Translator: transcendentwings
CW/TW
Slight NSFW warning, just hinting (perhaps a bit blatantly obvious or maybe it’s my thoughts that are crooked (＿ε＿) hehe), but nothing explicit
The moonlight was deepening, and the festivities of the Fight for Survival Class 1’s New Year’s Day party had also petered out bit by bit back to peace and calm. There were still thirteen minutes before the end of the first day of the new year and while their bodies already sent out signals to sleep as it was getting late, their brains were still immersed in the residual excitement, unwilling to power down even after a long time.
Qiao Siqi and Zhou Yilu returned to playing Go. Last time, Qiao Siqi was defeated so soundly that he had no strength to fight back, this time, he vowed to wash away that humiliation. Li Jingyu was originally wandering among the bookshelves— for the books-are-my-life Li-tongxue, every tome sitting on the shelf in the closed stacks was like a shining treasure— however, just as he pulled one out, before he even flipped open to the title page, he was hauled over by Luo Geng who insisted on imparting upon him militaristic martial arts in the middle of the night.
Li Jingyu was baffled and could only spit out his honest feelings: “You revere militaristic skills, I worship literary arts. We have different ambitions and cannot work with each other.”
Luo Geng wrinkled his brow into an 8:20 figure: “What’s so good about reading books?”
Li Jingyu sighed softly: “Luo-xiong may not understand, but one who is filled with knowledge always behaves with elegance.”
Luo Geng rolled his eyes speechlessly: “Li-laodi, wake up, what can you do with refinement now?”
“. . .” Li Jingyu mulled it over seriously and found that this was indeed a sharp question. Up until now, there was no evidence that zombies would be subdued by the air of sophistication surrounding human beings and thus have never given up their pursuit to gnaw you to death.
Luo Geng came prepared this time as he grasped Li Jingyu’s hand, his eyes gleaming, and his words earnest: “What man doesn’t have a sharp weapon, to take over the fifty provinces of Guan Mountain. Please enter the Lingyan Pavilion temporarily, as a scholar who has guarded tens of thousands?”
Li Jingyu suddenly felt a flood of emotions and made a firm decision as his blood boiled: “From today onwards, I, Li Jingyu, will give up on the literary arts and embrace martial arts!”
With his ideological burden resolved, the next step was to charge forward bravely without hesitation or turning back. However, it was getting late, so Luo Geng’s plan was to first explain the various moves to Li Jingyu and wait until tomorrow morning at the crack of dawn to practice diligently.
Li Jingyu watched as Luo Geng scribbled down with a few strokes various moves such as lunge punches, throat stabbing accompanied by a kick, and horizontal strikes in a horse stance on the paper. It felt like watching an expert wielding a brush and ink to develop some sort of secret martial arts manual. Added on how the other had instigated soaring lofty aspirations in him by quoting that poem earlier, the admiration he felt at this moment pierced straight through the skies: “Luo-xiong really is someone who is capable of both literary and militaristic arts, a dragon or phoenix among people!”
The pen nib in Luo Geng’s hand slipped and the final stroke for the arc of the counter kick was thrown way out of its original trajectory. He placed the pen down and scratched his head good-naturedly as a red flush rose and blossomed on his face: “You don’t have to praise me like this la. I’ve learned this assiduously for more than ten years. Studied mathematics, physics, and chemistry, and delved into liberal arts, philosophy, and history. So of course, I’d be able to memorize an ancient poem or two.”
Li Jingyu disagreed: “High school already divided liberal arts and the sciences.”
Luo Geng was amused: “But that doesn’t mean one would return all they have learned back to the teacher ba.”
“I returned it all. . .” Li Jingyu lowered his head in shame and then suddenly raised it again as he corrected, “No, that’s not right. It’s that I didn’t understand it at all when I was learning it in the first place, especially physics. Universal gravitation or whatever, electrical currents ah and all that magnetism stuff, and I could never distinguish between the left-hand and right-hand rule correctly!”
“That’s easy to determine na,” Luo Geng completely couldn’t understand the learning difficulty Whale-laodi had with this, “The teacher didn’t make you guys recite the formula?”
Li Jingyu was confused: “What formula?”
Luo Geng sighed inconceivably, and took up the pen again as he hooked Li Jingyu’s neck and tugged him over: “I’ll draw a few simple diagrams and you’ll understand. Left is the direction of force, right is the direction of the current. The right hand represents the spiral magnetic lines. . .”
“What are you thinking about?”
Lin Dilei asked with a smile as her gentle inquiry reined in Song Fei’s mind. At this moment, Song Fei was hiding in the depths between two rows of inconspicuous bookshelves, letting his thoughts drift far away.
“I’m not thinking about anything.” Song Fei was telling the truth. These days have been too stressful and miserable. It was rare for the moonlit night to be clear and quiet, silence reigning supreme, so he had just wanted to let loose for a while, “Why are you here?”
Lin Dilei sighed, rather exasperated: “There are two people who’ve gone crazy over there, I came here to take cover.”
Song Fei blinked his eyes in a incredulous manner: “Qiao Siqi and Zhou Yilu started playing Go again?”
Lin Dilei shook her head frantically and rectified her words: “I take back all of my previous criticism and slander regarding Go. Compared to high school physics, Go is way too cute.”
Song Fei made a face: “Qi Yan and Wang Qingyuan?” Apart from these two academic tyrants who still found the time to read books despite being besieged by zombies, Song Fei couldn’t think of a second group of candidates.
Unexpectedly the answer was a second group: “Luo Geng and Li Jingyu.”
Song Fei was surprised: “Isn’t Li Jingyu from the Department of Liberal Arts?”
Lin Dilei sat down and sighed weakly: “Yes. But now he’s suddenly interested in big M and little m.”
Song Fei rifled through his memories and couldn’t match it up to anything: “What’s that?”
Lin Dilei: “The formula for universal gravitation.”
Song Fei: “. . .”
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.
Lin Dilei: “. . .”
Song-tongxue of the Department of History: “Let’s talk about something else ba.”
Zjlvfc Olc bo atf Gfqjgawfca bo Abegcjilrw jcv Zjrr Jbwweclmjalbcr: “P atlcx atja’r j wjgnfiber qijc.”
Pc ojma, Olc Glifl mjwf ab olcv Vbcu Mfl bc qegqbrf. Ciatbeut mbecaifrr qrsmtbibulmji rtjvbkr kfgf lcvffv fnbxfv ys atflg ajix bo eclnfgrji ugjnlajalbc jcv fifmagbwjucfalm lcvemalbc obg j ktlif, atf ijaafg bcis jmmfifgjafv tfg rfjgmtlcu qjmf: “Gb sbe atlcx atlr vlrjrafg mjc qjrr?”
Song Fei nodded without hesitation: “Definitely.”
Lin Dilei smiled: “So we have to go back to hitting the books next semester.”
Song Fei grinned at her and sincerely announced: “I think I can fall in love with studying.”
“What about Qi Yan ne,” Lin Dilei suddenly asked, “Do you think you can fall in love with him again?”
Song Fei was caught off guard and had a dumbfounded look on his face like a frightened hamster.
Lin Dilei rocked with amusement: “What kind of expression is that?”
Song Fei made a face: “Big sis, can you flash a preparation signal before you ask this kind of question?”
Lin Dilei shuffled over and whispered: “Tell this older sister the truth, this older sister promises not to spread this information.”
Song Fei swallowed: “Your eager gaze doesn’t seem to be very believable to me.”
Lin Dilei shoved his head angrily: “Are you a man or not, is it that hard to give me a straight answer!”
Song Fei very cooperatively accepted this taunt: “I didn’t say that I don’t still like him now ah. I mean those looks, that body, that big. . . Forget it, I won’t go into the specifics. Whoever looks at him will find him pleasing to the eye, but as it’s heralded in songs, it’s easy to fall in love but difficult to get along. You shouldn’t force what’s not yours.”
Lin Dilei looked at him quietly and asked lightly after a long time: “You initially liked him because of his good looks and exceptional figure?”
Song Fei paused, unable to respond.
In the entire university other than Wang Qingyuan, the only people who knew that he and Qi Yan were an item would be this group of people here. But everyone wasn’t clear about the specifics in the matter of their courtship. At first, all kinds of speculations bubbled up and then they gradually unified into a single general consensus— Handsome guys are loved by all, and Song Fei must’ve bagged him through his hard work using all means possible.
Song Fei has never explained it to anyone before, including Qi Yan.
This was actually only half of the truth.
The fact that he took the initiative to hook up wasn’t false. Neither Qi Yan nor he had openly come out to the group and weren’t like the other members who would take and send photos willy nilly. The Qi Yan back then was only a QQ account without a shred of personal information. They chatted on QQ, got acquainted, confirmed their relationship, and then had an offline meeting. He didn’t know if Qi Yan had inquired about his identity from the shadows before that, but he hadn’t.
Who he liked was that person who didn’t respond much in the group, but always spoke directly and sincerely, the Qi Yan who never ran his mouth with a glib tongue. When the two messaged each other privately, that person still continued to speak candidly, one was one, and two was two. You never had to bother reading between the lines with the other’s words, steady and reliable, setting one’s mind at ease.
Of course after the offline meeting, the fact that he was a hottie and the way he always conducted himself as one was always one, became a double-edged sword in their future interactions. But that’s all a story for later.
“He was a very simple person.” Song Fei finally confided his heart, “Using the word innocent to describe a man may not be appropriate, but his way of thinking really was extremely simple and pure. He didn’t play mind games, and was frank and forthright. What he thought was what he said and what he said was what he did. . .” The “immersion heater incident” from not too long ago and the most recent “give me a kiss incident” disrupted Song Fei’s reminiscing and the gentle tone disappeared, “But that was in the past. D*mn it, he’s been led astray.”
Lin Dilei spread her hands: “He who stays near vermillion is stained red, and he who stays near ink is dyed black.”
Song Fei was going crazy: “Why do all of you like to say that? Am I a squid ah, only spraying ink all day, every day!”
Lin Dilei snorted with laughter: “Sure, you don’t spray ink, you vomit blood okay. Whoever is next to you becomes more crimson every day!”
Song Fei: “. . .”
“To be honest, I just wanted to say, if you still like him, then give him another chance.” Lin Dilei paused as she said this, a little embarrassed, “You may think I’m being nosy, but I’ve known Qi Yan for so long and I’ve really never seen him attach so much importance to someone else before. To put it in a sappy way, you’re placed at the tip of his heart. If you scold him with one sentence, his heart would hurt for half the day.”
Song Fei seriously asked for advice: “How did you notice the injured heart?” Why did he only see his high and mighty countenance that was looking for a beating throughout all of memories.
“I won’t talk about that far back into the past. But, for example, just this morning, didn’t you bump into a zombie in the archive room?” Lin Dilei pointed out, “When we returned to the closed stacks, none of us noticed that one person was missing. We all huddled together cataloging the spoils. Only he noticed it instantly and rushed out to the balcony, scrambling towards you like crazy. He almost scared us to death.”
Song Fei pondered for a moment, then raised his head: “I’m more concerned about the fact that none of you realized that one person was missing. . .”
“Um,” Lin Dilei waved her hand, “Don’t sweat the small stuff.”
Song Fei: “That’s the most important thing!”
Of course, the latter topic was still returned to the right track. Lin Dilei’s meaning was actually quite simple, if you want to know whether a person treats you well or not, don’t focus on what he says, look at what he does.
“What do you want to do?” Lin Dilei hadn’t finished speaking when she saw Song Fei shoot off the ground and stand up.
“Find someone.” Throwing down these words, Song Fei walked away without turning back.
Lin Dilei smiled knowingly, very relieved.
Song Fei searched row by row and when he reached the second or third to last row, he finally heard Qi Yan’s voice coming from the first or second to last row the next aisle over—
“Climb onto the tree.”
Song Fei was baffled, and was thinking what the hell was this, when he heard another voice—
“What about afterwards ne, how should we return?”
Wang Qingyuan!
Song Fei raised his eyes in bewilderment, wondering in his heart how did these two end up pairing off with each other as he unconsciously stopped in place and eavesdropped from next door—
Qi Yan: “I have my ways.”
Wang Qingyuan: “Just continue bragging ba.”
Qi Yan: “You are prejudiced against me.”
Wang Qingyuan: “It’s because you’re too confident, no, it’s because your ego is too inflated.”
Qi Yan: “If we’re discussing the plan, then discuss the plan. Why are you always initiating personal attacks?”
Wang Qingyuan: “I didn’t ah, it’s only a matter-of-fact.”
Qi Yan: “You’ve already glanced at me thirty-seven times with a gaze that is a mixture of disgust and contempt.”
Wang Qingyuan: “You’re quite sensitive.”
Qi Yan: “It’s you that’s being too obvious.”
Wang Qingyuan: “I don’t know what part of you Song Fei liked, tsk, it’s not even that big.”
Qi Yan: “En?”
Wang Qingyuan: “You’ve already split with him, stop provoking him.”
Qi Yan: “What’s that got to do with you?”
Wang Qingyuan: “He’s my best bud. . .”
A warm current flooded Song Fei’s heart. He thought that Wang Qingyuan had always disdained him. After all, every time the other persuaded him to study, he’d always pretended that he was a dead pig who didn’t know to be afraid of boiling water. Then in the end, the other would only say two or three more sentences at most before he stopped trying. He thought that it was only because they were in the same dorm room that the other reluctantly became friends with him, so he had never thought. . .
“Although he doesn’t seek improvement or learn martial arts and just muddles through day in and day out eating and sleeping, but his nature isn’t bad.”
The threshold for being your best bro is way too low!!!
“Anyways, he has many other virtues that others don’t. . .”
It’s too late to turn back and patch it up now!
“Kind, optimistic, cheerful, lively, treats others sincerely. . .”
Okay ba, I forgive you.
“I know all of this,” Qi Yan interrupted Wang Qingyuan, “Otherwise, what did you think I agreed to date him for?”
Wang Qingyuan: “Anyone is a blend of shortcomings and strengths. You can’t just like someone because of their positive qualities and force them to correct their negative ones.”
Qi Yan: “Shouldn’t flaws be corrected?”
Wang Qingyuan: “Yes, but when you can’t correct them, you can only accept them.”
Qi Yan: “What if I can’t?”
Wang Qingyuan: “That’s why you were kicked away ah.”
Qi Yan: “. . .”
Wang Qingyuan: “Besides, do you think you have no imperfections? Song Fei just lacks the ability to summarize and generalize. I will speak up for him now. You are self-righteous, arbitrary, in arrears for EQ, and have a worrisome personality. Essentially, you lack the ability to bring happiness to your lover.”
Qi Yan: “I can come three times at night.”
Wang Qingyuan: “. . . I wasn’t referring to that!”
Qi Yan: “My apologies, you can continue.”
Wang Qingyuan: “What was I saying, d*mn it!”
—For academic tyrant Wang who has never even had a taste of his first love, a dose of unsuspected driving was a very savage blow.
Qi Yan also realized his own cruelty and out of sympathy, kindly reminded: “You pointed out that I essentially lacked the ability to bring happiness to my lover.”
Wang Qingyuan took a deep breath and eased his inner turmoil: “Exactly, to put it simply, you don’t respect him.”
Qi Yan pressed his lips into a thin line, sitting properly and reservedly, all ears.
Wang Qingyuan continued: “You can point out all his inadequacies, but you can’t impose your own will on him. Although I didn’t know you before and maybe I’ve only gotten his side of the story, however, it was all remonstrated to him in an imperative way. He couldn’t have made that all up, could he?”
Qi Yan thought back upon it carefully and nodded, ashamed: “Basically what happened.”
Wang Qingyuan shrugged: “That’s the problem. Two people are equal when getting along, no one is absolutely right, and no one is entirely wrong. Don’t always try to reform him, you’re his boyfriend, not his teacher. If you’re always standing on the higher ground, if things go on like this, the relationship will lose its balance and it’s inevitable that you were cast aside.”
Qi Yan was silent for a long time then suddenly asked: “Why are you telling me all of this?”
Wang Qingyuan furrowed his brows, as if he had only just realized this question as well, and grumbled, a little annoyed at himself: “I didn’t want to mention it originally, but after being in contact with you more, I’ve come to think that you aren’t as much of a b*stard as Song Fei put you out to be. You still have meritorious points, if anything, willing to face criticism head-on is a very rare show of magnanimity. . . Hold on a second, did I mean to say magnanimity?”
Qi Yan: “En?”
How come every time Wang Qingyuan used the word “big” in his sentences, he seemed to not understand very well?
“Forget it.” Wang Qingyuan shook his head, “At any rate, I still think that the two of you aren’t suited for each other, but if you insist on pestering him endlessly, begging for him to take you back ne, then you’d better change your attitude.”
Qi Yan: “Are you bent?”
Wang Qingyuan: “Ah?”
Qi Yan: “Are you gay?”
Wang Qingyuan: “Do I look it?”
Qi Yan: “Extremely.”
Wang Qingyuan: “My mom also thinks so, but I’m really not.”
Qi Yan: “Then we can be friends. Also, give my greetings to auntie for me.”
Wang Qingyuan: “. . . Who agreed to make friends with you!”
一Song Fei surreptitiously grinned behind the bookcase. This was a Qi Yan that he wasn’t familiar with, and also an unfamiliar Wang Qingyuan. The former was lovely and the latter was warm. Wang Qingyuan pointed out that Qi Yan didn’t respect him, when has he not tried to be more accommodating and forgiving about that ne. He always felt wronged and was exhausted by it. In fact, after he jumped out of the situation and looked at it from the sidelines, it was another point of view.
Lin Dilei asked him, now that the future was uncertain and perhaps he’d die tomorrow, wouldn’t he regret it at that time? He didn’t know the answer. The only thing he was certain of was that he has never wanted to live more than he did now. Yearning for the joys and sorrows that life brings. Pining for family, friends, and love. Longing for class. Eager to be called upon by the teacher. Wishing to bully the flowers, birds, and other critters on the campus grounds.
—This desire was strong and dazzling, practically able to dispel all fear and darkness.
At a certain Go battlefield.
Qiao Siqi: “Why do I seem to hear someone speaking English?”
Zhou Yilu: “Double living three, you’re dead again.”
Qiao Siqi: “F*ck!”
At a certain physics teaching site.
Li Jingyu: “It’s that simple?”
Luo Geng: “It’s just that simple.”
Li Jingyu: “My high school physics teacher may have been transferred from physical education.”
On top of a certain bookcase.
Lin Dilei lay silently on the higher ground, sometimes looking at Song Fei who was crouching close to the ground in the front row while eavesdropping as he smirked foolishly to himself; and then, sometimes glancing at a row even further in the front where the two, Qi Yan and Wang Qingyuan, who obviously didn’t see eye-to-eye with each other, would suddenly and occasionally be attracted to the same magnetic field as one another inextricably and inexplicably, like the north and south poles of a magnet, when discussing which studying method was the most efficient, and involuntarily crinkled her eyes into a smile.
The northern wind outside was gradually getting more biting and the weather would turn overcast in the second half of the night as tomorrow will usher in the first snow for the beginning of this winter season. But at this moment, the students of Fighting for Survival Class 1, were completely unawares.
The author has something to say:
Sorry for the late update, self-PIA!!!
The next chapter will be about storming the canteen, I’m also super nervous~\(≧▽≦)/~
Author's Chapter Summary:
The northern wind picks up quietly and silently, laughter and curses melt the frosted heart!
The translator has something to say:
We’re celebrating Christmas as our flowers of the motherland are celebrating New Years! And same as the author, sorry for the late update! I’m glad to see Qi Yan and Wang Qingyuan have this talk. I think this is another bosom bud in the making no matter how they want to deny it! The way the groups are split in this chapter are very interesting, but exciting pairings that I look forward to seeing more from!
Thank you for the chapter！
lo comenzare 🙂 muchas gracias
Thanks for the chapter 😘
Thank you for the chapter 💜
WQ as best bud! I disagree with them getting back together as long as QY continues to disrespect & look down on him!
Um, Translator-daren, in the para where Wang Qingyuan talks to Qi Yan about his faults and mentions ‘magnanimity’, I think the ‘I’ really was supposed to be ‘he’.
WQ finally realised that SF meant ‘big-hearted’ aka magnanimity way back in the beginning when WQ asked him why he liked QY and SF replied (with a typo), ‘Big’!