Chapter 76

Kou Chen had to have bitten Huo Ran’s shoulder with 90% of his strength. Even after the excited audience all left, his shoulder was still hurting.

He wanted to take a picture and check, but he didn’t want to attract anyone’s attention. He’d literally never heard of someone biting their teammate’s shoulder after winning a match. 

“Come on, let’s go home.” Kou Chen walked over with his jacket. “Old Yuan asked the reporters, they said our match will be on the news tonight at eight. They’ll also talk about our school tomorrow, something about youthfulness or whatever.”

“Oh.” Huo Ran nodded.

As he turned to pick up his jacket, Kou Chen grabbed his arm.

Kou Chen lifted his shirt collar, and exclaimed lowly in surprise: “Holy shit, what happened?” 

Huo Ran looked at him: “Come again?”

“Who did…” Kou Chen leaned closer, paused, and then quickly backed away. “Fuck, did I do that?”

“Shuaishuai did it.” Huo Ran put his jacket on. “Let’s go.”

“Does it hurt?” Kou Chen followed him.

“Yeah.” Huo Ran frowned and handed him his phone. “Take a picture for me when we’re alone, I wanna see how bad you bit me.”

“Don’t bother,” Kou Chen said. “You’ll see it when you shower later.”

Huo Ran touched his shoulder gently: “Be honest, you’re just scared I’ll kill you on the spot when I see it.”

Kou Chen laughed, putting an arm around him. 

“Does it look bad?” Huo Ran sighed.

“Yeah.” Kou Chen rubbed his nose. “I think it’s bleeding. You should disinfect it later.”

“Do I need to get a shot?” Huo Ran asked.

“Tetanus shot? It’s not that bad,” Kou Chen thought about it. “You’re out hiking and biking all the time, do you need a tetanus shot for just a little…” 

“Rabies.” Huo Ran said.

“…Fuck you!” Kou Chen yelled.

The Seven of them gathered at the school gates. They all lived in different directions, but they had to cross the same street and then they would be off on their bikes and scooters and buses. 

“Is your sister not picking you up today?” Xu Chuan asked Kou Chen.

“No,” Kou Chen said. “My uncle and his family are visiting, they’re all busy.”

“Need a ride?” Jiang Lei patted the back of his electric bike.

“It’s fine, I’ll…” Kou Chen looked towards Huo Ran. 

“Forget it, Huo Ran’s bike doesn’t have another seat.” Xu Zhifan said.

Kou Chen tsked: “I can stand…”

“Can’t stand either.” Jiang Lei said.

Wei Chaoren laughed loudly: “Damn, poor you.” 

“Let’s go out tomorrow.” Hu Yi said.

“Sure.” Kou Chen immediately agreed.

The thought of going out together on the weekends was very attractive to them. They spent all of their weekends together anyways, and it was fun even if they were just walking along the street and chatting.

“Huo Ran, does your club have any events going on this week?” Xu Zhifan asked. 

“There’s a two day biking trip next week.” Huo Ran said. “I didn’t participate in anything this week because of basketball.”

“Take me with you.” Kou Chen immediately said.

“No.” Huo Ran replied.

“We’ll discuss this again next Friday.” Kou Chen didn’t care at all. 

When they split off at the corner of the road, Huo Ran looked at Kou Chen: “How are you gonna get home?”

“I really can’t stand behind you on the bike?” Kou Chen asked.

“Nope, you won’t fit.” Huo Ran sighed. “It’s against the law anyways.” 

“I’ll call a cab then.” Kou Chen took his phone out. “Hurry back and deal with that wound, I… really did bite too hard.”

Huo Ran didn’t say anything.

It was this feeling again. Reluctance.

He had this feeling when they went camping before, but then they spent all their time together afterwards. And Kou Chen always had a ride home every weekend, so he never felt it that strongly again. 

Now after they played basketball together for two days, there was that sense of loss after all the excitement, so he felt that reluctance to part ways really strongly.

As Kou Chen called a cab, he stood there with his bike, not moving, not saying anything.

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 didn’t say anything either.

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“Let?” Leb Ejc kjr jybea ab glvf jkjs, jcv tlr kbgvr wjvf tlw qjerf, yea tf ralii reymbcrmlberis uba boo tlr ylxf.

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“Damn.” Huo Ran finally realized what was happening. He followed him to put his bike into the trunk of the car.

“So we can talk a little more.” Kou Chen smiled, opening the car door and getting in. 

Although they really just talked about the tournament. Kou Chen was still engrossed in their synchronization at the end there, and was excited. Huo Ran had originally calmed down a lot more, but he got hyped up again listening to him talk.

It felt like they barely talked before the car stopped at Huo Ran’s building. Kou Chen leaned in and whispered in his ear: “Remember to disinfect it.”

“Mhm.” Huo Ran opened the car door. 

Kou Chen also followed him out when he went to get his bike: “If you think it’s that bad, I’ll let you bite me back tomorrow.”

“Fuck off,” Huo Ran said. “You think everyone’s like you?”

Kou Chen laughed: “I’ll come find you tomorrow.”

“Okay.” Huo Ran grabbed his bike and headed towards the elevator. He waved at him, “Go on! Bye!” 

Kou Chen blew him a kiss and got back in the car.

On the road to his neighbourhood gates, Kou Chen’s mom called him: “Where are you? The food is almost ready, are you not home yet?”

“I’m almost there.” Kou Chen said. 

His uncle and his family arrived yesterday. His dad was closest to that uncle, so they would always stay at their house for a few days whenever they travelled. He didn’t know what kind of habit it was.

“Uncle, Auntie, Yu-ge.” Kou Chen hugged Shuaishuai who leapt over when he entered, and greeted everyone as he took his shoes off.

“Back home?” His uncle smiled. “Your sister said you had a tournament?”

“Mhm, it’s nothing big, just a class basketball tournament at school.” Kou Chen said. 

“It’s good to participate in events like that.” His uncle said. “You never participated in anything before.”

“If their school does a fighting tournament,” His dad said from off to the side, “See if he participates or not.”

“Nope. I’m not gonna participate in a tournament with no opponents.” Kou Chen headed upstairs with his bag. Shuaishuai kept circling and bumping into his legs, so he grabbed the fur on his head and glared, making Shuaishuai stop immediately.

His uncle laughed: “Good for you.” 

“It’s alright now. Fuzhong is a top school, it’s a way better environment than before. They’re all good students, not many of them like to fight, they focus on their studies instead.” His dad said. “It’s just that this thing’s grades are still bad. He doesn’t even try.”

“I’m taking a shower.” Kou Chen yelled back.

He usually avoided his dad when he was talking about his bad grades, in case his dad gets too into it and just starts hitting him.

“Hurry up, we’re eating soon.” His dad said. “You should be hungry too, aren’t you?” 

“Okay—” Kou Chen ran upstairs with Shuaishuai.

Shuaishuai jumped onto his bed as soon as he entered the room.

“Are your paws clean?!” Kou Chen pointed at him.

Shuaishuai flipped onto his back with his paws in the air. 

“Let gege see now.” Kou Chen grabbed his paws and inspected them, then he rubbed them. “Good. Nobody takes you out to roll in the mud when I’m not home, poor thing… Have fun.”

Shuaishuai started jumping crazily on his bed, and then he laid down and rolled around.

As he was about to shower, Huo Ran sent him a text. 

-were you trying to fucking eat me?!

Kou Chen laughed and left the bathroom. He sat by the bed and said to Shuaishuai: “Shuai! Come, act cute!”

Shuaishuai laid down in front of him, lowered his eyes, and flattened his ears.

Kou Chen took a picture and sent it to Huo Ran. 

-ranran-gege, I was wrong

Huo Ran replied after he finished showering.

-stop trying to use Shuaishuai!

Kou Chen laughed and replied. 

-does it still hurt? I really didn’t do it on purpose

-nah, I’m not weak like you, you screamed like you were gonna die from a dislocated finger

–fuck off, can we forget about that already?!

-nope, I want to laugh every time I think about it 

You are reading story Qing Kuang at novel35.com

More like you want to laugh every time you think about me, right?

Kou Chen typed that out and then deleted it. As he was about to retype his message, Kou Xiao kicked his door from the outside: “Kou Chen, are you done showering or not?!”

Shuaishuai jumped off the bed and ran to the door. He stood up and pressed the door handle, opening the door.

“Why are you still naked?!” Kou Xiao glared at him. “Who are you talking to? Get downstairs, we’re eating!” 

“Coming.” Kou Chen tsked. He looked back at his phone, and put it into his pocket after a bit of hesitation. He put on a t-shirt and went downstairs.

“That’s why I think there’s benefits to going abroad for a bit.” His dad was talking to his uncle. “If I don’t throw him into that kind of environment, he’ll always think he has more leeway. Besides, it can be an eye-opener, to see how big the world is. Better than living like this.”

Kou Chen has heard the same conversation many times. After all, his dad always lamented the fact that he was the only one amongst his siblings that never studied abroad, and a lot of the next generation had been sent out as well. 

“I’ll be the same no matter where I go.” Kou Chen was stubborn towards this topic every time. He said the same thing.

His uncle smiled and patted his shoulder: “Are you gonna drink a few with your uncle today?”

“Don’t let him drink, he’s gonna start fighting me when he gets drunk.” His dad said. “He’s older now, and I don’t want to be yelling at him all the time, it doesn’t do anything for my anger.”

“I’ll drink something non-alcoholic.” Kou Chen smiled. “I’m going out with my friends tomorrow, I don’t want to oversleep.” 

“Going out again?” His dad frowned. “Why can’t you stay home and read? How are you planning to do for midterms?”

“Read what?” Kou Chen stretched. “All I read at home are comics.”

“You’re gonna be a third year soon.” His dad stared at him. “Look at your grades, are you planning to work right after university entrance exams?”

“What’s so bad about that?” Kou Chen said. 

“What job are you supposed to get with just a high school degree?!” His dad smacked the table. “What skills do you have? What are you good at? Fighting? Mouthing off?”

“Dad, dad.” Kou Xiao gestured to their dad.

“What?!” His dad glared at her.

“Let’s eat.” Kou Xiao said. 

“All you do is coddle him, your mom too!” His dad said. “All he can do as a high school graduate is sweep the floors, even at your hotel! Even the room attendants need some sort of certification!”

Kou Chen’s face was blank, and he didn’t say anything.

He was used to his dad saying stuff like this. Sometimes he would fight back, but most of the time he just stayed silent.

Even if he didn’t agree, he really didn’t have anything to refute it with. 

He just wasn’t good at studying. He falls asleep before he can even read a page of his textbooks, and only for Old Yuan can he not fall asleep out of respect for him…

After dinner, The Seven of them discussed where they wanted to go tomorrow.

Huo Ran stood in front of the mirror, watching them talk as he tugged aside his collar to see Kou Chen’s bite mark. The pain had started to dull, but after showering it flared up again. 

You couldn’t tell it was a bite mark anymore. The whole thing was red and swollen, like a flower. And there were multiple spots that bled.

Huo Ran felt the need to inspect Kou Chen’s teeth to see how sharp they were.

“Where are you going tomorrow?” His mom walked over and asked, handing him a bottle of disinfectant. “I’ll help you apply it?”

“Mhm.” Huo Ran tugged his shirt aside again for his mom to apply it. “We want to go over to the park tomorrow. Hu Yi wants to see the swans on boats.” 

“Is that fun?” His mom asked. “A bunch of big boys like you going to look at swans?”

Huo Ran wanted to laugh: “Dunno, there’s not much we can do anyways, we just want to hang out together.”

“Do you still have money? Have your dad give you some later.” His mom disinfected the wound for him, and she couldn’t help but laugh, “This Kou Chen’s incredible. He looks like a cool young man, how come he bites when he gets excited?”

“He loves biting people.” Huo Ran adjusted his shirt. “Is it because he has a dog?” 

His mom walked away laughing.

Huo Ran glanced at the group chat. They’ve pretty much come to an agreement already. They’ll be going to the park to row boats, stop to eat, and then go to the flower and bird market to look at little animals.

-it’s like we’re old men

Kou Chen sent. 

Everyone sent their ‘hahaha’s, and Huo Ran laughed at his phone for a while too.

Xu Chuan sent a message.

–we just don’t wanna stay at home

-yup 

Kou Chen quickly replied.

Huo Ran felt that his reply wasn’t just in reply to Xu Chuan’s message, but because he really didn’t want to stay at home.

He opened his and Kou Chen’s messages.

what’s wrong 

are you okay

is

He tried to type out a message but none of them seemed right, so Huo Ran tossed his phone off to the side and laid on his bed.

A couple seconds later, his phone dinged. 

Huo Ran picked it up and saw that Kou Chen sent him a text.

-what time are you waking up tomorrow?

-probably eight, didn’t we say to meet up at nine

-why don’t you wake up earlier, I’ll come over at seven 

Huo Ran paused.

-what’s wrong?

-nothing, can I not

-…sure 

The next day, Kou Chen was at his place before it was even seven, and he called him.

“My god.” Huo Ran glanced at his alarm clock sleepily. “What time did you wake up? Or did you just not sleep?”

“Are your parents awake? Will I wake them if I come up?” Kou Chen asked. 

“They woke up at six to go jogging.” Huo Ran rubbed his eyes and sat up. “Come on up.”

He sat on his bed in a daze for a little while before he got up. He put his pants on and left his room: “Mom—”

“Oh, you’re up so early today?” His mom poked her head out of the kitchen.

“Kou Chen’s here.” Huo Ran yawned. 

“This early?” His dad walked out of the room and glanced at the clock in surprise. “It’s not like you’re going camping, how come he’s so excited?”

“Dunno.” Huo Ran opened the door to look, and the elevator doors opened right at that moment.

Kou Chen yawned and walked out of the elevator, pausing when he saw them. His face quickly lit up in a smile: “So eager of you.”

“Fuck off.” Huo Ran said. “I was just checking.” 

“Are you awake?” Kou Chen walked over to him and pinched his face, then he nudged him aside to walk in. “Good morning auntie! Good morning uncle! I’m here!”

“Did you eat breakfast yet?” His dad smiled and asked.

“Nope,” Kou Chen said. “Is there food? Can I leech off you guys for a bit?”

“Hold on.” His mom said from the kitchen. 

Huo Ran went to wash up, and Kou Chen wandered around his room.

The seashell lamp he gave Huo Ran last time was on his side table. He picked up and looked at it, discovering that Huo Ran had modified it. The bright lights were gone, and in its place was a small round light. It glowed like a pearl when plugged in.

Kou Chen sighed. Huo Ran’s crafting skills were a lot better than his. 

“Did you and your dad fight again?” Huo Ran walked in and sat on the bed, picking up the leather tape measure to fasten around his ankle.

“How did you know?” Kou Chen said.

“Don’t you guys fight every other day?” Huo Ran laughed. “What, was it serious this time?”

“Not really.” Kou Chen sat down beside him. “It doesn’t have anything to do with my dad actually, I just suddenly felt pretty useless.” 

Huo Ran turned to him: “What do you mean useless?”

“Just… pretty useless.” Kou Chen said.

Huo Ran tsked: “What use does a second year high schooler have? Isn’t everyone the same?”

“Are they?” Kou Chen looked at him. After a while, he suddenly started laughing, “Huo Ran.” 

“Hm?” Huo Ran nodded.

“You’re great at comforting people.” Kou Chen said.

“Is that a compliment or an insult?” Huo Ran was suspicious.

“It’s a compliment!” Kou Chen said. 

“Did you break something?!” Huo Ran jumped up and started inspecting the bike frame that was laid amongst a bunch of tools and parts.

“Fuck.” Kou Chen laughed. “You wound me. And here I am, liking you so much.”

Huo Ran looked at him, and a moment later he laughed and clicked his tongue.

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