BTMDY Chapter 34

The reason Shi Yuan chose to return to school at this time was to take the mock exam.

 

It was basically the final stretch of senior year, and exams came one after another. Unless there was a very special reason, you had to show up.

 

This mock exam was scheduled for Friday night’s self-study and the whole of Saturday. It covered Chinese, Math, English, and either Science or Liberal Arts Comprehensive. After the exams, regular classes continued according to the timetable.

 

Shi Yuan was almost fully recovered anyway, so of course, he had no reason to skip it.

 

At No. 7 High, evening self-study didn’t have any lectures. Aside from the homeroom teacher doing occasional rounds, only the class monitor was in charge of keeping order.

 

Students like Lin Wanye, who disappeared from time to time, were common in every class.

 

As long as you had thick enough skin and your parents didn’t care, even if the teachers noticed, there wasn’t much they could do. Like in Lin Wanye’s case—he skipped class to get tutoring from the top students in Class A. As long as he told the teachers, no one gave him a hard time.

 

Tonight’s subject was math.

 

Ever since Shi Yuan helped him cram for math, Lin Wanye had felt himself getting better. He’d been itching to test it out in this mock exam.

 

But once the exam started, he realized—if he didn’t know it before, he still didn’t know it now.

 

He picked out the questions he was confident in and worked on those first. The rest? He just buried his head and fought through them. As the test went on, he got more and more frustrated. By the time he handed it in, there were two big questions he’d basically guessed on just to avoid handing in a blank paper.

 

When the exam was over and everyone started leaving, Lin Wanye stayed slumped at his desk, brain fried. The more he replayed that last question in his head, the more he felt like he’d had some kind of brain meltdown.

 

Once the results came out, Shi Yuan would definitely want to check his paper.

 

Crap. This is so bad.

 

Uncle Shi spent so much time and energy tutoring him—if his scores didn’t improve, he’d totally think Lin Wanye was a dumbass.

 

And it wasn’t like Lin Wanye was the only one who sucked at math. Lin Shen wasn’t great at it either.

 

But Lin Shen, at least, didn’t take it to heart. He casually packed up his desk, then turned around and cracked up when he saw the hopeless look on Lin Wanye’s face.

 

“What’s up with you?”

 

“It’s too hard. Seriously, too damn hard.” Lin Wanye closed his eyes, totally defeated. “How long do I have to keep getting bullied by math…”

 

Lin Shen laughed and tried to comfort him, “Why are you stressing so much? I’m not even panicking, and you’re doing better than me. What are you freaking out for?”

 

“Class rep’s been tutoring me so much he’s probably questioning his life choices. Bet deep down he thinks I’m just dumb. Once this score comes out, there’s gonna be one more person who thinks I’m an idiot… I suck. I really can’t learn this stuff.”

 

“Then I must be worse than an idiot.” Lin Shen glanced at Lu Chengxuan nearby, then flicked Lin Wanye on the forehead. “Come on, let’s grab a late-night snack and go home. My treat.”

 

Lin Wanye had actually planned to go find Shi Yuan in Class A.

 

Even though they couldn’t stay overnight, they walked the same way home after school—chatting for a bit along the way was nice.

 

But lately he’d been too focused on other things, and it made his dad unhappy.

 

After thinking it over, Lin Wanye didn’t want to upset Lin Shen, so he dropped the idea and went back to tagging along like usual. Just as they stepped out of the classroom, he spotted a familiar figure waiting in the hallway.

 

Lin Wanye’s face lit up with joy as he walked over.

 

“You waiting for me?”

 

Shi Yuan gave Lin Shen and Lu Chengxuan a quick once-over, light flashing off his glasses, then looked down and nodded at Lin Wanye. “Yeah. How’d it go?”

 

Lin Wanye pouted, clearly unhappy. “Not great…”

 

“It’s okay.” Shi Yuan patted his head. “Once the results come out, I’ll go over it with you.”

 

Lin Wanye lowered his head, looking defeated. “Okay.”

 

“What the hell,” Lin Shen snapped. He grabbed Lin Wanye by the back of the neck and yanked him back. “You let him touch your head? Didn’t you say that was my privilege?”

 

Lin Wanye leaned back, glanced at his dad, then at Shi Yuan, too guilty to speak. He stayed quiet for a long time before mumbling, “W-Well… it’s not like I said only one person could have that privilege, right?”

 

Lin Shen just laughed, half-angry. He let go and flicked Lin Wanye on the forehead again.

 

“So now you get to decide who has what privilege, huh?”

 

To be fair, it wasn’t entirely unreasonable for Lin Shen to be so touchy. Lin Wanye had soft, fluffy hair—just the kind of hair people got the urge to ruffle. Last time Jiang Bowen walked by and casually patted his head, Lin Wanye had practically jumped three feet in the air, clapped his hands over his head, and yelled that it was ruining his manly image. He even warned Jiang not to do it again.

 

When Jiang Bowen said he saw Lin Shen do it all the time, Lin Wanye explained it away just like that.

 

Lin Shen had been so pleased he actually treated Lin Wanye to a grilled corn that day.

 

So yeah, seeing that just now definitely triggered him. He felt like his exclusive privilege had been seriously challenged—and he couldn’t help but want to call out the offender.

 

For Lin Wanye, though, it was a pretty simple thing.

 

He really didn’t like people touching his head.

 

Deep down, it was true—he didn’t really mind his dad or Shi Yuan touching his head.

 

But right now, there was no way he could explain that without sounding completely ridiculous in front of both of them.

 

Under his dad’s interrogation and Shi Yuan’s burning gaze, Lin Wanye was totally brain-dead.

 

He mumbled for a second, then shot a desperate look at Lu Chengxuan.

 

Lu Chengxuan, who had been enjoying the drama from the sidelines, didn’t hesitate—he just turned and walked off.

 

That move seemed to break the tension like flipping a switch. Since Lu Chengxuan had already left, Lin Shen instinctively followed, grabbing the ‘use-and-discard’ Lin Wanye along the way.

 

Lin Wanye was feeling pretty miserable himself, scared both sides would end up misunderstanding him.

 

Halfway down the stairs, Lin Shen finally let go of his collar, probably just found it annoying to keep holding it. Lin Wanye slowed down a bit to walk side by side with Shi Yuan. He leaned in close and whispered in his ear, “No one else gets the special privilege, okay?”

 

Shi Yuan lightly pushed up his glasses and gave a soft “mm.”

 

Outside the teaching building, the campus was even brighter under the lights. All the snow had been cleared off the paths and piled up in the corners, though some still clung to the treetops.

 

Students were grouped in twos and threes, slowly making their way out through the school gates.

 

As usual, Lin Shen had a lot to say. He slung an arm around Lin Wanye’s shoulders and leaned forward to call out to Shi Yuan, “Yo, how’s the leg? All good now?”

 

“Thanks for asking.”

 

Shi Yuan nodded politely. “I went for a follow-up earlier today. It’s fine now.”

 

Lin Shen had been mostly joking, though he’d been a little salty about not getting treated as special. But he didn’t really have any bad blood with Xu Suinian.

 

In fact, thinking back, he kind of felt a bit guilty about what had happened.

 

“I swear, making you miss school like that during such a critical time—if it messes up your grades, I’ll be history’s biggest sinner.” Lin Shen said.

 

Shi Yuan gave him a polite smile in return.

 

“It’s not that serious. It didn’t affect me much.”

 

“Aaah—” Lin Wanye suddenly let out a long, dramatic sigh, like he’d given up on life. “The more I think about it, the more useless I feel. I’ve been getting tutored for so long, how come there’s still so much I don’t understand? Where did all that effort even go!?”

 

“These questions were hard—it’s normal if you didn’t know how to do them.” Shi Yuan explained slowly, “I didn’t get around to teaching you everything. But if you answered the ones you knew well properly, your score should still improve. You’ve been getting more questions right lately.”

 

That lit a spark in Lin Wanye’s eyes.

 

“Right! Solving problems does feel a lot smoother now!”

 

Shi Yuan smiled, his eyes soft. “Don’t push yourself too hard. You’re making progress, bit by bit.”

 

“Okay!”

 

With that, all the gloom that had been hanging over Lin Wanye since the exam disappeared in an instant. His eyes lit up, and he elbowed Lin Shen beside him. “I want ice jelly!”

 

Lin Shen threw out a grand gesture. “Let’s go! My treat!”

 

“Yay!”

 

ice jelly wasn’t expensive, but Lin Wanye was easy to please. He tucked the day’s joy neatly into his pocket, cheered loudly, then turned to look at Shi Yuan. “Come with us? C’mon, let’s go together!”

 

There was no way Shi Yuan could turn him down. He didn’t even hesitate before nodding.

 

In this kind of freezing winter weather, ice jelly obviously wasn’t a popular choice, but the snack shop still stayed open. It was late, and not many people were around.

 

If it were summer, showing up even a little late after night classes meant you’d never get a seat.

 

When the shop owner saw them coming, he lit up and started scooping ice jelly into small bowls, adding toppings based on their requests. After Lin Shen picked his, he remembered Xu Suinian was with them and said, “Brother, get one too. My treat. Just take it as my apology.”

 

“Yeah, yeah!” Lin Wanye chimed in right away.

 

Once Lin Shen and Lu Chengxuan walked off with their bowls, Lin Wanye dragged Shi Yuan up to the freezer and started excitedly poking the glass. “Boss, I want this, this, this—and this one too! Extra rice balls, okay? And raisins!”

 

The shop owner grinned as he held his spoon. “Whoa, slow down, handsome. You’re going too fast.”

 

Lin Wanye poked again, this time in perfect order.

 

“Taro balls, strawberries, mango, and gummy candy! Rice balls! Raisins!”

 

“Got it, got it.”

 

Since it was late and the store was about to close with few customers left, the owner didn’t hold back. He piled on the toppings until the bowl was nearly overflowing.

 

Lin Wanye accepted it happily. “Thanks, boss!”

 

“No problem, no problem.” The boss turned to Shi Yuan. “And what about you, young man? What would you like?”

 

“Same as him, but no—”

 

“No mango, boss!” Lin Wanye jumped in before he could finish.

 

Then, completely unaware of the look on Shi Yuan’s face, he happily carried his bowl over and sat down next to Lin Shen.

 

While the shop owner was busy scooping in the toppings, Shi Yuan was thinking hard—when exactly had he ever told Lin Wanye about his mango allergy?

 

The answer was: never.

 

When they first sat down at the square table, Lin Shen and Lu Chengxuan took the seats against the wall, sitting across from each other. Lin Wanye sat next to Lin Shen, which only left the spot beside Lu Chengxuan open for Shi Yuan.

 

Not that he minded.

 

It was perfect—he could see Lin Wanye clearly.

 

No one had any complaints about the seating arrangement.

 

Once everyone was seated, Lin Shen swallowed the bite he’d been chewing, sat up straight, and cleared his throat to look at Shi Yuan. “Since you’re here too, I already know about your sister’s situation, and I’ve got something important to say.”

 

Shi Yuan wasn’t surprised he knew.

 

He looked up and waited quietly for him to continue.

 

Lu Chengxuan, who in theory shouldn’t have had a clue about Xu Suihe’s situation, didn’t look surprised either. He just quietly focused on his ice jelly, keeping up his peaceful, stay-out-of-it demeanor.

 

“Huh?” Lin Wanye turned to look at Lin Shen. “You got the money?”

 

“Nope.” Lin Shen shook his head and shrugged. “The day you told me about it, I went straight home. But my dad wasn’t even there—he was on a business trip. And get this, he blacklisted my number. I couldn’t get through no matter how I tried. I even used the housekeeper’s phone to call him, and the moment he heard my voice, he hung up. So I’ve just been going home every day to lie in wait.”

 

That made Lin Wanye chuckle. “Lie in wait? Sounds like something you’d do to catch a criminal.”

 

“What else could I do?” Lin Shen clearly had no love for his dad. Just talking about him put him in a bad mood. “My mom helped build his damn empire from scratch. Now that she’s gone, all he wants is to control me and my sister. If someone’s being unreasonable here, it’s him—not me.”

 

Lin Wanye quietly sighed.

 

He didn’t know much about Lin Shen’s upbringing, but one thing was clear—his own dad definitely wasn’t someone with such an extreme personality. In his past life, Lin Qianqian had mentioned it too—Grandpa Lin Pengcheng had some serious control issues.

 

Coming out might be hard for a parent to accept, but it’s not some unforgivable crime.

 

Lin Shen probably did try to talk it through at first.

 

But for things to go so bad that he’d rather crash at a internet cafe staff dorm than go home? He must’ve been pushed to the brink.

 

“So? Then what happened?” Lin Wanye pressed him.

 

“Then, a few days ago, I finally caught him.” Lin Shen quickly reined in his emotions and took another bite of his ice jelly. “I asked for the money—at least the part my mom left for me. He refused. Blew up on me, saying the day I obediently marry a woman and take over the family business is the day he’ll do what I ask. I mean, what the hell? I’m not dropping out of school to get married, so of course, I didn’t get a cent. In the Lin family, what he says goes. Most of my relatives don’t even dare answer my calls.”

 

No one at the table was surprised by that outcome.

 

Lin Wanye knew this was a lot of pressure for Lin Shen, and he hadn’t expected a miracle anyway.

 

Still, knowing was one thing—feeling disappointed was another.

 

They were racing against time. The longer this dragged on, the more danger Suihe was in.

 

“Damn… Well, you tried. I’ll think of something else…”

 

After a few words of comfort for Lin Shen, Lin Wanye turned to glance at Shi Yuan, thinking of saying something to lighten the mood—when suddenly, Lin Shen slapped the table.

 

“But! Difficulties can be overcome!”

 

The abrupt shift was so jarring that even Lu Chengxuan, who’d been quietly eating across from him, paused and looked up.

 

Lin Wanye’s heart skipped a beat—was there still hope?

 

Everyone stared at him, eyes full of expectation. Lin Shen drew out the suspense, slowing his speech dramatically. “As the saying goes…”

 

Lin Wanye’s heart was pounding with excitement. Blood was rushing. A million motivational quotes flashed through his brain—

 

‘Poor but unyielding, the will to soar to the clouds.’

 

‘Sincerity can move mountains.’

 

‘With enough effort, even an iron rod can be ground into a needle.’

 

A few seconds later, he even found himself analyzing ‘A tiger won’t eat its cubs.’

 

Then Lin Shen curled his lips into a meaningful smile and finally continued:

 

“A thief never leaves empty-handed.”

 

“…”

 

“…”

 

“…”

 

Silence. Absolute, awkward silence. The other three stared at him in speechless horror.

 

Lin Wanye, stunned for a moment, turned to Lu Chengxuan with a grave face. “Brother Lu, make the call. Get ready to rescue him.”

 

“What the hell are you thinking, you idiot?” Lin Shen snapped, flicking Lin Wanye on the forehead. Then, seeing Lu Chengxuan actually reaching for his phone, he hurriedly explained, “I didn’t break into my dad’s safe, alright?! He’s got the housekeeper watching me like I’m some kind of burglar. I really didn’t have any other options. But then—boom! Pure dumb luck on Wednesday! When I was leaving, I saw the electrician had left his ladder propped up outside the house. So I quietly climbed the wall back into my room and snuck out my diamond watch, a few other valuables… and some gold bars.”

 

Lin Wanye exploded. “You had gold bars and didn’t say anything earlier?!”

 

Lin Shen spread his hands, looking helpless. “You gotta take a stand when you fight with family, right? I had to show my dad I can live just fine without leaning on him. If I ran away from home with a pocket full of gold bars and he found out, how the hell would I live that down?”

 

With that, Lin Shen pulled a bank card from his pocket and placed it on the table, slowly sliding it toward Shi Yuan.

 

“I asked around. This disease can’t be delayed—any hesitation and it might suddenly worsen. Your sister’s at the ideal age for treatment, and the prognosis is much better if it’s caught early. There’s over four hundred thousand in the account. That should cover the first phase of chemo. Get her admitted ASAP. If it comes to a bone marrow transplant later, we’ll figure it out.”

 

Staring at the green bank card in front of him, Shi Yuan’s mind went completely blank. It felt like something was stuck in his throat—he couldn’t force a single word out.

 

“Ahhhh! You’re a legend!”

 

Lin Wanye was overjoyed. He turned and threw his arms around Lin Shen, shaking him by the neck like a ragdoll. Then he grabbed the card off the table, feeling its thin weight in his hand, just to make sure he wasn’t dreaming.

 

He passed it to Shi Yuan, voice trembling.

 

“Suihe’s going to be okay! We can save her!”

 

But Shi Yuan didn’t take it right away. His Adam’s apple bobbed. His eyes were bloodshot, and the red veins spread visibly like cracks in glass. His face didn’t change much, but every muscle in it was strained to the limit.

 

It was like every nerve in his body that could express emotion exploded at once—only to be forced back down, swallowed whole.

 

No one spoke for a long time.

 

Then, slowly, he turned his head and looked straight at Lin Shen.

 

“Let’s get this clear—I’m not some money fairy handing out blessings.”

 

Lin Shen scooped up a spoonful of ice jelly, chewing slowly. After a few seconds, he looked up and gave Shi Yuan a reason he couldn’t argue with.

 

“It’s a loan. You’ll pay me back. Write me an IOU tomorrow and stamp your fingerprint on it.”

 

Lin Wanye glanced at his dad, blinking curiously.

 

“Why are you so sure he can pay it back?”

 

“What kind of question is that?”

 

Lin Shen puffed up like some generous tycoon, grinning wide. Then he reached out and grabbed the back of Lin Wanye’s collar, yanking him over like a chick being plucked from a nest.

 

“If he doesn’t pay me back, who do you think I’m gonna come after?”

 

*

 

Author’s Note:

 

Some quick medical background,

 

Suihe’s condition is intermediate-risk B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL).

 

This type of leukemia is more common in children, and chemotherapy tends to be more effective for them than for adults. If treated promptly, the chances of a successful bone marrow transplant and full recovery are higher.

 

(Note: this info is based on publicly available sources and not from medical expertise—please feel free to point out any inaccuracies!)

 

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