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Twenty-Fourth Period
T/N: Translated by Jen on Broken Jinsei! Please do not repost my translations! All translations outside of Broken Jinsei are stolen and reposted without permission!
Jiang Huihui thought that she’d misheard, blanking for a moment.
Go where? To the net cafe?
Zhou Jinwei’s voice was very cold, “Get out, close the door.”
Five words, flatly rejecting him.
Zhou Yanli didn’t move, “Can’t sleep anyways.”
He lifted his chin, saying to Jiang Huihui, “Rather than being sad in your room by yourself, it’s better to do a bit of something to distract yourself.”
Jiang Huihui didn’t expect that he would actually see through her thoughts. She thought that she’d disguised it quite well.
“I…I’m not, I already…..” She tried to explain.
Zhou Yanli asked her, “Put your clothes on yet?”
“En, it’s on.” She replied.
Hearing her say this, Zhou Yanli no longer had anything to avoid. He walked in and had his own coat thrown to her, “Put this on too, cold outside.”
Jiang Huihui sat in bed, in a daze for quite a while. Zhou Yanli already went outside to wait for her, not giving her to chance to retort or explain.
She looked down at the coat in her arms, wanting to first ask Zhou Jinwei for his opinion. After all, given his personality, he probably hates crowded and noisy places the most.
But, before she could say anything, she just heard their voices coming from the living room.
“Did you bring your ID?”
The boy’s voice was cold, possessing a magnetism unique to youth, “Doesn’t make a difference whether you bring it or not.”
“Why?” As soon as this was asked, Zhou Yanli just understood.
TN: All translations outside of Broken Jinsei are stolen and reposted without permission!
F#$%, nearly forgot, Zhou Jinwei was still underage.
He was like having discovered something particularly interesting, laughing to himself for quite a while.
He never would’ve imagined that his dad who could cover the skies with one hand would also one day be unable to enter an internet cafe due to being under eighteen.
Jiang Huihui came out after changing. She didn’t expect that Zhou Jinwei would actually be persuaded this quickly. She thought that someone like him had never been to that kind of place before and would never go.
“Indeed never been before.” Zhou Jinwei took out a scarf from don’t know where and carefully wrapped it around her.
Now, only half of her face and a pair of hands were still exposed on the outside.
“Then how come….” She hesitated to speak.
Zhou Jinwei calmly asked back, “Weren’t you having trouble sleeping?”
She slowly nodded her head. Turns out, he had agreed only because of her.
An unusual feeling strangely rose up in her heart, like there was an invisible hand scratching her heart.
That feeling was faint, unable to find a pattern, and a bit ticklish.
“Staying here will just make you think too much, so might as well go out for some fresh air.” He said.
Thus, the three of them got dressed, put on their shoes, and went out.
The net cafe was just downstairs. In a small place in this era, the regulations weren’t strictly enforced, so an ID wasn’t needed to go online. Going in and sweeping a glance around, almost everyone inside was a not very tall minor.
Zhou Yanli and Zhou Jinwei appearing here instead seemed somewhat out of place.
Jiang Huihui naturally further didn’t need to be mentioned. Just from her looks alone, anyone could tell that she was the good girl type that didn’t belong here.
This was indeed her first time coming to this kind of place, Zhou Jinwei too. From the moment he set foot into this place, his brows were tightly furrowed.
Never mind the environment being filthy, there were also all kinds of shady people here, with obscenities and vulgar insults flying everywhere.
Zhou Yanli naturally could tell that his clean freak dad disliked it here.
He went to the front desk and got three adjacent computers, the money naturally coming from Zhou Jinwei, “Let’s go to the second floor, the second floor prohibits smoking.”
Aside from not liking to study, Zhou Yanli was proficient in just about everything else.
As long as it had the word play or fight in it, there just wasn’t anything he wasn’t good at—–for instance, fighting, playing basketball, and playing games.
Clicking open the game, Jiang Huihui didn’t have an account, so Zhou Yanli called Qin Yu, not caring whether he was asleep or not at this time.
The other party answered the call, sure enough still awake, “Boss, what’s up?”
Zhou Yanli logged into his own account, a lollipop sticking out from his mouth, “Send me your game account and password.”
He hurriedly responded, “Huh, ok, right away.”
Logging into the account, Jiang Huihui stared at the computer screen with a puzzled look.
Zhou Yanli was just about to lean over and tell her what to do, but Zhou Jinwei had already grabbed her mouse, showing her step by step, “If you want to go somewhere, just right-click, clicking once is enough.”
Jiang Huihui nodded, “En.”
Zhou Jinwei looked down, his gaze shifting from the screen onto her face. The corner of his lips soundlessly hooked.
It was just a game, yet she was tense as if she was about to go into battle.
Although Zhou Jinwei didn’t have any hobbies, he would still use games to vent his frustrations whenever he felt irritated.
Coming from a family like his, he was destined to bear pressure that no ordinary person could endure.
But no matter how mature he was mentally, he was still just a seventeen-year-old boy.
At the start of the game, Zhou Yanli helped Jiang Huihui pre-select a cat character. She didn’t need to do anything, just need to hang onto her teammate.
As long as her teammate doesn’t die, she won’t die either.
Of course, the teammate he spoke of was referring to himself.
“All you need to do later is just stay on me the whole time. This young master is a pro-level player. If not for my dad not letting me play professionally, I would’ve long won the S Championship.”
These words were both boastful and smug, and very clearly aimed at someone.
He was just short of saying Zhou Jinwei’s name.
The latter remained indifferent, glancing down at his phone.
Zhou Yanli had noticed, since earlier, his phone had rung several times. But aside from glancing at it in the beginning, he later directly put it on silent, completely ignoring it.
The game started. Zhou Yanli played the blind monk as the jungler, while Zhou Jinwei picked the male assassin.
Jiang Huihui although listened to Zhou Yanli and hung onto him, but the entire time, she was watching Zhou Jinwei’s side.
“So cool.”
“Was he was invisible just now?”
“Wow.”
Her eyes glistened with stars, the admiration on her face impossible to hide.
Hearing her praise Zhou Jinwei like this, Zhou Yanli instantly overturned his vinegar jar and said that he was going to show Jiang Huihui something.
Yet, after killing two of the opponents, he got killed off by the remaining one in the end.
Since he died, the cat that Jiang Huihui was playing also got forced to fall off him. She hurriedly ran in the opposite direction. Just as she was about to get caught, the male assassin crossed over from the other side of the river. Jiang Huihui quickly latched onto him.
Afterwards, she watched as he swiftly eliminated that person after briefly turning invisible.
“Wow, so cool.” Jiang Huihui couldn’t hide that maiden heart of hers.
She also couldn’t quite tell whether she found the character in the game cool, or Zhou Jinwei cool.
After saying this, she realized that she was seemingly too…..excited.
She carefully glanced at Zhou Jinwei who was sitting next to her, yet saw him similarly holding a lollipop in his mouth, leaning against the back of the chair, the corner of his lips slightly curved.
He seems to be…..smiling?
Heard that in the early stages of quitting smoking, everyone would habitually hold a lollipop in their mouth.
Come to think of it, she indeed hasn’t seen him smoking lately.
Afterwards, Jiang Huihui just stayed latched onto Zhou Jinwei the whole time. His character never died, so she also never fell off.
–
The first round was still pretty peaceful, but for the following rounds, the vibe just changed.
“Why didn’t you come save me just now? I was right next to you.” Zhou Yanli grumbled with a resentful look.
“Don’t want to save.”
“Damn it, then leave me that buff.”
As soon as he said this, Zhou Jinwei just dealt the final blow, and the buff immediately appeared under his feet.
Zhou Yanli fumed with anger, “You f#$%ing did that on purpose, didn’t you? Before I said anything, you didn’t even want that buff.”
Zhou Jinwei’s expression didn’t change, indifferently replying, “Suddenly wanted it now.”
Zhou Yanli went to complain to Jiang Huihui, “Stay away from guys like him in the future.”
Completely disregarding the fact that these words might prevent him from being born into this world.
Jiang Huihui attempted to mediate between them, but she discovered that from beginning to end, it was just Zhou Yanli that was angry.
Zhou Jinwei, on the other hand, appeared completely indifferent.
After that round ended, Zhou Jinwei still removed his headphones in the end and took out his phone, going out to answer the call.
From the moment they went out until now, he’d gotten don’t know how many calls during this time, but he completely ignored them all.
Jiang Huihui stared at his back figure, feeling puzzled with a bit of worry.
She asked Zhou Yanli, “Could it be that his family, seeing that he hasn’t returned home all night, became worried?”
Zhou Yanli was looking at the data from the last round, “Nah, even if he doesn’t return home for a year, his family still won’t worry.”
Staring at the screen, Zhou Yanli just frowned.
Damn it, how come Zhou Jinwei was also this good at games?
Does he even have any weaknesses?
Hearing his words, Jiang Huihui’s worries not only didn’t lessen, she instead looked towards the direction he left in even more worried.
His figure had already disappeared from there.
The phone call was from Zhou Jinwei’s mom, asking whether he was still in Pingjiang or not.
“En.”
The woman on the other end of the phone, her delicate and beautiful face was full of displeasure, “He sure hasn’t changed at all. A few days ago, another woman showed up at the door with a child, saying it was his offspring, already eight. That one last time was just a year younger than you. Bastard thing, whenever he’s stressed, he just sleeps around with women and doesn’t even take protective measures.”
Zhou Jinwei slightly frowned.
The more she spoke, the more worked up she got, boiling with anger, “Has he ever considered your future before? What prospects are there studying over there? I’ll book you a ticket, leaving the day after tomorrow, to America.”
Zhou Jinwei calmly refused, “No need.”
Two simple words. The woman didn’t speak anymore. She knew her son’s temper. He was taciturn and cold, but had his own thoughts.
Not close with anyone.
She slowly exhaled, her tone softening, negotiating with him, “Then at least come back to the capital for a few day. We haven’t seen each other in a very long time. I can’t stay long this time. I’ll be returning to the States next month.”
After falling silent for a moment, he had the lollipop in hand casually thrown into the trash can by the roadside and agreed.
–
Since Zhou Jinwei had stepped out, they separately started another round on their own. Zhou Yanli said that this time, he was going to properly show her his skills. Earlier, it was because of Zhou Jinwei getting in his way.
Jiang Huihui obediently nodded.
However, not long after the round started, Jiang Huihui just got killed by the other side’s mid-laner.
After that, Zhou Yanli solely focused on killing him for the whole match.
Killing to the point where the other party ended up opening the public channel and cursing, “F@#$ your mom!”
Zhou Yanli’s face instantly darkened. If he’d said something else, it would’ve been better, but this line…….
But he still very considerately put the headphones on Jiang Huihui first and opened the music software, letting her listen for a while.
Jiang Huihui was still a bit confused. The headphone volume was a bit high, so she couldn’t hear what Zhou Yanli was saying.
But he seemed to be talking the whole time.
However, when she curiously removed her headphones, wanting to hear exactly who he was talking to, she saw him lean back in his chair and coldly sneer, “Can’t win against me online so want to meet up offline? Fine, Pingjiang High, year 2 class 1, Zhou Jinwei. I’ll be waiting. If you don’t come, then you’re my grandson.”
Jiang Huihui had a look of disbelief, “Zhou Jinwei, he…..”
Zhou Yanli unwrapped another lollipop and put it in his mouth, his tone nonchalant, “Don’t worry, he’ll take care of it.”
In any case, whenever he caused troubled, it was always him taking care of it in the end, so might as well let them go find him directly.
Zhou Yanli looked at Jiang Huihui, pausing a little. He leaned towards her, “What’s wrong with your eyes?”
“Huh?”
Zhou Yanli frowned, “It’s a bit red, uncomfortable?”
Jiang Huihui shook her head, not feeling uncomfortable, “It’s probably from the smoke.”
“Smoke?” Zhou Yanli froze for a moment, finally smelling that suffocating smell of cigarette.
His brows furrowed even more.
He glanced back, seeing a baldie across the aisle from them with a cigarette in his mouth, loudly swearing as he used the computer to gamble.
Zhou Yanli walked over and pointed at the no smoking sign on the wall, “Bro, are you blind or what? Can’t see that it says no smoking?”
The other party was also an aggressive one. As soon as he heard his words, he just deliberately puffed a mouthful of smoke at him, “Telling your grandpa what to do?”
The bottom of Zhou Yanli’s eyes were completely dark, but he still warned him with a smile, “Either you obediently put out the cigarette yourself, or I will beat you up and then help you put out the cigarette.”
That person was already angry from having lost money gambling, so seeing a high schooler daring to be this cocky in front of him, he rolled up his sleeves and stood up, “F#$%ing say it again!”
This height different——–Zhou Yanli even had to look down at him.
He chuckled, taking the cigarette from his hand and directly pressing it on the other party’s exposed forearm.
Zhou Yanli twisted it as hard as he could, using the other guy’s arm as an ashtray, “If you want to fight, I’m down anytime. I’ll even give you an arm, so as to avoid you saying that your grandpa bullied you.”
The smell of burnt flesh filled the air. That man grimaced from the pain, “You little…..”
Zhou Yanli slightly lifted his chin, glancing at him with a contemptuous look.
Jiang Huihui tugged him from behind, “Zhou Yanli, don’t fight.”
Zhou Yanli turned back to comfort her, “It’s fine, don’t you worry. Someone like this, I can take on ten by myself.”
Jiang Huihui looked behind him, her eyes suddenly widening, “Be careful!”
Before Zhou Yanli could even react, the sound of metal falling onto the ground drowned out everything else.
That person had pulled a knife out of nowhere and directly swung it at him.
Fortunately, it got stopped by Zhou Jinwei.
But his arm still got cut in the struggle by the other party.
Fresh blood continuously flowed out, running down his fingers tips and dripping onto the floor.
Zhou Yanli instantly froze on the spot.
Zhou Jinwei, however, just indifferently grabbed a few tissues to press over wound, roughly stopping the bleeding.
Seeing Zhou Yanli looking somewhat off, he frowned and asked him, “Where did you get hurt?”
T/N: The game they’re playing in this chap is League of Legends, so the characters they picked are Yuumi (cat), Lee Sin (blind monk), and Talon (male assassin).
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