Wild School Boy Was Picked Up And Brought Home By His Professor Chapter 1
byChapter 1
“Lin Yi, I like you.”
The steam rising from the hot pot swirled and fogged the air, and Zhao Qing’s declaration instantly silenced everyone at the table.
Several pairs of chopsticks hung suspended mid-air. Someone’s freshly picked slice of beef slipped back into the Spicy Red Oil Pot, and everyone’s gaze darted back and forth between Zhao Qing and Lin Yi.
Lin Yi’s chewing motion paused slightly. He then put down his chopsticks, gently wiped his mouth with a napkin, and finally looked up at Zhao Qing, a gentle but distant curve spreading across his lips:
“Zhao Qing, we’ve known each other for so many years. Don’t you understand me yet?”
“I’m really not suited for dating.”
The person across the table couldn’t help but laugh aloud, “I agree with that.”
Zhao Qing ignored the joke meant to ease the awkwardness. She leaned forward, resting her chin on her hands, and continued, “Lin Yi, I’m serious. Can we be together?”
Lin Yi lowered his voice, “I don’t want to deceive you. I like men.”
“But…”
Zhao Qing’s voice suddenly rose, “Your dad is also… Is that why your mom divorced your dad? Are you going to…”
“Cough!”
“Cough!”
Before she could finish, several distinct coughs immediately rang out.
The atmosphere suddenly turned strange, and even the bubbling sound of the hot pot seemed particularly harsh.
Everyone knew this was Lin Yi’s most sensitive topic, a forbidden zone in their conversations.
Lin Yi’s eyes dimmed for a moment but quickly regained their composure.
He didn’t immediately refute the topic about his family, just smiled lightly, as if laughing at a joke unrelated to himself.
He picked up the serving chopsticks and naturally dropped a plate of Shrimp Paste into the boiling Spicy Red Oil Pot, using this composed action to “stir up” the awkward atmosphere again:
“So, what do you like about me?”
“Because you’re handsome,” Zhao Qing answered without hesitation, with the pure stubbornness of a young girl. “There’s no one handsomer than you around me! Is it wrong to like a handsome guy?”
This straightforward compliment made Lin Yi feel a little overwhelmed.
“Zhao Qing,” he looked up, his gaze sincere. “We’ve known each other for over ten years. Look, I’ll mess up your game, and I always steal the meat you like to eat… Setting aside this skin, I’m not only very ordinary, but I also have quite a few flaws.”
“So, don’t be fooled by a man’s face.”
After he finished this clear rejection, Zhao Qing stared intently at him and stated firmly, “But I just can’t set aside your face!”
Lin Yi looked at her slightly trembling lips, his heart softened, and he sighed silently.
He took out his phone, unlocked it, and quickly swiped his fingers across the screen.
He finally stopped at the avatar of a gaming friend.
The ID was Marco Boba Tea.
“Look,” he turned the screen toward Zhao Qing, his tone as casual as if introducing a dish. “My new boyfriend.”
“A Scumbag like me changes men faster than clothes. I’m really not worth your affection.”
Zhao Qing abruptly stood up, grabbed the untouched glass of iced lemon water on the table, and fiercely splashed it at Lin Yi.
“Lin Yi, you bastard! Go to hell! Fucking Gay!”
The cold liquid dripped down his hair, spreading dark water stains on his white T-shirt, the chill seeping into his skin.
Lin Yi didn’t dodge or even blink, maintaining that gentle, almost numb smile on his face, as if he was already used to such scenes.
“Qing-jie, it’s not that serious, come on!”
Someone immediately stood up to mediate.
Li Rui, handing a napkin to Lin Yi, said to Zhao Qing, “Zhao Qing, calm down. You two are too familiar; you’re not suited to be lovers. You know Lin Yi’s personality. He’s currently… truly not ready to settle down.”
Zhao Qing: “Li Rui, whose side are you on?! We’re neighbors! Why are you Turning one’s elbow outward!”
“…I’m not.”
Zhang Zexuan on the other side quickly chimed in, “Qing-jie, cool down! Next time, I’ll introduce you to someone handsomer and more devoted, who specifically likes your type of fiery little wild horse!”
“Hmph! Lin Yi! You look down on me? Just wait until you regret it!”
Zhao Qing glared fiercely at Lin Yi, grabbed her bag, and turned to leave.
Zhang Zexuan nudged Zhou Ziyang, who was still burying his head in his food, “Stop eating for a second. You’re close with her, hurry up and see her off…”
After Zhou Ziyang jogged out to follow her, the remaining people sat back down, and the atmosphere was momentarily heavy.
Li Rui patted Lin Yi’s damp shoulder, “Are you okay?”
Lin Yi pulled out a few tissues and unhurriedly wiped his hair and cheeks, his tone calm: “I’m fine. It’s good that she got it out of her system.”
“I couldn’t let her lose face,” Lin Yi crumpled the wet tissues and tossed them into the trash can. “It’s rare for a girl to muster the courage to confess. I can’t crush her confidence further.”
Zhang Zexuan plopped down, waving his hand, “Don’t worry, with our Qing-jie’s psychological resilience… you can rest assured one hundred percent, it won’t affect her one bit!
I bet she’s already thinking about the next boyfriend candidate.”
Li Rui’s attention was entirely on Lin Yi, and he tentatively asked, “Did you really change… boyfriends again?”
Lin Yi took a sip of beer, “I did start seeing a decent teammate in the game.”
Li Rui: “…”
Lin Yi just quietly looked at the doorway, recalling what Zhao Qing had just said:
Your dad is also… Your mom divorced him because your dad had a Deceptive Marriage… Are you going to be like your dad…
Although Zhao Qing didn’t finish, all their friends present understood.
Zhang Zexuan was more carefree, interjecting while rinsing tripe, “Li Rui, look at his unapproachable face. Does he look like he’s fallen in love?”
He swallowed his food, wiped his greasy fingers haphazardly with a napkin, unlocked his phone, and opened Lin Yi’s Moments:
“Come on, let me count for you… count our Yi-ge’s glorious achievements!”
“May 4th, posted on Moments announcing a breakup, saying goodbye to the 60th partner… until last week, August 20th, announced a new relationship, welcoming the 65th partner.”
Li Rui nudged him, “Say less…”
Zhang Zexuan cleverly dodged him, clipped another piece of meat into his mouth, and continued scrolling through chat records:
“Look at the breakup reasons he gave us. I’ll read them out, listen up—”
“Breakup Reason One: ‘Because Lin Yi is a Dragon and the other person is a Monkey, their zodiac signs clash—stuck in the throat, so happy breakup!’”
“Dude, why are you even dating?! With your breakup reasons, you should go straight to the Talk Show competition! Skip the auditions and go straight to the semifinals! Don’t you believe all the judges would hit the buzzer for you?”
“But what happened as a result—they immediately posted about you on the campus forum, and everyone at your school was calling you a refreshingly refined Scumbag. Did you forget?”
“And last month, a junior photoshopped a picture of you two holding hands, and what did you reply on their forum—‘We’re both Type B blood. I’m afraid the child will be 2B in the future, so let’s break up.’”
“Seriously, you weren’t dating, so why did you falsely claim a girlfriend…
Even now, the forum is still calling you out for only having a Model Face but being low-quality and ill-mannered…
If you keep this up, you’ll soon be compiled into a Scumbag Confirmed PDF and spread like wildfire!!”
“Since it was photoshopped, no one would believe any explanation.”
Lin Yi’s voice was slightly low, “She’s very professional at editing. If she can photoshop a hand-holding picture, she can also photoshop chat records. Explaining would only lead to a self-proving trap. Admitting it directly is the cleanest way to end it and can also persuade her not to waste time on me.”
“As for those comments, if I don’t look at them, they won’t affect me.”
Zhang Zexuan clapped repeatedly, “Brilliant, truly brilliant! You are a living Bodhisattva among men, a true Master of Breakups!”
Li Rui saw Lin Yi’s face growing darker and interrupted Zhang Zexuan, “Enough. Lin Yi is only like this because of the Chen Zhinan incident… He hasn’t moved past it, and changing partners is just… healing.”
Lin Yi stood up, cutting off the rest of his sentence: “My treat today. As for Zhao Qing, please comfort her and take her shopping. I’ll reimburse the expenses.”
“Lin Yi…” Li Rui hesitated but still spoke: “Don’t bottle things up. You must tell us if something is wrong.”
“What could be wrong with me?” Lin Yi forced a smile, trying to sound lighthearted. “If Zhao Qing tries to come to school to beat me up recently, remember to stop her. I don’t want to end up on a Blue Background White Text notice as a victim beaten into the hospital.”
“Lin Yi, wait a moment…”
Li Rui wanted to say more, but seeing Lin Yi frown, he stopped, only saying, “Nothing. School starts tomorrow. Come to my school for a meal when you have time.”
Lin Yi nodded, “See you later.”
Stepping out of the restaurant, the humid, muggy evening breeze hit him. Approaching September, the weather hadn’t cooled down; instead, it had become even more humid.
Jiangzhou weather was always like this, as bad as his current mood.
Lin Yi felt the T-shirt on his shoulder sticking to his skin, mixed with the slight sourness of lemon water and the sweetness of syrup.
He turned into the nearby convenience store, bought a pack of tissues, sat down on the long bench outside the door, and began to wipe himself down.
His phone screen lit up.
His gaming friend Marco Boba Tea sent a message:
[Gege, what did you mean by making me send that message just now?]
Scrolling up, it was the message he had asked the person to send temporarily:
[Hubby, I miss you, kiss.jpg]
And his own reply:
[kiss.jpg]
It was these few records he had shown Zhao Qing earlier.
He swiped away the game notification.
He opened WeChat, his gaze lingering on the pinned contact [Mom] for a moment.
Clicking into it, the last conversation was three months ago.
His mother had sent several video links:
[Video 1:12 (If your child is gay, they will definitely regret it when they are old)]
[Video 5:20 (This is the correct view on love! Forward this to your child)]
[Video 2:08 (Is being gay considered freedom of love? Actually, it’s a severe lack of paternal family education!)]
…
He silently exited the chat interface, returned to the game, and started typing:
[Don’t Speak Rabbit Morality]: I like men, I’m gay. Sorry about earlier.
[Marco Boba Tea]: is typing…
[Don’t Speak Rabbit Morality]: Want to meet up?
He glanced at the top right corner, 19km away.
[Don’t Speak Rabbit Morality]: is typing…
[If you find this presumptuous, you can refuse…]
[Marco Boba Tea]: Then are you a 1 or a 0? [Shy.jpg]
Lin Yi looked at the screen and raised an eyebrow.
He deleted the content in the typing box and replied:
[Don’t Speak Rabbit Morality]: 1.
[Marco Boba Tea]: What does that period mean? Are you a 1.5?
[Don’t Speak Rabbit Morality]: The period means affirmation. Pure 1.
[Marco Boba Tea]: Where should we meet? Excited.jpg
[Don’t Speak Rabbit Morality]: You choose the location.
[Marco Boba Tea]: Sent location [Deer Island Coffee (Jiangzhou University Branch)]
[Marco Boba Tea]: Sent voice message: “See you after class tomorrow, around 7 PM okay? Gege~”
Lin Yi tapped the voice message. The other person’s clear, slightly soft, and coquettish voice flowed out.
The corner of his mouth unconsciously curved into an extremely faint smile.
A nice voice, terrible gaming skills, and particularly clingy—it perfectly matched his current need to “change his mood.”
[Don’t Speak Rabbit Morality]: OK.
“A Jiangzhou University student?”
He muttered to himself, opening the map to check. It would take about twenty-seven minutes by taxi.
If it was someone his age, perhaps… he could really try it.
Lin Yi’s school, the National Academy of Fine Arts, had postponed the start of the semester by a week because an art exhibition on campus occupied the classrooms.
He was already in his third year. The Visual Communication Design curriculum was relatively relaxed, and with the school encouraging internships, he could still free up three days even with a full week of classes.
…
So, the following evening.
He went as agreed to the location sent by the other party.
The evening rush hour traffic was more congested than expected, and it was almost time when he neared the destination.
Lin Yi hurriedly pushed the door open and got out of the car.
As soon as he stepped into the Deer Island Coffee shop, the blast of cool air and the rich aroma of coffee cleared his head. He instinctively reached for his pocket and his heart immediately sank.
He had been in a rush getting out of the car and had left his phone in the taxi.
He glanced at his wristwatch; there were five minutes until the agreed time. The shop was sparsely populated, with only two couples talking in low voices.
“Forget it, I’ll borrow his phone to make a call later.”
His gaze habitually swept across the room, finally settling on the innermost corner by the window.
In the interplay of light and shadow sat a man in a black shirt, currently focused on the laptop in front of him. His slender fingers tapped on the keyboard, and he subconsciously pushed up the gold-rimmed glasses resting on his nose bridge.
The man’s slightly furrowed brow was filled with concentration. Black, fragmented hair fell across his forehead, and he exuded a quiet, detached aura.
Lin Yi’s heart suddenly began to beat irregularly.
He stood still, subtly observing the other person.
From his focused eyes and brows to his distinct knuckles tapping the keyboard, everything was vastly different from the soft, coquettish Marco Boba Tea he had imagined in the game.
The trailing “Gege~” from last night seemed to still echo in his ears. Compared to the quiet scene before him, a strange feeling spread through Lin Yi, making him inexplicably thirsty.
The man picked up his phone and held it to his ear. It seemed the call didn’t connect, and he frowned, putting the phone down.
His gaze unintentionally lifted, colliding in mid-air with Lin Yi’s eyes, which he hadn’t managed to avert in time.
They were extremely calm eyes. Even through the lenses, Lin Yi could feel the scrutinizing light within them.
Lin Yi thought: I lost my phone, so was he just calling me?
Could it really be him?
It only took three seconds for Lin Yi to accept the fact that this mature man before him was Marco Boba Tea.
The huge contrast didn’t make him retreat; instead, it instantly ignited the interest in his eyes.
A polite and charming smile quickly formed on his face. He took long strides and walked straight toward that corner.
“I didn’t expect you to arrive earlier than me.” His voice carried a perfect amount of familiarity.
The man saw him walking straight over, his brow slightly furrowed. The confusion and scrutiny in his eyes hadn’t faded, and he radiated an unapproachable presence.
But he remained silent, offering no response.
Lin Yi saw this and felt an even stronger desire to conquer.
He naturally walked to the table, casually rested one hand on the edge, and leaned in.
The next moment, under the other person’s slightly startled gaze, Lin Yi, with a hint of testing, quickly pecked that handsome profile.
“Sorry, I’m late,” Lin Yi’s voice was steeped in laughter. “Have you been waiting long, baby?”