Chapter 62 - Birthday
Chapter 62: Birthday
On Tuesday it was Jiang Yang’s birthday.
The gift that made Huang Shao itching to know about was still not revealed by Qin Xu. For the whole day, many students handed over the gifts that they had prepared in advance. Some of the girls who secretly crushed on Jiang Yang used this opportunity to give him their carefully selected gifts and say happy birthday to him.
If it was in the past, Huang Shao would have already teased Jiang Yang about his spring-like youth but today, he was solely concentrated on the gift that Qin Xu had prepared. Several times, he couldn’t help but hint at Qin Xu that enough was enough, and he should just take it out; it was very uncomfortable for him to maintain his curiosity for so long.
However, Qin Xu continued to remain idle and wasn’t anxious at all. As for the birthday boy Jiang Yang, he couldn’t help but feel that something wasn’t right and knew that Qin Xu had something planned, but he wasn’t curious to the extent of Huang Shao.
When the last class for the day finally ended, the students all went to the cafeteria or their dormitory rooms. Qin Xu however left the group and ran out of the school gates to get the gift.
Before the evening study sessions, when it wasn’t time for it to start but it would start soon, Qin Xu finally pulled out his gift and gave it to Jiang Yang.
Jiang Yang raised his eyebrows and looked at the gift box sitting on the table before him. It was very exquisitely designed, and the colour was fresh and light. There was even a beautiful bow tied over the box.
He had a bad feeling.
Jiang Yang didn’t really want to open this gift that came with Qin Xu’s sentiments.
But with Qin Xu’s bright black eyes staring at him and the look of curiosity from the other classmates, he felt pressured and could only reach out to pull apart the bow.
The gift box opened like it had an in-built mechanism and it revealed the contents inside.
A small, fluffy rabbit with two ears drooping down and round eyes looked dumbly at the people around it. It was extremely cute.
The girls in the crowd couldn’t help but cry out in awe and comment that it is very cute. Several girls closer to it were itching to reach out to pet it but the birthday boy hadn’t spoken yet, so they were too embarrassed to reach out first.
Jiang Yang’s expression was a look of confusion and surprise: “......”
He turned to Qin Xu and the meaning behind his eyes was very obvious, “Why are you gifting me a rabbit?”
Qin Xu grinned with a face of innocence and sincerity, “Do you like it? The moment I saw this rabbit I thought of you. Isn’t it very cute?”
Cute your ass.
Jiang Yang wanted to grumble but after all it was a birthday present from the other party and he shouldn’t complain. However even if he didn’t say it out loud, it was evident just looking at his expression.
The onlookers nagged, “Jiang Yang can you take it out? Can we pet it?”
It was difficult to refuse such a request. Jiang Yang could only reach in and take the rabbit out of the box. The moment his hand touched it, he noticed that it was very soft and fluffy. The rabbit’s body temperature travelled over to his fingertips. The rabbit wasn’t very big and could easily be held up with two palms. It’s silly face twitched a few times and, without even doing much, it drew out the sighs from the onlooking female classmates.
Jiang Yang saw this and was a little confused. What’s so cute about such a black rabbit?
The lop-eared rabbit, this was the first time he had heard of that term. All he knew was that it was a rabbit. But with both its ears drooping down its side, it is true to its name.
Jiang Yang looked at it for a moment and turned around to see Qin Xu sitting next to him watching him with interest while supporting his chin in his hand. Because they were sitting quite closely, he couldn’t tell if he was looking at him or looking at the rabbit.
Qin Xu slightly tilted his head and looked to the left and then to the right which just happened that he was looking between the rabbit and Jiang Yang. He then nodded his head as if in affirmation.
Jiang Yang: “........” His fist is itching to hit someone.
The bell indicating the start of class rang and the students reluctantly dispersed after returning the rabbit back to its owner, Jiang Yang.
Jiang Yang looked at the rabbit and could feel a headache forming. Other gifts would be able to be dealt with easily and he could just put into his desk pocket without a worry, but this is a living thing. Jiang Yang naturally couldn’t just throw it aside without a care. After thinking for a moment, he placed it back inside the box and put the box inside his desk pocket without closing the lid.
In the duration when they were completing their homework, Qin Xu wrote a note and pushed it over to Jiang Yang’s side. Jiang Yang glanced at it and ignored it. Qin Xu picked it up and insistently threw the note in front of Jiang Yang blocking his textbook in the process. No longer able to ignore it, Jiang Yang opened the note.
Have you decided what name you’re going to give it?
He must have nothing better to do.
Jiang Yang rolled his eyes and wrote back a single word onto the slip with disdain – Annoying (烦 fan).
Qin Xu saw this and grinned while throwing the slip back —- Fan Fan. That’s a pretty good name,
Jiang Yang: “.........”
He no longer wrote and directly drew a middle finger emoticon and threw it back.
Qin Xu wrote again —- Why don’t you call it Xiao Yang Yang?
Jiang Yang: “........” Are you looking for death?
Although he hated that nickname of his but Huang Shao and several other people who are close to him calls him by that name. If he named it that, he wouldn’t know if the other person is calling the rabbit or himself.
Jiang Yang said that he didn’t want to give Qin Xu any attention, but he unknowingly ended up exchanging paper slips with Qin Xu countless times.
Regarding the name, they pulled and pushed until Jiang Yang eventually expressed that he’s just going to call it Xiao Hei (Little Black). Qin Xu felt that it was too casual and didn’t agree. It was something that he had carefully selected for his birthday gift, so he insisted that he should put more consideration over the name. In response to this Jiang Yang glanced at him and said lightly: “Since it’s a gift from you, calling it Xiao Hei is already demonstrating my greatest sincerity.
Qin Xu..........again nuzzled up against him and acted pitiful.
The pet rabbit remained in the classroom and with him not deliberately covering it up, it was soon discovered by the class teacher. After the class teacher learnt that it was a birthday gift, he turned a blind eye and said: “I’ll let you off this time, but you must take it home on the weekend and you are not allowed to let it interfere with class.”
The other classmates cheered and thanked the teacher excitedly.
During daytime classes, the whole class seemingly felt that the owner of the little black rabbit didn’t seem to care for it much. However, during class he would be slightly distracted. Despite his straight and proper posture, he would secretly feed the rabbit in his seat pocket and from time to time use his finger to scratch its fluffy head.
Qin Xu saw this and couldn’t help but smile. He complained internally; this guy isn’t the average stubborn person. If you like it then just say that you like it. To think that you even went to all that extent to hide it from the others.
When the other classmates played with the rabbit, Jiang Yang would sit on the side with a look of calmness. But in fact, if there was someone holding the rabbit and accidentally dropped it, or pulled off some of its fur, Jiang Yang would feel distressed and would make up all sorts of excuses to get the rabbit back from them.
Qin Xu had put a lot of thought into this gift of his. He even prepared a cage, rabbit food, rabbit sand bath and even a few small toys. At the very least, they had nothing to worry about until the weekend came.
As Jiang Yang played with the little lop-eared rabbit, Qin Xu also felt the urge to touch it. He secretly glanced at the teacher on the podium and then proceeded to reach into Jiang Yang’s seat pocket to touch the rabbit. As he did this, he even accidentally touched Jiang Yang’s hand.
Without even thinking, Jiang Yang swatted his hand away and gave him a look
Qin Xu raised his eyebrow and whispered, “I want to touch.”
Jiang Yang shook his head: “No touching.”
“But I gifted it to you.”
“It’s now mine.”
“I thought you didn’t like it?”
“It’s still mine.”
“Fine, find. Everything you say is right.”
Qin Xu nodded his head with a helpless smile like he was coaxing a small child. Jiang Yang saw this look of his and felt a little annoyed, as if he was be looked down on. He silently retracted his hand from the rabbit and looked up at the blackboard.
.........But it is such a pity.
Petting a rabbit can get pretty addictive.
No more than a few minutes later, he again unconsciously reached back into this desk pocket and petted hits smooth and fluffy fur. It took him a while to react......Fuck! Laozi is petting it again!
He then thought for a moment; forget it. He should just let it go and happily pet the rabbit.
***
The lop-eared rabbit may look stupid and harmless but, when no one was paying attention to it, it had ripped Jiang Yang and Qin Xu’s papers into shreds. Their papers were filled with holes and tears that they couldn’t read anything on it.
When Jiang Yang discovered the tragic state of the papers, his first reaction was feeling glad that he had only done half of it and had not yet completed it.
As for the rabbit that caused the mischief, he naturally wouldn’t just let it off. Jiang Yang pulled out a plastic bag and threw the rabbit inside and hung it on the hook on the side of his desk. Only the fluffy rabbit head poked out of the bag as it hung in mid-air.
Jiang Yang and Qin Xu could only find the teacher to get a new copy of the paper. Their excuse naturally was that they had accidentally misplaced it.
On their way back to the classroom from the school office.
Jiang Yang held onto the blank paper and waved it around creating a rustling sound, “The rabbit is something you brought over. An adult is responsible for a child’s mistakes. You should take responsibility and help me finish this paper.”
Qin Xu laughed: “Didn’t you say earlier that the rabbit is yours? You didn’t even let me touch it.”
Jiang Yang changed his words this time, “You gifted it, you’re responsible.”
Qin Xu lazily rested his arm on his shoulder and a hint of a smile was evident at his lips, “I’m okay with helping you finish the paper but what benefit will I get?”
Jiang Yang gave him a look: “What benefit do you want?”
“Give me a kiss?”
Jiang Yang: “.....”
I think you are looking for death.
Jiang Yang didn’t say anything, but his expression clearly revealed his thoughts. Before a fist was thrown, Qin Xu laughed and waved his hand, “Just kidding, just kidding.”
Jiang Yang obviously knew that he was just running his mouth and speaking nonsense without much thought, but he felt awkward hearing those words, so he reacted with some resistance and glared at him.
As they worked on the paper, Jiang Yang turned and saw the lop-eared rabbit hanging from his desk. It stared at him with its dark, round eyes and on its stupid face there seemed to a little bit of......anger?
Jiang Yang hesitated for a moment and said: “......Why do I feel like it’s scolding us?”
Qin Xu looked over and also felt the same. He instantly joked, “It probably is. Who told you to hang it there.”
Jiang Yang shrugged, “Fine, I’ll let it out now and let it chew up your paper.”
Qin Xu quickly stopped him, “Don’t. I’m almost done.”
Jiang Yang grinned, “Is that so? That’s even better.”
The two started mucking around again and almost lost their balance and fell to the ground.
Finally, the weekend came.
When Jiang Yang carried the cage home, Jiang Yuan saw the fluffy and stupid looking rabbit inside and was pleasantly surprised. She thought that her brother suddenly had a change in his heart and had bought something for her.
Jiang Yuan rushed over with excitement but was gently stopped by Jiang Yang, “I didn’t buy it. A classmate gave it as a birthday gift.”
Jiang Yuan found it strange: “Huh? They would actually gift you a birthday? What was that classmate thinking?”
Jiang Yang suddenly recalled Qin Xu saying that the rabbit reminded him of Jiang Yang, so he bought it. Recalling this, Jiang Yang wanted to beat him up.
Seeing that Jiang Yang didn’t appear to like this lop-eared rabbit much, Jiang Yuan happily gave a suggestion, “Brother, if you don’t want to raise it, can you give it to me?”
Jiang Yang however frowned. He usually spoiled his little sister but this time he didn’t agree, “You can play with it every now and then and help me take care of it, but this rabbit is still mine.”
Jiang Yuan was disappointed, “Why?”
Jiang Yang’s answer was: “After all, it’s a birthday gift from someone. It’s not good giving it away....Too rude.”
Jiang Yuan snorted and muttered quietly: “Haven’t you always done it in the past?”
After a while, Jiang Yuan who was feeding the rabbit suddenly remembered something. She asked: “Brother, who gave it to you?”
“Qin Xu.”
“Oh——– No wonder.” Jiang Yuan squinted her eyes and dragged out her words meaningfully.
Jiang Yang: “.........” What do you mean by ‘Oh’?
****
After that, it was Qin Xu’s birthday. Jiang Yang also gave Qin Xu a special birthday gift. It was a particularly ugly doll; a chibi boy wearing glasses. If you just glanced at it, it looked a little similar to Qin Xu.
When Qin Xu received it, he was extremely happy. Whenever someone asked about it, he would even answer narcissistically while smiling brightly: “Although it may look roughly done, it was something that he gave with his sincerity. It must not have been easy making it so I’m happy to receive it......”
Xie Zhe who learned that Jiang Yang had personally made a doll for Qin Xu expressed that he couldn’t believe it. He couldn’t help but mention it in front of Jiang Yang. Jiang Yang was even more confused, “I made it? How can that be. That’s just something I got as a bonus when I went to buy something at the shops.”
Qin Xu who passed by behind him and overheard this: “.........” The smile on his face gradually disappeared.