Ke Bu was sleeping soundly when he heard a whisper. “Ke Bu, I came to keep you company.” He woke with a start and sat upright, desperately trying to remember some kind of exorcism incantation.
“What’s wrong, Ke Bu? Aren’t you happy to see Dora?”
The needle in her hand gleamed coldly under the moonlight. Ke Bu threw the blanket at her, scrambled out of bed, and rushed for the door. He knew his own abilities very well. If he could beat someone, he wasn’t afraid of them. If he couldn’t, his only choice was to run. For the first time, he was grateful that Zhi Li never locked his door. Ke Bu shoved it open and rushed inside, with Dora close behind him. Zhi Li wasn’t asleep. He was leaning against the desk with a rechargeable lamp switched on. Ke Bu had recently declared like a real man that he absolutely refused to become a useless coward who hid behind Zhi Li trembling, but the moment he encountered someone from Zhi Li’s family, all that courage vanished.
“Dora.” Zhi Li tilted his head. “I told you what you aren’t allowed to play with, didn’t I?”
The needle dropped from Dora’s hand. She walked over, knelt in front of Zhi Li, and hugged his leg. “Brother Zhi Li, Dora knows she was wrong. Dora is still young, and I’ve hated Ke Bu for so long that I lost control for a moment. I didn’t know that man would go so far. Dora got very angry and already took revenge for Ke Bu. Brother Zhi Li, forgive Dora. Don’t hate Dora.” She sobbed loudly as she spoke, but Ke Bu could see perfectly clearly that the hand hidden behind Zhi Li’s back was still making a throat-slitting gesture at him.
Zhi Li reached behind himself and caught her hand red-handed. “Recite the limits I gave you.”
“I’m not allowed to make Ke Bu cry, and I can only mess with him within a range he can endure.” Dora recited the words one by one.
Grinding his teeth, Ke Bu glared furiously at Zhi Li from behind. “Isn’t the range you gave her way too broad? Can’t you just tell her to treat me properly?!”
“What are you talking about?” Zhi Li turned his head in confusion. “Wanting to play with you is part of her nature. How can anyone change their nature?”
“Her nature is way too dangerous for me.”
Zhi Li ignored him and turned back to Dora. “Doing something wrong doesn’t mean I’ll forgive you just because you kneel down.”
Looking pitiful, Dora shuffled across the floor on her knees until she reached Ke Bu. “Ke Bu, I’m sorry. Dora was just lonely and wanted to play with you. I didn’t know you were such a wimp with such low tolerance. Dora really cares about you. Why won’t you eat poop? Poop would be good for your garbage constitution. Will you plead with Brother Zhi Li for me? As long as the wimp forgives me, Brother Zhi Li will forgive me too.”
“What kind of apology is that?! You’re either insulting me personally or telling me to eat poop.”
“So are you going to eat it? Believe Dora just this once. It would be such a shame if you never ate poop.”
“I’m not an idiot.” Ke Bu sighed helplessly and tugged at Zhi Li. “Forget it, Zhi Li. Just forgive her. She didn’t really do anything besides stir up trouble.”
Dora clapped happily and threw her arms around Ke Bu. “Ke Bu is so nice! I’m definitely going to give you poop.”
“Let go of me! Everything strapped to your body hurts! You don’t need to give me anything. Keep this up and I’ll change my mind.”
Perhaps Ke Bu’s feelings toward Dora weren’t simply a matter of loving everything associated with the person he loved. He remembered that a very long time ago, he had once told Zhi Li: This is what I’m planning for the rest of my life. If you casually take someone else’s umbrella, I’ll help you get rid of the stolen goods. If you want to rob a bank, I’ll stand outside and keep watch. If you want to blow up the school, I’ll stand beside you holding the matches. If you kill someone… I can help you dismember the body and guarantee nobody ever finds out. I won’t be afraid of you like everyone else. I like your personality. I like seeing the ugliness in an ugly world and living my own ugly life anyway. So I think, maybe, probably, perhaps… I’ll like your family too.
The words he had tossed out so casually back then had actually come true. Some people disliked Dora. Some hated Lan Yin. Some feared Zhi Zuo Si. There were also Zhi Xiao Ke and Zhi Xiao Xun. Yet Ke Bu felt nothing negative toward any of them. He hadn’t deliberately forced himself to like them. He simply did. Sometimes Ke Bu wondered whether this difference between himself and everyone else might have been the biggest reason Zhi Li fell in love with him. Because when Ke Bu had said those words, Zhi Li had replied that maybe, probably, perhaps, he might write Ke Bu’s name in the column for people he liked.
Otherwise, why would someone as ordinary as Ke Bu ever be loved by Zhi Li? This wasn’t some romantic television drama.
Dora puffed out her cheeks and stared fixedly at Zhi Li. Zhi Li tilted his head. “Stand up.” Dora obediently stood and brushed the dirt from the knees of her dress. Suddenly, Zhi Li pulled her closer. “If you forget what I told you again, I really will get angry.”
For once, Dora’s expression changed. She clung tightly to Zhi Li. “Dora remembers.”
“Go sleep in Ke Bu’s dorm.”
It would have been unreasonable to send a high-school student home this late, but couldn’t she have squeezed in with Xin He instead? Ke Bu complained silently.
“Okay.” Dora left without hesitation.
Far too much had happened in the last twenty-four hours. Such a full, eventful life really didn’t suit Ke Bu’s constitution. He felt completely exhausted. He leaned back against the desk too, his little finger resting against Zhi Li’s.
“I’m tired.”
Zhi Li used his other hand to press Ke Bu’s head onto his shoulder. “Then rest for a while.”
“Mm.” Ke Bu closed his eyes. Two seconds later, he opened them again and lifted his chin slightly. “Kiss me first. Then I’ll rest.”
“Why not twice?” Zhi Li placed a hand against Ke Bu’s face, perfectly blocking the sight of their mouths as they kissed. The moon, unable to sneak a look, seemed to brighten sulkily until the dorm room—and the two of them inside it—were washed in the colors of a dream.
The sky was already bright before eight the next morning. Chu Hao Yu groaned and opened his eyes. He sat up yawning and looked toward the bed across from him. Then he rubbed his eyes hard, unable to believe what he was seeing. He stared at Dora sleeping in Ke Bu’s bed, then stared at the dress lying on the floor.
What? What is this? I wake up first thing in the morning and there’s a high-school girl with no dress on lying in my dorm? Am I inside an anime? An indescribable sense of happiness surged through Chu Hao Yu. If I don’t do anything, can I still call myself a man?
He crept out of bed, swallowing repeatedly, both nervous and excited as he carefully lifted the blanket covering Dora. It turned out she was still wearing a white slip. Chu Hao Yu gently lowered the blanket again. It wasn’t because his conscience had suddenly awakened. The moment he saw the many things strapped around Dora’s thighs and waist, his survival instinct defeated his lust. How exactly did Dora manage to carry all those things against her body even while sleeping without injuring herself?
When Ke Bu saw Xiong Le Le again, he failed to hold back his laughter just like everyone else. Xiong Le Le had gone to a barber to deal with what remained of his unsalvageable hair and ended up completely bald. At least his halo had returned—whenever he crossed campus, people constantly turned around to stare and whisper about him. But after that day, Ke Bu never saw Xiong Le Le again. Later, Wu Qian told him that Xiong Jun and Xiong Le Le had argued for several days before Xiong Jun finally forced his son to transfer back to his old school. Ke Bu didn’t know when Xiong Le Le would accept reality the way Ke Bu eventually had, but Zhi Li had been right. His mother and Uncle Xiong were adults who had lived in this world longer than Ke Bu had. They would know how to handle their own problems.
In any case, the matter had finally come to an end. Ke Bu lay limply across the hammock and suddenly said, “Zhi Li, I’m not holding a grudge or anything, but you once told me not to come near you too. So we’re even now, right?”
“When?”
“I knew you wouldn’t remember.”
Ke Bu had only recently remembered that period himself, so he knew when it had happened. After hearing him explain which period he meant, Zhi Li thought for a few seconds, lowered his head, and continued drawing. “Those are two different things.”
“How are they two different things? What you said didn’t hurt me?”
Zhi Li didn’t answer.
What Ke Bu hadn’t known about that period would be explained by the next recollection chapter.
It would probably be better if Ke Bu read it himself too.
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