Qing Kuang Chapter 88

Published at 10th of May 2023 01:03:02 PM

Right after those words came out of his mouth, Kou Chen knew that he made the situation worse.

But he really couldn’t help it. Kou Xiao told him to shut up and not say anything, but he really can’t do that. 

That also made his dad upset. His dad thinks he’s too reckless in a lot of things, that he’s too nonchalant and careless.

And now, he had to go and say that at a time like this.

AD

That’s none of your business.

His business, vs. none of his business. 

That was always the source of his arguments with his dad.

Actually, his dad and him didn’t usually have big conflicts. Sometimes they would argue a little, but they didn’t result in many consequences.

But anything big was probably because of that point.

His dad was a ‘one thing can’t be another’ type of person, and Kou Chen was a ‘you’re one thing so I have to be the opposite’ type of person.

The chair was made of mahogany.

His dad never liked it. He said the room wasn’t big enough to make mahogany look stylish, but his mom thought it felt down-to-earth and steady, so he agreed.

AD

When the chair was swung at him, Kou Chen was thinking about why his dad was so accommodating towards his mom… Why do men have to make things harder for other men? 

The chair was pretty heavy. Kou Chen could hear the thump as it hit him.

But because it was heavy, his dad couldn’t swing it like usual, so it didn’t hit him that hard. But he could see that there was a dent in the wood when the chair fell to the ground.

“What are you going?!” His mom yelled, “You just said there was no use in hitting him!”

“There isn’t! How could there be?” His dad looked at Kou Chen. “I’m not expecting it to be of any use either. It was just to warn this kid that his actions made me very angry!” 

“Are you hurt?” Kou Xiao checked him over.

“No.” Kou Chen’s voice was a little hoarse, and it felt like his throat was sewn shut.

“Enough for today,” His dad said. “I don’t have anything else to say to you. I don’t want to talk about what you want, it’s not like you ever want to do anything anyways. So I’m telling you, I will have your uncle start contacting schools. You either go, or get the fuck out!”

“I’m not what you think I am!” Kou Chen stepped forwards, “And I don’t want to…” 

“Get out!” His dad raised his voice.

Kou Chen stared at his dad in silence.

A couple of seconds later, he turned and went out the door.

“Where are you going?” Kou Xiao called. 

Get out.

There’s no way he was gonna go, and if he didn’t, he had to get out.

Huo Ran was dragging his package into the apartment from the elevator when his phone dinged. He didn’t rush to check it, grabbing a blade to open the package first.

“What did you buy?” His mom leaned over.

“A rear shock, bike chains, and stuff,” Huo Ran opened the box and peeked inside.

“Didn’t you just mount a rear shock on your bike?” His dad said. 

“For Kou Chen’s bike,” Huo Ran said. “Old Yang got him a Specialized, so I’m helping him with it. He wants to go biking with me.”

“Taking in disciples?” His dad laughed.

“He wants to do it, so I’ll bring him,” Huo Ran dragged the box into his room, thinking about how annoyed he was when Kou Chen asked to go last year. It wasn’t even that long ago…

The text was from Kou Chen. It was a photo of Shuaishuai with his tongue out, nothing else.

Huo Ran felt like he must’ve been yelled at with those grades of his, but it looked like he was in an okay mood, so he probably didn’t get beat.

-did your dad deal with you?

Kou Chen quickly sent back an emote. 

A shiba inu fiercely shaking its head.

-did you get kidnapped? blink if you did

-winking_husky.jpg

Huo Ran laughed, and then he sent a voice message: “Looks like you have nothing to do?” 

Kou Chen called him: “Yeah.”

“Did you eat yet?” Huo Ran asked.

“No, we don’t eat this early,” Kou Chen said. “You?”

“My mom’s cooking braised pork knuckles,” Huo Ran slurped exaggeratedly. “Ah, I love pork knuckles.” 

“Depends on what you mean by that,” Kou Chen laughed.

“Beat you, yell at you, what else? Did you check the group chat? Jiang Lei’s mom kicked him out.” Huo Ran said. 

“So violent?” Kou Chen asked.

“It’s normal, I guess. Everyone gets yelled at a little,” Huo Ran said.

“What about you?” Kou Chen asked.

“Nah,” Huo Ran glanced into the living room. “My parents don’t really care about my grades, and there’s probably past history at play here.” 

“Jealous,” Kou Chen said.

“What’s there to be jealous of?” Huo Ran sighed. “Sometimes I wish that my dad could beat me a little.”

“Come to my place, my dad will fulfill your wishes,” Kou Chen said.

“Then you can come to mine,” Huo Ran smiled, and then he felt a little guilty so he quickly said, “They all want to come to mine and enjoy the feeling of not having anyone care about your business.” 

Kou Chen was silent for a moment, speaking up when Huo Ran was about to get nervous and think back on what he said wrong: “Ranran.”

“Hm?” Huo Ran hummed.

“I suddenly,” Kou Chen said quietly, “Really miss you.”

Hearing those words, Huo Ran suddenly felt dizzy. The sound of the TV in the living room felt distant. He wobbled and fell forwards, so he quickly put his arms out in front of him, going from squatting to kneeling. 

It was a pretty pious position, like he was listening to a deity sing.

“I really~ miss you~” Kou Chen suddenly started singing. “I call for dawn~ during the night…”

Huo Ran froze, and the distant TV sounds returned to a normal volume as his heart also calmed down. 

“My mom always sings it, it’s bad isn’t it? But after you listen to it for a while… Listen, oh the clouds chasing the moon~ also know my heart…” Kou Chen kept going, “Silently giving me warmth…”

It was very heartfelt, and Huo Ran could even imagine his heartfelt expression.

“…Shut up, will you?” Huo Ran said.

“Nope,” Kou Chen said. 

“Then keep going, you can’t stop until you finish!” Huo Ran said.

“…I really miss you,” Kou Chen quickly started on the second verse, “Miss you… miss you… I don’t remember the lyrics… Hold on, lemme look them up…”

“Ranran!” His mom called from the living room, “Dinner—”

“Okay!” Huo Ran called back, but he didn’t move from his kneeling position. He waited for Kou Chen to search up the lyrics and continue singing. 

“Was that your mom calling you for dinner?” Kou Chen asked.

“Yeah, keep going,” Huo Ran said. “I’ll eat after you finish.”

Kou Chen laughed: “Damn, just go eat.”

“No, no, no, no, keep going.” Huo Ran said. 

“Fuck you, was that on fucking purpose?” Kou Chen growled.

“Sing!” Huo Ran growled back.

“I really miss you I call for dawn during the night oh the stars also know my heart there’s only you in my heart…” Kou Chen sang in one breath, “Then it repeats… Okay, go eat now.”

Huo Ran couldn’t stop laughing. He finally stood up after a long moment, “I’m hanging up then.” 

“Sure,” Kou Chen quickly added, “Hey, are you busy tonight?”

“Nope, why?” Huo Ran asked.

“I’ll call you if I’m bored.” Kou Chen said.

“Mhm,” Huo Ran nodded. He didn’t know why, but he just felt really at ease, so he added, “You can even come over.” 

Then he paused. He might have been too obvious.

…But it also seemed to be perfectly normal. He’s said the same thing to Xu Zhifan and the others tomorrow, and also to Kou Chen in the past.

But Kou Chen’s response made him feel really awkward.

“Calling is fine,” Kou Chen said. 

“Okay,” He said, and then he hung up immediately.

Fuck! What was that all about? Who cares if you come? I might even be busy when you call!

“How many days?” The receptionist asked.

“One month,” Kou Chen said.

“One month?” The receptionist looked at him.

“No,” Kou Chen frowned and then said after a thought, “Two days.” 

“Okay, two days, is that right?” The receptionist looked a little confused.

“Make that three days,” Kou Chen said.

“How about this, Sir?” The receptionist said. “We’ll do two days first, and if you need to extend your stay, just let us know.”

“Okay,” Kou Chen cleared his thought, “Sorry about that.” 

“It’s alright,” The receptionist smiled.

The most dangerous place was also the safest place.

Kou Chen looked out the window of his room. The hotel office building was right across, and Kou Xiao’s office was on the third floor. 

What a perfect escape from home.

He can observe the enemy’s movements.

Kou Chen laid down on the bed and grabbed his phone, checking the balance on his card. There was enough.

He could stay here for a few days and think about everything else later. 

He wasn’t really sure what he should do next.

But he knew two things.

He cannot go abroad. If he went abroad, he would be away from Huo Ran.

His dad telling him to get out if he doesn’t go was just out of anger in the moment for sure. But he also knew that his dad wasn’t giving him two options. Go, meant he had to go, and get out, also meant he had to go. 

Kou Chen felt that he hadn’t really accumulated too much rage towards his dad. If there was no Huo Ran, it would just be an argument and a beating, that’s it.

But this time he was deathly afraid.

He didn’t want to leave.

He had to make his dad understand that he couldn’t leave, no matter what. 

He was even looking forward to being able to shatter everything bad between him and his dad. He wanted to do something big, and make his dad listen to his voice.

Not just about going abroad, but everything else.

He’d never been so anxious before, with such need to have his dad listen to him.

But he stepped out of the door with dissatisfaction and resistance. 

But as time passed by the second, he slowly became dejected.

And lost.

He didn’t know what he should do, how he should do it.

He found that all the methods he had to deal with things were completely useless today. Faced with these things, he was completely confused. 

He didn’t know how he could explain his thoughts to his dad.

Even now with how much he was missing Huo Ran, he didn’t know if he should go to him or not.

Huo Ran was annoyed the whole weekend.

Kou Chen said he would call him if he was bored, but he never did.

Not on the second day either.

Huo Ran suddenly felt embarrassed. 

The reason he spent all of his time with Kou Chen was because Kou Chen would go to him for absolutely no reason, and he couldn’t even shoo him away.

Little by little, he began to see what was under Kou Chen’s exterior, and little by little, he became attracted to Kou Chen.

And now?

Kou Chen suddenly turned cool, and he wasn’t used to it. 

And it really was quite embarrassing.

Especially after he said that he could come over and Kou Chen rejected him saying that calling was fine and then he never even ended up calling him.

He scrolled through his Moments.

Kou Chen’s last post was last week. 

When he went back to school Sunday afternoon, Huo Ran realized that he probably shouldn’t be considering his own embarrassment or anything.

Kou Chen didn’t come back to school.

“He didn’t say anything to you?” Xu Zhifan asked. 

“No, he hasn’t contacted me at all this weekend,” Huo Ran said as he texted Kou Chen.

Xu Chuan and Wei Chaoren also texted him, but Kou Chen didn’t reply to either of them.

“Did his dad beat him?” Jiang Lei said, “Turned him into a sausage…”

“Shut up!” Huo Ran glared at him. 

He sent the text, but a long while later, Kou Chen still hasn’t replied.

His message sat there, alone.

Kou Chen wasn’t replying.

Huo Ran tried calling him, but it just rang until it hung up automatically. 

“Did something happen?” Huo Ran looked to Xu Zhifan.

“Do you have Kou Xiao or Old Yang’s number?” Xu Zhifan asked.

“Yeah,” Huo Ran said. “My dad does, he asked for everyone’s numbers last time we went camping, I’ll ask him…”

“Then you must have it,” Xu Zhifan patted his shoulder, “Kou Chen would’ve sent it to you to give to your dad.” 

“Ah! Right!” Huo Ran realized. He quickly scrolled through his and Kou Chen’s chat history.

“Just search for it… Let me,” Xu Zhifan took his phone.

Huo Ran looked at him, feeling so anxious he was almost dizzy.

He looked at everyone else. They all just thought it was strange, but they weren’t as anxious as him. He just hadn’t got to school on time after all, he might just be too busy to check his messages or hear the phone ring, they’ll contact him later… 

“Are you gonna call them right now?” Xu Zhifan found the numbers and handed his phone back.

“Later,” Huo Ran bit his lip. “I’ll save them first, what if he just didn’t have his phone on him? It would probably be dumb to call them like this.”

“True,” Xu Chuan laughed.

But after they ate dinner and went back to their dorms, Xu Chuan couldn’t wait any longer. He looked at Huo Ran: “Call his sister, he always has his phone with him.”

“Okay,” Huo Ran had been waiting for someone to say that.

He got his phone out and called Kou Xiao.

“Hello?” Kou Xiao picked up very quickly. 

“Jiejie,” Huo Ran cleared his throat, “It’s Huo Ran.”

“Ah, Ranran,” Kou Xiao immediately lowered her voice, “Is Kou Chen with you?”

Huo Ran froze: “What?”

“He’s not with you?” Kou Xiao couldn’t stop her voice from pitching higher. 

“No, I’m at school. He hasn’t talked to me the whole weekend.” Huo Ran looked around him. Everyone else had probably guessed what was going on and they all stilled. Xu Chuan got his phone out and called Kou Chen again.

“It’s off,” Xu Chuan waved his phone.

“What happened?” Huo Ran started panicking.

“He ran away from home,” Kou Xiao’s voice was full of worry. “He fought with our dad. He didn’t reply to my texts either, I thought he went over to yours…” 

“When did he leave?” Huo Ran asked.

“The day midterms results came back. He didn’t even eat dinner!” Kou Xiao said. “Then is he with any of your friends?”

“No,” Huo Ran said. “We’re all at school.”

“Okay,” Kou Xiao said. “I got it. Ranran, let me know if he contacts you, I’ve already dealt with our dad, tell him to go home and talk it out, okay?” 

“Mhm, okay,” Huo Ran frowned, “He… Why? Was it just because of midterms?”

“No,” Kou Xiao sighed. “It was about going abroad, he wouldn’t go no matter what…”

After the call, they all stood there in silence. 

Huo Ran suddenly felt that he was too slow.

Kou Chen was already a bit off when he called him that day, like he wasn’t in a good mood. He felt it even, but with Kou Chen starting to sing out of nowhere, his thoughts wandered and he completely forgot about that little detail.

He was extremely angry at himself now.

Kou Chen was a reckless person, but it didn’t seem like he would run away from home just because they wanted him to go abroad. He hadn’t thought about running when his dad threatened to turn him into a sausage, so why now?! 

What was up with him?!

A long while later, he texted Kou Chen.

-text me back when you see this, I’m really worried

He paused for another moment, before sending another text. 

-I’ll trade you, with a little secret

Chapter end