Huo Ran knew his appearance didn’t really match his temper, and it wasn’t the first time he was called cute by classmates, especially the girls. But knowing that Kou Chen introduced him to his sister as “little cutie”, he still felt strangely embarrassed.

A bit pissed off as well.

If Kou Chen hadn’t discovered that Hu Yi brought back a knife earlier, he would’ve beat Kou Chen up cutely right about now.

“Jie,” Kou Chen moved closer to the phone, “Get to the point.”

“Ah, okay, the point.” She nodded, “Little cutie, look here..”

“Hi, Jiejie,” Huo Ran felt that Kou Chen didn’t even tell his sister his name, he could only introduce himself. “I’m Huo Ran.”

“Hi little cutie, I’m Kou Xiao. You can call me Jie like Kou Chen,” Kou Xiao smiled. “Come, help me check if I’ve got the right stuff, am I missing anything?”

Kou Xiao talked nicely like she was playing with a three year old kid. Huo Ran could only forget about the ‘little cutie’ thing for now, and he looked at the screen.

Kou Xiao had the camera pointed at a table filled with stuff like portable stoves, pots, shoes, rope, sleeping bags, moisture-proof pads, headlamps, lanterns, flashlights, and even four thermoses..

With a glance, Huo Ran suddenly felt that the rumour that Kou Chen comes from a well-off family, was probably not a rumour, it was the truth.

Huo Ran could tell what store she was in from the table and the floor. He didn’t go there much, their stuff was expensive. It was all high-quality, but apart from veteran campers and rich people, most wouldn’t buy stuff like rope from there.

He glanced at Kou Chen, who was waiting eagerly.

“How is it? Great expert, if there’s no problem I’ll tell her to buy three of each.” Kou Chen said.

“Hey wait wait wait,” Huo Ran startled, how expensive would that be? He coughed, “Jiejie, actually, it’s too much stuff, and you wouldn’t need some of that. Also, if you’re just going once for fun.. You don’t need this much, and it doesn’t need to be so high-quality.”

“Is it too much?” Kou Xiao said, “I’m not even done picking it out yet.”

“Jiejie, don’t shop for the equipment like you shop for clothes,” Huo Ran reminded her, “we’re hiking on foot and you’d have to carry everything yourself, so it’s best you don’t bring so much..”

“Old Yang!” Kou Xiao yelled, “Put the stuff back—”

Hearing that, Kou Chen started laughing.

Huo Ran sighed.

In the end, under Huo Ran’s tutelage, Kou Xiao bought a portable stove, a set of pots, and three backpacks.

“What about the rest?” Kou Chen asked.

“I’ll write a list for you, and there’s a store, everyone I know shops there,” Huo Ran sighed, taking out a notepad. “You and your sister can go buy the rest there, tell him my name and you can get a discount.”

“Okay.” Kou Chen nodded.

Huo Ran quickly wrote down everything they needed, some of the stuff they could share and some he already had, so he left them out. The worst thing to do when going hiking is bringing too much stuff.

That’s why he didn’t like going with newbies, especially girls. The girls’ attitudes when they make you carry their stuff were like all the trees in the area are her boyfriends.

“Here,” Huo Ran tore off the page, handing it to Kou Chen. “Just buy everything on the list, the address is at the bottom.”

Kou Chen studied the list intently.

Huo Ran waited patiently.

Kou Chen read it slowly, making you think that he didn’t know how to read.

At least three minutes later, he was finally finished. He took a photo to send to his sister and then folded the paper up and put it in his pocket.

Huo Ran really couldn’t hold it back any longer as he watched him take his books out: “Go back to your seat.”

“I’m too lazy.” Kou Chen leaned back on the chair.

“..Where will Xu Zhifan sit then?” Huo Ran said.

“He can sit in mine,” Kou Chen looked at him like he was dumb, “Where else?”

“Oh.” Huo Ran took a deep breath, sighing as he turned to the blackboard.

Xu Zhifan never showed up. Off to his side, Kou Chen slept so soundly that not even the grim reaper could wake him up.

Huo Ran texted Xu Zhifan, and he replied quickly.

-I was comforting him the whole time, he’s crying now

Huo Ran was shocked. Although Hu Yi didn’t talk much, and was more introverted than the rest of them, he was still someone that wouldn’t let out a sound even if he broke a bone. He was crying?

-you were supposed to comfort him, how did you make him cry? you’re really not good at this

-??? tf does that have to do with me?

Leb Ejc rlutfv.

-then are u guys still coming to self study?

-nope, let him cry it out

-what about you?

-I just started a match, don’t talk to me rn

“Memx.” Leb Ejc qea tlr qtbcf yjmx lcab tlr qbmxfa.

Ktf olgra akb rfrrlbcr bo rfio-raevs kfgf ajxfc eq ys atf Scuilrt afjmtfg. Leb Ejc mbeiv xffq tlr tfjv eq ja atf yfulcclcu, yea tf fcvfv eq ijslcu bc tlr vfrx, jcv fnfcaejiis ofii jriffq obg afc wlceafr.

Kou Chen was different, he slept through two sessions. Not even Xu Chuan and Wei Chaoren coming over to chat in between sessions could wake him up.

No teacher came for the third session, and when the bell rang, Kou Chen woke up energized.

He stretched, even taking out a wet wipe from his bag and wiping his face.

What a refined act.

After wiping his face, he even wiped off his desk.

“What are you doing?” Huo Ran looked at him.

“Wiping off the drool.” Kou Chen said.

“You drooled?” Huo Ran was shocked.

“How would I know? Just in case.” Kou Chen said calmly, “I’m a good person.”

Huo Ran didn’t say anything. As he took his phone out to play on, he heard the classroom door open.

He startled, immediately throwing his phone into the desk. Having your back the door wasn’t safe at all!

But when he turned around, he saw that it wasn’t a teacher, it was a couple guys. They looked kinda familiar, but he couldn’t remember where from.

“Yo.” Kou Chen laughed.

Hearing his tone, Huo Ran remembered that these guys were the ones that were bullying He Hua with Li Jiaying the other day.

They’re here for trouble.

“Kou Chen.” The tall one walked inside, standing at the last row.

Kou Chen didn’t say anything.

“Come out for a second.” He said.

“If you have anything to say, then you can say it here.” Xu Chuan said, not even turning around. He even held his English book in his hands.

Huo Ran realized that at crucial times, the three of them could work together very seamlessly.

“What is it to you?” The tall guy glanced in Xu Chuan’s direction. He probably couldn’t tell who said it so he looked back at Kou Chen, “Come outside.”

Kou Chen still didn’t say anything. He took his time wiping his hands, then he crumpled the wet wipe up, finally turning to glance at him: “Who are you?”

“Don’t waste your fucking time with him.” Someone from behind the tall dude said, making his way over to grab him.

Seeing that, Huo Ran opened the blinds beside him without thinking.

The light from the offices on the other side shone into everyone’s eyes, and the guy’s hand paused in mid air.

Kou Chen laughed and tsked, pushing his hand away: “And here I thought you were so fierce.”

“Don’t try to avoid us. You can’t.” He said. “If you’re a man then you’ll come with us.”

Kou Chen sighed, throwing the wet wipe onto the desk. He stood up and walked towards the door: “You’ve brought this onto yourselves.”

The other guys followed him.

Seeing that they were about to start something, he suddenly felt a little worried, and he stood up. He couldn’t let Kou Chen take all the responsibility for that day.

As he stood up, one of the guys turned back around and pointed at him: “It’s none of your business, stay out of it.”

“Point at me again? I’ll fucking make you cry and wonder why God didn’t give you six fingers!” Huo Ran hated being pointed at like that. He kicked away the chair and walked up.

“Huo Ran, Huo Ran, Huo Ran,” Xu Chuan blocked his way, whispering, “Don’t be rash, Kou Chen will be fine.”

“Still pointing?” Jiang Lei stood up as well, “Can’t you understand? Or do you really have six fingers so it’s no big deal if one breaks?”

Some of the guys in the class had also surrounded them. The dude glanced back, probably realizing that his buddies had already left. He hesitated for a moment, before putting his hand down and rushing away.

“Damn, if you didn’t translate that I almost didn’t get what Huo Ran meant.” Wei Chaoren looked at Jiang Lei.

“What do you mean by almost, you just didn’t get it.” Jiang Lei said.

“..Hey!” Wei Chaoren glared at him.

Huo Ran pushed past Xu Chuan, going to peek out the window. They had already left.

“Wait,” He turned to Xu Chuan, “Do you guys have something against Kou Chen? Forget not caring about him, but what’s up with stopping others from caring?”

“The office is that way,” Xu Chuan pointed out the window. “Old Yuan hasn’t left yet, I saw his head move. There’s no way they’ll start fighting out here.”

“Then what now?” Huo Ran was worried.

“Now we’ll go find them.” Xu Chuan walked out, “I know where they are.”

Huo Ran followed him, asking: “Where?”

“The haunted building.” Xu Chuan said.

“Mhm.” Huo Ran nodded, not stopping. But he screamed inside his head.

FUCK!

“Why there?” Jiang Lei asked.

“‘Cause that’s the only place with no security,” Xu Chuan said. “It’s pretty far too, nobody will hear them.”

Xu Chuan’s logic was pretty solid, but it couldn’t calm Huo Ran down.

Not even Jiang Lei patting him on the back could do anything about it.

Xu Chuan was actually a bit worried, hopping down the stairs in three steps.

In theory, Kou Chen would have no problem fighting, but that’s from his own descriptions. They’d only known each other for a semester after he transferred, and everything they knew about him came out of Kou Chen’s own mouth. Apart from playing some Mahjong together with Wei Chaoren, he had really never seen Kou Chen fight.

He hoped that Kou Chen could hold on until they arrived, seeing as it didn’t matter how good you were, the other side had at least four people. Maybe even more waiting over there.

“Take the situation in first before you make a move,” Xu Chuan glanced at Huo Ran, who was fast-walking beside him. Xu Zhifan wasn’t here, and with Huo Ran’s temper, he was worried he wouldn’t be able to hold him back. “Maybe they’re just putting on acts.”

“Then that’s for the best.” Huo Ran said. “I’m afraid Kou Chen’s the one that’s fucking putting on acts. We better not get there only to see him down on the grass showing off his grim reaper.”

Passing by the office building, Huo Ran shut up, and the few of them ran past quietly.

Two figures passed by, and Xu Chuan perked up in alarm. Only people going to the shop would come out at this time, and they wouldn’t come in this direction, this is the way to the field and the gym..

“You two!” Huo Ran suddenly pointed at the two figures, “Come, help me out.”

“Captain?” The two people immediately came over, one of them asking, “What is it?”

Xu Chuan looked at them, they’re probably on the basketball team.

“I don’t know yet,” Huo Ran said. “Depends on the situation.”

“Got it.” The two understood, even radiating fierceness as they walked towards the field.

Huo Ran had never fought anyone before, at least not in school. He’d get held back by Xu Zhifan every time, and sometimes he would get blocked off outside the school. He was always eager to fight, but his plans would always get ruined by Xu Zhifan and Jiang Lei, along with Hu Yi.

He felt that he was probably just a noob in the eyes of his three friends, one that would get dealt with as soon as he stepped outside.

So today he might participate in a fight at school.. To someone like Kou Chen it might be nothing, but to a ‘good kid’ from a top school like him, it was too exciting.

The best part of this excitement was that it made Huo Rang forget about the fact that they were going to the haunted building, specifically the part behind it that just looked like it housed ghosts.

He finally realized that fact when they got there, seeing the stone tablet.

It’s the haunted building!

Ghosts!

In the darkness, he glanced at the others. Jiang Lei glanced at him too, probably being able to tell what he was thinking, so he moved closer.

“It feels like there’s nobody here?” Wei Chaoren asked quietly. “They’re not here?”

Xu Chuan didn’t say anything, walking to the small path nearby. Then he heard a voice from behind the building: “Motherfucker!”

It wasn’t Kou Chen’s voice.

What followed was the sound of grass rustling as they were stepped over.

You could obviously tell they were fighting.

Huo Ran suddenly pictured the dude finally getting what was coming for him after putting on airs for a whole semester, being pinned down to the ground and getting beaten up. Although he wasn’t really friendly with Kou Chen, in the end, he had also played a part in causing all that trouble..

He rushed over without thinking.

Rushing through the passageway, he heard Kou Chen’s voice: “Fly for?me!”

And then a dull thump.

He turned the corner, and saw a black lump coming towards him.

AH— A ghost— Fucking hell—

Huo Ran knew that there were at least five people in front of him, and the same fucking number behind him as well, but he still let out a shriek in his head.

And then that black thing collided with him.

When he realized it wasn’t a ghost, the person that got sent flying had knocked him straight to the ground, all of his weight sitting on his stomach.

“Fuck.” He flipped the person off of him.

Before he could stand up, another one came flying, this time landing by his feet.

“Kou Chen?” Xu Chuan rushed through the grass and called out.

“Yep.” Kou Chen answered.

And then the five of them all threw themselves in the midst. They couldn’t see anything in the dark, so no one dared to throw punches around recklessly.

Huo Ran stood up, clutching his stomach. Someone ran out past him, but he couldn’t tell how many.

Wei Chaoren’s voice sounded: “Hey hey hey, who just fucking hit me?!”

“They’re gone?” Jiang Lei asked.

“They ran.” Huo Ran leaned against the wall. Having someone knock into him was nothing, but he still hadn’t recovered from someone landing on top of him unexpectedly, his stomach twisting.

A phone lit up in the darkness.

“Holy shit, Huo Ran, are you okay?” Jiang Lei walked over, holding his phone.

“I’m fine.” Huo Ran felt pretty embarrassed, he didn’t even see what was going on, much less do anything, and he turned out like this just from someone sitting on him. At that moment, he could only fake concern and redirect everyone’s focus, “What about Kou Chen?”

“Kou Chen, are you okay?” Wei Chaoren asked.

“I’m okay.” Kou Chen walked over, finally stopping in front of Huo Ran. “Who hit you?”

“No one, they just bumped into me.” Huo Ran really didn’t want to tell him that the person he fucking kicked fell on top of him.

“Just that took you out?” Kou Chen didn’t really believe him. He paused for a second, wiping his hand on his pants. Then he pulled away the hand Huo Ran had on his stomach and felt around, before checking his hand. “It’s not bleeding.”

“Are you stupid?” Huo Ran looked at him, “How would I still be standing if someone stabbed me?”

“You can’t?” Kou Chen said. “I can.”

This guyyyyy!

Huo Ran was speechless, then he clasped a fist in one hand for him in respect.

Kou Chen didn’t say anything.

Huo Ran waited a few seconds, and seeing that he wasn’t about to speak, he asked: “What?”

“Can you walk?” Kou Chen glanced at the field, “If you can’t, I’ll carry you on my back.”

Huo Ran immediately turned and marched away.