40

Soon, Chen Jingshen sent a message asking why he hung up.

Why did I hang up? What do you think?

Was that look you gave me innocent?

But Yu Fan couldn't bring himself to say something as shameless as 'I think you were about to confess to me.' So he just didn't reply.

Chen Jingshen didn't ask again. After about ten minutes, he sent a few more photos of dogs.

Yu Fan crouched under the tree, smoking and letting the evening wind cool him down. Only when he'd calmed himself did he open the pictures, look through them one by one, then stand up, put out his cigarette, and head home.

When Yu Fan got home, he saw the windows wide open and the lights on. The TV volume was so loud the whole building could hear it.

Yu Kaiming was sitting on the sofa, voice-chatting with his gambling buddies while watching a ball game. When he saw Yu Fan come in, he immediately turned off the microphone on his Mobile Phone and unconsciously put his feet down from the coffee table.

A seventeen-year-old boy shoots up like a bamboo; he was already taller than him.

Usually when he was drunk or had people around, Yu Kaiming wasn't too afraid of him. But in his rare sober moments, Yu Kaiming wouldn't go out of his way to provoke him.

After all, the past two years had taught him that his chances of winning a one-on-one fight weren't great.

Yu Fan glanced at the TV as he entered, tossed his keys onto the shoe cabinet, and walked over without a word.

Yu Kaiming immediately put his feet down. 'I'm warning you, don't start anything...'

Yu Fan picked up the remote, turned the volume from 68 down to 18, then tossed the remote back onto the table and turned to go to his room. He didn't even spare him a glance the whole time.

The door closed behind him. Yu Kaiming looked back with a mix of surprise and uncertainty, then picked up his phone and continued chatting with his gambling buddies.

'I'm here, wasn't asleep. My son just got back... no fight. That little bastard must've been up to something tonight, he looked all cheerful.'

-

The next evening at nine, Yu Fan sat at his desk, twirling his pen, waiting for Chen Jingshen to send a video recording of the problem explanations. But instead of a video recording, the other party sent him a video call invitation.

Yu Fan was startled and only picked up when the invitation was about to automatically disconnect.

Chen Jingshen had a towel draped over his shoulder, his eyes lowered as he flipped through the test paper in his hand.

The desk lamp light swept across his cheek, casting a cool tone over it.

Just like when the two of them were cramming for the midterms, he asked, 'The few problems I picked from the weekend paper are pretty good. Want to work on them for a bit?'

Yu Fan's fingers tightened around his pen. After a long moment, he propped his phone up beside him and grumbled as he pulled out the test paper. 'You're so annoying... Fine, whatever, I'm bored anyway. I'll do a few.'

When Chen Jingshen explained problems, he used the rear camera.

Over an hour passed, and they finally reached the last few big problems on the test.

These big problems were a bit difficult. Whenever Yu Fan came across something he didn't understand, he couldn't help but zone out.

Chen Jingshen's low voice sounded in his earphones. Yu Fan absentmindedly twirled his pen as he listened, suddenly remembering the outline of the other person's faint smile in the back seat of the car last night.

'Did you get it?' Chen Jingshen asked. When he got no response, he looked up. 'Yu Fan?'

Yu Fan's heart skipped a beat. He jerked his head up from where it was propped on his hand. 'Oh, I didn't catch...'

A small, long creaking sound came through the earphones, cutting him off.

At first Yu Fan thought he'd misheard, until he saw Chen Jingshen suddenly turn his head to look to the side. Immediately after, a beam of light swept across his face, like a car headlight.

'Let's talk about it at school.' After a moment, Chen Jingshen looked back, put down his pen. 'Something came up. I have to hang up.'

Yu Fan instinctively hummed in acknowledgment. The next second, the video was cut off from the other end.

Yu Fan leaned back in his chair, frowning as he stared at Chen Jingshen's chat window for a while.

Was it his imagination? Why did he feel that before hanging up, Chen Jingshen looked a little unhappy?

It was still that same expressionless face.

After working on problems for most of the day, Yu Fan picked up his phone and cigarettes, stood up, and went to the balcony to get some air.

Late at night, the Rundown Neighborhood was still fairly quiet.

Yu Fan sat on the balcony, smoking and scrolling through his phone. During the video call, he'd received several messages on WeChat, all from Wang Luan'an, asking why his voice calls weren't going through.

Yu Fan replied that he'd been busy. Wang Luan'an didn't respond, probably off playing games. So he tapped on the group chat that had been @ing him earlier and scrolled up through the messages.

[Wang Luan'an: Can't get through to Yu Fan. Ask that jock in your class.]

[Zuo Kuan: Can't get through either. Damn, what's up with these guys? Can't even get enough people to play a game. @- I'll try again.]

[Zhu Xu: I'm here. Damn it, Wang Luan'an, don't I have a name? Calling me 'that jock'... I was just video chatting with my deskmate.]

[Zuo Kuan: Girlfriend, you mean. 'Deskmate'? What deskmates have a fixed one-hour video call every night at eight?]

Yu Fan's fingers paused. '...'

What's wrong with video calls? How else are you supposed to explain problems?

He glanced at Zuo Kuan's game character avatar and thought, whatever, someone like you who doesn't study really wouldn't understand.

[Wang Luan'an: Don't you see each other enough at school? An hour every night... don't you think it's a waste of time?]

[Zhu Xu: It's fine. I don't have anything to do at home anyway. If I'm being honest, this thing actually wastes more cigarettes.]

[Wang Luan'an: ?]

[Zhu Xu: When the chat's fun, I want to smoke. When it gets intense, I want to smoke. When she can't talk anymore, I still want to smoke... Sigh, love is such a hassle.]

[Zuo Kuan: Fuck off, who asked? Get on the game.]

The fingers holding Yu Fan's cigarette trembled slightly.

After a long moment, he turned off his phone and tossed it aside, thinking, I just want to smoke on my own, it has nothing to do with Chen Jingshen.

After finishing one, he felt it wasn't enough and wanted another. But when he reached into the cigarette pack, he found it empty.

Yu Fan belatedly remembered that last night, under that tree, he'd been circling and smoking for quite a while.

Yu Fan: '...'

Expressionless, he crushed the cigarette pack in his hand into a ball, then threw it hard toward the trash can by the door.

-

On Monday at school, news of Ding Xiao's punishment spread through all the second-year classrooms.

He himself didn't come to school. According to people who knew him, his family was arranging a transfer for him.

But Yu Fan had completely lost interest in the matter. Even as Wang Luan'an and Zuo Kuan chattered away in his ear, he didn't listen carefully to a single word.

He propped his chin on one hand, and while Wang Luan'an and Zuo Kuan were passionately debating the old question of who was the biggest coward, he glanced out of the corner of his eye at the one who was truly the biggest coward.

Chen Jingshen sat as straight as ever, eyes lowered, silently sketching calculations on scratch paper.

He didn't seem to intend to explain why he'd hung up the video last night, nor did he seem inclined to go over the last big problem on the test paper.

Forgot?

Whatever, he can talk or not.

Yu Fan looked away, feeling inexplicably annoyed.

It wasn't until the physics teacher entered the classroom that the two noisy guys beside him finally left.

Yu Fan leaned back in his chair, half-bent, and reached into the drawer to feel for his textbook... then saw a new thing he'd never seen before.

The Slow Bird Flies First Study Guide, evolved edition, black.

He opened to the first page. There was his name, in his deskmate's handwriting.

'I've marked the key problems in it.' Chen Jingshen leaned back in his chair just like him, turning his head to look at him. 'That test from yesterday—should I continue explaining it to you tonight?'

Yu Fan turned his head and met his eyes. For some reason, his mood suddenly eased.

He lowered his eyes, slipping back into his usual lazy demeanor, and said, '...Oh.'

When the first period ended, the physics teacher had barely left when Zhuang Fangqin walked in right after.

While everyone was still in their seats, she announced that there would be a parent-teacher meeting this Thursday afternoon.

'Everyone must notify their parents. If any parent can't make it, have them call me in advance to explain the situation.' Having said that, Zhuang Fangqin swept her gaze over the back of the classroom. 'That's all. Take a break... Yu Fan, come with me to the office.'

Yu Fan obediently followed Zhuang Fangqin to the office.

Zhuang Fangqin glanced back at him. 'This time's parent...'

'No one's coming.' Yu Fan cut her off directly.

'...'

Expected. Not surprising at all.

Actually, Zhuang Fangqin had tried before.

She'd talked to Yu Fan, but he was impervious. Later, she went over his head, found the contact list, and called his parents directly. She called for two days with no answer, until the one time someone finally picked up. The person on the other end said impatiently, 'You know what our family situation is like. I'm not coming. School stuff has nothing to do with me.'

So Zhuang Fangqin didn't push it further.

'Forget it then. Since your parent isn't coming this time, you don't have to greet people at the gate. Come help me receive the parents in the classroom instead.'

'...'

Yu Fan thought he'd misheard. 'Me? That's not appropriate. Don't want half the class to get transferred out by their parents once the meeting's over.'

'Be serious.' Zhuang Fangqin picked up her lesson plan and tapped him with it. 'You don't have to do much. Just take a sign-in sheet and stand at the classroom door. Have the parents sign in.'

Zhuang Fangqin brought this up for four days straight, and Yu Fan resisted for four days straight.

But on Thursday afternoon, right after the first period ended, Zhuang Fangqin still shoved the sign-in sheet into his arms and told him to get ready to receive guests at the door.

There was still over half an hour before the parent-teacher meeting started.

A few students in the class were setting up the classroom. Yu Fan, holding the sign-in sheet, stood leaning against the balcony railing with a lifeless expression, watching the lively scene downstairs.

Their Academic Building had an excellent location. Standing on the balcony, you could see the school gate and the street outside. At that moment, the road outside the school was completely jammed with parents' cars.

Chen Jingshen picked up his schoolbag and placed it on the storage table, then looked up at him. 'I'm heading down.'

Yu Fan thought he was going downstairs to greet parents, so he casually responded without looking back.

But ten minutes later, he saw his deskmate wearing a red armband that said 'Outstanding Student Representative,' walking to the school gate and standing next to Hu Pang.

Yu Fan: '...What's he doing?'

Zhang Xianjing followed his gaze downward. 'Chen Jingshen? He's on duty. They picked one student from each year to stand at the gate, and Hu Pang chose the top student... Didn't he tell you?'

Yu Fan was about to say no, but then remembered that during the video call last night, Chen Jingshen had mentioned he was going to be on gate duty.

Chen Jingshen had waved his pen at the time and said, 'Let's watch together then.'

...He'd thought Chen Jingshen meant they'd stand in the hallway and listen to the parent-teacher meeting together.

'Oh... I think he did mention it.' Yu Fan glanced at the two people beside him. 'Why aren't you two going down to pick up your parents?'

Zhang Xianjing was playing on her phone. 'No rush. My mom's still stuck near our house.'

Wang Luan'an: 'My dad hasn't even left yet.'

Zhang Xianjing: 'What, is he coming to help clean the classroom?'

'What do you know! My dad rides his ancestral electric scooter—it's fierce, zipping through traffic like a flash. He'll be here in under ten minutes.' Wang Luan'an looked down smugly. 'Look at this mess down there, how bad is the traffic... Holy shit!!!'

Yu Fan frowned at his shouting.

His voice was so loud that Zuo Kuan, who was sweeping the hallway in the next class, looked up and cursed at him. 'What the hell are you yelling about?'

Wang Luan'an: 'Holy shit! Look at that car! Isn't that a Bentley?!'

Smack! Zuo Kuan threw his broom on the ground and ran over.

'Holy shit, it really is...'

Zhang Xianjing, uninterested: 'How much does a car like that cost?'

'Not much.' Wang Luan'an, who'd loved cars since he was a kid, licked his lips wildly. 'Looking at the model... a few million, maybe ten million.'

Zhu Xu, who'd followed over, sucked in a cold breath. 'Damn, our school... hides dragons and crouching tigers... Hey, the car stopped. Quick, let's see whose family is so rich!'

Yu Fan wasn't interested in any of that. He stared at the figure downstairs that was a head taller than everyone else, thinking, why does Chen Jingshen stand so stupidly?

Almost every parent who passed by would glance at Chen Jingshen with that look of seeing their dream child.

A few seconds later, the person on duty finally moved.

Chen Jingshen suddenly turned his head and said something to Hu Pang. Hu Pang nodded and waved for him to go.

Yu Fan watched as Chen Jingshen walked all the way out of the school gate, passed through the crowd flooding in, and walked up to a... luxury car.

A woman with a capable and elegant demeanor got out of the back seat of the luxury car. Her face was unclear. When she saw Chen Jingshen, she naturally raised her hand and adjusted his armband.

Zuo Kuan: 'Holy shit! The top student!'

Zhu Xu: 'Holy shit, awesome.'

'Holy shit, a rich person right beside me?' Wang Luan'an nudged the person next to him, dazed. '...Hey, if you could date the top student, that'd be marrying into a rich family!!'

'Get lost.' Yu Fan said almost reflexively. 'If you want to marry him, go ahead. I'm not marrying anyone.'

After Yu Fan said that while holding the sign-in sheet, the hallway suddenly fell silent.

You could hear a pin drop.

Sensing something was off, Yu Fan's eyelids twitched violently. He turned his head in confusion—

He saw Wang Luan'an with his arm around Zhang Xianjing's shoulder, his mouth still hanging open.

Everyone present stood frozen, staring at him in shock and bewilderment.