The atmosphere on the road was a little strange.
After all, that morning the two sides had been one step from throwing each other out of the second floor.
That afternoon, they were going together to violate school rules.
The feeling was difficult to describe.
After Xing Ye said those words, he immediately urged them, “Let’s go.”
Time waited for no one.
There were no introductions and no welcome ceremony.
Sheng Renxing simply joined the group naturally, trailing behind and walking side by side with Xing Ye.
Ahead, Yellow Hair and the others carefully controlled themselves and did not look back.
But thoughts bubbled loudly in all their heads.
The group smoothly reached a low wall.
Broken glass had been set into cement along the top to stop people climbing over.
Along the whole wall, only the section in front of them had been worn bare.
The passing students had nearly ground the glass away.
Sheng Renxing looked down.
Wild grass filled the ground, yet only beneath this particular section of wall had people trampled a path.
It was obvious how popular this spot was.
He turned his head and saw a security camera pointed toward them.
Someone had deliberately twisted it away.
A plastic bag was hanging over it too.
Yellow Hair went first.
He was short and skinny and shot over the wall like a monkey.
The others did not move.
A moment later came a “peep-peep” from the other side.
“?”
Sheng Renxing recognized Yellow Hair’s voice.
His step paused.
Xing Ye explained quietly, “That’s the signal.”
Sheng Renxing thought, I’m not an idiot.
“I know it’s the signal…”
He even knew it meant no one was on the other side.
His teeth hurt from secondhand embarrassment.
He fell silent.
Xing Ye said nothing.
Jiang Jing, who had been watching the two, laughed.
“Stupid, right?”
Sheng Renxing looked at him.
Jiang Jing said, “But he invented it. After we voted, this was the most normal signal.”
Sheng Renxing was horrified.
How stupid had the other signals been?
After holding himself back, he asked, “Why not just talk normally?”
The others froze.
“You said exactly what Xing Ye said,” Jiang Jing told him with a grin.
After thinking, he added, “Maybe it’s… a sense of ritual.”
Sheng Renxing looked at Xing Ye.
Xing Ye nodded.
Sheng Renxing had no idea whether the nod meant he really had said the same thing or that he agreed about the ritual.
Sheng Renxing turned back to Jiang Jing and nodded.
Understood.
He would respect the traditions of their clan.
“Jiang Jing. Jiang as in the grass-radical Jiang, Jing as in Li Jing. You can call me Jingzi.”
Jiang Jing smiled while sizing him up.
Sheng Renxing was still recovering from the signal.
He answered, “Oh. Sheng Renxing.”
Reciprocity demanded equal detail.
“Sheng as in midsummer, Ren as in ‘any,’ Xing as in ‘star.’”
At the end, only he and Xing Ye remained inside the school wall.
Xing Ye saw Sheng Renxing looking at him without moving and tilted his head.
“You first. Need help?”
Sheng Renxing glanced at him, took a running step, and vaulted over in one fluid motion.
His body answered whether he needed help.
Xing Ye watched.
The posture was much more impressive than those of the others, as though Sheng Renxing had deliberately practiced it.
He laughed softly.
Once outside the school, the group visibly relaxed.
Even their voices grew louder as they fooled around.
Sheng Renxing looked sideways at Yellow Hair and the others, who nearly wrestled themselves into the road, and asked Xing Ye,
“What did that teacher do to piss you off?”
“He doesn’t come teach.”
Xing Ye kept a little distance from the boys ahead and walked beside Sheng Renxing.
“Because of that?” Sheng Renxing was surprised.
He had assumed the reason would be that the teacher insulted them or something.
He had not expected it to be because the teacher skipped class.
Xing Ye looked at him. “Because his English is too good.”
“…And?”
“Jealous of him.”
Xing Ye’s expression was utterly serious.
“…” Sheng Renxing laughed speechlessly.
“Then one day you’ll suddenly beat me while we’re walking!”
“…No.” Xing Ye glanced at him.
“Yes!” Sheng Renxing nodded with absolute conviction. “Because my English is very good too.”
No boasting. No exaggeration.
An objective description.
Xing Ye stopped talking and looked at him with a smile.
“…” Sheng Renxing thought he should have brought one full-mark paper from every subject when he came to Xuancheng.
“Just wait until my scores come out.”
Xing Ye nodded and even reminded him, “Send them through QQ.”
“?”
“MMS is too expensive.”
“…Your phone can view photos?”
Sheng Renxing thought back to Xing Ye’s phone model.
If QQ worked, why had he used MMS earlier?
Was this also part of the ritual?
“No.” Xing Ye shook his head. “I’ll use a computer.”
“…Why can’t I just show you directly?”
Unless Sheng Renxing remembered wrong, they attended the same school.
“Because I might not be at school.”
Sheng Renxing made an okay gesture. “Understood, Mr. President.”
Xing Ye smiled again.
Sheng Renxing watched him smile.
After a long moment, he asked, “If Wang Dahai comes back to teach, will you actually listen?”
Xing Ye answered indirectly. “His classes are good for sleeping.”
“…” Sheng Renxing said, “So you’re bringing him back to perform hypnosis for you?”
Xing Ye shook his head. “He’s a teacher. He should come teach.”
After a pause, he added:
“He gets paid.”
Sheng Renxing froze, then understood.
Students paid tuition.
Teachers received salaries.
Therefore teachers should come to class.
The logic was not wrong.
But “take money, do the job” was not usually phrased that way about teachers.
Sheng Renxing said, “Then you’re a student, so you should listen in class?”
Xing Ye frowned slightly.
He looked somewhat reluctant.
“I’ve tried.”
“?”
Sheng Renxing could not stop laughing.
He nodded.
“If students don’t listen, it’s because the teacher isn’t capable enough.”
“What are you two laughing about?”
The people ahead had finally finished fooling around and noticed Xing Ye and Sheng Renxing walking some distance behind.
Yellow Hair hooked an arm over Jiang Jing’s shoulders and pointed to a convenience shop beside them.
“Buy masks?”
Sheng Renxing turned and saw masks hanging from a metal rack.
They were black, with two red characters meaning HEAVEN’S KILLER printed across them.
“…” I refuse.
Inside the shop, Sheng Renxing searched for ages before finding plain black masks crushed into a corner.
While paying, he suddenly came to his senses.
He was only here to watch the excitement and did not plan to do anything.
Why was he buying crime equipment?
Yet in the end, he silently bought it anyway.
Better prepared than sorry.
“How much?”
“Five.”
The shop owner looked at Xing Ye behind him, who was still choosing.
“Want the one that young man has too? If so, I’ll make both ten.”
Sheng Renxing turned.
Xing Ye was holding a mask printed with a single eye.
He looked back at the owner.
“What if we don’t buy them together?”
“Yours is five. His is seven.”
The owner answered while watching television.
Sheng Renxing looked at the mask again, unable to believe the eye was somehow worth two yuan.
“And this is seven?”
The owner became unhappy.
“Young boss, what kind of talk is that! That model in the young man’s hand—that’s the last one! Sold out everywhere! Out of stock, understand?”
“…” Sheng Renxing frowned speechlessly. “Wasn’t there only one of that model to begin with?”
“…What is wrong with you!”
The owner abruptly stood.
“Looking for trouble?”
Xing Ye stepped forward and pulled Sheng Renxing once.
Yellow Hair and the others, who had been looking at spicy strips nearby, turned too.
They looked ready to come over.
The owner swept his eyes over them.
His momentum weakened.
“Are you buying or not?”
Sheng Renxing had never feared anyone in a competition of arrogance.
He sneered—
but before he could speak, Xing Ye squeezed his shoulder.
Xing Ye pulled a ten-yuan note from his pocket and tossed it onto the counter.
The squeeze turned into a pat.
With slight force, he pushed Sheng Renxing once.
“Go.”
Then toward Yellow Hair and the others:
“Hurry up.”
After leaving the shop, Sheng Renxing looked at Xing Ye.
“We still have business,” Xing Ye said.
Sheng Renxing thought about it.
True.
Then he turned, raised his phone, and took a photo of the shop entrance.
“What’s that for?”
Xing Ye tore open the mask package and fitted it over his face.
“Holding a grudge.”
Sheng Renxing snorted.
He had a QQ album named “Yesterday.”
Everything he hated and every grudge he wanted to remember was recorded there so he would not forget.
Once revenge had been taken, he would turn the corresponding photo black and white.
Meaning:
Yesterday is dead.
Turning, he saw Xing Ye.
The mask had a single eye printed in the center.
It was both non-mainstream and painfully adolescent.
Yet on Xing Ye, it somehow looked good.
His aura was cold.
With the mask on, he gave off a dangerous feeling that warned strangers away.
At minimum, he was royalty among non-mainstream delinquents.
Without thinking, Sheng Renxing aimed the camera he had not closed at Xing Ye and took a picture.
Xing Ye tilted his head and dodged slightly.
Half his face was covered by the mask, leaving only his eyes exposed.
He narrowed them at Sheng Renxing.
“What grudge are you holding against me?”
