After Guo Jingyu returned, he began to pay attention to Song Zhuoran. Little did he expect that Song Zhuoran was also heading towards Class Seven.
At first, it was just discussing the competition with Li Tongzhou. But somehow, he got wind that they were having extra classes on the rooftop. He bought ice popsicles and soda, brought them over, and smiled as he asked if he could lend a hand.
The saying goes, “Don’t slap someone offering a friendly hand.” Song Zhuoran, the top student often seen as a spokesperson at school assemblies, stood out among the model students. With such enthusiasm, Guo Jingyu found it hard to refuse him. He simply nodded, allowing him to stay.
But Guo Jingyu also kept a keen eye and said to him, “Since Monitor Song is helping out, let’s trouble him to test everyone’s listening skills at noon. We can ask questions about the common mistakes and any difficulties we encounter. Feel free to participate.” As he spoke, he pulled Li Tongzhou up, saying, “Come with me back to the classroom. I left my workbook behind, and there are a few questions I didn’t quite understand. Help me out with them.”
Li Tongzhou nodded in agreement and went downstairs with him.
Guo Jingyu had no intention of letting Song Zhuoran spend more time with Li Tongzhou, let alone having them alone together. Even with so many people attending the extra classes.
But Song Zhuoran didn’t give up. Not only did he seize every opportunity to come to Class Seven during school hours, but he also deliberately ran out the school basketball team to continue his persistence.
Song Zhuoran wanted to join the basketball team.
The coach found himself bothered by Song Zhuoran’s persistence. He was now extremely cautious about agreeing easily. Last time, when they admitted Li Tongzhou, it caused quite a stir. Good guy! Both Class Seven’s homeroom teachers argued with him for a whole week. In the end, Li Tongzhou had to resolve the matter himself.
Song Zhuoran is also an honor student. The coach even heard that he is still the class monitor of Class One, consistently achieving the status of a model student. Thinking about it, he decided against it. If he accepted, it might lead to endless trouble with the teachers from Class One.
Although Song Zhuoran couldn’t make it into the school basketball team, he didn’t lose heart. Whenever he had free time, he would change into his sports attire and join them on the field for laps and training, considering himself an honorary team member.
Encountering each other so frequently, Guo Jingyu couldn’t help but become more suspicious.
He carefully recalled his past school days, calculating the time he spent away for art studio training. It seemed there was indeed a period when he wasn’t at school. He wondered if Li Tongzhou had this piece of brown candy around him during that time. Guo Jingyu glanced at Song Zhuoran with complicated eyes. In his absence, did Li Tongzhou’s relationship with this person really improve?
If Li Tongzhou started taking the bus home with someone else every day, queuing up together in the cafeteria, and running on the field together, Guo Jingyu would indeed feel a pang of jealousy.
On Guo Jingyu’s side, his thoughts were becoming quite unpleasant.
On the other side, Song Zhuoran was already running with a flush on his face. Despite being quite tall, he doesn’t regularly exercise. His daily physical activity consisted of the collective morning exercises and the mid-morning break exercises. Suddenly adding basketball team training made his legs feel like jelly, but he kept on persisting.
Guo Jingyu harbored some bad ideas, suddenly he whistled and quickened his pace.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Ktf fcalgf afjw lwwfvljafis rajgafv gecclcu klat ibcu raglvfr. Ktf ybsr ogbw atf yjrxfayjii afjw, fjmt klat ibcu ifur, gjc delmxis lc qfgofma obgwjalbc, atflg gjiislcu mglfr gfrbecvlcu atgbeut atf jlg.
Vbcu Itebgjc, atf kfii-wjccfgfv jcv ubbv raevfca, kjr tjnlcu j abeut alwf. Lf uglaafv tlr affat jcv obiibkfv, yea ys atf atlgv ijq, tlr mjio wermifr mgjwqfv eq. Lf jiwbra aglqqfv, ifaalcu bea jc “bemt,” yea kjr delmxis reqqbgafv ys rbwfbcf cfjgys.
Guo Jingyu turned around and regretted it immediately.
Of all the luck, Song Zhuoran happened to collide with Li Tongzhou. At the moment, Li Tongzhou was helping him hop on one foot. When Guo Jingyu saw Li Tongzhou leaning down to ask about his condition, he immediately handed the whistle to He Xiangyang, turned back, and asked, “What happened? Let me take a look!”
Guo Jingyu moved quickly, bending down to support Song Zhuoran’s leg. He gave it a quick massage. Song Zhuoran grimaced in pain, breaking into a cold sweat on his forehead. With a shaky stance, he almost toppled and ended up in Guo Jingyu’s arms. “Ouch, ouch, it hurds—Jingyu, be gentle, I can’t hold on—”
Guo Jingyu quickly supported him, noting that it didn’t seem like an act. Feeling a bit embarrassed, he suggested, “Let me take you to the infirmary.” He helped Song Zhuoran up, while on the other side, Li Tongzhou immediately lifted Song Zhuoran’s other arm, saying, “I’ll go with you.”
Guo Jingyu refused, “I’ll go. You go back to training with the team.”
Li Tongzhou turned to look at him, silent and without any intention of continuing the run.
Neither of them would back down. With Song Zhuoran in intense pain, they had no choice but to support him on both sides and escort him to the infirmary. Song Zhuoran’s feet barely touched the ground as he was carried horizontally across half the campus by the two boys. He attracted more attention than any school assembly had ever received, and he resembled a suffering Jesus, only missing the cross on his back.
After arriving at the infirmary and setting Song Zhuoran down, Guo Jingyu and Li Tongzhou didn’t leave.
Guo Jingyu stood by the door, sneaking a peek. When he lifted his head, he met Li Tongzhou’s gaze head-on.
Li Tongzhou didn’t look at anyone else, keeping his eyes fixed solely on him.
Guo Jingyu felt a bit bitter. He had never seen Li Tongzhou voluntarily help anyone other than himself. He had thought that Li Tongzhou’s heart was only for himself, but today he was surprised to see him taking the initiative to offer help.
The two locked eyes for a while. Suddenly, a miserable scream echoed from the infirmary. Class monitor Song cried out desperately to the medical room teacher, “Teacher, I’m fine! I’ll turn around by myself right away, really, please don’t massage me—ahhh!”
Subconsciously, Guo Jingyu looked at Li Tongzhou, only to find him still staring directly at him.
Li Tongzhou calmly said, “You care a lot about him.”
Guo Jingyu was puzzled, “Isn’t it that he cares a lot about you? He came to our class several times for the competition, and now, whenever someone from our class sees him, they shout your name at the door.”
Before Li Tongzhou could speak, the teacher from the medical room called out to them, “Are the students who brought the person here still outside? Come get the medicine and take him back! Really, still insisting on running even after injuring your ankle. It’s not strange if he doesn’t get cramps. What a mess!”
Guo Jingyu immediately went in and took the medicine for Song Zhuoran. Now monitor Song had been thoroughly convinced by the teacher. His ankle was bandaged with Guo Jingyu helping him up, Song Zhuoran thanked him repeatedly.
Guo Jingyu said, “You’re pushing yourself too hard. It’s really unnecessary. Take a few days to rest well, and don’t come back to the basketball team. And don’t keep running to our class either. Even from two floors away, I am tired for you.”
Song Zhuoran blushed slightly, “Actually, I did it because…”
Li Tongzhou walked over, placed Song Zhuoran’s hand on his shoulder, and took off much of the weight. “I’ll help you. Can you walk?”
Song Zhuoran replied, “Yes, I can walk. I can hop on one foot. Thank you both so much for today!”
Guo Jingyu was so happy, he was squinting his eyes as he watched Li Tongzhou helping his classmate. Standing to the side with his hands in his pockets, he casually remarked, “Class Monitor Song, how about I take you back to the classroom this time?”
“Sure, thanks.”
Guo Jingyu led the way ahead, and Li Tongzhou walked behind, supporting Song Zhuoran. The three of them walked in silence.
Although Song Zhuoran wanted to speak, Guo Jingyu was a couple of steps ahead, and Li Tongzhou, standing beside him, was as cold as ice. Trying to speak felt like doing a stand-up comedy by himself, so he soon fell silent as well.
After reaching the classroom, Guo Jingyu waved at Song Zhuoran and turned away, leaving.
He and Li Tongzhou returned to team training, and it was no different from usual, except that today they didn’t help each other with muscle relaxation.
Li Tongzhou kept looking at him. Guo Jingyu wiped off sweat from his clothes, then headed straight to the changing room. Li Tongzhou followed, and the two of them changed clothes back-to-back.
Waiting for the bus was also the same as usual. Li Tongzhou stood close, but Guo Jingyu remained silent, and Li Tongzhou didn’t say a word either.
After boarding the bus, Guo Jingyu walked straight to the back. There were a few available seats in the front, but this stretch of road was near a school, especially with an elementary school ahead. Elderly people often came to pick up their grandchildren, and seats had to be offered after just a few minutes. Guo Jingyu was lazy and chose to stand in the back at the old spot.
As more people gradually filled the bus, Li Tongzhou stood close to him. After a few accidental touches, Li Tongzhou simply half-embraced him, lowering his head gently sniffing him.
Guo Jingyu whispered, “Stop making trouble.”
Li Tongzhou reached out to touch his backpack, a bit more stubborn this time. Guo Jingyu didn’t stop him and handed over the backpack. The people behind them finally quieted down.
There were people making phone calls and chatting on the bus, and the unique noises of the public bus added to the noise.
Guo Jingyu turned to look at him, speaking in a low voice, “Hey, why have you been following me all day? Did you do something wrong and want to make it up to me?”
Li Tongzhou’s gaze was clear and did not evade. He just continued looking at him.
Guo Jingyu said, “What’s the matter? You found someone else outside, and now you blame me?”
Li Tongzhou replied, “I haven’t.”
Guo Jingyu raised an eyebrow and said, “Come on, everyone has joined the class. Now you’re even forcing yourself into basketball team training, Li Tongzhou, you’re quite something. If I go for training outside for a few months, would you run away with someone else?” He said it half seriously, half teasing and full of sour taste. Guo Jingyu still remembered the early days of their relationship when Li Tongzhou used to claim he was writing papers, conducting experiments, or with the competition group whenever asked about his activities.
Thinking back, Li Tongzhou was in the same class back then, and the one he often studied with was none other than Song Zhuoran.
Li Tongzhou responded, “Competitions can be discussed in the teacher’s office. There’s no need to come to the classroom.”
At first, Guo Jingyu didn’t understand, but suddenly he pointed at himself and winked, saying, “Are you saying, he specifically came to find me?”
Li Tongzhou frowned, “Isn’t it?”
Guo Jingyu rubbed his chin and thought for a moment. He thought it was possible. Leaving aside other matters, quite a few people had pursued him, both men and women.
The bus arrived at the station and made a creaking sound, it inclined forward due to inertia. Li Tongzhou reached out to protect Guo Jingyu and whispered something.
Guo Jingyu heard it clearly, a playful smile filling his eyes. He deliberately said, “What did you just say? I didn’t hear it clearly.”
Li Tongzhou repeated in his ear, “I am only good with you.”
K: Pleaaase they are so sweeet and their both eating vinegar with Monitor Song AHHAHAHAHHA
ALSO Last Chapter of the Year!! HAPPY NEW YEAR’S EVE EVERYONE ( ˘͈ ᵕ ˘͈♡)˚๐*˟♡
2023 was one hell of a ride for me. I hope we all have a wonderful, fortuitous 2024 ◝(ᵔᵕᵔ) (੭˃ᴗ˂)੭ May you all be healthy and achieve every dreams and goals you set for the coming year (づ ᴗ _ᴗ)づ♡
Thank you for the chapter, translator-sama! Wish you a peaceful and a successful year; stay healthy! 😘