The depression in Sheng Cen’s heart was instantly replaced by anger, he pursed his lips and said, somewhat sullenly: “My grades are actually not bad.”
Tang Qi Yuan felt as if his table mate was not quite sober and could not help but remind him, “Your papers are still in my backpack.”
“……” Sheng Cen looked up and glared at him, asking gruffly, “Tang Xiao Qi, are you looking for a beating?”
Tang Qi Yuan ducked back, feeling that he couldn’t hurt his table mate’s enthusiasm from studying too much, so he changed the subject and continued to advise him, “Classmate Sheng, don’t worry too much, not only do you have His Majesty’s blood in you, you also have your mother’s blood in you, you and your brother have the same genes, do you think your brother will become the same as His Majesty?”
“Of course not.” Sheng Cen retorted without hesitation.
Tang Qi Yuan walked over and patted him on the shoulder in the darkness, “That’s right, I believe you won’t either, just like you believe in your brother.”
Sheng Cen was stunned for a moment and looked down at him, the light above his head suddenly lit up, they were facing each other, their eyes intertwined without warning.
Tang Qi Yuan’s hand was still resting on Sheng Cen’s shoulder, the light shone softly on his palm-sized face, his long eyelashes cast a shadow on his eyelids, his eyes were as clean and pure as black pearls washed by rain, his sincere gaze looked innocent and unworldly, but his pupils were shining with a stubborn light.
For the first time, Sheng Cen noticed that this little nerd was so good looking, his cheeks were pink and puffy and looked so soft that one wanted to reach out and pinch them.
As he thought this, he really couldn’t help but reach out his hand and give it a gentle pinch, but he was reluctant to let go of it afterwards, it was smooth and tender, and it was really comfortable to squeeze.
Tang Qi Yuan was stunned for a moment, blinking at Sheng Cen innocently, why did his table mate suddenly use violence on him?
Sheng Xi’s warm voice came from inside the house, “Time to eat!”
He had just wanted to come and shout at Tang Qi Yuan and Sheng Cen to eat, he vaguely saw them standing outside the house, so he turned on the light outside.
“Ok, Ge.” Sheng Cen shouted, letting go of his hand and finally releasing Tang Qi Yuan’s cheek.
The skin on Tang Qi Yuan’s cheek was tender, and although he hadn’t used much force, it was still red.
Tang Qi Yuan reached out and rubbed his cheek, giving Sheng Cen a complaining look.
Sheng Cen pretended not to see it, coughed lowly and lifted his steps towards the house first, “Come in and eat.”
Tang Qi Yuan slowed down for a moment, keeping a metre away from the table mate that had just used violence, before raising his steps to follow.
Empress Xia’s meal was prepared in a sumptuous manner, and as soon as he walked into the house, he could smell the fragrance of the rice and dishes, and Tang Qi Yuan knew just by looking at the colour and appearance that the dishes must taste very good.
He and Sheng Cen sat down side by side at the dining table, which was set up with only four chairs. It looked like everyone in Orchid Palace was used to the fact that the emperor would not come over to eat, so no one thought of waiting for the emperor to start the meal, and he did not ask much, as if he did not know that there is an emperor.
Empress Xia handed the bowl and chopsticks to Tang Qi Yuan, looked at him and smiled: “Xiao Qi, I don’t know your tastes, try it and see if you like the taste? If you don’t like it, Auntie will make you a new one.”
“Thank you, Auntie.” Tang Qi Yuan smiled, took the chopsticks, picked up a shrimp and put it into his mouth to taste it carefully, then smiled with arched eyebrows: “Delicious, especially delicious.”
The smile on Empress Xia’s face became even bigger as she gave Tang Qi Yuan a few servings of the dish, “It’s good that you like it, then eat more.”
Tang Qi Yuan nodded repeatedly and couldn’t stop eating, Empress Xia’s cooking was really good, the meal was full of colour and flavour, since he moved out of the house, he had fewer opportunities to eat home-cooked food like this.
Empress Xia smiled gently and turned her head to look at Sheng Cen, her nose twitched and she couldn’t help but frown, “Cen Cen, why is the smell of smoke so strong on you? Have you been secretly smoking again? How many times have I told you not to smoke, why don’t you listen?”
Tang Qi Yuan pursed his lips and smiled, the smoky atmosphere in Orchid Palace was really strong, even the way Empress Xia reprimanded Sheng Cen was just like a parent in an ordinary family, he could feel that Empress Xia had been trying hard to make Sheng Cen and Sheng Xi live like an ordinary family, trying not to let them be bound by the rules of the royal family.
Sheng Cen held his rice bowl and looked up to glare at Tang Qi Yuan, “What are you laughing at?”
Tang Qi Yuan put the chicken wings that Empress Xia had just given him in his mouth and took a bite, they were crispy and fragrant, he arched his eyebrows and gave Sheng Cen a dismissive look, “Classmate Sheng, you can’t hit me because Auntie hits you, it’s not right.”
Sheng Xi sat aside and laughed twice in a low voice: “Xiao Qi is right, don’t think of changing the subject.”
“Fine, fine, fine……” Sheng Cen gave in and glumly chucked himself a chicken wing, “Next time after I smoke, I’ll remember to change my clothes before I eat.”
“Did I mean your clothes? I mean you smoking!” Empress Xia glared at him, looked at Tang Qi Yuan and said: “Xiao Qi, watch him for me from now on, don’t let him smoke, if he doesn’t listen to you, you come and tell me.”
“Okay, Auntie.” Tang Qi Yuan nodded, feeling like the responsibility on his body got a little heavier, blaming his table mate for making people worry.
“You mind your own business.” Sheng Cen looked at Tang Qi Yuan and said.
He couldn’t help but have a bit of a headache, his teacher had asked Tang Qi Yuan to watch him study, so Tang Qi Yuan made him stay back after school every day to give him make up lessons, if his mother asked Tang Qi Yuan to watch him smoking again, when he smoked in future, he can forget about it being quiet.
Tang Qi Yuan looked up at Sheng Cen and said with a straight face: “Classmate Sheng, I am your table mate, how can your business be considered other’s business to me? Just now, on account that I saw you were not in a very good mood, I have already delayed not explaining the paper to you for such a long time, so after dinner later, you should go study.”
Sheng Cen couldn’t do anything with him and raised his eyebrows, suddenly showing a fierce expression as he asked: “Do you know what I usually like to eat the most?”
“I don’t know.” Tang Qi Yuan shook his head, feeling a little guilty in his heart, he really didn’t know his table mate well enough, he doesn’t even know what his table mate liked to eat, it seemed that he had to get to know his table mate more in the future.
Sheng Cen sneered and slowly spoke, “I’ve always liked to eat Tang Yuan1Again, Tang Yuan is glutinous rice balls, they’re delicious the most.”
He lowered his head after he finished , he scooped up the Tang Yuan from the bowl and with a very fierce expression, he ate one of the round and lovely Tang Yuan.
Tang Qi Yuan blinked and unconsciously reached out and touched his neck, inexplicably feeling as if Sheng Cen was eating him, he couldn’t help but stare with round eyes.
“Don’t scare Xiao Qi!” Empress Xia smacked Sheng Cen’s head, smiled lowly and scooped up a few Tang Yuan for Tang Qi Yuan as well, “Eat, don’t mind him.”
Tang Qi Yuan had a pleasant meal, except for the fact that Sheng Cen always liked to look up and glare at him when he was eating the Tang Yuan.
After dinner, the rain outside suddenly became heavy, with lightning and thunder, and the rain poured down. Tang Qi Yuan stood by the window, looking at the sky and couldn’t help but feel a little worried, how would he go home later?
Sheng Cen walked over with his hands in his pockets, reached out and pressed his head, looked at the heavy rain outside and said, “Don’t go tonight, stay here ba.”
Tang Qi Yuan thought carefully and felt that his table mate was right, it was a thunderstorm outside, going back at this time was not only irresponsible to his own life but also to other people’s lives and very unsafe, so he nodded and sent a message to his brother saying that he would not go back tonight.
Tang Liu Yuan’s call came soon after. He thought at first that there were only two people, Tang Qi Yuan and Sheng Cen, so he did not agree to Tang Qi Yuan staying outside, but in the end, it was Empress Xia herself who answered the phone and explained clearly in person before he agreed.
After hanging up the phone, Empress Xia looked at Tang Qi Yuan and said happily: “I’ll go up and clean up a room for you.”
Sheng Cen stood aside and spoke, “Don’t be busy, mum, you go and rest, he’ll just stay in my room.”
Empress Xia immediately gave Sheng Cen a glance, “Xiao Qi is an Omega, how can he share a room with you?”
“Mom, what are you thinking? I’ll sleep on the sofa and he’ll sleep on the bed.”
“That won’t work either, who knows if you’ll bully Xiao Qi.”
“You live on the left side of my room and my Ge is on the right, what else can I do?” Sheng Cen sighed helplessly, “Ah Lang2Referring to Xia Cheng Lang got drunk yesterday and stayed in the guest room, which still smells of alcohol.”
“This Ah Lang, I must teach him a good lesson sometime.” Empress Xia murmured, looked up with some difficulty at Tang Qi Yuan and asked in a soft voice: “Xiao Qi, is it okay if I ask you to stay in Ceng Chen’s room tonight?”
“I’m ok with anything.” Tang Qi Yuan nodded, he still had trust in his table mate.
Empress Xia smiled, “Then I’ll go and change new bed sheets for you.”
After Empress Xia went upstairs, Sheng Cen turned his head to look at Tang Qi Yuan and explained in a low voice, “My mother had a difficult birth back then, her health has not been good after giving birth to me, she gets tired easily, and she is a person who cherishes old friends and acquaintances, the people working in Orchid Palace have not been changed over the years, they are all older now and rest early at night.”
“En, I understand.” Tang Qi Yuan didn’t have a problem with where he was staying, it was only one night’s sleep, he had always slept well, it was the same wherever he slept, and he didn’t want to bother the elderly to get up and clean his room so late at night.
After Empress Xia had changed the sheets, Tang Qi Yuan went upstairs with Sheng Cen. Sheng Cen’s room was not as cold as he thought it would be, instead many of the details were childlike, the Lego on the table and the plushes in the corner, which didn’t seem to fit his image as a person.
“My room is usually tidied up by my mother herself, she always likes to put some strange things in here.” Sheng Cen said as he placed the photo on the table face down and pressed it on the table top.
Tang Qi Yuan took a glance at it and withdrew his eyes, very understandingly not exposing his table mate. In fact, after entering the room, the first thing he saw was the photo, in which Sheng Cen, who should only be three or four years old, was riding on a big plush tiger with a happy smile, looking childish and cute, and the big tiger in the photo was the same one in the corner.
The table mate may look fierce, but he also has a childhood.
He walked over to the piano that was set up in the room, reached out and pressed the keys, and the pleasant sound of the piano suddenly rang out.
“You know how to play the piano?” Tang Qi Yuan was a little surprised, this was nothing like Sheng Cen’s personality.
“Just for fun.” Sheng Cen now somewhat regretted his decision to take Tang Qi Yuan back to his room.
Sheng Xi pushed his wheelchair in, with two glasses of milk on a plate in his lap, he couldn’t help but smile when he heard their conversation and said: “When Cen Cen was little, he always aspired to be a pianist, and when grandpa wouldn’t let him play, he even threw a tantrum and refused to eat, but unfortunately when he grew up, he learned to be shy and never easily performed in front of everyone anymore.”
Sheng Xi said and sighed rather sadly, handing them the two glasses of milk in his hand.
“Ge!” Sheng Cen’s cheeks flushed with rare embarrassment, he didn’t want Sheng Xi to continue, taking the milk and tilting his head to drink it.
“Thank you, big brother.” Tang Qi Yuan smiled and took a small sip of the milk as well, the milk was still a little hot, he simply wondered how Sheng Cen had managed to drink it.
Sheng Xi yawned, he was physically weak and a little sleepy now.
He waved his hand and stopped talking about his brother’s embarrassing stories as a child, smiled and said: “I’ll go to bed first.”
“Ge, I’ll walk you back.” Sheng Cen put down his cup and pushed Sheng Xi’s wheelchair out.
Tang Qi Yuan sat on the sofa and drank the milk honestly, put the cup down and wiped his hands, just in time to receive a call from Tang Bo Te.
Tang Bo Te this old father had seen the thunderstorm outside at home and was worried that his sons would be scared, so he called them in turn. Of course, he would not admit that he had finally found a reason to call and care about his sons’ lives.
He happily called them one by one and only when he was sure that none of his sons were scared did he put his mind at ease. Although his sons were all grown up now, he always felt that they were still young and needed to be looked after.
Sitting beside him, Yuan Qiu was reading a book with the desk lamp on. Hearing him giggling happily while on the phone, he couldn’t help but smile along with him.
When it was Tang Qi Yuan’s turn, Yuan Qiu heard Tang Bo Te’s voice was excited at first, then it dropped little by little, as if he had been hit by something, he couldn’t help but feel a little strange, but continued reading without thinking much about it.
After Tang Bo Te hung up, he didn’t say anything for half a day before Yuan Qiu noticed that something was wrong, looked up at him from his book and asked: “What’s wrong?”
“Do you feel it?” Tang Bo Te spoke pathetically.
“Feel what?”
There was a sob in Tang Bo Te’s voice, “The cabbage is about to have its breath stolen.”
“……” Yuan Qiu put the book down in silence and patted his big head soothingly, “Think openly.”
Tang Bo Te: Don’t want to think openly, want to close myself.