“Can you give me a reason why we have to go back to your house to sleep?” The live streaming ended at 2:30. Qin Cheng was so sleepy that he was about to fall asleep on the bed. But Jian Heng, this beast, actually picked him up and took him back to 302.
Jian Heng didn’t say anything and dragged him out.
Qin Cheng put his weight on him: “You are my brother, I beg you, please let me sleep.”
He thought Jian Heng had already fallen asleep long ago. He didn’t dare to say much during the live streaming after 12 o’clock, for fear of disturbing him.
Who would have thought that Jian Heng would wait for him until now, so crazy.
“Two minutes,” Jian Heng supported him with his arms, his eyelids drooping, his face expressionless, “Pack up what you’re going to use tomorrow.”
Qin Cheng was stunned for a moment, sighed, wiped his face, turned around, and resignedly pulled out his school uniform pants and t-shirt from the wardrobe. As he passed by Jian Heng, he patted his shoulder: “If you weren’t messing around because you’re picky about beds, I’d have to fight you tomorrow morning.”
Not fighting now, Qin-ge is sleepy now, and not in a favorable position.
When Qin Cheng lay on Jian Heng’s bed, he was so restless that he couldn’t fall asleep. It’s not that he wasn’t sleepy, he was so sleepy to the point of wanting to ascend to heaven, but he just couldn’t fall asleep even if he closed his eyes, his head was buzzing.
He opened his eyes.
There was no moon today, and the room was dark. It took him a while to get used to it before he could barely see Jian Heng’s face.
The good guy actually did not sleep with his back to him. He was still a little flattered.
Jian Heng was lying on his side with his eyes closed. The outline of his shoulder was vaguely visible in the darkness, and his breathing was even.
He actually fell asleep so quickly. Qin Cheng was instantly upset.
You tossed me awake and still want to sleep? Dream on.
Qin Cheng raised his hand and directly pinched his nose. He and Tan Qi always used to make so much trouble. This time was the same. He thought Jian Heng would wake up. As a result, just after he touched his nose and before he could use any force, his hand was grabbed, and the force was so strong that his tears almost spilled out.
“Fuck! Jian Heng!” Qin Cheng grabbed Jian Heng’s wrist and yanked it downward, “You fucking let go! It hurts!”
Jian Heng didn’t seem to react. When Qin Cheng got closer, he realized that this person’s eyes were not fully open. Hearing the sound, the person raised his head groggily to look at him, looking confused.
Only after Qin Cheng slapped him two more times did he let go. With such a quick reaction, his not being an emperor is a fucking waste of talent. Who could assassinate him like this?
“What are you tossing about?” Jian Heng’s voice still had the hoarseness from just waking up. Within a few seconds, his eyes cleared up, meeting Qin Cheng’s gaze through the darkness.
Surprisingly, he wasn’t in a bad mood after waking up.
Qin Cheng rubbed his hand. Though invisible, his intuition told him that his hand was bruised. He felt even more upset when his wrist hurt. He said with anger and in a very aggressive tone: “I can’t sleep!”
“Um?” Jian Heng looked at him, his eyes seemed to say, what does your insomnia have to do with me?
“You,” Qin Cheng pointed at him. As if in revenge, he stretched out his hand to the distance of almost poking the tip of his nose and nodded, “woke me up. So I can’t sleep, I will definitely be sleepy tomorrow, and I can’t listen to the class, all of which are losses.”
Jian Heng sneered, “You ‘ll still be sleepy tomorrow even if you go to sleep immediately after streaming.”
Qin Cheng paused. The unhappiness in his heart was suppressed by this sentence, but he still insisted: “If I sleep immediately, I won’t be sleepy.”
Jian Heng looked at him, his eyes were unexpectedly bright in the dark, and asked the key question: “Why don’t you go to sleep earlier.”
“Ah.” Qin Cheng was stunned by the sudden question and didn’t know how to start.
It seems that no one has ever asked him why he didn’t go to sleep earlier. Why did he have to sleep in class? Ah, no, Lao Xu asked him when he was in the first year of high school, but later she was exasperated by his incorrigibility and stopped asking.
Jian Heng was still looking at him, waiting for an answer.
Qin Cheng felt that this was not a good time for heart-to-heart talk, especially since he had just been unable to sleep and was feeling uncomfortable all over. But Jian Heng kept looking, just looking, continuously, persistently, not at all like the cold-blooded and ruthless Bking.
Perhaps because he had just woken up, Jian Heng’s whole demeanor had softened considerably. Looking like this, there was indeed a bit of an illusion of a trustworthy older brother.
… What was he thinking? Trustworthy older brother Jian Heng? Isn’t it frightening?
Qin Cheng struggled for a minute to figure out what to say.
“It’s just…” He rolled over and looked at the ceiling, “You know, my mother is in poor health. She has to take medicine all year round and can’t work. My father… is gone.”
“You may not believe it if I say it, but my family’s main income comes from my live streaming.”
“Don’t you want to attend the class?” Jian Heng didn’t move, still lying on his side and looking at him.
“I don’t know how to do it,” Qin Cheng smiled, his tone was quite nonchalant, “It’s useless to listen. Might as well make money to support my family, how awesome it sounds.”
The atmosphere was silent.
Qin Cheng felt awkward. He never thought it was a big deal; of course, he didn’t want others to think it was a big deal. So when Jian Heng took out a pack of cigarettes from the side and handed it to him, he was inwardly resistant.
Qin-ge doesn’t need comforting. Qin-ge just wants to sleep.
But his action was honest. He took the cigarette and lit it with his own lighter.
Jian Heng didn’t speak anymore, just lit a cigarette himself and also took a puff.
In the pitch-black bedroom, no one could see each other clearly. There was only the flickering light from the two cigarettes, shining intermittently.
The next morning, Qin Cheng was woken up by Jian Heng. When he opened his eyes, Jian Heng was standing beside the bed in all black sportswear, carrying soy milk and youtiao1油条 (yóu tiáo): Youtiao, known in Southern China as Yu Char Kway, is a long golden-brown deep-fried strip of wheat flour dough of Chinese origin and (by a variety of other names) also popular in other East and Southeast Asian cuisines. Conventionally, youtiao is lightly salted and tearable. Youtiao is normally eaten at breakfast as an accompaniment for rice congee, soy milk, or regular milk blended with sugar. 
in his hand, which was emitting a wisp of fragrance, which made his stomach growl twice.
He didn’t remember what time he fell asleep last night. It seemed that he fell asleep right after he finished smoking. In his dream, he felt like he was sleeping in a temple, with the faint smell of burning incense lingering around.
Seeing that he was awake, Jian Heng turned around and went out. When he reached the door, he said, “Five minutes.”
Qin Cheng had just woken up and was still in a state of sleepiness. He shook his head after hearing that and felt even more dizzy. Five minutes was not enough for him to get up.
He put on his clothes in a daze, and only woke up completely when he was brushing his teeth.
The boy in the mirror had a pale complexion, his eyelids drooped, and there was a faint dark blue under his eyes. His whole face was written with a capital ‘I am very tired’.
Qin Cheng sighed. Sooner or later, he will die suddenly. Go to bed early tomorrow, before twelve o’clock.
This is something he repeats every morning, and then he would go to bed early on the first day, early on the second day, early on the first day, early on the first day… The plan collapsed silently.
On the dining table, there was a bowl of soy milk, a bag of youtiao, and a bowl of douhua2豆腐脑 (dòu fu nǎo): Douhua is a Chinese sweet or savoury snack made with silken tofu. It is also referred to as doufuhua, tofu pudding, soybean pudding or, particularly in northern China, tofu brains. 
. Jian Heng was sitting on the side, flipping through his phone, so he must have finished eating.
Qin Cheng was embarrassed to make him wait any longer, so he casually ate two bites and put it down, wiped his mouth, and said, “Let’s go.”
Jian Heng didn’t move, still looking at his phone, “Finish your food.”
“I’m full.” Qin Cheng stood up and was about to leave.
Jian Heng stretched out his long legs and blocked him, “Finish your food.”
Qin Cheng paused, but still turned around and sat down. He poured a mouthful of soy milk into his mouth: “I’m just too sleepy to beat you up.”
Jian Heng ignored him and was busy scrolling on his phone.
Qin Cheng stretched his neck to take a look. Wow, the school tyrant was practicing questions. He was so fast at selecting questions one by one that Qin Cheng even suspected that Jian Heng hadn’t read them at all.
Qin Cheng fell asleep during the first class, no, during the morning self-study. He slept so soundly that he was oblivious to everything, the sun and the moon lost their radiance. When he opened his eyes, there was no one in the classroom. Jian Heng was not beside him either.
He fumbled with his mobile phone and took a look. Ten minutes past twelve. It was noon. No wonder no one was there.
Jian Heng must have gone to eat. A physics book on the table told him that the fourth class was physics.
Qin Cheng pressed the phone twice, and the other party answered quickly.
“Stir-fried tomato and scrambled eggs3西红柿炒鸡蛋 (xī hóng shì chǎo jī dàn): Stir-fried tomato and scrambled eggs is a common dish in China. It is usually served as a main course. Because of the simplicity of preparation, it is popular in student canteens and is often paired with steamed rice. 
, red braised pork belly, along with stewed eggplant4烧茄子 (shāo qié zi): Stewed Eggplant. 
, how about that? Did I hit the bullseye with that?” Tan Qi’s side was chaotic, probably in the cafeteria. “Give me five more minutes, and I’ll be in front of you. Don’t cry when I get there.”
“One second late, and you’ll jump from the third floor.” Qin Cheng hung up the phone. Just hearing about those three dishes felt like being doused with a ladle of soybean oil. He still said that he hit the bullseye? It’s more like a counter-snipe.
Shitty bullseye.
Tan Qi arrived through the back door right on time after five minutes. He placed the lunch box on his table, and was about to sit next to him, but after a pause, he sat at the table in front of him.
Qin Cheng was amused by this maneuver of his: “Are you doing acrobatics?”
Tan Qi glanced at Jian Heng’s desk and said timidly: “I dare not sit down. I always feel that your deskmate can strangle me to death with one hand.”
“Why would he strangle you to death?” Qin Cheng opened his lunch box, the greasy smell went straight to his nose. He frowned, “Student Tan Qi, if I see these things again next time, I’ll fire you.”
“Holy shit!” Tan Qi looked unconvinced, “Isn’t it delicious? I almost traded my life for this meal. Can’t you appreciate it a bit?”
“Oh, did you almost get trampled to death on the way here?” Qin Cheng split apart his chopsticks. “Should I consider this a workplace injury for you?”
Tan Qi raised his middle finger angrily, and then immediately backed off. The dog looked around cautiously for a while, making sure there was no one around before sneaking over and whispering: “I came over to call you at noon. Do you know what your deskmate did!”
Qin Cheng swallowed the stewed eggplant, which tasted awful. It really couldn’t compare to Jian Heng’s cooking skills, not even by a little bit.
“Hey!” Tan Qi poked him, “I’m talking to you!”
“Oh, what did he do?” Qin Cheng asked cooperatively.
“He glared at me!” As if recalling the scene, Tan Qi looked furious and pointed at Jian Heng’s table, “He actually glared at me.”
“Why did he glare at you?” Qin Cheng ate quickly and asked when he had time.
“How would I know?” Tan Qi was still aggrieved, “I just came over as soon as class was over and wanted to ask you what you want to eat. Before I even put my hand on your head, he suddenly gave me a look——”
Tan Qi vigorously raised his chin, eyes squinting downwards, glaring at him with a sullen face: “This kind of look, it’s this exact kind of look. You know that look in his eyes, right? When he looks at you with a blank expression, it’s like he’s going to pull out a knife the next second!”
Qin Cheng found it amusing to hear him describe it like that: “Is he that scary?” How could he not feel that? Being cool, stylish, and intimidating had nothing to do with being scary, right?
Tan Qi nodded: “It’s fucking scary! Just with that hairstyle of his, not to mention anything else, if he didn’t have this kind of temperament, someone at our Fifth High School would have confronted him a long time ago. Zhao Hai’s group of idiots would not have stayed quiet until now, right?”
“Oh, so impressive,” Qin Cheng rummaged through the table absentmindedly and then looked up, “You took my cola?”
“What the heck! I’ve been by your side for decades, and you still doubt me!” Tan Qi slammed the table.
“Who else could it be besides you,” Qin Cheng tapped the table. “Bring yours over here, this eggplant is killing me.”
“I was even going to praise you by saying ‘Besides you, no one at our Fifth High School dares to mess with him’,” Tan Qi looked aggrieved. “I take it back.”
Qin Cheng looked at his bear-like appearance and wanted to laugh: “Should I thank you for your praise?”
Tan Qi raised his middle finger.
Qin Cheng laughed for a while.
But where the hell did his cola go? He did buy it in the morning. Could it be that he forgot about it because he was still half asleep?
No wonder JH seemed so unfriendly to QC the first time they see each other. That day, QC is using his pheromones to attack; JH must feel bothered by it.
List of Idiom in Chapter 10
受寵若驚 (shòu chǒng ruò jīng): overwhelmed by favor from superior (humble expr.); be overwhelmed by unexpected favour/flatter/honour; feel extremely/immensely flattered; be astonished by an unexpected favour.天昏地暗 (tiān hūn dì àn): lit. a murky sky over a dark earth; dark all round; gloomy above and dark below; state of chaos and despair; to an extreme degree; like hell; Describes the scene of the sky full of sand when the wind is blowing, also a metaphor for political corruption and social darkness.
左顧右盼 (zuǒ gù yòu pàn): glancing to left and right (idiom); to look all around; to look around anxiously or smugly.
鞍前馬後 (ān qián mǎ hòu): to follow closely and wait upon; be at sb’s service around his horse—follow closely and wait upon sb dutifully.
Check out my completed & current project at my carrd. If you like my translation, you can buy me coffee at Ko-fi~ Thank you.
