Chapter 8

Proofreader: Akimi

The bus arrived at the destination but Zhen Yuanbai didn’t dare to move until the bus started driving again. Shi Bufan told him, “Everyone who should get off at this stop already got off.”

Zhen Yuanbai suddenly popped his head out of the school uniform. His originally slightly curly hair became messy and he had moist eyes. His pale white face was now flushed and he looked like…a ripe apple.

Shi Bufan squinted his eyes.

He noticed that Zhen Yuanbai was to his taste, no matter his personality or appearance.

Zhen Yuanbai returned the school uniform back to Shi Bufan and grabbed his backpack, carrying it in his arms. He said, “I’m getting off at the next stop and walking back home. You don’t need to keep following me.”

“I can walk with you.” Towards his “good friend,” Shi Bufan was extremely caring. “After all, there’s nothing for me to do at home.”

Zhen Yuanbai shook his head seriously and said, “I can go home by myself.”

Right now, his heart was thumping rapidly. Why would he allow him to keep following him? He refused his offer and he felt like he may suffer from a heart attack and die anytime. Seeing his determined gaze, Shi Bufan said regretfully, “Fine.”

Zhen Yuanbai got off the bus and sprinted back home. He didn’t even rest for two minutes by the road before he started to sprint for his life again. He ran all the way home to his neighborhood. Then, he placed his arms on his waist, bending to his knee and panting for air. After a while, he finally got in the elevator.

He fixed his messy hair using the mirror in the elevator and pulled on his slightly curly bangs. He didn’t expect for it to straighten. It was just to relieve his anxiousness.

Qin Ying was cooking when she heard movement by the door. Zhen Pingjin looked up and asked, “Why are you so late today?”

“I, I was doing homework at school.”

Zhen Pingjin’s eyebrows twitched.

Actually, Ji Yanping already told them what happened today. She even emphasized that the matter had nothing to do with Zhen Yuanbai. It was just Shi Bufan standing up for him and as expected, Zhen Yuanbai hadn’t told them the truth. As Zhen Pingjin watched him change his shoes, there was a sense of anger in his heart dying to explode. But receiving Qin Ying’s gaze, he pretended like nothing happened in the end.

News of Shi Bufan protecting his benefactor had spread across the school. Even the rascals who usually mocked Zhen Yuanbai started to go around him. This is the first time he had experienced the happiness of being a king crab. There were even people who offered to let him cut in line for lunch, but he was quite embarrassed to really do so.

The only person who made Zhen Yuanbai feel as if he was in a difficult situation was Shi Bufan, who passed him notes every day the moment they were in class. Every time, he would have to pass several notes for Zhen Yuanbai to reply to one while trembling in fear. This made Shi Bufan quite unhappy.

Qiu Jing had noticed their interaction as well. He couldn’t help but ask Shi Bufan, “Why have you been mingling with Zhen Yuanbai frequently? You don’t even play ball with us anymore.”

“My head’s still injured, so it’s not suitable for me to participate in intense sports.”

“Then why are you always around “fool”…hey, what the heck!” Qiu Jing was smacked by a book on the head. Shi Bufan said unhappily, “I said for people to stop calling him a “fool.” Are your ears deaf?”

Ming Mai was shocked. “Even we can’t call him that?”

“Even I can’t.” Shi Bufan coldly said, “If you guys hear anyone calling him by that nickname in the future, go and beat them up. If they become disabled, I’ll be in charge of their medical expenses.”

Ye Lian was playing a card game when he glanced at Shi Bufan as if he already saw through everything.

Zhen Yuanbai was unaware of the movements happening behind him. In about two days, it would be the monthly exam. He was spending his time wisely on doing practice exams. Zhen Yuanbai didn’t have high expectations for himself, as long as he had full marks on the math portion. After the college entrance exam, he would take an exam for the physics department and then as a graduate student, so then he could get into a research institute.

This was his dream ever since he was a child.

“Class monitor, Teacher Li is looking for you.” Someone suddenly called. Zhen Yuanbai found it strange but he packed his things and walked out.

When he arrived, Ji Yanping let him sit down and poured him a glass of juice that she freshly extracted. She asked in concern, “It’s almost the monthly exam. Do you feel like you’re inadequately prepared in any subjects?”

Monthly exams were nothing out of the ordinary for Zhen Yuanbai. He didn’t really understand the teacher but he shook his head. He said, “I think it’s pretty good.”

Ji Yanping motioned for him to drink the juice. Zhen Yuanbai wondered if it was because of the self-criticism letter. It’d already been a week and the teacher didn’t specifically mention it either. He had almost forgotten about it.

He thanked her and pursed his lips. The juice was sour and sweet. Then she asked, “I heard the news has been spreading across the school. You have been walking home with Shi Bufan recently?”

Zhen Yuanbai hurriedly denied, “No, I just walked out of school with him. We don’t go the same way.”

Ji Yanping nodded and said, “I remember that your mother is an outpatient service doctor and your father is from a gaming company?”

“Yes.”

“These two careers are hard to work for. It’s tiring and exhausting but people don’t even earn much money. Your parents had to work hard for you boys to go to school. They even moved into a new house and that’s quite far from their workplaces, right?”

Zhen Yuanbai realized something and nodded softly.

“You’re a good kid and you’re in your sophomore year. Time’s not too tight on you but you can’t relax completely either. Your grades can drop easily but it’d be hard to increase your grades.” Ji Yanping sipped the juice and said gently, “There are some students who come from wealthy backgrounds and they don’t need to worry about their grades, as they don’t need to do anything. But ordinary people still have to live their ordinary lives. Although this teacher hopes for Shi Bufan to learn from you and stop getting involved in fights, this was just secondary. Your future is the most important, do you understand?”

Zhen Yuanbai could do nothing but nod in agreement.

Actually, when she saw the self-criticism letter, she knew that it was definitely Shi Bufan’s handwriting. After all, she didn’t expect for him to learn his lesson either. Although the school has been spreading the news of Zhen Yuanbai being friends with Shi Bufan, she didn’t have the intention of discriminating against the poor students, but some teachers had been telling her that Zhen Yuanbai and Shi Bufan were passing notes in class. She was extremely worried. To speak the truth, with Zhen Yuanbai’s grades, as long as he performed well on the college entrance exam, it was possible for him to rank first place. She must pay more attention to this and not let Shi Bufan influence Zhen Yuanbai.

During lunch, all the students ran to the cafeteria as if they hadn’t eaten in ages. Song Mo knew that Shi Bufan was always slow. As he ran, he said, “Old rules. I’ll go and reserve some spots for us!”

Zhen Yuanbai looked down and tidied his desk. He placed all the books in his desk in chronological order and a low chuckle rang in his ears. A hand rested by his desk and he looked up to see Shi Bufan’s handsome face. “You’re so meticulous every day. Aren’t you tired of doing this?”

Zhen Yuanbai remained silent as Shi Bufan continued, “Everyone’s grabbing lunch. Do you not want to eat anything?”

Zhen Yuanbai stood up and walked out, saying purposefully, “I want spicy hotpot.”

In other words, the food wasn’t in the cafeteria so it didn’t matter whether he went early or late.

Shi Bufan chuckled and placed a hand on his shoulder, saying, “You like to eat fresh food.”

Zhen Yuanbai recalled the teacher’s words and slowly placed Shi Bufan’s hand on his shoulder down. “I want to talk to you about something.”

“What?”

“Don’t pass notes to me in class anymore.” Zhen Yuanbai said unhappily. “It will give the teachers a bad impression. Plus, it will prevent me from learning.”

Shi Bufan agreed right away.

“You said you would do it last time as well.” Zhen Yuanbai raised his head and said angrily, “But you purposefully hit me with paper balls in class.”

“Music class isn’t important.”

“As long as we’re in class, you can’t do it. It’s very tiring for the teachers to teach us. We have to learn to respect them.”

Shi Bufan stared at his serious expression and said, “Fine.”

He answered quickly and straightforwardly. It made it hard for Zhen Yuanbai to say anything else. He didn’t have the guts to tell Shi Bufan that they were not going to be good friends anymore. He’d rather them like this than becoming enemies.

When Zhen Yuanbai and the others arrived at the cafeteria, most people were gone from the lunch line already. But, there was barely any food left. Thankfully, Song Mo got food for him while Qiu Jing did the same for Shi Bufan. They sat by the long table and Qiu Jing began to murmur, “The food tastes like the food fed to the pigs. It would be strange if our motherland’s flower buds could bloom!”

Ming Mai said, “What’s the saying? If you are blooming, butterflies will naturally fly around you. As long as you study, even Tsinghua University will come looking for you.”

“Then when can I bloom?”

“You?” Ming Mai said, “You’re a melon. Once you’re ripe, you’re done for.”

Song Mo almost spat the rice in his mouth whilst listening to the two banter. Ye Lian hadn’t touched his food yet. He had been crazily tapping on his phone screen, saying in a bad mood, “Stupid teammates. You fools don’t even bring your armies and you guys only know to surround the enemies. If this father doesn’t get in the advancement tournament, I’ll find them through the internet and beat them to a pulp.”

Ming Mai immediately turned around, “You can find their IP address through this?”

“Scram.”

Zhen Yuanbai tugged his plate over, preventing their saliva from landing on his food. But Qiu Jing wasn’t lying either. The food was really disgusting. Zhen Yuanbai usually didn’t eat much in the afternoon. He ate his favorite vegetables and then picked with his rice. He got up and dumped the leftover food in the designated bin.

Shi Bufan followed him closely and said, “You’re probably not full, right?”

“It’s ok.” Zhen Yuanbai said, “I’m returning to the dormitory to nap.”

Even though Zhen Yuanbai was a day-to-day student, he had his own dormitory. He would bring the covers of his blankets home once a week to have it washed. Shi Bufan didn’t insist on doing everything with him either so when he brought Zhen Yuanbai back to his dormitory, he left.

Zhen Yuanbai’s dormitory was filled with day-to-day students, but only he came over to nap usually. Everyone else was lazy and usually slept in the classrooms. Zhen Yuanbai had a body alarm. In the afternoon, he always had to nap when it was time. He wore earplugs and eye-mask and then slept on the tent-like bed for a while. He suddenly smelled something good while he was still in slumber. The cafeteria food wasn’t tasty so he usually was never full. He would return home and eat some more. For a moment, he thought it was time to eat dinner.

He tugged his eye-mask off and zipped down the tent to see Shi Bufan kneeling by him. Seeing that he woke up, he raised his chin and said, “Spicy hotpot, quickly eat.”

Zhen Yuanbai immediately sat up and asked surprised, “Where’d you get it from?”

“I obviously bought it.” Shi Bufan pulled a chair over and sat down. He got himself a bowl of rice and then tossed the shrimp and meat in the hotpot over to Zhen Yuanbai’s bowl. He said, “Let’s eat quickly. Class is about to start.”

Zhen Yuanbai followed suit and devoured the food ravenously. His cheeks were full from shoving rice and he looked unbelievably at the spicy hotpot. He mumbled, “This is the first time that I ate outside food in the school.”

Shi Bufan curled his lips and said, “I’ll buy it for you next time too.”

Zhen Yuanbai felt very blessed. It was rare for him to be satiated in school. Ultimately, the cafeteria food was too unpalatable. Boys their age usually had large appetites, but were also picky with their food.

He couldn’t help but think it was a great choice to be Shi Bufan’s friend. As long as he doesn’t disturb his studying, no…as long as he doesn’t beat him up after recovering his memory.

Zhen Yuanbai burped, clearly full.

The next afternoon, Shi Bufan came to his dormitory with hot and sour rice noodles. The next day, he got him chicken over rice. In the next few days, Zhen Yuanbai became picky with his food. Since he knew that Shi Bufan would bring him food, he was too lazy to even go to the cafeteria anymore. The moment it was lunchtime, he would go to his dormitory and wait for Shi Bufan to bring him food.

The school allowed them to bring their own lunch but not junk food like spicy hotpot and food-related to that. The delivery men can’t even go near school doors. Plus, the moment the class started, the doors would be forcibly shut. Even if it was lunchtime, students aren’t allowed to go out of school casually. They had to wait until school is over.

To Zhen Yuanbai, Shi Bufan was a like a deity for bringing him delicious meals every afternoon!

This day, Shi Bufan got him hot spicy soup. While feeding Zhen Yuanbai this, he didn’t mistreat himself either. He got himself beef noodle soup. As the two were wolfing down their food, a voice rang from the loudspeakers outside. “Shi Bufan? Shi Bufan, reveal yourself!”

It was the teacher-in-charge of disciplining the students and keeping the school spirit. Zhen Yuanbai was confused and he licked his lips. “Why, why are they calling you again?”

“Don’t mind him.” Shi Bufan turned around and locked the door. Zhen Yuanbai heard footsteps outside and the consistent banging on doors. “Which room is he in? I want to see who dares to cover up for Shi Bufan!”

Zhen Yuanbai trembled in fear and his hands were shaking as he finished his food. Shi Bufan placed his chopsticks down and lifted a finger to his lips. “Shh.”

He walked over to the door and placed his ears over to listen. The teacher-in-charge’s footsteps were slowly heading their way. In between, he could hear the boys groaning from their rooms. He opened a corner of the door and then darted out. He walked over in large strides to the room the teacher was searching and whistled. “Baldy Liang, why are you looking for me?”

The teacher-in-charge’s surname was Liang and he got the nickname “Baldy Liang” because of his hairstyle. He angrily turned around and said, “What did I tell you yesterday? The superintendents are coming over to check on us today. You can’t climb over the wall, you can’t climb over the wall…”

He suddenly realized that he was still holding the loudspeaker. Therefore, he quickly placed it down and walked over in two steps. He hollered, “Yet you still did it! What are you looking at? Come with me. You had disobeyed school rules time after time! Don’t you think it’s quite shameful?”

Zhen Yuanbai had been hiding inside and listening to this, puzzled. When the noise disappeared, he then dared to peek his head out. The boy next to his room cursed and said, “I knew the school had opened the backdoor for Shi Bufan. The teacher always knew when he climbed over the wall. If the superintendent didn’t see him today, they probably would’ve turned a blind eye again.”

Zhen Yuanbai walked back and found a plastic black bag to place their leftover food in. Shi Bufan had found this bag, saying it would be convenient for them to deal with the trash, in case the teacher found out.

He rushed down the stairs as if there was something chasing him and threw the bag in the dormitory’s garbage bin. He felt a bit guilty.

Not far from him, Liang Tuzheng was walking towards the sports field with Shi Bufan. Seeing that he looked back at Shi Bufan every now and then, Zhen Yuanbai knew that his scolding never stopped.

The teacher in charge of Class 1, Teacher Ji, was called to the sports field again. Liang Tuzheng angrily threw the loudspeaker at her and said, “Take care of your students!”

Ji Yanping felt bitter in her heart. Shi Bufan wasn’t even part of the elite class in the beginning After the classes were decided, she didn’t know what was wrong with him but he would come to the elite class every day and just take over a student’s seat, pretending like he was listening in class. The principal, seeing that Shi Bufan “was eager to learn,” made an exception and allowed him to be in Class 1.

She closed the loudspeaker and said weakly, “Why did you climb over the wall this time?”

“I went to buy food.”

“Every day?” Ji Yanping said, “You can’t eat in the cafeteria? You have to climb over the wall for the whole week?”

Shi Bufan crossed his hands and placed it on the back of his head. Under the sunlight, the young man stood tall and straight, raising his chin and glancing at Zhen Yuanbai who was nearby and staring at him. He suddenly winked his left eye and curled his lips.

“I…am noble and honorable. Eating in the cafeteria doesn’t suit my temperament.”