SEBLS Chapter 30

Translator Xena’s other works: https://ko-fi.com/xenatl/gallery
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Lin Mengyu’s birthday party was on Friday. Zhuang Wu started preparing a birthday present for Lin Mengyu two days in advance, but he doesn’t know what to give Lin Mengyu.

Finally, Zhuang Wu asked Qin Qiyue to accompany him to the mall to choose on Wednesday night.

Qin Qiyue was no longer as antagonistic as before and had become quite easy to talk to. When Zhuang Wu made this request, Qin Qiyue immediately agreed. Zhuang Wu didn’t even get to say the words of persuasion he had prepared.

After evening self-study that Wednesday, Zhuang Wu quickly packed his schoolbag. “Gege, hurry up.”

Qin Qiyue silently packed his schoolbag and then stood up.

“Actually, you can give her anything.” Qin Qiyue said, “As long as it’s from you, Mom won’t be picky.”

Qin Qiyue felt a little amused when he recalled how Lin Mengyu scolded him because Zhuang Wu complained to her.

Zhuang Wu naturally knew why Qin Qiyue said that, but he was not shy at all and continued to say shamelessly, “How can I just give casually? Auntie is the mother of my future boyfriend. How can I get you if I don’t please her?”

Qin Qiyue’s ears turned red and he refused to speak.

“Why aren’t you talking, Gege?” Zhuang Wu didn’t let him go. “Do you agree with what I said?”

This time Qin Qiyue still did not refute. “Think whatever you want.”

Think whatever he want… it seems that the difference between Qin Qiyue’s attitude before compared to now was really getting bigger and bigger.

After arriving at the mall, Zhuang Wu looked around and his eyes fell on a row of dolls.

Just when he was thinking about whether to give a doll as a gift, he gave up the idea. How could he give a doll as a gift?

Lin Mengyu seemed to be quite fond of beauty, so it would be okay to give her a set of skin care products.

So, Zhuang Wu and Qin Qiyue came to the skin care products section. Having been an actor for many years, Zhuang Wu was quite knowledgeable about skin care products and could easily tell which ones good and which ones were not.

Finally, Zhuang Wu looked at the ingredients and chose a set that he thought was good. The items here didn’t have a price tag, and Zhuang Wu didn’t dare buy the ones with packaging that looked particularly high-end.

When it came time to pay, Zhuang Wu was still dumbfounded. Why was it so expensive?

“What’s wrong?” Qin Qiyue noticed Zhuang Wu’s dazed look.

Zhuang Wu was a little embarrassed and could only whisper, “I didn’t bring enough money…”

Qin Qiyue didn’t have that much cash on him so he had to take out his mobile phone from his pocket and scan the code to pay.

The clerk packed the items for them.

Because the money was not paid by Zhuang Wu, he was embarrassed to take it. Qin Qiyue took it first and then handed it to him.

After hesitating for a while, Zhuang Wu finally accepted it. “Gege, thank you. I will transfer the money to you when I get back.”

Qin Qiyue refused. “No need.”

No matter what Zhuang Wu said afterwards, Qin Qiyue refused to let Zhuang Wu transfer the money back to him.

Zhuang Wu’s eyes turned red, “Then at least let me treat you to a meal, otherwise I will feel bad…”

After a few seconds of silence, Qin Qiyue nodded, “Okay.”

Now that Qin Qiyue compromised, Zhuang Wu stopped talking about this topic.

In fact, Zhuang Wu was both happy and embarrassed about Qin Qiyue’s payment. He didn’t want the person he liked to think badly of him, but he was also happy that Qin Qiyue was willing to take the initiative to help him.

Meanwhile, Qin Qiyue was unaware of Zhuang Wu’s little thoughts, not thinking anything of Zhuang Wu just because he didn’t bring enough money.

After buying the gifts, the two of them didn’t care about the cake anymore. Lin Mengyu should have already ordered this kind of thing a long time ago.

After returning home, Zhuang Wu put the gift away and began to think about where to invite Qin Qiyue for dinner in a few days.

At that moment, a message notification sound came from his phone. Zhuang Wu opened it and took a look. It was a message from Qin Qiyue.

[1: Good night.]

Zhuang Wu sat up instantly and stared at the message for a long time. He was thinking about other things just now and forgot to send a message to Qin Qiyue. So, was it because he had sent good night messages to Qin Qiyue too many times and suddenly didn’t send one today that Qin Qiyue, because he was not used to it, took the initiative to send him a message?

The corners of Zhuang Wu’s lips couldn’t help but curl up.

Not too long now, Qin Qiyue will be captured by him soon.

[Haze: Good night, Gege.]

………………

Come Friday, Zhuang Wu put the gift for Lin Mengyu directly into his schoolbag and took it to school in order to save time.

So, he didn’t have to go home to get it after school.

“Gege, Gege, Gege! What did you prepare for Auntie?” Zhuang Wu asked.

Qin Qiyue was in the middle of answering questions. When faced with Zhuang Wu’s inquiry, he just answered casually, “Clothing.”

Zhuang Wu smiled proudly, what Qin Qiyue got was not as thoughtful as his.

Qin Qiyue finally looked over after he noticed, “What are you smiling for?”

“I’m at smiling how cutre Gege.” Zhuang Wu held up his face and looked at Qin Qiyue. He then blurted out, “Gege, why are you so cute? I like you so much.”

Qin Qiyue turned around and continued to do the questions. “Weird.”

School ended in the evenings from Monday to Thursday, but on Friday, students didn’t have to attend evening self-study and could leave school in the afternoon.

After Hu Jianlong assigned them the weekend homework, he let them go. Because the skin care product packaging was a bit large, there was no extra space left in Zhuang Wu’s schoolbag. He could only hold the weekend homework in his hands which ended up falling to the ground on the way.

Before he could squat down, Qin Qiyue had already picked it up for him. “Let me hold it or it’ll fall again later.”

“Gege, you’re so kind.” Zhuang Wu said aggrievedly, “My schoolbag is a bit heavy, can I…”

Qin Qiyue glared at him but still helped to carry Zhuang Wu’s schoolbag.

The place where Lin Mengyu’s birthday party was held wasn’t very close, so it took them a while to get there.

After calling Lin Mengyu to confirm which floor they were on, Qin Qiyue took Zhuang Wu to the elevator.

The private room where Lin Mengyu was located was on the twelfth floor. The elevator hadn’t started running yet when suddenly there was a noise and the elevator doors slammed shut. The lights in the elevator suddenly went out, and the entire space was plunged into darkness.

No matter how many times they pressed the buttons, the elevator door wouldn’t open.

What happened? Is the elevator out of order?

Zhuang Wu frowned and took out his cell phone to make a call, but there was no signal. He had to use the light of his cell phone to find the emergency bell in the elevator and press it.

After doing everything that could be done, Zhuang Wu suddenly remembered that Qin Qiyue was afraid of the dark. He shone the light of his cell phone towards Qin Qiyue and found that Qin Qiyue was squatting on the ground. Zhuang Wu hurriedly squatted down beside him and turned on the flashlight on his cell phone.

“Don’t be afraid, Gege. The flashlight is on.”

If it was like the power outage in the classroom before where many people were playing with their phones, it wouldn’t be too scary. But in a small and enclosed space like the elevator, a weak flashlight wouldn’t be of any use at all.

Seeing that Qin Qiyue wasn’t saying anything, Zhuang Wu realized that something was wrong. He reached out and touched Qin Qiyue’s arm.  “Gege……”

Before he could finish his words, his hand was grabbed by Qin Qiyue.

Qin Qiyue’s force was too strong, causing Zhuang Wu’s hand to hurt. He subconsciously said, “Ouch……”

Qin Qiyue paused, then let go of his hand. “Sorry.”

The elevator fell silent again. Zhuang Wu sighed and tried to comfort Qin Qiyue. “Someone will come to rescue us soon; we just need to wait here for a while.”

In fact, Zhuang Wu was not sure when they would be rescued. He was also afraid in his heart. If Qin Qiyue had not been there and he was alone, he would have shrunk into a small corner and dared not move at all.

But now, perhaps because Qin Qiyue was afraid, he felt he had to act a little calmer, otherwise it would be troublesome if both of them were afraid.

“Gege, believe me, nothing will happen. No matter how dark it is, as long as I am here, I will not let you…”

The next second, Zhuang Wu felt Qin Qiyue embracing him. After all, he was afraid, and it was normal to hug him in order to relieve his fear. Zhuang Wu hugged Qin Qiyue back.

Then he heard Qin Qiyue say, “I’m still afraid.”

Zhuang Wu really didn’t know how to ease Qin Qiyue’s mood and could only pat Qin Qiyue’s back soothingly. He was so heartbroken for Qin Qiyue but didn’t know that Qin Qiyue, who was supposed to be hugging him because he was afraid of the dark, was smiling at this moment where he couldn’t see.

Qin Qiyue could feel his heart beating very violently. He didn’t know why, but after Zhuang Wu said those words, he was no longer afraid. However, he inexplicably wanted to hug Zhuang Wu next to him tightly.

However, he was too embarrassed to say it and could only use this reason after hugging Zhuang Wu to prevent Zhuang Wu from feeling strange.

He had never hugged anyone who had no relationship with him before, but it seemed that he had already hugged Zhuang Wu more than once now. Every time he hugged him, he would blush, and his heart would beat faster.

Qin Qiyue wasn’t a fool, he naturally knew why this was happening but did not dare to admit it and refused to believe it, as if something was preventing him from recognizing his true thoughts.

“Are you still scared?” Zhuang Wu remained in the same position in Qin Qiyue’s arms, feeling a bit tired.

Qin Qiyue hugged him tighter. “Yeah, I’m still afraid.”

Zhuang Wu had no choice but to continue maintaining his original posture.

After a while, his arms were really numb, so Zhuang Wu let go of Qin Qiyue’s hand, wanting to take a rest.

He had merely let go for a second when Qin Qiyue spoke with a dissatisfied tone, “Why are you moving away?”

“……”

Zhuang Wu didn’t expect Qin Qiyue to be so sensitive in this environment and would get upset if he wasn’t hugged.

But he liked it very much anyway.

He was too embarrassed to say that he was tired and was just about to go back to hug him back when there was a sudden noise outside the elevator coupled with a shout.

“Don’t move around inside, we’ll get you out soon!” Zhuang Wu was delighted and subconsciously wanted to stand up but was pulled back by Qin Qiyue.

“They said don’t move,” Qin Qiyue reminded.

“Gege, someone is finally here, we can get out soon!”

“Yeah.” Qin Qiyue repeated his words, “We can get out soon.”

No, why is Qin Qiyue so perfunctory and doesn’t seem happy at all? Isn’t he happy that he can get out soon?

Zhuang Wu didn’t understand.

After a while, the elevator door opened from the outside, and Qin Qiyue let go of Zhuang Wu.

The moment that elevator door slammed shut with a loud noise, Zhuang Wu almost thought that they’d be trapped in there forever. Fortunately, someone was ready to help them.

According to the time, they had been in the elevator for almost two hours.

They’re probably late for the birthday party, but how to explain it?

Lin Mengyu’s birthday should be a happy one, and he didn’t want to say that they were late because they got stuck in the elevator and put everyone in a bad mood.