Secretly Liking Him - Chapter 16

Chapter 16

The classroom immediately erupted in cheers. Several students who were closer to the desk took advantage of their proximity and rushed up first, picking out the things they liked.

By the time Gu Xun squeezed his way to his seat, a few of his buddies were still busy trading items with each other.

He turned his head to look at Shen Yanzhi, only to see him pulling his schoolbag out and scooping everything from inside the desk onto the tabletop. Besides snacks, there were also some small notes and envelopes.

Gu Xun said dryly: “Truly breathtaking…”

Shen Yanzhi glanced at him out of the corner of his eye, then took those paper items—clearly things with writing on them—and shoved them into Gu Xun’s hands.

Gu Xun was startled: “What are you doing!”

Shen Yanzhi didn’t even look up: “Hold these for me for a moment.”

Gu Xun: “Oh…”

So Gu Xun stood there helping him hold them. As the pile in his hands grew larger and larger, he could barely grip them all.

Gu Xun stared wide-eyed: “This many!”

Shen Yanzhi shoved the last one into his hand and said: “That’s all.”

After watching Shen Yanzhi stuff his schoolbag back into the desk, Gu Xun asked hesitantly: “What should we do with these?”

Shen Yanzhi said: “Wait for me a moment.”

Gu Xun stood there holding those things and waited for nearly five minutes. For some unknown reason, he didn’t put them down; he stayed in the exact posture he was in when Shen Yanzhi left, waiting foolishly.

When Shen Yanzhi returned, he was holding a paper shredder.

Gu Xun looked at him with round eyes, his expression clearly asking a question. Shen Yanzhi replied directly: “Borrowed it from the teachers’ office.”

Gu Xun finally managed to squeeze out a sentence: “…Actually, tearing them by hand would have been fine, right?”

Shen Yanzhi glanced at him but said nothing.

Then, the whole class spectated the scene of the “Male God” shredding love letters. He was merciless; every shred was precise.

Wang Xiaosong whispered to Gu Xun: “Do you think there are any girls from our class in there? Seeing them shredded like this, won’t their hearts be shredded too…”

Gu Xun was watching with great interest, looking as if he wanted to rush up and shred the love letters for Shen Yanzhi. His reply was completely absent-minded: “How should I know if you ask me? Anyway, none of them are mine.”

Wang Xiaosong: “…”

Wang Xiaosong looked at Gu Xun as if he were looking at a block of wood. He felt that this buddy of his was probably never going to catch on.

It wasn’t until Shen Yanzhi opened the waste bin of the shredder that Gu Xun realized why he had gone all the way to the teachers’ office to borrow a shredder.

He was afraid that if he didn’t shred them thoroughly enough, people would find out who wrote the letters…

Gu Xun’s gaze couldn’t help but drift to Shen Yanzhi’s face. Although his expression was very cold, and he even seemed a bit annoyed by those girls’ love letters, Gu Xun could just feel that this person was actually very gentle…

Gu Xun watched him, feeling a bit dazed. After finishing the shredding, Shen Yanzhi turned his head and met his gaze.

Gu Xun smiled at him and said: “Hi, handsome!”

Shen Yanzhi reached out as he passed by and ruffled Gu Xun’s hair: “Help me collect the homework.”

At this point, class officers hadn’t been formally elected yet, so most subject teachers would just designate a student or ask the students in the first row of each group to collect them.

Because Shen Yanzhi was so famous, most of the subject teachers had pointed him out.

Gu Xun gave an affirmative shout and then hollered at the top of his lungs: “Collecting homework! Everyone get ready! Those who aren’t ready, hurry up and copy!”

Shen Yanzhi had already started walking away, but hearing that holler, he stepped back and covered Gu Xun’s mouth: “What are you shouting for!”

Gu Xun made a couple of “wu wu” noises, indicating that since his mouth was covered, he couldn’t speak.

Once Shen Yanzhi let go, Gu Xun said: “Never been an official… not practiced…”

Before leaving, Shen Yanzhi tapped Gu Xun’s forehead lightly: “Don’t shout nonsense.”

Gu Xun raised his hand to touch the spot where Shen Yanzhi had tapped him and couldn’t help but squint his eyes and smile.

A buddy nearby asked Gu Xun: “Gu Xun, are you going to collect the homework or not?”

Gu Xun laughed loudly: “Collecting, collecting! Comrades, hand over your homework!”

By the time Shen Yanzhi returned from returning the shredder, Gu Xun had already collected several messy stacks of homework and was currently bowing his head to count if anyone was missing.

Shen Yanzhi came over to count with him. Once everything was accounted for, he had Gu Xun help him carry them to the office.

As soon as they entered the office, a teacher from another class said to Min Yibo: “Teacher Min, these kids in your Class One are really spirited and good-looking.”

Min Yibo feigned modesty: “Haha, they’re just average.”

Gu Xun almost lost his composure and laughed along; their “King Min” was quite an interesting character.

Seeing that Gu Xun was about to lose it, Shen Yanzhi quickly dragged him out of the office.

Gu Xun held it in until they were some distance from the office before leaning on Shen Yanzhi’s shoulder and laughing.

Shen Yanzhi was quite helpless against his laughter: “What’s so funny about that?”

Gu Xun said triumphantly: “They praised me along with you. Shouldn’t I be happy?”

The next day was Friday. At the end of school, Gu Xun asked Shen Yanzhi if he had any plans for the weekend.

Shen Yanzhi shook his head: “No, why?”

Gu Xun acted a bit shy: “Well… my parents said we’re going to pick out a bed for the two of us tomorrow. Let’s go together?”

Shen Yanzhi was a bit surprised: “What?”

Wang Xiaosong also let out a strange cry: “What? Picking out a bed for you two?”

Gu Xun was startled by him: “Are you trying to call back a soul or something!”

Wang Xiaosong: “…No, why are your parents picking out a bed for the two of you?”

Gu Xun looked at Shen Yanzhi before answering: “My parents want Ah Yan to stay at my house. The bed in my room is too small, so they plan to change it for one of those bunk beds.”

Wang Xiaosong was even more puzzled: “Huh? Why does he need to stay at your house?”

Gu Xun instantly remembered that Wang Xiaosong didn’t know about Shen Yanzhi’s parents. Almost in the next second, he made up a lie: “Ah Yan’s parents are too busy, they’re always away. Isn’t he a relative of mine? My mom wanted him to live with me so we can look after each other…”

As he spoke, he reflexively grabbed Shen Yanzhi’s arm, gripping it quite tightly, as if trying to draw some strength.

Shen Yanzhi turned to look at him but didn’t say a word.

Wang Xiaosong didn’t notice anything unusual and simply said: “I see.”

His own dad worked on engineering projects and was often not at home, so he didn’t think there was any problem with this.

Shen Yanzhi withdrew his gaze from Gu Xun and gave a quiet “Mhm.”

Gu Xun quickly found a random topic to move past the subject. While talking, he couldn’t help but peek at Shen Yanzhi’s expression. After finding that he showed no signs of anything unusual, he gradually felt at ease.

Saturday morning, Gu Xun’s parents took the two boys to the furniture mall.

Gu Xun was scurrying around like a monkey, calling Shen Yanzhi over to look at things everywhere. Shen Lan said that even a kidnapper wouldn’t be interested in such a fellow.

Gu Jingyuan laughed from the side: “If he really got kidnapped, I’ll see who feels the most heartache.”

Shen Lan glared at him: “It certainly wouldn’t be me!”

Gu Jingyuan was exceptionally good-tempered: “Yes, yes, yes, it’s me, it’s me.”

Over there, Gu Xun had already found a shop displaying bunk beds and was currently looking at them.

Gu Xun: “Is this a bit small?”

Shen Yanzhi nodded: “Mhm, won’t fit.”

The shopkeeper saw them looking at the bunk beds and pointed them toward another model: “Young men, look at that one. Both of you can sleep in that one. If you’re not satisfied, I have a catalog here you can choose from.”

Gu Xun took one look and curled his lip: “Doesn’t look good.”

Shen Yanzhi took the catalog from the shopkeeper and flipped through it, then looked at the bed pointed out earlier and said: “It’s quite good.”

Gu Xun had been craning his neck to look at the catalog in his hand, and he was stunned to hear him say that: “How is it good?”

The difference between the two models was obvious!

Shen Yanzhi said calmly: “It’s cheap.”

Gu Xun almost knelt down at this reason: “Don’t be like that…”

Shen Yanzhi asked him: “Would your parents let me pay for this bed?”

Gu Xun was choked; they definitely would not!

Shen Yanzhi said: “So the cheap one is better.”

Gu Xun was very reluctant, but he didn’t have any money of his own to buy a big-ticket item. Before leaving the house, he had counted all his money and could only scrape together about three to five hundred yuan at most.

So Gu Xun could only say: “Fine… if you say it’s good, then it’s good…”

Shen Yanzhi laughed: “I’m saving you money, and you’re still not happy?”

Gu Xun curled his lip; he really wasn’t very happy.

When Shen Lan came over, she heard the two boys say they had already made a choice and was a bit surprised: “So fast? Why not look around more?”

Gu Xun naturally wanted to look around more. After hearing his mother ask that, he immediately turned to look at Shen Yanzhi.

Shen Yanzhi thought about it and agreed to Shen Lan’s suggestion to look a bit more.

After another round of browsing, Shen Yanzhi chose an even cheaper one.

Gu Xun: “…”

Gu Xun thought to himself: Handsome, you really know how to live frugally. Every choice gets cheaper!

This time Shen Lan wasn’t satisfied with the bed either: “Why do I feel the one we looked at earlier was better? Xiao Shen, do you really like this one?”

Shen Yanzhi gave a slight smile and said without any guilt: “Yes, I like it.”

Shen Lan was, after all, an adult who had experienced the ways of the world. After this round of browsing, she could probably guess what Shen Yanzhi was thinking, and hearing him say this, she didn’t insist further.

After briskly paying the money and making an appointment for home delivery, the Gu couple took the two children to eat first.

Gu Xun ate until his mouth was oily, thinking that they would go back after eating. However, Shen Lan’s interest in shopping had been piqued, and she took them to the department store as well.

Gu Xun finally witnessed the intensity of his mother’s shopping. From four-piece bedding sets to change-of-clothes, slippers, and toothbrushes—she bought everything she could think of.

On the way back, not only were Gu Jingyuan’s hands full, but even Gu Xun and Shen Yanzhi didn’t have empty hands.

Gu Xun secretly whispered in Shen Yanzhi’s ear: “You might as well have picked a more expensive bed. The bed gets delivered to the door!”

Shen Yanzhi also whispered back: “I didn’t think of this either…”

They exchanged a look, mutually agreeing that it would be best not to come out shopping with Shen Lan in the future.

After they got home, a phone call from the furniture store followed closely, and before long, they came over to deliver and install the bed.

Seeing this situation, Shen Lan immediately turned on the washing machine, threw in all the newly bought bedding sets to wash, and even extravagantly turned on the drying function in the middle of summer. She then spoke directly to Shen Yanzhi: “Xiao Shen, Auntie has everything ready. You’ll sleep together with Xunxun tonight!”