Pu Li Ming sighs and drops his bag to the floor as he continues riffling through his temporary locker to look for his umbrella.
“Looking for something?” A voice says behind him, startling him and making him jump, accidentally hitting the top with a bang.
Said voice immediately steps closer in concern, “Are you alright?”
“Yeah…” Pu Li Ming straightens up out of the locker, rubbing at his head as he turns around.
Zhou Fi Hai is holding a hand out as if to reach out to him, the other is holding said missing umbrella that he was looking for.
“You found it! Thank you.” Pu Li Ming gives a small bow to thank him with hands pressed together.
“Found it by the side of the entrance, you probably left it there accidentally to dry up.” Zhou Fi Hai said, handing him the tumbler.
“Oh, yeah probably.” Pu Li Ming says as he puts the tumbler into his bag and closes the locker.
“You’re just going straight home after this? You’re getting off earlier than usual.” Zhou Fi Hai remarks.
Pu Li Ming freezes before giving a small sheepish smile, “I forgot about an assignment I’m supposed to be passing tomorrow. I was hoping to cram it tonight and hopefully, I’d be finished early enough to get at least a few hours of sleep.”
Zhou Fi Hai looks at Pu Li Ming’s thin frame and grey face before his face sets and his stance straightens, “I’ll come with you.” He says before starting to unzip his jumpsuit.
Pu Li Ming’s bewildered lychee eyes go wider in “What?”
“I’ll help.”
“What, with my assignment? No! You don’t need to come at all!”
“You need the help, I’m giving it.” Zhou Fi Hai says as he grabs his bag.
Pu Li Ming’s eyebrows furrow, “But—”
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.
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“Qf’ii ajxf sbegr.”
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“What— What about the garage?” Pu Li Ming gives one more protest as Zhou Fi Hai opens the passenger door for him and nudges him inside.
Zhou Fi Hai enters through the driver’s side before he answers, “I’ll text Grace a message.”
“…” Running out protests, Pu Li Ming leans back into his seat with a sigh and looks out of the window.
Zhou Fi Hai glances at him from his peripheral vision before mirroring his sigh, “If there’s one thing I noticed from the time I met you, you’re not one to ask for help even when you need it. I’m sorry to push you, but I honestly thought you wouldn’t let me help you with this otherwise.”
Pu Li Ming is quiet for a second or two before his head slowly turns to look at him.
Zhou Fi Hai continues, “And you do need the help, Pu Li Ming. You haven’t been looking well. I thought it would be fine not to mention it, but cramming an assignment with no sleep for the next day after a tiring day at the garage isn’t healthy. I was… concerned… worried for you.”
He gets worried when Pu Li Ming is still quiet, but he doesn’t proceed to say anything else.
“You know…” Pu Li Ming’s voice piping up minutes later almost startles him, “….it’s unfair that you can always argue your way out of any reason or refute I say.”
Zhou Fi Hai’s laugh is tinged with relief, “All those times I did so are and were for your benefit.”
“…I know.” Pu Li Ming whispers to himself eventually.
When they come to a red light, Zhou Fi Hai takes it as an opportunity to look at Pu Li Ming.
“I want to ask you honestly. Just straight out answer this for me.” Zhou Fi Hai says to which Pu Li Ming answers with a nod.
“Would you allow me to try out my way of things to help you out?” He asks.
After a small bout of hesitation, Pu Li Ming nods.
“Can you answer me verbally, please?” Zhou Fi Hai clarified.
Pu Li Ming shifts around in his seat, “Yeah. I allow you to.”
Zhou Fi Hai continued, “Do you trust me to have your best interests at heart whenever I tell you something?”
“Yes, I do.” Was the answer.
“Can you promise to do your best to follow what I say even if it seems hard to do?” He added.
With a pause, Pu Li Ming answered, “…yeah.”
Zhou Fi Hai’s eyes soften as he pats the younger’s head, “Thank you, Pu Li Ming.”
“I just answered a few questions.” Pu Li Ming’s confused eyes looked into Zhou Fi Hai’s.
Zhou Fi Hai shrugged and put his hands back on the wheel as the light changed color, “Thank you anyway for answering honestly.”
Pu Li Ming turned his head to look out the window, “You don’t know if I did.”
“I trust that you did.” Zhou Fi Hai said.
“…”
–
“So first thing’s first, I’ll grab you a snack while you set up your workplace.”
Pu Li Ming’s round eyes dart to Zhou Fi Hai.
“It’s good to have a designated workplace so your body and mind would get used to it as a place of productivity. Like doing homework in bed is hard because you associate your bed with rest and sleep.” Zhou Fi Hai explains as he sets his bag down.
He tugs open the door before looking back to Pu Li Ming, “Do it, alright? I swear, it’ll help.” Then he goes out and closes the door.
The thud of its closing echoes through the room as Pu Li Ming stares at it.
With a sigh, he also sets down his bag by Zhou Fi Hai’s before looking at his desk.
Although it is filled with schoolwork, it’s also covered in random items he forgot about, crafts he was working on, and notes from a rabbit hole he ended up falling into on the internet.
He sets about clearing his notes first, grabbing them, and putting them in between his notebook. He slides the notebook into his file organizer by the side.
Next, he moves his unfinished crafts on top of the dresser. The random items were placed back to where they should be.
By the time Zhou Fi Hai came back, Pu Li Ming was shoving pens into the drawer under his desk.
“You did it fast, good. Now have a snack first. You can’t work on an empty stomach. Your brain needs energy to process things better. I also grabbed a bottle of mineral water for you. It’s important to stay hydrated.” He said, wiggling the bottle he noticed Pu Li Ming preferred.
Pu Li Ming grabs the bottle before staring at the bag of chips.
“It isn’t that healthy, but it’s a quick tasty snack. Plus you’ll be having dinner with your mother soon.” Zhou Fi Hai continues.
With a few more seconds of staring, Pu Li Ming sighs and ignores his belly turning inside-out to grab the bag of chips.
I noticed that Pu Li Ming has a problem with food. Poor boy