Qing Kuang
/ Qing Kuang Chapter 115
Published at 10th of May 2023 01:21:41 PM
Even Huo Ran felt a little embarrassed for Kou Chen as he talked about possibly only just passing his exams in such a cocky way to his dad, an ex-straight-a student.
But Kou Chen was obviously in a good mood because his exams went pretty well these days.
Kou Chen’s dad didn’t fight him on it, he only asked: “Are you coming home today? I’ll take you back.”
“It’s fine,” Kou Chen said. “I’ll go home tomorrow, we’re celebrating tonight.”
“Okay,” His dad nodded. “I’ll be going then.”
After Kou Chen’s dad disappeared around the corner, Xu Chuan came up and smacked Kou Chen on the shoulder. “In front of your dad? Seriously? And ‘nothing much’, just you passing?”
“Yup,” Kou Chen raised an eyebrow. “Problem?”
“What if he beats you by a hundred points?” Xu Zhifan laughed.
“We’ll see then,” Kou Chen went up the stairs. “I can’t lose when we’re face to face like that.”
Old Yuan was in his office tidying up, about to head to the classroom.
Seeing them enter, he smiled and asked: “You guys are in such a hurry to announce the good news? I was just about to go to class.”
“Ask us,” Jiang Lei exclaimed.
“How did you do?” Old Yuan raised his voice.
“Good!”
“Pretty well!”
“I can pass!”
“A lot better than last time!”
Everyone immediately shouted out their replies.
“What about Zhifan?” Old Yuan turned to Xu Zhifan.
“It was pretty hard,” Xu Zhifan said. “Why was math so hard…”
“Was it?” Hu Yi asked.
Xu Zhifan looked at him: “I don’t know if I should say what I’m thinking right now.”
“Go ahead,” Old Yuan said.
“Most of the time, slackers can’t tell if a question is hard or not, they’ll just fumble through it anyways,” Xu Chuan butted in. “Right? All the good students are frowning as they leave the room, but the slackers are smiling.”
“Chuan-ge understands,” Xu Zhifan grinned at Xu Chuan.
“It’s only because we’re so close now,” Wei Chaoren said. “That we won’t kick Xu Zhifan out of our boy band because he’s acting like that.”
“You guys won’t be able to debut without me,” Xu Zhifan said.
“Old Yuan, summer break is soon, right?” Huo Ran still remembered what they came here for. “Are you busy tonight?”
“What?” Old Yuan said. “Treating me to dinner?”
“Yup,” They all nodded.
“I’m not,” Old Yuan smiled. “Where are we going?”
“…Why aren’t you trying to refuse first?” Jiang Lei said. “I thought you were going to say that there’s no need, that we’re students, we don’t make any money, don’t waste it, and all that.”
“What if I refuse and you guys actually accept it?” Old Yuan said. “Nobody’s at home today, and I didn’t know where to go eat anyways.”
Everyone laughed at that. Kou Chen looked at his phone: “Then I’ll get a reservation, we can go to the hotel Kou Xiao works at, I still have her card.”
“You just never gave it back after last year, right?” Huo Ran asked.
“It’s not like she uses it,” Kou Chen laughed.
Whenever there’s a break following an exam, the classroom always radiates happiness and excitement, like they never needed to come back to school again.
When Old Yuan walked in, most people didn’t even move. They just half-reclined on their chairs freely, chatting up a storm to compete with the atmosphere of a farmers market.
“Ah—” The whole class started shouting, and you couldn’t even hear what anyone was trying to say.
“Ah, you guys are making my brain hurt, quiet down a little,” Old Yuan sighed. “Or else Mr. Liang is going to come up and say we’re disturbing her class.”
“Humanities 2 next door isn’t even complaining,” Kou Chen grumbled.
“Maybe because we’re too close to each other, and they wouldn’t dare complain,” Old Yuan said. “Alright, I’m announcing some important dates and assemblies now.”
Old Yuan wrote a few dates down on the blackboard: “Summer break this year is a bit shorter because we are third year students from now on. No matter what you feel about university entrance exams a year from now, you have to defeat it first.”
“Ah—” Everyone started shouting again.
“It might be too early to say this, but I think it’s fine, it’ll give you more time to think about it,” Old Yuan said. “You have to work hard. Some things have to be faced head-on, or in other words, it’s the best choice right now, so don’t think about anything else. If you can’t avoid it, fight it. It’s better to suffer a little and win, as opposed to suffering and losing.
The murmurs in the class slowly died down.
“Understood?” Old Yuan asked. “Why aren’t you guys loud when I need you to be? Are you that afraid?”
“Understood!” Everyone shouted.
And then they cheered.
Old Yuan motioned for them to be quiet: “That’s enough, that’s enough. I’m a little worried about the ceiling downstairs. We won’t be here in the old building next semester, so try not to wreck it again before we go.”
“We’re changing classrooms?” Kou Chen looked at Huo Ran.
“Isn’t that good?” Huo Ran put his head down on his desk. “The floors are slanted, and our ceiling probably would’ve collapsed too if there was a third floor.”
“It feels a little sad,” Kou Chen said.
“Me too,” Huo Ran said. “This is where I found my first love.”
Kou Chen didn’t say anything. He only copied him in putting his head down, and smiled at him.
“Old Yuan said the classrooms here are designed well, he doesn’t need to raise his voice when teaching.” Jiang Lei turned around and laid down on their desks.
“True.” Huo Ran was a little exasperated at the appearance of this third wheel, but seeing as everyone was in such a good mood right now, he let it slide.
“My dad said that last time he came too, he said that he could hear everything even from the back,” Kou Chen said. “I don’t think it was this nice in the new building last year.”
“Maybe it’s because you’re always stuck to Huo Ran now,” Jiang Lei said. “So it feels nicer.”
“Leilei,” Kou Chen looked at him. “You’ve been feeling a bit too comfortable lately, aren’t you?”
“Nope,” Jiang Lei turned back around. “Studying is too tiring, I feel terrible, ah… terrible…”
The end of exams was a very happy time. Even with all the homework they still had and the fact that summer break would be shorter than usual, he was still feeling great.
They were still young after all. They do look towards the future, but even if there was only one second of enjoyment in the present, they wouldn’t let go of it.
The Seven of them plus Old Yuan got two cabs and headed for the hotel Kou Xiao works at.
When they got out of the car, Huo Ran looked up and zoned out for a little bit staring at the hotel sign.
He hasn’t been back here since telling Kou Chen his little secret last time.
But standing there, he could still clearly remember what he was feeling when he jumped out of the car about ten metres away from here and rushed towards the main doors.
He remembered how he and Kou Chen stood at the window, how he felt when the sun lit up Kou Chen’s face as he spoke.
And of course, he remembered how he felt when he carefully yet recklessly laid out his secret beneath the sunlight.
“Come on,” Kou Chen put an arm around him and whispered, “Reminiscing about the past?”
“Not really,” Huo Ran smiled. “It wasn’t that long ago.”
“Thinking back on it, then.” Kou Chen said.
“Just a little emotional,” Huo Ran said. “You…”
“Hm?” Kou Chen turned to him.
“You wanted to run away from home after an argument even at your age,” Huo Ran said.
“Fuck off,” Kou Chen glared.
“But good thing you did run away from home,” Huo Ran said.
You shouldn’t get a private room at a buffet, it was too annoying to go get food, but they weren’t here to eat as much as they were here to thank Old Yuan, so it was easier to talk in a private room.
Besides… getting food wasn’t that much of a problem for someone like Wei Chaoren who could bring back seven plates of meat on a tray in one trip.
“Do you guys do this often?” Old Yuan asked.
“Yup,” Xu Zhifan poured Old Yuan a drink. “We like to eat.”
“Like barbeque, right?” Old Yuan said. “All the lunch ladies know you guys well, going every day.”
“You even know about that?” Kou Chen looked at Old Yuan.
“Of course,” Old Yuan took a sip of his drink. “Where you guys go, what you guys do, I know it all. Not just you guys, for the whole class too, pretty much.”
“Does that count as stalking?” Huo Ran laughed.
“You can say that. Stalking, investigating,” Old Yuan laughed. “I can’t help but worry that one of you will be feeling troubled and I wouldn’t know.”
“Your kid is still in elementary school, right? They must be upset,” Jiang Lei sighed. “All you worry about is other people’s kids.”
“That’s not true,” Old Yuan replied happily. “I’ll do anything for my daughter. I play with her whenever I have the time, and she always likes to hear stories about you guys.”
“About us?” Xu Chuan paused. “What bad stuff are you saying about us behind our backs? And to a little kid!”
Old Yuan laughed so hard that the drink in his glass started splashing out the sides: “It’s all good things! How these brave boys took care of bad guys in the name of justice!”
“Then what does she think about us?” Kou Chen really cared about this.
“She asked, ‘daddy, are you working at a police academy now’?” Old Yuan said.
They all burst into laughter.
After the first wave of food was all set, they picked up their glasses and stood up to look at Old Yuan.
“What are you guys doing? Should I stand as well?” Old Yuan quickly picked up his glass. “It feels like you guys are graduating…”
“Mr. Yuan.” Kou Chen spoke.
“Yes?” Old Yuan nodded, standing up with his glass in his hand.
Kou Chen didn’t say anything else.
Everyone looked at Kou Chen. Usually, they had Xu Zhifan start them off with speeches like this, but today Kou Chen spoke first, so they were all eager to listen to what he had to say.
Kou Chen cleared his throat, a little embarrassed. A few seconds later he finally said: “Thank you, you… can sit down now.”
“Fuck,” Huo Ran couldn’t hold back his laugh.
Old Yuan leaned onto the table as he laughed, and then he sat down. “Okay, I’m sitting now.”
“Zhifan?” Kou Chen turned to Xu Zhifan.
“Hm?” Xu Zhifan looked back at him.
“Say something!” Kou Chen glared at him. “To celebrate… No, to thank him, what are you standing there for?”
“I mean,” Xu Zhifan raised his glass. “I thought you were gonna speak?”
“What am I supposed to say?” Kou Chen kept glaring.
“Mr. Yuan,” Xu Zhifan turned around with a smile. He raised his glass to Old Yuan. “We wanted to treat you to dinner today to thank you. Thank you for showing us a different kind of teacher, and thank you for showing us another side of our parents. Thank you for not giving up on us… for not giving up on them…”
“What are you saying?” Xu Chuan said.
“Forget it, just bear it,” Hu Yi comforted him. “He’s always been top fifty in our grade.”
“In the eyes of most parents,” Jiang Lei filled in. “Him hanging out with us is dragging him down.”
“I’m willing,” Xu Zhifan laughed.
“Okay,” Xu Chuan was satisfied. “Continue.”
“Thank you for showing us how fun school could be this year,” Xu Zhifan said. “I always made fun of teachers before, and you were the one that made me shut up. Thank you, Mr. Yuan.”
Xu Zhifan tipped his head back and drank.
“Thank you Mr. Yuan!” Everyone cheered, drinking as well.
Old Yuan smiled at them: “Thank you guys too, for making my ideas a reality.”
Everyone sat down, and Jiang Lei poured another round of drinks for them all.
“Actually, you guys have to remember,” Old Yuan picked up a piece of meat and spoke as he cooked it. “The most important thing is to not give up on yourselves. As long as you do that, you’ll meet someone that won’t give up on you either. Maybe it’ll be a teacher, maybe it’ll be a friend.”
They nodded.
“You need to keep your energy up. This time it was started by Kou Chen and his dad,” Old Yuan said. “You guys better not revert back to your old selves next semester.”
“No way,” Jiang Lei said. “As long as I’m not alone, as long as I’m with you guys, I can keep going.”
Kou Chen looked at Huo Ran.
Huo Ran looked at him, mouthing: “What?”
“I can keep it up,” Kou Chen said.
“Me too,” Huo Ran’s lips curved up.
Kou Chen reached his pinky out under his table. Huo Ran looked down and did the same, hooking it around his.
He didn’t want to let go.
After dinner, they sent Old Yuan home, and then went for another round at a barbeque stall like a bunch of starving ghosts reincarnated. It was nearly midnight when they got back to their dorms.
But it was a school break, so there was no curfew and no lights-out. It was just quieter than usual.
Huo Ran couldn’t fall asleep, he had already begun to think about what path he should take Kou Chen biking on after exam results come out.
It had to be easy and interesting, not too far away, but also able to let him experience the joys of biking.
Ah.
Coming up with a route for noobs always stressed him out.
Kou Chen wanted to go a day or two after school lets out, but Huo Ran said no. Kou Chen said he’ll have to take him if he passes, so they had to wait for that. Even though he said that he’ll take him even if he fails.
So the next two days was time for The Seven of them to hang out.
The others were terrible. For the five single dogs to take revenge on them, Dog Jiang and Dog Wei even gave up their crushes to bother the two of them.
They didn’t let them go, not even at night. After the barbeque in Kou Chen’s backyard, they just stayed there. Not even in different rooms, they just all squeezed into Kou Chen’s room.
The bed, the couch, the floor, drinking beer, talking, and staying up late.
It brought Huo Ran back to Operation: Lick the Sea timea. It was actually pretty fun.
They had to go back to school the next morning, so they all woke up pretty early. Kou Chen’s house had a bunch of bathrooms, so they got ready faster than usual.
Kou Chen’s mom wasn’t awake yet, so Kou Chen’s dad was the only one there.
When they went downstairs, his dad was standing by the table on the phone.
“What? Which class?” His voice was full of disbelief. “Two points off? How is that possible?”
They all froze. It sounded like it was Old Yuan reporting his grades to Kou Chen’s dad.
“What’s two points off?” Kou Chen tensed up and turned to Huo Ran. “Is it him or me?”
“I don’t know,” Huo Ran whispered.
“That’s impossible!” Kou Chen’s dad suddenly yelled. “Impossible! I’ll be at the school today, I want to see his test! I have to go over every single question!”
“Fuck,” Kou Chen said. “It’s me.”
“Who marked it?” Kou Chen’s dad shouted again. “I have to see who dares take two points off from my son!”
Chapter end
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