Qing Kuang
/ Qing Kuang Chapter 117
Published at 10th of May 2023 01:21:41 PM
Hugging in a bathroom wasn’t the greatest feeling in the world, even though the two of them were still pretty into it. But before anyone could come in, Kou Chen let go.
“This really isn’t a very romantic place,” He sighed.
“But it is very full of life,” Huo Ran said.
Kou Chen laughed and went to the sink to look in the mirror. He fixed his hair a little: “Let’s go back to class, I wanna know how you did on your exams.”
AD
“I think I did well,” Huo Ran said.
“Will you get a reward?” Kou Chen asked.
“Nope,” Huo Ran laughed. “It’s not like anyone cares if I do bad.”
“I’m really jealous of your family’s ‘as long as your happy’ attitude,” Kou Chen clicked his tongue.
“Not really,” Huo Ran thought about it. “Actually, sometimes I wish they would yell at me more.”
“It’s like you’re asking for a beating,” Kou Chen said. “You don’t get it.”
“It’s like you’re a good student now,” Huo Ran said.
“I am one,” Kou Chen said.
“That’s a good attitude to have.” Huo Ran nodded.
AD
The Seven of them really did improve a lot, receiving praise from all of their teachers. Apart from Wei Chaoren failing math, the rest of them passed everything.
Kou Chen expected this. His grades were the worst out of everyone and even he passed, so the others shouldn’t have a problem.
At all the praise, Kou Chen felt as happy as he did when receiving the letter of commendation from the police.
When the papers were handed out, he went straight for the English one. He wanted to see where his dad got him two more points.
“I think it’s here,” Huo Ran leaned over to look. “This was circled and then checked.
“Mhm,” Kou Chen nodded. “I wrote an s at first, and then it felt off so I changed it.”
“You better erase it first next time, you’d have failed if your dad didn’t go check it,” Huo Ran said.
“That’s because I didn’t have the experience,” Kou Chen said. “Why would I bother correcting stuff in the past? Just writing anything down was good enough.”
With how happy everyone was as they walked out of the dorms after packing up to leave, you’d think they were just accepted to Peking University.
“Are you two gonna go somewhere?” Jiang Lei asked Huo Ran.
“Yup,” Huo Ran nodded.
“How long?” Jiang Lei asked.
“Two days, I guess. It’s hot and riding is pretty tiring,” Huo Ran said.
“Then we’ll hang out when you get back,” Jiang Lei said. “Carrot wants to go to the sea.”
“Okay,” Huo Ran looked at his THXD bracelet. They can officially begin Operation: Lick the Sea. He smiled, “Wanna document the taste of seawater?”
“With videos,” Wei Chaoren said. “Zhifan will edit them.”
“What?” Xu Zhifan looked at him.
“He can learn if he doesn’t know how,” Xu Chuan said. “We’ll leave it all to him from now on.”
“Act more like someone like me shouldn’t be hanging around you guys in the first place, will you?” Xu Zhifan laughed. “Old Yuan said I dropped five places in rank this time.”
“Damn,” Jiang Lei paused. “Really?”
“Really.” Xu Zhifan nodded somberly.
“That’s terrible,” Xu Chuan grabbed his right hand. “Zhifan.”
“Terrible!” Jiang Lei grabbed his left hand.
And then they all went over and grabbed his hands, wrists, and arms to shake them solemnly.
“But we won’t go easy on you,” Huo Ran said.
“We’ll break your legs if you run!” Kou Chen stared at him coolly.
The front of the school was packed with cars and parents coming to pick their kids up. The Seven of them usually went home by themselves, but they had lots of stuff, and they already told their parents about their test results, so everyone came.
They all greeted each other’s parents with hello uncle and hello auntie’s, smiling until their faces were nearly numb.
Ujca qjca.
“Shuai…” Huo Ran didn’t even finish his greeting before Shuaishuai licked his face and jumped back. “Hey! Control your dumb dog!”
“Hug Gege!” Kou Chen opened his arms and Shuaishuai leapt into them.
He hugged Shuaishuai and rubbed him fiercely.
Huo Ran sighed, wiping his face as he stared at the dog fur flying around everywhere, as well as the stares from the girls nearby.
“Get in,” Huo Ran hissed, “Or else we’re not gonna be able to leave!”
“Huh?” Kou Chen turned around to face him.
“You’re gonna rub him bald!” Huo Ran nudged him. “You…”
“Kou Chen! Is this the dog you always post about!” Tang Wei ran over. “Shuaishuai, right?”
“Yup,” Kou Chen nodded.
“Oh my god—” Wu Xiaochen ran over with her arms open. “A big head— He’s so cute—”
Kou Chen finally realized what Huo Ran meant just now.
Shuaishuai was quickly buried under all the students waiting to be picked up. It wasn’t even two seconds before he realized the leash wasn’t in his hands anymore. Shuaishuai was being led off to the fence by a group of girls.
“His name is Shuaishuai!”
“He’s so cute, and so well-behaved!”
“His fur is so thick, Shuaishuai, are you not hot?”
“His tongue is out, is it because of the heat or is he smiling?”
The group of girls who were usually so fierce towards the boys were now all cooing over Shuaishuai.
Kou Chen’s dad rolled the window down and said: “I’ll go find somewhere to park, come find me when you get the dog back.”
“Ah,” Kou Chen nodded, then turned back to the people surrounding Shauishuai. “Fuck, how do we get him back?”
“Unexpected, right?” Huo Ran said. “The great Kou Chen isn’t as attractive as a dog.”
“Cats and dogs are better than guys in most girls’ eyes,” Kou Chen glanced at him. “As long as I’m attractive to you, I don’t care about anyone else.”
Huo Ran smiled.
“Kou Chen,” Li Yiyi turned around and asked with a smile, “Does Shuaishuai listen to you?”
“Yup,” Kou Chen said.
“Then after we’ve pet him so well, is he gonna go back to you if you call him?” Li Yiyi asked.
“He will,” Kou Chen smirked.
“Try it,” Tang Wei said eagerly.
“Don’t grab his collar,” Kou Chen reminded him. “It’ll hurt your hand otherwise.”
“Okay,” Tang Wei let go.
Kou Chen whistled.
Shuaishuai’s ears immediately perked up, and before anyone could react, he was bounding over to Kou Chen. He stood up and laid his paws on Kou Chen’s arms, barking like he was asking for praise.
“Wow—!” The girls exclaimed before grabbing their phones.
“Go, go, go,” Huo Ran poked Kou Chen in the waist. “Or else they’ll gonna steal him again!”
“Shaui, go, go find dad.” Kou Chen took the leash and ran ahead with Shuaishuai.
Huo Ran followed right behind them.
Shuaishuai was pretty smart. Just fifty metres later he found Kou Chen’s dad’s car and barked at it.
“You two go first,” Huo Ran said. “I don’t want him to lick me again.”
“He misses you so he’s happy,” Kou Chen opened the car door and pushed Shuaishuai in before leaning in and whispering, “If I don’t see you for a few days, I’ll want to lick you too.”
“Get in!” Huo Ran yelled at him.
Kou Chen laughed loudly, his earlier jealousy in front of the girls all gone.
“You’re very happy,” Kou Chen’s dad started the car. “How did you do on your exams, Huo Ran?”
“I did alright,” Huo Ran smiled.
“A lot better than me,” Kou Chen said. “But he always did better than me.”
“Then your parents must be very happy you’ve improved so much,” Kou Chen’s dad told Huo Ran.
“Maybe not,” Kou Chen said. “I thought every family was like ours, getting beat for bad grades, but if they’re good you’ll literally ascend to heaven.”
“If you don’t want to go up there I’ll drag it down, how about that?” Kou Chen’s dad looked at him through the rearview mirror.
“No thanks, I’ll be there for a while,” Kou Chen tsked.
“Huo Ran,” Kou Chen’s dad said. “Your parents will be happy for sure. Just because they didn’t say anything in the past doesn’t mean they don’t care, it’s just different. They’ll be very happy that you’ve improved.”
“Yeah,” Huo Ran nodded.
“Are you two going biking?” Kou Chen’s dad asked. “Do you have space for some more people?”
“Dad?” Kou Chen stared at the back of his dad in alarm.
“No space,” Huo Ran answered.
Kou Chen patted his leg as thanks.
“…How many of you guys are going?” His dad asked.
“Just us two,” Huo Ran said.
“Me and a couple of friends also want to go,” His dad didn’t give up, “We…”
“Uncle,” Huo Ran said. “Normally, us kids wouldn’t want to go with a group of old guys if we had a choice.”
“What do you mean old guys? Who’s old?!” Kou Chen’s dad yelled. “Good thing you’re not my son, Huo Ran, if you were, I’d be chopping both you and Kou Chen into sausages!”
Kou Chen leaned onto Shuaishuai with his legs on Huo Ran’s lap, laughing wildly.
At home, Huo Ran’s mom was already cooking in the kitchen.
“Son, you’re back?” His dad poked his head into the kitchen and said, “We’re almost done yet, right?”
“There’s two more dishes.” His mom called, “Raran—”
“Yes—” Huo Ran put his stuff down and went into the kitchen to hug his mom.
“Go shower first,” His mom said, “Then it’ll be time for dinner.”
Huo Ran nodded.
As usual, his parents didn’t even ask about his grades. They wouldn’t even talk about it during parent-teacher conferences.
He opened the fridge and grabbed a cold bottle of water to drink: “I did pretty good on finals this time.”
“Did you?” His dad appeared at the kitchen door.
“Better than last semester?” His mom asked.
“A lot better,” Huo Ran smiled. “I didn’t just pass.”
“Really?” His mom turned around, unable to hide the surprise on her face.
“Can I… take a look?” His dad asked.
Except for when he needed them to sign them, his parents never asked to see his tests.
“Hold on,” Huo Ran went back to the living room.
He didn’t know why, but he suddenly felt a tiny bit of pride. He wanted to show off.
His dad followed him and sat down on the couch, even moving the mugs on the coffee table aside.
Huo Ran took the stack of tests out of his bag and handed it to him, and he spread them out on the table. “Do you have anything neat in your bag?”
“Probably not,” Huo Ran laughed. “I just shove them in there.”
His dad looked through each test without saying anything, and then he turned to Huo Ran: “You’ve been working hard lately, it surprised your mom and me. You usually leave your homework to the very last day, and now you do them right away and even study…”
Huo Ran smiled.
“You really… have improved,” His dad looked them over again. Then he patted him on the shoulder and grabbed it. “Where did all this motivation come from?”
“I guess I just went along with everyone else,” Huo Ran scratched his head, a little embarrassed. “Kou Chen was being forced by his dad, they had a bet that if he didn’t pass all of his exams, he’d have to go abroad. So he dragged all of us along too, so we all improved a lot. Chaoren failed math but passed everything else. Oh wait, Zhifan ended up dropping five places, how tragic… We have to treat him to a meal and thank him properly.”
His dad started laughing, and then he sighed: “Actually, we don’t care about your grades. Of course, it’s great what you’ve been doing lately.”
Huo Ran stayed silent for a moment before looking at his dad: “I’m actually pretty jealous of Kou Chen.”
“How come?” His dad asked seriously.
“Just… His dad always yells at him, hit him as a kid too,” Huo Ran said.
“…You want me to hit you?” His dad was a little lost.
“No, no, no, that’s not it,” Huo Ran laughed. “I want you to have expectations of me.”
His dad looked at him.
Huo Ran didn’t know if his dad understood him or not.
A moment later his dad took a sip of tea: “I know what you mean.”
“Yell at me when you have to, hit me if you have to,” Huo Ran said. “Don’t feel bad, that’s your problem. But-!”
He quickly clarified: “Not too much like Uncle Kou.”
His dad laughed and patted him on the back: “I know, I know.”
“His grades really went up?” His mom came out of the kitchen with a pot of soup.
“Take a look,” His dad handed the papers over. “His friends all improved this time.”
His mom didn’t go through him as thoroughly as his dad, she smiled as she read.
Huo Ran leaned on the couch and watched them.
He was pretty proud.
After dinner, Kou Chen called him to ask what time they were leaving tomorrow.
“I thought we were going the day after? Aren’t you gonna celebrate you not having to go abroad with your dad, your mom, your sister, and your future brother-in-law?” Huo Ran said.
“We’ll celebrate when I get back,” Kou Chen said. “I’m cooking lemon duck, my dad’s inviting all of you guys over.”
“…Will it be edible?” Huo Ran asked.
“Don’t change the topic!” Kou Chen was very vigilant right now. “Tomorrow, we’re going out! My dad just took my bike to the shop for maintenance this morning, he just brought it back.”
“Ah…” Huo Ran stretched. “Okay then, tomorrow it is. Just pack your own stuff. Don’t bring anything else except a fanny pack and the pouch I gave you. If it doesn’t fit then don’t bring it, I’m not gonna carry anything for you if it’s too heavy.”
“Don’t worry!” Kou Chen said. “Are we taking the two-person tent?”
“No, they won’t fit,” Huo Ran said. “We’re each bringing our own tents.”
“We have to sleep separately?” Kou Chen said. “Did Shuaishuai lick your brain flat?”
“We can’t bring it! It won’t fit!” Huo Ran hissed.
“Fine then,” Kou Chen didn’t insist. “I got it, single tents it is.”
The next day, Huo Ran realized why Kou Chen was so agreeable.
“You fucker.” Huo Ran checked over his stuff. “You didn’t bring a tent?”
“Didn’t you bring it?” Kou Chen raised an eyebrow.
“I brought my own!” Huo Ran glared. “Where’s yours?!”
“Shuaishuai ripped it,” Kou Chen said. “You know, Alaskans. Having one makes it hard to keep your stuff intact…”
“Fuck off,” Huo Ran said. “You’re actually blaming it on your dog?”
“In any case, I don’t have a tent.” Kou Chen smirked.
“I do,” Huo Ran said.
“No, you don’t.” KOu Chen grabbed his arm.
Huo Ran froze there with him for a moment, then he grit his teeth and got onto his bike. “Fine, I’ll show you what it’s like to squeeze two people in a single tent. You’re going out to be mosquito food if we don’t fit!”
“I need to see what mosquito dares bite me!” Kou Chen patted his bike handle.
Chapter end
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