Among the six people, only Yang Fan and Chu Lei were pushing bikes. Even with one person carrying another, they were still short one bike.
Ride bikes there? Fu Yuhan thought Wen Yu was looking for trouble.
The two people next to Chu Lei—one was a tall, thin guy nicknamed “Bamboo Pole,” and the other was a shorter, rounder one called “Ball.” At this moment, Bamboo Pole said: “We just discussed it. My house is nearby. Let’s go to my place to get another bicycle, then one person carries another and we’ll ride over.”
“Oh,” Fu Yuhan understood. He looked at Wen Yu and asked softly: “You’re planning to sit on Yang Fan’s rear seat?”
“Is that not allowed?” Wen Yu smiled slightly.
When he smiled, his lips always curved upward just the right amount—neither overly flamboyant nor reserved, giving off a gentlemanly, well-mannered impression.
Yang Fan had said this was because Wen Yu was very polite.
But Fu Yuhan felt this person was purely just showing off.
He raised an eyebrow slightly: “Do you know Yang Fan doesn’t carry people?”
Wen Yu: “?”
“He said before that only his future wife can sit on his rear seat.” Chu Lei picked up the conversation, pointing at the rear seat. “But I think he’s just lazy as hell. You think he installed a rear seat to carry people? He did it so Brother Han could carry him!”
Wen Yu: “…”
Wen Yu couldn’t help but laugh, his eyes crinkling: “I can also carry Yang Fan.”
“Fighting over even this—how childish are you?” Fu Yuhan asked with a deadpan expression. “I’ve been carrying him for over ten years.”
Yang Fan’s biggest headache was that these two would start bickering whenever they met. Seeing that Wen Yu was about to retort, he quickly stepped forward to intervene: “Forget it, it’s such a small matter. Is it worth arguing this long? Wen Yu, why don’t you carry Chu Lei? Let him also enjoy the happiness of being lazy once.”
Chu Lei’s eyes widened: “Holy shit, how would I dare let Brother Yu carry me?”
“It’s the last time anyway!” Yang Fan said, then turned to ask for Wen Yu’s opinion. “Is that okay?”
Wen Yu didn’t answer directly, but instead asked him: “You also know it’s the last time… and you still want to sit on Fu Yuhan’s rear seat?”
His smile was teasing, but his eyes were deep. Yang Fan was stunned, but couldn’t say what was wrong. “…Isn’t it the same whether you carry him or me?”
“No, you’re heavier,” Wen Yu said. “It’s tiring to carry you.”
Yang Fan let out a “damn.”
He was taller than Chu Lei, but his weight wasn’t due to being fat.
But Yang Fan was still very displeased and shouted: “That’s impossible!”
“Want to compete then?” Wen Yu stood up from the rear seat with his long legs. “Let’s see which of our three groups can ride to Yintai first.”
“Xiao Han! Compete with him!” Yang Fan was very unconvinced. “What should we bet?”
“The loser becomes everyone’s little brother for the whole evening?” Bamboo Pole and Ball also came over. “They’ll handle all the errands.”
Everyone agreed, leaving only Fu Yuhan who hadn’t spoken. Wen Yu’s dark pupils looked over through the remaining sunset glow, burning intensely: “Want to play? You can forfeit if you’re afraid of losing.”
“Afraid my ass.” Fu Yuhan lifted his long leg and straddled the bike, kicking the pedal.
The group went to Bamboo Pole’s house to get another bike, then rode to the intersection with one person carrying another.
As soon as the green light came on, the three bicycles side by side shot out like arrows released from their strings.
The wind suddenly picked up—
Young people’s competitions can start anytime, anywhere can be the finish line. During the race, they set the finish line at the edge of a floor tile by Yintai’s side entrance. Wen Yu suddenly braked hard, stopping his front tire exactly on the line.
Bamboo Pole rushed past a bit before stopping, followed by Fu Yuhan.
Carrying someone required considerable stamina, especially riding the heaviest mountain bike. Fu Yuhan pressed his lips together, his upper lip already showing a layer of bloodless white.
Wen Yu reminded: “A bet is a bet.”
Fu Yuhan glanced at him without making a sound.
“I was wrong. Thinking carefully, among us three ‘burdens,’ I’m the heaviest.” Yang Fan jumped down from the rear seat, feeling a bit guilty. “And my bike is also the hardest to ride.”
The easiest to ride was definitely Bamboo Pole’s road bike imitation—large tire diameter, light weight, effortless to pedal. Under these conditions, Fu Yuhan’s arrival time was less than a second behind theirs, which was already impressive.
“It’s fine.” Only then did Fu Yuhan catch his breath and speak his first words after arriving. “A bet is a bet.”
Wen Yu smiled: “Then could the ‘losing’ little brother go press the elevator button first?”
His words were gentle and mild, but somehow made people uncomfortable.
Fu Yuhan glanced at him and handed the bike to Yang Fan. “Fine.”
On the last day of summer vacation, there were many young people at the arcade, with a long queue extending to the store entrance.
Third High and First High, as the city’s two “quasi-first” schools, had competed for too many years. Even their uniform styles were distinctly different. A Third High student mixed among a group of First High people was already eye-catching, and this Third High student was particularly handsome, making him even more conspicuous.
“Damn, Brother Fu!”
The conspicuous Fu Yuhan quickly attracted a loud shout. Fu Yuhan lifted his eyelids and saw Sun Wenrui running out of the store. “Didn’t you say you had plans with someone?”
Fu Yuhan pointed to the people beside him: “Aren’t these people?”
“…”
Sun Wenrui was momentarily speechless.
Yang Fan had met Sun Wenrui twice and was familiar with him, so he took the initiative to greet him. For Fu Yuhan’s sake, Sun Wenrui proactively offered a favor: “Did you just arrive? Want us to help you buy some tokens? Save you from queuing again.”
“Have you guys reached the front?” Ball poked his head from behind.
“Almost there.”
“That’s great, thanks bro.”
Sun Wenrui waved his hand: “No problem, it’s all for Brother Fu’s face anyway. Our class beauty is in line.”
The group was just pooling money from their pockets when they all turned around upon hearing this.
“Oh,” hearing gossip, Chu Lei’s eyes lit up. “Something going on, Brother Han?”
“…Like hell there is.”
Fu Yuhan pushed Sun Wenrui: “I’ve told you several times, she and I aren’t that kind of relationship.”
“It’s a rare opportunity, Brother Fu!” Sun Wenrui wasn’t afraid to die.
Rumors were hard to explain—if you say there’s something, people take it seriously; if you say there’s nothing, people think you’re lying.
Fu Yuhan didn’t even need to turn around to feel Yang Fan’s interested gaze. He was simply unable to defend himself and lost all interest in talking. He snorted coldly and squeezed two words through his teeth: “…Ridiculous.”
With that, he snatched the two hundred yuan they had pooled together and strode into the store.
The gossip-hungry people were poking their heads outside, only Wen Yu looked uninterested. He lowered his eyes and put his hands in his pockets, standing lazily at the edge of the crowd, listening to them discuss how pretty that girl was.
These four were all Fu Yuhan’s middle school classmates, so naturally they cared about his rumors. The most concerned was Yang Fan, who had grown up with him since childhood. Wen Yu watched their reactions and inexplicably felt Fu Yuhan was a bit pitiful.
He pulled Yang Fan: “Alright, he already said it’s not that kind of relationship.”
“Maybe it could work out?” Yang Fan was still unsatisfied. “You have to admit, that girl looks like she’d match well with Xiao Han.”
“Is that so.” Wen Yu was too lazy to even move his eyeballs. “Stop looking, come pick a doll.”
Yang Fan was active and easily distracted. Hearing this, he indeed turned his head: “What doll?”
“There are Pokémon here.” Wen Yu lifted his chin. “Pick one, I’ll catch it for you when the tokens come.”
“You can just catch whatever you want, that cool? Then get me a Pikachu first.”
“Brother Yu, can we have some too?” the three behind asked in unison.
“Sure,” Wen Yu said.
So when Fu Yuhan came out with two hundred yuan worth of tokens, the four had already picked their desired dolls.
“Brother Han, come quick, we’re waiting for your tokens!” Chu Lei called out. “Brother Yu says he can catch any doll he aims for. You should pick one too.”
“Don’t want one.”
Fu Yuhan blurted out, then realized that at the same time, Wen Yu had said the exact same thing.
It actually sounded quite synchronized.
“Don’t want what? Wen Yu, catch him a Gastly, that one’s cute.” Yang Fan suddenly spoke up, then elbowed Wen Yu and gave him a meaningful look. “What did I tell you this morning?”
“…” Wen Yu raised an eyebrow. “Fine then.”
He extended his hand toward Fu Yuhan.
Fu Yuhan dumped all the tokens into his hand: “No need to trouble yourself, I really don’t want one.”
His face showed obvious impatience—whether he was upset about the class beauty situation or simply didn’t want Wen Yu catching a doll for him was unclear.
But in any case, this expression pleased Wen Yu greatly. He suddenly became willing again and chuckled softly: “No trouble, I’m really accurate at catching dolls.”
Boys being obsessed with claw machines isn’t necessarily because they like dolls—it’s more about enjoying the thrill of exploiting loopholes in the merchant’s machines.
Wen Yu wasn’t just talking. Five dolls, and he caught them all in just seven attempts total. When he stuffed the dolls into their hands one by one, everyone’s expression was shocked.
Except for Fu Yuhan.
Because he had disappeared.
Ball looked around bewildered: “Where’s Brother Han? He was just here?”
“Tsk, this guy.” Yang Fan pursed his lips and took the Gastly that Wen Yu had caught. “You guys wait, I’ll go find him.”
They were too familiar with each other.
Yang Fan looked around the mall environment and without much thought headed toward the restroom. Mall restrooms were always hidden in deserted areas, requiring a walk through a long, winding corridor. Fu Yuhan was indeed hiding in the corridor playing on his phone.
Yang Fan walked over and bumped shoulders with him: “Do you hate Wen Yu that much? Just because he caught a doll you had to hide here?”
“No, I came out to take a call.” The other’s body warmth transmitted over. Fu Yuhan pressed his lips together, put away his phone, and turned to look at him.
“Really not angry?”
“No.” Fu Yuhan said, “Can’t you tell when I’m angry or not?”
If this person wasn’t about to lose his temper, he generally had a poker face with only subtle differences in expression that most people couldn’t detect.
However, Yang Fan didn’t belong to “most people.” He stared carefully at Fu Yuhan’s face: “Seems like you’re really not angry.”
Fu Yuhan lowered his eyelids, a smile flashing by.
“Then I’m relieved.” Yang Fan said, “I never really understood why you two always butt heads anyway. I feel like you should get along—hey, Xiao Han, let me tell you something?”
“Mm?”
“Can you and Wen Yu coexist peacefully in the future?”
Coexist peacefully between love rivals?
Fu Yuhan raised an eyebrow: “Isn’t it peaceful enough now?”
“Don’t you two have any self-awareness about whether it’s peaceful or not?” Yang Fan felt very tired as the person in the middle. “I don’t understand. I say the same thing to him, and he says he doesn’t want to pick fights with you. Then today when you two meet again…”
He couldn’t quite describe where that subtle atmosphere came from. It seemed like these two had very strong opinions about each other, wanting to find ways to argue no matter what the other said.
Right, it wasn’t pure arguing—it was “finding ways” to argue.
Fu Yuhan pressed his brows down: “I want to pick fights even less.”
He was a bit displeased. Clearly it was always Wen Yu who provoked first, yet this person was good at shifting blame.
“Really?” Yang Fan said, “Then swear on it?”
“What?”
“When I’m not around, you won’t get into fights with Wen Yu?”
“…Why would I meet with Wen Yu when you’re not around?”
This was a good question, but the answer wasn’t very pleasant.
At least in Fu Yuhan’s view, it was very unpleasant.
“Because he’s transferring to Third High,” Yang Fan said.
##
