Chapter 5: So He is Clairvoyant

Why did he have to bend to peer pressure—well, teacher pressure—so easily?

He already regretted telling Chen laoshi that. This time, he really only had himself to blame, even though he had told himself just a day earlier that he was going to keep his head down and not attract attention.

`Ah well,` Wang Canghai thought as he greeted Liu Fengmian from besides the doorway. `It's not like I'm going to win, either way. Perhaps I still have time to peer pressure Liu Fengmian into it before Zhou Rong inevitably takes the position.`

"Are you sure you don't want the class monitor position?" Wang Canghai asked as they walked down the hall.

"Nah."

`Well, I tried.`

"Anyway, what happened? Did you get in trouble?" Liu Fengmian fired off enthusiastically, leaning closer. Wang Canghai moved his face away. "Or...did you finally get told off for sleeping? It's about time, I was wondering when she'd finally explode on you."

"No, not any of those," Wang Canghai replied. "She wanted me to run for class monitor, apparently because I had good qualities for it."

"So you told her no?"

"So I told her yes."

Liu Fengmian gaped at him dramatically, eyes wide. "Wait, you?! I didn't think you'd actually do it—weren't you vehemently against that idea?"

Wang Canghai pinched his nose, a slight throb of an oncoming headache thrumming beneath his skin. "Don't ask me why. I'm not sure either."

"Do you want to do some psychoanalyzation and find out?" Liu Fengmian suggested.

"I don't think you have the credentials for tha'," Wang Canghai replied, a slight upturn tugging at the tips of his lips suddenly. "Besides, isn't tha' a treatment for mental disorders?"

"I mean, I used that word because it sounded smart. I don't actually know what it means."

What a guy.

Wang Canghai couldn't help but burst out laughing.

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Song Wenbin had always been a lucky person.

It was as if he'd been blessed by a higher being above, perhaps in a past life of some sort, in his innate ability to avoid trouble. He could walk into the walls of a hurricane and still come out unscatched, jump in front of a highway and not a car would hit him—he lived in a state of perpetual triple sevens.

Song Wenbin was not a smart person, nor was he hardworking. Yin Aiguo and Chen Zhu were—that was why they were in class four, not five—but he'd never needed to lift his own finger.

His luck only seemed to work when he himself was in danger, though.

The water bucket atop the door teetered dangerously as the door opened, suddenly tipping over as the cold liquid splashed all over the figure underneath.

"Which one of you kids did this?!" Chen laoshi spluttered angrily, slamming her soaking wet bag onto the podium. "I promise you, if you turn yourself in now, I won't punish you nearly as badly as I will if you don't."

A few students peeked over at Song Wenbin discreetly, having seen him order around Yin Aiguo and Chen Zhu earlier to place it atop the door. He smiled back at them, invoking a menacing edge to his expression. The students glanced back down at their papers.

"5..4...3…" she started counting down, tapping her fingers against her arm. "2…2 and a half….2 and a quarter….1—"

Wang Canghai silently walked in behind her, sneaking behind her to sit into his own seat.

`That bastard…!` Song Wenbin thought, gnawing on his fingernails. It was a bad habit he had yet to grow out of. `Usually he comes just before the teacher!`

"I'll be back in ten minutes, so for now, the four class monitor candidates can figure out something for the class to do. Or just study. Either way, make sure nobody gets up to more trouble, or I'll punish the entire class this time." The sounds of heels clacking began to distance itself from the classroom as the class monitor candidates glanced at each other in confusion.

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"Everyone should just study, and we'll be in charge of making sure nothing happens until Chen laoshi gets back," Zhou Rong suggested, quickly rising up to the occasion. The four of them were standing at the front of the classroom as Wang Canghai frowned at the puddle of water flowing out from the doorway.

"Hold on," Yang Guang started, pointing at Wang Canghai suddenly. "When the hell did this weird kid become a class monitor candidate?!"

"Yesterday," Wang Canghai bluntly replied, expression blank. There was a sort of writhing sensation in his stomach, and he just wanted the conversation to be over with already.

"I say we play a game," Song Wenbin chimed in, grin large. "Everyone gets a sheet of paper to ball up, and we throw them at each other until there is only one winner left! It's so much more fun than your boring idea, Zhou Rong."

Zhou Rong huffed exasperatedly in reply. "This is why you'll never be class monitor. Yang Guang, you must be on board with mine—and Chen laoshi's—idea right?" She made eye contact with him, dark blue eyes gazing imploringly.

Yang Guang stared back for a moment, before rolling his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, whatever."

"Do you like her or something?!" Song Wenbin accused, waving at the two of them. "Why do you always agree to do what she says?!"

"I don't fucking like her, and I don't do whatever she says you dumbfuck!" Yang Guang burst out, suddenly inflamed as he brought up a fist in retaliation. "Why are you two always fixated on each other?! Maybe you two are the ones that are in a secret relationship!"

"What?!" Zhou Rong yelped, aghast.

`I guess they're not going to ask for my opinion,` Wang Canghai thought, relaxing with his hands in his pockets. He certainly wasn't going to take the first initiative, so he might as well just walk around the classroom.

None of the other class monitor candidates noticed, either way, too stuck up in their own conversation.

"Te Kunsheng," a girl whispered, giving Wang Canghai a little wave. He came over to her, wondering what she wanted. "Somebody wanted you to have this. Don't ask me who though, I'm not going to tell."

`For me?` Wang Canghai thought, slightly perturbed, although he said "thanks" and took the letter from her hands anyway.

`I'm so sorry I couldn't meet you the day before yesterday!!!! There was something I absolutely had to do that day… Could you meet me again after school today, at the same place? Again, sorry!`

—X

Wang Canghai raised an eyebrow, placing the letter back into the envelope and slipping it into his pocket.

"I saw your name on the list," the girl added, giving him a nod. "Good luck! I hope you win."

"Thank you," he replied, nodding back at her.

Across the room, Liu Fengmian attempted to discreetly get his attention by waving vigorously at him, arms slightly bent. Wang Canghai walked over, passing the other students that were either studying or chatting amongst themselves.

"What?" Wang Canghai asked.

"You're going for class monitor right?" Liu Fengmian replied, stroking his chin. "What can I do to help you? Is there anything you want to do to increase your chances?"

Wang Canghai stared at him, mystified.

"You're reaching out to help?" He asked, watching as flickers of confusion flitted through emerald eyes. "Why?"

Confusion turned to acknowledgement, and Liu Fengmian grinned. "Because you're my friend, and I want to help any way I can."

In the low din of the classroom noise, Wang Canghai could hear the arguments of the other class monitor candidates die down, and he felt their beady gazes on his back. He pinched the sleeve of his jacket, bringing old ghosts of a habit back to life.

"What makes you think I have any chance of winning against Zhou Rong?" He asked, tapping a finger against the smooth desk.

Liu Fengmian's eyes sparkled. "I've got a bit of dirt on her. For all her efforts to keep a clean slate, I somehow stumbled across this afterschool two days ago."

He held up a small, compact camera, the edges of it battered from its seeming years of use. Inside the small screen, a blurry video showcasing the backs of two figures near a pond appeared, although the sun rays blotted out the facial features.

`"Garbage patch? I never needed him for anything—he was simply a nuisance. Speaking of which, how's he doing?"`

Wang Canghai stiffened as soon as he heard that voice. It was Liang Shen's condescending voice, again—was he really going to bother him in highschool as well?

`"...He just sleeps a lot. He acts more like how he did when you first met him...but there's something different about him at the same time. Anyway, I sent the falsified letters to Zhang Yiling and Wang Canghai, and he was knocked out quickly. That's what you wanted, didn't you?"` Zhou Rong's voice came through.

`...Falsified letters?` Wang Canghai thought, thoughts flashing to the thin paper folded inside his jacket pocket. `Zhou Rong...and Liang Shen. That infamous duo, working together yet again.`

His eyes flashed with anger, tightening his fists together as the voices in the camera washed over him again, uncomfortably familiar.

`"Indeed, but...I just had a great idea," Liang Shen sneered. "I think it's about time I paid him a little visit."`

Zhou Rong's voice crackled through the digital screen.

`"Do what you want."`

The video ended.

"Are you okay?" A concerned voice asked, breaking Wang Canghai out of his thoughts.

Wang Canghai loosened his fists. "I'm fine. So Zhou Rong was the one who set the whole thing up—and she's sent me another one of those letters again. This time, set for this afternoon, at the same place."

"She's probably going to expect you to come then," Liu Fengmian commented, pondering with a finger on his chin. "Last time, Zhang Yiling said that she was challenged to a fight when there didn't seem to be a challenger, so I believe that was set up—that is, if Zhou Rong has something against you. I don't know if this time will be the same thing, since it's a bit redundant, but if she goes through all that trouble, then there must be something she's planning."

He gave a mischievous wink.

"So let's reverse that and set her up back!"

Wang Canghai blinked slowly, surprised. Liu Fengmian was bold—bolder than he'd seemed three days ago, when Wang Canghai had seen him slumped against an alleyway wall. Perhaps he was always this way, or perhaps he'd gained confidence. Either way—

" —Let's do it," Wang Canghai readily agreed.

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"Why..."

Veins popped over Chen Zhu's forehead as he pointed at Song Wenbin. "...The hell aren't you lifting a single finger!"

"Yeah, why do we always have to do the grunt work?" Yin Aiguo complained, screwing open the cap on a glue bottle. "This is unfair."

Song Wenbin leaned back against his chair, balancing a pencil just above his lips. "Because I'm the brains of this operation, obviously. Come on, who else is going to tell you two what to do?"

"I nominate myself," Chen Zhu replied, closing the jar he had poured the contents of into somebody's backpack.

Song Wenbin grinned, linking his hands together menacingly. "Hurry it up, we need to be done with those two things first. After that, I've got a lot in store for Wang Canghai…"

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Song Wenbin saw Wang Canghai visibly pause at the door of the classroom after lunch ended, eyes roving over the students sitting down and whispering amongst themselves, and glancing back and forth at Wang Canghai's desk and him. He walked over to his desk, the slight drag of his feet betraying his trepidation.

`As he should feel,` Song Wenbin thought, smirking behind his linked fingers. `This'll teach him not to get close to He Hualing.`

Wang Canghai stared at his desk, the messy handwriting filling up the wooden surface, scribbles of "drop dead" and "weird" and "teacher's pet" bolded haphazardly throughout among others.

"Who would do this?" Liu Fengmian wondered out loud, placing a hand on Wang Canghai's shoulder. "Don't let this bother you, this is just petty."

To Song Wenbin and the rest of the class's surprise, Wang Canghai looked nonchalant, having the audacity to shrug as he took out a tissue from his uniform pocket. Then, he took the thin paper and wiped over the table cleanly, the black marks on his table quickly disappearing.

"They didn't even use a sharpie," he said, cracking a kink in his neck with one hand. "It's written using a dry erase marker, of all things."

Song Wenbin placed a hand over his face, gritting his teeth in frustration. `Damn it, I should've actually read the details of the "marker" I bought. I can't believe it was actually a dry erase one!`

"Yang Guang, check your bag."

Yang Guang looked taken back, narrowing his eyes. "And why the hell should I do that?"

"It's already opened. Somebody must've messed with your bag, right? Yours is usually shut tight," Wang Canghai suggested, looking slightly irritated—like he always did. Yang Guang scowled, although he reluctantly peered into the opened zipper of his backpack near Wang Canghai's seat.

Then, that same bag flew and banged into the blackboard at the front loudly, the opened slit spilling a few crickets out all over the floor and causing a few of the students to loudly scream in surprise.

Yang Guang stood up, fists clenched and expression murderous as he kicked the hard leg of the metal chair he sat in a moment ago. "Which one of you fucks put crickets in my bag?!"

The tension in the air was almost palatable, and even Song Wenbin couldn't help but feel a sliver of nervousness run down his spine, although he knew he would turn out fine in the end even if Yang Guang discovered it was him. His luck always saved him in the end—besides, he hadn't planned on screwing up his plan this badly, since those crickets were for Wang Canghai in the first place.

Wang Canghai raised a hand in front of Yang Guang, whose eyes centered on that before he knocked the hand away. Wang Canghai gave him a cold stare, standing up after examining the dead cricket bodies now spilled on the clean floor.

"Sorry about tha', this was meant for me. Your bag was near my seat, and it happened to be caught in the crossfire. As for my bag...I usually take it with me or hide it, since I'm used to this."

"So what are you going to do about it?!" Yang Guang yelled, hands grabbing the front of Wang Canghai's uniform roughly and curling it so that the wrinkles pulled tight.

Wang Canghai blinked in response. "What are you thinking of?"

`I thought they were going to team up, but it seems like that's not happening, Song Wenbin thought,` cold hand cradling his cheek, watching Yang Guang push Wang Canghai onto the floor.

"Just get rid of the crickets," Yang Guang sneered, before he turned to face the rest of the class. "I won't forget this. Unless you want to die, you better come forth by this afternoon, whoever apparently 'mistakenly' did this."

Liu Fengmian helped Wang Canghai up, who then grabbed the chair by his table.

`Here it comes,` Song Wenbin thought gleefully and rubbed his hands together, hoping this would work after the two disastrous attempts at deterrence.

"Is that glue?" Liu Fengmian asked as Wang Canghai stared at his seat and stood in place. There was the slightest indication of an unknown emotion flickering through his eyes, although it disappeared just as quickly.

"Yes." Wang Canghai grabbed a few sheets of paper from a bag hidden behind a few books in his table storage slot, tossing it onto the seat and scooping up some of the glue. "It's a bullying technique seen in many media. In real life, it doesn't work as well."

Song Wenbin exhaled in frustration, biting on his nails again. Next to him, the students were paying attention to Wang Canghai with rapt attention, although a few had gone off and started doing their own tasks.

"A few of my workbooks tha' were on my table were stolen," Wang Canghai murmured, so lightly that Song Wenbin almost missed it. The sounds of the cafeteria and the familiar footsteps of moving students began to lessen as the seconds ticked by on the clock.

Wang Canghai moved forward to tap at a pile of workbooks and papers on Liu Fengmian's desk, an air of amusement surrounding him. "It was here."

`I told Yin Aiguo and Chen Zhu to at least put a little bit of thought into this!` Song Wenbin despaired in his mind, slamming his head repeatedly against the table. A few students near him looked at him with an alarmed concern. `I can't believe none of them even phased him!`

What Song Wenbin didn't know at the time was that Wang Canghai was a master expert on common bullying techniques, and would not fall for cheap tricks like those mentioned above. Also, Song Wenbin was just not good at this at all. Or anything in particular.

Wang Canghai turned to face the class, reminiscent of what Yang Guang had done before, but with much less aggression and more of an impassive face. It was almost impressive, how he was able to wipe the emotions off his face everyday, like a stone statue. Then, he bowed slightly, and then straightened up.

All of the students were listening, their eyes on his figure at the front of the class.

"To whoever I offended in any way, or wronged, I'm sorry. But it is hurtful to do these kinds of things to fellow classmates, and even though I am used to this and know these common techniques, many aren't. Please talk to me anytime so we can resolve this issue privately later, if possible, and hopefully we can all have a good three years of highschool together."

Then, Wang Canghai glanced at Song Wenbin. "Would you know who it is, ling xiu?"

Song Wenbin couldn't help but grind his teeth in fury, wondering if he was implying anything or not. However, he still gave a friendly smile, standing up to address the class. In the corner of his eye, he could see Zhou Rong's face of contemplation and the dry, dead crickets on the smooth floor.

"I don't," he said confidently, eyes locked onto his target up front. "But whoever did do it, rest assured, it will be reported and brought up to the teacher if we find out who it is."

"I caught a glimpse of somebody with a white bandage on their face coming out of the room when I was using the restroom," a girl beside her friends suddenly pointed out, tapping on her chin. "I don't know his name, but I've seen him—"

" —Around Song Wenbin," Liu Fengmian suddenly perked up, fingers snapping in recognition. Then, a pissed expression appeared on his face as he cracked his knuckles. "I think I know who the perpetrator is, that bastard."

`They know it's me,` Song Wenbin realized, tensing up.

Wang Canghai and Liu Fengmian looked at each other, speaking at the same time.

"Yin Aiguo."

Song Wenbin gaped at them, speechless.

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Liu Fengmian hid behind Wang Canghai, pink hair just barely peeking out from over his shoulders.

"This was your idea," Wang Canghai whispered to him, shuffling to the right and left as Liu Fengmian followed, patting at his shoulder to get him to stop moving.

"Just because I have an idea, doesn't mean I'm good at executing it," he protested, before swiftly hiding his face once more when Yin Aiguo turned around and glanced at them in the crowded hallway, although Chen Zhu smacked his head for dilly-dallying. It was right at the end of the class day, and they'd taken the chance to follow him as soon as they'd left Song Wenbin for some reason.

They'd already placed the falsified letter into Yin Aiguo's desk during the transitions between classes, where they'd asked the friend of a girl who'd been in their class to place the first in his table slot, crumpled up towards the back—as if he'd missed it the first time—and the other on his table. Wang Canghai was surprised that Liu Fengmian had already gotten to know a few classmates in class five, although it was to be expected since he was definitely more sociable than Wang Canghai.

Wang Canghai sighed internally, leaving Liu Fengmian behind to talk to Yin Aiguo.

"I was wondering if you got the letters from my friend," Wang Canghai started, mustering as much confidence as he could suck up. "Did you see the letter?"

"I did," Yin Aiguo replied, brightening up. "I missed the first one, but I'll be going to the meeting place right now."

`Good, so he got both letters,` Wang Canghai thought, giving a subtle nod to Liu Fengmian towards the back, who gave him a thumbs up back.

"How the hell did you even get a confession letter?!" Chen Zhu snarked at Yin Aiguo, throwing up his hands. "Te Kunsheng, or whatever your name was, I think you should tell your friend that she could do a lot better than Aiguo here."

"No, girls love scars," Yin Aiguo replied, smacking him with a strained smirk.

"Stop acting like you like your scar, you cried to me for hours tha—"

"Anyway," Yin Aiguo said after he'd placed a hand over Chen Zhu's mouth and put him into a headlock. "No need to worry about your friend, I'm going."

Wang Canghai nodded in response, turning around as his face morphed into a less stone-faced version of his usual poker face. Liu Fengmian siddled out from behind two random students—who'd given him a glare as he did so—and nodded at him.

"That was great," he said. "Now, hopefully this plan doesn't crash and burn."

Wang Canghai elbowed him lightly. "Don't be a crow's beak*. Now you've doomed us."

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`[Liu Fengmian:] I'll catch up in three minutes! Something came up suddenly`

`[Wang Canghai:] Alright`

He put away his phone, accidentally dropping it onto the grass from his shaking hands. There was a sense of trepidation in his heart, but also—

`—Excitement,` Wang Canghai thought, clenching his hands together. `Am I excited?`

It was a weird feeling, being excited and nervous at the same time. Almost like getting up on a stage before a play, which he'd done once for elementary school, although he'd fallen off the stage after tripping over his untied shoelaces.

Hopefully, this wouldn't be the same outcome.

Yin Aiguo walked with a cheery lilt to his step, wandering into the area in all likeness of a mischievous monkey. On the other side of the concrete pathway leading out to the side of the school, was a girl Wang Canghai had never seen before, with straight black hair and a large forehead.

He furrowed his eyebrows, slightly confused, when she'd stopped just in front of the enclosed tree. Wang Canghai could feel the awkward energy from the both of them even from his hiding spot as they both attempted to avoid making eye contact with one another.

Yin Aiguo was the first to break the silence. "So are you meeting up with somebody?"

"I am," she replied coolly, like she hadn't been fiddling with her hands in nervousness just seconds before. "I'll be confessing."

He looked surprised, perking up. "Oh? I'm waiting for a confession from a girl."

"Ah, what a coincidence," she replied.

Wang Canghai snorted silently, brushing his knees free from dirt where they'd been on the unevenly trimmed grass before, although he thought back to Liu Fengmian's conversation with himself. `Wasn't it Zhou Rong who wrote those letters herself? Why did another girl actually come for the meet up? Was this some incredible coincidence?`

"I knew you'd come today." Suddenly, there was a figure just inches away, one hand calmly placed on Wang Canghai's shoulder.

Wang Canghai twitched in reflex, slapping the hand off of him just as quickly and scooting back. In his view, a boy with gelled hair parted to either side and thick, tinted glasses placed a bookmark inside his book titled All About Epidemiology And Its Development, a condescending smile gracing his features.

There was something familiar about him, but Wang Canghai couldn't put a finger to it. Instead of dwelling on it, however, he chose to open his mouth. "Who are you?"

Glasses—as he'd dubbed the boy—looked surprised for a flicker of a second, before bursting out in laughter. All of a sudden, there was a sort of foreboding feeling in Wang Canghai's gut. "I can't believe this, you really don't recognize me? From Xinan?"

"No clue," Wang Canghai replied bluntly.

"You can't be serious," Glasses answered to that, zipping open a fanny pack strapped to his waist and placing his book inside. "I knew you were stupid, but not this stupid, Garbage Patch."

`Oh.`

"Liang Shen," Wang Canghai remembered, his eyes widening in surprise. He hadn't realized Liang Shen would be enrolled in a less prestigious highschool such as Ying Yu, seeing as he'd been one of the nation's top scorers in Zhongkao, and in their region. But first, he needed to address the most pressing issue, before he could worry about what was possibly going to happen to him now that this knowledge was known.

"....Why the hairstyle change?"

Liang Shen smoothed over his hair with a hand proudly, adjusting his glasses slightly. "It was high time I changed that disgustingly messy hairstyle, dumbfuck. This is the most convenient and stylish one out of all of them—but that's besides the point. You've gotten bolder, I'll give you that."

Wang Canghai couldn't help but disagree with his claim—well, both of them, but mainly the first about that hairstyle being "stylish", though he didn't dispute it out loud. He liked not being six feet under.

"It's been three minutes, correct?" Liang Shen asked him, the pearl whites of his teeth gleaming as his smile grew wider when the cogs in Wang Canghai's mind slowly turned and came to a startling conclusion.

Wang Canghai snarled and grabbed the front of Liang Shen's shirt suddenly, hiding the tremors in his hands under the coarse fabric, a remnant of an undead agitation. "What the hell do you mean by tha'?!"

Liang Shen slowly laughed, one hand coming up to grip harshly at Wang Canghai's dominant hand. Then, he tightened his grip, causing Wang Canghai to twitch in pain as his blunt fingernails dug in deep. "Why don't you ask Liu Fengmian? Go on, open up your phone."

"Answer my question!" Wang Canghai yelled, the fury rising to his chest drowning all fear and apprehension he previously held at the first sight of Liang Shen. "How the hell do you know about tha'?! What did you do to him?!"

"Do. As. I. Say," Liang Shen uttered, an icy chill suddenly coming off his demeanor as his smile dropped and he twisted his wrist. "Do I need to remind you of your time at Xinan? I've given you enough mercy thus far. Looks like trash will stay as trash."

Wang Canghai winced at the hot flash of agony racing up from his wrist, but bit his cheek to avoid screaming, and had no choice but to drop his hand. He gently cradled his hurt wrist, glaring up at Liang Shen with enough venom to kill a grown horse.

Liang Shen leaned back, an aura of smugness befitting his disposition surrounding him as always. Wang Canghai knew he had two choices as of now: one, lay low and hope the situation does not end in a physical confrontation, or two, refuse, and possibly get targeted again and again just like in Xinan.

He'd already made up his mind since that morning.

"I'll open my phone over my dead body," Wang Canghai replied, though his words held far more bravado than he felt at that moment. Perhaps Liang Shen could sense it, or perhaps he'd known Wang Canghai since middle school, but he sneered.

"I've already got Zhou Rong to track Liu Fengmian down," Liang Shen said, flicking the pencil in his hands up and down. "You should know from personal experience what she can do. Now, I recommend you check your phone, or I will personally make sure life is hell for your only friend."

It infuriated him, the way Liang Shen was always seemingly two steps ahead. There was a tiny part of his mind that reminded him why he was always alone in middle school—that friends would only burden oneself. And he could deal with getting bullied himself (well…), but he couldn't live with himself if he'd caused his only friend to be hurt.

`What do I do?` He thought, an apprehensive drop of sweat trailing down his cheek as he gulped, gritting his teeth. He shifted uncomfortably, feeling the warmth of the phone in his pocket and Liang Shen's piercing gaze analyzing his every move.

"Sorry to interrupt!"

Both Liang Shen and Wang Canghai turned to the side to see Yin Aiguo's familiar face appear, his hand sweeping away the trimmed bushes to get a clearer view. For the first time, Wang Canghai felt overwhelming relief at the sight of his face—although it only served to amplify the feeling of guilt in his chest at the thought that he'd been the one to lead the unsuspecting student to that particular spot afterschool.

"I saw this creep watching that girl," Liang Shen stated, pointing at Wang Canghai with a faux concerned expression. "I also noticed he was the one who held the confession letters earlier this week written by my friend, Xu Qingling, which were meant for another person."

"What?" Yin Aiguo asked, eyebrows furrowing.

Wang Canghai quickly interjected—quicker than he'd done back with Zhang Yiling. "He's lying. This guy—Liang Shen—is a partner to Zhou Rong, who falsified those letters."

"Those letters to me?" Yin Aiguo replied, pointing at himself. He looked slightly disappointed, although his ever-smiling disposition made it hard to discern for sure. "Why would Zhou Rong want to do that to me?"

"Zhou Rong didn't do anything of that sort," Liang Shen claimed, standing up slowly to tower over Yin Aiguo, although he leaned back to give the other some space. "Listen, Yin Aiguo, let me clarify. Since I'm class monitor for class one, my duties include moving paperwork across the school, so I see and hear much of the going-ons in Ying Yu. Wang Canghai here was holding the two confession letters Xu Qinling had written approximately two days ago, and today, both times in class five."

Wang Canghai shook his head at Yin Aiguo, attempting to convey his innocence through his eyes, before speaking up. "Zhou Rong falsified those letters."

"I saw you hold those two letters with my own two eyes," Liang Shen continued, the tint of the sun glittering off his glasses. "I can pull out as many eyewitnesses as you want, Yin Aiguo, to verify my words. Now, why would Wang Canghai be holding them in the first place?"

Yin Aiguo looked a bit confused, rubbing at the bandage on his chin absentmindedly. "What are you saying?"

"I'm saying he set you up." Liang Shen smiled, Yin Aiguo twitched, and Wang Canghai gritted his teeth.

`Oh no,` Wang Canghai couldn't help but think, knowing that he'd been backed into a corner. He'd indeed held both of the letters at some point, and he'd indeed set the entire scene up—what he'd been misinformed about was the fact that Zhou Rong had not written those letters herself, or that Liang Shen would be at the area, or even in the school he was attending currently.

`No, wait.`

"I've got video evidence tha' Zhou Rong falsified those letters," Wang Canghai suddenly spoke up, one hand sneaking into his pocket to thumb at his phone. "I'll show it right now—but Liang Shen's wrong."

Liang Shen shrugged, smile growing wider. "He's bluffing. Wang Canghai, tell me right now, which part of what I said was wrong? Did you not possess both the letters at some point? Did you not set this whole thing up, for poor Yin Aiguo to stumble into?"

As Wang Canghai opened his phone—staying silent for now—making sure to lean it away from Liang Shen as he typed in the passcode, Yin Aiguo's voice was clearly heard amongst the rush of the afternoon's freezing winds as it whirled through rustling trees. "I'm still confused. Why would he set me, specifically, up? And why this way—couldn't he have gotten a gang of people to jump me or something?"

"Revenge," Liang Shen replied. "I know it was you and your buddies that pulled off those troublesome antics in class five today—it's spread through the school quite quickly. Who wouldn't want to humiliate a bully in the worst kind of way—an embarrassing mishap, in front of complete strangers—in such an easy and convenient way? Wang Canghai here does not have the means to gather a gang, and although he is a troubled student, I'm sure he can be set on the right path again through the right means."

So Song Wenbin and Bowlcut also had a hand in that. Not just Yin Aiguo, apparently.

Then, Wang Canghai felt his blood freeze when he realized the file Liu Fengmian had sent was no longer in the Wechat. He double and triple checked once more, searching through his gallery where he'd previously saved the video.

"I can't find it," he said stiffly, face frozen. "My friend, Liu Fengmian, should have a copy though—"

"So you can't find it, or you never had it in the first place?" Liang Shen insinuated, crossing his arms. "Stop trying to deny your involvement in this. Just admit it already."

Yin Aiguo slowly turned to Wang Canghai, pursing his lips. Then, he glanced back and forth between the two in front of him, back at Xu Qingling who was still sitting alone, and then looked directly in Wang Canghai's eyes. "Did you really set me up?"

Wang Canghai held steadfast, hardening his gaze.

"Yes," he admitted, but added on to that. "I wanted to reverse a setup tha' had been planned by Zhou Rong, because she'd falsified the letters—I had no idea Xu Qingling would come into play during this."

He pinched his sleeves, seeing Liang Shen's piercing eyes behind dark glasses in his peripherals. "And I did it in response to the things you did earlier today."

Wang Canghai couldn't decipher the look in Yin Aiguo's eyes, though they were shadowed by his bangs. Then, he looked behind him.

"Hey, I heard Jin Haoyang isn't going to come today, so you can probably leave now."

Xu Qingling tipped her head, confused, brushing out the dust from her uniform pants as she got up from the bench she was seated at. "What about your confession?" Then, seeing Wang Canghai and Liang Shen, she added, "and what is happening here?"

"Looks like we've both been doused with bad luck today," Yin Aiguo joked, eyes flickering over to see Liang Shen's slightly irritated tapping of fingers. "I'm just having a private conversation with these two."

She nodded, stoic face set in stone. "It's really unfortunate. Then, good luck." She gingerly tucked her bag strap over her shoulder, before walking down the concrete path leading out the side. Although her steps were confident, her shoulders were slumped in disappointment.

"Look at the consequences of your actions," Liang Shen sighed, eyes still trained on her disappearing figure.

Yin Aiguo looked at Wang Canghai, the bangs no longer obscuring his eyes—instead, there was a sort of odd light in his eyes, and at his side, he clenched his fist.

"I believe you."

Wang Canghai hadn't realized he'd been holding his breath until now, and he exhaled in relief. Then, he glanced at Liang Shen—although his eyes were covered by thin glasses, a steel tenseness in his body language held back a brittle wave of anger that seemed only to have been stopped by his impressive restraint, and the ever-present smirk continued to stay in place. He seemed, at that moment, like a piece of rubber that'd been pulled apart to its maximum threshold, just before the act of a quick snap.

Above all expectation, however, Liang Shen laughed, a hand covering his face as his cackles led to him folding forward. Wang Canghai and Yin Aiguo stared at each other in confusion, and Wang Canghai mouthed thank you to him. The other just shrugged back at him, although he got into position with his two fists in front of him, one leg out and the other back as Liang Shen lifted his head once more.

His crimson eyes seemed to glow between the shadows of his thin fingers.

"Whether or not you'd believe him or not didn't matter," he cackled. "I've already got the board set."

His eyes dug into Yin Aiguo, who gulped.

"But it's such a shame. I thought you were smarter than that. You've chosen your side—all that's left is to start the game."

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

A boy with a crewcut and the standard winter uniform slipped a compact phone back into Liu Fengmian's side pocket, making eye contact with the girl he was talking with just outside class five.

Zhou Rong didn't blink once at the motion, and he gave her a nod before moving down the halls towards the open doors, whistling a cheery tune from his lips. He took out his own phone, a splinter of cracks on his screen—though it didn't seem to bother him—and opened up Wechat, swiping a patterned passcode protecting the app first.

A string of previous messages appeared, from his most recent interactions, although he tapped at the blank space at the bottom of his screen.

[Liang Shen:] Delete the video from them.

He drew in a couple characters, replying earnestly.

[Wu Feihong:] Finished. All traces are gone.

Then, he pocketed the phone into his jacket, stretching before he continued whistling.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

It took a few more minutes before Liu Fengmian remembered he had to meet up with Wang Canghai.

Before that, Zhou Rong had gone up to him, and though her form was small, her presence seemed to take up the entire hallway like an inflated balloon.

"I heard you took a video of me without my permission," she said, tilting her head inquisitively. "Can you let me look at it?"

"Why do you think I'd have something like that?"

Zhou Rong tapped her ear, before folding her arms back across her chest. "I've heard you've been trying to convince a lot of the students against me. Something about falsified letters, isn't it? I'm just curious about the camera you have in your pocket."

Liu Fengmian jolted just the slightest, but sighed and took out the battered camera slowly, the dense dark color contrasted against his stark white uniform.

"Can you let me see?" Zhou Rong asked, although it sounded less of a question than a command. "If there's nothing on there, then it's fine isn't it?"

"No, there's definitely something on there," Liu Fengmian stated, dangling the camera into her outstretched hand, knowing he'd copied the file from the camera into his phone already—so if she'd decided to delete it, he'd have a backup in two places. "There's only one video on it. Besides that….didn't you set up my friend and Zhang Yiling to go against each other? You lied to get Wang Canghai in trouble. Why are you doing this?!"

Zhou Rong raised an eyebrow at him, though she continued staring into the dull screen of the scratched camera. Then, she replied cryptically with, "I did, but if you really want to get to the root of the problem, I'm not the one you should be asking."

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm not the only one who dislikes Wang Canghai," she continued. "You of all people should know that. Secondly, I've told Wang Canghai thousands of times the reason behind what I'd done to him back in Xinan, ask him instead."

Liu Fengmian paused, huffing in frustration.

"But anyway, am I really so bad for showing everybody the truth? I'm just telling everyone that you're not as great as they think you are."

"Telling the truth isn't bad," Zhou Rong hummed, clicking on a few buttons. "It's good, actually. However…"

She placed it back into his hands, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear. "...Historically, it's not a good idea. I thought you'd know better, by now, to provoke Liang Shen and I."

Then he'd rewatched the footage after Zhou Rong had long left, only to find the video deleted. It was a good thing he'd thought about this scenario before, leading him to transfer the file, along with all the other miscellaneous videos and pictures, over to his phone as well as the video evidence to Wang Canghai's. He felt around for his phone, grasping it and checking the time.

`Oh no, I'm late!`

Liu Fengmian panicked a bit at that thought, slipping the phone back in at the same time he'd started running towards the tree enclosure.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Chen Zhu frowned as he grasped the tree branch he was clutching himself on, although there was a sort of drop in his gut whenever he'd glanced down at the ground below. He didn't understand what led him to climb up and why—

—Oh yeah, it was for Yin Aiguo. Chen Zhu exhaled angrily through his nostrils as he watched Yin Aiguo talk to the girl from a good distance away, as he stood in front of a row of bushes. There were two figures behind the leaves, although he didn't know what Wang Canghai and class one's ling xiu were doing together. With Yin Aiguo nonetheless!

What were they doing anyway? What was Yin Aiguo doing, actually? Chen Zhu was almost certain that the straight-laced girl from before was supposed to be confessing, as she'd seemed the slightest bit fidgety standing near the concrete benches. Or perhaps it was just the winter cold.

So why had he simply dismissed her? He needed to take his shot—she was definitely pretty. Perhaps not beautiful, by any means, but certainly more than the average person. And Yin Aiguo definitely needed to at least hear her out, since this would be one of his only shots. Not that he had anything to say better about himself.

Chen Zhu's furrowed brow dipped lower as he watched on through the leaves, yelping silently when the branch whipped back into his face. For a split second, he could've sworn class one's ling xiu had peeked at the source of the sound, although the next, it was as if nothing had happened.

Curses, he couldn't hear a single thing. He should've hid in a tree along the left side of the path leading out, since the vegetation paralleled one another. Instead, he'd hidden on the right side, which was across from the bushes Wang Canghai, Yin Aiguo, and class one's ling xiu was at.

He sensed movement beneath him, and he glanced down to see a short girl with short hair. She stood still, the grass beneath her feet rustling with the slight wind blowing through. Although the afternoon carried with it a calm atmosphere and the sounds of the bustling streets across the school, Chen Zhu still felt a drop of apprehension at the sight of her unsmiling face.

He didn't know her though, so he waved slightly. "Hello."

She gave a curt wave back, nodding. "Hello, I'm Zhou Rong. You're Song Wenbin's friend, correct?"

"I am. My name's Chen Zhu," he replied, wrapping his arms further around his branch when he felt himself slipping slightly.

"Why are you up there?" Zhou Rong inquired, pointing at the trunk of the tree. Now that he looked closer at her, Chen Zhu realized that she was really, really pretty. He didn't know if he could call her beautiful, since she had a rounder face and that word, in his mind, was reserved for more mature women.

"My other friend's getting confessed to," Chen Zhu called out lowly, making sure his volume wasn't too loud. "So I'm making sure it goes alright."

"She's not there though," Zhou Rong replied, pointing her thumb back at the center encirclement just beyond the right-side bushline. "Aren't you curious about what the three over there are talking about? You should probably come down so you'll be able to hear it better—I assume one of the three over there are your friends right?"

"Yep." Chen Zhu climbed down the tree slowly, arms shaking at the exertion of pulling himself down slowly—definitely not from his embarrassing fear of heights—and dropped onto the ground clumsily. "What do you want to do with Song Wenbin, by the way?"

"I just wanted to say something to him," Zhou Rong said, shrugging.

Chen Zhu nodded, urging her to continue. "What is it?"

"That his time as ling xiu is up."

Chen Zhu's eyes widened suddenly as a fist flew towards his face in a blur.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Song Wenbin groaned internally as he traced the same characters with a ballpoint pen again and again, the blinding white of the paper against his eyeballs a constant irritation. The classroom felt stifling, and the only sounds that occurred were the constant scratching of pen and paper.

The supervisor watching the room sat behind a teacher's desk, typing away at his laptop as he ran a hand through the rat's nest that was his hair.

`Damn it!` Song Wenbin screamed in his mind as both his hand and his head slipped from sleepiness, a heavy feeling in his limbs dragging his movements to what felt like a crawl. There was a line running down the character to the bottom of the page now. `I need to take a break, just for a few minutes.`

He raised his hand, and stood up after the supervisor noticed and called on him. "May I use the restroom, sir?"

The supervisor raised an eyebrow, looking skeptical. "No. You had plenty of time to use the restroom during the breaks. You're in here for a reason, don't mess around."

Song Wenbin felt his temper flare, but he shut his mouth. He sighed, moving to sit down, before he slipped backwards and his head slammed on the floor, although surprisingly enough, it didn't hurt as much as he'd thought it would.

Distantly, he could hear the supervisor shout in alarm as he got up from the chair and moved to crouch near Song Wenbin.

"Wait, wait I'm fine," Song Wenbin hurriedly stated when he saw the supervisor open his mouth. "I'm fine, it doesn't hurt that much."

He suddenly felt a wetness on the back of his head, and he felt around the sensation before glancing back at his red hands. For a split second, he thought it was blood, before he realized that he'd actually slapped his hard head against a ketchup packet that had conveniently been near his classmate's desk on the floor, and that it had mitigated a slight amount of pain he would've suffered. Perhaps he hit the fat packet at the perfect angle, but his head injury didn't sting too badly.

"Go to the nurse's office," the supervisor replied when he eyed the redness staining his hair. "And finish replicating the sentences at home, unless you feel too unwell."

"Will do sir!" Song Wenbin nodded vigorously, pretending to hold the napkins the supervisor had given him against his head in pain as he walked out slowly. Then, as soon as he left the room with his bag, he took out his phone and glanced at the most recent message.

`[Chen Zhu:] Meet me at the tree enclosure! Aiguo's finally done with his confession`

Song Wenbin suddenly frowned, his good mood about escaping detention dissipating as he noticed the emoji at the end of the message: a surprise face with an X bandage over the mouth in a comical fashion. One of the standard wechat emojis.

`Don't come.`

That was the real message. In relation to Chen Zhu, however, it would be more like: `whatever you do, don't come, you goddamned idiot.`

Song Wenbin closed his phone and placed it back inside, one step moving forwards, then two, and then he was running as the whisperings of the leftover disgruntled students passed him by.

`Chen Zhu, you're an idiot,` Song Wenbin couldn't help but think as his breath quickened with his steps. `Wait for me. I'm coming right now.`