Chapter 22
Proofreader: Akimi
“You promised me that you were going to study.” Zhen Yuanbai wanted to swat Shi Bufan’s hand away but to no avail. Instead, the latter chuckled and said, “Am I not listening to you and studying now?”
“You promised me that you weren’t going to smoke, drink, or fight...” Zhen Yuanbai regretted his decision. “I should’ve never believed you!”
Shi Bufan wasn’t a good person!
Shi Bufan glanced over to see Zhen Yuanbai’s face pale from distress. He suddenly rubbed his face against Zhen Yuanbai’s intimately and the latter immediately pushed Shi Bufan’s face to the side. With an angry and scared tone, he said, “We’re by the school door now. What do you want to do?!”
Shi Bufan enjoyed scaring Zhen Yuanbai and making him on the verge of crying. However, he kept his boundaries and knew that it wouldn’t be fun if he actually made Zhen Yuanbai cry. Therefore, he let go of Zhen Yuanbai and said in a proper manner, “I couldn’t control myself before, but I will pay attention to it in the future.”
Pay attention my stupid butt!
Zhen Yuanbai scrunched his face up like a bun and walked into the room with an aggressive aura. However, his mind wasn’t on the morning study session anymore. Instead, his mind kept on replaying the scene where Shi Bufan had violated the rules. He must stop Shi Bufan from doing this in the future, otherwise, he would be exposed before they even break up.
In class, Shi Bufan had actually listened and studied, not disturbing Zhen Yuanbai either. But the moment class was over, he exposed his true self and always wanted to be close to Zhen Yuanbai.
Zhen Yuanbai decided that they needed to set up some basic rules and if Shi Bufan didn’t agree, Zhen Yuanbai could take this opportunity to break up with him.
When class was over, Shi Bufan kept his promise and pulled Zhen Yuanbai into his arms. The latter pushed and said, “Stop hugging me. I’ll go with you.”
Shi Bufan raised his brows and replied, “You’re willing?”
“Where do you want to take me? And where are we going?”
Sih Bufan smiled and shoved his hands into his pockets, saying, “I bought some movie tickets, so we’re going to watch a movie.”
“Sure.” Zhen Yuanbai answered straight away, making Shi Bufan not accustomed to this. He believed that Congming must be planning something. As expected, when Zhen Yuanbai was following him to the supermarket to grab a shopping cart, Zhen Yuanbai hugged a white birch tightly and even wrapped a leg around it. He stared at Shi Bufan in seriousness.
Shi Bufan looked left and right, seeing that this was outside the neighborhood. In front of them was a mechanics shop and no food was sold there, so no students would walk by. This made Shi Bufan confused and he asked, “What are you doing?”
“I want to talk to you.”
“Can’t you just hug me while you’re talking? Why must you hug a tree?”
Zhen Yuanbai pursed his lips. It was because the other trees were too sturdy and he couldn’t hug it with his arms. He heard that this tree was newly planted as the previous one had snapped under the tornado’s force during that time. He was only able to hug this one anyway, but he didn’t want to argue with Shi Bufan over this. He revealed his attitude regarding the matter and said, “I won’t go and fool around with you.”
“So, you were just lying to me before?”
“Watching a movie isn’t fooling around.” In the end, Zhen Yuanbai was still afraid of him and he said, “But, I’m going home after the movie is done.”
Shi Bufan pinched his earlobes and he thought for a few seconds, smiling. “Is that it?”
“Then, can I do anything as long as we’re not in public?”
Zhen Yuanbai’s heart thumped rapidly and he hurriedly added, “You must get my permission first.”
So troublesome. Shi Bufan walked over in a good mood and Zhen Yuanbai seemed to be scared that Shi Bufan might forcibly drag him away, so Zhen Yuanbai immediately tightened his grip on the white birch. Shi Bufan mocked and continued, “What else?”
“And, you can’t violate the school rules in the future, and even more; you can’t implicate me.”
Shi Bufan leaned against the tree and looked down, making Zhen Yuanbai slightly raise his head. His hands held onto the tree, appearing to be very alert.
“Ungrateful thing. I was just going out to buy food for you.”
“I won’t die from just starving during the lunch period.”
“But, I can’t bear to see you starving.”
Zhen Yuanbai’s face slowly flushed and he couldn’t keep up with the seriousness. He forced himself to stay calm, but it failed. “You, you don’t need to feel bad for me.”
Shi Bufan had a smooth tongue and he said, “How can I just stop myself from feeling bad for you? Can you just stop yourself from liking me all of a sudden?”
Zhen Yuanbai’s eyelashes flickered, thinking: I actually don’t like you. He said, “In the future, I will make sure to eat. No matter what, you need to stop casually buying food for me.”
Shi Bufan supported his forehead with his hands and thought about it for a while. “Fine, as long as you eat on time, I won’t buy food anymore. Anything else?”
Zhen Yuanbai emphasized again, “You can’t casually hug me in the future, whether it be in school or in class, or in any public places...”
Shi Bufan suddenly kissed him and Zhen Yuanbai was like a cat whose tail got stepped on. He suddenly let go of the white birch and jumped a few steps back, looking left and right to see if anyone was passing by. His curly hair was about to turn straight from shock.
He angrily glared at Shi Bufan while the latter said, “You said I just can’t hug you, but you didn’t say I can’t kiss you.”
“I wasn’t done!” Zhen Yuanbai scolded in a loud voice but was afraid that someone might’ve heard. Tears formed in his eyes and he was about to sob, saying in a soft voice, “You can’t kiss me either.”
Shi Bufan raised his hand in surrender and he said, “Ok, I will remember this. Can we watch a movie now?”
“I’m not going anymore!” When Zhen Yuanbai pondered over the possibility that a stranger might’ve seen them kissing, his heart pounded quickly in alarm. Shi Bufan was too annoying. He didn’t care about his feelings at all and he didn’t want to care about Shi Bufan anymore. Therefore, Zhen Yuanbai said, “I don’t want to be with you anymore. I want to break up.”
Shi Bufan raised his brows in surprise and reached over to grab Zhen Yuanbai’s arm, tugging him over and asking softly, “What did you say?”
Zhen Yuanbai said in a soft but determined voice, “I don’t want to date you anymore and I want to break up with you.”
“I didn’t hear it clearly.” Shi Bufan tilted his head and asked, “Why don’t you try saying it again?”
“...” Zhen Yuanbai looked down and said unhappily, “Stop bullying me.”
Shi Bufan licked his lips and said, “Ok, I won’t bully you. Was I not listening to you? See how I’m not even hugging you?”
Zhen Yuanbai looked at him and endured the sadness in his heart and asked, “Will you listen in the future too?”
“I’ll listen, I will listen in the future too.” Shi Bufan let go of him and indicated, “You don’t need to go on this unlicensed vehicle too. How about we hail a taxi there?”
Since Shi Bufan surrendered, Zhen Yuanbai couldn’t really keep up the tough act, so he said, “Then, I’ll pay.”
Shi Bufan led him and said, “Why would you need to pay when I’m with you?”
Zhen Yuanbai responded, “You gave me $384 last time.”
Shi Bufan felt he had lost his face and became uncomfortable. “I only gave you $384 last time?”
Then, he suddenly remembered that he forced Zhen Yuanbai to take all the cash he had on him that day. Zhen Yuanbai ended up returning the rest of the money that he had transferred over. He looked at Zhen Yuanbai and the latter’s eyes were still red, but he said, “In the beginning, you gave me $314 and then you decided to give me $384 instead. You gave me a $10 bill, a $20 bill, a $50 bill, three $100 bills, and 4 pennies, so a total of $384...”
“Stop.” Shi Bufan interrupted and felt he was losing face more and more. Just how stingy was he? Zhen Yuanbai remembered each of the bills so clearly and this made Shi Bufan scrunch his eyebrows, saying, “Keep that money.”
“I didn’t plan on getting money from you.”
“I know. You just want me.”
“...” No, I don’t want you either. Zhen Yuanbai was upset and said, “Either way, I have your money, so I’m going to pay.”
Shi Bufan said nothing and Zhen Yuanbai continued, “Don’t transfer money to my account in the future. I’m not lacking money.”
“Does it matter whether you’re lacking money or not?” Shi Bufan said, “I just have too much money, but I have no use for it.”
Zhen Yuanbai closed his mouth.
He couldn’t believe that his first time on a movie date was with Shi Bufan and Zhen Yuanbai had a heavy heart as he got into the car. Shi Bufan had to remind him to shove the school uniform into the backpack. Shi Bufan made plans with Zhen Yuanbai to watch a newly released domestically produced cartoon which obtained countless positive comments on Weibo. Supposedly, Shi Bufan had figured out Zhen Yuanbai’s hobbies and they decided to go eat first. As they passed the stationary store, Zhen Yuanbai went in to pick a few pens, since he didn’t know where they went after letting others borrow it. His pens required ink and a week’s worth of notes amounted to 20-30 pages of a lecture.
Shi Bufan was behind him and said, “Do you like fountain pens?”
“As long as I can write with it.” Zhen Yuanbai picked a few and pointed at the cartoon figure on top and said, “Youxiu likes him a lot.”
“Do you like any cartoon figures?”
“The one I like is a bit old.” Zhen Yuanbai went to pay and it seemed like he was buying that pen for Zhen Youxiu. Shi Bufan continued to follow him and ask, “How do you like ‘to live’?”
Zhen Yuanbai’s ears turned red and he said, “None of your business.”
“You are indeed quite old.” Shi Bufan held in his laugh and this made Zhen Yuanbai glare at him. Shi Bufan continued to ask, “Do you like that cat or rabbit? Or that poor squirrel?”
Zhen Yuanbai walked out of the door and Shi Bufun continued to probe, “Or that bouncing monkey or that silly puppy? Who else...”
Zhen Yuanbai couldn’t hold it in and blurted, “I like the black tiger!”
Shi Bufan grabbed their tickets at the automatic ticket machine and bought popcorn as well as coke along the way. Zhen Yuanbai looked at the tickets and realized that Shi Bufan had gotten the first and second seats of the 13th row. He confusedly thought about it. Where was the first and second seat? In the middle?
Right now, it wasn’t the rush hours for the theater, so the IMAX theater room wasn’t full. The majority chose seats in the center. Zhen Yuanbai grabbed the tickets and when he finally found the seats, he suddenly turned around to look at Shi Bufan, only to be pushed down by him. “Sit down.”
Zhen Yuanbai sat in the corner and his eyes widened, saying, “Why, why didn’t you choose the middle?”
The corner of Shi Bufan’s lips curled up and said, “Have you seen anyone dating and sitting in the center? This seat is good and no one can disturb us from here.”
The screen started to talk about firefighting knowledge and Zhen Yuanbai clutched his backpack tightly like a rabbit. Yet, Shi Bufan reached over and plucked the backpack out of his hands, saying, “Put it here. Otherwise, it’s going to get in the way later.”
In the way of what? Zhen Yuanbai sat in the first seat, like a little animal squished in the corner with no help.
Shi Bufan glanced at the firefighting knowledge on the screen and said impatiently, “It’s so slow.”
“You, you know that there are cameras in the theater right?”
Shi Bufan thought about it and turned to the side, saying, “You already placed your school uniform away, so what are you scared of?”
Zhen Yuanbai squished a piece of popcorn, praying that the ad play slowly. The same ad time, in Shi Bufan’s eyes, was incredibly slow, but was done in the blink of an eye in Zhen Yuanbai’s perspective.
The lights in the theater dimmed.
A famished wolf was waiting for the right time to pounce when the rabbit suddenly stood up as the IMAX effect was counting down. He called out, “Good —”
Everyone glanced at the corner to hear Zhen Yuanbai said, “Good. It’s such a cool special effect...This is my first time watching in an IMAX theater.”
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