Chapter 8

Fang Zhuo hadn’t eaten dinner yet. She wasn’t very hungry, so she just bought a bread from the supermarket and returned to the classroom.

The students, who had been noisy earlier, quieted down when they saw her.

Shen Musi turned around and asked, “Are you okay?”

Fang Zhuo shook her head.

Shen Musi hesitated for a long time, holding a bottle of eight-treasure porridge. He carefully placed it on the corner of Fang Zhuo’s desk. Seeing Fang Zhuo bury her head in her homework, he used his finger to nudge the bottle closer, inch by inch, until it was within her line of sight.

However, when Fang Zhuo’s gaze swept over, he flinched, quietly saying, “Here… here’s some for you, it’s almost expired.”

Even the reason was so similar.

Fang Zhuo turned her face toward her deskmate.

Yan Lie, with an innocent look of an onlooker, shrugged and said, “No need to ask me. The child is grown up, and I allow him to handle his own belongings.”

Shen Musi became furious, “Pah! You only know how to take advantage of me!”

Fang Zhuo reached out and pushed the porridge back, saying, “Thank you, but I didn’t faint because I couldn’t afford food.”

Shen Musi didn’t dare to retort and murmured an “oh.”

Fang Zhuo glanced at the problems and then looked up to add, “My diet may not be very regular, but I think the main reason is lack of sleep, and my brain is exhausted.” A little head thinking about too many things.

Fang Zhuo: “I’m fine now, thank you for your concern.”

Shen Musi’s expression vividly illustrated the meaning of “whatever you say.” After listening to Fang Zhuo’s explanation, he instinctively looked at Yan Lie for his reaction. Yan Lie smiled faintly, and Shen Musi understood, obediently taking the porridge back.

Not long after, Yan Lie received a private message from a friend on his social media account.

Mousse Cake: Why didn’t she want it? She’s so hungry.

Lie Lie: A good kid doesn’t like to take things from others. If you give it to her, she’ll find a way to return it. Don’t send anything in the future.

Mousse Cake: Why? I’m not giving her leftovers.

Lie Lie: It depends on who’s giving it.

Mousse Cake: ??

Mousse Cake: What are you saying? Am I not friendly enough for her?

Mousse Cake: Come on, why aren’t you talking?

Yan Lie smiled, put his phone away, and kicked his foot lightly against Mousse Cake’s chair, signaling him to study and stop slacking off.

Later, the class teacher called Fang Zhuo to the office to ask about her health.

Because the infirmary was poorly equipped and couldn’t detect much, the teacher, combining the feedback from classmates, concluded that it was due to stress and malnutrition. She gave her some advice, reassured her, and let her return to class after seeing her calm and obedient response.

·

The sign-ups for the sports event had started in the past two days, and the physical education committee and other class leaders were encouraging the students to participate actively.

The incident where Fang Zhuo fainted due to labor had made a huge impact on them. Plus, her thin frame made her look like someone who was malnourished, so the committee members didn’t dare to disturb her. They thought of assigning her to the cheerleading squad, so she could rest a bit.

Fang Zhuo wasn’t very interested in the event. She wasn’t particularly enthusiastic about group activities.

At noon, after returning from the cafeteria, she was about to find a quiet place to study vocabulary when the class teacher called her.

She waved from the door and said, “Fang Zhuo, I’ve been looking for you for a while. The security guard said your family is looking for you, hurry up and go see.”

Fang Zhuo’s first reaction was that the teacher had called her parents, and it was Fang Yiming who had come. But as soon as the thought crossed her mind, she immediately dismissed it.

Fang Yiming wouldn’t do something as time-wasting as this. He probably wouldn’t come at all. Even if he did, he’d go straight into the school and leave if he couldn’t find her.

But she didn’t have any other relatives.

Fang Zhuo went to the back of the classroom, poured herself a glass of water, slowly drank it, then got up and went.

It had been sunny for the past few days, and the temperature, which had dropped earlier, suddenly rose again, as if they had traveled back from early autumn to the scorching summer.

Fang Zhuo walked slowly to the security office, peered inside through the window, and saw no one but the security guard.

She explained her purpose to the guard, who pulled out a red bag from under the desk and called out, “You’re here! The food is almost cold!”

Fang Zhuo froze, untied the knot on the plastic bag, and found two lunch boxes inside.

She was somewhat puzzled, thinking someone had ordered takeout for her. Just as she was about to take the lunch boxes out, she heard the guard regretfully say, “The person has been waiting here for a long time. He just left. Here’s the phone number he left for you.”

He handed her a piece of torn white paper with “Happy Birthday, Zhuo Zhuo” written in black ink in the center, followed by a phone number.

Fang Zhuo recognized the handwriting, having seen it not long ago. But because she knew it, it made her feel even more shocked.

Her head buzzed, and she suddenly couldn’t think. The image of Ye Yuncheng’s painful walk flashed through her mind, growing clearer, and she absentmindedly asked, “Who left this? Is he… is he having trouble with his legs?”

The guard chattered on, “Yes! I told him to go in and find you, but he was worried about being seen by your classmates, so he sat on the roadside and waited. It’s so hot today, and he waited for half an hour. When you didn’t come, he left first.”

Fang Zhuo immediately felt the lunch boxes in her hands become heavy, and her chest felt as though it was being pressed down, making it hard to breathe. She gripped the white paper tightly in her hand and asked, “Can I go out and have a look?”

“The person really left…” The guard saw her expression, hesitated, and softened his tone. “You can look at the school gate, but don’t go too far.”

Fang Zhuo exited the school gate and looked around the empty streets, unable to find any traces of where someone might have stayed.

The sunlight shone from the front, casting shadows on the back of the high walls. There was no building outside the school gate to offer shade. One could imagine that Ye Yuncheng had been standing by the roadside, sweating under the sun, only to leave disappointed in the end.

Fang Zhuo walked back with mixed emotions, absent-mindedly thanking the gatekeeper before heading back to the classroom with the food containers.

The lunch break was almost over, and Yan Lie, who had finished marking the test papers from the morning, was resting his head on his desk. When he noticed Fang Zhuo returning, he opened one eye to look at her, seeing that she appeared to be quite worried, so he lifted his head.

He quietly observed for a while and then pointed at the pale pink food container on the desk, asking, “Where did you order takeout from? Haven’t you had lunch yet?”

Fang Zhuo seemed to have just come back to her senses. She raised her hand, pulled out a paper that was almost damp from sweat, and turned to ask him, “Can I borrow your phone?”

“Sure,” Yan Lie readily handed her his phone. “The password is mom’s birthday.”

Fang Zhuo raised her eyebrows, somehow understanding his thought process, and tentatively entered “1001^[1]National Day of the People’s Republic of China.”

It unlocked smoothly.

Well then. What a patriotic youth.

She took the phone and walked to the storage room by the restroom. She made sure there were no teachers nearby and dialed the number on the piece of paper.

The signal was busy, and after several attempts, no one answered.

Fang Zhuo guessed that Ye Yuncheng was probably on his way home now. He had a bit of trouble taking the bus and needed to transfer, which required a walk of more than twenty minutes. The distance to his home from the bus stop wasn’t short either. She wondered if he might encounter any difficulties.

Her mind was filled with various anxious thoughts, scattered and chaotic. After the signal cut off automatically, Fang Zhuo dialed the number again out of habit.

This time, the other side picked up quite quickly.

“Hello.”

When the clear voice sounded, Fang Zhuo felt as though she had been jolted. The tangled mess of thoughts she had just been carrying vanished instantly, and she forgot what she had planned to say.

The person on the other side patiently waited, not speaking. However, she could hear the noise of an advertisement in the background, confirming that he was currently on a bus.

Ye Yuncheng guessed her identity from the long silence and asked, covering the phone, “Is it Fang Zhuo?”

“It’s me,” Fang Zhuo awkwardly explained. “I just returned to the classroom, and when I went to the school gate, you had already left.”

Even through the phone, Ye Yuncheng’s voice was gentle—low, soft, like a timely breeze in the summer: “Oh, right, I thought you might be busy, high school students are quite busy.”

“Actually, it’s not inconvenient,” Fang Zhuo said. “The lunch break is free time.”

Ye Yuncheng replied, “Good.”

Fang Zhuo took a deep breath.

Ye Yuncheng spoke again, this time with a hint of deliberate cheerfulness, saying, “Happy birthday. You’ve grown up so quickly. I haven’t seen you much.”

Fang Zhuo paused for a moment before saying, “…Thank you.”

She found herself unable to remember the last person who had said this to her. Perhaps no one had ever said it. Hearing this unfamiliar wish made her freeze for a moment, not noticing anything wrong.

She had once eagerly awaited the moment she would grow up, thinking that adults naturally had power and courage, allowing them to reclaim the boldness and stubbornness that had been swallowed up.

The more she grew, the more she realized that so-called adult armor is built from scars and lessons. What you want can only be achieved by yourself. Gradually, she had forgotten about it.

When she finally crossed that threshold into adulthood, she had to admit that there was still some slight emotional stir, but it was like a drop of water falling onto a calm lake—her world hadn’t changed much because of it.

It couldn’t even compare to a single sentence from Ye Yuncheng.

Ye Yuncheng continued, “Actually, your birthday is next week, but isn’t next week Mid-Autumn Festival? I thought you’d probably be going home. I won’t have much of a chance to give you a cake, so I brought it to you early.”

Fang Zhuo said, “I’m not going back.”

“Ah…?” Ye Yuncheng asked cautiously, “Then do you have a holiday for the Mid-Autumn Festival?”

Fang Zhuo was a little nervous from his sudden question and said, “Maybe three or four days off?”

“Are you staying at school? Everyone else will go back during the holiday, it’ll be so lonely, why don’t you leave school too?” Ye Yuncheng blurted out in one breath, “Or you can come to uncle’s house?”

After saying this, Ye Yuncheng let out a long breath, his tone of happiness becoming more genuine as he warmly invited, “Come to uncle’s house, the house is a little old, but it’s big and there are many empty rooms.”

Fang Zhuo said, “I won’t be a bother, right?”

“No, no, it won’t be a bother, come!” Ye Yuncheng said with a smile, “I cleaned the room yesterday. Don’t I have a big yard behind my house? I’ve cleaned half of it, and now it’s empty, I don’t even know what to do with it. Do you have any ideas?”

Fang Zhuo said, “Let me think about it.”

“Take your time, think slowly. Okay, okay,” Ye Yuncheng said in a disorganized manner, “Oh, by the way! There’s seafood in the lunchbox, you need to eat it, don’t leave it for too long. And there’s fruit.”

Fang Zhuo calmly replied, “Okay.”

Ye Yuncheng had just started talking, with many things he wanted to say, but before he could organize his thoughts, he heard the sound of an alarm in the background and immediately calmed down.

He asked, “The bell rang, are you about to have class?”

Fang Zhuo said, “It’s the end of lunch break. The class monitors will take attendance.”

Ye Yuncheng immediately said, “Then hurry back.”

“Okay.”

As they were about to hang up, Ye Yuncheng couldn’t help but nag one more time, “RRemember to come home for the holiday.”

Back in the classroom, Fang Zhuo returned the phone to Yan Lie, feeling hot, and wiped the sweat off with a tissue.

Yan Lie stared at her face for a while, then inexplicably said, “Blossoming?”

Fang Zhuo didn’t understand: “Huh?”

“It’s nothing.” Yan Lie smiled, “It’s rare to see you so happy.”

Fang Zhuo didn’t feel like she had shown much happiness, and she touched the corner of her mouth, not smiling. She didn’t know how Yan Lie could tell.

Yan Lie fiddled with his phone and asked, “Who called you?”

Fang Zhuo said, “My uncle.”

“Oh, it’s uncle ah!” 

Yan Lie saved the number in his contacts. 

Fang Zhuo glanced over and saw that his contact name for her uncle was simply “Uncle.” She was momentarily confused, thinking to herself, Isn’t this my uncle?

Author’s Note:

Lei Lei: As members of the same family, why be polite?