PBMM CH1 [Arc1]

“There are only 30 days left until the college entrance examination! Don’t think 30 days is a lot and let your mind wander from your studies. Now, let’s talk about this question…”

The homeroom teacher, already balding by middle age, stood at the podium teaching earnestly. The students below, however, completely ignored his words. They played and messed around, showing absolutely none of the natural fear students usually harbor for teachers.

The homeroom teacher sighed. Who told him to be so unlucky as to teach this famously aristocratic class! Even if the students here scored a zero on the college entrance exam, they would still absolutely end up doing better in life than him.

Having been a homeroom teacher for over two years, he had long cultivated the ability to continue his lecture even if the classroom was turned upside down. At this moment, he could only keep talking. Glancing down inadvertently, he met a pair of clear, earnest eyes that looked entirely out of place in this noisy classroom.

The teacher secretly sighed again. Thank goodness—thank goodness there was still He Qing. As a teacher, all his hopes for this upcoming exam rested on this excellent student, who was inherently hardworking and serious.

Knowing there was still someone listening to his lecture, his enthusiasm reignited, and he began explaining with a hundred times more energy. Little did he know, the student He Qing, who seemed to be listening so attentively in his eyes, actually had his gaze glued to Lin Chi, who was playing on his phone in the front row. He Qing sighed internally: [Look at our Chichi, he’s so handsome even when he’s just playing on his phone.]

Faced with its crazy host, the system only replied coldly: [Lin Chi’s favorability is 0. Please complete the mission within 30 days, Host.]

[After studying him for so many days, let’s make a move today!]

Just as He Qing’s voice faded in his mind, the homeroom teacher’s voice rang out from the front: “He Qing, come up and solve this problem.”

With a classroom full of such students, He Qing was the only one he could call on.

The delicate-looking teenager stood up and slowly walked toward the podium. When he reached the first row, a leg suddenly stretched out in front of him. Before he could react, he tripped and fell awkwardly to the ground. Instantly, the entire classroom erupted into arrogant laughter.

Lin Chi had been playing on his phone, but hearing the laughter, he looked over as well. He saw the teenager who had fallen at his feet. His cheeks were flushed red, and his whole body was curled up, looking so thoroughly embarrassed that he wished he could bury himself underground. As if sensing his gaze, He Qing looked up, making eye contact with red-rimmed eyes, before quickly and frantically lowering his head again, shrinking into a ball.

Trying to make himself smaller, he kept pulling his feet closer to his body and accidentally brushed against Lin Chi’s leg. He stiffened first, then retracted his foot even faster. Lin Chi could only see his white sneakers—ordinary and cheap, but scrubbed immaculately clean.

The head-bowed teenager was soon helped up by the homeroom teacher and slowly returned to his seat. Lin Chi, however, was still immersed in the memory of those aggrieved, red-rimmed eyes. Someone patted his shoulder. Lin Chi looked up to see Zhang Xu, who was sitting across the aisle.

Zhang Xu smiled with wild complacency, grinning at Lin Chi as he said, “Did you see how funny that kid is! Walking so slowly, didn’t even know to dodge when he saw my leg! So stupid!”

Looking at his show-off friend, Lin Chi momentarily didn’t know what to feel. The students in this class were all rich kids who didn’t care about their studies, yet a poor kid who got into the school purely on grades had been mixed in. There were people like Lin Chi who couldn’t be bothered to pay attention, and naturally, there were those who took pleasure in teasing He Qing. Zhang Xu clearly belonged to the latter category.

Thinking of the way the teenager had curled himself up into a ball just now, he felt a little uncomfortable and said to his friend, “Stop messing with him next time. If you have that much free time, you might as well play a game.”

Zhang Xu didn’t understand why he was suddenly speaking up for He Qing, but he agreed with a hint of puzzlement. If he shouldn’t tease him, then he wouldn’t; he had other ways to pass the time anyway.

After giving his advice, Lin Chi still couldn’t help but look back. The teenager had his head buried behind a tall stack of books, his expression obscured, and his body was trembling slightly as if he were crying.

[Ding! Lin Chi’s favorability is 5. Please keep up the good work, Host.]

He Qing was currently watching TV and stifling a laugh when this line of text floated in front of him, accompanied by the system’s cold, mechanical voice. He blinked. [Our Chichi really is soft-hearted and cute… I’m honestly starting to suspect there’s a mistake regarding the cause of this body’s death.]

System: [The system does not make mistakes. This body will commit suicide in one month.]

[Huh? Wasn’t he driven to death by Lin Chi?] He Qing lay sideways on his desk, his gaze resting on Lin Chi’s back. [The person he liked agreed to his pursuit, but before he could even be happy for a few days, he suddenly discovered the truth—it was all just a game. His lover’s cold and even disgusted gaze, his sexuality that was different from ordinary people being broadcasted for everyone to know, being bullied, suffering from school violence… Finally, under Lin Chi’s disgusted gaze, he jumped off a building the night before the college entrance exams and died. Isn’t that right?]

The system couldn’t understand all this, simply insisting: [The cause of death is suicide.]

He Qing sighed helplessly. [Alright, switch my TV drama back on. Anyway, even if I lay here like this for a whole class period, the old homeroom teacher will just pretend not to see it.]

He lay back down, hiding his facial expression beneath the desk. It wasn’t until the end-of-class bell rang that He Qing vigorously rubbed his eyes. Only after his eyes were completely red did he slowly lift his head. Looking downcast, he fearfully and timidly pressed himself into the corner against the wall and started doing practice questions.

Because of his “unique” status, no one in the class was willing to sit with him, so he occupied the very back corner of the classroom all by himself. Yes, right in front of the trash can.

He was doing his questions when he noticed two figures standing in front of him. The teenager looked up in confusion, but upon seeing who it was, his body trembled. Like a rabbit seeing an eagle, he shivering squeezed himself further into the corner. Even though there was truly no more room, he still tried his best to inch backwards.

Zhang Xu sneered out loud and slammed his palm onto the desk. Sure enough, he saw the figure that was already curled into a ball violently shudder, then shrink even smaller. He withdrew his hand in disdain and said fiercely, “Hey! Mute! The trash can is so full and you still haven’t emptied it! Can’t you smell the stench?!”

Naturally, in this classroom, dirty work like taking out the trash was usually dumped on He Qing. As for the nickname ‘Mute’…

Looking as if he were terrified, He Qing kept his head down without saying a word. Zhang Xu was long used to him being like this. “Hurry up and empty it! Do you hear me!”

Satisfied at seeing the curled-up teenager nod in fear, he turned and smiled at Lin Chi: “A-Chi, let’s go! The basketball court is going to be taken soon!”

Lin Chi looked down condescendingly at the curled-up teenager, but noticed that after Zhang Xu called his name, the person whose head had been stubbornly lowered stiffened slightly, and then raised his head at an excruciatingly slow pace. Of course, the second after he looked up and made eye contact with Lin Chi, he retracted his gaze like a frightened animal, hiding his face behind his hair once again.

His eyebrows twitched slightly, his heart feeling as if it had been brushed by a feather. Beside him, Zhang Xu hurried him again, and he snapped back to reality. “Alright, let’s go.”

Only after the two walked out of the classroom did He Qing slowly stand up. He had a small, thin frame, comparable to a girl’s, and little strength in his arms. He could only drag the trash can, slowly moving out of the classroom. This picture of meek submission made him look incredibly pitiful.

The reality was: [Pull the radish! Pull the radish! Heave-ho, heave-ho, pull the radish! Heave-ho, heave-ho, can’t pull it up…]

[Ding! Lin Chi’s favorability is 7.] He Qing seemed to sense it; he stopped in his tracks and looked back. Sure enough, at the other end of the hallway, Lin Chi was looking over from afar. Seeing him turn around, Lin Chi immediately turned his head away and walked off.

He Qing dragged the trash can, still maintaining his ‘I am enduring humiliation and I am very wronged’ expression, but inside he was complaining recklessly: [Little System, can we discuss something? Next time, don’t give me such a weak character. Can we get someone brawny and physically strong?]

[Isn’t acting pitiful the Host’s strong suit?]

[Why are you blurting out such a huge truth, hahahaha!]

On the other side, after retracting his gaze, Lin Chi arrived at the basketball court with Zhang Xu. Bouncing the ball, he was just about to shoot when he sharply felt a gaze staring at him. Lin Chi jerked his head up and made eye contact with He Qing, who was cautiously peering out the window.

He Qing quickly and frantically disappeared from the window, but Lin Chi continued staring at the spot. Seeing that he wasn’t moving, Zhang Xu walked over in confusion and looked in the direction of his gaze. “Isn’t that the window near the Little Mute? What are you looking at that for?”

Lin Chi kept his eyes fixed on the empty window and replied, “He was just there.”

“He was?” Zhang Xu looked at the window again, pulled out his phone directly, and made a call. “Hey! Monkey, tell the Little Mute to come down. Yeah, make it quick!”

Lin Chi suddenly frowned. “What are you doing?”

Zhang Xu gave a cheeky smile. “Don’t worry, I won’t mess with him. Isn’t he poor? I’m giving him a chance to make some money!”

The teenager soon walked out of the teaching building. From afar, they could see him timidly hunching his body, making himself look tiny, and his footsteps grew slower and slower. By the time he was about to reach the two of them, he was practically inching forward.

Zhang Xu urged him impatiently, “Are you a turtle? Hurry up!”

He Qing’s body trembled at the shout, and his already pale face turned ghastly white. Stepping between the two of them, before Zhang Xu could even speak, he looked as if he was about to cry from fright. Raising his red-rimmed eyes, he explained to Lin Chi with a trembling voice, “I… I didn’t mean to look at you… I was… I was…”

He stuttered and couldn’t get the rest out.

Zhang Xu was visibly stunned. He looked over at Lin Chi, only to see that his friend showed no surprise. He was just looking straight at He Qing, who was trembling, desperately trying to explain, but failing to make sense.

Following their silence, the teenager clearly misunderstood their meaning. He became even more terrified, yet he stubbornly used his red eyes to look directly into Lin Chi’s. “I… I’m sorry…”

Lin Chi looked at him steadily for a moment, then suddenly said, “Zhang Xu called you down to run an errand for him.”

At first, the teenager didn’t react, his red eyes staring blankly. After he understood, he visibly breathed a sigh of relief, and his body stopped shaking, though he still stuttered, “R-Run what errand?”

“You! Go buy me two bottles of drinks!” Zhang Xu inserted himself between the two who were locking eyes and threw some money at He Qing. However, due to the wind, the money fell by Lin Chi’s feet. The teenager crouched down, his pale fingertips grazing the tip of Lin Chi’s shoe for a fleeting second before quickly picking up the money and pulling his hand back.

He silently took the money and left. Zhang Xu watched his retreating back for a moment before suddenly leaning close to Lin Chi with a mysterious look. “Hey, A-Chi! Do you think this Mute likes you?”

He Qing, who had walked some distance away, paused his footsteps for a second.

[Ding! Lin Chi’s favorability: 10]

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Author’s Note: 

The true male lead (main Gong) is not Lin Chi, muah (づ￣3￣)づ╭