After evening study, the lights in the teaching building were extinguished one by one.
Li Weize walked amongst the crowd, slouching and bowing his head, trying hard to diminish his presence.
Suddenly, an arm draped over his shoulder, and a strong stench of smoke whiffed up his nostrils.
His body shuddered instinctively, his fingers gripping tightly onto his backpack strap.
The arm forcefully led him into an alleyway beside the school, and roughly propelled him from behind.
Li Weize stumbled onto his knees, a searing pain immediately came surging from his kneecaps.
A lethargic voice sounded.
"Have you brought money today?"
You Biao stood in the shadows of the alley with a hand in his pocket, a mix of yellow and black hair could be faintly seen on his buzzed head.
He took a puff of his cigarette, his eyes narrowing at the teen on the ground.
Upon hearing his voice, Li Weize reflexively shrunk his neck, a trace of hesitation and fear flickering in his eyes.
Seeing his silence, You Biao impatiently furrowed his brows.
The boys beside him got the hint.
"Brother You is talking to you, are you deaf?"
"Do you need a few punches before you can answer?"
"Damn, this guy is really a freak…"
"Is a mutant's brain also dysfunctional, can't even understand human language?"
They took turns taunting him, their scornful eyes idly scanning over his body.
Suddenly, a glob of spit landed on the ground in front of Li Weize.
The apprehensive knot in his heart finally loosened, and Li Weize took in a deep breath and abruptly lifted his head.
His face flushed crimson as he, for the first time, met the gaze of the person who had been bullying him for over a year.
"I don't have any money!"
His voice was loud, trembling and hoarse, like a cornered beast's final struggle.
A brief moment of silence fell in the alley, then a wave of laughter reverberated.
"Oh ho, he's grown quite the spine, now daring to resist?"
"Who do you think you're raising your voice at? Believe it or not, I'll beat you to death—"
Seeing the fist swinging towards him, Li Weize hastily spoke out, "You Biao, Su Junxin asked me to give you a message!"
He closed his eyes and turned his head, but the punch he was expecting never landed.
Instead, the punch-throwing boy let out a cry of pain, clutching his wrist in agony: "Shit, which bastard sneak-attacked me!"
You Biao ignored his cries, discarded the half-smoked cigarette and walked up to Li Weize.
He squinted his eyes, looking down at him.
"You know her?"
Li Weize was terrified, his body trembling uncontrollably, but he still spoke slowly and deliberately: "She told me to tell you, 'Before you touch any of my people, think about how you ended up sprawled on the ground that day. I knocked you down once, I could—"
Before he could finish his sentence, You Biao suddenly lifted his leg and kicked a rubbish bin beside him.
After a loud "clang" reverberated, the alley fell completely silent.
You Biao clenched his fist, his eyebrows knitted together, his gaze piercing into Li Weize for a few moments.
In the end, he said nothing. He left, leading away his subordinates who were still looking puzzled.
It took Li Weize a while to collect himself.
He started to feel weak in his limbs, he leaned against the wall, crouching down slowly. Like a fish out of water, he began to gulp in air.
His frigid fingertips brushed against a tube of ointment in his pocket. Lowering his gaze, he smiled through his tears.
Su Junxin sat astride on the eaves of a house nearby, idly tossing and catching a pebble in her hand.
She subtly curled her lips, tucking her legs back in and hopping down, disappearing silently into the night.
*
The next morning during history class, Su Junxin was daydreaming when a folded note was handed to her.
She glanced at Qin You, who was smiling at her from the side, then nonchalantly opened the note.
[Where are you planning to eat lunch today?]
She uncapped her pen and scribbled the word [Classroom] onto the note, crumpled it up casually, and threw it back.
The sunlight shining in from the window was making her feel drowsy. When the history teacher turned to write on the blackboard, she secretly yawned.
However, she didn't notice Qin You carefully folding the note and putting it inside his backpack.
*
The fourth class of the morning had just ended when Qin You left to take a phone call, leaving Su Junxin alone in the classroom, studying the blueprint of the safe zone.
A moment later, there were light footsteps at the door.
She looked up.
Li Weize held the lunch box tightly in his hand and carefully asked, "Di-did I come too late?"
Su Junxin closed her sketchbook, "No, you're just in time."
He breathed a sigh of relief and placed the lunch box on her desk.
"Yesterday... I told You Biao what you said, and they didn't bother me again." His fingers subconsciously clenched the hem of his shirt, "Thank you..."
Su Junxin opened the lunch box, took in the appetizing aroma of the food, and smiled lightly at his words.
"Didn't you promise to bring me lunch every day? It's a fair trade."
She had made a deal with Li Weize. She would protect him from being bullied by You Biao and his gang, and in return, he would bring her lunch every day.
It wasn't because his cooking was exceptionally delicious, but mostly because Xiaoyou liked it, and it conveniently saved Su Junxin the time to buy lunch.
As she was speaking, she took a few red banknotes from her pocket and handed them to him.
Li Weize was stunned and seemed unsure of what to do.
"You've already helped me so much, I-I can't take your money!"
Su Junxin, surprised at his words, looked up at him and smiled.
"You're overthinking it. This is for you to buy groceries." She picked up a piece of lotus root and put it into her mouth, "I like meat, so make more meat dishes from now on."
Li Weize stood in place, reacting to her words a few seconds later. His cheeks suddenly turned red.
"Ok-okay, got it."
After he had spoken, he accepted the notes and quickly left the room.
Su Junxin shook her head with amusement and prepared to call Xiaoyou for lunch when her gaze casually swept over the classroom door, then abruptly halted.
Qin You was holding a wooden thermal lunch box and looking at her quietly. He had appeared at some point without her realizing.
One side of his face was illuminated by sunlight, while the other half was hidden in shadow cast by his high nose bridge.
There was something eerily unsettling about it.
Su Junxin couldn't make out his expression, but something made her skin crawl, and goosebumps instantly rose on her arm.
The last time she suddenly had this kind of reaction, it was in response to a half-human, half-zombie creature that had almost killed her.
"Qin You?"
She put down her chopsticks, tentatively calling out his name.
Qin You's long eyelashes fluttered slightly, shadowing his eyes.
Without responding, he turned and walked away.
*
Qin You didn't come to class that afternoon, and he was still absent the next day.
Su Junxin put down her pen and looked at the empty seat next to her, her eyebrows furrowed and her lips tightened.
Perhaps because Qin You and Cloud had the same face and she had always felt guilty about Cloud, she couldn't help but care more about Qin You.
But she couldn't deny that she was a little worried about him.
Fortunately, on Thursday morning, Qin You finally showed up.
He seemed perfectly fine, and even greeted her with a smile as he took his seat.
Su Junxin couldn't figure out what had happened to him, and it didn't feel appropriate to ask why he had abruptly left that day at lunch, so she decided to pretend as if nothing had happened.
After class was dismissed at noon, she went to the restroom. When she returned to the classroom to wait for her lunch from Li Weize, she was surprised to find that Qin You hadn't left either.
He was sitting at his seat, slowly taking out small lunch boxes, neatly arranging them on the oil paper-covered table.
Turning his head to look at Su Junxin, Qin You smiled.
"Junxin, I brought lunch. Would you like to eat together?"
Su Junxin was momentarily stunned, then stepped forward.
Her gaze swept over the delicately prepared four meat and two vegetable dishes and two bowls of carefully packed rice on the table, and then flickered to the time on her wristwatch. A sudden sinking feeling filled her heart.
Li Weize usually delivered lunch before quarter past twelve, but it was already twenty past twelve...
Qin You, oblivious to her peculiar behavior, handed her chopsticks with a smile, "It's very tasty, would you like to try?"
A thought suddenly flashed through Su Junxin's mind.
The water cup knocked against the table, and she took a few steps back.
"Thank you, but I have some errands to run today, so... you can eat alone."
Having said that, she turned and left the classroom without looking back.