Through The Strait Gates Chapter 16

The guy that got the smaller king shut his eyes, and then randomly picked two cards without knowing which direction he was facing, "*Two of spades and five of spades."

*T/N: I have no experience with playing cards in English whatsoever. Feel free to correct me.

Xu Xilin rolled his eyes, having a bad feeling about this. "I'm two of spades."

In these situations, he was always the focus of attack since everyone thought they were pretty familiar with him. People always let loose more when they were with familiar acquaintances.

"Where's five of spades? Who's five of spades, stand up, come on!"

Between everyone's whistling, Luo Bing stood up in the corner. She quickly glanced at Xu Xilin, and walked out of the corner with her head bowed.

Lao Cheng, unafraid of causing even more chaos, immediately slapped the smaller king's shoulder and started howling. Wu Tao grabbed the microphone, stood on a couch, and fake coughed, "Mhmm, quiet, all of you. *I'm going to start issuing orders."

*here Wu Tao uses the "I" emperors used in ancient China.

Xu Xilin kicked him.

Wu Tao turned sideways and took the kick. "A gorgeous pair! What do you all say we do about this!"

Lao Cheng took the lead in cheering, "Make 'em kiss!"

"Where?" Wu Tao asked.

The troublemakers cheered collectively, "On the mouth!"

"Go to h.e.l.l, Lao Cheng!" Xu Xilin exclaimed.

Luo Bing's face was so boiling red it was ripe as a tomato. Tears were almost pushed out by the heat.

Wu Tao lifted the microphone. "Can you not be such a p.u.s.s.y, Tuanzuo? We've agreed that whoever sits here with a card but backs out is a b.a.s.t.a.r.d."

Xu Xilin looked at Luo Bing with uncertainty. He was nonchalant about them trying to mess with him, but it wasn't cool to involve Luo Bing.

Lao Cheng, always looking to mess up things further, came up with an idea immediately. He egged on a group of girls to start making a ruckus with him, "Are you shying, cla.s.s president?"

"Is the head of our cla.s.s so afraid because she's overwhelmed with Tuanzuo's hotness?"

Wu Tao looked at Xu Xilin with a grin on his face, like a procurer trying to get a client. "If you don't kiss her, Tuanzuo, you can get someone else to kiss her."

Xu Xilin: "......"

He was robbed of all ways to get out of this by these people. He originally relied on Luo Bing to stand up and deliberately refuse this, but he didn't know that Luo Bing would be checkmated by the phrase "overwhelmed with hotness." She neither would, nor could she, outright refuse this. As the girl didn't express her opinion, if he didn't cooperate with their little game, Luo Bing would be stuck in a bad position.

After a brief moment of hesitation, Xu Xilin walked over to her silently.

Luo Bing stared straight ahead, afraid to look up. Her gaze rested on the b.u.t.tons on Xu Xilin's dress shirt above his chest. Her eyelashes trembled greatly, but he didn't know if it was nerves or excitement.

"Can you two get on with it?" Wu Tao asked. "What feelings are you trying to conjure that's taking so long?"

Xu Xilin flipped him. Then he lightly put his hand forward like he was circling Luo Bing's shoulders, when he was actually very careful not to touch her. With this tiny bit of coverage, he lowered his head and faked a kiss, pulling back after a brief pose. In the room's dim lights, the people standing far away had no way to notice the difference.

Afterwards, when Luo Bing came back to her senses, she sighed--one she didn't know was disappointment or relief. She quickly sat back in her original seat, and angrily pinched the girls that had cheered, one by one.

The ones farther from them couldn't see clearly, but the ones close obviously knew what was going on. Just as Wu Tao was going to accuse Xu Xilin of cheating at the top of his lungs, he was stopped by a warning glare from Xu Xilin. He finally came back to his senses from his beer-induced adrenaline rush, and remembered that Luo Bing had a thin dignity, that it wasn't good for him to push it. So he shut up without a fight, and started planning his next wicked agenda.

Xu Xilin grabbed Lao Cheng by the collar of his shirt, and shoved his head into the sofa. He gave Lao Cheng a couple of hard punches, "Be careful and don't fall into my hands the next time."

Lao Cheng started to yell, unabashed and unashamed, and Tsai Jing laughed along to the mood. It was monotonous, not even reaching his *dermis.

*the middle layer of your skin.

Everyone had been helping him out with his shifts this semester. Along with the change he earned from the occasional article and limited spending, Tsai Jing had saved up about two thousand RMB in total. To him, this was enough to last him through the entire third year. He was in a rare relaxed mood, and had made an exception, taking a day off to join this cla.s.s activity. But now everything was starting to lose meaning for him.

Because to Tsai Jing, Luo Bing was different.

Most of the students in the cla.s.s came from well-off families. Only Luo Bing understood what it was like to be him because she was the same. He was attracted to her by instinct. But Tsai Jing would not admit that he liked Luo Bing that way, nor did he ever show a bit of it. Because Luo Bing was smart, and pretty, and at the young stage where people were unaware of social cla.s.s, Xu Xilin wasn't out of her league to like.

But Tsai Jing wasn't the same. Even if his articles could write out a charming, sweeping-her-off-her-feet champion flower, he could only, at most, get the full sixty points on writing on the uni exam. Complete with his science and math, which were absolute s.h.i.t, he was beyond saving even if he had the heart to.

Other people's futures were where's the road? it's beneath my feet, but his future was the moving board in Super Mario, forcing him to put his life on the line every time he jumped, everytime he ran.

So he didn't deserve to like anyone. Toads should keep to plants.

He just had that sickening clunk in his chest whenever someone whistled for Xu Xilin and Luo Bing.

Today's clunk was especially bad. Tsai Jing's chest hurt.

Xu Xilin didn't notice it. He walked back and sat down beside Dou Xun, awkward from head to toe. Then he heard Dou Xun suddenly ask him, "It's getting boring. How about we leave now?"

Xu Xilin didn't know what riled him up again, but Dou Xun's comment hit him right in his interests. He glanced at his watch. It was nearly twelve.

"Fine, just let me have one last cup of water before we go."

Dou Xun, after hearing his request, immediately took a bottle of iced red tea over. He opened the cap, and handed it over to Xu Xilin, looking like he was going to pour it down Xu Xilin's throat himself if he took too long.

Xu Xilin took it exasperatedly. Dou Xun had already got up and walked over to get both their backpacks, heart like an arrow desperate to be home.

Lao Cheng scooted over and whispered in his ear, "What's going on with Dou Xian Er?"