Chapter 14
Newly made accounts could not queue for matches right away, and there were not many champions to choose from.
Wang Lu’an zipped through the menus and set up an account for Chen Jingshen in no time.
“Isn’t that Zhang Xianjing’s account?” Zuo Kuan asked. “Who is on it?”
“The grade’s number one, our class’s mega-topper,” Wang Lu’an said, flicking the mouse. “I am launching.”
Zuo Kuan blinked. He had just been about to ask how a bookworm like Chen Jingshen even played online games when a chime sounded and the game screen loaded.
It was Chen Jingshen’s first time. Under Wang Lu’an’s coaching, he locked in a healer support.
“See the three lanes on the map, top, mid, bot?” Wang Lu’an said. “You go bottom. Yu Fan isYu Fan had planned to send Chen Jingshen somewhere else. Then he caught that focused look as Chen Jingshen read his skills and shut his mouth.
Fine. He could treat him like a clunky accessory. Yu Fan often 1v2’d bot lane anyway.
Five minutes later.
Yu Fan stared at the support with a creep score higher than his and lost it. “Why are you taking my farm as a support?”
“Your farm?” Chen Jingshen asked.
“Bottom lane minions belong to the ADC.”
“Got it.” Chen Jingshen turned back into the brush. “All yours then.”
“…”
Try that charity tone one more time.
A team fight broke out. Yu Fan was low and kiting to safety when he saw Chen Jingshen’s healer, full HP, heading his way.
Yu Fan instantly snapped back in to reengage.
He got pinned in the grass and deleted.
Yu Fan stared at the healer now half a map away. “The fight is here. You out for a stroll top lane?”
“You could not win it?” Chen Jingshen asked back.
“…”
By dinner time, Yu Fan was looking at a page full of red defeat screens, speechless.
“Break. I am done,” Wang Lu’an said, dropping his mouse. “I am going to buy food. Yu Fan, what do you want? Chen Jingshen?”
Yu Fan had lost enough to be numb. “No.”
“No need. Thank you,” Chen Jingshen said.
Wang Lu’an headed to the counter.
Yu Fan closed the client and enlarged the stream he had been watching. The blue-haired streamer had ended early, so the platform had auto-switched him to another top League channel.
A female streamer. Former pro in another MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena), now making bank streaming League. Good mechanics, funny personality, plus a pretty face and a killer figure. She had fans for days.
Yu Fan was too tired of losing to click anything. He full-screened the stream, sank into the chair, and focused on her play.
A stare burned the side of his face.
Yu Fan could not stand it. He glanced over and frowned. “What. Do I have a pop-up class on my face?”
Chen Jingshen’s gaze skimmed the video window. “You usually watch this?”
“What else would I watch. Hu Pang?”
Two beats of silence. “You like bunny ears?” Chen Jingshen asked.
“?”
“Or,” Chen Jingshen searched for the word, “a nanny dress?”
“…”
Only then did Yu Fan clock the outfit. He wanted to say, idiot, it is a maid costume, but changed it at the last second. “Ever consider I like that she is a girl?”
He lifted his hand on purpose and hit Follow with Chen Jingshen watching.
Chen Jingshen stared at the screen for a while, then looked away and reopened his own. Yu Fan peeked and saw Hu Pang’s online class back on, but Chen Jingshen’s mouth was drawn tight. He looked like he had lent Hu Pang eight million and wanted it back.
Who is that face for.
Yu Fan licked his lips, grabbed a bottle of water, took two swigs, turned his head, and opened his mouth to say something.
“I am not thirsty,” Chen Jingshen said.
“…”
Who the f*** asked if you were thirsty.
Yu Fan faced the stream again. What about it. Watching a girl streamer is not a crime.
At the counter, Wang Lu’an leaned his elbow and craned his neck. “Bro, drown that in ketchup.”
“You got it.” The clerk slathered the hot dogs. “All this just for you?”
“I have two brothers,” Wang Lu’an said, jerking his chin toward the rigs. They had both said they did not want food, but Wang Lu’an decided to buy extra anyway. What if they got hungry. He shook his head.Meaning that someone/something is extremely rare and valuable,
so rare, that even if you searched carefully with a lantern,
you wouldn't find another like them. A brother this thoughtful, you could not find with a lantern.
The clerk followed his gaze. “Your friend in the middle? When he came in, I thought he had the wrong shop.”
“Hey, same.” Wang Lu’an had time to kill, so his eyes wandered to the CCTV monitor beside the PC.
A short, round silhouette stood in the first-floor doorway, back to the camera.
Wang Lu’an stared at the man’s crown and snorted. “F***, check this bald spot.”
The clerk squinted. “Looks familiar.”
On-screen, the man lifted a hand and rubbed his bare head.
Wang Lu’an copied the motion, palming his own hair. “Looks familiar to me too, ha—”
The man turned. The face that made every student at Nancheng No. 7 High go cold filled the monitor.
Wang Lu’an’s smile froze. “I… f***.”
He sprinted back with four hot dogs clenched white-knuckled.
By the time he reached their row, Yu Fan had just stood up. Maybe it was the afternoon losing streak, but his face was dark.
“Yu Fan! F***! Yu Fan!” Wang Lu’an yelled. “Fat Tiger! Fat Tiger! Fat Tiger!”
Yu Fan had been about to cool off in the bathroom. Hearing that, he thought Wang Lu’an meant the class video Chen Jingshen had reopened. He frowned. “So he is watching. Why yell?”
“No. No!” Wang Lu’an panted. “Fat Tiger is here to bust the place. Downstairs. He is about to charge up!”
“?”
Right then a music tone blasted. Most boys in that section snapped their heads up.
The teacher-alert ringtone.
“Run,” Wang Lu’an hissed. He did not get the last word out before Yu Fan spun around, grabbed the collar of the guy still watching the class, and yanked. “The lecturer himself is here. You still watching? Get your bag.”
Two seconds later, a thunderous bellow shook the hall. “Nancheng No. 7 High’s students. Do not move!”
Chen Jingshen snatched his backpack from the floor, had not even got it over one shoulder before his wrist was seized.
The boy’s palm was cold and strong. “What are you dawdling for,” Yu Fan said. “Run.”
Chen Jingshen had never been chased down a street before.
The night market was lit up. Skewers and snacks steamed white into the air, setting off every passerby’s appetite. A dozen boys zigzagged through the street, ridiculous and chaotic.
Yu Fan ran fast. The slipstream tossed his hair back, clearing his ears and showing that clean, handsome face. Chen Jingshen looked away, gripped his strap with one hand, and let himself be dragged down the cramped block.
Wang Lu’an watched, aghast, as his two best friends went from caboose to the front of the pack, faster and farther, until they vanished. The f***? The f***!
Was Yu Fan not his fellow delinquent for sleeping through class and ditching PE hand in hand? Was Chen Jingshen not the weak-chested, short-winded nerd?
How were they that fast?
Wang Lu’an hit his limit and stopped, gasping, still clutching the hot dogs like an idiot, fingers white around the sticks.
I am literally your simp, he thought, heartsore.
Hu Pang thundered up behind him. Wang Lu’an slumped against a wall and looked at the short, energetic figure who still had juice after that chase. For a second he felt like he was the only useless one in the world.
He braced to be collared. Instead, Hu Pang blew right past him. “Stop! You in front, stop! Yu Fan! Do not think I did not see you?! If you stop now we can talk. Otherwise wait for Monday’s discipline. Yu Fan!!!”
“…”
Chen Jingshen did not know how long he had been tugged along. The snack stalls gave way to high-rises, and the foot traffic turned into tired office workers clocking out.
To avoid being spotted on the sidewalk, they ducked into a 24-hour convenience store.
Yu Fan took a minute to steady his breath, then remembered to look back. Right before he turned, Chen Jingshen bent and started drawing in deep breaths.
Yu Fan eyed the uneven rise of his shoulders and frowned. “You have asthma?”
“No. Just tired.” Chen Jingshen glanced at the window seats and asked between breaths, “Can we rest a moment?”
Yu Fan bought two bottles of water and set one in front of Chen Jingshen. The breathing was still a little heavy. Chen Jingshen’s face was pale, like he had not caught up.
How fragile could you get.
Yu Fan cracked the bottle for him. “Drink.”
“Thank you.” Chen Jingshen tipped it back. His Adam’s apple slid as he swallowed.
Yu Fan’s phone buzzed. Wang Lu’an. “So? Did you run to America?”
“Turned at the border. What a dump. Not going,” Yu Fan said and took a sip. “You did not get caught, did you?”
“No. Oh, so you do remember me.” Wang Lu’an huffed. “You ran so f***ing fast you didn’t even look back that I thought you forgot I existed!”
“Do not get snide.”
“Say what you will, you bolted like crazy,” Wang Lu’an said, baffled. “You never freak out about Fat Tiger when you come out to surf.”
He did not but that was before there was a model student to keep clean.
“You are too—” Yu Fan’s voice cut off.
“Too what?” Wang Lu’an asked.
Silence. “Hey, talk,” Wang Lu’an said. “Do not tell me Fat Tiger got you. Hello? Yu Fan?”
“Nothing,” Yu Fan said, flat and a little stiff.
In the pause, his free left hand had been caught and pulled over. The guy who had been wheezing like a bull two minutes ago had recovered completely. Chen Jingshen’s gaze was on Yu Fan’s fingers.
Yu Fan followed it. A long scrape ran along his ring finger, blood tracking the side like a dark red ring. He had sprinted all this way and had not even felt it.
“You were saying I am too what?” Wang Lu’an nagged in his ear. “Finish the thought.”
Yu Fan tried to yank his hand back. No luck. Chen Jingshen held the finger and studied the cut in silence. His fingertips were warm. After a moment of that scrutiny, the patch of skin began to itch.
Yu Fan had just opened his mouth to tell him to let go when Chen Jingshen moved. One hand kept its hold; the other dug into his backpack, rummaged at the bottom, and came up with a bandage.
Chen Jingshen’s palm was big. His knuckles closed easily around Yu Fan’s hand. Yu Fan stared as he tore the wrapper, laid the bandage over the cut, smoothed it down, pressed to seal.
Done, Chen Jingshen released him, crumpled the wrapper, and headed for the trash by the door.
Yu Fan’s hand hovered midair. The spot that had been warmed by those fingers suddenly felt cool.
On the line, Wang Lu’an was still chattering. “So where are you. I will come find you. I did not even get to eat the hot dogs. I am still hungry. Is Chen Jingshen with you? Hey, why are you not talking—”
Right before Chen Jingshen turned back, Yu Fan snatched his hand away, shoved it into his pocket, and looked out the window like nothing had happened.
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