SEBLS Chapter 18

In the next few days, Zhuang Wu and Qin Qiyue continued to go to and from school together every day. However, Zhuang Wu felt that after the last fever incident, Qin Qiyue’s attitude towards him had changed a little. Although not much, at least it was not as full of disgust and aversion like at the beginning.

After realizing this, Zhuang Wu seemed energized and motivated. He firmly believed that as long as he persisted, Qin Qiyue would surely fall in love with him.

Because he had mastered in the cram school the basics that he had not learned well before, Zhuang Wu could now follow the teacher’s reasoning when hearing some difficult questions in school. However, he still could not solve everything by himself. Every time, he had to wait for the teacher to tell him the solution to the problem before he could understand it.

He went to cram school every Saturday and he couldn’t just leave it until then if he encountered a question he didn’t know how to answer.

It was indeed annoying to encounter questions that one didn’t know how to answer, but for Zhuang Wu, it was a good opportunity. As soon as class was over, he picked up the exercise book and went to Qin Qiyue’s seat.

Seeing Zhuang Wu coming, Qin Qiyue’s desk mate, who was used to it, stood up and sat in Zhuang Wu’s seat naturally.

Zhuang Wu smiled at him. “Thank you~”

Afterwards, Zhuang Wu sat down next to Qin Qiyue.

“Why are you here again?” Qin Qiyue was doing his own homework and didn’t want to pay too much attention to Zhuang Wu.

“I won’t disturb you, Gege. You can finish your own homework first and then teach me.” Zhuang Wu held up his face and looked at him. “I am very sensible, Gege.”

“……”

Qin Qiyue glanced at him and then looked away before returning to his homework, but Zhuang Wu’s burning gaze easily distracted him.

Therefore, Qin Qiyue tried his best to control his tone and discussed with Zhuang Wu calmly, “I don’t want to explain the problem to you, ask someone else.”

“Why don’t you?” Zhuang Wu was aggrieved. “Did I do something wrong to make Gege angry?”

This look of determination to continue to fight to the end really made it impossible for Qin Qiyue to talk to him calmly. His voice was indifferent, without any grounds for negotiation. “What obligation do I have to explain the problem to you?”

Zhuang Wu was stunned and unhappy, but he didn’t know what to say seeing Qin Qiyue’s expression.

But at least the situation now was already good compared to the beginning, when Qin Qiyue didn’t even reply or kept asking him to leave. It was not that Zhuang Wu didn’t feel anything, but time was need for Qin Qiyue to completely open his heart and fall in love with him.

Just as he was trying hard to find words to respond to Qin Qiyue, Zhuang Wu felt someone poking his back with a pen. He turned around and saw it was Ji Zhixian.

Recently, Ji Zhixian saw Zhuang Wu come to Qin Qiyue every now and then to ask questions, but Qin Qiyue always looked indifferent, and his replies were perfunctory.

He was sitting behind Qin Qiyue but Zhuang Wu didn’t come over to ask him; didn’t that mean he was unworthy if he couldn’t get the same first place as Qin Qiyue? Ji Zhixian looked at Qin Qiyue angrily.

“What’s wrong?” Seeing Ji Zhixian staring at Qin Qiyue without saying anything, Zhuang Wu had no choice but to ask him what was wrong.

“He doesn’t want to teach you.” Ji Zhixian finally came back to his senses. “Can’t you just ask me? I’m much more patient than him.”

“???”

Hearing this, Qin Qiyue, who was originally solving problems with a pen, paused for a while before continuing to solve problems on the paper without saying a word.

Zhuang Wu recalled that Ji Zhixian seemed to have said some time ago that he could ask him questions that he didn’t know later.

It was just that with such an outstanding person like Qin Qiyue around him, Zhuang Wu had forgotten about Ji Zhixian. But Qin Qiyue didn’t want to explain the questions to him and he still had questions he didn’t know how to answer. Now that someone happened to be willing to explain them to him, of course Zhuang Wu was willing to go.

“Then Gege, just do your homework and I won’t bother you anymore. I’m cheering you on.” After Zhuang Wu finished speaking, he stood up and ran to sit next to Ji Zhixian.

 

Qin Qiyue didn’t say anything and appeared unresponsive to Zhuang Wu running away, but he clenched his pen tightly for no reason, and it took him a long time to focus his thoughts on the problems again.

At that moment, Ji Zhixian, who was sitting behind him, was explaining the questions to Zhuang Wu. He was quite patient, and Zhuang Wu was not afraid of annoying others and asked all the questions he didn’t know.

Hearing the voices behind him, Qin Qiyue’s thoughts, which had just been focused, were interrupted again.

You said you wouldn’t bother me anymore, but in the end you’re still bothering me. Qin Qiyue was a little speechless.

It was not until the bell rang that Zhuang Wu realized he should go back to his seat. Before he went back, Ji Zhixian called him, “Zhuang Wu, you can come and ask me anytime in the future. There’s no need to always ask someone who doesn’t want to tell you.”

Ji Zhixian spoke without avoiding the topic, not caring at all about the person sitting in front of him that he didn’t want to tell Zhuang Wu about.

On the one hand, although Ji Zhixian and Zhuang Wu have not seen each other for a long time and Zhuang Wu held some estrangement from him, they were inseparable brothers back then after all. On the other hand, Qin Qiyue was the person he likes. Faced with this moment, Zhuang Wu didn’t know how to respond to satisfy both parties.

After hesitating for a while, Zhuang Wu decided not to say anything and simply nodded to show his agreement. Qin Qiyue wasn’t looking anyway.

Qin Qiyue, who saw Zhuang Wu nodding out of the corner of his eye: “…”

Since Qin Qiyue asked him to ask someone else in the morning, Zhuang Wu treated it as Qin Qiyue not want to entertain him for the rest of the day and came to Ji Zhixian every time.

It didn’t matter if Qin Qiyue didn’t want to explain to him today. If not today, then tomorrow. Qin Qiyue wouldn’t always have questions to do.

Qin Qiyue’s deskmate, who was used to Zhuang Wu coming to find Qin Qiyue, stood up subconsciously when he saw Zhuang Wu walking towards him. As a result, Zhuang Wu passed by him and went straight to Ji Zhixian.

Qin Qiyue’s eyelashes trembled slightly, but he said nothing.

“Qin Qiyue, did you have a fight with Zhuang Wu?” Qin Qiyue’s deskmate Zhang Qi couldn’t help but ask.

“No.” Qin Qiyue’s voice was indifferent and distant.

Zhang Qi nodded slowly. “Oh… Could it be that Ji Zhixian is trying to sow discord between you and Zhuang Wu in order to become friends?”

Qin Qiyue glanced at him but didn’t answer.

After saying that, Zhang Qi felt something amiss. In his impression, Zhuang Wu and Ji Zhixian were closer. As for Qin Qiyue, it seemed that Zhuang Wu had only started interacting more with Qin Qiyue during this period. They clearly had no interactions before.

“Wait, that’s not it.” After Zhang Qi sorted it out, he began to correct it. “It must be that Zhuang Wu and Ji Zhixian had a small conflict, and then Zhuang Wu started to approach you in order to irritate Ji Zhixian. Now that Ji Zhixian has taken the initiative to admit his mistake, Zhuang Wu has turned around and continued to be friends with Ji Zhixian.”

“……”

“Stop guessing.” After Qin Qiyue said this, he stopped talking to Zhang Qi. After all, they were not very familiar with each other. When Zhang Qi asked him questions, he answered out of politeness.

Zhuang Wu heard everything they said clearly from behind and was speechless.

Why was Zhang Qi still making up stories? But he still has to ask Zhang Qi to give him his seating position in the future. Zhuang Wu could only shut up and pretend he didn’t hear it. Qin Qiyue wouldn’t believe it anyway.

During the first part of evening self-study, Zhuang Wu was listening to the class attentively, but thunder suddenly sounded outside the classroom, causing him to look towards the window.

After the thunder, it started to rain. It was the first rain after the change of seasons, and it was quite heavy. Zhuang Wu frowned. He didn’t know it was going to rain today and didn’t bring an umbrella. He was in trouble.

He should have checked the weather forecast on TV earlier. Zhuang Wu suddenly thought of Qin Qiyue again. Qin Qiyue usually only focused on studying when he returned home. Maybe he also didn’t check the weather forecast today and didn’t bring an umbrella? With this guess, Zhuang Wu couldn’t help but turn his gaze to Qin Qiyue.

If Qin Qiyue didn’t bring an umbrella, then he and Qin Qiyue would take shelter from the rain together down the hallway. This scene seemed a bit beautiful when he imagined it. If Qin Qiyue brought an umbrella, then it would be natural for the two of them to share the umbrella.

No matter which possibility it was, the final result would definitely be pretty good. Zhuang Wu began to look forward to the end of classes, and just hoped that the rain would last until school was over.

Soon, Qin Qiyue noticed his gaze and turned his head to look at him. The two of them met each other’s gazes.

Zhuang Wu did not miss the opportunity of them being eye to eye and threw a charming glance at Qin Qiyue without any hesitation.

Qin Qiyue turned his head expressionlessly but could hardly hide the blush on his ears.

Just as Zhuang Wu anticipated, the rain did not stop until after school. Instead, it got heavier and heavier until some water pooled on the ground.

Why was it raining so heavily? Zhuang Wu tried hard to recall and suddenly remembered a period of heavy rain when he was in his third year of high school. It rained for several days in a row, resulting in the roads being flooded with deep water. The school even suspended classes for a few days.

He remembered that this kind of thing happened, but he wasn’t sure if it would happen today. After all, it had been too long ago and he could not clearly remember everything.

After the last evening self-study class ended, Zhuang Wu packed his schoolbag and was about to go to Qin Qiyue’s seat to find him when he suddenly remembered that it was Qin Qiyue’s group that would be staying behind to be on duty today.

Considering that Qin Qiyue helped him clean last time, Zhuang Wu also came to his side and picked up another broom after Qin Qiyue picked up a broom.

“Gege, I’ll sweep with you.” Zhuang Wu’s face was full of smiles.

Qin Qiyue stared at him with an inexplicable emotion in his eyes. He hesitated to speak, and only looked away after a long while. “Mn, thank you.”

“I should be the one saying thank you to Gege.” Zhuang Wu tilted his head slightly. “Thank you, Gege, for allowing me to spend more time in the same space with you.”

“……”

When someone volunteered to stay and help with cleaning, classmates in the class naturally won’t interfere. After all, one more person meant more help, and they could finish cleaning faster and go home.

It was raining so hard today. If it didn’t stop, it would be difficult to go home if it got too late.

Because it was raining, the students on duty cleaned much faster than usual. It didn’t take long before they finished cleaning the classroom and everyone went home with an umbrella.

“Gege, did you bring an umbrella today?” Zhuang Wu asked.

Qin Qiyue said honestly, “I didn’t check the weather forecast. I didn’t know it was going to rain.”

It was just as he expected.

“Did you?” Qin Qiyue asked without much tone.

“No.” Zhuang Wu shook his head. “Then Gege, let’s wait for the rain to stop together.”

“……”