Secretly, But Unable to Hide It

Chapter 23

It was just past five in the afternoon. Although the sun was not as intense as at noon, it was still glaring.

The smell at the entrance of the alley was unpleasant, so Chen Junwen didn’t make Sang Zhi stand there with him. He glanced around and decided to take her to a nearby stall, where he bought two skewers of candied strawberries.

They found a shady spot and each took a skewer to eat.

Worried that Sang Zhi might feel awkward, Chen Junwen started a conversation, “This area is a bit chaotic. Don’t come here unless you have to.”

Sang Zhi obediently replied, “Got it.”

“Qian Fei was supposed to come too.” Chen Junwen added, “You remember him, right? The chubby guy. But he had something to do today, so he couldn’t come.”

Sang Zhi carefully peeled off the candy coating since she didn’t like it. “I remember. During summer break, my brother took us out for a meal.”

Chen Junwen was surprised. “Ah? I must have gone home by then so I didn’t know.”

Sang Zhi nodded. “Brother Jiaxu was there too.”

“Really? Old Xu?” Chen Junwen suddenly recalled. “Oh, right. He doesn’t go home during the holidays.”

Sang Zhi paused and asked hesitantly, “Why not?”

Chen Junwen scratched his head, not quite sure. “Maybe he’s just too lazy to go back. Plus, with the short terms, there isn’t much free time left.”

“Oh.”

“But he does go back occasionally.” Chen Junwen thought for a moment. “Mostly during the short breaks. For example, last semester, he went back during the Qingming Festival^[1]Tomb-Sweeping Day. He doesn’t go home for the long breaks.”

Sang Zhi asked softly, “Not even for the New Year?”

“Yeah.” Chen Junwen said, “But that’s pretty normal. A lot of students at our school don’t go home for the New Year. The school even organizes a New Year’s Eve dinner and gives out red envelopes for those who stay.”

Sang Zhi bit into the candied strawberry, lost in thought. After a while, she changed the subject, “Brother Junwen, what do you think my brother and Brother Jiaxu are doing inside?”

“Huh?”

“Will they get into a fight?”

“If it’s guys then maybe.” Chen Junwen rubbed his chin. “But you said it was girls just now, right? Hmm…… maybe they’ll just talk it out?”

———pr

This translation is by Pocketrobbin at S h a n g h a i f a n t a s y . c o m

At that moment, inside the alley.

Because the road was narrow, with overhanging windows from the buildings above, most of the sunlight was blocked. The light was much dimmer than outside, making it feel like entering another world.

Upon hearing Duan Jiaxu’s words, Sang Yan’s eyelids twitched and he looked over.

The red-haired girl immediately sensed something was wrong. She took two steps back, feigning ignorance. “What? I don’t know you.”

After speaking, she glanced at the two girls beside her.

“It’s not a problem. As long as I recognize you.” Sang Yan lifted his eyebrows and sneered. “You took twenty yuan from my sister yesterday, right? And you burned her with a cigarette?”

“Burned her?!” The red-haired girl raised her voice, “I only took twenty yuan from her. I didn’t do anything else, okay? Don’t falsely accuse me! It was just twenty yuan. I’ll give it back to you, alright?”

“Just twenty yuan?” Sang Yan’s face was devoid of any smile. “Even if you only took two yuan from my sister, I’d still settle this account with you.”

The red-haired girl grew visibly angry but didn’t retort. She tightly pressed her lips together, fished out the money from her pocket, and silently handed it to Sang Yan.

But Sang Yan didn’t move.

Duan Jiaxu glanced at the emblems on the girls’ clothes. “Vocational school? You’re underage?”

“Shouldn’t you be in school studying at your age instead of hanging around here?” Sang Yan mocked, “Planning to do this for the rest of your life?”

“Take the money and get lost.” The red-haired girl’s face turned sour. “What we do is none of your business.”

Duan Jiaxu took another drag of his cigarette, exhaled the smoke slowly, and seemed to ponder something. Soon, he walked over to the red-haired girl, raised his long eyelashes, and stared at her thoughtfully.

A silent gaze.

His eyes were naturally captivating, giving the impression of a flirtatious glance. But now, without any warmth, it seemed menacing.

The red-haired girl’s heart pounded with fear and she finally snapped, “What are you doing?! You’re so annoying! I said I’d give the money back to you!”

The girl beside her tugged on her sleeve. “Let’s just go……”

But the next moment, Duan Jiaxu suddenly raised his hand that was holding the cigarette.

Thinking about Sang Zhi’s words on how the other party patted her face, he raised his eyebrows slightly and his slender fingers moved slowly toward the red-haired girl’s face. He murmured, “You did it like this yesterday?”

“……”

The overwhelming sense of oppression hit the red-haired girl.

Staring at the glowing tip of the cigarette, the red-haired girl clenched her fists, not daring to move, her eyes gradually reddening.

To her, the young man before her, despite his striking looks, was essentially a demon. Even though he was smiling, he seemed more terrifying than the man beside him, whose words were sharp and hostile.

The cigarette stopped two centimeters from the red-haired girl’s face.

But Duan Jiaxu’s hand didn’t touch her. His fingertips tapped twice on the cigarette and some ash fell onto the red-haired girl’s clothes, leaving a faint burn mark. Then he slowly straightened up, his tone gentle, “Did I scare you?”

“……”

The red-haired girl immediately stepped back, tears streaming down her face.

“Honestly,” Duan Jiaxu laughed, “it does seem pretty scary, right?”

———pr

On the way out of the alley, with his hands in his pockets, Sang Yan followed Duan Jiaxu and casually said, “Bro, you’ve got a knack for scaring people. Even I got scared.”

Duan Jiaxu raised an eyebrow. “Really?”

“Have you heard that idiom?” Sang Yan said, “A smile with hidden watermelon knives.”

“……”

“And,” Sang Yan recalled something and snorted, “since when did my sister become your family’s kid? Does that make you my dad?”

Duan Jiaxu replied nonchalantly, “Sure.”

“……”

“I don’t mind.”

“Get lost.”

The two walked out of the alley and spotted Chen Junwen and Sang Zhi by a nearby stall. The two of them, one big and one small, stood side by side, each holding a skewer of bright red candied strawberries.

Sang Zhi’s gaze kept drifting toward the alley’s entrance, and she soon spotted the two of them. She had just bitten a large strawberry and her cheeks were bulging, so even if she wanted to speak, she was unable to.

It was Chen Junwen who spoke first, “Did you see them?”

Sang Yan responded with a grunt.

Chen Junwen’s voice rattled off like a machine gun, “So what did you do? Intimidate them? How did you intimidate them? Tell me! I’m curious!”

“I said I only kill ten people a month.” Sang Yan replied lazily, “This month’s quota is already used up, so I’ll come back next month to kill them.”

“……” Chen Junwen was speechless. “Who are you trying to fool?”

“You.”

Chen Junwen was infuriated by Sang Yan. He rolled his eyes and turned to Duan Jiaxu, hoping to get an answer from him, “Old Xu, can’t you satisfy my curiosity?”

“Hmm?” Duan Jiaxu chuckled leisurely. “Why should I satisfy you?”

“……” Chen Junwen nearly choked, pointing his candied strawberries at him. “There’s a kid here! Don’t talk dirty! Have you no shame?”

Listening to their conversation, Sang Zhi remained silent, quietly wondering what Chen Juwen meant.

Dirty talk?

But what part of what was just said was dirty?

It sounded like a normal conversation to her.

However, she did agree with Chen Junwen’s ‘no shame’ comment.

Sang Zhi felt inexplicably troubled.

Why did he speak to everyone like this? Ignoring the content, just his tone made him seem shameless. Talking to men like they were his lovers.

Hearing the word ‘kid’, Duan Jiaxu finally looked down at Sang Zhi, a shallow smile adorned his face as he asked casually, “Kid, how come you eat like that?”

Sang Zhi: “?”

He chuckled. “Like a pufferfish.”

Sang Zhi quickly swallowed the food in her mouth, licked the sugar residue from her lips, and said softly, “You’re the pufferfish.”

“Really?” Duan Jiaxu pointed at the candied strawberry in her hand, half-joking, “Then let me have a bite? I’ll show you a cool pufferfish trick.”

“……”

“Eat mine.” Chen Junwen interjected, unable to stand it anymore. “Can you stop tricking the kid? Even my conscience feels uneasy. You’re just scamming food off her.”

Sang Yan glanced over. “Don’t bother. She won’t let you have any.”

Ignoring them, Duan Jiaxu didn’t respond.

The next moment, Sang Zhi indeed shook her head. “No.”

Then, she lowered her head, rummaged in her pocket, and quickly stuffed a five-yuan note into Duan Jiaxu’s hand. “Buy your own.”

“……”

Duan Jiaxu was taken aback.

This was clearly beyond Sang Yan’s tolerance. He put his phone back in his pocket, stared at Sang Zhi for a few seconds, and said coldly, “Why don’t you buy me one as well?”

Sang Zhi looked at him, then felt her pockets again before innocently saying, “But I only have five yuan left.”

Meaning, ’I have no money for you’.

Sang Yan was silent for two seconds, then laughed in frustration. “Alright, way to go.”

Duan Jiaxu looked at the money in his hand, chuckled, and quickly returned it to her. “I was just teasing you. I don’t like eating these, give one to your brother.”

Sang Zhi responded, then handed the money to Sang Yan.

Since Duan Jiaxu said he didn’t like it, Sang Zhi had no choice but to give the money to Sang Yan. To Sang Yan, this made him feel like a garbage bin for Duan Jiaxu’s leftovers.

Sang Yan took a deep breath, took the money, and put it in his pocket. “Let’s go home.”

Sang Zhi blinked. “Why don’t you buy something?”

“I don’t want to eat.”

“Then give me back the money.”

“No.”

Sang Zhi was unhappy. “Isn’t this just cheating me out of money?”

“Cheating?” Sang Yan took out the five-yuan note from his pocket, along with the twenty yuan he got back from the red-haired girl. “Not just this five yuan, I even took back your twenty yuan.”

“Eh.” Sang Zhi stopped. “You got it back?”

“Obviously.”

“Then give it to me.”

Sang Yan smirked, stopped teasing her, and returned the money. “You’re so young yet so pragmatic, counting money with me all the time. What’s going to happen in the future—”

Before he could finished, he saw Sang Zhi, whom he just called ‘pragmatic’, hand over the money to Duan Jiaxu with a sweet, flattering line, “Brother, here you go.”

“……”

Sang Yan: “???”

Robbin: I’ve added one unofficial extra chapter that the author made before the physical book came out. Chapter count has been updated to 92. Thanks to Dontannoyme for the link to the raw. ૮ ˶ᵔ ᵕ ᵔ˶ ა

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