Qing Kuang Chapter 112

Published at 10th of May 2023 01:21:41 PM

The door to a new world can only be opened once, and it can never be shut again.

But the fact that the door opened to someone like Kou Chen made Huo Ran feel like he gave up the chance to save the world in his past life. He either just ran away, or maybe he was the one that doomed everything in the first place. 

In any case, he could only bear with the uncomfortableness in a certain body part and proceed in his reclamation. But someone like Kou Chen who screamed his head off from a dislocated pinky and a couple of stitches made him feel like he was committing armed robbery.

Really violently too, at that.

“I mean,” Huo Ran pushed down on his shoulders. “Should I ask the front desk to bring me some scotch tape?”

“I dunno,” Kou Chen tried to crawl up the bed to escape. “Why don’t you ask for a bat to knock me out with?” 

“Where are you going?” Huo Ran dragged him back by the ankle.

“Listen, you should be more considerate of me, if you’re this rough it’s gonna make me even more scared,” Kou Chen turned around to glare at him. “And you better remember that I’m only letting you do this because I’m trying my best not to hit you.”

“Thanks,” Huo Ran smacked him on the ass. “I’m very touched, even the grim reaper is crying for you.”

“Show him some respect.” Kou Chen reached back to touch it. “Poor grim reaper…”

Huo Ran walked into the bathroom.

Kou Chen paused, and then got up on his arms: “Ranran?”

“Hm?” Huo Ran replied.

“I was just saying that,” Kou Chen. “Are you mad?” 

“I’m not,” Huo Ran came back with a hand towel and covered the grim reaper. “Here.”

“No, wait,” Kou Chen pulled it away. “That wasn’t what I meant, don’t associate it with this… This is gonna happen again at least once or twice…”

Huo Ran looked at him. A moment later he put the towel back over the grim reaper and straddled him. “Let me correct two things for you.”

“Go,” Kou Chen said. 

“One, this is going to happen at least five times a week if I have anything to say about it,” Huo Ran said. “Two… I’m not covering it because of that, it’s because…”

“Because of what?” Kou Chen asked curiously.

“Halfway through,” Huo Ran said. “Woosh! I can pull the towel away.”

Kou Chen looked confused: “…And then?” 

“I’ll show the grim reaper how good I am.” Huo Ran said seriously.

“Fuck…” Kou Chen froze, and then he burst out laughing. “Fuck you, I’m not even in the mood anymore because of that.”

Huo Ran leaned over him and traced his fingers over his waist. “It’s fine, you’ll be in the mood soon.”

It was a very painful thing to be woken up in the morning by a bunch of notifications.

But when Huo Ran saw the messages, he was still very thankful.

Half an hour earlier, the rest of the sour lemon guys started taking turns messaging them. 

-wake up, you two better not be late

-we’re raising the flag today, are you up yet? get back to school!

-don’t be late!

-ding! your lemonade is here, please drink it and immediately return to school to comfort your friends 

-study group! study group! please reply if you see this message. the morning study session has already begun, do not be late. study hard and improve yourselves

Huo Ran glanced at Kou Chen beside him. He was really dead to the world like this, not even such moving messages could wake him up.

“Wake up, we’re gonna be late,” Huo Ran said quietly, gently brushing his eyelashes with a finger.

He could almost hear Kou Chen’s eyelashes glide across his finger. 

And then he pinched them and tugged.

“I’m done,” Huo Ran stood by the bed. “Now I’m going to wake…”

Before he could finish, Kou Chen suddenly jerked up, bouncing once on the bed before leaping to the ground.

“Fuck,” Huo Ran startled. “What’s wrong with you?!”

“Did I scare you?” Kou Chen snorted. 

“Yeah,” Huo Ran nodded.

“That’s right,” Kou Chen ambled over to the bathroom, yawning. “How could I give you the chance to scare me awake?”

“…How childish are you?” Huo Ran asked.

“I just turned eighteen yesterday,” Kou Chen said. “Isn’t that normal? How mature are you? It’s not like you showed it last night, first you wanted to play your fancy tricks, can you even control it…” 

“Damn?” Huo Ran was shocked. “Shut up!”

Kou Chen did listen to that. He shut his mouth and went into the bathroom.

But what happened last night wasn’t really anything fancy. The idea just popped into his head, and in the moment he wanted to do it on Kou Chen’s face.

But he couldn’t show off as the basketball team captain, his aim was off. 

But mainly it was because Kou Chen suddenly kneed him, and he fell over with it in hand…

It was pretty embarrassing, but thinking about it still made Huo Ran want to laugh.

He leaned in the doorway and watched Kou Chen brush his teeth as he chuckled. 

Kou Chen looked at him with a mouthful of foam: “Huh?”

Hehehehehehahahahaha.

Huo Ran’s arms trembled as he laughed.

Kou Chen reached out to touch his forehead, then he spat out the toothpaste in his mouth to curse: “You’re insane.” 

“Isn’t it funny?” Huo Ran asked.

“What is?” Kou Chen replied as he washed his face.

“Just, last night.” Huo Ran said.

Kou Chen didn’t say anything. After he washed his face, he leaned over the sink and started laughing. He turned to him: “Should’ve recorded it.” 

“You can put it in your box,” Huo Ran laughed. A little bit later, he asked softly, “Are you… feeling okay?”

“I’m okay,” Kou Chen said. “It kinda hurt, but it’s fine now.”

“Oh,” Huo Ran suddenly felt a little embarrassed.

“I’ll put it in my box,” Kou Chen said. “And mark it with a note saying, Huo Ran has room to improve…” 

“Fuck off!” Huo Ran yelled.

Because of their sour lemon group’s messages, they weren’t late to school after skipping breakfast and getting a cab to rush back. They were even earlier than a lot of the others. 

“You two,” Xu Zhifan came over with a piece of paper and put it on their desk. “Were absent for our morning study session.”

“…Morning self-study hasn’t even started yet!” Kou Chen said. “What do you mean absent?”

“Our seven-person study session.” Xu Zhifan pointed at the words on the paper. “Read it carefully, we start today.”

THXD’s for the country’s future to study hard and not go abroad and all make it into university’s private study group’s attendance sheet 

“Who the fuck came up with that?” Huo Ran read it three times and still couldn’t read it out loud.

“The one who can go three hundred words over the essay word limit, Chuan-ge.” Xu Zhifan said.

“Is the grammar all correct?” Kou Chen asked.

“Dunno,” Xu Zhifan said very seriously. “Forget reading it out loud, I can barely even look at it.” 

The three of them stared at each other for a few seconds, and then burst out laughing.

“The X’s after our names mean we were absent today?” Huo Ran pointed out.

“Yup,” Xu Zhifan nodded. “Everyone else gets a checkmark.”

“You guys are just targeting us, aren’t you?” Kou Chen said. 

“Yup,” Xu Zhifan nodded. “We didn’t make it to target you two, but from now on it will be.”

“Good for you guys,” Huo Ran said. “Can I ask how long today’s session was?”

“Five minutes,” Xu Zhifan said. “It’s like gift giving. The actual gift isn’t important, it’s the thought that counts. We were very serious about it…”

Hearing that, Xu Chuan, Jiang Lei, and the others started laughing. 

“Fuck, how much can you study in five minutes?” Kou Chen said. “And we count as absent?”

“That’s right, nothing we can do about it.” Xu Zhifan patted him on the shoulder. “Finals are soon, whether you’ll have to pack your bags and leave home or if your dad will get top 100 in our grade, it’ll all be decided soon…”

“Hold on,” Kou Chen pointed at him. “What’s the fucking difference between the two options?”

“There’s improvement! Keep at it!” Xu Zhifan laughed and gave him a thumbs up before leaving with the attendance sheet. 

There really wasn’t much time left before finals.

To be honest, Kou Chen was pretty nervous. This was his first time feeling anxious before an exam, and it was his first time feeling anxious because of such a big reason.

Of course, it was also because university entrance exams were soon. 

The school even lowered the volume of the announcements that played between classes, and there were energy-replenishing stations set up in the cafeteria, free for the third years.

In such an atmosphere, a simple final exam also felt like a big deal, increasing the pressure.

The university entrance exams would be held at their school, and in the past, they would all be ecstatic about it because it meant they could go home, sleep, play, and hang out. Just have fun.

But this time was different. 

Kou Chen called everyone over to his place, and he took over his dad’s big study.

Huo Ran didn’t express any annoyance at Kou Chen single-handedly ruining such a perfect day, seeing as everyone agreed to work hard, so he had to prove his worth to their little study group.

But today, their little study group seemed to have grown in number.

The owner of the study, Kou Chen’s dad, was sitting behind the desk, and beside him was Kou Xiao, looking unhappy and exasperated. There was also Old Yang, for off-site technical support, and Kou Chen’s mom, for logistics. 

“So here’s the plan for today. Although us and him,” Kou Chen pointed at his dad, “Are competing against each other, exams are soon, so we’ll form a temporary alliance and help each other out this time.”

“No, no, no,” Jiang Lei said. “Only you and Uncle Kou are competing, not us.”

“Okay then,” Kou Chen glanced at him, and then he wrote something in his notebook. “Jiang… Lei…”

“What?” Jiang Lei looked at him. 

“This is my book of people who wronged me,” Kou Chen said.

“It should be pretty full?” Wei Chaoren asked.

“Leilei’s the only one in it right now, Kou Chen said.

“Fuck!” Jiang Lei cried with a laugh. 

“Let me introduce you guys. This beautiful lady with a terrible temper you better know exactly what you’re going to say before asking her or else you’re gonna get yelled at is my sister, Kou Xiao.” Kou Chen said. “Our teacher for today.”

“Let’s get started,” Kou Xiao waved her hand. “Finish your current homework first, and then we can go over your practice questions for each class.”

“Okay,” Everyone replied in unison. 

Huo Ran has never studied like this before, with his friend’s dad and sister being here.

But as a bad student, Kou Chen understood what they needed.

If they weren’t all gathered here together, you wouldn’t be able to get a bad student to sit and do homework for more than twenty minutes, especially if they run into a problem they didn’t know how to solve.

At least for Huo Ran, running into a challenging problem meant that his current study session was over, no matter how long it had lasted. 

But like this, he actually felt that it was very productive.

And there were three people to explain the questions to him.

Of course, there were only two of those people to Kou Chen. Even if his dad got accepted to Peking University right this second, he wouldn’t count. And Kou Chen stubbornly refused to ask him a thing.

Huo Ran on the other hand, curiously asked him to explain a math problem, and he actually did it pretty well, apart from when he got a little stuck and had to ask Kou Xiao. 

“Where you in the Sciences at school?” Huo Ran asked.

“Yes,” Kou Chen’s dad nodded. “I kind of regretted picking it instead of Humanities, but thinking back now, I think Sciences is better.”

Everyone in the room laughed.

They returned to school after university entrance exams were over, and he suddenly felt a little lonely.

It’s not like there were any fewer people, it was actually a little chaotic. A bunch of third years were still hanging around the school, and it felt busier than before.

But he just felt lonely.

Huo Ran finally realized why he was feeling that when he bumped into Lin Wuyu on the way to the cafeteria. 

After summer break, Lin Wuyu would be leaving this school. The person who once brought surprise and shock, who once received all sorts of stares but still remained true to himself, he might never see him again.

In the same boat, all of the third years at school, the ones he knew, the ones he didn’t, and the ones who played on the school basketball team, he wouldn’t see them again either.

It was a bit of a sad feeling.

“How did you do?” Kou Chen asked Lin Wuyu. 

“You’re gonna get yelled at if you ask someone that so soon after,” Lin Wuyu laughed. “What if they did bad? How would they respond?”

“You did bad?” Kou Chen started.

“Of course not,” Lin Wuyu replied casually. “That’s why I didn’t yell at you.”

“Congratulations,” Huo Ran said. 

“Thank you,” Lin Wuyu said. “You guys are gonna have to work hard this summer.”

“You didn’t look like you worked that hard,” Kou Chen said.

“That’s because it’s me,” Lin Wuyu said. “Going to the cafeteria? I’ll treat you two.”

“Why?” Huo Ran asked. 

“Maybe don’t ask that?” Lin Wuyu looked at them with a smile.

Huo Ran suddenly felt a little embarrassed, but also warm like he just received a kind gesture. He couldn’t explain it.

He glanced at Kou Chen.

Kou Chen looked to be a little numb to it all right now. As they headed for the cafeteria, he furrowed his brows and asked: “You haven’t been beaten up before for being so arrogant?” 

“Arrogant how?” Lin Wuyu asked.

“…Nevermind,” Kou Chen sighed. “It’s probably too late for me even if I work hard.”

“It’s not.” Lin Wuyu replied firmly.

That statement, without even a reason why, made Kou Chen feel pretty motivated for some reason. 

He really has changed.

He might be turning into a straight-a student.

Chapter end