Orange Storm chapter 91
Travel
The typhoon passed through just one night, followed by consecutive sunny days. The weather on the day Fang Xing received his admission letter was unbelievably good.
When he arrived at the school, there were already quite a few people in the office. Xu Hang and Jiang Xinxin were chatting at the door. As soon as they saw him, Xu Hang shouted out loud.
“Hey, the provincial top scorer is here!”
His voice could be heard from five miles away, making others who were originally facing away from Fang Xing turn around immediately. Some even stuck their heads out of the office to look over.
Fang Xing felt like turning around in that instant.
But Xu Hang had already rushed up in one stride, grabbing him and leading him into the office, chattering away incessantly.
“Wow, amazing, desk mate! Did you really score 710 on the exam? The grade director will probably cry when he sees you later. Did you see the banner at the school gate? It enthusiastically congratulates our classmate Fang Xing for scoring 710 on the college entrance examination and ranking first in the province…”
“I didn’t see it.” Fang Xing interrupted Xu Hang’s words with difficulty. “If I had seen it, I probably wouldn’t have come in.”
“What are you saying?” Tang Yi happened to come out, smiling as he patted Fang Xing on the back.
“Hurry up and get your admission letter.”
In the end, Fang Xing still applied to Peking University, majoring in engineering. Before applying, he told Zhou Ling, who just said a few words about how studying engineering might be a bit tough but let him go anyway.
Jiang Xinxin and the others had already received their admission letters and were chatting in a corner. When they saw Fang Xing approaching, they smiled, seeming to be in a good mood. Xu Hang barely made it into a second-tier university and was quite satisfied. He had already started preparing for a graduation trip and was asking everyone if they wanted to join. Tang Yi, on the other hand, spent nearly half the day lecturing him about safety during travel.
As they left, Tang Yi returned the wish cards they buried in the school. As he handed them out, he chattered on, “I don’t know if your wishes from back then came true. If they did, that’s great, but if not, it’s okay. Life is still long.”
When Fang Xing came out of the school, Jiang Zhijin was standing at the school gate, squinting up at the banner above. The candy in his mouth crunched as he chewed, his words unclear as he mumbled.
“Congratulations to our classmate Fang Xing from our school—”
“Don’t bother reading it.” Fang Xing felt a headache coming on. “It’s too cheesy.”
“Is this the trouble of being a top student?” Jiang Zhijin chuckled, handing Fang Xing a candy. “Let’s go.”
Back home, Fang Xing still took a photo of his admission letter and sent it to Zhou Ling. Zhou Ling sent him a red envelope, along with an encouraging voice message. She sounded quite happy, asking Fang Xing if he wanted to go on a trip.
“I can’t take time off work, so I’m giving you some money to travel and relax…”
“I have money. I’ve been saving all my red envelope money since I was little and haven’t spent any of it.”
After sending the message, Fang Xing added another line.
“Jiang Zhijin and I will go together.”
After a while, Zhou Ling’s reply came.
“Then you two, be safe outside, and let me know if anything happens.”
Fang Xing breathed a sigh of relief.
He spent some time scrolling through his friends’ posts, and Qi Xiang had just posted two photos. They were acceptance letters from a well-known university, the same one Qi Xiang had complained about his family forcing him to apply to. He was worried about whether he could get in.
Fang Xing liked the post, and just as he closed the page, Qi Xiang called him.
“Did you get your admission letter?”
“Just got it.”
Qi Xiang paused for a moment and asked, “Peking University?”
“Yeah.”
Qi Xiang sincerely said, “Impressive.”
“You’re impressive too. Your dad must be thrilled.”
“What do you think? If the school didn’t have regulations, he would have booked a hotel and thrown a banquet by now.”
Qi Xiang joked for a bit, hesitated, and then asked, “Does your dad know you got into Peking University?”
Fang Xing’s tone was calm. “I haven’t told him. It’s been a while since we’ve been in touch.”
“…Fang Xing, there’s something my dad told me. I don’t know if you want to hear it, it’s about your dad.”
Qi Xiang’s dad was also a university professor, in the same school and department as Fang Chenglin. They were quite familiar with each other, and that was one of the reasons why Qi Xiang and Fang Xing used to hang out together.
Qi Xiang waited for a moment, not hearing Fang Xing refuse, and continued, “Last week, when your dad was teaching, a woman rushed into the classroom looking for him and started arguing with him. She said he had no conscience, that he had an affair with a female student who then had his child, and he didn’t care. She claimed that his own son had been in the hospital for several days, but he didn’t go to see him, and that he was planning to go abroad… It sounds like the woman who used to pester you, Zhai…”
“Zhai Wan,” Fang Xing confirmed.
“Yeah, that’s her. Anyway, it seems to have caused quite a scene. The woman was crying and shouting, and couldn’t be stopped. When she got desperate, she climbed onto the windowsill and said she would jump to show your dad. It was on the seventh floor, and she scared everyone half to death. Even the police came…”
“And then?” Fang Xing asked.
“In the end, your dad managed to persuade her to leave after a lot of persuasion. But the impact was pretty bad. The school suspended your dad’s classes for a while… I heard your dad resigned a few days ago. I don’t know anything else.”
Qi Xiang finished speaking, then hurriedly added, “Anyway, I just heard about it and wanted to let you know, in case someone says something unpleasant to you…”
“I got it.” Fang Xing replied, “Thanks.”
Now Fang Xing didn’t have much emotional fluctuation when he heard about Fang Chenglin’s situation. Fang Chenglin used to educate him to be independent, often saying, “Fang Xing, you’re responsible for your own life.”
This phrase seemed fitting to send back to Fang Chenglin now.
Qi Xiang was pretty smart too. He had said enough and immediately changed the subject.
“Hey, it’s still a long time before school starts. Where do you want to go for a trip?”
“I haven’t decided.”
“I’ve made plans with a few friends to go to Tibet. Do you want to join us?”
“Forget it.”
The bedroom door wasn’t closed, so Fang Xing glanced at the living room. “I’ll ask someone else.”
“Who?” Qi Xiang asked, then immediately realized, “Your partner, huh?”
Fang Xing smiled. “Yeah.”
“Ugh, being in love is so annoying.” Qi Xiang laughed, “I’m hanging up.”
After hanging up the phone, Fang Xing left the bedroom. Jiang Zhijin was sitting cross-legged on the living room sofa, playing with Tang Yuan with a cat toy. Fang Xing walked over and pounced on his back, leaning against him and letting out a long sigh of relief.
Jiang Zhijin turned his head to look at him. “Phone call over?”
“Yeah.” Fang Xing replied, then asked, “Do you want to go somewhere for a trip?”
“Graduation trip.” Jiang Zhijin put down the cat toy, wanting to turn around, but Fang Xing was clinging to him like a sloth and wouldn’t budge. Jiang Zhijin tried twice unsuccessfully to move him, sighed, and just talked to him like that.
“Your graduation trip, you decide.”
Fang Xing buried his head in Jiang Zhijin’s shoulder, sounding determined. “Wherever you want to go, I’ll go.”
“…Okay.”
Fang Xing loosened his grip a bit, and Jiang Zhijin finally turned around, looking at him. “How about going somewhere cooler, like Yunnan?”
Fang Xing leaned over and kissed him on the cheek, saying decisively, “Okay.”
“Oh.” Jiang Zhijin was caught off guard by the kiss and chuckled as he leaned back on the sofa, “I found that you’re really…”
Fang Xing had become quite affectionate recently, often kissing, hugging, and clinging to him, but he did it all with such confidence that he didn’t think there was anything wrong with it.
“I’m really—what?”
Fang Xing straddled Jiang Zhijin’s legs, looking down at him. From this angle, his jawline was sharp and defined, and when he looked down at someone, he seemed a bit fierce, yet still handsome.
“You’re really cute.” Jiang Zhijin laughed and leaned back on the sofa, “Come here, give me another kiss.”
Before they left, Jiang Zhijin took Tang Yuan to Cloud Seven and left him with Gu Xun. Gu Xun teased with a grin, “The kids are going on their graduation trip, what are you doing, going on a honeymoon?”
“You’re a big part of why I’ve been single for so long, aren’t you?”
Jiang Zhijin handed Tang Yuan to Gu Xun, then said, “Watch the bar with Zhou Hong for a few days. I’ll give you guys a bonus when I come back.”