Chapter 132
Jiang Xing wrote not a single word of his homework the entire seven day National Day holidays. Lin Qingyu watched as he opened the schoolbag that had been lying in the corner the entire time and took out a large stack of exercise sheets. Judging by the thickness, there must be at least twenty pages.
Lin Qingyu asked, “How long does it take you finish one exercise sheet?”
Jiang Xing took off the cap of his pen. Twirling the ballpoint pen, he said casually, “At least half an hour.”
After a rough calculation, he concluded Jiang Xing might not be able to complete his homework even if he stays up all night. Lin Qingyu was reminded of those days when Jiang Xing had been buried under scrolls and scrolls of official reports. It was both funny and infuriating. “If you knew you had such a difficult task, why did you delay doing it until now? What have you been doing the past six days?”
Jiang Xing raised his eyebrows. “How about you tell me what I’ve been doing?”
“Don’t blame this on me.” Lin Qingyu immediately exposed the truth, “Even without me around, you would definitely have still delayed doing it until the last day.”
“Damn it.” Jiang Xing randomly pulled out a math exercise sheet, glanced at the question and wrote down the answer. “I’m in such a miserable state, yet you still won’t let me blame you.”
Lin Qingyu said coldly. “Of course not.”
In the Dayu, Lin Qingyu would occasionally stay up late with Jiang Xing to review reports. It never occurred to him that there would be a day when, despite the absence of reports, he would still stay up late with Jiang Xing to do his homework.
Inside the study, the desk lamp was turned on and on the table, were two cups of milk tea. One was doing homework while the other was playing games. They did their own things quietly, without disturbing the other. Jiang Xing finished an exercise sheet, he dropped his pen and looked at Lin Qingyu. He saw Lin Qingyu, with headphones on, pick up his milk tea to take a sip. But because his eyes couldn’t leave the phone screen, his lips were met with air. He tried twice before successfully catching the straw.
Jiang Xing chuckled. He was thinking of going over to Lin Qingyu to cling to him when he heard Lin Qingyu ask, “What does a Magic Spike mean? My teammates are asking if I can fill in as a Magic Spike.”
In the game, a Magic Spike refers to a mage who can be an assassin. Usually, the level of operation needed to play this type is higher than for other types of mages. Lin Qingyu had just started to play tower defense games; Jiang Xing has only taught him two or three easy-to-play heroes, enough for a low-level newcomer.
“Don’t pay attention to them.” Jiang Xing said, “Just play as you know how to play.”
Lin Qingyu said, “I also want to try other things.” Saying so, he chose a hero who had complicated combos and somewhat complex machanics.
Jiang Xing couldn’t stop him, Lin Qingyu had already locked onto the hero. Jiang Xing hesitated to speak, “If your teammates curse at you, let me help you play.”
Lin Qingyu said, “No need, you can just help me curse back at them.”
Jiang Xing stopped doing his homework. He went to Lin Qingyu’s side to watch him play. Four minutes into the game, a wave of small team battles erupted between the two sides. Lin Qingyu successfully took off with an impressive combo and took first blood.
Jiang Xing was a little confused. “This…” There was a high probability that it was merely a coincidence.
Seeing Lin Qingyu successfully pull off three consecutive moves, Jiang Xing became more and more confused. He couldn’t help asking, “Qingyu, have you practiced this hero before?”
“No, it’s my first time playing.”
“Then how did you manage to take off?”
Lin Qingyu asked, puzzled, “Well, it was explained pretty clearly in the skill description, wasn’t it? If you want to take off then you just play according to the description.”
Jiang Xing was silent for three seconds. He then smiled and said, “Yes, yes, yes. It’s that simple. You go on then. I’ll continue answering my homework.”
Jiang Xing had procastinaed on too much homework and he didn’t finish until early in the morning. Lin Qingyu was first to give up and he fell asleep lying on the table. Jiang Xing picked him up, carrying him bridal style. He wanted to take him to sleep in the master bedroom before going back to continue on his fight but seeing Lin Qingyu’s sleeping face, he felt a little bit reluctant.
Starting tomorrow, he won’t be able to be with Lin Qingyu 24 hours a day.
So, he moved his work from the study to the bedroom. He emptied the things from the bedside table and turned it into his temporary desk. He sat cross-legged on the floor, with the bed beside him — Lin Qingyu was sleeping next to him.
In the middle of the night, Lin Qingyu opened his eyes. Half-asleep, he saw that the bedside light was still on and called out, “…Jiang Xing?”
Jiang Xing immediately stopped writing. “Did I wake you up?”
Lin Qingyu was sleepy. “Why haven’t you finished yet?”
“Soon.” Jiang Xing patted Lin Qingyu’s back like he was putting a child to sleep, “You go to sleep first.”
Lin Qingyu nodded and closed his eyes obediently. Just like that, Jiang Xing gently patted Lin Qingyu’s back with his left hand as he wrote down the answers one by one with his right.
Jiang Xing struggled until three o’clock in the morning when he finally finish his homework. He went to bed weakly and lay down beside Lin Qingyu. With his last bit of willpower, he adjusted the alarm clock to go off half an hour earlier.
Lin Qingyu went to bed late last night and so, he woke up late the next day. When he woke up, Jiang Xing was already packing his things, looking sluggish and sleepy.
“Are you going to school already?” Lin Qingyu asked.
“Yeah. I’ve already bought breakfast and put it on the dining table, remember to eat it.” Jiang Xing hurriedly stuffed his textbooks and exercise sheets into his schoolbag. Although the alarm clock had gone off on time, he still couldn’t help staying in bed for ten minutes more. He then went to buy breakfast for Lin Qingyu. He was most probably going to be late. “Auntie will come to clean and cook at noon. I’ve already told her that you’re at home so you can just tell her what you want to eat.”
Lin Qingyu nodded in response. “Alright, you better get going.”
Jiang Xing fastened his schoolbag on his back and rushed to the door. He stopped suddenly, turned back, and threw himself on the bed. Lin Qingyu groaned, pressed to the bed by the weight of Jiang Xing and his schoolbag. Lin Qingyu asked, “What are you doing?”
Jiang Xing leaned over and pressed a kiss on Lin Qingyu’s forehead. “I want to kiss you before leaving.”
Lin Qingyu was slightly taken aback.
“Fuck, I’m really going to be late.” Jiang Xing ran away after kissing him, “I’ll be going, Qingyu.”
Lin Qingyu raised his hand and touched his forehead. Jiang Gongzi… No, it should be Classmate Jiang. Once again going out with his first love, he was still very reserved — or, panicky might be a better word.
Jiang Xing’s “Auntie” was a middle-aged woman who worked quickly and talked little. She would come only at lunch time to cook and while she’s there, she would clean up as well. For most of the time, Lin Qingyu was alone at home. He didn’t feel bored though. A modern medical book was enough to keep him occupied for the rest of the day.
Lin Qingyu was so immersed in his book that he didn’t even play much. After an unknown amount of time, the sound of a key turning came from the living room. Lin Qingyu glanced at the time. It was still too early for Jiang Xing to get off school. Did the Auntie come in early?
When he came to the living room, before he could see who had come, he was hugged and knocked back a couple of steps.
“Qingyu…!”
It was Jiang Xing.
Jiang Xing was wearing his school uniform, panting slightly. It was apparent that he had run all the way home from school.
He hugged Lin Qingyu tightly. Confused, Lin Qingyu asked, “What’s the matter with you?”
Jiang Xing said in a low voice, “I sent you so many messages and even called you. Why didn’t you answer?”
Lin Qingyu said, “Sorry, I didn’t see it.”
His phone was in the living room and turned to silent. He hasn’t yet developed the habit of carrying his mobile phone with him all the time and looking at it whenever he had nothing to do.
Jiang Xing mumbled, “You’re really going to scare me to death.”
“What’s so scary about this?” Lin Qingyu pushed Jiang Xing away, walked to one side and picked up his phone, “When I see it, naturally, I’ll reply to you.”
Jiang Xing sighed, “Qingyu, please do me a favor. Please do not not answer my calls, please do not not reply to my messages. I know it’s unrealistic for you to reply in seconds but check your phone at least every hour — or even every two hours, okay? I hadn’t heard from you for so long that I couldn’t focus in class.”
Lin Qingyu flipped through the messages sent by Jiang Xing. Since Jiang Xing arrived at the school, he sent several messages every so often.
[Qingyu, I’m in the classroom. As soon as I entered, I was stopped by number two. He asked me how many exercise sheets I’d done during the holiday. He said that in addition to the twenty sets assigned by the teacher, he answered ten more. I feel like he’s trying to screw me over.]
[This “Li Sao” is a bit difficult to memorize… Worried.]
[Hello? Is anyone there?]
[Qingyu? ? ? ]
[Have mercy on this child…]
Lin Qingyu said, “What do you mean so long? It’s only been two hours.”
Jiang Xing choked. “Two hours isn’t long enough?”
Despite how well Lin Qingyu has been adapting to modern society, he was a man from ancient times after all. Without getting a response from Lin Qingyu, Jiang Xing’s imagination would inevitably run wild. He worried about whether Lin Qingyu went out and got into trouble. He worried about if Lin Qingyu encountered any difficulties at home. He even worried that Lin Qingyu might just disappear.
Lin Qingyu said, “Even when we were in the Dayu, we couldn’t just let Xiao Songzi run to and fro delivering messages all the time.”
Jiang Xing shook his head. “It’s different. You don’t belong to this world, you came here because of me. If you disappeared suddenly, I would think…” Jiang Xing laughed at himself, “I would think that you went back to the Dayu alone. On my way back here, I was even wondering if I would need to get hit by a car again before I could go back and find you. If that’s the case, then I can only…”
Lin Qingyu’s face changed slightly and he interrupted him, voice cold, “Don’t say such stupid things.”
Jiang Xing complained, “That’s why you can’t scare me like this.”
Lin Qingyu suddenly realized that Jiang Xing, like him, was also afraid of being separated and losing the other. And this was after just recovering the memory of his first life. Jiang Xing has only experienced their separation once. How would Jiang Xing feel once he remembers them being separated a second time? Even if he did manage to return in the end, faced with a Lin Qingyu who had been on the verge of collapse, Jiang Xing still had to reason with him, comfort him, coax him and give him enough sense of security——And Jiang Xing was even a year younger than him.
Perhaps, Jiang Xing was just as affected as he was about their repeated separations only that he never showed it.
Lin Qingyu adjusted the collar of Jiang Xing’s school uniform and said softly, “Okay, from now on I will try to promptly reply to your messages.”
Just try?
Jiang Xing was still not satisfied. He grabbed Lin Qingyu’s shoulder and said with a serious expression, “Qingyu, here in our place, it is against the law not to reply to your boyfriend’s messages within two hours.”
Lin Qingyu was silent for a moment and then asked, “Do I look that easy to deceive?”
