SEBLS Chapter 3

Seeing that Qin Qiyue still said nothing, Xu Zhong went forward and tried to grab Qin Qiyue’s collar, but Qin Qiyue shook him off with one hand. “Don’t get involved in things that have nothing to do with you. It’s really annoying.”

“How cool of you, huh.” Xu Zhong was furious, and was about to punch Qin Qiyue in the face, but Qin Qiyue didn’t give him a chance and leaned back, so his fist missed. “Fuck, I’m going to teach you how to behave today!”

Zhuang Wu couldn’t just sit there and watch. He quickly stepped forward and grabbed Xu Zhong. “Xu Zhong, stop looking for trouble.”

Xu Zhong looked at him upon hearing the voice. “Oh, I didn’t know you and Qin Qiyue have such a good relationship. Why are you pretending to be a good person now? I’m telling you, he deserves to be beaten for his arrogant attitude!”

Zhuang Wu was also irritated by his words and was about to hit the other but was stopped by Qin Qiyue. “I’ll take care of it myself.”

As he said that, Qin Qiyue stood up and returned the punch before the other party could react. The conflict began. Qin Qiyue and Xu Zhong started fighting, while Zhuang Wu was trying to intervene at the side to help Qin Qiyue stop Xu Zhong.

Their fight wasn’t particularly intense at the moment, but if it continued something serious might happen. One of the students was frightened and ran to the office to tell the teacher about it.

After a while, the homeroom teacher rushed into the class and yelled, “If anyone moves their hand again, I’ll call their parents over!”

It wasn’t that they were afraid of their parents being called, rather it was Hu Jianlong himself who was intimidating, making the three of them stop moving in an instant.

The classmate who ran to the office just now only told him that someone had a quarrel and started fighting in the classroom, but didn’t say who was fighting with whom. After seeing that Qin Qiyue was among the people fighting, Hu Jianlong visibly choked and even stuttered when he spoke. “You… you guys come with me to the office.”

In the office, Hu Jianlong furiously asked, “Who made the first move?”

Zhuang Wu didn’t help much in the fight, so this time he had to seek justice for Qin Qiyue. “Xu Zhong started it first. It was nothing serious, but he just started hitting.”

After learning that Qin Qiyue was not the first to attack, Hu Jianlong breathed a sigh of relief, then turned to look at Xu Zhong. “Why did you hit your classmate?”

All his momentum from earlier disappeared after seeing the homeroom teacher. Xu Zhong couldn’t say anything because he knew he was not in the right.

After talking to everyone, Hu Jianlong ended the topic. “Okay, the three of you will each write a 1,000-word self-reflection and hand it in to me before evening self-study.”

Although Qin Qiyue was not the one who started the incident, he still hit someone after all, so he should also be punished.

On the way back to the classroom, Zhuang Wu followed behind Qin Qiyue, like a child who had made a mistake and was afraid of being blamed by his parents.

Noticing Zhuang Wu’s mood, Qin Qiyue sighed, looked at him and said, “You’ve already apologized. It’s over. That’s it.”

“What do you mean, that’s it?” Zhuang Wu took Qin Qiyue’s hand and asked in a low voice, “Will you dislike me because of this?”

Qin Qiyue looked at the hand held by Zhuang Wu and broke free without any hesitation. “No, but if you do that again, I might really dislike you.”

After he entered the classroom, Zhuang Wu stood helplessly outside the door. Fortunately, Qin Qiyue did not dislike him at the moment, so everything could still be salvaged.

After comforting himself, Zhuang Wu finally calmed down. Qin Qiyue’s mouth corner was bleeding and his face was also scraped. Zhuang Wu went to the infirmary to get some medicine before class. When passing by Qin Qiyue’s seat, he put the medicine on his desk. “Please apply this medicine on the wound on your face.”

Qin Qiyue stuffed the medicine into his drawer without looking up. “Okay.”

Although he said so, Zhuang Wu did not see Qin Qiyue use the medicine throughout the whole day, so after the evening self-study, he once again intercepted Qin Qiyue. “You haven’t applied the medicine yet.”

Zhuang Wu had already caused enough trouble today, and Qin Qiyue didn’t have the time to deal with him anymore. “Get out of the way.”

Zhuang Wu pursed his lips. He knew that Qin Qiyue was still angry with him, but he continued to stand there. “No, I want to see you apply the medicine with my own eyes.”

“……”

Helplessly, Qin Qiyue had to take out the medicine that had been there for a whole day from the drawer. He dipped a cotton swab in the medicine and wanted to start treating himself, but Qin Qiyue didn’t know where exactly he was injured. So, after a series of fumbling, the cotton swab in his hand was snatched away by Zhuang Wu.

Zhuang Wu used the cotton swab to apply medicine to Qin Qiyue. The wound sent a stinging sensation and Qin Qiyue couldn’t help but let out a hiss.

Seeing Qin Qiyue in pain, Zhuang Wu felt even more guilty. “I’m sorry, it’s my fault. I shouldn’t have written a love letter.”

“Mn, you shouldn’t write love letters.” Qin Qiyue nodded. “So……”

Before he could finish, he was interrupted by Zhuang Wu. “I should‘ve confessed to you in a different way.”

“…..”

Qin Qiyue’s mood had just calmed down a bit but Zhuang Wu angered him again. “It’s already like this and you’re still joking around?”

“Why don’t you believe me?” After Zhuang Wu applied the medicine to him, he put it away. Then, he and Qin Qiyue looked at each other. “I really like you. Whether you believe it or not, time will prove that I’m serious.”

After staring at each other for a long time, Qin Qiyue turned away awkwardly. “Oh… the medicine is applied. I’ll leave first.”

Zhuang Wu walked forward and stood beside Qin Qiyue. “Since we live so close, we can just go together.”

No matter what Qin Qiyue said later, Zhuang Wu still insisted on walking with him, making Qin Qiyue not know what to say to make Zhuang Wu stay away from him.

When he got home, Zhuang Wu saw his mother stuffing something into the refrigerator. He walked over to take a look and was a little dumbfounded. “Mom, why did you buy so many ingredients at once?”

“It’s a holiday the day after tomorrow, and your school will declare no classes. I’ll cook more at that time and invite Qiyue and his family over for a meal.” The woman stood in front of the refrigerator and continued to put ingredients in it. “With your dad gone, it would be quite lonely for just the two of us to celebrate the holiday. Qi Yue’s parents and I have been friends for a long time, and it’ll be more lively if they come over.”

Zhuang Wu didn’t want his mother to be sad at the mention of this topic, so he asked, “What holiday is it?”

The woman looked at him with some doubt. “You are such a fun-loving person, but you can’t even remember a holiday like this. It’s the Mid-Autumn Festival.”

Zhuang Wu suddenly realized that it was indeed time for the Mid-Autumn Festival.

However, due to the intense academic workload in senior high school, the school shortened the originally three-day Mid-Autumn Festival holiday to one day, making it the day of the Mid-Autumn Festival.

Fortunately, Zhuang Wu’s attention was not on how many days the Mid-Autumn Festival would last, but on inviting Qin Qiyue’s family to their home for dinner. He said with a smile, “I’ll cook the meal that day.”

“You will?” The woman found that she didn’t recognize her son anymore. “When did you become so diligent?”

Zhuang Wu made up an excuse to get away with it, and his mother was half-believing and half-doubting.

On the day of the Mid-Autumn Festival, Zhuang Wu’s mother informed Qin Qiyue’s parents and asked them not to cook and instead come directly to their house for dinner. Because the two families had known each other for many years, there was no need to say too many polite words. The other quickly agreed.

Zhuang Wu and the woman were busy in the kitchen, but Zhuang Wu was busier because he wanted to make sure that every bite of food Qin Qiyue ate was made by him personally.

Near noon, someone knocked on the door. Zhuang Wu hurried to open it. Standing outside the door was Qin Qiyue’s family. Qin Qiyue was standing at the back, looking very unhappy. He probably was scolded by his parents for not wanting to come.

“Uncle, Aunt, come in.” Zhuang Wu made room for them to come in.

Qin Qiyue’s parents smiled at him and walked in. Qin Qiyue deliberately avoided looking at Zhuang Wu before he came in, but he still noticed the wink Zhuang Wu gave him.

Zhuang Wu said to the three people politely, “The food will be ready soon, please wait a moment, Uncle and Aunt.”

After serving the food, Zhuang Wu invited them to the table to eat. He delayed taking his seat until Qin Qiyue was seated, and then he took a seat next to Qin Qiyue.

“My parents are here today, so don’t do anything weird.” Qin Qiyue reminded him in a voice that only the two of them could hear.

“As long as you cooperate, I sure won’t,” Zhuang Wu said with a smile.

“The food is all here, let’s start eating.” Zhuang Wu’s mother also sat down. “Qiyue is growing now, so he needs to eat more.”

He’s already eighteen years old, so eating more won’t necessarily make him taller. Besides, Qin Qiyue is already tall enough, Zhuang Wu thought with a smile.

Qin Qiyue picked up a dish with chopsticks, and Zhuang Wu asked quickly, “How is it?”

“It tastes good,” Qin Qiyue replied without tone.

“Oh, I made that.” Zhuang Wu smiled.

“…..”

After Zhuang Wu finished speaking, Qin Qiyue stopped eating the dish. He changed to another dish and soon after Zhuang Wu said, “I made that too. It tastes pretty good.”

Qin Qiyue was stunned for a moment and wanted to change again, but Zhuang Wu told him directly, “I cooked most of the dishes on this table.”

 “…..”

Then, Zhuang Wu began to peel the shrimps and handed them to Qin Qiyue. “Try this one. I washed my hands clean, so you can eat it without worry.”

Qin Qiyue glared at him and pushed the bowl of shrimps away. “I don’t want it.”

Zhuang Wu turned his head and looked at Qin Qiyue’s parents. “Uncle, Aunt, Qiyue-Gege doesn’t want to eat the shrimp I peeled for him. Does he not like me very much…”

After saying that, Zhuang Wu heard Qin Qiyue spit out a swear word. Qin Qiyue usually didn’t swear, but he probably swore this time because she was angry with Zhuang Wu yet again.

“Qiyue, Zhuang Wu spent so much time peeling it for you, why won’t you eat it?” Qin Qiyue’s parents blamed him. “Eat it quickly.”

Qin Qiyue had no choice but to obediently stuff the shrimps that Zhuang Wu peeled for him into his mouth one by one. Zhuang Wu showed a triumphant smile. He moved closer to Qin Qiyue and whispered in his ear, “Gege, I peeled the shrimp myself. Can you feel my love for you when you eat it?”

Not only that, Zhuang Wu also reached out and took Qin Qiyue’s hand from under the table. Qin Qiyue momentarily paused from eating shrimp, but pretended not to hear anything.