Chapter 19
Holy crap! What's going on?
Han Shuo was finding Meng Yuxiu increasingly difficult to understand. Previously, he thought some things were trivial, but Meng Yuxiu would easily get angry. But now, with something as serious as the stolen bicycle, Meng Yuxiu acted as if nothing had happened.
The dormitory door was already closed. Han Shuo stood outside the window watching the people inside return to their beds. After standing there for a moment, he relaxed and realized that he was almost frozen. He quickly went back to his own dormitory.
I left in a hurry yesterday, and I had to ask Pidan to help me carry the snakeskin bag back to the dormitory.
The students in the dormitory were all fast asleep. Han Shuo untied the rope on the snakeskin bag, took out the quilt, climbed up to the top bunk, and then quietly spread the quilt out.
As he crawled into bed, his whole body felt warm and cozy. The blankets smelled of sunshine, which meant that Han Hong must have aired them out before the temperature dropped.
As Han Shuo lay in bed, he felt a warm glow in his heart. However, when he thought of Han Hong and his son in the hospital, his heart ached.
He didn't feel much when things were peaceful before.
But as soon as the waves subsided, that emotion seemed to surge up from the depths of his memory. At that moment, he felt that he was not Han Shuo from the 21st century, but Han Shuo who had lived in that family for seventeen years.
For almost a moment, his unwavering desire to return to the 21st century began to waver slightly.
Even after evening self-study ended, he didn't rush to the first floor to wait for Meng Yuxiu as he had before.
On the contrary, Meng Yuxiu was the one who stood at the bottom of the stairs on the first floor waiting for him, which was quite rare.
But since it was Meng Yuxiu who took the initiative to do the task, Han Shuo didn't want to spoil the mood because of his own emotions. In fact, he was quite confused. On the one hand, he was happy that he could continue to do the task, but on the other hand, he felt heavy-hearted about Han Hong and his son.
"You came out so quickly today?"
Meng Yuxiu nodded and walked out of the teaching building with Han Shuo.
As the two passed by the dormitory, Han Shuo told Meng Yuxiu that he was going to brush his teeth. Before Meng Yuxiu could say anything, he had already run into the dormitory building.
Meng Yuxiu waited for a few minutes, and Han Shuo ran out of the dormitory building again. The two of them went to the ginkgo tree at the end of the playground as usual.
Previously, Meng Yuxiu would always be hesitant and coy before starting any mission, but tonight surprised Han Shuo.
"Do you want to get checked?" Han Shuo asked him, pointing to his mouth.
Meng Yuxiu said no need, then lowered his head and gently put his arm around Han Shuo's waist as he moved closer.
Han Shuo was surprised to find that this kid could get used to it without even touching his butt, and unlike before, he didn't have a pained look on his face and wish he could stick his tongue out and mess around to finish.
This time, when Meng Yuxiu touched Han Shuo's slightly cool lips, he gave them a light, delicate kiss.
“…If you’re not used to it, feel free to touch me if you want,” Han Shuo said between kisses. “I definitely won’t laugh at you.”
Meng Yuxiu shook his head, closed his eyes, and gently sucked on Han Shuo's soft tongue.
It's rare that their kiss doesn't feel like a battle as it used to be; logically, Han Shuo should be more cooperative.
Unfortunately, today was a bad day. Han Shuo felt that his current situation was like that of a sick family member, and he really had no mood for romance or poetry.
As we kissed, I unconsciously wanted to sigh.
Meng Yuxiu was a sensitive person and quickly noticed that something was wrong with Han Shuo. He released his lips and looked down at Han Shuo.
Han Shuo was quite grateful to Meng Yuxiu because of the bicycle incident. He didn't want to ruin the atmosphere, but humans are animals driven by emotions, and Han Shuo was the kind of person who couldn't hide his emotions.
He could only apologize to Meng Yuxiu, saying, "I'm sorry, I was a little out of sorts. It's okay, I'll adjust myself."
Han Shuo had originally thought that looking at the surrounding night would help him distract himself from the heaviness in his heart so he could continue with the mission, but Meng Yuxiu's words made him give up completely.
"Did your brother and the others go back?"
Mentioning Han Hong and the others, Han Shuo's mood inexplicably dropped. After a moment of silence, he looked up and said, "Meng Yuxiu, I think... let's take our mission slowly."
Meng Yuxiu asked, "Because of your brother and nephew?"
Han Shuo nodded slightly. Since he wasn't in the mood, he simply plopped down under the tree.
Meng Yuxiu heard Han Shuo ask him, "Are your parents treating you well now?"
"fine."
“My brother is very good to me, exceptionally good, better than many parents.” Han Shuo said, turning to him and giving him a smirk. “Actually, I didn’t use the money for the bus fare to buy you oranges and steamed buns; I was just trying to appease you.”
Meng Yuxiu didn't speak, but just listened quietly as he continued.
Han Shuo sighed, "My brother gave me an extra 50 cents every week so I could buy some food. But my nephew was sick in the hospital and wanted to eat candy. He stared longingly at the other kids, but I didn't have any money. So I not only used my bus fare to buy candy, but I also had to lie to them and say that it was money I had saved... Do you know how I felt at that time?"
Han Shuo sat on the ground, his head almost drooping between his knees, "It's like I stole the last bit of money my family had left and went out to have fun. I feel ashamed to face them."
Since meeting Han Shuo, Meng Yuxiu had always thought of him as a lively and carefree person. But this was the first time he had ever seen Han Shuo like this.
Meng Yuxiu opened his mouth but suddenly didn't know what to say.
Han Shuo seemed rather embarrassed after saying so much; he touched his head and gave an awkward laugh.
“Hey Meng Yuxiu, I think you should be less in a hurry to do the mission than me, right? Why don’t we take it slow? You can go to school and take the college entrance exam first, just like before you met me.”
Meng Yuxiu asked him, "What do you plan to do?"
Han Shuo pondered for a moment, "I want to make some money."
"Make money?" Meng Yuxiu was slightly surprised.
"Yes." Han Shuo nodded. "I was thinking of earning a little money before I went back, and then leaving it for my brother and my nephew. Even if I don't earn much, at least I can earn some money for my nephew to buy firecrackers for the New Year. I don't want my nephew to be envious of other kids playing with firecrackers during the New Year."
Meng Yuxiu sat down next to him and asked, "But you're in school now and live on campus, so where are you going to earn money?"
Han Shuo said with a sigh, "That's right, I was thinking about this during the afternoon and evening self-study sessions. Sigh, everyone says that people who were successful in the 90s, how did they manage to do so?"
Meng Yuxiu chuckled softly, "You don't even have any initial capital, how are you going to survive?"
"That's true..." Han Shuo sighed again. "Then what do you think I should do to make some money right now? How about washing dishes at a restaurant?"
“There aren’t many restaurants in this small county. The jobs at the bigger restaurants are in high demand, and the smaller restaurants can manage on their own.” Meng Yuxiu pondered for a moment and said to Han Shuo, “I’ll try to think of a solution for you in the next couple of days.”
"Really?" Han Shuo, who had been hanging his head, immediately perked up when he heard Meng Yuxiu say that. "Holy crap, Meng Yuxiu, I don't know how to thank you!"
Meng Yuxiu slightly curled the corners of his lips, but then he asked Han Shuo how he told his brother he wouldn't be going home for the weekend.
Han Shuo thought for a moment, "I just told my brother that senior year is busy, and senior students can voluntarily stay at school for extra classes on Saturdays and Sundays. Don't worry, my brother won't doubt it."
The two of them didn't mention continuing the mission, nor did they say anything about going back to the dorm.
Meng Yuxiu felt that this was probably the quietest day he had ever had since he met Han Shuo. Perhaps it was because of this that, even sitting next to Han Shuo in such a quiet moment, he could almost feel the other's heavy thoughts through Han Shuo's breathing.
Perhaps it was a sudden gust of cold air, but Meng Yuxiu heard Han Shuo sniffle and then let out a deep sigh with a slightly nasal tone.
“Those who transmigrate into books or time-travel are most afraid of encountering these kinds of things,” Han Shuo suddenly said.
"What's up?"
Han Shuo clicked his tongue and said out of the blue, "Either I transmigrate into a wealthy family and have nothing to worry about. A poor family isn't bad either, but it would be best if I were the only one in the world. Being poor is fine, as long as I don't starve, I can at least find something to eat..."
As he spoke, he looked up at the sparse starry sky affected by the cold air.
"It's best to have no worries..."
Meng Yuxiu quietly watched Han Shuo's profile as he gazed up at the night sky, watching the tiny lights reflected in his eyes, until his eyelashes trembled slightly, and those lights were hidden in the black shadows.
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