Chapter 24

In a high-rise apartment by the Jiao River, the boy stared at the red exclamation mark on his computer screen, plunged into confusion.

Shen Yuze’s fingertips lightly clicked the mouse, but no matter how he dragged and pulled, that red exclamation mark in his private messages remained unchanged.

He… had really been blocked by Lu Ping.

Shen Yuze: “?”

To keep an eye on Lu Ping more conveniently, Shen Yuze had created a new partner account, deliberately avoiding his previous ID when naming it to avoid catching Lu Ping’s attention. Before today, the @ray account hadn’t liked or commented on anything—it simply lurked amid Lu Ping’s growing fan count, quietly observing him.

The more he observed, the more surprises Shen Yuze discovered in Lu Ping.

For instance—this little mouse was unexpectedly bold.

Not only had Lu Ping posted their photo from the horse ranch, but he had also captioned it ambiguously with “me and my friend.” Aside from the two people involved, who would know the truth?

Unfortunately, before Shen Yuze could savor it enough, Lu Ping had deleted the photo!

Shen Yuze had hurriedly sent a private message asking why, but after just three sentences, Lu Ping blocked him… He had grown up surrounded by admirers—when had anyone ever treated him like this?

He blankly shut down the computer and picked up the photo frame on the desk beside him—the picture inside was the snapshot of him and Lu Ping at the horse ranch. In the photo, Lu Ping gazed at him intently, as if worshiping a distant star with his eyes. What had Lu Ping been thinking in that moment when the shutter clicked?

Shen Yuze had never understood why Lu Ping stole his photos. In truth, he had countless ways to stop this farce, but he hadn’t.

Because—he liked the undisguised longing and admiration in Lu Ping’s eyes when he looked at him.

Shen Yuze had seen greed and scheming in too many people’s eyes, but not in Lu Ping’s.

No one could resist such a pure gaze.

He hoped Lu Ping would always look at him that way.

…

Due to the online storm, Lu Ping’s mood swung wildly up and down. On Sunday, he didn’t go out and spent the day listlessly at home. His parents thought he was just tired from playing the day before and didn’t notice his inner dejection.

Taking advantage of lounging at home, Lu Ping flipped through the English study aid books Shen Yuze had given him and realized they weren’t the common textbooks available on the market—they seemed more like internally compiled materials from some school’s teaching research group. A quick online search revealed their impressive origins: they were the “School Internal Test Papers” from a famous high school in the Capital.

The school had a famous joke that even Lu Ping, studying far away by the Jiao River, had heard.

Question: “Is a vocabulary of two thousand English words enough for a six-year-old child?”

Answer: “If you’re American, it’s enough; if you’re from the Capital and want to get into X Middle School’s affiliated primary, two thousand words won’t even get you past the first interview round.”

In short, one word—intense competition!

English competition started from childhood!

Lu Ping didn’t know how Shen Yuze had gathered these materials, but this gift was truly invaluable to him right now.

Gazing at the small mountain of study aids before him, Lu Ping felt a mix of melancholy and anxiety. Shen Yuze had given him something money couldn’t buy, while all he could offer in return were some local snacks and thirty yuan to ride an old horse for an afternoon.

How could he catch up to Shen Yuze and become a friend worthy of him?

—How about starting by studying English seriously! (Shen Yuze: ?)

…

In the blink of an eye, it was Monday again. After last week’s double blow of the monthly exam and parent-teacher conference, most of the class had endured a weekend that could only be described as disastrous.

The moment they saw each other, the first greeting was always: “Did you get beaten?”

“Of course.” The other person would usually reply dispiritedly, “Beaten until full, so full I couldn’t get out of bed all weekend.”

An outsider who didn’t understand would definitely mistake “beaten” for a local specialty snack, like glutinous cake or crispy shrimp balls. In reality, “beaten” in the local dialect meant “hit.” Which kid hadn’t been beaten by their parents? Beatings for New Year’s, for exams, and even some naughty boys got beaten on their birthdays.

But Lu Ping was rarely beaten. He seemed to have skipped the rebellious phase entirely, with grades steadily in the middle of the year level. Even this time when his English failed, his parents didn’t say a harsh word. The couple could barely recognize the English alphabet themselves, so they naturally didn’t demand perfection from their child.

But while his parents were easy to deal with, the teacher was not.

During break, Lu Ping was called to the English teacher’s office.

The English teacher sighed upon seeing him: Lu Ping was a good kid in every way, studied hard, turned in homework on time every time, memorized model essays well, and rarely missed words in dictation—but his English scores just wouldn’t improve.

“Lu Ping, why did English hold you back again this time?” The English teacher pulled out the year-level rankings and said heartbrokenly, “Your homeroom teacher came to me specifically, asking me to talk to you. Look, your other subjects are fine—without English, you’d rank in the top thirty. But with English, you drop so much… You’re always twenty points below the year average. Aren’t you anxious?”

Lu Ping mumbled: “I am… anxious…”

“If you’re anxious, then put in more effort!” The English teacher took the test paper from his hand and flipped through the essay, reading, and cloze sections, hoping to pinpoint a weak area to focus on. But after flipping through, every section was weak.

The teacher gave up and finally turned to the listening section at the beginning: “Look at your listening—many are basic questions that could be solved with more practice. English isn’t just memorizing words and grammar; you need to read and listen more. You can’t just do ‘mute English’ or ‘exam English,’ or when you get to university, you won’t pass CET-4, and the school won’t issue your diploma!”

The teacher wasn’t exaggerating; universities now strictly enforced English, linking CET-4 certificates to undergraduate graduation. The teacher didn’t want to see Lu Ping grind his way into university only to be held back by English.

Lu Ping nodded silently, promising to work harder when he got back.

“If there’s any question you don’t understand, bring it to the teacher. If the teacher’s not in the office, ask a classmate… Isn’t Shen Yuze your desk mate? He got a perfect score in English this time. Get closer to him, make friends with him. I believe Shen Classmate isn’t the selfish type—he’ll definitely help you.”

“…” Lu Ping knew the teacher’s words were well-intentioned, but to his ears, it made it seem like approaching Shen Yuze and becoming his friend was just to mooch off a free English tutor.

Why did making friends have to involve so much calculation—family background, looks, scores?

It was as if an invisible scale hung between them. Shen Yuze could casually toss on a thousand-jin weight, while Lu Ping searched his entire body and could only offer a bare, honest heart.

Before leaving the office, the English teacher said, “Oh, right—when you get back, have Shen Classmate come to the office. I need to see him about something.”

Lu Ping agreed.

When he returned to the classroom, Shen Yuze’s desk was surrounded by people as usual.

Thanks to his outrageous monthly exam scores, Shen Yuze had become a celebrity throughout the school—not just in grade two, but even grade one and three students had heard of the “year-level last place” who aced English.

As for the earlier rumors about him hitting someone… pfft, Shen Classmate was so handsome and smart—those hands were for holding pens, how could he hit anyone? It must be rumors gone wild.

Shen Yuze had a aloof personality and disliked socializing with irrelevant people, but his cold face couldn’t block the classmates’ enthusiasm. Every break, his seat turned into a bustling market.

Even if Shen Yuze ignored them, they could keep chatting on their own.

One said, “Shen Yuze, don’t you usually play games?”

Another said, “Sigh, ever since they added ID binding, I can only log in for one hour a week.”

“You idiot, use your sister’s ID.”

“No way, my sister’s at university out of town. The face verification requires blinking, and they saw through me using her photo!”

“I bound my dad’s WeChat. The game defaults to his ID, but my dad runs a restaurant—his account is called ‘Pig Head Meat Specialty Shop.’ Every time I team up, I run into trash-talkers.”

“Those kinds of people are everywhere online. Just block them.”

…Block?

Hearing the keyword, the previously silent Shen Yuze looked up.

Shen Yuze asked, “Under what circumstances would you block someone?”

The boys exchanged glances, and the chattiest one answered first: “Anyone who constantly swears has to be blocked.”

Shen Yuze shook his head: “What if they don’t swear?”

“Uh, passive-aggressive types are out too.”

“What exactly is passive-aggressive?”

“Passive-aggressive is like…” The boy scratched his chin and gave an example. “I improved ten spots on the monthly exam and posted about it on my Moments. Someone commented, ‘Happy about tenth place? When are you getting first in the year?’”

A nearby girl chimed in: “I went out and posted some selfies. A middle school classmate commented, ‘Who’s this pretty person? Never seen them before.’”

Someone else said: “On my birthday, my dad gave me these limited-edition sneakers I really wanted. I posted them on my basketball forum, and some random ID called me a ‘rich second-gen.’”

The three each gave an example, but Shen Yuze felt no reaction inside.

A trace of confusion crossed his brow: “And that’s passive-aggressive?”

The three: “…”

Being told you had good grades, good looks, and money—in Shen Yuze’s world, that wasn’t passive-aggressive; it was stating facts.

As the conversation stalled awkwardly, Lu Ping squeezed through the crowd like a little mouse, struggling back to his seat.

The moment he appeared, Shen Yuze’s gaze landed on him first. The other classmates also breathed a sigh of relief, glad to escape the awkward topic.

Feeling all eyes on him, Lu Ping shrank uncomfortably.

“Uh… Shen Yuze, the English teacher wants to see you.”

Shen Yuze: “What for?”

“Not sure, the teacher didn’t say.” Lu Ping shook his head.

Shen Yuze was getting fed up with the crowd anyway, so he used the opportunity to leave the stuffy classroom.

Once Shen Yuze left, the people around him dispersed too—like seagulls that had snatched bread, flapping away without a backward glance, leaving only a mess of droppings behind.

Lu Ping was long used to such scenes and enjoyed the quiet alone.

But while his side quieted down, the other corner of the classroom livened up again.

Breaks were always like this—classmates split into small groups, holding seagull parties in different spots around the room.

This time, the center with the bread was Chen Miaomiao.

Chen Miaomiao’s family was very wealthy; her dad’s factory made shoelaces and was a famous major taxpayer locally. Before Shen Yuze transferred in, Chen Miaomiao had been the class star. She always had the latest gadgets, wore the trendiest clothes, and had even been to Disney in Shanghai multiple times.

The only problem was… her grades were truly abysmal. After this monthly exam, she had eaten her fill of “zai” (failure).

Even so, Chen Miaomiao still held her chin high as she bragged to the seagulls around her: “My mom hired a foreign tutor for me—one-on-one, eight hundred yuan per hour!”

“Eight hundred yuan an hour? That’s way too expensive!” one seagull exclaimed. “You could hire an English major college student for just a hundred yuan an hour.”

“Foreign tutors are different. English is their native language, so they definitely teach better than college students,” Chen Miaomiao said with absolute certainty, as if she could already envision her English scores skyrocketing from the bottom of the grade straight to the top.

Jiaojiang was a small city with no major multinational corporations or bustling international hubs. Golden-haired, blue-eyed foreigners were a rare sight. Students seldom encountered foreigners in the city, so of course Chen Miaomiao had to show off.

Chen Miaomiao continued: “I took my first lesson on Sunday, and I discovered the foreign tutor’s teaching methods are really different! She didn’t teach vocabulary or grammar; instead, we just chatted in English. Even after just one lesson, I feel like my listening skills have improved a lot!”

“What did you talk about?” a seagull asked.

“She told me she’s only a few years older than me and came here as an exchange student. She usually lives in University City. She also said she and her foreign classmates often hang out at a café in University City, and locals see they’re foreigners and strike up conversations with them…”

Chen Miaomiao’s voice was so piercing that even though Lu Ping wasn’t deliberately eavesdropping, her words continuously flooded into his ears.

University City… foreigners… café… chatting… English improvement…

Lu Ping’s heart began to itch.

He definitely couldn’t afford eight-hundred-yuan lessons from a foreign tutor. But he could take a detour! What if he mustered up the courage to go to that café and chat with those foreigners?

…No, no, no. Don’t be ridiculous.

He knew how poor his English was—he couldn’t even pass exams. And he wanted to practice speaking with foreigners? They might not even understand his accent.

…But how much worse could he be than Chen Miaomiao? She only scored thirty on the monthly English exam! If she dared to talk to a foreign tutor, why couldn’t he?

Lu Ping fell into a dilemma.

It was as if two little mice appeared on his shoulders. One wore an angel halo, urging him to chase his dreams bravely without fear; the other flapped devilish wings, telling him not to daydream and make a fool of himself.

Just as he wavered, a figure suddenly appeared beside him.

A hand reached in front of him and snapped its fingers, sharply pulling him back to reality.

Lu Ping blankly followed the hand upward—and Shen Yuze, who had returned at some point, stood before him. One hand pressed on his desk as he leaned down slightly, a trace of concern in his eyes.

“What’s wrong? Are you feeling unwell?” Shen Yuze asked. “You’ve been frowning the whole time.”

“Huh? N-No, just thinking about something,” Lu Ping mumbled vaguely.

Seeing he was fine, Shen Yuze returned to his seat. As deskmates, they occasionally shared supplies, and their textbooks often overlapped territories. Shen Yuze casually placed a sheet of paper on the desk. Lu Ping glanced down and saw it was a registration form.

Lu Ping subconsciously read the text on it: “Jiaojiang City High School Students’ English Speech Contest…” He finally realized and exclaimed in surprise, “The English teacher called you to the office to sign up for the speech contest?”

The contest was very prestigious and held every year, with schools nominating students. The top two winners represented Jiaojiang City at the provincial level! The provincial competition was televised, and there were even prizes!

Last year during the city contest, the school had organized students to watch live. Lu Ping had sat in the audience, envying the confident, flamboyant contestants on stage. They were all the same age, yet they stood under the spotlight delivering fluent English speeches while he could only clap like an idiot… The gap was huge.

Shen Yuze hadn’t been interested in the contest at first. When the English teacher brought out the form, his initial reaction was to refuse. He hated anything troublesome, and this pointless speech contest was a waste of time. The perks she mentioned—prizes, TV exposure, even bonus points for the college entrance exam—held no appeal for him.

But… after seeing Lu Ping’s adoring gaze, Shen Yuze’s resolve to decline wavered.

Shen Yuze asked: “…Do you think I should participate?”

“Of course you should!” Lu Ping said enviously. His eyes were round and sparkling, shimmering with a misty glow. “Shen Yuze, you’re amazing! Your spoken English must be incredible!”

“…Mm.” Shen Yuze nodded reservedly, unable to ignore the blatant worship in his eyes.

Shen Yuze suspected Lu Ping did it on purpose—using those dewy eyes to make him lose his way step by step.

“You already knew, right? I learned English from a foreign tutor.”

The pen in Shen Yuze’s hand spun around his fingertip—if Lu Ping really wanted to see him win the championship, then he’d reluctantly sign up.

The moment Shen Yuze picked up the pen and signed his name on the form, Lu Ping’s mind was on something else.

He was an utter English slacker, but Shen Yuze’s English was so impressive. He wanted to close that gap, to catch up to Shen Yuze. He didn’t want people saying, “You’re not on his level in anything—how can you be friends?”

—He decided he would go to the café and practice his English with foreigners.