Chapter 66  

Note: not proofreaded

Zhen Yuanbai woke up to a good rest. He had a great sleep last night, who knew? He came out of the closet yesterday and his parents didn’t even beat him, or even scold him.

He really needed to thank the fact that they were nearing the college entrance exam.

He sat up with a kip-up and pulled the door open, walking out. The moment he did, he saw the eye-catching Shi Bufan.

He didn’t know why, but after he was exposed, he felt something strange towards Shi Bufan.

After he washed his face and brushed his teeth, he shyly walked over. While he was at it, Shi Bufan pulled the seat over for Zhen Yuanbai and delivered a small deep-fried breadstick for him, saying, “Your younger brother isn’t awake yet?”

“He’s definitely going to dawdle in bed.” Zhen Yunabai said softly. He looked between Qin Ying and Zhen Pingjin. He was unable to tell whether Qin Ying was happy or not, but Zhen Pingjin clearly wasn’t very happy. After they finished their food, Shi Bufan pulled Zhen Yuanbai’s hands and they walked to his room to do homework. However, before leaving the table, Zhen Pingjin stared at them. “You guys can...do the homework in the living room. There’s a lot of space.”

Zhen Yuanbai gently withdrew his hand back and said, “The living room isn’t quiet enough. I’m used to doing the work in my room.”

Zhen Pingjin rubbed his hands against the table. He really wanted to beat Zhen Yuanbai up. Since he was a child, he was always weak and didn’t dare to fight back, making him want to beat him up. Qin Ping glanced at Shi Bufan who didn’t understand what was happening and smiled, pulling Zhen Pingjin and saying to Zhen Yuanbai, “Return to your room. I’m going to visit your grandparents with your father later.”

“If I don’t go, will they miss me?”

“They know that you’re busy with work.” Qin Ying said, “I’ll call Youxiu and have them come with us.”

She followed the two children and walked towards Zhen Youxiu’s bedroom when she suddenly heard footsteps. Zhen Pingjin grabbed her arm and pulled her to the side. He looked at the closed door and said to Qin Ying, “You’re going to allow Shi Bufan and Congming in the house alone, without Youxiu at home to watch?”

“It’s fine. You don’t need to worry for no reason.”

Zhen Pingjin said with a gloomy face, “They’re about to take the college entrance exam. What if something happens?”

Qin Ying knew that Zhen Pingjin was just worried that the children may influence one another’s college entrance exam performance by dating. But she said, “I’ll call Youxiu. Our parents must miss their grandsons. Congming still needs to do his homework.”

Zhen Pingjin nodded and suddenly opened Zhen Yuanbai’s door, saying, “Leave the door open to allow some air in. Don’t keep it close the entire time.”

When he finished, he turned around and walked to the living room. Shi Bufan was confused and asked, “What’s the matter with your father?”

Normally, Zhen Pingjin never cared if they were doing homework with the door closed behind them.

Zhen Yuanbai suddenly didn’t know how to explain his confession to his parents. Although he wasn’t scared and said it bravely last night, in front of Shi Bufan, it felt as if he was going to bring them to see his parents. His status had changed, and he couldn’t help but feel embarrassed.

“Nothing. Let’s just do our homework.”

“We’re only doing our homework? Your father might see anything we do with the doors open...” He just finished his words when he saw a figure by the door. A second later, Zhen Pingjin peeked in and Shi Bufan shut his mouth. He smiled and said, “Uncle, you’re going on a stroll?”

“Yes.” When Zhen Pingjin was done, he walked into their room and sat on Zhen Yuanbai’s bed with a straight face. He positioned him in front of the two kids. Zhen Yuanbai kept his head down as he did his homework, but Shi Bufan felt his scalp going numb.

Zhen Pingjin expressionlessly reached over and estimated the distance between Shi Bufan and Zhen Yuanbai’s seat. Then, he walked over and said, “Congming, move a bit to the side.”

Zhen Yuanbai had no choice but to move his seat to the side. After he moved over three steps, Zhen Pingjin nodded in satisfaction. “That’s good. You guys seemed cramped when you guys were sitting so close to each other. How can you guys do your homework comfortably with little to no space?”

“Temporarily not...I want to get into the same college as Congming.”

“Young man, something wrong with your back?”

Shi Bufan was confused.

“Sit up straight. Look at how straight Congming is sitting. That’s the correct way to work.”

Shi Bufan glanced at Zhen Yuanbai who wasn’t even sitting up as straight as him, feeling speechless.

After a while, Zhen Pingjin suddenly looked at Shi Bufan’s notebook, smiling and saying, “Highschoolers nowadays have such sloppy handwriting?”

“...” Shi Bufan didn’t know what to say. He clutched his pencil tightly and glanced at Zhen Yuanbai. Up until Zhen Pingjin finally couldn’t find anything else to nitpick did he quiet down.

Maybe Qin Ying was worried that the three guys didn’t have anything to eat at home, so she returned in the afternoon with groceries. Though, she left Zhen Youxiu at his grandparent’s place to eat. She prepared to pick him up in the afternoon. As usual, Shi Bufan helped bring the dishes over to the table. Normally, Zhen Pingjin was fine with that, but the more he looked right now, the more displeased he was. Qin Ying, on the other hand, was quite happy. Once the dishes were all on the table, she gave him a huge drumstick. She then turned around to see Zhen Yuanbai poking the meat in his bowl and she said, “Use your hands.”

Zhen Yuanbai withdrew his hands and licked the tip of the chopsticks, gaining Shi Bufan’s attention. “What’s the matter?”

“I’ll get oil on my hands.” Zhen Yuanbai had been like this as a child. Even more, because he was afraid of getting oil on his hands, he never ate chicken feet, crabs, or even crayfish. He was afraid of getting his hands dirty. Shi Bufan stared at the drumstick in his bowl and reached over, delivering it to Zhen Yuanbai’s mouth. “I’ll hold it and you can eat it.”

While picking at the rice, Zhen Pingjin stared at them. Zhen Yuanbai was very embarrassed, but he still took a bite. When his eyes met his father, he hurriedly took the drumstick from Shi Bufan and said, “I, I will wash my hands later.”

Qin Ying, on the other hand, laughed. She wasn’t as hostile to Shi Bufan as Zhen Pingjin.

Not long after they finished the meal, Zhen Pingjin was forced to drive and pick Zhen Youxiu up. Meanwhile, Zhen Yuanbai also brought Shi Bufan home. The two walked slowly when Shi Bufan suddenly asked, “Does your parents know something?”

After a while, Zhen Yuanbai said softly, “N-no.”

“When you lie, you stutter.” Shi Bufan raised his eyebrows and said, “What’s the matter?”

“I already said no.” Zhen Yuanbai didn’t know what to say to Shi Bufan. His parents already found out. If he told him about it... it felt like they were publicizing their relationship. Although he would be happy, he would feel embarrassed too.

He didn’t know how others were able to date easily and carefree after their parents found out.. But for Zhen Yuanbai, when he thought of Shi Bufan calling his parents ‘mother’ and ‘father,’ as well as him calling Shi Bufan’s parents ‘mother’ and ‘father,’ he thought that was very strange. Even goosebumps appeared on his body.

Shi Bufan didn’t probe.

Ever since they started dating, the two of them enjoyed going on a walk together. Shi Bufan would hold Zhen Yuanbai’s hands, not doing or thinking anything. Just holding hands like that as if they would be able to walk to the end of time like that.

Of course, when Shi Bufan returned home, Ling Xuan suddenly called ihm. “Fanfan, your teacher sent me a message yesterday, saying that you are dating Congming.”

Yesterday, Ling Xuan wasn’t at home and by the time she did, Shi Bufan was already asleep. This morning, she didn’t finish cooking breakfast when Shi Bufan went to eat at Zhen Family as if the latter was his family instead.

Because of this, she was only able to talk to Shi Bufan now.

The latter was stunned before asking, “When did they find out?”

“Last night. Almost 10pm.” Ling Xuan asked worriedly, “Would your Uncle Zhen hit Congming?”

Shi Bufan paused and for a moment, he wanted to rush to Zhen Family, but he still held in the urge and went upstairs.

Did Zhen Yuanbai confess?

No wonder Zhen Family’s parents looked at him strangely, and Zhen Pingjin even nitpicked his faults... was he displeased with him?

Shi Bufan rolled in bed, feeling complicated.

Then, he suddenly thought of Qin Ying. Although she stared at him weirdly in the morning, in the afternoon, it seemed like she accepted this. She liked him! She wasn’t against this!

From the current situation, Zhen Yuanbai probably doesn’t know that his parents knew, otherwise he would have called him and cried. This was also possible. After all, this was an anxious time period and Zhen Yuanbai had been under a lot of pressure lately. They most likely would settle accounts afterwards.

Would Zhen Yuanbai get a beating?

Will he break up with him later on?

With Zhen Yunabai’s cowardly and weak personality, Shi Bufan felt like he needed to do something about it otherwise Zhen Yuanbai might be scared witless when Zhen Pingjin threatened to hit him. Don’t mention dating, but Zhen Yuanbai might forget his name and his appearance in the future.

Shi Bufan was quite angry after imaging himself in a series of situations, but he was unable to come up with a good solution for a while. Therefore, he picked up his phone to chat with his little classmate to calm down.

Zhen Yuanbai thought about it and believed that he shouldn’t tell Shi Bufan that he had confessed to his parents. He wanted to give Shi Bufan a surprise after the college entrance exam.

The two had their own thoughts while they chatted about. When they returned back to school, they felt differently whenever they bumped into Ji Yanping.

For Zhen Yuanbai, he was grateful that she exposed this before the college entrance exam. That way, he didn’t get a beating. For Shi Bufan however, he was unhappy. He felt as if Teacher Ji was meddling in their business, but he knew that it was part of her responsibility to let the parents know.

Ji Yanping didn’t have a discussion with them and instead, treated them normally. Plus, because she said that the first and second place students got to sit together, she couldn’t find a good excuse to separate them for now. Therefore, she turned a blind eye towards them.

Originally, Qin Ying was worried that Zhen Yuanbai might be under a lot of pressure. But it was unsure whether Zhen Yuanbai had vented his emotions by crying when Zhen Pingjin was about to slap him the other day, but he didn’t suffer from insomnia or throw a tantrum anymore.

When it was the college entrance exam, all the school doors that existed had police cordons around it. Everyone’s phone had alarms as well. Normally, whenever Zhen Yuanbai saw his seniors taking the college entrance exam, he would feel nervous too. Now that it was his turn and he saw the police officers stationed at the school doors, he felt as if there was a rabbit hopping about in his heart.

When people were giving out the exams, the palm of Zhen Yuanbai’s hands were sweating. The proctor recognized him, so they personally came over and comforted, “Don’t worry. Just take it like a normal exam.”

Zhen Yuanbai nodded and subconsciously looked at the other people in the exam room. He wasn’t in the same room as Shi Bufan and there wasn’t anyone that he knew very well here either. He sucked in a breath and took the exam, carefully reading each question.

Maybe it was because he had taken so many practice questions, all the questions seemed the same to him. The questions were all similar with just a bit of variation. Quickly, Zhen Yuanbai was engrossed with answering the questions. From the first question to the last one, he always had a clear train of thought.

Then, he carefully looked through all the answers again and even rewrote some of the answers when he thought the handwriting wasn’t neat enough. He used up all the time before handing in his exam in satisfaction.

Although Shi Bufan and Zhen Yuanbai weren’t in the same exam room, they weren’t far from each other. Unlike Zhen Yuanbai who wanted to use up all the time for the exam, Shi Bufan felt as if the long exam time was a waste of time. However, since this was the college entrance exam, he still checked it several times before handing in his exam and leaving.

When the last part of the exam was finished, Shi Bufan walked out and saw his parents as well as Zhen Family’s parents at first glance. He smiled and walked over, asking, “Congming isn’t out yet?”

“He always hands in his exam when the bell rings.” Qin Ying smiled and asked, “How did it go?”

“Everything went well.” Shi Bufan revealed a confident smile. He looked at the two pair of parents, imagining the cruel interrogation that Zhen Yuanbai might face after today’s exam, so he said, “Uncle Zhen and Aunt Qin, I want to tell you guys something.”

“What?” Qin Ying had a warm expression. She liked Shi Bufan from the start and although she felt it was a bit awkward after finding out that he was dating Zhen Yuanbai, she didn’t find it as awkward anymore once she recalled how nice he had been to Zhen Yuanbai.

When Zhen Yuanbai walked out, he saw the blazing sun in the sky which was bright and dazzling, like the young man staring at him not far from him. It was unclear how long Shi Bufan had been standing there, but his face was bright from the sunshine and he trained his eyes on him.

Zhen Yuanbai hurriedly ran over and before he could say anything, Shi Bufan said, “I confessed to your parents.”

“What?”

“I confessed and said that we’re dating.” Shi Bufan said, “Then your mother told me that they already asked you when they received the message, saying that you confessed too.”

Zhen Yuanbai pursed his lips and gently nodded.

“What did you say to them?”

“...I don’t want to tell you.”

“I already know.”

“?” Zhen Yuanbai nervously said, “Did my mother tell you that I told them that I wanted to marry you?”

“...” It felt as if the size of a six-kilometer meteorite had crashed into Shi Bufan’s heart and the volcano inside erupted immediately. He stared passionately at Zhen Yuanbai before saying in a hoarse voice after, “You... told them that you wanted to marry me?”

Qin Ying obviously didn’t tell him everything. Although she thought that Shi Bufan was a pretty good person, her heart was still with Zhen Yuanbai. She could tell how much he liked him from the fact that he wanted to marry Shi Bufan. She obviously wouldn’t tell Shi Bufan that as it may satisfy his vanity. What if her son got bullied by him in the future because of this?

From the looks of it, Zhen Yuanbai knew that he blurted out something wrong and he fumed with age. “You...”

He was unable to muster his words even after a while.

He dug his hands into the plastic bag used to hold the stationary for the college entrance exam and he heard Shi Bufan ask, “Who gave you the courage to say that? Aren’t you afraid of getting a beating?”

Zhen Yuanbai was quiet for awhile before he said softly, “Of course it’s you.”

“Me?”

“The origin of my courage comes from your love for me.”

“You...” Shi Bufan touched his nose and suddenly laughed. Zhen Yuanbai pursed his lips and stared at Shi Bufan, a bit unhappy. The latter suddenly tilted his head and moved closer, gently kissing Zhen Yuanbai under the sunlight.

“You’re really my hero.”