Zhu Tong narrowly escaped a catastrophe that night, all thanks to the fact that they were separated by distance. After waiting for a while following the system prompt for progress, he finally received a voice note from Shao Ming.
“Good night, my Little Young Master.”
It was similar to the bedtime voice notes he used to send during the first few nights after he returned to A City. However, before that special nickname, he added a possessive pronoun.
Whether intentional or not, Shao Ming also deliberately lowered his voice, adding a hint of seduction compared to the previous playful tone.
Zhu Tong could hear his own frantic heartbeats echoing in his ear. He typed his reply: [I really will sleep this time. Good night.]
Shao Ming didn’t reply, he looked at their chat records for a while, and changed the remarks that had not been touched.
Two days later, the competition that Shao Ming and his team participated in finished in the semi-finals. After spending two days with his sister, Zhu Tong flew back to E City with the competition team on the second day after the competition ended, and then they all took a car back to Gongshui County together.
Lu Zheyu traveled with them, but he slept almost the entire way. When he couldn’t sleep at all, he pretended not to see some of Shao Ming’s boundary-crossing actions.
Zhu Tong felt that Lu Zheyu might already know about him and Shao Ming.
After returning to Gongshui County, the contestants who participated in the competition first had to go back to school to report, and Zhu Tong also went back to school with him.
He had been away from school for a long time this time, and he was a little nervous when he entered the classroom.
In the past, when he returned to school after taking a leave of absence, he would always receive some strange glances. The classroom would become quiet because of his appearance, and then began to whisper about him.
The current school is different from the previous school, but Zhu Tong was still uneasy.
“What’s the matter? Why are you so timid?”
Seeing him standing at the door of the classroom and not entering, Shao Ming put his hand on his back lightly.
Zhu Tong was stunned for a moment, suddenly feeling that Shao Ming’s description… was damn accurate.
He shook his head and stepped into the classroom.
It’s break time now, and the classroom was very noisy.
Suddenly someone came in at the door of the classroom, and as Zhu Tong expected, the classroom was silent for a moment.
An uproar broke out immediately.
“Fuck, is my eyes tricking me right now? Who is at the door of the classroom?”
“It’s Zhu Tong and Study God, they’re finally back?”
“God, if they didn’t come back, I would’ve thought that they eloped somewhere.”
“Has no one seen Lu Lao’er beside them? This is a film featuring the three of them, why does nobody put his name on the credit, ah?”
“Hahahahahaha.”
The noise in the classroom resumed.
In the corridor, Lu Zheyu didn’t seem to plan to enter the classroom. He glanced at the office and said, “I’ll go to the office first, you’ll come later?”
The words were addressed to Shao Ming, but Zhu Tong also heard it.
Just as Shao Ming was about to nod his head, Zhu Tong had already turned his head and said, “Go to the office first, didn’t Shi-laoshi just call and ask when he got off the plane?”
Shao Ming hesitated, “Can you do it alone?”
Zhu Tong was speechless for a while.
What’s wrong with this?
“Come on,” he urged.
Shao Ming smiled and nodded, “Okay, I’ll listen to you.”
Zhu Tong: “…”
What does it mean to listen to him? This is called a student’s duty!
As he watched the two of them walk towards the office and returned to his seat under the gaze of the entire class, Zhu Tong’s heart finally settled. However, before he could even breathe a sigh of relief, he froze again in front of his seat.
In the days since they left, his and Shao Ming’s desks have been overwhelmed by a mountain test papers.
Zhu Tong seemed to realize how helpless he was, just like his first day of transfer, when faced with his assigned desk full of dust.
As if understanding what he was thinking, Tang Nuan turned her head and gave him the last blow, “Friendly reminder, there are many more under your desk.”
Zhu Tong: “…”
How many classes have he missed these days?
Perhaps it was Tang Nuan who set the precedent, soon after, other people nearby also gathered around, looking at Zhu Tong and saying, “Finally decided to come back? Boss, if you don’t come back soon, I’ll end up on the blacklist of teachers for not submitting homeworks in all subjects.”
Someone complained that there was no place to copy homework, and immediately someone retorted, “Chen Xiao, you have no conscience. Haven’t I let you copy my homework?”
Chen Xiao said, “Nine out of ten questions in your homework are wrong, making me have no sense of accomplishment when I copy it, okay?”
“Well, don’t compare mine to Zhu Tong’s, ah… By the way, Zhu Tong, I made class notes, and I can lend it to you if you want.”
Zhu Tong had already started sorting out the pile of test papers buried on the table. Hearing that, he nodded and said, “Okay, thank you.”
Seeing him nodding, the boy’s eyes lit up.
Another classmate asked, “Zhu Tong, why did you ask for leave for so long this time?”
“Does this need to be asked? It must be to avoid the mid-term exam. It’s too clever. This mid-term exam, the teacher who formulated the questions is simply not human!”
“Shi-laoshi said that you asked for leave to go back for a check-up. How is your health? Are you okay?”
“…”
Zhu Tong neatly stacked the test papers one by one, and answered their questions in a brisk manner.
Unlike the previous school, everyone who speaks to him now is kind.
He doesn’t like noisy environments. But after hearing the calculated and hypocritical voices at the banquet, the current noise can be said to be very pleasant.
He listened with a faint smile on his face.
Someone was momentarily distracted by his laughter. Seeing him organizing the papers on his desk and then starting to organize the ones on the adjacent desk, they thought he had made a mistake and reminded him, saying, “Those are the papers for two people. The ones in your hand belong to your deskmate.”
Zhu Tong said softly, “Mn, I know.”
“…”
Know?
If he knew, then why is he organizing it too?
Then they saw that Zhu Tong took the exam papers on Shao Ming’s desk one by one to his side, stacked them neatly, and put them back on Shao Ming’s desk.
The two girls looked at each other, and both saw something unusual in each other’s eyes.
Zhu Tong also liked to organize his desk, but he never arbitrarily moved the things on his deskmate’s space.
Speaking of which, Zhu Tong left school on leave, and the Study God left school to participate in the competition… but they both went back to school together.
They left the school for different matters. But they returned at the same time?
Before they could figure it out, someone pulled out the chair next to Zhu Tong’s desk, and Shao Ming had already returned to his own seat. He looked at the people surrounding him and said, “Oh, long time no see! One day apart feels like three autumns have gone by. Are you all here to welcome my return to school? That’s really touching.”
“…”
Tang Nuan immediately said “bah”, then continued, “We are here to welcome Zhu Tong, did you put plaster on your face so it’s extra thick?
Shao Ming said, “My face? Well, it’s all-natural.”
Tang Nuan: “…”
The people next to him were amused by his answer. Just as the class bell rang, the students returned to their seats one after another.
As soon as Shao Ming sat down in his seat, he saw a pile of test papers neatly stacked on the table. He turned his head and said, “You helped me organize it?”
Zhu Tong nodded. “It was too messy just now.”
Shao Ming raised his eyebrows and said, “It’s good to have a boyfriend.”
Zhu Tong instantly blushed.
It’s easy to organize a desk, there’s no need to especially thank him.
After a pause, just as he was about to ask him why he came back so quickly, Shao Ming asked again, “Do you need to clean up?”
Zhu Tong turned his head to look at him.
Shao Ming looked at the seats for the two of them, “Do you clean the seats?”
Zhu Tong had actually considered this. Although it didn’t look too dirty now, after being absent for so many days, he wasn’t sure how many people had sat in his seat. When he was organizing the papers just now, one of the papers even had what looked like mud smudges on it. It seemed like someone had accidentally dropped it on the ground and someone else had picked it up.
…yeah, he absolutely have to clean this up first.
But Shao Ming suddenly asked him this, it made Zhu Tong feel a little nervous, “Am I troubling you?”
Shao Ming: “…”
“Why do you say that?”
Zhu Tong thought, ‘It’s just a little dirty. No need to scrub and disinfect. No matter what I prefer, it’s really causing extra trouble, right?’
He ultimately said, “Will others find it strange?”
Shao Ming suddenly smiled. “We clean our own desk, why should we care what others think?”
Zhu Tong was stunned instead. “We?”
Shao Ming nodded: “Well, I asked Luo Suo to buy two rolls of desk covers, and I went to get them after class.”
“…”
Seeing his sudden silence, Shao Ming whispered, “Your previous health condition, if the environment is not good, won’t it have an impact?”
He still remembered the skin allergy Zhu Tong got last time when he slept in the school dormitory.
Zhu Tong was moved.
In the past, when others misunderstood him and said he was being overly squeamish, he had thought about explaining that his health didn’t allow otherwise.
As time went on, and his health issues increased, he gradually gave up on explaining because he felt that regardless of the reason, others weren’t obligated to accommodate him.
After hearing it so often, he stopped caring about what others said.
He didn’t expect that Shao Ming could understand this part of him very well.
He moved his lips, trying to say something.
But Shao Ming has already said with a smile. “I will accompany you despite the troubles in the future.”
Zhu Tong: “…”
It was as if a warm stream flowed from the depths of his heart, like melted honey, sweet and comforting.
Zhu Tong was stunned for a moment before nodding with a smile and saying, “Okay.”
