Chapter 88 – Shining brightly ahead

88th -【Shining brightly ahead】

Translator: Xena

Editor: Sammy

Proofreader: Bubbles

In the early morning of September 1st, everyone initially gathered in the classroom in preparation of going to the auditorium by class in turns.

Chu Yu’s class wanted to let the second years and the newly enrolled first years in front of them go first, so they waited for some time.

The weather was hot and the cicadas were chirping. Everyone in the classroom was a little restless and couldn’t bear it.

Dream-Ge blew his horn by saying in a low voice how this year’s first year juniors weren’t very good as there wasn’t a single one who could play on the basketball court. In the future, even the fun of fighting for the court would be lessened by half. Many boys agreed, shaking their heads in regret.

Chu Yu treated these high and low voices as background noise as he propped his chin up and half-closed his eyes in a drowsy state.

Suddenly, a familiar and passionate tune played on the school’s broadcast. The first note was released, almost scaring the soul out of Chu Yu, who was dozing off.

With his heart beating rapidly, Chu Yu didn’t have time to react and subconsciously leaned towards Lu Shi.

Seeing the frightened and dazed expression on Chu Yu’s face, Lu Shi reached out and rubbed his hair, comforting him in a low voice, “Be good, don’t be scared.”

At that time, Old Ye clapped his hands from the door of the classroom. “Students, come out and line up, it’s time for us to go to the auditorium! The ones sleeping should awaken, those who are chatting can chat on the way, and those of you who are studying stop writing, let’s go!”

All of class A gathered outside the classroom and headed to the auditorium under Old Ye’s lead.

The seats inside were already two-thirds full. A sea of students filled the eyes at first glance.

Behind the stage, Jianing Private’s school song was playing. This school song had rendered their ears callused over the past two years, so many students subconsciously hummed a few words.

The class stopped and didn’t move for a while.

Chu Yu tilted his neck and leaned on Lu Shi’s shoulder, unable to keep his eyelids from drooping as he yawned.

Dream-Ge was standing behind Chu Yu, so when he saw him lean on Lu Shi like a boneless man, he couldn’t help but stretch out his hand and poke Chu Yu’s back.

Chu Yu turned back and asked in a lazy voice, “What?”

“School Flower, image! Show off your aura as Jianing Private’s School Flower!”

Dream-Ge pointed left and right. “Look, the auditorium is full and everyone is fucking watching you and Lu-Shen in secret, you two are the center of attention. Especially from the first years, there are even students taking pictures!”

Scanning Chu Yu, Dream-Ge felt something strange. “Wait, School Flower, what’s the matter with your school uniform? Why does it feel like your white shirt is one size bigger?”

Chu Yu looked down at the school uniform he was wearing. “Is it obvious? It’s indeed big, since Lu Shi and I are wearing different school uniforms today. I’m wearing his, he’s wearing mine.”

There was such an operation?

A flash from someone’s cell phone dazzled his eyes and Dream-Ge sighed with sorrow. “I don’t want to stand with you guys next time. It’s like being pointed at with a spotlight, I’m under a lot of pressure!”

Chu Yu was amused by Dream-Ge.

As soon as he smiled, various timid whispers sounded from the side.

“Hiss—”

“Oh my god, is that the legendary school flower of our Jianing Private School? That smile is too beautiful!”

“School Flower looks so good! Lu-Shen is a little cold, but he looks good too!”

“I can’t, I can’t! The attractivity’s killing power has been multiplied by two!”

Chu Yu heard some of the words around him clearly, and so proudly said to Dream-Ge, “See, to the first years, your School Flower is still your School Flower!”

Before he could finish chattering, Lu Shi, who was beside him, stretched out his hand and directly covered Chu Yu’s face with his palm. While blocking others’ gazes, he hugged the person towards himself.

The surroundings momentarily fell silent before various delicate voices resounded again, now with a few low voices mixed in between.

Dream-Ge discovered that there were even more students taking pictures!

Chu Yu didn’t struggle, rather, he grabbed Lu Shi’s hand with both his own hands and pulled it down, revealing his eyes. There was a mischievous and smiling expression in them as he looked at Lu Shi.

While Lu Shi was still covering the lower half of his face, Chu Yu stuck out the tip of his tongue, licked Lu Shi’s palm twice, and asked in a whisper, “Boyfriend, are you jealous?”

Feeling the softness and wetness from the palm of his hand, Lu Shi’s eyes darkened slightly. “Mm, I’m jealous.”

Chu Yu smiled. In that blindspot, he pouted his lips and heavily kissed Lu Shi’s palm. “Okay, here, to coax you!”

The opening ceremony and student assembly were as boring as Old Ye had described.

Fang Ziqi listened to it for a while before taking out his knowledge points booklet that he always carried with him from his pocket, then blocked out the noise and began memorizing carefully.

Dream-Ge looked left and right until his eyes suddenly locked on.

He watched for two seconds, couldn’t hold back, and poked Fang Ziqi next to him with his elbow. “Tsk tsk tsk, look at Lu-Shen and School Flower, it’s the famous scene!”

Fang Ziqi raised his head from the sea of knowledge, and saw them diagonally from him at the rear. Chu Yu’s head was leaning on Lu Shi’s shoulder, his eyes were closed and his breathing was even, already asleep.

Furthermore, Lu Shi’s hand was firmly covering Chu Yu’s ear, isolating him from the speeches of the leaders on the stage and the surrounding noise.

Many people around were covertly looking at them.

Lu Shi’s expression was as natural as ever; his neat facial features appeared detached and cold, and his face displayed no superfluous expressions as his line of sight fell on the stage— not the least bit affected.

Fang Ziqi retracted his gaze and stuffed an English vocabulary booklet into Dream-Ge’s hand. “Come on, let’s study together!”

High school days passed by peacefully and quickly.

The temperature dropped and rose as the days shortened and then lengthened once more.

The day before the college entrance examination, Old Ye stood on the classroom podium with his thermos cup that never left his hand.

“There’s a lot to say, but coming down to this moment, I don’t really know what I should say.”

Old Ye’s eyes were slightly red as he said with a smile, “I am very happy these past two years with you students, thank you.”

Some girls couldn’t help sobbing in the classroom.

Old Ye stood up straight. Just like the first class during the second year, he turned around and wrote three words on the blackboard with chalk. “Hello Students, my surname is Ye, Ye Zhouqing from Dongpo’s famous saying, ‘One leaf boat is light, two oars are great and shocking’. I am your homeroom teacher, and I have taught you Chinese literature for two years. I am very happy and honored to have spent with you students, your most precious and unforgettable time in highschool.”

Whilst holding the white chalk, he wrote another sentence on the blackboard. “Youngsters, draw back the wind and flutter your wings to aim for the sky. Your future is the starry sky and the vast sea.”

Choking with emotion, he paused for a few seconds before saying his final words, “I wish you the highest dreams, and I also wish you the most splendid path!”

Afterwards came the college entrance examination that lasted for two days.

After taking the last English test, Chu Yu couldn’t feel any sense of reality while he was walking down from the school building.

That was… it?

When he saw Lu Shi waiting outside the building, his heart settled down.

He quickly strode over, and the two walked out side by side.

The notifications in the class group chat had quickly reached 99+. Chu Yu guessed that it was Dream-Ge, Zhang Yueshan, and the others who were yelling and playing together.

Chu Yu asked Lu Shi, “Do I pretend not to see it?”

Lu Shi nodded. “Hm, pretend you didn’t see it.”

Thus, Chu Yu turned off his phone with peace of mind.

On the way back to Qingchuan Road from school, Chu Yu matched his answers with Lu Shi. He couldn’t help but exclaim after they were done, “I’m really amazing!”

Not only did he not perform out of the usual, but after reading the current score estimated out of his overall points, it seemed that he’d performed exceptionally well.

When the scores were released, it was reckoned to be very beautiful.

After confirming that he could attend the same school as Lu Shi, Chu Yu didn’t bother with it anymore, and in a blink of an eye, everything about test scores and whatnot were thrown to the back of his mind.

He asked enthusiastically, “Where are we going now? Should we look for Shitou and Zhu Zhifei to hang out?”

“Let’s go home first.”

Next to the fountain at the entrance of Jianing Private School, Dream-Ge was looking around. “Where the hell are School Flower and Lu-Shen? Their phones are turned off, and I lost contact with them immediately after the test! I still want to play a high-end match of Gomoku with Lu-Shen; a decisive battle at the top of the school building!”

Li Hua rebutted, “This idea can be given up.”

Dream-Ge wondered, “Why? It’s after the exams, let’s be merry together!”

Li Hua concisely explained, “Because they have higher-end games to play.”

Qingchuan Road.

As soon as Chu Yu came out of the shower, Lu Shi pressed him against the wall, sucking on his Adam’s apple.

The feeling of having a threat at the gate of life and death was somewhat exciting, causing Chu Yu’s breathing to instantly change frequency.

Lu Shi used his teeth to grind the rounded raised cartilage, and after a few breaths, he slowly moved to the side of his neck and pressed against Chu Yu’s pulsating blood vessels, planting lingering kisses.

Chu Yu couldn’t hold on anymore and the water in his eyes spilled out. “Gege, let’s go to bed?”

Chu Yu didn’t often call him “Gege”, but every time he did, it was unbearable.

Lu Shi’s eyes were dark and filled with intense desire. He replied in a husky voice, “Okay.”

After re-showering, Chu Yu’s eyes were reddened at the end because he’d cried, and even his eyelashes were wet.

Lu Shi’s upper half was bare, the traces of water on his skin hadn’t been wiped dry, and there were a few obvious scratches on his chest and back.

The scratches were a light red, interlaced on his cold white skin, very beautiful and eye-catching.

Lu Shi took the nail clippers from the drawer. He carried the person in his arms, sat him on his knees, and lowered his head to cut Chu Yu’s nails.

Chu Yu was quite satisfied with his nails, so when he saw that Lu Shi wanted to cut them, he asked, “Are you afraid that I’ll scratch you again next time?”

“You can scratch anywhere you want.”

Lu Shi unfolded Chu Yu’s palm, revealing a row of crescent-shaped nail prints on his palm.

“You can grab the sheets next time.”

Chu Yu moved his fingers. “At that time… how could I have the mind to think about where to grab onto?”

“Then grab me.”

Lu Shi kissed Chu Yu’s thin eyelids. “If you can’t take it anymore, just grab onto me.”

“Mn.”

Uttering a low reply, Chu Yu had no strength left and his body was limp. He buried his face on the side of Lu Shi’s neck and took a shallow breath.

While Lu Shi was trimming and smoothing Chu Yu’s nails, he noticed that Chu Yu had fallen asleep against him.

Breathing lightly, Lu Shi’s arms firmly embraced the person in his grasp and didn’t move.

This time, Chu Yu slept until eleven o’clock.

It was already dark outside, with neon lights lit everywhere in the city.

Lu Shi’s legs were numb. After standing up to loosen them, he asked Chu Yu, “Still sleepy?”

Chu Yu’s eyes were sparkling. “Not sleepy!”

With a smile on his lips, Lu Shi took Chu Yu’s hand. “Well, let’s go then.”

The two went to Qingchuan River.

It was after midnight so there was no one else by the river, leaving it empty.

Midsummer had arrived, the wild grass was lush and full of crickets chirping underbrush. One’s ears wouldn’t be deserted at all.

Qingchuan River was calm and without ripples, except when occasionally grazed by the night wind, breaking up layers of light and shadows.

A crescent moon hung in the sky and countless stars dotted the curtain of the night. Looking further into the distance, sparsely scattered lights flickered as they swayed with the wind, complementing the distant stars and crescent moon.

Chu Yu came fully prepared and had hung a mosquito repellent ring on his body. He breathed the cool air of the summer night, in a good mood.

He tilted his head and questioned Lu Shi, “Lu Shi, what are we doing by the river? Night fishing? Fish-grabbing? Stargazing?”

Lu Shi took the other to a level place beside the river bank. “Stand here and wait for me.”

After he finished saying that, he continued to walk towards the river.

The surrounding light was dim. Chu Yu was a little scared so he promptly stated to Lu Shi, “Don’t go too far!”

After standing for a while, Chu Yu was curious and wanted to see what Lu Shi was doing, but despite hesitating here and there, he still stood where he was obediently and didn’t leave.

Just as he was trying his best to decipher which star belonged to which constellation with his barren astrology knowledge, Lu Shi, who was a dozen steps away, called out his name, “Chu Yu.”

Chu Yu looked over subconsciously.

In the next second, only a ‘bang’ was heard and fireworks exploded under the dark blue night.

In an instant, it was as if the Milky Way had turned upside down and the stars had fallen.

Lu Shi went back to stand next to Chu Yu. The two stood side by side, watching the glamorous fireworks together.

Chu Yu turned his head and saw Lu Shi’s profile illuminated by the light as fireworks and starlight fell into his eyes.

At that moment, Chu Yu thought with certainty: It’s shining brightly ahead of us.

The author has something to say:
Forever young, toast it with a smile.
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Here’s a heart of completion~~
Thank you little fairies for the company. There will be no extras after oh. I really want to freeze time at this moment and not add anything else. Just like what Chu Yu said, their future will definitely shine brightly!
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[More thanks followed hereafter but those have been omitted for lack of significance.]