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

Chapter 14: Refusal (vol. scallions)

Mr. Zheng, who introduced himself as Xu Xilin's dad, paced up and down at the gates of Sixth High School a few more times, but Xu Xilin had a basketball team surrounding him every time, and he would whoosh by without even acknowledging him. Mr. Zheng couldn't find a chance to talk at all.

After a while, Mr. Zheng got Xu Xilin's number from somewhere unknown. He sent a text to Xu Xilin everyday just when school ended. So Xu Xilin blocked his number.

A month later, Mr. Zheng sent a package to Xu Xilin's school. It opened to reveal a limited edition pair of sneakers and a slip explaining that due to work, Mr. Zheng had to go abroad again, this was something for him to Remember dad every now and then, etc.

Unfortunately this didn't work on Xu Xilin.

He estimated the shoes' size, stuffed it under his desk carelessly, and sold it at a discount to a tenth grade student. With the money, he treated his entourage of friends to a buffet. The half-grown boys and girl stormed into the restaurant, none of them afraid they wouldn't eat their worth. They almost made the owner cry.

As someone who knew what had been going on all along, Dou Xun coldly observed this from the beginning to the end. He discovered that Xu Xilin was truly different from him.

He didn't lack shoes, he didn't lack human love, nor did he lack a father.

Xu Xilin's friends were everywhere. Every birthday, the anonymous gifts from girls that admired him could fill up his desk. He was friendly to anyone he wanted to, he hung out with anyone he wanted to. Even though he was still pretty easy-going and cheerful, and could discover cute points of other people on his own easily, if he held someone as unpleasant, that person could never bribe him over with gifts.

He lacked nothing, had no desires, so he was impenetrable.

Because he pissed him off at the beginning, Mr. Zheng was put into the "unpleasant" category at the beginning. So it didn't matter if it was the late "fatherly love" or the "humble token of gratitude". Xu Xilin didn't care.

Dou Xun didn't argue with the logical fault in his trash talk. "What would it take for you to acknowledge him as your dad?"

"Maybe *two or three million, I'm not that expensive," Xu Xilin estimated, thinking with an astounding economical logic, "Even though my mom didn't spent that much raising me, the currency was worth more before. You'd have to take that into consideration."

T/N: 1RMB=1/6USD(about)

He even took inflation into consideration, the ever so careful him.

Dou Xun only felt like he heard indifferent reason. Because he thought of himself as the "unpleasant" type, so even if he was occasionally given affection, he was always on edge. He was always afraid that if that someone saw what he was really "like", they would uproot the affection.

Dou Xun never considered that Xu Xilin might just have been angry at Mr. Zheng for bad mouthing Xu Jin.

He was used to hanging a "please don't kill me so fast" sign on his neck first, trembling in fear so that if his head was cut off one day, his reaction wouldn't be too surprised. It would be better for his dignity.

Dou Xun thought, "I've got to stay one last year."

This thought grew stronger everyday as this brief happiness was one day less with every passing day.

The next thing he knew, the last noisy semester of eleventh grade had came to its end with the warming weather. Zhu Xiaocheng and Dou Junliang's divorce case didn't go smoothly. The couple brushed aside any remaining marital warmth, and all was left was a conflict of interests. Especially since there was a mistress on her tiptoes ready to take Zhu Xiaocheng's place.