MW(R) Chapter 31

Welcome to our new translator for this series, Lia. 😀 She’s going to try to get out two chapters a week depending on her schedule so we can finish the last 40 chapters of this novel.

Chapter 31

Translated by Lia of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Just as ZhouDu was ready to storm into the stadium in a huff, the physical education teacher appeared.

“Gather around, we’re about to enter the field.” The teacher blew on his whistle and clapped his hands a few times in front of his students. “Give all your phones and personal belongings to me, and come by after the competition to pick it up.”

ZhouDu reluctantly handed over his phone.

After a group of people entered the field, ZhouDu left with other members of the track and field team.

The sequence of the events was determined by sortition. ZhouDu scanned around the whole stadium and didn’t find XiaYao; instead, he discovered Fang Zeyu situated not far from himself.

Fang Zeyu was wearing a uniform for the sports competition, and joked around with his teammates.

ZhouDu gave him a fierce glare.

Fang Zeyu originally stood with the back of his head toward ZhouDu. Then, as if he suddenly felt something, he turned his head and glanced at ZhouDu.

The second their eyes met, sparks flew.

Fang Zeyu gave ZhouDu a look of disdain, then turned his head around and chatted on with his teammates.

With his jaw clenched and lips pursed, ZhouDu also turned away.

The atmosphere of the competition quickly became heated. XiaYao stood before the bleachers, tiptoeing and stretching his neck in order to get a better look at the long-distance runners. Unfortunately, it was too far away; the only thing that could be made out were the athletes dressed in uniforms of varying colours.

The lingering ardor from what was left of the Olympic Games hyped the spectators for the competition even more. Although the competition this time was only a joint sports event organized by the eight schools, quite a number of people showed up. From time to time, there would be waves of encouragements and cries of support from the crowds.

ZhouDu was initially going to take it easy for this competition, but that was before he saw Fang Zeyu here. Right then, he felt his fighting spirit stirring, thinking that later, he’d put Fang Zeyu in his place.

When the starter pistol went off, ZhouDu inhaled deeply and pressed forward vehemently with his long legs. Fang Zeyu was in the third lane and ZhouDu was in the fifth. The runners between the two had already been left behind. ZhouDu knew that long-distance running was only a matter of endurance. He adjusted his breath while sizing Fang ZeYu up out of the corner of his eye.

Once XiaYao had learned that the long-distance race had began, his heart leapt. He stared at the track ahead, and thought that he must cheer ZhouDu on when he passes by.

Eyeing the runners as they rapidly approached, XiaYao held his breath. When he caught sight of ZhouDu’s familiar silhouette, he suddenly shouted along with the crowd, “Come on! Go!”

Unexpectedly, Fang Zeyu turned to look at XiaYao, flashed him a smile and replied, “Thank you.”

ZhouDu, “…” How can one be so shameless!

If it weren’t for the race in progress, ZhouDu would definitely have let this thick-skinned bastard have it.

After the race had come to an end, ZhouDu entered the lounge. Without getting a moment of rest, he went directly next door to where Fang Zeyu’s school was staying.

The participants Fang Zeyu’s school sent to take part in the competition this time were all sports specialties students. The second ZhouDu pushed in the door, everyone’s gaze in the room landed on him.

Without warning, ZhouDu raised his fist and went straight for Fang Zeyu’s face. Fang Zeyu had learned his lesson last time, and so he dodged with his head. The classmate who stood by his side gave ZhouDu a shove and said in a menacing tone, “You’ve got some nerve to come here and start a fight, kid.”

“Get lost.” ZhouDu’s eyes were cold.

Fang Zeyu pushed past his classmate and stood opposite of ZhouDu. “You’re looking for a fight, are you?”

ZhouDu looked at him coldly.

Fang Zeyu challenged ZhouDu as he stepped outside, “If a fight’s what you want, follow me.”

After the race, XiaYao had returned to the volunteer’s lounge, where he heard the two girls next door speaking, “Did you hear? Two handsome guys were just found in the back fighting.”

“A fight? Which school’s?”

“The word is that one of them is from A High, I heard that their teachers are furious, haha.”

XiaYao’s fingers tightened around his water bottle; he quickly fished out his cell phone and dialed ZhouDu.

The ringback tone continued for a long while, but nobody picked up. XiaYao stood up, feeling uneasy. He managed to finish all his work in the morning, now he was just waiting for ZhouDu to show up and have lunch together.

He packed his things, notified the teacher that he was leaving, and left the gym.

As soon as he had stepped out, he was stopped by WangHao.

“Let’s go, I’m taking you to lunch,” WangHao said while eagerly pulling XiaYao along.

“Where’s ZhouDu?” XiaYao looked puzzled. “I heard a moment ago that a fight had broken out, it was not him, was it?”

“Uh…” WangHao scratched his head, “Let’s get lunch first, we’ll talk while we eat.”

They found a restaurant nearby, and that’s when XiaYao found out that ZhouDu got taken away by the teacher.

“It may be serious this time, I heard that many people saw it. There were onlookers from every school. ZhouDu’s done for this time, hahaha.” WangHao chortled away heartlessly. XiaYao’s brows knitted.

“Do you know who he was fighting with?”

WangHao shot XiaYao a glance and replied, “None other than that kid who stood next to you this morning.”

“Fang Zeyu?” XiaYao was even more puzzled. He remembered that ZhouDu and Fang Zeyu didn’t seem like they didn’t get along, except…

XiaYao remembered all of a sudden that ZhouDu had said, “I know that it’s wrong to hit people, but I refuse to apologize.” He realized now that the guy ZhouDu had beaten up was probably Fang Zeyu.

‘No way,’ XiaYao thought. ‘Surely, he can’t still be mad that Fang Zeyu once gave me a rabbit?’

“Where’s ZhouDu now?”

WangHao replied with his mouth stuffed, “Who knows? Probably still with the teacher. He called me just now, to tell me to bring you to lunch and go directly after to the meeting location. There’s no need to wait for him.”

ZhangYang poured WangHao a glass of tea and told him, “Talk after you finish eating.”

WangHao lowered his head, shoved some rice into his mouth and guzzled down a mouthful of tea. He consoled XiaYao. “It’s not a big deal, it’s just a fight. In the worst case, he’ll just need to apologize.”

XiaYao finished the rest of his meal lost in thought. After lunch, he went to the meeting location and waited for the afternoon events to end so he could to return to his school with the other students.

*

On Monday’s morning exercise assembly, ZhouDu stood on the podium with an apology letter in his hand.

He glanced at the crowd, and nonchalantly shook the letter open with his hands.

The First Lady glared at him while gnashing his teeth. ZhouDu grabbed the microphone. “Testing, testing.” Next, he greeted his fellow students, “Hi everyone, I’m ZhouDu.”

There were quite a few people who knew ZhouDu in the school. A burst of cheering came from below, and ZhouDu’s gaze settled on XiaYao. The two gazed at one another across the crowd.

“Quit stalling and read!” The First Lady urged from the side.

ZhouDu cleared his throat, looked at the letter and began to read.

The general idea was that one shouldn’t start trouble when representing their school in a public setting, because they’d be putting the school in a bad light.

Once he concluded the letter, the nice guys in the audience took it upon themselves to get the applause going.

The principal let out a cough and took a hold of the microphone in ZhouDu’s hand. He started out only criticizing ZhouDu, but slowly directed his words to the rest of the school.

ZhouDu stood by the principal, but his eyes stayed on XiaYao.

After the warm-up, the First Lady seized ZhouDu and gave him an earful before she let him go.

WangHao squatted by the road, waiting for ZhouDu. Seeing that ZhouDu got set free, he asked gloatingly, “How about it? Did it feel swell to have the entire school’s eyes on you?”

ZhouDu rolled his eyes at him and replied, “I don’t know, why don’t you try it for yourself?”

WangHao placed his arm around his neck and teased, “Which school does that Fang Zeyu kid go to? Let’s go pay him a visit this weekend.”

“Not interested.” ZhouDu pushed him aside and headed for the classroom.

After school, ZhouDu followed behind XiaYao, wanting to send him home, but he was intercepted halfway by Jiang Shiwen.

“We have to settle the whole New Year’s thing today no matter what.” Jiang Shiwen began dragging ZhouDu off in the direction of her family’s bubble tea shop.

XiaYao was in a jealous fury, but with a deadpan, he continued on towards his home.

When ZhouDu was just about to tell him to wait, Jiang Shiwen, who was next to him, interjected with, “Oh yeah, why haven’t you told me about you and your babe lately? Did you score?”

The words ZhouDu originally intended to call out to XiaYao got stuck in his throat. He answered perfunctorily, “Not yet, but I already have an idea. Are both of them gonna be here yet?”

“They’re coming.” Jiang Shiwen understood that ZhouDu meant that he had agreed to discuss the New Year’s plans with her. With her hands pulling him along, she quickened her pace on the way towards her family’s bubble tea shop.

As WangHao emerged from the building, he immediately spotted ZhouDu walking alongside Jiang Shiwen. He surveyed around for XiaYao, only to discover that he had crossed the road on his own.

‘Holy crap!!’ WangHao cursed in his head. He sprinted to ZhouDu’s side and with his arm around ZhouDu’s neck, he pulled him away from Jiang Shiwen.

“I was looking everywhere for you, but look at you, here you are hooking up with a babe.” He tightened his arm hooking ZhouDu’s neck, nearly cutting off his oxygen supply.

ZhouDu gave WangHao a shove and tried to kick his ass. Jiang Shiwen hauled ZhouDu away. She turned her head and looked at WangHao, “Lend me your ZhouDu for today. Don’t be jealous, be a good boy and go home~”

WangHao glared at their backs, pondered for a moment, and took off in the direction of XiaYao.

ZhangYang was asked to stay after school by the teacher right before classes ended, so he was naturally slower than WangHao. The two had originally planned to meet at the school gate, and go to ZhangYang’s place for tutoring. When he walked out of school gate, he was just in time to see WangHao’s figure chasing after XiaYao.

He stood there on the spot, dazed for a moment. After quite some time, he lowered his head with a bitter smile. Then he hailed a cab and got in.

WangHao caught up to Xia Yao, and tapped him on the shoulder. “Hey, so you live around here, huh?”

XiaYao had a lot on his mind, so when WangHao tapped on him out of nowhere, he almost had to stifle a cry of surprise.

“Oh, sorry, sorry.” WangHao hastily apologized and continued, “Scared you? Hey, I’m sorry, I can be careless sometimes.”

“Don’t worry.” XiaYao lowered his head in silence.

WangHao scratched his head, he thought for a minute and said, “That was Jiang Shiwen. Although the school is spreading rumors about those two, I can personally assure you that he doesn’t think of her like that! Let me let you in on a secret, I remembered when ZhouDu had just joined the student council in freshman year, Jiang Shiwen confessed to him. He immediately turned her down then and there. It’s been two years now, and ZhouDu has little contact with her outside of school.”

“WangHao,” XiaYao turned his head and deliberately interrupted WangHao. “ZhouDu is lucky to have a childhood friend like you.”

WangHao scratched his head bashfully.

XiaYao went on to say, “I know that there’s nothing between ZhouDu and Jiang Shiwen. I just, I feel a little bit dismayed. He and I as a couple can never appear blatantly in public.” XiaYao cast his eyes down and said in a dejected voice, “I can’t even mess around brazenly as you can with him.”

WangHao opened and shut his mouth; he didn’t know how to comfort XiaYao. When they were about to enter the alley, WangHao halted to a complete stop and proclaimed, “It’s fine, XiaYao. Even if the entirety of China doesn’t support you, as long as you two are together, I, WangHao, will give you my blessing.”

XiaYao’s nose twitched and eyes grew reddish. He gave WangHao a beaming smile.