People with bad luck tend to ship couples, and every couple they ship ends up with a bad ending.
This is a lesson learned the hard way by Lin Qian after shipping countless boy band couples that ended badly.
So she kept telling herself that the pure friendship between straight men should not be tainted by her filthy and complicated thoughts, and she had to restrain the wild horse in her mind that was about to break free.
but.
What kind of insane and lewd words are these two spouting every day?!
Are all straight men these days so gay and effeminate?!
It's practically a deliberate attempt to mislead her!
Lin Qian dared not speak out against her anger.
However, in order to avoid Qin Zigui discovering the unhealthy thoughts swirling in his head, he could only force himself to remain calm as he picked up the water glass and asked nonchalantly, "Need a link?"
Qin Zigui: "No need, thank you."
Lin Qian remained calm: "Okay, then I'll be going now."
Qin Zigui remained calm: "Okay."
Then Lin Qian turned around as if nothing had happened, and disappeared at the end of the corridor.
Qin Zigui: "..."
It seems that this straight man's bluntness has reached the point where even a person with a normal thought process would suspect that he is gay.
However, Sheng Yan's thought process is beyond the comprehension of a normal person.
Therefore, Lin Qian could think more, but he couldn't.
Because once you start thinking about something too much, it can get out of control and disrupt all the balance. You might gain something, or you might lose everything you already have. He can't afford to take any risks, so he can't afford to gamble.
Just then, the office door opened.
Qin Zigui turned his head and met Huang Shuliang's gaze.
"What are you doing here?" Huang Shuliang had come out to see off the middle-aged policeman, but as soon as he stepped outside, he saw Qin Zigui. He paused for a moment, then quickly realized, "Are you here to wait for Sheng Yan?"
Qin Zigui did not deny it: "Yes, the doctor said he needs to take his medicine on time."
Huang Shuliang saw the cold medicine in his hand, paused for a moment, and then nodded: "Okay, you can come in first."
Qin Zigui tapped the smart bracelet on his wrist a few times and followed them inside.
When Huang Shuliang entered the room and saw Sheng Yan still standing in the office holding the banner, he simply said gently, "Take your medicine first."
Sheng Yan: "?"
If the weasel was being polite earlier because there were police officers present, then its continued politeness now that there are no outsiders around suggests there's something fishy going on.
Sheng Yan stood there warily, not moving an inch.
The weasel felt a lump in its throat when it saw his expression, but then it remembered why it had kept the two of them here today, and it suppressed its temper and said, "I won't scold you. Sit down and take your medicine properly."
Sheng Yan remained wary.
Huang Shuliang finally couldn't hold back any longer and yelled, "Sheng Yan! Sit down right now! Take your medicine immediately! Or write a self-criticism!"
That's normal.
Sheng Yan finally lowered his guard, sat on the sofa, took the medicine from Qin Zigui, and gulped it down in one go.
Huang Shuliang: "..."
He couldn't help but ask, "Sheng Yan, do you have a hobby of liking to be scolded?"
"No, no." Sheng Yan finished his medicine and wiped his mouth. "I just felt that if you weren't swearing, something big must have happened."
"?" Huang Shuliang frowned. "Do I like to swear?"
Sheng Yan and Qin Zigui sat side by side on the sofa, looking up at him quietly and sincerely.
Huang Shuliang: "..."
He tried to explain himself: "I just raised my voice a little when I was lecturing you, when did I ever really scold you?"
Thursday morning.
"?"
As soon as Huang Shuliang finished speaking, Qin Zigui answered calmly without hesitation, prompting Huang Shuliang to raise an eyebrow at him.
Qin Zigui met his gaze and said calmly, "On Thursday morning, you said that Sheng Yan was hopeless and couldn't be helped."
Huang Shuliang: "..."
"And on Wednesday night, even though I was the one who got into the fight, you only scolded Sheng Yan and didn't apologize after wrongly accusing him."
"..."
"And tonight, Sheng Yan was telling the truth, but you not only didn't believe him, you also rebuked him in front of many classmates and questioned whether he would cheat."
"..."
“All of this hurt Sheng Yan deeply, and he even developed mild self-deprecation and depressive tendencies at one point.”
"...???"
How could someone like Sheng Yan, with his personality, suffer from self-deprecation and depression?
When did I become self-deprecating and depressed?
Upon hearing this, Huang Shuliang, who was still reflecting on his actions, and Sheng Yan, who was silently supporting Qin Zigui, simultaneously raised three startling questions.
Qin Zigui simply looked at Huang Shuliang with a calm and open expression, as if he were merely stating a long-hidden fact.
Sheng Yan: "..."
He seemed to understand.
He began to recall Qin Zigui's tone and expression when she performed the tea ceremony last time. He lowered his eyelashes and whispered, "Teacher, I'm not belittling myself or depressed. I just feel that my grades are so bad, and I always make teachers and parents angry. I can't do anything right, and I can't do anything well. Even if I try my best, I can't get recognition, and no one believes me. It seems like there's no meaning or value in living."
Huang Shuliang: "!"
Sheng Yan has always been a very carefree and easygoing person. When has he ever said such a thing? This is a classic case of self-deprecation and depressive tendencies!
Huang Shuliang immediately became anxious: "Sheng Yan, how could you think like that?"
Sheng Yan lowered his head and remained silent.
Huang Shuliang was sweating profusely with anxiety. Then, he spotted the banner on the sofa, grabbed it, and handed it to Sheng Yan. "Look at this! The officers at the police station like you so much, and someone even gave you this banner. This shows your value and significance! You may be a bit mischievous, a bit lazy about studying, and a bit prone to fighting and causing trouble, but you're essentially an upright and kind-hearted kid. You're good at sports, and your classmates all like you. How can you think you're worthless?!"
"Didn't you say I was hopeless and couldn't be helped?"
Sheng Yan's voice lowered even further.
Huang Shuliang was frantic: "I was just saying that in anger! If I really thought you were hopeless, why would I bother sending you to Class 1? I just hope you can get better, don't I?"
"But I've been studying late into the night while I'm sick these past few days, and you still suspect me of faking it and even suspect me of cheating." Sheng Yan sounded so aggrieved he was about to cry.
Huang Shuliang was so anxious he was almost crying: "This is the teacher's fault, so the teacher called you to the office today to apologize to both of you!"
"But... um? An apology?"
Sheng Yan looked pitiful for a moment, then suddenly raised his head.
Huang Shuliang didn't care about his pride anymore: "It was indeed wrong of me to wrong you today. The main reason is that I didn't expect you to actually go and do something heroic. I made a subjective assumption and a wrong judgment. So I called you to my office today to apologize to you."
After saying that, she seemed still angry: "But the main reason is that you pretended to be sick so many times to skip class. That's like crying wolf, you know... Okay, okay, it's all the teacher's fault!"
As Huang Shuliang spoke, Sheng Yan lowered his head again, looking pitiful.
Huang Shuliang quickly said, "It's all the teacher's fault! The teacher shouldn't have wronged you or doubted you! The teacher will announce the commendation for this matter during tomorrow's morning class. I apologize to you in advance."
"But teacher, it's hard to repair a damaged self-esteem. Even if you apologize this time, what about next time, and the time after that? And don't you think you're being too biased towards students with good grades?" Qin Zigui asked calmly and indifferently.
Sheng Yan turned his head in surprise. Had Qin Zigui gone mad?
Huang Shuliang is, after all, the dean of students. Is it really appropriate for him to question Qin Zigui so directly and blatantly? When did Qin Zigui become so outspoken? I never knew he was such a confrontational person towards teachers.
Huang Shuliang choked up. He never expected that he would be questioned by his own student, especially his top student. He almost lost face in an instant.
However, he was indeed in the wrong, so after a brief standoff, he could only sigh and say helplessly, "Okay, I promise that I will find out the truth of the matter in the future and then give you appropriate and reasonable education, and I will try my best to treat you all fairly and equally. So don't take this matter to heart, understand?"
After saying that, he couldn't help but say, "But the teacher's intention is really for your own good. The reason why the students with good grades are more disciplined is because they are self-disciplined. But for you guys, I'm worried about you. You're about to be in your senior year of high school, and you're not studying properly every day. Do you even want to go to college?"
Sheng Yan muttered, "Didn't I already study?"
"Yes! You have studied! Otherwise, you wouldn't have improved so much. But you've improved so much in just a few days, which means you can learn, right? So why aren't you studying?" Huang Shuliang became agitated again as he spoke, "Do you even want to go to Zhonggong University?"
Sheng Yan said sincerely, "I want to go, but I'm not sure I'll pass the exam."
You know you won't pass the exam! So why aren't you studying harder?
Huang Shuliang wanted to yell again, but as soon as he caught his breath, he remembered the promise he had just made, so he could only swallow his anger and wave his hand: "Alright, alright, just pass every subject first. I promised you last time that as long as you pass this time, you can arrange your own studies from now on. I won't interfere. You know what I mean."
As a dean of students with such a fiery temper, Huang Shuliang's willingness to back down to this extent is already quite remarkable.
Qin Zigui then decided to stop while he was ahead: "Don't worry, teacher, Sheng Yan will study hard from now on."
Sheng Yan nodded: "Yes, so you should try to be less angry and less irritable. My mom says that it can cause hair loss."
"Sheng Yan!" Huang Shuliang, whose hair was already thinning, was furious. However, he took another deep breath halfway through his sentence, silently repeated "The world is so wonderful, yet I am so irritable" three times, pointed to the door, and calmly said, "Go back and study, immediately."
Sheng Yan nimbly slipped out, a smug smile on his face.
Qin Zigui followed slowly behind, fiddling with his smart bracelet as he looked down: "Do you really have to upset him?"
"Hmm." Sheng Yan didn't deny it, "It's because he always wrongs me."
"So are you still feeling wronged?"
"ah?"
Sheng Yan turned around.
Qin Zigui looked up at him: "Weren't you wronged during the exam?"
"I didn't..."
Sheng Yan stopped halfway through his sentence.
He was indeed wronged just now, which is why he turned his back to Huang Shuliang the whole time during the exam, not even glancing at him, and only then did he agree to be graded on the spot out of spite.
He had initially thought he hadn't shown it.
Qin Zigui still figured it out.
Is this person a tapeworm in his stomach?
Wait a minute, Sheng Yan suddenly realized something, turned to look at Qin Zigui, and was a little shocked: "You didn't just talk back to Huang Shuliang like that because you felt I was wronged, did you?"
Qin Zigui did not deny it.
"Holy crap! Qin Zigui, you..."
Sheng Yan opened his eyes wide.
Qin Zigui's heart skipped a beat.
"You're really a true friend!" The next second, Sheng Yan put his arm around his shoulder. "No wonder we've been brothers for over a decade, you're so loyal!"
The extremely righteous Qin Zigui: "..."
After a deathly silence, he expressionlessly shoved Sheng Yan's hand away: "You're pretty considerate, aren't you? You were going to take the entrance exam for Zhonggong University for my sake."
Sheng Yan didn't pay much attention and just casually asked, "You heard that just now?"
Qin Zigui: "Hmm."
Sheng Yan bent down and kicked a small pebble on the ground: "I'd like to, anyway, it's definitely much better than going abroad, but Huang Shuliang just checked for me and said that every year the admission score for Zhonggong University in Nanwu is 60 or 70 points higher than the first-tier university admission score. How could I possibly get in?"
Even if he is the child of a martyr and can get an extra 20 points, he is still 8,000 kilometers away.
However, he didn't want to hear Qin Zigui's words of comfort, so he quickly turned back and smiled, "Forget it, let's take it one step at a time. Anyway, I passed today's exam. I can talk to Ms. Xu about it when I get back tonight. We'll talk about the rest later."
After saying that, he casually pushed open the back door of Class 1's classroom.
Then he met the eyes of more than twenty pairs of bright, shining eyes in the classroom.
Sheng Yan: "..."
The students in Class One: "..."
After a brief silence, the classroom suddenly erupted.
"Holy crap, there really is a banner!"
"A hero who dares to do what is right, handsome and kind-hearted!"
"Sheng Yan, you're a real man! From now on, I'll respectfully call you Brother Yan!"
"Exactly! Is academic performance the standard by which to measure a man? No! Where can you find a man as upright, kind, and brave as our Brother Yan!"
"Our Yan-ge's grades are improving very quickly too, okay! He only needs to study a little and he makes leaps and bounds!"
"That's right, Brother Yan! We believe in you!"
"Brother Yan! Could you hang your banner on the podium so we can admire it?"
"..."
The classroom was filled with chatter, some of it exaggerated and affected, but it was clear they were trying very hard to praise Sheng Yan. However, there was no malice or mockery in their voices; they were all expressing the most sincere goodwill and encouragement.
Even if Sheng Yan was stupid, he would know that this was because Huang Shuliang had hurt his self-esteem in public tonight, so this group of people who were not familiar with him at all, or even knew him very well, used this method to express their affirmation of him.
However, hanging up a banner is completely unnecessary.
A little embarrassed, Sheng Yan, his ears red, rolled up the slightly shameful banner and stuffed it into the table.
Zhang, who was supervising evening self-study on the podium, noticed that he was a little embarrassed. He smiled, pushed up his glasses, and helped him out: "Alright, you guys be quiet. Be careful, or your Director Huang will come over again later."
The classroom quieted down after everyone had been laughing and joking.
Brother Zhang then looked at Sheng Yan: "And Sheng Yan, first finish correcting the mistakes you know how to correct. If you still can't figure it out, bring your math test paper to me and I'll explain some basic questions to you in detail."
"Oh, okay."
Although Sheng Yan felt that it was fine for Qin Zigui to explain to him, he didn't want to take up too much of Qin Zigui's time. After all, Qin Zigui was too busy with studying and preparing for the competition. So he nodded in agreement, sat back down, took out his math test paper, and prepared to quickly correct it.
As soon as he put the pen cap back on, Chen Yubai turned around and asked curiously, "Sheng Yan, tell me in detail how you did your act of bravery."
Lin Qian, who was standing next to her, was also a little curious. She leaned over and whispered, "I heard that you even pointed a gun at the thug and chased and fought with him in the pouring rain for a full half hour. You beat the thug half to death before you finally subdued him. Is that true?"
Sheng Yan: "..."
It seems true, but it's not entirely true.
How did these rumors spread?
Sheng Yan was a bit speechless: "He wasn't a thug, just a petty thief. We chased him through several alleys and finally cornered him. We used a fake gun to scare him a little."
Chen Yubai: "Fake gun? You're kidding me."
"Why are you doing this to me?" Sheng Yan looked at the wrong questions while casually recounting what happened that night. Then he turned around and pointed to the crystal ball on Qin Zigui's desk. "Look, this is the one I gave to Qin Zigui back then."
Lin Qian glanced at it and saw a very exquisite crystal ball, and what was unusual was that it didn't depict the Little Prince and the rose, but rather the Little Prince and the fox.
The fox in The Little Prince has always been a source of regret for Lin Qian, and she couldn't help but say, "It's actually quite good."
Is it pretty?
Don't all crystal balls look like this?
Sheng Yan felt that as a straight man, he didn't really understand the aesthetics of gay men and girls. He turned around, looked down at the test paper, and casually said, "If you think it looks good, I'll make one for you next time."
After he finished speaking, the atmosphere suddenly became quiet.
Lin Qian sensed the source of the low pressure and cautiously glanced behind her. Qin Zigui's face instantly turned as cold as solid carbon dioxide.
Lin Qian: "..."
She shouldn't have said that.
She silently turned around, preparing to change the subject by talking about studying, when Chen Yubai suddenly slapped his thigh and exclaimed, "That's great!"
"?"
Lin Qian and Sheng Yan both asked a question at the same time.
Chen Yubai asked with great interest, "Why don't you come to the amusement park with us on the 21st?"
Sheng Yan asked, "What amusement park?"
"It's that newly opened amusement park, owned by the family of a junior in our department. They gave me and Lin Qian two couple tickets. The 21st is Lin Qian's birthday, and we were planning to go anyway. I was supposed to take Qin Zigui with me, but I'll take you with me with Lin Qian's ticket."
Chen Yubai felt that his arrangement was absolutely perfect and deserved three rounds of enthusiastic applause.
However, the moment the words fell, a deathly silence descended upon the corner of the classroom's back door.
Sheng Yan thought that Chen Yubai and Qin Zigui really did have something going on.
Qin Zigui wondered if Chen Yubai wanted to die.
Lin Qian wondered if Chen Yubai wanted her dead.
The three of them stared straight at Chen Yubai, their faces expressionless, each one more hostile than the last.
Chen Yubai, who inexplicably felt a chilling sensation, like that of a corpse, on a sweltering summer night, was speechless.
Did he just see Death?
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