The Pitiful Guy I Saved Is a Possessive Big Shot - Chapter 34

Shi Qingning couldn’t think of what to do next. An action even more intimate than a hug… bathing together? Perhaps when they were completely honest with each other, he might see some special birthmark on Bai Yexi that would trigger more memories?

But that seemed very rude; he should respect the other’s privacy first. Shi Qingning’s thoughts wandered aimlessly. If he couldn’t watch him bathe, could washing his hair be a substitute? Shi Qingning was quite fond of Bai Yexi’s long hair; he had once accidentally seen him drying it. Under the wall-mounted dryer, the boy’s eyes were lowered in silence, his long hair billowing—it was as beautiful as a perfect painting.

In the end, Shi Qingning still couldn’t find a proper answer. In his subconscious, he felt that comforting “Mint” was the priority at this stage. Being able to make the other a little happier with a hug was already very rewarding. Of course, it would be even better if “Mint” could gain a bit more weight.

Since coming back from the hospital, Shi Qingning kept in mind the need to hug him more. In their daily interactions, the distance between them had noticeably decreased. This approach seemed to have immediate results; at least when Shi Qingning hugged him now, he could clearly feel that Bai Yexi no longer became stiff and tense as he did at first.

Occasionally, Shi Qingning would be pulled into the other’s arms. When he looked up, he would brush against those cool, smooth strands of long hair. He could instinctively lean in and find the most comfortable position instantly. The speed of this habit even surprised Shi Qingning himself, but he didn’t feel any sense of things moving too fast. It was as if he had been practiced at this a long time ago.

However, most of these actions happened in private when it was just the two of them. Back at school, because the monthly exam hadn’t happened yet, they hadn’t been able to change seats to sit together.

After school had been in session for a while, the discipline wasn’t as strict as it was at the beginning. The ambitious “New Semester Plans” students had made were quietly forgotten in the depths of their desks. The school convenience store’s business was booming, and the number of students running around between classes clearly increased.

No. 29 Middle School always prioritized studying, unlike No. 4 Middle School, which held grand school anniversaries and balls from time to time. The students here had little entertainment; when they were free, they just visited the snack shop and gathered to gossip. Occasionally, they would go together to “scout” for handsome guys.

Class 3 of the freshman year was just to the right after entering the freshman teaching building. The floor was convenient, and the location was prominent. People often passed by in the hallway, especially after the two new students arrived this semester; even more people lingered outside the door, and students in uniforms of other colors often ran over.

The school uniforms of No. 29 Middle School changed their primary color every year, so you could tell a student’s grade just by looking at their jacket. However, since the Chen Zibing incident, at Jie Chuxia’s suggestion to the grade dean, the security guard at the freshman building had temporarily stopped letting students from other grades in unless they had a teacher’s note.

So, on this day, a few sophomore girls had specifically borrowed freshman jackets to sneak in.

“Is it easy to see a handsome guy?” After finally dodging the guard’s gaze, the girl in the middle patted her chest and sighed. “If he’s not in the classroom, I’ll perform a heart attack right here.”

The girl with the ponytail said, “I heard both new students in their class are good-looking. Seeing even one this time is worth it.”

They walked toward Class 3. As they reached the door, one of them suddenly remembered that the only one among them who had seen a photo of the handsome guy had been kept behind by a teacher. Would they even be able to tell which one was the guy they wanted to see?

This worry lasted only a second, because they immediately saw the long-haired boy sitting in the back row through the open back door of Class 3. For a moment, they forgot all their experience in “handsome guy scouting”—they forgot they shouldn’t just stand at the door, that they should be natural and act like they were just glancing casually.

They stared blankly at the boy’s profile until a student passing by blocked their view. Someone murmured, “Damn, Lulu is going to regret missing this so much.”

“I regret it too,” the ponytail girl said, heartbroken. “Why wasn’t I brave enough to bring my phone? Did any of you bring one? Can you take a picture?”

They all shook their heads, feeling regretful. “Who knew Lulu wasn’t exaggerating at all? I thought she just praised him because she likes guys with long hair.”

Li Lulu was an art student and the president of the school’s Cosplay Club; she loved the “ancient style” long-hair look. “But his hair is indeed…” The ponytail girl looked on, subconsciously touching the ends of her own hair. “It’s so smooth. I’m so jealous. No wonder Lulu said it would be worth dying just to touch it once.”

“She also said you’d actually die if you touched it,” someone laughed. “I heard he treasures his hair especially much. Didn’t Qi Ning and his gang from Section 2 come to cause trouble recently? Apparently, someone tried to mess with him by following him and trying to pull his hair.”

“In the end, it was like the guy had eyes in the back of his head; he wasn’t even touched, and the other person almost tumbled down the stairs.”

“Makes sense,” the ponytail girl said. “I don’t like people touching my hair either. A handsome guy like him must be even more aloof.”

Just as she finished, she saw her friends’ expressions freeze. “What’s wrong?”

The ponytail girl followed their gaze and was stunned herself. Because the “aloof handsome guy” they were just discussing whose precious long hair was supposed to be untouchable was currently having that hair wound around the fingers of the boy beside him. He was being touched for real.

The boy wasn’t even focusing on touching the hair; he was biting his pen with his head down, looking at the test paper in front of him. His fair fingers were just casually twisting the long, dark strands while he thought about a problem.

And the long-haired handsome guy simply reached over and gently pulled the pen away from the boy’s lips. He didn’t say a word about his hair being played with so freely. He didn’t look bothered at all.

The girls looked at each other. This is called “not letting people touch it”? He’s letting him play with it whenever he wants!!

Only then did they realize that the boy sitting next to the handsome guy was the other new student they were looking for. No words were needed; one look at that overly beautiful profile made it easy to tell.

But… it should have been double the joy. Now, their hearts were only filled with shock. “It turns out Lulu is still the unreliable Lulu,” someone whispered. “Her intel was wrong.”

The two inside the classroom didn’t know about the discussion outside. Near the start of class, Jie Chuxia entered and asked a few boys in the back to help move some things. Shi Qingning carried his papers back to his own seat.

Most of the other students had also taken their seats. When Shi Qingning returned, Lin Xiao, who sat in front of him, dropped her pen, and it rolled to the side. Lin Xiao bent down to pick it up. Shi Qingning happened to glance over and suddenly saw a patch of bright red on the seat of her chair.

He looked at the back of her school jacket. Sure enough, that area was stained red. The school pants were a blue-and-white design, and part of the back was light-colored, so the blood was very obvious.

Shi Qingning frowned, unzipped his jacket, and took it off. The temperature had started to rise yesterday, so everyone had lightened their clothing, but Shi Qingning still had several layers wrapped tightly under his uniform.

“Lin Xiao,” Shi Qingning handed the jacket over and lowered his voice. “Wrap this around yourself.”

Lin Xiao looked back, still a bit confused, when Zheng Kun’s voice suddenly came from the side. “What happened to your pants?”

His voice wasn’t quiet. The classroom, which was quieting down for class, became silent as many people’s attention was drawn to them. Lin Xiao finally realized what was happening; she glanced at her seat and immediately pulled her shirt hem down in embarrassment, frantically taking Shi Qingning’s jacket.

“Are you okay?” Zheng Kun was still asking loudly. “Why is there so much blood—”

He didn’t finish before being rudely interrupted by Song Qianqian. “That’s enough. What does it have to do with you?”

If he kept shouting, the whole class would know. Lin Xiao was shy to begin with; now her ears were so red they practically bled, and she buried her face in her chest. She murmured something and didn’t speak until she had hurried to tie the jacket around her waist, then said “thank you” in a voice as soft as a mosquito.

Zheng Kun was unhappy about being snapped at. “What? Can’t I care about a classmate?”

Lin Xiao sat there stiffly with her head down until her roommate came over and accompanied her to the dormitory after asking for leave. Song Qianqian and Zheng Kun still looked at each other with dislike, but they stopped arguing when the teacher walked in.

Song Qianqian wiped his desk mate’s seat clean with a wet wipe with a cold face, not looking at Zheng Kun again. But after he threw away the trash, he remembered something. He looked back at Shi Qingning; he no longer had a jacket.

“The discipline office is checking uniforms these few days. Xiao Shi, your clothes—” Song Qianqian didn’t finish before being interrupted by the teacher starting class.

Zheng Kun, nearby, sneered. Being caught once without a uniform meant at least three points docked; according to class rules, that meant cleaning the blackboard for three days. He even looked at the glass windows of the front and back doors, hoping the discipline teacher would arrive soon.

Shi Qingning also knew about the checks, but it had happened suddenly, and he hadn’t thought much of it when he helped. If he were caught, he would just have to accept the punishment.

The teacher had opened the lesson slides. Shi Qingning opened his notes and picked up his pen. Suddenly, someone handed him something. Across the aisle, a classmate in front stretched his arm as far as he could, dodging the teacher’s gaze to hand over a crumpled school jacket.

Shi Qingning was stunned and reached out to take it. He saw the classmate point toward another student nearby who was watching. Seeing Shi Qingning take the item, that student relaxed and mouthed: Extra. Borrow it.

That student wasn’t actually close to Shi Qingning; they hadn’t spoken much beyond a nod of greeting. Yet, he had actively lent him his clothes. Shi Qingning smiled and mouthed back: Thank you.

He shook out the jacket and put it on. The boys who had gone to move things returned, and the classroom became quiet as the lesson began.

Halfway through the class, Lin Xiao and her roommate returned. Her face was still a bit pale. Not long after sitting down, she quietly passed a note to Shi Qingning behind her. The handwriting was elegant: [Thank you, I’ll return the jacket after I wash it.]

The teacher continued the lesson and even went over by a few minutes. When class finally ended, Lin Xiao turned around and said thank you again in a low voice.

“It’s fine,” Shi Qingning said. “Are you okay now?”

After Lin Xiao nodded, Shi Qingning stood up, wanting to thank the student who had lent him the jacket, but he was called by someone behind him. It was Bai Yexi.

“Your collar is it too big?”

Shi Qingning pulled at the collar, thinking, He can even tell that? Bai Yexi hadn’t been there when he borrowed the clothes. He was about to explain, but his forearm was suddenly grabbed.

Bai Yexi saw the problem immediately. “This isn’t your jacket?”

“No.” Since Lin Xiao was still there, Shi Qingning pulled Bai Yexi to the back of the classroom and briefly explained. “I lent mine to Lin Xiao, and Feng Shan lent me this one…”

Before he could finish, he saw Bai Yexi frown. “You can’t wear other people’s clothes.”

A classmate passed by and gave them a curious look. Before Shi Qingning could react to those words, his wrist was gently lifted. Bai Yexi pulled back the cuff of the borrowed jacket and showed it to him with a cold face.

“It’s red.”

Shi Qingning’s school uniforms were custom-ordered by the Shi family. Normal uniforms weren’t expensive and were made of average materials. Shi Qingning had only worn it for one class, and the parts of his wrist and the back of his hand that touched the jacket had turned red and irritated.

A vein throbbed at Bai Yexi’s temple, and his jaw muscles were tight. He didn’t say anything more and directly took off his own jacket. “Change into this one.”

“Huh?” Shi Qingning didn’t think it was a big deal, but since Bai Yexi insisted, he changed into the other’s jacket. Bai Yexi was half a head taller than him, and the jacket was large, wrapping him up completely. After changing, Shi Qingning moved his wrist and found it didn’t chafe anymore.

He assumed Bai Yexi’s clothes were also custom-made by the Shi family, so he didn’t think much of it and even sniffed the cuff. There was a very faint scent of mint. Could “Mint” really be a mint spirit to smell this good?

Bai Yexi helped him fix the jacket. Looking at the boy’s reddened wrist, his brow remained furrowed. Shi Qingning had to comfort him: “It’s okay, it doesn’t hurt.”

Bai Yexi moved his jaw but didn’t say whether he agreed or not. He only said, “In the future, ask me for a jacket.”

The two of them were talking at the back of the classroom, unaware that more than one pair of eyes were peeking at them from outside the back door.

“It’s them.”

“Lulu, you didn’t believe the handsome guy would let anyone touch his hair. Believe it now?”

“…”

“…Why do I feel like their relationship is about more than just touching hair?”

After a moment of collective silence, someone whispered, “So, are we here to admire a single handsome guy… or to witness a marriage made in heaven?”

Bai Yexi remained very concerned about the redness on Shi Qingning’s wrist. Luckily, the classmate’s jacket was a size too big, and since Shi Qingning wore many layers underneath, only his hands were irritated, while his collar and other areas were unharmed.

But even so, he could feel Bai Yexi’s excessive tension. “It’s really fine,” Shi Qingning explained on the way home after school. “It should go away by tomorrow.”

Bai Yexi looked at the boy’s wrist, his expression not relaxing much. After walking in silence for a few steps, he finally asked, “Does it hurt?”

Shi Qingning moved his wrist. His wrist bones were delicate and his skin was thin and pale, making the red patch look very prominent. “It doesn’t hurt.”

Bai Yexi’s chest rose and fell slightly before he continued, “Does it itch?”

This time, Shi Qingning didn’t deny it immediately. “A little, I think.”

Bai Yexi’s brow furrowed tightly again. “It might be an allergy.”

Shi Qingning laughed. “It’s okay. I’m not made of snow; I won’t melt the moment I’m touched. I’ll just put on some ointment when we get back.”

Bai Yexi didn’t speak again. However, once they returned, he applied all the ointment himself. Shi Qingning sometimes wondered why “Mint” was so good at taking care of people, but when he wanted to ask, thinking of Bai Yexi’s past made it hard to speak. Was it because he was raised as a servant by the An family to care for their sickly son?

The wind picked up at night. As usual, only the two of them lived in the new apartment. Shi Yi had originally said he would come over, but he had a last-minute meeting and called Shi Qingning to tell him to go to bed early.

After drinking his medicine and getting into bed, Shi Qingning saw Bai Yexi walk in with a digital thermometer. “Let’s take your temperature.”

Shi Qingning wanted to say he was fine, but the bitter taste in his mouth remained even after brushing his teeth. He took a breath wrong and started coughing, exhausted, for quite a while. Fortunately, his temperature was normal. When he finally lay down, Shi Qingning felt completely soft inside his duvet. The corners of his eyes were slightly red and wet from coughing, looking soft and powerless.

“Goodnight…”

Bai Yexi tucked the corners of the quilt in tightly again. Seeing that he didn’t leave immediately, Shi Qingning blinked his misty eyelashes and asked softly, “Why don’t you sleep with me?”

Bai Yexi was silent for a moment and reached out to turn off the light. “Goodnight.”

Shi Qingning smiled, feeling a bit like coughing again. Is “Mint” shy?

In the end, he slept alone. Because he was tired, he fell into a deep sleep shortly after the lights went out. So Shi Qingning didn’t know that the boy who had refused the invitation returned shortly after. He knelt on one knee by the bed and very, very gently reached out to touch the side of Shi Qingning’s neck.

Every hour, Bai Yexi would come in once. He was checking his temperature. Lately, the temperature had been fluctuating, and the weather was not kind. Plus, Shi Qingning’s skin irritation and lowered immunity meant he was very likely to feel unwell.

Bai Yexi was so familiar with this that he could even tell if Shi Qingning had heart palpitations just by the rhythm of his breathing. The current situation was actually much better; in the past, even if the weather was nice and there were no accidents, the boy sleeping before him might suddenly develop a fever, shortness of breath, or a rapid heart rate.

Every morning was a gamble. On very lucky days, the boy could wake up peacefully and get through the day. But perhaps only 1% of the prize pool was that kind of luck; the rest were low blood pressure, hard times, pain, and a future where hope could never be seen.

Bai Yexi lowered his head. He listened to Shi Qingning’s light, regular breathing and slowly realized this wasn’t a dream. Because in even the most luxurious dreams, there wouldn’t be such a miracle.

In the early morning, Bai Yexi came for the fifth time. The anti-allergy spray he had reapplied earlier had worked; Shi Qingning’s temperature was stable and hadn’t risen. Bai Yexi’s movements were silent. This trip was the last one; Shi Qingning was a light sleeper in the morning and easily woken. He would check once more after the boy woke up, and then everything should be fine.

He was about to leave, his hand just about to pull back from the boy’s neck, when the boy, sleeping peacefully, suddenly turned his head as if chasing the touch to get closer. Bai Yexi stopped moving, but in the next second, he paid the price for this lingering moment—

Shi Qingning actually woke up this time, opening his eyes dizzily. “Mint…”

Bai Yexi froze in place, his pulse thumping against his eardrums. He silently clenched his fist and was about to speak. But he heard the other’s soft, nasal voice. “You… come closer…”

Bai Yexi was stunned, unsure if the other was fully awake. But in the dim pre-dawn light, Shi Qingning blinked sleepily; he was indeed talking to him. “I can’t reach you…”

The boy had fallen back into a half-asleep state, and what he was thinking about was still wanting to hug him more.

Bai Yexi had once wondered if this was another kind of “lightning tribulation”—waiting until he was at the peak of happiness before destroying everything. But the sensation before him was real; the body heat was real. This luxurious embrace actually worked. Bai Yexi was finally no longer suspended in the vast sky.

His hand was still by the boy’s pillow, being sought out by the familiar warmth, then hugged. Shi Qingning holding his fingertips with both hands wasn’t enough; because he was so sleepy, he rested for a moment and then instinctively reached out more, moving from the fingers to the wrist, wanting to hug his whole person.

Bai Yexi sat kneeling on his knees. But he was holding an angel from so high and so far away.

Shi Qingning was still sleepy and couldn’t even open his eyes. He finally settled down after his arms were full. After a moment, he started searching again, almost causing Bai Yexi to burn from heaven into a fire. He was half-asleep and whispering.

“The blanket…” He wanted Bai Yexi to be covered properly too.

“…” In such a short time, Bai Yexi had endured so many trials that he felt sleeping together wasn’t a torture anymore.

With the soft quilt covering them, Bai Yexi held his “everything” and listened to their overlapping heartbeats in the darkness. In everything he had heard in his life, there was no melody better than this.

Bai Yexi originally thought he would stay awake until dawn. But once his arms were filled and he had truly encircled all the warmth, he fell asleep earlier than expected. This sleep was quiet and peaceful—the sweetest rest possible.

Until a slight movement came from afar. When he heard the sound of the door being opened very quietly, Bai Yexi woke up. In his arms, the boy was still sleeping peacefully.

And when Bai Yexi looked up, what he met in the dim morning light was the face of Shi Yi standing at the door—veins bulging on his forehead, his expression nearly livid.

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