“The letter doesn’t have an address or zip code, it only has my name. How did it arrive at my house?” Duan Yuche unlocked the mailbox and took out the envelope to inspect it.
Cao Feng stood at the side and didn’t make a peep. Seeing that Duan Yuche was about to open it, he hurriedly stopped him: “Wait…wait till you get to your room and then look at it!”
Duan Yuche glanced at him.
There weren’t many street lights in the neighbourhood, and only a porch light in the front yard of their house. The light was dim, and Cao Feng’s entire face had fallen into shadow. His deep silhouette was somehow indescribably nervous, and he licked his lips uncomfortably.
Duan Yuche felt very puzzled.
Cao Feng said: “It’s windy outside, let’s go in. You… go back to your room and then look!”
Cao Feng brought his didi back to his room, but didn’t leave, and leaned against the wall just outside Duan Yuche’s room door. Writing a letter was so stupid. He was already regretting it, and yet he still wanted to know Duan Yuche’s reaction.
Naturally, Duan Yuche didn’t know that Cao Feng was hiding outside. He sat on the bed and tore open the envelope.
The letter was folded into three sections, and its paper was cut from a composition notebook, clean and white . Duan Yuche opened the letter, and was immediately scared. Why were there so many words? Was it an essay?
The first thing he saw was a line of neat and orderly words: Dear didi.
Duan Yuche immediately looked up at the door.
–
At breakfast the next day, neither of them mentioned the letter. In the car, Duan Shumin sat in the front passenger seat, and the two children sat in the back. As soon as their eyes met, Cao Feng scratched his head very uncomfortably and turned to look out the window. Every time he thought about all the naked truths written in the letter, he would feel embarrassed and ashamed.
He didn’t want others to know about this matter either, so he just kept holding it in.
Duan Yuche glanced at Xiao Zhang who was driving half-heartedly, and Duan Shumin who was frowning and looking at emails on his computer. He hesitated for a while, and then reached out and poked Cao Feng’s arm: “Hey.”
Cao Feng almost jumped into the air, but turned around.
“Cao Feng, come here, sit closer.” Duan Yuche picked up the schoolbag that was placed in between them, and hugged it onto his lap.
Cao Feng’s entire body was extremely tightly wound, and he moved over next to Duan Yuche without saying a word.
Cao Feng hadn’t slept well last night. He had been thinking about letters, thinking about where his writing wasn’t fluent, wasn’t good enough, how he shouldn’t have been so impatient, how if he had had another night, he would definitely have been able to write more beautifully.
“Yesterday’s letter,” Duan Yuche seemed not to want the two people in front of him to hear. He spoke very quietly, very close. “Why did you write so much to me?”
“It’s…reply.” Cao Feng found it hard to speak, and twisted his head to whisper into didi’s ear. “Every letter has to have a reply. You wrote to me, so I had to reply.”
As he spoke, his warm breath brushed over Duan Yuche’s ear. Duan Yuche felt a little itchy, and rubbed at his ear, saying, “Is this some kind of unwritten rule? I only sent you a postcard, and there was just one sentence on there.” Although he didn’t remember what he wrote on the postcard at that time, he still remembered writing a perfunctory sentence before sending it out.
Yet Cao Feng said very earnestly: “That was the first time I received a postcard. No one had ever sent me one before.”
Duan Yuche smiled a little. Actually, in his heart he was happy; he had only ever sent out letters before during pen pal activities in elementary school, but he hadn’t received any replies back then. This was also his first time experiencing such kindness, especially because Cao Feng had written in the letter that he liked him, and also said he would treat him well forever.
“Next time I go out, I will also send you a postcard, but you don’t have to write me such – such a long letter, it’s too long.” Duan Yuche stopped. “However, if you write a letter to me, I will receive it well. Thank you.”
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.
“You’re welcome.” Cao Feng became even more embarrassed, and reddened from his neck to his ears. He knew that he didn’t need to write so much, but…he couldn’t help it.
Ktf fzjwr tjv bcis pera mbcmievfv ijra kffx, jcv atlr kffx kbeiv ertfg lc atf rqbgar ofralnji. Ktf qgfrregf bo atf fzjwr kjr rkfqa jkjs ys atf qgfqjgjalbcr obg atf jeaewc rqbgar ofralnji, jcv veglcu atf wbgclcu gfjvlcu rfrrlbc, cbybvs kjr gfjvlcu atf afza bg wfwbglrlcu nbmjyeijgs. Pcrafjv, atfs kfgf jii vlrmerrlcu atf wjaafg bo atf mijrr eclobgw.
The class monitor stood at the podium and said: “According to the results of the vote, most people voted for the Chinese tunic suit and the female school uniform from the Republic of China, so our class will wear this for this sports festival. Students, please pay me by today. If we place the order late, we won’t be able to get the clothes on the day of the festival – it’s 150 for the boys’ set, 160 for the girls’ set. Girls have an additional headband compared to the boys, that’s why it’s 10 yuan more expensive. The shoes don’t need to be the same, but when you march in the formation, you need to wear black leather shoes…”
“Are you buying it online?” A classmate asked.
“Yes, we pay online and they send it to us.”
“Is it reliable? Could they be a liar?”
“That’s right, what if it’s a scammer?”
Online shopping had only just emerged in the past two years. Many families didn’t have the habit of online shopping, and felt that the internet was full of scammers.
“Please rest assured,” the class monitor said patiently. “My family has bought a lot of things online, and we have never met a scammer. Moreover, one must provide personal ID information to open a store online, so even if he scams someone he has nowhere to run!”
Because of his words, the students paid the money one after another.
“Cao Feng, you are the only one left in the class who hasn’t paid the money yet, do you want the class uniform or not?”
Cao Feng couldn’t log in to QQ on his mobile phone. He saw what the clothes looked like from his classmates and thought that 150 was too expensive.
“I…I don’t want it.”
“Then you won’t join the parade march?” The class monitor looked at the clothes Cao Feng was wearing. It was just a shirt and didn’t reveal much. Then he looked down at the shoes on Cao Feng’s feet. The sneakers were white and branded, costing several hundred yuan.
Fake goods?
Cao Feng could naturally feel his gaze, and lowered his head, saying, “Class monitor, I won’t join the parade march, and I don’t want the clothes, thank you.”
“Okay then.” The class monitor shook his head, and when he turned around, he muttered, “He really doesn’t fit in, why does a person like this have to join our international class?”
Cao Feng lowered his head even more. His eyes dimmed. After a few seconds, he opened the photocopied exercise book to do physics problems.
His physics was very good. The physics teacher knew that he liked to go through the questions, and that he liked to review the material first before completing the questions. When the teacher was marking Cao Feng’s homework, he accidentally saw that Cao Feng had already completed every single exercise in the book, including the material that hadn’t been taught yet –
The physics teacher took a quick look and found that Cao Feng’s accuracy rate was so high that it was frightening. It was so high that it was as if Cao Feng had copied the answers, but all the questions were personally written by the school, and there was no way for students to find the answers. The teacher started paying attention to this student, and called Cao Feng into his office. He recommended an exercise book to him, and even let Cao Feng take the exercise book to the school printer to photocopy it: “Sign my name, and it won’t cost any money.”
He also asked Cao Feng: “Do you especially like physics? Why are you interested in physics?”
Cao Feng couldn’t answer. He didn’t know how to describe the feeling of ‘I think it’s easy so I like it’. He actually didn’t just enjoy physics. To be precise, he liked numbers, and liked the feeling of tidiness and order.
His life in school was almost completely occupied with running through exercise questions. Apart from talking to Duan Yuche, and occasional conversations with the girls at the front desk, he basically didn’t make friends. He was so unsociable that he wasn’t like a social animal, coming and going all on his own.
The sports festival parade march team had to rehearse. Duan Yuche hadn’t signed up, but when the class monitor came to ask, he just nodded, since he had nothing else to do anyway.
It was just that practice took up the afternoon break period, and he wasn’t happy about that.
He and Cao Feng were eating on the third floor of the cafeteria when they happened to bump into the class monitor. The class monitor saw that not only were the two of them actually together, but Duan Yuche was even adding green peppers to Cao Feng’s bowl. He was very surprised. He said to Duan Yuche: “Later we’ll gather at the gymnasium at one o’clock. We need to practise, so remember to come.”
Duan Yuche nodded, smiling and saying yes, but as soon as he turned around his expression changed. He complained: “ The afternoon is for resting, what right does he have to take up my break period! Cao Feng, are you going to be in the parade march?”
“I’m not going.”
“Huh? Why not?”
“I didn’t buy the class uniform.” Cao Feng ate the green peppers his picky didi had scooped into his bowl. His tone was very even.
“Why didn’t you…” Duan Yuche’s sentence was only halfway out of his mouth before he understood.
Class uniforms cost money.
“I mean…didn’t my dad give you money? The clothes aren’t that expensive, and you can still wear them in the future.”
“Uncle did give me money, but I can’t spend that money.” He owed Duan Shumin too much and wanted to pay him back, but with Cao Feng’s current ability, it was difficult to do so. He knew that the money had to be saved, and would be very useful in the future.
Duan Yuche knew Cao Feng’s personality, and this wasn’t really a big deal. It was just not buying the class uniform, that was all.
Cao Feng said: “When you are rehearsing, I can accompany you there. You practise marching, I will read.”
After eating lunch, the two of them bought a bottle of water and a bottle of milk, and walked towards the gymnasium.
Duan Yuche stood in the class line and Cao Feng sat at a higher level, with Duan Yuche’s meal card, cell phone, and earphones on his lap.
The sports committee members started lining boys and girls up according to their heights, with the short ones standing in front and the tall ones at the back. It was just that the sports committee members obviously had no organisational skills, and the whole team was scattered into a ball.
The class monitor stood in front of Duan Yuche. While adjusting the team, the class monitor suddenly turned around and tried to make conversation. He said, “You and that Miao guy, how did you start hanging out?”
There was a male classmate who had been in junior high with Duan Yuche, and had already told the entire male dorm about him.
Duan Yuche didn’t understand what he said, so he replied, “What about it?”
“Nothing, I just think you…you two aren’t very similar.”
Duan Yuche’s brain couldn’t follow his thought process: “Does making friends depend on ethnicity?”
Class monitor: “Forget it…just pretend I didn’t say anything.”
One afternoon passed, and nothing was done. All Duan Yuche had done was stand, but he’d stood for so long that he was sick of it. The sports committee was constantly adjusting the formation, telling someone to stand there, someone else stand there, someone shouldn’t be standing here…until Duan Yuche’s yawns couldn’t stop coming one after the other. The amount of regret he felt for signing up was unspeakable.
There had already been three consecutive classes in the afternoon, which Duan Yuche had passed in a lethargic daze. So when it came time for the self-study period, no matter what anyone said, he didn’t want to go to practice.
Whoever wanted to go could go. Anyway, he wasn’t willing to stand and get ordered around.
The classroom was half empty in an instant. Cao Feng walked to Duan Yuche’s side, hugging a programming book he’d just borrowed: “Xiao Che, aren’t you going to practise?”
“I don’t want to go.” Duan Yuche said, lying on the table.
“Are you tired?” Cao Feng bent down and met his gaze.
Duan Yuche said, “It’s boring.”
“Then let’s not go, I’ll stay with you in the classroom.” Cao Feng stretched out his hand, and with a very gentle motion patted Duan Yuche’s hair. His pair of bright eyes looked at Duan Yuche warmly.
Duan Yuche didn’t protest, and made a soft ‘En’ sound. He half-closed his eyes, and looked at the book Cao Feng was holding: “Why are you reading programming books? Do you know how to do this?”
“Still learning.” Cao Feng replied modestly.
Actually, he had read a lot of books on this subject, and had made a little progress, but he had no chance to actually try out what he’d learned.
Duan Yuche: “Then are you going to the library?”
“Not anymore. I’ll stay here and keep you company.”
Duan Yuche sat up and took out his almighty pillow from his desk drawer: “Then let’s go to the library, I’ll go with you to read stuff. I borrowed a book last time, I think I need to return it…”
He’d only borrowed one book since receiving his library card. It was a book by Lu Xun, but after borrowing it he’d basically never read it, and didn’t really seem to be able to understand it, either.
At this time, there was not a single person in the school library, and even the teacher in the borrowing room was dozing off. When the two of them came in, the teacher just barely glanced up, pointed to the registration book and asked them to write their class and name, and then continued to doze off.
Because the weather was turning colder, the library didn’t turn on the air conditioner, and the temperature was very satisfactory.
The two returned the books, and then walked to the specialised agricultural section at the very back of the library.
Duan Yuche disassembled the pillow into a blanket. This blanket wasn’t big, but it was just big enough to wrap around himself.
Duan Yuche sat down, looked left and right, and then randomly picked out a few books and put them on the ground to act as pillows. Then he lay down.
Cao Feng took off his school uniform and draped it over Duan Yuche, asking, “Isn’t it uncomfortable to sleep like that?”
“Hmm…” Duan Yuche frowned, put in his earphones and said, “The books are too hard, they’re not comfortable as pillows. But I can bear it.”
Treating the library as his own home, specifically bringing a blanket to sleep on – only Duan Yuche could do such a thing.
Duan Yuche closed his eyes, endured it for less than two minutes, and then opened them again.
“The books are wedged in my neck, it hurts.” He furrowed his brows.
Cao Feng stretched out a free hand and put it at the crevice at the back of Duan Yuche’s neck. He very gently supported Duan Yuche’s neck and said, “Sleep on gege’s hand, then.”
His palm was very warm, and when holding Duan Yuche’s neck, seemed to carry a gentleness that could never turn into pressure. It was much more comfortable than the books, yet Duan Yuche couldn’t help but hesitate. Seeing Cao Feng only using one hand to hold his book, and his posture with two long legs crossed over each other, asked: “If I’m using your hand, how are you going to turn the page?”
Cao Feng was silent for a few seconds, then said, “I can turn the pages with one hand.” Right as he spoke, the wind flipped a page of his book. Cao Feng tried to flip it back, but in the end his one-handed grip was unsteady, and the book dropped onto the ground.
Cao Feng pressed his lips tightly together.
The two looked at each other for a few seconds. Duan Yuche looked all around, and suddenly said, “Cao Feng, let me sleep on your lap.”
also known as the “Zhongshan suit”, or “Mao suit”, I believe it was invented in the Republic of China era (1912-1949) as a melding of Han Chinese and European fashion, and a breakaway from the Qing dynasty fashion, which followed Manchu customs. It was very popular for political reasons, from that period all the way up to the 80s/90s, when the Western business suit became more popular.
I wasn’t entirely sure how to translate this, if someone has a better word please let me know! This is a common activity in Chinese schools during stuff like sports day etc., it’s meant to teach kids discipline, working together, etc. etc.
this is what desks typically look like in a Chinese classroom
Cao Feng is such a cute teddy 🐻
Thanks for the chapter!
😀
he really is!! he might look intimidating but he’s really just a cuddly fluffy boy
thank you for reading ! <3
Thanks for picking up this translation!
cao feng and duan yuche are just too cute, i couldn’t not ! thank you for reading ! :DD
He is sweetheart! ❤️