During the wait, Ying Chi and Lin Yu both stood guard next to Zhu Xing and Qu Qingyu.
Zhu Xing tugged on Qu Qingyu’s sleeve and blinked at him. Qu Qingyu understood in his heart that there probably wasn’t anything shameful going on here.
However, he hadn’t expected it to be quite this abstract.
The two competition judges stared at the white piece of draft paper filled with drawings of pig heads and Qu Qingyu’s name, unable to speak for a long time.
If not for the information coming from the Young Master of the Ying family, they wouldn’t have abandoned their classes just to rush over and investigate evidence of cheating.
Looking somewhat anxious, Lin Yu picked up the draft paper on the desk and muttered, “How could this be? How could this be?”
Qu Qingyu looked at Zhu Xing with a half-smile, his gaze making Zhu Xing feel a creeping chill for fear that Qu Qingyu might expose his exploits of picking the lock on the men’s changing room.
“Even if there’s no evidence of cheating here, you definitely cheated anyway. There is no way you could get first place in the competition.”
Ying Chi’s assertive statement left the two teachers baffled.
Hesitantly, one of them said, “First place isn’t Zhu Xing.”
Lin Yu’s expression flickered with hesitation. “But I clearly heard…”
“Classmate Lin, I got last place,” Zhu Xing said to Lin Yu with a deeply dejected expression.
Qu Qingyu speechlessly shook his head.
Lin Yu finally realized he had made a mistake, his heart sinking. Looking at Ying Chi’s hesitant gaze, he felt a twinge of regret, wondering if acting this way would cause Ying Chi to feel repulsed.
Zhu Xing paid no mind to the inner journeys of the other two, caring only about his points.
[250! Did this plot point completely crash and burn? Does this count as the protagonist Shou slapping my face?]
[Host, the points have already been credited. When I submitted the report last time, I explained the situation; after all, you followed the script, but the protagonist’s behavior deviated. This kind of unexpected glitch won’t result in any point deductions.] The system had grown accustomed to its host randomly calling it 250 or 520, knowing it wouldn’t change no matter how much it corrected him.
[Fine, when is the next plot point?] Having successfully completed the plot and watched such a grand drama unfold, Zhu Xing was in a pretty good mood and found himself looking forward to the next plot point.
[The next plot point is two months from now. The protagonist gong’s grandfather is having a birthday and will invite the Zhu family to attend. Originally, the Ying family intended for the protagonist gong to formally apologize to you at his grandfather’s birthday banquet, but nobody expected the protagonist gong to bring the protagonist Shou straight to the banquet instead, causing the Zhu family to completely lose face.]
[Does this protagonist gong have some kind of vendetta against birthday parties? He wanted to stir up trouble at my birthday banquet, and now he wants to stir up trouble at his own grandfather’s birthday banquet too.]
[It’s probably because banquets have a lot of people, making face-slapping much more satisfying.]
“You draw so horribly. Aren’t your hands supposed to be quite capable?” Qu Qingyu picked up the sheet of paper covered in pig heads and critiqued it.
Zhu Xing leaned over to snatch it back, but failed to pull it away. “If I had known it would turn out like this, I wouldn’t have given it to you. Someone else would be much better suited for this gift.”
Hearing Zhu Xing’s pointed remark, Ying Chi paused and stayed silent.
Qu Qingyu chuckled, feeling quite pleased at Ying Chi’s discomfiture. After looking at the paper for a moment, he slid it back into his textbook.
“I’ll take it out to look at when I’m in a bad mood, some pig head.” As for whether the pig head referred to the drawing or had an alternative implication, only Qu Qingyu knew.
Learning that the plot point was still two months away, Zhu Xing finally relaxed a little.
Zhu Xing didn’t bother paying attention to Lin Yu and Ying Chi, only noticing that the two of them seemed to be progressing at lightning speed in their relationship, to the point where he might not even need to do anything before the mission concluded.
While the two principals treated the engagement banquet as if nothing had happened, the two families were by no means going to let the matter slide easily.
Ying Chi had lost count of how many times he had returned home only to be met with reprimands from his parents and grandfather, demanding he go apologize to the Zhu family and promise to fulfill the engagement with Zhu Xing. Terrified that he might pull another stunt that would humiliate the Zhu family, they had even frozen his credit cards. He hadn’t returned home for a week, though he had his own apartment, so he wasn’t completely homeless.
On the Zhu family’s end, seeing that Zhu Xing genuinely showed no signs of clinging to Ying Chi anymore, they stopped bringing it up, figuring that once Zhu Xing figured things out and truly gave up, it would be for the best.
Seeing that Zhu Xing was completely unaffected, Ying Chi became even more tender toward Lin Yu. Moreover, Lin Yu had grown increasingly considerate lately, convincing Ying Chi that his decision was right. He just wanted to follow his heart and love Lin Yu.
Watching the two people hugging each other with no regard for anyone else right in front of them, Qu Qingyu couldn’t help glancing sideways at Zhu Xing, only to find him reading a manga and laughing non-stop with curved brows. Whenever he got excited or nervous, he had a habit of licking his plump, swollen lip bead. As Qu Qingyu watched, his Adam’s apple bobbed slightly, and he turned his head away to stop looking at Zhu Xing.
“Weren’t you fond of acting like Ying Chi’s licking dog? How come you’ve suddenly made such a miraculous recovery lately?” The moment Zhu Xing heard that sarcastic tone, he wanted to hit Qu Qingyu.
What licking dog? What recovery? Was there something wrong with this guy?
“Second Young Master Qu, do you know what your greatest flaw is?”
“Hm?”
Slowly turning a page of his manga, Zhu Xing replied, “You know how to speak.”
“You read so many manga, yet I haven’t seen your drawing skills improve at all.” As he spoke, Qu Qingyu pulled out that draft paper covered in pig heads once again.
While Zhu Xing had initially thought nothing of it, Qu Qingyu kept unexpectedly pulling it out to admire it, leaving Zhu Xing with a lingering, retrospective sense of awkwardness.
He absolutely had to find an opportunity to steal it back and destroy it!
“My birthday is next week, and I’ll be celebrating it a day early. Can Second Young Master Zhu spare some face and come?”
Qu Qingyu’s tone was indifferent, giving Zhu Xing the impression that whether he came or not was entirely up to him.
Before Zhu Xing could speak, Qu Qingyu somehow produced a tiny lock and began fiddling with it. While picking it, he said, “Eh? How does this work? Second Young Master Zhu, why don’t you teach me?”
Gritting his teeth, Zhu Xing answered, “Fine, since Second Young Master Qu has invited me, I’ll be there as an honored guest.” He was terrified that waking up one morning to find a headline in the school news reading, “Zhu Family Second Young Master Peeps In Men Locker Room,” would break the internet.
Wait, next week? Qu Qingyu was actually younger than him? Zhu Xing’s eyes rolled as an idea struck him. “Second Young Master Qu, you’re younger than me. You should call me older brother.”
“Young? What’s young? Are you big?” With that, Qu Qingyu’s gaze drifted downward toward the lower half of Zhu Xing’s abdomen.
He added with an expression of feigned puzzlement, “Doesn’t look very big to me.” Zhu Xing instinctively raised a hand to block him, immediately feeling like the gesture itself was incredibly awkward. Blushing with embarrassment, he stammered, “I meant my age! Besides, are you big? Pull it out and let’s compare!”
Raising an eyebrow, Qu Qingyu looked at Zhu Xing with a half-smile. “Big or not, as long as it gets the job done, isn’t that enough? The most important thing is whether the person using it is satisfied.”
Zhu Xing’s face flared bright red, and he didn’t dare continue arguing about sizes with Qu Qingyu, having a lingering suspicion that the conversation would only drift toward something even more humiliating.
Watching Zhu Xing’s small face puff up in anger like a pufferfish, Qu Qingyu decided he looked quite adorable, but figured he should quit while he was ahead, as pushing things too far would make him too hard to coax back.
Zhu Xing had never really bothered listening to lectures, partly because the moment a plot point arrived, he would be pulled away.
Secondly, having gone through university life ten times over, he had already memorized the contents of every single page, making it completely pointless to spend time studying.
As for Qu Qingyu, he either slept or read books unrelated to the curriculum. On one occasion when Zhu Xing sneaked a peek, Qu Qingyu suddenly turned his head, nearly kissing him. Feeling awkward about it for an entire day afterward, Zhu Xing never dared to peek at what he was doing again.