Chapter 15: Dying to Know?

Translator: Sissy That Walk

There were too many people in the video game hall. Just in a flash, Di Qiuhe disappeared into the crowd from the view of He Bai. He had no choice but to chase him along a possible direction. After hitting a couple, he had to admit in despair that his camera bag had been snatched away by a bastard whom he offered to celebrate birthday and faced no shortage of money at all!

A bastard who bit the hand that fed him!

Quite ungrateful!

Diu Qiuhe had appropriated his campus card, snatched the milky tea he had not finished, and took away his camera just now. How come such a creature became the Film Emperor? He was more of a bandit than an actor! Such a person, such a person… What lousy luck he had to make the acquaintance of Di Qiuhe!

He Bai did several twirls on the spot when he recalled he had stowed his mobile phone in his pocket. He stopped immediately and took the phone out to find in desperation that he had no way to get in touch with Di Qiuhe.

The camera he borrowed from Mr. Xu was not cheap. What he could do if it was never returned… to call the police? He laid a finger on the emergency dial key and then turned his phone off ferociously after a slight hesitation! ‘Fuck! Today is supposedly not fit for going out!’

Against a jewelry store shelf across the street stood Di Qiuhe who clicked the shutter at He Bai trotting down the street in a rage. Smiling, Di Qiuhe logged in WeChat on his phone and sent a message out with delight.

A Bird Born in Autumn: Happy Birthday! Don’t forget to eat cake ^-^

Hearing the beep, He Bai logged in his WeChat, and a stroke of doubt was raised in his mind when he saw this message. He replied in a puzzle.

White and Whiter: my birthday?

A Bird Born in Autumn: Yeah, I notice that your WeChat account name is the combination of an acronym plus a date, so I guess that date is your birthday, isn’t it?

He Bai blinked perplexedly. He quit the chat box, looked at his WeChat account as well as the date, and then realized that it was really his birthday today…

Staying alone for a long time, he had forgotten to care about things like his birthday which occurred every year while Di Qiuhe should be so careful to find this detail and extended greeting to him unexpectedly.

He Bai’s rage was quickly appeased. He felt a little embarrassed and quite touched, replying in a hurry.

White and Whiter: It’s my birthday indeed. I myself didn’t even realize. Thank you.

A Bird Born in Autumn: My pleasure. Remember to have birthday cake and longevity noodles^-^

He Bai smiled so dazzlingly that a pair of dimples appeared on his face. He thanked Di Qiuhe again when something occurred to him suddenly.

Di Qiuhe, Qiuhe (which means “Autumn Crane” in Chinese). He remembered vaguely that the encyclopedia online reported Di Qiuhe was born in autumn so his parents named him Qiuhe. And now … was certainly in summer! Early summer!

S-H-I-T….

He was a sheer liar and robber who behaved like a three-year-old boy!

He Bai acted furiously again, pacing up and down, and ran briskly to the bus stop. Since Di Qiuhe was a student of Q University, he must have left his contact details and address there. As a saying goes, the monk can run away, but the temple won’t run away with him. He told himself the camera must be taken back!

Watching the slightly thin figure disappear from view, Di Qiuhe packed the mobile phone up and turned to the shop assistant who was staring at him carefully. He pointed to the camera bag hanging about his arm, and asked politely with his habitually gentle smile, “Excuse me, can I have a gift box to hold this camera?”

Looking at Diu Qiuhe’s paint-stained face and colorful stickers on it, the clerk couldn’t help treating him as a retarded youth. He helped to search out a pink-and-blue heart-shaped gift box with a sympathetic attitude and asked as softly as possible, “Is this OK?” In his eyes, Di Qiuhe was obviously a game enthusiast who had lost his mind so much that he dared not to provoke him.

Di Qiuhe sized the box up and recalled that He Bai wore a sky-blue T-shirt today. He nodded with satisfaction and added, “Please fetch me a ribbon that looks cute.”

The clerk responded and turned around to get a ribbon when he paid silent tribute to his gift-receiver: the girl who was pursued by such a neurotic person must feel very painful.

Due to traffic jam at weekends, He Bai spent over two hours on the way to campus. Being looked up and down in the taxi, He hurried to his dormitory to wash his face as soon as he got off… However, he was taken aback by two ribbon-decorated pink-and-blue boxes on the ground, one smaller and the other larger.

“What’s this?!” He looked at the door plate first and then the dreamy boxes on the ground, rubbing his eyes.

“You’re finally back, Bai! Look, someone sent you a gift!” Niu Junjie sprang out and cried excitedly. Puzzled, he looked at He Bai’s face and asked, “What’s wrong with your face? Were you beaten up?”

“No, it’s paint.” He rubbed the paint which dried out on his face and replied in puzzlement, “Sent me a gift? Are these for me?”

“Sure”, Wang Hu came towards him, with a pair of scissors in his hand, and signaled him to look at the note on the box, “There are your information on it, including your faculty, major, school card number and your name. The housemaster told us the two boxes were sent half an hour ago by a guy in takeaway uniform. He didn’t have your number and thus gave them to the housemaster. If Junjie hadn’t passed by and looked on, your name would be on the blackboard at the door of the housemaster. ”

The blackboard bulletin was prepared specially for students who returned late, stayed out all night or lost their belongings. Whoever was recorded on it would be ridiculed for an entire week.

He Bai wiped his face, gave Niu Junjie a grateful look, and spoke in a sincere way, “thank you, Junjie.”

“You’re welcome.” Niu Junjie waved his hand while his eyes glued on the box. He made faces to He Bai, “Open them and have a look at things inside! Judging from their color and package, the giver is definitely a girl! Ha, a girl courts you, Bai!”

Chen Jie who kept quite all the while held his glasses up and burst into claim, “Why not a boy?”

Silence reigned the room, and it suddenly struck them that a foreign exchange student once pursued He Bai in a crazy manner. They stepped back in concert without previous arrangement, far away from the two boxes.

Touching the scissors in his hand, Wang Hu uttered slowly, “The anonymous gift-giving is to some extent like the guy’s style… Does Locke, the romantic art student, come back?”

“I suppose he is not. The exchange ended last semester and he already went home …” Niu Junjie said with little confidence.

Chen Jie bent his head to look at the note, and made a rational analysis, “The note is written in Chinese with elegant handwriting, so it is by no means penned by foreigners.”

Hearing his words, Niu Junjie also stared at the note, flustered, “But this handwriting looks so unrestrained that no girl could compose it.”

He Bai racked his brains, trying to remember things about Locke with his eyebrows raised. He came up to see that note and something crossed his mind. Expressionless, he stretched one hand to Wang Hu, “Bro, give me your scissors. Don’t panic! These boxes aren’t from Locke. ”

“Not Locke?”

“No.”

Hearing his definite answer, the other three drew closer again, all asking at once why he was so sure as well as whether he already knew who it actually was.

“I had no idea originally, but after seeing the handwriting on the note, I think I know who he is. Don’t worry. The giver is an enemy, no, a friend of mine, but he is really not Locke.” He Bai answered with a sullen face, cut the ribbons around the box directly and opened the box while scolding Di Qiuhe secretly.

With the box lid opened, a delicate three-layer cake revealed in front of the crowd, which greatly shocked Wang Hu and the other two.

He Bai’s mouth twitched slightly. He opened the other box and found his camera robbed as expected.

… Di Qiuhe was certainly a retard, of which He Bai was now quite sure.

“A three-layer cake from J. It must be quite expensive!” Niu Junjie crouched over the cake and rubbed his chin, “But why did your friend draw a dog on it?”

“There are words next to the dog.” Chen Jie pushed his glasses up, lowered his head, and made every effort to identify those extraordinarily small words next to the puppy, “Happy birthday, Little Pup! Thank you for sending photos to Mr. Xu Yinrong. Plus, my birthday is on September 7th. Don’t forget to present me with a gift in return!”

Wang Hu took the phone to look at the date, and clapped himself hard on the forehead, “My memory is so poor that I almost forget today is Bai’s birthday. How about going out for dinner at night to celebrate?

Niu Junjie gave his consent immediately by raising his hand. Chen Jie also nodded with a smile.

He Bai looked at them, smiling, “my treat”, and looked down at the cake with his brow slightly knitted. ‘Why did Di Qiuhe thank me for the photos? Which photos? Was he familiar with Mr. Xu? Did he refer to the picture I took by chance? But how did he know I had sent the picture to Mr. Xu? Wait, does this mean Di Qiuhe had already knew I handed in his picture as my homework?’

…

Looking at the three-layer cake on the ground and the camera bag in the box, He Bai heaved a deep sigh.

…The feeling was like having sugar mixed with shit.

He Bai thought his “surprise” was finished and didn’t expect that another box was sent over two days later, and that his name was recorded on the blackboard after all.

“Was it also sent by that friend of yours?” Niu Junjie moved over curiously, took a look at the pink boxes and then at He Bai’s tender face, and sighed with gloom, “Alas, Bai, you’d better get a girlfriend.”

He Bai threw him a sidelong glance, pushed his face aside, tore off the note on the box and opened the lid. Then he looked completely stunned.

The box was half full of photos Di Qiuhe had taken the other day with his signature on them.

There was another note glued to the surface of the box. He tore it off to find that a phone number was written on it. After some hesitation he took out his phone, saved the number and sent a text message to the number after circumspect typing.

He Bai: I have received your photos. Thank you. In addition, as regard to what you mentioned on the cake about the photos and Mr. Xu, could you please tell me exactly what was going on?

Di Qiuhe was listening to discussions between Jiang Guanshan and Xu Yinrong about the script when his phone rang. Thinking that the photo was delivered at this moment, he broke into a smile. Under the cover of the script, he took out the phone, glanced at the message from an unknown number and quickly browsed the content. His eyes ran down a folder near Xu Yinrong’s hand, and then he started typing.

Di Qiuhe: Wanna know why I thank you?

He Bai: Yes.

Di Qiuhe: Dying to know?

He Bai: …Yeah.

Di Qiuhe: Me too.

He Bai: ?

Di Qiuhe: Dying to have you beg me.

He Bai: …

Di Qiuhe: You looked so cute when you trotted down the street.

Bang!

He Bai tucked his phone into the drawer with indignation.