It was just after the last class of the morning, and students from the various teaching buildings of the Sixth High poured out in a swarm. Only the freshman Class 1, with both front and rear doors flung wide open, remained occupied, as none of the students dared to leave for quite some time.
Throughout the freshman year at the Sixth High, few students were unfamiliar with Chen Xunfeng. His sudden appearance at the back door of Class 1 brought the entire classroom to a standstill. In the month since he had enrolled, Chen Xunfeng had appeared most frequently in disciplinary notices or within various rampant rumors. His high school life was unfettered and colorful, a stark contrast to the students of Class 1, who were weighed down by their studies day in and day out.
Before this week, Chen Xunfeng was associated with Class 1 because of Jiang Wenyi; since this week, it was because of Zhou Ai.
The students of Class 1 were suppressed by academics and test scores. In their spare time, they were only more sensitive to the various rumors on campus. Even more so given the recent hearsay that the distant Chen Xunfeng had become entangled with the mute student from their class. The previous Friday, after the exams, the entire freshman class was immersed in a relaxed atmosphere. That was precisely when someone had uploaded a photo to the grade-wide group chat. The background was the familiar back gate of the school, and the subjects were Chen Xunfeng and the mute top student whom he had claimed to despise.
Once the photo was posted, hundreds of messages flooded the group instantly, all of them centered on the idea that Chen Xunfeng had finally taken action, or that they should go and watch from afar.
By the time the discussion in the group chat reached its peak, the person who had first posted the photo finally emerged, saying lazily: “Zhou Ai slapped Chen Xunfeng across the face. Over.”
Having left that message, he ignored the various discussions flooding the chat. Throughout the weekend, the most frequent topic in the group was how Zhou Ai had managed to walk away unscathed after slapping Chen Xunfeng.
It was only Monday, yet Chen Xunfeng, one of the protagonists of the topic, had come to Class 1 without a shred of hesitation. He wasn’t high-profile in his actions, appearing at the back door of Class 1 at the usual time after class; he had even politely knocked on the doorframe first. But Chen Xunfeng himself was the very personification of the word “high-profile.”
He seemed entirely unaware of the shock his appearance at the back door of Class 1 had caused. There was no smile on his face, but his posture was relaxed. Upon seeing Zhou Ai look up from his corner, Chen Xunfeng walked straight into the classroom from the back door.
Even then, some students in Class 1 were still expecting Chen Xunfeng to be there to seek revenge on Zhou Ai. After all, it had long been their consensus that Chen Xunfeng couldn’t stand Zhou Ai. But everything they expected failed to materialize.
The row of seats in front of Zhou Ai was empty, and Chen Xunfeng calmly walked over, pulled up a chair, and sat down.
Zhou Ai seemed to have little interest in Chen Xunfeng’s arrival and had already turned his attention back to his textbooks, his pen moving steadily. Chen Xunfeng sat facing Zhou Ai, in front of Jiang Wenyi’s desk. He watched Zhou Ai who was bowing his head for a while, then, seemingly sensing the stares of the class with a delayed reaction, he suddenly turned his head back.
He swept a glance over the students of Class 1 who were still lingering, then asked quite calmly: “Is it a good show?”
Aside from Zhou Ai, the second person in the classroom not focusing on him was Jiang Wenyi. Jiang Wenyi silently packed his belongings and left the room.
Jiang Wenyi’s departure, combined with Chen Xunfeng’s question, broke the stagnant atmosphere in Class 1. The students quickly pushed toward the exit, and ten seconds later, only Chen Xunfeng and Zhou Ai remained in the classroom.
Zhou Ai’s attention remained on the problems before him. Chen Xunfeng was very quiet, not making a single sound. Twenty minutes later, when Zhou Ai closed his book and capped his pen, he looked up and found Chen Xunfeng still sitting quietly in the seat diagonal to him.
Chen Xunfeng’s arms were propped on Jiang Wenyi’s desk, his head resting on his hand, his eyes tilted toward Zhou Ai. He had no expression on his face, as if he had maintained this posture for quite a while.
Noticing Zhou Ai’s gaze, he sat up straight and asked: “Finished writing?”
Zhou Ai didn’t answer. He simply withdrew his gaze, pulled over his scratchpad, flipped to a clean page, wrote a sentence at the top, and pushed it toward Chen Xunfeng.
Chen Xunfeng looked down at the plain scratchpad. Zhou Ai wrote fast, not neatly stroke-by-stroke, and the ends of some characters had slight ligatures, but the underlying structure of each word was crisp and clean. It looked orderly, yet not stiff. There were only three words written simply on the page, asking: What is it?
Chen Xunfeng handed the notebook back to him: “Want to go eat?”
Zhou Ai paused, then suddenly reached into his desk basket and pulled out a transparent box containing a well-wrapped small bun. This was something he had seen when he arrived at school that morning. He pushed the box toward Chen Xunfeng, then took up his pen again to write on the scratchpad: No need to bring me breakfast in the future.
He hadn’t used the memo app on his phone; he just wrote it at the top of the page, right below the “What is it?” from earlier.
Chen Xunfeng looked down at the sentence, nodded, and handed the notebook back: “Alright. But how long have you known it was me bringing them?”
Zhou Ai glanced at him and wrote on the third line: The first time.
Chen Xunfeng watched his answer and gave a slight, subtle laugh. The tail end of that laugh melted into his next sentence. He asked Zhou Ai: “Why?”
As Chen Xunfeng spoke, the answer automatically leaped into Zhou Ai’s mind because there would never be a second person. But Zhou Ai didn’t answer the question, merely shaking his head faintly.
There was movement at the back door. Those who ate quickly had returned to the classroom. Seemingly surprised to find Chen Xunfeng and Zhou Ai still there, their reflex was to retreat quickly.
Chen Xunfeng tilted his head to glance at them and didn’t pursue the question with Zhou Ai. He stood up from his seat, casually picking up the box of buns. With one hand propped on the edge of the desk, he looked down at Zhou Ai and said: “I’ve been sitting here watching you do problems, thinking the whole time about what excuse I could find so you’d have no reason to refuse and would go eat with me.”
Zhou Ai looked up at him. A lock of hair on his forehead was lifted by the wind from outside the window.
Chen Xunfeng’s fingers tapped slightly on the desktop. He then raised his hand to close the window, though his gaze never shifted from Zhou Ai: “Saying I forgot my meal card is too clumsy. Saying I wanted to reminisce over a meal is too grand an excuse.”
The wind died down, and Chen Xunfeng’s voice echoed in the empty classroom. He shook his head and lowered his eyes: “So, the truth is, I still haven’t found a good reason.”
But he quickly raised his eyes again, looking at Zhou Ai: “I know you often wait 20 minutes after class before going to the cafeteria, but I left my class early today. I was a bit worried; what if you had left right after class? Then I wouldn’t have been able to eat with you today.”
Zhou Ai closed his scratchpad and placed it back where it belonged. He looked up at Chen Xunfeng, who was standing in front of the desk. From his seated angle, what he saw most clearly was the line of Chen Xunfeng’s jaw and Adam’s apple, cast in shadow beneath his collar, the silhouette already beginning to look sharp and clean.
Chen Xunfeng didn’t wait long before Zhou Ai stood up from his seat. As the two of them walked quietly through the corridor outside the classroom, they brushed past a tall boy from Class 1.
Zhou Ai’s side profile remained serene; he didn’t spare a glance for that person. Chen Xunfeng sensed something, frowned, and even turned his head to glare at the boy.
Hu Cheng had intended to speed up his pace and pretend he hadn’t seen them, but he was feeling incredibly suffocated and had truly had enough. After the morning’s exam, the reprimands from his teachers, the foreseeable cold disappointment of his parents, and the fact that his cousin had been detained a while ago with the cousin’s parents pushing all the blame onto him he had reached a breaking point. Now, faced with Chen Xunfeng’s look and Zhou Ai’s aloof indifference, he couldn’t take it anymore.
Hu Cheng stopped in his tracks, his angry provocation on the tip of his tongue, but before he could speak, someone grabbed him by the shoulder from behind. That person pulled him away with an irresistible force. They walked a few steps away until Chen Xunfeng had looked away, and only then did Jiang Wenyi let go. Hu Cheng’s anger did not subside; he looked at the calm face of the person in front of him.
“What are you doing?”
Jiang Wenyi asked him: “Do you want to be the next me?” He lifted his arm and moved his leg: “Here and here I only just had the plates and plaster removed last week. If you had rushed up there mindlessly just now, you would only have become the next me. I finally understand now why Chen Xunfeng suddenly went crazy on me in the restroom that day.”
Hu Cheng calmed down a bit and subconsciously asked, following his lead: “Why?”
“Because that day in the restroom, I cursed Zhou Ai. I called him a dead mute, said he looked like he was owed money every day with that cold face. Chen Xunfeng heard me.”
Hu Cheng frowned, and Jiang Wenyi even gave a faint smile: “So, do you understand now?”
Jiang Wenyi rubbed his arm and continued slowly: “You all keep spreading rumors, saying Chen Xunfeng can’t stand Zhou Ai, saying that someone mentioned Zhou Ai and was hit by Chen Xunfeng’s basketball. How exactly did that person phrase it?”
Hu Cheng looked at Jiang Wenyi but didn’t speak.
Jiang Wenyi breathed out softly: “That person’s exact words were even if Zhou Ai has good grades and looks good, what’s the point? He’s still a mute. That’s why Chen Xunfeng hit him.” He asked Hu Cheng: “Do you understand now?”
Hu Cheng nodded, then frowned again, asking: “Why… why does Chen Xunfeng want to help…” He changed his wording, continuing: “Why does he want to protect that mute?”