through the strait gates(过门/Guomen)//work by priest(CN)//BL

Chapter 2: A Bad Start (vol. scallions)

Volume 1: Scallions

Warning: Bullying/violence included in this chapter

Thirteen years ago, the young man who owned the flower shop had no mustache, and Dou Xun was merely a self-centric, arrogant teenager that hated the world and everything in it.

And Xu Xilin, no matter if he was willing to admit it himself or not, was a complete troublemaker back then—

"Tch, go away." Xu Xilin kicked his dog away with the tip of his foot, saved his backpack from the dog's mouth, and stuffed the cigarette box that peeked out of the bag back.

The dog acted like it had smelled something, and howled at him hysterically.

The dog's name was *Dou-dou. Dou-dou was presumably a mix of Japanese Spitz, German Shepherd, and Chinese Rural—a mongrel in every meaning.

There's a saying that "people are ordered into 3, 6 and 9 standards, and dogs have their differences on loyalty." Dou-dou was a tramp of a dog––a bully to the weaker ones but a coward in front of the stronger ones, enjoyed provoking who it shouldn't every now and then—especially when he wasn't supposed to.

Xu Xilin was extremely annoyed by it, and wished that he could strangle it to death every day. "Do you care so much that you're everywhere?"

Unfortunately, there was someone that gave it the right to do that.

Once it barked, Grandma shouted from inside the house. "*Xiao-Lin, are you bullying Dou-Dou again?"

"As if I'd dare to," Xu Xilin hauled his backpack onto his back, "I'm heading out for school, Grandma."

"So early?" A middle-aged woman came out of the kitchen, saw what Xu Xilin was wearing, and fussed over him. "Why are you not wearing your down jacket again? What are you wearing inside? Are you wearing autumn clothes inside? Pull down your jacket zipper and let me check."

This was Ms. Du, the housekeeper his family had hired, who had a very, very far away relation with his mom, and if they counted the removed, cousins, all that relative stuff, Xu Xilin would have to call her his aunt.

He grudgingly pulled down the zipper of his jacket, but then pulled it back up swiftly. He turned round and dashed out, yelling, "I'm wearing them, I have stuff at school, gotta go, bye Auntie!"

Ms. Du's eyes were more keen than a needle. She spotted that he only had a short-sleeved T-shirt worn under his jacket, and chased after him, bellowing, "Get back here! You don't even have your autumn pants on, don't you? How dare you clown around on a cold day again—I'm going to tell your mother later!"

Xu Xilin ran as fast as the wind, disappearing out of her voice's reach within seconds.

Jeez, which 16 year old hottie wears autumn pants?

Class began on two twenty p.m, but the school required students to arrive before two o'clock. It wasn't even 1:30 p.m yet, so Xu Xilin ran downstairs, checked that there wasn't anyone around, and called a cab, headed to Moon's Half Curve with a pack of *soft Zhonghuas as a gift.

Moon's Half Curve was the local entertainment venue. Though it was considered a legal venue, it still spurred quite a few ravishing "city-legends", and was on the list of not-allowed places for high school students to visit. Xu Xilin had to pretend that he didn't saw the driver's unspoken condemning gaze on him the whole drive.

Xu Xilin had a *brother named Song Lianyuan. When Song Lianyuan was young, Xu Xilin's mom had helped him and his family out a lot, so on every festival and holiday, he always brought a few gifts and made sure to visit—no matter the weather—and saw himself as half an older brother to Xu Xilin. Xu Xilin didn't had to be so impersonal with his older brother, but this time he didn't only require Song Lianyuan's help, and Xu Xilin couldn't let Song owe someone a favor on his behalf.