Chapter 6

"...…."

It was completely silent.

A gust of cool breeze made the curtains flutter. The phone that had been thrown onto the desk vibrated a few times, pulling Yu Fan back from his state of shock.

He stared at Chen Jingshen for a very long time Chen Jingshen's expression was still very calm. If not for that stupid love letter still sitting underneath his fingers, Yu Fan would have thought that he had misheard.

After being in a state of stalemate for a while, Yu Fan clenched and unclenched his fists a few times before finally sitting back down.

The phone was annoyingly loud. He turned it silent and finally found his voice again, "....Are you crazy? I'm a guy."

Chen Jingshen left the letter on the desk and straightened back up, "I know."

"You know that yet you….." Yu Fan paused, "Are you gay?"

Chen Jingshen lowered his eyes in silence for a while. A low voice then rumbled out from his throat, "En."

"….."

Chen Jingshen asked, "You don't like gays?"

"….Not exactly." Yu Fan only responded a while later. He looked out the window and added quickly, "But I'm not gay, I like girls."

"Do you have a girl that you like?"

This was Yu Fan's first time receiving a confession from a guy and his head was a mess. He blurted without thinking, "No."

He only returned to his senses after saying that but just as he wanted to say that it's none of his business——-"Then how do you know that you like girls?"

"?"

What kind of bullshit logic is that?!

"In any case, I'm not gay, and I won't possibly go ou…." Yu Fan didn't finish his words. It was too fucking strange.

He picked up the love letter that was sitting on his desk and held it out to Chen Jingshen like he was holding a bomb, "This. Hurry and take it back."

Chen Jingshen didn't take it.

Yu Fan felt like an idiot after holding that letter up for ten or so seconds, "You don't want it? I'll tear it up."

Chen Jingshen stared at his ears for a while before saying, "Tear it."

He wasn't too satisfied with what he wrote anyway.

Yu Fan took a deep breath. He resisted the urge to beat the other person up and lowered his head to find Chen Jingshen's pocket, wanting to shove that thing in—— "Yu Fan!" A familiar loud voice resonated through the third floor corridor.

Yu Fan's hands that had not yet reached Chen Jingshen's clothes trembled at the sound and froze in mid-air.

When he saw that the figure outside was about to come in, Yu Fan hurriedly shoved the letter inside his own pocket.

At the same time, Wang Lu'an entered the room, "Yu Fan, why aren't you replying to my messa——-" Seeing the situation inside, Wang Lu'an was taken aback, "What are you doing?"

"Why are you back?" Yu Fan turned his head away as he asked with annoyance.

"I left my homework in the classroom and just happened to see Fat Tiger going to the bathroom on my way back so I wanted to get you to bring it down with you and we can leave together…." Wang Lu'an stared at him for a while and asked in shock, "Why are your ears so red?"

"?" Yu Fan covered his ears and frowned, "You saw wrong."

"It's true!" Wang Lu'an suddenly remembered what he saw when he entered the classroom. The expressions on their faces were strange and they stood very close together, looking like they were about to start a fight—— He looked at Chen Jingshen and asked in disbelief, "You pinched my brother's ears?"

Yu Fan wanted to take out that thing in his pocket and stuff it into Wang Lu'an's mouth.

Chen Jingshen just glanced at him and didn't speak.

Wang Lu'an took this as him silently acquiescing. Just as he was about to continue asking, Yu Fan grabbed his shirt and dragged him out.

The phone in his bag began to vibrate nonstop again. This time it was an incoming call.

Chen Jingshen didn't pay it any heed. He wrapped his fingers around his bag strap and continued expressionlessly, "I've noticed you since first year."

Yu Fan, "...."

Wang Lu'an, "?"

"During the sports festival, I've watched your competitions."

Yu Fan, "?"

Wang Lu'an, "???"

"I'm serious." Chen Jingshen's hand fell to his side, "I hope you can consider it seriously."

-Fat Tiger's trip to the bathroom was always long. Yu Fan in the end was able to openly leave the school through the front gates.

His expression was poor. All the students around him subconsciously took a few steps back when they saw him.

Wang Lu'an glanced at him multiple times before he was finally unable to hold it in anymore, "Don't you think what Chen Jingshen said just now sounded familiar…..?"

"No."

"Really?" Wang Lu'an scratched his head, "What did he want?"

Yu Fan's expression darkened further. He pursed his lips and finally forced out a few words a while later, "…..Looking for a fight."

"?"

Wang Lu'an was confused, "Then when he said that he has noticed you since first year….."

"He hasn't liked the sight of me since first year."

"He even watched your competitions during the sports festival….."

"He wanted to see how good I am."

"He wanted you to consider it seriously….."

"Consider fighting him."

Wang Lu'an, "….."

It was strange but it was also reasonable. After all, he couldn't think of anything else that could happen between the two of them.

Wang Lu'an casually asked, "Then have you thought about it?"

"Thought about it, my ass!"

"...."

When they passed by a supermarket, Wang Lu'an remembered that the snacks he had hidden at home were about to run out so he went in to buy some.

Yu Fan waited for him outside.

It was cool in the evening. A couple passed by in front of him. The girl's hand was put inside the boy's pocket to keep it warm.

Yu Fan tightened his grip around the letter in his pocket. He suddenly had the urge to smoke again.

He in fact had the intention to quit smoking. He had recently persisted with only smoking once every three days and had seen some results.

He couldn't let it be ruined by Chen Jingshen.

After some hesitation, he went over to the bin, pulled out the letter with two fingers and held it above the bin opening The wind blew past, making the letter sway in the air.

Two seconds later, he softly clicked his tongue and withdrew his hand again——-"The fuck?! A love letter?"

Yu Fan's actions were quick. By the time Wang Lu'an reached him, it had already been stuffed back inside his pocket.

Wang Lu'an held a plastic bag, "Who gave it to you? You got it just now?

Why didn't I see it?"

Yan Fan walked on, "You saw wrong."

"Impossible! My vision is 5.2!" Wang Lu'an suddenly realised, "I know, it must've been when you went back to write your self-reflection —— No wonder your ears were so red."

Wang Lu'an had been hanging out with Yu Fan for a long time.

Yu Fan this person….He wouldn't panic when fighting one against five, wouldn't be afraid when reading his self-reflection in front of thousands of people, and would always maintain that cool and indifferent look, making people think that he wasn't afraid of anything—— That is, until a girl confessed to him.

That was his first time seeing Yu Fan blushing.

The person who usually wouldn't blink twice when fighting had his head lowered and ears bright red as he apologised to the 1.5m tall girl before him.

He didn't even dare look at the other party.

From that day on, he came to an understanding that this seemingly amazing brother of his was secretly an ultra-innocent high school boy.

"Have you had enough?" They reached a fork in the road. Yu Fan turned around and walked off in the other direction without looking back, "I'm leaving."

-Yu Fan took a shower after getting home. When he came out, there were still clanging sounds coming from upstairs.

There was no such thing as soundproofing in such cheap housing. He had already grown used to it. He stopped before the mirror.

The wounds on his face had faded a little. It probably will be gone in the next few days.

Just looks ugly.

Yu Fan rubbed his face with force until he felt those wounds hurt.

He walked out of the bathroom with his slippers on and picked up a cup of instant noodles. Just as he was about to open the packaging, someone knocked twice on the door.

Those two knocks seemed as if it was knocking against his temples.

Yu Fan's actions came to a stop. When he raised his head again, all the laziness on his face was gone and there was icy vigilance in his eyes.

He stared at the black shadow peeking through under the door and waited quietly for a while—— "Knock." Another knock.

Yu Fan let go of the cup of instant noodles and went over to open the door.

He grabbed the doorknob and not so gently opened the door ——Nothing.

Yu Fan frowned. Just as he was about to close the door, he caught a glimpse of a small black head out of the corner of his eyes.

He slowly lowered his head and met the eyes of a little girl.

It was the child he saw yesterday from the family who had just moved in.

Her hair was braided into two pigtails and her cheeks were very chubby.

Yu Fan's expression was too fierce, causing the little girl to be a little afraid.

One adult and one child stared at each other for a while.

"What do you want?" Yu Fan spoke first. All the vigilance he had from earlier still hadn't completely dissipated so his tone was still tense.

The little girl trembled.

She really trembled.

Yu Fan, "….."

Yu Fan sighed and squatted down so that he was at eye-level, "Speak."

The little girl held a plastic bag that was bigger than her face. She mustered up her courage, "Mummy said that we were very noisy yesterday because of our move. We won't be noisy tonight. She wanted me to give you these dumplings…. Big brother, don't be angry."

"Okay." Yu Fan glanced at the bag, "You can take it back, I don't want it."

The little girl didn't move. She stared helplessly back at him.

Yu Fan frowned, "You don't understand?"

Holding onto the dumplings, the little girl trembled again.

"....."

A while later, Yu Fan returned to his place with a plastic bag. He stuffed the dumplings into the fridge and went back to making his instant noodles.

The family upstairs did as they promised. They didn't make any noises at night.

But Yu Fan was still unable to fall asleep even at two in the morning. It was unknown if it was due to school resuming again but he hadn't been sleeping well these days.

He grabbed his hair and decided to give up struggling. He got up and went to the living room to get some water.

When he saw the thing next to the kettle, Yu Fan's action of pouring water stopped.

He had habitually tossed everything in his pockets onto the dining table before he took his shower. At this moment, there were a bunch of keys, a school meal card, some small change and a pink envelope lying scattered on the table.

Yu Fan stared at those things for a while before leaving with his glass of water.

A moment later, he returned with a wooden face, pulled out the envelope from the pile and went back to his room.

Yu Fan had also received love letters before. The girls were thin-skinned so he was able to give it back to them on the spot after rejecting them. This was his first time bringing one home.

He laid on his bed staring at the letter. He suddenly recalled Chen Jingshen's overly perfect school uniform and his bluntness when rejecting Zhang Xianjing.

He wanted to see what this kind of person would write.

With one hand resting behind his head, Yu Fan laid lazily on his back as he casually flipped open the envelope with his other hand.

Both the envelope and the sticker sealing it were quite flashy but the content of it was just a piece of ordinary paper —- The one Chen Jingshen was writing on in the classroom after school.

"...."

He should've just gone home back then.

Chen Jingshen's writing was thin and neat. It looked like he had practised.

Yu Fan held that letter in his hand and read it from the beginning——-[Dear Classmate Yu of Class 2-7:

Hello.

I am Chen Jingshen of Class 2-7.] There were two kinds of writing on the letter, one dark and one light. The darker ones were probably added later when he was in the classroom after school.

The '7' in Class 2-7 was probably a '1' originally but the darker writing had added a stroke over it to change it to a '7'.

[I'm not sure if you have any impression of me but we have met several times at the flag raising ceremonies.

The first time the flag was raised in first year, you spoke very eloquently as you stood on the rostrum. The sight of you reciting the self-reflection from memory had left a very deep impression on my mind.

It was also from that day on that I began to notice you.

I began to pay attention to the end of the grade rankings, when I occasionally passed by class seven, I would involuntarily glance at the back of your head when you slept, when I looked out the window to the school field, I would see you running laps as punishment.

Unknowingly, I had been watching you for a whole year.

During a certain exam, I noticed that your grades had improved by one rank. I was sincerely happy for you. That was also when I realised my feelings for you.

So I decided to write this letter to express my feelings.] After this, the writing was darker.

[[Although in last semester's final exam, you returned to last place again, I believe you have a talent for studying, particularly in mathematics. After all, scoring 9 is something most people cannot achieve.

So, as long as you are willing to work hard, you will definitely get better results.

The following are some guidebooks and question banks I feel would be good for you:

"A Beginners Guide to Mathematics", "Dumb Birds Learn To Fly 2017", "Summary of Junior High Mathematics".

I hope all goes well with your exams and studies.

Chen Jingshen.]] Yu Fan, "?"

Yu Fan, "...."

The fuck?

No wonder you got 110 in Chinese.