Chapter 73.1
Editor: SimoB
For the past few days, Shi Yiyi had been questioning what her life has come to.
Especially when she found out that almost all her co-workers were adamant that Shi Qing was a good and caring person.
Is it caring to dump all troubleshooting for the artificial nerves on other people?? Shi Qing’s clearly just too lazy to do it, okay?!
But no matter what Shi Yiyi said, no one listened. In fact, people started believing that her reason for persistently “speaking ill of Shi Qing” was because Shi Qing didn’t let her join the project.
Would she care about that at this point?!
She didn’t need this c.r.a.ppy project, okay?!?!
But no matter how much Shi Yiyi insisted that she didn’t care, no one had the time to listen to her anymore.
Because the volunteers recruited earlier were beginning to arrive.
These people were all carefully selected to represent a wide range of ages and disabilities. Volunteers ranging from 90 to 9 years old were escorted to the city.
After going through the chain of command, the People’s Hospital was selected as the site of the testing.
This was because this prosthesis was unlike any currently on the market. It required a professional to install to make sure that it could receive signals like a real limb. The hospital was also an ideal place to deal with any potential adverse reactions.
From the beginning, to the preparation process, to the end, every dollar spent was doc.u.mented.
This wasn’t done to present the volunteers with a bill at the end, but to provide an estimated price tag for future patients if the experiment was a success.
What a thoughtful suggestion.
And this thoughtful suggestion came from a very unexpected source. Someone everyone thought was far removed from the lives of average people – Shi Qing.
More and more people began to revise their opinions of him.
He might act standoffish, but he would secretly help his colleagues in his own way.
He seemed to be indifferent to others, but he was able to think of recording all the expenses so that future patients knew the cost of their treatment.
They were truly ashamed having misunderstood such a kindhearted person for so long.
On the other hand, Qin Yunsheng knew why Shi Qing brought up this idea.
Ever since he gave his work to other people, the young Marquis started openly slacking off again. Most of his time was spent with Qin Yunsheng in his dorm.
What was he doing in there?
Reading all kinds of news and comments praising him, of course.
The little Marquis loved to read those, and he would show them to the officer every time. His fox-like face was always beaming with pride lately.
Qin Yunsheng wasn’t stingy with his praise either. He told the little Marquis how great he was every time.
That was the truth after all.
This was the real reason Shi Qing came up with this idea, to have more people praise him.
Qin Yunsheng heard it from the little Marquis himself, but he didn’t feel that Shi Qing was wrong for doing so.
It was human nature to crave positive attention. Some people just hid that desire better than others.
The little Marquis was rather cute when he showed off his desires.
Besides, he might be doing it for praise, but the general populace would still benefit from Shi Qing’s actions.
Most of all, Qin Yunsheng felt that the little Marquis actually wanted to help people but was too embarra.s.sed to say so directly. Praise was just the excuse he was hiding behind.
As he interacted more with Shi Qing, Qin Yunsheng discovered that this person was like a durian; soft flesh wrapped in a p.r.i.c.kly sh.e.l.l.
Other people hastily dismissed him as hard and smelly, but he was actually fragrant, soft and delicious underneath.
Despite this, very few people would voluntarily peel back the sh.e.l.l to see Shi Qing’s kindness.
“No matter.” the officer thought.
If people had misunderstandings about Shi Qing, then he would clear them up.
He would show everyone what the real Shi Qing was like.
Qin Yunsheng could keenly sense that he and Shi Qing were becoming more in tune with each other as time pa.s.sed.
Shi Qing would be very cooperative in opening his mouth and eating the fruit he had washed.
He would also allow himself to be carried back to his room after falling asleep in the lounge.
And while Qin Yunsheng was putting him to sleep, he would also pull on the man’s sleeve and fall asleep like an obedient child.
The officer was proud of himself.
Surely no one in the entire Inst.i.tute was blessed with a little boyfriend as cute and well-behaved as the little Marquis.
But Qin Yunsheng was fretting over something.
A certain intimate action between lovers.
Shi Qing’s base nature and the environment he grew up in made him a very tactile person.
Qin Yunsheng was the opposite of his little lover.
He’s always been an orphan shuffled from home to home. When things got tough living under someone else’s roof, he could only dedicate himself to self-improvement.
Whether it was in school, the military academy or the army, all of Qin Yunsheng’s energy was focused on his studies and work.
Therefore, he had never thought about falling in love. Ever.
He was rigid in nature and uncomfortable with the little interactions between lovers.
But Shi Qing had no such hesitations, ah!
And the more Qin Yunsheng squirmed, the more joy Shi Qing found in stimulating him.
Moreover, he especially liked to do so in public where other people might pa.s.s by.
Qin Yunsheng was somewhat old-fashioned, so open displays of affection were not his thing even though everyone at the Inst.i.tute knew he and Shi Qing were together.
But Shi Qing liked them.
The pantry, the lounge, even in the corridors…
Shi Qing liked to drag him to these places where people might stumble upon them and Kabedon him.
The purpose was to exchange the taste of what they just ate. If time permitted, they could savour the taste.
Shi Qing liked candies lately. He brought a basket filled with hard fruit candies, and he would drag Qin Yunsheng off after finishing one.
After sharing the sweetness he ate with the other party, the little Marquis would then ask him to guess the flavour.
It didn’t matter if he got it wrong, because then it would be Shi Qing’s turn to guess what kind of candy Qin Yunsheng had eaten.
Even though the officer didn’t eat candy.
But that’s okay. The young Marquis was focused on the process of guessing, not the result.
In addition, Shi Qing’s favourite thing to do was watch the officer stand there, helplessly staring at his little lover after being provoked, unable to do a thing.
He never tired of the exasperated restraint hidden in the officer’s features.
Qin Yunsheng’s reluctance to voice his desires was also amusing.
He liked how close Shi Qing was but never voiced it. He wanted the two of them to be closer still but never took any action.
For example, Shi Qing was now using him as a backrest, leaning on him while scrolling on his tablet. He would find a few articles praising him from time to time and show them off proudly to Qin Yunsheng.
As he handed over the tablet, his hands, elbows and feet would unintentionally touch the man sitting ramrod straight on the soft sofa.
The little Marquis’ delicate fingertips reflected his pampered childhood. When they ‘accidentally’ brushed against Qin Yunsheng, Shi Qing would apologize and gently caress the area he just touched.
A second of contact could necessitate a full minute of apology.
Just imagine how the stern faced officer must feel with this cute little Marquis in his lap.
The little Marquis wasn’t technically short, but he had bird-like bones and easily bruised skin. He also liked to curl up in his lover’s arms.
No matter how you looked at it, he easily inspired a feeling of protectiveness in others.
But the officer didn’t dare to wrap his arms around the fragile little Marquis. What if he misjudged his strength and hurt Shi Qing?
After all, the little Marquis was in pain when Qin Yunsheng just held his wrist.
So the officer endured. No matter how his heartbeat accelerated with Shi Qing’s every move or how much he wanted to grab those soft fingers, the officer struggled to resist the temptation of the little Marquis.
But after many days of stimulation, Shi Qing became unhappy with how unreactive Qin Yunsheng was.
The little Marquis threw a fit and rolled around in the man’s arms. He noted the way the officer tensed up like he was facing down something that made him nervous instead of his boyfriend and got up in frustration.
He poked Qin Yunsheng’s taut muscles with a tender finger, dissatisfied. “Why don’t you ever take the initiative to hold me?”
The officer was startled. “Do you want me to hold you?”
The little Marquis clicked his tongue and rested his head on the man’s chest. He felt the man’s body stiffen violently in response, not daring to move at all.
Shi Qing: “How can you say you love me when you won’t even hold me?”
This sentence successfully spurred Qin Yunsheng to action. His muscular arms, that could easily beat a person down, carefully and gently stretched out.
Ever so slowly, they landed on Shi Qing’s back.
Shi Qing: “…You aren’t even touching me yet.”
Yes, although the officer’s hand appeared to be resting on the young Marquis’s back, it was actually hovering a millimeter away.
Qin Yunsheng swallowed dryly upon hearing the admonishment in the young Marquis voice. His deep and usually calm voice became tinged with shades of panic.
“I’m afraid of crushing you.”
His hand was so heavy, and Shi Qing was so soft and fragile. What if he accidentally crushed him?
Shi Qing: “……”
He finally understood why Qin Yunsheng never responded to his advances lately.
And here he thought the officer was a Liu Xiahuior something.
Shi Qing buried his face in the man’s bosom as his discontentment faded. He gently nuzzled Qin Yunsheng’s clothes.
Softly and gently.
The little Marquis’ voice became sticky and sweet again, even sweeter than when he set the officer up before.
“Then just hold me gently. I thought you didn’t like me because you kept avoiding it.”
The officer’s entire heart was melting like an ice cube under the summer sun.
He would agree to anything Shi Qing asked of him right now, even if it was to traverse through the depths of h.e.l.l itself.