Chapter 38

The scratch on Huo Ran’s side wasn’t anything, but he felt that Kou Chen was gonna crush him.

He hugged him tightly, and Huo Ran almost couldn’t breathe. 

Good thing Xu Chuan came over and tugged Kou Chen’s arm: “Okay, okay, you’re gonna suffocate him like this.”

Kou Chen stayed like that for a few seconds before finally letting go. He looked at Huo Ran and tsked: “Just with that? Weak.”

Huo Ran felt his gratitude deeply with that hug, and even almost because of his own actions, but Kou Chen went back to his original self with just one sentence.

He sighed: “Seeing as I’m hurt and all.” 

He lifted his shirt again, it had already stopped bleeding and was healing up.

They walked Tao Rui back, and she took out her phone to call someone. As for if it was the police or the ex-boyfriend’s parents, they didn’t stick around to listen.

“Huo Ran, you’re such a great friend.” Wei Chaoren repeated that seven or eight times as they walked back.

“Reacted quickly too,” Jiang Lei said. “If it were me, I’d have to see the guy, see that he was holding something, and then think about if I should block it or not and how I should do it…”

“No time for all that,” Huo Ran said. “You’ll get it if it ever happens to you.”

“Huo Ran.” Kou Chen looked at him, “From now on, just say the word, no matter what…”

“What?” Huo Ran laughed, “Even if I didn’t jump in front of you, it was just a nail file, what can it do?” 

“But we realized that after, we all thought it was a knife then, did you not?” Xu Zhifan patted Kou Chen on the shoulder, “Keep going.”

Kou Chen immediately turned back to Huo Ran: “Just say the word, I’ll do anything you want me to.”

“Nice.” Xu Zhifan patted him again with a laugh.

“What are you joining in for?” Huo Ran looked at Xu Zhifan, “Since when did you get so excited?” 

“Am I?” Xu Zhifan asked.

“He’s the calmest of us all,” Xu Chuan said. “Makes me want to call him ‘ge’ every time.”

“Come on, Chuan-ge.” Xu Zhifan laughed.

  

They rested a bit on the bleachers, and then it was time for the afternoon events.

The 100 metre finals were first, and as Huo Ran was waiting to check in, everyone in their class had already split into two groups, one waiting at the starting line and one at the finish line.

“Your injury,” Kou Chen stood behind Huo Ran with an arm around his shoulders and asked quietly, “It’s fine, right?”

“Barely worse than a mosquito bite.” Huo Ran said. 

“Really?” Kou Chen said. “You bleed from a mosquito bite?”

“Shut up, save your strength to cheer me on, okay?” Huo Ran said. He heard his name called and he flicked Kou Chen’s arm, “Let go.”

“Good luck!” Kou Chen let him go and turned to lean on Xu Chuan.

“Don’t run with me, save your energy for your race.” Huo Ran said. 

Kou Chen nodded.

Apart from Liu Yu, there was no other competition for Huo Ran.

He didn’t sign up for anything last year, and if he knew he’d get in such a conflict with Liu Yu, he would’ve signed up for anything he did. 

Gonna piss him off.

Everyone took their spots, with Liu Yu in the first lane, and Huo Ran in the second lane. Kou Chen was happy with this positioning.

“I’m going over.” Kou Chen said.

“Aren’t you gonna run with?” Xu Chuan asked. 

There were people everywhere by the track, so it wasn’t quite possible to run with him.

“Nah,” Kou Chen said. “I’ll stand here, one on each side, and scare him.”

“…Will it work?” Xu Chuan questioned.

“Of course, as long as Huo Ran doesn’t tell me to fuck off.” Kou Chen said. 

“He absolutely will.” Xu Chuan said.

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.

Kou Chen walked over with a smile. He stood on the inside of the track and hopped on the spot.

Leb Ejc lwwfvljafis rjk tlw, jcv tf aegcfv.

Bbe Jtfc rwlifv ja tlw, jcv uijcmfv ja Ole Te. Ca olgra Leb Ejc’r ojmf kjr yijcx, yea atfc tf rwlgxfv rboais joafg gfjilhlcu. 

Ccv rb atfs rabbv atfgf, bcf bc fjmt rlvf. Ktfs rwlifv mjiwis.

Ole Te lwwfvljafis ofia j yla ecfjrs, jcv tf uijcmfv ifoa jcv gluta.

As expected, Kou Chen clearly saw that Huo Ran started first as the pistol went off.

“Go Huo Ran! Go Huo Ran!” Their classmates started yelling along the track, all the way to the finish line. “Huo Ran! Huo Ran1” 

“I never fucking knew Huo Ran was so fast!” Jiang Lei jumped in excitement, “Did you see that! First place! Liu Yu can’t catch up!”

“I saw.” Kou Chen calmly watched Huo Ran run in front of Liu Yu. His heart thumped loudly in his chest, and it felt like it was gonna shatter his ribs before the race ended.

Screams erupted from the finish line. Huo Ran came in first.

The people over here started running over. 

Huo Ran squeezed through the crowd and pointed at the other side of the track: “Kou Chen, it’s almost time for your race!”

“Mhm,” Kou Chen hopped, looking nonchalant. “I didn’t check in yet.”

“It’s almost time for your triple jump too,” Huo Ran said. “Won’t you be tired doing that right after 400? Why don’t you give one up…”

“It’s fine,” Kou Chen said. “I feel so energetic right now.” 

“How come?” Huo Ran looked at him.

“There’s someone in my life who will block a knife for me.” Kou Chen bent and tied his shoelaces. “Just because of that, I’ll run 400 metres, do triple jump, and then I can still run five kilometres.”

Huo Ran looked at him in silence.

“I’m serious.” Kou Chen tied his shoes and went to rub his leg. “I have to call my sister later.” 

“Call your sister?” Huo Ran lifted his leg quickly.

“To tell her that someone blocked a knife for me.” Kou Chen straightened up and smiled brightly.

Huo Ran didn’t know that Kou Chen would care about it so much. Actually, if it were Xu Zhifan or any of the others, he probably would’ve done the same.

But to be honest, he never knew that he was that kind of person. 

So heroic.

Absolutely heroic.

Huo Ran thought about it before staring at Kou Chen and warning himself to not go along with him so quickly.

But he could tell that Kou Chen wasn’t exaggerating. He really was energetic. 

Kou Chen didn’t play around for 400 metres. He went straight for first place and the distance between him and second place widened further and further. In the end, he finished 50 metres ahead. The audience was thrilled, and the girls beside Huo Ran were screaming their heads off.

After 400 metres was triple jump. He ran over and checked in for Kou Chen.

“There’s this many people watching triple jump?” One of the girls at the table asked. 

Huo Ran just realized that there were already lots of people surrounding them.

“Look at the name,” One of the girls reminded him, “Kou Chen?”

“Oh,” The girl looked up at Huo Ran.

“I’m not Kou Chen,” Huo Ran immediately said, “He’s on his way, I’m just checking in for him.” 

The girl nodded.

Huo Ran relaxed as he saw Kou Chen heading over and he quickly left the table.

“Aren’t I amazing?” Kou Chen asked.

“Very,” Huo Ran nodded. “Keep it up, all your fans are here.” 

“Actually,” Kou Chen smiled, “I don’t know how.”

“What?” Huo Ran looked at him.

“Triple jump, I don’t know how. I’ve never learned.” Kou Chen said. “Who knows how you’re supposed to fucking do this.”

“Then hurry up and learn,” Hu Yi was a bit worried, “How are you gonna compete then?” 

“Learn my ass,” Kou Chen didn’t care in the least, “Guess I’ll disappoint all the girls, scared of me now…”

“Liu Yi!” Huo Ran ignored him and called one of his old classmates over, “You’re doing triple jump, right?”

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“Yeah.” Liu Yi walked over and greeted them, “What? I’m not gonna go easy on anyone.”

Huo Ran sighed: “My ass, who’s asking you to go easy…” 

“Not that either.” Liu Yi laughed.

“Hey!” Huo Ran said in exasperation, “Hurry, teach Kou Chen how to do triple jump. Just the steps, or else he’s gonna be showing off his long jump skills.”

“Thanks.” Kou Chen said.

Huo Ran glanced at him in surprise. Knowing Kou Chen, he thought he was gonna refuse for sure. Who knew he was so cooperative? 

But due to the time, Liu Yi couldn’t really teach him much. He could only explain the rules and demonstrate once.

Kou Chen tried it out for himself, and Liu Yi corrected him a little.

“You’ve really never done it?” Liu Yi was pretty surprised, “Doesn’t look like it.”

“I really haven’t, I just jumped around with my classmates in middle school.” Kou Chen said. 

“Nice, you have the talent.” Liu Yi said. “Are you interested in joining the track team?”

“He’s on the basketball team.” Huo Ran immediately said.

“There’s no rule against doing more than one sport, right?” Liu Yi said.

“Don’t go trying to steal my players now, okay?” Huo Ran furrowed his brows. 

“Okay then,” Liu Yi looked at Kou Chen, “I’ll come find you another day, Kou Chen.”

“Mhm.” Kou Chen nodded.

“What do you mean ‘mhm’?” Huo Ran glared at Kou Chen after Liu Yi left. “What are you mhm-ing for?”

“It’s just a mhm.” Kou Chen said. 

“You’re on the basketball team, you’re mine, got it? You only attend three out of ten practices, and you’re thinking about track? If you join the track team I’ll kick you off the basketball team.” Huo Ran said.

“I’m not gonna,” Kou Chen tsked. “I only joined the basketball team because of you, why would I join the track team?”

Kou Chen really was built for track and field. He exceeded expectations in both running and jumping. 

Nobody really knew how to do triple jump, and the first three places were always taken by athletes. There were two athletes competing this year, and just after the impromptu learning session, Kou Chen got third place.

Huo Ran watched him soar through the air in a daze.

Maybe it’s because of all the fences he’d climbed as a kid?

“Look at that,” Jiang Lei said. “I’m so jealous, when can I be like that?” 

“Aren’t you signing up for the three-legged race?” Huo Ran said.

Jiang Lei didn’t succeed in asking Lu Huan to be his partner, but Lu Huan agreed to come cheer for him and Wei Chaoren tomorrow afternoon, so he forced Wei Chaoren to sign up with him.

“He’s gonna drag me down.” Jiang Lei sighed.

“I’ll drag you down? You can carry me the whole way if you’re so good.” Wei Chaoren said. 

Jiang Lei sighed, “Not strong enough.”

After everything ended, they all headed to the cafeteria to eat, and Kou Chen was on the phone at the very back.

“Did you cause trouble?” Kou Xiao said right as she picked up. 

“Is that all that you think of me?” Kou Chen said.

“Then what?” Kou Xiao asked, “Ran out of money?”

“No,” Kou Chen said. “Huo Ran blocked a knife for me today.”

“What?!” Kou Xiao raised her voice, “Who stabbed Ranran? Did you start a fight? Someone even brought a knife? How could you let Ranran block a knife for you are you dumb? Where are you?! I’ll go with Old Yang right now…” 

“Jie, Jie, Kou Xiao!” Kou Chen cut her off. “Let me finish, Huo Ran’s fine, it’s just a scratch.”

“What kind of shitty knife is that?” Kou Xiao asked and let out a breath.

Kou Chen described the events of that afternoon briefly: “How’s that? Isn’t Huo Ran cool?”

“Come outside,” Kou Xiao said. “I’ll treat Ranran to dinner.” 

“We’re going to the cafeteria.” Kou Chen said.

“Late night snack,” Kou Xiao said. “I’ll come pick you guys up at 8:30.”

“Late night snack at 8:30?” Kou Chen asked.

“What else? Your gates close at ten, am I supposed to provide room and board?” Kou Xiao asked. 

Huo Ran was a bit speechless as Kou Chen dragged him towards the gates: “It’s not that big of a deal, really. I probably would’ve done it for anyone.”

“But you did it for me.” Kou Chen pushed him into the back seat.

“Jie, Yang-ge.” Huo Ran greeted Old Yang and Kou Xiao. 

“Ranran, you don’t need to be so polite,” Kou Xiao said. “I’m just surprised, Kou Chen’s the one that will bow and die for you. Don’t hesitate to order him around however you want.”

There’s the dying for me again, Huo Ran strongly suspected that Kou Xiao taught Kou Chen the phrase.

“Actually…” Before he could finish, something panted by his ear, and he startled with an exclamation of surprise.

Shuaishuai’s big head poked out of the trunk. 

“Good dog, I missed you so much.” Kou Chen tugged the dog over, and with his help, Shuaishuai quickly squeezed into the backseat. Kou Chen started hugging and petting it, “How come you brought this dummy?”

“Dad said you reposted someone else’s dog yesterday. A Shiba Inu too, they’re so silly. I thought you missed this dummy, so I brought him.” Kou Chen said.

“Go give Ranran-gege a hug.” Kou Chen pointed at Huo Ran.

“Don’t…” Shuaishuai had already pounced on him before he could finish, and he rubbed himself all over his face. Huo Ran hugged him, and it felt like he was holding an armful of blankets. It felt great. 

“Feels great, right?” Kou Chen pounced over with Shuaishuai, before squeezing Shuaishuai off the seat to lay on him.

But Shuaishuai didn’t give up, and he leapt back beside Huo Ran’s legs.

“Ah…” Huo Ran turned his head and leaned on the window.

With a dog and a human fooling around on him, Huo Ran couldn’t even bother to be mad. He stared out the window, feeling like there were two hyper dogs beside him. 

As they stopped at an intersection, Huo Ran saw someone standing at the crosswalk. Everyone else was crossing, but that person wasn’t moving at all.

Seeing his face, Huo Ran shot up.

“What’s wrong?” Kou Chen asked. 

“Nothing.” Huo Ran stared at the person for a while, and then got out his phone.

“Zhifan, wanna go over?” Jiang Lei asked. “Chuan-ge wants to play cards.”

“Later, you guys go first.” Xu Zhifan put his phone down.

After they all left, he picked up his phone again. There was a message from Huo Ran. 

-I saw your dad, he’s just standing at a crosswalk, should you give him a call?

-I did, didn’t answer

Xu Zhifan replied.

-still nothing from your mom? 

-no

“Who’re you talking to?” Kou Chen leaned over.

“No one.” Huo Ran put his phone back in his pocket.

“Damn,” Kou Chen started, “I was just asking, it’s not like I wanted to look.” 

“I know.” Huo Ran smiled at him, “It’s just…”

“Private, private,” Kou Chen laid down beside him and grabbed Shuaishuai, burying his face into his neck. “I know!”

Huo Ran looked at him, and felt that he was a bit too obvious just now. He reached out and flicked his ear: “Angry?”

“Don’t be so full of yourself, you can’t make me angry.” Kou Chen pushed his hand away and replied, muffled in Shuaishuai’s fur. 

“Yeah right,” Kou Xiao said. “You’ll get angry at everyone.”

“I want to end our brother-sister relationship.” Kou Chen said.

“See that?” Kou Xiao pointed at him and said to Huo Ran, “Angry. Wanna bet he’ll go after Old Yang if he says something?”

Huo Ran started laughing, and he pet Shuaishuai on the head. 

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