Short story: Rivals (冤家) by 如似我闻 Ru Si Wo Wen
------ Synopsis -----
Title: Rivals (冤家; yuan jia)
Summary:
That day, the debate topic was: Is money the root of all evil?
No, it isn’t money that’s the root of all evil—it’s Lin Qin.
Author-added JJWXC content tags: enemies-to-lovers, sweet story, campus, relaxing
Translator-added tags: fluff, humour, slice-of-life, one-shot
CP: Lu Ran (gong), Lin Qin (shou)
----- Story text -----
-01
Based on what Lu Ran could clearly recall, the grudge between he and Lin Qin had first been borne during the freshman debate competition.
That day, the debate topic was: "Is money the root of all evil?"
No, it wasn’t money that was the root of all evil—it was Lin Qin.
At that time, Lu Ran's new girlfriend had gathered a cheerleading team for him in the audience, and after each of his speeches, waves of applause would come from the audience, who also sent praises flying, such as "this little brother[1] is so handsome”. This was not only a huge morale booster for Lu Ran, but also created a momentum to suppress the opposing party.
[TN: This ‘little brother’ is a bit of a culturally-laden term – typically, the term used for ‘little brother’ or ‘young brother’ in the literal sense is ‘(xiao) didi’ (xiao means small), but here, it’s ‘xiao gege’, which technically has the meaning of ‘little elder brother’ (because gege means older brother). This is a friendly way of referring to a younger man who isn’t blood related.]
The third debater, Lin Qin, calmly adjusted his glasses. His last sentence was: "Money is merely the outward manifestation of the greed and hypocrisy of humans. Likewise, other outward manifestations include cheerleading."
Lu Ran: "...heck."
They then approached the free debate session. The smoke had grown smothering, and the war had reached an irreversible state.
Who could have thought that Lin Qin, a gentle-looking bespectacled boy, could contain so much mockery and sarcasm? Ultimately, it was down to the two of them were left on the arena. Their fierce debate contained personal attacks, ultimately ending with Lu Ran’s ‘national-level’ curse, after which he couldn’t hold it in any longer.
In the midst of it all, the cheerleaders’ hearts were captured by Lin Qin. Except for his girlfriend, the entire squad switched camps—they’d started applauding and cheering for him instead. They even started calling him "little brother" lovingly.
Lin Qin had even found the time to throw a glance at the girls and shoot them a smile.
Haha, Lu Ran thought, behold the hypocrisy of human nature.
Lin Qin's team won. When he received the certificate with both hands, he even threw Lu Ran a glance.
Haha, Lu Ran thought, behold the greed of human nature.
After leaving the debate hall, Lu Ran swore sincerely to the heavens that he would never make peace with this grandson of a kid. He was going to beat him up every time he caught sight of him in future.
-02
The question was—did he really beat him up?
No.
Why?
Because the second time he saw this grandson was when they were in the bathhouse, both naked.
For schools in the north, the bathhouses tended to be simple and open—everyone would gather together under the showers. Rubbing his head to foam his hair, Lu Ran happened to look over, and all that entered his line of sight was a dick. His vision fell to the side of his body inadvertently—aiya, this brother has a thin waist and long legs. His gaze moved upwards slowly.
Damn, Lin Qin?!
Should I beat him up or not?
Lin Qin removed his glasses in the steam. He then narrowed his eyes so as to see him more clearly, and his face changed immediately.
Lu Ran was battling the heavens at the moment. When their eyes locked gazes, he had no choice but to say some greetings awkwardly. "Brother, have you come to take a shower by yourself?"
Lin Qin’s response was direct. "Shut up."
The rivals had met. Their bodies were bare.
Now that his vow to beat him up during their second meeting fell apart, the oath he’d made previously was broken, and he had to call his roommate ‘Father’ for a whole sorrowful week. From then on, whenever Lu Ran mentioned Lin Qin, he thought of himself as his grandfather.
The rivals met occasionally. They pretended to not see each other. Things were peaceful.
-03
Everything changed on a night when the stars and the moon were exchanging their radiances.
That day, Lu Ran's girlfriend broke up with him once the dishes were served. The chopsticks he just pulled out fell to the ground, clattering as they did.
His girlfriend was his senior. Her application for a position to study abroad was accepted, and if she did well there, she would be staying there for good. Among all her relatives and friends, Lu Ran was the last person to find out.
He nodded. This saved him from having to come up with what to say. He simply pushed the necklace he’d specially prepared towards her—she had liked the Weibo post it featured in, so he bought it with his living expenses, gritting his teeth as he lived for the whole month on the help of his roommate-turned-fathers. The money he used to buy the dinner tonight was also an amount he’d barely scraped together.
The senior immediately shook her head, telling him that she definitely couldn’t receive it, extending a hand to push it back.
"Sigh, what would I keep it with me for?" Lu Ran stood up, walking out with a wave of his hand. "Congratulations."
As he took a step out of the glass door, he became a dog of singlehood, albeit in honour.
He didn’t want to return to the dormitory yet, so he loitered under the neon lights on the street. Eventually, he entered an Internet cafe.
He rummaged around in his pockets, and realised that he had no money. Lu Ran found a seat to randomly sit down at, in a daze and not even knowing what thoughts were transpiring in his own mind. He suddenly remembered how he’d wanted to say to his girlfriend, "You’ve been really busy these few days, and I miss you."
When this sentence emerged in his mind, he felt a little sting in his eyes, The internet café was dimly-lit, so it was obvious that no one could see him clearly. But he still covered up and lowered his head, pretending that he was simply trying to push a switch on the computer panel.
His hands moved faster than his brain did. When he pressed the switch on the panel and a light went off, Lu Ran realised, in horror, that he’d pressed something by accident.
The computer screen next to him went dark, and the person beside him who had been in the midst of playing games pulled off his headphones. He turned to look at him, and was shocked the moment he saw him face to face.
Lin Qin was even angrier now. "Are you making life difficult for me on purpose?"
"No, not this time. It's a mere coincidence." Lu Ran waved a hand awkwardly. "I'm sorry about it, alright?"
In that moment, Lin Qin may have seen the sorrow in his expression, because his face softened, and he started speaking more warmly. "You..."
But even before he finished speaking, Lu Ran's stomach growled.
He’d left too hastily earlier on, and didn't get to eat a single bite of the food on the table.
Lu Ran couldn't not bear staying any longer, so he stood up tried to take his leave quickly, only for Lin Qin to call out to him.
Lin Qin retrieved a cup of instant noodles from the front desk and threw it into Lu Ran's arms like a basketball. He then sat back down in his seat and turned on the computer again.
The instant noodles were tossed accurately and fiercely, but fortunately, the noodles didn't break apart. They spread outwards in the hot water, and the warm feeling that entered his stomach had evaporated the hypocritical tears that had formed in the corners of his eyes.
Lu Ran was grateful for his favour, but when he saw Lin Qin's character get trapped at the wall again, he still could not resist saying, "You must be a rare weird species among boys. You are simply terrible at this game."
Lin Qin gave him a murderous look, grabbing onto the cup of instant noodles, which only had soup left. "I almost cleared this just now."
Fearing that he was going to pour the noodle soup on his head, Lu Ran quickly said, "Really? That’s a waste, let's continue trying our best!"
As the character in the game ran around, Lu Ran felt full. Not knowing what else to say, he asked, "Why did you suddenly decide to play games?"
"My friend studies game design, and he signed up for a competition. He asked me to join his team and be in charge of helping him do up the writeup. I haven't seen the game before, so I came here to learn how to play it, as if going for a tuition session."
"You went to the Internet cafe specifically to play this game?"
"Yeah. Beats disturbing others' sleep in the dormitory."
Lin Qin seemed to follow a good schedule in the dormitory, unlike Lu Ran, who played games all night, occasionally singing and dancing. However, Lu Ran was good at games. He even played Miracle Nikki, Krypton and Wild Man [TN: names of otome games.] so that he would be able to increase the conversational topics he had with his senior back when they were in a relationship.
"How long is this tuition session of yours going to persist? Shall I help tutor you a little?" Lu Ran suggested.
Lin Qin cast him a half-smiling gaze from behind the lens, sounding doubtful as he asked, "You?"
Lu Ran nodded. "Me."
-04
For the next two months, the two of them were in frequent contact, studying the game almost every day and night. Lin Qin was a meticulous person, and did feel sick of doing so even after revising it over and over again.
The biggest change that had taken place was that Lu Ran changed his WeChat nickname from "Grandson" to "Lin Qin".
He then thought that all was settled from then on. But one day, Lin Qin saw that he’d changed it. Half-smilingly, he asked, "Wasn't the previous one pretty good?"
"Ah," Lu Ran didn’t even change his expression as he responded, "I thought about it and felt that I shouldn't take advantage of you like this. Calling me ‘Grandpa’ is too embarrassing for you, so just call me ‘Dad’."
Lin Qin picked up the neck pillow and threw it at him.
--
The game they made was made to a high degree of completeness, bringing their team the highest honour. When the results came out, Lin Qin forwarded him the message and sent him a red envelope[2] on behalf of his friend.
[TN: Presumably they won some money from the competition, so Lin Qin’s friend probably split some of the money with those who helped out, like Lin Qin and Lu Ran. This ‘red envelope’ (Chinese term meaning ‘monetary gift’) probably contains it. Another possible interpretation would be that the friend paid them for their help out of his own pocket.]
Actually, Lu Ran had already been holding his phone ever since the early morning, anticipating the announcement. The text column read: Lin Qin, Lu Ran.
The names were there, right beside one another's.
He also felt a sense of delight there in his heart, which he had no idea how to comprehend. But it disappeared almost immediately.
Now that this task was over, they wouldn’t have any reason to contact one another again, would they?
After thinking about it again and again, Lu Ran finally went ahead and sent him a message: I recall that you don’t have classes in the morning, please help me pick up a parcel. I will look for you to take it after class.
After sending the message, he raised his head, but the words of the old professor standing on the podium went past his ears, and he couldn’t hear a single word he was saying.
His phone buzzed, and his hand trembled along.
Lin Qin: Okay.
---
Lin Qin was waiting for him in the bottom floor of the dormitory, holding a box in his arms. Seeing Lu Ran approach, he asked, "What did you buy? It’s pretty heavy."
"Open it and take a look."
"I open it?" Lin Qin was stunned.
Lu Ran nodded. "Of course."
Lin Qin tore open the express box, a subtle emotion visible on his countenance. He took a glance at the things inside, and then took a glance at Lu Ran, who was playing it cool. "What’s this—trying to woo me?"
"To think you’ll actually say such a thing," Lu Ran said. "It’s your birthday gift."
"My birthday is in six months. Or is this for last year's birthday?"
"Then take it as me reserving you in advance," Lu Ran said, brushing shoulders with him and starting to walk towards the cafeteria. "Daddy Lin, your son has already emptied the family's savings to pay this tribute to you. I’ll have to rely on your meal card to get through the month."
Lin Qin let out a sarcastic laugh, but did not push him away.
-05
Lin Qin finished his final exam earlier than Lu Ran, who turned on his mobile phone on the way out of the exam hall after handing in his exam paper.
'Boyfriend' sent a message: It's raining.
Let it rain then—wouldn’t this force you to wait for me? Lu Ran thought.
Outside the door, raindrops fell like beads onto the ground, making pitter-patter noises as they did. Lin Qin stood in the rain holding an umbrella. He was wearing a light grey long windbreaker, and the hem had gotten a little wet.
When Lu Ran got under the umbrella, and Lu Qin was the first to ask, "How did you do on the exam?"
Lu Ran couldn't stop shaking his head: "My corpse is already going cold—the person who set the exam actually managed to perfectly avoid all the main points that I’d drawn out!"
"More like you didn’t study well," Lin Qin said. "I do think you’re bad at everything except playing games."
Seeing that no one was paying attention to them, Lu Ran reached into Lu Qin’s windbreaker with one hand. He then caressed his waist and leaned on his shoulder. "Say it again—who’s bad at doing things?"
Lin Qin elbowed him in the chest. "Could you have a little decency?"
Smiling, he said nothing in response. The rain continued to fall.
-End-
Comments
Post a Comment