[Online Gaming] Love You 59 Seconds Chapter 38

Proofreader: Jesse

Wu Han Ying let himself in through a small opening at the door and took out his keys as he headed up to the fourth floor. The neighbors door was shut tightly, but he was still sure they could hear his aunt screaming at the top of her lungs at his 8-year-old cousin; he could only guess what she had done to have his aunt screaming strings of curses that even people from across the hall could hear clearly, it was something like why are you running without shoes, if you dare to misbehave like this next time I will blah blah.

Wu Han Ying jutted out his lip, screaming to this extent; even if one of their family members farted, the whole neighborhood would know about it.

Just after he entered the house he heard his grandma greeting him from the living room and telling him to come eat something. He had just filled his stomach with some buns, but the food had already been heated up. Wu Han Ying walked over to grab himself a bowl and a pair of chopsticks, then sat down and courteously ate whatever was placed on the table.

"How is school?" asked his grandma as she took two dishes out to the table.

Wu Han Ying vaguely replied, college life is basically the same.

He had just picked up a piece of food with his chopsticks and hadn't even placed it into his mouth when he heard a "thump thump thump" sound coming his way; no need to guess what it was, it must be his little cousin rushing over. The sound was followed by his aunt's condemnation, "Ning Ning, where are you going! Have you finished your homework?"

"Ning Ning, come here and draw. Your brother* will play with you after he is finished eating."

{Translator Input: I want to explain, Ning Ning is Wu Han Ying's cousin; Wu Han Ying and Ning Ning are related by a paternal relationship which means Wu Han Ying's father is the older brother of Ning Ning's father. In Chinese custom, if you're related by a paternal relationship, you have a closer kink, so you can consider your cousin as your own sibling. So it's normal for Ning Ning to call Wu Han Ying as "brother" and it's natural for him to call her as "sister". This information is understood with just reading the context of the story, but I don't think it's clearly explained in English. I wanted to put a note here to give everyone a good understanding of the relationship between Ning Ning and Wu Han Ying. Just so you know, it's weird to translate "paternal grandma" in here, it sounds like wording in a research paper instead of novel writing style, so I will go with "grandma" LOL}

Wu Han Ying pretended not to know anything; he kept his head down and continued to eat. His grandma kept on coaxing the little girl while she took out a dozen pieces of plain white paper from the cupboard and placed them onto the coffee table.

"Want to draw now."

Wu Han Ying wanted to take a piece of vegetable, but the chopsticks were suddenly yanked; one chopstick fell onto the table and then rolled off onto the floor.

"How is there still fried sweet potato?" His little cousin was only taller than the table by half a head, she tiptoed onto the table and aimed for the small bowl of fried sweet potato sitting in front. As she said those words her hands were grasping for the food.

Wu Han Ying felt his mouth twitching a bit, he originally did not want to eat and now he had completely lost his appetite. Her hands weren't only covered in dirt, they were also covered in colorful ink as well. He couldn't help being repulsed as that hand stretched out to pick a piece of fried sweet potato and put it into her mouth...

"Ay, that's your brother's dinner." His grandma hurriedly pulled her away and pushed the bowl of fried sweet potatoes further onto the table, "Ning Ning, you ate a very large bowl at dinner already, this is for your brother."

"No! Didn't you tell me that there is no more?" Wu Ning was unhappy, "bang bang" was the only thing that could be heard as she slapped onto the table and looked up at their grandma.

Wu Han Ying put down his chopstick, "I'm full." There was no way he could swallow it. Honestly speaking, Wu Han Ying really did not like his younger cousin. He really likes to play with children because they are very adorable and obedient; but, his younger cousin is an exception. She has an irrationally temperamental personality. Even though she is only an 8 years old, she can still say words that make him frown in disapproval.

"Ning Ning, come here; let's go back to our room and play on the computer. You can play until bedtime. Otherwise, if you wait you won't have time to play." His aunt said while holding Wu Ning.

"Don't wanna play the computer. She said there is no more, so how come she lets him eat it and not me." Wu Ning's hands still held onto the table tightly as she was being picked up.

"I will make them for you tomorrow. A big plate too and no one can have it, only you can eat it, alright? Don't eat this, it's the leftover so it's not good."

"No, won't do."

Wu Han Ying stood up, thinking it was getting late already, he should wash up and head back to his room, better than being here and listening to the little one bickering. He heard a loud "CRASH" as he stood up, luckily he was quick to step to the side.

Wu Ning jerked her hand in the direction of the small bowl which was swept off the table and naturally fell onto the floor. The fried sweet potato inside scattered all over the place; fortunately, Wu Han Ying was quick to avoid the food that would've splashed all over his body.

"Hphm, you won't let me eat it. Fine, no one can eat it!" screamed Wu Ning angrily after she had gotten over her initial fright from the loud "crash".

"Look what you did! The bowl is broken!" His aunt immediately roared at the sight of the shattered bowl and made Wu Han Ying jump in shock. She put down Wu Ning and spanked her butt twice, "I told you that was the leftovers, the leftovers; I said I'll buy a new one for you tomorrow, but now the bowl is shattered. Who do you think will clean it up? Obviously it's me, your mom. I will have to clean it up because it's you who broke it; you always want to add more work for me!"

"Hm, you hit me!" after getting spanked twice, Wu Ning suddenly stopped fidgeting because tears and snot began to stream down her face; she fiercely made a "hm" sound twice and ran off to her room. On her way she stopped by Wu Han Ying and slapped "flap flap" on his arm twice with all of her might.

Wu Han Ying could tell his patience was wearing thin, he felt really furious; even though he didn't feel her slapping his arm since it is winter now and he had a thick layers of clothing on, her action alone was enough to make him feel suffocated {due to anger}. He really wanted to drag her over his knees and spank her really hard on the butt, she is already 8 years old yet she has absolutely no education with behaving appropriately; she just does whatever she wants and when other elders scold her, she would always ask "how do you know you're right".

"I'll clean it."

Wu Han Ying did not say anything as he watched his grandma take the broom and start to sweep up the broken pieces of the bowl and hurriedly wiped the floor clean. His aunt was scolding her daughter for making a mess for her to clean, but in the end instead of cleaning, his aunt was shouting and running back to the room with her daughter and left the mess for the others to deal with.

After cleaning up everything in the kitchen Wu Han Ying went straight to the bathroom and then headed back to his room and locked the door. He really did not want to say any more useless words. When his cousin was younger he used to be able to talk some sense into her by showing her the difference between right and wrong, but in the end, he was always the one getting scolded. The moment her mother opened her mouth to speak, she would always use cynical words that made you unable to counter back; if you were to say one word, she would make you suffer by nagging at you about it for the whole month. His grandma loves to pamper her grandchildren; she would always follow the grandchildren's wishes in everything.

He flopped onto the bed in frustration and put pressure on his tingly nose. Wu Han Ying thought about Jiang Tan's suggestion, maybe he should rent a place of his own. Soon it would be winter break which lasts for about a month or more, not to mention it would be right around the time for the Spring Festival {Chinese New Year in the States}. He cannot stay in the dorm for the break and if he had to come home, he would have to deal with this situation on a daily basis.

However, he did not have any money on him and there was not much in his bank card {Debit card or ATM card, I'm not sure what is called outside of the States}, if he were to rent a place to live on his own, he would not have enough to pay rent for half a month, let alone food to survive. He did not possess even one penny of his parents' assets after they died in an accident and he was deemed as a freeloader whenever he comes back here.

He felt somewhat suffocated by the quilt under him, so he turned over to lie on his back; he was feeling completely dejected. He took out his phone and casually clicked a few buttons on it, the standby light turned on showing he has one unread text message.

He clicked on the notification and it showed the name of the sender --- Professor Xia...

A new text message【Professor Xia】:

Big brother, are you home yet? Let me treat you to a bun meal at a later time ah, it's really delicious ^0^ thank you big brother.

21:07:11

Wu Han Ying did not react at first, when he looked at it again he started to "poof" a laugh; presumably it was the little bun using Professor Xia's phone to send a text message to him. However, in the sender line it stated "Professor Xia", he could not stop laughing from the use of the words "Big brother" with the addition of a smile emoticon; trying to pair those words with the forever paralyzed face and untalkative person like Professor Xia, it really was...

He punched in a few keys to type in his reply. Wu Han Ying thought about it for a while and then replied with a smile emoticon, saying that he is home and in the future he would treat the little bun to a bun meal again.

He did not think the other would reply back, but less than 5 minutes later his phone lit up, it was another text message from Professor Xia.

A new text message【Professor Xia】:

Xiao Chen Chen said big brother won't be here the day after tomorrow >< I would want to invite big brother to eat buns on that day though. But I told Xiao Chen Chen to drive you on that day, your school canteen also has buns there, let me treat you yeah.

21:35:16

Drive...me...? Wu Han Ying was stunned for several seconds, he smiled and shook his head as he replied saying no need to trouble the teacher and that he would let the little bun treat him if there is an opportunity at a later time.

A new text message【Professor Xia】:

No trouble. Xiao Chen Chen has a car, drive ah drive, soon we will get there. I also want to go to big brother's school to play ah.

21:44:00

Wu Han Ying was a little bit taken aback, just thinking of letting Xia Chen drive him back to school...he involuntarily started shivering. Even if there wasn't any traffic and if they were driving back at a high speed, the trip was going to be more than an hour! Even just sitting in Professor Xia's car for 1 hour...too embarrassing. He couldn't even begin to imagine what he should be doing during the two-hour drive.

He clutched onto the phone completely at a loss on how to reply, Wu Han Ying of course did not want to get in that black Mercedes-Benz. Even though he had never gotten to sit in such a luxurious car, he would not dare to get in Professor Xia's car. He just put in the words "No need to" when suddenly his phone went black, two seconds later the screen flashed up and the phone started ringing loudly signaling an incoming call.

Wu Han Ying almost threw his phone when he glanced at the caller ID; needless to say, the two words "Professor Xia" on the caller ID made his heart shiver a bit.

After letting the phone ring for a little while, Wu Han Ying reluctantly picked up the call. He was expecting to hear a soft and tender voice of a child, but instead a low magnetic male voice reached his ear.

"Wu Han Ying?'

"...ah, it's me." Wu Han Ying held onto the phone for a long time before forcing out those words, but then he whispered his next sentence, "Professor Xia, do you need me for something?"

When Wu Han Ying heard Professor Xia call his name his heart suddenly jumped up. His first thought was the assignment that was due in Professor Xia's class, it was an assignment that he didn't turn in; the professor must have remembered his name because of it...how miserable...

"Xiao Shang used my phone to send you a text message earlier."

"Um, yes..." Wu Han Ying felt that his tone was quite mechanical when compared to the other person's. Xia Chen's tone was so calm and Wu Han Ying's was like a junior high student getting called on by the teacher to answer a question...

"Big brother~"

A sound from the background chimed in before Xia Chen could say anything, even though it was not clear he was guessing the voice was next to Xia Chen's phone.

"Xiao Shang said to drive you back to school with me."

Wu Han Ying wanted to say that he didn't want to trouble the other man and that he could go back by himself, but he did not get to say it, the other person's next words stopped his mouth from working.

"I have a meeting on Sunday afternoon, so I need to come back before 4pm; we need to head back around 2pm after we're done with lunch. You don't have a problem with coming back at 2, right."

Wu Han Ying tried to swallow but his mouth was too dry and still wasn't working correctly; the other person was obviously asking him a question, but why didn't it sound like a question to him.

"This...I'm ok..."

After hanging up, Wu Han Ying laid there and stared at the phone in his hand. He felt that his tongue did not serve its purpose earlier. He couldn't believe the situation he was in; on Sunday at 2 o'clock, Xia Chen will pick him up at his place...then they will drive back to school...together...

{Translator Input: I have to explain here LOL so Wu Han Ying had wanted to decline the offer but for some reason he agreed, so he felt that his tongue was of no use in this situation because he was not able to decline Xia Chen's offer XDDD}

He slowly turned over onto his tummy. As he laid there he couldn't help wondering what he would do when he had to be in the same car with the professor for more than an hour, ah he had such an annoying and suffocating feeling already. It is the generation gap that we're talking about here...might as well just knock him unconscious now.

---

End of Chapter 38

Chapter end