Lovely Allergen

Chapter 1 – An Unlucky Year

The air after a rain shower smelt like camphor leaves stained with mud.

Yue Zhishi who was stepped on by an orange cat jumping onto his bed groggily opened his eyes and was immediately shocked that he had overslept.

He clearly would only be late a few times a year but today unfortunately just happened to be the first day of school. Hearing Aunt Rong downstairs calling him, Yue Zhishi hurriedly responded, and the cat once again walked across his stomach before agilely jumping off. He quickly washed up and changed before grabbing his schoolbag and running out.

“The alarm clock didn’t ring?” Lin Rong calmly rinsed out a milk bottle, “Hurry and have breakfast. Yesterday’s braised beef mince mixed with rice noodles, it’s pretty good.”

At this time, Yue Zhishi had already rushed to the entryway. There was no time to worry about breakfast.

“I didn’t have morning study before the opening ceremony so I forgot to set the new time. Aunt Rong, where’s Song Yu gege?”

A little Pomeranian followed closely behind and obediently sat on the ground watching him change shoes.

“Your brother left already. Isn’t it the opening ceremony today? It seems that he is on duty today. Do third year senior high school students still need to do that?” Lin Rong placed the bottle back and turned around while drying her hands, “The opening ceremony for the junior high school department should be together with the high school department………..”

When Yue Zhishi turned around and opened the door, the Pomeranian started to frantically scratch at his leg to prevent him from leaving.

Lin Rong hurriedly called out after him, “Le Le! You can’t skip breakfast!”

Yue Zhishi knelt down to rub the dog’s head and then gave it a kiss before leaving in a hurry, “I’ll buy some rice cakes. Bye Aunt Rong~”

“Don’t just eat anything!”

Leaving the house, Yue Zhishi rode his bicycle straight to the breakfast stall outside the community. The granny who usually sold rice cakes there wasn’t around today. Yue Zhishi had heard her talk about her back pain before so she was probably taking a few days off. The noodle soup store next door however was very fragrant, and you could smell the scent of the stewed beef from far away.

“Le Le, is it still early? Come and have some noodles.” The owner of the beef noodle soup store lowered a ladle of rice noodles into the hot soup, the silken strands flirting in and out amidst the other soup ingredients.

“I’m going to be late Uncle Chen. I’ll have it tomorrow!” Yue Zhishi parked his bike and ran into the convenience store. With no time to choose, he quickly grabbed a bag of rice bread, paid for it and ran back out. This was one of the few snacks in the convenience store Yue Zhishi could eat.

It had rained all night last night. The rain in this city had always not been very gentle and would always be accompanied by lightning and thunder, making him unable to sleep at night. He remembered that it was also raining heavily the first night he spent at Song Yu’s place. As soon as the thunder crashed, he was scared to tears and had rushed straight into Song Yu’s room, climbing into his bed.

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Since then, he instinctively began to rely on this brother who had no blood relations to him.

Yue Zhishi’s father, Yue Yi, and Song Yu’s father, Song Jin, were close friends who had grown up together.

The Yue old man had unfortunately passed away at a young age. Before moving to the UK, Yue Yi was practically a non-official member of the Song family, always eating together and living together. Yue Yi loved extreme sports. While rock climbing, he met a British girl called Olivia and the two fell in love and eventually gave birth to the lovely Yue Zhishi. Their happy times however didn’t last long. Eleven years ago, the couple encountered an avalanche while skiing in the Alps and unfortunately both didn’t make it.

In just one night, Yue Zhishi had lost both his parents. Even Song Jin who flew to the UK to pick him up didn’t know how to explain this to a three-year-old child.

At that time, Yue Zhishi was holding onto Song Jin’s sleeve and would only sweetly call him uncle. (KKnotes: Uncle in English) He didn’t know what death meant or what foster care was. He was taken back to the Song family and since then settled in Jiang City.

The red light at the intersection forced Yue Zhishi to come to a stop. He had woken up too suddenly this morning and was still a little lightheaded right now. He stared at the red light ahead as his thoughts jumped from one thing to another. There were only remnants left of dream he had last night. He seemed to have turned into small thing and would constantly follow Song Yu around everywhere. Because his Chinese wasn’t very good, he could only stick close to him.

Lin Rong would always tease Yue Zhishi with a jealous tone, saying that the first Chinese word he had learnt was actually gege. (KKnotes: gege = brother)

But Song Yu didn’t like to speak much and was lukewarm to anyone. Fortunately, even though he didn’t talk to Yue Zhishi much, he didn’t drive him away and just allowed him to pester him. Only when they got older and started elementary school did Yue Zhishi’s mixed-race appearance become more eye catching.

Song Yu was already eye catching enough and with another doll-like child following him around, they basically became the topic everyone gossiped about, especially regarding their family affairs. After a while, Song Yu lost patience. When they moved to a new place and left the community and their elementary school classmates, he set up three rules.

– Don’t call me gege outside.
– Don’t go to school or go home together with me.
– Don’t let others know that you live with me.

At first, Yue Zhishi couldn’t accept this. Song Yu leaving and moving on to junior high school was already a huge blow for him, not to mention the fact that he couldn’t call him gege. He however had always been guided by Song Yu in life and was taught that rules come first. In any case, rather than being completely ignored, keeping a distance outside seemed more acceptable.

In Yue Zhishi’s mind, Song Yu was always like a goal or target for him to chase after. When Song Yu was six and he was three, he stumbled after his brother to watch the ants carry their food home. When Song Yu was ten and he was seven, he who could finally attend elementary school with his brother for the first time was so happy, he started singing but his mouth was soon covered up. When Song Yu was fifteen and he was twelve, the old man selling ice cream gave him a bench so that he could sit and wait for his brother to leave the examination centre. He still remembered that he ate three popsicles that day. Song Yu didn’t realise this and even gave up taking the school bus for him to take a taxi to eat crayfish.

The crayfish were very big that day. He ate twenty-three of them, fifteen of which were peeled by Song Yu because he peeled them too slowly. He remembered himself retorting, “Although I don’t know how to peel them, I am very good at hiding. None of your classmates saw me, did they?”

Song Yu disagreed, “But I found you with one glance so you’re not very good at hiding.”

Yue Zhishi always insisted that he was good at hiding, including his relationship with Song Yu to the outside world. Later he had to admit that Song Yu was right.

“The light is green, let’s go.”

A voice interrupted his thoughts. He glanced at the time and then started to accelerate. He arched his thin body and pedalled hard. It was the beginning of September and the wind was still warm. The wind caused his summer uniform to billow out and Yue Zhishi’s slightly curly brown hair glowed golden in the sun, looking fluffy and soft.

He rushed all the way to school. Just as he parked his bicycle and saw the large army at the gate, he felt like he had forgotten something.

“Le Le!” His shoulder was suddenly slapped. Yue Zhishi turned around, startled. It was his close friend and desk mate, Jiang Yufan.

Yue Zhishi’s surname was special and many people would pronounce it as the Le in happiness rather than the Yue in music. After this mistake was made numerous times, it eventually resulted in a nickname —– Le Le. Not only family members, classmates and friends who are close also call him this. (KKnotes: The character 乐 in Yue Zhishi’s name can be pronounced as Le or Yue)

After succeeding in scaring his friend, Jiang Yufan’s expression was smug. He rubbed his buzzcut head which had been forcefully shaved short by his mother, “Why are you also getting to school last minute?”

“Slept in.” Yue Zhishi dragged Jiang Yufan through the school gates, “There are so many people at the gates.”

The old god Jiang Yufan nodded with understanding, “When you don’t have morning studies, it easier it is to be late.” In the distance was a student on duty wearing an armband. He checked the uniform and along the way glanced at Yue Zhishi.

“Hey, wait.” Jiang Yufan grabbed him, “Yue, where’s your name badge?”

Yue Zhishi’s fast footsteps immediately stopped. He touched his chest. It was completely empty.

“Oh no. Aunt Rong removes it every time my clothes are washed. I was in a hurry today and forgot to put it on.”

“What to do then?” Jiang Yufan tiptoed and looked in the distance, “Ah shit, Compass is also there.”

Compass was the nickname for their junior high school director. Because he was tall and thin and very meticulous, everyone called him that.

Yue Zhishi was even more anxious. Compass was known for enforcing school rules and would even report on girls who have modified their skirts or uniforms. Since today was also the school’s opening ceremony, there was a high chance of him being punished.

He pulled at the strap of his schoolbag and tried to hide it, “Jiang Yufan, you cover for me.”

“Okay. Who knows, we might even be successful.”

Jiang Yufan covered half his body and the two moved quickly to the school gate like conjoined twins in attempt to quickly bypass the group of students who were being checked.

Compass’s voice was very sharp, “Pull out the uniform collar. There will be filming at the opening ceremony later to share on the school’s official website. Your appearance is our school’s image, understand?”

Yue Zhishi clutched his bag strap tightly and walked ahead while sticking closely to Jiang Yufan.

“What’s the matter with your pants?”
“Teacher, my school pants aren’t dry yet, so I wore a pair that’s similar….”
“Are two school pants not enough for you?!”

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Yue Zhishi lowered his head even further. He had already prepared his words of apology if he was to be caught.

“Stop there.”

He was so frightened he stopped in place, frozen like a terrified rabbit. His steps had stopped but he still didn’t dare raise his head.

Not me, it mustn’t be me.

“I’m talking to you.”

Compass approached a little closer and the student on duty in charge of taking names down closely behind him, “The girl with the short hair. Where’s your name badge? Which class?”

Yue Zhishi breathed a sigh of relief. He then heard Compass say, “I have said countless times that you must wear your name badge when you go to school. Is it that difficult? Who else doesn’t have it?”

Me.

Yue Zhishi was completely stiff. He felt like a hand would suddenly appear and pull him out of the crowd, bringing him before Compass.

At the moment when he was most nervous, his arm really was grabbed. His heart stopped and Yue Zhishi subconsciously apologised, “Sorry…..”

But the next second, that hand moved down his arm, grabbing his hand. Soon afterwards, his fingers were pried open and a metal name badge which still carried some warmth was stuffed in.

It may sound strange but Yue Zhishi knew who it was just from the hand. He looked up and, as expected, he was met with a familiar, calm face.

The other party was wearing a high school uniform with a red arm band. Under the direct sunlight, his brows were slightly furrowed.

It wasn’t anyone else but the ‘brother’ he shared the same roof with.

Yue Zhishi’s eyes widened slightly, his light-coloured eyes resembling transparent amber beads in the sun. Seeing Song Yu, he felt as if there was a layer of electricity all over his body. He subconsciously wanted to say something but the next moment, he quickly swallowed the word ‘gege’ back down.

Their gazes met briefly before Song Yu let go and looked away with his usual calmness and indifference. It was as if the relationship between them really was just that of a senior on duty and an offending student. Song Yu glanced at his watch and took out a pen from his pocket, getting ready to note students down for being late.

Everyone’s attention was still on Compass and the girl being scolded, and no one noticed this secret exchange. Yue Zhishi looked down at the name badge in his hand which was engraved with the words [Peiya Junior High Schoo, Yue Zhishi]. Before Compass could catch him, he quickly pinned it to his shirt.

As soon as he lowered his hand, he saw a pair of shrewd eyes scanning him. Yue Zhishi raised his head and smiled back at Compass. He was born with a pair of innocent and pure puppy eyes. Although appearances cannot give you a free pass in life, that beautiful face of his made it hard for others to be harsh to him.

“You’re almost late.” Even so, Compass still gave a warning, “Go on in.”

“Yes.” Yue Zhishi nodded obediently, “Thank you director.”

The school clock tower just happened to sound at this moment. He couldn’t help but turn his head to look back. Song Yu was like the characters you would find in comics and he practically glowed even while standing amidst the crowd.

There wasn’t much time left. The whole class must gather in the classroom first before going to the opening ceremony. Yue Zhishi didn’t want to be late, so he ran desperately to class. Jiang Yufan however was concerned about something else, “Hey Yue Zhishi stop right there! I saw it just now!”

“We’re going to be late!” Yue Zhishi was of breath and his heart was beating extremely fast.

Jiang Yufan was also out of breath from chasing after him, “Don’t….Don’t change the subject. Tell me honestly. Why does Song Yu have your name badge?”

The author has something to say:
Song Yu: Because I am his brother (not blood related!)