Chapter 24

What a strange sight!

Under the setting sun, from afar, you could see two silhouettes – one nestled in the other – amongst the green fields; up close, one would realise that the silhouettes actually belonged to two young boys. The one who was being carried was leaning in the embrace of a tall and st.u.r.dy young man with the posture of a willow – his eyes were closed as he gasped for breath. The tall and st.u.r.dy young man was holding a handkerchief, he was always gently wiping off every trace of dirt from the face of the one he held. The warm sunset sprinkled rays of nature’s light upon them, and faintly traced their figures into the boundlessness of Mother Nature.

The feeling of pain on his body started to recede and subside, so He Nuo began to regain consciousness. When he opened his eyes, what greeted him was undoubtedly the expression of concern on Shi Yan’s face.

“Thank you.”

Shi Yan has come to hate these two words. If it wasn’t because he had already vaguely understood He Nuo’s personality, he would have thought that He Nuo said those words on purpose to spite him. So he couldn’t say anything in return. Just now, while he was wiping He Nuo’s face, he realized that he had no other thought than to flatten the creases between his scrunched up eyebrows so that he wouldn’t continue to be wrapped up in such agony.

He Nuo moved slightly to test out how much he could move and realized that he could withstand the throbbing pain, so he decided to get up. Shi Yan supported him up, but just as he took one step, He Nuo froze. He didn’t dare to take another step – it really hurt.

“Stand still and don’t move.” Shi Yan released him, then went to push his bicycle over. He used his leg to support He Nuo, picked up his bag and hung it in front of him. He Nuo understood his intentions but he didn’t want to trouble Shi Yan, yet he didn’t have a second choice. He Nuo gave in and let Shi Yan carry him onto the backseat.

“Thank you.” He Nuo once again thanked Shi Yan.

The road is uneven, if I cycle it’ll be b.u.mpy. We’ll cycle after we pa.s.s the fields.” Shi Yan walked in front while pushing his bike and uttered with a cold tone without turning back. He wasn’t used to speaking to a guy so considerately, it wasn’t his style. He usually only spoke this kindly to girls .

He Nuo replied with a “un”, but his reply might have been lost in the sounds of the blowing wind as Shi Yan continued to push his bicycle as if he didn’t hear a thing. Silence, pushing, pushing, silence, when He Nuo realized that they were already walking on an asphalt pavement and Shi Yan was pushing his bicycle in a direction that he wasn’t familiar with, he said, “Could I trouble you to send me home? I live at…”

“……” Shi Yan turned a deaf ear to He Nuo’s words and ignored him.

“Or you could just put me down by the road, I…” He Nuo thought that it might have been because his house was a bit far, and Shi Yan would have to walk for about half an hour while pushing his bicycle to reach it so maybe he wasn’t willing, hence he wanted Shi Yan to let him down. However, he didn’t know why it seemed like he had touched the whiskers of a tiger Shi Yan. Shi Yan stopped walking and turned around, his eyes looked like he wanted to rip him apart with his teeth, so He Nuo stopped talking. He continued to follow Shi Yan as he pushed his bicycle to who knows where.

Shi Yan pushed his bicycle to the front of one of the best buildings in the county, then carefully supported He Nuo down his bike. It was the weekend and everyone had left work, so other than the guards who were on duty in the reception office, the building was empty. Shi Yan supported He Nuo who was leaning on him and walked towards the building. When they pa.s.sed by the small window of the reception office, the person who was inside craned his neck out the window and saw them. Shi Yan simply said “Hi!” and the guard recognized that he was the son of one of their leaders, so he responded politely and withdrew his head.

When he saw that no one was looking at them, Shi Yan picked He Nuo up in one sweep and strode up the stairs with large strides. He Nuo was surprised and confused, he was so shocked that he dazedly allowed himself to be carried up to one of the rooms on the third floor. Shi Yan put He Nuo down and let him lean against the wall, then took out a key to open the door. After turning on the lights, Shi Yan bent down and wanted to pick He Nuo up again, but He Nuo had antic.i.p.ated his intention so he quickly shifted to a side and dodged as he waved his hand, “No… no need, I can walk by myself.”

Shi Yan didn’t say anything in response. He went in first and sat down, then looked at the He Nuo who was standing by the door as he waited for him to walk in. He Nuo took a small step forward, and he looked so clumsy that it actually looked funny as he edged his way inside. Shi Yan suddenly laughed, then walked over and didn’t provide any explanation as he carried He Nuo, “Are you staging the “Tortoise and Hare Race” play for me? Decided to change profession from a cross-talker to a celebrity?” He placed him on the comfortable, long sofa and ensured that he was leaning nicely against the couch.

Shi Yan spoke so naturally and smoothly, the shame and anger that he had felt was long gone, and the irritation that had been stifling him from before had also disappeared. He realized that he no longer minded the blasphemes and offenses that he insisted He Nuo had committed against him.

He Nuo didn’t know how many windings and folds there were in Shi Yan heart, so when he heard Shi Yan mention the cross talk again, he helplessly awaited the trouble that was to come – to be brought to this kind of place, Shi Yan definitely had some plans in place for him.

“Why did you go again?”

“School wall.” Shi Yan impatiently hinted.

“It was the day we were supposed to meet.” He Nuo thought Shi Yan was the weird one for asking such a question.

“Didn’t you see that I had applied for a leave of absence in the afternoon?”

“How would I have seen that?” to He Nuo, the stupidity of Shi Yan’s questions was increasing with each question.

But Shi Yan also thought that he was the one who had met an idiot, a rare idiot whom one would only encounter once in a hundred years. He was so angry he couldn’t say a word. Eventually, he couldn’t take it and scolded with a raised voice, “Do you have the brain of a f.u.c.king pig, didn’t I give you medicine last week?”

Shi Yan thought that he had already made his intentions very clear, and he even thought that his actions were very concise and comprehensive (forgive Shi Yan, he can’t straightforwardly use words to express what he wanted to say, so he decided to use his so-called “concise and comprehensive” actions to conceal hints since he couldn’t say what he wanted.) Yet, he was driven to madness with anger and green smoke was rising from his head when he heard He Nuo’s next few words.

“I did eat those medicine, thank you.”

This conversation where the donkey’s lips couldn’t match a horse’s mouth1 was driving Shi Yan crazy. He jumped to the front of the sofa and saw He Nuo immediately tense up. He was vomiting blood as he walked up and down while He Nuo’s guarded eyes slowly changed into eyes that seemed like he was looking at a lunatic.

“Okay, you win! You f.u.c.king win! Listen up, what Laozi means is that my deal with a pig head like you is cancelled! Laozi is bored of playing around with you, and I don’t have the time either. You better not f.u.c.king go to the wall again!”

1. An idiom meaning that they were talking about completely different things hahaha SY’s so done but HN’s so cute and blur↩

T/N: Is SY….being a tsundere……? *laughs maniacally*

Also, do you guys prefer reading the original Chinese idioms? Usually I just change the literal words to its English meanings, it’s rare that I would translate idioms word for word cuz sometimes it just sounds weird