Chapter 63.1 – Study Hard

translator: xiin
editors: butter & XavierForest

Xie Sui’s eyebrows went up. He stared at him and asked, “What happened between you and Qin Mo?”

Song Yu breathed a sigh of relief in his heart and shook his head, “Nothing.” He and Qin Mo were like enemies who hated each other on sight. They’d directly gone up against each other the first time they had met and felt disgusted seeing one another. What else could happen? If anything was to happen, it would be bloody.

It was for the best if Bai Xuexin hadn’t spoken about Qin Mo.

Song Yu muttered and came up with a sentence, “I hope you don’t meet this person in your lifetime. It’s best if you don’t even hear his name.”

Xie Sui’s heart softened, his eyebrows showing his smile, “Mm. I won’t like anyone you hate.”

Song Yu’s light-colored pupils lit up in an instant, but the corners of his lips stopped rising halfway as his brain thought of the inexplicable awkwardness from earlier. It was like a basin of cold water had suddenly been poured over him.

He felt that Song Wanying might’ve been right… He was someone who liked to make problems out of nothing, and he was impatient.

“I…” He looked up with some awkwardness and hesitation, staring at Xie Sui as he opened his mouth and then closed it again, wanting to speak but hesitating.

Xie Sui quietly watched him, then suddenly smiled, “Actually, I still haven’t thought clearly about what you said the other day.”

Song Yu was surprised, “Ah?”

Xie Sui: “What we talked about last time—whether or not my ‘like’ is real.”

What we talked about last time—whether or not my ‘like’ is real.

Song Yu almost face-planted onto the chair of the person in front of him. His face heated up and he grew flustered, “About that, I feel that what I said should be right. That’s not ‘like’. It certainly isn’t liking someone.”

Xie Sui paid attention to every detail about him.

His shifting gaze, chaotic breathing, and how his ears grew slightly red when he was nervous.

A smile skimmed across his dark eyes and gentleness spread. Why was this child still so oblivious?

While Song Yu was spluttering and didn’t know what to say—

Xie Sui focused on him and slowly said, “In fact, it doesn’t matter.”

Song Yu: “Huh?

Xie Sui blinked at him, then smiled slightly, “Whether or not it’s ‘like’ isn’t important. How we get along together now is already quite good, isn’t it?”

Song Yu was in a daze and obligingly nodded his head.

Xie Sui’s voice held a somewhat helpless smile, “So take it as though nothing happened that night. Don’t be caught up over it, okay? It makes me feel bad watching you stew over it.”

Song Yu: “……” Why was it that, in everyone else’s eyes, he was the one stewing over it?

It was just that when he heard Xie Sui’s words and looked at his eyes, which were as deep as a black pool, Song Yu immediately and unnaturally lowered his head and vaguely responded with, “Alright then.” Forget it. Who cares? They’d just skim over it and move on.

It was at this time that the teacher came in and stood up on the stage. First, she touched the microphone, and the sound of her ‘hello’ rang out in the open auditorium, causing the chattering voices to stop instantly. The psychology teacher smiled and said, “Alright, it’s 8PM. Everyone, please be quiet. Before we start today’s lecture, I’ll show you all a video first.”

The lights above the auditorium dimmed when she finished speaking, and soft and beautiful music rang out. On the screen, there was a train whistling as it passed through a canola field. The sky was blue, and a paper plane swept past a telephone pole. The scene was warm and beautiful.

Song Yu was concentrating on watching when he suddenly heard Xie Sui’s lazy laughter, “However, I figured out something that day.”

Song Yu’s ears twitched in the darkness as Xie Sui’s words triggered a little doubt. In order to not disturb the others, he leaned over and softly asked, “What did you figure out?”

Xie Sui leaned in against his ear and quietly said, “What ‘the long years now hold hope’ means.”

Song Yu was stunned for a moment.

That last sentence from their KTV dare came to mind again.

Ever since I met you, the stars in the sky have all been eclipsed. Ever since I kissed you, the long years now hold hope.

Song Yu: “……”

F*ck.

Fortunately, Xie Sui couldn’t see his burning face in the dark. In order to prove himself, Song Yu restrained his surging emotions and calmly replied, “Really?”

Xie Sui: “Mm.”

Song Yu learned from him and acted just as casual, “That’s great. With hope, your days can pass by a bit more happily. So, how are you going to repay me?”

Xie Sui chuckled.

Song Yu had learned to be clever, “I’m going to say it first—I don’t want you to repay me with your body. If you repay me with your body, it’s getting revenge in return for kindness, wu—”

His eyes widened.

A cold, slender hand touched his lips and a piece of candy was placed into his mouth. It was a mint, cool and sweet.

His entire person was stunned.

Xie Sui’s voice held faint laughter, “This is the flavor I tasted that night. Is this enough of a reward?”

Song Yu felt like his entire soul had been strung up. His breathing was tight, and the mint taste in his mouth was unable to calm his heart.

Those light brown eyes slightly widened in the darkness, covered with a damp sheen. Song Yu finally concealed his confusion a long time later and said, “It’s enough.”

He sat up straight and stopped thinking about provoking Xie Sui. His expression was cold and his brain empty as he quietly sat there listening to the lecture.

The lights came on again after the video finished playing. The people in the auditorium sat there idly and some people were already bored, sleepy and yawning. The pressures of high school and the communication gap between parents were also discussed at the front during the psychology lecture. Later, when the topic shifted to interpersonal communication between students, the psychology teacher started to talk about puppy love.

She stepped down from the stage when she came to this topic, smiling as she said, “When it comes to puppy love, I used to always encounter children blinded by love in the consultation room who’d tell me about their confusion and how lost they felt. Girls make up 80% of these visits. Regarding whether or not to fall in love, in fact, Teacher doesn’t recommend that you fall in love right now. The main thing is that you’re still too young to distinguish between love and like.”

Song Yu’s interest was caught.

Damn, these words went straight to his heart.

Teacher, keep talking. Tell it to the person beside him.

The psychology teacher: “‘Like’ and ‘love’ are two different things. What is ‘like’? There are always shiny people around you. Maybe they’re handsome, humorous, or have good grades, which makes them involuntarily attract you with their light. You’ll subconsciously pay attention to them and want to get close to them.”

Song Yu was more excited than anyone else, “Right, right, right!”

Handsome, humorous, good grades; damn it, he had them all!

The psychology teacher, “This kind of hazy feeling is ‘like’, but it’s very simple, just like liking a flower. You can enjoy it slowly from the side, but you don’t necessarily have to have it.”

Song Yu: “Yes, yes, yes!”

Simple and pure—don’t think too much about it, Student Xie.

The psychology teacher smiled and looked at them, “Liking a person is normal during your student days. They can even become a driving force for you to become better. This is a light and unburdensome matter for youths, and an unforgettable memory on the road to growing up. But love is different. Love is accompanied by responsibility and represents a set of feelings that need to be managed. And at your age, you can’t afford this responsibility, and you don’t have time to manage these things. After all, you’re still on your way toward fighting for your future.”

Song Yu: Clap clap clap.

His palms had already begun to rise up and clap.

The psychology teacher had noticed this youth a long time ago. He’d watched her from start to end with a light in his eyes while the rest of the whole audience was either playing on their cell phones, sleeping, or whispering amongst themselves. It made the psychology teacher very pleased to have such a supportive audience, so she looked gently and kindly at Song Yu and smiled, “The handsome boy on the left side of the seventh row seems to agree with Teacher very much! Come, transfer the microphone to this little handsome brother. You can share your views on puppy love with Teacher.”

—

Butter’s Thoughts:
Xie Sui is too smooth…
Butter is waiting for Song Yu to dig himself a nice hole to jump into

XavierForest’s Thoughts:
Excuse me as I bury myself to hide from secondhand embarrassment.

xiin: SY’s such a cute idiot sometimes.