Shoutout to Kari for the commission!
Acting spoiled?
Zhou Shirui frowned slightly. “Why is that acting spoiled?”
In Cheng Yufei’s mind, Zhou Shirui, a super genius with a reputation throughout campus, had a status comparable to Ultraman. Seeing that the usually effortless genius was actually showing such a studious side, his confidence immediately soared, and he patted his chest. “You don’t believe me?”
“Look, this is what you get for not having a partner.” Cheng Yufei said confidently. “Actually, when listening to your girlfriend talk, what she says only comes second. The most important thing is the tone.”
“Look at this. Don’t worry about what he said before. This final expression is a hug. It actually means he’s acting spoiled! Once he sends a sticker, he isn’t really angry anymore. He’s definitely still showing you affection!”
Zhou Shirui’s expression showed neither agreement nor disagreement. “But he’s a man.”
“Uh…” Cheng Yufei was momentarily speechless.
“It’s the same even if he’s a man.” Cheng Yufei quickly said. “Boyfriend or girlfriend, aren’t they both partners? It’s all the same.”
“Mm.” Zhou Shirui lowered his eyes and looked at his phone again.
A subtle feeling lingered in his heart. He couldn’t call it liking, nor could he call it dislike.
Just like how he currently felt about Le Cheng.
And perhaps Le Cheng was only doing this on a whim.
“Let me take a look at what’s going on with the model.” He tapped the desktop, changing the subject.
“Huh? Oh, okay, okay… Hurry and help me see what’s going on…”
After eating, Le Cheng got out of bed and started grinding away at his drawing drafts.
He looked at the requirements for several commission platforms. At the very least, he needed more than four completed works before he could apply.
Le Cheng personally preferred pseudo-thick painting and ink-wash styles, but flat-color illustrations were the most popular for getting commissions, so he came up with several themes and started sketching.
The advantage of taking commissions long-term showed itself at this moment. He came up with ideas quickly, and he was also fast at getting started. After all, if an artist wanted to make money, after competing over everything else, what they ultimately competed over was efficiency.
Le Cheng hunched over the desk, constantly writing and drawing. By the time he looked up again, it was already ten o’clock without him realizing it.
Le Cheng stretched, his neck and lower back aching faintly. His current chair was far too ergonomically unfriendly. He needed to find time to buy an ergonomic chair…
Thinking this, Le Cheng swiped open a shopping app with his slender fingers and glanced at the price, then switched back to the background to check his Alipay balance.
LOL :)
Never mind.
Le Cheng had saved up some money from drawing commissions in the past, and it had been a very long time since he had felt so completely broke.
And only now did he deeply realize—if a chair cost three hundred yuan, why not just reach into my pants pocket and rob me directly? :D
He really was laughing at his own poverty.
Poor Little Cheng immediately exited the shopping app.
However, this also reminded him of something.
At noon, Zhou Shirui had treated him to lunch. Le Cheng didn’t like taking advantage of other people for no reason, so after thinking about it, he decided to find a time to treat him in return.
After all, simply transferring money wouldn’t look very spoiled and coquettish. Although treating him to a meal wasn’t particularly spoiled and coquettish either, he could say a few spoiled lines first.
Having made up his mind, before going to bed, Le Cheng sent Zhou Shirui a goodnight message. He didn’t bother checking whether Zhou Shirui had replied and fell asleep first.
Early the next morning, Le Cheng rushed to his eight-o’clock class.
After two theoretical classes ended, it was noon, the busiest time for eating. Le Cheng sent Zhou Shirui a message in advance asking him to eat together, but Zhou Shirui still hadn’t replied.
When he arrived on the second floor of the cafeteria, his phone in his pocket chimed.
[Big Brother: Eat by yourself. Don’t wait for me.]
It was still the same cold tone. Le Cheng glanced at it, but before he had time to reply, he quickly stepped forward and lined up at the beef noodle counter, saying happily, “Auntie, I want a bowl of sour soup beef noodles, with an egg. I want the tiger-skin one!”
“Sure thing.” The auntie at the counter agreed. “Eating here or taking it to go?”
Le Cheng: “Eating here.”
Le Cheng waited at the counter as the auntie quickly cooked the noodles and added the tiger-skin egg and beef.
Le Cheng carried the bowl over to the side and added a generous amount of vinegar himself, along with a small pinch of cilantro and a little pickled radish.
After finding a seat, Le Cheng took a bite of noodles before leisurely tapping open his screen.
He spent a moment working up the right emotions, then started typing furiously.
[Orange: What? You can’t eat with me anymore!]
[Orange: How can you do this?]
[Orange: And you’re only replying to me now. I’m going to be angry. Crying.jpg]
After sending the messages, Le Cheng picked up a piece of beef and ate it.
“Ding-dong—”
His phone vibrated.
[Big Brother: Things are pretty busy here. I can’t get away.]
Le Cheng could understand perfectly well. Zhou Shirui was probably helping the teacher with some work.
But he wasn’t nearly as understanding in his typing.
[Le Cheng: I don’t care. You still have to apologize to me.]
On the other end of the phone, Zhou Shirui lowered his eyes and suddenly frowned slightly. For some reason, he felt that Le Cheng was being a little unreasonable.
After sending the message, Le Cheng finished eating the tiger-skin egg. When he lowered his head and glanced at his phone, he saw that Zhou Shirui had [Typing……]
Le Cheng casually sent a sticker.
[Orange: Angry line-drawing puppy: Woof woof woof.jpg]
The [Typing……] suddenly stopped for a moment.
Le Cheng: ?
[Big Brother: .]
[Big Brother: Sorry]
Seeing the word “sorry,” Le Cheng froze for a moment.
He actually hadn’t expected Zhou Shirui to apologize.
After all, he had asked Zhou Shirui to eat with him after class, and it was perfectly normal for the other person to refuse because he had something to do.
Le Cheng couldn’t help feeling guilty for a second.
Today’s spoiled-and-fussy quota had already been more than fulfilled, so Le Cheng immediately stopped while he was ahead.
After thinking for a moment, he poked at the phone screen.
[Orange: Then you haven’t eaten lunch, have you? I’ll bring you something.]
[Orange: What do you want to eat?]
This time, Zhou Shirui replied very quickly.
[Big Brother: No need.]
Le Cheng still owed Zhou Shirui for a meal. Normally, according to his usual habits, after being rejected, he would definitely just say “Okay.”
But there were benefits to acting spoiled and unreasonable.
Le Cheng immediately became forceful and unreasonable: [I said you need it, so you need it. How can you reject me? Would noodles be okay? Which classroom are you in?]
Zhou Shirui was [Typing……] for a while again, as though hesitating.
[Big Brother: Science Building, A-319]
[Big Brother: Thanks]
He was pretty cold, but at least he was quite polite.
Le Cheng ordered a bowl of braised beef noodles with extra meat from the window he had just been at, then headed to the Science Building.
Just as he had guessed, Zhou Shirui was helping the teacher supervise a competition.
According to what Tan Xiaobai had said, it seemed to be some kind of computer design competition.
Teachers would sometimes pick their favorite students to help supervise competitions, since it saved both time and effort.
The door was half closed. Le Cheng knocked a few times. Zhou Shirui was leaning one hand against the desk, his arm long and slender, the attractive muscles on it slightly raised. He was turned sideways, bending down as he spoke to a junior student, so Le Cheng could only see a small portion of his well-defined profile.
Actually, this pose was excellent as a drawing reference. Le Cheng stared for two seconds, and his fingers began itching again.
He wanted to draw it.
As a mature artist, before starting a drawing, Le Cheng would search for inspiration and references on specialized resource websites.
The human-model software he used most often could be posed in all kinds of ways, with enough detail that even every single finger could be positioned into a different shape.
This had also resulted in Le Cheng developing a bit of an occupational habit.
Whenever he saw a pose that suited his tastes, he always wanted to record it.
He had been staring for a little too long, to the point that when Zhou Shirui glanced over at him, Le Cheng guiltily felt the tips of his ears turn red.
His skin was already fair, and his earlobes were small, round, and pale, making the flush especially obvious. As if to hide his embarrassment, Le Cheng took two steps backward. When Zhou Shirui saw him, he strode over and closed the door behind him.
Once the door shut, it cut off the sounds of the people inside who were watching the drama. It was mealtime, and the hallway was quiet.
“This is the food I brought you.” Le Cheng quickly handed over the noodles. “Braised beef flavor. I don’t know if you like it.”
Zhou Shirui asked, “What are these?”
“Hm?” Le Cheng was stunned for a moment, then explained carefully. “These few things? These little packets, I didn’t know what flavors you like, so I packed some pickled vegetables, vinegar, cilantro…”
After saying that, Le Cheng glanced up at Zhou Shirui before obediently standing where he was.
Maybe the wind had been strong on the way over, because a tuft of hair on top of his fluffy head had stuck up, curling slightly.
Zhou Shirui said nothing. His gaze lowered, landing on Le Cheng’s fair earlobe, tinged with a rosy flush.
It was small and delicate, round and smooth.
He didn’t say anything. Le Cheng stood there foolishly with the noodles in his hands, blinking his big eyes at him.
For some reason, he looked a little dazed.
Zhou Shirui’s fingers moved slightly as he took the noodles. “Thank you.”
Le Cheng answered just as seriously, “Mm, you’re welcome.”
A quiet atmosphere spread between the two of them. Le Cheng hated awkwardness the most and was just about to say something to ease it when Zhou Shirui’s low voice fell beside his ear.
“How much?” Zhou Shirui said. “I’ll transfer it to you.”
“Huh?” Le Cheng waved his hands. “No, no…”
“No need to transfer it to me,” Le Cheng said. “I’m treating you. It’s only right.”
Zhou Shirui: “Hm?”
The words did indeed sound a little ambiguous, so Le Cheng added, “It’s just… we’re a couple. This is normal.”
He hadn’t paid much attention to it before, but Zhou Shirui realized that Le Cheng spoke very quickly, swallowing some of his sounds, which made the final word especially soft, almost like he was acting spoiled.
Le Cheng was acting spoiled toward him again.
Zhou Shirui was silent for a moment. “Okay.”
Having completed his mission, Le Cheng wanted to head back. “Then go back and eat your noodles. Otherwise, they’ll get soggy and won’t taste good.”
The ending of his sentence was still light and airy. Zhou Shirui responded emotionlessly with an “Mm.”
Seeing this, Le Cheng glanced at Zhou Shirui’s chest again.
Zhou Shirui was wearing a sweatshirt today, a relatively loose fit, while his black jeans accentuated his tall, slender figure, making him especially striking.
But there was no way to see the contours of his muscles at all.
Le Cheng felt deeply disappointed.
He wasn’t some kind of pervert. Although he could usually find reference pictures online when drawing muscles, when faced with a practically perfect live male model, Le Cheng really wanted to see the actual lines and structure of human muscles up close.
Of course, that was just something he thought about—the king of empty talk, Little Cheng, said so himself.
He had come all this way and hadn’t gotten to see anything. Le Cheng was a little reluctant, but he wasn’t going to linger. He nodded slightly. “Then I’ll go.”
“Wait.”
Le Cheng’s footsteps stopped. Zhou Shirui raised his chin slightly. “There’s something on your forehead.”
“Huh?” Le Cheng held his phone up in front of his face, intending to use it as a mirror. He tilted it around but couldn’t find anything, so he asked for help, “Where is it? Can you take a look for me?”
“Here.” Zhou Shirui stepped forward and reached out.
The distance between them suddenly closed. A clean, crisp scent lingered in Le Cheng’s nose. He was nearly half a head shorter than Zhou Shirui, and at such a close distance, all he had to do was turn his face slightly to brush against the other man’s pale-colored lips.
It was as if he were being enveloped by body heat. The temperature of Le Cheng’s face rapidly rose. Just as he was about to speak, Zhou Shirui had already withdrawn his hand and taken a step back.
“Done.”
Le Cheng froze slightly and looked at his fingers. There was a tiny bit of fluff on them. He murmured, “Thank you…”
“You’re welcome.” Zhou Shirui lowered his eyes and looked at Le Cheng, who had pressed his lips together slightly from nervousness. They were plump and berry-red, with just a hint of pale flesh showing where the blood had been pressed away.
At that moment, he was certain.
Le Cheng seemed even more lively on the screen.
