind blew on his face the entire time. Only after that did he return to the bathroom to wash the foam off his face.

Then, he fell into silence over that pair of shoes.

Tao Ran wasn’t someone who couldn’t distinguish between right and wrong. This and that incident are two separate matters. Since he stepped on Jiang Yu Heng’s shoes, he should be responsible for it. This is still his fault.

He signed in resignation and fished out a shoe brush from the depths of the cabinet, acting like he was riding off towards his death.

But just as he was about to start cleaning the shoes, there was a knock coming from the door.

Jiang Yu Heng came in abruptly and took the basin over from his hands naturally, “You should go back to sleep.”

Tao Ran’s gaze flickered around him suspiciously, “What are you doing?”

Jiang Yu Heng answered in a matter-of-the-fact tone, “It’s only nine o’clock now.”

Tao Ran was impatient, “So?”

What was he trying to bring up? Tao Ran just wanted to wash his shoes so they wouldn’t owe each other anything anymore.

[You usually wake up later on weekends, sleeping in until noon.]

Jiang Yu Heng continued to stare at him for a long time before carrying the basin out.

Tao Ran’s breath hitched from being stared by him like that. He unconsciously shivered a little after he disappeared out of his line of vision. Only then did he snap out of his daze.

What did Jiang Yu Heng mean by that? Is he…being sarcastic?

But why does that sound so weird?

When Tao Ran came out of the toilet, he sneakily pulled open the door and looked through the cracks. Jiang Yu Heng was squatting on the floor with a basin in his arms in the hallway.

Is something wrong with his head? Why did he run out of the room when he wanted to wash his shoes?

Tao Ran felt like he definitely had some kind of hidden motive here.

He absolutely refused to believe that Jiang Yu Heng didn’t make a big deal out of the fact that his expensive limited-edition shoes got stepped on and dirtied.

He didn’t make fun of him nor did he ask him for compensation?

Jiang Yu Heng turned around and looked at him, “You’re not going back to sleep?”

Seeing that he had been noticed, Tao Ran left the door open. He leaned against the door frame and raised his chin a little, acting haughty, “Why do you care?”

[Look at those dark eye circles. Tsk, must have stayed up all night again.]

Tao Ran sneered and felt like mocking him back, “Can’t believe you’re that—” Kind and considerate.

But his voice grew slower at the end and eventually he stopped before he could finish his sentence.

Now that the building’s heating function had started, the windows in the hallways are often left opened to avoid suffocation from the heat. The cold wind whistled into the building because of that.

Jiang Yu Heng was still wearing that thin t-shirt from yesterday and his hands were turning red from soaking in the cold water in the basin for long.

Tao Ran immediately looked over, changed his posture and said, “Hm, it’s quite warm inside here.”

Meaning, if you don’t want to catch a cold, hurry up and get your ass in here.

Jiang Yu Heng replied with an ‘oh’, then took the shoe brush and continued to scrub at his shoes. “This is yours, right? Lend it to me. I’ll return it to you after.”

Tao Ran snorted coldly, then turned around and went in.

It’s his fault for not knowing any better. It has nothing to do with Tao Ran if he froze to death.

Anyhow, the shoes weren’t washed in the end. And Tao Ran never fell back asleep despite going back to his bed.

Tao Ran could only continue to feel panicked and worried.

For a moment, the matter of owing Jiang Yu Heng a favour was even more unsettling to him than the fact that he could read minds.

It was already the end of the month now. He may not be super rich, but he still gritted his teeth and transferred 500 yuan to Jiang Yu Heng, with a note that says, “This matter ends here”.

After mulling over it for a while longer, he added another sentence, “Come back in to wash your shoes! Don’t blame me when you catch a cold!!!”

He even added an emoji that he thought looked fierce and threatening enough to fit his kingly aura.

500 yuan was enough for Jiang Yu Heng to wash his shoes at the dry cleaner’s. He wanted to make sure that Jiang Yu Heng wouldn’t be able to blackmail him again with this matter in the future.

As for whether or not Jiang Yu Heng listened to his words or not, Tao Ran did not know. Because he packed his laptop bag and left for the library.

He felt like he had been kind to Jiang Yu Heng – far more than enough. Even if he did fall sick after this, it would all be on himself and he wouldn’t be the one to suffer anyways.

Tao Ran spent his weekend in the library. He ran towards the library first thing in the morning and only returned right before the night curfew.

It wasn’t that Tao Ran was afraid. Just that when it came to strange powers like this, he thought it was still better to avoid it.