CH 12

Edited by Vai

TL Note: Again, pop-up notes that have an * in them are translation notes, otherwise they are just my usual comments. 

Sang Xian came to deliver the bed, by himself, in a car, without bringing anyone else.

Back at his house, there would be people who could help carry, but he came alone. It was up to the three of them to carry the bed and mattress themselves.

Deng YiHeng was called to help, and along the way was told how the bed broke.

While they were moving, Deng YiHeng secretly asked Hou Mo. He was whispering, but the movements of his lips were exaggerated. He wanted Hou Mo to read his lips. “Da Shixiong, did you beat him?” 

Hou Mo replied indifferently, “We have different techniques.”

“Did you beat him?” Deng YiHeng was obsessed with knowing the outcome.

“It was a tie.”

In terms of strength, Hou Mo was no match for Sui HouYu, but the other was always under his control, so it was a tie.

Deng YiHeng gave Hou Mo a thumbs up and said, “Okay, I’m relieved.”

Hou Mo smiled but didn’t say that he had to coax Sui HouYu after the fight. 

Four boys and a driver struggled to take the bed upstairs. The bed frame was flashy and looked out of place in the apartment. It was like a cat’s bowl placed into a rat’s den.

Sui HouYu had some knowledge of furniture. Just by looking at the bed frame, he knew its price would be around five digits. 

He thought about it and told Sang Xian, “I’ll transfer the money to you.” 

Sang Xian shook his head and refused, “It doesn’t matter.”

Hou Mo also said, “You don’t have to give him anything.”

Afterwards, Hou Mo and Sang Xian went downstairs to get the mattress while Sui HouYu and Deng YiHeng stayed in the apartment to rest. 

Deng YiHeng took out a plastic package from his bag and put it on the table. He told Sui HouYu, “Da Shixiong asked me to buy it for you.” 

“What is it?”

“Our locality’s most famous dish – Mixed QQ Chicken. We used to eat it before we became sports students. It’s the most delicious dish in the world, but now we can’t eat it.” 

Sui HouYu opened the plastic bag. There was a transparent plastic lunch box with the chicken dish clearly seen.

While he was looking, Deng YiHeng moved closer to Sui HouYu and told him, “You should cherish this. Our Da Shixiong is usually very stingy, and has never once offered to pay out of his own pocket. The only time he paid was when he was dating a girl, and took her out for a meal, that was already a huge thing.” 

Sui HouYu couldn’t help but ask, “How bad are his family circumstances really?” 

Deng YiHeng sighed and nodded, “It’s only him and his mother. Auntie isn’t in good health. In order to pay for her medications, they had to sell their house, and borrow money. However, they couldn’t be really considered as poor. It’s just that in case her mother’s sickness relapses, to avoid further embarrassment of having to look for money, Da Shixiong has to strictly save money and even be stingy with himself.” 

“Oh…” Sui HouYu broke apart the chopsticks, and as he opened the lunch box he asked, “Then why is he going to a private school?”

Private high schools are expensive. 

When Sui HouYu had visited the Lantau school canteen, he saw the prices were similar to that at the airport. A bottle of water cost twice as compared to outside. 

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Deng YiHeng was in a good mood, so he didn’t care. He continued, “You didn’t know this, right? Da Shixiong made money through the school. Last year he made more than 200,000 yuan from competitions, scholarships, and commercials!”    

After Sui HouYu tasted a piece of chicken, he found out that it was indeed delicious. He looked at Deng YiHeng, waiting for the other to continue.

“Ca MfcuLej, atf abq olnf raevfcar ufa j aelalbc off kjlnfg. Rba ab wfcalbc, atf abq atgff ufa rmtbijgrtlqr. Gj Vtlzlbcu lr gjcxfv olgra fnfgs sfjg. Cvvlalbcjiis, atf afcclr afjw ufar mibatfr, rtbfr, jcv batfg reqqilfr rqbcrbgfv ys ygjcvr. Ktf afjw lr jirb qgbnlvfv klat atgff wfjir j vjs jcv fnfc ufa ybcerfr lo sbe klc j ujwf.   

Sui HouYu swallowed and asked, “Is he good at academics?” 

“That’s right, Da Shixiong is very good at studying, and is FengHua’s top scorer in our batch. However, as a fellow school bully, you don’t have to feel inferior. School bullies with high IQs like Da Shixiong are indeed rare. As for you, you could just rely on your face and won’t need to work hard towards a bright future.”  

Sui HouYu didn’t know what to say. Should he say that he deliberately underperformed this time?

Instead he said,. “It’s really delicious.” 

“Yeah, you have to wait in line for half a day.”

At this moment, Hou Mo and Sang Xian arrived carrying the mattress from downstairs.

Upon seeing Hou Mo, Sui HouYu picked up his phone and said, “I’ll transfer you money for the food.” 

Hou Mo didn’t want it and said, “Don’t you get what that is for? It’s my bribe to you, not to tell my mother what happened. She has a bad heart.” 

“Okay, but how would you explain what happened?”

Hou Mo made a shameless suggestion, “Just say you and your girlfriend did it.” 

Sui HouYu immediately retorted, “Nonsense! Where is my girlfriend?” 

Hou Mo paid no heed. In fact, he had planned to leave after helping with the move, but now he stopped at the door and asked, “What about the one who approached you during the military training, an ex-girlfriend?”

“No, I don’t want to talk about it.” Saying that, he turned back to his food and didn’t elaborate any further. 

Deng YiHeng suddenly felt mollified, and slapped his thigh. “Look, what’s the use of being good looking? There are four boys inside this room, and yet none of them are in a relationship. My heart suddenly feels happy.” 

Hou Mo was delighted when he heard it, “I am not worried. Sang-laoyezi* here should be the one who is worried. After all, he is long past the age for puppy love.”

Sang Xian glanced at Hou Mo.

Deng YiHeng noticed that Sui HouYu had no idea, so he leaned over and explained, “Sang Xian is the eldest in our class. He should have been in his third year but he had to repeat a year. By the way, Da Shixiong is the youngest in our class. If he had been born a day later, then he would have been a first year instead. Fortunately he was not, otherwise wouldn’t Sang Xian be repeating years for twice in a row?”

Even with the explanation, Sui HouYu did not understand.

Had Sang Xian held back for Hou Mo?  

Finally, after Deng YiHeng said all he wanted to say, Huo Mo dragged him away and the three of them left together.

After he finished the food, Sui HouYu did not want to further think about their relationship.

*

At about 10:30 the next morning, Hou Mo again went to Sui HouYu’s.

Hou Mo went inside and helped Sui HouYu to clean as if nothing had happened. As he was cleaning, he saw Da Ge staring at him quite intensely. After calming himself, he asked, “What is the cat’s name?” 

Sui HouYu was in the living room lazing around, reading a book. He replied, “Da Ge.” 

Hou Mo continued to clean, “The cat’s name is quite appropriate*.”

“Ran Shu named him.”  

“Oh…” Hou Mo looked at Da Ge and greeted him. “Hello, Da ge. No offense meant, I am just here to clean.”

Da Ge was perched on the cabinet, eyes following Hou Mo at all times, and gaze sharp. It was obvious he had a very bad impression of Hou Mo.

Da Ge’s impression of him was that of a detestable lackey who bullied his poop picker. Seeing as Sui HouYu had helped him shovel his discharges, Da Ge decided to lend a hand and watch for Hou Mo. () 

While cleaning, Hou Mo kept glancing at Da Ge’s green eyes; thinking about the green-haired Zoro. 

He saw its flaxen hair and pupils in the mirror nearby, and suddenly felt that this particular color was not pleasing to the eyes.

Before leaving, Hou Mo asked Sui HouYu, “Can I scrape the curtain rod for you?”

Sui HouYu turned a page from the book he was reading, “I don’t have obsessive-compulsive disorder, and I don’t usually go there to read.”

In other words, he was deliberately looking for trouble yesterday, what can you do?

Hou Mo tidied up the things in his bamboo basket and went out. After he closed the door, he heard Sui HouYu clearing his throat, which was unusual.

The sound proofing in this place was not good. When Hou Mo arrived at his apartment’s door, he could vaguely hear Sui HouYu humming, and then singing something operatic.

He stood there for a while and carefully listened, before opening the door to go inside. 

After entering, he didn’t immediately clean the things he brought, but instead went to his room and turned on the computer. He planned on researching the song Sui HouYu sang.

He wasn’t able to clearly hear the whole thing, only some vague words, but when he typed those on the search box it yielded results that made his eyes wide.

Hua Dan*?

Sui Hou Yu just now was Su Luanxian in “Xie Yaohuan*“, and this character was a Hua Dan.

When he thought more about it, Sui HouYu’s voice didn’t sound like a man’s voice… 

Hou Mo researched more about how Hua Dan looked, his mind immediately conjuring images of how Sui HouYu would look dressed as such. 

After having thought about it for a while, he rubbed his face.

It must be said that Sui HouYu looked appropriate as Hua Dan, although Hou Mo didn’t know much about Peking Opera. Would it still be fine for Sui HouYu to act as Hua Dan with his height?

At this moment, Mother Hou returned and saw the cleaning tools left in the living room. She didn’t call Hou Mo but instead cleaned it up herself. 

Hou Mo came out of his room when he heard the front door close, and helped his mother.

Mother Hou looked at Hou Mo, thought about it for a moment, and asked, “Did Sang Xian come over yesterday?”

“Ah.”

“Why didn’t you ask him to stay for dinner?” 

“He’s not hungry.”

“Why is he always not hungry?” 

Hou Mo could only laugh, “Who knows! What a coincidence.”

After hesitating for a while, Mother Hou asked, “Did you… fight again?”

Hou Mo’s movements paused. Although Sui HouYu didn’t hit his face, there were other places that still hurt. Hou Mo couldn’t sleep last night, so he had gotten up and had secretly applied ointment on them.

Unexpectedly, Mother Hou found out.

“It wasn’t that I called Sang Xian for help… I fought with a boy on my own. The boy was being rebellious and looked for trouble. If no one had stopped him, he would have continued. But it didn’t escalate to a huge fight, at most it was just a scuffle.”

Mother Huo looked at Huo Mo and stopped talking. Hou Mo didn’t want to say anything more and just comforted his mother, “Don’t worry, I know what I’m doing.”

Mother Huo stayed silent.

*

Early Monday morning, Deng YiHeng brought the news, “Ge-ge was asking about what happened at the dorm last time.”

Huo Mo didn’t even move in his seat, continued with his homework, and mumbled, “It was just self defense. Why are you afraid?”  

“I was listening to them. The female teacher quarreled with Ge-ge.”

Hou Mo looked up, hesitated for a while before asking, “Sui HouYu’s past adviser?”

Deng YiHeng nodded, “Yes.”

This caught Sui HouYu’s attention, who turned towards them and asked, “Then what?”

“Ge-ge obviously wouldn’t fight with that teacher. Both sides had to call the Director to step in. I’m afraid we would need to change dormitories.”

As soon as Deng YiHeng said that, someone entered the classroom and called Sui HouYu.

Sui HouYu had expected this to happen. Obviously, he was supposed to be just a participant, but in the end he became the leader. When the teachers found out, he would be the first person to be called. 

He took a deep breath, got up and went to the office.

As soon as he walked in, the Director yelled, “Sui HouYu, it’s you again.”

The director was from Lantau high and was quite familiar with Sui HouYu. After all, he had often asked Sui HouYu to write a reflection letter. 

Li-laoshi commented unhappily, “Dad! Don’t always target him just because he has a lot of hair, okay? Your baldness is your own.problem” 

Ge-ge, who had been arguing until now, couldn’t help but laugh.

Nell’s Corner:

Sorry for the delay! I got sick and the doctor advised me to rest so I wasn’t able to work on anything the whole time. So unless my body gives up on me again, there should be no other reason for future delays lmao.