Too bad that even the coolest first impression, accompanied by two streams of unstoppable nosebleeds and the black mark of a basketball on his face, just looked ridiculous.
The whole Class 9, Grade 3 erupted. Some couldn’t hold back their laughter, others were scared.
A few girls in the first row handed tissues to the homeroom teacher. The teacher was panicking. She didn’t even have time to scold Qi Yang. She hurriedly took the white shirt to the infirmary, afraid his nasal bone might be broken.
“Quiet!”
Huang Xiaoyu, the class flower, who was rumored to be involved in a puppy love situation with Qi Yang, was the class monitor. She stood up and pounded the table.
“Is this unlucky bastard the new transfer student?” Liu Dameng deliberately raised his voice.
“What’s his name?” Qi Yang asked.
“How should I know!” Huang Xiaoyu huffed, whipping her ponytail as she sat back down. “You hit him before he even introduced himself. Can you stop causing trouble for once?”
“I’m talking to you?” Qi Yang looked at her, puzzled.
There were always people in the class who liked to tease Qi Yang and Huang Xiaoyu. Someone shouted, “The wife is educating her husband!” and the whole class burst into laughter.
“Who said that?” Huang Xiaoyu’s face turned red with anger. She stood up again and swept her gaze over the class. “I’m noting names!”
“Whoever said it owes Qi Yang a self-criticism!” Liu Dameng yelled out too.
Qi Yang had just returned to his seat in the last row when the homeroom teacher led the white shirt back into the classroom. She slapped the door with her palm. “What’s all this noise!”
She was really having a rough day. As she stepped onto the podium, she directly said, “Qi Yang, go stand in the back.”
Qi Yang’s butt hadn’t even touched the seat. He straightened up, kicked his chair away, took a step back, and leaned against the wall.
As he looked up, he met the white shirt’s gaze again.
The white shirt’s nosebleed had already stopped. He had washed his face, and the tips of his hair in front of his eyebrows were still a little damp. Under the light, it revealed a dark, hidden beauty.
Just like his eyes.
Black, unfathomable, staring at him without blinking.
Qi Yang had been a bit apologetic for giving the guy a nosebleed with the ball. But the moment he saw that look in Mu Yicong’s eyes, he squinted. That indescribable annoyance came back.
It was like being challenged.
“If anyone throws the basketball carelessly again, all future PE classes will be changed to Chinese. Qi Yang, you don’t have to come to school either.” The teacher leaned on the podium and scolded Qi Yang first. “It’s very dangerous, you know?”
“Ah,” Qi Yang acknowledged.
The teacher suppressed her anger and glared at him for a long time. “Alright. New student, go ahead and introduce yourself first.”
Mu Yicong had been calmly waiting on the side. When the teacher told him to step forward, he turned his head and said, “My name is Mu Yicong.”
This surname was quite rare. From kindergarten to Grade 9, Qi Yang had only heard of one person with this surname, and it was the one with the ‘wood’ radical.
The class started murmuring, whispering the name back and forth, asking which ‘Mu’ and which ‘Cong’.
“That’s it?” The teacher waited for a moment, then broke off a piece of chalk and turned to write on the blackboard.
She finished writing the characters for ‘Mu Yi’, then thought for a moment, stopped, and said to Mu Yicong, “Maybe you should introduce yourself. New students need to integrate into the group.”
Mu Yicong didn’t take the chalk she offered. He didn’t even raise his voice. He just added, “The ‘Cong’ character that looks like three people under a single horizontal line.”
The teacher stood there awkwardly for a moment, then turned back and finished writing his name on the blackboard.
Mu Yicong.
Qi Yang silently mouthed the three characters.
What a lame name.
The name ‘Qi Yang’ looked way cooler.
The self-introduction was a lost cause. Finding a seat for Mu Yicong took the teacher a lot of brainpower.
The only empty seat in the class was in the last row, right next to Qi Yang. He’d been sitting alone since the second semester of Grade 7. The teacher wished she could just kick his desk out of the classroom.
After glancing at Qi Yang’s desk two or three times, the teacher still decided to protect the new student.
She measured Mu Yicong’s height, then split up the pair sitting at the desk at the other end of the last row.
“Wu Kong, go sit with Qi Yang. Mu Yicong, you sit there.”
“Ah?” Wu Kong grumbled as he packed his schoolbag and walked over to Qi Yang with a long face.
Qi Yang kicked him.
“Teacher, I’m willing to learn from Lei Feng and give my seat to the new student.” Liu Dameng raised his hand, putting on a look of extreme righteousness. “Just let me sit next to Qi Yang!”
“You go stand in the back too.” The teacher looked down impatiently and flipped open her book. “Class is starting!”
The next two periods were taught by the homeroom teacher. She had wasted too much time today with all the chaos. School let out, but she didn’t leave. She kept the class for an extra ten minutes or so.
When the teacher finally assigned the homework and called Mu Yicong to the office, the hallway was almost empty, except for a few students on duty.
Qi Yang rotated his ankle, pulled his chair over, and sat down to pack his bag.
Liu Dameng had a piece of gum in his mouth. He strolled over and asked Qi Yang, “Internet cafe?”
“Let’s go.” Qi Yang slung his bag over his left shoulder, stuffed his hands in his school uniform pockets, and headed for the door.
Just as one foot was about to step out, he felt a tug on his shoulder. Huang Xiaoyu was holding onto his bag, shouting from behind him, “Qi! Yang!”
Qi Yang felt like rubbing his ears whenever he heard her yell.
“What now?” He turned half his face to ask.
“You’re on duty today. You’re just gonna skip out again?”
“Let her do it for you.” Liu Dameng was hopping around beside him. “You’re practically a married couple anyway.”
“Get lost!” Qi Yang and Huang Xiaoyu said it at the same time.
“Oh, quite the tacit understanding!” Liu Dameng hopped out the door.
Huang Xiaoyu was holding onto him and wouldn’t let go. Qi Yang couldn’t bring himself to actually fight with her.
Last time he’d pushed Huang Xiaoyu, he hadn’t even used any force, but he’d sent the little girl tumbling, and she’d gone crying to the homeroom teacher. The teacher had called Zou Meizhu, and he’d gotten a good scolding for it.
“Well, you’re not skipping your duty today, that’s for sure.” Huang Xiaoyu was determined. “Our class loses points every Monday when it’s your turn.”
“Why don’t you just stop assigning me?” Qi Yang said. “Are you brainless?”
“In your dreams!” Huang Xiaoyu held on even tighter.
“Then let’s all just stand here.” Qi Yang leaned against the doorframe, ready to outlast her.
Liu Dameng wasn’t in a hurry either. He was leaning against the railing outside, watching the show. He even handed Qi Yang a piece of gum. “Here.”
Qi Yang took it and peeled it open. He put the gum in his mouth, crumpled the wrapper into a ball, and tossed it on the ground. He put both hands back in his pockets.
“Qi Yang!” Huang Xiaoyu was furious.
“You want one too?” Qi Yang blew a bubble at her.
They were arguing, one leaning, one pulling, blocking the doorway, when a white shirt stopped in front of them.
Qi Yang looked up and saw Mu Yicong’s annoying eyes.
“Move aside. Don’t block the door.” Huang Xiaoyu pulled him back. “You’re in the way.”
Qi Yang didn’t move. He kept chewing his gum, his jaw moving, staring at Mu Yicong.
He didn’t move, and Mu Yicong didn’t move either.
Two people who had never met before were acting like old rivals, locking eyes at the classroom door.
Huang Xiaoyu knew she couldn’t drag Qi Yang. She let go and stepped back, leaving half the doorframe open. “Squeeze in.”
Mu Yicong glanced at her, not the slightest expression on his face. He sidestepped and tried to enter the classroom.
Just as he moved, Qi Yang lifted his left foot and stepped on the doorframe, blocking the way again.
Mu Yicong’s calf bumped against Qi Yang’s knee. He stopped and stared at him again.
“Cat got your tongue?” Qi Yang chewed his gum and stared back.
Huang Xiaoyu looked left and right. Full of her class monitor’s sense of responsibility, she started to mediate. “Hey, it’s okay. Just let him in.”
“What’s up? What’s up?” Liu Dameng bounced over excitedly. “Let’s just have a fight then.”
From the time he was in diapers, Qi Yang had been raised by his parents in smoky, rowdy gambling dens.
He’d seen plenty of adults losing their tempers, cursing, and fighting. He’d never been afraid of a brawl since he was a kid. After he started school, he became a troublemaker who reveled in causing problems.
The other delinquent students in the school could still get into trouble together, but they were still just middle schoolers. Even if they weren’t afraid of the teachers, they were still at a stage where they feared their parents.
Like the stuttering Lai Jiahao. He could smoke and skip class with the best of them, but when it came to his mom’s class, he sat straighter than anyone else.
Qi Yang thought they were still too immature.
So, facing this new student who, while expressionless, radiated ‘defiance’ from every pore, he not only ignored the homeroom teacher’s and Zou Meizhu’s instructions to ‘stay out of trouble’, but also felt a surge of excitement.
He wanted to break this Mu Yicong.
“I’m talking to you.” He pulled his foot back from the doorframe and gave Mu Yicong’s leg a nudge, not too hard. “Deaf?”
Mu Yicong looked at the black shoe print on his pants leg. His fairly delicate eyebrows finally furrowed.
“What do you want?” he asked Qi Yang.
Before Qi Yang could answer, Liu Dameng got excited.
“Oh, he talks!” Liu Dameng pretended to think. “How about this: you call Qi Yang ‘Daddy’, and he’ll let you pass.”
“What are you two doing?” Huang Xiaoyu stomped her foot behind them. “I’m going to tell the teacher.”
Qi Yang couldn’t even be bothered to turn his head. He just looked at Mu Yicong and blew another bubble.
The bubble hadn’t even popped when Mu Yicong suddenly raised his hand and punched Qi Yang right in the middle of the face.
Right where the basketball had hit him.
“Ah!” Huang Xiaoyu was so scared she stumbled back several steps.
“Oh fuck!” Liu Dameng jumped up.
Before either of them could finish shouting, Qi Yang spat out his gum, raised his leg, and kicked Mu Yicong hard in the stomach.
Lai Jiahao had been dragged to the office to do homework by his mom while she was at a meeting. He had only managed to scribble a few words when he was lured out by a few student thugs.
They didn’t dare go far, so they just headed to Qi Yang’s class to see if he was still there.
“Is, is that Yangzi?” Lai Jiahao squinted from a distance. “Fighting again, again?”
“Shit.” The others didn’t care about the consequences. They charged over and joined the fray directly.
“I can’t not, not fight,” Lai Jiahao stuttered as he ran along. “My mom, my mom just, just beat me!”
By the time Huang Xiaoyu brought the homeroom teacher rushing over, Qi Yang and the others were gone.
Mu Yicong was sitting at his desk, packing his school bag. His white shirt was wrinkled and covered in dust, looking like a dirty rag.
“What happened?” The teacher pulled him up and looked at the shoe print on his shirt, which had already been mostly brushed away. She was so anxious she could barely breathe. “Was it Qi Yang? Why did he start a fight?”
Mu Yicong raised a hand, pulled his arm out of the teacher’s grip, and patted his clothes again.
“I started it.”
The corner of his mouth was split open. He winced, squinting his eyes.
