Chapter 17

If looks could be made real, at that moment seventeen little throwing knives would have shot out from Mu Yicong’s eyes, all aimed straight at Qi Yang.

The knives hadn’t even arrived yet when Liu Dameng’s exaggerated voice came first.

“Aiyo, my Brother Yang!”

Liu Dameng launched into a careless flying tackle, nearly smashing Qi Yang face-first into the stairs.

Qi Yang grabbed the handrail just in time to stabilize his injured foot. Once steady, he swung an elbow back at Liu Dameng. “Are you brainless?”

“How’s Yangzi’s foot?” Cui Wu, who had entered the school with Liu Dameng, bent down to look at Qi Yang’s right foot. “Can you walk?”

“It seems inconvenient to go upstairs,” Ren Wei chimed in from the step above. “I was just about to help him.”

“Help? Hell with that,” Liu Dameng said, rolling up his sleeves. “Cui’er, let’s carry him up!”

“Yeah!” Cui Wu yelled in agreement.

If he let those two carry him up to the third floor in front of everyone, Qi Yang could kiss his dignity goodbye.

“Are you sick or something?” He couldn’t even be bothered to mess with Mu Yicong anymore, suddenly becoming extremely self-reliant. “Don’t touch me, I’m warning you two. I can walk by myself.”

Liu Dameng was deaf to reason. He and Cui Wu took one end each, and the two idiots physically hoisted Qi Yang up and carried him all the way to the classroom.

Like they were carrying a pig.

Amidst the surprised laughs of the surrounding classmates, past Ren Wei’s wide-eyed stare, and under Mu Yicong’s mocking gaze, Qi Yang just closed his eyes, unable to be bothered to say a word.

Old Wu must have witnessed the heroic carrying feat of Liu Dameng and Cui Wu. When he entered the classroom and saw Qi Yang, he grinned.

“Very good.” He even made an announcement from the podium. “Classmates, you’ve all seen it. Qi Yang has a fractured foot, so we must help him as much as possible.”

Liu Dameng thumped his chest, then turned around and pointed at Qi Yang.

“Get lost,” Qi Yang said, annoyed just looking at him.

Old Wu rambled on for a bit, mainly to accommodate Qi Yang, who had missed a week of class. He reiterated the high school class schedule and daily routine.

Besides adding two evening self-study sessions and a shorter evening break, encouraging students to eat in the cafeteria, and reminding boarders to register at the school affairs office… there wasn’t much difference from middle school.

Qi Yang rested his chin on his hand, spinning a pen, listening with one ear. With his peripheral vision, he noticed Mu Yicong taking books out of his backpack, so he turned his head to look.

The textbooks, soaked in water and then dried, were wrinkled and puffy. When he turned the pages, there was a faint smell of mildew.

It was a stark contrast to the new textbooks on Qi Yang’s desk, which didn’t even have his name written on them yet.

Qi Yang’s hand spinning the pen paused. He lifted his hand and ruffled his hair.

Qi Yang didn’t have to go to the morning exercises. Liu Dameng and Cui Wu clamored that they needed to take care of him and also asked for leave to stay in the classroom.

Old Wu probably thought Liu Dameng was too noisy. He didn’t approve his leave, only letting Cui Wu stay.

“Did you two throw Mu Yicong’s backpack?” after the classroom emptied, Qi Yang asked Cui Wu.

“Huh?” Cui Wu was taken aback. “Did Mu Yicong tell you?”

“Why did you throw it?” Qi Yang just asked.

“Dameng said you guys didn’t get along. At first, we didn’t plan to throw it, just messing with him.” Cui Wu laughed as he spoke. “But he couldn’t take a joke. I tossed it up, and who knows how it happened, it just fell right into the river. He went down to get it himself.”

So that’s why Mu Yicong had a fever. It was probably related to him going into the lake.

Qi Yang said nothing, just stared at Cui Wu for a moment.

“And then the very next day, you fractured your foot,” Cui Wu said, sitting down on Mu Yicong’s desk and flipping through his books. “It’s no big deal. He didn’t even tell Old Wu. If you hadn’t mentioned it, I would have almost forgotten.”

Maybe it was because he hadn’t known Cui Wu for very long. Even though Liu Dameng was getting along well with him now, in Qi Yang’s heart, he still couldn’t consider Cui Wu one of his own, not like Liu Dameng, or even Lai Jiahao.

—He found a reason for the faint sense of displeasure that had just passed through his heart.

Qi Yang felt he had the right to dislike Mu Yicong, but that didn’t mean anyone else could mess with him. This unauthorized action by Cui Wu gave Qi Yang an odd feeling, like someone had kicked a cat or dog he himself enjoyed teasing.

“What’s wrong, Yangzi? Don’t you two have a grudge?” Cui Wu studied Qi Yang’s expression as he remained silent. “Did he rat me out to you?”

“No, he didn’t.” Qi Yang didn’t say much else. “It’s a lake, after all. It wouldn’t be good if he actually drowned.”

“I get it.” Cui Wu nodded in agreement, jolted by Qi Yang’s reminder. “I was even scared when I saw him jump in. I thought he’d come up and start a fight with me. But he didn’t say a thing. He just looked at me and left.”

Qi Yang knew Mu Yicong’s personality better than he did.

He took all the punches himself.

But not agreeing with Cui Wu’s methods didn’t mean Qi Yang himself would let Mu Yicong off the hook.

At the end of the morning classes, he made Mu Yicong take a taxi to send him home and come pick him up before the afternoon classes started.

When the evening classes ended and it was time to go to the cafeteria, he said his foot hurt too much to walk and told Mu Yicong to go buy his food and bring it back.

After the evening self-study was over, Mu Yicong had to take Qi Yang back to his apartment building before he could go home himself.

Everyone in the class could see that Qi Yang was deliberately tormenting Mu Yicong.

But Mu Yicong didn’t complain even once. He was like a robot without emotions, doing whatever he was told. No one could tell what he was really thinking.

After a couple of days like this, Liu Dameng started to catch on.

“Tell me the truth, Yangzi,” he turned around with a sly grin, exchanged a look with Cui Wu, and then asked Qi Yang directly, right in front of Mu Yicong, “Does your foot really hurt, or are you faking it?”

“What do you think?” Qi Yang shot back.

“It must really hurt,” Cui Wu chimed in with a laugh. “Why don’t we give you a fracture and a brace to try?”

“I’ll pass.” Liu Dameng laughed as he rocked on his chair. “But did you two fight again? Did he beat you until it fractured?”

Comparing which was more embarrassing—getting beaten until your bone fractured, or getting it stuck in a door—was something Qi Yang couldn’t even analyze.

He propped his cheek on his hand and looked at Mu Yicong. “I’m asking you. How did I fracture my foot?”

Mu Yicong couldn’t even be bothered to lift his eyelids. He was bent over his wrinkled physics book, solving problems.

Ren Wei came in through the back door carrying a stack of homework. Hearing their conversation, he cleared his throat.

“Qi Yang, if it’s inconvenient for you to go home after school, I can also ride my bike to take you,” he said with a sincere look on his face. “It must be pretty expensive for Mu Yicong to keep taking taxis.”

His words stunned not only Qi Yang’s group, but even Mu Yicong raised his eyelids to look at him.

“After all, I’m the class monitor. It’s only right to take care of my classmates.”

Ren Wei adjusted the homework in his arms, hugging it a little higher.

“But a bike is definitely not as safe as a taxi. My place is pretty far, so maybe I could carpool with you guys? I can help carry Qi Yang’s bag. As for the fare… we could split it three ways, that works too.”

If it weren’t for the second half of his speech, Qi Yang might have actually been moved by Ren Wei’s spirit.

The moment those words about splitting the fare came out, Qi Yang, who at the time didn’t really understand what it felt like to be short on cash, just thought Ren Wei was both shrewd and pathetic.

But he didn’t show it. He just couldn’t help but laugh and said, “Ah.”

“Oh my god…”

Liu Dameng didn’t hide his feelings at all. He shivered and frantically rubbed his face.

“Are you trying to take advantage of a sick guy too? If your place is far, you should take a taxi home yourself. Splitting the fare when you’re hitching a ride is only natural. What’s this ‘that works too’?”

The classmates listening in the back rows all started laughing. Ren Wei was immediately humiliated, his glasses slipping down his flat nose.

“I’m not…” he blushed, trying to explain. “That’s not what I meant.”

“If that’s not what you meant, then I need help, Class Monitor,” Cui Wu yelled, raising his arm with a laugh. “My foot hurts too. Can you take me home? I’ll ride on your bike. It’s safe!”

Amidst the chorus of laughter, only Mu Yicong responded to Ren Wei. “Thanks, but no need.”

Ren Wei gave an awkward grin and pushed up his glasses, going off to distribute the homework.

Cui Wu deliberately sighed dramatically. “Same as middle school. He hasn’t changed a bit.”

During the afternoon PE class, Cui Wu gossiped about Ren Wei to Liu Dameng for a while. He said the guy wasn’t actually bad-hearted, he just liked taking small advantages. Back in middle school, he always tried to suck up to the rich kids or the smart ones. The thing was, he always thought he was being clever and that everyone else was a fool who couldn’t see through him.

Qi Yang sat nearby listening to them talk, his gaze finding Mu Yicong on the playground. Sure enough, Ren Wei was beside him again.

On the way home after the evening self-study, Qi Yang told the taxi driver to stop at the entrance of Mu Yicong’s neighborhood and paid the fare.

“Isn’t it the next neighborhood?” the driver asked as he counted out the change.

“I need to pee,” Qi Yang said.

Mu Yicong sat in the car, staring at him.

“What are you looking at?” Qi Yang pushed open the car door and got out first, turning his head to stare back. “Do I have to carry you?”

The need to pee was fake. He could easily hold it until he got home. The truth was he was bored and felt like messing with Mu Yicong again.

Qi Yang didn’t care whether Mu Yicong was willing to let him use his bathroom. He walked familiarly straight to Mu Yicong’s place.

Mu Yicong stood by the roadside for a moment, said nothing, and silently followed.

Although the last time he was here Qi Yang felt Mu Yicong’s home was lifeless, being surrounded by Zou Meizhu’s constant shrieks every day, he occasionally thought that living alone wasn’t so bad.

When they reached Mu Yicong’s door, Qi Yang leaned against the wall, waiting for him to take out his keys and open the door. He asked him, “You live alone. How do you manage lunch every day?”

“I buy it,” Mu Yicong said.

Qi Yang nodded. “From now on, I’ll treat you to lunch. I’ll come straight here at noon.”

Mu Yicong stopped turning the key and looked at him. Qi Yang added, “Until my foot heals.”

The door opened. Mu Yicong said nothing, just gave a rather arrogant smile, reached up, and flicked on the light.

“Pee and get lost,” he said to Qi Yang.

Qi Yang had made the decision unilaterally. Without changing his shoes—there weren’t any spare slippers anyway—he walked in, looking around Mu Yicong’s home.

Last time, he had been crushed in the doorway before he could even get inside. Now that he was actually in, he saw it was just as he had felt: there was absolutely no sign of a family living here.

“Where’s the bathroom?” Qi Yang asked, standing in the middle of the living room.

Mu Yicong walked to a door and knocked on it.

Qi Yang pushed him aside and went in. He stood in front of the toilet, giving it a deliberate glance. It was clean. Then he reached for his belt.

He had just loosened the buckle halfway when a particularly humiliating, malicious thought popped into his head.

He turned his head and whistled towards the door. “Come in and hold it for me.”