Chen Jingshen went to the counter to buy something. When he returned, the bag on the table was buzzing.
Yu Fan raised a brow. He didn't expect a good student like Chen Jingshen to bring his phone to school.
Chen Jingshen took out his phone. The screen showed that it was a call from his mother.
Yu Fan sensed his shoulders tense up for a moment as he looked down at the phone with no expression. For a long time, he didn't answer.
Yu Fan attributed this to him feeling guilty after doing something bad and suddenly getting a call from his parents.
But Chen Jingshen's reaction seemed a little different from most people.
In fact, Hu Pang probably hadn't noticed that the person he was dragging along was Chen Jingshen. Yu Fan however still wanted to scare him.
"You should answer it. At most you'll just get a beating." He stood up and said lazily, "I'm leaving."
Just as he took a step, his school jacket was grabbed.
Yu Fan turned back and frowned, "What is it now….."
A plastic bag was brought before him. It was the one Chen Jingshen got from the counter.
"Eat this later." Chen Jingshen said.
Yu Fan subconsciously received it. When he was about to tell him he didn't want it, Chen Jingshen had already answered his phone and turned away.
Yu Fan, "....."
When Yu Fan reached his place, there was no one at home.
This was already very normal for him. Yu Kaiming would leave for half a month with his unreliable friends to make money and the rest of the month he would either be drinking at bars or playing cards and gambling. Even if he did come home, it would be in the middle of the night.
If he was lucky, they wouldn't see each other the entire month.
The table in the living room was a mess. Empty bottles and takeaway containers laid scattered across it, making the room smell repulsive.
Yu Fan wasn't surprised. He pulled out a garbage bag, cleaned the place up and went out to throw it into the garbage truck by the gates of his complex.
When he returned, the phone on the table sounded.
[S: Are you home?] Yu Fan stared at the other person's profile picture in thought for a few seconds before realising who this was.
Chen Jingshen had changed his profile picture.
Yu Fan tapped onto the profile to enlarge it.
It was a picture of an adult doberman. The muscles on the dog were firm, its coat was smooth and shiny, and it wore a metal collar and muzzle. If you brought it to the neighbouring school and got it to howl a few times, it may scare away most of the people there.
Someone this weak would actually raise this kind of dog?
Isn't he afraid of being dragged around while walking the dog?
Yu Fan tapped open the keyboard but stopped after typing a few words.
Why was he replying to tell him that he got home? Are they close?
Yu Fan threw his phone onto his bed and went into the bathroom.
He took off his clothes and habitually moved to take off the bandaid from his finger but stopped the moment he touched it.
How delicate was Chen Jingshen for him to carry bandaids around with him?
And it looked like waterproof ones.
A while later, a hand with a bandaid around one finger lightly turned the nozzle and hot water flowed out from the showerhead.
After getting out of the shower, with one hand drying his hair with a towel, he casually used his other hand to open the plastic bag and check the contents.
Inside it were two sandwiches and a bottle of milk.
He opened one of the sandwiches, took a bite and proceeded to browse through his phone. In the end, he tapped open that dog.
[-: I'm back. What do you want.]
[S: Sprinting to the College Exam pages 3 and 4, Biology Basics page 13, memorise "Chen Qing Biao" as well as the ancient poems on page 27 of the Chinese textbook...]
[-: ?]
[S: Weekend homework.]
"...…"
I'm an idiot if I say another word to you.
-
After the flag raising ceremony on Monday, the first class was originally physics but it had been switched with the self-study class in the afternoon.
Zhuang Fangqin sat at the front supervising their self-study while Hu Pang walked outside the classrooms with his hands behind his back.
The two teacher's eyes met and they nodded with understanding at each other.
Hu Pang leaned in and looked around their classroom.
Yu Fan who was leaning lazily against the wall met his gaze and nodded at him.
"What are you nodding for, am I greeting you?" Hu Pang said, "Come here!"
"...."
Yu Fan nudged Chen Jingshen, "Move. I need to get out."
Chen Jingshen glanced at him and made room.
As Yu Fan walked past him, he quietly threw out, "If Fat Tiger calls you out later and questions you, don't admit to anything."
Out in the corridor, Hu Pang rubbed his head, "Last Friday at the internet cafe behind the school, the one who was running at the front was you wasn't it?"
Zhuang Fangqin who had followed them out of the classroom out of concern couldn't help but frown and give the student next to her a reprimanding look when she heard this.
Yu Fan, "I….."
"Don't try and get out of this!" Hu Pang was triggered, "Although I didn't see who the others were, I could recognise you! I've chased after you too many times already! Not only now, even if it's ten or twenty years later, even if I'm old and no longer able to run or even have dementia, as soon as you appear before me, I will immediately recognise you!"
Yu Fan, "That won't be necessary….."
"You think there is a point in running? Even if you can escape a monk, you can't escape the temple. No matter how fast or how far you run, you will still be coming back to school on Monday! I just checked with the other students who were at the internet cafe at the tim——-" "I won't try and get out of it, it was me." Yu Fan said, "Director, please take a few breaths. Being angry isn't good for your health."
Hu Pang, "….."
Hu Pang opened his thermos and took a sip, "Do you realise that if you get in trouble again, you will be put on probation?"
Yu Fan leaned against the wall, "Oh really."
"What is that attitude of yours?! Be more serious and stand up straight!"
Zhuang Fangqin shouted.
After saying that, she turned to Hu Pang, "Director, he was indeed in the wrong this time but I think we should let him off this one time. If he is put on probation, it would be on his student records and be with him for life. I think we should still give our students another chance to turn over a new leaf."
"I still haven't given him enough chances?" Hu Pang said, "Yu Fan, tell me yourself. Did I or did I not give you a chance that night? I told you we can talk it out if you stopped but what did you do? You almost broke the world record for long distance running!"
The more emotional Hu Pang became, the less control he had over his volume. His words could somewhat be heard in the classroom, causing everyone to look out.
Yu Fan spoke truthfully, "You were too far away. I didn't hear you."
"….."
Hu Pang didn't actually want to punish him.
After giving the other party a warning, Hu Pang coughed lightly, "Let's do this then. Tell me who the other person you dragged away that night was and then go and write a 3000 word self-reflection and I will forget about this incident."
Yu Fan, "I wasn't with anyone. You were mistaken."
"Don't lie, I saw it with my own eyes that night." Hu Pang was about to explode, "If I remember correctly, it was Wang Lu'an."
Wang Lu'an, "???"
Yu Fan frowned, "I told you there wasn't anyone else."
Hu Pang nodded, "Alright, there are still ten minutes before the end of class. Think about this carefully. If you really want to be put on probation, you can continue to be stubborn…."
"It was me." A voice sounded behind them.
"What did I say?" Hu Pang turned around with satisfaction, "Wang Lu'an, come he..." Hu Pang, "...."
Hu Pang, "?"
Two minutes later, Hu Pang looked at the student standing next to him, his head hurting a lot more than it did after running a half marathon that night.
Hu Pang, "Jingshen…..What's going on?"
Chen Jingshen looked at the person leaning against the wall.
Yu Fan rolled his eyes and looked away.
All those words he said earlier was fucking spoken in vain.
Hu Pang noticed this exchange of looks between them, "Did someone threaten you to come and take the blame?"
"No." Chen Jingshen said, "Director, I was the one holding hands with him that night."
Yu Fan turned his head back, "Who the fuck was holding hands?"
Chen Jingshen changed his words, "You held my hand."
"Grabbed." Yu Fan forced through his teeth, "I grabbed you."
Hu Pang, "…."
Zhuang Fangqin, "?"
"Alright then." Hu Pang interrupted them with a complicated look, "Jingshen, why did you go to the internet cafe?"
Chen Jingshen said, "To watch online lectures."
"..." Before Hu Pang could return to his senses, Chen Jingshen then said, "In fact, Classmate Yu also went to watch online lectures."
Hu Pang, "…" Yu Fan, "?"
Yu Fan turned and looked at Chen Jingshen who still maintained his usual expressionless look. There were no flaws to it at all.
With that expressionless face of yours, lying must be your forte?
Hu Pang didn't believe him, "Yu Fan, what online lecture were you watching?"
"The Concept of Sine and Cosine." Yu Fan replied with a wooden face, "The lecturer was the handsome you wearing a suit."
Hu Pang left.
Before leaving, he rubbed his flat nose both proudly and shyly, "I didn't expect that there would still be people watching something that was recorded such a long time ago. Those basics are indeed suitable for you…It's not a bad thing catching up with your studies outside of school but you should do it the right way. If you still want to watch online lectures in the future, come and borrow a computer from me in the office and don't go to those internet cafes anymore, okay?"
Watching his leaving figure, Yu Fan inexplicably felt guilty, as if he had just lied to a child.
He turned to return to the classroom but was stopped by Zhuang Fangqin.
"Wait." Zhuang Fangqin looked at the two of them, "In the afternoon after school, wait for me at the school field."
Chen Jingshen's footsteps stopped. Yu Fan similarly paused, "Why?"
"To train. The sports festival is at the end of this month and we still need two more people for the 4x400 relay." Zhuang Fangqin said, "Aren't you two good at running? The two of you will do it."
"….."
-
You two were caught and made to run the 4x400 relay while I wasn't caught but was forced to run a fucking 3000m race. What the fucking hell is this?!"
On the school field, Wang Lu'an vented at the sky before remembering that there was someone else beside him, "…..Top Student, I didn't scare you with my foul language, did I?"
Chen Jingshen said, "No."
"Fangqin is here." Yu Fan reminded lightly, "You should speak a little louder so she can hear you."
"Forget it, forget it."
More than half of the class were participating in the sports festival.
Everyone casually gathered together on the field in their class groups, the scene looking very spectacular.
Their class had placed last during last year's sports festival, which was humiliating for Zhuang Fangqin, so this time, she was determined to make a comeback.
As such, the first thing she did was to catch all the boys who had escaped from the sports festival last year and assign races and events to them.
Zhuang Fangqin selected a place on the field for relay training and got the relay students to come and practice receiving the baton.
Yu Fan glanced at the person next to him through the corner of his eyes.
Chen Jingshen was kneeling down tying his shoelaces. He had taken off his school jacket and the school t-shirt was pressed tightly against his back, his shoulder blades particularly prominent.
This person is out of breath after just running a few steps. Would he be okay with a relay?
The moment Chen Jingshen got back up again, Yu Fan quickly looked away.
Whatever. It's none of my business anyway.
The number of sports students in their class was the least amongst all the classes in their year. They only had one, a male student.
Zhuang Fangqin had entrusted the important role of the first runner to him and assigned the class president to be the second runner, Chen Jingshen to be the third runner and finally Yu Fan as the final runner.
After Chen Jingshen received the baton, Wang Lu'an's head followed him as he ran, "Hey, Chen Jingshen's speed is actually pretty good, not too slow….But that makes sense since he was able to keep up with Yu Fan's speed that night."
After finishing watching the large foreheads and flared nostrils belonging to the other boys, Zhang Xianjing expressed, "And most importantly, he's not ugly while running."
"Yu Fan is also not ugly while running."
"Yeah, so haven't you noticed?" Zhang Xianjing's eyes looked around, "Have you noticed how many girls have walked past our class?"
Yu Fan didn't speak. He stepped onto the track and started jogging forward with one hand behind him.
After receiving the baton from Chen Jingshen, he leapt forward and ran like the wind.
"Pretty good, Top Student." Wang Lu'an rested an arm on Chen Jingshen's shoulder, "You ran very fast."
Chen Jingshen frowned but he didn't push him away, "Thank you."
Wang Lu'an, "Want some water?"
Chen Jingshen looked at the other end of the field, "No need."
Wang Lu'an followed the top student's line of sight and saw his good friend running with his hair blowing in the air, revealing his extremely handsome face.
"Wang Lu'an, do you see that girl there? The one standing next to the finishing line." Zhang Xianjing nudged Wang Lu'an's arm.
Chen Jingshen who heard this also subconsciously looked over.
Wang Lu'an, "I see her. From class four right? I've heard about her. She's quite pretty."
Zhang Xianjing glared at him, "Is she prettier or am I prettier?"
"You, you, you." Wang Lu'an said hurriedly, "So what about her?"
"Just you watch." Zhang Xianjing was confident, "That bottle of water she has is definitely for Yu Fan."
After Yu Fan stopped at the finishing line, sure enough, that girl came over with a bottle of water.
But Yu Fan didn't see her. He wiped away the sweat on his nose with the back of his hand and walked straight towards them.
"Holy shit, Yu Fan. You're amazing." Seeing him come over, Wang Lu'an gave him a thumbs up, "But wait a little. Behind you——" Yu Fan frowned, "Don't run if you can't run."
Wang Lu'an, "?"
"To be honest, 3000m is indeed a little difficult but it can't be helped.
Fangqin said that if I don't run it, I will be responsible for preparing and bringing water for the people competing—-Where are you going?" Wang Lu'an watched in daze as Yu Fan walked past him.
Wang Lu'an looked behind him and was shocked.
The person who wasn't breathing heavily at all just now was at this moment sitting on the grass, looking like he had just defeated ten cows.
"I can do it, my legs just got weak." Chen Jingshen said, "Can you help me up?"
Wang Lu'an, "...."
Huh?
Isn't your body's reaction time a little too slow?