The weather was a little cloudy in the morning. Duan Yuche, who had just gotten out of bed, felt like the temperature was much colder than usual.
He pulled open the curtains, and the sky outside was thick with fog.
Duan Yuche got out of bed. The only person in the kitchen was Cao Feng, with Duan Shumin nowhere to be seen. Duan Yuche knew he hadn’t come home again, so he didn’t even bother sending Duan Shumin a text message this time.
He had told Duan Shumin a few days ago that there would be a sports festival on Thursday, and that Cao Feng would have a long-distance running event and a relay race. Even though he hadn’t said it outright, he had still hoped that Duan Shumin would come to see it.
Looking at it now, Duan Shumin had probably been too busy with work to remember. Duan Shumin wasn’t lacking in anything, so Duan Yuche couldn’t understand why he was working so hard. Duan Shumin’s medical results already showed high blood pressure, high blood sugar, and high cholesterol, yet he was still acting like this.
Duan Yuche knew that when his mother left, she’d left his child support fees to his dad. There was also a huge inheritance from his aunt, and Duan Yuche had a trust fund which would be left to him when he became an adult. There was no need for Duan Shumin to try and earn money like this.
Although Duan Shumin hadn’t come home, Xiao Zhang still dutifully picked them up on time.
Duan Yuche’s tailored class uniform fitted him very well. It looked completely different from the uniform the other students were wearing.
Duan Yuche had soft and smooth black hair, neat clothes, and an exquisite appearance. Wearing the Chinese tunic suit made him look like a young nobleman from the Republic of China. When he entered the school with Cao Feng, many classmates turned their heads to look at him again and again.
After entering the classroom, even more people began to wonder: “Why do your clothes look different from ours?”
The whole class was dressed in black. The only exception was Cao Feng, who wore the school uniform.
Cao Feng was very tall, and stood out in the crowd like a crane amongst chickens.
That is to say, not fitting in anywhere.
Cao Feng was very sensitive. He could feel the difference between himself and others, and feel the strange looks that others would give him. But he just stood up taller and straighter, as if he’d always been this confident.
The whole morning was taken up by the lengthy opening ceremony. At the end, it suddenly started to rain. Cao Feng didn’t have any activities in the morning, Mr Xiao Bo was busy cheering on the students who were competing, and Duan Yuche had been dragged off by Airplane to go buy snacks.
Cao Feng went back to the classroom. There were very few people in the building, and Cao Feng went to the office door and gently pushed on the door.
It was locked.
In the afternoon, Cao Feng had three activities. He ran the 3000 metre race and only felt a little tired afterwards. He was in a much better state than all of the other participants, and even won first place.
As for the final results, they would be announced next week.
Ma Xiaobo was waiting for him at the finish line, and said excitedly: “Cao Feng, you ran so fast! It was unbelievable!”
For others, 3000 metres was an endurance race, but for Cao Feng, who walked ten kilometres of mountain roads every day, it was nothing.
Duan Yuche poured him a glass of glucose: “While you were running just now, I was cheering for you the whole time. Did you see me?”
“I saw it.” Cao Feng was panting slightly, and he took a drink of glucose. He had taken off his school uniform to run, and his whole body was soaked in sweat.
“It’s the relay race next. The ground is really slippery, so run slower, don’t fall.” The rain had only stopped in the afternoon, and the rubber ground was slippery. Two classmates had already fallen during their race.
“I’m wearing spiked shoes, how could I fall! But you, can you still run?”
Cao Feng smiled and motioned that it was no big deal.
In the end, as soon as the relay race started, people hit the ground one after the other.
It wasn’t just one or two people either, but practically everyone who fell would stand up right away and keep running. No one stopped in the middle of the track to cry. The principal and the dean stood nearby, and became nervous while seeing the situation. They muttered to each other: “Should we just call off the race? So many students have already fallen.”
The principal frowned and said, “Then after the first years finish this race, we’ll skip to the tug-of-war.”
Unfortunately, before this order was issued, it was already Class 7’s turn.
The positions in the relay race were not organised in any particular order. The most important positions were the first and the last role, and Cao Feng was placed at the very front, because he was tall, had long legs, and had a very stable performance. As soon as the gun sounded, he was already far ahead of the others.
Cao Feng ran over, handed the baton to the next racer, and then stood behind to watch.
He didn’t care about the ranking. The only thing he cared about was his didi not falling when it came to his turn to run. Just as he was thinking that, a girl from the previous class slipped and landed directly on the ground, her baton flying out of her grip.
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.
A student from the next class was running close to her. Seeing that his opponent was at a disadvantage, he wanted to overtake her. But he hadn’t even had the opportunity to laugh before he stopped on the baton, and slipped with a scream.
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Duan Yuche was explosive and ran fast.
Cao Feng watched helplessly as Duan Yuche almost finished running, when his right foot suddenly twisted – it was only for a split second, and Duan Yuche didn’t even falter, until he completed the last ten metres of his race.
Slowly, Duan Yuche slowed down his face. The expression on his face was a bit ugly.
The class monitor handed him a bottle of mineral water.
Many of the students who had slipped and gotten scrapes were sitting at the side, using disinfectant water to clean their wounds. Duan Yuche walked very slowly, drinking water, and no one could tell that there was anything wrong with him. The moment when he sprained his ankle had been too quick.
Cao Feng struggled through the crowd, looking anxious, and went straight to Duan Yuche: “Xiao Che!”
“En?”
Cao Feng said: “Does your foot hurt?”
“You saw it?” Duan Yuche said. “It’s okay, it’s not like I can’t bear it. It’s not a big problem.”
“Sit down and rest, don’t move around too much. Come, come here.” Cao Feng pulled Duan Yuche back to the rest area of their class, and even wanted him to take off his shoes to check for himself. Duan Yuche looked at the many people that were around them, and thought it was embarrassing. He refused, and said, “It doesn’t hurt, it’s okay. It’s already better, what are you so nervous for? I’m the one who sprained my ankle, not you.”
Cao Feng couldn’t tell him, ‘when you’re injured, it hurts me more than it hurts you’.
Sitting down required no exertion, so there were naturally no problems.
After the sports festival was over, Ma Xiaobo asked the class monitor to get some boys to move the water dispenser and table back to the classroom. When the class monitor saw Cao Feng, he immediately called him over. But Cao Feng shook his head: “His foot got hurt a little, I have to accompany him to the infirmary.”
Duan Yuche couldn’t use his foot, so he had to turn on his hopping function. He hopped all the way to the infirmary, just to find that there were still a lot of people there.
Because of the rain today, the number of people injured was not small.
Duan Yuche said to forget it: “It’s not a big problem, let’s go back to the classroom.”
Fortunately, Class 7 was on the second floor. Duan Yuche draped his whole body on Cao Feng, and managed to get upstairs without much effort. Someone saw him, and asked: “You’re injured?”
“Just a sprain.”
After helping Duan Yuche to the classroom, Cao Feng asked, “What do you want to eat? Ge will buy it for you in the cafeteria.”
“I’ll ask Airplane to bring it back for us, don’t leave.” Duan Yuche knew that Cao Feng had exhausted a lot of energy in the afternoon. “Sit down, sit here.”
Cao Feng thought for a while and agreed: “Then let Airplane also buy two popsicles.”
After a long while, when it was almost time for evening self-study, Airplane came back: “Two corn on the cob, two sausages, two chicken legs, two popsicles, I bought them all!”
Duan Yuche thanked him, and Cao Feng took out some ten-yuan bills from his pocket: “How much? I’ll pay.”
Airplane calculated the bill, Cao Feng gave him the money, and thanked him again: “Airplane, the evening self-study session is playing a movie, can you change seats with me?”
Airplane agreed very easily, and, without asking for a reason, took his things from his desk drawer and sat down in Cao Feng’s seat.
Duan Yuche asked him quietly, “Why change seats?”
“You sprained your ankle, you need ice packs.”
Duan Yuche didn’t understand what the connection was. Cao Feng continued, “You have to take off your shoes and socks.”
“……Not going to.”
He would never do such a thing in public!
Cao Feng was very patient: “Didi, if you don’t apply ice to your foot now, it will be even worse when you get home.”
Duan Yuche had been injured playing football before, so of course he understood the logic, but…taking off his shoes in the classroom?
Cao Feng lowered his voice: “Later, the whole school will be watching a movie, and the lights won’t be on. If you put your foot on my lap, no one will see it, so it won’t be embarrassing.”
Duan Yuche: “…”
“No!”
Soon, the evening self-study session began. All the lights were turned off, the teacher came in and put on an Oscar-winning film, and then left.
Cao Feng touched him lightly: “Didi.”
Duan Yuche didn’t want to talk to him: “I’m not putting on the ice pack.”
“Didi.”
“No!!!”
Cao Feng was helpless: “Then what do we do with the popsicles?”
“How would I know?”
Cao Feng thought it was a bit of a pity. Not to eat it was too wasteful, but eating cold things in this weather would be bad for Duan Yuche’s stomach.
The popsicle had already melted a little. After Cao Feng broke it apart, he ate it in two or three bites, and it was so cold that it made him shiver. Duan Yuche, who was next to him, couldn’t help laughing when he saw him like this: “Why did you eat it so fast? No one’s going to take it from you.”
The movie still hadn’t ended after school ended. Duan Yuche had already watched “Life Is Beautiful” a long time ago and wasn’t interested anymore. He just wanted to go home early. But Cao Feng had never seen the movie before. He was completely engrossed in the film, and it wasn’t until the school bell rang and Duan Yuche smacked him, that he emerged from the movie’s world.
“Do you still want to watch? There’s still an hour left of the movie.”
Cao Feng shook his head: “Let’s go, let’s go home.” But even having said that, his eyes still refused to leave the screen.
The students left one after another.
Seeing how much Cao Feng liked it, Duan Yuche didn’t rush: “Then let’s wait a little longer. School just ended and I walk slowly, it’s not too convenient if there are a lot of people.”
Duan Yuche sent a text message to Xiao Zhang, and Cao Feng continued to watch the movie. Twenty minutes later, there was almost no one in the class, except for a few who refused to leave.
Cao Feng felt that it was a little late, and Xiao Zhang was still waiting for them, so he said, “I’ll watch it when I get home. We have a computer at home, right?”
“Yeah, let’s go then.” Duan Yuche couldn’t walk fast, and his ankle was hurting more than before. After leaving the classroom, Cao Feng saw him limping, and couldn’t help himself from squatting down: “Ge can carry you.”
Duan Yuche was slightly stunned: “No need, I’ll walk by myself.”
“There’s no one at school anymore, and it’s so late that no one’s going to see. It won’t be embarrassing.”
Duan Yuche hesitated for a while, but when he met Cao Feng’s sincere expression, agreed. Duan Yuche bent at the waist and lay down on Cao Feng’s back.
Cao Feng stood up and went downstairs. He had carried shoulder poles weighing over a hundred catties before, so carrying a person was no problem.
Duan Yuche asked him: “Am I heavy? I’d better walk by myself.”
One time, Duan Yuche had pretended to be sick, and Duan Shumin was so worried that he carried him to the hospital. In the end, after a few steps, Duan Shumin had started to pant.
Cao Feng shook his head and said very lightly: “You should eat more, gain a little weight.”
“But I eat too much, and I take vitamins every day…”
“Need to eat more meat and protein.”
The colour of the night was deep and dark, and Cao Feng walked slowly on the quiet campus road with his didi on his back. The bicycle shed was sparsely populated, and he walked around it and out of the school gates.
Xiao Zhang had been waiting for a while, and had gotten out of the car to smoke. When he saw them, he ran over frantically: “What happened to Young Master?”
“I’m fine, I just sprained my ankle a little.” Duan Yuche looped his arms around Cao Feng’s neck and then patted him, motioning for Cao Feng to let him down. “Where’s my dad?”
Xiao Zhang was a little nervous, and said: “Your father still has work, so he’ll probably come back late.”
“Oh.” Duan Yuche’s expression was a little ugly.
Xiao Zhang said: “Then I’ll just let him know about your foot.”
“You don’t need to tell him.” Duan Yuche got into the car, his expression calm.
Xiao Zhang didn’t dare to say anything more.
It was ten o’clock at night when they got home. When Duan Yuche took off his shoes, he saw a big bump on his ankle and frowned.
Seeing that the swelling was very serious, Cao Feng said with a solemn expression, “Xiao Che, I have medicinal wine in my room that I brought from my village. I’ll apply it for you. There are also ice cubes, ge will help you put on an ice pack.”
He imitated exactly what Duan Yuche did last time, taking out ice cubes and wrapping them in a towel.
Duan Yuche sat on the bed with his feet resting on the ice cubes. He didn’t need to use his hands to press it, so he casually turned on the computer and searched for the movie.
Cao Feng went back to his room and brought back the medicinal wine. Duan Yuche thought it would smell, but Cao Feng opened the bottle and there was no such stench. Instead it smelled like essential oils. Cao Feng explained: “It’s an ancient Miao method, it has been passed down for many years and works very well. Leave the ice pack on for another ten minutes, I’ll massage the medicine in for you.”
Duan Yuche endured the ice, nodded, and handed him the computer: “You can keep watching the movie.”
The laptop was placed on the bed, turned on and placed facing outside.
Cao Feng half watched the laptop screen, and half looked after Duan Yuche’s reddened, frozen feet.
After waiting for a while, Cao Feng poured medicinal wine in the palms of his hands and rubbed them till they became hot. He wrapped his hands around Duan Yuche’s ankle and rubbed for a little, and Duan Yuche let out a hiss of pain.
“Xiao Che, endure it.”
It was really an unbearable type of pain to rub the medicine in. Duan Yuche gritted his teeth, and the rims of his eyes went red, but he still couldn’t help from quietly calling out: “Enough, enough…”
Cao Feng’s movements paused, and he looked up and saw Duan Yuche’s face. Duan Yuche’s eyes were watery, as if he had been bullied, and Cao Feng felt pain in his heart, along with a strange feeling. He said softly: “Okay, okay, it won’t hurt anymore. Your feet won’t be swollen tomorrow.”
Duan Yuche ‘hmmed’. He was probably feeling like he had lost his dignity, so he said, “You take the computer, watch the movie in your room. I’m going to take a shower and go to sleep.”
Cao Feng said: “Wait for ten or twenty minutes before washing, otherwise the medicinal wine will be washed away by the hot water.”
“I know, you go back quickly.”
“Don’t fall down.”
“……I get it!”
Cao Feng went back to his room and finished watching the rest of the movie. The movie was very short, but the human life in the movie was very long. He felt a bit sad, and felt a strange feeling of loss. Cao Feng turned on the desk lamp, and continued to repair his music box.
The structure of this miniature music box was too delicate, and all the structural parts were very small, so it needed to be viewed and repaired with a magnifying glass.
Cao Feng opened up a search page, and then switched to laptop history. He had found relevant pages last time, it was just that they were in Japanese, so he had translated them online.
He was about to open up a link and take a look at the information again, when he saw a string of English websites lying in the history records.
Cao Feng clicked on one.
The webpage loaded slowly. At the very first image, Cao Feng was so startled that he dropped all of his tools, and they all fell to the ground with a crash.
It was a somewhat large-scale photo of European or American people. If it had been one man and one woman, then Cao Feng wouldn’t have been so shaken.
The problem was, there were three people in the picture — three men.
What was this?! Cao Feng hurriedly closed the webpage, his eyes wide in shock. How could this appear in his browsing history?!
poor cao feng lol . i love every single mention of cao feng’s miao heritage though! i really hope we’ll see more of it
so sorry for the late update again ORZ, i have no excuse my time management skills are just highly lacking. i will post chapter 18 maybe tomorrow or the day after to make up for this late update ! please let me know if there’s any errors this chapter, it’s currently 3am and my eyes are definitely not as sharp as they could be ksjdfhgkhs
Hehe🙈🤭 welcome to the new world Cao Feng XD