Clang—
At yet another noise, the mathematics teacher, Liu Feng, slowly turned around in numb resignation. By the window in the second row, a tall boy had stood up. His obviously regulation-breaking yellow hair glittered so brightly in the sunlight that it hurt Liu Feng's eyes.
"Student Yu, what is it this time?"
"Huh? What are you talking about?" The yellow-haired boy looked at him with an expression of peculiar disbelief. "Didn't you hear that, Teacher Liu?"
In broad daylight, the mathematics teacher felt an icy gust sweep over him. Every student below the lectern had raised their head to stare straight at him.
He shivered for no apparent reason.
What… what sound?
What was he supposed to have heard?
Ying Jiayi, seated behind Yu Bai, tugged at the hem of his shirt. Only then did he come back to himself. With an embarrassed smile, he said, "Forget it. It's nothing important. Pretend I didn't say anything. Please carry on with your lesson."
He sat down as though nothing had happened, then gave up even pretending to pay attention and started hammering away at his phone.
The mathematics teacher took a deep breath and steadied himself with his firmly materialist view of the world. Then he casually brushed a hand over his forehead and offered a carefree smile, as though nothing had happened.
Children these days.
Nobody noticed his smooth little sequence of moves to hide his embarrassment. Everyone had lowered their heads in unison. Even Shen Mingjun, the prized student who normally showed him the most respect, had slipped his trembling hands under his desk to do who knew what.
"Holy shit, Gu Yang's lost it again."
"Wait, wait, wait. Why does Liu Feng still look like he has absolutely no idea what's going on? Is he deaf?"
"Has anyone noticed that Gu Yang's been lying face down the whole time? I sit right in front of him, and it doesn't sound like that voice is coming out of his mouth."
"I thought Liu Feng had just gotten even better at swallowing his pride. But now… what if he genuinely can't hear it?"
"What are you saying? Only we can hear him? Is this place haunted? I've lived this long and finally seen a ghost. That's it, I'm going to a temple to pray."
"Hold on. Am I seriously the only one wondering whether what Gu Yang said is true? (doge_eating_gossip.jpg)"
"Shen Mingjun's an illegitimate son? That's hilarious, considering how he always looks down his nose at everyone."
"Maybe he doesn't even know he's illegitimate. Oh, dear, won't some kind soul tell our great scholar Shen, so the poor thing doesn't have to remain in the dark? Hehe."
The group chat they were now feverishly using had been set up on the spot. Naturally, Gu Yang and Shen Mingjun had been excluded, so everyone could speak freely.
[Shen Mingjun knows perfectly well. When they could no longer hide who he was, the Shen family's original wife was generous enough to bring him into the household herself. She even agreed to give his mother—the mistress—a sum of money and send her abroad to settle down.]
[But she was inviting a wolf into her home. Shen Mingjun pretended to be an innocent little angel who knew nothing, shamelessly calling the lawful wife 'Mom'. In reality, he spent every day dropping hints to that old bastard Shen Shan that he was being emotionally abused. He drove a wedge between husband and wife until their marriage deteriorated more and more.]
[In the end, the mistress pushed out the lawful wife and took her place.]
Gu Yang's thoughts kept spilling out, each sentence like another knife driven into Shen Mingjun, who felt as though he might cough up blood.
Never in his life had he wanted Gu Yang to shut his precious mouth more desperately, by whatever means necessary.
Barring a miracle, he was about to become the laughingstock of the whole of Class Eleven. Shen Mingjun understood his classmates better than anyone. School life bored and stifled them, and if they found a new source of entertainment, they would torment that person to death.
But things hadn't yet reached the worst possible point…
After all, there was no evidence he had poisoned his father's mind against his wife. That woman was dead and couldn't testify.
But if that matter—if that particular matter came out…
Shen Mingjun's face went as pale as plaster. He wanted nothing more than to charge to the back of the room, haul Gu Yang upright, and force him to shut up. But he knew Gu Yang would slap him across the room first.
He couldn't beat Gu Yang in a fight, so for now he could only sit there, cowardly and despairing.
Fortunately, after those few remarks, the instigator finally fell silent.
The rest of Class Eleven, however, had no intention of calming down so quickly.
"Fuck. What kind of absolute scumbag is this?"
"That's vicious. The lawful wife took you in and fed you, and this is how you repay her? Talk about the farmer and the snake."
"What a bastard…"
Gu Yang's latest revelations only intensified the judgment being passed on Shen Mingjun.
"I've never liked him. Don't let that icy expression fool you. God knows how much he despises us in his head. Where does he get that sense of superiority?"
"Exactly. He probably thinks everyone's an idiot except him. He can't even hide his scheming. A mistress's son really does have no class."
"His family's not even that impressive. They're somewhere in the middle. Fine, put on airs around other people, but he still acts like that here."
"Well, he is Class Eleven's great academic genius, hehe."
"If he's such a genius, why isn't he at First High School? Didn't he want to go?"
"The untouchable flower has fallen from its pedestal!"
"Him? He's no untouchable flower. That's insulting to the phrase. If he wants to be a campus heartthrob, he should at least look as good as Gu Yang."
"Gu Yang's a heartthrob? More like a head case."
"Our esteemed Lord Gu may be unhinged, but he's undeniably beautiful. ()"
"Gu Yang hasn't just lost his mind—he's gone and developed psychic powers. (terrified.jpg)"
Bang—
The mathematics teacher snapped the chalk in his hand. Then he turned around yet again and, wearing a kindly smile far too weary for someone his age, asked, "What's wrong this time, Student Shen?"
Shen Mingjun got to his feet, his face pale with humiliation. He pressed his lips together. "I'm not feeling well. I'm going to the infirmary."
Without waiting for permission, he stormed out and slammed the door. He had to calm down somewhere else, or he was afraid he would lose control of himself right there.
Because anyone with half a brain could tell those people had set up a new group chat to talk about him behind his back!
Teacher Liu Feng picked up his thermos and took a sip of water, swallowing the bitterness in his throat. Glancing around the classroom out of habit, he noticed one more student missing besides those who had officially requested leave. "Where's Xu Qingfeng?"
"Reporting, sir. He went to burn incense at the nearest temple," Ying Jiayi answered on the absentee's behalf without looking up for long.
"Burning incense? Good, good. Such a devout child." Teacher Liu responded without the slightest connection to reality. His hairline had survived the relentless grind of graduate school without retreating, but in the mere year since he joined Observance High School, it had begun showing alarming signs of defeat.
Oh, well. It was just a job. No need to take everything so seriously.
At that moment, the bell finally rang. He gathered his lesson plans, picked up his cup, and walked out in perfect composure.
Someone pulled out the chair in front of Gu Yang and sat down. Then came a gentle tapping on his desk.
Gu Yang stayed exactly as he was, lifting his head only enough to expose an eye and look lazily at the person in front of him.
In fairness, he was exceptionally good-looking.
There was something almost feminine about his features. His brows and eyes resembled a painstakingly painted portrait, cold and beautiful. Long lashes, delicate as cicada wings, cast fine shadows, and when he looked up at someone, an indescribable gloom and danger filled his gaze.
…The sort of beauty that drew moths to the flame.
After all, this world unquestionably worshipped appearances. For most people, understanding someone's looks was far easier than understanding their soul.
How could such a lovely exterior contain a personality so wildly mismatched? The contents were nothing like the packaging.
Yu Bai thought this with genuine regret.
He stood to Gu Yang's right, one elbow resting on the desk as he bent to peer at him. Ying Jiayi had taken the front-row seat abandoned by the boy who'd skipped class to pray. With her hands folded over the chair back, she faced Gu Yang directly. Behind them, their classmates watched so intently it was as if they hoped to stare a hole straight through him.
Anyone else would have noticed something was wrong at once. Unfortunately, Gu Yang possessed a truly extraordinary inability to take a hint. He slipped his left hand out from beneath his cheek and retrieved a sweet from the drawer.
"Something you want?" Gu Yang seemed to be in a good mood. A rare flush coloured his habitually pale face. He lounged against the desk, head tilted up so his lower lashes were plainly visible, the sweet in his mouth making a small bulge in one cheek.
"Nothing much…" Ying Jiayi smoothed her carefully styled hair. Having gathered her words, she folded her arms and smiled. "You've been lying there all day, so we thought we'd check on you. Not feeling well?"
"Why wouldn't I be? I feel great." Gu Yang answered casually. For once, his mood really did seem as good as he said.
[With so much entertainment still waiting for me, why would I feel unwell?]
So much entertainment…
Ying Jiayi's smile stiffened. She almost lost control of her expression.
Of course. If Gu Yang could dig up dirt on Shen Mingjun, he could dig up dirt on everyone else too.
Not everyone in that room had committed murder or arson, perhaps, but who didn't have a secret they'd rather keep hidden?
Come to think of it, Gu Yang didn't seem to know they could hear his thoughts.
But the members of Class Eleven kept their mouths shut in perfect unspoken agreement. Not one of them mentioned it.
"What's our next class?" Gu Yang, no longer concerned with the subject, put his mathematics textbook into his drawer.
"I think…" Yu Bai checked the timetable on his phone. "PE."
"Oh. Then why aren't we at the gym?" Gu Yang pushed himself upright with one hand on the desk, looking as listless as ever. "Are we all skipping class?"
Everyone choked.
And whose fault did he think that was?!
They were burning with a thousand questions, but not one of them dared stop Gu Yang. The students who had surrounded him silently parted, sensibly clearing a path.
By the time he was out of sight, Yu Bai finally slapped his forehead. "Hang on! Shouldn't we be following him? We're only changing locations. We can keep listening there!"
The others, still standing around in bewilderment, finally caught on and hurried after him.
The moment they left the classroom, Yu Bai spotted Shen Mingjun lurking against the corridor wall, looking terribly suspicious. They stared at each other.
Everyone instinctively took a few steps back, leaving Shen Mingjun isolated.
They couldn't be certain Gu Yang's revelations were true, but a little advance precaution couldn't hurt, could it?
After all, the contempt they'd expressed for Shen Mingjun in the group chat had been perfectly sincere.
Observance High School's gymnasium stood in the southeast corner of the campus. In front was a standard four-hundred-metre running track. Outside, the building was grey and white; inside, it was divided into areas for different sports, with rubber floors so spotless they reflected people's silhouettes.
The PE teacher frowned at the assembled students. For once, they'd arrived more or less on time. Strangely, however, not one of them had remembered to change into sportswear.
The boys were manageable, but the girls' autumn uniforms consisted of skirts that fell below the knee. The PE teacher developed a headache. Rather than provoke these pampered young masters and misses, he simply let them warm up and then enjoy free activity.
Because of their places in line, Shen Mingjun and Gu Yang ended up as partners. At last, Shen Mingjun had a chance to speak to him alone. Through gritted teeth, he muttered the other's name.
"Mm?" Gu Yang replied without interest. They were stretching back to back, and he had leaned his entire weight against Shen Mingjun, his thoughts drifting away as usual.
"I have one thing to tell you. Don't blindly believe baseless rumours. You haven't actually seen any of it yourself, have you?"
Shen Mingjun had agonised over how to begin. Gu Yang apparently didn't know his thoughts could be heard, and Shen Mingjun wanted to keep the upper hand. He had no intention of revealing that secret.
So he had spent ages awkwardly rehearsing and revising his opening line.
When the person leaning on him failed to respond, Shen Mingjun grew even angrier. "I'm talking to you. Did you hear me?"
Gu Yang finally returned his attention from the book. "…What did you just say? I didn't catch it."
[Huh. Shen Mingjun actually spoke to me today. Doesn't he usually prefer making that corpse-like face?]
[Why's he in such a good mood? Has he finally won over that rich, pretty girl he's always sucking up to?]
[Acts so high and mighty at school, but he's set his sights on the only daughter of a company boss his family does business with.]
There was a long pause as Gu Yang reviewed Shen Mingjun's impressive record. Even someone as accustomed to bizarre behaviour as he was couldn't help marvelling.
[What a hopeless lapdog.]
The renewed voice in their heads made everyone stop moving at once. A few stopped so abruptly that the people on their backs heard their spines crack.
What rich, pretty girl?
As if being an illegitimate son weren't enough, Shen Mingjun was now a lovesick lapdog too?
And just how far had he gone to suck up to her?
[He's obsessed with Zheng Ying, that second-year girl. I remember her family owns a record company.]
[He actually hired paparazzi to track her daily movements, staged 'chance' encounters, and recorded which shops she lingered in so he could send her gifts under every possible pretext. Calling him a lapdog doesn't even cover it.]
[A creep.]
[Too bad none of his efforts will ever work.]
At that, not only the gossip-hungry crowd but even Shen Mingjun, who had been so miserable he wanted to cough blood, pricked up his ears.
And why was that?
[For one thing, Zheng Ying doesn't date in high school, so that's out of the question for now.]
[Besides, she's attracted to girls. She knows it herself and plans to study abroad for a few years after graduating, then come out to her family. If anyone asks, she'll blame Western influence.]
[Who would've guessed? She seemed so quiet when we had dinner before. Turns out she's got quite a rebellious streak inside.]
Those words were the final straw. Shen Mingjun thought of all the time and effort he'd sunk into pursuing her over the past few months. Combined with the shocks he'd already endured, it was too much. His legs gave way and he crumpled to the floor.
