Chapter 62: 63

Kou Chen has had his fair share of being called to an office.

He’d always been put into the below average group of students, so he was pretty familiar with the teacher’s office, the dean’s office, and the principal’s office. Although he’d never really went after his second year of middle school. 

It’s not like he hadn’t been called there, it’s just that those orders went in one ear and out the other.

When he was feeling respectful he would walk to the office and then suddenly turn into the bathroom or the field. If he wasn’t, then he would be walking away before the teacher even finished their sentence.

This was the first time he was happily heading to the dean’s office.

The dean looked like he had something to ask of him. 

No, them.

Him and Huo Ran.

Though it was probably just at random, and any other student would’ve been treated the same, he was still pretty happy.

The office was empty, and the dean led them in and told them to take a seat on the couch.

“Tea?” The dean asked.

“What tea do young people drink?” Old Yuan said. “They all drink other beverages.”

“Oh, there’s other drinks.” The dean pointed at the fridge. “Coca-cola and all that, get them some, Mr. Yuan.” 

Mr. Yuan headed towards the fridge in the corner of the office.

“Ah, I can get it myself,” Huo Ran leapt up from the couch and rushed in front of Old Yuan, “Please have a seat, Old Yuan.”

“Coca-cola, thank you.” Kou Chen sat back comfortably on the couch and turned to him, “We don’t have to be so polite actually, you even called him Old Yuan.”

Huo Ran immediately corrected himself: “Mr. Yuan!” 

Old Yuan waved him off: “Even I think that sounds awkward.”

Kou Chen laughed.

Huo Ran got two cans of coke, and the dean made some tea for him and Old Yuan.

“Has it gone bad?” Kou Chen sipped his coke, and then looked at the manufacture date. “I thought they were leftovers from Sports Day, but they’re pretty fresh?” 

“The teacher’s office has a fridge too,” The dean said. “You can take some drinks whenever you want, but don’t tell anyone else, there’s not enough for everyone.”

Huo Ran and Kou Chen both laughed. Although the dean didn’t smile even when he wasn’t yelling at someone, he still felt less intimidating than they thought.

“Let’s get to business then.” Old Yuan took a sip of his tea, “These two can represent the other students quite well.”

The dean nodded, and looked at Kou Chen and Huo Ran. “This is the thing, the student council came up with an idea. Rooftop confessions.” 

“Rooftop what?” Huo Ran paused.

“Jumping off rooftops,” Kou Chen looked at him. “Are you representing the old students? You’ve never heard of rooftop confessions?”

“Oh,” Huo Ran reacted, “I just didn’t realize.”

“Is it because you didn’t think that would have anything to do with our school?” Old Yuan asked. 

“Yeah.” Huo Ran nodded. “I thought there was no way the school would agree to something like that.”

“See?” Old Yuan looked to the dean. “The students have no faith in us at all.”

“If the school agrees to such an event, what do you guys think will happen?” The dean asked.

“Confessions, obviously.” Kou Chen said. “A bunch of people saying ‘I like you’ and all that, it’s called rooftop confessions after all.” 

“What would you say if you went up there?” The dean continued.

“No way am I going up there.” Kou Chen said.

“Will you?” The dean asked Huo Ran.

“No,” Huo Ran smiled. “But I’ll go watch for sure, I want to hear what other people have to say.” 

“In other words, to watch the fun.” Kou Chen said.

The dean glanced at Old Yuan.

“Me? I would go up there.” Old Yuan spread his hands, “If teachers are allowed to.”

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.

“No, that’s not what I meant.” The dean took a sip of tea. 

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Old Yuan nodded. “That indeed will just be surface level ‘open mindedness’, there is no point.”

“Don’t tell parents either.” Kou Chen said. “If it’s really gonna happen, don’t invite any parents. Just thinking about a bunch of parents standing down there… If my dad was standing there, then I wouldn’t go even if I had to.” 

“The student council intends for it to be just for students to say anything they want.” The dean said. “Even though there was a set topic for your class discussion last time, everyone still enjoyed it. That’s why the student council put forward such an idea. The school will consider it as well, but we have to put more work into it, such as whether there will be anything hostile…”

“We’re not elementary students,” Kou Chen said nonchalantly. “It’s a confession, won’t you be stupid to go up there and insult someone? Most people wouldn’t do it. In case there is, just have some people there to shoo them off, what’s there to be afraid of?”

The dean looked at him and laughed.

“Interesting, right?” Old Yuan said. “I’m not sure any other kid could say something like that.” 

“Alright then, we’ll take your ideas into consideration.” The dean smiled and said, “You guys are in support for such an event, but with no parents, and no restrictions, right?”

“Right.” Huo Ran nodded.

“Thank you two.” The dean nodded at them, “You can let Mr. Yuan know if you have any other ideas, and because it’s still not set in stone, please keep it a secret.”

  

As they walked out of the office, Kou Chen whispered: “Ah, forgot the most important part.”

“What?” Huo Ran looked at him.

“Didn’t take any bribes.” Kou Chen said. “We’re gonna keep it a secret just like that?”

“Then go back for it.” Huo Ran stopped. “I’ll wait here for you.” 

“What do you mean by that? I ask, and you wait here?” Kou Chen said.

“Okay then,” Huo Ran turned back to the office building, “I’ll go with you.”

Right as he turned around, the dean was just coming down the stairs and he asked: “Is there anything else…”

“No.” Kou Chen grabbed Huo Ran’s collar and pulled him back, “I said I wanted more coke.” 

“You can go up and get it.” The dean said. “Old Yuan is still there.”

“It’s fine.” Kou Chen dragged Huo Ran away.

Huo Ran didn’t fight him, and he laughed the whole way back.

“How brave of you.” Kou Chen stopped as he dragged him to the streets. 

“What?” Huo Ran laughed as he adjusted his shirt. “You complained about me not going with you, so I’ll go with you to ask for hush money.”

“Come on.” Kou Chen said. “To the cafeteria.”

There were a couple members of the student council at the cafeteria, whispering to each other as they ate. 

Lu Huan and Wu Xiaochen were there, and they smiled and waved at them.

Kou Chen bought some snacks and drinks, and then they found an empty table a bit further away to sit down.

“Forget Lu Huan, we don’t talk much anyways,” Kou Chen whispered. “Wu Xiaochen that traitor, she’s always posting online, but she didn’t even hint at something like that.”

“Maybe they were bribed.” Huo Ran laughed. 

“Ah,” Kou Chen munched on a pack of beans. “If it really happens, we can make Jiang Lei go up and yell, ‘Lu Huan I like you!'”

“No way, he’d rather go up and yell ‘Xu Zhifan I love you’ than that.” Huo Ran said.

“Coward.” Kou Chen laughed.

“You’re not planning on going up either.” Huo Ran said. 

“I don’t have anything to say,” Kou Chen said. “I’m not someone that needs an opportunity like this to vent whatever I’m holding in, if I have something to say I’ll just say it.”

“Yeah, I don’t have anything to say either.” Huo Ran thought about it. “But I really do want to hear what other people have to say, is it just me?”

“No,” Kou Chen said. “I think everyone would feel the same, they all wanna know what other people are thinking. I’m gonna invent a mind-reading machine, I’d become the richest man in the world.”

“Top-up my card first, will you? Mr. Rich Man.” Huo Ran said. 

“My ass,” Kou Chen got out his own card and threw it onto the table, “Take that.”

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“Empty?” Huo Ran picked it up and shook it.

“What are you saying?” Kou Chen said. “It’s been topped up for ages, I’ve been waiting for your money to run out so you have to live on the streets.”

“You’re crazy.” Huo Ran laughed. 

Because of their promise to the dean and Old Yuan, they didn’t tell the rest of their friends anything as they waited for an official announcement.

The dean sounded like they did want to hold the event, seeing as Fuzhong was always more ‘open’ than the other schools.

  

Half a month later, something finally happened.

Wei Chaoren went to the bathroom during second period, and he returned looking excited.

“I saw the student council moving a big poster to the hall,” Wei Chaoren motioned with his hands. “It was pretty big, at least two metres tall. It wasn’t done yet.”

“What poster?” Xu Zhifan asked. 

“It might be for a rooftop confession,” Wei Chaoren leaned over the desk and lowered his voice, “I saw a peek of the words, ‘top and fession’.”

“What top and fession?” Xu Chuan paused.

“Are you dumb, Chuan-ge?” Wei Chaoren wrote it down, “Rooftop confession, top and fession.”

“Since when were you so smart?” Jiang Lei looked at him incredulously. 

“I was always smart.” Wei Chaoren said. “Don’t group me in with yourself.”

“No,” Jiang Lei said. “We’re only in the same group now.”

“Fuck off!” Wei Chaoren glared.

“What’s a rooftop confession?” Hu Yi asked. 

“You go up on the rooftop and yell out something you’ve been holding in.” Xu Chuan explained. “It can be for someone else, or it can just be something you’ve always wanted to say.”

“Ah,” Hu Yi thought about it. “Then I’ll go up there and tell the lunch lady at the third window to stop shaking so much, she literally shakes off all the meat.”

Everyone burst out into laughter.

  

The school approved the student council’s idea, and announced that the rooftop confession will be held in three days.

The news excited the whole school. Winter break was too short and busy after all, and nobody had a way to release all of their pent up energy, so the event was received with enthusiasm from the entire school.

It was also the most popular thing the student council has done lately, so they were hard at work. The poster was beautiful, and whoever designed it was probably a fan of Mondrian, since the background consisted of bright geometric shapes and lines. You could see it hanging off the gymnasium wall from miles away, but Rooftop Confession wasn’t what was written on it.

It read: ‘I’m standing on the rooftop, and I have something to say.’ 

Probably to give the participants more freedom to speak, but Huo Ran thought that Old Yuan might have been responsible, to prevent too much content that parents wouldn’t approve of.

“I’m standing on the rooftop,” Kou Chen pointed at the poster, “And I will take off.”

“Why don’t you go fly then?” Huo Ran asked.

“Nah,” Kou Chen said. “I’m teaching Jiang Lei how to fly. He wants to go up, but he’s afraid that it will make things awkward for Lu Huan.” 

“Then what?” Huo Ran asked.

“He doesn’t have to say ‘I like you’ specifically. He can say I really admire you, and that he’s very lucky to have met a girl like her.” Kou Chen said. “And wish that she will always have such a beautiful smile or something like that, that way neither of them will be embarrassed.”

“Kou Chen.” Huo Ran looked at him in shock. “I have a wish.”

“Go ahead,” Kou Chen said. “Gege will make it come true for you.” 

“Hearing you say all that,” Huo Ran said. “I really want to see you confess to someone.”

Kou Chen laughed and didn’t say anything.

Huo Ran didn’t say anything either, he tried to imagine a scene of Kou Chen and a girl…

He couldn’t quite do it. 

And it feels a bit weird too.

He didn’t want to say that out loud, Kou Chen would beat him up.

It felt like a male puppy that he’d raised for years was suddenly drooling over a female puppy…

“Forget it.” He said, stopping his imagination. He mentally apologized to the faceless girl that he just compared to a dog. 

“I can’t help you with that,” Kou Chen tsked, “I’m just saying this stuff, if I were to really do it, there’s no way… no way, no way, no way.”

“I’ll change it to I wish you wouldn’t play with that keychain of yours in the middle of winter.” Huo Ran said. “Is that better?”

Kou Chen paused for a moment before staring at him: “Huo Ran, you’re the most hypocritical person I’ve ever fucking met!”

Huo Ran choked on his laughter. 

He’d already wanted to laugh when Kou Chen was spitting out his no way, no way’s.

The rooftop take off event started during the second period of the afternoon. Actually, a bunch of people snuck out of first period early to take up the good spots around the gymnasium.

Like Xu Chuan and Xu Zhifan, for example. 

These two were usually pretty good students, but they actually just skipped first period entirely. They even sent a picture in the group chat of the cleanest spot on the roof of the old equipment shed in front of the gymnasium that they marked off with their jackets.

“They didn’t even call us!” Jiang Lei stared at his phone between his legs in outrage.

“They went right after lunch.” Hu Yi said,

“Why didn’t you say anything then?” Wei Chaoren stared at him. 

“How was I supposed to know they were going to save us a spot?” Hu Yi said. “Aren’t you and Jiang Lei the ones that usually break the rules like this?”

“Why are you excluding Kou Chen from that?” Jiang Lei said. “Kou Chen’s the number one rule breaker here!”

Hu Yi turned around and glanced at Kou Chen: “He’s sitting right there.”

“I can’t get through to you.” Jiang Lei looked around the room, “Fuck, it feels like a lot of people left?” 

Huo Ran looked around as well, and saw that there were indeed quite a few people missing. Most of them probably didn’t even come in the first place. No wonder good student Zhifan and Xu Chuan went to get a good spot.

“Let’s go.” Kou Chen threw his book on the table and stood up.

With his lead, almost everyone else in the classroom stood up as well, and they headed out the door.

A few steps out, someone looked over at the office building and startled: “Fuck, Old Yuan’s watching us?” 

Everyone jumped at that, and they all looked over. Old Yuan was looking at them through the windows with a cup of tea in his hands. Everyone froze, not knowing whether to continue forwards or go back.

Old Yuan took a sip of his tea and made a shushing motion, before closing the blinds to the office.

Everyone immediately rushed outside in silent excitement. On the first floor, they saw that everyone in Humanities 3 were still in class as Liang Mulan looked them over fiercely.

“Poor guys,” Jiang Lei whispered. “There won’t even be spots left on the trees at this rate.” 

Jiang Lei was right. When second period started, the bigger trees were all full of people, and some student council members stood by the smaller ones to make sure nobody touched them.

“First off, we have to thank the school for their support, as well as the teacher’s openness and trust in us!” The student council president yelled from the rooftop.

“We can hear them pretty well.” Huo Ran sat on the roof of the equipment room and dangled his legs with the rest of them. “Maybe they’ll have some people go up first to start us off.” 

“Jiang Lei can go first!” Wei Chaoren said. “You were so excited just now.”

“Shut up.” Jiang Lei swung his legs back and forth quickly, “I’m so nervous right now I could pee.”

As they all laughed, the student council announced the official start of the event, and everyone else cheered.

Unexpectedly, quite a few people appeared on the rooftop. There were actually so many people that weren’t afraid to go first? 

Admirable.

When the first person appeared by the railings, they all exclaimed in surprise: “Holy shit, He Hua?”

He Hua stood with her head down and squeezed the railings tightly, either from nervousness or fear.

After everyone quieted down, she still didn’t speak. She kept her head down, like she was reading off something. 

“Did she fall asleep?” Kou Chen whispered.

Right then, He Hua suddenly looked up. She leaned onto the railing and yelled loudly: “Kou Chen!”

“Fuck!” Kou Chen startled, grabbing Huo Ran and hiding behind him.

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