My Two Dads

Chapter 25.1 - About University 3 Part 1

Compared to university finals, Lu You Qi experienced more of a headache for midterms.

No one understood the students’ tendency to be distracted halfway through their studies as well as the teachers, so midterms were usually used to give them a wake-up call. It might only take up a small percentage of their total grades, but it can cause students who think they are surviving well to feel stumped.

Lu You Qi ruffled his messy blonde hair and grumbled on, with the last sentence being, “Of course, all except for ‘monsters’ like you.”

Yang Mo glanced at him.

It was a Sunday so there was no morning exercise for them. Lu You Qi slept until 7 o’clock, thinking he had gotten up early enough. But when he woke up, Yang Mo had already finished jogging and eating breakfast – even bringing a share for Lu You Qi – and there was a math midterm mock test paper that had been graded on the table. He was now brushing his teeth.

“How can there be someone with such terrifying self-discipline. Are you still a human?” Lu You Qi muttered while getting dressed, “Wonderful things like the weekend become unpleasant when they fall into the hands of people like you.”

Yang Mo spit out the mouthwash and said indifferently, “Do you know how to speak in human language? Or do you need me to teach you?”

Lu You Qi put on a t-shirt and laid in bed for a while more. His stomach wailed miserably. Last night, he went out with his friends and had fun together, so he didn’t eat much of a proper meal. He smelled a nice scent, crawled up and started eating the meal that his roommate brought back with a peace of mind.

Yang Mo suddenly called out to him, “Broadband.”

Lu You Qi replied, annoyed, “I’m Wi-fi.”

Yang Mo ignored him and continued, “Lend me your library card.”

Lu You Qi pulled the card out from the shelf on his table, slurped a mouthful of noodles before saying, “Are you going to the library?”

Yang Mo: “Yeah.”

Yang Mo lost his library card, but he never replaced it since it cost money to do so and he was facing a difficult financial situation.

Lu You Qi also knew about this. He and Yang Mo had always been in an unspoken relationship when it came to loan and repayment. Today Yang Mo brought him a meal, after a few days, Lu You Qi would return him one too.

Lu You Qi said, “Get that junior of yours to provide for you. I read it on the forum that his family seems really rich.”

Yang Mo stressed it again, “Don’t talk if you don’t know how to.”

Han Shi Yu did have this idea, but Yang Mo doesn’t take free meals offered out of pity so he wasn’t persuaded. He returned the expenses of all the takeaways Han Shi Yu had brought him later on as well.

Lu You Qi laughed, “Sigh, or you can go find a rich woman. With that face of yours, I can guarantee you won’t have to worry about your meals for two years at least. Let me ride on your fame too at that time.”

It was often said that a matter shouldn’t be repeated more than three times. Yang Mo’s patience was also less than three.

On a wonderful weekend morning, Lu You Qi was pressed onto his bed and enjoyed a free education. He vowed to retake a lesson on how to express himself in Chinese.

Yang Mo was indeed very good-looking – his profile looked gentle yet not soft – it was the look of a fresh, young idol sought out by most teenage girls in the entertainment industry. Additionally, his skin was fair because he hardly went out. No matter how old he is, it made him appear like a teenager.

With the height of 180cm and looks that stand out in the crowd as well as the halo of a honour student, Yang Mo’s “hardware” specifications were of an ideal boyfriend for many girls. But he radiated a freezing cold aura on him, so much so that it could drive away evil spirits and help him avoid ghosts – that was the only part that made others turn away.

— Lu You Qi commented, “A typical case of great looks wasted on one’s personality.”

Yang Mo swiped Broadband’s library card and entered the highest floor one by one through the staircase. The design here made people feel like they were in a scenic “book mountain” area, reminding them on the saying, “the road to knowledge has to be climbed step by step”. Occasionally, there would be someone sitting by the steps reading a book. Yang Mo walked up the stairs to the second floor as a girl waved at him.

When he got closer, the girl smiled and wiped the staircase step next to her. Yang Mo then sat down beside her.

The girl’s name was Hao Yan, a class of Yang Mo.

Hao Yan said softly, “I didn’t manage to get a seat, you won’t mind, right?”

Yang Mo shook his head.

The girl smiled at him.

She took out a textbook with the side densely packed with colourful bookmarks from her bag. She flicked a finger and turned the page, gently placed it on yang Mo’s lap and pointed at a marked spot, asking, “This part here, I don’t quite understand it.”

Yang Mo was invited by Hao Yan to tutor her on some questions. Midterms were approaching so he could treat this as reviewing too.

As Yang Mo spoke in clear explanations, his clear voice blended into the quiet environment, gradually became light like a breeze caressing your face – it made others feel really comfortable and easy to focus.

The girl crouched on her lap, using her arms as a pillow as she laid her head on them, looking sideways at Yang Mo who was tutoring her. From time to time, she would raise a few more questions.

Many people who walked past the steps would let their gazes linger on them for a little while, smiling to themselves.

When Yang Mo turned the page, Hao Yan saw the mole under his eye. She laughed a little before asking, “Yang Mo, do you have a girlfriend?”

Yang Mo: “No.”

“Hm,” The girl said, “Then you sure are in a lot of danger.”

Yang Mo turned his head to look at her.

He said, “It’s not that bad.”

Hao Yan moved a little closer towards him and said, “Yang Mo, can I ask you a favour?”

Yang Mo was looking at the part she marked in red, writing out his thoughts on the scrap paper, “What?”

Hao Yan smiled, “I have a younger sister. She’s in senior high school and there are only a few more months before her college entrance exams. Recently, she encountered a bottleneck in her studies and nothing can be absorbed no matter what. She’s at home now. In order to encourage her, I said I would find her a handsome man as a tutor from Shou Cheng University. Will you be willing to go and tutor her?”

Yang Mo’s hands froze in mid-air.

“On mathematics and physics.” Hao Yan said, “For a fee.”

Yang Mo couldn’t ask for more. He immediately agreed, “Okay.”

Hao Yan laughed a little, “Woah, you agreed to it so readily. You’re not asking anything else?”

Yang Mo didn’t say anything, only politely smiling back at her.

Waiting for Hao Yan to continue explaining more about her younger sister’s situation, Yang Mo’s phone suddenly vibrated. Hao Yan stopped talking out of consideration as he took out his phone and froze when he saw the name of the contact.

“Stray puppy from the school of management” – that was the contact name he set for Han Shi Yu.

Yang Mo first looked around his surroundings and saw there was no one else on the stairs. So he picked it up and whispered, “Hey.”

Han Shi Yu’s voice sounded very resentful, “Senior.”

Yang Mo: “What is it.”

Han Shi Yu: “I’m at the library.”

“……” Yang Mo glanced at Hao Yan next to him, who winked back at him.

Yang Mo: “Where are you.”

Han Shi Yu: “Look up.”

Yang Mo looked up and searched.

There was a temporary phone booth set up by the stairs on each floor. It was soundproof, set up specifically for students who suddenly have an emergency and needed to answer their phones. Han Shi Yu was on the floor above where he was, standing in the phone booth, looking at him through the floor-to-ceiling glass.

Yang Mo looked up and their gazes met, “……”

He was still staring at him, “So? What do you want to say?”

Han Shi Yu seemed to held it in for a while before softly saying, “Have you eaten breakfast?”

Yang Mo frowned, “Yes.”

Han Shi Yu: “…Then, do you want to eat lunch together?”

Yang Mo: “I have another appointment already.”

Han Shi Yu: “…How about dinner?”

Yang Mo: “……”

He asked, “You’re calling to check my meals for the day?”

Han Shi Yu, who had nothing else to say, hung up the call silently.

Yang Mo stared at his phone screen, confused, then looked up at the disappearing figure above him.

Yang Mo looked at Han Shi Yu who was sitting beside him.

This guy sat down very naturally, even crossing him to say hello to Hao Yan who was sitting further away.

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Hao Yan smiled and responded with a greeting too.

Han Shi Yu: “You won’t mind me sitting here, right?”

Hao Yan: “You’re Yang Mo’s friend, right? Of course I won’t mind.”

The stairs were really spacious. It wasn’t too crowded with three people sitting side-by-side, but it was a little awkward.

Yang Mo was stuck in the middle between them and felt uncomfortable all over, so he said to Han Shi Yu, “You’re blocking my light.”

Han Shi Yu obediently got up, walked up a step and sat down right behind him. He didn’t say a word, only quietly holding A Brief History of Time and reading it.

Yang Mo felt even more awkward now.

The explanation of a question was left hanging earlier. While Hao Yan was focused on working it out, Yang Mo turned around and looked at Han Shi Yu.

He shifted his gaze down and looked at the book Han Shi Yu was reading – he seemed to have stopped at one page only. Han Shi Yu felt his gaze, pretended to look at him as if nothing was wrong and asked, “What’s wrong?”

Yang Mo turned his head away again.

Hao Yan brought up the matter of asking Yang Mo to be her sister’s tutor again.

Han Shi Yu: “Excuse me for a bit.”

Hao Yan: “Hm?”

Han Shi Yu smiled, “Midterms have ended for the school of management so I’m quite free lately. Can you count me in too?”

Hao Yan’s eyes lit up and she said, “Sure.”

Yang Mo blurted out, “No way.”

Hao Yan turned towards him and looked at him, puzzled, “Huh?”

“……” Only after blurting that out did Yang Mo realize there was no reason to reject him, so he said dryly, “Your younger sister…is studying science, right?” He pointed at Han Shi Yu next, “He probably…forgot all about that already, so…”

“That’s alright,” Hao Yan said, “There’s still the English language and she’s taking some electives too. One of them is history.”

Yang Mo had nothing more to say.

When they were leaving, Han Shi Yu took the three books he borrowed and followed behind Yang Mo.

Yang Mo had been silent all along so Han Shi Yu spoke up first. “Ge, do you want to have dinner together?”

Yang Mo glanced at his watch and realized it was lunch time already, so he agreed, “Sure.”

Han Shi Yu was only testing the waters, but he didn’t expect Yang Mo to agree to it so he said suspiciously, “Didn’t you have an appointment?”

Yang Mo stopped in his tracks.

He forgot.

That was something he made up on the spot to fool him just now.

Yang Mo: “Then I can’t.”

Han Shi Yu: “Nooo—”