CFHE Chapter 44

Fang Jiayuan: “…”

 

For a second, he wished he could become a video player so his face could display ten thousand curse word bullet comments for this show-off to see.

 

But no, during review period, this person was a shining Buddha.

 

He respectfully handed back the notebook: “Thank you for your trouble.”

 

It was indeed troublesome, Wen Yu thought.

 

The reason his notes were concise was because much of the content that could be deduced through his own logic was in his head. To rearrange all this material back into notes, he’d have to write it according to the most mainstream thought process.

 

Some sections would need their content order completely reorganized, and there couldn’t be any gaps. It was almost like taking notes all over again.

 

Wen Yu thought, he was really creating trouble for himself.

 

Though he thought this, he still picked up his pen.

 

Evening self-study was originally time for homework and filling in knowledge gaps, but Wen Yu spent almost the entire evening on this.

 

After class, he packed his bag to go back and saw new messages on his phone.

 

Fourth Brother: Call me back when you’re free.

 

Wen Yu raised an eyebrow and called back after leaving the classroom.

 

Cell phones were prohibited at school, but the darkness provided good cover for his blatant behavior. While calling, Wen Yu walked against the flow of students leaving school to a corridor where no one passed.

 

“Hello, Fourth Brother.” Although it was noisy in the distance, the empty area was relatively quiet. Wen Yu lowered his voice and asked, “What’s up?”

 

“Can’t I call you if there’s nothing wrong?” There was a “ding” sound on the other end—Old Four had probably lit a cigarette. “Come out for drinks.”

 

“…”

 

Wen Yu thought something had happened to Fu Yuhan.

 

He lowered his eyes, lacking interest: “If there’s nothing, I’m hanging up.”

 

“Hey—don’t,” Old Four quickly called him, “what’s wrong with you lately? You’ve turned down invitations several times. Quit drinking? Even if you quit drinking, that won’t work. Today Old Five got dumped, he’s asking the bros to keep him company. You can’t not come.”

 

“…” Wen Yu sighed. “Where?” He paused and added, “I haven’t finished my homework.”

 

Now it was Old Four’s turn to be speechless: “Since when do you worry about not finishing homework?”

 

“I’m a senior now, Fourth Brother.” Wen Yu’s reason was flawless.

 

“Fine, fine, if you want to do homework, do homework. Anyway, it’s at Big Brother’s place, just us few guys.” Old Four said. “The same place as last time, you know!”

 

Last time—

 

His thoughts were instantly pulled back to many days ago, when Wen Yu came out drunk from Big Brother’s bar and picked up a homeless person on the street.

 

Fu Yuhan’s build was clearly on the slender side, but his shoulder width was enough to make his school uniform look filled out.

 

Strangely, he used to just think Fu Yuhan was interesting to tease, but after Yang Fan announced he was taken and the thought “what about Fu Yuhan” suddenly popped into his mind, the idea of “keeping it in the family” took root like a seed in soil, growing rapidly.

 

Wen Yu could still remember the outline of that section of spine that had attracted him to walk over and say hello that day.

 

He unconsciously licked his lips and said softly: “…Got it, I’ll come.”

 

“Come” really meant come immediately. He didn’t even change clothes, hung up the phone, left school, took a taxi, and arrived at the bar entrance.

 

Big Brother was named Chen Feifan. Like his name, he was extraordinary. In his youth, he had been the “nightclub prince” of this area. When he got older and felt he couldn’t achieve nothing, he simply chose a field he was familiar with and opened a bar.

 

He knew how to have fun and understood what direction a bar should take. He ran the bar successfully and reportedly opened branches in other cities too.

 

But as he aged, he gradually lost interest in partying. Recently, he had opened a quiet bar near his main bar, themed around drinking, listening to music, and chatting, occasionally closing it to have private parties with his friends.

 

If tonight was really about going to a proper club, Wen Yu would have definitely declined. Hearing it was here, he reluctantly kept the appointment. When he arrived, the other guys were already there. On a long wooden table, twenty or thirty whiskey glasses were arranged, half of them empty.

 

“Little Seven—”

 

As soon as Wen Yu entered, he saw a figure flying toward him. He nimbly dodged to the left: “Be more dignified.”

 

The one who pounced was supposedly heartbroken Old Five, a gay guy who constantly repeated cycles of “falling in love” and “getting dumped.” He was thin as a sheet of paper, and his pouncing motion looked like floating. He cried while accusing Wen Yu, trying to rush up and hit him: “You don’t love me anymore!”

 

“I never did.” Wen Yu pushed him away with disgust and walked to the table. “Who dumped him this time?”

 

“The guy who hit on you last month.” Old Four said. “After you rejected him that day, he turned around and went after Old Five—I think he just wanted a hookup, who knew Old Five would get emotionally invested.”

 

Old Five cried while wailing: “I’m serious about every relationship!”

 

Wen Yu shook his head.

 

Old Five was often teased by them. He was used to this atmosphere. He found a spot under the light, sat down at the table, opened his bag, put his unfinished notes on the table, and took out his pen.

 

This incongruous behavior quickly drew everyone’s attention. Even Old Five, who had been crying “like a pear blossom in the rain,” stopped his wailing and turned to look at him.

 

“Isn’t that a bit much?” Big Brother Chen Feifan smiled with a cigarette in his mouth. “Coming in school uniform is one thing, but doing homework at my place?”

 

“What can I do if I haven’t finished it,” Wen Yu said calmly while writing, “you guys won’t let me bail.”

 

“Little Seven really is a good student, handsome and reliable.” Old Five said, then was about to cry again. “He just won’t sleep with me.”

 

“Shut up, our Little Seven drinks hard liquor.” Old Three slapped his forehead. “Your sissy ‘sweet wine’ isn’t strong enough.”

 

“Is liking straight guys strong enough? They won’t let you do anything anyway—”

 

“Stop.” Wen Yu suddenly looked up from his notes, interrupting their banter. “Leave the straight guys alone. I… I’ve already changed targets.”

 

“Huh?”

 

This was more explosive than Old Five’s umpteenth breakup. Several people showed interested expressions: “Tell us, what kind did you switch to?”

 

Wen Yu had been pursuing a straight guy for almost two years with no results. This group had a wide age range, and Wen Yu was the youngest. Although he always went clubbing with them, he never responded to any advances, staying pure as if he were just an emotionless drinking machine.

 

In nightclubs, physical relationships were much more common than true love, and feelings rarely lasted long. They had advised Wen Yu several times not to hang himself on a straight guy.

 

At that time, Wen Yu only answered with two words: “Fun.”

 

This time Wen Yu also only answered with two words—

 

He tilted his head slightly in thought, curved his lips, and borrowing Third Brother’s words, said: “‘Hard liquor.'”

 

Smells quite fragrant, tastes super spicy, and occasionally causes stomach pain.

 

“Come on, how can two words sum it up?” Third Brother said. “Be more specific. Can’t you satisfy the masses’ gossipy hearts and let us see what kind of person could capture our heartthrob Little Seven’s heart?—What?”

 

As he was speaking, he was suddenly elbowed in the waist by Old Four sitting beside him. Third Brother touched where he was hit with an innocent expression.

 

Old Four’s expression was strange: “Stop asking. Isn’t today’s protagonist our Old Five?”

 

The more he said this, the more others wanted to ask. Old Five even said he’d stop crying to hear Wen Yu’s gossip first.

 

Wen Yu looked up toward Fourth Brother, put down his pen, picked up his wine glass, and chuckled: “Let’s talk when I successfully pursue them. Aren’t we here to comfort Wu Cheng today? I’ll drink first.”

 

The amber whiskey was drained in one gulp. After drinking, he picked up his pen again and lowered his head to write.

 

At a friends’ gathering, aside from teasing him about the unusual behavior of doing homework at a bar, no one really stopped him from writing. Wen Yu listened to Old Five cry while organizing his work. Before he knew it, he had finished one math notebook, expanding over 20 pages of content to more than double.

 

Then he took out another notebook and an empty booklet and started organizing again.

 

Afterward, even Wen Yu himself thought this was very bizarre and boring.

 

But he really did focus on organizing for two days and nights—

 

Early Thursday morning, Fu Yuhan arrived at school early wearing a mask.

 

During his absence, the job of opening the classroom had fallen to class monitor Ge Ran. She arrived at 6:30, and when she pushed the door, she found it was already open.

 

“Fu Yuhan?” She pushed the door and entered, looking toward the back of the classroom. “Are you better now?”

 

“Mm?” Fu Yuhan was looking at something and looked up when he heard her, nodding blankly. “Mm, the fever broke, much better.”

 

“That’s good.” Ge Ran smiled and sat at her seat.

 

“By the way, class monitor.” Fu Yuhan suddenly remembered. “Did Wen Yu tell you I wanted to borrow notes?”

 

“…Huh?” Ge Ran turned around in confusion.

 

Fu Yuhan blinked: “…Never mind, it’s nothing.”

 

Fu Yuhan suddenly realized belatedly that he had made a miscalculation—Wen Yu had always been merciless in setting him up, so how had he unconsciously assumed he could entrust things to Wen Yu after being helped a few times?

 

“What notes are you talking about? Class notes?” Ge Ran said. “Then you can just ask Wen Yu directly.”

 

Fu Yuhan: “?”

 

“Oh right, you weren’t here these past two days so you might not know.” Ge Ran said. “Fang Jiayuan and the others borrowed notes from Wen Yu, but most people couldn’t understand his notes. Later Wen Yu said he’d help everyone rewrite a comprehensible version—I have to say, he’s quite nice.”

 

Fu Yuhan was stunned: “…But I just wanted error corrections for the test papers from these past few days.”

 

“Oh that… let me look for them.” Ge Ran lowered her head to search through her drawer, muttering, “But mine probably aren’t as good as Wen Yu’s.”

 

“They’re all the same. As long as they’re better than mine.”

 

Fu Yuhan had been absent from school for three days, missing dozens of test papers he hadn’t heard explained.

 

When Wen Yu arrived at school, he saw their two connected desks covered in a sea of white papers, literally becoming an ocean of test papers.

 

In the middle of this ocean, Fu Yuhan, who had been sick for several days, was earnestly comparing a test paper while writing his own answers.

 

He looked to be in good spirits, completely unlike the weak appearance when Wen Yu had visited him a few days ago.

 

Good that his illness was better.

 

Wen Yu smiled and was about to go over to greet him, but his smile was only half-formed when his gaze caught the elegant handwriting on the test paper above.

 

Wen Yu: “…”

 

Did some people not know their desk mate was first in grade?

 

What was the point of going the long way around?

 

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