Chapter 6
Before Meng Yuxiu appeared, Han Shuo spent every day at school feeling like an eternity in his quest to find the key figure.
As soon as Meng Yuxiu appeared, Han Shuo felt that time flew by.
Friday arrived in the blink of an eye. From yesterday to today, he and Meng Yuxiu had hardly wasted any rest time, except for sleeping.
Now their lips are more familiar with each other than the two of them; they automatically attract and press together like magnets when they get close. The first time, Meng Yuxiu even asked to brush his teeth before kissing, but later, in order to save time, he stopped caring about the little details.
However, Han Shuo felt a pang of regret thinking about the time he had wasted in the past few days. If he had known that he would have to take the initiative to coax Meng Yuxiu in the end, why did he bother waiting for him to come to him?
Today is Friday and school ends early. Considering that many students live far from the school, school ends at 3:30 pm. Han Shuo and Meng Yuxiu agreed to have sex again after lunch. So, during the last self-study period in the morning, Han Shuo borrowed a story magazine from Doufu and leisurely read it while waiting for get out of class to end.
The senior year of high school is very demanding. Students who love learning are very self-disciplined even during self-study periods. Students like Han Shuo, who sit in the last row, don't like to study. As soon as the teacher leaves, they immediately start chatting.
Han Shuo had a generation gap with these kids and wasn't interested in the games they were talking about. A few people in the back row were chatting when they suddenly said they wanted to go to the county town after school and asked Han Shuo if he wanted to go.
When Han Shuo first came to this world, besides feeling depressed, he also felt a sense of novelty about it, so he went to visit the county town with them once.
However, the novelty wore off after a few minutes. In the early 1990s, let alone remote county towns like theirs, even in big cities, urban development was still quite disappointing for someone like Han Shuo who had seen the prosperity of the 21st century.
The tallest building in the county town is only seven or eight stories high, with an exterior made of some kind of cheap, dark green glass, so you can't see inside from the outside.
But the group of country bumpkins who came to the county town to study, including the preserved egg and tofu bastards, kept shouting that it was fashionable.
Han Shuo regretted it immediately. His impression of the 1990s was based on Hong Kong movies, where the streets and alleys were filled with a retro feel and neon lights were flashing everywhere.
In this small county town, there were only one or two arcades and video arcades. These seventeen or eighteen-year-old middle school students didn't have a penny in their pockets, so they wandered from one end of the street to the other, their shoes getting smelly, without even knowing what they had been looking at.
"What's so fun about it?" Han Shuo asked, looking up. "I'm not going."
Han Shuo was the leader of their small group, and if he didn't go, the others were also uninterested.
Disappointed, the group started talking about other things, including what would happen after graduation.
"Are you still going to university?" Tofu asked Century Egg.
"Go to university? How could I possibly get in?" Pidan said, pursing his lips. "I'll probably go back to the village to farm after graduation. What about you?"
Doufu said in confusion, "I probably won't pass the exam. My dad's idea is that since I'm not good at studying anyway, he might as well let me find a man to marry after graduation."
“A man…” Han Shuo looked up from the storybook and couldn’t help but twitch his eye when he heard this. He just couldn’t understand how the world could be so open-minded.
It's one thing to be gay, but the real problem is that you can get married and register your marriage. However, at this time, Han Shuo didn't understand the world enough, or rather, he was so focused on returning to the 21st century that he had no interest in learning about it.
If he knew that men could have children with other men here, he'd probably be so shocked his eyes would pop out.
He frowned at Doufu's delicate and youthful face. "What's wrong with you? Why did you decide to marry a man? And so early? You'll only be eighteen after graduation, right?"
Doufu didn't understand Han Shuo's meaning, so he automatically answered the second half of the sentence: "If I don't get into university, I don't know what I can do."
Pidan retorted to Han Shuo's words, "Isn't it normal to get married at eighteen? There's someone in our village who got married at sixteen and became a father at seventeen!"
Han Shuo twitched the corner of his mouth and said, "That's great. Becoming a father at seventeen and a grandfather at thirty-four."
Doufu asked Han Shuo, "Han Shuo, what about you? You probably won't get into university either. What do you plan to do after graduation?"
Han Shuo wondered what he could do after graduation. Wouldn't that depend on how quickly he and Meng Yuxiu kissed? However, he also thought about Meng Yuxiu's words in the cafeteria yesterday: what if he graduated without completing his mission…
Han Shuo thought for a moment and said, "Perhaps we should go to Hecheng."
Century Egg and Tofu asked curiously, "Why go all the way to Hecheng?"
"Just get a job."
Tofu said, "Actually, Han Shuo, you're good-looking, so you could easily find a decent man to marry in the county town."
"..." Han Shuo was truly speechless. He said, "Wait, why do you keep talking about finding a man to marry? Fine, even if I were to find a man to marry, my family is dirt poor. Would any man in that county town be willing to marry me? Wouldn't he ask for an exorbitant amount? Where would I get the money to get married?"
Doufu asked, bewildered, "What money do you need? Your family can just prepare a few quilts for you."
"What?" Han Shuo didn't understand what this meant, but just as he was about to ask for details, the homeroom teacher appeared at the back door of the classroom at some point.
She came to check on the students, and while the others were studying quietly, a few in the back row were chatting with their heads down. Based on past experience, it was undoubtedly Han Shuo who was leading the conversation.
So she put on a stern face and shouted, "Han Shuo, come to my office."
Century Egg Tofu and several other students quickly straightened their posture and pretended to read.
Han Shuo wasn't afraid of being taken to the office; he'd already been reprimanded before. His only worry was that the homeroom teacher would ramble on for half an hour, cutting into the time he and Meng Yuxiu had to do their tasks after lunch.
The homeroom teacher called Han Shuo to the office and gave him the same lecture as before. First, he showed Han Shuo the freshly released test scores, and then he said earnestly that there was still one and a half semesters left in the senior year of high school, and asked him what his plans were.
Han Shuo never expected that he would have to deal with teachers in both his lives. He could only let it go in one ear and out the other, nodding repeatedly in response.
Sure enough, just as he expected, the bell rang, but the homeroom teacher showed no sign of ending the class.
The homeroom teacher noticed that he was standing there restlessly, so she asked, "What are you doing, Han Shuo? Did you listen to what the teacher said?"
Han Shuo was in a hurry to finish his meal and get back to his mission, so he pleaded, "Teacher Yu, I've listened to you, I really have! I'm starving, can you let me go have lunch?"
"It's alright for a young man to go hungry for a while."
Seeing that the homeroom teacher was about to launch into another long speech, Han Shuo quickly said, "Teacher Yu, I made an appointment with Meng Yuxiu from Class 1. After lunch, he will explain some problems to me!"
The homeroom teacher, Ms. Yu, exclaimed in surprise, "Meng Yuxiu from Class One was explaining a problem to you? Didn't you two just fight earlier?"
Han Shuo made it up: "We got to know each other better as we fought. I failed every exam, so I went to ask Meng Yuxiu for help."
There were other teachers in the office. One of them, upon hearing Han Shuo's words, said to the homeroom teacher, "That's true. I saw them sitting on the steps of the dormitory building, with a book standing upright, reading very intently."
The homeroom teacher looked at Han Shuo with satisfaction and said, "It's good that you can study hard. In the future, you should communicate more with Meng Yuxiu."
"Yes, yes, yes." Han Shuo nodded hurriedly. "Then, Teacher Yu, can I go eat now?"
"Go."
Han Shuo practically sprinted to the cafeteria. He had been held up by the homeroom teacher for too long, and the cafeteria was almost empty of students. Meng Yuxiu had just finished his meal and was coming out with his washed lunchbox and teacup.
Han Shuo ran up to him, panting, and grabbed his arm. "I was just called to the homeroom teacher's office. Wait for me, I'll finish eating soon!"
Meng Yuxiu stopped in his tracks. "I was thinking of telling you that we should skip lunch."
Han Shuo asked, "Why did you give up?"
Meng Yuxiu said, "The sun is too strong at noon, and there are people in the dormitory building, so we have nowhere to go."
"Wait for me to finish eating first, and I'll figure something out after I'm done." Han Shuo said, pulling Meng Yuxiu along as they hurriedly went to the boiler room to get their lunchboxes.
Meng Yuxiu had no choice but to place the lunchbox and teacup on the table, then stood by and watched Han Shuo wolf down his food. Seeing Han Shuo's behavior, Meng Yuxiu realized how much he wanted to go back to the 21st century.
Han Shuo finished his meal in just five minutes, and didn't even have time to wash the lunchbox and teacup before putting them into a bag.
"Are you just going to pretend?" Meng Yuxiu couldn't help but frown in disgust.
Han Shuo said nonchalantly, "Anyway, school ends at 3:30, and we don't need to steam rice in the evening. It's the same if we take it home and wash it."
After saying that, he ran to the sink, turned on the tap, and rinsed his mouth thoroughly. "Okay, let's go."
Meng Yuxiu asked, "Where are you going?"
Han Shuo walked out of the cafeteria and looked around. Just as Meng Yuxiu had said, students were coming and going in the dormitory buildings, and there were also male students playing basketball on the playground who were not afraid of the heat.
Just as he was worrying, his gaze inadvertently fell on the fields behind the teaching building, and he suddenly had an idea. "Let's go over there."
Behind the teaching building is a rice paddy. In early October, it is harvest time. The rice stalks, which are half a meter high, are heavy with rice ears, and the paths in the fields are submerged in the golden sea of rice.
Han Shuo told Meng Yuxiu that they would squat on the path in the field and use the rice stalks for cover.
Meng Yuxiu followed Han Shuo through the rice paddies, and when he squatted down, he would sneakily peek out.
Han Shuo reassured him, "It's alright. Why are you so timid? And even if we get caught, so what? There are plenty of gay men in this world anyway."
Meng Yuxiu said, "They are them, and I am me. I am not gay, and besides..."
He frowned and corrected him, "We're not doing homosexuality."
"Yes, yes, yes." Han Shuo nodded to reassure him, "Don't worry, no one comes here at midday. Even if farmers come out to work, it won't be until after 2 p.m.
As Han Shuo spoke, he reached out and turned Meng Yuxiu's face towards him, "It's okay, turn your face around quickly, we're going to kiss."
After checking the surroundings one last time, Meng Yuxiu reluctantly turned his face. Han Shuo had already pressed his lips against hers.
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