“As expected, here you are.”
Fu Yuhan had been gone for one class period and hadn’t returned. Wen Yu initially didn’t want to interfere, but unexpectedly, as soon as class ended, Zhou Wenkang called him over for a chat.
From “Has Fu Yuhan been staying at your place these past two days?” to “How has Fu Yuhan’s condition been lately?”—every detail.
So detailed that absolutely no one else could have answered.
But he was asking Wen Yu—if the school offered a separate “Human Behavioral Studies” course, Wen Yu would definitely sign up to be the class representative.
He liked observing others’ behaviors, expressions, movements, and tones, finding entertainment in these details. Fu Yuhan, as the number one person on his entertainment list, had been secretly observed by him countless times.
Answering the homeroom teacher’s questions was no problem. Wen Yu not only had a hobby of observing people, but over the years had also developed a good method for dealing with teachers—diplomatic words came naturally to him.
He knew how to comfort a teacher worried about students.
The problem was that the timing and subject were interesting—what exactly had Fu Yuhan told Zhou Wenkang?
Due to that bit of curiosity, Wen Yu came looking for him as soon as he left the office.
His first target was the empty building across from the playground. Unexpectedly, Fu Yuhan was really quite predictable—he found him immediately.
“Do you come here often?” Wen Yu looked around.
The empty building was completely bare. No matter how he looked, he couldn’t see what charm this place had that would make Fu Yuhan come here repeatedly.
“Why did you come?” Hearing the commotion, Fu Yuhan turned his head. “Isn’t it class time now?”
His face showed no expression, same as usual, but from Wen Yu’s observational experience, he seemed a bit listless right now.
Wen Yu looked at him: “This period is PE class.”
PE class for seniors meant the same thing as study hall.
“I’ve never seen you skip study hall before.” Fu Yuhan said softly. “I thought good students like you never skipped classes.”
These words carried some mockery. Wen Yu countered: “I heard Yang Fan and the others say that your grades in middle school were much better than Chu Lei’s.”
“So skipping classes is a bad habit I learned after high school.”
“…”
Wen Yu chuckled.
The empty building had no interior decoration, and all the surrounding window frames were covered in dust, except for the one Fu Yuhan was sitting on, which had been wiped clean. Wen Yu found it tiring to crane his neck to talk, so he simply braced himself on the window frame and jumped up.
“Hey,” Fu Yuhan was bumped and had to move aside, “can’t you be gentler?”
“No.” Wen Yu deliberately bumped him again.
Fu Yuhan rubbed his bumped elbow: “I’ve discovered that you’re really childish.”
“After all, I don’t have any other hobbies.” Wen Yu casually replied, then swept his gaze around the empty building.
He and Fu Yuhan sat side by side with their backs to each other—Fu Yuhan facing the playground, him facing the interior of the empty building. After sitting on the windowsill, his view opened up, and he could easily see through the opposite window the tops of two trees poking up from beyond the temporary wall.
“Isn’t liking Gundam a hobby?” Fu Yuhan asked.
“Things that aren’t allowed can’t be hobbies.” Wen Yu answered casually, then suddenly changed the subject. “I remember there’s a construction site back there?”
Fu Yuhan turned back to look: “Mm.”
“Those two trees are really resilient, they actually weren’t moved.”
“Look at the thickness of those trunks—they’re old trees. In principle, they don’t move them. It would be a pity if they died from transplanting.” Fu Yuhan said. “The workers on the construction site even water them when they have nothing else to do.”
Wen Yu stared at those two tree crowns for quite a while.
“The older trees get, the more valuable they become. When people get old, it’s different.” He suddenly said.
“What?”
“Nothing—did something happen to you?” Wen Yu didn’t turn back. “I mean, not going home at night, using me as a shield with the homeroom teacher… what trouble did you encounter? Tell me so I can be happy about it?”
The window frame was only so wide. Two seventeen or eighteen-year-old boys sitting on it had to press shoulder to shoulder.
Compared to the body warmth transmitted through school uniforms, Wen Yu’s words could almost be called “cold and heartless.” Fu Yuhan didn’t know whether to laugh or cry: “Zhou Wenkang came to find you?”
“Yeah.” Wen Yu answered quickly. “That easy to guess?”
“Teacher Zhou is like that—he likes to probe and understand situations indirectly.” Fu Yuhan said. “He’s a good teacher, but sometimes I feel… it’s a bit heavy.”
He lowered his voice for the last few words, sounding vaguely helpless.
“Feel like you’re disappointing expectations?” Wen Yu pressed his lips together and suddenly said, “But adults’ expectations are just that—if you take them seriously, they can sculpt children into what they want without paying any actual cost, using heavy emotional shackles.”
Fu Yuhan raised an eyebrow and turned his head, looking at Wen Yu with some surprise: “Didn’t expect that… you could actually say such bastard things?”
“Maybe because I am a bastard?” Wen Yu looked straight ahead.
He was looking at the distant sky. There was no sun right now, no clouds either. That small patch of sky was grayish and not particularly beautiful—who knows what he was looking at.
“I discovered very early that if you can produce good enough grades and behave appropriately enough…” he said very calmly, “then they’ll shift their attention away from you. Conversely, as long as I give them what they want, I can hide myself.”
Fu Yuhan opened his mouth.
He seemed to suddenly understand some of Wen Yu’s… actions that seemed very strange to him, understanding what kind of logic they were based on. But then again, this was also too…
He couldn’t find the right adjective.
“Although I don’t know what you’ve encountered, you make me feel like I’m not the most miserable one.” Fu Yuhan sighed. “Thanks, I feel much better now.”
“What nonsense.” Wen Yu chuckled. He jumped down from the windowsill and turned back to pat Fu Yuhan. “Let’s go back to study. Yesterday you even had a change of heart and took notes all day. Are you going to give up today?”
“No, I was just feeling annoyed and wanted to clear my head for a bit…”
Wen Yu said six words expressionlessly: “Ha ha ha ha ha ha.”
Fu Yuhan: “…”
“See, people who don’t study because they’re feeling annoyed will be mocked by me.” Wen Yu looked at him. “Studying is simply the easiest thing in the world.”
Fu Yuhan: “…”
He couldn’t hold back and raised his middle finger at Wen Yu.
Wen Yu curved into a shallow smile, wrapped his hand around Fu Yuhan’s middle finger and pressed it down: “Let’s take the T University exam together, Fu Yuhan. If you’re not there to watch me, I really will make a move on Yang Fan—I’m not as moral as you.”
“Easy for you to say.” Fu Yuhan looked at him twice, then suddenly lowered his gaze and ground his shoe sole against the ground. “I’ll think about it.”
His shoe sole stepped on gravel, making a “crack” sound as it scraped a white mark on the grayish cement floor. Today’s mark was very complete, and Fu Yuhan’s mood inexplicably improved.
Wasn’t it just talking with his mom?
Anyway, he’d heard plenty of scolding over the years and was used to it. Nothing to be afraid of.
The two left the empty building one after the other, walking along the plastic track across the playground.
Quite a few first and second-year students were having PE class. Seeing two handsome seniors pass by, they looked over several times with a high rate of turning heads. Fu Yuhan felt uncomfortable and switched positions with Wen Yu halfway, letting him receive the baptism of gazes from underclassmen.
This small action amused Wen Yu again.
“What’s wrong with it?” Wen Yu asked.
Fu Yuhan said: “If you like it, you take it.”
Wen Yu indeed didn’t mind and even enjoyed it, so he rarely showed kindness and didn’t switch back with Fu Yuhan.
Going through the left side of the playground led to the cafeteria and convenience store—this route was closer to the senior building. However, just past the convenience store, an urgent voice came from behind them: “Senior! Senior, wait—”
Fu Yuhan’s steps paused, seeming to freeze. Wen Yu glanced at him sideways and turned around, laughing.
Just when he was about to search high and low, the little underclassman delivered himself to their door before he even went to inquire.
“Senior…” Zhou Xiangyan was very out of breath from running, his whole face red. Who knows how much energy he’d expended in PE class. “Wait… huff…”
Fu Yuhan twitched his mouth and turned around: “What kind of weird way to address someone is ‘senior’?”
Zhou Xiangyan scratched his head: “I thought you didn’t like me calling you ‘bro’ in public.”
“I’m not your bro.”
“But you’re older than me!” Zhou Xiangyan was a bit conflicted. “I hear them all call you Brother Fu, but it would be weird for me to call you Brother Fu too…”
After all, the older “Fu” he now had to call dad.
Fu Yuhan should have been speechless, because Wen Yu saw him look up at the sky—if that movement had been any bigger, it would have been a standard eye roll.
“Call me bro then.” Fu Yuhan compromised.
“Bro!” Zhou Xiangyan immediately smiled with crinkled eyes. “Do you have money on your meal card? Could you help me buy a bowl of instant noodles and a bottle of water…”
“…?” Fu Yuhan asked. “Doesn’t Fu Xuecheng give you pocket money? What about your mom?”
“He does, he does, but I recently paid the final payment for a figure… ahaha.” Zhou Xiangyan laughed awkwardly under Fu Yuhan’s icy gaze.
This older brother was indeed quite scary when he didn’t smile.
Fu Yuhan stared at him for two minutes.
After two minutes, he lifted his chin toward the convenience store: “Go buy it.”
Zhou Xiangyan felt like he’d received a great pardon: “Thank you, bro!”
He rushed over immediately. Fu Yuhan turned to Wen Yu and said “wait for me a moment,” then followed.
Getting a bowl of instant noodles and a bottle of water didn’t take much time. When Fu Yuhan walked in, Zhou Xiangyan was already waiting at the checkout. He took out his campus card and placed it on the card reader, instantly deducting 4.5 yuan.
Wen Yu stepped into the store.
Zhou Xiangyan’s eyes widened: “Holy shit, bro, your balance isn’t much more than mine.”
“Good that you know.”
“I was wrong… if I’d known, I wouldn’t have asked you for help… I…”
“Forget it, it’s already paid. Go back to your class.”
Fu Yuhan said this while stuffing his card back in his pocket and turning to leave, but nearly bumped into Wen Yu.
“Why did you come in? Didn’t I tell you to wait for me?”
“The store has air conditioning.” Wen Yu said, waving at Zhou Xiangyan. “You go ahead, we still have things to do.”
“Then… bro, I’ll treat you to a meal next month when I have money!”
“Just go.” Fu Yuhan was very tired.
For some reason, leaving the classroom was so easy, but going back was full of obstacles. After seeing off Zhou Xiangyan, when the two came out of the store, Fu Yuhan was stopped by Wen Yu again.
“What’s your brother’s name?”
“He’s not my brother… forget it.” Fu Yuhan was too lazy to explain. “Zhou Xiangyan.”
With his situation of divorced parents and blended family where the brothers had different surnames, another person might have asked a whole string of questions. But Wen Yu, who was usually quite curious, surprisingly didn’t ask anything.
He just looked at him for a while, then asked a completely unrelated question.
“Are you very short on money?”
Fu Yuhan was stunned.
“Actually…” Wen Yu was rarely hesitant.
##
(advanced chapters available on kofi)
