Chapter 8: Ch7 - Strawberry Flavored Scholar Gong (7)

Shou vs Gong, current favorability value: -100!

Translator: KunLin

Editors: Amaris, Grump

Gou Liang calmly returned to his seat.

【The System shivered, as it felt this was just the calm before the storm: M-master, endure, you must endure it! （/TДT)/ 】

【Gou Liang: What are you panicking for? Do I look like someone who gets angry so easily?】

System: You are not like, you are one_(:зゝ∠)_。

Gou Liang just felt that this was unexpected—in a situation where he still hadn’t figured out what he was doing wrong, how could he still have the mood to be angry? He originally thought that the -5 favorability value from his first meeting with the target was because of his sorry appearance, which lacked in attractiveness. Or perhaps it was because of the scandal regarding his sexuality. But from the looks of it now, that might not have been the case.

The attractive appearance strategy failed, Gou Liang expressed: What happened to all men being visual animals? Return my 10 points for that Soul Recalling Grass ah! (ノಠ益ಠ)ノ彡┻━┻

The system shrunk into an egg. It tightened its chrysanthemum and silently ran away.

Gou Liang sat in a seat in the last column of the last row—the reason he was put there despite his height difference with Shi Yu was that the original host always slept in class, so although he was shorter than Shi Yu, the teacher still placed him there in an example of ‘what the eye doesn’t see the heart doesn’t grieve’.

Cleaning out the things inside his desk, Gou Liang threw away the things he deemed useless, including the broken locks. The original host’s diary was originally locked up at home, but after it was discovered by Ye Hui, the original host had purposely hidden it at school and even bought two locks to protect it. However, reality had proven that there were only a thousand days to be a thief but no way to prevent a thief for a thousand days. Two locks could not stop Ye Hui at all.

When he was done tidying up, the inside of his desk ended up completely empty.

By the time the original host had entered his second year, he had already given up on himself. After the few times when Ye Hui instigated other people to rip up his textbooks and homework, he never brought his books to school again. This aligned perfectly with Gou Liang’s intention right now.

Placing his bulging school bag onto his legs, Gou Liang asked his deskmate just as the bell rang to signal the start of class: “Do you like sweet or salty food?”

“What?”

Shi Yu didn’t understand why he was asked this.

Gou Liang thought about it before reluctantly taking out two snacks, one sweet and one salty, from his bag. He placed it onto Shi Yu’s desk and said: “I’m really sorry for knocking into you last time. This one is a token of my apology while the other one, well, take it as a first meeting gift between deskmates, ba.”

Once he finished saying this, he resolutely tore his eyes away from the snacks he had painstakingly made, his heart bleeding inside.

【Gou Liang: My heart hurts. Rather than giving him things to eat, it’s better off feeding those to the dogs! At least the little dog will give me spirit coins, ne, but what about him, what about him, what about him?!】

【System: Master please quell your anger. The Mainframe has determined that the target’s soul force is being confined by the fragment, so it is unable to flow normally.】

【Gou Liang：So, what’s the use of him？】

System: …there is suddenly a strong sense of agreement, I must be sick beyond cure QAQ.

Shi Yu originally wanted to decline, but then he saw Gou Liang taking out one box, two boxes, three boxes…ten boxes of snacks of different varieties and flavors from his bag. Gou Liang placed them onto his desk. Although he had already taken out an abundance of snacks, his school bag was still bulging.

Shi Yu: “…Thank you.”

Gou Liang hastily threw Shi Yu a smile and then buried his head into his bag. He began to count box by box the amount of food that he had brought before lifting his head up with a satisfied expression. He took out a book from his bag and placed it on his desk, then hung his precious schoolbag onto the back of his chair. Following after… Gou Liang buried his head into his desk and continued to count his food.

Shi Yu who had been watching this entire time was surprised by the book that Gou Liang had taken out; it was a psychology book that was written in a foreign language. As Shi Yu watched the scene before him unfold… for the first time in his life he felt the urge to twitch his eye.

The system’s eyes were blocked; even its Master, who was within a meter radius of the target, was included in the blindspot. The system felt anxious, as if it was burning. The constant notifications of 【Ding, target’s current favorability value: -5.】were like mountains after mountains of Five-fingered Mountain pressing down on its body. At the same time, the system listened to its dear master singing in his consciousness ↓↓

Buttercream cream puff, strawberry daifuku, tiramisu, my heart is so full and happy~ mango pancake, matcha mousse, sweet and dark chocolate, bestow upon me motivation~~ pudding, ice cream, raindrop cake, you have my love ying ying ying~~~~

System: Ying your sister’s husband! furiously-knocking-head-against-wall.gif

After making sure that his food supply was sufficient and safely secured, Gou Liang enthusiastically opened up the book that had been coldly ignored for ten minutes.

As for the teacher at the teaching platform and the to-capture mission target sitting beside him, Gou Liang who had activated scholar mode expressed: To one with a calm heart like iron, irrelevant people don’t exist.

Gou Liang immersed himself in reading. After class, even if there were curious people who wanted to talk to him, he didn’t pay any attention to them—no one would care too much about something that was not related to them. The more nonchalant Gou Liang acted, the faster the rumors regarding the original’s sexuality would die down—it was not until he felt a faint pulse of hunger from his stomach did he stop reading.

And so, Shi Yu watched blankly as Gou Liang pushed away the book and buried his head into his desk once again. There was a ‘pada’ sound as a lunch box was opened. A mildly sweet aroma wafted into his nose, the fragrance spreading throughout the entire classroom.

We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.

Xeieie.

Ktf ueieie ogbw atflg rabwjmtr rbecvfv ilxf vgewr jcv atflg wbeatr delmxis oliifv klat rjilnj. Snfgsbcf reymbcrmlberis ibbxfv jgbecv ab olcv atf rbegmf bo atf rwfii.

Ktf ilafgjaegf afjmtfg tjv tlr yjmx ojmlcu abkjgvr atf raevfcar jcv kjr obmerfv bc fzqijlclcu atf afza. Lbkfnfg, atf ogjugjca jgbwj jcv atf lcjaafcalnf raevfcar lwwfvljafis jgberfv tlr jaafcalbc. Kegclcu jgbecv, tlr rtjgq ujhf rmjccfv jmgbrr atf mijrr jcv tlr rluta ibmxfv bcab atf bcis qfgrbc lc atf mijrr klat atflg tfjv vbkc. Lf mtfmxfv atf rfjalcu gbrafg atja kjr qbrafv bc atf afjmtlcu qijaobgw jcv rjlv lc j rafgc nblmf: “Hl Jtfcu, rajcv eq!”

Gou Liang was startled. As he hurriedly lifted his head, he accidentally banged his head against his desk. He pressed his hand against his head and stood up.

Although there was cream on both his face and mouth as irrefutable proof of his guilt, looking at those wide eyes that looked lost and innocent with drops of tears forming because of the pain from hitting his head made a person unable to get angry and be harsh to him.

The literature teacher took a deep breath and said: “Eating while class is still in session is prohibited. I hope you can follow the rules of the class and refrain from distracting other students!”

Early this morning, every teacher who taught Class Three of Year Two was called into a meeting by the Headmaster and they were filled in on Gou Liang’s circumstance. However, when the literature teacher first saw the new appearance of ‘Qi Cheng’ who seemed to have changed into an entirely new person, he was still extremely stunned. Then again, the teaching staff in general, indeed, didn’t know much about this student other than the fact that his grades were bad and he liked to sleep in class. None of them opposed when they were told by the Headmaster to leave Qi Cheng alone so long as he didn’t do anything too terrible.

The literature teacher’s mood became complicated as he recalled this. Just as he was about to tell Gou Liang to sit down, he heard him say in a wronged voice: “But I’m hungry…”

“…”  The chalk in the literature teacher’s hand snapped in half. “Did you come to school just to eat? What is a student’s most important duty? If you can recite the Chu Shi Biao that I’m teaching right now backward by heart, don’t say eat—even if you dance in here I wouldn’t care! Sit down, you’re not allowed to eat during class.”

Gou Liang sluggishly made an ‘oh’ sound and opened his mouth to say: “Write I what not know I, tears own my by blinded, expedition long a on now depart I. Advice my heed you if grateful forever be will I. Emperor late the of words last–”

“Stop! What are you saying?”

Puzzled, Gou Liang tilted his head: “Teacher, didn’t you just say that if I could recite it backward, I would be allowed to eat?”

The literature teacher was shocked, he flipped open the book to check and was immediately flabbergasted as he looked towards Gou Liang. Unsure and bewildered, he said: “You can recite it? Say it one more time in the correct order.”

“If I recite it properly, can I eat?”

“…Sure. That is, if you are able to recite it without a single mistake.” The literature teacher’s teeth hurt.

Gou Liang was delighted, he started to recite at a rapid speed: “The Late Emperor was taken from us before he could finish his life’s work; the restoration of the Han. Today, the Empire is still divided in three, and our very survival is threatened. Yet still the officials at the court and the soldiers throughout the realm remain loyal to you, Your Majesty… Seek out good advice and never forget the last words of the Late Emperor. I depart now on a long expedition and I will be forever grateful if you heed my advice. Blinded by my own tears, I know not what I write.”

By the time he finished, the teacher and the majority of the students had blank expressions on their faces.

“Teacher?”

Shi Yu watched Gou Liang who was impatiently waiting for the teacher’s permission. However, there was no immediate reply from the literature teacher. Not waiting for an answer, like the thief who covered his ears to steal the bell, he reached into his desk and pinched a cream puff in-between his fingers. He sneakily shoved it into his mouth at lightning speed.

“Ah ah ah, so meng.”

The girl sitting at a desk in front clenched her fist and stomped her foot. In a voice that she thought to be quiet, she shrieked excitedly.

The literature teacher finally came to his senses, he looked and saw that there wasn’t much time anyway before class would end so he opened his mouth and said: “Student Qi Cheng, sit down, ba. After school ends, come to my office.”

“Now then class, we will stop the lesson here for today. Let’s use the remaining time of the class to talk about the arrangements for the monthly exam. The date for the literature exam is the same as before. It will be on a Thursday morning. After just two more monthly exams, all of you will be entering the preparation phase for the Liberal Arts. Every test that you take now will lay the foundations of what choices you will have in the future. There isn’t much time or many opportunities left; make sure to grasp on and cherish these chances…”

Gou Liang continued to eat his food, he ate one cream puff with each bite, enjoying life to the extreme.

He saw Shi Yu staring at him with unknown intentions. Gou Liang protected his food and said: “You have your own.” As he said this, he used his eyes to point towards Shi Yu’s desk, as if warning him to not covet his food.

Shi Yu couldn’t help but smile. From the two snacks that were given to him by Gou Liang, he picked up a pudding, unsealed it and ate it.

The pudding melted in his mouth, the taste was unexpectedly good.

Shu Yu raised his eyebrow. He was just about to say something when the girl sitting at the desk in front asked Gou Liang in a quiet voice: “Classmate Qi Cheng, can you tell me where you bought those cream puffs? They look so tasty.”

Gou Liang faintly creased his brows, he debated for a moment before saying: “There are only these. You can’t buy them. If you want to eat… this one’s for you, there’s only this much.” Gou Liang resigned himself and painfully parted with one of his treasures while emphasizing heavily that this was the only portion she was getting. He then threw the girl’s deskmate a disdainful little look, “Also, the person beside you, you’re not allowed to give him any to eat.”

Li LinLing excitedly took the cream puffs and repeatedly thanked him.

Chen LiBai who had previously punched Gou Liang once and was told he couldn’t eat: “…”

Shi Yu who was looking at the inside of Gou Liang’s desk that was piled with food: “…”

Li LinLing ate her food in bliss, Gou Liang watched her and also smiled, revealing a dimple on each cheek.

——Since he made 10 spirit coins, it was only natural for his foodie soul to be feeling generous! ≡‿≡✧

【Ding, target’s current favorability value：-5。(Red Blood)】

【Gou Liang: …】

As expected, the Headmaster announced the disciplinary actions for the fighting incident during the break between classes, right after the flag raising ceremony and the speech given under the country’s flag every Monday. Every time the Headmaster read off a name from the list of expelled students, the students of Class Three would glance at Gou Liang who was standing in the second row. They wanted to know what sort of punishment he would receive and at the same time they were also curious as to why his expression remained so calm. Speculations ran wild in their minds.

Inside Gou Liang’s head he was humming a little tune. Every time the Headmaster read off a name, his private bank account would receive a sum of monetary reward.

Although a portion of the original’s negative soul force was reversed because of his counterattack against certain people, the original host still felt extremely happy whenever these people were met with bad luck. Gou Liang benefited from this and picked up spirit coins for free, naturally he couldn’t be happier.

When the bell rang to signal the start of third period, Li LinLing nervously handed Gou Liang what she had just washed and placed in a plastic bag.

“For me?” Gou Liang put down his book in surprise.

Li LinLing nodded her head. “Thank you for treating me to such delicious cream puffs. I only have this on me, I hope you won’t disdain it.”

Although Gou Liang didn’t say anything, he was pleasantly surprised as he took the item into his hand. He revealed a sincere smile towards the girl—in his belief, gifting food to someone was an action that held a significant meaning. From his past life experience, people who gave you food always had an ulterior motive—whether they want to win you over, deceive you, take your life or frame you… or maybe they just simply want you to live on. However he had exhausted his entire lifetime without ever meeting the last kind of person.

Even if Li LinLing’s present didn’t carry that deep of a meaning, it also didn’t have any hidden or malicious intent. He felt touched from the bottom of his heart. At the same time, it made up for a regret from his past.

Chen LiBai took in this scene and couldn’t help but mutter: “A gay but still flirts with girls, does he have any shame?”

Hearing this, Li LinLing was just about to defend Gou Liang when the latter lifted his eyebrow and placed the apple that had been gifted to him into his desk in a cherished manner. Then he reached out his hand and grabbed Chen LiBai’s collar. Li LinLing made a sound in alarm. Such a big commotion attracted the attention of the other students, however Gou Liang didn’t pay them any mind. Gou Liang watched as the eyes that Chen LiBai used to look at him widened in shock. Gou Liang smiled softly and said: “Are you disappointed that I’m not hitting on you?”

“Y-you, don’t talk bullcrap!”

“If you don’t want me to hit on you, then why are you racking your brains for ways to attract my attention? If you like me then just magnanimously admit it. You’re not the first one to like me and also won’t be the last one, there’s no need to be embarrassed about it.”

“…Crazy narcissist, you’re thinking too much!”

Chen LiBai looked towards the cherry colored lips that were in right front of him at a close proximity. They were like petals. His entire face went red, especially since beside him there was a nonstop “Ah-ah-ah-ah” fujoshi girl.

“It would be best if it’s just me thinking too much.” Gou Liang released him and said: “Otherwise I’ll have to waste my time thinking of a way to tactfully tell you that you’re too ugly, your face really doesn’t fit with my aesthetics. Next time don’t purposely try to attract my attention anymore. It’s not right to do something that can be easily misunderstood.”

Li LinLing: “So handsome! Ah ah ah! (hearts)”

Chen LiBai: “…” His entire face became even redder, but this time it was because of anger.

Shi Yu who had been silently watching this entire time swept his eyes over the surrounding students who were discussing spiritedly and then looked toward the unperturbed and composed Gou Liang. A few hints of respect somewhat formed in his heart.

Li LinLing had just watched a free joke on Chen LiBai’s expense, she bursted into a peal of ridiculing laughter uncontrollably. She then saw Gou Liang eating the apple that she had given him, her heart was extremely happy. When Gou Liang got the notification that he had received 1 spirit coin, he wasn’t surprised in the slightest. In the place where he used to live, the action of gifting food was rarely seen. If a person was willing to eat the food given by the other party, it showed great trust and respect towards the other.

This person who had been her classmate for about a year now had sat at the desk behind her and didn’t say more than three sentences when speaking. A single box of cream puffs and an apple  pulled in the distance between them and Li LinLing now felt a lot closer to this classmate. She curiously asked Gou Liang: “This book, it’s in… English? What is it about?”

What she really wanted to ask was if Gou Liang could really read it, except she felt that asking it would be too rude. But upon seeing this, Chen LiBai who had been “toyed” with immediately said out loud what she was thinking in her heart: “A French book? Can you even read it? So pretentious.”

“If you can’t read it, then isn’t my act a success?”

Gou Liang ate while he talked, in his head he thought: If I told you that I learned the official language of eight countries in one day, wouldn’t you have to kneel down and call me daddy?

As the teacher was walking into the classroom, Li LinLing took this chance to pull over Chen LiBai who was still hating on Gou Liang and said to him in a low whisper: “Don’t treat Qi Cheng like this. Liking men isn’t a crime, you know. Besides, the one he likes isn’t even you, so why are you so aggravated? Also, he’s a very kind person, I even saw him feeding stray cats on the streets before, ne.”

Gou Liang was a bit surprised. He saw that Shi Yu who evidently had also overheard was looking towards him with surprise, he sped up his pace of eating the apple.

Munch munch.

【The System who saw the raging waves inside Gou Liang’s sea of consciousness: Master, what’s wrong?】

【Gou Liang：I’m trying to figure out why Shi Yu hates me.】

He was working hard to create a positive image; he possessed the pinnacle of looks and he strove to be astute and knowledgeable. He was full of compassion and had the guts to love and the balls to hate. He even went as far as to share his precious food with him but he still wasn’t able to reverse the target’s negative impression of him… Gou Liang furrowed his brows. At this moment, he had already exhausted all the methods that he had thought of.

Shi Yu who was similarly also holding a brick-thick book printed in a foreign language was stared at by Gou Liang until he was baffled. He turned his head and asked him: “What is it?”

Gou Liang continued to stare at him without saying anything. After he finished eating the apple, he took out wet wipes from his school bag and meticulously cleaned off the fruit juice on his hand. He also wiped the surface of his desk and reorganized the food inside of it. After doing all this, he finally picked up the book that he had only read one fifth of because of his purposefully slow reading pace–

【System: M-master!!】

【Gou Liang lazily replied：Uh-huh?】

【System: Ding, the target’s favorability value has been updated! Current favorability value: Data is unstable, is currently being calculated.】

This sentence gave him a strong sense of deja vu…

Gou Liang suddenly sat up straight, his heart was clutched tight as he held his breath and waited for the System’s result to come out.

【System: Ding, dear master, the target’s current favorability value: 0. Kiss kiss master, please continue to persist in your efforts, I’m cheering for you oh!  (*′∇｀*)】

【Gou Liang let out a sigh of relief and asked in puzzlement: Little Wanton, what triggered the change in favorability value?】

【System: …Master, the distance to the target is too close, I couldn’t see anything ah, T T.】

【Gou Liang gave him a look of disdain: Tch.】

【System: jumping-into-a-river.gif 】

Gou Liang filtered through his memory to recall what he was doing when the system announced the update of  the favorability value, at that time he seemed to be…cleaning the table??? Gou Liang had a stupefied look on his face. He really didn’t understand why this action would win over the target’s favorability value: this partiality was so odd, should I kneel down to scrub the floor next?

Shi Yu who once again received an odd stare: “…???”

When school ended for afternoon break, Gou Liang went to the literature teacher’s office as told. Unexpectedly, the Homeroom teacher of Class three was also there.

The literature teacher used an extremely gentle and coaxing tone to ask Gou Liang to recite a piece of literature. Gou Liang expressed: …Teacher, this year I’ll be exactly one thousand and twenty nine years old not 2.9 years old. Thank you.

Under the expectant gaze of the literature teacher, Gou Liang smiled and said: “Teacher, I roughly understand your thoughts. When I told the Headmaster this morning that I’ll study hard from today onward, I wasn’t lying. How about this, after the results for this month’s exam is out, if you still think that I need to receive… encouraging guidance, I will definitely cooperate with you.”

The literature teacher who had been seen through awkwardly let out a laugh and glanced at the homeroom teacher who stared disapprovingly at Gou Liang for his bold words. The literature teacher secretly let out a sigh and gave Gou Liang a pat on the shoulder, saying: “It’s me who rushed things too much. No matter what, as long as you put in the effort you will receive the results. Teacher believe that someone as smart as you will definitely be able to do it.”

“Thank you, teacher.”

【Gou Liang: The world’s number one teacher! moved-into-tears.jpg】

【System: Master, you should be thinking about how to capture target Dada, other things are but fleeting clouds.】

【Gou Liang: Alright ( >﹏<。) 】

Walking out of the teacher’s office door, Gou Liang weighed his heavy school bag with his hand and then had the system locate the target’s current position.

Shi Yu wasn’t in the cafeteria, instead he was in the maple garden.

The so-called maple garden that was situated on top of the small hill. Actually, it only had a single hundred year old maple tree on it. Throughout the four seasons, its leaves remained lush. After walking upward a distance on the stone steps, a resting area made of stacked marbles would come into view. There was a stone table and two benches covered by the uneven shade of the maple tree. It was a good spot for afternoon breaks.

When Gou Liang saw Shi Yu, he revealed the perfect amount of surprise before quickly setting out his food. There were at least five lunch boxes. Three dishes, one soup and a dish of rice were compactly packed into large lunch boxes.

Eggplant in garlic sauce, stir-fry vinegar cabbage, simmered-fried chicken wings, yam and spare rib soup; the combination of vegetables and meat were balanced, guaranteeing nutrition. Lifting the lids of the lunch boxes, a burst of alluring fragrance wafted into the air…

Gou Liang asked him: “I brought a lot, do you want to eat together?”

Shi Yu closed his book and stood up, his vision swept over the stone table and landed on the smile that was on Gou Liang’s fair and clear face. He smiled faintly and said: “Thank you for the invitation but I’ve already eaten. Take your time and eat, I’ll be going first.”

Gou Liang smiled as he watched him leave.

【Gou Liang: In this world there’s actually someone who dares to reject my food! Unforgivable!!!! 】

【The system trembled fiercely, from the raging thunder and lightning that was going off in Gou Liang’s sea of consciousness, it climbed out and weakly said: …Master, calm down! You must calm down ahhh!】

【Gou Liang: The mission undertaker’s current favorability value towards the target: -100! (Red Blood)  (╬▔皿▔) 】

【System：_(:зゝ∠)_ 】