Chapter 36

Maybe it's because of his single eyelids, or maybe it's the narrow shape of his eyes, but Chen Jingshen's gaze always carries this 'stay away from me' vibe.

In Yu Fan's words, it's asking for a punch. Really asking for it.

But when Chen Jingshen lowered his head and looked seriously at something or someone, the long-standing tension of his guard and coldness would disappear, and his dark, heavy eyes would become very bright.

If you'd looked at me with that polite gaze from the start, I wouldn't have picked on you.

Yu Fan thought, for no good reason.

Only when scattered footsteps came from behind did Yu Fan finally snap out of it, quickly pulling his hand back.

A few seconds later, he thought of something and reached up to furiously rub his ear.

Zuo Kuan's voice came closer: "Hey, I said why are you running so fast? Hu Pang isn't chasing you... and why are you dragging the top student? We're going to fight, you think he can come along?"

Chen Jingshen straightened up and said flatly, "I'll go too."

Everyone silently exchanged glances for a few seconds: "..."

Zuo Kuan said hypocritically, "That's not a good idea. If he gets hurt again, we can't take responsibility."

Mainly they think you'll hold them back.

"It's fine, there's a lot of us. Don't worry, top student, we'll definitely pay them back for you too. Let's go, Yu Fan, while it's lunchtime..." Zuo Kuan stared at the back in front of him and frowned, "Why are you rubbing your ear? It's all red."

"Mosquito bite," Yu Fan said coldly.

Zuo Kuan: "Then why are you facing away from me?"

"Don't want to look at you."

"..."

You really have zero manners.

Zuo Kuan: "Then how about you walk a few steps forward? We'll go to the school next door and get revenge for you."

Zuo Kuan was a typical rebellious student, loved watching 'Young and Dangerous' since he was a kid.

He was fixated on this partly to help Yu Fan vent, and partly to enjoy the prestige and 'fame' that fighting brought him. Hard to say which factor weighed more.

Yu Fan hung out with him for a while in freshman year, but when he saw Zuo Kuan liked picking fights every day, he gradually stopped running around with him.

"Not today," Yu Fan said. "I'm going back."

Zuo Kuan: "…?"

Yu Fan had rubbed enough. He shoved his hands in his pockets and walked toward the School Gate without looking back. After two steps he stopped.

He turned his head and shot Chen Jingshen a cold glare: "And you... get the hell home."

After arriving home, Yu Fan washed his face.

He looked at his wet bangs and thought, maybe it's time for a haircut. When it's long, it's easy to get grabbed in a fight, and you're at a disadvantage right away...

The Mobile Phone on the sink vibrated. Yu Fan wiped his hands on the towel and picked it up.

[s: I'm home.]

The next second, a photo of Fanfan came through.

Chen Jingshen was holding the leather collar around the dog's neck, the lines on his wrist slightly prominent, half-forcing the poor sleeping dog to wake up and perform.

So annoying. Who wants to see your dog?

Yu Fan stared at the dog for a while, then lowered his eyes to look at the hand holding the dog. Only when some message came in did he lock the screen expressionlessly.

He stood in front of the mirror in silence, then reached out to turn on the faucet and washed his face again.

-

Monday. The sun was already out at 7:30 AM.

When Yu Fan arrived at School, the gate was already closed and music was playing inside. He went around to the back door, climbed over the wall, and skipped the flag-raising ceremony to go straight back to the Classroom.

The Classroom was empty.

Yu Fan, hands in pockets, walked back to his seat while yawning. After two steps he suddenly noticed something.

He stopped in front of the blackboard newspaper and looked up.

One of the certificates their class had won at the Sports Day had its tape peeling off. One corner was hanging down, covering the winner's name.

But Yu Fan knew whose certificate it was without looking.

Yu Fan turned and went back to his seat, opened the window next to him to let fresh air into the Classroom that hadn't been opened in two days, then dropped his head onto the desk to sleep.

He lay there like a dead fish for a few minutes, then turned his head toward the window and slowly opened his eyes.

The next second, Yu Fan got up from the desk, went to the podium drawer to get tape, then picked up his chair and walked to the back, slamming it down in front of the blackboard newspaper.

He stepped onto the chair, reached out to flatten the fallen corner of the certificate, revealing the five big characters "Student Chen Jingshen".

The top of the grade can't even stick a certificate properly. Useless.

Yu Fan tore off tape and stuck several layers, then thought about it and decided to reinforce all the other corners with two layers each.

When he was dealing with the last corner, vague footsteps came from outside the door.

Yu Fan still had one palm pressed against the wall, trying to hold the certificate in place.

Before he could react, the next second, a tall, thin figure appeared at the back door of the Classroom.

Yu Fan turned his head reflexively and unexpectedly met the gaze of the certificate's owner.

Chen Jingshen stood at the back door, hands naturally at his sides. Maybe because he'd just finished listening to the school leaders, his expression was a bit tired and lazy.

They stared at each other motionlessly for a while. Chen Jingshen suddenly looked away, toward where his hand was pressing.

Yu Fan: "..."

For a moment, Yu Fan wanted to swallow the tape in his hand.

Yu Fan's expression went from sleepy to stunned, then to bewildered, and finally to a coldness that suggested he wanted to kill to silence the witness.

Anyone with a strong survival instinct would know to shut up and pretend they didn't see anything.

Chen Jingshen asked, "What are you doing?"

"Tearing the certificate," Yu Fan said.

Chen Jingshen's wrist pressed subtly against the chair back, half-supporting the chair, and asked, "Why tear it?"

Yu Fan: "I don't want to be stuck next to second place."

Chen Jingshen glanced again at the messy layers of tape.

Yu Fan confronted the wall for a moment, thinking, what the hell am I saying... maybe I should just kill him. Then he felt his school pants being lightly tugged.

"I'll try harder next time," Chen Jingshen went along with his words. "Can you make an exception this time?"

Yu Fan, standing on the chair, looked down at him with a frown, then stepped down with a sour face.

Today the flag-raising ended earlier than usual. When they were dismissed, there were still about ten minutes until first period.

The students came back one after another, and as soon as they entered the Classroom they saw the two figures at the last group of desks.

As soon as Yu Fan returned to his seat, he lay down.

He wasn't actually sleepy, but he didn't really want to see Chen Jingshen's face right now.

Yu Fan was actually pretending pretty well. His shoulder blades rose and fell slightly with his breathing, so most people thought he was asleep.

When Wu Cai came over, he thought so too.

So without any hesitation, he stood by Chen Jingshen's desk, first glanced at the back of Yu Fan's head, then called softly, "Top student."

Chen Jingshen looked up at him.

"The class is about to adjust seats again... I asked the homeroom teacher, and she said as long as you agree, she can move us to the same desk. Um... I know I can't help you with other subjects, but my Chinese composition scores are always above 48, and I've even gotten full marks before. I think in that area I might be able to give you a tiny little bit of advice."

Wu Cai really wanted to sit with the top student, so he did his best to sell himself. "We've been desk mates before. You know I never sleep or talk in class. I definitely won't disturb you, so—"

Wu Cai's voice cut off abruptly.

Because the head lying next to them moved.

Yu Fan lifted his head from his arms and looked at Wu Cai expressionlessly. The injury from last week hadn't healed yet, and there was still a band-aid on the corner of his mouth, giving him a rather intimidating look.

Wu Cai was scared. He pursed his lips awkwardly. "Classmate Yu, I didn't mean anything... if you don't want to change seats, then forget it..."

"Who said I don't want to?" Yu Fan blurted out.

The next second, Yu Fan sat up and leaned back in his chair, then threw out another sentence stiffly, "Change if you want. I don't care."

Then why do you look so fierce...

Wu Cai didn't dare say that out loud.

The Classroom was noisy. Yu Fan turned to look out the window. Somehow, he suddenly felt his hands itch. He wanted to smoke.

Wu Cai: "Then, top student..."

"No change. Ask someone else."

Yu Fan heard the person next to him reply coldly.

That sudden surge of anger suddenly disappeared.

This back-and-forth of emotions felt a bit inexplicable. The desk was suddenly slapped, and then a bread roll was placed on his desk.

Wang Luan'an took a bite of the bread in his own hand. "Yu Fan, you didn't have time for breakfast, right? I just went to the cafeteria and bought one for you."

"Thanks."

"Oh, by the way, I'm telling you, the midterms are out." Wang Luan'an grinned smugly. "Fangqin just told me I did well. You'll see, once the results are announced, I'm going straight to Fangqin to request a seat change!"

After his smugness, he didn't forget to flatter his benefactor: "Top student, this time it's all thanks to you. I'll definitely treat you to a meal another day!"

Chen Jingshen: "No need."

"The School grades papers that fast?" Zhang Xianjing asked in confusion. "But whether you did well or not, aren't you two going to change seats anyway?"

Wang Luan'an: "That's different. Changing seats is fine, but I have to be the one to bring it up! Otherwise I'd lose face!"

"True," Yu Fan suddenly said.

When Wang Luan'an said that, Yu Fan suddenly understood why he had been angry just now.

His attitude toward Chen Jingshen was the same as Wang Luan'an's toward the discipline officer.

Sitting together or not didn't matter, but Chen Jingshen couldn't go to the teacher himself to request a move... and couldn't be poached by someone else.

Chen Jingshen glanced at him but didn't say anything.

Zhuang Fangqin walked into the Classroom like a gust of wind.

"Sit down quickly. There are ten minutes until class. I'll briefly tell you about this midterm exam... Wang Luan'an, finish eating quickly." She frowned. "And, why did some students skip the flag-raising again?!"

That certain student sat lazily: "I was late."

In the past, Yu Fan would have been standing in front of the blackboard newspaper by now.

But today Zhuang Fangqin seemed unusually easygoing.

"From now on, even if you're late, you still have to come to the School Playground... no, from now on, no being late!" Zhuang Fangqin cleared her throat. "Alright, back to business. This midterm exam, our class has improved... a lot."

By the end, she couldn't help smiling, the wrinkles at the corners of her eyes piling up, but they didn't look ugly.

"Every student's score has improved to some extent. Our class average ranked eighth in the grade." As she spoke, she turned on the multimedia computer, and the grade table quickly appeared on the screen. "The top of the grade is still our classmate Chen Jingshen. He did well in other subjects, but in Chinese... the composition still lost a lot of points. Just wait, the Chinese Language Teacher is already planning a private talk with you."

Seeing Chen Jingshen's scores in each subject, the whole class couldn't help turning to look back.

Just like when last semester's final grades were announced, the person in question held a pen with his head down, completely indifferent to his own scores.

This is what a boss looks like, everyone thought.

She scrolled down. "Time is limited. I'll give special praise to the students who improved the most. Wang Luan'an, Hu Yuke, Chen Xiaoxiao... Yu Fan."

Yu Fan was just thinking about how Chen Jingshen was showing off again when he suddenly heard his own name and instinctively looked up.

"Your total score went up by over eighty points, especially math, from 9 to 49." Zhuang Fangqin smiled at him. "See? You can learn."

After first period ended, teachers from various subjects came in one after another, telling the class representatives to hand out the test papers.

"Holy shit! Holy shit!" Wang Luan'an said. "Holy shit!"

Yu Fan kept a straight face: "...Go see a doctor."

Wang Luan'an grabbed Yu Fan's math test paper and examined it closely. "In less than two weeks, you improved your math by forty fucking points? Wasn't the Make-up Exam math paper pretty hard?!"

Yu Fan suppressed a smile and said casually, "It's just studying—"

"Top student, you're too awesome!" Zhang Xianjing said with admiration. "Two weeks and you can stick two lumps of mud to the wall!"

"..."

Who's the mud?

Yu Fan leaned back in his chair and couldn't help glancing to the side.

Strange.

Chen Jingshen's expression was exactly the same as when he found out he was top of the grade—no expression. But Yu Fan could feel that the other was a little happy right now.

Chen Jingshen said flatly, "It's not all because of me. They have talent."

"No need to say more, top student," Wang Luan'an said. "This result is to the point where my dad would go crazy stuffing money into my hands. This weekend, Yu Fan and I will treat you to a day out at Balei Street!"

Yu Fan: "?"

Who wants to go out with him?

What's fun about taking a nerd like that out?

Zhang Xianjing was about to say that the top student doesn't have weekends, when she saw Chen Jingshen turn his head to ask his desk mate, "Really?"

Yu Fan: "..."

Yu Fan, hands in his pockets, reluctantly squeezed out an "mm" from his throat.

Wang Luan'an: "Then it's settled! I've already thought it through. We'll have lunch first, then find something to do in the afternoon. Singing, watching a movie, playing escape rooms, anything..."

Yu Fan thought he was noisy and was about to shoo him away.

Chen Jingshen took a stack of paper wrapped in a white bag from his backpack and placed it on Yu Fan's desk.

Yu Fan was startled and asked warily, "What's this?"

"A gift for your exam improvement."

"Huh? No way, top student, he gets one and I don't?" Wang Luan'an immediately felt unbalanced.

Seeing that Yu Fan didn't move, he sourly used his finger to lift the plastic bag, revealing what was inside, and said while looking, "Top student, that's not cool. How can you play favorites? At least you should give me—"

The plastic bag was pressed against the paper, faintly showing the grid pattern on it.

"Calligraphy practice sheets," Chen Jingshen said. "You want some too?"

Wang Luan'an: "Thanks, no need. I thought about it, and your relationship with Yu Fan is indeed a bit better than with me. Playing favorites is only natural. I'm not upset."

Yu Fan: "..."

He turned his head and asked, "What do you mean? Calling my handwriting ugly?"

Wang Luan'an was shocked, thinking, you actually have the nerve to ask that?

Chen Jingshen stated, "You lost five points on the Chinese paper for handwriting."

"So what about five points? I had 61 points for him to deduct."

"The maximum deduction for handwriting is five points."

"..."

Wang Luan'an couldn't keep his hands still and flipped through the practice sheets. "Hey, Yu Fan, the first sheet is actually the character 'Yu' from your name."

"I printed them myself," Chen Jingshen said. "Start practicing with your name."

Ke Ting had been listening for a while and couldn't help interjecting, "Haven't you been writing your name for years? Still need to practice?"

Zhang Xianjing randomly pulled a test paper from Yu Fan's desk and held it up for her desk mate to see Yu Fan's name. "Take a look."

Ke Ting: "..."

Ke Ting: "It seems... it could use some practice."

Yu Fan: "..."

Yu Fan gritted his teeth, ready to shove the practice sheets into Chen Jingshen's mouth.

"You can print these yourself? Really? The next sheet is the character 'Fan'." Wang Luan'an flipped to the next page. "Then the next one... huh? 'Chen'?"

He flipped again. "Jing."

He paused, then flipped again. "...Shen?"

Zhang Xianjing, Ke Ting: "..."

Yu Fan: "..."