Chapter 23

"Not necessarily. What did the photo say?"

"Don't they have that thing overseas, P, P..."

Ye Xinran reminded him, "Photoshop."

"Right, right! Maybe they photoshopped Chi Ning's face onto it. Spreading rumors and all..."

"Why didn't Chi Ning come check the results?"

"Hey, he knows how he did. He doesn't need to look."

Chi Ning stood upstairs, looking down at the impenetrable crowd in front of the bulletin board. He lowered his eyes and thought, I haven't had bayberry juice in three days. Why hasn't Qin Heng made a move at all? Shouldn't a seller be more proactive?

Was he doing it on purpose?

Chapter 23

The bottled water was bland and tasteless. Drinking it made him feel wilted.

Chi Ning twisted the cap of the mineral water bottle over and over.

What should he do...

He wanted bayberry juice, but he didn't want to lower his head and go buy it from Qin Heng.

Maybe he could probe Boss Xu about it tonight?

Forget it. If Qin Heng really wanted to cut ties, he couldn't exactly go rushing over to give him money.

Then he just wouldn't drink it.

Knock, knock.

"Chi Ning?" Ye Xinran knocked on the door and called from where he leaned against the doorway.

"Hmm?" Chi Ning turned to look at him. "What is it?"

"There's a problem I don't quite understand." Ye Xinran walked over with a red pen and a sheet of white paper, showing Chi Ning the question. "This one."

Chi Ning gave it a glance. "L'Hôpital's Rule? That's college freshman material. You've already gotten this far?"

"Yeah." Ye Xinran leaned against the window and watched Chi Ning prop himself sideways against the window frame, pen in hand as he worked through the problem.

The boy's lashes hung low, his thin lips pressed into a straight line. He was utterly serious and focused when solving problems, and even the fingers holding his pen were especially beautiful. Sunlight fell over his hair, making him look like a gemstone shining with fiery brilliance.

"Done." Chi Ning flipped the completed sheet of paper over. "I'll give you two more similar problems. Once you finish them, you won't forget this method."

Ye Xinran was puzzled. "Why aren't you asking why I'm studying freshman courses?"

Chi Ning's pen paused. "You've finished the high school curriculum. When you have nothing to do in class, don't you study college-level material to pass the time? With your ability, you shouldn't be getting stuck on L'Hôpital's Rule. Have you been spending too much time on computers lately?"

Ye Xinran: ...

What kind of thought process was that for a genius student? It was kind of cute.

He held himself back and explained, "I'm not playing on the computer."

"Mm-hmm, software engineering and development technology." Chi Ning continued writing, replying perfunctorily as he did. "Filling in the gaps in network security?"

Ye Xinran let out a muffled laugh.

It really wasn't easy for Chi Ning to make the word "hacker" sound so refined and wholesome.

Chi Ning handed back the completed A4 sheet. "There."

Ye Xinran thanked him and was just about to take it when he saw Chi Ning staring straight ahead in a daze.

Following his gaze, he saw a snack tricycle parked outside the school gates. A sign with yellow lettering on a red background was stuck to its side: "Fried chicken, egg tarts, bayberry juice."

Chi Ning hurriedly stuffed the A4 paper and red pen into Ye Xinran's arms, just like he had stuffed money at him before. "Take these. I'm leaving."

He turned, pulled out his wallet, tucked it into his pocket, and sprinted toward the back door of the classroom. He thundered downstairs, circled around the students gathered before the bulletin board, and dashed toward the little tricycle. "Uncle, one serving each of fried chicken drumstick, egg tarts, and bayberry juice!"

Good thing he had exercised over summer break. Otherwise, by the time he got there, the little food left at the stall would have already been snatched up by hungry students who had just checked their grades.

Chi Ning carried his paper box back to a secluded little bamboo grove. Sitting at its edge, he listened to the wind brushing through the bamboo leaves as he bit into the crisp crust of an egg tart, so fragrant that it made his head spin.

After checking the results, Qin Heng returned to the classroom. Out of habit, he glanced out the window and saw Chi Ning tilting his head back to eat the molten filling from the middle of an egg tart.

His seat was in the last row of the classroom, positioned just right to see one corner of the bamboo grove. One seat farther or one seat closer wouldn't have worked.

After finishing the egg tart, Chi Ning popped open the stopper on the bayberry juice with a soft pop and took a gulp. The sourness made his brows knit together.

Why wasn't it sweet?

Why was the one Qin Heng made sweet?

And it wasn't that cheap, saccharine kind of sweetness, either.

He took another sip, stuck out his tongue at the sourness, and lowered his head to bite into the chicken cutlet sprinkled with sour plum powder.

The chicken cutlet was pretty good, though.

Watching him, Qin Heng couldn't help but smile slightly.

Zhang Qiuwen leaned over. "Brother Qin, what are you looking at?"

Qin Heng drew the curtains shut. "Nothing."

Before Zhang Qiuwen could respond, three sounds came from outside the window—"Biubiu biu!" Other than Chi Ning, no one would use such an elegant ringtone.

Zhang Qiuwen grinned.

Was this what it felt like to watch someone fall in love? How novel.

He glanced at Qin Heng's expression, raised a hand to open the window, lifted a small gap in the curtains, and looked out through it.

Chi Ning wiped his hands with the complimentary alcohol wipe and answered the call. "Hello?"

Xu Jiahao's voice came through the receiver. "Why haven't you come to play ball lately? Mo Yuanzhou even asked me about you."

Chi Ning said, "School exams. I haven't had much time."

Xu Jiahao let out a breath of relief. "I see."

He had wanted to wait for his godson to coax Chi Ning into forgiving him, but after three days of coaxing, there had been no news at all. Every night when Qin Heng came to the gym, his face looked as grim as if he were attending a funeral. It was obvious the two hadn't spoken a word in those three days.

Xu Jiahao couldn't just sit and wait. "Is Qin Heng beside you? I can't get through to his phone. Give him your phone and tell him to pick up."

"Qin Heng's phone can't be reached?"

Chi Ning looked in the direction of Class 18. He saw the faintly swaying curtains and the silhouette behind them. "He isn't beside me, but he's not far away. I can go find him for you."

Xu Jiahao replied, "All right."

Inside Class 18, Zhang Qiuwen quickly removed the battery from his own Little Smart phone, then reached for Qin Heng's. "Brother, let's not make Uncle Xu's life difficult."

Heh, he really was clever.

If Brother Qin could really win over the Second Young Master Chi, he'd definitely have to give him a huge red envelope.

Zhang Qiuwen had just hidden the battery when Chi Ning appeared at the back door of Class 18.

With his lips pressed together, he knocked twice and called, "Qin Heng, come here."

Three words, brief and direct.

The few people remaining in Class 18 quietly looked toward Qin Heng.

Although rumors about the two of them had spread everywhere, everyone tacitly assumed at least half of it was false.

Qin Heng looked like the kind of person who would never be moved by mortal desires.

Iron wasn't as straight as him, and steel wasn't as hard.

Yue Yaozong looked at Chi Ning with amusement. "Brother Qin has a lot of airs. You have to walk over to his desk and invite him personally. Standing at the door won't get our class's big shot to move."

Only then did Chi Ning truly get a sense that Qin Heng was the school bully.

His thoughts drifted. What exactly did "school bully" mean? The ruler of the school?

Had Qin Heng been this childish as a kid?

Qin Heng strode over. As he passed Yue Yaozong, he gave him a glance, then shut the classroom door behind him with his back to everyone, leaving himself and Chi Ning outside.

He pretended not to know anything. "What is it?"

"Uncle Xu said he can't reach your phone." Chi Ning handed his phone over. "He might have something to discuss with you."

Qin Heng knew that his godfather had nothing to discuss. He was just giving him an excuse to talk to Chi Ning.

He took the phone, gave a few perfunctory replies, and soon hung up. Though he already knew the answer, he asked, "Have you eaten dinner?"

"I've eaten." Chi Ning took back his phone, shoved it into his pocket, and turned to leave.

Qin Heng stepped after him, following unhurriedly behind Chi Ning.

The opportunity was right in front of him. If he still couldn't seize it, then his eighteen years of life would have been wasted.

Why hesitate and overthink things?

Chi Ning clearly liked men. Whoever Chi Ning ended up with, Qin Heng would feel more at ease keeping him in his own hands.

If Chi Ning didn't understand what two men would have to face after being together, then so be it. One day, he would grow strong enough that no one would dare point fingers at him.

Qin Heng stared intently at Chi Ning's back, making Chi Ning's skin crawl.

He wasn't familiar with the campus. Before his rebirth, he rarely left the classroom. After his rebirth, he left as soon as school was over. Now, he couldn't even find a trash can.

This awful bayberry juice was so sour it was practically undrinkable.

It was a complete nightmare. He wanted to throw it away.

The instant that thought surfaced, he spotted an emerald-green trash can beneath the tree-lined path beyond the track.

Chi Ning had never before found a trash can so beautiful.

He hurried over, intending to throw away the bayberry juice after only taking a couple of sips.

Qin Heng raised a brow, caught Chi Ning's wrist, and rescued the glass bottle. "Why throw it away? Does it taste bad?"

Chi Ning said, "Yeah."

It was more than bad. It was downright awful—sour and astringent. Just thinking about the taste made his mouth pucker.

Qin Heng smiled.

Even though Chi Ning hadn't praised him directly, Qin Heng was as happy as if he had been rewarded. Wasn't this Chi Ning's subtle way of complimenting his bayberry juice-making skills right to his face?

He pulled out the stopper and brought it to his nose for a sniff. "Let me try it."

Chi Ning was already stunned by that gesture.

No, he had drunk from that!

"It's unhygienic."

Before the words had even finished leaving his mouth, Qin Heng had already taken a huge gulp. His Adam's apple bobbed as he swallowed it down.

Chi Ning gaped as Qin Heng took another sip. This time, he held it in his mouth and savored it carefully before commenting, "It really doesn't taste good. Too sour. The bayberries weren't soaked in salt water when they were prepared, so they weren't cleaned properly and taste a little astringent. They also weren't preserved in honey before being boiled, which made the drink even more sour."

Overall, it was nothing to worry about.

Qin Heng put the wooden stopper back into the bottle and glanced at Chi Ning's lips. "Did you have fried chicken for dinner?"

Chi Ning's ears were burning hot. He hadn't dated in either of his lives, and he had never seen anyone so shameless. "You..."

"Don't buy from that place again. Their oil isn't clean." Qin Heng raised his hand and tossed the bayberry juice, which should have been lying in the trash can three minutes ago, into it.

Unable to contain himself, Chi Ning raised a hand and wiped at the corner of his mouth. There was no oil at all... It couldn't possibly have gotten onto the glass bottle.