CH 10

Edited by Vai

Since Sui HouYu had become the class monitor, he almost never fulfilled any of his responsibilities. This almost made the students from class 17 forget that there were even officers in their class.

They didn’t know what happened that day, but Sui HouYu suddenly started acting like a proper class monitor.

The most hateful thing was that even though he targeted Hou Mo alone, still other people got implicated. 

After taking his seat, Sui HouYu took out the homework from his bag and placed it on the table. He turned to Hou Mo sitting across from him and asked, “Shouldn’t the study committee collect homework?”

Hou Mo hadn’t done his own homework. The question embarrassed him, and he cleared his throat to hide it and said, “Everyone, remember to hand in your homework to me after this morning’s self study.”

After Hou Mo said that, the students in the entire classroom collapsed, “Oh my God, what’s the homework?!”

”What?! Homework?” 

The classroom fell into chaos. Deng YiHeng returned to his seat with a steamed bun stuffed in his mouth. After digging inside his school bag for a long time, he stood up and said, “I’m going to buy a notebook.”

He took a few steps, then turned around and asked Hou Mo, “Da Shixiong, how many subjects do we have?”

As soon as Deng YiHeng asked this, a group of people requested Deng YiHeng to buy for them as well, but Deng YiHeng simply ignored them, “I’ll just buy a bunch and come back.”

After that, he left.

Huo Mo sat in his seat properly and did his homework diligently. He had a bun in his mouth when he turned toward Sui HouYu.  

He simply observed all of Sui HouYu.

Sui HouYu was in his chair and seemed to be appreciating his homework. His head rested on a hand propped on the table, pushing his cheeks up and making him look incredibly cute. 

This guy was really… always making things difficult for him.

Is it the thief who catches the king first? 

The hell-like morning reading began. Many people were absent-mindlessly reading aloud, but their voices were weak and even a little slow. If one didn’t listen carefully, one would think the whole class was chanting instead of reading. 

Everyone was struggling to do their homework and were really working hard.

When everyone finally finished their homework, it was handed to Hou Mo. Hou Mo took the pile to the faculty room. Because there was no class representative in the beginning of the school year, he could only ask for the sports students’ help. [idk who the he is talked about here]

After Hou Mo returned to the classroom, he yawned and lay on the table to sleep.

When Hou Mo plastered himself on the table, Sui HouYu noticed it.

Sui HouYu waited for Hou Mo to gradually fall  asleep, before taking out a small water gun from his bag and spraying it on his face.

Hou Mo felt something cold hit his cheeks and wiped it with his hands. It felt like someone spit on his face.

He groggily sat up straight.

Then he turned and looked at Sui HouYu, who mouthed at him, “Don’t sleep.”

Hou Mo stared at Sui HouYu for a long time, before looking at the other sleeping students in the class. Then he heaved a long sigh, rubbed his face with his hands, and continued to study seriously.

A wise man knows when to retreat.

It was said that the first to flirt was cheap.

Obviously it had been Sui HouYu and the others who made trouble first, and he merely had captured him.

It couldn’t even be called a defeat, more like a temporary constraint. How could there be any justification for Sui HouYu to retaliate against him? How could Sui HouYu constantly brood about it? 

This man was unreasonable and unethical. 

*

Cmmbgvlcu ab atf gfueijalbcr bo atf cfk Mfcuse tlut rmtbbi, atfgf kbeiv bcis yf akb mijrrfr bc fnfgs Mglvjs joafgcbbc. Qtfc atbrf akb mijrrfr fcvfv, rmtbbi kbeiv yf vlrwlrrfv jcv fnfgsbcf kjr ogff ab yglcu atflg ieuujuf jcv ub tbwf.

Ktlr mbeiv jirb yf gfujgvfv jr ajxlcu mjgf bo raevfcar ktb ilnfv ojg jkjs.

The regulations of their school were indeed a little off. 

Ran Shu said he needed to visit Sui HouYu’s house to take a look. Sui HouYu knew this young master would immediately find faults as soon as he entered the door, hence he impatiently refused.

When he walked out of the school with a bag on his back, he saw a bunch of cars near the school gates. There was no taxi, and none of his family came to pick him up.

Deng YiHeng suddenly looked out from a van and shouted at Sui HouYu, “Monitor, carpool?”

Deng YiHeng still remembered that Sui HouYu lived very close to them, and greeted him warmly.

When Sui HouYu looked over, he saw Hou Mo was also sitting in the van, a bottle of mineral water in hand. When he took a drink, his Adam’s apple moved up and down sexually.

Sui HouYu walked closer and asked, “Can’t I get a taxi here?”

”Not likely! You wouldn’t be able to get a car from the Didi app, because all their registered ones are right here. Come on, we are familiar with the driver. It will cost only 8 yuan for him to send us home, while others will ask for 10 yuan –  not to mention the black cars cost 15 yuan.“

Sui HouYu thought about it and got into the car. He didn’t know what Deng YiHeng was thinking, but he made space for Sui HouYu and moved to the back.

Sui HouYu turned around and saw there was no more space in there, he could only sit beside Hou Mo.

Hou Mo ignored him and sat on his seat with his bag in his lap.

After a while, Sui HouYu understood why Deng YiHeng was so eager to invite him. It was because the driver would not leave until all seats were occupied.

It seemed like someone noticed that both Sui HouYu and Hou Mo were in the car; a moment later, three little girls entered. Two of them crowded next to Sui HouYu while the third sat in the front seat.

Sui HouYu was a little surprised. Wasn’t this overloaded?

He was uncomfortable, though he could see that Deng YiHeng had it worse than him – if Deng YiHeng knew that girls would ride with them, he wouldn’t have changed seats with Sui HouYu. 

Once the van started, after a while the driver turned towards an underdeveloped road. The van was “flying up” and “falling down” all the way.

Sui HouYu turned around looking for a seat belt, but couldn’t find any. Not only that, but the seats were shaking along to the rhythm.

Hou Mo noticed his movements and told Sui HouYu, “There’s no seat belt. If you are having troubles, you can hold onto me.”

Sui HouYu didn’t touch him, and instead raised a hand to the roof the whole time.

The girl sitting next to Sui HouYu always leaned on him, and it seemed to be deliberate. Hou Mo noticed it from his side.

The van jolted particularly hard this time, when they drove through a particularly deep pothole on the road. Sui HouYu had nothing to hold, so he fell on Huo Mo, who caught him with one hand.

Then, Hou Mo stretched out his hand from behind Sui HouYu. It seemed like he was supporting the girl next to him but actually he pushed her away. He smiled and asked, “Are you okay?”

The girl who was pushed away got confused at first, but replied embarrassingly, “I’m fine.”

By then Sui HouYu had regained his balance. He looked around and said, “I’ll get down.” He hadn’t noticed this at first, and had thought it was only because it was crowded inside the van.

The problem with Sui HouYu was that he generally didn’t take notice of the opposite sex. If there were girls around him, he would simply ignore them. That’s why he didn’t notice.

After he got out of the van, other people also left.

One by one they all walked away until only Sui HouYu and Hou Mo were left. 

Hou Mo walked behind Sui HouYu and raised an eyebrow when he noticed the other seemed to be walking with the wind.

His gaze was fixed on Sui HouYu’s hair. They were curled in an interesting way – tilted towards the tip of his ears, showing his white skin.

It was not until Sui HouYu turned at a corner that Hou Mo chased after him. He stretched out his hand to pull the other back and said, “Wrong way, it’s this building.”

Saying that, he pointed.

After Sui HouYu took a look, he reached out and swatted Hou Mo’s hand, “Oh, thanks.”

Hou Mo shook his hand and complained, “You really don’t have any faith.”

Then he turned and walked towards the other side.

Sui Hou Yu couldn’t help but ask, “Isn’t that over there?”

”I’ll go grocery shopping.”

*

At 10:30 on Saturday morning, the doorbell rang at Sui HouYu’s house.

Sui HouYu knew the cleaning service had arrived. He ignored it and continued to read inside his bedroom.

All the cleaners had the password to each apartment. After waiting for a while, the cleaner opened the door and came in with a bamboo basket in hand, which was filled with sheets, towels and other items.

When he came in, he put on his shoe cover and spoke to the room. “Hello! The towels have been changed for you. The new ones have just been washed and sterilized at high temperatures, so you can use them with confidence.”

Hou Mo took the towel replacements and went inside the bathroom to change the toiletries. He threw out all the used ones and changed it with the ones he brought.

Then he went to the sink to check if he needed to refill the hand soap or not. 

It was known that this resident didn’t stay often and it was obvious from the overall usage. 

The bathroom would have been used only a few times, so the toilet paper didn’t need to be replaced. He could only help clean the bathroom floor.

In the middle of his cleaning, he saw a pair of slippers approaching him – stopping at the door as the owner seemed to be looking at him.

He raised his head to explain, “I’ll clean up this weekend…”

The pair of slippers belonged to Sui HouYu.

Sui HouYu was chewing bubble gum; he blew a bubble and popped it. 

He looked domineering, and seemed like he thought Huo Mo’s presence here was very interesting; his eyes had lit up with mischief.  

Hou Mo hesitated for a moment, then continued to clean up, and explained to Sui HouYu, “My mother is not in good health, I help with her work on weekends.”

In fact, there were many apartments in this building that the owners put up for rent due to the developing tourism in the area.

The main reason was that many of the residents here were relocated. There were a lot of apartments and they got rented out when empty. Later, they heard that with some decoration, it could pass as a B&B, and the income was thrice that of a regular room, so a lot of people began doing that.

However, those B&B’s would all be cleaned by the apartment’s owner – like the three rooms Mother Huo cleaned. Mother Huo was hired because the land owner was too lazy and only liked to play mahjong all day.

In fact, Hou Mo already had a feeling when he saw Sui HouYu in this building.

He didn’t expect such a coincidence. 

”Oh–” Sui HouYu replied in an elongated tone.

Hou Mo put aside his embarrassment and chatted with Sui HouYu, “Would you be staying here for a long time?”

”Well, it’s been booked for half a year.”

”So, is there any problem in the bathroom?”

”The shower doesn’t work well.”

”Okay, let me have a look.” Hou Mo rolled up his sleeves to check .

The shower head was one piece that couldn’t be removed.

Hou Mo opened it and took a look. Then with the help of a toothpick, he dug through each little hole, then turned on the shower after he was done.

Hou Mo took ten minutes to clean the shower, and Sui HouYu stood by watching him patiently the entire time – though he did step out for a moment to throw away his gum.

After Hou Mo tidyed up, he turned on the shower and asked Sui HouYu, “Is this all right?”

“Yes,” Sui HouYu nodded, then pointed on the ground and said, “Clean that rust too, I have obsessive-compulsive disorder and it’s making me uncomfortable.” 

Hou Mo silently observed the rust. It was on a floor drain that remained under water round the year and was rusty as it was not cleaned regularly.

After looking at it, he squatted down and tried to clean it up.

This time he understood that Sui HouYu was deliberately making things difficult for him. 

After that, Hou Mo was almost finished. While changing and tidying up the towels and sheets, Sui HouYu came and said, “The top of the curtain rod is rusted, go and scrape it.”

Hou Mo hesitated for a moment, threw the last pillowcase into the bamboo basket, turned around and said to Sui HouYu, “Sui HouYu, don’t go too far!”

”Now what did I do?”

Hou Mo stared at Sui HouYu and muttered under his breath, “You obviously provoked me first. You hit me with a water gun, so of course I’ll chase you. I didn’t underestimate you, so why are you so sensitive? People say I’m gay, because I often tell girls I like boys just to reject them, so they won’t be too uncomfortable. I’m straight; don’t think I’ll be interested in you because you look like a girl.”

Sui HouYu’s expression got distorted and uglier.

He really didn’t know that other people thought Hou Mo was gay. Hou Mo revealed that on his own.

Sui Hou Yu didn’t like being told that he looked like a girl.

Hou Mo continued, “I just don’t want to cause trouble, don’t think I’ll get accustomed to you.”

Sui HouYu raised his chin and said, “Am I accustomed to you?”

Hou Mo pulled off the rubber gloves from his hand and said, “Aren’t you provoking me so that you can fight me? And the reason you haven’t given up yet is because you haven’t achieved your goal? Okay, if I don’t fight you, you would really think I am afraid of you! ”  

Yes, without a fight, Sui HouYu’s heart wouldn’t be able to get over this.

He has to find a reason. Who knows for how long Hou Mo can tolerate. 

Nell’s Corner:

I’m aware that there might be some of you who don’t like reading my comments, and I admit some of them were personal, but after much deliberation I decided that I would still continue to put them up because honestly I enjoy doing so – Although this time I’ll lessen the amount and refrain from making any personal comments. 

I’d like to apologize to those who would be affected by this but at the end of the day, I am translating this story as a sort of escapism from real life. And I would honestly like for it to remain that way. Anyways, it would be easy to discern my comments from the translation notes because my comments are only under single inconsequential words, while translation notes usually are under sentences and phrases and if they aren’t, they are under Chinese words. Translation notes would also have an asterisk* moving forward to make it easier to identify if you should open a pop-up note or not.

I have deleted some of the uncomfortable comments I’ve made and rest assured none like that would surface again. I hope you don’t stop reading this story on account of my comments.

For those of you who don’t care or actually enjoy them, thanks so much for the support and please look forward as we are slowly inching closer towards the summary plot (The pure sleeping together part. And then some.)