Chapter 36
Proofreader: Akimi
Thankfully, there was no one on the bus, otherwise, everyone would’ve looked over.
Zhen Yuanbai wanted to bite Shi Bufan as the latter was too brazen. If they continued to keep this up, they might be exposed in school.
He was thinking stiffly that he must break up with Shi Bufan, however, would he get a beating if he mentioned it? Plus, this would contradict his plan to make Shi Bufan feel moved.
The moment Zhen Yuanbai got off the bus, he immediately stayed a distance from Shi Bufan. The latter could understand since his little classmate was shy and bashful.
Ever since they came back from the slope, Shi Bufan felt as if everyone in the classroom was the culprit who had hurt him. However, he didn’t have any evidence, so he could only observe in secret.
Zhen Yuanbai was awfully well-behaved. After he finished eating in the cafeteria, he placed his chopsticks down and stared at him.
Shi Bufan was confused.
“You, you’re going to rest in the dormitory?”
Shi Bufan understood. Zhen Yuanbai clearly wanted him to bring him over. He smiled and nodded, saying, “Go, wait two minutes for me.”
It seemed like he really started to understand things properly. Zhen Yuanbai turned around and asked shyly, “What’s the matter? Is there something dirty on my face?”
“No.” Shi Bufan thought about it. Zhen Yuanbai was becoming more and more attractive.
Once Zhen Yuanbai returned to the classroom, he closed the door, but then kept a crack open after he thought of something. He peeked over and said, “You…do you want me to hand in the homework?”
Shi Bufan had already prepared to go, but he turned back around after hearing that. He didn’t react for a while and Zhen Yuanbai had already looked away, saying, “Have a good afternoon.”
He closed the door and Shi Bufan wanted to knock on the door, but he was a bit embarrassed. He withdrew his hand and couldn’t help but laugh.
Because it was too cold, Shi Bufan stopped Zhen Yuanbai from coming over to his house every morning. Although his little classmate’s actions made him feel warm, he didn’t want him to freeze.
Zhen Yuanbai also understood his effort, so he listened and didn’t come.
The next morning, however, he was a bit disappointed and frustrated because he didn’t see him on the bus platform.
Shi Bufan’s birthday was on Thursday and two days before, Qiu Jing and the others suggested going out for fun and skipping classes. Then, Shi Bufan who had been categorized as a good student rejected the suggestion.
Wednesday morning, for the first time ever, Zhen Yuanbai came to school with an injury which led to attention. Everyone was wondering whether or not he was beaten up by one of Shi Bufan’s rivals and Zhen Yuanbai denied countless times, “No, I accidentally bumped into something.”
There was a bruise on his forehead which looked like he bumped into something. Shi Bufan had been enduring until lunch break before he dragged Zhen Yuanbai to the sports field, asking coldly, “What happened? Did the boy from last time beat you?”
Zhen Yuanbai shook his head and said, “No, I actually accidentally bumped into something.”
“How come you would bump your forehead in all places?”
“Don’t mind it.” Zhen Yuanbai slapped his hand and said, “We’re going to the library tonight and I’ll tutor you.”
“If you don’t tell me the full story, I’ll go beat him up.”
Zhen Yuanbai was anxious and hurriedly explained, “He really didn’t hit me. I did it. When I was preparing your birthday gift yesterday…I accidentally bumped my forehead.”
Shi Bufan’s eyes flickered and he said, “You prepared a gift for me yesterday?”
“Yes.”
Shi Bufan curled his lips up happily and he softened his voice, asking, “What kind of gift?”
“It was supposed to be a surprise.” Zhen Yuanbai was a bit angry and he said, “I planned on going to the library tonight and then bringing you to the mountains and then I’ll sing happy birthday to you when it was midnight. Now that you forced me to say this, look. There’s no surprise now!”
“Hm&#k2026;it’s my fault.” Shi Bufan pulled his hands and said, “What did you prepare that you can’t give me unless we’re at the tip of the mountain?”
“It’s just something good.” Zhen Yuanbai swore to protect the secret and said, “I’m not going to talk to you now. I’m going to eat.”
Shi Bufan touched his nose and couldn’t help but be happy. This made Ye Lian curious as Shi Bufan was happy for no reason. “Your little elder brother has hurt himself, so why are you still laughing?”
“What do you know?” Shi Bufan shook his head and said, “He didn’t get beaten up.”
“Then what happened?”
“You wouldn’t understand even if I told you.” Shi Bufan glanced at his little classmate sitting in front, feeling bad and moved and excited. Ye Lian gave up on probing, but Shi Bufan suddenly moved closer and said with his back against him, “He went to prepare a birthday gift for me yesterday and who knows where he bumped his head.”
Ye Lian was curious and asked, “What kind of gift can a genius prepare for you? Could it be some textbooks?”
“Scram.”
Ye Lian raised his eyebrows and said, “However, you can’t tell for sure. After all, he got himself injured, so he must be preparing some tools. It should be very romantic, right? How could a genius know how to be romantic?”
Shi Bufan was unwilling to reveal too much, but Ye Yu continued to probe, “Bring us to look. I’m so curious as to how it will be.”
In the end, Shi Bufan still wanted to boast, so he finally relented and said unwillingly, “Then I’ll allow you guys to follow along at night in secret, but you guys can’t make any noises. Otherwise…”
“I’ll kneel down and allow you to beat me up. We’re not brothers if we don’t cry together.”
Shi Bufan twirled the pen in his hand and controlled his urges, throwing himself into studying. However, he couldn’t help but wonder what kind of gift Zhen Yuanbai would be preparing. Would there be colorful balloons the moment they got on the mountain?
Then, he’ll turn in his homework whilst they were inside the hot air balloon?
He lowered his head and he couldn’t help but smile.
While being eager, he noticed that time had passed very slowly. When school was finally over, Ye Lian and the others left the room quickly as usual. Then, they would wait for the two of them by the end of the staircase. “No wonder they’re a couple. Zhen Yuanbai had prepared the surprise in advance and it seems like he was preparing to be the first one to celebrate Brother Shi’s birthday!”
“And it’s the mountain behind the library. It’ll take about half an hour to even climb up there. He didn’t skip class yesterday, so he probably went to set up the arrangements after school. It seems like he has put a lot of effort into this.”
“No.” Ming Mai said, “Am I the only one jealous of this? Brother Shi lost his memory and ended up in a relationship. Why don’t we not go? After all, do we want to see them showing affection for one another?”
“If you guys aren’t going, I’ll go.” Ye Lian narrowed his eyes and said, “I have a feeling that if we don’t go, we will regret it our whole lives.”
“You’re exaggerating too much…”
“Shh, they’re coming out.”
The three of them immediately hid.
Zhen Yuanbai carried his book bag as he walked down the stairs and said, “I’m going to tell my parents that I’m going to tutor you at your house tonight. Once we get down from the mountain, I’ll go straight to your house to sleep.”
Qiu Jing widened his mouth and expressed silently, “Their relationship has developed that quickly?”
Shi Bufan glanced over and happily, said, “Ok.”
“It’s still early. Let’s go study a while in the library.” Zhen Yuanbai explained his plan, “Then let’s go and eat around 10 pm tonight and then by the time we’re there, it will be about midnight.”
“Are you starting to prepare your plan on bringing me up the mountain without revealing anything to me first?”
“Uh, just wait until 10 pm when the library closes and then we can go eat dinner. After that, we’ll take the car to your house. When we pass by the mountain, I’ll say that we should go up to watch the stars and you will definitely agree.”
Shi Bufan nodded, a bit disappointed. Had he known earlier, he wouldn’t have asked because it was less fun now.
To Shi Bufan, as long as he was with Zhen Yuanbai, even if they were doing homework in the library, he would be very happy. After all, he could touch Zhen Yuanbai’s hands from time to time or even kiss his face. However, towards the other three people, they had been waiting for so long that even flowers would’ve wilted by then.
“I think that I am really sick.” Ming Mai said dejectedly, “Why am I not home in the middle of the night sleeping but here and watching them on a date?”
“You’re just developing feelings of love and you’re jealous.” Ye Lian said bluntly and said, “You also want to date someone. You can try looking for someone.”
Ming Mai remained silent after his thoughts were exposed.
Zhen Yuanbai’s plan went considerably well. When it was 10 pm, their stomachs were growling in hunger, so he brought Shi Bufan to eat. Their bodies which were originally freezing from sitting in the library became warm all of a sudden. He smiled and patted Shi Bufan’s stomach, saying, “Just in time. We’re going up the mountains now and it won’t be too cold.”
“There’s something I don’t understand.”
“Hm?”
“Why must we go to the mountain top?”
“Because I’m scared of making too many noises and making it inconvenient for other people.”
“…” Shi Bufan touched his chin, wondering if Zhen Yuanbai prepared to play some music in order to adjust the mood.
Therefore, he silently allowed him.
The road up the mountain at night wasn’t easy. There was only one lantern a long way from the and the light was dim. Zhen Yuanbai held Shi Bufan’s hands and he panted, saying, “I came here by myself yesterday and I had set up the tools. I accidentally slipped and bumped my head.”
“Don’t you dare do that next time.” Shi Bufan knitted his eyebrows and said, “It’s too dangerous.”
Zhen Yuanbai glanced at him and asked, “Are you touched yet?”
“I’m extremely touched.”
Zhen Yuanbai’s eyes sparkled like stars in the night and he enunciated each word, “Then it’s worth it.”
“Damn…” The three people who were following them in the middle of the night that came to eat dog food complained. Zhen Yuanbai suddenly froze and then suddenly moved to Shi Bufan’s side, saying in terror, “S-someone, someone seems to be behind us…”
During the winter evenings, not a single normal person would head on the mountains. Zhen Yuanbai didn’t even dare to look back, so he looked over and said, “Look, is it a person?”
Shi Bufan turned on his flashlight and took a look, saying, “No one’s there. Don’t be afraid. I’ll beat whoever comes over.”
He pulled Zhen Yuanbai over in his arms and said, “We’re almost here, so let’s quickly go up and then quickly come back down.”
Zhen Yuanbai hurriedly nodded.
By the time they arrived, it was two minutes until midnight. It was unsure whether Shi Bufan was tired or excited, but his heart pounded quickly and he puffed out cold air. “What type of surprise are you planning? Can I see it now?”
“You…look over there.” Zhen Yuanbai pointed at a place and said, “You can see it soon.”
It was empty over there, but they were able to see tall buildings in the far distance. Shi Bufan could detect him doing something behind him, but he held in the urges to turn around, saying, “Just what…”
His voice was suddenly interrupted by a confident and firm voice. Every morning, he would hear this voice, The opening music was powerful and vigorous. Within a minute, the familiar song lyrics exploded in his ears.
“Get up! People that don’t want to be slaves, cast our flesh and blood into forging our new Great Wall…”
As the incomparably enthusiastic lyrics continued to play, he finally understood what Zhen Yuanbai wanted him to see.
A swaying red flag suddenly rose from behind a rock, slowly rising and slowly crushing Shi Bufan’s smile.
Behind him, his little classmate started his speech while the background music of the national anthem played, “I am a member of the Chinese Youth Pioneer Team and I swear by my team that I will love China and its people. I will study and exercise, preparing to contribute my whole life to the cause of communism. Today, I will give magnificent China’s five-star red flag to my dearest…” He was bashful as he said this, “My boyfriend. It means that I will give my life…”
“Hahaha —”
They heard a burst of laughter behind them.
Zhen Yuanbai trembled and suddenly hid the book behind his back. He widened his eyes to see three young men wearing coats rolling out from behind the rock and chuckling out loud.
“I knew it! It was not a waste coming here! Brother Shi, Brother Shi was still bragging…”
Zhen Yuanbai suddenly turned around to glance at Shi Bufan and the latter who had a rigid face from receiving the present also smiled rigidly, saying, “I didn’t know they…”
Zhen Yuanbai’s tears were about to burst as he said, “Besides you, no one will tell someone else that I was going to celebrate your birthday with you.”
“…” Shi Bufan was at a lack of words and Zhen Yuanbai’s face turned redder at the boisterous laughter behind him. His tears fell down as he felt extremely ashamed and resentful that these people had heard of his oath to give his life to Shi Bufan.
He threw the book on Shi Bufan and grabbed his book bag, running off.
Shi Bufan hurriedly picked up the book and said, “Yuanyuan, listen to me…”
While passing by his unreliable friends, veins burst on his forehead as he gave each one of them a kick, saying, “I’ll deal with you guys later!”
Zhen Yuanbai had a burst of adrenaline and by the time Shi Bufan chased him to the foot of the mountain, he was long gone. This made Shi Bufan extremely anxious as this was in the middle of the night. He took out his phone to call Zhen Yuanbai when he heard noises behind him. He turned around to notice Zhen Yuanbai sitting by the pavilion not far from him.
He clearly was afraid to walk off alone after seeing that there was no one there.
Shi Bufan slowly walked over and Zhen Yuanbai was still wiping his tears. He reached over and grabbed Zhen Yuanbai’s hands, saying, “Ok, stop crying. Had I known you would give me this…” Why did I feel the need to brag?
Zhen Yuanbai felt even more upset as he said, “You don’t like it?”
“I like it. I like it a lot.” After saying that, Shi Bufan felt as if he was tongue-tied. “However, this time, it’s better…if it wasn’t so…”
Zhen Yuanbai stared at him quietly with his teary eyes.
Shi Bufan said with difficulty, “You don’t need to spend so much effort on it.”
He finally found his voice and he said, “Look at your bruised forehead. Just let it be next time and I don’t want any gifts. As long as you’re fine, ok?”
Zhen Yuanbai lowered his head and he said, “Do you think that the red flag is very useless? That is just a ceremony. The book is a real gift. According to your studies, I especially wrote 100 explanations to questions and you will definitely be able to use that.”
Shi Bufan held the book on his chest and he forced himself to say with high spirits, “I will definitely use it to my advantage and score 2nd for you.”
Zhen Yuanbai delivered another red scarf over and said, “I wore this when I was on the Youth Pioneer Team and now, I’m going to give this to you. It will bring you good luck.”
“…I like it a lot.” Shi Bufan said, “Can you help me wear it?”
Zhen Yuanbai nodded and reached over to tie the fresh red-colored scarf on Shi Bufan’s neck. The latter lowered his head and looked expressionlessly at it before closing his eyes, feeling complicated.
Zhen Yuanbai finally felt a bit happier and he touched the red scarf with longing. Then, he suddenly glanced at Shi Bufan and then again…
Shi Bufan asked, “What’s the matter? Does it look quite ugly on me?”
Zhen Yuanbai shook his head and said, embarrassed, “I want to ask you…do you feel very touched?”
“I do.” Shi Bufan said, “I also have a question I want to ask you.”
“Yes.”
“Can I turn in my homework? Turn in a lot of homework?”