Jiang Yao was reveling in his happiness when a gloomy voice unexpectedly sounded out next to his ear, "Get——off——"
"......"
He immediately retracted his hands and sat properly upright, acting like an emotionless cushion.
......Fortunately, I closed the curtains, otherwise I would be losing a little face right now.
The destination of this spring field trip was an amusement park on the outskirts of the city, which was a two-hour drive away.
Yin Che slept for an hour. The drive wasn't bumpy, since the bus driver was from a travel agency and was very good at driving.
But he still hadn't slept very well.
He'd kept replaying in his mind what Doctor Feng had said the previous weekend: "The psychological therapy portion of the treatment is almost complete. Next week, we'll start the stimulation therapy, are you properly prepared?"
Am I properly prepared? He wasn't too certain.
Maybe I'm not.
A pack of fudge was passed back from the front row, though when it reached them, there were only a few pieces left. Zhou HaoLiang stretched out over the back of the seat, "Che Ge, wanna eat?"
Yin Che was about to say he didn't want to, but Jiang Yao had already taken two pieces from him, saying, "Hey, didn't I buy these?"
Zhou HaoLiang replied, "I don't know, these were passed out by the class monitor."
"Oh, I see, never mind."
Jiang Yao tore the wrapper open and tossed one in his mouth. The milky taste was very strong. Then, he tore open the other one and pressed it against Yin Che's mouth.
Yin Che turned his head away, "I don't want to eat it......"
Jiang Yao pushed forward with his fingers and stuffed the candy into his mouth.
Those fingertips touched his lips, the heat coming and going in the blink of an eye.
Yin Che froze in shock.
The fudge melted in his mouth, the milky flavor spreading all over.
He thought back to when Jiang Yao had once watched him drink milk and then wiped his mouth with a tissue......now he'd touched him directly.
Jiang Yao pulled his hand back and touched his own lips with those same fingertips that had just touched his lips. He looked at him with an ambiguous, faint smile on his face.
......This alpha's wolf-like ambitions are abundantly clear.
Yin Che recoiled back, pressing his back against the window, and watched him vigilantly, looking like a little animal trying its best to keep its calm composure when threatened by a wild beast.
Jiang Yao was also aware that his personal thoughts had been too blatant. "Sorry, I didn't have your consent......"
"How many times is this now?"
Sneaking into bed, pinching his earlobe, touching his lips...... Jiang Yao had apparently become more and more impudent and brazen lately.
"If you don't have the patience to wait," Yin Che couldn't get his breathing to steady, "just go find someone else, okay?"
Jiang Yao was shocked. "What does you mean, 'find someone else'?"
"Find someone who can let you touch them as you wish."
Find someone who has pheromones, find someone who likes children, find someone who can satisfy all your desires.
Just don't find me.
Yin Che suddenly realized that he really wasn't prepared, the psychotherapy hadn't been effective at all, his mind was only filled with the thought of cowering away.
The cure might not even work anyway. Jiang Yao might not have the patience to wait anyway. So why even pursue the cure?
"What do you mean?" Jiang Yao frowned, "If you don't like me being like this, then I apologize. I'm sorry. You can scold and lecture me however you want. But why are you just saying something like this, do you think I'm just messing around with you? "
Yin Che's thoughts were all mixed up, with a few memories he just couldn't shake off. He felt annoyed and confused deep down. "Don't talk to me."
Jiang Yao opened his mouth, then swallowed back whatever he was going to say in the end. "......I understand."
He stood up and sat down in the empty seat on the other side.
Han Meng was eating the last piece of candy, his mouth full of sugar. "Lao Jiang, what are you doing? Not clinging to your deskmate anymore?"
Jiang Yao just looked out the window and didn't reply.
As they finished up the candy, the bus arrived at the destination.
"Everyone, get off the bus in an orderly manner. Start lining up when you get off, don't wander around," Wu GuoZhong shouted from the door.
The students grabbed their belongings and walked down one by one, their class forming two rows next to the bus.
The travel agency had arranged a tour guide for each class. The tour guide for Class 1 was named Wang. He had tanned skin and was waving a small red flag, saying through a loudspeaker, "Hello, tongxue, I'll start with passing out your tickets. You have to use these tickets for the activities inside. After we go in, everyone should divide into groups. We'll have free time for the activities in groups of six or seven. Contact me if you have any questions, my number is......"
Chen YingYing dragged Yang YiLe over, "Let's form a group, okay?"
Yang YiLe said, "Uh huh, okay......"
Han Meng and Zhang Ke also joined their group, but there were still two people missing. Chen YingYing glanced around and then suddenly shouted, "Jiang Yao, Che Ge! Are you two joining our group?"
Han Meng rushed to block her, "Don't, don't, they're having a fight right now, let's not step on that landmine......"
However, he'd brought it up too late, Jiang Yao had already heard and was coming over, "Sure."
Yin Che just remained in place.
Other groups also invited him, but he just shook his head to refuse. Chen YingYing suspected that he wanted to come join her group, but couldn't bring himself to do so. At the risk of stepping on the landmine, she called again, "Che Ge, come on?"
Yin Che glanced at Jiang Yao's back and then slowly made his way through the crowd.
The two stood side by side, both wearing grim expressions, neither paying attention to the other.
"......"
"......"
The atmosphere was incredibly awkward.
After they entered the amusement park, the tour guides and teachers didn't have much of a role. They just let these wild children run to whichever ride they wanted, after giving just a few reminders, "Gather at 3pm! Find a tour guide if you need something!"
Inside the amusement park, beyond just the students of First High, there were also independent tourists and some students from other schools. There were no less people than during the holidays, so they had to line up for the most popular rides.
As a diligent and responsible group leader, Chen YingYing had read an online guide to plan out their route before setting off, having decided in advance that they'd ride the pirate ship first.
"Who doesn't want to ride? The bumper cars over there have no line, so you can go play around there."
Han Meng said, "Geez, what a joke, who would still ride the bumper cars as a high school student? Isn't this just a pirate ship? Just look and you can see it's not that tall. Everyone's riding it, right?
Yin Che replied, "I won't ride it."
Zhang Ke said in surprise, "Che Ge, you're not going to ride? Oh......I get it, you think the pirate ship isn't stimulating enough, right? Should we go over to the bungee jump ride in a bit?"
Yin Che offered no explanation. "I'll look after the bags for you all."
A few of them looked around for and found a bench. They all took off their backpacks and placed them in a row beside Yin Che.
Chen YingYing said, "Jiang Yao, you're not coming?"
"I'll carry mine." Jiang Yao walked toward the entrance, "I'll get in line first, you guys, hurry up."
The others exchanged glances.
These two are really a bit difficult to deal with when they argue......
The pirate ship was a popular attraction, so there were many people in line, probably enough to take 15 minutes. The group on the swinging ship currently were letting out unceasing screams that resounded across the sky.
Yin Che sat down, peacefully drinking some water.
The backpacks next to him were all bulging, stuffed full of snacks. Only his backpack was mostly empty. Before leaving, Jiang Yao had put everything into his own bag, just leaving a bottle of water for him, leaving him with plenty of room.
"With your boyfriend around, you don't have to carry anything."
Jiang Yao really was so rotten sometimes.
Deliberately making Yin Che rely on him, deliberately make Yin Che not want to separate from him.
By the time he drank one third of the water, Chen YingYing and the others ought to have been on the ship. Yin Che threw the water bottle back into his bag, then stared at the ground in a daze.
We really are inseparable.
It doesn't matter at all anymore if I'm prepared or not.
He didn't want to separate from Jiang Yao anymore at all.
A guy suddenly sat down on the other end of the bench.
Yin Che caught a glimpse of him out of the corner of his eye, but didn't pay him any mind.
——Until the guy threw a piece of chocolate over.
He blinked in surprise, then turned to look at him. Separated by the four backpacks, Jiang Yao was sitting there. He pulled open his backpack, "Do you want to eat something else?"
"......No need."
"Oh."
And then yet again, there was nothing more to say.
They were sitting along the only path to the line, so all the female students passing by were looking over.
Jiang Yao stretched out his legs and looked up at the sky, as if he was waiting for him to speak.
Yin Che wanted to say "Why did you come out? Did you not want to ride anymore?" but felt that it would be unnecessary to ask. He was certain he'd come back out for him.
Before he could come up with another topic, Chen YingYing and the others got off the ride.
"YiLe, you feel okay?" Chen YingYing was supporting Yang YiLe.
"Not bad, I'm just a little dizzy......"
Zhang Ke was supporting Han Meng. "Lao Han, don't throw up! Hold on! You're a fierce A! So many junior high school students are watching, don't make our school lose face!"
Han Meng's face was pale and he was stumbling and swaying as he tried not to throw up, "*vom*......don't talk to me......*vom*......"
After a short rest, Chen YingYing took a look at the map, "Let's go to the haunted house next. It's right over there. Is there anyone who doesn't want to go?"
Han Meng raised his hand. "I request the bumper car ride."
"Granted."
Zhang Ke and Yang YiLe were also a little scared, but the two of them were still willing, thinking that it was the rare spring field trip, so they wanted to experience it fully themselves.
So in the end, five people turned in their tickets and entered the haunted house next to the pirate ship.
Chen YingYing took the lead, Zhang Ke and Yang YiLe followed behind arm-in-arm, and Jiang Yao and Yin Che made up the rear.
Who knew if it was because the attraction was too scary, but there were no people in line, so their turn came quickly. When they entered, it was almost completely dark, a few candle-shaped lights hanging on the walls, so they could just barely see the way forward. Occasionally, a few screams rose up ahead of them, which made them tremble in fear.
"Democracy, harmony, prosperity and strength......" Zhang Ke chanted incessantly. "Why the fuck is it so cold......"
Probably to invoke a horror atmosphere, the air-conditioning was turned on in the haunted house, like a chill wind blowing in gusts.
Zhang Ke said, "If Da Xiong was here, the hair on his legs would probably be standing up like a hedgehog spines."
Yang YiLe found that amusing and was about to turn his head to say so, when suddenly he caught sight of something lit up by the candle next to Zhang Ke, the reflection of a paper-white face.
The man's face smiled nastily and he stretched out an extremely long hand towards Zhang Ke.
"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!"
Yang YiLe grabbed Zhang Ke and ran away instantly.
Zhang Ke had also been scared senseless by the strange hand that had stretched out in front of him. He hadn't even dared to look at whose hand it was, just running forward with a scream. Chen YingYing, who was walking at the front, was pushed forward by the two of them and had to start running.
The three of them disappeared without a trace in an instant.
Jiang Yao slipped around the hand prop and took a few steps forward. Suddenly, the candles on the surrounding walls were all extinguished, making it go so pitch-black that he couldn't even see his fingers.
Is there more?
He stopped where he was to wait, wanting to see what new tricks there were. He said casually without much thought, "Don't just stumble around, take care not to trip."
The surroundings were extremely quiet. No one replied.
Yin Che had clearly been standing only a few steps behind him just a moment ago, but now he was so silent it was as if he didn't exist.
"......hey?" Jiang Yao called out tentatively, "Are you there? Just say something——"
A hand suddenly gripped his arm.
It wasn't some crudely-made wooden hand, but a real hand with warmth and strength.
Jiang Yao was startled.
The hand wasn't very large, but the grip was very tight. The stiff, firm grip slowly descended until it touched his palm. After half a second of hesitation, five fingers slowly threaded between his fingers.
Then their fingers were folded together in a firm, tight grip.
Skin-to-skin contact. His heart throbbed deep down.
The hand in his own was warm, soft, and faintly trembling. In the darkness, a voice sounded that wasn't very calm, as if he were forcing himself to say the words:
"......I'm sorry."
"Don't be mad, Ge."
—
Footnotes:
1. Wolf-like ambitions (狼子野心): diabolical ambitions, wild thoughts
2. Step on a landmine (地雷): tread across a taboo
3. Zhang Ke is reciting the CCP core socialist values...... lol.....
—
The translator has something to say:
I just wanted to clarify something to make sure everyone is on the same page. YC has talked about his treatment for pheromone deficiency in this and previous chapters.
What we know is his treatment features two parts: the psychological therapy part (to "mentally prepare" him for something) and the stimulation therapy part (to expose him to his previous trauma).
He just finished the mental preparation step. We don't know the details of his previous trauma, except that it probably has to do with his aversion to alphas, fear of electricity, and the burn mark on his neck where a gland would be, so we don't know what the stimulation will involve yet 🙂 Hopefully this cleared things up for you.