Achieving this score posed no real difficulty for Gu Yu and Zhao Che. However, for Zhou Wei and Li Changlin, whose weak point was English, it was a requirement straight out of hell.
The four of them stood in a row in the corridor with their backs pressed against the wall. Fortunately, class was in session, so no one saw their miserable state.
Pursingly his lips, Li Changlin apologized to Gu Yu with a face full of guilt: “Sorry, Brother Yu, I dragged you into this.”
Zhou Wei glared at him, frustrated by his incompetence: “After school from now on, stop playing basketball! Just go to the side and practice free throws by yourself!”
Zhao Che felt even guiltier than Li Changlin. He didn’t even dare to look at Gu Yu, leaning the back of his head against the wall and simply covering his face with a textbook. A heavy wave of disappointment rushed over him; even the scorching sunlight couldn’t brighten the gloom surrounding him.
Just then, a few students carrying test papers passed through the corridor, shooting them a hasty glance.
Zhou Wei edged closer to Gu Yu and whispered, “Brother Yu, what’s up with Brother Che? Is his pride broken?”
Gu Yu looked over. Although there were two people between him and Zhao Che, he could still feel how downcast Zhao Che was.
Standing closest to him, Li Changlin couldn’t help but sigh, “As expected of a school-prince-level guy—even when standing as punishment, Brother Che exudes that melancholy male god vibe.”
Zhou Wei cursed, “Are you an idiot? Can’t you tell Brother Che is in a bad mood?”
Gu Yu: “…”
He was clearly the innocent bystander who got caught in the crossfire, yet Zhao Che was the one who couldn’t take it first.
He let out a quiet breath, stepped around the others, and walked over to Zhao Che’s side. Reaching out, he took away the textbook covering Zhao Che’s face. Sunshine instantly washed over Zhao Che—his pair of peach-blossom eyes had dimmed, the corners drooping. He didn’t speak or move, maintaining his original posture.
“You…”
“I’m sorry…”
Their voices sounded at the same time, but Zhao Che’s grew quieter and quieter as he spoke. He buried his head low, like a large dog that had done something wrong.
Looking at him like this, the trace of speechlessness in Gu Yu’s heart gradually melted into a different emotion. Not knowing how to comfort people, he said stiffly, “Zhao Che, look at me.”
Zhao Che obediently raised his head, his gaze wavering slightly as it met those pitch-black eyes.
“I explained it myself, but she didn’t believe me,” Gu Yu paused, softening his tone. A barely perceptible warmth seeped into his cool, clear voice. “So it’s not your fault. No need to blame yourself.”
Zhao Che’s eyes suddenly lit up. To his ears, these words were like a cure, pulling him out of his inner self-deprecating spiral.
Even though Gu Yu was half a year younger than him, he was always exceptionally tolerant toward him. If Gu Yu said he didn’t blame him, then he truly didn’t.
Unconsciously curling his lips into a smile, he replied, “Okay.”
Li Changlin had been secretly watching the two of them. Taking the opportunity, he quickly chimed in: “Brother Yu, forgive me too! I really didn’t mean it!”
After giving a brief “Mm,” Gu Yu handed the textbook back to Zhao Che and stood right beside him, saying blankly, “Nice poem, by the way.”
Hearing about the poem, Zhou Wei recalled how Spicy Sister seemed to have “praised” Li Changlin for having a gift for poetry. He asked playfully, “Black Lin, what kind of poem did you actually write?”
“None of your business. Either way, you don’t have that kind of talent.” Li Changlin clicked his ballpoint pen, scribbling a random word on a piece of paper.
“Screw you! Even without talent, my Chinese score is twenty points higher than yours! Talk to me after you beat my score next time.” Zhou Wei shot back unconvinced. Unexpectedly, out of the corner of his eye, he caught a flush of red creeping onto Li Changlin’s dark skin. Astonished, he exclaimed, “Black Lin, why the hell are you blushing?”
“Where am I blushing? Did your glasses prescription go up to 500 degrees?”
“Screw off.”
As the two squabbled louder and louder, with the classroom doors and windows half-ajar, every single word and action of theirs was clearly audible inside.
“Are you two crazy?! Zhou Wei, Li Changlin, get over to the stairwell and stand there—that goes for the next class too!” Spicy Sister yanked open the classroom door, glaring intensely at the two reckless students.
The four of them ended up standing outside for two full class periods. A thin layer of sweat had formed on their foreheads, and Li Changlin’s back was completely soaked.
When the bell finally rang for the end of class, Spicy Sister came out holding her teaching plans. She shot them a harsh glare, but fortunately didn’t make things harder for them, swaying her hips as she walked back to the office.
“What are you guys surrounding over there for?” As soon as Zhao Che stepped into the classroom, he saw a crowd gathered around his and Gu Yu’s seats, plotting goodness-knows-what. Everyone was talking at once, their expressions remarkably animated.
Zhao Che intentionally cleared his throat.
Looking back, the students instantly scattered, quickly running back to their seats while keeping wide grins on their faces. Some were so afraid they wouldn’t be able to hold it in that they pressed their lips tightly together.
“You’re back!” Wei Junjie looked up, waving a small piece of paper toward the door: “We’re admiring ancient poetry!”
Someone in the class suddenly started coughing violently, as if choked by water.
“Spicy Sister didn’t destroy this note?! Let me see, let me see!” Zhou Wei hurried over with a look of pleasant surprise and snatched the paper note. Just as Li Changlin tried to rush over to stop him, Zhou Wei beat him to it, clutching his stomach and bursting into wild laughter.
Li Changlin: “…”
Are you sick in the head?!
Seeing Zhou Wei laughing so hard tears almost came out, the whole class couldn’t hold it in anymore either. A few students began giggles and snickers with their heads lowered.
“Stop freaking laughing! Brother Che and Zhou Wei drew so abstractly, how come no one’s laughing at them?!”
Holding a bag of gummy candies, Li Rou-rou distributed them back and forth, adding: “We did laugh! The artwork combined with the poem is straight-up a universe-class masterpiece!”
A classmate suddenly remembered something, pointing at the crumpled piece of paper: “Oh right, who drew that afro? How come the line work looks like… oh! Like Van Gogh’s The Starry Night!”
“Van Che.”
Zhao Che was completely bewildered. He turned his head to look at Gu Yu, who was walking past him toward his seat. It was hard to imagine such a pun coming out of his mouth. A row of eyelashes fluttered slightly: “You…”
Zhou Wei got hyped up again: “Brother Che drew it! This is killing me—bro, your analogy is spot on!”
Zhao Che: “?”
Zhao Che countered: “Your facial features weren’t bad either, right, Da Vin-Wei?”
Zhou Wei: “…”
Li Rou-rou: “One great writer, two great painters—our class is really going places!”
Giving up on hiding it entirely, everyone broke into open giggles and laughter.
“Weren’t you enjoying the laugh? Why stopped?” Zhao Che raised an eyebrow, looking smug.
“I’m naturally not a laugher.” Zhou Wei tore the paper ball into shreds, stuffed them into Wei Junjie’s hands behind him, and sat heavily back in his seat.
Zhao Che also returned to his seat. Suddenly curious about how Gu Yu knew that “hairstyle” was his handiwork, he asked in a light tone, “Gu Yu, how did you know which one I drew?”
Without looking at him, Gu Yu flipped through his textbook and casually replied, “Did you forget your masterpiece from 8th grade?”
An 8th-grade art assignment? How could he remember something from so long ago? To be precise, wasn’t that eight years ago… Wait—
Holy crap! He actually remembered! It seemed to be a drawing titled My Family.
In his memory, that painting had even been displayed in the main hall for a period of time. The content was a simple depiction of four people: himself, Gu Yu, plus Wang Xue and Zhao Guowei.
However, stuck outside the picture frame was a note with the art teacher’s review: This painting possesses great distinctiveness, successfully putting textbook knowledge into practice. The hair section utilizes Van Gogh’s painting technique—the lines are well-ordered, full of strength and rhythm, making it well worth everyone’s appreciation!
Although it received the art teacher’s recognition and praise, it was, after all, displayed in the main hall. Positioned right in the most conspicuous middle spot, his schoolmates naturally became the ultimate critics.
A former classmate of his had once teased: “No way, you drew something this abstract and it still got hung up there?”
Back then, he was completely immersed in his own artistic talent and shot back: “The teacher appreciates my use of Van Gogh’s technique! Do you even know anything about art?”
“Sure, sure, whatever you say, Little Van Gogh!” The classmate shot him a look, silently complaining in his heart: Van Gogh technique my foot! Aside from a few lines for the hair, are those facial features even human?
He didn’t know how the nickname “Little Van Gogh” spread, but everyone called him that for a good while, making the whole school aware of it. Every time he went to another class to look for Gu Yu, someone would blurt out: “Gu Yu, Little Van Gogh is here!”
Only after receiving a glare from “Little Van Gogh” would that person abruptly lower their head and pretend to continue studying as if nothing had happened.
Remembering this, Zhao Che instinctively rubbed his head. How could Gu Yu still remember such an embarrassing thing?
“Cough, cough… that… how do you still remember that?”
“Deep impression.”
“…”
The most excruciating part of every Monday was the three consecutive periods of math in the afternoon. Fortunately, with the sports meet approaching, Chen Shuang cared a lot about the class formation performance. Halfway through the second period, she took everyone to the playground to practice.
Li Rou-rou turned around to ask those nearby, “Have you all practiced?”
Zhou Wei immediately puffed out his chest, brimming with confidence: “Of course! Lady Rou, I practiced the entire weekend. Just sit back and watch later.”
Li Rou-rou rolled her eyes: “Sure, sure, sure.” She looked at the others again; most students said they had practiced, though they were still a bit rusty.
“Brother Yu, did you watch the video?” Zhou Wei leaned in front of Gu Yu and asked curiously.
Gu Yu shook his head honestly.
Holding the class sign on the side, Zhao Che said in a bright mood, “Your Brother Yu was taking care of me these past two days—where would he find the time to watch it?”
Zhou Wei: “Oh right, Brother Che was sick. It’s totally normal that Brother Yu didn’t get time to watch it.”
Li Rou-rou also leaned over and smiled, “It’s fine, Brother Yu, just follow along and learn in a bit.”
While they were talking, Chen Shuang clapped her hands: “The official rehearsal is this Friday, so everyone take this seriously. Let’s aim to dance through the full routine once by next period.” She lifted her chin toward Li Rou-rou, “Rou-rou, stand in front and lead everyone through the movements.”
Zhao Che stood on the far left of the formation, less than three meters away from Gu Yu, able to see every single movement of his clearly. In just about three minutes, Gu Yu had memorized practically all the moves.
When the music played for the second time, he stood firmly in place, raising his arms, turning, and stepping right on beat. His movements were so fluid it looked as if he had practiced hundreds of times, leaving even Zhao Che momentarily dazed.
Those “trendy” square-dance movements didn’t look ridiculous at all when performed by Gu Yu. Without much extra expression on his face, his movements were calm and composed, exuding an indescribable sense of harmony.
When it came to the others dancing, the scene turned lively.
Most students were either stiff-bodied, moving their arm and leg on the same side together, or had their limbs completely locked up. Zhou Wei, who had claimed he practiced thoroughly earlier, completely lost his footing. His arms swung to the left while his feet stepped to the right, and within two steps, he tripped over his own shoelaces and took a solid faceplant into the ground.
The surrounding people covered their mouths in laughter, and in the end, it was Wei Junjie who pulled him up.
Right then, the class bell rang. Chen Shuang sighed with a furrowed brow: “Let’s take a break first. We’ll continue practicing next period.”