Chapter 60
Note: not proofreaded
It felt as if Shi Bufan was about to kiss him any moment, Zhen Yuanbai gently pushed Shi Bufan’s chest because Zhen Yuanbai was afraid that he might kiss him without a care for the situation.
“Sit across.”
Shi Bufan listened and sat across.
He propped his chin up and looked at Zhen Yuanbai. Because the latter agreed to fool around with him, Shi Bufan had been thinking all sorts of naughty thoughts in his mind. “Then... let’s go drink later?”
“I can’t.” Zhen Yuanbai was obedient like a monk, saying, “The alcohol will mess with people’s brains and people will become stupid.”
Shi Bufan came to a realization and said, “No wonder I’m not as smart as you. So this is why.”
Zhen Yuanbai glared at him and said, “Don’t drink anymore in the future, otherwise I...”
“Then you won’t love me anymore?”
Zhen Yuanbai looked down and quietly hummed.
“Then where will we go later on?”
When Zhen Yuanbai met Shi Bufan’s sparkling eyes, he seemed to regret his words. “Where do you want to go?”
Shi Bufan bit his chopsticks and said, “I want to reserve a room in the hotel and sleep with you.”
“Then did you bring your ID?”
“...” The surprise came too suddenly and Shi Bufan immediately turned around to rummage through his backpack, placing his student ID and ID on the table, saying in a deep voice, “I brought it.”
Zhen Yuanbai searched for the nearest hotel on his phone as Shi Bufan knocked against the table with his knuckles and he said, “Are you done with food? Let’s go.”
Zhen Yuanbai knitted his eyebrows and said, “The rooms are so expensive.”
“It’s fine. I can pay...”
“Even if you pay for it, it’s still very expensive.”
He had obtained a frugal darling, so Shi Bufan had no choice but to nod helplessly, asking, “Then what do you want to do?”
“Why don’t you sleep in my house?” Zhen Yuanbai said, “If we don’t sleep in school or at home, my parents will be suspicious.”
“But you said that you will go and fool around with me.”
“How are you fooling around with me by sleeping in the hotel?” Zhen Yuanbai proposed, “Why don’t I go and play with you until midnight before going home? If my parents ask about it, I’ll say that your grades improved greatly and we’re out celebrating.”
It was unsure what part of the sentence was funny, but Shi Bufan laughed. After chuckling for a while, he said in a proper tone, “Then where are we going to play?”
Zhen Yuanbai racked his brains and asked, “We can go to an arcade?”
“Who wants to go to an arcade?” Shi Bufan said, “I want to bring you to the wilderness.”
“No, I’ll be cold.”
“Then I’ll bring you to the hot spring.”
“No, I’ll be dizzy.”
Shi Bufan stared at him and asked, “Are you doing this on purpose?”
Zhen Yuanbai looked around and said, “No, I’m being serious.”
“Well, I am too.”
Half an hour later, Zhen Yuanbai followed Shi Bufan out the door. At this time, the weather alternated between hot and cold. It was the time to wear a thin jacket and short sleeves. Zhen Yuanbai wore his school uniform as he walked out. They weren’t able to decide on where to go, so the two ended up walking around.
“Guess if the principal will compliment me this time or not.”
Mentioning the principal, Zhen Yuanbai couldn’t help but smile and said, “I think there is a possibility.”
Sometimes, even if two people didn’t talk, the atmosphere wouldn’t feel awkward either. Zhen Yuanbai turned around to look at him and suddenly touched his hands, asking, “Do you want to hold my hands?”
Shi Bufan’s heart skipped a beat and held his hands, saying, “We said that we’ll fool around, so how can we just hold hands?”
Zhen Yuanbai glanced at the time and said, “It’s almost ten now. I’ve been fooling around with you for a while.”
“Do you know what it means by fooling around?” Shi Bufan purposely bumped his shoulders and asked, “You think that you’re fooling around by returning home late?”
Each time he asked, he would bump him. After a few times, Zhen Yuanbai almost bumped into the wall. He couldn’t hold it in anymore and bumped Shi Budan to the side of the road and asked, “What do you mean by fooling around then?”
Shi Bufan wasn’t angry at being bumped either. While he was doing it, he placed an arm around Zhen Yuanbai’s thin shoulders and said in his ears, “Fooling around means... kissing you from top to bottom and marking you mine completely...”
It seemed as though Zhen Yuanbai had eaten spice and he suddenly pushed Shi Bufan to the side. The latter didn’t expect that and he was pushed from the sidewalk to the road and sprained his ankle.
Zhen Yuanbai walked without looking back and Shi Bufan sucked in a cold breath, saying, “I sprained my ankle.”
Zhen Yuanbai looked over confusedly, but Shi Bufan was already sitting on the ground, saying, “Quickly come here and help me up. I really sprained my ankle and it hurts.”
Zhen Yuanbai knitted his eyebrows and walked over, testing and reaching over to touch Shi Bufan’s feet. The latter shivered and said with a solemn face, “You need to bring me to the hospital.”
Seeing the cold sweat on Shi Bufan’s face, Zhen Yuanbai didn’t bother to examine closely anymore. He hurriedly helped him up and murmured, “Then let’s hail a taxi. Here, let’s go wait by the road first.”
Shi Bufan got support from his human-sized crutches and stared at Zhen Yuanbai’s terrified but guilty face, saying, “If I really break my feet and can’t walk anymore, will you still want me?”
“Stop talking nonsense.” Zhen Yuanbai didn’t think that Shi Bufan had sprained his ankle because he accidentally pushed him. He said with guilt, “You can easily heal from a sprained ankle as long as you listen to the doctor. In the past, I also sprained my ankle before... at most, a month or so before I recovered.”
Shi Bufan was a bit unpleasant with Zhen Yuanbai’s reply, saying, “Then if something big happens to me in the future...say, I got in a crash or have a serious illness...that made me paralyzed in bed. Will you still want me?”
“As long as we haven’t broken up during that time, I’ll still want you.”
Shi Bufan’s face darkened and he asked, “You’re still thinking about breaking up with me?”
“Then if I meet someone better than you in the future...”
Shi Bufan suddenly cupped his face and said gloomily, “You want to meet someone better than me?”
Zhen Yuanbai stared at Shi Bufan’s legs and was shocked for two seconds before he said, “You lied to me.”
“So what if I did?” Shi Bufan wasn’t in the least bit guilty, saying, “I’m warning you now. Even if I become disabled, you have to like me. If you dare to break up with me, you’re doomed!”
“You, you...”
“I what?” Staring at Zhen Yuanbai’s flushed face, while talking in a rude tone, Shi Bufan couldn’t resist the temptation, so he cupped Zhen Yuanbai’s face with one hand and pressed the back of his head on the other, firmly kissing him on the lips.
Zhen Yuanbai harshly flicked Shi Bufan’s head.
Shi Bufan pressed Zhen Yuanbai against his chest and asked roughly while kissing him, “Are you seeking kisses? Hm? Is that what’s going on?”
Smack. Zhen Yuanbai was taken advantage of again and by the time he went home, tears still clung to his eyelashes.
Shi Bufan always kissed him without his permission. Zhen Yuanbai lied in bed and tossed the pillow out of bed, but had to pick it up back up again.
He decided to not talk to Shi Bufan anymore. He always threw a tantrum like, like a spoiled little princess!
Zhen Yuanbai changed Shi Bufan’s nickname to: Annoying Princess Shi
He suddenly became happy again.
But in the end, he decided to ignore Shi Bufan for a while since he always made him angry. Humph.
The next morning, Shi Bufan bought him breakfast, but Zhen Yuanbai didn’t even take a look, saying, “I ate already.”
“What did you eat?”
“Humph.”
Shi Bufan raised his eyebrows. Song Mo quietly lied against his desk, trying his best to minimize his existence in fear that Shi Bufan might use him to vent his anger.
Shi Bufan glanced at him for a while before softly chuckling, tossing the breakfast to the late Ye Lian. “Come and play ball with me this evening.”
“Playing ball?” Ye Lian secretly ate breakfast during the morning session and said in surprise, “You haven’t participated in any activities with us in a while. What’s the matter? You got in a fight with him?”
“Eat your food.” Shi Bufan wrinkled a sheet of napkin and shoved it in Ye Lian’s mouth.
Zhen Yuanbai noticed that Shi Bufan stopped talking to him as well. In his memory, this almost never happened before. When it was lunch, he didn’t wait for him and when school was over, he went home by himself. Lately, Zhen Youxiu had been busy with his studies, so he started to dorm in school.
After two days of being ignored, Zhen Yuanbai started to feel bad and uncomfortable. As usual, he started to pack up his things and placed his materials in his drawer slowly, watching as Shi Bufan walked past him without giving him another glance. He quietly lowered his head.
As Zhen Yuanbai’s deskmate, Song Mo also noticed something different. He didn’t specially head to the canteen early today. Instead, he watched Zhen Yuanbai clean up his things and then he softly asked, “You and Shi Bufan got into a fight?”
“No.”
Song Mo sighed and comforted, “Don’t think too much about it. After all, he’s Unoffendable and he isn’t someone you should associate with...look at him right now. He has people from both legal and illegal sides, so of course he doesn’t care about you.”
“What...he has people on both legal and illegal sides?”
“Didn’t he used to get in fights and stir up trouble? Everyone’s afraid of him. Look at the improvement in his grades right now. Everyone obviously fears and respects him. He is quite crafty. After he is done using you, he just tosses you to the side. But thankfully, he didn’t score second, otherwise wouldn’t you feel awful to sit next to him?”
Zhen Yuanbai cleaned up his things and headed towards the canteen with an unhappy expression. Song Mo observed his look and said, “You want to be deskmates with him?”
Zhen Yuanbai immediately said, “Of course not.”
Song Mo clenched his fists and continued, “Then do you want to teach me something? Give me a secret weapon, so I can keep my second place. I must not let him snatch that seat away from me.”
Zhen Yuanbai said, “I don’t have a secret weapon. You can just ask me if you have any questions.”
“Then are you going to explain to him in the future?”
“I won’t talk to him anymore.”
“Ok!” Song Mo felt comforted. As long as Zhen Yuanbai didn’t help Shi Bufan, Song Mo believed that with his grades, he can definitely make it into the top 100. As long as he maintained his grades right now, he wouldn’t need to worry about being kicked off.
Zhen Yuanbai grabbed his food, but he couldn’t help but look towards Shi Bufan. When the latter looked over, he immediately shifted his gaze and purposely chose a spot that was furthest from him. But when he went to take a sneak peek at Shi Bufan again, he noticed that Shi Bufan was chatting happily with his friends, seemingly not influenced in any way. When he came to that realization, Zhen Yuanbai felt a bit bad.
He was wondering if Shi Bufan didn’t like him anymore.
Zhen Yuanbai kept his head down and stabbed the rice with his chopsticks. Song Mo was still rambling about his study plan, saying, “I have been copying your study mode lately. Since you do 10 exams a day, I’ll do 15. Don’t mention this, but doing practice exams make me feel as if I’ve improved a lot.”
Zhen Yuanbai nodded and said softly, “Actually, the style of the problems are similar. As long as you practice enough, you will be able to compute the solution just by looking at the question!”
Song Mo nodded consecutively and said, “Only English might be a little difficult. When I was practicing that subject, I noticed that I didn’t know a lot of words. English is too hard and I can’t understand it...”
He kept on rambling about while Zhen Yuanbai answered every now and then. Song Mo was so energetic and passionate that he couldn’t stop talking. Therefore, from time to time, Zhen Yuanbai gave some suggestions such as how Song Mo’s biggest weakness was placing too much attention in one topic. Song Mo listened carefully and even took out his personal notebook to write down tips and notes.
For a while, Zhen Yuanbai still didn’t finish half the bowl of rice and he couldn’t help but peek at Shi Bufan only to notice that he was already gone from his seat.
He was stunned for two seconds and he felt worse and worse.
He was the one that ignored Shi Bufan from the start, but when the latter also ignored him, Zhen Yuanbai felt very strange.
Why am I like this?... He asked himself, looking down upon himself.
“Have you dated anyone?” He suddenly opened his mouth and cut off Song Mo while the latter was stunned. “Ah? Dating?”
“No, nothing.” Zhen Yuanbai quickly finished up the food. Thinking that Zhen Yuanbai didn’t seem like someone who would date, Song Mo thought that he was just looking into philosophical questions regarding dating. His eyes brightened right then and he said, “I know a bit. My sister dated someone before and she told me about it.”
Zhen Yuanbai swallowed the rice and glanced at Song Mo as the latter said, “She said that it makes people feel as if they were in heaven when you are dating someone, but also as if you were damned to the eighteenth floor of hell. Just like how I feel towards studying. I placed so much effort in studying English, but it gave me a harsh slap on the face, making me feel as if I was in a lot of pain. But towards mathematics? I barely pay attention in that class and look, whoa, I scored in the top 150! The feeling is very different... hm, do you understand?”
Zhen Yuanbai was confused, “Then do you still like English?”
“Of course not.” Song Mo said painfully, “It’s so scary and complicated! I can’t understand what it’s trying to express at all! I can only feel its disdain towards me, and no love at all.”
“Oh.” Zhen Yuanbai said a bit unhappily, “It really is a bit different.”
“How is it different?”
“Well...if you like someone, even if you feel like they don’t like you, you might feel bad but you still can’t help to like them still.”
Song Mo sunk into deep thought and Zhen Yuanbai puffed his cheeks, swallowing the food. Hearing that, he snapped his fingers and came up with a conclusion. “It’s actually the same. Take English for example. Although I don’t like it, I still can’t help but put in my effort in this, so that I can increase my average and get into a good college.”
“...” Zhen Yuanbai tried to connect the example of dating with learning, knitting his eyebrows and saying, “It’s more or less the same.”
Song Mo revealed a victory smile and asked, “Why did you suddenly want to study this? You can’t wait to write a paper on this topic in college? This topic... has quite the meaningful content.”
Zhen Yuanbai said vaguely, “Pretty, pretty much.”
He actually was copying the college students and... dating.
He placed the plates into the basket. Song Mo caught up to Zhen Yuanbai and asked, “Are you studying this by yourself? Dating is between two people, isn’t it? Do you need my help?”
Zhen Yuanbai was speechless. “How are you going to help?”
“We can pretend to be a couple dating and see if we make any chemistry.”
Zhen Yuanbai was speechless.
His eyes met with Song Mo and the latter said, “Hm, if I like you and you like me too, we can...”
He suddenly became mute.
Zhen Yuanbai was confused.
Song Mo suddenly shifted his gaze away and touched his heart. Half a moment later, he said, “I feel like my heart is pounding quickly... your topic is too difficult. I need to get a full body checkup on Saturday.”
“...” Zhen Yuanbai said, “Have you been staying up too late for the past few days?”
“Right.” Song Mo said, “Shi Bufan has been on a roll... making me suffer from insomnia just from thinking about it.”
Zhen Yuanbai suddenly heard a burst of laughter from behind and he looked back to see Ye Lian. It really seems like he would laugh at anything, laughing at the most random times. He looked at Song Mo and said, “People can easily misunderstand what you’re saying.”
Song Mo was confused.
Zhen Yuanbai was dumbstruck.
Question marks appeared on the two innocent and naive students’ heads. “Misunderstand what?”
“Nothing.” Ye Lian said, “Brother Shi was eating and he got an allergic reaction. I went to the kitchen to investigate and as expected, they changed it to soybean oil. Class monitor, aren’t you going to visit him?”
Zhen Yuanbai’s face paled and he couldn’t control his footsteps, wanting to run off when Song Mo suddenly said with a deep voice, “This is a trap.”
He said incomparably confidently, “He must want to make up with you...”
Ye Lian raised his eyebrows and Zhen Yuanbai first agreed to this thought, believing in this possibility. Then, in the next second, his heart thumped rapidly. Could it be that Song Mo had guessed that he was dating Shi Bufan...
“...so that you can continue to teach him and kick me, the second place, off, so he could take over. If he doesn’t achieve that goal, he won’t give up.”
T/N: Since it’s my bday, I decided to double release~ Cheers!
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