NH chapter 027

Chapter 27 Birthday

No one expected that this incident would cause such a stir, and the one expelled turned out to be the young master of the Liao family.

The biggest difference between ordinary high schools and Lanjing No. 2 High School is that the students there have a class-consciousness both overtly and covertly. Their backgrounds are either rich or noble, and apart from a few neutral ones, they always follow one faction.

The Liao family belongs to the upper echelon, and naturally, Liao Zheng acted like a local emperor, leading the boys from Class B of the second year in putting on airs and giving orders.

The Liao family has been rooted in Lanjing for a hundred years, with connections and informants in the city’s upper echelons. No one ever thought the Liao family would face a setback, nor could anyone have imagined it.

However, class consciousness inherently suppresses one level over another. While the Liao family may dominate Lanjing, the city is ultimately not top-tier in the country, leading one to think that there’s always someone stronger out there.

After being arrogant and domineering for so many years, the young master of the Liao family finally hit a hard wall, everyone thought.

Who is this hard wall? It seems there’s only one answer: Huo Ye, who moves effortlessly through the waves of public opinion.

Could he be the toughest man in Lanjing No. 2 High School?

Thinking of this, reflecting on a few disrespectful comments made during a previous incident, hundreds of negative threads about Huo Ye on the school’s forum were urgently deleted overnight.

Those who couldn’t read the room suddenly could, those with loose mouths were suddenly silenced. Those who used to see Huo Ye on the street now all greeted him warmly and politely, as if they were performing a Sichuan opera face-changing act.

Regarding these drastic turns, Shen Tingyu seemed unfazed, ignoring the situation entirely, still being very critical and indifferent towards Huo Ye.

Thus, Huo Ye became an ambiguous figure of authority in this incident; Shen Tingyu didn’t say anything, and neither did he.

By the end of December, with less than half a month until the winter break, students had something to look forward to. The pressure wasn’t so tight anymore, as the main focus shifted to reviewing for the final exams. Even the teachers of several top classes mercifully assigned less homework to let everyone catch their breath.

The winter solstice was also Huo Ye’s birthday. Xiong Ying and the others insisted on celebrating at KTV, claiming it would be livelier with more people, and it was a good chance to shake off any bad luck. Huo Ye agreed wholeheartedly as he really hadn’t been very lucky lately.

After Liao Zheng was expelled, the school publicly issued an apology to Huo Ye on his behalf. When Huo Lijun learned about the incident, his face changed from blue to white, but he managed to firmly say, “Since it’s fine, you can continue going to school. I’m your dad; how could I harm you?”

Huo Ye was tired of exchanging glares with him. He threw his backpack over one shoulder and returned to his room, slamming the door shut. As the door closed, Huo Lijun was still shouting, “What’s your fucking attitude?” and threw an ashtray at him.

The ashtray hit the dented door with a painful sound. The door had accumulated countless dents over the years, and Huo Lijun had broken more than ten locks in his rage.

But it didn’t matter; anyway, whenever he broke one, Huo Ye would just change it immediately. The father and son enjoyed this routine.

Back in his room, Huo Ye swallowed a small handful of pills, some of which he hadn’t taken in a long while. However, after a recent emotional roller coaster, he needed to reintroduce the medication and increase the dosage. Otherwise, he couldn’t guarantee he wouldn’t descend into that state again, where his body couldn’t process his brain’s commands and his survival instinct was too low.

The birthday party was even more lively than he expected. Apart from the organizers Xiong Ying, Bai Feiyu, and others, Zhao Jiayan and Zhang Li from the class were also adamant about bringing people along. Huo Ye found out only when he arrived that there were nearly twenty people.

Some were familiar faces, some felt familiar yet he didn’t really know them, and even Gao Xiaoyuan was present, looking at him with undisguised joy.

Coincidentally, the winter solstice fell on a Saturday, so everyone who wanted to attend could come. The private room that Xiong Ying booked was very large, vibrant, and filled with a cheerful atmosphere.

Inside the room, there were both men and women, with alcohol and drinks available, along with various games. Someone’s terrible singing echoed loudly, piercing through the chatter.

Shen Tingyu pushed open the door to the private room, only to see Huo Ye surrounded like a lion king in the booth, casually handling playful jests and being sharp enough not to lose out.

They were having such a good time that when Shen Tingyu attempted to catch Huo Ye’s attention a few times, he failed. It was actually Gao Xiaoyuan who first noticed him, hurriedly welcoming the dark-faced young master in.

Huo Ye was currently playing UNO cards with a group of people, when he suddenly felt a drop in atmospheric pressure beside him. He turned to see Shen Tingyu crossing his arms and glaring at him disapprovingly, “Is this what you call a few people?”

“… Ah, I’m not too sure either.” Huo Ye replied earnestly, “They all came in as if like Nüwa scattered mud, suddenly there were too many of them.”

Shen Tingyu let out a chuckle, “Keep making up stories.”

At sixteen or seventeen, it’s the easiest time to build friendships, and after several rounds of cards, whether one was a top student or a “bad kid,” everyone became friends, letting go of arrogance and prejudice.

“I’ve never liked that Liao guy, always doing disgusting dirty work. I thought I’d have to put up with him for over a year; I didn’t expect him to fall flat on his face like this, haha…”

“Switch to green. Right? No one could possibly not know about his dirty little deeds! I’ve been holding back, but gege really took action, it was so refreshing.” Zhao Jiayan said loudly, suddenly realizing, “… Hey, I’m down to my last card!”

Xiong Ying seized him, shouting, “Hey, hey, hey! Did you call UNO when you were down to your last card?”

Zhao Jiayan stubbornly pulled away, “I called it! I really did!”

Xia Zhiyao shouted loudly, “He didn’t call!”

Bai Feiyu chimed in, “Didn’t call!”

Wu Zhen, seeing this, also shouted, “He really didn’t call!!”

“Fuck you, you idiot Wu! Which side are you on?” Zhao Jiayan yelled in frustration and had to reach out for another card.

There were seven or eight types of beers on the table, including Pure Draft, Tsingtao, Snow, and Wusu, keeping in mind that there might be girls present, orange juice and coconut milk were also bought. For those who couldn’t drink beer but wanted a bit of a buzz, there were refreshing and milk beers available.

Since Huo Ye had just been discharged from the hospital and was advised not to consume alcohol, he obediently sipped on coconut milk. —But since he was already here, how could they just play without drinking to set the mood?

So Xiong Ying proposed that the loser of the game would drink, and if Huo Ye lost, he would pick a lucky person to drink in his place, and it would go on until the drink was finished.

Zhao Jiayan heard this and gave a thumbs up, laughing and cursing, “You motherfucker, you really are a genius!” Huo Ye blinked a couple of times, not planning to be polite with them, only curling his lips as he said, “Alright.”

The next round had Xia Zhiyao shuffle the cards. Gao Xiaoyuan, who didn’t know how to play, could only sit next to her and watch. Xia Zhiyao had a good impression of this girl, shuffling the cards while quickly explaining the rules.

Apart from Gao Xiaoyuan, who sat there gaping, Shen Tingyu also didn’t know how to play, but his intuition was sharp. After a couple of rounds, he grasped the rules and strategies, which made everyone fearful whenever they saw him about to play.

Because Shen Tingyu liked to hide his cards and always seemed lucky with powerful ones; if the next player couldn’t handle it, the game of UNO would turn into a fight for land; the highest record was when Zhang Li, holding more than forty cards, was nearly in tears, unable to play to win.

Bored of cards, they switched to rock-paper-scissors, dice games, and truth-or-dare, becoming increasingly excited and flushed.

Shen Tingyu, either drunk or just overwhelmed, kept losing in the games, yet his expression remained eerily calm, while his pale earlobes turned red enough to seem like they might bleed.

Huo Ye stared at his earlobe for a while, then mysteriously reached out to pinch it; it felt a bit soft and hot. He had heard that in Sichuan there was a saying about “soft-eared men,” meaning men who were docile and easily swayed by their wives—Huo Ye pondered, if Shen Tingyu’s ears were so soft, would he also become someone who feared his wife in the future?

…That seemed pretty hard to imagine.

A vague feeling of discomfort suddenly crept up in his chest, perhaps because there were too many people in the room and the air wasn’t circulating well.

Huo Ye tugged at the collar of his sweatshirt to create some space, suppressing a few low coughs. When he had pinched Shen Tingyu’s ear earlier, he hadn’t reacted much, but now, hearing Huo Ye, he perked up and turned to him under the dim light.

“What’s wrong?” Huo Ye leaned back against the booth, casually wearing a thin black fleece sweatshirt. With him tugging casually, the large collar revealed a generous expanse of collarbone leading to his shoulders, casually exposing shiny porcelain skin.

Shen Tingyu squinted his eyes, staring for two seconds without speaking, then reached out to pull his collar back up, ensuring the area was covered, before turning his face away.

The chest tightness immediately dissipated, and Huo Ye felt inexplicably amused.

In the latter half of the party, Shen Tingyu seemed really to be tipsy; not only was he drinking from his own cup, but he was also drinking from Huo Ye’s cup.

Initially, when Huo Ye lost, he would have picked a lucky person to drink for him, but as the night wore on and everyone seemed unable to drink any more, Shen Tingyu quietly drank in his stead.

Winning counted for Huo Ye, and losing counted for Shen Tingyu.

“Just drinking is boring; let’s play finger-grabbing! Whoever misses has to perform a specified act with the person next to them,” Wu Zhen announced while standing on the stage.

Zhao Jiayan, clearly on a drunken high, had cheeks as red as a monkey’s backside. “Oh, you’re grabbing fingers now? Isn’t that a bar game?”

“Pretty much, pretty much! Let me start,” Wu Zhen raised his hand, palm down, as everyone grabbed turn by turn; moments later, Wu Zhen began to demonstrate, indicating anyone with a small rubber band on their wrist wouldn’t have to drink but those without would.

Seeing this, Zhao Jiayan laughed, cursing, “Damn, I knew you were getting it on with that school flower in the next class, you show-off.”

“What school flower? Is it Yaoyao from Class C?” Xia Zhiyao also showed off the hair tie she had, saying, “I have some with Xiaoyuan.”

Wu Zhen exclaimed, “Hey, you know her?”

“Lanjing High is this small!”

Shen Tingyu and Huo Ye exchanged glances. Huo Ye shrugged and smiled innocently, “What are you looking at me for? I don’t have any either.”

“Who is counting on you? I’m still drinking for you.”

Shen Tingyu’s expression remained unchanged.

For the punishment’s specified action, Wu Zhen appeared mischievous, taking the wine glass and sliding it along Zhang Li’s waist, signaling that those without rubber bands should do this with the person next to them.

Zhang Li shrieked, “Hey, don’t get my clothes wet!” Wu Zhen pinched his soft flesh, “What a little waist!”

Thus, everyone who needed to take the punishment leaned in close to the person next to them, with voices of mutual cursing filling the air, “Xiong Ying, you really should lose weight! Your belly is so big, I can’t drink it all!” “And Xia Zhiyao, why do you speak like that?”

Shen Tingyu and Huo Ye exchanged glances once more. By now, Huo Ye had stood up from the booth, his arms slightly stretching to reveal his waistline, tilting his head to ask, “You go first, or should I?”

“…”

Shen Tingyu swallowed hard, “I’ll go first.”