38

The second Xie Yining walked off, Su Haoran spun around from the front row and whistled at Wen Fu: 'Do-Re-Mi! Do-Re-Mi!'

Wen Fu pulled his gaze back from Xie Yining's back and turned to look at Su Haoran.

Su Haoran tossed a Fujiya lollipop onto his desk, then ducked under the desk in a pose he thought would dodge the security camera. He pulled a second lollipop from his pocket, tore open the wrapper, held the stick up at Wen Fu in a cheers gesture, popped the candy in his mouth, and raised an eyebrow at him.

Meaning: eat one with me.

Wen Fu glanced at the candy and tossed it back without mercy.

Su Haoran: ?

Su Haoran tossed the candy back over again, all worked up: 'Why won't you eat it?'

Wen Fu didn't say a word. Just kept his head down doing homework.

Su Haoran wasn't giving up. Sucking his lollipop, he waddled over to Wen Fu's desk duck-style, grabbed the edge of Wen Fu's desk, slowly rose half his face up from behind it, then dug a few more lollipops out of his pocket and dumped them all on Wen Fu's desk: 'Come on, eat with me.'

Wen Fu said, 'Not eating.'

'Why?' Su Haoran goggled at him. 'Last time you gave me one and I ate it.'

'Last time I didn't give it to you.' Wen Fu didn't even look up, clarifying flatly. 'You asked me for it.'

Last time — the first time Wen Fu had ever tried a Fujiya milk candy — he'd managed to bring three lollipops he'd been saving from the day before to school. He'd planned to eat them during break. He'd barely finished the first one when Su Haoran came out of the classroom and bumped into him, hand out, asking Wen Fu for one.

Wen Fu gave Su Haoran one. Seeing the guy tear it open to eat, he reminded him: 'Class is starting.'

'So what, I'll still eat it. It's Chinese class. Old Zhao's got bad eyes, he won't see.'

Class 6's Chinese teacher was named Zhao Yue, just over thirty, wore glasses, a little stiff, and his temper was as bad as his eyesight.

When Su Haoran finished saying that and saw Wen Fu wasn't responding, his eyeballs did a quick spin and a wicked plan formed in his head: 'You got any more?'

Wen Fu nodded honestly.

Su Haoran nudged him with his elbow: 'Eat one with me.'

Wen Fu refused: 'No.'

'Come on!' Su Haoran egged him on. 'Two people eating together, the candy tastes sweeter. Try it, you'll see.'

Wen Fu looked at him, half-believing.

Seeing Wen Fu waver, Su Haoran got even more into it: 'And even if Old Zhao tries to catch us, I'm sitting right in front of you. He'll see me first. The second he grabs me, you just stop eating, easy.'

The little kitty Fei Bolin had been patiently guiding and educating at home for half a month — got led astray by Su Haoran for the very first time.

Turned out that Chinese class, Old Zhao walked in and made them do an in-class quiz. Books had to be cleared off the desks. Su Haoran realized he had nothing to hide behind, so he bit down on the candy in his mouth, crunching it loud.

Old Zhao heard the sound and looked up. Su Haoran, old hand at this, dove under the desk without thinking. Old Zhao scanned the room. The only one left was Wen Fu, a lollipop stick poking out of his mouth, sucking it slow.

Fei Bolin was organizing his desk when he suddenly heard Old Zhao call from the podium: 'Wen Fu, stand up.'

He glanced over — what was in Wen Fu's mouth if not the lollipop he'd given him the day before?

That time, Wen Fu stood in the classroom for two periods. When he got home, Fei Bolin gave him a lecture and confiscated his daily lollipop quota, changing it to once a week, no takeout allowed.

This time Wen Fu refused to eat no matter what.

Su Haoran grinned apologetically: 'Aw, it's fine, eat! This time if a teacher comes I absolutely won't hide, I'll block you from the front!'

Saying that, he poked Lu Yuqiu as he went: 'Let's swap seats.'

Lu Yuqiu was used to him asking to switch seats — Su Haoran wasn't doing it to block for Wen Fu, he was doing it to shamelessly sit next to Xie Yining for a bit.

Receiving his request, Lu Yuqiu took a lollipop off her desk: 'Next time you're on duty—'

Su Haoran grinned fawningly: 'I'll handle it for you!'

Lu Yuqiu gave an OK sign and cheerfully moved to the front.

Su Haoran lifted his butt up, dropped into Lu Yuqiu's chair, and winked at Wen Fu: 'How about that? I did what I said I'd do, right?'

Wen Fu looked at the candy on the desk and didn't say a word.

Today was Saturday. He hadn't had any candy for a whole week. But if he could just hold out until afternoon dismissal, he could eat some once they got back to Lin's Convenience Store.

Wen Fu decided to resist.

The next second, Su Haoran held out a lollipop with the wrapper he'd personally torn open right in front of Wen Fu's eyes, making 'tsk tsk tsk' sounds with his mouth: 'Do—Re—Mi—come—eat—candy—'

Wen Fu: '...'

Su Haoran: 'Tsk tsk tsk—'

Wen Fu: '...'

Su Haoran: 'Tsk tsk tsk—'

'...'

Wen Fu took Su Haoran's candy and quietly popped it in his mouth.

The sweet milk-candy flavor had barely started melting on his tongue when Gu Mingchun's voice came from the doorway: 'Su Haoran, Wen Fu, you two, come out here. Spit the candy out.'

Wen Fu: '...'

Su Haoran: '...'

A minute later, Fei Bolin and Xie Yining, who were in the office asking questions, watched with their own eyes as Gu Mingchun, with Su Haoran in his left hand and Wen Fu in his right, dragged the two of them to the desk with a stern face: 'Stand up straight.'

Xie Yining: '...'

Even though it was Su Haoran who got caught, somehow she was the one feeling embarrassed.

Fei Bolin: '...'

Even though it was Wen Fu who got caught, somehow he was the one feeling exhausted.

Every teacher in the office had their own job. After Xie Yining and Fei Bolin finished asking their questions and headed back to class one after another, Su Haoran promised he'd never eat lollipops in class again, and Wen Fu promised to bump his Chinese grade target from passing to one-ten, only then did the two of them get released.

The second they stepped out the classroom door, Su Haoran's droopy bitter-melon face lit right back up. He turned to look at Wen Fu, but the other guy wasn't saying a word.

He bumped Wen Fu with his shoulder: 'Do-Re-Mi?'

Wen Fu looked up: 'What?'

Su Haoran grinned shamelessly: 'Mad?'

Wen Fu shook his head.

He just had a feeling that when he got home today, there definitely wouldn't be any candy for him again.

He and Fei Bolin barely talked at school. Nobody knew the two of them lived together privately. In the mornings, if Fei Bolin had to bring breakfast for others and was busy, he'd cook noodles for Wen Fu and himself. If he was too busy, he'd give Wen Fu a few bucks to go buy steamed rolls on the street himself. They always walked to school separately. After evening self-study, they both stayed in the classroom until the end, and nobody saw them walk home together every night.

Because they were together privately every day, Wen Fu had nothing else going on. When Fei Bolin was home, he was home. When Fei Bolin went to Lin's Convenience Store, he went too. There was almost no privacy between them. So by the time they got to school, the two of them had nothing to say to each other.

After sitting next to Fei Bolin for two weeks as deskmates, Xie Yining had talked to him more than Fei Bolin had.

But just now, while Gu Mingchun was lecturing them, Wen Fu clearly felt Fei Bolin glance his way as he left.

Wen Fu unconsciously sighed, feeling some inexplicable pressure.

Su Haoran threw an arm around him: 'Ah, it's nothing. We just stood in the office a bit. Next time we—'

'You want there to be a next time?'

Both of them stopped walking at the same time and glanced to the side—

Xie Yining had appeared out of nowhere. She crossed her arms and walked up next to Su Haoran, reached out and pinched his ear, dragging him toward the classroom as she walked: 'Stop leading Do-Re-Mi astray here. Our group barely scraped together enough points from the sports meet, and both times you got caught eating candy they took it all back! It's all your fault!'

'Hey—hey—Ningning! Ow, ow, ow! My ear!'

'Your ear hurts? Does your face hurt?'

'My face doesn't hurt.'

'Of course it doesn't! You don't have one!'

'Ningning...'

Wen Fu stood in place, watching the commotion, and only then realized class was already over.

A Fei Bolin holding a biology textbook drifted past him like a ghost.

Wen Fu was sure the other guy had seen him, but Fei Bolin just pretended he hadn't, walking past him without so much as a sideways glance.

'Hm?' He was quietly puzzled for a moment, then followed step for step, treading on Fei Bolin's shadow, the two of them passing pillar after pillar on the balcony one after the other.

The corridor was getting crowded. Wen Fu tried several times to walk up beside Fei Bolin but kept getting pushed back by the flow of people. After walking a while, he leaned his body out past the right-side railing and, from a slanted-back angle, studied Fei Bolin: 'Bo-ge?'

Fei Bolin walked on with his book, saying nothing.

Wen Fu pulled himself back in, then scooted to the left side: 'Bo-ge?'

Fei Bolin still said nothing.

Wen Fu thought for a moment, then inexplicably explained: 'The candy was from Su Haoran.'

Meaning he hadn't been trying to sneak candy behind his back on purpose.

Fei Bolin finally stopped: 'Really?'

Wen Fu stopped too. He nodded first, then realized Fei Bolin hadn't turned around, and said, 'Really.'

Fei Bolin stepped aside, and while there were fewer people, pulled Wen Fu up to walk beside him: 'He gives it to you and you just eat it?'

Wen Fu answered honestly: 'He already opened it.'

'Next time, even if it's opened, you're not allowed to eat it.'

'Oh.'

After walking a bit more, Fei Bolin suddenly spoke: 'Did you say thank you when you took the candy?'

Wen Fu: '...'

Probably not.

He asked: 'I have to say that too?'

'When someone gives you something, of course you say thank you.'

Fei Bolin paused. Thinking about how both times Wen Fu had broken class rules behind his back, someone had been leading him on, his eyes suddenly darkened.

'Su Haoran you can skip.'

'...Oh.'

—

The weather forecast said that after this week, Rongzhou was going into a full-on cold snap.

The good news was, today the sun was out strong.

Saturday classes only ran until three in the afternoon. After dismissal, the duty group stayed behind for a big cleaning, and everyone else left pretty fast.

Su Haoran lived in Jin City, and every week a driver came specifically to pick him up. And Xie Yining lived in a tiny rental in Lingang District in Rongzhou. Every Saturday at three, he would unfailingly ask Xie Yining if she wanted to ride back with him, and Xie Yining's answer was unfailingly no.

After watching Su Haoran pester Xie Yining out of the classroom, Fei Bolin's gaze returned to Wen Fu: 'All packed?'

The longer they spent together, the more he noticed that Wen Fu was actually pretty slow at things.

Like right now — two weekend practice papers, and Wen Fu could spend twenty minutes digging through his drawer for them.

And he had zero guilt about making people wait.

Fei Bolin had been sitting against the desk waiting for him forever, and the kid wasn't the least bit flustered. He could flip through one practice book three times, slowly, looking for whatever he needed.

...All the urgency he'd ever feel in his life was reserved for food.

Fei Bolin sighed again.

Ever since Wen Fu had shown up beside him, Fei Bolin sighed once a day, every day.

He got down from the desk, pulled out his chair, set down his bag, and told Wen Fu: 'Take every test paper out of your drawer and desk, sort them by Chinese, Math, English, Physics, Chemistry, Biology. Once they're sorted, stack them one by one from the top down by date, from the start of school till now.'

After saying that, he glanced at the clock on the blackboard: 'Get it done in fifteen minutes. I'm going to the basement to grab something.'

Wen Fu had only transferred here at the end of October. One month's worth of papers — fifteen minutes was more than enough to sort them.

Fei Bolin finished his instructions and left the classroom on his own, heading down five floors.

Five minutes later, he was back, taking the stairs three at a time, stepping through the classroom door.

And in his hand, seven clear file bags.

Wen Fu's papers were, predictably, still not sorted.

Fei Bolin swung his long legs over, sat back down, propped one shin out, and started helping Wen Fu clean up the garbage-pile that was his desk.

With the two of them working together, it took about three or four minutes. The papers were sorted into seven stacks: the regular quiz papers for Chinese, Math, English, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, plus two sets of major exam papers — the midterms and the monthly exam so far.

Fei Bolin sorted the papers into the file bags by category and told Wen Fu: 'From now on, every time you finish a quiz paper — whether you finished it or not — if you need to put it away, put it in a file bag. For the big exam papers, use the longest Chinese paper to wrap all the subjects. Each set goes in the seventh file bag. Got it?'

Wen Fu watched intently as he stuck labels on each bag, glancing at him every so often. In his eyes, besides curiosity, there was also a dawning realization — a 'so you can do it this way' kind of look.

Once the papers were cleared, naturally they also found the few Wen Fu needed to bring home.

Fei Bolin put them in his own bag and stood up: 'Let's go. We're picking up a few packages today.'

Wen Fu followed him, looking up: 'Packages?'

'Mm.' Fei Bolin stepped into the corridor's evening sunlight, acting all casual and breezy. The other corner of his mouth secretly lifted. A strange sense of elder responsibility and pride welled up in his chest. 'Something I bought for you arrived.'

Wen Fu followed even closer, eyes wide: 'For me?'

Fei Bolin was still young after all. The second he saw Wen Fu make that face, he couldn't hold it together anymore. A smile crept into his eyes. While no one was around, he reached up and ruffled Wen Fu's hair: 'Mm, for you.'

It wasn't actually anything expensive. Because he'd made up his mind to keep Wen Fu at home for the long haul, Fei Bolin had bought some everyday things for him.

A pair of winter sneakers, a combo desk-and-chair, a sweater, a pair of loose jeans, a backpack, and a piggy bank.

Wen Fu followed Fei Bolin to the package station and watched the courier pull out five parcels one by one. Learning all five were bought for him, his eyes went wide. He hugged them all the way back like he was carrying something priceless.

The combo chair was heavy. Fei Bolin saw him swinging both arms wide, barely able to hold all five parcels, and offered to take a few for him.

Wen Fu dodged, tilting his head to watch the road as he waddled forward like a penguin, holding his breath, his face flushed red, stammering out: 'No, I can carry it... I can carry it.'