In a cramped and narrow alleyway.
Half-torn lost children notices were pasted onto the mottled walls. There was a burst of commotion in the alley, followed by occasional sounds of fists hitting flesh as well as a few heavy insults and curses.
When Wang Lu'an arrived, he happened to hear a painful cry of agony. His heart trembled. He raised the baseball bat he had just stolen from home and charged in while yelling loudly, "Fuck you you bastards and your sneak attacks! You dare touch my brother?! Don't even think about escaping today! Hold on Yu Fan, I'm comin——-"
Seeing the situation in the alley, Wang Lu'an immediately came to a stop. He swallowed back the words he wasn't able to finish saying just now.
He saw several people writhing around on the ground, groaning as they clutched their injuries. Among them, the person in the worst state was a man with a buzzcut hissing in pain.
Next to the buzzcut man stood a person.
The boy was slender and tall, with his sleeves rolled up to his elbows, revealing his thin and pale forearms.
Yu Fan wiped the corners of his lips and dusted himself off before slowly squatting down. He looked down at the person on the ground.
He held a closed folding knife in his hand and used it to pat the buzzcut man's face, "You'll beat me up every time you see me?"
The buzzcut man who was acting arrogant earlier still had his eyes squeezed shut. He laid sprawled across the ground, "No….That wasn't what I said…."
Yu Fan said, "Bring more people next time."
"....."
Twenty minutes ago, Wang Lu'an had called Yu Fan wanting to invite him to the internet cafe but just as they were chatting, something happened on the other end —— Yu Fan was stopped in his tracks by someone and from the sounds of it, the other party had brought along several other people with him.
Yu Fan hastily said 'we'll talk later' before hanging up, leaving a very anxious Wang Lu'an. Fortunately, he had asked for Yu Fan's location earlier so he hurriedly called a car.
Wang Lu'an awkwardly lowered his baseball bat and counted. There were a total of five people lying on the ground and they were all big and strong.
Yu Fan got up and casually tucked the folding knife into his pocket. When he walked past, he said lightly, "Let's go."
It wasn't until Yu Fan had walked a certain distance did Wang Lu'an return to his senses. He hurried after him with his baseball bat. After a few hundred metres, they were back on a familiar street. Just a few more steps and it's the front gate of their school.
Because school had not yet started, the area surrounding the school was deserted.
The two entered the milk tea store they usually frequented.
After greeting the owner, Wang Lu'an took in the familiar shop and the hustle and bustle and was finally able to relax, "Fuck, I was so scared earlier! Why didn't you wait for me?"
Yu Fan bought a pack of tissues and randomly picked a bench outside the store and sat down, "Wait for you? With your speed, you'll probably only arrive
in time to cover my face with a white cloth."
"Pei, pei. pei!" Wang Lu'an spat, "I'm not asking you to just hang around, can't you try and escape? With so many people on their side, what if you can't win against them?"
"Too bothersome. Don't want to run."
Wang Lu'an nodded. That is indeed more tiring than fighting one against five.
There were two bruised patches on Yu Fan's face and the corner of his lips were bleeding. A few people passing by couldn't help but give him a second glance.
He took out a tissue and roughly cleaned himself up, "Which internet cafe did you want to go to?"
"You still want to go in this state? Forget it." Wang Lu'an took out his phone and sent out a voice message, "Hey guys, don't bother coming. Yu Fan beat them all up himself. Don't come anymore."
"You even called for help?"
"Of course. We would be at a disadvantage with the two of us against five otherwise! Haa, I even stole my dad's baseball bat….." Wang Lu'an suddenly remembered something. He subconsciously glanced at his pocket, "By the way, why are you bringing a knife around with you?"
"It's not mine. They brought it."
"They even brought a knife?!" Wang Lu'an gasped and immediately checked him all over, "I've heard that the people from the neighbouring school have no bottom line but I didn't expect them to be this crazy!"
Yu Fan didn't speak. He pulled out his phone from his pocket.
Fortunately, it's still intact.
More than twenty WeChat notifications were displayed on his phone screen. He could already tell that it was from Wang Lu'an messaging in their group chat. He didn't bother reading it.
Wang Lu'an next to him however was still chattering on excitedly. He sent another voice message and said with a sneer, "Who else could it have been? It's those people from the neighbouring school. Didn't two of them come near our school last time to try and extort money? And they tried to do it to us but we beat them up. Turns out they were the lackeys of that buzzcut guy. As soon as that buzzcut guy found out, he announced that he would beat us up every time he saw us. Man, you should have seen how scared he was. He didn't even dare make a sound after Yu Fan put him in his place."
Wang Lu'an placed down his phone and turned to look at Yu Fan who was busy rubbing a tissue against the wound on the corner of his lips.
He wrinkled his face, "Hisssss...".
Yu Fan's actions stopped, "Did your face get hurt?"
"It hurts just watching you." Wang Lu'an thought for a moment and got up, "Why don't we go to the hospital?"
"Sure, hurry and call a car." Yu Fan raised his chin, "Any later and the wounds are going to heal."
"....." Wang Lu'an sat back down, "Of all places, it had to be the face. School starts tomorrow. When Fangqin sees your face, she's going to scold you."
Fangqin was their homeroom teacher. Her surname was Zhuang but everyone in class liked to call her by her first name in private.
Speaking of school, Yu Fan subconsciously glanced at the school gates.
"Why are the school gates open?" Yu Fan raised a brow.
"The third years have class. They start half a month earlier than us." Wang Lu'an took a sip of his milk tea, "Our grade also starts earlier. I heard several top students were selected to form some kind of winter vacation class. It sure sucks being a top student. "
Yu Fan retracted his gaze and lightly made a sound of acknowledgement.
When it was time for school to end, the barbeque stalls across the street opened for business. The aroma of roasted meat coated in cumin powder wafted across the streets.
Wang Lu'an had been in too much of a hurry to leave and didn't have the time to eat. He sniffed the air and could no longer sit still, "You must be tired from all that fighting. Come, lets' go and eat something to fill your stomach".
"Don't want to. You go eat yourself." Yu Fan waved his hand.
"Alright, wait here then. I'll be back after ordering some takeout."
The phone in his pocket continued to sound. The constant dings were annoying. Yu Fan tapped open the group chat and saw that Wang Lu'an was still messaging in the group chat. Even by just talking about buying some skewers, he was able to make it reach 99+ notifications.
He turned on the 'Do Not Disturb' function and then stuffed his phone back into his pocket. Along the way, his hand came into contact with something metallic.
Yu Fan paused for a few seconds before taking out the black folding knife.
-
As soon as school was over, students in their school uniforms began to exit through the school gates.
Two girls came out arm in arm, chatting and laughing.
"How did you go in the quiz today?"
"Oh, don't even talk about it. It was so hard, I could only blindly guess the last question. How about you?"
"Me? I'm probably last place again. Haa, how did I even get into this winter vacation class? I'm completely not in the same world as geniuses like you guys!" After saying that, that person stretched their arms, "Forget it, school starts tomorrow anyway. I'll just go back to the normal class and be a salted fish. I want to get a cup of milk tea. Are you coming?"
The other girl nodded in agreement and they proceeded to turn and head towards the milk tea store. Just as they took a few steps, the person next to her suddenly grabbed her shirt and pulled her back.
"What's wrong?" The girl was surprised.
"Forget it, let's not go…." Her companion was still looking intently at the milk tea store ahead. She whispered in a low voice, "Look who's sitting there!"
She followed her companions' line of sight and looked over.
This milk tea store had been open next to the school for many years. Because it was both delicious and cheap, the store would be filled with people after school.
But at this moment, although there were a few people ordering milk tea there, they all took it and left. Only one person sat outside the store.
That person sat there lazily with his long legs casually stretched out. His messy hair was so long, it almost reached his eyelashes and because he was so pale, the bruises on his face were particularly prominent. There were even residual blood stains at the corner of his lips.
While everyone around him wore their winter school uniforms neatly, only he wore a dirty white hoodie.
With his head lowered, he was playing with a folding knife in his hands. Using the extracted blade, he pressed it onto the back of his hand, as if testing to see how sharp the knife was.
Although the girl didn't recognise him, she subconsciously took a step back, "He's…."
"Yu Fan!" Her companion said, "The one from class seven!"
"His face seems to be hurt?"
"It's very common. He must have just had a fight with someone." Her companion was in disbelief, "You haven't heard of Yu Fan?"
"No." The girl shook her head and thought for a moment, "But I think I heard a lot of criticisms about him during the flag raising ceremonies."
Her companion pretended to be picking out something from a stand at a nearby store while she secretly looked in his direction, "I have a friend who is in the same class as him. I heard that he….when he first entered high school, he got into a fight with the third years and managed to beat them into tears. He would usually be sleeping or skipping class and he also has a very bad temper! Someone just glanced at him at the cafeteria and he threw an entire tray of food at them. Oh, and he also seemed to have hit a teacher too…..In any case, he's a hooligan!"
He's that scary?
The girl listened to her descriptions dumbfounded. Just as she was about to tell her companion to forget about the milk tea, the boy in the distance suddenly moved.
Maybe it was because he didn't control his strength well, the blade sank into the back of his hand, creating a small, thin wound. Beads of blood oozed out.
The girl gasped! Before she could even react, she saw Yu Fan toss the knife aside with a frown and press a piece of tissue on his wound. He then looked up —— and looked in their direction.
When he looked up, the girl was finally able to see Yu Fan's face properly —— In fact, she had also seen it at the flag raising ceremony but it was far less clear than this moment.
Yu Fan's eyes were long and narrow and there was a small mole at the corner of his right eye as well as another one on his cheek. As he looked over with his face covered in injuries, the girl felt a chill run through her——-
Oh no.
He's going to pour milk tea on me.
But very soon, she realised that something wasn't quite right.
Yu Fan…..didn't seem to be looking at them?
The girl was stunned for a few seconds before turning back and discovering that there was a male student standing behind them.
The student was tall, standing like a tall and straight pine tree amongst the crowd of people. He carried his bag on one shoulder and his uniform was very neat and tidy, without a single wrinkle.
She could also smell a faint scent of acacia.
At this moment, his line of sight was also directed at the milk tea store ahead.
The girl's eyes widened slightly —— Although she may not know about Yu Fan, she had a deep impression of this person.
After all, their exam seating would always be arranged according to their ranks and this person would always be in the first seat in the first row of class one.
Yu Fan had long noticed that someone was staring at him.
But he didn't expect the other person to continue staring expressionlessly back at him when he looked over. A few seconds later, perhaps because he saw the injury on his face, the other party appeared to have frowned in disgust.
With this, Yu Fan for some reason felt irritated.
After confirming that the other party was indeed blatantly looking at him, Yu Fan put away the knife, nodded at the seat next to him and said to that person, "If you like to look that much, why don't you sit closer and look?"