Chapter 59
Note: not proofreaded
His little cla.s.smate knew him better and better now. Shi Bufan was in a particularly happy mood after receiving a kiss and being complimented.
After Zhen Yuanbai kissed him, he hurriedly looked around and saw someone pa.s.sing by from afar, but they didn’t look over in their direction. He patted his chest and turned around to see Shi Bufan kissing him. Zhen Yuanbai was startled and hurriedly covered his mouth, pushing him back firmly. “Only I can kiss you. You can’t kiss me.”
He noticed that Shi Bufan really didn’t pay attention to his surroundings. In his heart, it seems as though ‘fear’ doesn’t exist in his vocabulary. Not just ‘fear,’ but Zhen Yuanbai felt as though Shi Bufan wanted everyone to know that they were dating.
Stupid shortcoming.
After the two maintained a safe distance from each other, Zhen Yuanbai continued to walk ahead as if something was troubling him.
Shi Bufan said, “You want to tell me something?”
Zhen Yuanbai nodded and was about to speak when he heard Shi Bufan saying, “I want to kiss you on the lips.”
Zhen Yuanbai swallowed his words and it was stuck in his throat, making his face red. Shi Bufan burst into laughter and was pushed far away. Zhen Yuanbai mustered, “Why, why are you acting like a pervert?”
“I’m only a pervert to you.”
Zhen Yuanbai held in his words before he reached over and pulled Shi Bufan back, saying angrily, “I want to ask you something.”
“Ok, ask me.” When Shi Bufan wasn’t a pervert, he was quite scary. It felt as if Zhen Yuanbai was looking into a blackhole when he glanced at Shi Bufan’s eyes. Zhen Yuanbai took a few seconds before saying softly, “I said that congratulations to the return of a top student, and you didn’t retort.”
Shi Bufan’s smile was still there, but his gaze became a bit deep. “And then?”
“I want, I want to get to know you…” Zhen Yuanbai grabbed his arms and said, “Aunt Ling said that you have great grades in the past. I believe that she is saying the truth. I can tell from your behavior lately that you’re really smart. As well as your studying habits. It’s all proving that what Aunt Ling said was the truth.”
Shi Bufan saw through Zhen Yuanbai’s helplessness, so he softened his voice and said, “If I didn’t have good grades in the past, would you not want me anymore?”
Zhen Yuanbai actually thought about it seriously for a while and Shi Bufan’s eyelids twitched. He flicked Zhen Yuanbai’s head and said, “You’re really planning on doing so?”
Zhen Yuanbai knitted his eyebrows from the pain and said, “If you keep on running amok, I won’t want you anymore.”
“Heartless…I really spoiled you for nothing.” Shi Bufan pretended to hit his head and Zhen Yuanbai ducked when Shi Bufan suddenly held his face in place with his hands and kissed his face. Zhen Yuanbai’s eyes were teary and he felt saliva on his face. He felt humiliated and wronged, kicking Shi Bufan. He finally freed himself when he immediately angrily said, “Why do you like to bully peopel so much?!”
Shi Bufan could tell that he was really angry, so he pulled him into his arms as Zhen Yuanbai pushed him firmly, saying, “Don’t touch me!”
“Darling.”
“I don’t like you anymore! Don’t talk to me!”
Shi Bufan was probably a real mental case. He really liked Shi Bufan’s teary expression and his soft tone of voice. It felt as though his heart was injected with an anesthetic and he said dizzily, “It’s my fault. Here, let me wipe your tears. Don’t cry anymore.”
While talking, he wiped Zhen Yuanbai’s face of tears as Zhen Yuanbai pushed his hands away. His snow-white face contained an uneven balance of red. He looked fiercely at Shi Bufan, but his fierceness was like acting cute in Shi Bufan’s perspective. He licked his lips and coaxed, “Didn’t you want to know about my grades in the past? I’ll tell you everything. Don’t be angry, ok?”
Zhen Yuanbai glanced over at Shi Bufan with his teary eyes and he became a bit curious. Shi Bufan curled his lips up and said, “Right, my darling guessed right. Your boyfriend had good grades in the past.”
Zhen Yuanbai wasn’t angry and instead, he revealed a prideful expression and one of dislike at the same time.
Shi Bufan couldn’t help but touch Zhen Yuanbai’s face again. After his hand was slapped away, he suddenly said as if it was hard to make out the words, “Besides telling you that I had good grades, what did your Aunt Ling talk to you about?”
Zhen Yuanbai’s face became gloomy and after a while, he said softly, “She told me why… you had two mothers and fathers.”
Shi Bufan maintained his smile and asked, “Then what? You want to convince me to make up with them?”
Zhen Yuanbai hurriedly shook his head and stated his position, saying, “I won’t meddle in your business!”
“…” Shi Bufan wanted to bully him again.
He felt very conflicted, hoping that his little cla.s.smate could be warmer and care about him more. However, he didn’t want his little cla.s.smate to overly pity him. Though he didn’t expect for something that he felt conflicted over to become “meddling in his business” within Zhen Yuanbai’s perspective.
He tried his best to hold in the urge of making Zhen Yuanbai cry again, saying, “Then why did you ask about my past?”
Zhen Yuanbai said eagerly, “I wanted to see your grades and certificates of merit in the past.”
“Why do you want to know?”
Zhen Yuanbai thought about it for a while and fished out his phone, flipping through a photo alb.u.m in his storage, showing Shi Bufan as if showing a treasure. “These are my grades on my exams since elementary school to high school as well as certificates and awards. I always came first. Look. It’s every time!”
It seemed like Shi Bufan had detected something, so he asked, “Then what?”
Zhen Yuanbai scratched his face and said, embarra.s.sed, “I want, I want to compete with you…when you were studying in the past, have you gotten better grades than me?”
“…” Shi Bufan loosened his grip on his shoulder and quietly shoved his hands in his pocket, walking ahead. Zhen Yuanbai was a bit disappointed, but was also a bit happy. He carried his backpack and followed Shi Bufan, saying, “You’re not as amazing as me? Don’t worry. I won’t dislike you for that. As long as you stay good in the future, then…”
Shi Bufan retorted with a dark face and Zhen Yuanbai swallowed the rest of his words. He was confused and terrified when Shi Bufan suddenly grabbed his arm, saying, “Go and drink with me.”
“I don’t drink!” There was no time for Zhen Yuanbai to withdraw his arm when Shi Bufan carried him over his shoulder. His backpack slipped and it fell on his head. The heavy weight dizzied him for a few seconds before he frantically said, “What are you doing?”
“I want to tell you about my past.”
Zhen Yuanbai was placed down in the middle as he struggled, but he was still tugged to an extremely exquisite restaurant by Shi Bufan. The latter psuhed him in the corner of a sofa and coldly said, “If you dare to run away, you’re doomed!”
Zhen Yuanbai said shyly and Shi Bufan pushed the menu in front of him and said, “Order the food.”
“Can you have spicy food?”
“Besides soy bean products, I can have whatever you eat.”
“What a pity ah. I wanted to eat…I actually don’t really want to eat that either.” Glancing at his fierce gaze, Zhen Yuanbai was forced to change his words.
Zhen Yuanbai sent his mother a message saying that he won’t be returning home to eat. However, Shi Bufan became quiet as he was ordering food and his face darkened. After Zhen Yuanbai was done ordering the food, he pushed the menu over and said, “Take a look. Is there anything else you want?”
“As long as it’s enough for us to eat.” While waiting for the food, Shi Bufan asked for a jar of warm milk and poured a cup for Zhen Yuanbai. He was saying that he would tell Zhen Yuanbai about his past, but he said nothing right now. Zhen Yuanbai cupped the milk and glanced at him, pursing his lips. “This milk is pretty good.”
Shi Bufan also took a drink as Zhen Yuanbai propped his chin and glanced at him, saying, “Fanfan…”
“Cough! Cough cough —” Shi Bufan covered his mouth and took the napkin that Zhen Yuanbai delivered, wiping his mouth clean, saying, “Call… me that again.”
Zhen Yuanbai repeated obediently, “Fanfan.”
After saying that, he laughed and said, “Why is your face red? Don’t your parents call you that?”
Shi Bufan gazed at him and said after half a moment, “It sounds the nicest coming out of your mouth.”
Zhen Yuanbai was worse than him and he raised his hand to fan himself, drinking the milk and saying, “The store feels very warm and I’m a bit hot.”
He then took off the jacket of his school uniform.
Shi Bufan controlled the curl of his lips and what originally seemed like something he couldn’t say at all had blurted out of his mouth right now, “When I was young, I call them G.o.dmother and G.o.dfather.”
From Ling Xuan’s perspective, it didn’t seem like much probably because she was already an adult. She was able to forgive her parents-in-law for forcing her to bear a child and she could also take on her responsibility now.
But from Shi Bufan’s perspective, the matter seemed much heavier.
Shi Bufan had a great memory and he still remembered the first time that he had seen his fake parents. He didn’t remember how old he was but that his grandma had gently placed him in a woman’s arms, smiling and saying, “This is Fanfan’s mother in the future now. Here, can you call her ‘mummy’?”
But the young Shi Bufan didn’t like to call them mother and father since he wasn’t that close to them at all.
By the time Shi Bufan was three, he still hadn’t seen Ling Xuan. However, Shi Xian would come back frequently to play with him. The young Shi Bufan was a bit ‘strange’ and he didn’t like his ‘parents.’ However, whenever he saw Shi Xian, he would smile happily.
Maybe it was because his grandma was afraid that Shi Bufan might find out that his parents were fake, she only allowed him to call Shi Xian ‘G.o.dfather.’ At that time, Shi Bufan was very young, so he wasn’t able to talk clearly. Therefore, he would call Shi Xian ‘father.’ Whenever he called him that, Shi Xian would reveal an indescribable expression, but Shi Bufan was too young, so he didn’t understand what Shi Xian’s expression represented.
During Shi Bufan’s third birthday, he had seen Ling Xuan for the first time. His grandma had pushed the woman over to play with him and Shi Bufan glanced at her with sparkling eyes. Sometimes, blood relations were that fascinating. The first time Shi Bufan saw the ‘G.o.dmother,’ he liked her a lot.
But at the same time, kids were very sensitive. Quickly, Shi Bufan noticed that Ling Xuan didn’t like him. Even more, she was repulsed. Kids have a very strong sense of self-esteem, so when he noticed that he wasn’t liked, it made him feel very bad. However, there was nothing he could do but to pretend like nothing happened, acting calm.
The two pairs of seniors treated the fake parents strangely. Whenever they were in front of Shi Bufan, the seniors would treat the fake parents nicely. But sometimes, Shi Bufan would see them acting indifferent towards the fake parents.
The food was cooked and Shi Bufan had put food in Zhen Yuanbai’s bowl, saying indifferently, “I always felt that it was strange, but I didn’t understand why until I turned eight and President Ling brought me a gift. She had never done that for me before, but something must be up for him to do that.”
He smiled at Zhen Yuanbai and the latter opened his mouth, subconsciously agreeing and saying, “You must think that it’s very strange.”
“Of course it’s strange.” Shi Bufan said, “But she was very smart and patient. She would come back and stay with me from time to time, telling me that she wasn’t that busy anymore. Sometimes, she would even do homework with me in my room as if we were really close. But whenever she came back, my fake parents had to stand by the side. To speak the truth, I don’t like her and I became suspicious with their att.i.tude towards my fake parents.”
“At first, I thought they had some internal problems.” Shi Bufan said slowly, “Until I saw her sending my fake parents a message, telling them to take a break for two months.”
The fake parents were forced to deceive Shi Bufan, saying that they were going to spend some time together. Meanwhile, Ling Xuan and Shi Xian invited Shi Bufan along to tour the world. At that time, it was the summer vacation, so Shi Bufan went along with them hesitatingly.
He noticed that this woman was too eager with him, especially when they returned. Shi Bufan hadn’t seen his fake parents for two days and at first, he casually asked his grandma. His grandma told him that they went to spend some time together. Up until the last day of school, Shi Bufan was taken to the amus.e.m.e.nt park by Ling Xuan. An extremely theatrical-like event happened. He saw his fake parents in the amus.e.m.e.nt park with other children.
Shi Bufan stood there quietly watching. Then he followed over to hear the two children calling them mother and father. At that moment, an indescribable sense of anger burned from the bottom of his heart. He took a picture of the scene and endured his emotions, casually asking his grandfather when he returned. “When are my parents coming back?”
As he persistently asked, the pair of fake parents finally ‘returned from their vacation.’ His fake mother brought him a lot of gifts and told him that they just got off the plane.
Shi Bufan sent nothing. Instead, he showed the picture he took and asked if he had any brothers or sisters. Needless to say, his grandparents found out and they attempted to act and cover up this matter, but Ling Xuan exposed the truth. “They were hired by their grandparents and they have their own family. Fanfan, you have your own parents as well. We are in front of you guys.”
Shi Bufan recalled this and remained silent for a very long time until Zhen Yuanbai brought a piece of bullfrog to his lips. He snapped out of his trance and took a bite.
Zhen Yuanbai continued to eat and said nothing to whatever happened. Shi Bufan suddenly acted stupid and asked, “I told you everything. Aren’t you going to pity me?”
“You want me to pity you?”
“Of course I want that.” Shi Bufan glanced at him and said, “No one wants me and I’m helpless and pitiful. You have to comfort me.”
Zhen Yuanbai opened his mouth and persisted, “You’re not pitiful at all.”
Shi Bufan was unhappy in his heart and said, “I’m pitiful. Very pitiful! Quickly comfort me or else, I’ll kiss…”
Zhen Yuanbai was so scared that he shoved food in Shi Bufan’s mouth, making the latter swallow it. His face darkened and he moved over, making Zhen Yuanbai subconsciously move to the corner. Then, Shi Bufan suddenly hugged him. This stupid pervert said, “Quickly pity me, or else I’ll drag you around the store and kiss you while walking.”
Zhen Yuanbai was very angry and he said, “I’m not here to pity you. Shouldn’t I be liking you?”
Shi Bufan maintained his position and didn’t move. Zhen Yuanbai originally thought that he wasn’t satisfied, so he comforted, “Then I’ll fool around with you tonight…ok?”
Shi Bufan glanced at him for a long time before he said, “That’s… great!”