MW(R) Chapter 34

Chapter 34

Translated by Lia of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Even after they had departed from Jiang Shiwen’s place, XiaYao still couldn’t bring himself to look ZhouDu in the eye.

Just a moment ago, as ZhouDu finished up the last push-up, he suddenly, either deliberately or perhaps genuinely tuckered out, and just lay himself flat on top of XiaYao.

XiaYao was just about to help him up, when ZhouDu unexpectedly pecked him on the neck, scaring XiaYao stiff. With that many pairs of eyes on them, XiaYao felt both nervous and exhilarated.

The gathering at Jiang Shiwen’s carried on with only her little girl friends and boyfriend remaining. Since ZhouDu never wanted to attend from the get-go, he made something up and copped out of there with XiaYao as soon as he saw the chance.

XiaYao thought that Jiang Shiwen gave him a rather meaningful look before he left, so he touched ZhouDu lightly on the arm and asked, “Um, Jiang Shiwen, she… Does she suspect us?”

Because he found that XiaYao seemed to care greatly about other people’s opinion of them, ZhouDu didn’t dare give XiaYao a straight answer to that question, let alone confess that Jiang Shiwen already knew what could be known about their relationship.

“Are you hungry? Let’s go for a late night snack.”

XiaYao shook his head, “It’s late, we should get home. Oh yeah, are you free tomorrow?”

ZhouDu paused for a moment and said, “What’s up? I may be accompanying my mom to the mall tomorrow.”

ZhouDu’s mother’s postpartum confinement had ended and she planned to find a time for the whole family to invite XiaYao’s family over for dinner. Mrs. Zhou thought that a dinner party was long overdue, but due to her confinement, she hadn’t gotten around to it. Now that she was no longer in confinement, she planned to bring her son to the mall in order to pick out a gift for XiaYao.

After all, they were peers, so ZhouDu’s mother reached the conclusion that she could use her son’s opinion.

Upon having heard ZhouDu’s response, XiaYao replied hastily, “Nothing, just asking.” He originally wanted to ask ZhouDu along to the bookstore tomorrow, but now that ZhouDu had something planned, he decided to go on his own and not bother him over such trifles.

“Is it really nothing?”

“It’s really nothing.” XiaYao smiled and urged, “Let’s hurry back.”

ZhouDu glanced at XiaYao and inched toward him to whisper in his ear, “Don’t you want to know the answer to that question Jiang Shiwen asked me?”

XiaYao was caught off guard, and only after a few minutes, he recalled what Jiang Shiwen had asked. He replied with a blush creeping up his cheeks, “I know who it is.”

ZhouDu looked at him with surprise, “You know?”

XiaYao nodded and took a few quick strides ahead. ZhouDu followed close behind and kept on asking, “How did you know?”

XiaYao had no intention of enlightening him, but ZhouDu persisted, “You certainly do not know. I didn’t even say it aloud, how would you know?”

XiaYao stopped dead in his tracks and turned to look ZhouDu straight in the eye, “I know.”

“Then tell me who it is.” ZhouDu’s eyes sparkled with anticipation as he gazed at XiaYao.

XiaYao’s face burned up as he whispered, “It’s me.”

After standing stupefied for several seconds, ZhouDu’s face flushed. He shot XiaYao a guilty glance and asked, “How did you know?”

XiaYao couldn’t bring himself to answer his question. He couldn’t just tell ZhouDu, “I jack off to you every time, too.” Luckily for him, ZhouDu didn’t dwell on it and left once he had dropped him off at home.

*

Early the next morning, just as XiaYao blinked his eyes open, his cell phone began to ring. He took it out and saw that the caller was ZhouDu.

“Hey.” His husky voice was sending tremors that coursed through ZhouDu’s entire body, leaving him weak in the knees.

ZhouDu: “Did I wake you?”

XiaYao: “No, I was just about to get up.”

ZhouDu heard the rustling of XiaYao’s clothes as he was getting dressed, and a shameless idea came to him. “XiaYao, give me a kiss.”

With one hand holding the phone and the other pulling on clothes, XiaYao asked after a moment of confusion, “Ah? How do I kiss you if you’re not here?”

A loud “Muah” came out of the blue from the other end of the phone. XiaYao blushed, he now understood what ZhouDu meant.

He held his phone out before him, stared at the microphone for a moment, then proceeded to also press his lips to his phone.

“Hehe,” ZhouDu giggled. After having heard someone seemingly rush him in the background, ZhouDu then reluctantly ended the call with XiaYao.

XiaYao cleaned up for a bit and then left the apartment. He had planned to pay a visit to that big bookstore located downtown because they had a vaster collection of materials there.

Today was a warm day. When XiaYao stepped off the bus, he found the sun glaring down fiercely at him. Fortunately, the bookstore wasn’t too far away; despite that, when he completed his walk over, a thin layer of perspiration covered his back.

The bookstore was packed on the weekend. XiaYao ran up to the High School Data Area on the second floor. After perusing the materials for the better part of a day, he made up his mind on which ones he wanted. He walked down the stairs with books and papers in his arms intending to pay.

The checkout counter on the first floor, however, had a long line. XiaYao gave it some thought and decided that he wasn’t in a rush anyway, so he found a place to sit and started on a book.

He was engrossed in the book when he felt a tap on his shoulder.

XiaYao looked up in surprise to find a beautiful girl smiling back at him.

“Hi, XiaYao~”

For a moment, XiaYao stared at her puzzlingly and thought to himself that she looked familiar. Once the girl realized that XiaYao didn’t recognize her, she puffed out her cheeks and complained, “I am Fang Yaoyao, we’ve even gone to the movies together, have you forgotten?”

XiaYao responded then.

“It’s you.” Quickly with an apologetic smile, he added, “Sorry, I’m a tad face blind.”

“Oh, it’s all good, it’s all good.” Fang Yaoyao set the bag she carried down on the table and took a seat next to XiaYao.

“How come you’re here alone, where’s that hottie from last time?”

“He had plans for today.”

“Oh, I see.” Disappointment flashed across Fang Yaoyao’s face.

XiaYao asked, “How about you, are you here by yourself too?”

“Nah, my brother’s over there.”

Fang Yaoyao raised her arm and pointed, and only then did XiaYao discover Fang Zeyu nestled behind several rows of bookshelves.

He looked at his back guiltily. If they’re keeping score, ZhouDu had already picked fights with the man twice for his sake. XiaYao believed Fang Zeyu to be quite the innocent victim in all of these instances.

“What are you buying?” Fang Yaoyao strained her neck and leaned in front of him to see the reference book in his arms.

Sadly, the book was all in English. Wearing a frown, Fang Yaoyao bit her lip and said, “I can’t even read one single word on there.”

XiaYao found her artlessness to be endearing, so he softly read aloud the title of the book.

XiaYao’s perfect pronunciation immediately blew Fang Yaoyao away, she regarded him with awe, “You’re amazing, my brother and I aren’t good with school. My parents say that the both of us are brother and sister dum-dums.”

She was mid-sentence when a hand knocked on her forehead.

“You may be a dum-dum, but don’t drag me into it.” Fang Zeyu appeared before them with a few books in his hands.

Fang Yaoyao covered her forehead and scowled, “If you’re not a dummy, then what are you? You all-brawns-no-brains jock.”

Fang Zeyu rolled his eyes at her and directed his attention to XiaYao. He eyed XiaYao from head to toe and asked, “You didn’t bring your violent little brother along with you today?”

XiaYao was left awkward and didn’t know how to respond so he shook his head.

Fang Yaoyao interjected hastily, “Have you given your brother my number?”

Her question managed to further put XiaYao out of countenance. He noticed that there were fewer people at the checkout and quickly changed the subject, “Since the line’s shorter now, we should head over and pay.”

Fang Zeyu looked at XiaYao thoughtfully, and then stood up first to head for the checkout.

After the three had paid and stepped outside, the heat grew even more unrelenting.

Initially, XiaYao had planned to go home straight after. Fang Yaoyao, however, had other plans. She nagged unceasingly at Fang Zeyu to get her ice cream, and to her delight in the end, Fang Zeyu had yielded to his sister’s demands.

“Come with us,” he said to XiaYao.

XiaYao hesitated and shook his head.

“What, afraid that your brother will fight me again?” Fang Zeyu ribbed with a smile.

His words made XiaYao mortified. He shot a glance at Fang Zeyu and said, “I’d like to officially apologize on behalf of him. He can be headstrong sometimes, please don’t take it to heart.”

Fang Zeyu patted XiaYao on the shoulder, “If you don’t want me to take this to heart, then come have ice cream with me.”

XiaYao gave in, because upon having heard Fang Zeyu’s response, he felt like declining the offer was no longer an option.

He initially wanted to treat them, but Fang Yaoyao waved his offer away, “I’m telling ya, my brother’s filthy rich, so you can’t help him save one penny. He won the championship of that whatever school sports competition thing that he enrolled in a couple of days back. The school gave him another bonus again.”

While she spoke, Fang Zeyu had already gone over and lined up.

“Oh no!” Fang Yaoyao exclaimed, “I forgot to tell my brother which flavour I want. No, I’d have to go see for myself, otherwise, he’ll definitely choose the grossest one they have for me.”

She sprinted away the second the last word had left her mouth.

Not long after XiaYao sat down, Fang Zeyu approached him with two ice cream cones in his hands.

“Where’s your sister?” XiaYao abashedly took the ice cream cone he had been offered, and asked this.

Fang Zeyu replied, “She’s exactly what people would call a drama queen. The flavour she must have has run out and they’re making more in the back right now. It’s fine, just let her wait all she wants.”

The ice cream shop was large, and the vast majority of the patrons were couples. XiaYao and Fang Zeyu were seated across from each other and suddenly felt a little awkward.

Fang Zeyu glanced at XiaYao’s purchased book and pointed at it, “Are you good in English?”

XiaYao nodded; Fang Zeyu frowned and said, “I find English to be very difficult.”

After a moment of thought, XiaYao said, “I can tell you for a fact that learning English isn’t very difficult at all. How about I recommend you some English reference books? If you study them, maybe it will help.”

“Sure.” Fang Zeyu said gladly, dug out his phone and asked, “What’s your number? Text me the list, so if I don’t understand something I can hit you up.”

After XiaYao gave Fang Zeyu his number, Fang Zeyu saved it on his phone and dialled. XiaYao took out his phone and saved the unknown number as Fang Zeyu.

ZhouDu and his mother came out of the mall. The two originally planned to drive and leave directly to the next place, but Mrs. Zhou spotted the ice cream shop that stood opposite the mall straight away. She grabbed ZhouDu, who headed for the underground garage, saying, “Son, let’s go get some ice cream.”

ZhouDu gave his mother a disapproving look, “You are just done with your confinement and you want to eat that?”

“Oh, I craved for ice cream during confinement, but your dear father wouldn’t let me have a lick for the life of him. Come on, let’s go secretly enjoy a little bit of it today.”

ZhouDu couldn’t help but nod and let his mother have her way.

Once the pair had entered the ice cream shop, while ZhouDu looked for a place for his mother to sit, the sharp-eyed Mrs. Zhou immediately spotted XiaYao. Without missing a beat, she took a hold of her son and made a beeline for XiaYao.

ZhouDu looked up and saw XiaYao who was eating ice cream alongside Fang Zeyu.

Right then, his expression instantly darkened into an angry glower.

Translator’s note: Postpartum confinement/ confinement is a system of recovery after childbirth in some parts of the world. In China, this custom is known as “Sitting the month”, it is recommended for new mothers to get plenty of rest and nourishing foods for recuperation during this month-long period.