Ch9 - Marija

As Chu Mian walked down the road after school, from the corner of his eyes, he noticed that someone was quietly following him from behind. 

He deliberately stopped for a moment when he passed by a store, and through the mirror reflection of the metal plaque at the entrance of the store, he identified the person who was following him.

“Yu Ran, come out,” Chu Mian shouted at a poplar tree, “How long are you going to follow me?”

The sides of the boy’s body had long been exposed from behind the tree, and he kept shutting his eyes, thinking that Chu Mian could not see him. Chu Mian walked over and his attention was drawn by the twin dragon play bead embroidery on Yu Ran pitch black school bag. Looking up, there was a huge golden lion head door knocker. He could see that this person’s taste was very… overbearing.

Without saying a word, Chu Mian held the door ring on Yu Ran’s school bag and dragged him out from behind the tree. 

“I was afraid that you would fall asleep while walking and get hit by a car,” Yu Ran shrugged, “I was only going to follow you to the station, but then you had to keep walking. Why didn’t anyone pick you up and take you home, huh? Aren’t your Mom and Dad worried?”

After a bucket of Star Cups reconciled the two, Chu Mian didn’t expect that Yu Ran would become such a busy body. He considered his wording and replied: “My illness isn’t so serious that I need to be looked after at all times. You don’t have to pay attention to me like this anymore.”

“I’m not looking after you,” Yu Ran justifiably explained, “I’m secretly protecting you.”

Chu Mian indifferently said, “No need”, and was curious about the reason why the other party continued to show goodwill to him, so he asked him directly: “Do I look like I need to be protected so much?”

“Teacher Bai said so. She asked us to take care of you more and give you all the warmth in the world,” Yu Ran said while stretching out his arms, drawing half a circle, as if sowing seeds of hope, “And I, as the main male lead of Chengjun High School’s first year, have to take up the task of covering you even more.”

It was really an inexplicable sense of responsibility.

Chu Mian was indifferent to Yu Ran’s answer. He quietly stared at the other party for a while, and spoke once again in a deep voice: “Yu Ran, do you think I’m weak?”

Hearing Chu Mian’s serious tone, the careless smile on Yu Ran also unconsciously vanished, and his expression also turned serious. 

Not waiting for Yu Ran’s reply, Chu Mian continued, “You just think that I, who have a strange illness, am fragile and need to be taken care of, and that caring for me can also fulfill your personal heroic fantasies, right?”

He found that Yu Ran did not immediately deny it, as if he was acquiescing silently. Chu Mian was still in a calm mood: “I advise you to put away your meaningless sympathy. Don’t treat me as a vulnerable person. I’m not any different from you except that I sleep more every day.”

Chu Mian was probably driven by his self-esteem to say these words, but immediately after saying these, he felt a lot more relaxed, and his eyes were a bit more calm when he looked at Yu Ran.

Finally, he said to Ran: “If you can understand what I mean, then we should be able to get along peacefully in the future.” 

Yu Ran quickly let out a “oh”.

He raised his hand to lift the strap of his school bag on his shoulder, stared thoughtfully at Chu Mian’s face, and slowly said, “So you’re afraid of being taken care of.”

This light-hearted conclusion accurately hit Chu Mian’s insignificant arrogance. He subconsciously wanted to refute Yu Ran, but he couldn’t find any stronger explanation in his mind other than the words “No”. He opened his mouth as if to speak but then stopped before turning his face away, ignoring the other party.

“Chu Mian,” Yu Ran called out to him, “I understand what you mean. If you don’t like others getting worried, then I believe you’re fine alone. But whether you feel weak, or strong, I’ll continue to protect you.” 

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.

This unquestionably cheerful tone left Chu Mian speechless. Yu Ran regained his smile and said in a matter-of-factly tone: “Who let us be in the same class?”

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After all, he didn’t need things such as “friendship” anymore. 

“Okay, I’m going home for dinner now, goodbye!” Yu Ran hadn’t yet gone through the change of voice at puberty, and his voice was still completely loud and clear, “Where are you going now?”

Chu Mian turned around and faced the largest store on the street, “Right here.”

Yu Ran raised his eyes and saw the big, gleaming golden words “Copper Sparrow Business Club”.

“Ah! I know this place!” Yu Ran opened his eyes wide, “My mother had said that this place is a ‘chicken coop’. Why are you here?” 

“I’m here to find someone,” Chu Mian walked straight towards the store door.

From the first time he saw that two-headed mutant Honduran milk snake in the summer, to the official start of the school for a week now, he had come here from time to time to look for the man called Xu Si, however, each time the staff had turned him away, saying that he was a minor and thus, couldn’t enter.

“Looking for someone…?” Yu Ran repeatedly mumbled Chu Mian’s words, feeling unconvinced. Then it dawned on him, “So you’re a regular customer here.”

Chu Mian abruptly stopped and cast a meaningful and complicated look at Yu Ran. 

“Don’t do this, Chu Mian,” Yu Ran grabbed Chu Mian’s arm worriedly and pulled him back hard, “This kind of thing is dirty! You’re still young. Look back and the shore is at hand.”

Chu Mian couldn’t hold bear and quietly gave a blank glance at him, and held Yu Ran’s wrist with his backhand, “I have business.”

Yu Ran followed Chu Mian half believing, half doubting. Both of them were all carrying school bags and were stopped by someone from entering as soon as they arrived at the door of the clubhouse. Without waiting for the waiter to open his mouth, Chu Mian took out a few pink banknotes from his pocket and patted them on the other party’s suit.

Even if they were underage, they would be respected for being so generous, and the waiter would only let them in through the back door after collecting the money. 

But Chu Mian didn’t want to stay here too much. A pungent smell of perfume and alcohol filled the air. He directly went to the lobby manager and asked the other party where the person named Xu Si was.

The female manager impatiently ruffled her hair, “Why are you here again? I have told you before that he was busy in the field,” She put her palms down, put her fingers together and waved them outward, as if driving them away, “You should go. This isn’t a place for children like you to come.”

Chu Mian did not panic: “I saw his followers when I came in, they were not here before.”

“So what?” The female manager pursed her lips, “Xu Si works for our boss. When he goes out to do something, can he still drag the whole family? Don’t worry, I didn’t lie to you. You just want to find Xu Si to buy that long worm. What’s the hurry?” 

Chu Mian asked her for Xu Si’s contact information, but she shook her head and refused to give it. Even when he handed over some money, she didn’t bother to look at it, she just lowered her head and focused on picking her nails perfunctorily, “You’re only a minor, don’t trouble me. Go back through the same door you came in from. If you can be good, the next time I see Xu Si, I’ll help you ask him where he got those things from.”

“Those things” referred to reptilian pets, and Chu Mian’s ball python Fiona also belonged to this category.

Before leaving, Chu Mian, who was still unresigned, asked a question one last time: “Have you seen how long the two-headed snake raised by Xu Si is?”

The woman naturally had not paid attention to such details, as she was busy avoiding this kind of scary pet. Xu Si had brought the snake to the store to show off and play with it. She recalled the snake’s length from that time and gestured with her fingers, “He had put the snake on this bar. From here to here, it was this long.” 

Chu Mian eyed the length, nodded his head and said thanks, finally willing to leave this place of temptation.

After coming back outside and breathing fresh air again, Yu Ran stretched out in relief, “It turns out that you were looking for the person who had fought with you in the Internet cafe last time… I thought you were here for ‘that’.”

Chu Mian brushed his sleeves vigorously, wanting to pat away the odor left on his body, and said lightly on the passing, “It’s not impossible.”

“Huh?” Yu Ran stopped halfway through yawning, his nose itchy and unbearable, “Holy shit, I was wrong about you! Fang Zhao and the others had also said that although you’re an aloof Male God, you’re still pure. Wh-why are you acting like this… it’s just too…” 

Seeing that the other party took his joke seriously again, Chu Mian glanced at Yu Ran, and a word silently appeared in his mind: Muggle.

The two returned by the original route, and halfway down the road, Yu Ran asked curiously, “Why do you want to find that man? You want to buy something from him?”

Chu Mian was silent for a moment, his thoughts staggering against the wind. Only after a long time did he tell Yu Ran: “I had a very rare two-headed snake in my first year of middle school. I had taken it to a fair, but it was stolen.”

“Heavens… did you call the police?” 

“At that time, I didn’t dare to call the police, afraid that my parents would find out about it, but just after a few days, they still found out,” Chu Mian inadvertently slowed his pace, and looked at the dark blue sky where the afterglow was about to end, “My father said the responsibility lies in my negligence, and my mother was too lazy to care, so she directly bought me a new one. The police didn’t help me find it later, so I just let it go.”

“How can you just let it go?” Yu Ran’s reaction was a bit intense, “The pet is also a living thing, and if it was replaced by a human being, won’t that be the same as child trafficking? You’re like a poor mother! Why didn’t they help you when a mother and a child were separated?”

Chu Mian was originally immersed in the memories of the past, repeatedly savoring the sorrow. Suddenly hearing Yu Ran’s righteous and indignant tone, he was immediately pulled back to reality.

“It’s not that serious. After all, snakes don’t have emotions and don’t recognize their masters. Moreover, the two-headed snake is genetically mutated, and because of its body structure, it’s not destined to live for too long…” Chu Mian’s Adam apple rolled up and down, “But I’ve had narcolepsy show it’s effects since this incident, so I couldn’t accept it.” 

Chu Mian didn’t want to think back about the depressed mood he had during that period. Soon after losing “Marija”, he had started to feel drowsy. At the beginning, when Chu Mian was sleepy for a while, he had thought that it was because he was too exhausted from constant crying. But later he directly fell asleep while taking a shower. He even closed his eyes and fell asleep and fell down halfway through answering questions in class, scaring his teachers and classmates to hurriedly call an ambulance.

The clinicians in Ronggang thought that he was very sleepy because of the stress of his studies, and his mother took him to the United States before he was diagnosed with “narcolepsy”.

It was said that this kind of sleeping disorder mostly started in adolescence. The pathogenesis was unknown and couldn’t be cured, only medicines could be used to control it a little bit.

Yu Ran’s voice was a bit heavy: “Did that man steal the snake?” 

Chu Mian hesitated and said, “I don’t know… Double-headed snakes are indeed rare, but others have raised them before me, and none of them could survive.”

When he had seen Xu Si’s snake box during the summer vacation, Chu Mian was actually not so sure about the age of the snake. If judged by the length described by the club manager, Xu Si’s snake was only about seven or eight months old, and if his Marijia was lucky enough to be alive, she would be almost as long as the two-year-old Fiona.

Chu Mian adjusted his breathing and made up his mind: “Even if it’s not the same one, I still want to find him to buy it from him.”

Yu Ran wondered, “Why? Wouldn’t looking at it make you remember some sad things?” 

“I can think of it as Marija,” Chu Mian naturally said the name of his pet, “so that I can feel better in my heart, and maybe narcolepsy can be alleviated.”

“Huh?” Yu Ran pulled the corners of his mouth very exaggeratedly, “Aren’t you just using substitutes to deceive yourself and others?”

“You don’t understand,” Chu Mian was categorical, “I only have two choices, either I keep thinking about it in my heart, or I find a chance to forget it. The former option will make my narcolepsy worse, so I choose the latter one.”

Yu Ran hung his head and thought about it, then whispered, “Okay,” then he added a sentimental comment, “Fortunately, the snake has no feelings, otherwise it would miss you as much as you miss it.” 

Hearing this, Chu Mian’s long suppressed nostalgia gushed out once again. He was caught off guard, and his heart started to warm up, and even his eyes started to get moist. Fortunately, the sky was dark, and even if there was light flashing in his eyes, it would not be easily discovered by Yu Ran.

“Well, that’s why I like snakes,” Chu Mian smiled indifferently.

When living together with Marija, Chu Mian always regretted that this low IQ animal couldn’t cultivate attachment, but after losing it, Chu Mian was extremely glad that the pain of “separation” could only be borne by himself, a human being, and as long as Marijia continued to work hard to survive, it would be enough.

“Ugh… thieves are really hateful,” Yu Ran empathized, “If your snake hadn’t been lost, would you still have narcolepsy?” 

“Maybe not.” Although Chu Mian replied in this way, he knew in his heart that the greater possibility was “yes”. Even if some patients had experienced strong emotional stimulation before the onset of the disease, this was definitely not the direct cause of narcolepsy. Chu Mian would rather think that he was stimulated than admit that it was purely bad luck that he encountered narcolepsy.

Seeing Yu Ran’s sullen look for a long time, Chu Mian felt that he might have had another empathy attack, so he took the initiative to restore a relaxed mood and said to him: “It’s okay, I believe that luck is conserved. Since now I’m more unlucky than ordinary people, I’ll definitely be luckier than ordinary people in the future.”

His calm confidence easily infected Yu Ran’s emotions. Yu Ran nodded vigorously and said, “Then I’ll also share a little bit of luck with you so that you can get better soon.”

“That’s not necessary,” Chu Mian looked at Yu Ran with much gentler eyes, “I said, you don’t have to care about my sleeping sickness, just treat me as an ordinary person just like you.” 

Yu Ran opened his mouth to retort: “I’m not ordinary.”

“…”

Yu Ran’s voice became bright and cheerful: “Don’t worry, I’ll treat you as a man who is as strong as me.”

Chu Mian had a shallow smile at the corner of his mouth, and agreed with Yu Ran’s words: “Okay.” 

Yu Ran breathed a sigh of relief. Since Chu Mian said that he didn’t want Yu Ran to be concerned about his sleeping sickness, he shouldn’t make a fuss over him anymore. It was just that there were still doubts lingering in his heart for a long time, and he really couldn’t hold back his curiosity.

“Actually, I’ve another question. I wanted to ask when you entered the Copper Sparrow Club just now.”

Chu Mian looked back at him, “Ask.”

Yu Ran asked cautiously, “When you’re doing ‘that’… will you fall asleep?” 

His demeanor and tone were particularly sincere. Chu Mian pondered for a few seconds before realizing what topic he was asking about, so he immediately replied with confidence: “No.”

“Why?” Yu Ran probed, “Is it because you’re excited when doing ‘that’, so you won’t get sleepy?”

The more specific and in-depth question caused Chu Mian’s cheeks to get hot, and he hurriedly said, “How would I know?”

Yu Ran asked: “You don’t know? Then, have you ever done ‘that’ or not?” He immediately realized that his question was too direct, so he hurriedly mobilized his vocabulary reserves and asked in a more elegant way, “Are you still clear as ice and clean as jade?” 

“Yu Ran,” Chu Mian’s ears gradually burned red hot, and he took a deep breath and then laughed out in exasperation and said, “You really need a spanking.”