Like he was asking for a kiss

Naturally, Xu Shuche couldn’t bring himself to beg.

After struggling in vain, he flushed red and glared at Jian Yixun.

Jian Yixun had always been known on the outside as generous and gentlemanly.

From childhood to adulthood, he’d consistently helped the weak.

This was the first time he’d ever felt the urge to tease someone.

It seemed that the more he made this usually cool and aloof senior show expressions different from his usual self, the more interesting he found it.

“Release me or don’t,” Xu Shuche said through clenched teeth.

“I’ve never seen anyone bully people like you do.”

“Bullying you?”

Jian Yixun pinched his ankle, and, as expected, heard Xu Shuche let out a soft hum.

“It was Senior who took over my bed, then tried to kick me when he woke up.

This is self-defense.”

After he said that, Xu Shuche didn’t argue back.

Jian Yixun thought he was about to hear Xu Shuche beg.

Instead, pain suddenly shot through his exposed forearm.

He instinctively let go.

The person beside him withdrew his leg, rolled away in one smooth motion, and sat up against the wall, staring at him warily.

“Senior, how could you do this?”

Jian Yixun looked at the fresh bite mark on his forearm in disbelief.

“You bit me?

You tricked me.

That’s dirty!”

Xu Shuche raised his brows slightly, lifting his chin.

His eyes were full of mockery and triumph.

“Junior, all’s fair in war.

You want me to beg you?

Dream on.”

Jian Yixun felt like he was seeing a new version of Xu Shuche.

Xu Shuche didn’t care what was going on in Jian Yixun’s head.

He lightly climbed down from the top bunk, making no sound at all, like a cat.

With his back to the dorm’s full-length mirror, he lifted the hem of his pajama top.

Sure enough, there were several bruises on his waist.

His legs probably had some too.

He’d known it.

That bed was way too hard.

Xu Shuche clicked his tongue softly.

Just then, he heard Jian Yixun ask from above, “What are you doing?”

With the bed board blocking the view, Jian Yixun couldn’t see what he was doing.

Xu Shuche quickly dropped his shirt and replied casually, “Nothing.

There’s a bruise on my waist.”

Jian Yixun let out an “oh,” then suddenly said, “You weren’t bruised by the bed board, were you?”

Xu Shuche had been pouring water from the kettle.

At his words, his hand slipped, and the cup knocked against the desk.

“Did I really guess right?”

Even though Jian Yixun thought the dorm bed boards were hard, he hadn’t expected Xu Shuche to actually bruise.

“Senior, are you really the Princess and the Pea?”

A book flew up from below and smacked down in front of Jian Yixun.

“If you don’t know how to talk, you don’t have to,” Xu Shuche said coldly.

“But no one thinks you’re mute.”

By the time Jian Yixun finished lazing around on the bed and slowly climbed down, Xu Shuche was already replying to emails on his laptop.

The gold-rimmed glasses rested on his nose.

One hand supported his cheek.

His expression was focused and serious.

He looked like a completely different person from the one who’d been fooling around on the bed earlier.

Hearing Jian Yixun, he looked up.

“I’ll treat you to breakfast.”

“Huh?”

Jian Yixun blinked.

“Why?”

“Consider it… repaying you for taking me in last night.”

Xu Shuche coughed lightly, a little awkward.

When he saw Jian Yixun still standing there, his face heated up again.

“Are you going or not?

If not, I’ll go by myself.”

“I’m going, I’m going.”

Jian Yixun answered immediately and rushed into the bathroom to wash up.

Xu Shuche was from the south.

In the mornings, he was used to having porridge or noodles.

He didn’t know what Jian Yixun liked to eat, so he brought him to a stall he often went to.

He ordered a bowl of porridge and three soup dumplings out of habit.

When he turned to look at Jian Yixun, his hand slipped.

The tray knocked against the counter with a clatter.

“You ordered… that much?”

Jian Yixun’s tray was piled high.

Soy milk.

Two youtiao.

Two tea eggs.

And a jianbing.

Xu Shuche suspected he was deliberately messing with him.

“What?”

Jian Yixun had a straw in his mouth, his speech muffled.

“Senior, you eat so little?”

Compared to Jian Yixun’s spread, Xu Shuche’s three dumplings looked pitiful.

They found a quieter spot and sat down.

Jian Yixun immediately started putting his side dishes onto Xu Shuche’s plate.

“No need for Senior to treat me.

I eat a lot.

I’m not trying to take advantage of you.”

Xu Shuche looked at the mountain of food on his tray and hesitated.

This was more than just eating a lot.

He was eating breakfast like it was lunch.

Jian Yixun went to get spoons and chopsticks and handed Xu Shuche a set.

Xu Shuche split the disposable chopsticks, picked up a soup dumpling, took a bite, then lowered his head to sip his porridge slowly.

When he looked up again, one youtiao had vanished into Jian Yixun’s mouth.

Wow.

The disappearing youtiao trick.

Xu Shuche’s eyes widened slightly.

“That was fast.”

“Fast?”

Jian Yixun stabbed the straw into his soy milk and took two deep gulps.

The once-full cup instantly dropped by half.

Wow.

The disappearing soy milk trick.

Perhaps Xu Shuche’s gaze held too much genuine amazement.

Jian Yixun’s slightly childish urge to perform surfaced.

He grabbed the other youtiao and stuffed it into his mouth.

In just a few bites, it disappeared too.

“Do you always eat like this?” Xu Shuche asked.

“That’s kind of impressive.”

“I’ve always been like this.”

Jian Yixun took two more gulps of soy milk and picked up the jianbing wrapped in oiled paper.

“Senior, have you ever had this?”

Xu Shuche had just copied him and stuffed a dumpling into his mouth.

His cheeks puffed as he chewed, leaving him no room to speak.

He just shook his head.

Watching the person across from him turn into a hamster, Jian Yixun found it more and more amusing.

A smile crept into his brows and eyes.

“Then do you want to try some?”

Xu Shuche swallowed the dumpling and hesitated for a moment at his question.

“Just try it,” Jian Yixun persisted.

“It’s really good.

And I haven’t bitten it yet.”

Xu Shuche actually wasn’t interested in jianbing.

But he didn’t want to lose this one-sidedly defined “friend.”

If he kept refusing, it would probably be awkward.

Thinking this, he sighed softly.

“Alright.

I’ll try some.”

Jian Yixun, unaware of the internal struggle Xu Shuche had gone through, held the jianbing out to him.

Xu Shuche leaned in and took a bite of the part sticking out of the paper.

The moment it entered his mouth, a sharp spiciness exploded across his taste buds.

Xu Shuche usually ate lightly seasoned food.

Caught off guard by the heat, he covered his mouth and coughed repeatedly, hurriedly scooping a spoonful of sweet porridge into his mouth.

Jian Yixun hadn’t expected that Xu Shuche couldn’t eat spicy food.

He panicked and rushed around the table to pat his back.

“Senior, are you okay?

I didn’t know you couldn’t eat spicy…”

The initial burn slowly faded under the sweetness of the porridge.

But a lingering sting remained on his tongue and lips.

Xu Shuche looked up.

His phoenix eyes were misty from the spice, wet and glistening.

The corners were red.

He looked like he’d been terribly bullied.

His lips parted slightly.

The tip of his tongue peeked out, avoiding the heat in his mouth.

To an outsider, it looked like he was asking for a kiss.

Jian Yixun swallowed unconsciously.

His Adam’s apple bobbed.

The itch he’d forgotten about from the night before seized the chance to return.

He abruptly tore his gaze away from that glimpse of tongue.

Only then did he realize that the hand gripping Xu Shuche’s shoulder was using a bit too much force.

“Senior, I didn’t know you couldn’t eat spicy,” he said awkwardly, pulling his hand back.

“Sorry.

I’ll remember it next time.”

The discomfort from the spice gradually faded.

What remained was the flavor of the other fillings in the jianbing.

Jian Yixun hadn’t been wrong.

It was pretty fragrant.

Xu Shuche waved it off.

“It’s fine.

It’s not your fault.”

Even though Xu Shuche said it was fine, thinking of his Princess-and-the-Pea-like fragility, Jian Yixun still went to buy him a cup of strawberry fresh milk after breakfast.

“I said I’d treat you to a meal,” Xu Shuche said, a bit embarrassed.

“How did it end up with you buying me milk tea instead?”

“It’s my fault you felt uncomfortable.

Buying one is only right.”

Jian Yixun subconsciously avoided his gaze.

“It’s about time.

Should I take you to meet the rest of our group?”

Jian Yixun’s project group had seven people in total.

Five were from the Physics Department.

One was from the School of English.

He’d already arranged with them the night before to hold a small meeting today.

They arrived at the meeting room early with breakfast in hand, chatting as they ate.

“Let me introduce someone to everyone,” Jian Yixun said, bringing Xu Shuche into the room.

“This is Xu Shuche, a second-year graduate student from the School of English.

Let’s welcome him.”

The others were very cooperative, clapping enthusiastically.

Xu Shuche wasn’t used to being the center of attention.

He cast a helpless look toward Jian Yixun.

In a room full of strangers, he instinctively relied on the person he was more familiar with.

“From now on, Senior will be our group leader,” Jian Yixun said.

“Let him get acquainted with you first and assign the initial tasks.

Listen carefully.”

After saying that, he gave Xu Shuche’s shoulder an encouraging pat and sat down by the table.

Xu Shuche took a deep breath and steeled himself to face the group.

“Everyone probably has their own ideas about this project.

Even though we’re not familiar with each other yet, I’d like to hear your thoughts.

I hope you all…”

He really did study English.

But a significant portion of the papers he read also involved physics and astronomy.

He’d accumulated a lot of specialized terminology.

Once he settled down and relaxed, those things gradually came back to him.

When Xu Shuche focused on academics, his expression was serious.

His voice was clear and cool.

It sounded pleasant, carrying a natural authority that made people instinctively behave.

A first-year physics graduate student sitting next to Jian Yixun whispered, “Brother Xun, Senior Xu looks kind of hard to approach.

Making him group leader—won’t that be…”

“Hard to approach?”

Jian Yixun snorted.

Without thinking, he replied, “That’s because you’re not familiar with him.

Once you are, you’ll know.

He gets embarrassed really easily and he’s super easy to talk to.”