Secretly Liking Him - Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Shen Yanzhi was just about to continue when he caught a glimpse of Gu Xun and felt a bit helpless: “The answer isn’t on my face.”

Gu Xun let out a long sigh, patted Shen Yanzhi on the shoulder, and said with heartbreaking solemnity: “My dear Minister, your beauty is like a flower; this Emperor’s mind is in disarray, and I am failing the nation…”

The “Minister Shen” across from him was speechless. After a moment of silence, he said: “Your Majesty, please do not stop taking your medication.”

Gu Xun was just about to ask, “Do you have the medicine?” when Wang Xiaosong scurried back again: “How’s it going? Finished copying? King Min is going to be here any minute!”

Gu Xun turned to glare at him: “Eunuch Wang! Do not interrupt me while I am discussing state affairs with Minister Shen!”

Eunuch Wang processed this for a moment before realizing the fact that he had suddenly “lost his parts” down there. He lunged forward, locking Gu Xun’s neck with his arm and shaking him: “Gu Xun!!! Why the hell am I Eunuch Wang! I want to be the Great General! No! I’ll just take you out right now and usurp the throne!”

Dizzy from the shaking, Gu Xun yelled: “Minister Shen! Protect the Emperor! Protect the Emperor!”

Shen Yanzhi: “…”

These two were probably beyond saving.

After Gu Xun and Wang Xiaosong fooled around for a while, they finally got tired. Wang Xiaosong grabbed the exercise book Gu Xun had finished copying and bolted.

Gu Xun grimaced and rubbed his back; with Wang Xiaosong’s weight pressing down on him, he’d practically lost half his life.

He turned to look at Shen Yanzhi, feeling a bit aggrieved: “You didn’t even save me just now!”

Shen Yanzhi: “I thought you were having a lot of fun.”

Gu Xun grumbled: “I would’ve been happier if you’d saved me…”

Shen Yanzhi shook his head with a smile and asked: “Did you remember that problem from earlier?”

Gu Xun nodded vigorously: “I remembered! I remembered! See how smart I am!”

Then he met Shen Yanzhi’s gaze and instantly felt like those words had been thrown back in his face, so he added: “Uh, well, maybe just a tiny bit worse than you…”

Shen Yanzhi waved a completed assignment for another subject in front of him and asked: “Continue?”

Gu Xun immediately felt a bit cowardly: “Uh… Chinese literature too???”

Shen Yanzhi asked casually: “‘The gentleman says: Learning must never cease’ (学不可以已). What is the next sentence?”

Gu Xun was bewildered: “Huh? What?”

Shen Yanzhi flipped open the textbook and pointed to the requirement on the page: “Recite the entire text from memory.”

In an instant, Gu Xun’s hair practically stood on end: “Starting with this right out of the gate???”

Shen Yanzhi sighed: “It seems you didn’t listen at all.”

Gu Xun struggled: “I did listen…”

Shen Yanzhi looked at him: “How much did you hear?”

Gu Xun asked tentatively: “…I remember there was something about ‘indigo blue coming from the indigo plant?”

Shen Yanzhi: “That comes after the sentence I just asked you. It’s the second sentence.”

Gu Xun: “…”

So he only managed to hear the second sentence in the entire class?

Shen Yanzhi continued to twist the knife: “The original text is: ‘Indigo is taken from the indigo plant, yet it is bluer than the plant’ 

Gu Xun: “…”

Alright, alright, he got it—it was a class where he didn’t even hear the full second sentence!

Shen Yanzhi sighed: “Learning must never cease.”

Gu Xun gave up completely and asked: “…What does that mean?”

Shen Yanzhi: “Study cannot stop.”

Gu Xun: “…Oh.”

Shen Yanzhi put his own Chinese exercise book away and said: “Today’s lesson is very suitable for you.”

Gu Xun’s heart was streaming with tears: “I hate Xunzi so much…”

Shen Yanzhi suddenly looked at him with a bit of surprise: “You even know the author?”

Gu Xun didn’t know if he should brag or what, but in the end, he chose to tell the truth: “…I saw it when you first flipped the book open.”

Shen Yanzhi took a deep breath, likely frustrated by the “rotten wood” in front of him.

Gu Xun forced himself to regain some ground: “…Chinese isn’t my strong suit!”

Shen Yanzhi then asked: “Then what is?”

Gu Xun mentally checked his list and finally replied weakly: “Physical Education… I guess…”

Shen Yanzhi just looked at him quietly. Gu Xun felt his face stinging.

Gu Xun grabbed Shen Yanzhi’s shoulders and shook him back and forth: “Handsome!! Do you have to be so well-rounded in ethics, intellect, physique, and aesthetics! Can you leave a little room for survival for an ordinary human like me!”

Fine, be good at studying! But be good at sports too! Fine, be good at sports! But be so fair-skinned and handsome as well!

Gu Xun, the bottom-tier student, deeply experienced what it meant for the heavens to be unfair. He felt such resentment!

Shen Yanzhi let him shake him for a while before saying: “If you put your brain into studying, you’ll have a way to survive.”

Gu Xun felt as if he’d been choked; he timidly withdrew his hands. How could he say it? Should he say he hadn’t actually been that distracted before?

Should he say it was because Shen Yanzhi’s focused expression during class was so handsome it was a crime against humanity, and his attention was forcibly pulled away?

Gu Xun wanted to say it, but if Shen Yanzhi asked why he kept looking at him, how would he reply!

Could he really say he just thought Shen Yanzhi was super handsome, so he couldn’t help but look!

Seeing that Gu Xun remained silent and his expression was becoming more and more conflicted, Shen Yanzhi sighed and said: “If you really don’t want to learn…”

Gu Xun suddenly interrupted him: “No! I want to learn!”

Shen Yanzhi was stunned: “Really?”

Gu Xun whispered: “I can’t exactly have you talking and me not understanding a word you’re saying…”

Shen Yanzhi felt something in his heart being touched lightly, so lightly it was almost imperceptible.

He was just about to say something when Wang Xiaosong scurried over again: “I say, you two…”

Gu Xun turned around irritably: “Why do you have so many things to say!”

Wang Xiaosong was startled by his attitude and asked hesitantly: “…Don’t you feel that there are a lot of burning gazes looking at you two right now?”

Gu Xun wanted to say “I don’t feel it,” but before the words left his mouth, he reflexively looked around and suddenly couldn’t say it.

Because there really were a lot of burning gazes looking at him!

Gu Xun asked tremblingly: “…What… what are they looking at?”

Wang Xiaosong speculated: “…Scared you’re gonna hit Ah Yan?”

Gu Xun immediately retorted: “That’s nonsense!”

Wang Xiaosong pointed at their posture: “Well, your hands are still gripping his shoulders. Could it be they think you’re about to kiss him?”

Gu Xun let go instantly as if he’d been burned, his eyes wide as he stared at Wang Xiaosong.

Wang Xiaosong thought it was strange: “I just said it off the top of my head, why the big reaction…”

Gu Xun’s voice was airy: “…I sustained a shock.”

Wang Xiaosong was clearly not taking him seriously: “…You sure are easily scared.”

Seeing him made Gu Xun angry, so he shoved the exercise book Shen Yanzhi had just finished into his hands: “Get lost, now!”

Wang Xiaosong took it as if receiving a royal decree and got lost immediately.

Was this a joke? King Min was about to charge in. No matter what, you couldn’t copy homework right under the class advisor’s nose!

Wang Xiaosong was gone, but what he had just said was buzzing in Gu Xun’s head.

Kiss him…

Gu Xun’s eyes involuntarily drifted toward Shen Yanzhi’s lips. They were a beautiful shape, slightly pursed when he was serious, pinkish, and probably very soft…

Gu Xun shuddered violently at his own train of thought and reflexively looked away.

Over there, Shen Yanzhi was either writing homework or doing something else; in any case, he was silent. It took Gu Xun a good while for his messy heart to calm down.

He shook his head before calling out softly: “Ah Yan…”

Shen Yanzhi answered: “Hmm?”

For some reason, Gu Xun felt very happy. He tucked away the little notebook with the sticky notes Shen Yanzhi had written before saying: “Don’t think I’m stupid…”

Shen Yanzhi turned to look at him with a hint of a smile: “Didn’t you say you were very smart?”

Gu Xun also smiled, saying cheekily: “Well, doesn’t that depend on who I’m being compared to!”

Shen Yanzhi shook his head, peeled off a sticky note he had just finished writing, and handed it to Gu Xun: “Here.”

This sticky note was covered in writing.

Looking at the key points Shen Yanzhi had listed, Gu Xun’s heart was thumping, filled with an indescribable happiness.

Shen Yanzhi said: “You need to memorize this.”

Gu Xun nodded vigorously: “I definitely will!”

Shen Yanzhi: “And you need to know the meaning.”

Gu Xun continued to nod vigorously: “I definitely will!”

Shen Yanzhi was a bit worried for his neck: “…Stop nodding.”

Gu Xun was just about to continue nodding but froze mid-motion: “…Oh.”

Thus, during the afternoon self-study session, when Min Yibo came around the classroom, he saw Gu Xun muttering to himself and working hard while holding a sticky note.

Min Yibo looked closely and found that the handwriting looked like Shen Yanzhi’s. He was instantly gratified, feeling that placing Gu Xun next to Shen Yanzhi was exactly the right move!

As expected, the learning atmosphere needs to be driven!

Gu Xun was being tortured by Classical Chinese when he felt a shadow loom over him. He looked up to see King Min smiling warmly and looking at him very kindly.

Gu Xun: “???”

Min Yibo patted Gu Xun’s shoulder: “Keep up the good work; Teacher has high hopes for you.”

Then Min Yibo went back to the office and started pondering how to set up “one-on-one” peer-help groups.

Gu Xun didn’t yet know that his momentary burst of diligence had given Min Yibo great passion for mutual assistance. Anyway, after four more classes in the afternoon, he had three more little notebooks filled with sticky notes.

Because one of the classes was Physical Education, it was basically a “release” class.

The teacher did a token review of some standing postures from military training and then let them have free time.

During free time, Gu Xun dragged Shen Yanzhi over to the basketball court to play. As they walked, he kept rambling: “It’s lucky you didn’t come to military training. I’m telling you, our instructor was hilarious. When he shouted ‘One, two, one’ (yi er yi), it sounded like ‘Duck, ah, duck’ (ya a ya). I almost died trying to hold in my laughter!”

Wang Xiaosong exposed him: “There was one time you couldn’t hold it in and got dragged out for punishment!”

Gu Xun bared his teeth at him.

Then they were stopped by a group of boys and a young girl. Once Gu Xun saw clearly who the girl was, he almost turned around and bolted.

Gu Xun hid behind Shen Yanzhi: “Wh-what do you want!”

Song Xinxin tugged at the hem of her school uniform and asked quietly: “Gu Xun, can you come with me for a moment…”

The boys nearby, who didn’t know the situation, started hooting: “Ooh ooh ooh ooh!!!”

Gu Xun practically wanted to kneel before her: “Sister! Are you worried your dad or your senior brother won’t kill me?”

Song Xinxin bit her lip as if she were about to cry. Finally, she just whispered: “I’m sorry!”

Then she turned and ran away.

Gu Xun suddenly felt if he had been a bit excessive; the girl came to apologize, but his attitude just now wasn’t very good…

Shen Yanzhi turned to look at his expression, knowing he had probably softened, and said: “Do you want to give her hope?”

Gu Xun shook his head so hard it almost fell off.

Shen Yanzhi said: “Then you did the right thing.”

A guy nearby said: “That feels like such ‘expert’ knowledge…”

Another chimed in: “Isn’t that obvious? This is our High School Number One’s male god! If he doesn’t understand, who does!”