CH 42.1

Sleep At My Place (1)

Late at night, the dorm uncle held a flashlight and inspected the dorms for the last time before yawning and returning to his office.

Ruan Qingmu lay on the bunk bed in the quadruple room and listened to the repeated snoring sounds from the boys all around him, pricking his ears to listen to the three different breathing frequencies.

He quietly got down from his bed, secretly took out something from the cabinet, and slipped out.

He went down the stairs and instantly ran to the first floor, familiarly standing at the front of dorm 106’s door.

He pushed the unlocked door, opening it. The light from inside leaked out to the ground. The small cracks on the window had been sealed tightly by a thick bed sheet like in the past.

Qin Yuan sat in front of the desk and calmly looked back at him.

Ruan Qingmu locked the door in passing and sat down, lightly coughing. “I’m sorry. I’ll have to bother you once more.”

Qin Yuan raised his sword brows once his gaze fell to the bag in his hand. “What?”

Ruan Qingmu opened the bag and took out that exquisite small desk lamp. “I’m bringing it down again. Didn’t get the chance to use it upstairs.”

This was the truth. There were four big boys in the dorm. He couldn’t possibly turn on the light and disturb other people when they slept at night.

Since bringing it up from dorm 106, it had always silently stayed in his cabinet without seeing the light of day.

He took the initiative to send a WeChat message to Qin Yuan during the night self-study session, shamelessly asking if he could come down to 106 and bother him at night. Qin Yuan quickly agreed to his request.

The appointed time was after the lights-out inspection, and indeed, Qin Yuan was already waiting for him at this time.

“I need to borrow your place to write something. You can go to bed and turn off the lights to sleep. I’ll make the light from the desk lamp dimmer.”

Qin Yuan opened the exercise booklet in the front. “No, I want to study right now too.”

Ruan Qingmu let out an “oh” and pressed the switch on the desk lamp. The familiar yellow, warm light shone between their desks. It was both warm and quiet.

He shyly took out his phone and looked for an empty homework book, starting to write something on the paper while checking the draft file on his phone.

It was almost eleven o’clock. He quickly finished writing a page with illegible handwriting before starting to write a new one.

Qin Yuan faintly glanced at him and moved his gaze away.

After repeating it several times, Ruan Qingmu quickly flipped to the third page. Meanwhile, Qin Yuan was at the end of his patience. “… Are you in charge of writing the sports competition’s article too? Is this also your job?”

Ruan Qingmu let out a big yawn. “Our class’ publicity representative… forget about it.”

Tang Tiantian earnestly ran over to him in the afternoon and let him look at several draft sheets, saying they would be sent to the sports competition’s broadcast station. She had even mysteriously said if one sheet was selected, it could give an additional 1 point to their overall scores. There was no way they could give up on this.

He looked at a few lines and almost threw up from looking at them. It was something along the lines of “with the blowing of the autumn wind and the pounding of the battle drum, Class 9’s boys flew down the field” and “the battle flag of Class 9 flutters, the proudest thing is to win the competition.” The Youth League’s teacher and the broadcast station’s members had to be blind if this speech was ever selected.

Qin Yuan’s expression was indifferent as he worked on his exercises alone. After working for a while, he suddenly said again, “You take such good care of your class’ publicity representative.”

The pen in Ruan Qingmu’s hand paused, and he turned his head to look at Qin Yuan. “I don’t think so.”

“No?” Qin Yuan’s handsome side profile became increasingly indifferent. “You did the utmost to draw a picture for your class’ blackboard bulletin board and you’re taking her place to write the publicity draft now, ah.”

Ruan Qingmu slowly leaned back and tilted his head, looking at him with a smirk. “Actually, ah… It’s our class monitor who came to discuss it with me.”

Qin Yuan’s back straightened.

The little class monitor in Class 9 was gentle and easygoing. They had a meeting together once before and she really looked lovely.

“Oh, no wonder.” He suddenly reached out and shifted the small desk lamp a bit to his side, doing his best to ignore Ruan Qingmu.

Ruan Qingmu looked at the desk lamp in surprise, suddenly arching his brows and laughing.

He leaned forward and slumped on the desk, looking sideways at Qin Yuan. “Tch.”

Half of the side of Qin Yuan’s face was painted with a smear of warm orange light and his slender neck appeared strained as he told himself to not turn his head.

Ruan Qingmu shifted his arm a little while still slumped in his seat and watched him closely.

“Since you took the initiative to run for the sports representative, you should be responsible for your duties –” He said very slowly, “I wonder who fiercely roared this sentence at me at that time?”

Qin Yuan slowly turned his head. There was a moment of bewilderment on his handsome and elegant face. “I said that… Why?”

“So, why don’t you tell me?” The smile on Ruan Qingmu’s face disappeared and he approached him. “Whose words am I working so hard for?”

It was exceptionally quiet in the clean dorm room.

The early autumn night breeze was gentle outside, carrying the fragrance of the flowers and plants on the campus. In the dorms where the boys were fast asleep, there was only this tiny corner with people still awake, looking at each other.

Ruan Qingmu’s features were sharp and his fair white face seemed semi-transparent under the warm light. He looked provocatively at the pair of pupils that were almost within his reach without blinking.

Qin Yuan looked at him in a daze. After a long time, he seemed to understand his words finally.

Afterward, the place where the roots of his ears were connected to the side of his face flushed red a little bit.