HSS Chapter 61
Translated by Novice Translations
Proofread by Yserieh
Chapter 61: I've Been to Your School
On the tenth day after Bai Chuan commuted to work alone, the 5D game, "The Lonely One", developed by Bai Chuan was officially released to the public. Because this was the first large-scale 5D game in China that supported multi-players gameplay online, the Yifeng Group held a very grand press conference for it.
Financial and economics networks, the e-sports network, and even the national news network were all competing to attend this press conference. Yifeng's stock also rose on opening day of the market then stopped, this was all due to the newly designed game. However, this wasn’t Mu Xiaoya’s concern, as she only cared about Bai Chuan sitting beside her.
Today, Bai Chuan wore formal clothing. Under the strong demand of Mu Xiaoya, he changed into a suit and the pair of leather shoes that she personally customized. And his usual clean and fresh hair was styled with hair gel and his bangs were lifted from his forehead.
"Don't move." Mu Xiaoya couldn't help but stop Bai Chuan who wanted to reach out and pull his hair.
"Uncomfortable." Bai Chuan didn’t like his hair being stiff.
"But it's very handsome ah. Let me watch for another hour, OK? We will go back, and I’ll wash it out for you." In another hour, the press conference should be over.
"En." An hour? Bai Chuan glanced at his watch and began to count down silently.
The two interacted quietly under the stage. On stage was Bai Zheng who responded to various questions from reporters. The most important question was why the chief designer of this game wasn’t at the scene.
Bai Zheng glanced at Bai Chuan, who was sitting quietly under the stage, and said with a smile: "Our chief designer is preparing the 2.0 version of “The Lonely One”. When the 2.0 version is released, I think... the chief designer should stand here."
Everyone didn't think too much about why Bai Zheng added that comment about the chief designer, instead they were instantly distracted with the upgraded version of the game, and the topic was smoothly diverted to the development of “The Lonely One” 2.0.
"This game just entered the market, and you’re going to develop version 2.0?"
"When will it be available?"
"What are the main changes in the upgraded version of the game? Will you be developing the game helmet that appears in the film?”
(TN: The film they are talking about is that promotional video that Astro was forced to make when they used Bai Chuan to extend the deadline, was mentioned like one sentence back then)
Reporters have so many questions to ask that the microphone and camera almost merged with Bai Zheng’s face. When Mu Xiaoya saw this scene, she was very glad that Bai Chuan wasn’t on stage. But at the same time, I can’t help but feel it’s a pity, because… this glory should have been for Bai Chuan.
"Xiao Chuan, do you want others to know that this game was developed by you?" Mu Xiaoya asked Bai Chuan.
"I don't want." Bai Chuan shook his head.
"Why?"
"I don't want so many people to know." If possible, except for his family and Mu Xiaoya, Bai Chuan doesn’t want to know other people, let alone be crowded and questioned in the middle Bai Zheng.
"Then we won’t." Mu Xiaoya smiled.
An hour later, the press conference ended successfully. After Mu Xiaoya and Bai Zheng greeted each other, she left with Bai Chuan. From the press conference, Bai Chuan's hand never left his head. His original clean and handsome hairstyle was soon messed by Bai Chuan and became a chicken nest coop.
"Stop messing with it. I’ll take you to wash your hair." Mu Xiaoya originally wanted to take Bai Chuan home to wash his hair, but because he was so uncomfortable, she changed her mind.
The venue of the conference hall was very close to her former school. From here, it will take less than ten minutes to get there by car. Mu Xiaoya went to a hair salon that she used to frequent that had a small storefront and few staff.
"We want to shampoo and wash." Mu Xiaoya asked Bai Chuan to sit on the chair and said to the hairdressing assistant who came over.
The hairdressing assistant heard that the other party wanted to shampoo and wash his hair. She turned around and came over with the supplies, but when she was about to take action, she was stopped by Mu Xiaoya who stood at the side: “I will wash.” She just promised Bai Chuan that she would wash his hair.
"But ..." The hairdressing assistant glanced with uncertainty at her boss who was standing beside her.
"You can wash, but the money will be collected." The boss was obviously familiar with Mu Xiaoya.
"Isn't it twenty yuan?" Mu Xiaoya said with disdain.
“The price has gone up, now it’s 30 yuan.”(~$4.25 USD)
"Then give me another apron." Mu Xiaoya took the opportunity to ask.
The boss left an apron behind and then left the two alone. Mu Xiaoya put on the apron and copied the actions of the hairdressing assistant beside her to service Bai Chuan. The shampooing technique was naturally bad. When the shampoo suds formed, there was a lot of foam on his cheeks and scalp. Not only did she wet his suit, but she also made Bai Chuan’s eyes spicy.
"Ya, Xiao Chuan, close your eyes and I’ll wipe it for you." Mu Xiaoya hurriedly reached out to wipe the foam on Bai Chuan's face, but her hands were full of foam. The more she wiped, the more foam she left behind.
In the end, the hairdressing assistant on the side couldn't take it anymore. She handed over a towel to solve the crisis.
"Beautiful woman, it's not as easy as it looks in our business." The hairdressing assistant teased.
"Yes... yes ah, hahaha ..." Mu Xiaoya smiled embarrassingly.
"If you leave it, I'll wash it, don't ruin your boyfriend's eyes."
Mu Xiaoya looked at the mirror and found that Bai Chuan's eyes were red and sensitive but were still stubbornly open. He looked at Mu Xiaoya through the mirror and even smiled.
"Xiao Chuan, how about, I ask someone to wash for you." Mu Xiaoya asked Bai Chuan for his opinion.
"Don’t want." Bai Chuan didn’t reach out to wipe the soap suds, instead he grabbed the corner of Mu Xiaoya’s clothes. His eyes that was irritated by the soap suds seemed to say, you promised me just now.
"Insist on washing ah, make sure to take him to the back to wash it out." The boss passed by and reminded.
"..." Mu Xiaoya coughed awkwardly and obediently took Bai Chuan to wash in the back.
After shampooing and washing, they were about to leave the hair salon. The owner of the hair salon took the 30 yuan and said jokingly: “Your display of affection gives me 30 yuan and you a damaged suit.”
Mu Xiaoya pulled Bai Chuan, whose clothes were half wet, out of the hairdresser's shop, and found a place with few people so that Bai Chuan can take off his suit jacket. He was left with a pure white shirt on his body, which clung onto his skin due to the water.
"Unbutton the collar." With that, Mu Xiaoya stood on her toes to unbutton the button at Bai Chuan's neckline. When it was unbuttoned, Mu Xiaoya didn't think much about it, but when the white clavicle was exposed to the sun, Mu Xiaoya unconsciously froze.
"WOW~~~" It wasn't until a few passing students making ambiguous sounds of admiration that Mu Xiaoya was shocked back to her senses.
" Let’s go... let's go home." Mu Xiaoya only felt that she lost face and couldn’t face people anymore, so she pulled Bai Chuan to the parking lot.
But Bai Chuan didn't move. He pointed to the front and said, "Your school."
"Yes ah, this is my school. I spent four years at this college here." Mu Xiaoya didn't expect Bai Chuan to know that this was her school.
"I know..."
"You know?" Mu Xiaoya was a little surprised. "Do you want to look around?"
"Okay." Bai Chuan agreed without a thought. He was curious about what kind of place this was to make Xiaoya reluctant to go home for such a long time… to see him.
"Let’s go." Mu Xiaoya led Bai Chuan to the school gate and said while walking, "This is the south gate of the school. Outside the south gate is the commercial strip. There are many shops like beauty salons, clothing stores and so on. That’s where students go to take care of their image."
"Entering the south gate, walking straight ahead to the other end of the school, there is the north gate. There are restaurants outside the north gate, and there is a whole street dedicated to food, it’s especially delicious." Mu Xiaoya suggested, "How about we eat at the north gate at noon today?"
"So... what about the east gate?" Bai Chuan suddenly asked.
"East gate? Outside the east gate is the main road. Cars pass by there and we rarely go there."
"Rarely go? Do you mean once a day?"
"Less frequent than once a day, sometimes I don’t go there for a week." Mu Xiaoya said, "The subway station is at the west gate, the food is at the north gate, the clothing stores are at the south gate, and the east gate has nothing. It’s usually used for outsiders, such as people coming to visit the school, or we receive a leader from there.”
"Oh~~" Bai Chuan hummed softly, with a trace of annoyance on his face, “No wonder, I didn't see you last time.”
"Last time, when?" Mu Xiaoya froze, "Have you been to my school?"
"En." Bai Chuan nodded. "When you were in college, you didn’t come home for a long time. I missed you so I came to you."
"You... came alone?" If he wasn’t accompanied by Grandma Bai or other people from the Bai family, it would be impossible to find me.
"En." Bai Chuan nodded and sadly said, "I was waiting at the east gate for 24 hours."
“About four years ago, Xiao Chuan once ran out alone for one day and night before he returned. Since then, the Bai family no longer dare to let Xiao Chuan go out alone. No one knows where he went all night, maybe you can ask him.”
Mu Xiaoya was curious about this question for a while, but she never asked. She was afraid that if she asked, she would be like everyone else in the Bai family and won’t let Bai Chuan go out alone. So, she decided not to inflate her panic until Bai Chuan learned how to go out alone. But she didn’t think she would obtain the answer to this question, she was unexpectedly caught off-guard.
(TN: She didn’t want to ask Bai Chuan cause she was afraid of his answer so she didn’t want to know until she felt secure about Bai Chuan’s safety of being able to navigate on his own)
"It turns out you only go to the east gate once a week. I should have waited another six days." Bai Chuan reflected on his mistakes at that time. If he waited six more days back then, he might have been able to spend four more years with Xiaoya.
"Why... why didn’t you wait at a different gate, why did you wait at the east gate?" Mu Xiaoya's voice was choked.
"Because the east gate of your school... is closest to your home." Bai Chuan replied.
Because the shortest direct distance between the east gate and my house is the closest, you waited at the east gate. Why didn’t you think about that I eat three meals a day and would go to the north gate. Why didn’t you think about the subway at the west gate? If I wanted to go home, I will go to the west gate…
Why did you wait at the east gate the entire time?
But... If Bai Chuan could take this into consideration, then Bai Chuan would be a normal person. If he was a normal person, would he care about her as much as he does now?
"Let’s go!" Suddenly, Mu Xiaoya pulled Bai Chuan and turned to the road in front of them. They walked straight to the other direction. After walking for 20 minutes, she stopped at the east gate of the school.
"Go over there." Mu Xiaoya released Bai Chuan and pointed in front of them.
"Where to?" Bai Chuan was puzzled.
"Wait for me." Mu Xiaoya looked at Bai Chuan and assured him, "This time, I will definitely come out."
Bai Chuan's eyes brightened, he nodded and turned to run towards the gate. He ran out of the gate and stood under a poplar tree on the left side of the east gate, then stared at the direction of the gate.
Mu Xiaoya stood in place and watched Bai Chuan leave. But she didn't chase him immediately, instead she waited five minutes before she began to walk outside.
She walked step by step to the entrance of the school, trying to match her walking state and pace from when she was a student, as if she was a student who had just finished morning class, holding a book and walking to the school gate. She just stepped outside the school gate and didn’t look for him deliberately, but Mu Xiaoya saw Bai Chuan under the poplar tree at a glance.
It turned out that you waited for me at such a conspicuous place...
Mu Xiaoya smiled at Bai Chuan, and her calm pace became anxious. She ran quickly and stood in front of Bai Chuan: "You came to me?" "
“En.” Bai Chuan nodded happily. Time and space at this moment became a little blurry in front of him, it gradually merged into the scene from four years ago, from when he waited for Xiaoya.
A stream of warmth gushed out from the bottom of his heart, and it dragged and washed away the hidden smear of regret that was hidden at the bottom of his heart.
"Why are you looking for me?" Mu Xiaoya continued to ask.
"I want to tell you..." Bai Chuan replied imperceptibly. "In the future, can you go home on the weekend too."
"Okay, I will go home on the weekend. Not only on the weekend, I will go home every day in the future." Mu Xiaoya smiled, her heart swelled uncomfortably, and the sunlight that fell from the gap between the leaves illuminated the tears in her eyes.
Bai Chuan’s heart was moved. He lowered his head and kissed the tears in Mu Xiaoya’s eyes and then left. The already short autumn passed in an instant, and the cold winter ushered in.