Ch41 - Dandelion… False Prosperity?

Translation checker: Rin
Editor: Junyans

The bathroom was filled with hot and humid air. Chu Mian stood under the shower and when he lowered his head, he couldn’t help but think of the words Yu Ran had used to describe him. It took him a long time to understand the meaning.

Boys’ self-esteem seemed to become extremely sensitive when it came to topics related to sexual characteristics. No one wanted to receive thoughtless remarks on such matters, and Chu Mian was certainly no exception. It was just that if this kind of opinion was said by Yu Ran, his degree of sensitivity would unconsciously deepen. He had wanted to refute Yu Ran, but had found it hard to speak.

The warm water was flowing down his skin. Chu Mian stared at his body for a while, then suddenly raised his head, feeling a belated shame in his heart. He immediately twisted to increase the water flow, hurriedly washed away the foam on his body, and returned to his room in a bathrobe. 

He sat at the table, took his pen, and opened the notebook “Everything MiēMiē Hates”.

[March 2013]

1. Okra, sticky and slimy.

2. Loofah, sticky and slimy.

…

6. Yu Ran,

After writing Yu Ran’s name, Chu Mian thought about what legitimate reason he should give, but contrary to his convictions, he stared at the word “Yu Ran” in a daze for a few minutes and there was still a blank space after the two words.

Chu Mian simply crossed out “Yu Ran”, closed the notebook and put it aside. 

If you wanted to pay less attention to a person, the best way was to ignore him, not hate him — Chu Mian certainly understood this truth, but he couldn’t control his brain’s consciousness, and he had nothing to divert his attention except studying every day. Even when playing games, he wanted to call Yu Ran to play together first. He would arrive at school in the morning hoping that Yu Ran would not be late, and after he went home, he would wait at night for Yu Ran to contact him. While reading a book, whenever he saw the word “ran” or any word that contained “ran” in it, his mind would take a detour and think of the name “Yu Ran”.

Obviously, this was not the attitude one should have towards their ordinary friends.

Chu Mian didn’t want to know why he cared about Yu Ran so much, he just wanted to know when this state of “caring too much about Yu Ran” would end.

At last, he opened the black notebook again and re-wrote the number 6. 

6. Yu Ran, I hate him because he is Yu Ran.

Chu Mian put down his pen, picked up his mobile phone, went out and knocked on the door of Chu Heng’s room, went in and asked her, “Do you know how to recover text message data?”

“What’s the matter?”

“Some messages got deleted by mistake. They were deleted last year, can they be restored?” 

Chu Heng opened the web page and searched the keywords and told him, “It seems that some software has to be installed, but I haven’t tried it. Perhaps you should check the cloud synchronization. If it’s a very important message, you might as well go out to find a store at the weekend and ask a professional for help.”

Chu Mian replied lightly, went back to his room and lay on his bed.

He estimated that Yu Ran had already changed his phone plan and did not need to use up the number of text messages and call duration every month, so they didn’t maintain the habit of chatting every night like last semester. And unlike himself, Yu Ran’s mind could be occupied by many things other than studying, and he would not easily think of others when he was addicted to entertainment.

Chu Mian felt that it was very unfair. 

We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.

After thinking about it, Chu Mian simply set his status on QQ as “invisible” for Yu Ran, allowing Yu Ran to see only his gray avatar in the short run.

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“Ugh, I still like the other school uniform,” Yu Ran said while copying, “Chu Mian looks so handsome in that suit. I don’t know how many times I’ll be able to see him in it in the future.”

Fang Zhao chatted with him sideways: “Chu Mian often takes the stage to give speeches, so he’ll be wearing that uniform a lot. Also, when we take graduation photos… Oh, he’ll get married in the future, and he will definitely look more handsome in a wedding suit.”

“Get married?” Yu Ran’s nib slowed down.

“Yeah, nowadays everyone gets a Western-style wedding, don’t they?” 

Yu Ran stopped writing, thought for a moment, and then found that he couldn’t imagine Chu Mian wearing a suit at his wedding.

Rather… He’d be wearing a white wedding dress.

His neck and shoulders would be exposed. He would be standing in the middle of the church, shrouded in a layer of white light, and his head would be covered with something like a mosquito net… All these little details added up to become a whole picture bit by bit in Yu Ran’s mind, which made him forget that he was in the classroom in an instant.

Bang bang bang— 

The class president patted the blackboard twice which instantly pulled Yu Ran’s attention back to reality.

“Classmates, listen to me about this Arbor Day essay contest. The first, second and third prizes are all municipal awards. If you want to participate in independent enrollment in the future, some universities will pay attention to it.” Xiang Xuehua had a thick stack of recruitment papers in her hand. “There is also a tree planting activity at the district level. The school has given our class three places. Interested students can find me to sign up.”

As soon as her voice fell, someone asked, “When will we have to plant trees? Can we skip class?”

“Arbor Day is Tuesday.” Xiang Xuehua took out her mobile phone and glanced at the calendar. “And it’s not difficult to plant trees. The tools are prepared by the school. It’s mainly about going there and taking pictures.” 

When Cui He heard that they could skip class, she immediately raised her hand enthusiastically: “Me!”

Yu Ran hesitated, struggling with which one to choose: “Alas! I want to plant trees and skip class, but I also want to write an essay to win glory for the school!”

Fang Zhao quickly turned to dissuade him: “No, no, no, you’d better plant trees. After all, essay papers are also made of trees. If you write less, you’ll be making a great contribution to the environment.”

Xiang Xuehua said to Yu Ran: “The essay is only due next week. It doesn’t conflict with planting trees, so you can choose both.” 

Yu Ran gave a satisfied smile and patted his chest. “Chengjun Middle School needs me.”

Then, without hesitation, he turned around and told Chu Mian, “Chengjun also needs you!”

“Not going.” Chu Mian didn’t need to think much. He knew that Yu Ran wanted to urge him to plant trees.

Yu Ran clicked his tongue, and naturally held Chu Mian’s hand that was writing, and said earnestly: “Young comrade, you should have the consciousness of actively responding to the call of the country. You need to be rich first and others will be brought along too, have fewer children and plant more trees!” 

The back of Chu Mian’s hand was gradually covered by the temperature of Yu Ran’s palm. He caught a glimpse of the other party’s raised joints, which had very beautiful curves. Because he had watched for two more seconds, he had missed the best opportunity to throw off the other person’s hands, so Chu Mian had to silently shake his head to refuse.

Yu Ran didn’t let go of his hand, and even clenched it lightly twice before asking in a low voice, “Why aren’t you playing with me these days?”

Chu Mian rarely heard Yu Ran’s gentle tone, so he wanted to avoid it even more, and said decisively: “I have to study, and there are still many questions I can’t answer. ”

He almost added, “I don’t have time to accompany you for the time being”. Fortunately, he got hold of reason in time. 

“Hmm…” Yu Ran thought deeply and understood the importance of studying to Chu Mian. “Then I won’t play with you anymore. I’ll accompany you on three occasions.”

Accompany during the class, accompany when solving questions, and accompany during the exam. Yu Ran felt that Chu Mian could understand this, so he directly omitted the details.

Being stared at by Yu Ran like this, Chu Mian was easily distracted. He had already read the question in the exercise book twice, but he still hadn’t written the solution down.

“Forget it”. Chu Mian finally raised his head in compromise. “I’ll join you.” 

Yu Ran immediately smiled with joy and actively went to Xiang Xuehua to sign up. Chu Mian looked at the other person’s figure and unconsciously poked his eraser with the tip of his pen.

It was indeed true that getting along with Yu Ran made him happy, but Chu Mian was feeling annoyed now. He didn’t want to indulge his desire to get closer to Yu Ran anymore, so what he needed to do from now on was to concentrate on his studies like he had done before.

He breathed slowly, and sleepiness hit him hard without warning, causing him to fall asleep directly on the floor.

The sun was shining on Arbor Day, which made people happy. 

The teacher took the students participating in the activity to the tree planting site, gave them shovels and gloves, and personally taught the standard operation of planting seedlings. The method of planting trees was simpler than expected. Working in groups of three, each team worked together and was able to fill most of the tree pits in no time.

“As the saying goes, ‘It takes ten years to grow trees, but a hundred years to train people’, these trees are used to cultivate the young.” Yu Ran squatted beside the pit, and engraved his name on the branches with a utility knife.

“This tree, when it grows up, will be Fang Zhao’s; this one, when it grows up, will be Cha ge‘s…” Yu Ran assigned them one by one. “…will be Great God’s.”

Chu Mian glanced down at him and said, “It’s been so long since the start of school, haven’t you noticed that Xue Zifan is gone?” 

“What?” Yu Ran’s hand movements stopped abruptly and his expression turned grim.

Afraid that he might interpret “gone” as “dead”, Chu Mian quickly explained: “He went to study on loan.

“Drug rehabilitation?” The utility knife in Yu Ran’s hand slipped to the ground, his eyes widened in disbelief.

He struggled for a long time to digest this information and couldn’t help but curse in a reprimanding tone, “He’s such a fool! Can that, that kind of thing be touched? If you touch it once, you’re done for life! Fuck!” 

He was very frustrated with Xue Zifan. He angrily took off his gloves and sent a text message to Xue Zifan with trembling fingers. Then, he read out the content: “Brother, you were really muddled for a while! Reform yourself properly. You’ll have a new life when you get out! Good luck! I, Yu Ran, won’t leave you alone!”

Cui He, who was standing next to him, choked on words, and whispered to Chu Mian: “I believe this asshole’s junior high school was really bad, he fucking hasn’t even seen students studying on loan.”

She had thought that Chu Mian would agree with her, but when she turned her head, she found that there was a light smile at the corners of his mouth, and his gaze was completely focused on Yu Ran. She watched as Chu Mian approached Yu Ran, squatted down beside him and patiently explained what “study on loan” meant.

Cui He suddenly felt uncomfortable in her stomach. She had probably eaten too much in the morning, so she immediately retched at the two people in front of her. 

However, her movement did not attract the attention of the two boys.

“It scared me to death. I thought that the Great God went astray like what I had expected.” Yu Ran laughed a few times as if he was relieved. “Man, you really shouldn’t judge people by appearance. I suspected him because he looks like a smoker. It’s my fault!”

Chu Mian couldn’t help but laugh, and he urged him to continue his work. “Don’t engrave words on the branches. The buds are still tender and easy to cut.”

“Chu Mian, have you seen Anhui TV’s ‘Super News Field’? My mother watches it every day before going to work, and once I saw a particularly funny one.” Yu Ran recalled the news and began to laugh before describing it. “A man was drunk and went to fuck a manhole cover, and then he couldn’t pull it out, hahahahaha!” 

Yu Ran laughed and laughed and found that Chu Mian’s reaction was not as cheerful as he had expected, and he felt a little frustrated for a while.

But he quickly pulled himself together and said to Chu Mian: “Hey, I’ll tell you another secret, come here.”

Chu Mian observed his expression and had an ominous premonition, so he didn’t dare to approach easily.

“Oh, just come here, come, come, come.” Yu Ran began to beg. “You will definitely be shocked!” 

After Chu Mian leaned over suspiciously, Yu Ran’s lips immediately approached his ears.

Seeing these two intimately whispering as if there were no one else present, Cui He was so speechless that her eyes almost rolled back into her head. She felt as if there were two bright, capital bold words engraved on her forehead, saying: THIRD WHEEL.

Warm breath flowed through his ear, making Chu Mian’s shoulder shake slightly. He listened attentively to Yu Ran who whispered to him, “I’ll cut off your dick and plant it in the ground. Next year, it’ll grow into a new Chu Mian and fight you. A fight between a real and a fake Sleeping Beauty! Hahahahahahaha—”

Chu Mian’s ears turned red. He turned his head and grabbed Yu Ran’s collar, then mercilessly lifted him and stuffed him into the tree pit. 

Yu Ran laughed heartily and quickly apologized insincerely. Chu Mian smiled back angrily, pressed on the back of Yu Ran’s waist, and forced him to kneel in the dirt.

Cui He looked at the two people who were fighting in a trance, and there were a few moments when her memories seemed to overlap. She saw Chu Mian’s face had the same pure smile as when he was a child, clean and refreshing, but also with his unique devilishness.

After the tree planting work was completed, both teenagers were stained with a lot of dirt. Yu Ran was still happy, but Chu Mian was angry because his clothes were soiled. He shook Yu Ran off and walked away quickly.

Cui He ran a few steps to keep up with Chu Mian, and couldn’t help sighing: “Fortunately you came today.” 

“Why?”

“Yu Ran makes people very worried.”

“Very much.” Chu Mian agreed with this.

“But it’s reassuring when he’s around you.” Cui He smiled. 

Chu Mian’s pace suddenly slowed down. His brain became empty and he just walked forward, deliberately ignoring Cui He.

Because of her words, Chu Mian realized again that he didn’t control his excessive concern for Yu Ran today.

Whenever he walked too far away, he stopped for a while, which was tantamount to letting the person behind him slowly catch up to him, thus keeping the distance between the two within a stable range. But Yu Ran naturally liked to play foul and break the rules. When he wasn’t paying attention, Yu Ran would run forward quickly until the two were side by side.

The air in Ronggang in March was dry and cold. Chu Mian took a deep breath and his throat ached. 

He felt that he might not be able to restrain his attention towards Yu Ran tomorrow, and perhaps the day after tomorrow. He didn’t know if this situation could be alleviated next week. If it didn’t work, it would be next month.

“Chu Mian!” Yu Ran ran over and scratched Chu Mian’s back neck with a piece of dogtail grass pulled from somewhere.

Chu Mian shrunk his neck and stared at him, pretending to be angry.

Yu Ran smiled ungratefully. He was holding a dandelion in his other hand, and blew at it. 

The fluffy white flower seeds flew towards him. Chu Mian narrowed his eyes subconsciously, so the focus in his field of vision was only Yu Ran.

The seemingly endless joy took root at the bottom of his heart and started to sprout, and at the moment when it was about to break out of the ground, it was finally completely suppressed by Chu Mian.

“Yu Ran,” Chu Mian said slowly, “What do you think one should do when they can’t control their emotions?”

Yu Ran threw away the stalk in his hand, and said in a reasonable tone: “Then don’t control it.” 

Chu Mian retracted his gaze and stopped looking at him. He just looked at the distance and gave a slight “hmm”.

— Then I won’t control it.