Sheng Renxing didn’t know how much time had passed. Xing Ye slightly retreated, and their somewhat hurried breath lingered in their ears.
“Fvck.” Sheng Renxing licked his lips with a faint sheen and whispered, “I’m getting Goosebumps.” He didn’t mention that his legs were a bit weak.
From the head of the small path, they could see the end of the path directly. They stood there, and if they weren’t careful, they would be discovered.
Xing Ye followed him and said softly, “Why are you acting scared?”
“You’re quite bold aren’t you?” Sheng Renxing teased, though he didn’t let go of the hand on Xing Ye’s waist.
Xing Ye didn’t speak; instead, he licked Sheng Renxing’s lips and brushed against his nose, staying close yet elusive, all the way to his reddening earlobe.
Sheng Renxing’s goosebumps, which had just subsided, came back. He couldn’t help but laugh, “It tickles.”
Xing Ye nuzzled at his ear, warm breath sweeping across his ear.
He wanted to escape, but Xing Ye held onto him.
Their strength intensified, and from the end of the path, Huang Mao’s voice came, “Aren’t you going back?”
Sheng Renxing paused.
Dong Qiu: “I’ll finish this one.”
Huang Mao: “I want to buy a drink from the Cafeteria.”
Sheng Renxing pinched Xing Ye’s waist and said, “Let’s go.”
Xing Ye asked, “Aren’t you afraid they’ll find out?”
They had discussed whether or not to let Huang Mao and the others know about this.
Sheng Renxing asked Xing Ye if he wanted to tell them.
Xing Ye asked in return if he was willing to let others know.
Sheng Renxing, half-pinned by him at that moment, raised an eyebrow, “Why wouldn’t you be willing?”
Xing Ye’s grip on him was so tight it was almost suffocating.
Sheng Renxing said, “Taking the initiative on telling them, and catching us making out are two different things!”
He paused, “Besides, you’re not ready yet, are you?”
Xing Ye suddenly seemed to snap out of his intimate state they were in just a moment ago. He finally retreated a bit and stared at Sheng Renxing without saying anything.
Huang Mao: “Are you done smoking? Are you doing embroidery or smoking?”
Behind them, Huang Mao’s impatient voice could be heard.
Sheng Renxing’s ears twitched, as if he wanted to turn and take a look, but it seemed as though he was captured by Xing Ye’s gaze and remained motionless.
Finally, Xing Ye shook his head.
Then, just before Huang Mao and the others were about to come out, he tugged Sheng Renxing away.
They didn’t return to the classroom; Xing Ye took him to the school Cafeteria.
There was no hot milk available.
“Do you want this?” He picked up a bag of milk and asked Sheng Renxing.
“No,” Sheng Renxing walked over to the refrigerator beside him. “I’ll have some red tea. Do you want it?”
Xing Ye put down the milk in his hand. “I don’t drink it.”
“Don’t you like this kind of sweet and creamy drink?” Sheng Renxing passed over the first bottle and chose the second one.
Xing Ye thought for a moment. “I don’t like drinking this.”
Sheng Renxing glanced at him.
Xing Ye asked, “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” Sheng Renxing took it to the counter. “It’s just rare to hear you say you don’t like something.”
Just as the two of them reached the bottom of the school building, the class bell rang.
Sheng Renxing gave Xing Ye a sidelong glance. “What a trouble.”
Xing Ye: “?”
“I told you I didn’t bring it, and I’ll make up for it later,” Sheng Renxing said, his hands in his pockets. He walked one step on two stairs, occasionally jumping three steps, and if someone approached, he would switch to a leisurely one step at a time.
Xing Ye followed him, matching Sheng Renxing’s pace, and paid no attention to whether there were people around.
“Aren’t you going back to your classroom?” When they reached the second floor, Sheng Renxing turned to ask him.
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.
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“Bye bye,” Sheng Renxing glanced at a student who passed by not far from him, mouthed the words to Xing Ye, “Boyfriend.”
Xing Ye looked up at him from bottom to top, his gaze deep and restrained. Three seconds later, he raised his chin at him.
When they returned to the classroom, the teacher had indeed arrived.
The students from the back row were collecting assignments, and Sheng Renxing, still in a good mood, smiled at them and said, “Didn’t bring it.”
Classmate: “…”
He then moved forward, except for the first two rows and the class captain, he received numerous “didn’t bring it” responses.
After everyone had turned in their assignments, the English teacher looked at the thin stack of papers, her face darkening. Her cold gaze swept over a group of youthful but fearless faces:
“For those who didn’t bring their assignment, hand it in tomorrow.”
Scolding them would be a waste of her energy.
Sheng Renxing sighed.
Chen Ying and Fatty sitting next to him both breathed a sigh of relief.
Chen Ying asked the class captain in front of him, “Can you get the assignment back for me to copy?”
Because very few students had turned in their assignments, the teacher had left the assignments with the class representative, so the class captain could retrieve them.
The class captain turned to look at him, hesitating as he glanced at Sheng Renxing.
“Sheng Ge, do you still need it?”
“Hmm?” Sheng Renxing looked up.
“The English assignment, do you still need to copy it?”
Sheng Renxing said, “Oh,” and looked at the assignment on his desk, where Xing Ye’s handwriting was artistic and impressive. He glanced at it and realized that, apart from the multiple-choice questions, he didn’t even understand a single word. “No need.”
He said and took a quick picture to send to Xing Ye.
A quick response from the other side,
Y: [?]
X: [It’s too beautiful. I’m going to frame it when I get back, and call myself a contemporary calligraphy master.]
Y: [ ]
X: [/cute.]
Y: [ ]
X: [/Almost crying.]
Y: [/Hug.]
Sheng Renxing looked at the emoticons and smiled. He typed: [/Hug.]
There was no reply from the other side.
Sheng Renxing looked up again and saw the class captain furtively watching him while taking something out of his backpack.
“?”
He pulled out something wrapped in a plastic bag and placed it on Sheng Renxing’s desk.
Sheng Renxing glanced at the bag, then looked at the class captain without speaking or moving.
The class captain swallowed nervously, “This is your birthday present.”
Sheng Renxing looked at the plastic bag, then back at the class captain. He had never received such a simple and ordinary birthday gift, which was readily available everywhere in the streets.
“No, thanks,” Sheng Renxing mechanically feigned surprise, then promptly declined. He used his fingertip to nudge the plastic bag forward, showing no interest.
The class captain seemed taken aback by his refusal and froze for a moment. After a few seconds, he said, “Don’t, don’t, this…” He didn’t know how to persuade him to accept it and was becoming visibly anxious, with sweat appearing on his nose. He reached over and opened a small corner of the plastic bag to reveal what was inside.
It was a cigarette.
And it was a brand that Sheng Renxing recognized. He didn’t remember the exact price, but it was in the thousands.
Sheng Renxing suddenly felt like he was celebrating his twenty-seventh birthday.
Looking at the class captain and the scene of this shady “gift exchange,” it was indeed an unconventional birthday.
“Have you ever given birthday gifts to others before?” Sheng Renxing was speechless for a moment and couldn’t help but ask.
The class captain hesitated for a moment and then nodded.
Curious, Sheng Renxing asked, “What did you give them?”
The class captain replied, “Money.”
Sheng Renxing: “…”
The class captain, seeing his silence, thought for a moment and said, “I can also give you money.”
Sheng Renxing raised an eyebrow, “Are you my dad? Why would you give me money?”
The class captain panicked and quickly waved his hand, “No, that’s not what I meant!”
“I don’t smoke this, so you can take it back,” Sheng Renxing waved his hand, even though he did smoke. However, he hadn’t heard that the class captain’s family was so wealthy that they could give classmates birthday gifts worth thousands of dollars. It was better not to accept it.
The class captain fell silent for a moment and asked, “So, what brand do you smoke?”
Sheng Renxing looked up, his eyebrows slightly furrowing.
The class captain turned his body to face Sheng Renxing, his eyes now showing understanding and a hint of eagerness.
Sheng Renxing glanced at the teacher and Chen Ying, who was playing games next to him, and said, “Come out.”
Next to the restroom, Sheng Renxing stood with his arms crossed, his chin slightly raised, and his gaze lowered. It was not a friendly posture.
The class captain clearly felt the atmosphere and blushed in the cold December weather. He still held the cigarette tightly in his hand.
Sheng Renxing tapped his arm with his finger and waited for a while. Seeing that the class captain showed no sign of speaking, he had to break the silence first, “I appreciate your kind gesture, but I don’t accept birthday gifts.”
The class captain twisted the cigarette in his hand, and the plastic bag made a rustling noise. His voice was somewhat soft, “What brand do you like?”
Sheng Renxing impatiently clicked his tongue, “Why are you giving me a birthday gift?”
The class captain made a puzzled sound, “Ah.”
“Several thousand yuan isn’t a small sum for you, is it?”
The class captain remained silent.
In just a few sentences, Sheng Renxing’s patience was running out. Seeing that he wasn’t getting a response, he said, “Are you deaf?”
“Wait,” the class captain stopped him.
“I just wanted to thank you,” he continued.
Sheng Renxing: “?”
The class captain explained, “For helping me last time. I wanted to thank you.”
Sheng Renxing was bewildered, “Help you with what?”
The class captain clarified, “Last time in the restroom. Qian Sui and Li Xiang said that you helped me during the fight.”
Once, when he urgently needed to use the restroom during class, he saw Sheng Renxing washing his hands at the sink when he came out.
He had initially intended to say hello but overheard someone mentioning his name from outside.
“Why would Zheng Xian still dare to come to class?”
“Why? He can come to school if he wants,” someone commented.
“I feel sick just looking at him,” a boy exaggeratedly retched. “Fvcking gay.”
In the restroom, the class captain’s face immediately turned pale. He quickly glanced at Sheng Renxing, who should have also heard the comments. Sheng Renxing was focused on washing his hands as if he hadn’t heard anything.
“Why do you feel disgusted by him? He’s not trying to talk to you,” someone said.
“It’s a good thing he hasn’t tried! Otherwise, I would’ve beaten the hell out of him.”
“Gender equality, guys,” another boy chimed in while humming a song.
“Tell that to Xing Ye,” the boy chuckled ambiguously, “he almost sent that damn gay to the hospital last time. Oh, by the way, I think that gay guy is still friends with Zheng Xian.”
“Did they fight?” the other boy thought for a moment. “I heard they didn’t fight.”
“They did fight. Just look at how Wan Guanshan and the others have treated that guy since,” the boy hesitated for a moment, “Who cares? Anyway, every time I think about having to spend two years with a gay guy after me, I feel disgusted.”
Just as they were talking, the two boys entered the restroom and immediately saw Sheng Renxing and the class captain by the sink.
The atmosphere suddenly grew quiet.
They froze at the doorway, not knowing whether to enter or not.
But perhaps the fact that the class captain didn’t glare at them and instead pretended they didn’t exist gave them confidence.
The two boys exchanged a glance and walked in as if they hadn’t said anything a moment ago. They casually greeted Sheng Renxing, “Hey, the new student is using the restroom. Well, Qian Sui, who called someone a damn gay earlier, greeted Sheng Renxing in a very familiar manner, completely ignoring the class captain.
Sheng Renxing glanced at him from the corner of his eye, raised his eyelids, and glanced at him from top to bottom in the mirror. Then he lowered his gaze and focused on washing his hands.
Silence fell in response to this kind of dismissal, and the tension in the air reached its peak.
The boy next to him, Li Xiang, quickly changed the subject and looked at the class captain in a friendly tone, “Hey, class captain, why are you back at school? Had enough of watching ‘adult’ films at home? If you need more, just borrow from me!”
Qian Sui chuckled, “No, thanks. What I watch is not the same as what you watch.”
“Oh,” Li Xiang extended the sound with a meaningful tone and asked curiously, “Does the class captain get aroused by women?”
The class captain looked at the sink without saying a word, appearing frozen.
Seeing that he had no response, the two of them couldn’t continue their conversation, so they went to the restroom on their own.
Meanwhile, Sheng Renxing finally turned off the tap and raised his hand to smell it. The scent of the cigarette had been masked by the hand wash’s fragrance, and he seemed satisfied.
Then, he took out a partially used pack of tissues from his pocket and began to dry his hands.
On the other side, the two boys finished using the restroom and came to wash their hands.
Qian Sui said, “Class captain, make some room.”
The class captain then seemed to awaken from a daze and, with his head down, turned to leave.
As soon as he turned around, he heard Qian Sui’s voice from behind, “New student, nice shoes. Are they real or fake?”
He hesitated for a moment, struggling inwardly about whether to wait for Sheng Renxing.
But for quite a while, Sheng Renxing’s voice didn’t reach him.
As if he hadn’t heard, Qian Sui’s voice resounded again, “I’m asking you a question! Cat got your tongue?”
Before the word “cat” had left his mouth, he suddenly heard a loud noise.
He quickly turned back and witnessed Sheng Renxing slamming Qian Sui’s head into the sink.
A loud “thud,” and then another.
Sheng Renxing remained silent, while Li Xiang, who had finally come to his senses, tried to step forward.
But Sheng Renxing kicked him onto the restroom partition door.
Another loud sound.
The entire process took less than a minute, and it was abrupt from start to finish.
The class captain stood in shock, leaning against the wall and dared not utter a word. His previous anger and embarrassment had been completely wiped away by the bloodstains on the sink. He wondered, has anyone been killed?
“What did we do to you?” Li Xiang sat on the floor, his face still marked with injuries, unable to stand up for a moment. He wiped away the blood running from his nose and said, “You won’t get away with this today, I won’t spare you in the future!”
Sheng Renxing turned on the tap again to wash the blood from his hands, hearing Li Xiang’s threat. After finishing washing, he turned off the tap and walked up to him.
Li Xiang clenched his neck, his eyes involuntarily filled with fear.
He had fought with Qian Sui many times in the past, but he had never been beaten so helplessly, and the other person’s blows were too vicious. It was as if the person had no fear, even if it meant killing someone here.
Sheng Renxing looked down at him as if he wanted to say something, but seeing his condition, he lost interest and chuckled before walking away.
When you fight so brutally, it naturally attracts the attention of the teachers.
In the next class, both of them were sent to the hospital.
But to the class captain’s surprise, Sheng Renxing seemed completely fine, and the school acted as if nothing had happened.
Except for two students on leave, there was no trace of the incident.
Sheng Renxing squinted and thought for a while before he finally recalled the incident. Even though it had been less than a month, it felt like a distant memory. He almost forgot about it because it wasn’t a significant event.
But in his memory…
He looked at the class captain and almost blurted out, “You were there too at that time.”
After thinking for a while, he found a vague memory of a crowd watching when he was beating those two idiots. Sheng Renxing was about to speak when he noticed Xing Ye leaning against the wall in the stairwell.
“…”
His first reaction was to step back and increase the distance between him and the class captain.
TL: Hi! I apologize for the late update. I was quite busy with the school activities and want to recollect my mental stability. I hope you’ll forgive me and please, have a nice read^💜
Thank you for the update translator!! I’ve missed you😊🫶😫
(❁´∀`❁)ﾉ𖤐´- I’m back !
Thanks for your effort! ☺️❤️