Chapter 18

“Yeah,” Qu Yun knew that Ling Mo had softened.
“So much nonsense.”
Ling Mo turned around, and Qu Yun immediately followed him with a smile.
He knew that Ling Mo had agreed to go home with him.
Walking out of the school, they passed by a small shop, and the theme song of “Slam Dunk” was playing again.
When Qu Yun heard the music, his legs almost couldn’t move.
Ling Mo stopped and looked at his longing side face, saying: “If you want to watch, go in and watch.”
“That’s right! Anyway, Mom isn’t waiting for us at home today!”
Qu Yun happily went in and bought 50 cents worth of sunflower seeds.
The shopkeeper laughed: “Little fatty, you’re doing well. You want to exchange 50 cents of sunflower seeds for two seats from me?”
Qu Yun looked at Ling Mo and gave the shopkeeper another 50 cents: “Then buy another 50 cents! Hurry up, the opening song is already over!”
The two sat down, and Qu Yun was already watching intently.
Ling Mo nudged him with his elbow: “Crack the seeds.”
“Ah? I’m watching, you crack them yourself!” Qu Yun grabbed a handful and put it in Ling Mo’s palm.
But Ling Mo put the seeds back.
“If you don’t crack them, I’ll go back.”
“Ah? Don’t! “
How could you let someone else crack seeds for you!
But then again, Ling Mo wouldn’t be interested in cartoons, and he was patiently accompanying him, even teaching him homework before. Cracking seeds was just cracking seeds.
So Qu Yun watched while placing the sunflower seeds between his front teeth.
He was a master at cracking seeds, just cracking a small opening, then using his tongue to lick out the seeds, without separating the two shells.
Qu Yun placed each cracked seed in Ling Mo’s hand, but his eyes were still focused on the TV.
When Sakuragi Hanamichi made a fool of himself, he laughed along.
After ten minutes, the cartoon was over.
Qu Yun looked at Ling Mo beside him, who got up neatly and threw all the seed shells into the trash can.
“My goodness, you ate a whole dollar’s worth of sunflower seeds?”
He hadn’t eaten a single one.
“Yeah, I finished them. I can’t eat much.”
“You crack them yourself next time. My tongue is blistered and it hurts.” Qu Yun patted his schoolbag and followed Ling Mo.
“Should I blow on it for you?” Ling Mo asked lightly.
Qu Yun was speechless: “Have you ever heard of blowing on your tongue?”
“Should I lick it for you?” Ling Mo’s voice was still cool.
“Lick your head! It’s my tongue!”
“Then why don’t you go home and drink some water?”
“Let’s go, let’s go!”
Qu Yun found that following Ling Mo’s pace was like practicing race walking. By the time they reached the front door, he was sweating.
Opening the door, Liang Ru was indeed not home.
But there were twenty dollars on the table, and a note left by Liang Ru: Go to the store across the street and buy noodles when you get home. If Ling Mo comes, add two braised eggs. Don’t use the remaining money to go to the game room.
Qu Yun looked at the note and showed a complicated expression.
“What’s wrong?”
“What do you mean ‘If Ling Mo comes, add two braised eggs’?”
Does that mean he can’t add braised eggs if Ling Mo doesn’t come?
“Are you wondering whether these two braised eggs are for you or for me?” Ling Mo asked coolly.
“Nonsense! Of course one for each of us!”
Qu Yun ordered two bowls of noodles, one large and one small, and two braised eggs.
When the noodles arrived, the owner looked at their sizes and gave the large one to Qu Yun and the small one to Ling Mo.
But Qu Yun switched them, taking the small one for himself and giving the braised eggs to Ling Mo.
Ling Mo looked at the large bowl of noodles and two braised eggs and asked Qu Yun, “Are you full?”
“I have to eat less at night to lose weight.”
“Is it to lose weight so you don’t get sleepy in class, or to lose weight to attract girls?” Ling Mo’s voice was cool.
Qu Yun slurped his noodles and mumbled, “Lose weight so I won’t squeeze you when I sleep.”
Ling Mo’s chopsticks stopped at the edge of the bowl, then suddenly poked one of the braised eggs and threw it back into Qu Yun’s bowl.
“Eat your egg. I don’t feel squeezed.”
After finishing their noodles, they returned home. Qu Yun moved a chair to the desk and consciously gave half of the desk to Ling Mo.
But Ling Mo didn’t do his homework. Instead, he said, “Take off your uniform, I’ll wash it for you.”
“Ah? I’ll just throw it in the washing machine when Mom gets back…”
“If your Mom sees it, she’ll pull your ears. And it’s harder to wash if it’s left for too long.”
Qu Yun thought for a moment and got up, saying, “Then I’ll wash it myself.”
“Do your homework, I’ll show you when I’m done.”
Ling Mo had no expression on his face, but Qu Yun felt like he was a little unhappy.
“My uniform has sweat… and the smell of Li Yuanhang’s spilled rice.”
“If it doesn’t smell, do you still need to wash it?”
Ling Mo’s eyes said: Don’t talk nonsense.
Qu Yun took off his uniform, and Ling Mo took it to the bathroom.
Half an hour later, Ling Mo came in with his sleeves rolled up.
Qu Yun had just finished his math homework. Although the last question was a bit difficult, he managed to solve it.
“Thank you for washing my uniform.” Qu Yun scratched his head awkwardly, “I just finished my math homework.”
“You thank me, don’t you heart me?” Ling Mo raised his chin and asked, his eyes looking at Qu Yun’s belly in his white T-shirt.
Qu Yun was stunned for two seconds, then immediately squeezed his belly: “Squeeze a heart for you!”
Ling Mo poked the bulging center with his finger: “You seem to have lost weight.”
“Really?”
“If you lose any more weight, you won’t be able to squeeze out a heart. You should stay fat.”
“Didn’t you say that squeezing a heart is crazy?”
“Didn’t you say that I’m crazy, you’ll be sad?”
“What the… it’s like a tongue twister…”
Qu Yun stopped, watching Ling Mo pull out a chair and take Qu Yun’s homework.
Was Ling Mo just joking with him?
Although the joke was cold… but Qu Yun’s mind suddenly had fireworks again. They were getting closer! Ling Mo was trusting him more!
“What are you thinking about in your head?” Ling Mo’s cool voice rang out.
“Fireworks!” Qu Yun said without thinking.
“… I think you’re flying a kite. You got the calculation wrong again, pay attention.” Ling Mo threw the homework back to Qu Yun, but didn’t tell him which question was wrong. Qu Yun could only focus and carefully review each question.
Ling Mo was the first to go take a shower. When Ling Mo was leaning against the headboard reading a book, Qu Yun was still battling with the English test paper.
Opposite Qu Yun’s bed was a poster of Sakuragi Hanamichi.
“Why do you like this red-haired monster so much?” Ling Mo asked.
“He’s Sakuragi Hanamichi, not a red-haired monster. He went from an outsider to a basketball star!”
“This is chicken soup for the soul for fools like you.”
“Isn’t chicken soup good?”
“Have you ever heard of a story about a fox on a cliff telling the other chicks that they will become eagles if they fly over the cliff? So the chicks jumped off one after another, and the fox only needed to go down the mountain to find the chicks that fell to their deaths, and he could eat his fill.”
“Ah? What do you mean?”
“It means you won’t become Sakuragi Hanamichi, you’ll only become a chick that falls to its death.” Ling Mo stretched out his hand, motioning for Qu Yun to hand him the English practice paper.
Qu Yun handed it to him, and Ling Mo circled some parts with a pencil and gave it back to Qu Yun.
“You circled the ones I got wrong?”
“I circled the ones you got right.”
Ling Mo said lightly, but Qu Yun didn’t want to look at English anymore.
When Qu Yun finally finished all his homework and came out after taking a shower, he saw Ling Mo pointing at the poster opposite the bed and saying, “Take it down.”
“What’s wrong?”
“It’s an eyesore.”
“That’s my idol. I’m not tearing it down!”
This is my house, I can put up whatever I want!
“Didn’t I just say that Sakuragi Hanamichi is a lie, a chicken soup for the soul?”
“So what?”
“You’ll only become Takamiya Nozomu.”
This sentence ruthlessly hit Qu Yun’s self-esteem.
Takamiya Nozomu was the fat guy in Sakuragi’s group…
He probably wouldn’t let Qu Yun regret living in this world if he didn’t take down the poster.
When Qu Yun got under the covers, Ling Mo frowned: “What did you spray?”
“Six God cologne!”
“There are no mosquitoes, why are you spraying cologne?”
“I’m afraid you’ll find my sweat smelly!”
“You’re dead.”
“Cologne is better than my sweat, even if it’s strong!”
“I didn’t smell any sweat on you.”
Qu Yun was suddenly a little surprised. He was about to turn his head to look at Ling Mo, but Ling Mo had already turned his back.
Maybe… the cologne really stung his nose?
But for Li Yuanhang, it was an unhappy night.
Today, his father Li Hao finally came back from the factory. Li Yuanhang described in detail how Ling Mo colluded with the fat guy in his class to overturn his rice bowl, leaving him hungry for a whole afternoon.
Li Hao was impulsive, and Chen Li kept persuading him that Li Yuanhang’s teacher and the head of the teaching department had a grudge against their family, and there was also a columnist from the newspaper upstairs. If they were not careful, they would become the target of everyone’s anger. When Li Yuanhang returned to his room, Chen Li reminded Li Hao again that Ling Mo had already guessed that they had misappropriated the inheritance left by his parents to overturn the down payment for the house. If Ling Mo made a fuss, it would not be good for them.
Li Hao also softened: “Then I’ll have a good talk with him, don’t make trouble with Yuanhang anymore, okay?”
Who knew that Li Hao had prepared for a long time, but Ling Mo didn’t come back. He only received a call from Liang Ru, telling him that Ling Mo was tutoring Mo Xiaobai at their house and it was too late to go back.
Li Yuanhang felt like he had been slapped in the face. More importantly, Chen Li told him repeatedly that if he made trouble with Ling Mo again, she would never give him another penny of allowance, and she even said that she would call Ling Mo home for dinner and ask him to apologize to him!