I Treat You as a Brother - Chapter 20

It wasn’t until he saw Fang Mo again on Monday that Xu Xiran realized that Yang Lin’s so-called understanding might have been wrong.

He relayed the messages of the two of them to Fang Mo, and originally only wanted him to feel at ease and to receive credit. But after hearing about this, Fang Mo fell into deep thought.

A moment later, he came up with a theory.

“Your xuedi, does he think we’re a couple?”

Xu Xiran was shocked.

“No way. That’s not what I meant to say!”

He only wanted to tell Yang Lin, I already know that you have been making moves on my xiongdi1, I despise this kind of behavior, and I advise you to take good care of yourself and to stop thinking about him. But now that he thought about it, if Yang Lin had thought that they had a special relationship with each other, it would be reasonable to misinterpret his words as a declaration of exclusivity.

Fang Mo slightly scrunched his brows and looked at him innocently.

“My god, this is embarrassing,” Xu Xiran scratched his head, “What a big misunderstanding.”

“Then… what do we do?” Fang Mo tilted his head slightly.

Xu Xiran thought for a while, “If I try to clarify now, wouldn’t that seem silly?”

Fang Mo nodded, “It might seem more suspicious, and he might not necessarily believe you. And also… Do you still want to contact him?”

“Tch,” Xu Xiran sighed, “That’s true. Forget it, if he really wants to misunderstand, then let him misunderstand. It’s not like we have many chances to bump into each other anyway since we’re not the same year. As long as he doesn’t spread nonsense everywhere then it’s fine.”

“Mn, mn,” Fang Mo nodded, “In this world, it’s unavoidable that others will misunderstand you. Just be brave and be yourself.”

Xu Xiran was amused by his sudden chicken soup2.

“That’s right, our handsome guy Fang Mo has been seen as a die-hard otaku, yet he still lives a free and easy life.”

Fang Mo was a little dumbfounded, “You’ve also heard? Don’t you know whose fault that is?”

“I thought you really liked it,” Xu Xiran said, “Do you not? Am I not working hard enough, or is Xiaoyao not cute enough?”

As they talked and laughed, the two walked to the entrance of the classroom. This course was chosen by many people, so it was arranged in a large lecture hall. Since there wasn’t a strict attendance policy, many people were absent, and there were plenty of open seats. Fang Mo pulled Xu Xiran to sit in a corner that seemed inconspicuous from the podium.

“Have you ever thought about this issue,” Fang Mo said to him after sitting down, “That professor has already let you go, you’re here with me now, if he sees you, what if he thinks you’re here to specifically listen to his class? What are you going to do if his fire of love rekindles?”

“Then I’ll clearly tell him that I’m here with you,” Xu Xiran said frankly, “This way, he’ll understand that you already know his criminal record, and that it’ll be useless to try having other ideas about you, right?”

Fang Mo was deep in thought, and made no comment.

“When dealing with this kind of thing, you have to be tough,” Xu Xiran instructed him earnestly, “He’s a special person, and it’s definitely not convenient for you to refuse him too directly now, so that’s why I’m here with you. Don’t worry, I’ll adapt as we go.”

Fang Mo pursed his lips and looked at him with some perplexity, “Why are you caring so much for me?”

Xu Xiran smiled and leaned over, “Are you moved?”

Fang Mo looked away, “Maybe it’s because I’ve encountered too many things like this, that it’s hard for me to not overthink. It’s easy to misunderstand you like this.”

After being puzzled for a while, Xu Xiran finally understood what he meant, then raised a hand to Fang Mo’s head, “Do you need a beating?”

Fang Mo shrank his neck and covered his head, “Are you really not lusting after my charm?”

“The nerve,” said Xu Xiran with a smile, “I see you need a spanking.”

“Ai,” Fang Mo sighed deeply, “I just seriously thought about it for a bit. If you really thought about me that way, what should I do?”

“I’m begging you, please stop thinking so blindly, okay!” Xu Xiran’s scalp was numb, “Shut off your brain for me.”

Fang Mo heard the words and closed his mouth, but after a while, he couldn’t help but mutter, “I can’t, I’ve already thought about it, so I have to say it.”

“You… okay fine, what would you do?” Xu Xiran was in fact a little curious.

“I don’t know.” Fang Mo said.

Xu Xiran was speechless, “Then what you said was for shit.”

“No,” Fang Mo looked at him. “If those were someone else’s words, I know I’d definitely stay far away. But if they were your words, I… I really don’t know.”

Xu Xiran was stunned.

The air was suddenly quiet for a few seconds. Then right at this moment, the class bell rang.

~

There was not much difference between Professor Xu now and the one in Xu Xiran’s memory. At the age of forty or so, he was well-maintained, well-dressed, well-mannered, and had a good figure, with a much better temperament than other men of his age. Along with his style of talking and his sense of humor, he was the type that was easily admired by college students in their twenties. Xu Xiran had also admired him before realizing that something was fishy about him.

Professor Xu did not look in their direction at all in the first half of class. It was not until he had finished more than half of the content, that he began to pick on students to answer questions.

After randomly selecting a few students in the roll call list, he, sure enough, called out Fang Mo’s name. There was a burst of laughter in the classroom.

Professor Xu also laughed along, “Don’t you want to listen to him?”

A bold girl immediately echoed, “We want to!”

Xu Xiran was speechless. It seemed like this was everyone’s default recreational class activity for entertainment. This was probably only a problem exclusively for the handsome.

As soon as Fang Mo opened his mouth, Professor Xu immediately followed his voice and looked over. When the first few students were asked to answer questions, he had been standing in front of the podium without moving, but now, he slowly walked over to the corner where Fang Mo was.

The two of them sat at the back of the classroom against the wall, and Xu Xiran was on the inside. As Professor Xu approached, his eyes kept falling on Fang Mo’s face. From Xu Xiran’s point of view, there was an obvious smile on his eyes and lips, and he looked quite appreciative of the student in front of him.

For Xu Xiran, who knew the inside story, this expression had a deeper meaning.

Professor Xu’s questions were not difficult, and those who have listened in class for a bit could answer them, but they were troublesome and required people to read out loud a long passage in the book. When Fang Mo finished carefully reading his last sentence out loud, he raised his head to look at Professor Xu to signal that he was done answering the question.

Professor Xu nodded with a smile, and was about to turn around and return to the podium when he froze for a moment.

Inadvertently, he met his eyes with Xu Xiran.

Xu Xiran quickly looked away, and then deliberately pulled Fang Mo’s arm in front of him. When Fang Mo leaned over subconsciously, Xu Xiran leaned into his ear and whispered, “Does he make you read out loud like this every class?”

“Yeah,” Fang Mo nodded helplessly, “A long passage every time.”

When Xu Xiran looked up again, Professor Xu was still looking at him. The sudden silence in the classroom was unavoidably unnatural. After a moment, Professor Xu finally came back to his senses, then walked quickly to the podium, cleared his throat, and opened the textbook again.

“He…” Xu Xiran paused in the middle of his words.

This was because Fang Mo’s expression became extremely grave for some reason.

“What?” Xu Xiran asked, “What’s wrong?”

“…You shouldn’t have come,” Fang Mo lowered his head and muttered softly, “This is so bothersome.”

“Ah?” Xu Xiran was puzzled.

“Don’t move.” Fang Mo suddenly said.

Xu Xiran didn’t understand, but he obediently listened and froze.

Fang Mo glanced at him quickly and said, “Sit up straighter.”

“What are you trying to do?” Xu Xiran, who was half-leaning on the table, straightened his back.

“Just stay like this, don’t move,” Fang Mo said, leaning in his direction, “Since you’re already here, we might as well bring in a little value, shall we?”

When he finished saying this, his upper body had completely leaned on Xu Xiran’s body, forming a very ambiguous posture.

Xu Xiran felt that something wasn’t right, but still didn’t move, “What value does this bring now?”

Fang Mo didn’t answer his question, and instead, quietly urged, “Look at me, quick, look at me.”

“Ah?” Xu Xiran became even more confused, but still turned his head and looked at Fang Mo, who was leaning on him in an awkward posture, “What’s with you?”

Fang Mo didn’t speak and suddenly smiled at him.

Xu Xiran was at a loss, but when he saw that Fang Mo suddenly narrowed his eyes, he couldn’t help but smile, “What the hell are you trying to do?”

“…He’s looking at us.” Fang Mo said.

~

Xu Xiran later realized that he was thoroughly being used.

“No, since you acted that way, didn’t he think we were… that?” he asked Fang Mo after class.

“Yeah,” Fang Mo admitted frankly, “I want him to think like that. People with these preconceived notions would definitely misunderstand. But with his position, he wouldn’t possibly spread this kind of thing everywhere, right?”

What he said made sense. Xu Xiran thought about it for a while, but he still felt a little queasy, “But… how do I say this, it’s a little weird…”

“Aren’t you here to help me?” Fang Mo emphasized, “Before, you were the one who talked nonsense which caused your xuedi to misunderstand our relationship, right? Now we’re even.”

It sounded like it made sense, but when he thought about it, something didn’t add up.

Xu Xiran pondered for a while and found a blind spot, “That was me being careless! You’re purposely making people misunderstand to think that you’re that… Doesn’t that make you feel all wrong?”

“It’s, it’s better than him really eyeing on me,” Fang Mo said, “I had no other choice, unless you’re able to still accompany me to class every time?”

As they talked, they packed up their things and walked out of the classroom together.

Right as they turned the corner, the two of them suddenly bumped into Professor Xu who had left five minutes ago.

Brother as in “my good brother”

“Chicken soup” refers to the “Chicken Soup for the Soul” books and its use of gorgeous language to numb you to accept reality, while failing to solve any practical problems