CH 8

After Kou Chen strutted away, Xu Zhifan walked back to Huo Ran: “What did he say?”

Huo Ran frowned: “He wants me to take him camping, with his sister and his sister’s boyfriend too. He says they’ve been dating for ten years and they’re about to fucking break up. They want to take this opportunity to fix things…” 

“So awful?” Xu Zhifan asked, “Did you believe him?”

“I almost did,” Huo Ran smacked Jiang Lei’s shoulder in annoyance, “You could tell he was lying.”

“Not so hard!” Jiang Lei yelled.

“Such a drama queen with all his lies,” Huo Ran said. “Nothing that comes out of his mouth is true. Whatever it is about insulting people to the point of having to transfer schools, and hitting teachers… Just you wait, one day he’s gonna say he’s been to the moon.” 

“Then did you say yes?” Xu Zhifan laughed.

“Yeah, didn’t you tell me to be friendlier to him? I’m afraid I’ll beat him up if he ends up making up some terminal illness next.” Huo Ran said indignantly.

Xu Zhifan couldn’t stop laughing after hearing that.

“Do you wanna go, why don’t we go together…” Huo Ran turned to him.

“I’m not going,” Xu Zhifan refused immediately, “No way am I gonna suffer like that. For the holidays I’m gonna eat and sleep and eat again, then I’ll play some video games in between. A perfect schedule.”

“Jiang Lei.” Huo Ran turned to Jiang Lei.

“Nope, I don’t wanna dislocate anything.” Jiang Lei’s refusal was also firm. “I don’t wanna get yelled at by you the whole time either. This is all to make sure our friendship can live longer.”

“Why don’t you make our friendship live longer by boosting your IQ?” Huo Ran sighed. “Hu Yi… Where’s Hu Yi?” 

“He was here just a minute ago,” Jiang Lei looked around, “We left together after lunch.”

“He had to get a call,” Xu Zhifan said. “I don’t know what’s up with him, he’s been really weird these days. Let’s ask him later, in case he’s dealing with some problems. What if he goes out and buys a kitchen knife, then goes to chop us all up in the middle of the night?”

“Fuck,” Huo Ran looked at him, “Can you not?!”

The afternoon classes were grueling. 

Especially because it was the first… few months after summer break.

Huo Ran could still listen somewhat, and Xu Zhifan was sitting quite properly, but Huo Ran could tell by him putting glasses on that he was about to take a nap. In front, Jiang Lei had his face resting in his palm, already nodding off.

Huo Ran sighed. Although he had to bring along three human-sized weights, he was still looking forward to the National Day holidays.

“Whose seat is that?” Near the end of class, the teacher pointed at the empty seat beside Jiang Lei and asked. 

Everyone turned to look, but Jiang Lei didn’t realize, still staying in the same position.

“It’s Hu Yi’s seat, he had a toothache at lunch and took a class off.” Huo Ran said, kicking Jiang Lei’s seat.

Jiang Lei started, standing up after calming down.

The teacher looked at him, and he looked at the teacher, both of them looking a little lost, 

Xu Zhifan sighed.

“What did he ask?” Jiang Lei turned around, pushing his chair back against Huo Ran’s desk.

“Sit down,” Huo Ran really had no words. He whispered, “Are you stupid? How many sleeping pills did you take? He’s just asking who sits beside you.”

Jiang Lei paused, and cleared his throat: “Sir, it’s Hu Yi’s seat. He had a stomachache and called in sick.” 

“Fuck.” Xu Zhifan banged his head on the desk.

“I’ll thank you for Hu Yi.” Huo Ran said.

Jiang Lei sat back down calmly, and whispered: “What’s going on?”

“What’s going on is that we’re gonna beat you up after class.” Huo Ran said. 

After the bell rang and the teacher left, Huo Ran texted Hu Yi.

-what’s wrong? say you were resting in the dorms with a toothache and a stomachache if old yuan asks

“What happened?” Jiang Lei turned around. 

“If you’re gonna sleep then sleep!” Huo Ran smacked his arm. “If you’re awake then you’re awake! Don’t say shit thinking you’re so smart! I just said he had a toothache, then you say he has a stomachache?!”

“…Shit, I didn’t hear you.” Jiang Lei said, “Where did he even go?”

“Dunno, he didn’t reply to my text.” Huo Ran looked at his phone.

“Kou Chen didn’t come either?” Xu Zhifan asked around. 

“Hm?” Huo Ran raised his head.

Bbe Jtfc’r rfja kjr lcvffv fwqas… Ktf afjmtfg vlvc’a rff? Le Tl’r rfja kjr cfza ab atf kjii jcv tf rjk!

“Lf mjiifv lc rlmx.” We Itejc rjlv.

“Lbk?” Leb Ejc jrxfv. 

“Vabbv bearlvf ab rkfja, atfc kfca ab atf lcolgwjgs rtjxlcu.” We Jtejc rjlv. “Ccv atfc tf uba la.”

“Damn, impressive.” Jiang Lei said in genuine admiration.

Huo Ran secretly felt the same.

But as opposed to applauding that drama queen, he was still more worried about Hu Yi: “Let’s go back to the dorms to check. Is he in the dorms?” 

“I’ll ask, Kou Chen should still be there, I’ll tell him to go check.” Xu Chuan said.

“No need.” Huo Ran refused.

“Get me a coca-cola if you pass by the shops.” Xu Zhifan said.

“Where’s your humanity?” Huo Ran stood up. 

“Never had it.” Xu Zhifan patted him on the back.

Kou Chen yawned as he left the room. He’d always hated history class, if he could get out of it then he would. After napping for a whole class, he felt energized.

He started as he saw Hu Yi walking over: “You didn’t go to class?”

“No.” Hu Yi mumbled, passing by him. 

“You…” Kou Chen turned around, feeling like something was not right. He stared at his back for a couple seconds before calling out, “Hu Yi.”

“Tell Huo Ran and the others I was sleeping.” Hu Yi didn’t even turn around. “Thanks.”

“…No problem.” Hu Yi had already closed the door as Kou Chen spoke.

He stood there for a couple seconds, then turned to go down the stairs. 

Yawning as he walked to class, he saw Huo Ran, who had just ran over. You could tell he was someone who could fix a dislocated shoulder in the out in the middle of nowhere.

“Is there anyone in our dorms?” Huo Ran said as he ran by.

Kou Chen turned around, yelling as he ran into the dormitory building: “Hu Yi’s there.” 

Huo Ran stopped, hesitating before walking back out: “Was he there the whole time?”

“He just got back,” Kou Chen said. “I feel like he’s… Why don’t I go up with you?”

“Why?” Huo Ran stared at him.

Kou Chen looked around to make sure there was nobody around, and whispered: “He had something hidden when he came back, it looked like a knife.” 

Huo Ran didn’t say anything, only continuing to stare at him.

Kou Chen gestured with his hands: “Looked like a kitchen knife. He hid it behind his back.”

“You’re pretty capable,” Huo Ran said. You can tell even through the uniforms?”

“He was holding his jacket.” Kou Chen said. “Besides, think about my eyes, there were a lot of people bringing knives at my old school, I have experience. I can tell even if he was hiding it in his pants,” 

“A kitchen knife.” Huo Ran looked at him. “I’d be able to tell too if he actually hid it in his pants.”

In the end Kou Chen still followed Huo Ran up the stairs.

The moment Huo Ran opened the door he still chose to believe Kou Chen’s shit, warily sweeping a gaze around the room. 

Of course there was no knife!

Knife your fucking bastardly head!

But Hu Yi looked like he wasn’t in a good mood. He was slouched in a chair, zoning out while staring at the package of sausages on his desk.

Sausages? 

“How come you’re here?” Hearing the door open, Hu Yi turned around. “Don’t you have class?”

“That’s what I wanted to ask you, where did you go?” Huo Ran asked.

“It’s nothing, I just went out for some air.” Hu Yi said.

“To buy sausages? This morning’s conversation made you crave them?” Kou Chen asked. 

“No,” Hu Yi suddenly perked up at the mention of the sausages. He turned around, “I know who that hungry ghost is.”

“What?” Huo Ran started.

“When I came back, I saw Li Jiaying at the back gates…” Hu Yi said.

“Who’s Li Jiaying?” Huo Ran asked. 

“The girl behind the haunted building that was watching me piss the other day,” Kou Chen said. “What about her?”

Huo Ran stared at Kou Chen, who was still as calm as ever. You could say he understood how Kou Chen could spout all his bullshit so naturally all the time.

“She was yelling at a girl, with a couple other people. She kicked her too.” Hu Yi pointed at the sausages, “and that fell out.”

“Was it the thin, small girl with a ponytail, always has her head down?” Kou Chen asked. 

“Yeah.” Hu Yi nodded, “She had already went inside when I went over, So I… picked it up.”

“Why? You wanna give it back?” Huo Ran asked.”

“If not, we can eat it too.” Hu Yi said.

“Gonna go roast them in the haunted building?” Huo Ran asked. He paused for a second, then turned to Kou Chen. “Are you sure you weren’t lying about someone roasting sausages in there?” 

“Why would I lie about that? If I wanted to lie I would’ve said I was the one roasting them.” Kou Chen said.

When the bell rang, Huo Ran still couldn’t make Hu Yi go to class with him.

“Are you planning to skip the whole afternoon?” Huo Ran asked.

“I have a headache.” Hu Yi sighed. “I’ll let Old Yuan know in a bit.” 

Huo Ran hesitated, before dropping the matter.

To be honest, Hu Yi really didn’t look too good, he was a bit pale. Hu Yi was the only well-behaved one out of all of them, he never skipped class without a reason.

“You guys should still be careful when you go back after school.” Kou Chen whispered. “He really did bring a knife back, a kitchen knife, a wide one.” 

Huo Ran looked at him, but didn’t say anything.

After knowing Kou Chen for a while, Huo Ran felt like he couldn’t even get mad at Kou Chen’s bullshit anymore.

“Ah!” Kou Chen looked back. All of a sudden, he nudged him, and even his voice was trembling, “That’s… RUN RUN RUNNN!”

Without waiting for Huo Ran to look back, he had already bolted off. 

A dog?

A bull?

A teacher?

A ghost? 

A ghost!

The hairs on his back stood on end, and Huo Ran also and ran like the wind. He caught up to Kou Chen and the two of them sprinted away like crazy.

After about a hundred meters, he regained his senses, feeling that something was off, and so he looked behind him.

There was only wind, and leaves being blown around by the wind. 

If this was a cartoon, you could probably see an afterimage behind the two of them with how they were running.

“Are you fucking mental?!” Huo Ran yelled, but he didn’t stop running.

“The bell rang! Not the first bell, the second one!” Kou Chen said boldly as he ran, “You’d still be strolling along if I didn’t start running!”

Who’s strolling around? 

Who wants to take a fucking stroll with you?

Huo Ran was already in no mood to say another word to him. He sped up, leaving Kou Chen behind to rush into the building.

“Holy shit,” Kou Chen yelled, “Did someone kick you in the ass? How are you so fast?”

Huo Ran was literally speechless. As he turned up the stairs to the second floor, he saw an empty water bottle on the ground, so he kicked it. The bottle flew through the railings and landed accurately on Kou Chen’s head. 

And then it bounced off.

As Kou Chen looked up with a hand pressed to his head, Huo Ran had already made his way to the classroom, pushing the door open: “Miss.”

He rushed to his seat without waiting for the teacher to say anything.

“Name.” The teacher pushed up her glasses. 

“…Huo Ran.” Huo Ran just realized it was the English Teacher, Ms. Chen.

Ms. Chen taught his class before, she was usually pretty nice, it’s just that she didn’t like it when people were late to class. She’d write down your name if you were late, and if she had to do it twice you had to go write lines as punishment.

“Huo Ran, I see.” Ms. Chen looked at him, “What were you doing?”

“I… I had an upset stomach.” Huo Ran said. 

“Mhm,” Ms. Chen nodded, “That’s one time.”

“Oh.” Huo Ran nodded. He turned to look at the door, and saw that Kou Chen still hadn’t arrived.

The bottle knocked him out?

“Alright, as I was saying,” Ms. Chen turned to write on the blackboard. “I know school just started up again and it’s the afternoon, so you’ll all be tired, but wake up everyone…” 

Huo Ran was a bit worried, and he couldn’t help but glance back again. At that moment, Kou Chen flashed through the door, quickly making his way to his seat on tip-toes.

When Ms. Chen turned back around, he had already got out his books, looking half-dead.

Huo Ran was shocked.

And what’s more shocking was that Ms. Chen didn’t even realize he was late. After class, Kou Chen even put on an act and got up to ask her a couple questions. 

After gladly answering his questions, she left the classroom with a smile.

“Holy shit?” Huo Ran said.

“Learn from him.” Xu Chuan sighed.

Hu Yi didn’t show up the whole afternoon. After the last class, before they went to eat, Huo Ran texted Hu Yi.

“How is he?” Jiang Lei asked.

“He said to just bring him a bun.” Huo Ran frowned, “Is just a bun enough to eat?”

“Doesn’t he still have the sausages?” Jiang Lei said. 

Since he found out that Hu Yi picked up the pack of sausages that the girl dropped, Jiang Lei kept going on about wanting to have a taste. Something about how delicious they must be to make a girl go to the haunted building in the middle of the night to roast them.

“I’ll treat you to sausages later,” Xu Zhifan sighed. “Shut up already.”

“I really wanna go ask her,” Jiang Lei whispered, walking into the cafeteria. “Why can’t she eat them in her dorm, isn’t she scared of the haunted building?”

“How is she supposed to roast them in her dorm?” Xu Zhifan said. 

Huo Ran glanced around, seeing that the popular girl and the others were getting their food, and the girl with her head down followed behind them.

“I don’t really get it.” Huo Ran said to Xu Zhifan, “I would beat you to death on the spot if you dared to kick me. But she’s still eating with them?”

Xu Zhifan looked at him, then aimed a kick at his ass.

“Screw you.” Huo Ran said. 

Xu Zhifan laughed. As he was about to say something, Wei Chaoren squeezed his way through with a bunch of drinks: “Come come come, hurry, sit here. Kou Chen’s treating us to drinks.”

“Again?” Xu Zhifan said, “How about I treat everyone? We shouldn’t let him treat us all the time.”

“It’s fine.” Kou Chen said. “I gotta spend it on food, or else my money just disappears out of nowhere.”

“The wind probably blew it away.” Huo Ran said. 

“I still haven’t made you pay for kicking that thing at my head,” Kou Chen said, “You…”

Huo Ran turned to him.

“How about this, if you take me camping then I can…” Before he could finish, something bumped into him from behind, “Fuck!”

He turned around, and behind him was the girl with her head down, looking terrified. She held her tray, and half of the soup was already gone. 

It was then Huo Ran noticed that Kou Chen’s back was covered with vegetable soup.

Kou Chen immediately reached back upon seeing her tray. Touching a handful of grease, he cursed again: “Fucking hell!”

“I’m sorry.” The girl whispered, voice shaking.

Kou Chen didn’t say anything. He looked past her and stared at the popular girl, who had her arms crossed.