The arts committee member had originally said it casually, but the more she thought about it, the better the idea seemed.
The other class committee members in the meeting also looked over, evaluating the two of them.
“You know what, they’re about the same height and build. They’d look great standing together.”
“I think it’s doable. The opening ceremony has 40% audience voting points, so the good-looking ones must be put in front as the face of the class.”
“How about we dress them in white shirts and black dress pants? The fitted kind that shows off their figures.”
“Why don’t we have all the boys wear that, and all the girls wear little skirts, like that… young lady and butler concept?”
With Class 2’s provocation beforehand, Class 6 was invested in all the class competition events at the sports meet, and everyone joined the discussion. Before three sentences passed, the discussion had already changed from “who stands in front of the formation” to “what clothes to wear to not waste the school prince’s face.”
Fu Yuhan & Wen Yu: “…”
“Wait, hold on.” Fu Yuhan walked over and tapped his knuckles on the desk twice. “I don’t think I agreed?”
Eight class committee members looked at him in unison, each one eyeing him like a tiger.
One-on-one they might be intimidated by Fu Yuhan, but eight-on-one created a different dynamic. They weren’t afraid.
But then Wen Yu also walked over: “I don’t agree either—Fu Yuhan is quite suitable as a poster boy, but I won’t participate.”
The situation became eight against two.
Ge Ran frowned, looking at Wen Yu with distress: “The PE committee said you already didn’t sign up for any events. Be more proactive in group activities.”
Transfer students were somewhat isolated from the collective. Although Wen Yu had gained popularity among most girls and some “academic god worshippers” with his face and grades, he really wasn’t familiar with most people in the class.
Fu Yuhan said: “Then let him be in front, I’ll pass.”
Standing at the very front of the formation, when walking past the podium, all the teachers’ and non-participating students’ gazes would focus on him. Fu Yuhan had done this job for two years, every year steeling himself for it.
Extremely uncomfortable.
What was even more uncomfortable was that the person in front had to hold a sign—a white background with red characters wooden board reading “Year X Class X” that looked very stupid.
“No, I think you’re more suitable than me.” Wen Yu suddenly turned around.
Fu Yuhan was stunned and looked back at him: “Reason?”
“You’re more handsome,” Wen Yu smiled, using the same reason as the arts committee member. “Don’t waste that face, school prince.”
This was actually modest. Wen Yu and Fu Yuhan had different styles—his features were brighter, like being bathed in sunlight; while Fu Yuhan, perhaps due to maintaining a cold expression for years, was as gloomy as an ice sculpture.
To showcase high school students’ vigor and vitality, it really would be better to have Wen Yu in front.
“Are you flattering me like this because you don’t want to hold the sign?” Fu Yuhan asked.
Wen Yu paused: “I didn’t think of that… I genuinely think you’re more suitable than me. Besides, how could a transfer student represent a class’s image?”
“May I ask,” Ge Ran interrupted their dispute, “Brother Fu, did your fight the other day have any result?”
They hadn’t fought at all, so what result could there be? Fu Yuhan turned his head: “No.”
“See, in three years, this is the first time you arranged a fight with someone that had no result.” Ge Ran said seriously. “This shows you’re very suitable for cooperation.”
“…I don’t think I’ve arranged fights with people that many times?”
“That’s not important.”
“…”
As a “weak girl,” Ge Ran’s ability to sit firmly as class monitor for three years in a weird collective like Class 6 wasn’t for nothing.
Fu Yuhan generally didn’t argue much with girls, but right now he really wanted to retort to Ge Ran.
However, Ge Ran didn’t give him the chance. She continued: “But thinking about it, two people in front can’t cooperate to hold one sign with one hand each. I think we should add another person and use all our class’s poster boys.”
“?”
Soon, they understood what Ge Ran meant by “using all the poster boys.”
The list of twenty people for the formation was quickly finalized. Ge Ran had Fu Yuhan and Wen Yu walk to the front of the line, and about a meter in front of them, another sign holder was added.
Xu Qianyi.
The handsome and beautiful combination of Class 6 was complete.
“I’ve been thinking, this is probably called the ‘face value crushing’ tactic.”
After evening self-study, Ge Ran asked the students selected for the formation to stay a bit and line up on the playground to see the effect. Senior students had little time and could only rehearse in these fragmented moments.
Behind Fu Yuhan were the girls in the first row. While Ge Ran and the sports committee were lining up the formation, one girl whispered to the person next to her, “Class 2 can’t even find a single handsome guy, so they definitely can’t beat us in this aspect.”
“But the opening ceremony isn’t all about looks,” the girl next to her said pessimistically.
Xu Qianyi, standing at the front, turned around and chatted with them across two men: “Didn’t we practice the marching step last year? Just need to consolidate it. I remember our class didn’t lose to Class 2 in last year’s opening ceremony, right?”
“We lost, by one point,” Fu Yuhan said in a calm voice, “but Class 2 lost to us in other events and the relay race, so our total score was higher.”
“You remember so clearly?”
Fu Yuhan was a bit speechless and looked at her.
Two girls behind added, “I remember too! After the opening ceremony, Sun Bin and a few others repeatedly jumped in front of our class’s stands, only to be slapped in the face later. Sun Wenrui and others went to mock them. Qianqian, you don’t remember because you were on the podium.”
Xu Qianyi said, “Oh, then if we perform well this year, our chances of winning are still high.”
“But I’m inexplicably nervous now,” one girl said, “I hope our face value combination can get more audience votes.”
Girls chatting tend to go off-topic. Talking about looks, they discussed whether other senior classes had players with good looks, and finally found none better than Fu Yuhan. Then they talked about the new freshmen.
In the first week of school, to free up the playground for freshman military training, second and third years canceled morning exercises. The long break was 25 minutes, and many people were bored and secretly went to watch on the playground.
“Did you find any quality handsome guys when you went to watch?” Xu Qianyi asked.
“She’s going to reach out again,” a girl clicked her tongue and shook her head, “Be careful, Qianqian.”
“But I really found a good one, from Class 8 of the freshmen, named Zhou Xiangyan,” another girl said, “He looks a bit soft, I think I can go for him.”
“Class 8? Liberal arts?” Xu Qianyi suddenly looked up, “What are you doing?”
Fu Yuhan’s shoe suddenly dragged on the plastic track, making a slightly harsh sound.
Wen Yu glanced at him.
“Nothing,” Fu Yuhan lowered his head, “I didn’t stand steadily… you guys continue chatting.”
“Are you stupid, Qianqian? Freshmen haven’t been divided into streams yet, how can there be a liberal arts class?”
“Oh, I forgot. Time flies.”
“Last year of high school, we have to watch Fu Yuhan more, or we might not see him after graduation, hahaha.”
“It’s really great that Wen Yu came this year, he’s like a light in the boring high school life.”
Wen Yu finally turned his head and said the first sentence after arriving at the playground: “It’s not as exaggerated as you say.”
“There really is, boys who stand next to Brother Fu and don’t look awkward are really rare!” The girl suddenly leaned back and carefully sized up the two, “They even look quite compatible.”
“…”
Fu Yuhan frowned and turned back: “Can you not disgust me?”
“I think it’s disgusting too.” Wen Yu smiled, “It doesn’t matter who he’s compatible with, why is it with him?”
Because they really are compatible.
The girl was a bit embarrassed: “…Sorry.”
“I’m not targeting you,” Fu Yuhan explained softly, “I just don’t have a good relationship with him.”
“Mm.” Wen Yu nodded in agreement.
With this back and forth, where exactly is the incompatibility?
Thinking so, the girl didn’t dare joke anymore.
The atmosphere was a bit awkward, but fortunately someone else saved her. The Class 6 team had just finished organizing, and a large group was coming from the teaching building direction.
It was very dark on the road, faces were hard to see, but these senior students had been together for over two years and could recognize who was coming by their voices.
“Damn, Class 2!” someone muttered.
“Why do I hear Class 4’s voices?”
“I heard Class 7’s voices.”
“Damn, why are they all coming to our playground to rehearse?”
“Don’t start conflicts. Let’s keep a low profile and plan a big surprise to slap Class 2’s face at the sports meet.” Ge Ran came over to disperse them, “Let’s go, to a place where no one is.”
Class 6 had just cleared the entrance to the playground, and the crowd surged in, gathering by class. When Class 6 started practicing the marching step, Ge Ran counted and found that out of the eight senior classes, five had come.
They weren’t the only ones wanting to get a good score at the opening ceremony.
Senior year evening self-study ended at 10 PM. Ge Ran arranged for everyone to practice for half an hour before dismissing. The group carried their bags and walked out the school gate.
Outside the Third High gate, to the left was a main road and bus stop, to the right was a nearby residential area. About one-third of the people turned right at the gate, and after walking to the three-way intersection, only a few continued right.
Fu Yuhan kept his head down while walking, suddenly feeling something was off—under the streetlight, next to his elongated shadow was another dark shadow.
He suddenly looked back to the right and behind, finding Wen Yu dragging his backpack with one hand, walking unsteadily behind him, eyes always on him. Even when Fu Yuhan looked back, he didn’t dodge.
“Why are you following me?” Fu Yuhan looked puzzled.
“To be reasonable,” Wen Yu smiled and pointed to a nearby residential area, “My home is this way.”
“…You live there?”
“Mm.”
“Such a short walk, and you take a Maserati to school?” Fu Yuhan looked at the distance. “Saying you’re a show-off really wasn’t wrong. Not being the sign holder is a waste of talent.”
“What does this have to do with holding signs?” Wen Yu chuckled softly.
“Being the center of attention.” Fu Yuhan glanced at him sideways. “Doesn’t that suit your preferences?”
“My preferences aren’t that simple and crude,” Wen Yu shook his head. “Do you know why I agreed to stand in front later today?”
Fu Yuhan raised an eyebrow.
Wen Yu walked toward him.
Late at night, on the small road with few pedestrians, everything was silent. The bright orange streetlights illuminated them. Wen Yu walked up to him and stopped, his dark eyes narrowing as he smiled wickedly, showing white teeth: “Because as soon as I mentioned standing together with me, your expression became particularly ugly—seeing you unhappy makes me so happy.”
“…I really should record how you look right now and show it to Yang Fan.” Fu Yuhan twitched the corner of his mouth. “So he’ll stop praising you all the time in front of me.”
“What’s wrong with me?”
“Everything’s wrong.” Fu Yuhan rolled his eyes. “You’re like a madman.”
This was unfair, because no matter who you asked, they would think Wen Yu was a particularly good person.
Gentle and polite, excellent grades, only occasionally showing slight, barely noticeable arrogance in his words.
Given his academic performance, this bit of arrogance could be tolerated.
However, after hearing Fu Yuhan’s words, Wen Yu didn’t deny it.
“Too bad, even if I am a madman, you’ll have to endure it.” Wen Yu tilted his head as if thinking. “Unless someday you decide to stop clinging to Yang Fan.”
“In. Your. Dreams.” Fu Yuhan said word by word. “I’d give Yang Fan to anyone before I’d give him to you.”
“Then see you at T University next year?”
“…”
Damn.
Fu Yuhan flipped him off and walked away.
##
