Over the next few days, Hua Sheng truly stopped paying any attention to Zuo Xingyun; he ate, drank, and played to his heart’s content.
Zuo Xingyun would still subconsciously search for Hua Sheng’s figure, his gaze intentionally lingering on him. Meanwhile, Hua Sheng turned a blind eye to all of this, showing neither happiness nor anger, as if he genuinely regarded him as nothing more than an ordinary classmate with whom he had zero connection.
Fine, as long as I can still see Hua Sheng, that is enough.
Hua Sheng behaved himself honestly for a few days, neither climbing walls to skip class nor violating school rules. Head lowered, he sat at the back catching up on anime, having already finished all the recently released Chinese and Japanese titles.
His deskmate was the Chinese class representative, a male beta who wore small glasses and sported a heavy fringe. They had become deskmates just last week for no particular reason other than a random draw. Truth be told, he was somewhat afraid of this reign of terror.
Given his own timid personality, running up against such an overbearing delinquent.
He straightened his posture, nervously swallowing hard. Through his single-lidded eyes, he kept darting glances toward the front left. The English teacher was marching aggressively toward Hua Sheng.
He was sweating from sheer anxiety. The one phrase his deskmate uttered to him without fail every single day was: Wake me up when the teacher comes.
Seeing the English teacher’s textbook about to descend squarely on Hua Sheng’s head, the bespectacled deskmate gave Hua Sheng’s thigh a heavy pat under the desk. “Hua Sheng, th-the teacher is here.”
Unflustered and quick-witted, Hua Sheng didn’t skip a beat. Holding down his screen, he smoothly slipped his phone underneath the drawer.
Hua Sheng’s drawer was a masterpiece of engineering. Layer upon layer of books crammed the space, and tucked between the pages of his first-round math review materials at the very bottom was a backup phone, sandwiched deliberately to create the illusion of nothing being hidden, leaving just a narrow gap. Meanwhile, the underside of his desk drawer was slathered in glue; his actual phone had long since been glued to the bottom.
Feigning total ignorance, he pretended to sleep, burying his head in his arms and closing his eyes with a serene expression.
Thump. The English textbook landed with moderate force against his shoulder.
Hua Sheng jerked violently upward, putting on a brilliant performance of being startled awake. Blinking sleepily, he looked up at the teacher, and the instant he recognized who it was, he sprang to his feet.
The English teacher was a middle-aged woman with decades of teaching experience. She saw right through his antics, hugged her textbook, and sneered, “You’re improving. That acting was almost convincing.”
Hua Sheng straightened up slightly, looking at her with an innocent expression. “Huh?”
“Hand it over.” She held out her hand.
“What?” Hua Sheng continued to play dumb. Seeing the serious look on her face, a flicker of guilt crept into the corners of his eyes. “My bad, I shouldn’t have been sleeping in class. Fenfen, I was wrong.”
A burst of laughter instantly erupted across the classroom.
Fenfen was the English teacher’s childhood nickname. Her husband had called her that once when he came to pick her up, and the students overheard it. From that day onward, the English teacher lost her real name among the student body.
The English teacher’s face flushed alternately red and white. “Hua Sheng!”
“My bad, my bad, Teacher Liu.” Hua Sheng immediately caved, fished the backup phone out from his books, handed it to her respectfully with both hands, and apologized with utmost sincerity, “I shouldn’t have been playing on my phone during class.”
Teacher Liu put on a stern face as she confiscated his phone. “What number is this?”
Hua Sheng rolled his eyes in thought, actually counting on his fingers. “Uh, probably the sixth one.”
“Last time it was a vivo, this time it’s a Huawei. You really support domestic products.” Teacher Liu glanced sideways at him. “When are you going to get an iPhone? Next time you come to pick up your confiscated items, you might as well just open a mobile shop.”
Hua Sheng scratched the back of his head, offering an honest, good-natured smile. “No, no, I support domestic phones. Who would buy that other stuff? That is all, that is all.”
He suddenly remembered that Zuo Xingyun also owned an iPhone. His gaze swept toward the upper right corner. “That is all a tax on stupidity. My family’s financial situation is poor, so I don’t buy that kind of trash just to put up a front.”
As soon as those words dropped, another wave of laughter filled the room.
Who in the school didn’t know that Hua Sheng’s family was notoriously wealthy? Right when they were sorted into classes in their freshman year, he had bought Starbucks for the entire class and all the teachers, gifted a pair of AJ sneakers to every close friend he had, frequented all sorts of luxury venues, wore a limited-edition co-branded designer hoodie hidden beneath his school uniform that was one of a kind globally, casually tossed watches worth seven figures onto his desk, and alternated between being picked up by a Porsche or a Maybach. Even the socks on his feet cost 2500.
And he called his family’s financial situation poor. If his family was poor, no one in the world was rich.
Though the rest of the class didn’t understand the real subtext of Hua Sheng’s words, he was openly mocking Zuo Xingyun right to his face. He smugly stole a peek at Zuo Xingyun to gauge his reaction, only to run right into Zuo Xingyun’s eyes fixed upon him.
There was no anger there. Was that a hint of doting indulgence?
He hurriedly yanked his gaze back, cursing inwardly: Are you out of your mind?
“You’ve got a slick tongue and you’re good for nothing. It’s bad enough that you don’t study by yourself, but you have to drag your deskmate into whispering and huddling together.” Teacher Liu began her endless nagging. “Why are you two glued so close together? The second I walked in, you reacted by pretending to sleep. Was he playing lookout while you played on your phone? Stop dragging Cui Yu into chatting.”
Cui Yu didn’t even dare to draw a full breath.
“I wasn’t chatting with him.” Hua Sheng naturally draped one arm over Cui Yu’s shoulder, striking the pose of close buddies. “That was just friendly communication between deskmates. Cui Yu is my good friend.”
Cui Yu broke out in a cold sweat. Hua Sheng’s words had effectively dragged him straight into the mud. He sat ramrod straight, acutely aware of Teacher Liu’s severe gaze lingering on him.
Teacher Liu rolled her eyes in exasperation. She wanted to lecture them, but didn’t even know where to begin. Unwilling to waste everyone’s time any further, she finally said with a helpless sigh, “All right, both of you go stand outside for a bit. Come back in after ten minutes.”
Hua Sheng acted as if he had received a full pardon. “Awesome.”
“If you dare to run off, I’m telling your brother.” Teacher Liu knew Hua Sheng’s Achilles’ heel and threatened him, “Standing outside for ten minutes is meant for self-reflection. If I catch you acting all flippant and unserious again.”
She brandished her book, and Hua Sheng grinned and shrank his neck back. “Got it, got it.”
The next second, he grabbed his deskmate’s arm and stepped out briskly. Cui Yu, completely suffering an unprovoked disaster, followed him out of the classroom with a tearful expression.
With the minor storm passing, the classroom returned to its tranquil state. The students stopped gossiping and turned their attention back to their textbooks.
Only Zuo Xingyun remained turned around in his seat, his gaze fixed straight ahead toward the back door, his eyes ice-cold.
“Hey, I didn’t take you for such a loyal guy.” Hua Sheng bumped his shoulder against Cui Yu’s. “Fine, I accept you as my friend.”
Cui Yu sidestepped away, casting a timid look at him before instantly retracting it.
“Still, Fenfen is truly awful. It was clearly me playing on my phone, yet she dragged you down with me. Too much.” He crossed his arms and leaned toward Cui Yu, who sidestepped once more, causing Hua Sheng to nearly stumble. “Hey, don’t dodge, I’m not going to hit you. Seriously, you look so terrified of me all the time. Am I really that scary?”
Cui Yu shook his head vigorously, the muscles on his face trembling.
“Do I just look fierce?”
Cui Yu shook his head again.
Hua Sheng clicked his tongue, frowning. “Speak.”
“N-no,” he stammered.
“You shouldn’t hold a bias against me. It’s the 21st century now, campus bullies don’t go around fighting anymore. I’m a good campus bully who promotes civilization and good manners.” Hua Sheng raised a hand to drape over Cui Yu’s shoulder, talking as grandly as if he were pitching a commercial blueprint. “Besides, you’re my good deskmate. You helped me out just now. As the saying goes, distance tests a horse’s strength and adversity reveals true friendship. We can consider ourselves good brothers who have served detention together now.”
Cui Yu opened his mouth, desperately wanting to correct Hua Sheng’s butchered idiom usage, but then closed it again.
He simply couldn’t figure out what Hua Sheng was trying to pull.
“Nobody in the class likes me. They think I’m just dead weight and a joke, so I can’t find any friends and I’ve always been lonely, forced to make friends in other classes.” Hua Sheng sighed. “If anyone was willing to hang out with me, I wouldn’t have to watch so many anime and read so many novels during class.”
Cui Yu hesitated. “Don’t you have quite a few friends in class?”
“Those are all fake friends. They’re only after my money. You’re different; you’re actually good to me,” Hua Sheng declared with absolute certainty. “Look, you won’t even accept any of my goodwill.”
Back when they first became deskmates, Hua Sheng had covertly stuffed 500 yuan into Cui Yu’s pencil case, scaring Cui Yu into handing it over to the teacher on the spot. It had sat in the lost and found for ages with no one claiming it.
In truth, he had a sneaking suspicion that his new deskmate was the one who put it there, but he never had any proof. Seeing Hua Sheng’s expression now, his eyes widened. “That 500 yuan was from you?”
“Yep,” Hua Sheng admitted without missing a beat. “I wanted to buy you a little gift, but I honestly had no idea what to get, so I just stuffed cash in instead.”
Cui Yu simply couldn’t comprehend Hua Sheng’s thought process. At the time, he had thought someone had stolen money just to frame him, and when he turned it in, he kept distancing himself by insisting he had simply picked it up off the ground.
No wonder Hua Sheng’s face had turned green when he was standing down there at the front.
Staring at him in shock, Cui Yu asked, “Who on earth told you that making friends depends on stuffing money at people?”
Hua Sheng shrugged, speaking as casually as could be. “It’s the experience I’ve gathered over the years of making friends. Throwing money at them is the fastest method.”
“Could it be that they are also…”
“Yeah. The only time they ever think of me is when they want to go out for a meal, because I’m the one who ends up footing the bill every single time.” Hua Sheng waved a hand. “Sigh, let’s drop it. Anyway, I’ve got money. Are you willing to be friends with me or not? Huh? Huh? Huh?”
Cui Yu shook his head.
Hua Sheng’s expression visibly crumpled into disappointment.
Yet Cui Yu continued, “Making friends is about sincerity, not these things. The reason I wouldn’t talk to you before was because I heard what other people said about you, so I was a bit scared and didn’t dare speak to you.”
“Actually, after spending a week together, I think you’re a pretty decent person. Even though you hate studying, love skipping class, talk back to the teachers every day, keep your desk a total mess, and always pile your things on my side, you’ve never actually disturbed me, which caught me completely off guard, and you’ve never cursed at me either.” He glanced up shyly at Hua Sheng. “Maybe it’s just my personality. I don’t actively talk to people, and being friends with you gives me pressure because my family’s financial situation isn’t that great either.”
Hua Sheng lowered his head halfway, the expression on his face unreadable.
Had Cui Yu actually struck a nerve?
“Hua Sheng, actually, if it’s about making friends, I’m willing. Don’t be mad about what I just said.”
Suddenly, he heard Hua Sheng sniff.
Cui Yu: ?
The next second, Hua Sheng pulled him into a bear hug, pounding heavily on his back with a tone verging on tears of joy. “Good kid, I didn’t misjudge you! Starting today, you are the best friend Hua Sheng has in this entire class!”
Cui Yu was utterly flattered. “Ah? My best friend right off the bat?”
“I also have ‘better friends’ and ‘the absolute best friends’,” Hua Sheng added helpfully. “Though I haven’t found those yet.”
Cui Yu swayed slightly under the impact, raising a hand to pat his shoulder.
“What’s with the hugging and holding hands? I told you to reflect in detention, and this is how you do your thinking?”
Teacher Liu Xiaofen had finished explaining the problem and assigned the class a cloze test, figuring she would step outside to see how those two students were doing with their self-reflection, wondering if Hua Sheng had slipped away again.
Never in her wildest dreams had she expected to step out and witness such a display of deep brotherly affection.
“You’re turning detention into a networking event, are you?” Liu Xiaofen slapped a hand against the wall and barked sharply, “Stand up straight!”
The two of them immediately snapped into a parallel stance, lowering their heads obediently.
“Since you love standing so much, stand for another ten minutes.”
“Okay.” Hua Sheng agreed instantly, and Cui Yu nodded right along with him.
Unwilling to deal with them any longer, Liu Xiaofen turned away with a deep sigh and marched back into the classroom.
She had only taken over this class this year. The students were the cream of the crop—exceptional study habits, stellar grades, with Hua Sheng as the sole outlaw among them.
What could she do? He was the scion of a wealthy, influential family; of course he could just waltz in whenever he pleased.
She could talk until her mouth went dry and he wouldn’t listen; no matter how earnestly she lectured, it was useless. She must have committed murder in her past life to deserve this career in education.
Massaging her brow, she picked up her insulated thermos from the podium. Just as she unscrewed the cap, she caught a blur of motion flashing past her eyes at lightning speed, practically soundless. By the time she registered what was happening, the figure had already bolted out of the classroom.
Catching sight of the retreating back in the school uniform, she couldn’t immediately tell who it was. Liu Xiaofen swept her gaze toward the front row by the window against the innermost wall and noticed the first seat was empty.
Zuo Xingyun?
Simultaneously, sounds of scuffling echoed from the back door all the way to the front.
“What the hell are you doing? Are you out of your damn mind? Hey! Zuo Xingyun, fuck!” Hua Sheng’s familiar cursing rang out, instantly capturing the entire class’s attention.
Seemingly realizing that losing his cool hurt his image as a campus bully, he snapped his mouth shut, digging his fingernails into Zuo Xingyun’s hand in an attempt to pry him loose.
Far from letting go, Zuo Xingyun gripped him all the tighter.
Fueled by a surge of fury, Zuo Xingyun’s strength was immense. Even though Hua Sheng didn’t want to budge, he was dragged forward by sheer brute force.
Unable to shake Zuo Xingyun’s hand off no matter what, Hua Sheng flared up in rage. “Let go of me, dammit.”
Everyone watched wide-eyed as the two reached the doorway, Zuo Xingyun wordlessly gripping Hua Sheng’s wrist.
The scene flashed past in an instant, followed by a dead silence lasting more than ten seconds.
Liu Xiaofen was the first to snap back to reality and rushed out of the classroom.
“Huh?”
“What, what? What did I just see?”
“Holy crap, was that Zuo Xingyun and Hua Sheng?”
“Huh?”
“What? I was writing just now and missed it, someone tell me, tell me!”
“Oh shit, what the fuck?”
“What is going on here?”
The hallway was already empty of their figures. Liu Xiaofen looked back and saw only Cui Yu standing there with a face full of sheer astonishment.