“Eating together often…”
Seeing how excited they all were, Ye Yang couldn’t help but defend himself: “Isn’t it normal to invite your neighbor over for a meal? Teacher Shen even buys ingredients he knows I like and brings them over. It’s a give-and-take relationship.”
The short-haired girl was about to faint from sheer delight. Everyone knew how aloof Teacher Shen was, how difficult to approach. Even Dean Cui had been trying to have a meal with him for two years and still hadn’t succeeded! Every holiday, Dean Cui would post complaints on his social media about his “rebellious apprentice.” Give-and-take, she thought. Easy to say. No one else even had the chance to engage in give-and-take with Shen Ming.
The long-haired girl’s face was bright red. Her fingers were dancing across her phone screen, leaving afterimages. In just a few seconds, no telling how many people she had already shared the news with.
Li Chanyi raised her voice another few decibels. “You still say there’s no special relationship? Then why don’t you ever invite me to eat? Aren’t we good friends?!” She was practically shaking Ye Yang’s shoulders and yelling.
Ye Yang’s expression was sincere. “Don’t you go home every weekend? You’re welcome to come to my place too.”
Li Chanyi: …Stumped. That was true.
Just then, the counselor arrived, and everyone quieted down. But their gossipy hearts and typing fingers never stopped.
Within half a class period, several related posts had appeared on the school forum and other social media platforms, all discussing the relationship between Shen Ming and Ye Yang. Some girls were so deep in their shipping frenzy that they lost all sense of proportion and immediately launched into passionate creative writing, producing quite a few fanfics.
Even Li Chanyi found it hard to look at, but she also couldn’t bring herself to read all those posts and keep her mouth shut. In the end, she screenshotted a few of the less explicit ones and sent them to Ye Yang.
Ye Yang still couldn’t follow everyone’s train of thought. He only felt that “humans really are still so hard to understand.”
He didn’t care much about it himself. As long as he didn’t blow his cover and get discovered as a non-human, there was nothing to worry about. His only concern was: “Stop spreading nonsense, okay? And help me debunk it. This is going to cause trouble for Teacher Shen.”
And what Shen Ming hated most was trouble. Just like how Ye Yang had been forcibly shoved onto him in the beginning… Thinking of this, Ye Yang’s heart sank a little.
But human and non-human joys and sorrows were not the same.
The long-haired girl in the front row was already pinching her philtrum, terrified she might scream out loud. She turned around, face red, eyes shining brightly, and asked Ye Yang in a small voice, “That’s all you’re worried about?”
“Yeah,” Ye Yang frowned slightly. “Teacher Shen probably wouldn’t want to be talked about like this. None of it is true. This would definitely bother him, wouldn’t it?”
The short-haired girl was also done for. “You still say there’s nothing going on? Teacher Shen is famous for ignoring everyone, yet he treats you so specially. We’ve been interrogating you for ages, and here you are, still worrying about him… Oh my god, I need to go read some fanfics to recover.”
Those two were hopeless. Ye Yang poked Li Chanyi. “Are you on the forum?”
Li Chanyi was engrossed and didn’t even look up.
Ye Yang poked him again. “Help me clarify under those posts. Teacher Shen and I have a teacher-student relationship. We’re not dating, we’re not in a relationship.”
Li Chanyi finally looked up, his expression unreadable. Ye Ye was so naive. Did he not know that the more he said things like that, the more seriously people would ship them?
“Can you do it or not? Say something?”
“Mmhm, leave it to me!” Li Chanyi quickly agreed, wanting to prevent Ye Yang from going to the forum himself. He still hadn’t even registered for the forum – what an innocent kid. If he actually went and saw those posts, he’d be terrified.
Ye Yang felt relieved, though a bit too early. He had no idea how Li Chanyi had specifically replied, or what subsequent events had been stirred up.
—
The three seniors in his dormitory still hadn’t returned. Ye Yang went to the dorm, did some cleaning, thought it over, and decided to go back to the apartment.
By the second semester, dormitory management wasn’t as strict as in the first. Not staying in the dorm wasn’t a big deal, especially since there were no classes the next morning anyway.
The few messages he sent to Shen Ming were all met with perfunctory replies of just a few words. Ye Yang decided he would go ask the Spirit Serpent why Shen Ming had suddenly woken up and how he had known to bring the uniforms.
He happened to run into Shen Ming downstairs when he got back. As they walked into the elevator together, Ye Yang asked him directly.
Shen Ming: “…Let’s talk outside.”
As soon as they exited the elevator and left the range of the elevator’s surveillance cameras, the Spirit Serpent popped out. “Don’t worry, Little Rabbit. We’re both doing great. That sleep felt amazing, and we’re in fantastic shape now!”
“As for that bag of clothes of yours, even though we were asleep, we were still aware of our surroundings. You live so close. We knew about it the day you brought the clothes over. This morning, when I went over to you, I spotted at a glance that you hadn’t taken them.”
Ye Yang relaxed. “So that’s how it was.”
He glanced at Shen Ming and couldn’t help feeling a little miffed. “Then why didn’t you just tell me clearly when I asked?” He really had grown comfortable enough to complain to Teacher Shen.
Shen Ming suddenly straightened his back.
“That sort of thing doesn’t matter~” The Spirit Serpent suddenly raised its head and said, “More importantly, the extra tart shells in your fridge will expire if you don’t make egg tarts with them today.”
“What? Let me take a look!” Ye Yang immediately opened his apartment door and ran to the kitchen.
Shen Ming stared at the Spirit Serpent. The serpent flicked its tail. “Just kidding. I wouldn’t really say it.” Their minds were connected. Everything the Spirit Serpent had just thought in its head, Shen Ming knew perfectly well.
Shen Ming didn’t respond, staring at the serpent for a while longer. He only looked away when Ye Yang came back out.
“Little Rabbit, listen to me.” A few minutes after Shen Ming left, the Spirit Serpent suddenly poked Ye Yang’s palm with the tip of its tail. A hint of cunning appeared on its tiny snake face.
Hmph, as if I wouldn’t really say it. I was just deliberately letting your guard down. This thought flashed through Shen Ming’s mind in an instant. His hand abruptly clenched into a fist, but it was already too late.
“I didn’t mean not to speak properly. I have crippling social anxiety. When I saw you say people were misunderstanding our relationship, I was worried you’d be unhappy, but at the same time, I was kind of happy myself. There was so much I wanted to say to you, but I don’t know how to communicate with others at all. So I could only pretend to be aloof and cold. I’m also a try-hard show-off—” The Spirit Serpent spoke at lightning speed, but it wasn’t fast enough. Before it could finish its sentence, a bolt of lightning materialized out of thin air inside the apartment.
Ye Yang instinctively moved to grab the Spirit Serpent, but he couldn’t outrun lightning. Before his hand could even lift, the serpent was already scorched.
“Crackle—” The strike was merciless. The serpent was thoroughly roasted. Its flesh gave off a smoky, toasted aroma, and unspent electrical currents still crackled across its body.
If the creature’s aura hadn’t still been there, Ye Yang would have been truly terrified.
Shen Ming rushed over. He didn’t even dare look at Ye Yang. Without a word, he grabbed the roasted serpent and left. Ye Yang only caught a glimpse of a hurried retreating figure and a flash of bright red ear tips.
“…He’s that harsh on himself?” Ye Yang felt a newfound respect.
…
Ye Yang opened his chat window with Shen Ming. He watched as “Typing…” appeared on the other end. After waiting a very, very long time, he finally received a message.
“Don’t listen to his nonsense. I didn’t mean anything else. I was just worried you’d be upset if people mistook you for my lover. I was afraid it would cause trouble for you.”
A while later, after the egg tarts were baked, Ye Yang finally processed what had been said. “Wait a minute… So Teacher Shen was also worried about causing trouble for me? Turns out we were thinking the same thing.”
Ye Yang couldn’t help but smile. In high spirits, he moved lightly on his feet as he carried the egg tarts next door.
“Hurry, hurry. Egg tarts aren’t good cold.”
The Spirit Serpent’s aura was steady and healthy, but its body was still a patchwork of black and scorched marks, looking quite pitiful. Even knowing it was fine, Ye Yang still couldn’t resist stroking the cool snake scales and channeling some energy into it.
As the gentle, vibrant life force flowed into his body, Shen Ming paused. The tips of his ears began to flush red again.
He didn’t know what was wrong with himself. Ever since he’d followed Ye Yang’s reminder and gone to look at the school forum, he’d barely had a moment of peace all day.
Suddenly, the Spirit Serpent cried out, “Shen Ming! Was it necessary to retaliate like that? You know I love these the most!”
Ye Yang turned to look and saw that out of the eight egg tarts, seven were already gone! Only the last one remained.
“Ah… Teacher Shen, were you hungry?”
Shen Ming jolted awake as if from a dream. The empty foil box in his hand was immediately crushed flat.
He wiped the crumbs from his mouth and tried to appear composed. “Sorry, it was so delicious I couldn’t stop myself. You have the last one. I’ll go get the chiffon cake for you.”
With that, he stood up and hurried away.
“Is it really that good? Has my cooking reached a breakthrough?” Ye Yang picked up the last egg tart, still steaming hot, and took a bite as the Spirit Serpent watched with yearning. “It does seem a little tastier, doesn’t it? Why? The recipe hasn’t changed…”
The Spirit Serpent was practically drooling. It let out a wail. “The rest should at least be for me, right?!”
—
Shortly after the semester started, Little Crow entered his molting period.
At first, Ye Yang didn’t realize what was happening. He just noticed that Little Crow’s head feathers looked a bit ruffled. When he reached out and stroked him, a clump of feathers came off in his hand. Then, just a few days later, Little Crow went bald.
Ye Yang was terrified, thinking he had somehow ruined Little Crow’s feathers. Only after looking it up online did he learn that crows naturally molt in spring and autumn.
During molting season, Little Crow was very sensitive. He couldn’t stand hearing any words like “feather loss” or “bald.”
Ye Yang often marveled, “You’re way too smart. If I weren’t a demon myself, I’d suspect you had become one.”
But that wasn’t the most frustrating part.
The biggest problem was Little Crow’s hostility toward Shen Ming.
No matter how much Ye Yang tried to deny it, Little Crow ate and slept at his place every single day. He had long since become a de facto member of the household.
Ye Yang had no idea what Shen Ming had done to Little Crow while he was unconscious. Shen Ming had supposedly saved the crow, yet Little Crow hated him so much.
Recently, Shen Ming couldn’t even get through Ye Yang’s front door anymore. However, his own apartment had begun to see frequent visits from a diligent little sea hare who knew how to cook.
To make cooking easier for Ye Yang, Shen Ming had added quite a bit of kitchenware – an air fryer, a pressure cooker, a clay pot, a small iron pot for splashing oil, and so on. He’d even bought an extra refrigerator.
But Shen Ming’s apartment originally never used the kitchen. It was missing far too many essentials. Often, halfway through cooking, Ye Yang would have to go back to his own place to get seasonings.
This couldn’t go on. Ye Yang asked the Spirit Serpent, “How exactly did you save Little Crow that day? What happened?”
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