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Chapter 5: What grudge or hatred?
Walk for what?
Yun Ci was caught off guard.
The journey back to school wasn’t particularly short; it would take more than ten minutes to walk.
With his bag in hand, Yun Ci watched Yu Xun’s back, feeling the urge to throw the books at him. But reason held him back.
Credits, GPA, and Lao Yan.
Yu Xun seemed to anticipate that Yun Ci wouldn’t leave directly.
And indeed, just as Yu Xun guessed, Yun Ci couldn’t bring himself to abandon the bag of books.
Yun Ci followed behind him, maintaining a significant distance without attracting attention.
In the evening, the road was busy with people, and the gap between them, amidst the passing pedestrians, made them appear as if they were strangers.
Until the one walking ahead stopped.
Leaning against the roadside railing, Yu Xun waited for him lazily, calling out, “Why are you walking so slowly?”
After he said this, people passing by cast evaluating glances at the two of them.
In the midst of these “do these two handsome guys know each other” looks, Yun Ci’s emotions reached their peak. He wore a thin, windproof coat with a collar. He raised his hand to zip up the windbreaker to the top, the collar standing up and covering half of his chin like a mask.
When he spoke again, there was a strange calmness in his tone, “Is it that hard to tell?”
Yu Xun raised an eyebrow slightly: “Tell what?”
Yun Ci: “I did it on purpose.”
Yu Xun: “Then why do you think I stopped and called out to you in front of everyone?”
Yun Ci: “?”
Yu Xun chuckled: “I did it on purpose too.”
“…”
Yu Xun continued: “Your understanding of taking a walk is quite unique, Xiao Ci. You can call it taking a walk even when there’s a five hundred-meter gap between people.”
“You’re right.”
Yun Ci replied with the most agreeable tone, saying the most contradictory thing: “Five hundred meters is too close.”
As he approached, Yu Xun stepped away from the railing, stood upright, and said, “Not even five meters; walk beside me.”
Yun Ci: “…”
Why bother with this bullsh!t?
Since neither of us likes each other, wouldn’t it be better to mind our own business??
Is playing this game of hurting the enemy a thousand times and harming oneself eight hundred times interesting???
Yun Ci’s hand, carrying the bag, gradually stiffened, and he had no choice but to keep up.
As he walked alongside Yu Xun, the rate of people turning their heads to look at them more than doubled. He raised his hand, wanting to pull the collar of his clothes up a bit more, preferably enough to cover his entire face.
The feeling of walking beside Yu Xun was strange.
If he had to describe it, it was like an itchy feeling combined with overall discomfort.
The person beside him seemed completely oblivious, chatting away as if they were truly out for a stroll together: “I heard you’re in Class 2? I’m in Class 1.”
Yun Ci remained silent.
“I didn’t expect you to also major in law.”
Yun Ci remained silent.
“We almost ended up in the same class, Xiao Ci.”
Yun Ci remained silent and somewhat annoyed.
Yu Xun continued, “During military training, I was the temporary squad leader in our class.”
A nerve in Yun Ci couldn’t help but twitch. He lightly brushed his nose against the raised collar of his shirt and said, “So what? Is that impressive?”
“I’m also a squad leader,” he added.
“… “
After that, Yun Ci fell into silence once again.
……
What’s the difference between his behavior and that of elementary school students?
As they spoke, the two of them reached the school gate.
Nanyang University had several gates, and the iron gate in front of them was one of them, considered the back gate. Students were coming and going in small groups, and delivery drivers on bikes rushed by, trying to take shortcuts.
The area around the back gate was lively, with several convenience stores nearby.
As Yu Xun pushed open the door of the convenience store and walked in, Yun Ci remembered that besides taking a walk, this person had also mentioned treating him to a drink.
“Welcome—”
The store owner was a middle-aged man, sitting behind the cash register. Seeing someone enter, he reluctantly shifted his gaze away from the hanging TV in the store.
The TV was showing a melodramatic family drama, with complicated and dramatic dialogues unfolding one after another.
Though the convenience store was small, it had everything one needed.
The roles were clearly defined, and people stood sparsely in front of each shelf.
The owner saw the person who pushed the door open not letting go, and with silent urging, the other boy outside reluctantly stepped in.
Both boys were tall.
They stopped in front of the beverage section, one after the other.
He heard someone ask, “Pick whatever you want to drink yourself.”
The other replied, “Do we have to drink?”
“…”
Although the two seemed to know each other, there was always an underlying tension in their conversation.
“I’ll treat you to a drink since you went out of your way to bring me the books. I’ve always been polite.”
“Stop saying that; it wasn’t out of my way.”
“…”
Yun Ci had never imagined himself having a breakdown in front of a beverage cooler.
He numbly stared at the bottles in the cooler for a while. Then he closed his eyes, opened them again, shut the cooler door with his hand, and calmly called out, “Boss.”
The owner, who was watching the commotion, said, “Huh?”
Yun Ci asked, “Do you offer delivery services?”
The owner didn’t quite catch it at first.
Yun Ci clarified, “Delivering water to dorms, delivery service.”
The owner quickly responded, “Of course, we do offer that service. The delivery riders are nearby, and if you want to buy something for your dorm room, you can do it online—”
Yun Ci cut in with a “got it,” then looked down and pointed to the box of twelve bottles of mint water on the floor beside the cooler. He said, “These two boxes, deliver to Building 5, Room 608.”
As he spoke, he pointed his finger to the side, indicating the other person.
“He’ll pay.”
***
Building 5, Room 608.
Inside the room, everyone was staring at the two boxes of water on the floor.
The trendy guy was the first to express shock, “Why did you buy so much water? Is our building going to have water cut off? I didn’t receive any notice.”
On the upper bunk of the trendy guy was a boy who was a real online gaming addict. While everyone else hadn’t even set up their computers yet, he already had a gaming laptop ready to go. He lowered his headphones slightly, “…What water? Is there going to be a flood? The school didn’t notify us?”
The trendy guy sighed, helping him put his headphones back on, “Just play your game.”
Yun Ci took out a few bottles of water from the box and handed one to each of them, “I met a crazy person on the way who insisted on buying water for someone.”
The trendy guy asked a rather foolish question, “With so many people on the road, why did the crazy person choose you?”
Yun Ci replied, “He was crazy, why would there be a reason.”
The trendy guy: “…”
Makes sense.
“Hurry up and distribute.” Yun Ci didn’t want to see those two boxes of water for another second, his tone sounding like he was urging people to drink, “Anyone else want some?”
He looked around.
Realizing that getting five people to quickly consume two boxes of water was an impossible task. He sat on the empty bed and took out his phone to start contacting people.
He messaged several old classmates one by one: [Come to 608, it’s urgent.]
Zhou Wenyu and Li Yan responded the most enthusiastically.
Li Yan: [?]
Li Yan: [If it’s urgent, spill it. Is it really urgent? If not, I’ll take a shower first before coming over.]
Considering the urgency of the situation, Yun Ci replied: [It’s quite urgent.]
Zhou Wenyu didn’t ask what was going on. Without a second thought, he replied: [If there’s a battle, I’ll be there!]
However, when the two arrived, they never expected that the battle would be about drinking water.
“One and a half boxes of water?”
“We have to finish all of it tonight?” Zhou Wenyu, wearing just a pair of shorts to stay cool, asked, “Does the shelf life for this water end tonight?”
Yun Ci, one leg bent with his foot resting on the edge of the bed, didn’t look too good, “You could interpret it that way.”
Zhou Wenyu asked another question, “So why did you buy these two boxes of water that are about to expire?”
Yun Ci: “…”
Because I wanted to gain some ground in front of Yu Xun.
Make him feel obliged to treat him to a drink of water.
But he couldn’t possibly say that out loud, let alone mention Yu Xun voluntarily.
Only Li Yan, with his sharp senses, realized that these two boxes of water were not just ordinary water. As he tasted the cool mint water in his mouth, he recognized a familiar taste.
…
So familiar.
The smell of battlefield smoke.
He felt a bit dizzy from the cool and spicy mint water. After drinking a few bottles, he couldn’t help but speculate, “Is this water bought because of Yu Xun…?”
“…”
“Don’t look at me like that. It really resembles the time when you and Yu Xun, in your first year, spent all your pocket money buying thirty pieces of chicken drumsticks from the convenience store, claiming you wanted to treat the whole class. It also reminds me of the time in your second year when you two fought over the basketball signed by some basketball star. You were eager to seize the opportunity, even skipping math class.”
“Oh, and remember when Yu Xun ranked first in the grade, and after school, you didn’t even come with us to the internet café? I found you online at three in the morning, asked what you were doing, and you told me not to ask, but I guessed you were doing math problems.”
Li Yan could go on and on with similar examples:
“Let me guess the origin of these two boxes of water. Could it be that you two bumped into each other at the convenience store, saw him buying a box of water, and you waved your hand, telling the owner you wanted two boxes?”
It was hard to say which was more absurd, Li Yan’s speculation or the actual situation.
“Enough talk,” Yun Ci twisted open another bottle and handed it to him, “Keep drinking.”
Since interacting with Yun Ci since the beginning of the school year, Zhou Wenyu felt that he wasn’t as difficult to get along with as he seemed. Most of the time, even if he accidentally offended him, the consequences weren’t too severe.
So Zhou Wenyu, belching slightly in surprise, asked the question he had been curious about for a long time, “And about you two skipping exams together…”
When he heard the words “skipping exams,” Yun Ci’s memory was dragged back to a certain day in high school.
After a while, he said, “I had a fever that day.”
Zhou Wenyu: “We all thought that was just an excuse.”
“…” Yun Ci replied, “With a temperature nearly forty degrees, what kind of excuse is that? Who would make up such a rumor?”
Zhou Wenyu continued, “Then why did Yu Xun skip the exam?”
Yun Ci: “I don’t know.”
Zhou Wenyu: “So are all the other rumored events fake? Hahaha, I guess so.”
Yun Ci calmly thought for a moment and said, “Except for skipping exams, everything else should be true.”
Zhou Wenyu: “…” He couldn’t laugh anymore.
Finally, Zhou Wenyu couldn’t help but sigh, “What grudge or hatred do you two have anyway?”
There was a sudden moment of silence in the dorm room.
Only the sound of the online gaming addict clicking his mouse remained.
What grudge or hatred?
This question suddenly popped up, and Yun Ci’s first reaction was that he couldn’t quite find an answer.
His mind went blank, not knowing where to start.
He and Yu Xun had been “fighting” for too long.
Over the course of three years, the initial reasons gradually became less important.
And high school was the time when impulsivity was at its peak.
The youthful vigor of those adolescents, engaged in a constant battle of wits, was brimming with both naivety and recklessness, sometimes appearing stubborn and unreasonable.
Following this line of thought, he was reminded, after a long time, of his first encounter with Yu Xun.
His memory was dragged back to their freshman year in high school.
……
Three years ago, in the height of summer.
The first semester of freshman year in high school unfolded in an orderly manner. West City High School, as a key school in the city, had extremely strict requirements for student behavior. Although Yun Ci was the class monitor, he turned a blind eye to many things. During the evening self-study sessions, the class monitor usually sat at the podium to maintain order.
But Yun Ci, at that time, didn’t sit at the podium. He sat in the first row by the window, his chin resting on his hand, having finished his homework early, keeping an eye out for the teacher’s movements: “Lao Yan is coming out of the office. Everyone, put away your phones.”
His leadership as the class monitor was commanding and intimidating, and his classmates acted accordingly, saying, “Yes, class monitor!”
Yun Ci: “…There’s no need to shout so loudly.”
Two minutes later.
Yan Yue walked by the window, carrying textbooks and a thermos cup.
Yun Ci’s gaze met Lao Yan’s across the room, and he caught a familiar warning in Lao Yan’s eyes.
He took his mother’s surname, and at first glance, there seemed to be no connection between him and Yan Yue. In order to avoid suspicion and gossip at school, they never disclosed their father-son relationship. So Yan Yue just glanced at him lightly and walked past.
“Alright,” Yun Ci twirled the pen in his hand and advised, “Speak softly, and if you need anything, pass notes.”
“Yes, Class Monitor! No problem, Class Monitor!”
“I said you don’t need to shout.”
“…”
The calm and orderly campus life took a turn with Yan Yue’s rapid mental breakdown.
One night, Yun Ci finished his homework and sneaked into the kitchen to get water.
He didn’t turn on the lights but heard Yan Yue talking on the phone in the living room, “He hasn’t been at school all afternoon? No leave of absence?”
The night was too quiet; leaning against the kitchen door, he could even hear the response from the other end of the phone, “No, his attitude is quite good. He said he would accept any punishment, but he didn’t say the reason.”
“We all find it strange; he’s not the type to break the rules.”
“He usually learns quickly in class, and his grades are excellent. In the class vote, almost everyone voted for him to be the class monitor.”
After a few days, he heard similar conversations.
Yan Yue had a headache, “He’s not at school again today?”
The tone on the other end gradually calmed down, seemingly accustomed to it, “Same as before, his self-criticism essay is nearly 5,000 words long.”
“He turned in 6,000 words, saying something about showing sincerity by adding one for every five.”
“…”
After that day, Yan Yue’s quality of sleep deteriorated, and even in the middle of the night, he would come to Yun Ci’s room, asking his opinion on “what to do if a classmate who usually behaves well, even academically, suddenly disappears for no reason.”
Yun Ci, feeling drowsy, asked, “Disappear; how does one disappear?”
Yan Yue: “They’re in the classroom in one class, but gone in the next.”
Yun Ci’s awareness hadn’t fully returned, and he thought to himself that the classmate was quite elusive.
“Is it possible that this is just his way of attending classes?” Yun Ci said casually, “Maybe it’s also a method of learning.”
Yan Yue: “?”
Yun Ci: “To maintain a sense of freshness in learning, skip classes appropriately for better studying.”
Yan Yue: “…………”
Yan Yue sat on the edge of his bed, staring at him for a long time. Finally, he threw the pillow next to him directly onto Yun Ci’s face and said, “Go back to sleep.”
But the next night, Yan Yue came again.
“It’s 3 a.m. now, Dad,” Yun Ci’s eyes narrowed, half-asleep. “I need to sleep.”
Yan Yue didn’t care what he said at all, pressing on with dark circles under his eyes, asking him, “Do you think he might have been bullied by students from outside the school?”
Yun Ci: “Him?”
After a few seconds, he realized, “Are we still talking about the same topic from last night?”
The more Yan Yue thought about it, the more he felt this possibility: “How much do you know about things outside the school?”
Yun Ci sat up, silent for a moment, before saying, “The water outside the school is very deep.”
“There are bullies from four different schools outside the school. They often come near our school to pick fights. They hold fights every month—” Yun Ci said, noticing Yan Yue’s expression turning more serious, and then he changed the subject, “But, seriously, do you really think that’s the case?”
“In a society governed by law, who would fight?”
Yun Ci scratched his head, extremely tired and fed up, “Who is this person you’re talking about? Which class is he in? What’s his name? I’ll go ask for you.”
Yan Yue didn’t want him to get involved and simply said, “It’s nothing, just a student of a friend.”
If he hadn’t accidentally overheard Yan Yue’s phone call earlier, he might have believed him.
……
“Class monitor.” The next day, the spy sent by Yun Ci returned and reported from the window, “Yun Xun from Class 7; he’s quite arrogant.”
“He does what he wants during class, often can’t be found, but he always gets first place in exams. He should be the one you’re looking for.”
Yun Ci asked, “Are you sure? Don’t get the wrong person.”
The spy thought for a moment, “With these criteria, it’s hard to get the wrong person.”
Indeed.
Yun Ci recalled the night he accidentally overheard the phone call and confirmed again, “Was he at school last Friday?”
The spy: “He was here in the morning, but not in the afternoon.”
Yun Ci: “How many thousands of words did he write in his self-criticism?”
The spy: “He was punished with 5,000 words, but he turned in 6,000.” Then he added his personal opinion: “This guy must be sick; who writes more than required in self-criticism?”
Yun Ci muttered under his breath, “…Well, it all matches up.”
The spy: “What matches up?”
Yun Ci: “Nothing.”
“I mean,” Yun Ci reached out and patted the spy’s shoulder across the window sill, “this task was assigned to you, and you found the right person.”
In their freshman year, there were a dozen or so classes, and it had been less than two months since school started, so there were still information barriers between classes. This Yu Xun seemed quite famous, but Yun Ci knew very little about him. Anyway, to give himself enough time to sleep and to improve Yan Yue’s mental state, he decided to meet this person.
Class 7 was in another building.
During the lunch break, the corridors were crowded with people.
Yun Ci felt like he was getting a bit of attention too because, as he walked through the corridor connecting the two buildings for the first time, he heard people whispering, “He-he-he is that Yun…”
In hindsight, he never thought that before meeting Yu Xun, the two of them would end up in such a situation. To be friendly, he even brought a bottle of water with him before going.
“I’m looking for Yu Xun from your class.” Yun Ci leaned on the windowsill behind him, chatting with a classmate sitting by the window doing homework. “What do I need him for?… Well, to make a friend, I guess.”
Finally, he added, “This bottle of water is for him. If he’s not in the classroom, please put it on his desk.”
However, that classmate looked at him strangely several times, and his expression became somewhat odd. He put down his pen and suddenly called out to another person, “Liu Zi, this guy’s here to see Yu-ge, saying he wants to be friends! He even brought water—!”
The person called “Liu Zi” was originally lying at the back of the class, sleeping. Upon hearing this, he woke up abruptly. He wasn’t wearing the school uniform, and his hair was a bit long, making him look like he was from outside the school. Liu Zi stood up and waved his hand vigorously, “I was just thinking of catching him. He’s come to us willingly. Let’s take him out for a chat!”
Yun Ci: “?”
Take him out.
What’s this about?
Take who out, take him out?
Yun Ci had no room for thought. They grabbed him on both sides, the water in his hand flying out in the commotion. He was even lifted off the ground, dragged through the corridor, and forced into the corner of the hallway.
“You guys are…” damn sick.
Liu Zi pressed Yun Ci against the wall, “Stay put, don’t move!”
Just as Yun Ci was about to adjust his mood and have a good talk with them, someone walked over from the other end of the corridor.
There were several people following behind him, appearing like the leader of a group.
He walked to the corner, blocking the light from shining in, and stood in front of Yun Ci.
The two were very close, close enough for Yun Ci to see the mole at the corner of his eye clearly.
As he spoke, his tone was light and cheerful, with a slight uplift at the corner of his eyes. “Liu Zi, let go. Don’t go around laying hands on people for no reason. If someone doesn’t know better, they might think we from Class 7 don’t follow the rules.”
Did he really need to care about what others might think?
Yun Ci internally criticized while also estimating that this person was likely the Yu Xun he was looking for.
Yu Xun seemed to be in a good mood, or perhaps he always gave off this vibe. He had a face that could make waves in the grade without even skipping classes. “You want to be friends with me?”
Yun Ci tried to recall the 3 a.m. visit from Yan Yue and responded with the last shred of patience, “Can we get acquainted?”
Yu Xun: “And then?”
Yun Ci: “And then what?”
Yu Xun: “After becoming friends with me, what do you plan to do?”
Yun Ci: “…”
Asking for such detailed plans after just wanting to make friends was a bit too much.
He didn’t say anything, but Yu Xun spoke for him, “He’ll probably come to me often to bond with me, want to add my contact information, be interested in everything about me, and want to see me whenever he can.”
The more Yun Ci listened, the more he felt something was off, so he interrupted, “Wait a minute…”
Yu Xun continued on his own, “—Although I’m quite popular, and it’s normal for someone like you to come seeking me out, I suggest you don’t waste your efforts.”
Yun Ci: “…”
Yu Xun’s smile intensified, his eyes glancing upward, but his words contradicted his expression, “I’m not very interested in someone like you.”
“This is a warning,” he continued. “If there’s a next time, don’t blame me for being impolite.”
“…”
Are you being polite now??
Yun Ci was completely speechless.
This is freaking ridiculous.
He’s insane.
Author’s note:
It’s a misunderstanding (Xiao Yu, who caught the wrong person: If I could have another chance)
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