05

“I never promised to help you write the report.”

Being stared at up close, that inexplicable sense of guilt emerged again. An Yi gripped the handlebars tightly and said, “Get up, I have to go.”

Yan Chen didn’t move, his gaze drifted from An Yi’s fair face to the cup cakes.

The cream on the cup cakes was decorated with pink and purple, with a strawberry as a garnish, delicate and sweet, tied with a bow on the transparent packaging.

“Um, do you want to eat?” An Yi hesitated. Could it be that after boldly asking him to write the report, he now had his eyes on his cup cakes? The next step would probably be asking for money.

As expected, Yan Chen reached out his hand.

An Yi’s face changed slightly, mixed with a hint of nervousness. He reluctantly handed over the cup cakes.

The cup cakes weren’t big, and Yan Chen quickly finished one in two or three bites. When he opened the packaging of the second one, An Yi exclaimed, and Yan Chen looked over.

“You’re so hungry,” An Yi forced a smile. “Then go ahead and eat.” He could always buy more later.

Yan Chen asked, “For your girlfriend?”

Unable to comprehend such a leap of logic, but An Yi still answered truthfully, “For my little sister.”

“Oh,” Yan Chen nodded meaningfully. “Girlfriends start from little sisters.”

It was simply absurd reasoning. An Yi emphasized, “She’s my actual sister, and she’s only four years old.”

In the time it took for these two sentences, Yan Chen had already finished the remaining one, wiping off the cream at the corner of his mouth, he looked at An Yi again. “So, you don’t have a girlfriend?”

Never deviating from the topic of girlfriends, An Yi looked at the enticing face in front of him and said seriously, “Still in school, can’t be in a relationship.”

Yan Chen lightly scoffed but didn’t say anything, instead, he stood up from the back seat.

The shared bike tilted to one side, and An Yi caught it in time. When he looked again, Yan Chen had already walked away without turning back, hands in his pockets.

An Yi breathed a sigh of relief, but that inexplicable sense of pressure in his heart still lingered.

06

On Monday, the school held a mid-term commendation assembly, and all students gathered on the playground.

The top ten students in each grade had to go on stage to receive their awards. As An Yi waited on the side of the stage to be called, Lin Yuming patted his shoulder. “Those wearing the freshman uniforms, were they the ones who broke into the broadcasting station last Friday? I heard they’re going to read out the disciplinary reports later.”

Following his pointed direction, An Yi spotted Yan Chen in the crowd.

Standing casually, his face still cold and indifferent, completely unlike someone who was about to admit his wrongdoing. The others seemed quite excited, standing together chatting and laughing. Even when the passing class teacher gave them a stern look, they didn’t seem to care.

“They seem more like they’re here to receive awards,” Lin Yuming sighed. “They’ve got a really good attitude.”

“Yeah, they do,” An Yi agreed.

During the award ceremony for the seniors, when An Yi heard the school leaders shift the focus to last week’s incident, when he returned to his class’s line-up, the group of troublemakers was already lined up on stage, their expressions much more serious. The tall figure at the end still looked aloof, as if it had nothing to do with him.

Qi Wenxing was the first to go on stage, with a fluctuating tone. He couldn’t help but amuse himself after reading just a hundred words.

The whole assembly burst into laughter.

Qin Muye’s tone was normal, but the content of the report was sharp, apologizing on the surface but constantly ridiculing the disgusting things done by the teacher involved. Midway through, he was muted by the school and persuaded to leave.

Yan Chen was the last one.

An Yi looked up and saw him take out a piece of paper from his uniform pocket, unfold it, and unfold it again. It was as big as an A3 paper, as big as an exam paper. The paper was turned over and folded into A4 size, and then the clear voice of a male student came through the loudspeaker.

“The ‘Doctrine of the Mean’ says: ‘Be cautious in your thoughts, discerning in your judgments, and sincere in your actions.’ In the midst of turmoil, how should one clarify right from wrong and discern between them…”

“…”

“Huh, this guy seems to be quite thoughtful,” Lin Yuming rubbed his chin. “But why does it sound familiar? Did he copy it from a collection of essays?”

An Yi was stunned, and it took him a while to say, “He did copy it.”

“Oh my god!” Lin Yuming slapped his thigh, suddenly remembering. “Isn’t this your mid-term essay?!” Last week, the head teacher of the senior year, as usual, printed several high-scoring essays into a booklet and distributed them to each class for reading, with one copy per senior student.

An Yi didn’t want to claim it as his own.

But when the disciplinary reports were read out, the senior year erupted, and An Yi himself was petrified.

07

The assembly ended, and the students carried their chairs back to their respective classrooms.

On the way, An Yi was asked at least a dozen times about his relationship with the arrogant guy from freshman year.

An Yi couldn’t deny it, feeling depressed as he returned to the classroom. Before he could even warm his seat, the classroom door was knocked twice. After a brief moment of silence, the classroom erupted.

The person who had just read a persuasive essay on the podium stood at the door with his arms crossed, nodding his chin towards An Yi, much like the class teacher. “Come out.”

An Yi: “…”

Seeing his somewhat unfriendly expression, Lin Yuming whispered, “Don’t go, what if he’s looking for trouble with you?”

An Yi was afraid, but he was even more afraid that Yan Chen would become impatient and burst into the classroom to drag him out – although they had only met a few times, An Yi was convinced that this was something Yan Chen was capable of, after all, this was the person who would even snatch a child’s cake and then walk away without a care in the world.

“I won’t go far,” An Yi didn’t know that his expression at the moment seemed somewhat resigned to fate, comforting himself, “This is at school, so nothing should happen.”

As he walked out of the classroom, curious gazes from his classmates could burn a hole in his back. An Yi quickened his pace, not even having the chance to ask Yan Chen’s purpose for coming. Yan Chen just lifted his foot and headed towards the end of the corridor.

An Yi could only hurry to catch up.

The classroom for seniors was on the top floor, with stairs leading up to the rooftop. The rooftop door was usually locked, but today it was open. A gentle breeze blew in through the crack in the door, and An Yi looked up to see the slender figure of the young man standing in the light, somewhat resembling a character from a comic book.

“Do you have something to tell me?” An Yi stopped in the middle of the stairs, not continuing upwards.

Yan Chen turned around, looking down at him from a high vantage point with lowered eyes. “Are you afraid of me?”

How could one admit to such a thing? An Yi clenched the hem of his uniform, repeating his question, “Do you have something to say?”

Yan Chen looked at him for a few seconds, then opened the door to the rooftop wider. “Come over, I won’t push you off.”

“…I didn’t mean that,” An Yi could only follow him up.

This was his first time on the rooftop. With the autumn breeze on his face and the wide open view, it was a good place to relax and enjoy the scenery.

An Yi stood by the chest-high railing of the rooftop, trying to locate the direction of his home, when suddenly a hand reached out in front of him, index finger hooked on a bow made of ribbon, below which were familiar transparent packaging boxes containing four outrageously girly cupcakes.

“Ah…” An Yi widened his eyes, looking at the owner of the hand. “This is?”

“Two pieces are for your sister,” Yan Chen said, “The other two are for you.”