When Song Yu got home, Grandma Meng saw that he had returned safely, asked a few questions, and said no more.
After showering, he went back to his room and lay under the covers, which carried a faint jasmine scent.
Song Yu received a reply from Mama Song in City A.
[That's good. Are you settling in all right in Jing City, Yuyu?]
Song Yu typed, [Pretty well. I quite like Jing City.]
After thinking for a while, Song Yu added, [Mom, I want to live at school when the term starts.]
School started in another month, and boarding was a fairly crucial step.
Mama Song soon replied.
[Boarding? What made you want to live at school?]
Song Yu said, [I want to experience a lively high school life.]
That made Mama Song's heart ache terribly. [Then I'll discuss it with your grandma and have her contact the principal to make arrangements.]
Song Yu smiled.
[Thanks, Mom.]
Not particularly sleepy yet, Song Yu played on his phone for a while.
He had added Ma Xiaoding on QQ. This yellow-skinned boy had an exceptionally rich inner world.
His username was "Sadako Never Forgets the Well Digger," and his avatar was Sadako with her hair hanging loose.
Song Yu was certain he had taken plenty of beatings over that avatar.
His status message was even more chuunibyou: I can crawl out of the TV, but I can't crawl into your heart.
Song Yu: "...Badass."
Managing to radiate the aura of someone destined to die alone through his username, avatar, and status message alike was quite an achievement.
Having just added him, Ma Xiaoding was very excited and first sent a meme to test the waters.
Then, after noticing Song Yu's username, he was shocked.
[Sadako Never Forgets the Well Digger: Holy shit, Brother Yu, your username is god-tier.]
Song Yu had picked his username at random. He had originally planned to choose something conventional, but then he thought that he was a fifteen-year-old teenager now. If he wasn't going to be chuunibyou now, when would he? So he changed it to "Your Husband Brother Yu," a name he had used in games before specifically to flirt with girls.
Song Yu stared expressionlessly at his Sadako avatar.
[Your Husband Brother Yu: Not as god-tier as yours.]
[Sadako Never Forgets the Well Digger: [Cute][Cute]]
Before long, Ma Xiaoding sent another message.
[Sadako Never Forgets the Well Digger: No! I still think your name wins, Brother Yu. If I don't change your contact name, I'll really fucking think I'm talking to my own husband!]
Song Yu laughed out loud.
[Your Husband Brother Yu: Then hurry up and change it. I'm begging you, don't go gay for me.]
[Sadako Never Forgets the Well Digger: ??? [Aggrieved] Brother Yu, you think I'm gross.]
Fortunately, Ma Xiaoding hadn't contacted him just because he had nothing better to do.
As a born-and-bred Jing City local, he naturally knew a little more about Jingcheng No. 1 High School than Song Yu did, and he chattered away, filling him in on all sorts of things.
First, he sent over a group.
[Sadako Never Forgets the Well Digger: Brother Yu, this is the group for our incoming class at No. 1 High School. Join it.]
Then came a website link.
[Sadako Never Forgets the Well Digger: Brother Yu, this is Campus Community, Jingcheng No. 1 High School's social forum. You can check out our ecosystem there. I think it's pretty fun.]
Song Yu wasn't interested in the incoming students' group, but he really had nothing to do, so he clicked the link Ma Xiaoding had sent and registered an account using his QQ. He was only doing it because he was bored, so he didn't even change his username before going in.
The homepage was the forum, with a pinned thread for incoming students' questions, where older students were busily answering away.
There were plenty of shitposts.
[Vote for the new school flower and school grass of No. 1 High School]
[Freshmen, come give your name, height, and address. Let's meet before school starts. You game?]
[Urgent, urgent, urgent! Need one more for a five-stack in the Rift. One god to carry four noobs. Already got the four noobs. God-tier player needed! Hurry!]
[Any brothers with a big □□ who can tell me when Cafeteria Two opens during summer break?]
Song Yu scrolled through the posts as bright moonlight shone in from outside in Jing City and insects chirped on and on in the garden. Leaning against his pillow, he looked down and smiled as he browsed.
This was a real world, where high school teenagers lived carefree, colorful lives.
Yet the book Gentle Control had given Xie Sui only the darkest, most obscure side of school life.
Class oppression, emotional abuse, unfairness.
"It shouldn't be like this for you."
Song Yu murmured softly.
Xie Sui was such a good boy. He shouldn't have to endure those curses and insults at his age.
He would be a prominent figure at school, with excellent grades and handsome looks.
Lots of people would have secret crushes on him.
Girls would write his name in scented diaries.
He would be a good student in his teachers' eyes, and whenever they called on someone in class, their gazes would land on his face with approval and smiles.
He would be someone plenty of poor students tried to get on the good side of, with a crowd chattering around him every exam.
He would live confidently, brilliantly, and brightly.
That was what his high school life should be.
Grandma Meng contacted the principal of Jingcheng No. 1 High School, first explaining Song Yu's circumstances and the matter of boarding. Having learned from Ma Xiaoding that Song Yu loved studying, she also asked what he needed to prepare before starting his first year.
After receiving the principal's conscientious, professional answers, Grandma Meng happily bought a pile of books and practice exercises and delivered them to Song Yu's room. She even reminded him very gently, "Just do your best, Yuyu. Don't tire yourself out."
Sitting on his bed, Song Yu stared stiffly at the two stacks of books on the floor and struggled to pull up the corners of his mouth. "Thank you, Grandma."
Grandma could rest assured. He absolutely wouldn't tire himself out.
Song Yu had forgotten all his high school knowledge back in the summer after graduating, and picking it up again was agonizing.
Although he didn't intend to become a top student, ranking at the bottom would be so embarrassing.
Unable to settle down at home, Song Yu simply went to find Xie Sui, grabbing a book and a test paper before leaving.
Xie Sui worked at a milk tea shop.
The milk tea shop was quite busy just then, mostly with girls in twos and threes. They drank their milk tea, but their eyes kept drifting toward Xie Sui.
They were probably all there to look at the handsome guy. Tall and long-legged, cool and restrained-one glance at him on a hot day worked better than air conditioning.
Song Yu ordered a lemonade, sat by the window, spread out his math paper, and started writing with a pen in hand and a look of bitter resentment.
When he got stuck on a permutations and combinations question, Song Yu couldn't remember the formula. Feeling listless, he couldn't even muster the desire to look it up on Baidu with his phone. Instead, he tore off a tissue and started writing out six-digit permutations and combinations.
One tissue wasn't enough to fit it all, so he tore off another.
The shop grew quiet as the customers thinned out.
Seeing that Song Yu's lemonade was nearly empty, Xie Sui brought him another glass.
Song Yu didn't notice him coming over, engrossed as he was in the problem.
Song Yu's eyelashes curled up like a baby's. Sunlight filtered through the camphor trees out on the street and fell across his face, giving him a peculiar air of docility.
Seeing how seriously he was working, Xie Sui glanced at the paper too.
After reading the question, Xie Sui fell silent.
"720."
A slightly cool voice sounded above his head.
Song Yu's pen stopped, and he was a little annoyed at the interruption. "I was about to work it out. You've gone and interrupted my train of thought."
Xie Sui: "..."
That boneheaded calculation method of yours actually involved a train of thought?