For many college students, finals week is a period of pain and darkness, with endless key points to memorize and final assignments to complete. But for Mai Dong, it was like carrying a few pink bubbles.
As finals week officially began, Yan Xuming temporarily put aside his internship and student union duties.
The two of them agreed to meet at the library, where they spent almost all their time together except for sleeping at night. Although their majors were completely unrelated, they sat together harmoniously. One focused diligently on typing on their laptop keyboard, while the other silently memorized key points from their textbooks. To outsiders, they appeared like strangers sharing a table, rarely exchanging words.
Most of the time, it was Yan Xuming who noticed when it was time to eat. Mai Dong would still be studying, only to see a finger tapping on the table in front of him. Turning around, Mai Dong saw Yan Xuming silently mouthing, “Food?”
They usually ate at the East 2 Cafeteria, the closest one to the library.
Yan Xuming had mentioned in his diary that they had eaten the fried sauce noodles together several times before, and it was indeed delicious. Many people at school still knew Yan Xuming, and someone would always come to say hello during meals.
As time passed, some people became more familiar. At first, they didn’t dare to joke with Mai Dong. Now, some would call Yan Xuming “Yan Ge” and then jokingly refer to Mai Dong as “sister-in-law.”
Mai Dong knew they were joking, so he tried to remain calm. Now, he could respond with a straight face.
After finishing their meal, they remained seated in the cafeteria. After lunch, Mai Dong would read the daily report diary written by his boyfriend from the previous night.
The significance of these recent report diaries was minimal, as the two of them were glued together every day. Nevertheless, Yan Xuming continued to write, and Mai Dong continued to read.
January 6, 2024. Cloudy
Reporting every day and writing a diary every night seems to have become a habit for me. It’s not suitable to write this in the dormitory, with the strange background noise. Let me quote two segments for you: “Yan Ge, reporting in again,” “Yan Ge, today is another day of being controlled by the wife ah.”
What do you think, Xiao Mai? Reporting every day does make me seem like a henpecked husband, doesn’t it?
Our alarms go off at the same time in the morning, 7:30. We had breakfast together at the cafeteria, eating spinach dumplings. We studied together at the library in the morning. We didn’t go to the cafeteria for lunch; we had a barbecue outside the school together. We spent the afternoon in the library as well. In the evening, we had a vegetarian hotpot in the cafeteria together, because you said you needed to eat more vegetables.
There’s never been a day when I’ve felt so lacking in literary cultivation; wouldn’t you really get bored reading it?
Just to clarify, I’m only worried that you might find it boring. I have no intention of not writing.
Alright, goodnight then. I really like you today.
The recent report diaries have been quite brief, and the content is all stuff Mai Dong already knows, but he doesn’t find it boring. After satisfyingly finishing reading, he hands the diary back and asks, “When is your last exam?”
Yan Xuming thought for a moment. “It seems to be next Tuesday. I finished quite early. We don’t have too many classes this semester, and two of them aren’t written exams; we’ve already finished and submitted the assignments.”
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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Yan Xuming looked at him. “Are you sure?”
Mai Dong nodded.
Indeed, some majors have fewer contents in their final exams compared to others. It’s more cost-effective to consider vacation time alone, so they usually buy tickets home first.
Mai Dong hadn’t felt envious before; whether going home early or late, what difference did it make?
This year, his mindset was slightly different. When he said “it’s okay” in the cafeteria, he truly believed it was okay. But when the day actually arrived, Mai Dong even had trouble sleeping the night before.
Tomorrow, Yan Xuming will be done with his last exam. His exam is at 8 a.m., so if all goes well, he can buy a ticket home by noon.
In fact, Mai Dong regrets it a bit because they both live in the same city ya! And they even live close to each other. In this situation, it would make sense for them to go home together!
But the words were already spoken, and Mai Dong didn’t want to take them back. Besides, everyone does want to go home early.
The next day Mai Dong also had an exam, but it was scheduled in the afternoon.
In the morning, his roommates are cramming last-minute study sessions, but Mai Dong can’t seem to focus on his textbooks at all. He occasionally checks the time on his phone, wondering if Yan Xuming will finish his exam early. They planned to go out for lunch together at noon, and Mai Dong’s plan is to drop Yan Xuming off at the station after they ate.
There should be enough time, and Mai Dong doesn’t like last-minute cramming anyway. As long as he can make it back in time for the exam, it’s fine.
He asked Yan Xuming what time his train ticket was for, but Yan Xuming only said noon.
The exam started at nine o’clock, and by ten, Yan Xuming sent a message on WeChat saying he had finished early. Mai Dong quickly changed clothes and went downstairs. When he reached the ground floor, he saw Yan Xuming waiting there already.
He stood alone, without even a backpack.
Mai Dong asked, “Do you want to go back to pack your luggage first? Can’t you just leave after lunch?”
Yan Xuming replied, “I haven’t bought a ticket. I’ll stay with you for two days and we’ll go back together after your exam.”
Mai Dong was stunned for a moment. He had felt cold when he had just come out of the dormitory, but now a warm feeling surged in his heart, and it took him a while to nod and say, “Okay!”
For xueba’s, finals week is often quite smooth, sometimes even more relaxed than usual. Normally, there’s studying, preparing, and homework to do, but during finals week, it’s just a matter of attending an exam and completing one paper.
When Mai Dong took his last exam, the weather was bad, with a mix of rain and snow. The flakes fell, but upon landing on clothes, they quickly melted into water stains.
Thinking it was snowing, Mai Dong hadn’t brought an umbrella. As he left the exam room, he saw Yan Xuming waiting outside, holding an umbrella.
“Awesome ah, really awesome. Mai-zi have someone to pick you up. Unlike us, we have to carry our backpacks home in the rain!” Du Chuan’s teasing voice came from behind. Mai Dong cleared his throat, feeling a bit embarrassed.
“Alright, go on then. Don’t keep people waiting. He’s been waiting for you for two days after all,” Wu Zimo said, gently nudging Mai Dong.
Mai Dong took a few steps and successfully navigated through the crowd and rain and snow to reach under Yan Xuming’s umbrella.
With his backpack hugged to his chest, he looked up and smiled at Yan Xuming. “Did you specifically come to pick me up?”
Yan Xuming asked in return, “What do you think?”
Mai Dong was silent for a few seconds. “Why do you always answer my questions with another question? I obviously asked the question first. Can’t you just give a direct answer?”
Yan Xuming laughed. “Because your questions aren’t good. Next time, make them affirmative.”
Feeling sweet inside but not saying it aloud, Mai Dong replied, “You ask for so much ya.”
Yan Xueming answered, “Mn, can’t I have requirements?”
Mai Dong silently nodded. “You can.”
Yan Xuming asked again, “What about you?”
Mai Dong looked at him. “What?”
Yan Xuming asked, “What are your requirements?”
The two of them were still standing under the tree in front of the teaching building. Mai Dong hadn’t finished his exam early this time, so it was the end of the exam period. There was a lot of foot traffic in front of the teaching building, and they stood out. Mai Dong was aware that many eyes were on them. He didn’t feel nervous, just a bit shy. Gathering courage, he spoke up, clutching his backpack, “Shall we celebrate our winter break?”
Yan Xuming looked into his eyes. “How should we celebrate?”
Mai Dong took a deep breath, unconsciously standing up straighter. “Kiss me.”
Yan Xuming was obviously a bit surprised, “Here?”
Mai Dong nodded, “Not good…”
He didn’t have a chance to finish his sentence.
Yan Xuming tilted the umbrella slightly downward. Mai Dong wasn’t sure if the large black umbrella completely shielded them from view. The next moment, he felt a warm sensation as lips touched his own. The surroundings were damp and cold, and noisy. Mai Dong could even feel a faint ache in his ears from the cold air moments ago. But now, his ears burned red, as if miraculously relieving the dull pain.
For a moment, Mai Dong felt an inexplicable surge of courage when he made the request. The reason was unclear.
Perhaps it was because Yan Xuming had finished his exams but insisted on waiting for him to go home together. Perhaps it was because of the diary addressed to “you.” Perhaps it was because Yan Xuming standing here under the black umbrella was incredibly enticing. Or perhaps it was because he remembered this as the condition for getting through the trial.
Now feeling it was going too far, he hurriedly tried to push away, but a hand gripped his neck firmly.
Mai Dong immediately became obedient, understanding why many small animals wouldn’t dare to move when gripped by the neck. His mouth and movements were restricted, leaving him standing there stiffly.
Although his gaze was free when he looked up, he saw Yan Xuming had tilted the umbrella, and he was covered in cold, wet snow.
“Regretting your own request?” someone murmured against his lips.
Mai Dong took a deep, trembling breath. “I… don’t regret it.”
Mai Dong had no concept of how long the kiss lasted. When Yan Xuming pulled back, Mai Dong immediately grabbed the umbrella handle, pulling it down forcefully to cover himself more securely.
Yan Xuming was significantly taller than him, so when the umbrella suddenly dropped, he was poked in the head by its tip. He let out a resigned laugh. “Now you’re shy?”
Mai Dong silently lifted the umbrella slightly. “I’m not shy.”
Their train tickets were for three in the afternoon. They both went back to pack their luggage. The journey was an hour and a half, and it wasn’t easy to get tickets for this time, so their seats weren’t together.
When they arrived home, Mai Dong saw his boyfriend waiting at the staircase landing. They didn’t exchange many words and followed the crowd out of the station.
Mai Dong spotted his mother waiting at the door before their identity cards were even scanned to exit.
He froze, subconsciously creating some distance between himself and Yan Xuming.
After having got the news of Bright and Nene confirming their relationship…… My heart felt so hollow…. Oh my Sarawatine….. But i still support their relationship 💪💪😢😢
Reading this chapter kind of made me feel much happier. Thank you Translator-nim for this chapter😭😭😭😭
So cute little bunny boyfriend ~
Thank you for your translation 💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙
Thank You for the new chapter (♡´艸`)