Pei Song'an felt that Li Shu hadn't been as energetic as usual lately.
Usually, when memorizing vocabulary, Li Shu would wander around the living room, muttering the words and swaying his head.
Several times, his nonstop chatter had given Pei Song'an a headache, but Li Shu couldn't memorize silently. If he didn't read the words aloud, he couldn't keep going.
"A star student like you, who's never struggled with schoolwork in his life, just doesn't understand the world of us academic disasters."
Back then, Li Shu had turned his head sideways and pressed his face against the desk, complaining in utter despair, "If I memorize silently, my thoughts could wander off anywhere, so I have to say it out loud to keep myself on track!"
He'd sounded so adamant then, yet now, not only was he silent, he had his vocabulary notebook covering his face and was secretly closing his eyes behind it, his head bobbing like a ticker timer.
Pei Song'an walked over without a sound.
Even with his eyes closed, Li Shu could sense that the light from the side seemed to have been blocked. He forced his eyes open and met Pei Song'an's lowered gaze.
The guilty Li Xiaoshu jumped in fright.
"Aaah, you scared me to death-"
"You nearly scared my heart right out of my throat..."
Pei Song'an kicked the leg of Li Shu's chair. "What are you scared of if you haven't done anything wrong?"
Li Shu went selectively deaf.
"Were you up late last night?" Pei Song'an suddenly asked.
"No!" Li Shu's eyes went wider than light bulbs as he said it, stubborn denial being the order of the day.
Pei Song'an glanced at the very obvious dark circles on that fair, clean face and suddenly laughed. "All right. If you say you