DMMB Chapter 16

Qin Zigui seemed completely unsurprised by Sheng Yan’s reaction. Without changing his expression, he opened the bathroom door and placed the clean clothes on the rack. Then, as though nobody else were there, he hooked both hands under the hem of his T-shirt and began lifting it.

He was tall, and his frame had practically finished developing. Because his proportions were so good, he usually looked slender and lean when dressed neatly in a shirt and trousers. But now that he had lifted his shirt, Sheng Yan discovered that he was hiding a set of beautifully defined muscles beneath his clothes.

They weren’t the bulky, exaggerated kind. Instead, they formed a thin, lean layer over the bones of someone transitioning from a boy into a grown man. There was still the sharpness and intensity of youth in his physique, along with a steady, reassuring sense of maturity.

His shoulders were broad, his collarbones straight and level, and his waist narrow. Because his school trousers had been torn, he had changed into a loose pair of gray sweatpants, making his legs look ridiculously long. The beautiful definition of his muscles continued down along his waistline before disappearing beneath the elastic waistband.

And then…

Fuck!

Seeing that Qin Zigui’s fingers had already reached the waistband, Sheng Yan hurriedly looked away.

“Qin Zigui! What are you doing?!”

Qin Zigui loosened his grip slightly and glanced at him, completely unbothered.

“Wasn’t that what you wanted to try?”

Sheng Yan recalled the prominent, full curve he had just seen.

“…”

Suddenly, he wasn’t so interested in trying anymore.

But they had literally grown up eating from the same pot. Qin Zigui had even given him the tastiest pieces of food. So how had Qin Zigui ended up taller, bigger, and even more… well-endowed than him?!

Sheng Yan was absolutely furious.

He turned around, intending to defend his masculine dignity with sheer attitude and a few choice words. But the moment he did, his gaze collided directly with Qin Zigui’s eyes as the latter looked at him from the side.

Qin Zigui’s eyes were long and narrow, framed by thick, long eyelashes that were straight rather than curled. They fell naturally over his eyes, accentuating their shape. When he glanced sideways at someone, he still looked cold, but there was something else about him that was difficult to describe…

Sheng Yan couldn’t quite put his finger on what it was. He only knew that when he suddenly met that gaze, his heart seemed to skip a beat. Just like that, he forgot what he had originally intended to say.

By the time he came back to his senses, he felt uncomfortable all over. He didn’t dare look at Qin Zigui’s body again, the same body he had supposedly seen every part of while growing up with him.

Avoiding his gaze, he quickly blurted out, “Enough! We’re grown men already. Why are we still comparing this and that? Isn’t that childish? If you want to wash yourself, then do it yourself. I’m not going to wait on you anymore!”

With that, he slammed the bathroom door shut.

Inside, Qin Zigui watched the certain someone flee in a panic and lowered his head with an amused, helpless smile.

Some people really were more aggressive than anyone else when provoking others, yet quicker to chicken out than anyone else, too.

Outside the bathroom, Sheng Yan let out a long breath.

Damn it. How did this happen?

They had grown up together. He had seen practically every part of Qin Zigui and touched him in all sorts of places before. So why did it suddenly feel so awkward today? Was it because they had both grown up? Did it feel different now that they were no longer little kids?

But during military training, when they had been forced to live on campus, Gou You and Zhu Peng had walked around shirtless every single day. Sheng Yan had only found it an eyesore.

And the last time he had seen two men making out in a rather disheveled state in the restroom of a KTV, he had only felt disgusted. So why was his reaction to Qin Zigui so different?

Could it be because Qin Zigui had a better physique?

Sheng Yan thought that was possible.

Although he found Qin Zigui irritating in practically every way, he couldn’t deny that Qin Zigui’s body was exactly the kind of physique he wanted for himself.

Sheng Yan had suffered from stomach problems ever since he was little. As a result, once he outgrew his baby fat, he had always been thin. Exercise had improved his overall health considerably as he got older, but compared with Qin Zigui, his build and frame were still much more slender.

So when exactly had Qin Zigui secretly developed such a well-defined body without him noticing?

Sheng Yan lowered his head, lifted his shirt, and secretly examined his own abs. He had them too, and the muscle definition was quite nice. They were simply much less pronounced in comparison.

Then he remembered how he always had to tilt his head upward whenever he confronted Qin Zigui.

Suddenly, Sheng Yan felt a little angry, but there was nothing he could do about it. He could only comfort himself with the thought that he was a year younger than Qin Zigui. He still had time to grow.

With that thought, he put on a stern expression, opened the small refrigerator in Qin Zigui’s room, and took out a bag of milk. He held it between his teeth, curled up on the sofa nearest to the bathroom, and maintained a distance of at least “one step” from the door before opening his phone.

He had originally planned to start by reprimanding Zhu Peng and Gou You for abandoning him at the fried chicken shop at lunchtime, forcing him to call Qin Zigui over instead.

However, the moment he opened his phone, he was greeted by an explosive flood of messages in Class Six’s group chat. There were so many people tagging him that he couldn’t even begin to count them.

[What Evil Could Gou the Dog Possibly Have in Mind?]: @Brother Yan, HOLY SHIT! Brother Yan! I heard you beat Qin Zigui so badly that he ended up in the hospital?!

[Big Fat Pig Tianpeng]: @Brother Yan, NO WAY, NO WAY! Our Brother Yan is actually THAT fierce?!

[Unimportant Passerby A]: It’s definitely true. I personally heard Huang Shulang tell Liang Jie today, “Qin Zigui got screwed over by that guy @Brother Yan and ended up in the hospital. Both of them took the day off.” I guarantee those were his exact words, not a single word different.

[Unimportant Passerby B]: HOLY SHIT, HOLY SHIT! The ultimate showdown between the two kings has finally happened?!

[Unimportant Passerby C]: And it ended with @Brother Yan crushing him completely?! Doesn’t that make our Class Six look amazing?!

[Unimportant Passerby D]: As expected of my Brother Yan! The boss of Shiwai, the most handsome guy in Nanwu! Taking down Qin Zigui is a piece of cake! ABSOLUTELY LEGENDARY!

[Unimportant Passerby A]: And he beat him so badly that his legs were practically wrecked! Who wouldn’t call our Brother Yan a badass?!

Sheng Yan stared at the screen.

“…”

Where the hell were all these rumors coming from?

He was just about to explain the truth when a girl whose profile picture showed the back of someone wearing a white shirt tagged him.

[@Sheng Yan] HOLY SHIT! YOU REALLY BEAT UP MY MALE IDOL?!?!?!?!

The number of exclamation marks was practically astronomical. She seemed extremely worked up.

But Sheng Yan didn’t understand.

[Sheng Yan]: Who’s your male idol?

The girl who had tagged him was named Yu Chen. There were only seven girls in Class Six, and Yu Chen was both pretty and the most outgoing among them. Zhu Peng and Gou You often called her the class belle whenever they had nothing better to do, though Sheng Yan wasn’t particularly close to her.

But shouldn’t he be the male idol of everyone in Class Six?

Sheng Yan tapped his phone twice, feeling rather dissatisfied.

Another long string of exclamation marks immediately appeared on the screen.

[Yu Chen]: WHO ELSE COULD MY MALE IDOL BE?!?! LOOK AT MY PROFILE PICTURE!!!! OBVIOUSLY IT’S QIN ZIGUI!!!! WHO ELSE IN THE ENTIRE GRADE COULD POSSIBLY BE MY MALE IDOL?!?!?!?!

For the first time in his life, Sheng Yan felt as though his eyes were being assaulted by the messages.

But what annoyed him even more was the name Qin Zigui.

When he clicked on Yu Chen’s profile and confirmed that the person in the white shirt was indeed Qin Zigui, his displeasure only intensified.

How on earth was Qin Zigui anyone’s male idol?

Wasn’t he just an arrogant show-off who went around wearing that cold, unpleasant expression all day?

Sheng Yan couldn’t explain exactly why he felt so irritated. He just did. Unable to resist, he replied:

[Sheng Yan]: What part of him, from head to toe, makes him a male idol?

The moment he sent the message, Yu Chen fired back like a fan determined to defend her idol’s honor to the death.

[Yu Chen]: WHAT PART OF HIM, FROM HEAD TO TOE, ISN’T MALE-IDOL MATERIAL?!?!?!

[Sheng Yan]: ?

Yu Chen launched into a full-blown speech.

[Yu Chen]: He’s tall, his face is absolutely gorgeous, his grades are excellent, he knows how to code, and he has that cool, aloof aura! He never flirts with girls for no reason, his white shirts are always spotless, his legs are straight and ridiculously long, and his body is insanely good! Calling him perfect wouldn’t even be an exaggeration! How is he NOT a male idol?! And what exactly did you do to my male idol’s perfect, delicate legs?!

Your male idol’s perfect, delicate legs got injured because he was trying to protect me.

But Sheng Yan didn’t send that reply.

Instead, he stared at Yu Chen’s message and fell into deep thought.

Was Qin Zigui tall?

Well, he was around 188 or 187 centimeters. He would probably be about the same height as Sheng Yan himself in two or three years.

Was his face gorgeous?

It was all right, he supposed. Just a tiny bit less handsome than his own.

His grades…

Forget it. Men didn’t talk about grades.

Coding…

Men didn’t talk about coding, either.

Not flirting with girls…

That was just because he wasn’t good with people.

As for his physique…

For some reason, Sheng Yan suddenly remembered the scene in the bathroom earlier. That strange feeling rose within him once again, inexplicably, like…

“Sheng Yan, could you get me the hair dryer?”

Before Sheng Yan could figure out what he was thinking, a calm voice suddenly came from behind him.

Startled, Sheng Yan’s grip slipped, and he dropped his phone straight onto the floor.

When he picked it up and turned around, he discovered that Qin Zigui had already finished showering. He was leaning against the doorframe, waiting for the hair dryer.

His hair had apparently already been towel-dried. It was still damp in places, with tiny droplets of water clinging to the ends and soaking into the collar of his shirt. Water droplets also rested prominently on his Adam’s apple. His fringe had been brushed backward, revealing a face whose youthful features had gradually sharpened into a more mature, striking appearance.

For a moment, Sheng Yan felt strangely dazed. The person standing before him suddenly seemed to match the male idol Yu Chen had described. Yet, at the same time, he seemed somewhat different from the Qin Zigui in Sheng Yan’s memories.

Perhaps they had spent so many years together, seeing each other every day, that Sheng Yan had become so accustomed to Qin Zigui that he failed to notice the changes happening right before his eyes.

It was only when someone standing on the sidelines pointed them out that he looked again and realized Qin Zigui had quietly transformed into someone different, somewhere along the way, without Sheng Yan ever noticing.

He couldn’t say whether the change was good or bad. He just felt that something about Qin Zigui was no longer quite the same.

Sheng Yan wasn’t particularly perceptive when it came to emotions, so he couldn’t sort out or describe the specific nature of that change. He only had a vague instinct that this indescribable difference might be the very root of the conflict between him and Qin Zigui.

Sheng Yan was so lost in thought that he barely noticed anything around him.

It wasn’t until Qin Zigui called his name softly that he finally blinked, the milk bag still held between his teeth.

“Huh?”

“The hair dryer.” Qin Zigui didn’t seem to mind his absentmindedness and patiently repeated himself. “I put it in the drawer of the bedside table on the right. My leg hurts, so it’s inconvenient for me to get it. Could you grab it for me?”

“Oh, sure.”

Sheng Yan didn’t argue with him this time. He removed the milk bag from his mouth, slipped on his slippers, and walked toward the bedside table.

Unfortunately, he had trouble telling left from right. Before Qin Zigui could stop him, he had already opened the drawer on the left.

Then he saw what was inside and raised his eyebrows slightly.

There was nothing in the drawer except something resembling a laminated photograph sleeve.

But what was sealed inside the transparent film wasn’t a photograph. It was three one-yuan banknotes issued in 2004 and two ten-fen coins issued in 2005.

One of the one-yuan notes was so wrinkled that it was practically beyond recognition.

That was because it had been left in a tiny pocket when his grandmother washed his clothes. It had gone through the wash with everything else and had to be taken out and dried afterward.

Sheng Yan turned around, looking almost unable to believe what he was seeing.

“Are these the three yuan and twenty fen?”

Qin Zigui leaned against the doorframe and gave a cool, indifferent “Mm.”

The year he had been brought back to Nanwu was exactly the second year this version of the Chinese currency had been issued.

That year, his mother, who had severed all ties with her family to pursue love, died in a car accident. The man she had foolishly fallen for, meanwhile, abandoned him at the entrance of the residential compound for military families in the Nanwu Military District, treating him like a piece of trash. Without even waiting for someone to come and pick him up, the man simply walked away.

Back then, Qin Zigui was still very thin and rarely spoke. Wearing clothes that didn’t quite fit him, he had arrived in this unfamiliar city for the first time, a place where the air was hot, humid, and sticky. He stood silently beneath the scorching July sun, alone, for an entire afternoon, waiting for someone to come and get him.

At the time, he had thought that as long as someone came for him, as long as someone was willing to take him in, he would be grateful to that person for the rest of his life. Whoever it was, he would treat them well for the rest of his life.

As long as someone was willing to take him in.

That was the prayer he had whispered to himself back then.

And then, he had waited until Sheng Yan arrived.

Sheng Yan was still a tiny toddler, not even three years old. His skin was as white as snow, and his features were so delicate and beautiful that it was difficult to tell whether he was a boy or a girl. Wearing an adorable pair of overalls, he came wobbling out from a cluster of lush, brilliantly colored roses, carrying all the bright sunshine of summer with him.

Holding a flower in his little hands, he offered it to Qin Zigui. Tilting his head to one side, he smiled until his eyes curved into little crescents.

“Big brother, this flower is for you. Would you like to come to my house for dinner?”

Of course, Qin Zigui was willing.

But back then, he had still wanted his own father and a home of his own. So when that man returned a week later, Qin Zigui chased after him all the way to the entrance of the compound. Gripping his hand tightly, he asked whether the man could take him along.

The man remained silent as he looked at Qin Zigui for a very, very long time. Then, one finger at a time, he forcibly pried Qin Zigui’s hand away.

“Zigui, I’m sorry. Daddy really can’t keep you.”

His fingers hurt terribly as the man pulled them apart. The pain was so intense that, before he even realized it, tears had begun to roll down his cheeks.

Yet the man didn’t ease his grip even a little.

He was so utterly determined, as though he had no regrets and no hesitation whatsoever, as though Qin Zigui truly were nothing more than a worthless piece of garbage.

At least, that was how Qin Zigui had seen it back then. He believed that nobody in the entire world would ever want him.

But that very day, Sheng Yan was celebrating his third birthday.

The little boy stumbled along on his two short legs, struggling and awkwardly making his way all the way from his house to the entrance of the residential compound, chasing after Qin Zigui. His face was covered in tears.

When he finally reached them, he hurriedly ran in front of Qin Zigui to block the man’s path. Rising onto his tiptoes, he lifted something in both hands as high as he possibly could and held it out to the man.

It was the three yuan and twenty fen he owned.

Trying desperately to hold back his sobs, he spoke between hiccups.

“Auntie told me you wanted lots and lots of money. So I’ll give you all my money! Please don’t take Big Brother Zigui away, okay? Yan-yan is begging you. Yan-yan is begging you!”

And so, that year, Sheng Yan’s birthday wish came true.

His wish had been for Big Brother Zigui to never leave.

That was also the year Qin Zigui made a decision. Since Heaven had heard his humble prayer on that July afternoon, he would honor his promise and live up to it.

That was why the adults in both families were always teasing him, saying that Sheng Yan had practically bought him for three yuan and twenty fen. What a bargain that had been!

And Qin Zigui had kept those three yuan and twenty fen all these years, carefully preserving them without telling anyone.

If he hadn’t injured his leg that day, leaving him unable to move around easily and preventing him from stopping a certain hopelessly directionally challenged idiot in time, nobody would have discovered them just yet.

“So why have you been keeping this thing?”

Sheng Yan picked up the money and examined it, completely baffled.

Qin Zigui leaned lazily against the doorway, his expression unchanged.

“I’m collecting it so that a few hundred years from now, I can leave it to my descendants to make a fortune.”

Sheng Yan: “…”

After a brief moment of thought, he nodded seriously.

“That’s reasonable. I’ll get one for myself later, too.”

Qin Zigui: “…”

He had only made up a random excuse, and the other guy had actually believed him.

Suddenly, he felt that his worries about Sheng Yan seeing through his true feelings had been completely unnecessary.

Humans really could be this easy to fool.

Sheng Yan apparently hadn’t given the matter much more thought. He put the three yuan and twenty fen back where they belonged, went to the bedside table on the other side to retrieve the hair dryer, and handed it to Qin Zigui. Then he returned to his spot on the sofa and resumed scrolling through his phone.

The messages in the group chat had progressed from the boys praising him, to Yu Chen condemning him, and finally to gossip about Qin Zigui.

[Class Monitor – Yu Chen]: Honestly, even though Qin Zigui is my male idol, I’ve never actually fantasized about dating him. With someone as untouchable as him, what kind of person could possibly win him over?

[Big Fat Pig Tianpeng]: Someone like Lin Qian?

[What Evil Could Gou the Dog Possibly Have in Mind?]: Qin Zigui doesn’t like my goddess.

[Unimportant Passerby A]: Well, whoever it is, she’d definitely have to be good at studying. I feel like Qin Zigui’s entire life revolves around studying and nothing else.

[Unimportant Passerby B]: If you’re going to put it that way, then apart from studying, Qin Zigui’s life used to revolve around Brother Yan, too.

[Class Monitor – Yu Chen]: You mean the kind of life where he gets his legs broken and sent to the hospital?

[Unimportant Passerby B]: No, I mean back in the old days. We were in the same class in middle school. The two of them were incredibly close back then. We used to joke that if Qin Zigui ever got a girlfriend, she’d definitely end up jealous of Brother Yan.

[Class Monitor – Yu Chen]: ??? THERE’S A WHOLE HISTORY HERE???

[Unimportant Passerby B]: Of course! But that’s all in the past now. As for the two of them these days… let’s just not go there.

[Big Fat Pig Tianpeng]: Let’s just not go there.

[What Evil Could Gou the Dog Possibly Have in Mind?]: Let’s just not go there.

[Class Monitor – Yu Chen]: Let’s just not go there.

Sheng Yan stared at the screen full of let’s just not go there messages.

“?”

What did they mean, let’s just not go there?

Before he could express his dissatisfaction, someone in the group sent another message.

[Unimportant Passerby B]: But speaking of which, if Qin Zigui ever got a girlfriend, he’d probably treat her incredibly well.

[Class Monitor – Yu Chen]: Elaborate?

[Unimportant Passerby B]: I can’t really give you a detailed explanation. I can only share what I roughly remember seeing and hearing. If my memory serves me right, he’d peel eggs for someone at breakfast, pick out the carrots from their food at lunch, always have cold water ready for them in summer and hot water in winter, and always have someone taking care of them whenever they got sick or developed a fever. He’d even swat mosquitoes for them while they slept in class. Tell me, wouldn’t that melt your heart?

[Class Monitor – Yu Chen]: ??? Seriously? Is that for real?

[Unimportant Passerby B]: Why would I lie to you?

[Class Monitor – Yu Chen]: The way you put it, I’m starting to think I actually have a chance!

[What Evil Could Gou the Dog Possibly Have in Mind?]: Don’t just think about it, then! Go for it, Class Belle!

[Big Fat Pig Tianpeng]: Exactly! First, we have Brother Yan to keep everyone in line through sheer force, then we send you off as a diplomatic bride to seal the alliance. Wouldn’t that mean our Class Six would never have to worry about attendance checks again?

[Unimportant Passerby A]: Makes sense.

[Class Monitor – Yu Chen]: Then should I try bringing him milk tea starting tomorrow?

…

The further Sheng Yan read, the more irritated he became.

He couldn’t even explain exactly what was bothering him. He just felt as though everyone was talking about him like he had already become a thing of Qin Zigui’s past.

Then he thought about how, once Qin Zigui got a girlfriend, there was a good chance he’d devote practically all his attention to her. By then, he wouldn’t have any time left for Sheng Yan at all.

The thought made Sheng Yan even more annoyed.

He was the one who had helped Qin Zigui beat people up, shared the best food with him, and introduced him to new friends throughout their childhood. So how had he ended up becoming someone who was no longer even worth mentioning?

Why would Qin Zigui peel eggs for someone else, pick carrots out of someone else’s food, fetch hot or cold water for someone else, and take care of someone else whenever they got sick?

Why would getting a girlfriend make him forget about Sheng Yan?

And what was with Qin Zigui showing off in that white shirt all day long? Did he really think he was the male lead of some school romance novel? Didn’t he know he should stop people from using his photos as their profile pictures? Did he really have to drink the milk tea people bought for him? Was it even that good? Wasn’t he worried about developing high blood sugar? As a top student in his final year of high school, shouldn’t he be thinking about studying instead of getting into a relationship?

Sheng Yan didn’t even care whether Qin Zigui actually still did any of those things. The more he read the chat messages, the angrier he became.

He kept getting angrier and angrier until, in the end, he stopped caring about what had caused his irritation in the first place or whether his anger even made any sense.

He abruptly stood up, yanked open the bathroom door, and shouted at Qin Zigui, who was still drying his hair inside.

“Qin Zigui!”

Qin Zigui switched off the hair dryer and turned around.

With his smooth black hair falling naturally around his face and his white T-shirt, he looked unusually gentle and handsome. If he showed up at school looking like that, he would undoubtedly turn plenty of heads.

Which only made Sheng Yan even angrier.

“I bought you for three yuan and twenty fen! The proof is still in your bedside drawer!”

Qin Zigui didn’t quite understand what he meant.

“Mm. And?”

“And…”

Then Sheng Yan noticed Qin Zigui’s injured leg and remembered the wish he’d just made—that Qin Zigui would recover as soon as possible.

He couldn’t get angry at him. Besides, he hadn’t even figured out why he was angry in the first place.

The frustration caught in his chest, leaving him feeling stifled. With absolutely no reasonable justification but all the confidence in the world, he shouted:

“So you’re not allowed to wear white anymore!”

Qin Zigui, whose wardrobe consisted almost entirely of black and white clothes: “?”

Had Sheng Yan suddenly developed a desire to see him run around naked?

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