The Sick Villain Just Want to Live

Why stand in front of him?

Shao Ming wanted to ask this question when he was on the sports ground. At that time, Yuan Shaozhou rushed over like a madman, the ferocity on his face made the surrounding onlookers so frightened that they retreated as far as they could.

Only one person rushed out.

The thin boy who stood in front of him. Not only is his strength weak, but he also was sickly and frail.

Regardless, his reflex was still to protect him. 

It touched Shao Ming’s heart, but also made his doubt grow heavier. 

‘Can this young master stand up to every friend without hesitation?’ Shao Ming mused, eyes staring straight at Zhu Tong’s. 

As for Zhu Tong, he didn’t expect Shao Ming to say it so bluntly.

He froze for a moment, recalled the situation at that time, and could only honestly say, “He was after you.”

Shao Ming: “…hm.”

Zhu Tong continued, “And it’s because he didn’t dare to touch me.”

Shao Ming: “…”

What Zhu Tong bet on was Yuan Shaozhou’s subconscious action. Even if he became so angry that he lost his reasoning, he would still instinctively fear things that he feared in the first place. 

In Yuan Shaozhou’s eyes, the person who brought him to this point was neither his own self nor Shao Ming, but Zhu Tong and the unpredictable Zhu family behind him. Even if he was at the end of the road, his instinct for survival made Yuan Shaozhou try to avoid situations that would only worsen his situation. 

Zhu Tong concluded, “So at that time, I think that if I put myself in front of you, he should stop.”

Shao Ming was still speechless. He felt that there was some beautiful illusion in his mind, and it shattered with a “pop”.

What the hell is he expecting?

Shao Ming exhaled from his nose. His tone became strange. “So you are betting on the possibility that he has scruples about you?”

Zhu Tong nodded. “I think this possibility is still very high.”

“…”

Shao Ming didn’t know what to say. He wanted to remind Zhu Tong that he saw Yuan Shaozhou was aiming that compass directly to his head. Of course, it might be because that surnamed Yuan was too weak, so he missed his target. 

However, Shao Ming didn’t say this out loud. Instead, he took a long look at deskmate, from the top of his head, to the bottom of his feet. 

Zhu Tong looked puzzled, and he could feel Shao Ming’s scorching gaze. He raised his head and asked in confusion, “What’s wrong?”

‘Is there anything strange about me?’

Shao Ming pondered for a while before saying, “I suddenly discovered that you are very good-looking.”

“…”

“The proportions of your body are also good.”

His waist was willowy thin – and perhaps, a bit too thin – but when he held it in his arms, it felt surprisingly good. 

Zhu Tong: “…”

‘What exactly is this person trying to say?’

Shao Ming raised his head with a smile, leaned over and whispered, “If you really want to take care of me, I think I will allow it.” 

“!!” 

Zhu Tong’s eyes widened in astonishment.

Shao Ming shamelessly continued, “After waiting for a long time, if you feel that you will wrong me by giving our relationship a label, but I…”

–feel that such action was acceptable.

But before he could say that, his mouth was hurriedly covered up. 

Zhu Tong looked at him in astonishment. “That’s all Yuan Shaozhou’s nonsense! I didn’t…”

Shao Ming’s eyes bent into curved half-moons1.

Realizing what he had done, a rush of heat flooded his brain. Zhu Tong hurriedly withdrew his hand, and his five fingers shrank like a shy touch-me-not2. 

His palms felt like it was scalded. 

He stammered, “I… you….” 

After failing to speak multiple times, Zhu Tong simply turned back and buried his head in silence. 

What does Shao Ming think of him?

Sure enough, this deskmate of his took kindness for granted! 

Shao Ming looked at his reddened ears. He was slightly startled by his reaction, but he still leaned over and asked, “Are you angry?”

Zhu Tong: “…”

Zhu Tong took a deep breath, adjusted his mentality, looked at him rather unbearably, ” I said I didn’t mean that, so forget it if you don’t believe me. Don’t… don’t test me like this.”

Shao Ming: “…”

‘Test? So he thinks I’m probing him?’ 

Shao Ming paused for a while, then suddenly smiled and said in a light tone, “I’m just joking, I won’t do it next time.”

Zhu Tong looked at him suspiciously.

Shao Ming promised with more sincerity: “I swear.” 

Zhu Tong glanced at the progress bar of favorability, and there was indeed no change.

It should be a real joke.

The shorter youth looked at Shao Ming for a while before finally saying, “I believe you this time.”

–With the emphasis on the “this time”. 

Shao Ming only continued to smile “Alright.” 

Then Zhu Tong bowed his head and continued to do his mock exam questions.

The redness on his ears faded quickly, and he was no longer in a hurry, so he was able to concentrate very quickly on the questions.

Shao Ming thought in his heart, ‘So easily fooled…’ 

He raised his head slightly and propped it back on his elbows, looking leisurely.

In complete contrast, his heart was not calm. He knew very well that what he said was actually his attempt at flirting – he wasn’t joking at that time. 

But when Zhu Tong tried to explain his reasoning behind his action, Shao Ming could see how unwilling he was to admit his fondness towards Shao Ming, and it pushed him to tease the shorter youth. 

How could he not be reconciled?

Shao Ming smiled from the bottom of his heart. ‘Human beings are such oxymoronic creatures. Everyone’s the same… even me.’

–He would doubt and reject someone’s crush on him; but if they reject him, he would chase the other instead. 

But, he knew that there were others with genuine feelings towards him. Still, he gave them up, because he wouldn’t feel relaxed otherwise.

Why did Zhu Tong become special?

Zhu Tong, who was doing his question, seemed to have encountered a difficulty again, and frowned slightly. His brows furrowed in confusion, but his eyes were in complete focus, as if nothing would faze him at this point. 

In the system, the favorability progress bar suddenly increased for a while, and just as the system was about to remind the host, the favorability that had just increased suddenly shrank back.

System: “…”

This white moonlight is really such a wishy-washy person. 

Zhu Tong didn’t know about this subtle change, and so was Shao Ming. 

The afternoon class ended soon. Luo Suo, Zhu Tong, and Shao Ming agreed on eating outside the school for dinner. At the restaurant, Luo Suo could sense something was amiss, but he suppressed his curiosity until he was itchy all over. He sat between Zhu Tong and Shao Ming, and the tension between them was thick enough to be cut by a knife. 

“You two… argued?”

Shao Ming: “…”

Zhu-concentrating on eating-Tong: “?” 

Zhu Tong was about to speak when Shao Ming suddenly said, “My fault, I said the wrong thing.”

Luo Suo: “…”

He’s very eager to take the blame?

Zhu Tong refuted Shao Ming’s bizarre claim almost immediately. “He’s speaking nonsense. I simply don’t talk much while eating.” 

Luo Suo looked back, and he found that Zhu Tong was telling the truth – he rarely speaks when eating. 

‘So the problem lies Ming-ge!’ 

‘Doesn’t he talk a lot usually? He used to initiate the conversations, so the meal became lively. But why is he so quiet today?’ 

“Ming-ge, you… you were scared by Yuan Shaozhou, right?”

Shao Ming: “…”

Shao Ming eerily smiled and gave him a look of “paraphrase that better, or else” 

Luo Suo: “…” 

He couldn’t offend this person, so looked at Zhu Tong and changed the topic. “By the way, Zhu Tong, Yuan Shaozhou was sent to the hospital. You really hired someone to do it?”

Zhu Tong paused mid-way for a bite. He nodded slightly and answered, “Yeah.”

Luo Suo’s eyes widened immediately, “Fuck, is it really you? You also installed a signal jammer outside his ward? Awesome! Your family must be so powerful, to trample Yuan Shaozhou like that! What do you do?”

He was purely curious, but as soon as he said that, the dining table became even quieter.

Like, so quiet it was weird. 

“Family, identity, support.”

Yuan Shaozhou’s words didn’t seem to cause any disturbance, but they caused waves of varying degrees in the hearts of this pair of deskmates. 

Luo Suo waited for a long time and was ignored. Then he noticed that both of them looked at him strangely.

“…”

‘…What did I do? Why do I get the ire of both of them??’ 

“Is it inconvenient to say?” Luo Suo whispered, “Then pretend I didn’t ask, don’t be so sullen, I’m so embarrassed.” 

Zhu Tong also knew that it wasn’t good to leave matters hanging like this. He softened his gaze and said, “I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay,” Luo Suo waved his hand magnanimously, “I was the one who talked too much. Let’s eat quickly, the food will get cold in a while.”

Zhu Tong nodded and picked up the dishes again.

Shao Ming sat across and looked at him. He wanted to open his mouth and glance at Luo Suo, but swallowed his words back.

Going back to school after dinner, many students noticed the three of them on the way.

Yuan Shaozhou came to the school to make a fuss, and Zhu Tong completely became a hot topic in the school.

There are many people who are curious about his identity. But students of 2nd Year Class 3 were strangely tight-lipped about the whole situation, so students of other classes needed to find other sources for this gossip.

And there was, indeed, another person who could be considered an “insider”.

It’s already evening self-study, and the classroom of 1st Year Class 1 was still very lively.

Xia Yang has been really annoyed these days.

First, Yuan Shaozhou was sent to the hospital and expelled from school. Because Yuan Shaozhou always liked to pester him, some people thought that he was close to Yuan Shaozhou. They came to him to inquire of the situation. 

He repeated over and over again that he didn’t know Yuan Shaozhou well. He wished he could turn them all off, but he had to keep a polite smile and be patient with all of these inquiries. 

Finally, no one asked about Yuan Shaozhou anymore. But in its place, it was Zhu Tong who became their object of curiosity. 

“Xia Yang, do you and Zhu Tong know each other? What exactly does his family do?” 

“Did he really teach Yuan Shaozhou a lesson?”

“Do you have a good relationship with him? Did you often play with him on weekends?” 

“I heard you mentioned something about a banquet that day, have you ever attended a banquet together?” 

“…”

There was a lot of chatter around, Xia Yang slowly clenched his hands. He hated the mention of “that day” the most.

That day by the sink, he deliberately wanted to mention the banquet, just to let others know that he and Zhu Tong knew each other. 

He wanted Shao Ming to know. Because Shao Ming didn’t like him, so if he knew that Zhu Tong was his acquaintance, he would definitely alienate Zhu Tong.

But, things didn’t go as he planned. As he intentionally drew closer, Zhu Tong suddenly coughed up blood. He deliberately targeted Zhu Tong, but Shao Ming sided with Zhu Tong instead.

Afterwards, he stopped mentioning his acquaintance with Zhu Tong.

But everyone remembered. Everyone came to remind him that day by the sink, when Zhu Tong made him lose face!

He took a breath slowly, and said with a warm smile, “We met at a banquet, but I don’t know his specific situation. It’s better for you to ask him about his family, and because he has been in poor health and seldom attended banquets, so I also…”

Even without saying it outwardly, everyone knew this meant they weren’t closely acquainted. Now, they couldn’t get an answer from Xia Yang, and they felt disappointed.

Patiently dismissing the group of people around him, Xia Yang breathed a sigh of relief. But then, he heard someone muttering in a low voice while turning around, “I thought he knew something… or maybe, he didn’t say anything on purpose?” 

Someone next to him echoed his sentiment. “Who knows? But Zhu Tong is really not a soft persimmon, ah. Yuan Shaozhou dropped out of school so easily.” 

“Yeah, this is true love, haha.”

Xia Yang’s expression suddenly sank. 

When Yuan Shaozhou targeted Shao Ming, he also thought of helping.

But he came to Gongshui No. 1 Middle School because of Shao Ming, which already made his father furious, so he didn’t dare to beg his father again to help Shao Ming.

Instead, he waited – he waited for things to get bigger, for Yuan Shaozhou to go too far, until police had to be involved.

By then, he would help Shao Ming by himself. 

Or if Shao Ming was willing to seek his help. As long as Shao Ming talked to him, even if it meant to beg his father, he would help Shao Ming. 

But it happened that Zhu Tong took the lead!

He was only relying on the help of his family, so why did he get Shao Ming’s respect?

In that P.E class, the image of Shao Ming hugging Zhu Tong tightly in order to protect him made his eyes hurt.

‘And that damned Yuan Shaozhou.’ Xia Yang’s eyes darkened when he thought of Yuan Shaozhou’s hideous and distorted face when he frantically rushed towards Shao Ming and Zhu Tong.  

In fact, Yuan Shaozhou had contacted him when he was desperate. But he didn’t reply.

With Yuan Shaozhou’s current madness, he wouldn’t want to take revenge on Xia Yang, would he?

If he remembered correctly, Yuan Shaozhou should be sent to a juvenile detention facility. He had to find a way to keep Yuan Shaozhou there longer.

like this emoticon → ^^

Mimosa pudica, the plant whose leaf will curl up when touched.