There is no Redemption for A Scum Villain

Chapter 39

"What's that?” Luo Binghe asked, laying his head to one side as he looked at the thing on Shen Yuan's nose.

Shen Yuan had just been adjusting his glasses that he had received from Shang Qinghua that day when Luo Binghe asked that question. Quickly he pushed the glasses into the right position and straightened his back.

“They are called glasses. They help you see better if you have problems with your eyes,” he explained as he took a look at his surroundings to see how good these glasses were. Amazingly the glasses were just perfect, although there were slight impurities in the glass that made it a bit difficult to see through certain spots well,  but at least the shape of the glasses was nice. He did look exactly like a scholar character from a drama.

When Luo Binghe heard what the glasses were for, he looked immediately disappointed. “But…didn't you train with me so you wouldn't need to see? Why would you need those?” he asked, not wanting to be replaced by some stupid, ugly gadget.

“I need them to be able to read. How can I copy scriptures or learn about things I want to know outside of the things I have to study if I can't read? You're not free all the time and I also want to read stuff on my own,” Shen Yuan said quickly. With that look on Luo Binghe's face, he couldn't help but pity the boy. “But don't worry. For fighting I can't wear them. They might break and that would be very bad, so I would take them off. So we can still train together.”

Right away Luo Binghe's mood cleared up and he smiled happily again. Shang Qinghua, still standing off to the side, cleared his throat to get some attention back.

“And how are they, Cu- ehem Shen-shizhi? I didn't know what strength you needed them, but I let erm…” Shang Qinghua paused and looked at Luo Binghe, “Ah, Luo-shizhi, could you quickly go and…fetch…erm…a meatbun for me? I'm suddenly very hungry.”

“Uh, but-” Luo Binghe wanted to protest, but then he quickly remembered his status and despite wanting to spend as much time as possible with Shen Yuan he actually left without another bow, but with a polite “Yes, Shishu”. He didn't want to look bad in front of Shen Yuan after all.

When he was gone, Shang Qinghua took a breath of relief. “So, yeah. I let the System measure your eyes and give me the measurements and all so I could give them to the smith. I don't think you would've known how thick the lenses have to be?”

“Not really, no,” Shen Yuan admitted. He had only ever collected his glasses from the optician and nothing more, but why would he? For the time being he brushed aside the unwell feeling he had when thinking about the fact that the System has measured around at him and crossed his arms. “But I've actually got another question. How did you get the glass to this purity rate? As far as I recall they weren't able to get it really see-through but more fuzzy in this era. Did you also let the System give you the data for that?”

“Well…urm…” Shang Qinghua looked a bit flustered and had to look off to the side for a moment, “Actually, I know some stuff about glass making. At college I was really into chemistry and went to several factories to watch some stuff being processed. I even got an internship at-”

“Yeah yeah, I don't really care,” Shen Yuan interrupted, before he felt even more useless with his life. To feel better about himself, he quickly thought of a way to make Shang Qinghua feel bad about himself instead. “It's amazing that you did all that just to turn out to be a mediocre author.”

“Wow, you're being generous,” Shang Qinghua said sarcastically, “Last time I wasn't even good enough for mediocre.”

Shen Yuan was about to give another comment, but then he spotted the boy that was standing by the door, uncertain if he should enter. For a moment Shen Yuan's heart halted. How long had he stood there? He should've just come in, but instead he got to witness the suspiciously disrespectful behavior of Shen Yuan towards his… ‘Shishu’.