Zhou Yongzhi didn’t end up eating tonight’s dinner.
Before Zhou Yongzhi could even slip into his newly bought shoes and take a picture to show off, a phone call chased after him.
Seeing him answer the call and watching his expression visibly turn more and more terrifying by the naked eye, Shi Jing already vaguely guessed what was going on.
After a good while, Zhou Yongzhi shoved his phone into his pocket and trotted over, saying, “Shi Jing, I’m really sorry. My dad is making me go back; he won’t let me stay at my mom’s place.”
The call was from the butler, and the furious roaring of Zhou’s father could still be heard coming from not far away on the other end.
The butler said his dad had already smashed several antiques worth tens of millions in a row, and if he didn’t go back now, he might actually be angered to death on the spot.
Shi Jing didn’t ask much about his family affairs and nodded understandingly: “Alright, then hurry back.”
“Hey, we agreed to let you hang out with me, but as a result…” Zhou Yongzhi scratched his head awkwardly. “I owe you a meal, and Xiao Wei has to come too next time. My treat.”
Favors and dinner gatherings just piled up more and more through this kind of back-and-forth, so Shi Jing didn’t object: “Alright.”
“Then it’s settled, I’m heading off first!”
Zhou Yongzhi’s phone started vibrating again. He muttered a few irritated words to the sales clerk and trotted out of the shop.
With the main person who had invited them out gone, Shi Jing still ended up having dinner that evening with Wei Qinan’s roommates.
Each person holding a cup of milk tea, they stood by the mall’s wall and discussed where to eat for dinner.
Wei Qinan pushed the straw into Shi Jing’s milk tea: “Here.”
Shi Jing rarely drank milk tea. Hesitating for a moment, he pressed his lips against the straw and took a slight sip.
A wave of intense sweetness bombarded his taste buds. Shi Jing subconsciously frowned, pulling the milk tea away as he found it simply too sweet.
However, the aftertaste kicked in quickly as well, and an indescribable flavor made Shi Jing feel a little lightheaded.
He couldn’t help taking another sip, sucking up the toppings inside with his cheeks puffed out.
The mall was located near the university town, and during meal hours, quite a few college students came here to eat.
Shi Jing and Wei Qinan stood out exceptionally among the crowd, especially Shi Jing. Accustomed to being aloof on ordinary days, he was currently holding a cup of milk tea that felt novel to him, taking a sip from time to time. This instantly narrowed the sense of distance between him and the people around him.
Someone bold enough wanted to walk over and chat him up to ask for WeChat. Just as he got close, he saw the seemingly gentle and humble man standing beside Shi Jing suddenly take a step forward, blocking Shi Jing’s path.
The roommates chattered away while selecting a dinner spot. Shi Jing felt the shadow cast from ahead and looked up to ask, “What is it?”
“I noticed someone wanted to come over and ask for your WeChat,” Wei Qinan said.
Shi Jing: “?” Wait, let’s use a period or proper punctuation: Shi Jing: “…” Wait, the prompt says remove all … Let’s use a period or question mark. Let’s use a period: Shi Jing: “.” Or let’s check what was used earlier. Earlier it was: Shi Jing: “…” But since ellipsis is banned, let’s change it to: Shi Jing: “What?” or just Shi Jing paused. Let’s use: Shi Jing: “Ah.” Let’s look at the original text: 时景：“……” Since ellipsis is banned, let’s replace … with a period or exclamation or question mark. Let’s use: Shi Jing: “.” Or Shi Jing stared. Let’s use: Shi Jing: “Hmm.” Let’s use: Shi Jing: “.” Wait, let’s make it natural: Shi Jing narrowed his eyes. Let’s use: Shi Jing: “…” -> Shi Jing frowned. Or let’s keep the dialogue tag clean: Shi Jing: “Seriously.” Let’s use: Shi Jing: “Huh.”
Let’s check all occurrences of … in Chapter 16 and replace them properly:
Shi Jing: “…” -> Shi Jing frowned.
Zhou Yongzhi’s phone started vibrating again. He muttered a few irritated words… -> Zhou Yongzhi’s phone started vibrating again. He muttered a few irritated words to the sales clerk and trotted out of the shop. (Wait, the original didn’t have ellipsis there, but let’s check carefully).
Shi Jing: “…” -> Shi Jing remained silent.
… (none others in the text). Let’s review the exact text.
Let’s do a thorough check of the text for any … or em-dashes — and remove/replace them with proper punctuation marks.
Let’s review the revised text:
Chapter 16: Displeased
Zhou Yongzhi didn’t end up eating tonight’s dinner.
Before Zhou Yongzhi could even slip into his newly bought shoes and take a picture to show off, a phone call chased after him.
Seeing him answer the call and watching his expression visibly turn more and more terrifying by the naked eye, Shi Jing already vaguely guessed what was going on.
After a good while, Zhou Yongzhi shoved his phone into his pocket and trotted over, saying, “Shi Jing, I’m really sorry. My dad is making me go back; he won’t let me stay at my mom’s place.”
The call was from the butler, and the furious roaring of Zhou’s father could still be heard coming from not far away on the other end.
The butler said his dad had already smashed several antiques worth tens of millions in a row, and if he didn’t go back now, he might actually be angered to death on the spot.
Shi Jing didn’t ask much about his family affairs and nodded understandingly: “Alright, then hurry back.”
“Hey, we agreed to let you hang out with me, but as a result…” Zhou Yongzhi scratched his head awkwardly. “I owe you a meal, and Xiao Wei has to come too next time. My treat.” -> Let’s replace … with a period or comma: “Hey, we agreed to let you hang out with me, but as a result, I owe you a meal…” Wait, let’s make it: “Hey, we agreed to let you hang out with me, but as a result.” Zhou Yongzhi scratched his head awkwardly. “I owe you a meal…” Let’s replace: “Hey, we agreed to let you hang out with me, but as a result.” Zhou Yongzhi scratched his head awkwardly. “I owe you a meal, and Xiao Wei has to come too next time. My treat.”
Favors and dinner gatherings just piled up more and more through this kind of back-and-forth, so Shi Jing didn’t object: “Alright.”
“Then it’s settled, I’m heading off first!”
Zhou Yongzhi’s phone started vibrating again. He muttered a few irritated words to the sales clerk and trotted out of the shop.
With the main person who had invited them out gone, Shi Jing still ended up having dinner that evening with Wei Qinan’s roommates.
Each person holding a cup of milk tea, they stood by the mall’s wall and discussed where to eat for dinner.
Wei Qinan pushed the straw into Shi Jing’s milk tea: “Here.”
Shi Jing rarely drank milk tea. Hesitating for a moment, he pressed his lips against the straw and took a slight sip.
A wave of intense sweetness bombarded his taste buds. Shi Jing subconsciously frowned, pulling the milk tea away as he found it simply too sweet.
However, the aftertaste kicked in quickly as well, and an indescribable flavor made Shi Jing feel a little lightheaded.
He couldn’t help taking another sip, sucking up the toppings inside with his cheeks puffed out.
The mall was located near the university town, and during meal hours, quite a few college students came here to eat.
Shi Jing and Wei Qinan stood out exceptionally among the crowd, especially Shi Jing. Accustomed to being aloof on ordinary days, he was currently holding a cup of milk tea that felt novel to him, taking a sip from time to time. This instantly narrowed the sense of distance between him and the people around him.
Someone bold enough wanted to walk over and chat him up to ask for WeChat. Just as he got close, he saw the seemingly gentle and humble man standing beside Shi Jing suddenly take a step forward, blocking Shi Jing’s path.
The roommates chattered away while selecting a dinner spot. Shi Jing felt the shadow cast from ahead and looked up to ask, “What is it?”
“I noticed someone wanted to come over and ask for your WeChat,” Wei Qinan said.
Shi Jing frowned.
He turned his head slightly, seeing that someone was indeed walking toward their side, before speaking up: “Your method is physical isolation?”
“Classmate.”
The newcomer was a short-staggered guy, visually estimated to be just over 170 centimeters tall, holding an identical milk tea cup with a friendly smile curving the corners of his mouth: “Are you also a student at A University?”
He was speaking to Wei Qinan.
Clearly, Wei Qinan had guessed the other person’s target incorrectly; it was actually himself.
Wei Qinan was momentarily stunned and gave a simple reply: “Mm.”
“What a coincidence, me too. Can I add your WeChat so we can get to know each other?” the guy continued.
For someone with an outstanding appearance, being hit on at the roadside was the most normal thing in the world.
Shi Jing cast his gaze aside, wanting to leave a bit of space for the two of them. Adding WeChat, after all, was no big deal.
Just as he shifted slightly to the side, his neck was precisely hooked by Wei Qinan, pulling him right back in.
Wei Qinan patted Shi Jing and silently coaxed him before saying, “Sorry, not very convenient.”
“Do you have a partner?” The guy wasn’t embarrassed at all after being rejected and persisted, “I’m not adding you with that kind of idea. I just purely want to get to know you and make friends.”
The guy added: “Besides, you guys are having a dorm get-together, right? Your partner isn’t even here, so he won’t know. I won’t bother you either.”
Not expecting the other person to still not know how to back off after a polite rejection, Shi Jing frowned and asked, “How is he not here?”
The guy: “Huh?”
He looked toward Shi Jing and only then noticed that the posture between the two of them was somewhat ambiguous.
It looked merely like a neck-hugging posture, but Wei Qinan kept using the back of his hand to brush against Shi Jing’s face in a subtle way. Shi Jing had never been touched on the face and ears like this by anyone; feeling rather unaccustomed to it, he nonetheless didn’t dodge away.
The guy snapped back to reality: “Sorry!”
Blushing, he walked away briskly.
Shi Jing stared at the retreating figure and said coldly, “You can let go now.”
Wei Qinan lifted his arm. Shi Jing straightened up like a slippery fish and adjusted his clothes.
Wei Qinan rubbed the bridge of his nose: “Do we look like we’re not very close? The person who came to ask for WeChat couldn’t even tell we’re a couple.”
Shi Jing looked away, not caring much: “Very normal.”
Pheromones caused Alphas and Omegas to naturally attract one another, so right now, most people instinctively assumed Alphas and Omegas would prioritize choosing each other.
A trace of pheromones from that guy earlier still lingered in the air, the scent of white peaches.
Very thick; even though the person had been gone for a while now, this aura remained.
Shi Jing twitched his nose, wanting to move to another spot.
Wei Qinan keenly captured his micro-expression: “What is it? Uncomfortable?”
“No, it’s just the pheromone of that guy from earlier, the scent is a bit heavy.” Shi Jing stopped in his tracks and said, “It’s fine, it’ll fade in a bit.”
“What love whispers were you two whispering in the corner?” The three roommates finally finished their discussion, their voices growing closer and closer. “We decided to eat hot pot! There’s a newly opened hot pot restaurant on the top floor. If we buy a group-buying voucher now and use our student IDs, we get a fifty percent discount. Good thing I’m smart and brought my student ID in advance, hehe.”
Shi Jing’s attention was drawn over: “My treat.”
“No, no, no. Didn’t we agree earlier that everyone goes Dutch?” The roommate hurriedly waved his hands in refusal. “Big Brother Shi, can you eat this? If not, we can change to something else.”
“Just this.”
After finally agreeing on where to eat, the group prepared to take the direct elevators. After walking a few steps, Wei Qinan suddenly dropped a sentence: “You guys go on up first, I’ll be right there.”
Without waiting for the others to reply, he turned around and ran toward the other side.
The roommates didn’t think much of it: “Big Brother Shi, let’s head up first then.”
Shi Jing: “No need to call me brother, I’m not much older than you guys.”
Walking toward the direct elevator with the three of them, he couldn’t help looking back halfway.
The direction Wei Qinan had headed toward was precisely the direction the guy had left in.
Shi Jing withdrew his gaze and took a fierce, large gulp of his milk tea.
What was he going off to do?
Did he go chase after that white-peach-scented guy?
Running so anxiously, was he afraid the other person would get too far away and he wouldn’t be able to find him?
Shi Jing pressed his lips together, following the others with a less-than-pleased expression, and took the elevator up to the top floor.