I Treat You as a Brother - Chapter 31

31 – Happiness Appearing Without Warning

Translator: tamago

“That’s him just now.” After Xu Xiran said that, he teased with a smile, “What, is this young man’s heart broken?”

Fang Mo blinked twice, then came back to his senses. Regardless of whether this guy was straight or not, since he was a man, Fang Mo now had ample experience in this battle and was no longer afraid. At the very least, Xu Xiran had just left that guy to find him, didn’t he?

“Not at all, this type of excessive behavior is not my tea,” he said, taking another bite of the brown sugar cake, then mumbled while chewing, “Ah, this is really good.”

Xu Xiran was a bit puzzled, “Was it very excessive?”

“Very,” Zou Shun interrupted, “Every move was excessive to death. Would a normal person nod that hard?”

As he spoke, he imitated the actions of the cross-dressing guy by squeezing out a standard business smile and nodding vigorously and vividly. Then, as if that wasn’t enough, he also copied how the guy covered his mouth and smiled, lowered his head while looking up, and blinked his eyes quickly in a fake manner.

Xu Xiran’s whole body trembled, “Was he really like that?”

“I think so, more or less,” Fang Mo said from the bottom of his heart. “Every move was too much like a girl from an anime. It looked so weird in real life.”

Xu Xiran frowned slightly, “I think it was alright, was it not cute?”

Fang Mo and Zou Shun looked at each other speechlessly. He guessed that the other must be having the same thought as him.

Ah, straight men.

“If you say it’s cute, then it’s cute,” Zou Shun said with an evil smile, “I see that you’re not afraid of Momo liking him, so you like him yourself, don’t you?”

“How’s that possible? It’s not that I don’t know his real gender. Just appreciating his looks is enough.” Xu Xiran waved his hand dismissively, “His voice is deeper than mine when he speaks, so that stops me.”

Fang Mo made no comment, but Zou Shun immediately found new material to exploit.

“Oh, then that’s good,” he said, casting a very deliberate glance at Fang Mo, “And I thought you liked men.”

When Xu Xiran was reminded by him, he suddenly remembered his mission. He froze, awkwardly licked his lips, then tapped his index finger on the seat while his eyes drifted back and forth on the table.

“I… that…” He frowned and stuttered for a while, then suddenly got a flash of inspiration. “If I wanted to find a guy that looks like a girl, then why don’t I just find a girl? Since I want to find a guy, I’d rather find a handsome one than a pretty one, right?”

In his desperation, he spoke random nonsense, but what he said without thinking was actually very realistic. Whether someone is a 0 or a 1 in the circle, most people indeed prefer the masculine type. Those who are “as pretty as a girl” are not as popular as those who are strong and manly.

Fang Mo was very nervous, and when he saw Xu Xiran sneaking glances at him after he spoke, Fang Mo became restless for a while, and felt embarrassed and flustered.

Zou Shun was more into the drama than Xu Xiran. After a moment of being silent with a straight face, he narrowed his eyes and asked meaningfully, “Then is our Momo handsome?”

Fang Mo’s face suddenly grew hot, and the half piece of brown sugar cake left in his hand was instantly squeezed into a ball.

Xu Xiran hesitated for a few seconds and then took a quick look at Fang Mo. Then, he raised his hand and touched his nose before replying, “If I could only choose a guy, then I would definitely choose him first.”

Fang Mo stuffed all the brown sugar cake in his hand into his mouth and chewed hard as he tried to cover up his distorted expression.

“Pfft,” Zou Shun looked away with a look of disdain, “What do you mean you’ll choose? You say that as if Momo would definitely want you.”

Xu Xiran’s expression immediately became awkward. But soon, he readjusted and put his hand on Fang Mo’s shoulder.

He looked at Fang Mo and secretly winked his left eye at him, “Fang Mo, what do you say, would you want me?”

Fang Mo, whose mouth was full of brown sugar cake, looked at him blankly, then nodded as fast as a woodpecker.

“See,” Xu Xiran turned his head and spread his hands towards Zou Shun, “We are each other’s sunshine.”

Zou Shun looked completely speechless and even rolled his eyes.

At the same time, he secretly kicked Fang Mo lightly under the table.

~

“How do you feel?” Zou Shun’s voice on the phone was clearly holding back a laugh, “Was that satisfying?”

Fang Mo was lying in bed, hugging his pillow as he rolled around, and put on an act as he replied, “Ai, he was just talking nonsense. None of it was real.”

After returning to his dorm, he first thoroughly checked the whole place, including under the bed, to confirm that no one else was there before calling Zou Shun. As soon as he opened his mouth, his tone was light and airy.

“Stop pretending,” Zou Shun was full of contempt, “You couldn’t stop moving around in your seat back there, could you?”

Fang Mo, who also couldn’t stop moving around at this moment, began to feel embarrassed again. He cleared his throat, and then asked, “Do you think a normal straight man would do this for a good brother?”

“How would I know?” said Zou Shun, “But although I’m not straight, I was able to do it. Shouldn’t you express your gratitude towards me?”

Fang Mo couldn’t hold it in anymore, and could not stop laughing, “I really love you to death! Tell me now, what do you want in return?”

Zou Shun fell into deep thought and didn’t answer for a while.

“You don’t need to be polite with me, just say it!” Fang Mo waved his pillow around.

“It’s not that I’m being polite,” Zou Shun said, “I really thought about it, and found that you really are useless, and I can’t think of anything you can do that is of use to me.”

“……”

“Forget it, let’s save it for now,” Zou Shun said, “You have to remember to be nice to me, so that I can help you again in the future…”

Before he finished speaking, there was a sudden knock on the door of Fang Mo’s bedroom. At the same time, a familiar voice came from outside the door.

“Fang Mo? Are you there?”

It was Xu Xiran, who he had just parted with not too long ago.

“Enough talk,” Fang Mo interrupted Zou Shun without hesitation, “Let’s chat later!”

He decisively cut off the call with his benefactor, jumped off the bed, and before opening the door, carefully straightened out his disheveled clothes.

As soon as he opened the door, he was greeted with Xu Xiran’s smile.

“You’re the only one in your dorm?” He walked in casually, pulled a chair and sat down, then looked at Fang Mo’s messy bed, “Were you sleeping?”

“No,” Fang Mo shook his head quickly, “I was just lying down for a bit. What were you looking for me for?”

Xu Xiran smiled at him, “How was I?”

He came to take credit.

Fang Mo held back a smile and gave him a thumbs up, “Amazing.”

After getting his affirmation, Xu Xiran felt a little bashful and said, “Did he say anything to you afterwards?”

Back when they were on their way back to school, Xu Xiran had suddenly gotten a call from a teacher asking him to come over, and had to say goodbye to them as soon as they entered the school gate. Before leaving, he covertly gestured at Fang Mo, reminding him to contact him anytime if anything else comes up.

It was reasonable to say that because Fang Mo had known Zou Shun for so long, even if Zou Shun really felt that way about him, he didn’t need to be that wary. In terms of body size, Zou Shun was a little shorter than him, so there was no need to even use violent means. Fang Mo felt that Xu Xiran was rather too forthright, stubborn, and overprotective.

But fortunately, he wasn’t against this excessiveness and actually thought it was very beneficial to him.

“We just chatted like usual,” he sat down in front of Xu Xiran, “Nothing special.”

Xu Xiran nodded, and then said, “You see, he was clearly targeting me today, wasn’t he? This must mean that I really guessed right.”

“But… at least so far, he knows that there’s nothing special between you and me… Why would he target you?” Fang Mo said very deliberately.

Xu Xiran sure enough fell for his trap, “That’s because we’re really good with each other. Maybe he thinks that even if you don’t have those kinds of feelings for him, he’s still at least your closest friend, right? But now, although I’ve known you for a shorter time than him, our relationship is very good and we’re very close, so if I show that to him, he’ll think differently, and so it won’t be a surprise if he gets jealous, right?”

“…You’ve analyzed this so thoroughly. I didn’t know there’s such a meticulous side of you,” Fang Mo teased.

“What are you talking about?” Xu Xiran waved his hand dismissively, “I’ve always been a very meticulous person, okay?”

Fang Mo did think this was true. Although he was always carefree in his daily life, he was a person who could come up with long essays even after watching an anime of only twelve episodes. If Fang Mo didn’t use his brain to think, there would be no way he could understand his speeches.

Fang Mo held back a smile and nodded, “Alright, alright, you are the most meticulous.”

Seeing that Xu Xiran was dissatisfied and wanted to continue to emphasize something, Fang Mo hurriedly interrupted.

“If this goes on, it will be very awkward for me and Zou Shun to get along with each other in the future,” he said as he glanced at Xu Xiran, “I don’t want to lose a friend like that.”

Those words sounded bitchy, but Xu Xiran didn’t think it was anything strange at all.

He comforted him earnestly, “Maybe after realizing that he has no hope, he’ll come out of that mindset? Or maybe after a while, he will like someone else, and only regard you as a friend. It’s possible.”

Fang Mo nodded obediently, “Mn.”

“I hope he can quickly find true love soon!” Xu Xiran put his hands together in front of his chest, and prayed towards the window.

“…What if he has someone else he likes and ignores me and doesn’t want to be friends with me anymore?” Fang Mo made another bitchy speech.

“You’re too greedy, you also have to take care of his emotions.” Xu Xiran still didn’t think there was a big problem, and smiled at him when he spoke, “It’s impossible for everything to go smoothly in this world. Besides, he’s not your only friend, you also have me.”

Originally, Fang Mo was secretly thinking about how to steer the topic towards a more ambiguous direction, but he didn’t expect that Xu Xiran would take the initiative to do that without his help.

“Ai,” Fang Mo was delighted in his heart, but on the surface, he had to put on a look of sighing with sorrow, “You’re too good of a brother, you’ve sacrificed so much for me.”

“You’re exaggerating it a bit.” Xu Xiran was puzzled, “What sacrifice did I make?”

“You’re a straight guy, pretending to be flirty with me in front of a real gay guy. Wouldn’t that be considered a sacrifice?” Fang Mo said, “Seriously, does it not make you feel… weird?”

“Ah? Does that make you feel uncomfortable?” Xu Xiran’s eyes widened with surprise.

“No, no, I don’t feel uncomfortable,” Fang Mo shook his head quickly, “I’m just worried about you…”

“You’re really thinking too much, you’re exaggerating it,” Xu Xiran said with a smile, “What I did today was nothing. All I said was the truth.”

Fang Mo was taken aback.

Seeing him freeze for a moment, Xu Xiran’s expression unexpectedly became cheeky. He laughed, then leaned in front of Fang Mo, and said, “If there were only men left in this world, I would definitely pick the one who I’m closest with and is the most handsome, right? Who else would I pick but you? It’s not a lie.”

“……”

“What’s with your expression?” Xu Xiran felt a little dissatisfied, “Would you not choose me? I can’t be that bad of a choice. Then who would you choose, Zou Shun?”

Fang Mo’s head felt dizzy.

Just as Xu Xiran was about to continue asking questions, a cheerful Japanese song suddenly played in the air. Fang Mo was forced to listen to it many times and knew it was Xiaoyao’s character song. Xu Xiran’s phone had rung.

The two were so close to each other that after Xu Xiran answered the phone, Fang Mo could roughly hear the voice on the other end of the line without even straining.

“Ran-ge, I just watched you go upstairs from my window, why haven’t you returned to the dorm yet?”

It was his roommate.

“I’m in 301,” Xu Xiran answered, “What’s up?”

“Are you looking for your wife again?” asked the other side.

Fang Mo was shocked.

Xu Xiran acted as if nothing had happened, “Mn, I just went to sit for a bit, I’ll be right back.”

They chatted a little more after that. Then after hanging up the phone, facing a dumbstruck Fang Mo, he suddenly came back to his senses and began to feel embarrassed.

“After they saw us that way, they insisted on calling you that, what can I can do? Heh heh.” He said.

t/n: Heh heh is right