Chapter 52 – Essay

The boys let themselves go more and more in the following rounds, and their crazy antics were really enough to make people raise their eyebrows in surprise.

The girls who were watching on didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. The scene was basically an assault to their eyes.

Just now, the player who’d had card number ‘3’ during Ma Xiaoding’s round finally got the trump card himself and retaliated.

Ma Xiaoding was forced to play out a scene from Romeo & Juliet with a nearby boy. They looked into each other’s eyes and confessed their love, then immediately let go of each other’s hands and turned away, pretending to retch.

People played back and forth inside the room and laughter was a constant.

Ma Xiaoding exclaimed, “Why is it that we’re all acting, but God Xie was able to act so seriously?!”

His ‘Romeo’ complained, “If you had even one tenth of Brother Yu’s good looks, I wouldn’t have had such a hard time.”

Ma Xiaoding: “What do you mean by that? Come on, let’s fight!”

Song Yu held a ‘J’ in his hand and briefly laughed when he heard their conversation. However, his eyes drifted, and it was clear that he was absent-minded.

“It’s already been 11 rounds, but the ghost card has never shown up on God Xie or Brother Yu. What kind of amazing luck is this?”

One of the boys shook his head and lamented over this as he collected the cards and shuffled.

“Wait a minute.” A girl with her hair up in a bun suddenly raised her hand. She blinked, then smiled, “I have reason to suspect that there’s a problem with the cards. Jiang Chunian, do you have any spare cards?”

It would be too simple for someone to mess around with the 13 cards that hadn’t been changed throughout the game.

Jiang Chunian replied, “I brought a whole set of poker cards, but only the cards from A to K can be changed. Those are the only two joker cards.”

The girl with a bun volunteered, “In that case, let’s stop first. I’ll go buy a new set. God Xie, I have to know which girl it is!”

There was no helping it. She was really curious about the person that their school grass was interested in.

There weren’t that many girls who were obsessed about shipping CPs.

At this age, characters like their school grass and school bully still attracted some of these girls’ admiration and brushes.

Their souls for gossip and hearts for comparison were still burning fiercely.

Who did he like? Was that girl beautiful? Was she smart? Were they worse than her in comparison?

Their hearts itched like they were being scratched.

Jiang Chunian held a cushion in her arms and couldn’t stop laughing, “Really? I’m afraid that you’ll be so depressed that you’ll smash your head against the wall once you know who it is.”

The girl with the bun snorted, but then smiled and looked at Song Yu, “There’s still Brother Yu, who thinks about someone all day and night and in his dreams. I’m really curious, who’s lucky enough to enter your dreams?”

The corners of Song Yu’s lips pulled down, “You guys are overthinking it.” It wasn’t like it was a spring dream.

Jiang Chunian: “Go quickly. If the person in his dreams and the person he likes are each other, then I’m afraid you’ll cry in my arms.”

The girl with the bun stood up. Her legs were long and slender under her pleated skirt. She glared, “Shut up, rotten girl. I wish you bad luck tonight.”

Song Yu: “……” Had this Chinese class representative opened up a hack?

Everyone else was a little tired from playing so excitedly for so long and urged her to go quickly.

“Help me bring back a bottle of iced black tea.”

“Me too. Bring me back an orange soda, thanks.”

Liang Yingying continued eating her potato chips. She leaned over and asked Jiang Chunian in a low voice, “Are you so sure that you’ve shipped a real CP?”

Jiang Chunian shook her head. She thought about what had happened in the past and sighed, “I don’t know if they’re for real, but it’s really hopeless for anyone else. Just thinking about how I asked God Xie a silly question like what domain of definition meant just to talk to him, do you dare to say that my love wasn’t serious?”

Liang Yingying: “……”

Jiang Chunian continued, “You haven’t experienced God Xie’s look. It’s really scary. It made me feel like a child who was born an idiot. My young girl’s heart was directly drowned to death by ice-cold water and I almost closed myself up when I went back to my seat.”

She picked up a potato chip from nearby, “However, my young girl’s heart is about to recover. They’re too sweet together—if you pay more attention to them, you’ll know that their tenderness is only given to those who are important to them. They’re a very well-matched pair of boys.”

Liang Yingying: “How come I feel like it’s not your young girl’s heart that’s about to recover, it’s that you embarked on a road of no return after closing yourself up.”

Jiang Chunian: “……………”

The chip in her mouth suddenly didn’t feel so crispy anymore.

“That’s not it. I’m really happy watching them interact.”

Jiang Chunian looked up at the ceiling, “But when will a beautiful love come to me?”

She suddenly lowered her voice, “My mother has already made plans to start looking for a partner for me. Can you believe it?”

Liang Yingying stared at her, “Really?”

Jiang Chunian sounded depressed, “There’s a Fourth Young Master from the Qin Family who has come over from A City. He’s one year older than me. She cheerfully arranged for me to attend his welcoming banquet. Do you know of the Qin Family? The Qin Group is the type of consortium that’s at the top even in A City. It sounds really terrifying.”

Liang Yingying was stunned for a moment, but what she asked was, “Is he handsome?”

Jiang Chunian straightened up and frowned, “If it’s the Qin Family, then whether or not they’re handsome isn’t important. No matter what, their family is above mine. But before, my mother said that she’d break my legs if I fell in love. Now she’s telling me to go and have a good relationship with my peers. I don’t really understand what she’s thinking. I saw his photo though. He’s called Qin Mo, and he’s quite handsome, but I feel that he won’t bother with me, and I can’t afford to provoke him either.”

“Can’t afford to provoke him?”

“Yes, it’s intuition. Someone like Bai Xuexin would probably be a good match with him if he doesn’t look down on her.”

The two of them chatted in quiet voices over there.

Song Yu nestled into the sofa. The atmosphere was quiet, and once he relaxed, he started feeling a little sleepy.

The music was light and easy, the cushions were soft, and together with the faint scent of alcohol in the air, it all seemed to have a hypnotic effect. Even so, there was still the sound of that ‘Yuyu’ in his mind, as well as Xie Sui’s deep, bottomless eyes.

He felt a little dazed and confused, but he couldn’t figure out why. It wasn’t shyness or anger. After all, his thoughts on the incident were very simple; he treated it as a joke and didn’t take it very seriously.

It was just… he felt a bit lost.

He felt that he could only find the answer in his dreams.

Song Yu looked up at the ceiling, and then quietly looked at Xie Sui, who was sitting beside him. Finally, he leaned back, depressed, and covered his eyes with the card in his hand.

—F*ck. Don’t think about it anymore. What you think about in the day, you will dream of at night; he was going to have a restless night again tonight.

The girl with the bun quickly returned with a new set of cards and had also picked up the iced tea and orange soda on the way back. She sat down on the sofa and quickly picked out the two joker cards, then the A to K cards in the spade suit, and spread them out on the table. She smiled enthusiastically, “Draw a card, draw a card. The rules haven’t changed.”

Song Yu said, “I’m a little sleepy.”

“Ah???” The girl with the bun was aggrieved, “Brother Yu, can you live up to my bitter efforts and the trip I had to take?”

Song Yu lifted his eyelids, “Last round, then.”

The girl with the bun could only admit defeat, “… Fine.”

It was already 10:30PM and really wasn’t early anymore. Those two secrets might really become the biggest regret of tonight.

Everyone began to pick their cards.

Song Yu picked a card at random. He took a look and was stunned.

A one in fifteen chance!

And in the very last game!

He’d actually drawn the ghost card!

The change in his expression was too obvious.

Suddenly, everyone: “!!!”

Xie Sui held an ace in his hand. He lifted his eyes and looked over at Song Yu.

This time, the winner with the trump card was a girl. She was usually a little introverted, but she now stood up and shyly asked, “So, Brother Yu, truth or dare?”

Song Yu flipped the card in his hand. He’d witnessed so many dares and was really a bit scared of the things they could come up with.

“Truth, then.”

“Ahhhhhh! Okay!”

The group of girls who didn’t have the trump card in their hands all started screaming.

The girl with the trump card naturally didn’t let everyone down. She asked, “Who do you dream of every night?”

Song Yu: “……”

He’d just known that this would be the question.

Everyone’s gazes burned as they landed on him. Even Xie Sui turned his head over, but his gaze was a little cold.

He couldn’t answer this question, because once they learned who it was, they would ask about the contents of the dreams. Were those dreams something to be shared? But if he didn’t explain, then it would be misinterpreted, and in less than a week, everyone would know that he dreamed about Xie Sui. It was almost a given that the truth would be distorted until everyone thought he was having spring dreams about Xie Sui.

Song Yu: “I remember that it’s possible to change questions. Didn’t Ma Xiaoding change questions that time?”

Xi Bowen was stunned for a moment, then answered, “But he was punished.”

Ma Xiaoding nodded, his eyes wide with horror, “Yeah, I opened up a can of beer. Brother Yu, don’t mess around, you can’t drink alcohol!”

Song Yu: “……”

It seemed that there really was something like this. The original owner of this body couldn’t drink even a bit of alcohol. He wouldn’t go so far as to seek death on his own.

“In that case, I’ll drink something else.” He picked up the orange soda on the table and poured himself a full glass. His tone was very natural, “Come up with another question.”

The girl with the trump card: “……”

The girl with the bun covered her face, not knowing if she should laugh or cry, “Brother Yu, how can you do that?”

Song Yu frowned. He also felt that acting this way was a little disrespectful towards the rules of the game.

He was hesitating over whether or not to answer… It seemed like saying it wasn’t really that big of a deal.

“I’ll drink for him. Change the question.”

Xie Sui suddenly spoke up while he was still thinking, his voice light and indifferent.

“???”

“!!!”

“Wow!”

The ones hollering were the boys.

The girls were half blushing from surprise and half dismayed, their expressions complicated.

The girl with the bun: “…… God Xie… you……” She just wanted to listen to some gossip—why was it so difficult?

Song Yu was stunned, too. He tilted his head and looked at him.

Xie Sui had already opened up a can. He drank it all down, his actions casual and easy, just like the first time they’d met in Linshui. It was just missing the coldness that warned people not to approach.

Ten bottles of the strongest alcohol from Linshui wasn’t a problem for him. Drinking a can of beer now was child’s play.

He licked his lower lip. Xie Sui raised his gaze and smiled, “Change it.”

The girl with the trump card sighed and shook her head, “Okay. I’ll ask a simple question, then. Brother Yu, do you like anyone right now?”

Song Yu came back to his senses and answered this question very simply. He shook his head, “No.”

He hadn’t been interested in anyone in both his lives.

“No?!”

If he didn’t have anyone he liked, then who was he dreaming about every day?!!

However, they didn’t have a chance to say their questions out loud.

Their class teacher had already entered their room with a selfie stick in hand. He yelled, “Come on, come on, students in 305, everyone come and take a photo.”

Everyone: “???”

Everyone: “!!!”

Their class teacher had been smiling broadly, all the way until his eyes landed on the alcohol on the table.

His smile froze.

“……”

Everyone in the room stopped breathing.

Half a beat later, that night’s game ended with their class teacher’s roar ringing through the room.

“What are you guys doing?!!! Who ordered the alcohol!! Are you guys itching for a beating?! All of you need to write me a 1000 word essay!”

*

Since it was so late, Song Yu sent his grandmother a message telling her that he’d return home on Saturday.

He felt refreshed again after arriving back at the school apartments and taking a bath. Bored and idle, he simply went downstairs to look for Xie Sui and write his essay with him.

“One thousand words. What to write?”

When Song Yu left, one of the girls had given him a bottle of orange soda. He hadn’t drunk it, so he’d brought it back and set it down nearby.

Now, he looked cluelessly at his essay paper and opened the soda lid.

Xie Sui didn’t know if this child was trying to hint at anything by running downstairs in his pajamas.

He spoke faintly—

“You can write about the game we played.”

Song Yu drank a mouthful of soda, “Tsk, if I write about that, the class teacher might chase after me and add another 10,000 words.”

Xie Sui laughed briefly, “You start writing first. I’ll go and make a cup of coffee.”

Song Yu: “Okay.”

But after Xie Sui left, Song Yu bit his pen, looked at the paper, and then started playing on his cell phone instead. He had a new friend request on QQ from ‘Lights Are As Bright As Ever’. Song Yu thought for a moment, then accepted it. The other side soon sent over a message.

[ Lights Are As Bright As Ever: Sorry!!! Brother Yu!!! ]

[ Lights Are As Bright As Ever: I’ve already applied to delete the thread on the forums, and I’ve destroyed the document. You’ll never see it again. I swear, I’m not writing any more, and I’ll never write again, don’t kill me qaq! ]

Song Yu had originally felt that there was really something wrong.

He asked a question that he’d always been puzzled about.

[ Your Husband, Brother Yu: Why do you guys all feel that Xie Sui and I are a pair? ]

[ Lights Are As Bright As Ever: ??? ]

[ Lights Are As Bright As Ever: This question? Others in the forum might just be looking at how you two are both very handsome and famous and feel that you’re particularly well-matched, so they’re blindly shipping, but I’m different. I used to like God Xie, so there was a period of time when I paid a lot of attention to you two. And then… I felt that you guys were a little sweet ]

[ Lights Are As Bright As Ever: Brother Yu, if you pay more attention to it, you’ll discover just how gentle God Xie is with you and how differently he treats you ]

[ Lights Are As Bright As Ever: … Of course, if this is your socialist brotherhood, then you can treat my words like farts. Don’t think too much about it. What kind of love can you have in high school? Isn’t learning fun? Brother Yu, your target for next time is to get into the top 10 in the grade. Work hard, good night, I’m leaving [covering myself with a lid] ]

[ Your Husband, Brother Yu: …… ]

Song Yu put down his cell phone and picked up his pen to get started on the 1000 word essay, but his brain was still focused on Jiang Chunian’s words. Was Xie Sui particularly gentle with him? It wasn’t that special, right? Xie Sui hadn’t encountered those scum people and had always been a gentle and kind-hearted youth.

“You haven’t written a single word?”

Xie Sui had already come back with coffee.

He sat down beside him.

Song Yu put his pen down and thought of something. “I started thinking about the contents of the game when I was about to write. I’m still quite curious now. You really like someone?”

Xie Sui quietly looked at him, “Mm.”

Song Yu: “Can you tell me who it is?”

Xie Sui smiled slightly, but his tone was cool and distant, “Why should I?”

Song Yu: “……”

Song Yu flipped his pen, “We can at least be considered brothers who’ve slept on the same bed before. We have a good relationship. I can teach you how to chase her and help give you advice.”

Teach him how to chase women. That was really funny.

Xie Sui started laughing, but he only said, “How about trading your secret for it.”

Song Yu froze for a moment, his pupils growing wider. His curly eyelashes quivered, his eyes curious and surprised, “Use the secret of who I dream about?” It was just like trading secrets in primary school, but Song Yu hadn’t lowered his voice when discussing such a childish thing.

Xie Sui: “Mm.”

Song Yu was only afraid of gossip and didn’t actually care about sharing this secret. Xie Sui would be making a big loss if he used this secret in exchange for learning who he liked. His expression was filled with ‘you’ll regret this’ as he said, “In that case, I’ll tell you now?”

He leaned over, almost arriving at Xie Sui’s ear, then whispered, “I dream of you.”

When he spoke, his breath carried the scent of cold orange soda. A breeze, mint, and orange soda.

It was like his arrival had given him an entire summer.

Xie Sui stilled for a moment, then lifted his head. There was a sweetness in his heart that was like melting honey, but his face was still and showed nothing.

He used that kind of smile that wasn’t really a smile and didn’t look serious at all. His tone was careless, “Oh, the one I like is you, too.”

It was just that his informal and careless attitude made it seem like he wasn’t telling the truth at all.

Song Yu: “……”

Song Yu: “I’m telling you the truth!”

How had he ended up getting tricked like this.

“Hahahaha.”

Xie Sui leaned against the table and laughed endlessly.

It had been a very long time since…

… He’d felt such simple happiness.