The Delinquent Wants to Be His Rival School Grass's Guardian - Chapter 10

Chapter 10: Does He Live Alone? — “Yan Jun, why are you siding with an outsider…”

After sending Xiao Hui away, Yan Jun stood up exhausted and put the nail clippers back. Grandma looked at him with a smile, pointing at the half-empty counter, bragging: “Xiao Jun, look! Xiao Shu helped me sell so many things this afternoon!”

Only then did Yan Jun notice the iron box was stuffed full of paper bills: “They sold that fast!”

It looked like he’d need to restock in a few days.

He turned around, wanting to ask Qin Yize how he managed to sell the goods, but the guy was gone. Yan Jun walked suspiciously to the foot of the stairs and called upward: “Xiao Shu?”

A rustling sound came from the attic, as if someone had burrowed into the bed.

Not understanding why, he tugged at his sweat-soaked athletic shirt and turned to go shower.

Summer was too hot; Yan Jun was used to taking cold showers, which also saved on gas bills. He took a refreshing cold shower, scrubbing away the sweat and grime with lemon-scented soap until his skin could finally breathe. But when he turned to grab his bath towel, he realized he had forgotten to bring a change of clothes in.

Opening the bathroom door just a crack, Yan Jun shouted toward the attic: “Xiao Shu, bring me a set of clothes and underwear!”

There was no movement upstairs.

“Xiao Shu!” Yan Jun suspected he had fallen asleep. “Don’t sleep yet, dinner’s in a bit!”

Only then did a rustling sound start upstairs. After some dawdling, “thump-thump” footsteps approached the stairs.

Waiting irritably inside the door for his clothes, the footsteps stopped gently about two meters from the door. Yan Jun reached his hand out through the gap and shook it, but nothing was handed over for a long time. He couldn’t help but get annoyed, snapping: “Yan Su, what are you doing?!”

“Why did you give my beef pie to Xiao Hui?” the fake kid questioned him with righteous indignation.

Yan Jun was stunned into silence for a second: “Then why did you make him cry in the first place?”

“He’s the one who tried to steal my chair first!” Qin Yize was very logical. “He even said he was here earlier than me and that he’d never seen me before!”

…Well, the kid wasn’t wrong. Standing naked in the bathroom, Yan Jun felt a silent headache coming on: “Just let him talk, it’s not like it’ll cost you a limb.”

This made Qin Yize even more aggrieved: “Exactly who is your brother! Yan Jun, why are you siding with an outsider!”

Hey, this brat! Yan Jun’s eyebrows shot up in anger: “What did you just call me?! Do you want a beating?! …Hurry up and give me the clothes!”

The next second, the door was pushed open forcefully by Qin Yize, sending a gust of wind through the room. Yan Jun let out a “Holy crap” and scrambled to cover his private parts. The guy stood outside the door fuming, his peach-blossom eyes glancing over Yan Jun’s leanly muscled upper body. He let out a “Hmph,” threw the clothes inside, turned, and left.

…Truly, the world had turned upside down!

…

When dinner was ready a while later, the guy was acting all huffy. He was extremely picky with his food, picking out all the chili peppers and leaving nothing but carrots at the bottom of his bowl.

Yan Jun let out a light snort in his mind, noticing out of the corner of his eye that Qin Yize was now picking out the celery. Finally, Yan Jun couldn’t take it anymore. He rapped his chopsticks loudly against the edge of the other’s bowl and scolded: “No picking! If you keep being picky, I’m giving that last pie to Xiao Hui too!”

Qin Yize tucked his chin, pouting aggrievedly, and was forced to eat the carrots and celery bit by bit.

At 8:30 PM, Yan Jun prepared the fillings for the next morning in the kitchen, covering them with plastic wrap and putting them in the fridge. On the shelf sat a small plate with a single, lonely beef pie clearly not enough for two high school boys as a midnight snack.

Staring at it conflictedly, Yan Jun thought: This brat has quite a temper… but I shouldn’t let it interfere with his recovery. After hesitating for a while, he still set a pan on the stove and fried a bowl of egg-fried rice for him.

“Here!” Five minutes later, the fragrant, steaming egg-fried rice was placed on the desk. The brat curled up in the corner of the bed finally looked up, his expression shifting from resistance to sparkling: “For me?”

“Who else?!” Yan Jun grabbed the pie and munched on it forcefully, one hand propped on his knee, his eyes looking disdainful. Qin Yize was finally happy; he crawled to the edge of the bed and picked up the bowl, inhaling the scent hungrily before beaming: “I knew Brother was the best!”

Yan Jun rolled his eyes and gave a soft “Hmph.”

Fed and satisfied, Qin Yize leaned against the headboard and pulled out the phone, preparing to play a couple of ranked matches. Yuan Siqi saw him come online and was very surprised: “Boss, you finally showed up! Do you want to go to the internet cafe tomorrow? Let’s play together!”

Yan Jun glanced at the fake kid beside him, who was currently studying Tetris on his old handheld console. After hesitating for a few seconds, he rejected his lackey’s invitation: “Not going. Our summer training has started. I’m exhausted after practice; I just want to rest.”

“Then I’ll come to school to find you!”

“…Suit yourself.”

Suddenly, his left arm was nudged. Qin Yize tossed aside the handheld game, stretched his ten fingers out in front of Yan Jun, and stared straight at him: “Brother, my nails seem a bit dirty too.”

“Hmm?” Yan Jun looked down with a stern face, only to see that at the ends of the slender fingers, the white nails were perfectly clean and there wasn’t a speck of dirt.

He looked sideways with disdain, glaring at Qin Yize crossly: “Where is it dirty? Tell me exactly where it’s dirty.”

The fake kid’s eyes rolled around once, his ten fingers still held out stubbornly: “They aren’t dirty, but they’re a bit long.”

“…Cut them yourself!” Fumbling the nail clippers off the desk and tossing them into the other’s lap, Yan Jun rolled over, too lazy to argue with him.

The fake kid just whimpered and hummed behind him, clutching the clippers and pursing his lips as he struggled. Suddenly, he let out a sharp “Ah,” scaring Yan Jun half to death: “What’s wrong? Did you cut your skin?!”

Qin Yize pouted piteously, holding his bleeding index finger out to him: “It’s so hard to cut!”

“You… are actually stupid to this extent!” Yan Jun was furious. He grabbed the hand, wrapped the index finger in a tissue first to stop the bleeding, and then applied a band-aid.

The thumb had already been cut into a jagged mess by him, but the other eight fingers were untouched. Yan Jun had no choice but to take the clippers and resign himself to cutting the fake kid’s nails: “I thought it was just your brain that regressed; I didn’t expect your coordination to regress too! Why don’t you just turn back into a baby? Do I have to feed you your meals too?”

Qin Yize kept his mouth shut, secretly smiling to himself as he rested his chin on his brother’s shoulder, his heart suddenly filled with a sense of superiority.

…

The next morning, despite having an injured hand and clearly being unable to help knead the dough, this guy insisted on getting up. He huddled next to Yan Jun, smiling as he made a request: “Brother, I don’t want beef pies today. Can you make me two leek and egg pancakes instead?”

“Why, tired of the beef?” Yan Jun expertly rolled the dough and cut the portions.

“I want to eat something different~”

He fried a few leek and egg pancakes for him. When it was time to go grocery shopping, the guy insisted on following, climbing onto the back seat of Yan Jun’s bike of his own accord: “I’m going too! To help Brother carry the groceries.”

Yan Jun wanted to strictly refuse, but then he remembered his stock of ingredients was depleted; having an extra laborer meant he could buy more food. With a stern face, he cautioned, “Sit steady,” and kicked the pedal. The bike immediately cut through the cool morning air and rode into the quiet twilight.

It was the first time Qin Yize had been out so early, and he looked around with novelty. He tucked his long legs onto the back fork of the bike, his hands tightly clutching the hem of Yan Jun’s T-shirt, and said happily: “How is it so quiet!”

Yan Jun’s voice, with a hint of a smile, drifted back through the wind: “Everyone is still sleeping. It would be spooky if it wasn’t quiet.”

Qin Yize suddenly felt very satisfied, comfortably hugging Yan Jun’s waist: “It’s great. Only we are awake; the whole street belongs to us right now!”

Under the night sky, the old bicycle carried the two teenagers, rattling as it bumped along the stone path. Yan Jun couldn’t help but curse: “Fuck, with you on here, this bike is about to fall apart!”

Qin Yize giggled, pressing half his face against Yan Jun’s back: “Then I’ll sell more stuff and try to help Brother buy a new bike!”

“I’ve noticed you’re quite a smooth talker…”

“I’m not smooth-talking, these are my sincere words~”

A while later at the wet market, the stall owners were surprised to see him with a new face: “Yo! Who is this? He’s so handsome!”

“I’m his cousin!” Qin Yize replied with a smile. Yan Jun expressionlessly took various ingredients and piled them into his arms: “Beef, pork, hold them tight… watch out for your index finger!”

“Okay!” Qin Yize stuck his injured index finger up, not forgetting to say goodbye to the stall owner: “Uncle, we’re leaving now!”

“Alright, good! …This kid, his mouth is so sweet.”

After buying the ingredients for the bun fillings, they had to buy food for their daily meals. As usual, Yan Jun bought a lot of chili peppers, making Qin Yize look both attracted and terrified: “Brother, don’t buy them too spicy, just a little spice is enough…”

Oh? Yan Jun squinted at him and, unmoved, grabbed a large handful of red chilies.

Qin Yize pouted piteously.

Payment was made by scanning a QR code. With a “ding,” the vendor’s phone announced: “WeChat Pay received, twenty-five yuan.”

Qin Yize’s eyes widened, and he grabbed Yan Jun’s wrist, shaking it hard: “Brother, why doesn’t Grandma use this to collect money?”

“Grandma is old and muddled. She only knows how to take paper cash; she can’t handle this kind of thing.”

Pushing the bike with one hand and pulling him out of the market with the other, Yan Jun straddled the seat and gestured for him to get on. The two of them rattled along with a bike full of ingredients, heading back home along the stone path.

…

Qin Yize had been living at his house for a week now.

During this week, no one had called Qin Yize, and no one had come looking for him. Only someone named “Xingwu-Coach Yang” sent a message asking: I’m free tomorrow afternoon, are you coming to class?

Yan Jun didn’t dare respond.

Seeing him from a distance, Yuan Siqi waved happily: “Boss!”

Yan Jun walked over and tilted his chin toward Ren Yandong, who was practicing dunks, and asked: “Since when did you get so friendly with Ren Yandong?”

“On the day we got our report cards! Didn’t he come to play basketball with us? So I added him on WeChat.”

“…Oh.”

Taking the basketball, Yan Jun dribbled it absentmindedly. Noticing Lin He wasn’t there, he asked again: “You didn’t call Lin He?”

“I did. He said he was coming at first, but later said something came up and he couldn’t make it.”

As they were chatting, a set of footsteps approached from behind, and a hand patted Yan Jun’s shoulder: “You guys have training during summer vacation too? That’s brutal.”

Turning around, he saw Ren Yandong smiling and drenched in sweat, his handsome face looking bright. Yan Jun felt hot just looking at him and couldn’t help but walk with him to the shade of a tree to cool off: “What else? Zheng-ge is counting on us athletes to get into good schools so he can get a bigger bonus.”

“Is that so? Do your sports universities have the 985 and 211 distinctions?”

“Only Beijing Sport University and Shanghai University of Sport are 211s. The rest are colleges, at most having a ‘first-class discipline’ title.”

“So few!” Ren Yandong was slightly surprised. “The top athletes usually get recommended for admission (baosong), right? Like You Xinyao.”

“Me?” Ren Yandong spun the basketball on his fingertip. “I’m still a bit short, but You Xinyao was indeed recommended to the Top 1 school, K University.”

“I see.” Yan Jun pretended to be nonchalant. “Then what about Qin Yize? He probably got recommended too, right?”

“He didn’t.” Ren Yandong just thought they were chatting casually and didn’t suspect anything. “His dad always wanted to send him abroad for school, but he wasn’t very willing. They were still arguing about it before the finals.”

“…Is his dad abroad?”

“Yeah. Business expansion went out the year before last. Hasn’t been back for a long time. He lives alone in a big house; it’s actually quite convenient for friends to go over and hang out.”

I live alone… Yan Jun’s eyes lit up, and he continued to probe casually: “Big house? Where does he live? Is it very luxurious?”

“One of the most luxurious developments in our city, Xinghe Shuixiang (Galaxy Water Lane)! The building he lives in even overlooks the river. Top floor, amazing view! How could it not be expensive?”

Having successfully extracted the address, Yan Jun just gave an “Oh” and stopped talking. However, Ren Yandong remembered something and muttered to himself: “Speaking of which, it’s strange. He hasn’t contacted me for several days… maybe he went to find his dad?”

Yan Jun pretended not to hear, snatched the basketball, ran into the court, and steadily sank a three-pointer.