Xia Zhixu was a very strange person.
Xu Qichen thought so from their very first meeting.
Everyone sweeps the snow in front of their own door, and ignore the frost on others’ doorstep. In the cold forests of steel and cement they live in, this sentence truly represents the modern way of life. He was very aware of this, so he resolutely avoided troubling others over things he could do by himself.
He must become a competent and independent person to survive in this world.
But he accidentally burdened that person, which was the most regrettable thing for Xu Qichen.
If it weren’t for the sudden effects of low blood sugar and the fact that he was the only other student in the bus from the same school, Xu Qichen would have never asked him for help.
How could he have expected that this one time he sought help, it gave the other person the opportunity to take advantage of it.
To unleash his blinding light upon him.
He helped him resolve awkward situations, helped him occupy a seat, went home with him, asked him to revise his script, and opened his water bottle for him.
That person did not seem to find getting close to others a difficult thing at all, and it seemed impossible to deter him.
Is it because his life has been too smooth? Xu Qichen’s heart suddenly gave rise to such a dark thought.
Being good-looking, achieving outstanding results, and having a happy family, he was everyone’s object of admiration and pursuit. Perhaps that’s why he felt that Xu Qichen was particularly pitiful.
Whenever Xia Zhixu approached him with that sunny smile, Xu Qichen’s heart put a label on him without authorization.
[That guy with too much sympathy.]
So, when Xu Qichen saw him once again running up to him and unconditionally helping him, he finally couldn’t suppress his dark side.
“Do you pity me?”
“Are you doing this because you pity me?”
Seeing his confusion and helplessness, Xu Qichen somehowfelt relieved.
Stop caring about him because of some ridiculous notion of empathy. Empathy was a myth to begin with.
But as he marched towards him step by step…
“No.”
His eyes were full of determination and eagerness.
“It’s because you’re very good, very talented, that I want to be your friend.”
Xu Qichen could not deny that when he heard this sentence he had never expected, he was indeed a bit flustered, though he could not understand the reason.
The frozen heart in his chest began to beat again.
Faster, and faster.
“To the back, march!”
Upon hearing the instructor’s instructions, his mind hastily turned back to his body and, having not yet recovered from its previous state of deep thought, almost fell.
A pair of hands from behind him caught him firmly by his arm.
“I mean it.”
Another heavy blow.
Why did such a strange person exist, and why did he have to meet him?
“This is the end of this morning’s training! Gather back here at 2:30 PM. If anyone is late, they will frog jump around the field, understood?”
“Understood!”
“Turn to the right. From the first row, march out!”
The six row square formation turned into a vertical dragon, neatly and orderly leaving the gates of the sports ground, and then disbanded. Xu Qichen carried his bottle and walked towards the school gate.
His footsteps were a little faster than usual, and he felt inexplicably guilty.
For some reason, he did not want that person to catch up with him.
“Zhixu! Xia Zhixu! Why are you running?”
“Going home to eat!”
“What, are you the reincarnation of a ghost who died of hunger?”
He’s here…
Xu Qichen subconsciously wanted to hide, but he was surrounded by people with nowhere to hide.
In the end, he caught him straight away.
“You walk so fast,” Xia Zhixu took off his hat, using it to fan his face.
Xu Qichen ignored him and continued walking.
“Did you hear me?” He hesitated, “… What I said earlier. I didn’t mean anything else by it, just… If you didn’t hear me, I can say it again.”
“No need.” Xu Qichen replied very quickly this time, “I heard you.”
Xia Zhixu’s expression immediately brightened. “Really?” He saw the increasingly crowded area and walked to Xu Qichen’s left side. “I swear to you, every word I say comes from the bottom of my heart.”
He’s so strange…
Why was he making declarations like this to another boy?
“Stop it,” Xu Qichen said in a low voice.
“So, are you going to be my friend?” Xia Zhixu’s tone was very carefree.
Difficult to deal with. A new label had been added to that person.
His fingers were pinched by the strap of the thermos cup.
“Let’s just go home.”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
After saying this sentence, he felt as if there was something wrong again. After taking a few steps, he realized upon looking to his side that that person was missing.
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“What should we do? It’s so crowded.” Xia Zhixu glanced at Xu Qichen’s arm and suggested, “Let’s take a taxi back.”
Do you think a taxi is so easy to flag down with this crowd?
Xu Qichen thought, but did not say.
He quickly caught himself.
The point here is not whether we can call a taxi or not, but…
Why should I take a taxi home with you?
Unfortunately, this enthusiastic young man didn’t pay attention to the core of the problem at all. He ran to the roadside in front of the bus stop and several taxis in a row were taken by others. Finally, an empty taxi stopped in front of him.
“Where to?” The driver wound down the window and asked.
“Friendship Road, sir, the entrance of Brocade Gardens.”
“Oh, I won’t go there. I’m ending my shift after this, that’s too far for me.”
Xia Zhixu put his hands on the car window and said, “Don’t, sir. Please take me with you. You see, I’ve been waiting here for a long time before you stopped, and…” He immediately made a pitiful expression. “My good friend broke his arm during military training today, look over there!” Xia Zhixu pointed to Xu Qichen not far away. “He can’t take the bus like that. It was so difficult to get a taxi, can you just take it as doing a good deed? Please?”
The driver tilted his head out of the window to look. There was indeed a boy standing there with an arm in a sling. He looked at his watch and sighed, “Fine, call him over.”
“Thank you, sir!” Xia Zhixu quickly ran to Xu Qichen and tugged him towards the car. He opened the door for him and stuffed him into the taxi, then sat down beside him and said, “We’re ready, sir.”
The driver glanced at them through the mirror and murmured to himself, “Are the kids’ military training so tough nowadays? How did he…?”
Xia Zhixu quickly interrupted him, “Ai, that’s right, our instructor’s so strict. He even made us frog jump around the field, my legs are so sore!”
Xu Qichen looked at him with a puzzled expression on his face. After speaking, Xia Zhixu turned his head to look at Xu Qichen and gave him a dry smile. “You, you must be careful,” he said.
Weird.
Throughout the journey, Xia Zhixu chatted with the driver while Xu Qichen sat tightly listening, feeling that he was truly a person with social talent.
In this aspect, he would never be able to compare.
The driver stopped at the junction, “Is this the place?”
They got off the car. Xia Zhixu said, “Thank you, sir! You’re a really great person!”
“I’ll pay you for the ride in the afternoon,” Xu Qichen said coldly.
Xia Zhixu automatically replied, “No need, this is…” Then his expression shifted. “In the afternoon? Okay, you can give it to me on the way to school.”
Xu Qichen stared at him blankly, “On the way to school?”
“That’s right, when do you leave? Let’s meet at the bus stop,” Xia Zhixu smiled.
“I…”
Xia Zhixu did not give him a chance to hesitate, “How about 1:15 PM? We have to assemble by 2:30 PM.”
Xu Qichen looked down.
He was still unable to reject anyone.
No, he was unable to reject this person.
“… En.” He turned away and started walking.
The person behind him was still saying goodbye to him. Even his tone was extremely cheerful.
Xu Qichen could only pretend not to hear and silently walk back home along this not-too-long street.
He went up, took out his keys, and opened the lock.
As soon as he entered the door, he heard a lot of noise coming from the kitchen, accompanied by the sound of his aunt speaking on the phone.
“I can’t make it on Sunday. I told you, Chenchen is off on Sunday and I have to stay at home with him… No, I told you last time, you just forgot. And didn’t I make time for you on Saturday? But you insisted on going to your friend’s wedding on Saturday.”
Xu Qichen silently bent down to change his shoes after placing the water bottle in his hand on the coffee table in the living room.
“You’re always like this, saying ‘Fine, so it’s all my fault, happy?’ out of nowhere. I didn’t say that, I just mean can’t you be a little more understanding…? What do you mean he’s not my business? He’s my sister’s son, so he’s as good as mine. If he’s not my business, whose business is he?”
He sat down on the sofa and removed his hat.
“I can’t talk to you anymore. You don’t understand at all. Forget it, let me calm down.”
Hearing Shu Ying hang up the phone, Xu Qichen quickly stood up and walked lightly to the hallway with his hat, pretending to have just arrived home. After standing for a while, he said, “Auntie, I’m back.”
Shu Ying replied back from the kitchen, “En! So early? I put some cut fruits in the fridge, go eat them.”
Xu Qichen opened the fridge, took out the plate of messily cut fruits, and placed them on the dining table.
Shu Ying brought two dishes to the dining table and put them down. One dish was shredded potatoes that had been fried to a cinder, and the other was fried meat with green peppers, that didn’t look very delicious either.
Xu Qichen went to the kitchen and saw that there was still a plate of tomato fried eggs. He was about to serve them, but Shu Ying sent him out, “Just sit down properly.”
Shu Ying looked at her ‘masterpieces’ and smiled awkwardly, letting down her hair that she had tied up to cook. “I was originally planning to order takeout, but I’m worried about the hygiene. Although your aunt can’t cook well, at least it’s clean and nutritious.”
Xu Qichen did not reply, simply using his chopsticks to eat a large mouthful of egg.
… And found a small piece of an egg shell.
He pretended it was delicious and swallowed it
“Was today’s training tough?” Shu Ying put the least charred piece of potato on his plate, “I still remember military training. It was so tiring, I just wanted to sleep when I got home.”
“It’s fine, I’m not that tired.”
“That’s good.” Shu Ying smiled as she ate. “Next time you’re off, I’ll take you to the movies.”
Xu Qichen poked at the rice in his bowl, “No need.”
“Why, don’t you like movies? Then I’ll take you to the bookstore. I saw online that your favorite author published a new book a few days ago. I was planning to buy one for you online, but then I thought why don’t we go to the bookstore and buy it? Then we wouldn’t have to wait.”
Xu Qichen shook his head, “No need.” He glanced at Shu Ying, and hesitantly said, “Auntie, I’ll go to the bookstore alone this weekend. So you can go out with Uncle He.”
To be honest, Xu Qichen didn’t want to call that person uncle at all. After all, he was only twenty-six years old and was not a very good person. If it weren’t for being his aunt’s boyfriend, he wouldn’t even want to interact with such a person.
Shu Ying sighed, “The more I see him, the more I think he’s not anything good.” She winked at Xu Qichen, “Say, should I just dump him over this? I’m so pretty anyway, lots of people are chasing me.”
Seeing her flip her hair, Xu Qichen shook his head, “Don’t give me this bad girl act.”
“What do you know, little guy?” Shu Ying smiled and put more food on his plate. She picked up a piece of apple with her hand and ate it. “When you have someone you like in the future, you will know how troublesome it is to date.”
Is that so?
Xu Qichen looked down and ate.
Dating is unlikely.
But a troublesome person has already shown up.
After lunch, Shu Ying tidied up the table while asking about Xu Qichen’s day at school. “Are there any pretty girls in your class?”
Xu Qichen shook his head and sat on the sofa. He picked up the copy of The Kite Runner on the coffee table, flipping it to the page where he had stopped.
“None?” Shu Ying was wiping the table. “Then what about handsome boys?”
At this moment, Xu Qichen’s eyes stopped on a line on the page.
[… that bedeviled moths flung themselves at candle flames, and wolves climbed mountains looking for the sun.]
“None,” he replied calmly.
Even though, when he heard that question, that face immediately appeared in his mind.
“Okay, that’s too bad. Without good-looking boys or girls, how boring it must be to go to school.” Shu Ying shook her head, tidied up her things, washed her hands, took the medicine box, walked to the sofa and sat next to Xu Qichen. She pulled his face away from his book to face her. “But it’s okay, our family’s Chenchen is quite good-looking, so let’s just admire ourselves.”
Xu Qichen glanced at her helplessly. He had never been able to deal with this playful aunt.
Shu Ying gently lifted the gauze on his forehead. The wound inside was almost healed. She applied some medicine and bandaged it up again. “Be careful during military training, don’t knock or touch it. If it leaves any scars, it will be too obvious. Girls nowadays care too much about looks.”
Xu Qichen looked back at the book silently.
“Aren’t you going to take a nap?”
“In a bit.” Xu Qichen lay down on the sofa, resting his arm on the book.
After a while, the words on the page became dense and blurry, and his eyelids couldn’t hold up anymore. His head tilted and he fell asleep on the sofa.
In the dream, the figures of his parents appeared hazily. They held his hands and took him to the bookstore and amusement park together. Everything in the dream was colorful, just like the colorful bubbles in the amusement park.
“You’re our treasure.”
The dream was so beautiful that it made him feel like he was trapped in a swamp, his body trapped in the soft lie, constantly sinking and sinking.
“Chenchen!”
A violent shaking caused Xu Qichen to open his eyes in a daze.
It was his aunt, who looked very much like his mother when she was younger.
“It’s almost 2, won’t you be late for the afternoon training?”
Xu Qichen, who had just woken up, slowly got up from the sofa and rubbed his hair, but was not yet fully awake.
Almost 2…
He glanced at the clock on the living room wall.
1:55 PM.
“Oh, you’re leaving so soon!” Shu Ying felt puzzled when she saw Xu Qichen grabbing his hat and leaving. Before she could finish speaking, this guy closed the door and left without saying a word.
Xu Qichen’s pace was much faster than usual. He went downstairs in a daze, hurriedly walking through the street that usually took at least three minutes to walk.
As soon as he turned the corner, he squinted his eyes and looked at the bus stop not far away.
The boy in a white shirt was still sitting on a bench at the bus stop, coincidentally, right then, the other party also looked at him.
Watching the other person stand up, dressed in his military training uniform, his figure tall and straight, like a thriving metasequoia tree, his eyes like shining stars, but in the next second they smiled and turned into two curved moons.
Xu Qichen suddenly slowed down, and a hint of doubt welled up in his heart.
Why was he in such a rush?
Was it because he didn’t want to miss their meeting?
He did not want to be seen as someone who did not keep his promises.
His heart calmed down, and his steps became more natural.
Xu Qichen walked to the bus stop. Seeing Xia Zhixu’s bright smile, he felt a little guilty and said, “Sorry, I…”
“Ai! The bus is here!” Xia Zhixu waved at the approaching bus, “Let’s go.”
Xu Qichen glanced at his watch.
2:05 PM.
He had waited for fifty minutes, but his attitude was as if he had just arrived.
The afternoon bus was empty, and Xia Zhixu found a two person seat and left the one inside for Xu Qichen. As soon as Xu Qichen sat down, the boy next to him handed him an ice cream. He looked up at him with some confusion.
“It’s my treat,” Xia Zhixu said simply. “I said I would treat you to something. You usually eat sugar and you like ice cream, right?” He took a wooden spoon from the bag and handed it to him, “I guess if I invited you to the restaurant for hamburgers or something, you wouldn’t come with me, so I can only buy you ice cream.”
Xu Qichen didn’t want to take it, but with Xia Zhixu holding it in front of him, not taking it seemed impolite.
He took the ice cream. The print on the lid was chocolate.
Xu Qichen did not like chocolate ice cream.
Because chocolate was not completely sweet and always held a little bitterness, there was an indescribable sense of subtlety.
“Eat quickly, this is my thank-you gift for you.” Xia Zhixu also held a box in his hand, but his one was printed with lemons.
Thank-you gift… Xu Qichen scooped a little and put it in his mouth.
In fact, he did not help much. After that person went up the stage, he barely followed the script at all, but rather spoke from his heart.
He himself was not as excited as his other classmates, but…
“The lyrics you mentioned in your speech, what song was that?”
Xu Qichen suddenly spoke, catching Xia Zhixu off guard.
This has to be the first time he had taken the initiative to talk to him, aside from the time he returned the pen.
“It’s Counting Stars, it’s one of my favourites. I’ll play it for you some time.” Xia Zhixu ate the ice cream, sweetness spreading in his heart. “That line was written very well, right?” He sang it out, “Everything that kills me makes me feel alive.”
Xu Qichen dug his spoon into the ice cream, his ears feeling hot.
His voice was very pleasant, especially when singing. It was a very strong and clear voice that was very different from Xu Qichen’s own.
“En,” Xu Qichen swallowed the ice cream in his mouth. “It’s well-written.”
Everything that kills me makes me feel alive.
How strange.
Xu Qichen looked down at the ice cream in his hand.
Today, he found out that the chocolate flavor was also quite delicious. Mixed with a little bitterness, its sweetness became more precious.
He glanced at Xia Zhixu’s ice cream, “Is the lemon flavour nice?”
Xia Zhixu smiled, “En… I like it.”
The training in the afternoon was much harder than in the morning. Instructor Yang’s requirements were very strict, and he made them go back and forth for an hour without even a minute’s pause. It wasn’t until everyone’s legs were raised at the same angle when they marched that his expression softened slightly.
“Ten minutes break!”
Everyone’s tense nerves suddenly relaxed, and one by one, they ran like chickens out of the cage and rushed to the place where the water bottles were placed, sitting together on the grass to drink and rest.
At this moment, Xu Qichen remembered that he had left hastily this afternoon without bringing a water bottle.
Forget it, he won’t drink then.
Turning around, he saw Xia Zhixu sitting on the ground, also looking at himself.
He felt even more embarrassed.
“Ai, where are you going?” The boy beside him, who seemed to be called Chen Fang, called out and reached for him, but missed. Xia Zhixu stood up, coming straight towards him.
They were the only ones standing. Seeing Xia Zhixu come towards him, Xu Qichen awkwardly sat down.
“Where’s your super tight water bottle?” Xia Zhixu sat down like he belonged there, holding his own mineral water bottle in his hand.
Xu Qichen replied in a low voice, “I forgot it.”
“O,” Xia Zhixu stood up again, patted the grass off his buttocks, and ran to the instructor with a grin. “Instructor Yang, can I go to the entrance of the sports hall to buy a bottle of water?”
Instructor Yang glared at him, “Isn’t that a bottle of water in your hands?”
“One isn’t enough for me,” he hid it behind his back. “I love drinking water! I have to drink at least two bottles after exercise.”
Instructor Yang’s expression didn’t change. “You’re not allowed to leave the allocated area. Any more nonsense from you and you’ll give me 20 laps!”
Xia Zhixu walked back with a disappointed face and sat next to Xu Qichen, sighing.
“I’m not thirsty.” Xu Qichen was thirsty, but did not want to bother him.
Xia Zhixu turned his head and glanced at him. He said that he was not thirsty, but his lips were cracked.
He opened his bottle and handed it over, “Have a sip, I can’t finish it.”
Is that so? Aren’t you the one who said you need at least two bottles?
Xu Qichen ignored the bottle and stared at the other class that was still training.
“Is it because of hygiene? I’ll wipe it with a piece of tissue.”
After speaking, that person was really ready to get up and borrow a tissue. Xu Qichen grabbed the water bottle from his hand quickly before he stood up.
“Ai…” Xia Zhixu sat back down dumbly, seeing his neck tilted back and mouth opened.
The semi transparent bottle’s mouth was about three to four centimeters away from his lips.
His not-so-visible Adam’s apple rolled gently.
Clear water fell from the bottle, some overflowing down the corner of his mouth, dripping all the way to his fair neck, before rolling into his collar and disappearing.
He handed the water bottle back to Xia Zhixu, and whispered, “Thank you,” before lifting his right arm to wipe the water from the side of his mouth.
“N-no problem,” Xia Zhixu took the bottle back and got up with a strange expression, returning to the place where he had been sitting before. He was kicked by his friend, the wheat skinned boy, who then grabbed his shoulder.
A bit of noisy fighting, a perfectly normal friendship between boys.
Xu Qichen frowned, suddenly feeling like something was wrong.
They’re both boys, so why did he have to lift the bottle up to drink? It’s okay to just drink from the bottle.
He looked at Xia Zhixu again, and the other party who was originally looking back at him, quickly turned his gaze away.
Probably because that guy is too weird.
Weird, and troublesome.
He should avoid him in case it’s contagious.
TN:
I’ll be going overseas so there won’t be any update for the next two weeks or so. Thank you for reading! :3
Omg they’re so cute
Thanks for the updates and have a good time! <3
Awe I finally caught up, I love them so much (ﾉ*>∀<)ﾉ♡
Have a nice trip!
this is way too adorable I just want them to get together and be happy 😙
……this is so cuteee…..ahhhhhhh