Qing Kuang
/ Qing Kuang Chapter 102
Published at 10th of May 2023 01:16:57 PM
Kou Chen was staring at Huo Ran the whole time. Huo Ran hung up the phone, and before he could put it away, he was already asking: “And? Is my dad worried?”
“Very. He was talking about bringing his people over for a fight before I even finished talking.” Huo Ran looked at him. “Good thing I stopped him. I thought he was just gonna hang up and call them.”
“Really?” Kou Chen raised his brows and sat back in his chair. He even took his hands away from his head, and he laughed happily. “That’s more like it.”
“He said he’s on his way,” Huo Ran said. “Why did I feel like… Someone hit you, and he’s really unhappy about it?”
“What dad is gonna be happy when their son gets hurt?” Kou Chen clicked his tongue.
“No, I meant,” Huo Ran sat beside him and put an arm around his shoulder. “The feeling he gave me was… Damn? My son is that useless? He actually let someone get a hit on him? Like that.”
“Obviously.” Kou Chen was still happy. He scooted down a bit and leaned onto his shoulder. “I’ve never lost a fight before. When I was little, even the bastard of our age group was scared, he always avoided me…”
“But he still doesn’t want you to get into fights?” Huo Ran was a little confused.
“That’s different.” Kou Chen touched the bow tie on his forehead. “Not fighting is one thing, someone beating me up is another.
“…Oh,” Huo Ran nodded. “Then why didn’t you… fight back? It would be in self-defence.”
“Then it lets my dad know that I have a reason for fighting.” Kou Chen swung his feet. “Actually, I, my relationship with my dad just started to change, and I didn’t want to disappoint him. I just didn’t want to fight, I wanted to run… But mainly because I didn’t think that idiot would hit me with something.”
“I almost shot out of the atmosphere in anger.” Huo Ran frowned. Even thinking about that moment made him feel panic. “If you weren’t about to collapse, do you believe that I would’ve gone and beat him to death?”
“Yeah.” Kou Chen looked up at him. “I believe it.”
Huo Ran tsked.
“Really, I’m serious.” Kou Chen squeezed his thigh gently. “You don’t know how scary you looked then.”
“I looked scary?” Huo Ran questioned. All he remembered was how he felt at the moment. He couldn’t imagine what sort of expression must’ve been on his face.
“Veryyyy scary.” Kou Chen raised an eyebrow. “Really. I’ve never seen you like that. Do you know how I felt?”
“How?” Huo Ran asked.
“Happy!” Kou Chen laughed. “My Ranran was so worried for me. How did I feel? I was ecstatic. I was already pretty dizzy from the hit, but seeing you, I felt even dizzier. I could barely stand up properly.”
“You’re so happy now?” Huo Ran glanced at him out of the corner of his eye. “You looked like you were about to die just then. You were about to cry in pain, but you couldn’t ruin your image.”
Kou Chen laughed: “Watch it. I’m scared of pain, but that won’t affect anything when I fight you. You still aren’t a match for me.”
Huo Ran started laughing with him.
Kou Chen’s wound wasn’t very serious. It just needed some stitches.
If it were Huo Ran, he would just get on the table, and it would be done in a few minutes. He wouldn’t even need anesthetic.
But Kou Chen was different, that baby. He gave up on maintaining his image the moment he stepped into the room, probably because it’s not like the doctor knows him anyways. He kept begging the doctor to do it so “it wouldn’t hurt at all”.
In the end, the doctor sighed. “I’ll give you some numbing cream, and I’ll use the smallest needle, the one used on eyelids. Usually only for little kids, alright?”
“Thank you, doctor.” Kou Chen said.
“Now,” The doctor glanced at Huo Ran. “Your friend can wait outside.”
“Okay,” Huo Ran nodded and turned to leave.
“Outside?” Kou Chen said. “He has to stay with me, can’t he just wait here?”
The doctor looked at him.
“Stay here,” Huo Ran pointed at Kou Chen. “I’ll wait for you outside. It would’ve been done by now if you weren’t so talkative!”
As he was waiting in the hallway, Huo Ran’s phone rang. It was Kou Chen’s dad, and he quickly picked up. “Uncle Kou.”
“Why isn’t Kou Chen answering his phone?” Was the first thing he asked. Huo Ran could hear the worry in his voice.
“He’s getting stitches…” Huo Ran was interrupted before he could finish.
“Stitches?” He needs stitches?! What did he let them do to him?” His dad was shocked.
“…Yeah,” Huo Ran said, and then he quickly explained. “The wound isn’t big, it just needs a few stitches. He’ll be fine.”
“Where are you guys?” Kou Chen’s dad asked. “I’m here, I don’t see you.”
“The first floor ER, third room,” Huo Ran said.
Barely thirty seconds later, Kou Chen’s dad was running over from the main doors.
Huo Ran stood up to greet him.
“Where did he get hit?” He asked.
“The back of his head,” Huo Ran said quietly. His dad was pretty intimidating, and just asking a simple question put him under a lot of pressure for some reason, like he was the one that hit Kou Chen.
“Made him stupid, did it?” His dad said.
“Probably… not,” Huo Ran’s confidence suddenly disappeared. “He looked… fine.”
“You might not be able to tell,” His dad snorted. “He’s pretty stupid normally.”
Huo Ran was unhappy with Kou Chen’s dad’s attitude of clearly being very worried, but still saying things like that. He didn’t even think before he said: “Intelligence is genetic, it depends on the parents.”
“Oh?” Kou Chen’s dad raised an eyebrow and looked at him.
“…I always thought Kou Chen was pretty smart.” Huo Ran added.
“Are you just defending him because he’s your friend?” He asked.
“You can’t… put it like that.” Huo Ran thought about it. “I’m looking at his positive traits.”
Kou Chen’s dad snorted again.
The process was very quick, seeing as it was only three stitches. Kou Chen walked out with bandages wrapped around his head.
“What happened to you?” His dad startled. “You didn’t even look this bad when you got surrounded and stabbed that time!”
Huo Ran was pretty shocked.
He suddenly remembered that fight behind the haunted building. He asked who could still stand after being stabbed, and Kou Chen replied arrogantly: “Can’t you? I can.”
“Nobody hit me on the head then,” Kou Chen said.
“Are you hurt anywhere else?” Kou Chen’s dad grabbed his arms and turned him around. “Did they do a scan? Do you have a concussion?”
“The results will be out in a bit,” Kou Chen said. “The doctor looked me over, he said I’m fine.”
“Who am I?” Kou Chen’s dad suddenly asked.
“…Kou Jingcheng, also known as Second Kou, your wife rules the house because you spoil her so much,” Kou Chen said. “You have a precious daughter called Kou Xiao, and a worthless son called Kou Chen.”
“What about him?” His dad pointed at Huo Ran.
“Don’t know him,” Kou Chen said.
“Fuck off,” Huo Ran glared.
“Huo Ran, Ranran, also known as Little Cutie,” Kou Chen laughed.
“How did you let someone attack you from behind?” Kou Chen’s dad got to the point after making sure nothing was wrong with Kou Chen’s intelligence and memory. “Are you fucking stupid? You turned your back to them?”
“I was escaping,” Kou Chen said.
“Escaping?” His dad paused.
“Huo Ran and I were shopping for your gift, and we saw someone going after Chaoren,” Kou Chen said. “I just went to help, and then we were gonna run, but someone came up behind me.”
“If someone could attack you from behind, then it’s obvious there’s no running away!” His dad said. “And you tried to run? Run my ass! Turn around and beat them!”
Kou Chen didn’t say anything, he only raised an eyebrow.
Huo Ran realized that both of them even raised the same eyebrow. The left one.
“Trying to say something?” His dad stared at Kou Chen.
“No,” Kou Chen said.
“Last time you said you had a reason to fight, and I didn’t say anything, did I?” He kept staring. “There’s no end to it, huh?”
“Not really,” Kou Chen said.
“Then what is it?” He asked.
Kou Chen only cleared his throat and stayed silent.
Huo Ran reckoned that they were still at the beginning stages of communication. With Kou Chen’s personality, some things he just can’t say out loud.
Right now, he needed Huo Ran to speak for him.
“He didn’t want to make you mad,” Huo Ran said. “Didn’t want you to worry.”
Kou Chen’s dad opened his mouth, but didn’t say anything.
“He just wanted to do better,” Huo Ran continued. “And he thought… that he could escape, nobody expected the guy to come up behind him, the skinny thing that he was.”
“And then?” Kou Chen’s dad furrowed his brows. “You just let them escape?”
“I punched them a little,” Huo Ran said. “And Chaoren too. Then they jumped out of the balcony. I said not to go after them, because Kou Chen was hurt.”
Kou Chen’s dad was silent for a moment. “That’s more like it, you didn’t just stand there and let them beat you.”
Kou Chen exhaled, still staying silent.
Huo Ran didn’t know what else to say either, and Kou Chen’s dad also stayed silent. And so the three of them just stood there.
About thirty seconds later, Kou Chen’s dad suddenly realized something, and he looked at Huo Ran. “Shopping for my gift?”
Kou Chen looked down at the floor.
“Yeah, for you,” Huo Ran said. “He said your birthday is next week, and he wanted to get you something.”
“A birthday gift?” Kou Chen’s dad was shocked. He lifted Kou Chen’s head up by his chin. “Hey, you, you bought me a birthday gift?”
“Don’t try anything!” Kou Chen pushed his hand away.
“You bought me,” Kou Chen’s dad pointed at himself. “A birthday gift?”
“Yeah!” Kou Chen looked a little annoyed out of embarrassment. “Yeah, a birthday gift. What’s so weird about me getting you a gift?”
“Of course it’s weird,” His dad said. “You’ve never given me shit before.”
“I can give you a shit if that’s what you want.” Kou Chen looked at him.
“Watch it,” Kou Chen’s dad pointed at him.
Kou Chen looked away.
And then they fell into an awkward silence again.
“Uh…” Huo Ran couldn’t bear it anymore, so he forced himself to say something, but he didn’t know what to say. “That… the, uh…”
“My son has grown up!” Kou Chen’s dad suddenly said.
“Huh?” Huo Ran startled.
Kou Chen also turned to him in confusion.
“My son’s grown up.” Kou Chen’s dad hugged Kou Chen and smacked him on the back, all the way to his head. “He got me a gift! He remembered my birthday!”
“My head! My head!” Kou Chen yelled. “Don’t smack it, it hurts! I just got three stitches! Three!”
“What did you get me?” His dad kept smacking him on the back.
“I’ll give it to you at home.” Kou Chen pushed him away. “My bike’s still back there, and your gift is in the lockers at the mall.”
“What is it?” Kou Chen’s dad asked excitedly.
“Secret,” Kou Chen said.
Slowly and quietly, Huo Ran hid the thermos behind his back.
“Go home first, I’m fine,” Kou Chen said. “After I get the results we’ll go pick everything up. You wait at home.”
“Okay,” Kou Chen’s dad nodded.
“Be on your way then,” Kou Chen looked at him.
“I’m going,” Kou Chen’s dad didn’t say anything else. He turned and walked towards the door before turning around to say, “The scans don’t really matter, even if it’s a concussion, you just need to rest for a few days. It’s fine.”
“Mhm,” Kou Chen nodded.
After Kou Chen’s dad’s figure disappeared, Huo Ran breathed a sigh of relief and turned to Kou Chen.
Kou Chen quietly turned away.
“What?” Huo Ran asked.
“Nothing,” Kou Chen said.
His voice sounded a little nasally.
“You’re crying?” Huo Ran asked.
“Shut up,” Kou Chen said.
Huo Ran smiled and rubbed his back.
Chapter end
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