CH 28

Translation checker: Rin

Editor: Junyans

Yu Ran’s train of thought was always inconsistent with ordinary people. Every time he tried to act smart and said something strange, Chu Mian had to consume a lot of patience to understand what he wanted to express. 

For example, the word “warmer” he had said.

Chu Mian subconsciously recalled that the clothes he had recently worn were not very thick, so he wouldn’t be too warm than others, right? Then this should not be what Yu Ran was actually trying to say.

So, Chu Mian carefully observed Yu Ran’s expression again and found that the other party had his face raised. His eyes were completely focused on him, without any trace of deviation. This unreserved direct gaze was too easy to make others feel oppressed, and Chu Mian dodged his gaze in less than three seconds.

“It has nothing to do with me.” Chu Mian turned around, trying to avoid being stared closely at by Yu Ran again. “If you feel cold, you should wear more clothes.” 

Yu Ran mused: “Recently, I feel like…there is a connection between the two of us.”

Chu Mian was silent.

Yu Ran went on to say, “Why don’t we both drop blood to recognize if we are relatives?”

Chu Mian pushed Yu Ran’s head with his palm, disrupting his impractical thoughts. “Let’s hurry up and go shopping, I’ve to go home for dinner.”

Yu Ran followed him with a smile. “Chu Mian, to tell you the truth, in fact, you’re my long-lost son. As a father, whenever I see you, my heart feels very warm…”

Chu Mian stretched out his legs directly, which made Yu Ran almost trip to the ground.

Yu Ran staggered and it was as if this gave him inspiration again. He grabbed Chu Mian and said, “I’ll tell you a story.”

Chu Mian didn’t respond. 

“Once upon a time, there was a girl who was cursed. She could only say one word a year. In order to confess to the boy she liked, she hadn’t spoken for three years…”

Halfway through speaking, Yu Ran suddenly started to laugh out loud and his shoulders kept shaking. “And, and then, she finally waited until the day of her confession. She excitedly ran out of her house, only to trip over the door frame… She yelled, “Oh, fuck me’. Hahahahahaha…”

Chu Mian was originally indifferent, but when he turned his head to see Yu Ran laughing so hard he couldn’t breathe, the corners of his lips couldn’t help but raise. He commented: “Boring.”

The two entered a shop near the Academy of Fine Arts and chose a set of acrylic paints on the recommendation of the shop owner. Yu Ran did not rush to check out, but went to other shelves to look at the color pencils and sketchbooks. 

There were many painting tools in exquisite packaging in the shop. Chu Mian swept a glance and felt that they were very suitable as gifts.

He parted his lips slightly and almost called out Yu Ran to ask when his birthday was, but then he thought that Yu Ran hadn’t asked him this question before, so if he took the initiative to inquire now, wouldn’t it appear very much like he was showing Yu Ran too much attention?

After thinking for a while, Chu Mian decided not to ask.

“Let’s go.” Yu Ran chose what to buy and walked to the cashier. 

Chu Mian asked, “Are you only buying these?”

“En, I still have pens and stuff at home, but I’ve run out of sketchbooks.”

Chu Mian glanced at the sketchbook, it was quite thick. It was clear that Yu Ran usually practiced a lot.

He asked curiously, “What do you draw? Geometric blocks?” 

“No, just ordinary colored pencil drawing, whatever I want to draw.” Yu Ran took the bag and opened the store door. “Don’t you need to prepare a portfolio or something for art exam interviews? I’m doing it earlier, so it’ll look like I’ve done a lot.”

Chu Mian wanted to see what Yu Ran’s drawings looked like, but he was reluctant to show his interest in Yu Ran, so he said, “My aunt is now an artist. Would you like her to see it for you?”

“Lbk klii P rtbk?”

“Dglcu sbeg rxfamtybbx klat sbe abwbggbk, jcv P mjc tfiq sbe ulnf la ab tfg.” 

“Xgfja!” Te Ejc kjr rb tjqqs atja tf ugjyyfv Jte Zljc’r jgw jcv ijeutfv “tftf” j ofk alwfr. “Ofa’r ub, P’ii agfja sbe ab j qlcfjqqif qlf.”

Ktflg tberfr kfgf bc vloofgfca gbeafr, rb atfs rjlv ubbvysf ktfc atfs jgglnfv ja atf rajalbc.

The pineapple pie in Chu Mian’s hands was still warm. But he didn’t like eating in public, so he held it in his hands in the subway all the way home.

“Why did you think of eating this kind of food today?” Chu Heng felt it was strange when she saw it. “You’re back so late. Did you have a craving to eat outside?” 

Chu Mian shook his head and sat down for dinner in silence. After a while, he still told Chu Heng: “I just went shopping with my classmate.”

Chu Heng was surprised but also very relieved. She marveled over how her nephew was finally getting along with his peers. However, she didn’t ask any more questions, just secretly remembered the small changes in Chu Mian every day, such as eating more snacks, playing games more often on weekends, and especially taking pictures of Fiona. Although his focus of life was still his studies, he was also more and more willing to allocate his time to entertainment. He didn’t look so gloomy anymore.

After Chu Mian finished his meal, he went to his room to read a novel. The news of the Nobel Prize in Literature was all over the news a while ago, and he guessed that the Language Reading of the midterm exam might test Mo Yan’s essay, so he took the time to read it now to facilitate the analysis of the central idea at that time.

After reading a short story, it was already half past nine. He habitually picked up his phone, but found no unread messages. 

For several days in a row, Chu Mian would receive Yu Ran’s text messages at night. There would be no serious content, only pure nonsense. They would chat until 10:30 in the night. Chu Mian had just gotten used to it, but today’s inbox was empty, so he inevitably felt like something was missing.

He didn’t dwell much on it. He clicked into the QQ and saw that Yu Ran was online. Yu Ran had also posted a few screenshots of the anime “Gintama” and had discussed it with Ye Xi. Scrolling down furthermore, he saw the other party showing off his score on “Temple Run”, and brazenly claiming to be the toughest man in the class. Yu Ran had reposted at least seven or eight posts in one night, had shared two songs, and was obviously not doing his homework.

You’re very idle, aren’t you?

Chu Mian didn’t care about not receiving any messages at first, but then he discovered the Moments that Yu Ran had shared in the middle of the night last night— 

[The Wolf is Hiding Next to the Dog]: Hahahahaha! I finally used up this month’s text message package!!!

Finally. Used. Up.

Chu Mian frowned, feeling a little off-balance at heart.

He was so busy studying every day, but he was still willing to squeeze some time to reply to those shallow text messages. As a result, Yu Ran was only trying to find someone to accompany him to deal with the number of text messages. 

— No wonder every text message was full of nonsense.

After quickly scanning the inbox of the last few days, Chu Mian decisively chose to delete them.

He put his phone upside down and continued to concentrate on reading the novel.

A few minutes later, his phone vibrated. 

Yu Ran’s text message came belatedly: “What will you eat tomorrow morning? Are you going to the cafeteria?”

Chu Mian hurriedly returned a “no”.

Yu Ran: “Please come! I need to finish my homework.”

Right now, Chu Mian was feeling hostile towards Yu Ran, and the way Yu Ran spoke, as if it was his natural right to copy his homework, made Chu Mian even more annoyed, so he asked back directly: “Why can’t you finish it all today?” 

Yu Ran: “I just want to copy yours.”

“No, I won’t give it to you,” Chu Mian replied immediately, and decided not to lend him homework anymore, “You find someone else to borrow it from.”

Yu Ran: “Okay. Then remember to come for breakfast tomorrow.”

“I said I won’t go.” 

After sending this sentence, Chu Mian turned the phone to silent mode. When looking down at the book, he could see that the screen was on from time to time from his peripheral vision, but he didn’t care about it. When he finished reading the book and it was time to wash and sleep, he realized that there were 19 missed calls.

Soon, Yu Ran called for the twentieth time.

“Oh, you finally fucking picked it up, I thought you were asleep again.”

“What’s the matter?” 

“I think I still have more than a hundred minutes of voice pack not used up this month, I don’t want to waste it.”

He didn’t expect the other party to mention this to him so openly. Chu Mian couldn’t help but feel even more conflicted: “Why don’t you call someone else?”

“Why would I call someone else?” Yu Ran laughed on the phone. “I only want to talk to you at night.”

Chu Mian instantly felt like someone was clutching his chest, and his fingertips that were holding the phone suddenly began to heat up. His lips moved, but no sound came from them. He stood up from the chair and walked quickly to the bed to lie down. 

“Chu Mian, I’ve been particularly worried about the end of the world recently.” Yu Ran’s voice sounded worried. “When I look at the calendar getting closer and closer to December, I get so fucking scared. I feel like I can live one day at a time.”

Chu Mian’s expression eased a lot. “Weren’t you still thinking about preparing a portfolio for the art exam today?”

“I didn’t remember the end of the world at that time.” Yu Ran sighed. “Fuck, I’m only fifteen years old, I don’t want to die.”

Chu Mian’s breathing became heavier, and he asked him slowly, “Then when are you turning sixteen?” 

Yu Ran thought for a few seconds: “Next year.”

“Nonsense.” Chu Mian chuckled lightly. “I mean…the specific date.”

“Oh.” Yu Ran suddenly saw the light. “August 6th! The numbers are very auspicious, right?”

It turns out that this year’s birthday had passed. 

Chu Mian temporarily gave up the idea of giving him painting tools.

Yu Ran began to seriously discuss the topic of the end of the world again. For Chu Mian, it just went in one ear and out the other. He finally comforted him: “You’ll definitely survive.”

“Okay, I believe you,” Yu Ran said, “If we all live up to 2013 smoothly, it will prove that we can go to Beijing together smoothly after graduation.”

Chu Mian paused for a few seconds, and then let out a heavy “yeah”. 

In fact, he hadn’t expected Yu Ran to pay much attention to the so-called promise. Not to mention whether they would remember their current wishes three years later, Chu Mian had even forgotten a lot of what had happened during the military training not long ago. The enthusiasm and emotion under the night sky at that time might gradually disappear with the peaceful life day after day.

Chu Mian had no doubt about this at first, but now he was more willing to believe that… Yu Ran should help him remember.

“Hey, I’m sleepy, I’ll go to sleep,” Yu Ran said that he was thirsty at the end, then he yawned and took the initiative to say goodbye.

The next morning, Chu Mian went outside with the class president to supervise the work of this week’s students-on-duty. Recently, it was the “Code of Conduct Week”, and health inspections had also been stepped up. Each class had to take turns to clean the fallen leaves in the school. 

Chu Mian was at the gate of the school, and in front of him were some second-year seniors, with an absolutely sloppy sweeping attitude. He knew one of them. It was Cai Hanchuan who had wanted to force Cui He to get intimate with him a while ago. His hair was cut short and he was a little bit more energetic.

Of course, Cai Hanchuan had noticed Chu Mian a long time ago. The two just had a brief glance at each other. But he immediately turned around as if nothing had happened, and then secretly cursed.

Cai Hanchuan had been crushed by a seemingly gentle-looking schoolboy and even humiliated in front of his ex-girlfriend. He was inevitably unconvinced, but what made him even more angry was that Chu Mian had hit his head against the wall several times, and to this day, his head still hurt faintly. He went to the hospital to get an X-ray which revealed that his head was fine. The doctor concluded that the reason he felt that his head was still aching was probably due to some psychological reasons.

“Fuck him.” Cai Hanchuan would never admit that he was afraid of this person. 

He swept the floor with his back turned to Chu Mian and piled the yellow leaves into a hill. At this time, he wanted to look back to see if Chu Mian had gone, but he noticed another nasty face coming in at the school gate.

Before Yu Ran’s legs entered the school, he shouted Chu Mian’s name loudly.

Cai Hanchuan rolled his eyes disdainfully and snorted coldly.

Cai Hanchuan knew about the relationship between these two people from his newly recognized younger brother. 

During the military training, a boy named Huang Feng from another school came to inquire who the “Flag-bearer” of Chengjun was. Cai Hanchuan went out to see and found out that the other party was there to make friends with him. Both of them had mixed in society in junior high school, and they had similar personalities and hit it off immediately.

And then one day after school started, Huang Feng said that he would take him to an interesting place to play, and Cai Hanchuan found out that it was a clubhouse. The rule of “No minors allowed” was null and void in front of Huang Feng. Allegedly, he was backed by someone so he dared to enter and leave at will. Cai Hanchuan thought that Huang Feng was a nice guy, so they simply started to call each other brothers.

The two of them usually smoked, drank and bragged casually, and naturally talked about their respective schools while chatting. Cai Hanchuan found that Huang Feng knew Yu Ran and also thought this person was an idiot.

But when Huang Feng suggested that they should settle scores with Yu Ran, Cai Hanchuan waved his hand and refused: “Forget it, it’s boring, I’m too lazy to pay attention to him.” 

Huang Feng didn’t say anything anymore, and then Cai Hanchuan casually said: “There’s a person in the first year of our senior high school who’s more difficult to deal with than Yu Ran.”

Of course, he didn’t elaborate on how powerful Chu Mian was. He only said, “Fuck, he looks like a girl, but he’s quite powerful.”

Although Cai Hanchuan’s description was concise, it was very precise. Huang Feng recalled it for a moment and said: “I seem to have seen him before. Is he the one who is inseparable from Yu Ran?”

“Yup.” 

“Oh…” Huang Feng took a sip of his drink and said lightly, “Isn’t that Yu Ran’s lover?”

“Huh?” Cai Hanchuan immediately sat up from the sofa, and his eyebrows were tightly knitted together. “Fuck, a man? As a lo-lover? Screw him. Is it true, it’s grossing me out.”

Huang Feng thought he was making a fuss: “You don’t know? Even I know that during military training, Yu Ran and his boyfriend hooked up in the woods in the middle of the night and were caught by the instructor at dawn.”

Cai Hanchuan immediately shuddered with nausea. 

“Brother, why don’t you look at it from this angle?” Huang Feng put down his glass and leaned forward. “Anyway, if you want to settle scores with Yu Ran’s lover, I’ll go with you, let’s fix that man. Yu Ran will definitely lose his temper. Since he’s not afraid of being beaten physically, I think we’ll have to abuse him mentally.”

Cai Hanchuan felt that Huang Feng had a point. The two discussed the date and chose this Wednesday’s Chengjun club activities period. At that time, the school director would be off work.

That day was today.

“Fuck’em.” Cai Hanchuan hadn’t expected to see these two people early this morning. “Disgusting dead faggots.” 

The dead leaves that had just been piled up a moment ago had already scattered, so he quickly started to sweep the ground again. But the sound of sweeping couldn’t cover the voices of the two people behind the school door. Feeling grossed out, Cai Hanchuan simply rubbed the ground with a broom, exerting all his strength.

“In order to buy you purple sweet potato buns, I even gave up the time to copy homework. Shouldn’t you kowtow to me and say thank you?” Yu Ran raised his face and said to Chu Mian, “Do you eat wontons? I didn’t add coriander, the one you said was delicious last time.”

“The morning self-study class is Physics, stop messing around,” Chu Mian told him, “Hurry back and write your homework after you finish eating.”

“No. Physics will be checked as soon as the class starts. Let’s switch our seats in the morning self-study class. That way, you can block me while I eat.” 

When the two of them were talking, corners of Cai Hanchuan’s mouth were almost reaching his chin, and his stomach was still sour. He was so disgusted that his features were twisted. He quietly glanced back to see if the pair of dead faggots had left, only to be met with the scene of Yu Ran smiling and stretching out his hand to stick the bag of purple sweet potato buns on Chu Mian’s face.

Fuck them.

Cai Hanchuan didn’t hold back, and started dry heaving loudly on the spot.