Wen Yu wanted to call out to him, but heard voices behind him urging him to get on the bus.
It was time to go to the competition—the preliminaries. His father had lectured him for two hours telling him to do well, so this competition he originally hadn’t planned to take seriously—
Wen Yu looked down at the resin ball in his palm. A star lay in the center, refracting different colors of light with his movements.
Forget it.
It was just the preliminaries, a small competition—he wouldn’t argue with his father over this.
He put the small ball in his pocket, the corners of his mouth lifting slightly: “Coming, stop rushing me.”
–
With the temperature drop, the overcast sky seemed to cast a layer of tranquil gauze over the school’s atmosphere as well. Today the campus was calm and peaceful, as if nothing special was happening.
But for the people in Class 6, it wasn’t like that.
After the fourth period ended, Sun Wenrui listlessly got up and kicked his desk mate’s stool: “Let’s go, Lao Fang, time to eat.”
“What about Fu-ge?” Fang Jiayuan asked while taking his phone out of his drawer and looking back.
Fu Yuhan had been in poor spirits all morning. Apart from barely managing to get up during class, he spent all the breaks sleeping with his head down.
“Fu-ge hasn’t been to the cafeteria in a long time.” Sun Wenrui looked at the two tufts of hair sticking up from Fu Yuhan’s head, really not having the courage to wake him up. “Let’s bring him a bowl of instant noodles as usual. The convenience store supposedly got new varieties…”
Before he finished speaking, he saw Fang Jiayuan staring at his phone with a confused expression, making a single syllable sound: “Fuck?”
“What’s wrong?”
“…Look at the group chat.”
The Class 6 WeChat group rarely had people chatting during class. Basically, only during breaks would someone occasionally send messages like “Did XXX turn in homework?” or “XXX help me ask for leave.”
So when someone who had never spoken in the group after joining suddenly sent several messages, it was particularly noticeable. Every Class 6 student who opened WeChat could see it.
Wen Yu: May I ask
Wen Yu: Has anyone seen Fu Yuhan?
Wen Yu: Did he go to the cafeteria or is he in the classroom?
“In my lifetime, to actually see someone looking for Fu-ge in this group is really fresh…” Fang Jiayuan said, “Why do you think he doesn’t just message Fu-ge directly?”
“Fu-ge is sleeping.” Sun Wenrui pointed out.
“It’s not like he’s a good baby who won’t look at his phone during class. When Fu-ge wakes up and sees this, won’t he explode?”
Young men’s pride issues were sometimes hard to predict when they’d be triggered. For example, being publicly searched for by a desk mate who wasn’t at school in the class group chat was a bit embarrassing. If Fu Yuhan saw this, he definitely wouldn’t be happy.
And at this time, people in the group were also replying to Wen Yu.
Xu Qianyi: @Wen Yu Didn’t see him in the cafeteria, probably in the classroom
Wen Yu: Thanks
Wen Yu: So is anyone in the classroom?
Chen Liwen: When I left just now, I think I saw Fu-ge sleeping
Wen Yu: Mm, so is anyone in the classroom?
Liu Cheng: @Sun Wenrui @Fang Jiayuan Did Lao Sun and Lao Fang leave?
“When Liu Cheng comes back, I’m definitely going to beat him up.” Fang Jiayuan said while typing.
Fang Jiayuan: Not yet… just about to leave
“Count me in,” Sun Wenrui said, “I hope Yu-ge won’t ask us to wake up Fu-ge.”
However, facts proved that Wen Yu really didn’t give him much face.
Wen Yu: Could you help me call him?
Wen Yu: He’s not replying to my messages
Fang Jiayuan: …
Wen Yu: Oh, if he hits someone, just say I asked you to do this
“I don’t think this will stop Fu-ge from wanting to beat people up.” Fang Jiayuan sighed and reached out toward Fu Yuhan.
Sun Wenrui grabbed his wrist: “You’re really planning to listen to him?”
“Bro, that academic genius’s set of notes helped me rise 13 places in this midterm exam. People should know how to repay kindness, okay? Besides, didn’t you also look at them?” Fang Jiayuan pulled his hand free and pushed Fu Yuhan.
Sun Wenrui said quietly: “But my ranking dropped.”
“That’s because your head is full of your goddess.” Fang Jiayuan pointed out to him, “Wanting to date in senior year, aren’t you stupid? How could it not affect your grades?”
While the two were bickering, Fu Yuhan, who had been lying down, raised his head and looked at them both with a distant gaze.
That look was extremely cold, and the meaning was very clear—
“If there’s nothing special, you’re dead.”
Fang Jiayuan was scared by him and hunched his shoulders, holding up his phone and shaking it: “Yu-ge asked us to call you.”
Fu Yuhan: “…”
Fu Yuhan was stunned for three seconds, then let out a long sigh: “Fuck.”
After cursing this once, the matter was essentially over. The two people in front widened their eyes—holy shit? It really worked?
Fu Yuhan pulled out WeChat to take a look, and his expression darkened by another three degrees. He sent a message in the group saying “When you come back, I’ll beat you up too,” then immediately called Wen Yu.
His expression wasn’t good. Sun Wenrui carefully asked: “Fu-ge, should we bring you instant noodles as usual?”
Fu Yuhan shook his head, his voice a bit hoarse when he spoke: “No need, no appetite.”
“…Then we two are going to eat?”
Fu Yuhan nodded lightly, hearing Wen Yu’s familiar voice come through the receiver: “No appetite so you won’t eat? Aren’t you afraid of getting stomach problems?”
He had actually answered the phone instantly, even hearing Sun Wenrui’s words.
Fu Yuhan had no energy and was a bit irritated, saying unkindly: “If I don’t want to eat, I won’t eat… mind your own business.”
“Why are you so angry?” Today’s Wen Yu was completely different from yesterday’s, like a cat that had been petted, even being scolded in a good-natured way.
But Fu Yuhan didn’t answer, so Wen Yu guessed: “Didn’t sleep well? What did you do yesterday?”
Wasn’t it all because of looking for you?
Lack of sleep plus early cold symptoms made Fu Yuhan’s head a bit dizzy. He closed his eyes and silently repeated this sentence three times, then started looking for the medicine he had put in his bag this morning to brew.
“Didn’t do anything, what could I do.” His attitude was cold, “Are you done with your exam? So free that you’re looking for me in the group chat.”
“I sent you more than ten messages and didn’t get even a punctuation mark in reply. I didn’t dare call you, afraid the teacher hadn’t left.” Wen Yu was very innocent, “So what was I supposed to do?”
“Can’t you just not look for me?” Fu Yuhan poured the medicine powder into his cup and got up to go to the water dispenser at the back to get water.
“I wanted to talk to you. We didn’t get to say much this morning.” Wen Yu said, “There are several exams today. It’s lunch break now, I just finished eating. The star you gave me was very useful… I felt in good condition this morning.”
“Is that so.” Fu Yuhan sniffled.
“How come you seem to have caught a cold again? Didn’t you check the weather forecast when the weather changed? Or did Yang Fan infect you?”
Fu Yuhan thought to himself that this wasn’t entirely because he didn’t check the weather forecast. He had added clothes, but who knew it would rain in the middle of the night.
As for Yang Fan… he wouldn’t do anything with Yang Fan that would cause respiratory transmission.
“Just consider it that way.” He said vaguely, “I’m drinking Banlangen, it’s fine.”
“If it’s serious, just ask for leave and go home to rest?”
“No need, asking for leave would delay my review.” Fu Yuhan said, “My body isn’t that weak.”
“Then…” Wen Yu hesitated a bit.
Fu Yuhan had a headache and was full of inexplicable anger with nowhere to vent. Hearing this unfinished trailing tone made his head hurt even more. He frowned and said: “If you have something to say, just say it. What’s with all the beating around the bush?”
“I’ll be testing until 5 PM. Those participating in the competition don’t need to attend evening self-study today.” Wen Yu paused, “If I go back for evening self-study… could you have dinner with me?”
“…”
If it were usual, Fu Yuhan should have agreed.
He knew Wen Yu was persistent about “eating together,” but he was in a bad mood today and especially didn’t want to indulge this person.
“No,” Fu Yuhan refused outright, “I have plans.”
“…” Wen Yu was choked by his response, “Plans with whom?”
“Who am I to you? Do I need to report to you when I make plans? I’m going to sleep. If you look for me in the group chat again, I’ll really beat you up too. Good-bye.” After Fu Yuhan finished speaking, he hung up the phone and threw it into his drawer.
Then he tilted his head back and drank the slightly cooled medicine in one gulp, lay back down on his desk, and fell asleep.
–
The people in Class 6 discussed all afternoon but couldn’t figure out whether these two big shots were really going to fight.
The affirmative side thought “it’s not the first time they’ve said they’d fight but didn’t, it’s probably a new style of making friends,” while the negative side believed “although Fu-ge is easy to talk to, he absolutely can’t tolerate this kind of embarrassing thing.” Each side had their reasons. The two factions argued all afternoon while the person in question slept alone in the back.
Fu Yuhan used all the time available for sleeping—breaks, lunch break, and study periods—to catch up on sleep, finally having some energy before school ended. When the final dismissal bell rang, he reached out and patted the two brothers in front: “Do you two have anything after school?”
Sun Wenrui & Fang Jiayuan: “No?”
“Have dinner with me,” Fu Yuhan said, “and help me buy some things.”
“Okay.”
Fu Yuhan packed his bag and stood up, walked to Ge Ran who was still organizing her things, and said quietly: “Ge Ran, I won’t be attending evening self-study tonight.”
“Huh?” Ge Ran turned around, looking at him somewhat bewildered, “You’re not attending again? I thought you weren’t planning to skip self-study anymore recently.”
“No, I mentioned this to Teacher Zhou before. I have classes outside.” Fu Yuhan showed her the special leave slip he had gotten, “Three times a week.”
“…Oh, I see.” Ge Ran glanced at it and pressed her lips together, “Then I won’t mark you absent for evening self-study next time.”
“Thanks.” Fu Yuhan said, “Also about the classroom door.”
“I’ll open it.” Ge Ran smoothed the hair by her temples and smiled, “You don’t need to… don’t need to be so polite with me.”
Fu Yuhan didn’t say anything, walked back, and left with his two little followers.
As soon as they walked out of the classroom, Sun Wenrui started getting curious: “What does Fu-ge want to buy?”
“Art supplies.”
“So we’re going to that cultural supplies market at Sanchun Pavilion?” Fang Jiayuan thought about the route, “Or do you want to go to the stadium area?”
“Sanchun Pavilion. The stadium area is too far, let’s not go there today.”
“Then let’s go eat crossing-the-bridge rice noodles. I know a good place there.”
“Whatever.” Fu Yuhan sniffled, “I don’t have an appetite anyway.”
“Is Fu-ge sick today?”
“No, I didn’t sleep last night.” Fu Yuhan shook his head and changed the subject, “Let’s not talk about this. Lao Sun, what about that love story you didn’t finish telling?”
Sun Wenrui opened his mouth in surprise: “Weren’t you sleeping? You actually heard?”
“The classroom was so noisy, couldn’t sleep well.” Fu Yuhan said, “Go on, it’s just us three here.”
The incident where Chen Mengxian had asked for leave due to menstrual cramps and Sun Wenrui had heroically climbed the wall to see her seemed to have become a turning point. After that, when they chatted, Chen Mengxian’s attitude toward him had clearly improved a lot, making Sun Wenrui somewhat happy.
He had been talking about this all day, and then Fang Jiayuan would very bluntly point out that his midterm exam grades had declined.
“Don’t you think Lao Fang is such a bore!”
“What did I say wrong? Hey Fu-ge, you judge this—Chen Mengxian could reject him before using ‘afraid of affecting grades,’ and now she’ll reject him because his grades declined. I think I’m being realistic… It’s senior year, don’t think about dating! It affects studying!”
“You sound just like my mom.”
“Correction, I’m your dad—”
After listening, Fu Yuhan chuckled lightly: “Lao Sun, you’re not targeting Wen Yu anymore recently?”
“…Chen Mengxian hasn’t been fangirling over him lately, so…” Sun Wenrui choked and said somewhat embarrassedly, “Besides, the academic genius lent us his notes… I think if he wants to show off, let him show off. Who told him to have good grades?”
In this midterm exam, Wen Yu was once again the undisputed first place, scoring more than 20 points higher than the grade’s second place. Now no one doubted that his previous performance was just luck.
“I told you before it was nothing. How long can ‘liking’ based on looks last?” Fu Yuhan said while walking, “But Lao Fang’s words also make sense. We’ll graduate in half a year. You might as well think about whether you can go to the same school as her.”
“I asked, she wants to stay local.” Sun Wenrui said, “I think with my grades, staying local shouldn’t be a problem, right?”
“Local also has good and bad distinctions. I heard them say that even in the same university, if you’re in different colleges, you might not have time to see each other often.” Fang Jiayuan said.
The three chatted while walking to the rice noodle shop Fang Jiayuan mentioned. The shop wasn’t big, and inside wafted a rich but cloying chicken soup smell. Fu Yuhan already had no appetite, and smelling this made him even less want to eat.
In the end, he only ordered the most plain rice noodles on the menu, eating slowly while listening to Sun Wenrui continue to agonize over his unfinished love story.
Listening to other people’s pursuit stories was quite interesting, at least for Fu Yuhan.
He had once imagined some romantic scenarios, but gender and identity prevented him from using these tactics on Yang Fan—he could only think about them in his head.
As he listened, he would also fantasize about whether Yang Fan had done certain things for his goddess, like waiting for her downstairs at her home, picking her up for school, bringing her breakfast.
Although ordinary and trivial, because of love, they were all details that could make one smile when remembered.
For Fu Yuhan, they became “details that made one smile bitterly.”
Being heterosexual was really good.
Being homosexual was…
Fang Jiayuan slurped a mouthful of rice noodles and looked down at his phone: “Hey… Fu-ge.”
“Mm?”
“…Yu-ge privately messaged me.” He looked up at Fu Yuhan’s somewhat pale face, “Asked if I’m with you… said your phone is turned off.”
Fu Yuhan: “…”
Sun Wenrui was a bit surprised: “What’s he doing today? Cosplaying as Fu-ge’s obsessed fan? Too persistent—and why did Fu-ge turn off his phone?”
“Just tell him,” Fu Yuhan lowered his eyelids and said flatly, “certain people also turned off their phones yesterday.”
Sun Wenrui & Fang Jiayuan: “…”
“…Why do I feel like this sounds weird,” Fang Jiayuan muttered while replying, “like a young couple quarreling.”
“Heh,” Fu Yuhan snorted, “What did you say?”
“I didn’t say anything.” Fang Jiayuan immediately zipped his mouth shut.
Fortunately, Fu Yuhan’s message was somewhat effective. After Fang Jiayuan sent it, Wen Yu replied with “thanks” after five minutes and said nothing else.
Fu Yuhan only ate half a bowl. After the other two finished eating, the three left the rice noodle shop and went to the cultural supplies market to pick things.
Actually, originally Fu Yuhan had planned to drag Wen Yu along, but…
Drag my ass.
Two people who completely didn’t understand art had their eyes opened at the art supply store. Based on what his teacher had written for him before and the art store owner’s recommendations, Fu Yuhan bought suitable paint boxes, gouache brushes, paints, paint boxes, palettes, and a whole bunch of other things, carrying the boxes as they walked back.
Fu Yuhan wasn’t attending evening self-study. At the intersection, he said goodbye to the two: “I have an art class tonight, turning this way. You guys go back.”
“Then… bye Fu-ge, see you tomorrow.”
“Bye.”
Tonight was the first time learning color. According to general art students’ habits, some paint from small cans needed to be transferred into grid paint boxes. Besides directly purchased pure colors and advanced grays, some people would also pre-mix several colors according to their painting needs.
This was work that didn’t require much technical skill but was very time-consuming. The art teacher was quite easygoing. Hearing that it wasn’t convenient for him to do this at home, he let him come tonight to mix paints without charging extra class fees.
Among those learning to paint, there were also people practicing gouache painting. The teacher had Fu Yuhan sit not far behind that person to mix paints, which was also convenient for learning from others.
He bought two boxes—a larger plastic box for paint cans and a smaller canvas paint box that was just right for daily tools. After filling the paints and organizing both boxes, it was already the usual dismissal time. Other students said their goodbyes one after another, and Fu Yuhan also stood up.
He was a bit hesitant.
Originally, he had agreed to store these at Wen Yu’s place, but today he didn’t really want to contact him. After hesitating for a moment, he went to ask the teacher if he could store them in the studio for one night.
Storing painting tools was very common. The teacher readily agreed and told him to remember the location himself.
Fu Yuhan thanked him and walked out with only his backpack.
It was already dark. The residential complex was dotted with thousands of lights, and the air was slightly cool. He took a deep breath at the stairwell entrance, preparing to go home.
Just five meters out, a tall, crane-like figure emerged from the shadows of the bicycle shed behind the trees.
“Hey.” That person called to him.
The voice was so familiar that Fu Yuhan knew who it was without looking. He couldn’t really say whether he was happy or unhappy, instinctively letting out a long sigh as he turned around.
The pitch-black night overlaid with pitch-black shadows prevented him from seeing the other person’s face clearly, but Fu Yuhan could recognize that it was Wen Yu.
He frowned slightly: “What are you doing here?”
Wen Yu walked forward two steps, moving to where the streetlight could illuminate him, looked at Fu Yuhan, and touched his nose embarrassedly: “I was wrong, okay? Stop turning off your phone.”
##
(advanced chapters available on kofi)
