EAY Chapter 48

Returning to School

Returning to School

48

The winter break arrived. After the last class of the semester, the students gradually returned to their dorms, packing their luggage to go home.

When class ended, they had already seen many students leaving the school with suitcases. Some students who lived far away had already returned home a few days earlier because it was difficult to get tickets.

“I really envy you two being in this city, you can just take a bus to get home.” Li Tianyi glanced at Shi Ran, who was packing his things, and continued to scroll through his phone, “I have to take a plane.”

Meng Nan said, “Look at me, I have to take the high-speed train, then the bus, then transfer to a long-distance bus, and finally take a motorcycle.”

“Motorcycle?” Li Tianyi said naively, “Your family is picking you up on a motorcycle? A racing motorcycle? That’s so cool!”

“Cool your head, it’s a motorcycle taxi,” Meng Nan said.

Li Tianyi: “Why bother so much? Just take a taxi home after getting off the high-speed train.”

Meng Nan: “……I knew I couldn’t chat with you city folks.”

“Your conversation is the source of my happiness every day. I’ll definitely miss you when I go home,” Shi Ran said, going back to his upper bunk to pack clothes, and also taking the quilt cover home to wash.

Qi Ye finished making a phone call to his family in the corridor and came in to say to Shi Ran, “Qi Xue said she has to work overtime temporarily and may not be able to pick us up until noon.”

“Okay, sure.” Shi Ran hesitated a little, “Otherwise, I’ll just–”

“You don’t want to wait with me?” Qi Ye looked at him, “It’s so boring for me to wait alone.”

Several days before the start of the holiday, Qi Ye had told Shi Ran that Qi Xue would pick him up from school, and asked Shi Ran to take a ride home together.

Shi Ran’s first reaction was to refuse. Ever since he discovered his feelings for Qi Ye, he had been consciously practicing how to disguise them. He couldn’t stay away from Qi Ye, but at least he could avoid his family.

But Qi Ye insisted that Qi Xue liked him very much and specifically told him to come along. In the end, she even called Shi Ran and told him not to be polite.

Shi Ran was flattered. It’s not like he was a big star that they had to invite him so many times. He quickly agreed.

Qi Ye said embarrassedly: “My family is like this, enthusiastic and stubborn.”

Shi Ran accompanied Qi Ye while waiting, but saw that the other two were not in a hurry to leave either.

Li Tianyi leaned on the bed and sent messages on his phone. Seeing him smiling foolishly, Shi Ran knew who he was chatting with. He asked, “Aren’t you in a hurry to catch your flight?”

Li Tianyi waved his hand: “Oh, my flight is at night, I’m going with my girlfriend.”

Qi Ye said, “Is your girlfriend from the same place as you?”

“No, the flight times are about the same, we can go to the airport together,” Li Tianyi said.

Shi Ran then asked Meng Nan, “Aren’t you in a hurry to catch your bus?”

“I’m not leaving until three days later, I’ve already told the dorm supervisor,” Meng Nan said calmly, still reading a book at his seat.

“Three days? Why did you buy a ticket so late?” Shi Ran asked.

“This was still hard to get,” Meng Nan said, “I don’t want to go back so early, there’s no time to read at home.”

Li Tianyi said in surprise, “So you’re going to stay in the dorm alone for three days.”

Meng Nan: “Guess who stayed in the dorm alone during the National Day holiday before?”

“Oh, I forgot,” Li Tianyi said, “You’re really awesome, I wouldn’t dare sleep alone in the dorm. I’m afraid of ghosts.”

“What’s there to be afraid of ghosts? If there really are ghosts, they can keep me company,” Meng Nan said casually, “I’m a poor ghost, I’m more terrifying than ghosts.”

Li Tianyi Tsk tsksaid, “With your mental fortitude, you will succeed in whatever you do in the future.”

–

The few people ate lunch in the dorm. Qi Ye ordered takeout. After Shi Ran finished eating, he went back to bed and napped for a while. He felt like he had just fallen asleep when Qi Ye patted his arm and said, “Let’s go now.”

What Shi Ran didn’t expect was that not only Qi Xue came, but Qi Ye’s mother also came, smiling and saying to Shi Ran, “We meet again, Shi Ran.”

“Hello, Auntie,” Shi Ran quickly said obediently.

Strangely, after chatting for a while in the car, Shi Ran didn’t feel nervous at all, and even started to feel sleepy again.

Qi Xue and her mother were chatting in the front seat. Qi Ye noticed that Shi Ran was forcing himself to stay awake and said softly, “You can sleep, I’ll wake you up when we get there.”

Shi Ran quickly shook his head, “It’s okay, I’m not sleepy.”

Qi Xue looked in the rearview mirror and smiled: “There might be traffic today, you two should sleep for a while.”

Qi’s mother also said, “Yes, don’t be so reserved.”

Shi Ran kept thinking that he couldn’t sleep, it wouldn’t be polite, but he couldn’t help but droop his head. Qi Ye found him funny and pitiful, worried that he would hit the car window, couldn’t help but reach out to support him, but Shi Ran directly entered sleep mode and leaned on his shoulder.

Qi Ye’s nerves immediately tensed up, feeling like all the blood in his body had stopped flowing, and his whole body became very stiff. He was also guilty, worried that his family in the front seat would see his abnormality, and kept his head down, not daring to move.

After a while, he felt that his mother and sister hadn’t noticed anything and were still chatting normally. Only then did Qi Ye slowly relax, adjust his posture, lean back a little, and let Shi Ran lean more comfortably.

After the initial tension, Qi Ye slowly digested this sudden joy. The person he liked was leaning on him, sleeping soundly. What could be happier than this?

Unfortunately, the traffic jam that Qi Xue mentioned did not appear. They drove smoothly all the way and didn’t even encounter a few red lights.

Shi Ran slept soundly, probably having a good dream. Qi Ye was already dreaming without sleeping, but the dream was soon broken by Qi Xue, “Should we take Little Cutie home first?”

Qi Ye was stunned and said softly, “Sister, don’t call him that.”

“He’s really cute,” her mother also said, turning her head and looking, “He’s asleep.”

As soon as she said this, Shi Ran heard the movement and quickly got up from Qi Ye’s shoulder: “Are we there?”

“Yes, almost,” Qi Ye said, trying to hide his regret.

“I slept all the way,” Shi Ran patted his head, “I’m so sorry.”

“It’s okay.” Qi Ye saw that the tips of his ears were red, and there was also a red mark pressed on his face. He quickly turned his gaze elsewhere, deliberately suppressing his voice and making it sound indifferent, “Are you going straight home, or are you going to my house for dinner?”

Shi Ran: “I’ll go home first, I’ve already told Grandpa.” Looking at the familiar street scene outside the window, Shi Ran felt a sense of security in his heart, leaned forward slightly and said to Qi Xue: “Sister, sorry, I’ll get off at the intersection ahead.”

“Okay, okay,” Qi Xue said.

Qi’s mother turned her head and asked him, “Are you really not going to our house for dinner? Qi Ye’s dad made a lot of dishes at home. After eating, we’ll take you back.”

“No need, Auntie, my grandpa is also waiting for me at home,” Shi Ran said obediently, “Thank you so much for all this trouble. I’ll treat you to dinner next time.”

“Don’t be so polite,” Qi’s mother said with a smile, waving her hand, “You’re Xiao Ye’s friend, be sure to come to our house to play this winter vacation. Our family loves the liveliness.”

“Okay, sure,” Shi Ran nodded.

Qi Ye just watched him silently.

Before getting out of the car, Qi’s mother suddenly remembered something and handed a bag of chocolates to Shi Ran, “Do you like sweets? Here, have these.”

Shi Ran was about to be polite, but Qi’s mother directly stuffed it into his hand and said, “I’m quitting sweets recently, quickly take this away, don’t let me see it.”

Shi Ran had no choice but to say thank you and take it.

Qi Ye got out of the car to help Shi Ran move his luggage. After giving him the suitcase, he was still a little reluctant, and asked like a child, “When are you coming to my house to play?”

“I’ll go whenever I have time,” Shi Ran wanted to take his suitcase.

Qi Ye still didn’t let go, and asked, “When do you have time? Tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, the day after the day after tomorrow?”

“I don’t know,” Shi Ran didn’t know what was wrong with this person, why he suddenly became childish, “If Grandpa doesn’t need my help with anything, I’ll go find you.”

“Okay.” Qi Ye returned the suitcase to him, thought for a while and said, “Actually, I can come find you too.”

“Okay, then I’m leaving.” With his family present, Shi Ran really couldn’t say anything more, quickly said goodbye to the people in the car, and dragged his suitcase away.

Qi Ye got into the car with a feeling of satisfaction that wasn’t quite complete. Qi Xue asked curiously, “What were you guys talking about? Discussing homework?”

Qi Ye: “No, just chatting.”

“I feel like this scene is a bit familiar,” her mother said, “It feels like little couples saying goodbye, oh, like Xiao Xue and her previous boyfriend.”

Qi Xue laughed loudly: “It seems that my brother will be like this when he’s in love in the future, all lovey-dovey.”

Qi Ye felt like his secret thoughts had been exposed and didn’t dare to raise his head out of guilt, “Don’t talk nonsense.”

Qi Ye didn’t know how accepting his family would be of him liking the same sex. He had never considered it because, in his opinion, his chances of a successful relationship were zero. So there was no question of acceptance or non-acceptance.

But today, he didn’t know why, maybe because the dream he had was so good, he actually got distracted and thought about this matter.

Qi Xue would definitely support him, his mother was more tolerant than his dad, so to what extent would his dad be angry? Would he accept him or…

Qi Ye quickly shook off this thought, it was too far away, too far away, it was all baseless.