CH 18

With the swivel chair, Ye Zhou had a lot more freedom moving around the dorm.

Can finally live on his own!

Regarding Shang Jin’s good intentions, Ye Zhou was unwilling to accept it without a good cause.

“That…the money…”

Shang Jin didn’t give him a glance and said very generously, “Little money, doesn’t matter.”

This sentence blocked Ye Zhou and made him unable to call him out and also unable to calmly accept it.

‘Give and take’, Ye Zhou could only take advantage of when there was no one in the dorm to help Shang Jin tidy up his things, and doing things to the best of his ability.

As for why it was when no one was there?

Of course it was because Shang Jin and his unclear relationship hadn’t been straightened out in front of his classmates, and the roommates were extremely enthusiastic about creating opportunities for them. If they knew that Ye Zhou took the initiative to help Shang Jin organize and tidy up, they’d certainly give a thumbs-up to ‘Like’ his “virtuousness”!

What Ye Zhou didn’t know was that whenever Wen Renxu and Liu Yutian saw the two similar desktops of Ye Zhou and Shang Jin, the two always exchanged a look and ran to the dorm next door to report the battle results.

It really could be described as “the flaw in the plan”.

The cold autumn rains washed away the fallen leaves. The campus students had to put on their sweaters and usher in the midterm exams.

Ye Zhou’s foot injury was also getting better, but in the final recovery period, Ye Zhou was still very careful and especially worried about a moment of carelessness aggravating the injury again.

So before the midterm exams, while most of the classmates carried their books and went to the library to ‘clasp Buddha’s feet when danger arises’, Ye Zhou still stayed in the dormitory to review.

Clasp Buddha’s feet (临时抱佛脚): grasp at straws, doing thing at the last minute

On the early weekend morning, Liu Yutian and Wen Renxu finished washing up and took their textbooks to the library.

Before closing the door, Liu Yutian stuck out his head and teased, “Then both of you review well in the dorm.”

The word “well” was particularly meaningful.

Wen Renxu, outside smiling, added a sentence, “We will come back much later! Rest assured.”

Ye Zhou pulled the corners of his mouth. Why on earth would he need to rest assured.

“You guys quickly go. Be careful that there’s no seats left in the library!”

“Yo yo yo, this is rushing people.” Liu Yutian smiled and banged shut the dorm door.

Being teased too many times during this period of time, Ye Zhou was entirely too lazy to continue explaining the issue again. Anyway, he had no object now. The one he had a good impression of didn’t know him. Reputation or whatever, it didn’t matter.

Ye Zhou looked sideways at Shang Jin who was still lying in bed and asked, “Aren’t you going to the library?”

Shang Jin with his back to Ye Zhou replied, “Not going.”

“Why?” Not waiting for Shang Jin’s answer, Ye Zhou added warily, “Don’t ever say it’s for me. I don’t have such a big face.”

“You’re thinking too much.” Shang Jin turned over and heaved a sigh of relief. “Of course not going is because I don’t want to go.”

“We’ll be taking the midterm exams in another week. This exam score will also be included in the final evaluation.” Ye Zhou slowly slid out of bed and sat in the swivel chair. Pushing with his left foot, he pushed the swivel chair to the washbasin. The swivel chair was simply too handy. Even if his injury was well, it would be very convenient to use normally. Ye Zhou squeezed his toothpaste and continued, “Every minute and every second before the exam is precious.”

“It’s just the midterm exams.”

“Hey…shwrugging to shayー” [T/N: His words are garbled.]

“You finish brushing your teeth first, then talk.”

Ye Zhou quickly brushed his teeth and washed the foam in his mouth with water. “What’s called ‘just the midterm exams’? As long as it can account for a sub-item in the final evaluation, it’s important.”

Shang Jin was too lazy to argue with him and perfunctorily “mm” a sound. Jumping down from the bed, he went to the sink and started brushing his teeth.

Ye Zhou also wanted to continue saying a few words to him when he suddenly reacted that the other person was Shang Jin, the Shang Jin who took first in each and every class. Wasn’t it good that he didn’t go to the library? This way, he could observe how he reviewed before the exam.

Besides, wasn’t this the best opportunity to catch up when his rival was slacking?

After Shang Jin finished washing, he took out his meal card and said, “What do you eat?”

“Buns.”

Shang Jin raised his eyebrows. He played with Ye Zhou’s meal card and with the tone of certainty, asked the question, “Actually, you don’t really like eating buns, right?”

Ye Zhou’s heart suddenly skipped a beat with the guilty conscience of being caught in the act.

“What are you thinking in this mind of yours?” Shang Jin grunted, put away the meal card and walked toward the entrance of the dormitory. “Only that bringing stuffed buns is the most convenient. I have to wonder: how can bringing noodles be troublesome?”

“Then you bring me beef noodles! Plus a cup of soymilk!” Ye Zhou snarled, tightly clenching his fists. This kind of being seen through feeling was really bad. In the future, he must keep his distance from Shang Jin. He didn’t understand much about Shang Jin, but felt that Shang Jin already knew him like the back of his hand!

Half an hour later, Ye Zhou slurped the already a bit soggy noodles and resentfully said, “Sure enough, I wanted to eat cooked noodles, but with how slow you walked, I’m better off eating steamed buns.”

“Even eating can’t shut your mouth.” Shang Jin turned on the computer and put on his headphones, ignoring Ye Zhou chattering beside his ear.

Actually, Ye Zhou really had no complaints. It was just when faced with Shang Jin, he habitually argued for argument’s sake. If the other roommates brought his meal, he would certainly be thankful and embarrassed. But Shang Jin…Ye Zhou wasn’t the least bit worried that Shang Jin would think he’s troublesome.

Because if Shang Jin really felt it was annoying, he would definitely say it directly.

Of course, there was one more thing. Actually, Ye Zhou was really looking forward to seeing Shang Jin lose his cool once. Helpless because the other party was too strong, Ye Zhou didn’t have his wish fulfilled even once.

Really wanted to see Shang Jin’s face change once…

And this time, God heard his voice and soon met his needs.

In the morning, Ye Zhou repeated the lesson while dividing his attention to observe Shang Jin. What he didn’t expect was that in the entire morning, Shang Jin didn’t touch his textbooks at all and wore his headphones to play games.

Could this be a diversionary tactic to deliberately let him lower his guard?

Taking advantage of Shang Jin taking off his headphones, Ye Zhou used his ‘gossiping’ technique and asked, “You’re really not reviewing?”

“Just take the exams. It’s fine as long as I’m not held back by the grades.”

Met with this infuriating way of speaking again.

Ye Zhou’s mouth twitched disapprovingly and didn’t speak again.

Stretching his body, Ye Zhou rolled the swivel chair to the toilet. At the toilet door, he slowly moved inside. After finishing his business, Ye Zhou just opened the bathroom door and heard Shang Jin’s talking voice.

“What are you finding me for…that’s your business, what does it have to do with me…money, money, money, every time you talk to me, it’s about money…I don’t want to go out…just say I don’t want to go out. Don’t bother yourself!”

With a bang, the phone was thrown heavily on the table.

Ye Zhou hid behind the bathroom door, for a moment not knowing if he should go out or not.