That night when he returned to his bedroom and turned on his computer, Nie Chuan received an email from Lily. She had already finished revising Nie Chuan’s paper.
Looking at the places marked in red, the parts Nie Chuan used a lot of words to describe were clearly explained by Lily with a few words. The whole essay immediately became sophisticated!
At this time, Lily also messaged Nie Chuan: How do you plan to thank me?
Nie Chuan’s heart skipped a beat. Was this Lily’s hint for inviting her out? It can’t just be him imagining things again ah!
How to reply ne?
Nie Chuan decided to consult Zhou Bin.
But before the message was completely edited, there was a knock on the door. When he opened it for a look, it was Nie Chuan’s bedding that had been washed!
He finally didn’t need to squeeze in the same bed with Reece! He also wouldn’t be on the receiving end of all kinds of jokes la…… probably……
If he kept sleeping with Reece in this way, he can’t be sure he won’t “indulge in flights of imagination” again! He must quickly return to normal!
Nie Chuan happily took the bedding then looked at the bill again. He was so scared that his teeth almost fell out!
“Wh…… why is it so expensive?”
Could the decimal point be in the wrong place?
The freckled brother who delivered the clothes replied, “This can’t even be considered expensive anymore! Because Mr. Reddington is a member, he enjoys a 10% discount as well as door-to-door delivery.”
Nie Chuan’s heart was in disarray. The price of the delivery and wash was enough for him to take a taxi home from school and back ah! If he had known, he would have sent it home by express delivery!
“May I ask if it will be cash, check or credit card?”
Nie Chuan really wanted to reply that he had neither a check nor enough cash, could they give him another discount?
“What’s the matter? I have cash in my wallet.” Reece spoke from his position on the bed, reading.
How could I ask you to pay for the dry cleaning of my own sheets that I soiled myself! I also have dignity!
“I’ll swipe my own card!”
Nie Chuan’s HP bar was already empty. If it wasn’t because of the psychological shadow he got from eating instant noodles previously, he really would continue eating them to save money!
Now, he could only regret why his bedding wasn’t a bit more expensive. How could he afford the dry cleaning fee if it wasn’t valuable enough!
Nie Chuan set up the mattress and spread the blanket out a hundred times more earnestly than before. He lied down on his stomach and rubbed against it. “Ah! It smells so good—— like the sun!”
When he turned his face, he saw Reece’s small smile.
Nie Chuan continued to lie on the bed, watching Reece motionlessly.
“What are you looking at me like a fool for?
Reece’s poisonous tongue was already completely incapable of hurting Nie Chuan because Nie Chuan could YY Reece this way and that, assuming various positions, and Reece wouldn’t know!
[tn: YY = imagining all sorts of *ahem* positions in his head]
Ah, with such a thought, his mood suddenly became super good! Ah Q’s spirit will forever be radiant!
[tn: Ah Q, the main character of Lu Xun’s “The True Story of Ah Q,” is a peasant who would comfort himself with the “spiritual victory” method in the face of defeat]
“Because I was thinking, there probably isn’t anyone in the entire college who’s seen you smile like this as many times as I have.”
Nie Chuan seemed to be expressing his feelings but in fact, he just didn’t want Reece to guess the “little film” in his head.
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.
“If there’s nothing, why should I smile at them?” Reece asked back.
Dea P mjc boafc mjamt sbe rwlilcu.
“And…… I’m definitely the person who’s been mocked and teased by you the most,” Nie Chuan sighed. “From this point of view, I’m also quite special to you ba……”
Rlf Jtejc rjlv atlr klat rfio-vfqgfmjalbc.
“Tbe jgf nfgs rqfmlji,” Effmf gfqilfv.
Ciatbeut la rbecvfv j ilaaif qfgoecmabgs ab Rlf Jtejc, tf ofia lcfzqilmjyis tjqqs.
“Srqfmljiis raeqlv.”
“……P vfmlvfv cba ab ajix ab sbe jcswbgf obg abvjs,” Rlf Jtejc rjlv raloois.
“Po sbe mjc, vbc’a ajix ab wf jujlc obg atf gfra bo sbeg ilof.”
“You’re so childish!” What “don’t talk again for a lifetime”!
“Who is more naive, me or you?” Reece tilted his head, the slight smile on his lips was clearly regarding Nie Chuan as a child.
The feeling of gloom immediately rose.
Fine, I’m more naive, you’re the most mature.
Lying on the bed, Nie Chuan looked at the text from Lily on his phone, thinking that Zhou Bin was probably with his girlfriend right now so he shouldn’t bother him. Nie Chuan still sent a text in reply: Then I’ll treat you to something good?
This was probably the safest reply.
Lily answered quickly: Sure, I want to eat Chinese food.
Nie Chuan suddenly wondered, Lily wasn’t waiting by her phone for his reply, was she?
Then, Nie Chuan felt that his way of thinking was definitely at a narcissistic degree. If Zhou Bin knew, he wouldn’t be able to avoid being ridiculed.
It became 10:30 in the blink of an eye. Reece turned off the bedside lamp, while Nie Chuan was still buried under his blanket playing on his phone.
He liked the smell of the quilt too much. Even though the dry cleaning fee made Nie Chuan’s balls ache, he had to say that his entire bed seemed as if it had been completely reborn.
“Hey, Reece, talk to me.” Nie Chuan’s head poked out of his blanket.
“About what?” When Reece turned, Nie Chuan could feel the other looking straight at him.
This feeling of being watched attentively gave Nie Chuan an inexplicable sense of accomplishment.
“Reece, you usually spend so much time practicing basketball and training me. How do you still have time to study? You wouldn’t be unable to keep up as a mentor ma?”
“No. What are you worrying for? Wasn’t I reading a book just now?”
Nie Chuan couldn’t remember when it started, but he would always chat with his roommate and teammate Reese Reddington before bed. Sometimes it was about trivial things, other times it was really deep. Of course, today’s chat wasn’t within the ranks of the heavy topics. Even when it was, it would be Reece who was one-sidedly serious.
“So Reese, your memory is super good! You just need to study for a few hours and you could pass the exam! If it was me, I would have already failed! Then I wouldn’t be able to play in the games!” Nie Chuan laid on the bed holding his head, his legs swaying rhythmically as he tried to make conversation.
Lying on the other bed, Reese watched the gently swaying silhouette Nie Chuan left on the wall, and said quietly, “Sometimes, I really hate my memory.”
Reece’s voice was like red wine falling into a glass, lightly swishing before finally sliding into Nie Chuan’s mind.
“Why? Is it a three-second memory like mine?” Nie Chuan stuck his tongue out.
His teammate Carlo often laughed at Nie Chuan for never remembering getting hurt. His memory couldn’t even compare to a fish’s seven-second memory.
“Because my memory is too good, I remember everything about him vividly. The curve of his back when he jumps, his waist exposed between the clothes. The curve of his wrist, and even his eyelashes under the lights when he shoots. The way his waist moves when he dribbles the ball, the angle of the basketball as it bounces between his legs, his gaze when he is looking for his teammates. It’s always replaying and replaying in my mind, over and over again. It is more terrible than a brand.”
Reece’s voice was cold, but Nie Chuan knew how astonishing he was when passionate.
In that instant, Nie Chuan’s fingertips felt an inexplicable heat that rushed through his veins into his heart, immediately making it leap vigorously.
“That sounds…… a bit miserable……”
But, why was it “he” instead of “she”?
[tn: In Chinese, he is “他” and she is “她,” same sound, different meaning. Here, he’s probably speaking in English]
“He never found out that I’ve always been watching him.”
Nie Chuan was stunned. Heavens, his male god roommate is secretly in love with someone ah! My god! But why does it seem like his crush also plays basketball? And is also male?
Most importantly, Reece really is bent! My god!
Nie Chuan suddenly sprang up and sat cross-legged on the side of the bed, “Hey! Reece—— that person is our teammate, right! Is it Carlo?”
“Go to bed.”
“You’re fishing! I’m already hooked, yet you won’t say who the person is!”
“Sleep, morning practice.”
“You need to answer me otherwise I’ll keep thinking about it all night! I won’t be able to get any sleep like this!”
Nie Chuan had to concede that at this moment, he was very excited! I already knew you were bent but you still won’t admit it!
“Then you can think about it. Thinking will help you improve your IQ.”
“Hey! You can’t just improve IQ overnight!” Nie Chuan jumped onto the other’s bedside and pushed his shoulder incessantly. “If you don’t tell me, I won’t be able to sleep!”
“It’s up to you to sleep or not. Anyway, lack of sleep will affect calcium absorption. It’s you who won’t be growing taller, not me.”
“…” Nie Chuan didn’t go back to his bed and instead propped up his chin to watch Reece’s back. His soft dark brown hair quietly laid with the tip of his hair just touching the pillow, making Nie Chuan’s heart feel itchy as he watched.
Suddenly, he thought of Reece’s kiss that was exceedingly forceful, as if the whole world was spinning.
The little film in his head began playing. The protagonist was Reece, and the other person became him!
When he became aware of this, Nie Chuan was petrified.
“I was lying to you, you couldn’t tell?” Reece suddenly extended his arm, caught Nie Chuan who was sitting on his bedside, and pushed him underneath.
Nie Chuan almost thought he was going to crash into Reece.
But Nie Chuan didn’t feel like Reece was playing with him at all despite his deadpan expression every time he teased him.
“Does the “him” in your heart really exist?”
If so, Nie Chuan hoped for Reece to speak out. After he’s declared that he has a clear goal, Nie Chuan felt that the small film in his mind could finally calm down.
Moreover, if Reece told him who that person was, doesn’t that imply that Reece also trusts him?
Although the fact that his roommate was bent made Nie Chuan feel a little uneasy, he also knew after coming here for so long that many outstanding people were bent, such as Facebook’s co-founder Chris Hughes or even Apple’s CEO Tim Cook. As such, Nie Chuan didn’t have any objections regarding this.
“Isn’t that person you?” Reece said with a smile.
“Huh? What——” Nie Chuan’s eyes widened.
Reece directly took a key chain from the bedside and dangled it in front of Nie Chuan, the tip of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle just brushing past Nie Chuan’s nose.
“Doesn’t everyone say this is what my first love gave to me? Which version would you like to listen to? The one where after you died of some kind of incurable disease, I took your favorite Ninja Turtle and could no longer fall in love with others? Or we were high school sweethearts but because we were studying at different universities, the distance separated us? Or that our first kiss was when we were watching a cartoon of Ninja Turtles as kids but then you moved to another state with your parents and after so many years, I still kept our childhood promise to dress up as a Ninja Turtle to marry you when I grow up?”
Nie Chuan was quiet for a few seconds, then burst, “Ah—— you’re messing with me again! Are you having fun?!”
“So you took it seriously, huh?” Reece’s smile was really too “good”! (infuriating)
“I’m gonna beat you!” Gritting his teeth, Nie Chuan turned himself over and sat on Reece. He grabbed a pillow to press on his face but Reece caught his wrist.
“My first love, would you like a kiss?”
“No! F*ck off!”
Reece’s smile became even more obvious. He released Nie Chuan’s arm and switched to circle his waist with his arm instead, forcibly pressing him on his body.
“Weren’t you the one who took the initiative to ride me?”
Reece’s tone rose slightly, his voice very light and the night was stretched thin.
With great difficulty, Nie Chuan finally pried open Reece’s hand and crawled back into his own bed in terror, pulling the blanket over himself. “I’m severing our relationship!”
“Is that right? Then you must remember to break things off with me. Oh, that’s right, you just said that you won’t talk to me anymore today ah!”
Nie Chuan was speechless.
However, in the dead of night, Nie Chuan laid on his side under the blanket and couldn’t help wondering, what if Reece really was bent?
“What are you tossing and turning for?” Reece suddenly turned on the bedside lamp and sat up. “You wouldn’t be pilfering expired instant noodles again, would you?”
“No!” Nie Chuan immediately retorted.
“Then what’s the matter? You didn’t finish your paper?”
“No. I was just thinking, what if there really was a day when you seriously told me that you really are bent?”
Nie Chuan felt that he would very quickly get crushed by Reece’s ridicule.
For a few seconds, Reece was silent. This made Nie Chuan apprehensive.
“Look, you’re always joking with me, don’t blame me for my imagination running wild,” Nie Chuan said to ease the mood.
“Alright, take 10,000 steps back. If I really am bent and I told you, at worst you’ll roll up your blanket, change to a different dorm, and quit the basketball team then pretend not to know me from now on. You can continue losing love and being lazy, living life like before, what are you worrying for?”
“I won’t roll up my blanket and leave the basketball team. Probably because…… I respect you more ba?”
“Why?”
“Because…… you face yourself even more harshly than others,” Nie Chuan replied very seriously.
“You’d better go to sleep, it’s not like you to say such words of wisdom. It’s not like you at all.”
“I’ve received a critical hit,” Nie Chuan’s mouth twitched.
“The reason I can put up with you for such a long time is probably because you’re so stupid most of the time that a brief moment of maturity and intelligence appears more precious than diamonds.”
“Go to hell, we’re over!”
“We’ve broken up many times today.”
“……”
Drea: NC is finally certain Reece swings that way, that’s a start 😂
MadMadamMims: bantering like an old married couple 😂
😂
They’re banters are so hilarious istg xD And oooh, wasn’t that bit abt Reece not forgetting his crush’s this and that in the prologue or smthn? Also, god ofc A-Chuan would guess the person was Carlo 🤦♀️
Thanks for the chapter! 🙂
Yep! This chapter was in the prologue ^-^ I did tweak some of the parts though but I’m glad you enjoyed the chapter. Thanks for reading!
omg finally!!! ive been reading this novel the whole time wondering when that scene was finally going to appear in context. and this novel does not disappoint! i love nie chuan’s obliviousness it really makes this whole angsty scene ten times funnier
*Their
Nie Chuan was so close to the truth. But he still thinks Reece is joking. I guess asking Nie Chuan, “Isn’t that person you?” Isn’t breaking Reece’s promise to Zhou Bin if Nie Chuan thinks he’s joking. These two… thanks for the update!
What was the promise again? Was it that Reece couldn’t confess or something?
The promise was that he couldn’t force himself on NC or force him to accept his feelings ^-^
Nie OBTUSE Chuan: “Hey! Reece —— that person is our teammate, right! Is it Carlo?” Me: Obviously could you not be such an obtuse!? Can’t you perceived Reece gazed and spoiling!?
Now he’s getting a clue😅😂
Thx for the chappy
(≡^∇^≡)
(^-^)/ Glad you enjoyed!
Daaaamn, I haven’t read this novel in quite some time. Feels good to be back 😩 I sacrificed my review time for my quiz tomorrow to catch up on chapters 😌 No regrets.
Day 36381919 of waiting for Reece to teach NC to use his chocolate flavored—Thank you so much for the chapters!! ❤️
Seeing this as I’m on my way to post the next part xD Welcome back!
Just finished answering my quiz I didn’t review for and I saw this lol 👀
“Po sbe mjc, vbc’a ajix ab wf jujlc obg atf gfra bo sbeg ilof.”
Reece you bully, don’t act like you wouldn’t be utterly heartbroken if NC walked away from you! Tsundere’s never prosper, use your words and talk properly!!
Eh?! Looks like I got caught in the copy-paste prevention 👁👁
“If you can, don’t talk to me for the rest of your life”