Bloom of Youth - - - Chapter 120

Chapter 120

There were actually many couples who wanted to do a little something in their tents at night, here between the earth and sky, under the starlight. But they were two men squeezed into such a small tent.

Fortunately, Kou Chen still had some sanity left in his water-soaked brain. Added to the fact that they didn’t feel safe at all, there was still the occasional person walking by… They only participated in some quiet handshaking.

After the people around them lessened, they went to clean up in the public bathroom before squeezing back into the tent.

“We shouldn’t have got up,” Kou Chen whispered. “My pants are still wet, the waterfall looked clean but what if someone peed in it?”

“Shut up,” Huo Ran said. “There was a laundry pool beside the bathroom but you didn’t want to scrub your pants!”

“It’s not that I didn’t want to!” Kou Chen turned his head, “I don’t know how! I don’t know how to wash anything bigger than towels or underwear… Why couldn’t you do it for me? You’re the one that didn’t want to…”

“Who said I know how?” Huo Ran also turned to look at him.

“Are you that useless?” Kou Chen stared.

“Yup,” Huo Ran said. “Just as useless as you.”

Kou Chen paused for a second, and then they both burst out laughing.

After they laughed quietly for a while, Huo Ran sighed: “Are you sure you want to sleep like this?”

“Yup,” Kou Chen wiggled. “I think it’s fine, at least we can lay on our backs.”

Huo Ran glanced at their touching shoulders.

“You can sleep on top of me if you want,” Kou Chen said.

Huo Ran didn’t say anything else, only tugging his sleeping bag up and turning around so his back was to him.

Kou Chen immediately turned around as well and hugged him from behind: “See? Isn’t this nice, we’ll turn together if you have to.”

Huo Ran laughed: “You’re seriously so…”

“I really didn’t know tents could be this small,” Kou Chen said.

“They can be even smaller,” Huo Ran said. “My dad has one that fits exactly one person, you can’t even sit up straight. It’s just for you to sleep at night, it’s easy to pack up and convenient.”

“Got it.” Kou Chen touched his leg through the sleeping bag.

“Zip your sleeping bag up properly,” Huo Ran said. “It gets pretty cold, you better listen to what I’m saying.”

“I got it, I got it.” Kou Chen zipped up his sleeping bag and hugged him again. “You’re the experienced one, of course rookies like me will listen.”

“You wouldn’t have fallen in the water if you listened to me today,” Huo Ran said.

“If you dare tell anyone about this!” Kou Chen glared at the back of his head.

He stared for two seconds before realizing the effect wasn’t there, so he propped himself up and turned Huo Ran’s face around to glare.

“Good night,” Huo Ran said.

“…Goodnight.” Kou Chen happily laid back down.

They both woke up early the next day. There were already people packing up to go hiking at 4:30, so the campsite was bustling. Even though everyone was whispering, there were just too many people and it all stacked into noise that was no less than an alarm.

“Do we have to get up too?” Kou Chen mumbled unwillingly.

“No,” Huo Ran’s voice was similar. “Go back to sleep, we’ll get up when they leave.”

Kou Chen fell back asleep before he could even hum in reply.

The sleepiness was too strong, enough to win against the noise outside.

When they woke up again, the noise outside had been replaced by the people who went into the mountains to camp last night. Because the sun was already up, they didn’t bother keeping quiet.

“I’ll see if our clothes are dry.” Huo Ran sat up and unzipped the tent to poke his head out and pat the clothes on the ground.

“Are they?” Kou Chen asked.

“Yup.” Huo Ran kept his head out for a little bit before moving back. He said quietly, “I’ll go wash up first, you wait here.”

“Huh?” Kou Chen didn’t understand.

“There’s tents all around us,” Huo Ran said. “And they’re all standing outside.”

“Ah?” Kou Chen started.

“There’s shade, so everyone moved here,” Huo Ran said. “If anyone sees us coming out of the same tent…”

“Our clothes are already outside,” Kou Chen said. “Two sets.”

Huo Ran went quiet.”

“Even an idiot would know there’s two people in here, right?” Kou Chen said.

“You shut up,” Huo Ran glared at him.

Huo Ran quickly grabbed their clothes and struggled a lot to put them on inside the tent. Then he grit out: “I’ll go first.”

“If you’re too shy,” Kou Chen said, “I can go first.”

“Going second is even worse, okay?” Huo Ran said. “I’ll go, then I can pretend I did you so hard you can’t get up…”

Huo Ran quickly crawled out of the tent, and then he heard Kou Chen curse from inside: “Fuck!”

But he didn’t get a chance to think about it. Right as he came out, a bunch of people nearby looked over. Even though people would obviously look at anyone coming out of a tent, he still felt a little ashamed.

He pretended like everything was normal and stretched before continuing forwards, and then he suddenly heard someone call his name: “Huo Ran!”

“Huh?” Huo Ran startled and turned around to see a guy from his biking club.

“Long time no see, I was wondering if it was you. How come you’re taking this route?” The guy asked with a smile, “With a friend?”

“Yeah, my classmate…” Huo Ran hesitated before glancing back at the tent.

From where he was, the tent looked extra tiny.

“You two stayed in the same tent?” The guy was indeed shocked.

This was his chance!

“It’s his first time out, he didn’t even bring a tent,” Huo Ran immediately found the hole in his statement and added, “And he’s germaphobic, he absolutely refused to rent a tent.”

The guy laughed and nodded, leaning in to whisper: “Rookies are all like that. I’m here with a friend too, I’m about to cut ties when we get back, it’s too tiring.”

“It is,” Huo Ran nodded enthusiastically.

The germaphobe in the tent probably heard their conversation, so he poked his head out.

“You can get up,” The guy looked at the germaphobe. “I’m sure you won’t come back the same way, so it’ll be longer. You’ll miss dinner if you keep dawdling.”

“Ah,” Kou Chen nodded.

“Seriously, all these rookies, if you don’t wake them up, they can sleep until noon.” The guy patted Huo Ran’s arm and headed towards his own tent. “Go, the bathroom’s not busy right now.”

When Huo Ran got to the bathroom, Kou Chen caught up to him, dressed properly.

“Who was that?” He asked.

“From my biking club,” Huo Ran said. “We went out together a lot, but he got married the year before so he stopped riding as much.”

“He got married?” Kou Chen nodded.

“What do you mean?” Huo Ran tsked.

“Last time I was at yours, I saw those photos of all your clubs and teams and whatever, biking, hiking, all that,” Kou Chen said. “I saw there were a lot of handsome guys…”

“Ah!” Huo Ran exclaimed, and then he turned to stare at him. “No wonder you kept begging me to take you!”

“Fuck?” Kou Chen paused. “Why are you cutting me off? And seriously?”

“Am I wrong?” Huo Ran asked.

“I’m the one that’s jealous right now!” Kou Chen hissed and pointed at himself. “Me!”

“Have fun then,” Huo Ran laughed.

“From now on you really have to take me everywhere you go.” Kou Chen put an arm around him and shook out his towel. “And you don’t have to go rookie this rookie that, as long as you’re willing to take me, after university entrance exams next year, I’ll grow into someone… with experience too. We can go on the hardest trails.”

“That’s gonna depend on how well you do,” Huo Ran rubbed his nose. “You might not be in the mood if you don’t do well, you hardly accepted the fact that you failed one final.”

“That was my dad.” Kou Chen thought about it. “If I don’t do well on them, is he gonna drag me to jump into the ocean with him?”

“Fuck off, no way,” Huo Ran couldn’t stop laughing. “He wouldn’t do that, and wouldn’t do bad either.”

“So much confidence in me?” Kou Chen raised an eyebrow.

“Yup,” Huo Ran said.

After washing up and packing up their tent, they went to eat breakfast. Huo Ran stopped Kou Chen from eating too much, only until he was half-full.

The trail they were going on was in a U-shape. The scenery will be better than what they saw coming here, and they would even ride over a mountain, the tallest point in the area. There was an observation deck at the top, and many people liked to drive up to see it.

The scenery was great, but it would be harder than yesterday.

Apart from admiring the scenery, many things are like that, you’d learn it in elementary school. But Huo Ran only really had that feeling after going through the hell-like studying of their little study group.

Kou Chen had yesterday’s experience, so he was a lot more subdued today.

“Learned your lesson?” Huo Ran asked.

“To tell the truth.” Kou Chen stood up a little. “I woke up today and my ass was sore as hell, so I won’t be so crazy today.”

Huo Ran’s bike wobbled as he laughed, “Are your legs sore?”

“My legs are okay,” Kou Chen said. “I can bear that, but my ass…”

“It’ll get better when you’re moving,” Huo Ran said. “It’ll start going numb now, the real pain starts a couple days after we get back.”

“Is it the same for you?” Kou Chen asked.

“Not that bad, but it’s still there,” Huo Ran said. “I’ll be suffering too, I haven’t been biking in a while.”

“Have you been on this trail before?” Kou Chen asked again.

“Of course I have, a lot of times too,” Huo Ran thought about it. “My plan is to take you on the ones I’ve been on before, the easier ones, and then we can take on harder trails together…”

“I thought you said you weren’t gonna take me?” Kou Chen yelled happily. “It feels like I’m asking for martial arts secrets every time!”

Huo Ran chuckled.

There were quite a lot of people on the trail, and they’ll see people stopped at the side to rest. Kou Chen was in a great mood, waving to everyone he saw.

Like a little kid on their first field trip.

He even grabbed his phone and took a dozen pictures while Huo Ran stopped to help two girls fix their bikes.

When they were resting next, Huo Ran saw a photo of him fixing a bike chain with greasy hands posted online.

With the caption: The Great Huo fixed the girls’ bikes and refused when they asked for his number

Below that were comments from the others and their classmates.

Under Wu Xiaochen’s lead, everyone commented the same thing.

-what a cool guy

Kou Chen almost couldn’t breathe with how hard he was laughing as he leaned against a sign by the side of the road.

“I’m telling you, Kou Chen. We can wait right here and I’ll ask them for their numbers when they catch up.” Huo Ran took a few photos of Kou Chen. The sign said: 500m to the peak.

“I’ll beat you up!” Kou Chen was still laughing.

Huo Ran stared at the screen.

A lot of people liked to take photos under that sign. There was nothing special about the sign itself, but from that angle… In Huo Ran’s camera, you could see the slow incline that they rode up yesterday. It peeked through the fog from afar, going straight up. Most people had to take a bunch of breaks along the way, or just push their bikes up on foot.

But the view was amazing. Right behind the sign was an endless field of green reaching for the skies, the colour both bright and dark before turning inky at the horizon. You could also see the sparkle of the lakes in between.

Kou Chen stood there in that sight, laughing happily with his head tipped up.

Huo Ran took some more photos before sticking his phone on his bike and opening the camera.

“Selfie?” Kou Chen came over.

“Mhm,” Huo Ran nodded. How could Kou Chen be the only one to enjoy such a sight? He might get jealous looking at the photo in the future, so they have to take one together. “Get on your bike, and move back a little…”

Kou Chen got on his bike, looked at the bottom right of his screen and adjusted himself: “Here?”

“That’s good,” Huo Ran got into position himself. The angle was a little difficult, showing his entire face was too freaky, and couldn’t prove it was him if it was just an arm, so in the end he settled on showing half of his face. “Okay, I’m taking it.”

“Go, do you have to say one, two, three?” Kou Chen laughed. “It’s better if it’s more natural.”

Huo Ran put it on a timer.

When it took the photo, the two of them were looking forwards perfectly.

“That’s nice,” Kou Chen said. “I wanna do it too, showing half a face like that is so damn cool.”

“Because it’s my face,” Huo Ran didn’t hesitate to brag.

“My face looks good even with fish-eye lenses,” Kou Chen replied coolly. “You go over there.”

This proved that Kou Chen really was good at taking selfies. He showed the side of his face, and the sun traced his silhouette beautifully, light clinging to his eyelashes. He was looking at Huo Ran behind him, and Huo Ran was smiling back.

“How is it?” Kou Chen pointed at his own face.

“Handsome,” Huo Ran touched the tip of his nose.

“How is it?” Kou Chen then pointed at his smiling face.

“Too handsome.” Huo Ran nodded sincerely.

Kou Chen smiled and sent both photos to himself before posting them.

Heading to the top.

“That’s kinda shameless,” Huo Ran clicked his tongue. “Makes it sound like you’re going somewhere impressive.”

“What altitude is this?” Kou Chen asked. “Don’t you guys bring altimeters around everywhere?”

“Who needs an altimeter at a place like this?” Huo Ran said in exasperation. “837 metres right here! They don’t even write it at the top! Where do you think you are? Tibet?”

Kou Chen laughed as he pedalled forwards, “Then how do you know it’s 837 metres here?”

“I looked at the altimeter… Fuck,” Even Huo Ran started laughing himself. “This is the first time I brought an altimeter here.”

The two of them laughed crazily as they rode to the top of the mountain.

“Ah—” Kou Chen put one foot on the ground and yelled towards the field of green, “My legs are so sore—!”

Right as he finished, a few people walked out of the observation deck and yelled along: “Exactly—!”

Huo Ran his bike on the ground and walked into the pavilion. There were stairs leading down to the very edge.

Kou Chen followed him a moment later and stood beside him. He looked shocked as he nudged him. “Holy shit! Did you know, my legs were weak the whole way down, I almost tripped and fell into you…”

Huo Ran couldn’t hold in his laughter. There wasn’t even a mountain in front of them, but he still thought he could hear the echo.

“But no matter what,” Kou Chen completely ignored his laugh, kneading his leg as he said happily, “I reached my goal today.”

“Yeah,” Huo Ran nodded. He spread his arms and took a deep breath. “You’ve reached a lot of goals lately. You sprouted, passed finals, climbed a mountain, and even improved your relationship with your dad…”

“The last one isn’t really a goal,” Kou Chen said. Then he added after a moment of thought, “Okay, maybe it is. That’s a lot of goals then, and we’re still so young.”

“Exactly because we’re so… still so young,” Huo Ran said. “That we have so many goals.”

“Yeah.” Kou Chen spread his arms out as well. “You have to stay by my side.”

“You have to stay by my side too,” Huo Ran said.

“Always.” Kou Chen said.

“Yeah, always.” Huo Ran nodded.

END

Ch121 – Extra 1

After Kou Chen and Huo Ran “climbed to the peak”, they didn’t stay for too long, because their phones started to go off.

“Is it the group chat?” Kou Chen asked.

“It can only be the group chat,” Huo Ran said.

“We should change the name,” Kou Chen said, “To ‘One Lemon Tree’.”

Huo Ran laughed as he braked, stopping his bike off to the side to grab his phone.

It was indeed a group chat, but one that he’s never seen before.

A group chat called: “Isolate Them”.

“What is this?” Huo Ran tapped on it.

He knew everyone in it.

It was their entire family of seven, and the others have already sent pages of messages.

-when are you back? we’ll isolate you two if you’re late

“Damn.” Kou Chen laughed.

Huo Ran tapped his screen quickly.

-heading home, we’ll be back at 5, what’s wrong?

Xu Chuan sent:

-image!

Followed by a photo from Xu Zhifan.

The photo was of a bunch of hands grabbing Shuaishuai’s collar, and the dog was grinning happily at the camera.

-shuaishuai is in our hands, if you’re late we’re taking him

“They’re at my house?” Kou Chen started, “They never said anything about that.”

“What’s happening?” Huo Ran smiled and sent a voice message.

-uncle kou invited us over to celebrate us doing good on exams, and he said to not tell kou chen, it’s a surprise

-so we thought about it, don’t tell kou chen? sure, we’ll tell huo ran then, so it’s not too sudden

“Fuck,” Kou Chen stared at Huo Ran’s phone. “What’s my dad doing? He’s acting like a skipped a grade and got top marks on university entrance exams.”

“Your dad’s like a kid,” Huo Ran said. “He hasn’t gotten over it yet. Besides, he wanted to come with us but you said no.”

“You said no,” Kou Chen said. “You did, you said there’s no space left.”

“I…” Huo Ran glared at him before finally nodding, “Fine, I said no.”

“What’s he doing inviting everyone over so early?” Kou Chen asked.

Huo Ran looked through the group chat: “Apparently they’re going to the arcade first, and then he’s taking them to some club to eat and enjoy life…”

“Everything he likes,” Kou Chen tsked.

“Your dad’s making lemon duck for dinner, and he invited Old Yuan too,” Huo Ran looked at him.

“Ah,” Kou Chen patted the bike handles, “Let’s go, let’s go, hurry up, we have to get back before five.”

“I thought he already made it for you the day of?” Huo Ran pedalled off. To be honest, with all of Kou Chen’s praise about his dad’s lemon duck, he really did want to try it too. Just thinking about it made him swallow, especially knowing he’s gonna get it soon.

“I made it that day. I wanted to thank him for everything he’s done for me, I do know how to be grateful after all, but…” Kou Chen sighed. “I don’t blame him.”

“But what?” Huo Ran asked.

“He said it tasted terrible. In the beginning he pretended he liked it, but then he couldn’t bear it anymore. He said you have to do this and do that,” Kou Chen said. “Couldn’t he have saved me some face? I did make it after all, was it gonna kill him to keep it in?!”

“What happened after?” Huo Ran asked.

“He fixed it up and finished it,” Kou Chen said.

“No fight broke out?” Huo Ran laughed.

“Nope, I resisted the urge, didn’t Old Yuan say to communicate? So I held it in, mainly because…” Kou Chen paused and looked at Huo Ran, “It really did taste really bad, so sour it was bitter. Kou Xiao just licked it and said no, my dad was still the one that saved me the most face…”

Huo Ran couldn’t stop laughing: “So he’s making it himself this time?”

“Mhm,” Kou Chen hmphed in annoyance, but he quickly perked up. “I’m telling you, you’ll know when you try it. The two most successful things he’s ever done are one, have such a great son like me, and two, make that lemon duck.”

“…Oh,” Huo Ran nodded.

In terms of estimating their arrival time, Huo Ran was very experienced. He said they’ll be home by 5:00, and indeed, they were back in the city at 4:00, and then rode into Kou Chen’s neighbourhood at just over 4:30.

“Seriously,” Kou Chen grimaced as he pedalled. “I just realized the road into the neighbourhood is a fucking hill.”

“I realized the first time I came here,” Huo Ran laughed. “That’s the last bit of your energy, isn’t it?”

“Don’t you feel anything?” Kou Chen glanced at him.

“I’m okay,” Huo Ran said.

“I’m also… okay,” Kou Chen quickly took back the expression on his face and answered calmly.

Huo Ran laughed: “We’re almost there, take a hot bath tonight, and when you wake up tomorrow…”

“I’ll feel better?” Kou Chen asked.

“You’ll feel even more sore,” Huo Ran said. “It’s gonna take another day to feel better, mostly because you don’t bike often.”

Kou Chen was about to say something when he heard barks from up ahead, mixed in with the jingling sound of a bell.

They both looked over at the same time.

Shuaishuai barked as he ran over, but it was a very shocking sight.

Shuaishuai had a collar on, and trailing behind him was a leash. On the other end of the leash was a chair that was nearly falling apart, bouncing and rolling as it was dragged along the ground.

Huo Ran recognized that chair, it was from Kou Chen’s yard, a table and chair set. Kou Chen’s mom liked to on it and scroll through her phone.

And behind the poor chair was an even more shocking sight.

A whole group of people chasing after the dog.

“Shuaishuai!”

“Stop! Stupid dog!”

“Shuai—!”

“Stop! I’ll give you treats!”

Kou Chen startled and braked quickly, hopping off of his bike as he pointed at Shuaishuai: “Stop! Don’t come over here! Stop!”

Every time Shuaishuai sees Kou Chen he’s excited like it’s been 800 years since he’s left, but he still does listen to Kou Chen’s commands.

Probably because he’s had a crazy day with Xu Chuan and the others that he completed ignored Kou Chen this time as he flew towards him.

“Fuck,” Kou Chen pushed his bike away to the side, steadied himself with his legs apart, spread his arms, and pointed at Shuaishuai, “Listen to me you…”

Shuaishuai leapt into Kou Chen’s arms with the chair that was missing a leg now, knocking Kou Chen over because his legs were still too sore to steady himself properly.

Huo Ran also leapt off of his bike to pick up the chair and quickly detach the leash from it.

“Ah!” Wei Chaoren was the first one over, “Do you see this dog?!”

“How loyal of him…” Jiang Lei panted, “Holy shit, he’s like a fucking bear.”

“You didn’t close the gate?” Huo Ran tugged Shuaishuai back and off of Kou Chen by the collar.

“It was closed,” Xu Chuan said. “But he…”

“It’s broken now,” Hu Yi filled in.

Kou Chen’s yard was surrounded by a very beautiful and stylish wooden fence half a human tall. The gate was also made of wood, but everything was extremely sturdy. Huo Ran bumped into it once, and it didn’t budge an inch.

“I forgot to tell you,” Kou Chen got up off the ground. “You can’t tie him to a chair, he’ll even drag a table along with him…”

“It’s because he never ran around when we did it before,” Xu Zhifan said. “The gate… what do we do?”

“Just call someone to fix it,” Kou Chen looked at the chair. “This… is my mom home?”

“What about it?” Wei Chaoren immediately tensed up. “It’s not a Hermes chair or anything, right?”

“…My dad made it for her.” Kou Chen picked the chair up. “But it’s been years, so it’s probably loose in a bunch of places.”

“It’s a token of his love?” Xu Chuan paused. “Shit.”

“There’s gonna be seven sausages now, huh?” Huo Ran also felt the danger.

Kou Chen started laughing, “Shit, it’s not that serious. It’s fine if Shauishuai broke it, my dad brought him home in his very own arms, he’s never mean to him.”

That’s what he said, but back at home, before Kou Chen’s mom and dad returned, Kou Chen found some tools to fix the chair.

You had to admit that Kou Chen’s dad was a lot better at this than them kids. They all looked over the chair, but couldn’t find a hole to fix the leg.

“Has your dad studied carpentry?” Huo Ran asked.

“Not that I know of,” Kou Chen looked the chair leg over. “Can’t I just hold it in place and hammer a nail in from the outside?”

“How? It won’t be even,” Huo Ran said.

They all stared at the chair in silence.

“Forget it,” Kou Chen put the chair down. “My dad can fix it himself.”

Then he went inside and ran back out with a piece of paper to stick onto the chair.

It wrote:

Shuaishuai broke it!!!

The three exclamation marks showed Kou Chen’s strong desire to stay alive.

Back in the house, Shuaishuai was a lot more behaved. He lay in front of his bed contentedly.

“It’s just you guys?” Kou Chen looked around the room.

“Yeah, your parents went shopping,” Xu Zhifan said. “They’re picking up Old Yuan first and then buying the ingredients.”

“Wha…” Kou Chen paused. “Doesn’t Auntie Wang do the shopping? And why do they need Old Yuan with them, what’s going on?”

“Auntie Wang went too, I think your parents are only responsible for the lemon duck ingredients.” Xu Chuan said. “Splitting the work.”

“Okay then,” Kou Chen waved his hand. “I’m tired, gonna go shower.”

“Me t-” Huo Ran paused halfway through his sentence.

“Yeah, you’re showering too,” Jiang Lei pointed at him. “Go, go, go, the two of you, hurry up and shower!”

“You can shower in my room,” Kou Chen said. “I’ll use the guest bathroom.”

“Okay,” Huo Ran ran upstairs.

Kou Chen pointed at Jiang Lei: “You better not date, or else I’ll show you what revenge is!”

“Go right ahead.” Jiang Lei laughed and collapsed onto the couch.

Kou Chen’s dad really did return in an abnormally good mood.

They took Old Yuan shopping with them, and he wasn’t even angry to come home to see the broken chair as he entered the house merrily.

“It was really the dog who did it?” He asked Kou Chen.

“Ask them.” Kou Chen pointed at the other witnesses.

“Yes,” They all nodded in unison.

“We didn’t know he was so strong,” Xu Zhifan explained. “Tied him to the chair, and he either heard or smelled Kou Chen come back and we couldn’t catch up.”

“That’s true, he even broke the gate.” Kou Chen’s dad laughed again. “I doubt you can even catch up to a toy poodle when it’s seriously running.”

Kou Chen’s dad went into the kitchen with the ingredients, and the rest of them showed Old Yuan around the house with Kou Chen.

“This is my dad’s collection room, apart from dust, nobody can go in.” Kou Chen pointed at a room on the second floor.

“What does he collect?” Old Yuan asked.

“Dunno,” Kou Chen said.

“Probably dust?” Huo Ran said.

Old Yuan laughed and pointed to the room beside it, “Is this his study?”

“Yup, we all studied together in there,” Kou Chen said. “That was an experience.”

After showing Old Yuan around, they went back to the living room to chat, and Kou Chen snuck into the kitchen.

His dad was preparing the duck with his back facing him.

Kou Chen watched his movements, deciding that the secret probably wasn’t in how the duck was prepared, it should be in the flavouring when it’s actually being cooked.

“Spying on me?” Kou Chen’s dad turned around.

“I’m just passing by,” Kou Chen smiled. “It’s not like I can’t make it, why would I spy on you?”

“Do you really?” Kou Chen’s dad snorted without a care for his pride.

“Was it cooked?! Was it edible?! Did it give you food poisoning?!” Kou Chen said.

“Yes, yes, and no,” His dad answered. “It just tasted terrible, do you even have the nerve to call it lemon duck?”

“Yup,” Kou Chen said.

“Come here.” His dad grabbed a duck wing and beckoned him over with it. “I’ll teach you.”

No need.

I can learn on my own.

That would obviously be his answer in the past. Of course, in the past, his dad won’t have offered to teach him in the first place.

“Did I flavour it wrong?” Kou Chen walked over.

“You did everything wrong,” His dad said.

Old Yuan looked into the kitchen: “Kou Chen’s helping out?”

“I feel like they’re gonna start fighting any second now,” Xu Chuan laughed. “When we were played mahjong here, we were just afraid of his dad joining in. They would fight for sure.”

“Mahjong?” Kou Chen’s mom came over. “It’s still gonna be a while until the food is ready.”

“I’ll play if Xu Zhifan isn’t,” Wei Chaoren said immediately.

“How come?” Xu Zhifan smiled.

“Because there’s no point in us playing if you’re there,” Xu Chuan said. “You can watch.”

“How about it, Old Yuan?” Huo Ran asked.

“Alright.” Old Yuan rolled up his sleeves.

That made him look like a top-tier player.

But Old Yuan soon proved that he was indeed, a top-tier player. He might be Xu Zhifan’s secret master.

“Who wants to take Old Yuan’s place!” Huo Ran couldn’t bear it anymore and yelled.

“This round’s not over yet,” Old Yuan laughed.

“Can you give me some good tiles?” Huo Ran looked at Jiang Lei. “I can’t take this anymore, are you trying to get Old Yuan to give you extra marks if you fail next semester?”

Jiang Lei retorted: “He won even when I played the 1 Circle! Did I say anything?! Did I cry?!”

“Is Huo Ran crying?” Hu Yi was eating snacks off to the side. “Don’t cry, you’re not betting money anyways.”

“Just eat your cake, alright?” Huo Ran looked at him.

“I’ll play,” Kou Chen came out of the kitchen. “Go, Huo Ran, I’ll take care of Old Yuan.”

“Not even Chuan-ge can take care of him,” Huo Ran stood up. “Even Zhifan might not be able to.”

“I’ve been doing great lately.” Kou Chen sat down, “Keep an eye out for me.”

“Mhm.” Huo Ran moved behind him to lean his elbows on the back of the chair and look past his ear.

“Your dad doesn’t need any more help?” Old Yuan asked.

“He’s cutting and frying it, he doesn’t need me, I’ll go back later.” Kou Chen glanced at the kitchen while taking his tiles. “I have to learn this recipe today.”

“It’s great that you still want to learn,” Old Yuan said with a smile and looked at the rest of them. “I have to talk more in-depth with your parents next semester, first, the typical…”

“Typical what?” Jiang Lei immediately asked.

“The typical wild progression ones,” Old Yuan said.

They all started laughing, and Xu Zhifan raised his hand from behind Xu Chuan: “I disagree.”

“Doesn’t matter.” Xu Chuan tugged his arm back down.

“Let me know if there’s anything you want me to talk to your parents about,” Old Yuan said. “I can try to speak from my perspective.”

“Tell my mom to stop nagging,” Jiang Lei says. “I know I’m supposed to do things, but she always has to say something right before. Like she’s preparing to cook, and I’m about to go help her, but then she goes: ‘Hey Jiang Lei, can’t you get up and help me for once?’, I was just about to!”

They all laughed, and Xu Chuan nodded: “My mom’s the same.”

“Me grandma too,” Xu Zhifan laughed. “The timing’s exact, no wonder she’s my real grandma.”

Huo Ran listened to everyone complain about their parents being unreasonable with a smile, glancing at Kou Chen’s hand from time to time.

But his skills were just that, he couldn’t really tell if Kou Chen’s hand was good or bad. All he knew was that Kou Chen would reach back and flick his leg when he gets a good tile.

It was a great feeling, for the two of them to have their secret little interaction amongst the commotion of everyone else.

“That’s what I’m saying, my dad…” Wei Chaoren was currently talking about his dad’s behaviours.

Kou Chen suddenly pinched Huo Ran’s leg

In pain, Huo Ran retaliated by pinching the back of his neck.

Kou Chen wasn’t prepared, and his voice came out high-pitched: “I~~~~Win!”

It trembled too.

“Why are you singing?!” Xu Chuan startled.

Everyone burst out laughing.

Huo Ran buried his face in Kou Chen’s back and laughed hysterically.

“You better remember that.” Kou Chen turned to whisper.

“Mhm.” Huo Ran nodded.

I will. My box is almost full, I’ll have to make a second layer.

Ch122 – San-Ge’S Boba Shop 1

Kou Chen pushed open Huo Ran’s bedroom door, peeked in, and then retracted. He asked Huo Ran’s mom quietly: “How come he fell asleep again?”

“He just got up to use the bathroom,” His mom said. “Didn’t you tell him you were coming?”

“I did.” Kou Chen glanced at his phone. “I called him at 2:30, it’s 3:00 right now.”

“Don’t worry about it, just go in and wake him up,” Huo Ran’s mom smiled.

“I don’t want to.” Kou Chen frowned. “He gets really grumpy, I might end up starting a fight…”

Huo Ran’s mom couldn’t stop laughing, “Come sit down then, I just made juice, have some.”

Kou Chen nodded.

When Huo Ran’s mom went to get him juice, he stubbornly peeked into Huo Ran’s room again and chirped at him a few times. There was no reaction from Huo Ran, it’s like he was frozen in time hugging his pillow to sleep.

He looked at his phone. The others were already on the way, Jiang Lei somehow got Lu Huan and her roommates to hang out with him today…

I’ll let you sleep until I finish my juice.

Kou Chen glanced at Huo Ran, and then he turned around to accept the juice from his mom.

“Your summer wasn’t very fun, was it?” His mom asked. “You had to start school a month early.”

“It just feels like I’m never getting enough sleep.” Kou Chen rubbed his eyes. “We were planning to go out this morning, but we all slept in until noon.”

“That something something really long name study group of yours,” Huo Ran’s mom said, “Is it starting up again?”

“Yup,” Kou Chen smiled. “Huo Ran works hard at home, doesn’t he?”

“A lot more than before,” She said. “You guys have to balance work and rest too, I saw the picture he posted before, he lost weight.”

“It’s summer, you’re gonna lose some weight.” Kou Chen sat down on the couch and stretched. “Aren’t we resting today? We’re helping Jiang Lei get the downstairs class monitor.”

“Really? That silly boy Jiang Lei?” Huo Ran’s mom whispered.

“What he wants is the process,” Kou Chen whispered back.

She laughed: “Good for your guys. My generation all matured late, we didn’t even know about liking people at that age.”

Kou Chen chuckled.

After a glass of juice, he decided to get up and start a fight with the guy that he knew he liked at this age.

When pushed the door open, Huo Ran hadn’t even changed positions, he was still hugging the pillow.

“Huo Ran.” Kou Chen pulled the pillow out and threw it off to the side. “Get up, weren’t you already awake when I called you?”

“Mmm…” Huo Ran mumbled.

Kou Chen looked at the clothes he tossed at the head of his bed. He grabbed a t-shirt, then picked his arm up to put it on: “I’ll help you get dressed, we can save some time this way…”

Huo Ran’s brows furrowed, but he still didn’t open his eyes.

Kou Chen picked up his arm and got them through both sleeves, and then he grabbed his hair to get the shirt over his head. Huo Ran finally opened his eyes, grumbling: “Do you want to die?”

“Awake now?” Kou Chen pulled him up to sit on the bed and straightened his clothes. “Everyone else is already on their way, and we’re the farthest from there.”

Huo Ran looked at him.

There were flames in his eyes.

Kou Chen could almost hear it.

He glanced towards the living room, saw that Huo Ran’s mom had gone into the kitchen, and so he quickly leaned in and kissed the tip of Huo Ran’s nose: “Get up, you can hit me later.”

Huo Ran didn’t say anything and he didn’t move. He only stared at him.

Kou Chen stepped back and waited for him to explode, but Huo Ran still didn’t move.

He asked curiously: “You can sleep with your eyes open?”

“Fuck off,” Huo Ran finally spoke. “I’m trying my best not to blow up at you, you better not provoke me.”

“Okay.” Kou Chen shut his mouth and moved to sit at his desk.

Two seconds later, Huo Ran sighed and got out of bed, mumbling as he left the room, “So annoying, can’t even sleep properly, going out my ass, who cares about going shopping with a bunch of dumb guys and a bunch of dumb girls…”

It lasted all the way until he went into the bathroom, where the sound cut off.

Kou Chen breathed a sigh of relief and went to sit in the living room.

Huo Ran usually calmed down after washing up. His temper comes in hard and leaves just as fast.

Indeed, even his eyes were open wider when he left the bathroom a few minutes later, nice and shiny.

“Nice, I can buy the phone case Chaoren has now,” Huo Ran went into his bedroom to put on some sweatpants before coming back out. “We can go look for it, and…”

He leaned in to whisper in Kou Chen’s ear: “We can buy matching ones.”

“So we’ll be matching with Chaoren too?” Kou Chen said.

“Bullshit, not the exact one,” Huo Ran said. “I just think it looks really high tech, like you’re holding an activation card for a spaceship or something.”

“Can we go now?” Kou Chen stood up.

“Let’s go.” Huo Ran turned to yell at the kitchen, “Mom, we’re going out!”

“Have fun, darling,” Huo Ran’s mom replied.

Huo Ran sighed.

“Come on, darling.” Kou Chen put an arm around Huo Ran.

There were a lot of people on that street on the weekend, all young people. They could barely pick individual people apart as they stood there waiting for Kou Chen and Huo Ran.

“The girls are all so pretty these days.” Wei Chaoren lauded.

“Where’s your girl?” Hu Yi asked.

Wei Chaoren looked at him.

“Miss Zhou Ning-jiejie,” Hu Yi added.

Wei Chaoren pounced on Hu Yi: “You’re looking for a beating are you…”

“Calm down!” Jiang Lei looked at the two of them.

“You worry about yourself,” Xu Chuan said. “They don’t even know the word calm.”

“Jiang Lei’s not that calm either,” Lu Huan laughed. “He’s always bouncing down the stairs after class.”

“While yelling too,” another girl said.

“Me?” Jiang Lei looked shocked.

“Yup.” Everyone answered at the same time.

“Hey, why are they still not here?” Jiang Lei grabbed his phone and called Huo Ran. Right as he picked up he started yelling, “Where are you guys? We’re gonna leave without you!”

“By the fountain, I see you,” Huo Ran said. “Kou Chen says to not put your hand on your hip, it looks dumb.”

“They’re here.” Jiang Lei hung up and put his phone back in his pocket. “They’re at the fountain.”

“I see them.” Xu Zhifan stretched. “Come on, we’ll look around there first. Lu Huan, do you guys have anywhere you want to go?”

“Anywhere is fine,” Lu Huan said. “We just wanted to go out, going to class every day is suffocating.”

“We can check out the little trinket shop over there,” a girl suggested.

After Kou Chen and Huo Ran joined the ground, they all turned onto the street with the little trinket shop.

“I remember this place well,” Huo Ran whispered in Kou Chen’s ear. “You brought your photo thermos on this street, right?”

“Mhm, a little further in,” Kou Chen said. “But I won’t suggest they go there…”

“You better not!” Huo Ran said. “Absolutely not… It’ll ruin your image.”

“What image?” Kou Chen asked.

“Stop playing dumb, don’t you brag all the time because you want to look cool and imposing?” Huo Ran said. “Don’t suggest that thermos.”

“Mhm, don’t worry, I won’t,” Kou Chen said. “Mainly because the quality isn’t that good, my nose is already rubbed off from my dad using it all the time.”

“…Does he hold it in the same place every time?” Huo Ran stifled a laugh.

“He has to hold it with my face to him, so his thumb ends up right on my nose,” Kou Chen tsked. “Who knows what he’s thinking.”

“Then how does he feel about having to look at a Voldemort every day?” Huo Ran couldn’t stifle his laughter anymore.

“Dunno, I’ll interview him when I can,” Kou Chen said.

Huo Ran had pretty much given up on the rest of their tastes ever since that time from Operation: Lick the Sea. Now that they’re going to a little trinket shop again, he kept worrying that someone will pick up a seashell lamp and marvel at how pretty it is.

Good thing Lu Huan and the other girls still had taste. Everything they picked up was either very cute or very stylish, so they brought the whole group’s average up.

They looked around for a bit, and everyone ended up buying something, from keychains and charms and stuff. Jiang Lei bought two cat keychains that matched in colour but not style, and gave one to Lu Huan.

Taking in Kou Chen’s advice, it couldn’t be expensive, and it couldn’t be anything that made your advances too obvious.

Lu Huan quite liked it, and she accepted it with a smile. She bought a little pin for Jiang Lei.

“Does that count as a token of love?” Huo Ran asked Kou Chen quietly.

“My ass,” Kou Chen tsked. “Don’t think like Jiang Lei. She likes Jiang Lei, but not to that degree so she doesn’t want to owe him anything.”

“I guess Jiang Lei has to try harder still?” Huo Ran said. “Poor him.”

“We didn’t really have it easy either.” Kou Chen put an arm around him.

“Kou Chen,” One of the girls came up to them. “You and Huo Ran’s bracelets, did you buy them?”

“Handmade,” Kou Chen said.

“That’s so cool.” The girl leaned in to look. “Is it made out of an actual bike chain?”

“Mhm,” Kou Chen nodded.

“You fiends… Do you guys all have one?” Another girl asked.

“Us what?” Kou Chen raised an eyebrow.

“Our valley of the wicked,” Jiang Lei said. “The Seven Great Fiends from the Valley of the Wicked, that’s what Humanities 3 calls us.”

“Are we wicked?” Xu Zhifan asked.

“Not at all, we were kinda scared of you guys in the beginning,” Lu Huan said. “But Kou Chen was in my class before and I knew he was a good person, then we found out you guys are all good people.”

“Wanna know who came up with it?” Jiang Lei clicked his tongue.

“Yeah, who?” They all turned to him.

“Liang Mulan,” Jiang Lei snorted. “Who knows what she was thinking.”

“There’s people she doesn’t like in our class too,” Lu Huan sighed. “Who knows why she never gets along with us. I’m so jealous that you have Mr. Yuan.”

“You can’t compare Mr. Yuan to your typical teacher,” Kou Chen said. “You guys would still be jealous even without Liang Mulan.”

They all nodded in agreement.

“True,” Lu Huan nodded too.

“So do you guys all have one?” The girl from before asked.

“Jeez,” Lu Huan smacked her, “Are you dumb?”

“Hm?” She paused, “But they all have one with the letters on it?”

“Not this one,” Kou Chen looked at his wrist. “Only us two wicked Huo Ran and I have it.”

The girls all laughed, and Lu Huan pushed the girl aside to smack her again: “Stop asking!”

“It’s fine,” Kou Chen smiled.

After some more wandering around, Xu Zhifan suggested they find a place to sit.

“I thought Huo Ran wanted to get the phone case?” Hu Yi said.

“Let’s find a place to sit and drink something first, the girls have been eating the whole time,” Huo ran said. “Chaoren said the shop is all the way on the other side, it’s pretty far.”

“Let’s find a place,” Xu Chuan said, “There’s a boba…”

“Ah, hold on, a boba place, right?” Kou Chen raised his hand. “Wait, let me see if I have that damn card with me.”

“What damn card?” Jiang Lei asked.

“Chaoren and us got into a fight last time, right?” Kou Chen said. After seeing that everyone was looking at him weirdly, he said again, “Okay, okay okay, I got hit in the head last time.”

“It wasn’t that serious, actually,” Xu Zhifan said.

“Is that the point?” Kou Chen said. “That place, the boss forced us, and I have a card with hundreds on it. Come on, we can go wild with the food and drinks.”

The shop was busier than last time, since it was hot outside, and it was a weekend. The first floor was completely full, and there were also a couple of people sitting under the parasols outside. The second floor looked quieter, with only one person at the table on the balcony.

“Are there still seats upstairs?” Kou Chen smacked the card down on the counter and asked.

“Yes.” The female cashier looked up, “Ah, it’s you?”

She was the one that forced the card on him by her boss’ wish. Kou Chen remembers.

“You have a good memory,” Kou Chen said. “Is it because there was a bit too much money involved?”

The door behind the counter opened, and the skinny male waiter from that day walked out: “Not really, there isn’t a lack of people we do that to for one or two thousand… Mostly because you were a bit pitiful that day, it’s memorable. Our boss said to give you a cake platter for free if you come back.”

“Thank you,” Kou Chen nodded.

They all ordered their drinks and desserts, then headed upstairs.

“What kind of store is this?” Lu Huan was a little nervous, “Force? And that skinny guy looks like a gangster.”

“The boss isn’t here today,” Huo Ran whispered, “He’s the real gangster.”

There were quite a few tables free on the second floor. They wanted to sit out on the balcony, but they were all double tables and they had too many people. There was also already someone there.

“What’s that guy doing?” Jiang Lei was curious. “Is that a pile of salt on the table?”

“Huh?” Huo Ran looked over. That person didn’t order anything, and the table was empty apart from a decorative vase. In the middle was a layer of something like sand or salt or whatever.

“Sand art!” Lu Huan said with surety. ” I know, I’ve seen those shows before. I even tried it myself. He must be practicing, but it’s so simple, he doesn’t even have any tools…”

They all looked over, but the guy didn’t do anything with it. He just stood up and leaned against the railing to stare out.

A moment later, someone walked over with a tray of their drinks.

But the person wasn’t a waiter.

If a waiter served customers with a cigarette in their mouth they’d be fired for sure.

Kou Chen recognized him as the boss, the one everyone called San-ge.

“Your drinks.” San-ge walked over to them and set their drinks down one by one. “Sorry about this, I don’t have enough waiters.”

“Boss, you put up the no smoking sign yourself.” A lady in the corner said with a smile. She was probably a regular.

“My apologies.” San-ge put out his cigarette, then he took the no smoking sign off of the wall and set it aside.

Kou Chen took a sip of his bubble tea. This place was pretty casual, but their drinks weren’t. They taste amazing.

“Your food will be up shortly.” San-ge came back to their table.

“Thank you,” Huo Ran said.

“The ones who hit you last time,” San-ge flicked the table in front of Kou Chen, “Did you find them?”

“Didn’t bother,” Kou Chen looked at him.

“So you’re just letting them get away?” San-ge asked.

“Mhm,” Kou Chen nodded.

“Don’t leave when you’re done.” San-ge pointed at Kou Chen, and then he turned to leave.

“What does he mean by that?” Wei Chaoren stood up. The situation last time was because of him, and this time he was extra nervous.

“Dunno,” Kou Chen was a bit confused.

“Trying to sell you another card?” Huo Ran was surprised.

Ch123 – San-Ge’S Boba Shop 2

After San-ge went downstairs, they all froze there for a moment. Two seconds later, Kou Chen stood up and went towards the stairs.

“What?” Huo Ran quickly stood up as well.

“He’s gone,” Kou Chen said before turning to the balcony. “The cashier said he’ll give me a cake platter for free…”

“He went to buy cake?” Jiang Lei asked.

“No way, don’t they get it delivered in the mornings?” Xu Zhifan looked at him in disbelief. “What kind of business are they running if they have to go out and buy every order?”

Kou Chen didn’t say anything else as he leaned over the balcony railing to look down. San-ge had already walked out of the door and stopped by the flowers as he talked to someone on the phone.

“What happened?” Huo Ran came over as well. “Should we go down and ask?”

“It’s probably nothing,” Kou Chen frowned. “It thought he was kinda odd last time, and he helped us, so… Let’s leave it for now, don’t scare Lu Huan and the girls.”

But Lu Huan and the other girls probably weren’t scared at all. Huo Ran heard her exclaim behind him: “Wow, that’s amazing!”

He turned around and saw that the person at the table was really doing sand art. On the black table, with white sand, he drew two ants climbing a hill carrying leaves.

It wasn’t very detailed, seeing as it was sand after all, but the essence was there. You could even tell that the second ant was climbing very vigorously. It was cute.

“I’m taking a picture.” Lu Huan quickly grabbed her phone. “I’m looking at an expert right now.”

Kou Chen glanced at the man leaning against the railing. He was sitting right there earlier, so he should be the one that drew it. But right now he was only staring forwards, not even glancing in their direction.

Everyone crowded the table to take photos. The table wasn’t big, only taking four or five people to completely obscure it. Wei Chaoren had to wait until Hu Yi left to finally lean in with his phone: “Me too…”

Before he could finish, his hand shook, and then his phone landed directly on the table after flipping twice.

On top of the two ants.

They all froze, staring at the phone on top of the ants in silence.

“Shit,” Xu Chuan hissed, “Why are you shaking?”

“How would I know?!” Wei Chaoren carefully picked his phone up.

Then they fell into silence again.

The ants were gone.

Huo Ran hesitated for a moment before poking at the white stuff on the table and bringing his finger up to his mouth to lick.

“It’s salt,” He said.

“Who asked?” Kou Chen looked at him. He really wanted to reach out and feel his forehead to see if he has a fever or not.

“Chaoren ruined his art,” Hu Yi whispered. “It is his, right?”

Kou Chen turned to the man, and saw that he had also turned around to look at them. He spoke without thinking: “Uncle…”

Huo Ran poked his waist and hissed: “Are you blind?!”

Kou Chen realized that the man was only around thirty, so he quickly corrected himself: “Ge, is this… your art? The ants.”

“Mhm,” The man nodded.

“Sorry,” Huo Ran said. “We accidentally… turned into… a desert.”

The man didn’t say anything.

“Can it be fixed?” Xu Chuan asked.

“No,” He said.

“What do we do?” Lu Huan was a little worried.

“Run away,” The man said, “Or else the boss is gonna make you put another 800 on the card when he’s back.”

“What did you say?” Kou Chen turned around.

The man smiled.

Right when Kou Chen was about to say something, the man stepped over.

“It’s fine.” The man casually dragged a hand through the salt, and then grabbed some more to sprinkle on. After a few swipes and pokes, there were two more salt ants. They were a little different than before, making a motion like they were bowing at the end of a performance.

“You can just get a refund on the card.” He dusted his hands and left the balcony.

“Amazing,” Jiang Lei stared at the table.

“You can get a refund on the card,” Hu Yi caught the main point. “Do you think that’s true?”

“Whatever,” Kou Chen raised his eyebrow. “Just come eat a few times and it’ll be gone.”

They all returned to their table, and not longer after they sat down, the skinny waiter came up. On his tray were the desserts they ordered, as well as a beautiful cake platter.”

“This one is free,” The waiter said.

“Where’s your boss?” Kou Chen asked.

“He’s waiting for someone outside,” He said. “Why?”

“Nothing.” Kou Chen took a sip of his milk tea.

The waiter turned and left.

“Ah, if only I was sitting on a beach right now.” Jiang Lei leaned back and stretched out his legs. “The breeze, the waves, the sun… Wasn’t that how we felt last time?”

“When should we go again?” Xu Chuan asked. “We said we were gonna go this summer, but all we ended up doing was sleep. Now that that’s over, it’s back to class.”

“There’s still a couple of days before school officially begins,” Xu Zhifan said. “We can go then, to relax. There’s no way we’ll have time during winter break, and if we put it off it’ll be summer next year.”

“We can go somewhere closer,” Hu Yi said. “My dad and… that woman, they went once. By train. And the scenery on the way is great, we can go too. He even posted a travel guide on his Moments.”

“Good for you, Carrot,” Kou Chen laughed. “It won’t make you feel uncomfortable?”

“In the past I would’ve.” Hu Yi glanced at the girls. They weren’t paying attention to their conversation, they were all gathered at the window taking selfies. Hu Yi spoke quietly, “But I’m better now. It’s not worth it to be upset over him. Old Yuan talked to me, and earnestly told me a bunch…”

“You’ve thought it through?” Huo Ran asked.

“Not completely,” Hu Yi said. “But listening to him can’t go wrong.”

“Blindly following,” Xu Chuan tsked.

“It’s Old Yuan after all, I can act like a braindead fan this one time,” Hu Yi said. “My mom’s bringing it to court, I think that’s good. She’s not young anymore, and she should still be able to enjoy life… Keep her in mind if you know any single men.”

“I really do,” Kou Chen smacked his thigh. “My dad’s friend. They always work out together, I can ask.”

“Do you have a picture?” Hu Yi asked.

“Let me see,” Kou Chen scrolled through his phone. “Do you have a photo of your mom? Send it to me.”

Off to the side, Huo Ran couldn’t stop laughing. He didn’t even know how the topic suddenly shifted to finding Hu Yi’s mom a boyfriend.

“Don’t rush it,” Xu Zhifan said. “Ask them first, and if they’re looking for a partner, then you can have them meet up.”

“Of course,” Kou Chen was still scrolling. “Don’t worry about it.”

Hu Yi’s mom was quite pretty, and she looked young. Kou Chen’s dad’s friend also looked like an obviously successful man.

“I think they suit each other,” Jiang Lei said.

“Yup,” They all nodded.

“To think we’ll be playing matchmaker at eighteen,” Huo Ran sighed. “Amazing.”

“There’s nothing we can’t do!” Wei Chaoren smacked the table.

“Tell me when they get divorced,” Kou Chen looked at Hu Yi. “I’ll ask him first.”

“Okay.” Hu Yi thanked him.

As they were deep in conversation, they heard a noise from the stairs.

San-ge walked up and looked around: “Nice, there’s nobody else here.”

Before Kou Chen could understand what was happening, the guy grabbed a chair and sat in it with is arms crossed, facing the stairs.

They all looked over as well.

“Get up there!” That was the skinny waiter’s voice.

Then someone walked up the stairs, followed by a second person, and a third…

“Fuck,” Kou Chen looked at those people, and then he said with a hand over his mouth, “It’s the people from that day, right.”

“Yes.” Wei Chaoren recognized them at a glance and clenched his fists.

After the three people got to the middle of the room, San-ge cleared his throat and looked at them.

“What’s your name again?”

“Second Kou.” Kou Chen said his dad’s name without hesitation.

Everyone, including San-ge and the skinny waiter looked at Kou Chen.

“Okay,” San-ge nodded. “Do I need to call you Ge as well?”

“No need,” Kou Chen said. “Just call me Little Kou.”

“Kou-ge,” San-ge nodded. “How much did the brain stitches cost?”

“…It was my scalp,” Kou Chen reminded him.

“How much?” San-ge asked.

“Dunno, a couple hundred?” Kou Chen looked at Huo Ran.

Before Huo Ran could answer, San-ge raised his hand and pointed at the one that hit Kou Chen that day. “Let’s make it a thousand. Cash or money transfer, right now.”

The guy looked pissed, but he didn’t dare do anything. His face was almost purple trying to hold it in.

“Pay up!” The waiter nudged purple-face.

The Seven of them and the girls all froze. They never expected something like this.

Purple-face grit his teeth and walked to Kou Chen, getting his phone out. “Your QR code.”

Kou Chen wanted to say there was no need, but he didn’t know what would end up happening if he did.

He didn’t want to cause trouble. Right now he was a good kid trying his best, even though he can’t make it into Peking University, he still had to make it look like he can.

So he took his phone out.

He stared at his phone for a while before turning to Huo Ran.

“Tap ‘Recieve Payment Through QR Code,” Huo Ran whispered.

“Oh,” Kou Chen tapped it.

Purple-face scanned it and transferred a thousand bucks to him, and then he looked at San-ge: “There! I gave him the money!”

“Yell at me again,” San-ge said calmly.

Purple-face shut up.

“Apologize to him,” San-ge said. “All of you guys together.

Purple-face glanced at his buddies, and they all cleared their throats.

“Qing-er,” San-ge looked at the skinny waiter. “Start them off.”

“Ready, set—” He raised his hand and then brought it down, “Go!”

It was clearly a very serious and tense atmosphere, but the girls still couldn’t hold in their laughs.

Lu Huan was obviously afraid but wanted to laugh at the same time, so she immediately put her head down on the table and buried her face in her arms.

The other girls did the same.

The guys all had to hold it in. Hold it in, they can’t laugh.

Good thing purple-face and the others were cooperative. They each mumbled their own I’m sorry, we’re sorry’s…

“Alright, get out.” San-ge waved his hand.

Purple-face and the others turned and flew down the stairs like their butts were on fire, disappearing completely within a few seconds.

“The card wasn’t for nothing now, right?” San-ge stood up.

“Thank you, “Kou Chen said.

“No refunds,” San-ge said.

“…I won’t,” Kou Chen said.

“Alright, you guys enjoy your food.” San-ge and the skinny waiter went down the stairs.

“Holy shit,” Xu Chuan finally broke and put his head down to laugh with the girls.

The rest of them finally snapped out of it, and they all started laughing.

“That guy’s impressive,” Wei Chaoren sighed after he was done laughing. “He found them in just a few minutes?”

“I think he already did,” Jiang Lei said. “He just made one call, right?”

“What’s up with the boss?” Xu Zhifan asked.

“Dunno, did you guys see the scar on his face?” Kou Chen said. “It’s clearly an old one, maybe he’s a retired mob boss or something.”

“And now you’re the mob boss’ big brother,” Huo Ran said.

Kou Chen clicked his tongue: “Okay! It’s over now! Let’s talk about where we’re gonna go!”

When they finished their food and drinks and headed downstairs, the skinny waiter and the female cashier weren’t there anymore. Only San-ge and the sand art guy were at the counter.

“I want four of that yellow cake.” Kou Chen went over.

“It’s good, right?” San-ge said. “Girls all love it.”

“Mhm.” Kou Chen nodded. As he watched San-ge pack the cakes up, he asked, “My card…”

“No refunds,” San-ge said.

“I wasn’t gonna ask that,” Kou Chen said. “Can other people use my card?”

“Like who?” San-ge asked.

“How would I know?” Kou Chen paused.

“Then why are you asking?” San-ge said.

The guy sitting on the stool behind him turned his head to laugh.

“I’m just asking, can I give it to a classmate or friend to use?” Kou Chen asked.

“Nope.” San-ge’s answer was clear.

“Oh,” Kou Chen nodded. It was his first time being forced into something like this, and it was also his first time seeing a gift card that was fucking limited to one person.

“Your boyfriend can use it.” San-ge gave him the packed-up cakes. “It’s a couples’ card.”

Kou Chen stared at him in shock before quickly turning around.

“They left already,” San-ge said.

Kou Chen saw that the girls were already waiting outside, so he turned back around and picked up the cakes.

“Have a good day,” San-ge said.

“Ah,” Kou Chen nodded and left.

After giving the cakes to Lu Huan and the other girls, they continued down the street.

Kou Chen and Huo Ran were at the very back, listening to the others talk and occasionally following them inside different stores.

“I always hated going shopping,” Huo Ran said. “Now, maybe I’ve been inside for too long, but I’m in a great mood right now.”

“Mhm,” Kou Chen nodded.

Huo Ran looked at him: “I see you’re in a really good mood too? You’ve been smiling ever since we left the boba place.”

“Mhm,” Kou Chen smiled.

“No way,” Huo Ran said. “You’re a rich young master, why are you so happy over a thousand bucks?”

“What?” Kou Chen looked at him, and then he laughed, “Oh, it’s not because of that.”

“Then what?” Huo Ran asked.

“The boss, that San-ge,” Kou Chen put an arm around him and leaned in to whisper, “He said that the card is a couples’ card, my boyfriend can use it.”

“Your boyfriend is…” Halfway through his sentence, Huo Ran’s eyes went wide. “Holy shit? He could tell?”

“Mhm.” Kou Chen smiled widely.

“How?” Huo Ran whispered.

“How would I know?” Kou Chen was still smiling. “Maybe because we just go too well together that it’s obvious.”

“Ah,” Huo Ran looked at him.

Kou Chen ignored him, still grinning happily.

Everyone else turned around.

“What’s up with you?” Xu Zhifan asked.

“I’m happy,” Kou Chen said. “I’m really happy, being with you guys.”

“Lies,” Xu Chuan whispered.

“Lies,” Jiang Lei also whispered.

“Exactly,” Hu Yi said.

“Thanks,” Kou Chen laughed. “Come on, let’s go. We can have seafood for dinner, the place behind this street.”

“Yes—!” They all agreed eagerly.

Ch124 – The Days Of University Entrance Exams 1

Huo Ran thinks he was woken up by the cold. When he opened his eyes, he saw that his blanket was pulled to the side, and everyone else in the dorm was washing up.

His grumpiness at being woken up had long since been eradicated by the pulling of his blankets every day. He sighed and tugged them back up. The others weren’t done washing up yet, he should be able to sleep for a couple more minutes…

The blanket was pulled away again.

The culprit was Jiang Lei. He was standing by his bed brushing his teeth and glaring at him.

“Ah…” Huo Ran groaned.

“Get up,” Jiang Lei said. “After breakfast we’re… we’re studying English today, right?”

“Yup,” Hu Yi nodded.

“Huo Ran, you keep oversleeping.” Jiang Lei looked seriously.

“Okay, okay, I got it,” Huo Ran sat up and ran a hand through his hair. After the strands were all standing on end, he slowly got out of bed. “I’m up.”

He had nowhere to vent his grumpiness. The Seven of them all agreed to wake up half an hour earlier, and the first person up was in charge of waking everyone else by pulling their blankets away or taking their pillow or something.

It was not just because they had to get up and study, it was because of pressure from the lunatics in other dorms.

They weren’t the only ones waking up early, nor were they the first ones to do it. All of the third years’ schedules were pushed up. As they were washing up, other people were already heading to the field with their books.

They didn’t even eat breakfast first, they’ll go to the cafeteria after studying to get something to eat on the way to class. And that was only because the teachers were there forcing them to eat something. Sometimes Old Yuan would even buy a bunch of food and give them to the people who didn’t eat.

Before, Huo Ran didn’t really understand the lives of third years, but now he knew. His middle school classmates at normal high schools were already getting their acts together, and he, as a slacker in a top school surrounded by straight-a students, had to follow in their footsteps.

But it was so tiring.

After washing up and leaving to wait for the other guys, he couldn’t help but close his eyes for a moment.

Kou Chen’s ice-cold fingers flicked his nose, making him open his eyes.

“Come on,” Kou Chen nodded.

Huo Ran quite admired Kou Chen, actually. He always went to sleep so late, but he still woke up early in good spirits. He even had the time to wash his hair in the mornings.

He followed behind Kou Chen and pushed his forehead into his shoulder, walking forwards with his eyes closed.

“We’re going down the stairs,” Kou Chen said.

“Mhm,” Huo Ran hummed.

“When did Old Yuan say parent-teacher conferences are?” Wei Chaoren asked.

“The day after tomorrow,” Xu Zhifan said. “The second last time before exams.”

“I think my mom’s even more nervous than me,” Jiang Lei said. “Didn’t Old Yuan tell them to not keep asking about it? Stuff like how’s your studying going, how do you feel, are you tired, stuff like that…”

“Yeah,” Xu Chuan said. “What? Did your mom call you?”

“No, she doesn’t even text me,” Jiang Lei said. “When I called home yesterday, my dad said my mom started texting him instead, and he got over a hundred messages the other day.”

“Looks like your mom is very creative?” Hu Yi said.

They all laughed at that.

“My sister’s in the area this afternoon, she said she’ll treat us to lunch,” Kou Chen said. “Are you guys interested?”

“Yes!” They all nodded.

Even though it was still a long while before the countdown reached the double digits, they still had to study hard. But that was nothing in the face of good food.

Old Yuan was there early. He would normally always be there for morning self-study no matter what class it is. He goes around the room to check everyone over, and it was because of that that he discovered the people with fevers.

“It’s getting warmer now,” Old Yuan said as he walked around. “But your bodies really aren’t too healthy because you wake early, sleep late, and don’t eat properly. So please take care of yourselves, it’s easy to catch a cold or fever. Understood?”

“Understood—” Everyone replied.

“Has everyone told their parents about the conference soon?” Old Yuan walked up to the lectern. “Pause for a minute, I have something to say.”

Everyone looked up at him.

“Do you still remember the time I had you guys write letters last year?” Old Yuan said.

“Yes!”

“Of course we do, everyone was so jealous of us.”

“I’ll never forget it.”

“What is it, Old Yuan?”

“I said the letters will be burned after they’re read,” Old Yuan said. “But I lied, I didn’t burn them… Mainly because I couldn’t find a place to burn so many of them…”

The classroom erupted in laughter.

“What? Are you gonna give them back to us?” Kou Chen asked.

“That’s not it,” Old Yuan said. “Actually, I always thought about giving the letters to your parents at graduation, so they can see what their own child wrote after seeing another’s.”

The room slowly went silent.

“I was thinking about doing it after exams,” Old Yuan said. “But I know many of you are under a lot of pressure right now. Some of it is from your parents, so maybe I can give them the letters now, and have them think about how they felt reading their letters last year… In a way, it should move them, and they’ll bring down those unreasonable expectations they have of you, giving you a more relaxed and comfortable environment.”

Under one person’s lead, they all started to clap.

“But your thoughts may have changed in the past year, if anyone doesn’t want their parents to see their letter, you can let me know,” Old Yuan said. “Everyone take your letters back first and write your names on it, and either give it back to keep it.”

Huo Ran leaned back in his chair and looked at Kou Chen: “Are you gonna give yours to your dad?”

“Yup.” Kou Chen took a piece of chocolate from his pocket, unwrapped it, and put it to his mouth. “I think it’s perfect for my dad to read a year later, so he can see exactly my thoughts from a year ago.”

“Yeah, I want my parents to see mine too.” Huo Ran accepted the chocolate. “I think some things are kinda embarrassing to say face to face.”

“Ah…” Two rows behind them, Tang Wei sighed and put her head down on her desk.

“What’s wrong?” Huo Ran looked at her.

“Seriously, you two?” Tang Wei clenched her fist. “Do you have to eat chocolate like that? So… provocative…”

Huo Ran turned and started laughing a little embarrassedly.

“Here.” Kou Chen gave Tang Wei a piece. “It has hazelnut in it, it’s really good.”

“You’re not gonna feed me?” Tang Wei picked up the chocolate and looked at Kou Chen cheerfully.

“Restrain yourself,” Kou Chen said.

Tang Wei burst out laughing: “Thank you, my God.”

“It’s not like you don’t eat my snacks all the time,” Kou Chen said. “How fake of you.”

“We gotta cherish our remaining days as classmates,” Tang Wei suddenly lamented. “After exams, we’ll all go our separate ways. Who knows if we’ll ever see each other again? Even our messages will be replaced by new friends…”

Tang Wei was right, there were only a couple of middle school classmates Huo Ran still had contact with. Seeing their posts didn’t feel the same anymore, and sometimes even leaving a like felt weird.

Their Third Year Humanities 1 group chat was also the liveliest out of all of them. The one with The Seven of them was always very lively.

Huo Ran tapped on the group chat and typed something.

-cherishing our friendship, it has to last forever

“What are you up to?” Jiang Lei looked at his phone and then at them.

“What?” Kou Chen asked as he got his phone out.

Huo Ran smiled.

Xu Zhifan followed up with his own message.

-raising a glass to us brothers

Everyone else immediately followed. He didn’t even know how this habit started, it was like they were all bored out of their minds.

-raising a glass to us brothers

-raising a glass to us brothers

-raising a glass to us brothers

Kou Chen also sent it, and Huo Ran followed him with a smile. Right as he hit send, the vibe changed. Xu Chuan was the first.

-what kind of brothers are you two?

-what kind of brothers are you two?

-what kind of brothers are you two?

Hu Yi ended up breaking the chain.

-shameless

Huo Ran couldn’t stop laughing. He whispered to Kou Chen: “Have you thought about it?”

“What if we don’t get into the same school?” Kou Chen said.

Huo Ran didn’t say anything.

“I doubt we can,” Kou Chen said. “Your grades were always better than mine.”

Huo Ran quickly reached out and touched his face with a finger.

“But as long as we’re in the same city,” Kou Chen said. “I talked about it with my dad, I’ll wherever you go, he doesn’t care.”

“And then he’ll buy you a house wherever you end up, right?” Huo Ran asked.

“He keeps bringing it up, but I said no,” Kou Chen whispered. “I think he just has too much money and is trying to burn through it, there’s something wrong with him.”

“Don’t you always burn through your money too?” Huo Ran said. “Isn’t that how your family does things?”

“Fuck off,” Kou Chen laughed. “Anyways, you don’t have to worry about it. We’ll be together for sure, and then we can take breaks together and come back… Sounds great.”

“Want to study?” Huo Ran suddenly got a burst of motivation and he sat up straight.

“Hit me with it,” Kou Chen said.

“How hard?” Huo Ran narrowed his eyes.

“However you want,” Kou Chen said. “Hit me hard.”

“Alright then,” Huo Ran flipped open his book. “Number one…”

All of their parents arrived for the conference, even the grandparents, in fear of missing anything important.

The parent-teacher conference this time wasn’t in the classroom, the parents were brought to the laboratory building, into an empty room.

Kou Chen dragged Huo Ran along to listen in, but Old Yuan caught them and shooed them away.

But they still heard a little bit.

“We’re at the last stretch now. The children all put a lot of pressure on themselves already. They have their own goals and expectations, and they know what they can do better than you. Especially when you put your own expectations and goals onto them under the guise of care,” Old Yuan said. “You’ve seen these letters before, you’ve read one from someone else’s child. Today, I want you to read the letter from your own child. A year ago, you were moved and pushed to think because of another child, and someone else was moved because of your child. Today, you will do the same with your own child.”

“The letters don’t have much to do with university entrance exams themselves, but today’s conference does. I have two goals, one, to give them a more relaxed environment before exams, and two, to give them an understanding attitude after exams. If they achieved their goal, please keep them and not bring it up. If they do not achieve their goal, please give them your comfort and encouragement.”

On the way back to class, Kou Chen went into the shop for some snacks, and he headed back with a pocketful of them. He sighed, “Do you think my dad will cry?”

“Reading your letter?” Huo Ran asked.

“Yeah,” Kou Chen nodded.

“Probably.” Huo Ran thought back to the contents of Kou Chen’s letter. “Maybe out of anger.”

“Fuck,” Kou Chen looked at him, “Watch what you’re saying.”

“It’s pretty moving,” Huo Ran immediately corrected. “I thought it was really cute when I read it. Very moving.”

“My dad even asked me what I wrote back then,” Kou Chen tsked. “I didn’t want to tell him. We couldn’t talk about this stuff then, we’ll start fighting for sure.”

“It’s different now.” Huo Ran stretched. “It’s been a year… We’ve changed a lot, I even grew three centimetres…”

“When did you measure that?” Kou Chen asked.

“Last week? Chuan-ge wanted comfort so I followed him to the infirmary,” Huo Ran said.

“Maybe Chuan-ge wants to return to his alma mater and work in the infirmary and become Tao Rui’s coworker…” Kou Chen said. “He’s always in there.”

“Zhifan goes too,” Huo Ran said. “To be a disturbance.”

“Tao Rui must be sick of them,” Kou Chen laughed and patted his shoulder. “Good thing you have me! Or you’d probably be going with them.”

“Not necessarily.” Huo Ran thought about it. “Maybe to Miss Chen’s office.”

Right as Kou Chen was about to speak, they heard Tao Rui’s voice from behind him. She sounded worried: “Call the ambulance, I’ll be right there!”

They both froze, and when they turned around they saw Tao Rui and another nurse running towards the class building. A couple of students were with them too, carrying a first aid kit.”

“They’re from Sciences 4.” Kou Chen recognized them and called out, “What’s going on?!”

“Someone in our class passed out!” Someone yelled back.

“Holy shit,” Kou Chen paused and looked towards the building. He saw that there were already people on the third floor, and he yelled, “Do you need help?”

“No need!” Tao Rui shouted. “You two go back to class! Why are you out here?”

“Okay!” Kou Chen replied. He looked over again, “I think they’re bringing someone out.”

“Yeah,” Huo Ran squinted at it. “I think so… I was thinking that our year is pretty resilient, nothing’s happened so far.”

“Everyone’s under so much pressure,” Kou Chen said. “Even at my old school, shit as it was, there were third years overworking themselves to the point of collapsing… Do you need to get your eyes checked?”

“No?” Huo Ran looked at him. “Why?”

“You were squinting,” Kou Chen said.

“Was I?” Huo Ran was a little surprised.

“You didn’t realize?” Kou Chen glanced at the bulletin board behind them and pointed at a notice, “Can you read that?”

Huo Ran turned around, and two seconds later he cried: “It’s blurry! Fuck! My vision is going bad? I can’t see! It’s blurry!”

“You can’t read a single word?” Seeing his worry, Kou Chen squeezed his shoulder. “Even if your vision is going bad it’s nothing, how many people in our class don’t wear glasses? Leilei’s eyesight is already 200 degrees.”

“He was always like that, he just started wearing glasses this year!” Huo Ran stared at him. “Notice! There have been younger students taking advantage of the free meals for third years program…”

“See, you can read it,” Kou Chen said.

“But it’s still blurry! I wasn’t like this before,” Huo Ran looked anxious. “I don’t want to be nearsighted.”

“Maybe your eyes have just been tired lately,” Kou Chen said. “Being nearsighted is nothing to be scared of anyways…”

“I don’t look good in glasses,” Huo Ran said. “I’ve tried protective glasses before, and I looked really bad, like a fake scholar, like I stole them.”

Kou Chen looked at him for a while, before finally saying: “Just because of that?”

“What else?” Huo Ran frowned.

“Fuck,” Kou Chen laughed. “Seriously. Wait here!”

“What?” Huo Ran looked at him.

Kou Chen grabbed his phone and called Kou Xiao.

“What? Your dad didn’t go to the parent-teacher conference?” Kou Xiao yelled as soon as she picked up. “He left an hour ago!”

“He’s here, he’s here, I’m not calling because of that,” Kou Chen said.

“Then what?” Kou Xiao asked. “Don’t wanna go to class? I’ll sign you out.”

“No, can you buy me some reading lamps?” Kou Chen said. “My vision is getting kinda blurry.”

“How many?” Kou Xiao asked.

“Eight,” Kou Chen said.

“I’ll have Old Yang bring them over tonight, keep an eye on your phone,” Kou Xiao said.

“Mhm.” Kou Chen hung up.

“Reading lamps?” Huo Ran looked at him.

“Yup, one for each of us.” Kou Chen put an arm around him. “We don’t really pay attention to that when we’re study at night… With the lamps, it’ll get better…”

“Mhm.” Huo Ran suddenly felt like tearing up. His emotions were prone to fluctuating lately, and always towards wanting to cry.

“Our Ranran won’t be nearsighted,” Kou Chen said.

“Don’t be so cheesy,” Huo Ran said coolly.

“Besides, our Ranran looks good no matter what, very handsome…” Kou Chen continued.

“Oh, fuck off,” Huo Ran said.

Ch125 – The Days Of University Entrance Exams 2

Huo Ran wasn’t going nearsighted. In order to let him drop the idea of “I look bad in glasses”, Kou Chen dragged him to the infirmary.

“What is it?” Tao Rui looked at the two of them. “Stomachache or headache?”

“None.” Kou Chen sat down and smiled. “Chuan-ge always has something hurting when he comes, right?”

“That I can’t say, I have to keep it a secret,” Tao Rui said with a smile. “Which one of you needs my services?”

“Huo Ran,” Kou Chen pointed at him. “What can happen to me? He’s been working too hard lately, he thinks he’s going blind.”

“I’m not…” Huo Ran quickly denied it.

“His vision is blurry,” Kou Chen. “Jie, can you examine him?”

“That’s it?” Tao Rui smiled. “You don’t even need me for it, you can do it yourselves… Huo Ran, grab a chair and sit over there, facing the chart.”

“Okay,” Huo Ran sat.

Tao Rui grabbed a little stick and went straight to the bottom rows: “Can read this?”

“…Yeah,” Huo Ran stared at it. “But it’s blur-”

“What do you mean going blind then?” Tao Rui laughed. “You have great vision, your eyes are just tired. It’s nothing.”

Tao Rui checked both of his eyes, and they were still miles away from nearsightedness. On the other hand, Kou Chen also wanted to join in on the fun, but he found out that his vision was slightly impaired.

“You can go to an optometrist and see if you need glasses, but it’s not serious, you’ve just been straining them,” Tao Rui said. “But you need to keep it in mind. Take some breaks and look around when you’re studying out on the field in the morning.”

“I should look good in glasses.” Kou Chen picked up Tao Rui’s pair that was on the table and put it on. “This face of mine…”

“Don’t stretch out my glasses!” Tao Rui smacked him. “If you don’t want to go back to study you can rest here, or I can write a note so you can go back to the dorms?”

“It’s fine, we’re working hard right now.” Kou Chen raised his head, standing firm.

“Good luck then, kids,” Tao Rui encouraged.

“Thank you,” Huo Ran nodded back at her.

After chatting a little with Tao Rui, the two of them left. Not long after, they saw Xu Chuan walking lively towards the infirmary.

“Look at that guy,” Huo Ran pointed him out. “Look at that guy!”

Kou Chen laughed loudly: “Chuan-ge’s always in a good mood after talking to Tao Rui.”

“Obviously, talking to us, to Old Yuan, to his parents,” Huo Ran said, “it’s all different. You’d feel a lot better after talking to a warm and pretty jiejie.”

“Wanna talk to Kou Xiao?” Kou Chen asked.

“I don’t think Kou Xiao and ‘warm’ are very synonymous?” Huo Ran said.

Kou Chen burst out laughing.

Old Yuan’s parent-teacher conference seemed to be very effective. He didn’t know about their other classmates, but The Seven of them’s parents were all very cooperative, cutting down on their useless questioning.

They only stuff their bags full of food on the day they went home, with no word about studying or exams.

After all of their studying along with weekly tests, monthly tests, and pop quizzes whenever the teachers felt like it, that was a very relaxing time for them.

Studying for university entrance exams was indeed a great way to lose weight. Even with the school and their family trying their best to feed them, everyone was noticeably thinner day by day. Every day Old Yuan would encourage them to rest and relax, but the pressure inside each one of them wouldn’t be relieved that easily. As long as there were still days left until exams, they couldn’t relax.

The week before exams, the school was a lot laxer with the third years. They could do whatever they want, and go wherever they want. Go to class, stay in the dorms, and even go home.

The Seven of them kept up their schedule, staying in class every day. The teachers weren’t teaching much material by now, but they still had many questions, and the classroom was still the best place for them to study.

Besides, they were used to working together as a big group. Apart from Xu Zhifan, they were all ex-slackers or current half-slackers, and it was hard for them to maintain the pace for too long without encouragement from the others.

“There’s only a few days left.” Xu Zhifan lay on his bed hanging his head off the side. He says it feels nice to get some blood flowing to his head when he’s tired. “I’m not gonna study anymore.”

“Didn’t Old Yuan tell us to all sleep at ten from now on?” Hu Yi said. “They had people oversleep and miss it before.”

“I still feel uneasy, I can’t sleep,” Huo Ran said. “But as for studying, I really can’t get into it anymore.”

“Get some blood to your head,” Xu Zhifan said. “Just like this, try it.”

They all lay down and hung their heads off the sides of their beds.

When Kou Chen and Xu Chuan entered the room, they were met with a bit of a scary sight.

“Holy shit?” Xu Chuan startled. “What’s going on?!”

“Getting… blood…” Huo Ran wanted to reply, but it was a bit hard to talk in that position.

Kou Chen nearly flew to him in one step, and he yelled: “What’s wrong?!”

Before carefully lifting his head up.

“We’re getting blood to his head,” Huo Ran said. “Zhifan said it helps to do this.”

“What… the fuck?” Kou Chen was speechless. “I thought something happened!”

“I mean,” Jiang Lei sighed and flipped his body around. “I can see now that if something actually was wrong, you’re only gonna save Huo Ran.”

“Reflexes, he can’t help it,” Xu Chuan laughed. “Don’t worry, you still have me, I’ll save you guys.”

“Even though I’m very touched by Chuan-ge’s words,” Jiang Lei smacked his bed, “But I still have to say this. We need to lay down some rules!”

“Go ahead.” Kou Chen looked at him.

“No matter who gets into a relationship in the future,” Jiang Lei said, “We can’t grow apart, understood?! Even if there’s a tiny indication of something happening, we have to drag them out and make him treat us to a meal! And teach him a lesson!”

“Okay,” Kou Chen nodded.

“You hear that?!” Jiang Lei stretched out and yelled across the hall. “Chaoren, what are you doing?!”

Wei Chaoren quickly ran over: “What? Dividing up the food?”

“All you know is food, we’re being serious right now,” Hu Yi said. “It’s a promise, you can’t forget your mother when you get a wife.”

They all stared at him in silence.

“Carrot, this mother has something to say, I’m not sure if it’s reasonable or not,” Xu Zhifan looked at him.

“Go on,” Hu Yi couldn’t hold in his laughter.

“Don’t study anymore, it’s fucking making you stupid,” Xu Zhifan pointed at him.

Turning stupid under all the pressure was only one of the options. You could also turn into a singing god.

Not many people were staying up late to study anymore, but the habit and nervousness were still there, and most people couldn’t fall asleep.

So when someone suddenly started singing emotionally at 1:00 am, someone from each room immediately jumped out of bed.

“The ocean laughs— tides overflow both shores—”

“Fuck!” Kou Chen sat up. “Who is it?!”

“Is it someone on our floor?” Wei Chaoren also leapt out of bed.

Someone knocked on their door.

Kou Chen went to open it, and Huo Ran was standing outside, all smiles.

“Who is it?” Kou Chen asked.

“Dunno, let’s go see,” Huo Ran said. “Over there.”

They all rushed out, running to the other end of the hallway with the people from the other rooms.

A guy from Humanities 1 was leaning over the railing in the hallway and belting out the song.

He had stepped up onto the patterns in the middle of the railing with one hand gripping it and one hand on his waist: “The sky laughs! In the successive tides of the world— Who will lose, who will stand out and win, only heaven knows—! The land laughs—”

He was very into it, and he was singing in Cantonese even.

“Get the teacher,” Someone whispered. “He’s not thinking about… jumping, is he?”

A teacher on shift and the dorm manager came, but they all stood around the guy. Some people wanted to go pull him back, but they were also afraid of startling him.

“Sing in Mandarin,” Kou Chen suddenly spoke. “We can’t follow in Cantonese.”

“Distant is the mist and rain…” The guy paused but didn’t turn around, he just switched to Mandarin seamlessly. “Waves wash over the mortal world, for who knows how many ages—”

On the other side, the lights in the girls’ dorm were all turned on, and a bunch of them walked out to look in their direction.

Right as Kou Chen was debating whether he should join in to ease the tension or not, one of the girls starting singing: “The light breeze laughs! Unexpectedly provoking loneliness!”

She was loud and bold, almost screaming. You could immediately tell that it was Tang Wei.

And then, people started singing as well, both guys and girls.

“The light breeze laughs— Unexpectedly provoking loneliness—”

Even though most people knew the song, it was still an old one so barely anyone remembered all the lyrics. Anyways, once the mood was there, so people followed along and shouted nonsense.

Nobody knew why they were singing this song specifically, and nobody knew what they were trying to express by it.

It was like venting, everyone started singing.

Especially the “la la la” part at the very end, the guys all sang at the top of their lungs with their heads help up, la la la-ing heartily.

After the last line, some people weren’t done and they were still yelling with their eyes closed. Kou Chen quickly rushed up, stepped on the railing, and grabbed the wrist of the singer to pull him away.

“I’m fine, I’m fine,” He was immediately buried amongst the crowd, as he waved his hang, “I just… I just wanted to scream, to feel better.”

“Nice,” Wei Chaoren patted his shoulder. “We all feel better too.”

“Yeah!” Someone yelled.

“Yeah!” A girl also echoed.

Both dorms lingered there for another half an hour at least before dispersing to go back to their own rooms.

When Huo Ran lay down, he suddenly felt sleepy. Really sleepy.

That was pretty much the last time they could relax, laugh, and shout, before exams. The next few days were spent in muddled anxiety trying to force themselves to relax but to no avail.

When exam day finally arrived, Huo Ran felt like it was all too unreal.

The examination center was pretty far away. The school had a couple of buses to take them there, and behind it were a bunch of their parents’ cars, like an escort.

“Is your dad’s car there?” Jiang Lei asked Kou Chn.

“No,” Kou Chen said. “He’s already there, our parents are gonna wait at a hotel for us.”

“Your dad is so…” Xu Chuan patted his shoulder.

Kou Chen’s dad got three rooms at the hotel nearby for them to eat lunch and rest in the afternoon.

The seven of them talked for a little bit before going quiet. Everyone else on the bus was the same. Some were sleeping, and some had their eyes closed, probably going through the material. Others were just staring off into space.

“I’ve already gone through everything many times,” Old Yuan stood at the front. “So I won’t repeat myself, you wouldn’t want to hear it either. I’m only going to say one thing, don’t be nervous. Go in, and focus on the paper, ignore everything else. If anything happens, don’t worry. The dean and I will be waiting just outside the door the whole time, come to me if you need anything.”

Old Yuan’s words were very comforting, and Huo Ran breathed a sigh a relief, glancing at Kou Chen beside him.

Kou Chen only smiled at him and held his hand.

“Why are your hands so cold?” Huo Ran whispered.

“Nerves,” Kou Chen said. “Don’t worry, I’ll be fine inside.”

Huo Ran squeezed his hand back tightly.

To not make them nervous, their parents didn’t say much, only telling them that they’ll be waiting outside when they finish.

“You’ll see us the moment you step outside,” Kou Chen’s dad said. “We’ll go to the very front.”

“Okay,” Kou Chen nodded.

Kou Chen’s dad patted his arm heavily two times, and then he turned to do the same to all of them. He waved his hand: “Okay, go do what you need to do.”

As Huo Ran followed everyone inside, his legs were slightly shaky.

He and Kou Chen aren’t in the same room, they’ll have to split off further inside. He looked in Kou Chen’s direction as he walked forwards.

Kou Chen was also turning his back 85 times with each step.

They both stared at each other and started laughing, then Kou Chen blew him a kiss.

Huo Ran didn’t care if anyone was looking, he immediately returned it.

“Man,” Jiang Lei sighed behind him.

Just like Kou Chen said, the moment he sat down in the examination room, he didn’t feel nervous anymore.

Even though they were all-time slackers that only started studying not long ago, they still tried their best this past year. As long as they just performed as usual, they’ll be able to face themselves, and face the teachers and parents that gave them so much.

Now if they do better than usual… Heheheheh.

For some reason, Huo Ran started smiling. The girl sitting beside him glanced his way.

He turned and smiled at the girl.

The girl smiled back and nodded.

When the exam began, Kou Chen felt like he had been sealed into a soundproof ball. His surroundings went quiet, he couldn’t even hear the rustling of papers.

All he heard was his own movements.

Flip open the booklet, write down his name and examination number blah blah blah, check to make sure he wasn’t missing any pages, and then he could begin. Number one, two, three, four, five…

When he made the first mark on the scantron, he felt like he was headed for Peking University.

The bubble was coloured in so neatly, it clearly looked like a correct answer.

His speed wasn’t fast or slow, it was just right. Clearly the speed that got correct answers.

Look at his handsome fingers, look at the way he held the pencil…

In such good spirits, Kou Chen felt like everything had gone smoothly. When the time was up, he had already checked everything over one and a half times.

The first thing he did when he walked out of the room was look over at Huo Ran’s room.

As he watched Huo Ran run over with a smile, the last bit of uneasiness hiding in a corner of Kou Chen’s heart disappeared as well.

Ch126 – Operation: Lick The Sea 1

“Is he dead?” Kou Chen’s dad’s voice sounded from outside the door.

“What’s wrong with you?!” That was Kou Xiao’s voice. “Why are you talking about your own son dying?!”

“He’s been asleep for two days,” Kou Chen’s dad said. “Right? He hasn’t even eaten? I doubt he even got up to use the bathroom, he’s either dead or unconscious.”

And then was the sound of a key turning in the lock.

“My, don’t worry about him, he’s been so tired.” His mom’s voice was quieter. “It’s normal that he’s slept so long, let him relax.”

“Their train is this afternoon, they already bought the tickets before exams and are waiting for this moment, what if he misses it?!” His dad said.

“It’s not even noon!” His mom hissed.

Kou Chen’s dad didn’t say anything, but he still tried to open the door with the key. Of course, it didn’t open.

Kou Chen locked it from the inside earlier.

“I’m worried,” His dad grumbled. “I’m going in through the window.”

“What?” Kou Xiao yelled. “Your son’s room is on the third floor! Are you going to climb up?”

“Your dad climbed up the pipes before when we lived on the eighth floor,” His mom bragged, seemingly forgetting that she just said to let Kou Chen relax. “You and Kou Chen’s never seen it, he’s was like a monkey, shooting up the pipe…”

“What do you mean monkey?” His dad complained. “Why can’t you compare me to a leopard or something?”

“Leopards don’t have hands,” His mom said.

Kou Xiao laughed as quietly as she could.

Their voices slowly faded away, and Kou Chen flipped around with his eyes closed, pulling a towel over his head.

He didn’t know how long he slept for, but he could keep sleeping.

Before Huo Ran and the others come over.

He didn’t know what time it was, but it’s not like Huo Ran was here yet.

But barely five minutes after he closed his eyes, there was a noise outside the window.

“Ah…” Kou Chen thumped his fists on his bed and jerked up into a sitting position to look at the window.

He knew that his dad just said he was gonna climb in through the window, and he knew that by the time, it should be him.

But he had slept for so long after all, everything was still a little fuzzy. When he saw his dad’s face plastered to the window because he couldn’t open it, he couldn’t hold back a scream: “Fu—ck!”

He leapt out of bed and rushed to open the window.

First, he grabbed his dad’s arm, and then he leaned out to look. He saw that he came from the balcony on the other side, stepping on the second-floor awning.

“What are you doing?!” Kou Chen yelled.

“To see if something’s wrong with you! Last year there was someone on the news who passed out from exhaustion and died!” His dad moved along the balcony. “You should wake up now, have you packed yet?”

“Get in!” Kou Chen pulled on his arm. “The window’s open, why are you still stepping on that? What if you fall?”

“Okay, okay, okay,” His dad hopped into the room effortlessly. “I could’ve just gone back, I’m more agile than you.”

“You’re heavier than me, okay?!” Kou Chen was annoyed, “Who cares about if you’re agile or not, what matters is your weight!”

“You’ve lost a lot of weight lately…” His dad patted his face, and then squeezed his waist. “I saw the other what’s his name’s son gained weight?”

“Overworked probably. Some people in my class were the same,” Kou Chen said. “Gained weight from stress and pressure or something.”

“Wash up and come down to eat,” His dad said. “Auntie Wang has been thinking about making something good, but you never came down.”

“Mhm,” Kou Chen nodded.

After taking a shower, he finally started feeling awake.

It was like he just had a long dream.

The daily studying, reading, memorizing, and quizzing, those he still remembered very clearly, but it suddenly felt far away at the same time, like it was at least two years ago already.

And the actual exam days became really blurry. Apart from how he felt when he was answering the questions, he couldn’t even remember what he wrote his essay about.

“A shame.” He hastily dried his hair and left the towel on his head before grabbing his phone.

There were a surprising amount of unread messages.

From group chats, and from individual people.

Huo Ran sent him more than ten messages. When the 17 unread texts, he startled and quickly checked to see if there were any missed calls before tapping on the messages.

Huo Ran didn’t call him, so that meant he hasn’t gotten mad about him not replying yet.

But when he saw the contents of the messages… With just that, Huo Ran shouldn’t be angry.

-I slept for 12 hours!

-I’m going back to sleep

-I’m up

–I’m so tired, going back to sleep

-I’m up again

-fuck! I fell asleep again!

……

The 17 messages were all, I’m sleeping, I’m up, I’m sleeping, I’m up.

Kou Chen thought about it, and then he texted him back.

-looks like your sleep quality isn’t as good as mine, I only woke up twice to pee

This was pretty much the reality for overworked slackers. The earliest message in their group chat was from today. They were all busy sleeping.

Looking through the messages, it was really only about how long they all slept, and reminding each other to pack their bags and not miss the train this afternoon.

“Trying to have fun before your scores are out?” Auntie Wang whispered to him he ate. “Scared your dad will scold you?”

Kou Chen laughed: “No, I just really wanted to go out.”

“That’s good,” Auntie Wang patted him. “Besides, you’ve worked so hard this year, it’s like you’re a different person. Your dad won’t have the heart to scold you.”

“I’d rather he does,” Kou Chen tsked. “He’s even worse with me now that he is with Kou Xiao, I can’t take it anymore.”

“I guess he still spoils Xiaoxiao more,” Auntie Wang laughed. “Xiaoxiao wanted potstickers from Old Hu’s something something, and your dad drove two hours to buy it for him.”

Kou Chen kept clicking his tongue: “What does he want Old Yang to do then? He doesn’t have this much time to spoil Kou Xiao like dad does.”

“What? Jealous?” Kou Xiao walked by behind him and flicked his head.

“Nope,” Kou Chen said.

That was the truth, it’s not like he doesn’t have anyone to spoil him.

If he wanted to eat…

If Huo Ran wanted to eat potstickers, he would also drive two hours out to buy it for him.

“Did Kou Chen text you back yet?” Xu Zhifan sat on the couch in Huo Ran’s living room. “What if he’s still not awake when we get there?”

“He’s probably awake,” Huo Ran ran back and forth packing up his bags with his hair all messed up. “He texted me an hour ago.”

“Call him after we discuss with Leilei and the others then,” Xu Zhifan said.

“Zhifan,” Huo Ran’s mom came over. “How did you do on exams…”

She cut herself off and looked at Huo Ran: “I can’t ask you, can I ask Zhifan?”

“You already started,” Huo Ran laughed. “You can ask him, he’s a good student after all.”

“It was alright,” Xu Zhifan smiled and nodded. “I think I did better than usual.”

“Amazing,” His mom gave him a thumbs up. “You’re the only one that can say that in your group.”

“Not really,” Xu Zhifan said. “They all can. Jiang Lei said he’ll step on me after scores are out because he regretted not applying to Peking University.”

Huo Ran laughed out loud: “Really, I also thought it was the best exam I’ve ever taken.”

The Seven of them would of course be very proud of their hard work. When they met up, they immediately started bragging to each other with no humbleness at all.

“All that studying wasn’t for nothing,” Wei Chaoren said. “I should be very satisfied with myself.”

“Be humble,” Xu Chuan said. “I didn’t even find any mistakes when I checked it over, do you hear me bragging?”

“I won’t go on about myself, we can finally relax and have fun.” Jiang Lei stretched.

“People like me who did well don’t need to say anything,” Hu Yi sighed.

“You mean Zhifan.” Huo Ran was looking down at his phone, about to call Kou Chen.

On the other side, Kou Chen picked up quickly: “My beloved.”

“Don’t be cheesy,” Huo Ran said. “Are you up? We’re all here, on the street to your house.”

“Just come in,” Kou Chen said. “I’ve packed everything, my dad and Old Yang will drive us to the station.”

“Come on.” Huo Ran waved over the others.

They all headed to Kou Chen’s place on their bicycles and electric bikes, zooming through the streets.

“Did you guys bring swim trunks?” Jiang Lei yelled his question.

“Yup,” Huo Ran said. “It’s fine if you didn’t, how could you have a beach without a place to buy them?”

“They might be ugly,” Jiang Lei said. “I spent so long picking mine out, they’re very sexy.”

“How sexy can some swim trunks be?” Xu Zhifan said. “Are they black?”

“That’s right!” Jiang Lei said. “Pure black.”

“Then mine is too,” Xu Chuan said.

“Me three,” Wei Chaoren said.

“Fuck off!” Jiang Lei cursed.

There were already two cars parked in Kou Chen’s driveway. They were very familiar with them, one was Old Yang’s and one was Kou Chen’s dad’s. They’ve driven them out to play, to eat, to exams…”

“Kou Chen!” Huo Ran called at the doorway.

Before Kou Chen’s answer, they heard Shuaishuai. They immediately felt anxious.

“It’s fine,” Xu Chuan said. “The door’s closed.”

“…Widow.” Seeing as Huo Ran has been here more times, he was familiar with Shuaishuai’s many methods.

Indeed, a big furry head appeared in the window, and then it leapt out.

He leapt over the flowers, landing on Huo Ran’s back right as he tried to run away.

“Kou Shuaishuai!” He yelled.

You had to say, that although Kou Chen always called him dumb, Shuaishuai was actually a very intelligent dog… He rarely listened to anyone except Kou Chen.

So they could only shout: “Kou Chen!”

“Coming!” Kou Chen opened the door and ran out, picking up Shuaishuai who was furiously trying to lick Huo Ran’s face. “Come on, dog! Get down!”

Shuaishuai licked Huo Ran’s arm twice before reluctantly letting him go.

“Come here!” Kou Chen pointed at a table in the yard. “Sit there.”

Shuaishuai jumped back into the yard and sat nicely by the table.

Kou Chen opened the gate and spread his arms wide: “Long time no see, my brothers!”

Everyone looked at Huo Ran, who opened his arms and hugged Kou Chen. “Long time no see, brother!”

Long time no see, brother!” Wei Chaoren immediately came up to hug them both.

“Long time no see! Long time no see!”

With that, they all rushed forward one by one in a big lump. They only unwillingly stepped away when Kou Chen’s dad came out.

“It’s only been two days.” His dad opened the trunk of his car and put their bags in. “You guys made it look like someone just got out of prison.”

“Seriously?” Kou Chen’s mom followed him. “What are you saying?”

“You guys made it look like someone just returned home with honour,” His dad corrected. “Are you gonna reminisce some more, or should we head off to the station?”

“To the station, to the station.” Xu Zhifan quickly said. “There’s only an hour left, we can’t afford to reminisce now.”

They all got in, and then the cars drove off one by one.

“What’s wrong with taking a plane?” Kou Chen’s dad said as he drove. “Why a train?”

“It’s fun,” Kou Chen said. “You don’t get it, travelling isn’t just about the destination, it also includes the scenery you get to see on the way.”

His dad turned around to glance at him: “I doubt you came up with that?”

“The one who came up with it is on the other car,” Huo Ran said.

“Xu Zhifan, right?” His dad said. “I knew it, Xu Zhifan’s the only one who says interesting things out of you useless bunch.”

“Other’s people children, after all.” Kou Chen said nonchalantly.

In the past, he would’ve immediately started a fight with his dad. But it was different now, he even laughed to himself after saying that.

At the station, Huo Ran realized that although Kou Chen’s dad was just short of lifting Kou Chen up in his arms this past year, he still dealt with some things coolly.

Like telling them to get out when they were still 200-300 metres away from the station, with the excuse that he can make a U-turn right here without having to deal with the station’s parking lot.

They didn’t have much luggage, so they just walked the rest of the way with them.

Kou Chen gave Huo Ran his ID when they were going to get their tickets.

“Huh?” Huo Ran looked at him.

“I don’t know how to do it,” Kou Chen said.

“Oh,” Huo Ran nodded, “I’ll teach…”

“Don’t wanna.” Kou Chen turned around and happily headed off for the shops in the station.

After they got their tickets, he came back with an armful of snacks.

“You can buy snacks on the train,” Jiang Lei said.

“Beer, drinks, water, peanuts, sunflower seeds, sausages?” Kou Chen immediately picked up. “Move your leg.”

“This is different, the attendants don’t yell that loud,” Jiang Lei said. “There’s also coffee, milk tea, and stuff.”

“You can even order from your phone,” Hu Yi said.

“Dammit.” Kou Chen picked up the bag of snacks and turned towards the trash can.

“Hey, hey, hey!” Jiang Lei grabbed him and snatched the bag away. “I wasn’t finished!”

“Go on.” Kou Chen looked at him.

Jiang Lei didn’t say anything.

“There might not be anything you like,” Xu Chuan walked over. “And you still have to wait, right? For the lady to bring your food over.”

“Right!” Hu Yi nodded.

Kou Chen tsked.

They all bought their tickets randomly. Apart from Kou Chen and Huo Ran who got seats next to each other, the others were all scattered around. Hu Yi got his own seat because he wanted to sleep.

But barely two minutes after he sat down, a girl got on the train and sat next to him.

“Holy shit,” Wei Chaoren whispered.

“What?” Xu Chuan looked at him.

“Carrot just wanted to sleep,” Wei Chaoren said, “And he’s this lucky?”

Xu Chuan turned around: “You can go switch seats with him.”

Wei Chaoren sent a message in the group chat.

-carrot! wake up!

There was no reply. They all stood up from their seats and looked at Hu Yi.

“Carrot!” Kou Chen called him.

“Hm?” Hu Yi opened his eyes.

“Snacks?” Kou Chen took the bag of spicy dried fish that Huo Ran just opened.

“Nah, I’m sleeping.” Hu Yi replied without pause.

Kou Chen could only ask the girl beside him: “Hi miss, do you want some?”

“Thank you, but I just ate.” The girl smiled. “I’m full.”

Hu Yi finally looked beside him, and then he impassively turned back around to lean against the window and close his eyes.

Kou Chen went back to his own seat with the dried fish and sighed: “Has Hu Yi been fucking converted?”

Huo Ran almost choked on his laughter. He sent a message in the group chat.

-carrot’s a monk now, were you gonna switch seats with him chaoren?

-forget it, I can’t be so half-hearted

Kou Chen tsked.

-what fantasies do you still have about miss zhou ning?

-that’s still better than fantasizing right after meeting a pretty girl on a train!

“Good for you,” Huo Ran turned to Wei Chaoren, “You’ve suddenly become mature?”

“I always was.” Wei Chaoren nodded at him.

In their group of seven mature guys, there was actually nobody who tried to switch seats with Hu Yi. Kou Chen summarized this strange phenomenon.

“Still too green.”

“If…” Huo Ran whispered. “I’m saying if.”

“Mhm?” Kou Chen looked at him.

“If there wasn’t anything going on between us,” Huo Ran whispered. “Would you switch seats with Carrot?”

“Nope,” Kou Chen said.

“Why?” Huo Ran asked with a laugh.

Kou Chen furrowed his brows and thought for a bit: “Fuck, that would be so embarrassing, I’m still green too.”

Huo Ran started laughing out loud.

“What?” Kou Chen looked at him seriously. “Are you not? We’re on a train to go on a date to the beach, you can’t get greener than that.”

“It’s the seven of us,” Huo Ran said.

“We’ll ditch them as soon as we get off,” Kou Chen said.

“Who’s ditching who?” Jiang Lei immediately turned around. “I heard everything.”

“We’re ditching you first,” Kou Chen pointed at him. “You’re the most annoying one.”

“Heh.” Jiang Lei stood up and readied his arm.

Right as he took a step towards Kou Chen, the door to their compartment opened and a man rushed in, bumping into Jiang Lei.

Ch127 – Operation: Lick The Sea 2

“Sorry, I didn’t see you there.” Jiang Lei immediately apologized.

It wasn’t completely Jiang Lei’s fault. He had his side to him, and the other guy could see and still bumped into him. Besides, Jiang Lei apologized right after.

Most people would obviously say “No problem” or acknowledge it in some way, but this guy only shoved Jiang Lei aside and continued on his way.

“Damn?” Jiang Lei was a bit annoyed. “What’s wrong with people these days?”

Kou Chen turned around to look in the direction the man left in. He had already made it out of the apartment.

He was a little confused: “Don’t they have water dispensers and bathrooms in every compartment? Why does he need to go all this way?”

“Who knows?” Jiang Lei sat down with a huff, already forgetting that the reason he got up was to challenge Kou Chen. “But my mood won’t be ruined by something like this.”

Huo Ran stretched out his arms and legs. Sitting in the first row was nice, there was more leg room, and no moving heads or faces to suddenly turn around.

This way, he and Kou Chen can indulge in some “you touch me I grab you” activities from time to time. The people sitting beside them, Xu Zhifan and Jiang Lei, were already used to them doing that.

Huo Ran yawned and put his legs on Huo Ran’s lap to lean back against the window. “They want to go to the beach tonight, sounds good?”

“As long as we put our tent up away from the water,” Kou Chen said.

“Still scared, right?” Huo Ran asked.

“More or less, I’ve never seen the ocean at night before,” Kou Chen said. “It’s loud.”

“We can go back to the road, I’ll check the travel guide,” Huo Ran said. “That’s a good distance from the water, and it’s not busy either.”

“Not that far, it’s unsafe,” Kou Chen said. “What if a thief comes up to us in the middle of the night while we’re exhausted, and then you realize your legs are still too sore to catch him…”

Huo Ran only laughed at that. A few seconds later, he suddenly stopped smiling and jerked up, calling out: “Leilei!”

“What?” Jiang Lei glanced in their direction. “Just say it, I don’t want to look at you two.”

“Where’s your wallet?” Huo Ran asked.

“In my pock…” Jiang Lei felt in his pocket, and then he jumped up, “Fuck!”

“The guy from before!” Kou Chen quickly realized, leaping up to run into the next compartment.

“Do you remember what he looked like?” Huo Ran followed him, asking Jiang Lei as he ran.

“…No,” Jiang Lei said.

Everyone else followed, and they slowed down to a fast walk because of the limited space.

“Kou Chen, do you remember?” Huo Ran asked him.

“No,” Kou Chen said. “I didn’t even look at his face, who remembers every person that walks by?”

“Do you remember what he was wearing?” Xu Zhifan asked.

“It was a light colour,” Jiang Lei stated. “That I remember very clearly.”

“The only thing you remember is absolutely useless,” Huo Ran hissed. “Look around you, who’s not wearing light colours in the middle of summer?”

“It’s not like I thought he was gonna steal my wallet or else I would’ve looked at him more!” Jiang Lei said.

“If you knew he was going to steal your wallet, aren’t you supposed to catch him in the act?” Xu Chuan asked.

Hearing everything from the very front, Kou Chen snorted a laugh.

“Please, you’re all laughing at me at a time like this?” Jiang Lei said.

“That means our friendship isn’t fake like recycled plastic,” Hu Yi said. “Brother, we’re serious.”

“Shut up!” Jiang Lei cursed at him.

Four compartments later, Kou Chen stopped by the sink and looked at Jiang Lei, “What was in your wallet?”

“Money.” Jiang Lei said.

“What about ID or anything?” Huo Ran asked.

“They’re all with me,” Xu Zhifan said. “He didn’t take it back yet, it’s in my pocket.”

“How much money?” Wei Chaoren asked.

“One… one hundred or so?” Jiang Lei scratched his head. “I didn’t bring much cash.”

They all went quiet.

Two seconds later, Kou Chen took out his own wallet, grabbed Jiang Lei’s hand, and put two one hundreds in his palm before curling his fingers around it. “Leilei.”

“Hm?” Jiang Lei looked at him.

“Just one hundred bucks,” Kou Chen said. “It’s good enough that the thief didn’t turn around and curse you, how could you make us run all this way for that?”

“I… I’m sorry, everyone.” Jiang Lei said sincerely.

As they headed back, he suddenly jerked up and said: “Didn’t Kou Chen just run off?! Nobody asked what was in my wallet!”

“Keep walking!” Huo Ran pushed him.

“…Damn.” Jiang Lei sighed. “Actually, there was also a photo in my wallet. From first year. It was the best ID photo I’ve ever taken.”

“Putting your own photo in your wallet?” Xu Zhifan couldn’t help but laugh.

“What?” Jiang Lei argued, “What is this friendly fire?”

“I’ve done it too,” Wei Chaoren said. “Mostly because I was just too handsome, I had to look at it from time to time.”

They all laughed.

Back in their own seats, all of that probably got rid of Hu Yi’s sleepiness, and he finally paid attention to the pretty girl sitting beside him. But he had some very unique conversation starters.

“What’s that?” He pointed at the bag the girl was eating out of.

“Raisins,” She said.

Before she could politely offer him some, he had already spoken: “Can I have some?”

“…Sure.” The girl poured him a small handful.

“Damn,” Kou Chen whispered, peeking through the gap between the seats. “What a way to start off.”

“Still too green,” Huo Ran laughed.

“Mhm,” Kou Chen nodded and reached out to poke his face.

Even though Jiang Lei didn’t have anything important in his wallet, and the actual wallet itself was just a little thing he bought for 35 yuan at the supermarket outside his house, it was still upsetting that the thief disappeared right in front of their eyes as sword-wielding young men fighting against injustice.

They even stood there for another ten minutes at the staircase out of the station, staring at all the passengers for a face they might recognize.

Of course, nothing happened.

“Forget it,” Kou Chen said. “We can’t catch bad guy, it’s not like we’re pros. We’re just here on vacation.”

“That’s right,” Wei Chaoren nodded.

“We’ve done a lot more than others anyways,” Xu Chuan stretched and hopped on the spot. “Is it time to go lick the sea?”

“It is.” Xu Zhifan looked at his phone. “According to the directions we looked up earlier, there’s an underground taxi stop at one exit…”

“Aren’t we already outside?” Huo Ran asked.

“Yeah.” Xu Zhifan looked at them. “And I think it’s hard to get a taxi at this exit.”

“To the other side.” Jiang Lei waved his hand.

Nobody picked up their request for a cab on the phone app, there were no places for a taxi to park, and they couldn’t afford the exorbitant price for a black cab, so they had to walk half an hour away before they could finally get one.

“Ah!” In the car, Kou Chen sighed before giving the driver the address. “Finally.”

“Going camping by the ocean?” The driver asked.

“Yup,” Huo Ran nodded. “Sir, will it rain tonight?”

“Nope, the weather is great these days,” The driver said. “Just stay safe, don’t go into the water at night. If you really want to, don’t go too deep.”

“I don’t want to go in the water when the sun’s out either.” Kou Chen replied.

The driver laughed: “Can’t swim? That’s fine, even the people who can won’t be able to do it in the ocean most of the time. That’s why I’m telling you to stay safe.”

Kou Chen was going to say that he doesn’t know how to swim, and that he might never learn, but he thought about it and decided not to.

It was a bit embarrassing.

Especially when he remembered how he fell into the pond last time.

On the guide, it says the beach was apparently a “wild beach”. The scenery was great, and it was quiet. Tourists don’t know about the place, and locals don’t usually go because it’s too far.

A great place to go if you want a calm day at the beach.

But in the car, Kou Chen started doubting if the guide was right or not. The driver didn’t say anything at all about the beach they wanted to go to.

When they got there and filed off the two cabs, they saw a row whole row of shops and a road completely blocked off by cars. They all looked a Xu Zhifan.

“Zhifan,” Xu Chuan looked at him. “Is this a wild beach? A wild beach that neither tourists nor locals go to?”

“That’s what the guide said.” Xu Zhifan took his phone out, “Didn’t I send it in the group chat? You guys all read it.”

That was indeed true. The Seven of them each read over the guide multiple times.

But as he opened the guide up for the nth time, Huo Ran saw the date it was published for the first time.

He looked up in shock: “Fuck, I think it’s a guide from six years ago.”

After everyone confirmed the date, they all went quiet for a moment before bursting out into laughter.

“Fuck!” Kou Chen laughed as he kicked Xu Zhifan in the butt. “What kind of straight-a student are you?”

“You guys dragged me down,” Xu Zhifan was also laughing hysterically. “What do we do?”

“What else? We’ll stay,” Kou Chen said. “It’s just a little busier, we can go over there, everyone else will be gathered at the shops for convenience. We don’t care about that.”

They crossed the road that was turned into a parking lot and went straight, finally stopping twenty minutes later.

The lights and crowds were already pretty far behind them. The closest thing was a public bathroom.

“This is nice,” Wei Chaoren said. “We don’t have to go too far to the bathroom.”

“Time to set up camp.” Jiang Lei looked at Huo Ran.

“Set up then, why are you looking at me?” Huo Ran said.

“As an experienced camper, aren’t you responsible for putting the tents up?” Xu Chuan said.

“I’m responsible for teaching you how to do it!” Huo Ran walked across the beach. “Besides, I don’t have any experience camping on a beach…”

Barely two steps in, he suddenly felt a different softness in the sand beneath his feat. Slightly bouncy… it seemed to be something living.

There weren’t any street lamps here, their only source of light was the moon. Under the moonlit darkness, he felt fear.

There were no ghosts outdoors.

But at the beach there were… sea monsters?

“I stepped on something!” Huo Ran yelled and jumped aside, bumping into Kou Chen who caught him.

“Wha…” Before Kou Chen could finish, he heard someone speak.

“You stepped on a person…”

It came from the ground.

They all grabbed their phones, and seven flashlights immediately pointed towards the spot Huo Ran was just standing on.

And then they saw a middle-aged man with his arm up to block the light, half buried in the sand.

“I, Sir,” Kou Chen was very confused. “Do you have to bury yourself in the middle of the path? Are you hurt?”

“I’m fine, it was just my arm.” The man sat up and pointed nearby. “The path is over there, I’m outside it. You’re the ones not following the path.”

They turned their flashlights in that direction and realized there was a stone path almost completely covered by sand. It headed all the way to the beach by the water.

And at the same time, they realized that there were quite a lot of people around. Just where they could see, there were at least ten tents.

“Damn, it’s busy here too,” Wei Chaoren said.

“Of course it is, how many tourists do you think come here in the summer? Even people staying in the inn nearby like to spend the night out here,” The man said. “It’s the high season, there are people everywhere. But this is a bit better compared to other places, the tents over there are all touching.”

“What are you shining a light for?” Someone yelled.

They scrambled to turn off their flashlights.

“Come on, go slow,” Kou Chen said.

Their eyes finally adjusted to the dark, and they snuck towards the beach, slowly and quietly.

To stay as far away from the crowd as possible, they headed out at least 200 or 300 metres before finally finding an empty area.

Kou Chen checked the area to make sure there were no tents, and no people buried in the sand before waving them over: “Set up camp!”

This time they brought three two-person tents. Hu Yi, Jiang Lei, and Xu Zhifan can even fit nicely in one.

They put the tents up in a triangle, and Huo Ran stuck a collapsible baton in the middle, hanging a lantern on it.

They sat around the lantern in silence for a bit, and then Xu Zhifan spoke: “What are we doing? The ocean is right here, and we’re still sitting?”

“Fuck!” Jiang Lei jumped up. “I was wondering what felt off! Let’s go, let’s go, let’s go… Into the water, aren’t we Operation: Lick the Sea? We have to see what the sea tastes like first.”

They all carried their valuables in pouches on their person and happily went towards the water.

Huo Ran and Kou Chen were walking at the very back, but not because they could do a little something there without the others seeing. Now, they could french kiss right in front of the group and they probably wouldn’t even bat an eye.

It was because he was still worried about Kou Chen.

When Kou Chen grabbed his hand and headed towards the water, he grabbed it tightly.

“We won’t go in,” Huo Ran said. “We can just watch from the side, if we get our clothes wet we’d have to change. There’s showers over there, it’s uncomfortable to sleep covered in sea water.”

“No,” Kou Chen said.

“Hm?” Huo Ran looked at him.

“I want to go in the water.” Kou Chen said firmly.

“Up to where?” Huo Ran asked. “Not too deep, it’s unsafe. It’s dark now.”

“Up to…” Kou Chen grit his teeth, “My knees!”

“…Okay then,” Huo Ran nodded.

The beach was pretty quiet with the occasional sound of someone laughing. There were also people yelling into the ocean, but these small noises made the surroundings feel even more peaceful.

Huo Ran raised his head and took a deep breath: “It’s a little chilly.”

“Yeah,” Kou Chen raised his head as well. “The weather is great. Look, the moon is round.”

The others had already gone into the water and were happily kicking water at each other.

Hu Yi even licked his arm very earnestly: “It’s saltier than last time!”

“Really?” Everyone paused and licked their arms too before spitting out loud.

“That’s kinda amazing though, Carrot,” Jiang Lei said. “You actually remember what the sea tasted like last time? It’s already been a year.”

“I remember the taste really clearly,” Hu Yi said. “I guess that’s my only strength.”

“No way,” Xu Chuan said. “You’ve opened our eyes today, we never knew you could flirt with a pretty girl like that.”

“She didn’t even roll her eyes at you,” Xu Zhifan said.

“I just wanted some raisins,” Hu Yi said, “So I asked. She was pretty generous.”

“Did you get her number?” Wei Chaoren asked.

“No,” Hu Yi said. “Why would I need that?”

“Fuck—!” They all cried out.

When Huo Ran and Kou Chen walked over to the water, the others had already gone in up to their thighs. Xu Zhifan was controlling the excited bunch that wanted to go even deeper.

“Let’s go over there.” Kou Chen pointed to the right.

“Okay,” Huo Ran nodded.

The two of them followed the beach over. The wet sand reflected the moonlight softly, and they could see it sparkle as the tide rose and fell.

He could also feel Kou Chen tremble slightly each time the waves hit their feet.

About thirty metres out, Kou Chen finally started to relax. He paused and turned towards the ocean.

“Have you realized that you can still see the horizon even when it’s this dark?” He took his phone out and held it up. “You can even take a photo, I’m amazing.”

“Mhm,” Huo Ran looked at him. “Are you still nervous?”

“I was never nervous,” Kou Chen replied coolly.

“Oh,” Huo Ran laughed, and then he slowly took two steps forward.

Kou Chen immediately grabbed his shoulder: “What are you doing?”

“Stepping forward?” Huo Ran said.

Kou Chen stayed quiet and followed him, looking very calm.

“Not scared?” Huo Ran asked.

“Actually, I realized it wasn’t that bad when I got out of the ponds last time,” Kou Chen said. “Maybe I’m desensitized now?”

“Dunno,” Huo Ran thought about it. “Why don’t we find some more ponds and you can jump in them again?”

“Fuck off!” Kou Chen said.

Kou Chen’s attitude towards the ocean was already a lot better than last time. He followed Huo Ran forward, up to knee-deep water.

“Here,” Huo Ran stopped.

“Mhm,” Kou Chen nodded. He took a photo of his legs, “Look…”

A wave came up to them.

The water quickly rose to their thighs and splashed water on their waists.

“Shit!” Huo Ran wiped the water off of his face.

And then he realized Kou Chen wasn’t beside him anymore.

As he was about to look down and see if he fell, Kou Chen grabbed his arm from behind him and ran back.

Before Huo Ran could even turn around, he had already stumbled back onto the shore.

“Are you okay?” Huo Ran asked.

“It scared me!” Kou Chen frowned. “What kind of wave was that?! It was so high! The water was only up to our knees and then it was high enough to wash our face in it!”

“Got unlucky,” Huo Ran laughed. “The waves before weren’t that high, only one or two of them.”

“Did you feel,” Kou Chen looked at him, “when the wave hit, it was like you were floating?”

“…The water has to be at least waist-deep for that, right?” Huo Ran said.

“Nevermind,” Kou Chen sighed and sat down. “There’s no rush, let’s just sit here together and look at the moon, talk about our love for each other or something.”

“Okay then,” Huo Ran sat down.

Kou Chen took a piece of chocolate out of his pocket and unwrapped it slowly, “I don’t know if water got in it or not… probably not…”

He held the unwrapped piece of chocolate, and right as Huo Ran was about to take it in his mouth, he licked it.

“It’s sweet,” Kou Chen handed him the chocolate, “Not wet.”

“You just licked it and you’re giving it to me?” Huo Ran stared at him.

“What?” Kou Chen said. “I think we’re past that point? I’ve already licked your teeth even, why are you so concerned about this?”

Huo Ran was speechless.

“Open your mouth,” Kou Chen said.

Huo Ran opened his mouth and Kou Chen fed him the piece of chocolate.

There was a breeze then, slightly chilly through their soaked clothes.

Kou Chen stuck close to him and put one arm around his waist with his hand under his shirt, holding him gently.

Huo Ran turned his head and rubbed it against his face.

Kou Chen immediately turned to kiss him.

Their romantic french kiss by the ocean under the moonlight was cut short, and Kou Chen’s original plan to take a bite of his chocolate was unsuccessful.

Somebody walked by behind them.

Kou Chen was about to take back the arm that was around Huo Ran’s waist, but Huo Ran grabbed it: “Just like this.”

“Mhm.” Kou Chen didn’t move anymore, he just picked up half a seashell and started drawing in the sand.

It was a very simple drawing, just six squares.

But Huo Ran quickly understood what those six squares meant.

“You touched my waist on the train today.” Huo Ran made a grabbing motion on his head and put it into the first square. “And then I touched your crotch.”

Kou Chen put his head down and started laughing.

“Kou Chen’s fear of water has improved a lot today.” Huo Ran did the action again for the second square. “He went into knee-deep water, but he did immediately run away.”

Kou Chen just kept smiling at him without saying anything.

“Then we wanted to kiss, but we were interrupted,” Huo Ran said as he chewed the chocolate. “I think Kou Chen wanted chocolate, but he didn’t get it, poor thing.”

“Mhm,” Kou Chen nodded.

“The third one… let me think.” Huo Ran stared at the square. “What should I put in it?”

“I like Ranran.” Kou Chen put it in the square. “I really like Ranran, I really really like Ranran… There, that’s all of them.”

“Okay,” Huo Ran put the lid on. “Keep it safe.”

Kou Chen leaned back to lie on the sand.

Huo Ran did the same right beside him, and they stared at the sky together.

“It feels great,” Kou Chen said.

“I’m really happy,” Huo Ran said.

EXTRAS END