Seizing Dreams

After Valentine’s, summer vacation was almost half over. After Yu Hao handed in the first round of translations, the second round was sent to his mailbox immediately. It seemed that the organisation couldn’t find suitable outsourcing, so when they saw that Yu Hao handed in translations quickly, they immediately threw another pile at him. Yu Hao thought, is it that hard for you guys to find a few translators? But okay, okay......since I’m getting money I’ll just accept it ba.

Yu Hao looked through the translation forum for a long time and realised that his own work really was like moving bricks, low-paying but essential. Except for the first time he got paid when Chen Yekai served as an intermediary, the organization bypassed Chen Yekai and the second time and directly contacted Yu Hao for a remuneration 20% lower than the market price. A lot of foreign language students would not accept such work.

However,Yu Hao was already extremely satisfied with this. At least it was better than actually moving bricks.

“How much was that bottle of wine?” Yu Hao asked Zhou Sheng.

Zhou Sheng, “2,000. Added a bit more, so you won’t owe him anything.”

Yu Hao said, “How much was the meal?”

Zhou Sheng, “Laozi’s the Young Master of Yun Lai Chun, why would I need to pay for a meal in my own family’s shop?”

Yu Hao said, “We ate that meal!!”

Zhou Sheng, “I signed the bill, it was counted alongside our dinner. Yu Hao, could you stop being annoying?”

Yu Hao, “Okay then, I’ll transfer you the money for the wine......”

Zhou Sheng was baffled, “Isn’t my money always with you?”

Yu Hao thought that was true, so he could only add the red packets he received into Zhou Sheng’s living expenses. But he had only received 1,580 from the red packets, so Yu Hao decided that he might as well go whole hog and scrolled through his WeChat to tap on the two red packets that Gothic Armour had sent him within the past 24 hours, and only then did he consider the whole situation more balanced.

Yu Hao, “I’ve been blacklisted......”

Zhou Sheng mocked, “He’s just scum; he’s been tricking you with the usual routine, and you didn’t even know.”

Yu Hao didn’t know at all how to appraise if someone was scum or not. When he kept asking Zhou Sheng how he managed to tell, Zhou Sheng ignored him and fell asleep.

No more blind dates......just let my life be like this ba.

Yu Hao gave up completely. His life recently was like a chaotic farce that had gone out of control. He didn’t want to drive around repeatedly while thinking about Zhou Sheng, thinking about transferring his feelings, thinking about General, thinking about love, and thinking about life anymore. He couldn’t understand anything and ended up tiring himself out too. Love was indeed like a lottery for him — not only was it impossible for him to win, but he also didn’t know where he had thrown his lottery ticket.

I’ll just continue crushing on him one-sidedly ba, Yu Hao thought. If worst comes to worst, he would just take note of the distance between them so that Zhou Sheng wouldn’t be called a homo. After he decided this, Yu Hao relaxed a little.

In midsummer, there were gradually fewer and fewer students at college, and even those students who didn’t go home and stayed in college had left. It was very quiet every night; it was so quiet that this place seemed to be isolated from the rest of the world. The last window of the canteen closed as well, public buses stopped running, and even Chen Yekai went home. Every day, Zhou Sheng either cooked, or the two of them would walk about 2 kilometers to eat at the stir-fry shop at the foot of the mountain.

“What’s this?” One night, Yu Hao found out that Zhou Sheng had brought back several sets of clothing and hung them up in the wardrobe. They were all China-styled T-shirts and hemp trousers.

“Boss gave them to me.” Zhou Sheng said as if nothing had happened, “Found a part-time job as an online model. Just ended today and got 4,000.”

“So you went out everyday to be a model?” Yu Hao said, “Why didn’t you say so?”

“No.” Zhou Sheng said without any expression on his face, then turned over, and lay down to sleep.

Yu Hao was full of doubts. He finished translating the manuscript for today and would be able to hand in the second round before summer vacation ended. He would need to take some time out to study when school reopened, but after nearly five months of translating part-time, his foreign language comprehension and Chinese writing level had improved by leaps and bounds. He would probably be able to pass the CET-4 in January next year with his eyes closed.

Find a job that you’re willing to devote your life to, be with a person whom you truly love...... every quiet night after Yu Hao finished his work, he couldn’t help but recall Chen Yekai’s words. Is translating a work that I’m willing to devote my life to? Yu Hao doesn’t think so, but this part-time translation job had awakened a sense of responsibility in his heart.

“Zhou Sheng?” When Yu Hao was about to get off his bed and go wash up, he suddenly saw the Golden Crow Wheel’s light in the dormitory.

Zhou Sheng wore the Golden Crow Wheel to sleep!

Yu Hao suddenly felt nervous and shook Zhou Sheng. Zhou Sheng opened his eyes in a split second. Since he was woken up, he said angrily, “What are you doing?!”

Zhou Sheng sat up in annoyance. Yu Hao got quite a fright and asked, “Whose dream did you enter?”

Zhou Sheng, “......”

Zhou Sheng looked up at Yu Hao, who looked just like a bullied child,and was frowning deeply. Yu Hao asked nervously, “Are you okay? What’s wrong?”

Zhou Sheng took a deep breath and calmed down, “Didn’t I promise you that I wouldn’t enter other people’s dreams by myself again?”

Yu Hao said, “Yeah! Then why did you......”

“Of course it’s my own dream ah, could you relax?” Zhou Sheng said.

“Oh......” Half of Yu Hao’s life had disappeared from fright, “You were in your own dream, okay. It’s nothing, I was just too nervous, go back to sleep ba.”

Yu Hao went to brush his teeth. Zhou Sheng plopped back down on his bed and let out a prolonged breath.

When Yu Hao was washing up, he suddenly remembered that he hadn’t been paying much attention recently, but Zhou Sheng seemed to have been sleeping with his hands under his pillow. How long has he been using the Golden Crow Wheel for? But he never came to Yu Hao’s dream? What was Zhou Sheng doing in his dream?

Yu Hao went to bed and studied Zhou Sheng. When Zhou Sheng fell asleep, he was frowning deeply with one hand under his blanket and the other shifted a bit unconsciously. Yu Hao observed him for a moment, but didn’t ask any more questions and laid down to sleep.

At this time, he got a notification on WeChat to remind him that a stranger had added him around 8pm.

Yu Hao took a look at it. He was added through a search, but his WeChat was his mobile number, so who was this person?

Yu Hao accepted the request and took another look at Zhou Sheng, who was fast asleep. He was just about to go to bed when his phone screen lit up.

Stranded:【Still not asleep even though it’s this late?】

Yu Hao:【It’s summer vacation, who are you?】

Stranded sent an emoticon and said:【Going to sleep, my Mum might confiscate my phone. I’ll talk to you tomorrow, good night.】

Yu Hao was utterly baffled. Looking at the tone of the messages, it seemed like someone he knew. He put his phone down, looked at Zhou Sheng again who didn’t seem to have moved, then fell asleep apprehensively.

For the next few days, Zhou Sheng always went to sleep wearing the Golden Crow Wheel and got up everyday without saying a word. Yu Hao sensed that something seemed a little off.

One morning, Zhou Sheng was brushing his teeth wearily. Yu Hao didn’t dream at all during the night, which meant that Zhou Sheng didn’t go to find him. Yu Hao therefore observed Zhou Sheng, “Were you okay last night?”

“Un.” Zhou Sheng said, “In a few days, wanna go to the amusement park? Summer vacation’s almost over.”

“Okay.” Yu Hao said, “What are you doing in your dream?”

Zhou Sheng didn’t answer. He looked at the phone in Yu Hao’s hand and asked, “Who are you talking to?”

“A kid.” Yu Hao said, “I don’t know how he managed to add me.”

“A kid?” Zhou Sheng laughed, “How young?”

“Third year of senior high.” Yu Hao said.

Zhou Sheng didn’t know if he should cry or laugh, “How did you guys hook up?”

That guy named “Stranded” added Yu Hao and would talk to him every day. He was 19 years old, just finished his second year, and was now in his third year. He took a gap year before, so he was actually older than Yu Hao by a few months. Yu Hao had always thought it seemed strange and kept asking him how he managed to find his WeChat number. The other party just said that his friend was the one who introduced him.

Yu Hao suspected that this kid may have an older brother or sister in the same college, or they could even be in the same cohort as him. The senior high student named “Stranded” went to cram school during summer vacation. He asked Yu Hao if he could tutor him in English and offered to pay him. Yu Hao looked at the questions — they were indeed college entrance examination questions, so he would explain them to the other party on WeChat once in awhile. He thought that the kid shouldn’t be deceiving him ba? It didn’t seem like it. If he even wrote an entire English composition to fool Yu Hao, then he would have really been putting too much effort into it.

“When are you gonna meet up for a date? Zhou Sheng had a mocking smile on his face.

Yu Hao, “No dates, I’m not interested in high schoolers.”

Zhou Sheng, “How would you know if you haven’t seen him? Go ba.”

Yu Hao, “......”

“Zhou Sheng?” Yu Hao saw on Zhou Sheng’s locked phone screen that there was a WeChat message from “Jingya”.

“Un?” Zhou Sheng was waxing his hair in front of the mirror and asked Yu Hao, “Do you prefer my hair longer or shorter?”

But Yu Hao’s thoughts weren’t on Zhou Sheng’s hair at all, “You can call me anytime there’s a problem, okay? I feel like something’s been off about you these days.”

“Nothing’s off——” Zhou Sheng said, “I’m doing very well, so hey, which hairstyle looks good?”

Yu Hao said, “The hairstyle I first saw you in was nice, the colour looked good too.”

“I’ll dye it again for you then?”

“Don’t.” Yu Hao said, “I prefer black hair. Are you going out today? Zhou Sheng, I think we need to talk.”

“In a few days ba.” Zhou Sheng said, “I’m busy today, don’t wait for me to eat dinner. The jeans Kaikai bought for you looked pretty good, lend me that pair?”

“I bought it myself .” Yu Hao said, “The original price was 2,400.”

Yu Hao found the jeans and passed it to Zhou Sheng. When Zhou Sheng wore it, it seemed to fit him better than Yu Hao, making him appear very street-like and trendy. “How is it?”

“You’re practically born to be a clothes hanger.” Yu Hao said helplessly, “The jeans are yours from now on, who are you meeting today?”

Zhou Sheng laughed, then took his jacket and went out. It was a rainy day today. Yu Hao stood on the balcony and looked at the road that was wet from the rain.

Zhou Sheng pulled up his hood and appeared lonely as he walked along the road outside the dormitory.

Yu Hao attached the last of his manuscripts to an email and sent it out. He recalled the sea of clouds and dense fog in Zhou Sheng’s dream, then got up to open Zhou Sheng’s drawer —— the Golden Crow Wheel was taken away by Zhou Sheng.

What the hell is that guy doing? Yu Hao thought.

Before the end of summer vacation, he had finished all his work. Fu Liqun and Cen Shan uploaded a lot of pictures they took in Hokkaido to their group chat. Yu Hao’s train of thought was temporarily diverted as he scrolled through the photos in the group and was struck violently by their affectionate displays. He thought, it must be nice to be dating, I really wanna go to Hokkaido with Zhou Sheng too, and just do nothing all day but be lovey-dovey with each other.

Stranded:【Huu, I’m finally done with cram school, and my own school’s about to reopen. Are you free today? Do you want to eat together?】

Yu Hao:【It’s raining, I don’t want to go out.】

Stranded:【Come out and have a chat with me ba, I’m on the verge of committing suicide.】

Yu Hao:【Don’t joke about something like that.】

Stranded sent a few ‘hahaha’s:【I’ll go to your college to look for you?】

Yu Hao:【You don’t know where I am.】

Stranded:【Of course I do, I even know that you major in Psychology.】

Yu Hao, “......”

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