Don't You Like Me (Complete)

Chapter Ch96 - [Extra: The High School Exams]

Chapter Ch96 - [Extra: The High School Exams] Combing his hair to look like an adult, and looking sharp in a suit.

(Sorry for the delay on this week’s chapter! My fault ><)

When they reached the dorm building, they saw Wang Zhuo and He Hao walking out.

“We’re playing basketball. Coming?” Wang Zhuo waved to them, smiling so widely his eyes almost disappeared, very radiant.

“Sure. Kaifeng and I will drop our bags off and then come find you.” Lin Feiran looked at Wang Zhuo and remembered Wang Zhuo’s desk in the classroom.

Not a single book was left intact. It looked like he had thoroughly vented his feelings.

Lin Feiran could understand Wang Zhuo’s feelings. He had been a bad student who had always scored among the last in class, but in the second half of his second year his grades had risen to be among the middle. Throughout third year his grades steadily rose until he ranked among the top. One did not need to think to know how hard he must have worked. But He Hao must have been the one to put in the most effort. He studied on his own and had to put high pressure on his bad student boyfriend, too.

In Wang Zhuo’s words, “He’s stricter than Old Zheng. I feel like I’m dating the discipline master. If it weren’t true love, we’d have already broken up.”

They put their things down, changed into gym clothes, put on their lovers’ sneakers, then went to the basketball court to look for Wang Zhuo and the others.

Their other close friends were also all there; a familiar battlefield and a familiar location, but this would be the last time they played basketball here. But in tacit agreement, no one mentioned this fact. Everyone played to their hearts’ content, two matches, until the sun set.

When they were about to leave, Wang Zhuo suggested that they buy some beer and drink it on the rooftop, and everyone supported him. So several of the guys went to the supermarket outside school and bought two big cases of beer. They took the cases apart and put the cans into plastic bags, then covered them with snacks, and each one took a bag, and successfully brought them back to the boys’ dorm. When they passed by dorm room 510, Wang Zhuo went in and retrieved a dusty guitar from beneath his bed. He took several tissues and dusted it off, saying excitedly, “Haven’t played in a long time. I’ll show you all… if I don’t play well, blame He Hao. He never lets me play it.”

Papa He smiled indulgently and said nothing.

The guys went up to the roof and sat on the edge, each sticking their legs through the railings to dangle midair. Their feet swung back and forth in the breeze. Lin Feiran pillowed his head on Gu Kaifeng’s shoulder and looked up at the sky, which contained only a few stars, and could barely make out the Big Dipper and the North Star.

They were not the only group who had thought about going out on the roof to see the stars. Two other groups of people were sitting nearby, laughing and talking. There was the scent of cigarettes and inexperienced coughing spreading through the air. The guys scrambled to distribute the beer and snacks, and the sound of cans opening was crisp in the air. One can must have been shaken very vigorously; white foam and the smell of wheat burst from the can, and the guy whose pants had gotten wet laughed uproariously. In the end, everyone raised their cans together toward the night sky and toasted each other in a mess. “To liberation!” “May everyone do well!” “May the couples among us stay together forever!”

………

May our youth be without regrets.

Everyone tilted their heads back and gulped down the beer in their hands.