Those things that happened in those years

Chapter 25 Childish Love

One sunny day, the campus was quiet. Hong Liguo saw Liu Guochen and Zou Jianmin jump over the south wall of the school and head off. He knew that people usually went to the toilet outside the west wall, and since the south wall was the furthest from the classrooms, almost no one came this way. Hong Liguo thought to himself, this is a golden opportunity, I can't miss it, so he quietly followed them.

Hong Liguo didn't climb over the wall directly. Instead, he cautiously eavesdropped from inside the wall to hear what they were saying and what they were doing.

His heart was pounding, a mixture of tension and excitement coursing through him. Hong Liguo wanted to eliminate these two rivals quickly, yet he feared he couldn't handle them alone. Taking down Liu Guochen was a given, but Zou Jianmin, though not as burly as Sun Changlin, was still formidable. Fortunately, they were usually quite well-behaved; he'd never seen them fight before. With a little maneuvering, he figured he had a good chance of taking them down.

Outside the wall, Liu Guochen's voice carried a hint of anger and dissatisfaction: "Zou Jianmin, you're really not being fair! I asked you to pass a note to Qiao Shuang for me, where did you put the note? Qiao Shuang didn't even receive the note I wrote."

Zou Jianmin retorted, not to be outdone, "Who said that? Did you ask her yourself? Anyway, I gave it to her. If you don't believe me, just ask her to her face whether I gave it to her or not."

Zou Jianmin didn't actually give the note to Qiao Shuang at all, because he also liked Qiao Shuang, so how could he help his rival? He was certain that Liu Guochen wouldn't dare to directly ask Qiao Shuang about the note, and if Liu Guochen really had the guts, he would have delivered the note to Qiao Shuang himself.

Liu Guochen got even angrier and raised his voice, saying, "It was very clear in my note that she had to give me a reply whether she wanted to be with me or not. It's been several days now. If you had really given it to her, would she not have replied to me?"

Zou Jianmin also got angry and shouted, "That's her business. Maybe she doesn't like you! You're just being delusional."

Liu Guochen was furious and cursed, "Damn it, don't think I don't know. Lin Menglong told me that you fucking like Qiao Shuang too, don't you? I have a feeling that you didn't give her my letter; you must have thrown it away secretly. You despicable scoundrel, if I had known you were this kind of person, I wouldn't have asked you to pass on my message."

Upon hearing this, Hong Liguo thought to himself: You know perfectly well that Zou Jianmin also likes Qiao Shuang, yet you still let him pass on the message. You're even more foolish than a pig. You have a good-looking face, but unfortunately, you have no brains.

Zou Jianmin glared angrily and retorted, "Did I beg you to let me run errands for you? Didn't you come to me yourself? I said I wouldn't go, and you still begged me. Let me tell you, watch your mouth. Qiao Shuang not replying to you means she doesn't like you. Don't try to pin this on me. If you're so capable, go ask her yourself."

洪立果没想到这两个小子比自己速度快呀！都给乔爽写情书了。这两个狗揍的，自己非得教训教训他俩不可，让他俩给自己离乔爽远远的。他在墙内暗暗发狠，心中的怒火已经快要将自己吞噬，洪立果的拳头攥得「格崩崩」直响。

Just as Hong Liguo was pondering how to teach them a lesson, the two outside the wall, their conversation growing increasingly heated, actually started to fight. He thought, "Perfect! I'll sit back and watch them fight. If one of them is defeated and forced to retreat, the other will be easier to deal with." So, Hong Liguo didn't alert them, but quietly returned to the classroom, still thinking about the two of them, wondering how this fight would end. He hoped they would both be completely defeated.

Neither of them returned to class after school. Hong Liguo thought they must have both died from overwork. Good, that would save him trouble. Although he knew it wasn't the right thing to think, at that moment, he felt an inexplicable sense of relief, as if their disappearance would bring him one step closer to Qiao Shuang. However, Hong Liguo also knew that things weren't that simple, and the path of his relationship with Qiao Shuang was still full of unknowns and challenges.

The next morning, shortly after arriving at school, Hong Liguo saw Liu Guochen and Zou Jianmin limping into the classroom, their faces and hands covered in bruises and abrasions, looking utterly disheveled. Seeing this, Hong Liguo thought to himself that their fight the previous day must have been exceptionally fierce, like two enraged lions locked in a life-or-death struggle for a lioness.

In an instant, a complex emotion welled up in Hong Liguo's heart, a mixture of schadenfreude and disappointment. Hong Liguo had countless times fantasized that one of them would use courage and strength to completely defeat the other and eliminate them. But now, the situation left him feeling rather listless. He cursed inwardly: "Looks like it's just a lose-lose situation! Damn cowards, why didn't they just cripple one of them?"

Just as Hong Liguo was lost in his thoughts, a smile unconsciously creeping onto his face, secretly pleased with himself, the whispers of his classmates around him drifted into his ears like a gentle breeze.

Hong Liguo listened intently with curiosity, and then suddenly realized that their injuries were not from yesterday's fierce fight.

Here's what happened: Yesterday, the two were talking outside the school's south wall when they got into a heated argument and started fighting. Fortunately, someone from another class witnessed it and pulled them apart, preventing a more serious conflict. Afterwards, the two calmed down and had a seemingly peaceful negotiation. Ultimately, Zou Jianmin made an unexpected decision—he chose to withdraw from the competition for Qiao Shuang's affections and promised never to have any further improper thoughts about her. In exchange, Liu Guochen agreed to pay his food expenses for a semester, two yuan per day.

Holy crap! A passionate, all-consuming love affair, a love that was supposed to be a fight to the death, ultimately lost to two dollars a day! This is utterly despicable. What an absurd ending, Hong Liguo thought to himself in disbelief.

So, how did they get their injuries? It turns out that after the negotiations, the two didn't return to school. Instead, they went to the township supply and marketing cooperative. Liu Guochen, to express his gratitude to Zou Jianmin for withdrawing, bought some food and a bottle of liquor. At the cooperative's entrance, they sat on the ground, taking turns drinking. The bottle was quickly emptied, their faces flushed, and their steps became unsteady. Just then, school let out. They staggered to their feet, each got on their bicycle, and joined the crowd, wobbling along the dirt road like two lost, drunken men.

Unexpectedly, as they walked, a cool breeze blew by, and the effects of the alcohol intensified. Their consciousness gradually blurred, and they could barely control their bicycles. On a downhill slope, their bicycles scraped against each other, causing the bikes to shake violently. Alcohol had numbed their senses, and they didn't have time to apply the brakes. They tumbled into a ditch by the roadside, bikes and all. The fall was severe; their faces, hands, knees, and other parts of their bodies were cut and bruised by sharp stones and branches. Their gruesome appearance suggested they had just survived a brutal fight.