Chapter 14
Proofreader: Akimi
If it weren’t for how peculiar Shi Bufan had been acting for the past few days, Zhen Yuanbai wouldn’t have the desire to roast and talk behind his back. If he knew that he was standing behind him, he would never have had the guts to talk about him.
He never would’ve thought of how quickly he was caught talking behind his back.
“Good father” Zhen Yuanbai turned around timidly, holding a corn porridge in one hand and the baked sesame seed-coated cake. He was guilty and scared.
Shi Bufan walked closer to him, but Zhen Yuanbai subconsciously took a step back. Shi Bufan shoved his backpack in his arms and said, “Bring my backpack back for me.”
Zhen Yuanbai hurriedly wrapped his arms around the backpack and stared at him with his pitch-black eyes. Shi Bufan curled his lips and lowered his head to say “I’ll settle our accounts later.”
Zhen Yuanbai shrunk back right then.
Song Mo swallowed his saliva and followed him, running back to the classroom. He murmured, “What does he mean? Is he going to beat you up?”
Zhen Yuanbai’s face paled, but he didn’t say anything.
Song Mo came up with an idea. “How about we tell the teacher?”
How would Zhen Yuanbai dare to? He was the one who talked behind Shi Bufan’s back. He deserved the beating.
When Shi Bufan returned, it was already the last class in the afternoon. Their clothes were disheveled and Qiu Jing had minor injuries on his face, clearly he went out for a fight.
The moment the four of them walked in, everyone in the room started to move aside and allow them to go back to their seats. The moment Qiu Jing laid his head on the desk, he went back to sleep. On the other hand, Shi Bufan stopped by Song Mo and raised his brows at Zhen Yuanbai.
Zhen Yuanbai tried his best to minimize his existence, but after Shi Bufan sat down behind him, his laugh made his hair stand up.
The second the bell rang, Zhen Yuanbai acted as usual and urged Song Mo to go to the cafeteria after the teacher left. But, Shi Bufan suddenly called out, “Wait for me.”
Song Mo immediately said in a low voice, “I’ll go call a teacher for you.”
Zhen Yuanbai had no choice but to stop and sit down. However, Shi Bufan suddenly took out a green bubble tea out from the desk and took off the plastic bag. While Zhen Yuanbai had no idea what to do, Shi Bufan jabbed the straw in and pushed the bubble tea over, saying in a wicked manner, “I’m respecting my father.”
“…” Zhen Yuanbai was suspicious, thinking he poisoned the bubble tea. At the very least, it would make him have diarrhea. He said weakly, “In the morning, I was joking…”
“You were joking?” Shi Bufan said as if he expected this. “I thought you were saying the truth. After all, I lost my memory, so I don’t even know how my father looks like.”
Zhen Yuanbai was about to cry. He lowered his head as Shi Bufan pushed the bubble tea closer to him. “Drink it. I’ll take you out for food.”
Zhen Yuanbai reached over with trembling fingers and cupped the bubble tea with both his hands. It felt like he was a completely different person from when he said he became a father at such a young age in the morning. Shi Bufan was about to chuckle hysterically.
Zhen Yuanbai sucked on the straw and took a sip with teary eyes. Shi Bufan propped his chin up and asked, “Is it good?”
How would Zhen Yuanbai dare to say it wasn’t? “It is great.”
“If it’s good, then drink some more. Let’s go to the cafeteria now.”
He walked in the front and seeing how slowly Zhen Yuanbai was walking, he turned around and held him by the waist. “Why are you scared? I’m not going to hit you.”
On the hallway, Song Mo rushing Ji Yanping towards the classroom. “Why is he hitting Zhen Yuanbai for no reason?”
“Zhen Yuanbai insulted him.”
“Zhen Yuanbai knows how to insult someone?!” Ji Yanping was biased towards Zhen Yuanbai. “Then Shi Bufan must’ve done something first.”
Shi Bufan hooked his arm around Zhen Yuanbai’s shoulders as they walked out, bumping into Ji Yanping coincidentally. Song Mo immediately moved behind her and Ji Yanping paused before she said, “You guys&#k2026;seem to be getting along pretty well.”
Zhen Yuanbai kept his head down while Shi Bufan said, “Of course. I even bought him milk tea.”
Ji Yanping went to confirm this with Zhen Yuanbai and the latter nodded stiffly. After verifying that Zhen Yuanbai wasn’t beaten up, she was slightly more relaxed. “Fine, quickly go eat lunch. Every day…you won’t give me a moment of peace.”
Shi Bufan stared at Song Mo and he ran off quickly.
Zhen Yuanbai also wanted to follow suit, but Shi Bufan wouldn’t allow him. Holding the intention of getting it over with, Zhen Yuanbai finished the bubble tea before they arrived at the cafeteria. After he finished, he allowed Shi Bufan to look at the empty cup. “I finished drinking it, so are we even now?”
“What’s even?”
Zhen Yuanbai summoned his courage to say, “Um, that I’m your father…that joke.”
Shi Bufan laughed uncontrollably and went to get food without glancing at him.
Zhen Yuanbai was fine the entire afternoon.
He didn’t get diarrhea, nor was he poisoned. He then realized later on that Shi Bufan really wasn’t angry at him.
As a result, Zhen Yuanbai finally sighed in relief.
In the evening, Shi Bufan brought him home as usual. Zhen Yuanbai couldn’t help but say, “You’re actually a decent person.”
“Mhm.” Shi Bufan reached over to press Zhen Yuanbai’s head on his shoulder, lazily saying, “Didn’t you know this already?”
Who knows?
Zhen Yuanbai thought that in the past, Shi Bufan was a super duper tyrant in his heart. Not only did he like to bully him, he also liked to stare at him harshly during class. If Zhen Yuanbai accidentally made eye contact with him one day, he would glare at him fiercely, making it seem like Zhen Yuanbai had done something terrible to him.
In the past, don’t mention talking to him, but he would walk the other way around whenever he saw Shi Bufan. Yet, he was still able to find him when he was alone, shouting his nickname or threatening him. Then, he walked off.
But Zhen Yuanbai obviously wouldn’t tell him this.
“You actually don’t need to bring me back home every day.” Zhen Yuanbai couldn’t help but look up and say, “You can go out and play with Ye Lian and the others.”
“Are they more important than you?”
In fact, they really are.
Shi Bufan accompanied him to his neighborhood when Zhen Yuanbai stopped him from continuing. “You can go back now.”
“You’re just going to let me go back like this?”
Zhen Yuanbai didn’t understand. Shi Bufan looked left and right, pulling him into an abandoned telephone booth. He directly trapped him against the wall and asked, “Aren’t you going to hug me?”
Not only was Zhen Yuanbai unwilling to hug him, he even placed his hands behind his back. Shi Bufan laughed and hugged him, saying in a low voice, “What a stingy person.”
He had already made his intentions clear, but why was this guy acting like he didn’t know anything?He’s so bashful.
There was a sweet fragrance on Zhen Yuanbai and Shi Bufan didn’t know whether it was a psychological effect or what, but he thought it was very sweet. After taking in the scent, he wanted more, as if he was addicted.
The telephone booth had basked in the sunshine the entire day, so it was very warm and hot. Zhen Yuanbai felt uncomfortable with the embrace and pushed him. In his heart, he thought unhappily: is that how you treat your good friends?
He’s jealous. Shi Bufan pinched his face and said meaningfully, “I’m only like this to my father.”
They walked out of the telephone booth and Zhen Yuanbai waved his hand at him. He walked in the door and turned around to see Shi Bufan still standing there. He waved his hand again.
This was becoming stranger and stranger. Zhen Yuanbai walked to the first building and looked back again to see Shi Bufan still standing there, unmoved. He quickly turned back around and sprinted in the building and got in an elevator.
Shi Bufan fished out a cigarette from his pocket and the corner of his lips curled up as he lit it up.
Zhen Yuanbai wouldn’t admit it in front of his face, but he was quite reluctant to part with him when they had to go.
A Volkswagen brand car drove past him and slid the car window down. Zhen Pingjin peered out to see the young man’s tall and straight figure, making him knit his eyebrows.
Zhen Yuanbai washed some fruits and brought some over to Zhen Youxiu who was playing games. The latter looked unexpectedly at him and said, “I thought you wouldn’t be back today.”
Zhen Yuanbai ignored him and brought his own plate of fruits back into his room, taking out his homework notebook. In a moment, he heard movements outside and knew Zhen Pingjin was back.
He was a bit nervous in his heart and this feeling engulfed his mind more and more as Zhen Pingjin slowly walked over in his slippers.
The door was opened and Zhen Pingjin looked over. Zhen Yuanbai raised his head and clutched the pencil in his hand tightly.
“Where did you sleep last night?”
“Um, Shi Bufan’s house.”
Zhen Pingjin furrowed his brows and asked, “You are unable to sleep in this house? You just had to go sleep in someone else’s house?”
See, he knew this would happen.
Zhen Yuanbai explained, “We ate BBQ yesterday and by the time we were done, it was already very late. I didn’t have the nerve to ask him to bring me home, so I might as well spend the night at his place.”
“You don’t know my phone number? You’re scared of troubling your own father?”
“It was already midnight, so I…”
Zhen Pingjin interrupted his words furiously. “What did I tell you? Stay away from that boy. You just won’t remember, won’t you? He even came to our house today. Why? To find you? Do you know that he smokes? He’s a bad influence to you!”
He suddenly thought of something and asked in alarm, “Did he teach you how to smoke?”
Zhen Yuanbai shook his head.
Zhen Pingjin rubbed his hand against the door and said, “Let me warn you again. Stay away from him in the future, otherwise I will beat you. Do you understand me?”
Zhen Yuanbai nodded hurriedly.
Zhen Pingjin felt a ball of anger in his body and he slammed Zhen Yuanbai’s door shut. He turned around and looked at Zhen Youxiu, “You’re still playing! You’re going to be taking the senior high school exam next year and I’d like to see how you’re going to score first place if you keep playing games!”
Zhen Youxiu tilted his head to the side and said, “You’re going overboard.”
It became silent outside and Zhen Yuanbai who originally felt stifled by his father’s scolding became amused by Zhen Youxiu’s words. He kept his head down and continued to do his homework when the screen of his phone suddenly flickered.
Annoying Shi: What do you want for dinner?
Zhen Yuanbai didn’t want to answer him for now. Since Zhen Pingjin had said that, it was very possible for him to beat him up.
He responded: I’m doing homework.
Annoying Shi: Congming is clever.
Zhen Yuanbai didn’t answer.
Qin Ying arrived later on in the evening and Zhen Yuanbai heard them talking about him in the living room. While eating, as expected, Qin Ying mentioned Shi Bufan. She gave Zhen Yuanbai and Zhen Youxiu each a drumstick and said, “Your father and I can’t control who you’re friends with but I have to say that despite how wealthy Shi Bufan’s family is, it has nothing to do with you, ok? Even if he’s willing to be friends with you or bring you out for food and fun. You need to know that he will only be schoolmates with you for one, two, or maybe three years. Do you think you guys can be together forever?”
Zhen Yuanbai said, “I didn’t go to his house because he is rich.”
“I know.” Qin Ying smiled and said, “Our Congming isn’t a vain person, but let me tell you the truth. I don’t want you around him. He smokes, fights, and even bullies students. He’s only nice to you now because you saved him. If he gets into trouble in the future, what happens if he implicates you? Our family doesn’t have that much money to spend on you.”
Zhen Yuanbai kept his head down and said, “He never brought me into any fights.”
“Then why did you stand outside of class last time?” Zhen Pingjin asked with a gloomy face. “You guys have only been together for a few days and he has already caused you to stand out of class. He doesn’t find it shameful that he is the center of attention, and you don’t as well? You’re a good kid, so why must you follow after that bad boy? We don’t care about him repaying the favor. Go and tell him tomorrow that you guys are over and for him to never talk to you again.”
When his father spoke, Zhen Yuanbai wanted to retort, but he didn’t dare. He felt a stiff feeling in his heart. His eyes slightly teared up.
Qin Ying tugged on his clothes and said, “Ok, let’s just go eat now.”
After Zhen Yuanbai finished his drumstick, he was the first to leave the table and go back to his room.
He laid down on the bed and noticed that Annoying Shi had sent him another message ten minutes again. What are you doing? Why are you ignoring me?
Zhen Yuanbai recalled his parent’s words and then the feeling of standing on the field as punishment. He hesitated, wanting to blacklist Annoying Shi. A video call unexpectedly popped up and he accidentally clicked answer, immediately seeing Shi Bufan’s handsome face.
He laid on his own bed and originally wanted to pose handsomely. After seeing Zhen Yuanbai’s face, however, he moved his face closer to the screen and said, “What’s the matter? Why are your eyes red? Who bullied you?”
Zhen Yuanbai watched him from across the screen and thought it was all Shi Bufan’s fault that he was being mistreated. He couldn’t help but scold, his soft voice containing a lot of courage, “Starting tomorrow, stay away from me.”
T/N: Happy Chinese New Year! Enjoy the extra release ahaha