Ch59 - Concealmen (2/2)
Read more BL at chrysanthemumgarden.com
Fu Liqun, “I think you’re the stranger one in comparison.”
Yu Hao, “How am I strange?!”
Fu Liqun thought about it for a bit, “Did the two of you quarrel over something?”
Yu Hao said, “We didn’t quarrel.”
Fu Liqun said, “He’s still the same in class……but now that you mentioned it, something does seem a little off between you two. Oh yeah, why hasn’t Zhou Sheng been taking the initiative to talk to you recently?”
Yu Hao said, “Right?”
Fu Liqun looked at Yu Hao suspiciously. Yu Hao said, “I don’t know why, but I feel like he’s always angry with me about something.”
If you're reading this, this translation is stolen. Please support our translators at chrysanthemumgarden.com
“Go ask him bei.” Fu Liqun said.
“I’ve asked him.” Yu Hao said, “He said he’s not.”
Fu Liqun suddenly started laughing, and Yu Hao asked with a bewildered expression, “Why’re you laughing?”
Fu Liqun waved his hand, “Just watch the video!”
Yu Hao said, “Ai I’m not in the mood.”
Yu Hao has always been sensitive to Zhou Sheng’s various actions and behaviour. He was always on the more perceptive side, and he could even discern if a normal friend’s gaze seemed peculiar, let alone Zhou Sheng’s.
And ever since Zhou Sheng’s last self-reflection, the students in their cohort didn’t make jokes about them anymore. Zhou Sheng’s words that day had a hidden implication underneath, as if he wasn’t reciting a self-reflection but making a threat instead—— “if you dare talk about Yu Hao again, be wary of getting beaten up”, —— with that one battle where he had become a God overnight, coupled with his serious attitude, no one dared to talk about Yu Hao behind his back anymore.
If you're reading this, this translation is stolen. Please support our translators at chrysanthemumgarden.com
Zhou Sheng hurried down the dormitory building, looked at his phone, then began replying to Chen Yekai’s messages.
Chen Yekai:【It was indeed too dangerous the previous time.】
Zhou Sheng:【In any case, we’ll just go in once and bring her back from her subconscious and into her dream world; Don’t be concerned about whether there’s a sun or not. As long as she regains consciousness, a lot of problems can be easily resolved. Are you sure that she has evidence that can deal a fatal blow to Lin Xun?】
Chen Yekai:【I think so. Our last conversation progressed while focusing on that, but since Lin Xun heard us, he might try to destroy the evidence. Let’s hope everything goes smoothly ba. As for Yu Hao, I’d like to confirm it once again.】
Zhou Sheng:【It’s just like what I’ve said before, cut the crap, Kaikai.】
Chen Yekai:【Does he have someone he likes?】
Zhou Sheng:【I don’t know, I’m going for a run.】
Chen Yekai:【Come out for a drink when you’re free ba.】
Zhou Sheng:【Mm. 】
Zhou Sheng, with both his hands on the track, raised his head and looked at the hazy skyline.
The track field was built midway up the mountain. It was surrounded by mountains behind, and a vast and boundless cityscape sprawled out before it. Zhou Sheng didn’t start running. Instead, he got up, stood up straight, then crouched down again.
At this moment, he suddenly had a feeling that he might be about to lose Yu Hao.
Read more BL at chrysanthemumgarden.com
That one instant in the dream had surfaced countless times in his memory: the moment Yu Hao spread his wings and rushed forward to embrace him, Zhou Sheng frozen in shock as he watched a sharp snake tail whistle across his vision.
That embrace had made his pulse race like never before, but it lasted just a moment before it was completely replaced by fury and abject pain.
“You really scared me to death that day.” Zhou Sheng only knew how to repeat this over and over again. When he entered Yu Hao’s dream a few days ago and was teaching him how to parkour on the city wall under the Great Wall, Zhou Sheng caught Yu Hao, who had fallen down, and after getting him to stand up properly, couldn’t help but repeat that sentence again.
“You’ve already said that several times.” Yu Hao said, “Are you a repeater ? I’ll definitely be more careful from now on, definitely!”
“You even know how to talk back to me now?” Zhou Sheng looked at Yu Hao as if he didn’t know who he was anymore.
Yu Hao laughed, how could he be careful? At the time, that was the only thing he could have done.
Story translated by Chrysanthemum Garden.
In the dormitory room.
“Dating?” Fu Liqun said.
Yu Hao briefly considered it, “Oh, that does seem like it, he might be dating. Oh yeah! He has been sending someone WeChat messages recently!”
Every day, as long as they were awake, they would spend most of their time together aside from periods when they didn’t share the same class. Yu Hao realised that Zhou Sheng’s WeChat chatting frequency has been pretty high recently, and he often frowned while looking at his phone.
“But that doesn’t seem right either?” Yu Hao said, “He hasn’t been cooking congee over his phone recently. Don’t couples usually like to call each other?”
Yu Hao remembered that in Zhou Sheng’s life, there was someone who did fit some minute and secretive particulars, such as the person Zhou Sheng called while smiling when the three of them spent the New Year together.
Was that his safe haven?
Read more BL at chrysanthemumgarden.com
“Ah? I’m talking about the two of you! Aren’t you guys dating?” Fu Liqun had a strange expression on his face.
Yu Hao, “Of course not!”
Fu Liqun said, “How could that be!! Then the menu? And all the ordering? I thought the two of you have already gotten a room and slept together by now!”
“We really aren’t!” Yu Hao hastily clarified before he suddenly realised a serious problem: in Fu Liqun’s eyes, the two of them really did seem like a couple. Looking back on this whole semester, from their dormitory mate, Fu Liqun’s perspective, Zhou Sheng initially got into a fight for Yu Hao‘s sake, then shouted out a confession in the middle of the night below the dormitory, and after that happened, they even went out to get a room together……
Yu Hao said, “He doesn’t like guys.”
Fu Liqun, “Oh? Then you……”
Yu Hao, “……”
Yu Hao decided that he might as well be frank, “Yes, I like him.”
Yu Hao thought that since both Fu Liqun and Zhou Sheng are smarter than him, it wouldn’t matter much even if he told him. In any case, a lot of people have already discussed this in private before.
Fu Liqun said, “If you like him then go confess ah, isn’t that pretty good?”
“He knows.” Yu Hao said, “If he was willing, he would have accepted me a long time ago. Okay, let’s not talk about the past anymore.”
But Fu Liqun’s next sentence was, “Oh? He doesn’t like you?”
Yu Hao didn’t know if he should cry or laugh. He got up as he prepared to go look for Zhou Sheng, “He doesn’t.”
Story translated by Chrysanthemum Garden.
Fu Liqun, “I think he likes you, it’s just that he hasn’t worked out his own feelings yet. You should be a bit more proactive ah, aren’t you always persuading me to take the initiative to reconcile with your sis-in-law?”
Yu Hao said, “Straight men can’t be bent, no matter how much he likes me, it’ll be in the capacity of a friend at most.”
Fu Liqun said, “That’s not necessarily true, who said that? Some can be bent, some can’t. It depends from case to case ba? Also, I’ve always thought Zhou Sheng has always been a little……un?”
As he spoke, Fu Liqun threw Yu Hao a ‘you know’ gaze.
Yu Hao laughed bitterly. Fu Liqun continued, “Whether homosexuality is congenital or acquired hasn’t been decided yet. Everyone has studied psychology: if you give an example of how heterosexuals can’t turn into homosexuals, I can also cite examples of heterosexuals who at some point did become homosexuals. Besides, aren’t there bisexuals within the LGBT spectrum too?”
Yu Hao was changing his T-shirt, and when he heard these words, the fog in front of him suddenly seemed to clear significantly.
If you're reading this, this translation is stolen. Please support our translators at chrysanthemumgarden.com
The electric fan buzzed overhead, and a low pressure surged through the stuffy dormitory. The rain hasn’t fallen yet, there wasn’t a single whisper of wind, and the vegetation was quietly waiting for the advent of a storm.
Yu Hao went to the field to look for Zhou Sheng. He recalled that they had hardly seen each other in their dreams recently. He vaguely recalled that last week, Zhou Sheng came into his dream. The two of them did parkour below the Great Wall, and he had wanted to run upwards along the city walls. But he didn’t know why there were some dreams he could remember very clearly, while there were others that he would almost completely forget about after waking.
Just like the night on New Year’s Eve, when he was watching the fireworks with Zhou Sheng in the capital — he could hardly remember what Zhou Sheng had said to him in the dream. It was the same when they were below the Great Wall — it seemed as if Zhou Sheng had deliberately erased the memories pertaining to some dreams.
As Yu Hao passed the college’s path, he suddenly thought about Chen Yekai and lowered his head to send him a message.
【Chen Laoshi, may I ask you a question?】
Chen Yekai answered within a few seconds:【What is it?】
Please visit chrysanthemumgarden.com
Yu Hao raised his head and looked at the track field. Zhou Sheng had just finished running; his whole body was drenched with sweat, and he was lying in the middle of the field as he gazed up at the sky.
“Let’s go for dinner?” Yu Hao asked Zhou Sheng.
A handsome smile spread across Zhou Sheng’s face. He had his earphones on, and Yu Hao couldn’t tell what he was thinking. Yu Hao shouted, “Zhou Sheng!”
Zhou Sheng didn’t answer him and just lay gasping for breath — clearly, he had just finished running. Yu Hao went forward and was about to take his earphones off when Zhou Sheng closed his eyes and said, “I’m here! Why’re you being so noisy?” As he spoke, he raised his hand and made a gun gesture, and motioned a “bang” at Yu Hao before he opened his hand up.
Yu Hao pulled him up, and the two of them went to the canteen. Zhou Sheng was playing on his phone and acted as if nothing had happened. He glanced at Yu Hao’s phone and saw Chen Yekai’s WeChat picture, then asked, “What did Kaikai say?”
“No news.” Yu Hao said. He decided not to talk to Chen Yekai about other matters for now, so that it wouldn’t be seen by Zhou Sheng.
That night, Yu Hao laid on his bed and couldn’t help but browse through all kinds of posts about straight men turning bent. There were a lot of men on the internet who shared about the moment when they developed feelings for the same sex, but most of them only developed feelings for a specific person during a certain phase in their lives. Once the two of them separated in the end, they returned to their usual lives and still loved their girlfriends, got married, started a family, and had children.
Fu Liqun’s words seemed to have shaken a certain resolve in his heart, and made him consider another possibility. Chen Yekai gave him a call at this moment, Yu Hao quickly hung up and sent him a message on WeChat:【Let’s talk here.】
Yu Hao looked at Zhou Sheng — Zhou Sheng was currently lying down with his earphones on as he sent WeChat messages. His phone screen was coincidentally facing Yu Hao, and Yu Hao saw that his screen remained on his chat box with Chen Yekai. Chen Yekai had sent him ten voice messages that were about 1-minute long in a row, while Zhou Sheng was replying to his messages through text.
What are they talking about? Why won’t they talk about it in the group chat? Yu Hao found it a bit weird. He, Zhou Sheng, and Chen Yekai had a three-person group chat. From what he saw, it seems that Zhou Sheng has been in contact with Chen Yekai recently and was discussing something with him.