The Broom

Monday at school, the Senior 2 Class 7 classroom was dead silent.

Just after a weekend, the early arrivals were either hunched over copying weekend homework or slumped on their desks catching up on sleep.

When Chen Jingshen got to the classroom, there weren't many people in the class yet.

He glanced at the empty seat next to him and casually hung his bag on the back of the chair.

Wang Luan'an from the next desk had his bag on his seat but wasn't there. Chen Jingshen went to the back of the classroom to get water, and when he came back, he saw him walking in with a yawn.

Seeing Chen Jingshen, Wang Luan'an couldn't help rubbing his head, and called out to him as he turned around.

'Ace, uh... Fangqin wants you to go to her office.'

Chen Jingshen put his water bottle on the desk: 'Okay.'

'It's about the weekend. She knows we went to the KTV Lounge.' Wang Luan'an looked annoyed. 'Some idiot with itchy fingers took a photo and sent it to a small school group chat with over forty people. Thought it wouldn't spread, but now the photo's already in Fangqin's hands.'

Seeing him silent, Wang Luan'an immediately patted his shoulder. 'But don't worry, it's not serious! Just, at most a few scoldings...'

It was still early, and there weren't many teachers in the office.

'Report.'

Zhuang Fangqin glanced at the door, put the bread in her hand aside: 'Come in.'

Chen Jingshen was dressed neatly as always, his posture straight.

She found it hard to connect him with the person in the photo who was drinking without changing expression in the smoke.

'Wang Luan'an should have already told you why I called you here, right?'

Chen Jingshen responded faintly: 'Mm.'

'I'm not against you having some appropriate recreational activities in your spare time, but you're still high school students. Smoking and drinking aren't things you should be doing, understand?'

'Mm.'

Zhuang Fangqin nodded, then suddenly changed the subject: 'How do you feel about being desk mates with Yu Fan?'

Chen Jingshen lifted his drooping eyelids slightly: 'Very good.'

Zhuang Fangqin had actually never understood why Chen Jingshen wanted to be desk mates with Yu Fan.

At first she thought Chen Jingshen wanted peace and quiet, since Yu Fan could sleep through seven out of eight classes a day, minding his own business and never causing trouble for others.

But after observing for a while, she found that didn't seem to be the case.

'Your mother has communicated with me,' Zhuang Fangqin said tactfully. 'She hopes I can arrange a more suitable seat for you.'

Maybe the previous homeroom teacher had revealed something to Chen Jingshen's parents, because when they called, they got straight to the point with their request.

Chen Jingshen frowned, a flash of disgust in his eyes.

He was about to say something—

'But in my class, unless it's for nearsightedness or other physical special circumstances, parents don't have the right to arbitrarily change student seats.' Zhuang Fangqin said, 'I only consider two things when arranging seats: whether the arrangement benefits both students, and the students' own wishes. Of course, the latter carries much less weight.'

'To be honest, based on what I've seen so far, putting you two together hasn't worked out great. But I still want to observe for a while before deciding whether to switch seats, so I've pushed it until after the midterms.' She shook her Mobile Phone; the screen showed their photo from the KTV Lounge. 'At least until then, don't let anything like this happen again, okay?'

Chen Jingshen still had that cold expression, unclear whether he had really taken it in: 'Okay.'

Zhuang Fangqin sighed: 'Alright, go back.'

Chen Jingshen turned and left. Just as he was about to walk out of the office door, Zhuang Fangqin couldn't help calling out to him: 'Wait.'

The boy turned back, looking at her without expression.

'Yu Fan, he looks fierce, and the things he does are scary. But he's not bad at heart.' Zhuang Fangqin said, 'If possible, the teacher hopes you can try to help him, as long as it doesn't affect yourself.'

After Chen Jingshen left, Zhuang Fangqin picked up the bread and stuffed it into her mouth, lowering her head to continue revising the lesson plan.

The Class Eight Counselor, who had been sitting in front listening for a while, held back and held back, but finally leaned out and spoke.

'Teacher Zhuang, I know your intentions are good, but do you really think a student like Yu Fan can still be saved?'

Zhuang Fangqin smiled slightly and didn't speak.

Zhuang Fangqin picked up her phone, about to turn it off, when her peripheral vision caught the boy sitting next to Chen Jingshen in the photo.

In the photo, Yu Fan looked like he was lazily playing on his phone, but actually his eyes were fixed on Chen Jingshen, brows furrowed, with a hint of frustration at his lack of self-control. In the next photo, the dice cup was already in his hand.

The window was half open, the spring breeze brushing her face.

Zhuang Fangqin put down her phone and suddenly recalled some past events.

Zhuang Fangqin had been a teacher for so many years, she had seen all kinds of students. But she could say with certainty that Yu Fan was the most headache-inducing one she had ever had.

At the beginning of freshman year, groups of people often came outside their classroom, all with one target—Yu Fan.

Some came because they heard Class Seven had a particularly handsome new student and came specifically to see.

Others came because they heard Class Seven had a new student who was already very cocky in middle school, and came specifically to put him in his place.

The latter were mostly boys from Senior 2 and Senior 3 who liked to call themselves 'grade boss' or 'school boss.'

At first they only threatened, childish warnings like 'Watch yourself,' 'Don't be so cocky,' 'From now on, do whatever we tell you.'

If it were any other student, they'd cave and nod in agreement, and basically nothing would happen.

But Yu Fan wasn't like that.

Yu Fan's response to these people was always just one word: 'Idiot.'

Yu Fan had no friends at first, always fighting several upperclassmen alone, coming to class every day with a bruised and swollen face. Of course, the group that ganged up on him didn't get off easy either—they always ended up worse off than Yu Fan.

Zhuang Fangqin had tried to stop it countless times. She pulled surveillance footage, got the school to expel or discipline the upperclassmen, and frequently communicated with Yu Fan.

Yu Fan only remained silent in front of her.

Finally, after receiving the school's disciplinary notice for Yu Fan for the fourth time, she decided to make a home visit to Yu Fan's house.

That day was Saturday. Since the decision was last-minute, she didn't notify Yu Fan in advance, and when she called his parents, no one answered. Although she didn't know if anyone was home, she still decided to try her luck.

Zhuang Fangqin still remembered that day.

She found Yu Fan's home according to the contact address.

Outside that shabby wooden door, many neighbors had gathered, whispering anxiously; inside, there were sounds of crashing, accompanied by fierce, vulgar curses.

Zhuang Fangqin finally understood why Yu Fan always managed to win fights.

The police called by the neighbors broke down the door. She saw the room in a mess, Yu Fan holding a broken broom, fighting desperately with a man twice his size, his face covered in blood.

Zhuang Fangqin ignored all of Yu Fan's refusals, accompanied him to the police station, went through all the procedures with him, took him to the hospital, and then contacted the local neighborhood committee and women's federation.

While she was on the phone, Yu Fan sat on the hospital bench. His dark eyes were visible outside the bandages, staring intently at her, and said, 'Teacher Zhuang, don't come again.'

'If you ask me, a student like Yu Fan, if he can stay out of trouble and smoothly graduate high school, that's already good enough... Teacher Zhuang?'

Zhuang Fangqin snapped back to reality and looked up at the other person.

The next second, she smiled and nodded, saying, 'Yeah... if he can get through smoothly, that's good enough.'

-

When Chen Jingshen returned to the classroom, his desk mate was already lying on the desk.

The boy had one hand on his neck, the other hanging in front of the desk, looking no different from usual.

Chen Jingshen glanced at the back of his head, sat down, and pulled out his English textbook for morning reading.

Wang Luan'an had been ordered early on, and when he saw him return, he leaned over and asked, 'Ace, what did Fangqin call you for? Did she scold you? She didn't say anything about punishment, did she?'

The hands hanging in front of the desk very slightly curled an index finger.

Chen Jingshen pretended not to see. His hand paused in turning the page, and the corners of his mouth tightened slightly.

'Holy shit, Ace, what's with that expression? Don't scare me.' Wang Luan'an said, 'Did Fangqin scold you?'

Chen Jingshen pressed his lips together and didn't speak.

Zhang Xianjing from the front desk turned around: 'No shit, of course she scolded him.'

'But Fangqin didn't really scold me!'

'The teacher's expectations for you and for Ace are different, okay? As long as you don't break the law, Fangqin can't be bothered to scold you!'

'...'

Zhang Xianjing thought of something and asked curiously, 'Ace, is this the first time you've been criticized by a teacher?'

Chen Jingshen: 'Mm.'

Zhang Xianjing shook her head and clicked her tongue: 'Wang Luan'an, your sin is great.'

'...Actually, getting a few scoldings is no big deal,' Wang Luan'an asked, 'She didn't say she'd punish you, did she, Ace?'

The person lying next to him moved his ear slightly.

Chen Jingshen silently held his pen, then after a few seconds tossed out: 'It's nothing.'

Good grief.

That heavy tone directly made everyone imagine a tragic drama of Fangqin cursing like a shrew, and Ace silently bearing it without wanting to put pressure on his classmates.

Out of guilt, Wang Luan'an's voice during morning reading was several times louder than usual, startling the English teacher.

Chen Jingshen read along in a low voice, without much energy. The person next to him fidgeted and finally lifted his head from his arms.

'Hey.' He nudged Chen Jingshen with his leg under the desk. 'Go to the office again after class.'

Chen Jingshen stopped reading and turned his head to look at him.

Yu Fan stared at the English textbook and said lazily, 'Just say I forced you to go, and I forced you to drink.'

Chen Jingshen said, 'No.'

'...'

Yu Fan ground his teeth: 'Suit yourself, getting scolded is your own business anyway.'

'Mm.'

'...'

When the English teacher passed by, she heard Yu Fan crumpling his English textbook with a crackling sound.

She flicked her curly ponytail, pretended not to see, and turned to the aisle of another group.

Two minutes later, another gritted-teeth sentence drifted over: 'What exactly did she scold you about? Did she punish you?'

'No.' Chen Jingshen lowered his eyes, and after a quiet moment said, 'The teacher called me, not because of going to the KTV Lounge.'

'Then what was it about?'

'About you sleeping in class.'

Yu Fan was bewildered: 'What does me sleeping in class have to do with you??'

Chen Jingshen said calmly, 'When I applied to change seats with her, I promised I would be responsible for supervising your class behavior.'

'?'

'I didn't fulfill that, so criticism is deserved.' Chen Jingshen said with downcast eyes, 'It's fine, just a few words.'

'...'

'I'm fine.'

'...'

Third period in the morning, math class.

Zhuang Fangqin walked into the classroom holding her lesson plan, and as usual glanced toward a certain spot in the back row.

As expected, she saw a head lying down.

She skillfully picked a piece of chalk from the box, broke it into several pieces with one hand, and raised her hand ready to throw—

That head suddenly moved.

The person who usually couldn't be woken even by ten pieces of chalk now propped himself up on the desk with one hand, eyes closed, reluctantly and slowly sitting up.

Two seconds later, Yu Fan barely lifted his eyelids and met her gaze with a face full of irritation.

Zhuang Fangqin: '...?'