Chapter 44

Yu Fan glanced to the side.

Chen Jingshen's buttons were still undone, his collar and forehead hair slightly messy. The unique nerd aura around him had faded significantly, and his facial features no longer looked so cold and rigid.

The moment Chen Jingshen lowered his eyes, Yu Fan quickly retracted his head.

...It's not that I can't, I just don't want to. You're so annoying.

Once they left the school gate, the road suddenly opened up. Yu Fan unconsciously tightened his grip on the homework in his hand, quickly said 'I'm heading out,' and walked into the crowd without looking back.

It was Friday, and it was also leaving-school time. The streets were packed with people. Even the line in front of an unnamed snack shop in the Rundown Neighborhood ahead took up half the road.

Further ahead was the barbershop Yu Fan usually went to.

The shop was tiny, the glass door propped open, some unknown local DJ song blasting from inside. A small blackboard stood outside the barbershop, written in colorful chalk: 'Boss is in love! All services discounted today!'

Seeing the discount, Yu Fan instinctively stopped in front of the door.

The next second, the glass door immediately swung open for him.

The staff member who knew him well, sporting a flamboyant purple mohawk, tilted his chin up: 'Yu Fan, out of school?'

The Yu father and son had made a 'name' for themselves in this neighborhood—neighbors did everything to avoid them. But the mohawked energetic guys at this shop didn't really care. Every time Yu Fan came for a haircut, they'd chat with him for a bit.

Yu Fan made a sound of acknowledgment, pointing at the sign: 'Didn't your boss have a second kid?'

'He said he'll always be madly in love with the boss lady.' The guy chuckled. 'Don't ask. Getting a cut? Today's discounted—eight bucks for a haircut. Want one?'

Cut, definitely cut—shave it all off. He'd already made a statement in front of Chen Jingshen today, plus there was a discount now.

Yu Fan stood there without moving.

'Oh, you're bringing your Textbook home?' Seeing what was in his hands, the mohawk guy paused, then asked, 'By the way, your hair—the school doesn't crack down on this?'

Another staff member currently cutting a customer's hair snorted: 'Maybe the teachers think it looks pretty cool too.'

Yu Fan's front bangs were long, but not in a stiff way. Probably because he liked running his hands through his hair, it always naturally fluffed up—a style other guys had to blow-dry to achieve. Combined with his face and those two faint moles, the vibe was incredibly strong.

Yu Fan stuffed one hand in his pocket, suddenly turning his face to ask: 'Can you shave letters?'

The guy froze: 'Yeah. I can shave all 26 letters for you.'

Yu Fan thought for a few seconds: 'Can you shave double dragons playing with a pearl?'

'...No.'

'Oh.' Yu Fan turned to leave, leaving behind in the wind, 'Then I'm not getting a cut.'

'...'

When he got home, Yu Fan went straight to his room. When he took out his room key, he paused slightly.

He frowned and looked closely at it.

There were two faint scratch marks next to his room door lock.

This neighborhood had poor security a few years back. His family's front door was often pried open—the broken locks were either damaged or covered in scratches.

The marks on his door were clearly much shallower, not as many scratches. But to call them just wear and tear from time, they were a bit too long.

Yu Fan rubbed his finger over them. Then he inserted the key, and it turned smoothly, unlocking the door.

The lock wasn't broken.

Yu Fan stood there for a few seconds before getting up and going inside. Before closing the door, he glanced at Yu Kaiming's tightly shut room next door.

At nine o'clock at night. Chen Jingshen's video call came through, and it was almost about to disconnect before it was answered.

Chen Jingshen looked up from his problem set at the screen. Before he could even see the person clearly, the other side had already launched an attack—

'What are you looking at?' Yu Fan sat cross-legged on a chair, drying his hair with a towel, his expression unhappy, his tone硬邦邦的. 'The barbershop's closed today.'

'...'

Chen Jingshen said: 'Closed on a Friday? They're really bad at business.'

Yu Fan looked away, mumbling: 'Getting it cut tomorrow.'

After explaining a classic problem type, Chen Jingshen slid out a similar problem for him to solve right now. The material they were learning was getting harder and harder. Yu Fan's head hurt from looking at it, and he lay flat on the desk, running his hands through his hair.

The video went quiet for two minutes. Chen Jingshen suddenly spoke up: 'Actually, not cutting it is fine too.'

Yu Fan's hand froze mid-motion.

He'd turned on the rear camera. His phone was lying flat on the table at the moment, giving Chen Jingshen nothing but a dark image.

But Chen Jingshen still raised his eyes and looked over, as if making eye contact with him.

'If you cut it, it'll be easy for teachers to notice you sleeping in class, right?' Chen Jingshen said flatly.

'...'

Yu Fan, who hadn't slept in a serious class in God knows how long, blinked: '...Oh, I guess.'

'And if you shave it all off, it'll be prickly. Uncomfortable for sleeping.'

'How would you know?'

When I was really little, I shaved it because I was hot. Didn't sleep well during that time.

Tsk.' Yu Fan slid down from the ledge, speaking in an annoyed tone: 'Then forget it... we'll talk about it later.'

Chen Jingshen made a sound of acknowledgment: 'Did you work out the problem?'

'No. Looking at it. Don't rush.' This time it was real annoyance.

Chen Jingshen lowered his head and twirled the pen twice. 'Okay.'

-

That day, Hu Pang led a group of people aggressively to Senior 2 Class 7, but ended up empty-handed.

After seeing him, Zhang Xianjing made up a bunch of nonsense, saying Chen Jingshen was sick, and Yu Fan and Wang Luan'an took him to the Hospital.

Hu Pang was a hundred percent trusting of Chen Jingshen, so he didn't say anything else. He just waved his big hand, letting the people behind cut off Zhang Xianjing's curly hair tip.

Because of this, the next day Zhang Xianjing took out all her anger on Wang Luan'an's arm, almost punching him until he developed muscles.

Not long after the mid-term exams, there was another monthly test. But the monthly test process at Nancheng No.7 Middle School wasn't as complicated as the mid-term—they didn't even need to change seats, it was more like a classroom test.

They finished the test on Wednesday, and on Friday the teachers finished grading and handed back the papers to start going over them.

During break, Wang Luan'an held Yu Fan's math paper, saying painfully: 'You... how the hell can your math be three points higher than mine...'

Midsummer heat, the air was scorching. The few large fans in the Classroom creaked overhead as if they were out of breath.

Yu Fan was folding his physics paper to fan himself. Upon hearing this, he looked up: 'What do you mean?'

'I mean, last semester's final exam my math was tens of points higher than yours. This math paper was so difficult, and you actually scored 70...' Wang Luan'an couldn't accept it. 'Tell me honestly—are you secretly taking tutoring behind my back?'

Zhang Xianjing's crossed legs swayed: 'Is that possible, he...'

'Kind of, yeah.'

Yu Fan had strong hand strength, and each gust of wind he fanned could slowly drift to his deskmate's face.

Both of them froze.

Zhang Xianjing stared at him in shock: 'For real...?'

'I knew it! Otherwise how could your grades shoot up so fast!' Wang Luan'an leaned in. 'Which tutoring place? I'm coming with you.'

Yu Fan's fanning slowed down, and he instinctively glanced at Chen Jingshen.

For some reason, Yu Fan didn't really want to say it.

Wasn't it normal for classmates to help each other?

Chen Jingshen was doing his test paper, his expression cold and focused.

Yu Fan thought he wasn't listening to their conversation, but the next moment Chen Jingshen lifted his eyelid and met his gaze, saying flatly: 'Isn't the teacher you found a one-on-one tutor?'

Wang Luan'an: 'Is that so?'

Yu Fan: '...I guess.'

'Then it's normal to improve fast—one-on-one teachers teach with targeted instruction.' Wu Cai, holding a test paper he'd just finished, came over, then bent down and asked, 'Stud-god, what did you choose for this question?'

Wu Cai now sat with Wang Luan'an. When Zhuang Fangqin went to ask if he was willing to change seats, he agreed right away. One reason was he wasn't nearsighted, so he could sit anywhere; another was he thought Wang Luan'an was usually pretty funny.

After sitting for a while, he felt the seat change was pretty good. Although the surrounding classmates had lower grades, they didn't make noise in class and were lively after class.

Chen Jingshen directly pulled out his test paper from the drawer to show him.

'Right, is one-on-one expensive?' Wang Luan'an asked.

Yu Fan took out his Mobile Phone and opened a game, saying vaguely: 'It's okay.'

'Chen Jingshen.'

A very low voice came from outside the window.

Just then a round of Snake Game ended. Yu Fan's eyelid jumped, and he looked sideways.

A boy stood outside the window.

His school uniform, like someone's, was buttoned to the top. He was a bit short, with slightly naturally curly hair.

Probably having heard many of Yu Fan's glorious deeds, the other person took a step back in fear when their eyes met.

Chen Jingshen: 'What's up?'

'Can you come out for a sec?' The boy's voice was quite light. 'I want to discuss tomorrow's physics competition with you.'

Chen Jingshen put down his pen and went out.

It was the first time since Chen Jingshen transferred to the class that another student from another class came to find him.

Wang Luan'an propped his chin looking out the window, saying curiously: 'What class is this guy from? Seems like I haven't seen him.'

'Class Five, I think,' Wu Cai said.

'How do you know?'

Wu Cai was stunned: 'I was in the same class with him before, obviously. He was the study god's deskmate in Class One. He's really good at physics—competition level—named Miao Chen.'

Oh, the former deskmate.

Yu Fan glanced outside, then quickly retracted his gaze and continued playing Snake Game.

'I see.' Wang Luan'an suddenly realized. 'Then why didn't he say hi to you?'

Wu Cai: 'I'm not that familiar with him. He's better with girls... and with the study god. He's probably one of the few people in our class who could talk more with the study god, right?'

Those two stood at the back door talking. Yu Fan was close enough to hear both sides.

'Tomorrow's competition, can we go together?' Miao Chen's articulation was very clear, his voice quite pleasant, like the broadcast at their school every afternoon when school let out. 'The exam venue is at Yuhé Middle School, right? I'm not very familiar with the roads there.'

'No,' Chen Jingshen said.

'Oh...' Miao Chen paused. 'Then after the exam, it's exactly twelve. Can we go eat lunch together? I really want to check the answers.'

The class bell rang, and the ten-second 'Für Elise' drowned out all the following conversation.

When the bell ended, Yu Fan only heard Miao Chen say: 'Then let's chat on WeChat.'

'Okay.'

Chen Jingshen came back from the back door, sat down, and took out this month's test paper from the drawer.

This class was self-study. He asked: 'When we went over the test paper today, were there any questions you didn't understand?'

'No.' Yu Fan didn't look up, continuing to play Snake Game.

Chen Jingshen turned to look at him: 'Did you understand the last big question?'

'Yeah.'

'How did you solve it?'

'...'

Chen Jingshen picked up Yu Fan's pen that had rolled to the corner of the desk, about to fall, and placed it back in front of him: 'Take the test paper home. I'll go over it again in the video tonight.'

Unfortunately, they still didn't manage to go over it that night in the video.

Because as soon as the video connected, Yu Fan heard buzzing on the other end. He asked: 'What's that sound?'

Chen Jingshen's phone was originally on the desk. Upon hearing this, he picked it up and looked: 'WeChat messages.'

Yu Fan saw Chen Jingshen lower his eyes to look at the screen, as if replying to a message.

After replying, Chen Jingshen said: 'Besides the last question, is there any—'

The phone buzzed again.

Chen Jingshen: 'Wait.'

After three rounds of this, Yu Fan's face went cold. He really wanted to hold a cigarette against the screen and slap it on Chen Jingshen's face. A random ballpoint pen he grabbed was being pressed by him, making creaking sounds.

Chen Jingshen: 'Okay. Let's first go over the last—'

'Forget it.' Yu Fan threw the pen aside. 'Not listening.'

Chen Jingshen paused, looking up at him: 'What's wrong?'

Another buzz came.

Yu Fan: 'Don't feel like studying tonight. I'm hanging up.'

As soon as the words fell, a beep sounded, and the video disconnected.

Chen Jingshen stared at the chat dialog, thinking silently for a while. He was sure he hadn't said anything wrong just now. His phone buzzed again.

[Mom: I told you these social media apps are useless for you—they only increase your meaningless communication.]

[Mom: Use them after you go to college. Listen to mom, okay?]

[Mom: Also, you've been covering the monitor for a bit too long recently.]

Chen Jingshen leaned back in his chair, typing.

[s: It's late there. Go to sleep.]

After hanging up, Yu Fan went to the Balcony to smoke.

He leaned against the iron railing, his eyebrows tightly furrowed, surrounded by a haze of smoke.

He irritably blew out a puff of smoke, and when shaking off the ash, he couldn't help thinking—

What the hell am I upset about?

Thinking about it carefully, Chen Jingshen didn't do anything just now. He just replied to a few messages from his former deskmate.

Oh, not two messages. Judging from the typing status he saw when looking at Chen Jingshen, he replied to at least seven messages.

Isn't that quite chatty? When Wang Luan'an and the others tagged Chen Jingshen in the group, Chen Jingshen never replied to more than a few words—yeah, okay, oh—and he once thought Chen Jingshen couldn't type without his chat window.

Yu Fan extinguished the cigarette, and just as he was about to reach for the Cigarette Pack, his phone buzzed once.

Chen Jingshen first sent a video. Looking at the preview, it should be the solution process for the last question on the test paper.

Then a voice message.

'Remember to do your homework. If there are any questions you don't understand, just video me. I'm going to do a few competition papers. I'll be busy all night.'

Yu Fan didn't reply. He leaned against the security net, scrolling through Moments.

When he came back to his senses, he was already on Chen Jingshen's Moments interface.

Very empty. Cover photo, intro, posts—nothing, just as boring as the person himself.

He returned to the chat dialog with Chen Jingshen, preparing to go back to his room and sleep. But after jumping off the Balcony railing, he couldn't help but press the voice key again, saying calmly and lazily:

'Not videoing. I'm sleeping. Chat with your former deskmate.'

Yu Fan didn't close the chat dialog. After sending this voice message, 'typing...' appeared at the top.

So he picked up his phone and went to wash up, placing the phone on the shelf and staring at it.

After washing up, it was still typing. He took it to bed, holding his phone and watching for a few minutes.

Finally, unable to hold back, he sent another message: [What are you typing that takes so long???]

On the other side. Chen Jingshen looked at the words he had typed, thought forget it—if he sent it, he might not be able to chat again this weekend.

[s: Nothing. I'm not chatting with anyone. Go to sleep.]

-

Yu Fan didn't sleep well.

He stayed up late and broke Chen Jingshen's Snake Game record before holding his phone and falling asleep in a daze.

When sunlight from outside the window hit his eyelids the next day, he realized he hadn't pulled the curtain before sleeping.

Yu Fan covered his eyes and reached to pull the curtain. The curtain was of poor quality and didn't block the light, making the room a dim yellow.

Can't sleep anymore.

He groggily took out his phone and played for a while, getting more and more bored.

Recently, weekends seemed uninteresting.

Yu Fan lay in bed for a while longer. A WeChat notification popped up.

[Zuo Kuan: @everyone LOL come on, five-stack, play all day.]

[Wang Luan'an: Dad's coming right now!]

[Zuo Kuan: Idiot.]

[Zuo Kuan: Yu Fan, call him too. We're missing an AD.]

[Wang Luan'an: It's not even 11 am, he's unlikely to be awake... and recently he hasn't been going to the Internet Café much.]

[-: I'm coming. Wait, I'm getting up and going to the Internet Café.]

Today was weekend. The Internet Café downstairs was small and definitely full at this time.

Need to find another one.

Yu Fan rubbed his eyes, opened the map to search for Internet Cafés, sorted by location, and slowly scrolled from top to bottom.

At noon, the exam ended, and the gate of Yuhé Middle School slowly opened.

Many parents stood outside the gate. The noon sun was scorching, and the entrance was crowded with umbrellas.

Chen Jingshen walked too fast. After leaving the classroom, Miao Chen had to jog for a while to catch up with him.

'How was the exam?' Miao Chen asked.

'Pretty good,' Chen Jingshen said.

'Oh, that's good.' Miao Chen smiled. 'This school's classrooms are so old. The fan in my exam room was broken... There's a fresh juice shop ahead. Want to buy a bottle to cool down? I'll treat you.'

Chen Jingshen scanned ahead following his words, about to say no when he suddenly saw a tall, thin figure.

Before he looked over, the person quickly turned away. He caught a glimpse of a side profile.

Did Chen Jingshen see his old man?

Yu Fan stood in the crowd at the bus stop, hands in pockets, body stiff. Startled by that glance, he didn't dare turn around.

His hair was almost catching fire under the sunlight. Yu Fan's expression was numb as he recalled that he must have been sleep-deprived last night and out of his mind to come to Yuhé to play games.

Did Chen Jingshen see me?

He won't think I came to find him, will he?

Another bus passed in front. Yu Fan hesitated, then turned back inconspicuously to look—

Where is he?

Yu Fan's eyebrows furrowed. He scanned around the school gate and finally saw his deskmate in front of the juice shop queue.

And his deskmate's former deskmate.

The two were standing in line. Miao Chen occasionally leaned forward to ask something. Chen Jingshen lowered his head, a white baseball cap hanging down covering his eyes, making his expression unclear.

That bit of tension instantly dissipated.

Yu Fan's eyelids gradually tightened. He turned his head back, took out his phone, opened the navigation, and searched for other Internet Cafés nearby.

A message just popped up.

[Wang Luan'an: Bro, did you get blocked on your way to the Internet Café? Been waiting for you for over ten minutes.]

Yu Fan turned and walked in the direction of the navigation, typing while walking: The Internet Café I found is full. I'm looking again. You guys first...

His t-shirt was grabbed from behind. Yu Fan paused, then looked back.

Unexpectedly meeting Chen Jingshen's eyes, Yu Fan's mind went blank, and he blurted out: 'Wang Luan'an and them are looking for me to play games. My neighborhood's Internet Café is full, so I'm looking for a place to play here...'

Something landed on his head. Yu Fan looked at the white cap brim that suddenly appeared above his eyes and went silent.

His half-day hair instantly cooled down.

'Mn.' Chen Jingshen raised his hand and adjusted the cap brim for him. 'Since we bumped into each other, want to go eat together?'

Yu Fan was stunned for only a second.

He glanced at the two juices in Chen Jingshen's other hand and put on what he thought was a very natural killing expression: 'No. Go eat with your former deskmate.'