Chapter 68 – I Heard You’ve Been Dating Lately
Life in senior year felt nothing like before. You could tell just from the halls. Between classes the corridors used to buzz; now you barely saw anyone even when the bell rang.
Every classroom blackboard had a big “Zuo Kuan used to wonder why some of his rowdy friends went silent the minute senior year started. Now he got it a little.
Every time he dropped by Class 7, his two bros were hunched over problem sets, and even he could not muster any hype.
Yu Fan and Wang Lu’an still sat alone at separate desks. They had not asked the teacher to reseat them, and the teacher seemed to have forgotten too.
“Stop studying. Take a breather,” Zuo Kuan slipped into Class 7 through the back door and took the empty chair beside Wang Lu’an. “Ball after school?”
“No ball. I’m going home for tutoring,” Wang said without lifting his head.
“Again? How many days a week are you tutoring? Is that necessary?”
“My dad said if I get into a first-tier university, he’ll buy me a car. I am working hard now for our future flex,” Wang said. “Imagine this: you’re picking trash by the bridge and your bro rolls up in a luxury ride to take you clubbing. Isn't that cool? Wouldn’t all the other trash-pickers be jealous?”
“…F*** off, I’m not picking trash!”
“Then start studying, man. Even Yu Fan has turned over a new leaf. What right do you have to slack?”
Yu Fan was already stuck on a problem and got more annoyed hearing his name.
He leaned back, just about to cuss, when Zhang Xianjing turned around and slid him a form. “Ignore them. Sign this. The school wants voluntary Saturday lessons. Every Saturday from now on. Sign then pass it to the next group.”
The form listed each student’s info.
Yu Fan scribbled his name, then noticed Chen Jingshen’s info right below his. By habit he slid his pen down and started writing Chen Jingshen.
“Wait.” Ke Ting turned too and quietly stopped him. “The teacher printed the wrong sheet. Students who transferred to the honors class don’t need to sign.”
His pen paused. He put it down and gave a bland “oh,” then passed the form to Wang Lu’an.
Wang glanced at it and gaped. “Holy! Yu Fan, your handwriting looks better?”
“Does it?” Zhang propped her elbow on Yu Fan’s desk and peeked at his scratch paper. “It is still chicken scratch.”
“The names look nice though. Look at ‘Yu Fan’ and ‘Chen Jing Shen’…” Wang trailed off, a thought hitting him. He stared. “Yu Fan, did you actually practice with those insane copybooks the top student gave you—”
He did not finish. His chair got a light kick. Yu Fan stretched his leg, face blank. “Could that be possible? Sign and pass it up.”
“Right.”
Wang had just written his own name when he blurted, “…Hey? Top student’s birthday is soon?”
Yu Fan turned.
“How do you know?” Zuo asked.
“ID number. See? It is right here,” Wang pointed.
“August 11,” Zuo craned to look. “Damn. That’s this Friday.”
Once Wang mentioned the copybooks, Zhang stopped listening to those two clowns and just stared at Yu Fan.
He met her gaze. His pen-twirling stuttered. Being stared at like that made his scalp prickle.
“You—” Zhang began.
“Yu Fan!” Gao Shi yelled from the doorway. “Fangqin wants you in the office!”
Relief loosened Yu Fan’s chest. He stood and slipped out the back.
The hall was quiet. Walking, he wondered lazily what that look from Zhang had meant.
Thinking back, she had looked at him and Chen Jing Shen weirdly the day they ate out after the term ended too. Had she figured something out?
All Chen Jingshen’s fault. Always going on about marriage. How old even is he?
With that thought, Yu Fan happened to step onto the skybridge that linked the classroom block and the admin building. By habit he glanced toward Class 1.
Even though it was break, the sixth-floor corridor was empty.
Class 1’s teachers were strict. Get seen with a phone and it was gone. He had not contacted Chen yet today.
At first he thought dating would be simple. The classroom, his place, Chen’s place, the lab building… everywhere could be a spot. But after just one semester, their options seemed to evaporate.
Sometimes he would wake during self-study, look at the empty seat beside him, and feel a flash of Wang Lu’an’s dazed uncertainty. Did Chen really sit in their class? Did someone really sit next to him? Were he and Chen really dating?
Those little doubts always vanished after school when Chen came over with a stack of papers and sat beside him.
Someone walked out of Class 1. Yu Fan looked away at once and went into the office.
He had come out to dodge Zhang’s stare. He did not expect to be stared at here too.
Zhuang Fangqin had called him in and then said nothing, quietly grading papers. Every so often she looked up at him.
Yu Fan stood in front of her desk for ten minutes. When the bell rang, he said, “Goodbye, teacher.”
“Stand,” she snapped, smacking the desk. “Who told you to leave? Next period is self-study. You are not going back.”
So Yu Fan slouched back against the cabinet.
The past few weeks had been rough on Zhuang. She had seen plenty of puppy love in her years teaching, but this was the first time with two boys.
She had considered all the usual tricks. Call both sets of parents? With their family situations, she shut that down fast. Report it to the school? That still meant notifying parents. In the end all she had left was a talk.
Before that, she had prepped a list of the pitfalls of early romance and tailored critiques to their recent behavior. Except she had to admit, none of those “problems” showed up with these two.
They were even trending better.
Which made the talk harder.
“I heard you have been dating lately,” Zhuang said, straight to the point.
Sure enough, the wilted boy straightened, tension snapping through him.
“Is that true?” she asked. “Who is it? Someone in our class?”
Yu Fan’s heart jumped to his throat and then dropped.
Right. He had mentioned it once in their small WeChat group. A dozen people. One loose mouth and it could have spread through the grapevine to Zhuang.
He clenched and unclenched his fists, fingertips white. “Yeah. Not in our class. He’s Indian.”
“…”
She almost laughed out of sheer exasperation. Even her days-long headache eased. “Be serious. I told other teachers you might do anything bad, except fall in love early. Look at me now. I cannot walk that back.”
“That was your brag. You cannot pin it on me.”
“Is that how you talk to a teacher? When I got chewed out by leadership because of you, what did I say then?” She slapped a stack of papers against his arm. “You know why I called you, right?”
“I do. I am not breaking up.”
“…”
“I get it. You are at an age where your hormones are moving, and you might mistake some classmate or a friend for someone you like…”
“Not a mistake,” Yu Fan cut in quietly, eyes lowered. “I can tell the difference.”
“…”
Zhuang drank a sip of tea and took three deep breaths. “So you are saying you will not break up.”
“No.”
“Yu Fan, I have taught a lot of years, and not many early romances make it to the end. Especially your situation. You—” She stopped, color rising in her face.
Yu Fan had no idea what she was thinking and misunderstood.
“I know my situation is a mess,” he said after a beat. “…But it seems a little better now.”
Grind for one year, get into Jiangcheng if he could, or the city next door if he could not. Either way he would be close to Chen. His mom was already abroad. When he graduated, he would have nothing to do with Yu Kaiming. Once he was on his own, he could work and make money, rent a place in Jiangcheng, live a life that was his.
He did feel a little better. At least he could dare to imagine a future.
“…That is not what I meant.”
Zhuang stalled out. A knot of feelings rose in her chest. Her pen drew meaningless lines across the paper.
Two little people tugged at her inside. Say everything? She could not guarantee it would help. Say nothing? That betrayed her role as a teacher.
“Do the leaders know?” Yu Fan asked. “Two of my demerits were cleared. Getting another one is fine. Don’t worry.”
“…Shut up. Stop making me mad.” Something in her finally unclenched. She asked weakly, “Have you really thought it through? Really?”
“Yeah.”
“You are how old? Do you even know…” She paused. “Do you know what dating means for you?”
“I know. I understand. I am not breaking up.”
“…”
She had thought she was prepared. Somehow here she was, out of words. She could not attack a student’s orientation. She could not force them to break up. With a crack she put her pen down. “Fine. You chose this. I cannot stop you. But you are going to hear me.”
“At your age and level of experience, you cannot promise each other anything. The road you chose is packed with obstacles ahead. You cannot see them yet, and I cannot tell you exactly what they will be. If you insist on this, you have to be mentally ready. If you are found out, the consequences may be worse than you think. Do you understand?”
Yu Fan lowered his eyes and was quiet a moment. “I understand.”
“Go on,” Zhuang said, exhausted, waving him off.
He had just turned when she grabbed his shirt.
“And do not do anything a student your age should not be doing. Got it?” she stressed. “Not even a little!”
“…Oh.”
He turned again and got grabbed again.
“Also,” Zhuang said, “this absolutely cannot affect your grades. If you slip, I will split you two up. Understood?”
“Oh.”
By the third time she caught him, Yu Fan was getting impatient.
“And,” she said softly, eyes down, “…if anything happens later, you come to me first.”
Yu Fan paused. After a long beat he said, “I got it.”
After he left, the homeroom teacher of Class 8, who had been listening next door, poked his head in. “Teacher Zhuang, puppy love is normal. No need to make it sound so serious. Plus Yu Fan’s grades have shot up. If it were me, I would just let it be.”
“…You do not understand.”
She drained her tea and let out a heavy sigh at the window.
When Yu Fan stepped out, half of self-study was already gone.
He stared at the floor as he walked, not really getting why Zhuang had said the road ahead would be so hard. He did not think it was that hard. Studying was simple. Making money too. He could work two jobs and split the rent with Chen. As long as they got through this year…
His pocket buzzed. Yu Fan came back to himself and checked his phone without thinking.
[s: I cannot see you today.]
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