Ch5 - strawberry yoghurt drink

Laying in his own room that night, Guo Jingyu didn’t get much sleep.

He didn’t dare to. 

Afraid this was a dream, that if he closed his eyes he’d wake up.

And awake he would be alone again, without Li Tongzhou.

The Guo family lived on the sixth floor, beyond which lay a road. Their walls didn’t keep sound out very well, so it was possible to hear the sound of the cars speeding by along the road and see the occasional flash of lights racing by. Guo Jingyu borrowed that feeble light, keeping his eyes open until he saw dawn begin to creep across the ceiling. Then, no longer able to resist his exhaustion, he fell into a light doze for a while.

Even so, he woke without waiting for the sound of an alarm. 

Guo Jingyu got up and washed his face, put his school uniform on properly, slung his bag on and went for the door.

His mother called after him, “Jingyu, don’t go so fast, take a gift over to xiao Zhou’s home!”

Guo Jingyu waved his hand, called back a “No need,” and ran downstairs in large strides, heedless of his mother’s voice at his back.

He found the bus stop’s sign, and tugged his bag over his body crosswise while he leaned against the post. He waited like that for a while; his figure, young, tall, and long legged, was particularly eye-catching as he stood. It was just that during the morning the buses were few and far in between, he stood there waiting for not even a few minutes before he couldn’t bear it anymore and began walking towards Li Tongzhou’s neighborhood.

It started as a jog, but gradually after his stride grew larger and larger and it became a run. When they really got going, sixteen, seventeen year old boys ran so fast they flew. Guo Jingyu’s  bag banged into his shoulder blade with a regular rhythm while his heart followed his footsteps, as if he hung in midair. It wasn’t until he’d gotten to Li Tongzhou’s door, knocked on it, and seen him, that his restless, uneasy heart fell back into its original position, finally steady once more.

He came too early. Li Tongzhou wasn’t entirely clear-headed yet, and muzzily called his name just once.

Guo Jingyu suddenly went forward and hugged him, resting his forehead on the other boy’s shoulder.

Li Tongzhou was a little surprised. In a low voice he said, “Jingyu, what’s wrong?” 

Guo Jingyu said vaguely, “I ran here, no bus.”

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.

Li Tongzhou raised his head and looked at the wall clock in the living room, his voice just as clear as usual: “There’s two buses that arrive at six twenty. You can also take the 25 from directly opposite your house, it just costs five more mao, so it’s one and a half yuan….”

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If Li Tongzhou said they were memorized, then they were honestly memorized and stored in his brain. 

Guo Jingyu’s heart started to throb uncontrollably again. How had he never noticed before? It turns out Li Tongzhou had silently done so much. There were so many pieces of candy by this person’s side, and only when he discovered them, little by little, did he know how sweet they tasted.

The hug didn’t last long. It was more like a polite response, and they soon separated.

Guo Jingyu was still perfectly satisfied. He threw his bookbag onto the couch, rolled up his sleeves, dusted off his hands, and went to go boil wontons for him.

Li Tongzhou got changed, took a bowl and chopsticks and sat waiting for him at the table. 

The little wontons were a great success. Guo Jingyu put a little roasted seaweed and dried miniature shrimp on top to enhance the flavor. The wontons were thin skinned and thick in filling, one bite had the juices within bursting out. Using a spoon to scoop it into one’s mouth and then drinking some soup: the savory fragrance this combination created was indescribable. Li Tongzhou had two bowls. Even the little shrimps that he usually didn’t much care for weren’t left behind.

Guo Jingyu saw this and said, “Next time I’ll buy some dried and fresh scallops, won’t do shrimp anymore.”

Li Tongzhou shook his head, saying, “No need, it’s quite delicious.”

Guo Jingyu saw his bowl was clean and empty, and knew he wasn’t just saying empty words. He remembered this sweet sight in his heart. In the future, if Li Tongzhou liked to eat it he would make it all. Miniature shrimps were a great source of calcium and he and Li Tongzhou just happened to be growing, they couldn’t go wrong eating more of them from now on. 

They left the house together and took the same bus from yesterday to go to school. Li Tongzhou habitually took both of their bags, holding onto the ring hanging down from above, and put Guo Jingyu in front of himself protectively.

Li Tongzhou: “Jingyu, what is your bag holding? It’s a little heavy.”

Guo Jingyu touched it, and then only remembered now, “Oh shoot, my dad packed ribs, I forgot to take them out for you to eat this morning.”

Li Tongzhou immediately said, “I don’t love ribs.” After he finished he immediately supplemented it with another sentence, “I just like eating little wontons, just having them is enough.” 

Guo Jingyu laughed, teasing him, “You really don’t like them? I originally planned on making you pork rib noodles when I’m over at your house doing homework tonight.”

Li Tonghou slowly said, “Eating a little at night is fine.”

Guo Jingyu couldn’t stop laughing. He patted the other boy’s elbow and said, “I’m just teasing you for fun, they’re all saved for you.”

At school, Li Tongzhou took the self-study class’s attendance while Guo Jingyu generously escaped the room. When he returned, slinking in quietly from the class’s back entrance, his coat’s pockets were both stuffed full. 

He Xiangyang immediately used his textbook to cover his face and said quietly: “Yu ge, you went to the cafeteria’s little shop? Do you have anything to eat? I woke up late and didn’t even get to eat breakfast.”

Guo Jingyu gave him a bag of cookies.

He Xiangyang took them and crunched as he ate. He watched as Guo Jing took out two gaudily packaged cartons of milk and place them inside his desk and immediately understood what this meant. He wiggled his eyebrows and winked, saying, “Oh, I get it, you bought Fan Jiali’s favorite strawberry yoghurt drinks, you must be giving them to her?”

Guo Jingyu stilled for a moment: “Fan Jiali?” 

“That’s right. Yu ge, didn’t you say before that she’s pretty, her eyes large and her nose small, incredibly cute. You want to pursue her—”

Li Tongzhou just happened to leave the podium and return to his seat and overhear this phrase. He raised his eyebrows and looked over at them.

Guo Jingyu’s heart jumped into his throat while He Xiangyang’s big mouth excitedly continued on without any sign of stopping. With an expression of helping out one’s good brother, he said with an air of great sacrifice and loyalty, “Yu ge, I’ll help you pursue!”

Guo Jingyu: “Scram!”

“Ah? You’re not going to pursue Fan Jiali, then do you want to pursue the one who gave you water the last time we played basketball….”

Guo Jingyu was so infuriated he could hardly breathe. He raised his foot and kicked He Xiangyang’s chair, and only then did the other boy finally settle, though he looked a little wronged.

Guo Jingyu had long forgotten who Fan Jiali was, he had absolutely no impression of the girl, especially when his little boyfriend was sitting in front of him, he absolutely didn’t want to be caught up in a scandal! 

In the next row Li Tongzhou sat there quietly reading a book, looking just like he usually did, Guo Jingyu braced himself and used his ballpoint pen to prod the other’s back, but this time no finger reached back like before.

He Xiangyang was still crunching away on biscuits to the side. Just listening to it made Guo Jingyu agitated. He gave his chair a vicious kick, “Pay up!”

“Wha?”

“The cookies cost two, courier fee is twenty!” 

He Xiangyang didn’t say another word before he began collecting wallets. Not only did he bring his own out, but he also asked for the ones from everyone sitting in the two rows behind them. He stacked a collection of white meal cards together, polishing it carefully with his sleeve, before deferentially putting them in front of Guo Jingyu, “Yu ge, this week they were just topped up, it’s all here.”

Their movements were a bit big, so this time Li Tongzhou reacted a little. He slowly turned around and took a look, wrinkling his forehead slightly, and in a low voice urged, “Jingyu, this isn’t very good, it violates school rules.”

He Xiangyang righteously rebutted, “What do you know, this is the filial piety we’re giving Yu ge!”

Li Tongzhou’s lips thinned as he watched Guo Jingyu. It was clear he didn’t approve of their behavior. 

Guo Jingyu: “…..”

He closed his eyes. This damn adolescent period. Just how delusional had he been back then to muddle along and get to this point?

Sooner or later, the sins gathered as a youth will naturally be returned.

T/N: woof, bit of a dramatic end, huh? i’m looking forward to seeing jingyu change his wayward behavior to make tongzhou happy (❁´◡`❁) oh! my favorite moment this chapter: when tongzhou corrected jingyu and said he’d only started memorizing routes around his home, not the entire city… ah… and on the bus?? him holding both their bags, protecting jingyu with his body Like Always.. ah…my heart!!! well that’s all for today. see you next week!