Chapter 69.2
Editor: SimoB
A colleague sitting near the lounge saw Tan Mingyi knocking on the door so blatantly. He got up in a hurry and dragged him back.
“Dude, what are you doing?”
Tan Mingyi looked back at him, bewildered. “I left my phone inside. Didn’t our lounge door lack a lock? Why can’t I open the door?”
The colleague whispered to him, “Let me finish. Qin-ge and Professor Shi are inside, I saw them go in with my own eyes.”
“What are Qin-ge and Professor Shi doing in there?”
A hand to his mouth cut Tan Mingyi off. “Shh! I’m telling you, the two of them are definitely-”
Qin Yunsheng moved the table away.
He pulled the door open and walked out, smiling at Tan Mingyi, “You can go in and look for your phone.”
Looking at Qin Yunsheng’s clothes, which were obviously Professor Shi’s, Tan Mingyi finally understood what his colleague was trying to tell him.
In the era of information, even a young adult like him knew quite a bit.
The little teenager’s face immediately reddened. He staggered into the room just in time to run into Shi Qing, who was in Qin Yunsheng’s clothes.
Tan Mingyi: “……”
He blushed even more and stammered an apology, “S-sorry Professor Shi, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to disturb you, I’m sorry!”
Saying that, Tan Mingyi grabbed his phone from the table and fled.
The little Marquis looked at his swiftly retreating figure and smirked as he strode out, hanging directly on to the officer.
“What’s for lunch?”
Qin Yunsheng took care to note his little boyfriend’s preferences. “How about the yellow stewed chicken and rice? It’s pretty spicy. I’ll go buy some now.”
Shi Qing: “Okay.”
The nearby colleague who was listening in on their conversation: “…”
He really didn’t expect that someone usually as attentive as Qin-ge would act like this with Professor Shi.
How could he let his boyfriend eat spicy food after what they just did together?
That wouldn’t be good for his body.
Everyone was complaining about how Qin-ge was too good for Professor Shi, but it seemed like Qin-ge could stand to be more considerate as well.
Shi Qing was present, so he kept his mouth shut, so as not to be labelled as a troublemaker who couldn’t mind his own business.
It was only after he watched Professor Shi return to his seat that he carefully walked over to Qin Yunsheng.
He whispered: “Qin-ge, I don’t think you should buy that dish.”
Qin Yunsheng: “?”
He continued whispering: “Although Professor Shi appears fierce, I can tell who tops between the two of you. Actually, I guess that’s none of my business. Um, how do I say this…Professor Shi definitely has it harder.”
Qin Yunsheng: “???”
The guy couldn’t help but show a look of condemnation as he whispered: “How can you make him eat spicy food after doing that? Even I know you can’t do that. Why not go with something mild like rice porridge? You’re a good guy in every other way, but a man has to know how to be considerate too.”
Qin Yunsheng: “…What are you talking about?”
The guy rolled his eyes. “This isn’t the time to play dumb Qin-ge. Let me tell you, men and women have different bodies. If you don’t give a little TLC afterwards, someone as bad-tempered as Professor Shi will definitely resent you for it.”
The officer finally understood.
His face reddened once again.
But Qin Yunsheng was only helpless before Shi Qing. When dealing with other people, he could maintain a serious expression, despite his blush.
He knitted his eyebrows and said in a severe tone. “You’ve misunderstood.”
“Aiyo no need to explain what you were doing in the lounge. Don’t worry, I won’t tell a soul.”
Qin Yunsheng: “You’ve really misunderstood.”
The guy chuckled: “Come on, there’s no need to pretend with me. What else could the two of you have been up to for an hour in there! It’s not like you can’t, Qin-ge.”
“Everyone saw how you and Professor Shi were together for over an hour, and you even blocked the door when Xiao Tan tried to go in just now! You even changed your clothes before coming out. If you really didn’t do anything, then people might start suspecting your ability to put out, Qin-ge. Okay, I’ve said everything I wanted to, so stop pretending and buy some rice porridge for Professor Shi so he can recover sooner.”
Qin Yunsheng: “……”
When it was time to eat, Shi Qing was tapping away on his computer while drinking yogurt.
The officer returned with their meals.
Seeing that the young Marquis was concentrating on his work without even looking at him, Qin Yunsheng went ahead and set their meals out like usual.
A bowl of yellow stewed chicken and rice.
And a bowl of rice porridge.
Plus a small dish of pickled vegetables.
Shi Qing’s hands withdrew from the keyboard when he caught a whiff of the tantalizing fragrance. He turned to eat.
“Why did you buy rice porridge in the middle of the day?”
Qin Yunsheng silently placed the porridge and pickled vegetables on his side.
There were only three vegetables on the plate, but each one was quite large, enough for him to eat with a bowl of porridge.
Only when he finished moving things around did the officer, who was fit and healthy and had to eat at least two bowls of rice a meal, softly say, “I suddenly wanted to eat rice porridge.”
Shi Qing looked at him with a teasing smile, “Oh really?”
Qin Yunsheng silently looked down at the translucent porridge on the table. “Yep.”
Shi Qing: [Tsk, is that your dignity as a man speaking?]
Before the officer could react, the little Marquis s.n.a.t.c.hed away two thirds of the pickled vegetables in a flash.
Under Qin Yunsheng’s dazed gaze, the little Marquis proudly placed the two pickled vegetables into his bowl.
Then he announced with extra righteousness, “I also like pickled vegetables. These two are mine.”
The officer’s eyes softened as he looked at the smug little Marquis, who was acting like he got some priceless treasure.
He was also quite happy. Curling his lips, he used his chopsticks to place the last pickled vegetable into Shi Qing’s bowl as well.
“You can have them all if you like.”
The little Marquis snorted, “Am I that kind of unreasonable person?”
He then picked up the vegetable in the bowl and bit into it, smiling radiantly at the officer. “Yes, I am!”
He pushed his yellow stewed chicken rice to the middle of the table, “Let’s eat together.”
The corners of Qin Yunsheng’s upturned mouth curled even higher.
He glanced at Shi Qing indulgently before munching on a piece of potato.
[Ding! Qin Yunsheng’s animosity value: 50/100]
***
Qin Yunsheng was a mature protagonist.
Since he was so independent, his animosity value would automatically lower without Shi Qing having to do anything.
But if he did do something, it would go down even faster.
And since his mission was to protect Shi Qing anyway, the officer had a very good excuse for staying by the young Marquis’ side 24 hours a day.
Qin Yunsheng didn’t feel that he was doing anything in particular, but to other people…
How was this taking care of your boyfriend?! It was more like Qin Yunsheng was taking care of a little baby incapable of living on its own!
Although it was nice for a couple to love each other, this was just too… strange.
The young man who had the best relationship with Qin Yunsheng was sent out to persuade him.
It was fine to be nice to Professor Shi, but the professor would become a waste if he continued to be spoiled like this.
What if Professor Shi was so used to this treatment that he would find another caretaker after Qin Yunsheng’s mission was over?!
After listening to the other party’s tactful persuasion, Qin Yunsheng expressed his bewilderment as to why they would feel that he was doing too much.
He wasn’t doing too much, and he was having fun doing it too.
The young man: “…You don’t feel like you’re doing too much?”
Qin Yunsheng: “Not at all.”
All he did was gently wake up the little Marquis every morning, pa.s.s him his toothbrush and some water, and wait until Shi Qing finished brushing his teeth. Then he just used a wet towel to meticulously wipe his boyfriend’s face.
After that, the officer would help the little Marquis, who was usually dozing off on his shoulder, put on his clothes, socks and shoes before finally taking him to work.
What else was he supposed to do? Shi Qing was always sleepy in the morning.
The little Marquis would usually study something that Qin Yunsheng couldn’t understand before lunch. He was on his computer 80% of the time.
This research took up so much of Shi Qing’s attention that he could only lean back on his chair with his mouth open, waiting to be fed.
The officer would, of course, remain by his side, feeding him chips, fruit, cookies and juice.
It was important for even snacks to be a balanced meal.
If he didn’t feed his little boyfriend, who would make sure he got a bit of everything?
From time to time, Qin Yunsheng would free up his hands to ma.s.sage the little Marquis’ sore shoulders.
That was the least he could do since Shi Qing was working this hard for their country. What was one quick ma.s.sage?
Shi Qing was already tired out by noon, so how could Qin Yunsheng make him go all the way down to buy lunch? Of course he should be the one to go.
The same logic could be applied to the afternoon work time and dinner.
The young man, after listening to Qin Yunsheng’s ‘logical’ spiel: “…….”
He felt that his previous belief about love being just a chemical reaction of dopamine had been thoroughly disproved.
It turned out that falling in love could really blind one’s eyes.
The Qin Yunsheng who had once coldly told him that he was here to protect his charge and not to be a babysitter was nowhere to be seen!
WTF!?
Love was such a scary thing!
He was better off being a single dog after all.
But looking at the Qin Yunsheng in front of him, who was saying things like “I actually didn’t do anything much.” and “This is the least I can do.”…
The young man wanted to make a final rescue attempt.
“Qin-ge, I understand that Professor Shi is sleepy everyday, but to say he’s contributing to the country when he eats snacks and dozes off is a little too-”
The officer interrupted him, dead serious: “I’m going to stop you there. He’s eating snacks and dozing off because he’s too busy with work to take a break.”
The young man: “… Sure, whatever. Then what about him contributing to the country…?”
Qin Yunsheng: “He’s still working on it. It’s almost done.”
The young man: “……”
Forget it, this guy was hopeless.
DOA.
He gave up on rescuing Qin Yunsheng. With a face pale from having his worldview irrevocably altered, the young man entered the office in a trance.
He noticed as soon as he entered that almost the entire staff was gathered around Shi Qing.
The colleague who was complaining with him about Shi Qing blatantly munching on potato chips during work now had a fervent expression on his face.
“Professor Shi!! Your research is amazing!!”
“This is an unbelievable contribution to our country!!”