Chapter 41

A long, silent stare.

Time seemed to freeze for who knows how long, until with a 'thud', the broom in Zhu Xu's hand also hit the ground. The surrounding noise rushed back in, and Wang Luan'an finally snapped out of it.

His mouth, hanging open for ages, finally produced sound: 'Uh... I wasn't talking to you, I was talking to Jing-jie...'

Yu Fan: '...'

Yu Fan swept his gaze over the few people around him, all frozen in shock, then looked down at Wang Luan'an's hand resting on Zhang Xianjing's shoulder.

In a few seconds, the displeasure and resistance about 'marrying into the family' slowly and stupidly faded from his expression. His brow relaxed, leaving only stiff bewilderment.

The poor sign-in sheet in his hand was being crumpled with a 'crack-crack' sound.

After a long moment, Yu Fan finally squeezed out from his throat: 'You... just now, you also... touched me.'

'?' Wang Luan'an looked at the distance between them — barely enough to fit Zuo Kuan. 'Really?'

'What else would it be?' Yu Fan stared at him expressionlessly. 'Keep your hands to yourself.'

'...Fine.'

A few simple-minded boys, two sentences and the matter was brushed aside. Yu Fan let out an imperceptible sigh of relief, and when he turned, he met Zhang Xianjing's gaze.

Zhang Xianjing had her arms crossed, one eyebrow raised, the other furrowed.

Even if Wang Luan'an had actually touched him, the proper response would be to curse him out or punch him, not 'I'm not marrying anyone,' right?

Zhang Xianjing opened her mouth, and in that instant, Yu Fan was utterly rigid, feeling like needles were pricking his back.

Luckily, the next moment, the Mobile Phone she was holding rang.

Her train of thought broken, Zhang Xianjing picked up: 'Hello, Mom—you're here? How? Weren't you just at the front door... Got it, I'm coming down now.'

Wang Luan'an checked the time: 'My dad's probably almost here too. Let's go together.'

After Zhang Xianjing left, the two people from the neighboring class who had come to watch the commotion were also called back by their homeroom teacher to continue sweeping the hallway.

The area around him quieted down. Yu Fan bent his arm and rested it on the railing, pressing his forehead against it, his head hanging low. His other hand was buried in his hair, grabbing at it in shame several times.

Fuck, was I crazy just now...

All because of that damn Chen Jingshen.

Yu Fan took a moment to compose himself before standing up straight again. He dropped his gaze, searching coldly below for the culprit, and immediately spotted that tall, lean figure.

At the school security office entrance, Hu Pang was talking to a woman who seemed to be Chen Jingshen's parent. Chen Jingshen stood quietly beside them.

He still had the same indifferent expression from when he was standing guard, like an outsider, the conversation between the two next to him none of his business.

They were far apart. Yu Fan watched vaguely for a while, feeling that the expression on his face looked familiar—

That night when Chen Jingshen said he had something to do and hung up the video call, it was the same. Cold, closed off, unhappy.

A resting bitch face is still a resting bitch face, but even without expression, he could convey so many different emotions.

But what was he unhappy about?

As Yu Fan was absentmindedly thinking, that black head downstairs suddenly seemed to sense something and looked up. Through the crowd and tree shadows, it locked eyes with him very precisely.

In an instant, all those cold emotions vanished.

Yu Fan stared back at him for a moment, then suddenly remembered his own embarrassing moment. So he put on a stern face, looking at Chen Jingshen, wanting to give him an international friendly gesture.

But when he finally raised his hand, his middle finger turned into a not-very-aggressive pinky.

'Yu Fan, what are you doing in the hallway?' Zhuang Fangqin's voice came from inside the classroom. 'Some parents are already coming up. Hurry up and come to the door to register!'

Yu Fan let out a weak 'oh', put away his pinky, made a 'I'm going in' gesture to Chen Jingshen, turned around, and went back into the classroom.

At the school security office entrance.

Hu Pang said with a smile: 'Although Jingshen had a bit of trouble during this midterm exam, the final result was still good. I've talked with him, and he just needs to be more careful from now on.'

'Thank you for your trouble.' The woman turned to look at her son with a neutral expression. 'Did you hear what the Dean of Students said?'

Seeing Chen Jingshen's expression, she was momentarily taken aback, a rare occurrence. '...What are you smiling at?'

Chen Jingshen lowered his head again, the rare expression on his face quickly fading to calm: 'Nothing.'

-

Soon, a few parents had taken their seats in the Senior 2 Class 7 classroom.

They tacitly began rummaging through their children's desks, occasionally glancing at the boy sitting at the registration desk.

After ushering a parent into the classroom, Zhuang Fangqin stood beside the desk that had been temporarily moved out for registration. She bent her finger and tapped the desktop: 'Put your legs down... What's with that expression? Smile!'

Yu Fan leaned back against the wall and said, 'Can't.'

These damn angsty teenage boys.

Zhuang Fangqin: 'Just curl the corners of your mouth. Want me to teach you?'

Yu Fan frowned: 'Why don't you just get someone who likes to smile to sit here?'

'Who? Wang Luan'an? He already did this job last semester.'

Yu Fan frowned: 'Then Chen Jingshen.'

'...'

Zhuang Fangqin thought she'd misheard. She was stunned for a long time before saying, 'Chen Jingshen likes to smile? When has he ever smiled?'

Yu Fan was about to say, 'Doesn't he smile all the time?' But the words caught in his throat as he suddenly remembered—when he wasn't talking to him... Chen Jingshen really didn't seem to smile much.

Just doing it to piss him off, huh.

Yu Fan twirled his pen, wanting to curse Chen Jingshen out in his head, but by the time Zhuang Fangqin had already gone into the classroom to talk to some parent, he still hadn't come up with a single damn thing.

'Excuse me, do I need to register before entering the classroom?'

Yu Fan hummed in a fairly good mood, not looking up as he handed over the pen.

He kept his eyes lowered, watching the woman take the pen, her finger sliding down the registration form. Finally, she found her child's name and wrote after 'Chen Jingshen'—'Ji Lianyi'.

Yu Fan was startled. He abruptly lifted his head, his back leaving the wall, unconsciously sitting up a little straighter.

Chen Jingshen and his mother looked very alike. The woman had an outstanding demeanor. She put down the pen and entered the classroom, her beautiful phoenix eyes not sparing him a single glance.

Parents were more self-disciplined than students. The classroom was filled in no time.

With ten minutes left until the meeting started, Yu Fan returned the registration form to Zhuang Fangqin. He turned to leave, but someone grabbed his clothes.

Zhuang Fangqin handed him two stacks of paper. One was a 'Letter to Parents', the other was a parent feedback form.

'Hand these out. There are exactly 42 sheets each. Take your own copy and give it to your parents to read. Also, don't leave after you're done. I still need your help with something.'

With that, she didn't give Yu Fan a chance to refuse. She turned and walked to the podium in the classroom, continuing to organize the materials she'd need later.

Yu Fan: '...'

He clicked his tongue, turned around to enter the classroom, but stopped at the door as something occurred to him.

The next second, he raised his hand and buttoned up all the buttons on his school uniform T-shirt.

As he was about to reach his seat, he saw Ji Lianyi flipping through Chen Jingshen's desk.

Compared to other parents, she was much more thorough—the woman held Chen Jingshen's scratch pad, flipping through it page by page, her brows slightly furrowed, not missing a single corner.

With a 'swish', a piece of paper was placed in front of her, covering the contents of the scratch pad.

Ji Lianyi paused her movements: 'Thank you.'

Yu Fan said 'You're welcome', then pulled out another letter, along with the midterm exam score report that had just been placed on his desk, and stuffed them both into his own drawer.

Ji Lianyi finally looked up at him. After a brief assessment, she asked, 'You're Yu Fan?'

Yu Fan: 'Mm.'

Ji Lianyi nodded and didn't ask anything else.

Zhuang Fangqin wouldn't let him go, so Yu Fan simply waited in the hallway with the other students.

Zhang Xianjing was surveying the parents in the classroom: 'Wang Luan'an, your dad really has been smiling from start to finish.'

'Of course,' Wang Luan'an said. 'Just wait, as soon as the meeting's over, he'll be the first one to go find your mom and ask how many points you got on the midterm.'

'...Get lost.' Zhang Xianjing's gaze landed on the back row. She sighed with admiration, 'The top student's mom is really beautiful.'

'The top student's family car is even more beautiful.' After Wang Luan'an said that, he looked back down the hallway. 'He's still standing at the gate. Being a top student is rough, having to study and stand guard.'

'Normal. Hu Pang even specially arranged for someone to record video at the main gate. He'll probably have to stand there a while longer...' Zhang Xianjing's gaze shifted, and she raised an eyebrow. 'Yu Fan, why are all your buttons done up? That looks so dumb.'

Yu Fan was looking down at his phone. At her words, he paused. 'I'm cold. Mind your own business.'

The parent-teacher meeting procedure was: first, each subject teacher would speak, then the school leaders would give a broadcast speech, and finally, the homeroom teacher would speak.

After the teachers finished their speeches, they left the classroom. Zhuang Fangqin also went back to the office because she was missing a piece of data that hadn't been printed. Dozens of parents in the classroom listened to the school leaders rambling on the broadcast, which at that moment was talking about 'the pressure of high school studies being too great, and how parents should handle their relationship with their children'.

Yu Fan looked up and happened to see Ji Lianyi slowly get up from her seat, pick up her bag, and quietly walk out of the classroom, heading toward the teachers' office.

'Classmate.' A parent sitting by the window suddenly called out to him.

Probably because she had seen Yu Fan helping Zhuang Fangqin earlier, the parent smiled apologetically. 'Could you trouble you to take this to the homeroom teacher for me? It's the parent feedback form we were asked to fill out. I handed in the wrong one earlier—I submitted a different piece of paper.'

Wang Luan'an was about to say that the homeroom teacher would be back in a while anyway, when he saw the person next to him shove his phone into his pocket and stand up straight, saying, 'Sure.'

...

The back door of the homeroom teacher's office was closed. Just as Yu Fan was about to go around to the front door, a voice came from inside—

'I hope you can change Jingshen's desk mate.'

Zhuang Fangqin's desk was in the back by the window. As long as you stood against the wall, you could hear everything being said inside.

Yu Fan blinked, leaning against the wall and stopping in his tracks.

Zhuang Fangqin: 'Jingshen's mom, the broadcast is still playing right now...'

'Compared to that broadcast, I'd rather talk to you.' Ji Lianyi glanced at her watch. 'I have a conference call in an hour, so I'll need to leave school early. I'm afraid I won't be able to wait until the broadcast speech is over. Can you spare me a moment?'

Zhuang Fangqin thought for a second, then stood up and moved the chair next to her closer: 'Please, have a seat. What's the reason you want to change your child's seat?'

Ji Lianyi got straight to the point: 'I saw his desk mate's report card.'

'Oh, you mean Yu Fan. Actually, his grades have improved quite a bit recently...'

'I know. I also know that he improved with Jingshen's help. I saw some problem-solving methods from even first year or even middle school on Jingshen's scratch paper.' Ji Lianyi smiled very gently. She said, 'Teacher Zhuang, I've never really understood why you teachers always like to have high-achieving students help the underperformers. Shouldn't that be the teachers' job?'

Zhuang Fangqin: 'You probably don't know this, but it was actually Jingshen who asked me to change the seats. And I believe that students shouldn't just learn knowledge at school; they should also learn some fine traditional virtues, like helping others.'

'Yes, I have no objection to him helping classmates. But I heard from his previous homeroom teacher that this desk mate of his not only has poor grades, but also smokes, fights, and has a long list of disciplinary violations. I'm sorry, but I really can't accept my child sitting with a student like that.'

Ji Lianyi paused. 'And I just met that student named Yu Fan. Not only is he sloppily dressed... his hair is so long I can't even see his eyes. Doesn't the school usually enforce dress codes?'

Why does she have to be so controlling?

Yu Fan leaned against the wall, annoyed, suddenly wanting a cigarette.

'I understand what you mean, Jingshen's mom. I'll talk to Jingshen about this and then make a decision.' Zhuang Fangqin changed the subject. 'Actually, I've been wanting to find an opportunity to talk to you too. Since we've run into each other, I'll just say it all now... Jingshen is impeccable academically, always excellent. But I've noticed he seems a bit introverted and doesn't really interact much with other students. For this reason, I asked his previous homeroom teacher for her home visit records.'

Zhuang Fangqin looked up: 'It seems you've been interfering with his social life? Before he was placed in this class in Senior 1, he changed classes twice and had seven different desk mates, all at your request.'

Ji Lianyi held her bag on her lap with both hands and looked at Zhuang Fangqin silently for a moment.

'Yes, the environment in his first Senior 1 class was a bit worse. As for desk mates, either they were girls—I was worried he'd get distracted—or they were boys who talked too much in class. I wanted to give my child a good learning environment, so I asked for a seat change. That's not too much to ask, is it?'

'But when you changed his seat, did you ever ask for his opinion?'

Ji Lianyi: 'He knows I'm doing it for his own good.'

The phone in his pocket buzzed. Yu Fan took it out and glanced at it.

[Wang Luan'an: Zuo Kuan and I are at the cafeteria. Anyone want anything? @- @Zhang Xianjing]

Yu Fan was about to say no, but he felt like he needed something to cool down.

[-: Mung Bean Smoothie.]

[Wang Luan'an: That's not gonna work in time. Pick something else? The cafeteria's packed today, and the line for Mung Bean Smoothie looks like it'll take ten minutes... I'm buying drinks for my dad, he wants to treat the parents in the class. Gotta get back to the classroom.]

[-: Forget it then.]

Yu Fan shoved his phone back in his pocket and continued listening.

Zhuang Fangqin asked a few more questions, and Ji Lianyi's answers were all variations of 'I'm doing it for his own good.'

Zhuang Fangqin sighed several times. She glanced at the time and said, 'I see in the home visit records that you have many surveillance cameras installed in your home, even in the rooms... Teacher Qiao suggested at the time that you remove some of them appropriately to give your child a space of his own. I don't know if you...'

Yu Fan felt a tightness in his chest.

He picked up the feedback form, folded a corner, then smoothed it out again bit by bit.

'Jingshen's father and I are busy with work and are away from home all year. If we don't take some preventive measures, how can we ensure the child's personal safety?'

Ji Lianyi repeated, 'I'm doing it for his own good.'

...

They talked for a while longer before Ji Lianyi finally stood up to say goodbye to Zhuang Fangqin.

Before leaving, she insisted again: 'Please change his desk mate as soon as possible.'

Then she turned and walked out, bumping right into the boy crouching by the wall.

Ji Lianyi: '...'

Seeing her come out, he didn't have any particular reaction. He just stood up, brushed the dust off his back, and walked past her into the office without a word.

After handing over the stuff to Zhuang Fangqin, Yu Fan left the office and headed to the Experimental Building to smoke.

With the parent-teacher meeting today, there wasn't a single person in the Experimental Building.

Yu Fan sat on the steps on the first floor of the Experimental Building, smoking openly.

His legs were spread carelessly, both elbows resting on his knees, one hand holding a cigarette, the other playing with his phone.

He played a few rounds of Snake Game, but didn't last long in any of them. Bored, he casually swiped open another app, and when he came back to his senses, the screen showed that annoying Doberman.

He bit down on his cigarette and slowly typed in the chat box: Chen Jingshen...

What was he going to say? He didn't really have anything to say. He couldn't just say, 'Why do you listen to everything your mom says? Are you a coward?'

He was already a mess himself. No need to corrupt someone else's kid.

Yu Fan stared at those words for a moment, then raised his finger to delete them, when a new message suddenly popped up in the chat—

[s: Still at school?]

[-: Chen Jingshen is here.]

[s: ?]

[-: ...typo. Yeah, what's up?]

[s: Where?]

[-: First floor of the Experimental Building.]

A few minutes passed with no further reply. Yu Fan stared at the chat for a while, blew out a puff of smoke, and typed: Fangqin looking for me?

Before he could send it, a flash of blue caught the corner of his eye.

Yu Fan turned his head and saw Chen Jingshen walking toward him through a haze of white smoke.

The silly blue summer school pants of Nancheng No.7 Middle School seemed to have a leg-lengthening effect on Chen Jingshen. His hands hung at his sides, one of them apparently holding something.

Chen Jingshen walked up to him and glanced at the cigarette in his hand. He opened his mouth, then pressed his lips together, turning his head away with a light cough.

So damn precious.

'...Couldn't you have waited until I finished smoking before coming over?' Yu Fan put out the cigarette without looking at him, just glancing at his shoes. 'What do you want?'

Chen Jingshen said, 'This.'

Sensing a sweet, cool sensation, Yu Fan looked up and saw the plastic bag dangling from his finger, with a cup of Mung Bean Smoothie inside.

Chen Jingshen said, 'The cafeteria wasn't very crowded when I came back, so I picked one up on the way. Want some?'

Mung Bean Smoothie was the most popular summer item in their school cafeteria. The school had even bought two big refrigerators just to make sure students could enjoy a cool, refreshing summer treat every day after school.

Yu Fan blinked, took it, poked the seal open, and took a big gulp.

Chen Jingshen stepped up two stairs to be level with him. Yu Fan reacted and turned his head, blurting out: 'Dirty—'

Chen Jingshen had already sat down.

They were just like in the classroom, shoulders apart but still close. Chen Jingshen glanced at him: 'Aren't you sitting too?'

Yu Fan swallowed the smoothie, feeling a cool sensation all over his body, much more refreshed: 'My clothes aren't exactly clean anyway.'

Chen Jingshen said, 'Mine too.'

'...'

Yu Fan looked at his uniform, which looked like it had been bleached clean, and was speechless for a moment. Then he asked, 'Why aren't you going back to the classroom?'

During parent-teacher meetings, students usually waited outside the classroom. Even Zuo Kuan and Wang Luan'an were no exception.

Chen Jingshen took out his phone and said expressionlessly, 'I'll go back after the meeting.'

Yu Fan didn't say anything. Bored, he stared at Chen Jingshen's fingers as he opened a game on his phone.

It wasn't until Chen Jingshen entered the game that he realized and frowned: 'You play this too?'

Chen Jingshen said, 'I saw you playing it. Looks fun.'

Yu Fan leaned a little closer to him, watching him play as he said, 'Copycat.'

Chen Jingshen hummed in acknowledgment, eating up all the little snakes around him.

Summer had arrived. There was no wind today. The cicadas chirped in bursts. The lush green branches and leaves hung motionless in the air, as if time itself had slowed down.

Yu Fan watched absently for a while, then suddenly spoke: 'Chen Jingshen.'

'Mm.'

'Is my hair too long?'

Chen Jingshen's fingers paused for a moment, then he said, 'No.'

'Oh. But covering the eyes probably looks really sloppy.' Yu Fan said casually, 'I'll get it cut in a few days.'

Yu Fan hadn't actually meant to keep it this long. Last time he went for a haircut, he just told the stylist, 'Just thin it out a bit,' and ended up wearing a hat to class for two weeks, ignoring all of Zhuang Fangqin and Hu Pang's scoldings.

If he'd gone to a more expensive barber shop, maybe it wouldn't have been such a disaster?

Yu Fan was thinking idly when he saw Chen Jingshen's hand suddenly stop playing the game and turn to look at him.

Startled, he instinctively looked up and said, 'What are you doing? You're gonna get eaten—'

Chen Jingshen raised his hand, and the hair on his forehead was suddenly brushed back. Yu Fan's heart gave a heavy thump, and he abruptly fell silent.

Yu Fan's whole face was rarely exposed to the air. It was fair and clean, his expression a bit dazed.

Yu Fan's hair was very black, thick and soft, nice to touch.

Chen Jingshen's fingers were buried deep in his hair, with no intention of moving away.

Yu Fan snapped back to reality a little, thinking, here we go again, touching my head again, if I don't punch you today, you'll just keep doing it... Yu Fan looked up to curse, but when he met Chen Jingshen's eyes, the fire suddenly went out.

Chen Jingshen had thin eyelids, slightly upturned at the corners. His lowered gaze carried a rare scrutiny and assessment, as if he were imagining what Yu Fan would look like with a haircut.

A few seconds later, his gaze wandered downward, sweeping over the two moles on Yu Fan's right cheek, then his nose bridge, the tip of his nose, and then further down—

A hot, stuffy breeze brushed between them.

Yu Fan hated being scrutinized. But at this moment, he was frozen stiff, his heart inexplicably pounding fast, even his breathing becoming slow and heavy.

Chen Jingshen lifted his eyes and glanced at the boy's slightly pink ears.

The person who was usually all claws and teeth, fierce and terrifying, would turn obedient with just a gentle tug.

'Don't cut it.'

His fingers, with a barely perceptible hint of possessiveness, grabbed at Yu Fan's hair, then smoothed it out. Chen Jingshen said flatly, 'I like it this way.'