Qin Zigui tapped his fingers against the five Chinese characters on the screen.
He had to admit that his first reaction upon seeing those words was delight. It was only in the second moment that he realized Sheng Yan really was an extraordinarily ordinary little genius when it came to language.
He could always combine the simplest words into the strangest expressions while accurately conveying the most complicated thoughts. Take that line about Qin Zigui being a lousy bird, for example.
However, Qin Zigui still wasn’t entirely sure what kind of annoying handsome Sheng Yan was talking about.
He recalled how dissatisfied Sheng Yan had seemed about Yu Chen treating him as her male idol, using a photo of him in a white shirt as her profile picture, and even buying him milk tea. Perhaps Sheng Yan simply couldn’t accept that someone else was getting all that attention.
After all, Qin Zigui himself thought Sheng Yan was a little better-looking than he was, and his personality was certainly more appealing to others.
So he sent a message.
[The World’s Most Pitiful Little Guy]: Care to elaborate?
Care to elaborate.
Sheng Yan stared at those four Chinese characters, his fingers coming to a halt above the keyboard.
How was he supposed to elaborate?
There wasn’t really anything to elaborate on.
He had always known that Qin Zigui was reasonably good-looking. But since he’d been staring at that face practically every day throughout their childhood, he’d gradually become immune to it. Even when people constantly praised Qin Zigui’s looks, Sheng Yan had never paid much attention.
It was like how two boys who had grown up fooling around together for years wouldn’t think twice about taking a bath together.
Then Qin Zigui had suddenly refused to let him bathe with him that day, telling him to give it a try instead. And when Sheng Yan actually did, he discovered that the bastard had somehow grown ridiculously tall without his noticing. He had muscles now, too, and his frame had filled out considerably.
It made him seem inexplicably…
Sexy?
The moment Sheng Yan associated that word with Qin Zigui, he wondered whether being so angry with the guy had finally made him lose his mind.
That cold, miserable block of ice? Sexy, my ass.
He quickly typed back.
[S.]: It’s nothing. I just suddenly realized that he’s ridiculously fond of showing off his looks. He’s always attracting admirers, has no self-restraint, and doesn’t know how a decent man should behave. It’s just really annoying.
Qin Zigui, who always buttoned his shirts all the way to the top and barely spoke to anyone other than Sheng Yan and Chen Yubai: “…”
Did Sheng Yan misunderstand the meaning of proper masculine conduct?
If anyone were to be accused of attracting admirers and failing to behave like a respectable young man, Sheng Yan certainly attracted far more female attention than he did.
After thinking it over, Qin Zigui could come up with only one possible explanation. He asked:
[The World’s Most Pitiful Little Guy]: Is there a girl you like who thinks he’s handsome? Is that why you’re annoyed with him?
Sheng Yan replied almost instantly.
[S.]: Bullshit!
[The World’s Most Pitiful Little Guy]: ?
[S.]: It’s true that there’s a girl who thinks he’s handsome, but I’m not close to her. It has nothing to do with her.
[The World’s Most Pitiful Little Guy]: Then what’s the reason?
[S.]: It’s just that some girl is already using his photo as her profile picture and buying him milk tea, and he actually accepted it! What does that mean? Is he trying to start dating in high school? Or does he want to become some kind of playboy who dates a bunch of girls?
[S.]: He’s about to enter his final year of high school, for crying out loud. Shouldn’t he be focusing on his studies instead of fooling around all day? Is there something wrong with him?
There was definitely something wrong.
Something very wrong indeed.
If anyone else had said those things, it might have been perfectly normal. But hearing them from Sheng Yan—the undisputed champion of avoiding studying in the entire world—was downright bizarre.
Looking at those messages, Qin Zigui suddenly wondered whether his own obsession with Sheng Yan had become so intense that he was imagining things.
Otherwise, why did he think he could detect a hint of jealousy in those words?
Before he could come up with a flawless logical argument to disprove that conclusion, the chat refreshed with another series of messages.
[S.]: It’s not that I have a problem with him dating someone. I have a problem with him choosing a girl over his best friend! You have no idea. At lunchtime, I bought him an extra-large milk tea with a ridiculous amount of toppings and double cheese foam. And what did he do? He didn’t even take a single sip! He just left it at the milk tea shop, then turned around and accepted a different girl’s drink!
[S.]: If someone like that starts dating, don’t you think he’ll completely forget about his best friend in no time?
[S.]: That’s what makes me so angry. Ever since we were little, whenever I had something good, he was always the first person I thought of. And now look at him! He’s giving me the silent treatment, choosing girls over his best friend, and acting like this is all perfectly normal. He said he’d apologize, but he only apologized once and never did it again. Is that how someone is supposed to make up with a friend?
[S.]: It’s not that I refuse to forgive him. I just want him to truly understand what he did wrong. So when I didn’t forgive him the first time, shouldn’t he have tried harder to win me over? Why didn’t he keep asking? Does he think he’s too proud to do that?
[S.]: And even if he wasn’t going to beg me to forgive him, fine. But at lunchtime, I asked him to help me pay for something, and he actually told me to beg him first!
[S.]: Tell me, if you were in my position, wouldn’t you be pissed off, too?
Pissed off.
Sheng Yan had been adorable and lovable ever since he was little, so everyone had always spoiled him and indulged him. People tended to shield him from the ugly, complicated, and unpleasant sides of life, allowing him to grow up with an almost childlike innocence deep down.
On ordinary days, Sheng Yan couldn’t keep anything to himself. He couldn’t hold back a single thought or feeling. But because he’d been sulking at Qin Zigui and now felt compelled to save face, he had no choice but to keep everything bottled up.
He was probably so uncomfortable from holding it all in that, when he finally found an opportunity, he let everything burst out in a rapid-fire stream of messages.
Meanwhile, as Qin Zigui read through them, a hint of amusement crept into his eyes.
So this was what the young master had been upset about.
It seemed that Sheng Yan was rather possessive of his Big Brother Zigui, whom he’d supposedly bought and brought home for just three yuan and twenty fen.
Regardless of where that possessiveness came from, the important thing was that Sheng Yan cared about him. He cared about the way Qin Zigui treated him, and that was enough.
After all, Qin Zigui had never intended to share even the slightest bit of the affection he reserved for Sheng Yan with anyone else.
So he replied with complete sincerity:
[The World’s Most Pitiful Little Guy]: Yeah, I’d be furious too if I were you. That guy has gone way too far. He really doesn’t know how to appreciate what he has. He doesn’t deserve your kindness at all. You should stop talking to him from now on and just pretend you don’t even have a friend like him.
The moment he sent the message, the other person replied instantly.
[S.]: YOU’RE the one who doesn’t have a friend like that!
[The World’s Most Pitiful Little Guy]: ?
[S.]: What do you know?! What’s wrong with him, anyway? He got into a fight to stand up for me! He even argued with the grade director on my behalf! And at lunchtime today, he got injured protecting me. His leg is practically crippled! If he doesn’t deserve my kindness, then who the hell does? You?!
Qin Zigui finally couldn’t hold back a soft laugh.
Sheng Yan, who had been typing furiously, turned around with a suspicious look.
“What are you laughing at?”
Qin Zigui leaned back against the headboard and stretched his leg lazily.
“Nothing. I’ve finished correcting my exam papers, so I have nothing else to do.”
“？？？”
Still being mercilessly tortured by his own exam papers, Sheng Yan responded with three furious question marks.
Qin Zigui turned his head to look at him, a faint, barely noticeable smile hidden in his eyes. In an apparently casual tone, he asked, “What? You haven’t finished correcting yours yet? Can’t do it?”
“？？？？”
Sheng Yan was convinced that Qin Zigui was deliberately trying to pick a fight with him today!
He slapped his pen down on the desk, raised an eyebrow, and was just about to ask Qin Zigui how he wanted to die when the latter casually picked up the Strawberry Milk Tea with Bold Cheese Foam from the bedside table and handed it to him.
“The ice should have melted by now. It won’t be so cold anymore.”
Sheng Yan had been halfway through preparing for battle.
“Are you—huh?”
Qin Zigui helpfully inserted the straw into the cup for him.
“It’s true that Yu Chen asked Chen Yubai to buy it for me. I saw that it was a flavor you liked, so I accepted it. But I also asked Chen Yubai to buy an identical cup and return it to her, and I paid him for it. So this one doesn’t count as a gift from Yu Chen. I bought it for you.”
“Ah?”
Sheng Yan hadn’t quite processed what he was hearing.
Qin Zigui continued, “She ordered it with ice, and it was too cold, so I let it sit for a while before giving it to you.”
Sheng Yan took the milk tea.
“Oh.”
The temperature really was just right—not icy, but not too cold, either.
Qin Zigui then slowly sat up, carefully moving his injured leg as he settled down beside Sheng Yan. He placed his finger on the exam paper and gently pulled it toward himself before picking up a pen.
In a low voice, he asked, “Which part don’t you understand?”
All of it.
Wait. Why do you even care whether I understand it or not?
Sheng Yan finally came to his senses.
He yanked the exam paper back toward himself and replied irritably, “I understand everything. I don’t need your help.”
“For this question, the answer is A. For any two values \(x_1\) and \(x_2\) in the domain of this function, if \(x_1 < x_2\), then \(f(x_1) < f(x_2)\).”
Qin Zigui turned slightly toward him, held his pen near the top, and casually circled the question on Sheng Yan’s exam paper.
Although Sheng Yan was still somewhat annoyed with him, he couldn’t help biting down on the straw and asking, almost automatically, “Why?”
Without looking up, Qin Zigui moved his pen to the next question and answered casually, “Because of monotonicity.”
Sheng Yan bit his straw.
“?”
Qin Zigui added a brief explanation.
“Because of the monotonicity of the function.”
Sheng Yan: “？？”
Seeing that Sheng Yan still wasn’t responding, Qin Zigui finally turned his head.
“What is it?”
“What does the monotonicity of a function mean?” Sheng Yan asked, feeling that he was genuinely making an effort to learn.
Qin Zigui, meanwhile, felt that Sheng Yan was testing the absolute limits of his knowledge about how much a person could fail to understand.
He was now certain that Sheng Yan hadn’t paid attention to a single lesson since middle school. The fact that he’d managed to score 327 points on the exam was practically a reward from Heaven for all the good deeds he’d accumulated over the years.
Still, at least Sheng Yan was willing to ask questions now, which was a good sign.
So Qin Zigui patiently explained, “The monotonicity of a function is also called its increasing or decreasing behavior. Within a given domain, if the value of \(y\) increases as \(x\) increases, it’s an increasing function. If \(y\) decreases as \(x\) increases, it’s a decreasing function.”
“It’s that simple?”
Sheng Yan swallowed some milk tea and blinked.
Qin Zigui nodded.
“Mm, that’s all there is to it. The first few multiple-choice questions are usually this simple. It’s basic material. You’re not stupid, so you’ll learn it quickly.”
Sheng Yan looked a little dissatisfied again.
“Then why can’t this function be a little more complicated?”
Qin Zigui: “…”
Well, at least Sheng Yan knew that complicated was the opposite of simple. His vocabulary wasn’t bad, at least as far as Chinese was concerned.
Qin Zigui’s expectations for Sheng Yan had fallen so low that he was practically satisfied as long as the other boy was still breathing. He answered calmly, “The more complicated kind is called a composite function.”
“Oh.”
Sheng Yan felt as though he had heard that term somewhere before.
Qin Zigui took a copy of Mathematics, Compulsory Volume One from Sheng Yan’s bookshelf, where it had been gathering dust for ages, along with a fresh notebook. He opened to the first page and began writing down the key concepts as he explained in an unhurried voice.
“Functions and their properties are covered in Compulsory Volume One. Besides monotonicity, there are evenness and oddness, concavity and convexity, and so on. These are all fundamental concepts. I’ll organize the main points for you. Your memory is good, so you should be able to remember them after reading through them a few times. If there’s anything you don’t understand, just ask me.”
Sheng Yan leaned over and glanced at the page.
Qin Zigui’s handwriting was beautiful. Like the person himself, it was neat, slender, and upright, a pleasure to look at.
The concepts were organized clearly and logically, written in concise, straightforward language. Even someone like Sheng Yan, who had barely attended any lessons, could understand the general idea at a glance.
However, considering the enormous number of questions he had gotten wrong, explaining every single one to him individually would probably take until the end of time.
It simply wasn’t practical.
Qin Zigui seemed to have figured out what Sheng Yan was thinking. As he continued writing notes, he said in a casual tone, “Your foundations are too weak. There’s no way you’ll be able to grasp the difficult problems later on. Even if you copied the correct answers ten times today, you still wouldn’t understand them. So don’t worry about those. Today, we’ll only correct the basic questions. As for Huang Shulang, I’ll talk to him tomorrow. The homework he assigned was unreasonable in the first place. Whatever objections he has, I’ll take responsibility for them.”
When Qin Zigui said this, he sounded so matter-of-fact, as though it were only natural for him to make decisions on Sheng Yan’s behalf.
That feeling reminded Sheng Yan of their childhood.
Back then, whenever Sheng Yan wanted to do something, as long as it wasn’t harmful to him, Qin Zigui would always say, “Go ahead. I’ll take responsibility.”
And whether it was a mistake Sheng Yan had made on his own or something the two of them had gotten into together, Qin Zigui was always the one who ended up taking the blame.
Even when they were five or six years old, during the worst trouble they had ever gotten into, they had both been punished by being made to kneel. Sheng Yan had lasted barely ten minutes before leaning against Qin Zigui and falling asleep. As a result, by the end of that evening, Qin Zigui’s legs weren’t the only things that had gone numb—his arms had gone numb, too. Meanwhile, Sheng Yan had slept peacefully in his arms, even letting out little snores.
Thinking about it now made Sheng Yan’s heart feel tender and strangely sore.
Qin Zigui had always treated him well.
Perhaps the person who loved him most in the world was Miss Xu, his mother. But without a doubt, the person who had consistently treated him the best in the most tangible, everyday ways throughout his life was Qin Zigui.
That was why Sheng Yan had only ever been angry with him for a little while, snapping at him and acting fierce. Deep down, he had never genuinely intended to stop talking to Qin Zigui.
But when he thought about how they would continue growing up, gradually drifting apart as they got older, and how Qin Zigui might no longer treat him so well in the future, his heart felt heavy again.
He pulled the exam paper back toward himself with a sulky expression.
“I don’t need you to look after me.”
Qin Zigui only glanced sideways at him and immediately understood what was going through his mind. He put down his pen, looked at Sheng Yan, and asked softly, “Could you buy me another cup of milk tea tomorrow?”
“Huh?” Sheng Yan, who had been gloomily coloring in the periods on his exam paper, looked up. “Why should I? Are you trying to take advantage of me again?”
“No.” Qin Zigui looked at him, seeming almost a little aggrieved. “I didn’t get to drink the one from lunchtime, remember? We left in such a hurry because we had to help you catch Cuckoo, so I forgot it at the fried chicken shop. Could you buy me an extra cup tomorrow at lunchtime?”
Sheng Yan was just about to say no.
Then Qin Zigui spoke in a low voice.
“The injuries on my hand and leg really do hurt quite a bit.”
And so Sheng Yan’s emphatic No died in his throat when he saw the wounds on the back of Qin Zigui’s hand and his left leg.
After all, Qin Zigui really had been injured while protecting him.
Besides, the app’s system had given him a task requiring him to fulfill all of Qin Zigui’s requests for the next twenty-four hours.
Refusing him now would probably be a little too cruel.
After a brief standoff, Sheng Yan avoided Qin Zigui’s gaze and prodded his straw irritably.
“It’s not like I asked you to look after me.”
“Mm. You didn’t ask me to. I just wanted to look after you.”
Qin Zigui’s answer was simple and direct.
Sheng Yan’s hand paused as he fiddled with the straw.
Qin Zigui asked again, “So, can we make up?”
No way!
He had tried to trick me into calling him Big Brother and begging him at lunchtime! How could he get off so easily? Where was the fairness in that?
Sheng Yan turned his head away, putting on his most fearsome expression. He was ready to deliver a decisive, utterly merciless rejection!
But the moment he turned, he found himself staring straight into Qin Zigui’s beautiful eyes. They were usually cool and indifferent, but now they were filled with a sincerity and gentleness so profound that they were almost impossible to resist.
Then came a quiet plea.
“Big Brother Zigui is begging you.”
And in that instant, Sheng Yan suddenly felt that Qin Zigui might actually possess some kind of bewitching magic.
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gingerbread On TTC Chapter 99