The equipment room lights were off. Even with sunlight spilling through the windows, the room still looked dim.
Panic showed on Lin Le’s face. He could not see what was happening in front of him, but he had heard the door close.
“Zhou Zhongshe? Are you still here?”
The air remained silent for several seconds. Just as Lin Le’s heart slowly rose into his throat, Zhou Zhongshe finally spoke. “I’m here. I closed the door a little too hard just now. Did I scare you?”
Hearing Zhou Zhongshe’s voice, Lin Le relaxed.
“Why didn’t you say anything just now? I thought you’d gone out.”
Lin Le’s legs were getting tired from standing. He tapped his cane along the floor and hit something soft. Crouching down, he felt it with his hand.
It was a gymnastics mat. It probably had not been used for a long time; his hand came away covered in dust.
Lin Le scrunched up his face and dusted off his hands. There was nothing else to sit on, so he could only pat some of the dust off the mat and make do.
Before his bottom even touched it, Zhou Zhongshe grabbed his arm. “I brought tissues. Wait, I’ll wipe it for you.”
Lin Le made a couple of soft sounds of acknowledgment and quickly stood. Once Zhou Zhongshe had wiped the mat clean, he pulled Lin Le down to sit.
“You rest here. I’ll go back to class.”
The moment Lin Le heard Zhou Zhongshe say he was leaving, his heart tightened. Thinking of his mission, he panicked and grabbed Zhou Zhongshe’s hand. “C-Could you not leave? I’m a little scared by myself.”
Zhou Zhongshe stood and looked down at him. There was no expression on his face, making him appear somewhat cold and indifferent.
He quietly watched Lin Le—watched his eyelashes tremble uneasily, watched him unconsciously bite his red lips, looking blatantly seductive.
Zhou Zhongshe suddenly laughed. Lin Le’s fingers, wrapped around his wrist, moved uneasily, only to be pulled off directly.
“Is this how you got Fu Ji and Xiang Chi hooked? Such an obvious trick, and only the two of them would fall for it. My job was just to bring you to the equipment room. No one said I had to stay here with you too.”
Zhou Zhongshe’s words stunned Lin Le. This was no longer the first time someone had accused him of seducing people, but he truly had no such intention. Even a lump of mud would develop a temper after being accused again and again, let alone Lin Le.
He frowned, clearly angry. “I didn’t do anything. If you don’t want to stay with me, then just leave. Why say that about me? Fu Ji and Xiang Chi are both awful too. I didn’t do anything, so don’t pin that kind of accusation on me.”
After saying it, Lin Le’s heart pounded violently, as though it might leap from his chest in the next second. He quietly apologized to the System. He probably would not be able to complete this mission.
Zhou Zhongshe had not expected Lin Le to answer like that. He looked at Lin Le’s face, flushed from anger, and at those sightless eyes.
For some reason, it felt as though a young deer had knocked him over. Zhou Zhongshe said, “I misunderstood you. I apologize.”
Lin Le refused to accept it. Zhou Zhongshe and Fu Ji were exactly the same, thinking a light little apology would be enough. He did not want the apology of someone so unpleasant.
Lin Le turned his head away, making it extremely obvious that he did not want to pay Zhou Zhongshe any attention.
Zhou Zhongshe had never coaxed anyone before. He did not really understand why Lin Le was so angry, so he simply watched Lin Le’s angry expression in silence.
In the end, he sat down on the mat and said seriously, “I said the wrong thing. I apologize to you. If you don’t accept my apology, that’s fine too. But could you tell me what I can do to make you stop being angry?”
What he had said just now truly was not something Zhou Zhongshe would normally say. He had never been so sharp or cruel toward anyone. Yet when he saw Lin Le holding his wrist, he had inexplicably remembered how Lin Le had held onto Fu Ji and Xiang Chi.
No matter what, this was his fault, regardless of the reason.
Zhou Zhongshe was willing to take responsibility for his mistake. His sincere, earnest words made Lin Le pause.
He was blind. Although he could not see, his other senses were extremely sharp, especially when it came to sensing people. In truth, he could tell that Xiang Chi, Fu Ji, and Zhou Zhongshe did not harbor that much malice toward him. He simply did not know why they said things like that.
But he was still unhappy. It made him wonder whether he was being too sensitive, whether the others had merely been joking.
Lin Le had never communicated with people this much or spent this long interacting with them. Once an interaction stretched on and there were more and more things to say, Lin Le’s weaknesses became very obvious.
The room remained silent. Lin Le did not know what to say or how to break the deadlock. His fingers picked at the mat.
“Smack!”
A crisp sound suddenly rang out. Lin Le jolted. “W-What happened?”
Zhou Zhongshe looked at him. “If you can’t think of anything you want as compensation, then I’ll punish myself. It’s all this mouth’s fault for saying the wrong thing. It deserved to be hit.”
Only then did Lin Le understand that the sound had been Zhou Zhongshe slapping himself. It had been loud enough to show just how hard he had struck.
Zhou Zhongshe pressed his tongue against the inside of his cheek. He had shown himself no mercy. One side of his face was visibly red and swollen, looking rather alarming.
Lin Le said, “W-Why did you do that…?”
Zhou Zhongshe grabbed Lin Le’s hand and used it to slap his own face, though there was very little force behind it. “I deserved it. I’ll never say something like that again. I’ll take this as a lesson.”
Lin Le’s palm was soft and fleshy, warm, and perhaps from nervousness, slightly damp with sweat. When it landed, there was almost no force behind it, and it carried that faint fragrance that seemed to come from Lin Le’s very skin and bones.
“Don’t do this.”
Lin Le tried to pull his hand back, but Zhou Zhongshe was too strong for him to break free.
Zhou Zhongshe became entranced. The palm that should have struck his cheek somehow drifted instead to his lips, then his nose.
The fragrance, wrapped in warmth, flooded into him from every direction until Zhou Zhongshe felt almost dizzy from it.
Lin Le touched something soft and had no idea what it was. Startled, he hurriedly tried to pull his hand back. “What are you doing?”
Perhaps Zhou Zhongshe had been distracted, because this time Lin Le broke free with ease. He pulled his hand back to his chest and frowned reproachfully in Zhou Zhongshe’s direction.
He had no idea where Zhou Zhongshe had put his hand. It had felt warm, and a little damp.
It was difficult to describe—an extremely strange sensation that made Lin Le rub his hand.
Zhou Zhongshe stared blankly at him. Several seconds later, he finally came back to himself with a full-body jolt.
Regret flooded him. He could not help cursing himself as an idiot. Thank goodness Lin Le could not see. Otherwise, wouldn’t he have died of embarrassment? He might even have been labeled a perverted stalker himself.
“Sorry. My hand got a little sweaty and accidentally touched yours.”
He absolutely did not dare tell Lin Le that his hand had just been pressed against Zhou Zhongshe’s lips, so he could only make up the excuse that it had touched his hand.
Lin Le thought about it. Had that sensation really felt like a hand?
He lightly touched his own lips with a finger. Why had it felt more like a mouth?
Lin Le wavered between the two possibilities, but since Zhou Zhongshe said it had been his hand, Lin Le felt too embarrassed to say that it had seemed like a mouth. If he did, the two of them would die of awkwardness.
But the atmosphere was already tense and rather awkward. Flustered, Lin Le changed the subject. “Y-You said you wanted to compensate me, right? Then from now on, help me buy my meals.”
Afraid Zhou Zhongshe might do something like grabbing his hand to slap himself again, Lin Le picked a relatively easy task. “Just buy dinner for me.”
Some students went outside the school to buy dinner, so the cafeteria was much emptier then and the lines were not very long.
Zhou Zhongshe agreed without hesitation and promised, “Okay. Is there anything you like to eat or don’t like to eat?”
Lin Le said, “Um, I’m not really picky. I don’t like things with shells, or things with lots of bones. You can get something sweet and something spicy. Just two dishes are enough, and ask the auntie to give me a little less rice.”
Zhou Zhongshe listened carefully, memorizing every word.
“Okay, I understand. Can I buy it for you tonight?”
Lin Le had never met someone so eager to volunteer for work. He did not really understand it, but he respected it. Maybe Zhou Zhongshe was simply very hardworking.
“Sure. Then I’ll trouble you. I’ll wait for you in the dorm when the time comes.”
Zhou Zhongshe hummed in acknowledgment, looking at Lin Le while thinking to himself: Where was Lin Le’s spell hidden?
Could it be somewhere on his body? His arm? His palm? How had Zhou Zhongshe ended up like this too?
Zhou Zhongshe’s gaze was so intense that Lin Le could not ignore it even if he tried. He finally asked, “W-Why do you keep looking at me? Is there something dirty on my face?”
Lin Le liked being clean. He raised a hand and wiped his face, then asked, “Is there still something there?”
Zhou Zhongshe smiled soundlessly. “There’s nothing dirty. I just think you’re pretty. How did you grow up looking this good?”
Lin Le froze. Zhou Zhongshe was the first person to praise him so directly. The words were like a small stone suddenly thrown into a calm pond, splashing up ripples.
He scratched his cheek, a little embarrassed. “Huh? My mom and dad made me well. They had good genes, so I turned out good-looking.”
Although Lin Le had never met his parents, he always felt that his mother and father must have been very good-looking people too.
A little pride appeared on Lin Le’s face, even making his lips pout slightly. Zhou Zhongshe laughed when he saw it.
“Yes. I’m sure your mother and father were both very beautiful and handsome people.”
The two of them chatted about one thing, then another, talking about almost everything.
Zhou Zhongshe’s tone was gentle and his voice warm. He always paid attention to Lin Le’s emotions. The moment he noticed Lin Le becoming downhearted because of a certain topic, he immediately changed it.
Talking with Zhou Zhongshe made Lin Le very happy.
【Mission Two complete. Sight-restoration progress increased by one.】
The System notification came suddenly. Lin Le jumped, then became even happier.
Completing the mission was proof of his ability. Lin Le could not help lifting his feet happily. See? He had said he was very capable.
Zhou Zhongshe watched Lin Le’s proud expression and assumed he was still happy about being called pretty. He could not help thinking: Was one compliment really enough to make him happy for this long?
He really did have a childlike temperament.
Someone knocked on the door. Zhou Zhongshe went over and opened it. Lin Le tilted his head up and asked, “Who is it?”
Zhou Zhongshe did not answer. A gloomy voice sounded instead. “I was wondering why you still hadn’t come back. So you were with Lin Le
