Chapter 13
The bell rang. Yu Fan turned back into the classroom with one thought in mind.
He would tear up that love letter when he got home today.
As he passed the second row, Wang Lu’an could not help tugging his sleeve. “What were you and Chen Jingshen chatting about in the hallway? Looked real chummy.”
“Which eye of yours saw me chatting with him?”
There were forty other people in class, plus Zhuang Fangqin. That made eighty-two eyes, and every last one of them had seen it. Wang Lu’an thought it, but did not dare say it.
Back at his desk, the copying notebook he had just handed in had already been returned. The group rep had rushed through collection that morning, so Yu Fan had scrawled a name and turned it in without even flipping it open.
How good could left-hand writing be anyway. Normal people could barely write with their left hand. Zhuang Fangqin must have examined it too closely and spotted something in the strokes.
Thinking that, Yu Fan opened the notebook.
“…”
Then shut it again.
Chen Jingshen returned to his seat and saw Yu Fan holding the notebook. His gaze slid to Yu Fan’s hands.
Thump.
Yu Fan slapped a palm over his own name and, in one rough motion, shoved the notebook into the drawer.
Zhang Xianjing turned just in time to catch the scene. “What are you doing, scaring me to death...”
She patted her chest, then blinked sweetly at Chen Jingshen. “Chen Jingshen, I heard you got a perfect score again. You are amazing!”
Chen Jingshen leaned back and pulled the next period’s textbook from his desk. “Thanks.”
“I zoned out in class and there was one problem I did not get. Could you walk me through it?”
“Which one?” Chen Jingshen asked.
Zhang Xianjing reached over and pointed at random, showing off the cute pink bandage on her finger.
“Your hand,” Chen Jingshen said.
“Oh,” she pulled that finger back, coy. “I missed so many problems, copying the answers last night wore me out. It is nothing big, but it really hurts. If someone helped me copy, that would be so—”
“You are blocking the problem.”
“…”
Watching Zhang Xianjing’s face, Yu Fan thought she might swing before he did.
Chen Jingshen drew a sheet of scratch paper and explained the solution in a few neat steps.
Yu Fan did not want to listen, but they were too close, every word crisp as a bell.
Zhang Xianjing had only wanted an excuse to talk, but halfway through she actually understood. “Got it, thanks.”
She clutched her paper and turned back. A few seconds later, she jolted.
F***. She had not meant to ask for real.
She spun around again. “Chen Jingshen,” she asked, pushing up her black-rimmed glasses, “do you like girls who wear glasses?”
Yu Fan’s thumb paused on his phone. He could guess where this was going. He did not care for gossip. Maybe he should go take a walk.
“I never said that,” Chen Jingshen answered.
“Then what do you like? Small eyes? Thick lips? Short and skinny?”
“No.”
Zhang Xianjing thought, Wang Lu’an, you are so dead. She forced a smile. “What about lots of acne or pockmarks?”
Silence beside her.
A bad feeling pricked Yu Fan. He pocketed his phone and had just started to stand when Chen Jingshen looked straight over.
Those dark eyes were cool and forthright, tracing Yu Fan’s face in a light circuit.
Very quickly, Chen Jingshen looked away and said, “Also no.”
Yu Fan: “…”
Before Zhang Xianjing’s puzzled stare could swing over, Yu Fan yanked his uniform jacket up over his head, dropped face-down on the desk, and played dead.
During the first week of a new term, Zhuang Fangqin always pulled aside a few students who had underperformed last semester for a talk.
That afternoon, Wang Lu’an came back from the office with red eyes. He sat backward in the seat in front of Yu Fan. “I think the way Zhuang Fangqin talks is just too hurtful.”
Yu Fan was terrible at comforting people. Seeing Wang Lu’an’s face, he felt a headache coming on and paused his Snake game. “She nags, sure, but she is looking out for you.”
“She said if I keep this up, I will only get to collect garbage with you in the future.”
“…”
Even Chen Jingshen’s pen slowed. Yu Fan said coolly, “Shut yourself up before I throw my phone at your face.”
“Kidding.” Wang Lu’an sighed. “But I am kind of lost. Zhuang Fangqin mapped out what schools my final scores could get me last semester. A whole row of vocational tech colleges, not a single bachelor’s program. If I end up at a tech college, my dad is going to beat me to death.”
“Zhuang Fangqin also said if I go to a tech college, my path narrows. I will probably end up collecting debts, hair dyed redder than a rooster’s comb, tattoos so bad even dogs would shake their heads. My parents will despise me, my friends will avoid me, and pretty girls will not love me.”
Yu Fan almost fell asleep listening, then finally heard the line he had been waiting for.
“So I have decided,” Wang Lu’an declared, “to study hard from now on.”
“Mm,” Yu Fan said. “Good luck.”
“I will, brother. If I make it big, I will come rescue you from the dump.” Wang Lu’an thumped his chest twice with a clenched fist. “I am going to study right now, for my future and yours.”
Yu Fan flicked a hand to wave him off.
Wang Lu’an made it two steps and turned back. “Then are we going to the internet cafe after school?”
“…”
“What happened to the future?” Yu Fan asked.
“Work-life balance. A little relaxation now and then is fine, and it is Friday.” Wang Lu’an said, “Let us hit the ‘Cool Boys’ across from the back gate, closer.”
On his way out, Wang Lu’an knocked a pen off the desk edge. He froze, picked it up, and put it back. “Sorry, Chen Jingshen, I bumped it.”
Chen Jingshen hooked it lightly with a finger and took it back. “It is fine.”
“Cool Boys” was a black internet cafe across from the school’s back gate. Tucked away, not big, but decent machines and comfy enough.
“I am here, I have Flash. Go, go, go, go! Nice!”
The same guy who had sworn to study that afternoon was now shouting louder than he did during military song contests. Yu Fan pulled off his headphones. “Try yelling one more time.”
“I was just excited.” Wang Lu’an pulled out his phone. “Hang on. Zuo Kuan keeps messaging me. He wants us to queue five.”
Yu Fan set his headphones on the desk, leaned back into the sofa chair, and casually opened a random stream on the home page.
Their seats were just left of the front desk, so they could catch bits of conversation.
“You… here to surf the net?” the front desk asked.
“Mm,” a flat voice answered.
Yu Fan’s eyelid twitched. That annoying voice profile, there were two people in the world who had it now.
“If you do not have an ID, it costs more,” the front desk confirmed. “Scan to pay, then pick a rig in the left section. Oh, and the emergency exit is all the way left.”
No reply, but by the sound of it, the person was coming their way.
The left section was small to begin with.
Yu Fan listened to the footsteps approach his side and did not bother to look up.
Thud.
Something heavy dropped.
Yu Fan chewed his gum and lazily tilted his head to glance down.
A familiar black backpack.
“…”
He stopped chewing.
“Chen Jingshen?!” Wang Lu’an craned his neck, stunned. “What are you… doing here?”
Chen Jingshen stopped at a station. His eyes briefly touched Yu Fan’s monitor. A stream was open, some blue-haired guy playing a game, not exactly an academic broadcast.
more or less a direct translation. “I came to go online,”
“…”
The year’s top student, at the sketchy cafe by the back gate, to go online?
People were already looking. They had seen students in uniform come here; Yu Fan and Wang Lu’an were in theirs. But someone like Chen Jingshen, buttoned to the top, posture straight as a ruler, was one of a kind.
Yu Fan snapped out of it. Before Chen Jingshen could sit, he kicked the base of the swivel chair.
Chen Jingshen’s hands paused. He lowered his eyes.
“You—” Yu Fan was about to say “go sit somewhere else,” when a group walked in.
Hair dyed red, yellow, blue, green, probably from the school next door. They jerked their chins at the front desk and went straight in, taking the row beside Chen Jingshen. If you looked closely, one of them was from the crew that had tried to shake Chen Jingshen down.
“Switch with me,” Yu Fan finished, voice cool.
Chen Jingshen curled a finger and obediently made room.
Wang Lu’an watched, blank, as the two swapped stations.
His phone buzzed. He glanced down. “Yu Fan, Zuo Kuan says one of theirs cannot make it. We should go four-stack.”
“Whatever,” Yu Fan said. “Invite me.”
He reopened the game and was about to accept the party invite when a familiar face flashed across the screen next to him. He and Wang Lu’an both felt their hearts tighten, frowned in unison, and turned to the middle.
On Chen Jingshen’s monitor, a banner had popped up.
“‘Star Teacher Online Course’: Sine Law and Cosine Law, basics. Lecturer: Hu Pang.”
“…”
“…”
Wang Lu’an’s brow twitched. He could not help looking over. “Chen Jingshen?”
“Hmm?”
“You came to the cafe to… watch Hu Pang?”
“No. I wanted to play,” Chen Jingshen said after a beat. “But I got stood up, so I cannot.”
Dog would not believe that. “So what now?” Wang Lu’an asked.
“Watch an online class for a bit,” Chen Jingshen said.
Please do not, Wang Lu’an thought. You watching a class punishes us. And Hu Pang’s class at that. Auspicious as a funeral.
A thought struck him. He slapped his thigh. “Chen Jingshen, join us. We are one short for League. Can you play?”
“Not really,” Chen Jingshen said.
“No problem, we can carry—”
“Carry what. We are four. Queue,” Yu Fan cut in, frowning.
Wang Lu’an blinked. He had just been about to say, the guy literally did your homework, maybe do not ice him out this fast, brother-
“All right,” Chen Jingshen said, voice even. “If you cannot carry me, I do not have to come.”
One minute later.
Yu Fan reached over, grabbed the mouse at the next station, closed Hu Pang’s video, and opened League of Legends. “See the register button?”
“Quit talking,” Yu Fan said, cold as ice. “Make an account.”
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