CH 64

Kou Chen!

He Hua actually yelled pretty loudly, and pretty much everyone heard it clearly. The people immediately starting cheering. 

Pretty much everyone at school knew Kou Chen after all. For a girl so quiet she basically didn’t exist to yell out his name, everyone eagerly awaited what would come next.

“Fuck!” Kou Chen had his arms around Huo Ran’s waist and was half hidden behind him. “Is she gonna thank me? Didn’t she already do it? Didn’t I say there was no need to thank me? Besides, she already told us she didn’t need anyone to worry about her…”

He Hua looked back to her notes, this time for a shorter amount of time.

“I want to say— Thank you!” 

Huo Ran felt Kou Chen’s arms loosen around him as she yelled that.

Be he was still hiding behind him, and he muttered quietly: “Okay, that’s enough, you can go back down now…”

“I’m not thanking you for beating up those people for me,” He Hua didn’t look at her notes again. It seemed like she was a lot more relaxed after getting the first bit out. “I want to thank you for… giving me courage!”

Applause sounded from all around.

“Kou Chen.” Huo Ran pinched his leg. “Sit down, why are you so scared?”

“I’m not as attention-seeking as you.” Kou Chen finally let him go and sat up straight.

But he was obviously still a little embarrassed. Huo Ran realized that Kou Chen was probably only used to attention when he caused it himself, and not something like this. Even though he was sitting properly, he didn’t know where to put his hands.

“Maybe I’ll run into a lot more trouble in the future! There might not be anyone to help me then!” He Hua continued. “But when I think of you, when I think of you guys, I… I only remember your name, but I remember the actions of all of you! When I think of you all, I’ll face anything with courage! Thank you!” 

The applause this time was even louder, and everyone turned to look at them.

The corners of Kou Chen’s lips turned up, and he clapped along with everyone else before giving He Hua a thumbs up.

Some of the girls started screaming.

Huo Ran looked at Kou Chen. To be honest Kou Chen was a really good actor. He was obviously nervous to the point of needing to hide behind someone, but he was still holding it together now, and he was really cool just now. 

And that’s the result of always putting on airs.

Jiang Lei copied him and gave He Hua a thumbs up as well.

Naturally, their tacit understanding will prevail. Although He Hua didn’t remember all of their names, she was still thanking them. So they all raised their hands and gave He Hua a thumbs up together.

That probably took all of He Hua’s energy, so she gave them a bow, then turned to leave. 

The student council president leapt to the railings. He Hua started the event off very well, and the atmosphere was there, so he yelled a couple more words of encouragement.

“I thought He Hua was about to confess to Kou Chen.” Xu Chuan said. “I was thinking that would be awkward.”

“Fuck, me too…” Kou Chen whispered, cutting himself off halfway.

Hearing that, he couldn’t help but glance at Kou Chen: “You thought she was gonna confess too?” 

“Ah.” Kou Chen nodded.

“Looks like you’re pretty self-confident?” Huo Ran tsked.

“I’ve been this loads of times.” Kou Chen was completely recovered, and he narrowed his eyes at him and smirked, “I’m very confident about this stuff.”

“Where’s your shame?” Huo Ran asked. 

“Whoever wants it can have it.” Kou Chen laughed nonchalantly.

“Now let’s welcome the next student to speak!” The president ran off after he said what he needed to say.

Everyone quieted down for the next person. 

“Leilei,” Kou Chen looked at Jiang Lei, “Are you going?”

“…Me? Lemme think about it…” Jiang Lei hesitated.

“Coward.” Xu Zhifan said. “Didn’t you already practice hundreds of times? And you changed your script like two hundred times. You know it like the back of your hand now.”

“Fuck.” Jiang Lei grit his teeth. “I’ll go in a bit.” 

“Po sbe’gf cfgnber sbe mjc ibbx ja er.” Qfl Jtjbgfc rjlv. “Qf’ii mtffg sbe bc.”

“Yxjs.” Aljcu Ofl mgjmxfv tlr xcemxifr.

“Scbeut bo atja,” Bbe Jtfc qjaafv tlr tjcv. “Cgf sbe agslcu ab ygfjx j olcufg rb sbe vbc’a tjnf ab ub eq atfgf?”

“Memx, P’w cba atja rmjgfv!” Aljcu Ofl uijgfv. 

“That’s the spirit.” Kou Chen pointed at him. “Good luck, Leilei.”

The next person to speak was a girl that Huo Ran didn’t know.

“Another girl? The guys have no balls.” He whispered. “What if Leilei’s the only guy to go up there today?” 

“Quiet down.” Kou Chen whispered in his ear. “He’s really not gonna go if he hears that.”

“What class is she in?” Huo Ran asked him.

“Third year.” Kou Chen said. “I dunno what class. She got first place in high jump.”

“Ah.” Huo Ran nodded. 

“I’m a third year student in the sciences!” The girl was pretty brave. She grabbed the railing and yelled without looking at any notes. “My name isn’t important! What I want to say is very serious!”

“How serious?” Someone yelled.

Everyone laughed.

“Right now, I really, really, really want to go back to the humanities!” The girl yelled. “Do the first year kids! Don’t listen to your parents! Don’t believe anyone that says the sciences are for people with good grades and the humanities is just memorization! That’s not it! Pick whatever you like! As long as you like it, your grades will be good! As long as you like it, it won’t feel like a chore!” 

“Okay—!” The first years replied.

“I really regret it! I’m not happy at all here!” The girl screamed, “I want to go back! Don’t be like me!”

“Okay— We got it!” They yelled back.

“Okay, one last thing.” The girl raised her hand and took a deep breath. “Second year, Humanities 1!” 

Hearing that, The Seven of them all perked up to hear what she had to say.

“Huo Ran!” The girl pointed in direction, and then directly at Huo Ran. “Jiejie loves you!”

“…Holy shit?” Huo Ran looked at her in shock.

Everyone around them, standing, sitting, on the rooftops, and on the trees, they all started cheering and yelling. There were even a few whistles mixed in. 

“Too fucking exciting!” Wei Chaoren smacked his thigh as he laughed, “Good for you, Huo Ran!”

Even after the girl left, people were still cheering.

Huo Ran was a bit dazed, and his face felt hot.

He’d gotten love letters, and he’d also have people confess to him face to face, but this was the first time someone yelled ‘Jiejie loves you’ at him in front of pretty much the whole school. 

But it didn’t sound like a completely serious confession. The third year girls all cheered for Kou Chen like that before too…

“Now this is interesting,” Kou Chen leaned into him and whispered with a laugh, “If you say it was a confession, they’ll say it’s just like a sister loving her little brother. You say it’s not a confession, but it obviously looks like one. What a strange person she is…”

“Shut up.” Huo Ran cut him off harshly.

Kou Chen turned and stared at him: “Are you okay? You’re angry?” 

“…No.” Huo Ran glanced at him and rubbed his nose. “Is this the first time I told you to shut up?”

“In that tone, yeah.” Kou Chen said. “It sounded like you’re angry.”

“I’m really not.” Huo Ran cleared his throat. “It was just too sudden, and then you’re going on like a bunch of chickens…”

Without a second’s hesitation, Kou Chen took out the yellow chicken from his pocket and stuck it in his face: “Cluck, cluck cluck.” 

“Fuck off.” Huo Ran couldn’t help but laugh. “What’s wrong with you?”

“Cluck, cluck, cluck,” Kou Chen clucked a few more times before putting the keychain back in his pocket.

Everyone around them had already quieted down, and Huo Ran exhaled. He leaned back on his hands and swung his legs back and forth, waiting for the next person. 

A warmth suddenly covered his hand, and he turned to see Kou Chen put his hand on top of his own. He even tapped his fingers on his hand, and then he joined him in swinging his legs.

It was finally a dude this time, and Huo Ran knew him too. They were in the same class last year, and he’s in Humanities 3 now. The guy was pretty brave, he said whatever he was thinking and was very straight forward. In first year, he gave the teacher advice right in the middle of class. He said, half the class is falling asleep listening to you, shouldn’t you reflect on it?

“Ms. Liang!” The guy started yelling as soon as he got up there. “Ms. Liang!”

“Damn, he’s picking a fight with Liang Mulan?” Kou Chen was shocked. 

Everyone immediately turned to where the teachers were standing. Old Yuan was standing there with a small smile, and beside him was Liang Mulan with a stern face.

She didn’t show any expression on her face, and people couldn’t quite guess what she was feeling on the inside.

But Liang Mulan was basically another word for ‘eccentric’ in the student’s eyes. Everyone was silent as they waited for the brave man to speak.

“In private, none of us calls you Ms. Liang.” He yelled. “Same for all the other teachers, but they’re all Old whatever like we’re familiar. But not you. And you must know it too!” 

Liang Mulan scoffed.

Just with that, they knew the brave man would suffer a tragic defeat.

But he was undeterred as he continued on: “Your classes are pretty decent! But we would rather be able to learn in a relaxed environment than worry about getting yelled at for nothing! You’ve yelled at me many times, I can’t even count them! If I take my eyes off of you to write notes you yell at me, if I move a chair during class you yell at me, if I leave too fast after class you yell at me… It really is pointless!”

“That’s right!” Someone suddenly yelled. 

After that, a lot of people followed in their lead: “That’s right! It’s too much pressure!”

“In comparison, I’m so jealous of Mr. Yuan’s students.” The brave man yelled. “I think teachers can also learn from each other! I hope you can give us a more relaxed learning environment! Ms. Liang! Good luck! Thank you!”

“Good luck, Ms. Liang!” The Humanities 3 students yelled.

“Trying to start something?” Kou Chen whispered. “This is exciting, Old Yuan and Liang Mulan never really liked each other to begin with.” 

“It’s Liang Mulan that doesn’t like Old Yuan.” Huo Ran said.

“Right.” Kou Chen nodded.

“Now that’s awkward.” Hu Yi looked worried. “What’s Liang Mulan gonna do now?”

It was actually pretty emotional, but Liang Mulan’s face was as stern as ever throughout the whole thing. She didn’t give a single response. 

Old Yuan took a step forward before it could devolve into complete awkwardness. He put his hands around his mouth and yelled up at the brave man. “Thank you! I’m happy that we have a student like you who isn’t afraid to speak his mind! The teachers will learn from each other, and we’ll go forward together! Let’s all do our best!”

As soon as he finished, everyone clapped.

“Old Yuan’s great at this.” Xu Zhifan said.

“Saved face for everyone.” Xu Chuan said. “If it isn’t for Old Yuan.” 

The brave man waved to the teachers before turning to leave.

“I’m gonna fucking go.” Jiang Lei suddenly moved his legs and crouched down on the rooftop.

“The ladder’s behind you.” Huo Ran reminded him. “Don’t jump from here, you might land on someone.” 

“I know.” Jiang Lei clenched his fists and stood up.

He probably stood up too fast, and he stumbled a few steps.

“I’ll go with you.” Huo Ran was worried. “In case you won’t be able to make it up there.”

“I’ll go.” Xu Zhifan pushed him back down and stood up to follow Jiang Lei down. 

“Remember to cheer him on.” Xu Chuan reminded everyone.

“Don’t worry.” They all nodded.

“Where’s Lu Huan?” Kou Chen scanned the crowd below them.

“Over there.” Hu Yi nodded in her direction. 

Lu Huan and Wu Xiaochen were standing beneath a small tree, maintaining order.

Hu Yi had joked about telling the lunch lady in the third window to stop shaking the spoon so much if he went up there.

His wish was granted by the next girl who went up. 

“Our cafeteria food is really delicious, it has to be the best in the city.” She yelled. “My friends from other schools are all jealous of me!”

Everyone can agree with that, and they all clapped.

“But the third window! The lunch lady at the third window!” She yelled out what Hu Yi was thinking. “Ma’am, can you hold the ladle steadier? This is our critical period of development, and we third years are stressing our brains everyday, so we need to eat! Ma’am, please give us more meat! And stop shaking the spoon! I want to eat meat, a lot of girls love meat too!”

Below her, people all burst out into laughter, and even the teachers were laughing and clapping. 

“But please don’t cause her any trouble!” The girl added, “I’m just giving a suggestion, nothing more, please don’t twist my words!”

Everyone laughed louder.

The GA manager waved and yelled: “Okay! We got it!”

Jiang Lei appeared at the edge of the rooftop, waiting with a couple other people. 

Xu Zhifan had a hand on his shoulder. The dude was probably really nervous.

Another guy slowly walked towards the railing.

It would probably be Jiang Lei’s turn after that. 

It was a third year student, one of the only people Huo Ran knew that was out of his class, much less his grade. The reason for that was simple. It was because he was an insanely good student. The kind that made the teachers’ eyes light up whenever they talked about him.

A great student indeed. He was the most relaxed person that stood at the railings.

He pushed up his glasses, curled his hands around the railing, and gave everyone a smile first.

The girls in his class squealed and started clapping. 

“This guy’s even worse than me.” Kou Chen tsked as he clapped with everyone.

“He has the right to be.” Huo Ran said. “Our math teacher in first year said that he knew every single question he learned, and he never made a mistake. What about you?”

“I’m angry.” Kou Chen frowned.

Huo Ran glanced at him and laughed: “Seriously?” 

“Seriously.” Kou Chen said. “Who’s side are you on?”

Huo Ran almost choked on his laughter and he patted his leg, “I talk about you the same way to other people.”

“I don’t know any of the fucking questions I learn, and I always make mistakes,” Kou Chen furrowed his brows, “Is that what you say?”

“Apart from his bad grades, everything else about Kou Chen is great.” Huo Ran said. 

Kou Chen looked at him.

“It’s the truth.” Huo Ran said. “That’s what I think.”

The guy introduced himself briefly before clearing his throat. Huo Ran and Kou Chen both listened to him quietly.

“Actually, I never thought I would be standing here, speaking to so many people.” He didn’t yell, but his words were loud and clear. 

Good voice.

“I’ve kept these words to myself for very long.” He pushed up his glasses. “I want to say them out loud, for myself, and for the people who are like me.”

Everyone went silent, not knowing what he was about to say.

He lowered his head, and stayed silent for a few seconds. 

“There’s someone I really like. Maybe he knows, maybe he doesn’t, but that’s not important.” He raised his head, voice just as clear and steady. “I won’t tell you that I like you, but I will tell everyone here. I am attracted to men.”