Love Letter
“……….How come it’s in school again?”
Bian Shengjian’s eyes blurred for a moment before the scene in front of him became clear. Looking at the group of students in front of him, he was a little speechless. “What is it this time?”
“This task this time is relatively easy,” Lu Shen said, “but it is also a bit troublesome.”
“What do you mean?” Bian Shengjian looked at him.
Lu Shen paused and looked at him, “Third Brother.”
“Hm?” Bian Shengjian raised his eyebrows.
“Say you like me.” Lu Shen said.
“Ah?” Bian Shengjian was a little puzzled, “What like you?”
“Say it quickly.” Lu Shen insisted.
Bian Shengjian stared at him for a while, when saw that Lu Shen’s face was quite serious, he could only cooperate. “Okay okay…….I like you, I like you, I like you the most, okay?”
“Hmm.” Lu Shen nodded with satisfaction, “That’s the mission this time.”
“What do you mean……” Bian Shengjian was stunned for a long time before finally realizing, “Confession? Who wants to confess to whom?”
“Mm,” Lu Shen turned around and raised his chin to another wave of crowds rushing towards them, “Just in time.”
Bian Shengjian followed his gaze, and felt that it guided him to lock onto a figure with his head lowered at the end of the crowd, “That’s him?”
“Yeah.” Lu Shen nodded, “Ye Huai, fourteen years old.”
“A junior high school student again?” Bian Shengjian looked at Ye Huai from a distance for a long time. He didn’t have any special first impression of this person, just like a passerby who casually passed by on the street. But if one wanted to talk about his characteristics, perhaps it’d be that he’s thin.
Fourteen years old should be a stage of body growth, but Ye Huai, who was walking at the end of the crowd, was a bit too thin compared to the boys around him. His school uniform looked a bit empty on his body, and as he walked with his head bowed, his back arched. The whole person looked even more depressed, as if he had just suffered a major blow because of this posture.
“What’s wrong with this kid?” Bian Shengjian frowned, “He’s so thin like this.”
“Let’s find a chance to talk to him, and learn about the situation along the way.” Lu Shen suggested.
“Okay.” Bian Shengjian nodded, and followed Ye Huai from a distance. It wasn’t until he turned into a small path alone that he accelerated a few steps and ran up.
“Hey!”
When Ye Huai heard a shout from behind, he slowly turned his head with a shudder, but the moment he made eye contact with Bian Shengjian, his reaction shocked them both—
“Fuck.” Bian Shengjian paused in his footsteps, feeling a little annoyed as he watched Ye Huai’s back. “What are you running for?”
Ye Huai didn’t make a sound, he simply grabbed the schoolbag strap on his shoulder and ran forward desperately, as if he was being followed by some kind of beast.
“Did you scare him?” Lu Shen added helplessly during the run.
“Scared my ass.” Bian Shengjian’s voice was mixed with panting, “isn’t this kid’s courage nonexistent? Just a shout and he’s already scared like this………”
However, Ye Huai, who was running ahead, seemed to have heard their conversation. For some reason, he ran faster as if oiling the soles of his feet. After chasing for a certain distance, Bian Shengjian simply took out his mobile phone from his pocket, threw it hard and hit Ye Huai’s back. “What are you running away for!”
The rhythm of Ye Huai’s escape with all his strength was interrupted in an instant. Bian Shengjian finally caught up with him and grabbed him by the collar, and couldn’t help shouting, “Damn it. …..Don’t run away! I am not going to beat you!”
“You…Who are you?” Ye Huai was like a little chick being held in Bian Shengjian’s hand at this moment, and his whole body was trembling, “……..I’m sorry……..but I……really……….really don’t have any money left. “
“Money? Why would I want your money?” Bian Shengjian was a little puzzled. Seeing his frightened look, he could only temporarily loosen his collar and grab his wrist, clearing his throat before explaining, “What’s that, I didn’t come to rob you, he and I are……”
“Here to teach you how to confess your love.” Lu Shen said.
“Ah.” Bian Shengjian and Ye Huai were stunned at the same time, and the former bit the bullet and nodded stiffly, “Right.”
When Ye Huai raised his head, he glanced at the two of them with complicated and shocked eyes, then lowered his head, “I don’t…I don’t know……..what you are guys talking about.”
Seeing his appearance, Bian Shengjian couldn’t help turning his head and whispering, “What’s wrong with him?”
Lu Shen sighed softly, and placed his palm on the back of his neck, “You can see it for yourself.”
Like the previous few times, the feeling of a large number of memory fragments that did not belong to him pouring into his mind was uncomfortable, but this time Bian Shengjian was surprised: This memory that belongs to Ye Huai…..is inexplicably warm.
****
“Kou Ming! You again!”
A roar rang out from the back door of the classroom, and the eyes of the whole class were drawn towards the person who froze as he failed to sneak away with a backpack on his shoulder. “You want to skip class again, don’t you!”
“Yes yes yes…..I won’t dare do it next time.” Kou Ming sighed, walked slowly to his seat with his schoolbag in his hand, and picked his ears with one hand. “Director, you are quite old, Don’t yell so loud next time, be careful that your blood pressure will become high again.”
“What did you say!” the teaching director roared again.
“I said I will never skip class again.” Kou Ming sat up straight and said.
“Kou Ming, Kou Ming, it’s a shame that your father spent so much money on you…Are you even worthy of it?” the teaching director scolded him.
Kou Ming sat in his seat without saying a word, and an impatient look obviously flashed across his face.
Ye Huai sat at the end corner of the classroom with his head down, silently listening to the whispered discussions of the girls around him with smiles, and tightened the pen in his hand.
“How many times has he skipped class……..seems like it’s the tenth time already?”
“Ah! you care about others. I heard that his family is very rich, and his father is in real estate……”
“Whoa, really?”
“That can’t be, he’s also handsome……”
“Hahahaha, shall we ask him for his contact information after class?”
“Okay, okay! But I heard that he seems to have had a girlfriend before……”
Listening to these gossips, Ye Huai silently buried his head lower, and just as he was about to stuff his head into the hole in the desk, someone suddenly knocked on the corner of the desk. When he looked up, he was met with a face with a casual smile. “Hey, are you from the school committee?”
“Ah? I………” Ye Huai panicked instantly, feeling even more at a loss when several people were looking at him at the same time.”I am a………………..study committee member.”
“Ah,” Kou Ming raised his eyebrows slightly and looked at him. “Are you stuttering?”
A burst of laughter echoed around, and Ye Huai buried his head lower.
“What are you laughing at?” Kou Ming raised his head and looked around, then said calmly, “Is it funny?”
The people around were stunned, as if they didn’t know how to answer.
“I didn’t do my homework yesterday, so don’t record my name.” Kou Ming lowered his head again and smiled at Ye Huai, “Is that okay?”
“Okay.” Ye Huai nodded in bewilderment.
“Just agreed?” Kou Ming was a little surprised, “I thought you would refuse.”
“When you finish writing, you can……….give it to me then.” Ye Huai lowered his head and said.
“Thank you.” Kou Ming couldn’t help reaching out and patting his head, his voice sounding pleasant, “I’ll treat you to dinner after school.”
“No…….No need.” Ye Huai lowered his head and could feel those strange gazes around him, as if he was being poked by needles, with all kinds of sizes and was getting increasingly painful, “Just remember……….to finish writing.”
“Okay.” Kou Ming glanced at him again before turning back to his seat. In less than two seconds, when the teaching director, who had just returned from the inspection, saw his moving figure again, pointed at him and roared, “Kou Ming! What little trick do you want to do again? You…………….”
Ye Huai let go of his hand, and two pinched red marks could be seen on his palm. He lowered his head and squeezed his hand again, pursed his lips and said nothing.
Kou Ming was a prominent figure who just transferred to their school last semester, and in one fell swoop, became the most troublesome object for all teachers at their age. Skipping classes, fighting, not wearing school uniform, smoking…..It seemed that Kou Ming had violated almost all school rules except for being in a relationship. Moreover, despite repeated teaching, the more setbacks, the braver he’d become. He’s a self-proclaimed boss, and perhaps there’d be a bunch of boys who would follow behind him willingly.
However, since Kou Ming’s family was really rich, his father probably gave the school leaders a lot of benefits behind his back, that’s why such a person with such bad deeds had not been expelled from the school yet.
But so what? Every family has money.
Ye Huai lowered his head, took advantage of the moment when the school bell rang, and rushed out of the classroom with his school bag on his back, desperately trying to leave those mocking voices behind him – including Kou Ming’s confused shout.
It wasn’t until after rushing out of the school gate that Ye Huai breathed a sigh of relief, walked slowly against the wall, and didn’t stop until he was about to enter an alley, with a stiff expression.
“I’ve been waiting for you for a long time, mute.”
A few people who were standing against the wall raised their eyes and looked at him. One of them spit out the nearly burnt cigarette from his mouth, and twisted it with his foot. “Why so slow? Your teacher delayed you today?”
“I’m not…not mute…” Ye Huai swallowed hard , “Nor………nor delayed.”
“Cut the crap, what about the money you owed us last time?” A gangster with hair dyed like chicken feathers walked a few steps towards him, with fierce eyes, “Hm?”
Ye Huai looked at them, subconsciously took a few steps back, wanting to run away. “I don’t……I don’t owe you any money.”
“F****ng b*****it.” The one who just smoked saw his intention at a glance, grabbed his school bag strap roughly and dragged him over, “Your whore mother still owes Brother Tao about three thousand eight, still planning to delay paying it back?”
“My mother……….she didn’t… ” Ye Huai became anxious for a moment, but the more anxious he became, the more he couldn’t speak. He huddled in a mess until he received a hard punch on his face before finally calming down. “What nonsense you dead mute! If your dead mother can’t take it out, let her go back and sell again! Last time, she stripped naked and rolled around in your school principal’s office because she wanted to have sex with your principal right? Hahahahahaha!”
Everyone around burst into laughter, Ye Huai silently wiped the nosebleeds from his face with his hands, and suddenly broke free with his other hand. He raised his head and slammed his head hard, hitting the chin of the person who was spitting from laughter. “My mom didn’t!”
“Fuck.” The man staggered and almost bit his tongue, he grabbed Ye Huai’s hair with one hand and punched him twice in the face. “You fucker, dare to hit me and without paying the money back! Kill him!”
Thwuck thwuck.
Ye Huai hugged his head tightly with his arms on the ground, he felt things like sticks or fists hitting his back, legs and arms one after another. The severe pain had already made the wound numb, but just when his consciousness turned a little blurred, suddenly, Kou Ming’s smiling face appeared in front of his eyes.
If only I were him….all will be fine.
“You, what are you doing!” A roar came from the alley.
Ye Huai raised his swollen face and looked up with difficulty. The moment he saw Kou Ming’s face clearly, he felt a bit dazed–
“What are we doing? It’s only natural to pay back debts!” The leader kicked Ye Huai again before he raised his head. “We are here to collect debts! Shut the fuck up…..”
Before he even finished speaking, he felt a heavy blow on the face, and at the same time, he was grabbed by the collar, a leg was raised then hit his lower abdomen hard, “Scram.”
“Kou…… Kou Ming!” Ye Huai yelled in horror on the ground. In the chaos, he even saw that the chicken feather thug had been kicked three meters away by Kou Ming. His gaping mouth didn’t close for a long time. It wasn’t until someone grabbed his wrist and pulled him up from the ground, that he finally came back to his senses, and said very anxiously, “You didn’t…..are you alright?…..In the body……..is there anywhere………….that hurts?”
“I’m fine.” Kou Ming grabbed his hand, took time to wipe the blood from the cut on his face from the punches, and looked back at those lying on the ground moaning and groaning that was planning to get up again, and said coldly, “How much does he owe you?”
“The principal is three thousand! Plus the interest, it’s three thousand eight!” The chicken feather groaned and glared at him, “Where the hell did you come from? Does this kid have anything to do with you!”
“Of course, we are in the same class.” Kou Ming picked up his school bag thrown on the ground while talking, opened the innermost wallet, and directly pulled out all the cash and threw it on the ground, “Here, is ten thousand enough?”
Chicken feathers stared at the banknotes scattered all over the floor without speaking for a long time. It seemed as if the pain had subsided in an instant, and he almost got up and licked Kou Ming’s feet obsequiously, “This brother, you………………”
“Don’t pester him anymore,” Kou Ming said with cold eyes, “you hear me?”
“Heard, heard.” The gangsters who fell to the ground nodded one after another, and then fought for the second time in order to snatch the money on the ground.
Kou Ming took Ye Huai to a nearby clinic, and when the wound was being treated, Ye Huai finally couldn’t help but say, “You…why are you………….helping me?”
“Really stuttering.” Kou Ming took a closer look at him and sighed, “Could it be that your stuttering is caused by someone hitting you?”
“I……” Ye Huai swallowed and didn’t answer, and instead said in a panic,”That……that money…”
“You don’t need to pay it back.” Kou Ming frowned, “Remember to apply medicine to the injury when you go back……..Those fuckers’ punches are really heavy.”
“Not good.” Ye Huai looked at him stubbornly, but when he remembered that it was a proper 10,000 yuan, he didn’t have the confidence to pay it back, and lowered his head again. “I……I will pay…you back.”
“You don’t need to pay it back.” Kou Ming sighed, and his tone became serious, “But you have to tell me, what the hell is going on with you?”
“……” Ye Huai tried hard to make his words sound less stuttering, but after trying several times, the words still came together in fragments, thus he could only say in frustration, “They….the accumulated interests plus the principal…..my mother……..can’t……can’t afford to pay it yet.”
“I see.” Kou Ming looked at him, “Your name is Ye Huai, right?”
“En.” Ye Huai nodded, and was still a little nervous when he met Kou Ming’s clear black eyes. “I…… I’m sorry……you got hurt.”
The latter sentence was quite fluent.
“Let it be,” Kou Ming said, suddenly smiled, and reached out to rub his hair. “In the future, you will cover up my homework, and I will be responsible for covering you, how about that?”
Ye Huai stared at him blankly, not understanding what “covering you” meant for a while.
“That is, whoever troubles you in the future, I will beat them into shit.” Kou Ming raised his eyebrows and looked at him.
“Why…… why?” Ye Huai also looked at him, “Cover me?”
“Because I was born to amaze the world with a single brilliant feat ,” Kou Ming laughed, “so I like to preach justice everywhere, little stutterer.”
Ye Huai opened his mouth without saying anything, and inexplicably, sensed some intimacy from the nickname.
Since then, the relationship between him and Kou Ming had become a bit subtle. At the same time, Ye Huai also liked to observe Kou Ming quietly from his seat, and found that although he usually didn’t like to go to class and also liked to make trouble after class, on weekdays, some behavior was childish to a bit cute. For example, he liked to hum some strange tunes in his mouth. After class, he immediately tilted his chair and stuffed a lollipop in his mouth. When someone called him, he’d wrap it in a candy wrapper and play with the plastic stick……It was very different from the naughty boy he imagined when he didn’t get in touch with him at the beginning.
But Ye Huai would never forget that afternoon at the alley, the banknotes scattered all over the floor, and Kou Ming patiently looking at his face when he was talking……. All of these add up to make him from feeling uneasy to happy, as if a person who was used to holding an ice cube for a long time, even when poured with ice cold water, he would still feel warm.
“Yo, what did you draw?” Ye Huai was in a trance when the table was hit by someone, and the notebook on the corner of the table was knocked down on the ground and spread out, then was picked up. “Damn!”
“Give……give it back to me!” Ye Huai blushed for a moment, stood up and reached out to grab it. “Give it back to me!”
“Didn’t expect this, Ye Huai? Hm?” The boy who caused the accident sneered while flipping through his sketchbook with a smile, “How come all of your drawings are men? You shouldn’t be “bent”, right? Hahahaha……….” (TL: bent-gay)
“Give it back to him.” Kou Ming said in a deep voice, and then the boy let go of his hand in pain. “Damn… Kou Ming, you are crazy! Don’t think that having a family that has nothing but money is great!”
“Here you are.” Kou Ming handed the sketchbook back with no expression on his face. Ye Huai’s hand trembled and was about to take it, but a piece of paper floated out from the gap, and Kou Ming reached out to catch it.
“You, this……..” Kou Ming stared at the content of the drawing, raised his eyebrows and lowered his voice, “Is this a drawing of me?”
Ye Huai’s face was already flushed red, and he hardly dared to look him in the eyes. “…um.”
Kou Ming didn’t say a word, and carefully examined himself on the drawing.
Ye Huai’s drawing was probably a profile of his face in class, although the strokes were simple, but his facial contours were outlined in two or three strokes, and upon closer inspection, it turned out to have that little taste—that kind of youthful breath with sunshine.
“The drawing is not bad.” Kou Ming smiled, stretched out his hand and handed it back to him. “You can draw me as long as you like, it’s no big deal, I’m not ugly anyway.”
Ye Huai nodded in confusion, reaching out his hand just to snatch the drawing back quickly.
“Wait.” Kou Ming pressed his hand, and from the corner of his eye, he suddenly caught sight of a few lines of small characters written in pencil under the sketch, “What did you write?”
“Don’t…don’t look!” Ye Huai suddenly became anxious.
“You won’t let me see it, I’ll just forcibly have a look then.” Kou Ming snatched the drawing back with a smile, and after carefully reading the lines of delicate handwriting, he was a little stunned.
The crab is shelling me.
The notebook is writing on me.
From all over the sky, I’m falling on maple leaves and snowflakes.
And you are missing me.
(TL: This sentence comes from a three-line poetry competition at Wuhan University. It’s meaning was a painful unrequited love.)
