CH 19

“Ah,” Huo Ran laughed until he was tired, and he lay back on his sleeping bag and sighed, “You’re such an idiot.”

“Be honest,” Kou Chen zipped his pants back up and changed into a new shirt, “Did you think I was about to start jacking off in front of you?” 

“No!” Huo Ran glared at him, “I’m a normal fucking person, I wouldn’t think that!”

“Oh,” Kou Chen sat down beside him, “Then what would a normal person think?”

“I didn’t even have time to think about it, okay? All I thought was…” Huo Ran said, “What is this idiot gonna do now? But at the last second I thought maybe you were wearing some grim reaper underwear, chipmunk underwear or whatever…”

“Damn,” Kou Chen laughed, “I’m not that idiotic.” 

“What you did was even more idiotic! What interesting ideas you have!” Huo Ran sighed, before asking, “How old were you when you showed your dad that?”

“Four? Or five?” Kou Chen thought, “Before elementary school at least.”

“Why did he get mad at you? It’s normal for a kid to do stupid things like that.” Huo Ran turned to him, “But now it’s normal to want to hit you at this age.”

Kou Chen laughed, grabbing his little chick keychain and handing it to him: “Isn’t it cute?”

“Fuck off!” Huo Ran glared at him.

“Ahhh, Ranran-gege doesn’t like us.” Kou Chen squeezed the chick, hanging it onto his backpack.

Huo Ran didn’t say anything, he was speechless.

“My dad has a pretty artistic heart, he wanted to play piano since forever, but shit happened and his dream never came true, and he wanted me to live it out for him.” Kou Chen said. “So I was sat in front of the piano every day since I was three…” 

“You can play piano?” Huo Ran sat up in shock.

Kou Chen looked at him: “Why would I? I can’t.”

“You started when you were three and you don’t know?” Huo Ran was a bit confused.

“Even if I started at one I’d have to want it,” Kou Chen raised his eyebrow, “If I don’t want to learn something then no one can force me. I was already that stubborn when I was three!” 

“And then? What does that have to do with the chick?” Huo Ran asked.

“Who said it had anything to do with that? I bought this chick last year.” Kou Chen glanced at him, “You’re so smart.”

“Not as smart as you.” Huo Ran nodded.

“That day, I didn’t wanna play piano, I didn’t even want to raise a finger. So I took a little chick that my sister was raising and put it in my pants.” Kou Chen rubbed his nose, “I told my dad that a chicken bit my cock, so I couldn’t play piano.” 

“…Serves you right.” Huo Ran really wanted to laugh, but he felt that he shouldn’t.

That could count as one of Kou Chen’s tragic childhood stories. A four, five year old kid, having no choice but to resort to such extremes to solve his problems.

But he still wanted to laugh.

Kou Chen sighed: “I almost died, he chased me all the way outside and I got stuck on a spike when I was trying to climb the fence. So I just sat there, until my dad dragged me off…” 

Huo Ran couldn’t hold it anymore, and he laughed out loud without sympathy. He quickly apologized as he continued laughing, “Sorry, I didn’t mean to, I couldn’t hold it in…”

“It makes me want to laugh too.” Kou Chen started laughing along with him.

“Was the grim reaper supposed to cover the hole from the spike?” Huo Ran asked.

“No, why would I get such a big tattoo to cover a small scar.” Kou Chen snorted, “I just wanted a grim reaper tattoo. The scar is on my ass, do you…” 

“No!” Huo Ran exclaimed, “No! I don’t wanna see, thank you very much!”

“Wimp.” Kou Chen said.

“So I won’t be a wimp if I look at your ass?” Huo Ran asked. “What kind of logic is that?”

“My dad said the same thing,” Kou Chen laughed, but he sighed right after, “That’s why I never had anyone to play with.” 

“Huh?” Huo Ran started.

“I was too annoying as a kid, talked too much, moved around too much, was disobedient,” Kou Chen recalled, “Had a shit personality, and I beat up all the neighbourhood kids. If their parents came knocking, I’d hit them too.”

“…Did you win against them?” Huo Ran asked.

“Of course not, but the other parents wouldn’t hit me that hard, it was just a kick or shove or whatever,” Kou Chen said. “So I grew up fighting all the way to middle school.” 

“Only to middle school?” Huo Ran asked.

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Huo Ran thought back to Kou Chen’s ‘fly for me’, and nodded. “Fine… But now you’ve matured so you don’t go looking for a fight everyday, and it’s every other day instead?”

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“On TV.” Huo Ran said. “He put you in it?”

“Are you stupid?!” Kou Chen yelled. 

“I’m just saying.” Huo Ran said.

“My dad said, ‘son, see that? You’re not even the size of half a pig. If I hear anyone say you got into another fight, I’ll put you in there.'” Kou Chen put on an imposing air, “‘Enough to feed a family of three until new years…’ I counted it, a family of three? So he really wasn’t counting me…”

Huo Ran almost snorted out loud, and he turned his head to stifle the laugh: “That scared you?”

“Obviously, I don’t even know why it did, maybe because it was instinct. Holy shit, that machine, it felt like I would get sucked in just standing next to it. It was really scary.” Kou Chen shivered. 

“Then… we have to call our parents about that fight,” Huo Ran suddenly felt worried, “What are you gonna do?”

Kou Chen said before that his dad was already used to it, but he felt that even if he was used to it, he would still turn Kou Chen into a pig with a grim reaper on his ass.

“Help me out,” Kou Chen said. “Come over to my house and tell my dad that it was for the sake of justice. Actually, I don’t care about justice or whatever, I just felt that they needed to get beat up, but you have to defend me…”

“Okay, I’ll help you… Xu Chuan and the others can do it too, so why me?” Huo Ran asked. 

“My dad knows them, he doesn’t think they’re anything good either. You’re different, you look like a good student, and you’re the basketball captain too. My dad thinks that anyone who’s something in school is a good kid.” Kou Chen said.

“Alright.” Huo Ran agreed.

Kou Chen didn’t say anything else. He laid down on his arm, and the two of them stared up at the tent together.

The tent had a clear top to see through, probably to make people think that watching the stars inside the tent was romantic. But in reality, you can’t see shit at night, it was just made to fool newbies like Kou Chen. 

It wasn’t even dark yet and they still couldn’t see anything, only raindrops sliding off the top.

Usually when he was alone, he’d just set a timer and take a half an hour nap, but now that there was another person in the tent, he couldn’t fall asleep even if he wanted to.

Guess he’ll just lay there.

“I just thought of something,” Huo Ran turned over, “You did do it out of justice, why do you have to say you just wanted to fight?”

“I really didn’t,” Kou Chen said, “Maybe I don’t like them because they’re bullies, but… I never would’ve gone out of my way just for that. Not like I have many friends anyway, and I don’t care about whatever shit happens at school.”

“You don’t have many friends?” Huo Ran looked at him.

“Obviously not in elementary, I got into fights all the time. From middle school, I had a bunch of people with me,” Kou Chen said, “But they were really just scared of me. After transferring here, I met Xu Chuan and Wei Chaoren, they could count as my friends.” 

“Oh.” Huo Ran nodded.

“Now I can probably count Xu Zhifan and the others too,” Kou Chen glanced at him, “Don’t know if I can count you yet.”

“What does that mean? Do I have to pass a test or what?” Huo Ran questioned.

“Then are we friends? Aren’t you my grandpa, my daddy, my uncle?” Kou Chen asked. 

Huo Ran sighed.

“Come, come, come, get up.” Kou Chen sat up, tugging on his arm.

“What?” Huo Ran sat up begrudgingly.

Kou Chen was silent, he only raised his arm and put it around his shoulders. Then he turned to stare at him. 

“What?” Huo Ran looked at his hand, and then at him, “If you have something to say, just say it.”

“It’s set.” Kou Chen patted his shoulder happily, letting go of him.

Huo Ran was about to say something when he heard footsteps outside. The tent was unzipped and Kou Xiao poked her head in: “Hey, Ranran, are there any wild animals out here?”

“What’s wrong?” Huo Ran moved closer as he heard that. 

“There’s something moving in the forest over there, is it an animal? A gazelle?” Kou Xiao looked worried.

“There’s no gazelle here, there’s too much human activity so animals don’t usually come over.” Huo Ran put his shoes on and stepped out of the tent. He saw Old Yang looking into the forest, and he quickly yelled, “Don’t go in there by yourself!”

“I’m just taking a look,” Old Yang said, “How would I dare?”

Huo Ran took out a black baton from his bag: “I’ll go check.” 

“Are there snakes?” Kou Chen looked at his baton, “Holy shit, you brought a fucking collapsible baton with you camping?”

“It’s not snakes,” Huo Ran flicked his arm and the baton extended with a click, “What kind of snake makes such a loud noise?”

“Do you have another one?” Kou Chen asked, “Gimme one.”

“Use your hiking stick.” Huo Ran said. 

“Fuck.” Kou Chen was unhappy, but he still took his hiking stick after a moment’s hesitation.

“It sounded like something stepped on a branch,” Old Yang said. “But we didn’t see anyone. If it’s a local or another camper, they wouldn’t be avoiding people, right?”

“Yeah.” Huo Ran looked into the trees. It was already October, so he could see pretty far into the forest, but there was nobody. “I’ll go see.”

“Me too.” Kou Chen followed him. 

“I’ll come too…” Old Yang followed them as well.

“Fine.” Kou Xiao said, “You can all go, don’t mind me. Leave everything, all our tents and gear and food to me, a poor maiden. If something happens, I promise I’ll protect it with my life!”

“Damn,” Kou Chen started laughing, “Can’t you just say you want someone to stay back with you?”

“Why don’t you all just say you want to join in on the fun?” Kou Xiao crossed her arms and glared at him. 

“Yang-ge can stay back with Jiejie,” Huo Ran said. “I’m familiar with this place, I’ll be fine. It might’ve been a small animal, I’ll just go check.”

“Yang Ruidong you go with Ranran, Kou Chen stay with me.” Kou Xiao said. “How can we let two high schoolers into the forest alone?”

“Our Ranran has been camping since he was a little kid,” Kou Chen said. “Don’t get in the way, Old Yang, I’ll go.”

Huo Ran ignored their arguments, and he headed into the forest. 

These people, even though they said the noise scared them a bit, they’re still pretty much treating this as a fun trip.

Only Huo Ran knew, even if he chose the easier paths, they had already been walking for a day, and Baimao Hill is a pretty remote place. There was a village two kilometers away, but it only housed 20-30 families. The convenience store sold expired instant noodles, red sausage looking chunks (that doesn’t taste anything like meat), and an unfamiliar brand of bottled water that he would only drink with a water purification tablet. It was only open because campers went there to stock up.

Because it was such a secluded place, any unusual sound put Huo Ran on guard. 

It looked like Kou Chen won the argument, since he was the one that followed behind him, poking at the grass and leaves with his hiking stick.

Probably scared he would step on a snake.

“Is anyone there?” Huo Ran yelled.

“A local?” Kou Chen yelled as well. 

The rain had already stopped, and the forest was silent. There weren’t even any birds chirping, only the sound of Kou Chen poking grass.

Another thirty or so meters forward, it became darker, and Huo Ran paused to look: “Let’s go back, they were probably just hearing things, or it was an animal or something.”

“How come?” Kou Chen asked.

“There’s no path here, only in places where the locals usually go.” Huo Ran said. “Bigger animals would leave tracks behind too, and there’s nothing, so it was probably just a passing animal.” 

“Oh.” Kou Chen looked at the path, “Good to know.”

As they returned, Kou Xiao and Old Yang immediately went up to ask them: “Did you find anything?”

“Nope,” Kou Chen said, “We just…” 

Before he could finish, Huo Ran heard footsteps behind them. Not very loud, and it sounded like it was close to them, and exactly like their footsteps when they just went into the forest.

Huo Ran quickly turned around.

“There’s someone there?” Kou Chen whispered.

“A local?” Huo Ran yelled. 

“Yeah!” Someone replied.

Huo Ran sighed in relief, and looked at Kou Chen.

“Scared me.” Kou Chen put something back in his pocket.

Huo Ran reached out and felt it, it was a dagger. He glanced at Kou Chen: “And you asked me why I brought a baton?” 

“What could I do? You didn’t give me anything, so I had to get my own.” Kou Chen replied calmly, but in a gloating way.

Huo Ran felt a bit anxious as the footsteps approached, it sounded like too many people, at least five or six. The locals wouldn’t usually group together like this.

“It doesn’t feel right…” Huo Ran warned them quietly, and then he looked back at Old Yang, “There’s too many people.”

“Other campers?” Old Yang whispered. He nudged Kou Xiao, “Go back to the tent.” 

Kou Xiao immediately picked up a big stick off the ground and crawled back into the tent.

Soon after, those people exited the forest. Huo Ran counted six of them, all men. From their clothes, they did look like locals. Two of them held wooden clubs, and one had a coil of rope.

“Camping?” One of them asked.

“Yup,” Huo Ran nodded with a smile, “Are you guys going hunting?” 

“…Yeah.” They stared at them expressionlessly for a bit, before pointing at the baton in his hands, “What’s that for?”

“Self-defense,” Huo Ran immediately retracted it, “We just heard a noise, thought it was a wolf so we were a bit scared.”

“Wolves don’t come to these parts,” They were still staring at them, “How many are you?”

“Just us,” Kou Chen looked at Huo Ran and Old Yang, “The rest of our friends aren’t here yet, they got delayed.” 

The locals exchanged glances, stared at them a bit more, before nodding and going back where they came from.

They walked a bit, and glanced back at them.

“Holy shit,” Kou Chen spoke once they disappeared into the forest, “What was that? It felt like they were gonna rob us or something?”

“Hard to say,” Huo Ran frowned, “The locals can be a bit unfriendly sometimes, or more like… That’s just the way they are. They like asking questions, but it feels like you’re getting interrogated…” 

“Then they’re…?” Old Yang looked over.

“They might’ve put down animal traps near the forest,” Huo Ran said. “Scared we’ll report them I guess. It’ll probably be fine, especially since Kou Chen said we had other friends. And there might be other campers here later too.”

“What now?” Old Yang asked.

“Now we eat.” Huo Ran said. 

“Okay.” Old Yang nodded with a smile.

Hearing that they were about to eat made everyone happier.

Huo Ran was happy too, since he was a  bit hungry. As he started off towards the tent, Kou Chen suddenly grabbed him. 

“Hm?” Huo Ran turned around.

“Is that a, is that, a snake?!” Kou Chen froze, squeezing his hand tightly, glancing down.

Huo Ran looked down, and there was a lump of plastic mulch that had already been blown on, shined on, rained on, and dissolved into pieces.

“It’s not.” Huo Ran wanted to take his arm back, but Kou Chen wouldn’t let go. So he bent down and picked it up, “It’s plastic mulch, you know what that is? It’s what the locals use on their farms.” 

“Plastic mulch?” Kou Chen quickly glanced at his hand, quickly letting go. He laughed drily, “Oh! Plastic mulch, damn! Plastic… Who fucking put it here! Fuck!”

Huo Ran held back his laughter.

“Time to eat, time to eat!” Kou Chen strided away to the tent. He took two steps before turning back to him with a fierce expression, “If this gets out, you’re dead.”

“Gonna make me fly?” Huo Ran said. 

“I’ll make you fly to the fucking moon!” Kou Chen stalked off.