41

Just before they reached the Alley Entrance, two figures popped up at the far end, peeking around like they were scouting things out.

Fei Bolin spotted them first and recognized them right away. Seeing both of them looking past him, he turned and called, 'Wen Fu.'

Wen Fu was dragging his feet along in Fei Bolin's shadow, head down, seriously focused on taking one sip of milk tea and one bite of sausage at a time.

Hearing him call Wen Fu that, the two boys up ahead couldn't help exchanging a look. It was a weird one.

The person involved, Fei Bolin, didn't notice anything off at all. He just called again, snapping Wen Fu out of his snack-induced daze. 'Wen Fu, come here.'

Wen Fu walked over.

Fei Bolin gently nudged him in front of the two boys and asked, 'You looking for him?'

The two middle schoolers nodded.

They were the middle school students who'd asked Wen Fu before to help them get their money back.

A few months ago, on Wen Fu's very first night in Rongzhou after taking the bus in from his county town, he'd gotten off at West Passenger Station and followed the bus stop signs all the way to No.1 High School. He'd meant to find the place where he'd be studying ahead of time. Instead, the second he reached the Alley Entrance, he ran into a few older students shaking down kids from the middle school division for cash.

The two middle school boys were each a full head shorter than him. Back then, with their collars being yanked, they were so scared they barely dared make a sound. From how practiced they were at pulling out money, it was obvious this wasn't the first time they'd been bullied.

He'd planned to ignore it and keep walking. But not long after he'd gone around the alley, the two middle schoolers came after him from behind. They'd probably been let go after handing over the money, and just happened to be taking the same road as Wen Fu.

He kept walking up front, and from behind him he heard one of them sniffle and say to the other, 'If my dad finds out I ran through the money again when I get back, he's definitely gonna beat me up again.'

Wen Fu kept a blank face and walked a few more steps. Then he suddenly turned and stopped in front of them. 'Do you have a mask and a hat?'

The two of them were caught off guard. 'N-no...'

Wen Fu pointed at the two-yuan shop nearby. 'Buy me one.'

The two middle schoolers just stood there for a second. They'd only just been robbed, their brains were still buzzing, or maybe they were just too used to getting pushed around. Either way, they didn't say a word. They hesitated, then went to buy it for him.

Wen Fu took the mask and baseball cap and told them to wait where they were.

More than ten minutes later, he came back wearing the mask and spread the money they'd just had taken from them across his palm, untouched. 'Your money. Take it back.'

That was how the two middle schoolers found themselves a backer.

And this backer was ruthless and quiet. He didn't say much, but he was solid, and every single time he got their stolen money back fast and intact.

They felt bad about it, so every time Wen Fu helped them get their money back, they'd take the initiative to give him a cut.

They'd originally agreed to meet at the alley entrance every Saturday night. But after Wen Fu got recognized by the older students and beaten up again, they didn't dare come looking for him anymore. On top of that, Wen Fu hadn't been showing up in the alley late on Saturdays for the past month or so either. Ever since moving into Fei Bolin's place, he'd been spending every Saturday at Lin's Convenience Store with Fei Bolin, watching the shop.

But these past two days, the two middle schoolers really couldn't hold out against the extortion and bullying from the older students anymore. So they started waiting at the Alley Entrance again, hoping they'd get one more chance to run into him.

Luckily, they only waited a few days before running into him tonight.

'Ge...' they called out to Wen Fu cautiously, then looked at Fei Bolin behind him. 'So your name's Wen Fu.'

Damn it. They'd known him that long and still hadn't even known their big bro's name.

And this tall guy had only shown up with their big bro a few times and was already calling him Wen Fu just like that.

'My name's Wen Fu.'

Wen Fu answered flatly, then lowered his head and took a sip of milk tea, pulling a few boba pearls into his mouth.

Chew chew chew.

The two middle schoolers stared at this backer who used to seem so unsmiling, cold, and severe in front of them, then went quiet for a second. '...Ge, so you like stuff like this.'

Standing behind Wen Fu, Fei Bolin couldn't help pressing his lips together to hide a smile.

Really, he was so sorry. Totally by accident, he'd let their big bro's towering, reliable image collapse right in front of their eyes.

The two middle schoolers looked like they wanted to say something and didn't. Like they'd forgotten why they'd come in the first place, one of them asked instead, 'Ge, what happened to your voice?'

The other asked, 'Did you burn it drinking milk tea?'

Wen Fu didn't confirm or deny it. 'What do you want?'

That reminder finally jogged their memory, and the two of them immediately started complaining to Wen Fu, all aggrieved, about how miserably they'd been extorted this past month, plus getting hit both at home and at School.

'Do you have any ideas, ge?' As they spoke, the two of them wiped their tears with the sleeves of their School Uniform. They probably felt embarrassed too. Small as they were, they even turned their backs so Fei Bolin wouldn't see. Only after wiping their eyes did they turn back and keep talking. 'If you don't have a way, then we're really out of options.'

What idea was Wen Fu supposed to have? He still needed someone watching him take his medicine three times a day. Even his long underwear had needed Fei Bolin to teach him how to put it on. In the whole world, only these two little brats treated him like some big brother and expected him to make the call on everything.

Wen Fu couldn't come up with anything, so he tipped his head up to look at Fei Bolin.

Fei Bolin had laughed enough by then. He put the smile away and asked them, 'Do you have phones?'

The two across from him nodded in perfect sync.

Fei Bolin asked again, 'You two... live in the city district?'

They shook their heads. 'No.'

Both of them were boarders. One was from Gong County, the other from Gao County. It was only because their families worked in the city that they could commute together, and every long break they had to head back to their county hometowns.

Their families weren't well-off. The first thing their parents had taught them when they came out to study was to keep their heads down at School and not make trouble. That was exactly why the older students had them pegged. They knew these two wouldn't dare make a big deal out of it and bring trouble home, so they picked on them without restraint.

This kind of thing was common at School. Victims of bullying hoped they could trade endurance for peace, but all they really got was the other side pushing further and further.

Fei Bolin knew they were young. If you really told these two to work up the nerve to tell a teacher or their parents, they wouldn't dare. Their families probably handled things by swallowing the grievance and keeping the peace. Money was one part of it, sure, but their parents' way of dealing with problems was the biggest reason they couldn't muster any backbone to fight back.

So the only option was to handle it privately.

Because the older students had been extorting them for so long, they'd basically settled into a pattern. They showed up on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and weekends like clockwork, demanding money from them like they were collecting tribute. So Fei Bolin told them that with one month left before winter break, every time those older students tried to extort them from now on, they were to turn on their phones' video recording and hide the phone in a pocket or sleeve, then find a way to capture footage of the extortion. Every Sunday, they'd meet here again and send the videos to Fei Bolin.

'You don't need to worry about the rest,' Fei Bolin said. He personally showed them how to hide a phone in a pocket so the camera would be just barely exposed without getting noticed, then handed the phones back. 'Try not to come into the city during winter break. Stay in your hometowns and don't go out much. And don't answer calls from unknown numbers.'

They asked, 'What if it's a teacher calling?'

'If a teacher needs you, the first person they'll contact is your parents, so don't worry,' Fei Bolin said. 'At your age, if real trouble comes up, any decent adult is going to contact your parents first.'

Only indecent ones keep pestering kids.

'As for the money, you might have to put up with it for one more month.' He took the sausage skewer and empty milk tea cup from Wen Fu, then casually tossed them into the trash can nearby. 'Just get through this semester and it'll be fine.'

The two middle schoolers did exactly that.

For the next month, the four of them met at this alley entrance every Sunday. To avoid making trouble for Fei Bolin, the two boys even spent their own money on two new memory cards and saved the secretly recorded videos of the older students extorting them onto the cards before handing them over to Fei Bolin to deal with on his own.

Then it was the afternoon of the eighteenth day of the twelfth lunar month. The last science exam for second-year high school ended, and winter break began.

Wen Fu's exam room was right next to Fei Bolin's. The second the bell rang over there, Fei Bolin had only just finished collecting the original test papers and scratch paper when he turned his head and saw Wen Fu leaning by the back door waiting for him, eyes fixed on him, wearing that new backpack he still hadn't gotten tired of after a month and those new skate shoes he still hadn't managed to get dirty in a month.

Carrying the papers and pens, he walked up to Wen Fu and naturally handed them over. 'Ran out that fast?'

Wen Fu took what Fei Bolin handed him and put it into the backpack. He'd been doing that for a month now. At first it was just because he was carrying the new backpack, but every day the things going into it felt too sparse, maybe one or two test papers, maybe one or two workbooks. Wen Fu felt like that wasn't letting the backpack do its job, so he insisted Fei Bolin put his stuff in there too.

From pens and erasers to water bottles and umbrellas, Wen Fu happily spent a whole month acting as Fei Bolin's little book attendant.

Except for breakfast from classmates and power banks every day. Those were things only Fei Bolin was allowed to carry, and Wen Fu didn't like that. In Wen Fu's mind, his backpack was precious. At most, it could only hold Fei Bolin's things.

After putting away Fei Bolin's test papers and pen, Wen Fu pulled the zipper shut and slung the backpack back on.

He wore a backpack properly, both straps always sitting neat and square on both shoulders. Unlike Fei Bolin, who was used to slinging it over one shoulder only.

There was no need to go back to the classroom after the exam, so the two of them headed out through the School Gate together. Fei Bolin pulled out the keys to Lin's Convenience Store and the house from his pocket. 'Aunt Wu should still be at the shop. I need to make a stop at the internet cafe. Want to head back first?'

Wen Fu pictured himself passing by Lin's Convenience Store and having to stop and chat with Aunt Wu, then immediately shook his head and made it clear he wanted to go to the internet cafe with Fei Bolin.

He wasn't big on social niceties and definitely wasn't good at them, but Aunt Wu was incredibly warm. Every time she ran into him and Fei Bolin, she'd pull them both over and chat and laugh forever, praising Fei Bolin and then praising him too. First their grades, then their personalities, then their looks, and if she really ran out of things to praise, she'd praise how clean their clothes were.

Luckily, every time they'd run into Aunt Wu, the two of them were together. Wen Fu didn't have to do anything. He just had to stand there silently and listen to Aunt Wu say, 'So good, so good,' and then hear Fei Bolin say, 'No, no,' and that was enough.

Sometimes he'd also accept the two buns Aunt Wu stuffed into his hands, which he was very happy about.

But if he had to go home alone and face Aunt Wu by himself, Wen Fu would rather stay in the classroom and recite his Chinese textbook for two hours.

And compared with reciting a Chinese textbook, Wen Fu obviously liked going to the internet cafe with Fei Bolin way more.

Really, Fei Bolin didn't have that much to do at the internet cafe. Mainly, he was there to deal with the videos those two middle schoolers had recorded.

The internet cafe closest to No.1 High School happened to be right on their way home. Small, tucked away, and just a right turn after you came out of the Alley Entrance.

The two of them had just walked out of the alley and were about to head toward the internet cafe when they suddenly heard a timid voice call from behind them, 'Fu... Fu-ge.'

They turned around. It was those two middle schoolers.

The middle school division had started break ten days earlier than the high school division, so Fei Bolin was a little surprised to see them here now. 'What are you doing here? Didn't I tell you to go home for break and stay out of the city?'

The two middle schoolers hurried to explain. 'No, no! It's... it's our dads who told us to stay. We're going back with them in a couple days.'

Seeing how sincere they looked, Fei Bolin didn't press the point. He only asked, 'Do you need something?'

Because the second-year final exams were using up the classrooms, the third years were already on break. During a stretch like this, it'd be easy for those older students, who already liked hanging around outside School, especially around internet cafes, to run into them together. If that happened, trouble would be hard to deal with, and the whole plan afterward would go up in smoke.

So Fei Bolin had specifically warned them not to come around here too often, especially during break.

'It's nothing else...' The two kids looked like they wanted to say something and didn't. One pulled out two cups of boba milk tea from behind his back, and the other pulled out two bags of fried skewers and sausage. 'We just wanted to thank you.'

The bags for the milk tea and fried skewers had the huge Bifengtang logo printed on them. It looked like they'd gone all the way from the middle school division to the shop outside the high school School Gate just to buy this.

Probably because that night they'd seen Wen Fu eating so happily and assumed he really liked the taste of this Bifengtang.

In fact, Wen Fu could even drink cold medicine and somehow taste mango pomelo sago in it.

If Fei Bolin didn't stop him, he'd probably be willing to try every medicine in the house except licorice tablets just to see how it tasted.

Seeing both of Wen Fu's hands gripping his backpack straps with no sign of letting go, they redirected the milk tea and fried skewers to Fei Bolin instead. 'We didn't know if you'd like it, so we bought two portions...'

'Thanks.' Fei Bolin didn't actually like this stuff, but he had no intention of saying so. After taking the milk tea and snacks, he said, 'Go on now.'

Standing around here meant they could run into the older students at any moment.

The two middle schoolers understood what he meant, so once they'd dropped things off, they left right away without dragging it out.

A lot of students from No.1 High School were coming in and out of the internet cafe next door. A shop in a location like this was obviously there to make money off high schoolers, so no one needed to show ID to get in.

Fei Bolin handed ten yuan to the front desk and asked them to open two computers for him.

Wen Fu basically never used computers or went online, but it wasn't realistic to expect him to read or do homework in a place like this either. Fei Bolin wasn't going to finish dealing with the videos anytime soon, so he simply got Wen Fu his own computer and searched up a dialect dub of Tom and Jerry on a website for him to watch at his own pace.

Their seats were in the corner. Since they'd come early, there weren't many people around, and the smoke wasn't too bad either. Wearing headphones, Wen Fu watched Tom and Jerry for the first time with his eyes shining, completely absorbed, and finished one cup of milk tea in five minutes.

It was only when he sucked up air through the straw that he noticed the milk tea was gone.

Wen Fu quietly glanced at the cup of boba milk tea by Fei Bolin's hand.

Fei Bolin was clearly staring at the screen, his eyes not even moving, but somehow he still seemed able to see what Wen Fu was doing. While handling the videos, he said ruthlessly, 'One cup only.'

Stuff mixed from sweetener powder was better in small amounts anyway.

Wen Fu's expression dimmed, and he slowly slid down in his chair.

Cat collapse.

Cat has lost its sparkle.

Fei Bolin shot him a quick glance, then gently nudged the milk tea aside with the back of his hand. 'Half a cup.'