HSS CH24

Chapter 24: Really Can’t Sleep?

Lin Miao was slow to catch on, but he realized that what Huo Yuchuan said made some sense. Could it be that he himself was actually a very cold and heartless person?

But after thinking about it, he felt that wasn’t right. “Maybe I just haven’t met the right person yet?”

Huo Yuchuan’s voice was very low, “Then how can you be sure it won’t be a guy?”

Lin Miao thought carefully, his expression serious as he asked, “Should I give those guys a chance?”

Huo Yuchuan: “……”

“Those?” Huo Yuchuan said coldly, “Quite a few, huh?”

Lin Miao lowered his head and ate, speaking softly, “I don’t know either. It seems like the ones who confessed to me were mostly guys.”

He recalled, “In my freshman year, the class monitor from next door confessed to me. I told him I don’t like guys, and he said I was lying to him.”

Huo Yuchuan’s gaze darkened, “The class monitor from next door?”

“Yeah,” Lin Miao said, “He used to help me get meals and stuff. He was very enthusiastic, more concerned about our class than our own monitor. I even said he was a great person.”

A familiar term, Huo Yuchuan thought. When he helped Lin Miao’s dad pay off his debts, Lin Miao also called him a great person.

Maybe there was no real difference; they were just both热心的“good people.”

“One afternoon,” Lin Miao continued, “he cornered me in the restroom and said he liked me.”

Huo Yuchuan frowned, “And then?”

“I told him I don’t like guys,” Lin Miao suddenly lost his appetite a bit, “He got very agitated, saying I was lying to him, that I had smiled at him several times, so how could I not like him?”

Huo Yuchuan looked at his lowered brows and eyes, wanting to reach out and touch him but held back.

Before he could speak, he heard Lin Miao say indignantly, “What nerve, can’t I smile? Do I have to wake up every day and just cry?”

Huo Yuchuan: “……”

“I kicked him and locked him in the restroom,” Lin Miao picked up a piece of salmon and put it in his mouth, “Later, I avoided him. When I accidentally ran into him, I didn’t dare to smile. Jiang Leming even thought I had a grudge against him.”

Huo Yuchuan didn’t say anything more, just added another sashimi platter for him.

In the afternoon, Lin Miao went back to school, and by the time he finished the group assignment at night, it was almost midnight.

He lay in bed, thinking he would be very sleepy, but he tossed and turned for a long time without falling asleep.

He wondered curiously, “Is Huo Yuchuan’s insomnia contagious?”

He reached for the phone on the bedside table and unconsciously opened the photo he had taken of Huo Yuchuan before leaving in the afternoon.

Huo Yuchuan seemed to be in a bad mood. When Lin Miao raised his phone, he looked up at him. His nose was very straight, his profile was sharply defined, but the corners of his mouth were slightly downturned, and he looked a bit off.

Lin Miao had even pointed to the photo and said, “Huo Yuchuan, look at you, like someone owes you a lot of money.”

Huo Yuchuan: “Don’t you owe me a lot of money?”

Lin Miao silently closed his mouth and looked up at the ceiling.

The dormitory was very quiet, with only the occasional soft snoring from his roommates. Lin Miao looked at the photo for a while, then exited and sent Huo Yuchuan a message, “Can you sleep?”

In a short while, Huo Yuchuan replied, “Why aren’t you asleep yet?”

Lin Miao said, “Maybe I’ve been infected by you.”

Lin Miao thought Huo Yuchuan would feel a bit guilty, but he replied, “Did you eat too much?”

Lin Miao: “……”

“Am I just a pig who can eat and sleep?!”

Huo Yuchuan: “Is that bad?”

Lin Miao: “But it feels like a pig!”

Huo Yuchuan: “No, it doesn’t.”

Lin Miao’s anger subsided a bit when he saw his reply: “Pigs don’t play with their phones.”

Lin Miao was furious, “I’m not talking to you anymore!”

He threw the phone aside and buried himself under the blanket to sleep. After a while, he couldn’t help but reach out from under the blanket to find the phone he had thrown around. He lit up the screen, and there was the last message Huo Yuchuan had sent.

“Sleep early.”

Lin Miao humphed softly, then hugged the blanket and fell asleep.

On Tuesday morning, during his class, Lin Miao’s phone lit up. He picked it up and saw a message from Huo Yuchuan.

“Lunch at the company.”

Lin Miao’s eyes lit up, “Are you coming back?”

Huo Yuchuan: “Mm.”

Lin Miao happily said, “I want cake too!”

Huo Yuchuan: “I’m on the plane, turning off my phone.”

Lin Miao: “You saw it!”

Huo Yuchuan: “Blind.”

Lin Miao only had one class in the morning. After class, he went straight to Huo Yuchuan’s company. Huo Yuchuan definitely hadn’t slept well these past two days, he thought. He needed to catch up on sleep at noon.

When he arrived at Huo Yuchuan’s office, Huo Yuchuan and Little Zheng hadn’t come back yet. He sat on the sofa and reviewed the morning’s class when he suddenly heard a “bang” from the adjacent office, followed by the cleaner aunt’s exclamation.

It was Little Zheng’s office next door. Lin Miao quickly ran over and saw that a glass vase with a water plant on the table had broken, water flowing all over the desk.

The aunt was in a panic, tidying up the files on the table and explaining anxiously, “I just wanted to change the water… oh dear, it’s all wet. What should I do?”

Lin Miao quickly helped her move the files on the table. Fortunately, they managed to save most of them in time, and only a few documents got soaked. The aunt hurriedly spread them out to dry, hoping they weren’t important files.

Lin Miao comforted her a bit and helped her wipe the water off the table. After cleaning up, he checked again to make sure there were no more wet files and caught a glimpse of a notebook among the files he had moved aside, titled “Insomnia Plan Key Points.”

Insomnia? Lin Miao couldn’t help but wonder, was this about Huo Yuchuan?

He subconsciously flipped open the first page.

Mr. Huo said he suddenly felt a bit sleepy.

Wait until Mr. Huo is asleep before showing up.

Key line: “Ah, Mr. Huo hasn’t slept this soundly in a long time.”

Contact the doctor and cancel the appointment.

There were only a few lines of text, but Lin Miao was stunned as he read.

He flipped to the next page.

Lurk outside the school and pretend to run into him.

Mr. Huo sleeps again.

Key line: “Mr. Huo hasn’t slept for three days.”

(If you don’t know what to say, just say, “Ah, that’s amazing.”)

Another page.

Lurk outside the school and sign a contract.

Key line: “Mr. Huo hasn’t slept these past two days.”

“It helps with sleep.”

(Read the contract; if you don’t know, ask Mr. Huo.)

(Twenty years is really a bit extreme.)

……

The elevator “dinged,” and Huo Yuchuan came out carrying a cake.

He passed by Little Zheng’s office and saw Lin Miao standing inside, his back to him.

He knocked on the door, “What are you doing here?”

Lin Miao was holding the notebook tightly. When he turned around, his eyes were a bit red.

He opened his mouth, his throat dry.

He said, “Huo Yuchuan, do you really not sleep?”