Chapter 11.1: Is this a doghouse?

Title: Baby’s Breath

Translator: System Yaoi

Note: Kindly read this novel at https://secondlifetranslations.com/novel/babys-breath/

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Chapter 11.1 Is this a doghouse?

Cheng Yu looked at him and in an instant, thought of things he shouldn’t be thinking about.

His gaze swept over his rosy lips, then to his immature body, and finally to the hand that obediently stretched out for him to hit. Cheng Yu lowered his eyes and smiled. His voice was a bit hoarse. “Other than picking fruits in the orchard and harvesting tea leaves in the tea field, what else is there to do around here?”

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Tl pyke, “Tso ycswv clkdt xu twkel vs alryu vbl elcv?”

Gp y vswa twkel?

Dwl Mkydzkydt oyp vbl sdl obs eke vbyv. Dwl Zswjy oyp qyxkzkya okvb kv. “Ps usw oydv vs ts pokxxkdt kd vbl akhla?”

“Ls.” Rv oypd’v qwd vs ts pokxxkdt okvb y tkaz.

“Mbl ayrlplle qzsola qklzep? Mblu’al iwkvl clywvkqwz. Ebld nkvu rlsrzl nsxl, vblu yzoyup pvsr vs vyjl rknvwalp.”

Ubldt Zw pbssj bkp blye.

“Tlu! Yu qyxkzu sodp y vallbswpl.”

“G vallbswpl? Ebyv eslp kv zssj zkjl?”

“It’s right there.” Xue Youka knelt by the small bed and pointed to it. “On top of the fig tree in the backyard. My grandfather built it for me when I was a kid.”

That tree was surprisingly tall, even taller than the house itself. Cheng Yu looked over and vaguely saw the treehouse Xue Youka mentioned, along with a ladder.

It was outrageously crude.

“I like sleeping inside,” Xue Youka said. “You’re from the city, so you’ve probably never slept in a treehouse. We used to have fireflies in the summer, but they’re rare now. At night, my grandfather would catch fireflies and bring them into the treehouse.”

“This is like a doghouse, isn’t it?” Cheng Yu stood under the tree and looked up.

The ladder hanging against the trunk was made of hemp rope tied to wooden sticks. It didn’t look sturdy, and in front of the small door of the treehouse, there was a large curtain hanging as a door curtain. It seemed quite refined.

“It’s not a doghouse. Dogs can’t climb trees.”

As he explained earnestly, Cheng Yu remained silent. Xue Youka insisted on demonstrating it to him and climbed up like a monkey, calling out, “Are you coming up or not? It’s nice and cool up here.”

He sat on the edge of the treehouse, swinging his legs back and forth.

Cheng Yu had never seen a girl like him before, so he stared for a while and asked, “Does it smell inside?”

“No, it doesn’t smell,” Xue Youka lowered his head, with patches of light falling on top of it. “If you come at night, I’ll catch fireflies for you.”

“But I thought there were very few of them now?”

“There are still some in the mountains, near the tea fields.”

“Then catch them for me, and I’ll come up.”

Xue Youka looked at this older brother for a while and said, “…Alright, alright, I’ll catch them for you at night. You won’t come at night, will you?”

Cheng Yu raised an eyebrow. “If you catch fireflies, call me.”

Xue Youka looked at Cheng Yu standing below, as if he saw himself in his childhood. Back then, he would also ask Xue Tianliang to catch fireflies for him, calling him “Dad.”

Now, it was his turn.

Cheng Yu said, “Get a pen, I’ll write down my number for you.”

Earlier, Xue Youka said he had lost his number.

Xue Youka was very helpless. He slowly came down the ladder, went upstairs to get a telephone directory and a pen, and then came downstairs again. “I’ll write it down in the telephone directory. I won’t lose it this time, tell me.”

Cheng Yu recited the number, and Xue Youka wrote it down.

Cheng Yu reached out his hand and said, “Let me see.”

The telephone directory was a small booklet, about the size of half a palm, with many people’s numbers written inside. The most recent entry was his own, and before it, the name was written in a crooked manner: Chen Yu.

Cheng Yu said, “…”

“Xue Mimi, you even managed to write my name wrong?” He couldn’t believe it.

“Aren’t these the two characters?” Xue Youka asked.

Expressionless, Cheng Yu snatched the ballpoint pen from his hand, crossed out the characters “Chen Yu,” and replaced them with the characters “Cheng Yu.”

“Remember which characters they are and write them down two hundred times as punishment when you go back.”

Xue Youka felt that this young master was truly a bit eccentric.

But he had encountered people he disliked even more, so compared to them, Cheng Yu wasn’t that bad. Xue Youka glanced at the telephone directory and realised it was indeed “Cheng Yu.” He still insisted, “I didn’t write it wrong. I used alternative characters. Besides, you’re not my teacher, so why should I be punished?”

Cheng Yu was just joking around. He found this little kid amusing and couldn’t help lightly tapping his forehead. “Write it ten times, and I’ll check later.”

“Why are you acting like my mom…” Xue Youka muttered.

Cheng Yu said, “I’m leaving. Call me when you catch fireflies.”

“Oh.”

Before Cheng Yu left, he also asked for their home landline number.

Xue Youka saw him off, and his grandmother happened to see him coming back. She asked, “Mimi, did Hu Pi come just now?”

Xue Youka nodded vaguely without mentioning that it was the young master from that wealthy household.

“Grandma, are there still fireflies in the mountains?”

“Recently? Grandma doesn’t know if they’re still around. I heard people say there are.”

Xue Youka didn’t call his grandpa; instead, he took Hu Pi up the mountain to catch fireflies. It was already dark, and the two of them wandered halfway up the mountain with flashlights, but they didn’t find a single firefly.

Hu Pi asked, “Xue Youka, why did you suddenly want to catch fireflies?”

“Catch them… for fun.”

“We don’t have them here, but I heard there are some on Zhongshan Mountain.”

Zhongshan Mountain was a bit far. It would take at least half an hour to drive there from here.

Xue Youka sighed. It was too far. How could he go alone to catch fireflies for Cheng Yu?

On the way down the mountain, Hu Pi walked in front with a flashlight, while Xue Youka followed behind. However, he accidentally stepped on some moss, and his shoe slipped, causing him to fall.

“Ouch…” He sat on the ground.

Hu Pi heard the noise and immediately turned around to check on him. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, didn’t sprain my foot, just scraped my skin.” Under the illumination of the flashlight, Xue Youka lifted his pants to inspect the scrapes. Both of his calves were scraped, with the right leg being slightly worse. His ankle even had a minor cut that was bleeding.

Hu Pi examined his injury carefully. “It’s still a bit serious. Can you walk? Should I go down the mountain and have someone come to carry you?”

“It’s not that exaggerated.” Xue Youka slowly stood up, wiping the mud off his palms. But he noticed that his palms were also scraped and bleeding a little. He didn’t pay much attention to it. “Is that it? It doesn’t even hurt as much as a paper cut.”

Hu Pi: “…”

Indeed, his pace down the mountain was delayed as he limped. However, having grown up in the countryside, Xue Youka was accustomed to bumps and bruises. These minor injuries were nothing to him. He didn’t even bother applying any ointment; he just wiped them with a towel and ignored them.

He didn’t catch any fireflies, and he didn’t call Cheng Yu either. Instead, he focused on doing the homework assigned by He Xiaoyou under the desk lamp.

It was two days later when Cheng Yu took the initiative to call him.

“Mimi, where are the fireflies you caught for me?” Cheng Yu was truly bored staying there. He couldn’t find anything interesting to do.

“Well, I…” 

“You didn’t catch any?”

“Well… we don’t have any on our mountain,” he honestly replied. “I heard that fireflies can only be found at the top of Zhongshan Mountain. But I have prepared something else for you. Do you want to come and take a look?”

“What’s so mysterious about it?”

“You’ll find out when you come!”

Cheng Yu didn’t know why, but he just listened to him. He informed his grandfather and left.

“Is there no one at your house in the afternoon?” When Cheng Yu arrived, he noticed that there was no one at Xue Youka’s house.

“Grandma went to play cards.”

“What about your grandfather?”

“He went to drink tea.”

“They didn’t take you with them?”

“I don’t play cards, and nor do I drink tea. Why would they take me with them?”

Cheng Yu asked, “What did you prepare for me?”

“You’ll know when you go up and see!”

Cheng Yu stood under the fig tree, wearing an unpleasant expression as he hesitated for a moment.

Xue Youka nudged him. “Go up.”

Cheng Yu was also curious. What surprise had he prepared for him?

“Is it really sturdy?” Cheng Yu grabbed the hemp rope and stepped onto it.

“Why wouldn’t it be sturdy? I’ve been climbing since I was little, and it hasn’t broken in so many years.”

Step by step, Cheng Yu quickly climbed to the top and raised the heavy curtain with his hand. “It’s so small.”

Inside was a bit dark, with faint rays of light seeping through the gaps in the tree trunk that formed the treehouse.

“There’s only one pillow inside, and two balls.”

“Those are glow-in-the-dark balls. You have to lie down in there,” Xue Youka said from below.

Cheng Yu sniffed and found no smell, only the natural scent of the trees. Slowly, he climbed in.

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