DMMB Chapter 19

Ever since they were little, Qin Zigui had always been the kind of legendary “other people’s child”—the one parents loved to bring up as an example. He got good grades, was mature beyond his years, independent, and knew how to take care of others. His only flaws were that he rarely showed any emotion and hardly ever spoke.

For example, whenever they got caught doing something wrong as children, Sheng Yan would immediately take advantage of his naturally adorable looks, acting cute and sweet to get himself off the hook. Qin Zigui, on the other hand, would only press his lips together, keep a straight face, and remain completely silent. He wouldn’t explain himself, admit his mistake, or beg for forgiveness and try to win the adults over. He was so stubbornly quiet that the adults would eventually lose their temper altogether.

So, when someone like him suddenly looked you in the eye with complete sincerity, admitted he was wrong, begged you for forgiveness, and even called himself “Big Brother Zigui”—who could possibly resist that?

At least, at that moment, Sheng Yan felt as though his heart had suddenly skipped a beat.

It must have been because the sight was just too bizarre.

That was what Sheng Yan told himself.

There was no way he would fall for such a tiny trick from Qin Zigui and go softhearted. He was a man with principles.

But he was also someone who believed in repaying kindness.

Qin Zigui had been injured because of him, so naturally, Sheng Yan had a duty to help him recover as quickly as possible. But the Wish Come True app had said that he needed to fulfill all of Qin Zigui’s requests for twenty-four hours to make his injuries heal faster. So Sheng Yan had no choice but to reluctantly agree.

It had nothing to do with whether Qin Zigui had some kind of bewitching charm.

It was mainly because a man had to be loyal to his friends.

Facing Qin Zigui’s gaze, Sheng Yan looked into those beautiful, sincere, and gentle eyes, deceiving himself as he tried to reason it all out.

Sheng Yan wasn’t the kind of person with complicated, hidden thoughts. His eyes were clear, and whatever was on his mind was easy to read. He was like a child who couldn’t keep a piece of candy hidden.

Qin Zigui watched him make a face that practically said, I’m trying really hard to convince myself that I’m a cool guy, but I’m actually just a little cutie. Unable to help himself, he shifted to one side, propped himself up on an elbow, rested his head on his hand, and looked at Sheng Yan. A faint trace of amusement appeared in his eyes as he drawled out the words again.

“Big Brother Zigui is begging you?”

If Qin Zigui’s first “Big Brother Zigui is begging you” had been nothing more than a sincere attempt to lower his guard and make peace, then the second one carried a hint of ambiguous flirtation and lazy teasing.

Sheng Yan instantly felt as though a tiny electric current had brushed against him. He snapped back to his senses, stared at Qin Zigui warily, and said, “Watch how you talk to me. Stop acting all cute and clingy every chance you get!”

Why was he reacting so strongly?

Qin Zigui smiled. “Weren’t you the one who started acting cute at lunchtime?”

“……”

Damn it.

Remembering those two times Qin Zigui had said, “Big Brother Zigui is begging you,” Sheng Yan promptly shut his mouth.

“So now I’ve begged you twice, too. That makes us even, right? Hmm, Yan-yan?” Qin Zigui seemed to be doing it on purpose, even bringing out the childhood nickname in that slow, amused tone. “Big Brother Zigui is begging you?”

Each time he spoke, his voice grew lower, huskier, and more languid. Each time, Sheng Yan’s ears tingled a little more. He was afraid that if Qin Zigui kept talking like that, he would melt into a puddle before he even had the chance to forgive him.

Was it really this terrifying when someone over six feet tall with an icy expression started acting cute?

Sheng Yan felt his scalp beginning to tingle. “Enough already. Stop begging. Aren’t you embarrassed to act like this when you’re a grown man?”

“Does ‘enough already’ mean you’ve forgiven me?”

Qin Zigui asked, even though he already knew the answer.

Sheng Yan let out a cold laugh.

Qin Zigui nodded. “Got it. Then Big Brother Zigui will beg you one more ti—”

Again?!

Sheng Yan genuinely couldn’t take another round of Qin Zigui begging him. Before Qin could finish, he gave up resisting and hurriedly cut him off.

“I forgive you, I forgive you! I really do! Is that enough now? Are you satisfied?!”

Qin Zigui lowered his voice. “But I was so awful to you before.”

“So what if you were awful before? Haven’t you made up for it over the past two days? Do you think I’m an idiot who can’t tell whether you’re treating me well or not?” Sheng Yan was particularly bad at dealing with such sentimental conversations. To hide his discomfort, he could only raise his voice and pretend he didn’t care. “So can we just let the whole thing go? Stop dragging it out like this. You’re a grown man!”

“Really?”

“I’m going to hit you!”

That meant he really did forgive him.

Sure enough, no one in the world was more softhearted than Sheng Yan.

Qin Zigui chuckled quietly. “Mm, okay. Thank you, Yan-yan.”

“Thank your ass! And don’t call me Yan-yan. We’re way too old for that.” Sheng Yan was terrible at handling situations like this. With his ears turning red, he yanked the worksheet over, slapped it onto the desk, and snapped, “You spend all day doing everything except studying. Where do you get all this nonsense to talk about? Have you even finished explaining the problems to me? And now you’re slacking off! I don’t understand this one. What exactly do these two lines have to do with each other? Why, just because you tell me the length of this line, do I have to figure out the length of that one? I don’t even know these lines!”

Holding his pen, Sheng Yan angrily jabbed its tip at the two innocent lines.

Afraid that Sheng Yan might get too embarrassed and go back on his word, Qin Zigui toned down his smile, sat up straight, and picked up his pen. After drawing a couple of lines, he said, “If you draw two auxiliary lines like this, they’ll get to know each other.”

“Huh? Oh?”

They really did get to know each other.

Sheng Yan found it rather amazing.

Qin Zigui continued writing in his notebook. “Actually, there are mnemonic rules for drawing auxiliary lines, too. For triangles, one common rule is: ‘When an angle bisector appears, draw perpendiculars on either side. With an angle bisector and perpendiculars, try the three-lines-one relationship.’ There are similar rules for quadrilaterals and circles. I’ll write down the rules and draw some example diagrams for you. Once you’ve mastered the basics, you’ll know how to draw the lines yourself when you encounter more complicated figures later.”

As Qin Zigui lowered his head to write, that unusually relaxed and cheerful air he had shown earlier gradually faded without him even noticing. He returned to his usual cool, rational, top-student demeanor.

He was still gentle, though.

His thick, dark eyelashes drooped slightly. They were so long that they almost brushed the silver-rimmed glasses resting on the bridge of his nose. His fingers looked beautiful as he held the pen and wrote carefully. He spoke quickly but softly, his tone patient and meticulous. His voice was low, and his Adam’s apple bobbed gently with each word.

That was when Sheng Yan noticed a mole there.

It was tiny, situated just beside the most prominent part of Qin Zigui’s Adam’s apple—a spot where one bite would be enough to bite it right off.

Sheng Yan had no idea why such a dangerous thought had crossed his mind.

He only knew that when Qin Zigui turned around, he discovered that Sheng Xiaoyan, the top student in the category of People Who Hate Studying, didn’t seem to have absorbed a single word of the lesson. Instead, he was staring at Qin Zigui’s neck as though he were looking at something delicious.

“Want to order takeout?” Qin Zigui asked.

“Huh?” Sheng Yan looked up. “What are we ordering?”

Qin Zigui answered casually, “Weren’t you thinking about gnawing on some duck neck?”

“……”

Who wanted to gnaw on a duck neck?!

Did he have no shame?!

After automatically substituting Qin Zigui’s neck for the duck neck in question, Sheng Yan suddenly became so embarrassed and angry about the word gnaw that he snapped, “Why are you worrying about all this when you’re supposed to be explaining the problems?!”

Qin Zigui had no idea what Sheng Yan had been thinking about. He assumed Sheng had gotten distracted because the explanation was too boring, so he patiently asked, “Then do you understand what I just explained?”

“Obviously! I’m not an idiot. Just keep explaining.”

Sheng Yan answered with complete confidence.

Qin Zigui didn’t say anything more. He simply continued explaining the problems using an approach that best suited Sheng Yan’s way of thinking. His tone remained cool yet patient and meticulous, and his low voice was pleasant to listen to.

As Sheng Yan listened, he found himself unable to stop sneaking glances at him.

Even in the simplest, loosest black T-shirt, Qin Zigui looked good. Sheng Yan suddenly realized that there was a reason Yu Chen regarded Qin Zigui as his male idol.

After all, Qin Zigui had the look of someone who was both a neat freak and a top student. He was handsome in a refined, almost sophisticated way. And when he explained problems, there was something gentle—and even a little sexy—about him. It was perfectly normal for girls to like him.

But why did Sheng Yan, a perfectly ordinary guy, feel that something was off about the whole situation, too?

It was just…

He was so annoyingly handsome.

Unable to find the right words to describe the feeling, Sheng Yan rested his head on the desk and stared at Qin Zigui’s chin and Adam’s apple, pondering the problem until his mind gradually drifted away.

The desk lamp glowed quietly. The only sound was Qin Zigui’s low, cool voice as he continued explaining the problems at an unhurried pace.

No one answered him for quite some time.

When Qin Zigui finally sensed that something was wrong and turned around, he discovered that the creature from the Planet of People Who Hate Studying had already fallen asleep with its head on the desk.

Seriously. He could play video games until sunrise, yet the moment he touched a math worksheet, he’d get sleepy in three minutes.

Who on earth had spoiled this lazy, willful, pampered brat so badly that he couldn’t endure even the slightest hardship?

Qin Zigui felt that treating Sheng Yan well was one thing, but spoiling him rotten was another. He was just about to wake him up and give him a stern lecture when, before he could get a word out, he heard Sheng Yan mumble sleepily, “So we’re friends again, okay? You’re not mad at me anymore, okay?”

The stern words Qin Zigui had been about to say caught in his throat, and he swallowed them back down.

Ever since they’d been assigned to different classes in high school, he’d hardly ever seen Sheng Yan fall asleep with his head resting on a desk. He hadn’t expected that some things still hadn’t changed. Sheng Yan’s lips were still slightly parted, giving him the same innocent, childlike look.

When Sheng Yan was little, he often had trouble breathing through his nose. Whenever he fell asleep, he could only open his mouth a tiny bit to breathe. Eventually, it became a habit.

Back then, his lips had been rosy and moist, and his little round face had been soft, fair, and tender. With his tiny mouth slightly open, he looked so adorably dazed that Qin Zigui couldn’t resist reaching out with his little finger to poke him whenever he fell asleep. More often than not, he’d keep poking him throughout the entire afternoon nap.

That was why the adults used to joke that the faint little dimple at the right corner of Sheng Yan’s mouth had been poked into existence by Qin Zigui himself.

So many years had passed, yet Sheng Yan still hadn’t broken the habit. It was just that, without either of them realizing it, the childish softness and baby fat had faded away. The pretty little doll had grown into a radiant young man.

His eyebrows were long and slightly angled, his nose straight and prominent. His eyes were almond-shaped, somewhat rounded, with outer corners that stretched upward. Even with his eyes closed, he still possessed that striking, dazzling, and carefree charm of a beautiful young man that could captivate someone at first glance.

Suddenly, Qin Zigui found himself reluctant to wake him.

After all, there would be plenty of time to study, but there were very few opportunities when he could look at Sheng Yan so openly and without holding anything back.

Every day they spent together like this was one less day they would have.

And so, he grew a little greedy for the moment.

He simply leaned back against his chair and, bathed in the soft glow of the floor lamp, quietly watched the person beside him. He watched for a very, very long time without waking him. But in the end, he didn’t reach out to touch those two soft, rosy lips with his finger as he used to when they were children.

Because he had to learn to restrain himself.

Much later, he finally turned back around, picked up his pen and Sheng Yan’s worksheet, and carefully compared the questions one by one. He made a detailed list of every concept Sheng Yan didn’t understand and every point he wanted to teach him.

Meanwhile, Sheng Yan lay asleep beside him, having who knew what kind of beautiful dream, his face innocent and carefree.

The summer night stretched endlessly along two paths that leaned against each other, yet remained fundamentally different. Outside the window, the cicadas chirped intermittently, like the rising and falling tide of feelings that the two boys understood without ever needing to say a word.

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