chapter 13

“…Hello Jiejie,” Huo Ran squeezes a smile out for Kou Xiao.

“Get on,” Kou Chen pulls the back door open, pushing him into the car.

The driver was probably Old Yang, Kou Xiao’s boyfriend.

“Huo Ran was it,” Old Yang turns to look back, “Thank you for your hard work, bringing this Noob Team out.”

Huo Ran smiles, not saying anything, he didn’t know what to say rather, since ‘noob team’ was a fact, you could tell from the way they picked equipment out, so even if he’d wanted to be polite about it he couldn’t.

But Old Yang hadn’t called him Lil Cutie, and this made him feel extremely touched, almost enough for him to want to spill the fact that Kou Chen had said that they were on the verge of a break up and was counting on this camping trip to save their relationship.

“Here,” Kou Chen had gotten on then sprawled out on the back seat, and was handing a piece of chocolate over to him.

Huo Ran took it over, hesitating for a moment over whether he should unwrap and eat it immediately, because he didn’t quite want to give Kou Chen face, but also felt that he couldn’t really not give Kou Chen face.

After two seconds, he unwrapped the chocolate then put the whole piece into his mouth.

Chocolate is really delicious.

Chocolate is delicious…

“XiaoHuo*,” Old Yang drives the car towards the district’s gate, “Which direction should we be headed?”

[*tl note: ‘little huo’ if anyone’s forgotten]

“Over to the city stadium,” Huo Ran chews the chocolate in his mouth, “The back door of the track and field hall, there’s parking along the road on the opposite.”

“Got it,” Old Yang nods his head.

“RanRan, Kou Chen said that you’ve been playing outdoors 10 plus years, that you’re an old donkey*,” Kou Xiao finally stops calling him Lil Cutie, though this new address gave him the impression that his mother was addressing him for a moment.

[*tl note: i couldn’t decide whether to just tl it as ‘veteran’ but this term is too funny…]

“How many years?” Huo Ran was stunned, looking at Kou Xiao.

“Te—n plus years,” Kou Xiao says.

Huo Ran turns to look at Kou Chen.

“Didn’t you start going outdoors in elementary, that was what Jiang Lei said,” Kou Chen very seriously counts with his fingers, “Elementary first grade is 6 years old right, up to now would be 10 years, 11 years, isn’t that 10 plus years!”1

Huo Ran heaves a sigh, turning to look out of the window.

Kou Xiao was laughing extremely maniacally in the shotgun seat, not minding her image as an elder sister in the slightest.

“Here,” Kou Chen hands another piece of chocolate over.

Huo Ran gives him a look, hesitating a moment, before taking the chocolate over, unwrapping it then putting the whole piece into his mouth like he had done before.

YOU’LL ALSO LIKE

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…

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…

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…

Liu Yao: The Revitalization of Fuyao Sect by Ore-samada

Liu Yao: The Revitalization of Fuyao Sect

63.5K

1.7K

Author: Priest (CN) /5 volumes Ranking: # 26 in the category: Shounen-Ai / top 125 (21/05/2018) Summary: A cultivation story about how a declining sect is restored by a…

Spoiled 宠坏 by _pankechi

Spoiled 宠坏

3.4K

145

Spoiled 宠坏 Author：睡芒 (sleeping man) Translator : jin Han Yun was spoiled from childhood. He survived past his emperor dad and crown prince elder brother, and became an…

A on The Opposite Floor Always Thinks I’m Pretending to be a B (danmei) by mengmountain

A on The Opposite Floor Always Thinks I’m Pr…

18.9K

918

As a Beta, Ning An’s goal in life was to make money and become rich, but he was forced by his father to enroll in a military academy. He originally wanted to spend his t…

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…

Delicious!

Chocolate is really delicious…1

“Liking chocolate this much,” Kou Chen says as he feels around in his pocket, “Luckily…”

“…2 pieces is enough,” Huo Ran felt a little awkward as though he’d had his brain waves intercepted by Kou Chen, “Too much will make me sick of it.”

“Okay then,” Kou Chen nods, taking another piece of chocolate out from his pocket, “There’s only one left anyway.”

“Give it to me,” Kou Xiao’s hand reaches out from the front.

“Fat,” Kou Chen says.

“I’m not fat now,” Kou Xiao’s hand is still out.

“Are you thinking that one camping trip will let you lose 10jin,” Kou Chen puts the chocolate onto her palm.

“I can probably lose weight right?” Kou Xiao turns back to look at Huo Ran, “Didn’t you say it’d be extremely tough? I’m super weak to hardship, even walking 2 rounds along with the sweeping machine at home can make me feel tired, so I can probably lose 10jin right?”

Huo Ran felt a little despair hearing this, leaning on the car door and sighing: “Not likely.”

Kou Chen very timely explodes into maniacal laughter.

“But why!” Kou Xiao starts shouting, “When it’s that tough!”

“I feel that people of your type, will at most lose 2 qian*, before suffering their way home,” Huo Ran says.

[*tl note: another unit of measurement; different sites gave me different answers for the conversion of qian to grams but 2qian being 10grams seems to be right based on this context. 10jin is abt 5kg btw, if you’ve forgotten]

“That’s right,” Kou Chen’s phone chimes, and he takes it out while laughing, leaning onto Huo Ran’s body, with his leg directly stepping onto the window on the other side, letting him half-lie on the back seat, “I feel Old Yang and I will have to abandon you halfway.”1

“You’re looking down on me too much,” Kou Xiao says, “When we were little I left you in the woods in the park, I came back by myself, but you didn’t!”

“I was only 5 then,” Kou Chen says, “And you were already in sixth grade, someone that was about to enter middle school like yourself walking home from the park on your own…”

Kou Xiao switches the radio in the car on, turning the volume up.

“Fuck,” Kou Chen sighs, his head turning a few times between Huo Ran’s arm and the backing of the chair, then after he’d found a suitable angle, rested his head and started to play with his phone.

Huo Ran really wanted to throw him down to below where the seats were with a raise of his arm, but after trying to exert a bit of force he realised that this brat had actually been bracing himself, as soon as he raised his arm Kou Chen swiftly got up, scooted backwards, and rested his entire back onto his body.

“Can’t move anymore can you,” Kou Chen was extremely smug, “You should behave now*.”

[*tl note: another way to read it could be ‘you’re (forced to) behave now aren’t you’]

Huo Ran held it in for three seconds, before sending a slap onto his head.

“Ai,” Kou Chen says, “I’m telling you, you better watch it, if it were anyone else touching my head like that, I’d immediately live-broadcast a single-handed skull split.”

Huo Ran doesn’t say anything, and was also too lazy to move anymore.

“Huo Ran,” Kou Chen called him as he was replying to someone’s message, even pressing down backwards a few times as though he was scared he couldn’t hear.

“Mn,” Huo Ran felt he was about to get squeezed into a narrow screen*.

[*tl note: i kept the literal tl because i wasnt sure if there was an actual/better term, but what he meant was something like ‘being squeezed from an iphone to an iphone s’ (for lack of better example)]

“The 2 of us in 1 tent,” Kou Chen says.

“Why?” Huo Ran turns his head with a start, he’d been playing outdoors for so many years, but had yet to sleep in the same tent as another person, even when his dad had brought him out when he was still a tiny little thing, they’d each slept in their own tent, which was why when he’d gotten up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom and had tumbled into the ditch next to it, it’d taken his dad more than half an hour to notice.1

“What’s there to ‘why’ about,” Kou Chen says, “To chit-chat of course, otherwise what do we do the whole night.”1

“What chit-chat, at night we’ll be sleeping,” Huo Ran was a little anxious, he was extremely extremely unwilling to squeeze in with someone.

And chatting?

What was there to chat about.

Chat about past experiences at a labour camp*?1

[*tl note: reference to his jab at kc asking whether he’d gone to school at a labour camp in a previous chapter. also, this line didn’t originally have a question mark at the end, so the way he says it is supposed to be very flat]

“Don’t worry, I don’t snore, and I don’t grind my teeth,” Kou Chen says, “I’m super well-behaved when I sleep, aren’t I Jie.”

“Yes,” Kou Xiao nods, “And he sleeps like the dead, the kind that even pinching wouldn’t wake.”

Huo Ran looks at Kou Xiao, Kou Xiao was probably the dominant force against the enlistment of the second child into the army.1

“Then in a bit let’s buy a two-person tent,” Kou Chen says, “We get to bring one less tent too.”

Huo Ran doesn’t speak, the despair in his heart expanding.

“That’s fine too, this way…” Kou Xiao turns back, and upon seeing the foot Kou Chen had stepped onto the car window and was currently happily shaking, her handful of MM beans immediately gets hurled at him with a shout, “Kou Chen do you want to die —— would taking your shoes off kill you!”

“Wouldn’t that make me too sloppy,” Kou Chen retracts his leg, “It’s not like I was touching the glass.”

“You and that dog of yours are the same type,” Kou Xiao points at him very grumpily, “This glass was just changed yesterday, all because of your damned dog’s saliva, since it couldn’t be wiped off, and there were also paw scratches…”

“The glass was changed?” Kou Chen sits up, touching the glass, “I thought it was still that scratched up one, if it were that one stepping or not it’d have been that way.”

“It’s been changed!” Kou Xiao glares at him.

“Haven’t I already taken it down,” Kou Chen says, “Old Yang hadn’t even yelled, are you my biological sister, when you’d flung that bottle of nail varnish in my dad’s car why didn’t you feel a single bit of heartache.”

“Where was there a bottle?” Kou Xiao sighs, turning back, “It was only half, and I’d washed it off.”

Kou Chen smiles without saying anything.

Huo Ran had thought that since his leg couldn’t be held up anymore, he was probably able to sit up already, but he ended up sitting cross-legged, and continued leaning on him.1

“Huo Ran,” Kou Chen raises his phone up in front of him, “Showing you my dog.”

“Oh,” Huo Ran looks toward the screen, “An Alaskan?”

“Mn, good-looking isn’t he,” Kou Chen gives the screen a swipe, “Super cute.”

The second photo was that of Kou Chen with the pup on a beach, it’d probably been taken while they were running, the person and pup were both moving a large step forward, the feeling of rising into the air it’d captured was rather cool.

“Is he handsome?” Kou Chen asks.1

“Handsome, his fur color is also pretty,” Huo Ran quite liked dogs, but his house didn’t have the space to raise such a large dog, so he basically lived off watching videos online.

“I was fucking asking whether I look handsome!” Kou Chen says, “What kind of listening comprehension!”

Kou Xiao and Old Yang at the front started laughing at the same time, and Huo Ran also couldn’t help but laugh: “You were showing me your dog, who’d know you’d suddenly refer to yourself.”

“Is he handsome?” Kou Chen very stubbornly asks one more time.

“…Handsome,” Huo Ran answers.

“The answer is correct,” Kou Chen gives his face a light tap of the finger, his voice full of triumph.

“Get lost!” Huo Ran is finally done tolerating him, viciously shoving Kou Chen off to the side.

After reaching the destination, they got off the car, Kou Xiao first went to the store next door to buy a cup of milk tea before walking into the store with them: “RanRan, you really don’t want some?”

“Really,” Huo Ran smiles.

“What man drinks milk tea, little ladies’ plaything,” Kou Chen says.

“Do you have anything to say against my kind*?” Kou Xiao immediately turns to look at him.

“HuoHuoHuoHuoHuoHuoHuo*,” Kou Chen instantly starts singing, placing his arm onto Huo Ran’s shoulder, and starts pushing him to walk into the store with quick steps.1

[*tl note: he’s sort of making a play on the word 伦[lún] which in kx’s sentence means ‘(person/people) of the same kind’ but is also the 2nd character of Jay Chou’s cn name; the song is his, the same one from chapters ago]

The boss that was a little more familiar with Huo Ran was inside the store, and seeing that he’d brought a few people along, was even a little taken aback: “Going out?”

“For National Day, since there’s still a few days, we came to get some equipment,” Huo Ran reaches his hand out in front of Kou Chen.

Kou Chen was still hanging off his shoulder, he took a look at his hand, then turned to give him a look, before grabbing his hand and giving him a handshake.2

“Give the list to me!” Huo Ran extracts his hand.

“Wha… oh, list!” Kou Chen takes the list out from his pocket, putting it into Huo Ran’s hand, “Here, the list.”1

“Please take according to this list, I’ll look around,” Huo Ran hands the list to the boss, then as he turns around he moves Kou Chen’s arm off his shoulder.

But he hadn’t walked two steps before Kou Chen had come over again, putting his arm back onto his shoulder: “Tell me about it.”

“About what?” Huo Ran asks as he once again considers pushing his arm off.

Kou Chen suddenly brings his arm in strongly, strangling his neck: “Tell me what these things are used for.”

“See for yourself,” Huo Ran pulls on his arm, “Are you illiterate?”

“Let’s look together,” Kou Chen’s arm is stubbornly locked not letting up, pulling him towards the racks, “Can you fucking give me some face? If not for going on this camping trip, would you believe I’ll give you a beating right here right now?”

“Fuck?” Huo Ran was about to be annoyed into laughter, “Is it ‘letting me fly’?”

Kou Chen pauses, then suddenly starts laughing: “Why do you still remember this line.”

“I will remember this in my heart for the rest of my life,” Huo Ran says, “My first time in real life hearing someone yell such a line.”

“What do you know,” Kou Chen says, “This is called ‘being imposing’… what’s this?”

Huo Ran gives the thing he was pointing at a look: “Water bag.”

“The fuck, for storing water?” Kou Chen releases him, taking one up to open, “This big? Is this for going to the desert?”

“This is for taking showers,” Huo Ran says.

“Mn?” Kou Chen takes another look at the water bag in his hands, suddenly intrigued, “Holy fuck, do we need to bring one of these? Is it finding a tree branch to hang it on, then putting water in using this tube… holy fuck I’ve never taken a shower in the mountains before…”

“It’s pretty cold now in the mountains, there won’t be a need,” Huo Ran says, “Also in the middle there’s an abandoned campsite, there’ll still be water, which can be used for showers.”

“Oh,” Kou Chen puts the water bag back, then suddenly turns his head back again, a look of excitement of his face, “An abandoned campsite?”

“That boss had it rented for 10 or 20 years, but the villagers suddenly wanted to raise the cost, and in the end the argument got out of hand so it couldn’t be managed anymore,” Huo Ran says, “It got deserted 2 years ago, whenever I trek this route I’ll rest and organise myself at this site.”

“Ah…” Kou Chen was rather astonished, “By yourself?”

“Basically,” Huo Ran says.

“Then…” Kou Chen says halfway before he nods, “I remember now, there are no ghosts in the wild.”

“Yes,” Huo Ran also nods.

It hadn’t been many days after Kou Chen’s transfer before he’d found out that Huo Ran was the school basketball team captain, with outstanding skills, on the court they say he’d intercept and wouldn’t let you run more than three steps, he also knew that Huo Ran was an expert at outdoor activity, the kind that only needed one move to fix a dislocation.

But because of Huo Ran’s appearance, he was ultimately unable to associate Huo Ran with anything too extraordinary, all the way up to the present moment, in which the outdoor store boss had come over to chat with Huo Ran; it was only then he felt that Huo Ran was getting a little closer to all those identities.

Because he didn’t quite understand the contents of the boss and Huo Ran were talking about.

“These friends of yours,” the boss finally says something Kou Chen could understand, “Have never gone out before have they?”

Huo Ran doesn’t answer, giving Kou Chen a glance.

“If picnicking in the park doesn’t count,” Kou Chen answers honestly, “Then we’ve never gone out before.”

“Picnics don’t count of course,” the boss starts laughing, “Then you all indeed have to have someone like XiaoHuo bring you, among those that I know, being able to have played this many years at this age, has only got to be him.”

“I’ve acknowledged him as my Master,” Kou Chen says, “He’s now my Master, when he goes out he brings me along.”

“Then you’ve gotten such a bargain*,” the boss says.

[*tl note: would more accurately be ‘you’ve taken advantage’ (big time) but it sounds a little awkward]

The attendant at the other side seemed to have gotten just about everything they’d asked for, so the boss went over to do a check.

“Do you want face or not*?” Huo Ran looks at Kou Chen.

[*tl note: literal tl because of the following lines, hr’s asking whether he wants to be considered modest (not shameless) or shameless]

“Don’t want,” Kou Chen waves his hand, “What would I want that for, not like it’s edible.”

“I’m only bringing you just this once,” Huo Ran says sternly, “I’m not your master, and I won’t be bringing you along wherever I go.”

“Really?” Kou Chen asks.

“Really,” Huo Ran says.

“Then so be it, if I go out and there’s anything I don’t know how to handle, I’ll give you a call,” Kou Chen was totally unconcerned.

“Do you think you’re carrying a base station as you walk?” Huo Ran had actually not wanted to say too much, but as soon as he’d heard that statement, he couldn’t help it, Kou Chen was a dumbass, if something really did happen to him, he was afraid he’d feel guilty, “Many of the places you wouldn’t be able to receive phone signal, since you’re unclear about what to do, and have no experience, you better not run around.”

“I’ll buy a satellite phone later,” Kou Chen says.

“…Take it as I’ve said nothing,” Huo Ran turns and walks away.1

Kou Chen behind him was laughing almost to the point of echoing himself.

There actually weren’t too many things on Huo Ran’s list, it’d probably been made for the purpose of a one-time outdoor trip, but from Kou Chen’s perspective, having to stuff this pile of things into three bags, didn’t seem very possible.

“Do some of these have to be hung onto the bags,” he says, “We probably won’t be able to stuff them in, since there’s still clothes and what not.”

“I’ll stuff them in for you to see,” Huo Ran starts putting things into the bag, “For clothes just having 3 sets to alternate would be enough, now that the weather’s dry, even 2 sets would be enough.”

“2-3 sets?” Kou Xiao was a little shocked.

“You can also bring 30 sets if you want,” Huo Ran says, “If Old Yang and Kou Chen can carry them there’s no problem.”1

“I can’t carry,” Kou Chen immediately answers.

Old Yang laughs without saying anything.

“Actually just having a change of clothes that are comfortable to wear will be enough,” Huo Ran says, “The main thing is also that there won’t be anyone to look at you.”

“You’ve hurt my self-esteem RanRan,” Kou Xiao says.

Huo Ran smiles out of slight embarrassment: “I didn’t mean it like that.”

“Okay, we’ll listen to you,” Kou Xiao claps her hand.

The pile of things were put into the bags in an orderly manner by Huo Ran, with each bag even still having space left for putting shoes and clothes in.

While they were lugging the bags onto the car, Kou Chen went up to Huo Ran and spoke softly by his ear: “Ai.”

Huo Ran looks at him very warily.

“If when we’re breaking camp I can’t pack it back to its original state,” Kou Chen says, “You’ve gotta help me stuff it all back in.”1

“…Mn,” Huo Ran answers with some feelings of despair.

“Let’s go eat,” Old Yang looks at his watch, “It’s about time.”

“I won’t be joining you guys,” Huo Ran says, “I have to be at school at 6pm for training.”

“The basketball team?” Kou Chen immediately asks.

“Mn,” Huo Rans nods.

“Even if it’s training you still have to eat though,” Kou Xiao says, “Training on an empty stomach?”

“I’ll just grab something to eat and it’ll be fine, if I eat too much I won’t be able to run,” Huo Ran says, “You don’t have to bother about me.”

Kou Xiao was still about to insist, when Kou Chen wraps his arm around Huo Ran’s shoulder: “You don’t have to bother about us, we’ll just go eat some noodles or something…”3

“What’s this gotta do with you?” Kou Xiao asks out loud the silent scream in Huo Ran’s heart, “He’s going for training, why are you joining in?”

“I don’t want to eat with you guys, okay,” Kou Chen says, “Just watching you two be all sticky I won’t be able to stomach my food, I’ll go watch Huo Ran train.”

“It’s closed off,” Huo Ran says, “The moment the gymnasium door closes, miscellaneous people won’t be allowed to enter.”

“If I get inside,” Kou Chen says, “You buy me food.”

“Even if you get in you’ll get chased out,” Huo Ran says.

“If I get inside and don’t get chased out,” Kou Chen says, “You buy me food.”

“No wait,” Huo Ran was simply speechless, “Even if you don’t get in, I can still buy you food.”

“Okay,” Kou Chen gives him a point, “We’ve got a deal.”

What the heck?

We’ve got what deal?

Up until they’d walked in through the school gates, Huo Ran still hadn’t managed to get out of his depression.

“How bout you wait for me in the classroom,” he says, “I’ll go report in, then go grab some food, after digesting a bit I’ll start training.”

“Okay,” Kou Chen was very cooperative, turning and heading over towards the classrooms.

Huo Ran sighed in relief, at least Kou Chen hadn’t brought the thing about wanting to get into the gymnasium to watch practice up again.

The gymnasium already had a number of people, all from the school team, some warming up, some playing, some chatting.

“Captain,” someone greeted him, “You’re early.”

“I haven’t eaten yet,” Huo Ran says, “I’ll come back again in a bit after I’ve eaten.”

“Let’s play 1 round first,” someone throws a ball over.

“Yeah right*,” Huo Ran receives the ball, and although he’d said that, after receiving the ball he’d still started bringing the ball towards underneath the basket out of habit.

[*tl note: originally 玩屁 (‘play’ + ‘fart’); usually i’d tl it as ‘play my ass’ but as you can see it looks very misleading… couldn’t think of a replacement but hes supposedly unwilling]

Dash, brake, fake a move to bypass, three steps up to the loop.

Beautiful.

Huo Ran clapped for himself.

He really liked playing basketball, as soon as he’d touched the ball he couldn’t quite stop himself, after playing 3 on 3 with his teammates for a while, he took a look at his phone, and it’d already been 20 minutes.

“I gotta go grab some food,” he threw the ball over to one of the members.

He couldn’t just leave Kou Chen by himself in the classroom, since he’d promised to buy him food.

Just as he’d taken his jacket and was about to walk out, the gymnasium door was pushed open.

The coach walked in.

“Hello Coach,” the members all stopped their activity, “Starting so early today?”

“Starting at the usual time,” says Coach, “For now I’ll be introducing a new member.”

New member?

Ding dang clattering instantly started sounding in Huo Ran’s heart.

When he saw that the one currently walking in was Kou Chen, he simply wanted to hurl the jacket in his hands over at him.

I’m —— fuck!2

Kou Chen walked up to beside the coach then stood, smiling very politely: “Hello everyone, I’m Kou Chen from Humanities Class 1.”+