Chapter 5
#Who Stuffed a Fan Comic into a Straight Guy’s Bookshelf??#
When Yuan Man invited Xu Jingyou to his house to read manga, he wasn’t just paying lip service.
When school let out that evening, Yuan Man appeared in Grade 1, Class 3 once again. This time, he was still wearing a red armband on his right arm, only the characters had changed from “Discipline Committee” to “Hygiene Committee.”
Needless to say, this red armband was definitely borrowed from another one of Yuan Man’s friends.
Xu Jingyou stared straight at that red band, feeling a bit stifled and even more sour. He wondered where on earth Yuan Man got so many friends, and why he had never reported them to him.
Holding an inspection booklet, Yuan Man marched into the classroom with his head held high and chest out, laughing villainously like a bad guy in a TV drama: “Jie jie jie… Little xuedi, are you sure you want to refuse me? The evaluation for your class’s ‘Rotating Red Flag for Hygiene’ is in my hands!”
Xu Jingyou was shocked by his despicableness. “Yuan Man, you are abusing power for personal gain (yi quan mou si).”
“Si?” Yuan Man tilted his head and thought for a moment. “Thinking over the past and future (si qian xiang hou).”
Xu Jingyou: “Thick-skinned and shameless (hou yan wu chi).”
Yuan Man: “Eh, that one’s a bit hard…”
Xu Jingyou: “I wasn’t playing idiom solitaire with you!”
Yuan Man tucked the inspection booklet under his arm, hooked his other arm around Xu Jingyou’s schoolbag, and started deploying his nonsense-spewing spoiled act again. “Good xuedi, handsome xuedi, the obedient xuedi that xuezhang loves most in his heart, just help me out this one time, okay? Reading a few manga books won’t take up much of your time. As long as you finish reading them, I’ll promise myself to you in marriage!”
“Who would want you to promise yourself to them?” Xu Jingyou said with a cold face. “Also, where are the manga books you wanted me to study?”
Yuan Man: “Wow, how did you manage to make a one-hundred-and-eighty-degree turn in the conversation like that?”
Xu Jingyou never thought there would come a day when he would actually be invited by Yuan Man to be a guest at his home.
The Yuan family lived in school district housing, not far from the Normal University Attached High School—just a ten-minute walk.
Along the way, Yuan Man’s mouth didn’t stop moving, as if he would run out of oxygen if the air remained quiet for even a second. Even if Xu Jingyou didn’t reply, he could entertain himself perfectly well.
The last time Xu Jingyou saw a creature that could chatter this much, it was that singing flower candle on a birthday cake.
The boy picked up a tree branch, took the red armband off his arm, and tied it to the stick. Like a little tour guide, he introduced Xu Jingyou to every alley and small shop they passed. “I grew up in this area. My kindergarten was the Normal U Attached Kindergarten, elementary was the Normal U Attached Elementary, and junior high and high school were all direct advancements… I know this area inside out. I could walk home with my eyes closed.”
Xu Jingyou actually already knew these things.
Walking behind him, Xu Jingyou stared at the back of the boy bouncing happily along. The makeshift tour guide flag in his hand swayed left, then right—truly idle and adorable.
Yuan Man suddenly asked him, “By the way, Xu Jingyou, I heard you weren’t at the Normal U Attached Junior High? You tested in from the No. 1 Middle School’s Junior Division?”
“En.” Xu Jingyou asked, knowing the answer, “Have you been to No. 1 Middle School?”
“I have,” Yuan Man sighed. “But No. 1 Middle School is too far. It’s in the north and we’re in the south. It takes at least half an hour by bus. I’ve only been there a few times.”
Xu Jingyou’s heart tightened. Trying to sound casual but unable to stop a hint of probing, he asked, “Then did anything special happen to you at No. 1 Middle School?”
“Now that you mention it, something did happen.” Yuan Man turned his head to look at him. “You definitely know that small alleyway at the entrance of your school, right?”
“…Of course I know it.” The boy’s heart pounded like a drum. He stared unblinkingly at Yuan Man’s lips, anticipating his next words.
Yuan Man spoke with delight, “If you go through that alley, there was a mobile food stall selling incredibly delicious fried chicken skeletons! One time I went late, just as they were closing up, and the boss practically gave me all the leftover chicken skeletons for half price!”
He used both arms to make a large circle, speaking with exaggeration. “Five bucks! For a bag this big!!”
Xu Jingyou: “………………”
Yuan Man: “By the way, have you eaten those fried chicken skeletons?”
Xu Jingyou didn’t give him a single look, speeding up and walking right past him. “Heh, I think you look like a fried chicken skeleton.”
Yuan Man: “?”
Could someone tell him why the xuedi was angry again?
Yuan Man’s parents were working overtime today, so the house was empty, naturally leaving him to rule as the tyrant king.
His bedroom wasn’t large, but it was packed to the brim. On the left as you entered was a full wall of display cabinets filled with various models of toy race cars, and a large flag of an NBA team hung in the most conspicuous spot in front of the desk.
In short, a very straight guy’s room, very straight guy hobbies, and a very straight guy… person.
Yuan Man showed it off proudly. “Ta-da! How is it? Isn’t my room perfect?”
“En.” Xu Jingyou slowed his steps. His eyes behind the lenses carefully observed every furnishing in the room, wanting to etch everything here firmly into his mind.
Yuan Man didn’t notice the complex emotions in Xu Jingyou’s eyes. He dragged him over to his bookshelf and pointed at a cabinet full of reference books. “Guess what’s behind here?”
Xu Jingyou: “Do I even need to guess?”
He reached out and took down a dictionary of idioms—sure enough, a manga was hidden behind it.
Yuan Man sighed. “I have no choice. After all, I’m in my second year of high school. My parents chant ‘study, study, study’ in my ear every day. If I hadn’t hidden the manga books in advance, they definitely would have sold them for scrap paper.”
Xu Jingyou looked at the room full of car models and the team flag, thinking, Why didn’t those get sold too?
Yuan Man already had a plan. “There’s no time to catch up on anything else, so just read Slam Dunk! You’re tall, and you like reading by the basketball court, so Slam Dunk suits you best!”
Xu Jingyou frowned. “…There is absolutely no logic in that sentence.”
Yuan Man: “Carrying forward the cause and forging ahead into the future (ji wang kai lai).”
Xu Jingyou: “Don’t use the same trick twice. I didn’t want to play idiom solitaire with you.”
Yuan Man: “Dragons rising and tigers leaping (long teng hu yue).”
Xu Jingyou: “Standing tall like a mountain (yue zhi yuan ting).”
“!!!” Yuan Man stalled. “That’s a foul! Nobody uses such advanced idioms when playing solitaire!”
“Clouds stopping and moon falling (ting yun luo yue), the moon is bright and the wind is clear (yue lang feng qing), describing something lightly (qing miao dan xie)…” Xu Jingyou raised an eyebrow at him. “Xuezhang, still want to play?”
Yuan Man naturally refused. He went to grab the manga books, puffing his cheeks in annoyance.
The manga on the top shelf was hidden the deepest and was particularly hard to reach. Just as Yuan Man stood on his tiptoes to reach for it, a figure suddenly pressed in from behind.
He was only 178 cm tall, while Xu Jingyou was a full ten centimeters taller. The book he had to struggle to reach, Xu Jingyou could touch with ease.
Yuan Man was almost leaning back into Xu Jingyou’s embrace. Their school uniforms rubbed against each other, the nylon fabric making a rustling sound. In a daze, Yuan Man felt like he had been “shocked”…
Was that static electricity? Or an illusion?
He subconsciously looked up. The boy behind him had extremely beautiful hands; the finger joints were long and slender, the skin white to the point of transparency. The boy easily retrieved the manga hidden behind the workbook, weighing it in his fingertips.
His phoenix eyes lowered, gazing at the title.
Yuan Man couldn’t help but think, How can a boy have such long, dense eyelashes? They must feel so fluffy to the touch.
“Is it this one?” Xu Jingyou read the title word by word. “—Slam Dunk: The Sequel?”
He flipped open a page. “After the National Tournament, Akira Sendoh and Kaede Rukawa decided to put aside their differences and elope to America…”
Yuan Man sobered up instantly. “No!!!!!! Wait, you grabbed the wrong book!!!!!”
[Author’s Note] Hey, wait, who stuffed a fan comic into a straight guy’s bookshelf?? [Sunglasses][Sunglasses][Sunglasses][Sunglasses]
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