chapter 27

“What the heck is wrong with you two?” Xu ZhiFan looks at them after he was done laughing, “If you can’t hold back any longer hurry and look for a girlfriend, Huo Ran those love letters you received last semester are still in my drawer, do you want to take another look?”

“Scram,” Huo Ran answers simply.

Underneath his calm façade was an internal, 1600-meter-high tsunami.

The shock that doing such a dumb thing in the middle of the street had brought him was simply unable to settle for a long time.

When had it started; had he already become a nutcase as neurotic as Kou Chen? Yet he himself had not, in fact, noticed it one bit.

Too frightening.

He gives Kou Chen a look.

It really was imperceptible…

Kou Chen was still laughing, not feeling any discomfort at all; Huo Ran faces away and makes a number of spitting sounds at the ground. He kept feeling that he had been a little too forceful with the kisses earlier, had he licked Kou Chen’s face?

“What are you doing,” Kou Chen was unhappy now, “I’d just washed my face when I left the house, do you have to go to this extent after kissing me a few times?”

“Here,” Huo Ran fishes a wet tissue out and hands it to him, “Hurry and take your revenge on me.”

Kou Chen takes the tissue over and gives his face a few messy swipes: “Forget it, can’t be bothered haggling over this with you.”

The barbecue shop was already near, after Huo Ran and Kou Chen bumped MUAs they hadn’t spoken two lines before they arrived at the place, and although they couldn’t smell anything, they could see plates upon plates with all sorts of meat hills through the window, which instantly worked their appetites from not having eaten well these couple of days up.

None of them sat down upon entering the private room, dashing to the hall to transport meat after tossing their jackets. All of them were of very high efficiency, returning to the private room carrying large and small plates within a short amount of time.

Huo Ran’s mood had been kind of low the previous night and he hadn’t eaten very much, so seeing the raw meat in the plates at the moment already made him rather feel like chowing them down.

“The last ten days of the month is the school sports meet,” Jiang Lei was placing the meat onto the hotplate, “The last entertainment event of the year isn’t it?”

“Does New Year’s Day not count?” Wei ChaoRen asks.

“New Year’s Day obviously doesn’t count, what is New Year’s Day, First of January, what’s wrong with you!” Jiang Lei was very concerned, “With this brain of yours even with choosing humanities you might still not be able to save yourself.”

“Don’t look down on humanities students though,” Xu ZhiFan says.

“Exactly,” Xu Chuan says, “Beauties are all in humanities classes.”

“What has ‘beauties being in humanities classes’ got to do with you,” Huo Ran picks a piece of meat that seemed to not have been thoroughly cooked yet to eat as he speaks, “Your deskmate isn’t even a girl.”

The group instantly burst into laughter, and after they were done laughing they started to lament about how the number of girls in their class was less than Class 3’s downstairs by approximately half the amount, that it was simply too unfair.

“You’ve even received a number of love letters?” Kou Chen places a chicken wing into Huo Ran’s bowl, conveniently getting closer to ask softly, “Who were the ones who wrote them?”

“I don’t remember anymore,” Huo Ran chews on a chicken wing.

“Why are you so petty,” Kou Chen was a little grumpy, “Worried I’ll fight you for them?”

“Not worried,” Huo Ran gives him a glance, “This is a girl’s privacy isn’t it, telling you isn’t appropriate.”

Kou Chen was momentarily at a loss, only speaking after a while: “If you say it like that it actually really is… I never thought about whether or not these count as privacy.”

“I don’t know whether or not they count either, I just have this sort of feeling,” Huo Ran says.

“I was just asking on a whim,” Kou Chen explains quietly in a hurry, “I didn’t have the intention of finding out anyone’s privacy, I really didn’t have that intention okay, I didn’t want to make fun of anyone or anything like that either.”

Huo Ran grins: “I know.”

“Ai,” Kou Chen leans back in his chair and exhales a breath, “I’m suddenly extremely confident with you going to tell my dad the thing about calling parents in.”

“So you better not provoke me again,” Huo Ran says, “You still have a favour to ask of me, and who knows, you might still have many instances in which you’ll have to kowtow to me in the future, so if you do others a favor in a current tangle, you’ll make yourself a waiver of a future trouble. ”

“Fuck,” Kou Chen watches him, “Nobody has ever dared to be this arrogant with me.”

“Those that aren’t familiar wouldn’t dare,” Huo Ran places the bone of the chicken wing he had finished gnawing into Kou Chen’s bone dish, neatly in line with a chicken wing bone that Kou Chen had finished gnawing.

“That’s enough, you’re the only one who dares at this table,” Kou Chen furrows his eyebrows, looking at the two chicken bones that were sitting in a row* in his bone dish, “What are you doing?”

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“I like even numbers,” Huo Ran says, “OCD, if I eat another in a bit I’ll take it back.”

“…Then wouldn’t it be an odd number on mine?” Kou Chen says.

“Not that I can see it,” Huo Ran says.

Kou Chen doesn’t say anything, sticking his thumb up at him.

After they ate, Kou Chen wanted to drag the group of them to go sing karaoke. Huo Ran didn’t want to go, he didn’t like to sing, if they’d asked him to go play basketball he might still go.

“You’re really not going?” Kou Chen leans on the window of the taxi.

“Not going,” Huo Ran says, “Even if I went there aren’t any songs that I know how to sing.”

“You can listen to me sing,” Kou Chen says.

“…Not listening,” Huo Ran gives a yawn.

“Why are you so fucking boring,” Kou Chen was dissatisfied.

“Watch what you’re saying,” Huo Ran says, “When do you need me to go look for your dad?”

“Then you go on back,” Kou Chen changes his tone, “Watch out for safety, good night.”

“Good night,” Huo Ran smiles.

The thing about calling parents in was alright in Huo Ran’s family, Dad and Mom weren’t of impatient dispositions, even if he said he’d been in a fight at school, they would finish listening to him tell them about his reasons first.

It wasn’t quite the same in Kou Chen’s family.

Huo Ran had just opened his mouth and said one line, that the teacher had gotten them to inform their parents to visit the school, and Papa Kou had already leapt up.

No wonder Kou Chen had gone to the district’s garden to wait beforehand, because if not, with this speed, Kou Chen probably wouldn’t have been able to dodge.

“Did he fight again?” Papa Kou asks with a calm voice.

Kou Chen was very alike his dad in this aspect in fact, with a solemn face, calm voice, the murderous aura that could even expand throughout the area within a second.

Huo Ran doesn’t speak.

“Did he?” Papa Kou asks again.

“Please sit down first,” Huo Ran clears his throat, his hand scratching the fur on the neck of ShuaiShuai who was leaning against his leg every now and then, striving to steady himself and not let himself be beaten down by Papa Kou’s mighty “beat Kou Chen to death right now” aura, “Otherwise I feel like you want to hit me.”

“It’s not like RanRan is Kou Chen,” Mama Kou speaks from the side, “Are you thinking to hit RanRan because you can’t hit your son?”

“How many years has it been since I stopped hitting Kou Chen,” Papa Kou sits back down, then looks at Huo Ran, “Go on and tell us, what was it for?”

Huo Ran tried his best to narrate the events once through, but at the end was worried that he couldn’t capture the main points, so he did a summary: “In short it was to help a student that was being bullied, our teacher said that the starting point was good, just that the method wasn’t quite right.”

Papa Kou’s expression had softened an amount, giving a cold laugh: “If he were able to look for the right method then it wouldn’t be him.”

“Which is why we need the parents to go to the school for a discussion, the decision for awarding demerit points hasn’t been made either,” Huo Ran heaves a sigh of relief, rubbing ShuaiShuai’s head, and ShuaiShuai turns to give a series of licks on his palm.

“Alright, I’ll go,” Papa Kou nods, then suddenly schools his face, “I do want to see who dares to give my son a demerit!”

“Uncle Kou,” as soon as Huo Ran hears this, the breath he had just released immediately rises back up to the crown of his head, “That, if you’re going to the school it would still…”

“Don’t mess around,” Mama Kou next to him makes a ‘tsk’ sound, “Getting you to go is for you to listen to what the teacher has to say, why are you still thinking to look for trouble with the teacher? It’s your son that fought you know, not that the teacher hit your son, I have no idea what you’re thinking.”

“Enough I got it,” Papa Kou waves his hand.

When Huo Ran saw Kou Chen in the district garden, he was sitting on a swing with one leg bent, the other kicking the floor gently, rocking slowly.

“How is it*?” seeing him walk over, Kou Chen asks with a smile.

[*tl note: please note that this question doesn’t have a specific tense or subject, so it’ll change accordingly in the following lines. Would alternatively be “what do you think?” for this particular line]

“It’s fine, but your dad…” Huo Ran spoke halfway before getting interrupted by Kou Chen.

“I’m asking you about how my legs are,” Kou Chen asks.

Huo Ran was momentarily at a loss, but out of curiosity, he still stopped, took a step back, stared at each of Kou Chen’s two legs and sized them up individually, then sized them up as a whole.

He honestly could not tell that there was a difference that required him to ask “how are they”.

“They’re both present*,” he could only answer.1

[*tl note: he uses the word 齐 (qí) which is an amazing word that means ‘neat/even/alike/uniform/present’]

“Fuck,” Kou Chen was very disappointed, “Earlier there was a little sister that was playing on the swing here who complimented me on having long legs.”

Huo Ran only wished to send him a fist and palm salute, unable to say a word.

“They’re long aren’t they?” Kou Chen stretches his legs.

“Mn,” Huo Ran sits on the swing next to his, “How old was the little sister?”

“Four years old,” Kou Chen starts laughing, “Pretty cute, if you arrived a minute earlier you would’ve been able to see her… how was the chat with my dad?”

“It’s fine, says when classes start he’ll visit the school,” Huo Ran slants his head to look at him, “Have you never done anything out of willingness to help people before, your dad looked pretty happy.”

“It’s already not bad for me to not hit people, why would I be happy to help people,” Kou Chen says, “What’s there to be happy about when helping people, it’s only you that keeps saying ‘upholding justice’ and what not.”

“Is that so,” Huo Ran grins, “Then what did you go watch He Hua roast sausages for, did you not have some feelings because He Hua wasn’t being bullied anymore? Some sort of happiness, smugness and the like.”

Kou Chen makes a ‘tsk’ sound, and doesn’t speak.

The two of them rock back and forth on the swing one after another.

When they started lessons on the second day after returning to school, Kou Chen kept glancing towards where Old Yuan’s office was, and ultimately, straightforwardly chased Xu ZhiFan away and sat next to Huo Ran, continuing to look towards the office.

“That’s your dad isn’t it?” he asks softly, “I saw.”

“Mn,” Huo Ran gives a glance: there were already a number of parents in the office, Old Yuan was currently talking to them, and the Director was next to him.

“My dad isn’t here yet,” Kou Chen’s brows are furrowed, “A parent’s meeting, can he not be a little more punctual, does he want to organise an entrance ceremony!?”

“Why is the Director here as well today though,” Jiang Lei turns back from the front, speaking quickly with a low voice, “Didn’t they say we’re only getting a warning demerit* this morning, it’s not serious, wouldn’t it be enough just for Old Yuan to tell them?”

[*tl note: not quite sure what this means because of how wuzhe worded it, but if it’s ‘not serious’ then it’s probably a ‘warning about demerit’..?]

“You don’t know do you!” Wei ChaoRen was sprawled on his desk separated by a path, his face was full of excitement, “The Director isn’t there for our matter, it’s for Old Li’s class’ matter.”

“What matter?” Huo Ran couldn’t help but ask.

Old Li was a third-year form teacher, his desk was opposite Old Yuan’s, and was a serious and honest, small old man that had never smiled before. The students in his class didn’t bother calling him Old Li, they called him ‘Thousand Years Old’; they say it’s because he was very conservative regarding a lot of things and his way of thought, when compared to the sort of open-minded teacher that Old Yuan was, made him seem like he’d lived a few thousand years.

“They have a couple in their class,” Wei ChaoRen’s eyebrows had almost flown to the back of Xu Chuan’s head who was in the desk in front of his, “Last night after returning to the school they were at the Lovers’ Tree at the field… hugging and kissing, and got caught.”

“They informed their parents already?” Jiang Lei asks.

“Yeah, they informed them at one go, they’re all here now,” Xu Chuan says, “They probably have to line up to discuss…”

“Xu Chuan,” Teacher Yang on the podium pushes their glasses up.

“Here,” Xu Chuan responds.

“Go to the door to rest your mouth for a bit,” Teacher Yang says.

There was a series of quiet laughter in the classroom.

“Alrighty,” Xu Chuan stands up and walks to the classroom door, situating himself.1

“Third years are all 18 already aren’t they,” Kou Chen speaks quietly, “They’re already adults, yet they have to call in their parents for just some hugging, touching and kissing.”

“Other than being 18, there’s still the reputation of high school students,” Huo Ran says, “There’s still half a year to university entrance exams, those two are definitely going to be in trouble.”

“Breaking lovebirds up*?” Kou Chen tugs the corners of his lips, a little disdained.

[*tl note: literal tl of the idiom would be ‘using a wooden rod to beat a pair of mandarin ducks into separation’]

“If this were something that happened in our class, Old Yuan would definitely be able to shoulder it,” Huo Ran glances in the direction of the office, “Now that it’s fallen into Old Li’s hands, don’t mention breaking lovebirds up, they would probably also be able to swing their wings into snapping.”

“So tragic,” Kou Chen rubs his own shoulder.

“What’s this to do with you?” Huo Ran looks at him, “You’re a single love*, the crap are you self-inserting for.”

Kou Chen laughs with his head lowered for half a day: “You’re really awesome, even I had to think for a while before figuring out which the male one was out of ‘love’ and ‘bird’*.”

[*tl note: this makes no sense in English but I had to make do: in the phrase for mandarin ducks 鸳鸯 (yuānyāng), the first character 鸳 refers to the male duck and the second 鸯 refers to the female duck]

“Kou Chen,” Teacher Yang pushes their glasses up again.

Kou Chen doesn’t say anything, swiftly retracting his smile and getting up. He walks up to the door, standing next to Xu Chuan.

Teacher Yang doesn’t continue on with the lesson, their gaze landing on Huo Ran.

Huo Ran hesitates for a bit, then sighs and stands up as well, walking to the door and standing in a row with Xu Chuan and Kou Chen.

“Gather your focus a little,” Teacher Yang says, “Your parents are right over there, it will be extremely convenient for me to tattle.”

“My dad’s here,” Kou Chen speaks quietly, “Chuan-ge cover me up a little, if he looks over I’m dead.”

Xu Chuan shuffles forward a little, blocking him in the line between him and the office window.

After two classes, the parents on the other side had practically all left, and the third period was Old Yuan’s class, but Old Yuan who always came to the classroom early was still standing in the office.

There were still the Director, Old Yuan, Thousand Years Old and the parents of that pair of lovebirds in the office at this moment, and technically there wasn’t any business of Old Yuan’s anymore, but Old Yuan was still saying some things to Thousand Years Old.

“What’s Old Yuan doing?” someone says, “Does the class representative want to go give a listen?”

“Right right right, class representative go listen!” the people in the class collectively expressed their support for this suggestion.

“Does Old Yuan want to stand up for those two?” Xu ZhiFan and Kou Chen were both squeezed at the window.

“Perhaps, Old Yuan always had a sense of justice,” someone says.

After squeezing for a while, Xu ZhiFan looks at Kou Chen: “Are you still sitting over at mine next period?”

“Mn,” Kou Chen responds.

“You don’t want Xu Chuan anymore?” Xu ZhiFan smiles as he asks.

“I don’t want him anymore,” Kou Chen says, “I want Huo Ran.”

“Get lost,” Huo Ran had been squeezed by the two of them and could only sit on the desk behind.

The bell signalling the start of class rang, and Thousand Years Old was still agitatedly as well as furiously saying something, but Old Yuan had already left the battle and was packing his things up, getting ready for class.

Thousand Years Old chased him to the side of his office desk and smacked on the surface, saying something.

Old Yuan raised his head and the books in his hands fell onto the desk; the sound was a little loud and transmitted over through the window.

“I’ll reiterate my point of view once more, there’s nothing to do with puppy love or what not, love is love, there’s no early or late, no right or wrong, the focus is on the right guidance!”

“Fuck!” someone in the class yells.

“What what!” someone who hadn’t heard clearly also yells.

“Love is love, there’s no early or late!” someone repeats Old Yuan’s words.

A series of whistles instantly sound within the class, the girls applauding, the boys pouncing onto the window and shouting towards the office window: “Old Yuan, we’re rooting for you!”

The Director rushes over and opens the window, pointing this way: “What are you doing! Sit back at your desks! The starting class bell has rung did you not hear it!?”

The class persisted for another few seconds before retreating, returning to their owns seats, but in the classroom, it was like what followed the ending of a movie, quietening for a few seconds before becoming lively once again.

“Old Yuan’s capable,” Kou Chen says, “Actually, in my previous school, the teachers pretty much didn’t care about dating and stuff, as long as the fuss wasn’t too ridiculous they would act as though they hadn’t seen, but this is still my first time hearing a teacher say it out like this.”

“Old Yuan has always been like this,” Huo Ran looks in that direction; the Director was still standing at the window and looking this way, but had drawn the curtains shut.

“This statement has stimulated me,” Kou Chen says.

“Mn?” Huo Ran looks at him.

Kou Chen pats his thigh: “I want to date.”

“…With who?” Huo Ran asks.

“Don’t know, who cares,” Kou Chen pats his leg again, “I want to date.”

“How about take some medication,” Huo Ran lays onto his desk and sighs.

“Don’t wanna,” Kou Chen says.