After a moment, Wan Guanxi laughed and tried to pat his shoulder.
“I give that show-off line full marks!”
Sheng Renxing shifted aside and avoided him.
After a while, Wan Guanxi asked again,
“So that building really wasn’t donated by your family?”
“…”
“Yes. The principal was sent here by my family too.”
Sheng Renxing stared at him expressionlessly.
“Holy fuck!”
Wan Guanxi looked genuinely shocked.
“That’s amazing! No wonder he listened to you just now!”
“…” Sheng Renxing stared at him for a long while.
He finally confirmed this idiot truly believed the principal had been dispatched by Sheng Renxing’s family.
For a moment, Sheng Renxing genuinely wondered how he had ended up fighting this person yesterday.
The most important part was that Jiang Jing and the others were not explaining either.
They were secretly laughing.
There was absolutely no sign of the brotherly loyalty that had made them defend Yellow Hair in the morning.
Sheng Renxing nodded.
“Right. Nobody else knows. Don’t tell anyone!”
Jiang Jing and the others’ shoulders shook even harder.
“Of course!” Wan Guanxi slapped his chest.
“With a mouth like mine, even if someone held a knife to my throat, I wouldn’t say one word!”
“…” If you tell anyone, I’ll be the one holding the knife to your throat.
The others could no longer hold back.
They laughed as though they had stepped on electric switches.
Class was in session now and there were few students around.
They walked from the building containing the principal’s office toward the Senior Two building.
The instant they stepped into sunlight, the group stopped laughing.
Everyone shoved hands into trouser pockets and started walking with exaggerated outward-turned strides, practically tearing their hips apart.
All they needed were sunglasses to perform as cold, ruthless gangsters.
For some inexplicable reason, Sheng Renxing moved a little closer to Xing Ye.
Then, thinking about it, he looked up.
He happened to see row after row of bright young faces pressed against the windows of the Senior Two building, all staring down at them.
“…” If the sun were not shining so brightly, that sudden sight would have scared him into stumbling.
Sheng Renxing turned to Xing Ye beside him.
Xing Ye had both hands in his uniform pockets.
His legs were not spread.
His head was slightly lowered and there was only a harmless bend in his back.
Looked at this way, he resembled the little brother being led around by the gang ahead.
There was no happiness over being “acquitted.”
If anything, his face looked even darker than it had in the principal’s office when expulsion had been mentioned.
He had not joined the joking earlier either.
Abnormally quiet.
Sheng Renxing lowered his eyes with him and thought:
Is it because they’re calling his parent?
Only then did Sheng Renxing realize that hitting a teacher was not actually as natural and insignificant as they had acted.
At his previous school, they absolutely would have been expelled.
Then again, his previous school would not have had a teacher who skipped class every day.
He drifted in thought until a sharp whistle sounded.
Sheng Renxing looked up.
They were just reaching the teaching building.
A boy on the first floor stuck half his head out of a classroom and whistled at them.
Then he raised a thumb.
His classmates obviously heard too.
A burst of noise erupted inside.
The teacher at the front slapped a metal ruler against the podium.
“You trying to rebel? You trying to rebel?!”
Most of the students below did not care.
Sheng Renxing watched the scene and thought comparing this school to his old one had been idiotic in itself.
When they reached the second floor,
he said to Xing Ye, “Wait.”
Then he turned toward his own class.
Class Three was the first room beside the corner.
He stood outside the window and held out a hand toward Chen Ying.
Chen Ying looked outside with a complicated expression, then handed him a bag.
And three yuan in change.
Sheng Renxing turned and went back toward the stairwell.
Yellow Hair and the others had already gone upstairs.
Only Xing Ye remained, leaning against the railing.
When Sheng Renxing approached, Xing Ye first glanced at what he was carrying.
Sheng Renxing held the breakfast out.
“Here.”
Xing Ye did not take it. “What’s this?”
“Breakfast. Didn’t you say you hadn’t eaten?”
Sheng Renxing shook the bag, making it rustle.
“?”
Xing Ye looked like he froze.
“When did I say that?”
Sheng Renxing froze too.
“When they were escorting you away.”
The two stared at each other for a moment.
Sheng Renxing cursed.
“What did you say then?”
A trace of amusement appeared in Xing Ye’s eyes.
“I told you not to come.”
“Then why the hell did you shake your head!”
Sheng Renxing raised his voice, then found the coincidence too ridiculous and burst out laughing.
Xing Ye laughed too and accepted the bag.
“Thanks. How much?”
“You really haven’t eaten?” Sheng Renxing looked at him suspiciously.
“Paying you back for the mask.”
Xing Ye shook his head. “Didn’t have time.”
Seeing he was not leaving immediately, Sheng Renxing asked,
“If I hadn’t gone, how would you have handled it?”
“Just scare us a little. They wouldn’t actually expel us.”
“So sure?” Sheng Renxing raised a brow.
“The last person expelled from this school brought a knife onto campus for a group fight.”
Xing Ye pointed through the window toward the sports field.
“…Huh?”
“One person went to the hospital. Severe injuries. Didn’t survive.”
Xing Ye lowered his eyes.
Condensation from the iced soy milk had soaked through the bag.
A drop fell to the floor and formed a small circle.
“Fuck!”
Sheng Renxing blinked in shock.
“Your school culture is pretty wild.”
“But didn’t you say your principal is new?”
“Right. So he might use us as an example.”
Xing Ye took the soy milk out and looked at him.
“Thanks.”
“What are you thanking me for?”
Sheng Renxing met his gaze once, then lowered his eyes to the soy milk in Xing Ye’s hand.
Somewhat uncomfortable, he touched the stud in his ear.
Xing Ye answered solemnly.
“Thanks to your family for donating a building.”
“?”
Sheng Renxing looked up, speechless.
“You were listening!”
“I thought you were spacing out back then.”
After all, Xing Ye had not participated while the others joked.
That made Xing Ye pause.
Sharp observation.
He pointed at his own ear with the hand holding the soy milk.
“I can space out and still listen to you talking.”
Sheng Renxing cooperatively applauded.
“Impressive.”
The bell rang at that exact moment.
Sheng Renxing looked at him.
“You going back to class?”
“Mm.”
Xing Ye answered and turned upstairs.
Sheng Renxing went with him.
“You still have exams?”
“Yeah. Haven’t finished.”
He would be testing until this evening.
Sheng Renxing cracked his fingers.
A sharp sound.
“You coming to sleep?”
Xing Ye had meant to shake his head.
He had slept the night before and was not short on sleep now.
Before he could answer, Sheng Renxing added,
“But there’s an invigilator today. Don’t know whether she’ll let you sleep.”
Xing Ye tilted his head. “Who’s invigilating?”
“Teacher Hu?”
Sheng Renxing thought about it.
When the teacher introduced herself, she had pronounced Hu in a way that sounded like “alive.”
“A woman with long hair and glasses, fifty or sixty.”
“Mm.” Xing Ye nodded. “Then I won’t sleep with Hu.”
“?”
Sheng Renxing froze for a moment before understanding the pun.
Then he laughed so hard he could not stop.
Xing Ye had delivered it with complete seriousness, like he was genuinely considering the matter.
“Didn’t expect that from you, Brother Xing.”
After laughing, Sheng Renxing gave him a thumbs-up.
Dirty jokes from high-school boys were hardly unusual.
But coming from Xing Ye, it felt bizarre.
Much more powerful.
Even after Sheng Renxing entered the exam room and saw “Teacher Hu” herself, he still wanted to laugh.
He had to bite hard into the inside of his cheeks to hold it in.
His expression became so grim it looked like he was going to war.
The teacher was confused.
When handing him the paper, she deliberately said,
“These questions are fairly difficult. For you, it’s enough just to get a score. Your teachers won’t blame you.”
“Hm? Mm!”
Sheng Renxing took a deep breath.
“Thank you, Teacher.”
By the time he finished the exam, the classroom was already in an uproar.
When Sheng Renxing returned, it was as though everyone had finally been waiting for him.
Half the class turned toward him at once, gazes enthusiastic and excited.
“?”
His butt had barely touched the chair when the two in front spun around.
Sheng Renxing asked, “Do you need a delivery fee?”
“Huh?”
Chen Ying’s expression stalled.
He froze, then shook his head.
“No, no!”
“Oh.”
Sheng Renxing answered and lowered his head to read.
Chen Ying had been caught off guard and forgot how to start what he wanted to say.
The fat boy elbowed him.
Only then did Chen Ying ask,
“Brother Sheng!”
The shout immediately summoned the teacher.
“Chen Ying!”
Chen Ying jolted and turned toward the teacher.
“You talk to the front, you talk to the side, and now you won’t even leave the new student alone? How many mouths do you have? Go stand outside!”
“Hey…”
Before Chen Ying could protest, the fat boy beside him immediately stood and gave him space to pass.
He even smiled.
“Well, fuck?”
“Go!” The teacher slapped the podium.
Chen Ying elbowed the fat boy hard and went outside.
He stood directly beside Sheng Renxing’s window.
A little while later, he whispered,
“Brother Sheng? Brother Sheng?”
“…” Gossip truly was humanity’s greatest driving force.
Sheng Renxing looked at him. “What do you want to ask?”
Chen Ying’s eyes instantly widened.
“Did Xing Ye and the others really go beat up Wang Dahai last night?”
“No,” Sheng Renxing said. “I only went to testify.”
“Ohhh—”
Chen Ying stretched the sound out, understanding instantly.
Then asked,
“How did you get involved?”
“Because I was with them last night.”
That was the story he had given the principal.
“How did you end up together?” Chen Ying asked curiously.
“We fought in the morning and resolved the misunderstanding that night.”
Sheng Renxing’s voice was flat, as though reciting a script.
“Ohhh—”
Then Chen Ying sensed something wrong.
“What about the two of us?”
He pointed at the fat boy.
Before Sheng Renxing could answer, the fat boy turned and snapped,
“What misunderstanding did you have? You got punched twice and now you’re forcibly writing yourself into the story?”
“I hit back, okay! I even blocked a punch for you!”
Chen Ying immediately turned his fire on him.
“Besides, Xing Ye didn’t participate either, and he still went!”
The fat boy pointed at him.
“Then go find Xing Ye for dinner right now and tell him you want to resolve your misunderstanding!”
Chen Ying’s face changed instantly.
Still forcing himself to act tough, he pointed back.
“If you go, I’ll go!”
“I’m not going!”
“You’re scared?”
“That’s right, I’m scared!”
The fat boy raised his brows, looking strangely proud.
“…” Sheng Renxing shifted his chair backward to avoid their spit.
“I think both of you have plenty of courage!”
The teacher gritted her teeth at the front.
“Xiao Qiang! Go stand outside!”
“Fuck!”
The fat boy turned, saw her, and sheepishly stood and went out.
Sheng Renxing thought it was funny.
He looked toward the teacher and found her looking directly at him.
“…”
He went outside too.
The three stood in a row in the corridor.
The two beside him continued arguing.
The content was childish.
And more childish.
Sheng Renxing looked back.
Many people inside kept secretly glancing at him.
Whenever he caught them, they immediately looked away.
After listening to the other two insult each other for a while, Sheng Renxing asked curiously,
“You dared fight them. Why are you afraid of them?”
Where was the hot-blooded courage of modern high-school boys?
“Ah, that doesn’t count as being afraid!” Chen Ying argued.
“It’s mainly that… they’re different from us.”
The fat boy nodded too.
“Yeah. They’re from Yanjiang Street. They mix around outside.”
“Yanjiang Street?”
Sheng Renxing remembered what Wei Huan had told him.
“Right!” Chen Ying nodded.
Thinking Sheng Renxing did not know the place, he explained,
“Little Uncle—your uncle’s bar is near that area. That’s Yanjiang Street.”
After thinking, he added,
“My uncle told me not to provoke Xing Ye.”
Then he glanced at Sheng Renxing.
He had not expected Sheng Renxing to transfer in and get mixed up with Xing Ye’s group on his first day.
“Exactly!” the fat boy agreed.
“When he came to break up the fight today, I thought he was about to pull a knife from his pocket and chop me.”
“I spent the whole day wondering whether they’d retaliate. I was almost ready to make my dad pick me up after class.”
Chen Ying sighed too.
The fat boy immediately changed faces and booed him.
“Fuck, you’re useless. Coward!”
“??? Say that again!”
“They won’t,” Sheng Renxing said, interrupting the next round of argument.
Then he asked Chen Ying,
“Does Uncle know Xing Ye?”
“Huh?”
Chen Ying scratched his head.
“I don’t know. Uncle never said.”
“Oh.”
Sheng Renxing answered.
He suddenly wanted to check his phone, but it was inside the classroom.
He looked back and found the experience rather novel.
This was the first time in his life he had been punished by being made to stand outside.
And it was for talking in class.
Talking he had been forced into.
The two beside him, however, showed no embarrassment whatsoever about getting him punished too.
They were arguing passionately and inseparably.
Sheng Renxing walked farther forward and decided to lean by the corridor ahead.
The building was shaped like a lowercase n.
Class Three was on the far-left vertical line, facing the classrooms along the other side from across the open center.
There were flowers and plants growing in pots along the corridor railing.
Sheng Renxing did not know what species.
The students on duty watered them every day.
His hand got itchy and he plucked a leaf.
Then he saw, hidden behind the plant inside the pot:
chewing gum, cigarette butts, and a ballpoint pen.
“…” You could really tell how lovingly the teachers and students cared for it.
Sheng Renxing stuffed the leaf he had just plucked inside too.
Then he looked around.
Across the courtyard, a male student who had been furiously writing homework while standing in the corridor smiled at him.
They did not know each other, but as fellow students being punished outside, Sheng Renxing nodded in response.
To the left, two boys were talking.
One leaned back against the railing in an extremely cocky posture.
What was this?
Did every class have to send out a door god to handle diplomacy with the other classes?
Sheng Renxing exhaled and lifted his head.
He happened to see Xing Ye leaning over the railing above, looking at him.
When Xing Ye saw him look up, he opened and closed one hand:
close, open, close, open.
What kind of weird greeting was that?
Sheng Renxing raised two fingers to his brow and swept them outward in a salute.
Xing Ye watched him.
He seemed to smile.
Sheng Renxing mouthed:
“Pun-ished?”
Xing Ye shook his head.
“Fresh. Air.”
As he spoke, he brought his index and middle fingers together at his lips, then moved them away.
Even with a whole floor between them, Sheng Renxing could see the pale color of his lips.
He blinked.
For one instant, he thought Xing Ye was blowing him a kiss.
Possessed by some strange impulse, Sheng Renxing crossed his index finger and thumb into a tiny heart and aimed it upward.
Xing Ye froze.
Then he stayed in that posture, looking at Sheng Renxing as he laughed.
And laughed.
He could not stop.
Only then did Sheng Renxing understand:
Xing Ye’s gesture had meant smoking.
He cursed inwardly.
His toes clenched from embarrassment.
His ears turned completely red.
On the surface, he forced himself to remain calm.
He raised his other hand too, remembering several ways of making hearts that he had seen online.
First, he crossed index finger and thumb into a small heart.
Then he used both thumbs and index fingers to make a medium heart.
Then…
Then he forgot.
So he simply used both index fingers to draw a larger heart in the air.
Brother Sheng didn’t misunderstand anything.
Brother Sheng intended to give you a heart!
The boy across the courtyard doing homework saw it too.
Laughing, he poked his head out farther, trying to see who was upstairs.
What the hell are you watching?
Sheng Renxing cut him a sideways look from the corner of his eye.
Upstairs, Xing Ye finally finished laughing.
He extended his right hand and drew in the air:
from left to right, then down-left, up, down-right, left.
Sheng Renxing watched him.
Xing Ye had drawn him a star.
When school ended, Sheng Renxing returned to the classroom and opened his phone.
He happened to see a WeChat message from Wei Huan.
Uncle Wei Huan: [Busy with class? Dinner tonight?]
Sheng Renxing thought.
[Okay.]
The other side quickly replied with a sticker of a seal making a heart.
“Fuck.”
After what had just happened, Sheng Renxing did not want to see another finger-heart for a while.
That afternoon, he finished the final subject.
Teacher Yu casually asked while collecting the paper,
“Were the questions difficult? How were they compared with your previous high school?”
“They were okay.”
Sheng Renxing thought:
Do you really need to ask?
“The old school was a little harder.”
Teacher Yu nodded.
“Your school’s progress was probably a bit ahead of ours too.”
More than a bit.
Sheng Renxing nodded.
“Mm.”
Teacher Yu said, “Oh.”
“Your grades were good before, right? Why did you suddenly transfer to our school?”
Sheng Renxing followed her downstairs.
“Some family matters.”
Teacher Yu nodded.
“No matter what things were like before, now that you’re at our school, treat it as a fresh start. Study hard.”
Sheng Renxing looked at her, then nodded.
“Mm.”
“If there’s anything you can’t adjust to, tell your teachers. We’ll help too.”
“Okay. Thank you, Teacher.”
…
Even after leaving the school gate, Sheng Renxing still had not figured out exactly what Teacher Yu was trying to imply.
He walked past the street.
At the traffic light, a car honked as he approached.
The window rolled down.
Wei Huan waved from inside.
“Get in.”
In the car, Wei Huan kept one hand on the steering wheel and occasionally turned to glance at him.
“How’s school?”
“Hm?”
Sheng Renxing withdrew his gaze from the window.
“It’s okay.”
“Can you keep up with the pace?” Wei Huan asked again.
Sheng Renxing dropped the polite answer he had used with the teacher and laughed.
“Whose pace with whose?”
Wei Huan laughed too.
“You think the school can keep up with your pace?”
“Senior Two can’t. Senior Three probably can.”
Sheng Renxing tilted his head with exaggerated seriousness.
Wei Huan laughed hard.
“No wonder people say nephews resemble their uncles. I believe it now.”
“Were your grades that good?” Sheng Renxing was amused.
“Pretty normal.”
Wei Huan copied his earlier tone.
“Ordinary guaranteed-admission level.”
Sheng Renxing laughed again.
“Didn’t you go to university overseas?”
“Yeah.”
Wei Huan checked the rearview mirror and turned.
“Went chasing art and true love.”
“Huh?” Sheng Renxing was surprised. “Did you catch them?”
His mother had never told him this part.
Wei Huan looked at him and smiled.
“Guess.”
Sheng Renxing had never heard that his uncle had a wife.
“You didn’t?”
Wei Huan hissed. “You’re pretty direct.”
After a pause:
“Does your uncle look like the type who can’t get someone?”
“You did?” Sheng Renxing widened his eyes curiously.
“I got the person.”
Wei Huan smiled faintly.
“But I didn’t get true love.”
Sheng Renxing stared at him and blinked.
“What does that mean?”
Wei Huan turned to look at him again.
“Little brat.”
Sheng Renxing clicked his tongue and thought about it himself.
Then he understood.
“So your white moonlight turned into plain white rice.”
Wei Huan laughed and sighed.
Sheng Renxing considered that.
“Scumbag.”
“Hey?”
Wei Huan looked at him laughing, then cursed,
“Little brat!”
“You’ve never pursued someone?”
“Me? Need to pursue?”
Sheng Renxing raised a brow.
Wei Huan said, “Please. Don’t resemble me that much.”
“Fuck.”
Sheng Renxing could not help laughing.
“I really haven’t.”
Wei Huan asked,
“What about things you like? Sports? Piano? Didn’t your mother say there was a period when you played day and night?”
“Nothing I especially like.”
Sheng Renxing thought.
“At the time, it was because some idi— someone beat me in a competition. I just wanted to beat him back.”
“Nothing at all?” Wei Huan lifted a brow.
“No.” Sheng Renxing shook his head.
Growing up, he truly had never had anything he especially loved.
His dictionary seemed to contain only two categories:
things he hated, and things he did not hate.
Music, sports, instruments, clothes, food…
Once you removed the things he disliked, he was not picky about anything else.
“What about that girl you dated in middle school?” Wei Huan asked.
“Ah.”
Sheng Renxing said, “Why did my mom tell you everything?”
He scratched his hair.
“It was only two weeks.”
Barely counted as dating.
“You didn’t like her?” Wei Huan asked.
“It’s not that I disliked her.”
Sheng Renxing wrinkled his face.
“So you liked her?”
“…” Sheng Renxing fell silent.
What did he understand about liking someone back then?
The girl had pursued him aggressively.
She was attractive, had a good figure, and at the time Big-Head Qiu and the others all had girlfriends.
So he agreed.
Within three days, he was annoyed.
It was as though the title “girlfriend” were some kind of golden command token.
The girl immediately started making all kinds of demands:
stop smoking so much, stop drinking, stop riding his bike, and so on.
That kind of thing seemed very popular at the time.
If a girlfriend did not control her boyfriend, she did not love him.
If a boyfriend did not obey his girlfriend, he did not love her.
Big-Head Qiu had been like that too.
His girlfriend restricted him in every possible way and he was delighted about it.
But from childhood onward, the thing Sheng Renxing hated most was other people controlling him.
The fact that he had not exploded on the spot was already the result of extreme restraint.
Still, his expression had never been pleasant.
They broke up on their first date.
The girl wanted to hold hands.
It was summer.
Holding hands felt no different from clutching a furnace, so Sheng Renxing dodged.
The girl finally exploded and demanded,
“Do you love me or not?”
Sheng Renxing was already annoyed too.
He had not expected dating to be this troublesome.
So he said:
“To be honest, I always thought I’d hired a nanny.”
They broke up on the spot.
Wei Huan saw him fall silent and fired back:
“Scumbag.”
