CIFB Chap. 68-69 Summary

Another 2 chapter extra, so again, combining into one.

This one’s pretty much Ling Ke dying of embarrassment and Qi Feng getting roasted, it’s really fun~

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Extra 02: Class Reunion

The summer after their freshman year, Ling Ke’s high school class organized a reunion. His class monitor invited him and while he’s usually cold and detached, he wasn’t someone who refused to fit in, thus he agreed.

Everyone gathered at a restaurant near their school. Around 20 people came, about half of their class, and they ordered a private room w/ 2 tables.

Not only was Ling Ke the hottest in their class, but also the one w/ the best grades, so as soon as he arrived, he got pulled to sit at the table w/ most of the girls.

During high school in a school like theirs, everyone was busy cramming for the college entrance exams and very few dated. But now that they were in college already, things were much different.

A few who like talking brought up interesting things that happened, and those that went to other cities all chatted about the different foods. Then, the convo turned to how their former classmates were doing and who was dating who.

Seeing Ling Ke eating w/o talking, one girl asked, “Ling Ke, how’s life at F University?”

Ling Ke: “Quite good.”

Seeing that someone started talking to Ling Ke, a lot of people turned their way and took advantage of this opportunity: “Ling Ke, did you find a girlfriend?”

Ling Ke: “Uh, no……”

“I heard that F University’s cafeteria has amazing food, is that true? Wasn’t there a rumor earlier about a valedictorian who was guaranteed to go to THU, but after eating at your school, switched to F University!”

“Haha, I’ve heard that joke too. Ling Ke, tell us, are F University’s cafeterias really that good?”

Ling Ke had never eaten food at another university so he couldn’t compare. However, the cafeteria’s food was quite rich and plentiful, and adding all the restaurants outside the west gate, there were definitely a lot of choices. He hadn’t even tried everything w/ Qi Feng yet.

But in the end, all he said was: “I think it’s alright.”

The previous excitement all the girls had deflated like a leaking balloon.

One girl couldn’t help but complain: “Ling Ke, how come you’re still so cold and aloof!”

Ling Ke: “……”

Unable to get anything out of Ling Ke, the girls started gossiping b/t themselves.

One person said: “I think I heard someone from Class 3 say that Ling Ke’s actually one of the Idols at F University!”

“I’m not surprised at all ok. I haven’t seen anyone at my college hotter than our Ling Ke. If he went there, he’d definitely be the Campus Idol!”

Embarrassed by their words, Ling Ke inwardly thought: They hadn’t met Qi Feng yet, b/c if they did, they’d know what a real “idol” looked like. How could he even compare?

As they chatted, the door opened and a girl walked in. Everyone exploded in cheers as they called out: “Jiang YiShan! Jiang YiShan’s here!”

Jiang YiShan was the class secretary and also part of the student council. She was very pretty, popular, and knew how to have fun.

Her grades weren’t bad and went to another famous university in the city. Other than Ling Ke, she was probably the best in their class.

Jiang YiShan directly requested the waiter to add another chair to Ling Ke’s table, and the first thing out of her mouth was: “Long time no see, Ling Ke!”

Seeing this, everyone else smiled with knowing wickedness.

That’s right, Jiang YiShan also liked Ling Ke in high school, but in the end, he didn’t treat her any different, so she gave up.

Actually, Ling Ke knew Jiang YiShan liked him and had purposely maintained a distance from her.

After a year of no contact, Ling Ke was also a bit nervous that the 1st person she greeted was himself. He turned towards her, expressionless, and politely greeted, “Long time no see.”

Jiang YiShan sat down and generously accepted a cup of wine as punishment for being late, then curiously asked, “What were you guys chatting about earlier? I thought I heard something about Ling Ke?”

One girl giggled: “We were talking about how Ling Ke’s F University’s Campus Idol!”

Ling Ke immediately corrected: “I’m not the Campus Idol.”

That girl: “Ah? Really?”

Right as Ling Ke was about to explain, Jiang YiShan said, “Oh, I know F University’s Campus Idol. A guy called Qi Feng, right?”

Most people had never heard of Qi Feng, thus asked, “Who’s Qi Feng? Jiang YiShan, how do you know him?”

Jiang YiShan smiled: “F University’s Top 10 Most Beautiful Singers Competition was also discussed on our school’s forum. At the time, I also read about it.” After saying this, she even pulled up a picture of Qi Feng on her phone.

“Wow, so hot! Even hotter than our Ling Ke!”

“If he’s F University’s Campus Idol, then I’m convinced……”

“Ahh, I know this person, didn’t he got to Merit Music Academy for high school? One of my middle school friends showed me his picture before!”

“My god, so hot. I wonder if he has a girlfriend!”

“If Ling Ke knows him, we can ask him to introduce us……”

“Lolol, as if this kind of super hot guy would like you?”

……

One person stole Jiang YiShan’s phone and turned it towards Ling Ke while asking excitedly, “Ling Ke, do you know this person?”

Ling Ke didn’t know what to say; how could he not know? Not only was Qi Feng in his class and his roommate, he was also his boyfriend. Last night, they hugged each other to sleep and two hours earlier, a certain someone kept clinging to him, not wanting to separate.

He knew that Qi Feng was a “celebrity”; given how the internet worked and how the other loved to post to his WeChat, it was very normal that some photos leaked to the outside. But to personally witness a bunch of girls who had nothing to do w/ Qi Feng fantasize about him, Ling Ke still couldn’t resist growing a bit jealous.

Jiang YiShan took back her phone and smiled: “It’s not me raining on your parade, but Qi Feng’s probably gay!”

The girls, shocked: “For real?”

Jiang YiShan arched an eyebrow: “Yep, I even heard he had a boyfriend.”

A layer of cold sweat covered Ling Ke’s back……

However, Jiang YiShan didn’t say this while looking at Ling Ke, so it didn’t seem like she was trying to point fingers.

But her words started a whole new wave of gossip, and even the girls from the other table came over to add what little they knew.

A few minutes prior, they hadn’t known anything about Qi Feng, but now, all sorts of exciting stories popped out… Things like, he goes after guys and girls, dated multiple people at the same time, had 4-5 beautiful rich ladies at his beck and call, a few handsome and young gay friends, a fiancee from birth…everything came out!

Ling Ke listened to them, flabbergasted. This kind of reminded him of a similar time during high school when all of Qi Feng’s rumors got exaggerated and gossiped about.

At that time, he was even the instigator, and had treated all those things as truth…… Sigh, rumors really couldn’t be trusted.

Ahh, Qi Feng, that pure boy, how pitiful. He probably doesn’t even know his reputation outside was that of a sexual deviant.

Just as Ling Ke lit candles for Qi Feng in his heart, his phone vibrated.

He looked down, and sure enough, Qi “Doctorate in Clinging” Feng sent a text:

Qi Feng: KeKe, I came over.

Ling Ke: Why did you come?

Qi Feng: I came to pick you up. Didn’t we say we were going to meet my friends this afternoon? They already started playing and are just waiting for us.

Ling Ke: After I’m done eating I’ll find you. Don’t come.

Qi Feng: But I’m already right in front of your restaurant.

Ling Ke: “……”

Qi Feng: I’m parking rn. Tell me the table #, I’ll come up to find you and also say hi to your classmates.

Ling Ke: Don’t! I’m coming down right now, wait for me downstairs!

Seeing Ling Ke’s message, Qi Feng knit his brows, not quite happy.

Was he unfit to be seen by others or what? Why was Ling Ke so nervous? It couldn’t be that something strange happened, like someone confessed to Ling Ke…… That wasn’t impossible; Ling Ke was so handsome and outstanding, so it’s hard to say that there aren’t girls who secretly love him!

After this flight of fancy, Qi Feng felt terrible from head to toe. Fuck, he had to show his face and let them all know who Ling Ke belonged to.

Hmph.

Actually, most people were done eating and were just happily chatting.

Ling Ke planned to leave then, but Jiang YiShan suddenly asked, “Ling Ke, I heard that Qi Feng was also in the journalism department like you. Do you know him?”

Another girl interrupted, “Aiya, Ling Ke’s so cold and aloof, even if he knew the other, it’s not like they’ll be close!”

Ling Ke was about to respond, but hearing this, closed his mouth again. Very good, looks like there were other people willing to explain for him.

But with this, Ling Ke once again lost his chance to leave.

As he pondered whether to send Qi Feng a text to wait another 15 minutes, a waitress pushed open the door and said, “There’s a handsome man saying he’s looking for someone.”

Ling Ke turned his head, and his entire body froze.

With his hands in his pockets, Qi Feng stood outside the room, staring straight at him.

The entire room was struck dumb, all looking at the super hot guy standing there……

They had never seen Qi Feng in person and had only seen a photo on Jiang YiShan’s phone earlier, thus unable to immediately connect him to the person they were just gossiping about.

Qi Feng revealed a brilliant smile and waved towards them all: “Hi~!” Then, he turned back towards Ling Ke and said, “I’m looking for Ling Ke.”

“You……” At a loss, Ling Ke stood up. “Why did you come up?”

Qi Feng, completely calm: “Didn’t we agree to meet downstairs at 1:30? It’s almost 2:00 now. You didn’t reply to my texts, so I thought you might have gotten drunk w/ your old classmates and came up for a look.”

Hearing this pack of lies, Ling Ke’s lips twitched, speechless.

……What 1:30, what didn’t reply to your texts, none of that happened ok!

Jiang YiShan enthusiastically asked, “Ling Ke, who’s this? Your friend?”

Before Ling Ke could open his mouth, Qi Feng introduced himself: “Sorry for bothering you guys. I’m Ling Ke’s boyfriend, Qi Feng.”

In that instant, the entire room went……WTF!!!

“!!!!!” Ling Ke was so scared his entire heart almost stopped. What was this lunatic doing!?

One of the guys unfroze, then stiffly asked, “Then, do you want the waiter to bring another chair and eat with us?”

Ling Ke hurried to reply, “No need, we still have an appointment this afternoon. I’ll have to leave early for today…… I’m really sorry, let’s meet again another time.” As soon as he finished talking, he waved to the class monitor and pulled Qi Feng to leave.

After a period of queer silence, a girl finally asked feebly, “This Qi Feng…was it the same Qi Feng we were just talking about?”

“Oh, I think so…… My gods, he’s so much hotter in person!”

“He just said, he’s Ling Ke’s…boyfriend? I didn’t hear incorrectly, right?”

“You didn’t hear incorrectly……”

One by one, the girls let out shrill squeals, covering their faces in disbelief.

“It’s over, it’s over, we just talked all that smack behind the guy’s back. How would Ling Ke view us from now on!”

“Ling Ke didn’t explain either……”

“When faced w/ something like this, what could he say? Why don’t you see how it feels to have people gossip about your boyfriend’s unfaithfulness right in front of you?”

“What I’m more concerned about is, Ling Ke’s actually gay?”

“Ling Ke really hadn’t come into a lot of contact w/ girls……”

……

Of course, Ling Ke, who had fled like the wind, wouldn’t know how his classmates responded.

After getting into the car w/ Qi Feng, his entire face burned like mad: “You’re really not afraid of making a big deal of things!”

Qi Feng’s lips curved into a satisfied, wicked smile and started the car.

After taking some time to calm down, Ling Ke couldn’t resist wanting to laugh. He knew Qi Feng said that on purpose, though from another perspective, that Qi Feng was willing to come out in that kind of situation proved that the other was serious about their relationship.

Qi Feng glanced at him, then asked with a smile, “No mad at me anymore?”

Ling Ke: “Do you know what my classmates were talking about before you came?”

Qi Feng: “How am I suppose to know that?”

Thus, Ling Ke recited back every piece of gossip the girls talked about.

Hearing this, Qi Feng didn’t know whether to laugh or cry as he sighed, “Aye, those people are so evil. Even if they don’t think they’re good enough for me, they can’t go around slandering me like that. My first kiss and first night were both given to you!”

Ling Ke: “……”

Even while retorting, the other didn’t forget to narcissistically praise himself. Ling Ke really had no words.

Qi Feng then asked, “What about your future class reunions? Would it be too awkward?”

Ling Ke, helpless: “After that, I probably wouldn’t dare to go to another one.”

Only now did Qi Feng repent: “Sorry……”

Ling Ke comforted him: “It’s fine. I didn’t have a lot of close friends in high school, and class reunions are kind of just a place to brag and not really meaningful. It’s less work not to go.”

Hearing this, Qi Feng retorted: “You’re really antisocial.”

Ling Ke shrugged as he couldn’t care less, making Qi Feng both love and hate him for it.

 

After reaching the karaoke place, Qi Feng parked the car and brought Ling Ke upstairs.

This was the 1st time Ling Ke would meet Qi Feng’s friends, so he nervously asked, “How many will come?”

“5-6. They’re all my best buds from MMIA,” Qi Feng reassured. “Don’t worry, don’t you already know Shen YueZhe, Li KaiXing, and Zhao Si? We played together before.”

They found the right room and as soon as they pushed open the door, a deafening burst of heckling almost knocked them over.

Afraid that Ling Ke would get frightened, Qi Feng grabbed his hand, but this only made those people jeer and howl even louder.

Qi Feng shouted back, “Oi oi oi, are you guys through with that or what. Keep it up and we’re leaving!”

Zhao Si yelled, “Don’t, I reserved this place for the whole afternoon. Come sit, come sit!” Saying so, he scooted over and left the seats in the middle empty.

Qi Feng sat down, and seeing how they were all staring at Ling Ke, felt a bit embarrassed: “You guys seem to all know already……”

Li KaiXing smiled: “Are you dumb or what, what kind of personality does the Princess have? You think she’d take your secret to the grave? Your relationship w/ Ling Ke’s long been an open secret!”

Qi Feng shook his head and smiled, then wrapped an arm around Ling Ke’s shoulders: “Then, let me formally introduce you. This is my boyfriend, Ling Ke. Anyways, treating him as you treat me is all that I ask for.”

Hearing “boyfriend”, that group once again burst into a strange laughter, making Ling Ke want to dig a hole and crawl inside……

Completely deadpan, Shen YueZhe asked, “Treat him as we treat you? Loony Feng, are you for serious? I wrap my arm around you all the time, so you’re going to let me wrap my arm around Ling Ke? When were little, we even touched each other’s penises, so you’re going to let me touch your boyfriend’s—”

Qi Feng: “Scram!”

After another round of laughter, Zhao Si also added jokingly: “To be honest, you coming out of the closet didn’t surprise me. What surprised me was that you’re partner actually wasn’t Shen YueZhe!”

Shen YueZhe, feigning a broken heart: “Ah, in with the new, out with the old!”

Everyone else: “Hahahaha!”

Qi Feng hugged Ling Ke tighter and gave him a mic as he changed the topic: “Want to sing something?”

Ling Ke waved his hands: “I can’t.” He didn’t even like to talk normally, much less sing, thus instantly refused.

Qi Feng pointed to the song list: “Then what song do you want to hear? I’ll sing it for you.”

Ling Ke: “……”

Everyone else broke out in goose bumps over these mushy words of Qi Feng’s, all clutching their elbows and making weird howls.

Drunk on love, Qi “Cinnamon Bun” Feng didn’t care at all, picked a few love songs, and began to passionately sing while making eye contact with Ling Ke from time to time.

Everyone was so blinded by this they wanted to cry…… Even Ling Ke couldn’t bear to keep watching, turning away and chatting w/ Qi Feng’s friends.

Some were curious about how Qi Feng and Ling Ke got together, but after failing to get info out of Ling Ke, they started to chat about all of Qi Feng’s old love stories.

Li KaiXing: “I think this time, Duchess gave up for real, though I’m not sure about the Princess.”

Ling Ke: “Who’s the Princess?”

Zhao Si smiled: “Chu ShuangShuang, you know her? She’s also someone secretly in love with Qi Feng!”

Qi Feng immediately destroyed this budding topic: “Ling Ke’s met her.” And then he mentioned how the 4 of them went out to eat on New Year’s.

Li KaiXing couldn’t imagine such a thing: “Holy fuck, that happened? They didn’t tear you to pieces?”

Qi Feng: “No, they’re very tactful, not anything like how you guys make them out to be.”

Shen YueZhe: “Tsk, only a dumbass like you thinks they’re pure. Let me tell you, every girl who liked you at MMIA was a beast!”

Remembering the girl who once wanted to buy Qi Feng’s used articles, Ling Ke couldn’t help but nod.

Afraid that Ling Ke would feel uneasy, Qi Feng quickly said, “Stop talking about those random things. I came out of the closet now, so what can they do with me?”

“That’s true. Xu JunZhu is super proud and arrogant, so she’s definitely given up by now. Princess is also open-minded, so you can rest easy.” Shen YueZhe finally said something useful.

Ling Ke, curious: “Why do you call Chu ShuangShuang ‘Princess’?”

Speaking of this, they were all quite enthusiastic. “One year during our cultural festival, our class decided to act out the English version of ‘Snow White’. Chu ShuangShuang played the princess, thus her nickname became Princess.”

“Oh……” Ling Ke looked towards Qi Feng: “Who did you play? A dwarf?”

Qi Feng had just taken a drink of soda, and hearing this, spit it all out. “You think that little of your boyfriend? How could I possibly play a dwarf? The ones who played the dwarves were them.” He pointed to the others present and proudly proclaimed, “Naturally, I played the prince!”

Fuming in anger, the rest decided to attack as a group: “That’s right, that’s right! Qi Feng played the prince, and even had a kiss w/ the Princess!”

Scared out of his wits, Qi Feng instantly explained, “Not a real kiss, it was staged! Staged!”

The others all pointed at Qi Feng and indignantly refuted, “Lies! It was a real kiss!”

Framed like this, Qi Feng honestly didn’t know what to say: “It wasn’t, I didn’t!”

Ling Ke looked at one side, then the other, and finally let out an esoteric, “Oh……”

Qi Feng: “KeKe!” QAQ

Ling Ke suppressed his laughter to the point of pain. Looks like these friends of Qi Feng’s really had enough of his narcissism, and able to make these kind of jokes, they must be very close.

Feeling this wasn’t enough, those friends continued to dig holes for Qi Feng to jump into: “That’s right. Qi Feng, did you take care of the issue w/ Yang XueYun?”

Ling Ke blinked: “Who’s Yang XueYun?”

That group gleefully replied full of schadenfreude: “Qi Feng’s fiancee!”

Ling Ke threw a dagger glare at Qi Feng: “You really have a fiancee?”

Qi Feng: “No! KeKe, listen to me, the person she likes is my bro, not me! After graduating from elementary school, she went to America, and I haven’t heard from her in years!”

Ling Ke, half in belief, half in doubt: “Oh……”

Shen YueZhe, adding fuel to the fire: “Aha, didn’t you say in elementary school you wanted to marry her?”

Qi Feng: “But she had a change of heart and started liking my bro!”

Ling Ke: “……”

Qi Feng immediately grabbed Ling Ke’s hands while looking at him pitifully: “You have to believe me!”

That group laughed until they could barely breathe. No one expected that after dating, Qi Feng would become so whipped. After being suppressed by the other’s good looks for so long, they finally had a chance to retaliate!

At night, Qi Feng treated everyone to dinner, and they partied until midnight.

Before parting, Ling Ke exchanged WeChat contacts w/ the ones he met for the 1st time.

That night, he received a text:

Shen YueZhe: That, Ling Bro, the things we said at KTV today about Qi Feng, they were all said in jest so don’t take it seriously. Qi Feng’s actually a very simple and pure person.

Ling Ke: Yeah, I know. 🙂

He put away his phone, looked towards Qi Feng, who just took a shower and came out of the bathroom, with narrowed eyes and said, “Come, tell me all about that thing w/ your fiancee.”

Qi Feng: “……”

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[[I’m a bit sad that these extras don’t have skits, but since they’re all “interludes” themselves, I guess it wouldn’t make sense to have a small interlude too.]]