CH 1

What Sui Houyu did not expect was that he would be standing outside, waiting for someone.

Of course, he was so bored he could also watch a farce.

That would be quite interesting.

In mid-August, summer vacation was about to pass. The weather was utterly desolate.

When he woke up in the morning, there was a drizzle, and it was raining at that time.

The water on the ground has disappeared.

On the dry ground, it is hard to find a trace of wetness even in the shadows. Everything exposed to the sun seems to be steaming, and even the air smells of melting asphalt.

The cicadas are hoarsely screaming as if this was a way to signal to the world that they have not been cooked yet, and their will was still strong.

Leaning on the railing, Houyu could feel the warmth of the railing through his clothes.

He looked down at the drink in his hand and held it with one hand. He hooked the tab with his fingers. He took a sip, looking at the buildings near him disinterestedly.

If he didn’t navigate it based on the map, he probably wouldn’t even know that there was such a place in this city.

To get to this place called Xiangjiaxiang, he actually needed to take the expressway to Linshi, get off the expressway, and drive for another half an hour.

It is basically a lane between the two cities.

Such a location can be regarded as one of the six districts of the city as if it is an isolated area, an independent place in the corner of the city. He looked around, there were no particularly tall buildings here; most buildings here are no more than six or seven stories tall, the vehicles for the disabled are on the road. The restaurants seem to belong to small stores, and most of them say [Home cooking].

The tourism industry is being developed in this neighborhood recently. The environment is surrounded by mountains and rivers, and life can be considered comfortable and relaxed.

Overall it’s not bad, but one cannot be too sure about the night.

He talked to the owner of the hotel on the phone, and the owner said he was playing mahjong. After that, he will come to pick him up and asked him to wait for a while. This was the standard slow-paced life in small towns.

After hanging up the phone, he saw the notification of someone @-ing him on the top of the phone screen. He clicked into the class group chat. He saw that all the students in the class were swearing as if they were having a debate.

He scrolled up the chat log and saw that someone had reposted a screenshot of the chat, saying that the school group chat of Fenghua Private High School was openly dissing Houyu.

He clicked on the screenshot, it was nothing more than spreading that he was disgusted by cats and dogs and how he looked ugly and low quality.

Afterward, they trumpeted¹ how handsome their school bullies are and how good exercise is². Like the pride of heaven, the school bullies have also become “male gods.” There are also girls who are worried and fear that Hou Yu will be troubled by their school tyrants when school starts.

[1] Trumpeting basically means to loudly boast about stuff

[2] I think it's kinda talking about how Hou Yu is thin (?), and that's why physical education/exercise is important

He turned it off after a quick glance.

Sui Houyu’s high school suddenly merged with another high school to improve itself, and the students from the two schools will go to school together after the beginning of the term.

Both sides are discussing, and there are even people who have mixed into the other school group chat as spies.

It can be seen that they are really free this summer vacation.

Houyu started typing in the group to answer: [In a sense, it can be said that their evaluation of me can be considered objective.]

Ran Shu: [The face is disgusting? I’m afraid that they don’t know what a country’s glory is³.]

[3] The sentence in the raws didn't make much sense in English so I changed it to the closest possible equivalent I could think of

Former Squad Leader: [Warning for usage of dangerous adjectives.]

Ran Shu: [I’m going now… I don’t want to kneel, I just feel my knees are going soft.]

After, Houyu chuckled ignorantly as he put the phone back in his pocket.

While he continued to wait, he happened to see two people making a scene.

There was a girl not far from Sui Houyu, who just came from the convenience store.

The girl is tall, had her hair in a ponytail, and was wearing a simple T-shirt and denim shorts. The skin tone is wheatish and looks very beautiful.

First, a gangster came to flirt with the girl.

He said: "Meimei⁴, add a WeChat account to talk to me."

The girl answered seriously: "Go away."

[4] Means 'little sister' literally, also used as a polite way of addressing a younger girl even without blood relation

Then, the gangster started to behave harshly with the girl, reaching out and pulling her arm, as if to take her away.

As soon as the two showed signs of quarreling, a boy hero rushed to save the world, shouting loudly: "Remove your hand!"

As those two were fighting, they were stunned to hear Houyu laugh.

The gangster gave Sui Houyu an angry look, seeming to warn him not to be nosy.

Following his cooperation, Houyu dragged his suitcase to the side and completely ignored them, making room for them so as to not be affected and allowed them to continue.

Because of the sound of luggage being dragged, the girl looked up at Houyu.

Just a glance and the girl’s eyes were not willing to move away from Sui Houyu.

Sui Houyu can be called a pretty boy, simply as if he came out of a drawing. Mainly a shoujo⁵ comic, because he looked like the male lead in those genres.

[5] Shoujo is a genre of comics and shows that is generally directed towards females (mainly contains romance and fantasy)

His eyebrows are beautiful, and even a little too exquisite. At 183 centimeters in height, he has a beauty that will bewitch⁶ the country and its people. His hair is jet-black with natural curls, and his heavy and thick hair makes his face smaller.

[6] It was originally written 'harm' but in this context, 'bewitch' makes more sense

A pair of thick eyebrows, eyes reflecting water, the thick eyelashes that echo the volume of his hair. The bridge of the nose is tall but not too excessive, the tip of the nose is small and the lips are small and pink, and there is also a playful smile on the corners of his mouth.

The girl looked in the direction of Sui Houyu for a long time.

The person who came to save the girl and the gangster fought for a long time.

The girl only saw Houyu and didn’t want to see the two gangsters.

Although the scene is entertaining, there is no audience.

When the rescuer came to talk to the girl, the girl looked back at him.

"Are you okay?" The rescuer asked questions while standing in front of the girl.

This girl has seen Sui Houyu first and then this one. There is somewhat a gap between them.

This little brother can be regarded as skeletal thin and looks different from ordinary people. What should one say about his facial features?

Forcibly using idioms, it can only be described as "very different from the norm."

His eyes are a bit different in size, and the eyelids are still single, but the larger eye has a double. The distance between the eyes is somewhat wide, the nose is good, and the mouth is normal, but they don’t look good when combined.

These five senses really insist on their own opinions, and no one accepts others.

The girl replied casually: "I’m okay."

The rescuer continued to follow up: "I’m afraid that the gangster will harass you again, where are you going, shall I see you off?"

The girl was obviously unwilling. After thinking about it, she shook her head and refused and walked towards Sui Hou Yu: "Brother, can you send me home? I was just harassed and I am a little scared."

What was this transfer of one person to another?

This is called moving naturally and receiving beautifully.

Following Houyu squeezed the drink can that had just been emptied, threw it into the trash can accurately, and replied casually: "Hey, who is your brother?"

He doesn’t like the name elder brother very much. He always found things like that strange.

"Sorry, are you a younger brother?” The girl would still be wrong. Following his ignorance, Houyu took some chewing gum from his pocket, tossed out two pieces, and stuffed them into his mouth.

The girl’s gaze focused on his side profile, she subconsciously swallowed a mouthful of saliva, and continued to ask, "Are you waiting for someone?"

Looking at Houyu’s side profile, he has a beautiful curve of the bridge of his nose and jawline. When he lowers his head, his fluffy hair hangs down, resting on his forehead, curling just right.

This kind of stunning beauty is not common in real life. After all, science and technology have not yet released the ability to add beauty filters inside human eyes⁷.

[7] This means the filter inside human eyes that makes everyone look beautiful

After Houyu responded vaguely and found out that the homeowner of the hotel in WeChat had sent real-time location sharing. After opening it, he could see that the host was walking towards him. He stood up, and the girl realized that there was a cat lying in the bag behind him.

It looked cute.

The girl actually followed him and asked: "This cat is beautiful, what is it called?"

"Da-ge⁸." Houyu replied softly.

[8] Da-ge means 'big brother' but da-ge sounds better to me (as a name, so it's left as it is)

The girl didn’t recover, and asked: "Huh?"

"Meow brother."

The girl was instantly amused: "This name is interesting. In line with its temperament."

The boy who wanted to save the girl by being the hero saw that after he had worked hard, the girl ran away with someone else. He was speechless for a while and watched the two leave with such a dull face.

After the two people walked far, the gangster came out and said unhappy, "Is this making people scared?"

"Tsk, really bad luck, now girls like that kind of girlish boys? Look at that guy who is long…" The boy choked for a while and finally compromised. "He’s really pretty. However, I am not bad either."

The rogue brother didn’t want to answer this question. Even if he was his friend, he couldn’t admit the lie without his conscience.

Then the gangster sighed: "I acted and instead got beaten by you several times."

The two boys were still unconvinced, and squatted side by side on the pavement with a look of bad luck.

The host who came to pick up Houyu was a bit lame.

As Houyu noticed this, he took the initiative to drag the suitcase towards him and walked over.

The homeowner looked to be in his thirties, with a fat body and eyes facing the girl who left. He asked, "Will you wait for her?"

"I do not know her."

"Not a girlfriend?"

"No."

The host helped Houyu carry the suitcase and was rejected by Houyu.

The host smiled and said: "I’ll still be here when you rent a hotel and get a girlfriend. How about just friendship, if it turns out not to be love?"

"I want to live alone."

"How come you came to live here?"

"I’m a minor and left home to live here."

The homeowner nodded in understanding: "We are generally alone here, but it is easy to live here, but if you have come here to rent a house, what about the family members."

Sui Houyu followed the owner into the building of the community, carried his suitcase up the stairs, and replied, "I didn’t tell the two families."

"Two families?"

"Well, divorced and married someone else, isn’t it just two families?" Houyu didn’t fully clarify that he moved out and has started to live here. The two families haven’t found out and thought he was living in each other’s house.

Since then, the landlord has not asked about this matter again, but only explained some things that need to be paid attention to when living here, as well as the location of nearby shops, and finally said: "Cleaning aunt comes around ten o’clock every day. If you don’t want to be disturbed, set the code lock to do not disturb. Just click the one inside the door, and the cleaning aunt will not come in."

Houyu sat in the living room, listening to the homeowner’s eldest brother whistle from near to far, and he quietly took out his mobile phone to buy earplugs.

Even with the door closed, the whistles in the hallway can be heard so clearly. This soundproofing is really unflattering.

His sleep quality is extremely poor, which is especially hypocritical.

After Houyu finished packing his luggage and looked around the apartment, it was already evening before he knew it. He decided to go downstairs.

By the way, the dinner was settled. He didn’t walk far, but he saw the rescuer and the gangster.

The little brothers leaned back and walked together.

With Houyu’s laugh today, it was all on these two people. After seeing them, he burst out laughing. The two men apparently saw him too, and they could now be regarded as enemies.

They were extraordinarily jealous. Especially after Sui Houyu laughed quite mockingly, which stimulated their sensitive nerves and caused the two people to walk directly towards Sui Houyu.

When the two people walked towards Sui Houyu, their aura was shocking, and their bodies swayed with their arms. They staggered to Sui Houyu’s side, reaching out to put their hands on Sui Houyu’s shoulders, but they were gently avoided by Sui Houyu.

The little brother rescuer raised his chin to the side of the alley, and said in a weird manner: "Brother, let’s walk around the alley?"

This seems to be a code word, the implication is to ask him to have a showdown to regain his face.

Sui Houyu also felt that there was nothing to do, so he agreed.

The three of them walked towards the alley.

Before entering the alley, the two boys planned to teach Houyu how to be a true man. Within five minutes, the howling like that of ghosts and wolves came from the alley. They were very miserable and more emotional than the prisoners who were forced to confess in the TV series.

This street also has a unique style. Even when they shouted like this, and no one else came to intervene. What could they do? The pace of the people passing by did not speed up.

Not long after, a boy finally came in. His pace was very slow. When he came in, he seemed to be still tilting his head to see who was fighting with whom.

The two little brothers saw the boy, as if they had seen a savior, and shouted excitedly: "Da-shixiong⁹!"

[9] Da-shixiong also means the same as da-ge but the meanings are kinda different. Shixiong kinda means something like a senior, like the word 'sunbae' in Korean

"Yeah." The boy called big brother lazily replied. After entering, he propped his arm and sat on an oil drum, and asked, "What’s the matter?"

When Houyu looked carefully, he noticed that there is a wooden board on the oil drum for people to sit on. Obviously, these people often come here.

When Houyu saw that another person came, he stopped his hand very cooperatively. Even though there was another person on the opposite side now, and he was not afraid. Instead, he leaned to the side and waited for them to chat.

When he was bored, he took out the gum from his pocket, shook out two pieces, and stuffed them into his mouth.

When the big brother listened to his two brothers, he glanced at Sui Houyu, and quickly withdrew his gaze again.

After listening to the causes and consequences, the elder brother said in a deep voice: "So if you did not provoke him, you would not have been beaten. You two deserve it, brother, please continue."

After the big brother finished speaking, he made a gesture of "please, please."

It really didn’t matter.

As Houyu raised his eyebrows when he saw this, he was very surprised by this attitude. This one really sat on the oil drum so calmly and started watching the show.

Houyu looked at the two gray-headed boys, raising their fists, ready to start beating people again.

The big brother sat close, you can see that Sui Hou Yu is a practice target to him.

With Houyu’s skill and focus on actual combat instead of the fancy legs for show, the two friends were no match for sports students, and it was normal for them to be beaten.

His friends are like two sandbags, the kind that can stubbornly return but can’t hit people back.

There were grievances between the actions, humbleness when being beaten, and sternness when wailing, which caused the big brother to sigh: "Oh, tch tch."

Hearing this sound, Sui Houyu suddenly stopped, seeming to be suspicious that this man had tricks up his sleeve.

He turned his head, the senior brother was also startled, looking at him in wonder. He asked, "Why, does the opponent suddenly feel dissatisfied?" He took out his mobile phone, turned on the flashlight, and continued asking, "Why don’t we take a picture?"

Sui Houyu felt that this guy was 80% a freak. But he didn’t intend to go too deep into it.

"Oh, it’s okay." After Houyu said that, the fight continued.

The gangster called out: "Gege! Gege¹⁰!"

[10] Literally means 'older brother' and again, doesn't have to be blood-related to address people this way politely

The big brother’s friend was beaten for a while, and then he started calling him again. He refused very decisively: "Won’t help."

"It’s not…. Gege, please fight!"

"Oh, yes." He finally moved.

His frame was very good, so well that Houyu stopped by himself. The two beaten up looked at him, and then looked at Houyu, and they hid behind the big brother quickly. These two have no dignity.

The author has something to say:

The gong, nicknamed Gege, because he doesn’t like people calling him Brother Hou:

Suffering from insomnia but don’t feel sleepy. It’s just that he feels bad when he doesn’t sleep.

Already being anxious.

This is the sand sculpture youth of a group of naive ghosts with different personalities. Perhaps there are personality defects, growth, healing, and passion.

Sui Houyu: It’s too literary for me.

Hou Mo: This is an inspirational story about picking up the racket and loving you, and putting down the racket, and pressing on you.

Sui Houyu: You should carefully consider the words.

Hou Mo: I can’t hug you with that racket. Putting down the racket won’t kill you.

–

Whenever you click on this book, it is a kind of grace to meet you. I am lucky to meet you, I hope I can bring you happiness.

If it brings you unhappiness, I’m really helpless, that was not my intention.

Thank you, thank you.