HCILH Ch. 83

Chapter 83: Lip Balm

During the lunch break, the athletes gathered to eat their boxed meals.

Sui Houyu was eating quickly today, but Hou Mo kept insisting he eat more, which annoyed him. Just as he was about to lose his temper, Ai Mengtian showed up.

Ai Mengtian appeared at the back door, right where the athletes were gathered.

Even when faced with a group of boys all staring at her, she didn’t show any fear. She waved at Sui Houyu: “Sui Houyu, come here!”

Normally, Sui Houyu wouldn’t have gone.

But today, to avoid eating more mouthfuls of rice, he stood up, walked over, and asked her: “What’s up?”

“I went over the sequence of events and people involved and figured out which steps someone could tamper with.” Ai Mengtian explained, pulling out a piece of paper for Sui Houyu to see.

Ai Mengtian had even drawn out a diagram of the event sequence and labeled each step with the names of the people involved.

Sui Houyu wasn’t interested in looking; he didn’t know these people and couldn’t make sense of the connections.

“And then?” he asked.

Ai Mengtian took out her phone and showed him photos: “Look at these pictures. Do you recognize any of them?”

He took her phone and sifted through it but found nothing familiar: “Why do they all look the same?” he asked.

“Are you face-blind or something? They’re a bit different…” Ai Mengtian said as she took her phone back and looked at the pictures herself. She realized the editing had made them look overly similar, like big-eyed cartoon girls. It was hard not to think they were all the same.

She hesitated and said: “I’ll find some unedited pictures of them another day.”

“Alright.”

At this moment, Hou Mo came over with his boxed meal. He stood next to them, and asked: “What are you two talking about? Can’t you chat inside?”

Ai Mengtian seemed to know Hou Mo as well. She quickly rolled up her diagram and put it in her pocket, replying bluntly: “It’d be too awkward for me to go into your classroom!”

“I really don’t see why it’d be awkward for you.” Hou Mo spoke while holding up a piece of cauliflower to Sui Houyu’s mouth. “Just one more bite, there’s only a few pieces left.”

“No!” Sui Houyu responded stubbornly, turning his head away.

As soon as he opened his mouth, the cauliflower was shoved in. He glared at Hou Mo for a while before finally chewing and swallowing it.

Ai Mengtian, watching these two big boys feeding each other, hesitated before saying: “I’ll head back first. I’ll message you on WeChat later. You two carry on.”

“Okay.” Sui Houyu nodded.

“Don’t bother seeing her off,” Hou Mo said coldly. Ai Mengtian left quickly but glanced back after a few steps, feeling like there was something unusual between the two boys.

When Sui Houyu and Hou Mo returned to their classroom, they were met with a chorus of teasing.

Ran Shu was the first to ask: “What’s going on? Have you really fallen for her? I’ve never seen you treat any girl so well.”

To be fair, back at Qingyu High, when girls called for Sui Houyu, he never went. It was always Ran Shu who represented him. Eventually, the girls got used to calling for Ran Shu directly.

He suddenly became so proactive that even Ran Shu couldn’t get used to it.

Deng Yiheng, siding with Hou Mo, wore a bitter expression: “So, when you meet your ideal type, all your principles fly out the window?”

Sui Houyu returned to his seat and replied: “No, she just needed something from me.”

Ran Shu didn’t ask further and simply muttered: “Our Brother Yu has grown up.”

Deng Yiheng let out a sigh.

Their Senior Brother, after all, could never catch up with Brother Yu.

Hou Mo, who had been about to offer more food, grew irritated upon hearing this. He put down the lunchbox, ignoring it.

Fine! Go ahead and lose weight! When you’re too skinny and out of shape, no girl will like you!

Thinking this made him even more annoyed, so he sat back down and finished off the leftover cauliflower himself.

After the meal, some people threw out the trash while others tidied up their desks.

With a disgruntled expression, Hou Mo returned to Sui Houyu’s seat and sat beside him again.

He noticed that Sui Houyu, wearing coral-red noise-canceling headphones, was listening to something while continuously poking a wool ball with a needle, producing crisp sounds that Hou Mo found almost hypnotic.

After a casual glance, Hou Mo opened a book to read but quickly got bored and pulled out a set of practice sheets to work on.

Sui Houyu shifted, lifting the corner of his practice sheet to check the cover before taking out a tube of lip balm, twisting it open, applying it, and pressing his lips together with a slight smack.

Hou Mo looked up and asked: “Did you use lip balm?”

Sui Houyu didn’t catch it and pressed one side of his headphones to listen: “What did you say?”

His headphones had a feature where pressing one side would allow him to hear external sounds.

Hou Mo repeated himself.

Sui Houyu twisted the lip balm out to show him: “It’s just lip balm, colorless. It’s too dry in spring and fall, so I use it.”

“So refined. I never use that stuff.”

“Want some? I have a new tube in my dorm.”

“I’ll try it.” Hou Mo said, leaning in as if to try Sui Houyu’s.

Sui Houyu glanced at Hou Mo, then at his own lip balm. After hesitating briefly, he applied it on Hou Mo’s lips.

If it were anyone else, Sui Houyu would definitely refuse. Even for Ran Shu, he would just dab some on a finger and apply it for him.

But Hou Mo was an exception.

He twisted out the balm he just used and smoothed it over Hou Mo’s lips, moisturizing each line.

Hou Mo’s skin was very fair, and his natural lip color was lighter than most. With a bit of balm, they turned an almost absurdly pretty pink. This 188-centimeter-tall “little delicate one” was truly an incongruous sight.

Afterward, Hou Mo seemed to do it on purpose, pressing his lips together with a smack and raising an eyebrow at him: “Isn’t Dad handsome?”

Ah, it was still the same “little delicate one” who liked to play the fatherly role. Sui Houyu ignored him.

But Hou Mo wasn’t done. He reached over to take Sui Houyu’s noise-canceling headphones and listen in, saying: “What are you listening to?”

After listening, he was silent for a moment: “English… You should switch headphones, and we’ll listen together.”

“No way. If I hear other people’s voices, I’ll get distracted.”

“Oh, never mind then.” Hou Mo handed the headphones back to him and even put them on for him, purposely tidying up Sui Houyu’s curly hair.

Once Sui Houyu had the headphones back on, he continued poking the wool, gradually forming a shape.

Hou Mo, after finishing his practice sheets, glanced over and pressed down one side of Sui Houyu’s headphones, commenting: “What is that you’re making? It looks like a mix between a monkey and a Shiba Inu. I thought you were skilled, but it’s not great.”

Sui Houyu put the crafted piece in front of Hou Mo: “This is a very dog-like monkey. Understand now?”

Hou Mo looked at it, then suddenly laughed, asking: “Is it for me?”

Sui Houyu reached out to take it back: “I’m not very good at it. Forget it. You probably don’t want it.”

“I do, I do, I do! This craftsmanship is unmatched, no less than that of a folk artist. Look at those lively eyes, so cheeky, just like me! Truly, there is no one else in the world who could match this dog-like monkey but me!”

Hou Mo quickly grabbed it back, guarding it like a treasure to prevent Sui Houyu from taking it away.

“Give it back. It’s not finished yet.” Sui Houyu said irritably, holding out his hand, palm up.

“Then you have to give it to me later!”

“Well, I don’t want to keep something that suits you.”

“Ha, that’s just what I wanted!” Hou Mo’s mood brightened.

Sui Houyu took it back and resumed poking at it.

Hou Mo took out his phone and began recording Sui Houyu crafting the gift, wanting to capture the entire process of making the gift for him.

Annoyed, Sui Houyu snatched Hou Mo’s phone, intending to delete the video, but when he opened the photo gallery, he was stunned.

Why…were there so many pictures of him in here?

Hou Mo’s gallery had very few photos.

He didn’t like taking selfies or pictures of scenery, so aside from pictures of class notes on the blackboard, almost everything was of Sui Houyu.

There was even a video of Sui Houyu dancing in a mascot costume.

Hou Mo lunged forward like a wolf to grab his phone back, only feeling relieved after locking it.

“Are you a pervert?” Sui Houyu couldn’t help but ask.

“It’s like raising a kid; you like taking videos of your kid. You wouldn’t understand my fatherly love.”

Sui Houyu stopped pursuing the matter and continued poking at the wool, asking” “Do you want a monkey’s tail or a dog’s tail?”

“I want nine different tails.”

Sui Houyu tossed the dog-like monkey at Hou Mo: “From now on, it has no tail.”

“Oh, don’t be like that. A monkey tail, please. We’re both ‘Hou^[1].’” Hou Mo pleaded again.

“I won’t do it anymore.” Sui Houyu quickly packed up his tools.

Hou Mo stared at the tail-less dog-monkey with a sad expression but ultimately held it up and kissed it: “Even without a tail, Daddy still loves you.”

Sui Houyu looked at Hou Mo for a long time without speaking. So, in Hou Mo’s mind, he and this thing were brothers?

After class, Deng Yiheng, sitting nearby, was the first to be roped in. Hou Mo turned around and held the dog-monkey up to him, asking: “What do you think this is?!”

Resting his chin in his hand, Deng Yiheng looked at it and asked: “A dog?”

“It’s a very dog-like monkey!” Hou Mo introduced enthusiastically.

“Oh…” Deng Yiheng still couldn’t see what had Hou Mo so excited.

“Brother Yu made it for me personally, custom-made. Look at its expression—doesn’t it have my essence? And check out the details, especially the rounded head and little belly. Brother Yu poked it out stitch by stitch. Do you know how much patience it takes to get it this round?”

Deng Yiheng couldn’t help but ask: “Did Brother Yu do it with hatred? Doesn’t it seem like he’s stabbing you with a needle?”

“Hah, you mere mortal, you don’t understand art. This is love! Without love, who would have the patience to keep going? Every little detail shows Brother Yu’s dedication—it’s full of love!”

Deng Yiheng rubbed his face, exasperated.

Hou Mo then leaned over to show Sang Xian: “Sang Xian, look at this dog-monkey. Shouldn’t we patent it? Isn’t it so creative? It’s both a dog and a monkey. How did Brother Yu come up with merging them so seamlessly? Tell me, isn’t Brother Yu amazing?”

Sang Xian looked at Hou Mo: “…”

Seeing that he didn’t respond, Hou Mo suddenly laughed and sympathetically asked: “Can’t understand, right? You don’t have the imagination. And no one gives you gifts, do they? You can’t grasp how I feel right now.”

Hou Mo turned again to show Ran Shu: “Ran Shu, has Brother Yu ever given you handmade gifts like this?”

Ran Shu lifted his backpack, which had a handmade charm hanging from every zipper pull.

Hou Mo was speechless for a full thirty seconds.

He finally found his voice and, trying to maintain composure, asked: “Has he ever made something this unique for you?”

Ran Shu pointed to his backpack and said: “Every single one has a big mouth and eyes!”

“Do any of them have no tails?”

“You’re boasting about an unfinished product?” Ran Shu was shocked.

“Just say if you don’t have one!”

“…” Ran Shu was at a loss for words.

Finally, Sui Houyu couldn’t bear it any longer and interrupted: “Shut your mouth already!”

Hou Mo finally quieted down, returning to his seat with the dog-monkey in hand.

However, he didn’t just stop there. He placed the dog-monkey on his desk with great care and took dozens of photos from different angles to capture its beauty.

Next, he selected a few of the better photos and ultimately decided on two to post on his Moments.

Financial Blessings: “My double partner, Brother Yu, made this for me by hand. Isn’t it super cute? [Image]”

Soon, someone replied.

Liu Mo: “You’d better not post on Moments, your feed is 100% just your partner.”

Yang Hong: “I was wondering why you suddenly accepted my friend request. So, this is what you wanted to show me?”

Jiang Wei: “Nice craftsmanship.”

Mother: “So cute!”

Deng Yiheng replied to Liu Mo: “I was at the scene. It’s even worse in person. I’m thinking of transferring classes…”

*

In the evening, Sui Houyu was called to the door of Class Ten by Ai Mengtian.

It was the time when the regular classes were about to start their evening self-study session, and students were walking into the classroom. As they entered, they could see a boy in black sportswear standing at the door.

The sportswear for athletes was quite distinctive in the school, and the boy’s appearance was exceptional. With thick, naturally curly hair and a delicate face, he was highly recognizable because of his unique features.

Sui Houyu from Class Seventeen, who ranked second in exams across the year, easily outperformed the students of Class Ten in sports.

He was standing next to Ai Mengtian, the two of them talking closely.

From an outsider’s perspective, they looked like a couple of a handsome boy and beautiful girl.

Ai Mengtian publicly declared she was chasing after Sui Houyu, and he was still thinking about it. But recently, they had been spending more and more time together, and it seemed like they would be a couple soon.

It was impressive how quickly she managed to pursue the so-called “campus heartthrob” of Qingyu High, and many people were envious of her efficiency.

Especially since it seemed Sui Houyu wasn’t a playboy, Ai Mengtian was the only girl with whom he had any ambiguous relationship.

What they didn’t know was that Sui Houyu was actually listening to Ai Mengtian angrily venting: “That guy pretended to be so nice when chatting with me and even asked if I minded your relationship with Su Anyi. I told him I didn’t care, I have many brothers, but now I think he was pretending to be all nice, yet he’s totally useless!”

Sui Houyu raised his brow: “He knows about my relationship with Su Anyi?”

“Yeah, maybe he’s from Qingyu. So, have you recognized anyone now that so many people have come?”

“Not yet, I just glanced at them. They’re fast to hide.”

Ai Mengtian grumbled: “If you had just let me see for a moment!”

“I didn’t want you to look bad if they recorded you.”

“They could only catch me running toward them, and then I would kick them with one big foot.”

“Alright, I was wrong,” Sui Houyu reluctantly admitted, his expression saying: ‘I’m right, why don’t you f*cking thank me?’

Ai Mengtian didn’t notice his expression and took out a booklet with her own drawings inside: “Do you recognize any names here?”

Sui Houyu wasn’t interested in the names but noticed the booklet and asked: “What’s this? I saw Hou Mo has one, but I didn’t ask.”

“Oh, it’s from our teacher Fenghua. She’s really good at making questions, super classic.”

“Let me see.” Sui Houyu took the booklet and began reading, ignoring the students entering the classroom. Ai Mengtian walked around him several times while he focused on the questions.

Sui Houyu was really excited; he thought he might have found the key to beating Hou Mo in exams.

He finally found the evidence of Hou Mo secretly doing practice questions. If he finished this set of questions, he might even surpass Hou Mo in the next exam!

Hmph! How could he possibly lose to that idiot Hou Mo?

Having taken Hou Mo’s tutoring sessions and now working through Fenghua’s questions, he would surely do well next time!

After a while, Sui Houyu suddenly pointed at a few questions and asked: “Have the teachers at your school covered these?”

Ai Mengtian, a top student herself, had been 13th in the whole year’s exams, and she could remember the questions that had been taught. She began explaining her thought process to Sui Houyu.

And just like that, the two of them got off track.

While they were standing by the window, discussing the problems, Teacher Li suddenly appeared and said: “What are you two doing here? Why don’t you come inside and discuss?”

Teacher Li had been Sui Houyu’s homeroom teacher and was familiar with him, so she invited him into the classroom.

Sui Houyu looked up at her and greeted: “Are you on duty today?”

“I’m not on duty, I just want to take the evening study period to teach them a bit.”

This was typical of Teacher Li—she often extended classes, took over self-study periods, and even hijacked PE lessons.

Ai Mengtian mischievously asked: “Teacher, I’m pursuing him, don’t you worry about us dating?”

Teacher Li laughed and said: “I’m not worried about you two.”

“Huh? Do you think I can’t catch him?” Ai Mengtian asked.

Teacher Li shook her head: “With your personalities, you two would break up in three days. You’ll spend time together, and maybe you’ll give up before you even manage to catch him.”

Ai Mengtian immediately burst out laughing and couldn’t stop for a while.

Sui Houyu looked helpless and went back to focusing on the questions.

Teacher Li pushed Sui Houyu into the classroom, where Ai Mengtian was temporarily assigned to sit with him so she could help explain more problems.

When Sui Houyu entered Class Ten, the whole class was in a stir.

All the students in the classroom were wearing Qingyu High-style suit uniforms, and this single black figure stood out sharply as he entered.

They had never seen such a scene. The homeroom teacher didn’t care about dating and even let a boy into the classroom?

It was too extravagant!

At first, only the girls were excited, thrilled just to see him.

Soon, some of the boys also started to sneak peeks at Sui Houyu and whispered: “I’d chase after any girl who looked like that.”

“Too bad he’s a boy.”

“Yeah, what a waste.”

Sui Houyu, not in a hurry, kept his focus on the questions, urging Ai Mengtian: “Hurry up and explain, I still need to go train. I told my partner I’d be here for only ten minutes, and it’s already been over twenty.”

“Wait, I’ll write down the steps for you. Haven’t you seen? My pen hasn’t stopped.”

“Okay.”

*

After waiting a long time at the tennis court without seeing Sui Houyu, Hou Mo decided to head back to the teaching building to find him.

He reached the door of Class Seventeen and asked some classmates inside, “When did Brother Yu leave?”

The others replied: “He wasn’t here, but I saw him outside the door of Class Ten with Ai Mengtian.”

“Huh?!”

Sui Houyu had told him he was going to fetch something from the classroom, and Hou Mo didn’t think much of it. But now, Sui Houyu had gone to find Ai Mengtian?

His mood instantly darkened, as if dark clouds were rolling in with thunder and lightning.

He stepped back a little and then quickly walked toward Class Ten, noticing the back door was left slightly ajar.

Standing at the back door, he peeked inside and saw Sui Houyu sitting next to Ai Mengtian, both reading intently, leaning close to each other as Ai Mengtian appeared to be explaining something.

Hou Mo stared for a moment, then quickly turned around and walked out of the building.

He felt like it should start raining heavily today, to wash away the feelings he had for this straight guy.

But outside, only the cold wind blew.

The weather was cold, and his heart was even colder.

A gust of wind blew through his chest, like a blade scraping repeatedly at his most vulnerable spots.

Omake:

Sui Houyu: Next time, I’ll definitely beat him! Hmph!

Hou Mo: He doesn’t love me.