In the old teaching building, a classroom long abandoned was now used as a storeroom, with desks and chairs scattered haphazardly everywhere.
The moment the door opened, a foul, musty smell hit them.
Cobwebs filled the corners of the walls, and dust lay thick.
"Tsk, Ci, he's here."
Three tall men sat on the desks. They were the ones who had picked a fight with Song Yu on the first day of school. The one in the black T-shirt, with a buzz cut and three rows of earrings, was called Jiang Xiu.
Wang Ci had been playing on his phone. Hearing this, he put it down and turned around with a slouch.
He had a gloomy face, and a smile of certain victory lingered between his brows, sinister and dark. "Oh, the school heartthrob's here."
He said "school heartthrob" with extreme suggestiveness, his gaze practically glued to Xie Sui.
Xie Sui entered and even politely closed the door behind him, smiling. "Mm, sorry for the wait."
His abnormal reaction left the others in the classroom bewildered.
Wang Ci narrowed his eyes and stood. "You know why I called you here."
Xie Sui's expression remained unchanged. He smiled. "Tell me. I'm listening."
Wang Ci studied him for a while, then said suggestively, "Xie Sui, I actually quite like you."
Xie Sui was composed and elegant. "Thank you."
Wang Ci stared at him in silence.
Jiang Xiu had already stepped aside and started recording with his phone.
Having hung around Wang Ci for so long, how could they not know what he was thinking? Once they recorded it, Xie Sui would lose every shred of dignity tonight.
With leverage over him, they could bully him however they wanted from now on.
Who would have thought?
Jiang Xiu adjusted the angle, the corners of his mouth lifting. Jingcheng No. 1 High School's seemingly unattainable ice-cold heartthrob was so easily controlled behind closed doors. No, he had to share something this fun with someone.
Wang Ci stepped forward. "I knew you'd come if I took that photo. I couldn't be bothered going to school these past few days, and I was bored at home, so I looked into your background."
Leaning close to Xie Sui, he said quietly, "I heard your mom was a whore?"
He laughed. "No wonder you're so seductive too. So damn enticing."
Listening to him, Xie Sui lowered his eyes, his expression still indifferent, his features flawless, his bearing cool and ascetic.
Wang Ci felt heat rush to his head. "You should know your grandma's getting old. Any little accident could kill her. I'm not even angry about you siding with Song Yu against me last time. He's just some poor relation the Meng Family can't parade in public, a dog throwing his weight around on someone else's backing. Killing him would be pretty easy."
He reached out, about to touch Xie Sui's face, his smile utterly greasy. "If you want your deskmate and grandma safe, that's fine. Let me play with you for a month, and I'll-"
Wang Ci couldn't finish. His eyes widened.
A fruit knife pierced his hand.
A faint smile lingered at Xie Sui's lips, exceptionally cold, his eyes icy.
His fingers were slender, and he pulled the knife out with a clean, effortless motion.
"Aaaaaah-!"
A moment later, Wang Ci's screams filled the classroom.
Xie Sui tossed the knife aside, grabbed a nearby desk, and struck the screaming Wang Ci over the head, knocking him to the floor.
Clutching his hand, Wang Ci's eyes nearly bulged from their sockets, but the pain muddled his senses. He rolled on the floor, his words broken.
"Xie Sui, you-you have a death wish."
Xie Sui said flatly, "You should be glad I don't have a gun right now."
It had all happened too quickly for the others to react.
But Xie Sui had already strode forward, snatched Jiang Xiu's phone, and pressed pause. He smiled, his voice casual, yet enough to make their scalps prickle. "That's enough recording."
Jiang Xiu was stunned. "You..."
Xie Sui had intended to send himself the video as a backup, but when he tapped into it, he unexpectedly found Jiang Xiu's text conversation with Song Yu.
He knew Song Yu's phone number by heart. There was no mistaking it.
Jiang Xiu had taken several photos of him and Wang Ci from behind. From that angle, Wang Ci looked ill-intentioned, and he looked about to be bullied.
The text was full of malice too.
[See that? That's what happens when you offend Ci.]
Xie Sui's finger paused. After a while, he chuckled quietly and tossed the phone to Jiang Xiu. "You actually did something good."
On the rooftop of the Book Mountain Building.
Gao Feng flew into a humiliated rage. "You're fucking taking advantage of me!"
After saying it himself, Song Yu froze too. Who wanted to be his husband?
"Could you stop running your mouth?"
A math paper, an English paper, and a diary entry were all still waiting for him.
Gao Feng had been waiting for this chance to show off. How could he let this fight end so easily? He rolled his wrists. "What's the rush? I've been in so many fights, but this is my first with so many spectators. With all those people packed into the stairwell watching, we can't just half-ass it. Since you brought people, and I brought people too, how about we start politely? No knives or sticks or other weapons. Just bare fists. How's that?"
Song Yu glanced around and scoffed. "I remember coming up here to be your dad." He stepped forward. "I think this ends once you call me Dad."
Gao Feng was furious at his dismissive attitude. He said viciously, "In your dreams!"
Song Yu said, "Oh, want to bet?"
Gao Feng's eyes widened.
Song Yu had already walked up. There were no flashy moves; he simply reached out and grabbed his collar. Poor Gao Feng, a burly man, was yanked forward, clothes and all, before he could react. His collar strangled his neck, making breathing extremely difficult. Gao Feng's face flushed red, his eyes wide. "You-!"
He reached up to pry Song Yu's fingers away, but Song Yu was astonishingly strong, seemingly impossible to budge.
Remembering what had happened on the basketball court last time, Gao Feng finally realized that hadn't been luck. Fear crept into his eyes. "What are you doing?"
Holding his clothes, Song Yu dragged him forward.
Everyone else on the rooftop watched, dumbfounded, but this had been a one-on-one fight between the two from the start.
Gao Feng's lackeys tried to help, but Ma Xiaoding stopped them-
When their Brother Yu was showing off, everyone irrelevant could stand back.
Ma Xiaoding said, "What's the rush, little bro? Let me show you a real school tyrant."
The Book Mountain Building's rooftop had a railing, but it wasn't high. Afraid of accidents, the school had always strictly forbidden students from coming up, but it couldn't stop lively students their age from treating it as a romantic getaway.
Some lumber left over from earlier construction lay piled in a corner of the rooftop, never cleared away.
Dragging Gao Feng, Song Yu jumped onto the planks and looked down at him with a chilly smile. "You love showing off that much?"
Gao Feng glared at him. With his airway constricted, he couldn't do anything else.
Across from the Book Mountain Building stood the Cultivating Virtue Building, where a row of spectators lined the sixth-floor corridor.
They raised their phones, pointing their cameras this way, equally baffled by the scene.
Song Yu hauled Gao Feng onto the planks too. The planks stood slightly higher than the railing. Looking down from there meant facing a six-story drop, a thrill enough to make anyone's vision go black.
Gao Feng's legs nearly gave out.
Song Yu was set on teaching this brat a lesson today. Patting his shoulder, he pointed across. "See those spectators? Their phones are all aimed at you. Don't you like showing off? Come on, say hi."
Everyone in the Cultivating Virtue Building: "..."
They wanted to laugh, but looking at Gao Feng's deathly pale face, they couldn't. He was so fucking miserable.
How could he possibly say hi!
Having "high" in his surname didn't mean Gao Feng wasn't afraid of heights!
Actually, if he had paid closer attention, he would have noticed that Song Yu never quite dared look down himself. He stood very steadily, only his mouth begging for a beating. "Come on, buddy. Smile for the camera."
Gao Feng was beside himself with rage. "Song Yu!!"
He wanted to hit back, but the space was too small and dangerous, and there were too many things to worry about. He didn't dare make any large movements.
The result was that his resistance accomplished nothing. Song Yu even tugged his collar forward, leaving his face directly over the drop. At that first glimpse, Gao Feng's chest tightened, his breath shortened, and he nearly died of fright.
Song Yu scoffed. "You specifically asked me to fight here. I thought you liked high ground."
Gao Feng was scared out of his wits. "I was wrong, I was wrong! Aaaaah! Don't let go, you bastard! Don't let go!"
Song Yu gave him an ambiguous smile. "Do I need to remind you what you should be calling me now?"
The sensation of his life hanging by a thread made his scalp prickle.
Gao Feng closed his eyes and yelled, "Dad, Dad, Dad, Dad!"
Everyone on the rooftop gaped wide enough to fit a duck egg in their mouths. Screams rang out from the Cultivating Virtue Building, flashes lighting up in waves.
Song Yu jumped back, hauling the nearly terrified-out-of-his-soul Gao Feng with him.
He had wanted to finish quickly anyway, and this was the fastest method. He opened his phone to check the time, only to find a text from a stranger.
Generally, messages from strangers on his phone were never good news.
He tapped it open. Sure enough.
Two photos, both of Wang Ci and Xie Sui.
In the first, Wang Ci sat in a chair with his legs crossed, while Xie Sui had his head lowered, looking as though he was enduring a great deal.
In the second, Wang Ci reached out to touch Xie Sui, blocking his expression.
But Song Yu was already about to explode with anger from his own imagination!
His deskmate!
His deskmate, kind and gentle to the bone, who never fought with anyone!
Was being humiliated by that fucking idiot Wang Ci right now!
Swearing, Song Yu headed straight downstairs.
But unexpectedly, Gao Feng, who had just been playing the son, turned on him the moment he recovered.
Having embarrassed himself before the whole school, he was ashamed and furious. He lunged forward and wrapped his arms around Song Yu's legs, trying to drag him to the ground for a fight.
"I'm not fucking done with you today!"
"Get lost."
Song Yu had no time for him now and kicked him away without mercy.
Gao Feng clutched his stomach, rolling on the ground, and roared at his lackeys, "What are you standing around for! Avenge me! Are we really fucking letting him leave that easily today?"
They rushed up one after another, but Song Yu's face was livid, and he never even looked back. His movements as he dealt with them were ruthless and cool, without the slightest hesitation. In his white shirt and black trousers, he finished the whole thing without even messing up his hair.
The girls in the stairwell screamed, but this handsome guy who had fought ten alone had no time for them. Taking the stairs two at a time, he hurried down.
The [Final Battle Atop Book Mountain] thread stirred up another frenzy.
[...Sorry, Big K nearly dropped his phone just now. Let me recap what happened. Song Yu grabbed Gao Feng, Gao Feng shouted Dad, then Gao Feng refused to accept it and challenged Song Yu, Gao Feng got beaten up, Gao Feng's lackeys couldn't stand watching and ganged up on Song Yu, then Gao Feng's lackeys got beaten up too.]
Replies.
[????]
[...Am I fucking blind? So that weakling Song Yu is actually a badass?]
[Aaaaah, I can testify! And he admitted it, he admitted he's Brother Yu!]
[He's gone now, even the way he leaves is so hot, I'm so happy, sob sob sob.]
[Am I the only one thinking about the people offering their virginity?]
The thread's tone was cut short by one reply's desperate roar!
[Stop screaming and sobbing, everyone at the Book Mountain Building fucking run-the dean's heading over!]
The dean of Jingcheng No. 1 High School had always been known as the Extermination Grandmaster. Cold and merciless, if he caught you, there was no escaping a "speech" beneath the national flag. Of course, the worst part was that he summoned your parents to school over the slightest mistake. If your parents weren't local, he could spend three hours on a single phone call.
The girls in the Book Mountain Building all sucked in a breath, put away their phones, and hurried downstairs.
But the dean was utterly ruthless. With a key and a lock, he locked the main entrance outright. Holding a megaphone, he roared from below.
"You little brats upstairs! I've locked the iron gate! None of you are getting away!"
"Not going home on Friday? Hanging around fighting instead? Hah, call your parents and tell them to come redeem you. I'll release you one by one as they arrive!"
Everyone in the building: "..."
Sob, sob, sob.
Song Yu had reached the second floor when the dean arrived. His voice was so loud that every word came through clearly. Hearing him mention parents gave Song Yu a headache. He furrowed his brows. What the hell was all this?
Several girls were crowded into the same stairwell. Seeing how irritated he was, one stammered, "Y-Y-Y-Yuyu, if you're in a hurry, you can jump out the window of the classroom on the far left."
His biggest problem solved, Song Yu turned to look at the girl and smiled happily. "Thanks."
He was good-looking, a clean-cut, bright, spirited youth. When he smiled, stars seemed to fall into his eyes, lighting up even the cramped, dark stairwell.
"N-no need to thank me."
The girls flushed, desperately suppressing their delight.
They followed him out, standing in the second-floor corridor and leaning halfway over.
They watched the boy leap from the window, his movements fluid, cool and handsome.
"Aaaaaah!"
But their screams were accompanied by the dean's furious roar through his megaphone.
"You jumping out the window over there, do you think I'm blind?! You have absolutely no respect for me! What class are you in! Give me your name!"
Song Yu had already landed on the lawn. Ignoring the dean's megaphone, he ran south, following his vague memory of that building.
The dean flew into a rage. "You're finished! If I don't catch you today, my surname isn't Tian!"
Young and full of vigor, with long legs, Song Yu soon left him behind.
At last, he spotted the teaching building.
He had taken a shortcut that didn't lead to the main entrance, but it was enough. The abandoned classroom was on the ground floor, with a window facing him.
Beside it was a wall covered in ivy.
Frantic, Song Yu threw caution aside, climbed onto the window ledge, and pounded wildly on the window. "Xie Sui! Xie Sui! Are you in there?"
Xie Sui sat on a desk precisely to wait for Song Yu.
People lay scattered across the classroom floor.
He had added a few more stabs afterward. Wang Ci's hand was probably ruined.
This classroom was actually not unfamiliar to him.
Many things in Jing City had faded into the years for him. Only in specific places could he recall them bit by bit.
Like the wall by the school's back gate, its bright red writing shocking to behold, a time of humiliation beneath darkness that never cleared.
Like this room.
In his previous life, Wang Ci had cornered him here too, making even more outrageous demands. But back then, his hand had been injured during summer vacation, and he hadn't been as steady in a fight as he was now. He had inflicted a thousand points of damage at the cost of eight hundred himself. Wang Ci and his group had fallen, but his whole body had felt shattered too, his uniform stained with quite a bit of blood.
Thick dust, dim light. Disgust filling his chest, vomit rising in his throat.
The main door had been locked, and he had jumped out through this window back then, too.
But back then, he had been so lost and broken that the momentary weightlessness as he jumped from the window had made him feel that suicide might not be such a bad choice, either.
Fifteen, isolated and hopeless.
Only when Xie Sui heard Song Yu pounding on the wall did he come back to himself, lowering his eyes to conceal their viciousness.
He jumped down from the desk, went over to the window, and opened it.
"Xie Sui!"
Song Yu had been ready to break the window and climb in. He hadn't expected Xie Sui to be the one to open it, and his eyes instantly lit up.
The breeze from outside dispersed the classroom's stale, musty air. Song Yu carried the scent of laundry detergent, fresh and distinct.
For a moment, Xie Sui was a little dazed as he watched him crouch on the windowsill, the brilliant sunset behind him.
And there was the dean of discipline hurrying over, cursing through a loudspeaker.
The noisy human world. Youth, real and tangible.
Seeing how lost and distraught he looked, Song Yu filled in the blanks himself and nearly died of anger. He jumped in through the window. "Where's that dumbass Wang Ci? I'm going to beat him until his own mother can't recognize him!"
Xie Sui came back to himself and caught his arm with a smile. "It's fine. I've already dealt with it."
True, as long as Xie Sui wasn't injured, even ten Wang Cis would be no match for him.
But Song Yu was still angry.
Then his gaze caught the blood on Xie Sui's hand, and his eyes went wide.
"Fuck, why are you bleeding?! Does it hurt?"
It was someone else's blood.
Why would he be in pain?
But looking at Song Yu's anxious, worried expression, Xie Sui's lashes trembled, and he forced a pale smile, looking exhausted from enduring and suppressing things for so long.
He said hoarsely,
"It hurts."
Song Yu couldn't even be bothered with that dumbass Wang Ci anymore. He said urgently, "Then let's go to the infirmary first!"
The dean of discipline arrived, panting, and looked around. There was no sign of Song Yu, but this was a corner of the school grounds, and there was only this one building.
The dean of discipline raised his loudspeaker and roared outside, "You think I can't do anything just because you've hidden in there?! Are you coming out or not? If you don't, I'll lock the main door! You can spend the night inside!"
Song Yu swore under his breath.
Xie Sui looked at him with a smile. "You don't want him to catch you?"
Song Yu said, "He'll call my parents."
Xie Sui asked, "Did he see your face?"
Song Yu was very confident about that. He puffed out his chest. "No. I snuck out. All he saw was my handsome figure from behind."
Xie Sui held back a laugh. "Then we'll just climb over the wall and leave."
He picked up the uniform jacket on the desk and swung his long legs up onto the windowsill.
Song Yu gritted his teeth in hatred. He glanced at Wang Ci, who lay groaning on the floor. "We're just letting him off like that?"
Xie Sui held out a hand to him and smiled. "If you want to deal with him, of course I'll join you."
Song Yu was still worried about his injury, of course.
However.
"...You look even more like a delinquent than I do, jumping out the window like that."
Xie Sui's lips curved. "Natural talent."
Only after jumping out with him did Song Yu notice something was off. "Hey, didn't you say it hurt? Why do you look completely fine?"
Xie Sui smiled. How hard could playing an injured person be?
His face was pale, and after two steps, he let out a muffled groan.
Song Yu's expression changed, and he went over to support him.
Xie Sui hooked his arm around Song Yu's waist, making it look as though he was weakly leaning on him.
Song Yu grew nervous. "Are you okay?"
Using his injury to act spoiled, Xie Sui leaned close to his ear and said with a quiet laugh, "It hurts a little."
...This kid's waist is so slender.
Author's note: I was wrong... (つд?) I'll definitely get to the scum abuse next chapter! Thank you to the little angels who cast overlord votes or watered me with nutrient solution~
Thank you to the little angel who threw [Grenades]:Candied Fruit Isn't Too Sweet, 1;
Thank you to the little angels who threw [Land Mines]: Yu Chen, Chestnut Sand, Shu Shan, Whimpering Monster, Twelve, Xuan, Russian Bearw, I Love Sa'e, Yan Qie, lQinqCuan Jiu, 1 each;
Thank you to the little angels who watered me with [Nutrient Solution]:
Le Shu, 29 bottles; muqing, 25 bottles; Chrysanthemums and Flowers, 20 bottles; One Thought, Wang Buliuxing, ~, Shen Yao., Yang Li, Young Master Tang, Schrödinger's Meow, 10 bottles each; Zi Buyu, Magical Girl Jun Moxiao, 9 bottles each; Both Time and You Are Hard to Hold On To, Loves Eating Lychees, encounter_07, 7 bottles each; Longxia Huaxia, 6 bottles; The cpI Ship All Move to the Civil Affairs Bureau, Black and White, Wearing Ball-Like Ball Laws, hae, Studying Makes Me Happy, Zhi Tu, You May Return at Your Leisure, 5 bottles each; Di Za, Rabbits Love Eating Grass by Their Burrows, Shen Mochun, 3 bottles each; Long Qingyue, Wei Ji Li Yu Shen Yi, Eating Lychees, Failed the Heavenly Tribulation, Xuan, 2 bottles each; 34233693, Drunk on the Gentle Breeze, Mu Xia, 1 bottle each;
Thank you all so much for your support. I'll keep working hard!