CH 78

After Hu Yi threw the purse, he raised his head and stood there by the railing. His fists were still clenched so tightly his knuckles were white.

“What was that?” Wei Chaoren lowered his voice. “What’s wrong, Carrot?” 

“That’s probably one of the people he wanted to slice with the noodle knife.” Xu Zhifan said, walking over to Hu Yi. “Is that her?”

“Yeah.” Hu Yi stared past Xu Zhifan’s shoulder, straight at that woman.

They made quite a commotion trying to catch the thief, so people were starting to crowd around now. Kou Chen glanced at the woman, walked over, and cleared his throat: “Ma’am…”

“What’s the meaning of this?!” The woman was pissed. She pointed at Hu Yi and started yelling, “I bet you’re all with this thief! Why did you throw my purse? Do you know what brand my purse is…” 

“Hermes,” Kou Chen cut her off. “We know.”

“Then…” The woman raised her voice.

“Then do you know who just threw your Hermes purse?” Kou Chen looked at her.

The woman paused.

“The son of the person who bought you that purse.” Kou Chen said.

The woman was surprised, and she stayed silent for a few seconds before crossing her arms: “What about it? He’s Old Hu’s son so he can throw my purse around? Why doesn’t he go throw his dad’s things? Even if I’m not with Old Hu, he still wouldn’t go home. What’s the point in taking his anger out on me?”

“Relax, it all happened so suddenly. We’re also here to have fun, calm down everyone.” Kou Chen said. “Forget the purse, he even had a knife ready for you. His dad won’t get away either, get in line and you’ll all be dealt with soon.”

“And who are you? What, trying to threaten me? You’re still too green!” The woman glared. 

“You have two choices. One, turn around and leave. Two, go fish your purse out of the lake yourself.” Kou Chen’s voice was low, “Or I’ll show you how I threaten people.”

“I…” The woman still wanted to say something, but she was cut off.

“Fuck off!” Huo Ran yelled from behind Kou Chen. “You have three seconds!”

Kou Chen startled from the noise, it was so loud he went deaf for a moment. 

The woman stood with her mouth open, shocked as well.

The Seven of them all came up in front of the woman.

“Miss,” Xu Chuan said. “Three seconds goes by fast. One, two, three, see?”

“What?! Are you going to do something?” The woman was still startled, and she tried to get help from the onlookers. “Look at this! They threw away my purse, and now they’re going to act on their threats!” 

“Okay then!” Huo Ran pointed at her. “You don’t need to leave. The police will be here soon, and we’ll go to the station together. If they want to call our parents then so be it. Hu Yi! Remember to call your dad later!”

“Yup.” Hu Yi nodded.

At that, the woman hesitated. She probably didn’t want to make such a big deal out of things, but the purse was expensive, so it hurt to have it thrown in a lake just like that.

She glared at Hu Yi for a bit, and then she stepped back and left. 

“Tell that damn guy named Hu to come back and finalize the divorce.” Hu Yi said. “You should have some professionalism too. How are you gonna let people call you a homewrecker when you can’t even get the job done properly?!”

The woman whipped her head back.

“Put on a fight!” Hu Yi said.

The woman stomped away. Just by looking at her back you could tell she was pissed. 

“Damn, Carrot.” Jiang Lei put an arm around Hu Yi. “I never would’ve thought! I almost didn’t recognize you there.”

“Shut up, you.” Xu Zhifan nudged him.

Hu Yi pushed Jiang Lei’s arm away, turning to sit on the bench nearby. He put his elbows on his knees and hugged his head, not saying anything. 

“Seriously…” Wei Chaoren frowned, pointing at the thief lying on the ground. “We wasted so much energy just to get Hu Yi’s nemesis her purse back.”

“And he followed us too,” Huo Ran glanced at Hu Yi. “I bet he recognized her at the beginning…”

“Then he chased him with us without even saying anything.” Jiang Lei sighed. “Man, I’m starting to feel bad.”

“Feel bad my ass.” Hu Yi mumbled. 

“We’ve known each other for so long,” Jiang Lei sat beside him. “We’re such good friends, am I not supposed to feel bad?”

“Think about what we should say to the police later.” Hu Yi rubbed his eyes and raised his head.

“What do you mean?” Kou Chen said. “Just tell them the truth. It’s not like this guy can escape now.”

The police quickly arrived, and they told the officer the truth. A couple of onlookers also came to defend them, saying ‘poor child, don’t be so harsh on him’.

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“Scold you for what?” The officer looked at him. “Did you steal anything with him? If you want to take a trip to the station you’re welcome to get in the car.” 

“Ah!” Jiang Lei startled, “I didn’t!”

“In the future, call the police first.” The officer said. “What if he had a weapon on him?”

“Mhm.” Jiang Lei nodded fervently.

“Go watch the swans with your friend.” The officer said. “Cheer him up.” 

“Thank you, Sir.” Jiang Lei said.

After the officer took the thief away, they all just stood there for a moment. After the crowd dissipated, Xu Chuan finally spoke: “Leilei, were you asking for some praise or a medal or something?”

“Don’t look down on me, Chuan-ge!” Jiang Lei said. “I was asking a serious question.” 

“Oh.” Xu Chuan nodded with a laugh.

They all turned to Hu Yi.

To be honest, none of them knew how to comfort Hu Yi. They all stood there looking at him, and nobody spoke.

“Having a moment of silence there?” Hu Yi said. 

“Fuck!” They all laughed.

“Let’s go on the boats.” Hu Yi stood up. “Sorry, I caused you guys trouble.”

“What’s this little thing?” Kou Chen said. “If only your dad was here too, we could’ve taught them both a lesson!”

“Maybe he is.” Huo Ran whispered. “I doubt she’d come here alone.” 

“Shush.” Kou Chen put an arm around him and shook him.

“I’m serious, what if we run into him? We should be prepared.” Huo Ran said.

“Yeah.” Hu Yi nodded, “Let’s…”

They all turned to him again. 

“Let’s bet on it. Loser has to buy everyone drinks.” Hu Yi said. “I say he’s here.”

“…Damn.” Huo Ran paused for a second, and then laughed. “Me too.”

Everyone placed their bets.

But all the way back to the pier, they didn’t see that woman again. 

They picked out a big boat, and then they even fought over who gets to pedal.

“Do I have too much energy?” Kou Chen said as he pedalled.

Beside him, Huo Ran did the same. He thought for a while, then said: “Who knows.” 

After pedalling the boat out pretty far, they finally calmed down from the nervousness and anger from earlier, and they started to talk about Hu Yi’s family situation.

Huo Ran didn’t say anything, he was still thinking about Kou Chen’s question.

Why did he fight to pedal?

Kou Chen must have too much energy, like an idiot. If you told him to run five kilometres right now he would probably do it first before asking why. 

He can do it, so why shouldn’t he?

But that wasn’t his own reason, he wasn’t that dumb.

It was really just because of Kou Chen. Kou Chen wanted to pedal, so naturally he also did. To sit side by side and pedal.

Like how they had to be together all the time. 

They went to class together, went to the bathroom together, ate together, went to the store together.

Running into the enemy’s embrace, and becoming this handsome young man’s boyfriend!

Jiang Lei’s voice sounded his head.

In his shock, Huo Ran started pedalling furiously, making the boat swerve to the left. 

“That’s why your mom should just find a boyfriend, loosen up and all.” Jiang Lei stood in front of them, talking to Hu Yi. Realizing the boat was swerving, he turned around to Huo Ran, “Fuck, look at you, doing your best?”

Huo Ran snapped back to reality and gave him a really awkward smile, then he slowed down his pedalling.

After steadying himself, he glanced at Kou Chen. 

Kou Chen was looking at him.

“What?” Huo Ran startled.

“What what?” Kou Chen asked.

“Why are you… looking at me?” Huo Ran cleared his throat, asking carefully. 

“I’m zoning out.” Kou Chen said.

“Oh,” Huo Ran paused. “Thinking about something?”

“Mhm.” Kou Chen nodded.

“About what?” Huo Ran whispered. “About whether you’re useless or not?” 

Kou Chen only smiled.

“To be honest, second years don’t really have much use really.” Huo Ran said. “But on the other hand, we can do anything. We have the balls to do anything. Like fighting and insulting people, catching thieves and human traffickers, there’s nothing we can’t do, and nothing we’re afraid of…”

“The last part’s not true.” Kou Chen said.

“What are you afraid of?” Huo Ran asked. 

“Afraid that I’m not the person I think I am.” Kou Chen said. “And that in the eyes of my parents, I’m a child that has to be obedient and nothing else. In their eyes, we’re all still children after all.”

Huo Ran didn’t say anything, he only sighed softly.

“Forget it,” Kou Chen ruffled his hair. “I’ve lived this long not thinking about anything. In a couple years, they won’t be in charge of me anymore.”

Huo Ran smiled: “Childish.” 

“And you’re very mature, is that right?” Kou Chen tsked.

Huo Ran didn’t say anything else. He listened to the others’ conversation as he pedalled, laughing along once in a while.

Kou Chen checked his phone, finding no messages from Kou Xiao. That meant his dad went on his business trip, and there were no other changes, so he could sleep at home tonight. 

As for whether he was useless or not, he hadn’t really thought about it before.

Because his dad had always thought he wasn’t up to his standards, quite far from them actually. Tens of thousands of kilometres between a knight and a princess, there was zero hope for his grades, and he had no skills to speak of.

Princess Chen.

Kou Chen almost wanted to laugh when he remembered the nickname Huo Ran gave him. 

He glanced at Huo Ran, who was going back and forth with Jiang Lei. He stared at him for a while, and then he turned to join in the conversation with everyone else.

In case Huo Ran suddenly turns around and catches him staring.

When Huo Ran turned around just then, he didn’t even have time to look away, but good thing he had the acting skills.

Sexy Kou Chen, zoning out. 

Kou Chen rubbed his face.

There was an intense feeling, one that made him feel even worse than hearing his dad say he was gonna send him abroad.

He brought it up with Huo Ran before, the feeling of suddenly realizing that he might not be the person he thinks he is. Just thinking about it made him space out, forgetting that he had to pedal.

“Hey?” Wei Chaoren suddenly sat up straight, “If I’m not seeing things…!”

They all looked towards where he was pointing.

“I win.” Huo Ran said.

“Me too.” Hu Yi said. 

Apart from Kou Chen, everyone won.

There was a two-person boat in front of them, and sitting in it was a woman and a man.

Hu Yi’s dad literally looks exactly the same as him.

“What do we do?” Xu Chuan asked. 

“Go on, Carrot.” Xu Zhifan said. “We’ll do whatever makes you feel better.”

“Let’s scare them a bit.” Hu Yi said. “That damned Hu never picks up my mom and I’s calls. I just want to make him go home and finalize the divorce.”

“I feel like that woman’s not planning to marry your dad yet.” Kou Chen said. “That’s why he’s not letting go of your mom.”

“That’s not up to him.” Hu Yi said. 

“Let’s go.” Huo Ran said. “If we bump into them from the back they won’t flip over. Don’t go from the side.”

“Okay.” Everyone went silent, afraid to alert their target.

Huo Ran glanced at Kou Chen’s legs, and Kou Chen looked at him too.

“Maintain a steady speed when we’re going straight.” Huo Ran whispered. “Don’t swerve again.” 

“Tell that to those two.” Kou Chen nodded at Jiang Lei and Wei Chaoren in front of them. “Apart from when they’re fighting, those two are never in sync.”

“Left, right, left, right.” Wei Chaoren turned around to glare at them before going back to instructing Jiang Lei. “Maybe not, but we have rhythm!”

Kou Chen gave him a thumbs up.

The boat glided through the water quietly, heading for the boat in front of them.

The people on the other boat didn’t notice them at all, they were in the middle of chatting happily.

He didn’t know why, but Huo Ran suddenly felt a little nervous.

The person in front of them was Hu Yi’s dad after all. They were about to do something that they hadn’t done before. They saved Xu Zhifan’s mom, and now they were about to run a boat into Hu Yi’s dad… 

Life is so remarkable.

He looked at Kou Chen.

Kou Chen gave him a smile, patting his hand. Then he whispered in his ear: “I’m kinda nervous.”

“Huh?” Huo Ran was surprised. 

“I’m scared the boat’s gonna flip over…” Kou Chen’s voice was so quiet he almost couldn’t hear. “If I fall in the water…”

“I can’t swim either, I don’t know if I’ll save you or my mom first.” Huo Ran said.

That made Kou Chen laugh. He had a hand on his stomach and laughed quietly for a long moment before saying: “Hold onto me, so I don’t fall in.”

To be honest, Huo Ran felt a bit thoughtless. In other words, Kou Chen really didn’t seem like a person with weaknesses. If Kou Chen hadn’t brought it up, he wouldn’t even have remembered that Kou Chen was scared of water, so scared that he thought he would drown in ankle deep water. 

He suddenly felt a little guilty.

He grabbed Kou Chen’s hand and brought it into his lap: “Don’t worry. I’m here, I won’t let you fall in.”

“You’re so…” Kou Chen cut himself off halfway through his sentence.

“What?” Huo Ran turned around. 

Kou Chen was a bit too close to him, so when he turned, their noses grazed.

He suddenly felt dazed.

He and Kou Chen had had a lot of inappropriate contact. If you wanted to be specific, Kou Chen’s back had met his crotch before, and he had seen a chicken jump out of Kou Chen’s pants…

But even though their noses were right on their face with nothing to hide them, it could be considered as private as anything in their pants. 

He could spread his legs and have someone lean between them with no problem.

But you couldn’t touch noses with someone so easily.

“Go!” Jiang Lei suddenly yelled.

Huo Ran could see how Kou Chen’s pupils shrunk as he startled. 

Then the boat shook violently.

They both swayed with it.

And then they bumped noses just like that.

“Fuck…” Huo Ran covered his nose. He couldn’t even make a noise, it hurt so much he was about to cry.