16: Heart Flutter
Someone who shouldn’t have appeared showed up.
Liu Qimai held a chemistry test paper and whipped his head around in a hurry. “Brother Kun, help me look at this problem. No matter how I solve it, it’s wrong!”
Liu Qimai was the kind of person who, at his old school, might not even touch a textbook in an entire day.
Yet this morning, while he was mopping, he’d been humiliated by Jiang Yifan and the others, who asked if his hands were useless, if he was so stupid he couldn’t even handle something as small as mopping the floor properly.
Was that tolerable? Absolutely not.
To beat the people in Class Nine next time, he was going to grind like crazy.
Qian Kun flung his backpack down and lifted his eyes. “You’re not even letting me catch my breath, huh.”
Even so, he still took the paper, scribbling a few lines of solution in quick strokes.
Liu Qimai looked it over, satisfied, then asked, “Why’d you come so late today?”
Qian Kun’s eyelids were half-lowered, that slightly dazed look making the Omegas in class sneak glances at him now and then.
Brother Kun looks so… desirable like this. His sex appeal is maxed out!
They hurriedly opened the group chat.
Aaaah, my blood pressure is going up again!
He answered casually, “Ranked matches.”
“Heavens, what kind of beast…” Liu Qimai opened his phone to search up a certain mobile game. He only got halfway through before Qian Kun glanced at him. Liu Qimai instantly changed his wording. “No, I mean, genius player. You climbed that much in one night!”
Seeing how over-the-top he was, Qian Kun laughed and cursed at him a few times.
Then he turned and met Shen Jin’s gaze, the corner of his eyes hooking into a bold, wanton curve.
“Class rep, if you look at me like that, I’ll misunderstand~”
Right then, the English teacher for first period walked in.
Shen Jin immediately stopped talking, opened his textbook seriously, and ignored his neighbor’s teasing like he hadn’t heard a thing.
After who knew how long, Shen Jin caught a whiff of food.
Someone had opened a handmade bento and was calmly eating breakfast at an unhurried pace, making the people around him anxious on his behalf.
This guy was late to class, so obviously he hadn’t eaten.
Shen Jin noticed the English teacher had looked over at their corner several times already.
If it weren’t for the fact that Qian Kun got full marks in English and ranked near the top in all subjects, the teacher would’ve long since kicked him out of the classroom.
Shen Jin tilted his head and reminded him, “Eat after class.”
From midnight until now, Qian Kun was already on his fourth meal, each one designed to match an energy ratio.
His stamina was slowly recovering.
Seeing how tense Shen Jin looked, he found it pretty amusing.
When the teacher turned around to write on the board, Qian Kun dipped a piece into the soy sauce in his tray.
Then, elegant as ever, he ate the last roll, wiped his mouth, and at the same time held up a piece of eel-and-mango sushi in midair, offering it to his neighbor.
“Want some? Have a piece.”
Shen Jin was stunned by the sheer audacity. He immediately said, “I’m not eating it!”
Qian Kun leisurely withdrew his hand.
He looked at Shen Jin’s serious face and clicked his tongue. Such a good student.
Normally, Shen Jin wouldn’t meddle, but today he noticed Qian Kun looked a little tired, so he asked one extra question. “Do you feel unwell anywhere?”
Catching the slight flicker in Shen Jin’s eyes, Qian Kun played coy. “Yeah.”
“I kind of want to sleep.”
“And?”
At that moment, the teacher was still writing on the board.
Qian Kun dabbed a bit of soy sauce from the plate and finished eating. He wiped his mouth and said, “Isn’t that enough? Who stays up all night and doesn’t want to sleep? Why are you suddenly starting to care about me today? Did the sun rise in the west?”
That single line made Shen Jin swallow everything else he’d been about to say.
He immediately cut the topic off.
If he kept asking, who knew what else that mouth would spit out.
Still, someone had to push his luck after taking advantage.
“Hey, don’t tell me you still have thoughts about my driver.”
“I’ll tell you to give up now. He has a partner.”
Shen Jin knew it would turn out like this. “……”
With the occasional teasing in his ear and the English teacher intermittently looking their way, clearly about to pull them aside after class, Shen Jin sat bolt upright.
He didn’t pay attention to his neighbor anymore. He held it in until the bell rang, then walked straight to Qian Kun’s desk.
Qian Kun was joking around with Liu Qimai and the others. The whole classroom was noisy.
Shen Jin began collecting the Chinese homework.
When he reached Qian Kun’s desk, he took the assignment, but he didn’t leave right away.
His eyes lowered, his voice so cold it could freeze. “I don’t have any ideas about your driver.”
The last few words were practically ground through his teeth.
Qian Kun stared blankly at Shen Jin’s back, then covered his mouth. His shoulders trembled.
It was honestly… way too cute!
Someone from the student council came by the door to notify them that the transfer students’ uniforms had arrived and told the living committee member to go pick them up.
Qian Kun remembered that the living committee duties were temporarily being handled by Shen Jin, so he walked out of the classroom.
Liu Qimai, who’d been eavesdropping for the entire period, turned to Zhou You. “A-You, don’t you think Brother Kun is kind of too much? Too much to the point that if Ice Block Shen beats him up later, I’d feel guilty for siding with Brother Kun.”
Zhou You hummed, focused on the original-language book in his hands.
Thinking of how cool and sharp Shen Jin had looked last night, Liu Qimai started daydreaming. “Hey, you think if I tried to chase Ice Block Shen, would I have any chance?”
Zhou You finally looked up. He picked up a walnut kernel lying on the desk and tossed it straight into Liu Qimai’s still-chattering mouth.
“Eat. Supplement your brain.”
After turning in the homework and leaving the office, Shen Jin saw Qian Kun leaning against the wall not far away.
Outside the corridor, fallen leaves drifted down. He was chatting with a few girls, the distance he naturally carried softened a little by his faint smile.
Shen Jin looked away and went downstairs toward the administrative building.
In his pocket, his phone vibrated.
Shen Jin took it out. He’d received a text from the Public Safety Matching Room saying that the Alpha with the highest compatibility had clearly refused.
Shen Jin stared at the text for a moment.
As expected.
An Alpha who could match with three hundred people, unless he was so broke he couldn’t even afford instant noodles, would have to be out of his mind to agree.
Shen Jin didn’t dwell on it. He asked the matching room to keep an eye out for him.
Of course, he wouldn’t put all his hope there.
He also scheduled an appointment with the pheromone specialty department at a top tertiary hospital to consult first.
As Shen Jin was thinking, a voice sounded behind him.
“Class rep, going to pick up uniforms?”
The sudden voice behind him made Shen Jin nearly miss a step.
A figure flashed over, instantly grabbing his arm to steady him. “Careful.”
Qian Kun helped him regain balance, his tone lacking its usual smile. “Don’t daydream on the stairs.”
Shen Jin put his phone away, shot him a glance, and kept walking down.
Qian Kun gave a bitter smile. Great, he provoked him too much.
He was about to stride after him when two girls came up the stairs.
One was holding her stomach, looking like she was in pain.
The other asked worriedly, “Still not feeling well? Should I go borrow a hot water bottle for you?”
“In this heat? Where would you even borrow a hot water bottle?”
“It’s all the school store’s fault. They’re selling fake stuff! It’s supposed to be warm patches, so why did it turn into ‘Warm Treasure Fruit’ or whatever. They couldn’t even bother to copy it more convincingly…”
When the girls suddenly saw the boy walking toward them was Qian Kun, their voices dropped at once. They passed him shyly.
Qian Kun stopped.
He remembered that not long ago, he’d given someone a piece of that thing.
Back then, he’d only looked at the packaging. He remembered what it was supposed to do.
He hadn’t actually read the words on it closely.
Part of him still clung to a sliver of hope. Maybe the one he bought wasn’t that. Then Shen Jin, who’d been walking ahead expressionless, stopped.
His eyes were touched with amusement as he glanced back at Qian Kun.
“Next time, remember to read it properly.”
Qian Kun froze.
Without warning, it felt like a feather brushed across the tip of his heart.
This seemed to be the first time Shen Jin had ever smiled at him. Even if it was at the most mortifying moment of Qian Kun’s life.
He pressed a hand to the spot on his chest that was burning and walked up as if nothing had happened.
Shen Jin hadn’t even planned to bring it up. Who would’ve thought it would get exposed at such an unexpected time.
Qian Kun looked at Shen Jin’s eyes, usually calm and unruffled.
Right now, they looked like melting ice and snow, lively in a way that was almost playful.
He was a little annoyed sure, but he wasn’t so petty that he’d take it out on someone else.
Seeing that this embarrassing incident had entertained the hard-to-please little iceberg in front of him, his mood actually lifted slightly.
Maybe the early autumn wind was simply too gentle.
His voice carried a faint, lingering softness.
“All right. I’ll read it properly.”
*
Liu Qimai had been worried that once these two came back, a war would break out again.
However, the atmosphere between them was actually a little… harmonious.
Weird. Is Shen Jin’s temper just too good? Why doesn’t he cure Brother Kun’s mouth?
The transfer students were still in casual clothes. They saw Qian Kun following behind Shen Jin now, arms full of unopened uniforms.
Someone who loved stirring up trouble shouted, “Brother Kun, when did you become a mover?”
Qian Kun placed the uniforms on the podium and teased back. “This is nothing. Aren’t we supposed to be on cleaning duty for a whole month?”
Shen Jin noticed that after Qian Kun said that, the expressions on Class Nine students’ faces eased a lot.
On the other hand, Liu Qimai and his group looked like they’d eaten something rotten.
You’re not the Brother Kun we know anymore!
When did you switch sides!
These pampered young masters had started learning to slack off over the past few days. Class Nine had been worried they’d go back on their word.
Qian Kun’s sentence was like a reassurance pill.
Then they could relax and keep exploiting them boldly.
The transfer students groaned and threw themselves onto Qian Kun’s desk. “Brother Kun, we’re on the same side! You’re sharpening your knife for us like this!”
Qian Kun was good at balance. He said, “What are you panicking for. Treat it like training. The wheel of fortune always turns eventually.”
The transfer students got excited. With Qian Kun acting like this, was he plotting something bad?
Qian Kun smiled faintly and stopped joining the conversation.
Shen Jin watched as Qian Kun played his handheld console alone, even while a crowd surrounded him joking around. The classroom stayed noisy all the way until dismissal.
Some people seemed born with cohesion. They only had to say one casual line, and others would wave flags and shout along.
Thinking of how Qian Kun had carried eight people’s summer and autumn uniforms back without breaking a sweat, Shen Jin quietly withdrew his gaze.
He organized his textbooks. After school, he still needed to attend a student council meeting.
Ever since the student council president, Ke Minghuai, went abroad, meetings had been suspended.
Today, a few vice presidents were organizing one. As a key member, he had to attend and take minutes.
Qian Kun’s energy was low today. Even though he hid it well, there were still subtle differences compared to usual.
For example, he’d forgotten his dining membership card.
He told Zhou You to go reserve seats first while he went to the dorm. He had a spare there.
After transferring, for convenience, they’d booked beds in the dorms for occasional naps and outfit changes, even though they didn’t sleep there at night.
When Qian Kun reached the dorm building, he spotted a middle-school student in a junior uniform who looked vaguely familiar, poking around outside.
Qian Kun only glanced once before heading straight in.
The boy went up to the dorm auntie and asked, “Auntie, I’m the younger brother of Shen Jin from Senior Year Class Two, Class Nine. He just moved into the dorm today, and I’m here to help him clean. Is his suitcase stored here?”
Shen Xie'an had slept in this morning. As soon as he woke, he charged downstairs. His brother was already gone.
In the dining room, only their mother was there, looking dazed and out of it.
Shen Xie'an had texted all afternoon. Under his relentless harassment, he finally convinced Shen Jin to let him help organize the dorm.
When he learned that Mom hadn’t been allowed to come, an oddly proud feeling rose up in him.
Ah, we’re not the same.
As an older brother, Shen Jin didn’t spoil Shen Xie'an blindly.
They usually split chores. If Shen Jin cooked, then washing dishes was Shen Xie'an’s task.
Qian Kun’s steps toward the elevator paused.
No wonder he looked about thirty percent similar.
Little brother.
Shen Jin’s?
Author’s Note:
An: I’m getting a gentle, virtuous sister-in-law soon!
Kun: I am.
After discussing with the editor, this story is set to go VIP on July 15, which is tomorrow. There’ll be a 9k+ update that day. I hope I’ll still see you sweethearts~~~~ Three bows~ TuT~~
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