Life-Saving Days by the Husky’s Side

If possible, Ji Shaoyan really wanted to crack open Zhou Li’s head to see what kind of stuff was inside.

But reality placed a restriction. He was about to change the subject when he suddenly saw Zhou Luwen leading the little golden retriever towards them. The words in his mouth immediately changed forms and he calmly said to Zhou Li, “You’ve hugged me so many times and even helped me in the bath. Don’t I have to treat you the best in the future?”

Zhou Luwen who had walked into earshot: “……”

Zhou Li had his back turned to the door and didn’t know that someone had walked up behind him. As soon as he finished saying “no need”, he saw Ji Shaoyan look to the side and kindly greet “Morning” to the person behind him.

“……” For a second, Zhou Li’s reaction was a solid moment of silence. He whipped his head back and was met with Zhou Luwen’s astonished expression.

He did it on purpose; this con-man was definitely doing it on purpose!

At this moment, Zhou Luwen was still in a trance thanks to this revelation.

Ji Shaoyan was smart, gentle, precious* but resolute. As early as junior high, he had a vague tendency to take the role of a leader, and now their small circle of second generations were used to centring around him. From elementary school to high school, Ji Shaoyan has always been the most popular person. He was the white moonlight* in the heart of countless people and was so perfect it was a little unreal. He couldn’t imagine the scene of this young master falling in love or being moved by other people’s actions no matter how hard he tried.

[T/N: scarce (the less there is, more more precious the thing (he) is)]
[T/N: basically, the one that got away]

Now, not only has Zhou Li hugged Ji-shao, they have also taken a bath together. He almost thought he experienced auditory hallucinations.

Under the two pairs of eyes, he did his best to suppress the surging waves in his heart and quickly adjusted his state, nodding to Ji Shaoyan. “Ji-shao, morning.”

A trace of hesitation flashed across Ji Shaoyan’s eyes and he clarified, “I was just joking around, don’t take it seriously.”

Zhou Li interjected, “It’s not what you think.”

Ji Shaoyan immediately echoed, “En, we’re not in that kind of relationship.”

Zhou Li: “……”

Eggy, shut the hell up.

Zhou Luwen was very considerate of others. Looking past Zhou Li as if he had forgotten he was there at all, he reassured with a smile, “I just came, I didn’t hear anything.” With this, he stayed for not a second longer, hurriedly taking the golden retriever outside for a walk and to reevaluate his views on life along the way. 

Zhou Li looked at Ji Shaoyan. “Was that on purpose?”

Ji Shaoyan expressed his innocence. “It wasn’t, you were blocking my vision just now so I didn’t see him. Besides, didn’t I help us clarify afterwards?”

He took in Zhou Li’s expression and handed the box that has been resting on his laps over to the boy. “The book you wanted.”

Zhou Li decided to be the magnanimous person in this situation and chose not to argue with him, taking the box in.

It was a wooden box which, after opening, revealed a smaller glass box nestled inside. Inside the glass box was the neatly placed ancient book. It looked extremely well-worn.

But this has already exceeded his expectations.

Although he had no knowledge of the history of this world, just listening to Professor Xia’s analysis made him believe that the book was dated back to very early times. He didn’t know whether this book was made of some type of special material or if it had been rewritten in a later generation, but the state of it was not bad as what he had imagined.

Ji Shaoyan asked, “What time are we leaving?”

Zhou Li answered, “He has an exchange meeting today so he won’t be free until half past ten.”

Ji Shaoyan entered the house and accompanied Zhou Li under the warm hospitality from Madam Zhou.

It takes nearly two hours to get to Xiangman Town from here and the whole two-way trip would take up the entire morning. Zhou Li was too late to meet with his little brothers so he sent an update in the group chat before driving to Qinglian University with Ji Shaoyan.

Professor Xia had just finished attending his meeting and received Zhou Li’s call for him to meet up with them. He didn’t dare to open the box outside and instead brought them back to the hotel he was staying at. He opened the wooden box and discovered that it really was one of the two books his friend had mentioned. He couldn’t help the excitement that nearly overwhelmed him. 

Zhou Li asked, “Can you recognise what these words mean?”

Professor Xia studied the contents a few times over and answered, “I can. This may have been written by later generations. I can see that this uses the ancient Chinese script, but I don’t know if there will be any records of the Tiansang tribe and that piece of jade.”

Zhou Li could only leave a request. “Then you read through it first, we won’t bother you for too long.”

Professor Xia was taken aback, a little surprised when none of them offered to send anyone over to ‘assist’ him.

If he and the two boys were acquaintances then it would be understandable, but they have only known each other for two days ah. He couldn’t help but ask, “Are you two so certain to leave the book with me?” 

Zhou Li blinked, then very sincerely and pleasantly replied, “We trust you as a person.”

Truth was, this man was a well-known professor. It is impossible for him to wager his reputation over an ancient book. Even if it’s written that the jade petal can let one travel through time and space, would a normal person believe it? At most, they’ll think it’s the feudal superstition of people living in ancient times.

Professor Xia smiled and personally delivered them to the door.

By the time the two went back, the little brothers had arrived not too long ago.

The seven boys wore wide grins, sitting neatly in the living room like elementary school students, very honest and well-behaved. Their souls seem to have been applied with a beautifying filter.

But they couldn’t be blamed for this behaviour.

Father Zhou and Zhou Lubo had some business to do today and left early. Zhou Li wasn’t there in the morning either, so that meant only Madam Zhou and Zhou Luwen were at home. These two people were categorised under ‘the gentle type’, especially Madam Zhou, who spoke in a soft voice and treated them very kindly to the point where they had no idea where to put their hands and feet, and so they immediately behaved.

Seeing Zhou Li at this moment, the small crowd of teens were suddenly excited and stared at him eagerly.

Zhou Li knew that they could no longer sit still and laughed, “The teacher will come in the afternoon. I’ll take you guys out for a tour and go for a meal.” 

The boys became even more agitated but did not dare to make a sound. They smiled politely at Madam Zhou, continuing their act as elementary school students, and followed Zhou Li step by step outside. Only when they stepped of the mansion did they finally relax, before collectively turning to the person in the wheelchair.

Zhou Li simply introduced, “My friend, Ji Shaoyan.”

He went on to introduce the little brothers to Ji Shaoyan in a rather formal manner, then took them for a walk in the neighbourhood.

The little brothers already knew about his dual personalities, but throughout the summer holiday that they all spent together, they never experienced any discomfort with his company, so their attitudes were the same as before. The boys began to talk about lunch so Zhou Li treated them to a grand meal and afterwards the group rested for a while, waiting for the tutor to come.

Zhou Li’s original plan was to have one-to-one tutoring for the boys, but he realised that too many people in one room will be too chaotic, so he thought it would be better to divide them into groups of two–two–three, where each group had a teacher who could specially cater to each person’s situation with a study plan.

Today, there were teachers for mathematics, physics and chemistry; one tutor for each group. The boys would study for two hours, take a short break, then change tutors until the evening.

The little brothers looked at him. “What about you?”

Zhou Li: “My study plan is not the same as yours so I have to find someone else to tutor me.”

Ji Shaoyan: “We will take care of him, you guys can concentrate on your own things.”

Except for a certain someone who had air in his skull in place for a brain, it was very easy for Young Master Ji to make a person develop good feelings towards him, especially since he knew the personalities of these boys well. Therefore, after the span of one meal, he managed to get all the little brothers utterly devoted to him. Knowing that he will be taking care of their Ying-ge, they instantly felt relieved and chorused, “Then we’ll leave him to you.”

Ji Shaoyan smiled softly. “Okay.”

Zhou Li glanced at him, no longer disturbing the little brothers’ studies, then grabbed the young master and Zhou Luwen out of the guest room. Just after he closed the door, Zhou Li heard Zhou Luwen say how he won’t disturb the two of them.

Although he guessed a possibility, he still asked, “You won’t tutor me?”

How could Zhou Luwen willingly turn into lightbulb? He answered, “Having just Ji-shao is enough. You guys can go ba, I’ll go get you two some drinks and snacks.”

Zhou Li: “……”

Sure enough, there was a reason why this con-man arrived so early in the morning.

Ji Shaoyan was very pleased. Acting as if there were no alternatives*, he followed Zhou Li into his bedroom and sat down by the desk, all set to be a good teacher who will dedicate his whole heart to his student.

[T/N: 临危受命: accept the only solution in a crisis]

At this moment, a blurred movement appeared out of the corners of their eyes. Something had come in.

The little golden retriever was left outside by its owner all morning. Seeing its owner enter the house, it leaped over with a toy in its mouth along with the intention to play together. It soon realised that there was an additional guest in the house today and wagged its tail in a friendly manner at the other guest.

Ji Shaoyan smiled very warmly, staring at it through his curved eyes.

Little Golden Retriever’s joyous little tail went rigid, having keenly sensed a trace of murderous aura coming from somewhere. It turned to the guest again and saw the smile on his face had become even more handsome, as if he was going to hunt it for dinner. The fear that ran through its little body made the toy drop from its mouth and it turned around, running away.

Zhou Li: “……”

Ji Shaoyan nonchalantly withdrew his eyes and pointed to the toy now lying on the floor. “It’s pretty cute. Did it come here to deliver a gift to you?”

Zhou Li stared back at him with some difficulty, then stood up to take the toy out. Seeing the aggrieved little golden retriever at the top of the stairs, he threw the toy back to it before returning to his room and seating himself back down. “That’s enough. Ji-laoshi, let’s study ba.”

Teacher Ji hummed “en” and asked his student, “Which subject do you want to start with?”

Truthfully, Zhou Li didn’t need to be tutored.

Of course, he had been ill for two years, so the title of ‘study tyrant’ was stuck in a faraway place he would never reach. But, it wasn’t too bad to the extent of rendering him useless, so he decided to tackle his homework after much deliberation.

Ji Shaoyan naturally didn’t object. With a soft smile and his chin resting on the palm of a hand, he watched the other slowly write.

Zhou Li: “Do you want someone to bring your homework over?”

Ji Shaoyan: “I already completed it yesterday.”

Zhou Li: “Then don’t stare at me. Either go on your phone or go take a nap in the bed.”

Ji Shaoyan turned to look at the big bed Zhou Li slept in, a little moved.

Zhou Li: “If you want to sleep, want me to get you some pajamas?” 

Ji Shaoyan only considered this option two seconds before giving up.

He can sleep in the bed some other time. Right now, he preferred to stay by Zhou Li’s side. He glanced at Zhou Li and thoughtfully suggested, “Aren’t you going to change?”

He remembered that Zhou Li would change from his outdoor wear into home clothes every time he went home because they were more comfortable.

He didn’t want Zhou Li to treat him as a guest. He wanted to seize every opportunity to close their distance.

Zhou Li did indeed want to change clothes. However, hearing the other mention his habit at this moment, he only felt uncomfortable. He walked two steps towards the closet then looked back at Ji Shaoyan, subconsciously wanting the young master to turn away but also feeling his reactions were unreasonable.

Ji Shaoyan understood the thoughts running through Zhou Li’s head just with a single look, and smiled. “I don’t have to go out ba? After all, I’ve already seen everything that needs to be seen.” 

Zhou Li: “Fine ba.”

Truth was, he didn’t want to appear too unreasonable.

“……” Zhou Luwen, who had just arrived at the door, went mute for a moment. He reached out and knocked on the door, walking in and putting the tray of food down nearby. He offered a simple nod to them before speedily exiting, closing the door for them, this time without leaving the slightest millimeter of a gap lest someone passes by and hears something that shouldn’t be heard.

Zhou Li: “……”

Ji Shaoyan: “……”

A dead silence possessed the room for two seconds. Ji Shaoyan let out a light laugh and randomly picked up a book from the desk. After that, he didn’t look in Zhou Li’s direction again.

Zhou Li changed his clothes in silence then walked back and sat down. “Ji-shao.”

Only then did Ji Shaoyan look at him. “En?“

Zhou Li: “I’ve thought about why I can’t get used to this, and it’s because you used to ignore me in the past. How about you ignore me for a month, let me find the feeling again?”

Ji Shaoyan refused. “I was in a bad mood back then, so I didn’t want to care for anyone. How I am now is my true self.”

He kindly suggested, “How about, you do what you did back then. Maybe you will get used to it sooner.”

Zhou Li mulled it over then said, “Okay!”

Truth was, Ji Shaoyan didn’t hold out any hope at all. He raised his eyebrows, not sure why the other was so happy.

Zhou Li: “Then, to speed up the progress, starting from today I will sing you two songs every day.”

To wash away his past shame, he recently studied a few popular songs in this world, but unfortunately couldn’t find any opportunities to put this new knowledge to use, so he was a bit lonely.

And now, he has found himself his loyal audience.

Ji Shaoyan: “……”

The author has something to say:

Ji Shaoyan: Do you not understand subtext or something?