Secretly Liking Him - Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Shen Lan was picking green beans when she looked up and saw her son looking like his soul wasn’t in his body, unaware of what he was thinking about.

She turned her head to look at Gu Jingyuan, pouted her chin toward Gu Xun’s direction, and asked with her eyes what was going on.

Gu Jingyuan was clearly in the dark as well, but he coughed once anyway, attempting to call his son’s soul back.

Dad Gu’s coughing was quite effective; as soon as he finished coughing over here, Gu Xun let out a long, long sigh over there.

Shen Lan seized the opportunity to ask: “What are you thinking about?”

Gu Xun drew out his tone again, sighing even more exaggeratedly.

Shen Lan: “…”

Gu Jingyuan rescued his son without a trace: “Your mother is asking you a question.”

Gu Xun said: “A little handsome guy moved to our town…”

Shen Lan laughed upon hearing this: “Is the sun going to rise from the west? Even you know how to praise others for being handsome?”

To put it nicely, her son was “confident”; to put it bluntly, he was “shameless.”

Every day he bragged that his nickname was “Gu Pan’an” and that he was the “Grass of the Town” (school hunk) at No. 1 High School. For him to say someone else was a little handsome guy was truly fresh.

Gu Xun acted exaggeratedly, touching his own face and sighing: “Alas, if I had known, I wouldn’t have gone to the park to dig soil with my dad. Look at how tanned I got…”

Shen Lan wanted to laugh again seeing his mischievous act and almost couldn’t hold it back: “Enough, what is it, say it quickly!”

Gu Xun immediately leaned over with a pleasing smile on his face, his tone extremely flattering: “Mom, isn’t there a super pretty small Western-style house to the south of our house? The one with a lot of flowers planted that looks very fashionable—the family surnamed Shen.”

His mom was the director of the town’s neighborhood committee; she roughly knew who lived nearby.

Shen Lan thought for a moment, hummed in response, and signaled for him to continue.

Gu Xun, however, was a bit stuck, for a moment not knowing what exactly he wanted to ask.

Thinking of Shen Yanzhi, it was as if his whole stomach was full of curiosity, but there was also an indescribable feeling that made people scratch their heads.

Seeing his mom waiting for his reply, he raised a hand to scratch his head: “That family has a kid about the same age as me. He’s so white…”

As Gu Xun spoke, it was as if he could see the dazzlingly white Shen Yanzhi again. Thinking of that shallow smile, a sort of bedazzled feeling actually arose.

Shen Lan was both angry and amused: “Just this? You’re not convinced because he’s whiter than you?”

Gu Xun thought about his mom’s words and pondered it himself; it didn’t seem to be about not being “convinced.” He said: “It’s not that. The flowers I just brought back for you were given by him. I’m just curious and asking. Before, Xiaosong said no one lived in that house and I’d never seen them before. Mom, do you know when he moved here?”

Shen Lan actually did know: “It just happened last week. Speaking of which, we are technically considered distant relatives, though very distant. I even helped handle his school transfer. His family is really…”

Shen Lan stopped halfway, not wanting to speak of others’ private affairs in front of her son.

Gu Xun, however, was very interested and asked repeatedly: “Still relatives? What kind of relatives? Where is he studying, No. 1 High School? What happened to his family?”

Shen Lan’s brow furrowed, avoiding the last question, only saying: “Relatives on your maternal grandfather’s side, haven’t been in touch for many years. He is in the same grade as you, though; when school starts, he’s also going to No. 1 High School for the tenth grade.”

Gu Xun’s attention was instantly diverted, and his excitement immediately rose: “Ah? Really? Which class?”

Shen Lan glanced at him: “Class 1.”

Gu Xun was delighted: “Hey! The same class as me!”

Shen Lan stopped picking green beans now and reached out to poke Gu Xun’s forehead with her finger: “He went there because his grades are good; you are at most a ‘make up the numbers’ one!”

These words weren’t Shen Lan intentionally striking Gu Xun down; Gu Xun’s grades were average—not high enough to be high, not low enough to be low—anyway, the kind where bringing the report card home wouldn’t lead to a beating.

At No. 1 High School, class placement was based on grades: first selecting a wave of high performers and averaging a few into each class, then splitting the “tail” (low performers), and the middle-of-the-road ones were assigned randomly. Although Class 1 wasn’t explicitly called it, it was the default best class.

Gu Xun being assigned to Class 1 wasn’t due to some major “shady deal,” but there was more or less some consideration given to the fact that he was Shen Lan’s son.

Gu Xun had always been open-minded about grades, knowing his mom was just speaking casually, so he replied grinningly: “It’s still the same class!”

Looking at his “no-face-no-skin” (shameless) look, Shen Lan couldn’t stay angry and could only send him off to beat the eggs.

Gu Xun laughed while beating the eggs, thinking this is great, same class…

Shen Lan and Gu Jingyuan looked at each other, both feeling that this child was really something—even beating an egg could make him laugh like a fool.

…

The next day was the start of school. Gu Xun got up very early, feeling a bit like he couldn’t sleep because of a spring trip the next day.

Shen Lan was surprised to see him up so early: “So early? You’re that happy school is starting?”

Gu Xun ran to the kitchen to dish out porridge himself and said while sitting in a chair: “It’s alright, mainly because I went to bed early last night.”

Shen Lan conveniently peeled a salted duck egg, scooped the salted egg yolk into Gu Xun’s bowl, and exhorted: “I don’t ask you to become a great talent, just don’t embarrass me and your dad too much. You aren’t allowed to cause trouble, but if you happen to be bullied, you must tell your parents, do you hear me?”

Gu Xun gulped down two mouthfuls of porridge with the egg yolk before saying contentedly: “Got it, Mom. Don’t you know me? It’s good enough if I don’t bully others; how could anyone bully me.”

Shen Lan looked at him and wanted to “fix” him: “With that mouth of yours, sooner or later someone is going to put a burlap sack over your head (and beat you).”

Gu Jingyuan couldn’t help but laugh while listening: “Wife, our son is your own flesh and blood.”

Shen Lan stuffed the yolk-less salted duck egg into his hand: “If he weren’t my own, I would have kicked him out long ago.”

Gu Jingyuan just laughed, picked out the egg white that still had some yolk on it for Shen Lan, and then put the rest into his own porridge.

Being forced-fed “dog food” (public displays of affection) by his parents, Gu Xun had already lost the heart to resist and could only bury his head in drinking porridge.

Shen Lan saw he was only drinking liquids; a boy of Gu Xun’s age was at his most eating-capable stage, so how could just porridge work? She pushed the fried egg pancakes toward him: “Eat some pancakes, otherwise you won’t last against hunger.”

Gu Xun then took the egg pancakes and stuffed them into his mouth fiercely, as if he had been hungry for eight hundred years. Shen Lan got anxious watching: “Slow down, no one is grabbing them from you, be careful not to choke!”

Gu Xun suddenly went into slow motion, exactly like a movie slow-motion shot, his expression exaggerated and affected.

Shen Lan: “…”

Shen Lan: “…I really want to hit you.”

Gu Xun instantly broke character, falling back into his chair laughing.

Shen Lan, teased to the point of having no temper left, said a powerless “Eat properly” and stopped paying him any attention.

Gu Xun was quite peaceful after that. When he finished eating, he tidied the bowls and prepared to head out.

Gu Jingyuan caught him before he went out the door and asked: “Do you have money on you?”

Gu Xun felt his pocket and pulled out a handful of crumpled banknotes. Counting them, there were several dozen, so he just waved his hand: “I still have some.”

Gu Jingyuan glanced toward the kitchen and then silently beckoned Gu Xun over.

Gu Xun understood his gesture instantly and cautiously leaned in.

Gu Jingyuan stuffed two “red notes” ($100 RMB bills) into his hand, made a “shh” gesture, and then pointed at the kitchen.

Gu Xun mouthed the words: “Private stash money!”

Gu Jingyuan let out a laugh and signaled for him to “get lost” (beat it) quickly.

Gu Xun beat it while clutching the money. This “windfall wealth” made his walking steps very light and brisk.

He didn’t stop until he reached a fork in the road, instinctively looking at the side path.

Walking down that path would lead to the entrance of Shen Yanzhi’s small house; standing here, he could see the pointed roof of the Western-style building.

Gu Xun hesitated, thinking about whether to go see if Shen Yanzhi had left yet, but then thought he wasn’t familiar with the person; wouldn’t going over there be a bit weird?

As he was agonizing on the spot, someone behind him shouted: “Gu Xun!”

Gu Xun turned his head and saw Wang Xiaosong running up from behind, panting.

Wang Xiaosong cursed while running: “Gu Xun, you grandson! You didn’t even think to wait for me!”

Gu Xun’s heart broke into a sweat, but he couldn’t very well say he hadn’t remembered such a person existed at all today, so he could only reply vaguely: “Didn’t I just wake up too early…”

Wang Xiaosong reached him and leaned against a wall to catch his breath. Despite his cursing, he didn’t really take it to heart; rather, he was busy wanting to complain to Gu Xun: “My room’s air conditioner broke yesterday. I had to make do on the floor of my parents’ room. My whole body hurts from sleeping, and my dad’s snoring was like thunder…”

Gu Xun responded with his mouth, but his eyes were still glancing toward the small path.

Once Wang Xiaosong’s breath was evened out and his complaints were mostly finished, Gu Xun immediately said: “Let’s go find Shen Yanzhi; I heard my mom say he’s in the same class as the two of us!”

Wang Xiaosong was about to walk toward the school, but hearing Gu Xun’s words, he hesitated: “We aren’t familiar…”

Gu Xun dragged him toward the path: “My mom said he’s even a relative on my grandpa’s side. Besides, won’t we get familiar by hanging out? We’ll be in the same class from now on, and we live so close…”

Wang Xiaosong was dragged along, still a bit unwilling: “Hey! There are plenty of people living close by and plenty in the same class; why don’t you look for someone else!”

Gu Xun’s mouth had no gate: “Who else is as good-looking as Shen Yanzhi! It’s only because I met you too early—back then my aesthetic view wasn’t fully formed—otherwise, there’s no way I would have hung out with you!”

Wang Xiaosong exploded with rage: “Why haven’t you been arrested yet!”

Gu Xun was just about to speak when, just after turning the corner of the small path and about to reach the entrance of the house, he saw a person.

Gu Xun: “…”

Wang Xiaosong: “…”

Gu Xun thought in his heart: Oh my god, was that shout just now a bit too loud!

Across from them, Shen Yanzhi probably hadn’t expected to hear such a dialogue at his doorstep first thing in the morning; the expression on his face was a bit startled.

Wang Xiaosong was already almost dying of embarrassment and pushed Gu Xun, signaling him to say something quickly.

Gu Xun’s mouth was usually very “slick,” like he’d been a cross-talk actor for several lifetimes, but encountering Shen Yanzhi’s slightly startled face at this moment, he didn’t know what to say for a time.

Should he say “Hi, buddy, seeing as you’re a bit more handsome than me, I plan to be brothers with you”?

This would absolutely be treated as a “snake-essence” (lunatic) illness!

The Shen Yanzhi across from them was the first to recover from the startle. He smiled at the two of them before saying: “Morning.”

Just like in Gu Xun’s memory—a light, shallow smile.

Gentle and clear.