The Sick Villain Just Want to Live

He was so straightforward that he managed to stun both of them at the same time.

Shao Ming immediately kicked Luo Suo lightly under the table, “I’m tired of eating in the canteen, how about you?” 

Luo Suo: “…”

He was already thinking about it. The thing is, he already regretted it when he realized that Zhu Tong never went to the canteen.

The misunderstanding on the podium before was cleared up after Zhu Tong and Shao Ming. After that, Luo Suo cleaned the under desk area. After seeing Zhu Tong’s half-finished work, he has already realized the extent of Zhu Tong’s cleanliness.

–Asking him to eat in the canteen, where all the meals were served in a communal pot? 

It’s only possible if the canteen was cleaned first. 

Just as Luo Suo was about to dismiss his offer, Zhu Tong said, “Didn’t you say it is the new canteen?” 

“…”

Zhu Tong looked at Shao Ming again, “You have never eaten there, have you?” 

The implication was clear: “If you never visited there, how can you get tired eating there?” 

Plus, since the canteen was new… it should be cleaner. 

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Shao Ming: “…”

“You may not know much about the food in our school.” Shao Ming helplessly told the young master who ‘doesn’t know anything about food’. “Even if it’s a newly opened canteen, you can’t think too much about it. I hope…”

“I’ve never eaten in a canteen,” Zhu Tong said.

“…”

Shao Ming paused and asked, “Do you really want to go?”

Zhu Tong nodded. “Yeah.”

In fact, he could see that Shao Ming was taking care of him. Because he never went to the canteen, his deskmate  accompanied him to eat outside the school. Even Luo Suo has been going out to eat with them all the time.

No matter how much Zhu Tong didn’t fit in with others, he would be burdened after being taken care of for so long without knowing it.

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Going to the canteen to have a meal was just that. It’s simple. He could overcome this. And since he transferred here, he always had to make changes.

The description “pretentious” was a word he’s used to hearing; but because Shao Ming was there at the time, he paid special attention to it.

Shao Ming stared at him for a while, smiled, and said, “Okay, then let’s go to the canteen for lunch.” 

Luo Suo: “…”

‘Didn’t you just say you are tired eating there? Ming-ge, where’s your principle?’ 

Since his goal had been achieved, Luo Suo felt this trip was not in vain. He got up and said, “Then it’s settled. I’ll occupy a seat and wait for you. You can come later.”

Zhu Tong thanked him.

After the big clean-up, there’s still the last afternoon class, which was English.

The podium was cleaned so thoroughly that when the English teacher came into class, she thought she had entered the wrong room. 

She stood at the door of the classroom, looked up at the class’ number on the door frame, and then looked at the familiar students in the classroom before walking onto the podium with a look of surprise.

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“When did your class change the blackboard?”

“Hahahahaha!”

The students in Class 3 who had seen her surprise had been waiting for her reaction. They all bursted into laughter.

The English teacher looked puzzled.

A girl closest to the podium raised her hand and said, “Laoshi, it was cleaned up today.” The

The English teacher couldn’t believe her claim. “Nonsense. Wasn’t it cleaned before in the previous cleanup? It wasn’t this clean back then.” 

“Laoshi, it’s true!” Another person said, “Zhu Tong is in charge of the podium today. You haven’t seen his cleaning eagerness, right? He did it very seriously. He used alcohol disinfectant and a descaling agent. He even brushed the crevices with a special brush. Look, isn’t the podium all sparkling now? It really rejuvenates the whole classroom.” 

“…” The English teacher looked at Zhu Tong in surprise.

Zhu Tong looked slightly stunned, as if he didn’t expect to be cued so suddenly.

Because of Zhu Tong’s good grades in English, the English teacher has a special preference for him. When she came to class and saw the spotless and brand-new looking podium area, she felt the afternoon’s inevitable fatigue was dispelled. Her mind felt refreshed, even her body somehow felt energized… 

She smiled at Zhu Tong, and said to others: “Since you know he’s serious, you should learn from him. Pay more attention to hygiene in the future, and don’t waste the fruits of Zhu Tong’s labor.” 

Immediately, some students in the classroom responded: “Understood, Laoshi, we will learn from Zhu Tong.” 

“It is said that the podium area is the lifeblood of the classroom. They are indeed right. After the blackboard is cleaned, I feel that our entire classroom is much brighter!”

“After a comparison, I found that the window cleaner was so irresponsible. The water stains on the glass hadn’t been wiped off!” 

“It’s great that Zhu Tong was transferred to our class. Not only is he an eye-candy, he can even clean so well!” 

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A girl turned her head to look at Zhu Tong, and said with emotion, “It would be great if he was my deskmate.”

“He’s the Study God’s deskmate though, are you brave enough to snatch Zhu Tong from him?”

“I don’t dare to dream so big. I’ll be wiped clean by Shao Ming.”

“Hahahahaha!” 

The English teacher was easy-going, so English class is always cheerful. But seeing that the topic was out of control, the English teacher clapped her hands on the podium to calm them down, and began the day’s lesson. 

During all of this, Zhu Tong listened quietly.

Although they were all talking about him, the flow of discussion now was different from his previous classmates’.

In his previous elite school, there was also a big clean-up day like today. However, because the students were mostly composed of young masters and ladies who have been spoiled rotten since childhood, only few people were willing to do the labor. On top of that, they all knew that the school had its own exclusive cleaners contracted to keep the school clean. 

But Zhu Tong always did the cleaning seriously.

–But no one would praise him for his effort. 

Instead, they would say:

“What’s the matter with Zhu Tong? Isn’t he just pretending to be a model student? So shameless!” 

“Haha, maybe he just really loves cleaning?” 

“He’s so troublesome, his seat always smells like alcohol disinfectant. Seriously stinks!” 

“Keep your voice down. Be careful, if he hears you, he will make you drop out immediately!”

He couldn’t help pursing his lips and smiling slightly, feeling that he had found another reason – besides Shao Ming – that made his decision to transfer counted as a blessing. 

Then, he looked at the blackboard, the thing that Shao Ming helped him to clean. 

On a whim, he took his draft book, turned to a new page, and wrote two words on the top left: [Thank you]. Then, he passed the book to Shao Ming. 

Shao Ming looked at it with raised eyebrows. Under Zhu Tong’s handwriting, he wrote: [How would you like to thank me?]

Zhu Tong got his reply, and was stunned as a result. He thought about the transaction Shao Ming did to pawn over his window-cleaning duty, so he wrote: [I will help you finish your homework?]

Shao Ming who received the reply: “…”

He could only stare at the handwritten reply. 

Different from his cursive script, Zhu Tong’s handwriting looked like a regular script, all square and upright. But it’s more rounded than the regular script1, which looked cute

Shao Ming admired his deskmate’s words for a while, then picked up the draft book and tore off the page of “dialogue” neatly.

Zhu Tong turned his head when he heard a ripping sound with a puzzled look on his face.

Shao Ming folded that page and stuffed it into the pile of books on his desk, then leaned over and whispered in Zhu Tong’s ear, “This is class time, let’s pay attention.” 

Zhu Tong: “…”

A couple of minutes later, the bell rang , signaling the end of the class. Zhu Tong saw for the first time how fast Luo Suo rushed to the canteen.

Almost before the English teacher finished class, he had already rushed out of the classroom through the back door and mixed into the crowd of people who were also rushing to the canteen outside the corridor.

‘Are they all going to the new canteen?’ Zhu Tong wondered, couldn’t understand their behavior. 

If he had to rush to the canteen at such a speed for a meal, then he would rather not eat it. 

He turned his head to look at Shao Ming. “When you were a 1st year in high school…”

‘Did you rush across the canteen like this?’ is what he wanted to ask. His imagination of Shao Ming doing such a thing was quite funny.

However, he  was interrupted by Shao Ming before he could ask that. “Okay, let’s go too.”

Zhu Tong: “…”

He reasonably suspected that the matter of Shao Ming’s 1st year matter regarding the canteen was an unspeakable black history2 of his.

Because the canteen was newly opened, there were a lot of people who came to eat in the new canteen. When they arrive, there are already long queues in front of each kiosk’s window.

Currently, Zhu Tong was watching the middle-most kiosk. It was jam-packed with people, making him feel a sense of suffocation. 

“Are you okay?” Shao Ming asked in a low voice, standing behind him.

Zhu Tong shook his head and replied, “I’m okay.”

Shao Ming saw that his face was not looking well. With a slight frown, he said, “Don’t force it, if it doesn’t work, we’ll…”

“It’s okay,” Zhu Tong interrupted him, “I want to get used to it.”

Shao Ming: “…”

Zhu Tong really felt okay.

Although the people on his left and right were strangers, the people on his front and back were his acquaintances.

Or, at least it should be. 

The person on his front was Lu Zheyu. 

They have known each other for a long time, but Lu Zheyu has never had a meal with them.  According to Luo Suo, Lu Zheyu only ate in the canteen. 

Just as he was thinking, the person in front suddenly turned around.

‘What’s wrong?’ Zhu Tong thought. He also felt that Lu Zheyu was giving him a very meaningful look. 

But in a matter of seconds, Lu Zheyu turned his head back again.

Zhu Tong: “?”

‘Congratulations! You gained +2% of the white moonlight’s favorability. Your current favorability is 29%.’ 

Zhu Tong: “!”

Before he had time to think about the meaning behind Lu Zheyu’s strange look, Zhu Tong turned his head and looked back. 

Shao Ming looked at him and said, “Okay, just tell me if you feel uncomfortable.”

Zhu Tong nodded and said “yes”.

–This event felt inexplicable. How did the favorability increase? What caused it? 

The system unhelpfully offered a possibility: ‘Maybe he feels that the way you experience life is very inspirational?’

Zhu Tong: “…”

The thing is, the system itself wasn’t sure about the reason. Shao Ming’s favorability was unstable at this time, increasing and decreasing at an unpredictable rate. It still hasn’t found out the real root of the problem.

Soon they queued up to the kiosk. Zhu Tong didn’t bother to think about what was there, so he went to find Luo Suo with Shao Ming after ordering their meal. 

Luo Suo was worthy of the title of “Small Seat Snatcher” awarded to him by Shao Ming. He successfully won a seat with the most space in the corner, leaving the corner seat to Zhu Tong.

The new canteen was indeed relatively clean. The tableware and plates were all brand new, and the seats didn’t need to be wiped again.

“I said the new canteen is worth trying, right? There are dry-roasted pork ribs! It tastes pretty good Ming-ge, please try it!” Luo Suo said as soon as the deskmate pair sat down. He was quite impatient. 

Shao Ming ignored him, and asked Zhu Tong, “Do you like it?”

Zhu Tong nodded, took a piece of pork ribs, and took a bite.

“…”

The texture was a bit hard. Tough to chew. 

Luo Suo’s eyes brightened. “How is it? Delicious?”

Zhu Tong raised his head, but didn’t want to dampen Luo Suo’s excitement nor dismiss his kindness. He nodded and said, “Very good.” 

“Really?” Shao Ming asked suddenly.

” ?” Luo Suo looked at Shao Ming. He didn’t expect for him to immediately question that.

Shao Ming smiled, but it’s clear that he was actually scolding Luo Suo. “You’re not the one who cooks the food, what are you babbling about?” 

Luo Suo refuted. “I’m just saying that my decision in taking you here is correct and wise.” 

“…”

Shao Ming also took a sip. He agreed that the food was delicious, so he didn’t refute Luo Suo again. 

The meal set in Gongshui No. 1 Middle School was not bad. It consisted of three dishes and one soup – this package they chose was one serving of dry-roasted pork ribs, one serving of kimchi, and one serving of shredded potatoes.

After Zhu Tong finished eating a piece of spare ribs, he added shredded potatoes, and just after eating, he paused again.

Shao Ming keenly noticed something wrong with Zhu Tong. “What’s wrong?”

Zhu Tong looked at him and shook his head. “It’s nothing.”

‘It’s just so spicy.’

This shredded potato was hot and sour! And he can’t eat spicy food.

But he didn’t want to waste food. What he already put in his mouth couldn’t be spit out. Plus, the shredded potatoes were… delicious. 

Young Master Zhu, who was forbidden to eat spicy food since he was a child, seemed to have opened the door to a new world.

The texture was crisp, and the combination of hot and sour intermingled perfectly to reach a taste harmony. 

Zhu Tong hesitated. He said to the system in his mind, ‘I remember you said that if the degree of favorability exceeds 30%, it can prevent minor illnesses and injuries?’ 

The system replied, ‘Yes.’ 

‘Stomach pain should be classified as a minor illness, right?’ 

The system: “…”

Zhu Tong thought. The current favorability level was 29%.  It shouldn’t be a big problem to eat a little of this spicy dish, right?

He’s a little hungry. 

He was chewing the potatoes as the tip of his chopsticks landed on the side of the dinner plate. He picked a couple of potatoes, eyes sparkling as he’s eager to try. 

Zhu Tong ate very slowly, as every chew seemed to be following some count. His posture was very elegant, and his expression of joy was pleasant to look at. Watching him eat felt like some form of entertainment. 

At their table, Lu Zheyu ate seriously without saying a word, while Luo Suo had finished eating earlier than them and was waiting for them.

Seeing that Shao Ming, who sat opposite him, had his gaze fixated on Zhu Tong, made Luo Suo chuckle. “Ming-ge, why are you acting like an old woman? How can Zhu Tong eat comfortably if you keep staring at him like this?”

Shao Ming didn’t give Luo Suo a response besides giving him a harsh glare, successfully shutting Luo Suo up. Then, he started to eat his own meal. 

After a few mouthfuls of spicy shredded potatoes, Zhu Tong didn’t dare to eat more. He mixed his kimchi with rice, and ate that instead. 

Just as he was about to clear away the dinner plate and get up, someone beside him suddenly called him, “Zhu Tong.”