CFHE Chapter 70.2

Wen Yu pressed his lips together.

“I’m going, bye.” Fu Yuhan said and got out of the car.

He took his drawing board and art box from the trunk, and like countless other examinees, with an art bag on his left shoulder and a box in his right hand, he stepped through the gates of the vocational art school one step at a time.

Only after that slender figure completely disappeared from sight did Wen Yu withdraw his gaze and say softly to the driver: “Master, XX Driving School, please.”

Wen Yu’s driving lessons were packed tightly to get his license as soon as possible, but he still managed to return to the vocational school before Fu Yuhan finished his exam.

Because just imagining a student finishing one of the most important exams of their life and walking out of the exam hall with no one waiting seemed too tragic.

Flirting might only require a drink, a deliberately lowered whisper in the ear, an ambiguously unclear attitude.

But pursuing someone—he really didn’t know what the right way to do it was.

The most clumsy method was to appear in every moment when he needed him.

Wen Yu thought that Yang Fan had known Fu Yuhan for over ten years after all. To close this gap, he could only accumulate day by day.

Wen Yu was tall and crane-like, and even the simplest clothes looked good on him. Today he wore a long windbreaker with a low-key cashmere scarf covering the lower half of his face, but his temperament and obviously young age made the surrounding parents frequently turn to look.

There was even a bored but enthusiastic mother who struck up a conversation with him: “Young man, you’re not an examinee, are you?”

Wen Yu shook his head, lifted his chin from the scarf, and smiled: “No, I’m here to wait for… my younger brother.”

His effortless pretense of being well-behaved charmed the circle of middle-aged women around him. Soon after, Fu Yuhan also came out carrying his box.

“Both brothers are so handsome!” the chatty mother exclaimed.

“…What brothers?” Fu Yuhan looked completely confused.

“I told them I came to wait for my younger brother.” Wen Yu smiled at him and reached out to take his box, “younger brother.”

“…I can carry it myself, older brother.” Fu Yuhan actually cooperated quite well with this joke.

“Give me at least the box or the art bag.” Wen Yu said, “Otherwise what would it look like for me to walk beside you empty-handed?”

What was wrong with that? He wasn’t a girl after all.

Fu Yuhan couldn’t understand, but handed over the box anyway.

Even though that one was heavier.

But if Wen Yu wanted to carry it, let him carry it. It wasn’t his concern.

Wen Yu took the box and led Fu Yuhan toward the car he had arranged in advance: “How did the exam go?”

“I don’t know.” Fu Yuhan said while taking out his phone to turn it on, “Anyway, I wasn’t too nervous. I drew about the same as usual.”

“That’s good then—when do the scores come out?”

“About one or two weeks.”

“I’ll help you remember.”

Fu Yuhan glanced at him sideways, his gaze flickering: “It’s fine, the teacher will notify me to check my scores when they’re released anyway.”

“That doesn’t conflict with me helping you remember.” Wen Yu didn’t look up.

During the post-exam period, the area around the vocational school was both congested and difficult to get a taxi. If Wen Yu hadn’t arranged for a car in advance, they really wouldn’t be able to leave now.

Fu Yuhan got into the back seat and slowly sank into the seat, looking down at his phone.

Wen Yu put everything in the trunk and had just gotten in the car when he heard Fu Yuhan say: “Yang Fan created a group chat to discuss the Spring Festival thing.”

“Mm?” Wen Yu now felt inexplicably tense whenever he heard the name “Yang Fan.” He was stunned for a moment before realizing what Fu Yuhan was talking about, immediately pursing his lips and taking out his phone as well. “Speaking of which, are you spending New Year at home?”

The group already had six people—Yang Fan, Zhao Tong, Fu Yuhan, Wen Yu, and the two best friends Zhao Tong had brought last time. If he remembered correctly, one was called Song Ting and the other Li Sisi.

“Obviously,” Fu Yuhan said casually, “where else would I spend it if not at home… what, are you not going home?”

“I’m just curious about how your family usually celebrates New Year…” Wen Yu looked at his phone, “My family is simple, just three people. In the past… occasionally my dad would take me abroad for New Year.”

“What about this year?”

“We only have four days of winter break, right?”

“That’s what I heard.”

“Then my dad probably won’t bother with me,” Wen Yu said, pausing here, “if he insists on going abroad, I’ll decline.”

“So willful?”

“I don’t want to go. Besides,” Wen Yu turned his head, “if I fly abroad for New Year, I won’t be able to see you… all of you during the entire Spring Festival.” He paused after saying this, then added in a way that revealed more by trying to conceal, “Yang Fan still needs tool people on the seventh day, how could I run away?”

“…Yeah.” Fu Yuhan pressed his lips together.

His eyes flickered a bit, but he didn’t say much more.

Wen Yu looked at his profile, thinking he was reminded of Yang Fan again, and felt inexplicably unhappy, pressing his lips together and staying silent.

The group chat was buzzing with activity.

Yang Fan: I asked around, there are many townhouses halfway up West Mountain that are available for rent. Renting one can accommodate quite a few people.

Yang Fan: They have movies, pool tables and everything inside, and you can even have bonfires, set up tents and barbecue in the yard.

Yang Fan: [Link]

Yang Fan: [Link]

Yang Fan: [Link]

Yang Fan: I think these few are all pretty good, and the prices are reasonable. I’ll pay for the townhouse rental, and us guys can split the food and drinks later?

Since Fu Yuhan and Wen Yu hadn’t spoken up, Yang Fan @ed them both. Below were Zhao Tong and her two best friends discussing with Yang Fan which house looked better to rent.

Fu Yuhan clicked on the links to check the prices and chuckled: “Dating really isn’t easy, Yang Fan is really spending big.”

West Mountain townhouses were a famous weekend getaway spot in the city. The seventh day was also a popular tourist date, so prices remained high—one townhouse cost nearly three thousand for one night.

“Do you even know how much money he has?”

“His monthly spending on eating out adds up to only fifteen hundred. Three thousand would take him a long time to save.” Fu Yuhan said casually, “Wonder if he’s going hungry.”

“Tsk, what behavior.” Wen Yu was a bit disdainful and opened a private chat with Yang Fan, “I’ll help him pay part of this money.”

Money spent on girlfriends wasn’t really money. To take care of his friend’s pride, and also out of his own inexplicable sourness, Wen Yu only privately told Yang Fan he’d help cover half the room fee.

After saying this, he replied in the group: Mm, let’s split the food and drinks among the guys.

“You don’t need to pay, I’ll cover yours.” He said to Fu Yuhan while typing.

“It’s fine,” Fu Yuhan looked at him, “I have money.”

“You don’t earn money easily. Fourth Brother told me you work really hard taking jobs.” Wen Yu said, “It doesn’t matter for me… it’s my dad’s money anyway.”

“But…” Fu Yuhan licked his lips, his brow furrowing slightly.

He actually didn’t really want to talk about this, but since it was Wen Yu, after thinking for a while, Fu Yuhan met Wen Yu’s gaze that had just turned toward him and said softly: “My dad recently… transferred the living expenses he gives my mom to me instead. Now I also have ‘money from my dad.'”

With an extra three thousand yuan per month, Fu Yuhan’s life had improved quite a bit.

But…

Wen Yu was stunned: “Then he didn’t pressure you to move?”

Fu Yuhan shook his head: “Zhou Xiangyan told me he hasn’t been home much lately… maybe he doesn’t even know I didn’t go?”

“What about Zhou Xiangyan’s mom, didn’t she tell him?”

“How would I know.” Fu Yuhan said, “I’m more puzzled about why my mom hasn’t asked me about this.”

Logically, if Fu Xuecheng didn’t give He Yan money, He Yan should have been the first to notice.

He didn’t know what was wrong with her lately—she neither required Fu Yuhan to stay overnight at the hospital nor caught him to pick fights.

Rather, Fu Yuhan had barely seen her during this period, instead running into Uncle Qin more often. But Uncle Qin was always coming and going in a hurry when he came home, and since they weren’t very familiar, they couldn’t say much to each other.

“Don’t overthink it.” Wen Yu casually ruffled the hair on the back of Fu Yuhan’s head.

“Don’t touch randomly.” Fu Yuhan dodged his troublesome hand while muttering, “Seems like it’s time for a haircut.”

“Want to go together before New Year? My hair has grown long too.” Wen Yu asked, “After final exams end.”

New Year was particularly early this year, which meant final exams were also very early.

Fu Yuhan suddenly realized this semester was almost over.

Really fast.

He was dazed for a moment, then murmured softly: “I used to always wait to get haircuts together with Yang Fan.”

“…” Wen Yu took a deep breath, suddenly feeling an inexplicable anger, “You—”

“Let’s call Yang Fan too when the time comes,” Fu Yuhan suddenly snapped back to attention, turned his head, and smiled lightly at Wen Yu, “‘Friends’ don’t need to avoid suspicion.”

He emphasized the word “friends.”

Since he planned to treat Yang Fan as an ordinary friend, habits that had continued from the past like this needed even less changing.

With the driver present, Fu Yuhan couldn’t speak directly about some things. He felt Wen Yu could understand his meaning.

Wen Yu could indeed understand, but he was still very unhappy.

He looked at Fu Yuhan for several seconds before squeezing out a word through gritted teeth: “Fine.”

That’s what he said, but the anger that had already risen was hard to calm. The day-and-night companionship gained by racing against time still seemed too little and too slow compared to over ten years of childhood friendship.

He should do something—

In the group, Fu Yuhan picked up on Yang Fan’s conversation. They discussed specific New Year plans, and every three sentences, Yang Fan would joke around with Zhao Tong.

Openly flirting, who knew what Fu Yuhan felt watching this.

Wen Yu stared at his phone screen thinking for a long time, then once again clicked on Yang Fan’s avatar.

He suddenly had a new approach.

Since he couldn’t control Yang Fan’s position in Fu Yuhan’s heart, wouldn’t it be better to win over Yang Fan first?

The private chat conversation stopped at Yang Fan’s previous message—”I organized this gathering to have alone time with Tongtong, how could I let you pay? It’s fine, I saved up enough funds for this activity.”

 (advanced chapters available on kofi)