chapter 12

A cigarette hung from Kou Chen’s lips as he squatted in the corridor of the ghost building’s third floor, earphones stuffed in his ears; he’d originally wanted to squat in the first floor, or even the second, but he was afraid that if He Hua came over and saw someone there she’d run.

That’s why he chose the third floor, the third floor was also pretty good, it gave a wider field of vision, and made one seem more imposing too, when one stood at the top of the highest mountain, all the ghosts in the encompassing view were small*.

[*tl note: part of a poem, but instead of ghosts the original uses ‘mountains’]

The only thing was that the wind was too fucking big.

Kou Chen ran the suave image of him landing steadily on the first floor’s soil after a single-handed flip off the railing in his mind once through, then put the cigarette he’d just had two smokes of out by stepping onto it.

The pack of smokes had been stuffed into his bag the previous semester, and after having been left alone for two months, had already lost their souls, with the wind a series of slaps into his face right now, the two mouthfuls he’d had he hadn’t even tasted a thing.

He usually didn’t really smoke, typically it was for complementing the mood.

At this time it was too boring.

It was well into the night and while others had already gone to have supper, he was alone like a dumbass squatting and waiting for a girl he didn’t even know.

He’d actually wanted to get Huo Ran to come, watching him be all jumpy like he’d fallen into a ghost nest, could also be good for relieving boredom.

But if Huo Ran came, Jiang Lei would definitely follow, then also get Xu ZhiFan to come, with the four of them planted here, a table of mah-jong, if He Hua came over she’d just float away directly.

His phone vibrated, and taking it out, he saw that someone had sent him a friend request.

– Huo Ran1

Kou Chen was a little taken aback, and after he accepted, he took a look at Huo Ran’s display picture, it was of a hand reaching out towards the sun, with sunlight passing through the gaps between the fingers.

It’d been taken rather artistically, if it weren’t for having seen that around the wrist there was a… mosquito-repelling bracelet, he’d have thought this was a picture Huo Ran had taken from somewhere.

He hadn’t noticed previously, but Huo Ran’s fingers were pretty long, you could tell that they were thin yet had strength, and just based on the appearance of his hand, he didn’t seem like someone that would get knocked down in a jiffy.

– Are you still at the ghost building

Huo Ran had sent a message over.

– Mn

– Nothing’s up, right? Has He Hua arrived yet

– Not yet, don’t know if she’ll come today

– Okay, if anything comes up say something

Kou Chen felt that Huo Ran was pretty loyal, the reason he was able to put up with his dislike to ask, was undoubtedly because this conflict with the third years was one they’d cemented together.

YOU’LL ALSO LIKE

SAYE [Run Freely] by saehan01

SAYE [Run Freely]

158K

9.5K

Title: 《撒野》SAYE Author: 巫哲 Wu Zhe Chapter: 145 + 5 extras Status: Complete Main: 蔣丞 Jiang Cheng – 顧飛Gu Fei Secondary characters: It doesn’t matter, you guys won’t rememb…

Lie Huo Jiao Chou/烈火浇愁 by priest (English Translation) by VermilionBird_Trans

Lie Huo Jiao Chou/烈火浇愁 by priest (English Tr…

137K

5.5K

❝At the crest of the lava, there are endlessly burning embers . ❞ SYNOPSIS: Sheng Lingyuan has long been dead since he jumped into the fiery abyss of Chiyuan, that is, u…

Chasing You and I’m Home(追声与循途) by 庸责己 by GPStranslations

Chasing You and I’m Home(追声与循途) by 庸责己

3.3K

206

追声与循途/Chasing You and I’m Home is now updating here! Summary: Mu Kang thought that he would waste his life like he already had, making a living by writing music for TV…

古董下山 (ENGLISH: Old Fogey Goes Down The Mountain) by MaybeCabbage

古董下山 (ENGLISH: Old Fogey Goes Down The Mount…

29.7K

1.2K

We are fan translators! Please be nice in comments for the community 🙂 Original Author: 缘何故 Yuán hégù In the great and mighty and advanced 21st century, an old fogey w…

The Bandit’s Strategy by fish_from_murderland

The Bandit’s Strategy

3.9K

88

English translation of the BL novel by Yu Xiao Lan Summary Wen Liunian is Cangmang City’s newly appointed prefect. The common people banged on their gongs and drums, th…

Way to Charm Your Rival (HIATUS) by LazyAntTL

Way to Charm Your Rival (HIATUS)

2.6K

74

Title: Way to Charm Your Rival (魅惑情敌的方法) Author: puca丁 Status: Completed Length: 48 Chapters Translator: LazyAnt Raw: http://www.jjwxc.net/onebook.php?novelid=1243521 Su…

through the strait gates(过门/Guomen)//work by priest(CN)//BL by bleachedfish

through the strait gates(过门/Guomen)//work by…

29.7K

1.1K

Translated work//all rights belong to the author//If you are the original author and you wish for this to be taken down, please message me right away. Author: Priest, su…

Kou Chen held his phone up to take a picture of the lower floor, this phone was alright for taking pictures of scenery at night, they still came out pretty clearly.

– Nothing will come up probably, I’m currently sight-seeing, do you want to see how the ghost building looks in the middle of the night

Huo Ran doesn’t reply.

– This one looks alright, I managed to capture some texture

This message has been sent out, but was rejected by the other party.

“Fuck?” he was momentarily at a loss, Huo Ran had blacklisted him.3

– Huo Ran you fucking let me out

This message has been sent out, but was rejected by the other party.

Isn’t this lack in guts a bit too much…

Soon after his phone started vibrating, it was an unsaved number, but he could pretty much guess that this was likely to be Huo Ran.

He picks the call up smiling, but he hadn’t even finished his ‘hello’, when Huo Ran’s voice comes through right off the bat: “Fuck you dumbass!”

Without waiting for him to speak, Huo Ran had already finished cursing him out then hung up.

“Hello!” Kou Chen stares at his phone.

Just as he’d thought to call him back, another call from Huo Ran came in, and after he’d picked up yet again didn’t get the chance to open his mouth to speak, immediately getting shouted at: “You can fucking go camping by yourself!”

“Don’t don’t don’t! Huo Ran! Huo Ran!” he hurriedly gave a series of consecutive low shouts before Huo Ran hung up again, “Uncle! Daddy! Don’t hang up!”1

Huo Ran didn’t hang up, but also didn’t speak.

“I hadn’t even sent it yet! Just told you beforehand,” Kou Chen says.

“If you’d dared to send it directly I’d have already beaten you to death by now!” Huo Ran says.

“Isn’t this me not having sent it out yet!” Kou Chen says, “Don’t blacklist me okay, I’m warning you, add me back, otherwise when I get back later I’ll smash your dorm door.”

“…I’m hanging up,” Huo Ran says.

“Already?” Kou Chen says, “Are you off to do something?”

“To reinforce the door a bit,” Huo Ran says.2

Kou Chen starts cracking up, and just as he was thinking to work his legs a little, he suddenly saw a grey figure; if it weren’t for the moonlight being rather good tonight, he’d probably have missed it.

“She’s here, I saw her,” Kou Chen says.

“Mn,” Huo Ran responds, then hangs up.

As Kou Chen made his way down the stairs, He Hua was already carrying a pile of dead grass, and had picked a few dry tree branches up, all from the empty space in the back, with this level of familiarity she might well be able to go up against Huo Ran in the wilderness, and He Hua wasn’t afraid of ghosts.

In order to not give her a fright, after Kou Chen got down the stairs he scraped his shoes against the floor, producing sounds.

By the time he’d made his way over He Hua was already no longer where she was, but Kou Chen could see that she was hiding in the shadow of the corner.

“I’m alone,” Kou Chen says as he takes his lighter out, “Where’s the sausage?”

He Hua doesn’t answer, and a moment passed before she walks out of the corner, handing one stick of sausage over to him.

“Why do you roast sausages every time?” Kou Chen asks, “Can’t you buy anything else?”

He Hua hesitates almost half a day before softly replying: “This one’s delicious.”

“…Oh,” Kou Chen glances at her, “Your mentality’s still alright huh, getting bullied to the point of having to hide out here to eat this one meal every day, but still having the mood to pick food that you like.”

He Hua smiles a little, not saying anything, squatting down and taking a tree branch to slowly stick the sausage onto it.

“Does Li JiaYing know you eat here?” Kou Chen asks.

“She’s a non-residing student,” He Hua’s voice was still very quiet, “After night self-study she goes home.”

“Oh,” Kou Chen was a little taken aback, “She actually goes to night self-study?”

“Her grades are very good,” He Hua says.

“What crap use does having good grades have,” Kou Chen thinks a bit, “How about you go to the cafeteria tomorrow, sit at our table, in the future…”

“It’s alright,” He Hua’s head is lowered, “Thank you all.”

Kou Chen was shocked: “Are you addicted to getting bullied?”

“I don’t wish for anyone to get in trouble because of me,” He Hua says, “Thank you.”

This conversation was completely different from what Kou Chen had imagined, half a day and he still couldn’t find any way to continue where he’d left off.

He Hua also didn’t say anything else, after the sausage was done roasting, she took a piece of bread out from her pocket, slowly eating a bite of bread after each bite of sausage.

Huo Ran was laying on his bed, he chatted a bit with his mother, then put his phone down, hanging off the edge of the bed to look downwards.

In the lower bunk it was unknown whether Hu Yi who had his head and face obscured was asleep or awake, and opposite them Xu ZhiFan and Jiang Lei’s phones were still lit, the looks on both their faces that were lit up by the screens were grave and serious, at a glance you could tell that they were gaming.

“Has there been any movement from the opposite dorm?” Xu ZhiFan asks as he games.

“Nope,” Huo Ran says.

“They wouldn’t have gone over there to corner Kou Chen after coming back from the hospital would they?” Jiang Lei suddenly pauses the game in his hands, looking like he was in high spirits and thinking of going out to start a fight with someone right this instant.

“Other than the few of us,” Xu ZhiFan sends a kick at the upper bunk, “Who else knows Kou Chen’s gone to the ghost building, corner my ass, that said even if someone does corner him, didn’t you already say, 1 v 4 no shit happened to him.”

Huo Ran’s phone chimed, it was a message.

He takes his phone over to have a look.

– Gonna smash your door!1

“Who’s that? A message?” Jiang Lei asks, “Isn’t your message tone a kitty cry?”1

“Message, from Kou Chen,” Huo Ran says, “I blacklisted him.”

“Blacklisting after cursing him out,” Jiang Lei was beside himself with laughter, “Specially running opposite to get his number, and after adding cursing him out then blacklisting, what did he send you?”

“He was planning to take pictures of the ghost building then send them to me, fuck,” Huo Ran clicks on his blacklist, this was actually the first time he was taking someone off the list, and it was only then that he realised he actually had quite a number of people blacklisted.

The elementary school classmate that sold facial masks, the cousin that showed her kid off* every day that lamented even when the kid pooped a lump of shit as though she’d given birth to some mythical creature, the female middle school classmate that always spammed* selfies that were taken from the same angle with the same expression making the nine consecutive photographs seem like a set of stamps, and also the cousin that he’d almost gotten into a fist-fight with over the new year…

[*tl note 1. the term used 晒娃 (sunning dolls [babies]) is apparently some internet phenomena in which parents upload content of their kids excessively on sns. i used ‘lament’ to describe but ‘getting sentimental over’ would be a valid alternative

tl note 2. i used ‘spammed’ but the term used would be accurately be ‘refresh’ as in ‘refreshing (sns, weibo in particular) feed’, it’s a term that seems to be kind of specific to china’s internet culture]

He let Kou Chen out from the blacklist, but before he had time to send a message over, Kou Chen’s message had already come in, and there were two of them.

The first one was a picture.

“This bastard!” Huo Ran swore, tossing his phone onto Xu ZhiFan’s bed opposite, “Help me delete the picture of the ghost building Kou Chen sent me.”

Xu ZhiFan heaved a sigh, putting his game down and taking his phone up, swiping a couple of times, before suddenly starting to laugh and not being able to stop.

“What’s wrong? Is it not a ghost picture?” Huo Ran was a little baffled.

“It’s not,” Xu ZhiFan tosses the phone back while laughing, “Take a look yourself, seems like he’s back, it was probably taken in the corridor.”

Huo Ran takes the phone over, and at first glance he saw Kou Chen’s face.

His expression was extremely vicious, his eyes glaring and his teeth bared, those who didn’t know would’ve thought he had dislocated his pinky again.

Beneath it was one more message.

– Fuck your uncle Laozi’s sent this picture 8 times already!

Huo Ran hadn’t wanted to laugh, he wasn’t done being angry, but at this he really couldn’t hold it in, laughing half a day, Jiang Lei then jumped down from his bed to take the phone over and also ended up in a fit of laughter, after he’d finished he then remembered and said: “This is him in the corridor isn’t it? He’s back?”

“I’ll go ask,” Huo Ran got down from his bed, at this time he couldn’t fall asleep anyways.

Opposite there was still someone talking, not just opposite, but along the corridor behind all the doors there were still people talking, lights out didn’t seem to affect everyone much.

Just as Huo Ran was about to knock on the door, Kou Chen’s voice came from his left: “Looking for me?”

He turned his head with a start, and saw Kou Chen who was leaning on the window at the end of the corridor.

“You didn’t go back to the dorm?” Huo Ran walks over.

“Came out again,” Kou Chen says, “Guo ZiJian’s got the runs, that sort of movement, even separated by a door you can hear loud and clear.”

“How did things go over at the ghost building?” Huo Ran asks, “He Hua went to roast sausages again?”

“Mn,” Kou Chen nods, “2 sausages 1 bread, went on her way after she’d had her fill.”

“…She didn’t say anything else?” Huo Ran was temporarily at a loss.

Kou Chen thought a little: “It’s not that she didn’t say anything exactly, but she meant to leave her alone*, says she doesn’t want anyone getting in trouble because of her.”

[*tl note: phrase used has a few other meanings: to ‘not manage’ someone, to ‘not care about’ someone, to ‘not bother with’ someone]

Huo Ran doesn’t say anything, he could feel that Kou Chen was a little depressed, and honestly speaking, he also couldn’t quite understand how He Hua thought.

“Some people just have personalities like that I guess,” Kou Chen sighs, “Afraid of everything, yet not afraid of anything, afraid that Li JiaYing would keep coming at us endlessly and not let us off, afraid that we’d go to the ghost building again to fight it out, afraid that people would start paying attention to her because of this issue, afraid of people’s gazes, but she’s also not afraid she won’t have food to eat, not afraid to stay in the ghost building by herself at night, and also not afraid of Li JiaYing’s scolding and kicking… in any case I’m unable to understand.”

“You’re unable to understand, that’s why you also won’t tolerate others bullying you,” Huo Ran says, “Not that anyone would bully you though.”

“Who says that?” Kou Chen looks at him, “Somebody right after adding me as a friend blacklisted me, and even fucking called to curse me out, then after cursing me out he hung up without giving me the chance to say anything back, I’ve been bullied terribly mind you!”

For a moment Huo Ran had nothing to say in reply.

“Never thought you’d be scared of ghosts to this extent though,” Kou Chen thinks for a bit then suddenly starts laughing, looking extremely pleased, “Can’t even look at pictures?”

“It’s pictures that suddenly appear,” Huo Ran tries his best to control his rage, “If it’s a person they’d get a fright okay.”

“Then they’re not appearing suddenly now,” Kou Chen unlocks his phone, “Are you looking?”

“Not looking,” Huo Ran says.

“Fine then,” Kou Chen looked to be a little disappointed.

“I’m going back to sleep,” Huo Ran turns to walk towards the dorm, after walking two steps he stops and turns back: “Then after this…”

“After this should be us going camping already,” Kou Chen says.

“I’m talking about He Hua, are you still gonna interfere?” Huo Ran sighs.

“How do I still interfere, she’s already rejected,” Kou Chen says, “If I insist on interfering, she might think I have ulterior motives towards her.”

“Ah,” Huo Ran also felt there was no other way.

“But,” Kou Chen stretches, backhandedly rubbing his back as he walks over to him slowly, “I could bully someone else a little.”

“What?” Huo Ran didn’t get it.

“Some people if they have the chance should go to class,” Kou Chen sticks his hand into his pocket, his walk radiating the aura of a roaming swordsman*, “To learn what is ‘do not do onto others what you wouldn’t have others do onto you’!”

[*tl note: the phrase ‘roaming swordsman’ isn’t accurate but isn’t that important so it doesn’t matter. according to an answer on zhihu this aura’s been likened to ‘walking on the streets without an umbrella on a rainy day’, as in, thinking you look cool but others think you look like a dumbass]

Huo Ran looks at him.

“That’s how it’s said isn’t it,” Kou Chen’s head doesn’t even turn back as he continues walking forward, probably scared that turning back would affect the effectiveness of the scene.

“…Yes,” Huo Ran answers.

Those third years didn’t come looking for trouble the next day, when they’d bumped into them in the cafeteria in the afternoon, Huo Ran saw that one of them had a patch of gauze stuck onto his head, and another had a bit of a limp when he walked.

And there were two others that looked like they hadn’t been injured, who maintained eye contact with Kou Chen for three seconds.

However there wasn’t the smell of gunpowder, or rather, Kou Chen didn’t have the smell of gunpowder.

“Braised pork!” while they were still watching each other, he suddenly hollered, “Chuan-ge help me get a portion of braised pork!”

Not mentioning those two who were currently tightly wound up and ready for action, even Huo Ran who had been standing behind him almost leapt up in fright.

“Got it!” Xu Chuan’s answer travelled over from the front, “There’s also chicken drumsticks! Do you want some!”

“Want——” Kou Chen shouts.

Not waiting for the few of them to return to their senses, with a tilt of his shoulders, he squeezes through from between the two people, and following that Huo Ran sees one of them stumbling a step back after getting bumped into, then sharply turn his head to stare at the back of Kou Chen’s head, but didn’t dare to make any moves.

Solid internal force*.

[*tl note: think wu/xianxia cultivators]

When Huo Ran realises that such a phrase had flashed in his mind, the notion he had to follow after Kou Chen to get a portion of braised pork instantly vanished, and he swiftly turns to walk over to the other side.

As long as I don’t go in the same direction as Kou Chen, peculiar trains of thought won’t be able to catch up to me.

When it was time to eat, Kou Chen and the guys still ended up sitting opposite Huo Ran.

These few days, Huo Ran felt that he’d already been forcefully integrated into the ranks of Humanities Class 1 Tyrants by Kou Chen, and had become a member of the 7-man Overlord Group.

Meals, in-between class physical exercise, self-study, the few of them were almost always together.

He felt worry for his own image.

Wei ChaoRen looks around: “Ai, has there been an effect already, He Hua hasn’t come to eat, but at least she won’t have to stare at a plate of food unable to eat.”

“Who knows,” Kou Chen says, and starts digging into his braised pork.

Huo Ran didn’t know when Kou Chen was going to start giving people his ‘do not do onto others what you wouldn’t have others do onto you’ classes, but in any case in the good few days after, He Hua never once appeared in the cafeteria, and there were no movements whatsoever from those third years.

Perhaps it was the long National Day break that was coming up that had everyone’s attention redirected, all excitedly and busily thinking about how they should let loose over those few days.

“Going with a classmate?” Mom was eating persimmons, “Aren’t you most unwilling to take classmates trekking?”

“Couldn’t shake this one off,” Huo Ran was a little glum, sitting on the floor looking at maps.

Where he was planning to go to this time was a canyon, there was a river, and the scenery was very nice, he’d been there before, the main river course wasn’t very difficult, so this time he wanted to go along the tributary, since he’d be able to see waterfalls, and if he could keep going up to the innermost part of the mountains, he could even find a village to stay at overnight, that village wasn’t vehicle-friendly, so there weren’t many people who went in.

Furthermore their free-range chickens were extremely delicious, Huo Ran had been wanting to go and eat.

But if he had to bring noob Kou Chen and noob Kou Xiao as well as noob Old Yang, his itinerary might have to be changed, even if he didn’t change it, there was also the possibility that after only a third of the journey, the team couldn’t be moved anymore.

“Ai,” he heaved a sigh.

“With great power comes great responsibility huh,” Mom also sighs next to him.

“Can this be withstood*?” Huo Ran gives Mom a glance.

“It can’t,” Mom starts laughing, “Then may I be close* to my precious son?”

[*tl note: she makes a pun on the word 挨, which means ‘withstand the burden’ (of the responsibility) in huo ran’s qtn (i’m not completely sure abt this though), 挨 usually means ‘to be next to (something)’, which is what she’s asking. also she calls him ‘baobei (son)’, huo mama is so cute]1

Huo Ran doesn’t say anything, persisting on the floor for a few seconds, but ends up heaving a sigh under his mother’s watchful gaze, getting up to sit beside her.

“Which classmate is this?” Mom hugs his shoulder.

“Have you washed your hands? You just ate a handful of persimmons,” Huo Ran asks.

“Which classmate!” Mom gives a shout.

“Ah——” Huo Ran also gives a shout in frustration, “It’s not like you know him, Kou Chen, do you know?”

“I know though,” Mom says, “Your classmate.”1

“…I’m annoyed to death,” Huo Ran grabs a wet tissue and stuffs it into Mom’s hand, “I don’t just have to bring him, but also his sister, and his sister’s boyfriend.”

“Look at you, you can’t get out of it anyways, what’s the point of getting angry,” Mom wipes her hand.

Huo Ran doesn’t say anything, and continues looking at the maps on the floor.

His phone then started ringing, and when he took it over to have a look, it was actually Kou Chen.

“At home?” the call was just answered, and Kou Chen’s cheerful voice came through.

“Mn,” Huo Ran responds, although just a second before he was still grumpy over having to bring Kou Chen along, but hearing Kou Chen’s voice, he wasn’t actually as irritable as he thought he was.

“Come out for a bit then,” Kou Chen says, “To buy things.”

“Buy what?” Huo Ran was stunned.

“Equipment of course, didn’t you make a list,” Kou Chen says.

“Then just buy according to the list!” Huo Ran was speechless, “Why else did I make you the list?”

“I don’t know how to buy,” Kou Chen’s reason was extremely crude.

Huo Ran was unable to speak.

“I’m down the stairs of your house actually,” Kou Chen says, “Quickly, if you don’t come down I’m going up to knock on your door.”

“Down the stairs of my house?” Huo Ran stands up in shock, “How do you know where my house is?”

“I asked Xu ZhiFan,” Kou Chen says, “Come on down, after we’re done buying I’ll treat you to food.”2

When Huo Ran walked out of the lift his feelings were pretty conflicted.

Outside the building a Land Rover was parked, with Kou Chen leaning on the hood of the car and looking this way.

Not in uniform, in a simple T-shirt and trousers, at first glance Huo Ran almost didn’t recognise that this was Kou Chen.

He was even wearing a pair of shades, and seeing him walk over, he pulls the sunglasses down to the tip of his nose, sending a smile his way.2

Huo Ran couldn’t help but help him add a voiced line internally.

Look, am I flashy or not!

“He’s here,” Kou Chen knocks on the car window, then walks over to his side, grabbing his shoulders in a hug, “Let’s go, where to buy, you give us the directions.”

Huo Ran was just thinking of shaking his arm off, when the window by the shotgun seat got rolled down, and Kou Xiao stuck her head out, sending him a smile: “Hi, Lil’ Cutie.”2