Chapter 47

The new clothes Fei Bolin bought for Wen Fu arrived the next day.

Wen Fu had grown fast in the half year or so since he came to live here, and Fei Bolin's old clothes weren't the kind he could pull out year-round anyway. Spring in Rongzhou ran hot. No.1 High School's fall School Uniform was too thick for this weather, but the summer one was too thin. Fei Bolin noticed Wen Fu didn't have a jacket for April, so he took advantage of the back-to-school sale and bought him two.

It happened to be Sunday, and even with the new clothes in hand, he still couldn't wear them the next day, because Monday assembly made School Uniform mandatory for everyone. After Wen Fu tore open the package, he hugged the new clothes and rolled back and forth across the bed, very obviously venting his silent unhappiness over not being able to wear them on Monday.

Fei Bolin helplessly pressed a hand to his head to stop him from rolling around. 'The clothes haven't been washed yet. Don't get the bed dirty.'

Wen Fu tipped his head back and rubbed against his palm, not saying a word.

Fei Bolin laughed. 'You like new clothes that much?'

Wen Fu sat up cross-legged and nodded. 'You bought them, Bolin-ge. So I like them.'

Then he lowered his head and went right back to fiddling with the jackets in his arms, like he couldn't look at them enough, not caring at all what kind of expression Fei Bolin had after hearing that.

Fei Bolin watched him turn those two jackets over and over in his hands, admiring them. The smile on his face froze into something subtle, as if it might fade and might not, and he said, almost like a sigh, 'If I had a little more money, that'd be nice.'

If he had just a little more money, buying two pieces of clothing wouldn't leave Wen Fu this delighted.

This was the first time Fei Bolin had had that thought since Lin Yuanyi died.

Back when it was just him, no matter how he lived, he was never unhappy with the way things were, because Fei Bolin knew he had the ability to make the road ahead better and better.

But the longer Wen Fu stayed by his side, the more he started to wonder whether he was moving a little too slowly.

What if Wen Fu grew up before he managed to make life good for him?

By then, even if he bought the kind of clothes a sixteen-year-old liked, Wen Fu wouldn't fit into them anymore.

Wen Fu looked up. After hearing that, he studied Fei Bolin's face for a long moment, then asked, 'What would you do with a little more money?'

'Buy you clothes, obviously.' Fei Bolin let go and looked out at the blue sky, freshly washed by rain. 'If I had money, I'd buy you a whole house full of clothes. I'd even give you a whole wall just for cartoons.'

Wen Fu seriously turned every word over in his head. 'A whole house full of clothes. How many is that?'

Fei Bolin said, 'We'll know once we buy them.'

Wen Fu asked again, 'Then can I wear something new every day?'

Fei Bolin said, 'Of course you can.'

Wen Fu kept going. 'Then can I watch cartoons every day too?'

Fei Bolin coaxed, 'Get over 130 in Chinese on the college entrance exam, and you can.'

Wen Fu: 'Then can I drink milk every day?'

Fei Bolin: 'You already drink milk every day now.'

Wen Fu: 'Then can I eat chocolate every day?'

Without even turning his head, Fei Bolin got up and walked out.

A smart man never wastes breath arguing with a scheming little kitten.

He didn't realize that after Wen Fu's few rounds of shameless pestering, the gloom from a few minutes ago had already slipped off him without him noticing.

And Wen Fu, having gotten what he wanted, lowered his head the instant Fei Bolin turned away and smiled to himself like nothing had happened. Then he went back to poking at his new clothes with bright-eyed curiosity.

-

By midterms, Wen Fu's Chinese score had stabilized at 90 out of 150. That was still a long way from Gu Mingchun's requirement of 'at least over 80 if we're grading it like it's out of 100,' but for someone like Wen Fu, who used to fail year-round, being steadily above passing was decent enough.

That morning, he and Fei Bolin both overslept before self-study and didn't have time to eat breakfast at home, so Wen Fu ran to the cafeteria, packed up a bowl of noodles, and carried it to the classroom to squat on the balcony and eat with Xie Yining.

There was still half an hour before self-study started. Xie Yining had found a blind spot in the security cameras and was squatting behind a balcony pillar, staring at her phone with total focus.

Wen Fu leaned over and asked in his usual soft, calm, painfully slow voice, 'What are you watching?'

Earlier, Xie Yining had complained that when he talked fast, nobody could make him out, so Wen Fu had deliberately started slowing down whenever he talked to her.

And because Wen Fu had never deliberately talked slowly before, Xie Yining had also roasted him for sounding 'like a typewriter, like every word has to finish loading in his mouth before it comes out.'

So by the time Wen Fu got to the third word, Xie Yining had already answered, 'Kuroko's Basketball.'

She didn't even turn to look at him while she spoke, like every second on the screen was precious.

Wen Fu silently watched with her for a bit, then pointed at one of the characters. 'What's his name?'

'Kise Ryota.' He happened to be Xie Yining's favorite, and there was a little extra pride in her voice when she said it. 'Handsome, right? I love him.'

Wen Fu nodded, then asked, 'What about this one?'

'Kagami. He's really scared of dogs.'

'Oh.' Wen Fu said, 'What about this one?'

'Kuroko.'

Once Wen Fu realized Xie Yining didn't have much to say about any character other than Kise Ryota, and couldn't even be bothered to give full names, he wisely shut up and just ate his noodles while watching with her.

The next second, a snorting little laugh went 'tch' behind them.

Wen Fu instinctively turned to see who it was. Beside him, Xie Yining recognized the person from the tone alone. She didn't even lift her head, just rolled her eyes in annoyance first.

Sure enough, Su Haoran leaned over with a smug look and said, 'Who watches Kuroko in a basketball anime?'

His tone practically screamed, 'You've both got terrible taste.'

Naturally, Wen Fu didn't catch any of the subtext. But Xie Yining, with her back to Su Haoran, had already gone from bright and excited to icy. She was holding it in, but the storm was clearly on its way.

Su Haoran still had no clue what was about to happen. Trying to get Xie Yining's attention, he proudly and smugly 'explained' things to Wen Fu. 'If you're gonna watch a basketball anime, go watch Slam Dunk. That's what a real sports anime is. You know Rukawa Kaede? You know Sakuragi Hanamichi? Way hotter than some pretty boy like Kise Ryota.'

'Oh, so you're the expert now, Su Haoran?' Xie Yining put away her phone, stood up, and turned around with a smile that wasn't really a smile.

'I mean—yeah.' Su Haoran ran a hand through the hair he'd gone home and had a stylist do just last weekend, then leaned against Wen Fu's shoulder, looking very pleased with himself.

Wen Fu took a look at Xie Yining's expression. He couldn't tell exactly what she was thinking, but he had a vague bad feeling about this.

At home, every time he didn't listen and Fei Bolin was about to deal with him, Fei Bolin wore that same smile.

Caught between the two of them, Wen Fu had just started to lift his noodles and flee when Su Haoran grabbed his shoulder and dragged him over. 'C'mon, give me your phone. Gege will help you download Slam Dunk for free so you can see what a real handsome guy looks like.'

Xie Yining grabbed Wen Fu's arm. 'You're not watching that—I’m downloading Kuroko's Basketball for you.'

Su Haoran: 'Download Slam Dunk.'

Xie Yining: 'Download Kuroko's Basketball.'

Wen Fu looked from one side to the other. 'Can I maybe watch both...'

Xie Yining: 'No!'

Su Haoran: 'No!'

Wen Fu: '...'

The kitten fell silent.

The kitten was about to crack.

Right then, Fei Bolin happened to come back from the office. Seeing nobody from the group in the classroom, he walked out onto the balcony. 'What are you guys doing?'

Wen Fu broke free from Su Haoran and Xie Yining in one swift move, darted to Fei Bolin's side, and kept trying to hide behind him.

'Don't go.' Xie Yining's stubborn streak kicked in. 'Say it. Which one are you watching?'

Fei Bolin looked down at Wen Fu. 'Watching what?'

Su Haoran was waiting for the answer too—but he clearly didn't care that much. He'd already gotten what he wanted. He'd pissed Xie Yining off and made her pay attention to him.

Wen Fu didn't answer. His eyes moved back and forth between the two of them, then, wisely, he pointed at Xie Yining and chose to give up on Su Haoran.

'Fine, fine.' Su Haoran deliberately put on a magnanimous act and waved at Xie Yining. 'I'll let you have this one.'

Then he whistled and strolled back to the classroom with both hands in the pockets of his EVISU jeans. For some reason that brand of denim was weirdly popular at school in those early years, and of course Su Haoran refused to fall behind. On the very first day after buying a new pair, he'd already run over to show off in front of Xie Yining, that huge irregular M stamped across the back of his ass.

Xie Yining rolled her eyes so hard they almost flipped into the back of her head. Even after Wen Fu picked her, she didn't look happy. Her mood for anime had already been ruined. She just took Wen Fu's phone with a dark look and sent him the compressed video files.

Fei Bolin didn't think much of it at first. Then at lunch break, he saw Wen Fu in the classroom with his head down by the edge of his desk, hunching over and secretly watching his phone with total focus.

He washed an apple for Wen Fu and, at the same time, turned off his phone. 'Don't play on your phone in class. If it's time to sleep, then sleep.'

They were day students. It took about twenty minutes to walk home from School, and Wen Fu always got distracted on the way and dragged things out looking around everywhere, so after lunch in the cafeteria, neither of them went home at noon. They just went back to the classroom and caught a quick nap while no one was around.

But today, once Wen Fu started the anime, he couldn't stop. Even with his eyes closed on the desk, his head was full of scenes from it.

That evening during self-study, Fei Bolin was working on a test paper when he noticed that Wen Fu and Xie Yining still hadn't come back, even long after the class bell rang.

He checked by the office first. The two of them weren't there asking a teacher questions.

Then he went to the bathrooms. Still no sign of them.

Fei Bolin walked into the stairwell and searched from the sixth floor all the way down to the first, but he didn't see a single person.

Just as he was about to head back, he glanced outside through the first-floor entrance and spotted two dark shapes crouched in the corner beside the drainpipe behind the flower bed, heads pressed together, so quiet they looked dead.

Fei Bolin narrowed his eyes and made out one messy bird's-nest head and one high ponytail.

He sighed, stepped past the flower bed, and went over to the corner. Sure enough, Wen Fu and Xie Yining were holding a phone together and watching anime. A wired pair of earphones was plugged in, one bud in each of their ears.

Fei Bolin bent down and leaned in between them. 'You two not think this place stinks?'

...

...

One second later.

Xie Yining: 'Aaaahhhhhh!'

Wen Fu: 'Aaaahhhhhh!'

Fei Bolin clapped a hand over both their mouths.

Once they saw who had suddenly appeared behind them, each of them blinked, and only then did Fei Bolin let go.

Xie Yining's heart was still pounding. 'Group leader, you scared us to death! How do you walk without making a sound?'

Wen Fu, meanwhile, stayed crouched there neatly, both hands on his knees, craning his neck up to call, 'Bolin-ge.'

'Bolin-ge?' Xie Yining looked at Wen Fu like she was disgusted. 'Since when are you two that close?'

Fei Bolin dodged the question and hauled one up in each hand. 'Back inside. The grade dean's doing rounds.'

The second Xie Yining heard that, she hurried off. 'Really?'

She was the one on duty for the last self-study period tonight. If the grade dean saw the podium empty, she was done for.

Fei Bolin's face didn't change. 'Really.'

By the time they got back to the fifth floor, before they even entered the classroom, Xie Yining caught sight of the grade dean's office at once. The light was off. The man had clearly left ages ago.

'Group leader—' She turned back, full of ghostly resentment. 'You lied to us?'

'Mm.' Fei Bolin didn't even blink. 'I didn't want people thinking you'd just crawled out of a cesspit.'

'Huh?' Xie Yining lifted her arm and sniffed herself all over. 'Do we really smell that bad?'

Fei Bolin said honestly, 'Not that bad.'

He'd just have to wash Wen Fu from head to toe once they got home, that's all.

Right then, the class break bell rang, and Su Haoran came trotting over. 'Ningning, where'd you guys go? You were gone a whole period.'

He very obviously had no idea how huge a fire he'd started in Xie Yining that morning.

And Xie Yining acted like she didn't even see him, going around him straight for her seat.

Su Haoran chased after her. 'Ningning, why do you and Doraemi smell like...'

He didn't get to finish. Xie Yining cut him a sidelong look.

The words in Su Haoran's throat jammed up. Then he turned to Wen Fu with a grave face. 'Did you clog the boys' bathroom taking a dump?'

...

...

...

Wen Fu said, 'We didn't go to the bathroom.'

Su Haoran's pupils shook. Then he sucked in a breath, held it till his face turned red, looked around, and dragged Wen Fu off into a corner. 'You two went outside to take a shit together?'

Wen Fu: ?

Confused kitten head.jpg

Su Haoran fumed. 'Why didn't you call me?'

...

...

...

Xie Yining went silent for a second, then, right in front of everyone, kicked Su Haoran clean out onto the balcony. After that, she walked out herself and shut the door behind her.

The whole classroom fell quiet all at once.

Two seconds later, a full-on round of family-style discipline exploded on the balcony, muffled by a layer of door and glass but still filling every corner of the classroom.