Translator: Xena
Editor: Sammy
Proofreader: Bubbles
Chu Yu entered the office, a little apprehensive.
Old Ye's table was tidy. There was a white porcelain teacup on top of it, containing malva nut and wolfberry tea with steam rising up in spirals.
Chu Yu couldn't figure out why Old Ye called him to the office.
He recalled carefully, from the beginning of the new semester to now, he didn't read comics in class, he just occasionally dozed off, but handed in his homework on time. So what would he be called to the office for?
Old Ye took a sip of the hot tea, looked at Chu Yu with a smile, and amiably asked, "Student Chu Yu, how do you think you did in this exam?"
Chu Yu thought for a while and told the truth, "It shouldn't be too bad, right? I was able to do a lot of questions, but there are those I wasn't able to do even after half an hour of looking into it, so I basically gave up on those kinds of questions."
Old Ye nodded. "En, this kind of tactic is very good!"
With that said, he took out a flat A4 piece of paper from a light blue covered lesson plan and handed it to Chu Yu, his eyes full of gratification. "Look at this."
Chu Yu accepted it and saw at first glance Lu Shi, who was ranked first. As usual, his overall score was several points ahead of the class' second place.
With pride bubbling in his heart, Chu Yu looked down and saw his name near the middle.
Old Ye had been trying to observe Chu Yu's expression, and found that Chu Yu was calm and collected, not as surprised as he expected. Contrarily, Old Ye was unable to contain himself.
"Student Chu Yu's performance this time is very, very good! You seized the 120th place from the whole year! This is an enormous leap and great progress! Teacher believes in you, as long as you have hope, your next grades will certainly be better!"
The more he talked, the more excited he became. Old Ye was about to give a passionate speech then and there at the office.
After Chu Yu finished the test, he gave himself an estimate of his score, so he was quite aware of the results of his monthly test this time. Seeing that Old Ye had been talking for half an hour, he quickly said, "Teacher, I will definitely continue to work hard!"
The class bell rang just then and Chu Yu withdrew at lightning speed.
While returning to the classroom, Chu Yu heard Dream-Ge talking to Zhang Yueshan about a birthday, so he casually asked, "Who's having a birthday?"
Li Hua answered, "Lu-Shen said your birthday is coming up."
Chu Yu only responded after a few seconds, remembering that his birthday was indeed coming up in a few days.
He'd been so busy studying for the exam previously that he visited the days of the week without noticing the date.
When the English teacher entered the classroom and had a conversation in English with the students in the front row as usual, Chu Yu sat in his chair, unable to concentrate.
He remembered that Lu Shi was older than him, but Lu Shi had never mentioned his birthday.
Recalling that time in the narrow alley at the back door of the bar, when Lu Shi had been covered in the smell of alcohol, leaning on his shoulder as hot tears dripped onto his neck while he sobbed as he said, 'she gave birth to me, but I killed her'.
There was the "XiJiangYueman" written stroke by stroke on the white paper as well.
Perhaps in Lu Shi's heart, he'd always felt that it was his birth that caused his mother's murder?
The more he thought about it, the more sad he became. Chu Yu braced himself to not show it and merely pulled Lu Shi's hand under the desk and used his fingertips to write carefully on his palm-
I really like you.
Come evening self-study, the results of all subjects were out, and the details of the ranking were posted at the back of the classroom for everyone to mourn for each other.
Dream-Ge held his report card and plastered it in the position of his heart. "I have put an end to the possibility of breaking up with my girlfriend by relying on my strength!"
Fang Ziqi also breathed a sigh of relief. "I've advanced four places. It was worth spending the whole winter vacation in cram school, just hanging my hair on the roof beam and pricking my thigh with an awl."
Li Hua corrected, "Such an idea isn't feasible. First, your house has no roof beams. Second, stabbing your thigh with an awl can easily contract infection."
Fang Ziqi hugged his arms. "It's so cold, colder than the wind blowing outside the window." After speaking, he cheaply and deliberately made a shivering gesture.
After feeling emotional about his romance, Dream-Ge suddenly remembered, "By the way, have any of you seen School Flower's scores and rankings? Dang, his English has always been praised, but his mathematics and physics are actually getting better and better! With that rhythm, he definitely bought a plug-in during the winter vacation!"
Li Hua sat in front of Chu Yu's desk. In almost every class since the beginning of the new semester, Chu Yu had been earnestly taking down notes.
He very calmly stated, "He doesn't need to buy a plug-in, Lu Shen is the strongest plug-in for School Flower, the couples version."
Dream-Ge wondered, "What couples version?"
Seeing that Dream-Ge's eyes were wide open with pure, unadulterated doubt, Li Hua shut up. "It's nothing, you don't need to understand."
Zhang Yueshan had been racking his brains and suddenly had an idea during evening self-study. "I know how to celebrate School Flower's birthday!"
Chu Yu was very curious. "My birthday? How?"
Zhang Yueshan frowned, "Considering the results of the monthly test, some families are in merriment and some are sad, but everyone needs to be happy, so I plan to simply spend your birthday, School Flower, on a school day. We're going to watch a movie together in the classroom to celebrate! The whole class will pay for the expenses, for buying some snacks and drinks, how exciting!"
Chu Yu saw through him at once. "Class Rep, in fact, you just want to find an excuse to eat, drink, and watch movies in the classroom!"
Zhang Yueshan persuaded Chu Yu, "But, it's very fun to eat and drink in the classroom together! Right?"
Chu Yu pondered over it and thought it was really interesting. "Okay! But starting from you and me, horror movies must be refused!"
After the exams were over, no matter how good or bad their grades were, everyone's taut strings loosened either way, and Old Ye was happy to turn a blind eye and let them fly at will.
In order to prevent being raided by the principal and interrupting the movie, Old Ye even deliberately found a chair and sat in the classroom to watch it with everyone; euphemistically, to promote teacher-student friendship.
Zhang Yueshan was carrying and distributing a big pile of drinks. Chu Yu carried a plastic bag and followed behind Zhang Yueshan to distribute candy, grabbing a handful for each person.
When it was Lu Shi's turn, Chu Yu first grabbed a large handful of candy and then secretly stuffed a few packets of cookies and lollipops in for Lu Shi. He winked and whispered, "Boyfriend treatment."
He was embarrassed after what he'd said and hurriedly moved to Li Hua's desk to continue giving candy.
Zhang Yueshan chose the movie. A superhero type, played on the projector with very marvelous fight scenes.
Chu Yu held a bag of melon seeds, eating two by himself then feeding Lu Shi three.
But in the end, he tasted nothing as most of the sunflower seeds were basically fed to Lu Shi.
The movie entered a small climax. Chu Yu was thinking about opening another pack of dried fruit when Lu Shi suddenly pulled him from under the desk.
Chu Yu followed Lu Shi while the students in the class were all focused on the movie and quietly sneaked out through the back of the classroom. He couldn't hold back his excitement and asked in a whisper, "Aren't we going to watch the movie?"
"Hm, we aren't, gonna look at something else."
Lu Shi held Chu Yu's hand. They walked on a deserted path and returned to the dormitory from the teaching building.
Chu Yu felt excited and was looking forward to it a little. He didn't know what Lu Shi was bringing him back to the dormitory to see.
When Lu Shi closed the door, closed the curtains, and put his hand on the metal button of his trousers' waistband, Chu Yu became flustered and stumblingly said,"You-, w-what are we gonna do?"
He hesitated if he should cover his eyes with his hands, but he'd seen everything he ought to have seen, and if he covered his eyes again, it would be very fake.
The point was, he really wanted to look.
Thus, Chu Yu very calmly kept his eyes open, and watched Lu Shi's movements.
Beneath the dorm lights, Lu Shi had already taken off his school uniform jacket, and was wearing a white shirt inside. The shirt was well-cut and fitted for wear so the lines were quite visible.
After the metal button on the waistband of the trousers was undone, Lu Shi inserted his fingers on the waistband of his black underwear and pulled it down.
Oh shit, isn't this play so exciting?
Chu Yu instantly closed his eyes!
Lu Shi chuckled. "Don't want to see it?"
After hesitating for a few seconds, Chu Yu decided to follow his heart and slowly opened his eyes.
At that instant, he was stunned.
Located at the edge of the black underwear that had been pulled down was a tight, fine lower abdomen as well as a bony edge protruding on the left side.
Moreover, what made Chu Yu's gaze unable to move even half an inch away was the two black characters on the cold white skin- Chu Yu.
Lu Shi engraved him in his own flesh.
He left a lasting mark of him on his body.
Chu Yu was momentarily speechless, and his mind was stirred up for a long time. He only managed to softly say three words, "Does it hurt?"
"It doesn't hurt."
Lu Shi's voice was slow. "I originally wanted you engraved in my heart, but it's too conspicuous there. I don't want anyone else to see you."
His distinctly knuckled fingers tapped the left side of his lower abdomen. Lu Shi's voice became increasingly deep and hoarse. "It's engraved here as you're the secret I alone know."
Chu Yu stared at the tattoo on Lu Shi's skin, and suddenly realized that both the horizontal and vertical strokes were sharp and familiar.
He heard himself ask, "These two words... you pierced them yourself?"
"Yeah."
Lu Shi made no secret of his possessiveness. "I won't let others touch these two words."
He released his fingers and the black cloth covered the writing on his left lower abdomen. Lu Shi unhurriedly pulled his zipper and fastened the metal button, his movements casual and sexy.
"So, do you like this gift?"