Chapter 111 (Part 1) part 1
Luo Shizhen supported Lin Ke, letting him have a quick wash.
Then he went to get some clothes for him to change into.
After Lin Ke changed his clothes, he walked out of the bathroom on weak legs—tired, sleepy, and wanting to hug Luo Shizhen’s thigh and cry.
“I can’t walk anymore…”
Luo Shizhen wasn’t surprised at all.
It was the same when he used to train. Actually, it was better to keep training without resting, but if he rested for a bit after training, his two legs felt as heavy as iron, utterly immovable.
Under normal circumstances, Awakeners had strong recovery abilities. They would recover as long as they waited a bit.
But Lin Ke was experiencing such high-intensity training for the first time, after all.
Luo Shizhen thought for a moment and easily picked the person up.
The young Purifier had always been strong; picking up an adult was a piece of cake for him. He walked straight toward the bed.
Lin Ke felt even more moved.
Right then, someone knocked on the door. He couldn’t help with anything else, but his mouth was still working, so he shouted loudly: “Come in!”
Chen He’an stood outside the door holding two bowls of soup, smiling gently as he said:
“The cafeteria was boiling chicken soup. I brought two bowls of freshly brewed soup for you guys.”
He lifted his eyes, and instantly saw Luo Shizhen princess-carrying Lin Ke.
The smile on his face immediately faded considerably.
Unfortunately, of the people present, one had zero emotional intelligence, and the other wasn’t familiar with him, so neither noticed.
Lin Ke was still immersed in his secondary bout of being moved.
Not only was Shizhen so good to him, but this Teacher Chen was also so kind, even specially coming to bring them chicken soup. What did he do to deserve this?
Luo Shizhen also thought his teacher was wonderful.
He grinned at Chen He’an: “Thank you, Teacher.”
Then he naturally took the two bowls of soup, placed his own on the table, and handed the other to Lin Ke first.
“Do you have strength in your hands? Should I feed you?”
To be honest, Lin Ke’s hands and feet were like jelly. He was genuinely a bit afraid he wouldn’t be able to hold the chicken soup steady, and it would be troublesome if he spilled it on the bed.
But just as he nodded and before he could speak, he suddenly felt a piercing sensation on his back, an inexplicable feeling like a thorn in his spine. The moment he opened his mouth, he subconsciously changed his tune.
“No, no, no, no need, I’ll hold it and drink it myself.”
“Okay, you hold it. If you can’t, just call me.”
Luo Shizhen also sat down, holding his chicken soup, drinking while chatting with Chen He’an, who hadn’t left yet.
Chen He’an proactively brought up the knowledge that Luo Shizhen hadn’t yet studied deeply at school. Just like how he used to tutor him in the past, he began to explain it clearly, peeling back the layers one by one.
The two of them asked and answered questions, looking incredibly normal.
Lin Ke on the side: “…”
It was late at night, and they were about to sleep. Was it a bit unreasonable for this Teacher Chen to be in his room giving Shizhen a lesson?
But since he wasn’t familiar with Chen He’an, and Luo Shizhen completely failed to sense anything amiss, Lin Ke could only drag out the time he spent drinking the chicken soup while pretending he didn’t exist.
However, no matter how slowly he drank the chicken soup, it would eventually be finished.
Feeling inexplicably cautious, he put the chicken soup aside and lay down under the covers, making a show of getting ready to sleep.
Under normal circumstances, when seeing the owner of the room going to sleep, anyone with normal emotional intelligence would say their goodbyes, right?
But Chen He’an didn’t.
As if he hadn’t seen Lin Ke wanting to sleep, he continued guiding Luo Shizhen to ask various questions and then explaining them to him.
If Lin Ke had any tact, he might have said something like, “Shizhen, I’m going to sleep first. How about you guys go study in another room?”
But he was genuinely sleepy. His brain had turned to mush from the day’s exhaustion, and he lacked the energy to think too much. Feeling groggy, he actually fell asleep.
However, this was enough.
Chen He’an glanced slightly at Lin Ke on the bed and lowered his voice:
“Your friend has fallen asleep, and you are tired too. Shall we go to the cafeteria for some late-night snacks?”
Luo Shizhen had his back to Lin Ke the whole time. Hearing this, he turned his head and saw that he was indeed asleep.
He hurriedly lowered his voice as well, whispering:
“Okay, Teacher, you head over first. I’ll clean up here.”
Chen He’an smiled and said: “It’s fine, I’ll wait for you.”
He stood at the door, watching Luo Shizhen gather Lin Ke’s dirty clothes and then clean the bathroom.
After coming out, he even adjusted the room temperature for Lin Ke and tucked him in.
This scene looked extremely familiar.
Chen He’an looked again at Lin Ke on the bed—who, even after washing up and falling asleep, still maintained a ghost-like appearance—and his smile faded until it was almost unmaintainable.
His appearance was only average, his abilities were incredibly poor, his figure was ordinary, and even his personality was so irresponsible. He even cried over such simple training.
If this were Chen He’an’s student, he would patiently guide him and look at him with a tolerant attitude.
But Lin Ke wasn’t.
This guy was nearly thirty years old, yet he had to rely on Luo Shizhen, who wasn’t even twenty.
The look in Chen He’an’s eyes toward Lin Ke was practically displaying his pickiness out in the open.
“It seems you guys really hit it off. I remember Chu Xiao is your childhood friend, right? You don’t seem to have ever taken care of him like this.”
Luo Shizhen busied himself while casually whispering back:
“I did take care of him. Chu Xiao used to get sick a lot in the past, and this is how I took care of him.”
Strictly speaking, his relationship with Chu Xiao improved because Chu Xiao often fell ill and needed someone to keep an eye on him.
The school teachers had to look after so many children on their own, so they couldn’t manage. They found the clumsy but honest and obedient Luo Shizhen, asking him to keep an eye on Chu Xiao more often.
At that time, Luo Shizhen couldn’t even take care of himself, let alone others, but he was obedient enough. The teacher told him to watch, so he truly just “watched.”
Every day, no matter what Chu Xiao was doing, he followed him closely like a guardian spirit.
Back then, Luo Shizhen had an enormous appetite, as if he could never be filled, and he hadn’t developed the good habit of eating slowly. Every mealtime, he was the one wolfing down the food and finishing the fastest.
After eating, he would stare at Chu Xiao.
Later on, the teacher felt that his gaze was a bit scary, looking as if he was going to eat Chu Xiao too.
Afraid he would scare Chu Xiao, they told him he didn’t need to watch Chu Xiao anymore.
As a result, when Luo Shizhen stopped watching, after a while, Chu Xiao actually took the initiative to talk to him, and later even brought food for him.
Then, slowly, they became friends.
Thinking of his wonderful childhood, Luo Shizhen was in a great mood.
When he was young, he would often wake up hungry in the middle of the night. During his first time at boarding school, he was so hungry he wanted to go to the playground to catch crickets to eat.
At that time, his brain was even stupider than it was now. His thinking couldn’t turn corners, like it was glued with paste. Even when he was that hungry, he actually never thought of buying extra snacks to keep in the dorm.
It was Chu Xiao who bought him a large bag of snacks and left it on his bed, so he could eat anytime he got hungry at night.
“I was even stupider back then than I am now. If other people hadn’t done things in front of me at least once, I wouldn’t have thought that they could be done that way.”
Chen He’an could imagine the pitiful appearance of a very young Luo Shizhen waking up hungry and not knowing what to do.
His gaze was gentle as he stroked the young man’s head: “You’re not stupid now. Back then, you probably just hadn’t fully grown.”
“The human brain continues to develop. Being hungry often leads to a decline in reaction speed. At that time, you seemed clumsy probably because you were frequently underfed, resulting in slow reactions.”
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