chapter 29

I don’t wear accessories,” Huo Ran says, “It’s so inconvenient wearing a bracelet.”

“Then, did you, or did you not, wear one in that profile picture of yours? And it was a flashy yellow one too,” Kou Chen takes his phone out to look through, “I’ll find it to show you…”

“That’s a mosquito repellent wristband,” Huo Ran says.

“Does it repel mosquitoes?” Kou Chen asks.

“…Useless for shit,” Huo Ran says, “It’s alright in the city but useless against the big mosquitoes in the wild.”

“Then why did you wear it?” Kou Chen asks.

Huo Ran looks at him, unexpectedly not knowing how to answer.

That’s true, he clearly thought it was useless, why did he still wear it? Moreover, he would wear one every time he went out in the summer… so why was that?

Huo Ran falls into deep thought.

“To wear a wristband that doesn’t serve the purpose of repelling mosquitoes,” Kou Chen says, “The only reason is that you think it looks good.”

“Mn?” Huo Ran was momentarily at a loss.

“That makes it an accessory,” Kou Chen points at him, coming to a conclusion, “Since you wear accessories, I’ll gift you a bracelet for your birthday, it’ll definitely be better than those mosquito repellent wristbands that go for twenty bucks for six.”

“They aren’t the ones that cost twenty bucks for six,” Huo Ran sighs.

“For four?” Kou Chen’s face was full of disdain.

“Mine are the sort that you can put mosquito repellent patches…” Huo Ran waves his hand after speaking midway, “Forget it, if it’s twenty bucks then let it be, I don’t wear bracelets though?”

“I got it, I saw them in the outdoor store the other day, they look similar to sports wristbands,” Kou Chen nods, eating a mouthful of vegetables before looking back at him, “You really don’t want one? It’s a birthday present, you’re fucking rejecting a birthday present that someone wants to gift you?”

“Not that,” Huo Ran explains in a hurry, “I’m not rejecting, what I meant was that I don’t want a bracelet, how about you give me something else.”

“Oh,” Kou Chen stares at him for a while, smiling all of a sudden, “Okay, I got it.”

Huo Ran sighs in relief: “Hurry and eat, I want to nap a little in the afternoon, sleepy.”

“Are there people like you?” Kou Chen lowers his head to gobble his food, “Rushing when you treat someone to a meal.”

Huo Ran lays onto the table, turning his face to look at him: “Eat slowly then.”

“This spicy vermicelli actually tastes alright,” Kou Chen says as he eats, “Some of the dishes in our cafeteria are really not bad, although they look kind of ugly when they get cooked altogether.”

“Mn,” Huo Ran responds, his gaze sweeping haphazardly through the cafeteria; there were still a number of people eating, and some third years hadn’t left after they’d finished eating, starting to read right after picking up their books.

The cafeteria was the image of the student body: there were those that were eating, studying, chatting, playing with their phones, laying on the desk waiting for someone else to finish eating, confessing…

“Ai, who was that girl earlier?” Huo Ran originally did not have much interest in this sort of matter, but as soon as the other party pulled a ‘mysterious’ like they just had, he couldn’t help but ponder over it.

“Don’t ask around,” Kou Chen says, “Privacy, get it?”

“Get lost,” Huo Ran laughs.

“I just thought a little,” Kou Chen puts his chopsticks down after having eaten most of his vegetables, “Who knows, this girl might not want to let me know who she is at all.”

“Why?” Huo Ran props his head up.

“Because unrequited love* is fun,” Kou Chen says, “People are just playing by themselves, not including you.”

[*tl note: direct translation would be ‘secret love/crush’]

“You’ve experienced unrequited love?” Huo Ran was curious.

“No, my sister was always having secret crushes, before Old Yang started wooing her, if she hadn’t had ten of those she’d have had eight,” Kou Chen says, “Just being a sap by herself every day at home.”

“Huh?” Huo Ran was stunned.

“He looked at me today,” Kou Chen starts mimicking with a high-pitched voice, “Thank goodness I washed my hair, ah today I sent him an anonymous text, ah he looks so handsome when he smiles, ah I wonder if he tossed or ate the chocolate I gave him… Aiya he was actually laughing and talking with another girl today my god my heart’s shattered…”

Huo Ran was beside himself with laughter: “Shut up.”

“In any case, that was how it was, getting high playing by herself, if the person she crushed on turned around and confessed to her,” Kou Chen stands up, holding his plate, “It’d immediately be GAMEOVER.”

“You’re saying all these like you know your stuff, but in actuality, you’re just a theorist aren’t you, never having wooed or crushed, much less dated,” Huo Ran stands up as well, and waits for him to clear his plate and put it away before they walk out of the cafeteria together.

“Mn,” Kou Chen thinks a little, “When you summarise it like that, it really is fucking tragic… I want to date!”

“Good luck,” Huo Ran says.

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Ouyang Xiwen was a high school English teacher, introverted and amiable. Xiao Xuan was from a well-off family, a two-faced top student. While betting with his friends i…

To high school students, a topic like dating did have a lot of attractive power, because in contrast to middle school, everyone felt they were already an adult at this point in time, so Old Yuan having given them an opportunity to openly discuss made each of them rather excited.

On the blackboard were posters that a few girls in the class had fought to finish within two days, pinkish and full of red hearts and bubbles, even having small people that were holding hands.

The desks were all scattered and placed arbitrarily; they weren’t in rows nor were they arranged in a circle, so everyone could look for a seat with an angle they deemed comfortable to sit in.

Kou Chen might have had his bones broken by someone due to having fronted in his past life, because the word ‘comfortable’ probably meant leaning on someone to him.

This time, he had turned the chair backwards and sat on it that way, forcefully leaning onto Huo Ran.

“Do you have a poor waist?” behind Huo Ran was the wall, he was a little resigned.

“Don’t say that blindly,” Kou Chen says, “If it were anyone else they’d beat you to death, your waist is fucking poor.”

“Then can you prove it by sitting upright for a bit?” Huo Ran says.

“Can’t,” Kou Chen says, even resting his arms onto his knees.

“Why don’t you lean against…” Huo Ran points towards Xu Chuan, and finds that on Xu Chuan’s side was a competition for whose waist was weaker; Xu Zhifan, Xu Chuan and Wei Chaoren, the three were leaning against each other, and only Jiang Lei and Hu Yi were still independent youths by this time, chatting as they looked at the posters on the blackboard, their faces radiant.

Huo Ran puts his hand down.

“I’m not pressing on your balls am I,” Kou Chen says.

“…No,” Huo Ran says.

A distinct contrast against the various relaxed and casual states of the people in the classroom was the director who had walked in ten minutes prior and had seated next to the pink poster.

The director’s expression was fathomless.

Ardently observing everyone.

This made the scene rather uncanny.

Old Yuan probably felt it too; he looks at the director: “Why don’t you sit at the back of the classroom, the students might get nervous if they see you.”

“Alright,” the director stands up immediately, lifting the chair up and heading towards the back door, “You all don’t need to mind me, I am now a piece of clothing that a certain student has placed onto a chair.”

“Who in our class would wear such an ugly piece of clothing?” Kou Chen lazily follows up as he leans on Huo Ran.

The classroom immediately erupted in laughter.

The director who was holding on to the chair was unable to keep it in, a rare instance, smiling as he glanced at him.

“Great,” Old Yuan claps his hands, “The class meeting will start, everyone can express their own opinion as they like, but we do still have a main theme, so in order to prevent you guys from going off-topic, I’ll repeat it once again: regarding that person that you like, what is ‘like’, what is it like liking a person, what sort of changes has liking a person brought you, or if you don’t have someone you like, and do not have this sort of thinking at this stage, you may say so as well. Any way you’d like to say it goes, speak freely around the theme.”

“What about confessions?” Xu Zhifan asks.

“That’s right! What about confessions!” everyone starts shouting, “What if someone wants to confess!”

“Confessions are also fine,” Old Yuan starts laughing, “But only confessions, the confessors themselves have to accept regardless of whether or not the other party accepts.”

“Okay——” everyone continues shouting, some even slapping their desks.

“Then let’s start,” Old Yuan nods, “Who’s going first?”

As soon as this statement comes out, the bunch that had been shouting rather enthusiastically before go quiet, looking at each other, softly coaxing.

After a brief moment of awkwardness, Wei Chaoren stands up, shaking Xu Chuan and Xu Zhifan off him, raising his head: “I’ll go!”

A series of warm applause and whistles sounded.

“Thank you, thank you,” Wei Chaoren acted as though he was receiving an award, “Thank you everyone for your encouragement.”

“Hurry and speak!” someone shouts while laughing.

“I liked a girl when I was in elementary,” Wei Chaoren was surprisingly generous, cutting straight into the topic as soon as he started speaking, “There actually wasn’t really a reason, just thought she looked really nice when she smiled, exceptionally sweet. I liked seeing her smile, I thought that was something especially wonderful. I don’t even remember what she looked like anymore, but I still remember the sort of feeling I had whenever I saw her smile, it made me exceptionally happy.”

The classroom erupted in mad applause at once.

“Fuck,” Kou Chen leans back to press onto Huo Ran, “I couldn’t tell, Chaoren’s pretty good at speaking?”

“Different from usual,” Huo Ran sighs in admiration as well.

“The power of love,” Kou Chen says.

“So I don’t understand why so many people, such as parents and teachers and school leaders, want to object to these things, because they are clearly wonderful things, things that make people feel good,” Wei Chaoren raises his head once again after he finishes speaking, “I’m done speaking.”

“Well said,” Old Yuan sticks his thumb up at him.

Wei Chaoren sits down in the midst of applause, with Xu Chuan and Xu Zhifan swiftly hanging themselves back onto his body, expressing their feelings of reverence.

“You were awesome ChaoChao,” Xu Chuan says.

“You were awesome RenRen,” Xu Zhifan says.

“You flatter me, you flatter me,” Wei Chaoren wasn’t satisfied yet, turning back to look over at Kou Chen and the others.

The few people on this side quickly raise both their thumbs, shaking them at him.

After everyone else quietened down a little, the class monitor stands up: “I have the same thoughts as Classmate Wei Chaoren, this is a wonderful thing, but I would like to say…”

Huo Ran uses his legs to squeeze Kou Chen: “What’s she called?”

“Wu Xiaochen,” Kou Chen says, “No way? You don’t even know the class monitor’s name?”

“As long as the girls in our class weren’t originally in the same class as me, I cannot call out a single name…” Huo Ran says.

“Huo Ran, you’re actually surnamed Liu* aren’t you?” Kou Chen turns back to look at him.

[*tl note: apparently a reference to Liuxia Hui, who was said to be a man of eminent virtue, and is said on one occasion to have held a lady in his lap without the slightest imputation on his moral character (via Wikipedia)]

Huo Ran grins, ignoring him.

“I would like to say, Classmate Wei Chaoren said he doesn’t understand why so many parents and teacher object,” Wu Xiaochen smooths her hair, “That’s actually because a lot of us don’t have a good grasp on propriety, don’t know how to handle feelings, which might have a negative impact on our studies and lives. In the eyes of some teachers and parents, this is not a good thing.”

“This point is also very good,” Old Yuan nods his head.

“Actually, let’s put it this way,” Xu Zhifan speaks up, but doesn’t stand, waving his arm directly from his place on Wei Chaoren’s body, “Likely since middle school, a lot of us never had the chance to openly interact with a topic like ‘liking a person’; this was like a taboo, not to be mentioned and there wouldn’t be adults who would discuss it with us. What we would hear would only be ‘not allowed’, ‘no’, ‘cannot’, ‘it’s wrong’, ‘not right’… they’re all negative, not a single person has told us what to do after liking a person, how to treat ourselves, how to treat her, how to handle feelings, so of course the likelihood of us making mistakes and affecting our studies and lives would be extremely high… Seriously, just because of this attitude, those so-called ‘rebellions’ in our rebellious phases have now included dating, how amazing is that.”

“Ai fuck!” Kou Chen shouts, raising his hands to applaud.

The people in the class were all yelling as they slapped their desks.

“Zhifan is absolutely right, so, dating also has to be learnt,” Xu Chuan helps to summarise, “Taking examinations without having studied, the ones who can pass are all geniuses, and there are only so few geniuses.”

“Exactly!” everyone collectively expresses their approval, the heads in the classroom bopping up and down.

“Classmate Xu Zhifan has surprised me a little, Classmate Xu Chuan’s summary was also extremely on-point,” Old Yuan smiles as he nods and claps, “Very well-said, very similar to some ideas of mine.”

“Don’t gold-plate yourself,” Kou Chen grins while speaking, “Saying your ideas are similar to whoever spoke well.”

“Classmate Kou Chen,” Old Yuan starts laughing, suddenly walking two steps in his direction, “Do you have any ideas that are different? Tell us about them, see whether or not they are similar to my ideas.”

“Me?” Kou Chen was stunned for a second, then abruptly leans backward, waving his hands to the point of sprouting flowers, “I don’t have ideas, I don’t have any ideas at all.”

“Kou Chen tell us!” an unknown girl shouts.

“Tell my ass,” Kou Chen says quietly.

“Does Kou Chen have anyone he likes?” another girl shouts while laughing.

The class was instantly filled with the sound of girls’ laughter, and following which, the boys starting to riot as well.

Huo Ran understood this sort of situation in which girls led the kicking up of a fuss very well, after all, Kou Chen was mysterious as well as full of attractive powers in a number of girls’ hearts, being the sort of boy with a background that the public knew nothing of, that, on the surface, looked handsome, able to fight and was even extremely fucking cool.

However, Huo Ran very much wanted to say, if you were willing to peel his heart open layer by layer by layer, you will discover, you will be surprised*…

[*tl note: song reference to Onion by Mayday~]

He is actually a husky!

Huo Ran was tickled by the way he’d been unable to resist singing in his heart, starting to laugh along with everyone else.

“You’re not fucking helping me but laughing?” Kou Chen was dumbstruck, turning back.

“I’m not laughing,” Huo Ran felt that laughing when Kou Chen was in a dangerous position kind of made him an unworthy friend, swiftly schooling his face.

“You laughed to the point where it was like I was leaning in a massage chair!” Kou Chen keeps his voice low.

Huo Ran was instantly unable to keep it together as soon as he said it that way, laughing his image into nothingness.

Sorry, I’ve embarrassed the school basketball team.

“Kou Chen! Kou Chen! Kou Chen!” perhaps by this time everyone had gotten into the mood, not having the seriousness and liveliness they were supposed to have during class meetings, all starting to kick up a fuss.

Usually, nobody dared to mess with Kou Chen in this way, but at this moment, it was different.

“Just say a little something,” Xu Chuan says while laughing, “No worries, even I’ve spoken.”

“You summarised for Xu Zhifan, who do I summarise for?” Kou Chen says.

“You give yourself a summary,” Jiang Lei reaches over to pat his shoulder, “Give us one.”

“Jesus fuck,” Kou Chen was extremely distressed.

“Don’t be a pussy, just do it,” Huo Ran happily squeezes him with his legs.

“You just fucking wait,” Kou Chen turns to glare at him, then clears his throat.

The classroom instantly quietens down.

“…Don’t be like this though,” Kou Chen looks all around, “Give some background music.”

BGM instantly started playing, the stereo effect of everyone’s laughter very strong.

“I actually don’t have much I want to say, other than the teacher from my kindergarten class I’ve never liked anyone,” Kou Chen’s brows are furrowed, looking conflicted. Since he was little, he had never spoken in front of so many people apart from reading his reflections out loud, and he constantly felt that his voice was about to fly, “If I had to say, I feel that this thing called ‘liking’ happens naturally. Teachers and parents shouldn’t waste their efforts, we wouldn’t be able to like someone because we want to like someone, so it’s also not that I can not like someone just because you wouldn’t let me like someone…”

He stops after speaking up to this point, feeling that he should summarise it once again, but wasn’t sure how to summarise it.

He subconsciously turns to look at Huo Ran.

Huo Ran was full of smiles as he listened, but as soon as he turned his head, Huo Ran froze.

Following that, the two glare at each other for a while, and he hears that girls had started giggling softly all around, their laughter not sounding quite the same as it had been before.

“What the fuck,” Huo Ran glares at him, dumbstruck, asking quietly, “are you looking at me for?”