Chapter 56.1

Editor: yummers

Zhuo Junli felt like he was dreaming. He sat across from Mother Shi and watched as she stirred the coffee on the table while quirking her red lips at him.

“Father Shi and I were wondering why Shi Qing’s grades suddenly improved so much. We thought there was something fishy going on. He’s always been in the bottom half of his grade ever since he was a child, after all. Why would he suddenly start studying hard for no reason?

“Shi Qing finally spilled the beans when we called him. He said that you were a top student that helped him catch up on his a.s.signments. You’re such a good child. Auntie is grateful to you.”

Zhuo Junli was still a little hesitant.

Mother Shi noticed his hesitation but didn’t question him any further.

She looked at her son who was sitting next to Zhuo Junli as he impatiently drank his coffee in one breath.

She saw his overbearing aura.

She saw his tough demeanor.

And then she saw how he started playing with Zhuo Junli’s slender white fingers right after finishing his coffee.

No matter how she looked at it, her son had hauled in quite a catch.

Actually, the reason she came here herself was to see if this little b.a.s.t.a.r.d was coercing his boyfriend.

But her suspicions had been laid to rest.

Although Zhuo Junli didn’t talk much, the way he looked at her son was indeed quite sweet and indulgent.

She took a sip of her coffee. “Mom doesn’t want to interfere between you two, but remember that s.e.x is off-limits until you’re eighteen.”

Zhuo Junli’s face reddened upon hearing these words.

He struggled to remain calm as he nodded with a flushed face.

On the side, Shi Qing scowled in dissatisfaction. But he didn’t make any trouble because he was holding his lover’s hand. He only leaned towards Zhuo Junli and said, “She’s not against us. Didn’t I mention that my mother grew up abroad? Foreign countries are more accepting towards this type of stuff. My Grandma Jinjiang was afraid that my mom would be too influenced, so she lectured her every day about what she couldn’t do before she turned eighteen. If she didn’t follow the rules, apparently a person called Shen He would come and lock her up.”

Zhuo Junli blushed and nodded in understanding.

He really hadn’t considered their relationship that far ahead yet. To him, he would only have the privilege of doing something like that with Shi Qing when he made something of himself.

As they spoke, Mother Shi kept looking at the two of them.

In her heart, she nodded with satisfaction.

No matter how she looked at it, Zhuo Junli was the perfect partner that she had fantasized about for her son.

Based on the information from their homeroom teacher, Zhuo Junli checked off all the boxes.

He had excellent grades, a mild temperament, and he was hardworking and reliable.

His gender wasn’t quite right, but who cared about that?

Besides, the Shi parents earned money because they liked to work hard and also because they wanted to leave their fortune to their son.

It didn’t matter if two men couldn’t have children to inherit their money, having children but having no money was far more tragic.

After talking with her son’s boyfriend for a bit, Mother Shi looked down at her watch. “Alright. I still have a meeting to get to, so I won’t bother you two anymore. Shi Qing, you need to be more considerate of your actions now that you have a boyfriend. If you guys fight, come to me first. Don’t act like a child and break up over inconsequential things.”

“Of course I’m not going to break up with him.”

The school bully held Zhuo Junli’s hand. “We already made a promise to go to the same university.”

Mother Shi’s expression became peculiar. She looked at her son, and then at Zhuo Junli. It seemed like she had something to say about that.

“I remember hearing that Junli was the top student in his grade, right?”

She glared at her son while saying, “Shi Qing, don’t make Junli go to an average university with you just because he’s your boyfriend. Your homeroom teacher told me he could get into University A.”

“As long as you two maintain your grades, mom won’t interfere with your relationship. But the university you choose to go to will practically decide the next half of Junli’s life. You can’t be selfish and drag him down. That would be despicable.”

Shi Qing tutted. “Is that what you think of me? I meant that I’m applying to University A too.”

Mother Shi, “……”

Her expression twisted even more.

A few seconds pa.s.sed before she nodded.

“Sure.”

“I don’t think admission to University A can be bought with money, but we’ll do our best since you want to go. Do you remember Uncle Zhang? He has connections at University A.”

The school bully was stunned for a moment before surging to his feet. “What do you mean by that, Mom? I’m talking about getting in on my own merit.”

“Uh huh. Whatever you say.”

Mother Shi nodded perfunctorily and picked up her purse. She looked down at her watch as she stood up.

“Work hard, you’re the best. Okay, mom can’t mess around with you anymore. I really have to go. Junli, keep an eye on Shi Qing, ah. Don’t let him do anything dumb. His dad and I are both free next week. We can have dinner together then.”

After saying that, she turned on her high heeled boots and walked away.

Shi Qing was still holding Zhuo Junli’s hand. It was only after his mom left that his always confident face showed the slightest hint of grievance.

The school bully complained to Zhuo Junli, “She obviously doesn’t believe me. What, does she think I can’t get into University A on my own?”

Zhuo Junli gently touched the back of his hand to rea.s.sure him. His voice was still gentle and mild, “There’s still more than a year to go. You still have a chance.”

“Even if you really can’t get in, University B is fine. It’s actually almost the same.”

“No it’s not.”

Shi Qing snorted coldly. “The more she doubts me the more I want to go.”

The youth nodded with a shallow smile and slowly pulled him down.

The two of them were sitting very close together.

“I’m sure you’ll be able to.”

The encouragement of his lover combined with a private setting and dim lighting created an ambiguous atmosphere. A hint of sweetness surrounded them.

Shi Qing’s lips curled up in satisfaction. His slender eyes narrowed as he slowly approached Zhuo Junli.

“We have a lot of time off today.”

Zhuo Junli apparently thought so too.

His smile was rarely this amused.

“I’m going to show you a treasure.”

Shi Qing smiled knowingly as well. His eyes were filled with meaning.

“It must be a precious treasure.”

Then he watched as Zhuo Junli pulled out a well-folded piece of paper from his pocket.

Shi Qing, “……”

The youth unfolded the piece of paper with eager motions and handed it to the stiff-looking school bully.

There was a line written at the very top: [Winter Break Study Schedule].

Zhuo Junli said, “Take a look. I made this after a.n.a.lyzing your current study progress and learning speed. It also contains your subject shortcomings and how to overcome them. You’re better at the humanities than the sciences. As long as you follow this schedule, your grades can improve by at least ten spots after the winter break.”

“Although that’s not very high, you’ll at least be able to keep up with the cla.s.s. If you continue to work hard from there, there’s still hope for getting into University A. If things don’t work out then it’s fine for us to go to University B. We don’t necessarily need to go to the best one.”

Shi Qing, “……”

With “pa.s.sionate” eyes, he gave a death stare to the schedule held by Zhuo Junli’s long, slender hand.

“What. A. Big…Treasure!”

Zhuo Junli blushed a bit, but his eyes were bright and ecstatic. “I’m glad you like it.”

“I like it. Of course I like it.”

The school bully picked up this schedule and looked it up and down. “This Shi-ge never does things half-heartedly.”

“It’s just studying. I just need to focus.”

Then he added, “But you have to be there with me.”

Of course Zhuo Junli would be with Shi Qing.

Shi Qing had a place of his own. Over the break, the two of them were inseparable.

They were studying.

They spent countless nights in the same room.

Doing! Practice! Tests!

The guest room’s lights never came on because Zhuo Junli slept in Shi Qing’s room.

After studying, they nestled together under a warm blanket every night.

Shi Qing would often have the air conditioning running. He wore a light and thin nightgown that showed off his delicate ankles while he possessively dominated the young man’s bosom with his head.

Reciting! The! Textbook!

All he could do was touch his hands, kiss his cheeks, nuzzle the tip of his nose, and squeeze between his arms at night.

There was nothing else.

Zhuo Junli didn’t think there was anything wrong. He still studied on his own while tutoring Shi Qing.

After winter break, Shi Qing’s grades really improved.

Then, he started finding all kinds of ways to “torture” his lackeys.

The lackeys had grown lax due to a lack of supervision over winter break. Although their grades were still better than before the tutoring, there was a significant drop compared to before.

They were swiftly taught a lesson by Shi Qing.

When other people wanted students to work harder, they used heartfelt words and a discipline rod at most.

When Shi Qing wanted his lackeys to work harder, he directly flashed his fists.

After being used to vent all the resentment that he had acc.u.mulated over the winter break, the lackeys suddenly felt that learning was such a wonderful thing.

Tong Xinyu, who had been run over, gave up on covering for Shi Qing and Zhuo Junli.

After all, she discovered that, much to her chagrin and relief, it seemed like she was the only one who noticed something was wrong. Everyone was completely blind to Shi Qing and Zhuo Junli’s relationship and their various flirtatious interactions.

As the third year of high school approached, she was no longer preoccupied with chasing after her male G.o.ds anymore and focused on studying.

Bringing us to their senior year of high school.

It was a very special year.

This year, the delinquents who had robbed Tong Xinyu were forced by their parents to transfer over.

Then, they were confronted by Shi Qing who cracked his knuckles and smiled at them angelically.

The delinquents, “……”

Even though they didn’t want to join Shi Qing’s “study army”, they were forced by his fists to study with tears in their eyes.

The other lackeys were all very happy.

It was extremely satisfying to see poor chumps that were even worse off than them.

They had a nagging suspicion that Shi-ge had become more and more twisted since he became buddies with Zhuo Junli.

For the teachers, however, Shi Qing was cleaning up a mess that they couldn’t.

He became a good student who not only studied hard in his own school, but also brought the students of other schools along.

It was a terrible year for Zhuo Junli’s abusive father since he kept breaking his arms and legs in the most ridiculous ways.

The university entrance exams were fast approaching.

There seemed to be a sea of people at the entrance of the examination hall.

Of course, these people weren’t students, but the parents of the students.

The students were all inside taking their exams.

When it came down to the final subject, Shi Qing wrote very quickly with a determined and focused gaze.

The exam invigilator who looked at him as he pa.s.sed nodded in his heart.

This must be a good student with excellent grades. He had to be since he was so confident.

Shi Qing’s parents were waiting outside.

Since all traffic in the area had been suspended, they paid off a small stall across the street and drank milk tea while they waited.

Father Shi was puzzled. The gentleman in a suit spoke softly, “They’re inside taking their exams. We can’t help them, so why are we waiting outside?”

“It’s a tradition for the parents to wait outside while exams are going on.”

Mother Shi had a straw in her mouth as she looked at the computer in front of her. Her hands were flying across the keyboard as she absentmindedly answered her husband.

“If we didn’t come to support our son, he might think that we don’t care about him.”

Father Shi replied, “But he already thinks that.”

He was silent for a few seconds, but he couldn’t help but say, “Then just come by yourself. Why drag me along? At least remind me to bring something to do, I’m so bored just sitting here.”

Mother Shi paused and gave her husband a look.

“Why do you never think things through? Don’t you know about Junli’s family situation? How could his drunkard of a father come see him? You’re here to fill that role, understand?”

Father Shi had a realization. He smoothly pushed his gla.s.ses up.

“Right, I forgot about that. I’m the one who broke his dad’s leg this time.”

No one knew what was going on in that head of his, but that guy wanted to stop Zhuo Junli from taking the entrance exam.

Maybe it was because he discovered how his control over his son had begun to slip as Zhuo Junli grew up. Or maybe he just didn’t want to see Zhuo Junli, who didn’t have a shred of goodwill towards him, get into a good university and embark on a path of success.

When Father Shi found out, he broke his leg again.

Therefore, there was no way he could come to the examination hall.

But he wouldn’t have been able to come even if he didn’t suffer an unfortunate accident.

“Boss, boss.”

An incomparably muscular and strong bodyguard who was at least 1.9m tall and decked out in black came over.

He navigated the sprawling crowds with ease.

When he arrived before Father Shi, he placed a laptop on the table. “Boss, your computer is here.”

“Thanks.”

Father Shi smiled genially and turned the computer on to start working as well.

Tong Xinyu’s parents were both sitting on small stools beneath a tree. Mother Tong just happened to see that scary looking bodyguard enter the stall. She stood up to take a look.

“Oh my goodness. There’s one, two, three, four, five bodyguards over there! Who are those people?”

Father Tong was fanning himself with a small fan.

“Who cares who they are? They’re parents waiting for their children like us.”

“You’re right. I wonder how Xinyu’s exams are going.”

Father Tong, “Everything should be fine. Didn’t she say she wanted to go to University A? How could she say that if she wasn’t confident?”

Mother Tong, “But I seem to remember that she said she wanted to go to University A so she could continue to eat dog food. Dear, did you starve her during my business trip? Why does this child want to eat dog food all of a sudden??”

“I didn’t! I fed her and watered her and everything! Besides, we don’t even have a dog at home.”

“Did she get sick from too much stress? I didn’t have time to ask today but you did, ah. Why didn’t you say something?”

“Oh come on, how could I ask? I was driving and I couldn’t hear you clearly.”

While they idly bickered, the parents in front of them suddenly began to swarm.

“They’re coming out!”

“A student is coming out!”

When Zhuo Junli came out, he stood under the banner without going outside. After waiting for a short while, Shi Qing joined him.

The youth greeted him with a smile on his face.

The school bully put a hand on his shoulder. His eyes were filled with eagerness as he called his mom.

“Did you finish?”

In the small stall, Mother Shi answered her phone, “Your dad and I are over here waiting for you two.”

“Ohhh, okay okay. I’ll go out to eat with your dad tonight.”

When Father Shi heard this, he also stopped typing on the keyboard and pushed up his gla.s.ses. He waited for his wife to hang up before asking.

“Are they not coming over?”

“No.”

Mother Shi closed her computer as she said, “Today is Shi Qing’s eighteenth birthday. He and Zhuo Junli left for the hotel.”

Father Shi frowned.

“This kid is always rushing through everything. He should’ve at least had some cake.”

“Okay, enough wasting time. Come on, let’s go out and get some dinner… What are you doing?”

Father Shi pressed [send] on his phone.

He looked up with a warm smile written all over his gentle face. “I told the kid to remember to wear a condom.”

“Yes, we do need to remind them about that. By the way, tell those two to go to that hotel I bought last month. I had a room reserved for them.”

They left after Father Shi finished sending his message with bodyguards surrounding them on all sides.