Mr. Yuan is Always Unhappy - Chap 79
CH79 – STILL OLD MATTERS
The 17 years old Yuan Rui confessed to Meng Lai three times. The first time was the day before the basketball finals. Meng Lai rejected him. Upset, he drank all ten bottles of save up sodas in one breath. The next day, he was unable to compete in the competition due to diarrhea. Struggling without support, Meng Lai lost the game. Walking off the basketball court with a dark expression, he gave Yuan Rui a harsh slap. Yuan Rui’s legs still felt soft from having so much diarrhea all night. His eyes rolled back and he fainted instantly from being stuck. When he woke up, he was already in the infirmary. The profusely sweating Meng Lai was by his side, cursing at him in rage: “Are you stupid? Why didn’t you ask for a day off if you’re sick? And what were you doing standing on the field under the sun!”
After that, Meng Lai acted like nothing happened and treated Yuan Rui exactly the same as before. Yuan Rui thought hard about it and felt it must be because he didn’t confess sincerely enough, so Meng Lai never took his confession seriously.
The second confession occurred right before summer break. Yuan Rui racked his brains and wrote an emotional and expressive love letter. During class break, he secretly stuck the letter inside a notebook on Meng Lai’s desk. After that, he nervously and bashfully waited for Meng Lai’s response, waiting from morning to noon, then from noon to afternoon. The last class of the day was a class meeting. Meng Lai carried a stack of recently photographed <> and such related materials to be distributed to classmates. On the last day before summer break, the atmosphere of the class was very lively. As the papers were slowly distributed in a very rowdy manner, suddenly everyone quieted down.
Yuan Rui was still unaware of the situation. His deskmate pointed at one of the several pieces of paper on the desk. Yuan Rui gave it a confused glance and saw the words “My beloved classmate, Meng Lai”, which was written by his own hand, and instantly became dumbfounded.
Standing in front of the podium, Meng Lai, who was getting ready to start the class meeting, also became dumbfounded.
The cicadas outside the window were clamorous. The inside of the classroom was absolutely silent.
After the class meeting, it was summer break. Yuan Rui needed to take care of his sick mom. When classmates invited him to play, he always declined tactfully and never went. Secretly, he had given Meng Lai a phone call. The other had answered, but he started stammering, not knowing what to say. He could only pretend to ask Meng Lai questions about homework. Surprisingly, Meng Lai actually started teaching him how to answer homework questions. He just didn’t mention anything about the love letter.
Meng Lai didn’t mention it, naturally Yuan Rui didn’t dare to mention it either.
He really regretted writing that love letter and really regretted not checking clearly the kind of notebook it was. Meng Lai must have felt very humiliated and angry, but he didn’t beat Yuan Rui up because he had good self-restraint. Now he was even teaching Yuan Rui physics questions.
This can be considered a tactful rejection right?
Meng Lai was very popular with girls. Also, he liked teasing girls a lot. He should be a straight guy.
When Yuan Rui first started liking him, Yuan Rui never even thought about confessing. However, Suo Yue told him “There’s no straight men in this world.” Thinking about it now, he was a little too ridiculous. Why did he believe a grade schooler? No matter how smart or how many books she read, Suo Yue was only in 5th grade.
After thinking about it for a very long time, he decided that in the future, he’ll just continue liking Meng Lai in secret, never to say it out loud or express it again. If any classmates asked about that love letter, he’d just say ‘it was a prank, I hope Meng Lai wouldn’t dislike me for it’.
The long and endless summer break passed. Meng Lai was still the brilliant class leader and top student, who was surrounded by everyone. He was still the introverted, transparent student with average grades. The courses in the second year of high school were tough and busy. There were no more basketball competitions. Their seats were very far apart, like the two shores of the Milky Way, without any points of intersection, without any moments of interaction or exchange.
In a gym class three weeks after the start of school, the teacher guided the students to warm up. Then everyone went to exercise on their own freely. Some students called Yuan Rui over to play basketball. From a distance, he saw Meng Lai already crouching next to the basketball court, tying his shoelace. Therefore, he refused and ran off to play soccer with another group of students. His teammate said he was tall with long arms. Thus Yuan Rui was sent to be the goalkeeper, which no one wanted to be. The goalkeeper on the opposing side was a 108kg little fatty who couldn’t run.
Yuan Rui guarded the goal for quite a while, but the ball didn’t come over once. He ended up simply sitting cross legged on the lawn. It didn’t take long for him to start dazing off.
The happiest thing for him recently was that there’s been an improvement in his mom’s illness. She no longer needed to stay in the hospital and could rest at home. After a few more days, it should be the monthly exam. This time he needed to do his best to get better grades. his mom would definitely be happy. Uncle Suo would be happy also. He treated mom really well and took care of her meticulously. He was an extremely good person. Should he be called dad instead?
“Yuan Rui!”
Hearing someone call him, he turned his head.
Meng Lai stood on the running track and waved at him, asking: “Want to drink soda?”
Heart beating extremely fast, Yuan Rui paused for a few seconds before saying: “No, thank you.”
Meng Lai stood there, not moving.
Yuan Rui thought he didn’t hear clearly and said louder: “I don’t want to drink any.”
Meng Lai walked towards him in large strides.
Without any hesitation, Yuan Rui stood up and waved his hand repeatedly: “I don’t want any, I don’t need any, really.”
Meng Lai walked closer and threw an arm over his shoulder, saying: “Follow me.”
Yuan Rui took a few steps before responding. He grabbed the frame of the goalpost instantly and said: “I need to guard the goal!”
Hand still around Yuan Rui’s shoulder, Meng Lai said impatiently: “They play too terribly. The ball will never enter the goal. There’s no need to guard it. Stop hugging the goal post. Let go.”
When they played basketball together in the past, whenever Meng Lai went to the snack shop to buy soda for everyone, he’d often drag Yuan Rui along with him to help carry the bags. Every time, Yuan Rui felt extremely happy. However, he didn’t want to go with Meng Lai at all now and said: “I really don’t want to drink soda. How about I buy you a drink instead, but I can only pay for you alone. I only have 5 yuan.”
Meng Lai’s brows relaxed and he gained a slight smile: “Alright. You can treat me. Let’s go, we’ll buy it together.”
However, Yuan Rui continued to grab onto the frame of the goal post. With his other hand, he took out five yuan from the pocket of his school uniform and handed it over, saying: “Here. You go buy it yourself. I still have to guard the goal.”
Meng Lai: “……”
Yuan Rui’s neck hurt from being pinned by Meng Lai’s arm. As he struggled “I’m not going, I have to guard the goal”, he was forcibly dragged away.
Behind him, a soccer ball flew over from afar and with a ‘dong’, it slammed into the goal post and bounced away. It really didn’t score.
At the snack shop buying soda, Yuan Rui gave the money to the shopkeeper and said: “A bottle of soda.”
“Don’t be so stingy.” Meng Lai said: “I’ll buy you a drink.”
Yuan Rui folded the remaining 2.5 yuan of change, put it back inside his pocket neatly, and said quietly: “It’s not being stingy, I just had enough.”
Meng Lai looked at him with some disappointment in his eyes.
Walking out of the snack shop, Yuan Rui said: “I’m going back to guard the goalpost. You should finish drinking first before heading back, otherwise they’ll get envious and you’ll have to pay for them again.”
Meng Lai replied in a not very pleasant tone: “I’m happy to do it. It’s not like they drank enough.”
Yuan Rui: “……”
He realized he said the wrong thing and hastily explained: “I don’t mean that. It’s just that once, I drank too much all at once and really drank enough. It’s not that kind of had enough. I’m not saying you’re not good. No, what I mean is, this has nothing to do with if you’re good or not. You’re very good, no that’s not what I mean. In any case, I can’t drink this soda right now; it’s all because you bought too many for me……. no it’s not that you bought too much, it’s me who drank too much.”
Meng Lai: “…… What exactly are you saying?”
Yuan Rui: “……”
He was almost ready to cry. He also didn’t know what he was saying.
Looking at him and thinking about something, Meng Lai moved the bottle of soda into his other hand and said: “I’ll go back after I’m done drinking. You’re not allowed to leave either…… They all saw you coming here together with me. We have to head back together too.”
Yuan Rui thought to himself, What kind of logic was this?!
Meng Lai said: “Let’s go to the flower garden. There’s no one over there. Otherwise, some teacher might see us and think we’re skipping class.”
Yuan Rui thought, But we are skipping class. Does skipping gym class not count as skipping class?
But his legs didn’t listen to his head at all and involuntarily followed behind Meng Lai.
It was in the middle of autumn. The wisteria flowers were in the midst of blooming. They fell in between the gaps of the flower stand, looking like a string full of purple windchimes.
Yuan Rui looked up at them for a while. Meng Lai asked him: “You like flowers?”
He said: “My mom likes them.”
Meng Lai stood by his side and also looked up at the flowers.
Faintly, they could hear a class in the school building currently reciting English text out loud.
The two people’s flimsy school uniforms fluttered in the wind. A few flowers fell from the flower stand again. The breeze swept across the soft and rich green grass on the lawn.
Meng Lai licked his lips briefly and said: “I want……”
“Hurry up and drink the soda.” Yuan Rui urged: “Everyone is still waiting for me to return and guard the goal.”
Meng Lai froze and exhaled somewhat discouragingly: “It’s because you don’t want to stay alone with me, right?”
Yuan Rui thought to himself, How could I not want to, more like I wanted it too much!
Meng Lai said: “How come you haven’t taken the initiative to talk to me, even though classes have started for so long?”
Heart jolting, Yuan Rui stammered: “My seat, is too, too far, from you.”
Meng Lai said: “Last semester we sat like this as well, but you still went around the back of the classroom to find me. Why not this semester?”
Yuan Rui stammered even more, saying: “Because, because schoolwork, schoolwork is too stressful. There’s no time to make such a long trip.”
Meng Lai: “……”
He suddenly said: “It’s not because of that love letter? I thought it was because of that.”
Yuan Rui clumsily pretended to be dumb: “What love letter? I’ve never written any love letter.”
Meng Lai tsk’d: “You said you’d always dream of me, but now you’re saying you never wrote it.”
Face instantly turning red, Yuan Rui retorted: “Like hell I’d dream about you! I wrote for fun.”
Meng Lai: “…… was it fun?”
Yuan Rui was a bit scared. Meng Lai was serious. He’s never been this serious before. He must still feel offended about everyone reading the love letter last time. Speaking of which, Yuan Rui had only been silently criticizing himself in guilt. He has yet to apologize properly to Meng Lai.
“I’m sorry.” He felt that ultimately, he should take responsibility for his wrongdoing. Therefore, he finally stopped pretending like nothing happened and said sincerely: “I was too flustered and didn’t see clearly that the notebook had materials needed for the class meeting. I caused you to become humiliated in front of everyone. It was all my fault. I’m sorry.”
He lowered his head, not daring to look at Meng Lai. He heard Meng Lai say: “Don’t apologize to me. I just want to ask you, after writing the love letter, are you not planning to take responsibility? The summer break was 2 months long. You only gave me one phone call and it was to ask me a physics question. Did you think that if you pretended everything was fine, it’d truly be fine?”
Yuan Rui pressed his lips together and said in a small voice: “Then what do I have to do for you to forgive me?”
Meng Lai asked back: “What are you prepared to do for me to forgive you?”
Somewhat distraught, Yuan Rui took a while to say: “I won’t bother you anymore in the future. I won’t write love letters to you. I won’t call you. I won’t ask you physics questions and I won’t tell others I liked you. I definitely won’t embarrass you again, I promise.”
Meng Lai furrowed his brow, saying: “Liked, as in past tense? You don’t like me anymore?”
Yuan Rui looked up at him and then lowered his head. Then he looked up again and lowered his head again. Repeating several times, even the brim of his eyes were a bit red.
Meng Lai: “…… Stop looking. Speak.”
Yuan Rui whispered with his head lowered: “Am I not even allowed to like you secretly? I really won’t tell anyone.”
Meng Lai opened his mouth and then closed it. After a moment, he finally said: “Not going to tell me either?”
Yuan Rui looked up, flabbergasted, his black eyes watery.
Meng Lai looked at him with a smile: “Don’t tell others, but you have to tell me. Otherwise, you won’t be allowed to like me anymore.”
Yuan Rui: “……”
Meng Lai twisted the cap of the soda bottle off and drank it down in a few gulps, then he threw the bottle casually behind him.
Yuan Rui’s eyes followed the trajectory as the bottle flew up and landed again. He said: “It has to be thrown inside the trash can.”
Meng Lai ignored his words and stared directly at him. Perhaps because he drank the soda too quickly or perhaps some other reason, his chest heaved somewhat violently.
Yuan Rui sensed that something seemed a bit different, but he didn’t know what exactly was different.
Meng Lai walked half a step closer to him.
Too close! He hastily shrunk back.
Meng Lai’s right hand reached over swiftly and wrapped around his waist, preventing him from backing up.
This intimate and suggestive move made both of the youths freeze somewhat.
Yuan Rui asked blankly: “What, what are you doing?”
Meng Lai very quickly started smiling: “Didn’t you say in the love letter you always dreamt about me? What did you dream about?”
Yuan Rui: “……”
Meng Lai leaned closer and said softly: “Was it something like this?”
Yuan Rui abruptly opened his eyes wide.
Meng Lai’s lips pressed against his lips.
Suddenly, there was a gust of wind and a bunch of petals fell from the flower stand overhead.
Yuan Rui has never asked others how their first kisses were, but his first kiss was just lip touching lips. There wasn’t even any time to do anything else before they were caught by the department head.
From the department head’s expression, they were clearly even more shocked than Yuan Rui himself. They only managed to get out half of a ‘what are you guys do–” before freezing like they had been struck in the acupoints by the sunflower technique.
Meng Lai gave Yuan Rui a push and said: “Hurry and run. He might not recognize you.”
Yuan Rui refused. Since they’ve already kissed, then naturally, they had to face difficulties together.
Meng Lai frowned, saying: “He knows my mom so he won’t make things difficult for me. Hurry and go.”
Thus, Yuan Rui ran off from the other side. He ran back to the sports field and sat under the goal post again before finally thinking silently, Favoritism by association is so amazing! Two people kissing, why does only one person need to escape? Ah! We kissed! Oh my god!
Even after all of these years, he can still recall how he was rolling around under the goal post in complete glee and delight, and the little fatty goalkeeper on the opposite side was so busy staring at him that they were hit head-on by the soccer ball and fell to the ground, flat on their face.
It was also after this many years that he finally learned, when they were caught by the department head, it wasn’t completely without consequences. Favoritism by association was indeed very amazing. The department head had gone and told Meng Lai’s mom immediately.
And at this very moment, Meng Lai’s mom was telling him over the phone: “Meng Lai truly did like you. When he learned I lied to him later on, he wanted to find you and get you back. At that time, he was already recommended to this graduate school, but he gave it up and applied for a school in Australia in search of you. When he got over there and asked the local Chinese students there, however, he discovered that you only studied an undergraduate degree and then became a model; that you might have gone to America or Europe. No one knew your exact location.”
Yuan Rui: “……” Those years when he went abroad to study, at the beginning, he was very introverted because his mom had died and he was away from home. His pronunciation wasn’t good and his grades weren’t good. He didn’t fit in very well. Later on, he worked as a part-time model. Things got so busy, he had even less time for social interactions. Despite staying in Sydney for four years, he didn’t make a lot of friends.
Yang Lu said: “At that time, Meng Lai severed relations with me and had no source of income. He couldn’t go searching for you all over the world and had no choice but to settle down to study and work at the same time, while thinking of ways to save money to buy cheap plane tickets to go to places you might have gone to find you.”
“Why didn’t you go straight to his house and ask? His dad, his sister. It’s not like there’s no one at home.” Zheng QiuYang huffed coldly and asked carelessly: “If you really wanted to find him, how can you not find him?”
Meng Lai’s tone was calm and composed: “How do I ask? Should I say, ‘Uncle, sister, hello. I’m the one who had a puppy love with Yuan Rui back then, which led my mom to come visit your house and indirectly kill Yuan Rui’s mom?”
Zheng QiuYang: “……”
Meng Lai said: “Actually even when I was searching for him, I already knew it was impossible for there to be anything between us. I was only unwilling to let go. I only wanted to ask him face to face…..”
He didn’t say what he wanted to ask. Zheng QiuYang also didn’t ask him.
“Four years ago, I got my graduate degree and returned to China. Finally, I received news about him. At that time, he was attending a supermodel competition in North America. I rushed over there quickly. When I got there, they just happened to be announcing the ranking. His appearance didn’t change at all from how it was in the past. All of his emotions were written clearly on his face. The first 12 entered the finals. He got 13th place. Everyone had all left, but he still stood by himself in a daze. I watched him for a very long time, thinking he was upset. I really wanted to go and comfort him, but then he suddenly started smiling again. Who knows what happy thing came to mind for him. He picked out a red rose from the bouquet next to him and walked off with the flower.
Meng Lai smiled and said: “I followed him and saw him give the flower to an Asian model who had already been eliminated. Later on, I found out that this was the object of his one-sided-love at that time, a straight guy.”
Zheng QiuYang asked suddenly: “Got a cigarette?”
Meng Lai pulled out a box and wanted to throw the entire box over. Zheng QiuYang said: “I only want one.”
Meng Lai pulled one out and threw it at him. He also pulled one out himself, lit it up, and then threw the cigarette lighter over.
Zheng QiuYang, however, only lit up the cigarette and held it in between his fingers. He said: “You discovered that he didn’t wait for you and was a fickle playboy, so you gave up on him?”
Meng Lai asked him in return: “Do you think he’s fickle in love?”
Not answering the question, Zheng QiuYang said: “Unless I die, he will never be unfaithful.”
