DMMY Chapter 10: Milk Tea
by AbyssFor whom?
Sheng Yan felt like his ears might be deaf. He raised his eyebrows in suspicion.
Qin Zigui leaned against the wall, casually adding, “At least part of the reason is for you.”
Part of it?
“What about the other part?” Sheng Yan asked.
Qin Zigui remained unchanged, “For justice.”
Sheng Yan: “…”
You have quite the sense of justice.
But for the sake of justice, it is understandable, but for the sake of yourself, what kind of nonsense are you talking about?
Thinking of Qin Zigui’s incredible acting just now, Sheng Yan became wary, “What does it have to do with me?”
“Don’t you say I’m someone you’re protecting?” Qin Zigui glanced at Sheng Yan, “I can’t just watch you get bullied.”
Only then did Sheng Yan remember that Qin Zigui had heard the entire conversation between him and Fu Yun just now.
“Who is protecting you? Those words were just to scare them. Don’t overthink it. And I made those punks from Class Four cry for mercy. Figure out who bullied whom before speaking, don’t stick your nose into everything.” Sheng Yan’s face tensed, he turned away, his tone not particularly friendly.
After a slight pause, he added with some awkwardness, “Fu Yun has been taunting you for a while now. Just pretend you didn’t hear the nonsense they said. Don’t take it to heart, or it’ll mess with your head.”
He wasn’t actually sure if Qin Zigui’s performance in front of the weasel was just an act or if he was genuinely upset.
But when he saw Qin Zigui’s expression just now, for some reason, he remembered Qin Zigui sitting alone on the steps downstairs, lost in thought, when they were younger.
He couldn’t articulate exactly what that feeling was, just that he felt unsettled.
But Qin Zigui himself seemed unconcerned, still as cold and rational as usual. “Some of the things they said were not wrong. I really am an orphan, living under someone else’s roof.”
Upon hearing this, Sheng Yan became somewhat agitated and turned back to him sternly, “Who are you living under the roof of? Is it because Aunt Qin and Uncle Jiang treat you badly, or because my grandma and grandpa treat you badly? Even my mom praises you and scolds me all day long. What have I liked that hasn’t been shared with you since we were kids? As the young master of the Qin family, is there anything you’re not comfortable with? Living under whose roof? Which of their nonsense was right?”
Seeing Sheng Yan’s earnest and slightly angry expression, Qin Zigui couldn’t help but lower his head and suppress a smile.
Just when Sheng Yan was about to explode, Qin Zigui smiled and said calmly, “So I said I went to find those punks for you, because I promised you when we were young that if anyone bullied you, I would help you fight back. I can’t go back on my word.”
His tone was light, but when Sheng Yan met his gaze, he felt like he had been punched in the chest.
So Qin Zigui didn’t prioritize romantic relationships over friendships at all.
Not only did he not have any romantic relationship, but he also remembered the promise from their childhood, which was why, upon learning that Sheng Yan had been scratched by those punks, he went to settle the score with them.
So that was it.
But he had lost his temper with Qin Zigui yesterday.
Sheng Yan suddenly felt a bit guilty.
But then he also felt that it wasn’t entirely his fault, because what Qin Zigui said a year ago was indeed very hurtful.
And over the past year, he had actively tried to mend their relationship, both overtly and covertly, but Qin Zigui had ignored it all, remaining cold, even extremely cold towards him, even on the day before his birthday.
Sheng Yan still felt a bit resentful.
It wasn’t about whether Qin Zigui apologized or not, it was that he felt Qin Zigui might still be hiding something from him. If this matter passed by without explanation, he would feel uneasy.
So he felt a bit guilty while also feeling a bit angry. He didn’t know how to respond for a while, so he just stood there with a stern face, saying nothing.
Qin Zigui seemed to sense what he was thinking and said calmly, “Let’s leave it at that. It was my fault before. It’s okay if you don’t want to forgive me.”
His tone and expression were as indifferent and calm as ever, but for some reason, Sheng Yan could see a hint of loss and hurt that couldn’t be concealed on that expressionless face.
So Sheng Yan felt even more guilty.
Was he too harsh on Qin Zigu?
Was he too petty?
Was Qin Zigui really upset now?
Should he forgive Qin Zigui first?
Sheng Yan’s mind was in turmoil, but before he could come to a conclusion, the shrill bell for morning self-study cut through his thoughts, making him instinctively furrow his brows.
Qin Zigui straightened up, “Let’s go back to the classroom. I’ll help you move your desk.”
Sheng Yan: “?”
Move what desk?
“…”
Move that desk!
Sheng Yan suddenly remembered that these boys’ love affairs were not important at all. What mattered was that he was about to face at least a month of imprisonment in a place surrounded by three sides of mountains and one side of water!
So he immediately reacted, “No, you don’t need to help me move. I’ll go back to the classroom myself. Leave some time for me to say goodbye to Zhu Peng and Gou You.”
After saying that, he hurried back to Class Six, sat down at his desk, and started frantically searching through his desk for his phone.
His swift movements startled Zhu Peng, who had just lost his cookies due to Sheng Yan’s scare, causing him to jump in surprise and drop his cookies.
Even Gou You, sitting beside him, couldn’t bear it anymore. “Yan Ge, what are you looking for so anxiously?”
Sheng Yan didn’t even lift his head, “If you were made to sit in front of the third-ranked student in the grade, with the second-ranked student beside you, and the first-ranked student behind you, one of them being the head of the Discipline Inspection Department, and the other being the president of the Student Union, while on the other side is where Huang Shuliang often observes, for a month, how would you feel?”
Gou You didn’t hesitate, “Either depression or death.”
Sheng Yan was not surprised, “Exactly.”
But he was still young, he still wanted to live well, he had promised Mrs. Xu to continue growing up kindly, bravely, happily, and happily, so he had to save himself.
Sheng Yan quickly pulled out his phone, opened the Wish Fulfillment app, and made a wish: [I hope Huang Shuliang retracts the idea of āāthe auspicious Feng Shui spot], then began to anxiously wait.
But for some reason, this time the white circle spun for an unusually long time, and it still didn’t respond whether it was approved or not.
Sheng Yan pursed his lips, tapping the screen with his fingertips incessantly.
He felt visibly anxious.
Gou You couldn’t help but ask, “Yan Ge, what’s wrong? Are you waiting for someone’s message?”
Waiting for a message from God.
Of course, he couldn’t say that, otherwise, he would seem like a lunatic, so he just casually replied without even meeting Gou You’s gaze, “Do you believe that there really is a wish fulfillment system in the world?”
Gou You didn’t even think about it, “Of course I believe.”
Zhu Peng, who was in the front row, also turned around to join in the curiosity, “I believe too.”
Sheng Yan raised his eyebrows.
Gou You said seriously, “Only by believing in the existence of the Wish Fulfillment System can we believe in the existence of Hogwarts. Next year, I won’t have to take the college entrance examination.”
Zhu Peng added solemnly, “And we must believe in the light.”
After a pause, he added, “Quoted from ‘Ultraman Tiga.'”
Sheng Yan: “…”
Two lunatics.
But being surrounded by lunatics was better than being surrounded by the prison warden. Thinking of Qin Zigui’s face, which was no different from that of a law enforcement AI, staring at him for fifteen hours a day, Sheng Yan felt that life was unbearable.
Fortunately, after tapping the phone screen countless times, the interface paused, and the white circle finally stopped spinning, showing four big characters [Wish Approved].
Thank goodness, he still had this thing to save himself.
He wouldn’t really be sent to prison.
Sheng Yan breathed a sigh of relief, finally relaxing, lazily opening the task, ready to embrace the dawn of a new life. Then, the next second, his body, which was halfway relaxed, suddenly froze.
On the screen were glaringly written four big characters ā [Wish Task: Pass all subjects in the next mock exam].
“…All subjects? Pass?”
Did he have such ability? Otherwise, would he be thrown into that Feng Shui treasure land that wasn’t human?
What kind of broken system was this!
Can’t it consider the host’s perspective and think about it for the host?
Sheng Yan was angry, about to make another wish: [Hope to pass all subjects in the next exam], but the system cruelly informed him [This week’s wish quota has been used up, please come back next week].
Sheng Yan angrily threw his phone into the desk, leaned back heavily on the back of the chair, arms hanging down, his gaze numb, as if he was about to go to the distant execution ground.
Gou You and Zhu Peng couldn’t help but ask out of curiosity, “Yan Ge, what’s wrong? Why did you lose your soul after going to the bathroom?”
Sheng Yan slumped on the back of the chair, with a straight face. He didn’t want to move any part of his body except his mouth: “I just met a weasel in the toilet.”
“Then?”
“He said I set a new record for the lowest history score in the past five years in the science class exam.”
“So?”
“So he’s preparing to give me special treatment.”
“What kind?”
“It’s the Feng Shui treasure land I just told you about.”
“…Sheng Yan felt that the moment he finished speaking, all the creatures within the range of his voice sent him a look of sorrow, as if saying farewell to a hero who would never return.
And sympathy.
That naked, unmasked, profound and sad sympathy.
“Yan Ge, take care. There’s a long way to go. Brothers can only accompany you to this point.” Zhu Peng solemnly placed the cookie he had just dropped on Sheng Yan’s Chinese textbook.
Sheng Yan wanted to slap him.
But Gou You reluctantly tried to comfort him, “Yan Ge, it’s okay. We don’t have to be so desperate. Maybe it’s not as terrifying and exaggerated as we think. Lin Qian’s personality, you know it’s pretty good, right? And Qin Zigui isn’t really the kind of completely unfeeling person. He still has some loyalty in him. The days might not be as difficult as you think.”
“Yeah, Sheng Yan, be more optimistic. They are not bad people.”
Zhu Peng nodded in agreement.
Sheng Yan: “?”
Weren’t these two always the most afraid of Qin Zigui? They talk about Qin Zigui as if he’s the grim reaper every day. Why are they suddenly speaking up for him today?
He frowned and looked at Gou You.
Gou You was slightly stunned at first, then realized, “Yan Ge, have you not read the latest posts on the vocational school forum?”
Sheng Yan cooled down a bit at the mention of this, “I heard about it from Zhu Peng.”
“Not that one.” Gou You handed him the phone, “There’s been a new development. Lin Qian appeared to clear Qin Zigu’s name, and public opinion has shifted.”
The screen displayed a forum post.
The post on the phone screen is titled “Event Report on the Conflict between Our School’s Qin Zigui and Your School’s Huang Mao and Others” and is from Lin Qian.
The content of the post is as follows:
[Regarding the incident spreading on your school’s forum today about our school’s Qin Zigui getting into a big fight with your school’s Huang Mao due to jealousy, as the person involved, I have something to say.
Firstly, our school’s Qin Zigui did not pick a fight for no reason. It was because your school’s Huang Mao and his accomplices harassed me verbally and physically at the back gate of our school on the evening of July 1st and at noon on July 3rd. They also insulted me at noon and in the evening on July 6th (all of which have witnesses and evidence, available upon request).
Therefore, as my classmate and desk mate, Qin Zigui, who is the most righteous man in our class, took certain measures to make your school’s low-quality individuals, including Huang Mao, who always play with the boundaries of the law, deeply aware of their mistakes and promised never to repeat them.
This action is indeed an act of justice to uphold righteousness, protect women, and defend the weak, and it is by no means provoking trouble, as rumored (testimonies from Huang Mao and others are available upon request).
Secondly, Qin Zigui and I only have the most innocent student relationship. It is true that I am as beautiful as a flower, and he is handsome, but I am solely focused on getting into Tsinghua University, and he is solely focused on getting into Peking University. Therefore, we have no thoughts about each other except as competitors. Our chat screenshots are as follows:
[Lin Qian: Qin Zigui, I heard you like me~
Qin Zigu: I don’t like ducks.
Qin Zigu: Playing with your phone during morning self-study, deduction of three conduct points.
Lin Qian: ???]
Who could still say he likes me after seeing this screenshot? Please go see a psychologist.
Thirdly, in conclusion, our school’s Qin Zigui loves learning, abides by the law, is full of justice, acts bravely, and has never engaged in any ambiguous or unclear behavior. So are you guys from the vocational school bored? Your total scores in all six subjects combined don’t even match someone else’s score in one subject. Yet, you still have the nerve to compare and provoke trouble here every day, spreading rumors and causing trouble. Your brains couldn’t even fit the size of a large intestine, let alone the kind of crap you’re spewing? So you’d better not cause trouble, or else you’ll face a double blow of intelligence and force, leading to self-isolation and increasing the burden on society.]
Below, Huang Mao and his group’s chat records, where they admitted their actions, are all posted. Even if the vocational school students want to argue logically, they can’t resist the evidence or the loss of their momentum.
In addition, Gou You and his group each have a secondary account to praise Qin Zigui excessively and to condemn Huang Mao’s group as the scum of society. Thus, an extremely boring farce temporarily ends with a crushing victory.
As for why Lin Qian posted this, it’s definitely not for herself. She’s a good girl who can just disappear directly.
It’s probably because she heard some rumors and wanted to thank Qin Zigui, while also feeling unfair about the rumors surrounding Qin Zigui, so she came out to clarify.
From this perspective, Qin Zigui should indeed be easy to get along with.
As for Qin Zigu…
Just as Sheng Yan was thinking about it, Gou You made a sound of clicking his tongue twice: “To be honest, I really can’t see it. Qin Zigui still has such a chivalrous and passionate side. I used to think he was a cold-blooded animal.”
“Yeah, and if you think about it carefully, we often bring our phones and he finds out, but he never confiscates them.” Zhu Peng mumbled vaguely as he ate his cookies.
Gou You pondered for a moment, “That’s true. He deducts quite a few points for minor misbehavior, but he never snitches behind our backs or acts like he doesn’t see the puppy love stuff.”
“Yeah, and remember the iodine and cotton swabs that Chen Yubai brought to Yan Ge? He bought them.”
After Zhu Peng finished speaking, Sheng Yan looked at him: “What did he buy?”
Zhu Peng innocently chewed on his cookies, “Just the iodine and cotton swabs from before. He mentioned it to me last night when I was playing games with Chen Yubai. How about it, Yan Ge, didn’t you know?”
He didn’t know.
Sheng Yan was slightly stunned.
So actually, that day when Qin Zigui saw him injured, he didn’t really turn a blind eye. Not only did he help him fight, but he also sent medicine, but he didn’t tell him because of the cold war.
He even bought durian mille-crepe to apologize to him yesterday.
Today, he spoke up for him again.
Yet, he hadn’t given Qin Zigui a good face throughout.
Sheng Yan forgot for a moment how wronged, sad, and heartbroken he was when he was suddenly told to end the friendship a year ago, and he forgot the numerous times this year when he had put down his pride to make amends, only to be met with coldness time and time again. He just felt sour inside.
Before he could figure out why he felt this sour, he heard a faint voice behind him: “Morning self-study is ending soon. Huang Shuliang asked me to come over and help you move your desk.”
Sheng Yan turned his head and saw that Qin Zigui was already standing calmly at the back door.
Then he forgot what he was supposed to say and just said, “Oh.”
So Qin Zigui skillfully picked up his fallen backpack from the ground, neatly packed everything on the table one by one, and put them away.
That slender, beautiful, cold white hand kept swaying in front of Sheng Yan, and the dark red scar on the back of the hand kept stabbing Sheng Yan’s eyes.
It wasn’t deep, but it was long, spanning the entire back of the hand. When it fell on that hand, which was originally as perfect as a work of art, it looked very conspicuous.
This was the hand Qin Zigui used to play the violin, code, and write the top exam papers in the city.
Sheng Yan pursed his lips and asked, “Does it hurt?”
Qin Zigu’s expression remained unchanged, “It’s okay. After all, I’m not good at fighting. It’s normal to get injured a little.”
Right.
How could Qin Zigui, such a well-behaved good student, be good at fighting? If it weren’t for himself, he definitely wouldn’t do such a thing.
It’s just that he would definitely be bullied miserably by Huang Mao and his gang. Apart from here, there might be other places where he was injured but Sheng Yan couldn’t see.
But yesterday evening, he was just angry and didn’t care about him at all, nor did he care for him properly.
He felt he was too much.
Sheng Yan felt a bit uncomfortable inside. After hesitating for a while, he finally awkwardly spoke, “Um, do you drink milk tea?”
Qin Zigui stopped his actions and looked at him.
Sheng Yan didn’t want Qin Zigui to see his weakness and guilt, so he straightened his back and said confidently, “I just think I might buy an extra cup at noon. If you want it, I’ll give it to you, with absolutely no other meaning.”
Qin Zigui met his bright and guilty eyes for three seconds, slightly paused, then lowered his eyelashes, “Hmm, I like it sweet.”
Author’s note:
QinĀ·TeaĀ·ZiĀ·White FlowerĀ·Rule: Iām really not good at fighting. Anyway, my wife just believes me.
T/N: I’d like to know just how thick sheng yan’s filters on Zigui are! Poor Huang Mao(literally translates to Yellow hair)