Chapter 22

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Chapter 21 | 🗑️ Contents 🗑️ | Chapter 23

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Translator: Silvery

PR: Decadence

The day where they deepen their bonds has finally arrived. The students of Team 7 are all slightly nervous.

In particular, there is one Boss Bro who was booted onto the ground by another Boss Bro after Night Self-Study the day before.

Just recently, they had bore witness to the Study God’s misdeed when he turned his back on his roommate and mugged in the dark. The students of Team 7 are already filling in the blanks on how these two must be drawing their swords and letting loose a spray of blood rain whenever they’re in the privacy of their room.

The activity has yet to begin, but many have already arrived at the activity room much early on. Each bearing a phone of their own – right before each other’s faces – their fingers fly across their keyboards to message in the chat group.

【TREMBLE-Dark.Night.Elf!: One man would like to report: Last night, I studied up till 3AM before getting ready to sleep. God Kun was still headed for the washroom to freshen up then.】

【Full-Throttle-Late-At-Night!: Envying this messenger. I got too absorbed in my studies down at CBD’s KFC last night. When I looked up, it was already 5.】

【Sleeping_Late_Makes_Me_Happy: Why did you get to see God Kun use the restroom? Were you studying in the washroom? How’s the environment there?】

【TREMBLE-Dark.Night.Elf!: I’d no choice. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Who told the table lamps to be confiscated. The washrooms are quite clean. The lighting was good too. That said, there’s no more room on our floor. You can try the other floors though.】

【N-Uni@4AM: The washroom’s way too stuffy. I rec the small garden instead. Not only is the environment nice, the street lights are quite good too. If there’s anything, it’d be that there are too many mosquitos. It’s best if you bring two bottles of insect repellent with you.】

【Dreaming-of-Being-Provincial-NO.1: Sorry to interrupt, but I thought we were still talking about the Boss Bro VS Boss Bro in a bloodthirsty war…】

【DarkNight-bestowed-me-w-DarkEyes: Save that for later. Where are the exact coordinates of this small garden?】

……

The two Boss Bros who are supposedly drawing their blades at each other are still dilly-dallying in their dorm room.

Squatting at the side of the bed, Yu Sheng pins Jin Linkun down by the knee with one hand and turns to get the medicine:

“Does it hurt?”

“The pain’s long gone.”

Jin Linkun reaches out to hand him the meds:

“There’s 5 minutes left. In consideration of how important the activity is today, I think we can actually wait till we get back to chan—”

Yu Sheng smacks a hand down on his knee: “Don’t move.”

Jin Linkun no longer budges an inch. Head dipping low, he watches Yu Sheng pull off the bandages meticulously without missing a single step, then he cleans the wound and reapplies a new layer of medicine.

Yu Sheng’s movements are all quite fast.

One only needs a glance to know he’s got plenty of experience with applying medication and rebandaging. His hands never shake once throughout, running through the steps efficiently ever pausing.

The hand holding on to a bottle of povidone iodine is delicate, long, and pretty. Its fingers brush over the wound steadily. Before Jin Linkun even manages to wince, a soothing chill has already settled over the wound. New dressing has already been applied and the bandages are rewrapped.

“Done.” Yu Sheng ties a knot swiftly and rises to his feet, “Let’s go—”

He pauses and he waves a hand before Jin Linkun’s eyes:

“The pain got to you?”

“Huh?”

Jin Linkun snaps back to himself and shakes his head:

“No… Let’s get out of here.”

Yu Sheng is a step ahead of him. Casually rolling up two workbooks to dump in his bag, he holds the door and turns to wait for him.

Jin Linkun finds his balance on the ground and tests his foot out with a couple of steps. He follows suit:

“It doesn’t hurt at all. You’re very skilled at this.”

Last night, after he suggested that they let bygones be bygones, Yu Sheng was silent for the longest time.

There’s still a ways back before they arrive at the school. After toying with his phone for some time, Jin Linkun thought he might be asleep and leaned over to sneak a peek.

In the end, he came to meet the eyes of his new roomie in close proximity.

The backseat of the car is slightly cramp. As Jin Linkun’s mind raced to consider whether to get the driver to pull over so he can dodge a bullet and avoid another accidental injury, Yu Sheng suddenly spoke up:

“—alright.”

The youth sat quietly in place. The kaleidoscope of colours from the streets outside slipped in and are reflected in his dark eyes, bringing out the delicate beauty of his appearance vividly.

He raised his head to look at him, and he said it once again:

“Alright.”

……

Jin Linkun couldn’t escape from this dream for the whole night.

In the middle of the night, when he was about to head to the toilet to wash his face: The moment he opened the door, he was almost scared into another horrible tumble by the row of bobbing heads lined up beside the sinks.

The activity room is located at the top floor of the dormitory. Not only are the duo not late, they even got there 2 minutes early.

Not a single voice can be heard throughout the entire room. Every living soul has their head dropped and are punching their phone furiously. WeChat’s vibrations follow one after another; no one has even a second to spare on looking up and noticing the newcomers.

“……”

Jin Linkun follows after Yu Sheng to sit in the back row. Inexplicably affected by this atmosphere, he waves his phone at him:

“When in Rome, do as Romans do?”

Yu Sheng doesn’t have an ounce of interest. Pulling out his phone in response and doing the same to him, he drops it screen-down on the desk and lays out the workbook he was only halfway through yesterday.

The workbook belongs to Jin Linkun. The way he answered was extremely slovenly: 90% of the questions only had their answers written; only on the rare questions which are too complicated, then are there a few lines of calculations made for checking in the side margin.

A casual flip through the entire book also shows the traces of dog-eared pages on the first few pages. However, the later sections for the questions all seem brand-new, looking as though they have never been solved before.

Yu Sheng has his own study habits and is unaffected. He still maintains his own pace as he runs through the exercises.

Jin Linkun takes this in from the side for a while before his focus shifts to the hand which Yu Sheng is unknowingly twirling a pen with.

It’s a very nice-looking hand.

Though the joints are not protruding, they are obvious. The fingers are long and powerful too. Spread across his knuckles are a few faint scars.

That pen seems exceptionally tame when clutched in his hand. It spins speedily between those digits, steady and firm, never showing the slightest sign of falling.

……

Jin Linkun studies it in detail for a couple of moments before he extracts his own pen too.

On the 7th clatter which comes from his side and when a black spot is left on the back of his hand by the tip of that pen, Yu Sheng finally looks up expressionlessly and confiscates his pen.

“I didn’t do it intentionally.”

Jin Linkun apologizes very genuinely, moving of his own accord to help wipe away the ink on his hand:

“This is really difficult. Plenty of practice is still required to gather sufficient experience… Did it prick you?”

Yu Sheng scowls, just about to retract his hand when his arm suddenly freezes.

This guy was using a freaking quick-drying pen.

The ink blotch has already dried on the back of his hand within three seconds. No matter how one tries, it doesn’t come off. Despite rubbing for a while, Jin Linkun is still unable to make half a dot come off from that unchanging splotch. Therefore, he actually grasps his hand and pulls it over to himself.

His palms are like a furnace, hot and dry. When plastered to the edges of Yu Sheng’s palm, he somehow feels a bit warm.

Yu Sheng’s shoulders jolt once. Bit by bit, he manages to regain control over them and drops his shoulders, pulling his hand out:

“Enough. Don’t mind it.”

“Let me try again.”

Jin Linkun has plenty of persistence. Taking his hand and tugging it towards himself, he lowers his head and takes a huge breath.

“……”

【SAVEMEBOSSBROSBEHINDMEAGAIN: Hold on. Friends, look at what’s behind me…】

【Sleeping_Late_Makes_Me_Happy: Who are you?】

【Dreaming-of-Being-Provincial-NO.1: …The last row. You guys, are you seriously not going to know each other for real?】

【Full-Throttle-Late-At-Night!: WTF! WHEN DID THE BOSS BROS COME IN HERE?】

【Sleeping_Late_Makes_Me_Happy: WTF! WHAT WORKBOOKS ARE THE BOSS BROS USING??】

【TREMBLE-Dark.Night.Elf!: WTF! WHAT ARE THE BOSS BROS DOING EXACTLY???】

The pair actually did not make much of a noise. Nevertheless, since the activity room is too quiet to begin with, even the softest voice becomes extremely obvious in the sea of vibrations.

In a matter of seconds, all eyes which think themselves as subtle are already landing on them from all directions and are scanning the last row from left to right.

……

Yu Sheng pulls his hand out in an instant, flitting his eyes past Jin Linkun, who looks like he’s not done yet, and simply shoving his hand into the under table storage.

Old Wan appears on the dot.

When he arrives, the activity room has already returned to its original, total silence.

The Academic Tyrants who received a round of genial, sweeping glance from the Study God sit quieter than dead chickens. Backs jammed-straight, eyes kept upfront, their laser-sharp focus seem to be at a never-seen-before apex.

Old Wan doesn’t notice that anything is off. He merrily passes the forms in his hands to Kong Jiahe to be distributed. Standing before the speaking podium, he briefly runs through the next section of activities planned for the Summer Camp as well as the format for the competition.

Yu Sheng receives two forms from the hands of the quivering Vice-Captain. He thanks him, and he runs his eyes over the form twice.

It is the Basic Particulars Form for the Summer Camp. Apparently, everyone must fill it in so they can submit it together in a few days to be kept as the records for the Summer Camp’s members.

There isn’t anything which needs to be filled for serious. It’s just some blanks asking for name-age-birth-place-family-etc. Yu Sheng passes one of the forms over to Jin Linkun and scrawls a few strokes through his own, stuffing it into his workbook’s book pocket thereafter.

“The students who are called upon will come up. The next student shall then prepare.”

While Kong Jiahe distributes the forms one by one, Old Wan pulls out a name list and nags unhurriedly:

“It wasn’t easy for everyone to be gathered here. We must treasure this short period of time and let it become a special memory for us…”

The name list is according to their rankings when they entered the Camp. Old Wan flips to the first page and calls out, full of smiles:

“Jin Linkun.”

Jin Linkun pulls himself up to his feet slowly.

Before he manages to get to the speaking podium, he’s held back by Old Wan who’s seated at the front row. He discusses something with him in a low whisper.

Yu Sheng was just inspecting that black dot for ways to get rid of it when he notices the lack of Jin Linkun’s voice and looks up to take a glance.

Jin Linkun has only just finished listening to Old Wan’s patient yet heartfelt explanation. Nodding amenably to him, he accepts something and gets onstage, picking up a piece of chalk to write his name down.

“I am Jin Linkun. Everyone should know me, so there’s no need to say anymore.”

Jin Linkun puts down the chalk and extracts a paper napkin to wipe his hands off. Glancing at Old Wan, who is eyeing him meaningfully, he follows the script much obligingly and recites:

“What everyone might be more interested in is how I study. The truth is, if you were to ask me, one should prioritize rest just as much as work when it comes to studying. It should not just be about pushing one’s body beyond its limits…”

Old Wan originally came from H High to introduce new studying methods and instil good studying habits. But with that said, the passion which Team 7’s students hold for studying is running too high. If they continue on this path, they will eventually damage their bodies.

Therefore, it is compulsory for him to put a leash on them instead.

He has yet to learn about the table lamp’s origins. However, after several nights of careful consideration, he deemed it to be best if Jin Linkun was to introduce the relevant, correct, and scientifically proven ways of studying.

The gusto the academic overlords offstage had when they heard of studying methods instantly run cold. Looking at the Study God who led them to mug, they are completely unswayed.

Jin Linkun does everything with due diligence. Facing a crowd of academic tyrants bearing frosty faces, he recites the script Old Wan had nudged at him which is so filled with scientific ways of studying while maintaining work-life balance. Folding it smoothly, he steps offstage and returns to his seat.

Yu Sheng doesn’t share the innate gift he seems to have for shamelessness. Simply going up then down, he hands over the stage to the next person.

Maybe it’s because the way he punched the Study God also punched its way into most people’s hearts. Even though his self-introduction was so simple it consisted of just his name, the applause when he steps offstage is still multiple times more thunderous compared to Jin Linkun’s.

The next one to go up is Kong Jiahe. The way he speaks has already been trimmed a lot through these past few days of training. Stepping onstage with wobbly knees, he spews out the script he spent an entire night pouring over then he zooms back to his seat with a beet red face.

“Hello, everyone. I’m called Xia Junhua. My other name’s Full Throttle Late at Night. Those who are interested in joining the competition are welcomed to join our group.”

“I am Dong Jue, ID is Sleeping Late Makes me Happy. I’m from Province Seventh High. My hobby is doing drills.”

“Ding Zhengjiao… My ID is Dreaming of Being Provincial’s Number 1.”

“Cen Rui. Otherwise known as Tremble, Dark Night Elf.”

“Liang Yifan, my ID is Save Me—”

……

Student Liang Yifan whose WeChat ID is SAVEMEBOSSBROSBEHINDMEAGAIN gulps and stammers a bit:

“S-Save me. Everyone just needs to have a rough idea of it. I’m a liberal arts student. I come from City T. Very pleased to meet you guys.”

Jin Linkun’s curiosity is piqued by that. He tugs on Yu Sheng to ask:

“Are the IDs these days all so real?”

Yu Sheng also has such a group in his Central Third’s class. Having already guessed what these guys were hinting at, he runs his eyes over Jin Linkun and “En”s casually:

“Could be.”

Everyone is met with loud applause when they are coming down. Jin Linkun carefully puts them side by side with his and arrives at the conclusion:

“From the looks of it, everyone doesn’t seem to welcome my speech.”

“Work-Life Balance?” Yu Sheng side-eyes him, “Count yourself lucky not to be punched.”

Even Jin Linkun thinks that makes plenty of sense. Nodding to himself, he pulls out that script to open it up:

“I was too careless. I took one glance at the script then recited it. I didn’t think too much of it.”

Yu Sheng takes a peek.

It’s a red square manuscript^ that is hand-written with a fountain pen. All letters densely packed together with both strokes thin and deep where the ink sinks in, it must have taken more than a day.

(^红格稿纸)

When Old Wan called out to him at that time, the thing he wanted to give him turns out to be this.

Despite looking regretful, Jin Linkun’s hands still align the ends of the paper and folds it properly, slipping it into his book.

The pen in Yu Sheng’s hands pauses for a moment but he spares him the jab. He turns to continue solving his questions.

Yet, over on this side, Jin Linkun has yet to fully get over it. He’s still lamenting quite a lot over it, sighing at this unfortunate turn of events:

“If I knew it would influence my interpersonal relationships so much, I should have amended it when I read it aloud. With my previous popularity…”

Yu Sheng: “……”

When he recalls how he was pulled under because of him and kicked out of that WeChat group, the thought which had just occurred to Yu Sheng abruptly disappears. He looks at him with a fiery temper:

“What popularity do you—”

He pauses.

The post he saw that day suddenly surfaces in his memories again, combining with Jin Linkun’s serious folding of the script to form a distracting blur.

……

Yu Sheng puts down his pen and sits on it for a while but can’t restrain himself in the end. He searches through his phone to click into that post.

Having entered it, he follows the page and comment number in his memories to locate the comment with the photo which can only be seen after it’s paid.

Payment is quite the hassling matter. One needs to download the App which the forum directs them to. Then, they need to register, top-up, and answer various questions to activate their account.

Yu Sheng stomps down on his impatience and runs through the steps one after another. Tapping in after topping up a dollar, he finally manages to click open that hidden photo.

The Jin Linkun in the photo looks slightly younger than his present self.

Decked out in Province Point’s uniform, an arm slung affectionately over his shoulders by others, he stands before the Teaching Block with a bunch of people. His smile is radiant, his eyes reflecting the light from the sun.

Yu Sheng bunches up his brows.

After looking at that photo for a while, the hand which was reaching to back out hesitates, then clicks to screenshot.

A message instantly pops out: Do you want a screenshot? Do you want to save this photo? Top up 18.8 to immediately enjoy membership rights and get your very own exclusive collection of high-definition, original pictures. The heart-throbbing experience is right within your reach!

Gripping onto the phone, Yu Sheng sits for three seconds expressionlessly then backs out into his home page.

And he unhesitatingly deletes this garbage, money-grubbing App.

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Silvery: AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH CEN RUI, MY SOULMATE!! LIANG YIFAN!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Ps. (≖u≖ ) my first taste of 4k+ raws… it will be the norm in the future.

Next Time on DTTM!

Chapter 23: <I shall be your emergency contact.>

Preview: The Path to Becoming a Daddy 👍

Decadence: You can be the Boss playing in the distance….

VIDEO

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Chapter 21 | 🗑️ Contents 🗑️ | Chapter 23

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