Qin Chu’s stomach trouble took a whole day to get better, while his cold only got better at night.
Lu Tong didn’t go to the exam in the afternoon, so Old Zhao came over to question him during self-study in the evening. In the end, she couldn’t find out what happened. Old Zhao couldn’t bear to let Lu Tong miss the exam, so she found time to arrange a make-up exam for him.
As for the call that Sister Caiying made, Lu Tong waited for Qin Chu to wake up and told him word for word about it.
Qin Chu got up from the bed, “She called?”
At this time, Lu Tong was sitting in front of the desk and flipping through a book, “Yes. She said you were planning to pick her up at the airport. But I told her you couldn’t come.”
Qin Chu didn’t say anything.
Lu Tong stopped flipping pages and asked, “What’s wrong? Did I wreck your love by breaking up the mandarin ducks1to interfere in a love affair?”
Qin Chu’s mouth twitched, “Are you jealous?”
Lu Tong made a pause gesture and said, “Excuse me. Stop your narcissism.”
Qin Chu’s cell phone vibrated, and his former friend was still texting him tirelessly.
He deleted the text messages. Out of sight, out of mind.
The Caiying sister Lu Tong was talking about, whose full name was Xu Caiying, was a sister who lived next door to Qin Chu when he was studying in the UK. She was five years older than him — — She had a good relationship with his mother, and they grew up together when they were very young.
Qin Chu talked little when he was a child. Except for staying in his room and playing the violin, he rarely had contact with outsiders. Sometimes, when his mother would go out to perform, she would ask Xu Caiying from next door to take care of Qin Chu for her.
At first, both of them were very young, so people around them didn’t make much fun of them.
Later, Qin Chu gradually grew up, and the young man’s handsome features gradually became apparent. When Han Caiying stood with him, they looked like a couple who had grown up as childhood sweethearts.
The two of them often came and went together, and the classmates around Qin Chu naturally thought that Xu Caiying was his girlfriend.
To be honest, Qin Chu didn’t have any feelings for Xu Caiying.
It’s just that these feelings were really next to nothing. When he was a child of six or seven years old, he did say that he liked Sister Caiying and that he would marry Sister Caiying when he grew up. But a child simply says what they think. Qin Chu also said that he likes Greymon, so how come no one thinks that Greymon is his girlfriend?
In short, Xu Caiying and he grew up together, and everyone misunderstood that he had an unrequited love for Xu Caiying. However, Qin Chu refrained from denying it outright. The other party was a girl, after all. If he refuted it outright, conversely, it would be exceedingly uncomfortable for them to meet. Furthermore, Qin Chu really didn’t like her. So a misunderstanding was a misunderstanding, and he didn’t care.
All that he cared about was his skateboard and game console.
But something was a little different now.
However, on the contrary, Xu Caiying very much enjoyed Qin Chu’s admiration for her. Not only did she not respond, but she also fell in love with him and had a tendency to play with the innocent feelings of Qin Chu, a young teenager.
Qin Chu was so busy fighting with his dad that he completely missed the fact that Xu Caiying had a boyfriend. The result of his and Qin Heng’s long strategic stalemate ended with Qin Heng’s victory, and Qin Chu was sent back to China the afternoon of the second day after Xu Caiying announced her relationship.
In the eyes of Qin Chu’s friends, wasn’t this just the result of getting his affections hurt and returning to his home country in anger?
— You don’t feel too sad. Your sister Caiying’s boyfriend was not a good person. He cheated her out of hundreds of thousands and ran away. Now she needs someone to comfort her. It’s your turn to show up!
Text messages from the friend were still being sent to him, several of them urging him to take advantage of the situation.
— Besides, Xu Caiying is so beautiful. Are you really willing to give her up to someone else?
Qin Chu turned around his phone and leaned on the bed.
Qin Chu had already forgotten what Han Caiying looked like. He vaguely remembered that she was quite good-looking. He turned his phone faster, and his gaze fell on Lu Tong.
Lu Tong sat on the chair with his back to him, begrudgingly leaving only a side profile for him.
Qin Chu could see his collar — — He did not wear a school uniform in the dormitory and only wore a pair of cotton pyjamas. The glands were located on the back of his neck, and there were two teeth marks on it, indicating how hard Qin Chu had once bitten there.
He looked over, and in addition to the back of his neck, he could also see the side profile of Lu Tong’s face.
Under the illumination of the fluorescent lamp, the skin of the other party looked so white that it almost glowed. Compared to Xu Caiying’s face, which he no longer knew how it looked like, Lu Tong seemed to be a bit more beautiful and stunning. Qin Chu rarely looked at Lu Tong so carefully. After looking at him for a long time, he actually felt a trace of complacency.
Such a high and cold-blooded person didn’t become mine in the end — — Barely. He thought for a moment and lowered the standard again — — Barely four and two-thirds were his.
Qin Chu was so mesmerised by his thoughts that he just fell asleep.
Another day passed, and the typhoon outside the window finally stopped. The downpour over Provincial No. 1 High School briefly stopped for a moment and then turned cloudy.
The sports meeting of the Provincial No. 1 High School opened as usual.
Early in the morning, Lu Tong yawned and sat in the auditorium.
The auditorium in the playground was divided into left and right sides by the commander’s podium in the middle. Students from the First Department of high school were on the right, and students from the Second Department were on the left. Only the first and second year students participated in the sports meeting. The third year students were not included in the sports meeting because they were preparing for exams.
After walking through the opening ceremony, Lu Tong found a quiet corner that he was satisfied with and prepared to take a nap.
His 1,500-metre event wasn’t in the morning. So Lu Tong could still have several hours of sleep.
Although the whole school was noisy and the sound of announcements and music almost filled everyone’s ears, Lu Tong still tilted his head and fell asleep without any pressure.
Being in such a public place filled with alpha pheromones always made him extra sleepy.
Unfortunately, Qin Shiwu didn’t let him have what he wanted.
The volleyball event was also held in the afternoon. After the square formation had finished walking, Qin Shiwu strolled down from the top section of the spectator stand, and he glanced quickly over the seats of the sophomores to find Lu Tong, who was furthest inward.
The school required all students, except athletes, to sit in their seats. However, this requirement was obviously difficult for everyone to fulfill. Even though people from the student union stood in a row in front of the spectator stand, there were still students who were like fish in troubled water2(idiom); to take advantage of a crisis for personal gain and took advantage of the opportunity to run to the playground to watch the game.
Qin Shiwu was jumping up and down in the spectator stand, while quite a few students in the spectator stand had already slipped away.
The seats were sparse, and he saw Lu Tong at a glance.
As Lu Tong was falling asleep, a teenager squeezed over to the side.
“Lu Tong!”
Lu Tong opened his eyes and saw that it was Qin Shiwu. But he didn’t feel like paying attention to him. However, it was also because it was Qin Shiwu that he didn’t move away from the other party but stayed where he was.
If it were anyone else, once he leaned in so close, Lu Tong would have already stood up, dusted off his bum, and beat them up.
“What are you doing here alone? Why don’t you go down and watch the game?” Qin Shiwu asked.
“You can watch it just as well from up there.” Lu Tong said perfunctorily to him. In fact, he didn’t want to watch anyone’s game. He hadn’t had a good night’s sleep after taking care of Qin Chu these days, and he was very tired.
Qin Shiwu said in his heart: How can that be!
He came here this time just to take Lu Tong to watch Qin Chu’s game in the afternoon!
In addition to the 1,500 metres tomorrow, Qin Chu also had another event in the morning, which was the 400-metre relay race.
Qin Shiwu glanced at the female classmates in the audience who were staring at his father like a tiger watching its prey3to eye covetously and he couldn’t help but sigh in his heart.
“Qin Chu has a 400-metre relay race this morning, and no one is cheering him on. It’s really miserable.”
Lu Tong closed his eyes, “What are you doing here?”
Qin Shiwu hurriedly went closer to him, “How about we go take a look?”
Lu Tong, “No. There are many people in the audience watching him. I don’t want to go and suffer.”
Lu Tong was right.
The check-in for the men’s 400-metre race had already begun. As soon as year one, class twelve’s Qin Chu’s name came up, a group of female students gathered at the check-in area.
In addition to the girls from the First Department, there were also the girls from the second department, which showed that Qin Chu usually attracted bees and butterflies to the school.
If Lu Tong wanted to go down to see the game clearly, he would have to squeeze in with that group of female classmates.
— — What a joke.
Hadn’t he seen enough of that face in normal times? What’s the point of going to squeeze in now?
Besides, it would be disgraceful to go and squeeze in with the girls, and if Qin Chu saw it, he didn’t know what he would think.
So he suggested, “If you want to see Qin Chu, you can come to the dormitory at night and see enough.”
Qin Shiwu was anxious, “Is that a matter of me wanting to see him! So aren’t you — — So aren’t you going to cheer him on, as a roommate!”
Lu Tong finally opened one eye and said, without knowing why, “What’s the benefit of me cheering him up?”
Nothing good came of it.
Qin Shiwu thought angrily: Because you are his wife! If you don’t top him up with gas4cheer for him, who will!
The Lu Tong of sixteen years later was clearly not like this.
Qin Shiwu vaguely remembered that Lu Tong was still very attached to Qin Chu. On the few occasions when Qin Chu came back from meetings at night, Lu Tong would be downstairs waiting for his husband. Unlike the way he was now — — Like a white-eyed wolf that can’t be fed!
Lu Tong was unwilling to move his feet, and Qin Shiwu was furious. But he was reluctant to leave Lu Tong behind and go down to see Qin Chu alone.
The two of them sat on top of the spectator stand for a while. When He Nian came back from the check-in area, he saw Lu Tong and then saw Qin Shiwu beside him. But he didn’t say anything.
After taking a sip of mineral water, he spoke, “Why don’t you guys go down and watch the match?”
Qin Shiwu was furious, “Lu Tong doesn’t want to go!”
He let out an “Oh” in greeting and saw Qin Shiwu sitting very close to Lu Tong, far beyond Lu Tong’s safe distance line.
Although He Nian and Lu Tong had been in the same class for two years, they only seemed to have a good relationship on the surface. But there was still a long way to go before he could really have a heart-to-heart conversation with Lu Tong.
He didn’t dare to get too close to Lu Tong. After all, the cold aura of the other party was too strong. If he got too close, he would accidentally cross Lu Tong’s safe line, which would make the other party unhappy.
He Nian was seeing someone as reckless as Qin Shiwu and so clingy as the first one.
The point was, Lu Tong hadn’t refused either.
This was intriguing.
Before He Nian came, quite a few people in the spectator stand had seen Qin Shiwu come over to Lu Tong and were secretly sizing him up at the moment.
He Nian spoke, “Do you and Lu Tong live together?”
Qin Shiwu shook his head and said, “No. We live in the same building.”
He Nian spoke, “Which floor?”
Qin Shiwu, “The twelfth floor of the International Department.”
He Nian’s action of drinking water was stopped, and he asked in novelty, “You live on the twelfth floor?”
Qin Shiwu asked rhetorically, “What’s the problem?”
He Nian asked, “Isn’t the twelfth floor of the International Department haunted?”
Lu Tong half-closed his eyes, and a wave of goosebumps rose on his back.
Qin Shiwu was bored. But when he heard the word “haunted”, he became very interested, “Haunted? How come I didn’t know about it!”
“There are not many haunted places in Provincial No. 1 High School.” At this moment, Qin Chu suddenly climbed in from outside the railing.
Lu Tong heard his voice and glanced, “The freshman class is not here. You are in the wrong place.”
Qin Chu pointed at Qin Shiwu and said, “I’m here to grab him.”
He Nian looked at Qin Chu and gulped. His heart was shocked and scared. And at the same time, he was lamenting: This kid, Qin Chu, how come he has such a face? Did God not only open the door for him but also tear down all the walls for him?
When he appeared, the spectator stand of the second years became a little lively.
However, these seniors were quite reserved and only dared to look at Qin Chu from a distance and did not dare to come closer.
Qin Shiwu asked, “Have you finished the 400-metre relay?”
Qin Chu said, “No. There is still some time left. I came up to rest for a while.”
Qin Shiwu was full of curiosity and turned to look at He Nian again, “What’s this haunting that you were talking about?”
He Nian said, “From what I heard on the forums, students on the twelfth floor of the International Department are always losing things.”
Qin Shiwu, “That could also be just a thief. But how come I didn’t lose any.”
He Nian said, “The fact that no one could ever catch the thief is exactly the reason that makes them say that it’s haunted. The windows and doors are locked properly, but things were still lost in the dormitory for no reason……. What is it if it’s not haunted!”
Qin Shiwu was greatly surprised and looked at Qin Chu, “Did you know about this?”
Qin Chu said carelessly, “I heard someone discussing it this morning.”
Qin Shiwu, “Did you guys lose anything?”
Qin Chu spoke up, “How could I lose anything? You really think it’s haunted.”
Qin Chu was slapped in the face within an afternoon of saying this.
When they returned to the dormitory that night, Lu Tong rummaged through the entire desk, and his face instantly changed.
Qin Chu showered and asked, “What are you looking for?”
Lu Tong opened his mouth and said, “I lost something.”
Qin Chu, “Haunted? What did you lose.”
Lu Tong did not speak.
In fact, it wasn’t anything important.
What was lost was the cursed-letter-like love letter written by “Qin Chu”. The entire text was filled with unknown Martian writings. Lu Tong had kept it in his book, and after reading it once, he never took it out again.
Who would have known that it would disappear?
— — Can you tell him?
Absolutely not.
Qin Chu never seemed to show that he cared about the love letter, as if he hadn’t written it at all.
Honestly, it can’t really be considered to be written by him.
This love letter was the one that Qin Shiwu wrote on his behalf, and it was written in a childish and funny manner.
Lu Tong waved his hand, “It is nothing important. I’ll look for it again.”
Qin Chu saw that he was very anxious and stopped him, “Tell me what you are looking for. Maybe I have seen it.”
Lu Tong hesitated for a long time before speaking, “…… A love letter.”
Qin Chu froze.
“A love letter? Did you write it, or did someone else give it to you?”
“Someone else gave it to me.”
“…… Is it very important?”
“…… What do you think?”
If it weren’t important, he wouldn’t be here in a hurry to find it.
But if it was said to be important, why was it important?
For the first time, Lu Tong felt like if you ride a tiger, it’s hard to get off5(idiom); fig. impossible to stop halfway.
“Did you see it? It’s a pink letter.” He asked Qin Chu.
Qin Chu’s face was paralysed, a change from his earlier eager-to-help attitude, and he said, “I didn’t see it.”
— — If I had seen it earlier, I would have torn it apart for you.
Lu Tong originally did not expect Qin Chu to have any constructive findings. So he sighed and continued to search resignedly.
Qin Chu saw this and was extremely unhappy in his heart: Is it so important? Who wrote this for him? Could it be Chen Anqi? Or is it the old toad who failed to confess last time?
In the dormitory, the light flashed three times and suddenly went out.
Lu Tong, like a frightened cat, immediately retreated to the side of the bed.
There was a clang, and something fell down in the room.
The corridor was dark, and some other students in the dormitory shouted to the dormitory staff auntie, “Why is there a power outage again?”
“Auntie, the circuit breaker has tripped!”
“F***! I’m still washing my hair!”
Qin Chu flicked the switch twice and announced, “It looks like there is a power outage.”
There was a power outage yesterday afternoon as well. The school’s circuit breaker was unstable during the typhoon. As soon as the sports meeting ended, it started raining heavily outside again.
It looked like the rain would clear up tomorrow, but tonight would still be a rough night.
Fortunately, Lu Tong took a bath early, and the power outage would pass after a good night’s sleep.
“I’ll sleep then.” He made a simple and rough decision.
Qin Chu seemed to have discovered something interesting. He leaned against the wall and asked rhetorically, “Are you afraid of the dark?”
Lu Tong, “Do you think I’m willing to take care of you?”
Qin Chu looked like he suddenly understood, “Are you afraid of ghosts?”
The hair on Lu Tong’s back stood up.
Qin Chu knew that he had guessed correctly when he heard no movement.
Fear of ghosts?
An unexpected weakness.
He was just about to take advantage of Lu Tong’s weakness to follow up on a victory and press home the attack6to pursue retreating enemy, and pick up the joke as a good deal when there was a knock on the door of the dormitory.
After three “knock” sounds, the door was pushed open.
Qin Shiwu held a candle and said with an excited expression, “Comrades! I have a great proposal!”
Qin Chu raised his eyebrows and looked at Qin Shiwu, and behind Qin Shiwu were — Ji Rang and the others, who had come to the International Building at an unknown time.
Qin Shiwu said boldly, “In order to protect the safety and peace of my fellow students, I have decided to find the rebellious thieves on this stormy night tonight!”
After he finished speaking, he glanced at Ji Rang and signalled him: Applaud!
Ji Rang, “Yes!”
Clap, clap, clap.
Qin Shiwu nodded in satisfaction and said, “Stop!”
He switched the candle from his left hand to his right, “Is Lu Tong asleep?”
Qin Chu, “He just fell asleep.”
Ji Rang and Hu Si looked at each other, seeing the word “incredulous” in each other’s eyes.
— — They really live together?
When Qin Shiwu told them that Lu Tong was living in Qin Chu’s dormitory, they couldn’t believe it.
Wasn’t this more terrifying than seeing a ghost!
Qin Shiwu squeezed into the dormitory and took out a piece of white paper and said, “Ding dong ding! Come on stage with a glittering appearance. The Ask-The-Spirits that I have been crafting all afternoon meticulously is now going to come in handy!”
The white paper in his hand had a lot of Chinese characters written on it, in the order of “Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing”, and it looked like the paper used for playing Ask-the-Spirits.
“Get out of the way. Get out of the way. Give me a seat. Let’s just sit down and play. Where’s Lu Tong? Call him up. There are only five of us here. How can we play! Oh, wait, come to think of it. It’s not playing. It’s to catch that ghost out!”
Lu Tong had already crawled into the quilt. And he closed his eyes to rest, thinking: As long as I don’t talk to anyone, others won’t be able to find me in the state of a turtle with its head shrunken.
Qin Chu tugged on the quilt and said, “He’s asleep.”
Qin Shiwu was not quite convinced, “Really asleep?”
Ji Rang spoke, “Good students always sleep early. There’s no class tomorrow, and there’s no homework to do at night.”
Of course, what he wanted to say was: Can you stop messing with Lu Tong? Can’t you notice that the atmosphere is not right! The temperature of the entire room had completely dropped!
Both Qin Chu and Qin Shiwu often messed with Lu Tong. Contrary to what one might expect, they didn’t think that Lu Tong was that aloof and cold.
But other people were different.
For example, Ji Rang and Hu Si were far more in awe of Lu Tong than the two of them. This legendary iceberg beauty, the Kaoling flower, was notoriously difficult to deal with. Especially for children like Hu Si, who grew up listening to Lu Tong’s campus legends since junior high school, they treated Lu Tong as if he were a sticker in an illustrated magazine, giving a feeling of separation that can be viewed from afar but not played with.
To put it bluntly, they were all a little afraid of Lu Tong.
Qin Chu sat on the edge of the bed, Qin Shiwu carried a table over, and the remaining two sat on stools.
“Forget it. We won’t call out for him if he’s asleep. Let’s play.”
Qin Shiwu looked very excited.
Under the covers, Lu Tong had his eyes closed, attempting to ignore the eerie atmosphere in the dormitory.
Qin Chu was sitting next to him, and only a candle burned faintly on the table. Lu Tong rolled over, and his right hand bumped into Qin Chu’s hand on the bed.
Both their fingertips were next to each other, and their perception in the darkness had reached tenfold.
Lu Tong could not help but freeze, subconsciously withdrawing his hand into the quilt.
But unexpectedly, Qin Chu suddenly rose in revolt and caught his hand violently.
Underneath the quilt, Lu Tong’s right hand was gripped tightly by him.
Qin Shiwu was oblivious to this and was extremely excited as he flipped over a small dish, “In a moment, I’ll ask first!”
He lifted his head and looked at Qin Chu. But then he suddenly paused and asked, “Why are you blushing so much?”
Qin Chu said, “Did I laugh?”
Qin Shiwu became even more depressed, “Didn’t say you were laughing.”
…… He confessed without being pressed, as no 300 silver taels could be hidden here7fig. to reveal what one intends to hide.
Lu Tong struggled a bit under the quilt, but he failed to pull his hand out. His cheeks were red, his eyes were closed, his eyebrows twitched, and he cursed viciously in his heart: Son of a b***.
Translator’s corner
Thank you so much for reading the chapter. If you liked my translation and wanna support me, you can comment down your thoughts or send me a Kofi.
KO-FI
Don’t feel shy to let me know in the comment section or in the discord of Knoxt if you find any mistakes~
