abcnovels
Chapter 48.1
Chapter 48.1
Chapter 48.1
Editor: SimoB
Zhuo Junli didn’t sleep well that night.
Shi Qing was very domineering, and his sleeping posture naturally reflected that as well. He held onto others like an octopus, and his hands occasionally groped them as well.
Every time Zhuo Junli tried to remove Shi Qing’s arm from his body, it would be put back again.
What’s worse, the other person had become even more excessive than before.
Even his legs were pressed down by the youth.
Shi Qing wasn’t as heavy as Zhuo Junli thought he might be, but he had slept alone since he was a child. Sleeping with others was very uncomfortable for him.
The top student tried to quieten his breathing and persevered, slowly taking off the arm clasped around his body.
Shi Qing put it back again.
He took it off again.
Shi Qing put it back again.
He took it off again.
Shi Qing: “Why are you messing around in the middle of the night?!? Go to sleep already!”
His sleepy voice was filled with dissatisfaction. Meanwhile, his arm tightened around the other party again in a domineering manner.
Zhuo Junli blinked in the darkness: “Your arm...”
“En? What about it?” Shi Qing closed his eyes and yawned. He casually rested his head on the young man’s shoulders and patted Zhuo Junli’s back.
“Hurry up and sleep. You have to go buy me breakfast tomorrow morning.”
The youth didn’t reply. He only felt around in the darkness and grabbed Shi Qing’s hand on his back with his own to try and remove it.
Then that hand retaliated and held his tightly.
A warm heat spread over to him from the other.
Zhuo Junli: “........”
He silently tried to withdraw his hand.
Shi Qing’s grip tightened even more.
Then came a very disgruntled reprimand: “Stop it!”
Zhuo Junli didn’t move anymore.
He exhaled helplessly and did his best to ignore the heat on his body and his hand and tried to sleep.
Zhuo Junli didn’t sleep very soundly that night.
All night long he dreamt that he had been captured by a ball python that held him so tightly, he couldn’t move an inch.
The golden yellow ball python even circled around him, removing his pajamas bit by pit and touching him with its scorching hot body.
It was obviously the middle of winter, but he was being cooked alive.
No- Zhuo Junli, who was entangled by the ball python, suddenly realized something wasn’t right.
Snakes were cold-blooded creatures. They relied on outdoor activities, like sunbathing, to raise their body temperature.
Obviously there was no sun here.
So this was a dream.
Therefore, Zhuo Junli went over all the math problems that he could remember in his head while in the clutches of the dream python.
The next day, Zhuo Junli’s biological clock forced his eyes open in the early morning.
Next to him was Shi Qing, sleeping spread eagle on the bed with his calves still hanging off of Zhuo Junli. His pretty eyes were shut and his mouth was slightly ajar, like he was dreaming of something good.
Zhuo Junli shifted slightly, and the originally sound asleep school bully immediately reacted. Shi Qing turned over and held onto him firmly, all while his eyes remained closed.
Zhuo Junli, whose arms and legs were all secured: “.......”
Now he knew what the dream last night was about.
Shi Qing was so strong that, even after trying for a while, Zhuo Junli couldn’t pull his arms and legs out.
He could only call out helplessly: “Shi Qing. Shi Qing.”
“Wu...Who’s calling me!?”
The school bully opened his eyes in an annoyed daze. He raised his head to meet Zhuo Junli’s eyes. His eyes were hazy, but there was a smile on his face.
The voice that was usually arrogant now sounded somewhat joyful: “Ah, it’s you.”
His happy expression remained as he brought his face very close to Zhuo Junli.
There was a sliver of distance remaining between the tips of their noses.
Zhuo Junli could only watch as the school bully, who had soaked his bed just yesterday, affectionately nuzzled his nose with his own.
Zhuo Junli: “???”
His normally logical and deductive brain was drawing a complete blank.
The weirdest thing of all was that the school bully continued to nuzzle him with crinkled eyes.
From his angle, Zhuo Junli could only see his eyes.
Shi Qing’s eyes were clearly slanted. When he wasn’t smiling, he appeared very arrogant and imposing. But when his eyes curled up, they seemed especially clear and bright.
Right now, his dark eyes were filled with joy.
It was the first time Zhuo Junli had ever been this close to anyone. His ears reddened.
He could endure freezing glares.
He could calmly face down violence.
He could also remain rational at temperatures that made his entire body stiff.
But he was at a loss when facing such intimacy. It was a foreign concept to him.
He, who has always been a calm and rational person, was in a rare state of panic at the moment.
Shi Qing slowly increased the distance between them, which allowed him to get a better look at Zhuo Junli’s reaction to being pushed down.
Zhuo Junli would have matured earlier than his peers due to his unique circumstances. He would have also used some facade to protect himself.
But at this point in time, he wasn’t that undisputed victor who could bring down storms with a wave of his hand. He was just a student obsessed with studying as a means to turn his life around.
The youth’s well-defined and white face was gradually tinged with red. His eyes were filled with panic, and his eyelashes blinked rapidly, reflecting his nervousness.
Only four words could describe him right now: Pretty enough to eat.
[Nice!]
Shi Qing’s hand fell on Zhuo Junli’s shirt, so he could feel his chest rose and fell as he tensed.
Again.
And again.
And again.
It was both soft and bouncy.
Zhuo Junli was a classic example of looking skinny with clothes on while being muscular underneath. Otherwise, it wouldn’t make sense how he went from being a poor little student as a youth to a handsome man who ticked off all the checkmarks.
Shi Qing could feel Zhuo Junli’s abs through his clothes.
He became aroused as he touched some more.
It really was a top-notch feeling.
[Pei pei pei, so satisfying!]
System: [H-Host, you’re supposed to be bullying him...]
Shi Qing was self-righteous: [I am bullying him right now! Can’t you see how angry he is? Look at how red that face is.]
System: [...]
It was about to cry: [But you can’t go OOC. It’s one of the rules.]
[Me, OOC? When?]
Shi Qing leaned in again and affectionately rubbed the tip of his nose against Zhuo Junli’s. As he saw the youth stiffen and blush all the way down to his neck, his smile grew wider.
Zhuo Junli begin to stammer after having a hand pressing against his chest and being nuzzled against affectionately, “Shi Qing, you- What are you doing...?!”
“I’m dreaming.” The school bully replied without hesitation. His hand slowly moved down Zhuo Junli’s shoulder, along his arm, until it clasped the other’s hand. Shi Qing’s shining black eyes were filled with satisfaction.
Saying that, he held Zhuo Junli’s hand and slowly extended his index finger to massage the thin callouses on the youth’s hand. He tilted his head up slightly and looked at him with narrowed fox-like eyes: “You’re a good boy today.”
Zhuo Junli: “...What are you talking about?”
“Huh. You can talk today.” With a hint of surprise on his face, the school bully leaned in closer, “Say that you like...”
–Bang, bang, bang!
There was a knock on the door from outside, followed by a cheerful voice, “Shi-ge! Shi-ge it’s time to wake up!!! Shi-ge, I’ve brought something good for you! Are you not up yet?! Open the door, ah!!”
The atmosphere in the room became awkward at once.
The two of them froze in their original positions.
Almost Shi Qing’s entire body was pressing down on Zhuo Junli. His right hand held Zhuo Junli’s, and his left hand was on his chest.
They were face to face, or more specifically, nose to nose.
They were so close that it was absolutely awkward.
Shi Qing stiffened: “I can’t believe Lu Tao would appear in my dream.”
Lu Tao, the one outside the door, was Shi Qing’s best friend in the class and his number one sidekick.
Zhuo Junli: “I don’t think this is a dream.”
The school bully: “........”
He swiftly scuttled away from the youth and dove under the blankets. Only the top of his head was visible now.
“Why were you in my bed!!??”
Zhuo Junli: “........”
The good news was that before he had to explain, Shi Qing remembered on his own. He stretched out his slender hand and patted his own head: “Oh right, I told you to come. I’m still not completely awake.”
Once he understood what was going on, the school bully’s expression became fierce again: “What are you doing in my bed if you’re already awake! Get off already!”
Zhuo Junli had given up trying to explain to Shi Qing how he held him so tightly that he couldn’t get out of bed.
Shi Qing was never a reasonable person anyway.
It was just...
He pressed a hand to his chest, to feel his rapid heartbeat. His expression held a hint of uncertainty.
What was with Shi Qing’s words just now?
Did he think he was dreaming?
And what did that ‘You’re a good boy today’ mean? Was this not the first time Shi Qing dreamt of him?
Zhuo Junli’s eyes darkened slightly. He buried the doubts in his heart, and got out of bed to open the door with his usual expression.
Lu Tao was shocked to see him open the door.
The kid scratched his head and walked past Zhuo Junli to Shi Qing’s bedside: “Um, Shi-ge, didn’t we lock Zhuo Junli in the washroom last night? How did he get out?”
The school bully was already distracted by his own thoughts. He was in even more of a bad mood after hearing Lu Tao mention Zhuo Junli. His tone grew irritated: “Why do you care! Hurry up and tell me why you came to bother me so early in the morning! If you can’t give me a decent reason, I’m gonna mess you up!”
Lu Tao was already used to his boss’ attitude when he just woke up. He wasn’t angry at all. In fact, he chuckled as he gave the item in his hand to Shi Qing: “Look Shi-ge, this is something I asked someone to bring in particular. I got it last night, so I rushed it here to you. Take a look.”
“What is this crap.”
Shi Qing knitted his eyebrows as he scrutinized the item Lu Tao handed him: “A buddhist pendant?”
“Not just any buddhist pendant; this has been blessed by the head monk! It’s said to offer protection. I heard that this temple can perform miracles so I asked for one. Now future school exams will be a breeze!”
Shi Qing looked at the tiny buddhist pendant in his hands. It was crudely made, and even the string was just a braided red rope.
“This little thing can do all that? Even if it’s useful, I don’t need it. It’s not like I was banking on acing exams anyway. Even if this Shi Qing bombs them, I’ll still be happy in the future.”
He threw the buddhist pendant away. Lu Tao hurried to catch it carefully.
“Aiya Shi-ge, why can’t you connect the dots? Think about it, Tong Xinyu values studying the most. If you give her this buddhist pendant and tell her about it, she’ll definitely be moved, ah. We might not care about grades, but Tong Xinyu does. She comes from an ordinary family, so she’s the type that’s banking on good grades to go to university.”
Shi Qing became thoughtful: “You’re right.”
“And this thing really works. I asked around first. Don’t you like her, Shi-ge? If she does well on the test, you’ll be happy too.”
Zhuo Junli was washing up in the bathroom. The door wasn’t soundproof, so he could clearly hear what the two were saying outside.
It was common knowledge to the whole class that Shi Qing liked Tong Xinyu. His entire crew gathered together to rack their brains for methods to help their boss win the heart of the beauty.
If it was the him from before, Zhuo Junli would have been happy to he hear what they were discussing.
It would only be good for him if Shi Qing and Tong Xinyu became a couple. If they did, Shi Qing wouldn’t cause trouble for him anymore.
But now....
The youth looked at his reflection in the mirror and touched his chest.
The heart sitting there had returned to its usual speed, but his mind was filled with the school bully’s dazed but satisfied expression when he was on top of Zhuo Junli.
Zhuo Junli raised his uncertain eyes to the him in the mirror and spoke softly, “I like...”
What was supposed to come after that?
Why did Shi Qing have him say that?
He had a vague suspicion in his heart, but it was too unlikely. More specifically, it was impossible to the point that Zhuo Junli didn’t dare to believe it, even if it was the only explanation.