Chapter 2 – I like you

When He Qing came back with two bottles of drinks, Lin Chi just happened to make a handsome dunk, and the basketball fell smoothly. He stood up, his forehead beaded with sweat, and as he went to scratch himself, he caught sight of He Qing, shocking the teenager to take a step back.

Under the surprised eyes of the two, he also noticed himself overreacting, and his face flushed red. He hesitantly stepped forward to hand the drinks and the remaining money to Zhang Xu, mumbling, “This is, this is the remaining money… a total of ninety-four……”

Zhang Xu took the drinks but didn’t take the money, “Give the rest of the money to you!”

“No… no… ” He Qing would stammer when he’s nervous, and at the moment both his hands and feet were trying to return the money to Zhang Xu, but he (ZX) interrupted with annoyance, “Isn’t your family poor? This money is your reward!”

Lin Chi was about to life his leg, but looked at He Qing, and saw that the boy’s face, which was just ruddy and red, turn blue and white, all of the blood was drained. His white teeth were stubbornly biting on his lips, and as if he had summoned up a lifetime of courage, fiercely shoved all the money into Zhang Xu’s arms, and ran away as if being chased by some wild beast.

Zhang Xu held the money, eyes wide and mouth open, and looked at Lin chi again: “He! What is he doing?”

Lin Chi’s gaze followed the young man’s back, and after hearing his question, he withdrew his gaze. A bit of disgust fell upon Zhang Xu, who looked bewildered, and he (LC) said with a faint voice: “Don’t say anything if you can’t speak.”

“Ah?” Zhang Xu’s face was filled with confusion, and wanted to ask more, but he saw his friend was already dribbling the ball to the school building. He hurried to follow, “No, what are you talking about! How do I not know how to talk!”

He Qing ran up to the fifth floor in one breath, and sat in his seat panting tiredly. He waited for half a day but there was no system prompt. He couldn’t help but poke the system: 【Cute little system~ How is our Chichi’s favorability?】

A flat, uneventful robotic voice dutifully reported: 【Current Lin Chi’s favorability: 10.】

【Huh?】 He Qing’s tone was full of incredulity: 【Isn’t the Wild Cool Rich Second Generation Tyrant x Self-Reliant Poor Student an official CP?】

The system didn’t answer, He Qing also didn’t care, thinking to himself, 【After hooking up three times, Chichi’s favorability is still at a slightly familiar passerby, then what’s with the way he’s acting like he’s into me?】

The system coolly reminded: 【It’s you who’s thinking too much.】

He Qing completely ignored the system’s words and said to himself: 【According to the original plot, tonight, Lin Chi is going to come and confess to He Qing tonight, ba…】

【That’s right.】

【OK!】 He Qing flipped out his backpack that had been used for more than five years and had long since started to fade, and reached in to rummage through it. The system looked at his movements with puzzlement, 【Host, what are you doing?】

After searching for half a day to dig out fifty dollars, He Qing squeezed the crumpled bill and licked his lips: 【The night is about to explode with acting! Gotta eat some good supplements!】 [tl: 50 dollars in RMB, which is like $7.14 in the US]

Ah~ This body is really poor to the point of pitiful, ah. Poor with no money for food but still struggling to live, makes those who killed him even more hateful.

—

By the time He Qing returned to his dorm room with food bought with fifty dollars, it was already ten o’clock at night. Who let him be smarter, eating a buffet?

He wandered downstairs in the dorms, suddenly a black figure walked out from behind a flower vase. The teenager was shocked, and the feet that had been walking just fine suddenly mixed up the left foot with the right foot, stumbled and almost fell.

When he managed to stand firm, then in the dim light, he shouted with some uncertainty: “Lin… Lin Chi?”

The person walking in the shadows came out. He stood under the dim light, with sword eyebrows and star eyes, but his eyebrows were twisted unpleasantly, and his lips were pressed into a straight line, looking very unhappy.

Clearly he was the one who was hiding in the shadows and scaring people, so what was he so upset about!

Without waiting for He Qing to complain, Lin Chi had already taken a step. He had long legs and stood in front of He Qing with just one step. Facing his confused eyes, Lin Chi’s lips tightened, but in the next second, it was like he was reciting a script, “He Qing, let’s date!”

“Ah…ah?” The teenager stared blankly, as if he hadn’t reacted yet.

The corner of Lin Chi’s eyes glanced over to the flower bed, where Zhang Xu was sneaking around hiding there with Monkey and laughing, looking like he was watching a joke, and the displeasure on his face was even heavier. However, he looked at He Qing once again, who was looking confused and frightened, and his tone sank a little, but he seemed very serious: “I like you!” [tl: Monkey is a nickname, he’s another friend of Lin Chi]

He stretched out his hand naturally. It was meant to fall on the young man’s hair, but a few seconds before it fell, he paused and put it stiffly on his shoulder, “So let’s be together!”

After Lin Chi finished speaking, he waited for He Qing to glare angrily or flee. Based on his understanding of the person in front of him, it was more likely that he would flee, after all, he was so shy.

Looking at the young man who was still startled and staring at him, Lin Chi’s heart was a little upset, this was really too much.

Look, He Qing must have taken him for a pervert!

Lin Chi was felt very uncomfortable from being looked at by those clear eyes, and he felt like he was bullying the person in front of him. He frowned and thought, forget it, let’s stop this broken game!

He was about to open his mouth when his hand was suddenly grasped tightly. Lin Chi didn’t know why he lowered his head, but saw that it was He Qing hands that grabbed his arm, eyes dazzling bright, like bursting out the most beautiful flame.

The young man’s small face was filled with pure joy, full of happiness and disbelief. This was the first time Lin Chi found that the young man, who had always kept his head down and refused to speak, was actually quite good-looking, with a clear face and features that were not perfect, but were unexpectedly attractive once put together, especially the eyes, which were bright and shining as if they could talk.

Such pure eyes, only children could be seen with such eyes… No, no, children do not have such loving eyes, as if he is looking at his whole world… The next second, Lin Chi suddenly realized, this pair of eyes, were looking at precisely himself!

The timid boy was dizzy from this big-as-heaven good news, and he tightly pinched the corner of the clothes of the person in front of him, his voice trembling with excitement as he tried to express his feelings in his heart: “I, I like you too… Lin Chi… I …I really do like you a lot…” [tl: “big as heaven/sky” (天大的好消) is basically really good]

“We…can we really be together?” He asked cautiously in a timid way.

Lin Chi was stunned, he looked at the flower bed reflexively, and the two people who were originally laughing there were also stiff.

They looked over in a daze, but saw that the mute person in the class who usually didn’t even dare to speak was stammering out his feelings: “I…the first time I saw you…was five years ago …at that time you…”

Lin Chi was completely uninterested in listening to the history of the crush of the person in front of him. When he finally reacted, his complexion was ugly, but in the shadows, He Qing couldn’t really see it. However, his voice was fiercely cold as it fell down on him, “He Qing, actually this is a big…”

“Yi? Ah Chi! What are you doing standing here?” Zhang Xu abruptly came out from the flower bed, his smile somewhat stiff as he came up. But he almost ran into He Qing, he quickly avoided him.

He Qing was so frightened by the sudden appearance of the person that he almost lost his three souls and seven spirits. He froze in place, his eyes panicked, “You… you…” [tl: three souls and seven spirits (三魂七魄 “sān hún qī pò) refers to a Daoist belief that every human has 3 yang souls(魂) that leave the body after death and 7 yin souls(魄) that stay in the body. Both words can mean soul, but it would sound weird if I wrote “three souls and seven souls”. I have linked the wiki page on this at the bottom]

He wanted to ask “when did you come?” and “how much did you hear?”. He Qing, who lived in misery and ridicule since his birth, knew very clearly how he would be treated and looked at if his sexual orientation was exposed.

His heart was peng peng pounding, his eyes fell on the person he liked, and he became firm again. If Zhang Xu said he heard everything, then he would take the blame for everything himself so that Lin Chi could get away with it.

Lin Chi felt his heart was a mess from being the looked at by his(HQ) eyes and he glared at Zhang Xu, “What are you doing!”

“Ah! I came out to find you! Ah Chi, let’s go upstairs quickly! Everyone’s waiting for you!” Zhang Xu pushed Lin Chi forward without saying another word. Along the way, he somewhat stiffly waved his hand at He Qing, “That, mute… no! He Qing! You should hurry back to your dorm room too!”

Lin Chi was pushed forward, he did not know what sort of trick Zhang Xu was up to, but years of tacit understanding with his friends kept him quiet. When he looked back, he saw He Qing standing alone under the lamp, his eyes kept looking at him, a feigned pretense of toughness inside his eyes. Looking at them seemed to always have a feeling that they will start to cry at any second.

He Qing watched the two of them walk away, the lonely air all over his body almost overwhelming him. Finally, he lifted his feet and stepped heavily into the dormitory building.

In the flower bed behind him, the forgotten Monkey was still hiding stiffly while maintaining the cover-his-mouth posture. When he saw that everyone was gone, he finally dared to stick his head out, “Hoo!” He gasped for air while trying to calm his rapid heartbeat.

This, what sort of situation is this?

【DING! Lin Chi’s favorability value: 30】

He Qing maintained his lifelessly slow movement up the stairs, 【Added twenty in one breath? Looks like he’s not very straight either…】

His actions, tone, and the content of his words towards Lin Chi today were all said by the same He Qing from the original fate. So it is estimated, Lin Chi’s side will also do the same as in the original fate.

It’s just……..

He Qing was a little curious as to what reason made such a straight man spend a week with the original before telling the truth. If he really hated him, then don’t be a couple with He Qing for seven days under the guise of liking him!

Since this body was born, unfortunately it only ever experienced happiness in these seven days full of deceit. Unfortunately, after seven days, what was waiting for him was his ‘lover’s’ disgusted cold eyes and sentences that pierced at his heart. He Qing closed his eyes, what this body remembered the most Lin Chi’s face and words full of disgust.

“A man, is actually so disgusting to be with another man and uses such a dirty place to sleep with, pervert! Disgusting! Tell you what! I only confessed to you because of a big dare. If I knew I would be stuck with you, I might as well have chosen to tell the truth in the first place! Stay away from me from now on, and don’t let me catch any dirty diseases from you!”

The memory after that was passed by like a vague, sweeping stroke. Beatings, bullying by the classmates, fresh blood, followed by jumping down from the top of the tall building, and then it was all dark.

【System, why are there memories missing?】

【The memory of the original body that is more stimulating is blocked, but this does not affect your completion of the task. The mission progress is 30%. Host, please continue to work hard oh, mua mua! 】[tl: 么么哒 (me me dá) is a kissing sound, hence the “mua mua” (~ * 3 *)~ ❤]

The cold, monotone mechanical voice of the system’s final encouragement gave He Qing goosebumps all over the place, and he replied in disgust: 【Okay okay okay! Mua mua mua mua mua!】

On the other hand, Lin Chi was pushed by Zhang Xu all the way to the bedroom, where there were only the two of them. Lin Chi could no longer hold it back, shaking off his hand and restraining his anger, “Why did you bring me back? Didn’t you see what He Qing looked like?”

Zhang Xu patted him on the shoulder and said with sympathy, “Okay, brother knows you’re scared! Isn’t it because I just remembered something?”

Lin Chi shook his hand away in disgust and said impatiently, “What kind of thing! Didn’t you see that I just about to make it clear to He Qing?”

The thought of being liked by a man made his whole body feel uncomfortable. He Qing’s joy-filled eyes flashed in his mind, and Lin Chi unexpectedly found himself not too disgusted. The next second he came to his senses, and in order to cover up, coldly said, “He actually likes me! It’s too disgusting!”

Zhang Xu didn’t take Lin Chi’s words to heart. In his eyes, it would be abnormal if Lin Chi didn’t say that! He blinked at Lin Chi and told him what he was planning, “Before, you never understood why your father liked men, right? Isn’t there a ready-made test subject now? You can spend two days with him first, when you’re tired of it, just say it clearly.”

“What kind of stupid idea is this! I will not!” Lin Chi refused without even thinking about it, but his heart was a little hesitant.

“Aiya! What are you afraid of? Isn’t it just talking to a guy for two days! I’m sure that mute little chicken wouldn’t dare to do anything to you! We’ve been watched over closely for a while and can’t find a pastime, so just treat it as having some fun.” Zhang Xu kept urging him, and Lin Chi loosened up in the end.

“All right…” He just happened to feel bored lately, “Then just play with him.”