How To Deal With A Tsundere Gong

Chapter 38 - Turnaround

The last time he entered Xu Bai Chuan’s home was three months ago. Tang Jin walked over to the bedroom door and after thinking it over, he returned to the living room, lay on the sofa and fell asleep.

Perhaps it was his imagination, or maybe he really did smell Xu Bai Chuan’s scent, it was the best sleep he had over the last three months. He slept until 2 p.m. and when he opened his eyes, clean and tidy decorations entered his vision, with the sunlight seeping in from behind the living room curtains being somewhat blinding.

All of a sudden, he jolted up and after scrutinizing his surroundings, he realized that he was in Xu Bai Chuan’s home. The 70 square-meter apartment was peaceful and still so that even a needle can be heard when dropped on the ground. After checking the time on his phone, he kneaded the area between his brows and hurriedly wore a pair of slippers. Then he looked around everywhere, but Xu Bai Chuan’s figure couldn’t be found.

When they separated a little after 6 a.m., Xu Bai Chuan had said he was going for his morning jog. It was now 3 p.m. and there wasn’t the slightest trace of any items being touched in the house or slippers being moved in the shoe cabinet. That is to say, Xu Bai Chuan hadn’t returned in 9 hours.

Xu Bai Chuan lied to him.

Did he leave again?

Just like last time. Everything remained the same, only that he didn’t return.

Tang Jin immediately took out his phone and called him, but it wouldn’t go through. After trying again five more times, it still didn’t go through. He put on a jacket and rang the bell by Luo Junyu’s door. After what felt like half a day, Luo Junyu finally opened the door with his hair resembling a bird’s nest. In a daze, he said, “Xu Ge? I don’t know…But it seems like he enrolled for piano classes recently?… The name of the piano school? I don’t know…”

Since Luo Junyu was oblivious, Tang Jin slowly calmed down and let out the breath he had been holding.

Switching on his phone, he sent a text to Xu Bai Chuan before getting onto Weibo. His newly created dummy account which didn’t even have a profile picture only followed two people. He tapped on the one with the Golden V status 1, scrolled down to the blogger’s first post, and read it while heading downstairs. Then, he hailed a taxi to go to a supermarket nearby.
[T/N: 1 Weibo feature for extremely popular accounts]

***

When his phone buzzed a couple of times, Xu Bai Chuan listened on until the noise silenced while his fingers leaped over the piano keys. Since he was a beginner, the sounds produced were neither clean nor rhythmic; on the contrary, it sounded like a hammer wrapped in several layers of cloth was striking a bell whenever he pressed down on the keys. It was muffled, dull and hazy. Just like his current condition: suffocating.

His fingers unconsciously increased their strength and the music gradually broke away from the music score, becoming more and more jumbled. Ultimately, he produced a clear and gloomy sound as he completely vented his feelings into the music.

On the final note, he smashed his ten fingers onto the piano keys and stepped down hard on the pedal, causing the white stool to scrape against the floor and let out an ear-piercing sound. Immediately afterward, he stood up, took a look at his phone and bid farewell to the teacher beside him who had remained silent from the moment he went mad. A jittery feeling pervaded him as he left the school.

【Come back for dinner. I’m waiting for you.】

Xu Bai Chuan had never sent these kinds of messages. It’s not that he doesn’t want to wait, but that he didn’t want his wait to be all for naught.

With the facade being so realistic, he’ll soon be tricked again.

He hailed a taxi and made way in the direction opposite of the neighborhood.

***

At 9 p.m., Xu Bai Chuan rang the doorbell at home since he didn’t bring the spare key after giving his key to Tang Jin in the morning. Tang Jin quickly opened the door and his nose twitched. He asked, “Did you drink?”

Xu Bai Chuan’s phone had 7-8 missed calls from Tang Jin and a few unread messages. As if he didn’t hear Tang Jin’s words, he pushed him aside and entered. When he passed through the dining room, he discovered several dismal looking dishes on the table. While striding past, he took off his jacket and threw it on the sofa, then entered the bathroom as he completely ignored Tang Jin.

After blowdrying his hair in the bathroom, he came out and found Tang Jin leaning beside the door on his phone. The moment Tang Jin saw him, he flusteredly switched off his phone. Since Xu Bai Chuan didn’t bring a change of clothes when he went in, he only had a bath towel wrapped around him when he got out. With his entire upper half exposed, he entered the bedroom to find some clothes. After lingering on those thin shoulders for an instant, Tang Jin forcibly looked away and quickly lay his eyes on his head instead. Seeing fluffy hair that had already been blowdried, he was slightly disappointed, but he quickly perked up and asked, “Have you eaten dinner?”

Xu Bai Chuan absent-mindedly said, “No.”

“Then…”

Before Tang Jin finished speaking, Xu Bai Chuan cut him off. “I’m not in the mood to help you test for poison.” Then he threw a set of pajamas at Tang Jin and said, “You either sleep on the sofa or go back home.” After saying those words, he no longer cared for Tang Jin and headed straight to his bedroom, closing the door behind him.

The words to say have been spoken and the things to do have been done. Xu Bai Chuan’s attitude wasn’t necessarily cold, it was just that he no longer went along with Tang Jin.

Tang Jin stood outside the door and didn’t say anything. After a while, he went into the dining room and poured all the dishes on the table into the trash can.

In the next few days, Xu Bai Chuan acted the same way. He would leave in the early morning and stay outside late until the evening. He didn’t allow Tang Jin to follow him, left Tang Jin’s calls unanswered and his WeChat friend request was also left unaccepted. Every day, the dishes on the table would be thrown into the trash bag untouched…

Against his expectations, Tang Jin didn’t have a word of complaint.

One day, Xu Bai Chuan heard Tang Jin speaking on the phone with someone when he passed by the bathroom. With firm resolve, Tang Jin declared that he will not go back. After realizing that someone might hear him from outside, he lowered his voice.

Living in H city for the past few days, Tang Jin relied on videoconferences to handle company affairs and since he had to attend to Xu Bai Chuan as well, his workload doubled. He was extremely exhausted lately.

Xu Bai Chuan coldly and deliberately neglected Tang Jin the entire time. Every time he saw Tang Jin’s disappointed look and gloomy eyes, he couldn’t help but want to hug him.

But this wasn’t the time to be soft-hearted.

After almost half a month of living inside this apartment, Tang Jin finally received a call from Xu Bai Chuan.

At 8 p.m., he was in the middle of a conference call when somebody called him. Ignoring it the first time around, he didn’t expect the person to call once again. Without any other choice, he took a glance at the caller and his pupils constricted. Then he immediately said, “That’s all for today.” Afterward, he hurriedly hung up the current call and accepted the incoming one.

“Tang Jin, where are you?” Xu Bai Chuan’s voice flowed from the receiver. Unlike his normal tone, his voice was slightly louder and also carried a sloppiness, as if he was intoxicated.

Tang Jin nervously asked, “I’m at home. Did you drink?”

The other end was silent for a while. Burning with anxiety, Tang Jin suddenly stood up and looked for his jacket. His voice deepened, “Xu Bai Chuan?”

“…Hm?”

Tang Jin was certain that Xu Bai Chuan was drunk. “Where are you? I’ll pick you up.” After only a few seconds, he anxiously asked again, “Where are you!?”

After being unable to control his volume for a moment, Tang Jin regretted it at once and hurriedly lowered his voice to ask again, “Where are you?”

Only then did Xu Bai Chuan drawl, “At…Mili. Restroom.”

Tang Jin immediately replied, “Wait there. Stay where you are and don’t move. I’m coming for you.”