translator: daisy
proofreader: jay
They swept up the broken glass beads on the ground and tossed them into a bag Sheng Renxing had found.
Xing Ye went back to his room to sleep upon finishing.
Sheng Renxing walked around the room and found that there were decorative little trinkets everywhere, as well as two impressionist paintings occupying a wall behind the sofa.
It was obvious that Wei Huan had very particular personal tastes; no wonder the rent was reduced by so much on account that nothing would be moved.
Sitting on the sofa, Sheng Renxing’s line of sight could see the suitcase still lying on the ground, but he didn’t care to unpack it all at the moment. After all, he could just take out the items he needed when he actually required them.
What Xing Ye had said today ricocheted in his mind, starting from the other’s appearance, to his every sentence and expression…Sheng Renxing could feel that he probably started falling for the other already.
In fact, it had already begun the first time he met Xing Ye: even then, the other’s unusual enthusiasm and energy gave rise to a desire to get to know him.
Sheng Renxing didn’t think twice at the time considering Xing Ye’s temperament matched him quite well, so it was normal to have a good impression.
Slowly, as the other’s favor rose more and more, the alarm of “danger” rang madly in his mind.
It was like riding a motorcycle on a dark mountain road for the first time, the unfamiliar terrain a smudge of black in front of Sheng Renxing as the icy wind simultaneously cut through him just as he pushed through it. Amidst the soaring speed, one could no longer tell if they were the one controlling the wind or just walking on the fine edge of losing control.
Danger, excitement, and restraint had reached their respective peaks.
But it was still different. That “out of control” feeling was just a fleeting illusion after a surge of adrenaline.
This loss of control was something he couldn’t even grasp.
Sheng Renxing stared blankly at Xing Ye’s door and suddenly wanted to escape—to go outside for a walk, to have a cigarette—anything was fine as long as it wasn’t here.
However, he felt that he might be stopped by the security guard after being mistaken for a thief. After all, when they came in, the guard stared at them for a long time before they were released. He looked so serious that it felt like they were standing in the US embassy instead of a nondescript Xuancheng community.
Sheng Renxing wondered if his smoldering glare made the guard very unhappy, as he didn’t even glance at Xing Ye next to him.
Afterwards, he asked Xing Ye if he had stolen the security guard’s money unknowingly or something. After all, why else did he appear so vicious and wicked?
Xing Ye didn’t say anything and just patted his hair.
Sheng Renxing wanted to find some beer, but there was only wine in the cabinet, and the price wasn’t written down yet. After thinking about the ten thousand yuan, Sheng Renxing put it into the refrigerator and went to sleep.
The two people had a secret exchange the night before, and it was slightly disgusting to say that it could definitely be regarded as a heart-to-heart.
But after that, the number of times they met up had substantially decreased from before.
One was that Xing Ye didn’t live with him.
He found a place and rented it out. Sheng Renxing had originally wanted to ask him to stay, but only having confessed his sexuality the night before, the “I’m interested in you” never came out.
The other was that Sheng Renxing agreed to the math Olympiad.
To divert attention, he felt like he needed to do something about it.
When Qiu Datou had posted his test results on Moments, Sheng Renxing found that his previous school’s progress really was advanced, which gave him a sense of urgency.
But since the next monthly exam wasn’t a joint one, there wasn’t a point for him to show off his No.13 High’s exam marks again.
Sheng Renxing wanted a definitive result to prove that he didn’t “escape because of pressure” and came here for a vacation.
Now that he set his mind to it, backing down wasn’t an option.
This Olympiad was to select places for the Chinese Mathematical Olympiad to be hosted in December.
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.
Yglulcjiis, lc bgvfg ab qjgalmlqjaf lc atf Gfmfwyfg mbwqfalalbc, raevfcar wera tjnf qjgalmlqjafv lc atf Rjalbcji Llut Vmtbbi Zjatfwjalmr Ofjuef yjmx lc Vfqafwyfg.
Ktja’r kts la kjr abb ijaf obg Vtfcu Efczlcu.
Lbkfnfg, lo atfgf kjrc’a jc bqfclcu, bcf mbeiv yf wjvf atgbeut batfg wfjcr.
Ktf qglcmlqji bynlberis tjv mbccfmalbcr ab vb rb, jr tf wjcjufv ab ufa jc fzagj rfja obg tlw.
He then sighed deeply to persuade Sheng Renxing: “I’ve had to show this old face everywhere in order to ask for this spot. If you don’t get any rankings, both my face and your dad’s will all be smashed on the ground.”
To tell the truth, Sheng Renxing was so aggrieved after hearing this that he almost wanted to hand in a blank test paper.
After that, he began to study.
Because Xuancheng didn’t have the materials he needed, Sheng Renxing contacted Qiu Datou on WeChat and asked him for help to find resources.
He even reached out to his former math teacher.
Sheng Renxing was most annoyed by these kinds of favor lawsuits, but the other party was very enthusiastic and thoroughly patient.
After hanging up, he continued to complete questions.
Before this, the back and forth quarreling with Sheng Yan had taken up a considerable amount of time, and he hadn’t worked on this sort of material for a long time.
Grasping the pen now, it was a difficult kind of feeling.
Moreover, not only was he studying at home, but he was also writing at school.
As Sheng Renxing’s deskmate, the captain saw most of what was going on.
With the person in question repeatedly glancing in his direction, Sheng Renxing asked, “Are you also participating?”
The captain shook his hand briskly, and after a while, “What are you even writing?”
“Math.” Sheng Renxing leaned loosely on the back of his chair, putting his hands on the table.
“Oh,” the captain looked closer, “That looks so difficult.”
Chen Ying, who caught wind of the tail end of his statement, turned around immediately, “What’s difficult? Let me see!” After all, he thought that he was fairly good at math.
The captain looked up at him and hesitated to reply on the account that he felt Chen Ying wouldn’t be able to understand.
Sheng Renxing was generous, so he picked up the question sheet and handed it off to him.
This was the booklet he had bound together himself based on the topics.
Chen Ying took it and sat down on the chair, gesturing to them with a pause, and then took out his glasses from the desk drawer.
He only ever wore them when the teacher was playing a video.
Chen Ying stared at the subject for a long time, before glancing at Sheng Renxing, only to look down again with a frown.
He repeated the motion several times.
The fat student leaned over and watched them, “If you don’t understand, you don’t understand, don’t bother warming up your vision…Fuck, my eyes! What are those!” He closed his eyes suddenly, his hands a flurry in front of his face, “I seem to be near the end! I’m becoming blind!”
Sheng Renxing took the booklet back from between them while Chen Ying sighed deeply, and tapped a finger to his glasses: “My criminal-tracking glasses are offline!”
“Detective Conan’s glasses can’t solve math problems.” The captain deadpanned.
Chen Ying “tsk-ed”, “I did that on purpose!”
The fat student frowned in surprise, “Is this a math problem?”
“It’s English.” Sheng Renxing lifted his head to stare at him and then took out a red pen to circle a question.
“No wonder,” The fat student patted his head in relief, “I couldn’t even understand the prompt.”
“Idiot!” Chen Ying scolded him and asked Sheng Renxing, “What is this for?”
Before he could answer, a sudden noise outside the window alerted them.
The corridor was already narrow, so Jiang Jing and the others had to line up in a row; the people behind them could only follow in anger. The scene was oddly reminiscent of a gangster arrangement.
Xing Ye followed behind them, as the hallway was wide enough for three and a half people.
Sheng Renxing’s eyes trailed towards him, and with this new appearance, the scene looked more like the Flower Four appearing on stage instead of a mobster gang.
But why were they here?
Just then, he saw them stand still at the door of their classroom.
The students fell silent.
Sheng Renxing felt an odd sense of déjà vu.
The onlookers must’ve felt the same thing, as they all started twittering in excitement.
“Woah!!!”
Sheng Renxing opened a window.
“What’s up?”
Xing Ye approached and leaned against his window.
The first to speak was Huang Mao, “What are you doing?”
It was a sliding window, so he opened one side and squeezed towards Xing Ye.
“Just chatting.”
Huang Mao nodded, looked down at the window, and screamed, “Fuck! Here it is! The place where laozi got held down! It’s even fucking deformed!”
The others looked down, and there was indeed a small dent.
Jiang Jing: “That’s not right, I don’t think it was here?”
“Hey, is it this way?” Huang Mao turned his head and looked over, “Am I wrong?”
“Are you here to relive the old dream?” Sheng Renxing watched silently as he put his arm next to the window frame to compare the traces.
Huang Mao grinned.
Cui Xiaoxiao, who had been next to them suddenly shouted, “Chen Ying!”
“I’m going mountain climbing this weekend, do you want to go?!” She stared at Chen Ying with bright eyes.
They pointedly ignored Huang Mao, who was still screeching.
Sheng Renxing knew what they were here for, and couldn’t help but glance at Cui Xiaoxiao. The girl was very courageous.
Everyone turned towards Chen Ying.
As the male lead in this drama, Chen Ying had quite a large reaction, but it wasn’t the one that everyone thought, “Mountain climbing? Where’s the mountain?”
Here, Xing Ye leaned against the window sill and asked Sheng Renxing, “Are you going?”
“Saturday?”
Xing Ye nodded: “Either day works.” His eyes swept across his desk, “Doing homework?”
Sheng Renxing showed him the booklet with a smile, “Yesterday’s math questions.”
Xing Ye held it in his hand and looked at it for a while, “You have really nice handwriting.”
Sheng Renxing nodded, “I’ve practiced calligraphy before.” As he spoke, he took his pen and wrote his name on the booklet.
“Jingting Mountain.” Cui Xiaoxiao said to them, “Let’s go?”
Chen Ying showed an embarrassed expression: “I have something to do on Saturday. I need to go out with my dad.”
Cui Xiaoxiao bit her lip and looked at Huang Mao and them.
Huang Mao put his hands in his pockets, tilted his head towards Chen Ying, and curved the corners of his mouth. In short, he looked like a mess: “During the weekend, time is arbitrary. It just depends on when you’re free.”
“It looks good.” Xing Ye stared at his writing, and then at him.
Seeing him look at him, Sheng Renxing hesitated for a while before writing “Xing Ye” in the adjacent blank space.
The other smiled, “You can make a fortune writing Spring Festival couplets.”
“I’ll have to thank you for the tip then.” Sheng Renxing grinned amusedly and then turned his head to regard the speechless and embarrassed Chen Ying, whom Cui Xiaoxiao was still looking straight at.
“I can’t go this week.” Sheng Renxing turned back to him.
Xing Ye was stunned.
Even Huang Mao looked over.
Sheng Renxing tapped on the booklet on the table: “I need to finish this.”
In truth, it wasn’t that there was no way to spare time, but he wanted to maintain a little distance with Xing Ye.
“What is this?” Huang Mao looked over curiously.
On account of his dirty hands, Sheng Renxing didn’t let him touch them, “Math Olympiad questions, the competition is soon.”
Xing Ye didn’t say anything and pursed his lower lip.
Jiang Jing attempted to persuade him, “Oh, but it’s so tiring to write math problems straight for two hours. Let’s go hiking and relax.”
“Are you going to have dinner with us tonight?” Jiang Jing nodded and pointed to Xing Ye, “He’s treating us at Xiaonanmen.”
Sheng Renxing widened his eyes in surprise, “Why is it your turn to entertain again?”
“He often doesn’t participate in our activities, so we’re fining him.” Huang Mao laughed.
Sheng Renxing nodded, “I’m not going”, he shook a hand roughly in the direction of the booklet, “Save you some money.”
Xing Ye didn’t speak.
On the other hand, Cui Xiaoxiao began another round with Chen Ying, “I’ve asked you so many times to hang out with me! Are you the President of the United States! Or you just don’t want to go out with me!”
Chen Ying replied softly, “It’s not that! Something really came up. Can you…”
Everyone looked at them, and Sheng Renxing muttered internally, “You really don’t have anything to do, considering you just made an appointment with the fat student to go to an Internet cafe today.”
Sheng Renxing was caught off guard when Xing Ye suddenly asked, “Xiaonanmen is right at the back door of your community. Maybe you can head back after eating?”
He turned his head and saw Xing Ye bending over on the window sill, staring at himself with his lips still slightly pursed.
The alarms started to sound in his mind again.
Sheng Renxing averted his gaze and smiled apologetically, “There’s no need. You guys have fun, I’ll treat everyone next time.”
Xing Ye, C O M M U N I C A T E
+1 PLEASE
Wow, it only took 32 chapters for Sheng Renxing to acknowledge his feeling. And I’d be surprised if Xing Ye isn’t aware of his feeling for Sheng Renxing because there is no way he isn’t. And don’t distance yourself from Xing Ye, Sheng Renxing, your supposed to show him what boyfriend material you are.
+1
+2
+3
+4
+5 but to be fair, Xingxing thinks he’s straight and honestly, if you’re gay and you fall for your straight friend it sucks-
Yeah, it sucks🥲
Aww… But I understand our mc, I was the same way when I realised I liked a girl who had to be straight.
Thank you for updating, Daisy!
Oof same experience
😩😩
Done be angsty guys, come one just talk to each other!
Thanks for the chapter!
No, I’m with S.R. When you fall in love with a straight guy (or someone you think is straight or has said they are straight), you have to protect your heart.
X.Y., should he actually feel something, has the responsibility to move forward and show romantic interest or respect the distance S.R. is making for himself.
But this is BL… so… we shall see. 😂
i love S.R so much pls (-̩̩̩-̩̩̩-̩̩̩-̩̩̩-̩̩̩___-̩̩̩-̩̩̩-̩̩̩-̩̩̩-̩̩̩)
awwwww
thanks for the chapter <3