With everyone having a crappy day or about to have a crappy day, there was one person floating in cloud nine for the entire day and that person was none other than Qie Ranzhe. If one was to describe his mood right now it would that kind of joy after scoring the winning goal in the World Cup finals, simply ecstatic. He had literally spent the entire day either following Lin Jingxie around like a smitten pup or emotionally blackmailed Lin Jingxie to accompany him.
Wen Qinxi had never been this exhausted ever since he stepped into the game. At the rate things were going he would rather be pestered by Sun Huxian than Qie Ranzhe. Whenever he felt like slipping away, Jolie would also show up whispering, 'PTSD is a serious thing boss. You need to show him more love to treat it.'
'l am the one who will fuckin end up with PTSD after dealing with this big baby,' complained Wen Qinxi after his third escape attempt. In his defense, Qie Ranzhe was making up for those three days they spent apart choosing to stick to Lin Jingxie like super glue. Wen Qinxi endured like a kid forced by his parent to stay at a play date with his annoying cousin.
As the golden sun sank into the horizon, Wen Qinxi heaved a sigh of relief and informed Qie Ranzhe who he had been tutoring that he needed to head home but that was all wishful thinking. Qie Ranzhe placed the book they had been studying back on the table and said, "Jin-ge we haven't practised calligraphy today so you can't leave yet. l will be joining the guild soon and you yourself said l have to perfect my literacy skills before l enter," brazenly grabbing hold of Lin Jingxie's wrist.
Wen Qinxi was dumbfounded thinking, 'This dumbfuck hated learning the most and tried to wiggle out of it by any means necessary now his the one who wants to learn?' He found himself tongue-tied unable to refute Qie Ranzhe's words. Because he was lost in thought he didn't realise how Qie Ranzhe's hand shamelessly lingered on his wrist. Qie Ranzhe went as far as caressing the wrist in his hand with his thumb in a forbearing manner.
Wen Qinxi wanted to ask him why the sudden enthusiasm when he felt an unfamiliar warm and fuzzy feeling magically appearing out of thin air. It was a subtle sensorial pleasure but he couldn't pinpoint the source. That was because he was staring at Qie Ranzhe's face the entire time and didn't immediately notice this intimate action.
His gaze soon fell onto his wrist just in time to see Qie Ranzhe's thumb rubbing against his skin in slow, comforting strokes. This explained were the pleasurable feeling came from jostling him into promptly taking his hand back while saying, "Qie Ranzhe you're screwing with me right? You always run away from classes but now you are practically begging me to teach you."
In this moment Wen Qinxi should have been glad that Qie Ranzhe was finally taking his studies seriously. But knowing some of the ridiculous things he did to get out of learning, Wen Qinxi couldn't help but be suspicious. Qie Ranzhe claimed to have cramps a couples times and his boys would all vouch for him just to get out of classes. He had used that excuse so many times that Wen Qinxi began to doubt his gender asking Qie Ranzhe if he was having his menstrual cycle. The result of that was Qie Ranzhe almost pulling down his pants to defend his honor and prove he was man.
Well, that stopped the cramps excuse graduating to his muscles hurt from exercise, saving an old lady's cat from a tree or that his eyesight wasn't good. With all these excuses you can understand why Wen Qinxi would be skeptical. With his hand empty, Qie Ranzhe swallowed his disappointment and began to grind some ink in the inkstone before handing over the ink brush to Lin Jingxie.
"Here Laoshi, write down the characters you would like me to practise," said Qie Ranzhe with a dangerously charming smile that kickstarted Wen Qinxi fragile heart.
"Fi-fine then l will teach you," said Wen Qinxi with the tips of his ears pinkish red. That smile swiftly brought his defences down to rubble. Unfortunately for Wen Qinxi, he wasn't immune to it. He took the ink brush and began to write in such an elegant manner as graceful as falling rose petals. Focusing on his task, he knocked on the system's door asking, 'Jolie, don't you think Qie Ranzhe is behaving weird?'
The system didn't respond immediately that Wen Qinxi almost thought he was being ignored but it eventually spoke asking, "In what way?" Jolie knew Wen Qinxi too well, he was like a pet bird resistant to human touch. You would have to coax it if you ever want to cuddle otherwise it will simply fly away if you put it under pressure. The system had to whitewash the situation otherwise Wen Qinxi might overreact.
'I don't know something just seems o-,' he paused when he discovered Qie Ranzhe sitting so close to him with his face leaning in closer as though seriously studying what he was writing. They were so close that Wen Qinxi could clearly see Qie Ranzhe's flickering eyelashes in his peripheral view. Wen Qinxi's heartbeat suddenly picked up for some strange reason. Whatever it was it had Wen Qinxi's muscles stiffening to the point of almost making a mistake while yelling in his mind. 'Like that! That's the sort of weird l am talking about,' he said to Jolie subtly shifting his body further away to create some distance between him and Qie Ranzhe.
'You are the one making it weird unless you.....ahem.....are starting to have feelings for our handsome CEO. Its okay, you can admit it to me. I promise l won't tell any one. I am a super discreet system. I eat discreet for breakfast,' said the system wishing it had a face to show off its grin while applauding it smart self for choosing psychological warfare.
Wen Qinxi froze before cursing the system out, 'Fuck off!' He placed the ink brush into Qie Ranzhe's hand saying, "Copy it five times," before standing up to calm his restless heart. Qie Ranzhe watched Lin Jingxie's every action while gawking at him as though looking at a bewitching portrait. Wen Qinxi who had been pouring himself a cup of water all of sudden felt a searing heat boring through his skin like a drill. He curiously turned around only to see Qie Ranzhe not writing but gazing at him with a blank expression. His once decelerating heart rate sped up inciting him to internally reprimand himself, 'What the fuck is wrong with me today?'
"Still not writing?" asked Wen Qinxi instantly bringing Qie Ranzhe back to earth but his brain seemed a tad bit late as he gave an unintelligent response.
"Huh?" asked a brainless Qie Ranzhe
Wen Qinxi didn't go easy on him saying, "l am going to leave if you don't finish in five minutes," in a threatening school teacher tone that would have any student compliant. Qie Ranzhe bowed his head down concentrating on writing. He was done in three minutes handing in his work to Lin Jingxie with an inconspicuous roguish grin.
Tutor Wen Qinxi's frown deepened while observing Qie Ranzhe's handy work wondering if this was as a result of Qie Ranzhe being short of time or out of practice. Qie Ranzhe's writing seemed to have taken a nose dive right into the pacific ocean. Most of it looked like chicken scratches made by a rooster high on psychedelic drugs and not just any kind of psychedelic drug but LSD. It was so horrible so much so that Wen Qinxi couldn't help but curse, "What type of shit is this? Are you fuckin with me right now?"