MRSG Chapter 33

Since Zhou Mu had just enrolled, his meal card and such hadn’t been issued yet. When they got to the cafeteria, You Qi said, “Just use my card.”

That one sentence instantly made Zhou Mu like him even more!

You Qi looked down and saw Zhou Mu’s moved expression and felt a little awkward. “…Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Even my mom isn’t this nice to me,” Zhou Mu said, lowering his head.

You Qi looked at him in surprise.

Zhou Mu explained, “She thinks I eat too much and won’t give me food.” When he was little, if he nearly bit his father, he’d get scolded. It was even worse as he got older. If he took a bite from her bowl, she’d snap at him. Zhou Mu honestly felt like he’d be kicked out to live on his own in a few years.

You Qi’s parents, both fierce beasts, were recruited by the government and were often away on missions. They weren’t exactly close either. But hearing Zhou Mu’s story, his situation sounded even worse.

A teenager in his growth phase—it’s normal to eat a lot. And Zhou Mu’s family didn’t seem short on money either; his parents were probably just too impatient to care for him.

“Don’t worry. You won’t go hungry at school,” You Qi said as he shoved his meal card into Zhou Mu’s pocket as a kind of reassurance.

Sure enough, Zhou Mu’s mood immediately lifted. “Thank you.”

He’d originally worried human cities might be too dull. After all, humans didn’t taste that good. His family had plenty of food and would never choose humans—though they did prefer dishes invented by humans.

But now—wow, his deskmate was so nice, he could cry.

“You’re welcome,” You Qi said, then added, “The teacher told me to take care of you.”

Even though Zhou Mu was small, he could eat just as much as You Qi. Kids this age were like that. The cafeteria auntie was a bit amazed but not exactly shocked. She even asked Zhou Mu if he wanted seconds.

You Qi looked like he’d happily swipe his card again if Zhou Mu wanted more.

Zhou Mu thought, ‘This school’s cafeteria is way more generous than my old one!’

After eating, You Qi took Zhou Mu to get his picture taken for his student card and have his info recorded. But the card would take a while to be made. Until then, they’d have to eat together every day.

When they got back to the classroom, almost everyone was already slumped over their desks for their midday nap.

The two of them tiptoed back to their seats and got ready for their own nap.

Zhou Mu had just laid his head down when he heard a strange sound. He followed the noise to the teacher’s desk—it was coming from the whiteboard marker that had already developed some spiritual consciousness. From moving on its own, now it had gradually started making sounds.

But the sound was in an in-between realm, half-spiritual, only audible to non-humans or those with extremely sharp senses.

Zhou Mu glanced at it but didn’t want to raise You Qi’s suspicion, so he laid his head back down.

The moment he did, You Qi also looked over at the teacher’s desk. The whiteboard marker had now fully activated its language skills and started speaking in Chinese. As with most demons, it began by mimicking humans. Suddenly, it yelled at the top of its tiny lungs: “Odd stays the same, even changes—LOOK AT THE QUADRANT OF THE SIGN—!!!”

Zhou Mu: “…”

You Qi: “…”

Holy crap, that’s loud!

This marker had been ‘born’ in a high school classroom, absorbing only high school-level knowledge. After gaining spiritual awareness, the first thing it did was start regurgitating the stuff it had heard. That knowledge was practically imprinted on its soul.

If it could be certified, it probably could’ve passed the high school teacher qualification exam.

And since none of the other students could hear it—only these two demon students could—they both had to pretend like everything was peaceful and quiet in the classroom while they ‘slept.’

Zhou Mu discreetly covered his ears, but it didn’t help. The marker continued its brain-drilling chanting: “Xia, Shang, and Western Zhou! Eastern Zhou split in two! Spring and Autumn, Warring States! Unified Qin, then Han! Three kingdoms: Wei, Shu, Wu!!!”

You Qi slowly stood up—he needed to call Office 404 and have someone deal with this half-demon-level noisy marker.

As soon as You Qi left, Zhou Mu also quietly stood up. The whiteboard marker was still shouting: “Use particle models for objects—ignore shape and size!!!”

…His brain was about to explode!

He pretended to pass by the teacher’s desk and casually flicked his hand—smack, the marker hit the floor and let out a painful yelp, its chants immediately cut off.

That’s what you get for yelling.

Zhou Mu didn’t let on that he knew the marker had gained spiritual awareness. He was having such a good time at this school that, even though he’d initially planned to do whatever he wanted, he now didn’t really want to cause trouble or blow his cover.

He calmly walked toward the classroom door.

From behind, the marker, lying on the floor, still managed to force out one last soul-engraved phrase: “You are the worst class I’ve ever taught!!”

Zhou Mu: “…”

What kind of garbage half-demon are you…

As Zhou Mu stepped out the front door of the classroom, he saw You Qi holding his phone—and a brand-new whiteboard marker.

On the other end of You Qi’s phone, Office 404’s staff was still giving him the usual runaround: “Thank you for your call. We will respond within seven business days…” He saw Zhou Mu, immediately ended the call, and tucked his phone away. “Why’d you come out?”

When he’d left earlier, Zhou Mu had been lying at his desk, looking completely asleep.

Zhou Mu looked at him calmly, still seeming a bit sleepy—or maybe it was just because his eyes always looked moist. “Nothing much, just came to find you. Why did you disappear?”

You Qi: “……”

If Zhou Mu had been in class a few more days, he’d probably be able to come up with any number of excuses—bathroom, getting water, even saying he went to play basketball. But this was his first day of class, so he gave a very reasonable, yet oddly disarming reason that left You Qi speechless.

“…I just finished my call. Go back to sleep,” You Qi said, feeling like he was raising an unweaned kitten—whimpering as soon as it woke up and didn’t see anyone around.

A bit ridiculous, really. But once you saw him, you couldn’t say anything else.

When You Qi walked back into the classroom, he saw the whiteboard marker lying on the floor. He just assumed it had rolled off the desk on its own and didn’t think much of it—didn’t even consider picking it up.

The two of them returned to their seats. Zhou Mu gave You Qi a glance, as if only then did he feel reassured. He half-lay on his desk, his cheek squished into a bit of a puff, and his long eyelashes drooped down as he closed his eyes, looking soft and sweet.

You Qi looked at him for a moment, then closed his eyes to rest too.

***

The high school Zhou Mu attended had gone through a merger before, so it included a middle school and elementary division—meaning a lot of students. But for Zhou Mu, as long as they wore the same uniform, they were all classmates.

At monster schools, you couldn’t judge age or grade by appearance. Lower grades weren’t necessarily weaker than higher ones.

A week passed, and the whiteboard marker finally disappeared. Zhou Mu figured it had grown legs and run off. Good riddance—he’d been holding himself back from eating it.

At the same time, Zhou Mu’s official documents and student ID were finished.

By now he already knew his way around, but You Qi still habitually took him to pick up his meal card.

On the way, they passed by the elementary division. Zhou Mu heard singing and curiously got closer. Inside a first-grade classroom on the first floor, there wasn’t a lesson going on—rather, the teacher and students were singing ‘Happy Birthday’ to a classmate. The teacher led the way, holding hands with the students, forming a circle around the birthday kid. She clapped rhythmically, and the children all had smiles on their faces.

“Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you…”

At the end, they all shouted in unison under the teacher’s lead, “Happy birthday!!”

Everyone burst into laughter, and the birthday kid grinned joyfully, craning his neck and declaring proudly, “Don’t go home after school! My mom and dad are bringing cake for everyone!”

Zhou Mu watched with amazement and then said to You Qi, “They sing for classmates’ birthdays? Everyone’s so friendly.”

You Qi: “Mm…”

He didn’t immediately understand what Zhou Mu meant.

Zhou Mu quickly added shyly, “It’s my birthday tomorrow. Will Teacher Lin lead everyone to sing and spin in a circle for me too?”

You Qi: “…………”

He paused for a moment, then replied, “Probably not.”

Zhou Mu’s eyes widened—not that he was desperate to hear Teacher Lin sing, but still…

“Why not? Did he pay more tuition than I did?” Zhou Mu didn’t see any fundamental difference between elementary and high school students. He’d even met thousand-year-old monsters who had just started elementary school.

Plus, between a human high schooler and a human first grader, the age difference was only about ten years. For a demon, that was basically nothing.

Zhou Mu’s question left You Qi half-laughing, half-crying. “That’s not what I meant. It’s just that…” He trailed off halfway through.

But Zhou Mu already caught the rejection in his tone and grumbled, “Forget it then.” Still, he was thinking of filing a complaint with the principal—why the double standards?

The next day.

It was Zhou Mu’s birthday.

You Qi had already made up his mind early in the morning. Yesterday, he had realized that Zhou Mu probably had a rocky relationship with his parents—which might explain why seeing the elementary school celebration had made him so excited.

Strictly speaking, this had nothing to do with You Qi. But when he pictured Zhou Mu’s disappointed face, he couldn’t help it.

‘Teacher Lin told me to take care of him,’ You Qi reminded himself again, fully convinced he was doing the right thing.

During the first two periods, You Qi acted completely normal, and Zhou Mu didn’t mention to anyone that it was his birthday. To You Qi, that only confirmed that no one had ever celebrated it for him before.

Zhou Mu had already forgotten yesterday’s conversation, but indeed—no one had ever really made a fuss over his birthday… or rather, no one had dared.

In both human and demon society, birthdays meant inviting people to eat.

And who in their right mind would invite a taotie to eat?!

Just surviving his birthday without a funeral-like mood was already a win.

Every year, he’d just feast at home, and that counted as a birthday.

So when he heard ‘no’ yesterday, he had just mumbled about the school being unfair. But after English class, Zhou Mu was called by Teacher Wang (who had been tipped off by You Qi) for some one-on-one tutoring.

While Zhou Mu was in the office drilling sentence structures, You Qi stepped up to the podium. “Everyone,” he said.

All eyes turned to him, curious what he was about to say.

You Qi spoke slowly, “Today is Zhou Mu’s birthday. When he comes back, I hope everyone will sing the birthday song for him. I’ve also invited Teacher Lin to join us.”

Wait, what?

Everyone’s first reaction was actually shock.

It wasn’t that giving classmates surprises was rare—celebrating birthdays was actually pretty common. Teenagers loved this kind of thing.

What made this unusual was that You Qi was the one who brought it up. He’d never been the type to enjoy this kind of activity. And this wasn’t just some low-key private gathering— he’d gone and made it all official, even invited the teacher.

“Whoa, you really love him—” a classmate stood up and teased loudly, triggering a wave of laughter.

Everyone had seen it this past week: You Qi was practically glued to his new deskmate.

Yup, looks like even an iceberg can melt…

Xu Tianyi turned to his own deskmate and said, “Such a good relationship. They’ve only been deskmates for a week and they’re already this close. When are you going to team up with the teacher to celebrate my birthday?”

His deskmate replied, “Well, his seatmate is a cutie, and you’re a dog. I’ll team up with the teacher to give you a math test, HAHAHAHA!”

Xu Tianyi: “……”

Despite all the teasing, everyone was totally on board. The whole class quickly got into it, and someone immediately slipped out to keep watch at the door.

Just then, Teacher Lin arrived from the office—carrying a cake. She walked in with a smile and said, “We’re having cake in a bit!”

Usually, everyone was a little scared of her. It was the first time she’d been invited to something like this. But since it was also a good chance for a new student to bond with the class, Teacher Lin stayed composed on the surface, even though she was actually very pleased inside. She had even ordered the cake specially.

“Yay, cake!” The students, seeing the cake, got even more excited.

The birthday surprise atmosphere was reaching a high.

Zhou Mu came back from the office, his mind still filled with English grammar, muttering, “May I come in?”

The lookout classmate was standing by the door and casually answered, “Come in! Baby!”

“……” The moment Zhou Mu opened the door, he was greeted by a chorus loud enough to blow the roof off: “HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!”

The entire class crowded at the front, surging toward him with birthday wishes.

“Happy birthday, Zhou Mu! Hope you ace your studies!”

“Get smarter and smarter!”

“So you’re a year younger than me~”

You Qi stepped forward holding the large cake—probably the only one in class steady enough to carry it. Since it was a last-minute order, the options were limited. The cake had a cute theme, with pink-purple frosting, little star decorations, and sugar sprinkles shaped like stars.

Teacher Lin took the lead, singing, “Happy birthday to you—”

The class all joined in together.

Zhou Mu stood frozen for a while.

Because of what was mentioned before, his birthdays had always been simple affairs at home with just the three of them. His human relatives would send gifts and birthday wishes, but they all lived far away, so there were never any parties. It was always quiet.

This was the first time so many people had celebrated his birthday.

He knew without a doubt it was You Qi’s doing—only he knew it was Zhou Mu’s birthday.

Zhou Mu walked up to him, touched, and said, “Did you forget to teach Teacher Lin how to spin in a circle?”

Teacher Lin: “?”

You Qi: “……”

He almost choked—he thought Zhou Mu just wanted a birthday celebration. Turns out, he wanted the whole thing re-enacted exactly. How rough had this guy’s childhood been?

Teacher Lin was still confused. “Spin what circle?”

You Qi simply said, “Nothing. Time for cake.”

Right—there was still cake.

Zhou Mu instantly forgot about the ‘incomplete ceremony.’ Things were lively enough already.

“Hehe, Zhou Mu, happy birthday! Time for the birthday boy to cut the cake,” said Teacher Lin, handing him the knife. But she was still mentally stuck on one thing: What’s this about spinning??

“Thank you, Teacher. Thank you, everyone. Thank you, You Qi,” Zhou Mu said gratefully. The cake wasn’t huge, but it was the thought that counted. He shyly added, “No need for forks. I’ll just eat it directly.”

And with that, he opened his mouth wide and lunged straight at the whole cake—

“!!”

Everyone’s eyes flew open in horror.

In a flash, You Qi reached out and grabbed Zhou Mu by the back of his collar.

Zhou Mu froze, mouth open, stopped just a palm’s length from the cake. “Ah-woo…?”