CFHE Chapter 71.2

The vague expectation in his heart instantly turned to disappointment. Wen Yu couldn’t describe what he felt in that moment. After thinking for two seconds without figuring it out, he asked sourly: “Then when you used to room with Yang Fan, he wouldn’t do that?”

 

“Yang Fan wouldn’t. Chu Lei is too hyperactive.” Fu Yuhan said.

 

“…Oh.”

 

Wen Yu walked to the other bed and lay down in the same manner.

 

Having nothing to do, he also took out his phone.

 

Fu Yuhan secretly glanced at him sideways, lightly pressed his lips together, and said nothing.

 

Just on this journey, the group had many more messages, all asking each other where they were. When they entered the house, Fu Yuhan had dropped a line saying “the three of us are here,” successfully triggering a round of wails.

 

One said “damn, so fast,” and another said “we’re almost there too.”

 

For group activities meeting up, the hardest part was this “almost there.” West Mountain was quite a distance from the city center, and this “almost there” could probably take at least another hour.

 

Good thing they had eaten something on the way.

 

Chu Lei hadn’t eaten, and before long he started getting hungry, frantically @ing the two in the group.

 

Only then did Wen Yu turn to look at Fu Yuhan, discovering he had somehow fallen asleep sideways on the pillow, his tilted head resting on the backpack he had brought.

 

A big bulging bag.

 

…What was in it?

 

Other people brought cameras when going out, but Fu Yuhan liked to bring his sketchbooks, so initially Wen Yu hadn’t thought much of him bringing a backpack. But now it seemed that for just sketchbooks, the bag appeared overly bulging—Fu Yuhan could actually use it as a pillow.

 

This position was visibly uncomfortable for sleeping. Wen Yu felt frustrated for a while, then walked over wanting to help adjust his position.

 

However, as soon as his hand touched the backpack, Fu Yuhan frowned lightly, turned over, wrapped both arms around it, and made an unclear muffled sound.

 

Not awake but also not letting it be moved.

 

Wen Yu: “…”

 

So mysterious, making him even more curious.

 

“Fu-ge, Yu-ge.” Outside the door, Chu Lei, who had been waiting for a response, came upstairs and knocked, “Are you eating?”

 

Wen Yu pulled over a thin blanket to cover Fu Yuhan, quickly walked to the door to open it, and said quietly: “Stop calling, Xiao Han is asleep.”

 

“…Is he that tired?”

 

“Who knows.”

 

“Then are you eating?”

 

“I just ate bread with Xiao Han.” Wen Yu said, “What do you want to eat?”

 

“I want to go see what kinds of barbecue they sell on the mountain, and check out the grills while I’m at it. If it’s convenient, I’ll eat a little. I suspect what Yang Fan and the others brought won’t be enough for twelve people, right?” Chu Lei said, “Are you going?”

 

“Mm, let’s go take a look together.” Wen Yu thought for a moment, “I also need you to help me with something.”

 

“What?”

 

“You’ll know when you come.” Wen Yu closed the door and went out.

 

Inside the room, Fu Yuhan, lying on the bed, opened his eyes a crack, squinted at the door, then at his blanket, and turned over while pulling the thin cover.

 

–

 

Wen Yu and Chu Lei went out for a walk, scouted all the surrounding paths, rented three barbecue grills and a fire pit, and bought some extra vegetables.

 

Fu Yuhan napped for over an hour. When he came downstairs, everyone else had already arrived. Yang Fan was washing vegetables with the girls in the kitchen, Chu Lei was pressed into a chair peeling potatoes, and Wen Yu sat across from him mixing drinks.

 

“Why didn’t anyone call me?” He yawned and glanced toward the kitchen—Yang Fan was washing vegetables, and while talking, he mentioned something funny and smiled as he kissed Zhao Tong, who was standing beside him picking green beans.

 

Fu Yuhan stared for three seconds, then walked naturally to the table as if nothing had happened.

 

So his words sounded like he was talking to the two people in front of him.

 

“Because we don’t need more labor.” Wen Yu looked up at him, “Go watch TV with Lao Fang. We’ll call you when it’s time to barbecue.”

 

“…Am I being rejected despite being such a grown person?”

 

“Not making you work should be good,” Wen Yu smiled, “you talk too much.”

 

“…”

 

Fang Jiayuan sat alone on the biggest sofa in the living room, constantly channel-surfing on the TV, clearly very bored.

 

Fu Yuhan was sent over to be his fellow sufferer.

 

“Where’s Lao Sun?”

 

Fang Jiayuan pointed at the ceiling with a bitter expression, “Took Chen Mengxian upstairs to chat.”

 

“I’ll introduce you to that Chu Lei peeling potatoes later,” Fu Yuhan yawned again and grabbed the remote, “then you won’t have to be alone.”

 

Fang Jiayuan said very sincerely: “Aren’t you the same, Fu-ge?”

 

“…” Fu Yuhan paused and turned to look at him, “…Of course I am.”

 

“Then having you is enough for me.” Fang Jiayuan didn’t notice Fu Yuhan’s subtle pause where he almost bit his tongue, “But I don’t mind meeting a friend. Is he your buddy?”

 

“…Mm, a former classmate.” Fu Yuhan switched to the movie channel, which was showing an old Hong Kong film.

 

At least it was more interesting than TV shopping and afternoon soap operas.

 

With so many people and large quantities of food, cleaning up took some time. After Wen Yu finished mixing simple cocktails and had nothing to do, he came to the living room to watch TV with Fu Yuhan.

 

“We can start the fire—” Yang Fan shouted from afar, “Who volunteers to light the grills—”

 

“I’ll go.” Fu Yuhan was the first to respond and stand up.

 

He was bored to death.

 

Wen Yu pursed his lips and stood up too: “Should I help you?”

 

“Mm,” Fu Yuhan looked down at Fang Jiayuan, “Together?”

 

“Let’s go, let’s go,” Fang Jiayuan responded enthusiastically, “I don’t want to look at this damn broken TV anymore.”

 

“Actually I just checked it out—there’s a pool room, indoor KTV, and a movie screening room.” Wen Yu said, “We won’t be bored after dinner tonight.”

 

“The main thing is I have no one to keep me company right now,” Fang Jiayuan said, “might as well go light fires, at least do some work.”

 

However, facts proved that accessories were just accessories—he was useless even following along.

 

The barbecue grills used charcoal, and eight out of ten modern people accustomed to gas stoves couldn’t light them. Wen Yu and Fang Jiayuan took turns trying for ages but kept failing, until Fu Yuhan finally snatched the lighter away.

 

“The rental boss said this was simple…” Wen Yu was a bit helpless.

 

“It is quite simple.” After Fu Yuhan finished speaking, he glanced at the two helpless people, “Forget it, I never had high expectations for your practical life skills anyway.”

 

If it were someone else saying this, Wen Yu would now smash firewood on their head, but facing Fu Yuhan, he could only accept it.

 

Folding quilts, washing sheets, cleaning and cooking… During this period, he’d been mocked by Fu Yuhan plenty of times. He was used to it.

 

Fu Yuhan picked a few pieces of kindling charcoal and threw them into the grill, arranging them properly, then tore up some newspaper, lit it with the lighter and threw it in—smokeless charcoal was placed underneath the barbecue grill as a base, with flammable materials on top to ignite it.

 

“This is what I don’t understand,” Fang Jiayuan watched and pondered, “clearly what I did was no different from what you did, so why couldn’t I light it?”

 

“Choose dry wood, not too big, leave space for air when placing it, let it burn for a while after lighting before fanning, don’t rush.” Fu Yuhan lifted his eyelids, “What don’t you understand?”

 

“I understand everything, but still can’t do it.” Wen Yu said, “Forget it, I’ll leave this kind of thing to you from now on.”

 

Fu Yuhan looked at him.

 

Wen Yu: “Mm?”

 

“Okay.” Fu Yuhan lowered his eyelids.

 

Wen Yu was stunned.

 

He had said it casually, but Fu Yuhan’s reaction…

 

Wen Yu pressed his lips together.

 

–

 

After Xu Qianyi finished helping wash vegetables and didn’t see Ge Ran, she looked around and went upstairs, finding a small figure standing by the floor-to-ceiling window in the second-floor small living room.

 

“What are you standing here for?” She walked over, “We’re about to start barbecuing.”

 

Ge Ran didn’t respond.

 

This floor-to-ceiling window faced the small courtyard below. Only when Xu Qianyi walked over did she realize this position provided a perfect view of the slender boy maintaining the fire below.

 

She meaningfully said “oh”: “Watching your lover boy?”

 

“He’s not my lover boy.” Ge Ran turned her face and smiled gently, “If it weren’t for you today, I couldn’t even come. I’m not really part of his circle, okay?”

 

“What’s the big deal? Once Mengxian accepts Lao Sun, we’ll all be in the same circle.” Xu Qianyi said, “But if you want to give up, I have no objections. Fu Yuhan is a good person and handsome, but…”

 

“What?”

 

Xu Qianyi seemed somewhat troubled, thinking for a long while before saying: “People who are good to everyone are, from a certain perspective, quite cold and heartless.”

 

“Is that so?” Ge Ran said softly, turning her head back.

 

Her calm gaze followed that busy figure for three rounds before she finally smiled.

 

“But I think you feel that way only because we haven’t gotten close to him.”

 

“Say whatever you want,” Xu Qianyi rolled her eyes, “anyway, I definitely wouldn’t look for someone like that when finding a boyfriend.”

 

“You talk about pursuing others every day, but I don’t see you taking action.” Ge Ran smiled and touched her hair, “Qianqian, be serious sometimes too.”

 

“I don’t know.” Xu Qianyi thought for a moment, “What about you? Want to be ‘serious’ for once?”

 

“I’m already very serious, but I don’t think he’ll like me.” Ge Ran looked out the window, her smile gradually fading while the serious look in her eyes grew deeper, “So as a farewell, I plan to tell him next month… on Valentine’s Day.”

 

“What?”

 

“‘I like him.'”

 

“…” Xu Qianyi sighed, “There’s no point in me stopping you now, is there?”

 

“Mm.”

 

“Then good luck. I’ll support you in spirit.”

 

“Good.”

 

“Going downstairs?”

 

“Good.”

 

–

 

Group outdoor barbecuing required spending an entire afternoon on preparation. By the time the first batch of skewers was finally ready to eat, the sky had already darkened.

 

As the person with the highest life skills level among the twelve, Fu Yuhan inexplicably became tonight’s head chef. Fortunately, several girls had some cooking skills and could help him grill, otherwise he’d be grilling food for twelve people until dawn.

 

The only problem was that Zhao Tong’s two best friends talked a bit too much and liked to chat with Fu Yuhan.

 

Perhaps because Yang Fan had a girlfriend, and among the remaining handsome guys, only Fu Yuhan was grilling meat with them. Wen Yu sat at the table for a while, couldn’t stand watching anymore, and proactively went over to chat with the two girls, which was a roundabout way of rescuing Fu Yuhan’s ears.

 

Dealing with girls was more suitable for Wen Yu than barbecuing, after all, he was someone who had grown up wearing a “polite and courteous” mask.

 

“Thanks.” Finding a moment, Fu Yuhan lowered his voice and said something in Wen Yu’s ear.

---

 

 (advanced chapters available on kofi)