Qing Kuang Chapter 109

Published at 10th of May 2023 01:16:57 PM

Kou Chen hasn’t drank like this in a long time, probably because his family has never thrown such a big birthday party for him before. Although he barely knew any of the relatives that were there, nor his mom and dad’s friends, he was still in a great mood.

“My son is of age today,” Kou Chen’s dad raised his glass. “He’s an adult now. I’m very happy, because he’s a lot like me… I only realized that recently, but I know that he will never be another me. He will become another adult that will make his family proud. I hope that everyone can share this joy with me.” 

This was the first time his dad raised a toast to him. Kou Chen felt a little flustered as he picked up his glass to drink. He couldn’t find the words to speak, so he only gave his dad a hug.

“Work hard,” His dad patted him on the back. “Don’t think you can fail your finals just because I said all that.”

“…You only beat me in a weekly exam,” Kou Chen patted him back. “Don’t get cocky.”

“That’s true,” His dad laughed. “I can’t beat you bunch of fearless kids in that. Charging in without knowing anything.” 

“That’s exactly why we dare to charge.” Kou Chen poured another two glasses of wine and handed one to his dad. “Dad, this one’s for you.”

“Are you going to say something?” His dad smiled at him.

“Nothing,” Kou Chen clinked their glasses. “I can feel it, and I’m sure you can too.”

“Okay,” His dad tipped his head back and drank.

Kou Chen did the same.

He didn’t know how much he drank that night. Just the glasses he shared with his dad he lost track of. On the car ride home, Kou Xiao drove, his mom sat in the passenger seat, and the two of them sat in the backseat hugging Old Yang and singing the whole way.

“How’s our singing?” His dad pointed at Old Yang. “Speak!” 

“Very good,” Old Yang gave him a thumbs up.”

“Of course it is,” Kou Chen said. “Stereo sound!”

“That’s right,” Old Yang didn’t put down his hand. “Even though the right and left sides are both different pitches, the effect is still amazing. I’m gonna go deaf.”

Kou Xiao laughed hysterically. 

“What are you laughing for?” His mom glared at her. “Drive properly, keep your eyes on the road!”

“You can drive if you want,” Kou Xiao laughed.

“Forget it,” His mom said. “They’ll be sober in no time if I drive. I’ve never seen them so happy. No fights all evening, Chenchen wasn’t even mad when his dad made him drink so much. Leave them be for a while longer.”

His mom’s voice was very quiet, but Kou Chen still heard it. He leaned back against the seat and giggled to himself. 

His dad made him drink this much?

What kind of dad is he?!

And nobody stopped him?

He didn’t even get mad? 

Heheheheheh.

Kou Chen grabbed his phone, dizzily tapping into his messages. The text on his phone was a little blurry.

-little ranran! 

Huo Ran replied quickly.

Kou Chen was a little upset.

-why are you so! cold! 

-because this is the group chat, little chenchen

Kou Chen stared at that message, and realized that wasn’t Huo Ran’s profile picture.

He suddenly sobered up quite a bit. He stared at it some more. It was Xu Chuan.

And then the rest of them all came and spammed the chat. 

-because this is the group chat, little chenchen

-because this is the group chat, little chenchen

-because this is the group chat, little chenchen

-because this is the group chat, little chenchen 

-shut up!

Kou Chen sent.

This time Xu Zhifan started it.

-nopeeeee~ 

-nopeeeee~

-nopeeeee~

-nopeeeee~

Huo Ran sent a hanging reaction image. 

-I’m leaving this group

Jiang Lei followed up without a second thought.

-I’m leaving this group

-I’m leaving this group 

-I’m leaving this group

-I drank too much…

-I can see that, did you have fun?

-no, all I did was drink, I think I’m gonna black out, so I wanted to talk to you, what if I fall asleep without calling you and you wonder what happened to me 

-don’t worry, I could’ve guessed, it wasn’t fun and you still drank the whole time?

-it wasn’t fun but I was happy

-your dad was happy too, right?

-yeah 

-apart from old yuan, I have to thank you too, without a representative, I wouldn’t have been able to say everything I wanted

-then let your representative sleep with you tomorrow?

Good thing he was leaning against the car door. Old Yang was leaning forwards trying to avoid the source of his pain… He sighed in relief, and turned his phone back on.

-you’re fucking horniness incarnate aren’t you

-language! 

-who started it!

-you did

-……

-nevermind, what if someone sees? I’m scared you’ll end up posting a screenshot 

-I won’t!

-ten am tomorrow, I’ll come find you, after the others are done, we’ll go on a date

-okay

Huo Ran charged his phone and got ready for bed. Laying there, he felt like a horny old bastard, one that has been holding it in for years.

How shameful.

He had no words. 

But he was stubborn, and he didn’t want to fix his mistakes.

His thoughts followed him into his dreams. He dreamed about a lot of similar scenarios, but what was even more shameful was the fact that due to his inexperience, he was a master chef in his dreams.

He grabbed Kou Chen’s arms and legs, flipping him around.

Fry until both sides are golden brown… 

They all planned the barbeque for 10 am the next day. Huo Ran went to pick up Kou Chen, and the others went to check on the balloons, disguise them, and for some last minute practice.

There were six holes in total, with a little piece of string poking out from each of them. Pulling on them would move the pieces of board hidden under the dirt, letting the balloons rise up. 

One by one, the words, “I have a little secret” would appear to Kou Chen.

Absolutely perfect.

Seamless.

Huo Ran even felt a little envious that he didn’t get such a surprise for his birthday. 

Tsk.

When Huo Ran got to Kou Chen’s house, he was just running down the stairs in his pajamas. Seeing Huo Ran, he ran back up, saying: “I thought you were my dad, why are you here so early? Hold on, I just woke up.”

Huo Ran really, really, really wanted to follow him up, but Kou Chen’s mom stopped him. 

“Going barbequing today?” She asked.

“Yeah,” Huo Ran nodded and sat down on the couch. Shuaishuai leapt over and he hugged him. “It’s not too far, we’ll go back to school after it.”

He felt a little guilty saying that.

“Stay safe,” Kou Chen’s mom said. “But with you there, I’m not very worried.” 

“You don’t have to worry about Kou Chen either,” Huo Ran smiled. “Really.”

“Don’t you know how to speak.” Kou Chen’s mom gave him a light pat. “Such a good kid. If Kou Chen was half as good as you, he wouldn’t be fighting with his dad.”

“Come on, come on,” Kou Chen quickly came back downstairs, changed and with his hair dripping wet.” Let’s go.”

“Didn’t you wash your hair yesterday? You had to do it in the middle of the night,” His mom said. “Why did you wash it again?” 

“It was messy.” Kou Chen grabbed Shuaishuai and furiously kissed the top of his head. “Gege can’t play with you today, Gege has to go out. You stay home with mom.”

Shuaishuai barked.

The two of them left the house in a hurry, making Huo Ran feel like they were on the way to catch a plane.

“You biked here?” Kou Chen asked. 

“Yeah,” Huo Ran nodded. “How do you wanna get there?”

“I’ll ride with you,” Kou Chen ran towards the garage. “I haven’t biked with you before!”

“I’ll take you biking after exams?” Huo Ran said.

“That’s set then!” Kou Chen turned around and pointed at him. “If you don’t, I’ll ambush you on the road!” 

Huo Ran nodded with a laugh.

“To be honest, I’m upset with you guys!” Kou Chen pedalled, glancing at Kou Chen. “Very upset!”

“Why?” Huo Ran asked.

“You guys didn’t wish me a happy birthday right at midnight!” Kou Chen said. 

“I did,” Huo Ran yelled.

“They didn’t!” Kou Chen yelled back. “I’m gonna yell at them later.”

“Okay!” Huo Ran nodded.

It’ll be a miracle if you don’t cry. Yell at them my ass. 

Thinking about Kou Chen’s reaction to the words written on the balloons made Huo Ran want to laugh.

He wrote everything himself, although they didn’t look too great at the beginning. Everyone wanted to have Xu Chuan write it. Though his grades were bad, his parents forced him into calligraphy as a kid, so his handwriting was nice.

But in the end, he still insisted on writing it himself. He had to, it was more meaningful that way. 

They ran into the others on the way to the location, five of them on three electric bikes. Huo Ran exchanged glances with them, confirming that there were no problems.

“Come on,” Xu Zhifan said. “Birthday boy.”

Kou Chen looked at the bags of food they had, expressing his satisfaction. “This much? From who? I thought they needed to be pickled.”

“Leilei and Chaoren…’s mom,” Xu Chuan said. “Guaranteed to be delicious.” 

“Where’s the cake!” Kou Chen said. “I want cake!”

“Write here!” Hu Yi rode over. There was a cake box at his feet. “Of course we have cake. Don’t worry, we promise you’ll have a great birthday today.”

Kou Chen laughed.

To avoid anything happening to the balloons, they decided to have Kou Chen blow out the candles first, then give him the gifts, and then reveal the surprise, before finally eating.

There were a few stone slabs there, and by the marks on them, they were probably from previous visitors. Perfect to use as tables.

They put the cake there and opened the box.

Hu Yi brought a tripod, and started recording with his phone. 

“Damn!” Kou Chen was a little surprised at the cake, bordered with roses. “This is so…”

“Gege loves you,” Huo Ran said.

“Gege loves you!” Everyone chimed in.

Kou Chen started laughing: “Fuck.” 

“Today is our little Chenchen’s eighteenth birthday.” Xu Chuan got out the candles. “We’ll each light one, so seven in total. I hope our friendship… our friendship…”

Xu Chuan glanced at Xu Zhifan: “What should I say?”

“I hope our friendship will be timeless,” Xu Zhifan said, “and knows no distance.”

“Will be timeless, knows no distance!” Jiang Lei repeated. “Zhifan, you should become a poet.” 

“Will be timeless, knows no distance!” Everyone raised up their candles and yelled.

The seven candles were lit, and stuck onto the cake.

“There’s a… is this a sparkler?” Huo Ran picked out something that looked like a small sparkler among all of the cutlery. It was a piece of wire with a heart at the top. 

“Probably?” Jiang Lei looked at it. “Try lighting it?”

“Where?” Huo Ran looked it over. The heart was a complete loop, with nowhere connector, and no fuse. “Birthday sparklers are so advanced these days? Are we getting old?”

“The little kid that lives in my building called me uncle yesterday,” Wei Chaoren said. “I was gonna give him a piece of my mind but I couldn’t catch up, maybe we are getting old…”

“I think you light it here?” Kou Chen pointed at the small point in the middle of the heart. 

“Okay, whatever the birthday boy says.” Huo Ran put the lighter at the little point.

Everyone could smell it burning, but there were no sparks.

“I don’t think so?” Huo Ran looked at it. “It’s basically burnt now.”

“Right there, keep lighting it.” Kou Chen was stubborn. 

“It might not be a sparkler?” Jiang Lei said. “Just decoration?”

“Burn it,” Kou Chen said. “It’s so ugly!”

“Okay,” Huo Ran nodded, keeping the lighter at the point.

Two seconds later, little sparks suddenly erupted from where the lighter’s flame rested, and it quickly spread throughout the heart. 

“Shit!” Huo Ran yelled.

“Hurry,” Xu Chuan said. “Put it on the cake, we’re gonna sing!”

“Hurry, hurry,” Everyone urged.

Huo Ran scrambled to stick the sparkler in the middle of the cake. Before he even steadied it, Wei Chaoren started singing: “Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you!” 

The others followed him: “Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to you!”

They rushed through the song, trying to finish before the sparkler went out.

Everyone all started clapping and cheering like they just accomplished something big. Jiang Lei even whistled.

“Happy birthday, Kou Chen!” 

“Thank you!” Kou Chen couldn’t stop smiling, but he didn’t forget to stick his hands our. “Come on, presents.”

They all dug the presents out of their bags.

Xu Chuan gave him a glow-in-the-dark retractable leash.

“Who’s birthday is it?” Kou Chen said. “You’re giving Shuaishuai a present on my birthday?” 

“Hurry up, next!” Xu Chuan laughed.

Xu Zhifan gave him a fountain pen, Wei Chaoren gave him a pair of custom-made knee pads, Jiang Lei gave him a reading lamp, and Hu Yi gave him a voice-recording pen.

“Leilei, Zhifan, and Carrot,” Kou Chen looked at them. “You three really care a lot about my studies, huh?”

“It’s what we should do,” Hu Yi said. “Your dad’s too strong after all.” 

They all laughed at that, and then Kou Chen turned to Huo Ran. “Where’s yours?”

“His will come after the surprise,” Xu Zhifan said.

“A surprise?” Kou Chen paused. “There’s a surprise? I thought the sparkler was the surprise.”

“Go!” Wei Chaoren yelled. 

Everyone leapt up and ran a few metres over to the prepared holes, standing in a line.

Kou Chen was a little confused, but he still couldn’t suppress the happiness he felt.

“What are you doing?” He asked with a smile. “What’s the surprise?”

Like they practiced, the six of them crouched down, each grabbing the string they were responsible for. 

“Kou Chen, happy birthday,” Xu Chuan said. “This is a surprise from Huo Ran, to you.”

“Really?” Kou Chen immediately looked at Huo Ran.

Huo Ran only gave him a smile.

“Happy birthday!” Xu Chuan pulled the string. 

The wooden board flipped open, allowing a red balloon to pop out. There were four “I”s written all around it.

“I, I, I, I.” Kou Chen read it all out, looking at it in surprise.

He knew that letter, it was Huo Ran’s handwriting. It wasn’t written very neatly, but it was carefree. In other words, it wouldn’t have fit into a proper guide.

“Happy birthday!” Wei Chaoren pulled his string. 

Another balloon popped out.

“Have, have, have, have,” Kou Chen stuttered.

“Happy birthday!” Xu Zhifan yelled.

“A, a, a, a.” Kou Chen’s voice got higher. 

Then Jiang Lei: “Happy birthday!”

“Little, little, little, little,” Kou Chen stood up, in case he lays an egg in his shock.

“Happy birthday!” Hu Yi yelled.

“Se-, se-, se-, se-.” Kou Chen realized that his eyes were getting blurry and hot. 

Huo Ran was the only one that didn’t yell. He pulled the string, and said with a smile: “Happy birthday, Chenchen.”

“-Cret, -cret, -cret, -cret…” At that moment, Kou Chen decided to let go of his image, and he wiped his tears as he walked over. His voice was choked: “Fuck, what are you guys doing…”

They all laughed.

He walked to Huo Ran, tearing up. He wiped them away harshly. “What secret?” 

“I already told you,” Huo Ran said. “You even put it in your box.”

“Fuck,” Kou Chen said.

His tears started falling freely now. He was crying harder than when his dad chased threatened to turn him into a sausage as a kid.

“I’ll keep it safe.” Kou Chen sniffed. 

As he was about to say something, the “-cret” balloon between him and Huo Ran suddenly burst.

Pop!

Kou Chen startled so hard he didn’t even jump away. He stared in shock at Huo Ran’s face which suddenly appeared in front of them.

The others froze. 

“Huh?” Huo Ran was also shocked. He stood there for a few seconds before taking a big step back. “Fuck?”

“Was that also part of the surprise?” Kou Chen’s tears had retreated in his shock.

“…Memorable, right?” Huo Ran asked carefully.

“Yeah,” Kou Chen said. 

“Oh,” Huo Ran walked over, cupping his face in his hands. He said seriously, “Then it was a surprise from God.”

Chapter end