There was a staff member next to the jukebox, and when he saw the two of them coming over, he quickly said: “Do you want to play this?”
“Yes,” Qin Cheng boldly pulled out a handful of game coins from his pocket. “How many coins per game?”
“Thirty coins,” the staff member opened the door. “We have rewards for this. If you score over 95 points, you can get ten free movie tickets.”
“Got it,” Qin Cheng walked in. “That’s exactly why I’m here.”
After the staff member briefly explained how to play, he left. Qin Cheng fiddled with the machine, looking fresh and curious: “I’ve never seen this before; it must be a new addition.”
Jian Heng swiped the touchscreen: “What to sing?”
Qin Cheng looked at the screen; he could hum a few lines of most of the songs. Casually, he said: “Which one do you like? I have a wide repertoire, so don’t worry.”
“Don’t worry…” Jian Heng pondered for a second, a smile creeping onto his lips. “My ringtone?”
「Baby, what you’re doing to me makes me truly feel your passion
…
I will make your body soft, I will ignite your passion
…」
Qin Cheng opened his mouth for a long time before managing to say: “Isn’t it a bit inappropriate to sing this song with so many people on the street, Jian-ge?”
“Seems fine to me,” Jian Heng replied.
Qin Cheng suddenly turned his head to look at him, Jian Heng had a slight smile at the corner of his mouth, clearly not serious.
Got fooled.
Qin Cheng bent his elbow and nudged him, but Jian Heng didn’t resist, instead, he squeezed his arm and continued scrolling through the screen to choose a song. His accent was so standard it was like he was taking a CET-61六級 (liù jí): The College English Test, better known as CET, is a national English as a foreign language test in the People’s Republic of China. It examines the English proficiency of undergraduate and postgraduate students in China. It is meant to ensure that Chinese undergraduates and postgraduates reach the required English levels specified in the National College English Teaching Syllabuses (NCETS). It includes two levels: CET4 (四級) and CET6 (六級). oral exam: “Talk Dirty?”
“You’re my Ge, let’s pick something sunnier,” Qin Cheng pushed his hand away, scrolling up. He couldn’t find the two songs Jian Heng mentioned, so he picked something he wanted to listen to instead. “This student, I just realized that you’re not as serious as you look.”
Jian Heng withdrew his hand and glanced at him: “I’m a good student.”
“Only Auntie Song believes that,” Qin Cheng thought of his mother’s evaluation of Jian Heng and wanted to laugh, “A good student who can take down a little punk with one punch, a good student who kicks and breaks the director’s office desk, a good student with an aura of two meters eight, and still…”
He didn’t finish the sentence, still… a good student who engaged in puppy love.
While speaking, he was flipping through the pages. When he reached a page, Jian Heng suddenly pressed his hand, selected a song inside, and clicked it: “This one.”
Qin Cheng glanced at it——《On My Own2T/N: On My Own by Ashes Remain. Video Link.》.
“Can you?” Jian Heng looked at him.
“Qin-ge’s spoken language is still okay,” Qin Cheng thought of the lyrics, feeling a sharp pang in his heart, and asked back, “Can you?”
Jian Heng didn’t say anything and directly pressed the confirm button.
Qin Cheng took a deep breath. He had liked this song for a long time. In the third year of junior high, during their class’s oath-taking ceremony, he had sung it once and had managed to moved a whole group of people to tears.
Maybe it was because the pressure in the third year of junior high was too great, or maybe the lyrics were indeed touching. A whole class of people wiped their tears and said; ‘Let’s work hard together, I’ll wait for you in high school’. Qin Cheng’s eyes also became hot.
Qin Cheng always agreed that when you’re isolated and helpless, having a hand to hold onto feels completely different from gritting your teeth and enduring all the hardships alone.
He and Jian Heng had borne it alone for eighteen years. He had no other expectations; he just hoped that in all the years to come, he could bear half of Jian Heng’s burdens, at least so he could share the same kind of suffering with him.
Bri.
When these words came out of their mouths simultaneously, Qin Cheng felt the meaning was different.
It wasn’t the kind of mutual encouragement between classmates, nor was it superficial talk of chicken soup for the soul3心靈雞湯 (xīn líng jī tāng): Chicken Soup for the Soul; inspirational quotes or stories; (derogatory) inspirational nonsense; deeply philosophical but useless content; fortune cookie comments; an article or passage that has a motivational (inspirational) effect. Colloquially, it means words, sentences, or articles which are philosophical and make you feel encouraged but normally with useless content and doesn’t solve any problem.. It was a genuine shout that erupted from the heart, and the only audience was the two of them.
Whenever Qin Cheng seriously recalled the process of meeting Jian Heng, he would sincerely feel grateful that heaven had finally noticed them, finally bringing them together.
The two person sang the last line together: “I was never meant to fight on my own.”
After meeting you, I never thought of fighting alone.
As the song ended, the system began to tally the scores, but Qin Cheng had no time to look at the scores; his mind was filled with Jian Heng, Jian Heng, Jian Heng.
“Hey, Xiao Gege, your singing is so good. You usually don’t sing, so mysterious,” Qin Cheng bumped his shoulder. “No wonder last time when we were eating, Qi’er praised my singing, and you didn’t react.”
Jian Heng turned his face: “Did I not react?”
“No,” Qin Cheng was sure. He narrowed his eyes as he remembered something and said in a petty way: “You still have a little secret. You play riddles with Cheng Bin and the others. I remember it all.”
“Yes,” Jian Heng said, “I remember the hand-holding too.”
“How did it go to 0.01?” Qin Cheng changed the subject automatically.
“Four nines are lucky,” Jian Heng pushed open the door, “Let’s go, claim the prize.”
After going outside, Qin Cheng realized that after someone won a big prize on the karaoke machine, they also set off fireworks outside. The lights seemed to be on steroids, flashing wildly. As soon as they stepped out, they were met with a crowd of curious stares.
Learning from various past experiences, Qin Cheng quickly pulled Jian Heng away, and after claiming the prize, they walked out as if they had stolen something.
“Wolves chasing us?” Jian Heng was being dragged along.
“Not chased, but if we don’t leave now, a bunch of people will want to add us on WeChat.” Qin-ge had been handsome since childhood and had too much experience in this area, so he slipped away in advance.
Qin Cheng took out his phone, intending to casually record a segment. After all, they had come out under the pretext of making a vlog, so they had to at least act the part.
“Are you hungry?” Qin Cheng set up the camera to focus on the two of them. The fact that they could escape smoothly under such devilish condition was simply touching.
“Not really,” Jian Heng helped hold the phone. “Where to?”
“Don’t know…” Qin Cheng looked around as he walked. To be honest, apart from going to the cinema a few times and playing with the claw machine, he didn’t really know this area well. After all, he had never been in a relationship before, unlike Tan Qi and the others who would take their boyfriends or girlfriends out every now and then.
Aside from the rigid routine of eating, watching movies, and playing with the claw machine… Qin Cheng had basically zero grasp of the details.
“How about I take you to a cat café?” Qin Cheng decided. The food inside certainly wouldn’t be enough for the two of them to feel full, and since they weren’t hungry now, it would be perfect to go play with some cats and grab a bite.
As Qin Cheng led Jian Heng through a shortcut out of the side door, they passed a snack street.
“There’s a milk tea shop over there, the milk foam4奶蓋 (nǎi gài): Milk foam. 
is quite delicious,” Qin Cheng pointed to a small shop with an orange sign ahead, “It’s run by Lin Xiangdi’s second sister. I have a lifetime 40% off card; I just need to swipe my face.”
“Walk north through this street, and the third fruit stall is run by Tan Qi’s uncle. I don’t have a discount card there; I can just swipe my face and eat whatever I want.”
Jian Heng listened as Qin Cheng talked about the bits and pieces of his life growing up in this city, wanting to know every detail.
“Next time Cheng Bin and Shao Ze come over, we can bring them here to stroll around. This area is well-managed, and the hygiene conditions are not bad,” Qin Cheng said, “At least you won’t get diarrhea.”
“Mm,” Jian Heng responded, “Next time you lead the way.”
“No problem, free tour guide,” Qin Cheng said.
The cat café was very warm, and as soon as they walked in, their faces felt pleasantly heated.
Qin Cheng didn’t like the idea of a warm face meeting a cold butt, so he placed a clingy big orange cat on his lap and started ordering.
In his line of sight, Jian Heng was propping up his chin with one hand and teasing a cold and aloof Dragon Li cat5貍花貓 (lí huā māo): The Dragon Li is a recently established Chinese breed of domestic cat (also called Chinese Li Hua or China Li Hua as a standardized breed, depending on breed registry). It was developed from a common landrace of cats in China, known as 貍花貓, literally ‘leopard cat patterned cat’ (sometimes shortened to 花貓 or 貍貓 lí māo); the native cats are featured in some Chinese folklore stories. 
with the other. Qin Cheng, in a daze, felt that he was there to pet the cat, while Jian Heng was there to train the cat.
“What do you want to eat?” Qin Cheng casually pushed the menu over. “I’ve ordered; you can add something.”
Jian Heng casually pointed to two pasta dishes and two juices, so the cola Qin Cheng had ordered was canceled.
After playing for most of the day, they sat in the warm cat café at noon, waiting for their food while burying their faces in the cat’s fur, it was an indescribably comfortable and pleasant feeling.
“Your cat is too aloof,” Qin Cheng said, leaning on the table with half his face pressed against the big orange cat. The cat placed one paw over his eye, forcing Qin Cheng to open only one eye to look at him. While petting the cat’s paw, he said, “Look at our orange, so cute.”
Jian Heng glanced at him, signaling him to look over.
Qin Cheng naturally looked at his hand.
Jian Heng casually moved his hand, and the Dragon Li cat, remained very aloof, merely tilted its head slightly. Then, Jian Heng suddenly withdrew his hand and didn’t move again. The Dragon Li cat and Jian Heng stared at each other for a few seconds. After a while, the cat cautiously raised its paw and touched Jian Heng’s hand.
Jian Heng still didn’t move. The atmosphere remained tense for about a minute. Suddenly, the Dragon Li cat took the initiative to lean against his arm and rubbed against it.
Qin Cheng: …Freaking awesome.
The author has something to say:
Thank you, everyone! 【First update】 Thank you to the little angels who voted for me or nourished me with nutrient solutions during the period from 2020-05-22 14:30:45~2020-05-23 10:59:47~
Thank you very much for your support! I will continue to work hard!
List of Idiom in Chapter 51
陽光明媚 (yáng guāng míng mèi): the sun shines brightly; sunny; the sun shone gaily; bright and sunny; to describe the weather as clear and cloudless.孤立無援 (gū lì wú yuán): isolated without external support; isolated and without help; isolated and cut off from help; acting alone without any external help.
槍林彈雨 (qiāng lín dàn yǔ): lit. forest of guns and rain of bullets; showering bullets; fierce battles with intense gunfire; pelter; a rain of bullets; a hail of bullets; battlefield; fierce fighting; heavy fire; under fire; in the thick of battle; the guns are like a forest and the shells are like rain. It is used to describe the fierce battle.
前車之鑒 (qián chē zhī jiàn): lit. the warning taken from the overturned cart ahead; previous experience of failure that serves as a lesson for oneself or others; to learn a lesson from the mistakes of one’s predecessor (idiom); lesson from the past; warning from others’ mistakes; cautionary tale; a metaphor that the previous failure can serve as a lesson for the future.
溜之大吉 (liū zhī dà jí): to sneak away; to escape stealthily; to steal away; to beat it; make a quick getaway; slip away to safety; beat a hasty retreat; take to one’s heels; make oneself scarce; flee the scene; to sneak away and get away with it (with a humorous meaning).
熱臉貼冷屁股 (rè liǎn tiē lěng pì gu): to receive a cold shoulder; to show warm feelings but meet with cold rebuke (idiom); to be snubbed despite showing good intentions.
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