EAY Chapter 37

Graffiti

Graffiti

37

Shi Ran’s explanation was naturally not believed by Qi Ye. How could he have accidentally fallen into a hole while walking? Kids these days are not so easily fooled.

Moreover, Shi Ran and his two roommates, Li Tianyi and Meng Nan, didn’t bother to make the lie sound convincing. Li Tianyi came back and said that Shi Ran had accidentally run into a tree.

“The streetlights on the road near the school are all broken, and the road is so bad. Shi Ran’s phone also ran out of battery,” Li Tianyi was still excitedly weaving his full-of-holes lie, completely missing Shi Ran’s desperate winks at him. “He could only walk by the dim moonlight, squinting to try and see clearly ahead. But he bumped every few steps. By the time he got back to the dorm, he was all bruised up like this pig head.”

Meng Nan looked at him with an idiot’s gaze for a while, then said to Qi Ye, “He was beaten up.”

“Hey!” Li Tianyi immediately widened his eyes. “We agreed to keep it from Qi Ye!”

“Next time you want to lie, remember not to use tricks you learned in kindergarten.” Meng Nan walked past him and placed the food he brought from the cafeteria on Shi Ran’s desk. “Skip your afternoon classes. I’ll mark you as present.”

Li Tianyi hurriedly said, “Shi Ran and I have different classes. I’ll go for him.”

“Thank you guys.” Shi Ran smiled and used his phone to transfer the money for the food to Meng Nan.

Shi Ran opened the disposable lunchbox and started eating, tentatively glancing at Qi Ye. “Have you eaten? Want to share if you haven’t?”

Qi Ye stared unblinkingly at the injuries on his face. “You still haven’t told me what really happened.”

“Alright, alright, I’ll tell you.” Shi Ran actually knew he couldn’t hide it from Qi Ye, but he still held a sliver of hope that the swelling would go down overnight. But who knew his face would still be so swollen today? He was just thinking of making an excuse to avoid Qi Ye, but he came back so quickly.

Shi Ran said, “I was robbed.”

“How awful, that there are still robbers these days, so audacious!” Li Tianyi couldn’t help but interject, but Meng Nan gave him a look when he tried to continue.

Shi Ran said, “Then I fought him. Then I called the police, and then I called these two. I only took two punches to the face. I don’t have any other injuries.”

Qi Ye felt a wave of fear. “You fought him? What if he had a knife?”

“I knew what I was doing. He was just a petty thief, skinny as anything. I could clearly feel his bones when I grabbed his shoulder. I was just thinking about how someone could be so thin, and in that moment of distraction, he landed two punches. After that, he was no match for me at all.” Shi Ran paused, lowering his voice instinctively. “I could tell he wasn’t right in the head. Any experienced police officer would know. That guy was high on drugs.”

Qi Ye felt his hair stand on end, staring blankly at Shi Ran, who shrank back slightly.

“Oh my god, I saw him huddled in the corner yesterday, all curled up in a ball. I thought he was just stunned, but he was a drug addict. I was wondering how anyone would dare to rob someone in the street when there are cameras everywhere,” Li Tianyi said, still shaken. “Shi Ran, you had a close call. People like that completely lose their minds when they’re high, capable of anything. Luckily, he didn’t have any weapons and was physically weak, otherwise, you definitely would have been hurt.”

Meng Nan nodded in agreement. “Yeah, it’s better to give up the money to save your life in situations like that, and then call the police later.”

“I know, I know. I already got lectured by the police officers last night. I won’t try to be a hero again.” Shi Ran looked sincere. He didn’t think so much last night. His instinctive reaction was to fight back when someone came looking for trouble. If he had known the guy’s situation, he wouldn’t have acted so rashly.

In the afternoon, Meng Nan and Li Tianyi went to class, and Shi Ran looked at Qi Ye, who was sitting still at his seat. “Aren’t you going to class?”

“I asked them to mark me as present. Are you still going to your part-time job tonight?” Qi Ye asked.

Shi Ran said, “Oh, I asked for a day off. I’m afraid the injury on my face will scare people.”

“Okay.” Qi Ye went back to reading his book.

Shi Ran cautiously watched his reaction, and after a while, he asked softly, “Are you… angry?”

“What am I angry about?”

Shi Ran couldn’t quite put his finger on it. The people he was most afraid of telling about his injuries, besides Grandpa Shi, was Qi Ye, because he knew that Qi Ye genuinely cared about him. He was a bit reckless last night, but it had already happened. What could Qi Ye be angry about? Maybe—

“I didn’t call you?” Shi Ran asked tentatively.

Before Qi Ye could speak, Shi Ran quickly added, “I wanted to call you first, but you were with your sister. I didn’t want to bother you. Besides, I wasn’t in any real trouble. I was just a little scared, so I asked Li Tianyi and Meng Nan to come with me.”

“I know.” Qi Ye said softly, “I’m not angry with you.”

He was angry with himself. When Shi Ran was in danger, he wasn’t there for him, and he didn’t sense anything at all. Even with a valid and reasonable excuse, Qi Ye couldn’t help but blame himself.

The next night, Shi Ran went to his part-time job as usual, and Qi Ye came to pick him up as usual.

On the third night, Qi Ye didn’t specifically go to pick him up, because Qi Ye had found a late-night part-time job at the milk tea shop across from the barbecue restaurant. The milk tea shop closed an hour earlier than the barbecue restaurant, so Qi Ye would draw and do his homework at the table in front of the milk tea shop, waiting for Shi Ran to finish work.

“Why did you suddenly decide to get a part-time job?” Shi Ran asked suspiciously, according to Qi Ye’s allowance, he didn’t need a part-time job at all.

Qi Ye said, “I want to practice, it’s like forcing myself to communicate with people.”

University is very inclusive, and being alone is not as conspicuous as in high school. The seats are also random, and there is a lot of personal time, which is more suitable for a shèkǒng like Qi Ye.

Even though he was very popular, and he could seemingly accept people’s stares without changing his expression, and he could calmly deal with girls talking to him, normal communication was another matter.

Qi Ye’s friends were still the same ones in the dorm, and he still didn’t know how to actively build a friendship, even a vague one.

Getting a part-time job would definitely have a training effect, but Qi Ye wouldn’t admit that the main reason was Shi Ran.

The last time Shi Ran broke up with his friend and was injured, it had already frightened him once. This time, something went wrong even when the two of them were together. Qi Ye simply couldn’t forgive himself.

Shi Ran said, “I feel like you’re fine as you are now. Not everyone needs to be eloquent.”

Qi Ye, who could focus on his own world, also seemed very charming.

Soon, Shi Ran wasn’t the only one who noticed this.

The milk tea shop where Qi Ye worked mostly had takeout orders during the late shift, but after nine o’clock, there were almost none left. At this time, everyone could slowly start cleaning up, organizing, and preparing to get off work.

Some colleagues would take this time to go out for a smoke, or play on their phones in the bathroom. In short, everyone had their own way of doing nothing. After going through various stages of finding work for himself and spacing out in boredom, Qi Ye also found his own unique way of doing nothing.

Drawing on napkins.

As long as you didn’t sit down and play on your phone, this method was still acceptable. Mainly because it was difficult to tell from the surveillance footage.

“Wow, did you draw this?” One day, a female colleague who was working the late shift with Qi Ye discovered Qi Ye’s graffiti, her face full of surprise.

Qi Ye drew the little bear doll that the store was using for promotions today.

Qi Ye nodded.

The girl leaned closer to take a look. “So cute! Can I have this?”

It was just a drawing on a napkin, Qi Ye moved aside a little. “Take it if you don’t mind.”

“Thank you!”

After that, the girl’s curiosity about Qi Ye soared. She asked Qi Ye about his school, asked if his major was painting. Qi Ye shook his head and said no. Then the girl asked him if he could draw character comics. Qi Ye said modestly, “I’m not very good at it.”

“Try it. Can you draw me?” The girl adjusted her hat, a little embarrassed. “Just like I am now, just draw my head.”

Qi Ye felt that she was quite interesting to talk to. He originally came with the idea of communicating with more people, which could improve his communication skills. Besides, it was almost closing time, and everything was cleaned up, just waiting to get off work.

Qi Ye agreed and prepared to grab a napkin, but the girl quickly handed over a white cardboard coaster. “Use this. It’s a useless coaster. I cut off some of it.”

The girl touched her hat again. “Do you need me to make a certain expression or something?”

“No need. I’ll draw a profile. Just look ahead.” Qi Ye glanced at her and quickly started drawing on the paper.

Shi Ran got off work early today. Seeing that the lights in the milk tea shop were still on, he excitedly pushed open the glass door. “See what I brought—”

Before he could finish shouting, a girl’s cheer drowned out his voice. “So beautiful! You’re so awesome! I never knew my profile was so cute. Are you exaggerating? No, right! It must be because I’m so cute to begin with!”

She grabbed Qi Ye’s arm and said “thank you, thank you” repeatedly. Qi Ye stopped her, amused and helpless. “Okay, don’t get so excited.”

Looking at Shi Ran who came, he was full of joy: “You got off work so early?”

Shi Ran was stunned, his arms drooping. He suddenly felt a little bored. “Oh, our manager had to go home to celebrate his son’s birthday, so we’re closing early today.”

Qi Ye glanced at the time. “We should be able to leave soon.”

The girl patted Qi Ye’s arm generously. “You go ahead. I’ll take care of the rest.”

Qi Ye: “Let’s do it together. It’ll be quick.”

The girl waved her hand. “It’s okay, it’s okay. I’ve been working at this store longer than you have. Just take it as thanking you for the drawing you gave me. Go home with your friend.”

“Okay, thank you.” Qi Ye came out from behind the counter, took off his apron and hat, and went to the locker room in the back to get his bag.

“What are you holding in your hand?” Coming out of the milk tea shop, Qi Ye looked at the bag in Shi Ran’s hand. “Let me carry it for you.”

“No need.” Shi Ran’s expression was indifferent. “It’s just some snacks. The manager bought them to share with us.”

Qi Ye: “Your manager is pretty nice.”

“Mm.” Shi Ran felt a little depressed and glanced up at Qi Ye. “Your job seems pretty good too.”

“Huh?”

“Pretty easy, with time to draw for your colleagues.” Shi Ran emphasized the last few words, thinking with a hint of jealousy, “Do you love drawing that much? You have to show off everywhere.”