“…” Xing Ye could not help smiling along with him. He hooked one arm around Sheng Renxing and pulled him into another hug, squeezing him around the back. “Don’t say it all cutesy like that.”
“I will.” Sheng Renxing had not even had time to hug him back before Xing Ye released him. “Still one left. Hug-hug.”
He raised his brows at Xing Ye. Before Xing Ye could answer, a teacher came out of the stairwell and spotted them immediately.
“What are you doing? Why aren’t you in class?” This teacher had also been in the office earlier. He frowned at them. He did not shout, but his tone was hardly pleasant.
The teacher was going to the third floor, the same floor as Xing Ye’s class.
Xing Ye, however, followed Sheng Renxing down to the second floor and exited the stairwell.
“Where are you going?” Sheng Renxing asked.
At the same moment, Xing Ye asked, “Busy tonight?”
“Yeah.” Sheng Renxing nodded. “Why, something up?”
Xing Ye put his hands in his pockets. “Nothing.” As though he had asked casually.
Sheng Renxing understood anyway. “I’m moving. I arranged for cleaners to come tonight, so I need to supervise them.”
He had not originally thought he needed to supervise anything, but his uncle had told him it would be better if he did.
Xing Ye seemed to pause. “Is your place that big?”
“No.” Sheng Renxing thought about it. His uncle probably would not give him an enormous place. “But no one’s lived there in ages. If I cleaned it myself, I’d lose half my life.”
And it still might not end up clean. He had barely swept a floor more than a few times in his life. Professional work should be left to professionals.
Xing Ye nodded, hesitated, then said, “Dong Qiu and the others want to buy you dinner.”
Sheng Renxing raised his brows in surprise, then immediately agreed. “Sure.”
A hint of a smile appeared on Xing Ye’s face. “First Alley. You probably haven’t been there. I’ll come get you after school.”
Sheng Renxing indeed had never been there. He did not even know what kind of place First Alley was.
That did not stop him from nodding and smiling. “Okay.”
Sheng Renxing’s classroom was nearby. The two stood at the corner talking.
Now that Xing Ye had asked what he wanted to ask, Sheng Renxing should have gone into class.
But he did not move. Neither did Xing Ye. Sheng Renxing thought for a moment. “Is the school store open? I’m kind of thirsty.”
“It’s open.” Xing Ye turned. “Want to buy something?”
So the two headed back downstairs again. Outside the school store, a section of the wall jutted outward near the bottom, forming a ledge. Usually a crowd gathered there to eat, chat, or even play cards. If they got thirsty or hungry, they simply went inside and bought something. It was practically paradise.
But lately, for reasons no one understood, the school had gone insane and started patrolling during class hours, catching a fair number of students. The number of brave warriors occupying the ledge had visibly dropped. Of course, it might also have been too early. The people who normally fought for seats here probably were not even awake yet. Even so, half the territory was occupied. People sat there eating breakfast and dating.
The moment Sheng Renxing and Xing Ye arrived, nearly everyone looked over, either openly or in secret. One gaze in particular burned with unusual intensity. Sheng Renxing followed it and saw several boys sitting or squatting around a pile of breakfast food. One of them, with center-parted hair, was glaring directly at them, his eyes practically shooting fire. The others were staring too, none of them friendly.
Sheng Renxing was sure he had never seen this group before. He turned to Xing Ye.
Whether Xing Ye genuinely had not noticed or was pretending not to, his eyes never drifted in their direction. He asked Sheng Renxing, “Bottled water?”
As he spoke, he started to open the refrigerator for him.
“Mm…” Sheng Renxing looked around the shop. He had come because he was thirsty, but faced with an entire fridge full of drinks, plain water suddenly no longer seemed good enough.
His gaze passed over Coke, Fanta, milk, and several other drinks before he pointed toward a bottle of orange juice with pulp. “That.”
Xing Ye took one out and handed it to him. “Weren’t you thirsty?”
“Isn’t this water?” Sheng Renxing said with perfect confidence. “Not this bottle. The one behind it. What are you getting?”
“They’re different?” Xing Ye switched hands, then took out the bottle behind it for him.
“It’s colder.” Sheng Renxing accepted it and immediately pressed the cold bottle against Xing Ye’s neck. “What are you buying?”
Xing Ye paused at the chill and clicked his tongue, cutting him a look. He put the bottle in his hand back into the refrigerator. Then he took a bottle of water.
“Oh.” Sheng Renxing turned away, bored.
He did not go directly to pay. Instead, he wandered around, scanning the shelves.
“Hungry?” Xing Ye asked.
“Craving something,” Sheng Renxing admitted.
He looked over one shelf, then turned and looked at another. After circling the store, he still had nothing in his hands.
Xing Ye followed him through the whole loop. “What are you looking for?”
“Vitamin C tablets.” Sheng Renxing frowned slightly, already suspecting they did not carry any.
Xing Ye was silent for a moment. “What’s that?”
Sheng Renxing thought. “Lemon tablets.” He glanced back. “They’re really good.”
Xing Ye responded blandly, “Never had them.”
“I’ll bring you some next time.” Sheng Renxing walked to the lollipops and turned the display to check the flavors.
He pulled out an orange one and asked, “What flavor do you like?”
“I don’t eat those.” Xing Ye tilted his head toward him. “Elementary school kids eat those.”
“Well, I eat them.” Sheng Renxing snorted, then noticed a strawberry-mint flavor.
“What kind of psycho flavor is this?” As he spoke, he plucked it out.
Then he went to pay.
“…” Xing Ye looked baffled. “Then why did you take it?”
“For you.” Standing in line, Sheng Renxing looked back and smiled at him.
“I don’t want it.” Xing Ye folded his arms and gave the lollipop a cold glance. “Eat it yourself.”
“I’m eating orange.” After paying, Sheng Renxing tore open the strawberry-mint wrapper and held it up, trying to shove it into Xing Ye’s mouth.
Xing Ye frowned and turned his head away. “I—”
The instant he opened his mouth, Sheng Renxing jammed the lollipop in.
Xing Ye: “…” He pulled it out. “Are you asking for a beating?”
Sheng Renxing looked at him expectantly. “What does it taste like?”
“…Sweet.” Also strange. The flavor exploded in his mouth and was not particularly pleasant. He glanced at the culprit and held the lollipop toward him. “Want a taste?”
“You already licked it.” Sheng Renxing looked at the half-red, half-white candy in his hand and then at Xing Ye’s expression. “It must not be very good.”
That killed his thought of buying another one to try.
“You’re using me as a test subject?” Xing Ye narrowed his eyes dangerously.
Sheng Renxing denied it immediately. “No! I was covering the taste.”
He began unwrapping his own lollipop. “The smell of smoke on you is so strong. Did you perfume yourself with cigarettes?”
As he spoke, he seemed to remember something. He suddenly tugged up his own collar, sniffed it, and frowned.
Xing Ye looked at him. “You don’t smoke?”
He remembered that the first time he saw Sheng Renxing, Sheng Renxing had been holding a cigarette.
“It smells different.” Sheng Renxing lifted his collar and sniffed again. “Yours is harsher.”
“…Stop smelling yourself,” Xing Ye said. “Eat your candy.”
Sheng Renxing put the lollipop in his mouth and smacked his tongue. “Mine’s pretty good.”
Xing Ye: “…” He brought the strawberry-mint lollipop to Sheng Renxing’s lips. “Eat it, or I’ll beat you up.”
Sheng Renxing raised his brows at him, then actually stuck out his tongue and licked the candy once.
Afterward he frowned. “That tastes weird.”
Xing Ye froze for a beat, then pulled the lollipop back and mocked him. “Three flavors mixed together.”
Of course it was weird. Sheng Renxing lowered his eyes and said nothing, apparently concentrating on eating his own candy. From the corner of his eye, he saw Xing Ye put that same lollipop back into his mouth. Sheng Renxing bit down on his orange candy and suddenly did not find it sour at all.
Xing Ye asked, “Going back?”
“After we finish the candy.” Sheng Renxing had barely finished speaking when two crisp cracks sounded. He pulled the bare lollipop stick from his mouth.
“…Finished?”
“Mm.” Sheng Renxing looked at him. “Hurry up and eat yours.”
Xing Ye copied him, crunching down on it a few times. He frowned while chewing, clearly not fond of the flavor. They stood outside the school store talking. The group of boys who had been staring at them finally could not stand it anymore and sauntered over. Their posture looked extremely familiar—exactly the same way Yellow Hair and the others had swaggered around while showing off yesterday.
“…” Neither Sheng Renxing nor Xing Ye moved. They watched the group approach.
They stopped directly in front of Xing Ye, very close.
The boy with the center part was half a head taller than Xing Ye. He exaggeratedly looked down at him, his face practically saying Why aren’t you kneeling yet? “Xing Ye?”
Xing Ye did not answer. Sheng Renxing lifted his chin slightly and looked at Center-Part. He was taller than Xing Ye, which meant he was taller than Sheng Renxing too.
Sheng Renxing thought, That height alone is enough reason for me to beat you up. He sneered. “Your dad.”
The boys turned toward him. Center-Part opened his mouth, but the bespectacled boy beside him held him back and asked, “You’re the transfer student?”
“What do you want?” Xing Ye moved an arm in front of Sheng Renxing, keeping him behind him.
Center-Part’s tone was aggressive. “Why didn’t you show up the night before last?”
“Was busy,” Xing Ye answered calmly.
He genuinely had been.
Center-Part exploded. “Fuck your mother, you think you’re hot shit?”
The boy with glasses stopped him again. “We waited for you in the square for half an hour that night. You stood us up. Everyone’s pretty pissed.”
Xing Ye bit down on the candy in his mouth. The strange sweetness was cloying. Irritation suddenly rose in him—because of these inexplicable people, their inexplicable words, and these inexplicable challenges.
As though the name “Xing Ye” were some signboard everyone wanted to challenge and smash.
Before, he had only found them boring. Since he did not fight at school, he simply never paid attention to them. But today was different. He had finally been happy today. It was not easy for him to be happy.
Xing Ye’s expression did not change, but his gaze turned dark and deep, as though every emotion had sunk to the bottom. “So?”
The bespectacled boy pushed up his glasses and smiled. “You really are arrogant.” He theatrically straightened his clothes. “How about this. I know you don’t want to fight. So at noon, basketball court. We play a game. What do you say?”
“If you lose, just kneel down and apologize to us. Remember to bring those brothers of yours.” Then he looked at Sheng Renxing. “This has nothing to do with you. Our boss doesn’t hurt innocent people, so relax.”
“…” Sheng Renxing’s thoughts had already gone from What kind of idiot comes over looking for trouble? to simply What kind of idiot? He did not even have enough anger left to spend on them. Copying the bespectacled boy’s dramatic pauses, he said, “I stopped, playing like this, in elementary school.”
The bespectacled boy gave him a very cold look, then turned back to Xing Ye. “Well?”
“Fine.” Xing Ye nodded. After thinking, he added, “If you lose…”
He could not immediately think of anything he wanted them to do.
Sheng Renxing glanced at him and finished for him. “If you lose, take off your shirts, hang signs around your neck that say I’M A FUCKING IDIOT, and run ten laps around the field.”
“…” The bespectacled boy’s cold expression instantly cracked.
“Fine!” Center-Part had already agreed for him. He lifted his chin at Xing Ye and the others with unbearable arrogance. “You’d better not chicken out when the time comes!”
Xing Ye came back to himself, ignored them, and pulled Sheng Renxing away.
On the way, Sheng Renxing finally could not hold it in. “I thought they came to challenge you to a fight! School top dogs are this civilized now?” They were actually arranging a basketball game.
Seeing that Xing Ye’s expression did not look particularly good, Sheng Renxing moved closer and bumped him with his shoulder. “How’s your basketball?”
Xing Ye seemed to return to himself and looked at him. “Not bad.”
Sheng Renxing nodded, grinned, and pointed at himself. “Me. School basketball captain.”
Xing Ye smiled faintly too, then immediately shook his head. “Don’t play.”
“?” Sheng Renxing frowned. “Why?”
“I already have exactly five people. You don’t need to.”
“You just decided for them too?” Sheng Renxing was starting to get annoyed. He nodded expressionlessly. “Right. You five probably play together all the time anyway.”
Xing Ye glanced at him and pressed his lips together. “We don’t.” Then he added, “Those guys don’t play the same kind of basketball you do.”
“Dirty?” Sheng Renxing raised a brow. “I’m the one who set the bet just now.”
Xing Ye thought, then lifted a hand and ruffled his hair. “Then you can be substitute.”
“Dream on. I’ve never been a substitute in my life.” Sheng Renxing tilted his head away and slapped Xing Ye’s hand aside, visibly irritated. “Do you think I’m… Forget it. Stop touching my head.”
Then he reached up, took Xing Ye’s cap off, and put it on his own head. “Don’t cry if you lose.”
With that, he sped up as if to leave.
Xing Ye froze, then grabbed him hard from behind. “I’ve always thought of you as my friend.”
Sheng Renxing turned, looking genuinely surprised. “What kind of friend needs a formal declaration? Do you want to stamp a seal on it too?”
Then he yanked his arm free. Xing Ye did not chase after him. When Sheng Renxing returned to the classroom, a boy was sitting in the aisle beside his seat, tilting his chair back while chatting with Chen Ying and the others in front.
“Move.” This was probably the legendary Captain Handgun.
The captain paused and moved aside. Chen Ying saw Sheng Renxing return and gave him a resentful look. Because of one sentence Sheng Renxing had said earlier, Fatty had beaten Chen Ying up. Chen Ying had been guilty enough that he barely dared fight back. Sheng Renxing did not look at him. He lowered the brim of the cap.
The captain beside him was actually a fairly delicate-looking boy and wore glasses too. “You’re the transfer student, right? Hi, I’m Zheng Xian. I’ll be your deskmate from now on.”
“Hi.” Sheng Renxing spared him enough attention to look him over, then nodded. “Sheng Renxing.”
Zheng Xian gave an awkward smile and whispered to Chen Ying, “The transfer student is so cool.”
Chen Ying glared at him. “Obviously.”
They had not chatted long before the teacher arrived. The teacher swept his gaze around the classroom and looked especially at Sheng Renxing. After all, Sheng Renxing had become quite famous among the teachers by now.
“Hey? That’s the new student, right? Why are you wearing a cap in class?” the teacher called.
Sheng Renxing turned, took the cap off, and met the teacher’s gaze.
The teacher paused. “Sheng Renxing, right? Are you feeling unwell? You don’t look too good.”
Sheng Renxing drew a breath and adjusted his expression. “No.”
His textbooks arrived that day. Chen Ying and the others went with him to pick them up. From the stack of books, Sheng Renxing pulled out several he could tell at a glance he would never use, along with a few workbooks the school had bought for him. He threw all of them straight into the trash.
Chen Ying and the others stared at him, dumbfounded. “You’re… just throwing them away?”
Sheng Renxing paused. “You want them?” Should’ve said so earlier.
He glanced back at the trash can.
“Fuck, no!” Chen Ying waved his hands frantically.
Sheng Renxing nodded, lowering his eyes slightly. “Looking at them annoys me.”
Zheng Xian whispered to Chen Ying again, “He has so much personality!”
“Obviously.” Chen Ying thought about it. “The kind of personality where if you sit next to him and watch porn, he’ll throw your phone out the window.”
“…” Zheng Xian stared at him in horror.
He could not help protesting weakly, “That wasn’t porn! It was art!”
Fatty looked at him with pity. “Too bad homeroom teacher doesn’t understand art.”
“…”
At noon, the dismissal bell rang while the teacher at the front was still explaining a problem. Several students had already flung open the door and raced out. Halfway through the explanation, the teacher laughed helplessly, shook his head, closed his textbook, and dismissed the class.
At Sheng Renxing’s old school, this scene would have been absolutely impossible.
He watched coldly and stayed seated.
Chen Ying turned around excitedly. “Xing Ye and the others are playing Sha Bi’s group at noon?!”
“It’s on the school forum?” Sheng Renxing frowned.
“Yeah! Sha Bi’s group posted it as a challenge!” Chen Ying looked thrilled. “Everyone’s betting on who’ll win.”
Sheng Renxing thought, Does that even need asking? If that idiot wins, I’ll let you chop my head off.
Chen Ying chuckled. “Want to eat together? I’ll get someone to save us seats! Otherwise there definitely won’t be any when we get back!”
Sheng Renxing paused. His gaze drifted across the cap on his desk, and he hesitated…
Before he finished thinking, Chen Ying excitedly asked, “Oh, right! Are you playing too?”
“…” Sheng Renxing’s expression cooled. “Why would I play?”
“Huh?” Chen Ying scratched his head. “Aren’t you pretty close with Xing Ye and the others? You guys were together the night before last too, so I thought you would.” He muttered, “If you played, I’d bet on Xing Ye’s side!”
Sheng Renxing instantly glared at him. “You were planning to bet on Sha Bi?”
Fatty looked from one to the other, shoved Chen Ying away with one palm, then stood beside Sheng Renxing and pointed at him. “Wow, you were actually going to bet on Sha Bi’s group!” Then he turned to Sheng Renxing. “I’d definitely bet on you guys. That Sha-whatever? Not worth mentioning!”
“?” Chen Ying shouted, “Fatty! We fucking discussed it together!”
Zheng Xian watched them and smiled quietly. “I’ll bet on Xing Ye’s side too. A hundred, I guess.”
“?” Chen Ying stared. “Where did you get that much money?”
At that moment, a student came running over, panting hard. She was in full school uniform and failed to stop in time, nearly crashing into Sheng Renxing’s arms.
Sheng Renxing frowned and stepped aside. The student looked up. It was the same girl from that morning who had told him Teacher Yu wanted him.
The ponytailed girl clearly had not expected to embarrass herself this badly. Her face went red as she covered her mouth. “Sorry, sorry!”
“It’s fine.” Sheng Renxing forced his frown to ease and took another step away.
Chen Ying and the others went, “Oohhh.”
The ponytailed girl turned even redder. “The teacher wants you!”
“Who?” Sheng Renxing had not heard clearly.
“Teacher Yu!”
The frown he had barely relaxed gathered again. “What does she want me for?”
The girl looked up at him, then quickly away. “I-I don’t know.”
“Mm. Thanks.” Sheng Renxing turned to pack his bag.
The girl watched from the side, visibly anxious, though her voice was still as soft as a mosquito. “Teacher said you don’t need to pack up. Just go now.”
Sheng Renxing paused. “Okay.” He let go of his bag, pulled five one-hundred-yuan bills from it, and handed them to Chen Ying and the others. “Lunch is on me. Bring me something back.”
Chen Ying blurted, “Fuck, lunch won’t cost this much!”
Sheng Renxing continued, “Bet the rest on Xing Ye’s side.”
“!” Fuck!
Chen Ying and Fatty both went involuntarily silent, then sighed and looked between Sheng Renxing and Zheng Xian. “You two are filthy rich bastards!”
Fatty immediately tried to snatch the money. “I’ll do it, I’ll place the bet for you!”
Chen Ying kicked him. “Get the fuck out!”
Sheng Renxing entered the office for the second time that day. This time, Teacher Yu was the only person inside.
When she saw him, she smiled and stood. “Let’s go.”
“Where?” Sheng Renxing frowned.
“The principal wants to see you.” Teacher Yu walked past him.
“Come in.”
After the principal answered, Teacher Yu led Sheng Renxing inside. The principal was alone, seated behind his desk facing them.
He smiled. “You’re here.” Then he said to Teacher Yu, “Little Yu, thanks for the trouble.”
“It’s no problem.” Teacher Yu smiled pleasantly. “I’ll go mark papers, then.”
“Go on, go on.” The principal waved.
Once she left, the principal looked at Sheng Renxing and tapped the test papers spread across his desk. “You did well this time.”
Sheng Renxing glanced at them. “It was okay.”
The principal laughed a few times, then said, “But I also looked through your earlier papers.” He spread them out. “Come over here.”
Sheng Renxing frowned but stepped forward.
“These wrong characters in your essay look like carelessness?” The principal pointed at them.
Sheng Renxing nodded. “More or less.” He had no idea what the man wanted.
The principal picked up his English paper next. “Here too, you misspelled a word. Did you remember it incorrectly or write it wrong at the time?”
“Wrote it wrong at the time.” It was obvious at a glance. His handwriting across the page was so wild that Sheng Renxing was honestly impressed the teacher had managed to spot the misspelling at all.
The principal nodded and pulled out the math paper.
“Here. This step—did you not know how to do it, or did you calculate it wrong?”
“Didn’t know.”
The principal asked several questions in succession. All of them concerned mistakes scattered across his papers. Most were careless errors.
By the time the principal finally finished, he was still smiling, while Sheng Renxing’s brows had drawn tighter and tighter.
At last—
The principal folded the papers together and smiled at him. “Did you think the exam was easy, so you figured you could just take it casually?”
Sheng Renxing said, “Wasn’t it easy?”
“Then did you get the score you wanted?”
“What do you mean?” Sheng Renxing was already in a bad mood today, and the impatience in his tone was beginning to show.
Why did every teacher at this school insist on talking in circles? Did it make them feel impressive?
The principal looked at him. “Do you know how many students in the whole city scored higher than you?”
Sheng Renxing paused. He understood where this was going. He looked at the principal, not sure what expression he was wearing.
The principal immediately returned to smiling. “I just think you should be doing better. You can’t come to our school and keep declining.”
“I’ve taken one exam here.” Keep declining from where?
“Right, right,” the principal said. “So next time, you should do very well, shouldn’t you?”
Sheng Renxing looked at the papers in front of him. “I’m not making any promises.”
“When you transferred here, didn’t you say you’d help our school catch Number Two High and surpass Xuan High?” The principal continued smiling.
He meant Xuancheng Number Two High School and Xuan High School.
“?” Sheng Renxing stared at him, wondering if the man was dreaming. “I’m one person!”
A monthly exam required him to drag the entire school forward by himself?! Even a perfect score from him would not accomplish that.
“I know, I know.” The principal pressed one hand down soothingly while pulling a sheet of paper from a folder with the other.
“?” Sheng Renxing watched the movement. This had definitely not occurred to the man on the spot.
The principal put the sheet in front of him. “Recently, there’s an Olympiad mathematics competition.”
“Number Two High and Xuan High are both participating.”
He tapped the paper. “I entered two spots for our school.”
“…” Sheng Renxing looked at the paper, then at him. “The next monthly exam isn’t that far away, is it?”
When he had transferred in, he had shown off his grades and various abilities to secure the place, but there was no need to squeeze every last drop of usefulness out of him.
The principal smiled. “You’ve already learned everything that’ll be on our next monthly exam, haven’t you?”
“…Mm.” Sheng Renxing nodded.
The principal immediately changed tack. “Actually, monthly exam scores aren’t that important.”
“…?” Sheng Renxing said nothing.
Why not go ahead and tell me the college entrance examination isn’t important either?
Seeing his expression, the principal tried to persuade him. “How about this? If you participate, I won’t tell your father your score from this monthly exam. What do you think?”
Sheng Renxing thought, You’re actually threatening me? Go ahead and tell him.
The phone number was his anyway.
But he did not say that aloud. He took the paper and looked at it. “I’ll think about it.” He checked the date. “And it’s already pretty late. Even if I participate, I can’t promise I’ll win anything.”
The principal smiled. “That’s fine. Just do your best.” He looked at Sheng Renxing. “You’re a lot like your father in that way.”
Sheng Renxing froze and snapped his head up. “You know him?”
“At a gathering a long time ago.” The principal smiled. “Old Liu brought your father with him and said he wanted him to play chess against Little Jiang.”
“Your father immediately said he hadn’t played much and couldn’t promise he’d win.”
“And then—wow! He stunned the whole room.”
“Afterward, when they asked your father about it… Do you know what he said?”
The principal narrowed his eyes as though recalling the scene.
Sheng Renxing frowned and naturally simulated what Sheng Qiong would have said in his head. “He probably told that Little Jiang that if he’d moved a certain piece a certain way, he would’ve beaten him.”
The principal looked surprised, then burst out laughing. “Exactly! That was it! Hahahaha. It started as a perfectly good friendly match, and by the end it looked like your father was coaching Little Jiang. He got so angry he left before the banquet was even halfway over.”
Sheng Renxing tugged at the corner of his mouth. “That’s the kind of person he is.”
Terrifying and infuriating. Once, when Sheng Renxing was very young, he played someone in a badminton match. He lost. Afterward, Sheng Qiong had a badminton court specially set up.
Every day, he made time to “practice” with Sheng Renxing.
He called it practice, but really, he was just beating him. Using the exact same move. The move Sheng Renxing had lost to.
And Sheng Qiong’s technique was so far beyond that other child’s that Sheng Renxing could not win no matter how he played.
He would even mock him:
“Didn’t I already tell you how to counter it? How many times do you have to make the same mistake before you learn your lesson?”
“Do you think your pointless persistence is honorable? It’s nothing but a fig leaf for your failure, a way to deceive yourself.”
“Is learning from your opponent shameful? Or are you simply unwilling to admit you’re this incompetent—that you can’t even learn properly?”
It was not that Sheng Renxing was unwilling to learn. He simply did not want to learn from Sheng Qiong. He did not want to absorb a single thing the other man tried to teach him. Sometimes he wondered whether his rebelliousness had been born into him in the womb. He simply hated the way Sheng Qiong looked down from above and tried to control him.
His mood had already been bad. Now that an even worse person had been mentioned and unpleasant memories resurfaced, everything immediately resonated together.
The fingers inside Sheng Renxing’s pocket clenched. He felt as though he might vomit right here in the next second.
The principal was still talking endlessly. He clearly admired Sheng Qiong very much. Sheng Renxing felt increasingly nauseated. At that moment, the phone in his pocket suddenly began to vibrate. Sheng Renxing jolted, pulled out of the whirlpool of his emotions.
He wanted to take the phone out and see who it was, but barely restrained himself. It was not a message. Someone was calling. The vibration came again and again. He guessed who it was.
The buzzing was almost like some kind of electronic massager. His stomach, which had been cramping and twisting, gradually relaxed under the repeated vibrations, as something else seemed to fill the space instead. Full. Settled. Calm.
Sheng Renxing slowly exhaled and looked at the principal. “Is there anything else?”
The principal paused and finally noticed that his complexion was not quite right.
Sheng Renxing said, “If there’s nothing else, I’ll go.”
At the basketball court, Xing Ye stood near the edge while several people on the court had already started warming up. He remained motionless, staring at the spectator area with his phone pressed to his ear. There was no expression on his face, but the aura around him made people reluctant to get anywhere near him. Even the shouting and conversation near his side of the court had quieted considerably.
Everyone had the strange feeling that if they got too loud and caught his attention, he might beat them up. After a long while, he lowered the phone. He looked at it. Just as the spectators thought he was finally going to warm up, he pressed a few buttons and put it back to his ear.
Someone whispered, “Is he calling somebody?”
“A teammate, probably,” their friend guessed.
“Don’t they already have five? Who else do they need?”
“A substitute. Basketball games have substitutes, don’t they?”
“But besides those five, I’ve never heard of anyone else being close to them. And the other side is the school’s top-dog group. Being substitute basically means offending them too, right?”
“Ah… not necessarily.”
“Ah! You mean Sheng Renxing?!”
“? Sheng Renxing? The transfer student?”
“Yeah, yeah! The really handsome one!”
“But what does this have to do with him?”
“Hey! I heard he’s really close with Xing Ye. Like he’s part of their group.”
“Really…? Doesn’t look like it.”
“Yeah. They don’t seem like they’d run in the same circles.”
“But if he plays, maybe Sha Bi’s group will tone it down a little. I heard they play really dirty.”
“Who doesn’t play dirty? Winning’s what matters.”
“How do they not look close? Haven’t you seen the school forum?” someone cried dramatically, tipping their chin. “Look at Xing Ye’s clothes! His shoes!”
“Oh! Right. Didn’t the forum say all that belongs to Sheng Renxing? And that the two of them are… together?”
“That’s bullshit! And there’s no proof about the clothes either. Maybe Xing Ye bought them himself!”
“…”
A huge number of students had gathered around the basketball court to watch the excitement. It was lunch break, and some had even brought their meals over and sat down to wait. After all, the loser had to either run half-naked or kneel down. There was no conceivable reason to miss this! They waited a while longer.
Center-Part on the other side shouted, “Are we starting or not? You stalling again?”
Yellow Hair spun the basketball and shot back, “What’s the rush? Late for your reincarnation?”
As he spoke, he banked the ball into the hoop. The spectators, delighted by any spectacle whatsoever, immediately cheered and clapped. Center-Part angrily pointed at him, about to curse.
The bespectacled boy checked his watch. “We still have class this afternoon. Ten more minutes. If you don’t start by then, we’ll count it as surrender.”
Yellow Hair’s group did not answer. They looked at one another.
Jiang Jing called to Xing Ye. “How much longer?”
Xing Ye pressed his lips together, set his phone and jacket on a chair someone had somehow brought over, and walked onto the court. “Now.”
No one knew where the referee had been found. Apparently, he had a bit of a reputation in street basketball circles. Xing Ye and the others did not care. They prepared for the opening tip.
Center-Part looked at Xing Ye. “Where’s that transfer student? Too scared to come?”
Xing Ye looked at him, hair falling half over his eyes. His eyes were dark and heavy, like some substance that absorbed light.
Then Xing Ye suddenly asked, “You like Huang Wei?”
The whistle blew. While Center-Part froze, Xing Ye jumped, struck the ball in midair, and sent it toward Yellow Hair. Yellow Hair caught it.
As Xing Ye landed, his voice reached Center-Part’s ear too. “The girl who confessed to me last time?”
Xing Ye ran past him, his bland, indifferent tone like an icicle. “She’s pretty. Shame I turned her down.”
Center-Part roared, “Xing Ye! I’ll fuck your mother!!!”
His teammate shouted, “Get back on defense! Hurry!”
Too late. Yellow Hair had already passed to Jiang Jing. Basket. As they ran back, they slapped hands.
Jiang Jing high-fived Xing Ye. “What did you just say to Center-Part?”
After the high-five, Xing Ye glanced at him. “Nothing.” Then he jogged after the ball.
Jiang Jing paused and frowned. Was Xing Ye… angry? His confusion changed direction. Interesting. What had Center-Part said to piss him off? The spectators saw Jiang Jing score and erupted into cheers and whistles. Like a festival.
The basketball court was extremely crude, and it was the blazing middle of the day, but none of that could compete with their enthusiasm for watching drama. The school had not renovated the court in years. No one even knew how old it was. Paint had rubbed off both hoops, and the nets sagged beneath them, torn in several places.
A boy clapped furiously. “That shot was fucking awesome!”
A girl nearby shrieked, waving her phone. “YES!!! FUCK, XING YE IS SO HANDSOME!!!”
“?” The boy froze. Wasn’t Jiang Jing the one who scored?
The girls were already screaming at each other.
“DID I JUST SEE HIS WAIST?!!!”
“AAAAAH I DEFINITELY GOT A PICTURE!!! I’M MAKING IT MY WALLPAPER!!!”
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAA!”
“DOES ANYONE KNOW WHAT XING YE JUST SAID TO THAT—THAT GUY?!!!”
“FUCK! THAT EXPRESSION JUST NOW WAS SO HOT!!!”
The boy: “…” He silently shifted farther away.
Then he gave Center-Part a sympathetic glance. Poor guy was not handsome enough to even earn a name in the scene.
While he was thinking, a voice came from behind him. “Excuse me.”
The boy turned and saw someone pass beside him.
He did not even catch the person’s face.
Who was that? Before he finished the thought, the girls next to him shrieked again.
“IT’S SHENG RENXING!!!”
“Why is he here?”
“He came to watch Xing Ye play, right?!!!”
“AHH I KNEW IT!!!”
“RIGHT? I TOLD YOU!!!!!”
The boy: “…” Knew what? Told who what? You guys have said nothing except ahhhh this whole time.
“Sheng Renxing is so handsome! Did anyone get a picture? I think I touched his hand just now!”
“Bullshit! That was my hand! No, I didn’t get one, some guy blocked him! Ugh!”
“He really is handsome. I want to ask for his QQ!”
“AAAAAH THEN GO! I’m too scared! If you succeed, remember to share!”
“Mm-hmm-hmm-hmm!!!”
A male student: “…” If I remember correctly, aren’t we classmates?
Sheng Renxing squeezed through the crowd. He had not known there would be this many people. Was the entire school here? How were they all this nosy? Frowning, he pushed all the way to where Chen Ying and the others were.
“Hey, you got here fast?”
Chen Ying and the others made room for him. Sheng Renxing sat and looked toward the court. Another burst of shrieking rose from the crowd.
Chen Ying exclaimed, “Is this fucking basketball? This is a fight!”
“More exciting than a fight!” Fatty stared at the court. “Hey, they’re catching up!”
Below them, the score was 11–10.
“Who’s ahead?” Sheng Renxing stared at Xing Ye running across the court.
Xing Ye had pushed the sleeves of the black hoodie up his forearms. The fluid movement when he controlled the ball, the effortless cool of getting past defenders, the decisiveness of his passes… Sheng Renxing stared for a moment.
“Xing Ye’s side. But they’re about to catch up.” Chen Ying’s brows were knitted tighter than the players’, though it was impossible to tell whether he was anxious about Xing Ye’s team or about his own money.
Sheng Renxing looked across. Two people were sitting beside the opposing team, probably substitutes.
Xing Ye’s side had no one.
His fingers moved. Instinctively, he searched for a path through the crowd. Then he remembered he was currently fighting with Xing Ye.
…Maybe?
He did not actually know whether that counted as a fight. He hesitated for a while. Watched while hesitating.
Gradually, his brows knitted even tighter than Chen Ying’s.
At first he only mocked:
“That’s a hand-check foul.”
“Three people fighting over the ball and no whistle? Are they playing tug-of-war?”
Then he got angry:
“That was a fucking elbow, wasn’t it?”
“Is the referee blind? Three-second violation under the basket!”
“He can’t see something that obvious? I’m dragging him to the hospital later to get his eyes examined!”
Then someone on the other team elbowed Xing Ye directly in the ribs, and Xing Ye’s body visibly paused.
“Fuck your uncle!”
Sheng Renxing shot to his feet. Within seconds he had stepped on who-knew-how-many pairs of shoes and charged onto the court.
He roared at the referee, “Time-out!”
He did not care whether the game was still in progress. He went straight up to the boy who had elbowed Xing Ye and kicked him to the ground.
