SEBLS Chapter 9

Seeing Qin Qiyue like this, Xu Zhong didn’t know what to say. He just rolled his eyes silently and went to the other side with the broom.

Zhuang Wu stood beside Qin Qiyue and asked in a low voice, “Gege, why didn’t you leave?”

“If you ask me to wait for you, I’ll wait and if you ask me to leave, I’ll leave? Am I your pet dog that you can summon and dismiss at will?” There was no trace of gentleness in Qin Qiyue’s tone.

His words made Zhuang Wu quickly realize that he had done something wrong again. But with Qin Qiyue’s personality, under normal circumstances, shouldn’t he have just walked away with a dark face? Why did he care whether he treated him like a dog or not?

Afraid that Qin Qiyue was still angry, Zhuang Wu quickly explained, “I’m not treating you like a dog. I was just afraid that you would clash with Xu Zhong again like last time. Didn’t you say that you would hate me if that happened again?”

“……”

Did he say that?

After giving Zhuang Wu a cold look, Qin Qiyue withdrew his gaze and went to clean.

Why did Qin Qiyue look even more depressed after his explanation? Was his explanation wrong? He wanted to explain again, but was worried that the more he explained, the more confusing it would become, so he had to lower his eyes instead and go about his own business.

After the classroom was completely cleaned, it was already over twenty minutes since school ended. While cleaning the classroom, Xu Zhong regretted making Zhuang Wu stay behind.

He had seen Zhuang Wu in a hurry to leave and guessed that he had something urgent to do. The original purpose of keeping him here was to make it impossible for him to get things done. However, he didn’t know if it was his imagination but when Qin Qiyue also said that he wanted to clean together, Zhuang Wu seemed less anxious.

Could his urgent matter be related to Qin Qiyue?

After putting away the broom, Zhuang Wu and Qin Qiyue went home together. On the way, Qin Qiyue didn’t say a word. Zhuang Wu wanted to find some topic to break the silence, but he didn’t know what to say.

Zhuang Wu panicked for a moment when he suddenly realized that he and Qin Qiyue had nothing in common. Without even the most basic common topics, how else could he pursue Qin Qiyue except teasing him with some cheesy love words every day?

Noticing that the pace of the person beside him had slowed down, Qin Qiyue turned to look at him. “What’s wrong?”

“…Nothing.” Zhuang Wu didn’t expect Qin Qiyue to be the first to break the silence. His worries and unhappiness disappeared. “Gege, what do you think of your current deskmate?”

“We haven’t talked much, so we’re not familiar with each other.” Qin Qiyue said calmly, “Why do you ask?”

Zhuang Wu smiled. “I was always playing around before. Guess why I suddenly started studying.”

Qin Qiyue didn’t even think about it and told the truth, “I never paid attention to whether you were playing around or not before.”

“……”

Although Qin Qiyue refused to cooperate with him to continue his topic, Zhuang Wu still joked with an indifferent face, “Then how about now, are you paying attention to me?”

Qin Qiyue had a hunch Zhuang Wu would ask this question, so he answered without hesitation, “No.”

Damn, was it really necessary to be so direct? He didn’t give me any face.

Zhuang Wu was still smiling, but his smile was beginning to seem forced. “It’s okay. Before you fall in love with me, I’ll just be the one to pay attention to you… Actually, I’ve suddenly started to work hard not just because I want to get closer to your ranking like what I’ve said last time, but the biggest reason is that I want to be your deskmate.”

After saying this, Qin Qiyue unexpectedly did not open his mouth to retort, and he did not speak for a long time.

Just when Zhuang Wu thought he didn’t want to bother with him and was about to find other topics, Qin Qiyue spoke, “I don’t want to sit at the same table with you.”

“…?”

“Why?” The smile on Zhuang Wu’s face was getting a little hard to hold. “Wait, do you not want to sit at the same table with me because you’re afraid I will eat you?”

“Just because.” Qin Qiyue said casually. “I simply don’t want to sit at the same table with you. There’s no other reason. Don’t ask.”

Zhuang Wu was a little annoyed. “I’m gonna ask, I have to ask for the reason today. Why don’t you want to sit at the same table with me? Why why why why…”

The next second, a cold hand covered his mouth. Qin Qiyue was helpless. “Have you talked enough? I thought you’d know why I don’t want to sit at the same table with you without me saying it.”

When Qin Qiyue’s hand suddenly touched Zhuang Wu’s cheeks, they began to feel hot. Then he shook his head, indicating that he didn’t know.

“Because I really don’t like you and don’t want to be too close to you.” Qin Qiyue released his hand and asked indifferently. “Do you know now?”

Zhuang Wu’s pupils suddenly shrank, and his cheeks, which had turned red and hot due to the sudden touch, returned to normal instantly, but his eye sockets began to feel sour. There were lights in the alley tonight, but it was difficult to notice that Zhuang Wu’s eyes were red without careful observation.

He limited it to reddening eyes. He could simply pretend when necessary, but Zhuang Wu didn’t want to be so unreasonable as to cry when he wasn’t acting.

He just felt aggrieved. Why did he have to go back to senior year of high school? He and Qin Qiyue had already established their relationship and clearly liked each other, but he had to start from scratch for no reason.

The Qin Qiyue right now hasn’t the slightest feelings for him, and even if he did, it was probably just aversion.

When he started to pester Qin Qiyue in his previous life, he didn’t like Qin Qiyue. It was only when the clips about Qin Qiyue were cut into the behind-the-scenes footage and the netizens saw it, leading to them scolding him profusely that he suddenly had an idea. He decided to change his method of disgusting Qin Qiyue in the way that he wouldn’t be scolded.

So no matter how Qin Qiyue treated him at that time, even if he treated him like air, Zhuang Wu wasn’t sad.

But now and eventually back in his previous life, he really liked Qin Qiyue.

It turned out that compared to how he didn’t think Qin Qiyue’s attitude and words mattered in his previous life, his feelings were completely different now that he was experiencing it again.

Zhuang Wu didn’t speak for a long time. Qin Qiyue knew that what he said was very hurtful, but he didn’t want to comfort Zhuang Wu and give him hope, therefore making Zhuang Wu feel that there was a possibility between them.

However, Zhuang Wu was not sad for too long. He quickly buried his emotions and returned to his previous shameless attitude. “Gege, what you said is useless to me. On the contrary, it will only make me think better of you because you will not promise someone casually and you are very responsible.”

 

Qin Qiyue’s heart skipped a beat. Zhuang Wu, why can you always pretend not to care about my verbal attacks and continue to pester me?

After a while, Qin Qiyue no longer looked at him. He walked forward and suddenly said, “Zhuang Wu, I really don’t understand you.”

“If you want to understand me, I’d be very willing to let you understand me.” Zhuang Wu followed behind him. “I won’t give up on you. Don’t think you can get rid of me with just a few words. I’m very difficult to deal with.”

He was indeed very difficult to deal with. Qin Qiyue realized it. Qin Qiyue did not reply, but just went in without saying his goodbyes after arriving at the door.

The sound of a door closing, neither light nor heavy, echoed in the empty alley.

Zhuang Wu stared at the door for a while. As if thinking that the person inside could hear him, he whispered, “Good night.”

There was such a thing as physical education exams, so after the monthly exams, Hu Jianlong did not take up any more classes and let them go downstairs to do physical education as usual.

When Zhuang Wu and Qin Qiyue were still in an incompatible relationship back then, he had noticed that Qin Qiyue was quite good at playing basketball. In this physical education class, Qin Qiyue would most likely appear on the basketball court.

It was still winter and the temperature was relatively low. The school canteen sold hot drinks, such as hot milk tea and hot milk. It was not good to drink cold drinks after a lot of exercise, so Zhuang Wu took a bottle of hot milk from the heating box.

When they arrived at the playground, Zhuang Wu, who didn’t know how to play basketball, could only sit aside and wait for Qin Qiyue to finish playing. He was willing to learn so that he could play with Qin Qiyue after he learned it well. However, there were so many people on the basketball court at this time, and he was embarrassed to go up and ask Qin Qiyue to teach him how to play basketball. If he did so, it would be too embarrassing for him to suddenly interrupt others who were playing well.

He would wait until there was no one around, and then ask Qin Qiyue to teach him basketball. Although Qin Qiyue would definitely not agree easily, but… why not just be thick-skinned and pester him to teach him all the time? Qin Qiyue would eventually be unable to bear it and agree.

“Zhuang Wu, what are you doing sitting there like an idiot?”

A clear and powerful male voice was heard, making Zhuang Wu look up subconsciously.

The person standing in front of him was wearing a school uniform and was very tall. His figure cast a large shadow. His narrow eyes were looking down at Zhuang Wu. He stood there with his eyebrows slightly raised, looking lazy and casual.

This person was Ji Zhixian. He and Ji Zhixian used to be good friends, but after graduating and entering the entertainment industry, he became busier each day. Being an 18th-tier star didn’t mean he could have free time if he didn’t get any scripts. Later, the contact between the two of them gradually decreased.

“Watching Qin Qiyue play basketball.” Zhuang Wu raised his head back to the way it was earlier, and his eyes continued to follow Qin Qiyue’s movements.

As if he didn’t expect Zhuang Wu to say that he was looking at Qin Qiyue, Ji Zhixian was stunned for a moment and sat down as well. “Why are you looking at Qin Qiyue? Because he’s good-looking?”

“Of course,” Zhuang Wu answered without hesitation.

 “……”

Ji Zhixian changed the subject. “Why do I feel like you always have something to do lately? Have we not talked for a few days already?”

They hadn’t been in touch for several years since entering the entertainment industry. Even though they were good friends, Zhuang Wu still felt unfamiliar with him. They were obviously talking and joking together before just like they were now, but at this moment, Zhuang Wu didn’t know how to deal with his old friend.

Zhuang Wu could only make up a random reason. “I’m quite busy. The college entrance exam is coming soon. I have to hurry up and improve my grades.”

“You actually want to improve your grades?” Ji Zhixian was surprised for a moment, but he quickly said, “If you want to improve your grades, you can come to me. I should be able to help.”

He was in the top ten after all, so not bad, right?

Qin Qiyue had finished playing by this time, so Zhuang Wu quickly stood up. “Got it. I’ll definitely look for you when I have the chance.”

Then he walked towards Qin Qiyue.

Ji Zhixian stared at Zhuang Wu’s departing back, feeling like something was not right. Why did Zhuang Wu become so polite?

Besides, didn’t he hate Qin Qiyue very much before? Why did he come to watch Qin Qiyue play basketball? Did he want to see Qin Qiyue make a fool of himself?

Qin Qiyue was about to leave when Zhuang Wu suddenly strode up and blocked his way.

Zhuang Wu, who was afraid to ask Qin Qiyue to teach him how to play basketball earlier because there were too many people around, now handed Qin Qiyue a drink as if no one was around. “Gege, you must be tired from playing. Here’s some hot milk for you.”

If a girl gave a drink to a boy, it would really be worth watching. But when a boy gave water to a boy, it simply looked like a normal interaction between brothers, so not many people looked at them. Most of them just cast a glance and then looked away.