TWSITAOCP Ch. 19

Boys with short hair usually need to trim it once every half month or a month. Yu Sui’s hair ends were sharp; and when he tilted his head back, they could poke the nape and disappear into the collar. It had already exceeded the standard hair length set by the school’s student appearance regulations. 

But Yu Sui cherished his hair and was unwilling to casually entrust it to an unfamiliar barbershop. The barbershop he was familiar with required taking two buses and crossing two streets, and Yu Sui was too lazy to go.

As the disciplinary committee’s appearance inspection was approaching, Yan Xiu reminded Yu Sui three times but was ignored. He then borrowed a small black hair tie from Yi Tian and pressed Yu Sui down—tying them into a small tuft about the length of a finger.

The little tuft of hair sat at the back of his head, its jet-black color making Yu Sui’s neck look whiter than snow.

Normally, boys of this age would jump to the roof if they were pinned down, but Yu Sui was different. He sat on the table with his legs crossed, looking cocky: “Isn’t it handsome?”

Yan Xiu couldn’t do anything with him and looked at him speechlessly. Liang Wen, who was sitting across from him, clapped his hands loudly and said, “So handsome! Minister, if you tear his clothes open a bit more, he’d be even more handsome!”

Yu Sui immediately glared at the guy, subconsciously touching his ears. Only when he confirmed that it wasn’t red did he retreat back to his seat with relief. He slumped onto the desk, causing the little tuft on his nape to stick up.

Soon, the little tuft was pulled, and Yan Xiu’s voice came from the side: “It’s time for class. Don’t lie down.”

Yu Sui’s scalp tingled, and he quickly swatted Yan Xiu’s hand away and sat up straight.

His interaction with Yan Xiu had become harmonious. During classes and breaks, when Yan Xiu had duty or meetings with the disciplinary department, he would help Yan Xiu to hand in his homework. Sometimes, when they needed to fill in forms, he would grab a pen and quickly fill it out for Yan Xiu. Occasionally, they would eat together, and sometimes Yu Sui wouldn’t have to worry about queuing when following Yan Xiu.

Then, there was WeChat.

The young master had been rejected once. Now even if he liked Yan Xiu very much, he wasn’t willing to lose face by asking again. This matter had been on his mind for a while.

But Yan Xiu rarely touched his phone during school hours, so Yu Sui never found the right opportunity to bring the topic up.

“What did you say to Fu Xiang later?” Yan Xiu asked when he remembered it one day. 

While talking about this, Yu Sui was carrying two basketballs, following behind Yan Xiu to return the equipment.

Every time teams needed to be formed, he and Yan Xiu would end up together nine times out of ten.

Of course, Yu Sui certainly knew this wasn’t some kind of fate—it was completely man-made manipulation, so he pretended not to know. Every time Yan Xiu looked over, he could still perform a whole act of confusion, shock, and “what a coincidence!”

Lost in thought, Yu Sui didn’t catch what Yan Xiu said: “Huh?”

After making that sound, he recalled the words “Fu Xiang” and said, “I didn’t say anything, just used some capitalist power.”

He touched the tip of his nose and said, “Might be hated now.”

The young master’s opening was so tactful that Yan Xiu didn’t know whether he should continue asking. He wasn’t really curious about other people’s affairs—he just happened to remember it.

“There shouldn’t be anything that can’t be said.” Yu Sui walked to his side and lowered his voice, “Fu Xiang didn’t admit it at first because he thought those rubbish couldn’t be expelled.”

Fu Xiang’s family couldn’t offer him any help. Fu Xiang himself had basically relied on his own studying to get to No. 26 High School.

The seven bullies had some money at home, so at least they had enough connections within the school.

Fu Xiang simply couldn’t estimate how far those connections might reach. If the group of seven weren’t expelled from school but only received disciplinary action, they’d undoubtedly become even worse than before.

This group led by Mai Dayong were engaged in such things as collecting protection fees and bullying. Fu Xiang’s money had been stolen and taken by force. Later, when his family member fell ill, the money he earned from part-time jobs wasn’t enough, and it was taken too. He had no choice but to ask Yu Sui to borrow money.

Yu Sui went to tell Fu Xiang that the bullies would definitely be expelled from school. He also bluntly said that as long as the group stayed in school, Fu Xiang would have his money taken more. Although he could lend him money now, there might not be anyone to lend him money in the future, so Fu Xiang agreed.

After returning the equipment, Yu Sui followed Yan Xiu slowly. He glanced in the direction of the canteen, then glanced at Yan Xiu, lowering his eyes to hide his gaze.

Teenagers lack stability. After Yu Sui became familiar with Yan Xiu, that rebellious side of his recently showed signs of being hard to suppress again. 

Coincidentally, exams were approaching. This time, the seating was arranged based on the previous exam rankings. When Yu Sui got the exam number and compared it with Yan Xiu’s, he found that they were in the same examination room this time.

But this time, aside from handing out the exam papers, Yu Sui was hardly ever at his seat.

“Arrive at the exam hall fifteen minutes early. Your homeroom teachers should have made this clear!” Unfortunately, the exam hall happened to be supervised by the Director of Moral Education, who stood blocking the entrance with the exam papers. “Even if they didn’t say it! This isn’t your first exam! You’ve been taking exams for ten years and still don’t know the exam rules?”

Yan Xiu glanced diagonally behind him. Yu Sui, who had entered just before the supervisor, sat upright in his seat, holding a pen—eyes fixed downward as if fully prepared for the exam.

Noticing Yan Xiu’s gaze, Yu Sui glanced over, then touched his nose. Afterwards, his eyes curved and smiled obediently.

The young master was in an excellent mood, smiling at everyone he met, even if that person was his deskmate who was as intimidating as the devil.

As a result, Yan Xiu lifted his finger and touched the corner of his mouth with his finger.

Yu Sui didn’t understand.

Yan Xiu looked toward the door, where the director was still standing there with his hands on his hips, scolding the students.

Young Master Yu was trying hard to be nice and curious, but he might have been quite proud of himself.

Yan Xiu hooked his finger, and Yu Sui moved closer in confusion.

As soon as he got close, Yan Xiu pinched his chin and, like wiping a child’s nose, used a tissue to clean the catsup at the corner of his mouth.

The pressure wasn’t strong, but it left a faint pink mark at the corner of the young master’s mouth.

Yu Sui was stunned.

The moment Yan Xiu pinched his chin, alarm bells went off in Yu Sui’s head—he thought, “It’s over.” When Yan Xiu wiped his mouth, he thought again, “This is bad.”

Students from all around—front, back, left, and right—immediately turned their heads at the commotion.

Yu Sui’s thin skin couldn’t withstand the scrutiny; his cheeks and the tips of his ears flushed pink. And to make matters worse, this bastard even shoved the ketchup-stained tissue into his hand for him to throw away, his face full of disdain that seemed to say, “How could you get ketchup all over your face while sneaking a snack?”

The people around weren’t subtle at all in their stolen glances—their grins stretched to their ears, and they had to cover their mouth with their hands. It wasn’t until the director strode in with his chin held high, followed by a few dejected students, that the commotion finally died down.

Liberal arts exams consumed ink like crazy. After a few exams, a brand new pen may not even contain half the ink. Some students become so inspired during the exam that they waste an entire pen to finish the exam.

Students with overflowing inspiration fall into two types. One type is those who thoroughly memorize textbook knowledge and apply it flexibly. After seeing the questions, they can quickly match the relevant proper nouns in their minds and write them down. Another type is those who remember some proper nouns but essentially improvise their answers on the spot during the exam.

Yu Sui was neither of them. He never filled his answer sheets completely. Instead, he wrote a row of words neatly in the middle of the answer area, aligned perfectly—it actually looked quite pleasing from a distance.

After taking several exams, his arms were still sore, so Yu Sui quickly left the exam room with a pen half full of ink.

“I can’t believe you two—your forum thread’s popularity hasn’t died down since the class division.” Yang Feiwen rested his face on his head, while holding a cigarette in his mouth.

Yu Sui sat with his back to him, carefully picking out the chicken from the rice without saying a word.

He hadn’t violated any rules these past two months and felt unfamiliar with the business, constantly expecting Yan Xiu would pop up from somewhere.

“You’d better put that cigarette out,” Yu Sui warned.

Yang Feiwen didn’t argue with him. He just went in a corner to extinguish it, then put it in a plastic bag and hid it in his pocket.

After Yu Sui finished the last bite, he also threw it into the plastic bag. But instead of pocketing it, he ran down two flights of stairs to throw it in the trash bin.

Sure enough, just as he tossed it away, he heard footsteps downstairs. Booking his arm around the railing, he paused and looked down. After these exams, everyone had to move tables, chairs and books, making the corridor very crowded. A small group of people stood outside the stairs to make way for those moving tables and chairs.

He saw Yan Xiu walk out from among the people who made way, heading towards in his direction. When he reached the bottom, he seemed to sense something and glanced up—his eyes meeting Yu Sui’s clear, dark one directly.

This wasn’t the first time.

Yu Sui thought that this person was either sensitive to disciplinary violations, or it was just like what was said in the fan fiction on their forum, something that only soulmates have, or a one-sided, non-scientifically explainable human radar tracking function.

Yan Xiu didn’t go up either, just stood there watching him from below.

Yu Sui hurried downstairs, glancing at Yan Xiu’s face, before putting both hands on his shoulders and pretending to lower his eyes: “It’s so difficult—I can’t write anything. I was so angry that I ran upstairs to get some fresh air.”

“……” Yan Xiu put his hands in his pockets, looking speechless about Yu Sui’s nonsense.

“Are you here to see me?” Yu Sui asked.

Yan Xiu brushed his hands off: “Lao Gu told everyone to return to class.”

“That means you came looking for me.” Yu Sui still had the pen in his hand. He boldly poked Yan Xiu’s arm and asked in a low voice, “Minister, aren’t you getting a little too attached?”

Yan Xiu: “…”

That was a new verb, almost exposing the young master’s naughty temper when he wasn’t very well behaved.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” Yu Sui had originally wanted to tease him, but now that he remembered the WeChat ID he couldn’t get, he started to feel a little sour. “Look, didn’t you used to find me annoying at first?”

He wanted to follow up with “Now you know how adorable I am, right?”, but such a shameless line was something he couldn’t say to Yan Xiu’s face.

Yan Xiu paused: “I never found you annoying.”

This surprised Yu Sui a little. “You didn’t find me annoying, yet you told me, ‘It’s just a speech, no need to get acquainted’?”

Yan Xiu: “…”

“Okay, it’s all in the past.” Yu Sui blinked, somewhat embarrassed as he lowered his voice: “So does that mean we’re a bit familiar to each other now?”

Yan Xiu wanted to laugh: “Yes.”

Yu Sui nodded, single-handedly uncapped the pen, and swiftly wrote a string of numbers across his palm.

He stretched out his hand, handing it to Yan Xiu: “Since we are so familiar with each other, I will sell you my WeChat account. It’s not cheap, just one yuan.”

Yan Xiu stared at the number for two seconds, and couldn’t help but smile.