OS - 30

There were a total of 17 people in this WeChat group. Yanci had been added by a friend last month. They occasionally played basketball together. They were all boys, who would privately share lewd jokes and tease each other. Usually, it was nothing.

Yanci had hardly ever spoken in the group and rarely checked it. He had only arranged to play basketball once. He had clicked into it on his way upstairs just now because there were suddenly many new messages in the group.

Cheng Yuzhou handed his phone back to him. “Who sent this photo?”

“Someone from the sports class.”

“Do you know him?”

“He’s in the classroom downstairs from ours.”

Yanci went downstairs first, walked through the hallway, and after seeing Wang Chuang sitting in the back row of the sports class through the window, he kicked open the back door of the classroom.

The boy with the buzz cut was happily looking at his phone. Cheng Yuzhou picked up the basketball behind the door and accurately slammed it into Wang Chuang’s head. The basketball bounced back, and Cheng Yuzhou kicked it hard again, knocking over the stool Wang Chuang was sitting on.

Wang Chuang didn’t even see who kicked the door before he fell onto the floor.

He was at a disadvantage from the start and didn’t get up again afterward.

There were other people in the classroom, and in this situation, they would naturally protect their own classmates. Some boys ran out the front door to call for help.

Students from the neighboring class came out to see the commotion. Gao Rui also ran to the sports class after hearing Cheng Yuzhou’s name. Although she had never seen Yanci fight, she knew he was difficult to get along with, especially his personality had become even more gloomy after the incident at his home.

What surprised her was Cheng Yuzhou.

Before knowing him, she had only learned about him through Cheng Wanyue: he could play guitar, had been in a band, loved basketball, and was always on the school team before transferring. He was good at science, especially physics and math, and had won awards in provincial competitions. After getting to know him, she found that he had more than just these external accolades; his appearance was probably his most ordinary good quality.

Because she had a good relationship with Cheng Wanyue, she often had the chance to see him. He was really good to Cheng Wanyue.

Most of the time, he was gentle. While direct in refusing girls, he would also verbally save face for them, not embarrassing them in public. So, she never thought he would have such a violent and brutal side. He didn’t show much emotion on his face, but he struck hard, even more recklessly than Yanci. As soon as he was pulled away, he picked up a broken stool leg and swung it at Wang Chuang’s back again.

Gao Rui knew Wang Chuang and also disliked this boy. He was very lecherous, often privately commenting on who had long legs, who had big breasts, and who had a slender waist.

Sports students were strong, but Wang Chuang had no room to fight back.

Boys fighting in school wasn’t uncommon, but class was in fifteen minutes, and if it escalated, it would be very troublesome. She wanted to stop Cheng Yuzhou, but as soon as she touched his arm, she was violently thrown off. Fortunately, her friend caught her, otherwise, she would have fallen very badly. The people around gasped when they saw her almost fall. She was well-liked, and everyone was concerned about her, but he didn’t even glance at her.

If Cheng Yanqing and Qing Hang hadn’t run upstairs to stop the two of them, it’s hard to say how serious it would have gotten.

“Let’s talk properly, don’t be impulsive.”

“Alright, let’s talk properly,” Cheng Yuzhou picked up Wang Chuang’s phone, deleted the photos from his album, and checked all the cloud drive backups before throwing it on the desk. “You deal with this group yourself. You can keep it; it’ll provide me with evidence for reporting to the police. It’ll be even better if you and the other 15 people in the group still have these two photos on any of your social media platforms and electronic devices. A bit of jail time should better teach you all that whether you’re studying academics or sports, you need to learn how to be a decent human being first.”

Although Wang Chuang lacked confidence, he was angry from being beaten. He turned his back and cursed, “F*** his mother.”

Yanci, who hadn’t walked far, turned around and kicked him in the back.

The tables were knocked askew, making a harsh sound, and the books on them fell to the floor.

“Stop fighting,” Cheng Yanqing quickly pushed Yanci out of the classroom.

Cheng Yanqing still hadn’t figured out what happened. He just found it baffling that the two people who were almost fighting in class two days ago suddenly ganged up to beat someone up today.

Are these fake rivals or true brothers?

________________________________________

After Cheng Yuzhou went downstairs, Zhou Yu fell asleep. When she woke up, seeing the can of Want Want milk on her desk, she realized it wasn’t a dream.

Fortunately, boys’ and girls’ school uniform jackets were the same, just his size was larger, so wearing it wouldn’t attract attention.

Zhou Yu folded the school uniform, planning to return it to Cheng Yuzhou before class.

He entered the classroom from the back door just as class was about to start. Zhou Yu turned her head to look back. He had washed his face, and his short hair was wet.

Hadn’t he wiped his face with a wet wipe before going downstairs? Why did he wash it again?

Washing one’s hair and face with cold water after sunset in this season could easily lead to a cold.

Before Zhou Yu could look away, another person entered from the back door. Yanci was similar to him, but wasn’t wearing his school uniform, and the wet stains on his light-colored clothes were more noticeable.

Cheng Yanqing was the last to return. He was normal, but arriving in the classroom later than the teacher still counted as being late.

Ten minutes into class, Li Zhen appeared at the door of the classroom. He apologized to the English teacher, who was explaining a problem. “Teacher Chen, I’m sorry to interrupt you for a minute, but I need two students for something.”

Teacher Chen smiled. “It’s alright.”

“Cheng Yuzhou, Yanci, you two come out,” Li Zhen walked out two steps, then turned back. “And Cheng Yanqing.”

Cheng Yanqing followed them to the office. The sports class homeroom teacher was also there, and Wang Chuang, with a bruised and swollen face, stood with his head down, hands behind his back.

Li Zhen tapped the table. “You two, tell me, what happened?”

Cheng Yuzhou looked out the window, and Yanci remained silent.

Li Zhen helplessly looked at Cheng Yanqing, who looked even more helpless.

“Teacher Li, this time I was breaking up a fight. I didn’t even have time to ask before class started. I don’t know anything. You won’t get any useful information from me.”

Li Zhen said, “Then you can go over there and write your self-reflection. Two thousand words. It’s okay if you can’t write it now; I’ll stay with you three later while you write.”

Cheng Yanqing, “...”

Speechless!

Qing Hang was also involved, so why was he the only one who had to write a self-reflection with these two for no reason?

Cheng Yanqing moved a chair to the office desk to write his self-reflection. He was very familiar with this task. Li Zhen looked at Cheng Yuzhou, then at Yanci, and repeated what Wang Chuang had just said. Wang Chuang only said that he was eating instant noodles in the classroom when these two suddenly rushed in, and he didn’t know why.

“There must be a reason, right? I don’t believe you two would fight with a classmate for no reason.”

Wang Chuang’s homeroom teacher coughed twice in dissatisfaction after hearing this. Li Zhen explained, “Teacher Sun, please don’t misunderstand. I’m not biased towards my own students. They both have good character and usually get along well with their classmates. Of course, such a bad incident needs to be taken seriously, and student Wang Chuang was also injured. I definitely need to get to the bottom of it.”

After the second evening self-study class, they still hadn’t returned. Zhou Yu quietly asked Qing Hang, “What happened to them?”

Qing Hang didn’t even lift his head. “It might be something about their studies.”

“Teacher Li’s expression was very serious.”

“Then it must be that Cheng Yanqing’s classroom test score last week was too bad, and Teacher Li wants Cheng Yuzhou and Yanci to help him improve. This matter is indeed very troublesome; none of the three are easy to talk to.”

Zhou Yu was half-convinced. She waited until school was dismissed, but the desk near the back door was still empty.

The academic building had a regulated lights-out time, so she had to go downstairs first.

Cheng Yanqing had already finished copying his two-thousand-word self-reflection. Cheng Yuzhou and Yanci still had blank papers in front of them. Li Zhen told them to continue writing in the office tomorrow afternoon.

Neither of them returned to the classroom. At the school gate, Cheng Yuzhou answered a phone call, and Yanci left first.

“I’ll make a copy of this month’s exam paper and mail it to you, along with some review materials,” Qin Yiming said, hearing the voice on the other end of the phone. “Who were you just talking to?”

Cheng Yuzhou said indifferently, “My deskmate.”

“Tsk tsk,” Qin Yiming chuckled. “Please have some self-awareness and don’t be so blatant. You’re like a wild card, ‘Cheng Yaojin’, blocking someone else’s path to happiness. It’s one thing to be deskmates at school, but are you going home together after school too?”

Cheng Yuzhou’s expression worsened. “I’m hanging up.”

Qin Yiming: “I haven’t finished talking.”

“Nothing to talk about with you,” Cheng Yuzhou hung up the phone and stood at the intersection, watching Zhou Yu walk out from a distance. She was already the last one out, and after a few steps, she looked back, still not noticing him.

She didn’t use WeChat, so she probably didn’t know about the photos.

Cheng Yuzhou remembered those vulgar and abusive words and was very glad she didn’t use WeChat.

“Student, if you don’t watch where you’re going, you’re going to hit the utility pole.”

Zhou Yu was startled. After seeing the person next to the streetlight, she breathed a sigh of relief and walked closer to him. “When did you come out?”

“Ten minutes ago,” Cheng Yuzhou, empty-handed, leaned against the streetlight. The tip of his left foot lightly tapped the ground. He stared at her unblinkingly. “You were looking towards the academic building just now. What were you looking at?”

Zhou Yu turned her head, avoiding his gaze. “Nothing.”

“What is ‘nothing’ if you’re looking at something?”

“I said it’s nothing,” she seemed to be angry from embarrassment, glaring at him.

Cheng Yuzhou suppressed a smile, then his peripheral vision suddenly caught sight of Yanci across the road.

Yanci didn’t have his key and had turned back to walk into the school.

Before Zhou Yu could turn around, she was pulled into the alley. The sudden force caused her to lose her balance. When she regained her composure, her hand was still gripping Cheng Yuzhou’s clothes.

The light in the alley was dim. She thought her subtle backward step was well-hidden, but in such a narrow alley, two people couldn’t create much distance between them. When she was pulled in, her forehead had already bumped into his chin, and moreover, his hand was still gripping her wrist.

Boys of this age didn’t wear many layers, but their bodies were always warm.

This was different from that time by the basketball court when they got the school uniforms.

He didn’t slide his hand down; he just held her wrist. The force wasn’t as light as last time either. His thumb pressed on the raised bone joint where the radial artery was, allowing him to feel her throbbing pulse. So, the frequency of her heartbeat was transmitting a signal to him through her pulse.

Zhou Yu realized she had to say something to break the ambiguous atmosphere, otherwise, those inappropriate thoughts in her mind would surely be betrayed by her heartbeat.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” his voice was low. “It’s just... I occasionally want to do something bad.”