Chapter 84 – I Don’t Like Them

After saying these four words in his heart, Song Yu put down his phone. Blood rushed up to his head and he couldn’t even speak.

The confusion, helplessness, shock, and pain that had been lingering in his heart since Friday instantly surged up and strangled it.

––He’d actually fallen into a pit he’d dug for himself!

This thought exploded up into the sky, making his throat dry up and tighten.

He bowed his head first, afraid of exposing himself.

Xie Sui was some distance away, looking at him. Song Yu’s pupils seemed to hold layers of elusive fog, and he’d first looked up for a few seconds in confusion after seeing him before quickly lowering his head.

Things seemed to be a little different today.

Xie Sui stilled slightly, then raised his eyebrows and walked over. He took the initiative to smile and apologize, “Sorry for being late.”

How could Song Yu spare the attention to notice whether or not he’d arrived late? His heart was in a state of turmoil; he wanted to open his mouth to express his thoughts directly, but when he thought about how they’d been friends until death in their last life, he felt a bit irritated and weary.

Especially when he was the one who’d dug himself such a pit.

How should he say it? Sorry, I was lying to you back then. In fact, what I said and what I feel no longer match up, and I also covet your looks. No, I covet all of you.

Xie Sui waited for a moment, just looking at Song Yu, who had bowed his head in silence. He asked lightly, “Are you angry?”

He leaned over, gentle laughter in his voice as he said, “Actually, I can explain what happened.”

His voice was lazy and careless, like intoxicating wine on this winter night.

Song Yu’s breath caught. He hid his panic and raised his head again.

His clear, bright eyes widened, and he coughed, pretending to be calm as he said, “I-I’m not angry. I was just thinking about what to eat.”

He tried his best to control his facial expression and appear calm and collected.

However, all of his attention was focused on keeping his gaze steady and not avoiding the other party, so his breathing was left unchecked, his breaths uneven.

Tension, uneasiness, and a desire to conceal.

Xie Sui’s expression didn’t change. He straightened up and smiled slightly, “So have you figured it out?”

There was something on Song Yu’s mind, and it was about him. He didn’t want to expose such a simple and straightforward cover-up at all.

Song Yu was still very unnatural, “Whatever, I’m fine with anything. Just go with what they arrange.”

Xie Sui replied, “Mm. Then let’s go somewhere else first. It’s cold, you might catch a cold again staying outside.”

He glanced over with his dark, black eyes, and the corners of his lips curved teasingly, “I don’t want to suffer anymore. Taking care of you is really exhausting.”

“……” What did he mean––taking care of him was exhausting? Most of the unease and unnaturalness in his heart disappeared in an instant. Song Yu stared blankly at Xie Sui, his eyes dazzling and moist, and a deep sense of fear surged up in his heart––he couldn’t have done something to Xie Sui that night, right? “A-am I very difficult to take care of when I’m sick?”

Xie Sui walked beside him, his thin lips curving upwards. He asked in return, “Don’t you know how finicky you are?”

Song Yu: “……”

It was probably the first time in his life that anyone had used the term ‘finicky’ to describe him.

“Student Xie Sui, the term ‘finicky’ can’t be used randomly and casually.” Song Yu started to reason with him, “If someone else hears this, my personal settings will collapse.”

Xie Sui thought back to that night and laughed, “You needed to be fed medicine one mouthful at a time, and I had to help you take off your clothes. There was also all kinds of tossing and turning, and you even scratched my neck three times.

A wave of heat instantly rose up from his neck to his face.

Song Yu’s voice rose up a notch, “What were you doing taking off my clothes!”

Xie Sui was having fun teasing him and was very calm, “Why do you think?”

Song Yu: “……”

His expression was too shocked. His snow-white face turned red and his ears grew pink, like pink crystal jelly.

Xie Sui stared at his ears without blinking for a while, then chuckled lightly. He slowly expanded on his previous words, “Your clothes were taken off because they were wet and uncomfortable. What were you thinking?”

Ooooh. Song Yu was really grateful that he’d waited until now before speaking about this matter. He felt both embarrassed and shy, “Did I scratch you hard?”

Xie Sui’s tone was light and understated, “No.” He paused, then added, “It was quite itchy.”

Sick and boiling with fever, yet finicky and restless, making his heart itch. At the time, all his thoughts had been focused on his illness, but his scratching had brought out a fire that burned Xie Sui’s reason, making him wish he could bite Song Yu’s pale, exposed collarbone.

That night was probably the most obedient and unguarded Song Yu had been since they’d met. His struggles held both rejection and invitation, so soft that there were no words for it.

Only, at the time, he could only focus on heartache.

Sure enough, he gave him all of his tenderness, all of his madness, and all of his reason.

Song Yu breathed a sigh of relief and added, “That’s good.” Based on his usual strength, his scratching may even draw blood. That would be even more embarrassing.

He tilted his head to ask, “I didn’t do anything more outrageous after that, did I?”

Xie Sui was amused by him, his tone lazy as he replied, “How outrageous do you want to be? Hm?”

Song Yu: “……”

Xie Sui knew when to stop. If he continued teasing him, Song Yu might explode again. He suppressed his smile, “Nothing happened after that. You just don’t sleep very peacefully.”

Song Yu clutched his hair. When he thought about how he’d slept with Xie Sui, he actually felt shy, along with a surge of uncontrollable joy that was difficult to suppress. Ah, he was really bad.

He controlled his expression, then calmly defended himself, “I don’t? Maybe I was confused from the fever. In fact, I usually sleep quite well and don’t move at all.”

Xie Sui went along with his words, “Mm. You were probably confused from the fever and rolled over to my side.”

Song Yu secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

“However.” Xie Sui suddenly changed the direction of his words.

Song Yu was stunned for a moment.

Looking up, he met Xie Sui’s gaze, which was filled with a light smile.

He heard the young man’s casual, bantering words.

“I noticed that your waist is quite thin.”

Song Yu: “……”

Finally, Class One decided to go and eat hot pot at a place on Linqing Street.

Song Yu deliberately slowed down to remain three steps away on the way over. He didn’t want to speak with Xie Sui for the time being.

He’d started off upset about his own teenager thoughts, then, later, Xie Sui had taken the initiative in the conversation and inexplicably teased him, causing him to be even more upset now.

No way, he had to get this over with and make that artificial idiot 008 remain on the sidelines.

He didn’t even know how he would get along with Xie Sui in the future if he didn’t deal with things tonight.

It wasn’t his style to bottle things up in his heart.

Song Yu had never liked anyone before, and he’d also never confessed before, so he could only start by sending Song Wanying a message.

[ Song Yu: You free? That friend of mine has made new progress. ]

It turned out that Song Wanying really was available at this hour.

There was a reply within seconds.

[ Song Wanying: ? That impatient person with issues? ]

[ Song Wanying: Tsk, they’re so full of shit. ]

[ Song Yu: !!! My friend is having a hard time ]

[ Song Wanying: Fine, fine, fine, I’m all ears, go ahead. ]

[ Song Yu: My friend… seems to have really fallen in love with that person. ]

[ Song Wanying: Oh ]

[ Song Yu: …… ]

A deep sense of frustration welled up in his heart.

[ Song Yu: You’re not even surprised? ]

[ Song Wanying: If you change ‘fallen in love’ to ‘slept with’ then I might be a little bit surprised ]

[ Song Yu: ……….. ]

[ Song Yu: My friend wants to confess their feelings, but they don’t know what the process is ]

[ Song Wanying: ? Is this still the genius businessman President Song that I know? You’re President Song. Why don’t you just do like they do on TV? Be domineering, buy 99 roses, and pair it all with fireworks that can shock the whole city. What kind of woman can refuse ]

Song Yu was too lazy to even snark back.

[ Song Yu: I feel that my confession will fail ]

[ Song Wanying: ??? Why is your self-awareness always focused on such strange places. ]

She quickly sent over another message before Song Yu could get angry.

[ Song Wanying: If the confession fails, then chase them. How simple is that? No, that’s not right. I remember when you asked me last time, you said that person liked you, and you didn’t know how to persuade them to not confuse kindness with love. I’m laughing to death. After that, you persuaded them otherwise, then fell for them yourself? That’s genius. ]

This was basically adding fuel to the fire.

Asking her was totally useless.

Song Yu gritted his teeth in frustration and was about to walk forward when someone suddenly tugged on his sleeve. He stopped abruptly and looked up in time to see a power pole right in front of him. He’d almost walked straight into it.

Xie Sui’s clear voice was in his ear, “Walking without looking where you’re going?”

Song Yu froze and looked up, “Weren’t you walking up ahead?”

Xie Sui: “Waiting for you.”

His gaze fell on Song Yu’s cell phone chat interface.

Song Yu: “!!!”

He quickly turned off the screen and babbled, “My sister’s menopause started a bit early and she insisted on talking to me.”

It was unclear if Xie Sui believed him or not. He smiled vaguely, “Is that so.”

The hot pot restaurant was decorated with an antique theme. There were rows of red lanterns hanging inside that made it feel warm even in winter.

They’d booked the innermost compartment.

Everyone had already started putting things into the hot pot when they walked in.

Ma Xiaoding noticed them coming in and took the initiative to make room for them, moving to the side and giving them the chance to sit together.

The New Year’s Eve party was over, and the forum grew lively again. Members of the audience were blindly making comments like a crowd of big shots.

Everyone started talking about it while eating hot pot.

Jiang Chunian held her chopsticks and said, “They said that the most regrettable thing about the New Year’s Eve party is that the two most popular figures, Brother Yu and God Xie, didn’t go up on stage.”

Xie Sui smiled lightly.

Jiang Chunian continued, “Take a look at the class beside us. Their class flower and class grass all went up on stage, but our school grass and school bully couldn’t even be found. Sigh.”

Song Yu had other things on his mind and casually spoke up, “Who should I go up and act as? Cinderella?”

Liang Yingying couldn’t stop laughing, “I think that’s very possible! If Brother Yu is Cinderella, with such an impressive appearance, then only God Xie can match him as the prince.”

Song Yu: “……” Reasonably speaking, he should refute and make some snide remark at this point in time.

But after thinking about it, he chose to bow his head and eat in silence.

Liang Yingying: “???”

She’d already prepared herself for Brother Yu’s mockery, yet as a result Brother Yu just let her off like that?

She took a deep breath in her heart. The power of love was truly strong! Even a troll could be transformed into a gentle spirit that was wrapped around one’s fingers.

Ma Xiaoding laughed loudly, “You just have to think about it to know that it’s impossible. There’s even a thread on the forums set up specifically for Brother Yu where they wrote a scene that’s suitable for him to act in.”

“I saw it. It’s called Rebirth of Brother Yu.” One of the boys picked up the thread of conversation, “Chapter One is ‘Making a name for himself trolling on the forums’; Chapter Two is ‘The school grass is my deskmate’; Chapter Three, ‘Becoming a father on the basketball court’; Chapter Four, ‘From today, my name is now Those Years Song1!’.”

Song Yu: “……”

“Pfft––hahahahahahaha” Jiang Chunian laughed so hard that tears came to her eyes, “Amazing.”

Ma Xiaoding held up his phone and read, “Chapter Five, ‘Brother Yu’s monthly exam disaster film’; Chapter Six, ‘Tonight’s monthly rankings massacre’; Chapter Seven, ‘Don’t you understand l’Hôpital’s Rule?’; Chapter Eight, ‘Everyone knows that Jingcheng No.1 High’s school grass is unattainable’; Chapter Nine, ‘Until one day’; Chapter Ten, ‘They discovered that all the walls in No.1 High have been torn down’.”

Liang Yingying: “Hahahahahahahahaha.”

Ma Xiaoding flipped to the back, “The last chapter, ‘Happy Together is real’.”

Ma Xiaoding started complaining upon seeing this, “What the hell is this ‘Happy Together’ thing?!”

Another girl shot Song Yu and Xie Sui a tentative glance and noticed that neither of them were bothered before smiling and explaining, “It’s nothing much, just people messing around. They think that Song Yu and Xie Sui’s names are a match made in heaven, that’s all.”

A match made in heaven.

The chopsticks that Song Yu used to pick up a shrimp trembled. These words seemed to touch his soul, and their laughing and teasing, along with the hot steam from the hot pot, seemed to bring warmth and clarity, evoking all the memories gathered from their interactions along the way.

Song Yu let out a deep breath, like he’d just been deep in thought. His eyes were bright when he lifted his head and, taking advantage of the way their positions were quite discreet, he tugged on Xie Sui’s clothes.

Xie Sui tilted his head and lowered his gaze to look at him.

Song Yu leaned in close to his ear and whispered, “Let’s talk outside.”

The aisle outside their room was very dark and quiet, with very few people coming and going. A glass window to the side showcased the myriad lights outside.

Xie Sui followed behind him in a leisurely manner, watching as he kept walking ahead. He smiled helplessly when he saw that they were about to reach the end and grabbed Song Yu’s arm, “Let’s talk here. What did you want to say?”

Song Yu’s thoughts had stalled after calling him outside. He had his head lowered as he walked, feeling both regretful and embarrassed,wishing that this walkway would never come to an end.

When Xie Sui pulled him to a stop, all his blood surged into his brain.

“I…” It was difficult to see others clearly in the darkness, so he let his face turn red, while his eyes flickered, feeling a bit embarrassed. He tried to give himself a boost in his heart, fantasizing about coughing lightly and saying “It’s nothing much, I just discovered that I seem to like you a bit.” Words that could be picked up on, or easily dropped. Only, the darkness intensified his other senses, and as soon as he smelled the fresh and clean scent reminiscent of first snow on Xie Sui’s body, he once again lost track of his words.

At this moment, his phone started to ring at such an inopportune time.

Song Yu froze, then discovered that it was a call from their class teacher. He picked it up wearily, “Hello, teacher.”

Teacher Cheng’s voice on the other side sounded strangled, “Song Yu! You hit somebody?!”

Song Yu: “……” Damn it, Qin Mo was a turtle’s grandson who even wanted to mess up his affairs from the hospital.

He took a deep breath and told Old Cheng, “Teacher, don’t worry. I’ll explain things to you tomorrow. I’m in the middle of something now, so I’m sorry but I need to hang up first.” 

With that, he ignored their class teacher’s admonishments and quickly hung up the phone.

There was a moment of silence. After being interrupted by this phone call, Song Yu once again fell into confusion.

Xie Sui sighed lightly in his heart and asked softly, “Who did you hit?”

Song Yu was very honest. “Qin Mo.”

Speaking of Qin Mo reminded him of Zhao Ziyu, and he thought of 008’s so-called destined lover.

He’d already been unable to express his feelings after such a long time, and his frustration with himself had reached its peak.

That was even more the case now. Various complex emotions brewed in his heart.

He absent-mindedly rubbed his nose and explained, “I wasn’t wrong to beat him up. He’s inherently bad, but you will encounter many people like him in the future.”

For example, Zhao Ziyu. The thought saddened him instantly, and Song Yu was desperately unhappy. He was so upset that he didn’t even know what he was saying anymore, “Don’t pay attention to them, and don’t believe in their sweet words. They’re all scumbags.”

His brain was incoherent, “They’re liking isn’t worth anything. Don’t like them, okay?”

The word ‘okay’ was asked lightly and mournfully, tentative and cautious.

Xie Sui stared at him for a long time. In the end, he couldn’t help laughing out loud, the sound low and teasing.

“If I wait for you to say it out loud, I’m afraid I may have to wait forever.”

Song Yu was stunned.

Xie Sui, who’d originally been leaning lazily against the wall, abruptly stood up straight. The young man’s figure was outlined in darkness, creating an inexplicable sense of suffocating oppression.

Song Yu’s eyes widened slightly. In this cramped environment, his heart started to beat extra fast.

Suddenly, he felt an arm wrap around his waist. The palm of that hand was hot and powerful, and an electrifying sensation spread throughout his body from it.

“Why did you go and ask your sister?” Xie Sui leaned over.

Fireworks exploded in his mind. Song Yu was completely dazed.

“Why not ask me? I’ll teach you how to confess.”

Xie Sui chuckled lightly and pushed him up against the wall, leaving no room for resistance. He pinched his waist and lowered his head, biting at Song Yu’s slightly parted lips. His movements held hints of punishment, and his voice was deep and magnetic.

“I don’t like them. I only like you.”

—

XavierForest’s Thoughts：
Ayyyye. At the bottom of chapter 45, I said that I wanted to see Brother Yu get kadedoned. My wish has been fulfilled. Thank you, author! Also, Xie Sui, your domineering president aura is leaking!

Butter’s Thoughts:
They picked hotpot, Butter is going to eat hotpot this week, and the confession finally happened! +100 satisfaction points

xiin: i wish that last paragraph and sentence was extended into 10 chapters… mm domineering XS <3<3

Those Years Song – refer to chapter 23, where XS said ‘The future is like the sea, and many are the years to come’, and on the forums, someone said Song Yu was ‘those years’.