Huo Ran found that Kou Chen actually didn’t have much experience with giving gifts. In the past, he probably just randomly bought things, so now he was stressing about wanting to get something special for his dad. They stood there by the bike for ten minutes and still couldn’t come up with a better idea than a water bottle.
The best gift Kou Chen’s ever given in his life was probably that pair of anklets.
“Because it’s love,” Kou Chen sat on the bike and looked down at the leather strip wrapped around his ankle. Then he started singing, “Because it’s love…”
“Water bottle it is.” Huo Ran sighed.
“Or a thermos,” Kou Chen said. “He’s at the age of puttindg goji berries in his water anyways.”
“Sure,” Huo Ran got on and wrapped his arms around Kou Chen’s waist. He put his hands up the front of his shirt to touch his belly. “Come on, Little Abs.”
Little Abs started the bike and roughly dragged his hands away, yelling: “Sit properly! Behave yourself!”
Huo Ran immediately put his hands together.
“Behave!” Little Abs turned and yelled again before driving off.
For the sake of creativity, they ignored the big shopping mall for the pedestrian street beside it, and entered a small alley.
There were quite a few small shops here, mostly selling little gadgets that were completely useless, impractical, and ugly. A minority sold little gadgets that were completely useless and impractical, but very pretty. The rest of them were what they were looking for. Useful things, not necessarily pretty.
With those low standards, finding a gift would be easy.
Kou Chen’s tacky tastes were of great use right now. He found a shop that prints photos onto thermoses.
Huo Ran really couldn’t understand it. Kou Chen had great taste in clothes, and the anklets he made were also perfectly fine, but when it came to little trinkets like these, he would always choose the ugliest thing on the entire street.
Trying to be the tackiest person here.
“It’ll be done soon,” The woman said. “Do you have a photo?”
The woman was the owner of the store. It obviously looked like she had been dragged over to watch the store on short notice, but she talked professionally. “It’ll be best if you have a photo that I can scan. If it’s digital, I’ll have to take a look first.”
“I took it with my phone, is that okay?” Kou Chen looked through his phone.
“Email it to me,” The woman sat in front of the computer. “I’ll see.”
“You have photos of your dad?” Huo Ran was a little surprised. All he had in his phone were scenic photos, photos of his classmates, and even photos of his test papers, but none of his mom and dad. He suddenly felt a little guilty.
“No,” Kou Chen said. “With our relationship, why would I have photos of him?”
“Then what are you using?” Huo Ran asked.
“Me and Shuaishuai, of course,” Kou Chen said. “His handsome son and his handsome son’s handsome dog. Why would I put his own photo on it? Is it not enough to see your face in the mirror every day? And now you have to see it every time you drink water?”
“True,” Huo Ran nodded. The earlier guilt quickly faded.
The printing process was very fast. They stood by the door and chatted for a little bit, and then the woman said it was done.
To be honest, the bottle Kou Chen picked was pretty. A milky white colour, with a black lid. Just that was great, but with the photo… It was printed pretty large, pretty much covering the entire cup as the photo wrapped around it.
Kou Chen smiling happily at the camera with Shuaishuai in his arms.
“Nice, it’s pretty clear.” Kou Chen’s tastes have not been fixed. He was very satisfied with the thermos. “My dad will love it. He can look at it when he misses me, throw it when he’s mad…”
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.
“Send me the photo,” Huo Ran whispered. “I don’t have it.”
“Kb erf jr sbeg kjiiqjqfg?” Bbe Jtfc jrxfv.
“Let?” Leb Ejc ibbxfv ja tlw.
“Yg firf P kbc’a rfcv la,” Bbe Jtfc rjlv.
“Tbeg kjiiqjqfg lrc’a wf flatfg,” Leb Ejc rjlv. “Qts vb P tjnf ab…”
Dfobgf tf mbeiv olclrt, Bbe Jtfc gjlrfv tlr qtbcf lc ogbca bo tlr ojmf jcv kjnfv la. Leb Ejc rjk atja tlr kjiiqjqfg kjr j qtbab bo tlw ijeutlcu rliilis.
“Fuck,” Huo Ran paused. “When did you take that? Why do I look so dumb?”
“When we went on the boats. I think it’s really cute,” Kou Chen said.
“…Send me the photo,” Huo Ran said.
Kou Chen smirked and started tapping on his phone.
Huo Ran’s phone dinged twice, and when he turned it on he saw that Kou Chen sent two photos. He smiled, and set the one of Kou Chen and Shuaishuai as his wallpaper. “What? Buy one get one free?”
Kou Chen didn’t say anything, he only waved his phone in front of him again.
His lockscreen was also a picture of him.
“Damn,” Huo Ran laughed. All he wanted to do was hug Kou Chen and kiss him good. “You…”
“Payment,” The woman got a little impatient. She waved the QR code in front of Kou Chen. “Pay, and then you two can stand here and chat.”
“Sorry.” Kou Chen quickly paid.
The woman was a bit impatient, but she did wrap the present up nicely in a quality-looking black metal box, even adding a black rose to it.
“It’s nice, isn’t it?” Kou Chen looked it over. “I’ll give him the books first, and right as he’s about to get mad, I’ll give him this thermos…”
And then he’ll smack you.
Huo Ran patted Kou Chen’s back. “It’s nice.”
“Let’s get the books and go home,” Kou Chen said. “My dad’s waiting for you.”
“Why?” Huo Ran tensed up.
“He invited you,” Kou Chen said. “Of course he’ll wait. He’s very particular about this stuff.”
“Okay,” Huo Ran nodded.
“I was gonna invite the others over too,” Kou Chen said. “But Chuan-ge has to go shopping with his mom, Zhifan says he has to go to the hospital with his grandma, and Chaoren literally just said he was busy. You think he’s trying to provoke me? Who gave him the balls…”
“The girl, probably.” Huo Ran looked ahead of him. “The girl from the amusement park. Do you still remember what she looked like?”
“No, why would I remember that…” Before Kou Chen could finish, Huo Ran nudged him and pointed ahead.
At the turn where the alley met the main street, two young people were standing there sweetly. It was obvious they had something going on, but it was also obvious that they weren’t a couple.
One was Wei Chaoren, and the other… Kou Chen suddenly remembered the girl from that day. She was the one standing with Wei Chaoren.
“That fucker,” Kou Chen was shocked. “Tricked a bunch of advice out of my experience, and now he didn’t even tell me about such a breakthrough?”
“Experience?” Huo Ran immediately turned to him. “What experience?”
“Is that the fucking point?” Kou Chen pointed at the two people. “We’re talking about those two! Especially the guy!”
“If you haven’t pursued a girl before, then you can’t call it experience,” Huo Ran said. “They’re suggestions at best.”
Kou Chen opened his mouth, about to say something before he paused. Then he exhaled and said: “He tricked a bunch of suggestions out of me… Better?”
“Wanna go say hi?” Huo Ran said. “Maybe not. If he didn’t say anything, then maybe he’s scared that it’ll be embarrassing if nothing comes out of it.”
“We’ll stay here.” Kou Chen grabbed his phone. “But I have to take photos. If they do end up together, I’ll print them out and put them in an album to commemorate their first date. What do you think?”
“I like it,” Huo Ran nodded.
Even something that Kou Chen casually suggested was a better gift than his precious thermos that he spent half an hour thinking about.
Wei Chaoren and the girl smiled and talked for a little bit, and then they headed towards the square. Wei Chaoren pointed to the right.
“There’s a shop there, their double skin milk is amazing,” Huo Ran said. “I bet they’re going there.”
“Looks like you know it well? Have you been there with anyone?” Kou Chen found an opportunity to be jealous as he snuck photos.
“I was born and raised here for eighteen years,” Huo Ran said. “It’s not that weird to know about it? Even you know about so many good restaurants.”
“You win.” Kou Chen took a photo.
“What do you mean I win?” Huo Ran said. “I was…”
“Something feels off.” Kou Chen looked down at his phone, then he looked up, and then he looked down again. “Look at this.”
“No!” At least ten horror stories about photographs flashed through Huo Ran’s mind, and he quickly took a few steps back.
“These people were standing opposite them since we came,” Kou Chen ignored his reaction to show him his phone. “And they’re still following them?”
Hearing that, Huo Ran also felt that something was off, so he leaned over to look.
In the photo, Wei Chaoren and the girl were turning into the alley, with the three men following them. They looked young, and were pretty skinny. They had their hands in their pockets, walking like they were trying to tell the whole world that ‘yes, we will punch you if you stare’.
“They went in?” Huo Ran looked over at the alley. There was nobody there.
“Yeah,” Kou Chen headed over. “Let’s go check, maybe it’s just a coincidence.”
“Is that what you think?” Huo Ran thought that it was obvious those guys weren’t just here to shop, much less go to a boba place with their friends.
“No, I was just worried you’d think that,” Kou Chen said. “I was just going along to save you some face.”
“Are they after Chaoren or the girl?” Huo Ran followed Kou Chen into the alley.
“Chaoren doesn’t cause much trouble,” Kou Chen said. “He’s loud, but he won’t say anything if it’s actually serious.”
“I used to think all three of you were troublemakers,” Huo Ran whispered.
“Only I am.” Kou Chen glanced at him.
“You’re not.” Huo Ran thought about Kou Chen and his dad’s conversation in Old Yuan’s office that day, and he felt a little bad for Kou Chen. “They are… What are you gonna do?”
“Follow them first,” Kou Chen said. “We can’t let them hurt anyone, first of all.”
“Are you gonna fight?” Huo Ran felt a little nervous.
Kou Chen didn’t say anything. He looked down at the present he was holding, and then he finally said: “No, if they start one, we’ll run.”
The boba place was fifty metres into the alleyway. It was a very tasteful-looking store, and indeed, Wei Chaoren led the girl inside.
The three men following them paused at the door for a few seconds like they were discussing something, and then they also stepped in.
“They are after them,” Huo Ran said. “Do we follow?”
“What’s the store like inside?” Kou Chen asked.
“The first floor is pretty small, there’s the counter, and a few tables. Then there’s booths and tables on the second floor, and a balcony,” Huo Ran said.
“You know it so well, who have you brought here before?” Kou Chen frowned and glanced at him. He didn’t wait for an answer before continuing, “Chaoren will go to the second floor for sure, and those guys will stay on the first floor. We’ll just go in and keep an eye on them.”
“…Okay,” Huo Ran nodded.
There weren’t many people inside at this time. Those three guys were the only people on the first floor, and they took up two out of the five tables.
Kou Chen sat down at the table next to the stairs leading up.
Huo Ran sat beside him.
“Double skin milk?” Kou Chen asked.
“…Huh?” Huo Ran paused.
“If it’s just a misunderstanding, then we’re here on a date,” Kou Chen said. “Do what you do on a date.”
“Oh,” Huo Ran looked at him. “Then double skin milk, and black forest cake.”
“Wait for me,” Kou Chen stood up and went to the counter.
After the waiter brought over their food, she glanced in the direction of those three guys before returning to the front.
Huo Ran noticed that they didn’t order anything. This really might not be a misunderstanding.
“I think…” Halfway through his sentence, Kou Chen grabbed his hand and pulled it towards him. He kissed his fingers, the soft, wet feeling made him want to close his eyes and relax.
“Darling Ran,” Kou Chen whispered.
“…Darling Chen,” Huo Ran said. “That’s kinda cheesy.”
“Save me some face,” Kou Chen said. “We’re on a date!”
“Oh,” Huo Ran cleared his throat. “What is it? Darling Chen.”
“They have a brick, Darling Ran.” Kou Chen smiled.
“What do we do?” Huo Ran froze, before adding, “Darling Chen.”
“Darling Ran, I’ll text Chaoren.” Kou Chen got his phone out. “Keep an eye out, don’t be jealous.”
“Oh,” Huo Ran nodded, and then he leaned over the table and laughed. He didn’t know how Kou Chen made such a tense situation so funny.
Just two darlings on a date ☺️
Thanks for the chapter!
Thank you for the update ❤️💯
Lou Chen and Hou Tan make me laugh so hard, I’m sorry, I don’t know why I’m laughing so much
Thank you for your translation 💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗
Looks like we might get some action again👀 also I’m still patiently waiting for their sleepover once the day is over✨✨
and thank you for translating!!🤍🤍
Darling~
Ah darling brick 😍🧱
Awww!!! So sweet 😍
What the heck🤣 I’m reading ‘darling Chen’ & ‘darling Ran’ as ‘Concubine Chen’ & ‘concubine Ran’.
they have a ✨brick ✨ Darling Ran~~
they have a ✨brick ✨ Darling Ran~~😭💀🤣