SAYE

What was having a xueba as a boyfriend like?

It was when you were both overflowed with passion, tenderness, and affection, he would all of a sudden want to work on a set of exam worksheets and you could only sit to the side and proctor for him. Even more exciting was if he was an ultra-xueba – when he entered a meditative state as he worked through those worksheets, he could bring even such a boring task as ‘working on worksheets’ to the peak of holiness.  

This rising sense of holiness would even make you unable to get hard when facing the very person who held your every bit of affection, and even if you were hard, you would still be packed with guilt. 

And by the time he finished a set of exam worksheets, it was almost time to eat. Just as you were about to say, ‘what do you feel like eating’, he would suddenly remind you, ‘you still have some homework that hasn’t been copied yet.’

When you finish copying the homework while despising yourself, thinking that it was finally all over, your phone then sounded…  

Gu Fei picked up the phone and looked at it; on the screen was a simple and concise message from Gu Miao.  

– come back. 

He didn’t return home to eat the day before, or possibly since he went out to play basketball the previous morning until now that he hadn’t gone back. Gu Miao probably missed him. 

– coming. 

He sent Gu Miao a reply.  

“What do you want to eat tonight?” He looked over at Jiang Cheng after sending that message.  

“… fried rice cake?” Jiang Cheng pondered for a moment.  

“Damn.” Gu Fei laughed, “Aren’t you tired of eating that?” 

“Or order some takeout.” Jiang Cheng rubbed his stomach, “Though the rice cake is pretty filling. I’m not that hungry right now ne… who sent you a message?”  

“Er Miao,” Gu Fei said, “She wants me to go back.” 

“Then go back ba, you’re done copying the homework anyway.” Jiang Cheng grabbed his notebooks for a look, “Mister, youbetter change the answers a bit, not copy them all word for word this like…”

“It’s not like it’s an exam,” Gu Fei said. “I was able to complete all my homework correctly with the help of my xueba classmate, is there a problem with that?” 

“Your xueba deskmate only wants to sigh.” Jiang Cheng gathered the completed worksheets, “Are you going to stay in bed tomorrow?” 

“Nah.” Gu Fei shook his head, “Come get me at my house ba.” 

“Are you gonna be able to get up? Why are you so active all of a sudden?” Jiang Cheng leaned back against his chair and stretched out.  

“What do you think,” Gu Fei smiled.  

Jiang Cheng insisted on finishing his stretch, then stood up and hugged him.   

Gu Fei hugged him back tightly and closed his eyes.  

Having finished the language and literature worksheets that afternoon, Jiang Cheng felt pretty good. He planned to get something to eat after taking Gu Fei home and look over the English worksheets later that night.    

“Can you get up there yourself?” Jiang Cheng looked at Gu Fei who was so engrossed in his crippled act that he couldn’t extricate himself.  

“Yeah. Once I get into the building, I’ll be running as if I’m flying.[1]” Gu Fei hopped up with one leg, “You can take the bike back with you for now since you’re coming to get me tomorrow anyway.”

“I’ll give you a call before I head out. You better not be late, I want to get to school on time.” Jiang Cheng added, “After all, Lao Xu… we have to give him a bit of face.”

“En, don’t worry.” Gu Fei chuckled.  

“Then, you… go up ba.” Jiang Cheng scanned the area; there were unfortunately too many people going up and down the stairs at the moment that he couldn’t do anything else. “I’ll head back now.” 

Gu Fei reached out his hand and quickly touched his hand that was holding the handlebar.  

“Remove your hand.” Jiang Cheng had said that even though he had also quickly touched Gu Fei’s hand in return. Then he turned the bike around and looked at him, “I’ll leave when you go up.”   

“Text me once you’ve finished the worksheets tonight.” Gu Fei hopped toward the corridor entrance.  

“En,” Jiang Cheng nodded.  

After watching Gu Fei hop into the corridor then ran up the stairs three steps at a time, Jiang Cheng got on his bike and rode away.

What was having a boyfriend pretending to be a cripple like? 

It was when you had to wake up twenty minutes earlier than usual at the break of dawn, give him a call to wake him up, and then ride your bike to the downstairs of his place. You would then get to watch as he pretended to limp over to you, get on the backseat of the bike, and take him to eat breakfast. After the both of you were done with breakfast, taking him to school was next.

In order to appear authentic, you have to buy him water in between classes and help him go to the bathroom. If he wanted to smoke a cigarette between classes, you have to help support him a few more rounds.  

Once classes were dismissed for the day, you couldn’t even stay with him just a bit longer. You have to take him back on time because his sister was extremely worried and always kept watch at the gate when school ended.

But after three days of this kind of life, you would eventually become accustomed to it. After all, this person didn’t usually go to school on time, so it was amazing – in and of itself – to be able to go to school together in the earliest of every morning.

The day after was May First, Labour Day – a holiday. Even though it was only three days, that didn’t stop everyone from being overtaken with sheer joy. They excitedly spoke of where they were going, while at the same time, grumbling at the teachers for arranging piles of assignments that they deemed to impede them.  

In fact, there weren’t actually that many assignments, and compared to before, this much was practically nothing. For Jiang Cheng, whenever they had three days off for the holiday before, seven days’ worth of assignments were meticulously arranged for them without a doubt. 

In the past, Pan Zhi had always copied him. During this particular Labour Day, who knew who he was going to copy off.  

“I’m going to the community hospital in a bit,” Gu Fei said.  

“What are you going there for?” Jiang Cheng froze.  

“To change the medicine and switch to a smaller splint so that it’ll be easier to move,” Gu Fei said matter-of-factly. 

“Wouldn’t that expose your secret?” Jiang Cheng looked at his leg only to mentally agree that the splint was indeed wrapped in a rather exaggerated manner.

“I can buy another,” Gu Fei said. “Li Yan and the others had bought it before and wrapped it up. It will have to be a smaller one this time.” 

“Alright, I’ll go with you then.” Jiang Cheng nodded.  

“The main point of all this is to let the elderly men and ladies see that my leg really was broken for the last few days,” Gu Fei stated.  

“En,” Jiang Cheng thought about it and then laughed. “How much longer until it can be removed ah?”

“Half a month ba,” Gu Fei answered. “I’ll also have to limp for a while once it’s removed but it’ll be fine after that.” 

Jiang Cheng’s phone rang, and he took it out for a glance – it was a message from Pan Zhi. 

– We’re on the bus! 

Jiang Cheng froze and quickly sent a reply.  

– We? 

– Don’t worry, it’s not Yu Xin.  

– Who then? 

– Hu Fengfeng and Da Li[2], and also two girls that you probably don’t know.  

– Who? 

– I’ll introduce them to you when we get there. 

– You will introduce both of them? How capable are you huh, you’re  just amazing.  

– Fuck! Prepare midnight snacks for us. 

– Where are you staying? 

Jiang Cheng helped support Gu Fei to the school gate while his other hand kept on sending messages to Pan Zhi. He knew that Pan Zhi was going to bring some people with him, but he had never expected him to bring girls and being all mysterious about it… did he succeed in stealing back the girl[3] that quickly? Or did he change the target that quickly? 

“Pan An?” Gu Fei asked.  

“En, they’ll get here tonight. Jiang Cheng said, “I have to go get that grandson of mine.” 

“You can eat in the shop in a bit then,” Gu Fei suggested. “And pick him up after that?” 

“Okay, is there anything to eat?” Jiang Cheng turned to look at Gu Fei. With Gu Fei’s arm on his shoulder, for him to turn his face like that, he could practically kiss Gu Fei on the nose, so he immediately turned away, afraid that he would accidentally land a kiss if he lowered his guard. 

“Yeah, my mom made some,” Gu Fei laughed at his reaction.  

Pan Zhi’s reply came back a while later.  

– I’ll squeeze in bed with you, they’re staying at a hotel. You don’t have to deal with that, we agreed on it already.  

– Aren’t you staying in a room with one of the girls?

– I’m being very serious with you here, I’m not that kind of person.

Jiang Cheng laughed for a long time with that.  

“That happy huh,” Gu Fei commented.  

“That freaking idiot brought two girls along,” Jiang Cheng said with amusement. “I don’t even know what their relationship is.” 

“Where are they staying?” Gu Fei asked.  

“Pan Zhi is staying with me and the others are staying in a hotel,” Jiang Cheng answered.  

“Oooh——” Gu Fei stretched out the sound as he responded. 

“If I had known, I would’ve bought two pillows. Forget it, he’ll just have to roll up the quilt and use that,” Jiang Cheng added.  

“Oooh——” Gu Fei continued to drag out the sound.  

“It can’t be, you…” Jiang Cheng was stunned at his behavior before suddenly reacting. “Shit, are you…”

“Can’t he just sleep on the sofa?” Gu Fei interrupted him, “Does he have to sleep on the bed? It’s not even cold anymore. Is he going to freeze to death sleeping on the sofa?”

“No,” Jiang Cheng couldn’t hold it any longer and started to laugh out loud. “Sleep on the sofa! He will sleep on the sofa!!” 

“Why does he have to sleep on the sofa,” Gu Fei persisted once more. “Can’t he go stay in the hotel? The others are staying there, so why does he have to stay with you?” 

“Ah,” Jiang Cheng looked at him in disbelief. “Yeah.” 

Gu Fei also turned his head to stare at him, and only after a while did he smirked and said: “Yeah, what?” 

 “Fuck,” Jiang Cheng swore. “Are you really feeling jealous or are you faking it ah?”

“Half-half,” Gu Fei said. “I figured I have to be a bit jealous under this kind of situation, or else, it doesn’t show that I’m important.” 

“How important are you ah, you are the most important. I have never served a cripple person like this in my entire life.” Jiang Cheng snorted, “The only thing missing is to help you in the bathroom stall.” 

“Nevermind the bathroom,” Gu Fei sighed. “Just normally helping me with it is good…” 

“Shut up.” Jiang Cheng quickly cut him off when he saw Gu Miao standing at the school gate. 

Jealousy, he honestly couldn’t say with certainty if it was real or fake.  

Even at this age, Gu Fei had never been jealous before, nor did he ever have a chance to be jealous. He didn’t know what feeling jealous was at all. The feeling was probably the same as what he felt now. As for Pan Zhi who called himself Pan An and was probably pretty good-looking in reality, he did feel a subtle hint of uneasiness toward him – even though he was well aware that Jiang Cheng couldn’t have anything to do with classmate Pan An who brought along those mysterious girls.   

Most of the so-called “jealousy” could probably only be called a sense of alienation contrived from the environment Jiang Cheng had grown up in, his former friends, and the people and events that he had never made contact with before. 

But seeing that Jiang Cheng was in a pretty good mood, he was willing to ignore those things he felt and let his mood rise with his. 

Back in the shop, Jiang Cheng helped him again before the two entered the community hospital with bitter expressions, bought a smaller splint, and ordered some bandages and medicine to go. 

The doctor was someone who was very familiar with Gu Fei since he had suffered countless injuries over the years. This doctor didn’t even ask any questions when he bought those things, nor did he ask why he didn’t change the splint in the hospital. 

Once those supplies were purchased, Gu Fei returned to the inner room in the shop and did everything himself. Meanwhile, Jiang Cheng leaned against the door and kept watch, fearful that someone might suddenly come in and see the situation.  

Gu Miao hugged her skateboard and stood in front of Gu Fei with no expression on her face and watched the lively commotion. She was already aware that Gu Fei’s injury was fake but was nonetheless brimming with curiosity regarding the things wrapped around his leg.  

The second Gu Fei replaced the old splint for the new smaller ones, she stretched her leg in front of Gu Fei, rolled up the leg of her pants, and stared at him. 

“… alright.” Gu Fei sighed, took the bandages from the side then bent over and wrapped it around Gu Miao’s leg a few times, and taped it together. 

Gu Miao’s expression now was that of utter satisfaction. When she held her skateboard and squeezed out of the inner room from beside Jiang Cheng, even her walking strides brought a slight breeze. 

“Sit down ba.” Jiang Cheng watched as she went all the way to the backyard then turned around with a smile and said, “You can just tell me what to do with these dishes.”  

“Just heat them in a pot…” Gu Fei didn’t have a chance to finish speaking when Gu Miao ran back inside and stood right beside Jiang Cheng. 

“What’s wrong?” Jiang Cheng asked her.  

Gu Miao stooped down and tugged at the leg of Jiang Cheng’s pants.  

“I’m fine ah,” Jiang Cheng said. “My legs are in top condition, and there’s also nothing wrong with your brother’s leg…”

“Come here.” Gu Fei started to laugh and grabbed the bandages next to him. “When there’s something fun to play with, she wants to share it with you.” 

“… what the fuck.” Jiang Cheng was completely stunned as he glanced at Gu Miao and hesitantly walked over to Gu Fei. “I also have to get wrapped up?” 

“En.” Gu Fei nodded his head.  

Jiang Cheng reluctantly took a stool and sat in front of him before pulling up the leg of his pants. “Ugh, okay.” 

Gu Fei grabbed his leg and put it on his own leg then took the bandage at hand and wrapped it around. 

Jiang Cheng’s calves were very straight, and also very… toned and well-proportioned. Just looking at them… if he touched… Gu Fei cleared his throat and glanced at Gu Miao, who was staring directly at his hand without blinking.  

He could only proceed with concentrating on wrapping it up; the first wrap, his fingertips lightly touched Jiang Cheng’s skin, the second wrap, his fingertips again lightly brushed against Jiang Cheng’s skin, the third wrap, his fingertips once more lightly flitted by Jiang Cheng’s…  

“Fuck you,” Jiang Cheng threw out those words.  

“En?” He lifted his eyes toward Jiang Cheng.  

Jiang Cheng’s face was enshrouded with mystery: “Can you do it or not, if not, I’ll have the doctor next door do it.”

“Yes.” Gu Fei held back his laughter, lowered his head again, and quickly wrapped it two more times before taping the bandage together, “All done.” 

Jiang Cheng rolled down his pants, stood up, and stomped his feet a couple of times. He followed Er Miao out of the inner room but not before turning his head back around to point at him: “Gu Fei, I finally figured out what kind of person you are today.”

 “What kind of person am I?” Gu Fei looked at him with a smile. 

“Quite frivolous[4], that you are,” Jiang Cheng stated. “All the frivolous people out there, just look over here at Gu Fei.”

 Gu Fei laughed hysterically until he collapsed on the bed and continued for the longest time. 

Jiang Cheng’s eyes lingered on him for a moment, neither speaking nor laughing along. He took a glance at the courtyard then suddenly walked over and pounced him, firmly landing a kiss on his lips as his hand slid into his pants. 

“Fuck.” Gu Fei was very much taken aback by such an unexpected behavior, but as a young man with a healthy body and mind, who was at the time of his life where ‘spring was here and the animals are in heat’, even if he was taken aback, he would still have an immediate reaction to such a straightforward[5] tease. 

But just as he was about to respond, Jiang Cheng had already picked himself up off of him, and said as he turned to walk out: “Enjoy this moment, young man.” 

“Fuckkkkk.” Gu Fei remained frozen for a while longer as he collapsed back on the bed and laughed some more.  

Compared to his prowess in academics, Jiang Cheng’s culinary skills certainly belonged to that of a xuezha, spelled with capital letters to boot. Even as Gu Fei sat behind the checkout counter, he could see Jiang Cheng busying himself in the kitchen cutting vegetables in confusion as Gu Miao directed him before throwing them in the pot. 

Just when he was about to take out his phone to record this scene for memory, someone walked in through the door. He swept a glance over and placed his phone on the checkout counter instead: “Ma-ge.”[6]

Hou Zi’s surname was Ma. 

Now that he had already been defeated by him, he might as well call him Ma-ge to let Hou Zi feel utterly satisfied with himself. 

“How’s your leg?” Hou Zi grabbed a pack of cigarettes from the shelf behind him, opened it, and lit a stick. 

“Changed the splint earlier today. Have to keep it on for another week,” Gu Fei answered nonchalantly. 

“Have a good rest then.” Hou Zi glanced behind him and one of the people that had followed him in walked over and placed a case of milk on the counter. Hou Zi tapped his hand on the case, “This is for you.”

“Thanks for your concern, Ma-ge.” Gu Fei commented.  

Hou Zi didn’t say another word. He turned and slowly sauntered between the shelves, picking up things and tossing them to those behind him. 

Gu Fei only recognized one person among them and reckoned that the others were probably newly recruited lackeys that Hou Zi brought along to show them that not only could he put someone in their place, but also have the capacity to forgive and forget with a smile. 

To be honest, Gu Fei wasn’t concerned about acting weak. He was only worried that Hou Zi would go batshit if he saw Jiang Cheng there with him.   

After all, Jiang Cheng was supposedly his “xiaodi”[7]. And now that he had fallen to a disadvantageous position, to have a xiaodi still make food for him, was completely different than just taking him to school.  

Gu Fei’s eyes moved toward the courtyard for a glance only to find that Jiang Cheng was no longer in the kitchen. Meanwhile, Gu Miao was still standing in front of the stove, silently guarding the pot of soup. 

Tacit understanding at its best.  

Gu Fei wanted to laugh all of a sudden. Jiang Cheng was indeed an intelligent one and quick on his feet, able to read the situation and went into hiding within just a moment. 

Hou Zi went around in the shop, grabbed some snacks, and then directly left with his people without another word.  

A few minutes later, Gu Fei finally stood up and hopped with one leg toward the courtyard.

“Cheng-ge?” Gu Fei called out.  

“En.” Jiang Cheng walked out of the bathroom to the side while tugging on his pants. “They’re gone?” 

“Yeah.” Gu Fei gave him a look, “Still pretending ne.” 

“Aren’t you doing the same me.” Jiang Cheng shot a glance at his one leg that was still lifted.  

Gu Fei settled down his leg and chuckled as Jiang Cheng returned to the kitchen; the soup had come to the boil, so he went to turn off the stove. “Hou Zi’s surname is Ma ah?”

“En,” Gu Fei nodded.  

“Shit, how could he accept a nickname like Hou Zi,” Jiang Cheng questioned. “Isn’t he worried people will call him Da-Mahou[8] behind his back?”

Gu Fei responded by bursting into a spell of laughter. 

Having meat and vegetables in one pot would automatically ensure that it was delicious no matter how it was eaten; coincidentally, it was also the best way to cover up one’s dreadful culinary skills.

Even with only the three of them, they managed to eat the large pot of food; Gu Miao also had two bowls of rice with it.  

After they cleaned up the table of dishes and chopsticks, the two sat in the shop playing on their phones while Gu Miao sprawled on a table working on her homework. After she was stopped from attending school, Gu Fei still had her read her textbook herself every day and then assign her some homework. 

The little girl was quite conscientious, however, all her answers were basically incorrect.  

Since Gu Miao was there with them, and they could only flirt through bumping legs and touching hands, they could still feel a sense of delight. The saying was true then that humans would actually lower their expectations under harsher conditions… 

“Going half an hour early should be good enough ba?” Jiang Cheng glanced at his phone when it was almost nine o’clock.   

“En,” Gu Fei nodded. “It’s fine if you head out now, are you going to get a taxi or take the bus?” 

“Take the bus,” Jiang Cheng said. “Then grab a taxi after I get them.” 

“You have to head out now then,” Gu Fei suggested. 

“I’ll give you a call after I get them,” Jiang Cheng added. “We can eat some midnight snacks together.” 

“There’s no need ba, your classmates… I won’t go along to eat,” Gu Fei hesitated for a moment.  

“The point isn’t to eat ah.” Jiang Cheng looked at him, “It’s just… you don’t want to meet my classmates me, the others are whatever to me, but Pan Zhi ba, he’s the only one that I’m pretty close to.” 

“Alright.” Gu Fei nodded, “I’ll wait for your call then.”

Jiang Cheng looked around as he stood at the exit of the train station once more; the chaotic crowd and the run-down shops were still there, nothing had changed from when he had first arrived here. 

It was quite strange. Jiang Cheng lit a cigarette and held it in his mouth, constantly thinking that with just a turn of his head, he could see Gu Miao and her messy head of hair.  

In just a few months, from having felt the anger, pain, and confusion… through it all, he was actually able to now stand here with tranquility and some excitement as he waited for Pan Zhi and the others. 

For him, these classmates held memories of his past life and remembrance, but at the recollection of these things, he wasn’t as disappointed and frustrated as he was a few months ago. 

As expected, my adaptability to all of this is quite strong.    

With his hands in his pockets, Jiang Cheng gave himself a thumbs up. 

Bravo. 

When a train arrived, Jiang Cheng didn’t pay attention to which one it was and was also disinclined to look through the crowd. He simply stood on a block of stone next to him and waited for Pan Zhi and the others to find him instead. 

“Cheng-er![9]” Pan Zhi’s enthusiastic roar traveled into his ears from the right just a few minutes later. 

Jiang Cheng turned his head and saw Pan Zhi run over, dragging a luggage toward him. He smiled as he jumped off the block of stone, shouting: “Grandson!”

“Grandpa!” Pan Zhi yelled once more when he stopped in front of him and gave him a hug. “How long have you waited ah!” 

“Just got here.” Jiang Cheng looked behind him and saw Hu Feng and Li Song and behind them were two girls. Even though he wasn’t familiar with either, he did know they were from the same class as Huang Hui. He immediately leaned close to Pan Zhi and asked in a low voice, “How did you end up having eyes for people in Huang Hui’s class ne? Aren’t there girls in other classes ah?”

“Grandpa, please be reasonable.” Pan Zhi lowered his voice, “Li Yuqing, she’s the one who has her eyes on me, the mushroom head one, and the other is Xu Meng.” 

Jiang Cheng glanced over again and saw that both girls had similar hairstyles, one long and one short. He tsk-ed: “The long hair one or the short hair one ah?”

“Shorter one, would you call someone with long hair a mushroom head me?!” Pan Zhi questioned as he turned to shout at the few behind them, “Hurry up!”

When Hu Feng and Li Song came over and yelled right back at him, Jiang Cheng suddenly felt that a time had indeed sped by in the blink of an eye. Obviously, it had only been a few months, and he had already adapted to his current situation, but there was still a sense of unspeakable excitement welling up inside of him.  

“Fengfeng, how come you gained weight again?” Jiang Cheng looked at Hu Feng.  

“No, no. I didn’t gain any weight. Da Li is just wasting away every day that I look fat compared to him,” Hu Feng explained.  

“I’m alright ba.” Li Song took a step back and carefully examined Jiang Cheng, “Jiang Cheng, you haven’t changed at all ah, still as handsome as ever, you handsome devil.”  

“No shit sherlock,” Pan Zhi chimed in from the side. “His title as the ‘grass’ of the school[10] wasn’t just something for show. The moment he left, we were left unable to immediately choose our next blade of grass” 

The two girls didn’t utter a word the entire time, opting to watch them and giggling to the side instead.  

“Shut the hell up,” Jiang Cheng retorted. “Let’s go. We can take a taxi, which hotel did you guys booked? We can put your things there first then have some midnight snacks.” 

“At a Rujia, it should be pretty close to your place. Didn’t you say that you didn’t move that far?” Pan Zhi questioned.  

“En, pretty close.” Jiang Cheng nodded, “After putting your stuff there, we’ll get my… friend, and go out to eat together.”

Jiang Cheng was going to say “classmate” but ultimately decided to say “friend” instead; compared to addressing him as a “classmate”, he would rather call him a “friend” when he was in a situation where he couldn’t call him his “boyfriend”.  

“Classmate” just sounded too official while “friend” was more intimate.  

They called for two taxis and made their way directly to the Rujia. 

This day was a journey of reminiscing; after reminiscing at the exit of the train station, then reminiscing again as he stood outside the entrance of the Rujia only to turn around and see the Zhoujia inn across the street, Jiang Cheng felt himself become distracted.  

Some of these events seemed to have already faded from his memories, and it was only when he was in the presence of them did he suddenly realize that he and Gu Fei had fought like retards on the pile of the snow to the side of the street only a few months ago.  

Yeah, only a few months ago.  

He smiled to himself, and that retard actually became my boyfriend.  

Once they put their luggage in their rooms, the group of them went out once more. Li Yuqing and Xu Meng looked around as they stood outside the hotel: “Where are we going to eat ah?” 

“It’s not that far.” Jiang Cheng dialed Gu Fei’s numbers as he spoke, “We can walk over there.” 

“Let’s eat something local, what’s the specialty here?” Hu Feng asked. 

“Dunno, I’ll ask in a bit.” Jiang Cheng replied, leading them all to the next street over when Gu Fei answered the call. He didn’t know why, especially since it had been less than an hour, but when he heard Gu Fei’s voice, he suddenly found himself missing Gu Fei very much. What the hell is wrong with me?

“They’re with you?” Gu Fei asked.  

“En, they’ve checked in. We’re heading over now,” Jiang Cheng said. “Is Gu Miao there? Bring her too.”  

“She went home to sleep already,” Gu Fei said. “I’ll wait for you in front of the shop ba.” 

“Okay, see you,” Jiang Cheng ended the call.  

When they arrived in front of Gu Fei’s family’s shop, Gu Fei had already locked up and was leaning against a lamppost near the entrance with a cigarette in his mouth. 

“Ai?” Pan Zhi froze, “It’s this guy ah?” 

“Yeah,” Jiang Cheng sounded in response. “What’s up?” 

“Nothing, it’s just a bit out of the blue,” Pan Zhi whispered. “He doesn’t seem like the kind of person you’d hang out with without the two of you beating each other to death ah.”  

“What kind of description is that.” Jiang Cheng was amused the second he heard, as expected, Pan Zhi is the bestie.   

When Gu Fei heard the sound of their voices nearing him, he turned around and put out the cigarette butt on a nearby trash bin. 

“This is my friend,” Jiang Cheng turned to introduce him to the few people behind him, “Gu Fei.” 

The second time he said, “my friend”, those two words, Jiang Cheng was suddenly riddled with a sense of nervousness, constantly worried that he might blurt out, “my boyfriend, Gu Fei.”  

“Ah!” Xu Meng shrieked in a low voice from behind, then grabbed Li Yuqing’s arm and shook it repeatedly. “He’s so handsome!”  

Li Yuqing reacted rather quickly and laughed as she spoke, “Jiang Cheng, is your friend single? Why don’t you introduce him to Mengmeng ba.” 

In your dreams!

Hearing those words, Jiang Cheng instantly felt the extra-large bullet screen[11] in his mind crashing down on Xu Meng. He didn’t say a single word and glanced at the two of them with a fake smile. 

The author has something to say: Continuing tomorrow. 

“How lively ⊙▽⊙.” The author who had to put on wool kneepads and continued to kneel on the ground because the weather was too cold said while beaming from ear to ear. 

“Let the jealousy games begin! o(≧口≦)o.” The black furry spirit shouted.  

“w(゜Д゜)w ying.” The small black furry spirit chimed in. 

“Ji ji, gu gu gu gu &(ˉ^ˉ)&！” The tiny black furry spirit chirped. 

°

The translator has something to say:

Sae: I bet anything that Pan Zhi called Jiang Cheng, Cheng-er, will make Gu Fei extra jealous lol

[1] As if flying (健步如飞 jiànbùrúfēi) idiom: running as fast as flying

[2] Hu Fengfeng and Da Li (胡疯疯和大李), Hu Fengfeng, the fengfeng here means cray-cray (crazy) and Da Li, the Da just mean Big (Li being the name) how Gu Fei is Da Fei. 

[3] Steal back the girl, 撬墙角 Lit – pry the corner but slang that you steal someone’s bf or gf.; sometimes it also means you took great people from other company.

[4] Frivolous (浪骚 langsao) – refers to someone that is ‘not serious’, behaves frivolously, and acts vulgarly, basically has ‘loose morals’ (derogatory sense). Then there’s mensao (闷骚) – refers to a person who looks cold and quiet, but is actually full of thought and content. Such groups of people do not easily express and expose their personal emotions, anger, sorrow, and emotional changes, but in specific occasions or environments, they often perform unexpectedly. It is a neutral word, and definitely describes Gu Fei lol and even Jiang Cheng. 

[5] Straightforward (单刀直入 dāndāozhírù) idiom, to get straight to the point

[6] Ma-ge (马哥) Ma means Horse

[7] xiaodi – 小弟, lit. means little brother but slang for underling, lackey, subordinate

[8] Da Mahou (大马猴) – Hou Zi (Monkey), his surname is Ma (Horse), together it would be Big Horse Monkey. This term has several different meanings depending on the region and context. Sometimes it is described as a monster used to scare children by the older adults for if the child is disobedient, they will be captured by the horse monkey. Sometimes, it is used to describe that people look ugly, like gorillas. Also, it can be used to describe people being irritable in doing things, saying that you should not act like a buffoon.

[9] Cheng-er: ‘Er’ is the pinyin for the word ‘兒’ (simplified, ‘儿’), meaning ‘child’. As such, it is used as a diminutive marker; in a name, it is equivalent to the English ‘-y’ or ‘-ie’ (Jack= Jackie, Jacky) ending, and used as a term of endearment. When you add ‘er’ to a single word of one’s name, it makes you feel closer to each other. It’s like a nickname.

[10] ‘Grass’ of the school’ – The most handsome boy in the school aka campus hunk (校草 xiàocǎo) lit. campus grass which is the opposite to campus belle (校花 xiàohuā) campus belle, the prettiest girl on campus. So if the girl is the ‘flower’ of the campus, the boy is the ‘grass’ 

[11] “Bullet screen”, or “dan’mu” in Chinese, is an emerging new feature on online video sites in China and Japan, which allows real-time comments from viewers to fly across the screen like bullets. Mostly used for virtual nods and zingers, this “social viewing” feature is phenomenally popular with the younger crowd.