So annoying!
For the first time, He Siheng felt that Tan Jing was truly stubborn. Where had all that cunning from before gone? Why was he being so single-minded now?
In the last few minutes of self-study that evening, Tan Jing limped into the classroom.
The news of He Siheng and Tan Jing fighting spread throughout the class that night and the whole school by the next day.
The person most vexed and torn about it was none other than Wang Yizhou.
“I asked Jing Bro, and Jing Bro wouldn’t say anything. I asked He Siheng, and he wouldn’t say anything either. Weren’t these two getting along fine before? How did they suddenly start fighting?”
Wang Yizhou had no mind to wonder why Tan Jing had suddenly skipped with He Siheng to game. He was solely worried about the relationship between the two.
Before, he’d unilaterally supported Tan Jing, but now he got along well with He Siheng too—they’d been gaming buddies for most of winter break. Suddenly this happened, and he didn’t know who to side with.
It was giving him a headache.
“The emperor isn’t worried, but the eunuch is,” Song Lin sharply critiqued his behavior, saying leisurely, “Lovers quarrel at the bedside and make up at the bed’s end. Let’s just watch.”
Wang Yizhou corrected him. “What lovers quarrel? Did your Chinese teacher double as the PE teacher?”
“…” Song Lin: “Your brain is the ostrich head.”
Wang Yizhou was unhappy. “Keep insulting my IQ, and I’ll beat you up too.”
Song Lin irritably shot back. “Fight then. Who’s scared?”
“…”
Zhou Yu pulled his gaze back from the two Alphas who were about to throw down over chit-chat and complained to He Siheng. “Is it because Susceptible Periods spike in spring? These Alphas have all been so irritable lately.”
The second after complaining about Alpha irritability, he turned and saw He Siheng looking down at some note, his face twisted into a creepy, perverted smile.
Zhou Yu asked in horror. “Heng Bro, what are you looking at? Why are you grinning like that?”
He Siheng instantly dropped the smile and stuffed the thing back into his desk. “Just a self-criticism. Gotta hand it to Old Yan later.”
Zhou Yu was even more horrified.
His Heng Bro was grinning at a self-criticism like it was a love letter. Had he relived beating up Tan Jing while writing it?
Last semester, he’d briefly hoped with the forum’s Tan-He shippers for a AA romance possibility. Now, their relationship seemed even more strained than at the start of the term.
Something must have happened over winter break! He really wanted the gossip!
The class bell extinguished Zhou Yu’s burning gossip soul. He slumped back onto his desk like a worm.
After he turned away, He Siheng pulled out the self-criticism he’d just stuffed away from his desk.
That morning when he arrived at class, there were two self-criticisms in his desk.
One was signed with his name, to be handed to Director Yan. The other was unsigned but clearly meant for him.
It wasn’t pure text but a little comic.
A cat with a sullen expression sulked alone.
Along came a little strawberry that jumped in front of the cat and asked, “Do you like strawberries?”
The cat ignored it.
The little strawberry asked again.
The cat still ignored it.
The little strawberry jumped onto the cat’s head and asked.
The cat finally got annoyed and kicked the little strawberry flying.
The little strawberry got patched up but persisted in running back and asking the same question.
The cat angrily put its paws on its hips and glared. “You’re a strawberry! Aren’t you afraid I’ll eat you?”
The little strawberry hugged the cat’s leg. “As long as it makes you happy, I’m willing to be eaten by you.”
The artist who drew this was clearly picking up yesterday’s topic—as long as it made him happy, he was willing to be kneaded and shaped.
Little strawberry, my ass. So good at playing cute.
He Siheng turned sideways, his back of the head to Zhou Yu, propping his cheek to obscure his irrepressible upturned lips.
The weekend after the first monthly exam, the school organized a two-day, one-night spring outing. Each class drew lots for activities, and Class 1 drew going to East Jia Mountain to watch the sunrise.
They gathered Saturday morning, took a bus to East Jia Mountain, stayed in a guesthouse at the mountain foot that night, and set off to climb before dawn on Sunday.
There was no evening self-study on Friday. He Siheng went home in the afternoon and started packing.
He Siheng’s packing was always scattered—whatever came to mind, he packed. When he ran out of ideas, he’d scan the room and toss in anything that seemed useful. Usually, he ended up with a bunch of currently useful junk that was actually useless, missing all the actually useful stuff he hadn’t thought of.
As He Siheng scratched his head pondering what else to stuff in the bag, he suddenly heard a noise outside the window.
He went to the window and peeked out. It was Great Handsome running over from across the street, a note in its mouth.
He Siheng opened the window, reached out, and took the note from Great Handsome’s mouth. He unfolded it to find Tan Jing’s handwriting, listing everything to bring for the hike in an orderly manner.
At the very bottom, it switched to a cute font:
—Little Strawberry sent the puppy to ask: Want some strawberries? (/v＼)
At this point, seeing Tan Jing’s sweet O act-cute tone just made He Siheng laugh.
He thought for a moment, grabbed a fresh scrap paper from his desk, wrote a reply, patted Great Handsome’s head, and sent it back.
The well-trained Great Handsome clamped the note in its mouth and trotted back across the street, tail wagging.
In the bedroom opposite, Tan Jing sat at his desk, propping his forehead listlessly. His temples throbbed painfully.
This time’s precursor symptoms were headaches—not bad enough for a sedative injection, but tormenting enough.
This was the second time precursor symptoms had hit. Based on past experience, one more time, and Susceptible Period would arrive.
Footsteps of the little dog sounded outside the room. Tan Jing braced himself on the table to stand and opened the door. He bent down to pat Great Handsome’s head and took the note from its mouth.
As expected, a refusal.
—Packing. No time.
—P.S. You’re not a strawberry. You’re this ↓
The few bold, flourish-filled characters were huge, with an arrow pointing to a lifelike turtle, complete with a mole on its nose.
Tan Jing chuckled.
A turtle it was, then. At least he was responding.
