NH chapter 037

Chapter 37: Bastard

Recently, Shen Tingyu has noticed that Huo Ye seems to have changed quite a bit. — What has changed?

In the past, during class, the two always had a lot to talk about. Although they would tone it down as exams approached, it was never to the point where they hardly spoke at all like now. If previously their interactions were a duet, now it felt more like a solo performance, even though Shen Tingyu used to be the quieter one between them.

If Huo Ye just wanted to focus on his studies, that would be understandable, but he often seems distracted. In the middle of the class, when Shen Tingyu asks him what they were discussing, Huo Ye can’t explain. Not only that, he often feels sleepy and lays his head on the desk during breaks, muffled sounds making Shen Tingyu worry he’d miss the bell ringing for class.

“Huo Ye, have you been out robbing at night these past few days?”

“…” No one answers.

Huo Ye remains motionless, seemingly asleep in just two to three seconds.

This situation isn’t uncommon for high school students. A lot of them fall asleep as soon as the bell rings, with some even kindly drawing the curtains for their classmates, so it’s perfectly normal for Huo Ye to fall asleep. On the other hand, Shen Tingyu appears overly alert.

Other than this, Huo Ye still asks Shen Tingyu for help with difficult science problems, and his tone and attitude don’t seem different at first glance. On weekends, they would still hang out together, with the same atmosphere of laughter and chatter, making it hard to pinpoint what was amiss.

It’s as if something has changed, yet at the same time nothing seems different.

He will still help Shen Tingyu get water, but when the water isn’t good, he no longer takes the initiative to pour his own cup into Shen Tingyu’s.

There are still subtle gestures like secret signals, but the shoulder bumping has changed to using the pen tip to poke, eliminating any further physical contact.

Sometimes he even manages to irritate Shen Tingyu, yet he refrains from being too distant, although lately, the frequency has decreased. Many times, Huo Ye’s humor is more measured, kept at a polite yet not too distant level, almost like with any other friends.

Yes, treating Shen Tingyu like other friends. The slight distance that used to exist has quietly been withdrawn, making Shen Tingyu feel like just an ordinary friend now.

This should have been a normal distance, but a retreat is always more acute than a progression, and when Shen Tingyu realizes he is no longer the “favored” friend of Huo Ye, he slowly comes to understand that he was once “favored.”

Shen Tingyu finds it hard to describe this complexity, as the previous closeness was an unspoken understanding, while this retreat feels so natural.

In this relationship, it turns out the control has always been in Huo Ye’s hands.

Recently, Huo Ye has also sensed that Shen Tingyu seems to be sulking. — What has caused this this time?

Huo Ye doesn’t have the energy to guess; he’s too exhausted, using all his time to study just to maintain his grades. He realizes that keeping his relationship with Shen Tingyu is as difficult as maintaining his academic performance. Studying is hard enough, yet it seems Shen Tingyu requires him not to advance, or else he’ll fall behind.

People must grow up; they can’t always remain children. Once he had the energy to comfort others, but now Huo Ye just wants to rest.

After all, they are not from the same world.

This distance is just right.

May brings a seasonal transition, and many in the class have caught the flu. Zhao Jiayan, sitting nearby, is one of them, sneezing so much that an entire pack of tissues could be used in one afternoon. Unfortunately, Shen Tingyu catches it too.

By the time he realizes, it’s almost noon, with just one class left before school ends. Shen Tingyu hasn’t spoken to Huo Ye all morning, occasionally coughing softly, yet his pen never stops moving, scratching on the draft paper.

When the bell rings, Huo Ye props himself up, his attention finally coming back a little, and he hears Shen Tingyu’s slightly restrained coughing.

Turning to look, he sees Shen Tingyu has put on his school uniform jacket, quietly lowering his eyes, not knowing what he’s writing. His expression is cold, and although his pale skin doesn’t reveal much, there’s a delicate reddish hue on his eyelids and the corners of his eyes, looking quite abnormal.

Huo Ye doesn’t think much, reaching out to touch his face, but Shen Tingyu quickly turns his head away, avoiding Huo Ye’s touch.

“Hot! You have a fever?” Huo Ye says.

Shen Tingyu ignores him, coughing a couple more times and continuing to write.

Huo Ye takes the pen from Shen Tingyu’s hand, using his left arm to pull him closer, until Shen Tingyu has nowhere to dodge, using his right hand to check his face and forehead, confirming he indeed has a fever.

It’s been a while since they’ve been this close. Shen Tingyu still avoids eye contact, remaining silent. He slightly turns his head, breathing out a hot sigh, and his body leans against Huo Ye, looking as if he’s constrained by his illness.

Huo Ye then touches Shen Tingyu’s neck, finding it warm. Shen Tingyu shudders slightly, but he doesn’t pull away nor resist.

“You’re so hot! Why didn’t you tell me?” Huo Ye frowns, starting to feel emotional.

Shen Tingyu raises his reddened eyes, more emotional than Huo Ye, retorting aggressively, “Why don’t you ask me? Why not wait until I’m dead before touching me?”

“Don’t be so headstrong. If you don’t say you’re uncomfortable, how would I know?” Huo Ye urges helplessly. “Shen Tingyu, I can’t always keep my eyes on you; if I do, I can’t do anything else.”

Shen Tingyu stubbornly clings to his argument, “Why can’t you?”

Huo Ye pauses. Yes, why can’t he? Why can’t he always? After a few seconds of silence, the unanswered question shifts, “Write a leave note, I’ll help you ask.”

“I won’t ask. I want to be like you. If I can’t solve this question today, I’ll just die here learning.” Shen Tingyu says.

This mocks Huo Ye’s hard work lately; it clearly indicates that he has been neglecting him. Huo Ye hesitates and sighs, “You can be like me, but I can’t be like you. The answers you can see at a glance might take me a day, and my reasoning might still be wrong… I just really want to catch up to you.”

Shen Tingyu freezes at that.

Huo Ye’s gaze locks onto him again, saying, “With your grades, it’s easy for you to get into any school. You choose the school; barely any school would choose you. If you follow your parents’ wishes and study finance, then it’s off to Beijing for you. I want to go to Beijing too, but the Beijing I go to is not the same as yours. What you think is easy can often be quite hard for me, you know?”

“Shen Tingyu, don’t make ‘forever’ sound so simple because I have to work really hard to give that to you.”

Shen Tingyu purses his lips, looking a bit deflated, his tone trailing off, softly saying, “…Got it.”

He really couldn’t hold back after all.

Huo Ye casually pinches his earlobe.

Shen Tingyu’s emotions come quickly and leave just as fast; he is always easily angered yet calmed with only a few kindnesses.

When interacting with him, just go with the flow.

“By the way.” Huo Ye suddenly remembers, “Which question did you say you can’t solve? Let me see—”

Hearing this, Shen Tingyu suddenly raises his hand, and the languishing demeanor from earlier vanishes. He reacts rapidly to try to cover the draft paper with the book, but Huo Ye is always one step faster, glancing at it in one quick sweep.

On the blank sheet, there’s a messy jumbled text that reads, “Ignore me, ignore me, ignore me, how dare you ignore me,” “I hate you, I hate you, I hate you, today I especially hate you,” “Why, why, why, what’s the reason,” “Not awake yet, not awake yet, not awake yet, how come you’re still not awake, have you been drugged? Are you a pig?” “Head hurts, clearly you provoked me first, Huo Ye, you bastard.”

Huo Ye: “…………”

The bastard reads it, the bastard is shocked, the bastard is silent.

“What did you see?” Shen Tingyu grits his teeth and asks him.

Huo Ye slowly shifts his gaze, twirling the pen, thinking how this desk is quite a desk, before saying, “I didn’t see anything. Let me help you write a leave note; you just need to sign it.”

Shen Tingyu swallows, then says in a low voice, “I want to drink water.”

“Oh, drink up.” Huo Ye hastily scribbles.

Shen Tingyu takes it a step further, saying on purpose, “But I ran out, so I want to drink from your cup.”

“…You drink.”

So that slight distance was pulled back again by someone, even though the approach wasn’t subtle.

After requesting leave for the afternoon from the homeroom teacher, Huo Ye helps Shen Tingyu pack his things, getting ready to take him home.

“Hey, do you think their relationship is so close because they’re brothers?” Wu Zhen looks at Shen Tingyu, who’s sticking next to Huo Ye like a loyal dog, and can’t help but nudge Zhao Jiayan.

Zhao Jiayan, confused, replies impatiently, “Is it a tumor on your neck? One is surnamed Shen, the other is surnamed Huo; even if they were related, they couldn’t possibly be brothers!”

Wu Zhen is shocked, turning to look at him in disbelief.

“What? Why are your eyes wide like a sad frog?” Zhao Jiayan mutters, not thinking much of it.

After a moment, feeling something is off, he suddenly turns back to Wu Zhen, who is still lost in thought. Zhao Jiayan twitches at the corner of his eye, about to retort, when suddenly clarity strikes him like a lightning bolt, standing there in a daze.

“……”

“……”

“Ugh, you say, two guys, going to and from school together every day and often sharing a drink, even wearing each other’s jackets. It’s just missing sharing pants. Is this situation normal?” Wu Zhen says, pondering.

“It’s normal.” Zhao Jiayan tries to remain calm. “Wasn’t it just like that back in middle school with you? Going to and from school together every day, drinking from the same cup, and I even shared ice skates with you when we were kids.”

“But those two guys are inseparable. Sometimes they even whisper to each other so others can’t hear. Is that also normal?”

Zhao Jiayan: “That’s normal; guys can have whispers too.”

“Then when whispering, is this action also normal?” Wu Zhen asks as he stretches out his hand to pull Zhao Jiayan’s shoulder, pulling him into his embrace.

Zhao Jiayan’s mind goes blank, leaving him frozen, and then it seems Wu Zhen is mimicking someone but adds a flair, leaning down affectionately and gently pinching Zhao Jiayan’s earlobe.

“……” The air becomes stagnant for three seconds.

Zhao Jiayan snaps back and slaps him, “You pervert!!”

Wu Zhen yelps, not angry, but excitedly says to him, “See! That’s the normal reaction, right? Which good man acts like this? I haven’t been this clingy even with my girlfriend!”

The two glare at each other in discontent for a moment, both holding their heads in despair.

At this moment, the classroom outside suddenly becomes uproarious, with students passing by the cafeteria loudly discussing and gossiping, seemingly over some new rumor brewing.

Zhang Li comes rushing over with a look of excitement on his face, holding his phone, “What are you guys doing? Quickly look at the post I just shared in the group, hurry!!”

“What now?” Normally Zhao Jiayan would be interested, but at this point, he no longer has the ability to think.

“I heard someone leaked information on the forum that there’s a gay couple in our school! A few days ago, during exercise, they secretly kissed in the bathroom, and it was seen by someone in a stall who took photos.”

Zhang Li completely did not notice the frozen atmosphere as he animatedly mimics the kissing poses and movements of the two ‘protagonists’ in the photo, exaggerating, “Oh my God, you know what? They kissed intensely, just like this…”

He first acts out the kisser, leaning over with the math book and bobbing his head, “So intense, oh man. He’s holding the waist and pushing the person straight against the wall, it’s fierce, feels like his technique is quite good.”

Then he mimics the one being kissed, leaning against the adjacent wall as if itching, “The other party doesn’t even fight back; he’s pushing against his chest, and his head is tilted back from being kissed, half of his face is actually quite good-looking—oh right, both of them are super good-looking, look like stars, oh how could it be…”

His words come to a stop as he notices both Wu Zhen and Zhao Jiayan have darkened expressions, remaining silent. Zhang Li blinks, hesitating, “What’s wrong?”

Wu Zhen: “The gay couple you’re talking about…”

Zhao Jiayan: “Are they gay men or gay women?”

Zhang Li: “Gay men, why?”