Chapter 24 – Argument
Novel Title: 我们已经分手了 (We Have Broken Up)
Author：御小凡 (Yu Xiaofan)
Translator: K (@kin0monogatari)
Protagonists: 刘帆 (Liu Fan -MC), 陈谦 (Chen Qian -ML)
*Please read at Novels Space.space, the original site of translation. TQ*
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Sun Yiyi used the excuse of peeling fruit to pull Liu Fan into the kitchen, leaving Chen Qian and Liu Xing smoking in the living room. “Fan Fan, I want to ask you something.”
Liu Fan had a bad feeling. “What is it?”
Sun Yiyi asked seriously, “Have you and Chen Qian done it yet?”
Liu Fan: “…”
Sun Yiyi continued seriously, “Did you use protection?”
Liu Fan: “…”
His inner self is crumbling a bit.
“Did you use protection?” Sun Yiyi grabbed his wrist, asking with a righteous face, “Whether he’s doing you, or you’re doing him.”
As she spoke, Sun Yiyi looked Liu Fan up and down suspiciously. She then hesitantly asked, “It should be him doing you, right?”
With thunder crashing in his ears, Liu Fan felt like he was going through a tribulation. How was he supposed to answer this question? “Mom… you…-“
“-Anyway,” Sun Yiyi said solemnly, “Always use protection. Gay men especially need to pay attention to this, do you hear me? Don’t buy cheap ones. If they break, leaving that stuff inside isn’t good. Buy good lubricant too, otherwise it’ll hurt your body.”
Liu Fan, with tears in his eyes, nodded heavily. He felt both touched and mortified, “I understand… I’ll definitely be careful… Mom… We won’t buy cheap ones…”
Seeing his serious attitude, Sun Yiyi was satisfied. She peeled a plate of fruit and had him take it out.
This meeting went very well. The two parents’ wishes were fulfilled. Chen Qian was good-looking, financially stable, seemed to take good care of Liu Fan, and they had known each other since childhood. Most importantly, Liu Fan liked him! As long as he wasn’t single anymore, it couldn’t be more perfect.
After leaving the Liu family home, the two maintained a tacit silence. When you know someone for a long time, this happens naturally. Even without talking, they understood what the other was thinking.
Chen Qian’s parents were very different from Sun Yiyi and Liu Xing. They were complete opposites. Liu Fan also felt this situation was difficult to handle. But lying to Sun Yiyi and Liu Xing about this wasn’t really necessary.
Chen Qian said in a not-so-good tone, “Let’s go to your place to get some things, then to my place.”
“Today?” Liu Fan calculated, “It’s not even the weekend yet.”
Chen Qian was silent for a moment, “Then let’s not go.”
Liu Fan was also a bit annoyed. How could this person’s mood change so quickly? Even if he didn’t agree, hadn’t Liu Fan kept quiet about it at the dinner table?
The atmosphere in the car was tense. When they reached the apartment complex, Liu Fan unbuckled his seatbelt, “I’ll go up first then.”
Chen Qian finally spoke, “Take the things from the trunk.”
Liu Fan was surprised, “You bought them for me?”
Chen Qian just glanced at him. He got out of the car and took bags from the trunk. He then tossed them to Liu Fan. One bag of fruits, one bag of snacks – they’re all food.
Liu Fan, holding the large packages of food, said awkwardly, “This is too much. I can’t finish it all. Are you fattening me up like a pig?”
Chen Qian mocked, “Isn’t that exactly what I’m doing?”
Then he frowned and asked, “Can you carry it all?”
After all, that much fruit had considerable weight. Liu Fan lifted his hands, “No problem.”
“Forget it,” Chen Qian mumbled, reaching to take everything back. Liu Fan quickly grabbed them, their eyes meeting. Liu Fan pursed his lips, “I can carry it. Chen Qian, you don’t need to treat me like a girl.”
Chen Qian took a deep breath, feeling incredibly frustrated. It took several seconds for him not to shout, “Am I wrong for being nice to you? Are you a masochist?”
“Of course not…” Liu Fan clicked his tongue, unsure how to express that Chen Qian’s strong desire to take care of him sometimes made him uncomfortable. Finally, he pushed the bag of fruit into Chen Qian’s hand and held his free hand, shaking it, “This is better, right?”
After a long pause, Chen Qian gruffly grabbed Liu Fan’s hand and dragged him into the elevator. Liu Fan said; “Stay at my place tonight. I’ll make breakfast in the morning.”
Chen Qian snorted, “What will you make? Fried scallions with toast?”
Liu Fan then remembered the sparse contents of his refrigerator.
…that’s so sad.
But there were eggs. So tomorrow morning it would be boiled eggs with toast. He happily decided on this.
Liu Fan coughed twice and pulled Chen Qian back home. He washed some cherries, put one in his mouth, and handed the plate to Chen Qian. He also put one in Chen Qian’s mouth. “By the way, General Manager Chen, what are we going to do about the meeting you promised my parents? Keep postponing it?”
Chen Qian spat out the cherry pit, “Don’t worry about that.”
“It’s not that. I just think it’s not good to deceive my parents like this,” Liu Fan pondered, choosing his words carefully. “You’ve seen what my parents are like. They can understand…”
“Do you have to make my family’s business known to everyone?” Chen Qian impatiently interrupted. “Whatever your parents think is their business. You can’t expect every family to be like yours.”
Liu Fan retorted in surprise, “When did I want everyone to know? Is telling my parents the same as telling everyone? How long can you keep up this lie? What will you say when the time comes? This is completely different!”
Chen Qian suddenly became agitated, raising his voice, “Don’t you know what your mom is like? She can even talk about her son being gay everywhere! I see you’ve taken after her, missing a screw in your head!”
“What do you mean by that, Chen Qian?!” Liu Fan was also angry now. “We’re trying to discuss something and you bring my mom into this! You just ate so much of her cooking tonight, doesn’t your stomach hurt saying such things about her?!”
“I feel like vomiting right now!” Chen Qian slammed the plate onto the coffee table. The glass surface was slippery, and he used too much force. The plate slid off onto the floor with a crash, shattering.
Liu Fan didn’t understand what was happening. Everything was fine just a moment ago, and suddenly the atmosphere had changed. But looking at Chen Qian’s expression, he seemed even angrier than Liu Fan.
He laughed bitterly out of anger, “What’s wrong with being gay? My mom and I don’t care, why do you care? Are you ashamed of being gay?”
“Don’t give me that!” Chen Qian clenched his fist, as if looking for something to punch. “Isn’t it true that your mom is trying to set you up with men everywhere? Is she so afraid her son won’t have anyone to sleep with?! That guy you had dinner with last time was your blind date, wasn’t he? And you lied to me saying he was just a friend!”
Liu Fan: “…”
Liu Fan suddenly realised. Damn, so that’s what this is about!
Sun Yiyi certainly wouldn’t be so tactless as to mention blind dates in front of Chen Qian. Thinking it over, it must have been Liu Xing…
Dad! Even if you had to spill this, why didn’t you give me a heads up?!
So this was why Chen Qian had been in such a bad mood since leaving the Liu family home. Liu Fan thought painfully, maybe being scatterbrained was a genetic defect in the Liu family. He couldn’t blame his mom for this.
“Why are you getting jealous over this now? It’s all in the past,” Liu Fan felt a bit guilty. But he also thought Chen Qian was being unreasonable to get so angry over this. “That was after we had already broken up! We hadn’t seen each other for seven years – who knew we’d end up like this now!”
As soon as he finished speaking, Chen Qian’s expression changed. The shock and anger on his face almost scared Liu Fan. “Are you saying you never even considered getting back together with me?!”
“That’s not…-” Liu Fan couldn’t finish before Chen Qian kicked the coffee table. The glass edge slammed into the opposite wall with a loud crash.
“What the fuck!” Liu Fan stood up, cursing. “Chen Qian, when will you stop?! I only met those blind dates once! Oh, are you some love guru? Li Yu was so obvious, are you really that clueless?! Who knows what happened between you two since you were always together?!”
“Enough! There’s nothing going on with Li Yu! Your ability to jump to conclusions is truly professional. I can’t argue with you anymore. I don’t want to hear your nonsense!” Chen Qian suddenly stood up, his height half a head taller than Liu Fan. He looked very intimidating. His eyes were bloodshot, showing he was extremely angry. “Get the fuck out!”
With those words, both fell silent. They instantly shut up.
Many years ago, during their last argument, these were the exact words Chen Qian had shouted. Then, Liu Fan stormed out. He slammed the door and disappeared for seven years.
Liu Fan somehow felt calmer. He thought; why am I arguing with him? What’s there to argue about? Things are broken now, better clean up the plate first…
As soon as his numb brain finally thought of something to do, Liu Fan moved. But just as he started to move, Chen Qian called out in panic, “Wait!”
Liu Fan looked at him calmly, wondering what now?
Chen Qian’s expression changed several times before he shouted angrily, “Fine, you don’t go out. I will!”
Liu Fan: “…”
He couldn’t hold back anymore and burst into laughter, covering his forehead. After laughing for a while, he said, “Who’s leaving?”
Under Chen Qian’s uncertain gaze, Liu Fan pointed to the kitchen while still laughing, “Bring the broom over, let’s sweep the floor. Oh, and pick up the cherries. We can still eat them after washing.”
Chen Qian: “…”
“Why eat something that fell on the floor? Don’t we have more?” Chen Qian muttered as he turned to get the broom. Liu Fan first picked up the larger pieces, leaving the smaller debris for Chen Qian to sweep. The coffee table was beyond saving, its surface covered in countless cracks.
Chen Qian swept all the fallen cherries into the trash bin, “Don’t we have other fruits? Let’s eat those first. We’ll buy more cherries tomorrow.”
Liu Fan was tempted to tease Chen Qian by saying something like ‘But I want cherries. Go buy some for me now’. But he decided against it. An argument was too draining. They needed time to cool off.
So Liu Fan just said slowly, “We need to buy a new coffee table.”
Chen Qian mumbled, “We’ll buy one.”
Liu Fan: “We’ll use your card.”
Chen Qian: “Fine.”
As they talked, Liu Fan started to feel better. He decided not to eat any fruit and went straight to the bathroom to wash up, getting ready for bed. Chen Qian had been secretly watching Liu Fan’s expression. Seeing him return to the bedroom, Chen Qian hesitated for a moment before following him in.
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*Translator’s Note: CQ is still traumatised with LF leaving. It’s cute but also sad at the same time. *sighs* -K
Next update: 2024.09.29
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