Chapter Ch67   - Little Thoughts

Note: not proofreaded

Going back to the day of the college entrance exam again, Zhen Yuanbai really didn’t think that Shi Bufan dared to kiss him right here. Even if it was a gentle kiss, they still attracted some people’s attention. After all, people were successively coming out from the exam rooms now.

Even more, there were some people from their school. “Is that Zhen Yuanbai and Shi Bufan?”

“Are my eyes blind? Why does it seem like Shi Bufan is kissing Zhen Yuanbai?”

“You’re not blind. I also saw that...” Someone said as if they’re dreaming, “I had long thought that something was going on between the two of them, but I didn’t think that...this is why...”

“Wait, is that a reporter?”

After the exam was over, there were some reporters coming over to conduct interviews. They unexpectedly captured this scene, and then they surrounded them, raising their microphones over and saying, “Hello, are you guys the exam candidates?”

Zhen Yuanbai quietly stood by him and stared at the reporters confusedly. Meanwhile, Shi Bufan revealed his admission ticket and said, “Yes we are.”

“Sorry, but I saw you guys were... hm, are you guys a couple?”

“Could we be brothers then?” Shi Bufan pulled Zhen Yuanbai’s fingers and laughed, saying, “We were very happy that the college entrance exam was over, so we decided to relax a bit. Is there a problem?”

He said with an unfriendly tone. The reporters were in an awkward situation. One of them coughed and asked, “Can I ask how you guys feel now that the college entrance exam is over?”

Zhen Yuanbai kept his head down and said nothing. At this time, Ji Yanping suddenly walked over and said, “Shi Bufan, you’re also here? The TV station wants to interview Zhen Yuanbai. Are you going to follow along?”

Zhen Yuanbai was a well-known top student within the city and everyone knew about his grades. They were eager to find out how his college entrance exam grade would be after finding out that he scored full marks into an elite high school. Therefore, the moment the exam was finished, people from the TV station came over to interview him.

Back when Zhen Yuanbai got into highschool, he had been interviewed before. He was quite calm at this point, especially with Shi Bufan by his side. From the start, Shi Bufan didn’t like the reporters who had caught a picture of him kissing Zhen Yuanbai. The latter, however, smiled shyly. Then, after the reporters probed about, they followed Ji Yanping and left.

Zhen Pingjin and Qin Ying didn’t know that they had kissed. After they found out that Zhen Yuanbai was taken for an interview, they revealed pleasant smiles. Qin Ying helped her son adjust the collar of his shirt and said, “Fanfan, call your parents and we’ll go and eat dinner together.”

Shi Bufan glanced at Ling Xuan who had been waiting on the side and pursed his lips, saying, “Coming?”

Ling Xuan immediately smiled and said, “Yes, let’s go.”

Shi Bufan returned to his own house and Zhen Yuanbai followed his parents along into the car when Zhen Pingjin suddenly said, “What did the reporters ask you guys about?”

“They asked about my grades...” Zhen Yuanbai said in a soft voice, feeling guilty. He quietly blacklisted Shi Bufan in his heart a hundred times. What was wrong with Shi Bufan? He actually dared to kiss him when they weren’t even out of the school yet. He’s so annoying!

He was so angry at Shi Bufan, but he couldn’t express that in front of his parents. They didn’t see him kissing Shi Bufan which he was grateful for since they would definitely be angry. He just hoped that the reporter wouldn’t upload the picture of them kissing.

In Shi Family’s car, Ling Xuan said, “You’re going to be officially seeing your future parents-in-law with tonight’s dinner. Are you nervous?”

Shi Bufan turned around and looked out of the window, faintly saying, “I’m not.”

Ling Xuan had the heart to talk to Shi Bufan some more. After all, within these two years, she didn’t know whether it was because Shi Bufan was used to it or that he was moved, but he would talk to her from time to time. But for the majority of the time, Ling Xuan didn’t dare to be too controlling over him. She was his mother, but she was less than a stranger to him.

Shi Xian reserved a huge private room. After the two families took their seats, Zhen Pingjin first said, “Originally, because the two children are taking the college entrance exams, I haven’t said anything. Now that the exam is over, what do you guys think about this?”

What else could they think about it? Shi Xian glanced at Shi Bufan and thought: He really wanted to act like Zhen Pingjin and beat up his son when he disapproved of his actions. However, could he really do that with his and Shi Bufan’s relationship?

“We don’t have any opinions.” After Shi Xian said that, Ling Xuan followed, “I like Congming. He has good manners and is also well-behaved. I quite like him.”

Qin Ying revealed a smile after hearing that her son was praised, but Zhen Pingjin didn’t have a good expression. Does Shi Bufan’s mother know how to compliment someone? Is she complimenting his son? It seems like she’s complimenting a daughter, not a son. He thought: your son has good manners and is also well-behaved. Then, he chugged some alcohol unhappily.

Qin Ying knew that Zhen Pingjin didn’t like Zhen Yuanbai’s personality and always wished for him to be tougher. Sometimes, she felt like Zhen Yuanbai’s personality would cause trouble in the future since he might be bullied after he grew up. Therefore, she allowed Zhen Pingjin to go on his way. Now that she found out that Zhen Yuanbai actually liked someone like Shi Bufan, it felt like she could understand this now.

There was no set way that guys and girls needed to act in society.

Therefore, Qin Ying also complimented Shi Bufan, saying, “I quite like Fanfan too. He’s handsome and he’s also tall. He even has good grades.”

Shi Bufan licked his lips and wanted to say something, but felt like it wasn’t suitable. However, Zhen Yuanbai suddenly said, “We won’t have a fight tomorrow, nor will we have one next year. Hm...we won’t have a fight in our afterlife either.”

Zhen Pingjin looked at him and Zhen Yuanbai summoned the courage to meet his gaze. Zhen Pingjin asked, “What do you mean by afterlife?”

“Afterlife... like in our next lives.”

Zhen Yuanbai shifted his gaze and Shi Bufan silently clapped his hands for his little classmate under the table. Zhen Youxiu shoved a slice of melon in his mouth and glanced coldly at Shi Bufan, and then at his elder brother. Then, he said to his parents, “What? Are you guys going to break them apart or not?”

Shi Bufan grinded his teeth and Zhen Yuanbai’s eyes became teary again. After a short silence, Qin Ying said to Zhen Pingjin, “What do you think? Should we break them up?”

Zhen Pingjin laughed creepily and he said, “Why are you asking me? Why don’t you ask your son if he wants to break up or not?”

The moment Zhen Yuanbai heard this, he immediately in a soft but determined voice, “No, I won’t break up with him.”

Zhen Pingjin said nothing as Qin Ying smiled and said, “Then let them be. We won’t interfere.”

It seemed like this matter was over, but in reality, it wasn’t. Quickly, Zhen Pingjin started to ask, “Who fell in love first?”

Shi Xian glanced at Shi Bufan and the latter raised his hands, confessing, “I liked him first. I’ve liked him since sophomore year.”

Zhen Youxiu said, “I have a say in this matter. I’ve seen him climbing over the walls of the school to buy an umbrella for his elder brother during a rainy day. It was an umbrella with ugly flower designs.”

Shi Bufan was speechless.

He just wanted to show how much he liked his little classmate in front of Zhen Pingjin. He didn’t prepare to talk about his black history in great detail, however. Meanwhile, Zhen Yuanbai widened his eyes. He had a very good memory and still remembered that umbrella even now. He wanted to return the umbrella, but the other party said there was no need. Because the umbrella was too girly, he gave it to Qin Ying to use.

“You’re saying that he gave that umbrella to me? But I got it from someone else...”

“I think that he threatened someone to bring the umbrella to you after he bought it.”

Shi Bufan shoved food in Zhen Youxiu’s mouth as if deceiving himself. However, Zhen Yuanbai’s eyes were trained on Shi Bufan. Then, he curled his lips up and chuckled.

Shi Bufan watched him for half a second, before swallowing the food. His ears were slightly red and he faintly smiled too.

Zhen Youxiu then started to make use of every second and said, “If I’m right, when everyone was saying that you were transferring to the elite class, it was because of my elder brother, right?”

The parents didn’t know what was going on. Shi Bufan’s lips twitched and felt as if layers of black history were being uncovered.

Zhen Yuanbai opened his mouth and thought of Shi Bufan’s gloomy and fierce gaze when he took someone else’s seat, and he couldn’t help but laugh again. That can’t be. Shi Bufan actually started to like him at that time?

“And.” Zhen Youxiu said, “You told the principal about my elder brother receiving a love letter and then forced the principal to put an end to the passing of love letters between students because you were jealous, right?”

Shi Bufan’s face darkened and he wanted to kick Zhen Youxiu’s head off so badly. However, Zhen Yuanbai started laughing again. His eyes were sparkling and he felt sweet in his heart.

Seeing how happy Zhen Yuanbai was smiling, Zhen Youxiu started to analyze everything again. Zhen Yuanbai couldn’t stop laughing. Zhen Youxiu stopped and then he purposely said, “But I think that you must’ve done more of these foolish things before. Do you want to tell us about it, so we can all get a laugh at it?”

The moment he finished, Zhen Pingjin slapped Zhen Youxiu on the head. He realized that he had exploded in front of the parents, so he knitted his eyebrows and closed his mouth, saying nothing.

Shi Bufan’s face brightened. You deserved it, stupid boy.

Although Zhen Pingjin told Qin Ying that he liked Zhen Youxiu’s personality more, Zhen Youxiu didn’t think so. At least, he never warned him beforehand that he was getting a beating. But everytime he was about to hit his elder brother, his face would darken before he slapped him. At least, his elder brother got a chance to cry first. However, everything was unexpected for him.

Zhen Youxiu shoved a piece of red braised pork in his mouth, thinking that different people usually get treated differently.

In short, the atmosphere during this dinner was quite peaceful.

In this era right now, the parents were able to accept things easily, especially Zhen Family and Shi Family’s parents were both of high-level educational background. They were unable to take their children back and beat them, forcing them to like girls. They could only act according to Qin Ying, letting nature take its course. The two children were already adults, so let them decide their own matters.

Even in his dream, Zhen Yuanbai would’ve never thought that this would be the ending. Qin Ying clearly supported Zhen Yuanbai, but she was still worried about Shi Bufan. She reminded repeatedly, “If you bully Congming, I won’t let you go.”

Zhen Pingjin was neutral, but he glanced at Shi Bufan with hostility. Zhen Yuanbai’s personality was like that of a girl. Now, he even found a boyfriend, but in Zhen Pingjin’s eyes, it felt like he was marrying a girl off. His heart had been sinking and floating up and down.

After the dinner, Shi Bufan held Zhen Yuanbai’s hands in public and told him to relax. Zhen Pingjin walked over and wanted to say something, but Qin Ying forcibly dragged him back.

But quickly, Zhen Yuanbai who was holding Shi Bufan’s hands received a message from Qin Ying. “You can’t go book a hotel room.”

Shi Bufan saw it and asked, “Why is your mother so old-fashioned?”

Zhen Yuanbai immediately hid the phone and said, “I’ll listen to my mother.”

“Do you know what aspect about you that I’m most scared of?”

“What?”

“I’m most scared of you talking about your parents.” Shi Bufan purposely shamed him and said, “You’re already eighteen, so why are you acting like a kid from kindergartern?”

“Even if I grow up, my parents are still my parents.”

“Can’t you be awake?” Shi Bufan pursed his lips and said, “Your parents obviously don’t want you to book a room with me because they think that you’re their possession. You need to resist, do you understand?”

“No.” Zhen Yuanbai fiercely glared at him and said, “If you come up with any more bad plans, I’m going home right now.”

When he said this, the tip of his ears were red. It was very easy to tease Zhen Yuanbai. He could say something casual and Zhen Yuanbai’s face would be flushed. When he kissed him, Zhen Yuanbai would cry.

Shi Bufan laughed and cupped Zhen Yuanbai’s hands, kissing it and smiling sinisterly. “You really don’t want to do bad things with me?”

“...” Zhen Yuanbai tugged his hands back hard, and turned around to look elsewhere.

I actually... want to.

But that didn’t look good. How could he be thinking about that when he just became an adult? Zhen Yuanbai lifted his leg and kicked Shi Bufan, saying, “I need to take a physics exam so I can contribute to the nation in the future.”

When Zhen Yuanbai said that he wanted to contribute to the nation, Shi Bufan couldn’t help but laugh. “Why are you always thinking about contributing to the nation?”

“I want to be a scientist.”

“You also want to be a scientist?”

“Yes.” Zhen Yuanbai looked at the sky and curled his lips up, saying, “I want to launch a project in which the whole world would be shocked. I want my motherland to be proud of me. I hope that one day when someone hears my name, they will do this...”

He gave a thumbs up and praised, “This is Chinese!”

“You really...” Shi Bufan reached over and hugged Zhen Yuanbai, softy chuckling, “Why are you so stubborn and want to gain face for the nation?”

“Why else do you think I’m studying so hard?”

Shi Bufan chuckled and he noticed that Zhen Yuanbai was really a special kid. He thought about it for a while before saying, “Then I’ll be a soldier in the future and protect you, this scientist.”

Something suddenly flickered through Zhen Yuanbai’s mind and he looked at Shi Bufan, saying, “That day, when I told Youxiu that I like you, he asked me if I forgot that I wanted to be a scientist.”

Shi Bufan was confused as to why he suddenly mentioned this.

Zhen Yuanbai buried himself in Shi Bufan’s arms and said, “When I was watching TV with Youxiu when we were young, we saw many soldiers doing their utmost to bring back scientists from abroad. I said that I want to become a scientist in the future and Youxiu said that he wanted to be someone that protects me... no wonder he was so angry when he heard me saying that I like you. He must’ve thought that I forgot about him.”

“No wonder he didn’t forget to protect you when we were playing a gun battle game.” Shi Bufan thought about it for a while before saying, “Then I’ll do my best to earn big bucks in the future. You must need a lot of money to do scientific research.”

The two didn’t realize how childish the topic of discussion was, but no matter what, their feelings for each other were genuine. Zhen Yuanbai stood up straight and said, “Don’t you have anything you want to do?”

“Yes.” Shi Bufan said, “I want to be able to play holographic games and open a science and technology company, and develop in that direction.”

“Youxiu will definitely like you.” Zhen Yuanbai said happily, “He loves to play games.”

“I also want to create luxury goods.”

“Like what?”

Shi Bufan pulled his wrist and Zhen Yuanbai glanced confusedly at the watch on his hands. Although he said the brand was CM, Zhen Yuanbai got no results from searching the brand up. Shi Bufan looked at the watch and asked, “Have you fixed the time on the watch?”

“No, it’s been good so far.”

Shi Bufan raised his eyebrows and said, “You’re so stupid. Let me teach you.”

He reached over and twisted the nail by the side of the watch and said, “I’ll twist it while you look at the time.”

Zhen Yuanbai paid attention and looked at the time. But when the time slowly moved to 5:20, there were no seconds, so he was unable to determine how many seconds had passed. However, when Shi Bufan manually changed the time there, a row of words suddenly appeared on the watch: BF and CM: I LOVE YOU.

Shi Bufan let go and the words immediately disappeared.

Zhen Yuanbai blinked his eyes and said, “This is...”

“Whenever the time hits 5:20, the row of words will be revealed, but only for one second before it disappears.” Shi Bufan sighed and said, “You’ve been wearing the watch for half a year. You’re quite slow.”

“I...” Zhen Yuanbai said unbelievably, “Only one second? How am I supposed to know?”

“...”

“...”

When their gazes met, Zhen Yuanbai finally realized and acted touched, saying, “Where did you buy this watch?”

“Buy?” Shi Bufan humphed and said, “I personally made this. Every twelve hours, it will say I love you. It’s an exclusive, so do you think you can buy it?”

Zhen Yuanbai blinked his eyes and his eyes were sparkling like stars. “Why not do it on the second hand? Have it say that every 5 minutes and 2 second...”

“Greedy.” Shi Bufan reached over and hugged him, saying, “There’s another detail. Look at the hands of the clock. It represents you and I. The second hand is unnecessary.”

Zhen Yuanbai took a careful look and indeed, there were small letters on the minute and hour hand. There was a ‘S’ and ‘Z’ representing Shi and Zhen.

Zhen Yuanbai suddenly wrapped his arms around Shi Bufan’s neck and kissed him hard on the lips.

No wonder there was a line of confession on the back of the watch. Time represents my love for you.

He didn’t understand this, but he finally did now.

As long as time doesn’t stop, I will never stop loving you.

I love you so much to the point I don’t know what to do. I can only represent my love for you through these little thoughts.

I’ll hide my thoughts and carve it into time. It will always be there, waiting for you to find out.