Ch22 - School Anniversary (2/2)
Yu Hao thought of the words that the dark him had said to him in his dreamscape. After he thought about it for awhile, he suddenly admitted it very openly.
Yu Hao, “Maybe because unconsciously, I think that it’s not easy to make friends, so I don’t want to use…….other people’s things. Especially things like clothes which are more personal. Just like when I was young, I feel like I should try my best not to freeload off of others ba. ”
Zhou Sheng never thought that Yu Hao would explain himself so clearly and straightforwardly. In the end, he could only answer with one word, “Oh.”
“I will try my best to change.” Yu Hao smiled, “Kaikai got me to perform with the reasoning that I was ‘helping him’, and even then, I didn’t dare to borrow clothes that were too expensive.”
“But you did help him a lot.” Zhou Sheng said, “You gave him a lot of face today. It’s not a big deal, so long as we’ve made it clear, it’s fine. After our exams ended yesterday, I was going to take you somewhere to buy some clothes for your performance. Did you ask me what I was doing yesterday? When I found out that you were going over to his place and had to go work after that, I wanted to go to the mall you worked at to buy clothes for you to wear today. But after I waited and waited, you still hadn’t returned to your dorm, so I packed a meal for you and went to the auditorium to look for you. Do you know what time I waited for you until? They said that you had to return for the rehearsal, so I waited for you until the lights went out! Was it that irritating for you to pick up my call?”
A scene surfaced in Yu Hao’s mind of Zhou Sheng waiting in the auditorium until the dress rehearsal was over, just because he didn’t want him to starve. His heart stirred. Just as he was about to say something, Fu Liqun came.
Zhou Sheng looked out of sorts. He raised his eyebrow at Yu Hao and said nothing more.
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“You’ve sent her away?” Fu Liqun asked.
“She left.” Zhou Sheng said.
“You sang quite well.” Fu Liqun said to Yu Hao, “Your photos are spreading all over my class’ group chat.”
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Yu Hao quickly took his phone and looked at it. He was a little happy about it, but he had to act modest as he saw a wave of his own photos. He was a little surprised too, that’s me?
“Are you looking for a girlfriend?” Fu Liqun asked.
“I’m too broke to date.” Yu Hao said, “And people won’t like me either, I’ll think about it next time.”
“You have your face!” Fu Liqun, “Your good looks! What are you afraid of? You can sponge off a woman! Find a rich girlfriend! Let her pay!”
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Yu Hao and Zhou Sheng, “……”
When they connected it to Cen Shan, both of them understoodthat Fu Liqun’s ironic remarks were borne from his resentment. Fu Liqun might have been provoked by someone who claimed things like he was living off a woman. He was currently enveloped in an aura of negativity.
In comparison to Yu Hao’s first impression of him as an idol-like male god, Fu Liqun now seemed much more haggard than before. This Wang Leehom of the Sports Department has many female fans in his class, and most of them idolise him because he was the captain of the basketball team. But after getting to know him, you would slowly realise that Fu Liqun can be kind of dumb and cute. His speech and thoughts can be as unrestrained as a heavenly steed that soars through the skies — just like a MP4 that got infected with a virus so it ends up randomly playing music throughout the day. If you wanted to listen to a radio station, he would start playing some English Listening Comprehension audio; if you wanted to listen to music, he would start telling ghost stories. His grades were okay but it wasn’t at the level of a curve wrecker; only his basketball skills were outstanding. His family was slightly well off, but they weren’t wealthy to the point that he would be considered a rich second gen. Perhaps, because he had a girlfriend, he would always be very polite in the company of girls or act dumb just in case he accidentally teased someone.
But as a friend, Yu Hao liked him a lot, because Fu Liqun is a really kind person.
“Let’s drink! Our final exams are over, and I didn’t fail a single one of them. We can celebrate by spending all the money that was supposed to be used for make-up exams and retaking any failed courses!” Zhou Sheng shouted, “Boss! Get us some wine!”
“I’d like to thank Yu Laoshi for tutoring me, cheers——” Fu Liqun looked for Yu Hao to knock glasses with. It began snowing outside as the three of them ate shabu-shabu in the shop. It was only then did Yu Hao find out that their results had already been released. They had practised the Higher Mathematics questions before, so he was certain he would pass. He rushed to check his results and discovered that he had passed all the subjects that had released results. He evenscored a 90 for his English, so he was instantly on cloud nine.
“I wanna discuss something with you.” After they drank for awhile, Zhou Sheng spoke to Yu Hao.
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Yu Hao thought of what Zhou Sheng said yesterday, so he immediately sat upright and asked, “What is it?”
“Move over to our dorm ba.” Zhou Sheng said, “One of our roommates rented a room outside. He wants to look for someone to get an eight-person room to save some money. Do you want to change dorms? You just need to fork out a small sum every semester.”
Yu Hao felt like he just got smacked in the face by happiness. Returning to his own dormitory felt like he was returning to prison, so he had come to dislike going back. He never talked to his roommates anyway, and the atmosphere there made him very uncomfortable. But he was worried that he would have conflicts with Zhou Sheng after he moved over to their dormitory.
Story translated by Chrysanthemum Garden.
Zhou Sheng looked at Yu Hao with an expectant gaze. Yu Hao’s heart suddenly jolted.
“You can just owe him the money first.” Zhou Sheng said, “And return it to him after New Year’s. Or we could pay for you first? You can treat it as the tutoring fees for our make-up lessons. You get 80 per hour as a tutor outside, so after you tutored us for so many days……”
“No no.” Yu Hao immediately interrupted, “Of course I’d be willing! I’ll fork out the money myself! But I’m afraid…….afraid of……”
Fu Liqun and Zhou Sheng looked doubtfully at Yu Hao.
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Fu Liqun said, “Yu Hao, you’re like a little daughter-in-law.”
Zhou Sheng immediately spat out a mouthful of beer, then burst out into raucous laughter.
Yu Hao said, “I’m afraid of quarrelling with Zhou Sheng!”
Now it was Zhou Sheng’s turn to be embarrassed. He said, “If we quarrel then so be it, or are you afraid that I’ll beat you up?”
Yu Hao stammered, “I……I’m often disliked by other people, like yesterday. If I annoy you again, I’m worried that we wouldn’t even be able to remain friends anymore……”
“How could that be?!” Fu Liqun and Zhou Sheng couldn’t understand this kind of thinking at all. The corners of Fu Liqun’s mouth twitched as he said, “Do you really think that way? How could that be possible! You’re so neat and tidy, Zhou Sheng can’t match up to you at all!”
Yu Hao quickly tried to explain himself. Zhou Sheng said, “Ai, Fu Liqun what do you mean by that? Fine fine fine, Yu Hao, I do get pissed off once in awhile, but it goes as quickly as it comes. I won’t scold you anymore next time, okay?”
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“He treats everyone like that.” Fu Liqun said, “We often bicker too.”
“Okay, okay.” Yu Hao felt quite touched at this moment. He said, “I’ll go let them know. From now on, I’ll be in charge of washing both of your clothes ba.”
The two of them almost spat their beer out again. Fu Liqun said to Zhou Sheng, “Don’t get him to wash your clothes for you! You bully! Yu Hao has finally made his first public performance today, you better keep a lookout for the girls in our class who’ll come and hunt you down!”
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Zhou Sheng said, “I love him so dearly, so what if he washes some clothes for me? Why don’t you ask him? So what if he has launched his career? Even if he becomes a superstar, he’ll still have to wash my clothes for me.”
Yu Hao thought in his heart, you two straight men are even gayer than those who are bent. He hurriedly urged them to stop fighting and to just focus on drinking their beer.
After three rounds of drinks, Fu Liqun sighed again and rubbed his face forcefully. Yu Hao wanted to comfort him, but he was afraid that he would find out that Zhou Sheng had betrayed him by talking about his break up. However, before their three plates of shabu meat were finished, Fu Liqun had already drank 7 or 8 bottles of beer and still thought it wasn’t enough so he asked for more white wine. In the end, he was the one who started talking about his relationship first.
“Let him talk about it.” Zhou Sheng said, “He’s been holding it in for too long.”
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Fu Liqun knew Cen Shan since high school. The two of them were in a relationship for three years. His parents knew about it, and they liked Cen Shan very much. But Cen Shan was always reluctant to mention it to her own family, which made Fu Liqun somewhat unhappy.
Cen Shan’s family was engaged in various real estate projects. Her father had always wanted her to study hard and graduate smoothly, then marry a local civil servant, or a guy whose parents worked for the government. Then they would be able to build a bright future with a marriage between an official and a businessman, and everyone could act in collusion to make even greater profits.
Fu Liqun’s father used to be a professor in a university. He later went to a pharmaceutical company in Shanghai to act as their consultant, so his family can be considered well off. They had a few houses, a car that costs about 300 000, were intellectuals, and had a relatively good standard of living. His father was the sole breadwinner of the family, earning about 50 000 a month, while his mother looked after the family full-time. They were a happy family. Following his parents’ footsteps to create this kind of beautiful family had always been their son’s greatest wish.
Though Fu Liqun’s grades couldn’t be considered bad, you could only say that it was good at most, so naturally he wouldn’t be accepted by Cen Shan’s parents.
Ever since they started college, Cen Shan often argued with Fu Liqun about their future. Cen Shan hoped that Fu Liqun would become a bit more ambitious, but Fu Liqun didn’t really have any plans for the future. Then one day, one of Cen Shan’s relatives inadvertently spotted the two of them holding hands while they were out shopping, so their relationship was exposed and they were asked to break up.
Cen Shan is a rich second gen. Her family had chanced upon the golden age for real estate, so their assets were worth at least 5 to 6 billion. Fu Liqun’s family only had two houses, and his father still had to work even though he was so old. Naturally, he couldn’t try to connect with people of a higher social class.
“If you’re marrying off your daughter, you marry her off to someone richer.” Fu Liqun said, “If you’re getting a wife, you get one who’s poorer, that’s what they say ba? There’s nothing wrong with that, right?”
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Zhou Sheng and Yu Hao didn’t say anything. Zhou Sheng never had much of an interest in marriage or dating in the first place. He had grown up in a violent family, with parents who were constantly at odds with each other, so a psychological shadow was already cast over his heart. On the other hand, Yu Hao’s world view was constrained by his poverty. His mind was still preoccupied withthoughts of ‘how much interest can a fixed deposit of 5 to 6 billion earn in a year”. He couldn’t comprehend the family planning of the rich and powerful.
In fact, even Fu Liqun’s 50 000 yuan per month salary was an astronomical number in Yu Hao’s eyes.
“Why is it so tough to be human?” Fu Liqun said, “Yu Hao ah……”
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After they finished drinking, the three of them sat next to a flower bed by the roadside. Yu Hao watched Fu Liqun and Zhou Sheng chat as they smoked.
“Haven’t we just started college?” Yu Hao said, “Your future still has many possibilities, don’t give up.”
Fu Liqun placed an arm around Yu Hao’s shoulders. He leaned in with a hazy and drunk gaze and stared at him, “I’ve always found life too difficult to live through, but after I came to know you, and knew what kind of life you were living, in comparison, my troubles really aren’t much……”
Yu Hao, “……”
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Zhou Sheng reached over and patted Yu Hao’s back, “He’s drunk, don’t take it personally.”
“I’m not drunk!” Fu Liqun began to strip in the snow and said, “I’ll definitely make a name for myself someday! And make her father regret it!”
Yu Hao, “We need to get him back as soon as possible, or else he’ll catch a cold.”
Yu Hao and Zhou Sheng stood on the left and right sides of Fu Liqun respectively, then hauled him back. Yu Hao had always thought that if two people were in love, then they shouldn’t talk about breaking up so easily. Perhaps, for heterosexuals, it was very simple for them to fall in love. But for a homosexual, it was really too difficult to find someone to love, and who loves them in return.
Yu Hao wanted to encourage Fu Liqun to communicate properly with the other party, but Zhou Sheng made a “shh” gesture and signalled for him to stop talking. Both of them placed Fu Liqun on his dormitory bed. Fu Liqun flipped over and faced the wall with a blanket covering his head. Yu Hao patted him.
“Move over tonight?” Zhou Sheng said.
Yu Hao quickly waved his hand. He hadn’t changed dormitories yet, so there would be trouble if there was a dormitory inspection.
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“Exams are already over, so why would there still be an inspection?” Zhou Sheng said.
“I need to sort some things out.” Yu Hao said, “And complete the procedures over the next few days. Anyway, it’s the winter holidays and both of you need to go home. I’ll come over to clean up this dormitory first.”
“You’re not going back……oh……” Zhou Sheng remembered that Yu Hao didn’t have a home to return to anymore.
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But Yu Hao was extremely unperturbed. He smiled, “I’ll be working during the winter vacation; I’ve already found a job. Then I’ll be going on a holiday, so don’t worry about me.”
“Wait a minute.” Zhou Sheng called out to Yu Hao who was about to leave, “Do you know how to weave a bracelet?” As he spoke, he passed him something. It was the golden, hollowed-out ring.
“Weave one for me with red rope ba.” Zhou Sheng said.
Yu Hao thought, you actually knew that I could weave bracelets? Then he said, “Let me measure your wrist.”
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“You really know how to?!” Zhou Sheng was surprised.
Yu Hao had overseen a crafts stall before, so even though his weaved bracelets didn’t look too good, he did know how to weave one. He measured the circumference of Zhou Sheng’s wrist while he was slightly drunk, “I’ll return it to you before the holidays.”
Zhou Sheng whistled, “You’d better not lose it.”
After night fell, Yu Hao said goodbye to Zhou Sheng and Fu Liqun, and they made plans for Zhou Sheng to come over a few days later to help him move out of his dormitory. Then, he returned to his own dormitory building. It was already past 9pm, and he was hesitating over whether or not to return Chen Yekai’s clothes when he received a call.
“Yu Hao……” Chen Yekai said, “What are you doing~?”
His tone seemed a little off. Yu Hao thought, it can’t be that he’s drunk, right?
“Chen Laoshi?” Yu Hao said, “Did you drink?”
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“Return my clothes——straight away!” Chen Yekai said, then hung up.
Yu Hao, “……”
Yu Hao called him back, wanting to ask where he was, but his phone was turned off.
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Final examinations were over, so his roommates had all gone out to play. Yu Hao locked his dormitory door. Today, the dormitory buildings were all eerily quiet as only a few people remained. Yu Hao walked over to Chen Yekai’s dormitory. The door was locked, and the lights were out.
“Chen Laoshi!” Yu Hao shouted. He hasn’t returned? It can’t be ba? Where did he call from? The dinner party organized by the college should already be over. Could it be that he was on his way back?
Yu Hao went downstairs again and walked along the path towards the teacher’s canteen. He found someone sitting in a bicycle shed beside a road full of snow — it was Chen Yekai.
Chen Yekai was drunk — he reeked of alcohol. Yu Hao quickly said, “Chen Laoshi!”
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Chen Yekai looked up at him. Under the dim light of the bicycle shed, Yu Hao had seen that sort of gaze just half an hour ago —— it looked exactly like Fu Liqun’s as it was both hazy and filled with sorrow.
“I’ll send you back.” Yu Hao said. He didn’t know what kind of fortuitous luck he had tonight for him to have picked up two drunken male gods.
“I……can walk by myself.”
Chen Yekai held a bottle of mineral water and staggered about for a few steps in the snow. Snowflakes were falling down steadily, and his sorry figure in the snow suddenly made Yu Hao feel a little sad.
You definitely can’t let other students see you like this. Please don’t slip and tumble onto the street, and please do not start stripping in this world of ice and snow. Or else the idol image that you hold would be completely obliterated.
Yu Hao hurried forward and placed Chen Yekai’s arm over his shoulders, then helped him walk back to his dormitory building.