Qing Kuang Chapter 93

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

To be honest, Huo Ran doesn’t normally get called to the teacher’s office. He wasn’t a terrible student, nor an amazing one, and teachers never needed the ones in the middle like him.

Now, this rare opportunity was about something pretty important, and it was concerning his beloved Princess Chen… Anyways, he was a little nervous as he sat down next to Kou Chen. 

He took a sip of the tea Old Yuan put on the table.

“You are your Mr. Yuan seem to be pretty close.” Kou Chen’s dad said with a smile.

AD

“Ah,” Huo Ran froze, then put the cup back down.

“Today, we’ll just be having a casual chat. To be more specific, it’s for you two father and son to communicate. I won’t say too much.” Old Yuan gave Huo Ran a can of coke befoe sitting down. He smiled, “There’s no need to argue about who’s right and who’s wrong, we just want to resolve the conflict.” 

They all nodded, but didn’t say anything.

“The problem right now is Kou Chen’s careless attitude. His grades aren’t good, and he doesn’t want to put in the effort to improve, so you want to send him abroad for a change of environment, and force him to change.” Old Yuan spoke calmly. “But Kou Chen doesn’t want to, is that right?”

“Yes!” Kou Chen’s dad nodded. “He’s not making any progress, he has no skills, and he just lazes around all day.”

Kou Chen glanced at him.

“Look’s like that’s not the only problem for Kou Chen.” Old Yuan smiled. “Here, let’s start with this. Do you agree with your dad’s opinion of you?”

Kou Chen thought about it: “Yeah.”

Old Yuan looked at him: “Then…”

AD

“I don’t agree,” Huo Ran said. 

The three of them all turned to look at him.

“Can you agree?” Huo Ran asked Old Yuan. He pointed at Kou Chen, “That there isn’t a single good thing about him?”

“Of course not,” Old Yuan looked to Kou Chen’s dad, and then back at him. “Go on, Huo Ran.”

“Don’t talk like there’s no hope for him, Second-” Huo Ran quickly bit down on his tongue and pinched his thigh. He almost jumped up from the pain. 

“What’s wrong with Second Kou? You can say it.” Kou Chen’s dad leaned back in his chair.

“The second son?” Old Yuan asked.

“That’s right,” He smiled.

“Yesterday Uncle Kou said he’s never worried that Kou Chen will run into trouble when he goes out alone, and that Kou Chen’s a lot better at dealing with things than his sister.” Huo Ran said. “Is that right?” 

“Yes,” His dad nodded.

“He has no skills?” Huo Ran looked at him. “Are you taking that back?”

Kou Chen’s dad snorted and sat up. “Confident, are you?”

Kou Chen immediately turned and faced him. 

His dad sat back down and waved Kou Chen off: “Okay, okay, okay, I know you have to defend your friends.”

“In the beginning, Kou Chen really did annoy me a lot,” Kou Chen said. “Day after day, who knew why he was so cocky.”

Kou Chen’s dad suddenly laughed. He patted Kou Chen’s shoulder: “You?”

“Watch it.” Kou Chen glared at Huo Ran and gritted out. 

“He felt really prickly, and I didn’t want to get close to him at all.” Huo Ran ignored him and continued on. “After the situation with He Hua, I started to think that he wasn’t as bad as it seemed. Even though he never said he liked to help others, just that he beat those people up because they annoyed him. We all know what happened after that, the whole thing with Madam Gao. The police even wrote a letter of commendation, have you forgotten? There’s also another thing I can’t say… But Kou Chen’s a kind-hearted person who likes helping people. You can say he’s careless and that his grades are bad, but you can’t overlook any of this.”

Kou Chen’s dad looked at Kou Chen in silence.

Kou Chen looked a little embarrassed, probably because nobody had ever praised him like that before, and the fact that it was in front of his teacher and dad.

“I understand that,” Kou Chen’s dad said. “But grades are still very important. It will affect them later in life.”

“So,” Old Yuan looked at Kou Chen. “What are your suggestions about that matter?”

Kou Chen cleared his throat and frowned. After a long moment of silence, he said: “Were my grades bad in middle school?”

“They were alright,” His dad said. “On the lower end of average, I guess.” 

“Oh,” Kou Chen nodded.

They all looked at him. He cleared his throat again: “Right now I’m near the bottom, but it’s not like I’m happy about that either. If… if… I’m willing to work hard, I can try to pass all of my finals.”

“All of them?” His dad raised an eyebrow, clearly disbelieving.

“Sir,” Old Yuan motioned for him to be silent. “We’ll talk about that later, let him finish.” 

“Go on then, “Kou Chen’s dad sighed. “If, what?”

“You don’t force me to go abroad,” Kou Chen said.

His dad started laughing.

It was a completely different laugh from before. Kou Chen’s body leaned just slightly towards Huo Ran, probably a reflexive action. 

Forget Kou Chen, even Huo Ran wanted to tremble with him.

“Mr. Yuan, see that?” His dad said. “This is his attitude. If he studying for me? Is he trying hard for me? He’s even trying to make me a deal? He’ll only try if I agree to it? And then his goal is just a passing grade?”

“Forget it then.” Kou Chen leaned back and looked down at his shoes. It looked like he wasn’t planning on saying anything else.

“Alright,” Old Yuan smiled. “Let’s go over it and see if it’s reasonable or not.” 

“Of course it’s not reasonable!” His dad said.

“First of all, what is he studying for? You think it’s not for you, but for himself,” Old Yuan said. “Right?”

“Bullshit,” Kou Chen’s dad spoke and then immediately apologized, “I’m sorry, Mr. Yuan. That wasn’t towards you, it just slipped out.”

“It’s fine,” Old Yuan smiled. “Since he’s studying for himself, he should know what kind of goal to set. If he were doing it for you, then you could help him with that.” 

Kou Chen’s dad frowned: “Go on.”

“He didn’t understand.” Kou Chen filled in.

“I did!” His dad glared. “You’re the one that didn’t understand!”

“Let’s go back to that condition,” Old Yuan said. “I don’t think it’s a problem. The reason you want to send him abroad is because he doesn’t study hard, so if he does, of course he could request that you don’t send him away. Also, you wouldn’t have a reason to do so anyways.” 

Yeah,” Kou Chen said.

Kou Chen’s dad frowned and glanced at him: “That’s it?”

Kou Chen raised his chin, not saying anything.

“I don’t believe him,” His dad said. “This kid’s never worked hard in his life, he’s all talk…” 

“Just passing isn’t anything impressive,” Huo Ran couldn’t help but cut in. “If he didn’t mean it, why would he just say that? He’s gotta say top ten in the class at least.”

“Yeah,” Kou Chen said.

“Can you say anything else?” His dad said.

“Nope,” Kou Chen grumbled. 

“Why don’t you believe Kou Chen?” Old Yuan said. “Do you have any examples?”

His dad paused and racked his brains for an answer.

“Look’s like that’s a no.” Old Yuan didn’t give him much time to think before he spoke.

“What’s the rush, Mr. Yuan? Let me think about it,” Kou Chen’s dad said. 

“if you have to think about it for so long, that means it doesn’t exist,” Old Yuan said. “He’s just a teenager, you can’t expect him to stay true to his word every single time. You can’t even do that.”

“He always picks fights with people.” His dad smacked his thigh.

“I haven’t done that in a long time,” Kou Chen said.

“Because you threatened to turn him into a sausage,” Huo Ran said. “He remembers that.” 

“Just because it’s not a physical fight doesn’t mean anything!” Kou Chen’s dad sighed.

“Have you asked me why?” Kou Chen sat up straight. “I’m not crazy, why would I go around punching people for no reason? I still have to worry about being turned into a sausage!”

“Haven’t I asked you? Have I not?!” Kou Chen’s dad wasn’t satisfied with that.

“How did you ask?” Kou Chen said. “While you chased me with a stick? Why the fuck did you get into another fight?! Why the fuck did you get into another fight?! How was I supposed to answer? I’d get beat if I stood there and finished my sentence so why would I do that?” 

“If you were gonna talk then I wouldn’t hit you!” His dad glared at him.

“I didn’t want to take a chance,” Kou Chen said. “I was scared, I was too scared to stop.”

Huo Ran took a sip of his drink and squeezed the can: “Uncle Kou, he’s really afraid of you.”

At that, Huo Ran suddenly felt really bad for Kou Chen. He almost reached out to ruffle his hair, but good thing his dad’s eyes were cold, and it startled him back to clarity. 

But he still added: “I’m also afraid of you.”

“Why would you be afraid of me? You’re such a good kid, you listen and you’re polite,” Kou Chen’s dad said. “Kou Chen’s never listened, so disobedient…”

“Let’s correct that,” Old Yuan said. “Good and obedient shouldn’t be used to describe a child. they have their own thoughts. Parents all demand obedience, and that’s a contradiction in itself. Nobody can do that. As long as you have that demand, you will always think they’re disobedient.”

“But, Mr. Yuan,” Kou Chen’s dad said. “I’ve been through more than him, and I’ve met more people. I know that he’s wrong in a lot of things, so of course I have to step in.” 

“There’s nothing wrong with that,” Old Yuan said. “But there are two things. One, of course you have to step in if it’s an important matter concerning principle. And two, you have to tell him why you’re doing it. Why he can’t do what he wants, and the reason can’t be something like ‘I’ve been through more than you, you have to listen to me’.

Kou Chen’s dad went silent.

He thought about it for a while, and then asked: “What about everything else? Do I just leave him be? Things that don’t concern principle?”

“For most things, he’s smart, he’ll learn from experience,” Old Yuan said. “As long as the parents can understand what’s important and what’s not.” 

“That I understand,” Kou Chen’s dad nodded.

Kou Chen glanced at him.

“What?” He said. “Don’t believe me?”

“…I do.” Kou Chen nodded. “I do.” 

Resting his cheek on his palm, Huo Ran whispered to Kou Chen: “Really?”

“Sure,” Kou Chen whispered back. “He’s just too overbearing, he doesn’t trust me.”

“Then tell him,” Huo Ran said.

“I don’t wanna.” Kou Chen made a face. 

“I heard that!” Kou Chen’s dad said.

Huo Ran started, and then quickly leaned back in his chair.

“Then you two can trust each other this one time. After all, Kou Chen, you know that your dad really cares for you, right?” Kou Chen said.

Kou Chen looked at his dad: “Mhm, I know.” 

His dad patted him on the shoulder.

“Okay then, for finals this time,” Old Yuan said. “Kou Chen will do his best to pass all of them.”

“Yeah,” Kou Chen nodded.

“My suggestion from before…” Old Yuan looked at Kou Chen’s dad. “What do you think?” 

“What suggestion?” Kou Chen asked.

“As long as he tries hard,” His dad pointed at Kou Chen. “Then it’s a yes! What am I afraid of? Who hasn’t been to school? I always got very good grades…”

“Wait,” Kou Chen startled. “Old Yuan, you don’t mean for my dad to study with me, right?”

“Huh?” Huo Ran paused. 

“No way!” Kou Chen jumped up. “What am I supposed to do if he’s poking around in class every day?”

“Sit down!” His dad stared at him. “Who said I was going to study with you? What are you gonna do, I’m the one that’ll suffer if I have to sit in your classroom!”

“Calm down,” Old Yuan smiled. “Improving your grades isn’t that easy. In order for your dad to know how difficult it is, I suggested that he studies along with you. The other teachers agreed too. Your dad will listen to our classes through a video call, and he’ll take the same exams as you for finals to see how he will do.”

“Holy shit?” Kou Chen paused and turned to his dad.” 

“Who’s shitting?” His dad said.

“You said yes?” Kou Chen asked.

“Yes I did. What?” Kou Chen’s dad took a sip of tea. “My grades were a lot better than yours.”

“You’ve been bragging about that for over ten years,” Kou Chen looked annoyed. 

“I wasn’t bragging,” Kou Chen’s dad said confidently.

“Are they betting on something?” Huo Ran remembered the main point of it and quickly asked, “You said you won’t force Kou Chen to go abroad if he studies hard, you can’t go back on your word.”

“Good kid,” Kou Chen’s dad said to Kou Chen. “He’s a good friend.”

“Of course,” Kou Chen looked at Huo Ran. “From the very start, I…” 

Huo Ran could see the complicatedness in Kou Chen’s eyes. Very obviously, he might be blurting out something shocking if he kept going, so he quickly cut him off: “I know.”

“It’s just an experiment, for your dad who’s been out of school for years to remember what it was like back then, to see how hard kids today work.” Old Yuan said. “You can take it as a competition too if you like, bet on a meal or something.”

“If you lose, you cook,” Kou Chen said.

“Pick a main dish first,” His dad said. 

“Duck! The lemon or apple or something duck that you made when I was little!” Kou Chen explained to Old Yuan and Huo Ran, “Holy shit was it amazing. Super delicious, but then he never made it again. You guys come over too when he does.”

“What if you lose?” Kou Chen’s dad asked

“I’ll cook,” Kou Chen said.

Kou Chen’s dad clicked his tongue: “Now you’re forcing me to lose. Is your cooking edible?” 

“Scared?” Kou Chen raised an eyebrow, seemingly very interested in this competition.

“Then it’s set,” Kou Chen’s dad also looked excited and he raised an eyebrow. “Kid, you’re going down.”

Chapter end