I, Cheng Yueguang, the super handsome boy from the International Department, received a gift from my dad on the last day of the National Day holiday.
A Chanel lip balm.
When my dad handed me the lip balm, his expression was complicated. He gently patted my head, saying, “Son, I know this isn’t your fault. I’ll make sure your mom doesn’t put pressure on you anymore.”
“…Thank you, Dad.”
Back in my room, I unwrapped the lip balm, twisted it open, and sniffed it.
It smelled nice and looked smooth. I patted my face, puckered my lips like my mom does, and started applying it in front of the mirror.
The window in my room was open, and halfway through, I heard Tang Shi’s voice, “Cheng Yueguang, what are you doing?!!”
He sounded utterly shocked, as if he’d seen Mickey Mouse dancing with the Snow Queen at the entrance of Disneyland.
“…”
I looked up and noticed Tang Shi’s large window was open. He was wearing a sleeveless, loose tank top, holding a cup of water, and staring at me from the window.
He asked, “What’s that in your hand? Lipstick?”
No…
I instinctively hid my hand behind my back, eyes wide, unsure how to explain.
Tang Shi was still waiting for my answer, but judging by his expression, he seemed convinced I was a guy applying lipstick in front of a mirror.
Now I couldn’t clear my name even if I jumped into the Yellow River.
Not just the Yellow River, I’d need a pool of acid to wash this off.
I wanted to slap myself for being so foolish, for coveting girls’ lip balm, for showing off! And now Tang Shi had seen it!
Tang Shi continued to watch me, looking serious. I tried to explain, “I was just curious. Can you not tell anyone?”
“Oh?” Tang Shi raised an eyebrow, touching his chin with a mischievous smile that only appeared when he was plotting against me. “Why should I keep your secret?”
At his mercy, I could only plead, “What do you want?”
Tang Shi set his cup on the windowsill, leaning on the window frame with a pleased expression, “Alright, come over to my place and help me with my English homework.”
Look at him! Always threatening people!
But what choice did I have? I had to obey him!
Reluctantly, I put away the lip balm, grabbed my backpack, and headed to Tang Shi’s house. As soon as I opened his room door, he pulled me in and pinned me against the wall.
Tang Shi, taller than me, held me with one arm while the other rested above my head. He leaned down slightly, sniffing near my mouth.
He said, “Strange, why doesn’t it smell?”
Was he a dog? Annoyed, I hit him with my backpack, “What are you thinking? Of course, I wiped it off!”
Tang Shi caught my backpack, squinting at me, and made an unreasonable demand, “Put it on again, in front of me.”
What was his deal? Did he have some weird hobby? Alarmed, I crossed my arms over my chest, staring at him in horror.
Perhaps annoyed by my cowardly look, Tang Shi flicked my forehead, “Alright, get to the homework.”
I obediently went to his backpack, which was as messy as mine, full of random things.
Rummaging through his bag, I found a lollipop.
I unwrapped the lollipop and put it in my mouth, searching for a while before finding some crumpled English worksheets, which I smoothed out on the desk.
I heard the door open behind me as Tang Shi left.
He was probably off to play games. I pouted, turned on the desk lamp, and started the homework. Tang Shi was actually good at studying, but he disliked doing homework. When I first started middle school, he often coerced me into doing the assignments he didn’t want to do.
The Junior Year English worksheets weren’t much harder. I quickly finished the multiple-choice questions, and Tang Shi returned.
I turned to him, asking where he’d been.
Tang Shi smiled, tossing something onto the desk in front of me.
What was it? I looked back and saw a lipstick lying on the desk, probably Aunt Tang’s.
Tang Shi hadn’t given up on his earlier idea, leaning against the desk, urging me to apply it for him to see.
No way was I doing that. I’d already explained that I was just curious about the lip balm. I covered my mouth, sliding back two steps on the chair, “No way!”
“Are you going to put it on or not?” Tang Shi stepped on the chair under me, preventing me from sliding away.
“I’m not putting it on.”
With the chair pinned, I couldn’t move, so I just held my mouth shut tightly.
“Tch.” Tang Shi pressed my head with one hand, grabbed the lipstick with the other, and twisted it open, bringing it closer to me.
“!!!” He was going to force it on me!
Of course, I was furious, but I wasn’t as strong as him. He pinched my lips into a pout and scribbled the lipstick all over them.
After he was done, he seemed satisfied, holding my face still and taking out his phone to snap a couple of photos.
He hadn’t turned off the flash, and the light made me squint.
After taking the pictures, Tang Shi tapped my face with his phone, smugly saying, “Cheng Yueguang, you’d better behave from now on, or I’ll send these photos out for everyone to see what you’re like at home.”
How could he be so over the top?
I wiped the lipstick off my mouth with the back of my hand, wishing I could leap at him and bite open his carotid artery.
After such an ordeal, I went to school the next day feeling gloomy, like the beautiful ghost Nie Xiaoqian from the Orchid Temple.
Unfortunately, I didn’t have a Ning Caichen to help me return to life, so I drifted into the classroom like a lost soul.
The holiday spirit hadn’t faded, and no one in the classroom was focused on studying. Everyone was talking about where they went during the National Day holiday.
Yuan Ziyi hadn’t come to class. I asked a girl who usually went home with her and found out that something had happened at her house, and she’d taken a leave of absence from the homeroom teacher.
Sitting alone was boring, so I rested my chin on the desk, frowning at the unfinished math worksheet in front of me.
“Class president,” a classmate standing at the door called out, “someone’s looking for you.”
“Who’s looking for me?”
I got up from my seat, squeezing past a few classmates who were chatting, and walked to the door.
He Antang was standing outside. He’d recently gotten a haircut, leaving just a short layer on his head. If it weren’t for his nice-looking head shape, he wouldn’t have been able to pull off the style.
“He Antang,” I said, surprised, “are you here to see me?”
“Yeah.”
He was still a man of few words, lowering his head to rummage through his backpack and handed me something.
“This is for you.”
It was something cool to the touch. I opened my palm to find a round, chubby little clay figure, with a white face and round blush on its cheeks.
“Is this a gift for me?”
“Yeah.” He Antang lowered his eyes. I noticed his eyelashes were long but didn’t make him look delicate. His features were well-defined, and his face was the kind that made people feel comfortable.
He said, “I saw it while traveling in Japan. I wasn’t sure if you’d like it.”
This was… quite flattering. Considering I’d only given him a few mints and an orange since we met, it was surprising he brought me back a clay figure from his trip.
Following the principle of reciprocity, I asked him to wait for a moment at the door, then ran back to the classroom to rummage through my backpack.
In my bag, I had a box of imported fruit candies, which I had intended to give to Yuan Ziyi. Since she was absent, I could give them to He Antang instead.
He Antang accepted the fruit candies, thanked me, and said he was heading back to class. He also reminded me to focus on my studies now that the holiday was over and to ask him if I had any questions.
He was very straightforward, so I took the opportunity to say goodbye.
As soon as he left, my classmates gathered around, asking how I knew him.
“Class president, you’re amazing! He’s the top student from Class Seven! I heard he’s hard to get along with!”
“I heard he’s a year older than us and repeated a grade at his old school.”
“No way, would a top student repeat a grade…”
“Alright, alright,” they wouldn’t stop chatting. As the class president, I couldn’t just stand by. I went to the podium and tapped the blackboard, posing a soul-searching question: “Everyone, quiet down. Have you finished your homework?”
At this, the room erupted in groans.
Smiling, I delivered a second soul-crushing blow: “Have you memorized the English text assigned by the teacher? The teacher will be checking later.”
The room fell silent, with half the students looking as if they’d seen a ghost.
The English class representative laughed, “Cheng Yueguang, you’re not being fair. Can’t you tell them the truth?”
Actually, our English teacher was absent today, and the English class had been turned into a self-study session. There was no such thing as a text check.
But I didn’t say a word, just raised a finger to my lips and made a “shh” gesture to the English class representative.