CH 24

Translation checker: Rin

Editor: Junyans

“No.” 

Chu Mian sharply refused before Yu Ran could speak.

Seeing his cold eyes, Ye Xi didn’t dare to refute him, and Yu Ran also spoke at this moment: “Yes, why would the prince do such a thing! Kissing someone while the other party is sleeping is inhuman, too nasty.”

After saying that, he also added something unexpected: “In short, ‘man of low degree‘.”

“You know it’s nasty now?” Chu Mian held himself back from flaring up, and just pushed Yu Ran’s shoulder hard. 

“How would I know that ‘Sleeping Beauty’ had such a plot! Fuck, as expected, none of the princes are anything good. The prince in “Mermaid” was also a big idiot,” Yu Ran said indignantly, and turned his face to look at Ye Xi, “I don’t care, I want to be a heroic and righteous prince!”

Chu Mian asked him, “Then, what did you think the story of Sleeping Beauty was before?”

Yu Ran thought about the wording, and slowly told his idea: “A long, long time ago, there was a princess who liked to sleep every day. Her own mother died early, and the king married a vicious queen. This queen disliked the princess and was jealous of her beauty, so she wanted to kill her while the moon was dark and the wind was high… The kind prince saw all this from the crystal ball—”

“Shut up. Why must you insist on interpreting the title without understanding?” Chu Mian pinched Yu Ran’s cheeks. “Let’s go. It’s time for the Physical Education class.”

Yu Ran went back to his seat to get the skipping rope and suddenly remembered something important. He immediately raised his sleeves, stretched out his arms to Chu Mian and said, “Twist me.”

Here we go again.

Chu Mian wasn’t in the mood to care about him. He raised his hand and lightly slapped Yu Ran’s arm with the skipping rope. A light pink trace quickly appeared on the other party’s fair skin.

Yu Ran was stunned, and stretched out his other arm to Chu Mian. “One more time.” 

“Do you feel uncomfortable if you don’t get beaten?” Chu Mian frowned, grabbed Yu Ran’s wrist, and pulled him out of the back door. “Hurry up, we’re going to be late.”

The Physical Education class on Wednesday morning was at the sunniest time, and the energetic students were more refreshed.

Two classes were held separately for boys and girls. The girls had to be evaluated on the “three-step layup” in the mid-term exam, and they had been practicing basketball throwing recently. They were usually in groups of two, throwing balls at each other and thereby adjusting their standing positions and gestures.

What Ye Xi was most afraid of was this kind of practice. 

When the teacher ordered everyone to move freely, she was immediately nervous and her palms started to sweat. It had been a month and a half since school started, and the girls had already formed their own little groups, while she had been left out by everyone.

To ease the awkwardness of being alone now, she hurriedly knelt down to tie her shoelaces to look like she had something to do now.

“Teacher, no one is in my group!” A female voice with a cheerful tone rang out from the front. “You can arrange a teammate for me.”

“Why is there no one to team up with you?” 

“They all hate me,” Cui He answered frankly.

Ye Xi, who was squatting on the ground, looked at the girl in amazement.

She was a more unwelcome existence than her, but Ye Xi didn’t expect Cui He to admit the fact of “being hated” so simply.

The teacher helped her by asking loudly “Who else is alone?”, so Ye Xi raised her hand after being put in an awkward predicament. 

In this way, the two girls became a practice group and tossed a basketball in silence. After a while, the teacher left the field and went back to the sports group to rest. Cui He, who was bored to death, threw the basketball away and moved her shoulders before saying, “Class is really fucking boring.”

Ye Xi did not dare to echo the other party’s words, but she did not expect that Cui He would take the initiative to say: “Come on, let’s go play with the boys.”

“Huh?” Ye Xi was startled.

“Let’s go. Won’t you also have nothing to do if you stay alone?” Cui He urged her. 

Ye Xi really didn’t want to listen to others talking and laughing alone. But she had been in contact with the girls in her class for a long time since she was young, and she also understood one truth — if a girl was not popular in a same-sex group, she would only appear out of place; but if there was a girl who was not only unpopular with other girls, but also liked to play with boys…

That girl would definitely be ridiculed as “cheap” behind her back.

“If you aren’t going, I’ll go.” Cui He ignored her.

Ye Xi looked around. After hesitating for a few seconds, she still bit the bullet to keep up with Cui He. 

It was free time for the boys. Cui He found Yu Ran’s place and sat cross-legged opposite him. Ye Xi cautiously squatted with her legs together, very worried that she would flash herself in front of the boys.

When she turned around, she nearly fell to the ground—

Chu Mian was sleeping soundly, resting on Yu Ran’s lap. He was lying sideways, so from the angle Ye Xi was looking from, it looked like Chu Mian’s face was almost buried between Yu Ran’s legs.

Ye Xi felt a little dizzy, so she quickly turned her face and didn’t dare to look directly at them. 

“Help me lift his leg,” Yu Ran said while taking off his school uniform jacket, and with Cui He’s help, he put his clothes under Chu Mian’s waist.

Coafg jii, la tjv gjlcfv ijra cluta, jcv lc atf wbgclcu, atf ugbecv bc atf obbayjii olfiv kjr ralii nfgs mbiv. Vb, bcf kbeiv vfolclafis offi nfgs mbiv riffqlcu tfgf.

Tf Wl kjr j ilaaif regqglrfv. Vtf tjv atbeuta atja Te Ejc kjr j rlcuif-mfiifv bgujclrw atja kjr qgbcf ab mjgfifrrcfrr. Ca ifjra atja kjr atf lwjuf rtf tjv bo atf ybsr lc mijrr. Pa aegcfv bea atja tf kbeiv cjaegjiis rtbk remt j mjglcu jcv mbcrlvfgjaf rlvf ab Jte Zljc.

She couldn’t help but think of all the rumors about him during the previous military training. As for why on earth they had gone to the woods in the middle of the night, nobody knew the exact truth until now, and no one had the face or nerve to inquire about it either. However, judging from the two people’s previous reactions to “kissing”, they shouldn’t be in a relationship. 

“I heard that you signed Chu Mian up for a stage drama and asked him to play Sleeping Beauty.” Cui He laughed gloatingly. “Does Chu Mian know?”

“He just found out, and fuck, he forced me to sign up for it too.”

“He didn’t get mad at you?”

“He did…” Yu Ran cocked his head and laughed, then muttered: “but is it useful for him to be angry with the great me?” 

Cui He also laughed. She thought that Yu Ran was a typical example of “Some fools never learn”. One second, he would make someone angry and apologize in a serious manner, and the next second, he would smile and laugh and then annoy them again. This way, he had tested the bottom line of Chu Mian’s patience in various ways.

So seeing that Yu Ran was still safe and sound, Cui He couldn’t help but sigh. “Chu Mian really indulges you.”

Then, she turned her face to look at Ye Xi and asked, “What’s going on with you? Aren’t you a Class Committee member? Why isn’t anyone playing with you?”

Such a blunt question made Ye Xi feel dumbfounded, and then Yu Ran aggravated her embarrassment by loudly remarking at this moment: “Really, why? You’re so nice!” 

She was praised as a “nice person” by him just because she had lent him a copy of “Anime Weekly”. Ye Xi couldn’t help but smile bitterly, and replied helplessly: “I’m easily misperceived… which is annoying. ”

When the school started, many people actively spoke and exchanged hobbies in the class group. Ye Xi saw that someone had been talking about “Sword Art Online” that was popular at that time, and immediately joined the topic with interest: “Hey? Are you also a 2D world fan?”

At that time, she didn’t realize that there was a subtle change in the atmosphere in the group, and she continued typing to attract others’ attention: “Hey, hey, are there any fujoshis in the class?”

As soon as these words were sent out, the QQ group became completely cold. 

Although she was unable to make friends at the start of the school, Ye Xi was not discouraged, and waited for the military training where everyone would live together, to improve her relationship with others. The outcome was that, before she had even arrived at the base, she was discovered by the whole class that she loved to watch hentai. But many people didn’t know what “hentai” was, so they decided that she was watching adult videos and the girls all mocked her privately as “so dirty”.

Over time, Ye Xi gradually got used to the sense of shame and acknowledged that she was easily despised by people. No matter when and where she was, she seemed to be able to make the atmosphere awkward and stiff.

The adolescent girls gathered together like a plate of strawberries, but she was the one hidden at the bottom that had lost its color and taste.

“Since no one wants to be with you, you can eat with us from now on,” Yu Ran yawned and said to her, “It’s so boring to be by yourself.” 

Ye Xi was stunned for a few seconds before she realized that Yu Ran was inviting her. The boy’s tone was very casual, which made her unable to believe that she could be qualified to “join the gang”.

“Yu Ran.”

Fang Zhao shouted his name from not far away. Yu Ran turned his head to see a red can being thrown towards him. He subconsciously raised his hands to catch it.

It was a can of iced Wangzai milk. Fang Zhao had snuck away to a nearby shop while the teacher was not paying attention and brought Yu Ran a bottle of his favorite drink in passing. 

Recently, the weather had turned cold, and Yu Ran had to let the cold drinks warm up in the sun for a while before drinking. He held it in his hand and felt cold, so he put it on Chu Mian’s face.

Cui He took a cold breath: “You’re fucking courting death again.”

Yu Ran laughed and rolled the ice-cold can on Chu Mian’s face. It didn’t take long for Chu Mian’s cheeks to get all wet, and only then did he feel that the situation wasn’t good. He quickly reached out and wiped it clean. He didn’t forget to comment: “Ai, Chu Mian’s skin is so smooth, he shouldn’t be playing ‘Sleeping Beauty’, but ‘The Princess and the Pea’.”

Cui He: “Do you dare to say that while he’s awake?” 

The short Physical Education class was about to come to an end. The two Physical Education teachers blew their whistles and called the boys and girls to gather, and Cui He and Ye Xi hurriedly ran back. Yu Ran sat in the same place and gently shook Chu Mian’s shoulders, trying to wake him up.

Chu Mian rolled his Adam’s apple twice. His eyes did not open, and his face unconsciously rubbed into a warm place during his half-dreaming and half-waking state.

Yu Ran tightened his legs unconsciously and stretched out his hand to cover the most sensitive part of males, which was getting restless after being rubbed by the tip of Chu Mian’s nose.

“Hey, wake up, class is over,” Yu Ran leaned down and shouted, “Idiot? Idiot, did you hear that?” 

Chu Mian did hear it this time, and suddenly opened his eyes only to find that he was looking at Yu Ran from a strange angle.

He realized that something was wrong and got up immediately. Then there was a panic in his chest, and his heartbeat automatically sped up.

Chu Mian helped Yu Ran to stand up. When he took the first step, he suddenly lost control of his feet as if a force was pulling him, causing him to fall forward.

Fortunately, Yu Ran quickly dropped his school uniform and opened his arms to hold him tight. 

When Chu Mian looked down, he saw that his shoelaces had been tied together at some point.

He felt annoyed and shouted “Yu Ran” in a gloomy tone.

“Hey, it’s not me this time, Cui He did it,” Yu Ran hurriedly explained, and smiled to show his innocence, “Don’t be angry, I’ll untie it for you.”

When the two of them spoke, their faces were very close, and Yu Ran’s lips were almost touching the other party’s chin. Chu Mian could clearly smell Wangzai milk on him. 

After the girls got out of Physical Education class, they walked to the football field to do inter-class exercises. Cui He glanced ahead carelessly and immediately frowned in disgust: “What are they doing?”

Ye Xi followed her gaze and her first reaction was to cover her eyes.

At this time, Yu Ran was doing a standard military squat, with his back straight, and his face was just close to Chu Mian’s crotch when he raised his head to talk to him. What was even more unexpected was that halfway through their conversation, Chu Mian suddenly rubbed Yu Ran’s hair impatiently, as if he was pressing the other person towards the part between his legs.

The girls hurriedly muttered “See no evil”, and looked away. 

Everyday, as soon as the big break arrived, Yu Ran would be in high spirits and would roam the playground unscrupulously.

“Cha ge, look at the bronze horse statue in our school. Its two rows of teeth are so strong. Aren’t they suitable for conning you?” Yu Ran put an arm around Zhou Weixi’s shoulder, and the next second he shouted to the others: “Come on! Let’s get Cha ge conned!”

At his command, the other boys also rushed over with great enthusiasm, picked up Zhou Weixian’s limbs and carried him towards the bronze statue that was shining under the sun.

The excitement of the crowd was concentrated in the playground, and the quiet classroom had become a place to rest. 

Chu Mian had the privilege of not participating in inter-class exercises, while Cui He asked the homeroom teacher for leave on the pretext of discomfort every day to avoid exercise. The two chatted casually in the classroom and slowly talked about the topic of their future exams.

“Let’s talk about it in the third year of senior high school. I’m really not interested in college. After I graduate, I want to make cakes,” Cui He said casually, holding a bottle of transparent nail polish in her hand and applying it seriously, “If you want to be in the top ten in Ronggang, it’s pretty easy, and I don’t think Peking Union needs that high of a score.”

“There are changes every year, who knows what will happen in the next five years.” Chu Mian sorted out his class notes and after his hands became sore from writing, he put down his pen and turned his head to look out the window.

Cui He was still talking to him over there, but Chu Mian forgot to continue listening. His gaze passed through the crowd and arrived at his class’s location. 

Yu Ran did the inter-class exercises very sloppily, with his arms hanging weakly in his sleeves. He only relied on the movement of turning his body to make his arms swing, and from time to time he took the opportunity to kick other boys.

Recently, the school had increased its intensity in inspecting inter-class exercises, and Physical Education teachers were about to catch slackers like Yu Ran to set a strong example. “Dancing Youth” had just reached the third quarter when the music stopped abruptly, and the teacher supervising the exercise held up the microphone and called the names: “The fifth boy from the bottom of second year Class 3, the boy in second year Class 6 with the blue jump rope around his waist, and Yu Ran from first year, come out.”

Yu Ran’s face changed: “Fuck.”

The Physical Education teacher continued, “You three come to lead the exercises on the stage, so that everyone can see your style.” 

The crowd burst into laughter, but Yu Ran brightened up.

Chu Mian, who was far away from the classroom, held his chin in his hand and watched the familiar figure jogging all the way to the stage.

The teacher told all the students: “Whoever is lazy one more time while doing the exercises in the future, come forward and do it just like the three of them. If you don’t mind losing face, you can let everyone see it.”

The music of the inter-class exercise sounded again. Yu Ran stood on the stage, and looking at the lazy students below, he instantly developed a sense of mission as a leader. 

Soon, a scene that no one had expected appeared — this time when Yu Ran did the exercises, not only did he not have the same sloppy attitude as the two senior high school boys next to him, but he also performed every move full of power. However, things would develop in the opposite direction when they became extreme. Because his strength was far beyond the normal standard, his whole person looked very exaggerated. Especially when it came to the chest expansion exercise, his arms were like two sharp swords, savagely slashing in the air at the seniors on both sides, scaring them to back away again and again.

It was even more terrifying when he jumped. Yu Ran actively showed his amazing jumping ability to all the students in the school, as if lighting a fire at his feet could make him directly take off and charge into the solar system. Everyone was stunned by his momentum of wanting to reach the sky. When the music of “Dancing Youth” came to an end, all the students in the first year’s experimental class unanimously applauded their own Sports Committee member.

“Ai, I didn’t do the Silent Writing in the fucking Language class yesterday. Do you think Teacher Wang—”

Cui He was in the middle of speaking when she heard Chu Mian coughing violently, and when she looked up, she saw the teenager slipping weakly from the chair. 

Cui He rushed over to support him, and asked with concern, “What’s wrong? Where do you feel uncomfortable?”

“It’s okay… it’s just a cataplectic attack,” Chu Mian’s voice trembled a little and his brows were furrowed.

“Ah? Why did you suddenly have a cataplectic attack?” Cui He tensed up. She knew more or less about Chu Mian’s illness. Generally, his limbs would soften when he was emotional. Until just now, she obviously saw that he was in a quite stable state…

Cui He followed his gaze suspiciously and looked out the window, only to find that Yu Ran was doing inter-class exercises like crazy on the stage. 

“…”

Cui He understood — Chu Mian was simply laughing till he fell just now!

“Yu Ran, this idiot hahahahaha…” Cui He didn’t hold back her laughter, and then she was sternly asked by Chu Mian to not make a sound.

“Don’t infect me.” Chu Mian frowned and bit his lower lip hard. “I don’t want to laugh with you…” 

“Okay, okay, okay.” Cui He covered her face. “You’re too fucking miserable.”

As soon as he wanted to laugh, Chu Mian would feel weak and had to rest for a few minutes to ease his emotions.

After that, he forcibly resisted the thought of reminiscing about Yu Ran’s movements in the inter-class exercises, and raised his pen to concentrate on his studies. When the big break was over and the students slowly returned to the classroom, Chu Mian put on earplugs and refused to listen to Yu Ran’s words.

For a short period of time, he did not even want to see this person named Yu Ran. 

At lunch, taking advantage of Chu Mian going to the separate window to pick up the meal alone, Cui He quickly sat down and laughed at Yu Ran. Under her leadership, Fang Zhao and Ye Xi also couldn’t help but laugh.

“No, do you know what is the funniest thing?” Cui He smiled until tears seeped out from the corners of her eye. “Damn, I heard Chu Mian coughing, and when I raised my head, he fell straight down.”

Yu Ran was originally laughing with them too but when Cui He said this, the corners of his mouth slowly tightened.

“Then it’s hard for Chu Mian, right?” He said. 

After thinking about it for a while, Yu Ran felt that Chu Mian endured a lot of hardship every day. If there was anything funny, his first reaction was not to laugh, but to endure it first. If he wanted to release his emotions like others, he had to go through the troubles of becoming weak and falling down. He didn’t know how much Chu Mian usually endured the things that were worthy to be laughed to his heart’s content.

Yu Ran then understood why Chu Mian always carried the band-aids with him.

Cui He also gradually put away her smile. “Mn, but he’s almost all used to it.”

Yu Ran didn’t think it was a good thing to learn to get used to pain at a young age. He turned his face and quietly stared at Chu Mian’s profile with a dumbfounded expression on his face. 

In the next few days, Ye Xi stayed up late tinkering with the script and finally got out the first draft of “Sleeping Beauty”. This was her first time writing and she lacked experience, so she looked for the two leading actors in her spare time to discuss it.

The location was in Chu Mian’s lounge, but it was Yu Ran who was lying on the bed.

“Don’t worry about the group performance. It’s just that the script has to be handed in early, so you guys see what else needs to be revised.”

Ye Xi handed Chu Mian a few sheets of A4 size paper, and wanted to give the other copy to Yu Ran, but the other party refused: “I’m too lazy to read it, you can give them all to Chu Mian.” 

Chu Mian looked at the role setting. “Why is the princess still a female?”

“Huh?” Ye Xi was embarrassed, “I thought you would cross-dress…”

“I never said I’d do that, did I?” Chu Mian said, “I thought you would directly change the princess to male.”

Ye Xi looked embarrassed and smiled guiltily. 

“Oh, males and females are the same!” Yu Ran lay on the bed and raised his arms. “It doesn’t matter if it’s a female’s role, it’s just asking you to wear a skirt.”

As soon as the word “skirt” was uttered, Chu Mian directly gripped the page and asked Yu Ran, “Would you like to wear it?”

“No, but I would love to see you wear it.”

Yu Ran smiled, showing his white teeth, and Chu Mian immediately smashed several pages of paper on his face. 

Ye Xi lowered her head and continued: “Also, I changed the setting of the prince kissing the princess to ‘the prince awakens the princess with petals’. Do you think it’s okay?”

The teenagers nodded unanimously. As long as they didn’t have to kiss, the princess could wake up however she wanted.

“Then you don’t need to worry about the other things. I’ll find a way for the props. We’ll rehearse when you remember the lines.” Ye Xi glanced at the time and got up. “I’ll go to hand over the script to the teacher.”

Once she left, the lounge fell into silence. 

Yu Ran lay on the bed and whispered “Chu Mian.”

“Hmm?”

“Little princess.”

“Get lost.” 

“Chu Mian, Chu Mian.”

“Hmm”

Yu Ran looked at the ceiling and asked, “Have you had your first kiss?”

“…” Chu Mian looked like he wanted to speak but stopped. 

His face was a little hot. “What does it have to do with you?”

Yu Ran turned his head to look at him. “My brother is only thirteen years old and he’s already had his first kiss. What about you?”

Chu Mian turned his face away, avoiding Yu Ran’s gaze.

He hadn’t had his first kiss yet, but Chu Mian didn’t want to tell Yu Ran. In this age, when even junior high school students were beginning to fall in love, if you still hadn’t had your first kiss before you became an adult, it seemed as if you were behind the trend. Chu Mian didn’t think it was shameful, but in front of Yu Ran, such topics became inexplicably difficult to talk about. 

Seeing that Chu Mian ignored him, Yu Ran took the initiative to answer: “I haven’t had my first kiss yet.”

Chu Mian glanced at him impatiently, and said, “I’m not interested in knowing.”

Yu Ran chuckled twice, and couldn’t help teasing Chu Mian by calling him “little princess”, and then he was dragged to the ground by his collar.

The bell rang at the end of the lunch break, and Yu Ran stretched himself out and walked towards the door, urging Chu Mian in passing: “Let’s go back to class, my little princess.” 

As soon as the voice fell, both of them paused.

Yu Ran only felt that it was a bit strange for him to blurt out the word “my”, but after thinking about it, he didn’t find what exactly was wrong, so he opened the door and went out indifferently.

But Chu Mian’s brain suddenly went blank. Just now, his heart had obviously jerked a little. He thought that he was going to have a cataplectic attack, so he hurriedly held on to the corner of the table.

But after waiting for a while, nothing happened to his body, and he was still standing safely. 

…It was just that his cheeks were getting hotter and hotter, making him feel a little light-headed.