Translator: deathbutlowkey from dummytranslations

Editor: Mimishijie ☺

Faced With Homosexuality (2)

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Still shocked, Shen Zhifan closed his gaping mouth. Rubbing at his hair, he went downstairs with a hand stuck in his pocket.
　　
Sure enough, the cat had disappeared in the blink of an eye. He really didn’t know how developed its little brain was. Shen Zhirou wasn’t home today; she had probably gone to school. Although Shen Zhirou really didn’t like attending her classes, and Shen Zhifan’s income could definitely provide for her, the previous Shen Zhifan already had the extreme spirit of an older brother. Totally disregarding Shen Zhirou making terrible scenes and throwing tantrums, he had directly packed her up and sent her to school without another word.
　　
Although Shen Zhifan didn’t remember any of this, the presence of the head of the household remained. Besides, Shen Zhirou was still young, she still ought to go to school.
　　
And so the house was exceptionally quiet. Since the place was quite large anyways, the stillness of it seemed very strange to him.
　　
He turned to glance at the clock; it was already one o’clock. He had set an alarm for twelve-thirty since he had gotten back home last night after three in the morning.
　　
After thinking for a bit, he went online for a 3v3 to relieve boredom.
　　
That’s right, ever since he’d played a match last time, he couldn’t help but become totally engrossed. Before he left, he had arranged his next meetup with those ‘friends’.
　　
One of the reasons was so he could quickly familiarise himself with the game, and another reason was...it really was too interesting. It was like how little girls go stock-still after spotting pretty dolls or fairy princess dresses. After playing the game, Shen Zhifan had turned into an internet-addicted youth.
　　
When he went online today, as expected, Blondie and Big Beard were already there. Over the past few days they had formed a permanent team, unlike the first time when their team had just been temporary.
　　
Actually, Shen Zhifan quite liked Big Beard as he looked comical and rather honest, while Blondie seemed sharp and harsh in comparison. The latter really was like this; every time he lost, profanity would spew out amazingly smoothly. He could go on for an hour without any repeating words, and since Blondie had a bit of an accent, listening to him swear was actually pretty fun.
　　
Now, their team had already grown from rookies to a first-class team. At the start, Shen Zhifan was still rusty but the muscle memory gained over many years was still present. The shocking rate of Shen Zhifan's growth could even make Blondie cry out in defeat.

"Brother, listen to me. With your talent, I believe that we will be able to pave a road all the way through the virtual district and directly allow us to enter the real competition. Speak the truth...are you really a newbie? We're already a team, don't keep using that anonymous card ah.”
　　
Blondie looked at him with a face of both love and hate, and Shen Zhifan didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. In the end, Shen Zhifan used the fact that anonymous cards were too expensive and it would be a waste not to use them as a reason.
　　
How was he to say it? The others were actual newbies, while he was probably equivalent to...a scrub account.
　　
Although, because he had way too many accumulated points, winning this level of matches hardly gave him points.
　　
“You’re late today ah,” Blondie looked at him angrily, but it was true that without Shen Zhifan, there would’ve been no way for them to get to where they were at this speed. He could only say sourly, “I’ve been waiting for ages.”
　　
Shen Zhifan laughed, “Something came up, so I was late.”

“What was it?” Blondie was rather unforgiving. Although Shen Zhifan was a good person, he couldn’t bear him being so powerful, ah.
　　
With this kind of astonishing talent, Blondie could only look on enviously, unable to stop his hackles from raising.
　　
“Alright, you don’t need to mind other people’s business.” Big Beard was very amiable, always jumping in to smooth things over.
　　
This lit a fire in Blondie’s heart.
　　
“What about it, huh! I can’t say a word about it now?!”
　　
“You…”
　　
“You, what you! The one I’m talking about right now is you! You! I couldn’t even sleep properly last night! Can’t I even yell about it? And now you’re telling me off! Last night, how come! You! Didn’t say! To drop it ah!”
　　
At the beginning, Shen Zhifan had actually thought that it was because of his tardiness that had caused Blondie to explode.
　　
“Aiya, don’t be like this, people are watching…” Big Beard pleaded quietly.
　　
His pleading was a bit...submissive.
　　
Shen Zhifan was a little curious, since this attitude of his was somewhat subtle.
　　
It...sounded like a young married couple quarreling.
　　
“So what if they’re watching!” Blondie had gotten so angry, his face was flushed. Without another word, he lowered his head and ruthlessly stomped on Big Beard’s foot. With a swish, he disappeared in a flash of white light.
　　
Very good, he’d gone offline.
　　
Old Beard glanced at Shen Zhifan awkwardly, scratching his head, “He got angry, ai, but it’s not about you, we just had a fight last night.”
　　
Shen Zhifan unconsciously gave a sound of agreement, then suddenly, as if he’d realised something, “You guys, are you together?”
　　
He immediately regretted his words after they came out; this question was too bold.
　　
Old Beard himself didn’t seem to mind, although he seemed somewhat embarrassed.
　　
“Heh, this...we just got together, before, I’d been chasing him for a pretty long time,” Old Beard laughed a little, “We've caused a scene. His temper today was because of his lack of sleep but in reality, he's usually nice and fairly calm. He just likes to break things [1]. Last night he only broke a light, which is already an improvement since, in the past, he’d usually break bigger things.”
　　
Shen Zhifan, “...”
　　
He couldn’t help but show his expression at the tragic sight. Fortunately, it went unseen thanks to his anonymous card, but in any case, he thought that Big Beard was really quite...courageous.
　　
“Really, he’s very good. Sometimes, he’ll even make me food, though A-Hei doesn’t like it. Oh, A-Hei is the dog that we raise together…” [2]
　　
Old Beard seemed to want to praise his lover a bit more, although the more Shen Zhifan heard, the more unbearable it became for him. However, Old Beard’s character suddenly started to flicker and appeared to dim.
　　
“Aiyo, he’s getting impatient and started to pull the cord,” Old Beard smiled apologetically at Shen Zhifan and continued, “It seems like we will be unable to fight with you today.”
　　
“No problem,” Shen Zhifan was amused by Blondie’s actions, glancing at Old Beard somewhat admiringly, “Your business is more important, don’t let him get angry for real.”
　　
Old Beard made a sound of agreement and went offline.
　　
Suddenly, the only one left in the empty standby room was Shen Zhifan.
　　
He wasn’t used to losing his teammates so suddenly, although at the very beginning, Shen Zhifan had been on his own. Now, it wasn’t a big deal to be alone, at most, he just wouldn’t be able to play 3v3.
　　
Really good ah, after Shen Zhifan viewed the panel he was originally planning to play a few more matches, but suddenly envy crawled its way into his heart.

Really good ah, Blondie and Big Beard, they seemed...really good ah.
　　
There was some yearning in his eyes.
　　
He hadn’t known his own sexuality from the very beginning. At that time, with pretty young girls shoving love letters towards him, he would blush, although only because the people around him would start cheering rowdily.
　　
Later, after gradually growing up, he got used to receiving and receiving more love letters.
　　
But Shen Zhifan had never dated. Regarding this, he was still quite honest. Once, there was a girl who’d stammered in the midst of her confession; flushed and embarrassed, she almost started crying.
　　
He had still kindly given her a handkerchief.
　　
When he rejected other girls, they basically gave up. After all, Shen Zhifan’s appearance was directly proportional to the difficulty of conquering him; he was famous for being insurmountable. It was just this girl, because of what he’d done, was never willing to give up, thinking that he was especially gentle and especially good to her.
　　
In the end, Shen Zhifan had been bothered to the point where there was no other way. He could only, word-by-word, explain it clearly to her.
　　
That young girl originally could even be scared to tears when confessing, much less when Shen Zhifan explained it to her so seriously and earnestly. In that moment, she couldn’t bear it and so she ran out, crying.
　　
In the end...there was an accident.
　　
When she’d run outside, it just happened to be raining, and she got caught in a car accident...and half of her leg had been crushed.
　　
In that sort of regional area, having an injured leg was already a major defect, and her injury was so severe that there was basically no treatment. When Shen Zhifan went to visit her, feeling extremely guilty, that girl coldly refused to see him.
　　
The girl’s family even came knocking on his door to seek trouble.
　　
He couldn’t help but blame himself for a period of time. Although it wasn’t really his fault, he suddenly began to understand that being overly warm would really give people misconceptions. It was around that time that he began to slowly cultivate a cold and indifferent outward appearance.
　　
Of course, when that girl’s family came calling, Shen Zhirou directly cussed them out. If Shen Zhifan had a good temper, it didn’t mean that Shen Zhirou’s own temper was good. Shen Zhirou had gone to the food market with her mother since she was five, and when it came to bargaining, it could be said that all her talent in life was only in this area. Later on, she learnt restraint as she grew up. Since her mother really couldn’t listen to her anymore, she told Shen Zhirou that cussing people out would make her uglier.
　　
In order to preserve the last, tiniest drop of her semblance of femininity, Shen Zhirou yielded.
　　
Back in the day, that unpleasant little sister had stood in front of him, cussing out that group of adults who’d come to make trouble without reason until they could only look on blankly.
　　
Thinking of this, Shen Zhifan couldn’t help but laugh softly.
　　
Later on, when he saw Yan Shuo on the Mechanical Falcon, Shen Zhifan...suddenly realised that he simply didn’t like girls.
　　
His inclinations were innate. Towards the cute and delicate appearances of girls, as well as their soft, fragrant bodies, he completely lacked interest. However...the man in his dreams only needed to give a single low gasp for his whole body to go weak, as if he’d been electrocuted.
　　
Thinking for so long, Shen Zhifan went offline. Flushing completely red, he rested on the table and kept thinking.
　　
——I really miss Yan Shuo ah.
　　
——I really, really miss him ah.
　　
——But I already met him yesterday ah.
　　
Shen Zhifan opened his palm. The handwriting on it was already very light, but Shen Zhifan had already tried his utmost in not washing it. Thus, there were still a few faint traces.
　　
He looked at the afternoon light shining on his palm, leaving a long shadow.
　　
About a minute passed of his inner struggle. All of a sudden, he stood up.
　
...

After changing back into his human form, the shameless General indeed had more semblance of human. With all the trials and tribulations there had been in his life, he had plenty of experience in quickly pulling himself together.

However, as he looked at the beautiful moonlight forget-me-nots that he grew at home, he suddenly thought of that scene he should not have witnessed. The itchiness in his heart was extremely unbearable.
　　
He couldn’t be too hasty, he thought.
　　
In the end, upon seeing a shy and blushing Shen Zhifan pressing on his doorbell, the esteemed General very quickly flung that thought to the back of his mind.
　　
To hell with being hasty! If he didn’t make haste, then Shen Zhifan would become someone else’s.
　　
As he opened the door, he popped open the two top buttons at his collar quite slyly.
　　
“General Yan,” Shen Zhifan smiled softly and said, somewhat embarrassed, “Uh, could I take a look at your cat?”
　　
General Yan froze, replying calmly, “He’s not here, he probably went outside to play.”
　　
Disappointed, Shen Zhifan nodded. Somewhat worriedly, he lifted his head up again, “That uh, I heard that kittens have to be neutered. I happen to know a veterinary clinic, would you like to take him there?”
　　
Shen Zhifan couldn’t remember anything after he woke up. Of course it’d be impossible for him to know some veterinary clinic.
　　
But in order to meet with his male god, he could pull out whatever reasoning.
　　
Looking into his beloved’s expectant eyes, General Yan sank into silence, but still managed to speak.
　　
“No need, it’s already...neutered.”

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Footnotes:
[1] ‘push stuff like a cat’ was an alternate tl ahahahha
[2] A-Hei: “A” is used to show familiarity, “hei” means black. 

Ah poor General...he needs to go to such lengths...szf please notice the buttons or lack thereof!! 

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