Sheng Yan: “…?”
The school uniform?
He lowered his head and tapped Yu Chen’s profile picture to double-check. Sure enough, Qin Zigui was wearing the school uniform shirt.
The tall, slender boy in the white shirt was walking beneath the plane trees, their shadows stretching across the road as the sun sank toward the horizon. At first glance, the scene looked just like a poster for a youthful campus romance movie.
However, the school uniform shirts at Shiwai were notoriously oversized, with loose, baggy fabric. Most boys their age were also so skinny that they looked like bamboo poles, which was why the shirts had long been mockingly nicknamed Shiwai’s Exclusive Potato Sacks.
Sheng Yan disliked them so much that he hadn’t worn one in two whole years.
So how on earth did Qin Zigui manage to make one look so good?
Frowning, Sheng Yan raised his head and glanced at Qin Zigui. He immediately noticed the impressive width of the other boy’s shoulders. Then he looked past Qin Zigui’s shoulder toward the mirror behind him, where he saw his own reflection—and his noticeably narrow, still-youthful shoulders.
Sheng Yan: “…”
A brief silence followed.
Then he understood.
That old bastard Qin Zigui had definitely been secretly taking calcium supplements behind his back!
Sheng Yan had finally found a reason for his anger, so he shamelessly continued being unreasonable with complete confidence.
“Then why don’t you just stop wearing the school uniform?”
“?”
Qin Zigui couldn’t quite figure out why Sheng Yan had suddenly decided to pick a fight with white shirts. But it wasn’t particularly important, so he nodded casually.
“Fine. Whatever you say.”
He then bent down, took a fresh bath towel from the cabinet, and said, “Go take a shower and change your clothes. Don’t catch a cold.”
Sheng Yan hadn’t really noticed how uncomfortable he felt until Qin Zigui pointed it out. Only then did he realize how sticky and unpleasant his body felt.
Without saying anything else, he gulped down the rest of the milk in one go, crumpled the empty packet into a ball, and tossed it into the trash can.
Afterward, he helped Qin Zigui—the half-disabled patient who looked practically incapable of walking independently—back onto the bed. Then he grabbed his own pajamas and went into the bathroom.
The bathroom door closed, and before long, the sound of splashing water filled the room.
Following the young master’s orders, Qin Zigui changed into a black T-shirt and walked over to the desk. He picked up his phone and was just about to ask Chen Yubai what homework they had been assigned that day when the doorbell began ringing frantically.
“Old Qin! Brother Qin! President Qin! Open the door! I’m here on behalf of the organization to deliver some warmth and support!”
Chen Yubai’s lazy voice came from outside.
Qin Zigui walked unhurriedly through the hallway and dining area with a gait that was more or less normal, opened the door, and looked at Chen Yubai.
The latter had one backpack slung over his back, another in his left hand, and a third in his right.
Qin Zigui asked, “What brings you here?”
Chen Yubai raised the two backpacks he was carrying.
“Your homework. Huang Shulang told me to bring it over for you two. He also specifically instructed me to pass a message to Sheng Yan: taking two days off within three days is the kind of behavior you get from a lazy donkey that suddenly remembers it needs to pee and poop the moment it’s supposed to start working.”
Note: This is a Chinese saying mocking people who keep finding excuses to avoid work just when it’s time to get started.
“So, to make sure he stays motivated, he’s required to independently correct every subject’s final exam paper today. If he doesn’t finish, he’ll have to copy every question he got wrong from this exam, including the full question itself, ten times.”
Qin Zigui took the backpacks from him.
“Didn’t I take the day off with him?”
“Oh, as for you, Huang Shulang just told you to get some good rest and recover properly. After all, sharpening your axe won’t delay the work of chopping wood.”
Chen Yubai had always spoken at a leisurely pace, and the unhurried delivery gave his words a particularly casual, almost indifferent kind of sarcasm.
Qin Zigui frowned slightly as he listened, seemingly displeased with Huang Shulang’s obvious favoritism.
Chen Yubai knew he was upset on Sheng Yan’s behalf, but he didn’t particularly want to get involved in the affairs between the two of them. So he decided not to pursue the topic any further. Instead, he glanced at Qin Zigui’s two perfectly functional, firmly planted long legs and asked, “So, you’re not crippled?”
Qin Zigui answered without changing his expression. “I am.”
Chen Yubai: “…Got it.”
A moment of understanding passed between them, followed by a comfortable silence.
Chen Yubai said, “If you need your brother to help you put on a show, just say the word.”
Qin Zigui couldn’t be bothered to entertain him. “Just try not to make things worse.”
“How could I possibly make things worse?” Chen Yubai asked, confident in his abilities as an elite teammate. “Speaking of which, though, there’s something I have here, and I’m not sure whether I should give it to you.”
Qin Zigui raised an eyebrow slightly.
Chen Yubai pulled a cup of milk tea out of his backpack.
“Yu Chen from Class Six asked me to give this to you. She said that since Sheng Yan beat you up, she’s apologizing on his behalf as the class monitor.”
“Sheng Yan beat me up?”
Qin Zigui immediately picked up on the important detail.
Chen Yubai gave an affirming “Mm-hmm.”
“That’s the story going around the entire grade now. Apparently, you caught Sheng Yan skipping class, which got him punished by Huang Shulang and forced to copy the student handbook. Then he mocked you for being a lousy person, so the two of you arranged to fight behind the school at lunchtime. You both ended up in the hospital, and now you’ve become sworn enemies with a blood feud between you, destined to remain at each other’s throats forever.”
Qin Zigui: “…”
He wondered what those people would think if they knew that Sheng Yan was currently in his bathroom, soaking in his bathtub and washing himself with Qin Zigui’s body wash.
“But who is Yu Chen?”
Qin Zigui asked the question seriously.
Chen Yubai: “…”
Fine. At this rate, Qin Zigui might only ever recognize people whose surnames were Sheng.
He took out his phone, opened Yu Chen’s WeChat profile, and held it up in front of Qin Zigui.
“This is her. She’s practically worshipping you as her male idol. She’s even set your photo as her profile picture. She says you’re her motivation to get into one of China’s top universities, Tsinghua or Peking University, from Class Six. Could you at least show a little appreciation?”
Qin Zigui barely paid attention to what Chen Yubai was saying. He had only noticed that the girl’s WeChat profile picture was a photo of him.
Him wearing a white shirt.
And she was from Class Six, which meant she knew Sheng Yan.
In that instant, Qin Zigui felt as though he might finally understand where Sheng Yan’s sudden temper had come from.
He just wasn’t entirely sure what the reason was yet.
After all, in his previous life, Sheng Yan might as well have been a pufferfish spirit. You never knew what sort of thought process would suddenly make him puff up and bristle.
However, this happened to be a flavor of milk tea that Sheng Yan liked.
Qin Zigui wondered whether drinking it might help the other boy cool down a little.
With that thought, he took the milk tea from Chen Yubai.
“I’ll keep this cup. Buy another one of the same kind and return it to that girl for me. Tell her I didn’t accept hers.”
Chen Yubai: “?”
He was just about to ask what Qin Zigui meant when Sheng Yan’s voice suddenly rang out from inside the room.
“Qin Zigui! Where are you?!”
Qin Zigui immediately put on a completely expressionless face and slammed the front door shut with a decisive bang, without the slightest hesitation.
“I’m here,” he called back.
Outside, Chen Yubai had narrowly escaped having his nose flattened by the unexpectedly slammed door.
“？？？”
Throwing someone away the moment you’ve finished using them?!
Was Qin Zigui even human?!
Meanwhile, Sheng Yan had just finished showering and was walking out while drying his hair. He had no idea what had happened outside. As soon as he emerged, he saw Qin Zigui leaning against the door with his injured leg slightly bent, looking somewhat uncomfortable.
Sheng Yan frowned.
“Your leg is already in that condition. Why are you wandering around?”
“Huang Shulang sent Chen Yubai over with our homework.”
As he spoke, Qin Zigui also relayed the assignments Huang Shulang had given Sheng Yan, along with the punishment for failing to complete them.
Sheng Yan stood frozen in place, drying his hair as though he had just been struck by lightning.
Only when he saw Qin Zigui preparing to bend down and pick up the backpacks on the floor did he finally snap out of it.
“Don’t move around!”
He dropped the towel, grabbed one backpack with one hand, and supported the utterly fragile and helpless Qin Zigui with the other, hauling him back into the room.
After getting him back, Sheng Yan tossed Qin Zigui onto the bed. He was just about to lecture him about not wandering around unnecessarily when the milk tea in Qin Zigui’s hand caught his eye.
The words he had been about to say abruptly changed.
“Where did that come from?”
Qin Zigui was just about to answer.
But Sheng Yan seemed to have guessed something.
“Did Yu Chen send it over through Chen Yubai?”
Well, yes, but not entirely.
For a moment, Qin Zigui wasn’t sure how to explain.
That brief hesitation was enough for Sheng Yan to interpret it as confirmation. An overwhelming wave of irritation instantly flooded every corner of his emotional being.
“Trash!”
Qin Zigui: “?”
He hadn’t even figured out how he’d become trash again.
Before he could react, Sheng Yan angrily threw another sentence at him.
“Just drink your stupid milk tea! Don’t talk to me for the next twenty-four hours! Don’t distract me from studying!”
With that, he grabbed the backpack and dumped it onto the desk, pulled out the exam papers, and spread them across the tabletop. Then he sat down with his back to Qin Zigui, making it perfectly clear that he had no intention of speaking to him.
Qin Zigui looked at the milk tea in his hand, wondering whether Sheng Yan had some kind of grudge against Yu Chen, whether he was simply unhappy that Yu Chen considered Qin Zigui her male idol, or whether there was some other reason entirely.
He only knew that he was afraid of accidentally ruining the fragile progress they had made. Their relationship had finally begun to improve a little through all their bickering and teasing, and he didn’t want another misunderstanding to send them right back to where they had started.
So he pressed his lips together slightly, lowered his eyelashes, and placed the milk tea somewhere Sheng Yan could easily reach by simply turning around.
Then he fell silent.
But the moment Qin Zigui stopped talking, Sheng Yan somehow became even angrier.
He wanted to explode, but then he remembered that the task assigned by the app prohibited him from losing his temper for twenty-four hours.
He wanted to storm out and slam the door, but he still had to stay and take care of Qin Zigui.
He was inexplicably, irrationally furious, yet he couldn’t even let it out.
All he could do was snatch up his pen and furiously begin correcting his exam papers, scribbling away at the pages.
But after only a few lines, his pen came to a complete stop.
The damn exam was impossibly difficult!
Although Qin Zigui and Sheng Yan appeared to have received the same assignment—correcting their final examination papers—the reality was fundamentally different.
The exam had a total of 750 points, and Qin Zigui had scored 723.
He had lost four points on his Chinese essay, five on reading comprehension, six on subjective analysis questions, and two on his English essay. Apart from those deductions, he had barely made any mistakes at all.
Meanwhile, Sheng Yan had scored only 327 points. Even excluding subjective questions and essays, the number of questions he had answered correctly that didn’t need correcting was pitifully small.
And so, the two boys presented a stark contrast.
One was leaning against the headboard, one leg bent, casually twirling a pen between his fingers as he thought about something important to him, so absorbed in his thoughts that he had lost himself in them.
The other was sprawled over the desk, staring at a vast sea of red crosses. His soft hair had been ruffled into a complete bird’s nest, and his head was pounding with frustration.
Sheng Yan thought the homework Huang Shulang had assigned was fundamentally unreasonable.
If he knew how to correct his exam paper, wouldn’t that mean he already knew the right answers? And if he already knew the right answers, wouldn’t he have written them correctly during the exam?
It wasn’t as though two days had passed and the questions that hadn’t recognized him before had suddenly decided to recognize him now. How could Huang Shulang fail to understand such simple logic?
Sheng Yan kept turning the pages back and forth. The more he looked at the questions, the less he understood them, and the less he understood them, the more irritated he became.
He had originally wanted to ask Qin Zigui for help, but when he turned around, he saw Qin Zigui leaning against the headboard, wearing a pair of silver-rimmed glasses, one long leg bent. His head was slightly lowered, and his black T-shirt made his fair skin stand out with an almost startling sharpness. His dark eyebrows and eyes looked even more striking, making him seem like an even more attractive, well-mannered scoundrel.
That only made Sheng Yan angrier.
Trash.
An absolute piece of trash who does nothing all day but show off his looks and attract admirers!
The enormous cup of milk tea Sheng Yan had bought him at lunchtime, packed to the brim with toppings, hadn’t even received a single sip from Qin Zigui. Yet the moment someone else offered him milk tea, he accepted it.
How infuriating!
Sheng Yan couldn’t even explain what he was actually angry about. He just knew that whenever he imagined Qin Zigui getting a girlfriend, he felt a heavy knot in his chest. Qin Zigui would no longer have time to hang out with him, and he wouldn’t treat Sheng Yan as well as he used to.
The thought made Qin Zigui seem unbearably annoying.
Sheng Yan knew he was being unreasonable.
The problem was that he simply couldn’t come up with any reasonable explanation for his feelings.
All he knew was that he didn’t want to talk to Qin Zigui right now. But if he refused to talk to Qin Zigui, he wouldn’t be able to solve these questions. If he couldn’t solve them, he wouldn’t finish correcting his exam papers. And if he didn’t finish, he’d have to copy every question he got wrong, along with the full question itself, ten times.
What was that if not a death sentence?
Besides, the wish-granting system wouldn’t refresh his allowance until next Wednesday. How was he supposed to survive the next few days?
Sheng Yan lay sprawled across the desk, his handsome features already filled with despair and impatience.
If only I’d known, I wouldn’t have wasted my wish on Qin Zigui, that heartless, show-off bastard who was worth exactly three yuan and twenty fen. I should’ve wished to pass every subject in the next exam instead.
That was what Sheng Yan thought, yet he made no move to open the Wish Come True app and replace his wish.
However, when he imagined passing every subject in the next exam, he suddenly froze.
Then he abruptly sat upright.
Wait! It’s not as if Qin Zigui is the only top student I know!
At lunchtime, hadn’t Gou You introduced him to a “handsome academic god” who could help him pass his exams?
Why not ask him?
Sheng Yan felt like the cleverest little genius in the entire world. After all, if a problem could be solved with money, then it wasn’t really a problem.
He immediately grabbed his phone, opened QQ, clicked on the profile picture of The World’s Most Handsome Guy, and sent a message.
[S.]: You there?
The reply came quickly.
[The World’s Most Handsome Guy]: ?
[S.]: Taking new clients?
[The World’s Most Handsome Guy]: ??
[S.]: Exam paper corrections. Ten yuan per multiple-choice or fill-in-the-blank question, twenty yuan per long-answer question. Interested?
[The World’s Most Handsome Guy]: …
[The World’s Most Handsome Guy]: Give me a moment. Let me think about it.
What was there to think about?
Sheng Yan raised an eyebrow.
With the number of questions on his exam paper, the total payment would easily come close to a thousand yuan. Wouldn’t that be much easier than organizing study materials?
Or was the money not enough?
After thinking for a moment, Sheng Yan sent another message.
[S.]: If you think the price is too low, just name your price. Money isn’t a problem.
After all, he had plenty of money saved for his future wife. He could afford to spend some of it.
However, after a while, the other person replied:
[The World’s Most Handsome Guy]: It’s not about the money.
[S.]: ?
[The World’s Most Handsome Guy]: It’s mainly a scheduling issue.
[S.]: ??
[The World’s Most Handsome Guy]: I really don’t have time lately. But if you’re in a hurry, there might be another way.
[S.]: Let’s hear it.
[The World’s Most Handsome Guy]: I have a colleague I can introduce you to. He’s in the same grade as you and gets excellent grades, too. His background is pretty unfortunate, though, so he might need this kind of work even more than I do. If you’re willing, add this account.
[The World’s Most Handsome Guy]: Shared contact card: The World’s Most Pitiful Little Guy
Sheng Yan opened the contact card and stared at the matching edgy, spiky-haired profile picture and username.
“…”
As expected of people from the same clique. They all looked equally unreliable.
But he wasn’t exactly in a position to be picky anymore. He could only hope for the best and quickly replied:
[S.]: Fine, thanks.
Then he sent a friend request.
The other person had probably already discussed things with The World’s Most Handsome Guy, because the friend request was accepted almost immediately.
Sheng Yan didn’t bother with small talk. He went straight to the point, sending over the proposed payment and photos of his exam papers before asking:
[S.]: Bro, can you handle this? Our exams at Shiwai might be harder than those at other schools. If there are questions you can’t solve, just say so.
He wasn’t exaggerating. Shiwai had always taught beyond the standard curriculum and created its own examination papers. The difficulty was considerably higher than that of ordinary key public high schools in the city. Even top students from other schools could end up somewhere in the middle of the pack at Shiwai, and some of the more challenging long-answer questions might stump them.
But the other person replied with concise confidence.
[The World’s Most Pitiful Little Guy]: Not hard. Easy.
[S.]: ??
[The World’s Most Pitiful Little Guy]: I can score at least 720.
[S.]: ???
[S.]: Bro, don’t brag. My best buddy ranks first in every citywide joint examination, and he only scored 723 on this paper. You think you can do better than him?
[The World’s Most Pitiful Little Guy]: If he’s that good, why don’t you ask him?
[S.]: …
[S.]: We’re not close.
[The World’s Most Pitiful Little Guy]: Isn’t he your best buddy?
Sheng Yan: “…”
This guy was so annoying.
He lowered his head and typed furiously, preparing to reply:
[S.]: Can we keep our personal lives out of a business transaction?
The other person sent a message before Sheng Yan could even finish typing.
[The World’s Most Pitiful Little Guy]: Did you two have a fight?
Sheng Yan: “…”
This guy was pretty perceptive.
Soon, another message came through.
[The World’s Most Pitiful Little Guy]: If you don’t mind, you can talk to me about it. My best friend has also been fighting with me lately. Maybe we can understand each other’s situation.
After a brief pause, he added another message.
[The World’s Most Pitiful Little Guy]: After all, there are things that are difficult to say to people you know, but somehow easier to say to a stranger. And when you’re caught up in a situation yourself, it’s hard to see things clearly. Sometimes an outsider can see what you can’t. Who knows? Maybe talking about it will help.
That made sense.
Sheng Yan wasn’t usually the type to discuss his emotional problems with other people. His feelings were generally straightforward and obvious, coming quickly and disappearing just as fast. Most of the time, they weren’t even enough to count as a problem.
But this time, even he found his inexplicable irritation rather baffling.
Besides, he had never been good at keeping things bottled up. If something was bothering him and he couldn’t talk about it, he’d feel terribly uncomfortable.
And this person seemed like a fairly decent conversation partner.
After all, the other person had no idea who he was. As long as Sheng Yan didn’t reveal any private information or give away his full name, whatever he said would stay between them. At worst, he could treat the other person as a place to vent his feelings.
That was still better than sitting there, inexplicably stewing in his own frustration.
So Sheng Yan pressed his lips together and thought carefully for a moment before solemnly typing out a message.
[S.]: What would you do if you suddenly found your best bro so ridiculously handsome that it started getting on your nerves?
The instant the message was sent, Qin Zigui, sitting behind him, unconsciously raised his eyebrows slightly.
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gingerbread On TTC Chapter 99