Chapter 50
Note: not proofreaded
Although Zhen Yuanbai had the heart to take revenge on Shi Bufan, he wasn’t too brazen or brave. Speaking the truth, he genuinely thought that being liked by Shi Bufan was pretty good. Plus, his grudge had gone away quickly and he was once again, a well-behaved student in class. Zhen Yuanbai continued to uphold his responsibility and taught Shi Bufan for free.
They were nearing the final exam in school and they took many practice tests every day. Even more, many people surrounded Zhen Yuanbai daily, all coming over to ask him for help. Shi Bufan had seen this and felt conflicted. On one hand, he thought that they were annoying, but on the other hand, he thought that his little classmate was quite intelligent.
But glancing at his practice test, he suddenly thought that he was too far away from his little classmate.
To many, the exam week was like a nightmare. Even if they were destined to experience this, they still complained and resented it. Whenever they had to take exams, they had to brace themselves for it. But to Zhen Yuanbai, classes were common occurrences. Even more, tests filled him with joy.
While waiting for the exam to be passed down to him, it felt like Zhen Yuanbai was waiting for a delicious meal, his eyes sparkling and brightened.
Zhen Yuanbai was never pleased to just answer all the questions, but he would cautiously check over his questions, not impatient at all. He never tried to hand in his exam early and would always use up all the time wisely before walking out of the classroom calmly.
He had just walked out of the classroom when someone hugged him from behind and the warm breath sprinkled on his ears. “How’s the exam?”
Zhen Yuanbai made an ‘ok’ gesture and his eyes smiled like crescents of a moon. “How about you?”
“It should be fine as well.” Shi Bufan curled his lips up and said, “Where do you want to play while we’re on winter break?”
“My father said that he’ll take us to a resort for a few days after the grades come out.”
“Which resort?”
“90,000 Miles Resort.”
Shi Bufan laughed right then. 90,000 Miles Resort was the name of a spa resort and it was in the neighboring city. It would only take about an hour or two by plane, so Shi Bufan said, “I’ll go with you.”
“We’re going on vacation as a family, so why are you tagging along?”
“There are quite a few customized rooms in the resort. There were even some villas and such. How are you guys dividing the rooms?”
Zhen Yuanbai said happily, “A while back, my father had been promoted, so he got a salary raise. He reserved the Furong Courtyard. If it snows by then, it’ll be a beautiful sight.”
“I want to go as well.” Shi Bufan shamelessly requested and said, “It’s a waste if just you guys live in such a huge courtyard. If I go with you guys, I can even share the room charge with you guys. The courtyard costs about 4,000-5,000 daily.”
Zhen Yuanbai widened his eyes in surprise and asked, “That expensive?”
“Of course it’s expensive.” Shi Bufan said, “How many days are you guys planning to live there?”
By now, Zhen Yuanbai’s tone had softened, saying, “About 3-5 days… my father said that he’ll spend a whole month’s wage for us.”
“Your father is too hard working.”
Zhen Yuanbai softly nodded. He didn’t cook, so he didn’t know the prices of the daily necessities. He didn’t work, so he didn’t know how much his father made monthly. He only knew that his father was working in a gaming company, so he often stayed up all night to code. As he grew older and got promoted, he then started to get off work at a normal time.
“But if you go, Youxiu will be unhappy.” Walking out of the school door, Zhen Yuanbai rejected him once again and said, “It’s better if you don’t go.”
He didn’t hope for Shi Bufan to tag along either. Thinking about their relationship, how was he supposed to explain Shi Bufan’s presence? It’s not like he’s part of the family.
No matter how shameless Shi Bufan was, Zhen Yuanbai already said that his presence will dampen the family’s vacation mood. Therefore, he didn’t say more, replying, “Then nevermind.”
Although Shi Bufan’s expression was normal, it was clear that he was moody. Zhen Yuanbai knew that he had hurt him a bit by rejecting right away. While feeling guilty, he also cared for Shi Bufan quite a bit. He reached over and tugged Shi Bufan, saying, “Why don’t you wait for me to come back and then we’ll spend some time together?”
Shi Bufan laughed right away and said, “Ok.”
The scores for the final exams were out and Zhen Yuanbai took first place as usual. It was as if the people behind him in rankings could never catch up with him. Zhen Pingjin was really satisfied and he directly requested his annual leave to bring the family to the resort as a reward.
It was reasonable how Zhen Youxiu had obtained Zhen Pingjin’s favor. The two of them had a lot of the same hobbies, such as gaming and photography. Whenever they were out, Zhen Youxiu would offer to carry his father’s valuable camera. In the past, he was unable to carry it, so Zhen Pingjin would take a step forward and then look back, keeping an eye on the camera. But now that Zhou Youxiu was gradually older, carrying the camera was a piece of cake. He quickly followed his mother and brother, snapping pictures constantly.
However, it was different for Zhen Yuanbai. He was much more delicate than Zhen Youxiu. He was afraid of the heat in the summer and afraid of the cold in the winter. Even more, he was lazy and he didn’t like to play games or take pictures. Whenever he encountered the flowers and such while walking, it wasn’t enough for him to take out his camera to take some pictures. Don’t mention such a huge video camera. Plus, it was very cold today. He either hid his hands in the sleeves or his pocket. He had to place his icy phone in a place where he wouldn’t be able to touch in order to feel at ease.
Snow had come a bit late this year and the cold air was pressing, but there was still no snow. The cost to live within this huge courtyard was considerably pricy, so naturally he felt different sleeping there. Zhen Yuanbai laid for a while, but still didn’t feel sleep taking over. He glanced at the ancient styled arrangements and he felt a sudden urge to climb out of bed and write some words on the fine writing paper. Rising high.
Zhen Youxiu was strolling around with a camera before he took a picture of this scene.
Zhen Yuanbai really liked this picture, so he saved it and uploaded it to his social circle with the caption: haven’t practiced writing in a while.
Although Zhen Yuanbai wasn’t proficient in the four arts, he was very talented with words and writing. His grandfather’s calligraphy had once been sold for millions of yuan and there was a winery who specially invited him over to write. A single word was worth thousands of pieces of words. Even now, the word was still inked on the wine bottles. Every day, they were able to sell several hundreds of millions of yuans. As a child, Zhen Yuanbai had been influenced by this and although his calligraphy was still lacking, he was above average amongst the people around his age.
Quickly, the whole class liked the picture.
“A genius is a genius. Even though he’s on vacation, he still remembered to practice his calligraphy!”
“What do you guys know? This is a custom! Furong is an expensive place, so wouldn’t it be a waste if they didn’t leave something behind?”
“Class monitor, your words are beautiful!!”
“I also want to stay a night at Furong’s!! But my parents are so busy!!”
“I hope the class monitor has a fun time there!”
…
Zhen Yuanbai earnestly replied to each comment until Annoying Shi’s comment came out. “I am at Lanqing Courtyard.”
There were many characteristic residences within the resort. There were some cultured ancient styled residences and some very modernized villas and some medieval ancient castles. The buildings all had their own styles and it was neither too far nor too close. It didn’t influence one another and it wasn’t too remote.
The Lanqing Courtyard that Shi Bufan mentioned seemed to be close to Furong Courtyard. It was also an ancient style residence. Zhen Yuanbai was stunned for a few seconds before he thought about his reply before answering, only to notice that Shi Bufan had deleted it already. He had no choice but to change the page and ask Annoying Shi in private, “Why did you come here?”
“I came to look for you.”
Zhen Yuanbai’s heart skipped a beat and he felt as if something was going wrong. He immediately replied, “Don’t you dare come looking for me!”
“You dare to order me?”
“So what if I order you? If you dare to come over, I won’t like you anymore.”
This always worked and Shi Bufan hadn’t replied for a while.
Zhen Yuanbai just calmed down when he saw Shi Bufan’s threat, “I am by the door of your courtyard. If you don’t come out, I’ll come in and look for you, and then kiss you in front of your father.”
Zhen Yuanbai couldn’t win against his words. He looked at the weather outside the window and sneakily walked out of the door with a bitter face.
The moment Zhen Yuanbai saw Shi Bufan, his anxious expression turned into one of anger. He angrily rushed over and interrogated, “I already said for you to not come over. What exactly…”
“I’m going abroad.”
Zhen Yuanbai became silent and he was stunned for a few seconds before he heard Shi Bufan faintly saying, “I won’t bother you in the future.”
Zhen Yuanbai was shocked and his long eyelashes flickered, unable to understand what was going on.
“If you really don’t have any feelings towards me, we can end this now.”
Maybe it was too cold outside, but Zhen Yuanbai felt like his tongue was twisted. He never thought that Shi Bufan would’ve suddenly come over to say that to him. He originally thought that Shi Bufan came over seeking kisses and hugs… why did he suddenly come over to break up with him?
This should’ve been a good thing, but Zhen Yuanbai felt a soft pang on his heart and there was a slight crack. It didn’t hurt, but it was too sudden, and he couldn’t brush it aside.
Shi Bufan’s eyes brightened, but it was hard to detect. He looked down and said faintly, “Why aren’t you talking? Haven’t you been wanting to break up with me?”
Zhen Yuanbai didn’t know what to do and tears lingered in his beautiful eyes.
Shi Bufan turned a blind eye and said, “It’s a rare opportunity. As long as you nod, from today on, I’ll act like I don’t know you and that nothing ever happened between us.”
Zhen Yuanbai pursed his lips, but said nothing.
He felt a slight chill on his face and Zhen Yuanbai trembled from the cold. He subconsciously kept his head down and mist appeared in his eyes. He wanted to say, “Just go if you want to go. This is great.” However, he became mute and couldn’t say anything. However, water vapor appeared in his eyes and tears lingered.
Shi Bufan suddenly curled his lips up and asked, “Do you know why I came to look for you?”
Zhen Yuanbai kept his head down quietly when he was suddenly hugged from behind. Shi Bufan moved his lips to his ears, cheeks against his cold face. “It’s snowing.”
Zhen Yuanbai looked up from being in Shi Bufan’s arms and he truthfully saw the snowflakes falling down from the air, some landed in his hair while the others landed on the tip of his nose. He then realized that the slight chill he felt was snow.
“Mhm.” He answered and it didn’t seem like he wanted to say anything else. Shi Bufan’s lips touched Zhen Yuanbai’s ears and he smiled, saying, “I came to watch the snow with you.”
It was the first and last snow they will watch together? Zhen Yuanbai just thought of this when he suddenly detected something wrong. “You, you lied!”
“Who lied?” Shi Bufan said, “If you nodded, I would’ve turned around and left.”
“Then why didn’t you go?”
“But you didn’t nod your head, right?” Shi Bufan laughed sinisterly and he said, “You have no conscience. As it turned out, you’re just being a hypocrite.”
“You…” Zhen Yuanbai kept a straight face and he said, “You’re talking rubbish.”
“You’re just…”
“I won’t like a bully!” Zhen Yuanbai interrupted, probably realizing that he actually liked him a bit. Talking a bit angrily and feeling wronged, he said, “Why do you think I like you? I want to end my relationship with you so badly. You can go abroad or even leave earth to live in outer space, or even have an out-of-body experience. What does any of this have to do with me?”
Shi Bufan said, “I never bullied you.”
“If you say you like me, you like. If you say you didn’t bully me, you didn’t bully me. You’re always the one making the decisions like the Jade Emperor from the Western Paradise. When do I get the opportunity to voice my feelings?!”
“…” Shi Bufan choked as Zhen Yuanbai sniffled, his eyes teary. He said, feeling wronged, “Do you think I’m a fool? You hated me in the past, and now you like me because you lost your memory? Don’t mention that I was the one who made you lose your memory. Whatever happened when you lost your memory was basically a lie. Why do you like me?”
“Because you’re handsome and you have good grades.”
“…” Zhen Yuanbai said, “You, a rascal who causes trouble and believes that violence is the answer, will like me because I have good grades? Do you think your words are reasonable?”
The troublesome rascal restrained himself before saying, “A rooster that can’t lay eggs is a match for the hen. My father can’t give birth to me, so that’s why he’s with my mom. Therefore, why can’t a rascal like someone with good grades?”
“You think that’s because you have bad grades? It’s because you don’t want to learn! We’re not on the same road. You treat learning like crap, but I treat it preciously. Could it be that your father…”
“They both treat me like crap.”
The snowflakes fell down as Shi Bufan glanced at Zhen Yuanbai. After half a moment, he said, “You’re right. My example doesn’t make sense and we’re not the same people.”
The air was silent and Zhen Yuanbai suddenly laughed. He looked down and rubbed his eyes hard, saying, “I’m going back to sleep.”
“Do I need a reason to like you?” He had walked a few steps away when Shi Bufan suddenly said in a soft tone, as if mixed with chilliness like the icy snowflakes. “I came here late at night to tell you that it’s not enough to say I like you. I want to hug and kiss you. Isn’t that enough to prove my feelings for you?”
Zhen Yuanbai didn’t move.
“I can turn around and leave, I can go abroad and live in space…I can do whatever, but I know that even if I make up my mind today, I will regret it tomorrow.” He was so calm that it didn’t feel like the words had come out of his mouth. “You?”
Zhen Yuanbai didn’t know if he would regret his decision if he stayed firm to his decision. But he did know that he was unable to take a step forward. The wind blew at the tree, but there were no more fresh flowers, only branches. Shi Bufan chuckled in a low voice and said, “Look. I know you can’t bear to let me go.”
Zhen Yuanbai angrily turned around to glare at him. Shi Bufan stepped forward and tugged him in his arms, saying, “What is there to be displeased with, hm? As long as you promise to not back away, you can wait for me to come over as long as you don’t move. You think that you’re losing face, but do you think I’m not losing face?”
Zhen Yuanbai weighed the situation and realized that it was indeed right. He said, “I don’t like being taken advantage of.”
Shi Bufan raised his eyebrows and his feet suddenly got stepped on. Zhen Yuanbai pushed him and said, “You take a step back and I’ll take a step forward.”
He spent so much effort and finally heard a pleasing sentence. Shi Bufan was touched and Zhen Yuanbai suddenly raised his head and bit Shi Bufan’s chin. He haggled over every ounce, saying, “Can I be dissatisfied?”