EAY Chapter 60

A Bit Strange

A Bit Strange

60

“What were you chatting about with Senior Zhou?” Shi Ran began his interrogation after the shoot, “You were smiling so happily.”

“Was I?” Qi Ye felt rather down. He initially thought the senior was outstanding and admirable, but it turned out he was just another boring person. After seeing through his and Shi Ran’s relationship, he even hypocritically reminded him to keep it hidden from others because school might not be safe.

“Yes.” Shi Ran also saw the senior’s hand on Qi Ye’s shoulder, which was outrageous. Fortunately, he only placed it there briefly and then immediately removed it, otherwise, he would have rushed out regardless of the shoot.

“Talking about you,” Qi Ye said.

“Me?”

“Yeah, saying you’re very suitable for their style and they’ll find you a partner tomorrow.”

“So soon.” Shi Ran knew he would have a partner eventually, but they hadn’t arrived yet. He had adapted to the shooting work, so he hadn’t thought about a partner anymore.

Qi Ye said, “He also saw through our thing.”

Shi Ran was slightly surprised, but upon reflection, it wasn’t strange at all. Qi Ye had been with him since the very first audition. If they were just regular friends, he would only come along once or twice at most. Besides, they had to wake up so early for the recent shoots. Shi Ran himself wouldn’t believe it if they didn’t have a special relationship.

Shi Ran observed Qi Ye’s expression. He didn’t seem very happy, probably worried that the senior would gossip about it everywhere after finding out. So he patted his hand reassuringly, “So what if he knows? I don’t think that senior is such a boring person. He has so many things to be busy with, he wouldn’t gossip about such a small thing. If you’re worried, I’ll go talk to him and ask him to keep it a secret.”

“Don’t—” Qi Ye realized that Shi Ran had misunderstood, so he said, “I’m not afraid of him blabbing, it’s just that his tone makes me a little uncomfortable, the kind that’s hard to explain. Anyway, I don’t really like him.”

Shi Ran raised his eyebrows. They arrived at the convenience store they often went to. Lately, they had been buying sandwiches and milk here in the morning, eating inside the store, and then going to class separately.

Shi Ran rested his face in his hands, his big eyes following Qi Ye as he went to buy breakfast, paid for it, and opened the transparent sandwich packaging, handing it to him. He didn’t take it, but curiously asked, “This is the first time I’ve heard you so clearly say you don’t like someone. What tone was it? Can you imitate it?”

“I can’t,” Qi Ye shook his head.

“Forget it then.” Shi Ran thought, “Here I was worrying for nothing, thinking so much nonsense during the shoot.”

About a week later, the shooting came to an end, and Qi Ye and Shi Ran could finally sleep a few more hours in the morning. Shi Ran felt that happiness was sometimes a comparative thing. He used to think that 8 AM classes were very painful, but now being able to sleep until 7 AM, then go to the cafeteria for breakfast before going to class, was just too wonderful.

Li Tianyi shook his head as he looked at them, “I’m telling you, you guys are too desperate to make money, waking up so early, I could never do it even if you beat me to death.”

Meng Nan blurted out, “If we beat you to death, not letting you sleep, you could do it.”

Li Tianyi said righteously, “Then it’s better to just beat me to death directly, anyway, not sleeping will lead to failing eventually.”

Shi Ran said, “This is only a little hard to wake up early, compared to my previous part-time jobs, it’s already much easier.”

“Anyway, if you want me to wake up early, I’d rather wash dishes,” Li Tianyi said, “Saying you’re amazing, there are even more amazing people than you. I initially thought Qi Ye was also going to be a model, but turns out you’re just a study buddy. Your spirit is a little strange, to be honest.”

“Isn’t it great?” Shi Ran stared at him, “What the hell is strange?”

Li Tianyi said, “Strange is just weird, I can’t even bring myself to wake up at four in the morning in winter to accompany my best friend to do something, and he can even wake up earlier than you to wake you up, don’t you think that’s strange?”

That’s only strange to me, Shi Ran muttered to himself, trying not to look too pleased.

Fortunately, Qi Ye said in time, “Not everyone is as afraid of waking up early as you are, I’m not afraid.”

Li Tianyi was still looking at him suspiciously. Meng Nan followed up, “Yeah, I’m most afraid of being poor. If there’s a chance to make money, I don’t mind staying up all night. You, just stop using your young master standards to look at others.”

“How can you stay up all night? That’s putting the cart before the horse. Think about it, if you ruin your health, what’s the use of earning so much money?” Li Tianyi said very seriously.

Shi Ran nodded repeatedly, “Alright, alright, Young Master, you’re right about everything.”

That day, Qi Ye was drawing comics alone in the dormitory. Meng Nan and Shi Ran had gone out shopping. A nearby shopping mall was having a sale recently, and many winter clothes were very cheap. Meng Nan wanted to buy some for his family and asked Shi Ran to go with him to choose them.

It had been a long time since he had so happily spent the whole day drawing in the dormitory. Qi Ye stretched a big stretch, his waist was a little sore but he felt very happy. He glanced at his phone, it was about the time they would be finishing dinner and coming back.

He buried himself in drawing for another hour, but still no news. The dormitory was so quiet, which was rare. Li Tianyi had also gone on a date and hadn’t returned yet.

Qi Ye was just about to call Shi Ran when he received two text messages from Meng Nan.

——Qi Ye, come pick us up, Shi Ran is drunk, Room 3.

The other one was a location pin, a certain KTV. Qi Ye felt strange, how could Shi Ran and Meng Nan go to sing karaoke together?

Qi Ye had a bad feeling in his heart. He quickly got up and grabbed the jacket from the back of his chair.

When Qi Ye hurriedly arrived, he found Meng Nan pacing anxiously in the room. He rushed up to Qi Ye and said, “Listen to me, Senior Zhou and his friends are inside. We ran into them when we were about to go back to school. They didn’t particularly force Shi Ran to drink, it’s just that Shi Ran’s alcohol tolerance is too low. But when I tried to take him back to school, they kept stopping me. So I took the opportunity to come out to use the restroom to send you a message. Don’t be impulsive when you go in. This KTV is opened by Senior Zhou’s friend. Our priority is to get Shi Ran out.”

“Okay.” Qi Ye’s face was already cold. He had guessed that Senior Zhou might be involved on the way, but that was the worst-case scenario.

The door of the room opened. As soon as he saw Qi Ye enter behind Meng Nan, Senior Zhou grabbed the microphone and said, “Another handsome guy has arrived, everyone, look, isn’t he handsome!”

Qi Ye ignored the noise. He scanned the surroundings and immediately located Shi Ran, sitting on the edge of the couch, leaning his head back against the backrest, looking very uncomfortable. Qi Ye immediately walked over.

Senior Zhou turned down the music a little and said to him with a smile, “I really didn’t force him to drink. He only had one or two glasses and passed out. Junior Qi, don’t think of me as that kind of bad person.”

“I know.” Qi Ye’s face was indifferent. He sat down next to Shi Ran and tried to wake him up softly. In the incredibly noisy room, Shi Ran accurately caught Qi Ye’s voice, slightly opened his eyes, and said to him, “I have a headache, it’s too noisy to sleep comfortably.”

“Okay, I’ll take you back.” Qi Ye felt a little relieved. He turned to Senior Zhou and said, “You guys have fun, we’re going back first.”

Senior Zhou said, “Hey, usually you guys are such good kids and we can’t get you to come out. It’s rare to get together, play a little longer. Let Junior Shi Ran sleep for a while and wait for him to sober up.”

Qi Ye suppressed his anger and said, “No, I’ll take him back to the dormitory.”

Meng Nan also chimed in to smooth things over, “Yeah, Senior, our dormitory is almost closing and the dormitory mother will be watching at the door. If she finds out we’re drunk, we’ll be in trouble. It’s safer to go back now. Senior, let’s hang out another time.”

Senior Zhou smiled ambiguously, “It’s okay, I’ll talk to the dormitory mother for you, she won’t cause you any trouble. Junior Qi Ye, you’re already here, you should have a drink.”

Qi Ye said, “Will you let us leave after I drink?”

“Yes, of course.”

There were many bottles of alcohol on the table. Qi Ye grabbed one at random, poured it into a glass, filled it to the brim, tilted his head back and drank it all in one gulp, then gestured to Senior Zhou.

“Good capacity.” Senior Zhou clapped his hands, then looked around, “But, there are at least seven or eight seniors here, just drinking one glass doesn’t seem appropriate, does it?”