Chapter 41 – Not Someone to Mess With
Late at night, another sleepless figure slipped on a jacket and quietly stepped out of his room.
As Shao Zhan passed by Yang Sa’s door, he noticed it was slightly ajar. He reached out, intending to pull it shut for him, but hesitated at the handle. Then, awkwardly retracting his hand, he stuffed it back into his pocket and continued walking.
The sight of a figure sleeping in the lounge area gave him a solid scare—he thought some youth trainee had snuck upstairs for midnight snacks. He was just about to scold them back to bed when Yang Sa’s sleeping face entered his view, completely unguarded.
His semi-long black hair made his already pale skin glow softly. Half his face was tucked into the shadows, stripped of its usual sharp coldness and aloofness from the day. In its place was a lazy tranquility only deep sleep could bring.
Shao Zhan opened a side cabinet drawer and pulled out a strawberry-printed blanket—Fat Tangyuan’s treasured secret stash—and gently draped it over Yang Sa.
In that moment, an overwhelming drowsiness suddenly swept through him. Almost like he was possessed, Shao Zhan sat down on the other side of the couch.
By the time he realized what he was doing, Yang Sa’s head had already started to tilt, little by little, until it came to rest on his shoulder.
Qin Chuan, who had gotten up for the bathroom with a stomachache, nearly screamed when he was scared half to death by the “ghost” in the tea room. Just as he was about to wake everyone to come ghost-hunting, Shao Zhan waved at him with a familiar gesture, stopping him in his tracks.
The scream caught in Qin Chuan’s throat, his face flushing red as he pointed frantically at the two heads leaning together on the sofa.
Silently mouthing “What is going on?”, his expression went full over-the-top—so much so it rivaled the wild facial contortions of Masato Sakai in Legal High. Every frame was meme-worthy.
“Oh my god—what. is. going. on?” Qin Chuan, dressed in teddy bear pajamas, threw an exaggerated silent tantrum, waving his hands wildly to vent his inner chaos.
Shao Zhan just shrugged, signaling he had no idea either. That only made Qin Chuan’s eyes nearly pop out of his head as he spun in place—unclear whether he was trying to gather his scattered limbs or his sanity.
Shao Zhan finally stopped teasing. He carefully eased Yang Sa’s head off his shoulder and replaced it with a throw pillow. After confirming he hadn’t disturbed him, he circled around from the back of the sofa and approached the fuming Qin Chuan, guiding him to the stairwell.
There, he briefly explained what had happened with the LAP team.
“This is outrageous! I’m the team manager—you bring someone back and I’m the last to know?” Qin Chuan puffed up, hopping in place twice. “Unbelievable…”
The tall Shao Zhan reached out and placed a hand on Qin Chuan’s head. The 170-something cm Qin Chuan looked like a furious little winter melon getting choked by fate. He flailed his arms and legs angrily, smacking at destiny.
“H-he-he—he’s not someone you mess with,” Qin Chuan stammered. “He vanished for no reason three years ago, and now suddenly reappears, stirring up chaos in the league. And you—you’re getting cozy with him?”
Shao Zhan looked down at him and calmly asked, “So what you’re saying is… I am someone you can mess with?”
Qin Chuan swallowed hard, punching the air between them with his fists. “You bast*rd—are you trying to piss me to death?!”
Shao Zhan sighed and ignored the short arms that couldn’t reach him anyway. He patted Qin Chuan’s head with his palm. “There’s already enough going on with the team. As for me and him—you don’t need to get involved.”
Hearing that, Qin Chuan flapped his short arms like a parrot. “How can I not get involved?! You’re my money tree!”
“Do you have to be so blunt?” The real-life money tree Shao Zhan retracted his hand and let Qin Chuan explode in front of him.
Qin Chuan was great in every way—skilled at his job, upright in character, unshaken in the face of serious matters. As for the small stuff… he was like a fluffed-up chicken, chirping non-stop.
Before heading downstairs, Shao Zhan kindly reminded him why he got up in the first place.
Qin Chuan had originally planned to go to the bathroom, but after that whole exchange, he focused his breath into his core and tried to sense it. “Sh*t, I got so mad I don’t even need to go anymore.” Gripping the stair rail, he chased after Shao Zhan’s retreating figure. “Where are you going?”
“Out for some air,” Shao Zhan said, waving a hand without turning around.
“Yeah, go on—why not blow yourself away while you’re at it,” Qin Chuan grumbled, angrily stomping back toward his room in his fuzzy bear paw slippers.
As he passed the sofa and caught sight of the sleeping figure, his doll-like face scrunched up in frustration. “That bast*rd… rotten old beast. Never acts like a human. Why is my life so d*mn hard…”