Chapter 37

A strange silence fell between the two desks. Everyone was deeply shaken by this gift.

I get Yu Fan practicing his own name.

But why practice yours?

Besides, he wasn't sure if anyone else would like a gift like this, but Yu Fan definitely wouldn't.

Wang Luan'an was a bit puzzled and curious about what characters were on the next sheet, so he couldn't help but flip to it—

Thump.

Yu Fan pressed his hand down on the practice sheets.

Wang Luan'an thought, 'I knew it'.

Yu Fan grabbed the white bag, brows furrowed in disgust, and shoved the sheets into his desk drawer. Then he turned his head and asked, 'Chen Jingshen, are you looking for a beating?'

Wang Luan'an: '?'

Bro, did you put that in the wrong place? Shouldn't you be putting it back in the top student's desk?

The person who gave the gift looked completely calm, one arm resting lazily on the desk, fingers loosely holding a pen.

'I hadn't printed any practice sheets before, so I just used my own name to test it,' Chen Jingshen said. 'You can throw them away if you don't want to write them.'

'...Do I need you to teach me? I'm tearing them into pieces before I throw them away.'

Chen Jingshen: 'Mm.'

Zhang Xianjing narrowed her eyes, her gaze shifting between the two of them.

Why did she feel like something was off, though she couldn't quite put her finger on it?

The bell rang, and the biology teacher appeared in the hallway.

Wang Luan'an was just about to head back to his seat when he suddenly thought of something and held out his palm to Yu Fan. 'Why are you being so lazy? The trash can is right in the back, I'll throw them out for you on my way.'

Chen Jingshen paused in the middle of pulling out a textbook and raised his eyelids to give him a cold, indifferent glance.

Wang Luan'an: '?'

His hand was pushed away.

'I can throw it out myself,' Yu Fan said, putting his hand back in his pocket and mumbling quickly, 'Go back to your seat.'

Wang Luan'an: '...'

-

Yu Fan had originally planned to burn all those '5-3' and 'Stupid Fly' workbooks in his drawer as soon as the midterm exams ended, then sleep at his desk for three days and three nights.

But plans couldn't keep up with reality. Yu Fan's state these past few days was just like the previous two weeks, listening lazily in every class with his chin propped up.

Two weeks of burying his head in his studies had completely wrecked his internal clock. He couldn't sleep during the day, and by twelve at night, he'd be sleepy the moment he finished watching the problem-solving videos Chen Jingshen sent him.

Even though he used to video chat with Chen Jingshen until two in the morning...

During the long break on Friday, Zuo Kuan poked his head out the window. 'Yu Fan, come on, let's go to the restroom for a smoke!'

'Not smoking,' Yu Fan refused. 'If I smoke, I won't be able to sleep in class.'

'You don't sleep even if you don't smoke. I've figured it out, you're planning to out-study me until high school graduation.' Wang Luan'an slouched as he walked out, too sleepy to even keep his eyes open. 'Come on, Zuo Kuan, I'll go with you.'

'Yu Fan! Chen Jingshen!' Gao Shi shouted from the classroom door. 'The teacher wants you to go to Director Hu's office!'

Hu Pang had two offices, one in the Faculty Office Building and one right downstairs from the Class Seven classrooms. To make it easier to patrol, Hu Pang spent four days a week in the building with the classrooms.

The moment they arrived outside the office, Yu Fan glanced inside.

A woman was sitting across from Hu Pang's desk, and Ding Xiao was standing behind her, his hands clasped in front of him.

Just as Chen Jingshen was about to knock, his sleeve was tugged.

'Don't say anything when we go in.' After dropping that line, Yu Fan reached out to twist the door open and called out lazily, 'Report.'

Yu Fan swept a glance at Ding Xiao. The moment the other boy saw him, he immediately lowered his head even further, his shoulders hunching slightly.

Ding Xiao's Mother had met Yu Fan once before, and this time she was even more emotionally volatile.

'Director, look!' The middle-aged woman pointed at Yu Fan, her face gaunt, her tone intense. 'Look at how scared my son is the moment he sees him! That just proves my son must have been bullied by him plenty of times!!'

Hu Pang waved his hand. 'Hey, let's not get excited, parent. Let's talk this out properly.'

After the woman calmed down slightly, Hu Pang looked at the two who had just entered. 'Yu Fan, you tell me, since that time in the cafeteria in tenth grade, have you bullied Ding Xiao again?'

Yu Fan said, 'No.'

'Then why is he so afraid of you!' Ding Xiao's Mother asked.

'I don't know. Maybe because your son is a coward.'

The woman exploded instantly, slamming her hand on the table. 'What is wrong with you, kid? What are you saying? Where are your parents? Your parents didn't even show up last time! No, I have to meet your parents, they need to teach you some manners—'

Yu Fan said airily, 'Don't worry about it, just worry about your own son. Look at him, he looks like a total mess.'

Hu Pang frowned, just about to tell him to watch his tone, when he saw the woman suddenly lunge forward, grabbing her handbag and swinging it at the student's face!

A cold look flashed in Yu Fan's eyes, and just as he was about to move, his shoulder was suddenly grabbed and he was pulled back—

Chen Jingshen stood in front of him, raised his hand, and swatted the woman's handbag away. It hit the ground with a thud.

The office door was pushed open, and Zhuang Fangqin arrived just in time. She had seen the scene from outside the window, shocked and confused. 'What is going on, Director? Wasn't Ding Xiao supposed to be apologizing to the student in my class today?? What is this parent doing??'

The school had spent several days investigating the students skipping the exam.

They first checked the surveillance footage from the back gate, which happened to cover the entrance to the alley near the Billiards Hall. It was clear that Yu Fan had indeed been dragged in by students from the neighboring school, and that Chen Jingshen had indeed gone in to bring him out.

Later, they contacted the person in charge at the neighboring school, who quickly found the group of students based on descriptions. Those people weren't even close with Ding Xiao and were eager to find a ringleader to take the fall, so they spilled everything.

One student with a buzz cut still had the chat history with Ding Xiao on his phone, and the truth quickly became clear. Ding Xiao knew Yu Fan had a grudge with the neighboring school, so he teamed up with them to pull this off.

The neighboring school wanted to beat Yu Fan to vent their anger, and Ding Xiao wanted to report him for fighting to get him expelled.

But none of them expected that Yu Fan, who used to get jumped by tenth and eleventh graders and would stay silent even when beaten black and blue, would actually report the fight to the teachers this time just to take his Make-up Exam.

'Ding Xiao said he was bullied by Yu Fan for a long time at school, which is why he did this.' Hu Pang had a headache, tapping the table sternly. 'But parent, your behavior just now is also using violence. If you really want to handle this properly, sit down, otherwise, I'll have to ask you to leave, and we can talk another time.'

The woman took several deep breaths before finally calming down, then glared at Yu Fan with resentment.

Unfortunately, the other boy was still blocking him, and because he was so tall, her glare couldn't reach him.

It wasn't until Chen Jingshen let go of his shoulder that Yu Fan snapped back to reality.

Zhuang Fangqin closed the door and stood in front of the two of them. 'Parent, you say the student in my class bullied your child, do you have any evidence?'

'Do I need evidence?' Ding Xiao's Mother said. 'He smashed a lunch tray into my son's face in tenth grade, and you were the one who apologized for him, right? How can you have the nerve to ask me that now?'

Zhuang Fangqin: 'Yu Fan has already been punished for that incident. You cannot conclude that Yu Fan continued to bully your child based solely on that one event. So, do you actually have any evidence?'

Yu Fan suddenly remembered his ninth-grade year, when some boy tried to pick a fight with him, and he knocked the guy's teeth out.

Then that boy brought several parents to the school, and at the same time, the school notified Yu Kaiming.

Back then, he stood in the office, surrounded and scolded by several of the other parents, and even got shoved. He hadn't been prepared and was easily pushed over.

Yu Kaiming had been smoking at the time, kicked him in the back, then smiled and apologized to the other parents, saying he would discipline him well when they got home.

From that moment on, whenever he encountered parents who got physical, Yu Fan would fight back.

But right now.

He looked at the two people standing in front of him, and the edge that had just flared up suddenly vanished, his shoulders inexplicably relaxing.

Whatever.

Taking advantage of the good spot, he sat directly on the armrest of the sofa.

The woman frowned and turned to her son. 'Come on, baby, repeat what you told me at home. Don't be afraid, Mom is here.'

Ding Xiao, who had been cowering in the corner without saying a word, looked at his mother and finally whispered, 'He... hit me. Right, right in the Experimental Building First-Floor Restroom.'

Woman: 'You see! He hit my son!'

The place Ding Xiao mentioned was a corner of the school infamous for having no surveillance.

Hu Pang was regretting it now, regretting it deeply. At the time, he thought that dead zone wasn't big enough to be worth the extra money...

Yu Fan's lazy voice came from behind. 'Are you two here to pull a scam?'

'Shut up.' Zhuang Fangqin glared at him, then turned back to the woman. 'When did he hit him? Were there any other students around? Does Ding Xiao have any injuries?'

'Oh, so you're just dying for my child to have injuries, right?' Ding Xiao's Mother frowned. 'I just don't get it. You don't believe a student like my son—honest, high-achieving, someone who has taken exams in Class One multiple times—but you believe someone like him...'

'He cheated to get in,' a cold voice interrupted her.

The office went silent instantly.

Ding Xiao, who had been keeping his head down, suddenly looked up, staring blankly at Chen Jingshen.

Ding Xiao's Mother froze, not reacting for a second. 'What are you talking ab...'

'He cheated on both the midterm and final exams in the first semester of tenth grade. I saw it myself,' Chen Jingshen said calmly. 'He hid his Mobile Phone in his shoe. If you check the surveillance now, you should be able to see it.'

Their school kept the surveillance on for every exam, and there was always a teacher watching the monitors.

But the footage was usually only checked after a teacher caught a student cheating, since one teacher couldn't keep an eye on twenty classrooms.

Chen Jingshen had come with Yu Fan and had just helped him, so the woman subconsciously pegged him as a bottom-tier student just like Yu Fan. 'How could you have seen it! He sat in Class One for both of those exams—'

'Hey, nice to meet you,' the person sitting on the sofa suddenly poked his head out from behind.

Yu Fan couldn't help but reach out, tapping his finger on Chen Jingshen's arm as he pointed. 'Him, top of the grade, sits in Class One for every single exam, his name is written on the first desk in Class One, and his character and grades are eight hundred streets ahead of your son's. You're comparing your son to him? Is your son even worthy?'

The others: '...'

The woman stood there blankly for a few seconds, then bent down to pick up her bag and charged at Yu Fan again.

Hu Pang's face crumpled, and he rushed forward to pull her back. 'You can't hit a student! You can't hit our school's students! Teacher Zhuang! Take them back!'

Zhuang Fangqin hauled her two students back to her office.

She had to drink seven sips of tea before she could catch her breath.

The Class Eight Counselor walked back into the office with his lesson plan, saw the scene, and couldn't help but laugh. 'What's this, standing in punishment?'

Zhuang Fangqin: 'I want to yell at them, but they were in the right today, so I don't even know what to yell about. Might as well make them stand for a bit, it makes me feel better just watching.'

The two standing in front of her: '...'

'I heard. I passed by the Director's office just now, they said they're going to check the exam footage right away,' the Class Eight Counselor sat down and said. 'You've got it easy, it's something that can be solved once they check it... The one in my class is the one giving me a headache.'

Zhuang Fangqin: 'What happened?'

They were really just chatting now?

Yu Fan checked the time, nudged the back of Chen Jingshen's hand, and whispered, 'Lie and tell her you have a stomachache.'

Chen Jingshen leaned his head down and whispered back, 'Why don't you lie?'

'...'

You bastard, just talk, why are you leaning in so close??

Yu Fan shifted backward. 'Are you stupid? She won't believe anything I say.'

Chen Jingshen: 'Then...'

'Speak up, say it louder,' Zhuang Fangqin said. 'Gu Teacher and I will wait for you two to finish chatting.'

Yu Fan: '...'

Once both of them went quiet, Zhuang Fangqin rolled her eyes. 'Please continue, Gu Teacher.'

'So, I confiscated a love letter written by a female student in my class. Oh my, it was so cheesy... I didn't even dare to finish reading it.'

'Can't help it, students these days are precocious,' Zhuang Fangqin said, shaking her head.

'That's not the point. The point is, the recipient of that love letter is a boy in your class,' Gu Teacher looked up. 'Since he's in the office right now, I'll just say it. I don't allow puppy love in my class. If that girl still finds some other way to get her feelings across to you, you must make sure to hold onto your purity, Yu-tongxue.'

Yu Fan: '...'

Chen Jingshen blinked without expression.

'You can rest assured about that,' Zhuang Fangqin said proudly. 'Yu Fan has received basically every punishment possible since tenth grade, except for puppy love—he hasn't touched that once.'

Yu Fan kept a cold face and didn't speak.

Was that supposed to be a compliment?

Gu Teacher: 'I know, but better safe than sorry, right? That girl in our class is so pretty.'

'Don't worry, don't worry, that definitely won't happen,' Zhuang Fangqin looked up and asked, 'Yu Fan, I gave my word to Gu Teacher, don't make me lose face.'

Yu Fan: 'Do you want me to write you a guarantee letter, promising not to date anyone throughout high school?'

'That won't be necessary,' Zhuang Fangqin finally smiled. She looked at the person next to Yu Fan and said casually, 'Jingshen, you're his desk mate, help me keep an eye on him from now on.'

Yu Fan: '?'

'Okay,' Chen Jingshen agreed calmly. 'I won't let him date anyone else.'