Life-Saving Days by the Husky’s Side

This type of private topic, it was too hard to bring up in conversation. 

What’s more, Zhou Li has only just become familiar with them. Zhou Lubo and the others can’t educate him on this kind of thing, at least for the time being.

But what needed to be said should still be said.

Zhou Luwen was worried.

These two usually look very reliable and well-grounded. Who could’ve expected for them to be so intense once they fell in love? Skipping class so obviously was one thing, but now they were even openly attacking each other on some field. Were they not afraid of someone seeing them?

The glass of water in his left hand passed to his right. He didn’t know how to word his concerns for a long time.

Zhou Lubo lightly asked, “Why are your clothes so dirty?”

Zhou Li told them the truth, “I accidentally fell.”

The two stared at his face and saw that his expression remained unchanged, then became silent again.

Amazing, your eyes didn’t even blink.

Zhou Lubo: “Your lips, did you hurt it in the fall too?”

“En…basically ba.” Zhou Li sighed in his heart and headed up the stairs, not before waving to them. “I don’t want to talk about it anymore, I’m going up to take a shower. Laying on the grass for such a long time, it feels uncomfortable.”

Zhou Lubo: “……”

Zhou Luwen: “……”

There was no way someone could find an appropriate response this answer and in the end, Zhou Lubo could only offer a weak “be more careful in the future” before stopping their conversation at this point.

Zhou Li didn’t notice anything wrong about this entire exchange and went back to his bedroom to take a shower. After changing into his home clothes, he sat on a chair at the balcony to contemplate life, and considered the possibility of him and Ji Shaoyan together.

He has a wide range of interests, such as appreciating cute girls and handsome boys.

In the past, both men and women chased after him. Although he didn’t have much experience with his love life, he wasn’t opposed to falling in love with a handsome guy.

It’s just that Ji Shaoyan was never on his list of consideration from the beginning.

This decision wasn’t only because Ji Shaoyan was the male lead, or because he didn’t dare to grow emotionally attached to him when he didn’t know how long could stay in this world before the revelation; it was also because he had examined this character with his younger sister in the past.

At that time, he was given an ultimatum by the doctor. Knowing he would never see his little sister walk down the aisle and over-hearing that she wanted to find someone like Ji Shaoyan to be her boyfriend, he finally flipped open the book with the attitude of studying his future brother-in-law, only to find that his future brother-in-law will be mentally deranged*.

[T/N: a yandere]

He proceeded to reason with his little sister, telling her how this kind of person will have a strong desire for control and was not good as a partner.

His little sister and her love-obsessed brain laid out her prepared explanation. “A yandere’s weakness is the person they like. Once they fall in love, they won’t hurt the other person unless the circumstances are serious. So if you think about it, he couldn’t care less for the world but he only cares about me. Gentle and powerful, he will help me solve all the problems I encounter. The most important thing is that no matter how beautiful or how many little fairies there are flying outside, he will never spare them a single look. A man who will never cheat on me, how good is that! “

Zhou Li didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “The issue I’m bringing up with you is his control and possessiveness. Don’t find someone who possesses these aspects in the future, in case they do something irrational and end up hurting you.”

His little sister said, “I know. I won’t consider other people who act like this, I’ll only like Ji Shaoyan. We don’t even need to worry if he sees me chatting with others and misunderstands, I just need to give him a kiss.”

She highly recommended, “Ge, you can also try this type when the hospital discharges you. You won’t lose out oh.”

Zhou Li didn’t tell her he only had three months left. Knowing that she was still young and there was a high chance she would change her mind in the future, although he didn’t agree, he still smiled and ruffled her hair. “Okay.”

——In the end, who knew if it was his crow-self or the crow* manifested by his little sister, he really met this type of yandere, and it was even Ji Shaoyan: the deity himself.

[T/N: jinxing]

Zhou Li helplessly sighed and thought about Ji Shaoyan; more specifically, his character.

To be honest, Young Master Ji was admittedly pleasing to the eye, when he isn’t acting like a mental-case.

In addition, this young master was very clever. Some words didn’t even need to be said clearly; the boy can see straight through him. He had even broken his own ankle for him… Zhou Li felt his sister might have led him astray, but he suddenly and strangely felt that there was indeed no loss in going out with such a person.

Then, let’s get along first and see. If it doesn’t work out, they can discuss that later.

Wait, that’s not right. If it ‘doesn’t work out’, then there will be no ‘discussing it later’, he would’ve directly switched on Hell Mode… Zhou Li sighed once again and simply emptied his brain, choosing not to think about it for the time being.

When the little boys arrived, it was already night.

They surrounded Zhou Li in excitement, deeply believing that for him to persuade their parents to help take half a month’s leave from school, it was truly too awesome.

As always, Zhou Li shamelessly sung his own praises and laughed, “It was nothing much. Come sit down.”

He switched to business. “Tomorrow, my dad’s assistant will help you guys arrange work. I won’t be following you.”

The boys waved their hands and happily said, “Sure, Ying-ge, you can go to your classes with peace of mind. Your education is important.”

And soon, you all will be able to personally understand the words “education is important”.

Zhou Li looked at them with a smile, listening to them yell and play cards with no objection to his plans, then led them into his bedroom.

Zhou Luwen was already acquainted with them and followed him in.

The nine opened a round of fight the landlord, and whoever had five stickers on his forehead would need to give up his position. Before they knew it, it was already ten o’clock after only a few rounds. Zhou Luwen glanced at the time, then at Zhou Li. Thinking about his current physical condition, he persuaded, “We still need to go to class tomorrow, how about we stop here?”

Zhou Li said, “Sure ah.”

Zhou Luwen thought in his heart, ‘as expected, he’s tired’, and left with the little brothers, giving him space and time to rest.

When Zhou Li came back, his mind was still in a slight mess. He didn’t realise how misleading his appearance was, nor did he pay attention to Zhou Luwen’s hesitation when the other boy left his room. Stretching his waist and standing up, he went to his bed and laid down, only to hear the ring of a WeChat notification. It was an update from Ji Shaoyan.

The content was very straightforward, just one sentence: Rest early, remember to bring the jade tomorrow. Good night.

Zhou Li replied with an “en“.

After thinking about it, he added: Good night to you too.

On his end, Ji Shaoyan stared at this reply, wondering whether Zhou Li sent this greeting out of courtesy or if the boy was willing to pay more attention to him.

After much deliberation, he couldn’t hold back and sent another message: I forgot to ask you, who is the mastermind behind my brother?

Zhou Li commented to himself that this guy really had no qualms in accepting this new change in circumstances. The moment he learned that he was only a two-dimensional character, he immediately came to ask him to spoil the plot. He very curiously asked: You really aren’t sceptical about what you’ve just discovered?

Ji Shaoyan: No, I don’t think this world is fake. With three thousand worlds, maybe in other worlds, your own is one within a book. Do you have ideas?

Zhou Li thought about this possibility and found that he wasn’t opposed to the idea at all, because everything he touched and experienced was indeed very real.

He was convinced and finally answered the other’s question: There’s no mastermind behind your little brother and the novel never stated whether or not he actively looked for the dog or not. However, I’m certain there was never a missing-dog hunt, and Master Lin and the others didn’t interfere.

Ji Shaoyan’s eyes narrowed.

There was a constant but vague feeling that his stupid brother was acting a little weirdly these days. Although his idiotic appearance has not changed and his way of speaking and style of acting is still about the same, there was no hatred or fear towards his older brother in his eyes. Instead, he was being more cautious and even showed a little bit of goodwill. 

He sent his analysis to Zhou Li and asked: Since you came here through the jade, can someone else do the same?

Zhou Li suddenly felt that this world leaned too far into the fantasy genre, so after thinking about it, he typed back: But the people who transmigrated will always be different from the actual person. It’s unlikely that they wouldn’t be exposed, isn’t it?

Ji Shaoyan thought this was the case as well and decided to investigate further.

Unwilling to end their chat, he asked another question: What did you do in the past?

Zhou Li replied: I was a student.

He quickly entered a boasting mode: I, First Young Master in the Zhou family, held a position similar to yours in my circle. If I command the weather to change, they would obey my orders*. A stunningly beautiful young man, the karaoke prince, piano emperor, a promising drag-racer, chased by many suitors.

[T/N: 要风得风要雨得雨/I wanted wind and I received wind, I wanted rain and I received rain: to get whatever one wants]

Ji Shaoyan laughed at the sight of these titles: Then your life now truly wronged you.

Zhou Li silently smiled and replied: I am not wronged at all. I fell ill in my second year of high school. After running around for two years, the doctor said I could only live for another three months. Even without the car accident, I still wouldn’t have lived for long.

Ji Shaoyan felt a pain in his heart.

A car accident is often instantaneous and sometimes it’s difficult to realise what happened before death. But being ill was different. Zhou Li was sick for two years and truly grasped how precious life was——yet, even with this, he still wants to return the body to Qian Liye. Is he stupid or what?

He thought back to Zhou Li’s teary red eyes during the day and felt that the hug earlier wasn’t enough for him. Back then, he should’ve held him for a little longer.

Zhou Li was unaware that he had pissed-off Young Master Ji once again. Seeing how the other didn’t reply, he said: Alright, I’m going to sleep. Good night.

He read Ji Shaoyan’s simple “Night” reply and switched his lights off, then went to sleep.

The next morning, after everyone had eaten, the little brothers happily followed the assistant and left. Zhou Li followed Zhou Luwen to school by car and wandered into the classroom at his own pace, then asked his deskmate about the contents of yesterday’s classes.

The two girls in the row in front of them arrived much earlier than him and hurriedly pricked up their ears to listen in on their conversation, only to find that they were talking about homework. They immediately threw away their disguises and turned around to look at Zhou Li. Upon seeing the small cut on his lips, one of them asked, “How did you get that?”

Zhou Li: “Knocked into something.”

The girl was skeptical and directed them to the important point, “Why did you run off with Ji-shao yesterday?”

Zhou Li naturally couldn’t say they ditched class to go karaoking so he pulled out the excuse Ji Shaoyan used when dealing with the teacher yesterday.

The girl said, “Bullshit, tell the truth.”

Zhou Li commended, “That ‘bullshit’ rolled off your tongue way too fluently ah.“

[T/N: 滚犊子/beat it/fuck off: apparently it’s spoken with a dialect? Zhou Li showed off his dongbei dialect earlier on so maybe he’s praising the girl for her smooth execution of cursing him out (‘fluently’ can also be taken as ‘skillfully’)]

The girl: “…I’m giving you the chance to be serious.”

Zhou Li: “I’m absolutely serious. Look at my sincere eyes.”

The other girl said, “Then why did Ji-shao hug you yesterday?”

Zhou Li: “He probably thought of something that upset him ba. For those of us with brothers, what we can do at these times of need is to lend our brother a warm shoulder!”

The two girls: “……”

The eavesdropping people around them: “……”

Zhou Li refused to cooperate and the people asking questions were wasting their words. One after another, they laid down their flags and stilled the drums*.

[T/N: 偃旗息鼓: to give in]

Tang Zixin has long since known from the game that Zhou Li was difficult to deal with and didn’t even try to participate in the interrogation, and instead struck up a discussion in the group chat——the moment everyone came across yesterday’s scene, they opened a group chat.

Zheng San: A wound on his lips?

Tian Tian: En, I saw it with my own eyes. You can come and take a look for yourself if you don’t believe me.

Liu Xiao Wei: They couldn’t have ditched to do that, ba?

Quan Jie: Skip class to open a room, this doesn’t seem like something Ji-shao would do. 

Zheng San: I agree. It’s just a hug, aren’t you guys thinking too much?

Liu Xiao Wei: Love can make a person forget everything but their beloved, y’know?

[T/N: 爱情会让人不再是他寄几了，造吗: this sentence had like 3 slang terms I can’t translate nicely. First half is basically ‘when someone is in love, they won’t only care about themselves/be self-focuses’, and the end it just ‘do you know that?’ but said in a really quick manner (it’s imitating Taiwanese pronunciation)]

Tian Tian: Why don’t we ask Jing-shao and Yan-shao?

Zheng San: Those two and Ji-shao share one pair of pants, it’s impossible for them to spill.

Tian Tian: Then how about we pull Zhou Er-shao in here? 

Zheng San: Don’t. I’m absolutely certain he won’t tell the truth. Not only will he keep his mouth shut, he might even tell Zhou Li about our meddling. Besides, I don’t think they’re sleeping around. People are definitely thinking too much.

Liu Xiaowei: I think there is an affair*.

[T/N: 奸情: amour (secret love)]

Tian Tian: Affair +1

Zheng San: Wanna bet?

Liu Xiaowei: Bet!

Zhou Li was once again completely unaware that the second generations had opened a gambling den in private and honestly buried himself in his education.

Only two classes had passed when that ‘lend a warm shoulder’ excuse spread throughout the entire building. Liang Jingxiu almost laughed out loud after the rumour reached him and said, “What’s the deal with you two now?”

Ji Shaoyan: “Still chasing.”

Liang Jingxiu: “But I didn’t see you looking for him today.”

Ji Shaoyan smiled, keeping silent.

Although they had a smooth conversation last night, they still came into conflicts on the hillside. He didn’t want to push too hard for the time being, so he decided to bring up this matter at a later stage.

The morning class quickly ended. Zhou Li and Ji Shaoyan had already agreed to meet up and went out to eat together, then to the bank to deposit the jade pendant before returning to the campus. Ji Shaoyan saw that the other boy’s attitude was the same as usual, not scared off by the madness he displayed yesterday. He hesitated for a moment but in the end, he still didn’t ask the other if he considered the proposal.

Zhou Li also didn’t mention the matter and continued to push him forward, asking, “Back to class?”

Ji Shaoyan glanced at the time and found that there was more than half an hour before classes started. Not wanting them to be separated so soon, he answered, “Let’s go to the cafe.”

Zhou Li responded with an affirmation and pushed him over. When he entered the shop, he saw Liang Jingxiu sitting by the windows. Thinking that Ji Shaoyan had requested to come here because he was looking for his friend, he pushed him to the tableside and set him in place, then prepared to leave.

Ji Shaoyan stopped him before he could. “Shall we have a cup of coffee together?”

“No…” As the word passed through his mouth, Zhou Li suddenly saw Yan Yunhui turning back from the counter, about to walk over with some ice cream in his hand, and immediately swallowed the following “need”.

He previously thought that since he wasn’t going to stay around for too long, it was enough to have met the real person and to engage in a short chat. Now, he thought it was a good chance to befriend the other, so the words in his mouth immediately turned around to say, “Sure ba.”

This reversal was way too obvious.

Ji Shaoyan looked at him, then at Yan Yunhui who was walking over. His eyes narrowed.

Liang Jingxiu: “……”

It’s over, he found out!

The author has something to say:

Yan Yunhui: You guys should treat patients better. Don’t drag me into your affairs.