"The person who you are sitting before could have been a murderer. I shouldn't say luckily, but the boy recovered from a brain injury. And with my situation at that time, it was hard to pay for the medical bills, but Gu Xiao and our other friends helped me."
"Everything is all fine now, and the boy is healthy too, but when I think about that day, I feel... dirty. I feel itchy, and I want to rip my skin off. It doesn't bother me that much now, though, but I still feel guilty, of course. I've stopped doing taekwondo seriously for a while and stirring up fights in general, but I still like it... a lot."
Gu Xiao always appeared to be the more hot-headed one, but in fact, it was the opposite. When Zhang Yongyin kicked Wang Xing's friend in the face, there was a second of shame since it reminded him of when he harmed his opponent during the Annual Youth Tournament.
But strangely, he didn't feel as guilty as he did before. His sanity wasn't engulfed by the desire to win, and he wasn't pressured by anyone. All he was doing was trying to protect his friend. That was the simplest reasoning.
"Putting all this stuff aside, I went a little psychotic after that tournament. You know what Gu Xiao did? He started beating me up," Zhang Yongyin laughed a little.
"But you can think of it as for a good cause because I really needed that beating. It differed from how my teacher would beat me because I felt refreshed after Gu Xiao finished punching me."
"My arm nearly broke, though. Every time I think about it, my arm gets weird tingles. Anyway, just ignore everything Wang Xing said about you. If he tries to open his mouth again and talk shit, we'll just beat him up again and again so he can't speak again," he joked.
In fact, Lan Yuning had already forgotten about that. After listening to Zhang Yongyin talk, everything Wang Xing said about him didn't linger in his head that much.
"Please don't," Lan Yuning said.
"Student President, I used to think you were a scary textbook machine," Zhang Yongyin laughed. "Well, that's that. Do you know what Gu Xiao's dream is? He doesn't talk about it much."
Suddenly, Zhang Yongyin's phone rang, and he looked at who was calling him before beaming, "Speak of the devil."
He picked up, and the voice from the other side reverberated loud and clear. "Where are you?"
"I'm at the canteen. Why?"
It was definitely a peculiar feeling, but the abscess in Lan Yuning's heart somewhat cleared when he heard Gu Xiao's usual voice.
"What?! Good to know you're still alive and eating without me," he said with hints of saltiness. "Is Student President with you?"
"Student President?" Zhang Yongyin repeated and looked at Lan Yuning, who tilted his head in confusion. "Yeah, why?"
"Can you pass the phone to him?"
Handing the phone over, Lan Yuning received the phone with hesitation.
"Student President? Hello?" Gu Xiao said.
Lan Yuning let out a quiet, "Hm?"
This time, his voice was softer, so Gu Xiao's words didn't make it to Zhang Yongyin's ears. Even so, he was too absorbed with cleaning his tray that not even a speck of sauce was left on the plate.
"I'm sorry..."
The apology made Lan Yuning pause for a while in confusion.
"Why?"
"For smacking your hand."
He only just remembered that time when Gu Xiao pushed him away but never thought much of it.
"No, it's fine. Does it still hurt a lot?" Lan Yuning asked.
"Of course, it does."
"...I'm sorry."
"That sounds weird coming from you. Did you learn that word just now?"
Lan Yuning clenched the phone as he took a deep breath to calm himself. Whenever he wanted to say something sincere, Gu Xiao's following sentences would always make his fists heat from rage.
After reflecting on his emotions, he wasn't angry, rather glad.
Gu Xiao laughed, but his laughter was more soft and breathy, probably because he had just woken up from his nap and was still lying on the bed. Yet, Lan Yuning received that brief laughter with an indescribable warmth that coursed throughout his spine.
"I'm just kidding. There's nothing you need to apologise for!"
Lan Yuning wasn't apologising for when he was trying to apply the ointment, but he was apologising because Gu Xiao got hurt because of him.
At first, he wasn't sure why he would go to such lengths with just a few people talking behind his back, since it was common for people to talk badly about others, not just him. But there was so much he didn't know, so he didn't jump to conclusions.
Perhaps those who constantly hid their fears were simply ashamed or refused to acknowledge them.
Some called it the act of lying, both to others and to oneself. If they were to submerge and cover everything through the act of 'moving on,' the past would constantly chase them, from the present and to the future.
However, those that had nothing to hide were fearful because in the end, they had nothing left to lose.
...
"What happened to your face?" Gu Heiyu cried in shock, as though the person sitting on the couch was a demon.
"What? Haven't you heard of the new trend?"
"What trend? Looking like an eggplant?"
Gu Xiao groaned and scratched his head in frustration, but each time he moved his arm, his muscle ached that he had no choice but to let it drop drown.
He slumped his body on the couch with one leg on the wall while the other on the armrest of the sofa.
"It's been so long since I've seen this bruised appearance that my eyes haven't adjusted to it yet," she mumbled, shaking her head, and proceeded to the kitchen.
"Can you order beef noodles from Aunt Yuan's shop?"
"Do we still have that first time delivery discount coupon?"
"Yeah, it's in my drawer."
Gu Heiyu head to his room while Gu Xiao grabbed the incomplete practice paper that Lan Yuning handed him. Gazing at those papers, a moment in the infirmary resurfaced in his mind:
"Don't do it for others. You can do it for me."
Gu Xiao was never asleep then. He simply lowered his eyelids since he was so tired, but when he heard those words, his mind and heart returned to their restless state that he only napped for ten minutes out of those two periods he skipped.
The first thing he thought was that Lan Yuning must've heard all that nonsense he was spouting back in the office, and a tinge of sourness spread throughout his chest.
He must've sounded so pathetic and whiny that he couldn't help but yell in his mind from embarrassment.
Now that he thought about it, Lan Yuning heard everything, yet he still handed this practice paper straight after. What brutality.
The corner of his lips raised, and Gu Xiao started cackling, which that cackle soon transformed into a burst of laughter.
After laughing to himself for a few minutes, his rib cage started stinging from all the vibration, leaving him to let out an "Ow." But the pain of his ribcage couldn't stop him from smiling idiotically.
He wondered if Lan Yuning was like Zhang Yongyin, where they both studied when they felt down. But after thinking for a while, Lan Yuning studied no matter what mood he was in. Just then, he remembered the boy's words from a while ago.
"If you get 70% or above for any subject, I will grant you a wish."
"A wish?" he uttered.
When the noodles arrived, Gu Heiyu transferred them into a bowl and carried it to the living room.
What she saw before her shocked her so much that she nearly dropped the bowl of noodles. Her brother, who just had a fight at school, was doing a past paper.
She had to blink twice, but even after all that intense blinking, she still couldn't fathom this scene before her.
No matter how hard she attempted to piece these dots together, it still didn't make sense.