Chapter 56

Chapter 56

Note: not proofreaded

*Due to an error of ordering the chapters, I’ll just post the “next” chapter which was originally chapter 55.

Because they just celebrated the New Year, Ling Xuan immediately gave Zhen Yuanbai and Zhen Youxiu their red envelopes after seeing them. While Zhen Yuanbai was still conflicted in accepting it, he turned around to see Zhen Youxiu already taking the money and counting it without feeling in the least bad.

Qin Ying and Zhen Pingjin obviously came prepared and gave Shi Bufan a red envelope as well.

This was the first time the two families sat down for lunch together. Shi Bufan originally sat next to Zhen Yuanbai, but Zhen Youxiu intervened and sat between his elder brother and Shi Bufan, becoming the lightbulb once again.

Zhen Pingjin and Shi Xian sat together to talk about business while Qin Ying and Ling Xuan were chatting about their lives. Shi Bufan turned around and wanted to look at his little classmate, but he only saw Zhen Youxiu’s annoying face. He couldn’t help but twist his head off.

They haven’t seen each other in so many days, so Zhen Yuanbai really wanted to talk to Shi Bufan. He was fine with talking about anything. Even if they didn’t talk and just sat next to each other. That was fine too, but Zhen Youxiu sat between them and changed everything.

However, he didn’t have the habit of leaving the table first when he hadn’t eaten because he had been instructed by his grandfather at a young age to only leave the table after everyone was done eating. Otherwise, if people just left after they were done eating, the last person sitting here and eating would feel extremely awkward.

Meanwhile, Shi Bufan didn’t care whether the others were done eating or not. However, since they were eating with the Zhen Family this time, if he left the table with his little classmate, what would happen if he didn’t leave a good impression on his future parents?

His gaze suddenly landed on Zhen Youxiu. Zhen Youxiu and Zhen Yuanbai looked similar and if strangers glanced at them for the first time, they would think that the brothers were twins. Zhen Youxiu had a delicate and fair-white face as well, but he looked much younger.

Shi Bufan suddenly reached over to pinch Zhen Youxiu’s face and smiled under Zhen Youxiu’s shocked gaze, saying, “Youxiu has very nice skin. Do you normally use moisturizing baby cream?”

Zhen Youxiu tightly knitted his eyebrows, but the parents just looked over casually. Because Shi Bufan was always improper, they thought that he was just playing with Zhen Youxiu.

Zhen Yuanbai didn’t know whether Shi Bufan was purposefully grossing Zhen Youxiu out, so he responded, “He uses the brand ‘Frog Prince.’”

Zhen Youxiu’s face darkened and because Shi Bufan was taller than him whether sitting down or standing up, he puffed out his chest and said to Zhen Yuanbai, “You also use that?”

“Yes.” Zhen Yuanbai said, “That’s the brand my mother buys.”

“No wonder you have great skin.” Shi Bufan extended his arm over Zhen Youxiu’s head and then touched Zhen Yuanbai’s face. The latter went along and even moved his face closer. Zhen Youxiu glanced at his elder brother then at Shi Bufan. His face was cold like the ice from an abyss. “Then are you ugly because you used the * facial cream?”

Shi Bufan wasn’t angry with being called ugly as he casually placed his arm around Zhen Youxiu’s shoulder, as if they were brothers and said, “What a coincidence. Toads and frogs belonged to the same family a few centuries ago. No wonder the two families got along that well. After all, people who don’t belong together won’t live together, right?”

There was a double meaning in his words, but Zhen Youxiu felt his scalp going numb from being grossed out. He shook Shi Bufan’s arm around him off and jumped up, saying toughly, “Let’s swap seats!”

Zhen Yuanbai finally understood and he controlled his twitching smile, standing up and switching seats with him. He sat by Shi Bufan’s side, well-behaved. Now that there was no lightbulb between them, they glanced at each other tender-heartedly. Zhen Yuanbai was worried that their parents might see through this, so he withdrew his gaze and focused on eating. Shi Bufan’s eyes swept over Zhen Yuanbai’s face several times like a radar. Then, he spun the turntable around and put food on Zhen Yuanbai’s bowl. Even more, he started talking to Zhen Yuanbai in a gentle tone rather than the improper tone from before, asking, “I have a few questions. Can you take a look and explain it to me?”

Zhen Yuanbai was confused and asked, “Did you bring your notebook?”

“I brought my phone.” Shi Bufan explained, “It’s a problem within an app. Please take a look and see if you can compute it.”

Zhen Yuanbai nodded and felt his heart shivering once he took a proper look at Shi Bufan’s phone screen.

The screen revealed the message: I miss you so much.

Shi Bufan asked him, “How do I do this question?”

Zhen Yuanbai secretly glanced at his parents and found Qin Ying and Ling Xuan looking over. They really thought that Shi Bufan was giving Zhen Yuanbai a question to solve, so they laughed and complimented, “Xiao Shi is really ambitious to improve himself.”

“It’s Xiao Zhen who does a good job teaching.”

Teacher Xiao Zhen quietly looked down at the words and the tip of his ears faintly turned red. He said in a low voice, “That’s correct.”

“Then can you solve this question for me?” Shi Bufan entered: do you miss me?

Zhen Yuanbai took the phone and his pure-white fingers tapped the keyboard on the screen, typing out: yes.

Shi Bufan secretly chuckled and touched Zhen Yuanbai’s burning ear tips with his fingers, saying, “Teacher Zhen is so smart. I’ve been stuck on this question for a while.”

Zhen Yuanbai avoided his hand and glared at him.

They were talking about their grades while chatting about a completely different topic on the phone.

After we’re done eating later, want to fool around with me?

Don’t say it like that.

Come out and kiss me.

Zhen Yuanbai’s hands were shaking and he almost couldn’t hold onto the phone anymore. He didn’t even dare to look up, angrily kicking Shi Bufan under the table and reprimanding, “Wrong! Quickly delete it and rewrite it!”

He said with a clear voice and Qin Ying immediately looked over, saying in a gentle voice, “Talk nicely. Don’t be rude.”

Ling Xuan immediately said, “Don’t worry. They have a good relationship, so Fanfan won’t be angry.”

Zhen Yuanbai was speechless.

Zhen Yuanbai glared at him and believed that if it wasn’t for the hair covering his face, even his scalp would be red. He gave the phone back to Shi Bufan and said rudely, “We’re eating. I won’t explain this question to you.”

Ok. It seems like I got him angry. Shi Bufan placed his phone and felt a certain sweetness in his mouth while he was eating. It seems like the food was very delicious.

Zhen Yuanbai’s attitude left quickly. After they were done with the meal, he moved to Zhen Yuanbai’s side and secretly asked him, “How much did my mother give you for your red envelope?”

He secretly counted the money in his red envelope. President Ling was President Ling for a reason. She had given him quite a bit of money. This was practically the amount of money he received within a year, so he was a bit worried that Qin Ying might’ve given Shi Bufan too little money and he might’ve taken advantage of Shi Bufan.

Although the two don’t know each other completely, Shi Bufan knew Zhen Yuanbai’s personality. Seeing his gaze, Shi Bufan knew what he was thinking. He secretly laughed in his heart and then delivered his red envelope, saying, “Here, open it.”

Zhen Yuanbai opened the envelope and counted it before returning it in surprise. Qin Ying actually gave Shi Bufan the same amount as Ling Xuan had given himself. He returned it, but Shi Bufan pushed his hand back and said, “For you.”

“Why?”

“Doesn’t it make sense for the boyfriend to hand in their money?”

Zhen Yuanbai’s heart pounded quickly and he said with a soft voice, “Then will you give me your salary in the future?”

“Yes.” Shi Bufan was considerably generous and said, “As long as you remember your responsibility.”

Zhen Yuanbai wanted to ask what responsibility, but after thinking about it, he came to the conclusion that it was probably something improper, so he shut his mouth.

After lunch, the two families headed back in the opposite direction. Leaning against the car window, Zhen Yuanbai looked over at the car Shi Bufan was in. After the car made a corner, he quietly shifted his gaze away.

Zhen Youxiu was going to take the high school examination this year and Zhen Pingjin and Qin Ying both paid a lot of attention to this. They even had Zhen Yuanbai to temporarily stop teaching Shi Bufan and stay home to tutor Zhen Youxiu. The latter heard that and agreed happily, insisting on one-on-one tutoring with his elder brother. He continued to break apart the couple, leading them to chat online sadly.

While everyone wasn’t prepared to head back to school, under Zhen Yuanbai’s fervent expectation, school started again. He climbed out of bed in high spirits and woke up the sleepy Zhen Youxiu, energetically heading towards school.

The school was always bustling with excitement and the youthful students walked in through the door to hear chattering around the school. Zhen Yuanbai went to the stationary store to buy new stationeries and when he came back out, he saw Shi Bufan leaning against the tree waiting for him. Seeing that he came out, he raised the warm milk in his hand and said, “Done buying? Come over.”

Zhen Yuanbai walked over to see Shi Bufan inserting the straw and delivering the warm milk over. While he was at it, Zhen Yuanbai took a sip and smiled, “It’s sour.”

“You don’t like it?”

“I do.” Zhen Yuanbai took another sip as he was carrying his new notebook between his arms. He looked down and rummaged through the plastic bag, taking out the pencils and saying, “You can pick three.”

Shi Bufan looked over and said, “Any is fine.”

The milk was warm and tasted sour and sweet. While walking, Shi Bufan held the milk for Zhen Yuanbai to sip and heard him chatter about, “It’s a new semester, so you need to work hard. I bought you a notebook, so be good and take your notes. You can’t rely on me completely.”

“Oh.” Shi Bufan asked, “How do I take notes?”

Zhen Yuanbai took another sip and licked the milk stain by the corner of his lips, rolling his eyes and saying, “Aunt Ling says that you had good grades in the past, so I don’t believe that you don’t know how to take notes.”

Shi Bufan softly laughed and said, “Didn’t I tell you that she was lying to you?”

“I don’t believe that.” Zhen Yuanbai said properly, “You must be very good. I believe that you were very good in the past.”

Shi Bufan’s gaze suddenly softened and he said, “You really think that?”

“Of course.” Zhen Yuanbai said as if a matter of fact, “I know that I’m not wrong.”

It seems like his little classmate was quite confident regarding his matters.

Shi Bufan said, “Ok, I’ll try my best.”

Zhen Yuanbai finished drinking the milk and when he heard the gurgling noise the empty bottle made, he finally shifted his head away in satisfaction, saying, “I’m very eager for the day we become deskmates.”

Shi Bufan tossed the empty bottle into a garbage can not far from them and looked at Zhen Yuanbai’s eyes, saying, “I’m very eager too.”

Zhen Yuanbai pursed his lips and nodded when he saw Shi Bufan curling his lips up and moving over, laughing naughtily and saying, “If we become deskmates, I can touch you in class.”

“…” Zhen Yuanbai clenched his fist and smacked Shi Bufan’s head with it.

He then heard a slight bang from behind and Zhen Yuanbai turned around to see Song Mo acting as if he had seen a ghost. He bent down and picked up the eight treasures rice he dropped, quickly running into school.

God. What did he see? Zhen Yuanbai actually dares to hit Shi Bufan! Does he not want to live anymore?

20 minutes later, Zhen Yuanbai walked into the classroom and Song Mo immediately asked, “Did the teacher say we can grab our textbooks now?”

“Yes.” Zhen Yuanbai nodded and hollered, “Shi Bufan, find a few people to carry the textbooks with me.”

Don’t mention Song Mo, but the entire class concentrated their gazes on Zhen Yuanbai and Shi Bufan.

In the past years, whenever Zhen Yuanbai was notified to receive the class’s textbooks, he would have Song Mo ask a few friends to come and help him. During the first year in school, he even shyly asked each person in the class, “Hello, can you carry the textbooks with me?”

But what did they hear today? Zhen Yuanbai actually told Unoffendable to carry the textbooks with him in front of the class. No matter how good your relationship is with Unoffendable, there’s no way he’ll do the hard work for you, ok! Don’t mention Zhen Yuanbai ordering him around. With Unoffendable’s strange and peculiar attitude, getting rejected was the easy way out, but Shi Bufan might even throw a chair in Zhen Yuanbai’s direction, smashing his head!

“Aren’t you going to say ‘please’ since you’re asking someone for help?”

As expected, Unoffendable was going to teach this undisciplined class monitor a lesson.

Song Mo quietly covered his face and he felt that ever since Zhen Yuanbai saved Shi Bufan in the past semester, he became more and more brazen.

The classroom was quiet and there were already students secretly standing up by the door and preparing to run and notify the teacher at any moment. However, Unoffendable was just saying this since he stood up and kicked Qiu Jing’s table, saying, “Stop sleeping. Go and carry the textbooks.”

Zhen Yuanbai then glanced at Shi Bufan’s school uniform which was exposing his skin. He said, “Pull up the zipper. The teacher will fuss at you if they see it.”

“My zipper broke.” Shi Bufan said purposely, “I can’t zip it up myself.”

He was clearly looking for trouble. As expected, he got angry.

It was unclear whether Zhen Yuanbai was stupid or not, but he took two steps forward and lowered his head to help pull the zipper up for Shi Bufan. The latter also looked down gently at the head with curly hair. Everyone got the goosebumps just by looking at the way Shi Bufan was gazing at Zhen Yuanbai.

He must want to wring the class monitor’s head off.