CH 40

Are you trying to get me to spoil you?

Bai Zhi: “…Kind of.”

Ji Guichen: “What does ‘kind of’ mean?”

“I stayed up to do it, but there were ones I didn’t know how to do.” Bai Zhi scratched his head: “Last night I thought you were angry, so I didn’t dare ask.”

Ji Guichen knocked on his forehead: “Don’t stay up late, it’s not worth it.”

“But I couldn’t finish.”

“Your foundations are not the same as those of people in our class, you don’t need to rush right now to catch up with the main group.” Ji Guichen explained to him seriously: “Not to mention staying up late will worsen your spirit the next day, and daytime is the most important time of the day.”

.That’s true for humans, not me,’ Bai Zhi silently complained, but on the surface he sagaciously agreed:

“I know.”

The two talked while walking towards the classroom. When they passed through the hallway, Bai Zhi couldn’t help lifting his head to glance at the honor roll. Ji Guichen’s name was neatly ranked fifth.

Bai Zhi‘s eyes shifted, and he suddenly remembered that this honor roll had already been hanging there for a while. The monthly exam happened once every month, and every time it would refresh the rankings. He was deep in thought for a while and then suddenly said:

“Is the monthly exam for this month almost here?”

“Next Thursday, and it lasts three days.”

Ji Guichen replied: “What about it?”

Bai Zhi’s eyes shifted. After a moment he hung his head and shook it, following Ji Guichen into the classroom:

“It’s nothing.”

There weren’t many people in the classroom. Bai Zhi pulled out his chair and sat down. He then directly picked up the homework from before, going through the wrong questions one by one.

Seeing Bai Zhi who had suddenly become serious, he was a little surprised inside but didn’t say anything to bother him.

Just as he was seen through by Ji Guichen, he suddenly realized where his weak point was.

Xie Siliu almost never studied, and Bai Zhi was a demon who had slept for hundreds of years. Neither of them had any foundation for learning. If they were to progress the way everyone else did, they wouldn’t achieve any good results even if their efforts were painstaking.

Bai Zhi had read in the tutorial that 80% of college examination questions were basic, so he decided to focus on that part first. Not to mention that under these circumstances of having a poor foundation and not knowing where to start, the best method would be to find loopholes through doing problems.

Starting from the easiest problems, isolate every concept, and then learn about them from the textbooks and tutoring books to break through. 

Bai Zhi pointed to the lines in the textbook, reading them word for word. If he didn’t understand he would continuously reread them.

Next to him, Ji Guichen was busy writing. The sound of the pen tip scratching against paper seemed especially clear in the silent self-study period, carrying with it a sense of reassurance.

Motionless in his seat, Bai Zhi studied for an entire morning. Only when it was time to eat lunch was he pressed by Ji Guichen:

“Eat.”

“I’m not going.” Bai Zhi shook his head: “I’ll continue studying.”

Ji Guichen raised his arm to put away his pen. From his backpack he pulled out a cartoon-themed insulated lunch box:

“Before you said that you didn’t like the food at school, so I…” Ji Guichen paused: “You’re not allowed to refuse.”

Bai Zhi looked at the Spongebob lunch box in front of him and opened his mouth in surprise: “You made this?”

Ji Guichen didn’t say anything, he just pushed the insulated lunch box closer.

The laughing Spongebob with the corners of its mouth drawn back carried a sense of joy. Bai Zhi couldn’t help smiling quietly while happily opening the lunch box: “Promise I’ll finish it!”

“Talk when you’re full.” Seeing how he was devouring it like a starving wolf, Ji Guichen frowned: “Slow down, I made it for you only, no one will fight you for it.”

Something very strange happened recently in Class 8, 10th grade.

That domineering Xie Siliu hadn’t stirred up trouble for a long time. Not only that, but according to reliable sources in his class, there was something even stranger.

Xie Siliu had started to study seriously.

Every day, if it wasn’t doing problems then it was memorizing the material. He was so diligent that he hardly left his seat, even his little brothers were stunned.

Luo Le stared at Bai Zhi for half a day as if he had seen a ghost. Then, he cautiously said:

“Boss, you– are broken?”

Bai Zhi’s ears heard nothing outside his head. He focused only on reading those sagely books and continued to dedicate himself to going over the textbook.

Under the supportive gazes of his little brothers, Luo Le slowly reached out and knocked fiercely on a certain demon who had already completely put himself in the embrace of studying:

“Boss! Wake up! Look at us!”

His voice was grief-stricken, as if it were in a scene of life and death.

Bai Zhi’s face filled with black lines, and he finally raised his head:

“You want to rebel?”

Luo Le nodded, then immediately shook his head after processing this: “No no no, boss, I just…”

“If you have something to say then hurry and say it, if you have to fart then hurry and fart.” Bai Zhi said impatiently: “Don’t hold up my studying.”

Luo Le: “…it’s over, boss has gone mad.”

Bai Zhi: “You’re the one who’s gone mad. If there’s nothing then I’ll continue studying.”

“There’s something there’s something!” Luo Le said quickly: “Boss, we haven’t done anything bad in a long time?”

“What kinds of bad things?”

“Fighting, brawling, skipping classes.” Luo Le’s face was as if it was obvious: “In the past wasn’t it always like this?”

Bai Zhi reviewed his memories and realized that things were indeed like this. He coughed a few times and said slowly: “Luo Le, I think that our aspirations should be larger and farther away.”

Luo Le: “Such as?”

“Test into Qing Bei or something.” [1]

Luo Le: “…”

Bai Zhi stood up and pointed towards the hallway: “That red list, I also want to make it on there.”

“I also want to not have to fold my grades up when I receive them, I also want to lie in bed every night filled with a sense of fulfillment, I also want to be able to do problems by myself.” Bai Zhi’s attitude became even more serious: “I want to catch up to that person, so that I can have the confidence to enjoy a shining future with him.”

“I want to stand by his side.”

After Bai Zhi’s words fell, Luo Le was dazed for a long time before slowly responding:

“Boss, these– are your heartfelt thoughts?”

Bai Zhi smiled: “I don’t know what heartfelt is. I only know that this thing in my chest has always been beating just for him.”

All four directions were silent in thought for a while. Suddenly Bai Zhi’s shoulders had a weight pressed onto them.

He turned his head back. The Ji Guichen who left just now had returned at some point, with one hand thrown over his shoulder. His voice was very gentle:

“Tired?”

Bai Zhi shook his head. Ji Guichen smiled, pulled back his chair, and slowly sat down: “If you’re tired then take a rest, I’ll organize your notes for you.”

Bai Zhi agreed and sat down to continue reading.

Luo Le watched the interaction between these two and suddenly felt that something was off.

Since when did boss have such a good relationship with that brat Ji Guichen?

He thought of Bai Zhi’s confession just now and could not help gloat a little.

Ji Guichen must not know about his boss’s affairs. Boss must have told only me, so my relationship with him is still better.

Luo Le happily returned to his seat, thought for a while, and also slowly opened his books.

My relationship with him is this good. Now that boss has started to study hard, how can this little brother by his side let him struggle alone?

The other little brothers were originally eagerly looking forward to Luo Le bringing the boss back. Who would have thought that after a few minutes, the boss hadn’t come back and Luo Le had also unexpectedly started studying.

What’s happening? A certain little brother was scared into having a double chin.

Another little brother reached out and shut his mouth with his hand, saying:

“Since boss and Luo Le have both started studying, then we should also study too.” 

The others echoed: “That’s right that’s right, boss isn’t in last place anymore. We can’t lose face for him.”

“That’s right, how can we embarrass the boss?”

And that was how the second strange event of Class 8 of 10th grade came to pass.

Those little brothers of Xie Siliu had also started diligently studying, what the hell is this!

Bai Zhi didn’t know that he had already successfully brought a group of future misfits onto the right path. Ever since he had set his goal of standing side by side with the person he liked, Bai Zhi was so busy that he almost forgot about spiritual fruits.

The week passed by fleetingly. The night before the monthly exam, Bai Zhi said goodbye to Ji Guichen somewhat uneasily and was about to go upstairs when Ji Guichen suddenly stepped forward and hugged him.

Bai Zhi lifted his head. Ji Guichen suddenly lowered his head to kiss him very lightly, lips gliding across his like a dragonfly grazing over water. Bai Zhi hadn’t even reacted before he heard Ji Guichen’s voice sound next to his own ear:

“Kissing you so that you can have sweet dreams.”

Hearing this, Bai Zhi unconsciously licked his lips: “This…isn’t sweet?”

“It will be sweet in your dreams.” Ji Guichen patted his head: “Time to go upstairs.”

“Oh.” Bai Zhi nodded and walked up in a few steps. Seeing him smiling and waving out the window in a silly manner, Ji Guichen also waved back before turning around and leaving slowly.

The day of the monthly exam, Bai Zhi woke up very early. The system was startled by him:

“Nephew, why are you awake this early?”

With his eyes open Bai Zhi took a deep breath: “Don’t know, I just woke up suddenly.”

The system was a little worried: “Nephew, don’t be nervous, you will still have me in the exam room.”

“En.” Bai Zhi nodded and then directly rolled over and sat up. Because the sky outside the window hadn’t brightened yet, it was hazy and a little hard to see clearly. He opened the window and gazed outside for a while before suddenly remembering something:

“Uncle, did Ji Guichen have a university he wanted to go to in the original novel?”

The system searched for a while: “It wasn’t mentioned, but Ji Guichen’s father was a professor of University A.”

Bai Zhi gaze was distant:

“University A.”

System: “Whether or not it really is this university, Ji Guichen will want to go, and it will be difficult for you.”

“I’m not afraid.” Bai Zhi said: “I have never been afraid.”

When the exam was about to start, Bai Zhi had arrived at the exam center ahead of time. When the bell rang, the papers were administered one by one.

Bai Zhi wrote down his personal information in the designated area and then began answering questions.

The entire time, the examination room contained only the sounds of pens moving and the footsteps of the proctor walking around. When the closing bell rang, Bai Zhi put down his pen.

When he exited the examination room, the sounds of people discussing problems were everywhere. With his backpack on his back, he met Ji Guichen who was waiting for him at the school gate.

“Let’s go back.”

Unexpectedly, Ji Guichen didn’t talk about the exam just now, only testing the weight of Bai Zhi’s backpack and saying:

“What do you want to eat?” 

“I can eat at home.” Bai Zhi didn’t want to bother Ji Guichen during the examination period, so he smiled: “Do your best this afternoon, you will definitely do better than last time.”

Ji Guichen’s expression was very calm, and he lightly replied with an ‘okay’.

Bai Zhi wondered why it felt like Ji Guichen didn’t care about the rankings. It was only until the day that the exam results were published that the little demon realized that it wasn’t that a certain person didn’t care. It was that he already knew what would happen.

“Ji Guichen got first place.”

The system’s voice sounded in his mind. Bai Zhi was stunned:

“First place?! He took first place when there was another protagonist?”

The system nodded: “The power of love is great. Ji Guichen was even able to break through the protagonist’s halo.”

“Then, then–” Bai Zhi couldn’t help running out at once, and he just happened to bump into Ji Guichen who was on his way back inside, holding onto a white sheet of paper.

“Where are you going?” Ji Guichen said.

Bai Zhi halted his steps and said in a flurry: “Ji Guichen you got first place! I– I– I was going to the honor roll to see you–”

“The honor roll is for others to see.” Ji Guichen smiled lightly: “The real deal is here, you don’t need to squeeze in the crowd there.”

Bai Zhi was so happy he kept on nodding without caring what Ji Guichen was saying: “Ok! As you say!”

Ji Guichen pulled him back to their seats and put the paper in his hand onto Bai Zhi’s table. He said:

“I just went to get your report card. Let’s have a look.”

Bai Zhi’s excitement was instantly replaced with nervousness. He blinked, glanced at Ji Guichen, and lifted his hand to flip open that report card:

“101– 101st place in the grade, Bai Zhi.”

Bai Zhi slowly finished saying. His eyes shifted.

“Going from over the 300th place to the 101st is a huge improvement.” Ji Guichen kneaded Bai Zhi’s head: “Let’s continue to work hard okay? The honor roll only lists the top 100 in each grade. Next time let’s try to get onto it okay?”

Bai Zhi lowered his head and said only after half a day: “En…”

Not knowing whether to laugh or cry, Ji Guichen took advantage of his inattention to hug him and started speaking again:

“Improving is a good thing. Don’t feel bad, you are already very great.”

“Really?” Bai Zhi asked.

Ji Guichen emphasized his reply: “Of course, 200 ranks worth of improvement is huge. Not to mention that you aren’t even a junior. You have a lot of time to accomplish everything.”

“That’s good.” Bai Zhi said: “Ji Guichen, I want to test into the same university as you.”

“You will, I promise.”

The day after the results were released happened to be the weekend, and Bai Zhi got up early to study. Suddenly he received a message from Ji Guichen:

“Are you up?”

He instantly replied: “I’m up.”

“Happened to pass by your place, brought you something.”

‘How is he passing by again…’ Bai Zhi scratched his head, instantly changing his shoes and running downstairs.

Ji Guichen was carrying a bag and looking at his phone downstairs.

Bai Zhi rushed over, stood in front of him, and shouted: “Ji Guichen.”

Hearing this, Ji Guichen looked up and handed over the bag he was holding:

“Just saw this in a store, I felt it would really suit you.”

Bai Zhi opened it. A pair of thick cartoon plush gloves came into view. On them were printed pink Peppa Pigs.

Bai Zhi’s eyes lit up immediately. Seeing this, Ji Guichen smiled and said: “Just saw this and bought it for you in passing. I think they suit you quite well.”

Bai Zhi happily accepted the gift, instantly putting the gloves on in front of Ji Guichen. Ji Guichen reached out and rubbed his head, saying: “What are you doing this weekend? Going so far as to wake up this early?”

Bai Zhi said with much pride: “I was studying. I’ve already been up for quite a while.” He paused, and then said: “I want to catch up with you more quickly so I can be with you and go to the same university.”

Ji Guichen was touched and he could not help asking: “Is being with me that important?”

It seemed that he had asked Bai Zhi a very strange question. Bai Zhi said: “Is there any reason to doubt this? You were always the most important.”

Ji Guichen’s eyes trembled: “Of those who think I’m important, you are the only one in this world.”

“Is it not enough?” Bai Zhi probed.

Ji Guichen’s voice when he replied was very soft:

“It’s enough.”

Upon which Bai Zhi immediately cheered up. Once cheerful, all he wanted to do was stick to his lover.

“Do you have anything else today? I want to stay with you…”

Ji Guichen thought about it very seriously for a while: “Today I want to finish doing the last questions in Wusan. I also want to check my answers for 42 sets. [2]

Bai Zhi blinked.

Ji Guichen’s voice quieted a bit: “…So, let’s study together.”

“Okay!”

The two found a bookstore, sat down by a window, and began to study with one of them doing problems and the other correcting their mistakes. There were two thermoses placed on the table, one with Peppa Pig and one that was pure black.

The sunlight fell through the window, bringing with it a slightly chilly wind. Ji Guichen finished the problems in Wusan, and Bai Zhi finally finished going through multiple days worth of questions he got wrong. He couldn’t help stretching and lying down sideways on the table.

Ji Guichen gazed at the limp Bai Zhi for a while before extending his hand to poke his dimples: “Finished going through them?”

“En…” Bai Zhi rubbed his eyes: “I’ll go through them again in a bit.”

“Take a break then.” Ji Guichen said: “You take a nap, I’ll watch over you.”

“There’s sunlight, can’t fall asleep.” Bai Zhi inclined his head in Ji Guichen’s direction. His voice carried several hints of softness: “I want to hear you sing.”

“How can I sing in a bookstore, everyone is very quiet here.” Ji Guichen kneaded his head and softened his voice: “Are you trying to get me to spoil you?”

“No way.” Bai Zhi stifled a cough, turned his head the other way, closed his eyes, and stopped talking.

Ji Guichen sunk into silence for a while. He took out a pair of earphones from his pocket, reached out, and stuck them into Bai Zhi’s ears: “Listen to this.”

The pure vocals of a youth sounded in his ears. Although the sound quality was a little grainy, Bai Zhi’s breathing became lighter as he slowly finished listening to the entire song. Raising his eyes he glanced at Ji Guichen: “Why have I never heard this song?”

Ji Guichen smiled and said with some nostalgia: “This was from before. I played and sang it by myself.”

Bai Zhi’s eyes instantly widened: “You wrote it yourself?”

“En.”

“Has anyone listened to it? It sounds so good, it must have earned a lot of praise.”

Ji Guichen paused for a while before saying: “You are the first.”

“Why didn’t you let others listen?” Bai Zhi was puzzled. 

Ji Guichen didn’t reply immediately. He glanced at the bookshelves, only speaking a bit self-deprecatingly after half a day: “During the second year of middle school, in arts and literature when I was younger, I used to write and make this and that. I always held myself back from saying anything, planning on showing only one person in the future.”

“Who?”

“You.”

Ji Guichen leaned closer to him, lowering his voice: “The person I like.”

Hearing this, Bai Zhi sucked in a breathe, whipped his head around, and with his bright eyes fixed on Ji Guichen, said:

“I also like you. Really really like you, that kind of like.”

The look in Ji Guichen’s eyes shifted. He only spoke after a long time, word for word filled with the utmost sincerity:

“What good have I done, to deserve the luck of meeting you.” [3]

At dusk, the two of them walked out of the bookstore. They took a detour in search of a place without people to hold hands, licking a cone of ice cream together in the cold wind. Bai Zhi dawdled all the way home with Ji Guichen. Just when he was about to take the initiative to ask for a kiss, the ever-silent voice of the system sounded in his mind:

“Ding! Nephew, someone secretly photographed you and Ji Guichen.

Bai Zhi’s eyes immediately sharpened. He quietly took a step back, smiled, and waved at Ji Guichen: “I’m going back now, stay safe on your way home.”

“Okay.” Ji Guichen didn’t notice Bai Zhi’s unusual behavior. He turned around and slowly left.

Bai Zhi pretended to go upstairs. In the blink of an eye he switched trails and followed the system’s instructions to the location of the person who secretly photographed them. His gradually quickened as his steps became more and more urgent.

“Uncle, who are they? What do they want to do? Why would they secretly photograph us?”

The system’s voice also carried several hints of rarely-heard gravity: “As of yet, no more concrete information has been detected. Nephew, find them immediately. Regardless of what their purpose is, we cannot let news of you and Ji Guichen spread.”

Bai Zhi nodded: “I know.”

The red dot on the system’s map grew closer and closer. Bai Zhi ended up just running. The system spoke up in a timely manner with some disquiet:

“They realized you’re chasing them! Nephew, take a shortcut, jump over the wall on the left!”

Bai Zhi instantly flipped over the wall and landed sideways steadily. Just in time, he ran into the person who was hugging their phone and hurriedly trying to escape.

He narrowed his eyes.

Xiao Hong.

The fleeing girl was visibly startled by Bai Zhi’s sudden appearance. She screamed shrilly and backed up a few steps, but after a short moment she came to her senses and stared with a guilty conscience at the person in front of her, saying with a thin and high voice: “What do you want to do? Xie Siliu, get out of my way!”

Bai Zhi stared at her flatly: “Delete the photos.”

“What photos?” Xiao Hong messed up, and then said falteringly: “Don’t slander others!”

“I have no interest in playing argument games with you.” Bai Zhi stepped forward and walked towards her slowly, his voice chilly: “I have always been a person who will never use words to solve a problem if action is enough.”

“You, you…” Xiao Hong’s eyes were tinged with panic: “Xie Siliu, others may be afraid of you, but I’m not afraid. If you are a man, you should know that you shouldn’t hit a girl.”

“If you were a well-behaved good girl, I wouldn’t even touch a hair on you, let alone hit you.” Bai Zhi smiled disdainfully:

“But you happen to be a stalker who shamelessly snoops on others’ privacy. Raising a hand against you would be considered acting on Heaven’s behalf.”

Bai Zhi viciously spoke these harsh words as he stepped forward and slammed his fist into the wall. Instantly, a crack appeared on the white concrete wall. Seeing this, Xiao Hong hurriedly stepped back a few steps in fright.

“Xie Siliu, you– isn’t it because of what I have in my hands that you are this angry?”

As Xiao Hong spoke, she suddenly sneered: “It really opened my eyes. It turns out that the school bully Xie Siliu had this kind of relationship with our top student Ji Guichen.”

“Homosexuality, aren’t you guys disgusting?”

Bai Zhi expressionlessly fixed his eyes on the girl in front, saying: “What kind of relationship we have is none of your business, and whether it is disgusting or not is not for you to say. Xiao Hong, I will give you one last piece of advice. From now on, seal your lips tightly, delete the photos on your own, and I can let you go.”

“Let me go? Xie Siliu, who do you think you are?” Xiao Hong was angered until her cheeks were flushed: “Let me tell you, leave Ji Guichen immediately, or else I will send these photos out and show you how terrible gossip can be!”

Bai Zhi stared at Xiao Hong motionlessly and sunk into silence for half a day before saying: “Xiao Hong, I gave you the chance, but you insist on making trouble for me. Since it’s come to this, I won’t show mercy then.”

After he finished speaking, Bai Zhi strode directly towards Xiao Hong’s position, lifted his hand, and amid the girl’s shrill panicked screams, directly knocked her unconscious.

“Uncle, you can act now.” Bai Zhi found the photos in the phone and deleted them. Just in case it didn’t work, he also took out the card and then directly snapped it.

The system scanned the surrounding environment and then materialized. It slowly moved beside Xiao Hong’s unconscious body, lifted its arm, and placed its hand near Xiao Hong’s head. A beam of light suddenly appeared in the system’s hand and immediately entered Xiao Hong’s mind.

“Memory wipe successful.” 

The system’s notification sounded thus. Bai Zhi knelt down to look at the system’s screen displaying what was erased. Suddenly he felt that this was a bit familiar.

As if he had seen this scene before…

The setting sun, like blood, pouring all over the ground. Under the icy cold moonlight, the towering stone broken and in ruins, the leftover bricks scattered as rubble.

In a daze, it was as if Bai Zhi had met someone. He stuck to them tightly and they spoke very lightly.

They called out: Silly little demon, listen to what I say carefully, you must hear everything clearly.

“After you go out, remember to be smart…learn how to see people, I can only…accompany you until here…”

“…I can’t protect you anymore.”

The man’s voice was clearly very near, but it sounded terribly weak as if he was seriously wounded, drawing closer to death with each breath. 

As he listened, Bai Zhi became very uncomfortable. He stretched his hand out to pull him back, but it came back covered in bright red.

That was human blood.

Warm, ice cold.

Bai Zhi struggled to open his eyes to look, but they were covered by the man in a death grip:

“Don’t look, it’s too ugly.”

Bai Zhi shook his head to try and deny it, but he was suddenly pulled into that person’s embrace. The man’s strength was strong as if he were trying to crush Bai Zhi into pieces. He trembled all over, unable to stop, but his voice still tried to maintain its calm.

Bai Zhi couldn’t clearly hear what he was saying and could only make out a few phrases in his daze:

“Take him away…not Tsurui…destroy his memory…” [4]

Then another force took Bai Zhi away, the ice-cold touch firmly pulling on Bai Zhi’s arm. Bai Zhi struggled to look back and saw only a blood-red figure on the walkway. [5]

Half-kneeling on the desolate palace steps, with hair falling down to their ankles.

That seemed to be…the Demon Lord.

“Nephew! Nephew!”

An anxious voice sounded continuously beside his ears. Bai Zhi abruptly came back to his senses and was met with the worried system:

“Uncle?”

“Wow wow wow you finally woke, that scared uncle to death!” The system rushed over to hug him and nervously looked at him for half a day. It said: “I performed a memory erasure on Xiao Hong. How come you fainted?”

“I fainted?” Bai Zhi scratched his head: “When did that happen?”

“A few minutes ago.” Bai Zhi pulled out his calculator and did some calculations: “You were unconscious for a total of five minutes and three seconds.”

“Could it be that I’m too tired from all the studying recently?” Bai Zhi thought it was strange: “It seems like I also had a dream?”

“A dream?”

“Something about ‘Demon Lord’ and ‘not Tsurui’…” Bai Zhi scratched his head: “I have always been an obedient demon, why would I dream about this?”

The system was visibly excited: “Tell me again what you dreamed of?!”

“Demon… Demon Lord.” Bai Zhi didn’t understand why the system suddenly became interested. He pondered for a while, and then said:

“Could it be that you are a fanboy of the Demon Lord?”

The system: “…”

“Ahem, it’s nothing.” The system lowered its head, closing off its expression: “It’s just that… ‘Demon Lord’ sounds like the role of a bad guy, didn’t expect that you would dream about that hahaha.”

Bai Zhi blinked and said disapprovingly: “Why would you judge whether someone is bad or good just because of a title?”

The system: “What?”

“I don’t think he’s a bad guy.” Bai Zhi thought what the person in his dream whispered in his ears and his chest tightened inexplicably: “He feels very familiar.”

“…Perhaps.” The system sunk into silence for a while and said: “Let’s settle the matter in front of us first.”

“What matter?”

The system pointed at Xiao Hong who was still lying there unconscious, pouting: “She’s too heavy so I can’t carry her, you do it.”

“No can do.” Bai Zhi refused at once: “If I carry a woman, Ji Guichen will get angry. Uncle, you should carry her instead.”

“You just want to feed me dog food, don’t you?” The system said angrily.

“That’s right.” Bai Zhi nodded as if it was obvious: “Either way you don’t have a bluefriend (boyfriend).” [6]

“Or a girlfriend.” The little demon quietly added.

The system: So infuriated it’s emitting smoke…!!!

“You can settle this yourself! I won’t help you, you white-eyed wolf!” [7] The system stormed off: “You can solve Ji Guichen’s side of things yourself!”

“I was wrong…” Bai Zhi instantly admitted: “Uncle you are so handsome, there are definitely many lined up to be my auntie!”

“That goes without saying.” The system put its hands on its hips.

Bai Zhi nodded to give the system some face. Once finished, he took out his phone: “I’m going to call the police now, uncle.”

“You want to turn yourself in?” The system snatched the phone: “Send a message to your teacher anonymously and reporting Xiao Hong’s location should be enough.”

“Okay.” Bai Zhi nodded obediently. Watching the system skillfully navigate through the phone screen, Bai Zhi could not help asking: “Uncle, how are you this experienced?”

“Did it often.”

“Often.”

“Yep.” The system didn’t even lift its head: “The late-night hacking incidents in your community were all done by me.”

Bai Zhi: “Isn’t it better to be a law-abiding citizen?”

“You are a demon and I am a machine, what citizens would we be?” The system said as if it were obvious: “In our world of machines, you can only pick up little sisters if you are technologically skilled.”

“And if you are not?”

“Then you have to be picked up by little brothers.” The system pretended to have goosebumps: “Can’t stand it.”

Bai Zhi: “…”

Only when the Xiao Hong that was lying on the ground was finally rushed to the hospital by her teacher and parents did Bai Zhi breathe a sigh of relief. Turning around to leave, his heart was a little despondent: “Taking care of this matter has wasted a lot of study time.”

“Then why don’t you continue to waste a little more.” The system said.

“Why?” Bai Zhi was confused: “Could it be that there are others who secretly photographed us?”

“Of course not.” The system explained: “Xiao Hong secretly taking pictures was because she couldn’t come to terms with being rejected by Ji Guichen. Since it stemmed from a desire for revenge, this childish matter is very easy to resolve.”

“But don’t forget, the biggest trouble for Ji Guichen is his depraved family in the background.”

As Bai Zhi frowned, he heard the system say, every word filled with disgust:

“Ji Guichen’s uncle is only his in name. He has never treated Ji Guichen as family.”

[1] 清北 (Qing Bei) – assuming he combined 清华 (Qing Hua / Tsinghua University) and 北大 (Bei Da / Peking University) which are top universities in China

[2] Wusan（五三, abbreviation for《5年高考3年模拟》) and 42 sets (parody of Tianli’s 38 sets?) are both prep books for the college entrance exam. 42 sets is the same book as the one Ji Guichen gifted Bai Zhi in ch 35

[3] Ji Guichen says “何德何能 (lit. what abilities what virtues) , 三生有幸 (lit. three lives lucky)”. The second half is an idiom used to describe being extremely lucky in meeting a particular person (doesn’t have to be a lover, could be future best friend, etc.)

[4] Tsurui (鹤居) is also a Japanese village, don’t know if it will be relevant https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsurui

[5] Flashback happens in this kind of environment

[6] “Blue friend” (蓝朋友) is Internet slang for “boyfriend” (男朋友) – the first characters (蓝 and 男) sound similar in Chinese

[7] White-eyed wolf (白眼狼) – ungrateful person