Chapter 14: In a Relationship?
Si Yao’s heart had been hanging high in his chest when the girl was about to confess. He had been caught completely off guard when Chu Yang took the bag from him.
It was only when Chu Yang walked out of the store that he followed closely and took the bag back.
He walked behind Chu Yang, remaining unusually quiet.
Actually, he wanted to say to Chu Yang: You’re too gentle. It’s hard for others to give up like this.
If it were him, he would definitely reject them harshly, leaving the other party with zero hope.
But he also knew Chu Yang wasn’t that kind of person. While he would reject men harshly, his attitude toward girls was always gentle. There was even a time when someone accidentally cut his hand with a utility knife, and he hadn’t been angry at all.
Even now, a faint white scar remained on his knuckle. Although it hadn’t been serious at the time, scars on knuckles seemed harder to erase than elsewhere.
Returning to the dorm, Chu Yang grabbed his clothes and impatiently went into the bathroom. Lin Zhiheng turned on the AC and then closed the windows.
Si Yao put Chu Yang’s ice cream and ice balls in the fridge and then distributed the sports drinks to each person’s desk.
By the time Chu Yang came out, the room was already cool. He carried the damp moisture of a shower. He wore a very thin white T-shirt on his upper body and a pair of shorts on his lower body. His calves were slender, and his arches tensed and relaxed as he walked to his seat.
Lin Zhiheng’s bed was opposite his, and their desks were also opposite. Using the mirror on his desk, he could see all of Chu Yang’s movements without turning around.
The slender back of his neck, the narrow waist… the white T-shirt swayed as he dried his hair, revealing a clear waistline. He even had one leg propped up, looking very unrestrained.
The dorm was silent. Si Yao watched openly, his elbow resting on his chair and his entire face turned toward Chu Yang.
Xie An and Chu Yang were separated only by a bed ladder. He had the clearest view of all. With a slight turn of his head, he could see the top of Chu Yang’s foot resting on the footstool, with several protruding veins visible. It looked incredibly erotic.
Having just showered, his toes were pink, the lines of his calves were sharp, and it seemed like his ankles could be gripped by a single hand.
Chu Yang was completely oblivious to the others’ gazes. After drying his hair, he stood up, opened the mini-fridge, took a bag of grape ice, and turned to ask the others, “Why aren’t you guys eating? Is it really not hot?”
Si Yao’s large Adam’s apple bobbed, his voice a bit raspy. “It’s a bit hot. Give me a bag.”
He reached out toward Chu Yang. That hand was very large, and the palm was red, as if holding a great deal of heat inside.
The heat from the weather could be endured, but the fire rising from his lower abdomen was uncontrollable.
Taking the ice balls, Si Yao quickly tore open the seal and poured two into his mouth. As soon as his mouth closed, he began to crunch the ice, his eyes fixed straight on Chu Yang. Those who didn’t know better would think he was chewing on Chu Yang himself.
Xie An and Lin Zhiheng each took an ice cream and also ate them quickly, swallowing them in a few large bites.
Chu Yang was stunned. These three looked like they weren’t hot at all when they were outside, but after sitting in an air-conditioned room for a while, they suddenly seemed to have heated up.
Although Chu Yang was hot, he didn’t have teeth as strong as theirs. He ate the ice balls one by one. The grape flavor was sweet and sour. He held an ice ball in his mouth and sucked on it, letting it roll around before biting down, his eyes narrowing in comfort.
His hair was half-dry. Chu Yang didn’t want to blow-dry it, intending to let it air-dry before going to bed. Having nothing else to do, he didn’t let go of the bag of ice, squeezing it occasionally.
He looked even more like a cat.
Before he finished the bag of ice, the phone on his desk began to buzz. Chu Yang looked down—it was a call from Yin Lianchuan.
He reached out and answered. Just as he put the phone to his ear, Yin Lianchuan’s unhappy voice rang out: “Why aren’t you replying to my messages? You aren’t really on a date, are you?”
He sounded so frantic that one would think a date was some catastrophic event. Chu Yang felt a bit bored and wanted to tease him. He swallowed the ice in his mouth and said slowly, “What if I am on a date?”
As soon as he said that, the others in the dorm instantly became alert, staring straight at him. Even Xie An, who was usually the most composed, turned directly toward him.
On the other end of the phone, Yin Lianchuan was stifled by his words. He choked for a second, his voice raspy. “Real date or fake date? You can’t date behind my back!”
Chu Yang swung his legs. “Of course I won’t date behind your back. I’ll date openly.”
Yin Lianchuan’s hand trembled. He had known Chu Yang for nearly ten years. He wasn’t sure when his feelings had stopped being pure. From the first moment he saw Chu Yang, he knew the boy was beautiful and wanted to be friends with him.
Yin Lianchuan’s family was wealthy, and he was surrounded by people wherever he went. Only the young Chu Yang paid him little attention, coming to school to study seriously every day and leaving as soon as it was time, with a brother picking him up.
Chu Yang was famous not just for his looks, but also because he had rejected the homeroom teacher on the first day of school.
He had excellent grades, was good-looking, and was polite. The homeroom teacher liked him very much and, on the first day, intended to make him the class monitor. However, Chu Yang rejected him directly in class, saying he didn’t want to.
This had a huge impact on the other middle schoolers. Was it allowed to reject the teacher?
The homeroom teacher was also stunned, not expecting a rejection, but quickly asked if he’d be willing to be the vice-monitor.
At that time, Yin Lianchuan knew that the quietness of this overly beautiful child wasn’t weakness; on the contrary, he was very brave—even excessively so.
When Yin Lianchuan failed to get Chu Yang’s attention repeatedly, Chu Yang finally got fed up with him. When Yin Lianchuan asked him to go to the “little woods,” Chu Yang tossed his backpack into a tree and beat him up first.
He beat Yin Lianchuan until his face was black and blue, with no strength to fight back. Chu Yang only stopped because his backpack was about to fall out of the tree.
Yin Lianchuan realized profoundly that he wasn’t even as important as a backpack.
Before leaving, Chu Yang threatened him: “If you bother me again, I’ll hit you again. I’ll have my brother hit you too.”
Yin Lianchuan climbed up from the ground. He knew who Chu Yang’s brother was—a tall, broad university student who looked very tough. He really was no match for him.
It wasn’t surprising that Chu Yang hit him. Yin Lianchuan’s reputation was terrible back then. Many people in school were afraid of him, and there were many rumors about him leading a group of lackeys to bully others.
Furthermore, in order to talk more with Chu Yang, he would always say something annoying whenever Chu Yang collected homework. He looked exactly like those boys who hadn’t fully developed their brains and tried to pursue girls they liked.
After being beaten, Yin Lianchuan didn’t bother Chu Yang for a while. However, Chu Yang didn’t let his guard down at all, even bringing defensive tools to school for fear of Yin Lianchuan’s retaliation.
Later, there was small-group tutoring. Yin Lianchuan begged the homeroom teacher to arrange for him to be in the same group as Chu Yang, and only then did the two become good friends.
Various emotions swirled in Yin Lianchuan’s heart. He gritted his teeth before speaking: “I don’t believe you’d get into a relationship so quickly. You must be lying to me.”
It had only been one short day; it shouldn’t be possible. But if it were Chu Yang, he could probably date five people in a single day just by beckoning with his finger.
Chu Yang chuckled. “If you know I’m lying, why are you so worked up? Are you stupid?”
Yin Lianchuan was almost amused by his anger. “You really—if you were in front of me right now, believe it or not, I’d—!”
Believe it or not, I’d fck you to death!*
“What would you do? You’d still hit me?” Chu Yang’s tone was lazy; he didn’t take it to heart at all.
Yin Lianchuan gnashed his teeth. “Just you wait.”
Chu Yang didn’t chat much more with him and hung up after a few more sentences.
As soon as he put the phone down, Xie An asked with burning eyes, “Does your friend think you’re in a relationship?”
Even if he could judge from the fragments of conversation that it was a joke, he still had to confirm it to be at peace.
Chu Yang: “Yeah. Just giving him a scare.”
The three quietly let out a sigh of relief.
(That really was a scare.)
Afternoon classes ended at 4:00 PM, which was before Chu Yuanzhou’s off-work time. Chu Yang intended to head back to the dorm first or take a taxi home. The sun was still very strong, and he didn’t want to wait.
But halfway through the second class, Chu Yuanzhou said he was on his way. However, by the time Chu Yang finished class, he still hadn’t arrived, saying he’d be there in ten minutes. So, Chu Yang decided to wait in the classroom.
Strangely, today everyone wasn’t in a rush to leave after class either, chatting in the classroom instead.
Chu Yang looked at the still-running AC and was in a pretty good mood. He turned to ask Xie An, “Is there some class activity later? Why isn’t anyone leaving?”
Xie An shook his head. “No activity. It’s the weekend tomorrow; maybe they’re just reluctant to leave the classroom’s AC.”
Chu Yang: “…..”
He didn’t get it.
Chu Yang didn’t play on his phone either, resting his chin on one hand as he watched people walk past outside. As he watched, his brow furrowed because he noticed several people had already walked past several times.
When the people in the classroom noticed him looking out the window, they all followed his gaze. The people in the hallway froze for a second, feeling as if there were needles at their backs. Realizing they’d been discovered, they hurriedly ran off!
The hallway was suddenly empty. The contrast was so great that when Chu Yang retracted his gaze, the people in class took the opportunity to ask if he was preparing to get into a relationship.
Chu Yang gave a helpless smile. “How could you think that? Naturally, studies come first. And it’s summer now; it’s too hot. Romance wouldn’t be sweet.”
Someone argued, “How could it not be sweet? You can go to the beach in the summer.”
Chu Yang: “Because it’s too hot, I can only accept a long-distance relationship.”
The girl who had argued was amused by him. “Why don’t you say online dating? Otherwise, in the winter, you’ll say it’s too cold and you don’t want to go out.”
Chu Yang’s eyes lit up, and he raised an eyebrow at the girl. “You know me a bit. Indeed, online dating is more suitable for me.”
The tone of his last sentence suggested he was actually considering the feasibility of online dating.
The girl’s heart skipped a beat at his “You know me a bit.” She thought he had discovered something. The lethal power of Chu Yang’s smile at close range was truly massive. Her heart pounded, and she felt lightheaded and dazed.
Buzz—buzz—
[Chu Yuanzhou: Here.]
Chu Yang immediately picked up his phone and replied: [Coming out now.]
“I’m off. My brother’s here. I’ll head out first. See you Monday.” He stood up with a smile and waved his phone.
For a split second, everyone watching him felt that the wave was meant for them, and they instinctively waved back.
Chu Yang saw this and waved to everyone once more.
Xie An would help him take his textbooks back. With his phone in one hand and his mini-fan in the other, he walked toward the school gate with light steps.
Thinking about having dinner with Chu Yuanzhou’s friend, he had put some thought into his clothes when he woke up. He wore a khaki short-sleeved shirt and khaki shorts, with a plaid tie at the collar and a pair of flat shoes. It was a very American collegiate style.
Translator’s Note: Chu Yang’s “lazy” reasons for not dating are so relatable! And poor Yin Lianchuan—his childhood was basically being beaten up by his crush. No wonder he’s so obsessed now.
Key term:
- Bitter Tea Seed (苦茶子 – Kǔcházǐ): This is internet slang for “pants/underwear,” derived from “Kùzi” (pants). To “lose one’s kuchazi” means to be so obsessed with someone that you lose your dignity/senses. It’s a common joke in “thirsty” fandoms.
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