Qi Yang sat in the car removing his SIM card. As he did, he thought, if Mu Yicong dared to mess with him and gave him a fake address, then he wouldn’t let him go to school when he got there.
If he didn’t beat the shit out of Mu Yicong, he’d change his name to follow Mu Yicong and be called Mu Yang.
Whether it was unexpected or expected, before the car even stopped steadily outside the complex, he saw that familiar figure leaning against a lamppost, waiting for him.
The bastard was even holding a book, memorizing vocabulary.
Qi Yang paid and got out. He walked behind Mu Yicong and viciously kicked forward.
The kick landed solidly on Mu Yicong’s back, near his right shoulder blade.
He reacted quickly too. Stumbling a few steps, he took off his backpack and swung it blindly behind him.
The backpack strap whistled through the air and whipped across Qi Yang’s face, the metal buckle scratching a line on his cheek.
His fucking face again.
Qi Yang raised his hand and wiped it. The grudge from last night’s trip, combined with the anger from getting his face cut up before, flared up completely.
Without a single wasted word, the two of them tangled together and started fighting.
People on their way to work and school gave them a wide berth, until a security guard from the complex, chewing on a deep-fried dough stick, came over and pulled them apart, repeatedly yelling, “Students not going to school, fighting first thing in the morning!”
Qi Yang seized his chance. Through the gaps between people, he swung his arm in a full circle and slapped Mu Yicong across the face.
For guys to slap each other during a fight seems kinda girly. It was one of Zou Meizhu’s moves against Qi Dahai. Qi Yang was being held back and afraid he couldn’t land a punch, so he switched from a fist to a slap.
But hearing that crisp smack, Qi Yang felt refreshed.
All the discomfort was swatted away in that one slap.
Meeting Mu Yicong’s dark glare, he threw the phone into the guy’s chest and lifted his chin to ask, “Where’s my bike?”
Mu Yicong, acting deaf, tossed Qi Yang’s phone in the air a bit, didn’t say a fucking thing, and just left.
This dumbass.
Qi Yang clenched his jaw behind him. Remembering he’d said the score was settled after this fight, he held himself back from chasing after him for another kick.
He broke free from the security guard holding him and took a taxi straight home.
Qi Yang didn’t go to school for as many days as Zou Meizhu was in the hospital.
When Qi Dahai escorted Zou Meizhu, who was holding the tiny baby, back home, Qi Yang was sprawled on the sofa like a lord watching TV. When he saw Qi Dahai, he just held out his hand for money.
“Phone. Bike,” he said, as if he had every right. “Buy them for me.”
“We’ll talk about buying things later.” Qi Dahai had just gotten off the phone with Qi Yang’s homeroom teacher. “First, tell me why you haven’t been to school for so many days. You didn’t even go for the graduation photo. Your homeroom teacher called me.”
“Couldn’t be bothered,” Qi Yang said. “The exam is soon. School’s not teaching anything new anyway.”
“Whether they teach or not, you still have to go,” Qi Dahai said, nudging him with his foot. “Our family’s not short on money, and I’ve already got a high school lined up for you, but you still have to go to school, son. Don’t be a step backwards for the Qi family and turn out illiterate…”
“Oh, if he doesn’t want to go, then don’t go! How much did you love going to school when you were his age?” Zou Meizhu was annoyed by the father-son bickering. “Yangyang, come see your little sister.”
To be honest, Qi Yang had zero feelings for this sister when she was still in Zou Meizhu’s belly.
Not just his sister, but Zou Meizhu and Qi Dahai too. He always felt their family was just playing house, nothing like how other families lived their lives.
It wasn’t until that phone call from Zou Meizhu during the labor that the instinct and sense of responsibility tied to bloodlines made Qi Yang start to vaguely understand the concept of family affection.
He went over, lifted the swaddling blanket from Zou Meizhu’s arms, looked at the little girl’s fair little face, and gently poked her with his index finger.
“Have you named her yet?” Qi Yang asked.
“No, not yet. Whatever your dad picks sounds terrible,” Zou Meizhu pouted reproachfully. “Qi Lili, Qi Meimei… ugh.”
“Let our son pick one,” Qi Dahai suggested.
Qi Yang thought for a moment. “Qi Xing.”
The novelty of having a sister wore off for Qi Yang in just two days.
Babies always cry and fuss at night. After a month of the household being in chaos, he started getting annoyed again.
The day before the high school entrance exam, he went to school to get his admission ticket. He brushed past Mu Yicong, both acting like strangers, neither acknowledging the other.
“Should we mess with him?” Liu Dameng sidled up and asked.
“Who?” Qi Yang looked at him.
“Who else?” Liu Dameng jerked his chin towards Mu Yicong. “Make sure he can’t take the exam tomorrow.”
Qi Yang didn’t tell Liu Dameng that he and Mu Yicong were already even. He just raised his arm and jabbed Liu Dameng in the stomach with his elbow.
“You’re just pure evil,” he warned Liu Dameng. “It’s not worth it. Act like a decent person.”
Liu Dameng just laughed. “Hehe.”
The exam went by in a blur, like a joke, and the long summer vacation began.
Qi Yang couldn’t even be bothered to check his scores. He thought the high school Qi Dahai had arranged for him was probably just a vocational school. But when the admission letter arrived, it was from a key affiliated high school, one of the best in the city.
“So talented, my husband,” Zou Meizhu said, beaming as if she already held Qi Yang’s college admission letter in her hand. She cuddled up to Qi Dahai.
“Oh, ho ho.” Qi Dahai held Zou Meizhu, his face full of pride. “There’s no connection here that money can’t buy.”
After boasting, for once he acted like a proper dad and gave Qi Yang some advice. “You’ll have to study hard in high school, son. A boy can’t always act like a kid. You need to have a sense of what you should be doing and when.”
Qi Yang was lying on his bed playing games. He just said, “I know.”
Before the couple could praise their son for growing up enough, he pointed at the computer. “Can you get me a new computer too, Dad?”
“Let’s go, to the mall.” Qi Dahai waved his hand. “Whatever you want, Dad will buy it all for you today.”
Liu Dameng scored around 400 points on the exam. His family was also using money and connections, but hadn’t gotten a definite answer yet. Lai Jiahao’s grades were actually okay, and his mom got him into No. 1 High School. The rest of the guys were going to vocational schools or private schools. None of them ended up at the same high school as Qi Yang.
After hearing where everyone was going, Qi Yang thought of Mu Yicong.
Mu Yicong had good grades. He’d heard he scored over 700 points on the exam. He was definitely destined for No. 1 High School.
Whether this group would ever run into each other again was all up to fate.
Qi Yang had prepared himself to go it alone at the affiliated high school.
But on the morning of registration for the new semester, just as he entered the school grounds, Liu Dameng excitedly called him. “Yangzi! Which class?”
“None of your business.” Qi Yang used the admission letter to shield his eyes from the glaring sun and walked towards Class 17. “Did your parents manage to pull some strings?”
“Fuck! Don’t move!” Liu Dameng yelled and hung up.
Qi Yang stopped and turned around. Liu Dameng was carrying a ridiculously big backpack. He took the stairs two at a time, ran over, and immediately tried to climb onto Qi Yang.
“You’re here too?” Qi Yang was pretty happy. He slapped Liu Dameng.
“Don’t joke! You’re not the only one with money!” Liu Dameng looked smug, as if he’d gotten in on his own merit. “What class?”
Qi Yang spread out his admission letter for him to see. Liu Dameng did the same. They looked at each other, then both laughed.
“Damn, is Class 17 all rich kids who got in through the back door?” Liu Dameng said.
“Who cares?” Qi Yang’s warmth could only last two seconds. He pushed Liu Dameng away and walked into the teaching building. “It’s hot. Don’t touch me.”
The town was this small. Back then, the anti-corruption campaign in education wasn’t so strict either.
Most of the new high school freshmen who had just gotten in still had a bit of a bookworm air about them. Glancing around the school, the two of them saw several familiar-looking faces from No. 9 Middle School, though they didn’t know them.
Those faces had the same reaction to Qi Yang and Liu Dameng, whispering about how those two managed to get into this school.
“Every familiar face is a fucking bookworm idiot.” Liu Dameng flipped them off.
Class 17 was on the third floor. Qi Yang and Liu Dameng strolled and chatted as they walked up.
Just as they reached the corner on the third floor, a fairly stocky, tall guy was messing around with a few others, running backwards. He didn’t see where he was going and stepped right on Liu Dameng’s shoe.
“Aiyo, what the—fuck!” Liu Dameng let out an exaggerated shout. Half the hallway quieted down and looked over.
“Who the hell are you cursing at?” The tall guy was pretty agile. He turned around and grabbed Liu Dameng by the collar.
“I’m cursing at you! Fucking dumbass, what are you running around for?” Liu Dameng stomped his foot and grabbed back. “These are my brand new AJs, are you blind?”
“I’m laughing,” the tall guy said, pulling up his trouser leg and sticking out his foot. “Are they more expensive than your daddy’s shoes?”
They shoved each other back and forth. Qi Yang didn’t get involved.
He shoved his hands in his pockets, leaned against the wall, and stared at the tall guy, waiting for him to actually throw a punch before helping Liu Dameng.
But before the two of them could start fighting, a skinny guy wearing glasses pushed his way out of the crowd.
Glasses looked fairly refined, with a flat nose bridge. He came over to mediate. “Hey, Cui Wu, it’s the first day of school. Don’t fight.”
“Get lost.” The tall guy, Cui Wu, impatiently shoved his shoulder. The flat-nosed guy was knocked back several steps.
He was pushed backwards, towards the stairs. It looked like he was about to fall. Qi Yang reached out and grabbed him.
At the same time Qi Yang reached out, Cui Wu and Liu Dameng also instinctively put out their hands.
But none of the three were the main force in preventing the fall.
Someone was coming up the stairs. He raised his arm horizontally, just catching the flat-nosed guy in the small of his back, pushing him back up.
The flat-nosed guy steadied himself on the edge of the stairs, thanking everyone left and right.
Qi Yang didn’t look at him at all. He was staring at Mu Yicong, who had just walked up behind the flat-nosed guy. He raised an eyebrow and let out a whistle.
What a fucking coincidence.
Mu Yicong saw Qi Yang too and paused for a moment.
It had been months. He still had that same expressionless, deadpan face, looking at Qi Yang with the same unchanged disdain and disgust.
“Aiyo!” Liu Dameng yelled again when he saw Mu Yicong.
He forgot all about Cui Wu, who had stepped on his AJs, and let go to grab Mu Yicong’s shoulder. “What a coincidence—”
Before he could finish the word ‘coincidence’, Cui Wu pulled him back. “Where are you going? We’re not done yet.”
“What are you grabbing for?” Liu Dameng turned back and glared at him, then pointed at Mu Yicong. “You know him?”
“No,” Cui Wu said dumbly.
“Then let go.” Liu Dameng pushed him.
“Who are you pushing?” Cui Wu kept holding on.
Mu Yicong ignored the two of them, ignored the flat-nosed guy still thanking him, and also ignored Qi Yang leaning against the wall. He said a cool, “Excuse me,” and walked straight into the door of Class 17.
Qi Yang laughed.
He followed him in, bumping Mu Yicong’s shoulder with his own. “Hello there, new classmate.”
