Chapter 36: Punishment
They returned from the school store. In addition to stocking up their snacks, they also got a carton of peach flavoured yogurt each.
Peeling off the foil lid, Qin Xu started off with licking off the yogurt remnants before using the spoon to scoop out the yogurt.
But the moment he heard Wu Tong’s name Qin Xu felt so complicated inside that he didn’t manage to control his strength well and ended up breaking the plastic spoon.
Qin Xu: “…….” Now great. How can I have the rest of the yogurt?
Huang Shao naturally didn’t suspect that this action of his had anything to do with him and only laughed at his misfortune.
Jiang Yang pretty much just ignored what had happened and continued to eat his own yogurt. He didn’t spare him a single glance and he didn’t have any hint of sympathy in his eyes.
Qin Xu: “Lend me your spoon.”
Jiang Yang rejected this idea without any hesitation: “No.”
Qin Xu deliberately sighed and acted disappointed: “Xiao Yang Yang you shouldn’t be like this. We can be considered brothers for a day and should feel grat.i.tude for a hundred days.”
Hearing him say this so naturally, Huang Shao was momentarily confused: “……….Xu brother, I don’t think the original phrase went like that.”
Qin Xu casually shrugged it off. He indifferently picked up the half broken spoon to eat the rest of his yogurt as he said: “Xiao Yang Yang, you must be a yogurt addict. I see you have it everyday and there are lots in your fridge too.”
Jiang Yang glared at him: “You have a problem with that?”
Qin Xu bit onto his spoon and shook his head innocently, “No. I just thought that your preferences are pretty good. Very girly.”
Jiang Yang paused for a moment and, because his hands were full, without thinking he threw a kick instead. Qin Xu had already antic.i.p.ated this and very quickly dodged his attack. These moves of the two were so agile and fast that it almost looked like they were filming a fight between masters in a martial arts film. These two, they can’t even keep still when they’re having yogurt.
Huang (bystander) Shao watched the two and only reacted a second too late: “Eh? Xu brother, when did you go to Jiang Yang’s place?”
Unfortunately, the two were still busy arguing and didn’t have the time to spare him any attention. Even if they heard his question, they would definitely pretend that they hadn’t heard it.
After their short break ended, they checked their cla.s.s schedule and noticed that it was time for music cla.s.s. The students in cla.s.s 5, one by one, headed to the music cla.s.srooms on the next floor.
When they arrived at the cla.s.sroom, the students sat in the same seats as they have in their original cla.s.sroom. The desks were a little different to those in their normal cla.s.srooms and there was a piano placed at the corner of the podium.
When cla.s.s had not yet formally started, a mechanical sound appeared in Qin Xu’s mind: “Random task: Please teach Jiang Yang the songs taught in today’s lesson. Time limit is until 18 o’clock today. There will be a punishment if you fail.”
Qin Xu heard this and suddenly laughed: “You want me to teach that tone deaf guy? It’ll be faster if you tell me to go die.”
That’s right, Jiang Yang is very wonderfully tone deaf. When he sings, every note would be out of tune. It really isn’t an easy feat to be able to do that. It was almost like selecting the wrong answer for every single question in an exam. Even if you threw the answer sheet and stepped on it, you wouldn’t get zero.
Qin Xu blurted out these words, but he didn’t say it internally. Jiang Yang who sat closest to him naturally heard his words and he quickly guessed that it was probably a task a.s.signed by the system. He naturally knew that the task this time is a little more difficult but hearing the other guy making fun of him, he felt very unpleasant. Inside he wondered if his singing is really as bad as he had made it out to be. He then turned towards Qin Xu and revealed a ‘friendly’ smile: “What did you just say?”
Qin Xu instantly shook his head, “I didn’t say anything!”
Singing had always been Jiang Yang’s weakness, so he would generally choose to —— lip sync. Amongst all his cla.s.smates, he could easily blend in and avoid being discovered. That is, of course, unless they happened to have a strict and serious music teacher.
However, they just happened to have such a teacher for this semester. She is in her twenties and despite her appearance not being very outstanding, perhaps it is because of her occupation, her voice is gentle and sweet. However, a gentle appearance doesn’t always translate to an amiable teacher. She hates it when students don’t treat music cla.s.ses seriously and very sincerely hopes that the students would learn to appreciate music more.
And so, for a student like Jiang Yang she would definitely ensure that he is taught properly.
The music teacher played the piano as accompaniment and occasionally patiently gave out pointers on where to improve. Naturally, this is on the premise that the students did not step on her bottom line. They sang for a while and, with a deep frown, her gaze fell to Jiang Yang’s direction: “The boy next to the window on the third row, your lip shape is not right. Don’t be lazy. Stand here alone and sing a few lines.
Jiang Yang who was caught felt his heart go cold: “……….”
The melodious sound of the piano started playing and Jiang Yang opened his mouth but he didn’t produce any sounds. Only until the teacher sent him a glare did he reluctantly sing out. As expected, not a single note was right.
The music teacher was dissatisfied: “This cla.s.smate. Please take this more seriously. You’re not singing properly.”
Jiang Yang who just sang his heart out very seriously wanted to die.
On the side, Qin Xu laughed like crazy to the point that it looked like he was about to collapse. Finally, under the pressuring glare from his desk partner, he raised his hand to help explain: “Teacher, it isn’t because he’s not taking it seriously. He’s tone deaf.”
The music teacher is surprised, and the other students started laughing. Jiang Yang…..wanted to beat his desk partner to death. It might’ve been better if you didn’t try to help!
The music teacher immediately settled the students down and said seriously: “It’s probably not tone deaf. He probably just didn’t get a good grasp of the melody and tempo. Once you find the correct method, then you’re good to go. You should be more confident in yourself. The key point is to not give up on yourself.”
In just a few sentences, the words spoken by the teacher was filled with fighting spirit. She was even more pa.s.sionate than Jiang Yang himself.
Jiang Yang felt complicated inside. Thank you teacher for your kind intentions but I really can’t accept it.
The music teacher has always been very pa.s.sionate about teaching students how to sing but couldn’t only focus her attention on one student. She could only call Jiang Yang up at the end of the cla.s.s and tell him: “If you sing seriously, you can slowly improve.” She then gave him a few more pointers and allowed him to leave.
At this moment, the other students had also left the cla.s.sroom and started making their way back to their cla.s.sroom. Qin Xu had not left and stayed behind. Seeing that the music teacher still wanted to teach Jiang Yang he said: “Teacher, I have a suggestion. Why don’t I teach him?”
The music teacher stopped and then said: “Sing this pa.s.sage here.”
Qin Xu nodded and simply sang it out. Even without piano accompaniment, the youth’s low timbre voice was smooth and sounded very pleasing to the ear. Although there were still some minor problems here and there, for a science student it can be considered as a pretty good achievement.
The teacher couldn’t help but smile and nod while praising: “You sing very well.”
Jiang Yang was also a little stunned. Qin Xu didn’t usually sing and when they sang as a whole cla.s.s his voice would often be drowned out by the others. Now that he heard him sing alone, he was surprised and momentarily felt a little moved inside.
The teacher asked him what he thought of that proposal, but Jiang Yang didn’t hear her question. It was only when he saw Qin Xu’s sly expression did he come back to his senses and nod his head in response.
The music teacher thought, “You have cla.s.s for the rest of the day so only this afternoon after cla.s.s….ah but I’ll need to go pick up by child……..”
The teacher was troubled.
Qin Xu took the initiative to speak up: “Teacher, can we borrow the key to the music cla.s.sroom so that I can teach him?”
The music teacher thought for a moment. It seems like a feasible idea? And nowadays, it is rare finding students who are willing to take music cla.s.ses so seriously and the teacher hoped that she could help them out. As so, after a moment of hesitation the teacher agreed: “This is the key to the music room. You can give it back to me tomorrow at the office. I’ll find a cla.s.smate who can play piano to play the accompaniment.”
Qin Xu and Jiang Yang quickly waved their hands, “No need for the trouble teacher. “
If others were involved, then it would be inconvenient for them to complete the task. Not to mention Jiang Yang is also very reluctant to let others know that he is tone deaf.
However, the music teacher continued to insist on it and they could only reluctantly accept.
After school, Jiang Yang and Qin Xu headed towards the music cla.s.srooms. On their way, they happened to run into Wu Tong and their junior brother He Shuo at the stairs.
Jiang Yang and Qin Xu froze and immediately recalled the shocking event that happened on the weekend. They then calmly nodded their head in greeting and proceeded forward but it turns out they were heading in the same direction. When their eyes met, they initially thought that it must’ve just been a coincidence but after going in the same direction for a few turns, Jiang Yang had a bad premonition: “Are you going to the music cla.s.sroom?”
Wu Tong raised his eyebrows: “Were you also called by the music teacher?”
Very good. They could now confirm that they are extremely unlucky.
Qin Xu and Jiang Yang’s expressions were no longer calm, and they could only nod helplessly.
And so, the four people headed to the music cla.s.sroom awkwardly.
At first, Jiang Yang thought that Wu Tong was asked by the teacher to help out, but he unexpectedly saw the tall and strong He Shuo sit down in front of the piano and skilfully play out a tune.
Both Jiang Yang and Qin Xu were surprised. They looked at the strong and tough man who happened to have a soft and gentle heart and then moved their line of sight to Wu Tong who leaned against the piano and gazed and him with loving eyes.
Jiang Yang and Qin Xu: “………..”
They couldn’t help but feel their backs go cold as their gazes met ——- That guy, he probably doesn’t know that Wu Tong is actually male right?
Wu Tong didn’t spare them any attention. When He Shuo finished playing a piece he immediately praised him: “You play so well.”
He Shuo looked away in embarra.s.sment. He rubbed his hair and smiled purely but didn’t dare to look directly at the person he likes.
Jiang Yang and Qin Xu: Silently lighting a candle for the junior brother. He has completely fallen into the hands of this scary guy.
During the practice session, the four people were practically split into two groups. Disregarding the others in the room, Wu Tong unrelentingly scattered dog food and forced it into Jiang Yang and Qin Xu’s mouth. One was forced to learn how to sing in tune while the other was almost driven crazy by his stupid cla.s.smate who just didn’t seem to improve.
There was only a half an hour time frame between the end of school and the deadline for the task at six in the evening. Qin Xu originally thought that it was achievable through effort alone but when he actually had to do it, he realised that he was too naïve. If not for not seeing Jiang Yang secretly laughing, he would have suspected that Jiang Yang was deliberately playing with him. He was so off pitch that it almost reached the end of the universe!
Wu Tong watched the two bicker and couldn’t help but laugh. Despite arguing back and forth, they didn’t give up and leave. It really was a wonderful display of affection.
If those two heard his thoughts, they would definitely refute it: “If not for that rubbish system, why should I torture myself like this?!”
When Jiang Yang was once again called stupid by Qin Xu, he lost his patience. The two angrily threw their books onto the desk as if they were about to start a fight.
He Shuo who was not familiar with them didn’t realise that this was their usual manner of interaction spoke up and tried to placate them: “Senior brother, don’t rush. Take your time and sing slowly.”
Hearing his junior brothers’ words, Jiang Yang suppressed the irritation inside him and did his best to settle his emotions down. He turned towards him and smiled, “Thank you. Sorry for troubling you today with the accompaniment.”
He Shuo shook his head and responded politely: “It’s okay. It’s a good chance to practice piano.”
A second earlier he was quarrelling with Qin Xu with a wretched expression but a second later he had changed his expression completely and even smiled at someone else! Qin Xu pursed his lips in dissatisfaction. He worked so hard trying to teach him and, in addition to never giving him a good att.i.tude, he’s even treating him so differently to the others!
Qin Xu was unhappy and complained internally. When it was six, Jiang Yang sang through the whole song and the system responded calmly: “Task failed.”
Jiang Yang felt very wronged. He clearly worked so hard!
Hearing that they had failed the task, Jiang Yang felt a little disappointed but less then a second later the punishment was announced.
The system said: “Starting the punishment: Qin Xu will lose his memory for 24 hours. Please help him avoid being discovered.”
Sure enough, Qin Xu’s cold eyes suddenly became innocent like those of a lost child. He stared at the others in the room and asked: “……..Who are you guys? Who am I……..?”
Jiang Yang internally cursed and then quickly threw the keys to the room into Wu Tong’s hands: “I’ll have to trouble you with locking up and returning the keys. Thanks!”
He then, like lightning, grabbed Qin Xu’s hands and rushed out. After running for a while and ensuring that no one else was around, Jiang Yang proceeded to stop while gasping for air. At this moment, most of the students had either gone to the cafeteria or had returned back to their dormitories so there weren’t many people around.
Qin Xu obediently stood next to Jiang Yang and looked at him with bright eyes. He asked: “Why do we have to run? You….who are you?”
Jiang Yang was irritated and was consequently not patient enough to deal with Qin Xu: “I’m your father!”
But, for someone who had lost his memories, he probably is easy to deceive? Qin Xu actually nodded his head and said: “Oh, father.”
Jiang Yang: “……..” He was temporarily dumbfounded.
Hearing his enemy call him father, it was both a fulfilling and strange feeling.
Jiang Yang laughed and muttered: “This isn’t memory loss. It’s a decline in intelligence.”
Qin Xu asked: “Father, what are you talking about?”
Jiang Yang heard him say this and felt his scalp go numb. He responded grimly: “Do you think I can be your father at my age? Don’t you find it awkward calling me that?”
Qin Xu tilted his head and revealed a bright smile: “You’re the one who said it. I believe you.”
Facing such pure and innocent eyes, Jiang Yang suddenly felt a little guilty. He reluctantly looked at Qin Xu and then turned to go downstairs towards the cafeteria. However, the moment he headed off, Qin Xu also followed behind him. Like a tail, he followed him step by step.
Jiang Yang took a few steps and couldn’t help but turn around and say: “Don’t follow me.”
Qin Xu was very confused: “Then where should I go? I don’t even know who I am.”
Jiang Yang had a deep sense of powerlessness, “You’re called Qin Xu. The cafeteria is in that direction. Go there yourself.”
Qin Xu: “Father, what about you? You’re not going? Not hungry?”
Jiang Yang cursed loudly internally. He knew that it was pointless yelling at the person before him who didn’t know anything and could only sigh: “Don’t call me father. I am your enemy. E-ne-my. The kind that you wouldn’t even want to see with your own eyes. Stop bothering me and go do your own things.”
Qin Xu stubbornly shook his head, “But I don’t think that. I want to be with you.”
Jiang Yang seriously suspected that the amnesiac Qin Xu had probably imprinted onto him and that’s why he is so reliant on him. Jiang Yang felt his head about to explode. Realising that there was no point talking things out with Qin Xu, he could only stride ahead with large steps. Qin Xu however very quickly caught up. His legs were longer, so it was an easy feat for him to catch up to Jiang Yang. His expression however looked a little wronged, as if Jiang Yang was in the wrong for abandoning him.
Jiang Yang saw his expression through the corners of his eyes and became even more speechless. Although Qin Xu would often deliberately pretend to be pitiful, an obvious laughing intent could be seen in his eyes. This would only make him appear even more irritating and in need of a beating. The amnesic Qin Xu now, however, looked completely harmless. Although at first glance he would feel irritated, after a few more, he gradually became accustomed and even found him a little pleasing to the eye. At the very least, he didn’t have the urge to beat him up.
Entering the cafeteria, Jiang Yang felt that he had already done his job by leading the way for him. He waved his hand and said: “Okay, you can just go line up in any of the lines.”
He said this and then turned around and left. The Qin Xu who was thrown aside at the entrance felt uneasy in the unfamiliar environment looked around the room and didn’t know where to go. In the end, he quickly followed behind Jiang Yang.
Jiang Yang heard movements behind him, looked back through the corner of his eyes and wanted to say something but the moment his eyes met the other persons eyes, he didn’t have the heart to say something too harsh. He could only exasperatedly, “Don’t bother me with too many questions.”
It could be considered as his unspoken acceptance. Jiang Yang said to himself; after all it was a request made by the system. If he left him behind and was found out by the others, it would be too troublesome. He could only watch him and make sure he doesn’t make any mistakes.
What made Jiang Yang somewhat surprised was that Qin Xu was actually quite obedient. He had told him to keep quiet and so he just quietly copied Jiang Yang’s actions. When the aunty asked what he wanted, he would reply word for word the way Jiang Yang had spoken and then follow him closely from behind while holding onto his chopsticks.
They found an empty seat and sat down. The two ate their dinner silently until someone broke the silence.
Two girls walked over to them and pointed at the seats next to them: “Cla.s.smate, may I ask if anyone is sitting there?”
Jiang Yang glanced around casually and saw that there were seats in the direction the girls came from. To deliberately come over here to sit, he could guess what their intentions were. However, the cafeteria is a public s.p.a.ce and he didn’t have any reason to stop the others from sitting where they wanted. Just as he wanted to give them a perfunctory reply, someone else responded before he could.
Qin Xu looked at them with clear eyes and immediately refused them: “That’s right. Someone’s sitting there so you can’t sit.”
The girls felt a little embarra.s.sed. They smiled and quickly walked away.
Jiang Yang looked at the person sitting opposite him. He raised his eyebrows and said: “That stony and overbearing dog-like temper of yours has not changed.”
Qin Xu didn’t understand his words and only thought that he was praising him. He smugly hummed and thought with dissatisfaction internally —- You want to steal my father? Dream on.
That girls’ eyes earlier were clearly staring at the seat next to Jiang Yang’s. Did she think that he was blind and wouldn’t notice?
Qin (dog-temper) Xu mulled over this for a while and was still unhappy. He picked up his tray and moved to sit next to Jiang Yang. After moving, he finally felt his mood improve and started eating the meat on his plate with gusto.
Jiang Yang watched him change his seat and was very confused, but he wasn’t interested in probing for the reason. He just took it as that guy having very different thought processes compared to a normal person
After eating, Qin Xu continued to follow obediently behind Jiang Yang back to the dormitory. Only his eyes were not calm as it kept hovering over Jiang Yang’s hand. Probably because the other party disliked him, he felt a little uneasy and wanted to hold onto something to prevent the other person from leaving him behind.
Sigh. Did he do something wrong? Why does he feel like his father doesn’t seem to like him all that much?
Qin Xu’s heart was filled with sorrow. He reached out and tried to grab Jiang Yang’s hand several times, but he would always stop just before he made contact because he was afraid that Jiang Yang wouldn’t like it. He hesitated like this the entire way back to the dormitory.
With such a strong and pa.s.sionate gaze, no matter how dense Jiang Yang may be, he would still notice it. He looked back and saw him acting all hesitant before frowning: “If you have something to say, just spit it out.”
Qin Xu’s eyes suddenly lit up. He stared straight at him, “Can I ask you a question?”
Jiang Yang: “……….” Isn’t that already a question?
He then coldly nodded.
Qin Xu excitedly said: “I still don’t know your name. Also, can I …..hold your hand?”
The veins on Jiang Yang’s forehead throbbed and he instantly regretting telling him to spit it out. As expected, nothing good would come out of that mouth of his. What on earth is he going on about now?!
“No!” Jiang Yang refused without any hesitation.
Qin Xu was aggrieved: “But you walk so fast. I’ll easily lose you….Also, you still haven’t told me your name.”
Jiang Yang was once again angered but he didn’t unleash it onto Qin Xu. After all, he couldn’t help but feel like he is bullying a child. Earlier he actually thought that he looked a little pleasing to the eye? He is well and truly a troublesome thing to deal with!
Jiang Yang ignored his spoiled words and said coldly: “My name is Jiang Yang. Stop being so noisy. If you speak again, I’ll leave you behind.”
Qin Xu accepted the threat and quickly shut his mouth. He vigorously nodded his head to show that he would listen to him and then reached out to hold onto Jiang Yang’s clothes.
Jiang Yang: “………..”
The fist hanging on the side of his body clenched, then loosened and once again clenched up. He said in a very helpless voice: “Let go.”
Qin Xu didn’t speak and only stubbornly shook his head. He held onto the hem of Jiang Yang’s shirt even more tightly, as if he was afraid that he would try to pry his hands off. The timid animal-like gaze of his left Jiang Yang feeling unsettled. At this moment, Jiang Yang couldn’t help but wish that Qin Xu would act a little cheaper so that he would feel no pressure beating him up.
Jiang Yang looked around him and saw that there was no-one around. He could only reluctantly compromise: “Let go when we reach the dormitory otherwise I will beat you up.”
Qin Xu obediently nodded his head like a chicken eating corn.
Jiang Yang snorted coldly, at least he understands. He then quickly headed off to the dormitory with Qin Xu following closely behind him.
When they arrived at the steps to the dormitory, Qin Xu was forced to release his hold. He very reluctantly looked over at Jiang Yang, but Jiang Yang had his head lowered as he tried to smooth out the creased shirt and didn’t notice his gaze.
Jiang Yang entered the dormitory and bent down to change his shoes. When he turned back around, he ran into Qin Xu and saw that he was just standing there as still as a statue and had no intention to change his shoes. He couldn’t help but say: “What are you doing? Change shoes.”
“…….Oh.” Qin Xu nodded. His line of sight naturally moved over to Jiang Yang’s a.s.s. For some reason, he wanted to look at it a little longer.
When Jiang Yang was done with his shower, Qin Xu had already become immersed in his mobile game and could no longer extract himself from it. Huang Shao sat on the side continuously spouting nonsense like; Xu brother actually asked him what medicine is, it’s as if it’s his first time playing the game but look at him playing so well now. Is he making fun of me?
Only Jiang Yang knew that he wasn’t pretending but he would rather not know about it. Like that, he could just ignore what was going on. He sighed, walked over and kicked Qin Xu: “Go and shower.”
Qin Xu continued to stare at his phone with complete concentration: “Not going.”
“Excuse me?”
“Not going.”
Jiang Yang lost his patience. He grabbed his phone and dragged the other person over. Qin Xu however responded by swiftly grabbing onto the bed post while saying unwillingly: “I want to play another round!”
“Play your head! Cla.s.s is going to start soon!”
“I don’t care!”
The disobedient spoiled child act inexplicably made Jiang Yang experience in advance what it would be like to be a father. It had turned out to be so exhausting. If he has a child in the future as rebellious as this, he couldn’t guarantee that he wouldn’t beat him until he becomes disabled.
Huang Shao sat on the edge of the bed and watched them argue. He found it somewhat amusing, “What are you guys playing? Evil gangster kidnapping a woman?”