MW(R) Chapter 26

Chapter 26: Let’s go on a date

WangHao helped ZhangYang into the back of the taxi. ZhouDu sat in the front passenger seat with a scowl on his face and gave WangHao the stink eye.

ZhangYang, who had originally been silent, saw WangHao being scolded and defended him, saying, “This wasn’t his fault.”

ZhouDu said ‘hmph’ unhappily, his face turned cold, and he stopped talking.

WangHao hung his head, sitting next to ZhangYang without a word. He looked uneasily at ZhangYang beside him, and eventually whispered out a ‘sorry’.

ZhangYang raised his hand and patted the other’s shaggy head. He sighed and said, “If you don’t like studying, then I won’t force you anymore.”

WangHao was suddenly anxious. He blushed and defended, “I don’t dislike it.”

ZhouDu spoke coldly, his words cutting even deeper. “I already told you before not to bother with him. He’s hopeless.”

WangHao viciously kicked the back of ZhouDu’s seat in anger.

When ZhangYang was finally sent home from the hospital, it was already eleven o’clock at night. ZhouDu and WangHao were childhood friends; both lived in the same wealthy neighborhood. WangHao did not dare go home with injuries. On the way back, he stammered to ZhouDu, “Can you let me stay at your house tonight?”

“No way,” ZhouDu refused coldly.

WangHao was dejected for a long time, then an idea suddenly flashed in his mind. He looked at ZhouDu, cleared his throat and said, “Don’t you want to know what XiaYao likes?”

ZhouDu, without batting an eyelid, looked at him and asked, “You already found out?”

“Uh huh.” WangHao nodded his head repeatedly.

ZhouDu raised an eyebrow, signaling him to speak. WangHao bargained and said, “I don’t want that model anymore. Can’t you give me shelter for the night instead?”

“First tell me what he likes.”

WangHao looked left and right, and seeing that there was no one around, he moved in close to ZhouDu’s ear like he was about to tell him some important secret and said, “He likes An Pengpeng.”

ZhouDu’s complexion immediately changed, and gritting his teeth he said, “Who told you that?”

WangHao shrugged. “Is this something that even needs to be told? Everyone in the class can now see that there’s something between those two.”

“Bullshit!” ZhouDu furiously roared, “How come I can’t see it?”

“Oh, ZhouDu, I’m not trying to insult you. Look, ever since we were young, there were many girls who had crushes on you; did you discover any of them? The school flower could have done everything besides carving ‘I like you’ on her forehead, and you still wouldn’t get it. I suspect you have a problem here.” WangHao pointed to his forehead and finally let out a sigh. “It really is a waste having such a handsome face; what a pity.”

ZhouDu froze for a bit and said, “From childhood until now there were people who liked me?”

WangHao couldn’t help but roll his eyes and said, “Do you still remember LiuFei who used to live in one of the houses in the row behind ours?”

ZhouDu shook his head.

WangHao blew his lid and said, “We all used to go to the same elementary school. You can’t remember any of it?”

ZhouDu frowned and thought for a bit before saying, “It seems like there was such a person.”

WangHao went on to say, “In middle school, her family was going to move to a different city. One time after school, that little girl was extremely sad and cried in front of you, and you actually ending up saying, ‘Your snot is dripping out,’ and from then on she did not dare face you.”

ZhouDu suddenly realized that and said, “I remember it now, but what does that have to do with someone liking me?”

WangHao showed a sympathetic expression and said, “ZhouDu, whoever ends up in a relationship with you in the future will also be extremely unlucky.”

ZhouDu unhappily said, “What do you mean?”

“Do you know how to have a relationship? You’re a blockhead. Whoever dates you will definitely be furious.”

ZhouDu lifted his foot and kicked, but WangHao quickly dodged it. Then, he cheaply moved in front of him and said, “You’ll let me stay over tonight now, right?” However, ZhouDu ruthlessly rejected him.

“Why?!” WangHao protested. “I already asked you and you’re going back on your word?”

ZhouDu coldly said, “What you heard was wrong.”

“Eh?” WangHao had a confused look on his face.

ZhouDu was unwilling to explain anymore. He quickly started running, leaving the other person far, far behind. He thought, XiaYao and An Pengpeng didn’t have anything between them. The person who actually had something with XiaYao should be ZhouDu himself.

The next morning, ZhouDu had two very dark circles under his eyes when he came to class. Before going to bed last night, he kept thinking about the sentence WangHao said to him—whoever ends up in a relationship with you will be extremely unlucky.

He did not want to admit it, but after thinking it over carefully, he realized that he really didn’t have any love experience. He liked XiaYao very much. Apart from sending him home every day and doing homework together, ZhouDu also wanted to do something that everyone else does when in a relationship.

Unfortunately, he didn’t know what he should do. Even his plans to pursue XiaYao were something that Jiang Shiwen helped him come up with. He couldn’t possibly go to Jiang Shiwen for everything. Moreover, XiaYao already said he didn’t want other people knowing their business, so it was even more impossible for him to ask Jiang Shiwen how he should act in his relationship with XiaYao.

“Will I be given the cold shoulder by XiaYao?” ZhouDu thought with trepidation. This caused him to spend all night immersed in a panic that XiaYao would discover he didn’t know how to have a relationship, and then toss him aside.

“I will definitely not let this happen,” ZhouDu secretly vowed.

XiaYao sat in his seat and could not help but want to look back at ZhouDu. With the time taken for him to pick up five pencils, he finally discovered that ZhouDu seemed to have something on his mind.

XiaYao’s first reaction was to wonder if ZhouDu was starting to have regrets. The thought of such a possibility instantly made his face pale. XiaYao anxiously sat in his seat, completely unable to concentrate on paying attention to the English book in his hands.

After class, XiaYao got ready to go to the bathroom. In the hallway, he happened to meet ZhouDu who was about to enter the classroom. He nervously wanted to say hello to him, but he did not expect ZhouDu to lower his head and hurry past him, as if he did not want to see him at all.

XiaYao felt as if his whole body had fallen through a hole in ice; he was so cold his teeth chattered.

In fact, ZhouDu was not deliberately trying to ignore XiaYao. On one hand, he was afraid of XiaYao finding out about the fact that he didn’t know how to be in a relationship. On the other, ZhouDu kept in mind the words that XiaYao had said to him – when at school, they could only be ordinary classmates.

He really wanted to talk with XiaYao, but he was also afraid that he couldn’t stop himself from spouting things like ‘I like you,’ so he could only walk past him in a hurry.

XiaYao was absentminded all day. When school let out in the afternoon, he continually raised his head to peek at the classroom door. Seeing that the person he missed was not waiting there, his face finally showed a disappointed expression.

He packed his school bag and got ready to leave, but at the classroom door he saw An Pengpeng.

When An Pengpeng saw XiaYao, she quickly blushed and stammered, “You don’t need to be on duty today, right?

After XiaYao found out how An Pengpeng felt about him, facing her again was always a bit uncomfortable. He said ‘yeah’ and also asked, “You don’t need to, either, right?”

Someone walked past the two of them and deliberately bumped into XiaYao. XiaYao, who wasn’t paying attention, was bumped onto An Pengpeng.

“I’m sorry,” he quickly apologized.

An Pengpeng blushed and said, “It’s okay. Are you heading home? Let’s go together.”

Their two houses were not in the same direction. Even if they walked together, they could only go the short distance from the school building to the school gate.

XiaYao didn’t want to affect An Pengpeng’s frame of mind, so he nodded his head and the two people walked outside the school side by side.

As ZhouDu didn’t want to make XiaYao feel awkward or embarrassed, he deliberately waited at the school gate beforehand, thinking that as soon as XiaYao came out, he could follow behind him and send him home.

To this end, he also deliberately found an excuse to refuse WangHao who had been trying to drag him to go visit ZhangYang. However, what he never thought of was, XiaYao would be coming out of the school gate together with An PengPeng.

ZhouDu could not describe the rising anger he felt at the moment. He wanted to grab XiaYao and ask him what he meant by doing that. Didn’t he already say that he liked him? Why was he with An Pengpeng yet again?

He stared blankly as XiaYao and An Pengpeng smiled and said goodbye to each other. When he saw XiaYao walk past him, he finally lost his reason and hurriedly chased after him.

He followed behind XiaYao without a word, and XiaYao knew instantly when ZhouDu walked up. He turned back several times wanting to talk with ZhouDu, but seeing ZhouDu’s scowl, he ultimately remained silent.

XiaYao walked very slowly, and ZhouDu followed very slowly. When the two people reached the small alley, ZhouDu suddenly rushed forward and held XiaYao in his arms.

“Now there’s no one,” ZhouDu said quietly.

XiaYao finally let go of his troubled feelings. He laid his chin on ZhouDu’s shoulders and smiled.

ZhouDu hugged him just like that for a while until he was no longer angry, then he reluctantly released XiaYao.

“Why do you want to be with An Pengpeng?” ZhouDu’s face took on a hurt expression. “Did you know that I was waiting at the school gate for a long time?!”

XiaYao did not expect that ZhouDu would be waiting for him at the gate, and with an apologetic face he said, “I’m sorry, I didn’t see you. I thought you had already gone home first.”

“So you went together with An Pengpeng?!” ZhouDu accused.

XiaYao felt that he had only walked from the school building to the school gate with her, but seeing ZhouDu look so angry and anxious, his heart instantly melted. Trying to soothe ZhouDu, he said, “It was my fault. Next time I will definitely only go home with you.”

ZhouDu twisted his head to the side.

XiaYao looked left and right, and seeing that there was no one, he then asked in a whisper, “Do you want to kiss, ZhouDu?”

ZhouDu immediately turned his head back, and with sparkling eyes, he nodded. XiaYao quickly kissed the corner of his mouth, and then blushing, he ran far away.

“See you tomorrow!” he waved hard at ZhouDu.

ZhouDu dazedly looked at XiaYao’s smiling face, and with red ears, he stuttered, “See, see you tomorrow.”

After returning home, ZhouDu sat in front of his desk, touching the corner of his mouth from time to time. One moment he was laughing giddily and the next moment he was frowning. When he thought about WangHao saying that he didn’t know how to have a relationship, he felt very anxious and scared.

Suddenly, he had an idea; he thought of a solution. Since he couldn’t ask the people around him, he could just go on the Internet and use Baidu.
t/n: Baidu is a Chinese search engine like Google

ZhouDu felt that he was simply too smart. The Internet was sure to have instructions on how to have a relationship.

After eating dinner, ZhouDu took advantage of the gap between his father coming home and his mother accompanying his little sister in order to sneak into his father’s study.

ZhouDu turned on the computer and entered “How to have a relationship.”

The first answer that popped up was—how to properly have a relationship. ZhouDu excitedly entered the website.

While he browsed, he committed the contents to memory.

First of all, you need to ask the person you like for their phone number. ZhouDu thought for a while. He seemed to remember XiaYao saying he didn’t have a cell phone. Then, this step he couldn’t accomplish.

Give her things that she likes. ZhouDu didn’t know what XiaYao liked. He decided to find an opportunity to beat around the bush a bit.

Go on a date. ZhouDu looked at those few words before he finally reacted. That’s right, weren’t dates the most important part of a relationship? He was like a martial arts master who suddenly got a rare book of secret techniques, and he was ecstatic.

ZhouDu quickly followed Baidu’s dating procedures and made arrangements. Most of the answers said to take the person you like to the movies, to eat, and finally to find a small empty park and walk for a while, etc.

ZhouDu discovered that he liked all of these suggestions very much. He couldn’t help but look at it over and over, keeping the relationship bible firmly in his mind.

This week, there were monthly exams on Thursday and Friday. After testing, the school would have two days off. ZhouDu decided to take advantage of the weekend after the monthly exams. He wanted to go on a date with XiaYao.

Just thinking of the word date, ZhouDu’s mind suddenly seemed like it had been steeped in a candy jar – it was exceedingly sweet.

He couldn’t help but want to run to XiaYao’s side right now and tell him about the plans for the date this weekend. With this excited mood, ZhouDu successfully had another restless night.

The next day in class, as soon as XiaYao opened his desk, he discovered that someone had put a note there. His first reaction was to look over at An Pengpeng’s seat, but An Pengpeng wasn’t here yet.

ZhouDu sat expectantly in his seat, waiting for XiaYao’s reaction after reading the contents of the note.

XiaYao opened the note. On it, in large and elegant script, there were five words—Let’s go on a date.

He looked at the familiar handwriting, and couldn’t help but look back in ZhouDu’s direction. ZhouDu raised his eyebrows at him. XiaYao smiled and mouthed at him across the crowded room—okay.

ZhouDu looked at XiaYao’s delighted face and his heart suddenly skipped a few beats. My dear XiaYao, why are you so beautiful?