After speaking those death-seeking words, Wen ZhiChu swallowed and then looked up at the other. From his angle, he could clearly see the expression on Qin JiaShu’s face darkening visibly.
Seeing this, he couldn’t help but take a step back.
“Sky…skycat Genie?”
[System: I’m here.]
For a moment, Wen ZhiChu’s legs trembled somewhat.
“Hurry… hurry and announce the completion of the mission.”
[System: Why?]
Wen ZhiChu: “I’m afraid you won’t be able to see me in a bit.”
[System: Aren’t you standing here right now? How can I not see you?]
Wen ZhiChu said with a quiver: “His fists hardened.”
[……]
Heart beating like a drum in his chest, Wen ZhiChu waited eagerly for the completion of the mission. Unexpectedly, the mechanical voice said coldly: [It can’t be announced.]
His eyes widened slightly: “Why?”
[System: Why ask me? Ask him.]
Wen ZhiChu raised his head and glanced at Qin JiaShu.
“……”
This guy was really mentally strong.
Still not feeling disgusted by him yet?!
However, given the other’s dark expression, Wen ZhiChu already didn’t dare to say anything else.
He was afraid he might end up kneeling before he could speak.
[System: Then do you still want this 50 yuan?]
The drums of retreat pounded loudly in his heart. However, Wen ZhiChu said timidly: “Yes……”
A perfect example of ‘an addicted noob’.
[System: Do your best, young man. What you need right now is self-confidence.]
Wen ZhiChu nodded and expressed his approval: “Blind confidence.”
“……”
He secretly took a breath, bit the bullet, and continued to say: “Wh…what? Did I expose your little thoughts? Don’t…don’t know how to talk anymore?”
Qin JiaShu looked down loftily at Wen ZhiChu from above. This entire time, the youth standing in front of him has been talking with his head down, stuttering while trying his best to get his words out. Occasionally, the other would raise his head and give him a careful glance, those eyes looking just like when a mouse sees a cat.
Hearing these words, Qin JiaShu’s mouth suddenly curved into a sneer.
Wen ZhiChu instantly felt a chill to his back. His voice faded overtime, sounding like the hum of a mosquito: “There’s no need for y-y-you to feel embarrassed. After all, I’m so…so amazing. It’s very hard for people to not like me.”
As soon as the System spoke, the light of dawn seemed to suddenly appear in front of Wen ZhiChu’s eyes.
Wen ZhiChu pretty much wanted to turn around immediately and leave: “S-s-seeing that you’re shy, I’ll leave for now. Goodbye.”
Goodbye forever.
After Wen ZhiChu finished speaking and before he could take a step, his path was blocked. Qin JiaShu stood in front of him like a human wall.
Wen ZhiChu instantly became dumbfounded.
“Done talking?”
The other’s tone was cool and elegant, however the words from his mouth were filled with ridicule. His eyes seemed like that of a wicked wolf in the dark night, glowing faintly with a dangerous green light.
Wen ZhiChu was so afraid that he didn’t even dare to breathe loudly.
Qin JiaShu’s face color was terrifyingly dark. Inside his eyes, Wen ZhiChu was pretty much no different than filth. Those dirty, conniving schemes that the other did in the past made Qin JiaShu feel disdain and extreme disgust. Meanwhile, the words that Wen ZhiChu spoke just now was basically also a kind of insult to him.
An unadulterated kind of humiliation.
“I like you?”
Wen ZhiChu felt like his entire body was pinned in place. Qin JiaShu raised his hand and grabbed the lower half of Wen ZhiChu’s face. His large palm covered the other’s face and squeezed slightly, exposing only Wen ZhiChu’s eyes, which looked at him in terror.
[System: Give him a huge slap across the face!]
Qin JiaShu looked down at him loftily from above.
[System: Meep……]
Wen ZhiChu: ……
The palm on his face only closed with a tiny amount of force and it was enough to make him cold sweat in fear. Qin JiaShu’s huge body moved closer to him: “A filthy thing like you, even if you were stripped naked and tossed on the side of the road, I wouldn’t spare a single glance for you.”
Wen ZhiChu’s heart thudded.
At this time, the sound of students’ footsteps could be heard gradually from the corridor. Qin JiaShu lowered the hand squeezing Wen ZhiChu’s face, a refined smile reappearing on his face. That large hand, which was originally holding Wen ZhiChu down, patted him softly on his thin shoulder.
“Wen-tongxue, Class 11 is on the 3rd floor. Be careful not to take the wrong path next time.” Saying this, Qin JiaShu walked into Class 1.
Wen ZhiChu: ……
Skycat Genie: [……]
[System: What just happened?]
Wen ZhiChu: “A tradition from the culture of performance arts.”
[System: ?]
Wen ZhiChu: “About-face.”
Seeing Wen ZhiChu still standing foolishly in place, Skycat Genie beseeched: [Hu-hurry and leave.]
Wen ZhiChu: “How come you’re also stuttering?”
[System: Marrying a chicken means following the chicken; marrying a dog means following the dog.]
“…….”
System didn’t want to admit that he was also scared by Qia JiaShu just now.
For a moment, it examined Qin JiaShu. Then it examined Wen ZhiChu.
The protagonist of the book— two different faces, one in front and one behind others. Dublicious and terrifying, he pretends to be a good person.
The villain of the book— no money, no power, and stutters as well. Under pressure, he only knows how to leave unimpressive remarks.
Really too incredulous for words.
[System: Why are you still here?!]
Holding onto the wall, Wen ZhiChu: “My…my legs are weak.”
Wen ZhiChu held onto the wall just like this and recuperated for quite a while before finally slowly returning to Class 11, swaying and staggering along the way.
It was still sometime before the evening self-study right now. Completely exhausted, Wen ZhiChu collapsed on the table like jello.
Suddenly, he felt an itch on his nose. Opening his eyes, he saw second-to-last currently holding a finger under his nose and checking him.
Wen ZhiChu said weakly, without any strength: “What…what are you doing?”
Second-to-last: “Seeing if you’re still breathing.”
Saying this, he moved his chair to sit next to Wen ZhiChu.
“Hey, can you tell me how you got so many points on the exams?”
Wen ZhiChu: “I relied on… relied on……”
Seeing how much effort it took him to speak, the second-to-last answered for him: “Relied on hard work?”
The second-to-last didn’t argue with him. Instead, he said: “Before the next monthly exams, help me review the materials. If I test last place again next time, I will probably get beaten by my mom.”
Wen ZhiChu looked towards him: “Yesterday, yesterday aunty beat you up also?”
“No, I told my mom that I was tired from tutoring someone before the exams so I didn’t do well.”
“Aunty… believed it?”
The second-to-last smacked himself on the thigh: “Of course. My mom even praised me for my candle-like spirit.”
Wen ZhiChu: “?”
“Lighting the way for others by burning myself.”
“……”
The second-to-last tsked and shook his head: “I’m really the fucking greatest.”
Immediately afterwards, he raised his hand to pat Wen ZhiChu’s shoulder: “I hope you can inherit my mantle and help me in return. Old soldiers never die, their flames only pass on from one generation to the next.”
Wen ZhiChu: “…… is this idiom used like that?”
The completion of today’s mission already allowed him to heave a sigh of relief in his heart. In the following evening self-study period, Wen ZhiChu finished his homework at school and then reviewed some physics concepts. After that he began to clean up and got ready to return home.
The dismissal bell was like opening the gates of beasts inside a cage. As soon as the bell sounded, a huge group of students rushed outside immediately. Wen ZhiChu didn’t dare to force his way through that. After all, others might get injured, but he’d lose his life.
He had no choice but to walk slowly and leisurely behind the pack.
In the dark night, the school campus was illuminated by a lot of streetlights. The after school youths had no cares or worries. Their energetic cheers and joyous shouts were as bright and dazzling as the stars in the night sky.
Wen ZhiChu walked to the bus stop and waited for the bus to arrive. Students passed him by in groups and pairs. His gaze followed them unconsciously, eyes revealing an uncontrollable envy and yearning.
[System: Young man, are you lonely?]
Wen ZhiChu lowered his head and didn’t speak. If he said he wasn’t lonely, that might be a lie. He also genuinely yearned for the lives of others.
However, compared to his last life, he couldn’t be considered lonely either. At least he had System by his side to talk to.
Not long afterwards, the bus drove over from a distance. Wen ZhiChu inserted a coin and boarded the bus. Pretty lucky, he managed to sit in the last seat remaining.
Just then, he heard the sound of a disturbance next to him. An argument seemed to be occurring inside the bus.
“How is this your seat? I already picked this seat earlier.” An aunty around her 50s stood to the side, pointing at an old grandma in the seat, cursing loudly: “You’re already so old, if you still have any sense of shame, you’d get up immediately.”
That aunty had her hair dyed red, which was currently popular amongst the middle-aged. Her voice was so loud that the entire bus could hear her. Very clamous, it made the originally comfortable and relaxing moment become very oppressive and gloomy.
The old grandma sitting on the seat didn’t move. Her voice was aged and weary: “I sat down here first.”
“What do you mean you sat down first? Don’t act all pitiful and elderly. Hurry up and get up.” When the aunty got on the bus, she originally wanted to sit in the back. However, after sitting down, she saw there was a spot in the middle, so she wanted to sit in the middle. It was easier to get off the bus after all. However, before she reached there, a student that just boarded the bus got to the spot first. She had planned to return to her old seat. Unexpectedly, when she turned around, this old grandma sat directly in her original seat. Instantly, she started cursing loudly at the other.
That old grandma had mobility issues. There was even a cane next to her.
At this moment, the huge space inside this bus was filled with the woman’s clamorous, ear-piercing voice. Wen ZhiChu glanced at the old grandma, who didn’t dare to make a sound, and inevitably, felt somewhat uncomfortable. Immediately afterwards, he flexed his fingers and got up, saying in a voice louder than usual: “I… I don’t need to sit. Aunty… you can sit here.”
He already stuttered when he spoke and had a timid personality, so he didn’t dare to step forth and reason with the woman. After all, if an argument were to occur, he definitely couldn’t win. The only method to stop her clamor was to give up his own seat. This kind of method was both self-sacrificing and stifling, but he wasn’t afraid of being ridiculed by others because this also counted as an act of bravery for someone as timid as himself.
That woman was stunned and behaved like it was extremely humiliating for a student to give up his seat for her: “Do I need you to act like a nice guy here? The one who took my seat is the one that needs to sit somewhere else. I’m definitely sitting here today. I don’t need you to give up your seat.”
However, what the woman didn’t expect was that gradually, people began to object and reprimand her.
Wen ZhiChu was the first person who spoke up, the spark that ignited the flames. When someone takes a brave stand, they create a sturdy pillar, making the originally indignant yet hesitant people feel like ‘there are others with the same thoughts as me; so others are just as indignant as I am’.
“I say, aren’t you too much? That little student gave you his seat so you can come down from your high horse. How come you still don’t know to restrain yourself and keep on badgering nonstop!”
“So annoying. Shouldn’t the seat belong to the one who sits down in it. You can sit in it, but others can’t?”
“That old lady only sat down because she saw that you didn’t want to sit there. It’s not like she stole it from you. Don’t think that just because you have a loud voice, you’re justified.”
For a second, the woman’s face choked red: “I’m not going to waste time arguing with you ill-mannered people.”
Saying this, she walked to the middle and stood next to Wen ZhiChu’s seat.
The expression on her face was obvious to read. However, Wen ZhiChu stood in front of his seat, not moving.
Wen ZhiChu looked up blankly at her. Seeing the awkwardly complicated expression on her face, he said hastily: “Don… don’t worry. I am a member of the Communist Youth Committee.”
Saying this, he sat down immediately in the seat, a very grave and solemn expression on his little face: “I won’t go against the wishes of women.”