Help, My Buff Roommate is Begging to Touch my Abs - Chapter 38

Chapter 38: Hubby feels sorry for me

In the evening, Jin Bao’er returned to the dormitory and found Zhao Yuheng actually lying on his bed.

Jin Bao’er was already used to it. Zhao Yuheng found climbing to the upper bunk troublesome and always liked to lounge on his lower bunk. Even when Jin Bao’er came over, he wouldn’t move, just sprawled out, playing with his phone. Jin Bao’er didn’t shoo him away either, sitting quietly beside him.

“By the way, how did that scholarship thing go? You said you were going for the selection a few days ago.” Zhao Yuheng asked casually while operating his phone at high speed.

“I got first place.” Jin Bao’er picked up his charger and plugged in his phone.

“Then you don’t have to eat those discount meals anymore.” Zhao Yuheng didn’t want to mention those terrible discount meals at all. Every day there wasn’t much meat, it was all vegetable dishes, the portions were small, and the flavor was bland, just like what monks eat. If it weren’t for the fact that he added extra food for Jin Bao’er from time to time, he felt Jin Bao’er would be even thinner.

“Um…”

Zhao Yuheng heard the hesitation in his tone and frowned. “What’s with the ‘um’? Speak if you have something to say.” He had just encountered terrible teammates in his game and was feeling inexplicably irritable.

“It’s just… I let someone else have it.”

Zhao Yuheng was still operating frantically, and it took a while before he reacted, his fingers stopping on the screen. “Say that again?”

“I said I gave this spot to someone else.”

Zhao Yuheng put down his phone completely now, sat up abruptly to look at him, his eyes filled with disbelief. “I heard that it was over ten thousand yuan?”

“Um.”

“Then are you stupid? Was your head caught in a door?!” Zhao Yuheng was clearly more concerned about this money than Jin Bao’er himself, and his tone became a bit heavier.

“Listen to me explain.” Jin Bao’er reached out carefully, wanting to soothe his bristling temper.

“Fine, I want to hear what kind of earth-shattering reason you have for not wanting this ten thousand yuan.” Zhao Yuheng crossed his arms, looking at him fiercely, with the attitude of “If you don’t explain clearly today, I’ll beat you up.”

“Do you know Xiao Meimei, my fellow villager from Yunnan?”

“Um.” Zhao Yuheng nodded, signaling him to continue.

“This ten thousand yuan is a national first-class scholarship, and there is only one spot per class. Xiao Meimei needs this more than I do given her situation.”

Zhao Yuheng was still frowning, his tone carrying anger. “Why does she need it more than you? You eat discount meals every day, drink water from the school’s water fountain; look at your shoes, they’re already broken!” He bent down abruptly, picked up Jin Bao’er’s shoe, and pointed at the obvious torn leather on the toe, feeling unbearable pain for him.

Jin Bao’er looked at Zhao Yuheng pointing out the place he was most afraid of others seeing. At this moment, there was no shame in his heart, but more of an ache. Because Heng-ge was feeling sorry for him.

“But, her dad is disabled, her mom is crazy, and the family relies on her grandfather’s farm work to subsidize the household expenses…”

Zhao Yuheng had wanted to refute, but hearing this, he couldn’t help but go silent. He looked at Jin Bao’er’s red-rimmed eyes, feeling as if something was heavily blocking his heart.

“Heng-ge, you don’t know, when I saw the application reason for her family, I didn’t dare to fight, didn’t dare to grab it.” Jin Bao’er’s voice trembled, tears swirling in his eyes. “I’m afraid that ten thousand yuan might be her parents’ medical expenses, money her grandfather can only earn after a year of farm work…”

“This…” Zhao Yuheng was also dumbstruck. But you don’t have a dad or mom either.

He remembered the contents of Jin Bao’er’s application form and was so pained he couldn’t speak. Jin Bao’er lost his parents at eight and was raised by his aunt. Yet now, he had given this subsidy to another “pitiful person.” Bao’er, how can there be a comparison in poverty?

“Alright, Heng-ge, although I didn’t get the top prize, I got the second prize, which is still five thousand yuan.” Jin Bao’er smiled, finding joy in sorrow. He actually wasn’t some kind of great saint. Now that he did part-time jobs and wrote novels, he could basically support himself and didn’t need to rely on his aunt’s aid. The difference between five thousand and ten thousand was nothing more than how much to send back to his aunt’s house. Compared to himself, Xiao Meimei had a much larger family behind her to support. What the aunt’s family lacked most was the cousin’s tuition and the uncle’s medical bills. And he actually carried hatred toward his uncle; he was often beaten and scolded by him without rhyme or reason when he was a child. This could also be considered a little selfishness of his own.

Zhao Yuheng didn’t say anything more. Letting it go, let it go; just treat it as accumulating merit for Bao’er. Anyway, he wasn’t short on money, and it wasn’t worth fighting for this little bit of peanuts. After figuring this out, he pulled Jin Bao’er and started a game. Today, he had to take Jin Bao’er to properly bully the other side and vent the stuffiness in his heart.

…

Days went by as usual. There was never a lack of vitality in university; everywhere was full of energy. Jin Bao’er continued to work part-time, write novels, and study. With a big wolf-dog like Zhao Yuheng to escort him, he was very satisfied and happy, only hoping that things could go on like this forever.

…

Zhao Yuheng, who loved playing basketball, ran fast and came to the stairwell on the first floor of the teaching building. Across from this building was the basketball court, and everyone loved to leave their basketballs here. He found the marked basketball and was about to leave when a familiar name came from the stairs.

“Let me tell you, Meng-ge, I took revenge for you.” It was Xiao Meimei’s voice, carrying a trace of triumphant boastfulness.

“How so?” asked another voice, which was Wang Meng.

“Didn’t you say Gan Jinbao and Hu Xiaowen provoked you? I snatched that top-tier scholarship from Gan Jinbao!”

Wang Meng had originally been impatient, but hearing this, he looked at Xiao Meimei joyfully. “Was it that easy to snatch?”

“Listen to me; I prepared well, too. Originally, I could only apply for the national second-class scholarship, but seeing Jin Bao’er apply for the top one, I followed suit. It came down to just me and him, and it could be settled as long as the family economic situation was verified…”

“Didn’t you say your family didn’t qualify for the top tier?” Wang Meng asked again.

“You’re stupid, can’t those be faked?”

Not only was Wang Meng stunned, even Zhao Yuheng was dumbfounded. Faked??

Xiao Meimei on the stairs was still talking, her tone filled with contempt. “That Gan Jinbao is just a fool; he believes whatever I say.”

“My acting was also good; I told him my dad was disabled, my mom was crazy, and I relied on my grandpa’s farm work to survive. He turned red on the spot and kept apologizing to me, saying he would withdraw; he didn’t have any hesitation at all.”

“Hahaha, what a moron.”

After Xiao Meimei finished speaking, her tone was filled with pride. Wang Meng felt very comfortable inside.

“Damn, it was those two, and that Zhao Yuheng, who made me lose face in the dorm that day. It’s satisfying to scam them out of ten thousand plus yuan now!”

“Then use this ten thousand yuan to buy me an iPhone 15!” Wang Meng said arrogantly.

Xiao Meimei hesitated a bit.

“What? When you were chasing me, you said you’d be good to me and listen to me, and now you’re not even willing to buy a phone?” Wang Meng pretended to be angry.

Seeing Wang Meng angry, Xiao Meimei gritted her teeth and nodded. “Fine, I’ll buy it!”

Wang Meng was happy, pulled Xiao Meimei over, and kissed her on the corner of her mouth.

Just then, the two recovered their energy and walked down. Only then did they discover that in the shadows of the stairwell, there was still a tall figure standing there.

Zhao Yuheng stood there, still holding the basketball. He slowly raised his head, those eyes that were usually filled with smiles or laziness. At this moment, only terrifying scarlet and icy hatred remained. He stared dead-eyed at that pair of dogs. The corners of his mouth hooked into a cruel arc, as if looking at two lambs waiting to be slaughtered.

The air was deathly silent.

“Chatting… quite happily, aren’t you?”