Translated by Eve
Bought a Phone Number
He caught the guy off-guard and the man ended up flying through the air. Ultimately, the man landed flat on his face.
Instantly, everything went silent. Everyone looked at Sheng Renxing in shock.
Xing Ye was the first to react. The moment that person hit the ground, he grabbed the person next to him by the neck and threw a punch at the other’s chin.
His victim also fell to the ground, dumbfounded.
Sheng Renxing followed suit quickly after. One had to be fast when fighting in a group scuffle in the dark. He ignored the other people and launched himself on the person he had kicked. The other had been trying to get to his feet. Before he managed to get up, Sheng Renxing landed a flurry of fists on him.
The person beneath him wanted to fight back but Sheng Renxing flipped the other over. He locked the other guy’s hands behind his back and pressed his head harshly against the ground.
Peering down at the man, he smirked. “You like my phone?”
“Mm mm mm—” The head of the person on the ground had been shoved into the dirt. He had no way of fighting back. All he could do was howl and wriggle in an attempt to struggle out of the other’s hold.
The ground beneath their feet was laid with flagstones. There was quite a bit of space between each flagstone. Additionally, it had just rained, so the ground was covered in muddy water.
The man was forced to ingest some of it.
Inevitably, some dirty water had also ended up splashing onto Sheng Renxing.
He wiped his cheek with the back of his hand and then turned to check on the rest of the scene.
The remaining people had been dealt with by Xing Ye.
That guy was a strong fighter. Several of the men were already lying on the floor.
The howls continued incessantly. The smell of muddy water after a storm mixed with the scent of trash nearby. The hazy moonlight added a mysterious filter to Xing Ye’s every action.
This fight looked like something out of a movie.
The movie would probably be called “The Great Battle Between Six Dumbasses at a Landfill.”
Naturally, Sheng Renxing wasn’t a part of it.
After watching for a while, Sheng Renxing realized that something was wrong.
He had picked up a bit of kickboxing when he had been young. He could make out that these people seemed to have received some training before. They weren’t like the street thugs he had been imagining.
While lost in his thoughts, he heard the sound of several people running into the alley.
He looked over.
Backup?
Before he could make their figures out clearly, Xing Ye pulled him up by the arm and shoved him in the other direction.
“Run.”
The other’s voice drifted into his ear. He watched as Xing Ye ran into the dark alley without him.
Seems like the new guys were with that group.
At first, Sheng Renxing’s mind had blanked out. However, he had some experience with strategic retreats. Without a word, he followed after Xing Ye.
He didn’t forget to kick the person he had pressed onto the ground once more out of spite before leaving though.
The alley was extremely dark. Sheng Renxing had slight night blindness and was also unfamiliar with the paths. He staggered while running.
Suddenly, his foot caught and he nearly fell onto the floor.
Xing Ye, who was running in front of him, noticed this. He looped back and grabbed onto Sheng Renxing’s wrist. As he ran, he dragged the other along.
It had started to drizzle again. The misty, thin droplets that soaked their clothes were accompanied by the penetrating chilly wind.
The two of them sprinted madly along the twisting pathways.
In the beginning, Sheng Renxing had still retained some idea of the route in his mind. But after winding through several alleyways, he had no choice but to give up.
Eventually, Xing Ye brought him around a corner and they were suddenly met with bright light.
Once they exited the alley, they stopped running.
Sheng Renxing didn’t care that the wall was dirty. He propped himself up against it and panted heavily. He found it kind of funny. He felt delighted.
The emotions he had been choking on seemed to have mostly dissipated.
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.
He turned to peer into the alley. The darkness was silent. It seemed like they had thrown those people off at some unknown point in time.
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Sheng Renxing watched as his comrade-in-arm took off his soldier’s uniform—er, school uniform.
The boy was wearing a wide black t-shirt underneath. The Mickey Mouse printed on the upper right side of his shirt shifted with the rise-and-fall of his chest. The cheap material of his shirt glinted underneath the lights.
The boy held his school uniform in his hands and silently dusted off the filth.
He actually looked rather innocent and childish like this.
Sheng Renxing’s gaze shifted from the Mickey Mouse print to their surroundings.
They were on a major street. It was completely different from the dusky, cramped alley just now. The colourful signs on either side of the road that took up the entire street dazzled his eyes.
There were bars, night clubs and hair salons all around. However, there weren’t a lot of people out.
A faint dim light emitted from the store in front of them. The sign outside said that it was a hair salon. An older girl dressed in shorts and a tank top was sitting near the door. She stared at the boys with a fiery gaze through the glass door.
The moment she met eyes with Sheng Renxing, she flashed him a radiant smile and made eyes at him.
Sheng Renxing: “….”
Expressionlessly, he blinked his eyes hard before looking away.
He turned to Xing Ye.
He wanted to purify his eyes.
Xing Ye was still rubbing at his uniform with his head lowered. But it was evidently pointless.
The sleeve, hem and back of his uniform had been dirtied during his fight.
Sheng Renxing could see that the dirt had seeped into the fibres of the jacket. Forget trying to dust it off, it might not even come off even if he washed it.
Xing Ye’s brows furrowed. He clicked his tongue quietly.
“You won’t be able to get it off like that. You’ll have to wash it.” Sheng Renxing’s breathing had evened out. He took a moment to examine his own state.
He had on a gray sweatshirt so the mud was especially striking. There were also warped hand prints from where the other person had grabbed at him.
If it were him from the past, he would have exploded in rage. He might have even run back to beat that person up until he couldn’t run anymore.
But the current him only stared at the mud on himself before looking at Xing Ye.
He realized that he wasn’t angry at all.
He even wanted to take a picture of their clothes—it was a memory worth keeping, after all.
Xing Ye also happened to look up and their eyes met. Xing Ye seemed to be sounding him out. There was also a look of indifference in his eyes.
Under the illumination of the lights, the contrast of the whites and blacks of Xing Ye’s appearance were even more apparent.
It felt like there was a grainy filter over him.
Sheng Renxing subconsciously followed the drop of sweat that had dripped down the other’s eye as it slid down the other’s straight nose before arriving at his chin.
Just as Sheng Renxing thought the other was going to say something, he saw Xing Ye lower his head. The other put the uniform back on.
The drop of sweat fell onto the collar of the other’s shirt.
The uniform flapped with the wind. Sheng Renxing suddenly shivered and retracted his gaze.
He rubbed his nose. It felt like this evil wind had caused his nose to get a little itchy.
Then, all of a sudden, he realized that something was wrong.
Sheng Renxing: “….”
Where are my clothes?
Xing Ye seemed to have guessed what he was thinking. He zipped up and said, “You won’t be able to get those back.”
Those people had very likely taken those things to vent their rage after failing to catch up to them.
His tone was calm, as if he had known this for a long time. He was probably wondering why Sheng Renxing had only realized this now.
Sheng Renxing: “….”
He unlocked his phone and seriously took a look at today’s horoscope.
Don’t go out.
…Fine.
Xing Ye looked at him. “How much did that cost?”
Sheng Renxing was taken aback. “Are you going to compensate me?”
Xing Ye nodded.
Sheng Renxing raised a brow, intrigued. He sized Xing Ye up openly, from the other’s injured neck to his exposed ankles.
He hadn’t noticed it because it had been too dark earlier, but he now realized that this person was actually really thin. He even looked kind of weak.
Despite the freezing weather, the other boy only wore two layers and his uniform jacket was filthy. He looked like a stray dog that had rolled around in a garbage heap.
He looked like he wasn’t well-off.
Xing Ye’s gaze was calm. He let Sheng Renxing size him up.
Sheng Renxing then smiled. He was originally going to say that the other didn’t have to pay him back, but just as he parted his lips, he suddenly recalled how much money he had spent. He gave a rough answer. “A thousand yuan.”
It was actually a lot more than that.
He then watched the other’s reaction.
Xing Ye was a straightforward guy. He nodded and took his backpack off before wearing it in front. He pulled a wallet out from the bag.
The wallet was a standard black leather wallet. Sheng Renxing recognized the brand. Their products typically cost over a thousand.
However, the other’s wallet was full of holes. The leather was also coming off at the corners.
Xing Ye took out all the money he had.
He had a one hundred yuan bill, several ten and five yuan bills, and a one yuan bill.
Xing Ye put the one yuan bill away and started to count the money.
With his head lowered, his quiet temperament and his school uniform made him seem like a silent top student. He looked like a good kid.
He looked completely different from how he had appeared while in the middle of viciously smashing someone’s head into the wall.
Sheng Renxing then reflected on himself.
“……”
All of a sudden, Sheng Renxing realized that the older girl from the store in front was now looking at him weirdly.
Silently, he unrolled his sleeves.
“Here’s two hundred and five yuan.”
After Xing Ye counted them up, he handed the money over to Sheng Renxing.
Sheng Renxing’s gaze was downcast. He didn’t really want to take it.
Aside from the fact that he was annoyed at not having any clothes, the money didn’t matter to him. He felt lame, taking the other’s money.
Great Young Master Sheng thus raised his hand, wanting to refuse the money.
Xing Ye: “Save my number. I’ll give you the rest later.”
Suddenly, Sheng Renxing was tempted.
He looked at Xing Ye and slowly reached out to accept the two hundred and five yuan. He then pulled his phone out.
Two hundred and five yuan was still money, he thought.
Xing Ye listed off his number and Sheng Renxing saved it.
After typing it in, he asked in a very natural manner, “What’s your name?”
“Xing Ye.”
“Which characters?”
“Xing is written with the 开 character and阝 radical. The ye is from ‘uncivilized.’”Sheng Renxing saved his contact information and then fiddled with his phone. He looked up at the other. “I’ll call you?”
“Mn.”
The call connected and Sheng Renxing hung up.
Xing Ye didn’t do anything.
Sheng Renxing licked his lips. He was kind of thirsty.
“Do you want my name?”
“What’s your last name?”
“Sheng.”
“Mn.”
“……”
Sheng Renxing was silent. He felt like the temperature had fallen and found it to be a little chilly.
He was also kind of hungry, which wasn’t a surprise considering he hadn’t eaten dinner yet.
“You don’t have to return the rest of the money.” He coughed while looking at Xing Ye. “It wasn’t your fault anyway.”
Actually, he had had a good time fighting.
Before Xing Ye could say anything, Sheng Renxing shrugged and offered a suggestion. “How about you treat me to dinner as compensation?”
Xing Ye frowned at first. He bore into Sheng Renxing’s eyes pensively.
Was that disdain in his eyes?
Heartthrob Sheng, who people have always fought over for the chance to treat him, blinked. He felt like this was quite the novel experience.
He pretended to be angry, crossing his arms and raising his chin. “I can’t do anything if you choose to go back on your word.”
When Xing Ye heard this, his brows furrowed even more. He didn’t seem to like Sheng Renxing’s words very much, but it didn’t look like he was angry either.
“I wouldn’t do that.”
He put his wallet away. “What do you want to eat?”
The corner of Sheng Renxing’s lips rose and he snapped. “What’s good to eat around here?”
Xing Ye thought about it. He then pointed to the other side of the street. “There’s a pretty nice noodle restaurant just around the corner there.”
“Then it’s decided.”
.
The noodle restaurant wasn’t far away. Xing Ye led the way and they got there by foot.
The sidewalk was inlaid with bricks, which wasn’t good. The bricks were like bombs when it rained. Stepping on them would get you all wet.
Sheng Renxing’s expression had turned ugly when his shoes had gotten splashed with dirty water. He had then proceeded onwards like he was walking through a minefield.
He hadn’t been paying attention to anything else. A woman leaning against a hair salon suddenly reached out for him. “Hey Handsome, want to come inside?”
The woman had nearly grabbed onto his arms. With a frown, he dodged and rejected her. “I don’t need a hair wash.”
He then cast a disdainful glance at the crude hair salon behind her.
The woman was taken aback by his answer. She sized him up and then laughed.
“?”
He subconsciously turned to Xing Ye and saw that the other was looking at him weirdly. There was a thoughtful look in his eyes.
Sheng Renxing: “???”
Did I say something funny just now?
Luckily, Xing Ye only looked at him for a second before dragging him away. When Sheng Renxing looked back after putting some distance between himself and the woman, he saw that the woman was still laughing.
There has to be something wrong with her!
The author has something to say:
Sheng Renxing: Wash, my ass.
Xing Ye: Yeah, that’s about right.
Eve: Oh, Sheng Renxing, you sweet summer child. We must protect his purity.
Awwww so innocent!
Thanks for the chapter <3
Ow he is so innocent, i didn’t expect that 🤔
Thanks for the chapter~
Aaaaa i replied wrong. Sorry 😭😭🙏
Lol, it took me a while to understand what was wrong with the, uh, invitation at the end. The woman’s shock and laughter wasn’t enough, I didn’t get it until Xing Ye looked weirdly at Renxing. 🤦Thank you for the chapter!
Omg Sheng Renxing’s adorable! And Xing Ye is also so cute wtfff >< Wonder what his background is tho. He’s giving off the ‘stray’ vibes
Thanks for the chapter! 🙂
Ok re-read the synopsis and it says “prince of the slums wild gong”. That answers a few questions
Yes~ Xing Ye’s been dealt some bad cards but he’s still so sweet and good despite it all (of course I don’t approve of everything but given what he’s gone throigh, I think he turned out lovely). We’ll find out more as he opens up to Xingxing~
Sheng is too fucking adorable and innocent!!!
Thanks for the chapter~
Xing Ye is so cool!! No Wonder the author said Sheng Renxing is gonna fall first.
Thanks for the chapter!
Isn’t he??? He’s just so…effortlessly charismatic hahaha
The second hand embarrasment😭😭✋
Ty for the chapter!!💜💜💜
He’s a cutie