AllUnbridled

Unbridled 2

Lin Wuyu didn’t spend the night at home and left the house after eating the lo mein noodles. He forcibly shut the door, cutting his mother’s complaints midway.

The only good thing today was that he heard “Your brother blah blah blah” only once.

In terms of presence, no one in this family was better than “your brother”.

Even though his brother wasn’t present at home, his legend allowed him to maintain his position as the one with the highest status in the family.

It was an ordinary night with clear weather, a bright moon and stars, and twinkling city lights. On this night, while all the third-year dogs with aspirations had their heads buried in their studies, Lin Wuyu played with a claw machine for half an hour, listened to a busker on the street for another half an hour, and even requested a song. Finally, he walked into the barbecue restaurant he frequently visited.

“Same order as usual?” The boss shouted from where he was standing behind the meat skewers.

“Yes,” Lin Wuyu nodded.

The same order as usual meant that one skewer would be packaged into two servings. He’d take one serving home for his own dormitory and the other one would go over to the next dorm. Although this may seem like he has some sort of ulterior motive, in reality, he simply enjoys eating grilled meat. Even if he didn’t have a neighbour to give the other serving to, he could still eat both servings himself; one at a steady pace in the evening, and the other as an early morning snack.

He didn’t reply to the message on his phone, since he doesn’t usually reply to every single message that he receives.

Lin Wuyu took the BBQ back to the dormitory. As usual, he held the bag and sped up as he passed the dormitory supervisor’s door.

Finally, he pushed open the door to the dormitory next door.

The four people in the dormitory all turned to look at him, the lenses of their glasses glinting.

Lin Wuyu pushed his glasses up and greeted them, then placed the bag on the table next to the door, saying “Freshly grilled.”

As he left the dormitory, Xu Tianbo followed him out, “Hey.”

Lin Wuyu turned his head.

“Has anyone… said anything impolite to you or spoken any unpleasant words?” Xu Tianbo asked in a low voice as he closed the dormitory door.

“I haven’t checked my phone yet,” Lin Wuyu replied, thinking about how his phone had been ringing a lot today, but he hadn’t been in the mood to look at it. “Are all those messages from you? I’ll report you to the school for discrimination.”

“Pfft,” Xu Tianbo laughed, but his smile quickly faded and he frowned. “Don’t let those people affect you.”

No one can affect me,” Lin Wuyu patted his shoulder. “Thanks.”

After Xu Tianbo closed the dormitory door, Lin Wuyu returned to his own dormitory.

There was already a subtle change in their relationship, which was somewhat disheartening.

The other people in the dormitory had returned from evening self-study in the classroom and were already preparing for a new battle on their desks.

Chen Mang came to take the barbecue bag in his hand, and he felt that the atmosphere in the dormitory was also a bit awkward, but no one mentioned his speech on the roof.

Their dormitory generally did not discuss private matters.

Of course, this excellent dormitory conduct was also formed after several group fights.

So now, even if something like him openly coming out of the closet on the rooftop happens, as long as Lin Wuyu doesn’t mention it himself, the other three people will absolutely not ask about it.

“My power to stay up late has arrived.” Chen Mang opened the bag, snatched a chicken skewer and started gnawing on it.

“Is it still the same one?” Liu Ziyi also got up and walked over, asking a clearly rhetorical question to ease the awkward atmosphere.

“Mn,” Lin Wuyu responded. He didn’t feel uncomfortable, but the careful manner of his dormmates made him feel a little awkward.

Usually, when he brings barbecue back to the dormitory, Chen Mang and the others have to fight for it, because no one can eat as much as Lin Wuyu.

Even in a 1 vs 3 scenario, he can eat half.

However, today Lin Wuyu didn’t have much of an appetite, and only ate a third of a barbecue skewer before washing up and lying back in bed.

He didn’t intend to hide his emotions either. If he was down, he was down. He wasn’t interested in putting up an act for the other people in the dormitory, since they had all been living together for three years and knew each other well.

Chen Mang and the others did not give much thought to him, seizing this rare opportunity to sweep the barbecue away.

After the dorm room returned to a calm atmosphere, everyone except Lin Wuyu laid back down at their desks to study. It was common for high school students to study late into the night, and sometimes Lin Wuyu would get up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom and see that Liu Ziyi’s light was still on.

In the quiet studious atmosphere, Lin Wuyu’s phone pinged.

He rolled over, set it to vibrate, and checked the message.

It was a friend request from someone with a normal profile picture, which was surprising since most people’s profile pictures were from anime or manga nowadays.

However, the content of the friend request was unusual.

[Trash Pervert]

These two words… It took Lin Wuyu a few seconds to react.

They were cursing at him.

He frowned and ignored it, scanning the next few friend requests. There were a lot of friend requests today, and there were a few more below this one. 

Besides the three normal requests with a class and name, there were a few more.

[I didn’t think you were this disgusting]

[Wanna go on a date?]

[Go die you trash, watch out]

……

Lin Wuyu didn’t pay much attention to the other messages since there were quite a few today.

He didn’t expect it to be like this.

It was unexpected to see such straightforward expressions of like and dislike from contemporary young people.

When Xu Tianbo asked him about it, Lin Wuyu thought that Xu Tianbo was just overthinking things, but now it seems like he must have heard something bad.

Lin Wuyu threw his phone to the side, grabbed a textbook from the table, and propped his arm up to start reading.

Chen Mang reached over and turned on the lamp on the table for him. “Do you really think you’re that awesome just because you have the lowest degree of myopia in our dorm?”

“Yeah,” Lin Wuyu replied, “Aren’t I awesome?”

“No, it’s not cool,” Chen Mang said. “You’re nearsighted and you don’t even read books. That’s tragic.”

Lin Wuyu laughed, “I do read. How could I not?”


“You read a bunch of crap.” Ding Ji took the large glass bottle next to him and drank some of the golden chrysanthemum water that his mother had boiled, listening to the creaking of the chair as he put a chess piece on the board in front of him.

“I’ve never seen a student who attends school like you. Even I wasn’t as distracted as you are back when I still went to school.” Liu Jinpeng frowned as he stared at the chessboard, “How did you even get into high school?”

Ding Ji chuckled, “Back in the day…”

“Check!” Liu Jinpeng suddenly waved his hand and shouted loudly, slamming a chess piece onto the board with a loud bang.

Ding Ji was startled and he almost dropped the bottle of golden chrysanthemum tea in his hand.

“We’re just playing Go, do you have to be so dramatic?” He gave Liu Jinpeng a look and put down the bottle, picked up a white piece and gently placed it on the board. “I win.”

Liu Jinping stared at the three straight lines that appeared on the board at the same time, stunned for a while. “Is this even allowed?”

“Of course it is.” Ding Ji clapped his hands, “Do you want to keep playing?”

“Don’t play anymore!” Uncle Chen, who had been smoking on the side, answered first. “You two have been playing Go all afternoon and you still aren’t satisfied? You should be finished by now. If you want to play, go draw on paper. I’m waiting to play Go here! Old Li will be here soon.”

“Uncle Chen,” Ding Ji waved his hand at Liu Jinpeng, indicating for him to give up his seat, and then turned to Uncle Chen. “Old Li hasn’t arrived yet. How about you play against me first?”

Uncle Chen immediately furrowed his brow, hesitating before speaking.

Liu Jinpeng chuckled on the side.

Uncle Chen used to be the Go King of the alleys nearby. He had won numerous championships in the past at the amateur Go tournaments held on the streets.

Until Ding Ji appeared.

Ding Ji, a junior high school student who only had time to watch them play Go for a month, ended Uncle Chen’s career as the Go King.

As long as it was Ding Ji who was sitting across from him, Uncle Chen never won a round again.

When Ding Ji returned to the world of Go, he was overwhelmed with joy and motivation, just short of presenting himself with a banner of congratulations.

“Hey, Old Li! You finally came! Quick!” Uncle Chen suddenly waved at someone across the street. “Hurry up!”

Ding Ji looked back and saw that Old Li had indeed arrived. He smiled and took a sip of tea, then stood up holding his large glass. “Jinpeng, do you want to come to my house for dinner?

“Which one of your houses?” Liu Jinpeng asked.

“My grandma’s house,” Ding Ji replied.

“Let’s go,” Liu Jinpeng clapped his hands.

“Hurry up and go,” Old Li walked over. “You being here is affecting Chen Shu’s performance.”

“Not to that extent,” Uncle Chen said.

“Then I…” Ding Ji immediately stopped, turning around.

“Go,” Uncle Chen said.

This street corner open-air “chess house” not only had strategy games like Go, but also six sets of stone tables and chairs, with at least two types of chessboards stacked on each table. The neighbourhood committee was also quite considerate and had placed a large number of chess, checkers, and aviation chess1 games in the small grocery store next door. Generally, however, the more elderly men played chess, with Go coming in second. Although Go often took an alarming amount of time, it could create the illusion of being “elegant,” so there were also a lot of people who played it.

Ding Ji’s grandma’s house wasn’t far from there, and there was also a small open-air park next door with a green spread and a small square. It was a fashionable place for skateboarding, parkour, scooters, and street dancing. Since elementary school, Ding Ji had liked coming here to hang out. Whenever he skipped school, had a vacation, or ran away from home, this place was his first choice.

“Weren’t you at your parent’s house last week?” Liu Jinpeng asked as they walked. “Why did you come back? You couldn’t even last ten days this time?”

“Mm,” Ding Ji nodded. “I’m not used to it.”

“What aren’t you used to?” Liu Jinpeng asked. “You always say this. You’re just not used to them controlling you, right?”

“You always ask this,” Ding Ji glanced at him. “It’s not that I’m not used to them controlling me. My grandfather controls me too. He even spanks me when I’m not obedient.”

“Right,” Liu Jinpeng looked into the distance, starting to reminisce about the past, but soon snapped back to reality. He probably remembered the painful experience of being beaten by Ding Ji’s grandfather a few times while he was beating Ding Ji as a child. He nodded vigorously. “Yes, he spanked very hard.”

“Is your sinus infection better?” Ding Ji asked. “If not, I brought a spray from over there. You can use a bottle.”

“It’s better,” Liu Jinpeng said, then hesitated. “Did I tell you about my sinus infection?”

“Didn’t need to.” Ding Ji replied.

Liu Jinpeng looked at him. It took a while before he asked, “Then how did you… Oh no, you said you didn’t count it. Then how did you guess?”

Ding Ji looked back at him, mouth zipped.

“Oh,” Liu Jinpeng, who grew up with him, quickly figured it out. He touched his nose. “Is it because I blew my nose until it was raw and it’s still not better… Hey? It’s better now!”

The corner of Ding Ji’s mouth quirked up, but he didn’t respond to him. He stretched out his arm and leaned back lazily. “Come on, come on! My grandma made dumplings today.”

“Tell me! Tell me!” Liu Jinpeng persisted. Ding Ji refused to answer, so he continued to analyze himself. “How could you tell? I didn’t bring tissues today and I didn’t have a nasal voice when I spoke… Are there any other clues…?”

Ding Ji’s good mood was ruined by his father’s car stopping downstairs.

Although it wasn’t completely ruined per se, the impact was still significant. It’s probably because the college entrance exam was approaching and his father chased after him without leaving him alone for three days.

His grandma called out from the kitchen when we came in through the door, “You’re back—”

“We’re back—” Ding Ji responded.

“Pengpeng2 also came?” His grandma shouted again.

“Hi, Grandma,” Liu Jinpeng answered.

“Dad,” Ding Ji saw his father sitting on the sofa flipping through a book.

“Hmm,” His father looked at him and waved the book in his hand, “Were you reading this?”

“Nope.” Ding Ji denied it subconsciously.

The book in his dad’s hand was a palm-reading book. He bought it for three yuan3 at a used book stall when he was in the first grade of elementary school. It filled the gap in his grandmother’s knowledge of divination and he has kept it all these years, taking it out to look at it whenever he had the time.

“I brought it over yesterday,” Liu Jinpeng quickly interjected, rescuing Ding Ji from the awkward situation. “I asked grandma to help me with some questions.”

“Grandma doesn’t read palms for people.” His dad gave him a glance, “Are you still interested in this stuff?”

“The more you know,” Liu Jinpeng said.

His dad gave an emotionless smile and didn’t say anything more. Ding Ji couldn’t think of anything to say either, so they went into the kitchen.

His grandpa hadn’t returned from his walk yet, his auntie was watering his grandma’s flowers on the balcony, and his grandma was in the kitchen. The living room was almost a prison of awkwardness.

“If you told me your dad was here,” Liu Jinpeng whispered as he followed him into the kitchen, “I wouldn’t have come.”

“I didn’t know he came.” Ding Ji helped his grandma put the washed vegetables into the basket and asked, “When did he come? What does he want?”

“He came to bring you back,” his grandma said. “You didn’t tell me you ran away on your own.”

“I’m old enough already,” Ding Ji said. “They never cared about me when I was in elementary school. Now that I’m almost old enough to get married, they suddenly start caring. It’s not fair.”

“That’s not really true either,” Liu Jinpeng said, “They started caring when you were still a few years away from being able to get married, but they just haven’t been very successful at it.”

Ding Ji didn’t say anything. He just leaned against the wall at the back. “Don’t talk nonsense and help me out. If you’re going to help, at least show some signs of life in those eyes of yours.”

“Shit, man.” Liu Jinpeng gave him a glance.

“Chop the filling,” his grandma picked up a vegetable knife and tossed it onto the chopping board, the knife wedging half an inch into it.

Liu Jinpeng pulled out the knife and started working.

“I’m definitely not going back with him tonight.” Ding Ji didn’t know if he was talking to himself, his grandma, or Liu Jinpeng. “None of you should try to persuade me. I’ll just stay here and take a breather.”

“Mn,” Liu Jinpeng nodded.

“After eating, when I tell you to leave, we leave,” Ding Ji said. “Pengpeng, be ready to follow along.”

“Sure,” Liu Jinpeng raised his hand and made an OK sign.


Lin Wuyu didn’t tell anyone about being insulted in various ways through friend requests, but a few people in the dorm still found out.

It wasn’t until two more days had passed that someone brought it up.

“Should we think of a way to deal with this?” Chen Mang asked. “We shouldn’t have asked about this in the first place if you didn’t want to talk about it, but it’s been a few days now, right? It hasn’t died down at all, it’s like they found a good way to curse at you and they’re getting a kick out of it.”

“It’s not a big deal,” Lin Wuyu said as he ate his meal.

“Why don’t you tell Old Lin about it?” Liu Ziyi said. “He’ll definitely be able to help you deal with it. It’s affecting your mood too much and it’s hard to focus on studying.”

“It’s not affecting me.” Lin Wuyu drank some soup. The cafeteria’s food was a bit salty today.

“Are you just going to endure it then?” Luo Chuan furrowed his brow.

“It’s not about enduring,” Lin Wuyu thought for a moment, “It’s just that these people aren’t even worthy of me wasting even a single brain cell on them. I don’t have time to waste on them.”

Chen Mang looked at him, “That makes sense. They just want to make you feel uncomfortable.”

“I’ll lose if I give them even a glance.” Lin Wuyu put down his chopsticks, wiped his mouth, and stood up with his plate.

“Eating too quickly is bad for your stomach,” Liu Ziyi couldn’t help but lecture him. “Where are you going?”

“Out shopping,” Chen Mang and Lin Wuyu both answered at the same time.

Lin Wuyu didn’t really like to sit at a desk and study in a proper manner. It put too much pressure on him. He liked to wander around, go see things and find somewhere to zone out, whether it be the playground, the street, or the square by the fountain, and review the material in his head over and over again.

A relatively unfamiliar environment with no familiar faces made him feel grounded and like he was the only one in the world.

‘I have a good memory. I am Yao, Shun, Yu, and Tang4. I am the most badass king in the world.’

He walked quite far today. He had been to this small square twice before; it was lively at night but not really suitable for studying, however, he wasn’t particularly in the mood to study today either.

He just wanted to see what life was like below the mountains.

In the distance, a young man rode his skateboard up a railing, fell, and skated another two meters. Someone was doing fancy basketball shots under a lamp-lit basketball hoop and the hoop with chains hanging from it made a loud noise when it was hit. A few girls with guitars were singing twenty meters away… 

So lively!

There was even a scammer behind him.

“Help me take a look, just say a few random words. My left hand’s male and my right hand’s female. You’re looking at my left hand, right?”

And the idiot who is being scammed.

“No,” the scammer probably didn’t bother with scamming someone like this. “Don’t you always say this every time you see me?”

“You’ve never helped me take a look before,” the idiot said. “We’ve known each other for four or five years, although we’re not very close… “

“Forget it today, he’s in a bad mood,” the other voice, probably the swindler’s assistant, said. “Next time.”

Well, that’s unexpected, the master swindler probably didn’t even have time to gather information about the idiot, of course it won’t work today.

However…

“Alright,” the scammer sighed, “Go buy me a bottle of water.”

Lin Wuyu suddenly became interested and listened attentively to the conversation behind him.

The idiot quickly bought the water and returned, “What are you going to do?”

“Hands,” The scammer ordered.

A few seconds later, he said again, “Do you have a brother or sister?”

“Yes,” the idiot was a little surprised. “Accurate.”

“Did you have a major illness or has anything else happened to you in high school or middle school?” The scammer asked again.

“I… damn!” The idiot’s voice rose. “I had a car accident in grade seven! I’ve never told anyone about this! How can you tell? How did you see it?”

“Guessed,” The scammer said.

Lin Wuyu couldn’t help but turn around and look back.

If this were true, it would be quite magical.

Three people were sitting on the stairs behind him. The middle one should be the scammer, and the person on the right stretched out his left hand in front of him.

The scammer was very young, about the same age as himself.

However, when he looked this way, Lin Wuyu raised his eyebrows.

… Could this be the long-lost brother of Xu Tianbo?

The scammer had a lollipop in his mouth, and after making eye contact with Lin Wuyu for a few seconds and realizing that Lin Wuyu had no intention of turning away, he wrapped his tongue around it and pointed the small stick of candy towards Lin Wuyu.

“What are you looking at?” He raised his chin.

Translator's Notes

  1. (T/N: Aviation chess is a strategy board game that is similar to chess. It is played on a board with tiles that represent an aircraft carrier and various types of aircraft. Players take turns moving their aircraft and attempting to capture their opponent’s aircraft or carrier. The game is won when a player captures the opponent’s carrier or eliminates all of their aircraft. It is not as well-known as chess and is not played as frequently.)
  2. (T/N: Pengpeng is Liu Jinpeng’s nickname)
  3. (T/N: For yuan just divide it by 5 to get the approximate amount in dollars.)
  4. (T/N: The reference to “Yao, Shun, Yu, and Tang” is likely a reference to the legendary Chinese emperors Yao, Shun, Yu, and Tang, who were known for their wisdom and virtue. The phrase “most badass king in the world” is likely intended to convey confidence and a sense of superiority.)