Chapter 02

At this moment, there were students coming and going. They didn't dare stop for fear of getting hurt but they also couldn't help but want to watch the show.

Some students who had been working on problems for too long automatically tried to decipher Yu Fan's words as if it was a reading comprehension passage. The meaning of his words was probably along the lines of 'take another look and I'll rip out your eyeballs'.

The two girls caught in the middle exchanged a look with each other and decided to run. But the male student behind them moved first. He raised his hand to push up his bag straps and proceeded to calmly walk towards Yu Fan under the surprised and frightened looks of the onlookers. Yu Fan stared at him expressionlessly. Seeing that he was coming his way, he slowly got up——

"Why are you all hanging around here instead of going home?!" An angry voice interrupted this confrontation. Yu Fan's eyelid twitched. He tilted his head and glanced behind the male student. Before he could even see the other party, he saw their balding head first.

"..." All the tension he had in his body was gone in an instant. He lazily slumped back down. That person also seemed to have recognised that voice as well. He stopped in his steps.

A middle-aged man with a slightly short build appeared at the school gates with a dark blue briefcase in his hands.

As he exited the school, he glared at the students loitering around, urging them to hurry and move on. The person who had appeared was the school director.

When he saw the person causing the commotion, he raised his brows, "Yu Fan? Why is it you again?! School hasn't started yet for you, what are you doing at school?" Yu Fan looked at the milk tea store behind him before looking at him again, "Is this store a part of the school?"

"...." The director was left speechless for a few seconds. When he saw his appearance, his expression hardened again, "And what's going on with your face? Did you get into another fight?"

"I fell."

"Don't try to pull wool over my eyes. Where could you have fallen to get that kind of injury?"

Yu Fan thought for a moment, "It's not far. Do you want me to show you?" The director took in several deep breaths.

After the break, he had almost forgotten what it felt like to be angered by Yu Fan.

"Just you wait. When school starts tomorrow, I'll be talking to your homeroom teacher." He pointed at Yu Fan as he said and then turned towards the student next to him. For a moment, Yu Fan almost thought he was watching a Sichuan face changing performance. "Jingshen, are you on your way home?" The director asked with a cordial smile.

That annoying looking classmate finally looked away from him and indifferently replied, "En."

The director patted his shoulder, "Wait a second, I just happen to need you for something. Come back to school with me for a moment."

After saying that, the director looked back at Yu Fan and frowned, "And you! If you have nothing better to do, go home! Don't hang around like a delinquent!"

Yu Fan waved his hand perfunctorily to bid goodbye to the director. The students standing around, "….." You're saying he doesn't look like a delinquent right now?

After watching the director leave, Yu Fan was about to also look away when he saw the person next to the director suddenly look back. Yu Fan raised his brows. He raised the hand that he had lowered just now and very generously gifted him an internationally friendly hand gesture. This was what Wang Lu'an saw when he returned.

As he placed his takeout on the table, he asked while panting, "Why is Fat Tiger here? Did he come here to catch you? What did you guys say?"

The director's name was Hu Pang. Wang Lu'an calls him Fat Tiger in private. (KKnotes: A play on his name. Fat tiger is pronounced Pang Hu in Chinese. The characters are different but the pronunciation is the same.)

"Just came to say hi."

Yu Fan glanced at him, "Why did you run? You didn't pay?"

Wang Lu'an let out a deep breath and sat down next to him, "How could I not have ran? I saw from the other end of the street and thought you were about to get into another fight. Hey, who upset you this time? There was a tree in the way and I didn't see clearly….."

Wang Lu'an looked towards the school gates as he spoke, only to catch a glimpse of a fleeting figure. He froze for a moment and then blurted out,

"Chen Jingshen?"

Yu Fan, "You know him?"

"Isn't he from class one…."

Wang Lu'an stopped, "You don't recognise him?"

After seeing Yu Fan look at him as if he was an idiot, Wang Lu'an finally remembered that this brother of his probably still didn't know the names of the classmates in their class. But———

"Do you still remember how you had to go up on stage last semester six times in total to read your self-reflection?"

Yu Fan was silent for a moment, "Don't remember."

"Then you should try and remember."

Wang Lu'an continued, "Every time you finish reading your self-reflection, it's his turn to go up to accept an award and give a speech."

"..." How could there be so many awards to accept?

"And in the grade rankings, his name is always in first place….Oh, it's normal for you to not know about this. You don't look at those things."

Oh, a top student. Yu Fan understood. No wonder he found the other person annoying. Wang Lu'an was so hungry, he felt as if his chest was about to stick to his back. He buried his head in his food and then remembered,

"What did Chen Jingshen do to anger you just now?"

"Nothing." Yu Fan lowered his head and played with his phone, "Can you quietly eat your food?"

"It's too spicy. I need to take a break."

Wang Lu'an glanced at the person next to him and was shocked. He hurriedly tugged at his sleeve, "Fuck, what happened to your hand? How did you get that injury? I don't remember you having that earlier?"

Yu Fan didn't even look up, "Accidentally cut myself."

Seeing him act as if it wasn't a big deal, Wang Lu'an was shocked, "You can do that accidentally? Such a big cut….it doesn't hurt?"

"Here, give me your hand. I'll help blow on it for you." Wang Lu'an got ready to help blow on his hand as he said this. Yu Fan pushed his head away,

"….Don't be disgusting." He really didn't feel any pain. Although it was a large cut, it was very shallow. Maybe it was because he didn't have enough thrill from the fight earlier, he even felt a little refreshed when the blade cut through his skin. It was quite strange.

Yu Fan stared at the back of his hand for a few seconds before returning to his senses and looking back at his phone. The giant snake he had been controlling had hit the edge of the phone. The game was over. He turned it off with disinterest and then got up, "I'm going back."

"So soon?" Wang Lu'an asked. "There's no one at home anyway, it'll be boring. Why don't you come to my place? I just bought a few new games."

"No thanks." Yu Fan flatly refused. After getting into a fight, he was very dirty and he also smelt of blood. He lightly rubbed his nose and said, "I'm leaving."

The weather in Nancheng can be very irregular in February. Although the sun may be out, it could soon rain without any notice. Yu Fan put on his hood and, with his hands in his pockets, he went through alleyway after alleyway before reading an old street.

Dilapidated small shops, low-rise buildings, a shop selling second-hand phones that still played the remix of who knows what song…

Yu Fan turned into an old complex and saw a small truck parked at the entrance.

There were several people carrying furniture upstairs and two middle-aged women were chatting next to it.

Seeing that the corridor was blocked, Yu Fan waited on the side, planning to go up once they were done with moving.

The two women standing next to the truck were unaware of his presence. They were too engrossed with chatting.

"In the future, you can just go upstairs and look for me. Although the environment here isn't that good, we all get along well. The neighbours here are all happy to help out wherever they can."

"Thank you sister. I made some dumplings. I'll be delivering them to everyone after everything is cleaned up at home."

"No need to be polite….Oh right, don't go to 201."

"Huh? Why?"

"It's nothing much."

The woman hesitated for a moment and then lowered her voice, "A father and son pair lives there and they're good for nothings! That man's wife ran off and he has just been wasting his day away drinking and gambling, only coming back every three or five days. The younger one is also very troublesome, a trash of society! A few years ago, that father and son pair would get into a fight at home almost everyday. None of us dared to leave the house every time they fought…."

"Mummy!" A voice belonging to a child sounded from the gates. A little girl bundled in clothes ran over with a lollipop she just bought. Perhaps it was because her outfit was too heavy, she ran and ran and stumbled. Just as she was almost about to fall onto the ground——

Yu Fan quickly bent down and grabbed the hood behind her jacket with his index finger. The little girl was held firmly as she dangled in the air.

She still continued to hold tightly onto her lollipop as she looked ahead with a dazed and cute expression. The woman's heart was about to stop. She hurried over to check on the situation and only looked up with gratitude after confirming that she was fine,

"Thank you…." The other party had already gone upstairs. She only saw his tall and slender back.

After the trash of society returned home, he tossed the bread he bought on his way back onto the table and went into the bathroom to take a shower.

When he came back out, the phone on the table was buzzing nonstop. There was no one else at home.

Yu Fan picked up his phone and looked through it as he dried his hair.

[Wang Lu'an: Do you need to copy the winter vacation homework? I'll send you a copy?]

[Wang Lu'an: Maybe you could do a few of them to get you by. Otherwise you'll need to stand in front of the blackboard the entire day again.]

[Wang Lu'an: Hello?]

[Wang Lu'an: Fuck. I just saw a post on the school bulletin. They said that the education bureau has been cracking down on schools and they're not allowing our school to have an elite class. With that class disbanded, all the top students will be put into our normal classes.]

[Wang Lu'an: I wonder if we will get new students in our class.]

[Wang Lu'an: By the way, the opening ceremony is at 8am tomorrow. We need to gather at the classroom at 7:40. Don't be late.]

[Wang Lu'an: ???]

Yu Fan took a bite of his bread and slowly typed back.

[-: Send it.]

[Wang Lu'an: What?]

[Wang Lu'an: You finally replied. I thought something happened to you again.]

[-: Homework.]

The other party sent over a dozen or so files.

[-: This many?]

[Wang Lu'an: You can just copy Fangqin's homework, The other teachers don't really care about you anyway.]

[Wang Lu'an: Wait. Did you see what I sent earlier? We might get new classmates soon!]

Yu Fan dug through the drawers and cabinets for a long time before finding a pen that worked.

[-: Saw it. Not interested.] .

At eight in the morning the next day, Yu Fan stood in front of the closed school gates, listening to the broadcast playing inside. He checked his phone.

[Wang Lu'an: My brother, everyone has lined up on the school field. Even the principal is there. Where are you?]

[-: Overslept.]

[Wang Lu'an: What do we do then? The school gates would be closed now. It might not be a good idea to climb the wall during the flag raising ceremony?]

Going in now was no different from skipping the flag raising ceremony completely.

Without even stopping to think about it, Yu Fan replied, "Call me after the ceremony is over." He then tossed his phone back into his pocket and got ready to find a place to kill time but as soon as he raised his head back up, he met the eyes of another person on the other side of the school gates.

Hu Pang asked with concern with his hands behind his back, "Where are you going?"

How could he be so unlucky today? Yu Fan was silent for a few seconds, "Flag ceremony."

Hu Pang nodded and opened a small door to the right of the gate, "Come in."

"....." Seemingly afraid of him escaping, Hu Pang followed him the entire way until he reached the back of the line for the second years.

All the teachers and students had already lined up on the school field. The students at the back couldn't help but give him another glance when they saw him pass by.

Yu Fan turned a blind eye to those stares. He walked nonchalantly ahead of Hu Pang.

"Such a poor expression so early in the morning." Hu Pang asked, "Why? Did I interrupt your plans to skip school?"

"No." Yu Fan was so sleepy, he had no expression on his face, "I'll try and smile more during the ceremony."

"....." Hu Pang didn't bother talking to him anymore. He pointed at the back of a line and said, "Your class is there, hurry and line up! I'll be telling your homeroom teacher about your late arrival later."

"Remember to line up according to height. You go and find your spot yourself. The school's photography department will be taking photos later." Hu Pang tossed out those words and left.

Yu Fan stopped at the back of the line Hu Pang pointed out and lowered his head and yawned.

The family who had just moved into the apartment above him had been busy moving furniture around until three in the morning. He originally didn't sleep very well in that house and would be startled awake by the slightest sound so that commotion had forced him to stay up all night.

Just as he was about to fall asleep while standing up, he heard a harsh thud from the speaker ahead. It was the sound of the microphone falling onto the ground. That sound made Yu Fan's ears hurt.

He raised his head in annoyance to see which idiot couldn't even hold a microphone properly when he found his line of sight blocked by the back of someone's head.

For a moment, Yu Fan was a little confused. His school had always had the tradition of lining students up according to height.

Yu Fan was the tallest in his class so he would always be standing at the very back of the line and Wang Lu'an would be standing just before him.

Yu Fan studied the back of the person standing in front of him. Broad shoulders, neatly cut hair, a school uniform that was almost blindingly white and the smell of soap.

In contrast, Wang Lu'an's old and yellowed school uniform with 'Craziest One in Nancheng Seventh High School' written on it looked like something picked up from the trash.

So, who is this?

The next moment, as if they heard his thoughts, the other party turned around.

Because he was too sleepy, Yu Fan's reaction was a little slow. He stared at those emotionless eyes for a long time before realising —— That was the annoying face from before. It was the person who wanted to fight him. Called Chen something Shen? Before Yu Fan could figure it out, the other party moved first.

He saw that Chen something Shen suddenly move to the side to make way, leaving space between them. Yu Fan originally wanted to make sure he was in the right line but seeing him do this, he tucked his hands in his pockets and asked coldly, "Looking for a figh…"

"The shorter ones stand in the front." The other party's words immediately made Yu Fan's words come to a stop.