Chapter 31: 31

Excluding basketball tournaments, Sports Day was probably the biggest school event. There was food, drinks, things to do, and you could run around the school. It was a lot more popular than the various cultural performances. Even more so this year, to the point that the third years were participating as well when they weren’t anything else.

“Anything else?” Jiang Lei turned to bend over Huo Ran’s desk, scribbling on a piece of paper. “I’ll ask my mom to bring it all over.” 

It was a list of everything they wanted to eat during Sports Day, that they couldn’t buy here.

It was mainly just barbeque.

The cafeteria wouldn’t be open at night then, so they couldn’t get barbeque.

They could only cook it beforehand, and then heat it up at the cafeteria later. 

Good thing Jiang Lei’s mom had some business over here, so they decided to have her bring some food from the best barbeque place near their place.

“Here,” Xu Zhifan said, “Just tell your mom to bring the whole stall over.”

“Can you be more realistic? Give some actual advice.” Jiang Lei said.

“I just did. Don’t write everything down, apart from some greens, we just want meat. Twenty of each.” Xu Zhifan counted, “The seven of us, plus whoever’s gonna mooch off of us.”

“It’s enough,” Huo Ran said. “That’s already a couple big bags of stuff, if we have too much everyone’s gonna steal it. Even more so with the cafeteria closed.”

“Okay,” Jiang Lei nodded, “I’ll tell her.”

“We’ll pay you back later.” Xu Zhifan said.

“My ass,” Kou Chen had his head down on his desk, “I said it’s my treat.” 

“Treat us to drinks then,” Xu Zhifan said. “This is my first time seeing someone addicted to treating people.”

“Are you guys happy?” Kou Chen smiled.

“Of course,” Huo Ran said. “Even Zhou Haichao and Liu Yu’s bunch are happy.”

“Fuck off,” Kou Chen tsked. “They got the money back.” 

“When?” Wei Chaoren asked. “They gave it back?”

“Their school already knows about it, they can’t just let them keep it.” Xu Chuan said. “But I bet Kou Chen didn’t take it.”

“That’s right.” Kou Chen snapped his fingers, “Half of it went to the class funds, and Old Yuan has the other half so I don’t starve to death.”

“The outfits are almost done, right?” Hu Yi asked. “The girls didn’t even ask the guys for their input, just our sizes.” 

“Isn’t it because they can’t trust our taste in things?” Xu Chuan said.

Although their tastes weren’t trusted by the girls, Wu Xiaochen and two other girls came over with a bag as Huo Ran and the others were cleaning up the cafeteria after dinner.

“Huo Ran,” They whispered, “Are you busy?” 

“Hm?” Huo Ran was hard at work wiping down the tables.

Apart from Wu Xiaochen, the other two girls were in his class before, so he remembered their names. Tang Wei and Li Yiyi.

“The guys’ outfits, can you try it on?” Wu Xiaochen said. “To see how it looks.”

“I… Sorry.” Huo Ran hesitated before refusing. Just thinking about changing and having a couple girls surround him and point made him feel extremely awkward. 

“Ah, why not?” Tang Wei said. “Are you busy?”

“That’s not it,” Huo Ran looked over to Kou Chen, who was mopping the floor. He pointed at him, “Ask him.”

“…Kou Chen?” Wu Xiaochen hesitated, and the three girls exchanged glances.

“What’s wrong?” Huo Ran said. “Kou Chen’s fit, wouldn’t he be good?” 

Wu Xiaochen didn’t say anything, first they looked at each other, then they giggled before Wu Xiaochen finally said quietly: “We’re scared it’ll annoy him.”

Although Huo Ran didn’t understand why they were giggling, but in order to avoid the fate of being surrounded, he called out without hesitation: “Kou Chen.”

Kou Chen turned around.

“Try on the outfits for them, they wanna see.” Huo Ran said. 

“Please.” The girls all said.

Kou Chen narrowed his eyes and stood up straight: “Right now?”

“Mhm, is that okay?” Wu Xiaochen asked.

“Yup.” Kou Chen set the mop by the wall, “Here?” 

We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.

“Ktf mijrrgbbw?” Qe Wljbmtfc rjlv.

“Vb sbe uesr mjc rfii almxfar?” Bbe Jtfc rjlv. “Lbk wjcs qfbqif jgf lc atf mijrrgbbw? Tbe uesr klii yf glmt.”

Qe Wljbmtfc ijeutfv: “Qf mjc jrx Cecalf ab erf atflg mtjculcu gbbw.”

“Cecalf! Cecalf Itjcu!” Qlatbea tfrlajalbc, Bbe Jtfc sfiifv lc atf vlgfmalbc bo atf xlamtfc. Lf kjixfv bnfg jcv ujnf Leb Ejc tlr rkfjafg. 

“What is it?” Auntie Zhang asked.

“Is there anyone in the changing rooms? I need to use it.” Kou Chen said.

“Nope, go ahead.” Auntie Zhang said.

Kou Chen took the bag out of Wu Xiaochen’s hands, and headed towards the changing room. 

“Ahhhhh,” Li Yiyi said, “He’s so cool.”

“I know right,” Tang Wei said. “Did you see his back? It’s even cooler.”

“No,” Li Yiyi sighed. “I heard he has a really cool killer tattoo on his back.”

“A grim reaper.” Wu Xiaochen said. “What killer? It’s holding a scythe…” 

“You’ve seen it?” Li Yiyi asked.

“No,” Wu Xiaochen sighed in regret, “I was on a diet that day, so I missed it.”

“You diet on specific days?” Huo Ran couldn’t help but ask.

“Yup,” The girls laughed, “That’s the point you focused on?” 

“The point is supposed to be the grim reaper, right?” Huo Ran asked.

“You’ve seen it, right?!” Tang Wei asked.

Now that you underestimate me.

Not only have I seen it, I’ve seen the whole thing. Not only have I seen the whole thing, I even fucking hit it… 

“Mhm.” Huo Ran cleared his throat.

“I wanna see too…” Tang Wei exaggerated her sigh.

“Self-restraint!” Wu Xiaochen laughed.

Kou Chen changed pretty quickly, walking out a few minutes later. 

“Oh my god.” Li Yiyi looked at him.

“So handsome,” Tang Wei said. “It suits him so well.”

Huo Ran didn’t say anything, only raising an eyebrow as Kou Chen walked out.

The outfit consisted of a baggy hoodie with shorts, and with the hood on, it made you look like you were about to shoot off on a skateboard. Although he didn’t get why they made it like streetwear, he couldn’t deny that Kou Chen looked pretty handsome. 

“What inspired this?” Kou Chen put the hood on, hiding half of his face.

“The other classes are all doing really youthful and cute designs, and cosplay or something.” Wu Xiaochen said. “And after thinking about it, we had to make something cool to stand out.”

“We wanted suits at first,” Li Yiyi said, “But Old Yuan said it wouldn’t get to be worn often, so considering practicality, we decided on this.”

Huo Ran nodded. 

“Youth is me!” Tang Wei waved her hand, “I am the best!”

“Set sail and cut the waves!” Li Yiyi waved her hand too, “Nobody can stop me!”

Huo Ran clapped for them.

“Is this good?” Kou Chen asked. 

“It’s great, thank you.” Wu Xiaochen smiled. “The guys in our class are all pretty well-proportioned, so they should all look good.”

“What are the girls wearing?” Kou Chen asked.

“The same thing but different coloured hoodies.” Wu Xiaochen said. “And shorter shorts.”

“Won’t your legs get cold?” Kou Chen looked down, “It’s already November, Jiejie.” 

“We have leggings.” Li Yiyi said.

“…Oh,” Kou Chen said. “And we don’t?”

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“You guys gotta bear with it, wear more layers on top. You can change after we line up.” Wu Xiaochen said. “We’ll have people to hand out pants.”

Huo Ran couldn’t help but laugh: “You guys are pretty thorough.” 

There were always more people in the infirmary before Sports Day. When they skipped evening self-study, they saw two guys in there, one with a twisted ankle and one one with scraped knees from practice.

But today, only an older Dr. Liu was in the infirmary.

“Where’s Dr. Tao?” Xu Zhifan asked. “Isn’t it her shift today? I saw her before dinner.” 

“Something came up, just ten minutes ago. We’re almost off anyways.” Dr. Liu said. “Did you guys need her for something?”

“It’s fine.” Xu Zhifan said.

They left the infirmary and stopped under a tree by the gates.

“Someone’s disappointed.” Jiang Lei said. 

“And not just one person.” Wei Chaoren said.

“What came up that she couldn’t wait until after work?” Xu Chuan said.

“Going for food or back to class?” Kou Chen asked.

“Food.” They all replied at once. 

As they were about to turn back, they saw someone walk through the gates.

There usually wouldn’t be anyone coming in at this time, and the door for visitors was already closed. They looked over in curiosity.

The infirmary wasn’t far from the gates, and they soon saw who the person was.

“Holy shit,” Xu Chuan said, “Isn’t that the ex-boyfriend?” 

“Who’s?” Wei Chaoren asked.

“Mine.” Xu Chuan looked over, “What do you think? Tao Rui’s ex-boyfriend!”

At that, they all recognized him. Seeing as they just saw him a couple days ago.

“What’s he doing here?” Huo Ran said. “Tao Rui left because he was coming, right?” 

“That must be it.” Xu Zhifan said.

They stood a few metres away from the door, in case the ex-boyfriend tried something.

But he only walked in and talked to Dr. Liu, probably asking about Tao Rui, before leaving.

Right as he turned around, he was met with the seven of them. 

The ex-boyfriend froze, recognizing them. He stared at them for a while, but didn’t say anything.

“I’m warning you.” Kou Chen said.

Huo Ran really admired Kou Chen for the way he could control his voice during these moments. Just his voice could give off the menacing aura.

Who knows if he would secretly practice it at home… 

The ex-boyfriend still didn’t say anything. He stood there in silence for a couple seconds before walking off to the gates.

“Holy shit!” Jiang Lei exclaimed. “That’s not from any affection or reluctance now, it’s just plain creepy.”

“I’d be ashamed of myself if that were me.” Xu Zhifan said.

  

Tao Rui took leave, and didn’t come to work for the next few days.

“We should’ve added her WeChat.” Xu Chuan laid on his desk. “Great, we can’t even ask her what’s up.”

“We can call her.” Xu Zhifan said. “Dr. Liu probably knows it, but that’s a bit…”

“We can only wait.” Xu Chuan said. “Tao Rui’s eyes are pretty big, how could she be so blind to find such a boyfriend?” 

“Huo Ran,” The sports representative came over, interrupting the conversation. “Let me know who’s signing up for basketball, I’ll hand the list in.”

“Huo Ran, Kou Chen,” Huo Ran said. “Wei Chaoren…”

After those three names, he paused and looked around the class. “Hold on.”

“What?” The guy was surprised. 

“Kou Chen…” Huo Ran repeated.

“Hm?” Kou Chen perked up from the other side of the aisle.

“I’m not calling you.” Huo Ran said, continuing to list the names, “Huo Ran, Kou Chen…”

“What do you mean you’re not calling me?” Kou Chen said. 

“Shut up!” Huo Ran glared at him.

“Just put all the guys that are over 178cm, there’s not that many anyways.” Kou Chen said. “We play together during gym class, they’re not bad.”

Huo Ran looked at the sports rep.

“Just like that?” The sports rep asked. 

“Huo Ran, Kou Chen, Wei Chaoren, Jiang Lei, and you.” Huo Ran. “Five starting players. You can just put whoever for the rest, enough to switch in and out.”

“Okay.” The sports rep nodded and left.

To the humanities classes, Sports Day was a bit of a depressing thing. Especially for the guys. 

Huo Ran wasn’t planning on signing up for anything, but in the end he was still dragged into a bunch. 100-metre dash, high jump, and relay.

“Yours are okay.” Kou Chen said. “I have to do 1000-metre. Old Yuan came to me crying saying that nobody signed up.”

“Why you?” Huo Ran asked.

“Because, I obviously look like the kind of person that can do anything.” Kou Chen said. 

“…What else did you sign up for?” Huo Ran asked calmly.

“Triple jump, 400-metres,” Kou Chen said. “And relay.”

Huo Ran startled: “Can you do it? 400 and 1000 are on the same day!”

“As long as it doesn’t start at the same time,” Kou Chen smirked, “There’s no problem.” 

“Fuck.” Huo Ran turned away.

In terms of bragging, if Kou Chen said he was second place, then no one dared to claim first place.

“You gotta come cheer me on.” Kou Chen said. “And then take a picture of me coming in first.”

“Are you sure you’ll be first?” Huo Ran said. “What if someone’s in front of you?” 

“Impossible.” Kou Chen said.

“Fine, impossible.” Huo Ran nodded. “If there is, I’ll help you beat them all up.”

Kou Chen laughed, reaching out to pinch his cheek: “You’re so fun.”

Huo Ran smacked his hand away: “Fuck off back to your own spot.” 

“Nope,” Kou Chen looked at his seat,” Xu Zhifan’s asleep.”

Huo Ran tore a page off of his notebook, crumpled it up, and threw it at Xu Zhifan.

Xu Zhifan jerked up.

“It’s self-study.” Xu Chuan said, stopping him from standing up immediately. 

“What?” Xu Zhifan saw the ball of paper and turned around.

“You…” Before Huo Ran could finish, he heard a commotion from the direction of the office building.

Someone was yelling, someone was cursing, and a glass smashed to the ground.

Afternoon self-study wasn’t taken up by any teachers, so the whole class was dozing off. At the sudden noise, they all perked up. 

“What’s happening?” Someone asked.

Jiang Lei opened the blinds and they ran to the window to see.

Kou Chen pressed behind Huo Ran to look, and then he suddenly turned and ran out of the room: “Old Yuan!”

Huo Ran finally saw that in the office, someone had pinned Old Yuan to the desk and was throwing punches while the surrounding teachers tried to stop it. 

“Fuck.” Huo Ran cursed, running out after Kou Chen.

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