Chapter 32

The first one to notice Yu Fan studying was Wang Luan'an.

He grabbed his paper and pen, planning to find Chen Jingshen to explain the problems right after class. But when he turned his head, he saw two heads huddled together.

To be precise, it was only Yu Fan leaning over — Chen Jingshen still sat perfectly straight.

Yu Fan's arm was bent on the desk, his chin lazily propped on it, his head tilted slightly. From Wang Luan'an's angle, he was practically pressed against Chen Jingshen's shirt sleeve.

Wang Luan'an tried to hold off until after class to ask, but he waited and waited, and finally couldn't resist. He pulled out his phone and sent Yu Fan a message.

[Wang Luan'an: Fan, tell me — are you secretly studying behind my back, planning to make a强势逆袭 during the midterms, surpass my ranking, and catch me off guard?]

[-: ...]

[-: Get lost.]

[Wang Luan'an: But I feel like you've gotten closer to the top student these past two days.]

[Wang Luan'an: Oh wait, seems like you were already pretty close before. At the KTV Lounge you even walked him home...]

[Wang Luan'an: But now it seems even closer.]

What bullshit.

It's only for the midterms.

After the exam, he'll cross the bridge and kill the donkey—

"Got it?" Chen Jingshen asked.

Yu Fan threw his phone back, frowning with deep suffering at the question.

Chen Jingshen had already explained it in detail. Saying he didn't get it now would make him look like an idiot.

"Got it."

Chen Jingshen looked down at him.

Afraid of missing any step, Yu Fan listened very seriously. Without realizing it, he'd crossed the midline between two desks, and his other hand was烦躁地抓在头发上—grabbing at his hair in frustration because he couldn't understand the problem.

His hair was thick and black, looked really soft.

A few seconds later, not hearing any sound, Yu Fan looked up belatedly.

"..." He grabbed his hair a bit harder. "What are you looking at? Don't look at me, look at the problem."

Chen Jingshen turned his eyes away and broke down that problem to solve it again from scratch.

Yu Fan: "What are you doing? I said I got it."

"Yeah." Chen Jingshen said. "I just want to go through it one more time myself."

...

Yu Fan awkwardly looked back at the problem: "Whatever."

For several nights in a row, at exactly nine o'clock, Yu Fan would receive a "wrong number" message from Chen Jingshen.

Chen Jingshen held his phone casually, and the videos he sent included a lot more than just question bank sheets.

Chen Jingshen's desk, pen holder, even his lamp — all in gray tones. On his desk, besides paper, pen, and headphones, there were no other objects.

When he did problems, a bit of his clothes would show — sometimes black, sometimes gray and white checkers — paired with his cold, low voice. The whole video gave a cold, icy feeling.

Chen Jingshen no longer claimed it was a mistake, and Yu Fan didn't ask. The two of them tacitly racked up many pages of chat history.

The day before the midterm, Yu Fan came out of the shower, picked up his phone, and saw no messages.

He raised an eyebrow, checked the time — nine fifteen.

He lazily sat down on the chair, picked up the towel on his shoulder and wiped the ends of his hair. His gaze paused on Chen Jingshen's WeChat avatar for a few seconds, then he clicked in. The messages still停留在昨天—were still from yesterday.

Why the delay?

Yu Fan opened the chat, had just typed one character when he suddenly realized, and quickly deleted it.

Wrong... I'm an idiot.

Chen Jingshen never promised to send him a video explaining problems every night at nine.

Yu Fan held his phone, belatedly realizing he'd been a bit too presumptuous.

Chen Jingshen wasn't obligated to tutor him online every day. There was no agreement between them, no deal, not even the kind of relationship where they could chat every day.

He threw his phone on the desk, opened his pen cap with one hand, casually swept his front hair back, and flipped open the workbook on his own.

Self-study it is. Anyway, he could now basically understand the explanations under some simple problems—

"Buzz."

Yu Fan threw down his pen. He thought, you're twenty minutes late, and opened his phone with a blank expression—

[Someone @ed you in the Nancheng No.7 Middle School Boss Group.]

[Zuo Kuan: @Wang Luan'an, @- Playing games? Mobile PUBG, two more needed.]

[Wang Luan'an: I'm coming, wait for me.]

[Zhang Xianjing: You're not studying tonight?]

[Wang Luan'an: I thought about it carefully — I've already tried hard for two weeks, one night won't hurt. Besides, if I still don't do well on this exam, then tonight is my last night of freedom!]

[Zuo Kuan: Don't waste time, get on. Yu Fan? @-]

Yu Fan boredly scrolled through the chat history, was about to type when his phone suddenly vibrated, and a popup appeared at the top of the screen—

[s is inviting you to a video call.]

?

Yu Fan froze for a moment, then realized what was happening.

He sat up straight abruptly, stared at the screen and waited. The invitation was still there — the other person hadn't hung up.

After a few more seconds, he quickly ran his fingers through his messy just-washed hair before answering the video.

Chen Jingshen had his phone propped on the desk, at a weird angle. He seemed to have just finished showering too, and when the call connected, he was still looking down drying his hair.

Yu Fan stared at the person on the screen, feeling a strange awkwardness rise in his chest.

They'd been sitting together just two or three hours ago. So why was it, like, 特么，怪怪的—fucking weird—when they did a video call at night after going home?

"...What do you want?" Yu Fan quickly composed his face and asked coldly.

At the sound of his voice, Chen Jingshen raised his head and glanced at him.

Yu Fan held the phone very close, the lens showing his lower half of his face and a patch of collarbone.

Chen Jingshen turned his eyes away and asked flatly, "Found a few question types, recorded them but it'll be late by the time you watch. Can we video?"

You already called, why ask?

Yu Fan went to the group chat and replied "no," then found something to prop his phone up.

Complaining the screen was too small, he moved the phone very close: "Okay. Go ahead."

...

After the last problem was explained, Yu Fan stretched hugely, reflexes making him want to lie down and sleep, only then realizing he wasn't in the Classroom.

He moved himself out of the camera frame, then glanced at the screen again.

Chen Jingshen looked like he was tired of talking. He picked up a glass of water and took a sip, his Adam's apple rolling a few times with the swallowing motion.

"Any other parts you don't get?"

Yu Fan came back to his senses, moved half his face back into the frame, looking indifferent with drooping eyes: "Nope. Hanging up."

"Okay."

Silence in the video for a moment.

Yu Fan's finger hovered over the hang-up button for a long time, then moved away again.

"Chen Jingshen." He called out.

"Hmm."

"Look at the dog." Yu Fan said. "You haven't sent any these past few days."

Chen Jingshen rarely froze for a moment, but quickly recovered: "Okay."

In the frame, Chen Jingshen called out "Fanfan," and the camera switched. Fanfan's front legs were already raised, resting on Chen Jingshen's lap.

Chen Jingshen was wearing gray pants today. Seeing Fanfan sticking out his tongue at him, he reached out and scratched under its chin a few times.

"Why are your dog's ears standing up?" Yu Fan leaned back in his chair, expression relaxed, lazily asked.

"Trimmed."

"Oh... what?" Yu Fan was stunned.

"The previous owner planned to make it a working dog." Chen Jingshen explained flatly. "Droopy ears would affect hearing, so they cut some and stitched them up so they'd stand up. Some people also dock the tail, to make it easier for them to climb mountains and go places."

...

Yu Fan unconsciously sat up, thinking for a long time: "I remember its tail seems not broken?"

"Yeah, I took it home before it could be broken."

Yu Fan inexplicably felt relieved, then slumped back in his chair.

As if sensing these two were discussing it, Fanfan barked excitedly in a frenzy. Chen Jingshen patted it, but it still let out a low whine.

So Chen Jingshen simply reached out and cupped its mouth.

Fanfan let out a "whine" and finally quieted down.

"Yu Fan." Chen Jingshen said flatly.

Yu Fan stared at the phone screen: "What?"

The video was still on the dog. Fanfan had quieted down, standing obediently next to the gray pants.

Chen Jingshen moved his hand to its ear side, casually rubbing a few times: "Do well on the exam tomorrow."

...

Yu Fan took a deep breath, stiffly挤出一句"oh."

After the call ended, Yu Fan kept his original position, suddenly feeling a bit dry-mouthed.

He stared at the chat box for a few seconds, clicked his tongue, threw his phone away, got up from the chair, and slammed the window open to the max.

Night air flooded into the room. Yu Fan stood by the window for a few seconds, then roughly swept his front hair back.

Damn, why is the weather so hot.

Studying really makes you angry.

After the midterms, I'm definitely not studying anymore. What broken geometry and functions...

Also.

Why was Chen Jingshen petting the dog while talking to him just now?

-

The first day of midterm exams — Chinese in the morning, math in the afternoon.

Yu Fan walked into the exam room at the last minute.

He was in the last exam room for the whole grade. When he walked in, the invigilator was already there, and half the students were sleeping under the podium.

This room was all those bottom十几个人from the grade, pretty evenly matched. Once the signal jammer was on, the whole room basically shut down.

So the invigilator had no pressure and started reading the newspaper at the podium.

Zuo Kuan slumped over his desk, feeling bored, was about to ask the person next to him if they wanted to hand in early and go to the Internet Café.

When he turned his head, he was shocked.

His buddy who'd usually sleep with him from the start to the end of the exam was now sitting even more upright than when he played LOL, head down, furiously writing.

Zuo Kuan: "???"

Sensing his gaze, Yu Fan stopped writing, looked at him coldly, and said: "Turn your head back."

...

Zuo Kuan changed his posture and kept sleeping.

After Chinese exam, Wang Luan'an, whose exam room was on the same floor, came to ask them to eat outside school.

The three went to a nearby Sichuan restaurant.

"I swear, he was like 中//邪了—possessed—shua shua shua wrote the entire Chinese exam paper!" Zuo Kuan was shocked. "He even wrote the essay!!"

Wang Luan'an: "I literally told you guys yesterday while I was gaming that he's been studying recently. None of you believed me...""

Yu Fan: "Are you done?"

"Not done." Zuo Kuan said. "So what's really going on?"

"Nothing." Yu Fan said vaguely. "Just this midterms."

Seeing he didn't want to talk, the other two didn't push, turning to chat about other topics.

Yu Fan was listening boredly when his phone in his pocket vibrated.

[s: How did the exam go?]

It had been a long time since he'd received such a message, leaving Yu Fan momentarily dazed.

He typed out his reply irritably.

[-: They didn't test Petition Table.]

[s: Yeah, guessed that.]

?

I've been memorizing beside you for two days. Couldn't you have mentioned you guessed it??

Yu Fan resisted the urge to reach through the screen and beat him up, grinding his teeth as he closed the chat window.

After lunch, Wang Luan'an wiped his mouth with a tissue. "My dad insists I go home to rest after the exam, then come back in the afternoon. What about you two?"

Math doesn't start until three in the afternoon, giving over three hours of free time.

"I'm heading to the Internet Café to play a few games." Zuo Kuan asked those around him. "You coming?"

Yu Fan: "No."

Zuo Kuan: "Then what are you doing?"

Going back to the exam room to review the formulas.

Of course Yu Fan wouldn't say that.

He shoved his phone into his pocket, stood up, and left without turning back, throwing out: "Taking a walk."

The front and back exam rooms were complete opposites—students in the front rooms mostly stayed to review during lunch break, while the back rooms... were mostly empty.

Yu Fan's exam room was in the Experimental Building.

Passing by the Academic Building, he couldn't help but glance toward Class One's location.

Several students were leaning on the Balcony reading, none of them Chen Jingshen.

When Yu Fan returned to the exam room, it was indeed empty.

He pulled out practice problems from under his desk, and just as he was about to find a pen, his phone let out a heavy buzz.

What kind of nonsense is Chen Jingshen going to spout now.

Yu Fan's brow relaxed slightly as he picked up his phone and looked down.

The moment he read the message, his expression suddenly turned cold, and the pen he had just picked up was set back down on the desk.

[Unknown number: A crazy dog who, thinking he has more people, splashes people with feces in the cafeteria. If you have the guts, come out of the school now and fight me one-on-one.]

Idiot.

Yu Fan was just about to lock the screen when five or six more messages came through.

[Unknown number: What? Too scared to reply? Weren't you pretty awesome when you slammed the food tray into my face?]

[Unknown number: By the way, I was looking at your student info earlier. How come it only has a dad, no mom?]

[Unknown number: Your mom dead?]

[Unknown number: No wonder you always look like an orphan.]

...

In Class One's exam room, the air seemed to move slower than in other classrooms.

Everyone was using the time to review.

After finishing a problem, Chen Jingshen took out his phone from his pocket and glanced at it.

No new messages.

The invigilator walked into the classroom, placed the exam papers on the podium, and was slightly surprised to see the student sitting at the first desk still holding a phone.

"There's only five minutes until the exam," he coughed. "Put away your textbooks and phones, and place them outside the classroom."

Chen Jingshen's expression was calm, and just as he was about to turn off his phone, a message preview from a group he'd blocked suddenly popped up.

A familiar name flashed by, and Chen Jingshen paused before clicking in.

[Zhang Xianjing: We're completely screwed. A friend from the neighboring school secretly told me that their school gathered more than ten people today, and they're coming for Yu Fan today, saying they're going to disable him!]

[Wang Luan'an: That's impossible. Yu Fan is at school. Would a dozen people really rush into school to corner him? Fat Tiger would knock them all down one by one.]

[Zuo Kuan: Exactly.]

[Zhang Xianjing: She said that group has a way to lure Yu Fan out. Is anyone with Yu Fan right now??]

[Wang Luan'an: No, I swear? I just called Yu Fan and no one picked up...]

[Zuo Kuan: We're screwed. I couldn't reach him either. Damn it, where are all the brothers in the group? Let's gather quickly.]

[Wang Luan'an: Dammit! What bullshit... I'm invigilating at Fangqin, can't get out for now. You guys search around the school first.]

The invigilator looked at the student in the first row, frowned, and repeated: "Students, hand in all your phones, did you hear me—hey? Student? Where are you going, the exam's about to start! Student, student... Chen Jingshen!"

-

The narrow alley behind the Billiards Hall.

Yu Fan looked at the dozen or so faces before him—some familiar, some not—and felt complicated.

"When you took my knife last time, you should have known we'd meet again." said the leading guy with a buzz cut. "Yu Fan."

Yu Fan didn't speak.

"Why so quiet now? Weren't you pretty cocky when you stood up for that nerd last time?" said the man behind the buzz cut. "If you hadn't gotten involved back then, I might not have come today."

Yu Fan remained silent.

Another person laughed: "Probably thinking about getting beaten up soon, too annoyed to speak..."

"Pretty annoying indeed." Yu Fan said.

Finally managed to study something, damn it.

Can't use any of it now.

The guy didn't catch it, squinting: "What'd you sa—damn!"

Before the guy could finish, Yu Fan picked up the broken trash can next to him with one hand and threw it directly at his face.

The alley was too narrow for a dozen people to surround together, so only six or seven charged first.

Yu Fan grabbed the one leading the charge, slammed his knee into him, directly sending the guy seeing stars.

He took a stick blow to the shoulder without changing expression. Grabbing the guy he'd headbutted, he threw him at the others, then seized another attacker and headbutted him directly in the nose—

...

The buzz cut guy had been smoking like a boss at first, but by the end, the cigarette had burned down to the filter without him taking a single puff.

The person beside him froze, tugging his sleeve: "Bro... this guy, damn, fights like he doesn't care about his life! Doesn't he feel pain??"

The buzz cut guy knew this guy fought without caring about his life.

Otherwise he wouldn't have lost last time.

"Damn..."

"Bro, maybe let's just stop." The area wasn't that remote, and seeing occasional people pass by the alley entrance, the guy got nervous. "I think we've fought enough this time..."

"Enough my ass? Didn't we get beaten more??" The buzz cut guy stubbed out his cigarette, signaling to those watching at the alley entrance. "Damn it, everyone together!"

Pushed against the wall, Yu Fan licked the blood from the corner of his mouth, ready to slip away at the first opportunity.

A dozen people—even the boxing champion might not win. He wasn't stupid.

But someone was guarding the alley entrance, so he'd need to draw them away before running.

Dragged back to the middle of the alley, Yu Fan was just about to elbow the person grabbing his clothes away when he heard a swoosh from behind—someone raising a stick high.

Done for.

Yu Fan gritted his teeth, ready to take the blow.

The next second, instead of the stick falling, there was a sharp scream:

Ah!!!!

Yu Fan froze.

What? Did the stick hit their own person?

Before he could turn to look, his collar was suddenly yanked hard, then a gust of wind past his ear—a familiar school bag appeared in his vision, arcing through the air and slamming directly into the buzz cut guy's face.

Yu Fan: "???

Buzz cut guy: "Damn it!!!"

Before Yu Fan could react, he was yanked backward two steps by that hand.

What the hell kind of strength...

He caught a faint scent of mint.

Yu Fan's nerves tightened as he turned to look.

Chen Jingshen stood behind him with an expressionless face.

?

Why is Chen Jingshen here?

What about the exam???

Yu Fan: "You..."

"Run."

After Chen Jingshen spoke, he kicked away another person trying to charge. Yu Fan watched as that guy's feet left the ground, then crashed into the buzz cut guy, and both screamed in pain.

Yu Fan: "???

Standing there with blood on his chin, completely stunned, he was about to ask more when someone grabbed his wrist and pulled him toward the alley exit.

At three in the afternoon, the area around school was deserted—no teachers, no students, and few people in the surrounding shops.

The Bubble Tea Shop owner was sitting at the entrance chatting with someone,正好聊到最近常来他们店里的那位学霸。

"He seems like a well-behaved boy, always hanging out with those who don't like studying. It's not that those people are bad, but they're just on different paths, I think—"

She stopped mid-sentence.

She saw that well-behaved boy she was just talking about, with a cold expression, forcefully dragging the one she considered the biggest troublemaker, rushing past her shop like a gust of wind.

Shop owner: "........?"

Yu Fan had no idea how long he was dragged along.

He'd exhausted too much energy earlier, struggling to breathe now, and for a moment felt he might die from lack of oxygen.

Before he could die, the person in front finally stopped.

They arrived at an empty sandy area in a Public Park.

Yu Fan collapsed to the ground, mouth open gasping for air, shoulders heaving up and down, heart pounding like a drum.

Something pressed into his hair, cold against his scalp. Before Yu Fan could react, fingers suddenly tightened, gripping his hair and lifting his head.

Chen Jingshen crouched, looking down at him from above.

His eyelids were cold and taut, looking at him like a puppy about to be slaughtered.

"Yu Fan, you really can't be taught, can you?"

Yu Fan's heart tightened, unable to move.

The next second, Chen Jingshen raised his other hand, moving directly toward his face.

Yu Fan was used to fighting—someone silently raising their hand toward him meant either a fist or a slap.

So he instinctively closed his eyes—

A coolness touched the corner of his mouth.

Chen Jingshen's finger swiped, wiping away the blood there.

Then pressed a band-aid onto it.