Seizing Dreams Chapter 30 - Chinese New Year’s Eve

Seizing Dreams
Ch30 – Chinese New Year’s Eve
Translated by: DMlations/Zryuu
Edited by: Amelea, FistFullOfDollars and Juurensha
—
Zhou Sheng had already prepared all of the dishes. He had chopped up everything that needed to be chopped and simmered everything that needed to be simmered, so he was only waiting on the final step of the the cooking process. He washed his hands, looked up at the clock, then went in to wake up Yu Hao.
“Yu Hao, don’t sleep anymore, wake up.” Zhou Sheng patted Yu Hao sleepily.
Yu Hao was lying on his stomach as he slept, revealing his fair shoulders and back while his thigh outside the blanket was fully exposed. His hair was mussed up, so it didn’t cover most of his handsome and perfect face. Under the sunlight, his outline seemed gentle and beautiful, which made one sentence flash through Zhou Sheng’s mind——
——this fucking little fresh meat.
Even though he was a guy, Yu Hao’s sleeping appearance stirred up sexual urges in Zhou Sheng, who suddenly wanted to ride on his body and give him a kiss.
Zhou Sheng, “……”
“Get up!” Zhou Sheng shouted loudly before his tent was completely pitched.
Yu Hao sprang straight up — he seemed quite startled — and their eyes met. Zhou Sheng looked at him with an apathetic expression.
With his bare, slim upper body on display and alarm in his eyes, Yu Hao asked, “What’s wrong?”
“Get up!” Zhou Sheng was so sleepy he was about to lose his temper. He hadn’t slept a wink since last night, “If you sleep too much during the day, you won’t be able to fall asleep at night.”
Yu Hao, who was still in a daze, anxiously responded with an “oh”. Zhou Sheng lifted the blanket and laid on the bed, “It’s my turn to sleep.”
“Wu……” Yu Hao tunneled under the blanket again and curled up comfortably. He uncovered his head as he faced Zhou Sheng to ask, “You didn’t sleep?’
Zhou Sheng couldn’t be bothered with answering him. He turned around and lay on his front as well to squash his hard object and like Yu Hao, also left his head uncovered. They stared at each other with their bright eyes.
Yu Hao wore a bewildered expression, “What is it?”
Zhou Sheng turned his head away, “Nothing.”
Yu Hao helped him pull the blanket up to cover him properly. Zhou Sheng said, “Go get lunch, there’s some on the table. And don’t be curious about what’s in the pot. If I catch you sneaking some, I’ll hit you.”
Yu Hao uttered an “un” before he got up to put on a T-shirt. Zhou Sheng was lying on his stomach with a head full of jumbled up thoughts. He hadn’t been exercising as much recently, so there was no way for him to vent all his frustration, which meant that he was much more hot-tempered these days. He decided that when the weather wasn’t so cold anymore, he would need to go sweat it out.
When Yu Hao was eating breakfast, he suddenly snapped out of his daze and thought of the conversation they had last night. He really couldn’t believe what he had done. It all seemed so unrealistic, as if last night was a dream. He decided to treat everything as if it was a dream, and to never mention it to Zhou Sheng again.
Now, he heaved a big sigh of relief, as if something truly had come to a close.
It was reasonable that a story that started in a dream would thus end with a dream. In fact, he was no longer concerned about why Zhou Sheng had such a strange power. But at the same time that his preoccupation with questions about superpowers and dreams became a thing of the past, a new and even more serious problem emerged.
Yu Hao knew that he must have fallen in love with Zhou Sheng.
Nowadays, he would feel incredibly happy as long as he could see Zhou Sheng, but he would become slightly troubled if he couldn’t. Zhou Sheng had already surpassed money to become his greatest source of happiness. He now seemed like someone who was on the verge of dying from thirst, who needed to drink water incessantly. Except that in his case, when he was drinking, he needed to be mindful of his image, and be even more mindful of choking.
He often heard people say that love would make you addicted to someone. When he was in junior high, he was ignorant and couldn’t comprehend such a concept, but now it really did seem like he was addicted.
Yu Hao gathered his utensils carefully and tried not to make any noise while he was washing them. At this moment, Mama Zhou’s boyfriend woke up. He came out and lifted the cover of the pot, “Wah, there’s so much good food? Did you make it?”
Yu Hao, “Zhou, Zhou Sheng made them……”
That man uttered several tsks, and before he could comment on it, Zhou Sheng shouted angrily from his room, “Yu Hao! Get in here!”
That was a most welcome order for Yu Hao. He quickly went in and knew that Zhou Sheng hadn’t fallen asleep yet, so he didn’t dare provoke him. He lay on the bed to read his Higher Mathematics textbook, but his thoughts weren’t focused on the book at all. He really wished he could just stare at Zhou Sheng, but Zhou Sheng’s back was facing him so all he could see was the back of his head.
Yu Hao knew that Zhou Sheng was straight, and the possibility of being liked by him was even rarer than winning the lottery. Zhou Sheng must know that he likes “General” too. But the things that had occurred in the dream were easy to dismiss. All he needed to explain was that he had always been inclined towards the same sex deep down in his heart and had just transferred his feelings onto General. Then, everyone would be able to come to a tacit mutual understanding and muddle through it together.
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Zhou Sheng turned around out of discomfort. Yu Hao shifted his gaze immediately. Zhou Sheng wore an extremely irritated expression on his face. He took his phone out from underneath the pillow and threw it to Yu Hao.
“Phone……” Zhou Sheng had finally fallen asleep when he was awoken by the vibration of Yu Hao’s phone. He muttered, “Let Laozi off ba……”
When Yu Hao saw that the call came from Chen Yekai, he quickly went out to take the call. Zhou Sheng said irritably, “Could you not go to the living room?”
Yu Hao went to the balcony. Zhou Sheng said, “It’s -3 degrees outside. Yu Hao, are you tired of living?”
So Yu Hao could only go back to the bed and cover Zhou Sheng with the blanket.
“Where are you?” This was the first thing Chen Yekai said.
Yu Hao looked at Zhou Sheng, then said into the phone, “I’m having fun outside, what’s wrong?”
“At, my, home!” Zhou Sheng could guess that it was Chen Yekai asking that question from Yu Hao’s answer, so he answered loudly with impatience.
Chen Yekai heard Zhou Sheng’s voice, and at the same time, Yu Hao heard the sound of an ambulance over on Chen Yekai’s side. He was startled, “Chen Laoshi, are you okay?”
Zhou Sheng turned around and cast a doubtful glance at Yu Hao. Yu Hao switched to loudspeaker. On the other end, the wee woo sounds of a siren were blaring.
Chen Yekai said, “It’s nothing, I just suddenly thought of you. I was afraid that it wouldn’t be safe for you to spend the 30th outside if you had gone travelling alone, but it’s fine if you’re at a friend’s house.”
The “friend” asked, “An ambulance? Kaikai, you’re okay ba?”
“Police car.” Chen Yekai said, “Something happened to Lin Laoshi and Liang Laoshi. Let’s talk about it later.”
Yu Hao and Zhou Sheng looked at each other. Yu Hao asked Chen Yekai not to worry too much, Chen Yekai responded with an “un”, then hung up. Zhou Sheng said, baffled, “Why would he suddenly give you this call? It wasn’t some sort of secret signal because he was kidnapped ba?”
The more Yu Hao thought about it, the more he felt something was amiss. He asked Zhou Sheng to go to sleep first and patted him, then after a short moment sent Chen Yekai a WeChat message. Chen Yekai took a picture of the hospital and said:【I’m really okay.】Immediately afterwards, he took a selfie and sent it over — it was a picture of him and Huang Ting. When Yu Hao saw Huang Ting, he knew that he wasn’t in any danger, so he felt slightly more at ease.
Zhou Sheng finally fell asleep. After he slept for about half an hour, Mama Zhou came in to nag and ask him to get up to cook. She wanted to eat a little earlier with her boyfriend, then go out for a round of mahjong after the meal.
“I……” Zhou Sheng lifted the blanket and sat up straight away.
“Aren’t you ashamed of sleeping all day?!” Zhou Sheng’s mother pointed at Yu Hao, “Why don’t you learn from Yu Hao! And study seriously every day?!”
Yu Hao was really afraid that Zhou Sheng would stab his mother, so he quickly said, “It’s the New Year! Don’t fight!”
Zhou Sheng took a deep breath and finally calmed down.
“Okay, I’ll cook.” Zhou Sheng said, “Once I’m done, get lost.”
“What kind of son speaks to their mother like that?” Zhou Sheng’s mother’s voice suddenly rose eight octaves, “This is my house! If someone needs to get lost, it should be you! Yu Hao! You don’t need to get lost, you’re a guest……”
“Zhou Sheng didn’t sleep well last night, it’s my fault……”
“Yu Hao na you’re a good child don’t try to speak up for Zhou Sheng. I was the one who gave birth to Zhou Sheng so I know him the best……he doesn’t sleep at night and doesn’t get up in the morning……”
Yu Hao quickly held Zhou Sheng down and begged his Grandpa to tell Grandma not to let Zhou Sheng get angry. Zhou Sheng used up a year’s worth of willpower suppressing his rage, and then said wearily, “Forget it.”
When he got up and went to the kitchen to cook, Mama Zhou was still nagging him with words like ‘you only know how to talk to your mother like this, you dare talk to your mother this way in front of your classmate……’
Zhou Sheng placed a dish in a bamboo steamer, prepared the roast duck Peking-style, removed the lid to scoop some soup out, arranged the dishes on plates, chopped garlic, and fried some chilli. Yu Hao assisted him from the side while Mama Zhou curled her hair and thought up cutting remarks about Zhou Sheng, such as how it would have been better giving birth to a piece of char siu pork than to give birth to him. Meanwhile, Yu Hao tried his best to change the topic, but no matter what topic he changed it to, it would always make a detour back to char siu. However, Zhou Sheng was abnormally calm. In the end, Mama Zhou began to compare Yu Hao and Zhou Sheng and talked about how Yu Hao was better in all aspects, while Zhou Sheng was practically a bastard in comparison. Finally, even Yu Hao couldn’t stand listening to her any more, so he said, “Aunt, I’ll go turn on the TV.”
As he spoke, Yu Hao turned on the TV and turned its volume up such that it would mask Mama Zhou’s endless rambles. He thought that if she blamed him for being impolite, then he would just go out to eat with Zhou Sheng ba. But it seemed as if Mama Zhou was tired of talking, so she got up and left.
“This is why I don’t want to date, and why I don’t want to get married.” Zhou Sheng said calmly.
“A lot of girls aren’t like that.” Yu Hao answered.
“Children will treat the parents in their original families as role models and learn from them.” Zhou Sheng grabbed some dough and started to knead them into thin pancakes, then motioned to Yu Hao to remove a lid, “Careful, don’t burn your hands……so, your future family would be like how your parents were. Don’t you understand that after reading so many case studies?”
Yu Hao, “A person’s life is a process that integrates our personality that was formed during childhood. The influence of the families we grew up in is so strong that it’s almost impossible for us to break free from it, but we still need to strive to nurture our willpower to keep our psychological state in line with our external reality. Through an appropriate adjustment of our mental state and some self-suggestion, as well as to our partners……”
Zhou Sheng only responded with, “Too troublesome. If it’s a problem that can be resolved by staying single, then why expend so much effort?” to shut down all of Yu Hao’s words.
“……after a series of collisions, the scene was cleared……”
Yu Hao placed a plate of pancakes used to wrap the roast duck on the table and inadvertently saw the news. Zhou Sheng quickly sliced up a cucumber into shreds and was currently tearing apart the scallion when Yu Hao was suddenly stunned.
A red BMW had been smashed up after a crash, that license plate number was……
“What’s wrong?”
Zhou Sheng quickly felt that something was wrong with Yu Hao, so he raised his head and looked at him. Yu Hao hurriedly searched for his phone, trembling as he dialled Chen Yekai’s number.
“Laoshi, are you okay?” Yu Hao asked.
Chen Yekai answered over the phone, “You saw the news? The car isn’t mine, Professor Lin was the one driving; he was fetching Shimu. I wasn’t in the car.”
Yu Hao knew that Chen Yekai definitely wouldn’t be going home for the New Year. He asked, “How are they doing?”
“Laoshi’s fine.” Chen Yekai said, “But Shimu’s not doing so well.”
Zhou Sheng was standing at one side. Chen Yekai continued, “It’s okay. I’ll stay at the hospital tonight to take care of her. I’ll wish both of you a Happy New Year in advance.”
Zhou Sheng got the gist of what had happened. Both of them looked at each other in silence, then Zhou Sheng said, “Will get better.”
Yu Hao felt a bit heavy-hearted, but luckily, Chen Yekai wasn’t in that car.
Zhou Sheng set the table with all his dishes. The four of them sat around the table, and the atmosphere on this New Year’s Eve night seemed quite strange. In the end, Yu Hao really felt too embarrassed, so he said, “I wish for Auntie to be in good health, cheers……”
Yu Hao didn’t call that guy “uncle” on purpose. Zhou Sheng said, “You have good judgment.”
Thus the atmosphere became even more awkward. But since it was a reunion dinner, everyone tried their best not to start any arguments. Zhou Sheng only wrapped the roast duck for Yu Hao and kept piling his plate up with food, “Eat more, I made everything on this table specifically for you.”
Yu Hao lightly kicked him under the table to get him to stop picking a fight. Mama Zhou smiled, “This is the first time a friend of Zhou Sheng has come over to celebrate the New Year. Yu Hao, take good care of him in the future.”
Yu Hao said, “Usually, he’s the one taking care of me.”
This meal was finished rather quickly. Zhou Sheng cooked for six hours, but Mama Zhou and her boyfriend ate for only half an hour before dressing to the nines and leaving the house to go play mahjong. Yu Hao was still eating what was left on the table.
“If you’re full, stop.” Zhou Sheng said, “Don’t stuff yourself too much.”
Yu Hao said, “It’s too delicious, I can still eat a little more.”
This was the first time for Yu Hao to eat such delicious food. Zhou Sheng’s cooking was indeed better than Yun Lai Chun. Although the ingredients weren’t expensive, he had put a lot of heart into it. Zhou Sheng bit a cigarette in his mouth as he watched Yu Hao eat, as if he was thinking of something, but eventually he couldn’t stand watching any longer, “You better not puke later.”
Yu Hao, “……”
Yu Hao really couldn’t eat any more. He said, “Then what do we do with the rest?”
“Keep it for the next meal ah!” Zhou Sheng blew up, “Did we buy the fridge to keep it on display?!”
Only then did Yu Hao prop himself up. Zhou Sheng asked him to rest while he went to wash the dishes. In the end, under Yu Hao’s insistence, both of them cleaned up the dishes on the table and covered themselves with a blanket as they laid on the sofa to watch the Spring Festival Gala.
Yu Hao could sense that Zhou Sheng didn’t talk as much today. Perhaps it was because his identity had been exposed, so there was a mutually tacit awkwardness between them now. For example, Zhou Sheng didn’t say, ‘did you fall in love with me,’ anymore to tease him and wouldn’t use his leg to rub Yu Hao’s waist underneath the blanket either. Both of them just quietly watched the Spring Festival Gala playing on TV.
The living room was quiet. There was a short romantic scene played by two men and one woman on the show, and they even pandered to the rotten ones. A sissy came out, facing the girlfriend, then pointed at his straight bro and said, “the one I love, isn’t, him!”
Yu Hao felt a bit awkward. He could see that Zhou Sheng was dozing off from the corner of his eye, so he turned the TV’s volume down.
“Yu Hao.”
Yu Hao turned around and looked at Zhou Sheng.
Zhou Sheng thought about it for awhile before he asked, “Do you want to date?”
Yu Hao’s heart suddenly exploded like firecrackers bursting within an instant, and a feeling of vertigo rushed to his brain. However, Zhou Sheng’s following words were, “It’s a new year, go find a partner ba?”
Yu Hao’s fingers pressed a button on the remote control to change the channel, but it was still playing the Spring Festival Gala.
“Okay.” Yu Hao turned around to watch the TV. He pondered over it a little, then said, “But a partner isn’t easy to find.”
Both of them understood it implicitly. Yu Hao doesn’t want to look for a boyfriend, but since Zhou Sheng took the initiative to say this, Yu Hao understood what he meant. Find a boyfriend and transfer his feelings to him, then they could perhaps become good bros.
A song rang out in Yu Hao’s mind:
“Pass on the warmth from one to another’s bosom……”
Zhou Sheng said, “I’ve heard before of an app that could help you make friends?”
Yu Hao laughed, “You know that too?”
Zhou Sheng said, “I saw it on the news before, an app for homosexuals to make friends.”
Yu Hao, “I’ve seen that news story. It was a report that investigated the incidence of AIDS; a lot of people use it for one night stands.”
Zhou Sheng immediately clarified, “It’s not that I dislike you.”
Yu Hao didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, “I know. If you disliked me, you would have ignored me a long time ago, why would you still treat me so well?”
Zhou Sheng uttered an “wu”, “I see you as a little brother, you know that.”
“I might be older than you though?” Yu Hao joked and kicked Zhou Sheng. He then remembered that when he was buying a ticket for Zhou Sheng, his identity card had his birth date. He was older than Yu Hao by two years.
Zhou Sheng’s solemn expression that he had worn the whole day disappeared. He kicked Yu Hao in return, “Laozi retained for two years, you’re definitely younger than me.”
Yu Hao answered, “I know, I’ll go look for a boyfriend after the New Year.”
Zhou Sheng said, “But don’t get tricked into bed by bad people. You’re kinda stupid.”
Yu Hao said, “Don’t worry, I won’t. I won’t look for someone on a one night stand app, I’ll ask around on Zhihu. Don’t worry about it anymore.”
Yu Hao knew that they would talk about this one day, and understood what Zhou Sheng was thinking in his heart —— when he had turned into General, he was forced to take an action that had crossed a line. But that was for the sake of saving him, to help him recover the sunlight in his world. However, in the depths of Zhou Sheng’s heart, maybe he was thinking that this action of his caused him to transfer his feelings, which made Yu Hao like him, so this was Zhou Sheng’s responsibility.
So……Yu Hao finally understood now, this was the golden circlet on Sun Wukong! Zhou Sheng wanted to take the golden circlet off, it’s just that……Yu Hao had no idea that this moment would come so fast.
—
Ame:ZS no D:<
Zryuu:;-; before going off on ZS, do take note that 1. ZS is someone who rejects love bc of the environment he grew up in and; 2. As YH had mentioned, ZS feels like it’s his fault for doing what he did in the first dreamscape which he thought was what caused YH to like him