The Pitiful Guy I Saved Is a Possessive Big Shot - Chapter 33

Shi Qingning didn’t know if his actions would actually work.

He had spent a long time in his room looking through information, including causes, symptoms, and treatments. He even struggled through a database of research papers filled with difficult technical terms.

Skin hunger is often caused by a lack of proper care during childhood. Because of this, patients crave hugs and affection much more than average people.

However, this doesn’t mean they will actively ask for it. In fact, people with skin hunger might be more withdrawn and lonely than others. They long for hugs, yet they isolate themselves. The number of people they are willing to accept or be close to is often much smaller than for a normal person.

Shi Qingning didn’t know if Bai Yexi wanted a hug from him.

But perhaps his mind was clouded by the fresh scent of mint. He completely forgot his plan to take things slow. Shi Qingning simply reached out and hugged him back.

He wanted to comfort Bai Yexi. Even if it only helped a little, it would be worth it.

The boy in his arms stiffened slightly, seemingly surprised by the sudden movement.

Shi Qingning knew he was being impulsive. Seeing that the other didn’t speak, he loosened his grip slightly and suggested:

“Or, maybe we should get a cat?”

Getting a pet is another way to reduce loneliness.

“It might feel better if you can hug a cat often…”

As soon as Shi Qingning loosened his hands, he was pulled into a tight circle and pressed firmly into a chest. This time, it was Shi Qingning’s turn to be stunned.

His nose was filled with a cold, fresh scent. Sometimes Shi Qingning felt dazed, unable to tell if he liked mint because he liked Bai Yexi, or if he liked Bai Yexi because of the minty smell.

Bai Yexi still didn’t speak. But Shi Qingning was in his arms, and the heartbeat against his ear was as clear as a drum, drowning out the rain outside.

Because they were so close, Shi Qingning felt like he could hear a silent vibration coming through the other’s bones. It carried the rush of blood, the movement of muscle, and the tight thumping of a heart.

Shi Qingning was confused. He didn’t understand why he could sense so much from a simple hug.

Feeling a bit lost, he raised his hand and gently stroked Bai Yexi’s back, like he was comforting a cat. Shi Qingning was a bit clumsy at this, since he had never actually raised a cat.

But perhaps he had a natural talent. With just a little movement, he could easily soothe Bai Yexi.

He felt a light touch on the top of his head. The boy holding him tilted his head and brushed against his soft hair. Because he was wearing a mask, he could move close quite boldly—pretending it wasn’t a kiss.

Bai Yexi finally spoke.

“Thank you. I feel much better.”

Shi Qingning’s eyes lit up with encouragement. “Then I’ll hug you more every day from now on!”

Bai Yexi gave a very low reply.

“Mhm.”

He was an expert at calculations—he could track calories in food exactly—but there were some things even he couldn’t control. Faced with a huge prize, even if it might be a dream, who wouldn’t let themselves sink into it?

Shi Qingning was still trying to negotiate: “Take your medicine on time to get rid of your cold first. Then, can we go check your specific condition in a few days?”

He was afraid Bai Yexi would resist. “It’s not complicated. Just to see if there’s anything we need to avoid…”

“Okay,” Bai Yexi said softly.

Shi Qingning blinked at him, his eyes shimmering with light. He smiled and gave Bai Yexi another hug.

A happy Shi Qingning didn’t complain about the bitterness of his medicine. At noon, as the rain ended, the two of them went to their afternoon classes together.

The atmosphere among the students was still a bit lazy. No one had quite recovered from that powerful thunderstorm yet. During the break, many students were chatting.

“That thunder was too loud. I heard trees at the central plaza were split right open. So scary.”

“Yeah, it felt like some powerful master was passing a heavenly trial.”

“I finally have a real sense of what ‘lightning trials’ in novels are like. If a person actually got hit, wouldn’t they turn to ash instantly?”

“Oh right, wasn’t there a lightning photo that went viral last night? Did you guys see it?”

The thunderstorm yesterday was so strong that the topic “Haicheng Lightning” went straight to the trending searches. However, high schoolers couldn’t always follow the news, and many students lived on campus and rarely got to touch their phones.

“What photo?” Fang Anran was also curious. “Was it taken on the spot?”

As soon as she asked, a tall boy nearby clicked his tongue. “Want to see?”

That boy wasn’t from Class 3. He had followed a few others to find a friend. He pulled a phone out of his pocket and quickly found a photo.

“Here.”

The circle of people was startled—startled by the magnificent photo on the screen, and also by the boy’s actions.

“Wang Zhe, are you crazy? Aren’t you afraid of Director Gao coming to catch you?”

“What’s there to be afraid of?” the boy said. “No one can catch me with how well I hide my phone.” He raised an eyebrow at Fang Anran. “Is it pretty, Fang?”

Fang Anran looked at the photo but didn’t know what to say. “Just put your phone away quickly.”

Wang Zhe finally put the phone away.

The photo was indeed very shocking. The vast night sky looked like it had been torn apart by spiderwebs of light. The entire sky was reflected in a magnificent deep purple.

“It looks like a sci-fi movie,” someone said. “I feel like you could travel through time the next second.”

“Maybe that’s the switch for time travel?”

The “genuine” time traveler, Shi Qingning, listened silently and didn’t speak.

“Maybe. It happens a lot in movies. You get hit by lightning and travel to another time,” Fang Anran added.

“Can this be explained by physics too? Like, lightning twists time and space, creating a wormhole, which leads to time travel.”

Mentioning physics, she looked at Shi Qingning.

Hearing this, Shi Qingning shook his head.

“Lightning is caused by free charges in the air. No matter how strong the lightning is, it’s an electromagnetic reaction, plus some chemical reactions. Theoretically, it cannot twist time and space.”

Someone nearby made a “tsk” sound.

Shi Qingning didn’t notice and continued, “In the universe, time and space are inseparable. What actually causes changes in spacetime is gravity…”

Before he could finish, he was rudely interrupted.

“Oh, so you’re the only one who knows everything?”

The boy who had pulled out the phone kicked the table next to him, his brow raised.

“Who are you, a big scientist?”

Fang Anran frowned. “Wang Zhe, how can you talk like that?”

A few boys nearby knew Wang Zhe was trying to pursue Fang Anran and tried to advise him, but Wang Zhe pushed them away.

“What? He can say it, but I can’t?”

Fang Anran was a young girl with thin skin. Having an argument in front of everyone made her face turn red, yet Wang Zhe refused to stop.

“What ‘gravity’ nonsense,” Wang Zhe sneered. “Universal gravitation? Well, I say it’s the gravity of the lightning that did it. Is that okay?”

He was shaking his leg and rocking the table while he spoke. His attitude was very annoying.

Several girls frowned, and the class president walked over to kick them out. But before they could, someone else spoke.

“Then you are even greater than Einstein.”

A sleepy, slightly raspy voice—sounding irritated from being woken up—suddenly cut in.

It was Wei Yingkai.

Wang Zhe had been kicking the table right next to the door where Wei Yingkai was sleeping. He had woken the “Sleep God” up.

“The four fundamental forces of the universe: strong, weak, electromagnetic, and gravitational.”

Wei Yingkai’s voice was lazy and deep.

“Einstein couldn’t even unify these four forces into one theory. You managed to do two in one sentence. You’re amazing. Not just amazing, you’re louder than a bullfrog.”

A few students burst out laughing.

Someone slapped their leg. “Kai-God is the best!”

Wang Zhe was stunned. He didn’t even understand the words; he only heard “Einstein.” But even if he was slow, he knew from everyone’s laughter that Wei Yingkai wasn’t saying anything nice.

“You…”

Before he could finish, another boy from a different class who had come with him said:

“Oh, isn’t this the Sleep God?”

“How rare. You’re awake during the day?”

The boy spoke in a sarcastic tone.

“Don’t you usually do your work at night?”

Wei Yingkai picked at his ear. “Someone was croaking so loudly, I couldn’t help but wake up.”

“Is there actually anyone who can disturb you? You’re so ‘focused’ when you’re doing it.”

Song Qianqian, who had just walked over, couldn’t take it anymore. “Hey, Liu Xin, just because he didn’t let you copy his answers during the last exam, are you ever going to stop?”

Because of Wei Yingkai’s personality and the fact that he slept all day, not many people in class were close to him. Aside from the physics rep, only Song Qianqian—who lived in the same neighborhood—had spoken to him much.

Liu Xin wouldn’t let it go. “What about me? During the winter break trip, I just happened to see Wei Yingkai playing by himself on his bed in the middle of the night. He even got paper scraps all over the bed.”

“Are you sick?” Song Qianqian said. “Those were paper scraps. He was clearly solving problems!”

Liu Xin sneered. “Who tears up paper to solve problems? Besides, who would believe he sleeps all day just to solve problems at night?”

“People who know, know. Scraps of paper or balls of paper, it’s all the same.”

Liu Xin winked at Wei Yingkai.

“Look at our Sleep God. You have good stamina, huh?”

Wei Yingkai looked at him and smiled. “It’s good enough to beat you up.”

Liu Xin raised his voice immediately. “Come on then!”

Just as they were about to start a fight, another voice spoke up.

“Tearing up paper is for celebration, right?”

Everyone turned to see Shi Qingning looking at Wei Yingkai thoughtfully.

“After solving a major problem, tearing up paper and throwing it into the air is an old tradition. When Fermi was at the site of the first atomic bomb test, he used the distance paper scraps traveled to mentally calculate the blast’s yield.”

After speaking, he moved his gaze to Liu Xin with a surprised expression.

“What else did you think it was for? Oh, you haven’t even heard such a classic story?”

The boy’s tone was calm and sincere, which made it sound even more mocking.

“Whether I’ve heard it is none of your business!” Liu Xin shouted in anger. “You think you know everything? Stop your damn science lectures!”

The boy smiled slightly. “I’m not doing it for science.”

Even though it wasn’t the right time, many people were dazed by his smile.

Shi Qingning tilted his chin and gestured behind Liu Xin and his group.

“I was just waiting for someone.”

Liu Xin and the others turned around instinctively and ran right into the cold, expressionless face of the grade director.

“Oh crap…!”

Director Gao was so angry he laughed.

“Fine. Wandering into other classrooms and swearing. Out! Go see your homeroom teacher! Five points off for everyone. Liu Xin, you get ten! One more and you’re suspended!”

These boys were all from Class 5. Their teacher was extremely strict. Anyone who lost even one point had to stand at the back of the classroom for three full days. Five points meant standing for at least half a month.

Their faces turned pale. Including Wang Zhe, they were all led away by the director.

After the drama, the students of Class 3 were ordered to return to their seats and dispersed.

However, Shi Qingning didn’t leave. He sat in the empty seat next to Wei Yingkai. If Wei Yingkai had actually fought them, he would have been taken away too.

“You know how to fight?” Shi Qingning asked curiously. “Don’t your legs hurt?”

After saying that, he paused.

Wait?

Wei Yingkai was even more confused. He actually opened his eyes fully to look at him, no longer half-asleep.

“What leg pain?”

Shi Qingning looked at his legs. “Aren’t you growing too fast? Growing pains?”

Even when sleeping in class, Wei Yingkai’s calves would occasionally twitch from cramps.

Wei Yingkai didn’t speak, but he looked suspicious.

Shi Qingning felt a strange sense of familiarity with him, as if he had personally seen him complain about calcium deficiency during puberty causing leg cramps. It was as if he was long used to this person’s terrible schedule and how he forgot time when researching things.

But the novel’s plot never mentioned anyone named Wei Yingkai.

Shi Qingning didn’t think too much about it. He had another question he was interested in.

“The ‘unification of the four forces’ you mentioned earlier—that’s the Grand Unified Theory, right?”

Wei Yingkai looked at him with surprise, as if thinking: A mortal actually understood me.

Shi Qingning said, “So what I said about lightning not allowing time travel wasn’t accurate. If electromagnetism and gravity can be unified in the same theory, they are essentially the same thing.”

“Gravity can warp spacetime and create wormholes, so time travel would be possible.”

“The Einstein-Rosen bridge, right?” Wei Yingkai said. “That’s too far off. So many people have thought about wormholes, but we haven’t even detected gravitational waves yet.”

Shi Qingning instinctively wanted to say: Haven’t gravitational waves already been detected?

Before the words left his mouth, he suddenly realized. No, his current body was only sixteen. In this year, gravitational waves had not yet been received by humans.

“Even if we detect gravitational waves, humans are a long way from mastering gravity,” Wei Yingkai said lazily. “Even if we could, it would be at the atomic level—maybe sending an atom. That’s a million miles away from the ‘real person’ time travel they were talking about.”

Shi Qingning thought: A real person is sitting right in front of you. He was a living example of time travel.

“Stop dreaming about time travel and do your physics problems,” Wei Yingkai pushed his paper. “So many bald old scientists haven’t figured it out yet.”

Shi Qingning replied almost subconsciously, “Maybe they are just waiting.”

He said, “The new gods who take the world by storm are often unknown young people.”

Wei Yingkai paused, looked up, and gave him a strange look.

“Damn,” he whispered. “This is the first time I’ve met someone more arrogant than me.”

“Kai-God,” Shi Qingning called him, smiling. “Is the answer to the last question on the advanced worksheet the square root of three?”

“Huh? Isn’t it the square root of two?”

…

Not far away, Song Qianqian watched the two of them at the back of the classroom, mouth wide open.

“Is Xiao Shi a literal god? He can even chat with Kai-God?”

“This is the first time I’ve seen Kai-God stay awake this long after class.”

Song Qianqian looked over at Bai Yexi, who was sitting at the other end of the back row.

“Brother Bai too. The two big bosses in our class, it seems like only Xiao Shi can talk to them.”

Lin Xiao was too introverted to say anything, and Zheng Kun was too annoying. So, Song Qianqian habitually went to talk to Fang Anran and the others.

Fang Anran had been comforted by her friends and felt better. Hearing Song Qianqian’s words, she also looked at Bai Yexi.

She hesitated and asked, “Do you feel like… Brother Bai seems a bit unhappy?”

“Huh?” Song Qianqian was confused. He looked again. “Really?”

Doesn’t he always have no expression?

Though, when Wang Zhe was talking nonsense earlier, Bai Yexi—who was standing nearby—definitely looked cold. Song Qianqian felt that a big “DANGER” sign was hanging over Wang Zhe’s head.

Luckily, they didn’t fight. Otherwise, Director Gao would have come, and there would be so much trouble. Now that Bai Yexi was back in his seat, Song Qianqian didn’t notice anything wrong.

Fang Anran paused. She wasn’t sure either. It was just that she had a cat at home. Whenever she came home after petting a cat outside, her own cat would look at her… exactly like Bai Yexi was looking at the other side of the room right now.

The bell rang, and everyone returned to their seats.

After school, Shi Qingning went home with Bai Yexi and noticed he seemed a bit gloomy.

“Is your cold making you feel bad?” he asked, worried.

Bai Yexi shook his head. “I’m fine.”

When talking to outsiders, Bai Yexi usually used body language and wouldn’t say a word more than necessary. But to Shi Qingning, he never missed a response.

The boy looked okay physically; he had no symptoms after taking medicine at noon, and his temperature was normal.

If it’s not a cold, maybe it’s the skin hunger, Shi Qingning thought.

Maybe next time they changed seats, he should talk to the teacher and ask for them to be deskmates. That way, it would be easier to take care of “Mint.”

Before the seat change, the day arrived for Bai Yexi’s medical check-up. Since the parents were busy, Shi Qingning went directly to the hospital with him.

They went to the main hospital. Shi Qingning led the way through registration, elevators, and floors with ease. He comforted him, saying, “Don’t be nervous. I’m very familiar with this place.”

Bai Yexi looked at him, his lips pressed thin.

He’s familiar because of how many times he had to come here for his own illness?

Shi Qingning didn’t know what he was thinking. He had an appointment ready, and Bai Yexi was checked quickly. The checkup was divided into psychological and physical parts. The total time was shorter than Shi Qingning expected.

The results weren’t ready at the same time, so they went to pick up different reports separately. Shi Qingning was very nervous before hearing the results.

“There are some signs of stress, but no substantial illness. Just make sure to rest more.”

The doctor said there were no big problems. “He might be mentally tense. Just be careful to avoid developing neurological spasms.”

But Shi Qingning was worried. Hearing “neurological spasms” immediately reminded him of the scene in the novel where Bai Yexi’s hand shook after his blood was drawn. He asked many more questions and carefully noted the doctor’s advice before leaving.

When they met up, Bai Yexi also said his report showed nothing was wrong.

Shi Qingning still couldn’t relax and repeated everything the doctor said very carefully. Besides reducing stress and resting, there was the suggestion to hug more.

“Hugging can promote the secretion of oxytocin. It’s a hormone that increases happiness.”

“Hugging can also inhibit cortisol, the stress hormone. It helps people relax.”

The boy spoke with such logic and a serious expression that it made him seem… incredibly cute.

“The doctor said daily needs might not show up in medical data. So even if the results are normal, you can’t ignore it. Hugging more is always good for you… mmm.”

Shi Qingning blinked. Before he could finish his sentence, he was hugged by the person who was strictly “following doctor’s orders.”

Bai Yexi was taller than him. When he was hugged, his head rested right against the other’s neck. It wasn’t just warm. It felt very right.

Shi Qingning’s ears turned slightly red. During the hug on that rainy day, he had heard Bai Yexi’s heartbeat. This time, he heard his own breathing.

It seemed hugging really did have a good effect.

As Shi Qingning thought about it, a sudden flash of inspiration hit him. It was like a path had suddenly opened in his mind.

Yes—physical contact.

His memory of the novel’s plot had been fragmented, only coming back in pieces. Although he had pieced together the main storyline, he hadn’t figured out what exactly triggered these memories.

At this moment, being held in the boy’s arms, Shi Qingning suddenly realized:

The first time his memory was awakened was meeting Bai Yexi at the bar.

The second time he remembered Qin Zhishen was because he heard Bai Yexi’s English accent.

The third time he remembered the original death was when he held Bai Yexi during the thunderstorm and fell asleep.

Each memory came because of progress in his relationship with Bai Yexi.

Shi Qingning couldn’t help but get excited. If they went to the next step, would he remember even more detail? He naturally wanted to master the plot details to ensure everything went perfectly.

However, alongside the excitement, he felt a bit lost.

Meeting, hearing the accent, hugging. These actions were obvious steps forward.

Then what was next?

What is the next step after a hug?