Chapter 11 - Strawberry Flavored Scholar Gong (11): Scholar Shi Yu achieving his first kiss!
Translator: KunLin
Editors: Amaris, Grump
Shi Yu who never ate food with heavy flavors in public opened up the lunch box under the envious and covetous gazes of everyone else around him.
Inside the lunch box were five steamed dumplings that were stuffed with minced meat and mushrooms. The glass container was full of translucent wontons that emitted puffs of hot steam; just smelling the aroma could whet one’s appetite greatly. The thin skins of the steamed dumplings were made round by the ample stuffing. Even if one wasn’t a hopeless foodie, they would still be conquered by this plump and alluring delicacy. The round wontons resembled silver ingots, the smooth and translucent skins of the wonton surrounded by the strong fragrance of shepherd’s purse was mouth-watering, and the soup that submerged the wontons was full of umami flavor. As a person drank it, a feeling of warmth would disperse all throughout their body.
This dish was simply the pinnacle of luxury.
Li LinLing impatiently looked on for a while but, in the end, she still wasn’t presumptuous enough to ask Gou Liang for a portion too. Instead, she tugged Gou Liang and Chen LiBai away and began to gossip enthusiastically in order to take her mind off the food.
Gou Liang didn’t hear a word Li LinLing was saying. He was currently having an intense conversation with the System about the sudden +25 increase in favorability value.
【Gou Liang: I knew it, there’s just no way for anyone to resist my food after all
~ (╭￣3￣)╭ 】
【System: Master, now is not the time to praise yourself! +65 favorability points, ah! The favorability value has already exceeded 60. Let’s start thinking about how to retrieve the fragment! brimming-with-enthusiasm.gif 】
【Gou Liang poured cold water over the System: You, ne, find the location where the fragment is embedded in, then we’ll talk.】
【System: ..Perhaps the soul intimacy level still isn’t high enough. After the favorability value is increased some more, I should be able to locate its exact position. The Mainframe is also working to provide you with hints as soon as possible. 】
【Gou Liang was not impressed: Perhaps? Should? Hints? Heh.】
System: Although it was just a measly ‘heh’, the system has the impression of being roasted to death. 〒▽〒
After finishing his second serving of breakfast of the day, Shi Yu did not feel unwell because of his excessively burdened stomach. Instead, he was in an unprecedentedly good mood. He carefully placed the lunchbox into his own bag before turning to look at Gou Liang who was sizing him up and thought he was hiding it well. Shi Yu smiled at him and joked: “Feeling distressed about your food? But it’s too late to regret it now. Thank you for the breakfast, deskmate.”
“Who’s distressed..”
Gou Liang was still mulling over why Shi Yu would suddenly have such a huge increase in favorability towards him, as well as the reason why they were unable to locate the fragment. At the time when the breakthrough in the favorability value had happened, the System had eagerly used Gou Liang’s soul force to search the target’s soul in order to find the location of the fragment, only to fail. Gou Liang was deep in thought over these questions so his response sounded somewhat absent-minded. But when his eyes made contact with Shi Yu’s, his train of thought was abruptly cut off, causing his sentence to trail off.
Shi Yu was smiling.
It was a sincere smile that reached all the way up to his eyes.
And the expression that Shi Yu was looking at him with was extremely earnest..
Gou Liang felt an inexplicable sense of unease, he pretended to be busy as he searched inside his desk for a juice box. He stuck in the straw as he looked towards Shi Yu with a baffled expression. Clearly there was something fishy going on with him.
Shi Yu was acutely perceptive, he could guess what Gou Liang was thinking. He smiled and asked: “What is it?”
“Nothing.” Gou Liang sucked in some juice, the distinct and silky taste of papaya and milk soothed his nerves as he looked askance at Shi Yu and said: “I just thought that you’re in an especially good mood today.”
Shi Yu let out a cough. His face promptly returned to his standard-smile.jpg, but the smile in his eyes did not recede at all.
He asked: “Is it weird that I’m in a good mood?”
Gou Liang thought in his heart: There is definitely something amiss with him. Normally, he would not bother to continue their conversation, but all of a sudden he’s talking so much..could this be the benefit of deepening the favorability value?
Before Gou Liang could think of a reason why, he was interrupted by the System bearing urgent news ↓
【System: Ding, Master! Ye Hui got into a car accident!!】
【Gou Liang: ??】
Gou Liang: “Cough, cough, cough!”
Gou Liang was surprised upon hearing this unexpected piece of news. Caught off guard, he accidentally choked on his juice. He covered his mouth with one hand as he coughed while asking the System for the details of the situation. Ye Hui could not die at this critical juncture! Otherwise, he wouldn’t be able to borrow Ye Hui’s hands to take revenge and he wouldn’t be able to purify the section of the original’s negative soul force that was related to Ye Hui!
This was a big problem related to his spirit coins!
Shi Yu was alarmed by him and hurriedly grabbed a tissue for him. Seeing Gou Liang’s face that had turned red from coughing, he wrinkled his brow and scolded Gou Liang: “Why are you so careless?”
Li LinLing and Chen LiBai both looked their way, the two of them asked Gou Liang if he was alright. Li LinLing was even about to stand up and pat Gou Liang’s back so he could breathe better when she was blocked by Shi Yu who began to pat Gou Liang’s back himself. Shi Yu smiled at her and said: “I’ll do it, thank you.”
Li LinLing didn’t understand why he was thanking her.
Gou Liang shook his head at them to express that he was alright, he tried to restrain his coughs as he watched the System replay the monitoring record.
Ye Hui had been outside the hospital entrance when he was hit by the damn motorcycle.
The other party obviously carried malicious intent. Ye Hui had fallen helplessly onto the floor in his rush to get out of the way but the culprit actually reversed the motorcycle and went back to crush both of Ye Hui’s legs with the wheels before quickly escaping.
Seeing Ye Hui hug his legs as he screamed out in pain, Gou Liang confirmed that the injury was not to the level of claiming the other’s life before letting out a sigh of relief. Gou Liang’s mood immediately became better. Full of spirit, he checked his personal bank account and sure enough, he had received a sum of delightful rewards! These sort of pleasant surprises, he requests for them to happen more often =v=.
【Gou Liang said with great relish: Isn’t it just a small injury, what are you making such a big fuss for? I thought he had died on the spot, ne.】
The System who was being ridiculed for making a big deal out of nothing but had really been scared: ..As expected from Master who came from a transitional world, he does not feel pressured in the slightest when facing this sort of tragic scene QAQ.
【Gou Liang: There is an apt saying from this world, ‘Heaven will eventually exact the appropriate retribution’. Look, not long ago he was scheming with other people against me and now he got hit by a motorcycle, this is called karma. Little Wanton, remember to record his expression of weeping bitterly in pain, Qi Cheng is sure to like this humbled version of him. Oh, also follow that culprit, who knows maybe we can become friends, ne.】
【System: ..As you wish, Master.】
As for the reason why Ye Hui would appear at the hospital entrance instead of attending the weekend make-up classes, this matter would need to be brought back to the events of the prior evening.historical
As Gou Liang had expected, yesterday night Ye Chao had found Cheng Li and brought up the idea of having her personally make a visit to check on Gou Liang’s current living situation. He specifically indicated that she was to bring Ye Yao along with her.
Cheng Li’s initial reaction to this request was of course reluctance: “Yao’er doesn’t like his second brother. Aren’t things fine the way they are right now? Why go out of the way to make him unhappy? Ah Chao, did Qi Cheng say something to you? Really, this child. If he misses home, just have him come back for a meal together. Asking his elders to come visit him instead, what sort of logic is this? Anyway, even if I go, what am I going to do?”
Ye Chao asked her: “Do you know what Xiao Cheng scored for this month’s exam?”
Cheng Li didn’t even take a moment to think before answering: “What is there to say about his grades? It’s already considered good if he doesn’t get dead last. Also, Ah Chao, speaking of this matter, ever since Xiao Hui’s irregularity during the previous test, his body has been unwell. How about we—”
“He scored a total of 1049 points. He was one point off from a perfect mark and placed second in his entire year.”
Ye Chao interrupted her.
Cheng Li was shocked upon hearing this, her gaping mouth was wide enough to shove a fist into. Ye Chao saw this and furrowed his brows before quickly smoothing them out right after. He said to her: “Previously, you’ve always told Xiao Cheng that his grades shouldn’t surpass Ye Hui’s because you were afraid of making Ye Hui upset. I’ve already told you back then that this was unnecessary. Look, Xiao Cheng is a smart and filial child. Take Ye Yao over to see him more often so they can interact with each other; don’t let the relationship between the two brothers become estranged. Another thing, regarding those things that Ye Yao had said to Xiao Cheng last time, you should make sure to educate him well and correct his mindset. Although this is a small matter and there shouldn’t be much animosity between the two brothers, there should still exist a sense of propriety. Tomorrow, bring Ye Yao so he can formally apologize to his big brother. In the future, there will be times where Ye Yao will need to rely on Xiao Cheng for help. Do you understand?”
Cheng Li stared blankly for a moment, but immediately after she revealed an expression of happiness and joyfully agreed.
Ye Chao had the intention of turning his stepson into an assistant for Ye Yao. Even Cheng Li understood what this signified; how could Ye Hui who had been standing outside the study eavesdropping this whole time not be clear on what this meant?
Gou Liang sat down to watch this show as a way to kill time after eating. Because he had succeeded in garnering Ye Chao’s commendation, he received a portion of the original’s purified soul force that was related to Ye Chao. Gou Liang looked at the dark expression on Ye Hui’s face and knew that he would make a move soon.
And indeed, with the excuse of getting medicine from the hospital, this morning Ye Hui had gone to look for his former lackeys who were still hospitalized in order to inquire about their off-campus contacts with some delinquents. He had planned on hiring people to give Gou Liang a lesson before going to intimidate and threaten Ye Yao—just like how he did in the past with the original host when they were young. This was the method that he had used in the past in order to make the original host obedient.
Although Gou Liang’s recent behavior had proven to him that this sort of method might result in violent repercussions, Ye Hui was well aware that Ye Yao was someone who was easily instigated and was all bark but no bites. Thus, Ye Hui still decided to carry on this plan.
Didn’t Ye Chao want to groom Ye Yao as his heir? Then he would let his father understand just what sort of trash his youngest son was.
Inside the empty elevator with no one else around, Ye Hui’s maliciousness was written clearly all over his face. Gou Liang didn’t even need to use the Emotion Sharing Prop to know what Ye Hui was thinking.
However, reality had proven that Lord God’s consciousness in this world was full of righteousness; a person best not do any shameful deeds.
Ye Hui had barely taken a step out of the hospital before his legs were crushed by the motorcycle.
Upon seeing that Ye Hui was already receiving emergency treatment—a benefit of having an accident right outside of a hospital was that timely treatment was convenient–Gou Liang told the System to continue recording Ye Hui’s wretched state before waving his hands at Shi Yu and the others, saying: “I’m fine, I just drank too fast and choked.”
Shi Yu felt rather helpless. He looked at Gou Liang’s eyes that had become damp from coughing too much and swallowed back the chiding words that he was about to say. Instead, he said in a gentle and even tone: “Drink slowly, no one’s fighting you for it.”
“I know, la, don’t nag.” Gou Liang said this but suddenly paused.
Following after, Gou Liang narrowed his eyes while looking at Shi Yu up and down. He placed his hand on Shi Yu’s shoulder and said: “Classmate Shi Yu, confess honestly. Why are you suddenly so considerate to me, what kind of evil schemes are you brewing? Let me say the ugly things beforehand first, okay? If you want to borrow money from me that’s fine, but if it’s my food you want, I can only say there’s no way!” Anyway, it was not his money that he would be spending, not to mention that after completing the mission he wouldn’t be able to take nor spend any of the money. He had always been very generous in things like offering borrowed flowers to present to Buddha. But if Shi Yu insisted on taking more of his food, even if Shi Yu was the target, don’t blame him for being merciless!
Shi Yu: “..”
Watching this scene, Li LinLing smiled and let out a peal of laughter.
Shi Yu rubbed his temple and said: “I don’t need to eat yet.”
“It’s best if you never need to.” Gou Liang casually said this before picking up his juice box and taking a sip. Seeing that Shi Yu was looking at the shoulder that he had just touched, he mischievously reached out and patted Shi Yu’s shoulders again, saying: “I just touched you a bit, what’s the big deal? Don’t act like a maiden who would get pregnant just from holding hands, alright?”
Shi Yu who originally felt slightly regretful: “..”
*
When class was dismissed in the afternoon, Gou Liang headed off-campus rather than walking towards the maple garden. Upon seeing this, Shi Yu asked him about it.
Gou Liang was all smiles as he said: “Yesterday my mom said that she’s bringing my little brother to visit me this afternoon to eat lunch together. All of us have a sweet tooth, so I’m going back first to prepare the food.”
Of course, while Gou Liang smiled brilliantly and pretended to crave for maternal and brotherly love, he knew that the two of them definitely wouldn’t be coming today.
Hence one hour later, in the maple garden.
Seeing Gou Liang, who was walking over at a fast pace while carrying a bulging school bag, Shi Yu was surprised. He watched as Gou Liang pulled out several boxes of sweets from his bag, placing them onto the table one by one with a long face. He even took the initiative to ask Shi Yu if he wanted to eat any when he was done. Shi Yu set down his book and stood up.
“They didn’t show up?”
Shi Yu asked this in a quiet voice.
Gou Liang didn’t question how Shi Yu knew nor did he care about why Shi Yu asked him this.
He knew very clearly that Cheng Li wouldn’t be coming today since she was busy crying herself silly outside the operating room. The fact that Gou Liang still acted out this one person show despite knowing this naturally meant that he had a hidden motive↓↓
The target was extremely clear on the true nature of the relationship between the original host and the target.
Although the system could not monitor what the target was doing, it could still monitor the speech of the target and the people whom he had come in contact with at all times. On the same day that Shi Yu had returned to school, the original host was exposed as a homosexual and the large scale school fight happened— a sensational affair like this, although Shi Yu was never one to care much for gossip, on the drive back home when his chauffeur asked him how he was settling in his new school, he took the chance to inquire about this event.
On the second day, as the chauffeur was sending Shi Yu to school, in a familiar manner, as if he was enumerating his own household possessions, the chauffeur reported to Shi Yu the private affairs of the aristocratic Ye House from City A.
Of course, if compared to the Shi House, the Ye House would not have the gall to refer to itself as an elite household.
This stepson of Ye Chao practically had no sense of existence in the eyes of the public. However, whether Ye Hui’s intention was to teach this stepson a lesson or to just simply mess with him, he actually caused such commotion that would firmly ‘slap’ on his family’s face for a petty personal dispute. It went to show that the history of bad blood between the two of them was quite deep.
At that time, no one expected that Gou Liang would retaliate and make a comeback.
When Gou Liang broke away from the Ye House and started to display the full splendor of his brilliance, who knew how many people from the inner circle had laughed their heads off at the Ye House’s stupidity, ne.
In front of Shi Yu, Gou Liang could boldly reveal his hatred towards Ye Hui and could even display his counterattacks. However, he could not display the attitude of a white-eyed wolf towards the Ye Family nor could he reveal his true feelings of pitilessness and indifference towards his so called ‘family members’. At this moment, Gou Liang was pursing his lips, his pair of dimples that were always lively was now nowhere to be seen. He fiddled with the lunchboxes in a sullen manner before impatiently saying: “Do you want to eat or not, decide before I change my mind.”
【Gou Liang: Say you don’t want don’t want don’t want—ying.】
Upon seeing a certain someone sit down without another word and pick up a silver spoon to dig into his own handmade delicacies, the sorrow in his heart had already formed a river. This time he didn’t conceal his displeasure, he boldly sat in front of Shi Yu who was eating his food and fiercely glared at Shi Yu with utmost concentration while releasing a murderous aura.
Shi Yu thought that Gou Liang was only acting up to vent for his heart that had been wounded by his mother and brother, so he didn’t pay attention to being glared at. In fact, he felt worried for Gou Liang. Shi Yu pushed the delicious desserts towards Gou Liang and asked: “Not eating?”
Gou Liang painfully turned his head away.
Shi Yu smiled. He was about to tease Gou Liang into a good mood, but upon seeing Gou Liang’s eyes that were full of disappointment and forbearance compared to his always smiling and crafty expression from before, that thought dissipated. As Shi Yu ate in silence, he began to think of how he could console the other.
But very soon, the problem that needed Shi Yu’s consideration was not how to comfort someone although he was bad at it but instead.. he needed to worry about his stomach’s capacity.
Shi Yu looked at Gou Liang who was propping his chin up with his hand and was staring at Shi Yu with eyes full of interest as he wordlessly urged Shi Yu on to eat another box of sweets with an expectant gaze. Upon seeing this, Shi Yu understood what he should do in order to coax this deskmate of his that liked to compete with him for no reason. It was just that.. Resisting the urge to hold and support his overwhelmed stomach, under the bright and earnest look from Gou Liang, Shi Yu carried on with the determination of a warrior who was willing to break his own arms as he moved on to his fourth box of sweets. Shi Yu watched as Gou Liang faintly curved his eyes into a smile and a trace of faint dimples could be seen on his face once again. It was a good thing that he had not eaten much for lunch since he had eaten so much in the morning. Shi Yu rejoiced over his good foresight.
When Shi Yu was finished with all ten boxes of desserts, Gou Liang who had known all along that Shi Yu didn’t care for sweets was already smiling wildly.
Shi Yu glanced at Gou Liang. As if he had been relieved of a great burden from completing an arduous task, he let out a sigh of relief and placed down his spoon.
【Ding! The target’s favorability value has been updated. Current favorability value: +70.】
【Gou Liang was stunned: Little Wanton..tell me honestly, does the target have a masochistic tendency?】
In his sea of consciousness, ever since Gou Liang had begun cursing at the target wishing for the target’s stomach to explode from overeating, the System had been staring rigidly at the favorability value, not daring to relax for even a bit in fear of it decreasing. The System, who had passed through a false alarm, expressed: Something that even Master was clueless about, how would I know? However, by staring at the huge blind spot in the monitor, the System felt like it could also enlighten itself and gain some profound notions.
Shi Yu looked at Gou Liang whose face was full of glee and pride because the other had succeeded in ‘bullying’ him. He cleaned up the containers and tableware before asking Gou Liang what he wanted to do next.
Gou Liang stretched out lazily and said: “The weather is nice and it’s still early, of course I’m going to sleep.” After saying this, he laid down on the bench while reminding Shi Yu to wake him up before he left.
Shi Yu watched as Gou Liang really laid down and went to sleep. Tilting his head and covering his eyes with his hand, Gou Liang turned quiet soon after.
Shi Yu once again picked up the book that he had left unfinished, however, even after a long time had passed, he still had yet to turn a single page.
“Deskmate?”
Shi Yu probed by calling out.
Gou Liang in the name of sleeping was enthusiastically watching the continuation of Ye Hui’s car accident, naturally he didn’t respond to Shi Yu.
In the System’s monitor, the doctor was just announcing to Cheng Li and Ye Chao: “If Ye Hui’s legs are not treated carefully, there is a high possibility of him becoming permanently disabled. What can be confirmed right now is that he needs to be hospitalized for at least three months and it is best for him to stay in bed at all times during this timeframe.”
Ye Hui tightly furrowed his brows. As he stepped out of the doctor’s office, he once again called the police and prompted them to speed up the investigation in finding the culprit. Gou Liang already knew the true identity of the culprit thanks to the System’s tracking function that was effective within the radius of this city. When he heard this, he became even more gleeful.
There was a saying that ‘birds of the same feather will flock together’ and ‘similar people will always find each other’. This was especially true in this case.
In fact, the person who acted against Ye Hui was not anyone unfamiliar. It was Wu Yong who was also hospitalized in the very same hospital.
To the PE students, following Ye Hui’s order was a business transaction, not to mention they could also gain benefits by earning his favor. Wu Yong was not like them. Back then, when Ye Hui told him that Qi Cheng liked Zhan Yongzhe and that there was incriminating evidence in ‘Qi Cheng’s’ drawer to prove it, he knew that Ye Hui was just using him to achieve his own objectives. It was just that Wu Yong hated Zhan Yongzhe. In order to see Zhan Yongzhe being made a fool of, he was willing to be used by Ye Hui.
However, that did not mean he was willing to see Ye Hui being conceited with himself while he suffered.
How was this fair, ne? Wu Yong acted as a gun and did the dirty work while Ye Hui got away scot-free. As a result, Wu Yong was poisoned as well as heavily injured. Every day he was in pain like he was teetering between life and death and he had to eat those disgusting medicines while undergoing painful examinations. What made him even more indignant was that Ye Hui’s dad actually threatened the school, resulting in him being kicked out of YuLe High!
Clearly there was not a single good thing in the Ye Family, yet his parents still insisted on smoothing things over with them.
Hatred had long sprouted in Wu Yong’s heart. When he learned of Ye Hui visiting the hospital to scheme with the bunch of PE students, he had the idea to teach Ye Hui a lesson.
Such a thing wasn’t really hard to do. Since the PE students could be bought with Ye Hui’s money, naturally they could also help him out for the same reason. Hence came the scene where Ye Hui’s legs were crushed by the motorcycle.
“..Qi Cheng?”
Shi Yu called out again.
Gou Liang watched Ye Hui’s suffering, relished Cheng Li’s tears, and delighted in Ye Chao’s nervousness. As the happiness value of the original’s soul skyrocketed, Gou Liang happily followed behind as he collected his spirit coins. As for the Shi Yu who was interrupting his happy time, ignore x2.
Just as Gou Liang was about to smile even more crazily.
A finger carefully caressed his dimple.
The sound of another person’s breathing closed in towards him, two soft petals of something touched upon where his dimples were before quickly inching towards the corner of his lips. The soft something fell gently, faintly making contact.
*
【Ding! The target’s favorability value has been updated. Current favorability value: +75.】
【Ding! Mission progress bar had increased. Current completion rate:0.1%!!!】