SEBLS Chapter 31

Translator Xena’s other works: https://ko-fi.com/xenatl/gallery
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Zhuang Wu and Qin Qiyue found the private room where Lin Mengyu and the others were according to Lin Mengyu’s instructions.

Lin Mengyu, Wen Jia and others had been waiting inside for a long time. When they saw them, they finally felt relieved.

Lin Mengyu spoke first, “Why are you so slow? I thought something happened to you!”

Qin Qiyue was about to tell the truth, but was stopped by Zhuang Wu, “Auntie, we couldn’t find the location just now. We took the wrong road and went in the opposite direction.”

Hearing that nothing happened, Lin Mengyu breathed a sigh of relief. “Sit down.”

After taking his seat, Qin Qiyue asked in a low voice, “Why did you lie to her?”

Zhuang Wu thought Qin Qiyue knew why he lied, so at this moment, he wanted to roll his eyes when faced with Qin Qiyue’s question.

“Gege, today is your mother’s birthday. Do you want her to be in a bad mood because of us?”

It was a valid point.

Qin Qiyue smiled. “Hm, right.”

The food came after Zhuang Wu and Qin Qiyue sat for a while. In fact, this food had been prepared a long time ago, but because Lin Mengyu said that she would wait until everyone was present before serving them, the waiter had to take the food back.

And now, the food has been heated up several times already.

After inviting everyone, they started eating.

Zhuang Wu had also been hungry for a long time, but since Qin Qiyue was sitting next to him, he felt embarrassed to wolf down his food, so he could only eat in small bites, trying not to ruin his image.

Sometimes being in the presence of someone you like is really uncomfortable.

Even after finishing the meal, Zhuang Wu felt that he was not full at all.

Lin Mengyu asked Qin Qiyue to bring the cake over and distribute it to everyone.

Next it was time to give the gifts.

Zhuang Wu was the first to hand over the skin care products he had bought last Wednesday. “Auntie, happy birthday. I wish you become more and more beautiful.”

Lin Mengyu smiled and accepted it. “Thank you, Xiao zhuang.”

Wen Jia saw the gift packaging that Zhuang Wu gave to Lin Mengyu and was stunned. “Zhuang Wu, did you buy the same thing as me?”

“Huh?” Zhuang Wu was confused.

Wen Jia also took out her gift for Lin Mengyu. After comparing them, they were exactly the same.

But Lin Mengyu didn’t care. She carefully put the two identical things away.

“As expected of mother and son, they even think the same thing.” Lin Mengyu’s expression was gentle: “I’ll use both together, it’s all good.”

Lin Mengyu wasn’t unhappy, and everyone felt relieved.

Qin Qiyue said nothing and directly gave the thing to Lin Mengyu. When Lin Mengyu opened it, the corners of her mouth could not help but twitch.

She has worn this dress several times. Did Qin Qiyue not know that and bought her the same one?

“Wife.” Qin Qiyue’s father called her, hung a necklace around Lin Mengyu’s neck, and kissed Lin Mengyu on the cheek. “Happy birthday.”

Zhuang Wu was a little dazed while watching this scene.

“Why are you in a daze?” Qin Qiyue glanced at him.

Zhuang Wu reacted and took advantage of the others’ inattention to move closer to Qin Qiyue. “Gege, I was thinking that maybe we will be like uncle and auntie in the future, but the difference is that we won’t have children and it’ll be just the two of us.”

Qin Qiyue blushed and distanced himself from the other. Suddenly, she felt a little regretful about asking Zhuang Wu what he was daydreaming about.

Didn’t it just give Zhuang Wu a chance to tease himself?

Noticing that Qin Qiyue’s was blushing, Zhuang Wu couldn’t help but smile and quietly reach out from under the table to touch Qin Qiyue’s hand.

“Stop touching around.” Qin Qiyue moved his hand to another place.

Zhuang Wu finally withdrew his hand. “Gege is so cute.”

The corners of Qin Qiyue’s mouth curled up slightly. He was inexplicably happy hearing Zhuang Wu’s words.

As winter approached, the temperature got lower and colder. Every time Zhuang Wu got up in the morning, he has to stay in bed for a long time.

Qin Qiyue was his only motivation to get up early. After all, he finished high school a long time ago but had to go back to it all over again due to an accident. This was difficult for anyone to accept.

As the end of the semester approached, there were more and more things happening at school. The relationship between Zhuang Wu and Qin Qiyue cooled a bit during this period.

In fact, it was just Qin Qiyue’s one-sided coldness.

Every time Zhuang Wu talked to him, he was always doing practice problems. Only when Zhuang Wu had questions, he didn’t understand would Qin Qiyue reluctantly pay some attention to teach him. This made Zhuang Wu always feel frustrated. He could only find different ways to attract Qin Qiyue’s attention, but no matter what he did, it was all in vain.

Thinking about the last time he said he would treat Qin Qiyue to a meal, Zhuang Wu seemed to have finally found a topic to talk about. He started talking to Qin Qiyue with great interest, “Gege, let’s go out for dinner together on Sunday. It’s my treat.”

Qin Qiyue is still working on the questions. “No, I’m going to review at home on Sunday. The final exams are coming soon.”

Zhuang Wu pouted. “Gege, why have you become more and more indifferent recently?”

“Busy.”

“Yes, yes, everything is more important than me.” Zhuang Wu turned his head away, not wanting to make a fool of himself.

Why does it look like you’re angry?

Qin Qiyue pursed his lips and said hesitantly. “Nevermind, where do you want to go?”

As long as Qin Qiyue took the initiative to speak, Zhuang Wu would no longer be angry.

He immediately became happy. “I haven’t made up my mind yet. Anyway, since Gege has agreed, yo’re not allowed to take it back!”

“……”

The temperature dropped sharply throughout the week. Zhuang Wu almost wrapped himself up like a ball when it was time to go out, but he was worried that Qin Qiyue would think he was fat or ugly or something.

In the end, Zhuang Wu could only take off the thickest piece of clothing before going out.

The first thing Qin Qiyue asked when she saw him was, “Why are you wearing such thin clothes? Aren’t you cold?”

Zhuang Wu was not willing to let go of the opportunity to make Qin Qiyue feel sorry for him. He acted carefully. “Of course it’s cold. I’m just afraid that wearing too much will make Gege dislike me for not looking good.”

“What’s there to dislike about this?” Qin Qiyue was helpless. “Don’t blame me if you catch a cold.”

Damn it, not only did he not make Qin Qiyue feel sorry for him, but he also put him on defense mode.

Zhuang Wu took Qin Qiyue to a hot pot restaurant. It was very cold during winter and was just the right time to have a steaming hot pot.

However, Zhuang Wu was not very happy with the hotpot meal.

Just when they were about to eat the hot pot, two girls suddenly appeared in front of them.

One of the pretty girls even approached Qin Qiyue and said, “Handsome guy, can I get your contact?”

Zhuang Wu stared at Qin Qiyue, wanting to see how Qin Qiyue would answer the two girls.

Qin Qiyue took a sip of water. The hot pot was so spicy that the corners of his eyes turned red.

After a long time, he answered without raising his head, “No.”

The girl who approached Qin Qiyue seemed like she took a blow but was still unwilling to accept it. She said indignantly,”Why, do I not look good? Are you looking down on me?”

When Qin Qiyue heard this, he did not answer immediately but instead looked at Zhuang Wu meaningfully.

Zhuang Wu didn’t understand why Qin Qiyue was looking at him like that, but he still looked back at Qin Qiyue.

A few seconds later, Zhuang Wu heard Qin Qiyue say, “I don’t know whether you’re pretty or not, because I don’t like girls, and I can’t tell whether they’re pretty or not.”

The girl was stunned. “You don’t like girls… then, do you like guys?”

At that moment, Zhuang Wu finally understood Qin Qiyue’s intentions with his gaze and answered directly on behalf of Qin Qiyue, “Yes, he likes guys and I’m the guy he likes, so you should give up on the idea of hitting on him.”

In the silence, the two girls quickly apologized, “So you’re gay. Sorry to bother you. Goodbye.”

After saying that, the two girls left in full view of everyone.

After this incident, Zhuang Wu was in no mood to eat. He lay on the table and fiddled with his phone in annoyance.

Before he could fiddle for long, he suddenly heard Qin Qiyue laugh.

Zhuang Wu frowned. “Gege, what are you laughing at? Are you happy to be approached?”

Qin Qiyue thought back to what Zhuang Wu had just said to the two girls, and the smile on his face became more obvious. “Yeah, I’m very happy.”

Zhuang Wu said depressedly, “Then you should’ve agreed with them, why did you refuse?”

Qin Qiyue deliberately asked, “Why should I agree with them?”

“Didn’t you say you were happy being approached by them?” Zhuang Wu was so angry that he didn’t want to talk anymore, “If you’re happy, why did you ask me for help?”

Qin Qiyue realized that Zhuang Wu was angry but still pretended not to notice. “If you think I’m happy, then I’m happy.”

He was not happy because someone was chatting him up, but he refused to tell Zhuang Wu the real reason because he was afraid that Zhuang Wu would misunderstand something.

In his last life, he pestered Qin Qiyue and soon got together with him.

But now, even after chasing for so long, Qin Qiyue was still indifferent.

Zhuang Wu felt so aggrieved that his eyes were a little flushed.

“Sometimes I wonder if I shouldn’t pursue you and is it good enough to maintain the same relationship as before?”

After these words were spoken, Qin Qiyue finally reacted, “It’s your freedom to choose whether to pursue or not. If you don’t want to, then don’t pursue.”

Zhuang Wu curled his lips slightly and continued to ask like a dead pig that was not afraid of boiling water, “Gege, it’s been so long, you really don’t like me at all?”

Qin Qiyue paused, looking particularly uncomfortable. “I have never liked you.”

After staring at Qin Qiyue for a long time, Zhuang Wu finally smiled.

“It doesn’t matter.” Zhuang Wu had no emotional ups and downs. “If I say I’m not pursuing you anymore, it’s all fake. I can’t give up. Gege, I know you definitely have some feelings for me, but I don’t know why you won’t admit it. But one day, I will make you like me so much that you won’t be able to hide it anymore.”

Qin Qiyue raised his eyebrows. “Can you do that?”

Zhuang Wu said firmly, “I can.”

“……”

Hearing Zhuang Wu’s answer, Qin Qiyue’s heart began to beat violently out of his control.

Does he really not like Zhuang Wu? Does he really have no feelings for Zhuang Wu at all?

It’s impossible. It’s impossible that he didn’t feel anything at all. Qin Qiyue knew it.

However, he inexplicably didn’t dare to let Zhuang Wu know his feelings for him.

At the beginning, when Zhuang Wu said he wanted to pursue him, he just thought Zhuang Wu was crazy, but Zhuang Wu truly persisted until it came to the point that he believed Zhuang Wu really liked him.

And now, he would like to stay with Zhuang Wu.

As they sat by the window talking, snow began to fall outside.