AD Chapter 24

“……”

Shen Du rubbed his face and decided to pretend he hadn’t seen anything, but he slammed the balcony door shut.

He made himself lie down on the bed, covering his head with a pillow, trying not to think about it. Not long after, he couldn’t help but get up and walk toward the bedroom.

Shen Du walked to the wardrobe, opened his underwear drawer, and only realized what he was doing when his hand brushed against the edge of his underwear.

Damn!

What was he doing? What was there to compare?

Shen Du quickly slammed the wardrobe door shut.

Not long after, Qin Yi sent him a message on WeChat.

[Blame: Did you just call me?]

Shen Du typed back with a blank expression: No, you must have misheard.

Qin Yi sent a voice message back: “Really? But I clearly heard you call me just now.”

So he just heard it and that’s it?

Shen Du couldn’t be bothered to respond further. He grabbed his clothes and went to the bathroom to shower. After finishing, he heard someone knocking on the door. He shuffled over in his slippers, leaving a trail of wet footprints on the floor.

It was still quite warm, and when he opened the door, a gust of hot air rushed in.

“What is it?”

“You didn’t reply to my messages, come eat.” Qin Yi was simply wearing a black T-shirt, the collar slightly crooked. Seeing it made Shen Du’s obsessive-compulsive disorder act up, and he felt the urge to straighten it for him. “Are you in a hurry?”

Qin Yi lowered his head. “What?”

Shen Du said, “Can’t you fix your collar before going out?”

Who are you trying to seduce?

Qin Yi’s voice was low. “I just came to call you. I’m not going far.”

So you’re saying that since you’re just calling me, you don’t need to care about these things?

Shen Du thought this person was unreliable.

“Let’s go, dinner.” Qin Yi casually adjusted his collar. Shen Du stared at him for a while before closing the door.

Over the past few days, many of the classmates had gone back to Yunshan, and they were in the class group chatting about going out to play.

These people had originally planned to stay at school to prepare for graduate school exams, but as soon as summer vacation came, they hadn’t even opened a book when a phrase on the internet, “Youth has no price, hard seats direct to Lhasa,” pulled them off to the Potala Palace.

While Shen Du was cleaning with Niao Niao, he received a call from the class committee member, Lin Yanjin.

“Shen Du! I heard from Lao Yan that you’re still in Yunshan? Me and Xiao Jia and the others are back. What have you been up to lately? We’re planning to go play an escape room after dinner. Do you want to join?”

“You’re going to play now?” Shen Du was holding something and couldn’t answer the phone properly, so he had to wedge it between his shoulder and ear. “Who all is going?”

Lin Yanjin replied, “It’s me, Xiao Jia, Sisi, Xiao Pang, and Sisi’s girlfriend.”

“So many people?”

And they’re all familiar faces.

Apart from his roommates, Shen Du got along well with them. They had worked together on projects before, and Lin Yanjin, a big shot, had dragged four rookies along and somehow managed to prevent anyone from failing.

So Shen Du didn’t really want to refuse him.

“I recently found a part-time job, and I still have some things to finish up. How about you guys come to the store to find me first?”

Lin Yanjin put the phone on speaker, and Xiao Pang, hearing this, pushed Lin Yanjin aside with his large body and took over the phone: “What’s going on, Young Master Shen? We all thought you were at home having fun, but now you’re suddenly working part-time? Did you piss off your parents, and they cut off your money?”

Since the start of school, Shen Du had given the impression of being handsome, rich, and busy.

Once they got to know him better, they changed “busy” to “righteous.”

Shen Du put down what he was holding and said helplessly, “Can’t you say something nice for once?”

“Haha, that’s just how I am, Xiao Pang. If you want to hear nice things, go ask Xiao Jia.”

Xiao Jia was a quiet boy who looked pretty fair. Back when they had military training, Shen Du had helped him, and ever since then, Xiao Jia had been trying to repay him.

Their relationship was quite ridiculous. Some people couldn’t stand Shen Du’s self-centered attitude and sarcastically said that Shen Du was like a young master, and Xiao Jia was his servant. Shen Du later found out about this and, with a few classmates, cornered the person in the bathroom and warned them. It almost got them into trouble.

Shen Du chuckled. “Well, Xiao Jia is indeed better at saying nice things than you.”

“Hahahaha, did you hear that, Xiao Jia? Your brother is praising you!”

Everyone laughed.

Sisi leaned in and said, “Shen Du, are you really okay? We still have some money on us. Do you want us to lend you some to cover things?”

“Yeah, yeah, Shen Du, they still have money. You don’t need to be polite with them.” This was Sisi’s girlfriend.

Shen Du felt a warmth in his heart and said, “I’m really fine. Just bored.”

To be honest, he still hadn’t figured out why he came to this store. It was all so confusing. Speaking of which, hadn’t he once asked [Dreamy Affection] for confirmation?

What was the result of that confirmation again??

Shen Du felt like he had lost his memory. He decided to contact Brother Qing Yi when he had the time.

“You guys come over first, I’ll send the address in the group.”

After hanging up, Niao Niao came over with a cup of milk smoothie: “Shen Du, have something to drink and take a break.”

Shen Du took the cup and casually set it aside. “I’m going to wash my hands.”

“Was that your classmate who called you just now?”

Uh-oh, he had been so caught up in the excitement that he forgot about asking for leave.

“Yeah, it’s my classmate. They wanted to hang out with me,” Shen Du smiled awkwardly. “Niao Niao, about that…”

Niao Niao chuckled. “You want to ask for leave, right? That’s fine, when they get here, just go out and play.” Shen Du hesitated.

“Isn’t that inappropriate? I should finish helping you clean up before I leave.”

“Enough.” Niao Niao stopped him. After spending more than half a month together, she had gotten to know Shen Du a little. Since she had already called her “sister,” it would be impolite not to agree.

“The shop gets cleaned every day, it’s not that dirty. Besides, before you came, I was the one doing everything alone.”

Niao Niao said, “Just go with your classmates. Come back tomorrow and help me arrange the shop.”

“Alright, thank you, Niao Niao. I’ll treat you to milk tea tomorrow,” Shen Du smiled, pursing his lips. “A large cup.”

Niao Niao was struck by his pure and clean smile, clutching her heart. “A large cup? Are you trying to make me fat?”

Second floor.

Qin Yi had no customers today, so he sat at his desk, drawing.

If Shen Du had entered the room right now, he would have noticed that the person in the drawing was Qin Yi himself.

It was the same pose he had when leaning against the shop door that day.

The lighting, the angle, the person, and the deafening heartbeat. Everything was just right.

The best way to record a beautiful moment is to draw it.

Qin Yi sat at his desk, his head slightly lowered, his sharp, handsome features focused. The brush he held in his long fingers silently expressed the artist’s intentions.

About half an hour later, Qin Yi put down his brush, laid the drawing flat, and carefully admired it for a moment before slowly taking out a key from the drawer and unlocking the locked cabinet.

Inside the cabinet lay a wooden box, plain and simple, aged with time.

Qin Yi placed the drawing inside.

He went downstairs and saw Niao Niao sitting alone at the front desk watching a drama. He walked over, took a cup of water, and glanced around the shop.

“Why are you the only one here?”

Hearing the boss’s voice, Niao Niao quickly paused the video and looked up. “Yeah, Shen Du went out to play with his classmates. He asked for leave.”

“Classmates?” Qin Yi paused slightly, then asked, “Why didn’t he tell me?”

Does this also need the boss’s approval?

Niao Niao looked confused for a moment but quickly sat up straight. “I told him to go. I figured the shop wasn’t too busy today, so… I let him go. Brother Qin, are you mad?”

Qin Yi didn’t say anything, just held the paper cup, seemingly lost in thought.

She should have had Shen Du talk to Qin Yi again.

Niao Niao sighed.

She had prepared herself to be scolded… though, knowing Qin Yi’s personality, he probably wouldn’t do that, but she still had to show the right attitude.

Niao Niao lowered her head, looking like she had done something wrong.

“What was his mood like at the time?”

After waiting for a while, Qin Yi finally spoke, and Niao Niao was a bit surprised. “Huh?”

She realized something was off and quickly slapped her head. “Oh, he was really happy. It was the first time I saw Shen Du with classmates his age. Several of them came, all good-looking. Shen Du was casually walking with one of them, his arm around their shoulder, almost forgetting to bring his phone.”

As soon as she finished speaking, Niao Niao noticed Qin Yi seemed to frown slightly. “Arm around his shoulder?”

“Yeah.” Niao Niao didn’t understand why he was focusing on that detail but still explained, “They’re guys, it’s normal. I heard them say they were going to eat at Longji BBQ first, then go to play the escape room.”

“That escape room has been really popular lately. If I could gather enough people, I would’ve gone already, but I don’t want to team up with strangers.”

Niao Niao kept talking, then looked up and saw that Qin Yi had already left.

With one hand in his pocket, his strides were large, his posture strong. His shadow stretched long under the setting sun.

Niao Niao suddenly had a strange thought.

—It seemed like their boss was going to catch someone in the act.

After coming out of the BBQ restaurant, Lin Yanjin patted his stomach with satisfaction. “So full, that was great!”

“Great? I’m not even full yet,” Xiao Pang complained.

He had only eaten about 70%, and this group was already trying to leave. It was frustrating.

“Still eating? With your stomach, what if you get scared by an NPC in the escape room and throw up?” Sisi, holding her girlfriend’s hand, was walking behind Xiao Jia and Shen Du.

Xiao Pang grumbled, “Is it really that scary? I don’t believe it.”

“Why would I lie to you?” Lin Yanjin pulled out his phone and showed him some online reviews. “Everyone’s saying that. It can’t be that everyone in the country is lying to you.”

“I’m out, you take it, don’t make me look.” Xiao Pang quickly jumped behind Shen Du.

He was tall and chubby, while Shen Du was thin and frail, so he didn’t really block much.

But it didn’t stop LXiao Pang from finding comfort behind him.

Xiao Pang bent over, resting his hand on Shen Du’s shoulder and hiding his head behind him. “Shen Du, you have to keep an eye on me later, don’t let the NPC grab me!”

Sisi’s girlfriend covered her mouth, laughing non-stop. “What’s wrong with you? Shen Du’s not even as strong as you. You want him to protect you?”

Xiao Pang was unconvinced. “So what? You didn’t see Shen Du back in the day, standing at the bathroom door, taking on a whole crowd. Who wouldn’t call him ‘brother’?”

“…” Shen Du was speechless. He put away his phone and turned around helplessly. “Is this how you promote me outside?”

Xiao Pang chuckled. “I don’t care, brother, I’m counting on you later.”

Shen Du didn’t really have any concept of the escape room.

He had never been, but since it was said to be scary, it might be fun to try. He pursed his lips, about to speak when Lin Yanjin suddenly exclaimed, “Look at that person, so handsome!”

Everyone instinctively looked in the direction he pointed.

Shen Du turned his head and saw Qin Yi surrounded by people asking for his WeChat. The weather was actually quite nice today, the rain from the previous days had cleared, and the temperature had dropped. Qin Yi was wearing a black shirt and work pants, with a pair of black-rimmed glasses resting on his nose. The glasses had wide frames, giving him an intellectual look, yet his thin lips were slightly pursed, and a small mole was located just above the right side of his nose.

Perhaps it was a trait common to artistic people, but Qin Yi exuded a unique aura. Shen Du remembered that he always seemed like the elitist type of urban man. Now, dressed like this, even if someone said he was his classmate, they would probably believe it.

Shen Du squinted, vaguely wondering what Qin Yi had worn when he came to the shop this morning.

Lin Yanjin was still sighing. “Which school is he from? Why isn’t he on the confession wall? Oh my god, another girl went to ask him for his WeChat, wait, how did he reject her?”

Sisi’s girlfriend was completely stunned, excitedly grabbing her phone to video call her best friend. “Do you think if I go ask him for his WeChat, he’ll give it to me?”

Xiao Jia raised an eyebrow. “It looks like he’s walking over here.”

“Really?” Sisi tightly held her eager girlfriend and looked at the man. “Is he coming to find us?”

“Strange…” Lin Yanjin said, “Xiao Pang, why do I feel like he’s coming for you?”

Xiao Pang was still hiding behind Shen Du, startled. “But I don’t know him!”

Shen Du furrowed his brows, his first instinct was to shrug off the hand on his shoulder. “Can you stand properly?”

“Huh? Oh, sorry…” Xiao Pang scratched his head.

Xiao Jia, who had been standing beside them, seemed to notice something and glanced between the two of them.

“It really does seem like he’s coming for us. Does anyone know him?” Lin Yanjin said.

He turned to look at Shen Du’s expression. “Your friend?”

Shen Du furrowed his brows without answering, thinking about how Qin Yi had ended up here, dressed like this.

“What are you here for?”

As Qin Yi walked over, he heard the boy’s question. He tilted his head and smiled, his gaze shifting from Xiao Pang behind him to the boy in front of him.

His laugh was low, pleasant, and captivating, with a smooth jawline and curved eyes. Even someone like Lin Yanjin, who considered himself straightforward, was momentarily stunned. But he still instinctively stepped closer to Shen Du, his hand blocking in front of him, awkwardly asking, “You… okay?”

He was immediately pushed aside by Shen Du. “It’s none of your business.”

Qin Yi, under Lin Yanjin’s confused gaze, took out his phone. “You look really handsome. Can I add your WeChat?”