Chapter 32#
Playboy (2)#
Li Tang looked at the neatly packed items of his, then at Lu Yi with a pained expression: “Can’t we just part amicably? Do you really have to be so ruthless?”
Lu Yi gave him a look as if he were an idiot. He could hardly believe Li Tang had the nerve to use the phrase “part amicably.” In a cold voice, he said, “Are you buying or not? If not, I have business to attend to.”
At the mention of business, Li Tang seemed to remember something and asked directly, “Lu Yi, are you short on money?”
An image from that day at the hospital surfaced in his mind. Li Tang said, “I know you don’t get along with your family. If you’re strapped for cash, you could ask me for help.”
He glanced around the dorm again: “The things I gave you aren’t worth much. How about this—whatever amount you need, I’ll just give it to you, and you keep these things.”
Even though he himself couldn’t remember exactly what he had given, someone else kept track for him.
Lu Yi selling all of it made him inexplicably uncomfortable.
Lu Yi stared at him, utterly speechless. He really had no idea where Li Tang got his misplaced confidence.
He cleared his throat and said in a businesslike tone, “Li Tang, when we were together, you should have known that I’m not the kind of person who takes advantage of others.”
Li Tang thought back. Indeed, during their time together, Lu Yi had been quite well-behaved—never asking for anything expensive. Whenever Li Tang gave him something, Lu Yi would find a way to reciprocate. The gifts might not have been costly, but they were clearly thoughtful.
But Lu Yi wasn’t the first person to act like that toward him. Those types claimed they didn’t want money, but their real goal was always to get more.
Lu Yi corrected him: “You misunderstand. That’s not what I mean. What I’m saying is, I don’t need handouts. If you want to do business with me, it’s cash on delivery. If not, I’ll find someone else. Okay? You said it yourself—can’t we just part amicably? Why are you clinging on like this?”
He just wanted to sell these things quickly and get his first pot of gold. Li Tang standing in the way of his earnings was nothing but an eyesore.
Li Tang’s eyes widened in disbelief. He pointed at himself, then at Lu Yi: “What did you just say? Me? Clinging to you?”
Good heavens, what was he hearing? The person who had been utterly desperate over him was now claiming that he was the one clinging. Tsk, he must have changed his mind and was using this unusual tactic to get his attention.
Li Tang’s voice turned icy as he reminded the young man in front of him: “Your memory must be failing. Remember, it was you who begged me, crying, not to break up.”
Lu Yi didn’t deny it. “Yeah, there was water in my brain before, so I drank pesticide. Now both the water and the pesticide have been flushed out. The moment I see you, I remember how blind I was. So please, stop clinging to me, alright?”
There was not a trace of affection for Li Tang in his eyes. “You should know, I’m human, not a fly. I don’t have a hobby of hovering around a certain kind of thing.”
Flies are attracted to what? Of course, they like shit. This was a roundabout way of equating Li Tang with that stinking excrement.
Li Tang was far from stupid—in fact, he was quite sharp. He understood the subtext in Lu Yi’s words instantly.
He remembered that Lu Yi used to be on the debate team, but he hadn’t expected that sharp tongue would one day be turned against him.
After stuttering “you” for a while, he finally blurted out, “Lu Yi, when did you become so vulgar?”
Vulgar—that was the first time anyone had used that word to describe Lu Yi.
But when dealing with shameless and unreasonable people, being polite and logical doesn’t work either.
A thought popped into Lu Yi’s mind. He felt as if someone had said something similar before, but he couldn’t recall who.
He snapped out of his daze, realizing that Li Tang had wasted so much of his time without buying a single thing. It was a sheer waste of his precious hours.
He took a step back and turned to close the dorm door.
But he still couldn’t close it smoothly, because Li Tang quickly grabbed the door and blocked it with his body. “What are you trying to do? We’re both men—stop running away. Let’s talk this out clearly.”
“I think I’ve made myself very clear. Are you buying or not? If not, I’m closing the door.”
He felt that it wasn’t just the original owner who had water in his brain—Li Tang did too.
“Fine, I’ll buy! I’ll take everything! You’re not allowed to sell them to anyone else!”
He could still sabotage sales on campus, but he wasn’t God. With the internet so developed now, if the other party listed the items online, his face would be everywhere.
“Wait a moment.” Lu Yi went into the room, grabbed a calculator, and started pressing buttons frantically. “Thank you for your patronage. The total is fifty thousand yuan.”
“What? That expensive?!”
Lu Yi was selling used items, and everyone knew that secondhand goods were sold at a discount. Fifty thousand yuan—was Lu Yi trying to rip him off?
Lu Yi looked at him with a strange expression. “If you can’t afford it, why pretend to be a big shot?”
Li Tang blurted out, “It’s all because of you!”
Back in the day, he wouldn’t have blinked at spending fifty thousand yuan. But then Lu Yi’s suicide attempt stirred up too much trouble, and his mother got involved.
The reason was that he had been given too much pocket money. Although his doting grandparents still secretly slipped him cash, Li Tang certainly couldn’t spend as freely.
And recently, to play games better, he had just bought a new laptop, which cost over a hundred thousand yuan. Spending fifty thousand on Lu Yi’s junk felt like a huge loss.
Lu Yi’s tone was calm, but his words were harsh: “What you do is your problem. If you don’t have the money, please leave. Don’t block my way.”
Li Tang’s face twisted slightly. He tried a different approach to haggle: “Lu Yi, you’ve changed. You weren’t like this before. Is money all you care about now?”
Lu Yi shot back coldly: “Sorry, but I’ve always cared about money. It’s just that before, my eyes were covered with dog shit, so I couldn’t see clearly that money is better.”
Li Tang latched onto the wrong detail and asked incredulously, “Are you calling me dog shit? When did you become so rude?!”
Where was the shy Lu Yi who used to be in front of him?
“That’s what you said yourself. I never said that.” Lu Yi’s phone rang with a notification. He walked over, picked it up, and saw that someone had inquired about the items he had listed online.
“After all this talk, are you buying or not? If not, I’ll sell them to someone else.”
“I already said I’m buying everything. Who’s the one with no eyes?”
Li Tang’s words reminded Lu Yi of something. The gift the original owner didn’t manage to give was hard to sell on campus, but the things Li Tang gave him were quite marketable.
After all, Li Tang had a huge influence on campus. Many people liked him, but there were also those who didn’t. Spending a little money to make Li Tang uncomfortable—they’d probably be more than happy to do that.
“I’ll count to ten. If you can’t give me a definite answer, I’ll confirm the sale to someone else.” Lu Yi turned his back to Li Tang, raised his right hand, and began bending his fingers one by one. “Ten, nine, eight…”
“Fine, I’ll buy! I’ll transfer the money to you!”
Lu Yi’s countdown sounded to Li Tang like the death knell summoning him. Money—wasn’t it just money? Any problem that could be solved with money was no problem at all.
Driven by a hotheaded impulse, Li Tang bought back all the gifts he had ever given to Lu Yi, including the necklace that Lu Yi failed to give him a week ago.
After stuffing everything into Li Tang’s hands, money and goods settled, Lu Yi forcefully pushed him out the door, slamming it shut without mercy. Li Tang was left standing outside, clutching a pile of stuff, dazed.
Just then, Lu Yi’s roommates returned. Though it was class time, they were in their third year now. Attendance was just for the sake of roll call; most people’s minds were on their phones, not on the teacher or the blackboard.
The whole college wasn’t that big. When something happened in their grade, any bit of gossip spread across half the college quickly.
Like the news of Lu Yi’s return—they had heard it half an hour ago but thought they’d wait until class ended. They bought some snacks and were planning to comfort their roommate who had just come back from the hospital.
But when they arrived, they saw Li Tang standing at their dorm door, holding a pile of stuff.
Living in the same dorm, they were well aware of the messy situation between Lu Yi and Li Tang. They knew exactly how much Lu Yi treasured every gift Li Tang had given him.
And just days before Lu Yi’s suicide attempt, he had put so much effort into preparing a birthday gift for Li Tang. That went without saying.
Even though relationships were between two people, as roommates, watching Lu Yi’s feelings being trampled like that, they didn’t have a good impression of Li Tang either.
One of the more hot-tempered roommates immediately lashed out: “Li Tang, have you no shame? You broke up with him, and now you have the nerve to take back your gifts? I never thought you’d be this kind of person.”
The other two roommates chimed in, “Exactly, exactly. Lu Yi gave you gifts in return too. Those things aren’t worth much, and you still want them back?”
Li Tang had already been chewed out by Lu Yi, and now his roommates were calling him shameless. To be scolded by several people in one day—he felt terrible.
It was one thing if Lu Yi said it, but Lu Yi had just attempted suicide for him, so it was understandable he had resentment. Love deeply, hate deeply, right? But who did these roommates think they were?
Bombarded by them, he finally snapped: “Shameless? I bought this! I paid sixty thousand yuan!”
Suddenly, silence fell.
Li Tang finally breathed a sigh of relief, but he quickly sensed something was off. The look in Lu Yi’s roommates’ eyes had changed—it was the kind of look you gave a sucker.
Even though they didn’t say a word, Li Tang could read it on their faces: “This guy actually spent sixty thousand on this junk? Not only is he a jerk, he’s an idiot.”