SEBLS Chapter 23

Translator Xena’s other works: https://ko-fi.com/xenatl/gallery
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Qin Qiyue patiently explained, “You’re so restless while sleeping that you kicked me off the bed. So, you sleep outside and I sleep inside, understand?”

Zhuang Wu blushed after finding out that he had kicked Qin Qiyue off the bed. He smiled embarrassedly. “I’m sorry, Gege.”

“It doesn’t matter.” Qin Qiyue urged, “Hurry up, I’m sleepy.”

After the two of them changed positions, Qin Qiyue thought he could finally sleep well. However, even though Zhuang Wu slept outside, he was still restless as long as he was asleep.

Qin Qiyue just watched Zhuang Wu flail around and almost fall off the bed. Fortunately, Qin Qiyue was quick to grab his hand which prevented Zhuang Wu from falling.

Finally, Qin Qiyue had no choice but to pull Zhuang Wu a little further inside. In order to prevent Zhuang Wu from falling while he was asleep, Qin Qiyue decided to hold Zhuang Wu’s wrist tightly.

Zhuang Wu slept quite comfortably this time, but Qin Qiyue did not. Zhuang Wu kept moving restlessly throughout the night. Every time he moved, Qin Qiyue thought Zhuang Wu was going to fall and was forced to wake up from his sleep. Then he would see Zhuang Wu still sleeping peacefully.

During those moments, Qin Qiyue had the urge to beat someone up.

When they woke up in the morning, Lin Mengyu had already prepared breakfast and called them out to eat.

Zhuang Wu got out of bed full of energy and said to Qin Qiyue with a smile, “Good morning, Gege.”

Qin Qiyue was afraid of the dark and never turned off the lights when sleeping. Zhuang Wu has trouble falling asleep in a fully lit environment but maybe because he was too sleepy yesterday that he didn’t care whether the lights were on all night.

“Good morning.” Qin Qiyue sat on the chair and ate with a sleepy face.

After dinner, Wen Jia came here to pick up Zhuang Wu.

“I’m sorry to cause you trouble,” Wen Jia apologized to Lin Mengyu.

“What’s the big deal? Xiao Zhuang is a very well behaved boy. Let him stay here for a few more days when he has time. It’ll be lively.” Lin Mengyu smiled.

After bringing Zhuang Wu home, Qin Qiyue sat in his room without saying a word, flipping through the notebook that Zhuang Wu had sorted out for him. The longer he looked at it, the more Qin Qiyue felt as if some strange emotion was entangled in him.

The rain gradually subsided, and after the flood receded, school resumed classes back to normal.

When classes started, all the senior classes were busy catching up on their studies after the few wasted days. Furthermore, almost a month had passed since the last monthly exam and a midterm exam was about to come.

In order to sit at the same table with Qin Qiyue, Zhuang Wu paid great attention in class and went to cram school as usual on Saturdays.

That day, Zhuang Wu and Qin Qiyue came to school together. Zhuang Wu picked up a random topic on the way. “Gege, I’ll work extra hard on this midterm exam and strive to sit at the same table with you one day.”

“How close?” Qin Qiyue didn’t want to discourage him, but he also didn’t want Zhuang Wu to daydream, “Zhuang Wu, your grades can’t be improved all at once.”

Zhuang Wu muttered softly, “I know, I work really hard on my homework and listened to the lectures just to improve my grades and sit next to you. Can’t I hold on to some hope and fantasy? Why do you have to shatter my hope?”

Thinking of Zhuang Wu’s change in attitude towards learning over the past few months, Qin Qiyue couldn’t help but ask, “Do you really want to sit at the same table with me?”

“Of course!” Zhuang Wu said firmly, “You’re the one I like, so of course I want to sit at the same table with you. I don’t want anyone else…”

“I know.”

Zhuang Wu was stunned. “Know what?”

“Since you want to improve your grades, I’ll try to help you.” Qin Qiyue said calmly. “See if you can improve your grades significantly.”

“Gege!” Zhuang Wu was pleasantly surprised. “Do you want to sit at the same table with me?”

Qin Qiyue sneered, “What are you thinking? I’m just afraid you’ll complain to my mom again.”

“……”

Excuses, all excuses. Zhuang Wu thought happily, no matter how Qin Qiyue explained it was all an excuse. Qin Qiyue just wanted to sit at the same table with him, and it was obvious that he only wanted to help him but he made up such an outrageous reason.

After two classes in the morning, Zhuang Wu originally wanted to find Qin Qiyue, but saw Qin Qiyue walking straight out of the classroom.

What for? Zhuang Wu didn’t dare to go up and ask, as he wouldn’t get an answer even if he did, so he quietly followed Qin Qiyue out of curiosity.

Qin Qiyue came to the office. Zhuang Wu thought that Hu Jianlong wanted to talk to Qin Qiyue about something important, so he was about to lie down behind the door to eavesdrop, but when Qin Qiyue went in, he closed the door tightly, isolating Zhuang Wu on the outside.

No, why close the door? How could he listen to Qin Qiyue’s conversation like this?

Inside the office, Hu Jianlong saw Qin Qiyue suddenly coming over and asked, “Qin Qiyue, why did you come here so suddenly? What’s the matter?”

Qin Qiyue had something to say  and got straight to the point, “Teacher Hu, I want to ask you a favor.”

A good student asked for help so Hu Jianlong responded with concern, “Tell me what it is, I’ll do my best to help.”

“If Zhuang Wu makes great progress in this midterm exam, can he be transferred to the same table as me?” Although it was a question, it sounded more like a statement when Qin Qiyue said it.

Hu Jianlong was stunned. “Why do you suddenly want to sit at the same table with Zhuang Wu?”

It was a bit abrupt to make such a request out of the blue, but Qin Qiyue already knew that Hu Jianlong would ask this.

He explained, “Zhuang Wu and I live close to each other. He would come to my house during holidays to ask questions. He said he wanted to improve his grades because… the school he wanted to apply for had a much higher entry score than his total score. I thought about it and realized that he has a weak grasp of many key points. I can’t help him improve his grades during the holidays, so I wanted to discuss with you if Zhuang Wu can be transferred beside me so I can help him more.”

“This…” Hu Jianlong found it a bit hard. “Why don’t you let him ask me questions after class? I can also explain them to him.”

It sounded unbelievable that Zhuang Wu would work hard to improve his grades, but when Qin Qiyue said it, it seemed true.

Qin Qiyue thought of a reason. “Because he’s… timid and afraid of the teacher, I can help him feel more at ease if I’m the one to talk to him.”

It was against the class rules not to adjust seats according to grades, but the person standing in front of him was Qin Qiyue after all. After some mental struggle, Hu Jianlong decided to agree.

“Alright.” Hu Jianlong said. “Then let’s do as you say. If he makes great progress in the midterm exam, I will transfer him to your table. There’s still nearly a week left before the midterm exams, so let’s see if he can improve his grades during this time.”

“Thank you, Teacher Hu. Please don’t tell Zhuang Wu that I came to talk to you about this. I have nothing else to do, so I’ll go back to the classroom first.” Qin Qiyue thanked him politely and pushed open the office door.

Zhuang Wu, who was originally eavesdropping by the door but heard nothing, was almost knocked down by the sudden opening of the door.

Qin Qiyue didn’t expect Zhuang Wu to be standing behind the door.

Worried that Zhuang Wu might’ve overheard their conversation, Qin Qiyue’s expression turned grim. “How long have you been standing here?”

“I…” Zhuang Wu certainly didn’t dare to tell the truth, “I was just passing by on my way to the bathroom. I didn’t expect to run into Gege here. What a coincidence.”

It didn’t look like he was lying, so Qin Qiyue felt relieved and walked towards the classroom.

Zhuang Wu hurried to catch up. He was really curious. “Gege, what did you do in the office? Did the teacher talk to you? What did you talk about?”

Qin Qiyue interrupted him, “Have you asked enough? It was nothing. Is this the first time you see me in the office? You’re talking so much.”

“I’m just curious…”

The next second, Qin Qiyue stopped and spoke in a serious tone, “Zhuang Wu, are you sure you want to improve your grades?”

“Yes, I’m sure.” Zhuang Wu was confused by Qin Qiyue’s sudden seriousness. “What’s wrong, Gege?”

“Then work hard, don’t just talk about it.” Qin Qiyue was silent for a while before he continued, “There’s less than a week left until the midterm exam. You can come and ask me questions often during this time. I will try my best to teach you. But if your grades remain the same after the midterm exam results come out, don’t mention anything about wanting to sit at the same table with me. It’ll just be pipe dream.”

Zhuang Wu didn’t understand what was going on. Qin Qiyue suddenly said this, so he could only respond, “I can’t stay the same. My grades will improve a lot just for the sake of sitting at the same table with you.”

Qin Qiyue turned around, his lips curling up. He stopped and walked forward again. “Well, that depends on how high you can go.”

“It will definitely be a lot!” Zhuang Wu shouted.

Qin Qiyue’s obvious look of disbelief made Zhuang Wu feel annoyed. He lost a bit of control on the volume of his voice, causing some people to turn around and look at him after he finished speaking. Zhuang Wu then realized that his voice was too loud. He lowered his head embarrassedly and followed Qin Qiyue quietly.

Perhaps because Qin Qiyue’s attitude was too irritating, Zhuang Wu became even more determined to improve his grades, not daring to be distracted for even a moment during class.

During the break, Zhuang Wu thought he would have to go to Qin Qiyue to ask again, but Qin Qiyue walked straight towards him and gave Ji Zhixian a dissatisfied look before even arriving.

Ji Zhixian who was hit by a stray bullet for no reason: “……???”

Then, he saw Qin Qiyue sit down next to Zhuang Wu’s seat. Ji Zhixian then understood and couldn’t help rolling his eyes at Qin Qiyue.

It was clearly this person who asked Zhuang Wu to ask others and only then did he taught Zhuang Wu the questions. But when Zhuang Wu did ask others, Qin Qiyue became unhappy again. Why did his mood change so quickly?

“Gege, why are you here?” Zhuang Wu was a little flattered.

Qin Qiyue said in a neutral tone. “So as not to be disturbed by some people.”

“?”

Which people? Zhuang Wu glanced at Qin Qiyue suspiciously, then continued looking at the questions.

It wasn’t just now but ever since he traveled back to senior year of high school and realized the gap between himself and Qin Qiyue, Zhuang Wu started to work hard and have reached the point where he could solve many of the questions Qin Qiyue gave him.

After marking Zhuang Wu’s answers, Qin Qiyue handed the pen and paper back to Zhuang Wu. “You’ve already practiced these question types so don’t make mistakes on the test and answer wrongly on the questions that you know.”

“Gege, are you that worried about me?” Zhuang Wu in bewilderment, “How many times have you said this now?”

“Just a reminder.” Qin Qiyue glanced at the watch on his wrist and then stood up. “Class is about to start. I’m going back to my seat now. I’ll come back next time.”

Zhuang Wu responded reluctantly. “Okay……”