Chapter 23: Undercurrent

The monster didn’t understand the deep meaning behind this gesture.

It had seen other humans shake hands like this before, so on the day when Ming Ci cried in sorrow, it subconsciously mimicked this action to comfort him.

Unexpectedly, this gesture made it particularly fond of it, and every time it separated from Ming Ci’s body, it couldn’t help but want to do it.

Honesty, the monster replied, “I don’t know, but I really like it.”

Ming Ci lowered his eyes and remained silent for a moment before softly saying, “It represents two people being very intimate, completely vulnerable to each other.”

“Only in relationships like close friends, family, or lovers would people shake hands so intimately.”

The monster didn’t understand how important these three relationships were, but hearing that this gesture represented extreme intimacy made it ecstatic to the point where its soul seemed to float away.

In its limited memory, it had never seen Ming Ci shake hands like this with anyone else!

However, it quickly realized that it had been created only recently. In Ming Ci’s past eighteen years of life, perhaps someone had already shaken hands with him like this.

The monster involuntarily increased its grip, as if afraid Ming Ci’s hand would slip away, until he softly hissed, “You’re hurting me, Little Red.”

It quickly eased its grip, feeling a bit guilty and somewhat melancholic. “Ming Ci, have you ever held hands like this with someone else before?”

“No.” Ming Ci replied with a subtle mood, “You’re the first one.”

“The first one.”

The monster was filled with intense joy, its voice becoming incredibly sweet and sticky, “I’m your closest—”

Its words stumbled for a moment, unable to find the right word, so it directly used the relationship words Ming Ci had mentioned: “Close friend, family, lover!”

Ming Ci was speechless, unsure of what to say.

At that moment, there were light footsteps outside the door. The smile on Ming Ci’s face disappeared, and he quietly uttered three words, “Hide away.”

In less than a second, the crimson palm holding his left hand melted and retracted at lightning speed into his sleeve.

Then, Ming Ci turned his face to the door, only to see Qin Shuyi entering the room with a bag of snacks from the supermarket.

He withdrew his gaze, sat silently in the chair, and reached for a textbook to read.

The room fell into complete silence, with only the faint rustling of Qin Shuyi opening the plastic bag, irritatingly noisy.

After a while, Ming Ci noticed him walking to his side. Before he could raise his head, he heard him say, “Is your throat sore? These throat lozenges work really well. You should try them.”

Ming Ci raised his face, glanced expressionlessly, and shook his head in refusal.

Qin Shuyi sighed, placing the throat lozenges on the table. “I think you might have misunderstood me a bit. We’re going to be roommates and classmates for the next four years, so it’s better to clear the air.”

Putting down his book, Ming Ci asked indifferently, “What do you want to say?”

His right hand casually rested on the edge of the table, while his left hand quietly pressed down on the restless crimson mole beneath the table.

“Firstly, I apologize for saying that you didn’t understand anything when we were arguing.”

Qin Shuyi lowered his head to look at him, sincerely saying, “I was being stubborn. Actually, you made a lot of sense, and I realized it the next day.”

Ming Ci remained silent.

“Secondly, I shouldn’t have gone through your notebook without permission. I’m sorry.” Qin Shuyi paused. “But, I can explain. When we were in the library, you treated the back pages of your notebook as scrap paper and willingly let me use them. That’s why I flipped through it later when organizing my thoughts.”

Ming Ci’s eyes twitched as he coldly said, “So you’re saying I not only argued with you but also let you use my notebook as scrap paper?”

“Can’t you remember?” Qin Shuyi raised an eyebrow, glancing at the notebook on the table. “Whether what I said is true or false, you’ll know once you flip through it.”

Ming Ci reached out and took the notebook, flipping to the back.

There were yellowed pages filled with messy formula derivations, sketches of curves, and, more importantly, two distinctly different sets of handwriting intermingled, as if in debate.

Ming Ci’s pupils contracted, staring incredulously at the densely written pages.

How could this be? Why did he have no recollection at all?

Seeing Ming Ci remain silent, Qin Shuyi pulled over a chair and sat beside him. “Can you believe me now?”

Ming Ci tried hard to recall that day, but because it was two years ago, his memory was quite fuzzy.

No matter how he tried to recollect, all he could remember hazily was going to the library at Fenghua University in the morning and leaving in the evening. He couldn’t remember anything that happened in between.

Why did he subconsciously think he had spent the entire day alone?

“Ming Ci, I want to kill him, make it clean, without letting other humans find out, okay?”

The monster’s voice echoed in his ears, and Ming Ci suddenly snapped back to reality, hastily stood up, and blurted out, “Don’t touch me!”

Bang!

The chair fell over, and he kept backing away until his back hit the wall.

Qin Shuyi was stunned, his hand suspended in the air for a moment before slowly lowering it.

He only wanted to pat Ming Ci’s shoulder lightly, but he didn’t expect such a strong reaction from the other party.

From a distance of two or three meters, Qin Shuyi faintly heard Ming Ci muttering to himself, “No… don’t… you can’t…”

“Ming Ci, what did you say?”

He took a step closer, but Ming Ci reacted like a startled wild animal, his body tensing up, his eyes wary as he stared at him.

The air grew heavy, and after a full half minute, Ming Ci’s voice sounded again.

“Sorry, I’m not used to being touched by others. It’s a bit of an instinctive reaction.”

His voice hoarse, he said coldly, “As for whether what you said is true or false, it doesn’t matter. It’s been two years, I don’t remember, and you don’t need to dwell on it. Let’s just leave it at that.”

Qin Shuyi was evidently one of those patient types among young men of the same age. After hearing this, he took a deep breath and calmly continued, “Okay, I won’t touch you, but please let me finish what I have to say.”

Ming Ci lowered his eyelashes, his gaze vaguely falling to the ground.

“You should be able to tell, right? I want to be friends with you.” Qin Shuyi paused for a moment, faintly smiling. “Actually, I’m quite solitary. I don’t like dealing with strangers, and I hardly have any friends. Two years ago, that day, whether it was chatting or debating, it was the first time I felt so excited and engaged talking to a stranger.”

“Ming Ci, can you understand that feeling? When you don’t fit in with your classmates, and suddenly you meet someone your age who you really click with, it’s like seeing a beacon in the dark night. It’s hard not to approach them.”

Qin Shuyi’s eyes behind his glasses held a smile as he looked straight at Ming Ci.

“I asked the organizers of the competition, found out which high school you were from, and called your school. But then I heard you transferred.”

Ming Ci glanced up at him.

Their eyes met, and Qin Shuyi smiled and said, “Luckily, we’re destined. Not only are we at the same university now, but we’re also roommates.”

Unlike him, there was no hint of a smile on Ming Ci’s face.

“Sorry, I don’t understand that feeling,” he replied coldly.

Finally, Qin Shuyi’s voice quieted down. “Ming Ci, we’re the same kind of people, why—”

“You’re mistaken.” Ming Ci cut him off, walking back to his seat. “We’re not the same kind. Don’t indulge in boring fantasies about me. I’m just an ordinary student, studying hard to get scholarships, to get into a good university, to have a bright future, that’s all.”

As they brushed past each other, Ming Ci’s nerves were stretched to the limit, cold sweat breaking out on his back.

Because the monster in his clenched hand was restlessly squirming, seemingly on the verge of breaking out into a frenzy.

But he remained composed on the surface, using his free right hand to close the open notebook, stuffing it into his backpack, and then picking up his bag to head towards the door.

Qin Shuyi had always been a proud son of heaven, and he had never encountered such a “humble” and cold reception before.

He turned around, his face as solemn as water, staring at Ming Ci’s back.

The monster squeezed out a tiny bit of crimson from between Ming Ci’s fingers, glaring coldly at Qin Shuyi, while also complaining to Ming Ci, “He’s still looking at you, looking at you with a bad look in his eyes. Let me quietly kill him, okay?”

Ming Ci silently said, “No killing,” then reached out to open the door.

“Oops!”

Miao Nianchun outside the door almost tripped, but after steadying himself against the door frame, he awkwardly chuckled twice.

“Haha, both of you are in the dorm.”

He obviously had been eavesdropping at the door, caught in the act, but Ming Ci didn’t even look at him, just stepped out to leave.

Miao Nianchun entered the dorm, looked at Qin Shuyi, and tried to cover it up forcibly, “I just arrived, didn’t hear anything. What’s going on with you two?”

Qin Shuyi gave him a cold glance, his expression carrying a chilly arrogance, and walked out without a word.

Miao Nianchun sneered at his departing figure, sniffing disdainfully.

Pretentious, still claiming to be of the same kind, same kind my foot. It’s obvious that Ming Ci and you are not on the same wavelength at all!