CH 13

Translation checker: Rin

Editor: Junyans 

It was a well-known fact that Yu Ran was stupid, but he didn’t realize it himself.

“Why are you so sensitive? Hey, Diūgē, when you were in junior high school, you must have also played ‘kanchō’ and ‘pulling out birds’ with friends, right?” Yu Ran was puzzled, “Why, Chu Mian, you haven’t played these before?”

Before Fang Zhao could answer, Chu Mian who was behind him coldly answered: “Normal people are unlikely to be as vulgar and rude as you.”

“What’s wrong with vulgarity?” Yu Ran struggled to turn around. “Vulgarity and elegance are the two sides of the same coin!” 

Fang Zhao patted Yu Ran on the head and persuaded him: “Can you not speak too much? How can you describe Chu Mian that way? Doesn’t he only have one? What you said makes it sound like there’s a bunch of it in his crotch…”

The words had yet to fall, but Fang Zhao quickly noticed that he was a little out of line, and he quietly looked at Chu Mian, and sure enough, he was met with the other party’s gloomy eyes shooting daggers at him.

He hurriedly squatted down and took the borrowed scissors to help Yu Ran cut off the skipping rope on his body.

Earlier, after coming back from the cafeteria, Yu Ran was directly tied to the chair by Chu Mian with two skipping ropes, all trussed up with a dead knot tie.

Yu Ran still felt quite aggrieved. Didn’t he praise Chu Mian for being more plump “there”? Why would he be angry about that?

Fang Zhao cut several knots of the skipping rope to free Yu Ran. He looked at the knots all over the floor and sighed, “Chu Mian, you’re so professional in tying up people, no wonder Yu Ran can’t even move a little.”

Yu Ran looked at the red marks on his arm and sighed: “What’s the matter, I felt good being tied up.” 

Fang Zhao was surprised: “Wow, Yu Ran… you don’t have any special fetish, right?”

Yu Ran was confused: “What?”

Fang Zhao felt that this kind of thing was not convenient to say in public, so he approached Yu Ran and whispered it to him.

“Holy shit, you’re so disgusting!” Yu Ran reacted fiercely after hearing the explanation, crossed his arms on his chest to make a protective gesture, stepped back away from Fang Zhao, and let out an iambic “ewww” to express his disgust. 

“What does it have to do with me? You’re the one who said you felt very comfortable being tied up by Chu Mian!” Fang Zhao turned his head to look at Chu Mian. “Chu Mian, don’t tie him up in the future, just use the whip. Yu Ran must like it even more.”

Chu Mian only felt a headache when he heard them bickering. He rubbed his temples and, unable to stand them anymore, he said: “I’m going to sleep, you all shut up.”

Within five seconds, Chu Mian really closed his eyes and fell unconscious on the desk. Yu Ran stretched out a finger to gently poke his cheek to see if he would react.

Fang Zhao raised his hand to stop him, and whispered, “Okay, don’t provoke Chu Mian all the time, he’s different from others.” 

“Where is he different, doesn’t he just sleep more than we do?”

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Not to mention rude games such as “pulling out birds” and “kanchō” between boys, Fang Zhao was embarrassed to even tell ordinary jokes with erotic connotations in front of Chu Mian, always feeling that it would tarnish the other party through the air. 

“Fang Zhao, do you know what’s the biggest difference between you and Chu Mian?”

Fang Zhao blurted out “everything”, but Yu Ran told him, “You wear glasses, but Chu Mian doesn’t.”

What kind of “biggest difference” is this… Fang Zhao thought Yu Ran was running his mouth again.

Yu Ran sat up straight and said, “I had promised Chu Mian that I would treat him as a man as strong as me, and from that moment on, he was nothing different to me, merely sleeping more than me. So—” 

“What we can do, Chu Mian can do too.”

Listening to his unquestionable tone, Fang Zhao was a little shaken: “That’s true, but that doesn’t mean that Chu Mian is willing to be pranked by you… He’s obviously the type that likes to be alone.”

Yu Ran asked back, “Don’t you think Chu Mian has become a lot more active recently when he is with us?”

“That’s only because you make him angry, okay?” 

“It doesn’t matter, if Chu Mian is really angry, he’ll definitely stay away from me.” As Yu Ran said this, he could not help but lie on the back of the chair and observe Chu Mian, who was asleep in the seat behind him. The boy’s eyelashes were naturally upturned, and the curvature of his eyes was also incredibly beautiful.

Yu Ran grinned and then said, “Chu Mian’s mouth says no but his body is very honest. I gave him crab melon seeds yesterday and he secretly ate them in class. I think he might also like to play ‘pull out birds’ with others.”

“…there’s no direct relationship between these two things!”

“In short, Chu Mian doesn’t need to be treated as special,” Yu Ran solemnly told Fang Zhao this conclusion, “If you treat him as a friend, don’t care about how he’s different from you, you’re a unique person as well.” 

Fang Zhao was taken aback. He hadn’t expected such words of wisdom to pop out of Yu Ran’s mouth. Just as he had started to feel a little admiration, he heard Yu Ran heave a sigh and say proudly: “Hey, like me, I’m the Chosen One.”

The warm afternoon passed in a few loosely disciplined classes. After the end of the big break, the first year students of senior high school finally ushered in the long-awaited club activity class.

Fang Zhao packed up his school bag and turned around to ask, “Yu Ran, what did you sign up for last week?”

“Basketball.” 

“Bullshit, didn’t the class president say that there are no spots left in the basketball team, you can only choose volleyball or badminton.”

“She lied to us.” Yu Ran got up and leaned close to Fang Zhao, with his palm on his mouth, looking very mysterious. “I secretly saw the registration form that day. ‘No spots’ wasn’t written at all. The column of our class was empty. Maybe some class grabbed all the spots or our teacher deliberately didn’t let us join.”

Fang Zhao was skeptical: “It’s unlikely. What are the benefits of targeting our class?”

“Aren’t we the experimental class? It must be Teacher Bai who thinks that playing basketball will interfere with boys’ studies. I heard that Chengjun’s basketball team has a lot of training, and players often miss classes before the game!” Yu Ran said, the corners of his mouth raised, “Fortunately, I was witty and took advantage of Xiang Xuehua’s inattention to fill up my name.” 

“You’re really quite something!” Fang Zhao smiled, “Okay, then I’ll go first, to the choir.”

Yu Ran gestured “OK” to him, turned around and asked Chu Mian, “Where are you going?

“Rooftop.” Chu Mian packed his schoolbag in an orderly manner.

“Rooftop? Oh, you’re talking about the roof of the laboratory building ah.” Yu Ran followed him out the door, “What kind of club are you in, the ‘Suicide Club’?” 

“… Natural Science Club.” Chu Mian really did not want to seriously explain to Yu Ran, so he told him in an easy-to-understand way, “Folding paper planes, see who can throw it farther.”

Yu Ran instantly felt a sense of superiority: “Oh, it’s boring. Do you know where I’m going now?”

“Basketball team, I heard you just now.” Chu Mian expressionlessly took a deep breath, and perfunctorily filled in the would-be-coming bragging for Yu Ran: “Chengjun’s No. 1 Club, it’s amazing. You will miss classes and there are no spots left. You’re clever.”

Yu Ran was very gratified, laughed “hehe” a few times, and finally got so carried away that he forgot to say bye to Chu Mian. He carried his school bag and, facing the sun, went straight to the gym. 

Then he was dumbfounded —

In the huge venue, he actually couldn’t find any male other than himself. In front of him were tall girls wearing hurdle tank tops and shorts. The physical education teacher blew a whistle to call everyone to gather, and when she saw a handsome young man standing aside in a daze, she was also puzzled: “Is this… also a girl?”

The Girl’s Sports Committee member of Yu Ran’s class was present and, finding it both funny and extremely embarrassing, asked, “Yu Ran, why are you here?”

Yu Ran replied stupidly: “For club, I signed up for basketball.” 

The coach laughed: “Our school only has girl’s basketball, how did you sign up? Your homeroom teacher didn’t tell you?”

That hit Yu Ran like a bolt from the blue, and all the joy from not long ago dissipated.

He threw his bag and squatted on the ground in despair, muttering to himself, “Why didn’t they write the word ‘only females’ on the registration form? How can I remember what the teacher said in class…”

The coach comforted him, “It’s okay, you can go join some other club now, it’s still early.” 

Yu Ran squatted on the ground in silence for a long time, and suddenly, as if he had made up his mind, tilted his head and said firmly: “Coach, I want to play basketball.”

After all, he had just shown off to Fang Zhao, Chu Mian and the others for a long time, so if he just went back in such an ignominious manner, he would definitely be ridiculed for days.

“… We’re the girls’ basketball team.”

“Just let me play with you guys!” Yu Ran’s eyes glowed and he bloomed into a smile and begged her. 

The coach’s face showed signs of difficulty and she hesitated.

Yu Ran was born with an amiable face, and his facial features were comely and gorgeous. When he smiled, he could clearly show the innocent and handsome look typical of a fifteen or sixteen-year-old boy. Especially when making any request to others, his eyes were full of clean and pure expectation, and the expression on his face when he obediently raised his face could easily make people subconsciously agree to his requests.

After much deliberation, the coach finally agreed to his request. In this way, Yu Ran gloriously became an honorary representative for Chengjun Middle School’s girl’s second basketball team’s reserve players.”

“I can’t touch the ball at all!” Yu Ran was so helpless that he had to leave the basketball court. 

There was still a long time before the end of school, so he wandered around the school with his school bag, boredly watching his classmates playing soccer on the playground. After killing some time, Yu Ran remembered that Chu Mian was folding paper planes on the rooftop, so he went straight upstairs to find him to play.

The roof of the laboratory building was only three stories high and was connected to the school building by a rooftop bridge. The rooftop was very wide and had been the activity site of the unpopular clubs, and was surrounded by a high protective net. Usually, many students came here to eat lunch and chat, and during evening self-study, many young couples in senior year two and three of high school often came here for dates and to enjoy the evening breeze.

Yu Ran came up and inquired about Chu Mian’s location with others, and then found him in a shady corner. Chu Mian was sleeping on the ground, with a lot of clean newspapers placed under his body.

Yu Ran sat down and felt that the ground was a bit cold, so he gently held up Chu Mian’s head. 

It was not easy for Chu Mian to perceive the movements of the outside world in his sleep. This time the nightmare scene was in the water, where he was being chased by a giant shark with a bloody and widely-opened mouth. On the way to escape, he only felt that his throat was about to dry up, he wanted to breathe, he wanted to shout, and then he suddenly woke up —

Every time he got out of a nightmare, it was like he just survived a disaster, his heart pounding loudly and palpitating with fear. But this time, he smelled a light smell of apple-scented soap, sweet but not cloying — the air seemed to have become gentle. He, who was not completely awake yet, only subconsciously moved closer to the smell.

“Have you slept enough?” Someone asked him gently.

Chu Mian was slow to recall the familiar voice of the other party, then suddenly raised his head and found himself lying in the other party’s arms. This inexplicable situation made him more nervous and alert all of a sudden, and the palpitations continued for a few more moments. 

He got up holding the ground, rubbed his hair, avoided Yu Ran’s eyes and asked, “Why are you here?”

“Basketball isn’t really that interesting,” Yu Ran said with a smile, “I’d rather find you to play.”

Chu Mian was stunned and replied with a faint “oh”.

Yu Ran did not know the consequences of his deliberate concealment of the true reason, which would actually cause Chu Mian’s frame of mind to turn from suspicious to subtle. Chu Mian soon forgot about the nightmare he had a moment ago, his mood gradually regained clarity, and he even gained a little reassurance. 

Yu Ran squinted at the sky and said, “The rooftop is too sunny. Does my face look red?”

Chu Mian glanced at him, “No, looks normal.”

“But it’s hot,” Yu Ran covered his face with both hands, “Let’s go and buy popsicles.”

When he put his hand down, he felt a pain on his face, and raised his eyes to find that Chu Mian was pinching him, “What are you doing?” 

“Try how hot it is.” Chu Mian put more force into the pinch, and Yu Ran immediately bared his teeth and grinned with a very funny expression. He suddenly felt that he was too childish, so he immediately let go of his hand, kept away the faint smile at the corner of his mouth, and returned to his calm expression.

Yu Ren looked at Chu Mian while rubbing his face, and found that his face was covered with a layer of crimson that was deeper than the glow of the sunset.

“Chu Mian,” Yu Ran called out to him and raised his arm towards him, “You twist me, just like twisting a towel, with both hands.”

Chu Mian did as he said. When the skin on both sides of the arm stretched taut in different directions, Yu Ran immediately groaned: “Feels so good!” 

This sound not only scared Chu Mian, but also attracted sideways glances from the surrounding people. Yu Ran was still not done, and stretched out his other arm, “This side too.”

“Aren’t you ashamed?” Chu Mian quickly shook off his arm. Face red, he lifted his school bag and left angrily.